Kingmaker Obituaries


Kingmaker

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Nearly had my first death

advanced ankheg dropped party inquisitor to -6 with automatic damage in a grapple,. but the beast fell to a shocking grasp (assuming im right in thinking you cant make AOO when grappling?)

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Name: Gregor Garess
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Expert 1 (professional butler/spy)
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: On the shores of the Candlemere.
Catalyst: Wandering Monster
The Gory Details: Having already survived exploring the Island, the party retreated to the shores across the way to make camp for the night. A Wisp slipped into Gregor's tent and knocked him to 1 hp shy of being dead out-right, and he failed to stabilize.

Liberty's Edge

Name: Raichu
Race: Gnome
Classes/Levels: Cleric 4
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Lonely Barrow
Catalyst: The Lonely Warrior
The Gory Details: He used detect magic from outside the room of the lonely warrior and saw the magical sword. He stealths in, the warrior notices his stealth (+16 perception!!), and grabs him when he gets to the alter (neg level #1). Several rounds later, cleric has a total of 3 negative levels and the party fighter has failed to draw attention away. The party is about to retreat when the lonely warrior gets his last swing in...crit, max damage--gnome who was at 5HP is now at -25HP and has his 4th negative level. The party manages to down the warrior after that due to some lucky rolls. We ended it there for the night, so we'll see if anyone else falls to newly made gnome wight.


Name: A. G.
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cleric 2, Iomedae
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Temple of the Elk
Catalyst: Walks Next to the Bear While Trying To Heal a Fighter
Details: Technically not a kill, since the character was reduced to -11 and then recovered due to a blessing of the God Erastil... But it effectively counts.

While trying to heal a fighter, the Cleric gets a bit too close to the bear who scored a critical and did near-maximum damage after grabbing the Cleric into a bear-hug grapple.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

Names of the Dead:
Fijitor, hobgoblin (reincarnated gnome) druid 8
Duavel, halfling (reincarnated elf) fighter 6 (cohort)
Nemijian, large cat animal companion

Location: Owlbear lair, climax of Blood for Blood

How it Went Down: My PCs are higher than normal level, so I had advanced the owlbear with the giant template and gave him about 20 extra hp, so he was a GARGANTUAN owlbear. The PCs had distracted him by creating a disturbance in the back cave (the spider/ettercap cave rear entrance) with Fijitor the druid while the rest of the party went in the front door. They triggered the shriekers, which brought out the giant spiders and the shambling mound with the embedded swarm, which did pretty well at nickel and diming the party. The shambling mound even got zapped with an electricity effect by the unsuspecting PCs (don't get to use that ability very often). Eventually the owlbear responded to the sounds of battle out front. The druid, in earth elemental form, earth glided after him. Some PCs used missiles vs. the owlbear, others moved up to melee. I think I may have given the owlbear combat reflexes just to be mean, cuz a couple of AoOs shocked and horrified the PCs with their sheer damage - including snatching Duavel right off of the tiger's back as he charged to attack. The cat kept attacking, so the owlbear dropped the grappled fighter and ripped the cat apart, then crushed Duaval with an AoO when he tried to advance back into melee range. The druid had been using spells on the owlbear but had to follow him into the central cavern and got a little too close and *WHOMP*. Fortunately for him, a last pair of scorching rays downed the owlbear and he was able to be rescued just in the nick of time.

And now Duavel is a gnome (reincarnated halfling, reincarnated elf) fighter 7! :)

Note: With these three casualties, one player basically accomplished a clean sweep of having his character, his cohort, and his animal companion all killed in the same battle by the same monster... with the caveat that his PC was able to spend his last action point to delay his death for a round and get cured back from death's door.

This is the second time in the campaign that this character and cohort have been killed in the same battle by the same creature, though this was a little less embarrassing than both getting whacked by a CR 2 crocodile on the lizardfolk island. :)

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut

Jason Nelson wrote:
Location: Owlbear lair, climax of Blood for Blood

I think you mean The Varnhold Vanishing, right? I don't recall an owlbear lair in Blood for Blood. Lots of other stuff going on, just no owlbears.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

NSpicer wrote:
Jason Nelson wrote:
Location: Owlbear lair, climax of Blood for Blood
I think you mean The Varnhold Vanishing, right? I don't recall an owlbear lair in Blood for Blood. Lots of other stuff going on, just no owlbears.

Actually... it's NEITHER!

It's the giant owlbear at the end of Rivers Run Red!

Silly Jason, just got the names mixed up.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 4

Good job on getting your party back on track with the adventure path experienc. They're only one level above where they should be if I remember right.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

Scipion del Ferro wrote:
Good job on getting your party back on track with the adventure path experienc. They're only one level above where they should be if I remember right.

I suppose they're 3 levels up, if RRR is supposed to be levels 4-6, but it doesn't really matter. The challenges of the adventure (suitably enhanced here and there) have been ample.

The party is taking a long siesta after completing the adventure and doing kingdom building turns (saving up to finally finish building a waterfront after 2 years of work towards it). During this subplot, one character will be giving birth and another has recently discovered he is to become a father by way of the nixie Melianse.

The above events provide a nice segue into the Goody Niska subplot from RRR as well, and that should be harrowing, and the party also wants to clear the isle of Candlekeep. I have been thinking about ways to make the island more than just a nettle-filled hill with the creepy tower and hit upon the idea of transplanting Foxglove Manor from RotRL there - it seems like the perfect abandoned villa where the Candlekeep cultists could have kept house, and the ragged emotions of the place seem like a natural for making W-o-W's happy. Suitably up-leveled a bit, I think it'll be a very nice diversion and yet should provide a nicely strange and icky place to explore and clear out.

I'm doing ad hoc leveling anyway, so we'll get wherever we get in good time. I'll probably try to spread out the leveling to 2 levels per module, but we'll see. I expect I'll be posting again here soon enough... :)


Jason Nelson wrote:
Scipion del Ferro wrote:
Good job on getting your party back on track with the adventure path experienc. They're only one level above where they should be if I remember right.

I suppose they're 3 levels up, if RRR is supposed to be levels 4-6, but it doesn't really matter. The challenges of the adventure (suitably enhanced here and there) have been ample.

The party is taking a long siesta after completing the adventure and doing kingdom building turns (saving up to finally finish building a waterfront after 2 years of work towards it). During this subplot, one character will be giving birth and another has recently discovered he is to become a father by way of the nixie Melianse.

The above events provide a nice segue into the Goody Niska subplot from RRR as well, and that should be harrowing, and the party also wants to clear the isle of Candlekeep. I have been thinking about ways to make the island more than just a nettle-filled hill with the creepy tower and hit upon the idea of transplanting Foxglove Manor from RotRL there - it seems like the perfect abandoned villa where the Candlekeep cultists could have kept house, and the ragged emotions of the place seem like a natural for making W-o-W's happy. Suitably up-leveled a bit, I think it'll be a very nice diversion and yet should provide a nicely strange and icky place to explore and clear out.

I'm doing ad hoc leveling anyway, so we'll get wherever we get in good time. I'll probably try to spread out the leveling to 2 levels per module, but we'll see. I expect I'll be posting again here soon enough... :)

Ooh, using the haunt rules from the Gamemastery Guide would probably work pretty well for Candlemere Island and the keep. Good idea.

Dark Archive

Jason Nelson wrote:


The above events provide a nice segue into the Goody Niska subplot from RRR as well, and that should be harrowing, and the party also wants to clear the isle of Candlekeep. I have been thinking about ways to make the island more than just a nettle-filled hill with the creepy tower and hit upon the idea of transplanting Foxglove Manor from RotRL there - it seems like the perfect abandoned villa where the Candlekeep cultists could have kept house, and the ragged emotions of the place seem like a natural for making W-o-W's happy. Suitably up-leveled a bit, I think it'll be a very nice diversion and yet should provide a nicely strange and icky place to explore and clear out.

I was toying this is idea...

Spoiler:

With the description of the tower stating it was involved with some cults that worship old gods, "Yog-Sothoth" and the like, I was thinking of maybe having a small MindFlayer Sect under the tower. It might be a little Over CR for your group, but you can always add the young templet or whatnot. Maybe the mind flayers have a pact with the Wow's up top, the Flayer will allow the whisps to feed off the fear of their prey before their brains are eaten, and the whisps provide protection for the entrance of their Sect.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 4

Jason Nelson wrote:
I suppose they're 3 levels up, if RRR is supposed to be levels 4-6, but it doesn't really matter. The challenges of the adventure (suitably enhanced here and there) have been ample.

Huh, weird, my guys are about halfway through the troll fort and nearly level 7. I thought this one ended there. They spent quite awhile Kingdom Building, I wonder if that skewed them forward? Might explain why they have been steamrolling fights...


Scipion del Ferro wrote:
Jason Nelson wrote:
I suppose they're 3 levels up, if RRR is supposed to be levels 4-6, but it doesn't really matter. The challenges of the adventure (suitably enhanced here and there) have been ample.
Huh, weird, my guys are about halfway through the troll fort and nearly level 7. I thought this one ended there. They spent quite awhile Kingdom Building, I wonder if that skewed them forward? Might explain why they have been steamrolling fights...

As I understand it, the party should advance to level 7 as they complete the "capstone" encounter. In this case, there's really two of them - the trolls and the owlbear. If they reach 7th before getting to one or the other, I don't think it would be a big deal.


Name: Bryet
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Druid 4
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Temple of the Elk
Catalyst: Attempting to save animal companion from a bear
Details: A single crit took poor Bryet down to -21hp, which was way below negative Con.

While there was a near TPK at the Stag Lord's Fort, when only a single character was left standing at the end of an ill-advised frontal assault on the fort, this was the first actual PC death, 14 sessions into the campaign.

Since the PCs had been breezing through any encounter that didn't include Will o' Wisps, I decided to advance Mr Crazy Temple Guardian to a dire bear. In retrospect, that may have been a bit mean.

Poor Bryet's animal companion, the puma Seeb, managed to get himself grappled by the angry bear before the rest of the party closed to within melee range. Down to 2hp, Bryet decides to distract the bear so he would drop Seeb. He rushes the bear, downs an elixir of fire breath and successfully distracts the bear enough to drop his animal companion (while I would normally make that sort of attack do damage to the grappled animal companion, this was the point where I realized I had a possible TPK on my hands and pulled some punches). On Mr. Bear's turn, he turns his ire on Bryet and crits on the first attack for max damage (26hp for those keeping track at home). Bryet is flung across the pond and his lifeless body sinks into the shallow water.

As all good Kingmaker party's should, the party had a scroll of reincarnation. Now Bryet lives again as an elf.

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

Name: General Argyle
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Fighter 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Lonely Barrow
Catalyst: The Lonely Warrior
Details: Having been dropped once by the Lonely Warrior, the brave General tried to stand up to get back into the fray and protect the Baroness Patia, who was also on her last legs against the advanced cairn wight.

The dwarven general died when the Lonely Warrior scored a hit on the dwarf's neck (crit'ed with his weapon, which was changed to a broken dwarven waraxe ironically which I chose for this character). Even without the damage, General Argyle would have died from sustained energy drains. The attack came as the dwarf stood up, incurring an attack of opportunity. Baroness Patia, exhausted from the 'ray trap' was able then able to get some distance against the death-dealing Lonely Warrior.

The General rose four rounds later as a wight.

Fortunately, the other adventurers of Patia's Retinue (including the Marshal and Spy Master), took out the Lonely Warrior and were ready when the Argyle-thing arose. It was put down with heat metal, fire sphere and a few arrows.

It was a sad day in Wulfenstein, 14 Lamshan, 2708, the day General Argyle died. The Baroness declared a week of mourning for the brave dwarf.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

Tem wrote:
Scipion del Ferro wrote:
Jason Nelson wrote:
I suppose they're 3 levels up, if RRR is supposed to be levels 4-6, but it doesn't really matter. The challenges of the adventure (suitably enhanced here and there) have been ample.
Huh, weird, my guys are about halfway through the troll fort and nearly level 7. I thought this one ended there. They spent quite awhile Kingdom Building, I wonder if that skewed them forward? Might explain why they have been steamrolling fights...
As I understand it, the party should advance to level 7 as they complete the "capstone" encounter. In this case, there's really two of them - the trolls and the owlbear. If they reach 7th before getting to one or the other, I don't think it would be a big deal.

It's true, you're right about it.

If I keep the brakes on (2 levels per mod instead of 3), they'll hit appropriate level in around the beginning of "War of the River Kings" - that should be fine.


Another pair succumb to dangers of the Greenbelt:

Name: Alex
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 4

Name: Korneck
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian 4

Location: The Lonely Warrior's tomb
Catalyst: Curiosity
The Gory Details: After the entire party was affected by the full effects of the breaths of despair trap, they still managed to fight off the skeletal warriors thanks to the cleric's burst attack which dropped them all in one fell swoop.

With only the main room left, they decided to take a quick look before heading out to rest. The lonely warrior leapt up to defend his tomb and sucked the life out of those who stood against him. While two members made it out (taking 20ft double moves!), the others did not and quickly rose again as wights to help defend should any graverobbers return.

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

Name: Nightmare
Race: Wolverine (Donald McTavish's animal companion)
Classes/levels: n/a
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Blighted Hollow
Catalyst: The Scythe Tree
Details: His master dropped by the unholy tree, Nightmare stood his ground and was pounded into the dirt for it.

The tree was nastier than I thought, and only the successive casting of flaming spheres, and call lightnings from the sorcerer and finally did it in, but not before it had severely wounded the mage, Magister Sindri, the new General, the ranger McTavish, and a recent recruit, the Headsman, a dwarf named Magnus. It also didn't help that I crit'ted the poor beast.


Name: D. G.

Race: Human

Classes/levels: Fighter 3

Adventure: Stolen Lands

Location: Tuskgutter (CR 3-->CR4 advanced to Dire Boar for a 5 person level 3 group... probably a bad decision.)

Catalyst: Charged by Tuskgutter on a surprise round.

Details: Charged by Tuskgutter on a surprise round, takes 14 damage; then hacks at the boar, then suffers when the boar hits a critical for 40 damage before anyone else acts. Other character responses to the death were to run for cover. One climbed a tree, the rest scattered to the four winds. Thankfully, the mad boar decided to harrass the character in the tree and was brought down by arrows.

Count: Death #3 in Episode 1. (This one occurred during Session 7). Criticals have been key to every death.


Name: Marcus Muri and Alexandrej Orlovsky

Race: Human

Classes/levels: Fighter 7 and Wizard 7

Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing

Location: Hex between Nomen and Valley of the Dead

Catalyst: Random Encounter (Paluda) at night

The Gory Details: Stealthy for it's size, the paluda snuck up on the lair where the Sammael the Rogue and Janos the Cavalier were having their guard shifts. They make their perception checks, and combat commences. Rogue sends a crossbow bolt flying, but it out of favorable range for sneak attack. Paluda moves up, breathes fire on the two, plus incinerating the tent where Naadhira the Cleric, and Akiros (who serves her as a cohort) were sleeping. The fighter manages to fail waking up, due to having a total of -1 to perception, and battle have not fully commenced, making the Perception DC 0, -10 for sleep.

The party surrounds the paluda, which now uses it's quill barrage, poisoning everyone except the rogue, the cleric and Akiros. THIS wakes Marcus, and now begins a truly epic series of bad saves and absurd rollings of d4s on my part. And to ice the cake, the cleric did not have Neutralize Poison, Delay Poison or anything of that nature prepared. All they had were some antitoxins that didn't quite make the required difference, some potions of lesser restoration (that made a difference for some.

Janos just BARELY escaped with a con score of 2 at the end. Alexandrej croaks, but gets back up with a scroll of Breath of Life, found in Varnhold. Marcus falls prey to the poison as well, and requires the final revival item in their possession; the scroll of raise dead.

Today they are heading into Vordekai's lair, having just barely gotten to level 8 and low on resources. So... expect another entry soon >_>

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

Another one bites the dust...Kingmaker is proving to be the most bloody AP for me yet...

Name: Donald McTavish
Race: dwarf
Classes/levels: Ranger 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Forgotten Keep
Catalyst: Portcullis Trap + Rig Gargadilly

Details: Even after the gnome sorceress Ancath pointed out the trap, Donald though he could 'jump' through. He triggered the falling portcullis and instead of dodging out of the way, he just stood there and let it crush and pin him like a bug.

Then Rig proceeded to run and slash several times. The rest of party could not see him, and even when they did, Rig's luck held out and they failed to target the right spot in the 'blur'. The quickling even dodged a fireball hurled into the keep. Baroness Patia did heal the trapped Donald, but not enough and only once, and Magnus failed three times to lift the gate and get his companion free, even with a bull's strength, and enlarge cast upon him.

Gargadilly slashed one more time, taking Donald to Pharasma's Gate. He bled, failed his stabilize, and then expired. Rig also got his illusions to distract the rest of the party enough to think that they were going to be attacked from the forest.

All this activity warranted the attention of the Dancing Lady and her other servant... The Grimstalker moved his assassin vine which lynched the gnome druid Besh and began to drag him up the tower wall.

We ended the session with the Baroness failing to negotiate with the Lady, who replied, "Consider your companion a sacrifice for your folly. Leave now or the rest of you will follow."

...and Besh being lifted to his doom....

Another funny that came out of this was the struggling country's new motto... "Wulfenstein -- Where Dwarves Go to Die" as both PCs that perished were dwarves.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16

Name: Elli of Norinor
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Druid 2
Adventure: Stolen Land
Location: Haunted Hillside
Catalyst: Scouting

Background: They've heard a couple of things about Hex Z. Not from bandits, as those they tend to kill far too quickly to learn anything from. But from kobolds. Mostly from Tartuk who told them that's where lots of shiny gold lies hidden and forgotten, and that they should definately check it out. Later, after deposing of the faux-shaman, Chief Sootscale warned them (in less eloquent Common) that they should stay far away from that hill, because of "bad juju" and placed his claws on his head in the shape of antlers. When they asked if it was "only human juju" or "scary magic juju" he replied "yes."
Guess who they decided to listen to?

Details: Upon seeing the fortress (which they decided was looked like the bigger, evil twin of Oleg's Trading Post) they decided to send out Elli, the party Druid, who had been functioning as party scout. I mentioned that the guards only really paid close attention to the pathway on the north side of the hill, so Elli decided to approach on the eastern side. I made it clear that nobody was looking in her direction, and she felt confident in herself as she snuck up towards the wall of the fort (her goal was to eavesdrop on the goings on inside.)

I told her that she felt tremors and burrowing, as if from some animal below her. I waited the customary six seconds for her to say or do anything, but she just stared back at me. So when a gory hand of exposed bone jutted out from the ground, grabbed her leg and pulled her to the ground, she was a bit shocked (trip hit her CMD of 12 exactly). Then three more zombies popped out of the ground, surrounding her. I decided emerging from the earth counted as their move action, so I turned to her for her response. In a panic, she decided to draw her dagger and attack the arm that was holding her to the ground (I decided not to impose any penalties to this roll) and she dealt 3 points of damage, and the hand let go. I asked what she would prefer for her move action, and knowing that standing back up would provoke an AoO, decided to do nothing (I think she was really caught off-gaurd OOG). So the not-fully-emerged zombie grappled her the next round (again, exactly her CMD of 12), and the other tree just beat on her. In mercy, I decided to not apply the -4 AC due to prone, but still two of them hit, and rolled max damage. She was almost knocked out. She called for her animal companion (and when it bolted to her, so did the rest of the party) but they were at least 700 feet away.

The next round, the zombies continued to beat on her and she quickly went down. Given how there were no other targets even remotely nearby (despite the party going at a full gallop) the zombies decided to do the only thing that would come naturally to zombies: eat her.

.

Really, the worst was the bandits taunting her party after the fact. I think the harshest comment was when the party threatened to storm up there and kill them, to which they pointed over at the left-over gore that was Elli, and retorted "yea, like your inside-out menstrual stain over there?"

They want to come back with a vengence now.

To allow for some degree of continuity, she's rolling her next character as a Ranger, and going to inherit the animal companion (this will cause it to start off with too many HD, but whatever).

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Name: Tatya (formerly Gregor Garess)
Race: Human (reincarnated Dwarf)
Classes/levels: Expert 1/Ranger 2
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Forgotten Keep
Catalyst: Kidnapped by Teorlan & given to the Dancing Lady as a present.

Details: The PCs having retreated to rest after their 1st foray, I had origionally decided to have their NPC ally, Anando, kidnapped, giving them motive for their second foray and letting them know this was no passive place to loiter, but Tatya's player flaked on the game at the last minute, so I switched my chosen victim for them to find missing in the morning. The rest of the party managed to deal with Teorlan, but the central tower & the Dancing Lady badly messed them up (the Dancing Lady nearly caused a TPK, until one of the other PCs remembered they had the Noble-born: Medvyd trait, giving them that +1 vs fey effects they needed to exactly make their save). Sadly, Tatya was right next to her, partly drained already, when the Alchemist decided the only way to put her down was by peppering the Dancing Lady with Bombs. Death by splash damage.

SO, Tatya was reincarnated (again) back to being a Dwarf, but only managed to get one of his two negative levels restored before heading out again for...

Name: Gregor Garess (name back to his original)
Race: Dwarf (re-reincarnated)
Classes/levels: Expert 1/Ranger 2
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Lonely Barrow
Catalyst: First one, in first one out

Details: With their NPC tank ally and animal companion waiting back out front (recovering from the trap), Gregor happened to go high on the initiative, hitting the Lonely Warrior first, so he became the target of choice, and the Warrior critted, doing 2 negative levels. Sadly, Gregor still had 1 left from the last time he'd been brought back from the dead, so that was that. He go up, tried to sneak up on an archer, but the NPC tank heard the commotion and put him down.

It bears mentioning that his is the low-leveled member of the party, everyone else floating at 4th-5th level by this point.


Name: Grey Jack
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian/2
Adventure: Stolen Land
Location: On the trail of that damn boar...
Catalyst: Well, I intentionally was playing a Barbarian with a weak Con, and had come across a certain part in the adventure where the cleric in the party because of RP reasons could not heal my Barbarian.
The Gory Details: The stupid boar smeared me, I was set with a long spear as the boar charged, got a good hit but not enough to effect the beast. The rest of the party could not pull the beast off me as it gored my body...LOL.

Scarab Sages

onesickgnome wrote:

Name: Grey Jack

Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian/2
Adventure: Stolen Land
Location: On the trail of that damn boar...
Catalyst: Well, I intentionally was playing a Barbarian with a weak Con, and had come across a certain part in the adventure where the cleric in the party because of RP reasons could not heal my Barbarian.
The Gory Details: The stupid boar smeared me, I was set with a long spear as the boar charged, got a good hit but not enough to effect the beast. The rest of the party could not pull the beast off me as it gored my body...LOL.

And here I was going to bump this thread so you would find it easy to locate. Fear not, Grey Jack won't be alone in the line at Pharasma's Gate long.

Oh, and don't forget Grey Jack was the bait yelling, "whoo pig" in front of Tuskgutter's lair while the rest of the party pretty much hid.

The six or so Nat 20s I rolled against Grey Jack that night are a record against a single player for me.

Shane

Dark Archive

It was a rough night for my players:

Name: Divinitia du Infini
Race: Female Elf (Very, Very Old)
Classes/levels: Wizard 1 (Diviner)
Adventure: Stolen Land
Location: Mite Lair under the Old Sycamore Tree
Catalyst: Giant Whiptail Centipede

The Gory Details: Three of the party members made it across the cavern before the Centipede made her presence felt. As the 600 year old diviner made her way across the knot bridge the Centipede pounced. Needless to say the creature almost chopped her in half with a bite (she had 6 HPs with an 8 Con and the creature did 13 points of damage in one round and her turn was next after the attack so there was no chance for her to be healed).

Name: Azgrim Voldrake
Race: Male Dwarf
Classes/levels: Monk of Irori 1
Adventure: Stolen Land
Location: Mite Lair under the Old Sycamore Tree
Catalyst: Giant Tick

The Gory Details: This battle was almost a TPK as the party's fighter was the last one standing against the tick and three mites. Somehow he survived but Azgrim did not after the Tick nailed him with a bite. He immediately went into negs and bled out as no one could heal him. The Tick killed poor Mikmek and the party's Inquisitor and Rogue were in negs as well but stabilized.

The Mite Lair is brutal.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Barbarians just have no luck in my games...

Name: Bryn
Race: Female Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian 1
Adventure: Stolen Land/Rivers Run Red/Carrion Hill tie-in
Location: Elkholm (city built around the Temple of the Elk)
Catalyst: Diplomatic negotiations gone horribly wrong.

The Gory Details: The low-level secondary PCs had been sent to convince several independent settlements currently free due to their rival Barony having been driven into Anarchy due to unrest to join their more stable Domain. During a particularly tense negotiation with Akiros (who was leading one of the two factions in Elkholm they needed to make peace with), one of the negotiators for the party let slip that he was the one responsible for letting the Old Cult-worshiping ghouls that were infesting the town graveyard get their hands on a copy of the Pknotic Manuscripts that one of his former employers (one of the more experienced PCs - now dead) had left him. Akiros, upset that the undead that had so recently infested Elkholm now had a book capable of summoning the same Thing that had caused such trouble in Carrion Hill, started shouting at him and looking like he might loose it, so Bryn attacked first, rather than let a possible enemy take the upper hand. Auch (one of Akiros' lieutenants in the current guardsman hierarchy of Elkholm) whacked her over the head, leaving her staggered, to be followed by Akiros nearly finishing the job with his return blow. Bryn bled to death while the rest of the diplomatic team backed away, hands in the air as they tried to calm the situation back down so they wouldn't have to face off against a dozen city guard, Akiros, Auch & Devon.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Grendel Todd wrote:

Barbarians just have no luck in my games...

Name: Bryn
Race: Female Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian 1
Adventure: Stolen Land/Rivers Run Red/Carrion Hill tie-in
Location: Elkholm (city built around the Temple of the Elk)
Catalyst: Diplomatic negotiations gone horribly wrong.

The Gory Details: The low-level secondary PCs had been sent to convince several independent settlements currently free due to their rival Barony having been driven into Anarchy due to unrest to join their more stable Domain. During a particularly tense negotiation with Akiros (who was leading one of the two factions in Elkholm they needed to make peace with), one of the negotiators for the party let slip that he was the one responsible for letting the Old Cult-worshiping ghouls that were infesting the town graveyard get their hands on a copy of the Pknotic Manuscripts that one of his former employers (one of the more experienced PCs - now dead) had left him. Akiros, upset that the undead that had so recently infested Elkholm now had a book capable of summoning the same Thing that had caused such trouble in Carrion Hill, started shouting at him and looking like he might loose it, so Bryn attacked first, rather than let a possible enemy take the upper hand. Auch (one of Akiros' lieutenants in the current guardsman hierarchy of Elkholm) whacked her over the head, leaving her staggered, to be followed by Akiros nearly finishing the job with his return blow. Bryn bled to death while the rest of the diplomatic team backed away, hands in the air as they tried to calm the situation back down so they wouldn't have to face off against a dozen city guard, Akiros, Auch & Devon.

For some reason having a level 1 PC try to pre-emptively whack a certainly higher-level and guarded NPC sounds like a hilarious overreaction by the player. :D

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

magnuskn wrote:
For some reason having a level 1 PC try to pre-emptively whack a certainly higher-level and guarded NPC sounds like a hilarious overreaction by the player. :D

Yes, yes it was. Especially as we all pointed it out to said player, everyone else stated they were backing away & I gave him a chance to re-think his choice. But sometimes a PCs gotta do what a PCs gotta do...

Grand Lodge

Name: Marcian
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Lvl 1 Fighter
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Olegs
Catalyst: Bandits coming into Olegs

Name: Harsk
Race: Dwarf
Classes/Levels: Lvl 3 Barbarian
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: In the woods
Catalyst: Killing a fay cricket thingy


Finally chronicled all the deaths in my game.

1. Anafel, Elf Witch 2, died to Haunted Hillside
2. Carson, 1/2 Orc Barbarian 2, died to Haunted Hillside and Stag Lord
3. Javelin, Elf Rogue 2 or 3, died to Owlbear in Stag Lord's Fort
4. Devore, Human Druid 4, died to Lizardmen
5. Jacob, Human Paladin 4, died to Will'o'Wisp in Lizardmen fort
6. Kepple, Halfling Ranger 5, died to Owlbear'o'doom
7. Anafel, Elf Witch 6, died to rando' Trolls
8. Yohan, 1/2ling Bard & Baron 6, died in Troll Lair
9. Barry, Human Cleric 6, died in Troll Lair
10. Krolm, Gnome Sorcerer 6, died in Troll Lair
11. Morias, Human Monk 6, died in Troll Lair
12. Yohan, 1/2ling Bard & Duke 8, died to Kepple (#6 from above, Dominate Person rocks! I mean...I'm really sorry that I caused a player to die.)
13. Morias, Human Monk 8, died to Lich
14. Yoahn, 1/2ling Bard & Duke 8, died to Lich (same session, 2 or 3 hours after #12)

They prefer the knock on door and see what opens it method, hence the high death count.


Name : Marcus the Great
Race : Male Human
Classes/levels : Fighter 1/Barbarian 1
Adventure : Stolen Lands/One-shot
Location : Gold Mine
Catalyst : Following unusually large humanoid footprints with claws into a wet and muddy hole

The Gory Details :
Had a Thawn Druid 3 with a cave fisher in a rocky and muddy cave. Marcus attracted the wrath of the Thawn.. A crit and a hit, 5,6 and 6 on the damage rolls. Marcus was out cold..

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

It was a TPK

Names : Baroness Patia, Diplomat Ancath, Marshall Besh, Royal Headsman Yan Wei
Race : Female Human (BP), Female Gnome (DA), Male Gnome (MB), Male Human (RHYW)
Classes/levels : Cleric 6 (BP), Dragon-bloodline sorcerer 6 (DA), Druid 6 (MB), Rogue/Monk 3/3 (RHYW)
Adventure : Rivers Run Red
Location : Wilderness, some 36 miles west of Oleg's Trading Post and Village

Catalyst : A lesser barghest and a squad of goblin minions. (Random Encounter)

The Gory Details : 10 Pharast, 4709. Out on routine patrol west of Oleg's to scout out some potential farmland the party was ambushed while camping just after midnight by a barghest and a squad from his goblin tribe. Only Besh, his animal companion Kat, and the monk/rogue managed to awake before the initial volley of arrows. Patia and Ancath were rudely awaken by arrows to the gut, arms, legs, but fortunately though painful did not kill anyone straight away.

However, the barghest managed to charm the monk/rogue and ordered it to protect him. Kat (and a failed Cha check) started the Yan Wei fighting on the goblins' side, and Ancath's fireball with the monk/rogue in the blast did not help the party's cause. Ironically, after two fireballs, only two of the five goblins had actually been slain. The barghest shrugged off most of the magic damage due to its blinking status. Yan Wei focused on the little sorcerer taking her down, while the barghest chased and took out the cleric, leaving one of its goblins to finish her while he and his new friend tried to corral a fleeing druid and his cat. Besh almost got away in great owl form, but Yan Wei shot him down, and the druid now, unconscious, plummeted to his death.

Then the barghest decided to finish off Wei. Yan Wei, the charm dispelled wept at the damage he had caused and tried to run away, but the barghest cut him down.

Kat, though fled amidst bow fire from the ferocious little goblins, the only survivor of this disaster.

...Back at Shrikewall, only Sindri (male Human Diviner 6) and General Magnus (male Dwarf Barbarian 6) remained of the leadership, both held back to help keep order after a disastrous winter in the Barony. It was going to be a rough spring....

GM Note After the fight, the barghest consumed the soul of the Baroness Patia and gave over the rest of the bodies, two horses and a pony to the tribes larder. Ancath, and the horse were tortured and eaten alive. I guess that I have to now develop this barghest and his goblin tribe as a new thorn in the side of the Barony of Wulfenstein.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

This kinda makes me itch to include some of the poor souls chronicled here as skeletons found in some glade or cave, maybe with a journal to indicate who they were. Or make the players find the ruins of the Barony of Wulfenstein. :D

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

They're not done yet!

But is does beg the question? What were to happen if all the PCs die? Do the Lords of Restove send replacements to try and restore order? Do we just hit "RESET" and start with the Ambush at Oleg's again with new characters?


Mactaka wrote:

They're not done yet!

But is does beg the question? What were to happen if all the PCs die? Do the Lords of Restove send replacements to try and restore order? Do we just hit "RESET" and start with the Ambush at Oleg's again with new characters?

I would continue the story from the point of view of some of the people who traveled to the new kingdom. After the loss of half the leaders, the country is falling into shambles. I would start them off 2-3 levels down from their old PCs, Have a couple intro sessions with new characters who make a name for themselves in this falling kingdom that gets them close to the level of the old PCs, but I would say 1 level down, and re-introduces them to the remaining important NPCs, perhaps some of them having different outlooks on the PCs. Advance the kingdom a couple months without good rulers and some positions vacant. Don't destroy the kingdom, but make it so that the new PCs can take over and restore order. Perhaps their first adventure is to deal with these would be raiders who killed the previous king.


Mactaka wrote:

It was a TPK

Catalyst : A lesser barghest and a squad of goblin minions. (Random Encounter)

a bargehst is the only beastie the party have fought to a draw

its wolf minions where calmed and its krenshars killed
it fled under blur after realising it couldnt win

im sure its turned greater by now

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

My group had a couple of run-ins with a barghest (I used a greater, since they were already over-leveled for the adventure, first time with goblin rogues, second time with worgs and spriggans stolen from KM #3 plus a manticore); he could have escaped if that was his #1 priority, but the party had worked hard to track him down and I wanted to give them the satisfaction of finally nailing him (after they narrowly survived his hardcore ambush).

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Name: Fraulina
Race: Female Human
Classes/levels: Warrior 1
Adventure: Stolen Land/Rivers Run Red/Carrion Hill tie-in
Location: Thorn river fording (site of the old Thorn bandit camp)
Catalyst: Showdown with Varney the book-thief.

The Gory Details: The low-level secondary PCs, having spent several days tracking down the fellow responsible for swindling them out of their copy of the Pknotic Manuscripts that one of the PCs had brought back to the Stolen Lands from another adventure elsewhere, finally caught up with him (along with a pair of ghouls and a "mysterious stranger" in a hat & coat) at the old Thorn river fording spot. The ghouls go down in short order, while the guy in the hat sneaks off with the book. Varney however, holds the lot of them off as long as he can, killing Fraulina off early on when she charges on up to him and he reaches out with a Touch of Corruption to drop her. Fraulina, mind you, was the player's tertiary character, a henchman hired by said player originally to assist his earlier character (Gregor, whose demise is recorded earlier on this very list) that he decided was cool and so was getting the opportunity to play up to an actual hero class. What was Varney? A 4th level Antipaladin Ghoul with the "Civilized Ghoulishness" feat from Classic Horrors Revisited. Fraulina sadly bled (?) to death while the rest of the party wore him slowly down (loong fight, but they managed).


Name: Tam Hale
Race: Human
Classes/levels: gestalt barbarian/summoner 1
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Mite Lair
Catalyst: Rage+enemies in sight
The Gory Details: one mite crits unconscious, another mite coup de grace

That is all so far in my PBP.

Sovereign Court

Name: Teela
Race: Fiery red-haired half-elf
Classes/levels: Beastmaster Ranger 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Lonely Barrow
Catalyst: She REALLY wanted that heavily enchanted Aldori Dueling Sword the Lonely Warrior was sporting...
The Gory Details: Despite being buffed to the 9's with a Bull's Strength from the party cleric and an Enlarge courtesy of her lover, an Elven Druidess with a splash of Sorcerer, Teela and another enlarged melee fighter went toe to toe with the heavily armored cairn wight(who was boosted a bit himself due to the party's large size) and too one too many whacks with a broken, energy-draining sword brought her low. The final blow was a critical hit, which added another two negative levels to an already drained and beleagured warrior woman. The Lonely Warrior's luck did not hold out, however, as the rest of the party destroyed him with a combination of critical hits and ranged attacks, the final blow coming from her lover, who produced a flame that immolated the wight.

As an addendum, the party cleric used a Speak With Dead to determine that Teela wanted to return(and buy thicker armor) and the group collected as many rewards as they were owed(having the local swamp witch cast mending on the very nice broken sword liberated from the Lonely Barrow) and made the journey to Restov to find a cleric to cast Raise Dead on Teela and sell off the most expensive of their found magic items to finance the raising. A contact of theirs from the previous adventure, Silas Gaerecki, master spy for House Garess, pointed them toward a one-eyed rogue cleric of Asmodeus who owed Silas a favor. Teela was raised and the party made their way back into the Stolen Lands, although their decision to explore the wilds along the way back may prove dangerous....


Warforged Gardener wrote:

Name: Teela

Race: Fiery red-haired half-elf
Classes/levels: Beastmaster Ranger 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Lonely Barrow
Catalyst: She REALLY wanted that heavily enchanted Aldori Dueling Sword the Lonely Warrior was sporting...
The Gory Details: Despite being buffed to the 9's with a Bull's Strength from the party cleric and an Enlarge courtesy of her lover, an Elven Druidess with a splash of Sorcerer, Teela and another enlarged melee fighter went toe to toe with the heavily armored cairn wight(who was boosted a bit himself due to the party's large size) and too one too many whacks with a broken, energy-draining sword brought her low. The final blow was a critical hit, which added another two negative levels to an already drained and beleagured warrior woman. The Lonely Warrior's luck did not hold out, however, as the rest of the party destroyed him with a combination of critical hits and ranged attacks, the final blow coming from her lover, who produced a flame that immolated the wight.

As an addendum, the party cleric used a Speak With Dead to determine that Teela wanted to return(and buy thicker armor) and the group collected as many rewards as they were owed(having the local swamp witch cast mending on the very nice broken sword liberated from the Lonely Barrow) and made the journey to Restov to find a cleric to cast Raise Dead on Teela and sell off the most expensive of their found magic items to finance the raising. A contact of theirs from the previous adventure, Silas Gaerecki, master spy for House Garess, pointed them toward a one-eyed rogue cleric of Asmodeus who owed Silas a favor. Teela was raised and the party made their way back into the Stolen Lands, although their decision to explore the wilds along the way back may prove dangerous....

Bane weapons being CL 8th, I assume the Swamp Witch has levelled up in your game... Though the casters in Restov can get the mending done anyway.

The Cairn Wight seems to be really racking up the casualties. Tactically, I think the way to fight it seems to be a staged withdrawal backed up by heavy missile fire down the conveniently ten foot wide corridors, accompanied by much grease and web magic...
Uh-oh. Your PCs are wandering around The Nomen Heights with that encounter table??? Here's hoping they don't meet a Great Cyclops, otherwise there could be a few more fatalities. :D


And I gave him two guards of honor, thinking him to be too weak on his own against my group...


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Ruyan wrote:
And I gave him two guards of honor, thinking him to be too weak on his own against my group...

His Attack line is out (by about 10 points) which means he actually has a much easier time hitting once that's corrected.

(The same applies to Rigg Gargadilly too, I think...)

Sovereign Court

Charles Evans 25 wrote:
Bane weapons being CL 8th, I assume the Swamp Witch has levelled up in your game... Though the casters in Restov can get the mending...

I usually treat most NPCs as a level higher if the CR increases due to party level, unless it's a likely cohort(those always stay at least a level behind the group). I noticed that the swamp witch was so darned close to being able to repair it anyway without having to charge a fortune...seemed a waste of the good story work the PCs did with her already if she just couldn't help. (in our game, her bloodline traces all the way back to a dalliance between the enigmatic fey who wanders the Stolen Lands and the once-proud Tiger Lords. I expect they'll be visiting her s lot more often later. )

Scarab Sages

Name: Redor
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Fighter 3
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Owl Bear
The Gory Details: He was pinned against the wall by the owlbear and savaged to death. We were trying to rescue another character who had been captured.


Name: Malazar/Gortek/Hubert
Race: Half-elf/Dwarf/Halfling
Classes/levels: Fighter 1/Barbarian 1/Ranger 1
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: The Old Sycamore
Catalyst: Whiptail centipede
The Gory Details: After climbing down the 30ft shaft to the torture chamber and defeating a good number of mites, they were beginning to feel quite confident. Gortek tried to cross the chasm but fell to the mite trap.. Prone and quite hurt already, the centipede made short work of him. Hubert then started shooting the centipede with his bow while Malazar readied an alchemist fire if the centipede climbed up.. It did climb up on the next round and while still on fire, managed to take the life of Hubert and Malazar on the way out. Hubert was killed in the shaft while climbing to escape and fell to his death and Malazar was killed in the tunnel near the exit.

Artuk the half-orc Draconic Sorcerer and Mikmek the caged kobold live to fight another day...and the centipede failed all his reflex saves and burned to death.

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