|
I guess Legacy of Fire is pretty tough and the players have to be kinda savvy.
I have only just started Howl of the Carrion King and have had 4 PC deaths.
(Granted 1 player has lost 3 characters)
Death 1: 1st level human cleric of Desna overrun by pugwampis and baboons in the abandoned monastery. The other players held back and a baboon bit his face off.
Death 2: Same player now a 2nd level human barbarian, CDG'ed by choker in Ruined Shrine to Nethys after the choker called the PCs bluff during a standoff when one of the players advanced to try and heal the downed barbarian.
Death 3: Haider crit'ted with En-nebi and cut a human oracle (2nd level) in half. The oracle has succumbed to the fumes of the place and was confused for 3 straight rounds. This was almost a TPK, but the moldspeaker rogue/barbarian used hero points to somehow mysteriously run away. The other PC, a human gunslinger ran when he saw that the group was going to loose and managed to hide in the hills after the wereleopard gave chase.
Death 4: Human 2nd level human cleric of Sarenrae. Heart ripped out by Peryton at the ruined mill on the outskirts of Kelmarane. The group did get separated as half failed their saves when the harpy decided to sing/call them over. The cleric fell behind and the two ranged combatants (gunslinger and dawnflower bard archetype w/shortbow) failed to take it down in time.
|
|
Name : Yassmine
Race : Female Human, Badawi
Class : Barbarian 3 / Ranger 1 (gnoll killer)
Adventure : House of the Beast / Coils of flames
Yassmine was once a slave to Amwyr Yuseifah, she was bought for only 100 gp. She was the cheapest of the slaves because she was not so pretty, but moreover because she was very violent towards the eunuch guards. The good natured PCs wanted to save as much slaves as possible so they buyed the cheapest slaves to free them. Other slaves took mundane jobs in the recovering town of Kelmarane, but Yassmine wanted to kill gnolls. She was enslaved by gnolls, her family was killed or enslaved by gnolls also. So she began to help the heroes of Kelmarane and volonteered to come to the House of the Beast.
She was destined to become a Cohort for one of the characters.
After they allied with Grundmoch and killed Ghartok the Carrion King, they discovered that Zayifid was looking for something under the House of the Beast. By then, the PCs knew Zayifid was Evil, and wanted to find whatever he was searching, before him. They tried to access under the house of the Beast by going to an unexplored tunnel in H11, and so they went to the lair of the salamanders.
As they were now level 6, I decided this module was a bit too easy for them. So I Added 2 regular salamanders with Thratnias, and discarded Lesaar's dreams of ruling the tribe.
So in the end, the party face Thratnias, Lesaar's and 2 Salamanders.
One Salamander was able to knock Yassmine unconcious and drag her into the lava pool.
|
After a little over a year, Legacy of Fire was recently wrapped up by our group, having only suffered a single TPK throughout the entire adventure path! Not too bad, all things considered…
Howl of the Carrion King Deaths:
- Ravi, Human Male Ranger (spirit Ranger)
- Lou, Human Male Alchemist
- Darrius, Human Male Inquisitor (Moldspeaker v.1)
- Ashwa, Catfolk Female Oracle
Cause of Death: TPK during BBEG. Boss managed to drop the party’s ranger, alchemist and inquisitor with a combination of lucky dice rolls and serendipity. With most of the party down, Ashwa managed to resuscitate an unconscious Lou, who promptly dropped his last alchemist bomb on himself while standing next to the boss, purposely failing his own saving throw and having his necklace of fireballs detonate all remaining globes (which is to say the full allotment of them) in one shot. BBEG’s resistance to fire was insufficient to resist the damage, resulting in a simultaneous win and TPK.
House of the Beast Deaths
-Rashid, Ifrit Male Ninja
Cause of Death: Died on a trap in the house of the beast. Way to go, rogue-type
-Matthew, Human Male Paladin (Moldspeaker v.2)
Cause of Death: The Carrion King rolled up a crit with his greataxe. RIP Matthew
Surviving party through to the end of book 6:
-Abbas, Human Male Druid (wild child) & loyal companion Runt the Hyena
-Osmondo, Human Male Bard/Cavalier/Battle Herald (Moldspeaker v.3)
-Suuna, Gnome Female Sorcerer (reincarnated as a kobold, before being re-reincarnated as a gnome during book 5: The Impossible Eye)
-Kolar the Indomitable, Human Male Samurai (reincarnated as a dwarf during book 3: The Jackel’s Price)
With most of the party down, Ashwa managed to resuscitate an unconscious Lou, who promptly dropped his last alchemist bomb on himself while standing next to the boss, purposely failing his own saving throw and having his necklace of fireballs detonate all remaining globes (which is to say the full allotment of them) in one shot. BBEG’s resistance to fire was insufficient to resist the damage, resulting in a simultaneous win and TPK.
That sounded awesome.
A very heroic TPK
Read about Mustafa's fall and that was a very well written tribute.
Name: Kzrira Maiwith, Wielder of the Tempest Bow
Race: Human
Class: Fighter 5/ Ranger 1
Adventure: House of the Beast
Where: Hall of Contemplation
Catalyst: You just don't walk away from a Human bane Greataxe Crit
Not at their best from the stench of carrion that pervades the lower levels of the House of the Beast, the adventurers stumbled into the readied forces of the Carrion King. Retreating into the labyrinthine passages of the Hall of Contemplation, they perhaps lay in wait too long for the King to stumble into the ambush. The wily gnoll warchief (I went with a 'Chosen' Anti-Paladin 4 for a more cunning standard build) sent an attack force around to trap the renown gnoll slaying archer and the party was forced into a toe-to-toe melee rather than skirmish as was their usual style.
The King survived a crit from Kzrira's death dealing bow, but she proved no match for Goreshred. Amir, the aged yet still nimble rogue swordsman, fell next and only the might of a summoned earth elemental saved Karethas the conjurer and the elven bard, Faelar!
Amir's soul was only just kept from it's appointment at Pharasma's Spire and Abadar's final reward, but nothing could be done for Kzrira.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Name: Aruuja
Race: Human
Class: Hunter
Adventure: Howl of the Carrion King
Where: Monastery of St. Vardishal, Southern Hallway
Catalyst: Poison from a giant black widow
A combination of bad luck and succumbing to the effects of a giant black widow's venom, Aruuja's death profoundly affected the party's cleric. The cleric vowed to never be without a means to counter venoms, and Aruuja's wolf howled in anguish and loneliness before wandering out into the badlands of the Kelmarane region. (Note: Trying to make Fortitude saves within a pugwampi unluck aura is...bad times. Nearly took out two other characters because of this.)
TPK
Characters : Beatrice Aasimar Paladin 2
Leyen Ifrit Rogue 2
Nadrie Elf Druid 2
Adventure : Howl of the Carrion King
Where : Refuge of Nethys, against the chokers
Catalyst : One party member late, them missing like crazy due to weak builds and me critting twice
After their heroic victory against Haidar the party decided to explore the rest of the place even though they were out of resources. They spotted the chokers and took them by surprise dropping the first one quickly. The second one critted and dropped Leyen to negative. After a few rounds of missing Nadrie's mountain lion went down, followed by an unlucky Beatrice. Nadrie the last one standing swung with her sword and missed before the last choker with one hit point left critted her.
Ratfolk dancing dervish archetype bard 15 named Inigo De La Montoya (yes, name like the Spaniard of off The Princess Bride) lost his life in the final conflict versus Jhavul. The rest of the party, after killing Jhavul, got him to a temple in Khatapesh for resurrection. The player refused resurrection once it was cast. He wished to remain in his goddess's embrace. First time that has ever occurred in a gaming session. The player wasn't mad. He thought it was a fitting ending. To die a hero. My other players were furious at the wasted monetary expense. I was touched. Best roleplaying I'd seen in years. Kudos my man.
Halfway through Legacy of Fire, I've had three fatalities, but the only one that was permanent was a semi-planned event.
Name: Erryou
Race: Gnoll
Class: Rogue 3/Barbarian 3 (no racial HD)
Adventure: House of the Beast
Where: The Carrion King's harem
Catalyst: The Carrion King
Erryou the gnoll had been on a dark path since the days of the Kelmarane Expedition, a gnoll-hating gnoll recruited to act as a sword arm or an envoy between the Expedition and the Kulldis, whichever turned out to be more prudent. Since that time, particularly since likely siring a litter of whelps with a Lamashtu priestess (half-mad wife of the Kulldis' slain chief) he'd developed a brooding temper, his alignment had shifted from LE to NE, and it was well known in Kelmarane that he was the muscle backing up Undrella's black market. When Erryou pieced together that the Carrion King was the same giant gnoll who'd slaughtered his pack and sold him into slavery as a whelp, Erryou took Zayifid's warning of coming war as a personal mission to slay the Carrion King, seize the Carrion Tribes, and drive them into a mutually destructive war against the Sandstalkers.
But in truth, what really sealed Erryou's fate was that in between wrapping up Howl of the Carrion King and starting House of the Beast, Erryou's player changed jobs and could no longer participate in the game. Everyone knew Erryou's time was limited; the question was whether he'd go out in a blaze of glory or "go native" and turn on the other PCs.
When the PCs infiltrated the House of the Beast via the Mountain's Maw, they wore themselves down through a serious of encounters, most recently having battled a massive spider whose venom had left the party ranger weak as a kitten. Looking for somewhere to hide before the gnolls noticed their incursion and raised the alarm, they slipped down a web-choked, seemingly abandoned staircase. At the bottom, they found a sealed stone door, and the party cleric, Jaali, used stone shape. This popped the tired party out directly into the Carrion King's harem, where he was busy enjoying himself with his wives.
Suffice to say, neither party was terribly happy about this chance meeting, and both sides leaped to the offense. With the ranger in bad shape, sidelined to taking on the king's wives, Erryou found himself the only frontliner, holding the Carrion King back for round after round as the party alchemist and sorcerer hung back and pelted the warlord with bombs and magical cold, while Jaali kept pouring positive energy into Erryou to keep him going. Had the Carrion King managed to drop Erryou any sooner, he likely would have torn through the humans in the party like tissue paper, but alas, even giant gnoll warlords can last only so long when they spend an entire combat engulfed in flame. In his final round, the Carrion King (who had been rolling just awfully, I have to say), finally tore into Erryou with tooth and claw, ripping him open just before burning to death in turn.
With reinforcements already fighting their way in, the surviving heroes had only moments to grab whatever loot was in reach and flee. They left Erryou and the Carrion King's burning corpse lying together on the stone floor, their pools of blood merging into one.
Name: Jaali (but he got better)
Race: Human (Garundi)
Class: Cleric (evangelist) 8
Adventure: Broken Chains (being played in conjunction with The Jackal's Price)
Catalyst: The Midwife
I added Broken Chains into the AP, so this is a bit of a cheat, but: Jaali specializes in three things: Exceptional social skills, healing his allies, and summoning monsters to fight for him. Things he does not specialize in: Wearing armor, wielding weapons, or taking damage. Yet, sadly, as the heroes were hacking their way through a hidden temple of Lamashtu, the chaos of the fight briefly left Jaali wide open, with nothing standing between him and a monstrous spellcaster with a smite good burning a hole in her pocket. The Midwife charged Jaali and her kukris sliced him to ribbons. The priest was dead before he hit the ground, and without his healing to bolster the party, the remaining PCs found themselves hard-pressed to defeat the Midwife.
Fortunately, however, Jaali and the PCs happened to be exceptionally flush with cash at a time, and this took place on the far side of town from one of the largest temples to Abadar in northern Garund. After the heroes wrapped up the immediate issues facing them, they left a PC, Hollistan, and a cohort, Hollistan's sister Haleen, to guard the temple while the others wrapped up the priest's corpse and carted him off to get raised. (This in turn nearly resulted in Hollistan and Haleen's deaths at the hands of a vengeful goblin, but that's another story.)
Name: Hollistan Tropp (but he got better)
Race: Human (Keleshite)
Class: Alchemist 9
Adventure: The Jackal's Price
Where: The Jackal's Lair
Catalyst: A one-two-three punch
Hollistan Tropp, a teenage alchemist who had joined the Kelmarane Expedition, was pretty sure he was done with the adventuring life around the time he tried fleeing back to Kelmarane alone from the House of the Beast, but he stuck it out until the PCs' trip to the city of Katapesh about six months later. There, the PCs found themselves drawing all kinds of unwanted attention and running afoul of one evil cult after another.
The 24-hour deadline to assault Father Jackal's lair took the PCs by surprise; that's why Hollistan's chain shirt was off for alterations when the PCs breached the thieves' den. After tearing through the Demon's Womb, the heroes were feeling confident. Despite this, when Father Jackal's minions split up to surround the PCs, the cocky PC allowed themselves to be scattered. Hollistan's grisly demise came as a three-part blow. First, the high priest, Khair al Din, lived just long enough to successfully target Hollistan with a spiritual weapon, which continued to harass Hollistan for several rounds. With the opposition's back broken, Hollistan chose to chase after a lone cultist who went fleeing down an unexplored hallway. Sadly for Hollistan, no one else in the party followed him, and that cultist wasn't fleeing--he was leading Hollistan into a trap in a room filled with illegal contraband--and a trio of gargoyles that Hollistan failed to notice. While the cultist distracted Hollistan, the gargoyles tore into him, dropping him. Yet it was the final strike from Khair al Din's spiritual weapon that posthumously slew the young alchemist, depriving the thugs of their potential hostage.
Fortunately, the party was still cash-heavy, and being so close to the temple of Abadar, even managed to get Hollistan raised that same day. Still, a violent death was the final straw for Hollistan Tropp, and he chose to retire from the adventuring life in favor of settling down in the city of Katapesh (to pursue a petty vendetta against the ruk league; that too is another story).
(The PC left, the player remains with a new character.)
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Tonight, within five minutes of each other, on Legacy of Fire:
One party member, a half-elven sorceress and a worshipper of Zon Kuthon, has been told as part of a side-quest to kill her brother. The brother in question is a ranger and the group's mold-speaker.
As the GM, I estimated from talking to the player, that there was about a fifty/fifty chance of the character turning around and not actually going through with the order.
However, as it turns out, she chose to follow the order.
However, the mold-speaker brother successfully deducted that something iffy was going on and that he was in danger, and so he tried to ally himself with the rest of the group, to help him subdue her if something bad went on. This included hiring the group's slayer (NE Human, known within the group as the "Covert Pervert" ... he insisted on payment) ... paying him 100 gold scarabs to "have his back".
All of this was done very above board. The players were all having a great time, even the ones whose characters were in danger of being killed off.
As the fight inevitably broke out, the slayer leaned back upon realizing that the ranger successfully grappled his sister. He took out the bag of 100 scarabs he had just received and juggled it from hand to hand, saying rather smugly:
"This was the easiest 100 scarabs I've ever earned!"
To which the grappled sorceress shouted:
"DO YOU WANT TO EARN MORE?"
To which he grinned even wider, pocketed the 100 scarabs and nodded:
"I do!"
She then offered him additional payment. At this time, the rest of the party came rushing and tried to help knock out the sorceress who was now screeching and trying to get a dagger to stab her brother, despite being grappled.
The slayer smirked widely and went:
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to demand half up front!"
The, now very desperate, sorceress cried out:
"I can't do that right now, but if you help me, I'll play with your trouser snake as well!"
The slayer needed no further instigation and immediately sprang into action.
He ended up dying after being shot full of holes by the group's ranged fighter dwarf. And the sorceress was abducted to some nasty, unknown place of darkness and despair for her failure to kill her brother.
The group's half orc barbarian was left pondering at the end of it all.
"Did he just get himself killed over sex?"
And everyone laughed. Even the people who lost their characters thought the whole thing had played out brilliantly.
Rest in pieces, Khair Shadr, slayer, human evildoer and all-round scumbag, and rest in a dreadful amount of agony, Lamya Bint Syru, flagellating Half Elven sorceress/emo.
Name: William "Will" Sunsong, halfelf bloodrager (abyssal) 6 and moldspeaker
Book: House of the Beast
Where: Warrens
Catalyst: Fighting alone against 2 Carrion Guards and their mounts
Will got eaten by hyenadons and their riders. He faced them bravely alone, as other two companions either tried to make enought light for large hall or battled against other hyenadons'. Basically, it was 4 against 1 and when Will was knocked unconscious and his rage ended, he was dead. No raise dead for him, his legacy will haunt them yet.
Replacement character is halfling slayer (sniper).
Name: Wincent Quill, human investigator 6
Book: House of the Beast
Where: Throneroom
Catalyst: The Carrion King
Friendly NPC paladin was facing Carrion King was defeated (but not killed) by the monster. Brawler was fighting some distance away and slayer was invisible (rushing towards the paladin) so Wincent was the next target. Being whimsy human and Goreshred being what it is, one swing was dangerous. Natural 20 on attack roll and 18 from confirmation before modifiers made it even more dangerous, 70 points on damage on "my max hp is 38" character. Wincent was dead in an instant.
His replacement will the paladin that survived. Now brawler, Malak al Jafa is only original character and only remaining Knight of Kelmarane.
How many characters are in that party? If it's just the 3 + 1 NPC mentioned (Slayer, Brawler, Investigator, plus Paladin), then it sounds like they have a serious lack of spellcasting support/battlefield control.
How many characters are in that party? If it's just the 3 + 1 NPC mentioned (Slayer, Brawler, Investigator, plus Paladin), then it sounds like they have a serious lack of spellcasting support/battlefield control.
3 PCs and sometimes a supporting NPC. They know they are outnumbered most of the time but new group (brawler, slayer, paladin) seems to get through encounters pretty nicely. But yes, battlefield control is their biggest weakness right now. It will be interesting to see how players will play around that weakness. :)
Just to clarify, we are playing bit of a hard mode campaign this time. Using XP for first time in 10 years and as a GM I roll all attack rolls in the open, if die shows crit, it is a crit. All players agreed to this and are having fun (I'm checking this one constantly, nothing is more against my playstyle than having miserable players).
Paladin "almost" died today! Took some heavy hits but slayer sniped the enemy before paladin fell. Great fun!
Name: Laie'Runa Enaë
Race: Kitsune
Class: Monk 5
Adventure: Howl of the Carrion King
Where: The Ruined Church Crypt
Catalyst: Chased Xulthos as he fled, and forgot about his deceptive nature.
The party fought against Xulthos as he taunted them, but when the odds were turning against him, he decided to make his escape. Our Mesmerist, Kaleena, played the "KEPT SECRET" Plot Twist card, (a barrier holds true) ensuring the iron gate held fast.
Sensing his escape was cut off, he turned and ready his last stand.
Laie'Runa dashed forward as Xulthos disappeared around the corner. As she rounded the corner expecting to see Xulthos further ahead, she was instead met by a furious onslaught of claws and a lashing tail.
The Wyvaran Ranger, Gravefang, fired a single arrow into Xulthos's eye, killing the daemon, but not before he managed to end the life of one of their own.
HONORABLE MENTION:
Felliped also gave his life while fighting Kardswann. With his final breath, he managed to disarm the Janni, allowing the party to cripple him enough for the Moldspeaker to finish the job.
Name: Skippy Grog
Race: Grippli
Class: Druid 6
Adventure: House of the Beast
Where: The Ruined Church Crypt
Catalyst: Lost his companion. Lost his mind. Never gave up. Never Surrendered.
The Carrion King buried his axe into "Little Arms", an attack that was meant for the druid. The Grippli watched in horror as his T-Rex animal companion doubled over before being tore in half by the mighty Gnoll. Skippy could never be the same after seeing that... The Alchemist, out of bombs, fired her crossbow and with a roar, the Carrion King died.
The next day, the party accidentally released the Unchosen Gnolls from their den. They poured into the hallway, pushing the party back into the throne room. There, they found Rovoka had already regained control of the gnoll tribes. The party was overwhelmed and beaten into submission by the hordes. Skippy refused to accept defeat, and fought to his last breath as one of the Unchosen ate him.
R.I.P. Skippy Grog, and "Little Arms" (Companion)
Name: Boddyknock the Gnome
Race: Gnome
Class: Warlock 2
Adventure: Howl of the Carrion King
Where: main cathedral of the monastery
When the group tried to parley with the pugwampis, things went sideways and Boddyknock decided to try and take cover among the pews rather than retreating with the rest of his party. A few arrows later, and he died before help could arrive.
As a note, that is one huuuuuuuge monastery.
(I'm running the adventure path using D&D 5e rules)