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Hello. Just looking to have others weigh in on a players' hope for the final BBEG final battle after a recent level up. As the subject line says, the want to Fiery Body + Form of the Dragon III. At first blush, seems legit. Wants to become silver dragon, then protect themselves from fire, as a red dragon is in the final battle. It's not 2 polymorph spells, but they are transmutation spells. Any issues or contradictory factors in play I haven't realized?
Definitely Glass Cannon Network. Gatewalkers starts this Thursday!! Tabletop Gold is great from the start. Find the Path is excellent in all rules things always. Check out Hells Rebels. STF Network; another vote for their Under the Table 'Outlaws of Alkenstars' show. Bestow Curse, by Hideous Laughter Productions, I think is their best stuff.
Congrats! Sounded like a pretty great last battle, where it wasn't an automatic win for the PCs! That's about all you can hope for! Did you do any kind of thing like an epilogue to what happened to the region, the PCs, et cetera? Anyone stay and make their home or kingdom there? What happened to ownership of the Onyx Citadel and it's magics?
I've already posted long ago in this thread about finishing this book, but I love coming back to see all this progress! Gonna be some great battles!
the stone Oracle passes out stone skins and then links to take half their damage and heal himself in the back!I was just reading about how your stone Oracle hides the bodies to avoid Outrage at the training camp. Genius. Did the druid continue to clean up in the next books, or did being indoors present more issues? How did I miss this? Oh well, if you come back to see, here's the answer! The druid is built up enough in its warcat form to be a big melee damage dealer, and spell utility for walls, wind, and separation of enemies became his MO. Ended up being very strategic in his use!
Well, good sir, as I've said before, I'll say it again-great work! I'm using all your rebuilds, and extras, as I trudge through this book. 7 PCs, built for killing giants, and I have decided to skip most of the training level. Even with your variance in creatures to fight, each room being a cave, with only some environment changes as made this into a slog still. My players are having fun, I love using the infernal angle to change some of the difficulty, and make them question 'what is going on here?!', but I'll be looking forward to when they face King Tytarian to end this book. ....
As always, thanks again for your efforts!!
Will love to hear about your Scabvistin fight!!
I always GM with the threat of the rolling encounters if you do much big booms or don't take care of business quick enough. The Citadel exploration was really fun.
Well friends, I believe that yes, I've finished my time with Ironfang Invasion. My group recovers from the fight, going back upstairs to find the one hidden room that is recommended to stay in to rest. HOWEVER, they never searched or fought Azlowe and his cultists. With the Citadel becoming repaired in the basement (I was having the group see flashes of the homelands, as the Citadel was getting ready to transport over and wreck stuff), I had the Citadel discharge all the energy in the Mana battery since it was fixed. This led to Azlowe searching them out. The PCs were found, and with some teleports, Wall of force, and forcing Azlowe to go back for his cultists with his dimension door, my group bamfed into the hidden room, and rested. Now, I cheated a bit. I had Azlowe and his cultists girlfriends do a ritual to summon in a Purradaemon. Because my group rested, and because of the order of the searching the Citadel, I always made the next day encounter harder, because, well, people see danger and prepare more~! (I also made up more powers to a Prime Shard. That you had to attune to it after 8 hours of study, and if no controller, then the Citadel locks up tight, hence why Azlowe couldn't go out and get the Ironfang out there to take the Citadel back over and fill it with another 4 Legions). So, the group went searching for Azlowe...and like dummies...they knew Azlowe and his girlfriends were in the chamber...and just charged in. No pre-buffs, no plans, nothing; 'we go this!' I killed 2 more PCs who needed Breath of Life to survive. they really played this stupid, and almost lost another PC permanently. But, they won out.
One lead PC offered them the ability to stay here and live, but the Citadel would stay under PC control. Other PCs, in a sidebar, asked about reparations for Phaendar, or LongShadow, where another PC was from. On what authority do we speak for? 'We'll solve that when we get there.' So the IF Legion began moving off Citadel Island, but not before the envoy meeting, where it was said 'you and what army? I recognize known of you have heraldry of any of these cities. No other guards manned these walls or gates. You may possess the magic of the Citadel; but can you hold? May haps we will come back for the Citadel, but not this day" and they seperated. So, I go to continue on with my gestalt campaing of IF and Giantslayer. There is certainly a lot of talking to come, about checking to see what has happened on the home plane in the almost 4 weeks spend in the Vault!! One dwarf, and another PC or two, wants to turn the Citadel over to Kraggodan again. The Longshadow man wants his home included. The Phaendar people have been hurt so much by the Towers and IF, what will they think? What if the Chernasardo Rangers bump into this? We shall see! But I will be done with the AP. I intend to continue to follow all your exploits and read how your campaigns go, because I've enjoyed this thread immensely, and to see this AP still played and shared; that's great! So, keeping playing guys! I'll always be reading.
What I'll say is that Ironfang is filled with Troop squads-which are essentially pools of hit points and damage types just like a swarm. There are A LOT of these foes. So it'll end up with your 2 PCs charge a 4x4 or 5x5 square of just pure enemies. Having an NPC along may help out, or a DMNPC, or gifted warmounts or something.
That was some extra work; true that. I had pilfered some pretty awesome maps from a google search, and had some really decent encounters, nonetheless. But then they did Diplomacy that worked against the dragon, so that map wasn't necessary. But he Xarxorin fight and locale was epic, so I'm proud of the work that went into that one!
Preach. I think my best friend started it out as a joke, but I can't even tell anymore when he chimes in with 'I don't know what we're doing here.' 'Why are we here again?' "and we want to fight this tower because...why?' He's a college professor, with 6 children, 1 who is very needs dependent. I just ask that you...give a little respect, or silence, if you are just going to be annoying about the adventure. That's why I cut book 5. That was too side tracked for me and my players. We play weekly. For...109 sessions now. And I still have to remind them of plot. I got on another guy a different time; if he's tired, he hangs out quietly on discord audio-and kinda phase out. He'll apologize the next day he realy wasn't with it; well I DON'T get to not be with it. Give me some energy back; you only have yourself to worry about, I'm running for 6 PCs and then doing the adventure; quit making me drag you into the game. wooooooo! GM rant, out and done! LOL
Next round, I...I was pretty sure I was going to TPK this group. I really didn't jack Azaersi up from the book stats at all. Little did I know that with the Sensei monk there giving some battlefield boosts, Azaersi having that reach/lunge/threaten 10ft ability, and haste,....I WRECKED my party. The main fighter got dropped TWICE more to death. The arcanist spent her life to bring him back the second time, before she was killed (okay dropped REALLY far negative). The oracle etherel stepped over to the downed arcanist while... the sensei monk, alongside the golems, were wrecking the oracle who just left, the NPC dwarf fighter/rogue, shapechanged druid in sandform (saved.his.LIFE. with that spell!), and the shield champion brawler. However...a failed save by the monk, and down she went by knockout! The dwarf npc, asking for permission, coup de drace on her. Did I mention fighter/rogue? And his crit? ROLL20 ROLLED CRIT MAX DAMAGE! He dropped over 145 dmg on her! This enraged Azaersi so at the other battle; she left the playing dead fighter and the not playing dead arcanist (who then got a heal from the oracle next round), to go deliver a 19th level swashbuckler killing blow to the dwarf npc. All he has to do is make a Fort save...26 in my campaign build...and roll209 giveth, and taketh. Natural 1. Dwarf NPC has just been slain for killing Azaersi's best friend. Things have not turned the PCs way yet. The shield champion is going after Azaersi, but she's using her reach, getting attacks of opportunity on those closing in on her, using her parry and riposte, and I'm critting like a fool. Precise strike drivng up that ridic precision damage, it's crazy! Obsidian golems gets their shard spray back, and start tossing at the rogue (he dodges all! Dammit!), and the arcanist and oracle get this too! Rounds of healing, and fighting the golems. Slowly, the golems begin to weaken, fall, break, shatter, and drive some heroes back to the ground. The shield champion gets killed in this, but a breath of life for him from the arcanist brings him back. The twice slain fighter gets back onto his feat, gets going to Azaersi, they have dual attacks, hitting each other; thrice slain he is now! She's hurting, being defended by a line of 3 obsidian golems at this point. Yup, I'm gonna tpk I think! But she's been hurt a lot at this point. Used a potion even! Used an effect to stave off death! Rogue has hit her with ranged, got some bleed now too-and then
The fight is over. The PCs are all back on their feet, barely alive at all. The NPC who has traveled with them since they were 7th level is dead. and now it's been 2 weeks, and then another 1 more until we play again.
I went really outside the book with all the encounters given. This part would be just a random encounter to me, but it sounds like you are really leaning into it. You could have some animated trees REALLY wandering far and wide to attack the encrouching PC Band of refugees, and maybe hurt some npcs that are out foraging-or even hurt someone who doesn't return (wouldn't kill the npc, because yah, I doubt then your group would try diplomacy with Longfrond). Then, the PCs respond, track down the lost refugee(s), find out about walking trees, then end up scouting to find Longfrond. I wouldn't do another owlbear encounter. The poorest rating I would give this whole AP is that you are just fighting the same militia like hobgoblins nearly the entire time. Multiple fights of the same thing again and again are boring to run and play, I think. Just wait til book 3...I LOVED that book.
So, my group has somehow gained laser focus to go right to Azaersi's room deep within the Citadel. Explored the naga's room, got some more lore and updated knowledge of what is going on, went to the next room, found the secret door (only by 1!!), and just went right downstairs. Didn't check the stairs going up the tower, didn't hexcrawl around this floor to maybe go find Azlowe and cultists, or descend the other stairs to find the tarnished smiths; nope, beeline to the boss! Well, I had a player down this night due to storms knocking out power....so the adamantine golem was back on the table!! Maybe not suprisingly, 6 PCs of 15th level, who have spent a lot of resources against the prior fight, and with a druid willing to spend 2 7th level spells to really weaken the golem, the fight only hit the top of the 4th round before it was destroyed. Oh, when it hit, it hit BIG, but with particulate form again, my huge open crit range was for naught. And so were the 3 crit chances I rolled!! OH well. The group headed down, heard Azaersi through the door, and when the next week rolled around-ENTERED THE BOSS ZONE! So, for this group size, I scaled up some more. After the opening cut scene monologue, 6 obsidian golems step out from the walls. Zanuthura is here, Azaersi, and I brought the uber monk down here, and made her into Azaersi's oldest and truest friend-the one person who trained alongside her from the very beginning, and her biggest supporter. Besties! And she's a sensei, and her ki uses for battlefield improvement make this into a wicked fight. If you've seen the map, it's like 135ft across. the PCs start up on the balcony. Yes, their NPC fighter rogue dwarf goes before most and asks 'left or right?!' and one PC goes right. So, the acrobatic, enlarged dwarf saves some movement (although he is hasted) by moving down the stairs and vaults the side, where he should be able to move into position and help the PC fighter. The shield champion? He goes LEFT down the stairs, in the worst kind of pincer move, considering the space and enemies between them!!! But that was all after Zanuthura blasted a chain lightning at everyone to start it. Azaersi and Monkfriend activate abilities and take a potion to help buff/boost some more. PC Druid takes to the left to follow and aide the Sheild Champion. On the balcony, the oracle, rogue, and arcanist stay up to do their stuff. Arcanist gives Greater invisibility to the rogue, rogue shoots at Zanuthura, and that sneak damage is AWFUL to the naga!! Oracle casts a spell for some damage and spell turning. Next round, Zanuthura puts a Grasping hand on the dwarf to try and keep him pinned from combat. Fighter, Shield Champion, and NPC dwarf begin battling the obisidian golems...who, oh yeah, had done shard blast the round before, so now everyone is just about fighting bleed. The golems and Azaersi press forward with the Monk. The NPC dwarf? Killed by azaersi. The druid throws up a stone wall to limit the golems coming at him and the shield champion, so they can try and tear through the 1 golem by them. The other 2 fight the wall to get to them. The monk with some great speed and climb, makes it up onto the balcony by the 3 possible weakest characters! The fight continues, the rogue keeps getting released by the arcanist to shoot the levitating naga, who keeps trying to pin and keep the only ranged character out of the fight. the monk comes ranging in to fight the ranged rogue and arcanist. Forces a dimension door down to the battlefield corner. The stone oracle moves through the flooring to get to, and raise, the NPC dwarf. The druid and shield champion have been stone walled by their own actions, and spend way too much time fighting 2 golems, while the PC fighter ends up getting skewered by a golem, and again, Azaersi moving over to run him through! A breath of life from the arcanist (who is playing a white mage role), saves his life. Eventually, Zanuthura says 'enough of this!' after again being hurt so bad she flees combat. The arcanist managed to save by 1 from a quivering palm strike from the monk!! Everyone is back down on the floor, and melee is thick and awful! No one is flanked for any precision damage, the arcanist is about to get hit by Azaersi, and the golems are ready for more shard explosions, and everyone keeps bleeding! AND we had to take a 2 week break due to a vacation, so part 2 is this Sunday night!!!! Next round,
As my group ascends the Onyx Citadel, and especially after they had spent over half a day murderating everything through 2 floors, I just didn't feel that the book really gave me the thought that this place was on high alert. I think considering everything that the PCs did back on Golarion, wiping out so many army portions of the Ironfangs, that the leadership would really be on edge. That's why I liked the Captain's council that seemed a bit open to removing Azaersi from control. But my group would no longer side with any of them, considering what war had done to their families and their cities. But...you can't go through the Citadel in one day. The one room is built in there to give you a place to rest. So...after killing all the trolls and Grimhorn and gallowed dead and ruby gargoyles and the Captain's room assembly, what would the Citadel do?!! That's my thinking, and that's why I used an idea from the back of the book to bring in the inevitable maruts. And that's why this week, when the group went up to the third level by the siege engines, there was a Siege Alchemist Troop there-who knew they were coming!! Nothing like 20d6 coming from those firedrakes at the group! A pretty decent combat, as the Troop was ready for them (caught the dwarf rogue sneaking; one of the alchemist had to be on lookout for the stairs; there was invaders just yesterday, dontcha know?!) As the group advanced past that, the door with the Alarm spell wasn't cancelled, and that set up the next fight in the dueling academy in H29. NOPE. A bunch of hobs practicing Karate Kid stuff here is NOT what I figure is going on, especially a day after invaders killed half those stationed here! Nope, here is gathered the most fervent of Azaersi supporters; ready to defend her to the death for her goal of taking the Citadel to Golarion! I didn't get to use Noxil, so a quick changing of labels, and now there's a Anti Paladin Hob in this room. But he's not leading the way, oh no. I went o d20pfsrd, and villains codex and such, and I got a Brutal Warlord, high level Fire Cleric, a Slayer versus humans and dwarves, and another dozen mook hob fighters to be ready and waiting in this room! Which is good (remember I got 7 PCs), as they decided to summon 3 Triceratops...and include them in a casting of Particulate Form. NERTZ!! But it's good and fun, but oh the prep and readiness I've had to do! I have also decided in my prep here, that there won't be the adamantine golem. This big battle ought to drain enough resources before eventually facing Azlowe and his cultist group. The PCs haven't even found the witcheaters and the dwarf kinetic knights at their forges either! Gonna depend if they end up finding the most direct route to Azaersi or not! Also, I've doubling the amount of Obsidian golems there, and they all appear in the first round.
It’s been much easier to just play things by the book at this point still. Fight some jotund trolls, head over to the barbican on the easter, fight some munitions officers, who call upwards to the minotaur to release the gallow dead.
The gallowdead wrapped up the fighters who couldn’t escape, and then the druid/rogue/oracle/arcanist had to deal with them. The best was when the arcanist teleported in front of the door to the bolt ace gunslinger grim horn, who on their initiative, kicked the door open and let loose shooting!! So, they shot from the door to their north, and the gallowdead, who were on their way out anyways, until both groups gathered around the doorway, challenging each other to run in/out at them. The PCs, who have a fighter with an Intimidate Build (I’m outlawing that Cornugon smash feat next time) hit the room, with Stone skin and spirit link to the oracle, and then the fight went on. I made Grimhorn fight with all Mazemaster minotaurs, because why woudn’t a group be here as well? I used some third party minotaur trais/feets to make the battle a bit more interesting, because at this point, nearly everything is a slug fest. Since hobs don’t care for magicians, it’s only alchemists and clerics, and that’s been few and far between for a while. Fights over, they manipulate the Citadel so it can’t send any more troops around, and the group makes it’s way to the main citadel entrance.
Also, I can’t help but make mention; the floors, the walls, the ceiling are so BLACK that light only reflects or shines off its surface as white. The natural lights set up in here shine awkwardly around. IT’s goofy and weird! Unsettling!! But, as the group climbed up from the stables to the war room where Noxil the bugbear is trying to set off a coup, I read A BOOK to my hidden PCs about how this group is nearly pushed over to taking Azaersi out, and stopping this campaign. They’ve suffered so much, lost so much on Golarion (the Realms for me), let’s just keep this home as ours. Would my PCs entreat into talking with them? No…everyone has been an enemy for far too long. Family and close friends have been killed, lost and taken for 181 days (I kept track in my game time). BUT, the invisible arcanist, did do a Mass Suggestion, hitting Noxil and his crew, as wll as some hobs, to go find the General and take her out! So, they cut the numbers down in the room, and attacked. I had to end early that night, and I made the room that the book suggests as a safe place to sleep as a room for the wounded-and NO ONE had ever found the room yet! Only stone cunning dwarves did. So, they entered the hidden medic room, healed, and rested. The last fight was making the way through the halls, and a new guardian was entered into the fight, because I’m getting tired of hobs…and that was inevitable maruts. Onyx stone skinned guardians of the Citadel? YOu betcha! Interesting fight, dividing the group with wall of forces, blinding enemies, dimension dooring around, Awesome blow knocking others around and down, I had fun! Next up, is climbing up the Citadel some more, and finding a siege troop with the firedrake siege weapons to have them turned on the group. And the PC rogue thought he made it up there and back without being detected…heh heh heh….
Within the Vault, I pretty much kept things as the book suggested. With some tweaks. They came through, met the pechs, had the fight right away with Shakhib and his golem. Good little fight. Came into Stone Home, went to fight their way through to Ziguch of the Seventh Facet…and annihilated him. The immortal ooze took longer. BUT my group put Ziguch into the regen tank (I removed the Hob Alchemist here. I couldn’t fathom how this guy was getting in and out as much as he would, operate here, and Ziguch/Ooze be okay with that. So I stopped that). From there, it was on to the 3 Nexus points. My character change to this was that one my PCs was from Longshadow, and his family was taken to the Vault to run the mines at the Nexus point. So, instead of going against the dragon and the Molten nexus that was closest, and I was most prepared for…they took the treasure from Ziguch, and went to the Shard Nexus to buy off the xorn. Which, worked, and surprised the group actually. The one fighter took up the offer to wrestle Cragcrusher, but eventually lost. The Shield Champion Brawler? Made some pretty quick work of him and won the belt! They next pressed on to Flow Nexus. It was here that Kraelos and his Troop was. First off, my PCs took the bridge and guardhouse I created here, and then freed up the people farming and mining, got them moved back, then set a trap for Kraelos and his Troop. That didn’t last long, won handily. When they went up to set the nexus, bwahahaha the GM laughs and smiles as the zarxorin rumbles to life. I did stone one PC in it’s stomach, kept knocking the other fighters off the pinnacle, causing them to climb back up and using the AoE spell effects. It got a little close at one point where I thought I was going to a TPK, until 2 rounds of Heal, and OH, get this! The arcanist narrowly beat the SR, and then I rolled a Nat 1 for the saving throw. The arcanist shared half of all damage down to her with the the zarxorin. And then other party members, and herself, started to harm her. I made a ruling up on the spot of she would have to pass a Will save to cast disintegrate on herself!! Then, they went to the Molten Nexus, because, high level adventurers can teleport all over. They barely made the diplomacy checks, even as I pushed them with the checks. What I did lastly was to have the group pay in tribute was $50K in gold, and the arcanist Staff of Power. Which…they did! Encounter passed. They headed to the Citadel next. Decided to waterbreath and swim there. Fought 2 targothas in the water. NO freedom of movements cast, so the battle was a little bit more edged to the spiked eel snakes for a while, but they eventually won over. With that, the group landed on the Citadel, on the back beach, avoiding the Warwonger of the bridge and the direct door in.
Let’s see….how did I change things… I for one never cared for the war council , and find the traitor in the beginning of Book 6. What changed for me was that….well, my merged campaign of events with Giantslayer saw that initial town of Trunau as the mountain city to retreat to if things went back in Phaendar. Which they did! Seeing as the Heroes were known by Scarvinious, and then again later between the groups searching for them in the woods, the biggest revenge motivator that Scabvistin could have would be to take over Phaendar a secon time. (In my campaign, that event didn’t happen). So, after all the things the Heroes did in the Fangwood with the 3 forts, and then at Longshadow, that really put the I.F. on its heels. So, they went back to damaged Phaendar, and set up the combat events of Book 6. My group’s time line was deep winter trying to retake Phaendar. The druid of the group brought forth a Blizzard, and just shut things down. At 13th level, what’s weather and cold? The group made the SE door, and fought the giants there. Visibility was poor for all, miss chances galore, but they gained the door and the lower part of the town. Druid tried flying around for a while, to spy on the other gates, the other giants, and noticed one large very black raven trying to catch him in his snowy owl form. But the Owl Druid lost sight of the raven. At this point, a patrol Troop came by, battle ensued! Most visibility issues, PCs running around and UTTERLY losing sight of each other (thanks Roll20! I screw with visibility a lot). That fight ended as another troop came forward-this time the raven from above flying before them before Maltagra the horned devil revealed itself! This battle was fun. Lots of Fear, Confusion with spells, and Dimension Door from the devil to get away from the fighters and land amidst the casters staying away. And again, miss chances with EVERY SINGLE ATTACK. ( I eventually skipped the Rawhead fight. Didn’t seem worth it at this point). I should say the first thing that the group did was actually save the trapped humans here. By this point in my campaign, they have 2 onyx shards, raised a smal tower here, and sent the other people to tower set up with Longshadow). Gaining the Tower was easy, the fight with the Obsidian Golems was nasty! A favorite combo of stone shaped stairs, grease, and hungry pit spells with kiting some guardsmen down was fun. I ran the Tower pretty much by the book. Added a few more honor guards in the tower simply for numbers in my group. The disintegration trap did land! That was a healing resource burn! Final battle with scabvistin made a lot of my PCs scratch their heads until they realized it was a callback to Book 1; that’s why my Scabvistin decided to retake and destroy Phaendar! Good fight. The Bard Ettoran Phaerk ended up here instead. I concretely and demonstratively made mention of his playing, and it was round 8 before one my PCs shouted “is there a bard hiding in here?!!!” and I said the music became a mocking trill. I shook my head at my PCs…and kept debuffing them. :D In the end , they won. Kept Phaerk alive after capturing him and actually talked to a prisoner to get info. I forgot my group knew how to do that. But in the end, it became time to head to the Vault of the Onyx Citadel!!!
Nice party! Being able to hit AND run away from a giants axe hit is great! My group just runs in, takes a hit, but the stone Oracle passes out stone skins and then links to take half their damage and heal himself in the back!
This is great! I loved getting caught up on so many adventures! Nice gaming everyone!! It's been a while for me since posting. A MAJOR career change, and training and, well, things fell aside! BUT I didn't stop my nightly Sunday games! And I'm in book 6 and in the Onyx Citadel myself! How did I get there? Well I'd like to share-tomorrow at my computer !!
None. I just didn't want a large wolf to trip a dragon! :D
Just as the title says. 11th level characters, Wolf is a Savage Companion, attacking a Huge Blue Dragon, and yeah, rolls nat 20, Advanced manuever kicks in. It's not a free Trip, or Trip attack, it simply states 'knocks opponent prone.' What rule line did I miss, or overlook, or is this...right? LOL I couldn't find anything that directly disrupted this in 5 minutes, so ...it happened? So, school me-did I miss something obvious?
No, good, good to hear. My thought was leaning towards 'yes' but I know with the CRB, you can hunt in 3 different sections to find the full truth of an answer (such as looking through all the key tag words to fully understand 'blinded'). I can rationalize it enough that the ghost still thinks of itself as alive, or in a state of disrupted living, and therefore will still act alive, and then feel threatened!
I can't find anything right now, and I'm bugged that I have to hunt like this; can I intimidate/Frighten a ghost?
It's hard to believe that there won't be a death when they are asleep and assassin's come upon them. Also, if you haven't forced an issue to keep them all together, then separate combats for each would be unfair. Or you can try to change when and where you have them jump them. Say your group comes out of the Plague house 'okay' but having taken some damage, lost some spells and abilities? Jump'em there! Set up a false clue for them to follow if they haven't met Katreza yet; it could be the assassins leading them to some old house, or out past the market stones for an isolated spot! I found there's enough leeway in events and areas to change this event around so it doesn't become a coup de grace event. Have fun!! This book is really cool to run.
RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!!! Man....you have a druid in this campaign, and there isn't anything to stop a group. Mind you, I am running a group of 7, they are level 12, which may be a bit early (because I've run some other adventures into this campaign for different encounters)
So how do you win this? By using greater contagion and epidemic spells, and giving everyone in the gristmill, silo, and kitchen the bubonic plague. No magical healing was coming to cure the greater contagion, because Dybellos was killed during a blizzard that locked down the village before this plan went into effect. I was stunned. I figured...you know what...you bet, you guys win. This was enough to put them almost at 20 sabotage points, and well....it's hard to come back from the plague of black death. Just, wow. Onto Skirkatla's tomb.
Awesome! I've got a group just about ready to enter Skirkatla's tomb, which means readying Book 5 on roll 20 with these statted creatures instead!
Sounds really cool, Sethvir! I really thought that book 1 was a really solid starter for an AP!
I think you're gonna have a good time with the gelugon fight!
So, my group moved forward into the full haunt detailing Elacnida’s neurotic betrayal of Azaersi and Zanuthura. The haunt ended up being not that big a deal (as the group is 1 level higher than the recommended..maybe 2?), so the haunt was just there for more story and plot clues. They read the plaque that said the Onyx key was through the door, so they went to the left upper chamber, found the library, and the trapfinding designed dwarf rogue was able to, after stealthing in, in light armor, and being made aware of traps, was made known about the “shh, quiet in the library !” trap, so that didn’t erupt on anyone. I’ll give some partial experience for finding it, as that is what the rogue is for. Heading into the Onyx Chamber, Elacnida tried telling the story of getting the PCs to walk in the lava for their ‘reward’. The druid summoned a badger and dropped it into the lava (LOL, yeah, I know!), and after hearing it’s dying squeals, Elacnida shouted ‘that’s enough!’ and the elder earth elementals (for my group) rose from the ground, and battle was joined!! The suped up elementals played their games of knocking people over, and hitting them while down, and then getting back up. One of them got Dismissed in the second round, so there was less heavy bashing going on from that. Elacnida’s stone turning ability? I got 3 of the characters on that when they roll 1, 2, and 2 for their saves! Suddenly, it got a little scary for the group. The one dwarf fighter who was hammering away at the remaining elemental wasn’t able to get any precision dmg, nor could he intimidate it. He had to start backing away from it, since he was stuck solo fighting it, and had been criticaled himself, and kept getting knocked over. Elacnida caused another fighter, who critically failed, to run away and hide for 6 rounds in fear. It got pretty hairy there at the end, but my group prevailed. I did choose to not go through with any extra punishment for not melting the pieces of Elacnida. They ended up destroying all (damaged) statues they came across, so I’ll call that good. After stone salve treatments, and the group freed from their stasis, they gathered up Elacnida’s pack, and since they had so many protection spells on them that would last hours, they raced back to the spot they sensed great evil, and ended up causing the fiendish purple worm to come out. I made it into a colossal fiendish great purple worm, but since they were protected from all acid and fire, they prevailed quite well. They were quite thankful, however, to had run from this source when they were originally exploring this region, as they were running out of spells, and much leaner on the healing by then! So, they went back to Kraggodan, got their just rewards, tooled up some gear, made some more role playing moves, and it’s back to my merged Ironfang Invasion-Giantslayer campaign and the Ice Tomb of the Giant Queen!
I've come to realize that I need to respec or retrain out of my Crafting skills. Why? It's a City based campaign, and it's essentially the capital city. Flavor loses out (oh! I could craft my own stuff for my own satisfaction!) when it is character feats I'm putting towards it, when I could pick other feats instead. That's the real negative, I feel now, pouring through threads like this, and others. The feat choice is worthless in my current campaign. There's much more other 'flavor things' I'd rather do than waste my pretend playing time going "Yup! another 23 days of doing this, and I'll have made 40 gp! Sweet, sweet gold!" I don't want to Craft items to break WBL. I want to craft items to be as good, or better, than local businessmen, and make it not as hard to get items I think would be more fun.
Yeah, if they don't get grappled, they have the ability to run away out of range.
So, over the last two weeks, my group moved forward from the fiendish gigs chamber, Detected Evil towards the east, but the utter absence of evil to the west. They were beat with all the combating that was going on, and felt better about finding something good. The soldier-fighter wanted to stay on task with searching of and for the onyx towers, so the fiendish purple worm will wait! So, they get to the mausoleum (pardon me, can’t remember the exact name off the top of my head), but still feel like exploring. They aren’t empty of resources quite yet, so why not? No 15 minute adventuring day for them! They step out into the hallway. At the end, to the west is where the stoned gug is. The oracle and soldier go to inspect, why the dwarf rogue who has been spotting for everything says ‘you guys check it out, I’m fine here.’ HE, has been carrying on him the broken pieces of statues, and I decided to use Elacnida’s possession here! He did fail his save, and took aim and shot at the dwarf oracle...but this is of course the time when he rolls a 3 on the dice to actually miss his flat footed ally. ‘What the hell?’ is the sudden hub bub, (a round goes by), Elacnida comes out of the stone gug, and does a moan.Both Soldier and Oracle uncharacteristically fail Will saves, roll for randomness, and the soldier takes off towards the forgefiend room. The arcanist was nearing the group, and gets off a hold person on the soldier; the oracle ran the other way through the group, and the pet wyvern rolls a 20 to grapple and bring the oracle down. Their senses return in moment, and they destroy the gug statue. However, they really don’t investigate or pause to consider what’s going on! They just assume it’s all trap based. They head into the Enthroned King’s chamber, Diplomacy by the dwarf oracle goes very well, but the King says you must defeat his jailers. The lead cloud actually really knocked down 3 of the PCs, so THEN it was highly necessary to go back and find rest! With the Enthroned King in tow! Waken the next day, head down to forge fiends. Perceptions weren’t great, the bomb went off, and they fiends had the jump in initiative to drop some slag puddles and a wall of fire to separate the group. A Dismissal here, and then a gang up, and the event ended. Detect evil pings to detect the roper (and I changed it that below it was the remains of a small campsite, and how the hobs got into the Reliquarry). The roper is chatty, but the group goes, ‘well, it’s evil, and hey, sapping our strength, so enough of this!” and with clever spell use and magic effects of bull rush and trip, the roper gets tossed and falls down into the shaft below him. I...really wasn’t into the combat with this one…. Heading into the northern part of the main chamber, I have a line delineating when this will occur, as opposed to the time instance. I want the PCs to ‘walk into’ Elacnida’s memory in the space she did. And the PCs almost hit the trigger line, as they were separated and searching…! But the crossbows drew the dwarf rogue’s eyes, and he and the other dwarf went in for the weapons, and the ice devil triggered. With my pumped up martial gelugon, and feats, he was kicking some ass, but once the group got settled in, got protected from cold, a haste spell to ward off the slow effects, they overcame. Which is all fine. Because this is all about making them combat, be choosy, and be aware they are coming to the central chamber (as the King described) where the Onyx Key should be….but it’s not…. I’m going to enjoy that fight...right after I deafen the oracle, arcanist and druid who inspect that library…..
Lol thank you there it is!
With J7, as I had to put it in, Ishy has a ring with comprehend languages, which to me, allowed him to read dwarven, and disable the trap. Any hobgoblins that may have gone this way must have been eaten by other gugs. That's my explanation. What I TRULY got annoyed from....where did Azaersi and Co. enter? I've chosen to have them come up the hole beneath the roper. But I feel I've scoured this AP and I cannot find the exact place that they came into this place. Is it there and I missed it? I didn't think so.
Thanks for sharing! I randomly think of doing this some time , just do I too can whether the slings and arrows of unintended consequences of choices. I can see, and agree, that playing buffs to scenes instead of tracking rounds for expiring effects removes a headache. I myself like the tracking, because my battles and scenes will hit 12-15 rounds, and I like to see how things can change. But, I also put the spells into the roll 20 initiative tracker, so that removes that problem. But there's a lot here that I too do, or at least some form of it.
Erucsbo, seems we’ll be chasing each other through the end of this book!
So, the Kalavakos demon just was summoned, and attempted to steal the soul of the fighter who caused Ishy’s blood to flow. The thing is, the arcanist always casts communal protection from evil, which was HUGE to use against the babaus and the horned demon. So, the horned demon didn’t steal a soul the first round, couldn’t attack anyone right away, and Ishy did a full retreat up the corridor to get its fiendish scions.
For my gestalt campaign(s), we have crossed back over to Kraggodan, and have come downstairs into the Reliquary as well! But my stories will be for later. Too tired right now... Lol awesome! I just like coming here to see what people’s takes are too! So, during the talks with the Even handed Synod, my group of 7, taking their turns and getting used to this ‘verbal combat’, well, they rolled for crap and only came away with an initial success describing the events at Phaendar.
The thing I have to change, is that when its recommended Ishy run back to get its fiendish scions...how does Ishy not trigger the dwarf trap? So, I’m putting it in that the only dwarven that the gug speaks is to give himself free movement. The one fighter will be able to roll a Perception to maybe hear the gug speak dwarven, giving the group a clue to maybe search for traps there. Cuz the gugs HAVE to know to be able to knock the spell trap out, otherwise they’d be hit with the trap daily using that hall!! Something else fun I”m doing? One of the characters is carrying around the broken leg currently. What I intend is to have Elacnida possess the carrier, the rogue, and shoot the first person with sneak attack dmg who inspects the stoned gug, then have Elacnida move the round later to the stone gug, then give out the moan, then attempt to stone someone from some piece. That ought to put my group into disarray. Gotta make’em antsy!
For my gestalt campaign(s), we have crossed back over to Kraggodan, and have come downstairs into the Reliquary as well! But my stories will be for later. Too tired right now...
If I never, ever have to make my own enemy stat blocks ever again, I'm in for this 100%!
As always, the Order delivered!
Nice! I played in that one too; when I learned that we "missed" a rod piece right away that was on one of the dock supports under water as we came to port, I remember thinking "this is some dumb Gygax nonsense!" Lol oh well. Great job on your guy's parts though!
I haven't been to a con since Gencon 95 and 96. I probably look like I don't belong (so easy to pick out). We passed each other in Milwaukee then.
Yes, I understand they cannot discuss details. And I don't think they should. But it is frustrating nonetheless. To that, I will still fully agree.
People, get over this. Paizo cannot legally discuss details of an employee's termination. Even if Paizo is called upon as reference by her next potential employer, they cannot divulge specifics of the termination. "Did she work for you from this date to that date?"
Here’s what I’m adding to this trainwreck: -At Will states can terminate their employees at any time for any reason. They will not, and moreover, can NOT disclose to anyone reasons for termination. If the supervisor writes up a report about the employee about any kind of work or work place difficulty seen through their management filter, as long as it’s not illegal, the employee can be terminated. -If not for the fact that I have made myself more active on the discord for Glass Cannon over the prior 4 months, I would know NOTHING about this event of Sara Marie’s firing, or of this Jessica Price person. I just bought Secrets of Magic, I’m really looking forward to Guns & Gears, and I’m sure Gen Con would tell me some more cool stuff that I’d look forward to in the future. Most consumers of Paizo would know none of what is going on. The few dozen here yelling and screaming for 3rd party arbitration, Presidents to step down, implementing a union; that stuff won’t affect the larger community of people who simply purchase the products.
So yes, speak with your wallets. Speak with an email to the company contacts. Speak to others you know to do the same. Write an actual letter!! There will continue to be much internet screaming, arguing, and fighting from this point forward. Public perception will be key most of all for Paizo going forward. Will more employees decide to leave? Will more anonymously speak, will more leak ‘tell-alls’? Will the public forum of people who simply purchase Paizo products be made aware of any of this? The biggest factor will be- will there be a financial hit? Or will there be any form of legal happenings? If not, Paizo won’t have to do a damned thing. Except lose good-will; possibly, or probably employees, and internet/twitter aware posting fans. The worst thing will be to do nothing, and lose everything.
Thank you Dave2 for your first paragraph. That's key information, as someone who has worked on the new hire process, as well as fielding calls on past employees.
Guys... Never stop this posting!I love coming here to continually read this. I'm in Giantslayer right now .. But we might be switching gears to come back to Siege of Stone!
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