Post/Author/DateTime	Post
pukunui 06-02-07, 04:41 AM	Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa! I would like to welcome you all to my latest Red Hand of Doom recap. You have my solemn promise that this thread will deliver nothing but Absolut Doom. :evillaugh If you have been reading my Adventures in Elsir Vale (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=805817) recap thread, you will know that the scenes recounted there were but the prologue to the main event. The stage has been set, the actors have been prepped, and the curtain has just been raised ... now let the show begin! And may whatever god you believe in have mercy on your soul! Cheers, DM Jonny The City of Sails 2 June 2007 DISCLAIMER: This thread recaps events in a published adventure. Viewer discretion is advised. As my players will be reading this thread and contributing to it from time to time, please keep spoilers to a minimum by either PMing me directly or hiding the offending information in a spoiler block (my players are a good bunch of guys who don't read anything they know they're not supposed to read).
pukunui 06-02-07, 04:41 AM	Dramatis Personae Aleana Galanodel - CG female wild elf paladin of freedom 7 / divine crusader of Corellon 2 Himo Treadwell - CG male half-wild elf warmage 9 Red Pattonfoot - CG male halfling rogue 7 / shadowdancer 2 Lyaelrae Besthar - NG male wild elf druid 9 Zzubyar (aka "Joe") - CG male aasimar warlock 8 / enlightened spirit 1 Perry of the Art - CG male wild elf fighter 8 / champion of Corellon 1
pukunui 06-02-07, 04:42 AM	Summer has arrived in Elsir Vale and all is hot and still. A pleaceful lethargy has settled over the vale and its inhabitants. Unbeknownst to them all, that peacefulness is about to be disturbed by a swarm of angry bees ... some very angry bees indeed. The survivors of the ill-fated expedition into the tomb of the forgotten king, plus those they had met in the tomb, went their separate ways upon returning to the surface world. Several weeks later, they met up again in the Laughing Manticore in Brindol. While in the tomb complex, Lestir and his companions had found a note on the body of a hobgoblin cleric of Tiamat mentioning a place called Vraath Keep, which was to be a meeting place between the cleric and someone named Koth. The group now assembled at the Laughing Manticore, concerned by the thought that followers of the evil Queen of Darkness might be up to something sinister, decided to head out west, find Vraath Keep, and figure out just what was going on ... In addition, they were hired to deliver a wagon-load of gear and children's toys to a shopkeeper in Drellin's Ferry named Jarett Nurth ... Finally, their assistance was also solicited by Rillor Paln, the owner of the Laughing Manticore, who asked them to uncover the identity of one "Lady Dagger", a serial killer operating along the Dawn Way in the western part of the Vale, and put an end to her threat to his protection business. In exchange, he would aid them in tracking down the surviving tomb robbers and the precious treasure with which they had absconded ...
Prom 06-02-07, 05:27 AM	Hi Pukunui, Posted by Pukunui, You have my solemn promise that this thread will deliver nothing but Absolut Doom. "Doctor I have a problem, my DM takes please in destorying my characters. Infact I think he suffers from a God complex, old testment stuff. There seem to be a lot of natural disasters that wipe out everything. I am now required to have a list of back-up characters, that is as thick as the phone book. What medication can you give me?" Prom P.S I hope the guy's and I can make this story interesting and not just seem like a re-run of M.A.S.H.
pukunui 06-02-07, 05:39 AM	For the record, I don't take any pleasure in watching PCs die. In fact, I find it rather annoying as it creates more paperwork for me. If only the PCs were better at surviving ... sigh! Maybe I should bring back my old rule that new PCs must start a level behind the average party level so that keeping the same people alive via spells like reincarnation will be more attractive than bringing in a new guy ... I always come up with these grand plans for the PCs and then they go and die on me. Let's just hope and pray that Lestir survives the death and destruction that is about to come ... Besides, everybody knows DMs don't kill PCs. Dice do. :schemes:
pukunui 06-02-07, 06:08 AM	Session Date: 25 May 2007 Playing Time: 5 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Lestir, Iz, Tara (NPC ally), Kel-Al, Kane Timeline: Day 1 PC Deaths: none ------------------------------------------------ Note: I'm just going to summarize most of the battles in this adventure, my reason being that most of my readers are already intimately familiar with these battles, either from DMing this adventure themselves or from reading the numerous other RHoD recap threads that have come before ... --------------------------------------------- Less than a day out from Drellin's Ferry, the band of heroes trudges through a dusty grove somewhere on the Dawn Way. The afternoon sun beats down and the still air is oppressively hot. An abandoned farmhouse is visible through the trees to the north. Kane feels something is wrong and peers sharply into the trees. He spots the glint of sunlight on metal just as half a dozen hobgoblins leap into view and let loose a hail of arrows ... http://farm1.static.flickr.com/195/514223012_cd71584560.jpg Key: The Royal Guard mini is Kane, the Aasimar Fighter w/ horse is Kel-Al, the Frenzied Berserker is Tara (:smirk:), the white-bearded wizard is Iz, and the white-robed wizard is Lestir Marauder Attack summary Although the battle had some of my players a bit worried at times, everyone made it through alive. :clap: Lestir tossed a total of two fireballs into the masses of hobgoblin warriors. I believe he incinerated 7 hobgoblins that way. :mage: Iz helped out with his psionic powers quite a bit. He used his energy manifestations to great effect during the course of the battle, including knocking a hobgoblin archer out of a tree with his energy push. Kel-Al had some real trouble since his mount is Large and therefore had little room to maneuver in the narrow road cutting. He took some serious damage from the main hobgoblin warrior, who used his twin short swords on Kel-Al like can openers, dropping the paladin to 1 hit point on two occasions. :gah: The two hellhounds with their fiery breath caused the paladin and his mount some trouble too. Partway through the battle, Lestir was hit with an inflict light wounds spell as a hobgoblin cleric materialized behind him. Tara came to his rescue and gave her counterpart something to think about with her jovar. :fight!: The cleric retreated to heal himself but Kel-Al charged down the road and slew him with a critical hit. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/213/514223018_ef6c6f58bf.jpg Key: The red d6 is a hellhound ... After the bladebearer fell, the group quickly mopped up the rest of the hobbos. As they searched the bodies, they discovered one of the grunts still alive. Kane tied him up and stabilized him, then Tara cast cure minor wounds on him to wake him up. Kane and Kel-Al tried to interrogate him, with Kel acting as the "good cop" and Kane as the "bad cop" (the roles were originally reversed, but I had quick word with Kel-Al's player to the effect that paladins aren't allowed to play "bad cop". This is his first time playing the class, so it's all good ... :rolleyes:). They weren't able to get much out of the hobbo, though, other than the veiled threat: "You stupid humans may have won this battle, but the Kulkor Zhul will win the war and destroy you all!" Lestir was able to translate "Kulkor Zhul" as "people of the dragon" in Goblin. This piqued the players' interest and had them a bit worried. :dragon: :bigeyes: While this was going on, Iz wandered off alone to see what was in the farmhouse. The others threw their prisoner on the back of Kane's mule, looted the bodies, burned them, then went to see what Iz had found in the farmhouse. There were the bodies of a merchant, her guards, and a farmer. These they buried. They also took a pouch with 355gp that was lying on the floor of the house. A few hours later, they were entering Drellin's Ferry. They were stopped by a gruff militia sergeant with a waxed moustache who wanted to know their business. They replied that they were delivering some goods to Jarett Nurth. They also stated that they had come to investigate some murders. They mentioned that they had been attacked by hobgoblins and had taken one prisoner and wanted to know where the jail was. They made such a good impression on the sergeant that he gave them directions around town and then quietly went and had a word with Captain Soranna later in the evening. The PCs headed straight for the old Toll House, where they met Captain Soranna for themselves. They handed over their prisoner for safekeeping in the town's jail and then talked to Soranna about "Lady Dagger" and the hobgoblin raids. The good captain revealed that the murders were always different but the murderer left a "calling card" of sorts in the form of a dagger. They asked if she had one and she said yes but asked them to give her a day to find it in the town guard's storeroom. The PCs then went and got rooms at the Old Bridge Inn. Kane took the horses to Dellora's Livery and washed them down, etc. Lestir delivered Jarett's wagon of goods. The dark-haired southerner was very gratefully and asked the wizard to come back the next day for a reward. As the PCs were settling in for a nice "debriefing", in walked Town Speaker Norro Wiston, followed by Captain Soranna. The Town Speaker appealed to the PCs to help him drive off the hobgoblin threat. The PCs said they would think about it and get back to him in the morning. After the pair had left, Kane challenged the inn's owner, Kellin Shadowbanks, to a game of three-dragon ante. But first Iz had a magic trick to do ... he cast mage hand on the deck and made it float up to the ceiling. He then asked Kane to try and catch it. At first Kane tried, but Iz kept making it shift around, so Kane eventually gave up and asked if Kellin had another deck of cards. They sat down to play and Kellin eventually won. Thus the first day ended with the PCs' safe and sound in Drellin's Ferry.
pukunui 06-02-07, 06:21 AM	Session Date: 1 June 2007 Playing Time: 4.5 hours Players Present: 3 (4 towards the end of the session) Characters: Iz, Tara (NPC ally), Kel-Al, Kane, Jorr (NPC ally) ... and Lestir joined everyone later on Timeline: Days 2-3 PC Deaths: :ghosted: ------------------------------------------------ In the morning, the heroes ambled over to the Old Toll House and met with Speaker Wiston and Captain Soranna in the Speaker's modestly well-appointed office. Five straight-backed chairs had been spread out in front of his desk for the heroes. After trading pleasantries, the group got down to business. The heroes agreed to help the town and did not ask for any payment. However, they were less than convinced of the adequacy of the town's defences. At the mention of survivors of an ill-fated expedition into the Witchwood, the heroes decided they should make enquiries. They also wanted some magical assistance in order to get more information out of their hobgoblin prisoner. While Kane and Iz paid Sertieren the Wise a visit to find out if he could charm the hobbo, Kel-Al and Tara wandered around town, inspecting the guard posts and talking to the militiamen. Kel was particularly interested in finding some of the survivors from the town's skirmish with the hobbos. The guards proved recalcitrant, but he eventually managed to obtain the name of one man who was recovering on his farm to the south of the town. Meanwhile, Lestir was busy studying his books and learning some new spells (as he had just attained 6th level). [Because Lestir's player was initially not present, the plan was to proceed without Lestir, who would spend a day in Drellin's Ferry scribing another scroll of fireball. We were also unaware that his player had selected charm person as one of his new spells, thus rendering unnecessary Sertieren's assistance ... :rolleyes:] After doing a little bit of shopping, the group reconvened at the Old Bridge Inn and had a bit of a rest on the front porch while they decided what to do next. They agreed that they should head out into the Witchwood and see what they could see, but first they wanted to go talk to a survivor of the town's ill-fated expedition ... They rode south for 20 minutes and came to the farm. The young man's parents roused him and he came to the front door, his left hand missing and his body covered in cuts and bruises. Kel-Al stepped forward and laid his hands on the young man, allowing the healing magic to flow through him and patch him up a bit. The man was surprised and grateful. He told them all he knew, which wasn't much - the group had been ambushed, and in the chaos that ensued, he'd lost his hand to a hobbo and then he'd turned and run as fast as he could. He didn't think any of the other survivors would be able to tell them anything more. When Kel and Kane kept pressing him with questions, he began to get a bit annoyed and snapped, "Have you ever been in a battle?!" All agreed it was time to leave the man to recover ... After this, the group agreed it was time to head out into the woods. When they returned to town and were making ready to cross the river with their horses, Captain Soranna approached and wished them luck. She also advised them to seek out Jorr Natherson, a reclusive woodsman who knew the woods better than anyone else. The group decided that would be a good idea. Leaving Kane's mule behind, they figured they could make it to Jorr's cabin before dinnertime (it being lunchtime then). Six hours of traveling through the stiflingly hot Witchwood along the Witch Trail brought them to Jorr's cabin. As they neared the house, Jorr's dogs came tearing out from under the porch, but Kane dismounted from his horse and calmed them down. Jorr then called his dogs back and came out onto the porch. Kane introduced everyone and asked Jorr to help them track down some hobgoblins. Jorr was already aware of the goblins, whom he apparently despised as he volunteered to help them without hesitation. However, it was getting late, so the heroes asked if they could spend the night there before heading off the next morning. Jorr invited them to sleep on his porch and he supplied them with a passable eel stew for dinner. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1084/526812425_f921f1e29b.jpg The next day, the heroes set off west to the Dawn Way then headed north, planning on scouting out Vraath Keep and then reporting back to Drellin's Ferry, where they would also pick up their artillery (Lestir). However, as they crossed a wooden causeway that spanned the Swift Creek in the Blackwater swamp, they spied an old wagon half sunk in the mud. The sun glinted off something metallic in the wagon. Kel and Kane decided to head out and investigate. Kel tied a rope around himself and then around his horse and then Kane held on to the rope. When they got close to the wagon, Kel spotted a reptilian head resting on the side of it. Before he could react, though, five more heads appeared and all six struck at him! Only a few hit, and Kel reacted by empathically urging his mount, Palador, to run away. Both Kane and Kel were pulled off their feet and dragged back through the mud very rapidly until they reached the causeway. The six-headed creature began to swim up the creek towards the causeway. Iz identified it as a hydra, but he wasn't able to remember much more about it. Tara slashed the rope with her sword, freeing Kel and Kane, who stood up and rushed down the causeway to engage the creature as it got near. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1143/526812431_986e53e29f.jpg The ensuing battle was furious. Iz assisted by inflicting pain on the hydra. This meant it had a harder time hitting the two tanks in their full plate armor with more than one or two heads at a time. Tara healed them up a few times and then she started casting a nimbus of light spell to throw at the hydra. The heroes were frustrated to see the hydra heal up much of the damage they dealt to it every few seconds - it even fully healed itself after Kel struck it for a critical hit with Merthuvial. :nonono: Then a cry resounded from behind them ... and Lestir appeared on his horse, riding furiously to catch up! He had decided not to scribe a scroll after all and had chosen to ride madly up the Dawn Way in hopes of finding his companions. He arrived just in time to see five of the hydra's heads lunge forward and rip Kane to pieces (he took a massive 50 dmg and dropped to -33!) :OMG! Lestir tossed a fireball into the air over the hydra's head and Iz followed with a fully augmented mind thrust, which the hydra was not able to resist. The combination of magic and psionics was too much for the creature and it sank into the creek ... Tara went over to Kane's body and sadly announced that there was nothing she could do. The group began stripping the body of equipment, but as they were doing so a small furry creature came scuttling along the causeway. When it reached Kane's body, it suddenly morphed into a bronze dragon about the same size as a fully-grown human man. The dragon introduced itself as Rom, Kane's childhood friend. He indicated that he would take Kane's body to the Keepers of Eth and have him reincarnated. After the dragon had left with the body, Kel went back out to the wagon and discovered that the glittering item was a suit of mithril breastplate armor. Lestir examined it with his artificer's monocle and determined that it was a +1 mithril breastplate. The group decided to return to Drellin's Ferry and Jorr agreed to accompany them. Upon returning to the Old Bridge Inn, they discovered Kane's friend Ivan Keel waiting expectantly for them. He was sad to hear of Kane's death but at the same time intrigued to hear of the dragon and Kane's impending reincarnation ... Together with Ivan, the weary adventurers spent the rest of the evening reminiscing on events from the short time they had known Kane the dragon shaman. In the middle of the night, they were woken by shouting and cries of alarm. Looking out the windows of the inn, they saw flames leaping into the night sky on the far side of the river. Someone cried out, "Help! Help! Goblins are setting fire to the west bank!" To be continued next week ...
LoveNrockets 06-05-07, 05:08 PM	Whatever happened to that nimbus of light spell:confused: As the battle ensued - Kel-al recalled moments in he and Tara's youth, where Tara's mother berated him because Tara had accidently killed the cat while playing her 'Cleric and the sacrificial lamb' game. Kel was supposed to be keeping an eye on the 8 year old Tara. While Kel continued to take a terrible tongue lashing, Tara played innocently with a candle.:rolleyes:
pukunui 06-05-07, 06:08 PM	LOL. I guess you could say that the nimbus of light spell got dismissed because the hydra sank into the swamp before Tara could use it. Perhaps what tipped everyone off to the fact that Tara was "special" from a very young age was the fact that the cat didn't actually die ...
LoveNrockets 06-05-07, 06:51 PM	LOL. Perhaps what tipped everyone off to the fact that Tara was "special" from a very young age was the fact that the cat didn't actually die ... As a fledgeling Paladin, Kel-Al never did tell Tara that he was actually 'Laying Hands' on the cat at the time of its revival. A little part of him regrets this secret. Tara was so excited when she thought it was her 'own power' that he just didn't have the heart to burst her bubble with the truth:P Kel-Al can't help but wonder, if he never did this, would Tara have thrown away her dreams of 'Cleric-dom' and become an accountant like her father?;)
pukunui 06-05-07, 06:57 PM	Her father's a rancher actually. Outside of Hillwatch. And Tara was visited in a dream by Pelor himself when she was little ... Besides, I thought Kel didn't take up his paladinhood until he went to the swamp. Just trying to be consistent here.
LoveNrockets 06-05-07, 07:43 PM	Kel would return on the odd occassion to visit when his elven tutors and lord would allow him, or when the elves were on a diplomatic mission in Brindol - then he'd be part of it as a spectator.:cool:
pukunui 06-05-07, 07:47 PM	The elves wouldn't do diplomatic missions to Brindol very often, if at all. They're very reclusive and don't trust the humans much. The odd individual elf might go to Brindol (like Lanikar did) but the elves wouldn't send any diplomats. Again - just trying to maintain "internal consistency" or whatever.
LoveNrockets 06-06-07, 03:50 AM	:rolleyes: *sigh*
pukunui 06-10-07, 05:52 AM	Greetings dear readers. I have some thoughts I would like to share with you ... step this way, into the darkness of the spoiler block, where we can speak unseen ... ;) I've been looking at Koth's stats as well as the war adept's. Both are 6th level sorcerers, yet Koth seems a tad on the weaker side. I wonder how he came to be a Wyrmlord? Is it because he's physically tougher, being a bugbear? Also, I note that he's listed as being CR 7, but when I did up a bugbear with 6 class levels in e-tools, it told me it was CR 8. Which is right? It looks like Koth has spent two skill points learning Draconic and Infernal. Would I be correct in assuming that? Also, I was thinking it could be fun to make Koth a warlock instead of a sorcerer. What do people think about that? I know it would change things quite a bit - and possibly make Koth a tougher opponent. I haven't decided for sure yet, but if I were to go the warlock route for Koth, I was thinking of giving him some of the following invocations: hideous blow, eldritch spear, eldritch chain, walk unseen and fell flight.
pukunui 06-15-07, 09:09 AM	Session Date: 15 June 2007 Playing Time: 3.5 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Iz, Tara (NPC ally), Kel-Al, Ivan, and Lestir Timeline: Day 4 PC Deaths: none! ------------------------------------------------ We had a great session this evening. It consisted almost entirely of one long, drawn out battle (which in in-game time only took a minute or two :rolleyes:). However, it started out on a sad note ... the guy who plays Lestir has decided to stop playing d&d! :weep: That means we've got to find a new player again soon. Anyway, on to the session recap ... The heroes were awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of people shouting and screaming. Flames leapt high into the night sky from the part of Drellin's Ferry on the far side of the river. Shadowy shapes could be seen flitting in and out of the burning buildings. The group donned their armor and got their weapons ready and headed down towards the ferry landing, where Captain Soranna was busy getting her troops ready to cross the river. Tara surprised everyone by displaying some newly-gained power ... she prayed to Pelor, touched everyone in turn, and then raced out across the river, her feet not even touching the surface. The others followed warily, but soon all were racing across. They soon found trouble on the other side. First they engaged a troop of 3 goblin worg riders and a hell hound. Lestir lobbed a fireball at them and sizzled them nicely (all except the hell hound, who seemed completely unharmed) but didn't kill any of them. Tara cast daylight on a rock and lobbed it into the middle of the street so that everyone would be able to see the battlefield properly. The hell hound charged Ivan and breathed fire on him. Kel summoned his mount, Palador, and ganged up on the hound with Tara and Ivan. The three of them made short work of the hound before it could breathe fire again. :clap: Meanwhile, the goblins spread out and fired their bows at Lestir. He took one arrow in the first round then three in the second. This made the young wizard, who has a particular loathing for goblins already, very angry (:headexplo). He lobbed another fireball at them and charbroiled two of the goblins and their worgs. The third escaped the blast and ran off. :eek: Unsure if that was the last of them, the heroes readied for another attack. Iz went and hid behind a house that wasn't burning, while Tara and Kel took shelter behind Ben Sterrel's Provisioning shop and stableyard. Kel crept along the side of the shop to have a peek around the other side while Iz walked up the side of the house and stood on the roof to get a better view before walking back down again. Needless to say, the others were very impressed with this little feat (pun intended ;)). http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1329/554070078_f91df25296.jpg Key: Once again, the aasimar fighter is Kel-Al, the white-robed wizard is Lestir, the white-bearded wizard is Iz, the Karsite fighter(?) is Ivan, and the justice archon is meant to be Tara (except that she doesn't have wings). Moments later, a group of 5 hobgoblin soldiers accompanied by a robed hobgoblin came running down the road. The robed hobgoblin spotted the heroes, pulled a glass rod and a piece of fur from his pouch, rubbed them together, then opened his hand and loosed a terrible lightning bolt that blasted its way through Kel and hit Lestir on the far side! :mage: Both of them took a massive 30 electricity damage, although Kel was able to shrug 5 points of that off due to his celestial heritage. Lestir dropped to -13 ... he felt himself slipping away but Tara mustered her divine power and cast close wounds (1d4+9) and brought him back to 0 hp! :w00t: The heroes quickly realized they were up against somebody serious. Lestir angrily lobbed yet another fireball in the direction of the enemy. He took four of the hobbos out right way, but the fifth managed to survive. On his next turn, he downed a potion and healed himself up a little, but it wasn't enough. He ran across the road and hid behind a house. Iz walked up the wall of the house again and climbed in through the upper story window. He then peeked out through the far window just as the enemy magic user cast mirror image. Lestir responded by throwing an ice knife, and although it missed the target, the splash damage was enough to destroy the images and reveal the true caster once again. Frustrated, the enemy whipped out a scroll and turned invisible. Iz moved over to a window directly above the last remaining hobbo soldier and thrust his mind at the poor guy, who couldn't handle the mental assault and collapsed on the ground, dying. A swarm of bats suddenly appeared in the road in front of Ivan, but it ignored him and went straight for Lestir. Kel approached and attacked it with his sword, but Ivan, who knows a thing or two about swarms, told him that conventional weapons would be useless. Lestir ran away, digging out a scroll as he did so, but the swarm followed, biting him some more. He ran away again and this time was able to cast his fireball spell, completing incinerating the thousands of little bats. :ayyyy!: Tara, meanwhile, ran around healing her wounded allies. Ivan the fighter moved around the side of the house in which Iz was lurking. As he came around the far side, the enemy spellcaster reappeared right in front of him and a coruscating ray of enfeeblement struck Ivan, dropping his Strength to 10, effectively taking him out of the fight for an unknown period of time ... :eek: The caster then turned and ran behind a tree but not before Kel-Al spotted him. Tara came running after Kel and made the mistake of getting to a point where a quick 5-ft step from the enemy caster allowed him to line both aasimars up for another lightning bolt. With their electricity resistance, they took only 21 points of damage! Ouch! After that, the caster turned himself invisible again, and both Iz (who had jumped out the window and landed on his feet, of course) and Kel tried to grapple the invisible caster and failed. He reappeared again and fired another lightning bolt. The heroes quickly descended on him, attempting to surround him, but the caster slipped away and started retreating. Tara, using up her last 3rd level spell, took him down with a searing light spell. The heroes rushed over to find him still living. Tara cast cure minor wounds on him to stabilize him, then they trussed him up and looted him ... with Tara getting his ring of protection +1 and Iz getting a cloak of resistance +1 as well as scrolls of fly, haste, and summon monster IV. Not sure who took the two potions found on the hobbo. Around this time, Captain Soranna showed up with Jorr and her militiamen. They spread out and rushed off to chase away the last of the raiders and put out the fires. The heroes took the captured hobbo and carried him back across the river and put him in the town jail. Then they went and get another 5 hours' rest so they could prepare spells/powers and such. They went back to the jail mid-morning and Lestir cast charm person on the enemy caster. He revealed his name was Urk-thar. He was happy to tell them that he was serving under Wyrmlord Koth, a mighty bugbear with fiendish powers, who had set up camp in an old human castle in the woods (Vraath Keep). He told them there were many patrols out in the woods but couldn't give them definite numbers. He also told them that Koth's lieutenant was a bull-faced minotaur. The caster informed them that the Kulkor Zhul would take the "human river-town" on the "Day of Ruin", which was coming soon but he was not able to tell them how soon. He was also unable to give them much in the way of details on the rest of the hobgoblin force, but it became apparent that Koth wasn't working alone. Finally, the caster informed them that perhaps the best way to "surprise" Koth in the castle would be to climb up the outside of the tower and then descend the stairs into his room, thus bypassing Karkilan the minotaur and the other guards. And that is where we ended the session. Next session should be interesting ... :plotting: I decided to go ahead and make Koth a warlock. I've changed his flavor ever so slightly so now he likes to sneak up on people while invisibile (walk unseen) and then smack them with a hideous blow from his mwk morningstar. I thought about giving him fell flight instead of walk unseen but I'm not sure I want to do that. I didn't give him any ranks in UMD, so he won't be able to use a scroll of mount to aid in escaping. Fell flight would solve that problem, but I can only give him one least invocation and I really like the running around invisible thing. I suppose I could just give him fell flight and then give him a potion of invisibility instead of a potion of fly. EDIT: I decided to give him fell flight after all. I gave him a potion of invisibility to compensate. This will make it easier for him to get away, should he be able to do so. A potion of fly doesn't last very long, and since I didn't give him any ranks in UMD, he can't use a scroll of mount. That would mean he'd have to walk to Skull Gorge Bridge. Although now I'm second-guessing myself. Did I make the right choice? Damn! If only I could give him both invocations - but I'd have to give him several more levels before he could learn another least invocation. Sigh ... Anyway, if anyone wants my Koth warlock stats, just let me know and I'll e-mail them to you. I also just wanted to make the comment that, during the interrogation scene, it became increasingly obvious to me that the information the "grunts" are "allowed" to give out isn't really enough. Why wouldn't they know the names of at least Azarr Kul and Kharn? Why wouldn't they know what other kinds of monsters are in the army besides goblinoids? Is it because they're the advance troops and they haven't been around the main army in a long while so they don't really know what's going on? I suppose that could be it, but they really ought to at least know Kharn's and Kul's names ... I had the war adept play dumb, though. The PCs will have to capture Koth in order to get more info.
Prom 06-21-07, 02:23 AM	Hi All, This takes place after Lestir questions Urk-thar. The Wisdom of Iz: As Ivan steps out the door of the makeshift jail a frail hand catches his arm. Ivan's momentum takes him one step further breaking the weak grip easily but turning he sees the long bearded Iz who regards him with one then two cocked eyebrows. With a solemn voice Iz says, "You have a good head on you sprogling." Iz nods back to the jail then goes on, "I appreciate a good mind, not many around". Iz cuts off any possible reply by continuing on, "buy me a drink sunshine". "If I have any money left, your on," replies Ivan. Ivan feels through his pockets for a few loose coins. "If you have any money left?..." Iz trails off before gesturing Ivan to walk with him at a blistering pace. "Spent it all on beer and hookers eh? Good for you, I remember my young years doing the same, well most of them anyhow's," states Iz. Arriving at the inns commonroom Iz shoulders his way past some smokey refugees and galanty pulls out a chair for Ivan to sit on. "Sit, drink, its on me, and a women as well if you have time, not that I think we do," encourages Iz. Iz holds up a hand cutting of any possible protest. Lowering that same hand he extends it across the table in a very old fashioned warriors grip (handshake). "Izakaiah is the name, don't worry about wearing it out, me and it are so old we're practicly gone already" Ivan reaches out to shake his hand a little confused, then smiles. "Thanks I could do with a drink. By any chance could a wizard like you, make a barmaid's dress rise up?" inquires Ivan. Ivan watches the young barmaid working across the room wiping tables. Iz considers the young bar maid a moment then looks back at Ivan. "Here's the thing Sprogling, I could, but I won't. Not because I don't want to, but because I do, but because I have bigger skirts to lift. And by skirt, I mean hobgoblins, and by lift I mean stop. Now I could send her skirt above her head, but who knows when today I might need that magic to send a potion of healing your way?. Ivan looks slightly embarrised by Iz's suggestion that Ivan may need help in a battle. Iz gestures the barmaid over calling for a pitcher of milk for himself and three mugs of ale for Ivan. As he hands the barmaid the coinage it slips from his fingers. The barmaid crouchs to pick them up revealing a good deal of cleavage to the pair. Iz tips her a silver coin and a befuddled smile as she leaves. "Besides I'm more a milk man myself" says Iz taking a long pull from his pitcher of milk. "Tell me how you knew Kane" Iz demands abruptly. Ivan look's a bit surprised. "Your a bit strange old man, joking around one minute then demanding personal information. Still, I would have thought Kane would have told you, he told everyone else he met," replied Ivan with a wary chuckle. "I was attacked in the Witchwood by three lizardfolk, while escorting an archealogist search for druidic ruins. There were to many, then this guy jumped out of bush and split the spin of on lizard, killing it. It took Kane and I a little while to dispatching the last two lizard's, but we did. When we finally got a chance to talk, we had so much in common that we have been friend's ever since," states Ivan. "So what's the deal with you guy's?" inquires Ivan trying to steer the conversion in the direction he want's. Iz leans across the table and meets Ivans gaze with watery old eyes. "The deal is as follows sprogling, and humor an old man if you will and just listen. Five hundred years ago, give or take a few decades I was like you are now, young, full of urine and vinegar. A head full of sex and magic," Iz takes a pull from his flagon of milk and goes on seemingly unaware or uncaring of the milk spilt on his beard... "An expedition gone wrong saw me trapped in a magical maze far to the east of here, for five hundred years I languished unable to move beyond the room I was in. Thankfully the aging process seemed to have slowed down, but it was the party of Lestir who freed me, if indirectly. That maze took my youth, my family, all that I knew and made it as dust. In truth I am bitter, but I repay my debts. Since Lestir is the only survivor of those who saved what life I have left I owe him a debt of gratitude. He seems to be taking this whole adventuring thing very seriously, and I will serve him for a time as best I am able." Iz pauses for breath. "That is the deal. That is why I serve. If you are unsure of your place perhaps you could consider that Kane gave his life in the same cause that Lestir follows. Wether or not that makes you cling or run is up to you. Were I of a sane mind...well I would be gone allready, enjoy the ale, we leave shortly for a keep full of hobgoblins" Iz rises to leave. Ivan drops his head and stops tapping the table, saying nothing more. He is locked in deep thought as Iz walks away. Time to make a choice: Takes place just before the group leaves for Vraath Keep. Ivan watches the group load the horse's for the journey to Vraath Keep. All the while Ivan lean's up against the Old bridge Inn, wittling a piece of wood with a dagger. He wants to travel with Kal-Al, Iz, Lestir and Tara, but his performance against the goblin's attacking the west bank of Drellin's Ferry was nothing short of embarrising. These guy's are much more powerful then himself, so what can he offer. Ivan finds the Paladin easy to be around and the old man Iz seems nothing short of a live wit. Then Ivan has an idea and pipes up, by clearing his throat. "Do any of you know anything about Bugbear's and Minotaur's? Because I do, should you be interested in some help taking a castle full of goblin's. Personally I think you will need all the help you can get," states Ivan as a fact. Ivan stops wittling and walks over to Iz. "You know magic is great, but have you every considered throwing knifes when your magic is expended?" asks Ivan with a grin. Ivan tosses the dagger in the air and catches it by the hilt as it falls. He then hand's the dagger to Iz.. "You might want that later," Ivan smiles at Iz and taps his leg with his fingers. Let me know if some of the language is a problem please, and I will change it if needed. Prom
pukunui 06-22-07, 10:08 AM	We had a big exciting session (although it was bogged down at times what with having to look up various obscure rules and spells and such - man, 3.5 has too many rules :P). I also introduced Action Points to the game, which had a significant effect on the outcome of the battle because a number of the players were using them willy-nilly thinking they'd be leveling up soon so what the hell?! I should've thought to only give them a partial amount ... Anyway, the PCs successfully assaulted Vraath Keep, killing everyone inside except for the manticore, which flew away, and the two worgs, which ran away. They even managed to kill Koth, although it took a while, and Iz died in the process. So it was a bittersweet victory. I've got a nice pic of Prom's awesome model of Vraath Keep. I promise I'll get the session recap and the photo up as soon as I can. It's 2am here, though, so I need to go attempt to get as much sleep as I can. Cheers, Jonny
Caligula 06-22-07, 02:11 PM	Sleep well dear Pukunui, and pray to Pelor that Tiamat's wraith will not enter your dreams.... The evil Dragon God will not look kindly on the death of one of her Wyrmlords.... :devil: Supreme Wyrmlord Caligula
pukunui 06-22-07, 06:38 PM	Heh. Unless Tiamat is also the evil goddess of colds and congestion, then I don't think she bothered me in my sleep last night. Koth managed to hold his own for quite a while, but he was hit pretty hard by an angry black man who just wouldn't let him get away. And when Lestir cast fly on Ivan to help him keep close to Koth, that was pretty much it. Koth just couldn't get far enough away and Ivan was able to charge him through the air twice, taking him out the second time and then delivering a coup de grace that meant there would be no interrogation of the Wyrmlord ... More later.
Prom 06-22-07, 08:11 PM	Hi Pukunui, Ivan the dark man charged because the other players said charge, my brain was jelly at 12.30 am. If you think delivering a coup de grace on Koth is bad, I plan next week to cut his head off and keep it over my mantle piece. Koth was a pain in the butt. Prom
pukunui 06-22-07, 08:42 PM	Tough talk from a tough man ... but the People of the Dragon are even tougher for they have a god on their side! And she will wreak furious vengeance upon those who dare stand in her way! :evillaugh
pukunui 06-22-07, 09:47 PM	Ivan watches the group load the horse's for the journey to Vraath Keep. All the while Ivan lean's up against the Old bridge Inn, wittling a piece of wood with a dagger. He wants to travel with Kal-Al, Iz, Lestir and Tara, but his performance against the goblin's attacking the west bank of Drellin's Ferry was nothing short of embarrising. These guy's are much more powerful then himself, so what can he offer. Ivan finds the Paladin easy to be around and the old man Iz seems nothing short of a live wit. Then Ivan has an idea and pipes up, by clearing his throat.Heh. I only just saw this stuff. Interesting commentary. It's a pity Iz had his skull crushed in. It would have been nice to have more roleplaying like this from the old man ... Oh well, I just wanted to say that Ivan more than made up for his embarrassing "help" in the Goblin Raid by relentlessly pursuing and finally killing Wyrmlord Koth in battle for Vraath Keep! I think he's definitely part of the team now!
pukunui 06-22-07, 09:54 PM	Here's the pic of Prom's awesome model of Vraath Keep. He's spent a lot of time and money on this thing and it really shows. :clap: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1082/594669188_e690795f5e.jpg Some comments ... Prom built the keep in separate pieces so he could reuse the model later on in different shapes. Very smart of him. It's made of styrofoam with some sort of coating plus spray paint and the like. PM Prom if you want the nitty-gritty details. He also made furniture for the rooms, but we didn't actually get into any of those sections of the keep last night, so the furniture wasn't put out. Mini Key: Dalelands Militia: Jorr Justice Arcon: Tara (but, of course, she doesn't have wings!) Modified Harmonium Guard: Ivan Aasimar Fighter: Kel-Al Bonded Fire Summoner: Lestir (this is a better mini because he's actually a young guy, whereas the previous mini we'd been using was of an old wizard) Old Man: Iz The piles of skeleton minis are meant to represent the forest giant skeletons lying around the place. The little rocks are the boulders they chucked at the keep. The black rectangular outline on the transparency sheet is, of course, the gardener's shack. Recap to follow. Enjoy! Jonny
snakeheadfish33 06-23-07, 12:25 AM	nice work Prom. that's really prime stuff.
Prom 06-23-07, 01:32 AM	Hi snakeheadfish33, Thanks, that castle was tricky and I made a few mistakes. I will have to make some roof's for it sometime, when I am not tired. I think Pukunui got a shock when he saw it the first time. The death of Iz was a shame all right Pukunui, but I suspect the the guy playing Iz will come up with something out of the octagon rather than the square, lol. So roleplay's may still occur, with some exotic characters. Prom
pukunui 06-23-07, 01:36 AM	Thanks, that castle was tricky and I made a few mistakes. I will have to make some roof's for it sometime, when I am not tired. I think Pukunui got a shock when he saw it the first time.:shocked: LOL. Yes, I was very impressed. ;) The death of Iz was a shame all right Pukunui, but I suspect the the guy playing Iz will come up with something out of the octagon rather than the square, lol. So roleplay's may still occur, with some exotic characters.Indeed, I'm already in talks with Nick about his next PC. It was rather amusing, actually, because we both came up with the exact same idea for introducing the new PC. We must have been reading each other's minds ... ;) We've lost 6 PCs so far ... but I was thinking that really, only 4 of them could be considered to be "my" fault. I'm pretty sure Nick deliberately got Lemig killed since no one really liked him and then Dryfoot was accidentally killed by Brock. So I don't feel too bad about it. Plus Kane got reincarnated, so he didn't stay dead even if he is no longer a PC.
pukunui 06-23-07, 04:19 AM	Session Date: 22 June 2007 Playing Time: 6 hours Players Present: 3 Characters: Iz, Kel-Al, Ivan, Lestir, Tara (NPC ally), and Jorr (NPC ally) Timeline: Days 4-5 PC Deaths: :ghosted: ------------------------------------------------ After interrogating the hobgoblin sorcerer, the heroes decided to hang around town until the following day before heading off to scout out the keep. Kel commissioned a potion of bear's endurance from the local druid and Lestir decided to scribe another scroll of fireball, so that meant they had another day to kill. At midday, while the PCs were having lunch at the Old Bridge Inn, the exotic shopkeeper, Jarett Nurth, came in and thanked them profusely for helping the town fight off the goblins on the west bank. She presented them with a gift of one potion of cure moderate wounds each as a token of her appreciation. Her eyes lingered a little too long on Ivan's ebony skin before she announced she could tarry no longer and returned to her shop. Ivan wandered after her a little while later and had a nice chat with her over the counter. She revealed she had come to Drellin's Ferry seven years before from a place far in the south called Bagrad. Meanwhile, Kel wandered around town again. He was soon found by a grim-faced Captain Soranna, who informed him that she believed "Lady Dagger" had struck again - taking advantage of the confusion and mayhem of last night's goblin raid to murder a well-respected farmer. Kel got Tara and Lestir to follow him over to the crime scene, where they talked to the farmer's widow and two sons. The widow had her suspicions that a grouchy old businessman named Iormel might have had something to do with it. When no further progress on the murder was forthcoming, the PCs decided to call it a day. The following morning, they collected their things, roused Jorr, and headed off into the woods in search of Vraath Keep. It took them about half a day of steady riding to reach the trail leading up to the keep, which sat perched atop a bald hill rising out of the trees. The PCs sent Jorr up alone to scout things out. He returned a little while later to say the place was not guarded. In fact, it looked deserted. The PCs debated whether or not to hang around till dark, but those without darkvision in the group won out and the PCs headed up the path in broad daylight. They hid behind a decrepit old shack in front of the keep while they devised a plan. To start with, they convinced Jorr (by agreeing to pay him some money) to allow Lestir to turn him invisible so he could sneak into the keep through the open gates and scout around inside. The woodsman reluctantly agreed. He returned a little while later and waited for the invisibility to wear off before making his report. He informed them that the keep's inhabitants consisted of a manticore, a minotaur, four hobgoblins (two of whom were sleeping), and a pair of goblins and their worg mounts. He showed them where all of the creatures were on the group's ancient map of the keep. He hadn't gone into the tower, but he presumed that that was where Koth was. The PCs then decided they would try to draw the enemies out into the keep's courtyard, which was strewn with giant skeletons and huge boulders, making navigation difficult, and then trap them in there while the wizards climbed the wall and fireballed the manticore. They had Jorr gather up some of the weeds from the former vegetable garden and then dump them on top of one of the broken-down gates at the front of the keep. He was then instructed to shoot a flaming arrow at the heap to light it on fire ... but he was to wait until signalled. Kel, Tara, and Ivan moved along to the hole in the south wall of the keep, where they intended to ambush the hobgoblins should they come within sight. Iz then climbed up the east wall, used benign transposition to trade places with Lestir, and then climbed up the wall again. Lestir had given Iz some of his fireball scrolls, and the two casters intended to use them on the manticore. However, when they looked down into the room through the hole in the roof, they discovered that the manticore was awake and watching them. "Go away. Go talk to Koth," it told them in crude Common. Surprised, they didn't move. The manticore grew suspicious and launched itself into the air and flew out the hole in the roof. It had intended to simply move away to a safe distance, but the mages threw some fireballs at it, so it landed on the far wall and shot its tail spikes at the foremost wizard (who happened to be Lestir). As the battle raged on, the PCs eventually managed to hurt the manticore enough that it fled west, never to be seen again. Meanwhile, the fireballs' explosions roused the rest of the keep's inhabitants. First to come out were the worg riders. They spotted the fire in the gateway of the keep and moved over there to try to put it out. The four hobgoblin veterans emerged a little while later, two of them looking bleary-eyed. Fireballs were dropped into the courtyard one after another. The goblins were killed and their worg mounts leaped through the flames and fled the scene. The hobbos survived though and pulled out some potions, with which they cured themselves. Lestir had taken some damage by this point, so he pulled out the potion that Jarett had given him. Oddly enough, it only cured him of 1 point of damage and also gave him a strange feeling in his stomach. He managed to shake it off though and yelled out to the others not to drink their potions from Jarett. Something was wrong with them. At this point, though, Kel and Ivan were busy holding the gap in the wall, fighting off two hobgoblins. All parties involved hacked furiously at each other with longswords. One hobgoblin tried to be sneaking and went through the manticore's room and out through the gatehouse, around the wall and tried to flank the fighters, but Tara spotted him and stopped him. She had cast a nimbus of light spell several seconds before and now threw it at him but her aim was off. The two battled furiously until Ivan came and slew the hobbo. Short work was made of the other hobbos. Not long after the last one fell, Lestir heard someone behind him speaking in a strange language he couldn't understand. The voice was both deep and high at the same time and it sent shivers down his spine. Just then a huge bugbear dressed in a mithril shirt materialized behind him and swung at the wizard with a wicked-looking morningstar wreathed in purple flames. The blow struck Lestir in the back and, not knowing what else to do, the young wizard risked his life and leaped off the roof, dropping the 10ft to the courtyard below. Iz spotted the bugbear and targeted him with repeated psionic powers, but the bugbear managed to resist just about all of them, although he did manage to hit with his entangling ectoplasm. Koth shot purple fire at the old man several times before taking to the air and trying to retreat. Lestir used a summon monster III spell to conjure up three celestial giant bees that plagued the flying bugbear. He mostly ignored their attacks though. Lestir then cast dispel magic and knocked Koth out of the sky. Unfortunately, he fell into the manticore's room, landing on Iz. Iz had previously climbed up onto the roof and had used benign transposition to swap places with Ivan. Ivan took a chance and jumped in after the bugbear. The three fought tooth and nail in a pile but eventually Koth got away. He shouted out that the old man's doom was upon him and then crushed his skull with a hideous blow from his morningstar. He then flew out of the room. Meanwhile, the minotaur had finally decided to make an appearance, stepping out of a doorway behind Kel and hacking at him with his greataxe. The paladin retaliated by using his lightning gauntlets, so the minotaur retreated back through the doorway and came around to the gap in the wall, next to which Lestir was foolishly standing. The minotaur came through the gap and swung his greataxe down in a mighty arc! Lestir was nearly cut in half, but Tara managed to reach him and heal up him. Kel swiftly weaved through the boulders to engage the minotaur again. Again the minotaur delivered a crushing blow to the paladin, but Tara healed him up. The minotaur retreated and the PCs advanced and eventually took him down. Lestir rushed into the manticore's room just in time to see Koth swooping up through the roof, bleeding profusely from a hit that Ivan had managed to score on him. Lestir cast fly on Ivan so the big black man could chase after the Wyrmlord. The big bugbear managed to down a potion but his fly speed wasn't good enough to get out of Ivan's reach. Twice the angry black man charged him through the air and the second time he took the bugbear out. In a fury, he stabbed his sword through the Wyrmlord's heart. And that, folks, is where we ended the session at 1:30 in the morning. Tune in next week for some lessons on castle-looting. ;)
pukunui 06-25-07, 01:34 AM	Hi all, I have just learned that an erroneous ruling on my part my have indirectly resulted in the deaths of both Iz and Koth! I have been reminded on a different thread that fell flight works exactly as the spell fly, except that it lasts for 24 hours and only grants you a fly speed equal to your land speed (which is generally slower than the speed that the spell normally grants, which is why Koth had so much trouble escaping Ivan). The fly spell stipulates that when it is dispelled, the magic fades slowly, granting the user a feather fall effect. This means that when Koth's fell flight was dispelled by Lestir, he should have floated gently to the ground, dealing no damage to Iz and taking none himself. If I recall correctly, we decided that the combination of Koth's assumed weight (anyone know how to figure out a bugbear's weight?) and his distance from the ground caused Iz to take 10 points of damage. When Koth killed him with a hideous blow, he dropped to -12. That means that if he hadn't taken the 10 points of damage earlier, he'd only be at -2. So Iz should still be alive! EDIT: Nick has reminded me that we decided to roll 10d3 and I got 13. So really Iz would still be on 1hp. We've agreed that perhaps Koth did a bit more damage, dropping Iz to -2, and then Tara found him and healed him back to full health. Koth, as well, only dropped to -2 with Ivan's last hit. If he had not taken the 7 points of falling damage earlier, he would still be at 5hp. EDIT: I've also decided that we'll just leave Koth dead. I don't particularly feel like replaying that bit. After all, the show must go on ... This just goes to show that d&d should not be played at 1:30 in the morning ... :P My players and I have observed that all the PCs who have died in our campaign have done so after 11pm. I don't think it's a coincidence.
Prom 06-25-07, 02:32 AM	LOL Posted by Pukunui, This just goes to show that d&d should not be played at 1:30 in the morning ... So true. Prom
Subversive 06-25-07, 02:57 PM	Hi all, I have just learned that an erroneous ruling on my part my have indirectly resulted in the deaths of both Iz and Koth! I have been reminded on a different thread that fell flight works exactly as the spell fly, except that it lasts for 24 hours and only grants you a fly speed equal to your land speed (which is generally slower than the speed that the spell normally grants, which is why Koth had so much trouble escaping Ivan). The fly spell stipulates that when it is dispelled, the magic fades slowly, granting the user a feather fall effect. This means that when Koth's fell flight was dispelled by Lestir, he should have floated gently to the ground, dealing no damage to Iz and taking none himself. Yeah, I was going to say something about this... but I didn't.
pukunui 06-25-07, 04:50 PM	Yeah, I was going to say something about this... but I didn't. Oh but you should have!
pukunui 06-29-07, 09:45 AM	This is just a place-holder post. I will post a more detailed recap as soon as I can. The Kulkor Zhul and their goddess, Tiamat, have suffered a mighty blow at the hands of some impetuous adventurers! After looting the vault under Vraath Keep and deciphering Koth's voluminous notes and the map, they decided to head straight for Skull Gorge Bridge to find out what was going on. Not only did they slay the green dragon, Ozzyrandion, in 30 seconds but they also destroyed the bridge itself! This was done by means of a sonic energy wall manifested by Iz on the bridge next to where the arch began (forgot my camera so next week we will set up the bridge model again just so I can take a picture - assuming I remember my camera then! :rolleyes:). The old man concentrated for about 5 minutes in total before the sonic energy did enough damage to the bridge to cause it to collapse. This was quite an inventive way of destroying the bridge and I'm thinking that Iz deserves a bit of bonus XP for it ... :clap: Ozzy was run by a co-DM (who posts as Jezza). In hindsight, we both agreed that I should have bumped Ozzy up to Large size. He would have presented more of a challenge. As it was, he made a few tactical errors and was taken out by a fireball as he tried to rendezvous with a hobgoblin bearing a healing potion. I had wondered whether or not to make him Large, but I felt that the guys had had a pretty tough time of it so far, losing one PC to the hydra and almost losing another PC to Koth. So I thought I'd leave Ozzy alone. I'm not going to make Reggie a Large dragon, either, though, mainly because I like the Medium green dragon mini better and also because the terrain in Rhest favors him more than the terrain at the bridge favored Ozzy ... who made the mistake of going to ground to attack the PCs with his melee attacks while waiting for his breath weapon to recharge. And Iz successfully hit him with entangling ectoplasm and inflict pain, which reduced his capacity to hit things and reduced his speed by half, so he had difficulty getting away. Actually, that's more good tactics by Iz, so maybe more bonus XP is in order. I have also decided that action points are an unnecessary addition to the game so I have removed them. Anyway, that's enough out of me. I need to go to bed. EDIT: Fellow DMs - you know how it says that Serterien will sell his wares to PCs in the service of the town for half price? Do you suppose that includes the ring of protection +2 that he has for sale? If so, that would mean a real steal for PCs! Should I have him insist that they pay full price for that one? Maybe he only sells the cheap stuff, like scrolls, for half price. What do you guys think?
Prom 06-29-07, 09:56 AM	Hi Pukunui, This was quite an inventive way of destroying the bridge and I'm thinking that Iz deserves a bit of bonus XP for it I second that. All hail Iz, the bridge destoryer. :bow: Prom
pukunui 06-30-07, 03:45 AM	Session Date: 29 June 2007 Playing Time: 5.5 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Iz, Kel-Al, Ivan, Lestir, Tara (NPC ally), and Jorr (NPC ally) Timeline: Days 5-6 PC Deaths: none ------------------------------------------------ "This'll make a nice addition to my trophy collection ..." - Ivan Keel, dungeoneer and ex-convict, in reference to Koth's freshly severed head Having slain Vraath Keep's inhabitants, the heroes explored the place in peace. While Ivan beheaded and looted Koth's corpse, the others searched the manticore's filthy nest. The big black man then rejoined the others and handed Koth's bag to the casters, who identified it as a bag of holding (type I). Iz claimed it for his own, opening it up and discovering Koth's map and coded documents. Although Iz was able to tell that the documents were in Infernal, he was not able to make heads or tails of the meaning, so he enlisted Lestir's help to decipher the script. The two casters settled down in the middle of the courtyard and poured over the contents of the documents and the map for the better part of the afternoon. Meanwhile the others explored the rest of the keep, taking their time to ensure no stone was left unturned. This meant that they eventually discovered the trapdoor leading to the secret Vraath Keep vault. First they decided to see what was up in the tower and discovered the grisly body of the slain farmer. The two aasimars decided to take the body down and bury it under a cairn of rocks while Ivan braved the darkness of the vault alone. :gah: He soon discovered there was nothing to be scared of down there but he became frustrated when he couldn't get into the alcoves. He took the bastard sword from the clutches of Amery Vraath's skeleton and tried bashing the padlocks. The sound of steel ringing on iron alerted the others. Kel-Al eventually showed up and gently pushed Ivan aside. He pulled out Merthuvial and deftly cut through the chains keeping the grates locked. The duo then looted the Vraath Vault. They took everything except the expired notes of credit (although it was jokingly suggested that these should be presented to Iz as his share of the treasure ... since he supposedly is confused about what year it is, he might not have realized that they had expired). I believe the silver pieces may have been left behind as well. After hauling everything upstairs, they got Lestir to identify everything with his artificer's monocle. (If you want to know exactly what is that they found, just PM me and I'll let you know. The list is too long to post here. :P) Iz and Lestir eventually cracked the code and discovered all sorts of important information. They shared their findings, along with Koth's map, with the rest of the group and it was unanimously agreed upon that they should head up to Skull Gorge Bridge to see what they could see. However, they also agreed that it would be best to spend the night there, rest up, and head out in the morning, so that is what they did. The next day dawned fine and clear as usual. They had breakfast, mounted their horses, and headed north on the Dawn Way. Jorr reckoned the distance between the keep and the bridge as being 14 miles, which would take them the better part of half a day. Around midmorning they passed a forest giant effigy marking an old trail but decided to bypass it for now. They went straight to the edge of the treeline and spied the bridge. They also spied its guardians, including the medium-sized green dragon basking in the sun on the northwest tower. :dragon: :eek: Already schemes were hatching in the nooks and crannies of Iz's ancient yet powerful mind. He could see a way to destroy that bridge :plotting: ... but first its guardians would need to be dealt with ... No one was surprised. The hellhounds charged, the hobbos fired their arrows, and the dragon swooped in through the trees to envelop the casters in a cloud of corrosive gas. The casters took a bit of damage, but Iz used his racial resilience to boost his defences. Both casters made their Reflex saves. Frustrated, Ozzy made his first fatal mistake. He went to ground and attacked Tara as she tried to heal Lestir. Both Kel-Al and Ivan rushed to her defence while Iz hit him with entangling ectoplasm and then stabbed his mind with inflict pain. The cumulative penalties were quite detrimental to Ozzy, reducing his speed to half and meaning that it took him several rounds to get back to the nearest tower. Partway there, his breath weapon had recharged, so he used it on the closest PCs. This was his second fatal mistake. His final mistake was to rise up to try to rendezvous with a hobgoblin on a tower so he could take a healing potion. He should have instead flown out of sight behind the tower and then retreated to his own stash. The fireball that Lestir loosed above Ozzy's head didn't kill him ... but falling 40ft to the ground below did. Splat! :ghosted: Poor poor Ozzy. He failed his queen and she will no doubt punish him severely unto eternity because of it! The hellhounds were both eventually slain without too much difficulty. Some of the hobbos ran across the bridge and flanked Ivan, but Jorr, Tara, and Kel-Al came to his aid. They ganged up on the hobbo sergeant and took him out. Meanwhile Iz walked up the side of a tower and then cast benign transposition on himself, swapping places with Ivan. At the sight of both their leaders falling to the hands of these able-bodied adventurers, the remaining hobgoblin warriors turned to flee. The PCs chased them down, slaughtering them almost to a man. One of them they took prisoner and another, staring into the face of an angry black man and knowing he was as good as dead, took his own life by leaping from the tower and into the gorge ... :looloo: All in all, the battle only lasted for approximately 1 minute of in-game time and Ozzy was slain around the 30 second mark! Pretty incredible stuff from our heroes and a fantastic outcome for the players considering some of the tough times they'd been through earlier in the campaign! The PCs searched the bodies, the towers and the campsite, collected the loot, had Lestir identify the magic items, and divvied everything up. Then Iz set to work manifesting a sonic energy wall at the base of the bridge's arch. The sonic energy would ignore the stonework's hardness and would basically shake the bridge to death. However, he agreed to stop before it fell apart so that Kel-Al, Ivan, and Jorr could ride out to Cinder Hill to scout out the enemy army. This took them 3 hours. When they returned, their hearts all a-flutter, Iz manifested a second wall and the bridge came crashing down. :w00t: :clap: :bravo: We pick up next week with the PCs making tracks back to Drellin's Ferry to warn the townsfolk of their impending doom! Cheers, Jonny p.s. Prom and I made a model of Skull Gorge Bridge. It ain't pretty but it's functional. I forgot my camera, though. Hopefully I'll remember it next week and we can set it up again so I can get a pic for the thread here.
Moherajikuyx 07-02-07, 06:19 AM	The fireball that Lestir loosed above Ozzy's head didn't kill him ... but falling 40ft to the ground below did. Splat! :ghosted: uhm.. I think that natural flyers that go below 0 hp while flying don't fall, their wings slow the fall. Not sure about.
pukunui 07-02-07, 06:25 AM	uhm.. I think that natural flyers that go below 0 hp while flying don't fall, their wings slow the fall. Not sure about. Doesn't really matter ... Ivan the angry black man cut off his head soon after, so even if the fall hadn't killed him outright, then that would've ... ;) But thanks for the tip. I'll look into it. And I don't think that that particular comment really needed to be hidden. FYI.
mussor 07-02-07, 08:04 AM	But thanks for the tip. I'll look into it. And I don't think that that particular comment really needed to be hidden. FYI. It would certainly fall below 0 hp. Just check what happens to birds who knock themselves out flying into windows. They crash, completely, even if the luckier ones stabilize themselves and eventually fly off again. :)
pukunui 07-02-07, 02:56 PM	It would certainly fall below 0 hp. Just check what happens to birds who knock themselves out flying into windows. They crash, completely, even if the luckier ones stabilize themselves and eventually fly off again. :) Yeah, I haven't been able to find anything that says they wouldn't crash to the earth. I recently got Lords of Madness and have been thoroughly enjoying the read. Creatures like beholders have a continual feather fall effect that I imagine would slow their descent even if they were reduced to 0hp or below but I'm not 100% sure of that either ...
pukunui 07-06-07, 09:38 AM	Session Date: 6 July 2007 Playing Time: 5.5 hours Players Present: 3 Characters: Iz, Kel-Al, Ivan, Lestir, Tara (NPC ally), and Jorr (NPC ally) Timeline: Day 7 PC Deaths: :ghosted: ------------------------------------------------ "Hold still! I'm going to give you a good spanking!" - Ivan Keel confronting Jarett Nurth in her shop. The troops spend the night about a mile back down the road from Skull Gorge. The next morning they go back to the trail marked with the giant effigy and follow it up to the old giant steading, where they encounter Warklegnaw. Iz, being considerably older even than the giant, goes up to talk to him and offers the Huge +1 spiked gauntlet with the Twistusk emblem they found in the Vraath Keep vault. Warklegnaw is pleased to see it. The others come along and after much talking and eating of dire boar, and after Kel removes the giant's disease, Warklegnaw agrees to find some of his kinsmen and harry the hobgoblin army as it moves through the Witchwood. The PCs then head back to Drellin's Ferry. When they are most of the way there, they are ambushed by another hobgoblin raiding party, although this one is led by a very strange red-scaled creature dressed in studded leather armor. It blasts them with fireballs, killing all the PCs' horses except Kel's special mount. :mage: Iz quickly realizes that this creature is vulnerable to cold, so he manifests numerous cold energy powers on the creature, such as cold energy walls and the like. This seems to have a good effect, but the PCs notice that every time the creature casts a fire spell, it seems to heal itself up. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1259/743124998_0c05b5f773.jpg NB. The orange-covered erasers denote Iz's cold energy wall that is sapping the life from the red-scaled fire-loving critter. Eventually it retreats into an old wooden building by the side of the road. Ivan follows, as does Iz, who walks up the wall and onto the roof. The creature is hiding inside and when it sees Ivan, it lets loose with a fireball centered on itself. The building explodes and Iz comes tumbling down as the roof collapses underneath him. His bright blue, thick-soled boots of landing enable him to land safely on his feet, however. Both he and Ivan take quite a bit of fire damage as well as slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damage from the flying shards of burning wood. Iz uses some of his psionic power to negate some of the damage, though. The hobgoblins and their two pet hellhounds gang up on Kel-Al but are eventually subdued by the others, although not until after one of the hounds rips Jorr's throat out, killing him instantly. :gah: Iz eventually takes out the red-scaled creature with more blasts of cold energy. The PCs discuss using the staff of life to raise Jorr. The two aasimars vote for it, with Ivan voting against and Iz abstaining. Lestir decides to flip a coin. It comes up tails, so they all agree to save the staff's charges and bury Jorr - but not before Ivan and Iz loot his body. :rolleyes: After the battle, the PCs are forced to walk the rest of the way home, arriving in Drellin's Ferry at around dinner time. However, instead of getting a bite to eat, they head straight for Jarett's shop to confront her over the poisoned potions she gave them! :rant: Jarett is shocked and horrified when they tell her the potions were poisoned. :bigeyes: She is also a bit cagey, although some smooth talking by Kel-Al gets her to open up and admit that Iormel had given her the potions to give to them. Kel-Al uses his detect evil ability on her but she doesn't registerl, so he then uses Merthuvial to try to detect her thoughts. Again nothing comes up ... Lestir tries casting charm person on her twice but succeeds only in offending and angering the shopkeeper. Ivan then decides he's had enough of this, draws his sword and lays it on the shop counter. Jarett had been on the verge of tears before but this causes her to grow very angry. :headexplo She tells Ivan in no uncertain terms that she will not tolerate being threatened in her own shop and that she will have him arrested if he continues with such behavior. Unfortunately he responds by grabbing his sword and vaulting over the counter, proclaiming that he's going to give Jarett a good spanking for giving them poisoned potions. He grabs her by the arm and tries to bend her over so he can whack her behind with the side of his sword blade but she proves surprisingly strong is able to resist. Being so close to her now, though, Ivan can see the glint of mithril chain armor underneath Jarett's shirt, as well as a pendant hanging from a chain around her neck. The other PCs are horrified and try to stop Ivan. :nonono: Tara warns him to stop but when he doesn't, she casts heat metal on him in hopes that it will cause him to give up. Unfortunately, his magic armor resists. He is nevertheless startled to find his sword and all the other metal gear on his person suddenly getting searingly hot! Tara then runs out of the shop and starts yelling for the town guards. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1191/743125038_e023255f8e.jpg NB. Jarett's shop. Jarett is the combat medic. Kel's pinning Ivan to the floor while Tara runs out to get the guards. Lestir is just through the door into the storeroom, but he's supposed to be invisible anyway ... Jarett eventually breaks free of Ivan's grip, backs away, and then casts a spell on him, paralyzing him. She yells out, "And to think I liked you! You're crazy!" :looloo: Kel-Al comes rushing over and pins him to the floor. He shouts for Jarett to get some rope, so she runs back into her storeroom, ostensibly to do just that, but then she runs off through a side door. Meanwhile, Lestir has turned himself invisible and has wandered into Jarett's storeroom, where he casts detect magic. Nothing comes up in there, but he then turns his sights on Jarett and picks up several auras. He follows her invisibly as she runs down a corridor that ends in her bedroom. He finds her sitting on her bed with her head in her hands. Lestir moves in close enough to see her armor and study the magical auras, but he makes too much noise in the process and she hears him. She looks up suddenly, calling out, "Who's there?!" She then casts invisibility on herself and stands up. Lestir gives up on her and leaves the room, going over to another door in the corridor that leads outside. He then circles around to the front door, where he finds Iz "standing guard" in front of the closed door. Tara has already come back and is inside unsuccessfully trying to tie Ivan up while Kel holds him down. Then Captain Soranna arrives with several town guardsmen. They demand to know what is happening and end up taking Ivan into custody, dragging him back to the jail and throwing him in a cell. Captain Soranna indicates that he will stay there until the council can meet and hear his case. Later that evening, when the PCs are gathered in the inn having dinner, the Town Speaker, Captain Soranna, stable-owner Delora Zann and the inn's owner, Kellin Shadowbanks, sit down to talk to the PCs. Speaker Wiston waves away any talk about Ivan - he just wants to know about the hobgoblins. The PCs try to impress upon him the gravity of the situation, telling him thousands upon thousands of monsters are descending on the town and that he needs to act fast to evacuate everyone. Instead, Speaker Wiston becomes increasingly flustered and panicky and when the PCs press him too far, telling him he needs to convene the council then and there, he grows angry and storms out, telling them he will summon them when he's good and ready in the morning. Captain Soranna is also saddened to hear of the death of her friend Jorr. :( Kel-Al, Iz, and Lestir then decide that their next step should be to confront sour old Iormel. They ask Kellin where Iormel lives, but the halfling warns them that he'll be sleeping by now. They go over to his place anyway and knock on the door. Eventually a grumpy old butler comes and answers it, but no amount of sweet talking can get him to agree to go wake his master, so they give up and go back to the inn. Tara has already turned in for the night when they return. Lestir and Kel decide to turn in as well, while Iz decides to sit in front of the empty hearth and meditate for a few hours. Four hours later, Iz gets up, stretches his weary old limbs, and trudges up to the room he's been sharing with the younger spellcaster. He opens the door and stumbles inside, searching for his bed. He notices that he can't hear Lestir's breathing so he glances over at the young man and is surprised to see blood everywhere. Lestir's body has been horribly mutilated and an ornate dagger has been left sticking out of his chest. Lady Dagger strikes again! :incog: Iz looks around and says, "What?!" To be continued next week!
pukunui 07-06-07, 07:36 PM	Hi guys, Here's a photo of our Skull Gorge Bridge model. Prom and I set it up again quickly before the others arrived so I could take a picture. I did the towers and Prom did the bridge span. They're not actually glued together or anything. I didn't bother putting any minis on there. Anyway, enjoy: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1116/743125016_22e6e496ea.jpg
pukunui 07-06-07, 08:46 PM	The cloaked figure stepped out of the darkened doorway, surprising the two lowlife thugs lurking at the end of the alleyway. Both of them instinctively readied their concealed weapons, but a gesture from the figure in front of them stopped them cold. "I have a job for you," the figure hissed. This was followed by a moment's silence during which the two thieves glanced around nervously. "Put the word out. I want the black man, Ivan Keel. 500 gold lions for bringing him to me ... alive." "But he's in pris--" one of the thieves began but he was cut off with another quick gesture from the hooded figure. "Idiot! There is talk of a massive army of goblins and other monsters heading this way. Although the town's councillors are al fools, they'll no doubt eventually see sense and evacuate the town. When they do, they will have to let Ivan go free ... and then he will be mine!" With that, the figure twisted a ring on a delicate finger, gestured purposefully again and then vanished into the warm night air. The two thieves eyeballed each other and then took off down the alleyway, heading in opposite directions.
Prom 07-09-07, 04:43 AM	Hi All, Here is what Ivan Keel gets up to while locked up in the toll house after trying to spank Jarett. A Night in Jail Two guards escort Ivan to the cells in the Toll-house. As the door to the jail clanks shut, a stirring of bodies can be heard. Ivan sits down on the bed and folds his arm's, starring into the next cubicle. "No smart comments from you two," Ivan glares at the two hobgoblin's resting in the cell beside him. Ivan starts tapping his fingers on the bed frame. The hob sorcerer glares angrily at Ivan and mutters something rendered unintelligible by the gag in his mouth. The other hob appears to be deliberately ignoring him. Ivan watches the hobgoblin's for a while checking the cell for weak spots, then grin's. He gets up from the bed and walks over to the bars of the cell closest to the Hobgoblin's. "You know if that busy body cleric hadn't stopped me, I would have turned you two into hanging ornaments. Still I might still get a chance to rid the world of cowardly, smelly vermin like you," Ivan points at the Hobgoblin not tied-up. "Do you know what you call a Hobgoblin who gets too close to a bonfire?" asks Ivan with a snare. "Hot goulash," chuckles Ivan. Ivan wait's for a response from the hobgoblin's, then spit's at their feet. "So do you enjoy being a bugbears toy boy," mockes Ivan with a smile. The hobgoblin grunt looks over at the sorcerer and says in Goblin, "Did you hear that? The little black mouse is squeaking." Then he turns and looks directly at Ivan and says in Common, "You act tough now, but when the Day of Reckoning comes, these walls will not protect you. You will die like all the others - like the sheep that you are. You have had your day. Ours is just beginning. Now crawl back into your little hole, mouse." With that, he spits back at Ivan and then turns his head away, clearly indicating that the conversation is over. Ivan rolls his eyes in amusement, then turn's around and fart's loudly into the Hobgoblin's cell. He holds his nose with his fingers and sits back down on the bed, smiling at the cell-mates. Prom
Caligula 07-09-07, 06:58 AM	The cloaked figure stepped out of the darkened doorway, surprising the two lowlife thugs lurking at the end of the alleyway. Both of them instinctively readied their concealed weapons, but a gesture from the person standing in front of them stopped them cold. "I have a job for you," the figure hissed. This was followed by a moment's silence during which the two thieves glanced around nervously. "Put the word out. I want the black man, Ivan Keel. 500 gold lions for bringing him to me ... alive." "But he's in pris--" one of the thieves began but he was cut off with another quick gesture from the hooded figure. "Idiot! There is talk of a massive army of goblins and other monsters heading this way. Although the town's councillors are al fools, they'll no doubt eventually see sense and evacuate the town. When they do, they will have to let Ivan go free ... and then he will be mine!" With that, the figure twisted a ring on a delicate finger, gestured purposefully again and then vanished into the warm night air. The two thieves eyeballed each other and then took off down the alleyway, heading in opposite directions. Poor Ivan.... I see him waking up in a basement somewhere á la "Hostel".... :D
Efyegon 07-09-07, 10:30 PM	Lestir's body has been horribly mutilated and an ornate dagger has been left sticking out of his chest. Lady Dagger strikes again! :incog: Lestir found himself in a forest that clearly wasn't part of the Vale. Where the forest floor would normally be dirt and mud, the ground was covered with grass softer than any carpet he'd ever walked on. The trees were taller and more grand than anything he'd seen before too. Despite the height and thickness of the trees the sunlight had no trouble reaching the deepest nooks of the forest below. Multi-Coloured light trails swam among some of the trees. A tall dark figure was approached him, "Good to see you again brother." "You too, Edwyd, I'm sorry we couldn't have given you a better burial, you're body is still in the cave." Lestir said, happy to see his brother again and looking much better without the dire weasels on his throat. "I know, I've been watching..." "Yeah, ok right, so what's with the dream, we already know about the vast army invading Elsir vale?" Lestir naively interrupted. "I'm afraid this isn't a dream, Lady Dagger killed you in your sleep, this forest is Elonnah's. She sent me to welcome you and give you the tour." Lestir stood stunned for a moment, "Well then, let's getting moving and on the way you can make an introduction for me. I need to ask somebody for a favour."
Prom 07-10-07, 06:45 AM	Hi All, Just getting rid of all the single person roleplay before Friday. Watch this space, more to come. Scroll back a bit to read "A night in jail". Prom
Leinart 07-10-07, 02:10 PM	Well Im officially an Ivan fan. Just hope he gets the better of lady dagger.
Prom 07-10-07, 06:29 PM	Hi Leinart, I'm glad you are enjoying yourself. Although I have a nasty feeling Ivan could get hung for slapping the bar maid's bottom in Drellin's Ferry. So it will all come down to Pukunui, as to what happen's to Ivan right now. As the charge of assault is the least Ivan can expect and the worst case, attempted murder. Why is it that the naughty characters are always so popular? Prom
pukunui 07-10-07, 06:44 PM	I think Ivan has more to fear from the mysterious Lady Dagger than he does from the good folk of Drellin's Ferry. After all, Ivan's now a marked man. You'll all have to wait until Friday to find out what happens next ... Why is it that the naughty characters are always so popular? "Naughty" people are popular because they take risks. ;) - Jonny
Rumple 07-10-07, 08:18 PM	Iz sat in front of the inns hearth watching the flames flicker in his mind. The warm summers night had made his robes stick to his back. Checking to see if anyone was still up (they weren’t) Iz lifted his robes up past his knees. Improvement. Settling into a comfortable position Iz the Older let his mind drift into its meditation, ruminating (and rhuminating) over the last week. Never had he been so scared. It was only his long beard that saved him from the shame of the soaked robes. Curse this old mans weak bladder. Iz released the pent up frustration and attached it to the skull gorge bridge in his mind. He watched it weaken and topple again into a deep chasm. Why was it always the old that fell the easiest? Iz thought back to his lost youth. He always used to ask himself two questions. What’s it like to be stupid? And what’s it like to be old? Now he knew and inside he screamed with pain and wept bitter tears. Someone owed him five hundred years of lost youth. Someone had to pay. Fortunate it was that Lestir had given Iz a target for five hundred years of madness and frustration. In a moment of clarity Iz saw the he would never be young again, never be sane again. Unless… The thought faded, so close. There must be a way. The imaginary fire in his mind and long since burnt down to embers. Iz rose slowly, bones creaking and aching. I wonder if Lestir wants to cuddle tonight?
Prom 07-12-07, 12:22 AM	Hi All, Here is what happen's in the morning to Ivan as the officer investigating Ivan's assault charge arrives. It's a bit long guy's, you'd think we were writting a book. This was roleplayed through e-mail by Pukunui and myself. The Law's coming round The morning after Ivan was locked up in his cell, he is rudely awakened by a loud clanging. He opens his eyes to see a burly man dressed in scale mail and sporting a waxed moustache rattling a shortsword between the bars of his cell door. He stops when he notices Ivan glaring at him. "Ah, you're awake. Good show. I'm Sergeant Hersk. I'm here to ask you a few questions." Hersk pulls up a stool and sits down in the corridor. "Now then ... I don't know where you come from, but around here we believe in the rule of law. We don't just go up to people and start threatening them with weapons if we suspect them of having done us wrong! If you've got a problem with someone, then you lay a complaint and it gets investigated. That's the proper way of doing things." He pauses for breath and then continues ... "So would you be so kind as to tell me what possessed you to vault over the shop counter with the intention of 'spanking' Jarett Nurth with your sword? I have to say that, from her point of view, it no doubt looked like you were going to run her through!" Ivan raises an eyebrow at Hersk and stands up. "Now if I had killed Jarett, how would I have gotten the truth from her? Five poisoned potions of healing where given to us from that women, that's a fact. And even if someone else gave her those potions, she is an accomplice to attempted murder. Besides everywhere we go we get ambushed trying to help your township. You've got a spy in Drellin's Ferry, Hersk. And if Jarett isn't your spy then she knows who is. I imagine that Kel-Al, Iz and Lestir have told you that an army of thousands is coming to wipe you all out. Clearly the authorities around here are stupid or bent, because the town has not been evacuated. And you want me to dance to your song, I don't think so," states Ivan with a dead pan face. Hersk visibly bristles as Ivan insults the good folk of Drellin's Ferry. "Look, if I were you, I'd cut the crap out right now. It's not going to help you get out of jail any faster." He pauses to wipe sweat from his brow before continuing, "Now ... the facts are plain: instead of coming to the authorities with your accusations, you confronted Jarett directly and then, without provocation, attacked her in her own shop. By doing that, you broke the law. You are now at the mercy of the council." He stops and glances down the hallway at the sound of the door opening. His face breaks out in a hungry smile and he looks back at Ivan, "Breakfast is here. Are you hungry?" Ivan taps his fingers on the wall, watching Hersk smile. "Yes I'm hungry, but not for jail food. I don't think your menu will inspire me," states Ivan wistfully. "I can't argue with being at the council's mercy, so what are they planning to do hang me for assault?" asks Ivan with a cocked eyebrow. "I just remembered you better get that council to charge me soon, or that Hobgoblin Armies going to march in here and shot arrow's into me," says Ivan looking unfazed. Ivan's face goes very serious for a moment. "So how is Jarett anyway, and where would she be right now. Or has she disappeared in a puff of smoke?" inquires Ivan rubbing his chin. Hersk chuckles. "I guess you're going to have to go hungry then," he says as a gorgeous young red-haired woman with a circlet of fresh flowers in her hair strides into Ivan's view. She hands a plate of steaming food (which looks like very greasy bacon and eggs) to Hersk, winks at Ivan, and then saunters off. Ivan recognizes the girl as someone he's seen around town before but he can't quite place where - perhaps she is one of the barmaids at the inn? Hersk digs in. "Mmm, this is delicious. Are you sure you don't want some? If what you say is true, it could be your last meal." Even if Ivan changes his mind, Hersk doesn't give him any breakfast. When he finishes, he says, "Well, you've been very helpful, Keel. I'd love to stay and chew the fat with you but I've got to continue my enquiries. I'll be back after the council makes its judgement." He leans in close and says, in a whisper, "But if I had my way, I'd leave you to rot in here with the scum in the next cell. You're a bad seed, Keel. I can tell just by looking at you." Ivan pauses for a moment looking depressed, then gazes into Hersk's eyes. "What, don't I get to be present for my own trial?" Ivan pushs his bottom lip out. Ivan stand's up and grabs the bars of the cell. "Hersk, I'm so sorry. I've changed my mind I do want breakfast, please. Forget the bacon and eggs though, bring back the hot red-haired chick," pleads Ivan battering his eyelashes. Ivan goes very serious, "you didn't answer my question sword jocky, where's Jarett?" Talk about massive input from everyone this week. This encounters over, you'll have to wait for Friday to find out more, when everyone meets again. Prom
pukunui 07-13-07, 08:06 PM	Session Date: Friday the 13th!! (13 July 2007) Playing Time: 3.5 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Iz, Kel-Al, Ivan, Fantomas, Tara (NPC ally) Timeline: Days 8-11 ------------------------------------------------ After finding Lestir's horribly mutilated body, Iz wakes up the "golden twins". Tara, realizing she has failed in her mission to keep Lestir alive, becomes quite distraught. Then she remembers the staff of life and rushes back to her room to get it, yelling, "I can bring him back to life! I can bring him back!" However, just as she's about to use the staff, a ghostly apparition appears in front of her and grasps her arm. "Wait. It's me, Lestir," says the ghost. Tara recoils in horror, instinctively reaching for her holy symbol. The ghost of Lestir, glowing blue and wearing a decidedly attractive cloak, which is also glowing blue, shouts out, "No! I won't hurt you ... I mean, I can't hurt you. And I wouldn't want to, even if I could." Tara looks even more distraught and conflicted. Kel-Al tries to reassure her that everything's all right. He goes and has a look around while Iz and Tara remain in the room with Lestir's ghost. Then Iz and Kel go over to the jail to make sure that Ivan's still alive -- a sleepy guard answers the door and agrees to go and check on their friend. He reports back that Ivan is sleeping soundly in his jail cell. All the commotion rouses Kellin, the innkeeper, who meets up with Kel-Al and Iz as they are going down the stairs to the common room. They fill him in on what's happened and the little halfling expresses his concern and says he'll let the council know in the morning. Back at the inn, Tara has mustered enough courage to go and have a look at Lestir's body. With his help, she determines that he was killed by a poisoned dagger and that the dagger currently sticking out of his chest is not what killed him - it would appear to be another of Lady Dagger's calling cards. Also, Lestir's handy haversack and its contents, as well as his new +1 light crossbow, are gone, but the tome of worldly memory, which he had been reading before going to sleep, is still there, as well as some of his other items. Lestir tells his companions to take them as he has no further use for them. The group then decides to spend the rest of the night in Lestir's room in case Lady Dagger decides to come back. Tara is too upset, suffering from a crisis of faith (her religion is strongly against undead of any kind and yet she cannot bring herself to attempt to destroy Lestir's ghost. She is also feeling humiliated and defeated because she was unable to protect him and so she feels like she has failed Pelor), so she does not sleep for the rest of the night. In the morning, Kel-Al sends for Brother Derny, the local priest of Pelor, and they arrange to have Lestir's body taken away. Derny also casts lesser restoration on Tara so she is not fatigued. At breakfast, Kellin introduces them to a halfling named Fantomas Pattonfoot, who impresses the group by picking Kel-Al's medal of gallantry from out of his pocket from across the table without anyone noticing (his player rolled a natural 20 on his Sleight of Hand check and everyone failed their Spot checks miserably)! Although the paladin was wary of the sneaky halfling, he agreed that someone who could scout ahead unseen and relieve enemies of any harmful gear before it could be used against the PCs could be a very useful addition to the group. Next, Kel-Al, Iz, and Tara go to meet with the Town Council. Fantomas tags along at Iz's suggestion so he can find out what he is getting himself into ... Iz and Kel-Al do all the talking (and what with various modifiers and such, Kel's Diplomacy roll equaled 30!) and persuasively argue their case for evacuating the town. They show the councillors Koth's map and they get Captain Soranna to go and fetch Ozzy's head from Ivan's gear. In the end, despite vigorous protestations from Iormel, the Council agree to evacuate. Speaker Wiston then asks the PCs to wait outside while the Council discusses what to do about Ivan. Sgt Hersk presents his findings and has to admit to being unable to locate Jarett. Because of this, and in light of all the help the PCs have given the town already, the Council decides to fine Ivan 200gp. In addition, they will release him into Kel-Al's custody. Finally, Ivan must assist with the evacuation until the last of the townsfolk have left. Speaker Wiston reckons that it will take about two days for the town to pack up and leave. Iz is a bit disappointed to hear that the group will have to stick around for another couple of days and offers to ride on ahead but the others talk him out of splitting the party up. After this, Kel-Al goes to pick up Ivan from jail. Once free, Ivan wants to head straight to Jarett's place so she can have a look around. With Fantomas' help, they discover a trap door hidden under a mat in the storage room of her shop. Opening the trap door reveals a narrow, dusty tunnel. Further investigation reveals that it heads in a west-southwesterly direction, ending underneath what turns out to be Iormel's warehouse! Kel-Al and Ivan go back through the tunnel and out through Jarett's shop and then around to Iormel's warehouse door, where they confront him. They ask if he knows Jarett but he says "Not really". They then ask if he is aware of the tunnel and he says yes, it's an ancient thing that's always been there. He doesn't think that Jarett has ever used it. He certainly hasn't. Ivan, observing that Iormel's workers are busy packing stuff up and putting things into carts waiting outside, offers to help and asks if the old man needs any more horses and carts. Iormel looks at him strangely and asks if he's stupid or something. Ivan has to restrain himself from "spanking" the old grouch. Kel-Al notices and quickly drags him away, thanking Iormel for his time. The next two days pass by quickly as Ivan and his companions keep themselves busy aiding the people of Drellin's Ferry to pack up their belongings, board up their homes, and get the hell out of there ... When all is done and the town is empty, Captain Soranna and Speaker Wiston bid the group farewell. When the PCs ask if they have any final suggestions, the two suggest perhaps seeking out the dwarves of the Hammerfist Holds and the elves of Blackfens to at least warn those groups if not recruit them to aid in the Vale's defense. The group initially decides to head to Terrelton and then down to visit the dwarves. Unfortunately for the heroes, every last horse and cart was needed for the evacuation, so when it comes time for them to leave as well, they have to take drastic measures to avoid walking the whole way to Terrelton: first, Ivan doubles up with Kel-Al on Palador (no doubt, various homoerotic jokes could be made about this - there is a running joke about these two already - but I shall refrain), while Iz uses up all his 1st level wizard spell slots to cast [I]mount so that he and Tara will have mounts for at least half a day's travel. Fantomas, meanwhile, owns a riding dog, so he's all right. Traveling this way enables them to reach Terrelton at the end of the same day they left Drellin's Ferry. They arrive in Terrelton to find most of the refugees from Drellin's Ferry camped on its outskirts. There seems to be some trouble with the town's Merchants Council not wanting to help the refugees. Ivan wants to go rough them up but he is convinced to go talk to Leille, the cleric of St Cuthbert attempting to clean up the town, instead. She tells him she'll take care of everything, so Ivan goes to find something to eat and drink. The aasimars go and tend to the refugees. While in the tavern, Ivan and Iz meet a grizzly fellow who claims to be Tam, the local horse seller. They ask if he can hold some horses for them in the morning and he asks for a deposit. They haggle a bit and finally agree to give him 100gp now and the remaining 400gp (for 6 horses and their gear) in the morning ... this despite reservations that they may have been swindled (oddly enough, no one thought to ask any of the other locals to positively identify the man as Tam the horse seller). Then a woman wearing the outfit of a Lion of Brindol walks into the tavern. Ivan recognizes her as Teyani Sura. She calls for the town's leaders to be brought to her. Some of them eventually show up with Speaker Wiston tagging along. In the meantime, Ivan sidles up to her and starts chatting with her. When the authorities arrive, Teyani gives them some bad news: the old Rhest trail to the north of Witchcross is being blockaded by a band of ogres and hobgoblins ... The PCs immediately wonder if perhaps the hobgoblin army has split up and is coming around to attack the Vale from the north ... or perhaps, because they destroyed Skull Gorge Bridge, the entire army changed course. But Iz points out that they wouldn't have been able to get so far so quickly. The group quickly decides to change their plans - Iz, claiming not to like dwarves anyway, suggests they let someone else warn the Hammerfist Holds while they go investigate the blockade and try to make contact with the elves (seeing as how Kel-Al is friends with them and used to "hang out" in the swamp anyway ...). The PCs show Teyani their confiscated map and offer to make a copy for her. She swears colorfully and accepts their offer, saying she'll have to take it back to Lord Jarmaath right away. We ended the session with the PCs going off to find some place to rest ...
pukunui 07-20-07, 08:54 AM	Session Date: 20 July 2007 Playing Time: 3 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Iz, Kel-Al, Ivan, Fantomas Timeline: Days 12-14 ------------------------------------------------ "I shall give a rousing speech to the townsfolk to convince them that leaving is the best course of action!" - Kel-Al, just before rolling an unimpressive 11 on his Perform (Oratory) check. The morning of the next day dawned clear and bright ... but ominous thunderheads could be seen gathering on the western horizon. Kel-Al and Ivan both reckoned the stormclouds were just early signs of the rainy season to come and nothing more ... During the group's morning rituals, Tara announced that she would not be continuing on with the others. She needed some time alone to sort things out. The others took it on the chin and went to find Tam the horse-seller. It turned out the guy Ivan had met in the tavern the night before really did sell horses and he did in fact sell them 6 light horses with gear for 500gp. However, as the group led their new mounts through the center of town towards the temple (so they could once again badger Leille, the local cleric of St Cuthbert, to get the town evacuated), they were attacked by a white-dragon-headed chimera! The townsfolk screamed and ran for cover. The chimera divebombed Ivan and tore at him with its dragon head. He tried to retaliate but failed and on the next round it slashed at him with all of its heads and claws but only the lion and dragon heads hit. Iz then hit it with inflict pain, although it managed to ignore some of the mental anguish ... Kel came charging up on his horse and smote the chimera. Fantomas followed suit on his riding dog, but the chimera chose that point to back off and return to the air. Iz chased after it and entangled it with ectoplasm. He tried to hit it with a fully augmented mind thrust but it resisted. Fantomas rode up below it and fired his bow at it, hitting it with a Small-sized arrow. It turned, hovering in the air, and breathed its cold breath on Iz and Fantomas. Although the little halfling was able to evade the freezing vapors, his dog was not. It turned tail and fled while Fantomas whipped out his one healing potion. On his next round, he fed it to his dog. Iz then shot at the chimera with an augmented fire ray and was confounded to find he had missed again! The chimera swooped back towards the warriors and breathed its cold breath on Ivan and Kel, both of whom took quite a bit of damage. Then Iz fired two more fire rays at it and scorched it to death as it tried to fly away. After this little bit of excitement, the group did some shopping and Kel-Al tried to give a speech to the townsfolk while standing atop the felled beast, but his oration felt uninspired so most of the crowd ignored him ... They went back and found Tara, who gave them some of her possessions, including the staff of life (which Iz might be able to use with his UMD skill). Kel tried to pressure her into returning to Brindol but she just replied that she could take care of herself. Then the group took off on the Dawn Way. They stopped in Nimon Gap, where they were told that the locals intended to take to the hills and hide out, perhaps even try some guerrilla warfare. The PCs shook their heads and trudged on to Talar. There they were met with pomp and circumstance by Lady Celiira Nesten, who treated them to a wonderful dinner. She informed them that their reputation preceded them and that she and her council had already formalized plans to evacuate the town, while leaving some of the able-bodied behind until the army drew close - and then they too would fall back to Brindol. During the dinner party, Kel-Al was able to make up for his earlier attempt at oration with a moving recital of elven poetry (but Fantomas failed to impress with his acrobatics and some of the more moneyed guests began to wonder who had let the halfling in ...). The PCs' reputation was such that Lady Nesten gifted them with 4 cure moderate wounds potions, a scroll of hypnotic pattern, and a wand of magic missile (CL 1st, 10 charges). Not much but better than nothing. :rolleyes: Iz bored everyone to death with a long drawn out lesson on good and evil dragons and where all the different types could be found and what their strengths and weaknesses were, etc etc. The group hoped maybe to find some good dragons to help them combat the evil ones ... Ivan was able to score with a buxom barmaid. He also cleaned out the town's supply of cure light wounds potions (as he had done in Terrelton as well). In the morning, they pressed on to Witchcross. Once there, they set about trying to figure out how they could meet with the Keepers of Eth, who they had heard were the real power in the village. However, they were told "You don't find the Keepers of Eth. The Keepers of Eth find you ..." To be continued next week ...
LoveNrockets 07-20-07, 09:32 PM	Kel Al's oratary skills were thwarted by the fact that his mind was more concerned with the state of his cousin Tara - she'd been really down on herself of late. And also the fact that back-water farmers simply don't appreciate the subtle nuances of a truely great orater and...and..:weep:
pukunui 07-25-07, 07:26 PM	The man known only as Blade stepped cautiously into the dark alleyway, his mind focused and calm. He took two more steps and then stopped ... There! He'd seen her. Lady Dagger was hiding in the shadows about three-quarters of the way down. An idiot would walk right past her and that would be that. But Blade was no idiot ... His hands itched but he controlled the impulse to attack. Instead, he called out in a soft voice, "I have come." At that, the figure of Lady Dagger detached itself from the wall and strode forward, her features hidden in the depths of her hood. "Good. The Crimson Tigers are buffoons but you'll need them. Ivan and his companions are skilled warriors. They're running around like sheep bleating that the sky is falling but they're still dangerous. The Tigers tell me they killed a lone chimera that attacked Terrelton. On the plus side, that arrogant b*tch who was traveling with them has split off on her own. I don't know why but it could prove useful in the long run ..." Blade looked thoughtful for a moment but never once took his eyes off the figure. "I understand," he eventually said. "Good," replied Lady Dagger. "They have headed north ... to warn Witchcross of the impending invasion, I suppose. Where they will go after that, I do not know. Meet me in Brindol when the job is finished. If I don't see you again, then I will know you have failed." Lady Dagger murmured something Blade didn't understand and vanished. Blade waited for several moments, trying to sense her presence. When he noticed the ripples in a puddle of water at the far end of the alley, he smiled grimly and turned to go ...
snakeheadfish33 07-26-07, 10:53 AM	Nice, Pukunui. Your little side story was a welcomed addition. But have you revealed your hand by posting where your players will read it?
pukunui 07-26-07, 03:19 PM	Nice, Pukunui. Your little side story was a welcomed addition. But have you revealed your hand by posting where your players will read it? Thanks, Jared. I'm glad you enjoyed it. To be honest, I'm not sure any of my players read the last "cut scene" I posted here. I've been posting them in hopes that they would read them, though. We'll see if they read this one.
Prom 07-26-07, 04:00 PM	Hi Pukunui and snakeheadfish33, Posted by Pukunui, To be honest, I'm not sure any of my players read the last "cut scene" I posted here. Don't be silly, how could I miss any of it. Posted by snakeheadfish33, But have you revealed your hand by posting where your players will read it? I was kind of thinking that myself. Not that I don't like the little story you have been writting Pukunui, because I do. Prom
pukunui 07-26-07, 04:15 PM	I was kind of thinking that myself. Not that I don't like the little story you have been writting Pukunui, because I do.If I didn't want you guys to read it, then I wouldn't post it here. Think of them as being like little cut scenes from a movie - you know, the ones where you learn that the bad guys are plotting something but you don't necessarily know what. And it'll hopefully give you guys, as players, a sense of foreboding. You know something's coming but you don't know who, what, where, how, or when. All you kind of know is why ... :evillaugh ;)
Dragonan 07-26-07, 05:38 PM	After reading the thread I was amazed how much work there was done to prepare the battlefields and encounters the PC would come to. Even as another DM you made my jealous of it since it made me fell that I didn't do enough for my players. Nice work and I hope your players appreciate it :)
pukunui 07-26-07, 05:55 PM	Thanks ... but if by battlefield prep you mean the models - a lot of that was done by one of my players (Prom). Also, I haven't done nearly as much as some of the other DMs who post recaps around here. Thanks for the kudos, though. Much appreciated. People don't comment that much in my thread ...
Gerry 07-27-07, 08:52 AM	After reading the thread I was amazed how much work there was done to prepare the battlefields and encounters the PC would come to. Even as another DM you made my jealous of it since it made me fell that I didn't do enough for my players. Nice work and I hope your players appreciate it :) No kidding, eh? I find reading the various recaps "Raises the bar" for my expectations of myself for my players. I have to watch out that I do NOT try and re-run a recap of another game, but have "as good a time as they did". I get inspired by cut scenes, descriptive text, and stuff that I can feed my players to bring it more alive, without making the session a "book-reading by the author" lecture. Gerry ps. I'll make it explicit: To pukunui, Caligula, snakeheadfish, and all the other recappers: THANK YOU! Gerry
pukunui 08-03-07, 06:09 PM	Session Date: 3 August 2007 Playing Time: 4.5 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Iz, Kel-Al, Ivan, and Fantomas Timeline: Days 15-17 ------------------------------------------------ "Oi! It looks like someone's peeing on the wall but I can't see anybody ..." - Gruntar-lak, hobgoblin sentry on the old Rhest Trail, peering over the wall as an invisible Fantomas poured oil onto the ground Our heroes braved the Witchwood to seek out the Keepers of Eth. They met a friendly woodsman in Witchcross who showed them the trail and told them not to leave it. Not long after entering the woods, a thick mist swirled up from the ground and enveloped them so they could not see more than 5ft or so in any direction. Iz assumed ectoplasmic form and flew up above the treeline, hoping to determine the extent of the fog, but he was unable to do so because of the thickness of the trees (although he was able to see that the fog didn't rise above the trees ...). After some confusion, the group decided to continue on. They soon lost all sense of direction and time, and after what felt like hours, they sensed that the trail had opened up. The mist drew back a little, and they found themselves in a large grassy area. They then heard the sound of something large approaching ... and out of the mist came a large cinnamon-colored bear. It spotted them, reared up on its haunches, standing about 9ft tall, and roared a territorial challenge at them. The PCs were a bit taken aback, but Crazy Ivan hopped off his horse, held his empty hands out and slowly approached the bear, speaking calming words and even whistling a little ditty. The bear regarded him warily but went back down on all fours, then sat down on its haunches. Ivan glanced back at the others and whispered, "What next?!" Then the fog drew back completely, and the PCs discovered that they were standing in the middle of a ring of seven standing stones. Through each dolmen walked a humanoid dressed in appropriate attire for the woodlands. In all, there were four humans, a half-orc, a half-elf, and a dwarf. One of the humans approached, a young-looking woman who introduced herself as Adranna the Young, the leader of the druids. The PCs discussed a number of things with Adranna: possible assistance from the druids with the road block, evacuating the town of Witchcross, the possibility of finding some good dragons to help with the fight, the whereabouts of Ivan's friend Kane ... Adranna revealed that the druids were already doing all they could to help but their resources were few and they were already stretched to the limit. She explained that should it become necessary to evacuate Witchcross, the villagers would simply hide in the woods. Adranna didn't think the PCs would be able to find any good dragons. She reckoned there were some in the area but they would either have been chased off by the hobgoblins or were already doing what they could. As for Kane, he had been reincarnated in the body of a wild elf. This had bewildered and confused him, so he'd gone off to the east somewhere with his dragon buddy. The PCs spent the night with the druids, bought some potions from them in the morning, and then set off to have a look at the road block. They got within sight of it by the end of the day's travel and decided to hold off until the next morning. When day broke, they could see that the stormclouds in the west were still building and still ominously looming closer and closer. Ivan was certain, however, that the clouds were merely heralding the onset of the Vale's rainy season and nothing more. The group stopped about 1,000ft from the blockade fort. They pulled off into the tall grass at the side of the road and went into a pow-wow. They decided to give Fantomas a potion of invisibility and all their pints of oil, and then send him up on the back of Kel-Al's celestial mount, Palador. They were kind of hoping that the hobgoblins would see the mount and open the fortress door to get at it. At the sime time, the invisible halfling would start pouring the oil all over the base of the fort in hopes of lighting it on fire. Palador, with his invisible rider, set off at a gallop and charged down the road. As they neared the fort, Fantomas could see scorch marks all over the road in front of the blockade. He saw it too late, though, and Palador charged right through a land mine, causing a massive fireball to explode all around them. Both the mount and the halfling made their Reflex saves, allowing them to somehow evade any damage. Palador nevertheless balked and stopped his charge. Fantomas rolled off the horse and it turned and started running back towards Kel-Al. Meanwhile, the hobs on the roof, who had been watching the horse approach, cried out many "Boos!" as they saw it avoid taking any damage and then turn and run away. To sum up what happened next: Fantomas crept around, pouring oil on the fort. At one point, he was too noisy and one of the hobs looked over the edge of the fort. He could see the wet spots made by the oil but he couldn't see the halfling. The others thought he was crazy when he told them something was peeing on the fort. But then Fantomas made the mistake of going into the tall grass, where everyone could see that something was moving through. The hobs all started firing like crazy and one of them got a lucky hit on the halfling. The nearest ogre leaned over the wall and took a few swipes with his club but didn't hit anything. Not long after, a hob dressed in a breastplate, followed by two grunts, appeared from around the side of the fort and Fan freaked. He ran back onto the road, but not before having the presence of mind to light the oil on fire ... :mage: By this time, the others had had enough of waiting and not being able to see what was going on. They all mounted their horses and charged down the road. Kel-Al got their first on Palador. One of the hobs up on the fort threw down a little spike and the breastplated hob caught it. He went to set it in the ground, but Kel-Al got their first and ran him through with his lance. Meanwhile, the oil fire had burned itself out, leaving just a bit of scorched earth and wood. The group was very disappointed and decided they'd have to take the fort by force rather than smoke the enemies out. Although the hobs and the ogres peppered the area with arrows and javelins, they had a lot of trouble hitting the PCs. Kel-Al moved his horse up against one of the side palisades, stood up in the saddle and tried to climb over the wall, but the nearby ogre moved in and swatted him away. Iz manifested an electric energy wall behind all the hobs on the fort roof and many of them died trying to escape through it. Iz followed this up by walking up the wall onto the roof and switching places with Kel via benign transposition. Then Ivan used his dimension stride boots to teleport up to the roof as well. Kel lowered a rope for Fantomas, who had become visible again (and subsequently got smacked in the head with an arrow at near point blank range - the arrow having been delivered through the arrow slit at the front of the fort), and pulled him up while Iz blithely walked up the wall again. Ivan and Iz both leaned over the walls to take shots at the ogres. Iz used fire rays on his, although it managed to reach up and bash him with its greatclub before it was burned to death. Ivan's enemy, though, squeezed through the side door and into the interior of the fort. The PCs quickly descended the ladders and attacked the remaining garrison within. Iz cast backbiter on the last ogre's greatclub and it took itself out when it tried to attack Kel. Ivan took out one hob, and Kel took out the other breastplated leader. At that point, the two surviving hobs surrended. :surrender Ivan pretended not to hear and attacked one but it avoided him, calling out, "Hey what are you trying to do? I surrendered!" Kel quickly got between the two of them, shooting a disapproving glare Ivan's way. And that's where we ended, folks. On Friday we'll divide up the loot and hopefully interrogate the prisoners before setting off into the swamp to find the elves.
BartD 08-07-07, 07:51 AM	Hello pukunui, I have just found this excellent story and enjoy reading it. In the beginning you mention that you ran BotFK before RHoD. I'm probably going to do the same thing and wonder if you have some experiences to share regarding BotFK (the good/bad, did you place it in the Vale, etc.) and integrating it with RHoD? Maybe you have already written and posted about it but I just can't find it? Keep up the good story! Edit: To avoid derailing this thread, you're welcome to mail
pukunui 08-07-07, 03:35 PM	Hello pukunui, I have just found this excellent story and enjoy reading it. In the beginning you mention that you ran BotFK before RHoD. I'm probably going to do the same thing and wonder if you have some experiences to share regarding BotFK (the good/bad, did you place it in the Vale, etc.) and integrating it with RHoD? Maybe you have already written and posted about it but I just can't find it? Keep up the good story! Edit: To avoid derailing this thread, you're welcome to mail Hi Bart. Yes, I have already recounted our experiences with Barrow of the Forgotten King. Do a search for a thread entitled "Adventures In Elsir Vale". Cheers, Jonny p.s. I apologize for not finishing last session's recap. I've been very busy. I'll try to get to it later this morning.
snakeheadfish33 08-07-07, 04:37 PM	p.s. I apologize for not finishing last session's recap. I've been very busy. I'll try to get to it later this morning. No sweat P. We're not going anywhere.
pukunui 08-07-07, 05:08 PM	No sweat P. We're not going anywhere. LOL. I had actually completely forgotten about it. I only remembered because Bart posted in the thread. BTW, my graphic design course is going really well. It's a lot of fun. I'm going to be buying the CS3 Design Standard package at the student price this afternoon so I can do more of my work at home. :w00t:
BartD 08-10-07, 07:31 AM	... Yes, I have already recounted our experiences with Barrow of the Forgotten King. Do a search for a thread entitled "Adventures In Elsir Vale". ...Thanks a bunch, I have found it and find it very useful. Here it is for anyone else: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=805817
pukunui 08-10-07, 09:56 AM	The PCs entered the swamp and did battle with a terrible dragon-like creature that nearly wiped out the entire party. In the end, two PCs have been confirmed dead - Fantomas and Kel-Al. Ivan very nearly died while Iz survived by sacrificing his mouse familiar. Ivan and Iz are now resting in an extradimensional space created via a scroll of rope trick. This will give them 3 hours before they must face the dangers of the swamp again. More later. Cheers, The so-called "DM of Death"
snakeheadfish33 08-10-07, 11:29 AM	Yikes. That's a sticky wicket. What are the PCs plans now I wonder?
Prom 08-10-07, 05:43 PM	Hi snakeheadfish33, Posted by snakeheadfish33, What are the PCs plans now I wonder? That's a question I wish I had an answer too. Try and survive I guess. Ivan has used up all my healing potions, 16 for this battle. Iz has expended all his power points I think. We have about 4 potions of healing (not identified) on the bodies of Fantomas and Kel-Al. Kel-Al has a wand of CLW and a scroll of healing which he can only use and he's dead. Iz has not been very successful with the staff of life so far, those annoying spellcraft checks. There is no escaping the DM of Death, Pukunui's new nick name, lol. I'm still trying to remember who in the party wanted to walk through that horrible swamp, but I know it was not me. Prom
pukunui 08-10-07, 08:08 PM	Session Date: 10 August 2007 Playing Time: 5.5 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Iz, Kel-Al, Ivan, and Fantomas Timeline: Days 17-18 Deaths: 2 PCs and 1 very brave little mouse ------------------------------------------------ "We're f*cked! Run away!"- Ivan Keel, after the strange and terrible acid gas-breathing swamp beast looked to be on the verge of wiping out the party After looting the hobgoblins and ogres at the fort, the PCs tied up their two prisoners and watched as Iz manifested a sonic energy wall inside it. After an indeterminate amount of time, the whole fort collapsed upon itself. While Ivan went and hid the unwanted loot in the tall grass, the others attempted to interrogate the prisoners. Ivan returned to find they had made little progress and so he started beating up the hobs. :eek: Kel-Al made a feeble attempt to stop him but eventually one of the hobs started talking. All they really got out of him, though, was that there was another identical blockade on the Old North Rd and that Saarvith was the name of a goblin Wyrmlord stationed in the Ruins of Rhest. Ivan then beheaded one of the prisoners ... :nonono: Kel-Al wouldn't let him kill the other one. Much arguing ensued before it was finally agreed upon that they would strip the surviving hobgoblin naked, untie his feet, and let him run away. Then they argued about how to go about getting to the elves in the swamp and why did they decide to come this way in the first place? Ivan grumbled that going to see the dwarves instead would've been the better--not to mention drier--choice. :rolleyes: They decided to keep going up the Rhest Trail and then take the side road that led to the ruins itself. They would then turn off into the swamp and head west until they came to what appeared to be a river on the map. They would then follow this river down to the elves' encampment at Starsong Hill. That was the plan, at least. By sunset, they were well onto the trail leading to the ruins. It was a narrow strip of rugged track surrounded by reeds and marshy waters. During Fan's watch, the little halfling heard a rustling and woke everyone up to investigate. Ivan went sploshing around in the dark but didn't see anything and grumbled about losing sleep. Then on Kel-Al's watch, someone off in the distance started singing. Kel-Al was captivated and got up to go find the source of the music. Iz and Fan both woke up but were unimpressed with the music. However, when Ivan eventually was roused from his sleep, he too took a great liking to it. Iz tried to use dispel psionics but it didn't work much to his surprise. Fantomas chased after Kel-Al, desperately trying to trip him up and tackle him to the ground. This was rather amusing ... picture a little guy under 4ft and weighing about 35lbs trying to knock down a 6ft human dressed in full plate. It just ain't gonna happen. Fortunately for Kel, he was able to notice the quicksand before he stepped into it. This broke his concentration on the music and freed him. Ivan, though, did not see the quicksand. He started to walk right into it. Kel tackled him but the big black man wriggled free and went right into it. He seemed unfazed, though, and simply started swimming towards the other side (unlike Kel, Ivan wasn't wearing his armor). While Kel and Iz debated whether or not to help Ivan out (who was yelling "Hot women! Let me at the hot women!" the whole time), Fantomas crept forward through a stand of reeds and saw a harpy perched on a rock in the middle of a pool. Iz had used his mindlink tattoo and through it Fan was able to provide the others with a description of the harpy. Although Iz, despite desperately searching through the tome of worldly memory, had no idea what the creature was, Kel-Al was able to consult his knowledge of the local swamp critters and positively identified it as a harpy. Speaking of which, the harpy didn't see the sneaky halfling, so he shot at her with an arrow and hit her in the belly, adding his +3d6 sneak attack damage! The harpy stopped singing and launched into the air. She swept past Fantomas and whacked him with a bone club. He shot her again and she came around again and whacked him a second time. He then shot her a third time and she decided she'd had enough and flew off. Ivan was free of the enchantment by now so the others helped him out of the quicksand. They all trudged wearily back to their encampment and continued to get some rest. Because of their two interruptions during the night, they had to extend their rest period an extra few hours. The next day, Ivan and Iz said goodbye to their horses but Fantomas was adamant his riding dog would be able to make it through the swamp. Off they went. It was hot and sweaty and the going was very slow ... since everyone had to go at the halfling's speed, they looked to be averaging 1/2 mph. 8 hours later found them roughly 4 miles from the old trail. As the sun crept down towards the far-off Wyrmsmoke Mountains, the PCs spied a little hillock of peat with two gnarly trees. They headed for it and soon spotted the decaying remains of a giant owl - which Kel-Al identified as being the sort the elves used as mounts. As they neared the edge of the hill, with Ivan in the lead, a horrible green scaly creature with razor-sharp wings leaped out of the boggy water on the far side of the hill and breathed a cloud of burning acid gas on everyone except Iz. They all failed their Reflex saves and took 23 points of acid damage! This got things off to a rollicking start which saw the PCs (and the players, no doubt) soiling their pants! The creature retreated into a bog while Iz transformed himself into a floating blob of ectoplasm and chased after it. He managed to hit it with entangling ectoplasm (and now that I think about it, I wonder if he should have been able to do that while in ectoplasmic form. Although you can manifest powers, you can't attack, and the entangling ectoplasm power requires a ranged touch attack ... hmm. Oh well. I don't think it ultimately made a whole lot of difference in this encounter.). Kel-Al came in too close and got ripped to shreds by the creature's razor-sharp wings. Iz responded quickly by using time hop to send Kel's shattered body into the future. The creature proceeded to leap about the battlefield, once even leaping straight up into the air to breathe a cloud of acid on Iz. He had had the foresight to manifest acid energy adaptation on himself, though, so he was able to reduce the amount of damage he took. Another time, Iz manifested a cold energy wall around the creature, but it just leapt over the top (we ruled that the wall only rose 10ft). Iz also attacked it with cold energy rays on several occasions, but the creature was smart enough to hide in the reeds and he missed and froze the reeds instead - he did hit it at least once, though, doing a massive 35 cold damage, which definitely helped! :clap: The creature struck Ivan down and again Iz was forced to use time hop to send another companion's body forward in time. Meanwhile, Fantomas had retreated to a stand of reeds, where he was attempting to snipe at the creature. Unfortunately, even with his massive Hide bonus, the creature still spotted him and closed. He desperately tumbled away numerous times but it eventually took him down. At this point, Iz dismissed his ectoplasmic form, taking the fall from 20ft up. He tried to use the staff of life via UMD on Kel-Al but failed and so Kel breathed his last, face down in the mud and the bloody reeds. Iz then wised up and got out a potion. He poured that down Ivan's gullet, saving his life. The creature had finished with Fan by this time, though, and returned to attack the survivors. Ivan, still prone, used his dimension stride boots to move 60ft away into the edge of another stand of reeds, while Iz drank a potion of invisibility. The creature glanced about then snuffled in the reeds and found Kel's body. It started tearing at his armor, trying to get at the soft flesh underneath. With the creature only 5ft away, Iz very quietly took his mouse familiar, Squeaker, and tossed him out onto the open peat. The creature saw the mouse and leapt, squishing it in one go. Iz felt the searing pain and drain of life energy (-200XP) but figured it was better than losing it all ... (geez, what's with these people? Wanting their PCs to live ... Honestly! :rolleyes:) The creature got bored and took Kel's sword over to a pile of treasure sitting under one tree. Iz heard it mutter to itself in Draconic, "Ooo, a pretty bauble for me!" and he realized they were up against something with more than just animal intelligence ... Ivan then got up and dashed over to Fantomas and poured a potion down his throat, reviving him. Iz, meanwhile, pulled out his potion of fly and rose up 100ft into the air. The creature spotted Ivan and Fantomas and gave chase. It easily caught up to the little halfling and struck him down again before chasing after Ivan. Iz followed in hot pursuit and between Ivan and Iz, they managed to finally kill the beast. :bravo: By this time, Fantomas had also expired (his dog, which had tried to run away, had got caught in a gas cloud and perished as well), so Ivan and Iz gathered up both of their companions' bodies, then Iz cast rope trick from a scroll and, as darkness enveloped the swamp, they retreated up into the safe haven the spell provided (although only for 3 hours). Ever the opportunists, they made sure to take the creature's little horde with them so they could pick through it while they rested. They found a golden orb, a crystal greatsword, a wooden wand, a crystal wand, and an ornate jewelry box, as well as 720gp). And that, folks, is where we ended the session. Big changes are obviously afoot for next session with at least one new PC coming on the scene (Kel-Al's player wanted to create a new PC, but I'm going to do my best to convince him to bring him back as Ivan and Iz are going to try to resurrect him and I honestly don't think the brave paladin would refuse to come back when he knows there's so much at stake ... plus, the player only has one more session before he goes overseas for 3 months. So yeah ... I'll keep you posted on that one.).
LoveNrockets 08-12-07, 08:20 AM	Session Date: 10 August 2007 I'm going to do my best to convince him to bring him back as Ivan and Iz are going to try to resurrect him and I honestly don't think the brave paladin would refuse to come back when he knows there's so much at stake ... plus, the player only has one more session before he goes overseas for 3 months. So yeah ... I'll keep you posted on that one.). Hmmm...I think this is a lesson to all DM's. It's probably not a good idea to have spent time preparing chunks of storyline and group motivations around a given PC, if you intend to send an unsuspecting party into a well-prepared kill-zone. Somewhere in PC heaven a paladin weeps:weep: ;-)
Subversive 08-12-07, 11:22 AM	Hmmm...I think this is a lesson to all DM's. It's probably not a good idea to have spent time preparing chunks of storyline and group motivations around a given PC, if you intend to send an unsuspecting party into a well-prepared kill-zone. Somewhere in PC heaven a paladin weeps:weep: ;-) I learned that truism with the first homebrew setting I ran. It gets really hard to kill one of my PC's characters when there's a load of prophecies, ect, around that character...
pukunui 08-12-07, 04:36 PM	Hmmm...I think this is a lesson to all DM's. It's probably not a good idea to have spent time preparing chunks of storyline and group motivations around a given PC, if you intend to send an unsuspecting party into a well-prepared kill-zone. Somewhere in PC heaven a paladin weeps:weep: ;-) The storyline etc is not why I wanted you to bring the paladin back. I can revert to the story of the elves in the swamp as written in the module easily enough. No, it was more because I honestly don't think that Kel-Al would refuse the chance to come back and continue to fight the good fight if it was offered to him ... and the other players informed me after you'd left that they were going to attempt to use the staff of life to bring Kel back. I'd hate to see them waste the spell because the paladin has suddenly come over all selfish and would rather stay where he is ... ;) That and I felt it would be easier for you to keep playing your regular character for your last session than roll up a new one. But now that you won't be playing next week and there's the possibility you won't be coming back at all, then the whole thing becomes moot really, doesn't it? It's sad that you're leaving. I've enjoyed our time together, even if it was rather brief. I wish you luck in your endeavors in Thailand over the next few months and I really do hope to see you at the gaming table again before the end of the year! Cheers! :pint: - Jonny
LoveNrockets 08-13-07, 02:54 AM	G'ol dang it! I told myself I wasn't gonna cry *sniff*:weep: Will also be keeping an eye on your adventures from overseas :D. Peace y'all!
pukunui 08-15-07, 06:24 AM	Hey everyone, Here are some pics from last session. Prom was the photographer. Hopefully he'll get his roll of film from a few weeks ago developed soon so I can show you the model of the road blockade we made out of Prom's modular bricks. I'll try to remember to take my own camera this Friday ... Anyway, here we go: Photo 1: Fantomas Squares Off Against The Harpy http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1042/1124617591_76b0f15787.jpg The harpy took a couple of passes and bopped Fantomas on the head with her bone club but he hit her too many times with his arrows and she eventually took off ... Photo 2: The Beast Hungers For More ... http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1170/1124611633_529e8e5eee.jpg The beast is using the bog as protection after having taken out Kel-Al (the white paper-clip represents the place where is body will be when Iz's time hop power expires ...). Iz was floating 20ft up in ectoplasmic form (each oversized d6 represents 5ft of height there). Photo 3: The Beast Leaps Out Of Iz's Trap http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1155/1124614963_accf072ab0.jpg The erasers represent Iz's cold energy wall. We agreed that the height of the wall was only 10ft. The beast was easily able to leap over it and thus didn't take the "passing through the wall" damage. Needless to say, Iz was very disappointed ... Note that Ivan is now down for the count and that Kel-Al's body has returned. Iz went on to time hop both bodies again but ultimately wasn't able to keep Kel-Al alive although he saved Ivan. That's all for now. Look for my next session recap over the weekend.
Prom 08-17-07, 04:11 PM	Hi All, Well I have an e-mail roleplay to post soon, as we did not get to play this week. Iz and Ivan are discussing what to do next. Pukunui's computer died and we are all suffering from the 4E rules release, just bought v3.5 eight months ago. Watch this space for more. Prom
pukunui 08-17-07, 04:35 PM	Hi everyone, Yes, my computer died yesterday morning and I was unable to finish last-minute preparations for the session. Then I got an e-mail (via my laptop) from one of my players, who couldn't make it. So I called the whole thing off. Hopefully we'll get to play next Friday. If not, we might play the following Sunday. We'll see. As for 4e ... well, it looks promising, but the impatient part of me wishes they'd just release it already instead of making us wait 9 months. I was very, very amused with the website failure once the countdown reached zero. Silly Wizards ... :rofl: Cheers, Jonny
snakeheadfish33 08-17-07, 06:33 PM	4th edition ... bring it on. I know that at least one of my players will upgrade alongside me as soon as available. It's a bit of a shame to those of us who just bought new handbooks. At least six new books have arrived at our game table within the last three months. I guess they're useful for awhile yet though. But hey, with that new fangled online game, I could possibly game with you people I enjoy interacting with. Sidenote: Not to derail the thread, surely this can go to the PM stage, but I would like your overall thoughts on Barrow of the Forgotten King. I did follow the recap, somewhat, and am grabbing a copy on Saturday. I have a great desire to run it with a group of 2nd/3rd level PCs. ... Thumbs up?
pukunui 08-17-07, 09:00 PM	Yes, the more I read about 4e, the more excited I get. It sounds like it has the potential to be much, much better than 3.5. I do like the current version of the game better than 2nd edition, but it's just so slow. All those rules ... not only do we spend a lot of time looking stuff up in the books instead of actually playing, but I spend too much time crunching numbers and "building" NPC statblocks, which leaves me with very little time to develop cool plot ideas or even to come up with interesting personalities for the NPCs I have statted out ... Anyway, this is probably a discussion best held somewhere else. I don't want to derail my own recap thread. RE: Barrow of the Forgotten King - yes, I do recommend it but it needs to be gone through with a fine tooth comb and heavily modified in some places (get rid of that rune hound for sure and consider getting rid of the tomb spider). Merthuvial, even though it's a legacy weapon, is overpowered - an opinion both my players and I share. Also, make sure you know where all the important room info and read aloud text and stuff is. The most aggravating thing about the adventure is that the "tactical encounter" format is not all it's cracked up to be. There's too much info the players might want to know that's been left in the "story" section, so you still end up flipping pages back and forth in the book. I'll give it one :thumbsup:
Prom 08-17-07, 10:48 PM	Hi All, Back to the real stuff. This is an e-mail roleplay, between Iz and Ivan. It's a little long, sorry. Posted by Pukunui, Ivan and Iz gathered up both of their companions' bodies, then Iz cast rope trick from a scroll and, as darkness enveloped the swamp, they retreated up into the safe haven the spell provides. Safe at last, for three hours As the bodies of Fantomas and Kel are hauled into the extradimensinal space Iz and Ivan slump to the floor, the very picture of defeat. Covered in blood and muck, drained and spent. Iz wearily looks up and begins to speak in a very old and brittle monotone. "We are safe here for three hours only, beyond that we will be spat out into the swamp again", explains Iz. Grimly Iz up-ends his bag of holding, empying the contents onto the spongy floor speaking seemingly at random. "I have no power left in me, and will need to rest shortly if we are to have any hope of surviving in the swamp". Iz pushes potions towards Ivan. "Healing" he explains. He keeps flipping over scrolls putting them into two piles. He then sweeps one pile back into the bag of holding and sets aside the other pile. One scroll with a solitary pearl is carefuly lain infront of the scaly monsters trove. Iz looks across at Ivan and prods Kel and Fantomas with the staff of life. "So who do you like better?" asks Iz. Ivan looks down at the mud on his hands. "I should have poured another potion down Fantomas throat rather than make sure the green beast was dead. I wouldn't have to make this choice then," sigh's Ivan. He rubs the dirt from his hands and scratches his face. "Healing resources are low and only Kel-Al can use that wand of CLW, hmm. I'm going to miss the Tin-can's high and mighty speeches," laughs Ivan. "Ok, bring back the Paladin, he has the power to heal. I never liked the rogue sneaking about anyway, give me a straight fight or just run-away that's me," nods Ivan. "So Iz can you get that stick of life thing to work, or are we up the swamp with no way out," asks Ivan with a pained expression. "If its just a case of using the wand, I can do that," Iz remarks drawing forth the wand from Kels belt and looking at it criticly. "Still I do think that Kel-Al would give us a better chance of getting out of here alive," states Iz. Iz looks at the end of the staff of life, holds it up to eye and shakes it. "Couldn't get this thing firing when i needed to last time though..." Iz trails off into thought. "Well it ain't going to work if you shake it and look at it. Three hours passes fast, so get it done old man," encourages Ivan. "Don't really see much point in warning the elves about any army invading the Vale, who the hell wants to trek through this bog. I think we were mis-guided in trying to warn them, they are surrounded by a moot miles wide," chokes Ivan with a wary grin. "Damn it, I knew the Rhest ruin's were a better idea," curses Ivan. "I don't even like elves," added Iz, "they live waaay to long to be trusted". Iz looks at the staff sadly. "Do you know how much one of these is worth? A kings ransom to the right buyer" Iz answers his own question . "It'd fund a lifetime of debauchery for yourself and at least a few years of research for myself," states the bearded man. Iz pauses and picks a splinter from the staff. "You know I am beginning to think we have done as much for the Vale as we can. I only came along initially because I owed Lestir for getting me out of the maze; cities rise and cities fall, its happened before and it will happen again," Iz finishes his pearl of wisdom and there is silence between the too. I'm so evil, I will leave the story there. To be continued. Prom
pukunui 08-24-07, 09:12 AM	Hi all, Well, we sort of played about 2.5 sessions this week. Basically, we're down one player and another player has created a new PC that hadn't been introduced to the party yet. So I got the two players whose PCs had survived the attack in the swamp to come over earlier in the week and we roleplayed them being rescued by the elves on their giant owls and meeting with the other elves back at Starsong Hill. Despite losing Mr Diplomacy, the paladin, they made a pretty decent impression on the elves. Then, somewhere in all the e-mails going back and forth about who wanted to sell what and buy what and whether or not people could make it on Friday, I forgot to tell the player with the new PC that we were actually playing D&D this week. So when I showed up earlier tonight, I again only had two players. And one of them had to go at midnight ... sigh. I wouldn't go so far as to describe the session as a "non-event" but it was fairly boring. It started out with the funeral for Lanikar, Kel-Al, and Fantomas. This was actually pretty interesting because of Iz's antics. He cast raging flame and then manifest a fire wall on the pyre to make it go up in a whoomph! of flames. Then he psionically protected himself from fire and walked into the flames. He gave a little speech about how life comes from death and then used his Quaal's feather token (tree) to create a massive oak tree right where the funeral pyre had been. He, of course, ended up high up in the branches of said tree. But still, the elves were quite impressed. :clap: Later on, during the all-night celebrations, Ivan told the story of Kel-Al trying to leap over the blockade wall and getting a faceful of ogre club. Despite it not being a very pleasant story, he managed to tell it well enough that the elves appreciated his efforts. Iz had previously met up with Illian Snowmantle, the elves' head priest, who volunteered to go check out the Rhest ruins with the PCs. Trellara, meanwhile, was talked out of going with them (plus she was feeling pretty emotionally fragile after the funeral and stuff). After much pleading on the PCs' part for some "real warriors", though, the elves eventually relented and agreed to send 3 low-level elf rangers to Rhest. Meanwhile, since my other player wasn't there, we decided that his new PC (the half-elf monk) would stay behind. So then they went to Rhest. The owls dropped them on the western shore of the lake. It started raining. They hung around for 3 hours and watched the lizardfolk go into the lake, heard the terrible roar, and then saw fewere lizardfolk come back. One of the elf rangers suggested killing some lizardfolk, skinning them, then wearing the skins as disguises while using a lizardfolk raft to get closer (a variation on Ivan's suggestion of sticking the lizardfolks' heads on poles on the raft). They ended up doing that. The lizardfolk didn't really stand a chance against one of Iz's cold energy walls. They all died pretty quickly, much to Ivan's disappointment ... especially after discovering that his crossbow bolt froze and shattered as it passed through Iz's psionic wall. Ivan searched the lizardfolk hut and found a few valuables, then they boarded the raft and headed towards the bell tower. As they drew closer, the rain picked up until it became a torrential downpour and they had difficulty navigating their way to the tower. Eventually they found it. What happened next was a bit interesting. Ivan used a potion of levitate to rise up the tower after exploring the outside and being unable to find any way in. However, Iz followed suit and manifested a fire energy wall inside the bell room, roasting the hobs inside. Ivan got mad because he didn't want to go through the wall and levitated back down to the dock. He then started hacking away at the stone wall with Merthuvial, the +1 adamantine longsword legacy weapon he'd taken off Kel-Al. The hobs in the bell room beat on the bell to warn everyone else and then retreated down the hatch into the room below. Iz kept concentrating on the fire energy wall for several rounds thereafter, hoping the hobs would be dumb enough to come back up. Ivan kept hacking away at his section and eventually made a large enough opening that the startled hobs inside were able to shoot him with their bows. He then made an even larger opening and a mean, nasty hobgoblin wielding two wicked-looking short swords stepped up and yelled, "You made a whole in the wall. Now I'm going to make holes in you!" And he did just that. Repeatedly. To the point where Ivan collapsed, dying, on the dock. Fortunately, Illian happened to be standing right behind him and the elf cleric was able to bring him back to life. Ivan then retreated and downed numerous cure moderate wounds potions in quick succession. Iz, meanwhile, entered the bell room, peered down the manifested fire energy walls inside the living space, basically reducing all the furniture to ash. The hobs managed to survive by downing their potions ... for some time at least, but they really were trapped in an oven, and one by one they succumbed to the fire. Both Iz and Ivan retreated to relative safety while the elves and the hobgoblins duked it out in the pouring rain. Eventually the sounds of battle subsided and the elves yelled out an all-clear. All 4 of them were still standing thanks to Illian's healing. All of the hobs were dead, except that the short sword-wielding guy was gone. The elves said they'd seen him step out over the water and fly off into the rain. Ivan looted the bodies, finding numerous potions, and then smashed open a chest and found some money and some more, different potions. Then he levitated up into the bell room and cut the bell free, so it went crashing to the floor, which surprisingly held the bell's weight. Disappointed but not wanting to linger any longer, Ivan retreated back to the reed raft, where the others were all waiting, and they set off back into the rain, hoping to find the shore again before the rest of the enemies found them ... So yeah. That was that. Kind of boring but necessary, I suppose. It's too bad there were so few players but that couldn't be helped. And, of course, we didn't get as far as I would've liked. Now I've got to wait another week ... sigh! That's all from me for now. Cheers, Jonathan
Prom 08-26-07, 05:17 PM	Hi All, Posted by Pukunui, The nasty hobgoblin wielding two wicked-looking short swords stepped up and yelled, "You made a whole in the wall. Now I'm going to make holes in you!" Well as it happened Ivan made a pretty big hole in the hobgoblin captain too, but with all his Hobgoblin mates firing through the hole, Ivan didn't really have a chance. Once Ivan realized it was time to flee, he was struck down while withdrawing from the combat. This session was a real stuff up by me and and the guy playing Iz, nothing was well thought-out, simply a lack of communication. We wasted a few resources and fumbled the ball. Prom
pukunui 08-29-07, 08:43 PM	Hi all, We've got a game on tomorrow night. There's an 80% chance all three of my regular players will be there, and I'm also hoping that two potential recruits will show up as well. One of them is the head of my graphic design department at school. Could be a bit intimidating but he's a cool guy so I think it'll work out well. If both of them want to join, then I'll have 5 players, which will be nice. If anyone can't make it on a given night or if someone drops out like we've had happen a couple of times now, then it won't be as big a deal. As for tomorrow night's session ... get ready for a doozy! Rumor has it the PCs are considering abandoning the swamp. It's been a real tough slog for them so far and the PCs are doing some real soul-searching to figure out whether risking death in the ruins of Rhest is really worth it. We'll all find out soon enough, I suppose! I'll end with a sobering thought for everyone: if PCs fall in the swamp, no one can hear them scream ... :evillaugh
Subversive 08-30-07, 12:12 AM	Wow... one little near-TPK and your players are ready to roll up the shop. Who would have thought it?!!?:surrender
pukunui 08-30-07, 04:23 AM	Wow... one little near-TPK and your players are ready to roll up the shop. Who would have thought it?!!?:surrender Yeah I know. Total wimps, if you ask me. ;) Truth be told, though, they are a bit under strength. Last session there were only 2 PCs ... although they did have 4 NPCs with them. But still ... this session they'll have 3 PCs. There will possibly be 5 PCs the session after that. You know, come to think of it, a TPK could be a good thing. Then the old guys and the new guys could all start new characters together and they could form a proper "we all know each other already" band of adventurers. Hmm ... :plotting:
snakeheadfish33 08-30-07, 03:19 PM	That's some interesting developments you've got going within your game and group there Pukuni. I'll be eagerly waiting to hear how it all shakes out. Now, if your instructor gives you a crappy grade, you can target his PC on the game table.;)
pukunui 08-30-07, 04:14 PM	That's some interesting developments you've got going within your game and group there Pukuni. I'll be eagerly waiting to hear how it all shakes out.:D Now, if your instructor gives you a crappy grade, you can target his PC on the game table.;)Heh heh. I wouldn't do that ... Besides, he's not my actual tutor. He's the head of the department but I'm not in his actual graphic design class. So we don't interact on a daily basis at school (although we might now that he's joined my gaming group!).
pukunui 08-31-07, 09:40 AM	Session Date: 31 August 2007 Playing Time: 4 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Iz, Ivan, Rom + Illian Snowmantle (NPC cleric) and two NPC 2nd level wild elf rangers Timeline: Days 21-22 Deaths: lots of lizardfolk and one eagle ------------------------------------------------ "Nice try ... but you forgot one very important fact about dragons ..."- the Black Beast of Rhest, attempting to tip an invisible Iz off to the fact that dragons have blindsense Tonight's session went much better than I had expected. I had expected a TPK. None of the PCs, nor even any of the NPCs, died. On the positive side, a dozen lizardfolk were slain as well as an eagle that tried to attack Ivan. We also welcome two new players into the group. One of them ran Illian Snowmantle, the Tiri Kitor head priest, for me. The other ran one of the 2nd level wild elf rangers, Dorniar, while the other, Karam, was controlled by the guy who plays Iz (who spent most of the session hiding in a rope trick hideout). [Note: we decided to retroactively swap out one of the wild elf rangers for the new PC, Rom the female half-elven monk, seeing as her player had not been able to make it last session but was there this session.] We started off with Iz's solo scouting mission. He used invisibility and fly on himself, linked minds with Illian, and then sped off into the rain while the others headed back toward the shore on the lizardfolk raft. Iz eventually found the big lion-adorned building in the middle of the lake. He was somewhat horrified to also find a "harrowblade" and six ogres guarding the building. Despite leaving an Iz-sized hole in the steadily falling rain, the old man managed to sneak past the ogres and flew down a hole in the floor and into what appeared to have once been a library. He spotted what looked to him like a dragon's horde but didn't spot its owner, who was lurking in the pool below ... Iz heard someone mutter the word thurkear, which he recognized as being Draconic for "night". Then the room went dark. The same voice then hissed, "Nice try ... but you forgot one very important thing." Next thing Iz heard was someone coughing and something cold splashed his skin, which painfully started melting away. Fortunately his psionic acid resistance helped protect him somewhat. Iz consulted his knowledge of dragons and realized he'd forgotten about their blindsense ability, which rendered his invisibility less effective than he'd hoped it would be, especially where a dragon's breath weapon is concerned. He then tried to trick the dragon into thinking that a massive army of elves was about to storm the building but the dragon didn't buy it, so Iz tried to mask a manifestation of time hop as the teleport spell, hoping that the dragon would think he'd gone somewhere else instead of just forward in time ... During the 18 seconds that Iz was not in the room, the dragon dismissed his darkness and let out a terrible roar that the other PCs and NPCs could hear out on the lake. They feared the worst ... especially after Illian received Iz's mental shout of "Oh ****! Dragon!" Iz reappeared just in time to see a diminutive goblin armed with a wicked-looking bow and a taller hobgoblin dressed in blood-stained robes enter the dragon's lair through a set of double doors to the east. The two looked around and one said to the other, "What's going on? What was the roar all about?" The dragon surfaced in his pool and replied, "There is an intruder in the room. He is over there." Iz then manifested ectoplasmic form and tried to find some cracks to seep through but was unsuccessful. Someone then successfully dispelled his ectoplasmic form and then the dragon sprayed him with acid again. The goblin fired an arrow in Iz's general direction but missed. Iz then got the hell out of there by flying up through the hole and out into the rain. He fled around to the back of the side building in which the "harrowblade" was resting and fled into the rope trick hideout he had created only moments before. He pulled up the rope and decided to rest for most of the 5 hours he had in his hideout. Meanwhile, the others had found the eastern shore just as the rain began to ease up. They saw the dragon emerge from the central building and a small figure mount its back. The dragon then took to wing and began flying around the perimeter of the lake in a clockwise direction. The group tried to hide in the swamp but it was only a matter of time before the dragon winged its way over to them. Ivan was unable to hide and the dragon spotted him, making a run at him from 40ft up. It sprayed him with acid and then sped off. The others fired arrows at it while Illian started to head into the water. Rom the monk downed a potion of fly and, when the dragon turned and started heading back in her direction, charged up into the air and struck the goblin a glancing blow to his head. The dragon then craned its neck around and sprayed Rom with acid. The goblin also shot her at point blank range. The two enemies continued on, leaving the severely wounded monk in the air behind them. As the dragon and its rider neared the group again, the goblin shouted out "Leave the ruins to us!" Around this time, Ivan spotted an eagle descending from the sky. It tried to attack him but he easily hacked it to pieces with Merthuvial. The dragon departed, heading back towards the ruins in the center of the lake ... but shortly thereafter, the group were attacked by six lizardfolk. Rom, having been healed by Illian, charged at them. She was quickly surrounded but they had difficulty hitting her. She had difficulty hitting them in turn, but the lizardfolk one by one all around her as her companions made short work of them, despite firing into melee. She did manage to take out one of them, though, as did Ivan. The burly black warrior wanted to finish them off but the lawful-minded female would have none of it and kept getting in his way. Illian meanwhile gathered up the remains of the eagle, thinking it might come in useful later on. Fearing that the dragon might return, the group decided to head deeper into the swamp to the east. The slogged through the leech-infested waters and muddy hills for a mile and a half before finding a place to bed down for the night. They were subsequently attacked in the middle of the night by another group of six lizardfolk, all of whom fell quickly to the coordinated efforts of the group. Iz, on the other hand, fled west when his rope trick expired and sought out the group's original rendezvous point. He managed to spend the night unmolested and met up with Killiar and some of his elf warriors the next morning. They discussed leaving the others but Killiar seemed determined to at least look for his spiritual leader, Illian, even if it meant risking the owls being chased down by the dragon. They flew low over the swamp and eventually arrived at the part of the shore where the others had slaughtered the first group of lizardfolk. They headed inland a little ways and a few hours later spotted their companions. There weren't enough owls for everyone, though, so the two low-level rangers volunteered to stay behind in the swamp while the others were transported back to Starsong Hill. The plan, when we ended the session, was to restock supplies and look for some tougher companions to assist Ivan, Iz, and Rom. It turns out they are very much in luck for a pair of chaotic warriors with anger management issues were found blundering through the swamp by a Tiri Kitor elf patrol and brought back to Starsong Hill as well. The half-orc barbarian and dwarf rogue/barbarian may indeed make a fine addition to the group ... [Note: Our new players agreed that their PCs should be friends already. I'm just thinking that they could quite easily be friends of Ivan's as well.] That's where we ended. There are now 5 players and 5 PCs in the group. Still no healer, so I'll probably have Illian stick with them but the two elf rangers will go back to their usual duties. Hopefully this combination will see the group victorious in their efforts to rid the swamp of Kulkor Zhul agents. See you all next week! Same time, same place, this time with even more PC awesomeness!! EDIT: I've got some photos that I'll upload and post tomorrow.
Subversive 08-31-07, 11:00 AM	I'm glad to hear that all of your group survived that tough encounter. I think this demonstrates the effectiveness and versatility of mages for certain...
snakeheadfish33 08-31-07, 12:08 PM	Nice one. It was refreshing to read a Rhest encounter that had some shoreline/swamp terrain thrown into the mix. The nightime attack by lizardfolk is a great way to deny a full nights healing to the group. Can't wait for next weeks extra helping of PC awesomeness.
pukunui 08-31-07, 06:06 PM	Yes, last night's session was a blast. I can't wait to see what the players come up with for next week. Apparently they've been scheming to come up with ways of catching me off guard ... lol. I'm getting better at anticipating their unusual strategies now, though. So watch out, boys, or the dragon will eat you in your sleep! ;)
Gerry 09-02-07, 12:43 PM	Okay, I'm old school DM, and this is a 1st Ed. inspired question. One of the significant differences between the Spell Invisibility and the psionic power of Invisibility was that the former kept things from seeing you, the later was a telepathic "edit" of the creature's mind, and thus it didn't notice you. Effectively totally invisible and silent. I take it that's no longer true with 3.5 and the XPH? Gerry
pukunui 09-02-07, 05:17 PM	Okay, I'm old school DM, and this is a 1st Ed. inspired question. One of the significant differences between the Spell Invisibility and the psionic power of Invisibility was that the former kept things from seeing you, the later was a telepathic "edit" of the creature's mind, and thus it didn't notice you. Effectively totally invisible and silent. I take it that's no longer true with 3.5 and the XPH? Gerry Yes, you've got it right. Cloud mind erases a creature's perception of you. However, that's not what Iz was doing. He had drunk a potion of invisibility as well as a potion of fly. Or else he'd used a scroll for one or the other. The point is, he was using the arcane version of invisibility not the psionic one. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear in my recap post.
pukunui 09-02-07, 05:48 PM	Hi all, Here are the two photos I took from last session. Photo 1: Iz Exploring The Ruins http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1284/1306626164_a288425158.jpg Key: Iz is the brightly-painted lead mini on the boardwalk to the left. The two hill giants on the far side are meant to be ogres. Photo 2: Fighting The Black Dragon http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1269/1305740803_609987d24a.jpg Key: the building the dragon is on is just meant to represent that it is 40ft up. The Warden of the Wood mini is Rom the monk. The modified harmonium guard is Ivan. Aramil is actually Illian and the wild elves are, well, wild elves (one is hidden behind a tree). The vargouille is an eagle. Oh, and the jellies are meant to be bushes ... :rolleyes: Cheers, Jonny
Gerry 09-02-07, 11:38 PM	Is that "foam board" that you're using? It looks like 1/4 " foam board, or sometimes called "poster board" Try your local dollar store (you guys use dollars, right? or pounds?) or kids section of any discount store for bags of plastic animals. Keep looking until the scale is within or 25%. With a bit of luck, you'll get an eagle fairly quickly, and your vargouile can return to the lower depths from which it came:D Of course, over here north of the Excited States of America, its hard NOT to find eagles in toy packs. Moose and beavers, no way eh? But eagles? Eagles we can find. Sigh. Gerry
Prom 09-03-07, 01:33 AM	Hi All, Posted by Pukunui, Oh, and the jellies are meant to be bushes .. There were alot more bushes (jellies) on the table, but the problem with using food as terrain as it magically disappears when this god like hand reaches down and takes them to heaven. :evillaugh Gerry, I am always hunting for new stuff at the local 2 dollar shop, but low bushes and spiders, I am having trouble with. Finally found crocadiles, snakes, lizards, and frogs, which I expect could be found in a swamp. Wild beasts I have managed to get the right scale, sort of. Prom
Rumple 09-03-07, 03:13 AM	and we barter for such using twigs and berries. Or roubles if we can get them. Offcourse its difficult with inflation 1000%+ the way it is.:teach: Offcourse they have a better selection over in australia so we just walk across the bridge. I jest offcourse!:hides: no offense intended
pukunui 09-03-07, 07:18 PM	Is that "foam board" that you're using? It looks like 1/4 " foam board, or sometimes called "poster board"Indeed, it is foam board. It even says so on the label. ;) It's Elmer's. Imported from the good ol' USA. It's not 1/4" though. It's only 3/16". I've found it to be quite good for making some of the models in RHoD (and in some of the other adventures I've run).
pukunui 09-07-07, 10:01 AM	Session Date: 7 September 2007 Playing Time: 4 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Iz, Ivan, Rom, Og, Fremlin, and Illian (NPC) Timeline: Days 22-23 ------------------------------------------------ "Oh ****! Why am I swimming away?!" - Ivan Keel, coming to his senses after Iz dispelled whatever it was that was causing him to swim away from the action. All right, I'm going to be crazily busy this weekend, so I have very little time to do a proper recap. This is going to be very brief. Perhaps some of my players will be able to flesh it out for you a bit. Basically, the three PCs and their elven allies returned to Starsong Hill and rested up. While there, Ivan happened to find that two of his old acquaintances, Og the half-orc barbarian wrestler and his "manager", Fremlin, a dwarven rogue with an anger management problem, were "in town", as it were. The two newcomers agreed to help out their old pal, and so on the following day, the group returned to Rhest. The day turned out to be sunny as the group of six brave (or perhaps foolish?) heroes ventured close to the edge of lake. They hoped to attract the attention of the dragon by burning down one of the lizardfolk huts but the shack proved to be too sodden from the previous day's rain to light with conventional means. Iz grumbled for a bit then manifested a fire wall around it, quickly cooking it until it burst into flames. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to have the desired effect and the group decided that Iz would use his swan boat token and they would just float into the ruins and attack en masse. As they neared the central ruin, where the ogres stood guard, Og decided to slip into the water and swim, while holding his breath, towards the ruin unseen. Unfortunately, he got sprayed with acid several times and got lost in the murky depths before finally surfacing to find that he was still some way from the wooden boardwalk encircling the ruin. Fortunately, by this stage Iz had ended up on the roof and he swapped places with the wounded barbarian via benign transposition then levitated up out of the water. Prior to this, Iz had manifested more fire walls, scorching the ogres on the roof, who ineffectually tossed some javelins at the PCs in their swan boat. His first wall was dispelled, which he found intriguing, but not so the second. Then something strange happened to Ivan and he decided it would be good to get out of the boat and start swimming back towards shore. Everyone thought he was a coward ... The others had, by this stage, all gotten off the boat and onto the boardwalk. Although Rom the half-elf monk appeared to be ineffectual at first, she actually managed to take out the dual short sword wielding hobgoblin, who came running around on the boardwalk. He dealt her some mean damage with his swords first, though. Together the group eventually managed to take out all six ogres but not before two of them managed to land critical hits on Og the barbarian. Fortunately, he survived thanks to his bear helm, his elixir of adamantine blood, and a potion of cure serious wounds (not to mention the stamina gained from flying into a foaming rage). Unfortunately, the dragon returned to the ruins and picked up its goblin rider, then took to the skies, where the goblin rained arrows down on the PCs. The resident harrowblade also made an appearance, breathing its cloud of corrosive vapor on Rom, although the nimble half-elf managed to swirl and twirl in such away that none of the gas touched her skin. Sadly, though, my players had to start heading home for bed by this time, so for the very first time ever we ended a session in the middle of combat. I took fairly good notes so we shouldn't have too much trouble picking things up where we left off next Friday. That's all for now. Will the players survive? Will the dragon, the harrowblade, and whatever else awaits them within the ruins succumb as easily as did the ogres? Find out next week!
Prom 09-08-07, 01:20 AM	Hi All, Just going to fill in a few gaps, from Ivan's point of view. When Ivan returned to Starsong Hill for a rest and a little bit to drink from the local Tavern, he bumped into a few old friends. "What are you guy's doing here?" asked Ivan surprised to see Og and Fremlin. "Trying to make some money off these elves on the wrestling curcuit," replied Fremlin. Ivan scratched his head and chuckled, "I don't think elves are much into wrestling half-orcs. Do you guy's want a drink? I'll shout you an ale or are you water logged already?" asked Ivan with a cocked eyebrow. Ivan introduced everyone and explained what had occured at Rhest ruin. With the lure of money, Og and Fremlin were convinced by Ivan to join the party and part the dragon and it's treasure. There were a few tense moments when Og insulted the Elves in the Tavern and Ivan thought they were going to be thrown out of Starsong Hill, but Ivan tryed to calm the situation. Generally the Elves looked unimpressed and returned to there activities. Ivan failed to mention to Iz or Rom that Fremlin had been in the Brindol Dungeon's with him and had broken out of jail. Ivan had seen Fremlin's wanted poster pinned up in Brindol when he was travelling with Kane Swift sometime back. Ivan know's Og and Fremlin from his days watching Og wrestle on the Vale national curcuit. Some illegal gambling business was conducted between them, but that information can wait. The next day, they all meet again and after Ivan discussed the battle plan with everyone in particular Iz, he rationed out 6 healing potions each to Og, Rom and Fremlin. Ivan bought a few spades, which turned out to be a silly idea, lol. Iz had woken the local arcane supplier up in the middle of the night and got his stuff sorted out. We set off on the giant Owls and landed in the safest place possible. The plan had been get the dragon to come to us and split up the enemies force. Ivan tryed digging holes in the swamp with a spade so he could hide in it, but it didn't work. Iz just shook his head at Ivan and walked away to hide. Ivan cut some reeds down to cover himself. There was a lot of sneaking about and hiding from everyone as Rom tryed to set the shack on fire, and as soon as it didn't work Rom got very annoyed with Ivan for even suggesting it. Ivan continued to give suggestions that provide to be useless. Iz used the swan boat token to get everyone across the lake. But not before Ivan had to spend sometime with Og explaining that swimming to the ruin city was a very bad idea. Just as the party floated about 100 feet from the ruin's, Og still wanted to go swimming. Ivan tryed very hard to stop Og swimming up to the ruin's and explained that Black dragons can swim and have great sight. Og claimly explained to everyone he was going to surprise the enemy. Og swam around underwater for sometime getting lost, badly injuried and a bit frustrated by the dragon he could not see. It was really hard not to laugh so we did most of the time (sorry man). The guy playing Og stayed positive about the whole situation but was very relieved when Iz swapped places with him with his magic powers. Ivan, Fremlin and Iz layed down a hail of arrows and magic while Iz sailed the boat up to the ruins to dock. Everyone unloaded except Ivan who just kept firing arrows into the closest Ogre. Fremlin and Rom engaged the enemy in melee, doing a pretty good job. By this time Ivan had jumped into the water and was swimming for the shore, when he finally realized what a foolish thing he had done, Og was bashing Ogre heads with glee. Ivan used his boots to teleport back onto the swan boat and floated around the ruins shooting anything he could. Ivan shoot the last Ogre that was about to knock Og's head off. At this time people wanted to leave, so did. Og is badly injured but everyone else is still fighting fit. I have to say things are going better than I could have hoped, apart from the swimming around in the lake. Prom
pukunui 09-14-07, 09:08 AM	Session Date: 14 September 2007 Playing Time: 3 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Iz, Ivan, Rom, Og, Fremlin, and Illian (NPC ally) Timeline: Day 23 PC Deaths: 2 + 1 NPC ------------------------------------------------ We came very close to a TPK this session. Things did not go well for the PCs at all. They were all ready to take on the black dragon until they spotted the six incoming rafts of lizardfolk ... each raft held six lizardfolk, meaning there were thirty–six fresh enemies to fight in addition to the dragon, its goblin rider, the harrowblade, and the mysterious magic–user hiding somewhere in the ruins. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, new guy Fremlin painfully discovered a two–headed giant lying in wait inside the ruins. This was quickly shaping up to be a no–win situation for the PCs. Fremlin quickly retreated from the giant’s guardpost but Rom foolishly tried to take it on by herself and took some massive hits from its twin morningstars. She too fell back, moving into the dragon’s lair, where an invisible Iz was busy looking for magic items in the dragon’s hoard. As lizardfolk began appearing at the lip of the hole in the ceiling, Iz decided it was time to go. The old man dropped a potion of fly for Rom on a magic red cloak and ten drank one himself and sped away towards the south. Unfortunately for Rom, the dragon returned and spotted her “raiding” its lair. It sprayed acid at it but she managed to evade the stream. The dragon’s goblin rider, though, rained arrows down on the poor half–elf through the hole in the ceiling. With two Rapid Shots going critical, the goblin dropped Rom to –16 hp! Meanwhile, the harrowblade had inexplicably returned to its fenced–in pen after its initial attack had failed and hid in the water for the duration of the encounter. The PCs were no doubt grateful, although they undoubtedly failed to grasp the significance of it. While he waited for the lizardfolk to arrive, Og the half–orc barbarian drank lots of potions. Sadly, they turned out to be quite watered down. Still feeling rather battered and looking like something a very large cat had coughed up, Og succumbed to his post–rage fatigue … just as the lizardfolk arrived and swarmed all over him. He heroically continued to fight, even going so far as to jump into the water to draw some of the lizardfolk away from the swan boat and thus away from Ivan and Fremlin. This noble act turned out to be the half–orc’s last. His body was last seen sinking slowly into the murky waters of the lake. After fleeing from the giant, Fremlin made a mad dash for the swan boat, on which Ivan waited impatiently. The two warriors were soon up to their necks in lizardfolk. Although Ivan had an easy enough time fending them off (they could only hit him on a natural 20 and he could only miss on a natural 1), Fremlin struggled. Eventually, the two of them slaughtered all the lizardfolk that had boarded the boat and fended off the rest as they headed for shore without Rom or Iz. The dragon, discovering the theft of some of its treasure, bellowed in anger but did not immediately pursue the PCs and so Ivan and Fremlin were able to make it to the eastern shore safely. And where was Illian, the elven cleric, during all of this, I hear you ask. You may recall that last session, he had been unceremoniously dumped in the lake when Iz magically swapped places with him. While swimming towards the ruins in his elven chain, he managed to get himself tangled up in something in the water and spent most of the encounter desperately trying to free himself (mainly by spending an entire minute holding his breath underwater as he struggled to remove his armor). Thus he was essentially out of play for the entire session. Although he eventually managed to free himself, he was left behind in the middle of the lake surrounded by enemies, so Igave him a miniscule chance of surviving, rolled d%, and declared him a goner … As the others battled for their very survival, Iz found a nice, secluded spot on the southern shore of the lake and studied his newfound possessions more closely. One of the things he’d picked up was an odd adamantine chain adorned with lion’s teeth and claws. Much to his surprise, he quickly discovered it to be a thing of great evil … a lich’s phylactery! How it had come to be in the dragon’s hoard, he did not know, but his first thought was to throw it into the dark waters of the swamp. Believing himself to be the only survivor, Iz began very seriously contemplating teleporting out of the swamp—possibly to Brindol or maybe even back to the magic maze that had been his home and his prison for 500 years. The surface world was proving to be a hell of a lot more dangerous than it used to be and Iz was just one very tired, very lonely, very old man … Is this the end of the road for our brave heroes? You’ll have to wait until next month to find out.
Leinart 09-14-07, 01:18 PM	I seriously hope Ivan continues the adventure...wilmar rendawth and ivan are probly my three favorite pcs in all the recaps.
Prom 09-15-07, 07:07 PM	Hi All, Here's something to fill in the gap's from Ivan's recall. Sorry guy's I keep writing far tomuch. Swamp Attack Ivan continued to steer the swan boat around the back of the ruin's toward, Rom, Og and Fremlin. "Spread out guy's, that dragon's coming back around," yelled Ivan. The Black dragon sailed down and hit Og in the only remained uninjuried part of his body with a stream of acid. Fremlin and Rom ran around to the stairs leading into the ruins and disappeared from sight. Og was covered in blood with his eye's scanning the sky for the dive bombing black dragon. Og staggering back and forth, then he stumbled toward the boat, pulling potions of healing from his pack and sucking them back as quickly as possible. "Og Hurt, Og Hurt," repeated the half-Orc dragging his weapon along the ground. Ivan pulled the boat around and parked the rear up against the wooden walk-way that Og was on. The Dragon and goblin rider flew past again hitting Ivan with acid and small arrows a number of times, but the acid just slid off and had no affect. The black warrior pulled arrows out of his armour and throw them to the ground. Ivan fire at the Dragon and rider with his bow, but each time hit nothing but air as the dragon dodged past them. Ivan cursed the flying scaled creature, then looked across the lake to see many rafts carrying what had to be the whole colony of lizardfolk paddling toward them. Og looked up and saw the rafts coming toward the ruins, he gasped "Me see a lot of Lizard's, time to go." The half-orc stepped into the boat just as his rage finished and leaned against the swan boat tail exhausted. Ivan tryed to hide his panic but screamed out at the top of his voice, "The whole swamps after us guy's, come back to the boat, #@$%$." Fremlin the dwarf caming leaping down the stairs to the ruin's, bloodied and wild with fear, only to gap at the hordes of lizards pulling up to the ruins. The short dwarf vaulted into the boat with his crossbow firing at the closest Lizard man. Ivan moved toward the front of the boat and shot a green skin in the shoulder, but it did not fall. "Hurry the #@$%$-up guy's, we have to go now!" yelled Ivan dropping his bow and drawing his sword as green Lizard men jumped into the swan boat. Lizard's started to surround Fremlin and Og who look like he was panicing. Og dodged and deflect everyblow from the green skins, but was shaking now. Fremlin dropped his crossbow and slammed his axe into anything that got to close to him. The dwarf was totally surround from all sides and taking the full force of the lizard pack as he tryed fight his way toward Og. "Are we going now, are we going, when are we going Ivan," shouted Fremlin in desperation. Ivan's mind raced as green arms and spears thrust themselves into his face. Where the hell was that Monk and Iz, then he saw the lady half-elf standing on top of the ruins looking at the swan boat swarming with Lizard creatures. "Move it, move it, we have to go," roared Ivan in Rom's direction. The half-elf looked on in dis-belief and froze, she then poped out of view, but did not come down the stairs, no one came down the stairs. The seconds dragged on, but no one came down the stairs not even Iz. Ivan's face covered in green blood hardened as he knew what had to be done. Og was swaying on his feet, then he let himself fall out of the boat into the water. Fremlin's expression dropped when Og fell into the water as he frantically tryed to slice the waves of Lizards to their death. Ivan smashed a Lizard head aside, then kicked the boom of the sail into position and the wind caught it. The large Swan boat moved away from the ruins and the doomed half-orc splashing in the dirty lake. Ivan looked away his friend and chopped a lizard man straight down the middle, like an axe through a wooden block. Ivan didn't look back again, he knew what was going to happen. Og splashed in the lake trying to keep his head above the water, Lizard beasts were diving into the mirky lake and swimming toward him. Five or six green scaly hands trying to pull Og under. An idea sprung into the half-orc's head and he dodged and bashed lizard arms, trying to pull the un-ideantified potion Ivan had given him out of his pack. Didn't Ivan say that it made him feel lighter, Crom if only it was a potion of fly. Og managed to get the potion from his pack, just as the weight of six lizard men pulled him down. "Og will live!" roared the half-orc trying to swig the potion. He was pulled under the water by many hands and as the dirty water from the lake was replaced by darkness, all Og could think was 'beer'. The swan boat picked up speed and started to gain distance on the reed rafts following it. The barbarian dwarf ripped open the chest of green scales with his axe and felt the strength he had drain from him. The boat was full with scaly creatures and Ivan just swung and stepped through them. Heads, arms, legs, tails and torsos flying through the air as Ivan cut them to pieces. 4, 5, 6, 7, Ivan counted as he crushed everything in his way, his eye's fixed on Fremlin fighting for his life. And then just like that only four remain, surrounding the dwarf who was panting for breath. Ivan tryed to charge across the boat but it swayed and he lost his footing. Fremlin was now cornered in the same place Og had been before he fell into the water. This time Ivan gained his balance on the boat launched himself at the closest lizard attacking Fremlin. The lizards paniced at the sight of Ivan's fury and a few dove into the water or were cut to pieces as they tryed to escape. There was no sign of the dragon now, but Ivan let the boat speed on toward the shore. "Heal up quickly Fremlin, it's not over yet," stated Ivan drinking a honey flavoured potion. The major wounds Ivan had sealed up and Fremlin did the same. Fremlin looked back at the ruins swarming with Lizard creatures that was now getting smaller. "We have to go back for Og," called the dwarf with a slight plea. Ivan looked straight toward the shoreline, he so badly wanted go back, but he knew he was no match for that Dragon without Iz. "Og is at the bottom of the lake Fremlin, there is nothing we can do," Ivan's tone was cold and slow. Today's battle was lost, but the war was not. This is were I end for now. Stay tuned for Ivan and Fremlin's next move.
pukunui 09-15-07, 08:12 PM	Thanks for that, Prom. Great dramatization. If only it had been that cinematic on the night ... :rolleyes:
Prom 09-15-07, 11:31 PM	Hi Pukunui, Well from my seat that's what I saw in my imagination. Only added a few bits, maybe expanded some dialogue that was not said in character, but hay who cares someone was saying it or thinking it at the table. Prom
pukunui 09-16-07, 12:34 AM	Hi Pukunui, Well from my seat that's what I saw in my imagination. Only added a few bits, maybe expanded some dialogue that was not said in character, but hay who cares someone was saying it or thinking it at the table. Prom Ah well, that's good that you were at least thinking cinematically ... then I must be doing something right, eh? ;) That's more or less how I imagined it too.
Prom 09-19-07, 02:57 AM	Hi All, Here is an e-mail roleplay between Ivan and Fremlin, just to keep you all up to date. Not very exciting but links one encounter to whatever will happen next. Esacape: The Swan boat sailed across the lake toward the Eastern shoreline. Ivan sat down in the boat leaning up against the mast and was quiet for a while. "We'll make for the shore and drift south past the Lizardfolk shacks. If we are luck there will be no one home and we can clean the hut's out, and burn them to the ground," states Ivan with a slightly aggressive tone. Fremlin leans on his axe and starts cleaning out his wounds. "Burning the huts will let the enemy know where we are and they might send a dragon after us. Besides, unless you have some magic fire, those huts are so damp that a giant fireball would not set them alight," informs Fremlin wiping blood from his body. "Do you think any of the others made it out? I saw OG go down and overboard. I left the others to have it out with that two headed beast," Fremlin looks back at the ruins. "Maybe we should try to burn the huts so the others can see the smoke? Then they would know that we got away. I hope they got away somehow…" Fremlin's train of speech stops. Ivan taps his fingers on the deck of the boat shaking his head in dis-belief, "You found a two headed beast in that death trap, bugger." Ivan is silent for a moment then speak's slowly, "The only one who might have made it out is Iz, that old geeza is tricky. Your right, the huts are to wet to burn, but dry lizard dung should burn and there was some in the last shack we searched." Ivan sigh's deeply, then continues, "If the Lizard men and Dragon come, so be it. The Lizards I can handle them, the dragon well I don't know. But if we don't put up a smoke signal we will never find the survivor's in this hellish swamp. And I don't plan to leave the living behind, I've left enough people behind today." "Right," Fremlin pauses thinking and continues with passion, "let's do it then!" "Lets burn the huts to ashes and, if nothing else, we'll have the satisfaction of hurting them somewhat," Fremlin looks straight at the bank coming up to him. I end for now. You should know soon enough if Ivan and Fremlin's plan to burn Lizard dung works or they blow himselves up from the poo and swamp gases. Prom
pukunui 09-19-07, 03:48 AM	As an addendum to that, we're not playing this week! I'm way too busy with schoolwork. I'm designing a 16-page magazine (on d&d, of course) and it's due on Friday. I think I'll be able to finish in time, but you never know ... Send me lots of good vibes, everybody!!
Gerry 09-19-07, 06:41 AM	I'm designing a 16-page magazine (on d&d, of course) and it's due on Friday. I think I'll be able to finish in time, but you never know ... Send me lots of good vibes, everybody!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There you go! Can I get a pdf version? Your magazine isn't even off the printer yet and you're getting subscription requests :) Gerry
pukunui 09-19-07, 03:12 PM	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There you go! Can I get a pdf version? Your magazine isn't even off the printer yet and you're getting subscription requests :) Gerry OoOo! :dancin: Sure! I have to make a pdf to hand in on Friday anyway, so I can just send you a copy.
snakeheadfish33 09-19-07, 04:22 PM	Having worked for an alternative newsweekly (arts/entertainment newspaper) for 10 years I know how tricky it can be designing and laying out publications. Please for to send me a copy as well ...? I already know that I'll like the subject matter. Have fun.
pukunui 09-19-07, 04:41 PM	Having worked for an alternative newsweekly (arts/entertainment newspaper) for 10 years I know how tricky it can be designing and laying out publications. Please for to send me a copy as well ...? I already know that I'll like the subject matter. Have fun. Cool. Two fans already! Ugh. I feel like a zombie right now ...
Subversive 09-19-07, 10:28 PM	Count me in as a third. I want to see what you've got here!
CastTiltowait 09-20-07, 12:37 AM	I'll increase your suscriber base by 33%. You should put out an IPO soon, most major magazines would be envious of your growth rate!:D
pukunui 09-20-07, 03:36 AM	I'll increase your suscriber base by 33%. You should put out an IPO soon, most major magazines would be envious of your growth rate!:D Wow! So popular! And to think it's just a school project! Just thought I'd point out that I've changed my last recap. I edited it for my magazine so I thought I'd post the edited version as it reads a bit better. :D Cheers! p.s. I really will post pictures one of these days! I just haven't had time.
Sunai_Retsinis 09-20-07, 08:37 AM	Here's another one, number 4. Your growth rate is slowing down, already down to 25% :D I'll PM you for the emailadress. Keep up the great works, Sunai *starts to reread the recap*:dancin:
pukunui 09-21-07, 08:15 AM	Whew! Well, I got the mag finished and handed in on time. It looks pretty good. I'll try to send out the pdf to you all over the weekend. Instead of playing D&D, we all got together and played Risk. I think they must have conspired against me, though, because I never really had a chance. I was on the defensive pretty much the whole time and ended up with only two armies and two territories. It was good for me, of course. Even though in D&D, as the DM, I'm almost always on the defensive as well, I usually have the upper hand. Heh. We also sorted out some things about what's happening next with the campaign. Unfortunately, Iz's player is heading overseas soon, so he'll be out of the game. For the meantime, though, he's teleporting back to Brindol, where he will meet with the leaders and discuss events. Ivan and Fremlin, meanwhile, slog it through the swamp and hit dry land and make it back to Brindol alive and are reunited with Iz ... Somewhere along the line they meet up with two others interested in joining the cause - an elf ranger (perhaps the only Tiri Kitor planning on lending a hand to push back the invasion at this point) and an aasimar warlock ... Tune in next week to find out what happens.
LoveNrockets 09-21-07, 09:23 AM	Hi kids - how's things!? Thailand is hot and sweaty and not a roleplayer in site, unless one is to consider charades with the locals (as I try to explain i need oil for my bikechain) as role-playing. Unfortunately my attempts at getting the message across was something of a failure, comparable perhaps to a TPK :-) What country's Iz going to? Hope all goes well with the magazine Puk's, i'd love a pdf copy myself if poss.
pukunui 09-21-07, 05:18 PM	Hi LnR! Great to hear from you. Sounds like you're having some real adventures in Thailand. Rumple informed me last night that he will be heading to Australia, as many good Kiwis do, in about a month's time. He's not entirely sure what he's going to do but uranium mining came up as a possibility. :looloo: Anyway, I'll send my pdf off to you as well. Cheers!
pukunui 09-22-07, 03:33 AM	Hi guys, Here are the photos from the session two weeks ago ... sorry about the lateness. But those of you who have received my magazine pdf will at least understand why they're so late. First pic: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1079/1422120056_9284a714ea.jpg This was how things looked right at the very beginning of the session. The PCs had taken out all the ogres relatively easily, but the harrowblade and the black dragon were poised to strike again. Second pic: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1341/1421237961_4a4bdc1e0f.jpg This was how things looked towards the end of the session, with the lizardfolk swarming all over the place and Rom stupidly trying to attack the ettin, etc etc.
Sunai_Retsinis 09-23-07, 07:39 PM	Hi Pukunui, Thanks for sending the magazine. I enjoyed it immensely. The quality was really nice, with the backgrounds and everything. Did you make it in Adobe Professional or some other program? I want to create letters and spellbooks and diaries for my players with nice backgrounds of old paper and all, (kind a like the first pages of each chapter in the PHB), and as you have some experience in this, could you give me some tips/ideas? Thanks in advance, and good luck with the game, Sunai
CastTiltowait 09-23-07, 10:51 PM	I enjoyed the magazine as well, especially the letter from "Gerry Atrick." I assume he's a real old-school gamer:D I know it was just a little thing, but I liked the subtle use of a d20 as the page numbers.
pukunui 09-24-07, 03:27 AM	Hi Pukunui, Thanks for sending the magazine. I enjoyed it immensely. The quality was really nice, with the backgrounds and everything. Did you make it in Adobe Professional or some other program? I want to create letters and spellbooks and diaries for my players with nice backgrounds of old paper and all, (kind a like the first pages of each chapter in the PHB), and as you have some experience in this, could you give me some tips/ideas? Thanks in advance, and good luck with the game, SunaiAw shucks. Glad you liked it. I did indeed use the Adobe Creative Suite (mainly InDesign and Photoshop) to make the magazine. I could give you some tips - how about you PM me with some specifics? I enjoyed the magazine as well, especially the letter from "Gerry Atrick." I assume he's a real old-school gamer:D I know it was just a little thing, but I liked the subtle use of a d20 as the page numbers.Heh heh yeah. I sort of boiled down all the arguments against 4th edition I've read on the boards here (they're all pretty much the same) and then figured the writer would not want to be identified, so I came up with a silly pseudonym etc. So we'll be playing a proper session this Friday. I still have to figure out some things, but it looks like they're going to abandon the swamp. Will let you know how things progress.
Gerry 09-24-07, 11:39 PM	I enjoyed the magazine as well, especially the letter from "Gerry Atrick." I assume he's a real old-school gamer:D I know it was just a little thing, but I liked the subtle use of a d20 as the page numbers. Me three! "Gerry Atrick" gave me a bit of a double-take, but I figured you weren't lampooning my opinion of 4E on purpose. And that you'd be more subtle if you were (you know, Jerry A. Trick, near-epic old fogey RPGer). The map of Vraath Keep was excellent btw. Gerry
pukunui 09-25-07, 04:59 AM	Me three! "Gerry Atrick" gave me a bit of a double-take, but I figured you weren't lampooning my opinion of 4E on purpose. And that you'd be more subtle if you were (you know, Jerry A. Trick, near-epic old fogey RPGer). The map of Vraath Keep was excellent btw. Gerry It was entirely a coincidence, I can assure you. However, it prompts me to ask - do you dislike the coming 4th Edition? I have to say, from what I've read, it sounds rather exciting. If it really is as good as they're making it out to be, I'll be all over it.
Gerry 09-25-07, 06:35 AM	It was entirely a coincidence, I can assure you. However, it prompts me to ask - do you dislike the coming 4th Edition? I have to say, from what I've read, it sounds rather exciting. If it really is as good as they're making it out to be, I'll be all over it. Huh. (YOUR opinion (and many others on this board) holds weight with me. So now I'm in a quandry.) I don't want to feel obligated to spend the money. I don't want to retrain four players who, after 15 years away from DnD I dragged back into 3.5. I'm not sure I want to retrain myself. NOW, that all said, if they ARE exciting new changes , for the better, then I'm probably going to acquire Core Books. (and I don't want to hijack this into a 4E thread :) ) Gerry
pukunui 09-25-07, 05:33 PM	Huh. (YOUR opinion (and many others on this board) holds weight with me. So now I'm in a quandry.) I don't want to feel obligated to spend the money. I don't want to retrain four players who, after 15 years away from DnD I dragged back into 3.5. I'm not sure I want to retrain myself. NOW, that all said, if they ARE exciting new changes , for the better, then I'm probably going to acquire Core Books. (and I don't want to hijack this into a 4E thread :) ) Gerry Me neither, but I would just like to say that they have stressed that it's still a d20 game, so it's not going to be THAT different ... and they keep saying it's going to be better, faster, more streamlined, etc. If all of that is true, then there's no way I won't be switching. I dislike the amount of time it takes to do anything in 3.5. It's too fiddly. At the same time, though, I would never go back to 2e. So I'm really hoping 4e is as good as they're making it sound. I can, however, understand people who don't want to switch because it'll mean spending more money on a game they've already spend hundreds of dollars on. I can also understand that people who've been playing the game for ages may not like the "fluff" changes they appear to be making. I, however, am not all that attached to the fluff (especially the planar fluff, seeing as I've never actually used it in a game) so I don't mind that they're changing it. It all sounds new and exciting. Making the PHB elves be wild elves sounds good to me. Putting tieflings in the PHB could be interesting. Making classes go to 30 levels and dividing it up between Heroic, Paragon, and Epic sections sounds good to me. What especially sounds good to me is all the talk of making encounter creation and NPC creation much, much easier for DMs. With 3.5, I spend more time checking skill points and fussing over feats and all that jazz than I do actually thinking up interesting personalities and plot hooks and things. Anything that will lessen the math and give me more time to be creative will make me very happy. So if 4e lives up to those expectations, there's no way I won't be switching. Anyway, to keep the thread on topic, I'll just say that I'm working out the finer details of "what happens next" with my players so that we'll be ready to pick up the pieces and introduce the two new PCs on Friday night. It's looking like the elf ranger PC will meet up with Ivan and Fremlin somewhere in the swamp and will guide them safely out. He will then accompany them back to Brindol, where they will hopefully meet up with Iz. They will also be introduced to the other new PC, the aasimar warlock. Meanwhile, Iz has learned a great deal more about the lich's phylactery that he happened to pick up from the black dragon's hoard (I think he was hoping it was a necklace of fireballs or some such thing). There's talk of maybe going to see the dwarves next and the owner of the phylactery is said to live near them, so maybe they will be able to shed more light on the whole thing ... Who knows?! (Well, aside from me, of course ... ;)) Should be interesting. Tune in again this weekend for the next installment of the Absolut Doom Redux!
Prom 09-28-07, 03:01 AM	Hi All, I'm going to add a small and silly piece of the story that we have already agreed on. This is not a e-mail roleplay just a filler so that things don't seem dis-jointed. Burning Lizard Dung As the swan boat dug into the bank near a lizardman shack , Ivan and Fremlin jumped out of the boat and pulled weapons free. They both looked around expecting attacks but clearly all the population was still on the main ruins. Ivan entered the shack and found some small twigs and some lizard dung on the ground. He pinch his nose pilling the dung up near the door and pulled his flint and steel from his pack. Fremlin crounched down watching for danger. It took a long time to set the dung on fire, and when it did burn the smell was horrable. "It's working," Ivan told Fremlin with an excited nasal sound. Ten, then twenty minutes pasted as the smoke trailed into the air, by then there was nothing left to burn. Ivan and Fremlin hid for about two hours, but no dragon or companion came. The smoke had given the dwarf and black man a green ting to their face as they tryed not to vomit. Ivan shook his head trying to clear it. They didn't say much just got back into the boat and floated quietly around the lake bank heading for the east side. They set-up a camp fire away from the shoreline, not worried about being spotted. It was just as Ivan was cooking the last of the frogs he had found in the reeds nearby that Fremlin heard a sound and turned his head. A short dark figure stepped out into the light not 15 feet away from the two, it was an elf. Ivan had not even heard or seen the elf approach and fumbled trying to get to his feet. What now? Ivan thought to himself. Well the guy's are coming around in about 1 hour, should have some more from Pukunui, soon. Prom
pukunui 09-28-07, 10:30 AM	Session Date: 28 September 2007 Playing Time: 5 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Iz, Ivan, Fremlin, Zai, Joe, Tara (NPC), and Miha (NPC) Timeline: Days 31-33 ------------------------------------------------ "Yeah! Way to go! We've got 'em on the run!" - Miha, former barmaid and self-professed sorceress, cheering on the party as they beat up a small party of hobgoblins It's late and I'm tired so here's a quick summary: Ivan and Fremlin escape from Rhest. They meet up with a wild elf ranger named Zai. He agrees to take them out of the swamp. While they travel together, he hears their story and asks if he can come along and help. So the three of them spend a week traveling back to Brindol. Meanwhile, Iz has been very busy warning the city's leaders and buying and selling things. He has also met a rather odd-looking aasimar who calls himself Joe. The two get to talking while Iz is having some psionic tattoos scribed on his wrinkled old flesh. The others return to an almost-deserted Brindol. After meeting Joe, who is alone in the empty market square playing a flute, they head to the Stone Wyvern, where they get drunk. Fremlin, who has disguised himself as a female dwarf, nearly gets caught out by an equally drunk guard but manages to fool him. Joe goes and fetches Iz, who is surprised to hear that his companions are still alive. Joe professes to have a lover who's infiltrated the enemy encampment. He suggests trying to contact her to get inside information for surgical strikes against the enemy's leaders. The others aren't quite convinced, especially when Joe refuses to reveal his "lover's" identity ... All except for Iz crash at Ivan's place. The next day they go to see Brindol's Defence Council. It is decided that the party will go talk to the dwarves and make sure Brindol's money got there safely then maybe go talk to the lich. Captain Ulverth agrees to lend them five horses. However, Iz decides he's had enough of the bloodshed and all that, so he bids everyone farewell. The gorgeous and haughty Tara returns to take his place. It is evident to all who knew her from before that, while she has certainly learned some humility from her ordeal after Lestir's murder, she is still more or less the same stuck-up young woman ... however, her faith in Pelor is renewed like never before. In fact, she seems to almost glow with a radiance of her own ... So the five set out and reach the outskirts of Talar around dusk. There they encounter a sorry sight - a gaggle of injured women and children and the like, being helped into wagons by some weary clerics of Pelor. Tara immediately rushes to help, as do the others. They all notice a striking red-headed woman who seems to be taking an interest in them - Ivan in particular. He goes up to her and recognizes her as the woman who brought the jailer a meal while he was incarcerated in Drellin's Ferry. They get to talking and it's obvious that she seems smitten with the big black man. She has her arm in a sling and she winces in pain (apparently to get sympathy from her would-be paramour). Tara is coldly clinical with her, and as she prods the wounded limb, the woman (who introduced herself as Miha) cries out in pain and swoons. Tara then casts a cure spell on her and the woman professes to be much better. She asks if she can join the group. Tara inquires if she as a horse, thinking the answer will be no, but Miha magically conjures one up and says it will last long enough. So the group lets her travel with them, although new guy Joe is especially suspicious of her (as someone put it last night, "it takes one devilish being to know another ..." ;)) They spend the night in the fortified Nesten manor house on the banks of the Elsir River and then set out on the road again the next day. As they travel along, with Zai and his eagle companion taking point, Miha rides alongside Ivan and asks him where they are going and what they are doing, etc etc. He starts answering all her questions until she takes an interest in the money that was sent to the dwarves. Then he realizes he might have said too much and Fremlin takes him aside to caution him. Miha is then questioned in turn by Tara. It is revealed that Miha was an apprentice to an admirable sorcerer from parts north. After she had learned all she could from him, they parted ways and she found herself in Drellin's Ferry. She was quite taken with the place and so she settled down there and got a job as a barmaid. She was quite sad to see it evacuated ... Towards the end of their second day of traveling, they crest a rise and spot some hobgoblins running at them, a hellhound bounding at their feet. Combat ensues and Joe astonishes everyone by calling out to some dark lord in a freaky voice and blasting some of the hobgoblins dead with several hellish purple energy. Tara seems perplexed and even a bit angry (she's beginning to think her fellow aasimar is a traitor to the subspecies ... heh heh). Miha casts a spell that apparently fails ("Oh damn, it failed!" she cries dramatically) and then casts another, supposedly charming one of the hobs attacking Fremlin. Unfortunately, Ivan kills said hob before anyone can tell if the spell actually worked or not. In the end, the group makes short work of the hobgoblins and their pet (which got chopped in half before it could do anything), although the dual shortsword wielding captain gets a few good stabs into Fremlin. However, the dwarf gets really angry (barbarian rage) and cuts the hobgoblin in two with his greataxe. Tara heals Fremlin up nicely and after a few more of the hobs drop, the others turn tail and flee. All but one are taken out from a distance and the last is run down by Ivan on his horse. And that's where we ended the session. Until next time! Cheers, Jonny
Prom 10-02-07, 03:08 PM	Hi All, I thought I would go into more detail with the groups entry into Brindol because Pukunui did not have time, infact I'm sure he doesn't have time to DM but still is. This is all from Ivan Keel's point of view, so if I get anything wrong guy's, oops. Getting into Brindol with a dress When Fremlin walked up to the Brindol guards at the main gate in a dress, Ivan was expecting the disguise to fail. But to Ivan's amazement the guards let all three of them through and charged a silver coin entry fee. It was a stoke of luck, Fremlin didn't even show a sign of fear, like it was normal for him to wear lady's clothing. Ivan was expecting Fremlin's 'Wanted poster' to be stuck to the guard house wall, but there didn't appear to be one. What greeted them inside was a deserted Brindol market place, except for a lone flute player. Ivan just rolled his eyes up to the sky in pray that no one was watching, after the ranger Zai insisted on using his elf eyes and ear to check the surround area for danger. Ivan strolled over to the cloaked figure, who got up as the three neared him. "Hi there, my names Ivan keel. Could you tell me where everyone has gone," Ivan asked the shadowy man waving his hand around at the empty city square. The cloaked man put his flute away and removed part of the sash that was wrapped around his face. "All gone to Dennovar," the cloaked man paused, then continued nodding at Ivan, "I am Joe." Then Fremlin introduced himself to Joe! Fremlin spoke in a high pitched voice, "Hello Joe, I'm Fremlina," Fremlin explained in a badly mastered ladies voice waving his dress around a bit. Ivan was getting the feeling that Fremlin was pushing his luck with his disguise. Joe's eyes popped out a bit, but he stayed composed. "Hello Fremlina," replied Joe eyeing the dwarf in the dress carefully. "Your voice is a little strange like it's breaking are you ..." Joe tryed to continue, but got cut off by Fremlin. "A dwarf women from Hammerfist hold, yes," Fremlin filled in before Joe could suggest anything more with a higher pitched voice. Joe shrugged but accepted the introduction. Zai was quick to introduce himself, then faded to the back of the small group. After some awkward moments they got talking and Joe explained he want to help in the war effort and was trying to join a group that was fighting against the Hobgoblin horde. Ivan said he would be happy to talk but that it had to be in a pub which is where they were heading right now. So Ivan headed for the Stone Wyvern with Joe, Zai and Fremlin following in his billowing dress. I'm going to cut it short there, I have more but have not finished writting it. The Pub scene was very entertaining so stay tuned in. Prom
Prom 10-03-07, 01:55 AM	Hi All, Ok, I've done my best to re-create last Friday's pub session. Again far to long for a recap. The Deep Drink When Ivan walked into the Stone Wyvern he spotted a few city guards and the barman, but the place was mostly empty. He slapped ten gold coins on the bench and said, "Keep the ale coming, I don't plan on walk out of here tonight." The Barman thanked him and rushed off to fill horns with ale. Ivan scanned the room for women but there were none, only that silly petrified wyvern. Ivan found a table to sit at and the others followed suit. The barman stabbed the horns of ale into the table infront of the party on the spike, then went off to bring a meal of soup and bread to them. Joe started out by explaining his current situation in detail, but both Ivan and Fremlin where completely lost by Joe's rambling. When Joe mentioned that he had met a famous mage who had battled his way out of Rhest ruins and was forming a partnership with him. Ivan and Fremlin started to pay more attention to what Joe had to say. "You know I just lost four companions to Rhest ruins trying to take it out for the local elves. We faced down a Dragon, six ogres, harrowblade beast, some two headed giant, a robed magic user and a whole swamp full of Lizardmen. We lost an old bearded mage in that battle, named Iz to that fight. Sounds like the man you are describing," suggested Ivan waiting for Joe to say the words he wanted to hear. "Yeah that was his name," replied Joe a little surprised. Ivan grinned and looked at Fremlin, "I knew that old man would make it, the old geezer is tough," Ivans spirits lifted and he skulled a horn of ale without taking a breath. Joe informed them that he didn't know where Iz was right now, but that he could find Iz tomorrow. As the evening wore on, Fremlin and Ivan got more drunk. Joe and Kai had the sense to turn away the many vessels of ale offered to them. The elf ranger Kai was swaying after drinking just a few ale horns, but had replaced ale with food now. As Fremlin skulled another ale, one of his padded breasts dropped down to his waist. Kai didn't even notice the change in Fremlin or didn't want to say anything. Joe on the other hand did, "Hay one of your breast's have dropped," Joe exclaimed to Fremlin, taking a really good look. "Ohh, yeaah thaata happen some timish," slurred Fremlin in a deep male voice. Ivan almost choked on his drink when that happened. Fremlin tryed to re-ajust the breast but it just dropped back down again. "Your voice has changed Fremlina, you sound like a man," responded Joe tilting his head to the side to see the deformed boob. Fremlin cleared his throat then with a rattling high pitched girly voice rebutted Joe, "Noo I'y don't, I'm ay dwarf woman. Wee all looka like the same as man, yoou know!" Fremlin continued with his lady voice and babbling something Ivan could not make out, but it sounded like 'I'm sick.' So Ivan piped up, "Thaat's right, he'ish gota coold," confirmed Ivan with a slur hiding his giggle behind a ale horn. It was not until the next morning that Ivan would realize he called Fremlin a he, when he should have said a she. Joe didn't look convinced, but left the subject alone after that. Finally Ivan thought a comfortable bed sounded good, so asked the bartender for a room for the night. The Barman claimly explained that they were not in an Inn and had no rooms to rent. Ivan mulled this point over then realized he was in Brindol and that he had his own place, if he could find it. "Oke doke, let'ish goo too mya place," Ivan suggested wobbling as he stood and almost walking into the door on the way out. The rest followed Ivan, although Fremlin was having trouble keeping up. Outside the Stone Wyvern some city guard's were watching Fremlin very closely. "Right thish way tooo mey placish," instructed Ivan pointing away from the Stone Wyvern and walking sideways into the street. Zai and Joe stepped back a bit watching the black man and dwarf walking in circles with Ivan leading the way. At this time a guard came over to Fremlin and stopped him in the street. "Hay stop there, you have a drooping breast," stated the guard eyeing Fremlin closely. Fremlin looked up and cranked out another shrill girly voice, "I'ma woman, and it'ish happen like that'sh sometime," sobbed Fremlin playing with his limp breast. The Guard opened his mouth to say something then spotted Ivan who was still walking in circles. "Hay you are Ivan that guy who has been attacking the invading army, right!" exclaimed the guard with some excitement. Ivan stopped and looked up, "Yeppa." The guard steadied Ivan then spoke with an air of admiration, "Where are you trying to go?" Ivan looked at the guard and spoke slowly so he would not get it wrong, "Home. Do you know where I live, because I can't find it." The guard by this time had forgotten Fremlin, who was looking at the stars in the sky. "Actually I do, I'll show you the way," replied the young city guard. Ivan placed his hand on the guards shoulder and in about 15 minutes they had made it to Ivan's wide open spaced home. Ok that's it from me. I think Pukunui was trying to guide me with the city guard as I would have had Ivan walking the streets all night speaking in a slur. It's still better if you are there to see it I'm guessing. Prom
pukunui 10-03-07, 05:14 PM	LOL ... you mixed up the taverns, Prom. The spikes of ale are from the Laughing Manticore. Oh well. Still a good read. Thanks.
Prom 10-04-07, 01:17 AM	That's because my brain is mush and all I remember is you talking about horns of ale on the Friday, oh well. Prom
pukunui 10-05-07, 11:55 PM	Session Date: 5 October 2007 Playing Time: 4.5 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Ivan, Fremlin, Zai, Joe, Tara (NPC), and Miha (NPC) Timeline: Day 32 ------------------------------------------------ "You stupid humans. You're talking to the wrong person. I'm a lowly foot soldier in the Dark Queen's Army. I don't know anything. I just do what I'm told." - unidentified hobgoblin assailant, after being intimidated, tortured and abused by unscrupulous PCs who just didn't seem to get it that no matter how much they beat him up he still wasn't about to tell them things he didn't know ... This was supposed to have been a short session because I haven't been feeling the best this week. We started early (although one player didn't get the message and showed up at the usual time but hey ...) even. But we got carried away and I was able to take my mind off things and experienced what turned out to be only a temporary reprieve ... and had a lot of disorganized fun in the process. We spent at least 75% of the session on one fight. It was pretty chaotic. But it was fun. There was also some juicy roleplaying on either end of the fight (and a wee few morsels during it). After killing the hobgoblins on the road and looting their bodies, the PCs continued on their merry way and found a recently abandoned farmhouse, in which they decided to spend the night. They put the horses in the barn, and Tara decided she would sleep in there with them because she was upset about Joe being a traitor to the species, etc etc. :rolleyes: At one point, while Zai was sitting outside, Miha joined him and chatted for a bit. She then asked if she could whistle an old ditty her mother used to sing to her when she was a kid but she did such a horrible job that Zai felt obliged to sing one of his own elven songs to take away the pain. Miha was quite impressed. Later that night, during Joe's watch, the group was ambushed. Joe was hit with an arrow that came whizzing out of the darkness and then from around the corner of the house came a horrible wolf-like creature and two hobgoblins. He could hear more goblins on the far side of the house. Chaos ensued ... for less than 2 minutes of in-game time (and, as I said, over 3 hours of real time). Joe successfully identified the wolf creatures as barghests after they activated their blink ability, which made them incredibly and aggravatingly difficult to hit. Some of the hobgoblins, meanwhile, had gotten into the house and had surrounded Fremlin. Two of them taunted him while the other carved him up pretty badly. The poor dwarf seemed totally disoriented and was unable to hit more than once or twice. Meanwhile, one of the barghests had blinked its way up onto the second floor of the farmhouse, where Ivan was frantically trying to get his armor on. It used another spell-like ability and both Ivan and Zai became horribly, horribly depressed. The barghest then assaulted Ivan and ripped a good chunk of his flesh out of his side. A hobgoblin then appeared on the ladder, drew its sword and rushed at Ivan, hitting him badly. Ivan clicked his heels together and teleported up onto the roof, where he attempted to continue strapping on his breastplate while balancing. Unfortunately, he failed and fell off the roof ... but fortunately he had his safewing emblem on and so was able to drift harmlessly to the ground. [Everyone was greatly amused by this. :rofl:] Tara and Miha, both of whom were sleeping in the barn, eventually awoke to the sounds of fighting. Tara told Miha to stay put and went out to investigate. She cast a chill shield and protection from evil on herself, the latter helping greatly as the barghests tried to manipulate her mind several times and automatically failed. Tara was almost immediately set upon by a barghest and gave it such a hiding that it disappeared. She then rushed into the farmhouse and went to assist Fremlin. She cast heat metal on the three hobs surrounding the dwarf. Speaking of Joe, he'd been up in the second floor room as well. He ended up getting caught in the corner by the barghest. Previous to this, he'd been pretty reckless and had allowed the creature to attack him while he was distracted. At this point, though, he had only about 7 hit points left and so he decided he would actually try casting defensively in order to use his Flee the Scene invocation and get the hell out of there. It worked! He teleported himself straight down to the ground floor, out of harm's way, and down some potions while the angry barghest swatted away the major image he'd left behind. Zai moved in for the attack and hit it badly enough that it disappeared. Joe then summoned up his hellish powers again and killed one of the hobs attacking Fremlin. Tara became fed up with Joe's calling out to demon lords and such, so she cast a second protection from evil, held the charge, then slapped her fellow aasimar in the face and said, "There, that'll keep all those demons at bay ..." At this point, things started to turn against the assailants. Tara rushed back outside and cast nimbus of light. This illuminated the entire farmyard as though it were day. Then Zai followed and, despite continuing to feel really sad, he cast entangle all around the remaining enemies, including the two hobs hiding behind the stone wall. Fremlin went to attack a third barghest but it made him feel sad and then it became his best friend in the whole world and then, when one hobgoblin died and the other surrendered, it too disappeared! Tara went to find out if Miha was still in the barn while the others trussed up the surviving hobgoblin and led him into the house. Ivan beat him up a bit, gave him the head in the water bucket treatment, etc etc, and got a few tidbits of info out of him but not much. Joe went out to the barn and traded places with Tara. There, he tried to intimidate Miha into leaving but she wasn't having any of it. Tara and Joe traded places again and Joe successfully intimidated the hobgoblin but he honestly didn't have much useful information to give them. He simply told them that the barghests had been in charge and that they'd been following the PCs for a while. And that's more or less where we ended. We've lost a player to the Australian uranium mines (rumple) but we're gaining a new one so we'll have the same number of players. Tara is back under my control as an NPC and will be undergoing a bit of a personality shift, I can assure you ... Can't wait till next time. Should be fun! Cheers, Jonathan
Prom 10-06-07, 01:40 AM	Hi Pukunui, I have to say I was impressed with some of the tactics the newer guy's used, except Joe's insistance on casting in melee combat and getting hit with AoO. For those of you who do not know, Ivan spent eleven rounds putting armour on, it was rather deliberate on my part. I did this for functional reasons (I was expecting a tougher enemy to come later on), then in character reasons with a spell being cast on him. But finally continued the put the armour on action to see how they all worked together, otherwise the hobgoblin's would have been cut up rather quickly. In all a rather amusing session, some of the newer members bring a lot of life to the game right now (that would be Joe and Fremlin). Prom
pukunui 10-12-07, 08:42 AM	Session Date: 12 October 2007 Playing Time: 3.5 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Ivan, Fremlin, Zai, Joe, Nat, Tara (NPC), and Miha (NPC) Timeline: Days 32-34 ------------------------------------------------ Highlight of the session: Fremlin finds a leather satchel next to the bodies of the Brindol guards but doesn't look inside it right away. He then goes and spends quite a lot of time picking the locks on the three treasure chests. Only then does he look inside the satchel, and the first thing he finds is a key. [When I said that, the room burst into laughter ... :rofl:] OK so short and sweet cos I'm tired ... After surviving the fight with the hobgoblins and barghests, the PCs secure the area and go back to bed. The next morning, a fully-armored female dwarf rides up, intending to warn them of some raiders she's been following. The others tell her they've already encountered the raiders. Then Fremlin recognizes her as an old clanmate of his named Disea Metalstar (although she seems to have gotten it into her head that she's really a gold dragon trapped in a dwarf's body and has given herself some convoluted draconic name - "Nat" for short). Since Fremlin is willing to vouch for "Nat", the others accept her. Tara gives Ivan her restful crystal, since she doesn't really need it anymore (her breastplate is mithril, making it light armor). Needless to say, Ivan is very grateful and not a little bit embarrassed. The group sets off and has a thoroughly uneventful day. They can see smoke trailing up into the sky from the far side of the Nimon Hills. Ivan quips that that is where they will be headed fairly soon ... The next night is uneventful as well. However, the following day sees them entering the foothills of the Wyvernwatch Mountains. Towards the middle of the day, they come across an enemy party looting a wagon with chests. There's an ettin, some goblins, and a female hobgoblin with a red hand emblazoned on her robes. They start a fight. Zai kicks things off with entangle. The ettin is stuck and gets peppered with arrows. He eventually breaks free and moves forward and gets to pound Nat once with his morningstars but he is then slain by repeated Rapid Shots from Zai. The hobgoblin turns out to be a fiery sorceress. She tosses a fireball at the PCs and takes Joe out ... although Tara reluctantly casts close wounds on him to keep him alive. The hobgoblin goes invisible, as does Miha (and everyone is surprised - dare I say pleasantly so - that she's actually done something aside from casting mount and mage armor). Then the hobgoblin reappears to throw another fireball at the group. Tara takes the full brunt of it but it's a fairly weak one as far as fireballs go. Joe gets his revenge by using all the charges from his gloves of eldritch admixture to blast the hobgoblin with eldritch purple stuff and acid. She begins to melt and Ivan puts her out of her misery. The surviving goblins run away. Miha reappears and complains that she didn't get to do anything after all ... Then the group searches the bodies and pop open the chests to find all the gold and gems. Then Fremlin finds the key and the letter and they realize that this was the money sent by Jarmaath to recruit the dwarves. Fremlin tries to pocket some of it but is spotted ... Nat shocks everyone by cutting open the chest of the ettin, ripping its heart out and eating it. When asked what she thinks she is doing, she responds that she is taking the power of the ettin by eating its heart. The others all think she's :looloo: The group continues on to the Holds only to find it locked up tight. A magical mouth appears and says, "Greetings, travelers. We apologize for the inconvenience but the Holds are closed for business until further notice." The dwarves poke and prod and eventually the "hatch" in the gates opens to reveal a familiar dwarf guard named Willis. He tells them everyone is dying of a plague that turns people into mush from the inside out. The PCs are suitably disturbed. There is much to-ing and fro-ing and "what should we do with the money"-ing. Eventually, it is decided that Tara will go into the Holds to see what she can do to help and that the money will be left with the dwarves (and Tara offers to "keep an eye on it") while the others try to find some guy named Durzh, who is supposedly a famous alchemist in these parts, and see if he can concoct a cure for the disease, which may or may not have been caused by a deity as a form of punishment. It could also have been planted by Red Hand agents. Who knows ... And that's where we ended. Until next week! Cheers, Jonny
Prom 10-16-07, 04:52 PM	Hi All, I thought I would quickly go into more detail on one event from the last game, that Pukunui did not go into. Posted by Pukunui, Tara gives Ivan her restful crystal, since she doesn't really need it anymore (her breastplate is mithril, making it light armor). Needless to say, Ivan is very grateful and not a little bit embarrassed. Tara walks over to Ivan and says, "I have something for you, Ivan." Ivan responses with a straight face, "That's nice, but your not really my type." A few of the guy's laughed, but the gag was on me because Pukunui responded with. Tara ignores Ivan's comment and says, "I have this restful crystal that you can attach to your armour so you can sleep in it without being fatigued. You may have it because I no longer require it." Ivan goes a bit red and realizes his mistake and replies, "Oh, thanks... Are you sure you won't need it?" questions Ivan of Tara. Fremlin seeing all this looks very unimpressed and says, "Aaaw no, he's going to smell now, wearing that armour night and day." This lead to a lot of silly comments from everyone about Tara's sex appeal and Ivan's cleaning habits. To cut a long story short this is how a DM makes sure I never have Ivan put his armour on in the middle of a battle again. The more embarrassing fact is that Ivan has been carrying around a spare set of armour that is light the whole time. He could have been wearing that while he was sleeping. :embarrass Prom
Prom 10-19-07, 01:27 AM	Hi All, Just thought I would fill you in quickly, before tonights game on another event from last times session. Posted by Pukunui, The hobgoblin turns out to be a fiery sorceress. She tosses a fireball at the PCs and takes Joe out Just before the fireball is thrown. Ivan yells out at the top of his voice, "Spread out everyone, they have a mage. Twenty feet apart people." Nat, Joe, Kai, Fremlin and Tara form up into a closely packed line, while Miha and Ivan move much further away. A fireball comes thundering across the plains from the Hobgoblin mage and everyone except Miha and Ivan are hit with scorching fire. Joe falls to the ground well cooked. Ivan shakes his head in disbelief, then runs at full speed across the field toward the entangled Ettin and Hobgoblin wizardess. "Someone see to Joe's injuries," commands Ivan barreling toward the mage as she disappears. Prom
pukunui 10-19-07, 08:17 AM	Session Date: 19 October 2007 Playing Time: 4 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Ivan, Fremlin, Zai, Joe, Nat, and Miha (NPC) Timeline: Day 35 ------------------------------------------------ After saying goodbye to Tara and the Brindol gold, the brave heroes set off into the mountains in search of the reclusive dwarven alchemist, Durzh. They hoped to find him alive and well and able to brew up a cure for the dwarves' mystery ailment so they could then go and fight for Brindol. The narrow, rocky trail took the PCs high up into the mountains. They stopped for lunch in a broad valley cut by a clear mountain stream. While they ate, a boulder came crashing down the mountain side into the stream. This worried them and after a few more rocks started coming down, they decided to skidaddle. Good idea ... except that they soon found themselves in a rather narrow ravine type thing, where they encountered a lone troll. Zai got very lucky and scored a critical hit during a Rapid Shot attack. The troll was hit pretty hard all at once. Some of the others shot at it and the beast was soon looking like a pin cushion. One more hit and it dropped. Thinking it was dead, the elven ranger got off his horse and approached. However, he took too long to examine the troll and it awoke, stood up, and literally shredded the elf for a massive 30-odd points of damage! A rather odd fight ensued with the PCs hitting the troll so it dropped, the troll regenerating enough that it regained consciousness and attacked, and so on. At one point, Fremlin charged in with his horse and the troll ripped the horse to pieces, killing it instantly. (Fortunately for him, Miha was able to conjure up another magical mount later on ...) Eventually they figured out that acid and fire seemed to deal lasting damage and by the end of it, the troll was little more than a blackened lump of burnt and melted organic material lying in the middle of the track. The PCs undertook a cursory search for the troll's cave but they didn't spot anything so they hurried on. About an hour later, the road opened out onto a high mountain plateau. At the far side, they could just see the roof of a tower. They could also hear the loud roar of a nearby waterfall and could see the mist rising up into the air. As they approached the tower, they could sight of four dwarves in chain shirts tending to five dwarf bodies lying on the ground. Fremlin and Nat moved into the lead and greeted the dwarves. Their spokesperson introduced himself as Grom Hammerfist and explained that they had come seeking a cure for the disease from another of the Holds villages. They had only been there an hour and had discovered the place had been attacked but by what they weren't sure. One of the dead dwarves looked like he had been flayed open by something with really sharp claws. The PCs discovered a rather hairy, melted thing on the landing outside the doors -- the victim of an acid attack from the defenders, by the look of it. The other dwarves ushered everyone inside, saying they would introduce them to their leader and help to see if Durzh was still alive. (Sadly, no one seemed to pick up on the fact that I kept making my face twitch in a "ratlike" way whenever the strange dwarves spoke ... :() Inside the PCs found a sprung pit trap with a dead body stuck on the spikes. They also discovered that the ceilings were only 5ft high, causing the non-dwarven members of the party some discomfort. Once they got past the "kill zone" entryway, they discovered a mess of a meeting room. Blood and guts and broken furniture everywhere. Once they moved into the common room, which resembled dwarven taverns across the multiverse, the strange dwarves sprung their ambush. As Zai and Fremlin headed down the stairs to the next level, the dwarves loaded their crossbows and aimed them at the PCs. A fight ensued (naturally). The long and the short of it -- the PCs got the better of the dwarves and learned that they were actually wererats in the process. This didn't save them. Neither did the already hybridized wererat dwarf who came rushing out of the kitchen to attack. Miha cast Tasha's hideous laughter on him and he fell to the floor, where he became an easy target. As he lay dying from Ivan's sword wounds, Zai tied him up and stabilized him. The party was also attacked by an annoying flying creature that kept going invisible only to show up in someone's face and sting them. Its stinger delivered a poison but the stung PCs were all able to resist its effects. Joe consulted his planar knowledge and became convinced that it was a demon known as a quasit. He tried detecting magic but only succeeded in picking up the auras of Zai's magic items. He then tried speaking to the creature in Abyssal, using his Beguiling Influence and Intimidation skills but to no avail. He got no response ... although a little while later, the creature popped into view at his shoulder and stung him in the neck before darting up the chimney. And that's where we ended. We'll be playing again on Sunday night because it's a public holiday on Monday. :w00t: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2024/1705231125_7a53230280.jpg Key: the Greycloak Archer is Zai, the Mithril Hall Dwarf is Fremlin, the Cultist is Joe, the Cleric of Sune is Miha, the Harmonium Guard is Ivan, and the Dwarf Mercenary is Nat. The other four dwarves are the wererats. I don't think it's in the picture but I used a Pseudodragon mini for the imp. Cheers, Jonathan
pukunui 10-21-07, 09:49 AM	Session Date: 21-22 October 2007 Playing Time: 6 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Ivan, Fremlin, Zai, Joe, Nat, and Miha (NPC) Timeline: Days 35-36 ------------------------------------------------ Highlight of the session: The moment when I informed the three remaining players that Zai had been turned to stone by the cockatrice. The three of them looked somewhat stunned for a split second and then they all burst into the sort of hysterical laughter that's only possible when you're really tired and you've been gaming for more than five hours straight ... :twitch: :blink: :rofl: The session began with the PCs chopping up some of the furniture in the common room and using the pieces to barricade the fireplace in hopes of keeping the pesky imp away. The PCs then revived the wererat sergeant and interrogated him. They learned that the wererats had come to ask Durzh the alchemist for help controlling their affliction. Their prisoner had no idea if Durzh was even still alive. He then broke free of his bonds and a fight ensued. Ivan wanted to run the dwarf through, but Nat wanted to let the prisoner live in hopes of "curing" him (despite his protestations about not wanting to be cured). Nat managed to grab Ivan's sword and disarmed him. Just then they heard more flapping and Ivan's sword rose up into the air and flew down the stairwell. Even angrier than before, Ivan pulled out his mace and smashed it into the wererat sergeant's face, killing him instantly. He then proceeded to chop the heads off all the wererat dwarf corpses and then took them and threw thtem into the entryway pit along with the bodies. The PCs then proceeded down to the level with the curtains. They discovered it was the tower's barracks. They also discovered a frightened dwarf guard hiding in one of the curtained-off rooms. They managed to calm him down and told him to stay put while they went deeper into the bowels of the tower. They also found Ivan's sword dumped in one of the toilets ... The frightened dwarf informed them that the next level down was the storeroom and that the level below that was Durzh's lab and living quarters. Ivan started down the stairs but triggered a trap linked to the third step. He hurried back up and ordered Fremlin to go down to investigate. Miha offered to make the dwarf rogue invisible and he gladly accepted. There was silence for some time, then the others heard a distant "Oh ****!", followed by hurried footsteps back up the stairwell. Fremlin reappeared and in a breathless, panicky voice informed the others that there was a very big earth elemental waiting at the bottom of the stairs! Joe experimented with the elemental by "zotting" around the storeroom with his flee the scene invocation. The elemental seemed to be pretty alert and would head towards him any time he made too much noise but would always head back to guarding the stairs once Joe had "zotted" back up to the barracks level. The group decided it would be best to bypass the elemental for now and had straight for the lab to see if Durzh was still alive. Joe decided to "zot" straight down the stairwell and discovered that the lab was full of a magical mist ... Miha offered to turn everyone but Ivan invisible (she didn't have enough spell slots left) and they all hurried past the elemental. It took the opportunity to smash Ivan for massive damage, but the tough fighter ran on and the others got past safely. Once the others had arrived on the stairs above him, Joe stepped out into the mist. He heard a click and a crossbow bolt came whizzing out of the mist and struck him. A few more crossbow bolts came whizzing out whenever someone stepped out of the stairwell, so everyone assumed it was a trap but it later turned out to be a small, grey-skinned person the size of a halfling. This fellow was also afflicted with wererat lycanthropy and appeared to be in his hybrid form for the entire fight. The PCs slowly explored the lab in the mist. Ivan found a workbench that appeared to run the length of the far wall and both Zai and he moved along it. They eventually encountered a wererat dwarf wielding a very sharp dwarven waraxe. The group fought a desperate battle against this dwarf, who kept spouting out incoherent phrases about the darkness and tentacles and the likes, and put him on the defensive. The other guy tumbled away into the mist and wasn't seen from again for quite some time. Ivan, Nat, and Zai pressed home their attacks against the dwarf, though, and he was eventually taken down. As he died, the mist faded away. In the meantime, Miha warned everyone that the imp was returning. Joe grew very angry as it flapped around in his face and stung him again only to vanish again. He took off to explore the lab and encountered the "halfling" again in what appeared to be a library. The two came to a stand-off and Joe offered to let the other guy go. He agreed and the PCs reluctantly watched as he ran off down a small passage out of which ran some water pipes. It's been a while since this session so I don't remember everything that happened next. After killing the wererat dwarf leader, the PCs explored the lab level. They discovered that the long passageway led to a water pumping device and a hatchway that opened out onto the waterfall. They also discovered that the passagway going past the library passed through three doors and opened into a messy, smelly little room that they surmised was Durzh's living quarters. A large chest stood against the far wall and, of course, Fremlin felt obliged to go and try to open it. The chest didn't like this very much though, so it attacked him. Turns out the chest was actually a mimic. It managed to hit Fremlin, who got stuck, but he took a mighty swing with his axe and got a critical hit and nearly sliced the thing in half. Then the others finished it off. Inside, they found a number of interesting things including magical clothing that Joe donned and activated blindly via UMD. The clothing shifted into a blue satin ballgown, which Joe blithely decided to wear around for a while before taking it off and stuffing it in his pack ... http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2398/1706093870_5a77cd04ea.jpg Then the PCs went back up to the barracks level and rested overnight. In the morning, they talked to the dwarves, who told them that Durzh had kept a secret stash of alchemical stuff somewhere on the storage room level. So the players had Zai go down invisible and sneak around the bare walls looking for a secret door while Joe distracted the earth elemental. Eventually the elf located the door and opened it. While the earth elemental appeared to turn and look in his direction, it didn't approach, so he went inside. Joe cast daylight in the area so the elf would be able to see. Zai searched around the room's contents until he came to a large box in the middle of the room. He opened it and out popped two cockatrices, flapping and stabbing at the air as they flew out to freedom ... and one of them got lucky and hit Zai. The elf failed his fortitude save and instantly turned to stone, a look of abject terror mixed with surprise on his face. Joe waited and waited and waited and when nothing happened, he went back upstairs to see if Zai had snuck past him somehow. When it was revealed that he hadn't ever come out of the room, the others decided they'd have to go in for him. First, Joe went and scouted around. He spotted the petrified Zai and the cockatrices and ran away, managing to lure one of them out into the main storage area as he went. SPLAT! - the earth elemental crushed the cockatrice into nonexistence. The other one freaked and went and hid in a corner of the secret room. Joe "zotted" back up to the barracks room and told everyone what he'd seen. They all agreed that Zai's statue would have to be rescued. Joe got Ivan and Nat to "zot" back down into the storage room with him so the three of them could have a go at the earth elemental. This strategy paid off. Joe managed to hit the thing with two fireballs from his wand (which now has only one charge left) before it closed to melee and then Ivan and Nat finished it off. They then hurried over to the secret room and slaughtered the last remaining cockatrice (with Ivan taking a bit but shrugging off the sluggish feeling it gave him ...). :w00t: After that, they raided the secret room for the medicinal ingredients as per the instructions they'd found in Durzh's books. They also took anything else that looked interesting, including several jars of different colored powders (which later turned out to be crushed gems). They then returned to the barracks level to discuss with the rescued dwarves how to get Zai's statue out. And that's where we ended for the night. This is how Prom feels: :bigeyes:
Prom 10-21-07, 06:29 PM	Ok I'm here, Posted by Pukunui, However, Zai has been - shall we say - temporarily inconvenienced. I'm never going to live this one down. There's going to be jokes about the time I got Zai turned to stone for weeks maybe months from everyone. Not to mention the player running Zai is going to ring my bell for me. Zai was not in any danger when he left at 11 pm but by 2 pm I'd balles everything up for Zai. :banghead: New rule for me, play my own character only. When a player leaves early their character can sharpen their weapon for the rest of the night. Sigh.... :weep: Prom
pukunui 10-23-07, 04:50 AM	I'm never going to live this one down. There's going to be jokes about the time I got Zai turned to stone for weeks maybe months from everyone. Not to mention the player running Zai is going to ring my bell for me. Zai was not in any danger when he left at 11 pm but by 2 pm I'd balles everything up for Zai. :banghead:Sure you will. It's not nearly as funny as "I know lots about bugbears" (proceeds to roll a natural 1). Or even some of the other things you've done. It could have happened to anyone. Granted, if it had been Ivan, he'd have been more likely to have resisted the petrification because of his higher Fort save, but it could have happened to him. So please stop feeling bad about it. It's not going to do anyone any good. New rule for me, play my own character only.That's fine with me. When a player leaves early their character can sharpen their weapon for the rest of the night. Sigh....Not a good idea. Strains the in-game reality too much. I'll take over rudderless PCs from now on.
pukunui 10-26-07, 09:08 AM	OK. Played another session tonight. It was fun for me (not sure about the players - I think they were very frustrated by the second monster they fought). It's late so I'm not going to post anything. Plus, I still need to catch up on last weekend's recap. Gotta go to bed now.
pukunui 10-31-07, 06:54 PM	Session Date: 26-27 October 2007 --> In case anyone's wondering, we haven't actually been playing for two days straight. I've just started recording the date like this to reflect the fact that our games have been consistently going into the wee hours of the following morning ... Playing Time: a few hours (don't remember exactly) Players Present: 5 Characters: Ivan, Fremlin, Zai, Joe, Nat, and Miha (NPC) Timeline: Days 36-37 ------------------------------------------------ After talking to the rescued dwarves, the PCs learned that Durzh had been working on an alchemical substance that would remove the cockatrice's petrification (which is why he had the cockatrices in the first place). They weren't sure whether he'd successfully completed his experiments or not, though, so Joe convinced Miha to go back down to the lab with him to leaf through Durzh's notes. They found what they wanted but at the same time, they heard a horrible growling. Looking around the corner, they spotted the corpse of the wererat dwarf leader sitting up and groaning. The same dark spiral that had been on a chain around his neck was now glowing black upon his forehead. Miha turned invisible while Joe "zotted" out of the room. He rallied the others and they all charged back down into the lab to finish the guy off once and for all. The undead dwarf didn't pose much of a threat. He rambled on about tentacled madness and tried to hit people with a spell but everyone resisted it and he was eventually cut down. Ivan made sure to cut him into little pieces and then tossed them out the shaft into the waterfall ... They then searched the lab as thoroughly as possible until they found a smashed beaker (most likely broken by either Ivan or Zai himself during the fight the previous day) with just a few ounces of some greyish liquid in the remaining part. Ivan picked it up and tried to pour it into a new beaker but it spilled. Fortunately, Joe was watching him closely and managed to catch the rest in another container. They took all the liquid up to the storage room and poured it all over Zai's statue. At first nothing happened, but just when they were ready to give up, they heard a cracking sound and the stone started to fall away. Ivan yelled out, "Oh no, he's falling apart! What have we done?!" But once the dust cleared away, they saw a living, breathing Zai looking very bewildered and a little bit grey. The others welcomed him back and they very quickly set about leaving the tower. Ivan hurried them all out and got Miha to conjure up more magical mounts for the rescued dwarves as well as for Fremlin and herself. They then set off. Some time later they heard a great roaring that the more outdoorsy types among them identified as an avalanche. When they arrived at the valley where they'd rested on their way to the tower, they found it was full of rubble, making it impassable for the horses. The rescued dwarves told them there was a little used alternate route that they could take if they backtracked a ways so the party agreed and they soon found an old, winding track through the mountains. As the day drew to a close, they settled down for an uneventful night. The next morning, they hurried onwards, mindful that the enemy army was drawing ever closer to Brindol and they were still far, far away ... About midmorning they came to a bridge over a box canyon about 70ft across and the same deep. A sturdy-looking dwarf in shining plate armor adorned with the holy symbol of Kord awaited them on the bridge. He greeted them and introduced himself as Thaven Firehammer. He told them he couldn't allow them to cross unless one of them agreed to challenge him to a wrestling match. If they won, he'd not only let them cross, he'd give them his armor and his weapon. If he won, they'd have to find some other way across. Although the PCs were very suspicious, Ivan eventually agreed to the dwarf's terms. Big mistake. The dwarf beat him to the punch and lunged at him. As he did so, his appearance melted away to reveal a semi-transparent, rotting corpse. As it hit him with its hands, he felt an extreme force pushing on him, sending him over the edge of the bridge. He hit the ground with a sickening crunch before he could activate his dimension stride boots. He was soon followed by Nat, who thought she could resist the dwarf ghost's touch but was very quickly proved wrong. Fremlin and Joe started lowering a rope down while Zai shot at the ghost with his arrows. Some of them hit while others seemed to just go straight through ... http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2281/1825513628_b01ba8efd4.jpg Key: The bridge was recycled from Skull Gorge. The dungeon tiles are meant to represent the edge of the canyon while the wooden blocks represent the walls going up on either side of the roadway. Here you can see Ivan and Nat down in the "canyon" under the bridge (Ivan is trying to climb out while Zai shoots heaps of arrows at the ghost). Ivan started to climb up the side but slipped and fell back down, injuring himself further. Nat explored the bottom of the canyon and discovered an old dwarf skeleton dressed in the same plate armor and wearing a holy symbol of Kord. She surmised that it was the body of the ghost up on the bridge. There were several other skeletons lying strewn about the cavern - the ghost's previous victims, no doubt. Then the ghost affected the other PCs' minds, telling them not to help their fallen comrades. Fremlin succumbed but Joe and Zai resisted. Until it tried it again ... Joe tried talking to the ghost, asking it what it wanted. Eventually they learned that he had indeed been a paladin of Kord but he had been murdered by someone who had pushed him off the bridge. He then found himself doomed to try to stop people from crossing the bridge for all eternity. He surmised that if the PCs could just take his bones back to the temple of Kord, then he might be able to rest in peace. Ivan had other plans for the bones, though. He took them and then climbed out the other side of the canyon. Once up on the ridge on the far side of the bridge, he dumped the bones out onto the ground and proceeded to pour acid all over them. (I forgot to mention before that the group had found a treasure trove of alchemical items in Durzh's tower.) This only angered the dwarf ghost, who proceeded to rant and rave about how he'd never be set free! Everyone wanted Miha to do something, but she just looked annoyed and started calling the PCs cowards and idiots and then she magicked herself into a spider and climbed down the side of the canyon, across the floor, and out the other end. She quickly turned herself back into a human so Ivan wouldn't attack her by mistake. In the meantime, Fremlin had drunk his potion of fly and had gone to attack the ghost. It kept pushing him back, but his potion kept him from falling into the canyon. He kept trying and eventually he hit once or twice. Nat, who had eventually gotten out of the canyon herself, came to help and got shoved off into the canyon a second time, taking another 7d6 points of falling damage! But she got up and brushed herself off again and got out of the canyon again. That's one tough dwarf chick for you! Eventually the combined efforts of the PCs was enough to tear the ghost into ethereal shreds. They quickly hurried over the bridge and ran like the wind before the ghost could reform. They all made it safely back to the main Holds and delivered the medicinal ingredients and recipes. That's where we ended the session. Ivan and Fremlin had leveled up while in the alchemist's tower. This session ended with both Zai and Joe leveling up as well. So the group now consists of one 8th-lvl PC, three 7th-lvl PCs, and one 6th-lvl PC. Via e-mail, the players informed me that they wanted to find out more about liches and the Ghostlord and that if it seemed like they could possibly defeat him or talk to him without getting themselves killed, then they would head that way. They also wanted to convince Tara to go with them for obvious reasons. After the seeing the lich, some of them want to go back into the swamp and try assaulting the Rhest ruins again, while others want to harry the army as it marches towards Brindol. I sent them this e-mail in response: First of all, the medicine works! The dwarven alchemists stay up all night brewing Durzh's slimy doom rescue remedy (heh heh) and then try it out on some willing subjects. Not only does it work but it works fairly quickly. The dwarven officials inform you that they should have the disease under control within a few days. This means that the Shining Axe Company will set off for Brindol as soon as they are back up to full strength. Clanlord Hammerfist, clearly acting on the advice of the dwarven clergy, issues a proclamation to the effect that the disease was not so much a punishment but a test of the dwarves' humility on account of the fact that they were unable to find the cure themselves but were instead forced to rely on outsiders (the PCs) to save them. The fact that the medicine worked means that they passed the test. However, the dwarves now cannot accept Lord Jarmaath's gold in good conscience, so it is their intention to take it back with them and to fight for Brindol, not as callous mercenaries, but as equal partners in the struggle to preserve Elsir Vale's freedom. As for Tara, she is pleased to see everyone return safely and even more pleased to see how well the medicine is working. Once the morning arrives and she has had a chance to pray to Pelor and rejuvenate her magical energies, she is happy to cast healing spells on any of the PCs in need of her assistance (we'll do that on Friday). When asked for information on the Ghostlord or on liches in general, she tells you that she already told you as much as she knows (which didn't amount to very much). When asked to accompany you to see the Ghostlord, she says that as much as she'd love to go, she doesn't think it would be a good idea. Aside from feeling like she would be unable to resist attempting to destroy the lich, she thinks that her mere presence (being a Radiant Servant of Pelor and all that) would jeopardize any chances of the group achieving a diplomatic resolution. Instead, she intends to return to Brindol with the Shining Axe Company. However, she is willing to do two things: first, she will give you guys her brand new fully-charged wand of cure light wounds and the staff of life (she knows that Joe is the only one with any chance of using either the wand or the staff, but she nevertheless gives the latter to Ivan for safekeeping with the caveat that Joe mustn't be allowed to get his tainted hands on it without the party's go-ahead first and once he has used it he is to immediately give it back to Ivan); and second, she will also find out if any member of the dwarven clergy would be willing to accompany you on your quest into the Ghostlord's territory (while the priests of Moradin also view undead as abominations, they don't hate them with the same level of intensity as the priests of Pelor do. Also, there are priests of deities other than Moradin in the Holds, should you wish for something different). **Please let me know ASAP if you would like to pursue this avenue of inquiry further so that I can have time to come up with a suitable dwarven NPC cleric.** When you start making inquiries about liches, Miha pipes up and admits that she knows a thing or two about them. She also knows some stories about the Ghostlord that she learned while living and working in Drellin's Ferry. This is what she is able to tell you: Liches are undead spellcasters who have achieved immortality through an ancient and profane ritual. Although there are stories about good liches, for the most part they are all very evil. However, they tend to be very patient and slow to anger (and probably quite lazy, seeing as how they've got all the time in the world in which to keep putting their plots and schemes off until tomorrow or the next day or even the next century or two …). She also knows that liches have phylacteries that they use to house their life force. Should a lich be destroyed, it reforms within a few days as long as its phylactery is still intact. The only way to permanently destroy a lich is to destroy both it and its phylactery. Unfortunately, most liches are smart enough to hide their phylacteries in far-off places, so having the opportunity to destroy both before the lich can reform is generally pretty rare. Of course, if you destroy a lich's phylactery while it is still "alive", it can always make a new one so it is best to destroy the actual lich first (although, of course, should someone try to blackmail a lich by stealing its phylactery, the lich will do everything in its power to get that phylactery back as making a new one is a laborious, expensive, and life force-draining task). As for the Ghostlord in particular, Miha knows that he was once a druid named Urikel Zarl. He ruled over a tribe of noble savages who ran with the lions to the southwest of Elsir Vale. One of the kings of Rhestilor believed Zarl's savages to be devil-worshipping cannibals, so he sent his elite cavalry out to "cleanse" the plains of the evil savages. The cavalry successfully hunted down Zarl's tribe and slaughtered every man, woman, and child, including Zarl himself. It is said that as Zarl died, he uttered a curse that instantly turned the once verdant plains into the thorn-choked wasteland that they are today. Zarl, burning with hatred towards Rhest and its people, then arose from the dead as a lich and plotted his revenge. Some years later, a mysterious plague - said by some to be a horde of ghostly lions - was visited upon the city of Rhest. All the cavalrymen in the city, as well as their families, were found dead the next day (think the Biblical story about the Angel of Death visiting the Egyptians and killing all their firstborn children). Having gotten his revenge (the slaughtering of the Rhestan cavalry is said to have contributed to the weakening of the kingdom and was one of the causes of its ultimate downfall, along with the famous story of Amery Vraath and the forest giants …), Zarl then faded into obscurity and became known as the Ghostlord - a sort of bogeyman used by parents to scare their children into obedience ("If you don't eat your turnips, little Cletus, the Ghostlord will come and take you away!"). If you want to find out if there's more to know about liches, and the Ghostlord in particular, you'll have to wait until Friday so you can do some Knowledge checks and the like. However, there's a good chance that the dwarves will have a good bit of info on the Ghostlord himself. Not only is he a "neighbor" but the dwarves have been around for ages (since before the time of Rhestilor), so their "collective memory" and cultural history is a lot richer and goes back a lot farther than that of Brindol. You should have a pretty good chance of finding useful information in the Holds' extensive libraries. Please let me know how long you want to linger at the Holds and where you intend to go next (west to the Ghostlord or north to Brindol and/or the ruins of Rhest). According to the estimate provided by Brindol's scouts and spies, the Horde is still approximately 10 days away from the city. And that's all from me for now! Next session is tomorrow night!
pukunui 11-02-07, 06:58 AM	Session Date: 2 November 2007 Playing Time: 2.5 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Ivan, Fremlin, Zai, Joe, Nat, and Belak (NPC) Timeline: Days 37-40 ------------------------------------------------ Highlight of the session: I don't think there was one, quite frankly. Except maybe when the players finally all agreed that it was time to stop mucking about and actually do something ... too bad that didn't really help. The first hour and a half of the session was spent shopping (mainly for potions). They got some of the more inexpensive ones as a thank you from the dwarves. I also threw in a few little "story" bits (an audience with the clanlord, for instance) and introduced the new NPC cleric, Belak Hammerfist (the high priest of the dwarven goddess Valkauna, whose priests seem to fill the the roles of midwife, undertaker, and judge in dwarven society). He was chosen by the dwarven clanlord to accompany the PCs on their journey to find the Ghostlord. Miha left the group after telling them they were all a bunch of indecisive, bickering losers and that she didn't know why she'd ever thought they were the ones who would save the Vale from the invading army. She said she was going to return to Brindol with Tara so she could be where the real action was. After that the PCs attempted to do some research on liches and on the Ghostlord in particular. They found some maps that gave a rough indication of where his lair was supposed to be. They also found out that a lich can actually only make one phylactery and that should it be destroyed, then if the lich is also destroyed, it can't come back. Furthermore, they learned that a lich's powers depend on what sort of spellcaster they were in life, but that they were very tough physically and supernaturally but strangely enough they did not have any built-in spell resistance. Finally, they also learned about the trouble of travelling by foot in the Thornwaste. (And I pointed out that one of the consequences of failure in the swamp was that they had not been able to gain the service of the elves' giant owls ...) Finally, it was agreed by all that it was time to go. So they got on their horses and headed west. It took them the rest of that day and all of the next just to reach the edge of the Thornwaste. The next morning, they mounted their horses again and headed into the thorns, all six of them bunched up close so they could all fit inside Nat's aura of damage reduction (which protected their horses' delicate feet and legs from the thorns). This was quite clever thinking on the part of Nat's player and saved them the risk of having to travel even more slowly because of the thorns ... Anyway, it only took 2 hours of travel before they discovered a large area completely devoid of any life at all. They hesitated there for a moment and Belak took the opportunity to cast an augury but he learned nothing. They then pressed forward and crested a rise, only to see a massive stone lion facing them on another hill about a mile to the west. They approached the lion cautiously, a hot wind blowing in their faces. The got close enough to see a shadowy chamber in the lion's mouth, as well as what appeared to be a cave in its chest, reachable by a ramp running up between two statues of skeletal lions. They approached even more closely and decided to dismount and tie their horses to the northernmost skeletal lion statue. Ivan then requested that Belak cast detect undead as they moved towards the ramp. Fremlin and Nat went up the ramp first, followed by Joe. When they were about halfway up a massive shape moved inside the cave and a bolt of electricity shot out, slamming into Fremlin and Joe. The two of them were electrocuted badly, although Joe was able to activate his cloak of elemental protection (an Immediate action) and shrug off 10 points of damage. And we ended on that cliffhanger because three of the players had to leave at 11 and we simply didn't have time for a fight. :weep: At least they'll now be spending an entire week wondering what's going to happen during the next session and we'll be starting next session with a fight, which is always a good thing. We often don't get to fights until the latter half of the evening, and by then everyone is tired and that's partly why so many PCs have died (they always die after 11pm in this campaign ...). So it'll be really good and hopefully energizing to kick things off with a bang next time. Now I just have to survive another week of designing a fashion brochure for school before I can get back to the truly fun stuff ... sigh! That's all for now. Cheers, Jonathan
Prom 11-03-07, 04:42 PM	Hi All, Well, I tryed getting people in the party to vote on what we were going to do, so the bickering was kept as low as possible. Distractions and side tracking can always happen too. :rant: Reasearch lich, gain allies, shopping for stuff to survive Lich if he's in a bad mood, travel to plains. Oh, hell it was painfully slow. :waits: And just as the action is about to start, people have to go. :banghead: This is after I had lugged gear up a steep narrow staircase. Which I've recently fallen down. :ahem: Right now I wish I was back in the "Barrow of the Forgotten King." Is it just me, but I've not enjoyed the RHOD that much, and I don't think it's Pukunui's fault. Prom
pukunui 11-03-07, 05:01 PM	Right now I wish I was back in the "Barrow of the Forgotten King." Is it just me, but I've not enjoyed the RHOD that much, and I don't think it's Pukunui's fault.No, it's definitely not my fault. I don't think it's the fault of the adventure either. The only real difference between the two adventures that I can think of is that the barrow was the ultimate in linear adventuring. There was only ever one way you could go to continue with the adventure so the decision-making that was required was negligible. RHoD, on the other hand, is very open-ended. The adventure places very few limits on what the PCs can and can't do and allows them to wander any which way they choose really. Combine the adventure's open-endedness with the fact that we now have two more players than we did when we went through BoFK and you'll see why things are so different. Not only are there more decisions to be made but there are also more people wanting to participate in the decision-making process. And I'm not sure that trying to make it a democratic process by getting people to vote on things is such a good idea. What the group needs is a leader - and I don't just mean in-character. Some groups may very well be able to get along just fine without a leader but I think our group could benefit hugely from having one person make the majority of the decisions (DM not included). I'm not suggesting that the group morph into a dictatorship. It's all about guidance. Instead of just saying to everyone, "OK these are our options, which option do each of you like?" and leaving it up to everyone to reach a consensus (which is unlikely to happen even at the best of times), it's better to have someone say, "This is what I think we should do. Yay or nay?" Only if the majority says nay would you then open up the floor for the consideration of other options. I know you don't want to be the leader, Prom, but I'm just going to throw this thought out: Ivan is the oldest (eg. longest surviving) PC in the group. Because of his personality, I could easily see him being the reluctant leader type. I mean, he's already a reluctant hero. Why not have him take on the mantle of authority reluctantly as well? He strikes me as the type who would accept the leadership only so long as he could give it up once the war is over ... Besides, it might help give him the impetus needed to make the shift from CN to CG. ;) Remember, also, that being the party leader doesn't necessarily mean being the party "face" as well. The party leader is the one who gives guidance and direction. He wouldn't necessarily be the party's moral compass but at the very least he'd be the one who gets things moving. If the leader isn't a very diplomatic type of guy, he can delegate the task of schmoozing to someone who is ... I hope that makes some sense.
pukunui 11-09-07, 08:11 AM	Session Date: 9-10 November 2007 Playing Time: 4 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Ivan, Fremlin, Zai, Joe, Nat, and Belak (NPC) Timeline: Day 40 ------------------------------------------------ Highlight of the session: the hysterical laughter that ensued after I announced to the group that the strength drain Ivan, Fremlin, and Zai had all received at the touch of the ghostly dire lion was permanent ... What a session! Way better than last week's. First of all, I extracted the sound files from both Neverwinter Nights games so I was able to add a little ambient noise and some dramatic music at various points. That was quite fun. Last week I had told them that a hot wind had been blowing across the desert, so I had the wind noise going for a while and it really added to the atmosphere. Anyway, the first thing that everyone did was roll initiative. Unfortunately, the great hulking 12-legged, winged, lightning-breathing purple people eater was quickest off the mark. It moved forward into the entryway of the cave and attacked Fremlin. It slashed him and bit him really badly (critical hit) and didn't let go. The next round it swallowed him whole and then bit and grabbed Nat. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2270/2036781659_04049de76f.jpg Ivan ran to the horses, untied them, and started leading them away. He started yelling at everyone to spread out and retreat but everyone else was yelling at him to get back into the action. :looloo: Zai started shooting at it with his arrows while Nat struggled to get free. Joe recognized the beast as a behir with some sort of fiendish ancestry. He knew it was immune to electricity and had resistance to just about everything else. He chose to fire his eldritch blast at it with a full dosage of acid from his gloves of eldritch admixture and seriously blasted it! :w00t: The following round, he whipped out his confiscated scroll of summon monster IV and used it to summon up a celestial lion right up in its face. Unfortunately, the behir lithely tumbled around the lion and took to the air, unfurling its bat wings as it soared up right under the great lion statue's lower jaw. As it started to bank towards the south at a height of 20ft, it dropped Nat from its jaws. The sturdy female dwarf, by now much used to falling from great heights, dusted herself off and sought some healing magic from her older dwarven comrade, the NPC cleric Belak Hammerfist. Ivan saw what was happening and turned the horses south, intending to chase after the fleeing behir. He fired his bow repeatedly at it and despite the ever increasing distance (and accompanying ranged attack penalties), he managed to hit it enough times to bring it down with a great crash. And the wrath of Tiamat at the loss of one of her beloved minions was indeed terrible to behold!! Meanwhile, the others gave up on the behir and went to investigate its lair. They found a small smelly cave with a nest of nettles and thorns to the north and a pile of bones to the south. In the nest they discovered a nice little horde - a fancy elven longbow, a shiny round mithril heavy shield, an onyx hourglass, a gold necklace, and an otherwise ordinary broom. Joe used his detect magic ability and discovered that the shield, the bow, and the broom were magical. Zai snapped up the bow, while Nat took the shield, so Joe took the broom and tried to get it to do something. When he told it to move forward, it carried him up 6ft suddenly and then dropped him, then swooped down and started attacking him. It swatted him in the face with the brush end, blinding him, and whacked him on the head with the handle. Out of desperation, Joe blindly fled the scene but couldn't get his bearings and ended up "fleeing" into the stone wall. Getting shunted back out into the cave barely hurt him, though (1 hit point). The broom swatted at his left-behind image, causing it to disappear. Nat breathed her fiery breath upon the broom and reduced it to ash. Meanwhile, Ivan arrived at the fallen beast, cut its head off, then sliced open its belly and hauled out Fremlin's remains. He wrapped it up in a bedroll and carried it back to the others, announcing that he had slain the great behir as he did so. And there was great rejoicing. ;) At the same time, Zai was convinced there must be some sort of hidden entranceway into the stone lion, so he was carefully working his way along the cave wall, looking for secret doors. He eventually found one on the south side. Before anyone opened it, however, the group had a little conference and agree to have Belak use the staff of life to resurrect Fremlin. During the 10 minutes it took for him to cast the spell, however, clouds brewed on the horizon and it began raining. The rain quickly built up to a torrential downpour, reducing visibility beyond the great stone lion's outstretched paws to zero. Both Ivan and Zai were highly suspicious of the storm since there had been absolutely no clouds on the horizon only minutes before, however the storm itself appeared perfectly natural ... So with Fremlin back in the land of the living, albeit somewhat drained of life (he lost his most recent level of barbarian, taking him back to rogue 3/barbarian 3), the group pushed open the secret door to discover a wide passageway curving up in a clockwise direction. As Fremlin and Zai went through first, a ghostly lion popped out of the wall and roared, scaring the **** out of those two, as well as Belak the cleric. Nat and Ivan began attacking the lion, which didn't seem to be capable of attacking them back. Although they missed a number of times, they eventually managed to slash it to pieces (and Ivan left more than one slash in the wall with his adamantine sword as well ...). Zai, in his fright, ran further up the passageway. Part of the way up, another ghostly lion leapt out of the wall at him but he managed to resist its roar. He continued up the passageway until he arrived at a dead end. Here, a bigger, meaner, more feral ghostly lion leaped out of the wall at him. He felt the icy chill of death pass through him as one of the lion's claws touched him and some of his strength was sapped out of him. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2134/2037578658_828a14f89a.jpg Joe drank a potion of hide from undead and went up the passage. The ghostly dire lion pursued Zai, who made the mistake of trying to shoot at it from up close. Joe used flee the scene to *zot* away, abandoning Zai to his fate. The others, however, came up and did battle against the lions. Zai tried to retreat but found himself caught between the two lions and ended up using the total defense action. The ghostly dire lion kept swiping at him and after a while his strength was drained from 14 down to 5!! Belak, released from his fear, blasted away the second ghostly lion with positive energy and then eventually blasted away the dire lion as well, but not before it had used its touch on both Fremlin, who had 3 points of strength drained, and Ivan, who had 4 points of strength drained. They were also subjected to its corrupting gaze, which damaged Ivan's, Belak's, and Fremlin's charisma. The weakened and encumbered Zai was then sent forward to the dead end of the passageway where he succeeded in finding another secret door. And that is where we ended for the night. The heroes have vowed to continue on, despite the damage they have taken. They are unsure of what lies ahead, deeper into the lich's lair, but they are also afraid of venturing out into the freak storm. They feel trapped, as they rightly should feel ... :evillaugh Until next week, dear readers! Ciao, Jonathan
Prom 11-10-07, 10:21 PM	Hi All, Well, I got a lot of flak from the other players, for having Ivan grab the horses first and backing off from the Behir. But I have the last laugh, it was nothing short of plain luck that Ivan shoot the Behir out of the air. No one was expecting it, including me. I do have to say that some of the current characters seem to have a deathwish. It was a little like who's going to step up to be eatten first and everyone but Ivan was putting his hand up, lol. I truely dislike ghosts, I never liked them when I was live RPGing. Ghosts are very entertaining if you are the ghost or watching the party flail around pointlessly and dieing on the ground. But being attacked by a ghost is quick, painful and very annoying. I just hope that pushing on to the Lich is not going to completely wipe the party out. I have this narsty feeling that Joe will try to buff or intimidate the Lich and get everyone killed. Prom
pukunui 11-11-07, 01:30 AM	I do have to say that some of the current characters seem to have a deathwish. It was a little like who's going to step up to be eatten first and everyone but Ivan was putting his hand up, lol.Players with a deathwish are a DM's best friend :cloud9: No, not really. Just being silly. I truely dislike ghosts, I never liked them when I was live RPGing. Ghosts are very entertaining if you are the ghost or watching the party flail around pointlessly and dieing on the ground. But being attacked by a ghost is quick, painful and very annoying.Yeah, ghosts can be a pain in the butt when you haven't got a cleric (or when you have got a cleric but he's been frightened away by said ghost ...). Did you notice that two of the ghostly lions never actually attacked aside from a few frightening howls? It was the big ghost dire lion at the top of the spiral that did all the damage. It was a bit silly of Zai to go wandering up there by himself ... I just hope that pushing on to the Lich is not going to completely wipe the party out. I have this narsty feeling that Joe will try to buff or intimidate the Lich and get everyone killed.Aw c'mon. A TPK could actually be a good thing. Everyone could roll up new characters as part of a pre-existing adventuring party that has a charter and everything and the characters know how to work together well (I realize that's assuming a lot and I also realize I've told you before never to make assumptions but still ...) And we're at a stage in the campaign's development where it wouldn't break the momentum to "start over". The new party could easily show up in Brindol at just the right moment ... or else they could be another band of locals who have decided to rise up and defend their homeland ... The possibilities are restrained only by the limits of the players' imaginations.
pukunui 11-16-07, 06:51 AM	Session Date: 16 November 2007 Playing Time: 2.5 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Ivan, Fremlin, Zai, Joe, Nat, and Belak (NPC) Timeline: Day 40 ------------------------------------------------ After taking into account carrying capacity changes due to loss of strength, the PCs decided to go through the secret door at the end of the windy passage. On the other side they discovered a room full of magical fog. They explored this room and ended up going into a room to the north that looked like a dissection room. They then went through the western door, down the curvy hallway and into the other hallway. They opened the door into the necromancy hall, decided it was too scary in there and shut it again (and Fremlin wrote "stay away" in Dwarven on the door). They then turned the corner and went down the hallway into the dusty study full of books and artwork about lions. Zai searched and found a secret door in this room but didn't tell anyone at first. He then got Ivan to come into the room and closed the door and told Ivan about the door. He also told Ivan that he thought Joe was hiding something about the room from them but Ivan told him to shove it and left the room. Zai stayed in the room but everyone else went back to the foggy room and tried the other door. They discovered the hobgoblins. Ivan said, "Sorry, wrong room" and shut the door again. They then went back through the fog into the dissection chamber and closed the door. Meanwhile, Zai had opened the secret door, gone down the short hallway, found the other secret door, and discovered the Ghostlord's shrine. Joe came back down to this part of the lair just in time to see Zai enter the shrine and get attacked by the ghost dire lion hiding in the tree. Zai got hit bad, his already drained strength dropping even further down to 2!! Joe hurriedly grabbed Zai and *zotted* away. Some of the others had followed Joe, although Ivan and Fremlin had stayed in the dissection room. Ivan went back into the foggy room and laid some caltrops outside the door to the hobgoblins' room before he and Fremlin headed back towards Zai and the others. Meanwhile, Nat stepped forward and attacked the ghost lion, hitting it twice with her magical battleaxe, but it managed to strike her twice and drained her strength from 16 down to 11!! Belak used up his last remaining turn attempts to blast it with positive energy but because he'd taken some CHA damage from the last ghost lion, it was easy for this one to resist his turn attempt. In the end, Belak and Nat retreated and Joe slammed it several times with his eldritch blast, managing to hit every time but once and eventually "killed" it. That's where we ended. One player wasn't present and two had to go early, so there wasn't much point in continuing. Of the two remaining players, one is adamant that running away is the best option because he (not to mention his character) has seen too many characters die and thinks it would be suicide to stay, while the other wants to continue on and find the lich. We'll see what the others have to say next week. Fortunately, Zai's player is going to be in Oz for the next two weeks, so it'll be easy enough for me to keep his horribly weakened character out of play (and I won't have to worry about him being bored with little to do either ...). Next week's session should be very interesting, though. Will the party press on and find the lich? Or will they run away and try to get back to Brindol in their much weakened state? They're sort of damned either way really ... they're not really in any shape to fight any more battles in the Ghostlord's lair, but neither are they in any shape to fight any battles on the way back to Brindol or beyond (assuming they can't find anyone to magically restore their strength in the city ...). What will they do?! Here's a photo I took while they were exploring: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2398/2036782217_992c58e266.jpg This shows you all of the rooms they've explored so far except for the necromancy hall. Although they didn't actually go into it, I showed them what it looked like -- however, I ended up having to dismantle it due to a shortage of wall pieces and such. The marshmallow in the "fog" room is meant to represent the staircase. The harpy in the hobgoblins' room is the statue of Tiamat. The tree is, of course, the Ghostlord's "undead" tree shrine ... p.s. I've also added photos to last week's recap. Be sure to check them out!
Gerry 11-16-07, 11:43 PM	and the raisans and peanuts are ?? Gerry
pukunui 11-17-07, 12:05 AM	and the raisans and peanuts are ?? Oops. I knew I'd forgotten something! I decided at the last minute that it would be more appropriate if the storm outside was actually a "manna from heaven" type of deal rather than an actual rainstorm but I forgot to mention it last night ... my bad.
Zortzuul 11-22-07, 07:46 AM	Vot is this bollix about ze Character Joe leading you all to duum. Zhis is ridiculous. Clearly ze Vorlok hast his hed screwed on right and ze Lich vill quail benath the onslaught ov hist personality and great looks. Also he plans to offer the still beating heart ov the hapless Zai as a fitting sacrifice for ze Ghostlord:schemes:
Zortzuul 11-22-07, 07:49 AM	Now ve vill hav ze truth about ze adventures ov Joe and the others.
pukunui 11-22-07, 04:11 PM	Vot is this bollix about ze Character Joe leading you all to duum. Zhis is ridiculous. Clearly ze Vorlok hast his hed screwed on right and ze Lich vill quail benath the onslaught ov hist personality and great looks. Also he plans to offer the still beating heart ov the hapless Zai as a fitting sacrifice for ze Ghostlord:schemes: Welcome to the boards, Joe's alter-ego. You seem to be having so much fun with your horrible German accent that I can't bring myself to tell you to cut it out. ;) :P Just remember - no peeking at other peoples' RHoD threads. There are so many of them around here these days ...
pukunui 11-23-07, 06:12 AM	Session Date: 23 November 2007 Playing Time: 2 hours Players Present: 3 Characters: Ivan, Joe, Nat, and Belak (NPC) Timeline: Day 40 Total VPs: 22 ------------------------------------------------ We were down two players tonight - one is on holiday in Oz and the other had a work do to attend. Their characters, Zai and Fremlin, went and "guarded" the horses for this session. The others discussed their options and Joe eventually convinced the others to continue exploring in hopes of finding the Ghostlord and talking to him. They went back to the room with the undead tree and Joe and Nat *zotted* through the closed doorway in the south wall. They found themselves in a corridor that ended at a blank wall. A short side passage did the same. Joe was smart enough to realize that there were probably doors hidden in those walls but he was also smart enough to know that he didn't have a very good chance of finding them. Nat, on the other hand, gave it a go but soon realized it was helpless. What a pity their elf buddy was in such bad shape with only 2 STR! Anyway, much amusement ensued as Joe randomly *zotted* into solid rock and got shunted back out into the corridor as he searched for other rooms. He eventually found one - a room full of smashed treasure and strewn coins. He turned on his magic-o-vision and found some cool things: two scrolls, a wand, a ring, an amulet, and a kukri. He also found some gems and some platinum coins. Together with Nat, he scooped up all that interesting stuff, leaving behind the boring old silver and gold coins ... He then *zotted* back and told the others about the room (which appeared to have no apparent exit). They all let him *zot* them into the room but Ivan wasn't happy about there being no exit so he created one of his own using his adamantine sword. After further damaging *zots* (which, by the way, were lessened via Nat's aura of damage reduction), Joe eventually found his way into the Ghostlord's private sanctum. He'd managed to convince Ivan to go with him. Ivan took one look at the lich and pleaded with Joe to *zot* him back the way they'd came. When Joe instead started talking to the guy, Ivan at first tried to help him but when things weren't looking so good he gave up, clicked his heels together, and *zotted* himself away using his beloved dimension stride boots. Joe meanwhile continued talking to the lich and eventually (and wisely) mentioned the phylactery. The lich's icy mood immediately improved and he demanded to have it back. Joe asked for favors and the lich agreed to withdraw his support from the Horde. He also agreed to allow Joe and his companions safe passage from his lair. When Joe produced the phylactery, the Ghostlord snatched it back and cried out for vengeance. Joe continued to talk but the lich ignored him and started to leave the room. The warlock wisely did the same. Everyone started running back the way they'd come but then when they got back to the room with the fog, they arrived just in time to see hear some short, sharp words and then the fog disappeared. At the far end of the room stood the Ghostlord, having come through a secret door. He strode across the room, ignoring Ivan's hastily strewn caltrops, and threw open the door to the hobgoblins' room. He then called down a flame strike upon the occupants of the room and cried out for someone named Ulwai to show themselves. Joe *zotted* everyone past the lich into the winding corridor where they'd fought the ghost lions and they all ran back down to where Fremlin and Zai were waiting with the horses. As they were gearing up to leave, a trio of robed hobs poured out of the lion's mouth and began scrambling down the sides of the statue. The PCs took immediate action, firing arrows and crossbow bolts and purple hellish goo at them. Fremlin got two critical hits with his crossbow. Joe whipped out his newly acquired wand and activated it blindly - much to his delight, a magical web shot out and trapped one of the hobgoblins on the wall. He was soon peppered with arrows. The other two were shot off the walls and killed once they were on the ground. Then, with Zai confident that he could lead them through the torrential rain without getting lost (Survival DC to avoid getting lost due to poor visibility is 12, Zai's aboveground Survival modifier is +13 so no worries there!), the PCs set off ... although not without looting the two dead hobgoblins, of course. ;) And that's where we stopped. Short and sweet. It's a shame the two players weren't there to see the meeting with the lich but that's ok. They didn't miss a whole lot. One of them will be back next week but Zai's player won't be back till the week after ... and then Joe's player will be gone for some time and we'll be jumping back and forth between people's houses as Prom, our regular host, is moving ... so yes, we'll be experiencing some turmoil over the summer months but I'm sure we'll manage. Join us next week as the heroes presumably race back to Brindol to face the Horde itself in all its grandeur!
Prom 11-27-07, 02:17 PM	Hi All, Well Zortzuul was right who plays Joe, the Lich could be reasoned with. It was very close Ivan and Nat were ready to turn around and head home, after the damage the ghosts did. This is where things get tricky, because the party is now crippled from the massive strength drain, with Ivan affected the least. Spells of restoration aren't going to be cheap and are sometime away. The parties time frame for getting back to Brindol is tight, with the invading army possibly arriving before or at the sametime as the party does. Prom
pukunui 11-30-07, 07:57 AM	Session Date: 30 November - 1 December 2007 Playing Time: 4.5 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Ivan, Joe, Nat, Fremlin, Zai, and Belak (NPC) Timeline: Days 40-47 Total VPs: 22 ------------------------------------------------ We covered an entire in-game week in just over 4 hours tonight. Ha ha. Most of it was spent traveling on the road. I'm not going to go into much detail. The PCs escaped the torrential rain only to be hunted by a dire lion. It eventually attacked, surprising everyone and managing to kill Ivan's horse in one go before everyone else took it down. Zai was a bit upset and staunched its wounds so it might survive to hunt again. The PCs headed back to the Hammerfist Holds, where they made some purchases and then undertook an ancient dwarven ritual that restored their strength. The ritual involved the four PCs in question being magically entombed in the stone floor of the Holds' grand Temple of Moradin for 24 hours. When they emerged, they were as good as new (although Nat seemed to have developed a particularly scaly complexion ... gold-hued scales, too ;)). Ivan bought a heavy warhorse while in the Holds to better facilitate his weight and so he wouldn't need to worry about dismounting and such in combat situations so much. The PCs then spent 2.5 days traveling to Dauth, where they chatted with the local innkeeper, a halfling named Galadan Ryethresher, who went on about how he'd heard all about Ivan's exploits and who knew Fremlin fairly well (drinks on the house for his friend and the friends of his friend). The next morning they headed off for Prosser to see the Six Blades. While traveling through Dauth Forest, they were attacked by a mated pair of owlbears. The female died fairly quickly but the male lasted a bit longer, although he was unable to do much against the PCs. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2147/2080976183_4b87c88a72.jpg Once in Prosser, the PCs met with Deillyr Starcloak and talked to her about the war effort. She informed them that one of her number, a fellow named Sam, had gone to Dennovar. The only other living member of her retired band was Sardith. She informed them that he might be able to help them, so they went and saw him in the morning. They purchased quite a few scrolls and a wand off him before departing for Brindol. As they traveled north, they came across a burned out farmhouse. Some way further down the road, smoke from another burnt house could be seen. Even further along, thicker and fresher smoke billowed into the sky. Zai used his tracking skills and guessed that a hobgoblin raiding party, possibly accompanied by an ogre, was methodically burning the farms. They appeared to be heading in the direction of Brindol. And that's all, folks! Tune in next week for more!
Prom 12-02-07, 02:47 PM	Hi All, Here is a short section from Ivan's point of view when the Dire Lion attacks the party leaving the Thornwaste. Dangers of the Thornwaste The party kept together, staying around Nat as the horses where directed through the thornwaste barrier. Nat's aura seemed to be keeping the horses safe from injury for the second time. Zai rode up to Ivan and whispered in his ear, "We are being followed". Ivan looked around trying to see through the thorns. "Where, Zai? I can't see a thing," replied Ivan quietly a little concerned. "Somewhere behind use to the left, I can't see what it is," Zai spoke softly, eyeing Ivan. Ivan thought for a moment, then strapped his buckler on and pulled the bow from his bag. "Tell the others to get ready for a fight," sighed Ivan. Zai nodded and fell back to tell the rest of the party. Ivan moved his horse forward, then slowly shifted to the right of the party away from the trouble area till Joe bumped into him with his horse. "Where do you think you are going Ivan the threats on the left side," growled Joe. Ivan tryed staring Joe down, but moved to the left of the party anyway. Ivan was thinking this was a bad idea, when a shadow leaped from a rocky mound that seemed to appear from nowhere. A huge Dire lion caught Ivan with it's teeth and bit his shoulder while ripping the horse he was on completely open with it's claws. The poor animal didn't have a chance and was killed instantly. Ivan fell to the ground as the Lion landed on the horses bleeding body. Zai shifted his horse to face Ivan and shouted, "Don't hurt the Lion Ivan, I think I can be reasoned with". Ivan rolled his eyes and glared at Zai, "Your a stupid egg, Zai". Much to Ivan's surprise it was Belak the old dwarf cleric that rode up the left side and swatted the Dire Lion, trying to keep it off Ivan. Nat swung her horse around the otherside of Ivan and breathed a stream of fire into the beast, burning flesh and hair. Joe came up behind Ivan and shoot a blast of acid over Ivan's head and hit the Lion, burning more flesh. Ivan could hear Joe cursing the Lion in some stange language he didn't know, but he could make out references to genitialia. Fremlin tryed to fire a bolt from his crossbow, but it missed there where so many people in his line of fire, again. The Lion roared in fury and thrashed Belak with a clawed paw across the old dwarfs chest. Zai continued to shout at everyone to stop hurting the Lion, but no one listened. Ivan tryed to stand up, but the Dire lion seeing the opening slashed Ivan's arms and chest leaving him bloody and bleeding. Ivan staggered back out of range of the Lions claw's and drawing an arrow to his bow launching it at the hungry beast. He rushed the shot and missed at point blank range, and the dark musclar man swore out loud. Ivan was a little worried now, as the Lion came to finish him. Nat, Fremlin and Joe screamed at Ivan, "Draw your sword!" The whole party smashed, slashed and burned the creature but it still stood. Ivan leaped out of the Lions reach blocking with his buckler one more time and sent two arrows in to the mighty beasts body and it dropped to the ground dying. Ivan put his bow away and pulled his sword free, ready to finish the Lion. But Zai jumped down from his horse and swung a fist at anyone trying to come near the dying Lion. "You don't have to kill it, it just wanted something to eat," cryed Zai treating the creatures wounds. Zai's babbling, pathetic pleas to leave the Dire Lion alone, were making Ivan sick, so he sheathed his sword and climbed on to Zai's horse. "Oh, I think you will be walking, Ivan," joked someone from behind Ivan, but he could tell who it was. Ivan watched Zai stopping the bleeding from the creatures wounds, shaking his head. This couldn't be the Zai he remembered who shot anything three times before looting a body. The ghosts strength drain on Zai must be affecting his mind. Or some unseen force was controlling Zai, like a puppet (Pukunui). Fremlin cut a chunk of meat off the dead horse and put it into his saddle bags. "Any one injuried," asked the old dwarf cleric as he prayed over his own wounds. With blood streaming down both arms, Ivan slowly raised an arm to Belak. "Yep, could you tell," replied Ivan in a sarcastic manner. Prom
pukunui 12-07-07, 07:43 AM	Session Date: 7 - 8 December 2007 Playing Time: ~ 3 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Ivan, Joe, Nat, Fremlin, and Zai Timeline: Day 47 PC deaths: 4 ------------------------------------------------ As the party traveled from Prosser to Brindol, they followed a trail of burned-out farms until they found a tree-lined side road leading to a homestead currently on fire. Here they came across a little girl, crying for her mommy. The group agreed that Joe would remain out on the main road with the girl and the horses while the others went to investigate (although Ivan stayed on his new warhorse). They encountered a group of hobgoblins and an ogre, apparently torturing some humans tied to a tree in front of the burning building. Thinking it would be easy, the heroes charged in. Suddenly, two groups of black-scaled humanoids and two bigger, meaner barghests materialized out of the foliage and ambushed the party from behind. Although the PCs fought valiantly, they really had no chance against such an onslaught. Nat was quickly surrounded and was the first to die. Ivan became the next, after the hobgoblins shot his horse out from under him and two of the black-scaled creatures jumped on him. Zai died next while trying to fly away. His dead body floated gracefully back to earth. Fremlin was the last to die. He did not retreat but instead released all his pent-up anger at the sight of his friend, clanmate, and fellow dwarf fall. He went into a rage, which was in keeping with his character but which also sealed his fate. Whether or not Joe and his young charge will survive is yet to be determined but a new band of heroes is already riding west on the Dawn Way and will soon be at Brindol's gates, ready to make a stand against the seemingly unstoppable Horde. This new party is a tight-knit unit consisting of four, possibly even five, childhood friends. They set off as green adventurers some time ago to search for a lost relic important to their community. They are now returning as seasoned veterans of the world, 9th level PCs all. The details are yet to be determined but the new group will consist of: a male wild elf druid (possibly with a prestige class) a female wild elf paladin (also possibly with a prestige class) a male half-wild elf warmage a male halfling rogue/shadowdancer The elves and half-elf are all of Tiri Kitor stock, but it's possibly that they all actually grew up in Brindol and thus regard Elsir Vale (and the city of Brindol itself) as their homeland. The halfling also grew up with them and so is a childhood friend as well. Who the fifth PC is remains to be seen. There is a slim possibility that Joe will survive and go to Brindol and join this new group. Otherwise, the group will consist of five childhood friends. The new group will also have an official adventuring charter (and, I assume, an official adventuring band name). Two of my players won't be able to make it next week so I've proposed that we skip the session and play again in two weeks' time. This will give everyone more time to figure everything out. Although I'm sad that we've had what basically amounts to a TPK, I'm also relieved and glad. I think this is a good thing. Now that we've finally gotten a stable group of players, I think it's useful to "start again", at least as far as the party is concerned. Until now, we've only ever had one or two PCs die at a time, and what with people coming and going, the party has pretty much had a revolving door of characters. There hasn't been much in-game stability. So it'll be good to have a fresh start with a party of PCs that all know each other and should, therefore, all know how to work together well and have a common backstory, etc etc. Hopefully having an official set of in-game rules for the party will help too. OK, that's all for me for now. Cheers, Jonny p.s. I'll get some photos up later.
eamon 12-07-07, 10:08 AM	ooohhh... TPK :eek:
pukunui 12-07-07, 03:00 PM	ooohhh... TPK :eek: Sort of.
Prom 12-07-07, 08:53 PM	Hi All, Well it happened, the party is dead (excluding Joe for now). The new party will be life long friends not child-hood friends, although this may be the case with some characters. The new party will be trying to fill all the major roles this time, that might help survival. There is likely to be a lot of discussion around connecting characters and co-ordinated tactics ahead of game time. I think most of the guys were thinking of a "all for one and one for all", feel. More in the lines of "the three muskateers" and "the knights of camelot". Now connecting the characters is just the first hurdle. The players major issue remains tactics and the varstly different opinions amoung the group. We have had a number of people insisting that other players act or perform a particular way in battle and this has led to a rather reckless strategy of having armoured characters enter melee combat very quickly. This has meant that ranged spell casters and bowman have had to shot into melee combat. More often melee characters having been blocking line of sight for the back row PC's. This has led to characters getting eatten, badly bashed up in a few rounds or dead. Here's hoping we can get everyone thing rationally and on the same wave length about battles. Just my opinion. Prom P.S. I finally get to play an arane caster, although a half-Orc Warmage would have been rather funny, in comparision to a half-elf.
pukunui 12-07-07, 09:07 PM	The new party will be life long friends not child-hood friendsSame difference. :rolleyes:
solbergb 12-10-07, 07:21 PM	Someone told me you guys just finished up chapter 3 and got TPK'd in the final encounter......so I snuck in to read this thread before there are any chapter four spoilers. I'm rather shocked at the lethality of this compared to our tables but the comments on party cohesion and experience here and on other threads do tell the story. The role call of the dead characters and lost players is large. Pukuni must be complemented for keeping the campaign going with all that turnover (and Prom for sticking it out). I'm not sure about individual power level of characters but I know our group has more experience with D&D and also we stuck together for the whole adventure. We made a lot of mistakes in chapter 1 learning how to work together and it seems like your group never lasts long enough to get that chance. I shudder to think how chapter 2 and 3 would have gone if we had only the party cohesion we had in chapter 1. Your team did a lot better than we did in part 1. What you guys did in Rhest is what we were imagining when we scouted and said to ourselves "if we just charge in...we'll all die". It's weird to see that so brutally illustrated in another game. We chose a different approach and even that way it was very challenging and we didn't do that well on victory points either, even though we were able to hold the ground. Marked for death is a brutal encounter. It took every tactical trick we could think of to cover each other and stay alive, and we had six characters. Even with all that, one made a mental mistake and got killed right at the end and everyone was mauled (my char was running on just "rage" hitpoints at the end). Had we attempted it with anyone in the party missing, it would have gone very very badly. I'm happy for you all that your response was "ok, lets come up with a fun party that can work together and win this war" rather than giving up. That's a very cool attitude - if we lost four party members in one fight, especially unrecoverable like you did, we'd probably have given up on the module. (maybe not...we all have alternate characters....but it would be a severe emotional blow) I was also, reading this thread, on pins and needles when I read how badly you all got strength drained. I'm impressed that you stuck it out to get to the Ghostlord and found your way to winning that important encounter. Regarding Prom's comment on melee in 3.x....the described behavior can be done and in fact our main tank did just that, holding off a lot of the opposition unsupported. But you have to be built for it....lots of hitpoints, lots of equipment investment in armor class AND somehow getting a decent attack ability in so you can kill the things your'e fighting and slowly even up the odds. Behaving that way with melees that lack the defensive investment will get them shredded. Light infantry does work in D&D, but you have to play tactically, working to get your full attacks in while enemies get only one attack (or picking on isolated or wounded targets you can kill quickly, so their counterattack isn't so bad). My character is a light infantry melee in RHOD, and the harder fights always require a lot of healing for her when it's over. (she supplies her own healing wands for this purpose, as is only fair) Without her going out and dealing the reliable and relatively high melee damage though, the party would face many more rounds of combat which in the long run is more lethal. I won't be able to read your further adventures until after February, when we get to play again, but good luck with your new team and hopefully you'll have a better time of it in chapters 4 and 5. I've been assured that chapter four is a lot of fun by others who played the series, so we all have something to look forward to.
hastur_nz 12-10-07, 11:31 PM	Indeed, kudos for keeping on at it, it's certainly a brutal, meat-grinder of a campaign, but it's also a good learning curve for players. Our group has also been finding it tough, with a death here and there, we've only got two original PC's out of about 5 who started. We've used each PC death (and a player retirement) to slowly but surely work our way towards a party composition more aligned with the types of challenges in RHOD - currently we are a war mage, a druid, a dwarven fighter/ranger/barbarian, a duskblade/fighter, and a monk/sorcerer/enlightened fist. The last one's mine, she's not really optimal for the RHOD but at least covers the arcane utility role via scrolls and wands, and can pick off single targets pretty well as well as generally zip around the battlefield to help out (or just do weird stuff, like take lots of damage when her high AC isn't enough). Anyway, looking forward to more reports! I missed some of Chapter 4 when we played it, but PM'd pukunui earlier with my thoughts on it so as not to put any spoilers here - suffice to say our group found some parts really tough, and others not so much - not quite what I expected all in all... but, a bit like other parts of the adventure, it was certainly a test of one's endurance...
pukunui 12-11-07, 01:16 AM	Now that we're most of the way through it, I must admit that I don't think RHoD is a very good adventure to run for players who haven't played d&d in ages and who aren't on top of the morass of 3.5 rules. That and the revolving door of PCs and players are probably the two biggest reasons we've had so many character deaths. My main concern right now is simply that we'll lose momentum and the climax will therefore lose some of its punch because it's summertime here in NZ, which means it's going to be hard to get everyone together regularly as people go on vacation and the like ... This week we'll be down two players so we'll just do character development and stuff like that and then maybe play Risk. Then we'll be short one player for the last two weeks of the year (I've suggested that perhaps his new PC has gone off on some other mission or whatever and arrives after the rest of the group). Then later in January another player will be going away for two weeks. So yeah ... Anyway, thanks for all the kind words and everything. :)
Prom 12-11-07, 01:48 AM	Hi hastur_nz and solbergb, Posted by solbergb, What you guys did in Rhest is what we were imagining when we scouted and said to ourselves "if we just charge in...we'll all die". Rhest ruin is where it all turned to mud and the harrowblade. Actually I had wanted the tactics for Rhest ruin to be different to what the party finally did. I sent a detailed e-mail to everyone before that battle. I wanted to kill all the Lizard folk and burn their huts down before going to the central structure, just incase they all showed up later, lol. My plan was to take two boats and have half the party in each boat, we only had one boat. Everyone was told not to go swimming, because of the harrowblade and dragon (the half-orc didn't read the memo). I didn't want anyone to get off the boat and wanted to sit about 100 to 60 feet from the central ruin and just rain down magic and arrows first, then retreat or land and attack if they situation looked alright. The problem was my first plan was to lure the black dragon to the shore line with his rider and ambush it (it was poorly thought out). This didn't work so everyone ignore what I had suggested from then on. Posted by solbergb, I was also, reading this thread, on pins and needles when I read how badly you all got strength drained. I'm impressed that you stuck it out to get to the Ghostlord and found your way to winning that important encounter. I was ready to pack it in when the strength drain was messing the party up. The guy who players Joe gets all the credit for that success, because he would not turn back (he also doesn't care if his character dies). Posted by solbergb, Regarding Prom's comment on melee in 3.x....the described behavior can be done and in fact our main tank did just that, holding off a lot of the opposition unsupported. But you have to be built for it....lots of hitpoints, lots of equipment investment in armor class AND somehow getting a decent attack ability in so you can kill the things your'e fighting and slowly even up the odds. Behaving that way with melees that lack the defensive investment will get them shredded. I have had a lot of trouble with people understanding how to approach melee combat in RhoD. The party was not heavily armoured enough to last more than 2 or 3 rounds against tough opponents, even Ivan. People kept blocking line of sight (-4 penality) or didn't have precise shot, the penalities to hit are rough if you don't wheel around the enemy. There was no real understanding of letting the casters unload in the first rounds, before entering close combat. I learned with the Harrow-blade encounter and Road-block that Ivan could not stay in close for more than a few rounds and battles were taking to long. We didn't always have a divine healer so taking lots of damage was not really smart, gets expensive. I'm hoping the TPK will drive the point home now. Not that I'm a expert. Posted by hastur_nz, suffice to say our group found some parts really tough, and others not so much - not quite what I expected all in all... but, a bit like other parts of the adventure, it was certainly a test of one's endurance... I agree. The guy's are not power gamers, and neither am I. This will be a game that really tests the groups endurance. The Newer older guy's that played Ogg (now Joe) and Fremlin almost didn't come back after the Rhest ruin battle. There is a desire to roleplay much more from the older guy's, which is fun. I'm more 50% fight, 50% roleplay, 0% travel, lol. Good luck guys with the rest of your RhoD. Prom
pukunui 12-11-07, 02:27 AM	I was ready to pack it in when the strength drain was messing the party up. The guy who players Joe gets all the credit for that success, because he would not turn back (he also doesn't care if his character dies).I think he cares more about his character than he lets on. He certainly didn't like my offer to determine randomly whether Joe survives the Marked For Death encounter or not. He told me that even if he made a new character, he'd still like to think that Joe made it away alive. I told him that we really needed to roleplay it out. I've told him the odds aren't good but really I think he has a halfway decent chance of making it out alive. He has expressed a desire to keep playing Joe, so I think he does quite like the character. He just doesn't particularly like your cautious approach to things. He's more of a risk-taker than you are. Then again, he hasn't been playing with us since the beginning of the campaign. He might have developed an approach more akin to yours if he had been ... The Newer older guy's that played Ogg (now Joe) and Fremlin almost didn't come back after the Rhest ruin battle.I didn't get that impression at all. What makes you say this? Did they say stuff to you that they didn't tell me or is this just an assumption on your part? I find it rather surprising as both of them have told me on numerous occasions that they are enjoying themselves immensely and that they think I'm doing a fine job as DM.
solbergb 12-11-07, 12:07 PM	Joe has Flee the Scene. If he gets any actions at all, he can use that to get him and the little girl far enough away that he's unlikely to be caught, especially if he uses it over and over. One of the strengths of warlock is that on their own they're nearly impossible to catch and kill unless you use specialized tactics to interrupt the invocations. Repeated use of flee the scene is even faster than windwalk for overland travel, although I'd assume it would count as "hustling" for fatigue. It really depends on the capabilities of the surviving Marked for Death ambushers vs Joe. Also consider that the Bhargests are going to want to spend time feasting on the downed heroes (which prevents a raise and makes them stronger). This might mean that the Bhargests don't renew the invisibility on the blackspawn as they impatiently go after the little girl bait/horses, or that the blackspawn are going it alone with hasty-renewed invis spheres on them.. Did the heros inflict any casualties? If the ambushing party got mauled it might not be interested in looking for more trouble. One other thing...horses have Scent. They probably are going to go nuts once the ambushers get to within scent range (15' upwind, 30' normal, 60' downwind) Just some thoughts. Without knowing the exact situation it is hard to know Joe's chances, but I'd never count a warlock out in a "run away" encounter until his last hitpoint is gone. Regarding Rhest...boy not having a cleric to cast water walk makes a big difference. I can't imagine the pain of trying to do that approach at rowboat speeds with the dragon strafing etc. We were also more disciplined about the lizardmen than you guys were....we killed a few, set fires and waited around until they concentrated their forces and came after us all at once.....and worked our tactics so that when we dropped the hammer we killed almost all of them..enough that the few survivers were uninterested in helping the RHOD guys out when we followed up with them. Having a clear line of retreat helped keep us calm in the face of the difficulties with our assault of the main HQ. Regarding Roleplay - yeah it's clear you guys really enjoy those sessions just from the recaps. I expect the time leading up to the assault on Brindol, as you work with the locals to prepare will provide some roleplay opportunities.
Prom 12-11-07, 01:52 PM	Posted by Pukunui, He certainly didn't like my offer to determine randomly whether Joe survives the Marked For Death encounter or not. He told me that even if he made a new character, he'd still like to think that Joe made it away alive. I told him that we really needed to roleplay it out. I've told him the odds aren't good but really I think he has a halfway decent chance of making it out alive. I would also like to see it roleplayed out even if I don't get to participate. I think it would play out quickly (well Joes moves anyway, lol). Need to be a little careful about what is stated here as Joes player does read the thread. Posted by Pukunui, I didn't get that impression at all. What makes you say this? Did they say stuff to you that they didn't tell me or is this just an assumption on your part? I find it rather surprising as both of them have told me on numerous occasions that they are enjoying themselves immensely and that they think I'm doing a fine job as DM. Joes player told me, it was their first battle and it was a really tough one remember(something like it was too power-game and battle focused). Prom
pukunui 12-11-07, 06:04 PM	Joe has Flee the Scene. If he gets any actions at all, he can use that to get him and the little girl far enough away that he's unlikely to be caught, especially if he uses it over and over. One of the strengths of warlock is that on their own they're nearly impossible to catch and kill unless you use specialized tactics to interrupt the invocations. Repeated use of flee the scene is even faster than windwalk for overland travel, although I'd assume it would count as "hustling" for fatigue.This is the key thing right here. If Joe gets to act at all, he'll be sweet. His player has expressed a desire to try to save the little girl, so he wouldn't have his character commit suicide by trying to take all the bad guys out or something. If he manages to be alerted to the danger before it's too late, he and the girl can teleport out of their using his flee the scene invocation. The trick is whether or not he'll be able to get that chance. He's at least 150ft from the battle. A battle's base DC is -10 but we add 15 to that for distance for a total of DC 5. However, the little girl is crying (+5 to the DC because of the noise). We'll give him a DC 20 Diplomacy check to calm her down (she's an irrational child who's just gone through a very traumatic experience and he's rather weird-looking and is a total stranger to boot ...). He shouldn't have too much trouble doing that thanks to his beguiling influence, which adds a +6 to his Diplomacy modifier. However, even if he makes it, tending to the little girl can still be considered a distraction, which also adds +5 to the DC so he's still looking at a DC 10 Listen check. His modifier is -1 so it's not automatic but it's not that bad either. So we'll give him a Listen check to hear the fighting. Then we'll give him a Listen check a few moments later to hear that the fighting has stopped. Even if the dragonmen head straight for him, it'll take them a little while to get there. If he makes an opposed Listen check to beat their Move Silently checks, then he'll almost certainly be sweet. Also, if he thinks to put on his magic-o-vision, then he'll see the auras generated by the invisibility auras. He's smart enough to know that if invisible things are coming for him but his friends are nowhere in sight then he should probably get the hell out of there. So the question is, will Joe get to act before the dragonmen get within striking distance? If not, then he probably hasn't got a chance because there are four of them and so that's four attacks on one target. Sure, they could all miss but his flat-footed AC is low and even with Power Attack they won't have to roll high to hit him. It really depends on the capabilities of the surviving Marked for Death ambushers vs Joe. Also consider that the Bhargests are going to want to spend time feasting on the downed heroes (which prevents a raise and makes them stronger). This might mean that the Bhargests don't renew the invisibility on the blackspawn as they impatiently go after the little girl bait/horses, or that the blackspawn are going it alone with hasty-renewed invis spheres on them.. Did the heros inflict any casualties? If the ambushing party got mauled it might not be interested in looking for more trouble.The PCs got rid of most of the bait but barely scratched the barghests and the dragonmen. You're right that the barghests will stop to eat all the bodies, though. The dragonmen may very well go off and attack Joe on their own under cover of the barghests' invisibility spheres. One other thing...horses have Scent. They probably are going to go nuts once the ambushers get to within scent range (15' upwind, 30' normal, 60' downwind)Except that the dragonmen are all equipped with a potion of pass without trace, which masks your scent ... Regarding Rhest...boy not having a cleric to cast water walk makes a big difference. I can't imagine the pain of trying to do that approach at rowboat speeds with the dragon strafing etc. We were also more disciplined about the lizardmen than you guys were....we killed a few, set fires and waited around until they concentrated their forces and came after us all at once.....and worked our tactics so that when we dropped the hammer we killed almost all of them..enough that the few survivers were uninterested in helping the RHOD guys out when we followed up with them. Having a clear line of retreat helped keep us calm in the face of the difficulties with our assault of the main HQ.This encounter might not have been so deadly had the soon-to-be-leaving player controlling the NPC cleric (Illian Snowmantle) not arranged it so his wizard/psion PC magically exchanged places with the elf, leaving him in the lake with elven chain on ... After a few failed swim checks, the player had the cleric spend the rest of the session taking off his elven chain so he could swim to the boardwalk around the ruins unencumbered. In retrospect, since it was an NPC, I should've taken control back and had him do something more useful (perhaps even by fudging the swim checks so he'd make it). If the cleric had been with the others, he could've kept Ogg the half-orc alive (but not necessarily the half-elf monk) and the encounter might not have had such a horrible ending ... but it's all water under the bridge now. There were a couple of factors that could've kept people alive this past session as well but hindsight, as good as it is, can't change anything. (Oh, I suppose I could rewind the clock and give everyone a second chance to play the battle, but I've never really liked that idea because a) this isn't a video game where you can revert to your last save and b) it would be incredibly difficult for the players not to metagame.) I would also like to see it roleplayed out even if I don't get to participate. I think it would play out quickly (well Joes moves anyway, lol). Need to be a little careful about what is stated here as Joes player does read the thread.I have no idea if/when it will even happen. At this point I'm beginning to think about just letting him live. However, I was hoping to do it one evening during this week or next week - just the one player and me. Joes player told me, it was their first battle and it was a really tough one remember(something like it was too power-game and battle focused).Interesting. He never mentioned it to me. I'm glad he decided to stay (and I think he is too, seeing as how he's told me how much he's been enjoying things recently). I think that was probably the wrong way to go about integrating new players. It's not a good idea to bring new guys (especially ones who haven't actually played in a long time and so aren't all that up on the rules) into the middle of a big, climactic battle where the odds are severely stacked against the PCs what with terrain and number of opponents and the presence of a dragon which is at home in said terrain ... We probably should have had Iz and Ivan retreat back to Brindol to recruit their new team to assault the swamp. Maybe I could've/should've added a relatively harmless "sidetrek" or something to get the new players' feet wet, as it were. Oh well. Again, it's all water under the bridge. I have to say, though, that as much as I'd been chomping at the bit to run RHoD, it simply hasn't gone how I had envisioned it would go -- mainly because we had so many players come and go and so that, out of the group we've got now, you, Prom, are the only one who has any sense of "continuity" with the adventure (and even then it's only you personally since you're now on your third character for this adventure).
solbergb 12-11-07, 08:54 PM	I like the basic aproach of giving the character several chances to do the right thing, clue into what is wrong and bail. I think it's fairly unlikely he would miss the sounds of battle starting, as it went for several rounds and he'd get to roll each round. Likewise battle stopping...he'd get a roll each round to notice the change and he's bound to make one before the dragons arrive. Then all of the dragonmen have to beat his listen check with their move silent and if one rolls cruddy, that can give it all away. Whether he'll do the right thing is what's interesting. Turn on auravision, or find a way to see what's going on (with Flee the Scene, he could "zot" over to where the party was to see what is happening and likely surprise the bad guys...and even if he loses init at that point, he's likely only up against the bhargests cause the dragonmen are moving toward the horses...so he'll likely live to flee again) or just immediately bail. If he's indecisive or doesn't react, yeah, they've got a good chance of piling on. They still have to all sneak up on him though, and one might roll poorly. Also the little girl should get a listen check if he's calmed her down. Finally Pass Without Trace prevents scent based tracking ("leaves no scent") but I'm not entirely convinced it eliminates the smell you have while you're actually there. The spell text doesn't say one way or another, it only talks about the traces you leave behind: "The subject or subjects can move through any type of terrain and leave neither footprints nor scent" Anyway, good to see you're looking for a set of mechanics that both requires the character to roll dice against his abilities (or lack of them) but also allows the player independent chances to make good decisions based on what he notices or fails to notice. Even if you consider my suggestions in this post and decide your original idea is best anyway, he's still got a pretty good chance of deciding to do the right thing and getting away before they can all get within charge range. If all else fails, he might survive them all charging. They're size large, he's medium, they'd have to circle around to have four charge him simultaneously. If they all come from one side, he's probably only sucking up 2 attacks before he gets to roll init....and a good init check or bad attack rolls/damage rolls might get him out anyway.
pukunui 12-12-07, 01:32 AM	If all else fails, he might survive them all charging. They're size large, he's medium, they'd have to circle around to have four charge him simultaneously. If they all come from one side, he's probably only sucking up 2 attacks before he gets to roll init....and a good init check or bad attack rolls/damage rolls might get him out anyway.The dragonmen are only Medium size. The greater barghests are Large. Also, I should probably amend my statement early about giving him a Diplomacy check to calm the girl down. It should really be an Intimidate check. As I said, she's an irrational child. No amount of diplomacy is going to have any effect on her. LOL. ;)
Gerry 12-13-07, 06:59 AM	Also, I should probably amend my statement early about giving him a Diplomacy check to calm the girl down. It should really be an Intimidate check. As I said, she's an irrational child. No amount of diplomacy is going to have any effect on her. LOL. ;) You got that right! I may be an old fogey, but I'm obviously not the only dad here. Gerry
pukunui 12-13-07, 01:21 PM	You got that right! I may be an old fogey, but I'm obviously not the only dad here. Gerry Nope. I've got my very own two year old. Joe's player has children, too, so he'll know what's up.
Subversive 12-13-07, 03:43 PM	Got another 2 year old here. Thank god that his grandparents are willing to take him overnight once a month!!! :rolleyes:
solbergb 12-14-07, 11:41 AM	The dragonmen are only Medium size. The greater barghests are Large. Ah right. At our table the GM probably used the Bhargest mass enlarge ability, so ours were large. YMMV. Which probably was a mistake on his part, as neither the Bhargests nor the dragonmen are humanoids and if memory serves their ability is mass enlarge PERSON. Oh well...we had 6 people and that was as good a way of scaling it to us as any. I'd rather he enlarged them than advanced them. Still even at medium, max 3 charge if they're all coming from the same direction and they have to get 5' closer.
pukunui 12-14-07, 03:04 PM	Ah right. At our table the GM probably used the Bhargest mass enlarge ability, so ours were large. YMMV.I thought about doing that but I figured it would only make the TPK come even sooner. Plus, the dragonmen minis are only Medium ... :rolleyes: Which probably was a mistake on his part, as neither the Bhargests nor the dragonmen are humanoids and if memory serves their ability is mass enlarge PERSON. Oh well...we had 6 people and that was as good a way of scaling it to us as any. I'd rather he enlarged them than advanced them.Well, I don't know because the MM just says they've got mass enlarge. There is no spell of that name in the PHB so I was a bit confused about it. Does that mean it works like mass enlarge person but on non-humanoids as well or is it a typo? (It's not mentioned in the errata.)
solbergb 12-14-07, 05:01 PM	Maybe my GM got it right then. It seems logical that the bhargests would have a spell that worked on themselves, so maybe it is like mass enlarge person but works on anything. Efreet have something simliar for themselves but it is spelled out better. If you use an intimidate mechanic, the check is a lot easier. The DC for intimidate is the little girl's hit dice, wisdom bonus and special resistances to fear, if any, plus 1d20, vs his skill plus 1d20. And he gets a +4 becuase he's a size category larger than her :)
solbergb 12-14-07, 05:03 PM	I thought about doing that but I figured it would only make the TPK come even sooner. Plus, the dragonmen minis are only Medium ... :rolleyes: Huh...our GM had size large, black-skinned minis with falchions. Maybe they weren't blackspawn but they sure looked like them. I could be wrong. He might have mounted them on a large base. But I don't think so. I have a memory of them being similar to ogre in size (he used bullette minis for the enlarged bhargests).
pukunui 12-14-07, 05:46 PM	Maybe my GM got it right then. It seems logical that the bhargests would have a spell that worked on themselves, so maybe it is like mass enlarge person but works on anything. Efreet have something simliar for themselves but it is spelled out better.OK. If you use an intimidate mechanic, the check is a lot easier. The DC for intimidate is the little girl's hit dice, wisdom bonus and special resistances to fear, if any, plus 1d20, vs his skill plus 1d20. And he gets a +4 becuase he's a size category larger than her :)Sounds good. Huh...our GM had size large, black-skinned minis with falchions. Maybe they weren't blackspawn but they sure looked like them.That sounds right but the ones I've got are medium sized and I'm pretty sure that's the only size that WotC put out for that particular creature (most of them aren't going to be conveniently traveling with greater barghests who can make them bigger, after all ...). I could be wrong. He might have mounted them on a large base. But I don't think so. I have a memory of them being similar to ogre in size (he used bullette minis for the enlarged bhargests).You'll have to ask him. I'm intrigued.
solbergb 12-14-07, 07:59 PM	OK. You'll have to ask him. I'm intrigued. Unfortunately I won't get the chance till february when our game starts up again. I'll have to stop reading this thread soon, I'm just waiting to see if Joe lives or dies at this point...
pukunui 12-14-07, 09:11 PM	I'm just waiting to see if Joe lives or dies at this point... So am I. His player has been moving house, so I haven't heard a peep out of him in the last week.
Gerry 12-15-07, 08:33 AM	OK. Sounds good.Huh...our GM had size large, black-skinned minis with falchions. Maybe they weren't blackspawn but they sure looked like them. I could be wrong. He might have mounted them on a large base. But I don't think so. I have a memory of them being similar to ogre in size (he used bullette minis for the enlarged bhargests). That sounds right but the ones I've got are medium sized and I'm pretty sure that's the only size that WotC put out for that particular creature (most of them aren't going to be conveniently traveling with greater barghests who can make them bigger, after all ...). You'll have to ask him. I'm intrigued. So, I went downstairs and looked around. Here are the likely candidates: Did it have wings? (My money's on this guy) http://www.cfrq.net/albums/Monsters/Half_fiend_Ogre.jpg Wrong Weapon: http://www.cfrq.net/albums/Monsters/Blackscale_Lizardfolk.jpghttp://www.cfrq.net/albums/Monsters/War_Troll.jpghttp://www.cfrq.net/albums/Monsters/Minotaur_Feral.jpg Wrong Color: http://www.cfrq.net/albums/Monsters/Half_Ogre_Barbarian.jpghttp://www.cfrq.net/albums/Monsters/Ogre_Ravager_001.jpghttp://www.cfrq.net/albums/Monsters/Ogre_Skullcrusher_001.jpg Wrong Size: http://www.cfrq.net/albums/Monsters/BlackspawnExterminator.jpg Gerry
pukunui 12-15-07, 06:57 PM	The last one's the right mini for the critter ...
Prom 12-17-07, 02:13 AM	Hi All, Ok, here's Ivan's farewell, plus a few others. The End of the Road When Nat fell to the ground while surrounded by beasts and Dragonmen, Ivan realized he was moving to slow to help the dwarf women. The horse Ivan had tryed to save with a potion of healing was shot dead, the next moment. Zai was getting surrounded and Fremlin just didn't seem to care and throw himself at the wave of creatures. Ivan still had dirt in his mouth and two black dragonmen were closing on him. It was time to do something and quick. Ivan raised his shield trying with all his speed and strength to deflect the rain of blows that the Dragonmen slammed into him in vain. He felt the last blade slice deep into his chest, this was it. The Dragon creature looked him in the eye and pulled his blade free of Ivan's body. All he could think was what a ugly mute of a face it had. The feeling in his legs disappeared and so did the pain from the wounds he had suffered. Darkness closed around him... Ivan found himself in a dark cold place, he didn't know where. It was just a pitch black, and he couldn't feel the floor. He must be dead, the punishment he had taken was fatal. Did he have legs or arms he just could not see or feel anything. What was this? He tryed calling out and nothing came forth. This was very errie, if this was death it sucked. Death comes to everyone, but if he had to fall why couldn't it have been at Brindol, holding off an army? The coldness grew and Ivan waited, what was going to happen to him? Damn it, he never thought much of god's, but at the end of your life it seems more important. If only he had prayed or worshipped any god. What happen's to the man without a god? Don't they go to hell? Ivan was a little worried now, but no fire open up and swollowed him. He had made up for his crimes done his time, hadn't he? Time passed and passed, this was getting really boring. Bored to death, that could be hell. Ivan thought hard, trying to think of a good thing he had done. What was there? He couldn't think of a single thing, his mind was a blank. Then suddenly a small pin prick of light sparkled in front of him. The spot of light got bigger very slowly as if coming toward him. Closer and closer the light grew. If it turned out to be a fireball, Ivan was atleast going to be warm. It was better than the cold darkness. The light stopped just infront of him, he could hear voices arguing back and forth from the light. Ivan tryed to call out, but he just couldn't seem to make a sound, so he listened very carefully. He could make out a Dwarven voice and a whole lot of other people. The dwarven voice bellowed, "look you stupid bugger, you can't leave him like that forever. He did give his life to save a family of farmers, what do you expect from him." A high pitched voice replied, "more than that. He stays where he is, no one wants him, he's trouble. Besides he follows no God that would have him." The dwarf voice grumbled and blow raspberries. A deep gentlemen's voice spoke, "He's not that bad, a bit ruthless. Well a lot more ruthless then most, but he's made some progress." The high pitched voice choked, "you have to be kinding, besides what he's done is not the point. The Heaven's are reserved for authorized worshippers of a Diety."A few different voices booed loudly. "Look let him in or I'm going to have to sick the Half-Orc on to you," threatened the dwarven voice. There was a thump, followed by a scream of pain from the high pitched voice. "You weren't ment to knock him out, I was just bluffing," stated the dwarven voice. There was a cackle of laughter from an elven sounding man and a few women. "It take to long, me get him," replied a rusky growling voice. A huge hairy hand came through the hole of light and grabbed Ivan, it pulled him into the light and the darkness vanished.... There it is, I know it's a bit hard to make out what happened, but that's how I think it should end. Use your imagination, lol. Prom
solbergb 12-17-07, 02:53 AM	So, I went downstairs and looked around. Here are the likely candidates: Did it have wings? (My money's on this guy) http://www.cfrq.net/albums/Monsters/Half_fiend_Ogre.jpg That one looks right. That was probably it. It jogs my memory better than the real mini. It was the right color, had the right weapon. (minis take liberties with falchions) We figured the wings were vestigal :) (on the greenspawn the wings helped it hop around, but it couldn't fly). Keep in mind also I really hadn't twigged to the fact that everything was bhargest enlarged. We all assumed the black dragonmen were naturally that size and the bhargests were advanced. (my char is the only one with all the ID monster kn skills, and she's only got a +4 on most, +8 on kn nature, so we miss a lot. We're decent on arcane I think, but that's about it. I don't know what the wizard spends his skill points on)
solbergb 12-17-07, 02:56 AM	There it is, I know it's a bit hard to make out what happened, but that's how I think it should end. Use your imagination, lol. Prom I'm amused. I guess he made the 50% chance to be rezzed when the Bhargest ate him and his soul is intact. That's a good thing, even if the gods argued about who would take him like the clumsy kid being the last guy picked on the playground when choosing teams.
pukunui 12-18-07, 03:56 AM	Good news, everybody! Joe survived! Thus a TPK has technically been avoided. However, I'm planning on rolling back the timeline a few days for a number of reasons, so Joe's player is going to make a new character until the new party "catches up" to Joe in the timeline. He's considering either a wild elf cleric or a wild elf bard. He'll play the new guy until Joe re-enters the story. The new guy will be a member of the new party, so it's all happy families once again. We'll be playing again on Friday. Hopefully we'll be starting early. Should be fun! Cheers, Jonathan
solbergb 12-18-07, 06:15 PM	YAY. Ok I'll sign off now, and log back in after I play part 4.
pukunui 12-19-07, 04:38 AM	Here are the photos from our last actual gaming session ... http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2039/2122554878_b878b678e3.jpg Here you can just see Fremlin and Zai behind some trees. They were scouting ahead of the others and stopped when they spotted the hobgoblins and the ogre tormenting two humans tied to a tree. The Fruit Bursts are meant to represent the burning farmhouse. I also put a bit of a stone wall in as an added terrain element. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2062/2121778877_0fa64afb14.jpg Here we see the PCs getting overwhelmed by the bad guys once the trap is sprung. One lot of dragonmen and a "greater barghest" can be seen on the road. The other group (with the actual greater barghest mini) are hidden behind a tree in the middle of the photo. I believe Ivan's warhorse had just kicked a hobgoblin's head in ...
pukunui 12-27-07, 05:44 PM	Just a quick note to say that I've updated the character info in post #2. For those who don't feel like scrolling back there, here's a link: Dramatis Personae (http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=12580954&postcount=2) Also, we'll be playing again tonight. Extra long session starting around 6-6:30ish and probably going till the usual time. I haven't posted a recap from the last session. Here's something brief: Session Date: 21-22 December 2007 Playing Time: several hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Himo, Perry, Red, Aleana, Amethyst (unicorn mount) Timeline: ~ Day 41 ------------------------------------------------ We spent a lot of time finalizing characters before actually getting to the gaming. The new party was returning home from their adventures abroad. All four of them were very much looking forward to seeing their swampy home again. As they traveled across country, they passed a low hill in which was set a cave. The paladin Aleana's unicorn mount spied movement amongst the trees around the cave entrance, so the PCs went to check it out. Aleana called out for the people to identify themselves. The response she got was an arrow whistling past her head. So Himo the warmage evoked Evard's black tentacles in front of the cave entrance, catching and crushing all four of the creatures, who by now the PCs could see were heavily armored hobgoblins. Two of them escaped but the others got horribly smothered in tentacles. Using the teamwork skills this party had developed over nine levels' worth of adventuring, they quickly dispatched the hobgoblins only to be confronted by a hulking ogre with a hellhound bounding at his feet. The ogre carried an enormous flail, which he used to smash up foppish Perry the two-weapon fighting champion of Corellon's pretty face. Fortunately, Perry had been blessed by Corellon for having recovered a suit of millennial chainmail. Since he was standing in a well-lit area, the roots connecting the armor to his skin began healing him photosynthetically ... ;) Red Pattonfoot, halfling shadowdancer, flitted from shadow to shadow until he was within range of the hellhound. He very nearly took it out with one shot. Himo finished the job with a ray of frost. Himo then blasted the ogre with two lesser orbs of cold (I think), taking it out with the second one. We ended the session with Red busily searching the bodies of the dead hobgoblins ... Cheers, Jonny p.s. I came up with the idea that the missing player's new PC, which is a druid, could have shapeshifted into a bird and flown ahead to alert Starsong Hill of the PCs' long-awaited return. That explains why the character isn't with the party currently and will make it easy to insert him into the party once the player comes back. p.p.s. Do any of you remember Kel-Al? His player (aka "LoveNrockets") went overseas a while back. Kel-Al very conveniently died during his player's last session, too. Anyway, it looks like his player will be able to join us again in January. We'll be missing Aleana's player for three weeks so our returning player will be filling a vacancy for a short while. Hopefully we'll have room for him once Aleana's player returns because I'd very much like for him to keep gaming with us. We'll also be changing venues in February as Prom, who has very graciously hosted us at his place since last February, will be moving ... so there may be more room and there may be less. But imagine that! SIX PCs in the group! Wow! :D
Prom 12-28-07, 03:49 PM	Posted by Pukunui, Himo then blasted the ogre with two lesser orbs of cold (I think), taking it out with the second one. They weren't lesser orbs of cold, when I saw Perry taking on the ogre by himself and getting hit badly, I just had Himo unloaded. Prom
pukunui 12-28-07, 05:57 PM	They weren't lesser orbs of cold, when I saw Perry taking on the ogre by himself and getting hit badly, I just had Himo unloaded. Prom Oh well. Like I said, I couldn't remember. We had an extra long session last night. Even though the fight was very much one-sided (in favor of the PCs, for once) and only lasted a minute of in-game time, we still managed to make it take up most of the 6 hours we spent playing. :rolleyes: Will post a recap at some point. I forgot my camera but Red's player took some pics on his camera phone.
Prom 12-29-07, 02:40 AM	Hi All, Ok, I finally finished the section. Please refer to the recap called "Your Head A Splode." First Sign of Trouble: Posted by Pukunui, Red found a pair of small black leather pouches marked with a red hand on the body of the hobgoblins' leader. Inside each were 75gp and a note in Goblin, which Red was able to decipher, that read: "Bring glory to the Red Hand. Come to where the Wyrmsmokes and Witchwood join, and we will destroy the humans and build an empire." This information both intrigued and worried the PCs. "What have we walked into? The Red hand what the heck is that?" puzzled Himo. The halfling Red nodded and Himo swung his long black brads out of his face. Himo's mind wandered to thoughts of his mother and wife, back home. His mother Lia Amastacia was a powerful wildmage, able to defender herself. But that didn't change his concerns, the note talked about building a Red hand empire on the ashes of the human settlements, had they attacked the elves? Still his mother was young and strong at 73 years of age and the Tiri Kitor community was surrounded by a natural moot and swamp. Surely no one was silly enough to try and take the elven community on? Himo hadn't seen his wife Ila for two years and had been north of the vale searching for a relic in the 'cold lands'. They had been married under a sacred tree in the swamp five years ago, which he hoped still stood. He could picture her face, with those innocent greeny-blue eyes and tanned polished skin. Her long wavy hair that came down to her waist, he just wanted to grab the image of her and hold on. Her carefree nature was a total contrast to his own, but she always seemed to make him laugh and few people could. Had she waited for him or moved on with her life, Himo desperately wanted to know. Now it sounded like he had come home to the human settlements being attacked, possible his own home. He prayed to his god Corellon Larethian that she was safe. Prom
pukunui 12-29-07, 04:59 AM	Session Date: 28-29 December 2007 Playing Time: 6 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Himo, Perry, Red, Aleana, Amethyst (unicorn mount) Timeline: Days 41-43 Total VPs: 23 ------------------------------------------------ Highlight: When a "fireball trap" exploded in front of Aleana for the second time, this one causing the entire fort to explode all around her and causing Himo to fall as the roof collapsed underneath him. Having slain all the obvious attackers, the "Relics of Corellon Reclamation Company, Ltd (#1 Tiri Kitor Encampment, Blackfens Swamp, Elsir Vale)" cautiously advanced on the cave entrance. Amethyst the unicorn switched on her evil creatures radar and directed it at the cave but nothing pinged. Red, meanwhile, set about stripping the hobgoblins of all their valuables. They all seemed to be equipped with well-crafted weapons and armor as well as some low-grade healing potions. This stuff was divvied up amongst the PCs. In addition, Red found a pair of small black leather pouches marked with a red hand on the body of the hobgoblins' leader. Inside each were 75gp and a note in Goblin, which Red was able to decipher, that read: "Bring glory to the Red Hand. Come to where the Wyrmsmokes and Witchwood join, and we will destroy the humans and build an empire." This information both intrigued and worried the PCs. Aleana seemed especially concerned that such evil creatures were operating so close to her homeland. The very idea that these foul hobgoblins were bent on taking away the freedom of innocent people made the elf maiden sad and angry all at once. Perry, trying to ignore the tingling sensation caused by his armor's healing roots as they burrowed into his flesh, tried to distract her by asking for help burying the hobgoblins' corpses. Although part of her wanted to leave them to rot, she knew better than to give in to that kind of temptation and agreed to assist. The two of them noted that the same red hand emblem that was on the money pouches was also tattooed on the left breasts of all the hobgoblins. Although no one in the group recognized it, they presumed it to be a clan insignia of some sort. Meanwhile, Red decided to check out the interior of the ogre's lair. The others, who were still getting used to the idea that the little halfling could not only see in the dark better than they could but was also able to wrap the shadows around him like a cloak and become more-or-less invisible right in front of their eyes, wanted someone to go with him but Red reassured them for the millionth time that he'd be fine and that they'd only be a hindrance not a help. So off he went, lightly slipping past the flash-frozen body of the ogre and into its smelly abode. He gave the rather small cave a very thorough lookthrough, finding a handful of gems in the ogre's foul bed of animal skins and another Red Hand money pouch - although the note accompanying this one had been crumpled up and thrown in a corner. He returned to the others and showed them what he'd found. They decided that it would be best if they hurried back to their homeland. No doubt their companion, the druid Lyaelrae, had made it back to Starsong Hill by now and had alerted the Tiri Kitor of the company's return. They had instructed Lyaelrae to send someone with a swan boat feather token to the west bank of Lake Rhestin so that they could bring their mounts back to the encampment. Even if they had not stopped to cleanse the world of some wretched creatures, they would still not reach the rendezvous point until the following morning, so they returned to their mounts and galloped off to the south. Several hours passed under a hot summer sun and they knew they were getting close to home when the rolling hills opened up and the Old North Road (little more than a wide dirt track) stretched off to the south. They could just spy the sparkling waters of the lake off to the southeast. The road meant they could travel faster, but the sun was creeping towards the horizon so the day's journey was almost at an end. However, the company could find nowhere safe to rest anywhere around the road. All the trees and shrubs for miles around appeared to have been cut down. It wasn't much longer until they discovered why ... although it was Amethyst the unicorn who spotted it first: a large wooden fort had been constructed across the roadway, effectively preventing anyone needing to use the road from continuing on. The land around was rough and covered in thick grass - anyone with a wagon or other such unwieldy vehicle would be at the mercy of the creatures manning the fort. Still some 600ft from the structure, the company paused to take stock of the situation. The fort had not been there when they had traveled this road in the other direction. Had it been built by humans? Or did these Red Hand hobgoblins have something to do with it? As it turned out, it was the latter. Red took to the cover off the long grass and snuck up close to the fort. He spotted a dozing hobgoblin up on the fort's roof. He was able to get all the way up to the outside of the fort's palisade wall without raising any sort of alarm. He peered through a tiny crack between logs and spotted an ogre leaning up against an earth rampart with its back to him. It looked horribly bored. A barrel full of very big javelins sat nearby. Red circled the fort and then headed back to the others, who were just beginning to worry that something had happened to them. On his way back, Red noticed that a large area in front of the fort had been scorched by fire. He dismissed it as an odd coincidence but Himo was more suspicious. Unfortunately, he was not able to do deduce its origins and Aleana found out about it the hard way ... Red wanted to sneak back to the fort and take a potshot at the snoozing guard, then light a smokestick as a signal to the others to attack but the unicorn quickly pointed out the flaw in the halfling's logic. She recommended instead that the halfling use his special powers to creep into position near the fort and then wait for the others to attack first. His abilities would mean that he could still get some well-placed shots off but he would not then be putting his friends in danger by alerting the defenders before they had a chance to do something. Himo said he would conjure up a wall of fire to burn the place down but again the unicorn voiced her concerns - this time for the environment. She pointed out that the grass all around was very dry and that a conflagration could easily turn into a wildfire. Not only would this endanger them but it would also harm nature, which was something the unicorn simply could not abide. So in the end it was agreed that the others would move forward and Himo would send forth a magic attack that didn't involve fire. Instead, he chose to summon up a cloud of stinking fumes on the roof of the fort. The two hobgoblins stationed up there immediately found themselves surrounded by choking fumes. One of them was able to resist but the other felt his stomach turn and began retching over the side of the wall. Aleana called upon Corellon to clothe Amethyst in magical scale barding and then the pair charged forward, heading towards the center of the scorched area on the road. Amethyst had used her wild empathy to convince Red's riding dog to stay close at her flanks. Unfortunately, as they drew within ten feet of the area, a massive fireball erupted in front of them. Miraculously, Amethyst miraculously came through unscathed, while Aleana managed to resist the worst of it, but Red's dog took the brunt of the flames and collapsed, dying. Without a moment's though, Amethyst touched her horn to the dog's blackened body and fully healed it. Despite its training, the dog panicked and ran some way off before stopping and turning to watch events unfold. An ogre stepped up to the wall and began flinging javelins at Perry. None of them hit him so he began taunting the beast. Eventually he decided to spur his mount forward and charged the wall. The others began a relentless attack and soon the two ogre defenders fell out of sight behind the palisade. An unseen enemy was attempting to shoot Aleana with arrows fired through an arrow slit but was not having much luck. Another hobgoblin appeared on the wall but was quickly taken out by the PCs as well. When Perry's mount reached the wall, he stood up in the saddle and then leaped forward, vaulting over the wall with a flip and landing on the earth rampart inside. Someone in the fort proper began firing arrows at him from another arrow slit but they kept hitting the javelin barrel in front of him. Two hobgoblins charged out of a door and attacked the elf. He dealt the tougher-looking one, wielding a bastard sword, a savage blow with his lithe elven blades as he danced out of reach of their attacks. The tough hob just stepped back and drank a healing potion before rejoining the fight, though. After parrying blows for a short while, Perry tired of the sport and cut both hobgoblins down. He finished them off with quick sword thrusts as he leapt down from the rampart. At this stage Amethyst was concerned about the fires the fireball trap had started in the grass. Aleana convinced her to take her to the wall and then the unicorn went back and started trampling out the flames. Aleana got into the fort and was immediately confronted by a hobgoblin soldier wielding a longsword. She drew her own longsword, which burst into flames, and sliced clean through the hob twice. The wounds cauterized immediately and the hobgoblin simply fell apart in front of her. With that opponent out of the way, Aleana could see through the open doorway into the interior of the fort. THe hobgoblins inside stared at her in disbelief and abject horror. Then one of them, dressed in a breastplate, shouted something unintelligible, and the others ran to the far double doors. They yanked away the bar and threw open the doors, then ran pell-mell down the road, away from the PCs. Red spotted them from his hiding place and began firing away as they fled. With a suicidal look in his eyes, the breastplated hob withdrew an iron spike from his pack and jammed it into the ground before turning to run himself. Aleana followed and as she entered the room, the spike disappeared. Another step from the paladin and another fireball blossomed all around her. Although she once again came through it, the fort did not. It came crashing down all around in a furious explosion of whirling shards of wood. Himo had used his dimension stride boots to teleport onto the fort's roof. As the fireball exploded in the room below, he found himself standing on air for a split second before he tumbled down twenty feet to land on his feet amidst the rubble. Brushing himself off, he picked his way through to a clear spot and then evoked Evard's black tentacles in the area all around the fleeing hobgoblins. They were all caught up in the mass of groping and crushing tentacles, although the breastplated hobgoblin was too far back and managed to avoid it. Himo got him with an orb of acid instead, reducing him to a pile of steaming mush on the ground in defiance of Aleana's shouted request to keep him alive. The battle was very quickly finished from that point. All up, the fighting had lasted just over one minute. The PCs brushed themselves off, healed up their wounds, found a still living hobgoblin and stopped him from dying, then searched the bodies, hid them under a cairn of wood rubble, then collected their mounts and then bedded down for the night in the ruins of the fort. The following day they hurried to the pre-arranged rendezvous point on the western lakeshore and waited for the arrival of a Tiri Kitor ranger on a giant owl. The elf who showed up was not one any of them knew personally but he had heard of them (no doubt from the stories that had already begun spreading around the swamp thanks to Lyaelrae) and showered them with praise. He handed them the swan boat feather token and promised to escort them back across the lake to Starsong Hill. The boat journey was uneventful and, after threading their way through the swamp's maze of waterways, they all relaxed as the familiar sight of their home came into view. Elves ringed the water's edge - it looked as it the entire encampment was there to greet them. Soon after landing, the PCs were met by Battlehunter Killiar Arrowswift, who instructed them that Sellyria and the other elders wanted to see them immediately. With nary a moment to even kiss the wife that he hadn't seen for goodness knows how long, Himo raced after the others to Elder Sellyria's home in the trees. There they were met by the elderly druid leader herself, as well as High Singer Trellara and High Priest Illian, who had miraculously managed to escape from the Ruins of Rhest and make it to an outlying elf encampment. The PCs filled the Elders in on their adventures, showing them the relics they had recovered: the Raptor Arrow of Ehlonna and the Millennial Chainmail of Corellon Larethian. The Elders marvelled at the newfound power of these young adventurers and made it abundantly clear that they now had little authority over the PCs, who were more-or-less the Elders' equals in power, etc etc. The Elders then informed the PCs about everything that had happened since that fateful day three weeks previous when Killiar's hunters had found a lone black man and a doddering old wizard in the swamp ... Although the Elders were not willing to order the PCs to do anything, the PCs took it upon themselves to go back to the Ruins of Rhest to see what mischief the Red Hand agents stationed there were up to and to finish the job Elsir Vale's brave but foolish heroes had been unable to do before. They loved their swampy homeland dearly and could not bear to think that it had been in danger while they'd been away. After spending the evening catching up with his wife, Himo decided to seek out High Singer Trellara in the morning and get her to help him use the Tiri Kitor's library to research dragons, black ones in particular, and lizardfolk. He also got Red to sell the armor and weapons they'd taken off the hobgoblins. The three sets of breastplate armor they'd scavenged turned out to be magical, so the merchants gave them quite a bit of money for them (enchanted armor being in high demand during times of war). They then went around to the purveyors of all things magical and bought up some potions and scrolls to aid them in the coming assault on the Ruins of Rhest ... And that is where we finished for the evening. Aleana's player is going on holiday for three weeks, so he's decided that she must go off on a "private mission". Fortunately, Lyaelrae's player will be returning from his holiday, so his new druid PC will be "rejoining" the party at this point, keeping the total number at four and ensuring that they've still got a decent amount of healing power. They may even be graced with the presence of a fifth PC should one of my former players join us later in January. All right. That's enough. I've spent much longer on this than I had originally intended. I hope you all enjoy it. It was fun to write but now it's quite late. I haven't been getting enough sleep at all since I've been on holiday. No wonder I've got a cold ... Sigh!
Prom 01-02-08, 02:02 AM	Hi All, This is what Himo learns from his library visit. Posted by Pukunui, After spending the evening catching up with his wife, Himo decided to seek out High Singer Trellara in the morning and get her to help him use the Tiri Kitor's library to research dragons, black ones in particular, and lizardfolk. Preparing for battle: As Trellara piled more scrolls and parchment ontop of the desk infront of Himo, he shook his head to clear it. The lines of words were merging as be became more tired, the long journey back must be still affecting his energy levels. Still he must know what they would face at Rhest ruin. Facing a black dragon was making Himo edgy, he had only faced one dragon in his life and that one had almost killed him and this friend's. Still the rewards of destroying an evil dragon was huge, they often had a large pile of treasure. Clearly the creature would have a tough scaly hide, so hurting it would be difficult, with magic, sword or arrow. He was most concerned about is acid breath and is ability to swim, fly and breath underwater. The ruins of Rhest were surround by a natural moot and that would favour the dragon's attacks, if it was still there. Sneaking up on the creature was out of the question, due to it's nightvision and 6th sense; even being invisible was not going to be affective. Enhanced ranged weapons and spells would have to be used to take this monster down. Himo stretched his arms and pushed sleep away from his mind. This Harrowblade creature that had been mentioned sounded like a mutant green dragon without flying ablilities, another major problem if they bumped into one. Then there were those Red hand Hongoblin's that would no doubt be fortifying the ruins. Hobgoblin's had well organized military training, this would make them dangerous in large numbers. Still if Himo could identify the Hobgoblin leader they may run if the leader fell in battle. The wild card in all this was the local Lizardfolk who had been working with the squatters at Rhest ruin. Poorly organized, weak and primitive tribal natures they would only be dangerous in large numbers which they had in the swamp area. They where often led by a shaman or druid, so maybe this leader could be negotiated with; unless they are lead directly by the Red hand Hobgoblins. Whatever happened the lizard people would have to be dealt with first, if the party had any hope of escape should it be neccessary. The lizardfolk were scattered all over the shore line to the lake and in large numbers too. Trellara dropped more scrolls on the desk and Himo smiled and thanked her. What Himo found interested was that the ruins were not very stable and were sinking into the swamp, so a few well placed spells might bring it crashing down. But what was more unusual was that it was a hobgoblin army that had destroyed the the kingdom of Restalore 200 years ago and now they appeared to be back to finish the vale off. Was there a pattern? Himo didn't like the situation one bit, he would have to play this out very carefully. They may find nothing at Rhest or they might find more. Himo jotted down a few items he wanted Red to pick-up at the markets and fell asleep at the desk. Prom
pukunui 01-04-08, 07:55 AM	Session Date: 4-5 January 2008 Playing Time: 7 hours!!! Players Present: 4 Characters: Himo, Perry, Red, Lyaelrae Timeline: Days 43-45 Total VPs: 23 ------------------------------------------------ Highlight: Oh, there were so many ... trying to remember. I guess it was when Red was not only being grappled by the monster but also by Himo's Evard's black tentacles. That was pretty amusing. After the guys spent about an hour discussing their plans for the Expedition to Rhest Ruins, I jumped in with an on-the-fly homecoming celebration for the PCs. I explained that elves had been streaming into Starsong Hill from all over the swamp all day and by the time the sun went down, the village was pretty full. Globes of magical light had been strung up in the trees all over and a long, low table had been set up on a platform on the edge of a clearing. The PCs were given pride of place at the table along with the elders and everyone else sat out in the grass and looked on as Speaker Sellyria stood up and welcomed the PCs home. She went on to say that it was a shame they had to come home to find a war raging on their doorstep and she wished them all well in their future endeavors. Then the music started and everyone dug into the food and elf wine. During the meal, Perry got cold feet and started questioning the plan of attack for Rhest Ruins, coming up with all sorts of wild ideas about how to draw the dragon out of its home terrain and how they should perhaps just forget about the whole thing (after all, they'd only just returned from a lengthy journey in foreign lands ... why not enjoy their time at home in the swamp for a bit?). The other PCs told him to just enjoy the celebration and went off dancing. The next morning the PCs managed to convince Killiar to lend them a trio of owls to go scout out Rhest. A young owl groom named Aramil went with them to look after the owls. After a four-hour flight, they spotted the lake and swooped low to land near a lizardfolk hut. They approached cautiously but it appeared to have been abandoned so they mounted their owls again and flew up the western shoreline to the next hut. This time they discovered a trio of lizardfolk bodies lying headless outside their smashed hut. This bothered them somewhat so they continued on to the northwestern corner of the lake, where they found the next hut to be intact. Red snuck forward, using the shadows from the bushes and trees to keep out of sight. As he got close to the hut, he could hear whispered murmurings from inside. He could also see something in the shadows under the hut but dismissed it as nothing to be concerned about at the time ... :nonono: The others got a bit impatient and began to approach the hut themselves. Perry called out in Draconic that they came in peace. Eventually a lizardman poked his out from behind the cloth doorway and challenged Perry. "Elves no come in peace! Elves come to kill lizardmen!" and so on. Perry managed to convince the lizardman that he and his allies meant him no harm. They then had a little chat and the PCs learned that the black dragon had left some time ago and that the lizardfolk were in turmoil and felt that they were being punished for some wrongdoing on their part. Furthermore, since the dragon had left, a horrible beast had started to attack and eat the lizardfolk. They didn't know what it was but it could come at any time from anywhere (except from the air). Just then Red decided to leave his protective shadows ... big mistake. The water under the hut erupted and a massive lobster/crab creature lunged out and grabbed the halfling in one of its claws. It crushed him and then proceeded to pull him into a wriggling mass of tentacles around its mouth. The tentacles oozed some sort of paralyzing secretion but the tough halfling managed to resist. However, he could not seem to escape from the creature's tentacles and soon it started munching on him with its mandibles. To make matters worse, Himo evoked Evard's black tentacles around the swamp monster, which managed to avoid being grappled. Red, however, had no hope and he was soon being smothered by two different sets of tentacles! http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2387/2168451758_3f4dd64b36.jpg The lizardman that had come out of the hut screamed in terror at the sight of the beast and ran away. Perry used his boots of swift passage to teleport in front of the beast while Lyaelrae began summoning a Large water elemental to come to their aid. The elemental rose up out of the water and proceeded to pound the lobster creature with massive fists of solid water. At this point, Red managed to wriggle free of the creature's tentacles (or perhaps it released him). The creature then proceeded to retreat and fled down under the water. The elemental followed and critically hit the creature, dealing a total of 60 points of damage. All the PCs could see was roiling black water followed by calm ... then bits of the creature rose up and bobbed on the surface of the lake. The PCs cheered and congratulated Lyaelrae. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2044/2168451058_a8f64b0c1c.jpg Eventually, the lizardfolk came out. They bowed to Lyaelrae and began groveling, "Oh the druid! The druid! You save us! We thank you!" etc etc. The lizardfolk then leapt into the water and began tearing into the remains of the creature in a mad frenzy. The PCs called them back and proceeded to question them about the dragon and the Red Hand and all that. They learned that the lizardfolk seemed to have no lasting ties with the hobgoblins (or none to which they would admit, at least) and that there was no real danger out in the lake anymore. So the PCs flew out to the center of the lake and explored the ruins of the town hall. In a room full of taxidermied animals, they found a crumpled up note in Goblin from someone named Ulwai regarding a lich's phylactery. When they entered the main room, they got attacked by a harrowblade, which leaped out of the water at them, slashed, then dove back out of sight. The creature did some damage on several occasions and freaked out the players who weren't around the last time I ran one but eventually it was brought down with an orb of force followed by an empowered magic missile (both from Himo) just for good measure. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2237/2168450342_3fb34e5f57.jpg Once the harrowblade was dead, they explored the fenced-in area next to the town hall and found lots of what appeared to be egg fragments covered in razor-sharp spines. Red collected a piece and then the PCs signalled for the owls and flew straight back to Starsong Hill. Upon returning, they went straight to Sellyria's house and talked to the elders. It was agreed that the PCs would head to Brindol to see what they could do to help out in the war. The elders agreed to let the PCs fly to Brindol on the owls, although they were not to keep the owls once they arrived. Even flying, though, it was still going to take two days for the PCs to get to Brindol. Perry didn't want to leave his beloved mount behind, so he stayed in the elf encampment, waiting for Aleana to return from her private mission. Together, they would head out on foot, along with the others' mounts, and catch up in Brindol (hopefully). [Really this was just a plausible way for Perry to exit the stage so that Joe can make a triumphant return ...] On the way to Brindol, the PCs spotted a pair of wagons loaded with people being attacked by some amorphous blobs with lots of mouths and eyes. What appeared to be a dried-out husk of a person could also be seen lying in the grass. The PCs could only surmise that the horrible creatures were bloodsuckers of some kind. They were also making a horrible gibbering noise that began to affect the PCs but only Himo succumbed to it and only briefly ... he babbled incoherently for a few seconds before coming to his senses again. Unfortunately, the owl Lyaelrae was riding also succumbed to it and attacked the nearest person, which happened to be one of the old people in one of the wagons. Sadly, the old person was killed. One of the blob things engulfed and sucked dry another of the people and a little girl's face was deformed by acidic spittle before the PCs managed to kill both of the things. The people were very grateful. They informed the PCs that they were fleeing from the war in Elsir Vale. They said that Talar had been burned by the Red Hand a few days before and guessed that the army would be arriving at Brindol very soon. And that's where we ended. Cheers. - Jonathan
Prom 01-04-08, 03:15 PM	Hi All, The last session was great, lots of roleplay from people and some very amusing battles with bizare creatures that didn't get overly long. So much happened, it will take a while to top this. Pukunui's impersonation of a lizard folk was the major highlight for me, great job. Prom
pukunui 01-05-08, 04:14 AM	The last session was great, lots of roleplay from people and some very amusing battles with bizare creatures that didn't get overly long. So much happened, it will take a while to top this.I'm glad you enjoyed it! :ayyyy!: I enjoyed it too. I still can't believe we got through 3 whole combats in one session! You guys did a fantastic job working together and acting quickly and everything. It probably helped that I only had one creature to control for the first two fights (granted, for the last one I had more but it was just the two blobs about which I was being most particular ...) Pukunui's impersonation of a lizard folk was the major highlight for me, great job.According to Red's player, I was channeling Yoda with my lizardfolk voice. Yes, it was a similar sort of voice, but I wasn't doing the whole inverted sentence structure thing ... :rolleyes: Pics from last session are up.
pukunui 01-11-08, 06:16 AM	We didn't play tonight, in case anyone was wondering. I was doing my mid-year portfolio all this week (collecting everything I've done in the course so far and making it look all nice and pretty, etc), and even though I finished it a day early and ended up actually having the time to do some d&d prep, I decided a break would still be nice so instead Prom got out his Doom board game and we played that. Whew. What a demoralizing experience. ;) Anyway, I'm back at the helm next Friday, when we'll rejoin the members of the Tiri Kitor Relic Reclamation Co. as they make their to Brindol - a city very soon to be under siege.
Gerry 01-11-08, 08:14 AM	We didn't play tonight, in case anyone was wondering. I was doing my mid-year portfolio all this week (collecting everything I've done in the course so far and making it look all nice and pretty, etc), and even though I finished it a day early and ended up actually having the time to do some d&d prep, I decided a break would still be nice so instead Prom got out his Doom board game and we played that. Whew. What a demoralizing experience. ;) Anyway, I'm back at the helm next Friday, when we'll rejoin the members of the Tiri Kitor Relic Reclamation Co. as they make their to Brindol - a city very soon to be under siege. Oh right, New Zealand. When I first read your post, I'm thinking, well if you played Doom Thursday night, why not run for real tonight? Since "Next Friday's game" would be coming up TONIGHT, in about 12 hours. This really IS a global community. Gerry
Prom 01-11-08, 03:14 PM	Posted by Pukunui, I decided a break would still be nice so instead Prom got out his Doom board game and we played that. Whew. What a demoralizing experience. Doom the Board game is not like DnD, which is one reason I want to pick up the Starwars saga rpg book. There is so much combat in the board game and it is very much the demons player against the marine players that by the end the marine players just want to throw stuff at the demon player. The game is also meant to be won by either marine players or demon player so the co-perative nature of rpg's does not exist in the board game. It's also a really hard game for a marine player to win or even get through. Time to shelve Doom and break-out something new. Prom
pukunui 01-11-08, 03:31 PM	Oh right, New Zealand. When I first read your post, I'm thinking, well if you played Doom Thursday night, why not run for real tonight? Since "Next Friday's game" would be coming up TONIGHT, in about 12 hours. This really IS a global community.LOL. it is very much the demons player against the marine players that by the end the marine players just want to throw stuff at the demon player.I only resorted to that because, for some strange reason, none of the cheat codes were working ... :rolleyes:
Gerry 01-15-08, 11:15 AM	There is so much combat in the board game and it is very much the demons player against the marine players that by the end the marine players just want to throw stuff at the demon player. The game is also meant to be won by either marine players or demon player so the co-perative nature of rpg's does not exist in the board game. It's also a really hard game for a marine player to win or even get through. Time to shelve Doom and break-out something new. Prom So, for a change of pace, I suggest Aliens (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1770) and its expansion (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/7469) . I think you'll find that you really like how all the Colonial Marines get to gang up and co-operate as more and more Aliens come pouring out of the walls. There are multiple, co-operative Colonial Marine players, and one Alien player, whose forces just keep getting tougher and tougher. So, quite a bit different, I suspect, from Doom, where it's just "Marines", and not elite Colonial Marines! All of these games, are of course, based on the original Tom Wham classic Awful Green Things from Outer Space (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/162) which, quite honestly, started the entire genre' of bug eyed monster movies and games ! :D Gerry
pukunui 01-15-08, 02:05 PM	Ooh, yes! Colonial Marines makes all the difference! Everyone knows they're much tougher!
Prom 01-16-08, 03:21 AM	Posted by Gerry, So, for a change of pace, I suggest Aliens and its expansion . I think you'll find that you really like how all the Colonial Marines get to gang up and co-operate as more and more Aliens come pouring out of the walls. There are multiple, co-operative Colonial Marine players, and one Alien player, whose forces just keep getting tougher and tougher. So, quite a bit different, I suspect, from Doom, where it's just "Marines", and not elite Colonial Marines! All of these games, are of course, based on the original Tom Wham classic Awful Green Things from Outer Space which, quite honestly, started the entire genre' of bug eyed monster movies and games ! Killing aliens is always a good thing, but didn't the Colonial Marines from the aliens movie get waxed, leaving a little girl and Sigourney Weaver a female pilot to finish the aliens off, lol. Either way it's hard to play a board game after playing rpg's, because everyone wants a story and not just a stream of enemies to blast apart. Starwars as the rule set is going to work great, and I've almost finished the first mission. Almost forget isn't this thread for the RhoD, eeek. Death to the Red hand. Prom
pukunui 01-16-08, 03:52 AM	Death to the Red hand.Oh right. My turn now ... Death to the upstart elfses! Who do they think they are? We will crush them like chaff beneath our ironshod boots! No one shall stand in the way of the Kulkor Zhul! We shall rule over Elsir Vale! We shall rule over the whole world! It is our destiny! :evillaugh All hail Tiamat! Queen of the Dragons! :dragon:
pukunui 01-18-08, 06:20 AM	Session Date: 18 January 2008 Playing Time: 2.5 hours Players Present: 3 Characters: Himo, Red, Lyaelrae Timeline: Days 46-47 Total VPs: 26 ------------------------------------------------ Tonight's session was rather short. I don't think I'm going to bother recapping it in any detail. Essentially the 3 PCs traveling to Brindol via the Tiri Kitor Giant Owl Transport Service woke up the next morning, got on their owls and flew towards Brindol. Nearing Witchcross, they encountered two chimeras attacking the town, one with a red dragon head, the other with a black dragon head. They dispatched the creatures rather easily from the air. EDIT: I thought it might be worth mentioning that Red tried to lasso one of the chimeras. Fortunately for me, he missed (since I didn't really know how to adjudicate it in the first place ... ended up going with a "ranged grapple" sort of thing), but the others were all hoping he'd make it just so they could see him get yanked off his owl. :rolleyes: They landed and talked to the townsfolk briefly before taking to the skies again and heading straight for Brindol. Once there, they made themselves known to some guards, who led them up to the Keep, where they were introduced as the Tiri Kitor Delegation. They were in turn introduced to Lord Kerden Jarmaath, Lady Verrasa Kaal, Reverend Mother Tredora Goldenbrow, Captain Lars Ulverth, Captain Helmbreaker (representing the dwarves of the Hammerfist Holds), and Immerstal the Red. The results of the planning meeting were: Phase One: Only Himo made a good impression. Red came across as a bit stand-offish and Lyaelrae made the mistake of saying that his companions were "brave if a bit foolish and tended to act before thinking ..." Phase Two: The PCs successfully argued to keep the troops within the city walls. Phase Three: The PCs successfully argued to spread the clerics out amongst the troops. Phase Four: The PCs were not successfully in convincing the lords to give the last telepathic link spell to Captain Ulverth. Lady Kaal won out in the end. I'd say the roleplay went fairly well. It's rather hard to roleplay multiple people at once, especially when they're supposedly interrupting each other and expressing dynamically opposed views, etc etc, but I think I pulled it off well enough. The players were actually more concerned with the specifics of the city's defences than anything else. They asked if the lords had included traps (mundane and magical) in their defences. They also asked if the lords had considered putting explosives on the bridges should they need to destroy them to prevent an enemy flanking maneuver. I pointed out that they didn't need to get that specific. I explained that the Victory Point system abstracted the grand battle enough that they didn't need to worry about fire traps in the gatehouses and pits outside the walls and the like. Red's player was also quite keen on having his PC try to sneak into the Horde and assassinate its leader, a General Kharn. The others managed to talk him out of it eventually though. Anyway, afterwards, I pointed out that they had only earned 3 VPs out of a possible total of 8 VPs for that session. They weren't too pleased about that but I assured them there would be plenty more opportunities to get enough to win. I also told them what the consequences of their arguments meant for the overall battle (such as the fact that almost all of the clerics are now going to die, as are more of the city's defenders than if the clerics had all been stationed in the cathedral). I also mentioned the 5000gp of potions, scrolls and wands and the pool of low-level NPCs at their disposal. OK that's all for now. Cheers, Jonathan
pukunui 01-25-08, 07:06 AM	Session Date: 25 January 2008 Playing Time: (wasn't really paying attention - maybe 2.5 hours) Players Present: 5 Characters: Himo, Red, Lyaelrae, Aleana, Perry, Zzubyar ("Joe") Timeline: Days 47-48 ------------------------------------------------ I never really got a chance this week to prepare for this session, so we ended up spending quite a bit of time chatting about 4th Edition (I got both 4e preview books earlier this week and devoured them both quite quickly). I also announced that I intended to step down as DM after RHoD has finished. At least until 4th Edition comes out. I have a number of reasons: 1) It'll give me more time to focus on my final assignments for my graphic design course, all of which are fairly big (and therefore time-consuming) 2) It'll give me time to focus on building a new world in which to base my first 4th Edition campaign (although all the finishing touches will have to wait until the actual rules are in my possession) 3) My enthusiasm for d&d is finite, and it's pretty much all being channelled into my excitement about 4e at this stage, meaning that my interest in 3.5 is rapidly diminishing. Anyway, so this session was pretty much a "winging it" thing. The players took the lead. I mainly just answered questions, both in and out of character, when prompted. Not a lot happened. No fights. Aleana and Perry arrived, then Joe (now calling himself by his true name, Zzubyar) returned with the news that the Ghostlord was out of the fight but sadly so were Ivan, Fremlin, and Zai. He also claimed to have rescued a girl and flown up into the clouds and as he went on, the others just started to look at him like he was crazy ... :looloo: That night the Horde arrived on Brindol's doorstep. During the following day, the Horde tested Brindol's defenses. First some giants moved forward and lobbed some stones, testing out range and all that. Then goblins mounted on worgs rode in and out of range, taunting the archers on the walls and trying to get them to waste ammunition. Occasionally one got hit, which would send a cheer up from the walls - always followed by a quick "Save your ammo!" from a nearby sergeant. Then the red dragon soared overhead, trying to freak out all the defenders. The PCs immediately started thinking about the stockpile of potions, wands, and scrolls back in the Keep's treasury and wondering how many protection of fire potions they'd need. [Personally, I think they're going to thrash the red dragon. It won't be able to touch them ... but we'll see.] And then night started to fall without the enemy attacking en masse. Oh and at some point Joe's player decided to get a scroll of scry in order to find out what his "lover" was up to - she had planted herself as a spy in the Horde's midst. Unfortunately, being of demonic stock herself, she hadn't counted on there being devils about ... When Joe activated the spell, he witnessed her being horrifically tortured by what appeared to be a bone devil. He noticed that her body was horribly mutilated - certain body parts had been removed, including her wings ... Anyway, next session the Battle for Brindol will begin in earnest! So stay tuned!
Prom 01-29-08, 11:27 PM	Posted by Pukunui, Aleana and Perry arrived, then Joe (now calling himself by his true name, Zzubyar) returned with the news that the Ghostlord was out of the fight but sadly so were Ivan, Fremlin, and Zai. I can see Joe's new name being the target of many jokes. I still like Foobar more than Moobar or Zoobar, lol. It's a shame I can't have Himo be the catalyst of Zoobars nick names. I think Himo's tactful mis-pronoucing of Zzubybar's name last Friday will not get a repeat run. Prom
pukunui 02-01-08, 08:57 PM	Session Date: 1-2 February 2008 Playing Time: ~ 4 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Himo, Red, Lyaelrae, Aleana, Perry, Zzubyar ("Joe") Timeline: Days 49-50 Victory Points Earned: 25 ------------------------------------------------ Highlight: Red suddenly finding himself at the business end of Himo's wall of fire. :rofl: The day after the Horde's arrival on Brindol's doorstep dawned uneventful and remained that way for the rest of the day. The players got a bit antsy, especially when they asked what the Horde was doing and I said it looked like they were digging in and chopping down the trees in the orchards and such. They immediately concluded that the Horde was digging a tunnel to undermine the city walls and so started coming up with ideas on how to deal with it. One player suggested digging a trench along the inside of the wall from the river so that once a tunnel was detected, it could easily be flooded. Another player suggested having Lyaelrae summon an earth elemental to either dig the trench or to go find the Horde's tunnel and break it up. This sort of talk continued for some time, as the players discussed going out to meet the Horde and whether or not they should build siege artillery and the likes ... Finally night fell again and the nervous PCs went to rest. Then sometime after midnight, with the moon high in the cloudless sky, it began ... The PCs were woken up by the dragon horns sounding in the dark, followed by a dull thudding as the giants began bombarding the walls. The PCs ran to see what was going on but were accosted by men sent by Jarmaath, who wanted them to meet in the castle. Once they'd arrived, Jarmaath ordered the PCs to the south to fend off the giants there and then had Immerstal cast his telepathic bond spell on the predetermined recipients. Upon arriving at the south wall, they found it already fairly damaged. They also discovered that the giants were quite some distance away. They got some rope, climbed down the outside of the wall, and started running across the fields towards the four hulking shapes on the moonlit horizon. The whole while, massive boulders bigger than them whistled over their heads and slammed into the wall behind them. Himo was dismayed to find that the giants were all spaced far enough apart that he couldn't hit them all with any of his spells. Nevertheless, he dropped a fireball on two of the giants. One of them was bending over to pick up another boulder and took the brunt of the explosion but the other one saw it coming and reacted in time to avoid the worst of it. He followed this up with a flaming sphere centered on the giant second from the right. Meanwhile, Lyaelrae summoned a fire elemental and sent it to attack the giant second from the left. The light the elemental gave off was enough to illuminate most of the giants in the elf PCs' line of sight (the two non-elf PCs both have darkvision, so it's not a problem for them either). The giant being attacked by the elemental ignored it at first but after it hit him a few times, he picked up his greatclub and smacked the elemental into nothingness in about four or five hits. At the same time, Aleana began firing at the giant furthest to the right with her bow from about 100 feet away. She hit a fair number of times but didn't do a lot of damage. Joe, Red, and Lyaelrae in his ferocious slayer form (a lion) were having better luck with the giant on the far left, dealing quite a lot of damage to it over the course of several rounds. They actually managed to bring it down to 1 hp, whereupon it turned and ran away, avoiding a bite from Lyaelrae in the process. Red then snuck up close to the next giant (the one that had been fighting the fire elemental) and took it down with a ranged sneak attack. It was around this time that everyone heard yelling and shouting from the other side of the low hill. Lyaelrae shifted back into elf form and snuck up to the shallow hillcrest, only to find the darkness on the other side teeming with dark shapes and moonlight glinting off metal ... He let out a shout of warning, shifted into wolf form, and started dashing off back towards the wall - although he paused long enough to summon up another fire elemental to help hold back the hobs. Himo then decided to drop a 180ft-long wall of fire along the axis that the two remaining giants occupied so that they got caught in the wall and the oncoming hobgoblins would feel the heat. Unfortunately, Red decided to move up to attack the third giant, hiding in the shadows all the while (and thus hiding from Himo as well). He soon found himself on the wrong side of the flames and was forced to not only take damage for standing next to the wall but also the 2d6+11 fire damage for passing through it as he never would have been able to run around to the edge before the hobgoblins caught up with him. [Himo's player, Prom, was rather annoyed with Red's player for moving his character past the point where his wall of fire was going to go, but we all pointed out that Himo wouldn't have seen Red anyway so there wasn't any reason for Himo not to go ahead with his original plan anyway ... this made Prom grin evilly despite his dislike of PCs harming other PCs ... :rolleyes:] http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2400/2236026524_aee9d13d2e.jpg The one giant passed through the wall and chucked a boulder at Himo and then ran towards him. The last giant charged forward as well, bringing his greatclub to bear on Aleana. Red snuck up behind this giant and killed it while Aleana's player was taking a power nap. [When his turn came up again, he woke up, looked around, saw that the giant was dead and said, "Aw, man! I didn't get to retaliate!"] Aleana turned to face the giant attacking Himo, whipped out her sword, charged, and rammed her flaming blade right up the giant's ass, killing it instantly. With the last giant taken care of, the PCs all started legging it back towards the wall. Soon enough, though, the hordes of hobgoblins began pouring around the edges of Himo's firewall. Lyaelrae's fire elemental futility tried to stand in the way of the ones coming from the left but most of them just poured past it. In the lead was an evil-looking little goblin armed with a bow. At one point he nocked two wicked-looking arrows to his bow and fired them both simultaneously at the wolf-shaped Lyaelrae. Both arrows slammed into the elf's left kidney, intense pain wracking his body (I believe he took 28 points of damage from those two arrows). The goblin screamed out, "I hates elfses!" Lyaelrae raced madly back towards the wall, his four-legged form allowing him to go the whole 500 feet in about 10 seconds). He started climbing a rope and then remembered he could just turn into an eagle and fly over the wall ... Himo dropped a sleet storm in the path of the hobgoblins pouring around the right side of his firewall. Then the goblin turned his sights on the half-elf and hit him with three magic arrows in quick succession. It was Himo's turn to experience the intense pain of someone who really, really hates elves. Himo retaliated by firing an empowered magic missile at the goblin, dealing a whopping 35 points of damage in one go! The goblin stumbled and almost fell and Himo took advantage of that by dropping Evard's black tentacles on him. Unfortunately, the wily goblin was too quick and managed to escape. He fired another arrow at Himo and hit him again. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2228/2235238047_de9ac73c69.jpg Himo responded by dumping another wall of fire between himself and the goblin. At this point, Joe realized that one of his new allies was in danger so turned and raced back towards Himo. As the half-elf came running towards him, Joe called out for him to stop. The aasimar grabbed the half-elf and *zotted* them both 50ft closer to the wall. However, the second firewall was enough to halt the chasers and the PCs all made it back to the wall safely ... except that a huge explosion rocked the city as a building near where the PCs was lit on fire. The red dragon had entered the battle! Almost at once, Himo received a panicked telepathic message from Lord Jarmaath ordering the PCs to take care of the dragon! He also informed Himo that the western wall had fallen and the troops were falling back to try and stop the horde from entering the city! The heroes earned themselves another 2 VPs for their success here ... but how will they fare later on? To be continued next Friday ... Cheers, Jonny p.s. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the Battle pans out. The group expended quite a few resources on this initial encounter. Joe the warlock, for instance, completely used up his daily maximize spell-like ability uses, his gloves of eldritch admixture charges, and his healing belt charges. :rolleyes: To be fair, though, the players haven't had multiple encounters in one day more than once or twice prior to this, so some of them have yet to properly learn the importance of resource management ... (perhaps in Joe's case, his player has been seduced by the fact that none of his character's class abilities have usage limits ...)
pukunui 02-03-08, 04:56 PM	Hi everyone, I've got a special treat for you. The following is a little story that Joe's player and I cooked up to explain what happened between when he rescued the little girl from certain death and when he reappeared in Brindol. Enjoy! Joe clutched the girl tightly as they flew on towards Brindol. After some time had passed, he began to see a bright light in front of and slightly above him. It seemed to be calling to him, so he began flying towards it. The light soon enveloped him and for a few brief moments he was blinded by its brilliance. The next moment he found himself standing in front of a small cottage with lovely wildflowers all around it and a vegetable garden laced with the intermingled scents of spring and autumn. This image was juxtaposed by the seemingly incongruous sight of a man in scintillating bronze chainmail standing in front of the cottage. The man himself was bald and his skin was tan yet seemed to glow with a radiance that seemed to well up from underneath. Upon making eye contact with Joe, the man beckoned him forward. Joe gently put the girl down on her feet and grasped her hand. He could feel her trembling but she remained silent and allowed him to lead her into the garden. As they entered, the man approached and touched the girl lightly on her forehead. She at once became calm, a beatific countenance upon her face, and she raced off to chase butterflies amongst the wildflowers. The man watched her silently for a few moments, then, without looking at Joe, said, "That one is special. Thank you for keeping her safe." Joe said nothing, not really knowing how to respond, his heart still racing from his close brush with death at the hands of the brutish Kulkor Zhul assassins. Finally the man turned towards Joe. His eyes were a steely blue and seemed to penetrate right through the aasimar. "Zzubyar ..." he began, before pausing to chuckle lightly. "Don't look so surprised! Of course I know your true name. I have been watching you for some time now. You have walked a dark and dangerous road for many years. It is my master's wish that you return to the realms of light and it is my belief that the time is right for this to happen. By saving the life of this little girl, you have proven yourself worthy of redemption." Joe listened, stunned into speechlessness (although his heart was singing with joy), as the man continued: "You now have a choice before you that few others of your ilk are ever offered. The choice is simple. You may turn your back on all this ..." He paused to gesture at everything around him, "or you may enter the cottage. Should you choose the former, you will be returned to the world at the exact point in time and space that you left it as if none of this had ever happened - although the girl will remain here. Should you choose the latter, you will attain enlightenment. Your soul will be stripped of the darkness placed there by your demonic torturers and the shining light of Pelor put in its place. You will, in effect, be purified." Joe opened his mouth but the man cut him off. "I must warn you, though. The process is painful. The rewards, however, are great. Not only will the source of your magical power become pure and untainted by evil, but the seeds planted in your blood by your celestial ancestors shall bear fruit and you shall become like one of the angels. "When this process is over, it shall be as if you had been reborn. Verily, you shall be remade in the image of Pelor. You shall become truly an enlightened spirit. And Pelor will send you back into the world, where you will perform great deeds in his name. And, over time, as you further the glory of Pelor, you shall gain in power. Your eldritch powers shall continue to grow and evolve in ways unattainable by others of your kind still bound by hellish pacts, and you will eventually take on an angelic countenance - growing wings and being able to speak in tongues." The man could see the hunger in Joe's eyes and quickly added, "These things of which I speak will come to you all in good time, but first you must earn them. So what say you?" Without speaking, Joe looked at the man. Then he looked at the little girl, still happily chasing butterflies in the garden. Finally he spoke. "What will become of her?" "Do not worry. She will be well cared for here. One day she will grow up to fulfill her destiny. You may meet her again. Only time will tell." Without any hesitation, Joe replied, "Very well. I accept," and strode towards the cottage door. But, as he grasped the door handle, he stopped and looked over at the man. "What will happen to me afterwards?" "You will be returned to Elsir Vale. From there, you are free to do as you please, but I suggest continuing on to Brindol and making yourself known to the Reverend Mother in charge of the Church of Pelor there. She is an aasimar like yourself. Her name is Tredora Goldenbrow. She will provide you with trust and assistance. Remember this - just because you and I will know that your heart and soul are pure, others will not. They will see your dangerous power and continue to treat you as a servant of evil. Do not expect to receive much respect from those outside the Church of Pelor. In fact, do not expect much help even from those within. Many are the small-minded and foolish in the world. Be wary of them. Trust no one but Pelor, yourself, and those who have earned the right to be trusted. "The tasks ahead of you are great. I do not envy you. Neither I nor Pelor can guarantee your safety. But we can give you tools to help you in your quest to do good. And that is all. Go now. Face your destiny." With that, the man turned and headed towards the little girl, calling out to her as he went. Joe watched them for a few moments, then pushed on the door and entered the cottage ... and instantly began falling into an endless pit of darkness and despair. It was a hungry darkness. It wanted to devour him. It wanted to devour his soul. He cried out in pain and fear. The agony was terrible, bringing back memories of his time in the Demon Lord's clutches. His uncertainty and self-doubt began gnawing at him. Had he made a mistake? Had the radiant man tricked him? Had he just condemned himself to eternal torment in some nameless abyss? Worse still, had the Demon Prince found a way to recapture him? What felt like eons passed as he continued to fall. Periodically he was confronted by the demons and the tormentors of his past. At first he was afraid, but eventually he found the courage to face them. And with each enemy that he overcame, the darkness shrank back a little more. Soon light began to radiate from him. He found he could see through himself. Gradually the light became brighter. Then he noticed that the darkness without had shrunk back but a new darkness was growing with him ... Then the pain began for real as the light tore into the darkness. A fierce battle ensued within not his body but his very soul. The darkness fought back, raking at the light with foul and poisonous claws. The light retaliated, blasting the darkness with beams of blinding radiance. For some time, Joe did not think he would be able to survive the torment but at last a cool breeze swept across his fevered brow and he found himself lying in a heap on the floor of the cottage. Over in one corner was a small bed. He managed to pick himself up and dragged himself over to it. He lapsed into and out of consciousness for what felt like days, then weeks, even months. He became delirious. At times he thought there were other people in the room with him. At other times he thought he was flying amongst the clouds in the heavens, or sinking into the fires of hell, or even back in Elsir Vale with his companions. Finally, after he had completely lost track of all time, he came to his senses. It was dark in the cottage but he could still see. In the gloom he saw a familiar figure - that of the little girl. She was sitting on a stool nearby, humming quietly to herself. She glanced over and saw that he was awake. Her face brightened, and immediately the room brightened as well. She raced over and picked up a damp cloth from the bedside table. She dabbed at Joe's sweaty brow and then announced, "The fever has broken. You are well now." She glanced awkwardly about and then said, "Oeridian says your name is Zzubyar." Joe opened his mouth to speak but found he could not. The girl continued, "My name is ... Mariposa. I want to thank you for ... for saving my life." Joe managed to croak, "It was no trouble ... no trouble at all." "Goodbye, Zzubyar," Mariposa said, and Joe was struck blind by a brilliant light that suddenly filled the room. When the light subsided and he was able to see again, he found himself standing on a dusty road, surrounded by fields and orchards. He took a few steps forward, cresting a slight rise, and saw the walls of Brindol rising in the distance before him.
Prom 02-05-08, 02:48 AM	Posted by Pukunui, Himo's player, Prom, was rather annoyed with Red's player for moving his character past the point where his wall of fire was going to go, but we all pointed out that Himo wouldn't have seen Red anyway so there wasn't any reason for Himo not to go ahead with his original plan anyway ... this made Prom grin evilly despite his dislike of PCs harming other PCs Now if I remember correctly, it was I who said, "Well Himo would not have seen Red move behind the Giant, so I'm still going to cast the wall of Fire anyway!" This was after everyone else asking me what I would do. Prom P.S. I think I was still a little annoyed by some players wanting to slowly sneak up on the enemy while the wall got smashed and flank the giants, who would clearly have hundreds of hobgoblin troops to support them anyway. That's way Himo ran like a bat out of hell for giants then hung back and cast fire spells. Sure made casting a wall of fire on Red acceptable in my mind, silly halfling.
pukunui 02-05-08, 03:38 AM	Now if I remember correctly, it was I who said, "Well Himo would not have seen Red move behind the Giant, so I'm still going to cast the wall of Fire anyway!" This was after everyone else asking me what I would do.Huh. I remember it differently. Doesn't matter. P.S. I think I was still a little annoyed by some players wanting to slowly sneak up on the enemy while the wall got smashed and flank the giants, who would clearly have hundreds of hobgoblin troops to support them anyway. That's way Himo ran like a bat out of hell for giants then hung back and cast fire spells. Sure made casting a wall of fire on Red acceptable in my mind, silly halfling.I wasn't really paying attention to that. What annoyed me is that the "supporting" troops are positioned so far away that they can't really do any supporting. You guys wiped out the giants before the hobs even showed up, and that was even with me shortening the amount of time it would take for them to show up. Perhaps that's because the module doesn't really have them there as "support" for the artillery but rather as a second invasion force waiting for the giants to pound a hole in the wall. Dunno. I'm looking forward to the next session, though!
gamertall 02-05-08, 10:52 PM	It is always a treat to read about your adventures Pukunui. You mentioned in a previous post about losing interest in 3.5 and being excited for 4.0; I also am in the same boat. I am also running a campaign, but it is just a time filler for the real fun. Give all your players a "Huzzah!" from a State-side admirer of their adventures...oh, and keep up the good work yourself.:)
pukunui 02-06-08, 02:24 AM	Thanks, gamertall. I look forward to bringing everyone a recap of my first 4e campaign, whenever that should be. But when RHoD is finished, you won't hear from me again for a while. I have no intention of ever playing 3.5 again. The plan at the moment is to give the reins over to Prom, who is busy building a sci-fi world using the Star Wars Saga rules but which isn't actually a Star Wars game (so lots of name-changing). We'll play that for a while. Then when I'm good and ready to run a 4e campaign, I'll jump back in the hot seat. If we're having a good enough time with Prom's sci-fi game, I've suggested we share (we'd each take turns every other week). Prom would like to put it to a vote, so we'll wait until the time comes to decide. Should be good though! I'm also looking forward to having more time to work on my final graphic design projects. I graduate in May. I'm going to get the 4e books as a graduation present for myself. ;)
eamon 02-07-08, 03:43 AM	Ah, yes, graduating. I should look into that :(. Anyhow, I'm also hoping to finish RHoD sometime around 4e's release date. Maybe a short break, or a different DM then, since RHoD's pretty heavy (and i didn't make it easier on myself by upping the power-level), but in any case, I don't expect to ever play 3.5 again either (well, perhaps with some old-skool friends sometime...). 4e just sounds less tiring, and therefore more fun. Although, this is my last campaign in 3.5... Depending on how fast we finish RHoD (and towards the end of the campaign I expect to have 5 PC's of 13th level), I was considering continuing with a short, light campaign to explore the higher levels before signing off on 3.5. We've never played beyond 15th level, and never seriously beyond 12th, so that might be fun...
pukunui 02-07-08, 04:01 AM	I don't think I've ever played d&d in any edition beyond 10th level. Possible in 2e but I can't actually remember. It was about 15 years ago ... But considering that everyone seems to think that 3.5 only gets harder on the DM the higher you go, I think I'll give those levels a miss as DM. I really hope that WotC succeeds in making 4e fun and easy to run at all levels.
eamon 02-07-08, 04:45 AM	I don't think I've ever played d&d in any edition beyond 10th level. Possible in 2e but I can't actually remember. It was about 15 years ago ... But considering that everyone seems to think that 3.5 only gets harder on the DM the higher you go, I think I'll give those levels a miss as DM. I really hope that WotC succeeds in making 4e fun and easy to run at all levels. That's always been my attitude too, which is why the highest level we've reached in normal play was 12. But I feel it'd be fun to try it at least once at high level...
pukunui 02-08-08, 07:50 AM	Session Date: 8-9 February 2008 Playing Time: ~ 4 hours Players Present: 5 Characters: Himo, Red, Lyaelrae, Aleana, Zzubyar ("Joe") Timeline: Day 50 Victory Points Earned: 34 ------------------------------------------------ Highlight: I don't know that there was a highlight for me (I made a bucketload of mistakes, mostly due to lack of proper preparation, but it all favored the PCs in the end, so where's the harm, right?), but the highlight for my players would definitely have to be killing the red dragon. OK so ... immediately upon scurrying over the wall, the PCs gathered up their mounts and headed towards where the red dragon was busy torching the city. The PCs chose to bring two Lions of Brindol, including Teyani Sura, and three Shining Axe Co dwarves with them. As they entered the burning district, the dragon made an initial pass over them, scorching everyone except Himo with his fiery breath. The two Lions of Brindol dropped to -9 while the dwarves fell to 0 (they all had potions of cure serious wounds, so they pulled them out and drank them). Red, as expected, evaded the fire, while the others either made their saves and took half, failed their saves and took the full amount, or let their fire protection absorb the damage. Red and Aleana responded first by firing arrows at the dragon with little effect. Zzubyar then whipped out the scroll of cone of cold that he'd "acquired" in the Ghostlord's lair and fired it as the dragon was passing directly overhead. Unfortunately the dragon managed to avoid the worst of it and took very little damage at all. Himo conjured up a Leomund's tiny hut in the middle of the road and told everyone to take cover inside it. Lyaelrae began summoning an ally. The dragon then banked and came flying back along the street. Red and Aleana fired arrows at it again. Aleana also hopped off Amethyst and sent the unicorn back out of the danger zone (she had taken the full brunt of the dragon's breath and needed to heal herself as well ...). Lyaelrae's summoned arrowhawk appeared and shot the dragon with its lightning bolt attack (I think it did all of 3 dmg). Himo and Zzubyar both attempted to activate their scrolls of protection from fire and both failed (although Zzubyar only failed because his player forgot he could take 10 ... :rolleyes:). The dragon did a wingover and flew past the arrowhawk, chopping it in half with a quick bite. It then landed in front of the druid and said, "Ah, an elf. Too bad you're not female ..." Lyaelrae responded by activating his dimension stride boots and slipping out from under the dragon's flaring nostrils. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2165/2251515107_770f687ed9.jpg The dragon turned, sniffed the air, and then spotted Aleana. His eyes brightened and he dashed forward, chomping down on the oh so delicious elf maiden flesh ... Aleana freaked and withdrew into the tiny hut. Lyaerae cast call lightning and then began summoning another arrowhawk. Red continued to try to attack the dragon with his swordbow, doing ****-all damage on the few occasions he did hit. Zzubyar fired an eldritch blast at the dragon and was astonished when it was deflected away with no effect ... Himo then fired an empowered magic missile at the dragon. As the five brightly glowing points of magical energy came searing out of the tiny hut's opaque dome, they sizzled and sparked as they passed through an invisible field surrounding the dragon and struck him full in the chest. He growled in pain and looked rather startled, as if he had expected to not be at all injured by such paltry magic (instead he took 30 points of damage!). Since Himo was still in the tiny hut (which is a rather stupid name because it's actually a pretty freaking big hut), the dragon was not able to see who had attacked him. Instead he cried out in anger and moved to the edge of the hut's wall before unleashing the fury of his fiery breath again. The flames hit everyone in the hut except Zzubyar, who was only narrowly outside its area of effect. The three dwarf henchmen were incinerated as they took the full 50 points of fire damage! The blast stripped away all of Aleana's protection as well as most of Himo's ... Himo's horse also died but being trained in the art of mounted warfare, he was able to make a soft fall. With the numbers in the tiny hut having dwindled drastically, the dragon was able to push his way in. He immediately caught sight of Aleana (who he had been keeping track of with his blindsense anyway) and said to her, "You can run but you can't hide, female ...". He chomped on her again (he could only miss her on a natural 1) and she retreated yet again. Himo lashed out with another empowered magic missile and Zzubyar used his wand of web to try and trap the dragon, but he just muscled his way out and stomped towards Himo, intent on eliminating the opponent who was hurting him the most. Here's where Himo's luck really prevailed ... the players already knew that the dragon could only miss them with his bite attack on a natural 1. What did I roll? A natural 20! The players' hearts were in their throats as I rolled again to confirm the critical ... and, sure enough, I rolled a natural 1. :P Needless to say, the players were all very happy for Prom (I'm sure he would've been happier not getting bitten at all but the bite only did about 14 points of damage, which isn't much compared to 50 points from his fire breath). At this point, Zzubyar finally decided to use his dispel magic wand (his player had been considering it for some time). He activated the wand by taking 10 and then rolled his dispel check. He rolled a 20 ... and I realized that even a 1st level caster could dispel a 9th level spell effect by rolling a 20 since you add your caster level to the check (for a minimum result of 21) vs a DC of 11 plus spell level (for a maximum of DC 20). So he managed to strip away whatever it was that was giving the dragon a boost to his Touch AC. I then remembered that the dragon had several other effects going and had to interrupt another player's turn to get Zzubyar to roll two more dispel checks (is there any way I can avoid giving away how many effects an enemy caster has going aside from keeping the player in the dark by rolling the whole dispel attempt myself? I don't really like the dispel mechanics ... they seem to be impossible to use without breaching the player knowledge vs PC knowledge metagame barrier thingy.) With some of his magical defenses gone, the dragon was slightly easier to hit. Lyaelrae's second arrowhawk got in a good hit with its lightning bolt attack and the dragon also took the full brunt of several of the druid's called lightning bolts. The dragon got one more breath attack out, roasting Aleana and Himo at almost point blank range, before Zzubyar brought it down with a mighty eldritch blast attack. The PCs all jumped the dragon, firing arrows into it at point blank range and hacking at it with their weapons until they were satisfied it was dead. Aleana decided to cut off its head and mount it on a pole so she could show the Horde they had slain its champion red dragon. Zzubyar conducted a very thorough search of the dragon with his magic-o-vision on and came up with a reddish iron ring that made him feel warm when he put it on and an amulet that matched the amulet of health +2 he already had ... he gave the ring to Aleana and the amulet to Red. At about that time, Lord Jarmaath's voice crackled over the telepathic link. He wanted to know how things were going. Himo reported that they had slain the red dragon. Lady Kaal interrupted and asked if the PCs could do anything about the fires ... that is, could they help stop the city from burning down? Here's where my suspension of disbelief broke. I don't know about my players but they were giving me curious glances, so I imagine they were having a hard time picturing their characters putting out several big fires in a matter of only a few minutes. It'd take more than 5 minutes (and more than 5 men) for modern-day firefighters, even with their water cannons and things, to put out big building fires ... Anyway, Lyaelrae summoned a small water elemental, and then he and Amethyst both made several Survival checks to put out fires. Despite the very fierce wind that blew up and threatened to bowl people over (the brave little Red managed to stay on his feet), the PCs managed to put out 10 fires in 5 minutes ... which was enough to stop the fires from spreading any further from the southern district. The city was saved! Or was it? Lord Jarmaath was soon on the line again, informing Himo that the defense at the breach in the wall had collapsed and the enemy was flooding into the city. The PCs were needed on the Dawn Way to hold the line! That's all for now, folks. Tune in again next week for the next installment of the Battle of Brindol!
Subversive 02-08-08, 02:36 PM	A house that is a raging inferno is effectively destroyed, IMO. The structure may still be standing, but it will never again be usable. If a "destroyed" on-fire structure was one that was levelled, then you're effectively saying that a house can burn to the ground in approximately 30 seconds to a minute (5-10 rounds). Your players are fighting smaller fires to prevent that from happening in the first place.
Prom 02-08-08, 03:58 PM	Posted by Pukunui, I made a bucketload of mistakes, mostly due to lack of proper preparation, but it all favored the PCs in the end, so where's the harm, right? You are not the only one. I should have realized that leomund's tiny hut was not going to work against a dragon. But when I saw the other players take dwarf and human troops with them and cluster them together, I panicked. And when the dragon roasted the lot of them in one round and about half the troops were almost dead, I was trying to fix that mistake. Now Himo has very little high level spells left and unless tactics improve, the parties unlikely to make it through the final battle, possible the third battle next week. Prom
pukunui 02-08-08, 04:42 PM	A house that is a raging inferno is effectively destroyed, IMO. The structure may still be standing, but it will never again be usable. If a "destroyed" on-fire structure was one that was levelled, then you're effectively saying that a house can burn to the ground in approximately 30 seconds to a minute (5-10 rounds). Your players are fighting smaller fires to prevent that from happening in the first place.Fair enough. But it still comes across as stupid and contrived and it certainly ruined my suspension of disbelief, just as I suspected it would. And my players kept looking at me strangely, and all I could do was shrug, so I have a feeling it broke their suspension of disbelief as well. If nothing else, it was an anticlimactic end to an otherwise extremely tense and frightening, and therefore extremely fun, encounter. You are not the only one.Well, but you (and the others) made tactical mistakes. I made mechanical, rules-oriented mistakes. There's a difference. However, since my mistakes favored you guys, I'm not going to do anything about it. EDIT: I've just remembered that both Red's player and I forgot that Spring Attack only worked with melee weapons. So there's another mechanical mistake made during the session ... :P Now Himo has very little high level spells left and unless tactics improve, the parties unlikely to make it through the final battle, possible the third battle next week.LOL. Wishful thinking. I'll need to exercise my "voice of reason via Amethyst the conveniently placed, super-intelligent, super-wise NPC unicorn" trick more often. ;) Unfortunately, the third battle is not only not the last one, it's not even the second-to-last one. There's a lot more fighting to be done before the day is over (and technically the day has only just begun) ... :surrender
hastur_nz 02-09-08, 03:44 AM	The DC for Dispel Magic is 11+CL (caster level), and is un-capped (it's the caster who caps out at +10 on their check modifier). So actually once you get to mid levels + it's starting to get pretty unreliable (except vs dragons, whose CL all suck compared to a typical adventurer they face). p.s. I ran my last campaign from 1st to 23rd level (Age of Worms). Yes, it's hard work to keep the load manageable so the game doesn't slow down, but in my experience the slow-down starts around 5th-7th level and doesn't have to get any worse if the DM and players are all on top of how the rules work, and what their characters / monsters are capable of (and at really high levels, we just took average on virtually every dice roll, because there were so many dice to roll, and pre-calculated average damage for various attack options too - all little tricks to speed things along). It's only when people are not well prepared that the game slows down more and more...
pukunui 02-09-08, 03:59 AM	The DC for Dispel Magic is 11+CL (caster level), and is un-capped (it's the caster who caps out at +10 on their check modifier). So actually once you get to mid levels + it's starting to get pretty unreliable (except vs dragons, whose CL all suck compared to a typical adventurer they face).So it is. It was late when my player played the dispel magic card and I just saw "spell" and "level" and missed the "'s caster" in the middle ... :rolleyes: Still, the warlock has an effective caster level of 9th and he rolled a 20, so that was a 29 vs a DC of 18 or so for the scintillating scales spell and only about 14 for the mage armor and shield spells. It's only when people are not well prepared that the game slows down more and more...This is more or less the case every session for us ... on both sides of the table. Everyone in the group except for Prom is at least married if not also a parent, so most of them haven't got a lot of time to spend outside of the game on prep work. As for me, I spend most of my prep work doing math, which I dislike intensely. I'd much rather be spending my time creatively, coming up with NPC personalities and plot hooks and fleshing out my homebrew world, and so on. Anyway, I also think that we are, at times, simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of rules there are in 3.5 and so we always end up being under-prepared. I have badgered my players time and time again to figure out the rules relevant to their characters ahead of time but it hasn't sunk in with all of them yet. At this point, though, with 4e so close on the horizon, I'm not really going to stress about it anymore. There's not much use in badgering my guys to memorize a ruleset that we're just going to be ditching soon ...
pukunui 02-14-08, 04:12 PM	In just over ten hours, the Tiri Kitor Relic Reclamation Company (tm) will be rushing to defend the Dawn Way from a horde of howling hobgoblins and their monstrous allies. They successfully prevented the Horde from creating a second breach in Brindol's defenses, slew the Horde's red dragon champion, and stopped the city from burning down! Can they also hold back the tide on the front lines or will they be overrun by the sea of savage, stinking monsters heading their way? Stay tuned to find out! :evillaugh
pukunui 02-15-08, 07:57 AM	Session Date: 15-16 February 2008 Playing Time: ~ 4.5 hours Players Present: 4 Characters: Himo, Red, Lyaelrae, Aleana, Zzubyar ("Joe") and a host of NPCs Timeline: Day 50 ------------------------------------------------ Shortly after saving Brindol from the fires started by the red dragon, the PCs were contacted by Lord Jarmaath via the telepathic bond. The city's ruler informed the PCs that the western wall had been breached in several places and that the defenders had fallen back from those breaches so that there was now hand-to-hand fighting in the streets. Although the defenders appeared to be managing in the narrow side streets, Jarmaath feared that they would not be able to hold the wider Dawn Way without the PCs' help. He expected a massive push to come down that road at any moment, its target being the strategically advantageous market square. The PCs hurried north to find a hastily erected barricade of rubble and overturned carts and other things stretched across the Dawn Way a few hundred feet west of the marketplace. The barricade was manned by ten Lion Guardsmen, led by a Lion of Brindol named Edward Teach. With them were six Shining Axe Co. dwarves and one novice cleric of Pelor. They were also joined by a striking human woman who introduced herself as Captain Soranna. She explained that she had been the guard captain in the town of Drellin's Ferry, which had been the first town to fall to the Horde. She wished to assist the PCs by acting as the bodyguard for one of their more vulnerable members. As Zzubyar felt he could protect himself just fine, Soranna opted to stay close to Himo and use her magic bow to keep enemies away. The PCs quickly assumed command and set about placing the troops in strategic locations - breaking open the boarded up buildings and positioning archers at the windows. They placed all the dwarves in a line behind the barricade as they were shorter (and thus more protected by the 4ft-high wall) and had a shorter range with their crossbows, while the humans armed with longbows could stand farther back. Zzubyar chose to stand on a rooftop off to one side where he could see much of the road on the far side of the barricade (all of which was within easy reach of his eldritch spear attack). Aleana positioned Amethyst in the shelter between several buildings and then put herself in front, protecting the unicorn and also receiving the benefits of her magic circle against evil aura. The others put themselves in various places, some standing in the middle of the road towards the back, others standing closer to the barricade towards either end. Himo also cast a light spell on the far side of the barricade (indicated in the photos below by the 20ft radius template with the pistachio shell at its center). This enabled the defenders to see what was coming fairly well (the elves especially, as the entire far side of the barricade was effectively bathed in bright light for them). Here are two photos showing this "initial setup": http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2019/2268034716_ced71ea534.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2154/2268035518_9ff3f7493b.jpg Then came the first wave of attackers ... a patrol of eight hobgoblins and a pair of manticores (one represented by a chimera mini). They moved in along the edges of the road, while the manticores took up positions on rooftops on either side. Luck was against them this night, however ... the manticores failed to hit anything (EDIT: actually, one of them hit and killed one of the defenders positioned in an upper-story window above Lyael and Aleana's position) and were very quickly dispatched as Himo hit them both with flaming spheres and then, because they were now well-lit targets, all the defenders shot one, killing it, and then the other, driving it away. Meanwhile, Zzubyar used his wand of web and dropped a ball of magical webs right in the same space as the light spell. Three hobgoblins got caught in it, the others took the opportunity of cover to break through the boarded-up windows of the buildings on either side to try and get around it. Then came the call, in Goblin, to "light the webs on fire!" Two hobs got out but one was unfortunate enough to get a bit burned as the webs were incinerated. The hobs didn't last much longer ... a few of them got some shots in but they mostly missed. Red snuck over the barricade and sneak attacked several of the hobs while the others were driven off or killed by Himo's rolling flaming spheres, which also lit one of the buildings on fire, forcing Lyaelrae to expend a spell slot to summon a water elemental to put the fire out ... :rolleyes: The next photo shows the first wave of attackers: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2216/2268036468_b82a32a5dc.jpg A few moments passed before the next wave of attackers came pouring out of the "fog of war" (a mix of smoke, darkness, trees, buildings, etc) at the far end of the battle mat. Red had taken a big risk by crossing to the far side of the map and hiding between two of those buildings, hoping to ambush someone as they came past. He got his chance soon enough ... All of the NPCs and most, if not all, of the PCs had readied actions during the lull, so when the quartet of ghostly-painted bugbears ran into the area of Himo's light spell, more than a dozen arrows and bolts came whizzing across the barricade. Some hit, many did not, and the bugbears charged through the light and leapt onto the barricade. Lyaelrae had chosen to cross the barricade to search one of the hobgoblin bodies, as well. He was soon face-to-face with one of the howling, snarling bugbears and quickly chose to retreat back across the barricade. The bugbear followed. The creatures quickly lay about the defenders with their greataxes, chopping into the front rank of crossbow-wielding dwarves with vigor. Meanwhile, four strange creatures covered in black scales and sporting bone white horns on their heads came slinking out of the darkness. Two snuck into the house on the north side of the street while the others went to enter the house on the south side. One was surprised by Red and received a nasty rapier wound to the groin ... Red then failed his subsequent Hide check and was viciously attacked by two of these strange creatures. One of them attacked through the window (having already entered the house) and cut open the halfling's head. The other was in turn attacked and slain by one of Himo's roly-poly flaming spheres. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2394/2267249891_3130761f0a.jpg Because of their ghostly appearance, Aleana thought the bugbears might be undead but when they came close enough for her to get a good look, she realized they weren't. She also wondered if the black-scaled creatures were undead, but decided they weren't (Himo realized they were some sort of cross between men and black dragons but he didn't know anything more about them than that). At this point, Red's player had to go so we had the badly wounded Red retreat quickly back across the barricade and hide in one of the buildings off to one side near the back. The bugbears were tough mothersuckers and pressed the attack repeatedly. One of them critted on a dwarf, literally splitting the poor guy down the middle. Himo summoned up more flaming spheres to assail the bugbears. Zzubyar repeatedly fired away with his eldritch spear, while Aleana fired arrow after arrow, as did many of the other defenders. Lyaelrae got hit hard several times by the bugbear attacking him, so he retreated all the way to the back of the battlefield and healed himself with his healing belt (and commented that the belt's inventor must be filthy stinking rich ... ;)). Around this time there was a rush of wings in the darkness and something big and black flew over the barricade from north to south. As it passed over it, it spat out a greenish liquid that sizzled as it hit the rubble, dissolving a section of the barricade in the process. Amethyst was the only one to get a good look at it and she warned the others that what appeared to be a black dragon had joined the battle. Everyone groaned ... The two black dragonmen on the north side of the road snuck through the one house, edged up to the barricade, smashed through the doors of the next house, moved through it, smashed through the windows, then came around a side alley and attacked the defenders from the flank ... There was a clump of human soldiers standing right there, and the dragonmen laid into them with their falchions. As several of the defenders had grouped themselves in convenient lines, the pair of dragonmen also spat acid at them. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2024/2268038134_4b702ed743.jpg Eventually the defenders managed to take out all of the bugbears (through a combination of good tactics - eg. having all the defenders focus their fire on one opponent at a time - plus Himo's flaming spheres plus the rolls of the dice ...). The dragonmen, though, continued to cause trouble. One of them ran into the house on the north side of the barricade and brutally hacked to death one of the human snipers while another snuck through houses and came out near Zzubyar. He attempted to climb the wall to get to the warlock but failed miserably so instead broke through the window into the building (a tavern, by the looks of it on the map), prompting the warlock to *zot* to a different roof. That dragonman worked his way through the tavern and bashed through the door onto the road. Several of the PCs heard him coming and readied actions as soon as he appeared. By this time the novice cleric of Pelor, Brother Ormond, had used up all of his magic, having cast bless on the defenders twice, cure light wounds once, and cure minor wounds four times. He had also used up all of his cure light wounds potions. He was now at something of a loss as to what to do next as he was absolutely hopeless in combat (+0 melee, -1 ranged). The only thing left for him to do was to stabilize the dying with his first-aid skills and to try and stay out of harm's way. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2209/2268038996_6e27064a00.jpg The black dragon returned, zipping up the road from behind and struck the barricade with acid again. Aleana, now mounted on Amethyst, proceeded to charge at the remaining dragonman as he emerged from the tavern door. She hit him hard with her flaming sword but he stayed on his feet and charged at Lyael, swinging wildly. The druid responded by shifting into his dire lion ferocious slayer form and literally ripped the dragonman to shreds. And that's where we ended for the evening. The last photo shows the final positions of the allies as the last enemy of the second wave fell ... http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2274/2268039834_325cf8c16f.jpg Stay tuned next week for Part II of the Streets of Blood! Cheers, Jonathan
Prom 02-16-08, 01:14 AM	What a busy night that was, so much to do and so little time. Prom
CastTiltowait 02-16-08, 02:38 AM	Sounds awesome, like the tough battle it's supposed to be. Nice terrain, I like the 3D cardstock buildings. Are those the ones from the wizard site?
pukunui 02-16-08, 02:41 AM	I believe those are from the 3D Map Folio WotC put out some time ago. Prom bought one and it's proved fairly useful from time to time. Never more so than now.
CastTiltowait 02-16-08, 03:06 AM	Yeah, a lot of the buildings I've made I've done with the idea that I'll be recycling them for the Brindol Streets of Blood battle you're doing. With the blocks you've got for the barricade, it gives things a real sense of where everything is beyond even the pretty awesome battle mat that came with the module. Do those buildings from the Map Folio have interiors?
pukunui 02-16-08, 03:27 AM	No they don't. They're just facades. Prom made the little wooden blocks himself. They've come in pretty handy on many an occasion.
Prom 02-16-08, 03:45 PM	Posted by Pukunui, No they don't. They're just facades. Prom made the little wooden blocks himself. They've come in pretty handy on many an occasion. I got told to finish the blocks with paint yesterday by my family. Then I got informed to get the patent and start selling the idea, lol. Prom
pukunui 02-16-08, 04:26 PM	I got told to finish the blocks with paint yesterday by my family. Then I got informed to get the patent and start selling the idea, lol. Prom :rofl:
pukunui 02-22-08, 05:24 PM	Wow. Tough session last night. The PCs succeeded in wiping out the third wave of attackers. They're all still alive, although two of them got to test out the new death and dying rules and Aleana lost her unicorn mount (she got taken down by several of the blue & red dragon/rhino creatures and then a flame strike from Lyaelrae finished her off). The NPC defenders mostly survived but they've all retreated and will need to be rallied or else more reinforcements will need to be drummed up. The barricade is almost entirely wiped out, though, so there was talk of trying to build it back up ... unfortunately, this part of the Dawn Way is rapidly turning into a blazing inferno thanks to everything that got set alight by Himo's wall of fire and the fireball belches of the red dragon/rhino creatures, so chances are pretty high that the barricade itself will catch on fire soon, if it hasn't done so already. I'll have to figure out the implications of this before next week ... I don't really want to do another fire-fighting session. ;) :P I'll endeavor to write a proper recap later. I forgot my camera so I'm waiting on Prom to send me the pics we took with his camera.
Prom 02-23-08, 02:10 AM	Posted by Pukunui, I don't really want to do another fire-fighting session. Fire-fighting would be easier then the battles we have fought. Yeah more fire-fighting and less killing sounds good to me. Prom
pukunui 02-23-08, 03:23 AM	Fire-fighting would be easier then the battles we have fought. Yeah more fire-fighting and less killing sounds good to me.:P
solbergb 02-24-08, 11:02 AM	It turns out that our group last night ended in almost exactly the same place you guys are, so when catching up I didn't have to be too careful to avoid spoilers....it ended right where I was about to stop reading anyway. Chapter four is tough. We are not at all confident of final victory. Our results were pretty similar....defeat hill giants with significant resource burn, defeat the dragon with much player happiness given how other dragon battles went in CH1-2 and then the long slow grind on Dawn Way, with the 3rd wave barely beaten off. I doubt the shield/magic missile bobble in the dragon fight really affected the outcome much, don't sweat it. I do think your party has come together very well given how new the players are to all of the characters. One advantage we had is that my druid was equipped for firefighting, so we never had to use the rules in the module. (She had a long range, level 1 spell called cloudburst that put out fires in a 100' radius area, plus pearls of power enough to get most of the fires, and a couple pyrotechnics (also long range, intended for blinding large #s of enemies) that did the job). Had that been insufficient, the party had two sleet storms (although by then we'd used them up) and I could have summoned some water elementals too. Put out fires with survival checks? We needed the time alloted to putting out fires just to heal and buff for Dawn Way. I thought adding a cleric to the PC defenders was a nice touch, given their choices in council. I know that in our game when our militia organized to carry out the severely wounded to the Cathedral, it felt good to the players seeing the results of their planning in action, so hopefully your players appreciated the efforts of your heroic stay-at-home cleric forced into a battlefield. Having Reggie do strafing runs was an interesting idea. I don't think it would have gone well at our table though if he did it in waves 1-2. He would have been promptly rod-of-viscid-globbed and charged by the supercharged kitty-of-death or solid fogged and dropped into the middle of all of our melees. We were still pretty ready to deal with dragons and the first two waves weren't enough of a threat to stop us from dropping everything to bag another dragon. What our GM did to make those encounters harder was just plenty...the likely consequence of Reggie sticking his nose in would have been a dead dragon, followed by a total rout in the third wave as we would likely have not had the solid fog needed to get that fight under control. Our GM did tease us in the red dragon encounter by having the reinforcements show up initially using green dragon and black dragon minis....and then swapping them for manticores when we coul see them clearly :) I have to stop reading this thread again until late March, so good luck to the Snow Elf Heroes of Brindol.
Prom 02-25-08, 02:35 AM	Posted by solbergb, Snow Elf Heroes I didn't know we were the snow elf heroes, I guess we could be. Posted by Pukunui, Tiri Kitor Relic Reclamation Company Did I miss a meeting, where they guy's decided on a name for the band of heroes. It took long enough to come up with a code of conduct. Which I think went as follows: (1) Defend the rights of the weak and innocent. (2) To never murder. (3) To injure no member of the charter. (4) Not to steal what belongs to another member of the charter. Motto: We fight as one for freedom. Charter goal: (1) To find the secret location of the Misty Isle. and (2) To fight for the rights and freedom of all (or the Tiri Kitor). The Fair Elves of Tiri Kitor, has a nice ring to it. The only problem is that two members are not elves. Prom
pukunui 02-25-08, 03:39 AM	I didn't know we were the snow elf heroes, I guess we could be.Swamp elves would be more appropriate. ;) Did I miss a meeting, where they guy's decided on a name for the band of heroes.No, you didn't. I came up with that on my own as a sort of a joke. p.s. I'm not going to have time to write up a proper recap this week. Feel free to fill in the blanks, should you feel so inclined.
solbergb 02-25-08, 10:28 AM	Heh...sorry...our RHOD game is set in Greyhawk, and the Rhest elves are Snow Elves (who are kind of xenophobic, similar to wild elves)
Prom 02-25-08, 02:55 PM	Posted by solbergb, Heh...sorry...our RHOD game is set in Greyhawk, and the Rhest elves are Snow Elves (who are kind of xenophobic, similar to wild elves) No need to be sorry, your characters have been to the snowy lands of the north. Posted by Pukunui, I'm not going to have time to write up a proper recap this week. Feel free to fill in the blanks, should you feel so inclined. If I can remember what happened I'll give it a go. Prom
Prom 02-28-08, 02:13 AM	Hi All, Well Pukunui is very busy this week, so I'll give you what I remember of last Fridays session. Rhino Dragon Stampede: Himo pulled a healing potion from his bag and drunk quickly, he was on the verge of collapsing. There had to be more trouble coming, they hadn't faced the core of the hobgoblin army. He could see that everyone still alive were healing themselves and search the many dead bodies for potions and gear. "Get back into cover quickly before the next wave hits the barricade," yelled Himo to the scattered troops. What was left of the dwarf and human forces rushed for cover, just as the last man dove behind a door, Himo could hear a rumbling sound coming from down the street. Brindol troops caming screaming out of the darkness, running straight for the broken barracide. In the distance five Rhino creatures with goblin riders stormed down the Dawn way, firing arrows at the fleeing troops. A few troops fell to the ground with arrows sticking out of their backs, nothing could be done for them now. A volley of arrows and magic greeted the Rhino creatures but they did not stop. Infact the beasts didn't even slow down and before Himo knew it they were a few feet from the barricade. There was no time to re-build the barricade and less time to run. With careful precission Himo called forth a wall of roasting fire to block the stampeding beasts just before the barricade. Zoobar pulled a wand out of his cloak and flicked his wist, creating a web across the Dawn way between the buildings from the safety of a cottage roof top. Screams could be heard behind the Firewall as goblins burned, some falling to the ground as the Rhino creatures passed through the wall of fire and started smashing the barricade to pieces. Atleast one goblin was rolling around on the ground, trying to put himself out. The wall of fire seemed to have little effect on the red beasts, but most of the riders were columns of screaming fire. Himo could see black marks on the blue rhinos and little sections of hair on the beasts burning away. Then to Himo's surprise the blasted Red monsters choked out bursts of scorching fire, setting the webbing alight. Lyael summoned a air elemental to slow the red beasts as they continued breathing fire and burning the webs away. While everyone else was backing away from the new threat, that appeared to have some dragon traits the halfling had been sneaking in close. Unaware that Red was about to shot the closest Dragon Rhino in the snout, Himo was not able to warn him of the danger. Red's arrow flew straight into the creatures eye causing the beast great pain and making him very angery. Then Zoobar cast another web over Red and the dragon rhino creatures, in an attempt to slow the monsters, that where destorying his first web. Then in a wink of an eye, Red was slammed into the side of a building by a blue beast. The halfling was covered in blood and did not move, Zoobar tryed to rush to Red's aid. All the webbing had been burned up as more than one red dragon creature spat fire over the last of the webbing. Himo had his own problems as another creature was bearing down on him and his body guard Captain Soranna pulled the last arrow from her quiver. To be continued... Prom Edit: Some changes still to be made.
pukunui 02-28-08, 02:51 AM	I know your post is meant to be from Himo's point of view, so he probably wouldn't have gotten all his facts straight, but for the sake of the readers, I'll just add these little comments: 1) The riders were goblins not hobgoblins 2) The blue critters were not immune to the wall of fire, only the red ones were, and the blue ones were all about electricity (they didn't belch out fireballs) 3) Red got gored by one of the blue beasts before the web had burned away and Zzubyar cast another one, trapping both it and Red where they were. OK back to the graphic designing ... :P
Prom 03-01-08, 08:01 PM	Hi All, Pukunui is real busy, so the group did not play on the 29th of February. I'll finish the last recap sometime and you will here from us next week. I have made the changes to the last recap that had error's that Pukunui pointed out. Prom
Prom 03-05-08, 01:34 AM	Hi All, Ok, I hope I get this right. Here is the rest. Rhino Dragon Stampede (Part 2): Himo pulled a potion from his pack drinking it quickly and stepping back, lifting his buckler to help take the impact. The Raging Rhino charged Himo, bloodying his arm and shoulder. Aleana and Amethyst the unicorn charged the creature trying to save Himo as he staggered back then shot into the air flying high above the buildings. Two more dragon Rhino's charged into Amethyst, knocking the Unicorn to the ground in a broken bloody mess. Lyael who had been firing arrows at anything he had a clear view too, spotted Aleana fighting off three Rhino creatures alone called a huge pillar of flame down on the beasts in desperation, killing two. The poor unicorn was burnt to a crisp as it was caught in the magical flames. Himo called all his strength together and hurled mighty missiles of energy into the last Rhino, Aleana was fighting; leaving huge holes in it's skull and it dropped to the ground dead. Zoobar tryed to reach through a window and pick up the dying halfling, but got stuck by the horn of the same dragon Rhino that took Red down. Zoobar flopped over the window sill, covered in blood and not moving. A Brindol guard seeing all of this freaked out and hid. Red started to come back around and with great care crawled around the corner and into the building, where he saw Zoobar's limp body in the window and pulled it to safety. Red then poured a potion down Zoobar's throat before drinking one himself. While Red and Zoobar spent most of their time sculling healing potions, the rest of the Dwarf and Human defenders started to panic and ran for safety, one defender even dragging the injuryed cleric out a side door. Captain Soranna who had been hiding in a building healing herself, swollowed the last drop of her fly potion and flew out the front door, calling out to Himo as she tryed to find him in the dark. A black dragon dive bombed the barricade making an even larger hole and on it's second pass darkness decended on the small group of adventurers flying around the warmage. Himo realized the dragon was using magic to create a magical darkness around him, but counter it with a spell of his own and he projected it onto a thunderstone. Himo was now a great target for the dragons attacks so he slipped his quiver off his back and handed it to Soranna as she flew up beside him saying, "I have no arrows". "Take mine," responded Himo as he readied for the next attack the dragon would make... Well that's all of it, I think. Till Friday. Prom
pukunui 03-05-08, 01:49 AM	Zoobar tryed to reach through a window and pick up the dying halfling, but got stuck by the horn of the same dragon Rhino that took Red down. Zoobar flopped over the window sill, covered in blood and not moving. A Brindol guard seeing all of this pulled Zoobar through the window and poured a potion of healing down his thoat. Zoobar woke up and attempted to save the halfling again, but was much more careful this time. While Red and Zoobar spent most of their time sculling healing potions, the rest of the Dwarf and Human defenders started to panic and ran for safety, one defender even dragging the injuryed cleric out a side door.Red rolled a natural 20 on his death and dying check, recovered to 1 hp, crawled around the corner and into the building, where he saw Zzubyar's limp body in the window and pulled it to safety himself (the panicked guard was next to useless). Red then poured a potion down Zzubyar's throat (after Zzubyar's player had rolled two consecutive 1's on his death and dying check) before drinking one himself. The blue dragon rhino thing started head-butting the wall of the building before someone/something killed it (can't remember who or what).
Prom 03-05-08, 02:45 AM	Ok, I fixed it up. Prom
pukunui 03-13-08, 05:41 PM	Well, I was planning on continuing the fight this evening but at the moment I'm not too sure. I've lost Zzubyar's player more or less permanently (he up and moved his family into the boonies and can't make it on Friday nights now) and I've just been informed that I won't have Aleana's player for the next three Fridays. That leaves me with three players and five PCs (not to mention assorted NPCs) in the middle of a grueling climactic battle. Not the best odds really. Any suggestions?
CastTiltowait 03-13-08, 07:01 PM	That sucks, I had a player pitch a hissy fit in my game and walk out in the middle of a combat (everyone, including her husband, was stunned). I'd find out what the plans are of the missing players and start from there. I believe from your recap that you've finished one wave and are waiting for the next one. If that's the case, then have the missing players' PC's retreat with the worst off NPC's to the cathedral and reduce the bad guys numbers to account for the sudden drop in party strength. I'd go with this rather than using the PC's as NPC's since most players get finicky about their character dying when they aren't around to play. Unless one of them says "go ahead and run my character," it's just simpler/easier to continue on w/out them. If the party desperately needs the type of abilities of one of the missing PC's, then have a similar NPC show up temporarily.
pukunui 03-13-08, 07:11 PM	I'm actually considering running a 4e preview thing tonight, if I can work it all out in time. It would certainly be a true test of whether or not the new game really is easier to prepare and faster to learn/run!
Prom 03-14-08, 08:15 PM	Posted by Pukunui, I'm actually considering running a 4e preview thing tonight, if I can work it all out in time. It would certainly be a true test of whether or not the new game really is easier to prepare and faster to learn/run! Well we played the 4th Ed preview game, I don't know if it's easier or faster to play yet. It did play very differently, only time will tell if it is a good change from a player stand point. I'm amazed Pukunui got it arranged so quickly. I'm sure Pukunui will give you the low-down if he gets time. Prom
pukunui 03-14-08, 08:23 PM	Well we played the 4th Ed preview game, I don't know if it's easier or faster to play yet. It did play very differently, only time will tell if it is a good change from a player stand point. I'm amazed Pukunui got it arranged so quickly. I'm sure Pukunui will give you the low-down if he gets time. Prom It's never going to be easier/faster to play with more than one character each. I thought it was all right. Probably should have run one of the other two adventures first, though. We can try one of the other ones next time maybe. Some people have been complaining that they think 4e will make minis and a battle grid even more of a necessity than before, but as I was coming home last night, I was thinking about it, and I feel like I could have run both the fights we had last night fairly easily without the grid or the minis. I think they both would have been relatively easy to imagine without visual aids. So at the very least, I'd wager that 4e won't be any harder to run without minis than 3e was. In fact, it may be even easier. I don't really know. Mearls and Noonan actually talk about that a bit in the latest podcast. They say that if you've been playing 3e without minis, you'll keep playing 4e without them too no problem. Anyway, I digress ... I'm not going to bother with a recap. Not much point really. Not really related to this recap thread either.
Gerry 03-14-08, 09:11 PM	Fair enough. But it still comes across as stupid and contrived and it certainly ruined my suspension of disbelief, just as I suspected it would. And my players kept looking at me strangely, and all I could do was shrug, so I have a feeling it broke their suspension of disbelief as well. If nothing else, it was an anticlimactic end to an otherwise extremely tense and frightening, and therefore extremely fun, encounter. (Uh, Gerry, that was posted a month ago! Yeah, I'm doing a LOT of catch up, and some of this needs to be said. ) I can't agree more with this one. A BIG problem I have with DnD is time to do things. Most combats are over in 36-66 seconds, no way battles take entire days. One character on watch has the entire group up in 2-3 rounds, and then they move out.... etc. Anyway, putting out umpteen fires by hand or magic was a "What the frac?" moment for me as well. I see NO way around the encounter, nothing I can morph it into, no way to modify it into anything but what it is: "Big Red has set parts of Brindol on fire, help NOW" I think the mechanic listed is just a something to do that can actually be done by PCs. Fighting fires should take hours. However, I really like ?Subversive?s comment: "You're knocking out small fires and embers BEFORE they become raging infernos" I suspect I'll change my encounter to be "exactly that", having them roll to "detect hot spots" in garbage strewn allies, etc, knocking out little fires with the mechanic listed, and fighting medium fires with whatever water or cold magic they've got. Maybe add a balcony rescue of an idiot civilian who didn't evacuate. LOL. Wishful thinking. I'll need to exercise my "voice of reason via Amethyst the conveniently placed, super-intelligent, super-wise NPC unicorn" trick more often. ;) Mine was a paladin pseudo-cohort named Ashrat. No willpower to speak of, I even gave him the Flaw "Weak-willed" so that he could be talked into almost anything. But every once in a while he'd go "Um, guys? What about what the xxx said? Shouldn't we .....?" And he's launched red herrings, as I would occasionally decide Ashrat "had it wrong" but convince the PCs that the NPC's ideas were valid. This REALLY disguised his "railroad" or should I say, "redirection back onto track" suggestions as "just one more thing to think about". It was mroe that he would restate certain facts, but rarely actually list the "and therefore we should ....." Gerry
pukunui 03-14-08, 11:45 PM	Interesting. Thanks for your thoughts, Gerry. No matter how belated! ;)
Prom 03-22-08, 07:49 PM	This adventure has been put on hold for a few weeks, should get another installment on Friday. Prom
pukunui 03-24-08, 12:04 AM	This adventure has been put on hold for a few weeks, should get another installment on Friday. Sorry, it's gonna be on hold again this week. Friday's my birthday and I'd prefer to do something more light-hearted and fun. I'm hoping to play a game of Risk or Munchkin or something instead. To be honest, this campaign could be on hold indefinitely. Even if we do pick it up again the week after next, I don't know if we'll finish it before I get my copy of Keep on the Shadowfell in May. I want to run that adventure as soon as I've had a chance to read through it. I'm so excited about 4e that the prospect of DMing 3.5 has become increasingly unappealing. We'll see, though.
Gerry 03-26-08, 11:54 PM	Sorry, it's gonna be on hold again this week. Friday's my birthday and I'd prefer to do something more light-hearted and fun. I'm hoping to play a game of Risk or Munchkin or something instead.Merry Birthday!!!To be honest, this campaign could be on hold indefinitely. Even if we do pick it up again the week after next, I don't know if we'll finish it .... Hmmm :weep: Pukunui's players should NOT look in the spoiler block Leave RHoD unfinished? Big waaaa! Here's a suggestion to help you wrap up so it feels complete: End it at chapter 4. Make Kharn the BBEG. Do they have much knowledge of Kul? If not, you're great. Defeating him and the army ends the menace. There's more than a few posts on this in various places where many a DM have thought Chapter 5 felt like an "add-on". There's even a campaign log on the net somewhere where the DM reversed Chapters 4 & 5, running Chapter 5 first, making Chapter 4 the climax. Keep Chapter 5 on ice, and once it's been converted to 4.0, run it as a sequel! Gerry
pukunui 03-27-08, 03:02 PM	Merry Birthday!!! Hmmm :weep: Pukunui's players should NOT look in the spoiler block Leave RHoD unfinished? Big waaaa! Here's a suggestion to help you wrap up so it feels complete: End it at chapter 4. Make Kharn the BBEG. Do they have much knowledge of Kul? If not, you're great. Defeating him and the army ends the menace. There's more than a few posts on this in various places where many a DM have thought Chapter 5 felt like an "add-on". There's even a campaign log on the net somewhere where the DM reversed Chapters 4 & 5, running Chapter 5 first, making Chapter 4 the climax. Keep Chapter 5 on ice, and once it's been converted to 4.0, run it as a sequel! Gerry Thanks, Gerry! RE: your spoiler-blocked comments. I've been thinking of doing just that. ;)
Gerry 03-27-08, 11:25 PM	Thanks, Gerry! RE: your spoiler-blocked comments. I've been thinking of doing just that. ;) Good. I'd hate to have to re-title it the "Red Hand of Jericho" or some such thing. Gerry
snakeheadfish33 03-28-08, 11:04 AM	Happy birthday P! Let's see, it's about 9:51 am Friday my time (central), does that mean your birthday is about over? Since I'm not one of your players I did scope out Gerry's spoiler text. Gotta say I agree with his stance regarding your RHoD campaign. Actually, I'm a bit surprised you've not completed it by now somewhat. You did have quite a few shakeups and player changes and that always slows up things. Finish it somehow, you've invested far too much to do otherwise in my opinion. I see you've pre-orded the first 4th ed. module/adventure, I did as well, from the shop I work for. But I found on Amazon.com they are offering all core rulebooks in a single set for a great savings. Put my order in for that last night. My group is still kinda wishy washy on the whole 4th edition thing. Some rules get us excited, some need more light shined on them to make any sense. But we're down for giving it a play or two. Crom knows we have enough 3.5 stuff to keep us busy til the end of our gaming lives. We just finished up Barrow of the Forgotten King this week and are looking for short and sweet adventures to carry us through the next two months. I think we will be doing various Dungeon side-trek adventures, fantastic location modules and one or two or the WWD&DGD adventures. We're going to be jumping all over the place in terms of PC levels, revisiting older characters and whatnot. June can't come fast enough. Hope I didn't side-rail the thread too much, didn't think it would hurt anything if I did.
gamertall 03-31-08, 11:25 AM	Hey [B]Pukunui[B] where and/or how did you get ahold of a 4th edition preview game. I would also like to try that before hand to see if I and my players are getting worked up over nothing. We also have enough 3.x sutff to last us several years. We saw the deal Amazon.com is having, but since gamers are fairly scarce where I'm at right now, I'm going to purchase the 4th edition stuff from a local gaming store to keep them open.:) (If I play 4th edition that is.)
pukunui 03-31-08, 03:38 PM	where and/or how did you get ahold of a 4th edition preview game.ENWorld So I think we might play RHoD again this Friday. I don't really want to but I feel like we should bring it to some sort of closure. I'll try to get them through to the last fight and then we'll stop so Prom can have a chance to run the Star Wars-esque game he's made up while I wait for my copy of Keep on the Shadowfell to arrive sometime in May.
pukunui 04-04-08, 09:29 AM	Session Date: 5-6 April 2008 Playing Time: 4 hours Players Present: 3 Characters: Himo, Lyaelrae, Aleana, and several NPCs Timeline: Day 50 VPs: 40 ------------------------------------------------ It's certainly been a long time since we last played RHoD. Five or six weeks. I'm just going to keep this short and sweet. In the chaos and confusion of the battle, both Joe the warlock and Red the sneaky halfling got separated from the rest of the party. However, things quickly settled down once it became apparent that no further waves of attackers would be coming down the Dawn Way any time soon. The PCs were able to catch their breath as the soldiers regrouped, put out the fires, and rebuilt the barricade. Reports of harrowblades loose in the city filtered through to them but none made an appearance ... Around this time, Jarmaath called the PCs to Cathedral Square. He was mysteriously cut off, so they rushed to find out what had happened. They found the square in chaos. Himo was carrying a thunderstone with a light spell on it, making him a prime target for the sniper. The PCs saw the bodies lying in the square, got shot at (but didn't get hit) and ran for the Cathedral. Once everyone was inside, they bolted shut the doors and Himo ran up into one of the towers to get a better view. He cast a light spell on an arrow and shot it into the square ... the sniper fired an arrow in return, since his spell had briefly lit up the tower room in which he was standing. Lady Kaal contacted Himo telepathically, informing him she was taking control. She wanted to know why the PCs were hiding in the cathedral and she demanded that they go take out the sniper. So they went out the back way and snuck around a back street until they reached the far side of the square, where they began methodically searching each building. No one in the first building, which was all boarded up. The second building, however, was the coffin maker's shop, and the door was not locked. They sent Captain Soranna around the front to cover the other door and she got shot with an arrow from an upper story window. Himo then opened the back door and got blasted with a lightning bolt. The PCs rushed in and took out the first mage quickly, although he was able to get off one more lightning bolt. They soon found the other one and took him out relatively easily but the three hell hounds he'd summoned first proved to be rather elusive. With the help of their dwarven NPC allies, they were able to take them out. They searched the two bodies, finding a host of potions and scrolls. Himo was able to read all the scrolls. He cast invisibility on Aleana and sent her up the stairs. She had a look around for a minute before the others came up after her. Himo got struck first by the invisible sniper, who appeared, stabbed him, then disappeared again. Rinse and repeat several times, with several more people getting hit by the elusive assassin. The PCs delivered several resounding hits themselves, though. Eventually they chased him into the coffin maker's bedroom, where he proceeded to leap out the window. Lyaelrae and Aleana followed him but Himo decided to go back and take the stairs. Lyaelrae's keen elven senses helped him "sense" the assassin's presence while he was invisible (and although he couldn't pinpoint his exact location, the fact that he kept becoming visible every round meant that Lyaelrae could make some pretty educated guesses). The druid tried to pounce on the assassin while in dire lion form (into which he'd shifted while going out the window) but it was Aleana, with her flaming sword, he finally took the horrid creature down! And that was that. 4 VPs for holding the Dawn Way. 2 VPs for taking out the sniper. That puts the total at 40. Will that be enough to obtain victory? The players at least will have to wait at least one more session to find out. On a side note, we're most likely going to stop after the Battle for Brindol has finished. I'm done with the 3.5 rules (and any talk on my part of converting Chapter V to 4e rules is probably just wishful thinking) but I've said that we'll put it to a vote next week. If people want to continue, we will. If not, I'm going to let Prom take over as GM for a bit so he can run his sci-fi game until I get H1: Keep on the Shadowfell and am ready to run it.
Prom 04-04-08, 09:04 PM	Posted by Pukunui, The players at least will have to wait at least one more session to find out. This is one player who does not care much now. There has been so little roleplay from this module and I'm a 50/50 kind of guy. It just feels like a huge collection of really hard chess battles. Prom
pukunui 04-04-08, 11:05 PM	This is one player who does not care much now.Ouch. That's not very encouraging ... :allalone: There has been so little roleplay from this moduleThere hasn't been much, if any, lately, but I wouldn't say that there's been little roleplaying overall. I'm not really sure I believe you when you say you're a 50/50 guy. I think it's closer to 60/40 or even 70/30 in favor of combat. I can remember several times when I tried to instigate some roleplaying only to have you try to rush everyone through it. I don't want to start a fight but I think you're being a bit unfair here. I think the module presents plenty of opportunities for roleplaying. We played through some of them well enough. Others we missed due to player decisions and/or the luck of the dice. What I'm getting at is that if you feel there wasn't enough roleplaying, it wasn't necessarily the fault of the module itself. I don't really know why I'm being so defensive of it but there you have it.
hastur_nz 04-06-08, 04:47 PM	Well, I think that the set-up of the adventure doesn't lend itself to much meaningful role-play. Certainly that was my experience of it, having just finished it recently as a player. I'm sure that a DM who makes a lot of effort can create more opportunity for more role-play, by adding to what's in the book, but really, the set-up of the adventure (PC's vs army, with very little help from the rest of the towns especially until near the end) pretty much discourages meaningful role-play except from within the party. And once players get put off role-play, they don't tend to try so hard next time... I've certainly seen a lot more good role-play in other campaigns, both ones I've run, and ones I've played in. RHoD was, to me, a very challenging set of fights, but other aspects didn't quite do it for me... Still, it's hard to please everyone...
Prom 04-06-08, 09:54 PM	hastur_nz, you have nailed it on the head. Pukunui this is not your fault as I've said before. Role-playing shopping visits or researching for a battle are not enough to hold my interest. The best roleplay I have had was between your own creations and Ivan and they were NPC's that where not in the RhoD. But I had to have my character do something dramatic and risk. Also Fremlin with his dress getting into Brindol and the pub scene were great. Serious roleplay situations are alright, but it's nice to have some comic moments. Really taking the worlds we explore seriously is not really me. This chapter in Brindol has been the pits. The absolute best NPC I have encounter was one you made up with no combat focus, at a lake with Kane Swift. I'm always going to want to move on if the roleplay is dull and want to kill something. Prom
pukunui 04-07-08, 04:03 AM	...It's really interesting how different a DM's and a player's perspectives can be. Prom, for instance, enjoyed Barrow of the Forgotten King more than he's enjoyed RHoD, yet I, as DM, thought the former was dreadfully linear and played out much more disastrously than RHoD has. I also think RHoD has plenty of opportunities for roleplaying, yet here I have two players saying it doesn't. I think it all boils down to what you consider roleplaying to be and what kind of roleplaying you find entertaining. The best roleplay I have had was between your own creations and Ivan and they were NPC's that where not in the RhoD.Which NPCs were these? The absolute best NPC I have encounter was one you made up with no combat focus, at a lake with Kane Swift.Ah yes the bronze dragon in disguise. But we did that over e-mail. I don't think it would have been the same if we'd done it face-to-face at the table. I'm always going to want to move on if the roleplay is dull and want to kill something.Have you ever tried to make it more interesting for yourself instead of just trying to rush through it?
Prom 04-09-08, 09:09 PM	Posted by Pukunui, It's really interesting how different a DM's and a player's perspectives can be. Prom, for instance, enjoyed Barrow of the Forgotten King more than he's enjoyed RHoD, yet I, as DM, thought the former was dreadfully linear and played out much more disastrously than RHoD has. I also think RHoD has plenty of opportunities for roleplaying, yet here I have two players saying it doesn't. I think it all boils down to what you consider roleplaying to be and what kind of roleplaying you find entertaining. Yes, but we had your NPC Tara Pendragon along for the ride in the Barrow. If I remember Kane swift tryed to chat her up and give your a flower. The rest of the guy's got to interact with Tara, which was funny and annoying at times. I realize that having a NPC in the party is a lot of work and not desirable that they have a combat input. But it does help bring the pre-made adventures to life. There were also a lot of physical hazards that created some great comic moments. Posted by Pukunui, Which NPCs were these? Tara Pendragon, Hersk, the two hobgoblins in jail with Ivan. Really you are a gifted creator of roleplay NPC's when you build them, in comparison to the premade adventures that are very stall. Posted by Pukunui, Ah yes the bronze dragon in disguise. But we did that over e-mail. I don't think it would have been the same if we'd done it face-to-face at the table. I don't agree, if the whole party had been around it could have been very interesting. Posted by Pukunui, Have you ever tried to make it more interesting for yourself instead of just trying to rush through it? Of coarse, but I rush when we have been at it for hours and it is just like buy this, sell that, check that library out, etc. It's the mundane stuff that is hard to make interesting. I still think that the games would improve if you started added your own NPC's again, just from time to time with the purpose of roleplay. They don't have to have a combat focus, things like: Street pick pockets, Drunk vagabonds, Bar maids, lost adventures, Hermit's, etc. Prom
pukunui 04-09-08, 11:18 PM	OK, I did make up Tara but Hersk was from the module. I gave him some extra dialogue for the jail scene but that was about it. Same with the hobgoblins. I wouldn't be surprised if you think that I made up a number of the NPCs that are actually written into the module. I think it's very telling that all your examples of enjoyable roleplaying moments were conducted via e-mail. I have yet to see you mention an example of a face-to-face roleplaying moment that you enjoyed. I do not believe this is a coincidence. Roleplaying via e-mail is a very different beast to roleplaying face-to-face. If we'd done all our e-mail roleplaying during live sessions, I don't think they would have been anywhere near as rich or as entertaining because we would've been winging it rather than writing it, if you get the distinction. The thing about roleplaying shopping and research is that sometimes it's important and rushing through it have negative consequences. The group rarely bothers doing any sort of investigation into anything. Sure, there's the odd knowledge check and scouting maneuver, but nine times out of ten, you guys won't find what you're looking for with the initial search and will just leave it at that and go rushing blindly into the arms of whatever it is that's waiting for you ... I suspect this is because doing any sort of in-depth research or investigation is considered tedious and boring and thus gets glossed over as quickly as possible. :rolleyes: Oh well. It's all water under the bridge. Not a lot I can do about it now. Let's just hope that the 4e rules can help me improve my improv skills ... ;)
Gerry 04-10-08, 06:27 AM	Hmmm. There are a number of interesting parallels with my game, so I thought I'd throw this in even though it's obviously not a recap from your campaign. "It's like a chess match of battles". Many of our sessions, especially now in RHoD, focus on combat. The minis, the movement, the XP. My group plays midweek for three hours, so just as we defeat something in combat, everyone rushes out the door. Any roleplaying of "talk to prisoners", search thru roadblockade before we burn it down, etc, happens via email, and then usually as a couple of points. When we do a roleplay intensive session there's often a feeling of "no XP tonight, sigh". Yet it sets up the situations and allows my party to pick and choose their combats tactics, etc. Too much time in town leads to side comments about "which way to the adventure?" "Your NPCs are the best for roleplaying" - ANYTHING a DM does more of beforehand is going to come to the forefront, IMnsHO. Creating a new NPC from scratch takes more time and investment, and the DM can bring that one to life. If I take time to redo an NPC into a full character sheet, I find it helps me. But I'm still "going back to the module" to look for diologue or guidance about what that NPC is on about in various situations. That breaks the flow of the roleplaying. With your own NPCs, there's no such look up, and so you carry it all, and just presents more smoothly. Similarly for the maps into 3-D. By the time you build a set, I mean prepare a 3-D minis map for a combat (Vraath Keep, Skull Gorge for me so far), I become much more immersed into the detail from the module. I notice things I had not , even after 3-4 read thrus! And thus those combats come out better. It's why I transfer most NPCs to the Character Sheet spreadsheet my PCs use. Doing so brings out their detail, it's not JUST to create a piece of paper in standard format. I have to re-select the Feats, and more helpfully, buy the skills. Seeing where THEY went gives an idea into what that character has "worked on". And that makes me think, okay, this person has devoted themselves to learning Appraise, or whatever, its important to them. Anything to get further insite into the NPC, aside from the paragraph or two that might be scattered around the module. Gerry
pukunui 04-10-08, 04:18 PM	Thanks for the comments, Gerry. You made some good points. I'd like to just comment on one of them at the moment, though. Creating a new NPC from scratch takes more time and investment, and the DM can bring that one to life.Both aspects of this statement are true. The more time a DM spends on fleshing out an NPC, the more interesting that NPC should be in the game ... That being said, in my particular case, I think the reason there's been a drop-off in interesting NPCs in my campaign is because, as my graphic design courseload increased, my spare time decreased, and thus the idea of tinkering with NPC/monster stats, let alone creating any from scratch, became more and more of a chore. My increasing excitement for 4e has done nothing to help. In fact, it's only ever made me less interested in continuing with 3.5. I honestly don't know why I'm always leaping to defend the RHoD module. I've become very precious about it, despite the fact that I think it's far from perfect. I really do think that as a DM, it reads like the ultimate adventure we've all been wishing we could have written ourselves, and yet it hardly ever seems to play out that way from the point of view of the players. Once again, I'll say, bring on 4e!!! From what I've seen, NPC/monster stats are super simple and streamlined and I won't have to spend nearly as much time on the math ... which means I'll be able to spend most of my prep time on the fluffy stuff, which I hope will have a noticeably positive effect on the game.
hastur_nz 04-10-08, 05:32 PM	If we'd done all our e-mail roleplaying during live sessions, I don't think they would have been anywhere near as rich or as entertaining because we would've been winging it rather than writing it, if you get the distinction. The thing about roleplaying shopping and research is that sometimes it's important and rushing through it have negative consequences. For what it's worth, I find that the opposite approach works best in the games I run: do all the mundane stuff like shopping and research off-line via email, and leave the juicy role-play (like discussions with important NPC's), which can often lead to interesting choices for the players, to the live table-top (face to face) experience. I run a couple of bi-weekly games, each only about 3.5 hours a session, so typically we get one or more good role-play pieces, as well as about 3 fights (unless one's especially big, or there's a lot of good group role-play to be done). Typically we manage to get the "rest in town" kind of pieces to come about at the end of a session, so we can do it over email - basically, players let me know what they want to sell, try and buy, any other plans their character has for getting stuff done, and so on. Most of this I can do via email, only leaving any juicy role-play for the start of the next session. For example, in one game my players are running a fine line with the local thieves guild, so I need to role-play that one face to face in order to do it properly as currently the players seem to want to take out one of the guild but they need to have a proper dialogue with lots of quick back and forth in order to give the scene justice. Some other, more straight forward investigations, I've done completely via email, say where one PC was worried about crossing the thieves guild vs the mages guild, so he went looking for a senior mage to confess to - because of the adventure set-up that one could only go one way so I ran it via email without much need for interaction. Shopping is always boring for me, as a player as well as a DM, so I've always preferred to save an hour or so at the table and do it via email. I think it's important, especially when you've only got a few hours a month on a game, to maximise everyone's time spent on group activities where player choices make a difference - so fights, and genuine group-inclusive role-play. More boring stuff, which typically only involves one player at a time, is best done off-line.
pukunui 04-10-08, 06:30 PM	On the one hand, I can see the value in doing mundane stuff like shopping trips and research via e-mail. On the other hand, I actually like the idea of roleplaying those things because they give the players more NPCs to interact with. Unfortunately, we don't generally get to do either in our games because a) the shopping trips and research requests generally come in the middle of a session, rather than at the end, and b) the amount of math and page-flipping and whatever else that I have to do makes it virtually impossible for me to actually inject any sort of roleplaying into these moments. From what I've seen of 4e, I think there are two aspects of the new game that should make life easier in regard to in-game shopping and research. Firstly, just about everything the players will need in terms of equipment, magic items, mounts, etc (and, more importantly, the prices for all these things!) will be right there in the PHB. They'll have absolutely no excuse whatsoever for not looking it up themselves. Secondly, it looks like WotC is keeping the handy monster knowledge check tables they developed for later 3.5 MMs (I really wish they'd thought of it in time to use them in the MMI!), which should speed up research time. Both of these things should speed things up and make it easier to inject a bit of roleplaying if desired.
pukunui 04-11-08, 09:46 AM	The PCs fought Kharn and his minions this evening. The battle raged for five hours of real time and, in the end, two PCs were dead, one was dying, and the fourth (Lyaelrae the druid) decided to flee for his life. The PCs had managed to take everyone out except Kharn, his lesser nightmare mount, and his sorceress concubine. They had also managed to reach the 40 victory point mark ... but, unfortunately, we'll never know what fate befell this Elsir Vale because there will be no third band of heroes coming to its aid. The campaign has ended in ignominy. The PC death toll has been huge, especially for poor Prom, who has lost every single one of his PCs since we started playing together. If we are to grant the side of light the victory, it will be a very pyrrhic one at that. And to think I rolled more natural 1s this session than I ever have before in my life! :rolleyes: Well, that's it really. I don't know if I'll do a recap when I pick up the DM baton again. I'll consider it. It depends on how many other people are doing Keep on the Shadowfell recaps, I suppose. Thanks for reading and responding everyone. Jonny out.
Prom 04-12-08, 09:50 PM	Hi All, Well not a heroic ending for the party, but we all tryed very hard. Himo unloaded every spell he had left and a few scrolls to get Aleana and Red flying. The Karn flew up to the roof of the Cathederal and sliced Himo to pieces. Aleana tryed to hold the beasts away from the weaker members and fly up and shot the enemy. The mage dispelled Aleana's fly ability and the ogres and Karn took her down when she floated to the ground, then Aleana managed to stabilize and fall twice before dying. Karn stabbed Aleana through the heart so she could not cause him more trouble. Joe was never found after he was lost during the dawn way battle. Red killed the Giant when it got into the Cathederal with a sneak attack, but fell when dealing with Karn and the mage trying to save Lyaelrae the Druid. Lyaelrae used every spell he had except zero levels, making crocadiles, Dire wolf's etc to fight the enemy. Finally the loss of everyone on his side forced him to flee, who knows if he will escape the flying Karn... Karn still lives, and Brindol is unlikely to hold him back. The game group is now playing Andromedia, a starwars game (sort of). Prom