The original thread can be found here.
Just to recap, this playtest features spoilers, but no actual players. The characters are:
Cerene, elf cleric 12 of Erastil with the Animal and Community domains.
Varlak, tiefling rogue 12 with far too many languages known.
Brun, half-orc paladin of Torag.
Kelne, human sorcerer 7/fighter 5, with the destined bloodline.
Gloria, dwarf barbarian 10, cohort of Kelne.
We rejoin our poor doomed souls roughly halfway through level 2 of Maure Castle, following a fight with Arley the Weaver, various Seekers and some Tyrgs.
Since the characters have truly grown to dislike Arley by now, they decide to give chase in the hopes that he's backed himself into a corner. As it turns out they're right. Unfortunately, that corner is one containing a certain gnoll with 15 cleric levels. The group run into Arley and Yug-Anark in the corridor, and battle is joined.
Fight 10: Cleric!
I've repurposed Yug-Anark as a cleric of Lamashtu with the strength and madness domains. Fortified by buffs and backed by Arley, she brushes off Varlak's sneak attack (stupid AC 34) and counters with aura of madness and word of chaos. Since nobody in the party is chaotic, a round of stunning ensues, and Gloria is confused for 7 minutes. The lion, incidentally, is dead. As for aura of madness, since it works off charisma, which Yug-Anark lacks, it's not much of a threat. Unless you roll a 1, as Brun did. Alas, immunity to compulsion effects doesn't kick in for him until 17th level.
The nefarious duo take advantage of their unopposed round to inflict a bit of damage on Varlak, who backs up as soon as he can. Gloria's confusion sends her running (oh the indignity), while Cerene hurls a dispel magic at Yug-Anark, picking off divine power. Kelne and Brun go after Yug-Anark.
A bit of a slugging match ensues, punctuated by a flame strike. But once it's clear that the group isn't just going to keel over (despite two
of them still being confused), Yug-Anark extracts herself and Arley using word of recall. Another inconclusive encounter.
Once Gloria has been calmed down, the exploration and looting continues, bringing the group into conflict with the ghost of Hubehn. He's not really up to the task of beating them, and is put down in very short order. While this isn't really a good spot to take refuge long-term, the group do pause for lunch and to identify various items of loot.
At this pont, we switch over to the beta. Which means I'll incorporate changes as and when I spot them.
Lunch done with, the group go back to work. Although they now have a lead on a possible route deeper into the castle, their experience with Arley has means they're reluctant to leave any enemies behind them, and they set out to clear the rest of the level. By this point, stealth is something of a lost cause. The Seekers know there's some gang of vicious adventurers on the loose, even if they don't know exactly where they are. The characters don't get far before they run into a patrol of 6 seekers just emerging from a secret door, led by a pair of grizzled veterans.
Seeing a nice, bunched-up target, and having won initiative, Cerene leads off with a flame strike. The leaders are badly hurt, and the two mooks caught in the blast are on 1 HP each. The round isn't even over before the Seekers are running or throwing down their weapons. At this point, over half of the seekers have been defeated in combat, and aside from their leader and her bodyguards, they are thoroughly broken.
Cue interrogation, looting, and breaking into Tomorast's old sanctum (thanks to a couple of knock spells), only to be attacked by a giant rug.
Varlak: What the hell?
Varlak: No, seriously, what the hell?!
Fight 13: What the hell?
With the element of surprise, the Accursed Carpet makes a spirited attempt to eat Kelne, bringing him down to -11 HP in one fell swoop. Thankfully, he has a boosted con score of 14, so he's not (quite) dead. Brun attempts to bludgeon it, only to find that the damage reduction rules no longer allow magic weapons to overcome slashing (or piercing or blugeoning) DR. As the carpet is not, technically, a golem, his golembane scarb doesn't work either. Most frustrating. Gloria, however, has a slashing weapon, along with rage and power attack, allowing her to inflict some serious damage. The carpet is not, after all, a difficult target to hit.
A well-placed cure spell puts Kelne back on his feet as the carpet shifts its attention to Varlak, inflicting some damage before he scurries away from it. And who can blame him after what its full attack did to Kelne? Let the tanks deal with the crazed rug. Kelne comes to a similar conclusion, intending to stand back and hurl spells at it. He does, however, pass a frustrated Brun that handy construct bane sword.
A fair amount of hacking by the tanks sees the carpet being whittled down. Angered by this, it turns its attention to Brun, knocking a fair amount off his HP, but leaving him standing. Varlak, seeing the dread carpet distracted, nips in to deliver a sneak attack, with fairly minimal results, while Kelne rails against the construct's SR of 26. Cerene, incidentally, is now officially out of her channel positive energies for the day. However, it doesn't matter, as the carpet is finally brought down by another round of attacks.
Thoughts: Well, that certainly made a contrast to the Seekers. The element of surprise does wonders, and technicalities hurt the party's ability to inflict damage on the oversized rug. Had it directed to full attacks in a row at anyone, there'd have been a certain death in there (although Cerene still has breath of life in reserve).
Healing ensues, followed by the looting of Tomorast's stuff, but a certain one-eyed familiar whose portrait pops up again and again watches from the shadows...
So far, that's seven encounters today. The party have very nearly burned through their first CLW wand, and Cerene's healing is beginning to run low. But there are still a few spells, rage points, and even some channelings (there really is no good shorthand for that, is there?) left for Brun. And since I decided to push the group to the limit, the day continues. Besides, Tomorast's old quarters aren't exactly the best place to camp. Too much chance of angry villains interrupting their downtime.
As it turns out, the next peril encountered consists of a trio of slow shadows, lurking in an environment that very much favours them. Despite misgivings, the two religious types insist on attempting to eradicate the evil they sense in the room. Naturally, cloaked as they are by smoke, the shadows make the first move.
The shadows promptly latch onto Gloria, Cerene and Varlak, and set about draining away their hit points. At this point, Brun demonstrates why it's handy to keep a couple of channelings in reserve, not only fixing up his allies but also damaging the shadows and forcing them to detatch. Alas, without ghost touch weaponry, following up on this is tricky, and after a lackluster round, the decision is made to retreat. Thankfully, the shadows abandon the pursuit outside the smoke, helped on their way by another channel positive energy. General consensus is now that it's best to leave them be.
Next up, a poison gas trap. A lone chest in the middle of a room evokes suspicion, but as Varlak can't spot any trap, he elects to open it anyway. This, as it turns out, is a mistake. Thankfully, only Cerene is knocked out by the trap, and Varlak sets about dismantling it as they wait for her to come around. Trap aside, this seems a good place to hole up, and the group decide to call it quits for the day.
Except, of course, that I wanted to push the characters to their very limit. Therefore, they find their rest interrupted by the one remaining mobile force in the level - Lyral Zandrill and her six seeker bodyguards. Joining them for good measure are the two veterans, too comfortable in their positions here to contemplate abandoning the complex as their underlings have in the face of rampaging adventurers. We may never know how they located the group (my money's on Rel), but the first warning is when an alarm spell goes off scant moments before the door is broken in.
Fight 15: No rest for the wicked
The first Seeker through runs straight into Gloria, who was on watch, and promptly strikes back. The others, alas, are still disentangling themselves from their bedrolls and grabbing weapons. Brun and Kelne are set upon, taking damage.
In the following round, Brun is picked on by Lyral and a veteran, while Varlak moves in to help and Cerene activates aura of prayer and divine power. Thanks to Varlak's opportunist ability, he and Brun are able to bring one veteran down in a single round. Kelne hits his own assigned veteran with two crits and a regular attack in a flurry of good rolls, inflicting 74 damage and leaving the poor soul at 9 HP. The remaining mook Seekers try to crowd in, but aren't having much impact.
With Brun in trouble, Varlak darts around for another flank, this time on Lyral, inflicting some serious pain on her with a crit. The bleeding attack is icing on the cake. Gloria, fighting three enemies, introduces them to the cleave feat, killing one but missing her second target. Lyral takes down Brun, putting him at -11. She is promptly attacked by Cerene however, and Varlak once again uses opportunist to hit her with an AoO, killing her. Kelne finishes off the remaining veteran, leaving five mooks in the room. They inflict a bit more damage, but are taken down in fairly short order.
Brun is swiftly patched up, and the party pack up their gear with the intention of spending the night somewhere else.
Thoughts: A salutary leson in the virtues of armour there. Brun becomes a lot more vulnerable without his plate armour, and alas has nothing remotely comparable to wear to bed. I foresee a feat or armour enhancement to negate this in his future. Opportunist is a rather nasty rogue ability. I've been forgetting about it up until now, but when Varlak flanks a target, that's a second sneak attack in the round (provided his partner hits). That's going to put a great deal of hurt on practically anyone.
I daresay that's about as close as I'm going to get to the characters running out of spells and suchlike without actually getting a TPK. Despite the surprise of the attack and the lack of healing (Brun could have channeled positive energy, but he would have healed the opposition), the party dealt with their attackers pretty quickly, with only Brun being seriously threatened. We shall see how they fare against the horrors of the next level down...
Also, in answer to a question I missed from the previous thread, current ACs are as follows: 23, 20, 27, 27, 22. I'll let you figure out who has what value. I'll admit I haven't been trying to maximise AC, so the characters generally lack items such as amulets of natural armour, though this is already changing as they loot various NPCs who have invested in such things. Full character sheets are unlikely to be posted, as reformatting them would drive me mad. Mad!
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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Chris I personally enjoy this playtest thoroughly...
I got my group to the Purple Stone and the Shadow Vault (where they almost fell to the shadowy double of their own Wizard!). Therein the Foclucan Lyrist claimed the Whip of Red Shadows! Now I can't wait to see that player's eyes when his character in the STAP is attacked my Malcanthet's greater version!
Excerpted from the journal of Cerene Inelle
Fireday, 9 Abadius
Encountered a great many denizens of the Castle today. It seems the place is actually quite heavily populated. One wonders what the mysterious Eli Tomorast has done to earn the loyalties of so many.
We have encountered two groups to date - the Seekers, seemingly a Pathfinder company who have thrown their lot in with Tomorast out of a desire for coin and in order to unearth the ancient secrets of Maure Castle, and some gnolls, presumably led by the cleric of Lamashtu the accursed Arley brought down on us.
The Seekers are not, to my mind, necessarily evil people, but they are surely aware they serve an evil master. We spared those who surrendered, but I fear we have left quite the trail of carnage behind us. It is my hope that the survivors will see reason and desert their employer, though the ambush we suffered last night suggests otherwise.
To the delight of certain among our number, we do seem to be accumulating a certain amount of treasure from this endeavour. Quite what we will do with it all, I am unsure (beyond expanding our already impressive arsenal to new heights, of course), but I can think of a few good causes which could do with some quiet donations.
We are attempting to clear out the remainder of this level today, as Brun is loath to leave enemies behind us. Given the number who surely await us ahead, I find it difficult to fault his reasoning.
Part 3: Kerzit's Fane
Having spent the morning checking for any lingering holdouts (and, incidentally, doing a bit of looting), the characters finally check out that lingering pulling sensation felt by Varlak. It leads them to a secret door, behind which lurks the Purple Stone. By and large, the stone is impressed by the calibre of its visitors, granting Gloria a question ("Where can we find Arley?"), Brun Clairaudience and Varlak Commune. Kelne receives a seriously creepy vision, while Cerene rolls a 1 on her intelligence check and is slapped with a Feeblemind. Oh dear.
Annoyed by this turn of events, the group close and jam the door on the treacherous rock. While this makes them feel better, it does little to address the problem. The only person capable of either restoring Cerene or teleporting them back to civilisation is the cleric herself, presently incapable of casting spells or, indeed, talking.
Varlak burns a Commune on a simple question - "Can we fix her ourselves?" With a positive answer, all that remains is to determine exactly how. As it turns out, Cerene is carrying a looted Heal scroll, which Varlak is able to use to restore her. Whew, disaster averted. But they're not going near the Purple Stone again.
On the plus side, they do have a location for Arley (If the stone can be trusted), so they decide to go and pay him a little visit. Cautiously.
Unfortunately, Yug-Anark, still rather annoyed about the invasion (and ransacking) of her lair, is out hunting them with a retinue and runs across them en route to the stairs.
Fight 16: Cleric, round two.
Unfortunately, a true ambush isn't really doable, owing to the necessity of betraying light. But the characters are able to put up a few buffs, owing to advance warning from the scouting Varlak. Gloria gets the first charge in, with Brun close behind. Yug-Anark leads off with the old aura of madness, coupled with a phantasmal killer aimed at Gloria. I'm assuming that aura of madness runs off wisdom now, making it a tad more dangerous. Brun is now confused, while Gloria is unharmed. The gnolls close in.
Damage from the gnolls is fairly minimal, and two are taken down. Alas, this leaves a confused Brun with Gloria as his closest target. 78 damage from a full attack with a speed weapon is just nasty, but Gloria remains standing. Yug-Anark moves in to attack Varlak, with the gnolls helping or running interference. Both Gloria and Varlak are now in bad shape, so Cerene moves in to dispense healing. Thankfully, she makes her will save for moving into the aura of madness. Kelne continues to fire off scorching rays.
Gloria dishes out some damage, as does Brun. Varlak flubs his acrobatics roll to retreat but dodges the AoO and deals out a sneak attack instead, dropping another gnoll. Alas, he's still next to Yug-Anark, who hits him with a full attack, dropping him to -1. Cerene breaks out the healing again, while Kelne fries another gnoll.
Although they're now down to two gnolls and the cleric, the cleric herself is still unharmed and fighting at full capacity. With the fall of yet another gnoll, Yug-Anark finally breaks out the negative energy routine. That low charisma modifier comes into play here, so the save DC is only 16, but both Varlak and Gloria fail their saves (despite a re-roll from clear mind for Gloria), leaving Varlak quite dead. The remaining gnoll took some damage too, but hey, his days were numbered anyway. Thankfully, Cerene has a clear path to reach Varlak and use breath of life, leaving him shaky but alive.
Gloria takes down the last gnoll in the following round, while Brun is now going the route of incoherent babbling (stupid confusion). Varlak decides to get the heck out of the cleric's sights and heal up a bit. Annoyed at the elf thwarting her of a kill, Yug-Anark hits Cerene with a slay living. Today's lesson: don't pitch spells with a will saving throw at a cleric. Although damaged, Cerene is still very much alive. With her minions dead and enemies closing in, now is probably the time for a withdrawal. Sensing this, Cerene hits Yug-Anark with a dimensional anchor, closing off that particular avenue of retreat. The fight just became to the death.
While the others attack Yug-anark (or gibber in one case), Varlak starts drinking potions. Yug-Anark tries to invoke a blade barrier, but flubs her spellcraft check and loses the spell due to an AoO from Kelne. Cerene takes the chance to do a little healing.
The slugging match continues. Yug-Anark beats Gloria down with her rod of flailing, only to have Cerene largely undo her work. Brun finally snaps out of his confused state long enough to deliver a smite evil. And roll a 1. It is clearly not his day. Still, the situation is dire enough that Yug-Anark decides on a last-ditch effort to destroy her enemies. First, she casts protection from energy (fire)...
... Prompting her enemies to scatter as they recognise the spell and realise what's coming next. Not the intended result, but it'll do. Kelne stays close, putting up a protection from energy of his own. Brun likewise stays, inflicting a bit of payback for his confused status. Though hurt, Yug-Anark is able to take a step back and break out Righteous Might. She is promptly peppered with projectiles by Cerene, removing those bonus hit points. Alas, the others are less successful, allowing Yug-Anark to fix herself up with heal. The group are now fighting a full-strength, giant gnoll cleric. In hindsight, it probably would have been better to risk the flame strike than give her breathing room. Still another 5 rounds left on that aura of madness too. Deciding the situation is fairly dire, Cerene casts Righteous Might, while Kelne does a bit of whittling.
An abysmal round follows, with Yug-Anark inflicting a good deal of damage on Kelne for very little in return, prompting Cerene to move in to dispense some positive energy. Brun subsequently gets another smite in however, which sets Yug-Anark back. While Kelne steps back to drink a potion, the others close in for the kill. But it isn't so easy, and some bad rolls leave Yug-Anark largely unharmed, with the group clustered around quite nicely, if she can just get that flame strike off.
Which she does, rolling a 19 on her spellcraft check for defensive casting. She then rolls a 20 on her own reflex save. Clearly Lamashtu is intervening to protect her servant. Except that nobody's currently frail enough to be finished off by the strike.
From here on, it's just a matter of bludgeoning away at the gnoll cleric, whose circumstances only worsen when the aura of madness finally expires. In a last-ditch effort to take somebody down with her, she directs a phantasmal killer at Varlak, who promptly dies. Had this been done a few rounds earlier, it might have made a difference to the outcome. As it is, the very next attack finishes her off.
Having already cast Breath of Life (on Varlak, as it happens), Cerene must instead break out a scroll of raise dead. Clearly, scrolls of breath of life are called for in future. Meanwhile, the loot from Yug-Anark is examined and divvied up. Although no longer at full strength, the decision is made to carry on and try to deal with Arley.
Thoughts: I figured the bad guys couldn't get away with ambushing the party every time, and the lack of time to prepare for combat left Yug-Anark at a disadvantage. Once her lackeys were gone, it was one against five, and whenever somebody was seriously hurt, they could simply disengage to drink potions while the others kept up the fight. Had Yug-Anark brought down that flame strike right away, rather than trying to protect herself from its effects, things might have gone differently. However, the resulting damage would have left her quite vulnerable. It's also worth noting that had she possessed more ranks in spellcraft, she might have gotten off one or two more spells without drawing AoOs. Still, with only one skill rank per level, whatcha gonna do?
Aura of madness proved quite the annoyance for Brun, and had anyone else failed their save, it would have spelled trouble. All in all, a definite challenge, with Yug-Anark's domain abilities contributing quite handily to the fight. Looking at the domain spells on Yug-Anark's unaltered list, I'm hard-pressed to find anything which would have justified giving these up.