Unfortunately, the players weren't paying much attention when they started discussing the abilities of the shard in front of Xiavanshee. She has since implanted the proper ioun stone, which supresses the curse.
The wizard and musketeer were plane shifted to relatively safe locations, and did manage to re-group.
You put them on the same plane? You were nice.
There were on different planes (Axis and Elysium), and I rolled a d20 to see how dangerous the plane would be, which they got lucky with.
Name: Kit-Kat
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Starsoul Sorcerer 1
Adventure: Shards of Xin
Location: Natalya V's hideout
Catalyst: opening the door instead of Snickers the Fighter
The Gory Details: The ever enterprising sorceress had the bright idea to open the door from the entry room into the room where the trio of goblins with readied heavy crossbows lurked behind cover. First. She did, three heavy crossbows fired. A miss, a hit and a confirmed critical hit put her well into negative hit points. Ritter the druid and Snickers the fighter cooperated to extricate her to just outside the front door. Where Natalya V., "the best sorceress in all the world", eliminated Kit Kat from the competition pool via sneak attack light crossbow bolt to the eye.
On the spot I decided that 1 hero point can be used to "cheat death" - at a price. The price based on the manner of death and just how severely past "dead" the character went. At 8 hp past her death threshold, the crossbow bolt cost her an eye. She won't get it back without either a regenerate or reincarnation .
Later Kit Kat exacted vengeance, claiming an eye in return for the one she lost while Snickers and Ritter had Natalya pinned and bound. Kit-Kat is dangerously close to CN. :)
Name: Nisha
Race: Vishkanya
Class/Level: Rogue 2/Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 2
Adventure: Shards of Sin
Location: Laboratory of Wrath, Lord Baz's domain
Catalyst: Boredom is lethal or death by love-tap
The Gory Details: After slaying several nupperiboes and convincing their imp masters to talk, the party was led to Lord Baz. Although the gnome oracle of the heavens Luna Aurora and the half-orc summoner Fireday were eager to chat with Lord Baz about the state of the dungeon and what he could remember of ancient Thassilon, Nisha got bored and slipped off into the shadows. Eventually she got bored enough to ambush Lord Baz.
This was a bad idea.
Both of the imps immediately threw out suggestion spells--"slay Lord Baz's assassin!". Fireday resisted. Luna did not.
Round 1. Color spray knocks Nisha out.
Round 2. Coup de grace attempt. Due to Luna's tiny gnome arms, the critical did a total of 1 nonlethal damage.
This led to a consultation of the rules. Could nonlethal damage be dealt on a coup de grace? After all, you can make lethal attacks with a nonlethal weapon at an attack penalty... and there's no roll for a coup de grace... but this was due to a Strength penalty...
Nisha rolled for her save-or-die at DC 11. It came up a 2. Goodbye, Nisha. On the other hand, Lord Baz was killed by the bleed damage she dealt, so it was not all for naught.
It's been awhile since a player died during one of the games I've run, but got one this time around.
Name: Larrien
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Summoner 3/Magus 2
Adventure: The Curse of the Lady's Light
Location: The oval platform on the first dungeon level
Catalyst: Large Water Elemental Crossfire
The Gory Details: The resident cleric decides to investigate the hollow statue by smashing it in the backside with her mace. This obviously brings forth the two elementals. Due to the way the party is positioned one is summoned next to the statue and the other out in the water. Larrien, being a low AC summoner who generally relies on his eidolon is stuck in the middle. I generally choose randomly the targets using die rolls and through the course of the fight end up hitting Larrien with multiple full attacks from the elementals. The final blow was a critical hit (using Paizo cards) which included the "Knockback" result of double damage and 1d6 squares of pushback directly away. So, the image was a giant double handed upward blow that picked Larrien up and knocked him into the somewhat shallow water. Larrien never surfaced (29 points of damage so from upright to full dead). There was a moment of mourning before the loot fest began.
Name: Isil Tassevenius
Race: Elf
Class: Wizard 15 (Thassilonian specialist)
Adventure: Dead Heart of Xin
Catalyst: Curiosity (or uncharacteristic carelessness)
Our elf walks into the shrine to Lissala, and resists the suggestion spell to pick up the robe that's covering the symbol of death. She was curious why the trap would want her to pick the robe up, so she decides to find out why, picking it up and triggering the Symbol of Death. She rolls a 1 on her save.
Luckily she had the Sihedron "equipped," so she was resurrected on the spot.
And right after she revives, she puts the robe on! Edit: Which is a cursed robe of powerlessness for those wondering.
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Name: Isil Tassevenius
Race: Elf
Class: Wizard 15 (Thassilonian specialist)
Adventure: Dead Heart of Xin
Catalyst: Curiosity (or uncharacteristic carelessness)Our elf walks into the shrine to Lissala, and resists the suggestion spell to pick up the robe that's covering the symbol of death. She was curious why the trap would want her to pick the robe up, so she decides to find out why, picking it up and triggering the Symbol of Death. She rolls a 1 on her save.
Luckily she had the Sihedron "equipped," so she was resurrected on the spot.
And right after she revives, she puts the robe on! Edit: Which is a cursed robe of powerlessness for those wondering.
Players are funny like that sometimes.
Sounds like you are really close to the finish line. When you are done with the AP, it would be nice to see a more detailed report from you on how it all worked out, which individual adventures work best and why, and what GMs should be awere of starting this AP. Reading AP completion reports is always interesting.P.S, don't forget a detialed report of the fight against Xin! ;)
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We've been playing slowly for about five months now and have just finished the first module.
TPK #1:
Name: Gaius
Race: Human (Varisian)
Classes/levels: Bard (Dirge Bard)/1 (Monument Scholar/Fencer)
Name: Vivian Locke
Race: Human (Varisian)
Classes/levels: Rogue/1 (Ruin Raider/Blade of the Society)
Name: Elmtor Untdaro
Race: Human (Taldan)
Classes/levels: Inquisitor of Erastil/1 (Exchange Agent/?)
Adventure: Shards of Sin
Location: Natalya's Hideout
Catalyst: Thugs in the side-door
The Gory Details: They bust open the door and the thugs wipe the floor with them. The end.
TPK #2 (Ok, that didn't work out, so let's restart where we left off as second level characters instead. First four levels max hp, all other levels half hp rounded down after first four levels. Elmtor will be Armor Expert for a bit more defense along with other defensive enhancements):
Name: Gaius
Race: Human (Varisian)
Classes/levels: Bard (Dirge Bard)/2 (Monument Scholar/Fencer)
Name: Vivian Locke
Race: Human (Varisian)
Classes/levels: Rogue/2 (Ruin Raider/Blade of the Society)
Name: Elmtor Untdaro
Race: Human (Taldan)
Classes/levels: Inquisitor of Erastil/2 (Exchange Agent/Armor Expert)
Adventure: Shards of Sin
Location: Natalya's Hideout
Catalyst: Thugs in the side-door
The Gory Details: They bust open the door and the thugs wipe the floor with them. The end.
Restart #2 required the addition of more PCs as we concluded that a bit more muscle was required for survival odds. We've now added:
Name: Julien Bellehache
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Psychic Warrior/2 (Serpent Runner (Two Weapons)/Flame of the Dawnflower)
Name: Drask Viletooth
Race: Goblin
Classes/levels: Barbarian/2 (some sort of crazy bite attack specialist)
The game's gone much smoother after this, but they still did have to beat a hasty retreat to regroup after facing off with a pair of shriezyxes near the finale to Shards of Sin in this past weekend's session, but then they finished it up after that.
I for one look forward to adding at least 4 more bodies to the kill tally within a week. >:)
Names: Kit-Kat; Ritter; Snickers
Races: Varisian humans
Classes/levels: Sorceress (Starsoul) 2; Druid 2; Fighter (2-hander) 2
Adventure: Shards of Xin
Location: Replacement encounter for the TPK-waiting-to-happen after Natalya's hideout
Catalyst: Getting their lunch handed to them
The Gory Details: A summoner cultist and his two adept minions had abducted a dozen commoners as sacrificial fodder for their destined-to-fail performance of the King in Yellow in an abandoned theatre beneath the Irespan. The adepts' familiar scarlet spiders gave the bad guys ample warning of intruders. After buffing, while our heroes first botched attempting to pick the lock of one side door, they met back out front, went around to the other door and picked that lock. When the slobberknocker was over, Kit-Kat had been killed by the summonerwhile the stabilized Ritter and Snickers were gacked along with the 12 commoners. 'Cheating death' (1 HP version) has come in handy 4 times already! The trio were later recovered by Abba-Zaba and Violent Crumble, taken back to the Lodge, nursed back to health,refitted from Society stores and sent to the Crow.
Players are funny like that sometimes.
Sounds like you are really close to the finish line. When you are done with the AP, it would be nice to see a more detailed report from you on how it all worked out, which individual adventures work best and why, and what GMs should be awere of starting this AP. Reading AP completion reports is always interesting.P.S, don't forget a detialed report of the fight against Xin! ;)
Surprisingly, no one died against Xin (or Ogonthunn afterword). The Sihedron is extremely powerful... I might do a write up later about my thoughts on the AP.
Name: Calwethna Udrinor
Race: Drow
Class/levels: Cavalier 16 (Musketeer)
Adventure: Post-Game
Location: The Doomsday Door
Catalyst: Yamasoth
Back in part 4, in order to avoid Yamasoth's stun, Calwethna decided to accept chaos in her heart. Since she started as NE, this turned her into chaotic evil, and a servant of Yamasoth. I didn't want to delay the campaign, so I decided that Yamasoth would take advantage of this later.
After completing the campaign, Calwethna found herself drawn toward Windsong Abbey (the party decided not to re-built the town.) There, Calwethna met a cleric of Yamasoth who was told by his qlippoth lord that a servant would meet him there. Calwethna guarded the cleric while he made his way through the Abbey, opening the doomsday locks with her key, and killing Kandamereus who they let watch over the gate back in part 4.
The party, wondering where Calwethna had gone to, decided to scry on her, and were surprised when they found out she was helping a cleric of Yamasoth finish the ritual to summon Yamasoth that was barely prevented in part 4. While the ritual was commencing, the party wizard, Isil, teleports everyone in (thankfully that bypasses the need for another doomsday key), and realizing that Calwethna is under the control of Yamasoth, they kill her and the cleric in order to prevent the ritual.
The wizard is greatly saddened by this, but decides not to revive Calwethna, as she would likely just be under Yamasoth's control again. Isil instead vows that she will kill Yamasoth herself if she has to.
Luckily, I have his stats handy >:)
Kill zem, Mechalibur, kill zem all. :D
No technical deaths as of yet. (closing in on the end of AP1)
But, the party has been “defeated” twice. Note that we run a HEAVILY modified campaign that draws on a lot of homebrew plots as well as npcs/plots from Serpent Skull and Rise of the Runelords. We also quite heavily modify the encounters/dungeons we do use to fit we our style of gaming.
First Defeat;
Name: Leonal Skyfall
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Gestalt Warrior of the Holy Light 2/Oracle (Heavens, Clouded Vision)2
Name: Ninox Theomacha
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Gestalt Synthesist 2/Oracle (Legalistic) 2
Adventure: AP1: Shards of Sin, Search for Natalya
Location: Double Ambush on the streets of Magnimar.
Catalyst: A failed ambush and shortsightedness
They decided to set an ambush for HER where the Paladin/Oracle would continue on ahead while the Synthesis/Oracle would hide and ambush Terisha as she went past. The players had bad skill and luck at hiding to the effect where Terisha clearly saw what they were up to. She allowed them to separate, sneaked in and attacked the Synthesist/Oracle that was waiting for her. The Paladin/Oracle was at this point too far ahead and could not see what was going on behind him - confusion ensued. Eventually the Paladin/Oracle stumbled back to join the fight and Terisha decided to run away. The Synthesist/Oracle delayed to heal upwhile the Paladin/Oracle gave chase to Terisha. Unfortunately his 30 foot vision did not allow him to see that Terisha ran up to three thugs until he practically ran into all four of them. Players again separated, Terisha and the thugs were able to incapacitate both in turn. The characters were taken to an old Tower Girls hideout and interrogated about their connecetion to Natalya and what they were looking for.Terisha evenetually decided to let them go, sans gear off course, again shadowing them in the hopes that the players would lead to Natalyas whereabouts.
Second Defeat
Name: Leonal Skyfall
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Gestalt Warrior of the Holy Light 3/Oracle (Heavens, Clouded Vision)3
Name: Ninox Theomacha
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Gestalt Synthesist 3/Oracle (Legalistic) 3
Adventure: AP1: Shards of Sin, exploring the Crow.
Location: Ant section of the Crow.
Catalyst: Ants… ants! Oh my god.. ants!
He healed up, gathered some resources and went down… only to find the ant nest destroyed, all the remaining ants killed and his friends strangely gone. Luckily, his friends were all right.. in fact they had been “liberated” by a surprisingly friendly flying imp who just wanted their help to defeat a foul and evil devil named Baz on the floor below (and he off course made them sign a contract they only barely understand in turn for the “rescue”).
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Name: Drask Viletooth
Race: Goblin
Classes/levels: Barbarian (Feral Gnasher)/6 (Serpent Runner (Intimidate)/Bully)
Drask isn't the sharpest pen in the box of crayons. He can only speak Goblin and this has led him to be the righthand goblin of the Dirge Bard, Gaius, who is the only other party member that can speak with him. The spell Share Language is the normal workaround.
Adventure: Curse of the Lady's Light
Location: The False Sepulcher
Catalyst: Failed Saving Throws
The Gory Details: As one of Gaius's pets, Drask pretty much does Gaius's bidding when he doesn't want to get his hands dirty. Drask leans in to the Sorshen clone to deliver it a bite of death, and then Drask finds himself in an icky female human's body.
It's completely ridiculous and hilarious that the one character in the party that has a zero bonus on his Bluff and can only speak Goblin ends up having this happen. Oh well...I guess we'll see how the rest of this turns out. The 17-point bite delivered to the Dhampir was pretty cool as well as the fact that Drask is now carrying his prior body around in a sack.
And the poor goblin can't bite any more from the sound of it. ^_____^
"Ew! What are these lumps on my chest!"
We have a female player who is playing a female fighter. Unfortunately she most likely wouldn't set off the trap. However, I can just see the male player / male dwarf bard setting it off. Now that is going to be bloody hilarious!!!!
Name: Snickers
Race: Varisian human
Class/level: Fighter (2-hander) 2
Adventure: Shards of Xin
Location: B23, Ayala's Quarters
Catalyst: Waving around a silvered no-dachi
The Gory Details: Being a big burly fighter waving around a ginormous silvered no-dachi resulted in Snickers receiving Ayala's undivided attention. A sneak attack bloodroot poisoned arrow, a flank-provided sneak attack via poisoned bladed scarf, a coup-de-grace, a timely healing from the "Oracle of Bacon" and a final coup-de-grace put the sorry bugger 11 points past his CON score. He cheated death to get better, albeit at a cost. The severe internal organ damage from Ayala's bladed scarf resulted in Snickers' loss of a CON point until such time as he is reincarnated or receives a regenerate spell.
And the poor goblin can't bite any more from the sound of it. ^_____^Oh, he/she can still bite, but it's not quite as effective as an Azlanti woman as it was as a football-headed goblin.
that infernal football headed goblin, i hate him, but, oh how i love that lil football headed goblin.
This campaign has been pretty tough so far. Nearly everybody in my 6 man party has died at least once. Heck even with hero points we have had a few breath of life/raise dead required. I haven't really boosted many encounters for the party size, only adding max HP on some solos, and maybe one additional enemy on groups i don't think are challenging enough.
The party cleric played by a super cautious player got nailed by the clone trap. She doesn't count it as a death because she didn't really stay dead and she kept her old body with gentle repose. After campaign is over she intends to return to that body.
The party witch died via seugathi induced assassination by the party monk.
Also died from trying to fly versus a harpy archer.
Then died from being air blasted away by a flying polyp. A few other deaths I'm forgetting actually, since it happens so frequently.
Paladin's first death was being torn apart by vrocks, he got better via breath of life.
Paladin also died due to petrification
As did the Rogue. Both players rerolled rather than continue on trying to fix their status.
The monk has been dropped via HP damage a few times, but has managed to stabilize via reach cure spells.
The bard (rerolled rogue) should have died to Leng spider venom, after the party learned that the poison removal they had wasn't an auto cure. The DC was pretty high and only a clutch bears endurance and belt swap saved him. He had lost more con than he actually had...
The summoner has died frequently, but the only one that stands out is dying to a wail of the banshee versus a demilich. Oh, and dying in his dream by a bhol.
The ranger (rerolled paladin) has cheated death 3 times with + to saving throw hero points. First was a soul eating attack by a demilich. Next was against a wail of the banshee. Lastly and most recently was against a finger of death. Each time he passed by less than the bonus given by using a hero point, and 2 of the times he only passed because he used them proactively rather than retroactively.
We also had half the party feeble minded at one point, with the guy who knew the spells to remove it being one of them. A clutch UMD was able to break him free so he could finish curing the rest of the party.
My party is overall a powerful group, they chew through encounters quickly usually, but some of them have just been brutal for the party.
The first fight against xin constructs required 2 heal spells (rod quickened, and a reach heal) in the first round (due to the one haunted catching the party solidly with a blast spell, and some strong follow through attacks by the normal constructs).
Awesome stuff
Nice to hear that this campaign can be really challenging even in the higher levels. I presume that you finished your campaign? You have to make thread about how you feel about Shattered Star in whole, which things worked well and which did not. It would be nice to read comments from someone who has gm'ed Shattered Star from beginning to very. Those really help GMs with their own campaigns and many would appreciate thread like that.
We actually aren't done yet, we have about 3 weeks to go at our current rate of a book every 4-5 sessions, and we meet weekly.
As for the lethality of it for the high level characters, its mostly because there is plenty of save or die effects. My party has good saves mostly, but at high level there is usually 1 save in which you are particularly weak. Then there is problem with rolling low or rolling a one.
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Name: Elmtor Untdaro
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Inquisitor of Erastil (Animal Domain)/6
Adventure: Curse of the Lady's Light
Location: Conjuration Lab
Catalyst: Failed Will saves plus iterative attacks.
The Gory Details: The fiendish seugathi nearly TPK'd the party after the party's Bard couldn't resist going in to see what the book on the other side of the room was. There were two full rounds where everyone was busy smashing their own faces in. Three rounds before this monstrosity died, a full-round attack sequence on Elmtor did him in. The next round, Elmtor's enraged Hawk animal companion also bit the dust. The party started this encounter fully rested with 301 hit points between them. They ended the encounter with a dead character and a dead animal companion. The survivors had 111 hit points left amongst them.
They would've had a chance to escape if, after several rounds into combat, the Bard wouldn't have cast Enlarge Person on the damage-dealer of the party. This effectively kept the Large size enemy and the Large size ally locked in the room with the door that was too small for either of them to get out. There was brief talk of abandoning the damage-dealer to its fate, but they knew they'd all be dead later if they did.
To top it off, they're now halfway through the dungeon with 1/3 of their normal power and very little healing capacity 50 miles from civilization. I played the optional Web Enhancement for The Lady's Light, and the Bard and Goblin Barbarian (through thieving and greed on the boat on the way down) made it so that the only way back to Magnimar is a long hike on foot through the Mushfens, since there will be no return boat to take them back north and they have no horses. They're close to some level-ups. Maybe the only hope is if one of the characters finds some religion.
I had my first TPK as a GM. The Lady's Light, first level, the party made it through the Gnaeus fight fine. However, in the next room the little constructs kept paralyzing the party members and getting their claw attacks in. Upon forcing the retreat a couple party members jumped on the glass golem landing where it then attacked a couple which forced them to again retreat as they were getting low on resources. One failed their swim check and down the waterfall they went to their death. The rest of the party decided to go back the otherway to the water portal. Upon trying to shut down the waterfall in a foolish attempt to be able to save their comrade's body, they released the water elementals that swept up everyone else with cleave attacks.
Since they were down a couple players that session we all agreed to retcon it as a horrible dream they had. The next time I won't be so nice. Little do they know what lays beyond...
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Name:Snarkesh Tinkelfidget
Race: Gnome
Classes/levels: Rogue 3
Adventure: Shards of Sin
Location: Thassilonian Laboratories
Catalyst: Dexterity-damage-hampered Reflex Save
The Gory Details: While scouting ahead, poor Snarkesh managed to trigger the defective fireball trap and then blew his save completely. I then proceed to roll 27 points of damage on a 6d6 fireball. Snarkesh is now attempting his second time around the wheel as a charcoal briquette.
I just wrapped up the last of this campaign. Had a few more "deaths" Some of them even though I've been allowing hero points.
The Gift of the Fickle Gods killed the eidolon, so the party was without it for much of the dungeon.
Clockwork dragon killed the monk dead (out of hero points) with is self destruct special attack.
The elder Crystallises in the Noqual vault petrified 2 individuals. The summoner and the ranger.
A Crystallises in the final battle petrified the duelist. The cleric fixed him with a miracle.
By the end of the final battle much of the party was badly damaged by the con drain that the dread wraiths and the clockwork reliquary doled out. A few party members were nearly dead, while others went mostly untouched.
The party's survival on the final battle was mostly abusing the fact that the cleric had prepared multiple reach heals (which damage the boss like harm). Condition removal that the party had invested in also helped considerably with the fight (staggered and nauseated are both nasty in a fight like this). Without that annoying fact of positive energy vulnerability I think I could have managed at least 2 more kills. The AC and the damage mitigation of the final boss combined to limit the DPR of both the monk and the ranger (the primary dps in the party), and the butterfly sting bard couldn't hit well enough to pass off criticals.
The sky high ACs of the party kept them intact against the 2nd to last fight (the dpr of the rune giant grave knight is 1 round kills against nearly anything, but the duelist had AC in the low 50s).
At the end of the adventure I manage to kill all of my player's characters at least once, including players who had rerolled. Many of them had characters that died more than once. I wish I had managed more, but I allowed 20 point buy and had a 7 member party and I only occasionally adjusted the difficulty (usually max hp or an added monster or two). I also allowed any PF published material and my Players tend to be of the optimizing type (not just for dpr, the cleric optimized for buffing/condition removal, the witch for debuff/CC, monk for single target lockdown, ranger for damage spikes, duelist for AC and hit chance, summoner for difficult target assassination, bard for buffs/AC/party dpr by passing off crits).
All in all a very challenging adventure path and even held up better than expected at the high end of things.
This is becoming a habit.
Name: Karreen
Race: Aasimar
Classes/levels: Magus 6
Adventure: The Curse of the Lady's Light
Location: The "optional" section of the adventure
Catalyst: Babau demon slice and dice
The Gory Details: The same player that had died earlier in the adventure was reintroduced later on as an individual who had managed to wander into the Lady's Light. This character proved to have some excellent damage potential but I'm not quite sure the player realized the "glass cannon" effect. To be fair the player was trying to defend a downed party member but deciding to do so by placing himself in perfect flanking position between two demons with multiple attacks with a sneak attack bonus. It wasn't pretty as the character went from a reasonable amount of health down to Con dead in a single flurry. On the plus side, there will be no more deaths by this character until the next book which we start the next session. Mostly because that new character won't be introduced until that new book.
Name: Draco Don Zerba
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian (invulnerable rager) 6/Alchemist (vivisectionist) 1
Adventure: Curse of the Lady's Light
Location: The Arcane Oubliette
Catalyst: confusion
The Gory Details: For their second encounter with Ashamintallu, the alu-demon opened with yet another confusion. Draco, as usual, failed to resist the compulsion magic and started acting recklessly. Next to him, Oriana (who had been accompanying the group of Pathfinders) also fell to Ashamintallu's magic. The Gray Maiden and the barbarian locked themselves in a deadly embrace.
The struggle was balanced, until Ashamintallu's incubus joined the fight. His falchion left gaping wounds on Draco who, still confused, did not have the clarity of mind to flee with his companions. He quickly fell unconscious and, plight of barbarians, died in a pool of his own blood as he stopped raging.
His body was later retrieved by his companions after a daring diversion to lure Ashamintallu away from this room. A few days later, in Magnimar, the Pathfinders used their recently acquired fame to have Draco raised from the dead.
Name: Tank
Race: Turtle
Classes/levels: Animal Companion Drd 3
Adventure: Curse of the Lady's Light
Location: Room with the pit going down, down, down...
Catalyst: confirmed critical hit with a guisarme wielded by a catarydid column
The Gory Details: From full hp to past -CON in one blow. On the upside, the party will have turtle chops on the half-shell for dinner.
Name: Nowa
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Sorcerer (Sorceress) 2
Adventure: Shards of Sin
Location: The Crow, 4th floor
Catalyst: Very low acrobatics
The Gory Details: Trying to cross to the platform over the pit of water, the group's Witch, Rogue, Cavalier, and Bard all make it fine, Nowa fails the check to swing over and falls to her death (9 current HP, 14 CON, 38 lethal damage).
Name: Wilhelm
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian 3
Adventure: Shards of Sin
Location: Area D15: the Sihedron Shrine
Catalyst: Two pissed-off, time-frozen Shriezyx. (And a Player's impending departure from the group.)
The Other Players: Yama (Male Tengu Rogue), Garim (Dwarven Fighter), Chun Wein (Halfling Ninja), and Alfonse (Half-Elf Mage)
The Gory Details:
Having worked their way through the dungeon with only a few "nail-biter" encounters, the group had a few close one's in the battle with Khryzm and her crew before putting them down.
They stopped to heal-up using a wand before descending to the Shrine. When they opened the door to the shrine, the Shriezyx attacked but got low Init. The barbarian and fighter charged one while the other three went after the other.
As the Barbarian delivered a killing blow, the beast struck out and put Wilhelm at -7 HP. Since his player will be moving out of state before the next game, he figured it would be a good epic death for the PC, and left it at that.
Actually a great way to end part one.
Name: Laslo Grigorovich Budinek
Race: Tiefling
Classes/levels: Alchemist (beastmorph, vivisectionist) 11
Adventure: The Doomsday Door
Location: The Guardian Crypt (E4)
Catalyst: shadows
The Gory Details: The group of Pathfinders had found a back entrance to the underground levels of the temple of Groetus that lied under the Windsong Abbey. Fighting through sea drakes to enter the dungeon, and then through scores of abominations, they finally reached a door with a doomsday lock blocking there way on the lowest level, where they knew Ardathanatus dwelled. Without a doomsday key, they cleverly decided to bypass the door entirely by having Viv, the group's cleric of Asmodeus, stone shape a tunnel through the wall next to door. They breached into the crypts beyond.
When the shadow guardians attacked, the Pathfinders were woefully unprepared. They retreated, and came back armed for the fight against the incorporeal undead, but the swarm of four shadows eventually brought the weak vivisectionist down. He collapsed on the ground and his shadow quickly started to separate from his body. It attacked his former companions without a pause, but was swiftly destroyed.
After a little bit more exploration (and another character death), the group used word of recall to retreat back to Magnimar. Given how famous the Pathfinders had become in the city, it was easy for Sheila to organize a raise dead for Laslo at the church of Abadar.
We have a female player who is playing a female fighter. Unfortunately she most likely wouldn't set off the trap. However, I can just see the male player / male dwarf bard setting it off. Now that is going to be bloody hilarious!!!!
Yup, he set it off..... HERE 4th and 5th paragraph down.
-- david
Short and sweet:
4 Technical Character Deaths averted by a massive expenditure of hero points, 7 or 8 in one fight, 9 or 10 total for the session.
Name: Draco Don Zerba
Race: Human
Classes/levels: alchemist (vivisectionist) 1/barbarian (invulnerable rager) 10
Adventure: The Doomsday Door
Location: Crypts of the Final Priest (E10)
Catalyst: a swarm of mummies.
The Gory Details: Down to three heroes, the alchemist dead only minutes ago to shadows, the Pathfinders nevertheless proceeded further. They eventually got cornered in the Groetan crypt by the swarm of Groetan mummies. Draco did his best to protect his companions and send the undead back to the death they never should have left but he was eventually overcome.
A second later, he was brought back to life by Viv, the cleric of Asmodeus, with a _breath of life_ spell.
Name: Draco Don Zerba
Race: Human
Classes/levels: alchemist (vivisectionist) 1/barbarian (invulnerable rager) 12
Adventure: Into the Nightmare Rift
Location: The Stockade (A1)
Catalyst: being a foolish barbarian.
The Gory Details: The Pathfinders spotted the stockade blocking the entrance to Guiltspur at the same time they were spotted by the guard giants. The fight was brutal and the barbarian Draco, at the forefront of the assault, took the full blunt of the giants' hits. He eventually hovered close to death (and he would certainly die if he ended his rage). But being the superstitious being he is, Draco is somewhat impervious to his friends' healing magic.
He nevertheless jumped from the tower next to his cleric companion (taking some damage as he did). He ended his rage, hoping that his _aegis of recovery_ would keep him alive long enough. But it didn't and Draco quickly dropped to -30 hit points. Next to him, Viv, the cleric of Asmodeus in the guise of Sorshen, sighed and revived him (again) with a _breath of life_ spell.
No one killed Draco, this time, he killed himself.
Name: Draco Don Zerba
Race: Human
Classes/levels: alchemist (vivisectionist) 1/barbarian (invulnerable rager) 12
Adventure: Into the Nightmare Rift
Location: Jubbek's Throne Room (B8)
Catalyst: Skullcracker
The Gory Details: The fight against Jubbek and his giants was brutal and the Pathfinders dispatched the hill giants in a mere few seconds, forcing Jubbek to join the fray. He didn't last long, but the duel of titans with Draco took its toll on both sides. When Draco killed the giant chief, he rejoiced, but Chief Jubbek's pet smilodon didn't and the animal ripped through Draco. A tensed ten seconds later, Skullcracker was down to 10 hit points, but Draco was bitten, clawed, and raked to pieces and scattered throughout the room.
He was at -90 hit points and would later get _raised_ in Magnimar by the grand priest of Abadar. Even the Pathfinders are starting to wonder how much they should invest in this suicidal barbarian. Draco is reaching the limit of his Prestige.
Today, the group recovered the Shard of Sloth from Cadrilkasta's cold, dead claw. That was not without sacrifices…
Name: Laslo Grigorovich Budynek
Race: Tiefling
Classes/levels: alchemist (beastmorph, vivisectionist) 15
Adventure: Into the Nightmare Rift
Location: The Cursed Dragon (F10)
Catalyst: Cadrilkasta, prismatic spray, and 1 on a save
The Gory Details: Cadrilkasta was back after having almost killed Viveltre, the group's cleric of Asmodeus, but also after she had been forced to teleport away to heal herself. This time, she was angry, but cunningly invisible. Laslo was the only companion with see invisibility, so he cautious went forward to warn his companions where the dragon was. He was welcomed by a prismatic spray, got hit by a poison ray (green), and promptly dropped dead cold.
The barbarian-alchemist, Draco, swiftly grabbed Laslo's body to bring it to Viveltre, who breathed life back into Laslo.
And a few seconds later…
Name: Draco Don Zerba
Race: Human
Classes/levels: alchemist (vivisectionist) 1/barbarian (invulnerable rager) 14
Adventure: Into the Nightmare Rift
Location: The Cursed Dragon (F10)
Catalyst: Cadrilkasta's breath
The Gory Details: For maybe the tenth time, Cadrilkasta hurled electricty at the group of Pathfinders. This last attempt was too much for Draco, who could not resist the electrical onslaught and dropped dead.
The companions brought Cadrilkasta low seconds later and Draco was eventually raised from the dead back in Magnimar, a few days before the ritual to reforge the Sihedron.
Name: Skudelius the Green
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Druid 11
Adventure: Beyond the Doomsday Door
Location: B2
Catalyst: Exploding Brewery Golem
BtDD is kind of a meatgrinder, but even then it's kinda harsh to die in the second dungeon room. I skipped the Skulks because of reasons, so it was just the party and the damaged Clockwork Golem/brewery bot. It couldn't activate on round one, so the party got some free shots at it, but on the second round it grappled and grinded poor Skudelius. Still not a problem until someone destroyed it.
Then it exploded.
Skudelius rolled a 1, used a hero point to reroll, rolled a 3. So he took full damage from the blast, which was enough to obliterate him. The dwarven characters (party has two of them) posthumously declared him a honorary dwarf, because dying in a brewery explosion surely gets you some respect points with them.
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Name:Elagon
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Ranger 6
Adventure: Curse of the Lady's Light
Location: Dungeon Level 1 - Summoning Room
Catalyst: Mind Fog followed by Phantasmal Killer
The Gory Details: The Fiendish Seugathi gave the party a run for its money, but poor Elagon got the early brunt of it, being the only one to fail his save against the Mind Fog and then getting hit by Phantasmal Killer.
Name: Sebastian
Race: Fetchling
Class: Magus (black blade hexcrafter) 11
Adventure: Beyond the Doomsday Door
Location: Council chamber
Catalyst: Mauled by mummies
The Gory Details: Although the PCs were expecting to fight a zombified bugbear (due to some good intel gathering), his mummy minions caught them completely by surprise. Both Princess Luna, the gnome heavens oracle, and Sebastian were caught paralyzed, but only Sebastian was far enough ahead of the party for the mummies to catch him defenseless. One Power Attack-augmented coup de grace later, and Sebastian's chest is caved in. Fortunately for the party, the half-orc summoner Fireday has teleport in his roster, allowing them to escape back to Maginmar for a raise dead mere seconds after Sebastian's demise.
Name: Balak (DM NPC)
Race: Dwarf
Class: Fighter 10 (with max hit points and very good AC)
Adventure: The Asylum Stone
Location: The Naming Pool
Catalyst: Killed by the BBEG, aka. The Dark Rider
The Gory Details: They went into the naming pool room, knowing they were near the end of the "fortress". Balak, as usual, led the way with the other fighter right behind him, followed by the other three characters. The DMs dice were hot, very hot and the player rolling for Balak was cold, very cold. Balak lost his head, and one round later it was thrown at the party and exploded. A couple of rounds after that they finally put the Dark Rider down, but poor Balak never made it back.