We were confounded by 2nd-level wizard spells because someone, who shall remain nameless, didn't have one of the most ubiquitous 2nd-level wizard spells in the history of D&D in his spellbook! Which, truly, was amusing.

I'm NOT criticizing the party. I'm noting that it's interesting what turns out to be a challenge based on what a high level party has available to it, and what resources they have that they consider expendable. I think many people consider combat to be the be-all, end-all challenge to a party, often myself included, and I'm learning that's not the case and actually ESPECIALLY for a high-level party, where combat is less of a big deal because y'all are so badass to begin with. (Honestly? I thought the mind flayer should have been much more of a challenge than it was, but y'all were making your saving throws like crazy and I forgot to give him better mobility, and he got several new orfices ripped into him with relatively little damage to the party in exchange. The mind flayer really is a "Save or Die" character--he's useless and squishy, or he kills you.)

And "Knock" may not have fixed all your problems anyway, depending on when you used it, unless you'd had it memorized multiple times (which would you have that prepared multiple times when prepping spells to fight a dracolich and a mind flayer?) or had a wand of it. It only suspends "Arcane Lock" for 10 minutes, which means if you used it on the way in, you would have opened the two doors on your way in--only to find the front door locked again when you were trying to flee for your lives before the preservation magic over the temple was fully dispelled. And if you were spending time THEN to find the way to open the door, with all etherealness and shadowjumping used up... it would depend a lot on your ingenuity and your die rolls (noticing the switch that opens the door from the inside when the ceiling is rumbling overhead would be harder than it was when the ceiling was intact). NOT that I would have had a "lake falls, everyone dies" ending, but you would have had a bigger/different challenge before you.

Funny how you don't mention the Cleric failing her level check while trying to dispel the effect. *TEASING*

I need to talk to my dice about the appropriate time to roll a low single-digit number (e.g. my track record of single-digit initiative rolls) and when to roll a high number (attack rolls, caster level checks). I'm sure the Vorpal d20 will listen...

I'm NOT criticizing the party. I'm noting that it's interesting what turns out to be a challenge based on what a high level party has available to it, and what resources they have that they consider expendable. I think many people consider combat to be the be-all, end-all challenge to a party, often myself included, and I'm learning that's not the case and actually ESPECIALLY for a high-level party, where combat is less of a big deal because y'all are so badass to begin with. (Honestly? I thought the mind flayer should have been much more of a challenge than it was, but y'all were making your saving throws like crazy and I forgot to give him better mobility, and he got several new orfices ripped into him with relatively little damage to the party in exchange. The mind flayer really is a "Save or Die" character--he's useless and squishy, or he kills you.)

To address the other part of this, part of the challenge our party has faced has been magical resources. Namely, we're not the iconic party. We are more versatile than the traditional fighter/cleric/rogue/wizard group, but we don't have access to the full magical power of a single-classed wizard. We can get by through other means, but the one resource we can't easily compensate for is just simple magic. I've used some of my normal spells each day for good ol' utility magics and whatnot, but I simply cannot replace a wizard. And I shouldn't be able to do so as a cleric. Clerics don't have the enormous selection of utility spells of a wizard (though we have plenty of them). So some things will remain more challenging for us, like opening doors that are magically sealed. Oh well, we can buy a scroll of knock for Kieren or a wand for future use I suppose.

And "Knock" may not have fixed all your problems anyway, depending on when you used it, unless you'd had it memorized multiple times (which would you have that prepared multiple times when prepping spells to fight a dracolich and a mind flayer?) or had a wand of it. It only suspends "Arcane Lock" for 10 minutes, which means if you used it on the way in, you would have opened the two doors on your way in--only to find the front door locked again when you were trying to flee for your lives before the preservation magic over the temple was fully dispelled. And if you were spending time THEN to find the way to open the door, with all etherealness and shadowjumping used up... it would depend a lot on your ingenuity and your die rolls (noticing the switch that opens the door from the inside when the ceiling is...

Session Journal Ten: November 7, 2009
Scrithengard Date: Fourth Marketday-Sixth Wandersday of Leesloom
 
      Our trip back from the far northern reaches of the Empire was a somber one. Jour and Alanna have departed for the Diamond Kingdoms, taking Skruumorden back to the giants in pieces and passing word of our tale to them. I find I miss his calming influence on Axel already. The trip back to Merrywell Manor was quick, the result of phantom steeds from Scarbrow back to Three Points, a teleportation circle to Holliver, and a wind walk incantation to Merrywell.

        The manor had seen some battle when the forces of the Ebon Serpent had attacked in an effort to reduce our base of support, but as we learned a force of Sheenoseki had come to their assistance. I wonder who those Sheenoseki served, but that is a question I can ask later. The gate was still under repair when we walked through it, various walls in need of repair and covered in scaffolds here and there. A mob formed around Axel and spread word of what had happened to us while passing along a message to him via the Rover Henri that someone wanted to see us in the temple of Lees. Once we sorted ourselves out, we made our way there.

        Lees keeps few open temples, so I had no idea what we were in for. Inside we found a gambling den and a well-dressed man awaiting us. He introduced himself eventually as Dheza DoBesal of the house of the same name. He quickly proved himself a cagey, slippery individual as he asked as to the fate of Nathaan DoSheen and what had happened in the far north. Axel and Dheza verbally danced around one another until they were satisfied with one another's answers, our newfound ally expressing his dislike for the House of Sheen and the followers of the Defier. Dheza also admitted that he was working in the interests of his house and for pay, which mollified Kieren a bit. What amazed me was how well he took to the place at hand, sitting with us as we introduced ourselves and playing a hand of cards. The dealer dealt me a hand that I ignored other than the idle curiosity of wondering what they looked like, curiosity soon appeased as I stared at the pictures of dragons on the cards. Finally, we were satisfied with Dheza's answers and sought to deal with other business.

        With a Rover clan in residence, we hoped to sell off most of the magic that we had claimed in Scarbrow. But first we sought out Yelir, the woman in charge of the land thereabouts. On the way to her office we saw the local militia drilling with a dwarf wearing a warrior's kilt from Skuldes, a rather unusual occurrence. Axel spoke with her briefly, though her unusual appearance did not phase him. Presumably he knew her. Yelir wore the robes of Gyomorite monk to my surprise. She recognized Axel of course, and she knew Kieren as a famous veteran of the rebellion that led to the formation of Haven. I almost bowed in the Gyomorite style when I saw her and gave her my name, though I kept my title to myself for a change. Kieren, Axel, and Yelir haggled and planned out the location of Kieren's tower. Kieren is showing a surprising bit of maturity in choosing to settle, although his pursuit of Kilmaral still shows his relative youth.

Session Ten cont.

With that business taken care of, we sought out Jade in the wizard's school. Unfortunately we found her after passing her shield guardian in the halls. Jade was struggling to evade a monstrous horned devil that had been released by an old summoning circle trap. Kieren and Axel raced to her aid, Axel magically closing the distance as Kieren's first volley struck holes into the enormous monster's chest. Dheza followed Axel into the fray as I tried to close Jade's wounds with my wand's magic. Jade in turn tried to blast the monster with an ice storm but the creature's innate resistance to magic warded it, I think, for it seemed unharmed. The aura of fear that I have come to associate with these creatures failed to repel any of us in the battle, so it resorted to physical combat. Axel managed to dodge most of its attacks but not all, the monster's spiked chain catching him across one shoulder. Spells flashed out from the hands of our new ally but were thwarted by its resistance, while I chanted a quick prayer to Death in the background to bolster our efforts. It roared in fury and battered us all with a fireball; Jade took the brunt of it, forcing her to retreat in search of a weapon to battle this misplaced beast. Kieren's arrows flew wide repeatedly as the devil nimbly dodged both his arrows and the worst of the blows from both Dheza and Axel, weaving around the room to reach Kieren. The narrow confines of the hallway forced me to close as well in an effort to try to kill the creature. It resisted my own incantation and in turn used one of its own to strengthen its defenses. Seeing this, I tried to counter its magic to no avail.

Blows were traded between combatants as I tried to destroy the creature. Wounds opened and then began to close, a fact that had evaded my notice in the first exchanges of the fight. It healed from injury with a fair degree of speed, perhaps a bit slower than your average troll. Despite its gift for healing its injuries, the creature was still upset at the injuries it had taken and savaged my spare frame with its next attacks, leaving me badly wounded and my blood dripping freely from multiple cuts to the bone. My next spell failed to bypass its resistance to magic, while only a few scattered strikes from my companions landed against its quick reflexes and supernaturally-toughened hide. It ravaged Kieren next, the chain slashing through his cloak and flesh with equal ease. I closed my own wounds, my spell fighting to overcome the vile magic that infused the creature and that fought to bleed me dry.

Jade returned, a scroll and a silver dagger in hand. She shouted for us to keep fighting it and to wound it one more time as she began to chant the complex incantation. Axel struck that last blow, driving his rapier into the back of the devil's knee and eliciting a scream. From its injuries it began to dissipate, and Jade spoke the final word on the scroll, ensuring that the creature's essence was forced back to the hells, never to return to Scrithengard again.

Session Ten cont., part 3

I took a few moments to heal the wounds we had been dealt and considered to myself our situation. I have the power to channel the most powerful of the magics granted by gods to men, but my skill with magic was not enough to strike a telling blow against the monster. Between its innate resistance to magic and the toughness of the creature's mind and body, it repelled the combined assault of both myself and Dheza with frightening ease. If the devil had escaped when we had been absent, it would likely have decimated the local population within minutes.

The situation had been dealt with, so we adjourned to Jade's office to begin planning our next move. Jade and Axel exchanged information and arranged for messages to be sent and to finish catching up on what we had missed during our sojourn in the north. We gave Nathaan's staff to Jade and she in turn opened up the resources of the school to us, including apprentices and laboratory space. I spent quite a few of the following days working to improve my enchanted belt and procuring healing potions of various sorts, but the others met a high elf merchant from Greengate who dealt in mithril, both unworked ore and finished product. I watched them return from their meeting smiling with childlike glee as they brandished several weapons and bucklers of the famed metal, though Kieren also forged an adamatine buckler several days later. More telling was that the merchant and Kilmaral added to Jade's map of the Hrifgard, noting that a vast underground highway ran from the northern Hrifgard to the Deep Green and on to the southern drow cities with an alternate path that bypassed the wood elf guardians of the Deep Green while still heading toward the drow of the south.

A map at hand, we now prepare to enter Sheenosek from below. Dheza and his allies in House Besal wish to maintain the chaos of the situation for a time. Jade noted that the amulet of the King Immortal was covered in contingency spells, mostly communication magics, of which one had already triggered. The news of the the lich's demise has reached one of Dheza's contacts at least, possibly others. It is possible we will ultimately decide who comes to rule Sheenosek, depending on our exact actions. We agree that the church of Skaden will grow in power in the absence of the king, who tolerated them but did not belong to the faith, and that this is unacceptable. Until we know more of what is happening in Sheenosek, we cannot make more detailed plans. One plan I will make regardless: when we find the misbegotten soul of the High Priest of Skaden, I will send him across the Shadowed Veil to Tria's Womb myself, no matter what I must do.