Please cancel my:
1. Pathfinder Adventure Path (after the last part of Strength of Thousands, I do not want part 1 of Frozen Flame)
2. Pathfinder Lost Omens
3. Pathfinder Society
subscriptions.
Thanks.
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Looks good now. Thanks for fixing the issue so quickly.
So it sounds like LO Absalom is supposed to ship in Dec. My Dec 6 Ship notice only showed Monsters of Myth on it though. Will Absalom ship soon in a separate package or not this month? I would like it sooner, so please ship it right away. Also make the PDF available asap, thanks. Absalom was the one that I really wanted :/. The Monster of Myth didn’t really interest me much. Thanks.
So it sounds like LO Absalom is supposed to ship in Dec. My Dec 6 Ship notice only showed Monsters of Myth on it though. Will Absalom ship soon in a separate package or not this month?
Pathfinder Rulebook
Thanks
It looks like the final adventure of Fly Free or Die was cancelled as well? I DO want the final adventure of Fly Free or Die as the last part of my subscription (including the PDF as well). I also want the physical copy of Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual. Thanks,
Hi Raychael, Sorry I should have been more clear. I would still like a physical copy of the Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual in the order, it was just the PDF version (that I already had) that I wanted removed. So please make sure the Physical copy of Starfinder Exploration Manual is still in the order! Thanks,
Hi, I already have a copy of the PDF version of the Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual in Order 36495515. Please don't charge me again for it in : 36458445. I don't want another copy. Also please end my Starfinder adventure path subscription with Volume 6 of Fly Free or Die. I was waiting until that was charged to send my cancel notice, but that is the last book that I want for now in the Starfinder Adventure Path line. Please end my subscription at that point and remove book 1 of Horizons of the Vast from the order. Thanks,
Seems like almost nothing on this for a while now. Been looking forward to it.
Let Agents of Edgewatch #6 be the final one - but then cancel before the next AP starts, thanks.
I see this listed on the Pathfinder landing page as upcoming. I'm pretty sure it was pushed back again but was hoping to see some confirmation here but it seems unclear here too. Would be cool to get an update for sure at this point.
Hi - actually - you said that you marked the first book (book 4) as part of the subscription. I don't see the PDF for Edgewatch book 4 in my downloads though. And both of the book 4 orders have been marked as complete.
Thanks, appreciate the great service!
Sorry that was 24622708 not 24700269. 31867114 is the original order for the same adventure that I already have coming, that I would not like to receive twice.
New 24700269
Both are for the same AP adventure - can you please combine them - so the old order is actually the start of a new subscription, instead of the new order - so i get the PDF. The old order has already been sent. So please *dont* send the same adventure again - just restart the subscription with the adventure already sent. Thanks
I already cancelled my adventure path sub by email Sept 7th and haven’t gotten a response yet. If I receive it I will be marking it return to sender and asking for a refund. Reponse times seem very out of hand. It should not be this difficult to cancel a subscription.
Please cancel my subscriptions. See the email that I sent. Thanks
It was Shadow Walk for us, but yeah... heh.
Session 5 - Now I remember, this was the one that we were looking for…. Hes (Goblin Champion Liberator 1)
The battle with the giant serpent was over almost as quickly as it began. Kat advanced on the snake with shield raised, but from behind her in a commanding voice, Grunyar ordered the creature to flee. Briefly its eyes glazed over and it seemed unable to resist Grunyar’s words. It disappeared back beneath the surface of the pool. As they continued down the tunnel the group noticed that the walls became more natural and less as if sculpted by human hands. After a ten minute walk, they came upon a small cavern that had light piercing in through the wall at the end. The entire wall was actually the root structure of the giant willow above. On a stump near the wall stood Hallod, the thug that they had been chasing down. A cage sat to his left, and within it was an emaciated robed figure. Near the entrance to the cavern were two dog cages that snapped open as Hallod barked that he had been expecting the group and the dogs leapt forward to attack. Hallod got the drop on them and fired off a bolt from his massive crossbow, missing. Grunyar stepped up cast daze on Hallod, fogging his mind over for a brief instant. Kat raised her shield and moved forward, carefully avoiding a tripwire, to attack one of the dogs. The dog sprung forward but smashed its teeth on Kat’s raised shield, unable to break through it or get around it. Hes fired off a sling bolt at Hallod and Tick Tock missed with a crossbow shot, both trying to stay at range as they were wary of possible traps, considering what they had already faced in Hallod’s home. Less reluctant however, was Grunyar, who charged forward - and again heard the thunk of a spear being launched from a hole in the wall. Grunyar cursed, almost going down, truly earning his new name - Spear-Catcher. He healed himself up and raised his shield. Kat and Tick Tock worked on the dogs, killing them both, as Hes focused his sling shots on Hallod, landing a powerful shot right off Hallod’s thick skull. Already past the first tripwire Grunyar narrowly avoided tripping another one, as he advanced on Hallod, lunging but missing with his rapier. Hallod showed his confidence with his Kukri’s tearing into Grunyar, leaving him in a puddle of blood on the floor with his third brutal hack. Seeing her friend in a great deal of trauma, Kat advanced warily at Hallod. Hes also stepped in to Lay on Hands and return Grunyar to the land of the conscious. Kat nicked Hallod, and he turned on her, slashing away and hacking chunks of wood off her shield, with one slice getting though and biting into her arm. Grunyar rose and healed himself as Tick Tock snuck up the side of the room carefully looking for the second trap that Grunyar had called out to warn the party about earlier. He found it, and managed to point the spear launcher at Hallod, triggering it and catching him in the side with a his own deadly missile. That staggered Hallod and he found himself under assault from all sides at Kat landed a power attack and Grunyar, now recovered, stabbed away with the pointy end of his rapier. Finally Kat landed a telling blow, cleaving into the top of Hallod’s head, killing him instantly. Looking around the room they found a few empty vials - telltale signs of Hallod’s possible addiction to some kind of alchemical substance. They also saw the thin figure in the cage move slightly. It was Noala, the elven Pathfinder agent, that they had been tasked to find weeks earlier by Gorm Greathammer. A quick perusal of the crates showed that they had once been filled with alchemical agents as well, but now only residue remained. They also found a book dictating the delivery of some reagents by Bort, with entries matching up to those that they had found in Bort’s own ledger as well as a map of the area. Kat savagely chopped off Hallod’s head as proof of their efforts, as Grunyar gathered up the frail Elven Ranger ready to carry her back to town. A short trip saw them back at the edge of Plaguestone. The first stop was to see Rolthe, who greeted them, but looking a little nauseated, told them that he didn’t want anything further to do with the situation (just please return my badge when you go, Tick Tock). They also found Tamli, the Half-orc who was newly enstated caravan master of Bort’s entourage. She thanked them for their efforts and gave them a bit of gold for their troubles. She also asked, knowing that two of the band were supposedly devout followers of Cayden Cailean if one of them could say a few words at Borts funeral. Grunyar, the Spear-Catcher, stepped up. He gave a moving speech about a Dwarf who was a master of caravans, who drove caravans… The party levelled to level 2 and the session ended there.
Session 4 - Sheriff Tick Tock and the Case of the Duplicated Ladder Hes (Goblin Champion Liberator 1)
Before visiting Hallod’s residence the group thought they would check in with the person who passed for the sheriff in Plaguestone, Rolthe. After a bit of back and forth Rolthe eventually acquiesed and deputized Tick Tock. He even gave him his badge, though he expressed his hope that he would get it back someday. Hallod’s residence, a dead home, in the shadow of an old willow tree, was in shambles, with the second floor having mostly collapsed into the centre of the main level. Seeing that the front door was left slightly ajar, everyone but Grunyar immediately became wary. Hes’ sharp instincts enabled him to spot tracks leading not to the front door, but rather to a back window. Kat quickly inspected the window as Grunyar stood guard at the front so Hallod might not escape. Kat was able to unscrew the shutter from the window leaving an opening big enough for a person to pass through. As Kat pried open the window Hes heard Gruyar’s voice in his head asking if he was ready to go in. Hes confirmed that they were on the way in and the three passed through the window as Grunyar kicked the door open only to hear a loud thunk sound and find a spear buried in his side. Hearing Grunyar call out in pain Kat quickly ran back around to help him. She found him tending to his own wounds, and quickly checked over the rest of the inside of that side of the house while she was there - finding nothing but rubble and rubbish. Gathering again at the back of the house the party all entered through the window again. Tick tock found a trap door leading down into a chute, and volunteered to lead the way into the tunnel. Being careful he sidestepped a metal trigger plate, and called back to the rest of the group to make sure not to trigger it as well. At the end of the tunnel was a ladder descending into the depths of the earth, which Tick Tock led the way down. At the bottom of the ladder was a short corridor at the end of which appeared to be another ladder but was actually just a door :) As he dropped to the floor Tick Tock heard the sound of metal scrapping. Tick Tock stepped forward as the door at the end of the corridor sprung open and three enraged dogs jumped out at him, as another pair waited with jaws drooling saliva madly behind. Thinking quickly Hes cast liberating step on Tick Tock and he was able to survive 3 vicious bites from dogs that found themselves surprised at how ineffective their jaws were at bringing down this little goblin. Grunyar dazed a dog from behind Tick Tock, but the group found themselves crowded up in a small area, unable to get past. It still seemed like a perfect time for a fire bomb and Tick Tock tossed one right into the middle of the swarming pile of dog flesh, injuring some and lighting one on fire. Finally able to get around Tick Tock, Kat chopped one down, and Grunyar got off a solid daze on one, before killing it and charging over its corpse. Tick Tock ran in farther, and seeing her friend in trouble Kat tossed some chunks of meat that she had thought to bring along in order to distract the dogs. The distraction worked, on one dog at least, and that took a bit of pressure off of Tick Tock, who was still surrounded, though greatly helped by the resistance from Hes’ Liberating Step. Finally Hes managed to make his way through the mass of bodies at the door and broke in to poke one of the dogs dead. Gruynar stabby stabbed another, killing it, as Tick Tock drank one of his healing vials, just trying to stay alive while the dogs leapt at him as he clambered up onto a box. Once the group got out of the bottleneck the remaining dogs went down fairly quickly. They found some alchemist fire and a murky brown substance in the area, and pushed through into the next room. The second room was a living quarters. Deciding that they had taken enough time, and didn’t want to give Hallod more time to set up anything nefarious, they forged on into a tunnel that went east from the living quarters. After a 5 minute walk they found that the tunnel curved around. A glimmering blue light shone from around the corner. Following it around, the party found a pool of water with a blue light emanating from something in its depths. A large snake burst forth from the water with its tail arcing electricity, and they all gritted their teeth ready to face it down. The session ended there.
Session 3 - Some Fleas and a Bear Hes (Goblin Champion Liberator 1)
The mosquito like creatures were Bloodseekers. As Targen Fulst pulled his cart over on himself, the party quickly set into action with Grunyar taking one out with a divine lance and Hes and Tick Tock making short work of others with a sling and some bombs. Kat spun around and hacked away chopping down two, while another made its way past her shield and drove its stinger into her arm, only to end up in a bloody mess all over Kat’s armour as Tick Tock popped it with a well placed bomb. Another bit deeply into Grunyar, but that was all the damage they would do, as the group downed the rest of them and Grunyar gathered them around to group heal, putting an end to the few wounds that had continued to bleed on out. They pushed the mayor around the rest of his usual route, and he told them the story of how Etran’s Folly had come by its name. Apparently it was well earned as the town originator had built a house on a hill far from the water supply only to have it later claimed by a fire. Shortly after telling that story the mayor nodded off and they dropped him off back at Delma’s house. On returning to town the party were approached by Glunda - the gnome druid who had travelled with the caravan and taken care of the horses. The horses had been infested with fleas and she required some rosemary to rid them of it. Fortunately she knew of a source - a clearing a few hours away from town. Everyone agreed to help, feeling that they might have need of horses later on. Within sight of the clearing the party saw a rather enormous Brown Bear had fallen asleep in the middle of it. They all attempted to approach stealthily, though Hes scraped up against a tree, waking the Bear. The Bear instantly charged and reared over Hes. It took his arm in its powerful jaws. Kat hacked into the back of it with a mighty chop drawing its attention, as Grunyar healed up his goblin friend. Tick Tock hurled some bombs at it and the creature caught on fire, angering it even further. Kat’s flurry of slashes left her open to the bear’s claws and it pulled her into a bear hug, though Hes quickly used Liberating Step to ensure that she could slip out of the things grasp. Grunyar gave it a command to run away, but the bear shrugged it off, before Hes poked up through the animals brain with his rapier, ending its life. They collected some rosemary and returned to town, finding a relieved Glunda, who thanked them and quickly ran off to bathe the horses. Making their way back to the Feedmill Grunyar caught a flash of green out of the corner of his eye. Turning he saw Phinick, the goblin server, making his way rather stealthily to the Feedmill. As their eyes met Phinick bolted and, tired after their long trek and recent fight with the bear, the group decided not to pursue. At the Feedmill they talked to Delma and she revealed that Phinick had been missing since the day before - when Bort had died. Thinking it unusual the party asked around to see if they could dig out Phinick’s hidey hole. They all agreed that it might be better if the two goblins, Hes and Tick Tock, approached Phinick alone so as not to scare him off. After checking out a few isolated barns around town they chanced upon him in the third one. Phinick looked like he was going to run, but Hes and Tick Tock managed to calm him down. After he professed his admiration for their fighting skills - (apparently he’d seen a bit of the bar brawl before he ran out), he admitted that he had put something in Bort’s food after being threaten by Hallod, the town thug and bully. Finding it unlikely that Phinick would have the courage to lie to them, the goblins got the location of Hallod’s home from Phinick, and headed back to the Feedmill to rest before going to pay Hallod a visit. The session ended there.
Session 2 - You ok, Bort? Bort? Hes (Goblin Champion Liberator 1)
The next morning the party got up late. They hit up the few patrons in the inn as to the location of their missing Pathfinder Ranger early on while awaiting the luxurious lunch as promised by Bort Bargaith, the caravan master. Bort proved as true to his word as possible in a crappy little town like Etran’s Folly, and the group chowed down on meal of turnip this and turnip that, with a side of venison, while listening to Bort’s rather ridiculous stories from his adventuring days. During the meal a fight broke out, with a server (Kolnral) being taken to task by a drunken farmer (Farmer Eallom) for spilling a drink on him. Apparently Eallom had a bit of an inferiority complex about living in the dead homes in the northern part of town. A fight broke out - and an extra mug seemed to be tossed at Hes,a goblin, while some local tried to get in a shot at Tick Tock, the other goblin, hoping that no one would notice. Tick Tock saw exactly what happened though and he threw a corrosive bomb at the farmer - causing him to writhe in agony on the floor. The sheriff looked a down at Tick Tock, who shrugged him off, though it did seem like the near death of the farmer did take a bit of the air out of the room. Grunyar healed up the farmer and managed to quell the hostilities. The group got back into their feast, and Bort started up another of his stories, only to almost immediately start choking and turning purple. Despite ministrations Grunyar was unable to do anything to save Bort - though his medical expertise enabled him to be fairly certain that Bort was poisoned and hadn’t just suffered some kind of unlikely coronary. The sheriff, Rolth, seemed fairly inept, and looked to the party as to what to do. Delma, the innkeeper had Bort’s body put in the cellar, while the party took up investigating Bort’s death at Rolth’s request. Kat thought that Bort’s death may have had something to do with his foray out into the darkness when they had arrived the night previous. During the fight, the party noticed that Delma the innkeeper, Phinick the goblin, Sir Lawren (the PTSD-ridden knight), and Trin (a female server) had left the scene. Other possible suspects - the hapless bard Flonk, Amora the cook, Kolnral the server, Olf & Ulf the Ulfen caravan guards, Farmer Eallom and a few others were eventually let loose and told to remain in town but to go home. The group met up with Flonk, but other than seeing that he had his strings replaced, were not able to glean much from him. Talking with Amora revealed that Phinick plated Bort’s dinner and Trin served it. She didn’t see anyone else in the kitchen. Amora seemed quite concerned about her reputation, and less distraught over Bort’s death, but she didn’t come off as malicious. Delma wasn’t able to reveal too much more - just that she didn’t think that anyone in her employ had any motive to harm Bort. She did tell the party that her father, Targen Fulst (the de facto mayor) might be able to tell them more about the town and its people though. Before heading to meet Delma’s father, the group dug through Bort’s books. Tamli, Bort’s Half-orc second revealed that Bort kept excellent books, and also let slip that she would probably be inheriting the caravan and continuing on their business in Bort’s name. Bort’s caravan had many oddities, perhaps lending some merit to some of Bort’s tall tales, and true to Tamli’s word the accounting books were in excellent order. It seemed like Bort had visited Etran’s Folly 22 times in the last decade making deliveries labelled ‘reagents’ to a buyer known only as ‘H’ for rather large sums of gold. The deliveries all happened on the nights when the caravan arrived in town. The mayor turned out to be fairly elderly, and he asked them to pull him around on his makeshift wheelchair-cart as he gave them a mini-tour of the town. The Plaguestone - the party already knew somewhat about; though he added a story about a local witch named Silwyth and her daughter Vilree who everyone suspected of starting the plague, and a Father Bolgrist (a local priest) who died during it. The Feedmill turned out to be a business started by himself over 50 years ago (before the Goblinblood wars) and taken over by his daughter Delma. As the party neared a small local shrine to Gozreh, the god of nature and storms, a swarm of foot long mosquito like creatures dove down at them buzzing angrily. End Session 2.
Session 1 - Plaguestone, the town? Not to be confused with Plaguestone, the resort. Hes (Goblin Champion Liberator 1)
Low on resources, the Pathfinder Society contacted 4 prospective members to look into some reports of a missing member of the Society, Noala Kesrir - an Elven Ranger. Her usually timely reports from the small nation of Isger (a vassal state of the empire of Cheliax), had stopped arriving at the Pathfinder Grand Lodge in Absalom. The group set out the next day on a merchant caravan run by Bort Bargaith, a Dwarf merchant that had been plying the route between Almas, the capital of Andoran and Elidir, the most prominent city in Isger for many years. They were tasked to defend the caravan in exchange for the ride North. The first few days of the journey were uneventful. Nearing the town of Etran’s Folly, the group heard howls penetrate the darkness of the night and were beset upon by 5 rather mangy looking wolves. Other wolves attacked farther down the caravan. Three approached from the west and were met by Kat and Grunyar. The other two approached from the East and leapt onto the bed of the caravan to attack Hes, while Tick Tock peered out from behind him. Kat and Grunyar held off their wolf attackers with their blades and raised shields; Kat hewing at them with her powerful Hand and a Half sword while Grunyar yelled En Garde and assumed a duellists stance with his rapier. Each managed to bring down a wolf - while the Hes also fended off the other two wolves that had leapt to attack him, with Tick Tock firing away with his crossbow, reluctant to hurl his alchemical concoctions, thinking that the horses would probably panic from the noise. One pretty smart gobbo. Suddenly a loud howl emanated from the forest to the north and was echoed by the remaining scrawny predators in combat with the party. Shaken slightly, Grunyar and Tick Tock stayed in the fray. Emerging from the forest was a much larger wolf, one that dripped a greenish bile from its mouth, breathing loudly and raggedly. It glared at Hes and Tick Tock before unleashing a stream of greenish vomit at Hes. He weathered the stream, while Tick Tock was fortunate to be just out of range of the attack. The wolf charged in to leap upon one of the horses backs. Seeing a greater threat Kat turned to help her companions, taking the brunt of the Caustic Wolf’s attention and some severe injuries. The creature, grabbing her, tried to pull her to the ground, but Hes’ Liberating step prevented it from getting a grip on her. She did fall seconds later though, while the group desperately turned their attacks towards the larger wolf. Seeing his companion fall, Grunyar pierced the brain of his foe, while raising his other hand to bring some healing life to his friend Kat, who teetered on the brink of consciousness. Together they focused their attacks on the beast, and the combination of rapier thrusts and crossbow bolts managed to bring it down. After digging the horses out of a bit of mud, the crew arrived in Etran’s Folly about an hour later (passing the Plaguestone itself - a stone where medicine was exchanged with plague victims according to Grunyar), long after dark. Bort promised them a few stories and a good meal on him the next morning since he had a few tasks that he had to run that night. The group were welcomed into town by the Bartender Delma with some drink and leftover food. Grunyar tried to make friendly with the sole patron of the bar, a bit of a thuggish looking man named Hallod, before being warned off by the help - a rather eccentrically dressed goblin named Phinick. They had a few more drinks before calling it a night. End Session 1.
We definitely had a very different experience (I have journals on this site for the Strange Aeons campaign that I ran). We had an Oracle, Sorcerer, Barbarian and Investigator. They really enjoyed book 3, I'd probably say that it ended up being their favorite. All the little vignette adventures appealed to them, and they really went with and got into each, except for possibly the redundant gugs one. Putting all the PCs in the middle of the ball, where they could joke around and wreak havoc turned out to be fairly inspired imho. For book 4 they started Mun's house with the idea of respecting the house owner, but once they found the horror of what was going on upstairs (and they had been somewhat warned of what to expect by the bleaching gnome), they basically treated it like a corrupt lab that needed to be purified. The thing in the attic was turned out to be a fun encounter too. The Mysterium turned out to be a bit more challenging, but we still only had a single death - to the Exscinder Archon in the final vault, before that I don't remember them being too sorely tested by anything they faced.
Once they go upstairs they may be a little less reluctant to just to take whatever isn't nailed down :)
I think my group had the most fun in books 1, 3, and 4. One for the atmosphere. Three for the fun, quick, in and out little mini-scenarios. Four again for the cool locations. I found the later books a bit more of a slog, with encounters in there seemingly just to pad out the xp required.
I dont think the melee types ever got near the point of uselessness in my running, though they were definitely whiffing a lot by the end. The cavalier had the vital strike chain though, and he was almost exclusively using it by then. He also absorbed a massive amount of damage in some of the last fights. I'm not sure exactly what wealth they were at by the end (it was definitely well under) though either since we were using roll20 and didn't have the characters in hero labs. That plus I guess there were a good number of fatalities along the way, so that may say something as well.
Don't you guys find that normally the characters are quite overpowered by the time they reach higher levels anyway (assuming wealth per level)? Part of the charm of the AP for me was the fact that the characters didn't have 'perfect' gear by the end. The players that I took through were not absolute min-maxers but they all played their characters well, so I found that even at the very end of book 6 most of the combats were still interesting, though if they got their rest in some were fairly easy, but much more tactically interesting to me anyway, because they didn't have absurd ACs and weapons. I'd almost prefer if Pathfinder had some kind of limit to attunement like the other game, which really keeps these things from becoming issues, and forces the players to make hard choices sometimes.
Strange Aeons Final stats - started January 2017 - wrapped up April 2019 47 sessions - each about 1.5 - 2.5 hours long
Deaths (12 total) Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4
Book 5
Book 6
Notes - I liked the AP, though there are a few things that I wish that I’d done differently. I wasn’t too familiar with the Cthulhu lore until later in the campaign, so I should have read a few of the stories earlier. We also started using the Fear and Sanity rules from Horror Adventures, but that dropped by the wayside very early and I never brought it back, though it does seem a bit like trying to fit a peg into a square hole in Pathfinder. I pretty much ran it with zero random encounters since if I had included those we never would have finished the AP. Anyway we are on to Waterdeep Dragon Heist after this. I find that the crunch heavy rules of Pathfinder are becoming less enjoyable for our group, and we have been making the switch to 5e over time - even though we are all experienced rpers. Pathfinder 2e may pull us back, and I hope we will give it a try at some point, but six book APs are just too much of a time commitment to run even if they are definitely epic and I do love the stories.
Characters: Zolash Keshan’Uvel (Dwarf Barbarian 16)
Adventure: Black Stars Beckon, Thrushmoor Nexus Cause of Death: Zolash and SIr Toph stood valiantly; weathering a barrage of slams from Count Lowls as the Oracle and Sorcerer in the party pounded Lowls with spells. Eventually though Zolash went down, despite Sir Toph using an ability to step in and take attacks that were meant for him. Ultimately after being healed from near zero three times, Sir Toph fell to a Cloudkill spell from Ariadnah, though not before cleaving down Lowls with a final vital strike with his Frost Longsword.
Session 47 - Strange Aeons End Game Connor (Human Oracle 16 (Lore))
A glowing light emanating from the area that was formerly Count Lowls mansion immediately attracted the adventurers attention. They quickly healed up and headed towards it
The party buffed with fly spells, freedom of movement, and Khalaban took on improved invisibility. The enemy seemed ready for them as they dimension doored to the top of the tower though. Immediately all four of them gasped for breath as the moisture got sucked out of their skins with a horrid wilting. Zolash got blasted by Lowls with a Destruction spell, but he managed to shrug off most of it off. Khalaban quickly thrust the witch into a maze so the group could focus on Lowls. Zolash closed on Lowls though he was hit by a mossy tentacle on the way in. He felt it attempting to drain him, but he resisted. Connor unleashed a Destruction spell on Lowls which wounded him. Sir Toph then stepped in and planted his banner, though his attacks seemed to largely bounce off Lowls grassy hide. Hearing a commotion above, Hilda a cleric of Hastur, came up the stairs from the room below in the tower. She immediately hit Zolash with an Insanity spell, but he heroically fought it off. Sensing her power Khalaban attempted to possess her, but she resisted. Connor unleashed some more vicious spells - a Stormbolt this time, and he again managed to damage both Lowls and his cleric, despite Lowls great innate resistance.
Meanwhile Ariadnah the witch returned from the Maze and her little familiar ran to Lowls and cast some kind of rejuvenating spell on him. Zolash stood babbling while Connor unleashed a game changer - a massive Destruction spell on Lowls (that landed for 160 points of damage). Lowls thrashed around in anger and pain. He still managed to connect with Zolash though, wounding him greatly. The Witch Lich dropped a retribution hex on Lowls and watched with amusement as Sir Toph overcame his confusion momentarily to hack away at Lowls and damage himself in the process. Another series of slams by Lowls on Zolash was interrupted by Sir Toph as he interposed his shield in place of Zolash and took some hits for the team. Khalaban failed to shunt the Witch into a maze, only to be targeted by the Witch with a Greater Possession spell. Luckily Khalaban resisted the Witches probings. Confused Zolash lashed out at himself catching his own chest with a glancing blow. Sir Toph then let loose with another flurry of misses at Lowls tough hide. Connor unloaded yet another Destruction spell into Lowls - again hitting and causing Lowls great stress. In pure rage Lowls focused on Zolash and smashed him to the ground killing him outright with four powerful slams. Another maze spell from Khalaban failed to send Lowls to the aether.
Lowls responded by pounding on Sir Toph, though finding the shield warriors defences hard to break down. The Witch dispelled the annoying sword off her, while Lowls continued his relentless assault on the angelic Sir Toph. Apparently the angelic aura of Sir Toph had offended his senses. Sir Toph again stood stalwart with one foot in the grave, unrelenting.
Again the cycle of Lowls pounding on Sir Toph and Sir Toph standing firm with the help of Connor’s Heal repeated itself. Khalaban then got off a chain lightning that hit both the familiar and Lowls, though seemed not to affect the Witch. The familiar shrieked its last and fell in a tiny charred pile at Lowls feet. The Witch then threw out a Cloudkill around Sir Toph and Connor. Standing firm in the noxious Cloud, Sir Toph hacked away, but again missed a vital strike. Connor blasted Lowls with a Flamestrike and moved out of the cloud. The witch, sensing Sir Toph was nearly down blasted him with a piercing shriek. Still Sir Toph stood, though battered and nearly down, amidst the foggy fumes (he had 1 hp left). Fighting off the fumes Sir Toph drew back his frost blade and hacked into Lowls, carving through root and sinewy branch, and he watched in satisfaction as a quizzical expression overcame Lowls face, and the giant fungal tree creature collapsed to the floor. The gasses then overcame him and Sir Toph breathed his last, dropping to the stone roof. Khalaban took the time to disintegrate the sign on the floor, and then braced himself for the Witches next attack. The next attack was on Connor however, bringing him low though not down. Connor fought through it, and reached up to touch his friend Khalaban, healing him and removing the blindness that was affecting him (and his aim). Seeing the devastation on the roof, with two of his friends down, Khalaban lashed out with a disintegrate spell, which caught the Witch and hurt her. She screamed again at Connor trying to bring him down, but Connor stood firm. Khalaban then motioned with his hand and brought back Mordenkainens blade. The blade slid through the air and chopped through Ariadnah’s stomach. She screamed. Her robes fell to the roof in a pile. The robes squirmed though, and underneath a repulsive pile of maggots and entrails spread out over the area of where her body fell. Hastur had been repulsed. Lowls had fallen and slowly Thrushmoor was to return to normalcy. Zolash did not return when the party attempted to resurrect him. One can only assume that his warrior soul had worn out after so many times returning from the grave. He deserved the peace given to him with eternal rest. The Angels came to claim the body of Sir Toph as well as the Necronomicon, which Connor readily handed over, happy to get rid of it and return to his daughter and her mother. Khalaban returned to Thrushmoor briefly, though his heroics were mostly unknown since the battle for the soul of Thrushmoor had taken place largely away from most villagers prying eyes. What happened to Khalaban after that is unknown. The session ended there and so did Strange Aeons Black Stars Beckon.
Session 46 - The Experiments of Thing A and Thing B Connor (Human Oracle 16 (Lore))
The lab of the Elder things turned out to be a rather sterile structure of black and green marble. The inner walls glowed with some kind of strange patterns of lights - almost as if it were some kind of circuitry. Breaching the inner lab, the stasis field surrounding the area dropped, and Toph lead the group down the corridor. The passage ended in a room with a walkway surrounding a large deep pit that went deeper into the structure. Immediately though Sir Toph was surprised by a blackened rotting version of the researchers that were with group. Some kind of explosion went off in his face and he was momentarily confused. Zolash rushed around the corner eager to get his licks in and he slipped off the ledge falling into the pit. Khalaban motioned with his hand and a glowing red sword appeared in the air above the researcher and began to threaten it. Down in the pit Zolash got up off his sore ass, and was confronted by another of the fallen researchers and he leapt in to attack it. Meanwhile Khalaban noticed the creature concentrating on something, and soon a giant black mass of eyes and tentacles appeared from a passage down in the pit - the Mutate - the leader of the Shoggoths. Zolash hacked away at the zombie in front of him and cleaved off its head with a swing from his vorpal great axe. Meanwhile Sir Toph stood toe to toe with the Mutate, weathering its slam attacks against his shield, though the final attack manage to wrap around his leg and grab ahold of him. Connor was quick with the freedom of movement though, and Sir Toph slipped the Mutate’s grasp to the floor. Khalaban then conjured up a Wall of Force between the Mutate and the group - putting the Mutate on the same side as the Elder thing researchers that the party came with, it quickly turned on them as the group healed up. It managed to kill one and the got the other to flee before Khalaban brought the wall down. Khalaban then summoned a Mordenkainen’s Sword on the creature, while Zolash scaled the wall of the pit to deliver a series of vicious blows. Connor burst in with a Searing light and Khalaban maintained his attacks with the sword, while attempting and ultimately getting off a disintegrate on the Mutate. Eventually the attacks from all sides took their toll and the experimental Shoggoth leader dropped to the ground in a black mess of viscous fluids. Exploring around the group found a mostly uninteresting lab, though one area certainly contained the pit that the Mutate housed itself in. They also found more pink chips which had numbers on the backs written in a strange language. Connor, being an Oracle of Lore, was able to decipher the chips. The chips looked like they slotted into the door at the end of the south corridor. After some time the party figured out the right configuration and the door slid back to reveal the final Star Stelae, though it had mechanical contraptions on either side set up to harness the cosmic energy to further aid in their experiments. After severing the Stelae’s connection an image of Cassilda appeared to the group. She urged them to come quickly, as the man from their plane, Lowls, had been almost completely subsumed by Xhamen-dor and was now a nexus unto himself that would need to be severed in order to save the town where the group came from; Thrushmoor. After a mandatory rest to regain some health and spells, Cassilda teleported the party to the Thrushmoor nexus. Something seemed off though, and the nexus seemed disjointed. Cassilda immediately screamed and disappeared only to be replaced by the Pallid Mask, who gave the group some kind of confusing speech about how they should have been killed, but they somehow had managed to create an alternative timeline, but that Hastur had sent something towards them to solve that little problem. The party quickly found out what that something was - a Bythos Aeon, what is known as a Chronological Corrector - a being that exists to eat or destroy errant timelines. Recognizing the threat of being erased from existence the party fought for their lives. Khalaban again summoned Mordenkainen’s sword and set it to attack the Aeon. Sir Toph again stood tall and planted his banner and slashed away at the thing. Trying to preserve spells Connor and Khalaban held back a bit, but Sir Toph and Zolash proved up to the task, hacking the creature to pieces as it battered against the wall that was Sir Toph’s Shield, and finding itself unable to bring down stalwart Sir Toph before it fell victim to Zolash’s giant vorpal blade. The Aeon died, spiralling back into the aether, cementing the current timeline into existence. A bright light flashed and the party found itself back on the shore in Thrushmoor, this time in synch with the zone as the wind and storm danced all around them. The session ended there.
Session 45 - Let the ruling classes tremble at a Shoggoth revolution Connor (Human Oracle 16 (Lore))
Fortunately for the party, they had enough reagents left for 2 more kicks at the cauldron of resurrection. Zolash woke up in the confines of the cauldron shivering with a new claustrophobia intact. Get him the hell out of there! Sensing that all was quiet in the Cabaret, the initial ghouls that had helped the group navigate Paris reappeared. They told the party that they had found the Stelae at something called the Eiffel Tower, and that it was surrounded by flying creatures called Shantaks. The ghouls had found a means to tame the Shantaks though, and had cleared a path for them to approach the tower unmolested. At the tower the party airwalked and flew up to the Observation deck where the Stelae was found. The tower itself was broken in half, and in a state of complete disrepair. The party watched as Connor began to sever the Stelae from Golarion. As the ritual was being cast, Khalaban and Zolash heard a giant creaking sound. Looking over the edge Khalaban saw a massive worm - forty feet in width and hundreds of feet long - with massive serrated teeth - rapidly wending it's way up the tower. Having a bit of time to prepare, Connor threw up a blade barrier around the tower. Khalaban hurled a maze spell at the creature, but it resisted. The creature then reached the top of the tower and smashed down on the entire top level, trampling Zolash and Sir Toph, though the sharp edges of the blade barrier cut into it. Another maze spell was resisted from Khalaban as the fight continued, and Zolash and Sir Toph tried to find ways to slash at the enormous monstrosity, as it writhed around striking out at them, Fortunately for the party, Khalaban's third maze spell sent the creature spiralling into the netherworld. Connor quickly returned to casting the severing ritual and succeeded. Fearing the slipping sense of time the party quickly made the trek back to the Bohlvariai nexus. They immediately felt all the effects of high altitude pressure and the cold bite of winter, but Connor’s Life Bubble spell mitigated all of that, giving them at least 8 hours of relief, with the ability to cast it again if required. Seeing the expansive alien architecture and also the effects of some otherworldly force that had seemingly smashed many of these buildings down to rubble, the party decided to make haste to find the remaining Star Stelae. Connor cast a Vision spell which allowed them to locate something related to the Stelae, and they headed in that direction. They trekked for a time before coming near their destination which lay across a wide open courtyard. A chittering sound erupted from all around them “Tekeli-li Tekeli-li Tekeli-li”. Quickly glancing around Khalaban and Sir Toph noticed a massive black amorphous cloud of temporary eyes and appendages. Connor immediate cast Obscuring Mist to hide them, but recognizing the Shoggoth with a Knowledge check they all wisely broke into a run towards the building that was their Vision destination. They managed to make it, and as the entrance was fairly small, the Shoggoth was unable to penetrate the building, leaving them some time to explore. The building turned out to be an alien archive with strange metallic scrolls lying in rest on the walls, and a ramp leading up to a second level of the building. A statute of a strange barrel bodied creature with wings dominated the centre of the room. Being an oracle of Lore Connor had no difficulty making out what knowledge the scrolls contained. Most of them were treatise on advanced knowledge of ’science’ though quite a few also told a story of a race of Elder Things which seemed to have quite an advanced culture over present day Golarion. Coming from another world entirely, they were surprised when their city was absorbed into Carcosa wholesale. Being cut off from the rest of the world, the worker race of Shoggoth soon found themselves with little to do, and even less reason to do it. They rebelled against their masters, even though they were ‘well treated’, hence the rather smashed state of the architecture outside the archive. The group also found more knowledge of the location of the Stelae in a diorama of the city near a wall. Connor was able to pinpoint the location of the Stelae with an out of the park knowledge check. Exploring upstairs the group came upon a somewhat similar scene with scrolls on the walls, but also two containment chambers that were opaque to view, containing a blue liquid that hid what lay within. Khalaban rubbed the glass clean on one, and was surprised when the chamber drained of fluid and expelled the creature contained within. The creature turned out to be an Elder Thing researcher. The party cast comprehend languages and telepathic bond and was able to glean some further information from the thing (which also awakened its fellow researcher). Apparently everything they had read in the room below was true. The city had been pulled from another world, and the servitor race of Shoggoth had rebelled. Filling in some of the gaps though, it seemed that the researchers had found the Star Stelae on their world and had found a way to harness its energy. Experimenting on their Shoggoth ‘workers’ with the energy from the Stelae had increased their intelligence and hence usefulness, but also led to the creation of a smarter breed of Shoggoth. One that had enough intelligence to hide it, and to communicate with the others effectively enough to lead a rebellion against their masters. Shoggoths of the world cast off your chains! Khalaban pointed out how stupid an action that this seemed to be and the researchers could only agree. To combat this threat the researchers threw up a temporal stasis field around the laboratory that the experiments were performed in. The smarter Shoggoth leader was trapped within, but so was the Stelae. The remaining Shoggoths reverted back to their former intelligence, but kept their new attitude and they proceeded to go around smashing everything in sight. Hoping that time would solve their problem the researchers put themselves into stasis for a long period - only to be reawakened by the party. As they talked the inky black creature outside passed by a window on the scene and its giant eye peered in. Seeing them it stopped in its tracks and began to smash away at the top of the building outside. Getting directions to the lab as well as some curious pink tokens from the things, Khalaban grabbed hold of the entire group as well as the two researchers (who appeared to grab some form of weaponry from nearby), and cast dimension door. Hoping the Shoggoth would take some time to notice where they had disappeared to, the group made their way towards the lab that was frozen in time. The session ended there.
Session 44 - Off wis zere headz Connor (Human Oracle 16 (Lore))
Making their way through the disordered streets of faux Paris the group tried to be as stealthy as possible. Unfortunately stealth isn’t exactly this groups strong suit… Despite the presence of a few gendarmes scouting ahead for them the group pushed through thin yellow fog into a square with 5 ghoulish soldiers in it. “Vive le revolution!” yelled Connor, only to have two Leng Ghouls pull out their pistols and another three unsheath their claws and immediately attack. Connor threw out a searing light as three Ghouls sat back peppered Zolash and Sir Toph with shots. Zolash got his rage on and ripped into one of the ghouls in front of him - trying out his new elemental stance and ripping through one with an electrical charge on top of his already sharp axe. Sir Toph planted his banner and began to absorb punishment from three ghouls all shooting and lashing out at him. Despite the scratches, both Sir Toph and Zolash kept resisting the paralyzing froth of the ghouls saliva. Eventually though the party tore through the ghouls - with a combination of Khalaban’s lower level spells and Zolash’s fury. Though the nexus appeared large at first glance most of the roads faded off into yellow mist and seeming nothingness. A few humans walked around in a mental fog reciting lines from what Connor recognized was a play named the King in Yellow. Connor attempted a Locate Object but was unable to find the Star Stelae within his range. Continuing on the group came across a building that appeared to have a number of ghouls outside it. Two ghouls guarded the door, though they seemed to be taking their jobs fairly casually - leaning back against the wall - joking around. As the group approached Khalaban threatened the guards - asking if Armel was inside and insisting to be let in. To prove his point he unleashed a disintegrate at one of the ghouls, blasting a hole in his guts, though not ending its existence, The ghouls mumbled something about not liking the a!&!~~@ anyway - be sure to take the bastard out, and stepped aside to let the group in. The group walked into the Cabaret du Oubli - admiring the homages to death and disease up in its dark shadowy interior. Even the candles were shaped like tiny skulls though the music from a piano in the northeast corner was upbeat and loud.
Armel asked the group if they’d like to work for him, that they looked capable, and they could start in the lower ranks of his organization and work their way up. He laughed with the surrounding soldiers. Seeing that diplomacy was going nowhere Connor led with Stormbolts lashing lightning at several ghouls before they could throw tables over in defence. Armel chopped at Sir Toph doing some damage before Khalaban shunted him into a maze spell. Taking advantage of the enemy leader being missing Zolash ripped into some ghouls with his axe, while Connor raised a blade barrier around the group - with some ghouls on either side of the barrier. The blade barrier plus spells were effective in taking a few ghouls out of the fight - though the remaining ones scored some nice hits on Sir Toph blasting away with their firearms, with a couple up in his face - though again Sir Toph proved resistant to their paralysis. Armel managed to wend his way out of the maze only to be immediately shunted back in by Khalaban. That gave the group time to clean out the remaining ghouls before Armel popped back into the Cabaret enraged. He immediately unleashed a full attack on Zolash and caught him just right - slicing the Barbarians head from his shoulders - and watching it roll next to one of the piles of skulls on floor, leaving a gruesome trail of blood. Seeing his friend decapitated brought out the warriors clarity in Sir Toph - who hacked away with surgical precision at Armel and slashed across his body before bringing his ice sword back through Armel’s neck, dropping him, and sending his head across the room to rest next to the head of his Barbarian friend. The session ended there.
Character: Zolash Keshan’Uvel (Dwarf Barbarian 16) Adventure: Black Stars Beckon, Cabaret du Oubli Cause of Death: A fight broke out between the group and Armel and his goons. The sorcerer, Khalaban, shunted Armel twice into a Maze spell, which Armel returned from the very next round both times. The second time he returned he unleashed a full attack on Zolash with his +1 Vorpal Greataxe, and got a crit with the first (+29) attack. Crit confirmed and Zolash’s head joined the rest of the decorative skulls in a pile on the floor.... only to have Armel’s join him a round later as Sir Toph got some revenge for poor Zolash.
Session 43 - And then the Albino Penguins Showed up Connor (Human Oracle 16 (Lore))
After severing the Aevan-Vhor Star Stelae from Golarion, the group decided to head past the Bohlvarai nexus toward the Paris nexus. First though they would have to make their way through some mountainous peaks and extreme altitudes. Following a cavernous trail the group saw a strange shattered statue ahead, though none of them could discern anything from it. Around the other side of the statue they encountered the odd sight of two giant albino penguins sliding and playing about in the snow as it continued to fall. Stepping up towards the Penguins most members of the party were surprised when the images dissolved and two massive spiders strode out - one on the ceiling and the other walking up a wall. The first spider scored some bites on Zolash, but the main venomous thrust of its attack failed to penetrate the Dwarfs tough bloodstream. Khalaban immediately hurled a chain lightning and Connor followed up throwing bolts from his body in a stream as well - with his newly learned Stormbolts spell. Both spiders resisted the secondary effects and came in to attack. First Sir Toph got strung up in the webs from one creature and the other leapt in to attack Zolash. Connor tried to bring the Searing Light but his spell was disrupted as a spider leg lashed across his arm. Sir Toph managed to break free of the webbing and launched a challenge and some attacks of his own, as Zolash went into a rage and unleashed a full attack on the same creature. The creature proved unable to withstand too much of the two adventurers pounding on it, and Sir Toph finished it off - ripping it open with a huge gash to its stomach. The other spider suffered an empowered Vampiric Touch from Khalaban and a Searing Light from Connor. It scrambled back through the illusionary wall and froze, hoping that the adventures couldn’t see it up on the wall. Connor again brought out True Seeing and was able to pinpoint the hiding spider for the rest of the group. Sir Toph darted in front of Connor to protect him, while Zolash launched himself at the arachnid, cleaving it down with a massive chop from FlameHawk. From there the group made their way to the Paris nexus, slowly coming up upon the outskirts of the city. They saw some strange creatures wandering around - what looked like undead, but all dressed up in odd looking clothing. Finally they spotted a group of soldiers standing against the wall of what looked like a pub. With telepathic bond and tongues on, they approached the group, at first seeing what they could learn by listening. The group of undead were dressed up in blue uniforms, though their mannerisms gave off the look of a dejected and beaten group. Approaching the group Toph was able make some conversation; the ghouls did not hide the fact that they were currently leaderless and were unsure how to proceed. Their leader Zann, had disappeared weeks ago and a new leader, Armel, had stepped in to fill the void. This Armel had proven to be a harsh leader, bending citizens to his will and conscripting many able bodied ghouls into his army. The ghouls had agreed that he had to be brought down, but felt they were not abled to fight back at this time. Sir Toph recognized the Leader’s name Zann as the one who was held in Lord Avaric’s dungeon, and told the ghouls so. They immediately set about creating a small force to go free their leader. This group split left only a small number of troops to withstand the pressure from Armel, and maybe even to push the attack back on him. The adventurers agreed to go with the small infiltrating group in the hopes that they would find out more about the second Star Stelae that linked Golarion and Carcosa along the way. The session ended there.
The Eldritch Scoundrel in the party that I'm running through it threw a thunderstone down the hole. I was so tempted have the Bhole chew its way up and surprise the hell out of them :) (but I didn't)... It will be fun when .. Later on: it shows up again later in Book 6 :)
Session 42 - Welcome to my Nightmare Connor (Human Oracle 15 (Lore))
The party decided that the best way to approach Lord Avaric’s manor was to walk straight in (especially since they had been invited) … with Khalaban under the Veil spell dressed as Lord Eldarius and the rest as his retinue of servants. The guards at the front door accepted the invitation without a word of protest and showed them in. Khalaban greeted Lord Avaric in the lobby and they exchanged a few barbs, but they were allowed past as Avaric moved on to greet other guests. Connor wisely cast True Seeing and was able to quickly differentiate between the cursed vampires and the regular human guests. With this knowledge they were able to navigate up towards Eldarius daughter with little trouble. They stopped to meet the sayona twins Ovonda and Ultor, but quickly pierced their naive partygoer act and Khalaban stepped up to threaten them and told them off, to which they retreated to their respective rooms; suitably cowed. They were able to find out that Delmaria, Eldarius’ daughter, was on the top floor by questioning some vampire guests who gave up the information willingly, apparently seeing little harm in it. The party headed straight up only to be accosted on the top floor by a pair of guards. The guards quickly stood down when they saw that it was the father of Delmaria, who had come to spend a moment with his beloved daughter. Even Delmaria was fooled, though she hadn’t been expecting her father to show up at the party. When Khalaban entered the room he was able to convince her that it might be in her best interest to leave and that he had changed his mind and was no longer giving her permission to be here. Khalaban then exited the room and re-entered as Lord Avaric, perhaps to ask Delmaria to step outside, or to give her permission to leave. Unfortunately for him his bluff failed spectacularly, and Delmaria let out a loud shriek when she saw through his Veil spell. The shriek brought the cursed guards from the hallway and the party immediately stepped up to contain them. Khalaban threw up a wall of force to block the stairwell, but a guard dodged in to let loose a flurry of attacks at him, wounding him greviously. The other guard gazed into Sir Toph’s eyes and dominated him, causing him to turn and attack Khalaban. Khalaban quickly realized the mental state of his companion and dispelled the domination. This dispel left him open to the guard’s reprisal though and the guard took advantage of it, slashing Khalaban down with three wicked chops of his sword. The rest of the party rallied then with Connor bringing Searing Light to bear on the guard, and Sir Toph and Zolash intervening with a challenge and a blur of attacks from Flame Hawk. Their combined attacks managed to bring down both vampire guards. Seeing that he had little time Connor pulled the Cauldron of Resurrection out of his pack and gently placed Khalaban in it. Watching with anxiety as the wall started to flicker the party ended up relieved as Khalaban awoke from the dead before the wall finally collapsed. Sensing the urgency, Connor went back into Delmaria’s room and grabbed ahold of her while Sir Toph smashed the window. Stepping outside to the balcony the newly revived Khalaban was able to get his mind together enough to teleport the group away from the manor and back to Eldarius house. The real Eldarius was only too happy to see his beloved daughter, and he and his daughter provided the group with the location of the Star Stelae as promised. The Stelae was exactly where Delmaria had told them, though as they neared the field it was in, they encountered a wall of vegetation. Hacking through it they were surprised as the plant came to life, thrashing around with its branches. Toph firmly slammed his banner down into the ground rallying the party, though he and Zolash were quickly caught up in the trees branches as they thrashed around aggressively. Khalaban, pissed at this point, hurled an empowered lightning bolt which sizzled the tree. Connor was able to cast freedom of movement successively on Zolash and Sir Toph and they took to chopping at the deciduous beast, slowly hacking through its tendrils towards the centre where the Star Stelae lay, surrounded in foliage. Eventually with a mighty chop Zolash burst through the woody branches killing the mighty plant. The group took to clearing the area around the Star Stelae, as Connor prepared and cast the ritual severing the Stelae from Golarion. The party levelled up and the session ended there.
Character: Khalaban (Human Sorcerer 15 (Aberrant Bloodline)) Adventure: Black Stars Beckon, Lord Avaric's Manor Cause of Death: The group made it to the top floor with Khalaban nailing every bluff check to pass himself off as Lord Eldarius with a Veil spell, even on meeting Eldarius Daughter! Unfortunately this gave him the confidence to think that he could fake being Lord Avaric, to possibly ask the lady out to the balcony for a talk - and teleport away. Going back in the room, the bluff failed spectacularly (natty 1), and Delmaria saw right through the disguise. She shrieked and called the guards in, whereupon Khalaban conjured up a wall of force, blocking the stairwell. One of the guards stepped in and unleashed a full attack on him, doing massive damage. The party stepped in to fight the guards, but the guard ended up getting a second round of full attack on Khalaban in the confined space on the third floor and Khalaban went down (later to be resurrected by the Cauldron of resurrection the group had acquired earlier).
Session 41 - Leaving Neruzavin Connor (Human Oracle 15 (Lore))
As the group prepared to rest Sir Toph caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. An enormous bat-like creature made from darkness itself swooped in on the group. Toph threw up a challenge, while the rest of the party ducked. The creature raked some claws through Khalaban’s cloak doing some minimal damage, but the entire party quickly jumped into action, tearing the thing apart with their remaining spells and full attacks. The poor Nightwing never had a chance. The group rested, with Cassilda watching over them, before continuing on. The edge of the Neruzavin nexus was near. The cavern continued on towards what looked like some kind of exit, where the cavernous terrain rapidly transitioned to forest, just beyond a giant, ancient tree. As they tried to bypass the tree, it emitted a horrible squealing sound that surprised Sir Toph, and muddled his brain. Zolash charged up and unleashed some more attacks with FlameHawk, and Khalaban threw some magic, though it was resisted. The tree pounded on Zolash with its tendril like boughs raking him over and over. Regaining his senses Sir Toph firmly planted his banner into the arid soil and charged the tree. Spells like Connors searing light seemed to be getting through, but Sir Toph and Zolash were taking a lot of hits in the process. With Zolash near going down, Connor cast Heal to keep him up, Frustrated Sir Toph used his Luckblade to wish that the tree was vulnerable to fire. Working well with the Aasimar warrior Khalaban dropped a Wall of Fire on it, doing massive damage. It screamed though it had no discernible mouth, catching all but Zolash in its confusion effect. The weakness to fire did it in though, as the fire damage from the Wall of Fire and Zolash’s FlameHawk proved too much, and the tree was left a smoldering heap before it was able to do anything more. Cassilda wished the party well, as they headed out of the nexus into the Aevan-Vhor nexus. With her explicit directions the group soon found a small town. They observed many ghost like entities going through the motions of a daily existence, and attempted to talk to a few of them, to find that they inhabitants didn’t even seem to be aware of their condition, and weren’t able to help much. They soon found signs pointing to Eldarius manor, the noble that Cassilda had told them could possibly help out. The manor house was quite broken down, and the family seemed to be afflicted by the same curse that the rest of the townsfolk had. When Lord Eldarius came down to greet them though, they could immediately see that he seemed aware of his ghostly condition. Eldarius told them a story of how a curse affected everyone, and that most ‘people’ in the nexus did not know what had happened to them. Eldarius himself had seen how the curse affected them though, forcing them into meaningless routines, unaware of their true condition. His daughter was one, unfortunately. A musician from another nexus had come and performed some ritual on his daughter in an attempt to get her to regain her senses. Unfortunately the ritual misfired and the lady was turned into a vampire, like many others in the nexus. Eldarius met with other local nobles and in his anger he cast out the musician, who went to die in the dungeons of Lord Avaric’s manor house. Soon the incident was forgotten, but Eldarius daughter came of age where she was to be accepted into Vampire society. Eldarius knew that being accepted meant succumbing to base vampire instincts and slowly but inexorably becoming a feral creature. Not wishing that fate on his beloved daughter, Eldarius asked the group to save her from Avaric’s manor. There was a party tonight to celebrate the coming Bleeding moon, where all creatures regained their senses again for a day (causing the vampires to go insane with self loathing). If the group could rescue her from the manor, Eldarius knew she would be able to help them find the Star Stelae that they wished to disconnect from their home world. They accepted the invitation to the party from Lord Eldarius and prepared to head to the manor house. The session ended there.
Session 40 - The Other Neruzavin Connor (Human Oracle 15 (Lore))
Soon after arriving in Carcosa the party saw an elegant figure floating toward them slowly. As the figure got closer it appeared to be a woman with many doll-like features and a lustrous alabaster skin. The woman made no move to attack but asked them their business in Carcosa. She told them that she meant no harm, and that she was one of the earliest inhabitants of this dimension. That her entire city (of which she was the queen) - named Yhtill had been subsumed by Carcosa. She had hosted a party in which her successor, her daughter, was to be named. They had feared of a prophecy of the Yellow Sign - some event that was supposed to somehow summon the King In Yellow, the mysterious ruler of Carcosa. A stranger offered to help her avoid this fate. The stranger, the Pallid Mask, turned out to be an agent of the King in Yellow and he turned on them - tricking the party into looking on the Yellow sign and triggering a reaction that started Yhtill on the path towards absorption into Carcosa. The Queen was able to open her mind to the souls in her city and absorb many of them into herself, preserving their essences, in the hope that the city, and her daughter, might one day be restored. Every so often adventurers came to Carcosa and she hoped to group with them to destroy the Yellow King’s Avatar in Carcosa, and to prevent the Yellow King from gaining further power and ascending to Elder God status. Queen Cassilda told the group that the King in Yellow had two different means to gaining power. One was to infiltrate peoples minds with the words of the King in Yellow Play, which would spread like a virus and cause those afflicted to be absorbed. The other - more direct - means was the Star Stelae, which acted like vampiric fangs - connecting Carcosa to other worlds which could then have their identity slowly absorbed and recreated back on Carcosa, increasing the Yellow Kings power. The group would have to disconnect the three Star Stelae from their world in order to cut off the Yellow Kings power source. She also told that that she had the means to find the Star Stelae here on Carcosa, by absorbing the power from local entities, but that she would have to be close to do so. The party headed further into Neruzavin, with the Queen in tow. In the next large plaza over, they encountered another floating entity. This one was dressed in yellow robes, wearing an organic mask that seemed to move as the entity talked. The man introduced himself as the Pallid Mask, and taunted the group - saying that they had already descended so far into the Yellow Kings grasp by their activities for Lowls - excepting Sir Toph, who wasn’t there. Immediately he launched into an attack on them. The Pallid mask started with by revealing the Yellow Sign to Zolash who was overcome, though Khalaban quickly dispelled it. He also cast Horrific Revelation on Sir Top who failed and became overwhelmed with confusion. Khalaban hurled a disintegrate at him but wasn’t able to penetrate his resistances. Next the Mask hit Sir Toph with a Reality leech (for 5 Charisma drain). Connor responded with a Flamestrike, and Khalaban with Empowered Magic Missiles. Bursting out of his reverie, Sir Toph launched into an attack on the Mask, hitting with a few blows. The Mask hurled a Hold Person at Khalaban which froze him in place, though Connor quickly negated it with a Freedom of Movement. Soon though, Sir Toph and Zolash were able to flank the Mask and unload full attacks on him. Zolash landed a devastating critical and ended up tearing the Mask in half. The Queen came toward the group revealing that she had been able to use the Masks death to power a spell to find the locations of the Star Stelae that they would have to disconnect. The three lay in three different nexuses that she was able to give them directions to (Aevan-Vhor, Bohlvarai, and Paris). She also found out that an entity was being held in the Aevan-Vhor nexus, some kind of leader of another Nexus, that might help them make their path to the Yellow King easier. Continuing forward the group entered another large plaza, this one with a large chasm in the middle. Some screams pierced the air, and the group felt themselves pulled into the area towards the centre. A larger version of a Polyp was there and it launched into an attack. Connor threw up a Blade Barrier and Khalaban hit it with a devastating disintegrate right away. The creature grappled Zolash and started flailing away at him, almost knocking him out with some powerful blows. Khalaban hurled electricity at the thing, having found that worked well earlier, but the spell was resisted. Sir Toph stepped in to challenge the creature and unloaded some nice hits, but not before Zolash was knocked unconscious. Connor then stepped forward to Stabilize him, and heal Sir Toph. Sir Toph again unleashed some devastating challenging blows and another burst of empowered lightning from Khalaban, this one not resisted, put an end to the creature. The session ended there.
Session 39 - Found Carcosa Connor (Human Oracle 14 (Lore))
The smaller creatures were plant-like in nature. Sir Toph jumped to defend the group and Khalaban unleashed a chain lightning that charred all three that they faced. With Zolash also crashing in to attack the plant creatures did not last long. As they fought the Crab creature they heard a pulsing sound - and all felt a force pulling at them - except for Connor, with his freedom of movement active. The force slowed them, and they all turned to face not one, but two grotesque flying polyps. One picked up Sir Toph in its tentacle and the other flew and grappled Khalaban. With his movement slowed Toph tried to chop away at the mass that was holding him, but was unable to do much damage. It slowly started to crush him to death, though it was barely able to penetrate his magically armoured angelic hide. Khalaban’s father leapt in to attack one doing some damage with his great sword.
Zolash was taking a ton of punishment at this point, and Connor was able to bring him back from the brink with a timely heal spell. Connor was also able to cast air walk on Sir Toph, and seconds later followed up with a freedom of movement. Toph dropped to the ground slipping out of the creatures grasp. Meanwhile Khalaban’s father continued to pound the other polyp and Zolash leapt up the wall to jump on the creatures back, and drive his Flame hawk into the things flesh over and over, before being thrown off. Connor followed up with a Holy Smite and caught the creatures for some damage, while Khalaban followed up with another disintegrate that took one of them down. After that Zolash was able to leap up its back again and attack as Khalaban’s father finally dropped unconscious from tendril whips. A final disintegrate from Khalaban sent it spiralling down crashing to the ground again; throwing Zolash off its back and into the nearby water. After the fight Aeptolinu stood clapping with no expression on his face. The group then took the time to attune the final star stelae. Zolash caught a glimpse of a glint of steel out in the water as he swam back to shore and was able to retrieve a sword - which from its description sounded like the ancestral heirloom that the ghost Upianshe (from the tower) had been looking for.
From the top of the tower the group felt it was time to get on with the Path to the Black Stars ritual, which they had learned from the Necronomicon. The casting went as expected with an Oracle of Lore in the group, and an hour later the party opened their eyes to a very different world. A world with two dark suns, and a yellow pallor to it. They had finally made it to Carcosa. The group levelled up and the session and Book 5 What Grows Within ended there. We are back to book 6 starting after next week.
While I really like a lot of the new components of the game and the general direction things are headed and am overall optimistic that the final product will be great, I am very concerned about the amount of testing that will be done on the final version of the game. It sounds like there are significant changes being done to the system, right down to the core math of the game. As an engineer, I cannot fathom making this amount of changes without doing another large-scale test on the final product. I know that you will be doing internal testing, but that is a significantly more limited scope that an open playtest. I really want Paizo and Pathfinder 2E to succeed. This isn't a car or some physical thing that will crash and harm people though. If they use the massive amounts of data and make a few changes towards what seems to be popular then that should be enough no? You'd think that this new system has already been tested far more than the original Pathfinder was, and we still love that system despite its warts - none of them ended up stopping us from playing it, and it seems like the new system has already fixed quite a few of those niggling issues from the past.
We just started CoC Masks of Nyarlothep. I don't know if Turin is up for a campaign journal. I may post some stuff on it, though I fear I won't do it justice. We'll see. We started that as well for 7e, doing a month on and off with Strange Aeons. PH Dungeon is running it, we're back to it next week after finishing off Strange Aeons book 5 this week. It's been great so far.
Session 38 - Who’s your Daddy? Connor (Human Oracle 14 (Lore))
After a period of wandering through Neruzavin’s bizarre architecture the group came upon the Oraculum, a structure with two distinct parts - a bottom base and a circular top that pointed towards the heavens. The party also detected a magical barrier keeping them out - which Connor with his deep lore was able to identify as a Forbiddance effect. Outside the Oraculum sat a massive blue skinned giant (with a nose-ring) peering up at the structure. When the group approached he acknowledged them - asking them their business there, appearing to be fairly suspicious about their motivations. After some discussion the Giant revealed to them that an important astrological event was happening and that he needed to regain access to the building. Three vile creatures had evicted him, starsworn Nagas, and he had no means of getting back in. The party picked up on his underlying anger and were able to persuade him that they only needed the structure for a short period, and he eventually gave up the password to the forbiddance barrier. Approaching from the top it seemed like the Nagas were ready, but Khalaban still led with a devastating chain lightning attack that arched between the Nagas, singeing all of them. Toph, who had been given moon walk, strode in and raised his shield interposing himself between Khalaban and the Nagas. The Nagas responded with a Lightning bolt, charring Zolash a bit. Connor and Zolash both moon walked in - and piled on the physical attacks. The Nagas threw everything they had at the group, but found themselves wasting spells, unable to penetrate Khalaban’s alien spell resistance. Another Naga ended up feebleminded while Toph mercilessly hacked the third down. With the Oraculum open again the group allowed the Giant back in, and he agreed to watch them as they slept to recover spells. After a rest, with the Giant guarding them, they attuned the second Stelae with the Beckon the Stars ritual (Connor’s skills as an Oracle of Lore made the checks fairly easy). Another period of exploration led the group to the Snarl, where they were immediately approached by a rather regal looking man. The man introduced himself as Aeptolinu. From general discussion the group were able to discern that he had been around for a long, long time, that he had something to do with Azlant, and the birth of humanity, and that he hinted that he knew something of Carcosa, and was disappointed that humanity would fall under its spell. Aeptolinu led the group through an area with words scrawled all over the walls. As they walked the words began to become meaningful to them, it seemed to be a list of the sins of mankind, and even later on included some of the sins of the group members themselves. Zolash saw the murder of the man that turned into a revenant in Thrushmoor. Others saw activities that they had performed under Lowls. All felt drained by the experience. Eventually Aeptolinu led them to a corner alcove, the middle of which was a large stone throne. Sitting upon the stone was a horrific creature, with massive wings and a dark red robe, introduced to them as the Saffron Prince. Snakes writhed under the folds of his robe. He seemed distracted, though he acknowledged Aeptolinu, with a few questions. Suddenly his gaze focused on Khalaban, and he appeared shaken (while Aeptolinu appeared to be watching with something like glee). He asked a number of personal questions to Khalaban, before asking after his mother - someone that this creature apparently knew. Satisfied, but in disbelief the creature claimed to be Khalaban's father. He had learned of the Yellow King many years previous and had left before he infected his family with the violent dreams of the Yellow King. He had instructed Khalaban’s mother to ensure that their son was never involved in the battle between the Yithians and the Elder Gods, but it seemed like destiny had taken over, and it was indeed his son here before him. Vowing to help them as much as he could, and after hearing their story, the Saffron Prince led them to a different area in the Snarl; before them sat the third and final Star Stelae. Before they could collect their thoughts about performing the Beckon the Stars ritual again they detected some movement from the water behind the monument. A massive crab like creature emerged from the depths, with two other smaller creatures at its side. They leapt from the water to attack. The session ended there.
Session 37 - Raising Zolash Connor (Human Oracle 14 (Lore))
Connor and Khalaban quickly searched the camp, then beat a hasty retreat back to the Ash Giants village with the bodies of Zolash and Kallista. Mother Grim Moon met them at the camp and listened to their story solemnly and admitted that she could bring the souls back, though it would tax her greatly, with two conditions - they had to want to return and she would require some payment otherwise she would seem weak to her tribe. The bodies were placed on stone slabs near where the entrance to the area where Old Obsidian, the colossal scorpion, had made havoc many days before. As they walked, two giants bumped up against Connor, warning him that should anything happen to Mother Grim Moon that there would be hell to pay. The ritual took hours, and the body of Zolash stirred back to life, though he immediately vomited and keeled over, alive but needing some rest. Mother Grim Moon looked fairly spent, but she still proceeded with the ritual to bring Kallista back. The chanting continued on longer than it had with Zolash, and Mother Grim Moon began to sprout more corruptive growths from her repulsive body, but still she continued, until at last - feeling no response from Kallista (apparently happy to be off with her wife in the afterlife), she collapsed to the ground and shuddered; dead. Mass confusion overtook the camp, as giants raced to try to revive their fallen leader. As the realization came upon them that she may not revive, they slowly turned on the party, filled with anger. Khalaban tried to calm them with words, but the giants were too riled up. Eventually, just as tensions were about to boil over, two radiant archons Aumensilakos & Yrisolma (the ones that they originally met outside the tower in Neruzavin) arrived - floating in from the sky. Ignoring what was going on they demanded the Necronomicon, as they could feel its vile presence from a long distance away. Connor using his depth of Lore, explained to them how the book was required to thwart great evil in Hastur and Xhamen-Dor. Once those threats were over, he would return the book. The Archons were won over, but demanded that one of their own accompany the group to oversee the fate of the book. From behind them stepped out a beautiful Aasimar man, well fortified in Heavy Full Plate armour. He gave his name as Sir Toph, and it looked like he would take his new task seriously. After some time to recuperate the party headed back to Neruzavin, finding it easier this time to navigate the obscure architecture and returned back to Lowls mercenary camp. Above they felt the hum of power and detect magic gave off a strong aura as well. Ascending the staircase they saw a Star Stelae similar to the ones they had seen in Thrushmoor as well as some kind of apparition floating nearby, wearing a traditional garb that Connor was able to identify as being from Ninshabur, a region in Casmeron that had a tragic history of having once been torn apart by a horrible entity known as a Tarrasque. They approached the ghost, who immediately turned on them and wailed in their faces, diving in to attack. Even with her incorporeal nature, the party were able to thrash her down quickly with a series of spells and attacks from Sir Toph’s Frost enchanted longsword, and Zolash’s axe. Having been humbled, her rage left her momentarily, and she was able to recount her story of having been with an expedition many years before and bringing them to Neruzavin (which she named) only to have them transform into seeded fungus creatures in front of her eyes, and finally having them turn on her, killing her. She asked them if they had seen her ancestral sword, but obviously the party had never heard of it previous to listening to her story. She also promised to guard them and allow them to rest there, near the Stelae should they require it. Using the Necronomicon, Connor was able to cast the Beckon the Stars ritual and attune the Stelae. Only two more attunements were required before they could follow Lowls to wherever he went. After the attunement they headed back into the curved streets of Neruzavin, looking for the next Star Stelae. Before they found it though they stumbled into a an encounter with an ugly creature with tentacles with eyes on the ends of them and a freaky three-legged body (an Otyugh). The creature carefully attempted to converse with them though, and introduced itself as a collector of fine magic items and especially books and scrolls; it loved those. Khalaban negotiated for a nice ring, while the other members of the party held onto their items. No one wanted to see what would happen if the creature took a bite out of the Necronomicon. The session ended there.
If you enjoy the complexity & tactics & builds of Pathfinder, like most of us here do you might get a little boost of enjoyment from 5e, but it might not last long. My group plays both 5e and Pathfinder - we've completed Age of Worms (to Level 20) with some Mythic thrown in, and I'm DMing a Strange Aeons which is currently in book 5 at level 14. D&D-wise we've played to level 11 twice, and are currently up to level 9 in Storm King's Thunder, plus I've DM'd a good part of the first campaign and Curse of Strahd. I ended up selling most of my 5e stuff, because to me it felt like it had run it's course, though a few of the people in the group still love 5e. I'd never sell my Pathfinder books. Right now I struggle to think of a character that I'd get excited about creating in 5e, while just glancing through the Pathfinder books I can think of a ton of classes & archetypes that I'd like to try. Anyway, my two cents. I too hope Paizo gets their web presence together and keeps putting out amazing books, but they've earned my trust at this point and they have a long, long rope to go through before they lose it.
Ah, my apologies, I thought it was just a free resource, I didn't realize that it had other applications. The over-reactions from some of the people above just seemed a little extreme.
Yikes! What a horrible thought. Removing the Player Companion info would ruin the function Nethys has served. It's probably the people that never spent a penny on Paizo products that are whining the loudest too, heh.
Got mine yesterday. Ontario, Canada. |