You;ve all been extra responsive, and I have a full work week ahead of me. So, quick before I got to bed...

Black days of Kor Kammor
Game Ten part one
Dramatis Personæ
(In order of appearance)

Voronex
A deformed male fireblood dwarf 8th level dragonfire adept. Seeking a cure for a paralyzing disease has affected his kindred, slowing and turning them gradually to stone. Along the way, has formed the Heralds of Dawn, who oppose the bugbear Blood Hoard. Now seeking a villain named UnJohn, who can act as a scout through the Firestorm Mountains to the ancient duegar city of Kazakrem. There Voronex must face the Alictors, who seek to destroy the world and revive the Great Elementals.

Auriji
A six foot tall, mahoganny skinned female human 7th level barbarian. She fights with Majah Gada, a thrown returning longspear, or Phrit Fi, a punch dagger. Voronex is her blood brother, and she is romantically linked to Quince. Currently sees the Heralds as her path to eternal glory. Acts as unofficial second in command.

Lyssa and Ryssa, "The Twins"
A female dvati (Dragon Compendium) 8th level jester with painted faces. Have laughing and crying drama masks. Most people don't realize their names, Lyssa and ryssa, refer not to the two dvati bodies, but to the masks. Thus whichever one hold laughing face is Ryssa, and whichever one holds crying face is Lyssa. Hope to find their way home to their lost homeland someday, but want to see the world in the meantime, and the Heralds have become their replacement family. Mostly fight with daggers and whips.

Mhyssi
A female 2nd level major celestial bloodline elf 3rd level cloistered cleric/ 3rd level battle sorcerer (Unearthed Arcana)/2nd level mystic theurge. Enslaved as a very young girl, served as a sex toy and learnt the art of skeeving (goblin military scrying). Auburn-headed with split eyes (one gold and one green), and she has a tattoo of a greatsword on her left cheek. She has a greatsword weapon charm and she has a spell component pouch stolen from her previous owner, the Redcap shaman Kittur. Wears mithral chain over her sand-silk clothing, and has begun to explore her freedom. Serves as acane and divine spellcaster, and sage, for the group.

Quince Whiteblade
Quince is a male human 8th level knight, trying to make his mark and find UnJohn, a wanted murderer. Romantically linked to Auriji. Beleives the Heralds may be his path to prove he can buck his family curse, in which all men turn out to be villains or wastrels.

Tiera
An elfling (Midnight) shaman (the Shamans handbook) of the Spirt Speakers, the shamanistic "old religion" of the elves. Seeks the Pyre Reborn, a dwarf of odd birth who can spark a new age of discovery. Has recently embraced her role as a shaman of destructive forces of nature, and marked her face with blue claw paint. She has three taboos. She may never wear armor, must paint the flame marks of the Pyre of Knowledge on herself every day, must return any purely benevolent aid in the coin she believes her allies most desire. Has a spirit wolverine familiar.

Juiren
A half-elf 7th level healer (Miniatures Handbook). Juiren brought the Heralds to his human hometown which was being raided by rageblood h'orcs. In the fallout, he was banished as a likely conspirator with the ogre attackers. Now follows the Heralds like a puppy, and is extremely smitten with Mhyssi, who's cabin he is sharing so she can train him.

Yesurva Yelloweyes
A tibbet 7th level mountebank. One of a few dozen tibbet who live in the arcane academy in Liberty, offspring of generations of cat familiars infused with magic crossbreeding when polymorphed into humanoids by hormone-crazed students. Was overtaken by curiosity about Auriji and Voronex, and since they aren't boring yet, she hasn't left them yet. Currently onboard the Hawksail in housecat form, though only the captain knows she booked passage.

Daronelle Tradewinds
A spring elf (PHB elf with the races of Water template from Unearthed Arcana) 3rd level ranger/4th level scout. Cousin of Juiren (on his elven side) and officer on board the Hawksail. Grateful to the Heralds for saving her cousin, fasinated by the deformed and exotic Voronex, and going to be on the ship for a few days anyway.

The heroes sail across the Storm Sea on the elven courser ship Hawksail, racing toward the Necromancer City of Hollowfaust and hoping to beat the Merwhore, aboard which the criminal UnJohn trqvels.

The Heralds of Dawn are, for the most part, enjoying not having to fight, set watches, or move under their own power. Everyone on the Hawksail treats them as valued guests, largely because Juiren is Daronelle's cousin, and the Heralds helped him out of a tight spot.

Daronelle, meanwhile, is showing a high level of interest in voronex. While the water-born elves and stone-born dwarves rarely get along, Daronelle is facinated by dragons, and has never seen a dragonfire adept before. Voronex is suspicious, to be honest, especially since she doesn't seem to even *notice* his massive deformities, which in his dep was ususally a sign of a cruel joke being prepared. But he's not prepared to be rude, so he's simple a bit stand-off ish.

Quince and Auriji are enjoying time spent in each other's company out of armor, and have begun talking about their home cultures. Everyone else on board thinks this is cute, and a sign of a coming marriage, but the couple themselves don't seem to have thought that far ahead.

Juiren is receiving training from Mhyssi about magic, religion, and combat. It does her a world of good to see that her skills are actually considerable, and she enjoys teaching the younger elfling. Juiren is totally infatuated by Mhyssi, a fact she has not yet noticed.

The Twins are enjoying being able to jump about the ship's rigging, and are learning to sail from the crew. They also do tricks and jokes, generally lightening the whole ship's mood. They take up with the Master of Wings on baord, an elven officer named Pyrsian (who is responisble for the ship's hunting harks, carrier pidgeons, and scout seagulls). Though currently a fairly torrid love affair, the Twins and Pyrsian agree it's a casual thing, to end when the Heralds leave the ship.

Tiera spends most of her time quietly near Voronex. Daronelle tries to figure if the two are a couple, but no one knows what to tell her. No one thinks to ask Voronex or Tiera, who certainly seem content to stand silently at the prow of the Hawksail.

One the second day, a fog rolls up. Within it is a skeletal ship, a not-too uncommon sight on the storm seas. The hawksail steers clear, but a flock of 4 bonewings (undead raptor/wyvern creatures, Creature Colletion II) fly from it to attack. Thge Heralds help destroy them, but the ship's crew prove able enough even without aid. This is their home sea, after all, and they travel it even when there aren't PCs around. Qince wants to go destroy the boneship as well, but the captain vetoes the idea. If the heroes want to take out random threats on the Strom Sea, they'll have to crew their own ship to do it-the captain is taking no needless risks with his vessel.

On the thrid day, a giant sea serpent shows signs of interest in the ship, but a few giant crossbow bolts from the ships' battle-wings (two small side decks, each with a giant crossbow) drive it off. The Storm Seas are dangerous, but not impassable. A storm catches up to the ship later that day, and runs through day four.

Early on the fifth day, the Hawksail's crows nest spots a mass of seaweed in the distance. This is not too unsusal after a big storm. However, there is a large human ship upside down in the middle of the seaweed mass. It doesn't seem to be currently sinking, but the exposed hull shows signs of battle damage. The captain intends to steer well clear of this. The seaweed is likely from deeper parts of the sea, and any time the depths are churned up it's a good idea to stay away. However, Tiera sends her spirit wolverine to check out the wreck, and it comes back with reports of noises coming from within the hull. Quince and Auriji immediately decide a rescue effort must be undertaken, and as soon as she realizes what they are suggesting Mhyssi agrees, which brings in Juiren's support.

The captain is unwilling to risk the Hawksail. Even if there's no monstrous threat, and he warns his experience on the Storm Sea suggests there is, the ship could get ensnared by the seaweed and stopped. Worse, the seaweed may sink again in a few hours or a few days, and when it does so any ship snared in it may go down as well. Mhyssi sees the captain's point, but also suggests that's even *more* reason to try a rescue. Quince suggest the Heralds go with her in one of the shoreboats, and see if a resuce can be attmpted. This puts little risk on the Hawksail, and still may save lives. Daronelle volunteers to go along. Grugingly, the captain agrees.

DM aside. So, here's the deal. When players get their characters on a baot, they want sea adventures. But at this point, if the threats of the Storm Sea are so great that you *need* a group of mid-level heroes to get you through, no normal travel is possible. Now, I *can* use the old tropes of enemy agents making life difficult for you (see: owlbear attack), or that you *happen* to run into the one most dangerous rare thing. But I fear I overuse those the rest of the time, so I wanted to avoid themn here. So, I presented the players with a threat the captain could easily avoid. Clearly, if they weren't along he'd sail safely on. But since they are heroes, the players can go one step further and try a resuce. Realism (as it is for a fantasy game) is maintained, the heroes anre heroic, and we all get a water encounter. Everyone is happy.

Trailing a very long, stout rope, the Heralds head out to see if a resuce is possible or even needed. Auriji, Lysaa, Quince, tiera, Daronelle, Mhyssi, Juiren, and Voronex row a shoreboat into the seaweed bed. Ryssa stays behind, so the ship's crew will know if Lyssa gets in trouble. Yelloweyes successfully sneaks onto the shoreboat, with no one the wiser.

The seaweed turns out to be carniviorous, and mobile. As soon as the shorebaot touches it, long tentacles of the stuff begin flopping onto the ship. As the group prepares for a difficult fight, Tiera whips out the command plaknts spell. Though she rarely uses it, plants is one of her totem domains, and thus she has access to the spell. The seaweed creatures subside. The heralds reach the inverted ship, and can read it's name along the keel – the Bloodmine. Mhyssi recognizes the name immediately (lore check), this is a Ghuraki slaver.

However, that reinforces the chances that someone might be alive – slaves left in the lower hull might now be safely above the water0-line within. The heralds bind their shoareboat to a broken spar, and swam onto the invested slaver galley.

A quick examination shows the ship's keel is badly damaged, and it's hull near bursting. While that means air can get to those within in some places, it also means any effort to hack through the ship's tough hull is as likely to sink the whole ship as to free anyone trapped within. There are claw marks and sucker-scars on the hull, which surprises everyone but Daronelle. Any sea voyage involves a few aquatic monsters seeing the the hull can be breached, she explains, and thus sailing vessels must be built as castles of the water.

Voronex alone has hearing keen enough to pick out the sounds of screaming from wihtin the ship's hull. Not only are their survivors, they're in trouble right now. Quince and Auriji begin to shuck off the light armor theyve been wearing at sea, while Mhyssi depends on the mage armor she cast up earlier, augmenting it with a magic vestment. Teira casts bulls strength on herself and Lyssa, to give them better Swim checks (and a better chance of escape the tentacled horros all the players expect me to unleash on them). Tiera realizes her wolverine spirit will be of limited help--it can't materialize in the water without sinking.

Lyssa is the first one into the water, much to everyone else's annoyance. Daronelle, dressed for swimming (in a 1 armor bonus masterwork leather jerkin with no armor check penalty and 1 shield bonus dastana -- cpmmon spring elf sea attire), goes in right after her. Voronex is third in, while Mhyssi and Juiren help Quince and Auriji get their armor off. Tiera just waits, and watches over those still on the hull. Yelloweyes has not yet left the shoareboat.

Lyssa and Daronelle work together to find a safe passage through the night,are below the ship's hull. Rigging and torn sails form a three-doimensional maze of snares and entangling hazards. Bodies, pins, ballista bolts and manacles are still slipping lose and floating downward. Floatsom chokes the water and clouds visibility. Voronex follows them closely, and spots sharks swimming in a circle around the ship. The player point out what no one else is considering – why are the sharks circling, not attacking?

Realizing their path cant be seen well, Lyssa casts glitterdust (action point for silent spell) on a nearby coil of rope (and everything else in that 10 ft radius, which isnt important yet). She then uncoils the sparkling rope, and plays it out along the safe path.

By the time Lyssa, daronelle and Voronex reach the first major air pocket, in the inverted middle hold, Auriji and Quince are armor-free, and have double-checked the cord holding their shoareboat in place. The rest of the Heralds go into the water, and immediately spot and follow the glittering rope.

But they are not the only ones to spot it, A pair of shapes move through the underwater nightmare, one trailing the entrails of a severed half-bdy behind it. Auriji spots it and trys to direct the other's attention toward it, but they totally fail to understand her warning. Thus, only she goes on the surprise round, when the two creaturss attack.

Bulbous, barnacle-like bodies they have, roughly sphereical. Massive crab claws hang lopsidedly off opposide ends. Seaweed-like material trails along the underside of each. Lobster-like feelers come off the tops of the spheres, and a huge central squid eye sits in the middle. Knowing Magah Gada is impractical in the entangled maze of rigging, Auirji uplls Phrit Fi and preares to defend herself.

But it is only when the two massive eyes unleash stun cones the players realize the horrid truth. They are now locked in battle with two eyes of the deep.

End part on of game 10.

(If I get a LOT of feedback, I'll post part two in a week or less.)

You're so good to your readers! Thank you, and I've been losing my share of sleep reading this.
I love ocean based adventures; piracy, storms, and sea monsters. Good stuff.
Two Eyes of the deep in terrible conditions for a fight, what fun. I imagine the seaweed would give them problems and the light from the Glitterdust rope can't go far. Are they completely submerged? I don't see that anyone cast Water Breathing so that looks like it could be a nasty fight (forgive me if I ramble, I love the tactical element of the game).

No, no one cast any water breathing spells. Yes, the fight is completely submerged (though there were air pockets). They were all depending on being able to hold their breaths for an underwater fight.Of course, each standard action you take reduces the number of rounds you can hold your breath (starting at equal to your Cohn) by one, so that bacame an issue, as you'll see.

So, some people asked me my email or livejournal emssage, what the heck is a "Ghuraki" slaver, and why do we care?

well, unless you are playing in Kor kammor, you probably don't. But in case you do...

Cast your minds back to early in the life of the OGL. My main game group was one of those groups that was convinced our home campaign (not Kor Kammor at the time, mind you) would make a brilliant rpg product. So, we started compiling elemetns from all our games to make a set of game books -- Campaign Setting, Campaign-Guide's Handbook, and a MM-like book. And in that MM book, we were going to include our repalcements (niche-wise) for all the things not in the OGL. For example, my Blasphemer was chosen to take the place of the beholder.

For Githyanki and Githzerai, the group decided to use my Ghuraki. The Guraki are as much a condition as a race, a set of pirates ruled by the undead Drowned Queen all of whom have contracted her unique form of Mummy Rot. However, they are not yet undead, although they do have a strong connection to the negative plane of death (also called the deathlands). As their bodies rot, they bandage the corrupted sections of flesh in an effort to slow the progression. (When they lose too much of their life, they become Abhorrent Ones, which are full undead, controlled only by the Drowned Queen and her lichloved Bloody Maidens). They are generally deathmasters, hexblades, true necromancers and death-tinted arcane knights or spellsowrds.

rather than travel the astral plane, the Ghuraki are accursed to spend most of their lives in the para-elemental plane of fog. In that place, they build vast citadels out of sunken ships and captured docks, floating in the endless mist. From time to time, a Bloody maiden gathers enough power to peirce the misty elemental veil, and take a ship out onto the sea. It always carries a mist with it, wherever it goes, and the Ghuraki can only survive within the mist. (Think the Fog movie from a few years ago for how this often plays out in coastal towns).

Because they can never stay outisde the plane of fog for long, the ghuraki must raid for anything they wish to have with them. This means they hit coastal towns, other ships and islands to loot food, art, crafts, or anything else they might want. They also trade in slaves, both for their own purposes, and to other evil groups. They are famous for "Broken" slaves who have had their will ground down until they do whatever they are told, but retain a personality so they aren't boring automotons.

Slave ships are particular feared, because each one can hold as many as 500 slaves. Thus, the Heralds had ample reason to believe a few might have survived even the worst wreck.

That fight is going to go south very quickly methinks.
I like your Githyanki/Githerzai angle a lot better than the standard one. I may just have to steal that...

You know, I just thought of something:

You said that the elves are split into Spring and Winter elves (a nice throw to the legends of the faerie courts). So what does that make Mhyssi? Does her celestial heritage make her the exception?

In theory a major celestial bloodline elf is not *immune* to the Despair of Winter, though everyone assumes such a character would go on centuries longer without giving in. (It's been established that half elves don't normally live long enough for the Despair to set in without a magic cuase, and half-elves of various types, like Tiera, are actually more numeorus than elves, because half-elves are more fertile with other half elves than elves are with fuill-blood levels.)

However, Mhyssi is the last of the Hearts of War. The entire bloodline has a celestial tinge, and is famous (among elven scholars) for never having lost a member to the despair. Now, in part that's because they were all warriors, so they sought out important battles to keep them driven to fight for good until something killed them, effectively self-limiting their lifespans through combat. But many of them lived centuries longer than most elves can hold off the Despair, and it's wondered if their immortal, celestial blood is why.

Or, piut another way, no one is sure if Mhyssi is an exception or not.

The character backplots thicken! I realize that most of us probably guessed that there was something special in Mhyssi's backplot...but a legendary bloodline? Now that will make for some very interesting roleplay if they ever end up in an elven community.

Two Eyes of the Deep. Dungeon Grrrl, I bow reverently to thee. How wonderfully fiendish. EotD have always been one of my favorite Beholderkin. They don't seem to get used very often either, so that should make this encounter extra-special. I am really looking forward to seeing them get out of this mess.

And of course it will be interesting to see just what the living cargo of this ship was. Random displaced townsfolk? Possibly, but this is certainly a great opportunity to let the characters make an important friend or contact for the future, by way of of rescuing them. We'll just have to see what brilliance you are going to dazzle us with next.

I am impatiently anticipatively waiting to see.

While I didn't go into in it any detail, the fact that she's one of the Hearts of War is in Mhyssi's very first cast entry, in Black Days of Kor Kammor Game One.

I used the eyes of the deep out of the tome of Horrors (Thanks, Clark!) because they seemed creepy and cool. those few of my players with deep D&D root freaked. I hadn't run into them before so it was a lucky choice for me, with extras emotional impact for some.

Yay! An undersea battle. I'm very interested to see how the characters are going to handle the breathing issue.

I also just love the fact that you keep a rolodex of random adventure ideas lying around. It seems like such a simple (and necessary) tool to have around. I wonder if there are any electronic tools that would help DM's organize their thoughts in such a way, as well as to help them generate level appropriate encounters from them. That would be a very cool tool indeed.

Excellent campaign journal. I've read the entire thing now over a span of three days (which hurt my productivity at work). I especially love two aspects of your game:
- Your ability to guide your group through some complex and very adult situations. Explicit sexuality isn't often a recurring theme in a game without dominating it or ruining it, but you've worked it in seamlessly.
- The incredible, action oriented, swashbuckling and improvisational feel. Every fight is action packed, not just "The monsters swings" "I swing", ad nauseum. It makes for a great read.

Escaping the pirate ship must truly be one of the most epic games ever run, and thank you for sharing it with us.

Black Days of Kor Kammor
Game Ten, Part Two
It's a bright day on the Sea of Storms. Two Eyes of the Deep (EotD) are attacking a capsized ship. The Heralds of Dawn thought they could handle anything they encountered today. They have miscalculated, and one of them is about to pay for it.

It's dark in the water. While it's full light on the surface, the vast hull totally blocks light below it, and the seaweed sargasso chokes out most of the rest of the light. Voronex's darkvision is cut to half distance for the clutter and detris floating through the sea, those with low-light get clear illumination out to only ten feet, and the humans have only five feet of bright visibility. It's actually easier to see down than up (as the clutter is thinner below them), and the glitterdust rope is clearly visible from a distance, though it's illumination doesn't make the area around it much brighter.

Lyssa, Daronelle and Voronex are in the first major air pocket, in a mid deck now right below one of the middle cargo holds. There is the smell of salt, blood, human waste and fear everywhere. As soon as they pop up, several maddened, patchwork-wrapped grey men turn from their efforts to claw open a hatch, and lock their oily black eyes on the Heralds. These are the survivors of the Ghuraki crew, now fully undead Abhorrent Ones and seeking living flesh on which to feed. Lyssa and Daronelle gamely engage them, but their precision attacks aren't particualrly effective against undead. Voronex breaths fire in great gouts, confident the wood by the waterline is wet enough he won't catch the ship on fire. Lyssa suffers a terrible Abhorrent bite, which turns out to be infected.

Two dozen feet below them in the ocean waters, the Eyes of the Deep's twin stun cones hit Auriji, Quince, Tiera, Mhyssi, and Juiren, with Auriji and Mhyssi both hit by two of the cones. Mhyssi fails her save, is stunned 8 rounds, and immediately begins to sink. Since she is stunned, not unconsciuous, she still gets to make her Constitution checks to hold her breath.

Quince rolls a natural 1 and also begins to sink, drifting right past Auriji and Tiera. Auriji makes both saves, doesn't hesitate, swims past Quince's sinking body to rage and make toward the nearest EotD with her punch dagger, Phrit Fi. Tiera is forced to grab Quince, and struggles to get him to the air pocket the Heralds can see about them, shimmering like a liquid silver sky.

(Aside note -- even though it's a light weapon, Auriji can Power Attack for up to 5 with Phrit Fi. We have a weapons guru in our group, and he was bothered that the punch dagger, which is primarily based on getting your full body mass and strength behind it, couldn't benefit at all from Power Attack. There were a lot of other little bonsues he through weapons should have when used by an expert. So, we added a lot of little bonuses you get if you have Weapons FOcus, which includes up to 5 pts of PA for a punch dagger)

Auriji rages, and begins punching with Phrit Fi, engaging one of the EotD. The other takes a moment to create a minor image of an unconscious Mhyssi, sinking next to the real Mhyssi. Juiren can only see her at the shadowed limits of his vision. He grabs a length of chain hung up by some rope, and cuts it away. The heavy chain drags him down toward the two Mhyssi's faster than he could swim, but that also takes him further from the other heralds and any possible support.

Tiera is having serious trouble hauling Quince up to the shimmering pool of air above her. Then she spots a trailing frond of the carnivorous seaweed. Grabbing it, she depends on her command plants to communicate her need to make it to the air pocket (Cha check). Much stronger than her, the seaweed complies, bringing her and Quince up to the air trapped beneath the ship, saving them both.

Here the battle with the three Abhorrent ones is nearly done, but more of the creatures are moving to the sound of the fighting from other places on the ship. The door the undead were scrabbling at opens, and a ragged, wounded man with a finely crafted longsword (streaked with black blood) steps out. He warns them the ship has at least a dozen creatures still on it, and all efforts to swim out have been disastrous. He's done his best to keep the survivors together, but he has little energy left. He asks the heralds if they can grab a few women and children, and try to get them to safety while he holds off the Abhorrent ones. Vorenex flatly states the heralds aren't fleeing yet, and they plan to save everyone still on this ship.

Alone on top of the inverted hull, Yelloweyes finds a crack she can crawl through as a cat, and sneaks into the hulk. She wants to avoid getting wet, but most of the interior is cut off from the crack she found (which is why the ship is still flaoting, bouyed by the trapped air) and so she has to dive under a section of ship to make it to the main hold. She finds people huddling, but so far no threat or the Heralds.

Meanwhile, Juiren has reached one Mhyssi only to discover it's the illusion, The EotD that created the illusion is hammering at him, but he keeps making Will saves against its paralysis and stun attacks, and spending action poitns for Silent Spell to heal himself from its claw attacks. Mhyssi is still making Con checks, but the DCs now require very high rolls from her, and the EotD turns to attack her stunned form. Juiren releases his chain, and swims for Mhyssi even as the EotD begins to rip her apart. Having cast many times, Juiren is nearly out of breath. With a surge of speed he swims to Mhyssi's side (actions point) and casts panacea. It cures her of some damage, and negates the stun effect. Then, Juiren fails his DC 10 Con check. He passes out and begins to drown.

Auriji is swirling in a cloud of waterborn blood, trading blow-for-blow with the other EotD. It can't overcome her Will save, and she seems more than willing to let it claw at her if it means she gets to stab it. After Auriji scores a particularly amazing critical hit, the EotD decides she is too tough a target, and swims for Mhyssi and it's mate. Auriji grabs the glitterdust rope and swims after it, while tying the rope into a snare. She is now making Con checks every round to prevent herself from drowning.

In the inverted hull, a discussion on who should stay to deal with the Abhorrent and who should go back into the water breaks out. Quince, now revived, asks which spellscasters have water-breathing type spells. Unfortunately, none of the spellcasters has any kind of water breathing ready. The spontaneous casters don't know such spells, and the preparations casters, despite being at sea for days, didn't prepare any.

This resulted in some chiding from other players, until Voronex's player asked Auriji and Quince's players if they had bought any kind of potion for water breathing. In case waterborn assassins made off ther with spellcasters for example. When they confessed they hadn't, the player had Voronex drink his Admixed Potion of Swim/Water Breathing. He bought the potion in Liberty, just before ther party left, and reminded them he'd asked if anyone else wanted to buy one. They had refused. There was no further chiding of the spellcaster's readiness. Voronex jumps into the water, to hlep fight the EotD.

Meanwhile, Tiera yells she'll deal with *everything* in the hull, so the rest of the party can back up those in the water. She decides that since her wolverine spirit *can* fight at full capacity in the hull, and *can't* in the water, it makes the most sense for her to be the ship-combatant. However, since she knows everyone is going to be in dangerous underwater, she wants to free up *everyone* else. Garonelle doesn't hesitate, and jumps into the water. Quince does hesitate, but when Lyssa jumps into the ocean, he feels he must follow her.

Auirij can't move with the speed of an eye of the deep, and continues to swim downward toward Mhyssi and the two aquatic aberrations. Voronex tries to be right behind her. His main problem is even with a huge Swim check, he just can't go very fast. His ground speed is 20, which slows his swim speed as well. Two of the players suddenly suggest maybe I'm being unfair. They want me to give Voronex extra movement because he has wings. They envision him using them to propel him through the water like a manta ray. While I consider this (I give all comments one quick consideration before I make a ruling), voronex's player suddenly, and strongly, vetoes the idea. First, he asks if anyone thinks a bat shoved underwater would find itself propelled forward like a manta ray. Second, he points out he had the option to take an underwater power as a dragonmfire adept, and didn't. Flying is flying, and swimming isn't. I agree that sounds reasonable, and the other players (somewhat grugingly) agree.

Tiera is stuck inside the hull with a dozen mid-level undead converging on her, with only a wounded beggar and her spirit wolverine to help her protect the surviving slave cargo. Juiren is drowning, and while Mhyssi is awake she is almost out of air, and far below the waves. Auriji is nearly out of air, and swimming down rather than up. Voronex is fully able, but can't reach the EotD quickly. Quince and Lyssa are swimming toward the fight, but are once more holding their breath. Yelloweyes is cut off and alone, and no one even knows she's there.

End Game Ten, Part Two

Phew. I think this one takes longer to type than it took to run. We had a little dry-erase board next to the battle-mat, and put a side view of the fight on it. So we drew the ship at the top, and a circle in a specific color for each character to indicate their depth. That worked great, but obviously I can't do that for the campaign journal, so it all sounds a bit complex. I hope you could all kept track of who was where, when (at least as well as my notes cover such round-by-round events).

I'll get the final part of Game Ten up when I can.
Dungeon Grrrl

On the mechanics side, I like how you handled Power Attack and the punch dagger. One the one hand, the rules say you can't. On the other hand, it is satisfying and cool to do so. The solution of requiring a Weapon Focus feat to Power Attack with it is excellent. You're skilled with this weapon, you can take appropriate actions with it. I'm definitely borrowing this idea.

Ouch, I can't see Myhissi getting out of this alive.
Another great entry; I like how you've handled the underwater battle. I tend to avoid lengthy underwater battles as both a player and a DM but you seem to have made it work.
I'll be waiting on the edge of my seat to see them get out of this one.

On the mechanics side, I like how you handled Power Attack and the punch dagger. One the one hand, the rules say you can't. On the other hand, it is satisfying and cool to do so. The solution of requiring a Weapon Focus feat to Power Attack with it is excellent. You're skilled with this weapon, you can take appropriate actions with it. I'm definitely borrowing this idea.

And not, you have a max Power Attack of 5 with the punch dagger. That way there *is* a point, but it's not as good as PA with a longsword. ;)

Man, I wish I had thought ahead that far when my players were fighting on top of Air Elementals...

So, does this mean that we will see the doom of one of the PCs, or they just get shamed?

Campaign World question: what role does psionics play in Kor Kammor, if any?

Man, I wish I had thought ahead that far when my players were fighting on top of Air Elementals...

So, does this mean that we will see the doom of one of the PCs, or they just get shamed?

Sect wrote:

Man, I wish I had thought ahead that far when my players were fighting on top of Air Elementals...

So, does this mean that we will see the doom of one of the PCs, or they just get shamed?

I cannot help but imagine that it could easily be more than one who is about to meet their doom during this session. Or worse, the blasphemous creatures could seek to inflict more horrid progeny on the world at the ladies' expense in one form or another.

Sect does raise an interesting point...

What a nasty nasty battle. I can't wait to hear how everything turns out.
This might teach them a lesson to better pick their fights and of the better part of valor. Or maybe not, they seem to enjoy picking ugly fights.

Sect does raise an interesting point...

...

Gwen - look what you've done here. People are hanging out and talking about your game like it was Lost or Desperate Housewives.

You are awesome. Please don't enter RPG Superstar 2. : }

Black Days of Kor Kammor
Game Ten, Part Three and Last

The Heralds are fighting a twpo-front war, with two EYes of the Deep down in the sea water, and against a hoarde of Abhorrent One (AO) undead in the inverted hull of a slaver ship caught in a sargasso.

At the deepest point of the battle, Mhyssi is conscious and not badly damaged, but is still making Con checks with high (and growing) DCs to not start drowning, and is at the deepest point of the underwater battle. There is an illusion of her own form slowly sinking past her, and what *appears* to actually be Juiren doing the same. And an Eye of the Deep is attacking her. Her player does a quick calculation on how long it'll take her to get to the air pocket, and decided both she and Juiren will be dead before that happens. Desperate for any way to even the odds, she tries to snags Juiren's tunic (touch attack miss by one) and begins casting Summon Monster II (action point for Silent Spell).

The other heralds keep swimming downward. Meanwhile Ryssa, back safely on the Hawksail asks if they have a sea-caster, They do, of course, but he's not about to risk himelf in the situation Ryssa is describing the heralds being in. Rhyssa just wants a water breathing spell, because since it is a touch, hamrless spell she can transfer it's benefits to Lyssa, her other body. However, she bothces her Diplomacy check, and the caster is hesitant, since he can only cast the spell once per day. Normally, he uses it in emergencies, and casts it on multiple people. The ship's captain gives the caster permission to use the spell, but isnt willing to order him to do so. In the end, Ryssa shells out 240 gp for the spell, then shifts its benefits to Lyssa. She also "buys" healing spells from a 3rd level druid travling on the Hawksail several times during the fight. (This takes longer to arrange than tell, since Ryssa uses rounds of combat time to track people down and talk to them)

Despite being attacked and injured, Mhyssi successfully gets off her summing monster II spell, and calls forward.... 3 celestial porpoises!! Though she cannot communicate with them, they immediately see she is in danger of drowning, as is Juiren. With Swim speeds of 80, the poirposes have no trouble getting under the two, and swimming rapidly upwards. The third swims past the higher of the two eyes of the deep, and is sent back to its home plane with an attack of opportunity,. However, the EotD has no other Attack fo Opportunity to stop the two taking Mhyssi and Juiren up to the air pocket. The two arrive just as Mhyssi passes out, and a round before Juiren would die. He is, however, at -1 hp and in danger of dying anyway if someone doesn't give him aid.

Tiera has her hands full trying to hold the doorway from the Abhorrent Ones, and the beggar with the shiney sword is only some help, having already been beaten, diseased, and exhausted -- though somehow he keeps standing and fighting. Her spirit wolverine helps, and she has spiritual weapons going, but more and mroe of the creatures are cralwing out of the woodwork to swamp the position she's trying to defend. Now, Mhyssi and Juiren pop out of the ocean, breathing but exposed to the undead. The beggar lurches out to defend the two unconscious heralds, leaving Tiera unable to go help them wihtout letting the surviving slaves behind her be swarmed and devoured. Feeling she has few options left, she tries to call the sargasso weeds into the hull. A few fronds make it in through the water, but enough enough to do much.

Meanwhile, the waterborn fighting gets much more interesting. The Eyes of the Deep come rushing up from the depths, and the Heralds are swimming and singking down from abaove. The two groups come into contact, and mayhem is unleashed. Lyssa's dagger is more effective in some ways than Quince's longsword, and Daronelle switches to a twin dagger fighting style, but without doubt it is Auriji's Phrit Fi that once more does the most damage, and she hooks the glitterdust rope over her foe's claw. But the eyes have terribler claws and bites, and one manages to grapple Lyssa. Immediately, it can score its claw and bite attacks one her automatically every round, and she has only half the total hit points of her two-body soul.

Voronex takes the longest to get down, and positions himself oddly away from the others. Everyone assumes he can't possible use a breath weapon, as fire will be useless andd if he uses cold he may kill Lysaa, who is in the same space as one of the two EotD. However, instead of exhaling, Voronex inhales mightily! He catches the two EotD and Lyssa, and does a -6 Str penalty to all of them! (I thought this was a really cool effect for a weakening breath weapon, inhaling their strength, and we made it official from there on out) Lyssa then uses Escape Artist, which doesn't suffer from her lessened Strength, to easily slip free. Suddenly, the EotD hit much less often in melee, and do less damage when they hit. Quince engages the once Lyssa escapes, and hammers at it as it tries to catch up to the Jester, who begins making her way toward Auriji.

But claws are not their only weapons. The other EotD hits Lyssa with a hold person, a paralysis that has her begin drowning immediately. Except, she can breath water now, so even if she loses her breath she's at no risk! But Quince doesn't know that. Quince has to stop fighting to grab her, and move to safety. Darronelle covers his escape with quick, short passes against the eye of the deep, but cant keep its attention long. Quince kicks off a submerged rowboat, which flips and dumps a pile of bodies that begin to be dragged down by their iron chains. These bodies are clearly slaves, their throats bitten out by the undead and their bodies dumped into the water. They drift down, toward Auriji and the lower EotD. Quince believes he has just three rounds to get Lyssa into air, or she dies. Lyssa, meanwhile, checks to see if she has lost her breath, and hasn;t yet.

Voronex zeroes in on the EotD Quince was fighting, and breaths ice on it. Already wounded, it starts to flee. Voronex goes after it, but can't begin to keep up. Daronelle goes after him and can swim faster, but is quickly running out of air. The other Eye heads down, and Auriji is dragged by her rope after it, as the bodies drift about her.

In the hull, Tiera casts plant growth on the few fronds of seaweed that had crawled in, choking off the entrayway she needs to guard. The Abhorrent ones are cut off from the slaves, but so is Tiera. She spins, knocking shreiking slaves out of her was as she looks for another way around, so she can help Mhyssi and Juiren. The AOs start to hack through the vines.

Meanwhile, the beggar is the only one keeping the Abhorrent Ones off the two unconscious Heralds. They rush him, grappling him and bearing him to the ground. One disarms him, knocking his shining sword from him. The sword clatters from the beggar's battered hand, skids across the tilted ship decking, and slides into the sea. The beggar cries out in anguish, but lacks the strength to get the Abhorrent Ones off him. The sword appaears lost.

Food Arrives, and we take a few minutes to eat.

During the pizza break, Auriji's player asks me some questions about her tribe, for roleplaying purposes. She knows as a warrior her spirit is rewarded in the afterlife if she dies wll, and undeath is unacceptable to her people. She knows they burn bodies of the dead in pyres, to free any pieces of spirit trapped within, because she and I had talked about that. What she wants to know is, how does dronwing work into her people's mythology. It's a fair question, and over slices of mushroom and pineapple we discuss it. The Onyx Jaguars (her tribe) are a people that worship spirits of the air. They believe the more active you are the more air you breathe, thus the more in touch with the spirits. So an active death, or a fighting death, is best for warriors. So she doesn't want to die underwater, because water will fill her lungs. So she is putting her soul in risk with these actions.

Auriji's player asks what about bodies that die and then fall into water? After all, she wasn't worried about her soul when fighitng on the deck of the Ill Wind. Now, I'll admit that I was worried Auriji was going to get herself killed again, so I went a little CSI and mentioned that bodied that die, THEN go into the water still have air in their lungs. Auriji's player gave me an odd look, and asked if that was *really* common knowledge among her people. Would Auriji know that? I shrugged and said sure, their shamans find that stuff out and spread it around. I was hoping it t would encourage her to get Auriji, who I liked, back to safety.

Foolish me. Back to the game.

Tiera finds a crawlway leading back toward the part of the ship with Mhyssi and Juiren. She wriggles her way down it, toward the sounds of biting and tearing. Knowing Juire is nearest death (she could see how pale he was) she orders her spirit totem wolverine to guard his body until she arrives. The crawlway is broken with lots of little holes, leaving her vulnerable and exposed as well as constricted, but Tiera does not want to let her friends down.

Lyssa recovers from the hold person the next round and looks at Quince, who is clearly in trouble about air (he burned actions points for extra standard actions to get to her, and that's burned up his held breath fast). She indicates a chain he needs to cut. Having spent time learning rigging, she sees if he's attached to one of the ropes tangled up in the chain, cuts the chain, the heavy crossbeam on one side of the rope will fall, and Quince will shoot upwards. She ties him to the rope.... but unfortunately, her dagger can't possibly cut through it. Quince sees what she wants, but isn't sure he can hack a chain with his sword fast enough....

As the shining sword the beggar dropped slides right at him in the water. Quince is right under where it went in, and it is now falling past him. That provokes an attack of opportunity, and Quince, seeing how bright it is, takes a chance to grab it, Quickdraw it to ready it, and hack at the chain. As soon as his gloved fingers curl around the hilt: Quince is told in his mind the sword is Breach, Sword of Sieges, and it's purpose is Up, not here! Quince accepts this, as he wants to get up too. Since that completes it's special purpose, Breach gives him great power, and Quince Smites the chain. As Lyssa hoped, the Quince goes hurtling upwards. Lyssa is holding the cut crossbeam, and plunges into the depths. Lyssa is still holding her breath, even though she can breathe water and knows it. I didnt understand why, but acknowledge she's still got a lungfull of slightly stale air.

As one Eye of the Deep, roped to Auirji by the glitterdust rope, goes deeper and deeper, Auriji snags one of the bodies of the slaves which had their throats bitten out. She pucnhes her dagger deep into its chest, then moves to suck air out of its dead lungs.

Okay, debate time. It's a cool as hell manever, especially for a barbarian. But I don't believe for a minute it'll really work. But who wants real in a fantasy game? On the other hand, you have to have some kind of baseline, and if it isn't reality, it should at least be cinematic reality. In the end, I tell her that to reward a cool idea, she need not make a Con check this round, and her Con check is set back by 1 point next round. However, it didn't work, and Auriji now knows it won't work, so she wont have any reason to try again. This doesn't penlaize Auriji for her player's cool idea, but it also keeps the game more believable for me (and I discover later, several other players). Evenone is pokay with that ruling, and on we go.

Quince pops up with Breach, just as the Abhorrent Ones are finishing off the beggar. However, his means he's free to protect Mhyssi and Juiren... except he's not. Breach is the Sword of Sieges, and it insist on dealing with the Abhorrent Ones trying to get past the plant growths seaweed at the salves, ignores those laying on the ground. Quince tries to refuse, but having accepted its power to get here, Breach forces him to submit to its priorities. Quince scream and yells to get the Abhorrent One's attention, then lkeaps over the the vine choked doorway Tiera left a fewe rounds agi. Here, he stands with Breach, ready to hold it against all comers. This counts as a siege, and Breach gives Quince access to its full array of special powers.

Voronex is falling behind one fleeing eye of the deep, and decided it's time to turn back. He just wanted to chase it far enoguh it wouldnt come back, swim around him, and go get the vulnerabe auriji. But as he turns, he realizes he's swum too close to the sharks, still circling., Now, two attack him and Daronelle. Suddenly Voronex has more serious concerns than if a fleeing EotD is going after Auriji. Daroneele begins making Con checks to not drown.

Meanwhile, Auriji has the highest Con in the group, and it's even higher when raging (oddly the madder she is, the longer she can hold her breath), and she just sank for a few rounds rather than fight, but she's never gotten a fresh breath of air. She's more than three minutes under water now (Extedned rage the only reason she hasnt died earlier), and having to spend action points to increase her Con checks to the 20+ range to keep from beginning to drown.

But Lyssa, frail, pale jester, now reaches Auriji and lets go of the falling crossbeam. Lysaa reaches out for Auriji, and plants a kiss on the surprised barbarian's lips. And with that kiss, comes the last few rounds worth of fresh air from Lyssa's lungs. Lyssa backs away, a trail of blood tricking from her mouth (YOU kiss a raging barbarian girl and see how you look afterward), then takes a big lungful of water, breathing it happily.

Lyssa only had a couple of round before she'd have to had begun making con checks, so Auriji still didn't get a fresh Con-duratin in rounds of air. But I did rest her to DC 10 Con checks, since she got *some* fresh air.

Voronex alternates between weakning breath and cold breath, and he and Daronelle actually dispatches two sharks handily. But she needs air, and is forced to head not for the air pockets, but the surface of the sargasso. Sharks head after her. Voronex takes a round to guts the dead sharks, and swims away. When other sharks swim in, the fresh, dead sharks are easier meals than the dragnblooded deformed dwarf or the fleeing spring elf. Daronelle makes it to the sargasso surface and can breath, but is stuck. She misses the rest of the fight.

Tiera is crawling through a tight space, trying to reach the spot where Mhyssi and Juiren lay helpless, Juiren dying. (We don't kill people until they reach -10, -their Con, or -their level, whichever is greater, but even so Juiren is close to death just from bleeding). She has to duck through an underwater section, which is where she first gets to where she can see the two bodies. All but one Abhorrent One have gone to attack Quince, but that one has finished killing the beggar, and now turns it horrid, vile attentions on Mhyssi. As she tries to squeeze out to help, still submerged, Tiera finds one armed grabbed!

An Abhorrent one has found her, and grabbed her arm through one of the many cracks and opening in the crawlway. Tiera struggls to get free, but even with her bull's strength she is no match for its undead grip. She can see the vile thing the abhorrent One by Mhyssi is doing, but can't get free to help. Worse, it bites and claws as it violates her, and Tiera is sure if she sends her wolverine to stop it, it'll turn its attentions on Juiren, who will die after a single bite. Nor can she cast, because she needs both Silent Spell (as she's currently underwater) and Still Spell (since the APO has one arm). She can use an action point for one of those, but not both. She can hear Quince bellowing in rage, but he used Breach's power, and it won't let him leave a defensible position defending others to save someone with no foritifcation.

Renewed, Auriji reels herself into the EotD she;'s fought so long, and Lyssa catches a ride with her. The eye ties once more to paralyse them, but even though her rage ends, Auriji resists. It tries to bite them, and fails. Lyssa does a mime patonmine of how rediculous the eye of the Deep looks, using her motely hat and a glitterdust mop head nearby (from the original casting of the spell), creating an inpsiring quip. Now that she isnt enraged, Auriji is amused and gains a bonus from the quip to attack the EotD. They are also now beneath most of the debris. Auriji puts away Phrit Fi, and whips out Majah Gada. The Eye of the deep regains its strength, and attacks full force, and Lyssa loses sight of the two in a cloud of blood.

Voronex is also clear of the debirs now, returning his darkvision to full range. He sees the glitterdust rope far benath him, and sees the second eye of the deep headed toward that battle as well. Despite his slow speed, he heads that way.

Quince is a fury, hacking and slashing with Breach and taking on all but two of the Abhorrent Ones left in the hold area. He discovers that with breach, each time he successfully hits in defense of others in a fortification, he gains 1 hp. This encourages him to power attack less, as hitting with more, weaker blows gets him mroe healing. But he still can't reach mhyssi.

Nor can Tiera, and it's driving her mad. The player confirms it's only her arm that is pinned by the Abhorrent One, and I confirm that's the case. Juriens player encourages her to call her wolverine to help her, risk an AO killing him, but then getting free to help Mhyssi, but Tiera can ehar other Aos headed this way, and has other plans. Noting she has skinning and tanning skills, Tiera declares she's pulling out her boning knife with her free arm, and cutting off her pinned arm at the shoulder, working it through the joint as a clean cut.

A bit stunned, I require a DC 20 skill check, and a DC 25 Fortitude save. Tiera makes both (with the aid of an action point). I deal critical knife damage to her, tell her she's bleeding one hp a round, and otherwise let her go. The Abhorrent One with her arm begins to feed on it, And Tiera works her way free for the watery crawlspace.

Auriji slays one EotD, just as the second one arrives. Lyssa nails it with a Tasha's Hideous Laughter, which works despite the type difference (action point for Silent Spell) , and the two Heralds begin swimming upward. They join Voronex, who takes up a reargaurd.

Yelloweyes finds the main fight, at long last, and sees a new band of Aos ready to jump Quince (thoe ones Tiera heard coming). Yelloweyes takes human form, and tries to hit the lead one with a beguiling stare. However, the AOs are fully undead, and thus immune to mind-affecting powers. The Aos jump yelloweyes, baring her to the ground and beginning to feed on and ravish her.

Tiera, bleeding, bursts out and faces the AO violating Mhyssi's unconscious, and now nearly dead, form. She uses her other 4th level spell for the day (With Still Spell from an action point, since she is missing and arm and holding a knife), and casts divine power on herself. Then she jumps the AO, knifing it viciously. The two get into a nasty claw brawl.

Voronex falls behind, but is okay with that. The Eye of the deep he chased off once hits him with a stun cone, which does not affect him, but voronex stops moving anyway. When the creature grapples him, voronex hits it full n the face with cold breath. It freezes, and dies.

Auriji and Lyssa pop up, to see one AO attacking a wolverine, one rolling on the ground bwith Tiera, Mhyssi and Juiren laying in a heap, torn and bloody, and quince finishing off tweo OA by a weed-choked entrance. Auriji dispatches the one fighting the wolvering, and Lyssa applies a healign potion ot Juiren. And now, the healer is conscious, and has nearly his full complement of spells.

Juiren heals Mhyssi. Mhyssi nails the OA fighting Tiera with a scorching ray. Quince dispatches the last one fighting him, meaning he's now free to move from his spot. The group NOW hears the fight around the bend, where Yelloweyes is being bitten and molested. Auriji, Tiera, Quince, and Mhyssi rush around the corner, and engage the last Aos. Juiren checks out the beggar, who is dead and beyond help.

The heralds crush the last of the Aos, and Yellowyes is, just barely, alive. Juiren hels everyone, but cant restore Tiera's arm, which no one can find. Tiera shrugs it off.

Under Tiera's command, the sargasso pushes the capsized ship out (but lacks the strength to right it), and releases Daronelle. With the ship out of the danger zone, the Hawksail's crew help with rescue and recovery operations, which take the rest of the day.

Late in the day, Yelloweyes and Lyssa fall ill as the Abhorrent One bites infect and begin to send black streamers acorss their veins. Though bitten as much as either, Mhyssi makes all saves against the magic diseases. Jurien tries to cure Lyssa (he only has one prepared), but must make caster level checks against the magic disease and fails. Despondant, he promises to try again tomorrow. Mhyssi tells him she's sure he'll do fine, and he perks up. Tiera also promises to try, if Juiren fails, as her magic is different.

The dead are burned rather than buried at sea, at Voronex's insistence. Great treaure is brought from the slaver's hold, which the heralds share with the surviving slaves (each of whom refuse to take more than 1,000 gp each, still leaving the PCs a hefty haul). Quince tries to get rid of Breach, but it talks him out of it. He can do as he will in combat, as long as he doesnt call on its powers. But if he finds he MUST defend innocents anyway, why not use the sword? He grugingly agrees.

Among other treasures, Mhyssi finds an emerald that enhances weapons it is put on, and slaps it on her greatword. Auriji gets a big ring of protection and boots of spring and striding. A lot of magic armor is passed out. Voronex gets a belt of giant strength because no one else will take it (treasure overload, and people felt guilt for voronex not having class-specific items). Daronelle gets a pair of magic keen shocking short swords. Tiera gets a cloak of the bear. There's other stuff I didnt note at the time.

That night, Tiera simple goes to voronex's room with him, convincing Daronelle (with some reason) the two are now an item. Mhyssi is feeling a bit jittery, and asks Juiren if he'd mind if they had sex. Juiren is flabbergasted, which Mhyssi at first takes as a refusal, but when she discovers he's a virgin she decides to "break him in." Mhyssi needs only four hors of meditation, and as a result Juiren is fatigued the next day. Ryssa stays with the master of wings, while Lyssa sleeps in the infirmary with yelloweyes. Auriji and Quince go to their room, and have victory sex, then talk about Breach and what its powers mean.

The Hawksail finds bunks for 78 surviving slaves, and Tiera offhandedly convinces the sargasso to take itself, the capzied ship, and the debris back to the bottom of the sea. As the
Hawksail heads toward Hallowfasut, the seaweed sargasso sinks into the ocean, leaving no sign of the battle that left a Herald permanently maimed by her own hand.

End Game Ten

I'm glad you all are enojying it!

I'll get to psionics in Kor kammor as soon as I can free up the time!

Thanks for the feedbaclk!

Tiera cut off her own arm to get free. That is hardcore! You go, girl!

You've clearly delineated where cinematic begins an ends in your game.

Allowed:
Cutting off your own arm with a knife in one round with a Fort save

Disallowed:
Breathing the air out of a dead corpse's lungs underwater though a knife hole.

That sounds about right.

You've clearly delineated where cinematic begins an ends in your game.

Allowed:
Cutting off your own arm with a knife in one round with a Fort save

Disallowed:
Breathing the air out of a dead corpse's lungs underwater though a knife hole.

That sounds about right.

You've clearly delineated where cinematic begins an ends in your game.

Allowed:
Cutting off your own arm with a knife in one round with a Fort save

Disallowed:
Breathing the air out of a dead corpse's lungs underwater though a knife hole.

That sounds about right.

::blush::

Well, she *did* have all the skills needed, and it *was* a boning knife...

Now that was a session. Way to go Grrrl!

She cut off her own arm? Wow. You have a great group of players who come up with very creative solutions to the obstacles you pit them against.
Just out of curiosity, how long did the battle with the Eyes of the Deep take? Usually a battle with so many factors and extra rules (like drowning) take hours to wrap up.
Another epic entry, kudos to you and your players.

As promised:

Psionics in Kor Kammor

I love different power systems. As a result, Kor Kammor has both specific cosmological sources for magic, psionics, binders, incarnum, ki powers, and a lot of other stuff AND a catch-all source for any weird one-off or rare power I want to throw in.

But magic and psionics came first. All other powers are newcomers compared to thos ebig two, because those big two draw on the two major forces of Kor kammor – gods, and elementals.

Magic is drawn from the power of the gods, in either divine will (divine magic) or the forces of the conceptual laws of the universe the gods represent in their portfolios (arcane magic). Psionics is drawn from the raw stuff of the inanimate, the purest quantum of the four elements.

Also, the root source of psionics requires knowledge that is, in most cultures, hidden or occultus. Thus in Kor Kammor, "occult" refers specifically to psionics. It is thus much more common in eastern cultures, based on Thailand and Vietnam (just to be different, but still use all the Asian-themed source material), where scholars delving into hidden secrets are a culturally accepted phenomenon. Also, thus, efreet adn djinn are normally psionic. Also, those lands have lizardfolk and animal-head cultures, so psionics are often seen as alien and strange because the people who use them are so inhuman. (Thus the Keepers, the mohj psion monks who looked after Scara Holthel.)

Most people don't see a difference, but it does mean that anyone using psionics is drawing on a power other than the gods, and the gods are dominant.If psionics were to become too ascendant, the great elementals might awaken. Thus, many evil gods go on holy wars against psionics. Also, some psionic elementalist cults try to spread psionics, in the hopes of awaken their gods. Since such cults are generally both chaotic and evil, even good gods sometimes go after them.

Most famously, the Abaddinian order, a group of monk psionics under the leadership of a fiendish efreet psion named Abaddon, fought a war two generations ago to destroy all magic. They were opposed primarily by the Thothites, who worshipped all knowledge-portfolio gods equally. However, since most people saw the Abaddinians as devil-worshippers, this only slightly tilted popular favor against psionics further.

Sect...I meant the evil Berserk-esque...just because the anatomy is different doesn't mean that it might not think you are breeding stock. That is a surefire way to scare the living excrement out of a player.

That session, taken with the first part of session 10...what a ride!

First, this had to be an extremely complex battle to run for you as a DM, I applaud you just for doing a split party, on land and underwater, vertical and horizontal battlefield.
You obviously have the often lacked skills to run such a battle...and this battle was certainly a way to show it off.
This party just seems to have the nastiest combats on ships...first the Gnoll Slave Ship...now this one? Priceless...

As for the comment of hanging out and talking about this campaign like it were Lost or something...wouldn't you watch this campaign if it were visually blessed? I know I would.

AncientSensei, don't you dare discourage Gwen from entering a RPG Superstar!!! I ask all that dare to come onto this thread...wouldn't EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU Want a campaign or adventure written by her?
Think about it...

Besides....AncientSensei just doesn't want you to steal his Iron DM awards.... ^_^y He is very afraid...

I know I would certainly pay money for a adventure if it could be anywhere near this good.

Once again Gwen...I am nearly speechless...or at least I am after all that talking.

Whoah...let's not use the word 'afraid' in the same sentence as 'ancientsensei'...except to say what his competitors say:

I am afraid of Ancient Sensei.

That's better.

the Grrrl can of course compete and garner attention and pleasing gaming clones all she wants. Can't a fella pay a compliment?

: }

I ask all that dare to come onto this thread...wouldn't EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU Want a campaign or adventure written by her?
Think about it...
I know I would certainly pay money for a adventure if it could be anywhere near this good.

I ask all that dare to come onto this thread...wouldn't EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU Want a campaign or adventure written by her?
Think about it...

I really appreciate the compliments and encouragement regarding the enxt round of RPG Superstar. That's really sweet of everyone. But there's, in fact, just no way I am going to enter or would possibly win if I did. The reasons are simple.

1. My compositions, spelling and editing skills suck. Suck, suck, McSuckerson. I'd have to have an editor edit me before I submitted, and that would be cheating.

2. I can't hit a deadline to save my life. I am busy beyound the dreams of Tantalus. If I'm not working at my regualr job or freelance job, I'm getting a game ready for, you know, my players.

C> I can't get stuff into a finished format. My game rule material is scrawled on napkins and jotted in files with names like ooogy_thing_in_barn.pdf I have no experience with putting things in a finsihed rule format, and no interest in leanring. I l;ove that there are people who do this, but I amn't one of them.

Some of my best ideas are stolen from a very kind game desinger as it is, and I'd feel awful ever making money on them. When I get stuck I can find him on an instant messenger (sometimes, anyway), and ask for help. No matter what mess I have gotten into, he always has a suggestion on how to get the PCs back to the overall plot.

If you really want to have an adventure like the ones I run, iut's pretty simple. Run any adventure by Nicolas Logue, use all the advice form the Advanced gamemaster's Guide, and tell the PCs they have to have sex with *somthing* once every three encounters.

Sect...I meant the evil Berserk-esque...just because the anatomy is different doesn't mean that it might not think you are breeding stock. That is a surefire way to scare the living excrement out of a player.

I'd like to see your workup of oogy_thing_in_barn.

Well, the truth of the matter is, if you're human, you're breeding stock. Seriously, humans are the creatures in fantasy that can f@&% and make babies with anything, with dragons being a close second. It actually supports my private theory of humans being the true progenitor race for humanoids...

Humans and halflings have the 2nd and 3rd most respectively. Then it's aberrations.

And a love potion overrides the chart anyway.

In Kor Kammor there's a breeding chart. Dwarves have the fewest combinations (making them popular consorts with other humanoids), and dragons have the most (even dwarves ain't safe when a randy dragon comes to town).

Humans and halflings have the 2nd and 3rd most respectively. Then it's aberrations.

And a love potion overrides the chart anyway.

... Actually, that sounds pretty cool. Do you mind sharing a copy?

I'll see if I can get to it, sweetie. meanwhile...

Game Eleven

The skies of the Sea of Storms are heavy with soft gray clouds, and the dreary light that seeps through them illuminate a constant drizzle of slow rain. A smudge can be see on the horizon from the crow's nest -- land. Hallowfaust, City of Necromancers, is within sight and it's volcano backdrop is adding to the sky's haze.
It is early morning, and the Heralds are all comfortably asleep. Tiera cuddles protectively under Voronex. Mhyssi is sprawled languidly across Juriren's spent form. Auriji and Quince are dozing, half-alseep, sitting with arms around one another. Ryssa is snoring loudly, while her Wingmaster lover watches her with bemusement. Lyssa is still in the infirmary, having been but to rest next to Yelloweyes. Daronelle is in her cabin, sitting on the edge of her bed and examining her feelings for the Heralds, and her cousin and Voronex in particular.

On deck, the morning skeleton crew, having safely sailed through the night, prepares to wake the next shift. A gull lands on a mast, a good omen. Tea brews, and breakfast supplies get laid out on small cooking stoves. Then, the peaceful scene is ripped apart by a scream from the forecastle.

All logic notwithstanding, Voronex and Tiera make it to the deck before anyone else. The scene that greets them is gristly indeed. Yelloweyes, looking far more gaunt that ever before, is tearing the throat out of a crewman with her teeth, and her wild red eyes show no recognition of the two heralds of Dawn. Behind her is a staggering gaggle of bloody corpses, each looking to kill more crewmembers in turn. None of the deck crew from the current shift have survived, though some up in the rigging are still active and alive, and the crewmen who are staggering up from below decks are instantly seen by Yelloweyes and her newly-created Abhorent spawn.

Voronex yells an alarm, and flies up above the attacking, newly created undead. This distracts them for a moment, allowing the crew to fall back and gather themselves. Auriji and Quince make it onto the scene, as do Mhyssi and Ryssa, but Juiren and Lyssa are nowhere to be seen. Daronelle is right behind them, and begins commanding the ship's defenders, while the captain and other officers rush to secure the wheeldeck.

Yelloweyes leaps from the rolling deck to grapple Voronex, and bears him to the ground. Tiera and Mhyssi both scream in defiance, and charge forward. Auriji trusts her blood-brother to be all right, and ducks around the fron fighting to get to the Abhorrent under in back. Quince dives below decks, and makes his was forward with all speed. Ryssa jumps into the rigging, followed closely by a newly created Abhorrent.

Whiole voronex can't fight off Yelloweye's new undead strength, he can still breath a gout of flame on her. As she staggers back. Mhyssi steps forward and unleashes a turn undead. The Abhorrent turn from her, but Yelloweyes attacks, only to be met by an angry spirit wolverine. Auriji begins killing the Abhorent outside the turn range, and Ryssa successfully cuts a rope to drop one of the ship's masts across the deck, cutting the abhorent off from the wheel deck and the living crewmembers.

Daronelle cuts a path through the undead, and ducks into the forecastle. She finds several crew wounded, and a few dead, but just starting to get upo. She slams doors and bolts them shut to keep surviving wounded separate from the undead. Below her, Quince encounters a few Abhorent making their way through the lower decks, and he engages them.

Voronex, Mhyssi and Tiera team up on Yelloweyes as the greatest threat, and bring her down in very short order. Auriji plows through many undead, and begins to receive supporting fire from crew back on the aft of the ship. Daroneel dances through the forecastle, drawing the active Abhorent into a single room. Quince fights his was up to her. Rhyssa climbs high into the rigging, then uses her whip to trip the Abhorent following her. It falls 30 feet to the deck, and lands, prone, next to Auiji who dispatches it.

Quince and Daronelle trap the remaining Abhorent ones, and when the Herlads arrive the udnead are dispatched, Then, they find Lyssa.

Her bite is badly infected. Black viens stretch through her already pale flesh. She hisses and spits, but ryssa is able to calm her. Then Auriji and Voronex piun her down, and tie her to a bed. Mhyssi goes to get Juiren, who is embarrassed to have missed everything, but no one troubles him over it. He tries new magics to heal Lyssa, and again fails. Soon, he fears, she'll become a full Abhorent, like Yelloweyes obviously did.

Tiera steps up, and offers to face the taint running through Lyssa on the spirit plane. After some discussion o fher lost arm, the party agrees. Since she can cast with one arm, Tiera unloads confront curse spirit and confrotn disease spirit, taking on the two aspects of Lyssa's ailment at once. She must fight the spirits of the horror, alone, and the spirit plane.

(Everyne else is sent to get some burritoes while I run that fight).

Though she is drained and wounded, tiera succeeds. Lyssa us cured, and her link to ryssa re-established. The crew have a mass burial at sea, and Yelloweyes goes into the dirnk with everyone else.

Then, the Hawksail reaches Hallowfaust. The Heralds disembark, and quickly learn the merwhore has not yet arrived, so their quest to beat UnJohn here is a success. The Heralds get rooms in the Citizen's Quarter. They discover local law lays claim to their bodies upon death, unless they pay a tithe to "buy back" their own corpses. Most of the Heralds have a corpse-tithe of 700-900 gp, but Mhyssi has a price of 2,000 gp, and Voronex of 2,800 gp. Lyssa and ryssa together run just 1,000 gp. Numadaya, the "reader of bones" who divines their value either can not, or will not, explain the discrepency.

Grumbling, the Heralds lay out deposits on their own dead bodies. Except Auriji and Voronex. Auriji refuses because she fears it will bring bad luck to plan for her own death. Voronex doesn't care what happen to his mortal clay once he's gone.

Undead workers, mostly skeletons and skeleton constructs, are everywhere. Quince is very put off. (Knowing there are undead, and seeing them in the open in daylight, are different things he points out). Still, the Heralds take up rooms at the Weary Pilgrim, and wait.

Daronnel has a long talk with Juiren, and decides he's not ready to be alone with the other heralds. Most of them are too driven to keep track of him, and Daronnelle is afraid his infatuation with Mhyssi, who is happy to indulge his carnal urges, may come to a bad end. Daronelle asks for, and receives, permission to join the heralds at least for a time.

End game Eleven.

I do love sitting down at lunch to discover another story.

... Well! That character didn't last long. At least Auriji's bad luck transferred... though, it might just be her player...

I can imagine why some of the tithes are vastly different, and I can definitely imagine their captain going, "Yeah... stay the hell off of my boat from now on."

Alas Yelloweyes, we knew her only briefly.
So what would happen to Lyssa and Ryssa if one of them died? I can't imagine it being good.

That's covered in the dvati write-up in Dragon Companion. If one body dies, the other one loses one unhealable Con a day until it dies.

Or until it becomes an undead, at least in my game, with this unusual situation.

Yeah, Yelloweyes didn't last long, and her player had more fun with her as an undead than she had as a PC. We didn't have another secondary character for a while.

I'm working on the Breeding Chart for this campaign world. i can't get the formatting to work in the messageboards (I'm bad at this stuff), so check out part one at:

http://dungeon-grrrl.livejournal.com/4791.html

I'm working on the Breeding Chart for this campaign world. i can't get the formatting to work in the messageboards (I'm bad at this stuff), so check out part one at:

Breeding Chart

Thanks for writing up this campaign; I'm finding it fascinating reading. I'm particularly interested in your side notes on things you had planned and how those plans changed based on what your players did. For a novice DM such as myself, that sort of information is pure gold.

For a novice DM such as myself, that sort of information is pure gold.

I also heartily recommend Robin's Laws of Good Gamemasrtering, and the Advanced Gamemaster's Guide, which are my Dm bibles far more than the DMG.