Call Forth Darkness! (Inactive)

Game Master Aku Warashi

Mwhahahahaha

where are the wraiths currently?

Third floor, temple room (3-5), the intruders on 3-9.

@Cedric

Since we apparently lost yet another cleric, and your cohort hasn’t really made an appearance in the game, what about you replace him with Father Sidious, the late cleric, currently at level 6?

I would be fine with that :)

I'd love to go recruiting again but I think Aku is right for now to not go down that road for a bit. Its a pain.

If Eldred dies - you know, dead dead, he'll come back as a cleric :)

+1 vote against ever recruiting in this game again.

We do seem to scare people away :<

So, no question how they bypassed your security without you knowing? :D Not that I'll answer, of course! :D

Also, I've been wanting to ask it for some time and I always forget:

Agrippa, are your familiars watching Farhold? I don't recall if that idea went forward.

Yes, I still want the Imp and Zebub watching Farhold.

Well as the knot we don't know our security has been bypassed yet :) I know how they got in but this is to the point of how far our table top game went so yeah it's all new for me from here on. :)

Really? How do you think they got in?? We are supposed to be teleport proof. The only way in or out of the room they appeared in is the teleport thrones, which are point to point only. Ooh - did they hack our network?

Inside help, I blame the Ogre.

Who is Keyser Soze?

I can't say, I know because I had played the adventure up to here. :)

So, according to the notes in the wraith's stats, most of them should be fleeing right now.... are we following those or should we keep on trucking?

Your choice.

Who is Keyser Soze?

So, since I usually get lost on those references, here you are asking if Cedric knows whom are you dealing with?

Urgh, just noticed now that when touched, the living creature is entitled a fort DC 17 to resist the CON drain.

Shame on you guys. You should have warned me about it. :D

I got my just deserts.

The dread wrath was less 'hard' than I expected him to be but he was facing a good party that could manage the undead well - those channel energies hurt badly, and the lucky crit didn't help matters for poor Ezra.

So, since I usually get lost on those references, here you are asking if Cedric knows whom are you dealing with?

pretty much yeah... Agrippa suggested Grumblejack was responsible for letting these guys in. I suggested Grumble might be some kind of criminal mastermind that has been strining us along this whole time. Keser Soze

Urgh, just noticed now that when touched, the living creature is entitled a fort DC 17 to resist the CON drain.

Shame on you guys. You should have warned me about it. :D

Sorry, I thought it was under the 'soldier rolls' spoiler, which I didn't bother to open, because, you know, spoiler. :>

(...) because, you know, spoiler. :>

Ah, this is just a silly habit I got in last few months.

A loot-of-dices-and-those-badly-formated-long-strings-of-endless-bonus-on-dic e-rolls bugs me a bit! :D

The Keyzer Soze reference is from an awesome movie called The Usual Suspects watch it if ever you get the chance.

@Johan

Now that the wraiths aren't being controlled anymore, everyone is enemy.
I'll make some changes to your description but the result should point you to the same way.

I've had a hard day, as every friday is for me, so I'll update it tomorrow, after some really loooong sleep hours. :D

That's cool. I tried to make the wraith's actions make sense ie. its fleeing to what it sees as its best protection/surrogate master, and Johan appeals to its greed to gain its cooperation.

Really bad couple of days at work.
I’ll try to update later, if I can.

I'm out for the next few days. Bot me if you can.

@All

As some of you are aware, I want to try giving the players templates in this part of the game.
My intention is to use this part as an ‘experiment’ and see if until the ritual is over, things will be good or bad by adding those templates.
By the end of this module, if I think things gotten worse and less fun, I already have a ‘event’ planned to remove everyone’s templates.

In short, Johan’s got himself added with one, and I’ve another planned for Cedric.
I’m working currently in one for Eldred, but Agrippa has been resistant to the idea, and I must admit I understand his motives.

--
With that being said, something will happen in the next few posts which will be a cue to adding Cedric’s template. The scene in question may sound unfair to the player (but in terms of game there’ll be no penalty), but I think the result will be beautiful to see.

Hope you like it.

@All

Here are some feats you might want to consider:

Contract Master
You are skilled at negotiating with outsiders for their services.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast lesser planar ally, lesser planar binding, or a greater version of these spells.
Benefit: Whenever you negotiate payment with an outsider to secure its services through planar ally, planar binding, or a similar spell, the cost of the payment is halved. In addition, receive a +4 bonus on any checks associated with such bargains or to compel service (such as with planar binding). This bonus also applies when testing the trap of a planar binding against the outsider’s spell resistance. Finally, whenever you use a spell to gain or compel service from an outsider, you can attempt a Diplomacy skill check opposed by the outsider’s Sense Motive. If you succeed in this check, the contract you form with the outsider is worded in such a way to prevent the outsider from taking intentional actions that are harmful to you and your cause (subject to the GMs interpretation).

Devil’s Pact
You have signed a pact with Asmodeus, pledging your soul in exchange for unholy power.
Prerequisites: Evil alignment, you must sign a pact with Asmodeus or one of his agents.
Benefit: Three times per day, you can call upon the power of the Devil’s Pact to grant you a +2 profane bonus to any one d20 roll. You must declare that you are using this ability before the roll is made.
Special: If you die, you cannot be brought back to life by any means aside from a wish or miracle spell. Even if such a spell is employed, you return to life with three permanent negative levels.

Mage’s Pact
You have sworn to use your arcane might to further the goals of Asmodeus.
Prerequisites: Devil’s Pact, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells, evil alignment, you must sign a pact with Asmodeus or one of his agents.
Benefits: In addition to its normal use, you can call upon the power of the Devil’s Pact feat to increase the DC of an arcane spell by +2. You must declare that you are using this ability before the spell is cast and any saving throw is made. If the target of the spell is an outsider with the good subtype, the spell automatically bypasses any spell resistance the target might have. In addition, you can use the Devil’s Pact one additional time per day.

Warrior’s Pact
You have pledged your martial skill to the service of Asmodeus.
Prerequisites: Devil’s Pact, base attack bonus +5, evil alignment, you must sign a pact with Asmodeus or one of his agents.
Benefits: Whenever you use your Devil’s Pact on an attack roll, you also add 1d6 points of fire damage to the damage roll and the damage is treated as evil for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. The bonus fire damage is increased to 3d6 fire damage on a critical hit, but only if the Devil’s Pact was used on the initial attack roll, not the roll to confirm the critical hit. Finally, you can use the Devil’s Pact one

If you take the mage/warrior pact, you can assume the devil's pact is a 'free feat'

I'm excited. The Warrior's pact seems not bad, I may do that at level 9. I was thinking about going two weapon fighting with shield if I get my dex up.

None of these fit as Eldred is hanging onto his Faith in the Grey Master - hoping like hell (literally) that he can find some way out of this, if not in this life, then at least the next, and the very strong emphasis on the lawful part of Asmodeus worship (the sort of thing which Hellknights cling to) is harzardous to the health of an aspiring con artist, let alone freelance assassin type.

But you never know. Hell is tempting when it comes to dangling rewards in front of those it seeks to snare.

Going silent for a few days.

Teleporting to the Throne room and setting an silent alarm.

You have teleport on the first, second and third floor.

Where and how are you setting up the spell?

I was thinking just on the one that had the wraiths, hoping it may be the only way they know to enter.

Alarming the throne room closest to the Eye, so that if anyone uses that teleporter after me it'll alert me. Basically I'd like to know if anyone is heading for the Sanctum.

We moved the hydra to the 2nd after the last batch of adventurers took out the spiders

Alarming the throne room closest to the Eye, so that if anyone uses that teleporter after me it'll alert me. Basically I'd like to know if anyone is heading for the Sanctum.

Still doesn't answer the question.

What you consider closest to the Eye?
First, second or third?

1d3 ⇒ 2 that one.

No we are not... assuming the boggards don't live? We are out of minions and roadblocks

Well, we still have the hound archon bloody skeleton, the minotaur fast zombie, the three hell hounds and the two daemons. But yeah, we've pretty much failed as minion masters.

And anybody else notice how this red-hooded dude and friends seems tailor made to carve through said minions? Swift channelling cleric vs the wraiths, now a fiery sword against the hydra. Where's he getting his intel from?

I think we may be force to implement Cedric's "wall off everything but the sanctum tactic after all. We're gonna be spread too thin after this, and running all over the horn is just exhausting.

Well.

Not much I can say to contest Johan’s claims, even if the enemies are the same as proposed in the book, only a bit stronger.

==

About ‘wall off everything but the sanctum’ tactic:
If you feel it’s the best course of action, so yeah, go for it.

I just think there’s a bit of confusion of why the dungeon exists at all:
The other levels aren’t there to stops the adventures, but to drain their resources and give you guy’s time to regroup and think of tactics.

Think about this: You hole up in the sanctum and them you fail.
That is it? Ritual is gone, start it all again?

The problem with the sanctum tactics is that it doesn’t offer you guys a second chance. There’s no chance to ‘lets retreat and plan things better’.

Edit: I'll update gameplay in some hours.

Can Agrippa cast spells through the Scrying?

The eye works like a Crystal ball with true seeing.

Well, Scrying doesn't say you can cast spells so I guess no?

Well, Not much I can say to contest Johan’s claims, even if the enemies are the same as proposed in the book, only a bit stronger.

Oh, I was just wondering if the ninth had an informant, given how well prepared this guy was.

==

...I just think there’s a bit of confusion of why the dungeon exists at all:

The other levels aren’t there to stops the adventures, but to drain their resources and give you guy’s time to regroup and think of tactics...

I get it, but I think the roadblocks we are able to throw up are now far below the challenge level of the enemies we are facing. The last adventuring party blew through the assassin vines, the trapped hall, and the spiders and undead in 6 rounds flat and still had enough resources left to give us the most challenging encounter we've had in quite some time. This latest guy just one-shotted our hydra!

What I would propose is seal off the spiral stairway entrances at all points except the 2nd level and the sanctum - if someone enters through the caverns, 1st or 3rd floors, they've got nowhere to go. We continue to live on the 2nd floor ( though we could move up to the third if we all had a reliable way of flying and cu out the spiral stair altogether), and concentrate all our minion firepower at the 2nd floor entrance, the 2nd floor teleporter, and the sanctum.

Sidious can control up to 24 HD of undead right? We've currently got the 6hd minotaur zombie, and the 6hd hound archon skeleton. We have access to the two moondog corpses and now the dead hydra. We animate the two moondogs as bloody skeletons (9HD each) and place them with the zombie minotaur to guard the 2nd level throne. Place the hound archon and the undead hydra as uncontrolled on the third level ( its completely sealed off - kinda like a holding pen). We trap the heck out of the 2nd lvl entry and guard it with boggards. Hexor and Vexor and the three hellhounds guard the sanctum. Hex/Vex are tasked with watching the eye for intruders night and day and teleporting to us to tell us immediately of any breech

@Johan

Sebastian left before he could finish the golem, but let's assume it's completed.

Here is the golem stats:

Artephius, Alchemical Golem CR 9

XP 6,400
N Large construct
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0

DEFENSE

AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 19 (+4 Dex, +10 natural, –1 size)
hp 96 (12d10+30)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +4
DR 10/adamantine or bludgeoning; Immune construct traits, magic

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 slams +19 (2d8+8 plus alchemy)
Ranged bomb +15 (8d6 energy damage)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks alchemy, bombs, splash

TACTICS

During Combat When facing one opponent, Artephius prefers his powerful slam attacks. Against groups, Artephius will use his bombs to spread the damage amongst all his enemies. Artephius is a heartless combatant and has no problem splashing allies with his bombs.
Morale Artephius is a fearless combatant and fights to the death to fulfull his master’s commands.

STATISTICS

Str 27, Dex 18, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1
Base Atk +12; CMB +21; CMD 35

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Alchemy (Ex) When an alchemical golem strikes a foe, the attack has an additional random effect, chosen from the options below. The attack can deal 1d6 points of acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage, cause the target to become sickened (Fortitude DC 16 negates) for 1d4 rounds, or cause the target to become entangled (Reflex DC 16 negates) for 1d4 rounds. These save DCs are Constitution-based.

Bombs (Ex) As a standard action, an alchemical golem can throw a bomb as a ranged touch attack to a distance of 60 feet (no range increment). If the attack misses, treat it as a thrown splash weapon to determine where it lands. Anyone struck by an alchemical golem’s bomb takes 8d6 points of acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage (determine type randomly). All creatures adjacent to the location where the bomb hits take 1d6 points of energy damage of the same type.

Immunity to Magic (Ex) An alchemical golem is immune to spells or spell-like abilities that allow spell resistance, save for spells with the sonic descriptor. Shatter damages an alchemical golem as if it were a crystalline creature.

Splash (Ex) Any strike on an alchemical golem with a non-reach melee weapon deals 1 point of acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage (determine type randomly) to the attacker. This amount increases to 1d6 points of damage if the attack is a critical hit.

@Johan

Just a correction:

Sidious is at level 6, he can control up to 5 times his HD due to the eye.

And don't forget that now you have full control over 2 wraiths and 3 wraith spawns.

Well that golem is kind of awesome! We could station it at the lvl 2 entrance after the traps

Are the wraiths counting against Sid's 30 HD worth of controllable undead?

"You will get nothing else inquisitor. I have foretold your fate. I will find you dead at the end of my blade before all this is done. So kill me now or wait to die. Your choice."

Kinda... How does Cedric knows he is a inquisitor?

Edit: But thinking about it, back then inquisitor was more of a tittle. Well, makes sense.

@Johan

Yes, they are.

Yeah a man of faith that uses torture and questions those of heretical faith are inquisitors. Yes using it at title, I assumed he was a paladin.

SCA event this weekend so won't be posting much until Sunday. On all day today till around 4:30pm eastern. Have to go fix a scanner, be back in a few.

Current Undead horde:
fast zombie minotaur (6HD)
bloody skeleton hound archon (6HD)
2 wraiths (5HD each); controlling 3 spawn
Total: 22 out of 30 controllable HD used

On ice:
2 moondog corpses ( 9HD each)
1 hydra corpse (5 HD as a skeleton, 9 HD as a zombie)

Ultimately its Cedric's decision as Sid is his cohort....