TPK
Hall of Harch Reflections
Sodden Hold Warehouse
When the players first entered the Free City, they decided to stay in a high-class hotel, thus avoiding the Crooked House encounter altogether. Thats okay, we have a number of side-quests working concurently anyhow. But what to do with Elaxian (sp?)? I decided I would slip him into the room with the M and R twins in room 6. Well, with the conditions just ripe, a Total Party Kill was at hand. Those PCs that were not outright killed were tossed into a cell for future "interrogation".
And its only going to get harder from this point on!
Excellent module!
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PC Name: Feywin, Halfling Phsyic Warrior4/Rogue1 and Elgin, Dwarf Ranger 5
Adventure: Blackwall Keep
Location of Death: In the Mistmarsh
Catalyst: Bad Rolls/Big Snake
Long Description: The characters were doing very well. They had killed the army attacking Blackwall keep, and after Elgin had tracked for a day, the group decided they needed to rest. Elgin, the Ranger, would stay up and stand guard for first watch.
Elgin must have had sleep in his eyes and ears, because the huge boa constrictor snuck up on him easily. The group awoke to his screams as he was crushed to death. Feywin attempted to beat the snake off, while the Psion ran away with Elgin's corpse. Feywin allowed the other two to escape, and was then eaten by the snake.
Elgin was reincarnated as a Half-orc, and the Psion left since his friend (Feywin) was dead, leaving a confused dwarf and a Gnome Cleric.
See my Gathering of Wind Playtest notes as to the death of the Ninja character at the hands/claws of Illithane and the near TPK via the Salamander and Huge Fire elemental.
I also had at least two deaths and perhapse a sole survivor in a playtest of "The Prince of Redhand".
It would be nice if there was some sort of Introducing new characters sidebar, or maybe a sidebar on logical and campaign related methods of restoring a dead character to life.
Just heading to a local temple (if one is available) works, but is really a campaign mood breaker. I've seen several campaigns die because all the starting characters eventually took dirtnaps, and there was no real reason for any other characters to carry on. Now I guess in this campaign, any character who joins the party will tearn of the threat to the world and thus will at least have some reason to press on with the adventure if all the starters croak.
ASEO out
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Death by random encounter...ouch. I've become so attached to the PCs I doubt I can bring myself to having a combat-related random encounter unless it helps the plot somehow.
Here's to another fallen hero. ::raises a beverage in toast::
Yeah, it was unfortunite... But I can't run a campaign where death doesn't happen. I've made a house rule that reincarnate doesn't make you lose a level, instead losing 2 con. They usually go to Bronzewood lodge and have spent 1500 twice on reincarnate. It's unfortunite, but I've come to the conclusion that anytime after the fourth adventure, TPK will involve the loss of the world.
I also usually allow players one DM re-roll. Still, I have a death count of 8 at the moment. I guess it just happens.
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PC Name: Haya (supposedly Japanese for 'go fast' or something like that. In this case, it was more like the sound Ms. Piggy makes when she whacks Kermit), human male rogue 2
Adventure: WC
Location of Death: Land Homestead
Catalyst: Bad strategy and a bad attitude on the owlbear.
The group sauntered into the Land farmstead intent on looting, never bothering to look or listen for any danger. I hadn't yet pulled out the map, knowing that would tip them off. The reaction was priceless when I did. (Two simultaneous "Oh ****"'s among others).
The rogue was the first to spot the owlbear, and the critter got the lowest initiative. Inexplicably, he charged the beast with his new magic shortsword. Mind you, this player, while new, had seen what one of these things could do in the WLD a few weeks ago. Two claw attacks (one a crit!) later and the rest of the party (still coming around the corner) was treated to a shower of rogue bits flying out of the next room.
The monk and the old cleric/mage charged in (what?), followed by the kill-anything-with-one-shot paladin, who cowered behind them(!!! - there will repercussions). The mage tried a Grease, which came oh-so-close, and the monk charged(!). The 'bear, wondering why these stupid humans keep serving lunch, nearly killed the monk as well.
Long story short, hilarity ensued. The wiz jumped out one window, the paladin another. The 'bear made a new window, then tripped over the little fence chasing the mage into the woods. The paladin rescued the dying monk, and everybody ran away. The owlbear was last seen walking into the woods, holding its cub under one arm and munching on what looked like a large turkey leg with the other. It had never been touched.
Paladin: "Is there any point trying to save the rogue?"
DM: "Not unless you like jigsaw puzzles."
The group's new motto is "Domino's - we deliver".
Name: Ethan Kress
Character: 6th level Half-Elven Bard
Adventure: The Hall of Harsh Reflections
Date: Moonday, Planting 30, CY 595
Game Session: #19
Location: The Highway Journey from Diamond Lake to Greyhawk
Event: Early in the evening, the band of adventurers were set upon by a pair of hideous trolls. The wretched creatures fought with a tenacity fueled by hate and revenge. It was in this dark hour that the brave Ethan fell to the claws of one of these creatures. May his life forever serve as a shinning example to his comrades...and as a reminder that the troll's rend is both horrible and deadly.
(Seriously. 2 claw attacks. 2 natural 20's. 2 confirmed criticals. Bite. Rend. Enough damage to send a 6th level character back in time.)
PC Name: Kourgath, Half-Orc Barbarian 2/Fighter 1
Adventure: The 3 Faces of Evil
Location of Death: The Battle Temple of Zugash
Catalyst: Grand Melee, tapped out casters, and Theldrick. Mainly Theldrick.
Kourgath felt like he'd been fighting for a hundred years. The damnable woman's curse of fear had sent him running like a coward, and now he was tired. He'd pushed himself to his limits, but they just kept coming. Veldrin's songs and Emin's prayers were helping, but even little Artophanx looked tired. And stones aren't supposed to get tired. Ralph had come running back to help, splattered with blood, the Kobold having single-handedly cut down the rabble who'd attempted to come up the back passage.
"A little help would be appreciated!" shouted Conchas, beating back another black-blooded warrior with his axe and tower shield. Before Kourgath could do anything, Veldrin had vaulted over a body to help, lashing out with Heartseeker. Kourgath turned to fight the priest who'd come though the door above the stairs, ducking under a wild swing from his enormous iron maul, swinging his greatsword across his belly with a grunt. With a yelp, Ralph lashed out with his light blade, aiming for the femoral artery as Artophanx brought his pedestal down on the priest's back with rumbling shout of glee. Then Artophanx went sailing across the room as a new opponent stepped in, and aging man with slick black armour, and a dull grey maul. "Defilers" he spat in a deep baritone.
Kourgath roared and stepped up to face this new opponent, swinging with all his might. The old man didn't even flinch as the blow glanced harmlessly off his armour with a black flash and a shriek of dark power. Less than a second later, Kourgath felt the impact of his maul in his belly.
"So...fast" Kourgath wheezed.
"The Black King protects me." was the mocking reply, "And he guides me in killing heretics such as you."
Ralph dived behind this opponent, his rapier darting towards his back. With impossible ease, he turned and swatted that daring rogue, shouting "Know your place SLAVE!" As he staggered to his feet, Ralph muttered something softly. Emin stepped up, holding forth his Sun disk and shouting a prayer in Ancient Imperial. There was a flash of power and the old man staggered, and Kourgath seized his chance, Artophanx close behind. The two of them traded blows with the old warrior, but he was so fast, and his armour seemed almost impregnable. For every blow they landed, he landed two more on both of them. Finally, he barked "This is OVER!", and delivered a massive reverse swing to Kourgath's chest, sending the half-orc to the floor. As Kourgath looked up over his shattered chest, he saw Ralph leap behind the mighty opponent, yipping "this here's my place!" and driving his rapier under his shoulder.
Then Kourgath saw no more.
Name: Magnus
Race/Class: Human Warmage 3
Adventure: The Whispering Cairn
Catalyst: Poor luck and poor judgement
The Grim Details: After narrowly escaping the Land farmstead with their lives, the band of adventurers knew that in order to find the skeletons so that Alastor's restless spirit could know piece, they would have to negotiate with Kullen, the brute half-orc, and his minions. A few key questions and coin spent on drinks found them in the basement of the Feral Dog, eagerly awaiting the night's fight. The party murmured in the dim candlelight. Kullen's temper was legendary, and it was well known that he would take any excuse for a fight. How could they get on the bruiser's good side? Magnus had an idea.
"Eight silver for the mangy cur with the scar over his eye." said Magnus, standing, holding his coins aloft. All eyes turned to Magnus. Greedy eyes. What sort of fool openly shows his coin in the basement of the Feral Dog? The desperate miners lurched forward, raising rockhammers and rusty picks.
Sasha, the party barbarian, stood in Magnus' defense, raising her trident and handaxe defensively. "That's not an axe," boomed Kullen, "this is an axe." And the greataxe, nearly as long as he was tall, rose threateningly in the air. The miners, wisely, backed away. Threats were exchanged between both parties. Ten minutes. In the town square. The loser's heads are to be the prize.
The battle was quick and bloody. The four adventurers ganged up on Kullen, dispatching him in a puddle of his own blood - alive, but barely. The rest of his gang were not nearly so easily taken care of. Todrick kept Sasha at bay with his wickedly curved guisarme. Merrovin Bask enervated Sasha's muscles with an enfeebling ray, and kept Thorstin the goblin cleric and Vincent the elfin rogue at bay with spells and a wickedly precise crossbow.
And Magnus, the one whose foolish outburst had started the whole problem, was decapitated. Rastophan, inbred sadist from the southern swamps, toyed with the poor warmage, keeping him barely alive for several painful rounds before finally dispatching him, as if punishment for missing with one last pathetic attempt to hit him with a shocking grasp.
The battle ended in a painful draw. Kullen was revived but humiliated, taking the unconcious cleric Trinton as a hostage and Magnus' head as a trophy. Sasha and Vincent had no choice but to limp off and plan their rescue mission.
Name: Sir Gabriel
Race/Class: Human Paladin of Heironious, 8th circle of enlightenment
Adventure: Hall of Harsh Reflections
Location: Zyrog's Laboratory
Catalyst: Defending the weak and stupid
Slowly, the band of five descended the stairs into the laboratory. Sir Gabriel, valient warrior of Heironious, and Gorte'k, dwarven slayer, stopped their descent at the bottom stair and scanned the room, finding nothing stirring about.
Dathanial, investigotor of Benston, strolled by the warriors, his insatiable thirst to discover unknown information driving him towards the large, murky tank. Having just recently joined the band, he had not been exposed to the horrors of Filge's lab. But Dak had, and with a shout of warning, he stopped the rogue dead in his tracks, stopped his finger from tapping the glass.
"What?" said Dathanial, pulling back his hand and turning towards the group. He never saw the two claws shoot from the top of the tank and descend upon him. Both ripping into the frail human. With gore exploding from his wounds, the claws tore huges masses of tissue from the helpless soul. He dropped to the floor, life blood pumping from the mortal wound he suffered.
Reacting with amazing speed, Sir Gabriel rushed to his companion's aid, shield held high in defense. With nimble fingers he uncorked a silver potion, all the while warding off the vial tentacles. But, when he turned to administer the potion, the creature sneaked an attack through. The damage, though a mere scratch to the fully healed paladin, would be his down fall.
Dathanial regained consinous in time to see his savior rendered into a bloody mess. Both tentacles lashed and connected upon the holy man. Each siezing one side, they pulled and twisted the valient knight. Though brutal and damaging, Sir Gab could have survived it, but alas he had already lost to much blood from that first lucky hit.
Shrimp on the Barbie...
Name: Trout
Race/Class: Halfling Archer-Ranger/Rogue
Location: Lizardfolk Lair/Blackwall Keep scenario
Catalyst: Lone ranger runs out of luck
The group's halfling (archer) ranger-rogue, who had selected lizardfolk as his racial enemy before the campaign even began, was creeping through the lizardfolk mound in 'Blackwall Keep', sniping all the opposition. He'd drunk potions of darkvision, sneaking and hiding, and was rolling hide checks at around 30 or so...except against Hishka the Shaman. A '1' followed by the Shaman's natural '20' opened the way for negotiations, and for once the halfling stayed his hand. After agreeing to take out King Shukak, the party advanced to the throne chamber and the halfling entered, alone, with two other rangers waiting for his signal, 'the twang of my bowstring'. The halfling snuck in and drew a bead on the King, who was in conversation with the lesser lizardfolk shaman who had escaped the failed siege at the Keep. The viper familiar of the shaman threw a '20' to notice him and he let fly his shot at the flat-footed King...and missed.
To make a long story short, the King beat him out next round on initiative and nailed him to the wall with his returning trident, a heart shot (We use exact body locations) for 80hp.
'Ssssssssshrimp on the Barrbie', he hissed in wicked glee...only to be skewered himself by three Javelins of Lightning the party had been hoarding for just such a powerful foe. Staggered, he fell under the party's blades a moment later, as did the shaman and serpent.
This was the first death in the campaign...
PC name: Lucian and Nevyn
Class: a fighter and a bard
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Location: Face trap
Catalyst: couple of things
A party of three (fighter/barbarian and bard) exploring the whispering cairn - the fighter decides to climb the chain of the blue lantern while the barbarian wants to explore the other lantern recesses and the bard starts merrily turning the sarcophagous marvelling at each clunk and effect as he does so ..... naturally the face trap was NOT satisfactorily dealt with unleashing hurricane winds to blow the fighter back down the tunnel and only one of the d6 rolls was 5 ... the othres all 6 oops!
Lucian was resurrected, but unfortunately when he and Nevyn (the bard) met with the wind warriors, the deaths were so violent their souls have retreated to final rest permanently.
New characters have been drawn up and the campaign is still alive :) it has been close but no TPK yet ... yet
PC Name: Shin'Rae, Aasimar Paladin of Helm
Adventure: Three Faces of Evil
Location of Death: Temple of Bane
Catalyst: Eaten by a Pig
Our valiant heros have not been having a good time of it. Thuroughly trounced by the banites, they retreated to safety in the mine above, leaving the Banites with a problem; How to defend themselves against further intrusion? While the party distracted themselves with some random guard killing, including cold blodded murder, the Banites sacrificed the remaining zealots, turning them into Banedead, and then let loose Beast.
The morning saw an ill fated foray into the Temple of Vecna, leading to the party deciding to rest in the room with the pool. After defeating a midnight ambush by the Banedead, they pushed forward into the Banite temple again, only to face the sleeping Beast.
Quietly the halfling rogue snuck up to the sleeping behemoth. Carefully he aimed his mace for the final blow. Sadly a mere 10 points was inflicted, to which the mighty creature responded by nearly eviscerating the poor wee rogue who promptly retreated to the safety of the clerics healing magics.
Valiantly the Paladin and his barbarian friend strode forward, but alas, the enraged creature was to much for the paladin who fell before its goring tusks. And woe, the cleric had been busy tending to the halfling, and so, arrived a turn to late, her friends last breath expiring while she was but a few feet from her charge.
Amazingly, this was the first death in a campaign which regularly features people in the negatives, desperately rolling to stabalize.
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PC Name: Volen, Shifter Barbarian (Eberron Campaign)
Adventure: 3FoE
Venue: Hextor Arena (Now the Temple of the Keeper)
Catalyst: Rage only lasts so long...
Volen was a hit things first (wait, there were questions?) kind of character. First, he rushes off down the tunnel to confront the roaring comming from that direction. Beast only hits him once (missing on the second round) but dire boars hurt... Not fully healed, he then rushes after the cultist into the darkened room at the end of the hall.
The doors shut...
and lock...
The lights come on (after drawing the arena on the battlemat) and I get the "oh, crud" out of my players that I look for every session. Volen shifts and rages, and the party monk and he climb the statue to get a better angle on jumping to the side ledges, only to be met by the Fiendish Ape. Volen misses his jump check by one, hitting the floor of the arena hard. Then he fails his save vs. Hold Person. For the next several rounds (all while raged and shifted) he fails one save after another, and the party struggles to overcome the ape without their main damage dealer.
By the time Volen shakes off the Hold Person and the ape is dealt with, the clerics are fully buffed and hit the arena floor to finish off our heroes. Volen rushes Theldrick, dealing a killing blow after two rounds of fierce combat. Rage extended, shift ending, fatigued and wounded, Volen finds himself the target of Garras and the one remaining Tiefling guard. Garras knocks the shifter to the floor with a well placed blow, not having to worry about the party, who is having trouble hitting his AC of 23 through his 20% miss chance. Volen down, the party freaks out, until Kiara, the party sorceress, drops Garras with a Ray of Frost, of all things. Kendra, safely behind the Tiefling Guard, watches her husband die, knows that the party will deal with the guard, then her, CDG's Volen, screaming "You may kill me, but I send him to the Keeper first!"
Volen... devil with a falchion, protector of his pack, last of his tribe, wolf in man's clothing, may he rest in peace.
-Ryn
PC Name: Jimbo Dwarvern Fighter 1
Adventure: Whispering Cairn, Session 2
Location of Death: 18 / 19 Lair of the laborers
Catalyst: Party was to spread out.
Event: The party had fought and killed the water elemental without to many problems and had begun to explore the submerged section. Two members went into the water, as soon as they hit the far wall and opened up the privy, they split off, one going towards each of rooms 20 and 21. Well, after a few moments of fighting the beast the dwarvern barbarian, Tirkk, decided to book it back to the saftey of dry land. Unfortunately he got caught up about 20 feet from saftey. The rest of the party felt the herky jerky motions of the rope which they had tied to him and Grolf (The other dwarvern barbarian) also saw him as he was heading back to section 18. A fair size battle insued in which everyone but the mage was paralyzed (the mage was still on dry land), however, as the ghoul was lining them up to terrorize them and have a nice meal, Tirrk (the first barbarian) came out of his paralytic shock and chopped him in half; unfortunately it was too late for jimbo.
PC Name: Duncan Dwarvern Cleric 1
Adventure: Whispering Cairn, Session 1
Location of Death: 11 Lair of the architect
Catalyst: Bad decision by party member, not knowing the rapid growth of brown mold
Event: Duncan had gone and investigated the strange brown junk covering most of the room perhaps an hour and a half before his death. He had been hit with a form of sudden hyperthermia and backed off, noting the way that that area of the room seemed especially chill and how it seemed to drain the warmth from his body. Unfortunatley, the mage did not think to try to remember what form of creature or substance this was until AFTER duncan decided that he would burn it out. He stood probably 10 feet away and banked the torch off the wall and into the mold...which doubled in size and enveloped him.
Luckily, when the mage went to try to save him, he fell over at the 5 feet from the edge of the mold line, otherwise there would be two dwarves down to the mold.
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PC Name: Hyde, human monk 3 and Borne, human hexblade 3
Adventure: Whispering Cairn, Session 5
Location of Death: The old observatory
Catalyst: Party was not at full strength, and the zombie bugbear was.
Despite having scouted out the situation, the group ignored the bodies floating in the vats and charged right in after Filge. It started well - the paladin laid out the skeleton, then the trog zombie (with a little help from the monk). The cleric managed to turn the other two trogs, but then the bugbear came into range and the tide turned. In four round of white-hot attack rolling, the villain dropped the (previously wounded) paladin, the monk, and the hexblade. The (spell-drained) cleric managed to stabilize the paladin, then was ghoul touched by Filge. By the time that wore off, he was the only one standing. He fled, and only by holding Filge's spellbook hostage was able to recover the bodies. Sadly, two of the heroes had bled out by this time.
PC: Cruutmal, the 3rd level gestalt Druid/Barbarian
Adventure: The Whispiring Cairn
Catalyst: after having found the graves of the land family mysteriously empty, the party investigates the town. they quickly find out that the tattoo'd arm found in the remains of the owl-bear's nest belongs to one of Kullen's gang, but then they also find out that his gang is known to be employed by the notorious Balabar Smenk. after attempting to contact Smenk in many ways, they decide to attempt to infiltrate his house. knowing full well that there was at least one Dire Ape chained up in the front hallway, the party charges directly in, where a dire ape promptly hits our intrepid outdoorsman with a bite and both claws, and proceeds to rend the corpse. the other party members beat a fast retreat as they see two more dire apes run around the corner, leaving the corpse of their companion behind.
Ar-Doz/ male elf
3rd lvl. Monk
Whispering Cairn
The Chamber of Sighs
The party fanned out against the Wind Warrior guardians, with the 1/2 elf rogue using his bow from the walkway near the bas-reliefs of 24C. The half-orc ranger and the cleric were on the northeastern bridge engaging the first Wind Warrior to the True Tomb while the halfling sorceror stayed back on the northwestern bridge casting spells from afar as the monk ran to engage to the second. In two rounds of melee the Wind Warrior's dual blades brought the monk to -9, and he subsequently bled to death in the next round from the gaping sword wounds in his torso.
Tactically the party fought well, dividing the foes; by the time the monk fell, the first Wind Warrior was decimated by attacks from the ranger's great axe and the rogue's arrows. The cleric remained behind the half-orc, healing him when necessary. The halfling rolled horribly for his touch attack spells which could've been a deciding factor in the monk's survival had his scorching rays connected.
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we've lost 11 pc's now, and jhave cleared one of the three temples in 3FoE...
Deaths 9-12): former dead Dwarf bodyguard back on a techincality, on the ladder he got the tanglefoot bag from the grimlocks...the mage above him took a few arrows in the back and tried to double climb out but fell...-9 on the floor, but his alchemist fires broke...the dwarf tried to catch him but got critted by a longbow along with 3 more arrows...5d8+10 and he falls...the halfling rogue laughing at them above got the same, for 4d8+8...3 dead charcters and the dwarf twin runs back to town dragging the rogue's body. He didnt get far as he came back wtih new PC's...the kenkus had posted a guard by the elevator and the party pursued it into the maze....sneak-attack, dire weasle, and finally several fireballs brought the 2nd dwarf to a blazing end...4 deaths total tonight :(
Character: Sinn, half-drow half wood-elf Scout 6.
During the confrontation with the lizard king in Ecounter at Blackwall Keep, the group stared down the King, otyugh, and the two harpies. The otyugh dropped fairly quickly, and then the lizard king was beating the warmage to a bloody pulp when he casts Flame Burst, or something named as such. It does 4d8 to all creatures (himself exhempt) within 5 feet. The King takes 28 fire damage, as well as the scout, burning down to -17.
A pc killed another one of my pc's, though inadvertanly. He protests that if he didn't, that the king was going to kill them all, even though our assassin was still at full HP and was going to begin stuyding the king up for a death attack.
This evening (not two hours ago) the shower room in the Lair of the Laboureres claims two PCs - the party's Paladin (St Cuthbert) and Fighter. That brings the total to three so far, and I fear things are going downhill from here. The players might eventually start working as a team, but the odds don't look good.
PC Name: Ferro, Aasimar Cleric 2
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Catalyst: Crit hit
Long story: My players rarely back down, even when clearly outmatched.. add to this a Lawful Stupid Paladin who always manages to sway the group, and you have a TPK waiting to happen. The cleric in question was easily hacked to pieces by the wind warriors.. in hindsight he probably should have waited to take his final Aasimar level until he reached double digit hit points. Ironically enough, this was the paladins (in-game) twin brother. The others had to drag him out of the Cairn (and I was nice enough to rule that the wind warriors didn't pursue anyone off the bridge).
A pc killed another one of my pc's, though inadvertanly.
I had a player in my last campaign (Shackled City) that ran his wizard just like this encounter. He dropped some PCs to negatives before, but none ever died. At first the other players were a tad bit peeved, but the player continued to use the tactic whenever it seemed like the bad guy is unstoppable.
Eventually everyone prepared for the tactic, sending the rogues in, who could save for no damage. It was pretty much the only way the party was able to defeat Triel (and the rogue made his save).
Bummer way to die, but it might play out well for party dynamics.
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T. P. K.
cast of characters:
Kiara, Halfling (Sorcerer 2/Rogue 1)
Psi, Warforged Artificer 3
Thorgrim, Dwarf Cleric 3
Delious, Human (Monk 2 / Ranger 1)
Sir Merik El'Arick, Human Paladin 3
Greyliss d'Phiarlan, Elf (Monk 3 / Rogue 1)
Adventure/Location:
3FoE: Temple of Erythnul, "U" Shaped Cavern (Areas 13-16)
Reasons for Deaths:
The party divided, leaving enough people on the cliff (Area 13) to still worry the archers, and too few people in Area 15 to deal with the dagger wielding barbarian. As the people from the cliff start to make their way down the spikes to aid their friends, the archers cut them to pieces on the wall...
Play-By-Play:
During the fight with the Kennel Master, Kiara casts LIGHT upon a pebble and tosses it a bit to far into the room, revealing the cliff face and sending the rock down to Area 16. After the fight, the PC's watch as one of the Chokers investigates the rock. They fail their spot checks to see the archers lying in wait.
Curious as to what the creature may be, they tumble one of the cat bodies off the cliff. The Choker quickly grabs the body and drags it deeper into Area 16, out of bowshot. Sir Merik and Psi move down the ladder to investigate the Choker, leaving the other four PC's on the ledge in Area 13. Still outnumbered 2/1, the Grimlocks wait and bide their time.
Sir Merik, seeing the cleft leading to Area 15, climbs up to the tunnel to bypass the two Chokers, who are now fighting over the Krenshar corpse. He runs right into the dagger wielding Grimlock Barbarian, who was alerted by the sound of combat and the squeals of the Chokers. Greatsword v daggers in a confined space puts the advantage in the Grimlock's favor. Psi soon climbs up afterward, and backpacks Sir Merik as he squares off against the barbarian. The barbarian kicks out a ton of damage raged and Bull's Strength'ed. The fight is close, but ends with Sir Merik at 0 and the barbarian at 3hp, still with Psi to deal with. Psi does not move forward into melee, buffing himself instead. The Barb takes the reprieve to quaff one, then both of her cure light potions, grinning and laughing at the Warforged all the while. Melee resumes, and she drops Psi with a lucky crit. Sir Merik stands, having drank a potion or two of his own, and again insists on using his greatsword, and falls a second time to the daggers of this she-devil.
2 fall to the Dagger wielding Grimlock, 4 still breathing...
Meanwhile, Kiara above is growing concerned for her companions, and elects to climb down and see if her Magic Missiles could be of any use. Delious goes with her for backup. Seeing their opening, the archers glue the monk to the wall, while Kiara dodges free of the nastier effects of the tanglefoot bags. With easy targets on the wall, the Archers open up with volley after volley of arrows. Delious struggles against his bonds and Kiara bravely continues her decent to the floor to aid Psi and Sir Merik, still in progress with the dagger demon. Delious falls first, brought to negative hp's by the arrows, then the fall as the tanglefoot bag gave way. Kiara is next, dropped from arrow fire and the resulting fall.
2 to the barbarian, 2 to the tanglefoot bags, 2 left...
Greyliss is next, falling to arrow fire as he vainly attempts to save the bodies of his comrades. To finish us off Thorgrim dies valiantly assaulting the Kenku who had followed the party.
Results and Reflections:
This is my first TPK in over a decade of roleplaying, as a DM or a player. Luckilly, I have a great group of PC's, who are busilly rewriting (this time as 4th level, with items of their choosing) and are eager to give this another go. Gygax would be proud, and so am I. Now to redistribute their goods to the grimlocks and chokers...
Edit: I do not feel that this is because of bad writing, or encounters that were too difficult. This is the result of a bad situation, smart NPC's, logical use of treasure by NPC's (potions, tanglefoot bags) and PC's who were spec'ed for a more straightforward encounter.
Should be fun to see how the new batch tackles the encounter.
TPK.
Player characters:
Ksyron: lvl 1 Aasimar cleric of Tymora
Laucion: lvl 2 Sun Elf Wizard
Samantha: lvl 2 Human rogue
Adventure: The Whispering Cairn
Location: The Old Observatory (Filge's Hideout)
The first fight with the 3 skeltons in area resulted in a str of 6 for the wizard (who was actually good at fighting :) ) and a str of 8 for the rogue (due to the poison).
They quickly killed a the zombies in the dining hall (since they were just sitting there ) and proceded to Filge's bedroom.
The rogue decided to pick up the platinum piece on the halfling statue, which triggered the alarm (hurling said statue out of the window :) )
They then ran upstairs to the operating theatre.
Since the party won the initiative roll, the cleric quickly charged and killed the skeleton guarding Filge. The rogue and the wizard (he was out of spells) charged Filge and managed to spill some blood.
Filge quickly withdraw to the opposite corner of the room and called on his creations to help defend him.
Next round the Cleric turned the 2 troglodyte zombies (1 removed because of only having 3 players) and they fled down the stairs.
To make a long story (and fight) short, they got Filge down to 1 hp but failed to kill him, since the cleric got killed by the bugbear zombie and they just had some bad rolls.
Resulting in also my first tpk in 6 years of playing with these guys.
But although they felt bad about losing their characters, they already rolled up new ones after 30 mins.
The new party will be fun, especially since 2 players are playing 2 Half-Giant brothers (paladin and fighter) :)
I already have some ideas how they are gonna fit into the campaign so i'm looking forward to the next session.
PC Name: TPK
Dunstan Human Cleric 3
Grolf Dwarvern Barbarian 3
Fabio Human Sorcerer 3
Galen Half-orc fighter 3
Melinde Human Paladin 3 (NPC)
Adventure: Three Faces of Evil, Session 7
Location of Death: 11 Battle Temple of Hextor
Catalyst: Fighting the entire contents of the temple
Event: The party forces their way down through the mine and finds the board covering up the tunnel leading to the elevator shaft. They quickly and quietly tear this down and advance. When they reach the elevator they descend and find the tieflings down below. During the fight one of the tieflings gets far enough away to pound on the door, causing the skeletons to stir. The party manages to take down the tieflings in a fairly short amount of time (3 rounds I think) and simply continue on to hear what the noises are without stoping (or looting).
At this time the cleric sees the skeletons and makes a turn check, easily destroying the lot of them. He just catches a glimpse of the door opening before everything goes black, again. Unfortunately (?) the sorcerer quickly casts a light spell and the party is able to engage the tieflings before they can move off to warn the other denizens of the danger. The battle starts out once again as the cultist fanatics come out to investigate/help in the fight. Four of them are put to sleep while the others do not have a good path to get down the hallway to warn the priests. After maybe another two rounds all nine of the fanatics and the tieflings are cut down. (However, by this time there is enough commotion that some of the other inhabitants of the temple have guessed that something is wrong and are slowly starting to organize.)
The party takes perhaps half a minute to heal up and move forward to investigate the three doors. They decide that the one in front is probably the way to the head of the temple (since it is pretty elaborate, and, more importantly, not locked). They rush in to the temple where they see Theldrick awaiting them atop the balcony area. The party has a quick dialouge with him where he expresses how foolish they are and they tell him how he's going to pay, etc. Then the party starts to act (theldrick rolled very pourly on initiative.). Dunstan, the cleric, casts hold person, and it works. The party moves over and gets out a grappling hook and rope and tries to scale the wall up to the balcony as Melinde and Grolf try to knock over the statue to create a ramp up.
The statue is NOT knocked over and they just waste a few rounds trying (poor rolling). Galen and Fabio do, however, get up to the balcony and are able to run over and get a single swing apiece in on Theldrick before the hold person wears off. Dunstan also throws off a produce flame and hits him while they are moving up.
At this point in time the three Tieflings open up the side door, two of them begin to attack the cleric and the third takes his full action to try to open the padlock and release the dire boar. Melinde and Grolf move back to defend the cleric. Over the next two rounds they are able to take out the two tieflings, however, that was enough time for the third to release the dire boar which promptly comes out and starts in on the frey.
Meanwhile, up on the balcony, Theldrick is striking Galen and the doors open to reveal the pair of priests and the two troglodyte zombies. Galen finally knocks Theldrick out and Fabio moves away from the troglodyte zombie (instead of finishing off Theldrick). The troglodyte zombies move out and the male priest uses the cover they provide to heal Theldrick, who then also heals himself some more.
Back at the door, the boar has now gored the paladin twice, killing her outright and turns to attack Grolf. Between the barbarian and the cleric they are able to kill off the beast before it gets another attack. They also quickly clear out the last tiefling.
Up on the balcony the sorcerer is finally overwhelmed when he tries to run away from the zombie (he was in the corner of the balcony, providing the only possible AoO). Galen is still up and fighting, when he is hit with first a doom and then the cause fear spell. He then runs onwards and jumps off the balcony (luckily he is the one with the ring of feather fall). Unfortunately, Theldrick had cast Spiritual weapon the round before which finishes him off as he is slowly floating downwards.
Now Dunstan and Grolf see this and decide that it is time to leave (Good Idea). They rush out and jump into the elevator and try to make their way up. Grolf has come out of his rage a few rounds ago and is fatigued. They make their way up about 60' before failing one of the strength checks and they come crashing down (also failing their balance check to get another oppurtunity to catch the chain at the 10' mark). Fortunately, they are not killed by this. Unfortunately, they attempt it again and once again fail and come crashing down, which does kill them.
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This was a MUCH closer fight then I had expected when I saw what kind of tactics the party was employing. If the party had killed Theldrick instead of just knocking him unconcious it might have gone the other way, or, if the Dire boar had not been released it almost certainly would have, or, if the party thief had come along (player couldn't make it), etc.... There were many things that just barely went against the party.
I'm still not certain how I feel about this adventure. Even if they had not gone in this way (which might have been the best chance they had), it would have been difficult. Where would they rest at? Would they just leave after clearing out a single one of the three temples? I don't believe that it would have been all that terribly reasonable to try to clear out all three temples in one go, but at the same time, it would not have been very reasonable to leave at any point either (Thus alerting the other two temples that someone was coming to kill them).
Dreyma Female Human Fighter 3
Vardeen Female Dwarvern Fighter 3
Adventure: WC, Session 4
Location of Death: Operating Theater in the Old Observatory
Catalyst: More brawn than brains
Event: Eight players in game, so doubled the number zombies. The three fighter/tank/meat-sheilds in group stood their ground against 6 trog and 2 bugbear zombies (too much for them). Remaining party members went after Filge. No magical backup for the row of fighters, not much healing, unimaginative tactics resulted in 2 of the 3 fighters dead and burried.
We can only hope, dearest Dreyma and Vardeen, that your deaths will serve to offer up a moment's pause for your players in the future, and there upon that moment, think - the greatest of warriors always have a plan.
PC Name: Ari, hexblade 4
Adventure: The Three Faces of Evil
Location: The Labyrinth of Vecna
Catalyst: The mooks had better tactics than the party
Long description: When the band of adventurers plunged headlong into the labyrinth defending the Faceless One's lair, they were swiftly ambushed by three kenku. The others, of course, were hiding in reserve. Ari moves through one of the passageways, alone, to cut off the kenku's escape attempt, and finds himself flanked by more kenku, who with the help of some very good rolls, soundly pummel him with their clubs. Eventually the party barbarian comes to help with the fight, dispatching the remaining kenku along with Ari... but then the weasels attack. The cleric, Trinton, is on the other side of the kenku's ambush site and can't get to Ari before he hits -12 from blood loss. The weasels fed well that day before being put to the axe.
PC's; Zar'zel lvl6 Dread Necromancer/Elf, Kasimir lvl 6 fallen paladin/1 blackguard human
Location; WC-Architects area
Catalyst; Earth elemental and no where to run.
The party experimenting with the tombs turning activating lifts, discovered the way, through the yellow lantern quite easily, but they panic'd each time they used it. Turning it back to orange trapping first Kasimir then Zar'Zel down in the architects area.
The three remaining party members, confused and somewhat scared, as thier light source ran out, rested and awaited any news of thier descended comrades (leaving the towmb pointed at the orange lantern).
Now our two brave heroes down below, got bored and with lots of effort, decided to wriggle the way through the top of the rock...with the aid of the ever burning torch they were lit and safe....exploring the area, they unfortuantely made the brown mold grow when the paladin took his flaming sword to it, no major loss really..so after fully exploring the are, they come to the Earth Elemental "Egg", now for whatver reason they did no detection spells or even tested it with inaminate objects, Kasimir just simply touched the "Egg" and awoke the Large Earth Elemental, the two party members panicked and fled to the stone block, trapped...thinking themselves safe from the elementals bulk in the corridor, they were horrfied as it used earth glide to move easily down the corridor towards them.
A fear some battle ensued, but unfortuantely they both perished to the battering fists of the earth beast. The next day they both arose as wights (i thought it would be a good plot advancement and it fit both the characters nicely.) the elemental now free was long gone, gliding through the earth, to reign terror on his path to freedom.
So began the sting of deatsh the party would suffer.....
PC; Grutz, half goblin rogue 5/assasin1
Location; Bettle lair in WC
Catalyst; Poor Tactics again and a Giant bombardier beetle, and failed save.
The party freshly re-united and rested, began a battle with the acid beetle swarm and mad slasher, surprisngly performing badly....but eventually they defeated the fell beasts.
At this point all are at the botom of the fresh cave in, apart from Kasimir, who deson't wnat to risk the climb, so the party instead of helping him down, forged on into the dark depths.
Zar'zel animates the corpse of the mad slasher, and sends it down the tunnel towards the droning noise...they hear skittering...then silence.
So they dash down the tunnel, to recently agitated beetle swarm and bomabardier beetle...rolling poor inititiave the bombardier bettle goes first, spraying them with its acid burst..the party all take minor damage. That is apart from our poor friend Grutz, who critically fumbles his saving throw, now the beetles acid didn't do too much to him, it was what it did to his equipment that spelt the demise of him and crippling of the "living" party members.
Grutz, liked his poisons he liked them muchly. He liked them so much he only bought the most potent powders and contact poisons, when he failed his save, he became horrified to realise his equipment was melting, more acid flasks he carried burst showering the area in acid, and melting his "poison" containers, one by one the poisons mingled with his acid riddled body, slowly the purple worm poison, eyebite and darkreaver powder entered his blood steam and body riddling him with the most potent burst of poisons, any mortal creature had felt.
Screaming and rolling, he eventaully succumbed to his own poisons. While the darkreaver powder spread through the area, his friend Kurt, a fellow rogue breathed in a hefty amount of the stuff, and was reduced to 2 con, and 4 strength.
While this was happening the barbarian with her flaming club had smashed the large beetle to peices and set fire to both nests.
Eventually they felled the Swarm, and fled in terror and haste for Kasimir and the exit.
They returned to town, dejected and in dire need of healing, and eager to return the disfigured and very dead Grutz.
Stayed tuned for the next one...
Adventure: 3 Faces of Evil, Shadow Corridors, Area 13/14
Character: R'shiel, level 5 Valenar Fighter
Catalyst: Rescuing attempt of a fallen companion.
Well, we've had our first character death! R'Shiel, a Valenar warrior was slain in the 3 Faces of Evil arc. Our cleric had begun climbing down the ladder leading to the Kobold barbarian, followed by the Halfling cleric, with his 3 climb. Hobbit failed his first climb roll and plummeted... to his near death. While the kobolds on the ledge shot at the Priest of Dol Dorn, Vaedon, and the Halfling bled ot death at the bottom R'shiel decided to leap acroos the gap to land on the ledge with the kobold archers. Needless to say she didn't make. A couple failed reflex saves later she fell straight away to lse consciusness on the rocks below. I then made the players roll, the elf's RL life husband and the Halfling Clerics's RL roommate roll, with the "winner" of the rolls friend getting the axe. A die roll later and the vailant R'shiel, who was at -8 anyways was short one head as the Kobold champion called up his victory in a shrill, bloodthirty draconic scream. The death brought out a rage in Vaedon, who then dropped the rest of the way, about 15 feet and slew the murderous wretch before he could wend his way to Lore, the halfling. By the time everyone was down there they were beaten and battered or headless but pressed on anyways. Not knowing the Zombie White Dragon awaited them at the end of the tunnel ahead....
PC; Kurt, human rogue lvl 6
Location; on the road back to the WC
Catalyst; Letting far too many people in town they had over 5000 gold pieces, and antagonsing Tidwoad. Plus the recurring lack of tactics/common sense.
The party returned to town, sought out a method to return thier fallen ally Grutz, to life. The temple informed them they needed diamond dust for the ritual and if they supplied it and a tithe to the chruch they would, perform the ritual for them.
One blunder after another, they ended up sellign the loot they had aquired from Grtuz's body and evenataull managed to scrape together enough to buy the diamond dust from our good frind Tidwoad. Initmidating and arguing with him forced him to retract his offer of sale and boost the price by 2000, now they barely had 5000, so they left in disgust.
Deciding the tomb had more wealth to rob, they decided to travel back to it, to hopefully gain enough to pay for the diamond dust.
Now while they had blabbed all over town about thier need for diamond dust and selling of expensive equipment and talking about the exploits in the tomb...the less savoury elements caught wind and sent a welcoming party out to stop and rob the party of thier substantial wealth....
A ambush ensued with arrows flying backwards and forwards and raging barbarian (the last party member lvl-5 bugbear barbarian), ran into the attacking brigands. The fight went poorly for the brigands, who decided to flee after half thier number had fallen.
While two party members and summoned creatures chased a solitary brigand, Kurt deicded to chase after 3 of them alone, Kasmimir in full plate took to looting bodies instead of pursuit.
Eventually the solitary briagand was caught and brought back tied up, ready for interrogation.
The party had finally stripped the wealth from the brigands and then noticed that Kurt had still not returned, perplexed they began a search for him.
Eventaully thy came across his corspse and freshly robbed body!, returnign him to the wagona dn prisoner and the other dead brigands, the necromancer animated them all including Kurt...
Kurt had met his demise when he caught up to the slower escapee and engaged him in melee, unfortunately for Kurt the brigands friends came back and with a simple flank and backstab, Kurt saw the last glimpse of this world.
So in three sessions, 3 dead PC's we left them now, 2 members down at the entrance to the tomb....lets see what else can be had of them.
I am beginning to lose hope
PC Name: Strodes Muret, Aasimar Clr1
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Location of Death: Lair of the architect
Catalyst: moldy fun and really poor spot checks
Event: so the party had missed the hiding lurking strangler, and had noticed the brown mold covering the passageway to the "workshop." They hole up in Nadroc's bedchamber (having much fun with the floating air cushion bed), and the lurking strangler, who's been hiding unnoticed behind one of the Wind Duke statues, decides to make his appearance. The monk on watch doesn't see him floating in (a 1 or 2 for a Spot check) but makes his save vs. the sleep ray (a 19 or 20). Though tipped off that something's going on, he does nothing, and eventually the lurking strangler floats back in unnoticed (another 1 or 2 or maybe a 3 for the Spot check) and once again the monk fights off the lassitude of the eye ray (another 19 or 20 for a save)... it goes on like this for a total of four passes, until the monk finally wakes the party. They all manage to not spot the strangler, who flies away in disgust at his inability to do anything to the party (and because the DM was getting bored with that)...
Then the fun starts. The party is a bit more healed up and ready to tackle the brown mold. They know it's cold. The players know what this is. Some of them even remember what to do. Their PCs do not, and they play it out beautifully (role-playing XP bonuses all around). A number of torches sail into the mold, which doubles in size and knocks the monk unconcious with the subdual damage. The cleric scoops up the monk, and everyone begins beating a hasty retreat out of the mold... the rest of the party breaks right towards Nadroc's bedchamber, but the cleric hauls the monk left to the hall of statuary. The strangler bursts out of hiding, the cleric (with his much vaunted aasimar senses and high wisdom) rolls a 2 for his spot check followed by a 3 for his will save and then he's choaking for air. By the time the rest of the party role-plays out figuring out how to kill the intervening brown mold, they make it over to the cleric just in time to see him choke his last [then a psychically-powered Large greatsword does for the lurking strangler].
... again, I have to give my group credit for role-playing new characters well. They knew for damn sure that was brown mold (having fallen prey to it in the last campaign), and yet they took their lumps. The cleric dying was just bad luck... which could not possibly have had anything at all whatsoever to do with the fact that I know that that player will always choose to go left, no matter what (heh).
PC: TPK, Vas Cleric 3/Wizard 2, Lusnava Paladin 5, Dash Rogue 5
Adventure: Three Faces of Evil
Location: Temple of Hextor, just outside Beast's room.
COD: Poor strategy
Description: All was well until the temple was infiltrated. The party took out the tieflings guards outside in the dark cathedral before they could pound on the door. One died AT the door though, close! Group enters Hextor temple, skeletons animate, bells ring, cultists and more tieflings enter the fray in 3 rounds. Tieflings are killed, skeletons are destroyed or turned, remaining cultists begin to pull back towards room 11. One opens Beast's den. 4 cultists still alive at this point that take off into rooms 11 and 6. Beast arrives and skewers NPC hireling, almost killing her. Misses rogue in following round due to bad roll. Kills rogue in round 3 with a solid hit. Kills NPC hireling next round, kills paladin after that, and then cleric/wizard in the round following that.
It's amazing how different encounters work out for different groups. My guys went through the Hextor (Bane) temple like crap through a goose, but got the snot kicked out of them by Filge earlier. I guess having your single 'big-stick' fighter go down early makes all the difference. That and a cure light wounds wand.
It's amazing how different encounters work out for different groups. My guys went through the Hextor (Bane) temple like crap through a goose, but got the snot kicked out of them by Filge earlier. I guess having your single 'big-stick' fighter go down early makes all the difference. That and a cure light wounds wand.
My group had some small problems with Filge, but mainly because they set off his alarm spell on the severed head and he had a few rounds to prepare. Beast was a fantastic encounter to run though. I found a great picture for his token which really set the mood. I actually had a cultist riding on his back too with a longspear that was taunting the PC's. He took an arrow in the chest ala Chronicles of Narnia and fell off the side of Beast with a short yelp. That was the only moment of laughter as Beast then proceeded to tear apart the group.
Name: Ollidoc Dirtstar, halfling rogue
Adventure: The Whispering Cairn
Location: Filch's lab
Catalyst: Poor tactics
Long Description: After impressive party tactics in the actual cairn I had high hopes for this group. These guys threw flaming bedrolls at swarms they were otherwise unprepared for. I thought they might escape the so-called Tomb of Horrors without a party death. I was wrong.
After forcing their way into the observatory and witnessing Filch's crimes against nature, I was a bit concerned he might end up as a 2 round npc. Alas, as they searched through the tower and set of the alarm, they allowed him to cast his power-up suite. And when he taunted down to them, they delayed just a bit longer.
To make a long story short, poor turning rolls, dropped pc's, and "we have a chance to escape, no we can fight" tactics eventually resulted in a knife fight between Filch and the party warmage (both out of spells) while the others fought the Trog zombies. When the poor rogue Olidoc finally fell into negatives, I thought little of it until I realzed noone had gone to his aid in 4 rounds and he was on the brink. Finally the ranger, Lucious, dashed to his side, narrowly dodging the 2 attacks of opportunity only to fail his Heal check.
The following round proceeded something like this:
The warmage, "I stab at Filch" -miss
Filch stabs at the warmage and misses
The cleric, "I bash a zombie" - miss
Doc make your stableization check - fails, Doc is dead.
The party eventually won and Doc's family will profit from his death.
characters:
Theodore - Gestalt Favored Soul/Fighter
Carawynn McCormic - Gestalt Wizard/Rogue
Location: The True Tomb (whispiring cairn)
Catalyst: Wind Warrior critical hits
so, having finally reached the interior of zosiel's tomb, and viewed the magnificent frescos which line the chamber, the party bravely steps out onto the path towards the center ring. the two wind warriors fly up out of the column of air, fire off their sonic attacks, and charge into furious melee combat.
this combat was a torturous 10-15 rounds. the only survivor was reduced to a dying state first - the favored soul, Theo, managed to stabalize her at zero hit points, before a couple of painful critical hits from one of the wind warriors dropped him to about -16 hit points.
the mage, carawywnn, managed to finish one of the warriors off with a well-timed burning hands, but fell to the swords of the second, which killed her instantly.
the lone survivor, who had been knocked unconsious, woke up and found her friends corpses - at which point she stood up and full ran out of the chamber. she did manage to make it all the way out, and hide, before the lone remaining wind warrior flew up from the crevasse below.
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Name: Alyssa "Lynnell" d'Lyrandar, half-elf Druid 8
Location: Sharn, Zyrxog's lair
Adventure: The Hall of Harsh Reflections
Catalyst: Rend, rend, rend.
The set up: I'm the DM, and Lynnell is being played by a fellow DM. All her action points had been used well before they reached Zyrxog, but she was the ace up the party's sleeve, being a Gatekeeper druid with spells that dealt horrid damage to aberrations.
So when she went down in the first round to Zyrxog's mind blast, they knew they were in trouble.
The shifter barbarian, shifter monk, Lynnell, and the changeling fighter/rogue all went down for 10, 8, 4, and 8 rounds respectively from the first mind blast. Only the halfing mage was out of the blast range. After that, it turned into a straight-up spell duel between the two of them.
The octopins, meanwhile, started WAILING on the shifters. Lynnell was pretty much ignored, until she came out of her stupor. With a feral growl that belied her slight frame, she slammed a pair of Nature's Fury spells into the mind flayer and his minions, finishing off one of the octopins and stunning the mind flayer. She then became their sole focus, and was dropped to six hit points in a hurry.
The mage let loose with his last lightning bolt, empowered by his upbringing on the storm-swept Talenta Plains. The mind flayer was stunned again and heavily damaged, so Lynnell opted to move in for the kill, instead of healing herself. That's when the last octopin scored a hit and a critical hit with its claws, rending for enough damage drop her to -14.
At the end of the round, the monk shifter woke up and tore Zyrxog to pieces in one turn.
The party mourned Lynnell, for she had literally saved their lives. They then turned her body over to House Lyrandar, hoping the dragonmarked houses might possess some means of reviving their lost comrade.
TPK (The Dirty Faced Killers finally bite the dust for good)
Champion’s Belt
Titan’s Catacombs
I expanded the Champion’s games beyond the 4 fights the PCs were originally scheduled to face; I added 4 more fights, some of them multi-group battles even. The heroes had won at least 4 rounds and were scheduled to fight Pitchblade in the morning. Mind you, one of the players complained to Loris that the fights were not challenging enough after winning the later fights in astounding fashion.
The heroes were moving through the adventure at a fast rate, so I felt that I had to have Pitchblade attack the party when they left to continue their search of the cathedral.
“Where are you going?” – Pitchblade
“Site seeing.” – Dirty Faced Killers
“We just wanted you to know you won’t be fighting in the games tomorrow.” – Pb
“Why’s that?” – DFKs
“Because you’ll be dieing tonight.” – Pb
That is pretty much how the end of the adventure went.
Name: Niar 'Jesus' Alavander Fighter4/Ranger4/Scout2
Location: Battle Temple of Hextor (Chardun in the Scarred Lands)
Adventure: 3 Faces of Evil
Catalyst: Caught between Rogues
The party is much higher level than is recommended for the adventure so i ramped up most of the encounteres to reflect this. The Tiefling guard were Fighter4/Rogue3 and they managed, while the 4th level commoner horde distracted the tank fighters of the group, to cut Niar and an NPC with the party to pieces through flanking. The NPC managed to stabalize at -8 but Niar blew his DC 19 Fort save (I use a varient stabilization rule which allows a Fort save DC = 10+positive version of whatever negative you are at) even with his +10 in Fort. The barbarian cleric went nuts and brought down flame strikes and hold persons on the remaining tieflings, ruining their s**t. The party was pretty upset about the death of this, the longest standing memeber of the group, but decided to enact rigtheous vengenace upon these false worshippers of Chardun (think Hextor but more attitude and better tactics). When Theldrick locked the doors of the battle temple the 1/2 Orc Monk said "Good, now their locked in here with us." The PCs got their vengenace is spades and not a single cleric escaped the ensuing carnage (which brought 3 of 5 PCs to single digit hit points). An epic stuggle to be sure!
Name: Frey (shadowswyft rogue 1) and Skrymir (azurin paladin 2)
Location: Chamber of Sighs
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Catalyst: Wind Warriors cutting party in half
Really, not much of an interesting story to this one (given the other deaths at Wind Warrior blades) ... warriors floated up as scripted and began wailing on party. Shadowswyft rogue immediately hurt badly, and he runs toward the center of the platform. I posit an upward column of air immediately lifting him up and out of danger (he's at 1 hp). Party does poorly (even with sorcerer's immediate use of Wand of Shatter), and wounded members begin to make a scramble for the central platform, hoping to be lifted to safety. This allows wind warriors to continue cutting them down (I did mention multiple times that the warriors were FLYING), but poor tactic continues. Only the monk eventually reaches the central platform and levitates up as well, only to be cut down by pursuing wind warrior, who then guts the shadowswyft as well. It then pursues the sorcerer, who manages to do one more in with wand in running retreat back to "safety" below the blue lamp. Sorcerer almost has remaining warrior down and shattered when he gets cut down... vaguely sees my deus ex machina as Auric smashes into Wind Warrior before he stabilizes and passes out. The rest of the party (of six!) slowly bleeds as Auric, Khellek and Tirra interrogate sorcerer. They eventually find three more party members around central platform in Chamber of Sighs; but paladin and rogue have expired (long agonizing sessions of everyone in the party rolling to stabilize). Do keep in mind that 2 party members are well above the central chamber, and are not found.
...there were some very poor tactical decisions made by the party, but this mostly came down to bad luck. No one could seem to roll above a 10 to save their life (literally). Not wanting to punish them for merely rolling badly, I allowed the rescue by Khellek and Co. (they had been suspicious about the party lately after all). I also allowed another "plus": the monk of the Twilight Monastery had indeed been reporting his doings to his brethern at the monastery, and even told them the location of the cairn before this very trip. Before he would have died (7 agonizing hours and 7 failed stabilization checks later) one of the priests of the monastery found him in the hidden tomb, and together they gained Zosiel's artifacts. This is now irking Khellek and Co. to no end, as they ransomed back the other 4 party members to Allustan for rights to the "find" at the cairn, which has now essentially been looted. I'll have them lose interest long before the "Return to..." adventure, getting all that back on track.
PC: Dathaniel the investigator (Rogue 10th)
Adventure: Champion's Belt
Loction: the Ulgurstasta Chamber and the arena
Catalyst: A Rogue acting as a fighter
Returning to the Ulurstasta chamber the morning of thier last fight, the band of Sir Gabriel set out to rid the world of the vile creature. After disrupting and dispelling it's containment sphere, the tentacles of the creature lashed out while it proceeded to break through the ceiling.
The party followed the fleeing evil into its empty chamber. As his fellow comrades prepared spells and ropes to ascend to the arena floor, Dathaniel used his skills to scale the walls, arriving first upon the grisly scene of the Ulgurstasta devouring whole an unlucky arena janitor.
Undetered by the carnage, the ill fated rogue hurled his dagger in defience to the terriable danger before him. Although the dagger had minor magical properties and was able to inflict a small flesh wound, it was not the unholy dagger found within the museum of Zyrxog. Had it been the unholy dagger, the gods above may not have rolled a 20, followed by a 19, for the first bite attack of the Apostle of Kyuss.
Sufice it to say, all that was left of Dathaniel when Sir Gabriel and the party rose above the floor of the arena was a pair of boots and the bloody stumps that were once the legs of an investigator who thought he was a fighter.
PC: Romulus, paladin of Helm 4
Adventure: TFoE
Loction: Grimlock caverns
Catalyst: Kur's last stand
The fight had gone well for our tiny band of heroes. The ancient cleric/wizard had kept the cure light wounds wand warm, and the group had finally cornered the evil leader. Enlarged, Romulus cleaved Grallak's toadies and chased Kur back up to his perch, resisting spell after spell.
The hero went for the kill shot and missed badly, sparks flying as the magical axe (formerly Kullen's) crashed against stone. Desperate, Kur invoked a cause moderate wounds spell and crashed our hero to the ground with it. The mage stepped up and the wand hummed once more, but with minimal results - the paladin remained unconscious.
The evil priest looked down at his fallen foe and remembered his single remaining spell - Death Knell. A leap, a touch, a failed save, a funeral...
This death happened about 2 weeks ago, but with the hectic holiday schedule, I am a bit delayed in the posting.
Death: Sevored Fromnock: 4th level Half-Orc Barbarian
Location: Dark Cathedral: The Three Faces of Evil
Executioner: Ebon Aspect
Reason: Too many attacks, not enough healing.
The Barbarian was raging and engaged in melee with the aspect while the rest of the party tried to hit from a distance. Sev was lucky that the aspect was only hitting with 2 claws at a time and didn't realize what would happen if the bite and claws connected together. He was whittled down to 11 hp and called for healing, but it was too late. It took 2 rounds for anyone to get within range and the aspect cut him down, hitting with every swipe and bite.
PC Name: Nia, Rog2/Wiz3
Adventure: Three Faces of Evil
Location of Death: The Grimlock Cleric's room
Reasons: Unexpected heroics, terrible luck, poor teamwork
Our campaigns first death, just as the PC's were hitting 6th level (they started whispering Ciarn at 3rd, so I've bumped up the adventures a bit, but also trimmed them down a little here and there).
Poor Nia was sconned from above by the grimlock Cleric - bumped to 6th level, he had some nasty spells like bestow curse and cause blindness.... But let's wind back for a moment...
Left atop the middle of his lair for a long time, the grimlock leader (Grellack) cast spell after spell after spell, leaving the Dru3/Wiz2 blinded early, Nia with a spiritual weapon pounding her, and the party Ogre was tied up with all the grimlock fodder who in a moment when he was stunned decided to grapple him en-mass. The Dru5, like the other spell-casters, was almost out of spells so tried to pick off the fodder at range, mostly missing. At this stage, the PC's still had not quite realised the dire threat this cleric could be...
Even as his fodder was slowly but surely disposed of, including an excellent use of warp wood, Grellack laughed as he hit the party with spell after spell - eventually, he was all out except for his Bestow Curse, so he laughed, rubbing his hands together, taking a couple of rounds to use such minor buffs as 'resistance'. Little did the party know that we was fully buffed and ready for melee too!
In the end, it was Nia who made the first move against Grellak - unexpected, as he was really planning to use his curse on the ogre, who was obviously the main threat to him given the pounding he gave to the minor grimlocks. and so it was that Nia enlarged herself to (slightly) bigger proportions than even the ogre, and stabbed out at Grellak with her shortword... a critical hit, ripping through his shoulder and severing an artery! (one of my house-rules, this meant he slowly bled to death until cured). Things were looking up, or so Nia thought, this was the best she'd ever done in melee! (7 Str, no weapon finesse).
Enraged, Grellak, curse spell on his fingertips, reached forth and touched poor Nia, who succumed to the curse. As her fellows failed to get to help her in time (the blind one was simply standing around, waiting to be asked to do anything, and the others were still fighting the fodder), poor Nia stood there, the curse robbing her mind of any clear thought (failed her "50% chance to lose your action" roll), and Grellak's mace crumpled her skull - Nia was dead before she even hit the floor (critical hit, and almost max damage).
From there, the Ogre finally insisted the Dru/Wiz help despite being blinded, squeezing to her in the corridor and guiding her back to where he could pound on the enemy while getting constant prods from her wand of curing. As Grellak's life slowly flowed from his wound, a furious battle continued - Grellak agaisnt the Druid and Ogre, and then a summoned bear too (the druid's). Except then the Druid, now a crocodile, also fell - not yet dead, but bleeding. And his bear. So it was Grellak vs the Ogre, trading blows for a long time, the Ogre being healed at a slow rate, but beign missed a lot too.
Finally, the Ogre's heavy hitting prevailed, the Druid was stabalised, and Nia's remains were taken back to town. what a terrible battle, one where bad luck was evident all over the place (so many low rolls by the PC's, and one very lucky critical on both sides). With better team tactics from the PC's, I feel they could have done better, but groups only learn these things the hard way as their previous fights have never been quite like this one. With better rolls at any number of points, they would not have been so bogged down with the fodder. Without that badly timed critical on Nia, no doubt she would not have died. With a bit more luck on the DM's rolls, the whole party could easily have been whiped out (he missed the Ogre a lot, and could hit harder than he could get healed).
As it was, this was the first (and only) time Nia ever "stepped up to the plate" and took on the "boss man" by herself - a selfless act of heroics, which ultimately was her undoing. So it was a very special moment when she was taken to the priests of Saint Cuthbert, who prayed over her for days asking for a miricle (i.e. the head cleric sent away for a scroll of raise dead), and lo and behold, their faith was rewarded, for Nia was re-born! That night, the party found a new tavern to celebrate, and Nia bought her boon companions drinks all night...
All in all, a bad moment for the party has become a very important plot point, both at the time and for ongoing stories (soon, she will have a follower who is a paladin of Hieroneous, but that's another story...) And it has managed to bring the party much closer together, and made them role-play more, which is great too. Hoyay!
(Am I leading the league in posts on this page? :)
PC: Dye, human sorcerer 4
Adventure: TFoE
Loction: Faceless One's lair
Catalyst: Running away + lightning bolt from FO = new ***hole
The party ripped open the door to the lab, only to find the FO (having been warned of their approach by the chamber of eyes) just finishing off his Summon Monster III spell. As the bigger, braver members of the party ran away, attempting to come around from the other direction, our foolish little d4 sorcerer bravely(?) stood his ground and let loose a Scorching Ray on the BBEG. He then attempted to hightail it, resulting in getting nailed by the lone surviving kenku (hiding behind the door) and the centipede. He fled into the large chamber, attempting to hide behind the Enlarged party fighter. This worked fine for the pursuing centipede, but cost him dearly when the FO went around the other way (much to the dismay of the party rogue) and loosed his bolt, aimed to hit the fighter and the sorcerer.
The zap knocked the lifeless body into the L-shaped room, where the kenku attempted to mimic his voice ("I'm dyin' in here!). Nobody fell for that.
This is the 3rd character this player has lost, and fifth overall in the campaign. I gave him a break and replaced most of the treasure with a Raise Dead scroll, which the party cleric nearly had a mishap on. Given his history, that wouldn't have surprised me one bit.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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PC: Garel, dwarf bbn2
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Location of Death: Hall of Iron (Ceramic) Spheres
Catalyst: Running from the Grick
Garel met a somewhat foolish and untimely end. After seeing the rogue get pummeled by ceramic spheres, the Garel and his bard companion decided to walk over the balls. Garel found himself face to face with the grick, and after failing to bypass its DR and taking 18 points of damage, he decided to retreat. An attack of opportunity and a failed concentration check foiled his escape plan and left him flat on his back. The next round he suffered 4 hits, including one critical hit, made all the worse because he was lying on the ground at the time.
He will be remembered for retreating when he should have raged.