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As gung-ho as Gromff was at taking down the Queen while there was not an army between them, he stops short of the portal. It could be trapped or might not let them in at all. "Safe to go lass?" He asks Catcher. She'd be the only one to know if they could even get through and not be torn to pieces in the process.
I noticed spotty connections too all weekend and people have commented on it in other games.
"What?" Gromff turns around at Catchers shout. He was already packing up to leave as well. But down below the cave was empty except for the Queen's tall disappearing into the portal. Was she alone in there? Was it worth the shot? "Ye heard her. Move." Gromff takes some rope and ties it off on an outcropping so they could descend into the cave and casts a spell to protect them all from the heat. He looks up at their lone Golem and then at Aersensi and Walker. "Protect them," he says, looking at the golem and pointing at the pair.
Not surprising. No one wants to make the call. We've been like this on most decisions.
"Figured as much," Gromff says after watching the Queen intently. "Well, we got an army ta beat back ta the city. Anyone got anything to get them a message? Probably gonna have ta run all night."
"Ye tried two days ago. Things change," he says avoiding fault. "But ye have a point. Unlikely. Then if that's the Prince, she got her revenge, or the shiny one down there is a new opponent we know nothing about," he says pointing at the Azer in golden armor. "Still, this can'no be good news fer Crystallus."
"Actually. Me bets on them bones being his mother the Queen." Gromff grows quiet for a few moments as a likely scenario runs through is head. The fire dwarves weren't here last time so that meant someone made that portal and was summoning them. Prince said he wanted to take over. Maybe he actually killed the Queen and used her to make the portal. Ultruu's involvement was a moot point. This was not a good sign. "Lad. You and Chiro stay here and watch. The rest o us are goin ta head back ta his city," he says pointing at Crys. "We need ya ta convince them ta stop this hunt and get all yer warriors back ta the city. You two," he now points at Roland and Chiro. "You see anythin that makes it look like their goin ta attack the city, haul ass after us."
"Thanks." Roland appreciates the healing, but it's far from enough to bring him to full health. "I could take some more energy, if you had it." "Yeah. Hold still."
Afterwards he loads up all the valuables into the head of his Flail and trundles on. They his memory was usually pretty good, they did arrive at the lava pool, just not in the same place as last time. Which was a good thing in this case. "I hate ta jump ta conclusions but this does not look good fer anyone nearby," he says, looking down at the army. It was a damn good thing Roland stopped that runner. "Also, I think the hunt is over." He looks up at Crys for confirmation. This was likely very bad news for his home.
Round 3
Gromff Takes a deep breath and trundles into the fog again to attack the Salamander from behind.
Round 2
Gromff is seeing stars after the very first hit. The strike hit his helm dead on, transferring all the force right into his thick skull. Might as well have been wearing sheepskin for a hat. "You..." he slurs his words but swings anyway. And not only that, he manages to infuse his hammer with divine power causing to seem much larger an more menacing to those around him.
Gromff shifts his shoulder to deflect the spear and begins moving towards the giant lizard. But it disappears into the ash and he has no way to get to it now. Roland had disappeared around the corner. Same direction as all those not-dwarves. Might need help. Taking a deep breath and holding it, he charges through the fog to the other side.
The first time Gromff realizes that a fight is on is after the first hammer bounces off the ground near Crys. "Durned tall folk and ther long legs." He never cursed his on height, just the height of others. He hustles forward as far as his stubbly legs will take him, saying a blessing along the way.
I thought you were looking for 3 people or more since you have 2 daughters.
I actually switched over from video games to pen and paper pretty late because my imagination is on par with any video game. But I do find myself trying to add technology to it. My favorite couch co-op games:
RPG's are hard to find since most are shooters and so is 3 or more players or same system. There are a number of co-op that are two player only or can't play on the same system (Looking at you Halo, my fav dark souls is this way too).
Well if Catcher was going and not being stealthy about it then Gromff should probably go to. The two of them together was always cause for concern.
"Shh. Think I heard something."
"Nay. Don't remember one either." He ponders a bit and strokes his beard. "Ye remember that finely crafted weapon the Salamander had? Think maybe we found the craftsman?" Thinking that the mostly likely explanation is an blacksmith designing weapons of war, Gromff grasps the handle of Mjolvandr and moves forward, ready for a fight.
Here's my loadout. --1st Level-- (6/day) (DC 14):
--2nd Level-- (5/Day) (DC 15)
--3rd Level-- (4/day) (DC 16)
24/6 is 4 hours per person that actually needs endure elements. Is four hours enough to get to the lava pools and back?
Yeah. That was one of the moments we got see LG vs CG. Those are fun.
Now that I have a better idea of Catcher and Roland's characters, the thing with Zelesti is understandable now. And both have remained fairly consistent at least. Forgot about Gromkk. I don't remember the lake but Khaurak-Khozil being under attack, c'mon. I can't seem to find the instance but I know we had a choice and think the other was saving children. Or it was Asariel. Can't remember. Children trump all. Or in that case duty did to prevent Asariel from dying. She is one of the Harbingers. Besides, we'd likely still be stuck at Khaurak-Khozil if we went there. But I wouldn't let it get to you. You are a lot better than most and I have gotten into a few games myself. Those little deviations stress me out more than most which is way I don't think I am suited to DM'ing. Keep up the good work.
This PbP experience has taught me a lot about GMing, and one hard lesson is that I can make wrong assumptions about how the party will react when I'm fleshing out the game in my mind, and I better be able to go with the flow when player decisions don't jive with my assumptions! I gotta know. What specifically has thrown you off?
A communal endure and a communal resist should do. I don't think its that long of walk to the pools of lava nor do i think we will be there that long. One endure is 24 hours split among those that need it (Catcher, Old man, Little girl, Gromff, Chiro, Crys) is 4 hours. Does Chiro not have some resistance to fire? And the communal resist should give at least 10/min per person. Roland needs this since his resistance isn't high enough for what we walk into. I can prepare both. Maybe one more of each just to be safe.
"Nice little trinket isn't it?" Gromff says holding his hand up and showing off a similar ring. "We all need protection except him," Gromff sas pointing at Roland. "At least until we get ta the spot we met the Prince last time. Too hot fer anything but protection from open flames."
When his memory started to fail on how to get back to the lava pool, Gromff called a stop. He'd had to turn completely around on more than one stop to get his bearings since they hadn't gone this way in reverse. By his estimation, it was also pretty late. A few hours to the chute and a few more wandering around. They'd start getting groggy and make more mistakes after this. That and it was getting warm. "Ain't making it today. Let's try again tomorrow."
"There's a pool o lava near by. Course there's firey things around. But if ye wanna ask then go ahead," He says, waving his hand down the tunnel leading to said pools. "Gotta find a place ta rest first. New spells. New problems. All this fer a legendary spear. Be nice if someone just handed it to us fer once. No runnin all over the continent." The last few sentences turn into an annoyed grumble but what's new? Well before the tunnels get hot, Gromff looks for a good place to rest.
Gromff kept his focus on travel for the first leg of the journey. Steady and sturdy as he was, a slip in heavy armor would hurt. Not to mention it would a few extra pounds of mud and take ages to get out of his beard. But they make it to the chute without slip up and now a new challenge presented itself. Climbing. But careful focus won again. "Aw blast it," he comments as he takes in the scene. They'd lost a golem and one was very wounded. "Azers? Look like dwarves." Then he takes a closer look. Never heard of a bronze-skinned dwarf. "Kinda. How's the Prince connected?"
For now its go to the cave with the golems and wait. It's not late enough to rest yet but spells need to be re-prepared to have chat with Prince again. The discussion with the troll and giant was on secondary target if the queen is dead end. So how about this? Head for the hole. Met the golems. Rest. Catcher can try the scry spell again. If nothing. We try and speak with Prince. He might know where she would go to heal. If that doesn't pan out. Troll is probably the best alternative. We have quite a bit of literal fire power now.
"That'll do. Long as it protects from direct flame."
"Bah. They're both giants. Yer fire would make the troll easier ta deal with," he says thoughtfully. "But we need protection from flame first. Can ye do that as well as ye can throw it?"
"I would suggest we a least choose a secondary target for the time being. Whether that be the prince you speak of or one of the other beasts I spoke of. "The giant then. Always good with taking a giant down a few feet. Specifically 6 of them underground." But as he said that he thought of the giants that helped them get to Archdale. They weren't evil. "Bah." He shook his head. They were an exception. "But that dragon ain't gonna let this slide. Need ta do everything we can to stop her first afore she comes back." He looks out the cave. The weather has gotten a little better and the river seems less tenuous. "Let's head back down. See if the Prince is still in a helping mood." They still had a little daylight and one cave was as good as another. They'd need to wait a day anyway just so he could prepare the spells necessary to talk to the damn thing. "Thinking we're done fer the day too. Where we found the Prince, hot enough to make a dwarven smith pass out and blisterin when we get ta his home in some lava pools. Need ta prepare different spells. Can ye help with that?" he asks Chiro. The dwarf seemed fond of fire. Did he have some protection maybe?
"Probably just as bad as his mother but no proof of being evil yet." Gromff thinks for a moment. They had a while to find a good quarry. They could afford to wait a day. But for now, might as well to something productive. "Let's at least get our shiny friends fer now." Shiny friends being the two golems they left in the cave. Hopefully nothing happened to them.
"Can ye try again?" Gromff asks as he wasn't familiar with the magic she used. "I'd rather not have ta deal with the little Prince just ta find her. Nor have ta go looking for something else," he says looking at Crys. "All of those sound like they'd work just fine but Queen's two birds. We get the spear and prevent the town from being attacked. She's gonna come back. Don't ye doubt."
"Yeah. Yeah. Hold still first." Gromff had not fully prepared all the magic he had available this day. Some of it was raw magical energy, unrefined for a specific spell. But cure spells were what he was most familiar with. So he pulled from that pool of raw energy to finish the job Chiro started. Only after did he provide the water.
"I'f'n the storm don't break by tomorrow we can leave then. Be hard ta get the golems out in this weather anyway." After seeing to the corpse and the bag, Gromff sees to healing.
"Get it out of where? Why do you want to move it?" "Because, ye durned fool, dead bodies can cause sickness. Startin ta smell bad already." Gromff's face goes more sour than usual as he looks at the state of their old foe. The lad didn't hold back but it was the lasses gut cleave causing the most stink. He goes to grab a leg when he notices an accessory on the ogre. "What's that?" He looks confused at first then very angry. A string of dwarven curses cascade out of his mouth as he circles around to the ogre's head, weapon in head. With an angry shout to match even Roland's he spins the head of the weapon once and flattens the hellskin ogre's head sending brain matter all over. Gromff casts some spell that makes his muscles bulge and grabs the ogre by the foot. He drags the carcass to the edge of the cave and, like an olympic hammer toss, hurls the beast outside. He even manages to blast the corpse mid flight with a burst of blinding light. The strain is too much. with his abdomen already split, the corpse separates mid flight. Gromff stomps back in and grabs the dwarfskin pouch. He dumps its contents on the floor and hands it to Chiro. "Burn that." Then like it never happened he says, "I'm fine waitin a day."
Oh yeah. But you're a wizard. That kind of stuff should be nooooo problem right?
That's probably a valid point. This is only the second time I have used it and the first time offensively. So the description says: "You can form an existing piece of stone into any shape that suits your purpose. While it's possible to make crude coffers, doors, and so forth with stone shape, fine detail isn't possible. There is a 30% chance that any shape including moving parts simply doesn't work." This could mean that I can mold a stone I touch into one solid, single shape. A wall, a door, a basin, a bridge. But it mentions moving parts and that makes me think much more complex shapes can be made, like a cage. And we are in a cave, I don't know how caves are formed but I assume its relatively close to being one giant block of stone. I assumed the cave ceiling wasn't too high, 10' or less which is why I capped them off their. If it is taller, yes, they will be a lot more flimsy. I also side 12 which puts a pillar at each corner and 2 between the corners. Less than 5' to squeeze through. But it is less pillars and he can squeeze, that is fine too. That's some attacks of opportunity at a much lower AC. The intent was to limit his movements. That whip is powerful so I wanted to impair his ability to swing it in a creative fashion. In a previous scenario we had a long tunnel shoot with spikes pointed inwards. Tough climb and could have damaged us badly and it was after a long fight. I used it there too and blunted the spikes on one side of the chute. Made the climb easier and less dangerous. Catcher did some amazing math.
Round 4
As if moving in a faster time frame, Gromff walk/runs back into the cave. He stops just inside the ogres reach and looks about. Catcher and the new human were down and heavily damaged. Skin wasn't meant to be that black. "Ye shouldn't have attacked us in a cave," he says, dangerously low. He stomps a foot on the ground and sends divine energy pouring through it. It buckles and rolls forward, splitting around the ogre. Stone pillars shoot up out of the ground all the way around him. They are thin but should hamper his attacks.
Like so. I do it because I can buff the shit out of my character.
Round 3
Disoriented as he ways, Gromff is a tornado of destruction. The flail seems to fling wildly about but each one is a focused on certain weak points all living creatures share. The legs and the head are the easiest to aim for but as the monster steps forward for a missed bite, he manages a blow to the side below the rib cage too. And as each a blow hits there is a small explosion of holy energy. "Let no evil stand before the might o Moradin." Attack rolls:
Round 2
Though disoriented, Gromff heads out to meet the canine foes. The magical flail swings several times above his head as he approaches before coming done on the nearest foe. The glow of the magic placed upon it nearly rivals that of Roland's halo of light.
At the start of the wail, Gromff jumps to his feet, and immediately regrets it. The howl throws off is sense of balance almost enough to topple him back to the ground. Thinking quickly, he pulls a small vial from a pouch at his side and spins in place, sprinkling the dust around him. He nearly topples again but manages a somewhat circular shape on the ground. He intones a few words of prayer of the dust and a circle of light shoots out to about 10ft from the center. He then draws his hammer, channeling some strength into it, causing it to glow with golden light.
He looked at the ground, "Although you should know something... I am being hunted. Like right now. This moment. There's hellskin ogre that is on my trail." "We've beaten one afore. And they don't compare ta the moody dragon we gotta deal with at some point."
"Nay. We've a lot to share fer now." Gromff looks over the other dwarf's shoulder and spies a cave. "Ye sheltered there right?" He doesn't wait for an answer before heading in that direction. The rain wasn't letting up and they were likely not getting over without help. Better fill the help in on what he was getting into. Both of them. Once in a drier environment, Gromff prompts Chiro to go first. "Alright, let's hear yer unbelievable tale. Bet it's not that bad." After he shares, the companions share theirs as well. Even abbreviated, its a long story and will likely take the rest of the day. It starts slow, as most do, but the opponents and situations begin to get more fantastic as they go on. Undead monsters, wyverns, hellskins, dragons, odd, one-everything giants. There is a lot of death, some saved lives, some mercy, some treason. But at the center of it all is Ultruu, the enemy they are all working to defeat. Bronin the Mongoose has not created a profile. |
