Name of PC: Lethreon
Class/Level: Fighter 2
Adventure: Burnt Offerings, Catacombs of Wrath
Catalyst: The Runewell of Wrath
Story:
The party was having difficulty killing Erylium, and eventually after I got bored of them bunkering down in a corner of the cathedral I used the time honored DMing phrase of "What do you do now?"
My players took the hint, I was bored and they weren't going anywhere soon with their current course of action. They realized that the runewell was magical, it had disgorged a sinspawn after all. They also remembered that
Erylium had looked distressed when the runewell dimmed. So, they marched up to the Runewell, grabbed one of their potions of cure light wounds, poured it in, and waited while nothing happened (getting stabbed a few times by "that <censored> little demon" as my players had begun to call her). They remembered that blood had dripped into the pool to summon a sinspawn just before the pool dimmed. They dispatched the sinspawn with readied actions, and no injuries to themselves, but the pool wouldn't go out completely. There weren't enough wrath points left, but they didin't know that. They then posited the fountain was connected to the pool in some way, used the empty flask and poured some water from it into the well, where it promptly froze into an icicle.
The light came on in my party's heads: they might be able to kill the little invisible flying <censored>! So the party paladin used his empty flask to grab some water out of the pool (without being particularly careful). He took the cold damage, and promptly flew into a rage!
The closest living being happened to be Lethreon, who was felled with a single critical strike from the paladin's longsword. What followed was an amusing chase sequence where the encumbered paladin tried to chase down the unencumbered ranger, failing miserably.
After this death, I realized that slow progressions was a bit too slow for my PC's likely survival, so I switched to the medium experience progression chart, and my PC's leveled up from 3 to 5 in one fight! Hopefully from this point forward they won't be using charges in their healing wands like they're breath mints and the party has halitosis.
Name of PC: Aramils
Class/Level: Ranger 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings, Thistletop
Catalyst: Bruthazmus
Story:
Gogmurt managed to put the Thistletop complex on alert with his animal messenger spell, and after clearing the top floor, the party decided to go downstairs. They basically walked right into Bruthazmus and Lyrie. Bruthazmus had heard their approach and readied an action to shoot the first elf to walk through the door (The party were talking on the way downstairs... silly PC's). Unluckily for the PC's, the first person to walk through the door was the elven ranger, who got a faceful of critical-strike with an elven bane arrow. He dropped to almost dead (4-5 HP), and then it was Lyrie's turn, who promptly let loose with a burning hands, taking him to -3. Skivver attacked him as well (it's an inside joke that any character played by the ranger's player in my pathfinder campaigns, is apparently catnip. Bringing him to -6.
The rest of the 10 rounds of combat were a series of me killing the ranger, him getting rules lawyer'd out of it because I forgot this or that rule, my players pointing out what a tactical dodo I was being (and I really was being a tactical klutz), them bringing the ranger to negatives, and Lyrie managing to get a succesful sleep spell off on the paladin, then knocking the rogue/sorc unconscious on her next turn. She healed Bruthazmus with her potion and his. Bruthazmus then killed the ranger with a simple attack, Lyrie tried to coup de grace the sorc/rogue... and rolled 0 for her damage, waking him up. He screamed at the top of his lungs to wake up the paladin, who then crit the bugbear, and on his next turn slaughtered Lyrie.
PC's Name: Harland of Hermea
Class/Level: Sorcerer 2
Adventure/Location: Burnt Offerings - Erylium's Shrine
Catalyst: Inflict Moderate Wounds Is Moderate
Harland bravely stepped forward to blast the quasit with an elemental ray and missed horribly. Erylium stepped adjacent to the sorcerer on her following turn and touched him with a held inflict moderate wounds spell - dealing maximum damage and killing him instantly.
You will be missed, Harland - but at least you got a tumble in the sack with Shayliss Vinder before your untimely demise.
|
PC's Name: Flynngan and Desmond Vashtu
Class/Level: Alchemist and Ranger respectively, both level 6
Adventure/Location: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha
The part reached the top of the tower, and generally grouped at the ledge facing the way they thought they had seen Xanesha coming from (Major Image). Flynngan moves back against the far side, still near a ledge, but all alone on the other side of the tower. Xanesha appeared next to him and attempted to turn him to stone, but he resisted. He bombed her, doing a nice bit of damage, and immediately painted himself as her first target. Her next turn she spent making 3 attacks with her spear, outright killing him (before rolling the damage dice). The folling round she drops but doesnt kill the party paladin, and one round later she drops and kills Desmond.
The group managed to take her down after a hard battle and had both friends reincarnated. Funnily enough, both of them came back as gnomes. Flynngan continues to adventure with the group, while Desmond has retired to a quiet life in Sandpoint (with Ameiko).
|
Name of PC: Dagrora Alekin
Class/Level: Fighter 3
Adventure: Thistletop
Catalyst: Malfeshnikor
Story: Slightly wounded but still ready for battle, our party had fought its way through the 2nd level of Thistletop and had ingeniously figured out how to get through the gold coin pillar. They heard noises coming through the door through which Malfeshnikor waited, and got ready. He heard them as well and was waiting opposite the door too.
Upon opening the door, the beast rolled a 19 on his initiative check, allowing him to go first, and he used that to full attack the flat footed dwarven fighter standing right in front of him. Even if he hadn't been flat footed, he would have been hit all 3 times, and the damage inflicted was more than sufficient to kill him instantly.
The entire town of Sandpoint will be most aggrieved to hear of his passing, because he was a brewmaster at the Two Knights Brewery, and his ales and beers had been very well received by both locals and newcomers at the Swallowtail Festival.
Everyone raise a mug to Dagrora!
I haven't been keeping up with these so here's a whole slew of deaths.
Name: Ahtt
Class: Monk 11
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: getting a hold on Mokmurian
Name: Johnathan Hades
Class: Ranger 11
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Failed reflex save
Ok, I modified the encounter with Mokmurian slightly by building Mokmurian from the ground up using the Pathfinder rules. His feats changed quite a bit and his stats got a decent boost as well from his transmutation specialty. The entire room was filled with solid fog via the widen spell feat and Mokmurian had loads of fun softening up the group as they moved in to the chamber. Eventually the group cleared away the fog and Ahtt, seeing that Mokmurian was airborne, elected to do some crazy monk stuff jump up and grapple the Giant to try and move him down to the ground. Unfortunately for him....it worked. Since I had reworked Mokmurian's feats he had several still spells that allowed him to pulverize the monk in to unconsciousness within a round. When Mokmurian was finally pulled to the ground he was quickly dispatched. Unfortunately contingencies placed on him by Karzoug (my addition) caused him to erupt with magical power. Most everyone made the save....except for poor Hades and Ahtt. Ahtt became a very crispy skeleton while Hades was merely blasted in half.
Name: Igman
Class: Monk 12
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst: being the only target within reach of the Scribbler
The group was tasked with exploring this sinkhole below Sandpoint. They moved in and encountered a rather grotesque and curious man calling himself Xaliasa, Lamashtu's hand of this world. Rather than attack this obviously unholy creature they followed him in the hopes that he was leading them to information about Karzoug. The trap triggered which split the group. Once the group reformed in the kennel the Barbarian was already horribly wounded. Igman bravely stepped forward to draw the Scribbler's attention away from his companion. In one round he dropped unconscious, but was brought back by the party priest. This continued until the Glabrezu joined the fight. the demon easily picked up the monk that had been badly beaten by Xaliasa and literally tore him in two. The party was forced to retreat or face destruction.
Name: Kyliq
Class: Cleric Sarenrae 12
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst: double criticals from the Fanged Falchion
Returning to the Scribbler's temple with one of Sarenrae's angels the group entered in to the main chamber and was ambushed by the Scribbler and his Glabrezu. The Scribbler recognized Kyliq as a priest from their last encounter and focused all of his attention on her. With the surprise round over, normal initiative took over and the Scribbler went first. With a full attack and haste, the divine guardian scored two critical hits unleashing astounding amount of damage and killing the priestess before she could even react. Sarenrae was understandably upset at the loss of her servant and sent another angel to help destroy the servant of Lamashtu.
I could have been a little more vicious and had Xaliasa retreat to his sanctum to funnel the characters in through a narrow channel, but I decided they lost too much already. Apparently I get vicious in these adventure paths. I thought The Scribbler would be a simple fight.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Name: Cojan
Class: Wizard 15
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Karzoug
During the final battle with Karzoug, Cojan was fighting with himself weather or not to take Karzoug up on his offer of joining him. Thoughts raced through his mind about his love interest, Bella, and weather or not she would accept what he had done. In the end it was his love for her that made his decision for him. He would fight along side his friends one last time to rid the world of his evil once and for all....
Cojan cast Spell Reflection on himself to protect himself from Karzoug's spells. Unknown to him that Karzoug had the same spell up. Cojan attacked the crystal at the center of the room and summoned Karzougs wrath. Finger of death was cast at Cojan which was reflected back at Karzoug and the spell effected both in the same way. With a epic fail on both their parts they both drop when the spell is completed. Karzoug was killed by his own spell and took the life of another powerful wizard with him.
Unlike Karzoug tho, Cojan would be raised from the dead by a cleric back in Fort Ranick when they left Xin-Shalast. When he awoke, he looked upon the face of his Bella and before he said anything she said "I will." She had accepted his marriage proposal.
|
Name: Devlin
Class: Ranger
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Chief Ripnugget
Poor Devlin bravely stepped into the center of the room when the chief told him to come parly "mispronounced parlay" saying he looked strong enough to earn the honor. When the goblins surrounded him the flanking bonuses and high rolls took him down, the cleric wouldn't then risk her neck to save him, and he died by bleeding out.
|
TPK on the Clocktower
Class/Level: Party of 5 PFRPG PCs
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha on the clocktower
Without perfect tactics, she is an unstoppable murder machine. I played her exactly as written any my players were far from perfect in their tactics. They had zero intel (having turned down every opportunity they had to learn about their enemies) and so in their typically poor tactical style, the group dribbled into the fight with the melee folks effectively soloing her one at a time or choosing to use their bows instead of their best weapons. This did not bode well for my group and she efficiently cut them down one at a time.
Because I expected this result, I changed her spear to a normal-sized Halberd and added the ability that it could optionally deal subdual rather than lethal damage so my group is now off to the Paradise Barge in Turtleback Ferry to serve as wisdom-drained charm zombies until Xanesha is done with them and she (or a suicidal fellow charm zombie) sinks the barge, leaving the party to the icy depths of Claybottom Lake.
Name: Chrome
Class: Human Summoner 7
-and-
Name: Grom
Class: Dwarf Cleric 7 of Nethys
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Player wanted to switch characters
Story: When we started, there were only 3 players, so one decided to play a cleric as a secondary character. Eventually, a fourth player joined, and the player decided he wanted to replace his two PCs with one PC (with a cleric cohort). So, Chrome and Grom decided that this Xanesha creature was way too dangerous to face, and fled Magnimar. Unfortunately, they were murdered by surviving Skinsaw cultists and a faceless stalker while waiting for their boat.
Name: Boris Ramjan
Class: Human Paladin 10 of Iomedae
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Hurek (or was it Durek?)
Story: While exploring (read: cutting a bloody path through) the caverns beneath Jorgenfist, Boris had a troll-sized ranseur shoved through his chest, to the tune of triple-digit critical hit damage. He was instantly slain; fortunately, Traysen of Sarenrae was handy with breath of life, so his soul didn't even have time to leave the body.
Name: Traysen Steppes
Class: Human Cleric 11 of Sarenrae
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: The Headless Lord & minions
Story: While traversing the gallery, Traysen fell prey to the Headless Lord's fear-inspiring power. In an unfortunate attempt to prevent the cleric from fleeing into further danger, his companion Iish tripped the panicked cleric. That left the priest on the floor, at the mercy of the several zombie hill giants that had been ordered to slay the priests. He was quickly pummeled to death. Fortunately, he was later raised by Bunkin, the cohort gnome cleric.
Name: Thorne Blackblade
Class: Dwarf Fighter 2/Inquisitor 9 of Torag
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: General Galenmir
Story: Our Brave Companions nearly killed Mokmurian, but he was able to flee. When Mokmurian returned with Galenmir and a pack of giants (runeslaved, named, and otherwise), Thorne found himself pulled off of the ledge, and facing off with Galenmir (who had also barely escaped an earlier battle). After maneuvering to get within reach of both the general and Mokmurian (!), Thorne was unfortunately slain when Galenmir drove his heavy pick clean through the dwarf's heart. This time, there were too many foes between Traysen and the slain for the breath of life to work, and Thorne's cohort Bunkin had been petrified in the first fight. Thorne proved to prefer to remain at work in the afterlife rather than return to finish his mission, and so remains dead.
Name of PC: Karrak One-Ear
Class/Level: Shoanti Cleric 15
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Killing the guy in the dress (and underestimating reach)
Story: After quickly slaughtering a Storm giant and some Cloud giants, their Rune giant handler came to see what happened. After some brutal exchanges the party had the massive giant on the ropes, and Karak rushed forward to ensure the Barbarian had enough hp's to live through what was probably going to be the Giants last round of attacks.
However, he moved within reach of the giant to heal, and there was no way the tactically minded Rune Giant was going to let the healer get away. So with a shout of "For Karzoug!" he attacked Karrak 3 times. Karrak had 5 HP's left after the first two attacks and the bard was readying her scroll of last breath to save Karrak. Unfortuneatly, the last attack was a 105 point crit, knocking him to -100 (my best kill ever), and smashing him into interestingly coloured past.
The giant was then killed and the bard put away her scroll of last breath and pulled out her scroll of raise dead.
Name of PC: Maya Atehya
Class/Level: Invulnerable (heh, right...) Rager Barbarian 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Moving into melee reach of Nualia
Story: The party, after having slogged through the Nettlewood, and Thistletop encounter Nualia and her yeth hound in the observation of Thistletop dungeon. Being part of a group of warriors they lacked magical healing, but had had managed to press through to this point while only stopping once to rest. The yeth hound howled, causing Rickson and the freshly recruited Orik to flee in a panic, but the fearless barbarian closes to melee with Nualia. In my conversion of Nualia to Pathfinder she became a grapple monkey Antipaladin with spiked armor (and a fiendish boon to add flaming to the spikes). She grabbed Maya, but the yeth hound kept the rest of the party at bay. Unable to escape when her turn rolled around Maya was stuck fast. Nualia easily maintained and between her claw, strength, and flaming armor spikes, Maya was dragged down to -21 HP as her heart was ripped from her chest. RIP Barbarian Princess.
|
|
So we managed to go almost two installments of the AP without a character death. Apparently last session was attempting to make up for that.
Name of PC: Chamberlain
Class/Level: Gnome Monk 13
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Beasties on the Golden Road
Story:
The party encountered 3 Harridan Lamias on the Golden Road. The first round the party was hit by three overlapping Flame Strikes. Being about 250' from the beasts, the monk ran up at full speed, closing on the critters. The fighter and rage prophet were one round behind him. One round of combat with the nasties did a little damage to the monk, but not a massive amount.
When the fighter came up behind the monk, two of the lamias closed in, one on either side of the pair and cast Harm. Two successful touch attacks reduced the fighter to dangerously low HP (which became negative when the Druid cast Sirroco) and killed the Monk outright. His Mark of Wrath passed on to one of the beasties and then to the Rage Prophet by the end of the fight.
The druid reincarnated him after the fight as a goblin.
Name of PC: Lak Tal
Class/Level: Half Orc Druid 14
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Never stand in line in front of a dragon ...
Story:
Name of PC: Thraww
Class/Level: Half-orc Barbarian Rage Prophet 14
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Dragons got some sharp freaking teeth
Story:
When the dragon landed, the party was split between the two sides of the chamber, with the barbarian and monk on one side and the fighter, sorcerer/dragon disciple, paladin and oracle on the other. The paladin ran up and was hit with an AoO as she passed within Ghlorofaex' threat area. The barbarian came up and hit the dragon for 91 points, which drew it's attention (it was the hardest hit on the dragon to that point). the barbarian remained standing for two rounds, but a full round attack with all hits and one confirmed crit on the second round, dropped him to negatives, which ended his rage and reduced him to the -30 range.
The dragon now has the Mark of Wrath.
Name of PC: Chamberlain
Class/Level: Goblin Monk 14
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Yet another dragon munchy
Story:
In the round before his death, it looked like he may get his Mark of Wrath back again, but when both the fighter and paladin missed, fate swung the other way.
So it was not a TPK, but it was a massive loss to the party. The three players who lost PCs have three more characters they will be introducing next session. We hashed out the details at the end of the last gaming session and it should prove to be entertaining.
|
Well two character deaths or close calls you could say as we are using hero points and they both used two points to save their lives.
Name: Jeevan
Class: Human Fighter Extraordinaire (massive damage dealer Greatsword wielder)
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Jeevan having a low wisdom and not being the most intelligent of people has the tendency to rush headlong into every encounter. Upon first coming to Thistletop Jeevan in a fit of anger cut the rope bridge down preventing the group from gaining easy access to the island. They then rented a boat and later came back and scaled the cliff face (no pun intended)to the north side of the island.Upon coming to the northwest corner came upon 4 goblin commandos playing the kill the seagull game and he immediately charged into them killing all but one of them with ease, the one broke free and ran to the front gates raising the alarm which put the entire complex on alert. well like I said Jeevan is not too bright so he went chasing the goblin (Jeevan also hates Goblins) and runs headlong into pretty much the entire first floor goblin contingent plus the bugbear. Jeevan miraculously mowed down a large group of the goblins while the rest of the group was busy wading through a deathtrap of archers while entangled by the druid.Finally in a epic battle with the bugbear and a few others Jeevan succumbed to his wounds using 2 heropoints to save him along with the diehard feat.
Name: Bransen
Class: Human Oracle of Life
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: After the above fight, the party managed to revive Jeevan and being almost completely exhausted of resources went back into the Thistletop complex to finish off the remaining force of goblins which consisted of the still surviving Chief a warchanter and 4 more commandos and goblin dogs (this is a group of 6 to 8 players so the encounters are beefed up). With a epic battle in the throne room the group emerges victoriously except for the lone commando who runs down the stairs to relay the information to the baddies below. Of course this would not do for the group who must win at all costs so the wizard runs down the stairs after the goblin to run face first into a group containg the three Yeth Hounds, Nualia, The wizard lady and the mercenary along with a few of the chiefs wives. Being quite a bit more intelligent than Jeevan he ran back up the stairs to warn the group of the danger and they go about trapping the upper doors with caltrops and setting a watch on the door. They were 100% out of resources other than a cure light wounds wand and I felt they were not understanding that with so little resources and low on HP they should not continue to press forward so i got creative and had the goblins and other baddies make a hole in the wall of the chiefs room and send two of the Yeth Hounds in to lay low and wait for the group. The group continues to press on and upon entering the chiefs room come upon the Yeth Hounds who proceed to bay and send almost the entire party running in fear. Bransen who was still in the armory at the time and was unaffected by the fear watched almost his entire party make a retreat from the Yeth Hounds and he thought it wise to sit back and fire bolts from his crossbow instead of retreating as well. The group managed to flee and trap the Yeth Hounds in the throne room leaving Bransen there alone to get chewed on and eventually killed and at -27 Hp by a Yeth Hound crit. He used two hero points to stay alive and after some time the group regrouped and went back in and hauled him out to safety.
Name of PC: Kyenna
Class/Level: Half-elf sorcerer 2
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Gogmurt's kitty
Story: The party (human rogue 2, half-elf sorcerer 2, human monk 2, NPC human fighter 2) ventured into the briar cave and made short work of the goblin refugees and goblin dogs.
Things turned sour as they ran into Gogmurt. The druid trapped them with a well-placed entangle and set his firepelt on them. Unable to reach the druid, they tried to make a hasty retreat. Kyenna stayed back, trapped in the thorny vines and surrendered herself to the mercy of the goblin druid. Obviously, there was none to be had.
Name of PC:Sheul
Class/Level:Human Monk 3
Adventure:Burnt Offerings
Catalyst:Gogmurt's kitty - again
Story: The party regrouped with their comrade (inquisitor 3) and returned to the goblin refuge with reinforcements. At that time the party consisted of human rogue 3 (Dex reduced from plant poison), human monk 3, half-orc inquisitor 3 (strength reduced from run-in with shadow), dwarven ranger 2 and elf bard/sorcerer 1/1. The party stumbled into the briar and alerted Gogmurt's cat of their presence early on.
The druid, expecting them, hit them with an entangle (again). Sheul the monk rushed the druid failing to down Gogmurt with his stunning fist. That left him between the rock (druid) and a hard palce (kitty). The group was catching up quickly, avoiding the entangle to the best of their abilities. A nasty fight ensued with Gogmurt running into the briar to heal himself, then reemerging to hit the party with his flame blade. Monk and ranger hit the ground below 0 hp, but the former was healed back to fighting condition, only to be felled again by the cat.
The encounter ended with four characters on the ground, one dead and three below 0 hp, the cat getting finished with a magic missile from the elf.
That druid and his cat surely pack a punch, especially against a party that so ill-suited for such an encounter.
Name of PC: Daniil
Class/Level: Monk 6 Cleric 5
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: The black monk's creeping doom
Story: The party drastically overestimated their ability to fight the Black Monk and his harpies, and chose to stand their ground adjacent to his oubliette rather than employing the bottleneck at the entrance of the tower. The harpies and creeping doom wore away at them, until eventually Daniil was claimed; no small irony since he was himself a monk of the Therassic Order and a cleric of the Peacock Spirit.
The rest of the party is currently fleeing that dark tunnel, covered in insects, stymied by the quaking earth, hoping to outrun a 10,000-year-old Thassilonian mummy.
Name of PC: Rogar
Class/Level: Dwarf Ranger 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Rope Bridge/Bunyip/Stupidity
Story: After triggering the rope bridge the party is trying to rescue the Paladin out of the waters below.
Meanwhile, Rogar inches towards the far edge of the bridge where the party knows goblins are waiting. Rogar fails his climb check and hits the water 80ft below.
The bunyip bereft of its tinned snack (the Paladin) swims over to sample some dwarf flesh.
Rogar is bitten for enough to damage to knock him out and subsequently drowns.
Party is finally able to establish a bridge head on Thistletop.
I still wonder how you are supposed to do this with 4 level 2 characters. We had 5 at level 3 and we struggle mightily.
Name of PC: Rogar
Class/Level: Dwarf Ranger 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Rope Bridge/Bunyip/Stupidity
Story: After triggering the rope bridge the party is trying to rescue the Paladin out of the waters below.
Meanwhile, Rogar inches towards the far edge of the bridge where the party knows goblins are waiting. Rogar fails his climb check and hits the water 80ft below.
The bunyip bereft of its tinned snack (the Paladin) swims over to sample some dwarf flesh.
Rogar is bitten for enough to damage to knock him out and subsequently drowns.Party is finally able to establish a bridge head on Thistletop.
I still wonder how you are supposed to do this with 4 level 2 characters. We had 5 at level 3 and we struggle mightily.
By checking the bridge before crossing it.
Scratch that, by checking the rope goblin bridge.
By checking the bridge before crossing it.
Scratch that, by checking the rope goblin bridge.
That is what I meant by stupidity...
*** VARSISAN WORLD WIDE TELECROW SERVICE ***
*** ***
*** MAGNIMAR STATION : 002-717 ***
*** ID : 002-717-G47-7876 ***
FROM : MAGNIMAR - LORD-MAYOR H.GROBARAS
TO : FORT RANNICK - LORD P.BEGINAGAIN
OUR CONDOLENCES TO YOU AND YOUR RETINUE ON THE RECENT LOSS OF YOUR COMPATRIOT MR DRACHMA STOP THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS OFTEN PAID IN BLOOD AND THE FLOWER OF CIVILIZATION WATERED WITH TEARS SHED FOR THE FALLEN STOP BEARING THE TITLE OF SHIELD OF MAGNIMAR MR DRACHMA WILL BE REMEMBERED ON THE LANE OF HEROES AS BEFITS HIS STATION AND SACRIFICE FOR OUR LAND FULL STOP WE ARE PLEASED THAT YOUR CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE KREEGS CONTINUES TO TAKE GROUND STOP OUR ADJUTANTS SEND FAVORABLE REPORTS ON YOUR PROGRESS TO REBUILD THE FORT AND MUSTER NEW RECRUITS FOR THE ARROWS STOP WE HOPE THAT OUR RECENT APPOINTMENT OF YOUR EVIL STRIKE THAT WORD SECRETARY WILL ASSIST YOU IN YOUR ADMINISTRATION OF AFFAIRS AND CONTINUED PROGRESS IN THE REGION STOP YOUR VALOR AND SERVICE TO MAGNIMAR ARE KINDLY REGARDED AND WE REMAIN YOURS ET CETERA FULL STOP END
*** END ***
|
|
Name of PC: Thorin
Class/Level: Dwarf Barbarian 7
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Jaagrath Kreeg's critical hittin' ogre hook
Story: The party entered the fort through the waterfall, fought and drove off Xanesha (in Leucretia's spot in the Jail), cleared out the main keep level and much of the upper keep where they bumped into X again with the Kreeg Sorceress. After a pitched battle, the party was severely depleted and was executing a fighting retreat when Thorin opted to buy a few rounds for the rest of the party. He badly hurt Jaagrath (down to like 30 HPs) before the ogre boss returned with a critical hit that killed the dwarf dead dead dead.
Name of PC: Kate of Magnimar
Class/Level: Human Sorceress 16
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Most High Cleoptra retaliation
Story: The party were making good progress throughout the Pinnicle of Avirace and sent the party assassin forth scout the room with Cleoptra in it. Once done, they moved in to assault the Harridans there.
A few dispel magics and an invisibility purge started to derail the groups tactics, and Kate stepped forth to use a split ray Disintegrate on the priestess, they both hit but had no effect due to greater spell immunity.
Cleoptra turned, looked Kate in the eye, said 'Is it my turn now?' and destroyed her with a Destruction spell. Oddly, she missed the save by one point (the above dispel magic had removed the bears endurance spell from her, which would have saved her life)
She got resurrected and they got their revenge on the priestess on the next encounter :)
|
|
Name of PC: Constantinos Tsirtsirkis
Class/Level: Human Cavalier 7
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Jaagrath Kreeg
Story: Constantinos was the leader of the group, always suggesting tactics and ways to make the party more effective. An excellent fighter in his own right, on excursion from his homeland of Cheliax, he was well on his way to becoming a feared Hellknight.
After sneaking into Fort Rannick behind the waterfall and into the keep's dungeon basement, and handling Lucrecia without too much trouble (a lucky blindness/deafness where she failed her save and SR was beaten was key there), they were able to make favorable use of the narrow hallways to handle the ogres on the first floor without too much trouble. They posted 2 of the NPC rangers at the entrance of the keep to prevent themselves being surrounded without warning, and headed up the stairs. I was starting to feel that maybe I hadn't increased the challenge of the keep sufficiently (there are 7PCs).
That all changed when they got upstairs. Upon opening the door, the party immediately recognized Jaagrath as the obvious leader of the ogres, given his immense size and stature. Constantinos charged him and issued a brave challenge, dealing significant damage against Jaagrath's weak AC. But then it was Jaagrath's turn. Jaagrath Power attacked and hit Constantinos twice, dealing enough damage on two hits to drive Constantinos from full hit points to negative 22. His Constitution was 14. The Human bane made the difference - the 4d6 from the Human bane on Jaagrath's weapon between the 2 hits was 18 points, I rolled well. =P
Constantinos died as he lived - leading from the front against the biggest threat to the well being of his compatriots. Jaagrath would never admit it, but he was intimidated by Constantinos as well. A death worthy of any hero!
Let's all raise a mug to Constantinos Tsirtirkis!!
Name of PC: Pippen Tasker
Class/Level: Dwarf Rogue 6 / Assassin 10
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: A wailing Runelord
Pippen Tasker was a NE Assassin with a unhinged mind, taking immense pleasure from killing and looting. This had made him ideal to gravitate towards Chellan.
He was enjoying his new weapon significantly until the final battle with Karzoug, where Chellan attempted to dominate him and go and kill the party druid. Up until this point, Pippen had had a very poor run of luck with willpower saves, but suddenly he dice got hot, so he used the opportunity to wail on the Soul Lens with his other weapon (a Domineering Sword of Subtlety)
Karzoug obviously didn't like what Pippen was doing, so he swooped down and yelled a Wail of the Banshee spell. Pippen's hot dice went cold at this point and he collapsed into a lifeless heap, Chellan skittering away across the stones.
The rest of the group killed Karzoug, the Soul Lens exploded and the demiplane began to destabilise. The group grabbed Pippen's corpse and Plane Shifted out.
A resurrection later and Pippen Tasker returned him to Maginmar as a Hero (in his mind anyway)
Second character death in the adventure path (not bad for a group of 7 PC warrior types with no healer or arcanist):
Name of PC: Envarys "Envy" Valtishon
Class/Level: Half-Elf, Half-Keleshite Assassin 3/Rogue 5
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Underestimating Pappy Jaagrath Kreeg and playing hero
After having rolled through Fort Rannick with Shalelu and the rescued Black Arrows, getting the drop on most ogre groups and often killing them before they ever got a turn (stupid low initiative) the confident party made it to the Kreeg patriarch with ease. Shortly after the battle began however, reinforcements began to arrive, and soon the field was littered with enemies. A long and brutal battle ensued. The round before the final ogre fell Shalelu was cornered and below 10 HP. After having been a horrible bastard for the last several levels (murdering and stealing at his leisure) "Envy" had a sudden change of heart and tumbled into a flank to try vanquish the foe with a sneak attack before Shalelu succumbed to his might. The assassin's scimitar brought the ogre to 1 HP, and he promptly turned for a final swing, as there was no escape. 2 natural 20s later "Envy" lay in a bloody heap on the floor.
Rest in pieces...erm...peace.
Name of PC: Frarnak
Class/Level: Shoanti druid 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Being smitten by an angry scion of Lamashtu
After a rather smooth rundown of Thisteltop, the party at long last meets Nualia herself and her pet hound. She starts casting Cause Fear (failed save) on the group's fighter, but Frarnak acting straight after her casts his domain (Liberation) spell Remove Fear to dispel it. The next round, Nualia casts Hold Person on the ranger (failed save again), but this time Frarnak dispels it with his... Liberation domain spell Remove Paralysis! On round three and four, the angry scion of Lamashtu (also being an antipaladin) proceeds to smite the cunning druid with all her might. Bloody mess ensues.
Fortunately, the group discovered the Sihedron medallion's properties after the fight, which allowed to preserve Frarnak's corpse until he gets raised from the dead or reincarnated.
Name of PC: Alexandru Havenasti
Class/Level: Varisian Sorcerer (homebrew shapeshifter bloodline) 8
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Always wandering off ahead alone
12 sessions in and the party is on its 3rd death. This time the PCs were fixing up Fort Rannick and staying at it through the Winter (a fully fleshed out "Keeping the Keep" interlude). A couple of months into the harsh season, a secret chamber was discovered beneath the fortress. Exploring it, as adventurers do, Alex shifted into an eagle to scout ahead, only to be ambushed by a handful of shadows. A couple of good rolls later and the poor Varisian was dead, joining the battle once more 3 rounds later. This would unfortunately be the first death in the party that cannot be fixed with divine magic.
I have three deaths to report:
Name of PC: Scarbis
Class/Level: Human Druid 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Bunyip
The party wasn't being particularly alert about the clues to the bridge leading to Thistletop, and all but one of them piled onto it. The wizard (Talia) and Scarbis went falling down. They survived the fall and explored, looking for a way back up, and ran into the Bunyip. A very tough fight ensued, as it was just the two of them against the critter. Talia finally managed to kill it with a magic missile, but it was one round too late - Scarbis died to his horribly bleeding wounds.
Name of PC: Analysia
Class/Level: Human Paladin 4
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Suicide
Analysia was the object of Aldern's obsession, and always the person taking the lead when entering rooms, which was good from my point of view - knowing that the Suicide Compulsion haunt in the Misgivings gave two saves to avoid its effects, I figured the Paladin wouldn't kill herself. Alas, I was mistaken. She took 11 points of damage on her coup de grace attempt, and her Fort save was a 19. The other party members were quite shocked to see their stalwart Paladin shove a length of splintered wood into her throat, to say the least.
Name of PC: Hardwin
Class/Level: Half-Elf Ranger 4
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Aldern Foxglove
Aldern had, unbeknownst to him, already lost the object of his obsession (see previous obituary). When Hardwin asked where Analysia was, Hardwin informed him that she was dead. Aldern didn't take it too well, and focused all of his attacks on the Ranger. The Gnome Barbarian Fijit, new to the party, did a hell of a job cutting Aldern down, but it wasn't quite quick enough - Aldern sneak-attacked Hardwin to death in 4 rounds.
Been a long time coming Sadly, but the Heroes of Sandpoint passed violently into that dark embrace when after nearly 2 years (in real life) they fought Karzoug the claimer, Runelord of Greed, and were decimated by an ancient wizard's unstoppable powers.
Name of PC:Carmaluminita
Class/Level:Female Varisian Rogue/Shadowdancer 10/6
Adventure:Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst:Karzoug the Runelord of Greed
Name of NPC:Tanrev of the Burning Light
Class/Level:Male Shoanti Cleric/Radiant Servant of Serenrae 7/7
Adventure:Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst:Karzoug the Runelord of Greed
Name of PC:Kris
Class/Level:Male Ulfen Ranger/Tempest 10/6
Adventure:Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst:Karzoug the Runelord of Greed
Name of PC:Talathiel
Class/Level:Elf Wizard/Mage of the Arcane Order 9/7
Adventure:Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst:Karzoug the Runelord of Greed
@Stewart Perkins
Did they destroyed the Leng device?
Name of PC: Ted Winters
Class/Level: Human male wizard (transmuter) 4
Adventure: Interlude between Burnt Offerings and Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: The Skinsaw Man
Story:
(Note: I had the player's cooperation with this storyline...)
Ted was one of three characters in the party whose background included interest in the ancient Thassilonian ruins in Varisia. About two weeks after the destruction of the Thistletop goblins and the defeat of the evil priestess Nualia, the other party wizard knocked on Ted's door a few hours after supper, and said that he, the party rogue, and Brodert Quint, the local historian, had made a new discovery about Thassilon in the Catacombs under the town. Ted accompanied his friend to the Catacombs, and was led into the natural cavern before the catacombs proper. Waiting for him was the Skinsaw Man, and when Ted turned to his friend for backup, he realized that it was a faceless stalker that had assumed his friend's form. Ted then died at the hands of the Skinsaw Man, who then performed the Sihedron Ritual on the profit-motivated wizard. The faceless stalker then assumed Ted's form and returned to Ted's room, and would accompany the party on three encounters before the truth came out.
|
|
Name of PC: The Heroes of Sandpoint (TPK): Redgar Ironhand, Syphacia Maiera, Coram Edasseril, Razan Silaam, Aramil Nybol, and Masud Omari
Class/Level: Dwarven Cleric 12 (Redgar), Elven Cleric 12 (Syphacia), Elven Magus 12 (Coram), Human Cavalier 12 (Razan), Half-Elf Wizard 12 (Aramil), and Human Rogue 12 (Masud)
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst: 1.5 dungeons in a row.
Story:
The party had lost their rogue into the clutches of the ladies of the Iron Cages of Lust; however they do not know where he had gone. Presuming from the fact that he was periodically taking negative levels at the table, they decided he must be in the ravenous crypt and went in there. They fought their way through a little over half of the top level of the crypts, with the clay golem taking the two heaviest hitters (cavalier and rogue) to significant HP deficits that. The cleric burned a great many spells trying to get past. He gave up when both were in the 3/4 total range. They fought for several more encounters and the Magus went down to a Thassilonian Mummy. It is at this point that the party recalls they have a crystal ball and they use it to scry the Rogue, getting a look at his location (and seeing more of said Rogue than anyone wanted to). Without rest or recovery, they teleport to his location. They spent several minutes negotiating with Delvahine, but the negotiations broke down and the party attempted to frontal assault, brining the entire Iron Cages down on their heads. The rest was, as my saddened wife put it, was "waiting to die."
Technically both deaths came from rejiggering Thistletop as a side adventures for JR, and both characters died one after the other in successive sessions, but this really doesn't have any spoilers for the other AP.
Name: the Traveler
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Figher 2
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy/Burnt Offerings
Location: Thistletop
Catalyst: Mobbed by Goblins and Goblin Dogs
The Gory Details: Having single-handedly survived falling 80' into the surf to swim into a nearby cave to, again, single-handedly kill the Bunyip, Traveler was pretty confidant when he showed up late to the party, tucking himself around the corner of the door while everyone else scooted onto the fortress roof to fill the Goblin Dogs in the courtyard full of arrows and daggers. Sadly the half-dozen Goblins/Goblin Dogs playing whack-a-segul on the other side of the wall overheard their bark/squeeks and came barriling around the side in search of the trouble, stumbling into him. While the 4 Goblins in the towers were busy keeping the rest of the PCs on the roof occupied (including chucking pickles in random directions), Traveler found himself in a bad situation going worse when the dozen opponents he had to himself went up half again as the 6 or so Goblins from inside finally made their way out through the front as well. Thanks to the Diehard feat and luck he managed to hold out long enough for the rest of the gang to deal with the enemy above and join him to kill the enemy bellow, but he just couldn't keep up, surrounded as he was, and took one nasty shot that killed him outright right near the end.
Name: Hobbs
Race: Half-fiend (using Advanced Racial Guide beta)
Classes/levels: Oracle 1
Adventure: Brinewall Legacy/Burnt Offerings
Location: Thistletop Dungeon, level 1
Catalyst: One-shotted in the surprise round in the Temple.
The Gory Details: Hobbs joined up as a disillusioned turncoat, splitting with the bad-guys once he met our heroes as they were heading downstairs and he was attempting to leave. Giving them some much-needed exposition as t what was going on, he helped them in their hunt, killing just about everyone/thing they ran into, up until they wandered into the Temple of Lamashtu, which he new little about (his information was about as good as Oriks' as to what was what). None of them spotted the two Yith Hounds floating above as they entered the Temple, so were at a loss when one howled and another dove in to bite. Two PCs failed their saves miserably and fled (or hid in a corner cowering), leaving him and Shalelu to fend them off, and he couldn't take one bite, dropping in the surprise round, only to bleed to death a few rounds later as Shalelu was too busy fighting for her life (even the JR level 6 version had trouble here) and the other PCs fled or incapacitated with fright.
|
|
Death but character used two Hero Points to keep his character from death, so death with a technicality.
Name of NPC:The Jeevan
Class/Level:7th level fighter
Adventure:Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst:The Jeevan being the bold strong fighter type moved through Silas Kreegs threatened area provoking a AoO which crit doing 99 points of Damage with the large sized Ogre Hook +1 Power Attack (6d8+66). Insta kill
Name of NPC:Alistair
Class/Level:3rd level Paladin (Erathis)
Adventure:Burnt Offering
Catalyst: Rope Bridge.
After making their way through the briars and a tough, tough battle with Gogmurt, the PCs came upon the rope bridge leading to Thistletop proper. After trying to calculate the rotation of the goblin guards they could see, the PCs stumbled upon the awesome plan of rushing full-speed, en-masse, across the bridge.
1 brief and funny (for me the DM) moment later, Scizore the Magus, Nym Nightstar the Wizard, Moofastah the Ranger, and Alistair the Paladin were in the process of drowning. The resulting scene was fairly tense, I ran it as a skill check of sorts.
Based on how much each character weighed, I assigned them a depth they were in the water (all abstracted) 2-4. For each successful swim check they made (DC 15 – water fairly rough between two juts of land), they could navigate upwards 1 number (0 being the surface), for each failed roll of less than 5 they maintained their current depth. Failures for more than 5 plummeted further down a square.
The Magus got out and swam to shore, the Ranger got out and dove back down to help the weak wizard. But, Alistair refused to move his half-plate and each check, with the hefty penalty, kept him descending and descending. By the time he removed his armor it was too late. He drowned.
** Possible caveat – I am toying with the idea of keeping him alive. It’s my brother-in-law, and he’s never played a full campaign before, seemed attached to the character . . . may come up with a reason he lived (and let this be a lesson). Then again this is the classic a player dies because of his own stupidity.
Name of PC: Fijit
Class/Level: Gnome Barbarian 6
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: The Scarecrow
The party explored the first floor of the Shadow Clock, but their Perception checks were abysmally low, allowing the Scarecrow to lay in wait until one of them drew near. It was Fijit, the Gnome Barbarian. The Scarecrow attacked her once in the surprise round and did modest damage, but nothing she couldn't take. The problem came in the first round. The Scarecrow rolled high on initiative, and his attack...nat 20, confirmed only because Fijit was flat-footed. A power attacking golem with a scythe getting a crit is not a feeling I particularly enjoyed as a DM. Fijit enjoyed it even less, as she died instantly.
|
|
Hadn't noticed this thread before so am going to try and remember all of the character deaths between the two groups I am running this for. I know I had some character deaths in the previous two modules but can’t remember any of them.
Name of PCs: Ghina, Sazzleberry, Rumbolt(cohort) (Group 1)
Class/Level: Human Barbarian/Rogue, Gnome Bard, Gnome Ranger
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Biting off more than you can chew.
Name of PCs: Buttercup x2, Blaise(Group 2)
Class/Level: Halfling Cavalier, Half-Elf Fighter/Ranger
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Criting with an Ogre Hook makes a mess
Name of PC: Artz “Doc” (Group 1)
Class/Level: Half-Elf Cleric (Sarenrea) / Fighter
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Wet Papa Grazuul has a long reach.
Name of PC: Tau (cohort) (Group 1)
Class/Level: Half-Orc Druid
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst: You won’t like the Scribbler when he’s angry
Name of PC: Lilly (cohort) (Group 1)
Class/Level: Elf Fighter/Wizard/Eldritch Knight
Adventure: Sins of the Saviors
Catalyst: Arkrhyst
|
|
Name of PC:Nirga
Class/Level:Female Human Elf Rogue 6th level. Similar to Merisiel. The player even recently switched to using the Merisiel miniature to represent the character
Adventure:The Skinsaw Man
Catalyst:Xanesha
Story:
This is the first death of a character in RotR so far. The party used good tactics, skill and some luck to get through Burnt Offerings, the Misgivings, the Brothers Cultist, and even the Scarecrow and Faceless Stalkers, before hitting the buzz saw known as Xanesha. The party was simply not prepared to deal with an enemy so well pumped in stats and abilities. Nirga did deftly move to position herself early in the encounter for a backstab. But missed in her attempt. Xanesha wheeled around and struck three quick blows all landing true on Nirga. The third blow proved to be fatal. Two rounds and Nirga lay dead.
Damage to the already unstable tower caused by the falling bell began to make the Clock Tower shake and tremble as if to collapse. This alarmed the party and Xanesha too. The party gathered the fallen Nirga and fled off the tower with Fly spells toward the crowd that had been gathering in the streets after they heard the long dormant Clock Tower bells ring. Xanesha too gathered her things and fled using her Fly spell away from the crowd. (It was this kind of event or a likely TPK. The party's first encounter with Xanesha was not going well.)
Several days later, and without the cultist to aid her, Xanesha tried to sneak into the Lord Mayor Grobaras' home disguised as a Diplomat from the River Kingdoms to add the most prized sacrifice to her collection. The party was waiting for Xanesha with some of the town guard and a couple of Hell Knights guarding the Mayor. Xanesha fought hard but in the end the party held and Xanesha was force to flee. The party will likely see her yet again.
Xanesha may be the most challenging encounter I have ever thrown at a party (I have been a DM since 1st Edition.) I am looking forward to their next visit.
Later,
Mazra
Name of PC: Michael (I think)
Class/Level: Abjurer 1
Adventure: Burnt Offerings, Sandpoint
Catalyst: Goblin
Story:
F**k me if there wasn't actually a goblin in there. Goodbye wizard, hello trauma for the small child. My fellow players STILL talk about this. All the damn time.
It is pretty funny, once I get past the indignant rage. This was my first "paizo experience," which is to say, you guys are jerks ;)
In the best way.
Ironically, my backup character was the only one who survived an encounter with a particular stone giant wizard in book 3 or so ... /shakes head/
Name: Alinica
Class/Level: Wizard 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: falling from bridges..
Story:
Name: Alinica
Class/Level: Wizard 2
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: fool me twice, shame on you...
Story:
|
|
Had my second PC death tonight. First was at the end of Burnt Offerings, then we managed to make it through the skinsaw murders without casualty. Alas, it was not to last.
Name of PC: Vetton
Class/Level: Bard 6
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Random encounter on the road to Turtleback Ferry
Story: I've been trying to stretch the campaign out a bit since the hardback comes out this summer, so we've been playing out the entire journey from Magnimar to Turtleback Ferry, complete with random encounters courtesy of the Bestiary and Gamemastery Guide. I have 6 or 7 people in my party so they've been making short work of my encounters so far, but the dice were against them this time.
I rolled a dire tiger on the last watch 2 nights before arriving in town. They were still in grasslands, which gives the tiger's already hilarious stealth bonus an even greater advantage. Our Bard was on watch, and never saw it coming. Before anyone could react he was grappled and down to only a few hit points. Pounce and rake are killers. He managed to yell enough to wake up the rest of the party, but they couldn't get to him in time - he was dead by the time they got their first shots off.
|
|
Name of PC:Bransen
Class/Level:Oracle of Life Lvl.8
Adventure:Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst:Big Badaboom
The fight goes on a few rounds making a considerable amount of noise alerting the Ogres and Giants nearby. The Ogres and Giants move in to investigate the battle and the PC's are now getting beat on pretty good,Enga Keckvia uses this opportunity to flee down the tunnel and she sets up her Necklace of Fireballs trap and lies in wait.
After the PC's finish of the big guys they are badly wounded and low on resources so the proceed to withdraw down the tunnel and BOOM, a 8d6 fireball goes off in the group (Fails to detonate the rest of the missles on the necklace or would have been a TPK) killing the Oracle who uses two hero points to remain alive.
|
|
Name of PC:Asonya
Class/Level:Barbarian Lvl 1
Adventure:Burnt Offerings
Catalyst:Goblin Raid, a bad roll of the dice, a worse draw from the deck, another bad roll of the dice followed by a final bite from the dice gods ...
During the raid on Sandpoint, the party rushed up to save Aldern Foxglove form the goblins threatening to "goblinize" him. The barbarin raged, rushed up to a goblin, raised her earth breaker to power attack a goblin (a tactic that worked wonderfully in the previous fight) ... and confirmed a critical miss. The fumble deck resulted in her threatening a critical hit against herself and she confirmed. With the amount of damage she suffered (she ended up at -43 hp), I was at a complete loss to describe exactly what happened to her ... short of the earthbreaker slipping from her grip, flying straight up and hurtling back to earth, leaving a bloody crater where the barbarian had stood moments before.