Share a non-standard encounter / event that was a memorable experience for you

[Sinatar]

DMs and players alike! I'll start:

I'm running a Cthulhu / Lovecraft APL 15 adventure for my players. In the latest session, the players had to deal with the mythical artifact, The Necronomicon, that the Cthulhu Cult was using to hasten the Great Cthulhu's awakening.

At this point in the game, the players actually have to find a way to use the Necronomicon to their advantage. The problem is that the tome is an intelligent item (with some nasty abilities) that resists the players' interactions. A successful Spellcraft check followed by an opposed CHA check against the book allows for some temporary control, but after a while the book will begin resisting again.

Gaining temporary control over the book and reading through it (the book's contents are in Aklo) reveals a Ritual of Attunement that anyone can attempt to become attuned to the book and not worry about the book resisting again. The players learn that they have to attune themselves to the book if they want to stop Cthulhu, because the only way to enter the sunken R'lyeh' is with the aid of another ritual in the book! And you must be attuned before being able to complete the other rituals.

And here is where the fun began: the Ritual of Attunement. It's a simple ritual to perform - other than the fact that the book is resisting everyone attempting the ritual! In this event/mini game/whatever you want to call it, each player had an important part to play. 2 players used Spellcraft to focus magic for the ritual. 1 player (the only one who knows Aklo) had to read the actual ritual. The whole time, the Necronomicon was summoning Star Spawn to attack the players trying to attune themselves! This is where the remaining 2 players came in... they were on damage control.

It was all sort of like whack-a-mole... except the moles were Star Spawn. If the reader could successfully read the ritual for 5 consecutive rounds, the ritual would be complete. Each round, the book would summon 2 Star Spawn. The 2 players focusing their magic with Spellcraft could actually prevent 1 spawn from being summoned in a round with a high enough Spellcraft check. Besides just reading the ritual, the reading player also had to succeed in an apposed CHA check against the book to progress the ritual each round. So there actually was a lot going on here.

This was a bit elaborate... but does anyone else have anything to share? Something non-standard that Pathfinder introduced to the game is Haunts. I plan on implementing some of those if my players ever make it to R'lyeh...

[Jerry Wright 307]

In a Chill game, between adventures, my character walked into the kitchen of the house we were staying in to make a pot of tea, and found the unofficial mascot of the group lying on the floor, gnawing on a bone (he was a big dog we found along a road, named Zeus).

She discovered the box of tea was empty and went to the pantry to get more. When she opened the pantry door, she found herself staring into the pit of hell. On the other side of the cavernous space, the demonic entity who had been plaguing the group stood calling to her.

She tried to close the door, but it resisted, and a tremendous wind roared through the kitchen, pushing her into the doorway. The strong-jawed hero (her love interest) came into the kitchen at that moment, and rushed over to grab her.

Unfortunately, his action caused her to lose her grip on the door, and she fell in, dragging him with her. Just as it looked as if they would tumble into the abyss, Zeus came to the rescue and grabbed the hero by the seat of his pants. He planted all four feet on the door frame, growling as loudly as he could to summon help as he held us suspended in space by his teeth.

I have to say thank heaven for the resilience of tweed trousers, because it seemed forever we hung there while the villain gloated and called out prophecies of our doom.

The rest of the gaming group tried desperately, between fits of giggles, to get the GM to let them help. Eventually he relented, and one of them came into the kitchen, and used a favor he had acquired in a previous adventure to force the demon to let us go.

Zeus hauled us back into the kitchen and whimpered in relief as we sprawled on the floor.

The encounter was very brief, game-wise, but the complexity of it and the rolls involved made it much, much longer in real terms. It also expanded the plot-line, because we discovered the house stood astride a gateway into the nether dimensions..

And we got extra experience because we entertained the group so well. :)

[Sinatar]

Nice!!