PC Name: Angelia Paladin of Heronius 7
Adventure: Hall of Harsh Reflections
Location of Death: Area 16--Mirror Maze
Catalyst: 3 Doppleganger Figters full attacking
Party split up and left the main fighter in the octagonal room so the paladin was trying to fill the fighter shoes. Not a good idea......
PC Name: Lindingar, halfling spirit shaman 4
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Location: True Tomb
Catalyst: Wind warriors set blades to "mince"
PC Name: Morrik (Rouge)
Adventure: HoHR
Location: Octagonal Room
Catalyst: Mistaken Identity
Perhaps it would be a good idea to give you an idea about the players. For the most part they are all pretty new to DnD. One has been with me for 2 years and the other newb was just learning how to play with this AP. The more experienced player (Morriks player) was replaced by the doppleganger.
When the group got to the Octagonal room and fought their doubles the fighter was head to head with Morrik's double while the real Morrik was still chained to the post. Well the fighter thought that DoubleMorrik was the real one and was being controlled by ChainedUpMorrik (the real one) and proceeded to focus his attacks on the real one instead of the double. When ChainedUpMorrik didn't revert to doppleganger form upon death it didn't seem to register. So..... After questioning DoubleMorrik (who was being played by the real Morriks player) the group was again convinced that DoubleMorrik was real. Until he turned on them in the Mirror Maze.
Upon hindsight I think that the wizard should have made a knowledge check or anyone else could have made a spot check to realize "Hey the other doubles turned into these grey creatures but that one didn't. We may have made a mistake."
As it was the group was kind of glad to be rid of Morrik as he was a jerk. The character, not the player. Good roleplaying on the players part though.
PC Name: Deiz-Aerai Anduiras
Adventure: Wishpering Cairn
Location of Death: Alastors Haunt
Catalyst: Advanced Vasuthant (Replacing Grick)
The creature really went to town on my players and i urge the makers of the Eberron Conversion Notes to tone him down a little
PC Name: Hawken Fellow (ranger/pious templar)
Adventure: The Champion's Belt
Location of Death: Arena
Catalyst: Do not attempt to kill a froghemoth by lodging self in its gullet
Luckily, using our home-brew divine intervention rules, Hawken managed to secure divine aid and has returned from the dead.
Well, First casulty in the adventure path occurred last session...
Jonathan (3rd lvl human rogue)
Whispering Cairn
Chamber of Sighs
Wind warriors with deadly two-weapon style!
Jonathan was sent ahead to look for traps - it was "obvious" that the walkways were trapped, seeing how two had already collapsed. When he stepped onto it, the pair of wind warriors appeared, blasting him with sonic blasts, before moving in for the kill. He never had a chance.
His gravestone reads "Jonathan was a bastard, but he was a good bastard".
His four comrades barely managed to defeat the two ancient guardians. Now they have just entered the Dourstone mines...
Character: Ominara Avondale (Human Cleric of Heironeous Lv. 3)
Adventure: The Whispering Cairn
Location of Death: Chamber of Sighs
Catalyst: Wind Warrior
Long Description: Ominara died in a valiant rescue that would have made Heironeous proud.
By the time the first Wind Warrior fell the party had pretty much used up all their resources and were ready to make a retreat. Unfortunately, Lyavel, the half-elf rogue, was in negative hp and fading. So, while the others ran for the door Ominara went to save Lyavel. A cure light wounds spell revived the rogue, but she was still within melee reach of the Wind Warrior so she couldn't get up without provoking an AofO, and a successful hit would surely put her back down. So Ominara got the Wind Warrior's attention and ran to the far side of the room to lead it away from Lyavel. It followed and she kept it distracted while Lyavel made a run for the exit. Lyavel escaped, but the twin swords proved to much for Ominara. When she fell the creature moved to block the door and by the time anyone managed to get past it, Ominara was gone.
Ominara was given an honorable memorial at the garrison chapel and laid to rest in the Diamond Lake boneyard.
Three Faces of Evil:
PC Name: Erimor 5th Level Barbarian
Adventure: Three Faces of Evil
Location of Death: Temple of Erythnul
Catalyst: Barbarian on a Ledge
3 Other lost in the next 3 modules. Not bad so far.
Character: Dye (appropriately named), Sorcerer 4 (500 points from 5). Player's previous character was a rogue named Hyde (see earlier Obit entry)
Adventure: Smenk's house (side trek)
Location of Death: 2nd floor balcony
Catalyst: Waltzing with a dire ape
Despite the fact that:
a) He knew there was one ape guarding the front door and two more raising hell in the back
b) His far-better-armed friends were milling about outside, trying to come up with a plan of attack
c) He's already had two lightly-armored characters get their arms pulled off by charging in to battle against large creatures with bad attitudes...
Dye charges through the front door, down the main hallway (dodging an AoO) and up the stairs to the landing. He then notices a large monkey crawling back up through a hole in the floor just behind him. Even though I gave him two rounds to save himself, he stood his ground and fired his signature Scorching Ray at the ape by the front door(!). When that didn't kill said ape (who was finally being engaged by other party members), he simply stood his ground, waiting on the 2nd simian.
*Rip* *Rip* *REND* -8. Two unsuccessful stabilize rolls and two failed Heal checks by DM-induced NPCs, and Dye goes to meet his ancestors.
PC: Anton Crowley
race and class: human CE warlock
LOD: Allustans guest room redecorated as a cell
Reason: Bad attitude at the wrong time
Anton survived as a refugee from the bandit kingdoms as a harsh and unforgiving man. With memories of growing up during the Iuz wars and the constant chaos of anarchy as his only true companion in life his final actions really were his true nature and character. Sent to the cairn hills region by his mentor a high level hexblade mercenary leader hired by the hextorian church in Alhastor to hunt down the heretic Theldrick, Anton spared no opprotunity to spread his depravity towards everyone around him to acomplish a goal. Acting on a hunch he got cozy in the feral dog and quickly picked up on a chance to get close to Allustan Neff and his group of buisness partners by hunting them down and raising a ghoul nest to give them a real bad day and an excuse for the mess, with the help of a smenk ranger "employee" they took along a 12 year old dishwasher as bait who had taken money from a hextorian preist to send a little girl towards the whispering cairn by daring her. At this time the ranger was really told to get rid of the nosey refugee and shot him. Anton wounded with thirtey ghouls on his bloody trail, grabbed the 12 year old and drug him along gashing his arm and sening him off in the other direction. fast forward past constant beatings and questioning by Allustans men, he found his way to the wizards residence being questioned for his motives. Beaten and weakened he saw this as the perfect time to kill the wizard and flee past his half-orc bodyguard. he was quick to dodge the orcs blows and grab his knife, but the ghotsly hand that grabbed him by the throat and fried his diseased brain was unexpected and the last thing he knew of life before the nightmares claimed him forever.
PC Name: Frutiger Roman - Cleric of Lathander
Adventure: 3FoE
Location of Death: Ledge in temple of Bhaal (Erythnul)
Catalyst: Hidden archers + climbling cleric + crit = dead cleric
After the party ranger and enchantress made it to the bottom of cliff the cleric Frutiger slowly made his way down the first 10 feet. The warmage and druid waited their turns at the top. The grimlock archers on the ledge came out of hiding and used their surprise round to shoot the cleric. Then initiative was rolled. The druid cast a produce flame, but missed. The ranger took a knee and pulled out his crossbow. Then the grimlock archers used Rapid Shot. I use the defensive rolls from Unearthed Arcana and have players roll their own damage. First shot misses. Second shot crits. 3d8+6 damage puts the cleric at -11, the 30 foot drop onto stalagmites was bonus.
Cohort Name: T.K. - Kalashtar Soulknife
Adventure: Spire of Long Shadows
Location of Death: Parade Grounds
Catalyst: Crit from Unholy Bastard Sword + DM cruelty.
Because the Knights of Kyuss are in full plate, the first one wasn't such a big deal as long as the players didn't go toe-to-toe with him...like the kalahstar did. Once the kalastar fell from one swing, the Knight Cleaved into the monk standing next to him, also dropping him... which gave him another cleave into the kalashtar, putting him past -20. The wizard pulled the monk out of range of a Death Knell, which ticked the Knight off so much he pulled the dead kalastar's HEAD off in a show of vileness. It was a great moment for the party to just stare, then beat the unholy stuffing out of the knight in one round.
EDIT: Two other players bit the dust in the party's continued exploration, but with the addition of a cleric who could cast Resurgence, they weren't out for long and don't merit a mention IMO.
PC Name: Allaxsim Delaluc, 5th level paladin (Hieroneous)
Adventure: Between 3FoE and EBK
Location of Death: Shank's Rest
Catalyst: casting cure wounds on self while prone and in range of an enlarged, pole arm wielding fighter
Smenk sent Kullen & co. to off the party at the first suitable opportunity after he found out they had been into the Ebon Triad temple below Dourstone Mine, suspecting they might have learned about his connection to the cultists and wishing to silence them before they implicated him. The gang surrounded the house and tossed a vial of alchemist's fire into the front room, hoping to smoke the party out. (I advanced the gang one level to make them a stiff challenge and a believable hit party). The paladin battled Todrik at the front door while his companions dealt with the other gang members at the back and tried to extinguish the fire. The two badly wounded each other, and Todrik withdrew around the side of the house to down some potions to cure and buff. Instead of cautiously pursuing him, Allaxsim healed himself with lay on hands and a charge from his CLW wand, then waded through the crowd of allies at the back door to engage Kullen. He did not know that Merovinn Bask had greased the back porch, and promptly fell on his rear, landing in a tangle with his brother (a bard) and putting himself prone right in front of Kullen and his axe. The party wizard distracted Kullen by summoning a celestial dire badger, but not before the half-orc landed a telling blow, dropping his hit points into the 50% range. The paladin blinded Kullen with the +1 shield of blinding looted from the Faceless One, and managed to get to his feet again and move to engage Rastophan. Shortly afterwards, Todrik came around the corner, having downed a cure potion and a potion of enlarge, and started skewering Allaxsim viciously, and instead of retreating to cure himself, he tried to get inside Todrik's guard. This resulted in him being dropped to negatives, and his brother the bard having to tumble to the rescue. His brother revived him, but he faced the choice of trying to stand up, cure himself, or play dead--all dangerous in their own way, when in the reach of an enlarged, pole-arm-wielding fighter. He chose the middle path, and got spitted.
[In a fit of deus ex machina, the DM decided that a "raise dead" sidequest or introducing a new PC would result in loss of momentum for the game. Therefore, a high-ranking Nyrondese clergyman of Hieroneous passed by on the Urnst Trail the following morning. The PCs heard the heralds announcing his passage and ran to beg a favor. Allaxsim is now alive and well at 4th level, and the party owes the Archbishop of Rel Mord a hefty donation of 6,500 orbs, plus transport costs.]
PC Name: Seolyn Trosyren, Cleric (Law) 7/Entropomancer 4
Adventure: A Gathering of Winds
Location of Death: The Star Chamber
Catalyst: Constitution Drain
The party made their way down the waterfall without previously encountering Zifforian. During the fight against Moreto and his mohrgs, Zifforian joined the fray, attacking the nearest living thing, the headstrong cleric.
Three rounds of Con Drain was all it took to drop the elf, who quickly rose as a wraith himself and sought to inflict death on his former friends.
As an aside, yes, this death was the third PC death of the same player in my game. He had a chance to back out, but didn't. He'll be introducing his fourth character in our next session.
P.C.: Dax, male changeling rogue 5
Adventure: Three Faces of Evil
What: The Ebon Aspect was not his friend...
Poor Dax. So few hp, so low of an AC, and a propensity for getting knocked into negative hp. He always survived his earlier brushes with death by bleeding on the floor for most of the fight, stabilizing at -9 or so, but the Ebon Aspect drew upon Erythnull's Frenzy and power-attacked him straght to -11 hp.
I felt a little sorry for him, so I let him blow all of his remaining action points (he had six) to instead stabilize exactly at -9.
Fennel, Cleric of Ehlonna
Cause of Death: Fatal Mauling by baby owlbear.
Habib, Bard/Barbarian
Cause of Death: Fatal decapitation from Grimlock barbarian.
Kergiz, Dwarven Fighter
Cause of Death: Kinetic energy poisoning from big three-armed thing in the mine.
Just so you guys know, these were *all* my characters. My current character is Belvedere the eldritch knight, and due to the three above character deaths I cheesed my character out: alter self intro troglodyte, shield/mage armor, etc. I'm in Alhaster now and still alive (keeping fingers crossed!!!)
well we had our first gruesome death in Zyrxog's lair.Our sorcerer/cleric of Boccob went into his lab with full hit points,until the large octopin came out of hiding and hit him with both tentacle attacks the following rending brought the total damage to 60pts. taking him to -14 needless to say the rest of the group were making balance checks to avoid slipping on the blood of their rippedinhalf comrade
Name - Danrik (NPC) Lvl 14 Cleric of Morradin
Adventure - Spire of Long Shadows
Catalyst - Eaten by the Overworm
So the CLeric is trying to cast some spell (I don't recall now) and happens to be in the reach or the Overworm. A Natural 20 on the Attack of Opportunity deals out 117 points of damage. Which happend to be the perfect number to drop him down to -10. The groups last cleric got eaten also. She stood in the very center of the Black Pudding and couldn't get out. Ick.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Name - Randalf the Grey (groan) L3 cleric of Savras/L3 wizard
Adventure - Blackwall Keep
Catalyst - Poison Dusk lizardfolk not impressed with his storytelling ability
In the attempt to break the siege of the keep, the initial move consisted of having the old man move 50 feet away from the rest of the party(!) and attempt to Enthrall two squads of lizardfolk. He began his monologue in Draconic, one of the many languages he knows. Unfortunately, that spell requires a full round to cast. Once he started, his targets, seeing lunch being delivered, attacked. The lizardfolk mooks were unable to reach him in time, but the archers nailed him twice, cover and all. Minimal damage, but the following string of disasters spelled his doom:
Failed the concentration check to maintain the spell (only needed a five)
Failed one of the fortitude saves vs poison from the arrows, the CON loss knocking him unconscious.
Stabilized miraculously ("I've rolled nothing but ones all night, so I'm calling this one. One!")
Was brought back to life with his last two healing potions by a party member, just in time to:
Fail a Healing check to treat the poison (rolled a one when only a two was needed)
Fail the 2nd Fort save
Take 5 points of CON damage, exactly what he had left.
Poor Randalf - he was our last remaining initial party member. We've now had five fatalities.
|
We finally lost four characters out of six in our seventeenth game session. The characters had crept into the Shrine of Kyuss while playing "The Champion's Belt."
Stuuden, the party's hafling monk and paladin of Heironeous experienced neural ventilation when Zyrxog visciously removed his brain after stunning him and most of the other party members. Zyrxog had retreated to the Shrine of Kyuss after the party ransacked his lair. Now Stuuden spars in the Valorous Knight's bronze palace.
Beoric, a dwarven barbarian who served the party's cleric (as a cohort) was slain after two debilitating blasts from the akilith demon's horrifying enervation. He slumped to the ground and passed on to join his fathers in their Stone Mansions.
Then, the cleric he was guarding, Helder, a priest of the Sky Father, was literally frozen solid and expired when the same akilith demon unloosed its freezing cold of cone. He now abides with his fellows in Pelor's sunlit halls.
Alexandros the mage succumbed to the same frightful blast of cold as the cleric. Alexandros stood no chance against the savage demon. He dwells in Boccob's Great Study, now.
A bard the party met at the Silver Dragon Inn, Mielle Darkborn, followed the party into the arena's understructure. She managed to help the two remaining party members, Luhti the dwarven mage and Elumalai, elven warrior, limp out of the dreadful shrine. The Apostle of Kyuss broods in its stasis. On the morrow the Final Battle is to begin. How events shall unfold are unclear. Loris Raknian shall soon discover Zahol's corpse, while what is left of the party licks their wounds, laments their losses and sullenly consider their next move. Near total defeat looms. The Age of Worms draws ever closer. Kyuss has amply demostrated that he respects no life or effort of weal.
How deep does the courage and fortitude of the survivors reach? Will they seize destiny and press on with this fight? Or shall the mantle of Good pass to other heroes willing to struggle against eternal ruin? Did Stuuden, Beroic, Helder and Alexandros die in vain?
Don Kenneth Brown
Salt Lake City, Utah
PC name: Kyrion 5 bard/1 Wiz/ 1 Favored soul
Adventure: HoHR, doppleganger traitor
Reason: Not seeing they had a traitor in the group. Traitor and bard alone on one side of the illusionary wall...and losing initiative.
Kyrion was the man with the answewrs, master of knowledge, he truly belived that knowledge is power. He mastered every kind of magic and he was capable of using any wand, scroll or item imaginable.
Kyrion barely lived throught the devious pit trap and the cleric could only heal part of the grave wounds. So when the doppelganger trap sprung he was the first to go down, pummelled to death.
Farlangh may tell Kyrion that is journey is not yet finished.
Name: Melinde, Paladin of Heironeous (from the Overload PDF; a follower of one of the PC's)
Adventure: HoHR, doppleganger planning room
Reason: Forgot to get healed when everyone was resting (player and DM both missed it), so was only on 22 hp when got hit by a nasty fireball from Telakin and failed her save (not unexpected, her Reflex save is terrible).
The PC's are off to the Sanctum of Heironeous right now, to try and get her raised; the PC who she follows in particular is pretty cut up about it - I'll use it as a good way to have them clear up the problem at the shrine of Heironeous in Midnight Muddle (the vermin lord).
Once again, death leads to more good role-play opportunity.
1. Gnome Cleric - Died on my introduction module (not technically age of worms, but we were working up to it.)
2. Halfling Monk - Eye feared him and he went into the brown mold.
3. Human Cleric - Fell during the elevator collapse. Even if he survived, the swarm would have finished him off. Having a negative reflex save = fatal at low levels.
Player name: Lazlo Largefeet
Adventure: SoLS
Reason: very bad luck...times 3
So Lazlo was the new cohort of Sereph the wizard that they got in Magepoint. After meeting with Manzorian, he knew he got into something to big.
They got In O.K. but in the room with the three swords and wormcaller, he was hit by one to many evocations of the worm and got to negative 44
So the druid reincarnated him and he became Lazlo the orc, but Lazlo the orc bet his fate from a discorprating dive in the room across the hall.
Then there was Lazlo the Kobald, he died by standing in front of a hungry overworm. That was -50 I think after a 140 something crit (power attack)
Fortunatly, Lazlo the elf was able to finish the adventure unharmed...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Character: Martina, 5th level sorceror.
Cause of death: Lightning bolt and a bad reflex save.
Circumstances: Advancing cautiously into the sanctum of Tharizdun (Vecna) the Diamond Blades were carefully avoiding the hands grasping wildly at them from the pillars when a ray of fire scorched past the rogue's shoulder. Chanting in a mystic language, a figure could dimly be seen brandishing a roll of parchement at the party before a mass of sticky strands obscured the their view. Last one into the sanctum, Martina could only hear her compatriots shouts as they struggled to free themselves. She lit a second torch and handed it to her unseen servant and began to burn her way into the webs. A few feet in, the web lit up with a flash of blue light and she heard a racking gurgle from Aethelwulf. Another pace and she saw her druid friend Enys almost dead on his feet surge back into the fight with a howl that deepened into the roar of an angry bear. Swiftly, she tugged a bottle from her belt and poured the contents over the bear's wounds. It snuffled in thanks before renewing its efforts to free itself.
Martina was turning back to the task of burning the webs away to free the rest of her group when the room lit up blue for a second time...
[ooc - I really thought I had a TPK on my hands. The first lightning bolt didn't do much. On the second one I rolled 28 on 6d6, frazzled the sorceror and dropped the fighter to -9! The rogue made her save and took no damage, but she was damn close. Then the shapeshifted druid took a magic missile and almost went down, only to be droped to -1 by a lucky stab fom an acolyte's dagger. A second magic missile downed the druid animal companion wolf, who got coup-de-graced by the acolyte. Fortunately the rogue managed to get a potion down the fighter's neck before his next action, and the druid stabilised on his own, but Martina was well beyond help.]
PC Name: Revan Dirani 1st level draconic human rogue
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Location of Death: the underwater portion of the cairn
Catalyst: smackdown into unconsciousness by the water elemental while swimming
Long Description: Revan was down a few hit points from fighting the giant bombardier beetles when he decided to investigate the submerged part of the dungeon. Since he had darkvision and a few ranks in swim, he dove right in and began exploring. He swam around the shower area and started to examine the clogged floor drains when the water elemental attacked. The second hit from the elemental knocked Revan unconscious and he began drowning. By the time his fellow party members were able to find him, defeat the elemental, and retrieve his body, he was dead.
RIP Revan Dirani
PC Name: Jann of Hollowsky, 2nd level human cleric of Wee Jas
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Location of Death: violet elevator
Catalyst: crushed to death
Long Description: After suffering the loss of Revan (see above post), Jann and his companions soldiered on with their exploration of the cairn. After surviving the swirly wind face trap, the group continued on to examine the violet elevator. Ignoring the fact that the floor of the elevator was littered with crushed bones and debris, and ignoring the suggestions of his fellow adventurers to throw something else in first, Jann stepped in the elevator. The doors closed, the elevator descended, and Jann was crushed in the trap. He survived the first of damage, but failed to successfully cast a healing spell on himself. He didn't survive the second round of crushing damage. When the party pushed the pointer around to make the elevator rise again, they found his crushed body lying inside.
RIP Jann
Location of Death: violet elevator
EDIT: It was the indigo elevator. My bad.
M@
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Characters: Melinde (Pal3 NPC), Albrecht (War1 NPC), Dieter (War1 NPC), Farrel (War1 NPC)
Location: TFoE - Temple of Erythnul
Catalyst: The Chieftain's Axe, Too many Grimlocks, and a Sound Burst spell.
(The party is part of a garrison strike force assembled to investigate the disappearance of the FIRST group of adventures into the mines).
The party negotiated their way into the Grimlock caverns and their scout was detected by the two Grimlock guards. The guards raised the hue and cry and moved to attack.
The party moved into the room, and the guards and chieftain moved in from the adjoining rooms. The slope in front of the tunnel caused great difficulty for various characters getting into position.
Then the chieftain got a 45 point critical hit onto the already wounded Melinde. And she fell to the dust. Then the guards started really taking it on the chin as one by one they fell, only to be kept just alive with heavy usage of a wand of CLW and a wand of lesser vigor.
Things looked dire for the party when a new squad of grimlocks, with the head cleric - Grallas Kur, came from the southern corridor. The dwarf fighter valiantly held the line, and only his fine armor and his sharp axe (and his Cleave feat) kept the horde at bay.
Then Grallas Kur, already insane by his dealings with the dark forces of the Ebon Triad, cast a spell causing waves of sonic pain to rip through friend and foe alike. This was too much for several of the stout guards to withstand, and they passed to Heironeous' reward.
Then the PC's set upon Grallas, weary with their battle, and heartsick from the lost of their comrades, and tore him asunder.
Who: Gak, 1/2 orc Fighter/Barbarian (15/1)
Adventure: Library of Last Resort
Catalyst: Toe-to-toe with Krathanos...but not for long
Explanation: The party plane shifted him to Elysium. Feeling pangs of guilt for freeing him, battle was joined. At the peak of the melee the warlock was trapped in a Maze, the mage caught up in a Bigby's Crushing Hand, and Gak lay at the titan's feet (in the -20's). With the 1/2 elf ranger & 1/2 dragon temple raider firing a barrage of arrows at the charging Krathanos, he finally fell.
It was a glorious death for Gak...and the most epic of 4 deaths by that character ;-)
J-
1.
PC Name: Morrie, 1st level rogue
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Location of Death: Indigo Elevator (now affectionately known as "the juicer" to the group)
Catalyst: rogues are supposed to go first in case there are traps, right?
Long description: Party ignored the crushed and mangled bodies and decided to send the rogue in anyway. Splat!!
2.
PC Name: Lefty, 2nd level rogue
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Location of Death: Face/Winds trap
Catalyst: failed search check and failed saving throw
Long description: Party's second rogue, again scouting ahead, failed to detect the trap and was paralyzed. When the wind started, his colleagues, huddling near the mouth of the tunnel entrance, decided not to try rush forward and save him and instead bailed out via the rope they had attached. A few rounds later poor Lefty came flying out of the tunnel mouth and fell to his doom. The party fighter tried to grab him as he fell past, and actually managed to get a hold of him, but failed the strength check to hold him. Splat!!
3.
PC Name: Eric, 2nd level rogue (This party is tough on rogues)
Adventure: Whispering Cairn
Location of death: farmhouse
Catalyst: failed hide and spot checks; owlbear claws
Long Description: Rogue tried to scout farmhouse before the rest of the party entered. Failed his hide check, so the wounded owlbear saw him, failed his spot check, so he didn't see the owlbear, tried to fight rather than run after the surprise round, managed one feeble attack and one scream before being eviscerated. Splat!!
I don't understand why no one wants to play rogues anymore in this group.
name: dusty donovan
race: half elf
class: cleric 6
catalyst: trying to run up into battle... again.
So, after finally completeing my modified encounter at blackwall keep the party set out for the free city of greyhawk. on the road, I had two ambushes planned (getting some XP in, since i've got a six member party and needed to beef them up a bit). the first? the pair of trolls. they come out, and take a fair ammount of damage before their next turn... however, the cleric decides that she needs to inflict moderate wounds on one of them. presented with such an easy target at close range, the troll naturally used a full attack.. critical.. both claws hit... rend...
and dusty is suddenly at -17 hit points.
Tonight was the second session of my adapted AoW Eberron getsalt campaign. The group had two, count 'em, TWO PC deaths tonight. They were visibly shaken, but new characters are in the works!
Deaths:
1) River Champion (Male goliath gestalt barbarian 2//totemist 2): The goliath dove into the Submerged Shower to save the cleric//monk from the two medium water elementals that had ambushed him when he waded into the water. After an arduous underwater combat the group managed to fell the elementals, but not before they pulled River Champion into the negatives. The cleric returned with his limp body, wearing a grim expression...
2) Malharath (Male kalashtar paladin 2//soulknife 2 {w/silver soulknife from Dragon magazine}): While searching the Land estate the group came upon a large barn standing a goodly distance beyond the house itself in the backyard behind the copse of trees. Approaching it, the group stirred the advanced owlbear within (actually the male of the pair, the cubs dead and the female nowhere to be found...). Combat ensued, and in the final moments the owlbear staggered forward to sweep the artificer//wizard up in its claws, the beast teetering on the brink of death, the rest of the group torn asunder and lying in various degrees of negative hp; the art//wiz unleashes a Power Word: Pain on the owlbear while caught in its grasp, and the creature topples forward, shrieking long and loud into negative hp and unconsciousness. As the the art//wiz uses scrolls to heal people (cleric//monk first) back into the positives, the group discovers that the paladin is not breathing...
R.I.P.
Parvati, female valenar elven bard. Former "comfort-lady" at Diamond Lake's Midnight Salute. Parvati, with her unparalleled knowledge of the locales & denizens of DL, was probably the most instrumental in gathering together the party. Early on was much smoother due to her remarkable information gathering skills which got the adventurers through the Whispering Cairn & into the Dourstone Mine to the Citadel of the Mockery. It was at this point, after a thourough search of the citadel, that the party was ambushed in the Dark Cathedral by Kendra, Garras, Theldrick, & his summoned fiendish dire ape, who clawed & rended Parvati mercilessly. Ironforge, beloved wolf animal companion to Silvanestri, also perished in the battle.
Name: Vincent d'Froog, 7th level Elf Rogue
Adventure: Hall of Harsh Reflections
Location: Telakin's Hall
Catalyst: Forgetting the principle of symmetry
The adventuring party alternatingly calling themselves the Trintoneers or Anti-Pesto had actually managed to successfully bluff the doppelgangers in the Sodden Hold, getting a one-way pass to Telakin himself. Unfortunately, the double-cross double-crossed itself, as they hadn't had the opportunity to discover the doppelganger among them...
In the chaotic melee, Vincent had taken a beating. He'd narrowly avoided plunging to his death when he dodged one of the pits under the stairs, and had been hit with a few of Telakin's axe blows. So he wasn't in the best of shape when the confusion spell wore off and he decided to move in on Telakin for the kill. Up the other staircase. Where everyone else had been rightly assuming there was a pit.
Vincent d'Froog died on impact.
Okay, this is fairly long, but I think it's worth your time. This was funny... well, funny in a sad what-did-we-ever-do-to-you? kinda way...
The party joined forces, and won this deed to a rundown shack in the hills in a game of three-dragon ante at Lazarus' House (Lazare's is official name, I know... I like Lazarus better). Party sneaks out of town, hiding out from Sheriff Cubbin and his boys since we broke the halfling rogue out of jail (story for another time). Long story short, they discover the Whispering Cairn and go to investigate. When they discover wolves using it as a den, they kill one and lure the others away with new-killed deer meat. While exploring the main chamber, they failed to disarm the fire trap and the elven wizard loses his eyebrows. We catch the elevator down, and while pulling down the big stone slab, the gas trap goes off and EVERYONE fails their save, even the dwarf. Everyone loses some strength, but they decide to go on anyway... hehe, silly adventurers. The lurking strangler pops out and drops the halfling rogue with a Sleep spell, and scares the human ranger into ineffectiveness. Dwarf cleric engages in melee, but can't hit to save his life. Elf wizard gets hit by ray, but finds he's immune to sleep (Player didn't know till that moment). Doesn't want to use up his spells on this thing, so tries to use his staff, but now has a Strength of 5 and couldn't hit water if he fell out of boat! Eventually, the human monk, who is pretty good at avoiding the rays, and the dwarf cleric smack the floating eyes into pulp and they go on. They discover the mold, and the oatmeal sludge around it, and get freaked out when the halfling collapses unconscious face-first into the mold. The ranger fishes him out but takes severe frostburn doing so. The elf then realizes what the stuff is and neutralizes it with a Ray of Frost spell. By the time the party accidentally rouses the Earth Elemental, they are tired, weak, and feeling generally abused by the sadistic DM. The Earth Elemental pounds on them for 5 rounds before they manage to batter it into gravel, and EVERYONE is wounded by this time. The dwarf casts some cures, bringing the Ranger and Monk up to full HPs, and waking up the halfling, but the elf, halfling, and dwarf are all still at less than 50% HPs and the cleric is out of spells. They decide to leave, gather their loot earned thus far, and go back up the elevator. Then, when they get to the main chamber, they decide to explore "just a bit longer" before going back home to rest. They don't fool with the sarcophagus anymore -- Thank Fharlanghn! -- but when they notice that the alcove with the blue lantern is higher than the others, they decide to investigate. Both the monk and the rogue go up the chain... funny here, because the halfling's player sweats and panics every step of the way, making a climb check every 10 feet or so before he safely arrives at the upper tunnel... then the monk's player announces he's "going to take 10" and shimmies up the chain without even opening his dice bag. I seriously thought I was going to have a PvP homicide right there at the table! Anyway, they light some sunrods, see the big face and start to explore... they don't look for traps yet, and the halfling is too light to set off the pressure plate, so he goes right up to the face while the monk has him "covered with my crossbow." Then while the rogue is checking the face for traps, the monk moves in for a closer look and that's what sets off the wind trap. The halfling falls down and next round starts sliding down the corridor. The monk is hypnotized by the pretty colors and just stands there at first. The halfling makes his Will save, but can't resist the wind and is being pushed toward the edge every round. The monk is blown off his feet and then by Round 4, goes shooting off the edge. I allowed him to shake off the daze and make a grab for the chain, but he fails... and falls for 27 points of bone-crushing damage, which is about 22 more than he had at the time! The halfling makes his save to grab the chain when he comes shooting out of the windtunnel, but then fails his climb check halfway down - badly! - and falls for 13 damage, putting him at -7. The dwarf uses Heal skill to stabilize him and they start scraping up the remains of the monk, hoping for a discount on cures at the Twilight Monastery or something... "He's a monk, of course they'll help us!" The carry their two friends up the stairs to the main corridor.... and come face to face with the rest of the wolfpack that they'd lured away earlier. The ranger is tripped in the second round and then it's all over; he's torn to pieces, along with the remains of the monk he was carrying. The elf only manages to survive by running hard, and the dwarf is forced to drop his unconscious halfling friend in order to get away on those short stumpy legs. So...
Rest In Peace, Andwell, human Monk - failed three consecutive saving throws, killed by 60 ft. fall.
Rest In Peace, Wyman Surefoot, halfling Rogue - failed Climbing check, knocked out by 30 ft. fall, unconscious body eaten by wolves.
Rest in Peace, Albus the Dim, human Ranger - mauled by three wolves in a fight where he could NOT roll higher than an 8 on d20!
Fallowyn the elf retired at 2nd level to apprentice himself to Allustan and learn some offensive spells for a change. Torgil the dwarf set out to recruit another party to try and "take that damned dungeon next time!"
In closing I'd like to say that while the players were tearing their hair out, I was laughing so hard I fell out of my chair numerous times... and as long as the DM gets his jollies, no character ever truly dies in vain.
So, when will you tell them that a dwarf's speed is never affected by his weight carried? :)
The halfling's weight, with gear, had put him into heavy load range (remember the Strength-sucking gas?), slowing him while RUNNING.... and in this case, he really needed to run! (or at least he felt he did). Mostly, dropping the halfling gave the wolves something else to chew on while Torgil beat feet out of Dodge... that being said, it was quick thinking on his part.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
R.I.P.
Freedom (Scout 7)
Sir Nathaniel Perrin (Paladin 7)
Venturing towards the Lair of the Lizard King in the terrible swamps of the Mistmarsh, Freedom trips over a backpack belonging to a young cleric from Blackwall Keep and the diary the backpack contained. Apparently he was part of a group breaking ranks in a desperate bid to save Marzena - wizardess of the keep and prisoner of the Lizardfolk horde. Sergeant Bunnuch, leader of this rebel group harangued the young cleric and two other soldiers into the enterprise even though it was against the strict orders of Captain Vancil, leader of the Keep.
From the diary it would seem the group died from some strange worm carrying creature of the swamp. The last entry shows the young cleric's mind quickly diminishing as the worm in his system begins to finish its grizzly work. The group was warned by the diary entry. However nothing would prepare them for the Favored Spawn of Kyuss that Sergeant Bunnuch had become.
Four of the party fled in terror as the hideous creature attacked their campsite on the dead of midnight. With only the scout and paladin standing firm, they were quickly overwhelmed, any chance of escape cut short by the worms riddling their bodies. Upon their second rising, the rest of the group slaughtered their moving carcasses with deadly magic - their newfound courage too late.
Now, alone in the bitter mists of the swamp, the party timidly look around, all fearing the churning terror of the unkillable zombies and the terrible green worms infesting them. The name of the campaign has now become all too clear for our heroes.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
Character: Avlan the Ranger
Class: Ranger (dual swordfighter)
Location: Whispering Cairn, the iron-ball chamber
Catalyst: Crap die rolls and bad tactics
Description:
The party should have known that Avlan was cursed when he was nearly killed in the first encounter with the wolves, but that didn't set them back. Bravely, he faced the acid beetle swarm, alchemist's fire tied to an oil pint ready to go when they got near enough... Bravely, he stood by when Graven and Lauryl, the Fighter/Cleric and Cleric both dove into the water and swam around, fighting the water-bound ghoul and elementals without support... Bravely he...
Ah, hell... He was played by a new player who wanted to see what dual-weapon fighting was all about and who never thought to actually back off and drink a potion while in combat. When the group started exploring the chamber with the Grick and the thing appeared, Avlan bravely leapt onto the balls to do battle, yanking out his longsword in the hopes of dealing damage.
Well, after several rounds of not being able to hurt the thing (die rolls were REALLY bad that evening), the creature managed to latch onto him and chewed him up rather good, leaving him in negative points. Rather than stick around, since it says the creatures only fight when they're hungry, it turned and dragged his unconscious and dying form beneath the iron balls and proceeded to eat him.
Unbeknownst to the party, Avlan was wearing the magical shortsword, which would have made short work of the creature since its DR is nothing vs. magical damage (pun intended)...
PC Name: Tem Ashlied, 1st level Flan Barbarian of the Cairn hill wolf people
Adventure: Encounter at Blackwall Keep
Location of Death: 2nd floor of tower
Catalyst: 5 carnal lizards
PC Name: Aiden of Landesfarne, 1st level paladin of St. Cuthbert
Adventure: Encounter at Blackwall Keep
Location of Death: 2nd floor of tower
Catalyst: 5 carnal lizards
Both died 1st session, first day (evening really).
{I'll likely have 2+ more to add in a coupla weeks}
PC Name: Zyneb, 5th level gnome bard
Adventure: Encounter at Blackwall Keep
Location of Death: On a bleak sodden and mosquito ridden island in the mistmarshes
Catalyst: toothinated to death by huge croc
After their first day in the swamp, trying to save Marzena, the party opted to camp in a small island close to the path. Zyneb used his trusty rope of climbing to make himself a nice hammock above the moist ground. Unfortunately (thanks Eric for the great encounter idea) the party found out that they had chosen to camp on the island a Green Hag and her entourage of 2 merrow called home. They attacked in the middle of the night but luckily were beaten. In the aftermath of the victory the party used almost their fully available vocal range while discussing the fight, their newfound wand and the skulls of the hags former victims.
This ruckus caused 2 nearby huge crocs to check the island. If the hag was dead they would have first dibs on any fleshyly goodness or if she were still alive, she might give them some of her victims as she was wont to. When they arrived and sensed no live hagginess they attacked to claim their rightfull prey. It was a though and hard battle with many partymembers ending up into, and escaping from, their toothy maws. Zyneb approached the melee to give a party member a well appreciated invisibility spell and taunted the croc (or flat-headed, broad-mouthed, short-legged swampdragon) to give that partymember the chance to hit the croc with an unsuspected great blow. Unfortunately the taunt worked too well and even though the other partymember got to give the croc a well-deserved great-axe injection to the brain Zyneb got caught between the snappity snappity instrument of his doom.
|
PC Name: Durin Stonehammer, dwarven fighter-cleric 2 (gestalt rules)
Adventure: The Whispering Cairn
Location: The run-down farm house of the little ghost kid.
Catalyst: That thrice-damned owlbear and abandonment issues.
So we go through the different areas of the tomb, and my dwarf is kicking ass and taking names. We get to the room with the iron spheres and agree to take the ghost kid's bones for burial where his family used to live.
At this point we do the stupidest thing in the world. We split the party. Everyone else heads to town while myself, the druid-sorcerer, and his wolf-dog-companion thing go to the old farm with the kids bones. After we bury the bones, and while we are saying prayers over the grave, the owl bear gets close and attacks. He nails the dog first, wins initiative, then hits me with claw/claw/bite. This knocks the dwarf from 21 hps down to 6 hps. I can't use my axe, so stab him with my dagger. On the next round I fail to get out of the grapple and am then reduced to -3 hps. The sorcerer runs away. The dwarf gets eaten. I hope that f!@~ing owlbear got indigestion.
Name: Damon, 7th level Warlock
Adventure: Hall of Harsh Reflections
Location: The Cathedral of the Mind
Catalyst: Making himself the obvious target.
and
Name: Diana, 8th level Ranger
Adventure: Hall of Harsh Reflections
Location: Zyrxog's Museum
Catalyst: Not knowing when to retreat
Zyrxog's lair pulled a fast one over on the PCs. They managed to get pretty far without alerting its illithid master, but when they looked over the balcony and saw the octopins, things got pretty violent, pretty quickly. Damon flew over the pool in order to get a better shot at the climbing octopins, and Zyrxog came out of his study to an eldritch blast in the face. Not a good way to make yourself welcome. The combination of a fireball and a lightning bolt were enough to knock Damon out, and his brains were slurped up as the rest of the party retreated to a more tactically advantageous position.
Which took them through the museum. Where Clyde, the halfling jester, decided to steal that pretty black dagger in the hopes that it could be used against Zyrxog (that player's going through the Tomb of Horrors, so the idea that the boss monster's treasure has something that can be used against it is fresh in his mind). And the vrock animates. And then Zyrxog comes in from the other side.
Zyrxog is dispatched without any more casualties, but without any align weapon spells, the vrock is slow going. And Diana, severely injured after her battle with the illithid, decides to charge the vrock instead of retreating and taking a few potions first. Claw, claw, bite, dead. Good thing the cleric had that scroll of raise dead...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Name: Frangelica, 6th level Swashbuckler
Adventure: Encounter at Blackwall Keep
Location: Basement of the Keep
Catalyst: Nasty worms and a scared barbarian
After returning from the lizardfolk lair, completeing all of the tasks with ease, the group finds the guards at the keep scared of what's lurking in the basement. Realizing that there were 3 undead thingy's downstairs, the group asked for a map and descriptions. After fireballing the bottom of the stairs, hoping to catch them off guard, they decended the stairs after a small delay. The spawn made their reflex save and fast healing brought them back to normal by the time they entered the room.
Severod, the barbarian entered first, failed his fear save and high tailed it out of there. Frangelica was second and made her save and moved to attack, dealing 12 points of damage. Jack, the rogue3/cleric3, made his save and also entered battle. Morgan the warlock failed his fear save, as did Ren the wizard.
Fran and Jack were left alone vs. 3 spawn of kyuss. It was the spawns turn. The injured undead made his slam attack, dealing 12 points of damage and transfered a worm onto her arm. The second and third spawm moved but missed their attacks on Jack.
Fran's turn. She ignores the worm and attacks the injured undead, and kills it. Jack misses his attacks.
The worm gets inside her and start moving toward her brain. the other spawn miss on their attacks. 3 more rounds happen and another worm enters Fran's body. The spawn are finally defeated. The next round, Fran gets a cure light from Jack, but the worm starts its feast.
2 points of Int damage. They don't have any potion or spell that can help fran. Jack makes a heal check and removes the 2nd worm. 2 points of int damage. 10 successive failed heal checks later and fran is dead. The group cuts off her head and kills the worm that entered her.
She died with full hit points.
Wow! I hope that put the fear of Kyuss in them! I expect that your group will have a great time with all the other Kyuss monsters they encounter.
Were they able to use the encounter to figure out any useful spells in the future?
{I'll likely have 2+ more to add in a coupla weeks}
Session 2:
PC Name: Shaman Ravenfeather, 1st level Flan Cleric
Adventure: Encounter at Blackwall Keep
Location of Death: 2nd floor of tower
Catalyst: Went back for more and killed 3 Lizards single-handedly before the end.
PC Name: Brother Ludd, Halfling and 1st level Cloistered Cleric of Trithereon
Adventure: Encounter at Blackwall Keep
Location of Death: Inside a lone cairn in the nearby hills.
Catalyst: After stabilzing 3 comrades the 4th and last went down. He charged the final weakened Lizard and was beaten in combat. He stabilized before dying, but failed his 3 rolls at "recovering without help" phb146. All his companions survived (for now).
PC Name: Shaman Ravenfeather, 1st level Flan Cleric
PC Name: Brother Ludd, Halfling and 1st level
You are sending 1st level characters through EoBK? I assume you adjusted the adventure (it was written for 5th level characters...)
We had our first party death, before they even got to the grimlock/kobold caves.
PC Name: Keegan
Adventure: TFoE
Location of Death: 11 -- Temple to Blood of Vol
Catalyst: Not knowing when to stop
Long Description: After alerting the inhabitants, the party manages to come along to the side entrance w/o alerting the rest. Battle ensues, and many of the bad guys drop except for Theldrick. The party barbarian, Keegan, now low on hit points, tries to take the high AC high priest out, but is dropped to low negatives. Party archivist and druid use wands of cure light to get him up again; he stands, survives the AoO, but not the priests subsequent attack. This repeats for a while until Theldrick gets a critcal hit and smashes the poor boy's brain in.
The party's official song is now "Tubthumping" by Chumbawumba: "I get knocked down, but I get up again..."