Name: Mutumbo
Race: Mwangi Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 9
Adventure: The Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb (Guard Chamber)
Catalyst: Inept Rogue and Piscodaemon
The Gory Details: Before entering the guard chamber, there was the nasty problem of dealing with Stygian Fires trap in the Daemon Shrine. The rogue couldn't find a trap associated with the strange door, so they decided to open it and move on to take out the strange creature in the next room (one of the PCs can see through thin walls). They opened the door and triggered the trap. Mutumbo took all the damage from the trap and lost a chunk of his Wisdom. The Piscodaemon cast a stinking cloud at the group and took the bard and rogue out of the fight temporarily. Mutmbo charged in and began hacking at the Piscodaemon, but the Piscodaemon got a hold of him with a claw. Mutumbo was bleeding and grappled and the Piscodaemon continued to hold him with a claw and squeeze him until he split apart.
Luckily, they took the daemon down soon thereafter, though the party was pretty decimated because a Greater Shadow (my addition for a six-man group) had attacked them from behind a closed door. Had a couple of people almost incapacitated because of Strength damage.
In addition, the bard had a scroll of raise dead and they were able to bring back Mutumbo. They slept the night in the guard chamber with the doors barred, and the next morning, the wizard teleported them (and the imprisoned centaur) out of there.
Some time ago, but the character needs mentioning:
Name: Herrmann "Ironwill" Proyas
Race: Human
Class/Levels: Cleric of Iomedea 3
Adventure: ?
Location Erastil Temple
Catalyst: The "Demon" Bear
The Gory details
The spiritual adviser of our most glorious ruler, Paladin of Iomedea,
Ajy " The Steadfast" Talan, thought to see some combat of his own and left the Paladins side positioning himself on the other side of the pool and advanced. The bear charged him and ripped apart before the Paladin came round to help him.
The small town that grew around Oleg´s Trading Post now bears his name and a monument has been built. Having a patron saint already proofed usefull.
Name: Gardi " The Carpenter" Woodwarper ( Okzindendaro....)
Race: Gnome
Class/Levels: Druid 5, Earth Domain
Adventure: ?
Location: Somewhere between Firewalker (Elf)Keep and the TrollsLair
Catalyst: Bokkens crazy brothers crazy cat
Jumped out of the bushes, pounce and rake, kept holding on, scored critical.....
Since the player of the character was not present and the incident was an accident our GM let our Patron Saint intercede and the Gnome now has -2 Con and is the Nations Building Master, more of an NPC.
Name: Mutumbo
The Piscodaemon is summoned into the room when the players enter. They shouldn't have been able to see it.
Name:Tetawaro
Race:Half-Orc
Classes/levels:Druid/Bard 2/1
Adventure:The Stolen Lands
Location:The Shrike River southwest of Nettles crossing.
Catalyst:Will O' Wisp
The Gory Details: Tetawaro was trying to cross over the river via the remaining rope from the ferry crossing. He slipped and was in the river, attached to the rope via a lifeline. Unfortunately, Thessy, the party Fighter/Diviner, took it upon himself to shimmy over and help him up. Per the adventure the rope breaks if two medium size creatures are on it at any one time. The two were swept down river and ended up on opposite shores. As night fell I had them roll for random encounters (I have the players roll for encounters, it makes it more entertaining).
Unfortunately for Tetawaro not many 3rd level characters can handle a Will O' Wisp by themselves. The next morning the rest of the party was only able to find his lightning charred remains.
First death in my Kingmaker campaign.
The Piscodaemon is summoned into the room when the players enter. They shouldn't have been able to see it.Name: Mutumbo
Not in my game
Name:Azog
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Fighter 4
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: The Stag Lord's upgrades for the 6-player Kingmaker conversion
The Gory Details: After the party combines a well planned dawn assault of the keep with a good use of area of effect spells the majority of the Stag Lord's followers had fallen, and all that was left was the Stag Lord himself. Unfortunately, archers hurt a lot when they have room to work, especially archers with a magical way to get sneak attack on one of their attacks, and a trio of shots(one with sneak attack) were enough to take the half-orc from slightly hurt to completely dead before anyone could do anything. The party got their revenge, and will probably raise the half-orc this next session, though it will be quite a struggle to get the funds together for the raise and he's likely to be heavily in debt to the party.
I've seen in previous AP obituary threads the DMs posting a total body count in their campaign.
How many character deaths in total have you had in your campaign thus far, including multiples deaths for the same character, if applicable.
Just in the Kingmaker leg of this campaign:
5 Cohorts and a grand total of 16 player character deaths (2 or more per PC) have taken dirt naps during the first 3 chapters. {The campaign thusfar is at 9 additional character deaths.}
Total in my two campaigns.
Group 1 (currently in last part of book 6): 1 death from a random troll encounter, saved by heropoints.
Group 2 (last part of book 2): 3 deaths, of which 2 were saved by heropoints.
Group 1's players are very careful and tactical and as such they tend to stay alive.
I've seen in previous AP obituary threads the DMs posting a total body count in their campaign.
How many character deaths in total have you had in your campaign thus far, including multiples deaths for the same character, if applicable.
I've had four PC deaths in my campaign thus far. I'm just getting to the end of Varnhold Vanishing. One of those deaths occurred in a side plot I ran when several players had to miss an evening and I sent the remaining on a side quest of my own creation. Don't know that that one really counts.
I had one ripped apart by an assassin vine in the evil fey towers, one ripped apart by a shambling mound infested with a centipede swarm, and one ripped apart by a piscodaemon. Interestingly, I think they all died of being constricted during a grapple.
We've only had that decided to come back, and that was the latest who was ripped apart by the piscodaemon.
The one that died on a side quest in Mivon was caught in a winter wolf's breath weapon.
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Name:Kieyanna
Race:Half-Elf
Classes/levels:Sorcerer 5
Adventure:Rivers Run Red
Location:Abandoned Keep
Catalyst:Blood Drain from a biobhan sith (The Dancing Lady)
The Gory Details: (optional) The Dancing Lady had all but the Pally captivated and enthralled. She got him with the entangle, suggested the fighter attack the paladin, then moved over to the female half-elf, succeeding her grapple/pin/blood drain. The death actually came on a failed stability check, dropping her to -4 hp, which happened to be her new (-)Con score thanks to the blood drain. Had her throat ripped out as her life was taken away.
Name: Iaurinn o-Lossaeglir, High Magister of the Duchy of Gwendor
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Wizard (conjurer, teleportation school) 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: on the way to the Valley of the Dead
Catalyst: a Soul Eater
The Gory Details: The leaders of the duchy of Gwendor were heading south, looking for the Valley of the Dead where the Centaurs of the Nomen tribe had told them they would likely find answers to the mystery of the Varnhold vanishing. They hadn't traveled far enough south before the sun set and had to set up camp in the wild. In the middle of the night, a Soul Eater snuck in and found his target, High Magister Iaurinn, sound asleep under the watchful eyes of General Hêmael. The general failed to notice the cloud of mist and smoke in the dark night, and that proved the end of Iaurinn as he got coup-de-graced by the evil outsider. Only 10 points of damage on the critical hit, but that was enough to kill him. Luckily, he succeeded at the other Fortitude save to not take Wisdom damage and his soul didn't get eaten by the Soul Eater.
The High Magister was brought back to life seconds later by the General (who is also a cleric of Kurgess) and the timely use of a scroll of breath of life. His shouts woke up the whole camp and the Soul Eater was then quickly killed, but not before it was able to bring the ruffled wizard back down to -9 again. Not enough to kill him again, though.
Name: Tadirion Maevaryn
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Wizard 2
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: The Old Sycamore
Catalyst: "I have many Hit Points again?"
The Gory Details:
After battling their way through scores of mites(and having a good laugh at the critters who didn't put up much of a fight), the party engaged the leader of the mites and their whiptail centipedes. Despite his injuries, the elven wizard Tadirion boldly strolled forward to face the creature, easily within range of its deadly jaws and seemingly heedless of the danger to his person. The centipede, somehow unmoved by the display of bravado from an unarmoured wizard covered in wounds, proceeded to eat him. The party avenged him, paid a quiet moment of silence and then proceeded to divvy up his worldly possessions and leave his remains behind without another thought.
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5 deaths so far, the ranger twice, the two gnome clerics once each and the overconfident dwarf barbarian once. The ranger's first was after sneaking up on the Dancing Lady (sucker!), second from bad perception rolls while leading the party into an ambush. The other 3 all died at the tender mercies of a white dragon that I've placed in the mountains east of Vordakai's Tomb. They drool at the treasure they could find there, but they're over 20,000gp in the hole so far on Raise Dead spells. (My PCs are way overpowered for most encounters, so a dragon to keep them honest seemed appropriate)
Name: Jemini Lebeda
Race: Human Female
Classes/levels: Paladin 2/Oracle 1
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: The Battle of Oleg's Field
Catalyst: Back to back 20s from a raging bandit king
The Gory Details: Jemini, the leader of the group, led them and their hastily-assembled militia against the small bandit army of the Stag Lord in the Battle of Oleg's Field. The Stag Lord (who is mostly a Barbarian in this iteration, and far more melee-focused) met the group in combat with Akiros at his side, while his men fought theirs to the north. After taking down one of the fighters (who was saved by his Hero Points), and brought nearly to his death, the Stag Lord rolled a 20 to hit the smiting paladin, then a 20 to confirm. Jemini (by virtue of her sidestep secret revelation) had the choice as to dodge the attack, which would then kill her ally, or take it to save him. She chose to save him, taking almost double her hit points in the process.
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TPK
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Nyrissa
Catalyst: Damn she is nasty.
The Gory Details
Well when the 4 players and 2 cohorts materialised in the fable the Nymph queen already had antilife shell up. After a few round of ineffectual ranged combat and slightly more effective dispelling the Nymph queen pulled out the first of her prismatic sprays.
The Inquisitor cohort died to a failed poison save, King Ilyich the cavalier was sent to the Abyss. Wenham the court alchemist appeared somewhere in Kelesh (lucky on the destination roll) and Tarathiel the court wizard went irretrievably insane. This left a Fighter cohort and Rose, a Paladin, to face Nyrissa.
Nyrissa Mazed the unfortunate Paladin and went to work on the cohort (sending him to the Plane of Shadow- another unfortunate Prismatic Spray result). After a couple of rounds of exchanged spells, Nyrissa toasted Tarathiel with a Fire Storm just as Rose reappeared.
A couple more rounds of combat led to Rose failing a final save to green prismatic poison. All the PC's lay dead as the players desperately tried to find one last saving throw bonus for Rose. Alas it was not to be.
This was a TPK that was agonisingly close. The players at one point got her down to 2 remaining HP's and Rose's final save was missed by one point. Also to lose 4 characters to one prismatic spray was just awful luck and after that massive blow the players never recovered.
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TPK
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Nyrissa
Catalyst: Damn she is nasty.
The Gory Details** spoiler omitted **
So close to the end!
I hope you'll run a game where the King escapes the Abyss, heads into the boneyard, reunites with his companions and finishes Nyrissa once and for all, perhaps grabbing some allies and items from across the planes.
TPK
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Nyrissa
Catalyst: Damn she is nasty.
The Gory Details** spoiler omitted **
Claps hands...................
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It was awful to watch. I really wanted them to win. To get so close and fall at the final hurdle well it was heartbreaking.
As for what happens next, I wrote a long post on my campaign boards which went through the trials and tribulations of their kingdom. Whilst the players died they caused Nyrissa enough pain to ensure that their kingdom survived and prospered. At the end of the day that's what this was all about.
A bittersweet end to the campaign. Ah well on to Carrion Crown.
Name: General Hirish Varn; Grand Diplomat Molly Missy; Royaal Assassin Fluff Gugg; King Garen Starmight of Cordelon; nixie cohort of King Starmight
Race: human; soulbound doll; soulbound doll; constructed man (LN Lich variant); nixie
Classes/levels: Fighter 15; cohort Bard 13; cohort Cleric of Lamashtu 13; Mystic Theurge 9 of Abadar; Druid 13
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Tomb of Armag
Catalyst: The Black Sisters (retooled)
The Gory Details: (optional) Short version, in order: coup de gras via Quicken SLA 1st level Repose domain ability + heavy pick coup-de-grace to the brain; 2 incense of meditation-maximized stormbolts did the cohorts in; testing his Reflex save bonus in combination with a ring of evasion one time too many resulted in the King of Cordelon sucking 120 damage he couldn't afford to take.
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Name: Klath Axehaft of the Axehaft Clan, Marshal of the Duchy of Falconcrest
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Cleric of Gorum 7
Adventure: Realm of the Fellnight Queen (inserted near the end of RRR)
Location: Queen Rhoswen's Palace, Fellnight Realm
Catalyst: The Final fight with Rhoswen
The Gory Details:
With 8 players (9 as of next session), I added guardians and additional levels of sorcerer to Rhoswhen. The party still had no trouble dispatching her guardians, but not before she popped out from her Tree Stride hidey-hole and cast disintegrate at poor Klath. Her ranged touch attack crit and he failed his save, and wound up taking 191 points of green death ray damage. Needless to say, there wasn't much left of him.
She managed to turn two of the party members into songbirds with Baleful Polymorph, and with their damage-dealing Inquisitor absent at the last minute from the game, things got dicey for a while. Once she wasn't able to tree stride any more, however, she came to an end very quickly. I almost didn't even get a chance to foreshadow Nyrissa before they decapitated her, but she got 'my mother' in before her head came off. They weren't very happy.
Name: General Hirish Varn; Grand Diplomat Molly Missy; Royaal Assassin Fluff Gugg; King Garen Starmight of Cordelon; nixie cohort of King Starmight
Race: human; soulbound doll; soulbound doll; constructed man (LN Lich variant); nixie
Classes/levels: Fighter 15; cohort Bard 13; cohort Cleric of Lamashtu 13; Mystic Theurge 9 of Abadar; Druid 13
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Tomb of Armag
Catalyst: The Black Sisters (retooled)
The Gory Details: (optional) Short version, in order: coup de gras via Quicken SLA 1st level Repose domain ability + heavy pick coup-de-grace to the brain; 2 incense of meditation-maximized stormbolts did the cohorts in; testing his Reflex save bonus in combination with a ring of evasion one time too many resulted in the King of Cordelon sucking 120 damage he couldn't afford to take.
Was this a TPK?
Was this a TPK?Name: General Hirish Varn; Grand Diplomat Molly Missy; Royaal Assassin Fluff Gugg; King Garen Starmight of Cordelon; nixie cohort of King Starmight
Race: human; soulbound doll; soulbound doll; constructed man (LN Lich variant); nixie
Classes/levels: Fighter 15; cohort Bard 13; cohort Cleric of Lamashtu 13; Mystic Theurge 9 of Abadar; Druid 13
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Tomb of Armag
Catalyst: The Black Sisters (retooled)
The Gory Details: (optional) Short version, in order: coup de gras via Quicken SLA 1st level Repose domain ability + heavy pick coup-de-grace to the brain; 2 incense of meditation-maximized stormbolts did the cohorts in; testing his Reflex save bonus in combination with a ring of evasion one time too many resulted in the King of Cordelon sucking 120 damage he couldn't afford to take.
Not even close. 4 PCs and 1 cohort survived the encounter with the Black Sisters. Even if I had gotten all 4 of the blown SR checks, it would not have been a TPK. It would have been very close to one.
Does 21 dead PCs in just two of the APs top the list for max deaths?
We have had 6 deaths so far. A random encounter of a large group of wolves, (Tragically just after finishing up a difficult fight in which they were on their way to the hot springs to celebrate) left one character outright dead, and another player deciding he didn't want to play his character anymore so he opted to just have that character die. He again got bored with his new character and allowed him to die as well.
Still later, one of the two surviving characters met his tragic death at the hands of the Stag Lord in the climatic battle. Leading the players to call their capital city "Adam's Fall".
Same guy who died at the stag lord met his end again at the dancing lady. Hell of an encounter that was with three players failing will saves and watching their baron have the life sucked out of him.
And then again the same player had a character eviscerated by the giant owl bear at the end of rivers run red. This was after failing many poison and rot rolls and having heavily penalized stats.
I realized part of the problem was that he was playing the front of line fighter type character and every time he died, the hole in the party was for the front of line fighter type character thus putting him in harms way all over again.
To recap that was 2 deaths because a player wanted to play something else and 4 actual deaths from combat, three of which were the same player. And this was all before the end of rivers run red...
Name: Kilganon
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Rogue 3
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: The fool rushed in...
In my version of this AP, the Stag Lord's alcoholism was stemmed by the PC's capture of his alcohol shipment at the Thorn River Camp. Word had reached him regarding their involvement and he'd sent a small force to ambush them during a return to Oleg's, but this was unsuccessful. By the time they'd finished their thorough exploration of the northern Greenbelt, the Stag Lord was sober, infuriated, and had turned extremely violent towards his men.
The Stag Lord had set an ambush with three of his officers just outside of the main complex. However, upon witnessing the deaths of their fellow officers, the three panicked and figured they had a better chance in the wilderness than they did with the Stag Lord and abandoned him (and will become villains in RRR). He stood defiant as the players came out to face him.
While he waited, he was slow to respond (lost initiative) to the rogue and Magus who quickly charged him. Recognizing a dangerous foe in the rogue, he took a five foot step and proceeded to shoot the rogue with two well placed arrows, doubling up his health. The rogue spent hero points to live, but was taken out of the fight from the onset of the fight.
I didn't offer an explanation as to how he survived, though I have plans to reveal it over the next few sessions, especially around the anniversary of his "death".
Name: Jobu
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Barbarian 7
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Owlbear lair
Catalyst: Enraged owlbear
The Gory Details: Brave Jobu was face to face with the owlbear when it hit on all attacks for 65 damage and put Jobu down to -21. He was saved by expending two hero points.
Name: Rudolp
Race: Light warhorse
Classes/levels: Animal companion, 3HD
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Owlbear lair
Catalyst: Centipede swarm
The Gory Details: Poor Rudolp was already in the negatives, but stable when the centipedes moved to get his owner and got caught by the deadly vermin. "Puppy" a newly caught Brush Thylacine is waiting back home to be companionized.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Name: Xanthus
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Paladin 13
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: The Silent Cistern
Catalyst: Supercharged shambling mound and persistent gardener's ghost, and finally friendly fire
The Gory Details: Running the manuscript version of this encounter, including an unhallow paired with silence that moved with the Gardener shut down party spellcasters or forced them to disperse across the room. The party split up by the silence as well as fear from the gardener's horrific appearance, and later a wall of fire the party itself created, the paladin managed to get close enough to attack, but the gardener just kept after him with his corrupting touch and was able to wear him down despite swift action lay on hands. Once his pet shambling mound finished murderizing Duavel the cohort, an extra attack or two pushed him over the edge. A last-gasp dump of action points let him hold on an extra round, as did Heroic Defiance, and one of the party's druids raced in to heal him up from dead to dying but stable. He sank to the bottom of the cistern pool due to the weight of his armor, but a life bubble ensured he wouldn't drown. The other party druid, however, not realizing he was there (because of the blocking wall of fire), dropped a flame strike on his position, dropping him from -14 (3 points from death) all the way to the dead zone.
Name: Nemijian VII
Race: Tiger
Classes/levels: Animal companion
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: Silent Cistern
Catalyst: Surprising shambling mound
The Gory Details: A literal bushwhacking by huge shambling mounds resulted in a quick and brutal attack-grab-grapple-constrict-pin, etc. Then panicked by the ghost while constricted down to 0 hp and tried to escape the shambler, failed, and dropped unconscious from the effort.
Name: Duavel
Race: Half-elf
Classes/levels: Fighter 10/Ranger 1 (IIRC), cohort
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: Silent Cistern
Catalyst: Surprising shambling mound
The Gory Details: As above, but lasted a round or two longer than the cat. literal bushwhacking by huge shambling mounds resulted in a quick and brutal attack-grab-grapple-constrict-pin, etc. Then panicked by the ghost while constricted down to 0 hp and tried to escape the shambler, failed, and dropped unconscious from the effort.
Name: Vach'ya Fullmoon, Half-Orc Ranger 1 Inquisitor 6, High Councilor of Cellyndor
Location of Death: Hargulka's lair
Cause of Death: The Troll King
After helping to march an army to the the troll's lair and watch his kingdom's forces destroy the Troll hordes, Vach'ya lead the way into the lair of the Troll King. After nearly dying to a Two-headed monstrosity, Vach'ya had scarcely been healed when Hargulka made his appearance. His unexpected necklace roasted most of the party, and as they scrambled to recover, the troll king waded in. Though horribly burnt, Vach'ya held the line while the party's blasters burnt the troll lord. It cost Vach'ya dearly, as two swipes from the troll's massive club ended the Belkzen native's life. In the end, the Troll king fell (killed by the Kobold Mikmek) and Vach'ya was later raised by the church of Erastil for his long service and diplomatic relations with the church in Rostov.
I like heroic deaths, and I think this was one of them. I look forward to dying heroically in the next module...
Name: Dwigt
Race: Gnome
Classes/levels: Bard 3
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: The Stag Lord's Fortress
Catalyst: Auchs
The Gory Details: Nothing particularly fancy here - the other gnome in the party, a barbarian named Grimclaw, snuck into the Stag Lord's chambers to assassinate him while the rest of the party kept the bandits distracted. If I remember right, he failed the auto-kill on a coup de grace, leading to a startled and VERY angry Stag Lord coming awake very quickly and an ensuing brawl between the bandits and the "newcomers." Brave Dwigt did her best to stay out of the way of the melee, but unfortunately after taking a few hits from little bandits, she ran afoul of Auchs and his giant club. Critical hit afoul, that is. She had just shy of 10hp, and one hit took her down to -12. Her constitution? 11...
All's well that ends well (so far, at least) since the party had managed to come across a scroll of Raise Dead, they were able to ask Jhod to revive their fallen ally. Then, they made Dwigt the Baroness of their new nation, under the moniker "Dwigt the Arisen." But she's not undead, they swear. :)
Name: Sir Bronwyn
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cavalier 5
Adventure: RRR
Location: Troll Lair (Dwarven fort)
Catalyst: Troll-King Hargulka Suicide
The Gory Details: Seeing the group is really low on magic items, I decide to change Hargulka's club (which would be unusable by the PCs) to a medium greataxe and its special ability (from thundering to vicious). The result is pretty scary (1d12+2d6+9), but the fight's actually going well for the PCs (damage is evenly divided by the oracle's shield other spell, and this same oracle's heals keep the party pretty well supplied). I mean, everyone has some damage (since they just fought Nagrundi), but it's bearable. Suddenly, they drop Hargulka to a mere 2 HP, and they've been using acid to keep its regeneration from triggering. So, the troll-king goes "I lose, you lose" and explodes one of his fireballs from the necklace on his foot, failing the saving throw and exploding the whole damn thing.
Seeing as he had spent some charges already, the group is looking at the wrong end of a 10d6 fireball, and the queen was already wounded. Everyone aside from the rogue (high Reflex and Evasion) could die if the dice fell the wrong way. So the cavalier spent his last Hero Point declaring he would jump in front of the queen, throw her to the ground and protect her with his body. At this point, before the fireball damage, he had around 17 HP and took around 40 pointos of damage, killing him outright. He just had the time to say a few words and was dead.
Also, in this campaign, ressurrection spells aside from wish and miracle don't exist. So they brought him back home, buried him under his favorite tree, and vowed to instate a Festival on his name and a monument on his honor.
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Name: Sir Bronwyn
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cavalier 5
Adventure: RRR
Location: Troll Lair (Dwarven fort)
Catalyst: Troll-King Hargulka Suicide
The Gory Details: Seeing the group is really low on magic items, I decide to change Hargulka's club (which would be unusable by the PCs) to a medium greataxe and its special ability (from thundering to vicious). The result is pretty scary (1d12+2d6+9), but the fight's actually going well for the PCs (damage is evenly divided by the oracle's shield other spell, and this same oracle's heals keep the party pretty well supplied). I mean, everyone has some damage (since they just fought Nagrundi), but it's bearable. Suddenly, they drop Hargulka to a mere 2 HP, and they've been using acid to keep its regeneration from triggering. So, the troll-king goes "I lose, you lose" and explodes one of his fireballs from the necklace on his foot, failing the saving throw and exploding the whole damn thing.Seeing as he had spent some charges already, the group is looking at the wrong end of a 10d6 fireball, and the queen was already wounded. Everyone aside from the rogue (high Reflex and Evasion) could die if the dice fell the wrong way. So the cavalier spent his last Hero Point declaring he would jump in front of the queen, throw her to the ground and protect her with his body. At this point, before the fireball damage, he had around 17 HP and took around 40 pointos of damage, killing him outright. He just had the time to say a few words and was dead.
Also, in this campaign, ressurrection spells aside from wish and miracle don't exist. So they brought him back home, buried him under his favorite tree, and vowed to instate a Festival on his name and a monument on his honor.
Nice heroism! Great story!
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Name: Praylor
Race: Human
Class: Bard/ Cavalier/ Battle Herald (12)
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Encounter: Bloom 2
TL;DR: confusion + swarms + friendly fire = dead cohort
It just so happened that the PCs. were finally exploring Thousandbreah forrest seeking the castle inside that might lead them to the source of their nymph problem. The group steped out of their evenings demiplane to find themselves in the midst of a first world bloom. While the group is scratching their heads about the new scenery a pair of mandrigaba swarms form up and jump the group winning initiative.
A key weakness of staying grouped up to utilize the Lookout feet is then brought to light when the two swarms are able to cover the entire group (excepting a pair of griffon mounts). Things go from bad to worse when both swarms screem nauseating most of the group. Confusion poision sets in encouraging meele fighters to stand still and full attack. Fortunately the group witch's patron is blowing things up so he goes to work. His last maximized fireball is sufficient to kill Praylor dead (I say last because the swarm then turned on the boomcaster and blood drained him to 0 str.
Final note: my dice for blood drain were hot that night. Both gnomes were out by the second round. Only having a trapper ranger able to launch flame Traps keept it from being a tpk.
Name: Yuen Aldori
Race: Human
Class: Magus 4
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Encounter: Stag Lord
Catalyst: Triple natural 20s
The Gory Details: Due to support from my players, all of my games have a "super critical" option that results in instant death. If three natural 20s are rolled in a row on the same attack (first being the attack, second being the confirm, third being a special confirm if the last two were nat 20s), the recipient of the attack is slain instantly.
In-game, the battle with the Stag Lord was going rather tense despite how stealthily their initial approach was. Having used potions of invisibility purchased from Bokken, the Barbarian and Oracle of Battle managed to stealth kill one guard, but a failed attacked raised the alarm. Downstairs the Fighter, Magus, and Necromancer Cleric had their hands full with the various lieutenants, owlbear, and the Stag Lord himself.
The Magus was confronting the stag lord in his room, and was getting him closer and closer to pinning him back against the wall, when he unveiled the magic of his helmet for the 2nd time that day and caught her with a flatfoot sneak attack with favored enemy damage. He rolled the to-hit and came up 20. He rolled the confirm, and it was 20 also. He rolled the third die, and it also came up 20. In all the years I've DMed, I've never actually had the triple 20 rule activate, and it activated on a full-health PC.
Needless to say, I could not fudge that. If the boss of the module couldn't use the triple 20 rule on a flatfoot sneak attack at point blank range with favored enemy bonuses, no one would be able to use it. I laid the dice as they rolled, and Yuen Aldori got an arrow through the throat and bled out. The Fighter (and future Baron) avenged her though, and since the Stag Lord's Father had never gotten involved in the fight and they approached him diplomatically, I ruled that he had prepared Reincarnation as a forced plan from his son in case he died, and used it on Yuen.
She came back as a Human, but she changed from being Taldor to being Keleshite, which has caused some interesting things as she tries to convince people she's really a Sword Lord and not just a liar.
Name: Ard V.
Race: Half Elf
Classes/levels: Rogue 8 / Duelist 3
Adventure: BfB
Location: StagKeep, Capital City of Hartland
Catalyst: Coronation of Terror
The Gory Details:
The Duchess was crowned Queen yesterday. During the ceremony, N_ made a surprise visit, full of swirling leaves, mocking words, and flashy flare. Without much banter, she departed, but not without leaving a number of Animate Dreams (Bestiary 2) behind to spoil the coronation. While the party protected the Queen-to-be, city guards were called to protect the citizens and dispatch any nightmare creatures attacking the peasants, so only two Animate Dreams attacked the party.
The long and short of it: While the Queen was Confused, Ard was hit with Phantasmal Killer from one of the dreams. Two failed saves later, and the party had their second death on their hands. Fortunately for our downed duelist, the resident Witch had a Raise Dead scroll which she began using in the middle of battle while the Queen babbled and occasionally attacked party members and the Inquisitor fought off the remaining nightmare creature.
The slobberknocker-fest continues:
Name: Mulder "da Cultist"; General Armag-Hirish Varn; Nameless Fighter cohort
Race: reincarnation-junky; human (advanced); human
Classes/levels: UA Cloistered Cleric 16; Fighter 16; Fighter 14
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: the Hooktongue Slough
Catalyst: taking on dragons in their lair
The Gory Details: (short version) Our Rulers, having acquired the major artifact greatsword "Enemy of all Enemies" elected to violently remove the "brothers in scales" ancient green and ancient black dragons that have held ownership of the kingdom's gold mine from the domestic political equation.
While the PCs were victorious, the cloistered cleric died once and the fighter thrice, each time resuscitated by breath of life. The Nameless Fighter cohort died more permanently, but he got better.
I should contribute the tale of my party's defeat to the thread, as my last act of DMing this path.
Name: Tiffany
Race: Human male (his mom wanted a girl)
Classes/levels: Ranger (I forget what level, 6ish)
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Ruined Keep
The Gory Details: The characters were on the trail of an infamous fey, Spring-Heeled Jack, a bogeyman even to its kin. The wicked creature stole the babe of Oleg and Svetlana Leveton from its crib, and offered it as a token of love to The Dancing Lady of the Tower. Jack was long gone by now, but The Lady was still present in her tower, singing to her newly-acquired child. After seeing the Quickling updated in Bestiary 2, I decided to tweak it around some more, giving it levels as Vivisectionist instead of Rogue, the former being an Alchemist archetype with Sneak Attack. Tiffany attempted to climb up from outside the tower, attacking from the window while his companions frantically battled within. The Quickling, with Spider Climb and Sneak Attack, incapacitated the Ranger with poison, and Tiffany died from the fall that followed. Tiffany was recovered and Raised, and the party ultimately defeated the Dancing Lady. The Quickling was the sole survivor of the tower, and went on to join the Monster Kingdom growing in the South.
Name: Tiffany
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Ranger 9
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Name: Xavier
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Paladin 9
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Name: Meric
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Diviner 9
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Name: Caysen
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Bard 9
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Name: Gorna and Creampuff
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Druid 9, Python
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Name: Some cohort
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cleric 7
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Gory Details: The adventurers entered the tomb unprepared for the combat to come, and were overconfident from their dealings with Cephal Lorentus, the dread zombie wizard, and the dread zombie cyclopes they encountered. When they finally came face to face with Vordakai and his guardian, the grave knight, the conflict was a short one. Xavier was the first to fall, thanks to a 91 point greataxe crit that split him skull to stomach. With a collective gasp, the party tried to recover, doing a great job of circumventing Vordakai's immunities and interrupting spell casting. The Graveknight, however, was unable to be controlled, and he went on to murder Tiffany, the next closest person. The party attempted an immediate escape, using Dimension Door to escape to the cliffside they entered from. This left only companions, which were quickly dispatched. The heroes took a breath, recovering a bit of strength, then, "Is that that raven again?" Vordakai took the same time to recover, and appeared with his graveknight in the same flash of magic the heroes used. The ancient lich couldn't let these meddlers escape to spread tales of his coming! The heroes flew away through magic, but were tracked down yet again and destroyed. The ultimate fate of the kingdom remains, to this day, a mystery.
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Twas a very bloody night, last night.
Our group can be quite large and the GM prepared various versions of Vordakai to compensate with the number of players that managed to show up. This was actually our 2nd night in a row fighting him. The first night he obliterated one of our party wizards. The wizard got better, thanks to a Harrow deck draw, but the lich's bloodshed didn't end there
I was the first to go, with a heroic sacrifice that was ultimately wasted by the party.
Name: Zephyre Al'dran
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian 2, Bard 3, Dragon Disciple 3
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
The previous night we stoped with Vordakai teleporting away after taking tremendous damage. A total of 5 rounds passed before he returned, as he utilized a Harm Scroll to heal up immeadiately. I had shown up late, and when I had arrived, the lich teleported back in using greater invisibility RIGHT BESIDE ME!!! He then blasted most of the party with an Arc Lightening Spell from the spell compendium, ignoring me. He aslo brought with him a dread Zombie Wizard who began attack the party who were trying to chip away at the eye in the wall.
I could see him, but I knew he was near, and since I'd showed up late I'd didn't have a chance to get any healing or other spells off in the downtime, so I figured I was toast anyway. My turn came around, move action - pull a pouch from my pathfinder pouch, free action - drop the pouch, 5 foot step, standard action - breath fire. The pouch I dropped contained 1 fresh necklace of fireballs II and one slightly used necklace of fireballs II. Combined with my breath weapon 31d6 explosion, killed myself, killed another players paralyzed animal companion, and did 196 damage to the lich.... it survived.
The following round found our Baron at death's door.
Name: Jhalad
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Sorceror 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Dread Zombie Wizard with empowered cold base fire ball for the win. Save with 2 hero points.
Name: Dwarf - Cause we all call him "Hey Dwarf!" and no one remembers his name.
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Cleric 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Downed with 3 empowered cold based scorching rays from the lich.
Name: Vlad
Race: Half Orc
Classes/levels: Fighter 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Failed against paralysis touch, followed with Coup de gras.
At this point, we've got the Lich on the ropes, we'd already proven that he was now vulnerable to fire again - he'd previously had a resist energy up that had been dispelled before my Ackmed the Undead terrorist display, but we could not convince the druid to cast his produce flame. As the lich was brought with in 3 hit points of its destruction it escaped once more before any could land a mortal blow.
Reeling from the loss of their companions, the party decided to stay and forge on in hopes of recovering any of the prisoners believe to be kept within. In an effort to restore one of their lost allies to life the Baron, saved from oblivion by the careful ministrations of his loyal colleages, offered his skills in scroll interpretation to use the one scroll of raise dead to bring the fallen bard to life. And so, near completion of the ritual Vordakai struck once more, fully healed from his last encounter. And with a suddenness of a violent tornado, he paralysed the last of our heavy fighters.
Name: General ????
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Once paralysed, and with all of the other to afraid of the lich's touch, the Marshal fell to a coup de gras from the lich on the next turn.
Finally, the remaining members of our part began attacking his one weakness. Using two wands of acid arrow the party slowly wittled the lich down for the 3rd and final time.
A very very bloody night...