Name of PC: Swift Raelia the Edge, Chief Rescue Ranger
Class/Level: Bard 12
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
Catalyst: Mandraivus' mean left hook
Story: One failed tumble past the powerful dread wraith led to one natural 20 and one confirmed touch attack. A quick rules confirmation and a failed Fort save later and Raelia had taken 13 Con drain out of 12 Con. Stunned for a round instead of transformed into a wraith spawn, courtesy of the spirit ward, 2 rooms into the dungeon.
-- and --
Name of PC: Swift Raelia the Edge, Liberator of Dragons
Class/Level: Bard 13
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
and
Name of PC: Majenko, liberated pseudodragon
Class/Level: Sorceror 8
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
honorable mention to:
Name of PC: Liam Celwyn
Class/Level: Monk 13
Name of PC: Yagdreg the Killing Blade
Class/Level: Cleric of Norgorber 13
Name of PC: Aiden Wolfcrest
Class/Level: Witch 7/Fighter1/Eldritch Knight 5
Catalyst: Bishop Zev Ravenka's singing voice
Story: The party wandered into the shrine, right into surprise round that was only a surprise round because nobody metagamed seeing the demilich and Raelia rolled a massive 9 perception on what I deemed a 10 DC to see Ravenka starting to stir. Bishop Zev rolled a nat 20 initiative, going just after the witch, and for the first time in the game, before the inquisitor. One wail of the banshee later, and the entire party except for the inquisitor had died. Well, Liam and Yagdreg were saved by their spirit ward and were stunned as Liam's former mentor stopped the effect, and Yagdreg's previous serial killings begrudgingly spared him for the greater good. Aiden rolled, failed, and remembered he was wearing the Scarab of Protection. On the other hand, Raelia and Majenko failed their will saves again, instantly taking 200 damage and dropping straight to D-E-A-D. Second time in one dungeon!
They were resurrected after the battle, their souls imprisoned in Ravenka's ruby teeth. Depressingly enough, the inquisitor immediately silence on himself and stuck to Ravenka, rendering the entire party immune to further wails of the banshee and greater bestow curses. And of course, the inquisitor's stalwart ability made Ravenka's Trap the Soul's negative levels disappear. Coupled with the scarab of protection, the party actually walked away from the battle down two charges of the scarab of protection with 3 negative levels between them and two characters at 1 hp.
Maybe I should be meaner...
They were resurrected after the battle, their souls imprisoned in Ravenka's ruby teeth. Depressingly enough, the inquisitor immediately silence on...
But then your campaign would end. :p
They were resurrected after the battle, their souls imprisoned in Ravenka's ruby teeth. Depressingly enough, the inquisitor immediately silence on...But then your campaign would end. :p
Damn. Good point.
We're just entering Crown of Fangs now, so let's see how the PCs fare against pretty much all of Korvosa at once!
Name: Bargo Tessa
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Rogue 6/Fighter 3/Barbarian 1
Adventure: A History of Ashes
Location: The Flameford camp
Catalyst: Coup-de-grace during the final Red Mantis attack
The Gory Details: The party had passed the trial of the totem with flying colours the night before and had just spent a restful night in their tent. They were awoken by two Gargoyles ripping through the roof of their tent and soon found themselves embroiled in a hard-core melee with 6 Gargoyles and 5 Red Mantis, while the Cinderlander was taking potshots at them and Cinnabar had just almost filleted the Paladin.
Seeing their chances diminish rapidly, the Sorcerer Dimension Door'ed himself, the Wizard, Trinia Sabor ( the cohort and new paramour of the Inquisitor ) and the Paladin away, leaving the Inquisitor and Bargo to face the onslaught of the remaining attackers. Bargo was pretty impossible to hit by the opposition, since he had boosted his AC to 35 by this point ( and the normal Red Mantis had an attack of +13 ), but he remained vulnerable to Will Saves. One Hold Person DC 14 later, he took a sawtooth sabre through the throat for a DC 40 Fortitude save, as two nearby Red Mantis tag-teamed him into oblivion.
Judicious application of an Ice Storm and Fireball took care of most of the lower-level trash after that and soon Cinnabar was down while the Cinderlander enjoyed his brief new life as a quail ( before being summarily executed by the Shoanti ).
Bargos player decided to leave Bargo with his gods, as this was the second death this character had already suffered by poor Will saves and being coup-de-grace'd, preferring to add a Shoanti fighter to the group, a nalharest of Krojun Eats-What-He-Kills.
The next stop of the group will probably be Arkona mansion, where they left some unfinished business when they had to leave Korvosa abruptly. The Arkonas have upgraded their defenses, too, with guildmaster Boule of the Cerulean Society having moved himself and some of his best men into the mansion to provide direct protection to his sponsors.
Name: Bargo Tessa
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Rogue 6/Fighter 3/Barbarian 1
Adventure: A History of Ashes
Location: The Flameford camp
Catalyst: Coup-de-grace during the final Red Mantis attack
The Gory Details: The party had passed the trial of the totem with flying colours the night before and had just spent a restful night in their tent. They were awoken by two Gargoyles ripping through the roof of their tent and soon found themselves embroiled in a hard-core melee with 6 Gargoyles and 5 Red Mantis, while the Cinderlander was taking potshots at them and Cinnabar had just almost filleted the Paladin.Seeing their chances diminish rapidly, the Sorcerer Dimension Door'ed himself, the Wizard, Trinia Sabor ( the cohort and new paramour of the Inquisitor ) and the Paladin away, leaving the Inquisitor and Bargo to face the onslaught of the remaining attackers...
Love when people flee! Always the worst option to flee. You may as well be signing your friend's death warrant!
Sounds fun. You hit them with the whole thing at once? I wish I did that!
Love when people flee! Always the worst option to flee. You may as well be signing your friend's death warrant!
Well, they dim-doored 50 feet away, so I don't know if it counts as "fleeing". I think they'd rather count it as "tactical repositioning". Bargo and the Inquisitor were the guys with the highest AC anyway, so I think the player of the Sorcerer thought it prudent. He couldn't know that Bargos player would roll a second low will save ( he already had been Hold Person'ed one time before, but the Gargoyle beside him did such pathetic damage on the following coup-de-grace that he survived the first one. )
Sounds fun. You hit them with the whole thing at once? I wish I did that!
Well, I hit them with a wave every new round, because I could see that the individual encounters would otherwise be over immediately, without much danger to the group at level 10. This way the melee was so intense that I got the players to make one or two poor tactical decisions. Besides Bargo getting his throat punctured, the Paladin also almost was done in, when he ate a full-attack from Cinnabar before being dim-doored away and then again when he was triple-teamed by three Red Mantis.
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Name of PC: R'dhal
Class/Level: Fighter 7
Adventure: Escape from Old Korvosa
Catalyst: Jabbyr Greataxe Crit
Story:
The party has won at Blood Pig by virtue of physically assaulting the opposition. Seven unconscious and the 8th man bull rushed into the pit with the wolverine which promptly unloads with 3 attacks on the hapless Shinglesnipe.
The Emperor invites them back to speak with Scream. Along with him are Jabbyr, Rolth (who fled in Seven Days and settled here) and one guard. The group stays their impulses for the time being, waiting to speak with Scream. He is predictably silent in the presence of the Emperor in the display room, and an uncomfortable silence settles as everybody gets ready for the assault to begin.
R'dhal acts first, drawing out her axe and slashing into Jabbyr with two strikes. The gnome roars and enrages, countering back with vicious intent. The first attack penetrates the dwarf's armor, and the second attack rolls a nat 20. The confirmation roll... a nat 20. The critical hit deck card - decapitation.
R'dhal was unable to make the dc31 fort save and her head went bouncing away much to the giggling delight of the emperor.
Of course, what followed in the rest of the round was the paladin declaring smite evil on Rolth and dropping him in one round. It was a vicious opening to a fight that would see an elephant summoned into that small room via Pilts' rod...
Name of PC: R'dhal
Class/Level: Fighter 7
Adventure: Escape from Old Korvosa
Catalyst: Jabbyr Greataxe CritStory:
The party has won at Blood Pig by virtue of physically assaulting the opposition. Seven unconscious and the 8th man bull rushed into the pit with the wolverine which promptly unloads with 3 attacks on the hapless Shinglesnipe.The Emperor invites them back to speak with Scream. Along with him are Jabbyr, Rolth (who fled in Seven Days and settled here) and one guard. The group stays their impulses for the time being, waiting to speak with Scream. He is predictably silent in the presence of the Emperor in the display room, and an uncomfortable silence settles as everybody gets ready for the assault to begin.
R'dhal acts first, drawing out her axe and slashing into Jabbyr with two strikes. The gnome roars and enrages, countering back with vicious intent. The first attack penetrates the dwarf's armor, and the second attack rolls a nat 20. The confirmation roll... a nat 20. The critical hit deck card - decapitation.
R'dhal was unable to make the dc31 fort save and her head went bouncing away much to the giggling delight of the emperor.
Of course, what followed in the rest of the round was the paladin declaring smite evil on Rolth and dropping him in one round. It was a vicious opening to a fight that would see an elephant summoned into that small room via Pilts' rod...
Worse than all that, R'dhal's player also died this month in my Runelords game (to the greatest prismatic spray ever, see the Runelords obit for more details). Two characters, two games, one player, one month. And neither of the deaths were due to bad planning or tactics, just the luck of the draw and the fall of the die.
Name: Taran Half-Elven
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Paladin 12
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
Location: The courtyard before Belshalam's lair.
Catalyst: Massive damage from a breath weapon attack.
The Gory Details: Having advanced into the inner courtyard of Scarwall, the group was confronted by Belshalam. Belshalam used his hover feat to good effect and stayed high atop the players, using his spells and breath weapon to devastating effect. After the first surprising breath weapon attack ( which hit most frontline characters for a devastating 96 damage ) and some rapid response combat healing, the group was at something of a loss as how to deal with the constantly flying dragon. To make things worse, Belshalam used two Enervation spells to give the Paladin three negative levels ( given that his breath attack was still recharging ).
After an attempt by the druid to transform into a huge Earth Elemental atop the dragon failed because of a successsful reflex save, the Paladin got a Fly spell cast on him by the Wizard. Taking his action, the Paladin flew-charged up to the gargantuan Dragon and smote him for nearly 80 damage and a 1 CON bleed with a nice card from the crit deck.
In response, Belshalam used his freshly renewed breath attack on the Paladins face. Taran rolled high on his dexterity save, one point above the necessary number. But, lo, we had forgotten his temporary negative levels and his save failed. Sadly, that meant that he took the full 82 points of negative energy damage to the face and then rolled a natural 1 on his Fortitude Save.
Alas, after Belshalam was finished by the group using up their last high-power spells for the day ( and having the bad luck of Peg and Loute joining the fight... using Earth Glide in Scarwall is quite dangerous ), the group packed it up for the day and Taran was resurrected by Keppira De'Bear back in Korvosa ( I have moved the campaign back to Korvosa and Scarwall has now reconstituted itself in the mountains south-east of Korvosa, displacing Citadel Vraith and possessing all the Hellknights ).
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One of my players in the new group is a Red Mantis Assassin (trained as one, by a retired mantis, never took a Job. LG). Walking in to Vencarlo's Home, he smelt the Alchemist fire and told the party to stay out, as he reconized the tactic. He snuck in to the house, failed a stealth check. Hears someone behind him and turns. Will save vs Praying attack failed and he died to a mantis. Irony of it all? it was his plan to do that to the mantis.
Name: Terragar
Race: Half-orc
Class/Levels: Barbarian 1
Adventure: Edge of Anarchy
Location: Ambush for the Cow Hammer Boys
Catalyst: A simultaneous hit and crit from the boy's longswords
Story:
The group made a good enough skill check to find the secret code to get the boys interested in them. Instead of trying to tackle them at All the World's Meat they decided to setup an ambush. Since Zellara's house was now empty they ended up buying the deed and decided to use that as the ambush site.
They hired the boys to take out a pesky gnome (one of the PCs who was hanging out disguised as a grimy kid begging for food). The ambush plan was pretty solid, the real problem was the barbarian couldn't roll over a 7. It was just a matter of time and after several rounds flailing around in an obscuring mist two of the boys got lucky and between a hit and a crit the damage was just enough to get the barbarian to -con.
Name: Markus Solunar
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Inquisitor of Saranrae 12
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
Location: The cathedral of Zun-Kuton in the Donjon of Scarwall
Catalyst: Soul-sucking by Archbishop Zev Ravenka
The Gory Details: The group had pressed on after resurrecting the Paladin, dispatching the Danse Macabre and Prelate Aruth on their way through the castle.
After entering the cathedral, surprisingly nobody of the quite experienced players expressed any alarm at the skull with the inset jewelry on the altar. The Inquisitor began to search the room, while most of the party, except the Paladin and Wizard, huddled outside.
When Markus began to disturb the altar, Zev Ravenka rose, got surprise, and let loose with a Wail of the Banshee, dispelling the infused soul effect from three quarters of the party and outright killing the animal companion of the Druid. Markus, having taken the Improved + Greater Fortitude feats, still managed to fail his save two times. After regular initiative was rolled, Ravenka was up second. After enduring an unsuccesfull Disintegrate from the Wizard, he Trap the Soul of the Inquisitor... who once again rolled impressively low and wasted away into a pile of moldering ash.
The archbishop didn't last very long after, that, though, when the Paladin smote the evil out of him very mightily.
Another casualty of the fight were Shadowcount Sial and Asyra... the Shadowcount thought this an excellent time to dispatch Laori, who had vexed him immensely during the whole trip by being nice to the PC's and turning them against him. Sadly, he underestimated her resilence and overestimated his ability to dispatch her quickly, allowing the party to come to Laoris rescue. Alas, he won't be missed too much by the party, who have come to appreciate Laori quite much, at least most of them.
Name of PC: Andrezi Alezendora
Class/Level: Rog(Swashbuckler)/Bar/Ftr(Two-handed)/Shadowdancer of some level combination...
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
Catalyst: Stairs and Breath Weapons
Story: After a long day of cutting our way thru the hordes of monsters on the first level of Scarwall, our party had finally decided to head up to level two. Before we could even set foot out of the stairway we came under attack from a trio of Hellhounds. Within seconds all of them had opened up with their flaming breath weapons one after the next after the next. While Andrezi survived these, he was sorely injured due to some unfortunate Ref saves, and still trapped on the stairs. With little option otherwise he charged up the steps. Sadly he failed his tumble check as well and was slain by the first Attack of Opportunity.
On the plus side he was brought back to life 6 seconds later thru a masterful bit of teamwork pushing back the monsters, and a well prepared Breath of Life from our Cleric.
Name of PC: Rayna Bethmara
Class/Level: Half-elf ranger 5
Adventure: Seven Days to the Grave
Catalyst: Virreg's return and his vampire spawn
Story: The party had been tipped off that something was going on the toymaker's shop. They talked at length in the street giving one of the vampire spawn ample time to alert her brother and Virreg (I changed the derro to a crazed halfling necromancer).
When the PCs finally decide to "storm" the building entering via the concealed entrance (yes, climbing over rotting, disease-ridden corpses, bloated by the heat, then squeezing through a narrow gap in the wall), the trap inside was well prepared. The ranger climbed in first (always a good idea to send in the archer first) only to be hit by two slams from the vamps and an enervation from Virreg.
The fight inside got very messy. Rayna was finally dropped to 0 levels by another slam from the male vampire. (The party had believed up until then that they were mortal humans: pale, fanged, wall-climbig humans; thus no attempt at turning was made, the cleric rolled REALLY bad)
The only reason Rana came back was because she had sworn a blood-oath to Pharasma to bring down the vile necromancers Rolth and Virreg. The goddess had her sent back to "finish business".
Virreg would have escaped the party a second time had he not been put to sleep by a well-placed poison sting from Majenko.
Name of PC: Pathme "Sunshine"
Class/Level: Human cleric of Sarenrae 5
Adventure: Seven Days to the Grave
Catalyst: Girrigz and Diehard
Story: The group was about to invade Girrigz's haven when Pathme decided to cast daylight almost in front of the entrance to the lair, subsequently alerting the whole plague to the PC's presence.
The party stormed the first room and was surprised to see all the creatures retreating to the next room(s).
Of course they followed them, fighter in front, only to find themselves surrounded by wererats with no means of escape. Most of the rats moved to flanking position, while none of the PC's could do the same. (The ranger was pelting one wererat for several rounds with her longbow, unable to beat the DR!!)
Girrigz hit Pathme and the fighter hard. She was once able to heal herself from below 0 hp, but was hit again to below 0.
Got hit again while staggered killing her instantly.
Rest of party was lucky to get out alive after the healer was down.
Name: Sally
Class/Lvl: Bard 4/Ftr 1/Dragon Disciple 8
Adventure: Crown of Fangs
Catalyst: Combat with Togor(Bloat Mage)
Everything was going fine until he hit the entire party with his Prismatic Spray. DM rolled a 8, so that gave me 2 rays- following rolls were 6 & 7, 2 failed saving throws later I was Insane (Confused) and on another plane. This really sucked as I was in possession of Serithial. This will make the rest of the adventure much more difficult!
Name: Sally
Class/Lvl: Bard 4/Ftr 1/Dragon Disciple 8
Adventure: Crown of Fangs
Catalyst: Combat with Togor(Bloat Mage)Everything was going fine until he hit the entire party with his Prismatic Spray. DM rolled a 8, so that gave me 2 rays- following rolls were 6 & 7, 2 failed saving throws later I was Insane (Confused) and on another plane. This really sucked as I was in possession of Serithial. This will make the rest of the adventure much more difficult!
No party Wizard or Cleric to cast Plane Shift and retrieve you?
They would have needed to know tha plane I was sent to, and Plane Shift would only get them within miles of me---all things considered this would have been a good option. The Cleric multi-classed with levels of Fighter so did not have the spell, the Sorcerer also had not selected the spell so, alas, I was screwed. I also failed to mention I blew 3 Hero points of failed saving throws, so I really missed 5. (Our hero points are only good for re-rolls, not adding to rolls.)
After talking to the GM, the Cleric is going to use a Prayer Bead to get a Deva to go find me and bring me back. Hope it works.
They would have needed to know tha plane I was sent to, and Plane Shift would only get them within miles of me---all things considered this would have been a good option. The Cleric multi-classed with levels of Fighter so did not have the spell, the Sorcerer also had not selected the spell so, alas, I was screwed. I also failed to mention I blew 3 Hero points of failed saving throws, so I really missed 5. (Our hero points are only good for re-rolls, not adding to rolls.)
After talking to the GM, the Cleric is going to use a Prayer Bead to get a Deva to go find me and bring me back. Hope it works.
For getting to know your location, scrying is the way to go, although it probably has to be clerical scrying. Get two scrolls of Plane Shift, then Greater Teleport to the location where you're at and get back.
Hey, that might actually work, thanks, I hope I wind up on a plane that I can survive on until the party gets those items. Thanks.
Couple Deaths (of the same person) here followed by the potential for a TPK.
Name: Tnemele 6th level sorceror (He made his character in about 5 minutes and decided to go with Element backwards)
When: Seven Days to the Grave
Catalyst: Lady Andaisin
Tnemele's actual player was at school until he would get home at 3 PM. However, he allowed another player to control his actions and had him using up his MM wand on the lovely Lady. He actually ended up doing the most damage because none of the melee characters could hit her in the air so it ended up falling to the Sorc, and the not-quite Mystic Theurge.
Andaisin ended up casting Slay Living and putting him in negatives with her touch attack. Then the party surrounded her, so she attacked the Ranger with her higher to-hit attack, then finishing off the Sorc with her second. She perished shortly after because it was the 13th round and many of her buffs were gone.
Name: Tnemele 5th level sorceror
When: Escape from Old Korvosa
Catalyst: Players decided to separate and search individual rooms not knowing two Red Mantis Assassin's laid in ambush.
Tnemele decided to search the top floor, and the Assassin got off his first full round sneak attack (REALLY bad perception on his part). Following round, the Red Mantis got a much higher initiative and got off his second full round against a flat-footed opponent and killed him. Since this was the second time in an hour his character had died, the player decided to roll up a Monk instead.
Name: Tavi the Half-elf Ranger 8th level
When: Escape from Old Korvosa
Catalyst: Cheating at Blood Pig
Now this hasn't quite been played out yet, but his character will die. However, his actions have resulted in a possible death of the entire party.
The players were already heavily cheating at Blood Pig by wearing their Bracers of Armor, Rings of Protection, and already had Bull's Strength and other spells active before meeting the Emperor. However, they never even talked to him, they entered the throne room and immediately said, "We're here to play Blood Pig."
Now a little background info. The Ranger was allowed to roll 4d6 for his stats because I started this campaign specifically to teach him how to play. Off the top of my head, he had a 22 Strength, 18 Constitution, 20 Dexterity, 16 Intelligence, 16 Wisdom, and 15 Charisma. Yeah... that's the same reaction I had too, and he rolled these all in front of me. However, 2 points of that strength and dex came from a Belt of Physical Might. He also chose Undead and Humans as his favorite enemies with +4 vs Undead and +2 vs Humans. The guys a friggin' nightmare in this campaign. Toss in his Human Bane Rapier and he just demolishes everything.
Anyway, I made all the characters play unarmed and unarmored in Blood Pig, which is how I imagined it was intended. They just never took of their magical gear. They have a dwarven Rogue/Shadowdancer that used his Hat of Disguise to always wear Blackjacks gear. but disguised as clothes, so he went in fully armored.
The first round, half the PC's tried to play Blood Pig, while the other half decided to just knock everyone out. In fact, two of the PC's pretended to be kicked in the jewels by the squirming pig, and then fall on each other with the pig on top, to amuse the crowd and Emperor. He loved it, but when the others decided to just knock everyone out, he lost his temper and sent Jabbyr in fully armored as well.
The next round, the now 9 man Shinglesnipes decided to fully surround each player, sneak attack non-lethal damage with their fists while Jabbyr raged, knocking out the monk, then tried a similar tactic against the Ranger Tavi. Tavi had the feat Sable Company Marine Training, allowing him to have a Hyppogriff animal companion. The bloody bird has been a lot of trouble. The Hyppo tried to save his master by swooping down and picking him up, but the Emperor would have none of that. He used his Rod and I gave it the ability to cast a random spell of 4th level and lower, which includes Hold Monster. Then cheated it into casting that spell on the Hyppo causing them to crash back to the ground. Before the Emperor had done this, he stood and screamed to Kill them All, so the Shingles and Jabbyr sneak attacked the Ranger as he was being pulled away, dealing lethal damage and putting his non-lethal over his current HP, knocking him unconscious at the far end of the court. Now the crowed and the captains are rushing into the court to kill the cheaters.
The Ranger is going to die because he ignored most everyone tell him to just play the game instead of beat everyone into unconsciousness because "even if they hit me, I've got a lot of hit points and can take them out". Lesson's need to be learned. It just might take everyone's death to teach that lesson.
So, while they may be between 5th and 8th level and have a 12th level cleric in the form of Laori, whom I bumped up to equal a CR 10 which is level 11, then once more for the large party size because I honestly thought they would fight her, not ally; there is still hoards of people rushing the court and they very well could all die. We'll find out in 3 weeks when one of our players gets back from vacation.
Name of PC: Mevanthalyn
Class/Level: Oracle of War 6
Adventure: Escape from Old Korvosa
Catalyst: Faced Red Mantis Assasin alone
Party got ambushed at Vencarlo's home and Mevanthalyn fought against one with fellow party member (tm) while trying to avoid catching fire. Fellow party member (tm) had enough he fled downstairs (only to run another assasin fighting against rest of the party). When assasin and Mevanthalyn were alone assasins casted Hold Person and next round he coup de graced her and she failed her fortitude save versus death.
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Name of PC: Lirai
Class/Level: Half Elf Conjurer level 7
Adventure: Seven Days to the Grave
Catalyst: Lady Andy and the Daughter of Urgothoa, ending one fight with a critical hit from a x4 weapon, and beginning the next one with a critical hit from a x4 weapon.
The party was fighting Lady Andy, fully buffed to the gills because they manages to knock Rolth unconscious, and kill Ramoshka. So, after a nasty fight in the plague vats, and another fighting the Luekodaemon, they went in to fight Lady Andy. She gave the party hell (even though I changed her domains and some of her spells, and increased her level a tad for a party of 5). Lirai had been doing the most consistent damage using a wand of scorching ray (well invested item for her) and a horde of summoned augmented celestial hawks. Lady Andy ended up focusing mostly on Lirai, trading spells, after trying to kill the very lethal bow-ranger with slay living. The Magus cast enlarge person on the scythe-wielding Hell Knight, who proceeded to lunge and score a lethal critical on Lady Andy while she was flying about out of reach of everyone else.
While the party was trying to figure out what next, the Daughter manifested, and proceeded to fly over to the other side of the fountain, out of immediate reach. She decided she wasn't going to play that game again, and immediately cast spiritual weapon on Lirai, and as the force scythe re-enacted a scene from Aliens (lethal critical hit), the mage was no long among the living. The bow ranger proceeded to take the daughter apart in 2 rounds. Lirai was brought back to life, as part of her reward for becoming a martyred hero of Korvosa.
The players were already heavily cheating at Blood Pig by wearing their Bracers of Armor, Rings of Protection, and already had Bull's Strength and other spells active before meeting the Emperor. However, they never even talked to him, they entered the throne room and immediately said, "We're here to play Blood Pig."
The party never played blood pig with the emperor. The ranger was taking the condition of Old Korvosa very personally, and was generally having a bad day after becoming an "ex" member of the Sable Company...so when the Emperor proposed a game of blood pig, she said "I have an idea...how about we play a game of pin-cushion.." Higher initiative than everyone else, Fast draw, Rapid Shot, Many Shot, and human bane arrows really suck if you're the pin cushion...
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Name of PC('s): Pansa (Ranger 10, Sable Co Marine)
Safiya (Oracle of Flame 10)
Clepto (Rogue 9 / Shadowdancer 1)
Adventure: History of Ashes
Catalyst: Too Many Freaking Sneak Attacks
Story: In the Flameford Assault my party awoke before dawn to be ambushed by gargoyles. I had not anticipated it being a particularly dangerous encounter, to be frank, since most of the book required some "boosting" on my part to constitute a challenge. But I had failed to account for the effect of the characters having no armor, no buffs, and being separated over a large area, thus being tactically at a big disadvantage and with several characters with no access to healing.
That and sneak attacks. So many sneak attacks.
Essentially the Red Mantis plot was carried out with ruthless efficiency. The assassins snuck through the camp catching isolated PC's flanking them and slicing and dicing them. The Ranger was the first to have his head separated from his shoulders. Our Oracle of the flame saw this and tried to fly away on her wings of flame, but got out-manuevered and hacked out the sky by some very acrobatic assassins. The Rogue had no chance after being decimated by Cinnabar when the last assassin caught him in the eye with the tip of his sawtooth sabre.
They had managed to kill Cinnabar, and the Dwarf Fighter on the other side of the camp took out the Cinderlander and a bunch of gargoyles on his own, only to return and find his entire party dead.
Pansa and Safiya elected to be resurrected by the Sun Shaman, but Clepto went on to a happier place. The group will be welcoming a Monk/Inquisitor in his stead.
Well, things just keep going from bad to worse for my group. I'm a player this time around rather than GM.
First, the close shave/honourable mention to my character...
Name of PC: Nadja
Class/Level: Magus 1
Adventure: Edge of Anarchy
Catalyst: Verik Vancaskerkin's bow
Story: Nadja is a Lawful Evil character who worships Zon Kuthon in a nihilist sort of fashion. She's had an interesting time fitting in with the rest of the party (CG Savage Skald/Fighter, N Druid, N combat-oriented Rogue). We planned very poorly in our assault on All the World's Meat, and found ourselves face to face with Vancaskerkin's goons. We dispatched them reasonably well (although it took a lot longer than it should have as friend and foe alike had a long run of rolling under 10 on attack rolls). By the end, Nadja was on two hit points.
When we didn't find Vancaskerkin on the ground floor, the other three PCs milled around for a while--nobody thought to head up the stairs to see if Verik was hiding up there... Meanwhile, Nadja said to the rest of the group "do what you want, I'm going to interrogate one of these goons" and strung one of them up on a pulley above the vat of boiling water. She was just about to lower him perilously close to the water when the CG Savage Skald came in and tried to stop her.
Because nobody had thought to check upstairs, that was when Verik fired an arrow right into Nadja's back. Hello -8 hit points. Fortunately for me she stabilised by herself. Cue a lot of <facepalm>ing from the party as they realised nobody had thought to go upstairs. I'm not sure what everyone else's excuse was, I was just roleplaying my alignment and poor Wisdom score...
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Now the main event...
Name of PC: Josef
Class/Level: Druid 2
Adventure: Edge of Anarchy
Catalyst: Skeleton claw attacks and a cowardly Rogue
Story: So we made our way into the Dead Warrens to find Thousand Bones' son's body. The first place we found was an abandoned Pharasmin ossuary. Having declared a marching order with the Druid at the back (he being the squishy one of the party and the party healer), only two of us (the Rogue and the Druid) passed our Perception checks to prepare before the skeletons were upon us. The Druid cast magic stone and the Rogue used Stealth to hide. It was around that point that we realised that the only bludgeoning weapons we had were the Druid's sling, the Skald/Fighter's shield, and the Rogue's cestuses.
We all rolled lower initiative than the skeletons. Given that they couldn't see the cowardly hiding Rogue, three skeletons attacked Josef the Druid, three attacked Nadja the Magus, and a skeletal champion (replacing the owlbear skeleton) attacked Bran the Savage Skald/Fighter. Josef was down to -6 hit points after one round. Nadja was down to 8. Bran held his own, but at least he wasn't being flanked. When Aloque the Rogue finally attacked, he knocked a stack of hit points off the skeletal champion, but otherwise no damage was done (Nadja stepped back and cast shield to get her AC up to 19, and Bran just plain missed).
Suffering six attacks a turn, each needing a 17+ to hit, Nadja was hit several times over the following rounds and ended up on -7 hit points. She only took two skeletons with her.
Bran and Aloque dispatched the skeletal champion and did for the rest of the skeletons one by one, and while Nadja managed to stabilise, Josef bled out just as the last skeleton fell.
Josef's owl companion Henry copped it in the fight as well.
Before the next session we intend to stock up on (a) healing potions and (b) bludgeoning weapons. Our druid is being replaced by a Fighter or Barbarian, making for a rather unbalanced group of one front-line fighter, three second-line fighters, no healers, and no primary casters.
That should make things interesting!
Name of PC: Ragnar Ironbreaker
Class/Level: Cleric of Abdar 8 /Holy Vindicator 4
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
Catalyst: Asmhede devil, Nihil and her scythe arm
When fighting Nihil party was separated and in very bad shape. Ragnar charged to Nihil hoping to slay it quickly but before he (or anyone) managed to finish the devil she got lucky and critted with scythe arm.. Almost hundred points of damage and one dead dwarf cleric. He still resisted Scarwall presence and was raised by Laori Vaus.
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Name of PC: Garum
Class/Level: Rogue 5, Fighter 1, Pathinder PrC 2
Adventure: Seven Swords of Sin side-adventure
Catalyst: Fiery pit to the Abyss
While not a part of the adventure path, the party got sidetracked onto this adventure as part of my gambit to get them some extra experience.
In the battle against the cultists and the Vrock demon, the party paladin was thrown into the pit via a telekinesis. The rough walls of the pit were proving troublesome for him to climb out, and Garum ran over to toss a rope down to help the paladin. Alas, the Vrock knocked the intrepid rogue into the pit by the same means, and his willpower was insufficient to resist the pull. Although Martin the paladin escaped and took his vengeance upon the Vrock, Garum was pulled into the abyss.
His presence on the obituary posts is debatable, after all the lawful good dwarf may still be alive, much to his dismay...
Name of PC: Cedric of Sarenrae
Race: human
Class/Level: Cleric 8 / Radiant Servant of Sarenrae 1
Where: on the way between Harse and Kaer Maga
Adventure: A History of Ashes
Catalyst: Hill giant ambush
Name of PC: Gil'raon (not a PC but Cedric's cohort)
Race: human
Class/Level: Ranger 7
Where: on the way between Harse and Kaer Maga
Adventure: A History of Ashes
Catalyst: Hill giant ambush
Story: Some thrown rocks, then too many critical hits with their greatclubs, and my main PC and his cohort were dead.
The only one of my "characters" who survived this encounter was Snowflake, the ranger cohort's snow leopard animal companion!
Well, I left off with a possible TPK though it ended up turning out good for the party. I had to really get very clever with Laori, whom saved their lives. The first thing she did was cast Deeper Darknes which snuffed out all light around her. The mob that was surrounding her at that point, then cried out in unbearable agony, and were suddenly silenced. She accomplished this by then channeling negative energy and killed everyone within 30 ft of her. She then, in a very creepy, giddy, voice pormised unending pain and suffering for any that stood against the Lord of Darkness. This, combined with the Mystic Theurge launching a fireball into their ranks and snuffing out the lives of dozens more, caused them to flee. Crisis averted, party saved... Damnit.
Ok, from there, they proceeded through the rest of EfOK, and onto HoA. Things were going all well and good, they met the Shoanti and headed to the Acropolis to gain the mark of Desna. On the way, they encountered the Cinderlander riding his horse animal companion (changed his character a little). Out of the 4 boneslayers they took with them, the Cinderlander dropped 2 of them and killed 1, dropped the PC fighter, and nearly killed 2 others in his hit and run tactics.
They made their way to the House of the Moon and picked up two Shoanti PCs, an Oracle of Fire and a Barbarian. Now, the guy playing the Barbarian has a tendency to make bad decisions and have bad luck.
They entered the House of the Moon and fought the Red Reaver, and I made the mistake of giving them a hint of how deadly this encounter was. I decided to play without my GM screen and rolled everything in front of them. I said I didn't need to cheat. No fudging for me today.
Barbarian raged and charged the Red Reaver, who used his shout and made the other melee characters piss themselves and flee in terror. There was a monk who was half-way to Korvosa before he returned to his senses. Anyway, Barbarian charged and did some nice damage, but ended up in full attack range.
The Red Reaver I used was NOT the one in the book, I updated and customized him to pose a credible challenge to the party. At the time they entered the House of the Moon, the party consisted of a:
Wizard/Cleric/Mystic Theurge
Rouge/Shadowdancer
Fighter/Wizard/Arcane Archer
Barbarian
Oracle of Fire
Fight/Monk
Cohort Cleric/Paladin
Trinia
Majenko's offspring named Tnemele (named after Majenko's friend who died and was taking care of Majenko's egg)
3 Boneslayers
4 Moon Maidens
The Red Reaver unleashed a Power Attack full attack on the Barbarian and hit with both claws and his bit and I rolled natural 20s on the claws and confirmed. This, in addition to the Rend, killed the Barbarian in the first round. In total, the Red Reaver unleashed 2d4 + 5d8 + 121 points of damage on the Barbarian. He literally shredded his body, and spit on the pieces. The guy was literally only able to roll one attack with his Barbarian before died.
Trinia saved the day with Confusion and they managed to put the beast down.
Mr. Barbarian rolled up a Barbarian/Sorceror/Dragon Disciple to help take on Cindermaw thinking he'd be able to be an uber damage dealer with the huge strength bonus and rage.
He decided to take on Cindermaw without any buffs and was never seen again.
Same Barbarian rolled up a new Barbarian for the Tests set by the Sklar-Quah. He ended up being near the only place capable of the Bullette's jumping too, and each one that got up to the ledge pounced him. He killed most of the Bulletes, but they killed him too.
He kept the same Barbarian sheet and said he had a twin sister for the Flameford scenario. She was angry, and grieving for the death of her brother and demanded to be allowed to join the party in seeking revenge against the person that sent the Bullettes against them, they think it was a Cinnabar and I didn't give them a reason to think otherwise.
The Monk, at this point, decided to quit playing Pathfinder and focused all his gaming time on playing Star Wars: the Old Republic instead. So his character was killed by the Gargoyles in the Assault.
The Barbarian (who at this point decided to stop naming his characters), fought valiantly against the assassins, but ultimately, he died when 3 Assassins cornered him and tore him to shreds.
Cinnabar told them all to surrender, and when they refused, she cast invisibility and crept off into the shadows. She crept behind the Arcane Archer, and dropped 6 sneak attacks on him totaling over 130 points of damage.
Krojun was dropped by Cinnabar and a Prayer attack.
Now, the PCs have opted for a side adventure, and I offered Seven Swords of Sin. The same Barbarian guy, rolled up a shield and sword fighter. In one of the rooms are some particularly deadly creatures with the pounce ability. He opened the door, entered, and failed his perception check. They immediately charged and pounced him and dropped him to -27, and that's including the 20 points left over from the Stoneskin he had on.
So, that's where I've left off so far. Barbarian has decided to roll up a gnome duelist instead, and now the party no longer has an up front fighter except for the cohort Paladin who is a 6th level cleric 3rd level Paladin. I see more deaths in the future.
To sum up my kills so far, I have:
Majenko,
A sorceror,
A fighter,
The same Sorceror,
1 Boneslayer,
A Barbarian,
A Dragon Disciple Barbarian,
A Barbarian,
The previous Barbarian's twin sister that is functionally identical to her brother,
An Arcanr Archer,
A Monk,
Krojun,
and a Fighter.
Funny thing is, in our Kingmaker campaign run by the Mystic Theurge, Mr. Barbarian has never died, but his animal campanion has died 4 times. In my games, I simply kill his character, in Kingmaker, we kill his pets.
There is a betting pool in the party for how long he lasts with this new character. The longest is 5 rounds in the next combat.
Name of PC: Marcus
Class/Level: Monk 11
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
Catalyst: Bellshallam
Story:
The party Zellara's Revenge entered the court yard through the guest wing where they were ambushed by Gargoyle Brutes dive-bombing from the castle's heights. During the battle a thunderous peal from the barbarian Dogkiller's weapon awoke the dragon Bellshallam, who charged into the court yard and exhaled his vile breath scattering them and slaying the surviving Gargoyles. Only the purgilist Markus' panther like reflexes prevented him from being caught cold and allowed him to survive the dragons initial assult. Going on the offensive with the bob and weave of a true ring general Markus avoid Bellshallam's gnashing fangs to get toe-to-toe and deliver a sledge-hammer blow to the great beasts liver.
But Bellshallam had no glass jaw, and unleashed a devestating combination bitting with his great fangs and ripping with his sharp claws, but in the end it was a haymaker from his log-thick tail that KO'd Markus for the long sleep.
Name of PC: Shadowcount Sial
Class/Level: Cleric 5/Thaumaturge 7
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
Catalyst: Drained by spectres, rose up, and the party killed him again
Story:
I realize that NPC's are kind of a cop-out on an obits board, but this was classic: Sial's first appearance against the Havero was catastrophic: He and Asyra joined the fray just as the 5th and 6th tentacles came out, and both grabbed Asyra. Sial was forced to use his Scroll of Recall on his very next action as two more tentacles came for him, and the party just walked away and let Asyra get et. He tried to return in a blaze of glory in a between-modules game where two Red Mantis assassins had one of the characters alone and flanked in an alley. He fumbled his Slay Living attack, and Laori came from the other side and criticaled.
Thus, he was the butt of the party's jokes through all of Scarwall, and I was playing him as the Enemy, so through most fights he just stood in the back casting Light "so that the paladin can see better and do his job". Against Belshallam the wizard summoned a Bralani Azata, so Sial hit Belshallam (and the Azata) with Order's Wrath. When they got trapped in the gatehouse, he hit a portcullis (and Laori) with Flame Strike, dropping her to -13 HP. So the party hated him big-time.
Mithrodar had been watching the party, and noticed that if they knew something nasty was behind a door, they'd wait to cast all their buffs until they were about to open the door. So I had the characters arrange their minis on the map as usual, asked them what spells they were casting as usual, and then said, "Stop!" The five spectres poured through the walls to attack the back of the party where all the spellcasters were. The doors to Mithrodar's room opened and Scarwall Guards poured out to attack the fighters. I set all the figures in their logical positions without paying any attention to the characters' figures; I figured Mithrodar wouldn't know who was who, so why should I?
If you look at the hallway right outside the door, there's a little "kink" in it. Sial was outside the kink. Everyone else was inside. The leader swore she ALWAYS did it that way -- the paladin and warlord in front, then the bard and the rogue, then the wizard and Laori, and finally Sial, because the bard didn't want him right behind her.
SURPRISE ROUND: Mithrodar starts chaining Laori and she takes 6 CHA. The spectres hit Sial twice (4 levels), Laori once (2 levels), and miss the insanely-dodgy rogue. The Scarwall Guard continue their history as Keystone Kops of my dungeon and miss, miss, and fumble.
FIRST ROUND: The wizard crits his initiative, grabs Laori, and Greater Teleports her to safety, leaving Sial alone with 3 wraiths. All 3 hit. The 10 levels might not have been so bad, except that they ALL rolled max damage. Sial dropped. I rolled for when he'd return, and it was just 1 round later.
SECOND ROUND: Lots of non-pertinent combat. The wizard Dimension Doors back into the thick of things. Sial stands up.
THIRD ROUND: The wizard chain lightnings the remaining spectres, Sial included. The rogue, who'd gone down the hall to protect the bard, was behind Sial at this point, and stabbed him with her Holy spirit-bonded rapier. Sial dropped again.
The wizard, bard, and warlord ALL started yelling at the rogue because THEY had wanted to kill him, and the argument was no longer about how to fight Mithrodar, but who should have gotten the "fun" of killing Sial. The rogue didn't help by giggling through the whole argument.
Ah, Sial, I'll miss him! I don't think anyone else will!
(Note: This obituary is from my Savage Worlds conversion of CotCT)
Name: Rollo
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: n/a
Adventure: Escape from Old Korvosa
Location: The Vivified Labyrinth
Catalyst: The Biting Tigers
The Gory Details: Having defeated the Dark Sphinx guarding the labyrinth and liberated Vencarlo Orisini, the party got hopelessly lost looking for the way back out of the rotating dungeon. They ended up running a gauntlet of consecutive trap rooms and Rollo the fat Halfling wizard fell at the first hurdle. Failing on his Agility roll to avoid being caught in the snapping stone jaws of the animated tiger-head statues lining both walls of the chamber, the unfortunate fellow then took 3+ wounds and critically failed his subsequent Vigor Roll. He was torn limb from bloody limb, much to Bahor's amusement as he watched via his Third Eye stone, although the party later went out of their way to avenge their comrade and burnt down the Arkona estate. :D
Name of PC Tar-Sul
Class/Level: Wizard/Evoker 2
Adventure: Edge of Anarchy
Catalyst: Ogre Spider
Story:
PC's went through the Eel's End encounters without actually fighting more than a couple games of Knivesies. They decided to go back and "clean house". I had decided to make Devargo's throne room on the bottom of the boat and the Chittersnap/Ogre Spider/Dream Spiders' den on the floor above, reversing the trap door to be on the ceiling and the space in front of the throne a fast moving dumb waiter.
Wizard Evoker PC delays action to burning hands anything coming through the trap door in the ceiling. Ogre Spider comes through first on the ceiling, makes reflex save for 3 damage, and proceeds to bite the PC from the ceiling for a total of 16 damage, putting him at 1 negative hp until pure death. Dream spiders and chittersnap come through the ceiling as well, keeping the other PCs busy, ogre spider proceeds to web and drag the wizard back to his lair to feast.
Names: Balto and Annex
Class/Level: Both Rogues 3
Adventure: Edge of Anarchy
Catalyst: sigh Water... and bad dice rolls.
Story: Well it was during the Eel's end section and the guard would not let the party enter to see the "spider king" so Balto did what any adventurer would do... he started a bar brawl on the ship by throwing a chair at someone. It was a drunken dwarf and he was angry. A few rounds later poor Balto is bull rushed into the water while the rest of the party is going "like what do we do now?" Sadly Balto was in shark infested waters. Annex decided and I quote "F%&$ it what's the worst that can happen I jump on the shark and attack it to save him." Great last words to say the least. The shark went under and Annex did not hold his breath. Balto gets to safety via a rope another member threw. A few minutes later they notices Annex is not resurfacing.(He failed con check to hold breath)
Balto says "Tie the rope onto me I'm going in." The shark is about to feast on an unconscious person, but he is pulled back and the other members begin to reel in both members under water. However, they were at least 30 ft deep and the other rogue failed to hold his breath. He sadly did not have the strength to hold onto Annex.So the shark got a free meal and the other died because no one in our party knew cpr.
Worst deaths ever. I fear for my party's fight with Lady Andaisin which is tomorrow. First TPK here I come.
Name: Khaine and Kayle Axzunder
Race: Fetchling and Human
Classes/levels: Level 2 Magus and Fighter
Adventure: Edge of Anarchy
Location: The Fishery
Catalyst: Trapped porch, water, and shark.
Story: They should have died to the shark but I took pity and thought it would be a crappy way to start the AP, with so much time wasted on excellent backgrounds. Both guys couldn't roll above a 10 for the Swim check... 6 times in a row, and they weren't even wearing heavy armor. Three Stooges comedy at it's best.
Name of PC: Khaine
Class/Level: Level 2 Magus (bladebound)
Adventure: Edge of Anarchy
Catalyst: Lamm
Story: Lamm had Khaine's son as a hostage and was lured into a hostage negotiation but the party was ambushed by Giggles and company. The rest of the party were getting things under control, but in a heroic gesture, Khaine decided to climb down into Lamm's room alone (at 1 hp!) to confront Lamm and save his son. One sneak attack bolt later and 3 rounds of bleeding out and it was all over for him. RIP Khaine.
Some time ago, but still deserves mention:
Name of PC: Jamroar
Class/Level: Level 9 Rogue
Adventure: Escape from Old Korvosa
Catalyst: Senshiir, Continuous Barrage and lucky rolls for the GM
Story:After deciding against fighting Glorio in an all out round 3, the party is locked in the dungeon.
Dealing with both Sivit and Vimanda proves no problem, but then the unfortunate Barbarian is teleported right into one of Senshiirs cells and subjected to several rounds of prodding and damage. Only then is the party able to locate the illusory wall and enter the torture chamber to face the Beatific One.
After dealing a decent amount of damage, the creature suddenly turns around to face the rogue and one massive Continuous Barrage (total of 7 attacks) later, Jamroar the Rogue is smashed to a pulp.
The party puts the body in their Bag of Holding and the player decides to continue as Trinia Sabor at Blackbird Ranch.
Jamroars final resting place is a shallow, unmarked grave just outside Harse.
The party is soon to enter Scarwall without a Paladin, so more is sure to follow
Please tell me they have a cleric who channels positive energy!! Or are they doing Scarwall with no paladin and two evil clerics?
That would be Wrong.
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Entertaining though.
My group doesn't have a healer and has only a Wizard and two Magus to provide healing in the form of wands of Infernal Healing. I might have to do some tests in Scarwall, but instead of it being trivial (with a level 12 Paladin and aura of justice), it should be interesting. The (unmodified) hit points of creatures in Scarwall are so low, I wouldn't even want a paladin in there. The two Zon Kuthon clerics can help with restorations and support. I'm actually more concerned about Seven Days.
NobodysHome: No, they do have a cleric companion, but he might have to stay in the Barbican to maintain it as their base of operations, but I have not decided yet. I certainly look forward to roleplaying Sial and Laori in there
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Name of PC: Ranerio
Race: Human (human female, disguised as a male)
Class/Level: Level 4 Rogue
Adventure: Seven Days to the Grave
Catalyst: Tried to sneak up on Yvicca who gave him the Evil Eye..two failed saves later ....
Story:
The party taking potions of water breathing went to investigate the wreck The Direcption.
Shocked by the appearance of Yvica, she used her abilities from afar, before entering into melee with the party. Ranerio seeing her distracted by the enemy in front, swam closer hoping the darkness would hide him from the hag. But just as he tried to swim past her and get into a position from which he might do some harm, Yvicca turned her attention to him, gazing into his soul. Ranerio, young in years, could not stop the cold frightening evil from entering his soul crushing his life in everlasting dread and terror. A shock from which there was no return.
When Yvicca tried to use the same malevolent frightful attacks on the others, none where as affected as Ranerio, whose body was recoved and taken to Kendra's house. The fight was long and bitter, though eventually Yvicca was defeated as she turned tale and sought another suitable vessel to inhabit.
Note: The next two suffered from not having the cleric in the party for Carowyn Manor... and not taking time to heal when they could ...
Name of PC: Ranerio's brother Rajiko
Race: Human
Class/Level: Level 4 (or 5) Swashbuckler
Adventure: Seven Days to the Grave
Catalyst: Having been severly injured during previous fights run ahead of the party, surprise attack from Jolistina's crossbow attack...killed before he could do another thing.
Story:
The party, without their cleric, entered Carowyn Manor and were attacked by the zombies, Vaz and other party members took damage as their way was barred by the zombies. Jolinstina aided the zombies before running away, seemingly upstairs. The party continued in their fight though slowly killing the zombies in the manor, but Rajiko was able to run round the battles raging. Despite his injuries, he ran on alone upstairs to the first floor, only to be greeted by a volley of crossbow bolts, which killed him outright. Being on his own, and out of sight of the rest of the party his spirit was taken on its journey to Pharesma as his body became lifeless and dead.
Name of PC: Vaz
Race: Human
Class/Level: Level 4 (or 5) Barbarian (Drunken Brawler)
Adventure: Seven Days to the Grave
Catalyst: Tried a killing blow whilst on 0 hit points, but fell and was Coup-de-Graced (anything other than a 1 or 2 roll would have killed Jolistina).
Story:
After killing the swashbuckler, Jolistina went back down into the fight to finish the rest of the interlopers off. She got into a battle on the stairs with a strong barbarian swinging a greatsword. Jolistina, despite her best effort was brought to her kness by the mighty blows from Vaz the barbarian, she fell on her knees before him, her wounds severe and bleeding, crying for mercy, crying to be let to live. Vaz, himself close to exhaustion and death from the battle, decided to end the mad jesters days by trying to subdue her or kill her. Over balancing as he brought his greatsword down towards Jolistina he missed with his blow and immediately fell unconcious due to his efforts earlier. Jolistina, seeing his allies still furiously fighting with the zombies, picked her dagger up and slit Vaz's throat before taking a potion of invisbility and running from Corwyn Manor. Roz and friends, unable to do any more for their dead comrades, took them and gave them heroes burials.
Name of PC: Ranerio
Race: Human
Class/Level: Level 4 Rogue
Adventure: Seven Days to the Grave
Catalyst: Tried to sneak up on Yvicca who gave him the Evil Eye..two failed saves later ....Story:
The party taking potions of water breathing went to investigate the wreck The Direcption.Shocked by the appearance of Yvica, she used her abilities from afar, before entering into melee with the party. Ranerio seeing her distracted by the enemy in front, swam closer hoping the darkness would hide him from the hag. But just as he tried to swim past her and get into a position from which he might do some harm, Yvicca turned her attention to him, gazing into his soul. Ranerio, young in years, could not stop the cold frightening evil from entering his soul crushing his life in everlasting dread and terror. A shock from which there was no return.
When Yvicca tried to use the same malevolent frightful attacks on the others, none where as affected as Ranerio, whose body was recoved and taken to Kendra's house. The fight was long and bitter, though eventually Yvicca was defeated as she turned tale and sought another suitable vessel to inhabit.
Note: The next two suffered from not having the cleric in the party for Carowyn Manor... and not taking time to heal when they could ...
Name of PC: Ranerio's brother Rajiko
Race: Human
Class/Level: Level 4 (or 5) Swashbuckler
Adventure: Seven Days to the Grave
Catalyst: Having been severly injured during previous fights run ahead of the party, surprise attack from Jolistina's crossbow attack...killed before he could do another thing.
Story:
The party, without their cleric, entered Carowyn Manor and were attacked by the zombies, Vaz and other party members took damage as their way was barred by the zombies. Jolinstina aided the zombies before running away, seemingly upstairs. The party continued in their fight though slowly killing the zombies in the manor, but...
I loved running Jolistina, I got to let out any sadistic desires I had while running her. Sometimes it's fun to play someone who is completely and totally b#%$+%% crazy!
[Edit] BTW, DM Deevor, your Journals aren't open to be viewed.
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Tels: Journals aren't open to be viewed..
Ahh... sorry about that, I'll ask at our next session ...
The characters that died have returned as new characters, a Paladin (with plenty of healing) and a cleric .... so next session should be 2 clerics, a paladin, a bard, an urban ranger and maybe a wizard ... its gonna be fun .. :)
Tels: Journals aren't open to be viewed..Ahh... sorry about that, I'll ask at our next session ...
The characters that died have returned as new characters, a Paladin (with plenty of healing) and a cleric .... so next session should be 2 clerics, a paladin, a bard, an urban ranger and maybe a wizard ... its gonna be fun .. :)
Oh god, there should be no excuse for them to die with that party.
My entire party "died". Contained: halfling rogue, human summoner, half-elf sorcerer/barbarian/dragon disciple (me), gnome sorcerer, dwarf fighter, half drow oracle. All level 10. How did they die? Campaign was cancelled.
Name of PC: Mool Altiuri
Race: Human
Class/Level: Sorceror 5/Dragon Disciple 7
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
Catalyst: All dem Wraiths
Story:
After defeating Sargeant Lashton, the party was attacked between the gates by the minotaurs. They solved this by smashing through the walls (The Barbarian Kyeran managed this in only 2 hits, Earthbreaker...) and killed the minotaurs. Coming up to the gate controls, Kyeran (who had just killed 5 of the Minotaurs) decided to scout on ahead to explore some mysterious lights. At this point, relatively isolated, I jumped him with a Dread Wraith and 7 Wraiths. Needless to say, his touch AC was not all that great, and he was quickly quite low on Con. The rest of the party came to the rescue, but then Mool the Sorceror was all alone behind everyone and the Wraiths, spotting an opportunity, used their insubstatiality to move through the walls and surround him, making him go down in a single round. The players then learned of the curses ability to trap souls as I ran a similar scene to Zelleras as the party enter the keep.
This lead to the party having to ask Glorio Arkona for help in acquiring a diamond for a Raise Dead spell, for which he demanded the "jars" of the Hag (The party did not roll high enough Knowledge checks to know that the jars of Hags contains souls). I considered this deal (once completed) as a trade in souls, which meant the cohort Cleric lost his spellcasting ability and had to atone for the act, which again took him away from the party for a few sessions.
This one doesn't really count, but it was a good scare to the players so I am throwing it in here as well:
Name of PC: Trinia Sabor (as a PC)
Race: Human
Class/Level: Bard 12
Adventure: Skeletons of Scarwall
Catalyst: Domination Betrayal
Story:
The party entered the stables and I rolled that the dragon was sleeping when they came. The Arcane Archer/Ranger Zyriel (who have crazy high Perception) managed to make out the very faint snoring.
The party then decided to light up the interior of the stables using Dancing Lights, which I of course ruled would wake up the dragon.
The ranger then tried to Sneak inside and have a look around, but found only a waiting dragon who instantly dominated him (I am using Steev42's Conversions). He then told the rest of the party that it was safe to enter and only a critical Sense Motive by the Xian the Monk made him stay back and avoid a strength-draining Breath attack to the face.
With almost every character blinded (most of them avoid the strength damage, though), the Dominated Ranger was ordered to fire a full volley at the lightest armored target, Trinia the Bard, who, thanks to Zyriels favored enemy being humans, quickly dealt over a hundred points of damage and brought her spirit forward, almost being claimed by Scarwall. The moral strain of this command allowed the Ranger a new saving throw against the compulsion, which he managed to clear.
The Monk (the only character who could see anything at this point) took the blinded Shadowcount Sial in a grapple and physically carried him to Trinias lifeless corpse, placed his hands on her wounds and told him to cast Breath of Life, which he managed to in his blinded state, thus saving the bard this time.
The party still need to fight both Zev Ravenka and Nihil and they have learned though an Augury that the weakest spirit anchor is in the donjon (true since Mithodar has claimed the Prelate Aruth as his new 4th anchor), so I expect more deaths to come
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Name of PC: Arkcum the great
Class/Level: Barbarian 6
Adventure: Seven days to the grave grave
Catalyst: Died of fright at Yvicca Evil eye.
Story: The party entered the direption without fear. The sea hags shark pet alerted her then was cut down before she could join in the combat. Yvicca then took great joy at using her evil eye on every member present. With only 12 hit points left she used it one last time one the party's merciful (and moral compass) barbarian
Name of PC: Vash the monster
Race: Half-orc
Class/Level:Bard 3/ Barbarian 2/ Dragon disciple 3
Adventure: Escape from old korvosa
Catalyst: Took an axe to the face, courtesy of Jabbyr
Story: The party entered the abode of the Emperor of Old Korvosa and a few round of diplomacy started. Instead of playing blood pig, the party asked the emperor if they could do a single duel for the right of visiting Salvador Scream. Vash proposed himself forthe duel, ready to prove to everyone how great his special training was(read finally came back to the table after 1 month). Vash got his ass handed over to him, Feanor the Wizard, seeing this, decided to interrupt the duel with some black tentacles. The end result being Vash trapped in tentacles, on one knee, with a berserk gnome ready to chop his head off.
Name of PC: Isaac the damned
Race: Human
Class/Level: Ranger 11/12
Adventure: A histoy of Ashes/ Skeletons of Scarwall
Catalyst: Decapitated by fiendish mantis Cinnabar. Resurrected andthen brought back to hell by the pit fiend Asmodan
Story:After losing his pet hippogryph George to the red mantis assassins in the Acropolis he tried to get a chance at vengeance when they attacked the sun clan. His rage made him blind and vulnerable as he charged alone against Cinnabar, who promptly took his head off. After getting resurrected, he quickly forgot the contract he had signed with Asmodeus damning his soul to hell forever the instant he died. Once he reached Scarwall, Asmodan the pit fiend drag him back to hell while the party looked with a "you did this to yourself" look on their face.
Name of PC: Tzar coal and Lord Ezekiel
Race: Gnome and Elf
Class/Level: Flame Oracle 13 and Bard 5/Noble Scion 8
Adventure: Skeleton of Scarwall
Catalyst: Strangled by a shadow
Story: After losing their spirit protection after the fight with the demi-lich, the party decided to press on while the cleric and wizard rested outside to get their spells back. In the stairs to get to the 3 level and Nihil's hideout they were ambushed by random Shadows who killed both the bard and oracle while their meat shield kensai was unable to protect them. They got trapped into scarwall as shadow and attack the kensai but were quickly destroyed.
Name of PC: Vash Jr
Race: Half orc(turned full orc)
Class/Level: Bloodrage 15
Adventure: Crown of fang
Catalyst: Confused until he got clobbered to death by boggarts
Story: Having avoided every battle in the sunken queen but getting spotted by the queen who had her devil teleport everyone in the everdawn chamber. The last show down with Ileosa had her confuse Vash's son while he was surrounded by the boggarts who took all their time to pummul the bloodrager to death.
Now they resurrected Vash jr and are going to take over castle Korvosa as their prize but are not aware that deep below the castle, Sorshen roused from her slumber.
Name of PC: Karvenom Akris
Class/Level: 2 level Paladin of Sarenrae
Adventure: Edge of Anarchy - Dead Warrens
Catalyst: Spellcasting from Vreeg.
Story: We decided to play a gritty, full of pain adventure path. Slow exp progression, foes with full hp, party most time doesn't loot their fallen enemies (when they are on official Korvosan Guard missions + they are very lawfull). Still, they manage things pretty good. Cleared almost all of Dead Warrens. All that remained - a derro, Vreeg, Cabbagehead and Carrion Golem. But, because rogue was paralized by necrophidius, party decided to wait. This gave Vreeg and others some time to prepare. Cabbagehead was on his way to release the golem, Vreeg ready to blast anyone with spells and derro had his role of canon fodder.
Party finnaly storms the alchemical lab. The fight is heavy, party had to split - second paladin-tank, with summoner-support, to block the corridor with golem trapping him there, and slayer, rogue with Karvenom went to deal with Vreeg. Little bugger blasted away summoners eidolon with sound blast, dropping Karvenom to 1 hp in the process. Next round, even being entangled in slayers net (bounty hunter archetype), Vreeg casts magic missile on Karvenom. This drops him down to minus -11 hp. With allies still fighting (and trying not to die by themselves), no heal by potions/lay of hands/spells left, and bad rolls on stabilization he, finnaly, died.