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hello! i don't know if there has been a thread like this before but i didn't see one on the first page so here you go!
this thread is for fun sad funny or generaly unusual things that have happened in your second darkness for example the pc's unusual way of doing something here's my one to start of
Pc's are
Isack human male assassin
Tempest female elf wizard
Haldvin male dwarf elementalist
And Axeman male human warblade
It is when Depora has run out onto the Cyphergate (after the pc's spent an unusualy long time healing and not casing her) Axeman goes charging out onto the Cyphergate after her and hurls the mundane glue she had in her cave at her hoping it was Sovrien glue since that fails cause it's normal glue Depora leaps of of the Cyphergate and starts floating down to the ship below Axeman leaps of after her and misses splat in the water. so Tempest uses ventriloquism to make a deep manly voice to sound on the ship below HARD TO PORT! so the ship swerved to port and Depora landed in the water with Axeman and got minced by the waiting warblade Tempest had run down to the waters edge below and floated out to Axeman with Floating disc and got Axeman to strip her and load her gear on the disc
(Tempest is now wearing most of Depora's cloths)
So they leave a naked Drow in the harbor later to be swept up by the wave and hurled onto Kwava
that's mine what's yours?
I’ve got a few scenes that I could share, but I thought my players enjoyed this one quite a bit.
Our little group of adventurers had a rough time in the smuggler’s tunnels and were forced to go back to the surface to heal. They didn’t know it but they turned around just before reaching Depora’s lair. (Part of me wanted to have her attack, but I didn’t want a TPK). The drow followed, and was pleased to find that the PCs left the GG entirely, and it was after midnight.
The heroes returned before daybreak, planning to sleep until dawn and then take on the rest of the tunnels. However, Depora ambushed them with her dretches in the main gambling hall. The drow couldn’t get anyone to succumb to her sleep poison, and the dretches did not hold up very long against the group’s fighter, and paladin. In desperation she cast darkness and fled before the group could close.
The heroes moved forward cautiously until they heard noise from the kitchen, and realized the drow was fleeing fast. They came to the kitchen and found two doors open; one that eventually led back to the tunnels and one that led outside. The paladin and the ranger headed toward the smugglers tunnels. The fighter and the rogue headed outside where morning was just beginning to start. In the dim light, the rogue thought he spotted someone dart into an alley. They ran full speed to eventually spot Depora heading toward the Runegate. Seeing her run up the structure, the fighter realized that he did not have a chance to catch her. However, he spotted a single ship in the harbor, slowly preparing to leave and making its way under the gate. He stripped out of his armor, and dove into the bay in hopes of making it to the ship (guessing what Depora was up to). The rogue climbed as quickly as he could, and found Depora at the top, waiting for the ship to come closer for her escape. As the rogue tried to close the distance, Depora shot him with a poisoned bolt, and this time he fell to the sleep poison. (I let him roll a balance check to determine if he fell off the gate or not. He didn’t, and I was slightly tempted to have Depora kick him off). Depora makes her leap and lands on the ship.
In the mean time, the fighter made an attempt to swim to the ship heading out of the harbor. He got really lucky and did not have any marine animals attack him (I made it random as I wanted to give him a chance). At this point, Depora and he only had a few HP each. I also ruled that the ship was still preparing and not at full sail, so I let him reach the ship by swimming. The fighter struggled onto the ship to find Depora killing a few of the crew. He grabs a short sword from a fallen sailor, and puts an end to the drow menace.
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I’ve got a few scenes that I could share, but I thought my players enjoyed this one quite a bit.
Our little group of adventurers had a rough time in the smuggler’s tunnels and were forced to go back to the surface to heal. They didn’t know it but they turned around just before reaching Depora’s lair. (Part of me wanted to have her attack, but I didn’t want a TPK). The drow followed, and was pleased to find that the PCs left the GG entirely, and it was after midnight.
The heroes returned before daybreak, planning to sleep until dawn and then take on the rest of the tunnels. However, Depora ambushed them with her dretches in the main gambling hall. The drow couldn’t get anyone to succumb to her sleep poison, and the dretches did not hold up very long against the group’s fighter, and paladin. In desperation she cast darkness and fled before the group could close.
The heroes moved forward cautiously until they heard noise from the kitchen, and realized the drow was fleeing fast. They came to the kitchen and found two doors open; one that eventually led back to the tunnels and one that led outside. The paladin and the ranger headed toward the smugglers tunnels. The fighter and the rogue headed outside where morning was just beginning to start. In the dim light, the rogue thought he spotted someone dart into an alley. They ran full speed to eventually spot Depora heading toward the Runegate. Seeing her run up the structure, the fighter realized that he did not have a chance to catch her. However, he spotted a single ship in the harbor, slowly preparing to leave and making its way under the gate. He stripped out of his armor, and dove into the bay in hopes of making it to the ship (guessing what Depora was up to). The rogue climbed as quickly as he could, and found Depora at the top, waiting for the ship to come closer for her escape. As the rogue tried to close the distance, Depora shot him with a poisoned bolt, and this time he fell to the sleep poison. (I let him roll a balance check to...
Nice heroic one for the fighter=) thanks for sharing and i'd love to here about the others
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from the top of the Cyphergate to the water so 300ft i recall
I'm split, on one hand good story telling should trump rule mechanics, but part of the suspension of disbelief that allows us to believe that orcs and goblins are alive, and magic works, is that the non-fantastical elements of the world are consistent with our own, like gravity.
In which case Axeman would need either to have made a DC 40 Acrobatics or Swim check to have "dived" from the 300ft apex of the Cyphergate, or he would have been subject to 1d3+27d6 damage for plunging from that height.
Your game, so your call, and clearly would be unfair to your player to retcon now "Oh by the way, 2 days later you died from massive internal bleeding" :)
The part about having the ship turn cracks me up. It reminds me of similar abilities to feather fall in World of Warcraft, where you leap and float, but what ever your momentum was when you started carries you through to where you land, even if the 'land (or boat)' is no longer there when you get there.
Fun thing that happened in my game... SPOILERS !
During the Unfriendly Warning phase of the module, when Clegg Zincher pays a visit to the Gold Goblin, two of the players go out to talk to him. Zincher says, "You would be much better off working for someone else...someone like me." And to my suprise, the players take him up on his offer!
The next day, they meet one of Zincher's lietenants and sign on with Zincher's organization. Many times they are warned that Zincher values loyalty and all kinds of not-so subtle threats are thrown their way should they betray him. The players are instructed to continue to work at the Gold Goblin as Zincher's spies and to report everthing back to him. They are told that there's already a spy at the Gold Goblin and that when they return, Saul is going to ask them to escort some exotic liquors back to the Gold Goblin from the docks. ( Attack on the Foamrunner ) Zincher's man tells then that they are escort some Gold Goblin kitchen staff to the docks. When Old Korvosa shows up, he will kill the kitchen staff to send a message to Saul, and the players are supposed to "take a fall," allowing Zincher to steal the liquor. Zincher makes it very clear that he wants none of his men hurt.
The whole plan goes to hell, though. Two of the players go along and "play dead" when Old Korvosa smacks them on the head with his shield. But the other two refuse to fall. The rogue, because she starts to feel some loyalty to Saul. She sticks Old Korvosa a few times, then just decides to flee the scene rather than play dead. The barbarian on the other hand goes totally freaking beserk. He kills a few of Zincher's men, then he kills one of Saul's cooks ( he never liked him anyway). The Foamrunner starts to pull the gang plank up, because there is fighting on the docks, and the barbarian leaps aboard and kills the Captain Fizgabon. Then he almost kills Old Korvosa, who runs away swearing curses.
Out of character, the players who have been "playing dead" are going nuts, shouting at the Barbarian player and lamenting that now everybody's screwed, cause Zincher's going to have them killed. Hehe
The Gendarmes show up, but they've already been bribed by Zincher, so they find no wrong doing and escort the liquor back to the Gold Goblin with the players.
So, the next game, when we get to The Raid section, it is Zincher's men storming the Gold Goblin to kill the players and Saul. Oh, and to get the liquor too.
Oh... and one final note. In my game, Lixy is a spy for Zincher. So, she tells Saul that the players are working for Zincher. Infuriated, he sends them to the Boneyard Ambush. Which is where we are now!
I love it when games go in directions I would have never thought of!
my gods, what is wrong with your barbarian?! that insane killing spree that you discribed is, well... insane. I had to laugh when I read it.
Well, I have to confess, there was a part I left out. Yes, the character was in a berserker rage, but the player was also suffering from a bit too many beers. His wife, who plays the rogue, had a stern talk with him, I think, because during the game session that followed he had much less to drink! And their was also much less slaughter. lol
But while his fellow players were very upset about the whole thing, I thought it fit in perfectly with the whole barbarian thing! hehe
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Sorry this post is a practical joke as it were, one of the players in my gaming group has seen my name as a poster in this thread, but doesn't want to open it for fear of spoilers. So this is me just baiting him more.
Our silliest story to date was when our warrior climbed in the second story window of lymas smeed, only to get bull rushed right back out. He was climbing in alone after acting rather irrationally under the delusion that Smeed was hiding something because he refused to open the front door to a fully armed, yelling, warrior.
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Great stories and yeah i let the acrobatics/swim thing go cause it was awesome and yeah i remember the levitating thing but it's not always so bad one i was using the jumpatron in nagrand to levitate me then i got on my epic flyer flew along a bit then jumped of my mount so I'm hurtling through the sky with levitate on then it runs out and i land in the only pool of water in miles! lucky me! (warlock)
thanks for posting everyone
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Great stories and yeah i let the acrobatics/swim thing go cause it was awesome and yeah i remember the levitating thing but it's not always so bad one i was using the jumpatron in nagrand to levitate me then i got on my epic flyer flew along a bit then jumped of my mount so I'm hurtling through the sky with levitate on then it runs out and i land in the only pool of water in miles! lucky me! (warlock)
thanks for posting everyone
Here is our artist rendition of the Smeed incident.
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"Oh by the way, 2 days later you died from massive internal bleeding" :)
Back in my day we called that effect 'quivering palm'.
SPOILERS!
Well, Saturday my players finished the Shadow in Sky and loved it. I know this thread is supposed to be specifically about fun things that happened in my campaign, and although nothing happened here that was probably out of the ordinary, I think it still falls into the fun category. And plus I'd like to thank the writers of this module for a very cinematic and fun ending. That's what my players kept raving about over and over. They loved how cinematic it was.
Saturday, my players fought Depora and she fled up the Cyphergate for a climatic battle at it's summit. Although two of my players were put to sleep by her Drow poison, the others were able to stop her just moments before she leapt to the ship passing below. Then, while they were searching her personal affects, they witnessed the falling star, the tremors and the following tsunami. Their jaws dropped. Their initial fear was that they would be seen atop the Cyphergate and be blamed for the whole thing somehow.
Anyway, we got a little ways into the Children of the Void, and next game session begins with them leaving Riddleport for Devil's Elbow.
Thanks again to the module designers. A really, really good job with this one.
P.S. I can't wait until the Witchlight Tower encounter on Devil's Elbow. I think they'll be equally pleased!
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SPOILERS
My group is into Armegeddon Echo.
They made it to the Elven Village and were sent to the ruins of the conservatory to see if the Drow were using it.
One character did not show and did not send him character sheet.
The group decided to leave him in the village and check out the ruins.
As they entered the building the rogue was looking through things and was attacked by Assassin Vines. As the barbarian tried to help the Gray Render arrived on the scene and the barbarian attended to it.
The Monk found the yellow mold and was having spore problems.
The Monk and the wizard helped the barbarian with the Render.
In the mean time the rogue rolled lousy and could not escape the assassin vines and died. The party killed the vines and extracted the body with the Monk carrying it around. They encounted the Will O' Wisp and when the Barbarian hit it for half its points in went invisible. Up to this point things were fairly undercontrol but they group was a bit chaotic in their exploration and did not stick together much.
After the WOW turned invisible the cleric threw darkness and the barbarian swung wildly. The Monk took the rogues body and laid it outside the structure. The cleric backed out of the darkness and did not know what to do while the barbarian continued to swing wildly. The monk tried to pull the barbarian out of the encounter. The cleric was attacked by the WOW - he dispelled the darkness and blew his horn of fog (given to the group by the cypher mages). The horn attracted the ghost which the cleric attempted to turn but failed and he began to take damage from the ghost while the monk and the barbarian failed their saves and were panicked.
the whole time the wizard decided to wait outside with the body.
The monk and barbarian eventually fell to the WOW and the ghost. The cleric died and the wizard decided to flee back to the village when the sounds of battle faded but did not make it.
The new group will all be elves from the surrounding forest...
I think it's safe to say there are some spoilers.
So the party has gone out to Devil's Elbow and they've made their way with the rescued cyphermages to Zincher's camp. The possibly psychotic elf, who has a serious want to kill Zincher, sees him leaving the camp in the middle of the night. He grabs the ranger, who tracks him to the secret cliff path and the secret door. Once they get close enough, they see Zincher standing on the ledge, the secret door open and a female drow casting a spell on him.
They blow their stealth checks. Both of them. They're about 45-50 feet away from Zincher and the drow cleric. And 5 3rd level drow fighters. And there is just the two of them.
And that's when we had to stop for the night because it was getting too late.
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SPOILERS!
Well, Saturday my players finished the Shadow in Sky and loved it. I know this thread is supposed to be specifically about fun things that happened in my campaign, and although nothing happened here that was probably out of the ordinary, I think it still falls into the fun category. And plus I'd like to thank the writers of this module for a very cinematic and fun ending. That's what my players kept raving about over and over. They loved how cinematic it was.
Saturday, my players fought Depora and she fled up the Cyphergate for a climatic battle at it's summit. Although two of my players were put to sleep by her Drow poison, the others were able to stop her just moments before she leapt to the ship passing below. Then, while they were searching her personal affects, they witnessed the falling star, the tremors and the following tsunami. Their jaws dropped. Their initial fear was that they would be seen atop the Cyphergate and be blamed for the whole thing somehow.
Anyway, we got a little ways into the Children of the Void, and next game session begins with them leaving Riddleport for Devil's Elbow.
Thanks again to the module designers. A really, really good job with this one.
P.S. I can't wait until the Witchlight Tower encounter on Devil's Elbow. I think they'll be equally pleased!
I hope your player's will enjoy the encounter my player's we're babbling about Gravity and how it wouldn't work at the time=(
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OK my player's enjoyed this bit THE ARMEGADON ECHO ALCHEMY LAB
So they do there usual sneak up, And end up all climbing onto the roof and rolling amazing stealth tests, So They lower down Axeman and Issac, Who are dangling in the smoke (Rolling fortitude saves, and passing=()
In my adventure 2 of the Troglodyte's with her are Shaman's and they and her are moving around the alchemy lab doing various jobs While the other four laze around the door, So The axeman and Issac wait for her to be facing away from the two shaman's and then they both swing out of the fire grab the shaman's and swing in again droping them into the fire after silencing them. Then The drow alchemist passes her perception test calls to the trog's whilst casting miror image on herself (3) The trog's surround the fire Axeman and Issac charge out and start killing trog's,
Haldvin leaps from the roof into the Fire and start burning (natural 1)
Tempest leaps down lands infront of the drow alchemist and cast's mirror image (3)
So three Female elf wizard's face to face with Three Female drow bards.
And then they started fighting drow with knife Elf with Longsword Twas fun.
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As a player in this game, there have been a few memorable occurrences so far.
Last night, while obtaining the "Exotic Booze" from Saul's incoming ship, one such event took place. Old Korvosa and his cronies were in the process of loading up our casks, and refused to stand down. We even saw the Korvosan Guard armored gent slip a pouch to the captain before disembarking.
Being the cunning rogue I am, I interposed myself between the Captain and his exit, neatly pinching selfsame pouch on his way off stage. Rolling well on the Sleight of Hand, none of those present (including the party monk, who also rolled quite well) were able to spot my ledgermain.
A fight quickly broke out amongst the PCs and the thieving thugs, culminating in them all unconscious but alive. After stripping and looting them, we interrogated Old Korvosa regarding his employer and goals. Getting nothing, I felt it only charitable to keep his magic shield and cloak, selling his armor and weapon to the nearest pawn shop. I did, however, make sure to leave him a note telling him where his distinctive gear was sold, as well as the market price.
I hope to see him again, when I can afford to watch him go swimming in that banded mail. Preferably in an area frequented by devilfish and bunyips.
-t
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Spoilers Below for Chapter 4.
We are starting chapter 5 "A memory of Darkness".
A very cool and cinematic scene occurred during our groups stay in House Vonnarc. I felt (as a player) that we had been very good at being lowly slaves. our DM did a fantastic job of bringing out our abilities to give notice to the leaders of the house.
Since I am playing a monk, I was flogged several times for my inability to cook during the skill challenges part of our slavery. Just about any other skill option would have garnered me a +5 on any roll, but for cooking, I had nothing that could give me any synergy on a skill roll. So I failed time and time again, thus, getting flogged for ruining the food for dinner.
Since I didnt cry out or show that the flogging hurt me, I came to the attention of the second son for being a "tough guy" and so, he had to teach me a lesson.
So, I was brought to the house's sparring arena and challenged by the second son to a non-lethal style duel. I was frustrated with constantly rolling the kitchen for my skill check for the day. I was getting no points to move me to the next level of servitutde while the rest of my group was achieving their 25 ranks quickly.
So, I fought the guy instead of taking it like a man (like I should have). But, being the hot head type that was only down in the drow city for fame and recognition, I immediately shot off a Bull rush with my Ring the golden bell feat, which knocked the guy back 5ft. and prone. (I didnt even touch the guy). He had said, mockingly at me, right before I won initiative, "Come on slave... knock me down".
So, the fight was on, and the gathered onlookers were silent after that initial display of furious power.
The second son got up and attacked. I played with him for two rounds, testing out his defenses with my flurry of blows and seeing how hard he hit in return. The guy was a quick striker, and his damage was minimal, so I went with the improved disarm, and my CMB was up to the task. I wanted to see if he was a monk or a fighter, because his weapon was exotic, and I had to know what I was up against.
The second son did not oblige me and picked up his weapon for another strike against me. I disarmed again, which made him go to pick it up again. So I went into grapple mode and had him pinned in two rounds, applying damage with automatic hits for two rounds before he levitated to the ceiling, which was 50ft. up.
Since I had the slippers of spider climb from Devils elbow, I placed my feet on the ceiling thinking he had a trick up his sleve, which he did, and he broke my pin and then the grapple and fell to the ground. Of course, he stopped himself from being hurt by activating feather fall or levitate again.
When I wasnt on the ground from the fall, he looked up, but it was to late, I already released myself from the ceiling, taking the full 50ft. falling damage so I could apply 1/2 that to the stike with my staff on the guy. Well, it worked out very good as I took 20 points from the fall, but he took 30pts from my staff hit plus 1/2 my falling damage. (yes, I had a crit).
We both backed away from eachother. I was down 48 out of 87hp, and I had done almost 60pts against him, so it was looking good for me.
Plus, I had looked more the master, which made the drow noble think, "what the hell?"
I was then attacked with lethal damage by the second son with a wicked slash across my chest. My character simply smiled and had in his mind, "oh.. now you pay..." But the fight was interrupted by the matron of slaves and I was hauled off and flogged again for standing up to the 2nd son.
I became best friends with the matrons whip. This was a real fun part of the adventure for me.
CC
My group and I just finished Armageddon Echo. The party seems to be a little overpowered, even though there's only 3 players. Here's the party composition:
Desmyra, the dwarf druid hated by nature, with a lion animal companion named Faern;
Melissandra, the Chelaxian sorceress who intends to establish herself as the newest crimelord in Riddleport;
Kisa, the half-elf barbarian/fighter/favored soul of Gorum with pink hair and an enormous greatsword;
They are joined by Valeria, Melisandra's monk/fighter/rogue cohort, once Armageddon Echo begins.
And now their adventures:
In the very first session, when Kisa failed her save versus the thieves and was blinded she began swinging wildly at anyone within reach. She fortunately managed to miss Desmyra, who was standing next to her, but she did manage to take out one of the Gold Goblin's bouncers.
Once they are hired by Saul Vancaskerkin, Desmyra was assigned to walk the catwalks with Faern because she has a charisma of 6 but a good perception. A fight started in the Gold Goblin, and Des wanted to join in....so she decided to have not only herself but also Faern jump down from the catwalks, going through the cloth that served as the ceiling. The joke became that "it's raining cats and dwarves"--especially when Des and Faern came through the ceiling again a few sessions later.
At one point they decided to visit the temple of Calistria. Melissandra was already a frequent visitor to the temple, so she went off on her own, leaving Kisa and Des alone in the foyer. One of the girls (also a half-elf) came up to Kisa, who proceeded to comment on how they were alike...and ask "Where'd you put your +2?" Conversation continued, and eventually the discussion turned to spelunking....
In Children of the Void, the party was pretty much stomping everything in their path until they got to the last adventure (except when Des the druid was nearly murdered by an assassin vine). They managed to entirely bypass the trap on the door that was set off by alignment because Melissandra summoned a devil to open it for them. They smashed their way into the final room, and were doing pretty well against the foes there.
Up to this point, the orca whale in the water had not really ben a factor, as no one was in or above the water for it to get. But then Des failed her save against Shindiira's suggestion and decided that a swim sounded like a great idea. The orca whale took a couple of bites out of her, and she was on her last legs when she realized that in her possession was a Quaal's Feather Token Anchor. Thinking quickly, Des pulled it out, shoved it into the orca's mouth, and activated it. The orca whale sunk to the bottom of the pool--out of the way long enough for the suggestion to wear off and Des to get out of the water.
On their way back, I ran the set piece adventure with the pirates. Among the random treasure they had gained at some point was a Figurine of Wondrous Power (Marble Elephant). The players spent 20 minutes discussing what would happen if the druid were to fly over the pirate ship and activate the figurine, sending the elephant crashing through the ship. We determined that the weight of the elephant would do 20d6 falling damage to each deck of the ship, sinking it very effectively. In the end, they decided to just capture the ship, but the discussion was hilarious.
But I think the most insane thing they have done was in Armageddon Echo. Kisa used her dark way spell to build a bridge to the top of the library when they attacked it. They steamrolled every single drow they met (to the point that I rejoiced when the pair of arcanists in the tower at the end lived long enough to get their initiative), and managed to beat the vrock in the Academy of the Arts so quickly that they successfully prevented the capture of both Kaerishiel and Shalelu. (The two accompanied them into the Armageddon Echo itself, where they were largely ineffective in comparison.) They took out Razorhorn in three rounds, and made their way up to Nolveniss at the top.
I rejoiced when he went first in the initiative, as he got the chance to fireball them with a shadow conjuration, and then turned invisible and flew to the side. Unfortunately, Valeria managed to get close enough to him to hear him, and Des wild shaped into a dire bat so she could see him with her echolocation. Kisa silenced herself and moved towards him, and Melissandra began summoning d3 fiendish dire bats to help corral him. He got off a cone of cold and moved away, but unfortunately Valeria managed to get close again and hit a 35 with her perception check...and then, since he was close and she had movement left, she jumped into the air and grappled him. Since he now had a monk hanging from him, everyone else knew where he was, so Des got close to him and cast baleful polymorph. Suddenly he was a flying invisible squirrel...who knew he was a drow wizard.
I pretty much declared the fight over at that point--he couldn't do anything since he was a grappled squirrel. The fiendish dire bats tracked and killed the quasit, and the rest beat Nolveniss into submission. They rested overnight, and then the next morning decided to charm him, dispel the polymorph, question him, beat him unconscious and strip him of his gear, and then hit him with the spell again while unconscious. Kisa announced she was keeping the squirrel.
At about this point, we realized that the description of baleful polymorph said that he kept his wizard class levels. Immediately, discussion ensued of what would happen if Des awakened the squirrel. That spell description says that the creature's alignment would become that of the caster...and it really didn't seem that it would remember being Nolveniss. Kisa's player rolled a 15 INT, and now they're going to be traveling around with a 9th level squirrel illusionist....They're talking of getting him a mephit familiar so he can ride on it....
For what it's worth, we did notice that Nolveniss should retain is elf type, and thus awaken shouldn't actually affect him. But the idea of the squirrel illusionist is just way too hilarious, so I think I'm going to let them do it.
We'll be starting the 4th book at our next session in a few weeks. I'm going to use the time to beef up the encounters in it so that there's a possibility that I'll actually threaten them with them....
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Played through some bits of Children of the Void last night, and it was one of the best sessions of D&D I've been in, ever.
First, there was a LOT of discussion about selling the Goblin, finding a boat to take out to Devil's Elbow, and all around just shooting the breeze. The party Sorcerer, Cap'n, comes up with the new battle cry of the party. We're all helping out, trying to get some order back into the streets, and he's looting. Rather, he's collecting "Salvage."
So, our new battle cry has become "SALVAGE!!!"
Later on, after securing passage on the Foam Runner (I think that's the name), we spot a pirate vessel a ways away. Deciding to take out the threat to our ride home first, our plan is to perform a high-speed turn at the last second, dropping off our party on the port side of the enemy vessel.
The plan works like a charm, and the ship is pacified rapidly. Some particular events really stood out in that combat:
The Sorcerer Cap'n held off the enemy Captain, the Cleric, and another pirate in her cabin with multiple castings of Acid Hands (Earth Elemental Bloodline). They never had a chance to do more than disarm him and do some buff type effects on the crew. He even managed NOT to melt the entire treasure-part of the room.
The Monk managed to kick his way through the floor of the Top Deck cabin, all but landing on the half elf Wizard/Warrior guy. Little did we know, but this was the optimal combat for him, as the squishy elf was grappled, then pinned, then rendered unconscious without getting a single spell/scroll off.
All the while, my Rogue and the Barbarian were holding off the rest of the pirate crew, moving along the racks, flanking and stabbing with abandon. We managed to knock out (was TWF with a sap in one hand and rapier in the other for a while) and capture 8 of the mook pirates and the enemy Cleric. All without a single casualty on our end.
Later on that night, at the fight against the Akata, the Monk and Barbarian made great use of combat maneuvers, kicking about 8-10 of the critters off the tower and nearby cliffside, splattering them right and proper.
Inside the tower were the Cleric and my Rogue, fighting and trying to help the others escape, when the whole thing went over the cliff. The poor Cleric was blinded on her first turn, but I rolled like a champ on the various checks, enabling me to hold on with 1 hand, grabbing her with the other. So, blinded, bruised, and tossed around in a rolling tower, the Cleric doesn't really get a chance to do anything when an escape vector opens up on the 2nd round. We both work to toss her clear (she manages to escape without harm) and she grabs onto a nearby vine.
The Rogue, meanwhile, is having the time of his life, laughing maniacally as Akata, rocks, and the tower go spinning about him. He takes no damage until the whole thing finally goes sploosh, and is rewarded with the sight of melting space-doggies in the salt water.
We later brought all 4 Cyphermages, Sam, and the party back down the hill, and now have a rather well equipped pirate ship at our disposal.
Awesome night, awesome adventure!
-t
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Psion, I had a similar experience at that point in the adventure. Devils elbow was one of my favorite places.
A quick overview:
Playing the monk in our group, I found myself getting ready to go down in a blaze of glory by placing myself in the doorway of the tower so the blue doggies could not get by me and into the tower. Well, I didnt know they would do a doggie pyramid and get in on the 2nd level window of the tower, but I was holding them off for a bit when the tower started to give way.
The tower detatched itself, started rolling down the hill with all my companions inside, and I was standing there with about 20 of these blue mutations closing in. I turned and ran down the hill after the tower.
(Picture Indiana jones running from beloque's savages in "Raiders of the Lost arc").
When I saw the tower roll off the cliff, I knew I was doomed. 20 blue dogs, me, and a cliff drop coming up. As I ran to the edge, I saw the tower had not fallen that far, so I jumped and natural 20'd the landing.
the dogs did not have the same luck. They all tried and fell in the water (except one) which I pushed off the edge. Salt water seemed to dissolve them quickly, but the fact is, it was a very intense scene, and there was a similar 20 rolled on keeping the hand hold on an unconcious team member as the tower spun down the hill.
It was quite fun. I am glad someone else loved that scene too. :D
CC
Yeah, the rolling tower was really an amazing scene. I wound up just being pushed along an edge and kept there. But I was the druid who baleful polymorphed and then awakened the squirrel illusionist in Jennibert's recounting. Much fun...
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Ah the tower, I loved the tower.
The PCs had healed the Cypher Mages, but proceeded to usher everyone up stairs when the Ataka's attacked. So when the footing gave way and the weak mages failed their saving throws, all of them but Sam died. As the tower rolled down the hill everyone except the warrior got out. By the time it hit the water it was him and about half a dozen of the beasties left.
The rest of the party had systematically escaped, the mage with fly, and the rest out the window. Three of them getting trapped in the landslide that followed the tower, it was pretty hilarious, by the time everyone was dug out, healed, and the dogs puddles it was just cool.
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Okay, so my group is the following loadout;
Savrina Human Fighter 2/Thief 2
Alamar Human Paladin 4
Koltezreal Elf Wizard 4
And we're doing the Teeth of Araska set piece. Ol' Captain "Grudge" Kreeg has heard of the PC's due to the fact that the leaderish one "Savrina" is a devout follower of Calistria and has been doing her works quite liberally in old Riddleport. (i.e. after Clegg's attacks she started beating up their workers for fun and profit. Add in the fact that she killed Saul for vengeance and you get the idea. Calistria has gifted her with unspeakable bliss on THAT one.)
He shouts over that he can forgive Savrina for shooting down a few of his men for catcalling her, if she's willing to do a bit of work. Turns out Clegg embarrassed his ass ten times over and if she brings Clegg alive to him, he'll forgive her, and even pay her 1k gold to boot. The players get together in a huddle and it mainly comes down to, Paladin is going to object no matter what. Selling out someone to a Calistrian devout is not his idea of Lawful Good.
SO Savrina jumps to the other ship, with a fifteen foot gap between ships.
She gets over when the fight breaks out, and the priestess of Calistria orders Savrina to drop her weapons using command. Unfortunately the girl can't shake off the command and does as she's told, before the next round she's beating up sailors with daggers. The Wizard has his familiar fly over to the other ship, before a handy benign transposition puts the Paladin squarely on the other ship. The Paladin immediately goes after the man at the wheel, hoping to throw a bit of chaos on the ship as they're trying to maintain control.
Let me tell you, I have never seen more 1-5 rolled EVER, and he kept BARELY missing the guy...
Following this, the Calistrian priest hears the cracks of the guns that Koltezreal was firing and decides the wizard has to be dealt with before he kills enough sailors to change the balance. So, she commands the Wizard to approach...
And he rolls a natural 1 on the will save...
I have never felt more like a bastard, than when the Wizard decides to holster his guns, and jump bodily across from ship to ship. He fails of course, not even breaching five and takes a dive into the water, before swimming across and attempting to scramble up the ship, and promptly failing. Luckily I decided he didn't have his spell book on him as he had already prepared his spells, and it was safely tucked in his cabin. He also bought scroll cases that I reasoned were water proof. and he had a near miss with ruining the bullets in his guns.
Needless to say, that fight was nearly fatal to that wizard.
Lots of near misses, not a lot of deaths. Certainly the Wizard is getting frustrated with the amount of times the group has been surrounded, beaten and pummeled to near death in a few instances.
I have another story, but I'll wait for one to pop up before I tell you the new one...
Well I've had a ton of hilarious scenes by now... some of them so far out I barely believe them myself...
First: During the heist at the Golden Goblin my team's halfling rogue was knocked prone, after which he stood up behind Angvar, killing the Chelish Wizard by a critical hit (confirmed with a 20 as well) which my player chooses (I had no hand in this) to place specifically in the (currently bending to snatch the chest in small version) "behind" of the wizard killing him with it... UNBELIEVABLE.
I'll add a few more when they're properly rounded up.
My players are having fun in Riddleport, but they haven't killed any of the main NPC opponents. Since they didn't dispatch Lymas Smeed and only managed to get an extension on the loan, I decided Saul wouldn't promote them to junior partners.
The most amusing thing is the Human Paladin of Torag (he grew up an orphan in dwarven lands) has fallen for Lavender Lil. He was looking for potential rivals of Clegg Zincher and found her. The player knows she's using him, since he's read the Player's Guide, but is playing his lovestruck character to the hilt. "You don't know her like I do!" he yelled after the other players were saying that she might not be trustworthy.
I just had to smile.
I had some fun with Lavender as well, which has led to my entire party beign on the verge on going to Zincher's Arena mulitple times (with anything but friendly intentions) - I suppose part off the fault is mine, for leading the (by then CE) rogue to nearly get hired by Zincher (which the higly perceptive and highly fanatic) cleric noticed and saw as a severe betrayal. Of course, my players only know Lavender as "the creepy ranger's date"...
My group has beat the BBEGs with Hold Person. Both times the cleric barely overcame their SR and I've rolled a 1 and a 2 for the will saves. And with the barbarian raging, and doing the coup de grace...
Don't feel bad, I just has ran the encounter with Razorhorn in Armaggedon Echo and it was a massacre. After ending up last on the initiatives, Razorhorn could do little to stop the Cleric from beginning to summon an undead shadow. First round the wizard cast Enervation, costing razorhorn 4 negative levels, before fleeing out of the room (and using the fighters as door blocks). Razorhorn used his chlorine (8d6 acid damage) breath and I didn't roll above 3 on any of the dice. They barely even noticed the damage, the cleric passed his concentration check, and it was going to be another 4 rounds before breath recharge.
Next round the wizard used 'Ray of Exhaustion' and thanks to the lost levels, Razorhorn failed his fort save. The arrival of the undead shadow drained what was left of Razorhorn's strength. Crippled and weakened, I barely hit anyone at all with the full attacks, and got pounded by a mixture of 'Channel negative energy' from the cleric and 'fireball' from the sorcerer. ANOTHER failed fort save vs. Ray of Emfeeblement meant I was pretty much finished. Razorhorn is now about to be used as an undead minion for the PC's.It should be noted that Razorhorn had an AC of 30 during this encounter and it barely help him at all.
That's evil PC's for you.
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The party consists of an elf barbarian, a half-orc cleric of Gorum, a gnome sorcerer, and a half-elf bard. The bard, barbarian, and sorcerer are CN and the cleric is LN (I think). The sorcerer is the closest to evil we have in the party. He's testing the waters (just two more acts and I'll let him know his alignment has changed). The cleric is the closest to good we have and the barbarian and the bard kind of bounce around their alignment, depending on the situation. It's gonna be one or two...My group has beat the BBEGs with Hold Person. Both times the cleric barely overcame their SR and I've rolled a 1 and a 2 for the will saves. And with the barbarian raging, and doing the coup de grace...Don't feel bad, I just has ran the encounter with Razorhorn in Armaggedon Echo and it was a massacre. After ending up last on the initiatives, Razorhorn could do little to stop the Cleric from beginning to summon an undead shadow. First round the wizard cast Enervation, costing razorhorn 4 negative levels, before fleeing out of the room (and using the fighters as door blocks). Razorhorn used his chlorine (8d6 acid damage) breath and I didn't roll above 3 on any of the dice. They barely even noticed the damage, the cleric passed his concentration check, and it was going to be another 4 rounds before breath recharge.
Next round the wizard used 'Ray of Exhaustion' and thanks to the lost levels, Razorhorn failed his fort save. The arrival of the undead shadow drained what was left of Razorhorn's strength. Crippled and weakened, I barely hit anyone at all with the full attacks, and got pounded by a mixture of 'Channel negative energy' from the cleric and 'fireball' from the sorcerer. ANOTHER failed fort save vs. Ray of Emfeeblement meant I was pretty much finished. Razorhorn is now about to be used as an undead minion for the PC's.
It should be noted that Razorhorn had an AC of 30 during this encounter and it barely help him at all.
That's evil PC's for you.
They'll have to move on, as the deeds and IOU's in that chest are replicas, not the original documents. They literally have nothing other than his journal, which Akron would want to take back to Korvosa with him, or the players can sell to the crime lords. So really, they own nothing of Zincher's, and more likely, Cromarky is going to commandeer all of Zincher's stuff as soon as he gets wind that Zincher is toast.
In the room of the Academy of the Arts where the PCs encounter Ixilano Ip, disguised as an elven maiden, the party completely circumvented all of his abilities by wandering into the room with a Circle of Protection from Evil cast on the cleric herself, and by having the Sorceror's Unseen Servant pour the Paladin of Cayden Cailean's sacrosanct ale over her head before attempting to save her.
The only reason he lasted more than one round was thanks to the strategies presented in the conversion guide... and he still got made short work of!
And this was the encounter I thought would kill the entire party...
Just showing off how lucky my players are.
Why didn't you have Depora kick him off? I definitely would have, 'cause to my way of thinking, that's what a Drow would do, or am I missing something?
...I’ve got a few scenes that I could share, but I thought my players enjoyed this one quite a bit.
Our little group of adventurers had a rough time in the smuggler’s tunnels and were forced to go back to the surface to heal. They didn’t know it but they turned around just before reaching Depora’s lair. (Part of me wanted to have her attack, but I didn’t want a TPK). The drow followed, and was pleased to find that the PCs left the GG entirely, and it was after midnight.
The heroes returned before daybreak, planning to sleep until dawn and then take on the rest of the tunnels. However, Depora ambushed them with her dretches in the main gambling hall. The drow couldn’t get anyone to succumb to her sleep poison, and the dretches did not hold up very long against the group’s fighter, and paladin. In desperation she cast darkness and fled before the group could close.
The heroes moved forward cautiously until they heard noise from the kitchen, and realized the drow was fleeing fast. They came to the kitchen and found two doors open; one that eventually led back to the tunnels and one that led outside. The paladin and the ranger headed toward the smugglers tunnels. The fighter and the rogue headed outside where morning was just beginning to start. In the dim light, the rogue thought he spotted someone dart into an alley. They ran full speed to eventually spot Depora heading toward the Runegate. Seeing her run up the structure, the fighter realized that he did not have a chance to catch her. However, he spotted a single ship in the harbor, slowly preparing to leave and making its way under the gate. He stripped out of his armor, and dove into the bay in hopes of making it to the ship (guessing what Depora was up to). The rogue climbed as quickly as he could, and found Depora at the top, waiting for the ship to come closer for
Wow, I lost track of this thread, and now I'm replying a year later.
If I recall, it was a matter of distance and timing. Depora was watching the ship come in. She just needed it to come a bit closer before she could jump. I think I was giving her a round or two before it was close enough. She dropped the rogue just as he came within range of her crossbow, and decided not to chance running to him and then back. It would have been a nice touch to have her kick the rogue off the cyphergate, and now that I think about it, a ship can't be moving that fast as its getting out of a harbor. Oh, well, I'll chalk it up to the fact she was already thinking about killing a lot of crew members below her.
We just finished another session and ended before entering the Armegedon Echo.
The PCs are mostly combat types so most of the fights have been quick. However, the battle against Shindiira was pretty nice.
The group had made enough noise that the remaining drow prepared themselves in the water cave with Shindiira. (I substituted a shark for the orca since I didn't have the whale's stats handy.) The PCs enter the dark cave and are immediately pelted by poisoned bolts. The viking fighter runs to the wooden platform, taking hits as he goes while the rest of the group trades missiles with the drow. The paladin falls to Shindiira's suggestion and starts going for a swim. Just before she attracts the shark's attention, the fighter drops his first drow and kicks the corpse into the water. Luckily, the corpse and the paladin were on opposite side of the pool. However, one of the other PCs have to help the paladin from sinking like a rock. Shindiira sees an opportunity, feather falls to the water, walks (on water) to the paladin and the rogue who is trying to get her out of the water. She begins wailing on the two of them while positioning herself so the ranger can not get a good bow shot at her. Unfortunately for the drow leader, the fighter waded through her guards, and she soon faced all four of them.
Otherwise the next best battle was against the ghost in the set piece. For some reason, the PCs thought the ghost would charge them, so they set up in a formation to take advantage of full attacks. Instead she cast Hold Person; the fighter goes down. They hold formation. She gives her fearful moan, ranger falls for that. The paladin and rogue realize they need to move. They took her down, but this was the closest they've come to a total loss.
I know this thread's a bit old, but I've been holding this in...
So one of my players, the Oracle, was really curious about why Saul had an actual IMP in his service and asked him about it. After discussing how it came about and meeting with Scratch-The-Imp himself, Saul convinced Scratch to start giving the Oracle lessons on diplomacy and manipulation.
Now, my players had had the idea of putting on a big show or play to help draw in customers to the GG and the Oracle saw potential in all of Scratch's various spell like abilities. So he asked the Imp to help out. Scratch proceeded to say he'd do it for a promised favor, written in contract form. Not for the Oracle's soul, no no no. Just a favor. A little thing. To be decided later, y'know? Nothing biiig.
To my shock, the Oracle agreed. And entered into the contract.
One thing led to another, Scratch betrayed Saul to help out the party and out of fondness for him, the Oracle bought his contract from Saul (who my party didn't end up killing! I played him rather more sympathetic than written, more of a desperate foolish scared man than an outright conniving one.).
This new contract is a bit different. I made it using the Pact Insidious from the 3.5 Fiendish Codex II as a base. Basically, Scratch has agreed to work for the party, but on the condition that the oracle owes him a major favor, provided it doesn't involve direct self-harm.
But the contract ALSO offers additional benefits if the Oracle does various acts of evil, such as agreeing to Coup De Grace any downed enemies they don't need for questioning, manipulating the legal system to his benefit, torture, casting evil spells, etc. In exchange, he can potentially get extra skill points, spell slots, or even feats, spells and Ability points if he does something QUITE HEINOUS.
Or money of course, but that's par for course.
And not only is Scratch subtly poking the Oracle into taking more of the contract's terms (he's working to convince him that "Infernal Healing" is evil in name only and really it's quite arbitrary don't you think).
He's also been nudging the Oracle's twin sister closer to being evil as well (Said sister is a orphaned teenage girl with a desperate desire for acceptance and approval, which Scratch offers, and a bit of a poor moral compass. She was heading towards evil even BEFORE Scratch started egging her on!). He's actually determined to see if he can't convince her to become an Asmodeus follower (using examples like the Devil Nuns who run orphanages to try and convince her that diabolic evil is just a matter of being willing to do what's needed...)
He's also been playing the part of a sympathetic ear to the party's wizard, who has a lot of insecurities and is in conflict with her dad (the Team's Fighter) a lot.
Said Fighter is the only one who seems to understand just the level of trouble Scratch is. He's planning on killing him if he can't convince the Oracle to release Scratch.
The Oracle has no intention of this. And many a plan for how to keep his new pet shoulder-devil alive and well. In fact, he's planning to take the Imp as a cohort once he takes Leadership.
In addition to all this, I've thought loooooong and hard about what to do with the favor. And I think I have the perfect thing.
(The oracle really should have asked what the glowing seal on the contract meant).
I haven't had this much fun in ages. Scratch is possibly my favorite NPC to date, and a neat way for me to give advice or a nudge if they need it. Gotta love how PCs will sometimes focus on a minor character and turn them into a major one, I never expected something like this to come of the angry imp stuck performing in a cage!
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I just finished Shadow in the Sky with my group. The biggest laugh for me was that, during the scenario, anytime the characters fought against an animal of some sort, rather than killing it, they captured it. Why? To put into the arena downstairs, of course, to improve the fights in the Gold Goblin. Every time they did this, I had a laugh to myself, and reminded them I had to talk about why I was laughing later on.
And then Saul betrayed the group, and ran downstairs, into the Octahedron. The group followed...and found they had to fight their way through Pigsaw, and every other animal they had ever captured. Realisation dawned, and we all had a good laugh.
Again, thread necromancy!
So I'm running Second Darkness for my husband and two friends.
The party is:
Trusk - Half-Orc Barbarian female (CG) <--BDF.
Haru - Elven Lore Keeper Oracle of Time (NG) <--The party face. Only character with diplomacy.
"Mad Dog" - Dwarven Ranger (N) <--He has a very racist, mostly negative outlook on life. A "What can the do for me?" character. Not friendly.
So I've had quite a bit of fun toying with the PCs. They often act first and ask questions later, so I simply let them do it. They've been careful not to draw too much blood, often stabilizing NPCs and later handing them off to the Gendarmes.
Well, Larur went missing and they were sent to investigate Smeed.
Haru and MadDog decided to visit Lar's house before heading over. Trusk wasn't a fan and just went straight ahead. MadDog almost killed the squatter, but Haru convinced him to leave for 2 gold.
Meanwhile, Trusk is trying to get in to see Smeed. He won't let her in, as she's one of Saul's thugs. She left a fist-sized dent in the door from "knocking very hard". She decided it wasn't getting her anywhere, and I pointed out that she can reach the back of the building. She went around back, found the cloak and just stuffed it in her backpack.
Haru and MadDog arrived at Smeed's and tried to convince him to let them in. He refused, so Trusk took out her battle ax and began to chop down the door.
Saul was in the back room with Otsk when the PCs break in. He's not looking for a fight, so he's just hiding by the wall. MadDog can't stand dwarf on dwarf violence (Pathfinder-ized stats, etc. so Smeed is a Dwarf), so he charged in shouting about honor and blood and started beating on Smeed. He did not even bother to ask about Lar. He ran right between Otsk and Smeed, so they were flanking him. He dropped unconscious, but Trusk managed to kill Otsk, and knock Smeed unconscious.
Haru and MadDog drag Smeed to the Gold Goblin and then decide to wake him up and question him. (Trusk decided to go eat instead.) Upon realizing Smeed didn't kill Lar, they were upset. Smeed then begins to cry because his pet Otsk was killed, and he "raised him from a wee babby gorilla!" and "Where is the necklace from me mum?" MadDog is incredibly distraught because he barged in on this fellow Dwarf, accused him of terrible acts, and killed his pet.
MadDog cuts Smeed's bonds and Smeed flees. MadDog then goes and prays at St. Castillions, and then sets about righting his wrongs. He even manages to buy a baby gorilla. The party sheepishly give back the weapons and jewelry (but not the gold, they forgot about that.)
So MadDog has gone from a "idgaf" personality to almost a devoted follower of Sarenrae.
I was laughing my butt off playing up Smeed and throwing a fit. My husband, not so much as his bad-a** dwarf is having a moral crisis.
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My son (who is 10) now has a reputation for angering ghosts...while playing Children of the Void, he apparently listened well to the background tales told by the captain of the Cloudchaser. When they met Virashii's ghost, he recognised her from the story, and immediately said 'Your boyfriend's dead!' No negotiation possible here, the group are attacked by Virashii, and destroy her. (well, you know, discorporate her temporarily)
Later on, the group has finished the main plot, and is searching the rest of the island when they happen upon Yaris's ghost...immediately, my son says "Hah, we killed your girlfriend!"...so, once again, no negotation. And, of course, Yaris attacks this person taunting him, and hits...at which point, we discover nobody bothered to heal after their last encounter, and so the single hit from Yaris is enough to kill this poor taunter outright, also ensuring he will rise as a wraith afterwards.
Needless to say, he has now learnt his lesson (both about taunting critters, AND healing between combats...), but any time any sort of spirit or ghost appears in any game we play, my son is immediately told not to speak.