The obituaries thread is great. Here's the opposite thread: Moments of glory for the PCs.
PC: Tholnak Hugenheim, dwarf rogue 1
Adventure: "There Is No Honor"
Location of Glory: The Blue Nixie
Summary: Tholnak is dropped to 0 hp, and comes up with a Clutch hit
Long Description: The characters found themselves unexpectedly in a fight on the deck of The Blue Nixie. The situation was still up in the air when more thugs burst out from the cabins under the quarterdeck; one of them dropped Tholnak from full hp to 0 with a single lucky blow from a rapier. Things were looking grim for Our Heroes. With his last strength, he made his way over to Soller Vark, flanking Vark and killing him with a single blow from his morningstar; Tholnak then keeled over, unconscious and bleeding.
This was the turning point for the battle, which otherwise may have gone badly for the party -- Tholnak, though a rogue, is one of the main "muscle" characters of the group. As it was, Vark's death demoralized the thugs, and Tholnak himself was quickly healed by the party's cleric. If it weren't for Tholnak's clutch attack, I may have been adding to the Obituaries thread instead.
The party's Tiefling Wizard took out Vark and another thug with a simple Color Spray. They then threw Vark down into the hold to deal with whatever was making all the noise down there. Safe to say he didn't fare too well.
The Obituaries need some competition methinks. Here's my humble entry (sorry if it's a bit wordy, but I'm gushing with pride for my party right now)
Adventure: There Is No Honor
Location of Glory: Lotus Dragon Guildhall
Summary: Move over Bacon, now there's something Meatier
Through good planning, keen-eyed recon and darn good dice rolls, the heroes manage to actually 'ambush the ambushers' and get the drop on a group of Lotus Dragons guarding the area around Dead Dog Alley. They take one alive and successfully convince him to do the right thing and help them out.
Armed with a rough map of most of the guild (and dragging their prisoner along to make sure he told the truth), the party invaded the guild through one of the old abandoned buildings off of Dead Dog Alley. Because the guards topside were all dealt with, the guild was not on alert, and unaware of the approaching danger.
The party first infiltrated the Taxidermist's guildhall from the inside and got the drop on Nemien (one well placed acid sling bullet from the party thief dropped him to negatives before he could even act. Sigh...)
They return below and manage to sneak into the barracks, where half of the remaining guild is sleeping. Being upstanding folk, they close off the doors quietly and subdue the sleeping thieves, gagging them and tying them down to their bunks (that -10 penalty to Listen checks while sleeping worked well for them).
They stealthily move on to the training room, but their luck turns as they do not dispatch the thieves there before the alarm is raised (but they dispatched them a round later). The drunk thieves in the mess hall are no challenge, but one does run off and get Kersh and Cruncher. They actually slow down the party for several rounds, but they too fall to the might of Sasserine's new heroes.
The party has free reign of the place for the moment, and they frantically start their search for the Lady Lotus. What they find are the Rhagodessas....
Through what can be described as some of the worst die rolls I have made as the DM of this adventure to date, nobody in the party got touched once by the Rhagodessas, and the party was able to use their mindlessness to their advantage and finish them off in only a few rounds.
Only two things now stand between them and a near-flawless victory: Rowyn Kellani and Gut-Tugger....
Perhaps it is a bit premature to congratulate them, but I swear I haven't seen a party just OWN the opposiition like this in a long time. Part of me hates it, but I still salute their bravery, cunning and good fortune. I can't wait to see how it ends tonight! :)
Long Live the Heroes!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
My players found Vanthus on the Parrot Island, and chased him off. They sent the heavy armor fighter into the hole. He killed three zombies and attracted the rest. He ran back to the hole and climbed the rope. The players then dropped 7 flasks of oil down the hole and lit the fire with an arrow. All that was left was 12 hp of undead, crabs and one secret door.
Any idea of where I went wrong as a DM would not be taken the wrong way.
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My players found Vanthus on the Parrot Island, and chased him off. They sent the heavy armor fighter into the hole. He killed three zombies and attracted the rest. He ran back to the hole and climbed the rope. The players then dropped 7 flasks of oil down the hole and lit the fire with an arrow. All that was left was 12 hp of undead, crabs and one secret door.
Any idea of where I went wrong as a DM would not be taken the wrong way.
The party got lucky with Vanthus and had a good plan for the zombies. This is where you went wrong, you changed things and took away the party's win by......YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!!! If you had pulled a stunt to make their lucky victory not count, then you would have done something wrong. There are too many DM's who feel like the party needs to be beat down and barely survive every encounter. This path will have a TON of almost TPKs, let the victories be just that. Victory.
Good Job!FH
My players found Vanthus on the Parrot Island, and chased him off. They sent the heavy armor fighter into the hole. He killed three zombies and attracted the rest. He ran back to the hole and climbed the rope. The players then dropped 7 flasks of oil down the hole and lit the fire with an arrow. All that was left was 12 hp of undead, crabs and one secret door.
Any idea of where I went wrong as a DM would not be taken the wrong way.
The party got lucky with Vanthus and had a good plan for the zombies. This is where you went wrong, you changed things and took away the party's win by......YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!!! If you had pulled a stunt to make their lucky victory not count, then you would have done something wrong. There are too many DM's who feel like the party needs to be beat down and barely survive every encounter. This path will have a TON of almost TPKs, let the victories be just that. Victory.
Good Job!FH
Thanks
My players found Vanthus on the Parrot Island, and chased him off. They sent the heavy armor fighter into the hole. He killed three zombies and attracted the rest. He ran back to the hole and climbed the rope. The players then dropped 7 flasks of oil down the hole and lit the fire with an arrow. All that was left was 12 hp of undead, crabs and one secret door.
Any idea of where I went wrong as a DM would not be taken the wrong way.
Pre-planning and knowing your players also helps... I know my party will recon the area on parrot isle...thus the hiding vanthus will be using a potion of Invisibility, before he makes his move. But no, you didnt do anything wrong... you've just got smart players. Trust me, the STAP will get a LOT harder later on... no more torching zombies LOL
Tonight I am having the Lotus Dragon note, Ambush, Raid on the Taxidermist and the chase to the guild. Or atleast this is the sequence I see.
For the guild entrance I am putting it as a drain at the end of a Dark alley. I am also making it a slide that runs some distance.
I am raising the ceiling of the crucible and putting the crucible about 50' below the rest of the dungeon.
After all of this they will probably get in through Nemien's shop.
I am also bulking up the Bugbear Zombie a little (I started with an old dead PC).
Well, my party is mostly light-to-no-armor stealthy people. They snuck in to the guildhouse, dealt with the sleeping theives, and were having a light time of things until they got to the Spider Thingys and the Worg. Still, they came out of things on the upper hand. Then came the dealing with Rowyn Kellani...
During this fight in an incredibly small room (how do they fit all that crap from the description of the room in there?) our halfling rogue who determines she is not going to get a sneak attack in decides to not tumble around Guttugger, not tumble through his square, but bounds on top of him and screams, "Time me! Eight seconds!" She proceeds to make the checks to hang onto him for all she is worth.
Now if this wasn't enough for me to slap a hand over my face and shake my head, Rowyn proceeds to jump back into her bedroom, and Guttugger (temporarily free of the rogue) is blocking the door so she can quaff her potion and escape in gaseous form. Our monk declares he is going to attempt to tumble through his square and into the room. So a DC 25 with his 8 skill check on tumble. He rolls a 19 to tumble through the square, and gets in. He then proceeds to roll a 20 on the hit to her, and confirms for the critical.
Great day for the party... headache for the DM later in the AP... ;)
No glories for them tonight.
I have them in the crucible 3 out of 5 wounded. They just got the crocs down and just found the secret door.
I am debating on making all of the trap doors out secret or not. They are down to 3 heal potions and no cleric.
I am having a second game tommorow.
This is one good adventure. Things are flowing well and the players are all engaged. Even the halfling theif that climbed all the was up the drain pipe to find nothing.
The Iron Wave Adventuring group has had a fair amount of success
so far,moments of glory have been had by most of the pcs.
-Korg the Half Orc Barbarian put a quick end to the raggadossa lurking onboard the Blue Nixie winning the fight for us.{critical+greataxe=dead bug}
-Relvin Eriskan{sorry,spelled pcs name wrong on another thread}
the Aasimar{amphib}Cleric was most useful under Parrot Island
with his turn undead and swimming abilities.{swears he destroyed a undead priest singlehandedly,none of the other pcs were in sight}
-Martin Cortez Rook the Human Fighter left a trail of death
below the taxidermists shop.Lotus dragons,pet lizards,crocs,and
a very mean wolf, none were safe.{combat reflexes+guisarme=lotus
bane}
-Zane Lou Chi the Elf Monk hasnt had his moment of glory yet.But
he has left a trail of broken jaws/skulls/pincers along his path to tattooed enlightenment.{critical arrow+deflect arrow=
smiling monk}
-Lucien the Gray Elf Wizard saved our hides when we had to beach
our damaged boat on the way to Krakens Cove.A pair of raptors
ambushed as we camped.{scorching ray+enfeeblement ray=dino steaks}
-Victor Gosalar the Human Cleric has recently joined and has not had a chance to shine yet.
Well, after a series of heroic, but not especially glory worthy exploits, my party has finally had one. The Bloody Sera the thief came into her own tonight. (female halfling thief 2). The party spent the night beginning their assault on the Lotus Dragon guild.
First, Sera sneaked into the taxidermy guild while other party members acted annoying in the front of the shop as a distraction. While she was poking around, she discovered the secret door into the guild, but had to quickly hide when she heard a door open in the hall.(Nemien had finally gotten rid of the other party members). She jumped into the workroom (where I had already predetermined Nemien was going to be) and rolled a 20 to her already impressive hide skill. Nemien walked right past her and a well rolled sneak attack took the illusionist down without him even knowing what hit him.
Later on, after tearing through the Lotus Dragons (thanks to some absolutely abysmal rolling on my part. They missed every sneak attack I could plot), the party found themselves in the room overlooking the crucible. One lucky Lotus Dragon managed to hide well enough and took advantage of the entire party looking over the crucible to bull rush the thief over the side. The halfling found herself in the pool of water with the croc and even though she was wounded by the croc's bite, somehow managed to succeed in out grappling the croc even though she only had an 8 strength! (I rolled a one on the croc's grapple check).
I should also add, that one of the party's fighters, Ahondra (fighter 2) out sniped the snipers across the way despite their cover, killing both with well placed arrows, while the rest of the party fished the severely wounded thief out of the crucible.
All in all, it was a good night for the party and everyone left feeling like heroes.
In the taxidermist's shop, the rogue character (who had maxed out in Knowledge (local), Gather Info, and Sense Motive, and rolled good checks) recognized Nemien at once, and realized he was acting a bit dodgy. While the others pretended to be potential buyers (the cleric's Knowledge (nature) checks used for verisimilitude), the rogue casually sidled up beside Nemien and cold-jacked him in the head, then tied him up and stuck him in the lavatory. Everyone cheered.
Once again, I see that the Obituaries need something to counterpoint them. Time once again for some Savage Glory! :P
Adventure: The Bullywug Gambit
Location: Vanderboren Manor
Summary: Truer Friends Were Never Had...
The heroes have survived (barely) the travails of Kraken's Cove, finding more questions than answers in their hunt for Vanthus. Upon finding out that Lavinia's life is in danger, they race back to Sasserine to save her from the vengeance of Drevoraz Kabran.
They make it to Sasserine, struggling to win their way to Vanderboren Manor through the throngs of WormFall Festival celebrants (and assassin acrobats).
Through more good luck and sheer tenacity, the heroes enter the manor, dispatch the Trub Glorp warriors, and capture both Drevoraz and Bua Gorg. Sadly, their victory came at a price: Kora Whistlegap, Lavinia's unshakeably loyal aid, was savagely murdered to make an example to the other captives.
Lavinia has been devastated by this loss. Kora was the one person who stuck with her through all of the tragedies she has had to endure. Her loss appeared to be too much for her, and she collapsed after the rescue was completed.
The heroes quickly come together. Their leader wants to do something about Kora, so they agree to pool all of the treasures and equipment from the attackers and use it to purchase a scroll of Raise Dead. They already have a good rapport with Liralie, the high priestess of the church of Fharlanghan, so they go to her with their plan.
The next morning, unbeknownst to Lavinia, Kora is returned to the world of the living. The wake that was scheduled in a few days for Kora will now become more of a "living wake" and a celebration of life saved. They can't wait to see the look on Lavinia's face when she sees Kora again... :)
This was the first thought out of my party after the final battle with Drevoraz and Bua Gorg. They are all quite fond of Kora, and weren't going to let things stand as written.
I raise a mug to my players once again - they are turning into "Big Damn Heroes" indeed!!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
Adventure: The Bullywug Gambit
Location: Kraken Cove Beach
Glory: Boom-stick goodness
PC: Haji, Duskblade 3 and rifleman extraordinaire
After a series of unfortunate events involving his rifle, including several low rolls, a fail and jam and some other inconveniences involving water and rifle maintenance, Haji levels his rifle at an attacking Savage Pirate, who is closing in on the already wounded scout and criticals!
By my adapted firearms rule, the medium rifle (1d8) has a crit range of x4 and he rolled max damage!. Blew the bleeper's head right off. So much for rum, sodomy and the lash, strike that last one and replace with "boom-stick".
Edit: oops, you can't say "bugger" on this board, but you can say "sodomy"? Well I guess that makes sense.
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PC: Courynn, Human Male Paladin 3
Adventure: "There Is No Honor"
Location of Glory: Dining Hall and Kitchen of the Lotus Dragons Complex
Summary: We may be changing the Paladin's name to Ashe...
My PC's made a B-line, unknowingly, right for Rowin. I had her escape to get set up for a later encounter in the complex. Opal, the groups Halfling Rogue, decides to take it upon herself to go check out the dining hall. I had a group of LD Rogues enter the room on the far end on their way to intercept the PC's on Rowin's orders. Opal runs back to the rest of the group, the first PC she alerts being Courynn the Paladin. Courynn decides to charge right into the dining hall, Jump up onto the table and attempt to intimidate the ruffians into giving up the fight. Let's just say that in full plate and -9 ranks in Jump due to his weight, Courynn didn't make it. He fell flat on his face at the end of the long table. Opal however saw this as an opportunity and used Courynn as a stepping stool to launch her own attack onto the top of the dining table. Now if Courynn had thought about it before hand he would have borrowed the "Ring of Jumping" that Opal is wearing that the group found earlier in the game. She was quickly followed by Amroth the Elven Monk who also used Courynn as a launching pad. Of course the LD Rogues saw this as, "CRAP!! The Paladin is charging!! What?!?! Where did he go?!?! Where did that Halfing come from?!?!?! Did the Paladin just Poly into a halfling?!?! where is the logic in that?!?! Why not a Turbonium Dragon or something more practical?!?!"
Courynn did make up for it by crawling under the table and scoring a crit on one of the rogues legs, cleanly severing the limb and causing the LD Rogue to go into shock and bleed to death almost immediately.
With this fight over the Paladin is eager to sooth is ego. He decides to kick down the door to the kitchen (Not bothering to make any checks to listen, see if the door is trapped etc.) and is promptly hit square in the face with a hot boiling pot of Urchin Venom. The looks on people's faces! It was priceless! The whole thing was right out of Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness. Courynn's ego once again being dented prompltly got himself a Kobold Helm with wich to serve Kobold Salsa out of.
Not really stunning save the day heroics but still glorious non the less!!
I suppose I added in the death from the clearing of Vanderboren Manor, I suppose I can add in the heroics as well.
The party gets back into the port of Sasserine and heads for Vanderboren Manor. The wizard of the group is a noble born elf and has "taken a liking" to our employer. On the path to get to the Manor House, I go through the description of the streets, likening it to the throng that one would find on Bourbon St. during Mardi Gras. So they being the trudge through the crowd.
I am gearing up for the encounters that are listed in the AP, when -- frustrated with the slow going -- the party decides that our monk is the fastest, so should go on ahead. He proceeds to use the Slippers of Spider Climb to make his way up to the roof of the nearest building, and with the help of the Ring of Jumping, bounds from rooftop to rooftop like he is Peter Frickin' Parker. He did come in for one flying kick on a stilt walker from on-high before the party sent him packing to the Manor House again.
I know my group has had several heroic scenes, but this one is most recent.
In Here There Be Monsters, right after the crash, a good deal of sailors survived. While they were assembling on the beach, the PCs were looting through the ship.
Enter the T-Rex. Due to a wildly good spot check of the Sorceror Captain, it was noticed before it could charge. Thus, with surprise gone, initiative came into play.
Without a second though, the aventi druid run/swims to shore, scrabbling up the beach to put herself between the Rex and the exhausted sailors. (Oddly enough, she was directly between it and Avner Meravanchi, whom she desperately hates with the collected passion of the entire population of France)
While the rest of the party made good speed through the water, especially the captain who called he was "swimming fast" and actually made the fairly high check, the druid was summarily bitten, grappled, and swallowed by the time the rest of the party made landfall.
With a cry of rage at his friends predicament, the heretofore reserved and unemotional amnesiac ice troll charged the Rex, but even his powerful claws did little in the face of the Rex's bulk. The rex took its own pound of flesh from the troll as well.
Then, with a stern look and a brisk stride, the Captain, a frost sorceror from the far north, walked up to the Rex, which was distracted by the furious troll, and calmly reached out and touched it's leg.
With a crackle and a tremendous crash, a thin sheet of ice covered the Rex for a moment before seeming to sink into its skin, whereupon it fell, shivering with unearthly cold, to the ground.
A moment later the druid, now in the form of a bear, tore here way free from the stomach of the beast, eyes red and mouth frothing, her indignation and rage flowing unchecked. With a steady nerve, the dwarven cleric led the crazed druid away from the paralyzed rex, while the troll, in a vicious display, wrenched the Rex's lower jaw completely off, killing the paralyzed beast.
Net Result Mechanically: T-Rex: 49 damage to druid from bite and stomach. 31 damage to Troll from bite via attack of opp. Druid, 32 damage from full attack to stomach after wildshaping and raging. Sorceror, 1 shivering touch spell (12 dex damage exactly), after troll provoked the attack of op. Troll, 14 damage from 1 claw, followed by coup de grace. Dead Rex in three rounds.
PC - Cade Coldwater, human wizard 6
Adventure - "The Sea Wyvern's Wake"
Location of Glory - Tamoachan
Summary - Diving midair tackle of a flying demon from hell
Our party was struggling taking down Sutolore in the Tamoachan ruins, with nobody able to get a hit in as he flew around the room using his breath weapon repeatedly. Cade was standing atop the pyramid sarcophagas, which he was investigating when the demon attacked. As Sutolore passed by the pyramid, Cade made a daring move, making a 10 foot horizontal jump with no running start and then attempting to grapple the flying demon to the ground. A miraculous jump check pulled it off, followed by a successful grapple. Cade and Sutolore came crashing to the ground, allowing the party's melee fighter, a paladin, to come up and do some serious damage. The entire party survived what was shaping up to be a rough encounter.
A moment later the druid, now in the form of a bear, tore here way free from the stomach of the beast, eyes red and mouth frothing, her indignation and rage flowing unchecked. With a steady nerve, the dwarven cleric led the crazed druid away from the paralyzed rex, while the troll, in a vicious display, wrenched the Rex's lower jaw completely off, killing the paralyzed beast.
I didn't want to quote the whole thing, but that was one hack of a cool battle!
PC: Terak Kellani, Male Human Paladin of Freedom 1, worships the court of stars. Joseph, Male Human Warlock 1.
Adventure: There is no honour
Location of Glory: The Deck of the Blue Nixie
Summary: Many, many criticals as the last two Musketeers charge to Glory!
The Characters turned from defeating the last of the Thugs, defending the body of their fallen comrade, to see the Rhagodessa, looking mean. With Rapiers drawn and floppy feathered hats firmly in place, they charged as one, lunging at the foul beast. Their hits struck true as two criticals were rolled and confirmed. The beast staggered but was not yet dead. It tried to grap Terak with its mandibles but failed miserably with a natural 1. The rapiers thrust again and again there was a critical, dropping the Rhagodessa once and for all.
Warmage 101
PC(s): Captain Bukta One-Eye (Orc Fighter), Big Mikko (Rhenne Scout), Flynn Teslikaria (Human Sorcerer), Therin Yellef (Human Cleric/Fharlaghn), Churtle (Kobold Expert/Dragon Shaman)
Adventure: Sea Wyvern's Wake
Location of Glory: Deck of the Sea Wyvern
Summary: A solid running game set up the pass
Poor good Father Feres did his best John Hurt/Alien impression during dinner one evening after the visit to the Fort. Put quite a gloom on the whole evening I tell you – What with the table and personages covered with what was left of his gutty-whats and a Really Large Upset Blue Bullywug crashing the party. One full attack later and the sorcerer started to imitate F. Feres at -8. Thank the guiding stars for dragon shaman auras of fast healing (even if the little yoda-talking lizard still only knows how to cook for kobolds. Rat tail jelly – yum.). Also, thank a random twist of fate to be a confirmed chaotic subjected to a multicolored burst known as Chaos Hammer.
The group caused enough damage with lucky rolls that it was all the creature could do to get overboard and summon Another Really Upset Large Blue Bullwug. Then the two started a party on the deck of the Sea Wyvern. Concentrated fire from our harrowing heroes reduced two to one, which passwall’ed its way into the ship for further fun. Props to the Capt’n, his well timed spring attacks and one famous tumbling Rhenne.
PC(s): Captain Bukta One-Eye (Orc Fighter), Big Mikko (Rhenne Scout), Flynn Teslikaria (Human Sorcerer), Therin Yellef (Human Cleric/Fharlaghn), Churtle (Kobold Expert/Dragon Shaman)
Adventure: Sea Wyvern's Wake
Location of Glory: On the Back of an Gi-Normous Flotsam Ooze
Summary: May your Mage Hand have butter fingers
Big Mikko thought that even though the night watchman was ripped overboard (with the railing), it *couldn't* happen to him. Didn’t even tumble while passing the danger zone (but I have mobility!). You know what comes next. Yep – Whack-a-Mole and Bob Barker yells “C’mon Down!!”. Splat. Right on the "back" of the ooze next to a blob that used to be the night watchman. Luckily, Churtle (by far the most powerful character in the party) was on the ball and administered a hasty mage-hand applied jar of oil of slipperiness allowing Mikko to get away with his ego (if not hit points after two rounds of beating) intact. “Water rat” indeed.
One domain ability from the good cleric and a few readied orcish power attacks later freed the ship from the floating death garbage.
Yay. Score a couple for the good guys. Just wait until Tamoachan – “Go *to* the light guys….. Heh.”
PC: Ian Darkeyes (NG male half-elf Bard2)
Place of Glory: The Crucible
Summary: Amateur Crocodile Wrestling
Our heroes are trapped in the rapidly filling Crucible when a crocodile traps the Fighter in its jaws despite being under the effects of a 'ray of enfeeblement'. With their Ranger leader climbing to the observation room to deal with the thieves and the dwarven Sorcerer launching spells at the snipers, our brave fiddler casts aside his rapier and leaps upon the crocodile's back. Against all odds, he manages to pry apart its jaws, letting his friend escape. In the very next round, he draws his dagger and plunges it through the croc's eye (confirmed critical with max damage) ending the fight with the reptile.
I love these stories!
So far, all the parties done that is of note is cutting off Vark's ear and letting the pygmy halflinf (he's a cannibal, kids!) eat it. THAT got him to talk.
Ok, another resurrection, Live damn you! Live!
PCs: Tristan Lidu(f)Conjuror
Adventure: "The Tides of Dread"
Location: Center of Farshore
Summery: Don't piss off Tristan or Revenge is a dish best served COLDA very long and frustrating battle ends quite suddenly after the main villain shows his sneaky demonic hide. He begins his classical villainous speech but Tristan was hearing none of it! This particular monster (I think most of you know who I’m talking about) had been a thorn in our group’s side for some time and Tristan had sworn revenge. He attempts to dominate Lavinia, but fails, and then he attempts to mass suggest the party (Kale and James fail FYI). Tristan (already flying) charges straight at the villain screaming his name. She casts orb of cold, sudden maximises it, sudden empowers it, then she rolls to hit . . . Tristan rolls a natural 20! It's confermed. Tristan deals 168 points of damage to the creep! He dies in the first round of combat.
Everyone else takes one step away from Tristan.
here goes the conjuror ! Praised be the secrets of arcanism and pseudonatual powers =)
PC: currently nameless human rogue and self-professed pimp 1st level.
Adventure: There is No Honor (Chapter 1, Part 4, beneath Parrot Island)
Location of Glory: Smuggler's Den beneath Parrot Island.
Summary: Pimp gets creative with the collective flammables of the fallen kobold, duskblade and cleric.
Descrip: Our party's guiding darkness (NE rogue "pimp") stealthily avoided the cognitively-challenged hungry dead after the first 3 character deaths had occured, quietly collecting all of thier flammable fluids.
Next thing I know, his character kamikaze-bombs the cluster of zombies that have hemmed the bulk of the party in the entry corridor, obliterating 4 badly wounded zombies and setting one on fire, along with himself (splash damage). Altough said zombie laid the smack upon him as he ran by on fire (AOO from leaving threatened space), a timely cure spell by the surviving cleric resuscitated the bold "pimp" to continue wreaking havoc.
While eventually the 8 PC's won through, this was the single stellar event of the first 3 sessions of play.
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A little late, but it came up in last Sunday's game.
Name: Hiro
Classes: Ranger/Psion/Pyrokineticist/Extreme Explorer
Lvl: 9-ish at the time
Where: In defense of Farshore, against the Yuan-Ti fireball flinger.
So, having just gotten the Nimbus ability from Pyro, Hiro has lit himself up and is buzzing around the rooftops courtesy of a fly spell from his wizard cohort.
On come the Yuan-Ti, launching a fireball shortly after the flares go up. Seeing this, Hiro comes up with a great idea: Interpose himself in between the fireball and its intended target.
So, Hiro the Human Torch gets to the beach just as the Golems are coming out of the water, gives a cry to the party, and declares the above readied action.
So, needless to say, the sorc tosses another fireball from his wand, Hiro pops up to intercept, takes it full in the face, and saves (high dex, good reflex from 2 classes, bonuses to saves vs. fire, and Evasion...yeesh).
Completely negates the Yuan-Ti's long range attacks, and by the time he's switched tactics the Golems are down (Rays of Deanimation and Orbs of Force FTW) and the teleporter, cleric, and on-fire ranger are busy getting in poor Mr. Snake Man's face.
Not only did they off him, he did it with style, AFTER taking his fireball to the dome.
Kudos, Thom!
-the hamster
(ps...lets try to keep this on the front page...its heartening to see when the PCs do good sometimes.)
So, needless to say, the sorc tosses another fireball from his wand, Hiro pops up to intercept, takes it full in the face, and saves (high dex, good reflex from 2 classes, bonuses to saves vs. fire, and Evasion...yeesh).
I don't understand this bit hamster; if Hiro intercepts the fireball on purpose, why would he get saves and evasion, help me out here, what am I missing. Those things presume you are trying to avoid the deleterious effects.
The guy that jumps on a handgrenade doesn't get to avoid getting blown up.
Cheers!
Adventure: Tides of Darkness
Location: Farshore Bay, Final Battle
Glory: Blowing up the pirates' flagship
PC: Calamus, Elf Wizard/Monk/Fatespinner/Harper Mage 5/1/3/1
This was a while back, but... well, You don't get to blow up an entire ship every day, right ?
During the final assault on Farshore, Calamus, 'strategic genius in exile' (his claim, not mine) cruises like a rabid cormorant among the attacking pirate fleet (extended fly for the win) , having set three of the five caravels ablaze already - two with 30 litres molotov-barrels of "home-brew napalm" dropped on them from above, the third with a fireball into the rigging of "the Kraken" when it sailed into the harbour.... blazing wrecks everywhere, but the elf is now out of fireballs (having prepped only two, and getting one counter-dispelled by the Yuan-ti ) and his remaining pyromantic spells being close range ones....
Straight ahead, as he is streaking in close above the water is the "Brine Hag", Vanthus' proud flagship, its (slightly upgraded) crew firing crossbow bolts in tight salvoes in his direction. Choosing ranged firepower over valour, Calamus lets rip ( thanks to the Mobile Casting Feat ) with an empowered "Shrieking Blast" (HoB) in mid-turn, straight at the main mast of the "Brine Hag" and skims off over the wavetops...
Rolling 38 points out of 8D6 sonic damage, upped to 57 total.... Very few of the scally-wag crew remained standing after this , which would not have mattered much anyway as the 40' radius burst of sonic devastation shattered almost the entire 110' caravel (no hardness vs. sonics , and 57 points go straight through 11" of wooden planking...). A slowly expanding cloud of wooden splinters and toppling spars , accompanied by a viscious rending sound proved the demoralizing high point of the assault.
The stricken ship slipped under the surface within the following few seconds, spitting forth three enraged Vrocks (two of which had been squarley hit as well ) and a cussing Vanthus ( he made his save, but then again.... ), chasing Calamus to the shore. He survived to enjoy his fame - while many can claim to have killed dragons or other beasties only a few have blown away an entire ship !
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<snip>A glowing, pea-sized bead streaks from the pointing digit and, unless it impacts upon a material body or solid barrier prior to attaining the prescribed range, blossoms into the fireball at that point. (An early impact results in an early detonation.)<snip>
Well, nothing about fireball says "direct hits don't get saves" like meteor swarm does...and he was definetly NOT planning on getting blown up by the spell...with his class features and whatnot, being blasted by fire (especially only 7d6 of it) is like a plate of pancakes for breakfast.
-the hamster
well, a Reflex-save is basically a "get-out-of-the-way" manouevre.
Jumping straight into the path of an attack is - by common-sense - the same thing as waiving one's save and taking the blow on the chin.
The Reflex-save rules are totally broken and incomplete anyway and some of the sloppiest, dumbest and least thought through rules I have ever witnessed in the last two-decades of playing ( like unconscious, strapped down, paralyzed or bleeding to death people getting reflex saves and such... by the rules as written anyway. Basically, a Monster would get a reflex save if someone cast fireball inside it..... *belch ?* ), so let's at least keep some common-sense when using them.
Then again, it is your campaign
Adventure: Between There Is No Honor and Sea Wyvren's Wake
Location: Taxidermist's Guildhall and surrounding area
Summary: The power of psychic smite, smiting like you really mean it.
The paladin - miraculously - convinced Harliss Javell, in Kraken's Cove, to accompany the party back to Sasserine where they will get her healed and think they can protect her long enough to get her safetly back out of the city. (I was not DMing at the time, so I'm not to blame for her accepting the offer.)
They drop her off with the Taxidermist, which they lovingly call "Twinkles", who was intimidated by the rogue into being his pawn in his new attempt to revive and control the LDs. They told him to take care of her and they'd be back soon, but they need to save Lavinia from Dravoras first.
Having barely survived the bullywug's gambit, no magic, no smitey, need healing BAD, they decided to rest and take care of Harliss in the morning.
The Paladin and the Warforged Artificer go to the guildhall first thing in the morning to find Harliss Savage and confused. They fight for a few rounds until she realizes who they are (The paladin she now has a crush on and her saviors) and takes off screaming "don't look at me I'm a monster!"
In the next room is our poor Twinkles...savage and hungry. After a number of rounds of ineffectual combat where the paladin doesn't want to hurt what he thinks he can save and the artificer (in my attempt to stay out of what was supposed to be the paladin's solo adventure) wouldn't "go near that crazy thing, it'll scratch my plating!". Twinkles sees his opportunity to book. Running out into the streets and out of sight. After a moment of bemoaning the horror that his vows have allowed him to unleash on poor Sasserine, he runs out the door determind to save his beloved city.
Somewhere between Dead Dog Alley and Monkey St. Twinkles is attempting to tear into citizens of Azure district, the paladin seizing the moment, Charges releasing his smite and blowing his psionic focus for Psionic Weapon damage, lands a single blow on him exploding the ex-illusionist mightily!
The Pally saves the day and with all the witnesses there's no doubt Mazar'harath will go down in Sasserine history as a Super Holy Smiter of Very Bad Things!
...Monkey St. Twinkles...
At first glance, rather than "Monkey Street," I read this as "Monkey Saint Twinkles."
What a great name that would be...
My players recently got a chance to act heroic, and actually quite lucky. The players had confronted Nemien about "The lotus." He blew them off and laughed, acting like he didn't know what they where talking about. They started getting aggressive, and he turned invisible. Moving aside, he then started casting his minor image spell. I asked for listen checks.
The sorceress natted a twenty.
She knew what square he was in, and when her round came for initiative, she fired a crossbow bolt right at the square. She hit, then the percentile roll was a success.
The result was that Nemien was unconcious with -1 hit point. While still invisible.
The cleric healed him with a simple cure minor wounds spell, and he was at zero. He then drank a potion. The interogation continued, all the while with Nemien invisible.
He fed them false information that there was an actual dragon under Sassarine, so tomorrow should prove interesting.
Adventure: "The Bullywug Gambit"
Location:Stairway banister top floor Vanderboen Manor.
Summary:psy-warrior and a 1/2 orc enter a bedroom
The party (now known as The Company of the Sea Wyvern), had entered the manor through the balcony. The Company moves quickly up to Lavinias bedroom. After clearing Lavinia's bedroom, then Vanthus'bedroom, the Company moves to enter the master bedroom.
Edmond Dantes, the human male psychic warrior and complete scoundrel, storms into the room first. Bua Gorb summons a Dretch behind Edmond. the psy-warrior storms in and attacks the bullywug demon worshiper, with his great sword. Drevoraz, the 1/2 orc pirate moves to flank Edmond (I forgot his strike on Lavinia, lucky Lavinia.).
The rest of the Company is piled in the hallway. Grogith, 1/2 orc male fighter/barbarian, is standing behind the rest of the Company. Grogith does not hesitate when he sees the little fiend. The 1/2 orc, leaps across the stair banister, then smashing the dretch with his oversized maul.
Back in the master bedroom, Edmond is flanked, Drevoraz swipes the psy-warrior in the back with his scimitar. Edmond turns and sunders the 1/2 orc scimitar. At this point Bua Gorb stabs Edmond in the back with his spear.
After smashing the dretch with one mighty blow, Grogith the mighty 1/2 orc enters the fray in the master bedroom. Grogith swings his oversized maul at Drevoraz, smashing the pirates head into his own chest (confirmed crit total damage 72 hit points ouch!!!). After that Boa Gorb is taken alive. Later Boa Gorb is turned over to the Merchant District watch.
I just need to mention;
Later in the basement, the Samurai Katsuhiro Yamamoto got into a duel with Chief Lorblorb. With the entire Company of the Sea Wyvern and Lavinia watching, Katsu entered a one on one duel with the bullywug chiftain.
Katsu as usual gains the initiative and strikes first, using his iajitsu focus to deliver an accurate and deadly blow. Chief Lorblorb takes the blow delivering his own punishing blow with his club. Chief Lorblorb is able to strike again, then again. Katsu drops from the onslaught of Chief Lorblorb, unable to match the bullywug's blows. The Company honors Chief Lorblorb victory, letting him and his pet rust monster, Chunkus, slip back iout the stream under the Vaderboren Manor and out into the harbor.
...Monkey St. Twinkles...At first glance, rather than "Monkey Street," I read this as "Monkey Saint Twinkles."
What a great name that would be...
ha ha...I think I'm going to use that! My group can't seem to keep any names they come across in their heads for more than 10 seconds unless it's something crazy.
The new PC's name is L (introduced as the captain of the Sea Wyvren), they went a whole session in game calling him "that guy" - most captain's don't take that very well. Avner's new name is a little less 'board appropriate'.
This happened a couple of sessions ago, but thinking about it, it's probably worth a post.
PC: All of them!
Adventure: "The Sea Wyvern's Wake"
Location of Glory: Atikula River
Summary: Massive damage output
The PCs blanched in fear as the hydra reared up from the cove's floor. They needn't have: Though the hydra gave the paladin some horrible wounds, the party as a whole dealt more than 77 points of damage to the hydra between its first action and its next, preventing it from using its Fast Healing ability and effectively killing it in one round.
(Though the party can dole the harshness, they don't have a healer or a trapfinder, so they're sure to get what's coming to them eventually.)
PC: Alexi the Psion
Adventure: "The Bullywug gambit"
Location of Glory: The Lavina Mansion
Summary: Successfully bypassing nearly every encounter in the mansion.
The players where wounded after the battle in the streets, and had used some of their power points/spells. They knew they didn't have time to dilly dally and rest, so they where desperate. The psion, a telepath, lifted himself off the ground with levitate and hovered to Lavina's window where Tolin, the half-elf, Lavina, the halfling, Churtle, two bullywugs, a bullywug chieftan, and a half orc where in "A mexican standoff."
Alexi broke through the window and charmed Drevonaz. While Alexi attempted to talk him down, Tolin was readying to attack. He did so, and Alexi manifested recall pain, blaming the spell on Buo-Gorg.
The sides then began fighting each other due to failed diplomacy checks from either side. The party, who had by now entered the room, watched as Drevonaz dropped both the Bullywugs. Buo-gorg then stabbed him in the side, slaying him outright.
It was quite entertaining. And, because I didn't want the players to feel like they couldn't turn to anyone but themselves (bad precident for the end of the AP) the guard showed up and arrested the tribesmen.
Also, during the beginning of the bullywug gambit, the new elf ranger who dual-wielded a bastard sword and a short sword. He battled the savage creatures, consistantly missing with his bastard sword. At first we didn't notice it, but eventually it was more and more clear.
His shortsword was lucky.
Every time he swung it, it seemed to connect. He even switched dice, saying that "The blue one is now the bastard sword." The next roll, the blue one rolled a five and the black one rolled an 18.
And that is how Surestrike was born. I made his shortsword a masterwork weapon.
PC: Groody, Warforged Fighter/Barbarian and L, Riedran Ardent/Cleric/Monk and Captain of the Wyvern
Adventure: The Sea Wyvern's Wake
Location of Glory: The Sea Wyvern, Flotsam Ooze
Summary: Save the first mate, save the world.
The Flotsam Ooze does it's thing, ship is listing, the Captain orders Amella to check it out while he prepared to dive in and deal with the supposed Reef issue hands on.
Amella walks over to the port side and looks over, all she gets out is a gasp, and a huge pseudopod rises up and Amella disappears over the side.
This part really shocked me...Between the stoic L, the CE Rogue, the oblivious and cowardly Paladin, and the fleshy disdaining Warforged, I figured Amella was toast and this ship is grounded...But everyone freaked!
They actually cared about Amella and grasped the gravity of the situation! Maybe this should be more of a DM Glories post :)
Anyway! Captain Dives overboard, Groody ties himself to the ship and attempts to dive overboard, gets slammed and adhered to the ooze taking 20+ damage - engulfed, he saves the now unconscious Amella from another slam, taking it himself - another 20+ damage. Makes strength checks to move to Amella, grab her, and pull themselves out of the adhesive goo another 20+ damage. L moves to the 2 trying to escape the Flotsam, hits Amella with a Cure light, still not moving...everyone is very tense. L (with 10ft-40ft immediate and swift action teleports) stays in the oozes attack range, attracting it's attention, and hoping out of it's reach before it can hit him. The Crew, Rogue, and Paladin keep trying to hurt the thing slowly taking it down. Groody, nearly beaten to inert, reaches the deck and moves out of it's reach, first mate in hand. After a few close calls for L, some serious Lay on Hands action, Artificer (L's cohort) Repair Serious's and pretty much everyone's action points, the party is victorious.
The guys needed a break after that, needless to the say there was much patting on the back and knuckle-bumps. I've never been so proud.
Character: Pinkus, Human, Ftr4/Rog3
Adventure: Here There Be Monsters
Location: Orlangru's Room
Catalyst: Desperation
The battle with Orlangru has gone many, many rounds at this point and the foul simian demon has already killed two party members, a third lies bleeding on the floor, and the wizard and druid familiar have already fled. It's down to Pinkus, Edgar, (Dragon Shaman, no cold iron, can't hurt Orlangru), and Kelric the party cleric.
With many PCs now out of the way, Orlangru pounces on and kills Kelric. Edgar moves in to attack Orlangru but can only deal a point or two past the demon's DR. Low on hit points and on the far side of the room, Pinkus is in no position to do much of anything. Expecting the strongly neutral fighter to flee with the others, the DM and players are shocked when instead Pinkus charges, leaps over the fire pit, tumbles to avoid an attack of opportunity that would have dropped him so that he can flank, and then scores a critical hit with his greatsword to drop Orlangru.
PC: Xianta Silvergaard, human figher 1/sorceress 7, and Gareth Garethson, human fighter 8
Adventure: "Here There Be Monsters"
Location of Glory: The ruins in the Fogmire
Summary: Olangru eats spiked chain
Long Description: Olangru pounced on Garethson seemingly from out of nowhere, savaging him. After two more such demons appeared, Xianta pulled out a scroll of hold monster found months ago, and though it was higher level than she could normally cast, braved the chance of mishap to cast it on Olangru. His spell resistance and saving throw both failed, and Garethson immediately revved up his Power Attack and swung his spiked chain for 60 points of damage (before damage reduction). Though the ape could survive such damage normally, he failed his Fortitude save, and died on the spot.
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where: The Well of Debased Eros
Adventure: Wells of Darkness
Catalyst: Energy transformation field for fun and profit.
So, the party knew they were going to be releasing a bad-arse succubus from an effectively eternal prison. Being the paranoid people they are, they wanted to nullify her abilities and prevent her escape as much as possible.
So, the plan became: Cast Energy Transformation Field at the bottom of the well, set to cast Ray of Deanimation when enough spell levels were accumulated. They also cast a Dimension Lock spell above that, so the bottom 60' of the well were blocked from planar travel and her Sp and Su abilities are all nerfed.
They free her, she comes out, starts combat with a quickened charm monster, that turns into rays of deanimation on her, which confused her a lot.
She tries to grapple the monk (the grappling machine, with a +45 or +50 total when enlarged), succeeds due to her Lust ability, and tries to lifedrain him. Su abilities that don't mimic spells add the caster's HD in spell levels to the energy transformation field, so 22 lvls of spells get turned into rays of deanimation, all zipping around doing nothing to the non-constructs in the bottom of the well.
Long story short, the party completely nullified a minor demon lord, preventing her from doing more than about 5 damage to the monk with her claws, killed the thing dominating her in 1 round, and got the information they wanted by repeatedly drowning her in the waters that came later.
The warblade finished her off with a little cold-iron warhammer to the back of the head while the monk is holding her underwater. Again, my party has subtlety at a minimum.
-the hamster
....and got the information they wanted by repeatedly drowning her in the waters that came later.
The warblade finished her off with a little cold-iron warhammer to the back of the head while the monk is holding her underwater. Again, my party has subtlety at a minimum.
-the hamster
They drowned her in the waters of the STYX ? Jikes ! How did they avoid memory loss for her and themselves ?