There's nothing more enjoyable than watching the party do things that you just /know/ are going to end badly for themselves...
The party has easily tracked the stolen wands to the Kopru Ruins. When confronted with the pulley system, what do they do? Surely, no one in their right mind would devise a rough zip-system to slide down the rope...right? Anyone with common sense would know how difficult that climb back /up/ would be ... right?
(Stream of consciousness
I know the bugbear just dropped a wall on top of himself. Sure, an alarm just went off when we killed the hillfolk...who cares?
Pit traps! Arrows? Where are these arrows coming from?
This will be easy - it's just a few spiders...what the? It's AS BIG AS A HOUSE! Quick, heal the monk! OMG! Poison! Argh! Our fighter can't carry his armor! *pantpant*
Thank goodness we drove off the spiders. Without Shensen to help, it would have been messy. How do we get back out to heal...?
Monk, balance up that rope! Don't faaaaaaaaaall! *splash* What's that in the water. OMG IT HAS FOUR TAILS WHY ARE WE SO SLOW!!!111!!1!
/end stream-of-consciousness)
*grins* I love my players.
Oh, that is too funny. Thanks for the laugh!
hahaha
I have a similiar situation. I have up to 8 players in my game. Only 3 of which had played D&D in the past and so are considered "veteran" players. When one of these guys turns up the party turns into a well-oiled and organised fighting machine. But when one of these guys isnt there (most of the time) the noob players have a ball.
Sure they nearly die every encounter and they do crazy stuff and miss a lot of secret doors but they have crazy fun as do I. The townsfolk started calling these particular characters the Accidental Heroes as they seem to succeed despite their best efforts to fail.
There's nothing more enjoyable than watching the party do things that you just /know/ are going to end badly for themselves...
The party has easily tracked the stolen wands to the Kopru Ruins. When confronted with the pulley system, what do they do? Surely, no one in their right mind would devise a rough zip-system to slide down the rope...right? Anyone with common sense would know how difficult that climb back /up/ would be ... right?
(Stream of consciousness
I know the bugbear just dropped a wall on top of himself. Sure, an alarm just went off when we killed the hillfolk...who cares?
Pit traps! Arrows? Where are these arrows coming from?
This will be easy - it's just a few spiders...what the? It's AS BIG AS A HOUSE! Quick, heal the monk! OMG! Poison! Argh! Our fighter can't carry his armor! *pantpant*
Thank goodness we drove off the spiders. Without Shensen to help, it would have been messy. How do we get back out to heal...?
Monk, balance up that rope! Don't faaaaaaaaaall! *splash* What's that in the water. OMG IT HAS FOUR TAILS WHY ARE WE SO SLOW!!!111!!1!
/end stream-of-consciousness)
*grins* I love my players.
That is too funny! I would have loved to see the fighter crawling under the wait and the monk warmly embracing the demon in the Phantom Lake. Players like yours are worth their wait in gold.
Delvesdeep
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My party had a pretty disasterous time in the kopru ruins, but there were certainly a few amusing moments too. After having managed to break the lift, barely survive the demon, and pull a wall down on top of themselves making enough noise to set off the alarm, they thought they would sweep in through the south and do a round about pass up into the ruins.
They opened the door and a barrage of arrows came flying out. A paladin, the parties quasi-leader(he wasn't that bright and since no one else in the group was that good they rarely paid any attention to him anyway, but he was a paladin so it seemed like he should at least pretend to be in charge) yelled 'Close the door!' Suprisingly, someone did.
Quickly the party took up flanking posistions around the door, ready to cut down anyone who might rush out after them. Instead of splintered wood and a flurry of blades though they were merely met by the sound of a table on the inside being set in place to brace the door from within.
There was an akward moment of silence while one of the more tactically minded characters simply went 'Well... Damn.' and all heads turned to the Paladin who glared back and said 'You guys have never listened to me before, why now?!'
There was an akward moment of silence while one of the more tactically minded characters simply went 'Well... Damn.' and all heads turned to the Paladin who glared back and said 'You guys have never listened to me before, why now?!'
*laughs* Our cleric of Tymora has a wildly different problem. She's the one with the common sense, straightforward ideas that the bugbear fighter/wizard and the Shou monk ignore until it's too late.
The poor girl is starting to think that the party is cursed by Beshaba!
There was an akward moment of silence while one of the more tactically minded characters simply went 'Well... Damn.' and all heads turned to the Paladin who glared back and said 'You guys have never listened to me before, why now?!'
Classic ;-) I love it when an adventuring party out-thinks themselves!
J-
I'm running a group of five players through Shackled City and our most memorable moment yet was in KR.
While exploring the guard shack by the pulley system the party found a locked door. The rogue determined it was not only locked but barricaded from the other side. Upon hearing someone at the door, the guards inside cried out, "Tell us who you are or we're setting off the alarm!"
Our impulsive and somewhat literally-minded Cleric of Lathander cried out, "IT IS I! NEOCON! CLERIC OF LATHANDER! OPEN THIS DOOR!"
To which the reply was an alarm being set off.
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Sepia Snake Sigils are NICE *G*
My party, after defeating the halfling sorcerer:
One character (a pixie):
"I start to search the adjoining room."
DM (Me): "Where?"
Pixie: "At the wall on the other side"
DM makes the Search roll (a natural 4): "make a Reflex save"
Pixie player rolls a natural 1
DM: "Your character is bound in an amber prison. You are being held in stasis and cannot move."
Pixie: "----"
Half-elf ranger: "That's not nice. Can he use his Dispel Magic ability in there?"
DM: "Nope. You don't see the Pixie move or even breathe for that matter."
Half-elf ranger:"Okay, that's out of the question."
Human Cleric:"I did not learn Dispel Magic today, because the pixie always takes care of that."
Human Sorcerer: "I remember that I bought a Dispel Magic scroll, but I do not know, if I have given it to someone else."
After some rummaging through their item cards, none of the players outside of the amber prison can find it.
"Hmmmm. I must have given it to the pixie..."
Indeed that was the case...
Who else noticed that Sepia Snake sigil traps on doors and hidden compartments is a bit odd, considering that they have to be embedded within at least 25 words of written text? Did Skaven write poetry or something on the door to his parlor and the secret compartment for his spellbook?
Did Skaven write poetry or something on the door to his parlor and the secret compartment for his spellbook?
"Today I woke up and summoned an air elemental to keep my room smelling nice and fresh. Tomorrow I will make friends with the big spider down the hall. I prepared Sepia Snake Sigil -" *thwap*
"Today I woke up and summoned an air elemental to keep my room smelling nice and fresh. Tomorrow I will make friends with the big spider down the hall. I prepared Sepia Snake Sigil -" *thwap*
Classic... very "Vaarsuvius." I may just use that. My guys have killed Skaven already in the harpoon spider's lair, but haven't ransacked his quarters yet.
Back to the OP.
The next session is tonight. When I asked the monk's player what his plans were, he said (paraphrased), "Wasn't that all a sick dream? Like the half-dragon minotaur?"
I love this AP. =)
Wow. It took over two months, but we finally finished Chapter Three. Between Origins and RL, there were a few breaks in the middle. *whew*
Some thoughts after finishing the Kopru Ruins:
-Having PCs with access to neutralize poison or similar effects will make the game run more quickly. My party didn't, and they had to constantly rest & recuperate to prepare more lesser restorations.
-A harpoon spider looks big 'n bad, but it's low AC doesn't help it terribly much.
-Mud slaadi really irritate PCs.
-Having a gnoll heucuva drop both the cleric and the druid to negative hit points in the same round by using his spiked chain makes the entire party start paying attention to combat.
Fun times, as always!
My overconfident PCs have also had a series of "Hall of Shame" moves. Setting off the alarm...falling wall...falling into the well with the ooze...running away from the T. rex into the traps and having the cleric fail his save for blindness just before all the undead. Classic moves.
THe best one sequence was when they discovered the hidden door in the store room to the north side murder holes and ganked all the baddies. Then the went into the long hallway, springing the trap. ONe in the hole. The other three take fire from the murder holes on the south side. THe hexblade runs to the far door, fails his spot and reflex, and falls into the other pit trap. I had to take a break so I wouldn't keep on laughing at them.
They eventually made it out, but it was like being nibbled to death by hamsters. Good fun!!
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My character almost met his end in the Life's Bazaar with the mimic. After trying to communicate with it, my paladin was shot in the back by the party spellcaster who saw the thing "lick it's chops". So after failing to hit the mimic the same spellcaster shot it with an arrow. So it grabbed the closest person to it....me.
So here I am with a mimic trying to eat me, and our rogue gets the bright idea to douse the mimic with alchemist fire, with me still attached. So now my paladin is getting eaten and set on fire. Is that enough...no. The same rogue decides to try to hit the mimic with a crowbar, attempting to get the crowbar in between my paladin and the mimic. Misses the mimic, crits me in the head, and now i am down to -4.
So with perfect timing our barbarian, who had been silent during all of this, decides to hit the mimic with her glaive...GLAIVE! BAM! Missed the mimic, hit me for minimum damage which brought me to -10. Luckily our DM had a house rule that if the cleric got to you in a round where you went to exactly -10 he could save you.
The DM awarded me extra xp since I had to fight the mimic and 3 of my party members.
-DedmeetDM
Ok, this is too good to pass up. If anyone has seen some of my other posts (like a Kinder Gentler TongueEater) you’ll know that my group has it’s share of problems. They are calling themselves the Keystone Cops of Adventurers, heh.
Since this thread is so aptly named I’ll go ahead and tell you what happened in my last session.
So in the previous session, the party had gotten word on where the wands were located from Jil and they went there. (I won’t even go into the whole debacle of when the Scout was dominated by the Korpu and half the party was stuck in the lake on a log as he used up his necklace of fireballs on them…) So, they started in the south and faced a couple alley bashers and fought Skaven to a stand still. He traded his life for releasing the monk from a Sepia Snake Sigil and they had to retreat to get some restorations and deliver the wands that they had uncovered. When they returned they suspected that their might be an ambush. So their plan for making it across the lake was for the physically weaker people (wizard, favored soul and spellthief) to use the gondola and the monk, scout, and half-orc barbarian would use the gondola ropes as a zip line and slide down after it had reached the bottom. I ruled they would have to make three DC 10 Strength checks to slide down the ropes. Failure indicates they fell into the water.
Round 1
The gondola reaches the shoreline and the Scout throws a bit of rope over the gondola cable and starts to slide down. The barbarian jumps on the rope to slide down right behind him and misses his first Strength check. He falls 100 feet to the water. The monk also starts to slide down. From inside the house that holds the winch on shore alley basher start shooting crossbows at the gondola and lock the winch up so it can’t be pulled back up. Some of the rogues run around the side of the building and the wizard casts web capturing two of them.
Round 2
The Barbarian swims back to the far shore. The scout and monk are still sliding. Fighters start pouring out of the ruins. The rouges that were in the winch house run out of it and around toward the gondola. The wizard casts fireball on the fighters and the Spell thief runs forward to block the fighters from getting to the gondola and the favored soul stays in the gondola to protect the wizard until the “backup” arrives.
Round 3
The Barbarian starts climbing the 100 ft wall back up to the ledge overlooking the lake (10 feet up). The Scout misses his save and falls 30 feet short of the shore. The monk successfully makes her third check and lands on the roof of the gondola. The rouges pile into the gondola (that starts to creak ominously) to attack the wizard and the favored soul. The wizard casts hail of stone on the fighters approaching the spellthief dropping two of them and buying the spell thief another round as the fighters have to stop and drink their healing potions. Then Triel appears and starts ordering the fighters to get rid of the wizard as she approaches the spellthief.
Round 4
The monk climbs down and into the gondola to fight the rouges, the Barbarian climbs (20 feet up), the Scout keeps his head above water, but doesn’t get anywhere. The wizard casts Slow on the fighters and Triel. Two of the fighters fail and are slowed. Triel attacks the Spellthief bringing her down below ten hit points so the Spellthief withdraws into the water to escape.
Round 5
The monk and favored soul fight rouges in the gondola. The wizard casts magic-missle at one of the rogues attacking him. The barbarian climbs another 10 feet (30 feet up). The Scout keeps his head above water, but doesn’t get anywhere. The fighters rush the gondola and squeeze in to join the fight. Triel casts Silence on the gondola.
Round 6
The monk is nearly dead and has to drink a healing potion, the favored soul continues to fight. The wizard tries to jump out a window in the gondola and fails his climb check and is attacked. He is nearly dead now. The spellthief swims across the shore and tries to climb up the gondola and the ropes holding the gondola break. The Scout starts drowning. The Barbarian falls from the wall back to the edge of the water.
Round 7
The monk and favored soul continue the fight in the silent gondola that is now filling with water and is sitting at an awkward angle in the water. The fighters and wizard fell down when the gondola broke and they get up. The wizard takes out a silver spell component dagger to fight. The fighter he’s facing hits him hurting him badly. The Spellthief climbs up to the edge of the shore and drinks a healing potion, only to be surrounded by fighters and a rogue. The Scout gets his head back above water. The Barbarian uses his dark wood shield as a kick board and starts swimming across the lake. Triel heads for the gondola.
Round 8
The wizard, monk and favored soul remain alive in one more round of fighting in the gondola. The Scout finally kicks himself to shore. The Barbarian… just keeps swimming. Triel enters the gondola and starts shoving warriors out of her way. The fighters on the shore rush the Spellthief and take her down.
Round 9
Triel attacks the wizard and brings him into negatives. Then she drops the Silence and says “If you want these people to live” (indicating the wizard and spellthief) “you will stop fighting now and listen to me.” So the party stopped fighting and listened. Triel took the spellthief and wizard hostage and ordered them to go to Cauldron and bring back a ransom in exchange for the wands and their friends.
So the party went to Cauldron, got the ransom, came back and made the trade. They saved the day in Cauldron and got their companions back (stripped of any possessions), but now they are penniless and the treasury of the temple of St. Cuthbert has been emptied.
They have plans to return to the Korpu Ruins and hopefully Triel will still be their with their stuff. :)