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Name: Artemis Gayle
Race: Elf
Class: Druid
Level: 4
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Catalyst: Bears + Angry Erastil = Nom, Nom, Nom.
The party has had a heck of a good time slaughtering and hideous laughing everything from the Old Beldame to Mad Crackjaw. Pretty much nothing can avoid all of their knockout power attacks.
Nothing, that is, until 4 grizzly bears decided to take up residence in the Old Beldame's hut for a a bit. Being midway between Lake Candlemere and Kamelot, they rested there a couple of times during their travels without incident.
One time, however, they encountered Momma, Papa, and 2 Baby Bears, all grumpy and mean, from being interrupted in their napping. Bursting out of the hut, they charged Artemis, the Cavalier, Barbarian, and Cleric of the group.
Readers of my CJ will know that Artemis has a plan to wipe out worship of Erastil in the area, and has thumbed her nose at him, pretty directly. Animals tend to pick on her, because of that.
The battle was going well, both Momma and Papa bear were reduced to pelts on meat, when Baby Bear 1 decided he needed to kill his prey and escape, if possible. Bite, Claw, Critical Claw later, little Miss Druid is sitting in pieces, just before Baby Bear bites a bullet.
With their handy-dandy Scroll of Reincarnation, they brought her right back, in the body of a halfling. Toting a Medium sized shotgun she can't use, she now has a very strong "Children of Dune" feel going on.
This SHOULD have been an obituary.
Name: The Cavalier
Race: Half-Orc
Class: Cavalier
Level: 4
Adventure: Somewhere between Stolen Lands and Rivers Run Red
Catalyst: Smite Good and a spiked pit trap
In between book 1 and book 2 I ran my party through a little sidequest. They took the undead haunting of the Stag Lord's Fort a little more seriously than I expected, so I wrote up a whole hidden dungeon under the fort for them to deal with. The final boss of this dungeon being a bloody skeletal champion Antipaladin of Gyronna who was mostly responsible for the undead haunting.
Fast forward to said final boss fight. The relatively brash cavalier (yes, he really does just call himself "the Cavalier") trash talks the boss a bit and Challenges her. She responds with a Smite Good and a dagger to his face, rolling max damage and dropping him to -5 hit points.
Taking the only reasonable course of action in such a situation, the Cavalier lets his orcish ferocity kick in and charges her. Right into a spiked pit trap she was baiting the party into.
Being in a particularly generous mood (the pit was only 5 feet wide) I allow the Cavalier a Reflex save to leap over the pit and finish his charge. Imagine my surprise when, with only a +2 reflex, he makes the DC20 save. Not only that, but also hits the boss's 22AC and rolls almost max damage with his flail.
He then, of course, KO'ed and probably would have died anyway had the party bard not distracted the boss by stealing the artifact she was drawing most of her power from.
A flurry of blows from the monk and a sneak attack with an undead bane sword from the rogue finished off the uppity Antipaladin and the Cavalier lived to die another day. But I still can't believe it. :)
Name: Silar Vrujesh
Race: Human
Class: Cleric
Level: 2
Adventure: Stolen Lands - Old Sycamore
My cleric (who left his brain at home for some reason) decided he was a fighter and then forgot that monsters get to attack using the game's rules so he rushes into the thick of some awful and pathetic mites. He gets his one attack off and misses. The mites then proceed to attack him, as the other characters have yet to move due to initiative orders. They stab the living crud out of him and then the evil super tick from beyond the seven hells finishes off his positive hitpoint total and infects him with a delightful case of the red ache. His unconscious body surrounded, the other characters proceed to rush to try and save the absolutely brain dead cleric while the host of mites simply take turns performing coup de grace actions (shockingly not killing him with their overall patheticness). As the next round dawned the mites went ahead and finished the stab party on the cleric and the party was left without a healer...although he never did much healing...
Moral of the story: Cleric's aren't Fighters and combat rules might be useful to consider from time to time.
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The Replacements win!
The Bargest that had killed four of the previous crew, now CR 6 after two months of feeding, was defeated in an epic battle which saw one player plunge into the raging Thorn River and carried downstream, while trying to cross a rope bridge, another player bull rush the bargest into the same river, and then the first player who fell in meeting the bargest on the beach and cutting him down, while on death's door himself. The rest of the goblins were easily routed upon the defeat of their otherworldly boss.
The replacements --
Torquemada -- 6th level half-orc fighter
Diesum -- 6th level human druid
Magnus II -- 6th level dwarven cleric of Torag
Yuri -- 6th level cavalier.
Perhaps Wulfenstein's fortunes are changing....
Ok here goes from memory best as I can recall, please forgive my lapse in memory, this happened roughly 1-1/2 month ago so I cant recall all the names and whatnot.
Name: Can't remember
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Alchemist/ 2
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Kobold Mine
Catalyst: Disguising oneself as (can't remember name) the purple kobold right before the chief yells to kill said purple kobold
The Gory Details: (optional)
we had rescued Mikmek? if thats his name right? and we're takin the little statue thing back to the kobolds. when we got there we were faced with the decision whether to take it to the chief or to the purple one, the party decided to take it to the chief, the Alchemist, who is forever doing what he decides regardless where the party goes anyway, decides he wants to meet this witchdoctor purple kobold so he goes a meets with him and when he leaves, for some reason I can't recall, decides to use one of his potions of diguise or somethin similar to look like the purple kobold and to go find the chief.
meanwhile we (the rest of the party) had went and met with the chief who promptly smashed the statue breaking the spell on them and the round before the disguised alchemist rounded the corner the kobold chief ordered the purple ones death. Initiatives are rolled and low and behold all the pc's were in single digits, kobolds act first= dead alchemist
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I DM a campaign where characters from the Council of Thieves campaign abandon the campaign at the behest of the Pathfinder Society and embark on the Kingmaker campaign.
Name: Mercedes
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian 8
Adventure: The Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Valley of the Dead, level 2
Catalyst: Onslaught (dungeon pull) by destroying you-know-what
The Gory Details: They were in the room before the tar, and then it happened. They tried to pull in all the monsters into that room and then Mr. V showed up and tried to teach them a lesson.
Before it was said and done, Mercedes had been level drained 6 levels (restored in the fight by the cleric though), and was cursed for loss of Con, permanently paralyzed, and was coup de graced by Mr. V.
Name: Logan
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Bard 8
Adventure: The Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Valley of the Dead, level 2
Catalyst: The stealthy rogue popped the Piscodaemon and when challenged, the party said, "stand back in the name of <insert party name here>" which of course started a fight with the Piscodaemon, who should have had "BMF" stamped on his forehead.
The Gory Details: BMF crit the cavalier for 42 points of damage (+ sickened + bleed) which was very painful but thankfully he had a ring of freedom of movement to stop the grab and constrict. The fighters encroached into the room, leaving the spellcasters in the middle (there are 6 characters including cohorts), and the bard was in the back in the hallway. BMF stepped back and greater teleported to melee range with the bard, the enchantress, and the cleric, and the bard cast invisibility defensively and took a 5' step. The fighters tried to come all the way back but the Piscodaemon easily massacred the poor bard the next round.
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Name: Merrik
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Summoner 4
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Same hex as swamp witch
Catalyst: Random Encounter (Shambling Mound)
The Gory Details: I'm going to keep this one short: Soaking an AoO in an attempt to heal a dying character sounds awesome.. until that AoO nearly kills you, forces you into a grapple, then DOES kill you as the shambling mound squeezes you in half on its turn.
SPOILER WARNING ON THIS ONE:
Name: Orik
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Bard 7 (Arcane Duelist)
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Same hex as stag lord, specifically in the noble quarter of the PC's capital city of Cern.
Catalyst:
The Gory Details: The players had assaulted the troll lair, and nearly died (the wizard spent his hero points to survive), but were able to flee thanks to an ingenious track-covering strategy to avoid being hunted down like dogs. They decide to retreat to town, but by the time they got back the trolls were already there ransacking the place and destroying buildings. The Barbarian and tiger-form Druid charge and kill a troll between the party and the leader troll, so Orik charges the leader with a +1 Keen Rapier and a damage mod of something like 16. Unfortunately, rolling 2,3 and 4 on the 3 attacks he got before death doesn't sit well. The leader's last hit on Orik caused his torso to move and his legs to stay where they were. Not pretty.
Funny enough, he got reincarnated as a Human. No real stat changes, pretty boring overall.
Name: Peter
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Troll Lair
Catalyst: Fight at the entrance
The Gory Details:
Name: Mora Garess
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Rogue 3
Adventure: postlude to Stolen Land
Location: out in the wilderness
Catalyst: thinking the fight was over
The Gory Details: The morning broke. The ruins of the terrible storm the night before lay about the fort: shattered wood, tossed rocks, and dead bodies washed clean from the rain. Last night, under torrential rain & windstorm, the party had assaulted the Stag Lord's fort. Even with their ranged weapons rendered useless, the bandits were still a ferocious opponent, swarming upon their attackers, with an enraged owlbear tearing through the mess. Many fell, bandit and PC alike. The PCs were dragged into shelter for the night and stabalized, the bandits were left to the elements. And mother nature took their lives happily.
Except for one that she didn't.
So the next morning, when Mora awoke, she began exploring the fort. She only had 2 HP, and the party was completely exhausted of healing potions, but no matter, the fight was over! So when she began looting around downstairs, she was surprised when she was suddenly assaulted by the wolveriene she thought she had killed the night before! Yet Naguda the Decreipt got lucky with his stabalization checks, and was now up and alive with 3 HP. He hadn't yet had time to prepare spells this morning (he was prepping when Mora had come downstairs) so he was only left with what he had from the night before (when he was defeated).
Summon Swarm.
The rest of the party ran downstairs to save her (re-defeating Naguda easily), even shepharding the bugs onto themselves to try and save her life (strangest use of Handle Animal ever). They stabalized her... but like I said, no healing potions remained.
Oh, and they have no divine casters.
So they loaded her (and a lot of loot) onto a cart and began the long haul back to Restov. There was no point in going back to Oleg's: it was merely a burned patch of ground, long since abandoned. As the days wore on, Mora eventually unstabalized. And nobody noticed (all failed DC 10 Heal check to notice). And somewhere in the wilderness, the vast expanse of Stolen Land, Mora Garess was no more.
Name: Heins
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cleric of Gorum 2
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Out in the narlmarshes
Catalyst: Random Will o' wisp
The Gory Details: Awoken in the middle of the night by an hungry will o' wisp, the party was unsure what they were encountering and what to do at first. As the first attempts to assault the glowing skull sneering at them didn't have the slightest effect.. retreat was called. Andular the monk was followed while he fled on foot from the wisp while Heins ran to the horses with the hope of helping his companion. Andular was struck down by the wisp until he fell uncounscious(at -1 and stabilized) with Heins only a few feets behind. The fear caused by the lost companion now attracted the wisp which managed to strike Heins while still on horseback..without a saddle.
Heins was struck down at 0 and fell from the horse taking 5 points of damage..and died from his wounds. Not sure what the 4 other companions will come back to or if the two low wisdom gnomes will get lost in the thick forest.
4 deaths/6 players
Name: Nestor
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Bard
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Sootscale caverns
Catalyst: 3 out of 6 PCs brought the statue back to Tartuk in the temple with the sorcerer cursing the non-scalies right at the arrival of the Chief.
The Gory Details: For some reason, they were convinced by kobolds to come inside the caverns and they splitted up in two groups of 3, half staying outside. They left the statue outside and Artuk(CN half-orc red dragon sorcerer) brought the head of the king of mites on a spear proving they won the war against the fey. They negotiated for a reward with Tartuk and he goaded them with the gem and ring(they recognized the provenance of the ring). The same three came back inside with the statue and as Sootscale made his entrance in the cave, Tartuk called out to kill the non-scalies as they profaned the sacred statue.
Artuk killed a lot of kobolds acting first with a well-placed burning hands..but as soon as it was Tartuk's turn he used his Deep Slumber(Modified version for 6 players). Nestor and Artuk failed their save and Al the paladin the half-elf would've too if it wasn't for immunity. A kobold was in range to end the life of Nestor and hisspear pierced thru the halfling easily.. Nestor failed his Fortitude save and died. The paladin managed to wake up the sorceror and the other part of the team heard the paladin's shouts echoing to the entrance of the caves... They managed to win with Artuk reaching -9 hit points at some point before some first aid was done.
The kobolds now have a new boss, Artuk.
Draconic heritage really brings people together, fire too.
5 deaths/6 players - Only one left.
I really enjoy reading these obituaries. My players keep miraculously surviving.
me too
session #20 for us tonight
no deaths as yet
have got fairly close when one of the 'marching men' hammered a PC and a tendriculous managed to swallow one
lowest hp been at -8 or so
Name: Andrejev
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Rogue 2
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: in the woods near Kressle's camp
Catalyst: an over-confident rogue trying to sneak away
The Gory Details: Ok, this should have been a TPK, but... anyways, the group approaches the camp, the rogue goes scouting, botches his roll near the fire in the camp, a thunder stone goes off, he is deaf and tries to get away and ends up lying in the dirt, bound and with a sack over his head. The rest of the group comes to his rescue, is spotted and Kressle tells them to surrender, otherwise their friend would suffer. The Paladin manages to get away, climbs a tree to reach platform K2 and is critted twice to 0 hp.
The rest surrenders. Slightly healed, the Paladin answers Kressles question who they are and who sent them by telling Kressle about the Sword lords Charta (this is were they should have been shot). They are forced to strip to complete nackedness and are sent home to their mom.
They head back to where they thought their horses were tethered and notice they are followed.
They are armed with clubs and still naked, the rogue sneaks away and ambushes one of the bandits who follows him. The ambush succeeds, the rest of the fight went in the bandits favor - dead rogue.
Three days later he is reincarnated as an elf.
Name: Duke Jack Ravenbeard
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 11
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Armag's Tomb
Catalyst: Our fearless leader met Armag, was crit by Armag, drew an attack of opportunity and was crit by Armag again. We peeled him off of the walls and ressurected him.
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Name: Nestor
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Bard
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Sootscale caverns
Catalyst: 3 out of 6 PCs brought the statue back to Tartuk in the temple with the sorcerer cursing the non-scalies right at the arrival of the Chief.The Gory Details: For some reason, they were convinced by kobolds to come inside the caverns and they splitted up in two groups of 3, half staying outside. They left the statue outside and Artuk(CN half-orc red dragon sorcerer) brought the head of the king of mites on a spear proving they won the war against the fey. They negotiated for a reward with Tartuk and he goaded them with the gem and ring(they recognized the provenance of the ring). The same three came back inside with the statue and as Sootscale made his entrance in the cave, Tartuk called out to kill the non-scalies as they profaned the sacred statue.
Artuk killed a lot of kobolds acting first with a well-placed burning hands..but as soon as it was Tartuk's turn he used his Deep Slumber(Modified version for 6 players). Nestor and Artuk failed their save and Al the paladin the half-elf would've too if it wasn't for immunity. A kobold was in range to end the life of Nestor and hisspear pierced thru the halfling easily.. Nestor failed his Fortitude save and died. The paladin managed to wake up the sorceror and the other part of the team heard the paladin's shouts echoing to the entrance of the caves... They managed to win with Artuk reaching -9 hit points at some point before some first aid was done.
The kobolds now have a new boss, Artuk.
Draconic heritage really brings people together, fire too.5 deaths/6 players - Only one left.
I'm glad my conversion contributed to PC death :P
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Down goes Trixie...
Gnome barbarian 5, torn asunder by big old beaky at the end of Rivers Run Red.
In a more appropriate manner:
Who: Trixie Bushwacker
Where: The Midden of the Hidden Cave Complex, Southeast corner of the map
When: Progressing through Rivers Run Red
Catalyst: Hitting hard, being small, and standing too close.
The group searched the eastern half of the map before tackling the western forest regions. Of course, they stumbled across Big Beaky's hiding spot. They even had all the necessary perception to find the darn place, pre-rampage.
Inside, the extra Advanced Violet Fungi held the party up long enough for BB to awake, enrage, and stomp over to investigate. One Web spell slowed him enough to finish off the mushrooms and ready to engage.
Altrum, the cleric/oracle almost bit it from one swipe, but managed to land a Channel Energy. Trixie was next to deal damage, and in a big way, whacking BB for some 40-45 hp on a greatsword crit. He took personal affront to that, and returned the favor.
Landing Claw, Claw, Bite on the Gnome proved too much, when combined with damage from the Fungi and an AoO on the charge in. BB tore her to pieces, only to fall to the Sorcerer and Witch's direct damage spells shortly thereafter.
She popped back up as a halfling when next they got to Kamelot.
Poor Peter, he has no luck...
Name: Luthiel Bloodeyes (formerly Peter, aka Mikiel Surtova)
Race: Elf (Reincarnated Human)
Classes/levels: Magus 5 (rebuilt from Fighter 5, using his reincarnation as an excuse)
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Troll Lair
Catalyst: Fighting the Troll King
The Gory Details:
Some honorable mentions for our slog through the Troll tunnels:
Fleegle (Wolf Companion to Winterheart) rent into little peaces and chewed up by Nargrundi.
Munguk (npc ally & friendly native guide) rent and munched by Nargrundi.
Anando Veresisi (npc ally, court treasurer, halfling Aristocrat 3/Witch 1) blown to bits by Hargulka. Brought back as a Gnome.
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Jurys out on whether this one counts, as the player of Edric was forced to leave my PbP due to his work firewalling off Paizo.
Name: Sir Edric Orlovsky
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cavalier 2
Adventure: Chapter 1
Location: Tartuk's Cave
Catalyst: Bad Luck
The Gory Details: After only a day or so ago duelling Grabbles and Tickbiter atop his mighty steed Talia and soundly defeating the mite with nary a serious wound, brave Sir Edric succumbed to Tartuk's Deep Slumber spell, and found himself about to be coup-de-graced by a lowly kobold. The group's Oracle woke him up, only for him to fall asleep on a sibsequent round before standing up by another Deep Slumber. The heavily armoured knight was slain by a spear through the throat (only damage on the coup de grace, but rolled low on fort save).
He will be missed, the party are going to build a monument in his honour. The party bard quietly glosses over the actual details of his death, afraid he will bring shame upon his dead friends name by naming his killer. The same Kobold scored a crit on the party Paladin the next round, almost one-shotting him (20,19 on the dice). Superkobold!
so close to my first kill after session 21 tonight
5 cyclops's, each one using it dices choice,
"By the oculum, i alter reality"
and confirming their crits for 9d6+15
~7th lvl party
bear companion on -15
bard down at -2
druid just above zero
fighter rogue on 9hp
3 earth elementals summoned + destroyed
horrid fight
pcs did 5 x 65 hp damage to me, i did 287 back (we just had to count up)
party saved by the always haste/touch attack sorcoress, who now has the spectral hand wand treasure, so i truly fear for my beasties
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Name: Kane (aka - Meatshield #4)
Race: Gnome
Classes/levels: Wizard 3
Adventure: River Runs Red
Location: The Slain Townfolk
Catalyst: The stupid gnome ran to the front of the fight
The Gory Details: Kundal the werewolf ripped the gnome in half after being hit with a scorching ray for 21 points of damage.
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Name: Ganon Malfoy
Where: Southeast of the Scythe Tree Hex
Catalyst: Being Human, and being out of cover
Level: 6, towards the end of Rivers Run Red.
Ganon's companion, healer, druid, and "friend" Artemis decided to pick a fight with Erastil. That's understandable in her eyes, he's stodgy, misogynist, and old-fashioned; he's gotta go in the name of progress.
Unfortunately, that means a fight was inevitable.
Sending some Champions of Erastil their way, this was an excellent time to capitalize on the "Grim White Stag = The Forest God from Princess Mononoke" images we conjured up much earlier in the campaign.
So, Ashitaka and Mononoke, along with 2 Huge dire wolves, attacked the party, and put some serious hurt on everyone, until Ganon hideous laughter'd the Princess and took her out of the fight.
Doing that, he left himself no cover from the human banearrow wielding, Favored Enemy: Human toting ranger, who put 2 arrows into his chest and put him in the ground.
A few days later, Ganon was reincarnated as an Elf.
Name: Brognoche Medvyed / Al
Race: Gnome / Half-elf
Classes/levels: Wizard(Illusionist) 3 / Paladin 3
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Haunted hillside
Catalyst: The party sneak up the hillside at night and underestimate the power of zombies
The Gory Details:
I was expecting this to be a minor issue and I let the group of 6 Pcs climb up to about 100 ft up the hill before the zombies surrounded them.
They managed to kill about 12 of them with the bandit in the lone tower taking a few pot shots and finally shot down by the ranger.
The retreat was called and most of the group had moved just before Brognoche could flee which led to 3 zombies charging and hitting the gnome for 24 points of damage taking him down from full health to -1.
Al was already quite bruised but tried to take the body of his comrade away from the undead..and down he went too.
The stolen lands really are as dangerous as they say. There are now seven tombs on the map! Seems a bit much. Having 6 players and CR appropriate encounters often means that death can be really swift.
Nearly had a TPK!
Name: Aquilla & Winterheart
Race: Gnome & Elf (reincarnated human)
Classes/levels: Warlock 4 & Ranger 4/Cleric of Erastil 1
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Owlbear Lair
Catalyst: Fighting the Shambling Mound
The Gory Details: After having cleared out most of the lair and burning through most of their resources, they intentionally set off the shriekers on their way out to see what might come to investigate. The Mound does so, snatching up Aquilla (Mounds seem to find her crunchy), getting both slams and a constrict on her AND THEN the centipedes crawl out and chew her to 0hp. She manages to detention-door away, dropping to -1. The fight continues, with a bead from a necklace of fireballs and plenty of bombs from the alchemist boiling away the swarm but only nipping away slowly at the mound. The party Magus drops (but doesn't die, just out lick a light), and Winterheart heal-bursts enough to bring Aquilla back up, who retracts the Mound's attention with another eldrich blast, so in snatches her up and makes a pretty smear of her across the wall with a crit/constrict down to -20 something. Winterheart gets mashed to paste next, and it comes down to a desperate battle of attrition between the alchemist and the Mound (both bellow 10 hp by the end of it), before the alchemist manages to set off one last bomb point blank with enough extra "oomph" to take them both down for the count.
The survivors woke up later to find the hungry owlbear cub they'd collected finishing it off (a play off of the "From the Shadows" plot-twist card played at the end of the fight). Aquilla has since been reincarnated as a Bugbear, and Winterheart an Orc.
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Name: Horace
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cavalier 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: The Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Getting to the Fort a bit too early...
The Gory Details: After a valiant attempt to gore Dovan on his lance, and an admirable last stand, Horace was felled by a number of arrows fired into his person from various bandits, and eventually the Stag Lord himself.
Name: Kalapin Sunbringer
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Paladin 1
Adventure: The Stolen Land
Location: The Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Getting to the Fort a bit too early...
The Gory Details: In a bit of a foolhardy attempt, Kalapin attempted to take on Auchs in a one on one duel, but was felled by a single lucky blow from Auchs's club.
Name: Thatch
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Ranger 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: The Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Getting to the Fort a bit too early...
The Gory Details: Failing to notice Dovan behind him opening the gate, Thatch was quickly dispatched by Beaky, who had a fine dinner that evening.
Name: Terenor
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Cleric of Pharasma 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: The Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Getting to the Fort a bit too early...
The Gory Details: A single strike from a raging Akiros felled the noble dwarf, leaving him barely clinging to life.
Name: John Pamarionis
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Paladin of Torag 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: The Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Getting to the Fort a bit too early...
The Gory Details: A challenge to the Stag Lord does not go unnoticed, and so a single arrow, aided by the Insightful shot property of the Stag Lord's helm, found a chink in his armor and laid John low.
Name: Numisdar
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Rogue 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: The Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Getting to the Fort a bit too early...
The Gory Details: Seeing the destruction of his allies, Numisdar turned and began to flee, only to be chased down by Dovan who critically wounded him, and then left him to stumble down the hillside, where he made a fine meal for the zombies that pulled him down under the earth.
Name: Sola
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Witch 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: The Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Getting to the Fort a bit too early...
The Gory Details: Much in the same vein as Numisdar, Sola had also seen the total annihilation of her allies, and so she too decided to flee. Keeping to the road, she was able to avoid the grasping hands of the once-dead, but alas, it was to no avail. For Auchs was behind her, and quickly caught up to her, caving in her skull with a single blow.
And this is what happens when you manage to make it the Stag Lord's fort at level 1, and then proceed to assault it.
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^^^ Lol.
Did you not subtly hint, either IC or OOC, that they might not want to go right for the fort?
OOC: Yes. Very much so. I also had mentioned that Kingmaker tends to be a bit more lethal than the games I generally run.
IC: They had captured a bandit from Kressle's camp, and then interrogated him. Kaladin did not want to kill him, so he offered him his life in exchange for some help. The bandit, who I quickly named Albrecht, was ever so willing to show them the fastest and safest route to the Stag Lord's Fort and help them get inside. They all eagerly accepted his help. So he got them inside. The BEST part of this is that their social rolls were on fire, so they had actually convinced Dovan and Akiros that they were fellow bandits and just needed a roof over their head to sleep for the night. They were the ones that started the fight by pincushioning one of the bandits that was told to watch over them. If they hadn't killed any bandits, or done anything else overly hostile, they would have been able to stay the night, and then would have just been kicked out and told not to come back unless they have something to share with the bandits here.
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Name: Artemis Gayle
Race: Halfling
Class: Druid
Level: 7
Name: Ganon Malfoy
Race: Elf
Class: Sorcerer
Level: 7
Where: At the old Statue of Erastil
Catalyst: Reincarnate + Evil Druid Ritual = Come back as a human.
Artemis's plan from the very start has been to create and manipulate a Human dominated nation. She started as an Elf (Ganon began as a Human) and had been Reincarnated as a Halfling; she was not happy with that, nor was Ganon.
At a Winter Solstice Druid Moot, she met and befriended a Naga Druid who told her of a way to force reincarnate someone as a particular species. All it took was some druid ritual spot, a corpse of the desired race (or not corpse, if you're of that bent), and some woodoo words of power, which he shared after a small favor.
Both Artemis and Ganon would then allow themselves to be killed at the standing stone circle near the Statue of Erastil and reincarnate'd as Human.
Should have been a TPK, but I was nice.
Name: Pyrrhus
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Inquisitor 3
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: The Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Who's going to start this fight? Anybody?
The Gory Details: 3rd level party consisting of 2 Paladins, Inquisitor, Druid, Rogue. The rogue successfully bluffed the bandits and Stag Lord into believing he was the leader of a small group of bandits wanting to join up. Stag Lord assigned him to deal with Oleg. The party purchased all of Oleg's wares, packed them into a wagon, and were allowed into the fort. The Stag Lord came up to the party, removed a keg of ale from the wagon, performed a ceremony making the rogue a sub-leader in his gang, then left to start drinking. The party just milled about the whole time each player expecting someone else to start the fight. Once the fight started, good/lucky positioning by the bandits forced the party to fight them (at range) and the owlbear (in melee) at the same time. The Inquisitor and one Paladin went down in consecutive rounds. The Druid moved to heal the Paladin resulting in Akiros deciding to step up to finish off poor Pyrrhus before he could be healed as well.
Could have also been a TPK, but the monster was fed.
Name: Zelkja
Race: Mastodon
Classes/levels: animal companion 3
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Random Encounter in the Narlmarches
Catalyst: Multiple Attacks by a hungry hodag
The Gory Details: The party's night guard was hearing a rustling creature in the forest behind him. Alarmed he entered the darkness with readied sword and shield. Detecting evil he was watched by two red glowing eyes. The hodag jumped at the paladin and put him down within two rounds. The rogue and the druid with his animal companion couldn't stop the magical beast neither. One round round later the mastodon Zelkja lay on the forest ground torn to pieces by bite, claw, gore and tail. The druid saved at least the lives of his other companions dragging them through the bushes back to the campfire and the hodag left with the still warm mastodon meat.
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Name: Torkemada
Race:Half-orc
Classes/levels: Fighter 7
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Random Encounter in the Narlmarches
Catalyst: Death by Barguest...again
The Gory Details: After gaining the support of the Lizardman tribe, the heroes were marching to deal with the trolls when their camp was attacked from stealth by a barguest. It was out for revenge for the death of its kinsmen earlier in the campaign and wanted the orc in the party, the executioner of its cousin, dead. After a successful charm by the barguest and multiple failed Charisma checks the druid Diesa decapitated the half-orc with a bolt from one of its call lightning spells. The barguest, injured, retreated to lick its wounds.
After the charm wore off, the druid felt bad and followed the angry party at a distance as they trudged off back to Shrikewall to bury their fallen comrade. Before the funeral pyre was lit, Diesa cast reincarnate on Torkemada bringing the burly fighter back as a Bugbear!
Name: Da Cultist
Race: Reincarnate - dwarf this time
Classes/levels: Cloistered Cleric 13
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Tatzlwyrm Den
Catalyst: ending his round adjacent to a "tatzlwyrm"
The Gory Details: Our Heroes were bound and determined to finish exploring the hexes necessary to complete the exploration charter - the Den was the last one. Da Cultist felt it necessary to deliver a bestow curse in an effort to penalize the critter's CON score (and thus becoming more susceptible to destruction). Sadly his immediate proximity warranted immediate exterimination: critical bite (confirmed), critical claw (confirmed - 40 points negated by the new APG armor property) and critical claw (confirmed) put him 1 hit point past negative CON and thus ... dead, once more. He spent several rounds as literal toe jam 'twixt the wyrm's left foretoes before the beast was dispatched and his remains were disentangled to permit yet another reincarnate - as the human he started out as.
I think he needs to re-think his cult...
what did you do to that tatzlwyrm (2HD?) to make it kill a cloistered cleric (13HD) with one full-attack-action? *gulp*
what did you do to that tatzlwyrm (2HD?) to make it kill a cloistered cleric (13HD) with one full-attack-action? *gulp*
There is a reason why I phrased it as "tatzlwyrm" - I use
Okay, so you are moving a high-level party into a low level adventure?
Okay, so you are moving a high-level party into a low level adventure?
Yeppers. Without completely overhauling every minute detail, the generally lower-end stuff that they will be dealing with will hopefully convey to them that KM does not adhere to the usual +/- 3 from APL range.
Interesting premise. "You never know what you will find around the corner", if I understand it correctly. :p
Interesting premise. "You never know what you will find around the corner", if I understand it correctly. :p
Absolutely on the money there, magnuskn. Hopefully we will see many more lovely obituaries posted in this thread in the years to come as hapless adventurers wander into thickets o' doom / gullets of glomping / [insert favorite bad critter-eating-character rhyme here].
Name: Bruta
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Druid 4
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Mad Hermit
Catalyst: Bad perception and initiative rolls.
The Gory Details: Party was exploring the forest with Bruta on point. Everybody failed their perception tests to spot the hermit's ambush. Everybody then failed to beat a 10 for initiative giving the Hermit two sneak attacks on Bruta - enough to kill her.
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Name: Galan
Race: Human (now elf)
Classes/levels: Ranger 6
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Dancing Lady's funhouse
Catalyst: Can't see the forest for the trees
The Gory Details: The party of 6 very capable characters was being tormented by Rigg Gargadilly's spring attacks, which would usually leave him on the far side of the central tower or in a side tower, out of sight. (Lord that was fun!) The archer/ranger had the "brilliant" idea of getting up inside the central tower to take opportunity fire at Rigg as he zipped past, so I conveniently forgot about the trap on the first floor as he sped up the stairs. The last thing he remembered was a sultry female voice saying, "Come here, big boy!" - He couldn't buy a decent saving throw and she couldn't miss.
When 3 of his companions made it to the top of the stairs looking for him, one of the gnome clerics, the dwarf barbarian and the dragon-disciple-in-training all failed their saves against her fascination effect, too! But then the baron, their bard, came up and countered all of her charms and they cut her to shreds.
Name: Andrick Maslov
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Ranger 2
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Near Sootscale Caverns
Catalyst: Wandering Encounter with Werewolf
The Gory Details: The group had a wandering encounter with a werewolf so I had the werewolf appear first in human form as a wandering traveler. He approached the group as they were setting up camp for the evening and asked to join them, that he might warm himself by their fire. They were suspicious at the outset and spoke with him a bit, making some good Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks. They were able to get the sense that he was mostly trying to evaluate them and get an idea of how much of a threat they posed.
After they refused his friendly offer to share his wineskin (harmless, I assure you), he got the message that he was not welcome and departed into the night, coming back in the wee hours of the morning to attack.
The half-orc ranger leapt unarmored from his bedroll and was the only one who did any damage, inflicting 13 points the the werewolf, 3 of which were left after the wound evilly sealed itself back up, leaving only a bit of blood seeping into its matted fur. Though the group had a wand of Magic Missile (CL 3), they either didn't remember it or chose not to use it.
The werewolf slashed and the tip of its longsword sliced cleanly through the muscles of Andrick's midsection. Taking advantage of the shock imposed by such a grievous wound, the werewolf lunged forward in the same moment, locking its jaws onto Andrick's thigh and viciously worrying it back and forth in an attempt to knock the half-orc off balance and pull him to the ground. The werewolf must have bit deeply into an artery, as Andrick's blood gushed from the horrible wound before stopping forever.
The sorceror in the group called upon the powers of darkness to Cause Fear in the vile monster. Overcome by magical terrors, the creature fled but the group knew they had only seconds before it returned. That gave them enough time to quickly saddle their mounts, grab their gear, and flee the campsite before the creature returned. As the halfling bard mounted his frightened pony, he could hear the werewolf surging back up the hill toward their campsite. He put heels to his mount and fled as the vile creature crashed through the brush and into the light of their dying fire.
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Name: Bigby (DEAD)
Race: Wolf
Classes/levels: Animal Companion 12
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Staghaven Fort (Beware the Jabberwock)
Catalyst: Oh my God Eye Lasers!?
The Gory Details: The party engaged the Jabberwock this last session.
Name: Helen Lightlion (RAISED)
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Oracle 15
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Staghaven Fort (Beware the Jabberwock)
Catalyst: Oh my God Eye Lasers!?
The Gory Details: The party engaged the Jabberwock this last session.
Name: John Toland (RAISED)
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Ranger 15
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Staghaven Fort (Beware the Jabberwock)
Catalyst: Oh my God Eye Lasers!?
The Gory Details: The party engaged the Jabberwock this last session.
As the first world began to surreptitiously burst in on the material plane and Nyrissa began to pull free the Stolen Lands to place into a snow globe she had lovingly prepared, the Jabberwock spawned itself to fight the heroes as the final bloom. (I had the War of the High Folly take place at the same time-- we're eschewing mass combat completely as my players instantly won it and all future conflicts with their single simplistic tactic.)
It landed and began hemming and hawing and singing operatic songs. The fighter, Erastilvania's king, got a solid blow to find out about it's DR 15/vorpal and the ranger's wolf got a solid bite in as well, but it didn't stop the creature from relying on it's high AC and it's powerful DR and jumping into the now-split party to burble. Most of the PCs were safe from the confusion, but the king and the wolf went into fits-- the wolf attacked the king, which the king responded to by full attacking and killing the everloving hell of the wolf. (2 crits and 1 hit for over 100 damage.)
After one full attack, the always-flying wizard and the always-flying oracle were sent reeling back into the throne room. The oracle took almost 90 damage from a bite and two claws from the creature and her flying tumble, which would set a pretty impressive precedent for my d6s for this session. A heal brought her to full.
It seemed that only John Toland, wielder of Briar (now a brainpiercing composite longbow) could truly pierce the creature's thick hide, and as the battle wore on, the creature became more and more irritated. The PCs quickly discovered its weakness to cold and exploited the hell out of it. Finally, a critical threat sent the creature into a frightened panic (I changed it from staggered to frightened on a crit threat because Kingmaker #6 isn't made for an entire group of PCs who do upwards of 150 damage on a full attack or a single spell and an oracle who has spell perfection (heal)...) and it fled up and away to let its fast healing repair its wounds.
The lasers started (OH GOD THE LASERS).
I immediately knew that this beast is apparently an artillery god. 30d6 vital strike laser killed John Toland immediately-- all the way to -78. (WHY)
A few fast passes and I'd hit the party sorceror (in dragon form!) with an eye laser for almost 100-- and the party fled into the castle to try to lure the beast in. A few very poor decisions with positioning had the party continue to reveal their position and eat eye lasers-- I had the party VERY close to a TPK at one point where I had vital strike criticaled Helen Lightlion, the heal-centric oracle (and royal secretary!), with an eye laser, bringing her from full health (153) down to -30 and a bright charred red spot on the ground, but the wizard-- Garth Lebeda, a long-suffering member of the "Why Did I Reincarnate as a Kobold?" society-- brought her back to life with some quick thinking. A limited wish into a breath of life and another frantic heal from the now-concious royal secretary had her back in the fight.
Before the creature was done, it'd seared the party sorcerer-- now the carrier of Briar who had used transformation and just now realized even with full BAB and +4 Dex he only hit the Jabberwock on a natural 20-- with another powerful eye laser before attempting to breach the building. The pitiful monster was stopped by the king, who got another faceful of terrible searing hate and set on fire. One round of frantic fighting later-- and a guaranteed-save-into-botch on a harm from the angry Helen-- and the monster was carved into tiny, tiny pieces, and the Stolen Lands were saved. The king had enough HP to take the burn damage from the fire before ending the pitiful beast, but one more round would have done him in as well.
Since Briar had awakened fully, before it fell dormant, it affected John Toland with it's 1/month true ressurection before falling back into its slumber.
The PCs are heading into Thousandbreaths to settle the score now. Nyrissa has the oldest of the King's children captive and is attempting to warp him with the energies of the first world, so it's all on the line now, boy. And the PCs are madder than ever.
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Name: Bigby (DEAD)
Race: Wolf
Classes/levels: Animal Companion 12
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Staghaven Fort (Beware the Jabberwock)
Catalyst: Oh my God Eye Lasers!?
The Gory Details: The party engaged the Jabberwock this last session.Name: Helen Lightlion (RAISED)
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Oracle 15
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Staghaven Fort (Beware the Jabberwock)
Catalyst: Oh my God Eye Lasers!?
The Gory Details: The party engaged the Jabberwock this last session.Name: John Toland (RAISED)
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Ranger 15
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Staghaven Fort (Beware the Jabberwock)
Catalyst: Oh my God Eye Lasers!?
The Gory Details: The party engaged the Jabberwock this last session.As the first world began to surreptitiously burst in on the material plane and Nyrissa began to pull free the Stolen Lands to place into a snow globe she had lovingly prepared, the Jabberwock spawned itself to fight the heroes as the final bloom. (I had the War of the High Folly take place at the same time-- we're eschewing mass combat completely as my players instantly won it and all future conflicts with their single simplistic tactic.)
It landed and began hemming and hawing and singing operatic songs. The fighter, Erastilvania's king, got a solid blow to find out about it's DR 15/vorpal and the ranger's wolf got a solid bite in as well, but it didn't stop the creature from relying on it's high AC and it's powerful DR and jumping into the now-split party to burble. Most of the PCs were safe from the confusion, but the king and the wolf went into fits-- the wolf attacked the king, which the king responded to by full attacking and killing the everloving hell of the wolf. (2 crits and 1 hit for over 100 damage.)
After one full attack, the always-flying wizard and the...
... *jaw drops*
Who needs epic level rules? I got your epic right here!
Name: Alex Whoreson
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Psychic Warrior 3
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Between the Boggard lair and Tuskgutter's realm
Catalyst: Random encounter with a werewolf.
The Gory Details: (optional) The party encountered a hunter and his pet wolf while wandering in the woods on their way to the hot spring. He asked if he could come along with them, traveling for a couple of days with them, waiting for the full moon. Finally, he sent his pet wolf to distract two of the night watch and snuck into the tent of Alex, where he coup de graced him with a longsword. A furious battle ensued (I let Alex get one attack in as he woke up and then died - he didn't do much damage thanks to the DR of the werewolf). The centaur swordsage/psywar got a little angry at the werewolf for murdering their traveling companions (and semi-leader) and managed on his first attack to crit the wolfman with his greataxe. Didn't kill him, but did take him down by half. The party killed the werewolf but took some severe damage in turn, but Alex was dead and gone. They're going to be heading back to Oleg's to see to it that he has a proper burial.
Alex's player decided to try building a Holy Vindicator PC as a replacement. Looking forward to seeing how well he handles Lawful Good...