Huh. Blade Barriers and Walls of Iron definitely do not sound like the pre-statted Black Sisters. ^^
Huh. Blade Barriers and Walls of Iron definitely do not sound like the pre-statted Black Sisters. ^^
Now that you mention ... no, no it doesn't.
Nor the heavy picks ...
:)
The Sisters' crisis of faith saw a change of stat block worth the CR. ^^
Sounds like an awesome fight!
much thanks to Turin for statblock & tactical help - this was the most difficult fight of the campaign so farDo you - or Turin - mind sharing the details?
Ruyan.
Ruyan,
Shoot me an e-mail. I should be able to dig the good Sisters up for you to sic on your own group. E-mail is in my profile.
Note that I've not yet tooled them up for a group like mine ... yet. >:)
I sent you an email. Thanks in advance!
I sent you an email. Thanks in advance!
E-mails sent to those that have requested the Black Sisters. ^^
Received and the evil GM grin is starting to form...
Received and the evil GM grin is starting to form...
[MrBurnsVoice] Excelleent ...[/MrBurnsVoice] :)
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Name: General Mazon
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Barbarian 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Open hills
Catalyst: Random Encounter
The Gory Details:
While out searching for a lost child we had a random encounter with a Wyvern. It proceeded to inject Mazon with two doses of its poison. After unwisely grappling the party ranger (favored enemy: dragon) it met its end. Despite Resistance from the party Sorceror and an almost-too-late Lesser Restoration from the Paladin, poor Mazon failed all her saves against the poison until hitting zero Con.
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Actually, all of the Black Sisters' buffs and defenses should have stayed up and running except for the blade barriers and any other spells with (D) appended to the duration.
Great read. So many messy deaths gladden my blackened, shriveled GM's heart so. O:)
P.S.: shouldn't the dim-door have removed all capability to take action for both the caster and the cavalier? Just sayin' :)
You seem to be implying that Dismissible spells fade when the caster dies, just curious where that ruling is coming from, I'm not familiar with the source.
Regarding Dimension Door, only the caster is constrained from further action by the spell, so the cavalier would be free to act.
Actually, all of the Black Sisters' buffs and defenses should have stayed up and running except for the blade barriers and any other spells with (D) appended to the duration.
Great read. So many messy deaths gladden my blackened, shriveled GM's heart so. O:)
P.S.: shouldn't the dim-door have removed all capability to take action for both the caster and the cavalier? Just sayin' :)
You seem to be implying that Dismissible spells fade when the caster dies, just curious where that ruling is coming from, I'm not familiar with the source.
Regarding Dimension Door, only the caster is constrained from further action by the spell, so the cavalier would be free to act.
I'm not familiar with the source either, although I do know that those I play with/GM for have been doing so for a more than a few years.
D-Door actually states "after using this spell, you can't take any other actions until your next turn".
Using the spell, whether casting it or just coming along for the ride, results in being unable to act until your next turn. As I understand it at least.
Name: General Gellir Olafsson
Race: Human (ulfen)
Class: Paladin of the holy light 7
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Troll Lair
Catalyst: Hargulka
The Gory Details: The party had finally tracked down the troll lair, and had pretty much breezed through the dungeon when they encountered Hargulka along with Kargadd, Nagrundi and the 2 meat shield trolls. Hargulka was staying back, waiting for an opening, while Kargadd and Nagrundi together with the 2 trolls did their best to soften the party.
When only one ordinary troll remained Hargulka began with throwing a fireball from his necklace at the party and troll, against which the whole party except Gellir missed their save. Gellir charged Hargulka and did some damage, but when Hargulka made his counterattack a thunderous noice sounded from his weapon when he hit, and Gellir was in one fell blow reduced to a bloody pulp.
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Massacre in Armag's Tomb
Name: Grand Diplomat Alberich "Halfmask" Aeroslythir
Race: Elf
Class: Witch 11
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Armag's Tomb
Catalyst: The Derghodaemon
The Gory Details: Four out of the five party members were feebleminded by the Dergodaemon and Alberich was one of them. Unable to use spells, he instinctually tried to defend himself with a bow while the party's inquisitor, still with his full facilties, tried going toe-to-toe with the creature. Once the Derghodaemon ripped the inquisitor to unconsciousness, Alberich was next. The witch was rended twice and bled out a few rounds later as no one could help him. His body still lies in the tomb.
Name: Queen Angelina Bellezza
Race: Human
Class: Sorceress 11
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Armag's Tomb
Catalyst: Derghodaemon and a 30' Fall
The Gory Details: After Alberich fell, the feebleminded queen was next. She was rended unconscious but stabilized. The almost mindless General Bothmere killed the creature and along with the still conscious but feeblemided Spymaster Magnus Wolfbane decided in their limited capacity to grab the unconscious queen and inquisitor and head back the way they came out of the dungeon. Knowing only one way out they had to go through the Test of Agility in order to escape. The general was carrying both unconscious friends when he lost his balance and fell into the pit. The fall killed the queen instantly. To add insult to injury the Army Ant Swarm feasted on her carcass. Luckily her Mage cohort Oz always checked up on his queen via scry once per day when she was out exploring. He was able to extricate enough parts of her from the pit through teleportation and summoned allies to bring her back to The Emerald City and have her reincarnated as a male gnome. He now usues illusions to make the populace think he is still the same human sorceress he used to be.
Name: Marshall Mathim Zillean
Race: Tiefling
Class: Inquisitor of Zon Kuthon 11
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Armag's Tomb
Catalyst: Derghodaemon, 30' Fall & Army Ant Swarm
The Gory Details: Bothmere of course dropped the unconscious Mathim as well into the pit. While the fall did not kill him, the swarm of army ants bursting out of the pit's soil sure did. Oz collected Mathim's remains as well. He was resurrected. Because death in Pathfinder has become in many ways just a financial set back, I created a d100 chart that randomly rolls an added effect from coming back from the dead. I rolled a 43 which meant because he came back from death, he does not fear death. He will always be up front in marching orders, volunteer to go through the door first or go over the bridge first and he will be on the front-line in any battle. Any dangerous situation he has no fear of.
Postscript: Magnus and Bothmere barely escaped with their lives as the ant swarms chased them through a couple entrances of the tomb. Eight hours later, in the middle of the forest, Bothmere's mind cleared up. Two hours after that Magnus became himself again.
Armag bonded with Ovinrbaane and is now leading his barbarian hordes in attacks against Corda Verde's northwestern borders.
::cackles with glee::
I was so hoping those ant swarms would play a serious role in someone's campaign. Thanks for sharing the gory details.
I created a d100 chart that randomly rolls an added effect from coming back from the dead
Sounds cool! Link?
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Four out of the five party members were feebleminded by the Dergodaemon
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Postscript: Magnus and Bothmere barely escaped with their lives as the ant swarms chased them through a couple entrances of the tomb. Eight hours later, in the middle of the forest, Bothmere's mind cleared up. Two hours after that Magnus became himself again
AFAIK feeblemind can only be cured by heal, limited wish, miracle, or wish.
it is a house rule or something I am missing?
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Four out of the five party members were feebleminded by the Dergodaemon
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Postscript: Magnus and Bothmere barely escaped with their lives as the ant swarms chased them through a couple entrances of the tomb. Eight hours later, in the middle of the forest, Bothmere's mind cleared up. Two hours after that Magnus became himself againAFAIK feeblemind can only be cured by heal, limited wish, miracle, or wish.
it is a house rule or something I am missing?
It's a Dergodaemon special ability, which is not permanent. You get one DC 20 Will save per hour to recover from it.
All in all, the Dergodaemon really seems very unpleasant. I'm looking forward to see how it will fare against the two different groups who will in a few months encounter it. :D
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I created a d100 chart that randomly rolls an added effect from coming back from the deadSounds cool! Link?
I don't have a link but if you spoil your email I'll send it to you. It's nothing too exciting, some of the penalties are harsh and some of it is silly but I think it adds an RP angle to characters that were once dead and now have to deal with being alive again.
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Four out of the five party members were feebleminded by the Dergodaemon
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Postscript: Magnus and Bothmere barely escaped with their lives as the ant swarms chased them through a couple entrances of the tomb. Eight hours later, in the middle of the forest, Bothmere's mind cleared up. Two hours after that Magnus became himself againAFAIK feeblemind can only be cured by heal, limited wish, miracle, or wish.
it is a house rule or something I am missing?
It's a Dergodaemon special ability, which is not permanent. You get one DC 20 Will save per hour to recover from it.
All in all, the Dergodaemon really seems very unpleasant. I'm looking forward to see how it will fare against the two different groups who will in a few months encounter it. :D
Yes. It can really crush your arcane casters. And as you can see there was some very poor rolling by both characters for them to overcome the effect.
I don't have a link but if you spoil your email I'll send it to you. It's nothing too exciting, some of the penalties are harsh and some of it is silly but I think it adds an RP angle to characters that were once dead and now have to deal with being alive again.I created a d100 chart that randomly rolls an added effect from coming back from the deadSounds cool! Link?
It's a Dergodaemon special ability, which is not permanent. You get one DC 20 Will save per hour to recover from it.All in all, the Dergodaemon really seems very unpleasant. I'm looking forward to see how it will fare against the two different groups who will in a few months encounter it. :D
It's extremely nasty. So nasty, in fact, that they made it a DC20 Will per *minute* in Bestiary 2.
Talk about a huge amount of difference : /
Oh, and me please, too, for the list.
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I don't have a link but if you spoil your email I'll send it to you. It's nothing too exciting, some of the penalties are harsh and some of it is silly but I think it adds an RP angle to characters that were once dead and now have to deal with being alive again.I created a d100 chart that randomly rolls an added effect from coming back from the deadSounds cool! Link?
mefour! I would like to see the chart.
Name: Talos/Jacob, former bandit
Race: Halfling/Human
Classes/levels: Rogue 1/Warrior 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: Near the Radish patch, random encounter
Catalyst: Sneaking off alone/random encounter
The Gory Details: First death of the campaign comes from a surprising source. Up until know Talos seems to have been blessed with an abundance of luck, rolling exceptionally well in all combats and taking out more than his fair share of bandits as an archery focused, halfling rogue.
Unfortunately, Talos was a bit overconfident, and decided to take a side trip to collect some radishes for Svetlana while the rest of the group headed straight back. He took a former bandit with him, as a guide, but the man ended up being so clueless that he was a hindrance to the halfling, especially when they crossed paths with a hungry worg.
The worg, honing in on the clumsy bandit, moved like a ghost and got close enough to charge in and surprise the duo. It focuses its attention on the human bandit, feeling it was a larger target and therefore more dangerous, which gave Talos the chance to scramble up a tree and out of reach. The halfling traded words with the worg, hoping to persuade it to let him live, but the evil creature reveled in its power and vowed to wait at the base of the tree until the halfling was forced to come down.
Talos, a skilled archer, quickly showed the worg that his plan was flawed by firing a pair of arrows at the creature. Angry, it retreated, dragging the bandit's body with him. Talos, growing confident, decided to leap from tree to tree after the worg, and continue to fire while balancing on the tree trunks. A few bad rolls later and the halfling fell, allowing the now incredibly angry worg to charge in. The halfling held his own for a few moments with his short sword before the worg tripped him, leaving him prone and nearly dead. The lucky Talos actually managed to stand up and make it to a tree, but was killed before climbing up it. His body is currently nourishing the worg, as his companions were told not to follow him right away and that he'd meet up with them when he is finished. In short, the stolen lands prove themselves to be a dangerous place, where traveling in large numbers with trusted companions is preferred.
Name:Nicolus Flamel
Race:human
Classes/levels:Alchemist 1
Adventure:?
Location:In a cave
Catalyst:Stupid gnome
The Gory Details:
Gnome summoner goes down a big hole, where he meets a monstrous centipede. His pet gets crited, and he falls down.
Our pyromaniacal gnome gets tied off, and jumps down to start throwing fire down on the monster, as I cover it in oil.
After that, I switch to alchemist fires and keep hitting the monster. The monster runs up the wall ignoring the summoner, and wacks the pyromancer knocking him into negatives.
I fumble, but my fire doesn't explode on me. I pick it back up and throw it down at the monster avoiding hitting the two gnomes in the one pit. This pisses the monster off and he runs up to me and kills me with a massive critical.
Eventually the rest of the party kills it, it falls down on the pyromancer gnome and kills him as well.
It's been a while since we've had a party member go down in our campaign. I'm glad to say that the drought is over.
Name: Ulfie Skysword
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cleric (of Gorum) 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Dragonleaf Gulch
Catalyst: Too much faith in invisibility
The Gory Details: The party was searching for a mysterious island that contained some ancient evil that they believed may have been responsible for the vanishing at Varnhold. They came across a small island where two rivers met and made an effort to search it. After turning invisible, the bard/dragon disciple flew up to the island and began tying a rope so that others could climb across. Unfortunately, the well hidden inhabitant was more than aware of what was going on and snatched him up. The party then used a good deal of resources getting over to the island as quickly as possible to force the giant plant to let him go. During this short scuffle, Ulfie also managed to get himself lodged in one of its gaping mouths. While the bard eventually freed himself, Ulfie ended up being digested by the plant before it could be dispatched.
After something of an ordeal, he was eventually reincarnated as a half-orc which was viewed as a mixed blessing given his religious leanings.
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No one has died in my group, and they are playing with out a cleric on the Slow XP track (a ranger, paladin, fighter and sorcerer), they just made level 2 after three sessions. THREE times they've encoutnered trolls (twice on the plains, once in the woods). The first time they go ambushed at night by 3 trolls...random dice rolls meant the hungry trolls went for three of the five mounts. The 2nd time they saw the trolls first and fled. 3rd time the lone troll again tried to get a mount but missed and the party scattered.
Swear to god they hate trolls now...
Character: Lohan, NPC, Male, Wizard lvl 5
Location: Restov
Cause of Death: Assassination kingdom event - Lohan was away while the party was kingdom building. Visiting a local tavern looking for some "male companionship". Was attacked and killed in an alley when traveling down an alley on his way back to his room at the inn.
In order of messy demises:
Name: Da Cultist, Molly Missy, Queen Freon, Dawnflower IV & Da Mystic Theurge
Race: Human, Soulbound Doll (cohort), Human, Elf, Elf
Classes/levels: UA Cloistered Cleric 14, Bard 12, Ftr 1/Sor 7/EK 6, Wizard 14 (universalist), Cleric 3 (Abadar)/ Wizard 3 (Divination)/ Mystic Theurge 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing - upgunned for APL 17
Location: Varnhold Pass
Catalyst: Greed + lack of buffing + Gargadros the Rune-Bound King
The Gory Details: Short version: Lifting his big honkin' bling from his stone-encased form = awake and ready to rumble Gargadros. Failing to impress him with 1-round Diplomacy checks, several failed checks against gaze of despair set things rolling. Four of the five PCs contracted DC 34 mummy rot.
Da Cultist died from a single Greater Vital Strike confirmed critical hit, hewn to about -100 hp. Molly Missy, sporting a spiffy new staff of chain lightning + fireball was hacked to within 2 hp of body destruction before she set off a 20d6 fireball at point-blank range, burying her soul gem in the rubble of the watch tower. The rest of the surviving characters had contracted mummy rot. Three of them died 3 rounds after the Rune-Bound King's departure from the mummy rot's one minute onset time.
Pyrrhic Victory...
All the way into Varnhold Vanishing, more near death experiences than I can count, and we FINALLY have a death... of a temporary character.
Name: Daeva
Race: Centaur
Classes/levels: Polearm Fighter 4
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Cave of the Mad Shaitan (see below)
Catalyst: Frontal assault on a well defended location
The Gory Details: First it bears mentioning that the dungeon this takes place in is a creation of mine; the party has had several notable run-ins with the Thawn giants, and so I decided to create a subplot based around them. The short version is the previously peaceful-ish (willing to trade, at least) Thawn have been taking over by a cult to the Elder Gods led by an insane Shaitan. Bokken, also a larger-than-expected character in my game, has hired the party to forcefully reverse their change in management so that he can start selling potions again to what remains of the Thawn after the party is through with them.
Daeva was the greatest warrior of the Nomen centaurs; the centaur priestess sent her with the party after the party druid was nearly assassinated in the middle of the centaur camp by a soul eater, and the party rogue vanished under mysterious circumstances.
This had not been a good day for Daeva. To start with she found herself face-to-face with a very angry great mother trapper after the party took a wrong turn in the cave; she hit -3 but was saved in the nick of time. 17 CLW later and she's back to her full 95 hit points... for an encounter and a half. Not two rooms later and she's trapped on the wrong side of a deadfall while two snipers behind a stone barricade pot-shot her down to the single digits. The party manages to get through the partially-collapsed tunnel and break the barricade, killing one sniper and forcing the other to retreat. By now, however, the surprisingly well-trained thawn are quickly getting ready to turn their defense into a counterattack, so Daeva only receives a couple potions worth of healing before charging back into the fight. While most of the party gets tied up fighting a pair of spearmen in a tight corridor, Daeva and Artemis, the bard/ranger's pet tiger, sneak around another path hoping to flank.
While they did succeed in surrounding the two spearmen, they also ended up engaging the main body of the enemy force, and Daeva's hit points simply weren't up to the task. An attack of opportunity dropped her back to single digits, and a follow up blow brought her straight to -22 and quite dead. But her noble sacrifice (or at least the fact that the enemy spearman attacked her instead of the also dangerously-low monk) ensured the party's victory. ...For now, since they've still got four rooms to go. :)
No one has died in my group, and they are playing with out a cleric on the Slow XP track (a ranger, paladin, fighter and sorcerer), they just made level 2 after three sessions. THREE times they've encoutnered trolls (twice on the plains, once in the woods). The first time they go ambushed at night by 3 trolls...random dice rolls meant the hungry trolls went for three of the five mounts. The 2nd time they saw the trolls first and fled. 3rd time the lone troll again tried to get a mount but missed and the party scattered.
Swear to god they hate trolls now...
its quite good when they finally think they can take a troll or two
Yar!
It's been a while, and we've had a LOT of close calls recently. They never warranted an obituary yet due to timely uses of Breath of Life... but even that can't prevent all deaths from happening. Last nights session was particularly deadly...
Names:
- Jonas Marshal, Exiled son of the Fletchers, Marshal of Calrissian
- Maldock Cremshear, Aldori Duelist, Noble of Brevoy, General of Calrissian
- LoTae Zhao, Emissary of Kyonin, Spymaster of Calrissian
Races:
- Human
- Half-Orc
- Elf
Classes:
- Fighter (archer archetype) 9
- Fighter (two-weapon warrior archetype) 9
- Fighter (weapon master archetype) 9
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Realm
Catalyst: 15 minute work days, overconfidence, failing important saving throws, the crit deck, and a surprise betrayal at the worst possible time...
Survivors:
- Tellion Feydral, Priest of Abadar, Grand Diplomat of Calrissian (Human Cleric 9)-(technically died but was able to be raised)
- Verenor, Son of Nidon, Former Nightwatcher, Magister of Calrissian (Dhampir, StarSoul Sorcerer 9)
- Juth'n'dral, Hierophant of the River Kingdoms, Councilor of Calrissian (Half-Elf Druid 9)
The Gory Details: We spent several days (weeks?) exploring the ancient cyclopsian realm. From the moment we entered, it was nova, rest, nova, rest, nova, rest. Juth'n'dral and Verenor would blast the crap out of everything as fast as possible, and Tellion would pre-buff as much as possible, and often continue to buff while we fought. This meant that all the encounteres were pretty much cake-walks. Three fighters each with a unique combat style and good synergy, buffed up the wazoo, with three casters buffing and blasting at the same time. This also meant that at the end of each fight, with the Jonas, Maldock and LoTae rearing to go on to the next leg of the journey, the others would be spent and would be requesting a break. We camped in extradimensional Rope Tricks, we've camped inside camouflaged stone shaped/stone walled alcoves, and most frequently and recently, we've set up camp at the beach by the backdoor to the dungeon (close to the tar pits).
At that point, LoTae had not only started to make fun of the casters for their explosively short lived days, but was even getting used to it. She began to consider the whole venture to be a kind of exotic vacation. Go inside, kill some giant zombies, do some sight seeing, relax on the beach. Repeat. (it also didn't help that a soul eater hit her for some wisdom damage, which had not yet completely healed)
And aware of our presence, was Vordakai.
Eventually, we find some of the people we were looking for, along with several more cyclopsian zombies. We dispatch them rather quickly, have minutes left in our buffs, and a fairly decent supply of magics still in store (this fight was resolved mostly by Maldock, Jonas and LoTae), so we keep on going. We encounter the water elemental and chase it into the throne room, where Vordakai was waiting. Over the course of the fight, we get hit by a spell that causes us to become fatigued, he separates himself with a well placed pit spell that several of us fall into, and manages to place a Curse upon LoTae (-4 to a bunch of checks, including saves). Hero points are being spent left and right save ourselves while we fight (one of the better ones was when big V scored a crit. on Jonas. We use the crit deck, and he drew the Decapitation card: triple damage (with an axe, so x4 by our rules), plus a fort save (DC = the confirmation roll) or be decapitated. Verenor spends his last Hero Point to act out of turn, casting a Wall of Ice between Big V and Jonas, preventing the attack from even happening).
Big V is starting to hurt real bad, so he D-Doors away. Verenor, Juth, and Tellion are low on spells, and Tellion burns a bunch of channels to bring us back up to fighting status. Figuring that Big V is hurt and not wanting to give him time to recoup, we go on the hunt.
And then it happens: Down in his room, Big V casts Magic Jar. LoTae gets targeted, and with her reduced wisdom, the curse placed on her, and a really terrible roll, becomes trapped in darkness, and Big V now walks among the party in secret.
Will the group rest (leading to coup-de-grace attempts while they sleep), or will they press on? There are still some zombies left unkilled, and the piscodaemon has yet to make his appearance... and Big V in LoTae's body has several hours for a distraction to come up, and for him to strike.
Tellion gives his last Bulls Strength to LoTae, and the group presses on, as there are still several areas they have not yet checked. They head back to the unholy alter, and from there head down a path unvisited. It leads into a dark hallway, with a small pillar filled chamber at the end. Normally, LoTae stays near the front by Maldock, but on the way here she has slowly fallen back to stand just behind Tellion, whose eagerness to put an end to Big V and get back to Calrissian makes him think nothing of LoTae's change in usual position.
Maldock warily approaches the dark chamber. LoTae activates her animated shield. Suddenly, Maldock catches something horrifying move in the center of the chamber. The Piscodaemon. He strikes at it, landing a solid blow... but it counters with its terrible claw... and crits. The one attack with it's giant pincer cleanly slices of one of Maldocks hands, and continues onwards to his throat, grabbing him and holding him fast (lots of damage, 2 con drain, 2 str drain, can't two-weapon fight as he only has one hand, starts bleeding for 2/round, and gets grappled). That was the surprise round.
LoTae rolls terrible for her initiative, and goes last, but still manages to yell "KILL THEM!!!". No one in the groups suspects that she was in fact giving the piscodaemon an order instead of rallying them to fight it. Juth'n'dral in earth elemental form hides in the nearby stone work and sends acid darts at the piscodaemon, Verenor runs into the fray and turns Maldock invisible in the hopes he can get away, Jonas shoots some arrows at it, but misses due to partial cover granted by the pillars, and Tellion moves into the chamber and lets loose a Blessing of Ferver... which includes Big V as LoTae.
Big V/LoTae moves up into the chamber, and all expect her to spring attack the piscodaemon. Instead, her Elven Curve Blade, being wielded more like a falchion than an elven blade, slices into Tellion (vital strike & power attack), pure hatred in her eyes, and a low voice speaks malevolently "You have trespassed long enough".
Due to how everyone as positioned, only Verenor and Tellion were aware of LoTaes apparent betrayal. Verenor goes invisible, picks up Maldocks hand, and starts to flee, yelling for everyone to get out. The piscodaemon easily sees through Verenors illusion, and smacks him around as he tries to leave. Tellion, thinking LoTae is simply under an enchantment, attempts to dispel magic, but it does not succeed. Jonas tries to run in past LoTae in order to aid Maldock (Jonas still thinks LoTae is friendly), and gets an elven curve blade to the face for his efforts. Finally realizing her corruption, Jonas unleashes some arrows at point blank range, but none strike home. Hidden in the stone and only concerned with the piscodeamon at the moment, Juth'n'dral continues to barage it with acid. Then LoTae/Big V unleashes a full attack on Tellion, with an extra attack from his Blessing of Ferver, downs Tellion with the last blow.
Now everyone knows that LoTae is their enemy. The only blood on her is that of Tellion, plus a bit of Jonas', and some random spray from Maldocks stump as he flails about in the clutches of the piscodaemon. It is time to run away. Juth'n'dral fully retreats into the stone wall, using his tremorsense to tell when it's safe to retrieve his fallen comrade Tellion and whisk him away to safety. Verenor gives Jonas the boon of invisibility and starts to retreat, Maldock lucks out and breaks the piscodaemons grapple and starts to run as well, and Jonas also runs away, but lingers by one of the doorways to cover the retreat with his arrows.
The piscodaemon teleports to behind Verenor, giving his position away to Big V/LoTae, who walks up to him and smacks him one. Verenor casts blink on himself, invoking some AoOs from both Big V/LoTae and the piscodaemon, bringing him down to single didget HP, but his blink goes off successfully, and he start to run like the wind. Maldock also runs away as fast as he can, but Jonas doesn't. The piscodaemon annihilates him. Big V/LoTae, trusting the piscodaemon to hunt down his prey, begins to take off LoTaes armor so that he can cast spells again without risking failure from her armor. Being only a dozen or so feet away from Juth'n'dral's hiding spot, he is frozen with fear. Does LoTae know he is there? Is she waiting for him? For now, he stays in the safety of his stone... but each second causes him more grief.
Maldock and Verenor run through the labyrinth of the lower caverns in terror. Every time they gain some distance and round a corner, the piscodaemon greater-teleports right beside them. They withdraw and run, and he greater-teleports right beside them again. And so it goes on until Maldock and Verenor get separated. The piscodaemon teleports to Maldock, allowing Verenor to escape to the beach, where he Rope Tricks into extradimensional safety, pulling the rope up in after himself, and freaking out alone at the backdoor entrance to the dungeon and the pursuing piscodaemon and the betrayer LoTae.
Maldock on the other hand, is chased. During the chase, he succumbs to the effects of a Stinking Cloud, crippling him to violent vomiting and a single move action per round. He ends up staggering to the tar pits, where he becomes trapped between Tar, Vomit, and Death. With only one hand, he tried to make a final desperate move, but got knocked down by the piscodaemon… his body is brought back to Big V to be turned into a thrall. Big V, having removed LoTaes armor from himself, head back to his chambers where her soul is trapped in his magic jar, and with the aid of the returned piscodaemon, breaks LoTae's body before returning their souls to their respective bodies, leaving LoTae in a shocked, screaming mess, who is quickly silenced.
Juth'n'dral, finally sensing the area is safe, emerges from the stone wall. He turns back to humanoid form, stuffs Tellion's body into a bag of holding, and transforms back into an earth elemental and slowly makes his way out. Jonas died outside of Juth's range of tremorsense, so he never knew that he fell. His body will soon be found by Big V, and mutilated for his own whims.
Verenor and Juth'n'dral eventually reunite, and they flee the area together, first returning to the Noman tribe, where they use a scroll of Raise Dead on Tellion. The three were last seen returning to Calrissian as fast as possible.
It is not yet known if they will return to the lair of the Cyclops to rescue their fallen comrades or not.
wow...fantastic fight with the Big V! How very appropriate.Yar!
awesome stuff
An excellent slobberknocker of a fight. There's some good ideas in there too. ^_^
Yar!
I love the fight...
... but you should know, my fellow evil DM, that in Pathfinder you can't pull the rope up with a rope trick. It stays there all the time, and there is nothing that prevents anyone outside from climbing up in there with you.
Indeed. Although I am one of my groups regular DMs (and an evil one at that), I'm actually a player in this one (LoTae... and I should note that her 'backstory' is just what I had for the pre-adventure level 1 LoTae... it's been expanded alot sinse then). We have a few house rules in place (if you follow the link to LoTae, you'll see a few anomalies, like item Hardness and HP for wondrous items that scale with the items caster level instead of material only, for example)... but at that point in the game, we were intentionally letting a few things slide. Verenor RPed his freak out in the rope trick to well to retcon such a (n at the moment) small detail... though we did joke about how great it would be if a soul eater had followed him up into his rope trick. :D
Though when Verenor and Juth'n'dral were reunited, it was via Verenor in the trick wielding the rope like a whip, trying to get the druid/earth elemental's attention by smacking him in the head with the dangling rope. ^_^
Also: noted for future instances. >:)
~P
Zalathes
Half elf druid 10
mod: Blood for Blood
Fight on the floor with Stroon and the Baron and a bunch of guards
two other party members heavily negative
party bard just does so much damage with his bow baddies really had no chance..
...18str/arcane strike/+1 holy bow/inspire/good hope/haste/manyshot/rapid shot....i dread him getting deadly aim
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This is the first PC death in our 7-player Kingmaker campaign.
Name: Batren
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Magus 2
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Tuskgutter's Lair
Catalyst: Charging boar BoneBiter (Tuskgutter's mate)
The Gory Details:
The brave Batren charged Tuskgutter as he emerged from his lair and wounded the beast. Tuskgutter fought back and mananged to wound the magus (4 HP remaining) before the old boar was finally felled by ranged attacks from Batren's companions.
As Tuskgutter's body slumped to the ground, his (hidden) mate BoneBiter came charging out of the den right at Batren, piercing his neck with her sharp tusks (confirmed critical hit for 26 damage).
After killing BoneBiter and distributing the magus' gold amongst themselves, Batren's companions burned his body and retained some of his ashes.
My group felt their first death yesterday...
Name: Kerf, Spymaster
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Druid 8
Adventure: The Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Varnhold Stockade
Catalyst: Sneaking behind enemy lines
The Gory Details: The valiant Kerf, after having showed up the Paladin, Inquisitor, and Rogue earlier in the day by braving two Murders of Crows all by his druid lonesome, felt his luck was upon him. When attacking the stockade, the party was being pelted with bolts from attackers on the second floor. Turning into a sparrow, Kerf flew to the second floor, through the arrow slit, and returned to halfling form. Disrupting the bad guy* attackers with a Heat Metal spell, he descended to the first floor in an effort to open the main door and allow his companions entry. Alas, the Bad Guy Leader got behind him, wielding a magical heavy flail. One Crit and one solid hit later, and poor Kerf fell to the floor of the stockade, his poor widdle halfling head caved in.
Kerf is survived by his Giant Frog companion Herbert--who mourns his master's passing while debating whether or not Kerf would taste nice swallowed whole--and his fellow leaders of the Barony of Hartland. Time--and a likely humorous debate--will tell whether Kerf is buried with all honors or is raised to carry on the fight.
*
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Name Rumex Christmas III
Race Human
Class/Level Fey Sorcerer 3
Adventure Stolen Lands
Location The Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst Crit hit with mighty bow on low hit points
Rumex decided to stay back and color spray or shocking grasp the guards as the rest of us took on the Stag Lord. There were a series of impressive will saves made by the guards and Rumex was AC13. I should point out that Rumex's actions did stop them freeing Beaky. Two rounds later, he started to leak a lot. Then unfortunately Akiros retreated when his boss fell and shot the sorcerer in the throat (DM rolled a 20 followed by a 20).
Our one arcane spellcaster will now be replaced by a fighter, to go with the fighter, ranger, greatsword wielding rogue and avenging druid we already have.
Cheers
Name: Kaiya
Race: wood elf
Classes/levels: Druid 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Looking for Howl of the North Wind
Catalyst: She pissed off Howl of the North Wind
The Gory Details: The DM had seriously powered up Howl, as he's using some house rules that powered up the PCs as well. Howl became a 6th level sorcerer who had, among other spells, rope trick. Kaiya saw a random rope hanging in the air and pulls on it. Howl and his pack of wargs come out, and the rest of us stay a little further back using ranged attacks while poor Kaiya goes toe to toe with an advanced warg sorcerer--and while our dice took an inexplicable downturn in rolling capability. She and her lion companion, Arnau, both went down, but Arnau was lucky enough not to be killed outright, so we managed to save him.
As pursuant to the wishes of the homebrew goddess Kaiya worshiped, we spread her ashes in a grove just outside our capital city (built at the temple in the woods). The grove is permanently guarded by Arnau (who already owned a ring of sustenance).
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I don't have a link but if you spoil your email I'll send it to you. It's nothing too exciting, some of the penalties are harsh and some of it is silly but I think it adds an RP angle to characters that were once dead and now have to deal with being alive again.I created a d100 chart that randomly rolls an added effect from coming back from the deadSounds cool! Link?
I'd like to see that if you don't mind.
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Name: Marachov
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Rogue (1)/Warlock (2)
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Pure stupidity and a timely crit
The Gory Details: In the middle of the fight with the zombies on the hill outside the fort, he sneaks away from the fight to spider climb up the wall of the fort to kill the guards shooting at them. He instead opts to frighten them off while invisible. After doing so (the rest of the party is still being killed by zombies) instead of returning to the fight he decides to draw a massive magic circle in the middle of the fort to try to run all of the bandits off (he's still invisible and has his voice augmented to sound demonic). Akiros shows up and succeeds on his "wait just a minute" check and throws some sand in his vicinity, thus revealing him in all his halfling glory (our alchemist is bleeding out by this point and our inquisitor has resorted to hide from undead to keep herself alive. The soulknife is still fighting zombies and can't roll above 5 to save his life.) Cornered, Marachov attempts to spiderclimb up the wall of the fort and calls out the Stag Lord to a duel. The Stag Lord comes out and rolls a crit, rolls max damage, and shoots him in the head. The rest of the party finishes off the zombies, recovers, and retreats to try again later.
Name: Boryenka Garess
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cavalier (Cokatrice) 2
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Bandit's Thorn River Camp
Catalyst: Stbbed in the back by Dovan
The Gory Details:
The glorying seeking Boryenka always had a penchant for rushing in heedlessly and this time, as they found the bandit's forward camp repopulated he rushed too far ahead of his companions. While giving the minor brigands the justice they deserved the new camp leader, Dovan stabbed him in the back.
Boryenka was avenged by his companions.
Cheers
Mark
Yar!
The bell tolls for the dead once again.
This happened on Monday (it’s been busy at work, so I haven’t had time to write this up until now).
Name: Verenor, Son of Nidon, Former Nightwatcher, Magister of Calrissian
Race: Dhampir
Class: StarSoul Sorcerer 10
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Entrance to Armag's Tomb
Catalyst: A Confused Paladin
Survivors:
- Tellion Feydral, Priest of Abadar, Grand Diplomat of Calrissian (Male, Human Cleric 9 / Bard 1)
- Juth'n'dral, Hierophant of the River Kingdoms, Councilor of Calrissian (Male, Half-Elf Druid 10)
- Kal’han, ex-communicated Barbarian of the Tiger Clan (Male, Human Barbarian 10)
- Vega Surtova, Wandering Monk, (Ki Mystic-Four Winds-Sacred Mountain) (Male, Human Monk 10)
- Branwyn (Female, Human Paladin 10)
The Gory Details:
We enter the Tomb to put an end to the threat of Armag once and for all. We enter the very first chamber (with the three statues) and find a woman in the middle of the room. As we enter, we each give a greeting and attempt suave diplomacy to determine who this woman is, ensure that she knows we are not her enemy, and try to advance without causing a ruckus. Verenor was invisible before we even entered, so he simply walks into the room silently. This woman’s twin, hiding in the corner, makes her presence known as Vega enters, and Vega approaches her, saying “as these fine people have said, we are not your enemy. We are here simply to see the threat of Armag undone.”
That was a mistake.
The twins instantly rage on us, but rather than the brute force the other barbarians unleashed, these two unleashed magic. Right off the bat, Kal’han and Branwyn succumb to the effects of a Confusion spell. Verenor, Juth, and Tellion start to cast, Kal’han and Branwyn both start to punch themselves, and Vega non-lethal flurries on the twin in the corner in an attempt to knock her out (Vega abhors killing).
Spells fly about the room for about two dozen seconds, while Vega calmly knocks the twin unconscious and walks up to the other to do the same. Tellion gets sick and tired of the madness and draws his sword for the first time in his adventuring career, slashes the woman in the face, thus knocking her out as well.
(FYI: Tellion was temporarily killed last time by LoTae, a female elven weapon-master. LoTae didn’t consider Tellion a respected friend just yet either, as she only knew him, by her standards, for a very short time… as such, Tellion has developed a bit of a mistrust of women in general).
The confusion on Kal’han and Branwyn still has a good half-minute left. While Branywn babbles incoherently, Kal’han feels the urge to attack the nearest creature: Vega. Vega and Kal’han have bonded in their short time together (Kal’han likes to try and smack Vega around with brute force, but often misses, and Vega likes to take those opportunities to teach Kal’han about the benefits of self control and a more Zen approach to combat. The Ki Mystic ability to allow an ally to re-roll attacks has also been used frequently for Kal’han, so Vega really is constantly giving Kal’han combat advice), and so when Kal’han suddenly swings at Vega, he nimbly dodges, tells him “no no no, you must breath when you swing.” and slaps him as a counter attack at the same time. Vega then continues to give his “lesson” to the confused barbarian, slapping him between anecdotes in quick succession until Kal’han too is knocked unconscious (non-lethal flurry of blows again).
Thinking the fight over, Verenor (hiding at the relative safety of the entrance to the chamber), exclaims “YES!” and walks forwards with arms raised in the air in triumph. Branwyn, still confused, suddenly feels the need to attack the nearest creature… who just happens to be Verenor. Branwyn only gets a single swing at Verenors exposed back, but it’s a good hit, and brings him to 1 point past dead. Acting quickly to the sudden fall of an ally (to a woman’s hand… again), Tellion casts Breath of Life on Verenor… completely forgetting that Verenor is a Dhampir, and thus takes damage from positive energy. Instead of breathing life once again, Verenor’s flesh melts away into a bloody stain on the ground, and his bones turn to ash.
Everyone looks at the bloody and ashen pile in stunned shock (except for Branwyn, who starts babbling again), and Vega runs up to her to knock her out before more allies fall to her blade.
Tellion REALLY doesn’t trust women now.
~P
Pirate - boy is Tellion in for rough career. :)
Name: Gwendolyn
Race: elf
Classes/levels: Druid 1
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Tuskgutter's hex
Catalyst: Tuskgutter
The Gory Details:
The party was exploring the wilderness and heard a rustling in the underbrush nearby. Quickly Gwen, the groups scout and guide dismounted from his horse and scanned with his keen elven sight. A moment later he informed the group it was another boar. The group noted it sounded angry.
After a bit of coaxing from his friends Gwen reluctantly approached the enraged boar to calm and sooth him. Sure this had yet to work, and he had tried it over a dozen times so far, but there was a first time for everything.
Meanwhile the rest of his companions remained a ways back mounted up otherwise disinterested in the goings on. After all they had killed wild boar before, heck Gwen's elk had killed one by itself.
Moments later Gwen's friends watched in horror as a massive boar burst from the underbrush and started spreading Gwen's entrails all over the ground. By the time they got off their horses and came to his aid, Tuskgutter had was too much time to make sure the poor druid never troubled another animal again.
Name: Hayashi Ziyi
Race: humen [tien]
Classes/levels: Oracle [life] 3
Adventure: Stolen lands
Location: Hillside at stag lords fort.
Catalyst: Zombies
The Gory Details:
So Ziyi and her companions had successfully infiltrated the fort, eliminated the Stag Lord and all his minions in what was pretty much an easy victory. They had never gone off path on the hillside so they had not encountered the zombies at all. During the battle inside the fort two new party members had joined up (two players joined mid campaign) and they informed Ziyi and her friends about the "undead" on the hillside and not to go off the path.
So after the group had slain the bandits and hung them from the fort wall as is appropriate for their ilk, they began to settle in for a bit of rest.
Ziyi the group's oracle and follower of Pharasma was more interested in seeing these "undead". After a failed attempt to get the party to join her to investigate she headed out from to see for herself, fully expecting a few zombies or skeletons to emerge from the earth and shamble toward her. It was nothing she shouldn't be able to handle with a few well place channels and if there were too many she could retreat back into the fort, she was only a little ways down the path from the door.
Of course what she had not expected was that no sooner had her left foot stepped off the path that a dozen Zombies would leap out of the ground clawing at her before she could even make a scream.
In the surprise round a dozen zombies burst from the ground and several of them struck her all around her except for the space directly behind her on the path. On the 1st round several of the creature struck her before she could act. When she finally could go, retreating would have provoked from a couple Zombies anyway. So instead she gambled and channeled hoping to take a few out and retreat back. The roll was low and the zombies saves were good. No Zombies fell. As she retreated back Several Zombies attacked her with AO for near max damage and she dropped at -13 (Con 14).
The next round before her companions could get out to her she was dead.
Name: Ulfie Skysword
Race: Half-Orc (formally Human)
Classes/levels: Cleric of Gorum 9
and
Name: Lucius Vane
Race: Dwarf (formally Half-Elf)
Classes/levels: Fighter (Phalanx Fighter) 6 / Diviner (Foresight)1
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Drelev Keep
Catalyst: A well prepared opponent
The Gory Details:
After sneaking into Drelev Keep, the party was none too stealthy and the guards quickly became aware of their intrusion. After fighting their way through a dozen guards to the higher levels of the keep, they eventually found themselves on a balcony looking out over the inner courtyard. It was at this point that Imeckus made himself known, flying around the corner and blasting everyone with a fireball. Everyone ran onto the balcony to attack and were met by a ray which caught Lucius full in the chest - reducing him to a pile of dust. Despite this turn of events, they pressed the attack and some started taking to the air. After a coule more devastating blasts from fire and lightning, Ulfie failed one too many saves and was incinerated. Finally deciding enough was enough, the rest of the party made a hasty retreat through the underground tunnels. Having already suffered some severe wounds himself, Imeckus opted not to persue in favour of taking stock of his new found loot.