Can't WAIT to run this myself.
just have to finish up the RotRL game i'm in now, see if i can keep em movin faster than normal
-t
If your group is not constrained by a narrow time frame such as mine - which has shrunk by a not-inconsiderable fraction due to more recent, and far more important than any campaign, developments - then CotCT so far has come across as a very fun campaign. It lends itself well to improvised game play and plenty of 'build up' before the anvils start falling like an enactment of Ducklahoma.
Had I my druthers I would take much more time in prep work to set things up between sessions. Alas, since this is the vehicle by which we are attempting to Beta-test the PFRPG rules set AND the goal is to accumulate at least a smidge of feedback at roughly each 'major' level of game play, allotting the proper amount of time to do justice to the campaign is not possible.
Looking forward to seeing your carnage Sir Hamster! ^_^
Well, what's good for the geese is good for the ganders...
And of course good Sir Allen is exaggerating his being 'stuck' with below-average to average ability scores for his four ability score arrays. All arrays are playable as per the 3.5 PHB - which isn't much, technically. However, perusal of the Pathfinder NPC villains reveals that they are clearly built on the standardized arrays for the rules sets of the time at which they were written... a point VERY often forgotten by almost all players.
Correction Turin, the scores I'm looking at are:
8,8,10,10,15,17
My fighter does have the potential to have an 18+ Strength, but he'll be mediocre in CON and absolutely blow chunks in every other respect. Likely having a negative modifier in Intelligence or Wisdom...
Another one of your glorious arrays contains a 5, that's right, a FIVE.
I'm ready to grab the ankles, just because I've got others in the group that fudge their dice rolls, and Turin's reading them the "riot act"...
Well, what's good for the geese is good for the ganders...
And of course good Sir Allen is exaggerating his being 'stuck' with below-average to average ability scores for his four ability score arrays. All arrays are playable as per the 3.5 PHB - which isn't much, technically. However, perusal of the Pathfinder NPC villains reveals that they are clearly built on the standardized arrays for the rules sets of the time at which they were written... a point VERY often forgotten by almost all players.
Correction Turin, the scores I'm looking at are:
8,8,10,10,15,17
My fighter does have the potential to have an 18+ Strength, but he'll be mediocre in CON and absolutely blow chunks in every other respect. Likely having a negative modifier in Intelligence or Wisdom...
Another one of your glorious arrays contains a 5, that's right, a FIVE.
I'm ready to grab the ankles, just because I've got others in the group that fudge their dice rolls, and Turin's reading them the "riot act"...
Considering that humans and half-elves get a +2 bonus in ANY ability score they choose, you can start with 2 +3 ability scores, increasing higher as the characters level.
Since when is a net bonus of +2 "unplayable" ? Looks at his 3.5 PHB... nawp, 'tis playable, and with 2 +3's to boot! Since your character won't even hit the ground running until the next session, when it will be 7th level with the rest of them , I'd state you're looking pretty good. After all, if you only have two ability scores that matter, then the rest are gravy. :P
And yes, one of your arrays has a 5 in it. Which one was that one again? I rolled 3d6, 4d6 and (2d6+6) in order if memory serves for everyone... at their collective request, I will add, not due to being read the riot act. Yep, their idea.
:-(
Here waiting on the update from our last game... I am curious as to what will be said.
Short version:
GM (me) forgot to bring 7 Days to the Grave with me, so I bumped everyone to 7th level and got on with things in "Escape from Old Korvosa". I was looking forward to slaughtering characters with aspects of the Gawd of Disease too ... ~sniffs~
No characters died, sadly - they came close against the 10th level spiked-chain wielding, auras of darkness & destruction shrouded, shadow-summoning cleric, mainly because I ramped her hp to 180. Friendly fireballs and scorching rays and arrows and charging rhinos and all the rest from the characters against each other did more damage than the bad guys.
Short version:
GM (me) forgot to bring 7 Days to the Grave with me, so I bumped everyone to 7th level and got on with things in "Escape from Old Korvosa". I was looking forward to slaughtering characters with aspects of the Gawd of Disease too ... ~sniffs~
No characters died, sadly - they came close against the 10th level spiked-chain wielding, auras of darkness & destruction shrouded, shadow-summoning cleric, mainly because I ramped her hp to 180. Friendly fireballs and scorching rays and arrows and charging rhinos and all the rest from the characters against each other did more damage than the bad guys.
Oooh, that sounds like it has interesting implications for events in Skeletons of Scarwall. Be careful of another NPC they bump into, in case he/she turns out to be needed later, given what I presume to be the demise of this particular one. (Of course bouncing this NPC might ingratiate them with a later one.)
Edit:
Although there may well be raise dead available, to make for an interesting grudge, which will result in a sure-fire candidate being proposed for a particular 'honour'.
Lots of fun roleplay potentially ahead, Turin! :D
I neglected to mention that the cleric in question 'faded into shadow' when she was down to 5 hp on her last action, Yasha. She escaped, alive and well, and nursing a grudge against the heroes...
"Escape from Old Korvosa", nominal conclusion
Our Heroes, having slack-arsed for a week performing various +1 permanent armor and weapon enhancements upon thier various implements of death and dismemberment, head over to the Old Docks to effect a rescue of Salvator Scream from the sadistic clutches of the mad 'Emperor of Old Korvosa'.
The druid cleverly assumed the form of a wharf rat, scurrying hither and yon throughout the 'palace'. Upon locating the despondant artist, she returned to the group, who put into plan a simple rescue operation: air walk the rhinocerous and druid up to the side wall adjacent to the artists' "cell", warp wood to effect the artist's escape and flee forthwith. They were wise enough to do so under benefit of an arcane caster, who made the lot invisible in short order as they effected escape, rather handily bypassing the need to deal with the madman with a guillotine fetish.
As our heroes had been reconnoitering the neighborhood, they collectively decided that the lunatic and his merry band needed to be stomped into fertilizer. The weather for the coming evening would be coming to a 'perfect' thunderstorm, so they timed their assault to occur as that evening's game of Blood Pig would be getting underway.
Needless to say, it was a slaughter. The gnome barbarian benefitted from the 'Emperor's' Rod of Wonder zapping him with an Enlarge Person, at which point the raging tongueless psychopath charged and critted the paladin with a greataxe, dealing over 60 hp in a single shot. Sadly, the multiple fireballs striking in the same general area rapidly incinerated a large portion of the 'playing field' (not to mention most of the 18 'tough mooks') resulting in said 'Emperor' plummetting to the same general level as where the starving wolverines were pacing. The 'Emperor' died screaming, eaten alive by two very hungry wolverines. Wisely, the druid waited until the critters were satiated and drowsy before doing what druids do: adding more animals to their menagerie.
Upon discerning from Salvator Scream that Messr's Orisini and the 'seneschal dude' were involuntary guests in the dungeons beneath the Arkonas Palace, our heroes came up with the idea to pose as Agents of Her Majesty, to deliver an Eviction Notice for Failure to Evacuate the Quarantine Zone. The forger in question didn't do too badly - achieving a 25 total on his Linguistics check.
Confident, the characters enter the grounds of the estate, convey the sincerety of their "office" to the patrol, are escorted to the majordomo and entertain a brief discussion with this person, who promises to introduce the head of the household to them in a few minutes' time.
Glorio Arkona opens the two doors into the visitors' lounge, a comfortably outfitted area totaling some 600 square feet, and makes ready to greet these ... interesting ... 'officials'.
The Paladin immediately activates his Detect Evil ability, only to gasp as he is stunned by the overwhelming power of the aura of Evil thusly viewed.
The Ranger immediately attempts to perforate the AC 32 target, missing every Deadly Aimed shot (since his attack bonus with the penalty is a +10/+5 due to his Favored Enemy bonus on attack rolls not applying).
Most of the party is quickly Hasted by the new Bard "cohort" (at full level) being playtested by the Paladin's player. The Barbarian maneuvers to block the Wizard from death vis a vis his Tower Shield. In short, the party maneuvers, the druid calls in the 'enhanced' (via animal companion) rhinocerous and attempted asswhupping commences.
In the ensuing two rounds, the party quickly recognizes that they are in WAY over their heads against this foe. The Ranger is the first to flee the scene - even with his best possible bonuses, he needs natural 20s to hit the foe, especially after he used a wand to raise a Shield spell bringing his AC up to a 36.
The several party members packing True Strikes (via potions and in the paladin's case a Wand utilized via Use Magic Device) are the only ones to score damage - totalling scarcely a third of Orisini's hit points. The rakshasa revealed his true form nearing the conclusion of this encounter, became invisible long enough to nearly gut the paladin, missing only one attack out of five due to displacement.
The Wizard quickly moved to effect rescue of the Paladin via Dimension Door, who then stabilized at 1 hit point from death on his next action. The druid - showing her Wisdom score - with a nat-20 Diplomacy roll effected a negotiated surrender as four more rakshasa rounded the bend, lightning dancing on the tips of their claws, clearly intent on butchering every one remaining within their palace.
The agreement between the Arkonas and Our Heroes includes,among other things, an Agreement in Principle to Maintain Secrecy as to the true forms of the Arkonas and to serve the family in their best capacities as necessary for the next Year (i.e., the druid is primarily tasked with maintaining and improving the palace grounds and topiaries). The enormous value of an adventuring party being at their disposal for a full Year may well prove enough to persuade the Arkonas to release Vencarlo Orisini and Neolandus Kalepopolis. Depending upon the information to be had from the two men, the Arkonas will be quite amenable to receiving their Term of Service after a delay to deal with the situation to be presented.
Of course, if Our Heroes are not so amenable to the Terms, I am rather sure the Arkonas can make their Displeasure keenly felt.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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Just a few nitpicks Turin... obviously if you're playing with a houserule let me know.
1- True Strike can't be made into a Potion as it is a personal spell. Personal spells target "you" not "one or more creatures."
2- Concealment doesn't prevent Criticals, only sneak attack.
--I Vrock the Party!
Just a few nitpicks Turin... obviously if you're playing with a houserule let me know.
1- True Strike can't be made into a Potion as it is a personal spell. Personal spells target "you" not "one or more creatures."
2- Concealment doesn't prevent Criticals, only sneak attack.
--I Vrock the Party!
I trust my players to read the rules, so if the one who made True Strike into a potion, then they are to blame.
I am both glad and mystified as to how concealment, or at least total concealment (displacement, invisibility, total darkness) could not prevent sneak attacks however. Since the character didn't get fragged, I won't rescind the event.
Agreed Turin. Concealment DOES stop sneak attacks. I looked into this previously when I was faced with the prospect of dealing with a Skulk Rogue, as you might recall.
The Rogue class section in the Pathfinder book states that if you have concealment, you CAN'T RECEIVE Sneak Attack damage. The Pathfinder Rogue section does not state what percentage Concealment is needed for the immunity from Sneak Attack, so by definition, ANY % Concealment should confer the immunity. This is a good thing, as now in Pathfinder, Rogues can sneak attack damn near everything in the game. FYI, There's a feat that gives you a 20% concealment if you take a move action. This would allow your bad guy to merely move and then thumb his nose at any would-be rogues & assassins. Naturally, I've already equipped Sir Sean and some of his pals with this little gem, as I'm sure you can understand why...
Ok, I've just read your last post Turin. You let the players create a TRUE STRIKE potion... Do explain...
I'm sorry but, who here has true strike potions???? Yeah I am sorry but that should not be allowed.
Chapter 4 : "A History of Ashes"
Our Heroes, having failed to negotiate anything substantial with Glorio Arkona, are summoned to Arkonas Palace as they are advised by the small horde of grateful street urchins and poor folk that several hundred of the Grey Guard and 'numerous heavy hitters' are en route to at least attempt to permanently deal with the irritant they have become to Queen Ileosa.
As part of the group's Year of Service the Arkonas desire that the Queen be removed from the equation. At the present, a direct confrontation seems quite ill-advised. So, Glorio presents four individuals to the characters from their dungeons: Sir Allen's somewhat-tarnished-and-abused Fighter; Sir Marr of Kuss' rather thoroughly-abused (and tongueless) Monk ; Vencarlo Orisini and Neolandus Kalepopolis.
The characters escape the city with the 2 NPCs in tow, get to the pissant village of Harse - reuniting with Trinia Sabor for the late-night meeting - and gather the small mound of information from Neolandus.
Our Heroes now seek to meet once more with Thousand Bones' people in the bowels of the Cinderlands themselves, passing through the wretched hive of scum and villany known as Kaer Maga before bearing east into the desert to the Shoanti's 'Kallow Mounds' massive burial grounds.
Upon arrival, a rather belligerant chap known as 'Eats-What-He-Kills' challenges the tshamek to prove their worthiness to be here by the sredna game for which the Paladin drew the appropriate Harrow card.
The sredna game early on went in the paladin's favor - right up until he rolled a natural 1 on his Fortitude save in "breath 5" to resist Eats-What-He-Kills' first tug, upon which the poor chap collapsed into a quivering mewling heap.
After having to receive more shovellings of information from Thousand Bones, Ashdancer and Chief One-Life, 7 PC's make their way across the Cinderlands to the Acropolis of the Thrallkeepers.
The Monk With No Tongue stealths into the room, slowly making his way in, up to the left and along the balcony. Numerous 'buff' spells are cast, as well as a total of six Light coins tossed into the waters of the chamber, most of which are skipped across the mucky water like rocks. A single tentacle slid out of the water early on, sliding across most of the entire surface of the room - missing No Tongue by inches as the Druid tossed in a dream spider poisoned hunk of lizard into the waters behind it.
While the characters were making plenty of noise on their own, the trio of NPCs observing them from the southern room through the arrow slits had earlier cast quite a few spells of their own. Between the NPCs' buff spells and the characters', the combination had succeeded in tipping the scales enough to have warranted six tentacles to be in play.
As the sixth light coin skipped and splashed across the water, two tentacles emerged from the muck, once again probing the immense chamber. Seeking to avoid being slimed over again, No Tongue made a very impressive Acrobatics check to clear from the balcony to the middle of the bridge crossing from one side of the chamber to another.
Alas, six tentacles lashed out and lassoed the Monk - the bonus damage from the hits and six constricts alone was enough to outright kill the unfortunate character. A tentacle latched onto each limb, his head and his torso and squeezed accordingly, tearing the limbs and head off of the torso while rending the torso in half. Steaming entrails and swag splattered all over the bridge and into the pool.
Initially the characters fought the tentacles - right up until they started realizing the tentacles were quite difficult to kill, and when they hit, they hit hard. When five tentacles struck and constricted poor Raedawn IV - who had been left behind within reach of the tentacles by the fleeing adventurers - into a similarly unfortunate fate as the Monk had met a few rounds before.
The six tentacles were quickly Call Lightning'd, Fireball'd, arrowed and Magic Missill'd into submission by the heroes who remained just out of reach.
Raedawn IV was reincarnated into play once more as an elf by the druid, although doing so effectively bankrupted the Wizard and took two days' time to achieve.
The next active day of game play Our Heroes made thier way (carefully) back down the stairs and into the chamber with the ginormous pool AFTER satisfying themselves that the Critter-in-the-Pool had not yet regrown its tentacles. Unfortunately for them, Cinnabar and four surviving 'mook' Red Mantis assassins were following behind the characters. Unfortunately for Cinnabar, Sir Marr of Kuss' Ranger had followed behind them, picking off stragglers. Unfortunately for ALL of them The Brotherhood of Bones (with their hired guide The Cinderlander) were still within the complex and in position to observe the heroes' return.
Somehow the Red Mantis' utterly failed to notice the flying Wizard and, more importantly, the Air Walking rhinocerous with mantis-mask-wearing Druid atop the saddle. And then things went sideways in a hurry ...
Ariana Jadenheart the Fire Bloodline Sorceress was cut down between a volley of flung sneak-attack daggers and then being flanked and hewn down by two Red Mantis assassins (who still had her flat-footed) with flashes of their wicked mantis blades early on in the fight.
Cinnabar died in two rounds at the receiving end of Sir Marr of Kuss' arrows, having gotten in ONE swipe of her enchanted blade. Her 'mooks' lasted much longer.
Shadowcount Sial (Cleric 11 of Zoth-Kumon) went down in a hail of arrows after blasting Bubba (along with pretty much the entire group save for the then-earth melded Druid) with a 29 hp Channeled Energy blast that also reduced the Paladin to deep negative hit points. Said Paladin would once more stabilize ONE hit point from death! (He had also done so this past session against Glorio Arkona...) Asyra the Chain Devil Fighter 4 had been entrapped within a sleeve of stone shaped by the Druid (who herself had suffered a bleeding wound critical from the she-devil not long before). Sir Allen's Fighter had drawn a fumble that made him prone and blind for 3 rounds early on, against the same she-devil. Upon effecting escape from the sleeve, the characters annihilated her.
The Cinderlander, upon seeing the she-devil encased in stone as well as the butchery of the Red Mantis squad and the felling of Shadowcount Sial in a hail of arrows, used his own 'escape clause' to flee the scene after the Druid totalled a 4 Diplomacy check to goad him into surrendering.
At this point, the characters could effectively breeze through the rest of the Chapter, so ... they did, by way of GM fiat. I gave them what flavor text I had time for, and nudged the group to 12th level, with reasonable selection of gear due to the group having kept the Bone House found on Sial's corpse. This amounted to a market-price value increase of 62,000 gpv above their present gear. No enhancement bonuses could be had better than +3, no CL greater than 13th is available nor any effect that could not be achieved by any Pathfinder Beta source spell above that same CL.
Our Heroes are taking a decidely "entertaining" leaning, as will be revealed in the next campaign journal entry a week or so hence...
Chapter 4 : "A History of Ashes"
Unfortunately the lacking of a healer or a druid actively trying to heal left us all at a great disadvantage as our front liners, myself and da paladin, were quickly dropped to low hit points. I died trying to back out of combat by our esteemed wizard's advice, but fell victim to a channel energy. While I am happy to be reincarnated as a human again, I miss my old body and plan on getting it back ASAP.
Apologies for the late posting gentlecritters...
Our Heroes, sans Sir Al of N, forayed henceforth into the Scarwall, engaging in a surprisingly rough encounter with the half-dozen and change orcs led by the Orc Bubba whose name I forget.
Max the Desecrated Red Reaver Zombie made its debut, with the end result being the completion of the demolition of the barbican as Max sought to munch orc flesh at his mistress' command.
Our Heroes rested the night, then set to trundling across the causeway. Due to a disgusting series of Vision-Perception checks, they noted the dozen four-armed gargoyles roostinng along the further length of the causeway. Evocation spells and arrows flew thick and fast, drawing the gargoyles forth to do battle with the band of self-propelled field rations.
Sadly, about 12 seconds after crossing over the causeway, with gargoyles en-route to rend and chomp Our Heroes, the sorceress found out two unfortunate properties of the haunted castle. First, that the presence within was attempting to power-glomp the spirit of the fortune-teller bound within the Harrow Deck she has been toting around since 1st or 2nd level. Second, that same presence commandeered Max (a 32 HD zombie Red Reaver) and was bent upon chow-pouncing the nearest character as a result.
During the titanic battle that raged along the causeway, the gargoyles were vanquished and Max was sent toppling into the drink courtesy of Sir Bubba's nat-20 check on a Bull Rush barbarian rage-power combat maneuver.
After ANOTHER day's rest and recuperation, Our Heroes set forth once more across the causeway, were nearly driven back by the Gate Warden and his skeletal minions before crushing them into powder, then once more camped in the rubble of the Barbican.
Day Three dawned, Our Heroes chowed down on what ever it is they use for chow and once more trundled across the causeway. Harrassed by the minotaur skeletons peppering them with crossbow bolts, they eventually forced entry into the gatehouse and proceeded with further investigation of the haunted ruins. The Harrow Deck had been left behind, whilst the would-be Sorceress-Necromancer mourned the (not inexpensive) loss of her new zombie minion so soon after acquisition.
The Paladin had a crisis of faith, converting whole-heartedly to the service of Zon-Kuthon (during the "down time" between last session and this) as a Cleric.
Our "Heroes" pressed forward into the complex, encountering haunts, the funky corpse-ooze and assorted minor incorporeal undead. The Umbral Dragon gave them a run for their money, resulting in a negotiated 'truce' (your loot for your life).
Having divvied the loot, next session begins with Our Heroes resuming their efforts to cleanse the taint of Scarwall without dying in the process and joining with the damned in that fell place...
So far, they have not yet removed any of the four that Zellara's song informed them of. They have been fairly well depleted of spell-firepower, and three of their companions are all the way back across the causeway behind them. The fate of Max remains unknown at this time... what fell plot has Scarwall hatched for the formidable zombie ?
Will Our "Heroes" prevail, or die horribly in the bowels of Scarwall in their bid to loose the haunted castle of its curse without joining the place ?
I would also like to state that we found a rather interesting set of full plate armor. This gem was an alteration on the celestial armor. Low and behold it was CURSED from the previous owner. The darn undead kept coming back and con draining me. Eventually we figured out who's armor it was and gave it back to the body.
I would also like to state that we found a rather interesting set of full plate armor. This gem was an alteration on the celestial armor. Low and behold it was CURSED from the previous owner. The darn undead kept coming back and con draining me. Eventually we figured out who's armor it was and gave it back to the body.
P.S. I am SO calling that armor as soon as we get it un-cursed. It is a dream for a barbarian.
Today we continue the Skeletons of Scarwall - let us hope they make it all the way to where the "old school" monster awaits them...
Stay tuned for the report this evening!
Skeletons of Scarwall, almost concluded...
The full crew of 8 was in attendance for the final game session of the year.
Our "heroes" spent about a month back in the closest locale that passed for civilization before returning once more to Castle Scarwall. They hastened across the causeway, passed the yawning doors through the gatehouse and proceeded to clean out the front part of the ground floor.
The Nighthag was in hobbit form in a bag of netting. Thorgar - Sir Mar of Kuss' barbarian - grabbed the apparently scared hobbit and commented on whether or not the little woman could be mated with.
Needless to say, as the Sorceror fired up her Detect Magic, the hobbit-hag gnawed at the barbarian's throat . The hag was fairly quickly dispatched afterwards, although the Devil Fever coursing through his veins took a temporary toll.
They then swept through the kitchen, triggering the Haunt that flambed Torsin's Wizard and almost zorched the Cleric of Zon-Kuthon. The four Cinder Ghouls put up a valiant struggle, inflicting 2 negative levels each on the cleric and wizard before being put down in short order. The Sorceress and Cleric marvelled at the possibility of removing the ovens with the "Cooks" intact.
After this, another day of rest, restoring the point of CON drain to Thorgar, they made their way into the donjon via a Stone Shaped crawlway. The Kuthonite characters desired to retain possession of the near-blackened bronze doors (with lead seal), so the accomodating Red Mantis Mask-wearing Druidess fashioned the crawlway to provide the group access to the donjon.
Making their way methodically through the Donjon, the "heroes" wend their way 'round the entry floor until they came across the five 'priest' spectres awaiting a call to service. Sensing their desire for sustenance, the druidess made ready to provide nourishment. The Kuthonite Cleric, responding to the chorus' inquiry as to "is it time for service?", communicated that a Joymaking was in order.
Unfortunately, the spectres set upon said cleric in an attempt to share the Joymaking with the character. Thorgar grabbed Torsin and fled, followed quickly by all save the Sorceress and the fascinated Druidess.
After a few rounds the spectres were dispatched. Roaming about the donjon, they finally make their way to the roof. A lucky nat-20 disintegrate by Torsin made an opening in the side of the building, permitting them interior access to the tower.
Finally making their way into the chamber with the well, the invisible Nightwing telepathically communicated a desire to install a new Curate in the Star Tower. Da Fighter's Bard cohort 'Leslie' "volunteered" for the position and so was wisked off to the Plane of Shadow to be properly indoctrinated into her new, nigh-eternal position.
This of course left our "heroes" to figure out a way to access the chapel beyond, which they did inevitably do, emerging behind the Large statue of Z-K. Noting the bejewelled skull upon the altar, the group proceed to explore the rest of the level. They noted that the smaller statue, due to being raised higher from the main floor level of the chapel, meets its gaze upon the same point as the eyes of the larger statue - in this case, at the exact spot upon which the ruby-gemmed skull rested amidst ash and bone upon the altar.
Once more our "heroes" retreat to the rubble of the barbican, rest within the Skull House and foray once more into Castle Scarwall. They position themselves within the chapel, Sir Barb of Orr's cleric slaps the skull with a Dispel Law , rousing the Demi-lich to action amidst a howling vortex of its own remains.
Sir Marr of Kuss whiffed his first swing due to the shadowy illumination, dealt 12 points past its Vorpal DR on his second swing and his third blow rang ineffectually off of the floating skull.
Sir Bubba whomped it with a full rack of offensive goodies, dealing a staggering 60 hit points to the skull, reduced to 40 after DR.
The two clerics cast Death Ward spells upon themselves.
Having taken 40 points in a single blow from Sir Bubba, the demi-lich slurped Sir Bubba's soul into one of his ruby teeth. Sir Bubba's carcass collapsed to the floor, beginning to rapidly putrefy.
Torsin futilely peppered the demi-lich with a Magic Missile volley, realizing afterwards that only a Dispel Evil, Shatter or Holy Smite was efficacious, along with Supernatural and spells/spell-like abilities that permit SR.
The Fire Sorceress lit the demi-lich up with her Elemental Blast for the day, dealing about 15 points of fire damage, siting the blast so as not to incinerate Sir Bubba's putrefying carcass.
The last straw was the Druidess hand-delivering 8 holly berry Fire Seeds. According to the Pathfinder Beta description, the spell does not permit SR - thus the flaw in the demi-lich's 'immunity' to spells - and dealt a staggering 1d8+12 per berry, totalling 8d8+96 points of fire damage allowing neither saving throw nor SR to resist. Totalling 150 points of fire damage, the demi-lich was incinerated in a stuttering eight-part detonation of little red berries.
Da Fighter's Cleric of Zon-Kuthon expended his Breath of Life spell to restrain Sir Bubba's carcass from putrefaction.
At this point, I determined to make the conclusion of Castle Scarwall be a half-session deal January 10th 2009. Thusly I fiated the sweep through most of the rest of the castle and disbursed what totalled out to be about 650 THOUSAND gp's of loot as written.
O.o
The characters are now 13th level and are expecting to make their way down the mist-filled shaft to pursue recovery of the weapon some where 'neath the foundations of the castle.
After levelling, Da Fighter's Cleric of Z-K made arrangements to Resurrect Sir Bubba with a bit of an 'added bonus' thrown in. The characters proceeded to spend about six weeks off before starting to return once more to Castle Scarwall, setting the stage for the next session. Total time estimated for them to have dealt with with Castle Scarwall thusfar is somewhere in the vicinity of three months.
An interesting development to be sure...
Speaking of interesting developments, there are a few errors in Chapter 11 "Skeletons of Scarwall". More importantly for this test-campaign, I set about 'Pathfinderizing' the remaining boss critters today, modifying as necessary to scale the creatures in accordance to the guidelines at the back of the PF Beta rulesbook.
Suffice it to say that the player characters' attempts to seize 'the weapon' in question will be met with more resistance than I had initially expected.
Stay tuned for January 10th as the carnage developes - perhaps even ... a TPK ? ^_^
Had I been present when you unveiled the demi-lich, I would have promptly crapped a sailboat on the spot. Did you use the stats from Bruce Cordell's 2005/6 revision of the S1, or did the module have the stats in it? What was the creatures' CR?
Had I been present when you unveiled the demi-lich, I would have promptly crapped a sailboat on the spot. Did you use the stats from Bruce Cordell's 2005/6 revision of the S1, or did the module have the stats in it? What was the creatures' CR?
Yes, I was most chagrined that you did not get to crap that sailboat. ^_^ The amount of time it took the group to get around to playing with the gem-studded skull was impressive. :)
It was statted up as a CR 14 3e (non-Pathfinder) undead, very much in the same vein / feel as the original demi-lich, only a fair bit easier to squish. Its flaw was in its spell immunity: it permitted spells that do not allow SR to apply to be effective, a serious flaw in an otherwise excellent rendition of that venerable creature.
The module used an OGL write-up for the Bishop demi-lich, albiet I maximized its hp due to the presence of 7 characters at the time of the encounter.
I do hope you and the entire group will be present on the 10th of January for the conclusion of "Skeletons of Scarwall", as I have begun the semi-lengthly process of converting the 3e OGL bad guys to Pathfinder Beta write ups. The final encounter in "SoS" was completed yesterday early evening. It is the final chapter and the epilogue that will prove ... entertaining to convert. With my own little touch here and there of course.
As a reminder to the roster of the current campaign group that peruse these boards, the next game session is scheduled for the 10th of January 2009. Most of the group will not be around , and after the holidays I rather wanted a nice long weekend to ... stat up bad guys to test your PCs against. <weg>
Skeletons of Scarwall - conclusion
8 13th level Pathfinder Beta player characters present. 2 Barbarians (Bubba and Thorgar); 1 Fighter (Sir Al of N); 1 Wizard (Torsin); 2 Clerics - one of Zon-Kuthon (Da Fighter) and one other (Sir Barb of Orr); 1 Sorceress, Fire Elemental Bloodline (Jade); one Druid (Da Pimp). Gear is about 175k per character in value, plus the not inconsiderable value of Zellara's Harrow Deck, the Bone House and the minor artifact weapon they would retrieve at the conclusion of the session...
Our heroes took some time to figure out a way to descend the 1,500' luminescent blue fog-filled shaft to where they needed to go in order to retrieve the mighty sword.
Once down, they proceeded to tangle with the four Gugs - and the sorceress' formerly-controlled descecrated Red Reaver Zombie, Max.
During the course of the encounter - which proved to be a much more time-consuming encounter than I had anticipated - critical fumbles and hits flew thick and fast, the four gugs were incinerated and hacked into gobbets and Max was ensconced safely within a Gug igloo by a combination of Walls of Stone and the erection of the Bone House within the entry portion of the cavern, leaving them about 8' of clearance from the roof to the cavern ceiling.
Noteworthy elements:
Sorceress: 1 critical fumble transferring her Mage Armor to the targeted Gug; 2 critical hits with her subsequent two Scorching Ray spells (totalling 3 in that encounter). The first blinded the Gug in addition to dealing double damage, the second dealt triple damage, resulting in the beasts' incineration due to failure to resist massive trauma.
Druidess: A timely use of a Heal spell saved Thorgar, restoring all of the damage the Gugs had managed to deal to him. Using a rhino from a Bag of Tricks to lure Max into a Gug igloo to serve as a "meal" whilst the characters layered Walls of Stone, then erected the House of Bone (well, the sorceress did the House) so as to both contain Max and effectively render the zombie's comparatively minimal Perception ineffective.
Cleric of Zon-Kuthon: Anti-Life Shell contained the Gugs at the front ranks of the party. Oh, and Flame Strikes, can't forget those.
Wizard: well-aimed Lighting Bolts and other fun damaging spells rapidly contributed to the Gugs' messy demises.
Fighter: dealt steady damage and held the cleric's right flank. Were it not for the trample special attack, the gugs would have had a much harder time of it.
Other Cleric: flame strikes - 'nuff said.
Thorgar (Barbarian): Intimidation rattled the gugs in rapid succession. Terrifying Howl (total of 51 .. at 13th level!?) against which I got disgustingly lucky (needed 18+ natural, rolled 18 and 19) and 2 of the 3 surviving Gugs that could be affected resisted. The one that failed also had been blinded by the sorceress, was on fire and about to die. It did not help that it face-planted itself into the nearby wall. The final straw of a 63 hp critical scorching ray gave it the classic Star Trek 2 screaming phaser death.
Bubba (Barbarian): Strove mightily to do well, but the player's fortune was not so good during this encounter. The trampling by the first two gugs were irritating but easily shrugged off. The second two gugs used Awesome Blows attempting to send him over to play with Max - the second only succeeded with a fortuitous critical hit dealing barely sufficient damage to succeed in doing so. Max proceeded to start snacking on poor Bubba. Bubba's bad fortune continued to sour, as he critical-fumbled himself, verifying a critical hit against himself, nearly disembowelled in the process. Panicked AND blinded with rage the barbarian couldn't come even close to beating the Acrobatics DC to move away from Max without provoking, thus suffering death from having a zombie munch on his brain.
Not long after Bubba's truly unfortunate, and spectacularly messy, demise the other 7 characters mopped the floor with the gugs and isolated Max sufficiently to deny the BBEG's command over Max. The cleric of Z-K communed with his patron Gawd, discerning that the thing in the water needed to die horribly - and that the Queen was not a worthy vessel of the dragon whose fangs she wore upon the crown on her brow. To deal with her permanently he and his minions (the party) have to retreive the weapon across the lake.
Our Heroes (Anti-Heroes, Villains ... it gets rather blurry with this group) rest the night, Resurrect and Restortation Bubba the next morning.
Within the waters of the lake Kleestad the Accursed lurked, disturbed at the sight of the sacred Bone House to the Gawd who cast him tither an aeon ago. Atop the islet groaned the chained spirit Mithrodar, restless and uncertain yet eager to replace his spirit anchors with these far more formidable foes just beyond his easy reach.
A single round passed before Thorgar the Impatient tossed a bloody flask into the otherwise pristine lake a short distance from the dock. On the shore with him the cleric of Zon-Kuthon and Bubba had taken positions. Atop the roof of the Bone House: Sir Barb of Orr's cleric, Torsin's wizard, Sir Al of N's fighter and Da Fighter's cleric. Within the interior behind the cover of an arrow slit Jade's sorceress set up her position. Da Pimp's druidess made use of her Wild Shape to earth glide along the cavern wall, starting out mostly-in the cave wall just off the top of the roof of the Bone House.
Initiatives were determined - due to the roll of my dice, Mithrodar and Kleestad went on 22 but in that order due to the (vast) differences in Dexterity scores.
Mithrodar zipped across the surface of the lake, caressed Sir Marr of Kuss' barbarian Thorgar with a touch against which he predictably failed the Will saving throw to resist 1d6 CHA drain - losing 5 CHA in the process - before *poufing* back atop the islet. Kleestad surfaced adjacent to the wharf and vomited corrosive blood onto Thorgar, Bubba and Da Fighter - all 3 failed their Reflex saving throws, taking the full 44 points of acid damage (not counting the cleric's Resist Acid 30) and losing their next standard actions due to being nauseated.
Torsin tagged Kleestad's massive form with a Dimensional Anchor quickly followed up by Jade's first Disintegrate - against which Kleestad needed a paltry natural 4. I rolled ... a 3, resulting in a staggering 91 points of damage and a narrow success (a 2!) on the saving throw not to *pouf* from massive trauma. Then Sir Al of N's fighter hopped the 30' drop (taking 9 hp) from the roof to the ground and whomped Kleestad for about 20 or so points.
Mithrodar gave some CHA draining love to I *believe* Hrothgar (Sir Al of N's beloved Fighter) before once more *poufing* back atop the islet. Then Kleestad shared his pain and suffering with Hrothgar - swiping him with both mighty claws before scoring a Severed Spine critical hit with his Weakening Bite attack. All told, Hrothgar suffered about 99 hit points, 11 DEX damage (reducing him to a 0 DEX) and 13 STR damage.
Torsin retrieved Hrothgar via Telekinesis - albiet getting him swiped by the AoO, losing another 4 STR for a total STR loss of 17 out of 24 - to the roof of the Bone House. Jade once more lit Kleestad up with her second Disintegrate - against which I rolled *another* natural 3 and suffered another 94 points - and a successful massive trauma saving throw - of damage from disintegration. Hrothgar was in bad shape, but not too close to being disabled from hp loss. Torsin was kind enough to administer a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds to ensure he was not going to die from blood loss or infection.
Subsequently Da Pimp's druidess summoned a Gargantuan whale within the lake, failing to budge Kleestad's formidable CMB DC. However, the whale dealt the fatal tail slap, splattering the accursed wretch all over the lake with a powerful fluke slap of its own.
Bereft of his last 3 spirit anchors, Mithrodar was free to attempt to secure another spirit anchor. Sir Barb of Orr moved atop the islet with a combination of magical flight and his travel domain's swift action short range teleportation, handily drawing Serethial from the stone. The blade quickly bade him smite Mithrodar.
At this point, Mithrodar's defeat was inevitable, albiet a matter of a long, long time. I gave them a few rounds' harrassment - slurping a nice 11 points or so of CHA drain off Jade before Sir Barb of Orr's cleric stubbornly refused to roll less than a 31 on his Will saves to resist 3 pokes in a row by Mithrodar. Once I was satisfied that the inevitable was reasonably assured, I fiated the encounter, awarded the group 14th level and concluded the session.
The party then used Shadow Walk elixers and/or a spell from Da Fighter's cleric to swiftly effect a return to Korvosa. The time has come for them to settle their differences with Queen Ileosa.
Converted Stat Blocks - my first two for the entire CotCT AP, converted from vanilla 3.5 to Pathfinder Beta. Note that these are also done in accouting for a 6-8 character group. If a smaller group, at a minimum a GM should probably use lower hit points.
Kleestad, cursed guardian of Serithial, final spirit anchor of Mithrodar (counting as 3 anchors)
NE Gargantuan Aberration (Aquatic [amphibious], Augmented Aberration)
CR 15
Speed 30’, Climb 20’, Swim 40’
Space/Reach: 20’/20’
Initiative Bonus +4
SR 24
Senses: Darkvision 60’, Tremorsense 120’ (autmatically able to pinpoint the location of any corporeal creature in contact with ground he is standing on and water he is swimming in) Perception +21
HP = 381 (18d8 HD, maximized = 144; +216 CON, +21 Toughness)
Ability Scores: STR 48 (+19), DEX 10, CON 34 (+12), INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 10
Immunities: Acid, Death Effects, Mind-Affecting effects, Pain, Paralysis, Poison
Resist Cold 10
DR 10/slashing and magical
AC: 31 (10 -4 size +25 natural); Touch AC: 6
BAB +13 = CMB +36 <13 +4 size +19 STR> = CMB DC 51
Breath Weapon (Su, 1d4 recharge): 50’ cone of corrosive blood: 14d6 acid and nauseated for 1 round with a Reflex saving throw DC 31 permitted to both halve damage and negate nausea. <10 +9 +12>
Melee: 2 claws +29 (3d6+19 plus Pain*/19-20, x2) and bite +28 (2d6+9 plus Weakness**)
* Pain (Su) = 1d4 STR damage [not negative energy sourced] and Fortitude saving throw DC 33 <10 +9 +12 CON +2 Ability Focus> to avoid suffering a -4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks and ability checks for as long as that STR damage is suffered.
** Weakness (Su) = Fortitude DC 31 to negate 2d4 STR damage. [not negative energy]
Saving Throw Bonuses: Fortitude +18, Reflex +6, Will +11
FEATS (7): Multiattack/Improved Multiattack, Ability Focus (Pain), Weapon Focus (claw), Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative [+4] and Toughness [+21 additional hp]
Skills: Climb +39, Swim +39 and Perception +21
Language: Common
And here is the stat-block for Mithrodar as used in this session. Again, this is for a 6-8 character party using the Pathfinder Beta rules set.
Mithrodar, Chained Spirit
Lawful Evil Medium Undead (Augmented Undead, Incorporeal)
CR 15
Space/Reach: 5’/5’ (30’ reach with chains)
Initiative Bonus: +11
Hit Points: = 525 (21d12, maximized = 252 +231 [11x21] from Unholy Fortitude +42 profane); Fast Healing 15
Senses: Darkvision 60’, Lifesense 100’ (equivelant to blindsight only it is additionally able to perceive through solid matter and objects excepting force effects), sense the dead (as detect undead) 500’, sense through spirit anchors as per both effects of clairaudience/clairvoyance as a constant / unconscious ability.
Perception Bonus: +33, Sense Motive +33
Speed: fly 60’ (perfect); spectral binding = automatically returns to his starting place when his turn is ended. This does not count as an action, does not provoke AoO due to movement as he simply reforms at his starting place and he is only displaced by creatures in his starting space. Force effects can contain him to that starting space, provided that they are three-dimensional – otherwise he merely needs to go above or underneath the offending effect.
Touch AC: 33 or 35 (10, +6 profane, +11 deflection, +7 DEX; swift = +2 dodge); Flat-footed Touch AC: 26
Saving Throw Bonuses:
Fortitude: +20 (Base +7, CHA +11 from Unholy Fortitude, +2 profane)
Reflex: +18 (Base +7, DEX +7, +2 profane, +2 Lightning Reflexes)
Will: +19 (Base +12, WIS +5, +2 profane)
Immunities: Channeled Energy (Positive and Negative, save for the healing benefits of the latter), Destruction .
Undead Immunities = all charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns and phantasms; paralysis, poison, disease, death effects and stunning; not subject to critical hits, sneak attacks, nonlethal damage, ability damage to STR, DEX and CON, ability drain, energy drain, exhaustion and fatigue; any effect requiring a Fortitude saving throw unless that effect can also affect objects or is harmless; not at risk of death from massive trauma (but is destroyed when reduced to 0 hp); unaffected by raise dead or reincarnation – due to his circumstances, not even a Resurrection or True Rez will work (nor expenditures of Miracle or Wish).
Ability Scores: STR --, DEX 24 (+7), CON --, INT 17 (+3), WIS 20 (+5), CHA 32 (+11)
Base Attack Bonus +10, CMB +17 = CMB DC 36 (CMB +19)
* Note that non-ethereal combat maneuvers can only be performed with his chain attacks, with which he is considered to have a STR of 25 (+7 ability modifier; CMB +17).
Incorporeal Touch +19 melee <10 +7 +2 profane> (1d4+2 plus 1d6 CHA drain [Will DC 31 <10 +10 +11> to resist the drain, per attack] and 3 incorporeal ghost touch chains +19 melee (2d4+9 plus 1d6 CHA drain [same save DC]).
All attacks are treated as evil, magical weapons. Chains are considered to be wielded one-handed, and if sundered (hardness 10, hit points 20) automatically reform at the beginning of his next round.
FEATS (11): Alertness [+4 bonus to Perception and Sense Motive], Combat Reflexes [8 AoO per round], Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Multiattack/Improved Multiattack, Weapon Finesse (B), Agile Maneuvers (B), Defensive Combat Training (+4 to his CMB DC) (B), Dodge [swift action = +2 dodge bonus to AC until the beginning of his next turn], Combat Expertise, Mobility, Spring Attack and Whirlwind Attack [when he is in danger of losing his chains due to his last spirit anchor being brought down or seemingly being brought down in short order – or if the characters are all or almost all clustered within the reach of his chains -, he will maneuver to implement this feat as often as possible – which permits him as a full-round action to perform either one of his incorporeal melee attacks against each opponent within reach!].
SKILLS: Perception +33, Sense Motive +33, Fly +39, Bluff +35, Diplomacy +35, Knowledge (history) +27, Acrobatics +20, Escape Artist +21
Languages: Common, 3 ancient languages; Telepathy 500’
You forgot one minor thing on my game play.
Kleestad was all but taken out by me with a nat 19 roll and an auto confirm critical rage power, and the feat upping my critical multiplier to x3,dealing 185 points of damage. I dropped him unconscious, buy failed on dice damage roll from completely finishing him off. The whale did the remaining 4 or 5 points of damage, to a defenseless target, in the finishing attack.
So my luck sort of turned around in the end.
You forgot one minor thing on my game play.
Kleestad was all but taken out by me with a nat 19 roll and an auto confirm critical rage power, and the feat upping my critical multiplier to x3,dealing 185 points of damage. I dropped him unconscious, buy failed on dice damage roll from completely finishing him off. The whale did the remaining 4 or 5 points of damage, to a defenseless target, in the finishing attack.
So my luck sort of turned around in the end.
Ah yes, most correct - and well done on the timely critical hit! :) And as I recall you put him to -7 hit points, Kleestad failed to stabilize going to -8 and then the whale tail whomped him into a spray of chunky salsa.
At 185 points of damage, you realize that you dealt about half of Kleestad's hit point total in one single swipe ? ^_^
I'm not trying to lessen any one's contributions - I just cannot remember everything, sad to say. Note that some times - as with your post - it takes a bit of a prodding to wake the mind to recollect something with clarity...
You forgot one minor thing on my game play.
Kleestad was all but taken out by me with a nat 19 roll and an auto confirm critical rage power, and the feat upping my critical multiplier to x3,dealing 185 points of damage. I dropped him unconscious, buy failed on dice damage roll from completely finishing him off. The whale did the remaining 4 or 5 points of damage, to a defenseless target, in the finishing attack.
So my luck sort of turned around in the end.
Ah yes, most correct - and well done on the timely critical hit! :) And as I recall you put him to -7 hit points, Kleestad failed to stabilize going to -8 and then the whale tail whomped him into a spray of chunky salsa.
At 185 points of damage, you realize that you dealt about half of Kleestad's hit point total in one single swipe ? ^_^
I'm not trying to lessen any one's contributions - I just cannot remember everything, sad to say. Note that some times - as with your post - it takes a bit of a prodding to wake the mind to recollect something with clarity...
Don't worry about it, just filling in the gaps I can remember.
Skeletons of Scarwall - conclusion
Gear is about 175k per character in value, plus the not inconsiderable value of Zellara's Harrow Deck, the Bone House and the minor artifact weapon they would retrieve at the conclusion of the session...
Um Turin, I had but 130K and change before the day's events began. Should I adjust that total? and if so, to what?
Incidentally, I got absolutely CRUSHED in the day's game:)
Skeletons of Scarwall - conclusion
Gear is about 175k per character in value, plus the not inconsiderable value of Zellara's Harrow Deck, the Bone House and the minor artifact weapon they would retrieve at the conclusion of the session...
Um Turin, I had but 130K and change before the day's events began. Should I adjust that total? and if so, to what?
Incidentally, I got absolutely CRUSHED in the day's game:)
Then that probably means you did not get Ian's e-mail telling you how much swag each person - including yourself - have received. At which point, I probably understated the group's gear value - which means that the characters are probably tooling around at 210k or so gp value of stuff.
And that was the idea - in this case, testing Beta's CR changes, which bumped both foes' HD up. Mithrodar's HD increased by half again whilst Kleestad's went up a fair bit.
Ordinarily this chapter of the AP should be probably be at least 20 hours' play - and can easily take 40 hours' play - to properly play through. Not counting probably at least as many hours in re-statting everything to Beta rules.
Chapter 6 "Crown of Fangs"
After taking two days to recuperate from the ability damage and especially the Charisma drain so lovingly doled out by Mithrodar the previous session, using the time to cover the distance by way of shadow walk and wind walk.
The intruding characters came in by way of summoned-critter tunnelling into area A75, then widened the doorway into area A74 enough so as to accomodate the changestaff treant, Max the zombified red reaver, the two zombified Nightmare mounts and the druid's rhinoceros animal companion.
As they made their way through the smoking lounge, they could here a heated discussion in Infernal - Torsin and Ranco the Cleric of Zon-Kuthon could make out that Her Royal Majesty and at least two other creatures were chewing out another person for "being a traitor".
Bubba went left around the 'lounge' - area A73 of the Red Mantis assassins , whereupon he could see the Queen, a fat wizard with an equally fat imp on his shoulder, a bat-winged spiked chain wielding fiend and a large worm-thing with three heads on the smaller end in the vast open spaces of area A72.
Sir Marr of Kuss' barbarian Thorgar went right around the 'lounge', from whence he could see the huge black dragon with a woman in armor in a saddle, a man in masked garb, and most of the rest of the bad guys.
The fire elemental-shaped druid came up just behind Thorgar after sending his treant forward to open the western set of double doors into the lounge ahead of them. Shedding torchlight as she moved forward, she belted out a challenge to the Queen and her mighty minions, clad in armor made of umbral dragon scales.
Ranco cast sheild of faith, moved forward and indicated that it was 'time to clean house'.
The Queen continued chewing out the rider for her treason, whilst the rider nat-1'd her dismount check and found herself dangling from the long cords.
Jade moved forward and sent Max forward, ending his movement in front of the eastern pair of doors.
Yzahnum the efreeti moved up very quickly due to his innate ability to fly, morphing en route into a Huge efreet packing a flame blade scimitar.
The black dragon Zarmangarof grabbed his rider with his tail and power-slammed her into the floor of the open pit he was adjacent to. Mavrokeras the advanced 'cornugon' horned devil, spiked chain in tow, flew over to Thorgar and swatted him once without activating his fear aura.
Torsin moved up closer to the western 'lounge' doors whilst Hrothgar moved to support Bubba on that left flank and hasted all but Max and Thorgar.
Torgomar tossed a 15 dice Delayed Blast Fireball at the left flank of the party anchored by Bubba that caught the barbarian, Hrothgar and the treant. All 3 failed their Reflex saving throws, with the treant losing all but 36 points of its protection from fire due to the vulnerability they have.
Kayltanya remained on the wall up off the floor in the 'lounge' at the beginning of the 2nd round, having dusted herself with dust of disappearance shortly before due to the silent alarm being triggered by passing the threshold into A74. Taking 10 she had a total Stealth check while motionless is an effectively unbeatable 83. Patiently she waited up on the wall above the player character's head, seeking to messily dispatch one of the ladies...
Mavrokeras unloaded a full-round attack on Thorgar the barbarian, tearing into him with 2 out of 3 stunning spiked chain blows - continuing to resist the stunning effect of those hits - discharging its stored Empowered Lightning Bolt with the first hit against which Thorgar's saving throw was insufficient to halve the electricity damage, bit him and drilled him with a tail sting, creating a dreadful infernal wound. As its free action the devil fired up its fear aura, sending the barbarian into a panic for the next 90 seconds of game time.
Sermignatto facing Max, proceeded to tongue lash, double-constrict and bite the big zombie, tearing into him for about 64 points after the zombie's DR 5/slashing.
Bubba tore into the efreeti with his falchion, striking him twice for about a full third of his 296 hit points.
Thorgar proceeded to flee in his panic, getting whalloped once more by Mavrokeras - and still shrugged off the stunning effect of the horned devil's spiked chain hit - and ran past 3 of his allies. First he passed the treant who missed him on his attack of opportunity in an attempt to slow the half-orc's flight. Second he passed Ranco, who
missed his attack of opportunity as well. Thorgar's last hope to not bleed to death on his flight out of Castle Korvosa was Torsin - who nat-20'd her attack of opportunity, clothslining the unfortunate barbarian - but at least saved his life.
The druidess moved up to where she could see beyond the wrasslin' Max and Sermignatto and dropped a flame strike that caught Her Majesty (who succeeded on her Reflex saving throw) and Torgomar (and the bloatmage's unfortunate familier) who rolled a nat-1 on his Reflex saving throw, though Pudgyknuckles' fire resistance saved its miserable existance by the skin of its resist fire 10. Due to the fumbled saving throw, Torgomar died doing the Tiberium Candle Dance . The treant whomped Yzahnum twice, losing another 8 points off of its protection from fire.
Ranco finished casting his summoning of a greater shadow, siccing it on Sermignatto, using its Spring Attack to vanish into the floor after slurping off 6 points of strength. Then he moved to the clotheslined barbarian and had to burn his only Harrow Point to succeed on the DC 27 caster level check to effect a heal spell on Thorgar. This would not remove the panicked state the barbarian was in, but at least it meant he would not bleed to death...
Her Majesty feather fall'd into the pit with the broken woman, furious at the treachery that they had found out about and proceeded to stabbing the poor wretch.
Jade ordered Max to start snacking - which the zombie did gleefully, chowing on Sermignatto whilst the sorceress delivered a disintegrate that she criticalled with the disintegrate but the devil fortuitously made its Fortitude saving throw.
Hrothgar stepped up and dispatched Yzahnum with two blows from his longsword, slaying the fiery menace swiftly.
Zarmangarof flew over to the northern side of the 'lounge' and opened the doors, spotted Torsin and Jade standing next to each other, and grinned, commenting on the prospect of devouring the tasty ladies.
Torsin moved out of the 'lounge' to the southern passageway and tagged both devils with a chain lightning that failed to affect Mavorkeras but did deal the secondary bolt to Sermignatto that cripsy-crittered the devil, who died doing the Ten Kilovolt Tango.
Kayltanya's trio of called red half-fiend praying mantis' concluded at this point, she dropped down 5' and unloaded
six sneak attacks dealing a total of 42d6 of sneak attack damage, 24d8 of weapon damage and a staggering 108 points of bonus damage, striking her averaged damage total against the flat-footed sorceress of 367 points of damage. She did survive the nasty 'tears' poison (costing her one Harrow Point) before she died in a messy spray of chunky salsa.
As her dust of disappearance wore off during this round, the trio of unholy mantis' cloaked her and themselves in unholy auras, the better to thwart targeted dispelling of their primary defensive measure.
'
Mavorkeras elected to toss a quickened empowered fireball into the 'lounge', incinerating the treant before delivering a full-round power attack to Max that dismembered the zombie into twitching hunks of red reaver rib-eyes.
Bubba charged and used his rage power to auto-confirm a critical hit that dealt a full third of the dragon's hit point total.
The druidess, moving at a hasted speed that is truly impressive when combined with the speed increase from being in fire elemental form, moved adjacent to Zarmangarof with a fistful of glowing fiery acorns and 10 10d6 fireball necklace beads, making it clear that she fully planned to incinerate the black dragon if it didn't let her get into his saddle.
Ranco sicc'd his pet shadow on the Queen whilst he dropped a destruction on one of the mantis critters. While it was successful on its saving throw, it still found itself taking 60 points of damage from the destruction, thusly expiring from massive trauma.
Her Majesty sawed through the mystery woman's throat in the pit, the grisly sounds clearly heard from within the pit, before fleeing the strength-slurping shadow via magical flight. She barely cleared the top edge of the pit however.
Hrothgar stepped up and softened up a second giant red demonic praying mantis.
Zarmangarof took out his wrath on Bubba, shredding him to the tune of about 120 or so total points of damage.
Torsin obliterated the same mantis Hrothgar had whacked on with his longsword from another chain lightning spell.
Kayltanya pointed her gore-dripping mantis blade at the druidess, "this is not over" before teleporting out of the dungeon. Mavrokeras, finally figuring out what had been tickling the back of his brain about the Queen, hibachi'd her with a quickened empowered lightning bolt that exploded her in a spray of boneless blood. Noting the oddity, the cornugon commented "interesting" and likewise vanished from the castle. Zarmangarof quickly came to an
agreement with the druid before departing.
The Harrow Deck of Many Things proved entertaining.
Torsin wound up drawing "The Desert", "The Mute Hag" and "The Owl". It is now widely believed by the populace that she is actually the Queen-in-magical-hiding...
Jade wound up drawing "The Queen-Mother" (gaining 4 formian warriors) and then TWICE drew "The Midwife", gaining 2 full levels in the process and enjoying the free LN mini-onions.
The druidess drew 4 cards (one of which was "The Cricket" making a total of six draws). She wound up with "The Bear", "The Brass Dwarf", "The Cricket" (gaining 30' additional land speed), "The Dance", "The Desert", "The Snakebite" and "The Waxworks" (gaining 3 CN duplicates of opposed agenda). The trio of what will become Neutral Evil druidess' are this players' bevy of characters.
Thorgar drew "The Demon's Lantern", "The Desert", "The Idiot" and "The Feind". A quasit now rides a VERY stupid 14th level barbarian 'Master-Blaster' style.
Bubba drew "The Hidden Truth", "The Idiot" and "The Twin". Thusly, he is now known as "Bubbette" and was for a short time just as dumb as poor Thorgar.
None of the other 3 player characters were available or willing to draw cards - although Ranco flatly refused to do so, Sir Barb of Orr and Sir Al of N remain entitled to do so should they so desire.
Our (Anti-) Heroes make their way to the sunken pyramid, wiped the floor with the boggard chumps and the devilfish before making their way to the shaft leading up to the third floor. While poor Max was mourned by the resurrected sorceress, she pressed on with the rest of the characters astride her zombified nightmare mount next to Ranco. The druidess had whipped out another changestaff and was once more toting along a treant.
Jade had made her way up and to the left, spotting the fist-sized sapphire so casually left out on an iron pedestal.
Bubbette was in the center , Ranco was in the right along the entry landing. Behind them was Torsin - having been lifted up by the treant - and the druid. Hrothgar remained behind in town wenching and carousing with Sir Barb of Orr and Feldmarschall Cressida Kroft. Poor brain-damaged Thorgar had been left languishing at the bottom of a shaft he no longer had the brain power to muster the
skill ranks to climb (against a DC of 30 with a 3 INT ... all he had left was Intimidate, 'though he was quite good at it despite the 3 CHA).
The opening of hostilities was initiated by a trio of dread wraiths, attempting to slurp the vital essences out of the creature closest to them - Ranco. A couple of rounds passed as things started heating up, bringing the treant up the shaft, leaving poor Thorgar behind and introducing the half-dozen simulacrum of Her Majesty floating down the shaft from the top chamber of the pyramid.
The six ladies first blasted Ranco, the druid, the druid's rhinocerous and Bubbette with a Glitterdust that succeeded only in blinding the rhino, then they layered from the same targeted point solid fog, stinking cloud, web and sleet storm. Freedom of Movement on the rhinocerious animal companion permitted the druidess to move forward and unload a whopping 375 hit points of fire damage. Due to Fire Resistance 30, the rhinoceros was not completely incinerated. It probably should have taken about 50 points or so of those blasts. If fire seeds were a part of this "Lenny Effect", then the companion almost certainly should have been vaporized into charcoal along with the Queen's mini-onions.
This, unfortunately, resulted in the six bloody ladies being utterly reduced to charcoal despite their 102 points' fire protection.
The first character into the chute was the druid riding her probably-should-have-been-charcoal rhinoceros, who ate a wall of iron to the face. Due to the Queen having greater arcane sight up and active, she noted the spell turning protecting the druid up and attempted to take advantage of the resonance field up between her and the druid to maze her out of the field of battle. The druidess reciprocated the favor by charging up the shaft and skewering the true Queen (for about 116 points) in all her devil-bound destinied-bloodline-sorceress glory.
The next several rounds saw Jade, Torsin and Ranco busily extricating themselves from the solid stinking fog.
The second character up the shaft was Bubbette, attempting to thwack Her Majesty ... and whiffed mightily.
The druid likewise whiffed his attack sequence on her Majesty, although a second attempted Maze by the queen had previously stripped both spell turnings out of operation.
Ileosa, now rather infuriated and with a greater metamagic rod of quicken in hand to use as a 1d6 bludgeoning implement, decided to send Bubbette wielding Serethtial packing. She first
attempted to send him away with an imprisonment which he nat-20'd his Will saving throw to resist. Failing to imprison the newly-minted woman, she promptly quickened a second imprisonment that she had to use one of her two 'It Was Meant to Be' re-rolls to penetrate SR in order to punch through his scarab of protection.
This second one was successful in sending Bubbette packing.
The druid caught the artifact sword that did not wish to go away so easily and promptly sundered the Crown of Fangs from her brow in a single mighty blow.
Ranco had made his way up there, but failed to obliterate her with a Destruction.
Ileosa, now bereft of the Crown of Fangs, was successful in imprisoning Ranco and sending the druidess packing via a quickened maze.
Jade had finally made her way up into the chamber, failing to do anything with the Polar Ray she fired.
Torsin had come up into the chamber as well, similarly failing to seal the deal with an offensive spell of her own.
A round or two passed in this fashion before the zombified nightmares that got obliterated in the magical crossfire.
The defining moment that turned the struggle to the characters' favor was a fortuitous critical hit with a disintegrate by Jade that severed Ileosa's connection with her spell-like abilities and spells for 4 rounds. For a span of 3 rounds she whalloped the sorceress with her metamagic rod, before she finally realized that she was about to fail in her goal of eternal youth and fled the scene, barely keeping ahead of the pursuing rhinoceros, sidestepping Thorgar and finally escaping the structure to flee to parts uknown.
During the subsequent days', the druidess went wholly to Neutral Evil (her and her two identical cohorts), sacrificing the entirety of the Grey Maidens to the pool to ensure for herself eternal youth. Ranco and Jade have begun making plans to coronate themselves the new rulers of Korvosa...
Hi, just stated Bubba will be back to normal after I find a polymorph scroll for him/her. The only otherthing is I am now a werebear, too!
Actually, you just advanced to 15th level Wizard, Torsin, which means in addition to Torgomar's hefty spell books you looted you learned 2 Wizard spells of your choice upon advancing to 15th level.
Choose wisely - I do recall Polymorph Any Object is an 8th level Wizard spell, for example... :)
Naturally, I left out Kazavon's reformation, the dispatching of same via the druid wielding Serthtial and the resultant permanent blinding of both Torsin and Jade.
*sighs*
AND I forgot to properly differentiate that only one of the trio of druidess' should have gone NE (albiet a hawt teenage girl when in her rare moments as a woman) whilst the other 2 are still CN and thusly scattered to the winds. I don't really see CN characters working towards the exact same goal ...
*sighs*
Drat.
|
Naturally, I left out Kazavon's reformation, the dispatching of same via the druid wielding Serthtial and the resultant permanent blinding of both Torsin and Jade.
*sighs*
AND I forgot to properly differentiate that only one of the trio of druidess' should have gone NE (albiet a hawt teenage girl when in her rare moments as a woman) whilst the other 2 are still CN and thusly scattered to the winds. I don't really see CN characters working towards the exact same goal ...
*sighs*
Drat.
fantastic read. am looking forward to these moments in the rather distant future.
although it would appear the time is approaching.
3x NE crazy druid girls with rhinos? sounds like my kind of game.
any specific hard-points or modifications you'd think necessary? the PF statted NPCs are a huge help, although still a ways away.
-t
Torsin wanted to say:
"I am also trying to find a cure for the other barbarian's problem. Yeah your right, I am not a were bear yet."
Naturally, I left out Kazavon's reformation, the dispatching of same via the druid wielding Serthtial and the resultant permanent blinding of both Torsin and Jade.
*sighs*
AND I forgot to properly differentiate that only one of the trio of druidess' should have gone NE (albiet a hawt teenage girl when in her rare moments as a woman) whilst the other 2 are still CN and thusly scattered to the winds. I don't really see CN characters working towards the exact same goal ...
*sighs*
Drat.
fantastic read. am looking forward to these moments in the rather distant future.
although it would appear the time is approaching.
3x NE crazy druid girls with rhinos? sounds like my kind of game.
any specific hard-points or modifications you'd think necessary? the PF statted NPCs are a huge help, although still a ways away.
-t
Ooo, I got positively evil with statting up the bad guys in Crown of Fangs.
Once I get some more technical feedback posted up for the PF Beta rules set, hopefully I'll have some time before surgery this early Thursday morning to reformat to fit in this format.
Naturally, I left out Kazavon's reformation, the dispatching of same via the druid wielding Serthtial and the resultant permanent blinding of both Torsin and Jade.
*sighs*
AND I forgot to properly differentiate that only one of the trio of druidess' should have gone NE (albiet a hawt teenage girl when in her rare moments as a woman) whilst the other 2 are still CN and thusly scattered to the winds. I don't really see CN characters working towards the exact same goal ...
*sighs*
Drat.
fantastic read. am looking forward to these moments in the rather distant future.
although it would appear the time is approaching.
3x NE crazy druid girls with rhinos? sounds like my kind of game.
any specific hard-points or modifications you'd think necessary? the PF statted NPCs are a huge help, although still a ways away.
-t
Ooo, I got positively evil with statting up the bad guys in Crown of Fangs.
Once I get some more technical feedback posted up for the PF Beta rules set, hopefully I'll have some time before surgery this early Thursday morning to reformat to fit in this format.
Make it a google document. LINK That way you can use all the color you want.
Make it a google document. LINK That way you can use all the color you want.Naturally, I left out Kazavon's reformation, the dispatching of same via the druid wielding Serthtial and the resultant permanent blinding of both Torsin and Jade.
*sighs*
AND I forgot to properly differentiate that only one of the trio of druidess' should have gone NE (albiet a hawt teenage girl when in her rare moments as a woman) whilst the other 2 are still CN and thusly scattered to the winds. I don't really see CN characters working towards the exact same goal ...
*sighs*
Drat.
fantastic read. am looking forward to these moments in the rather distant future.
although it would appear the time is approaching.
3x NE crazy druid girls with rhinos? sounds like my kind of game.
any specific hard-points or modifications you'd think necessary? the PF statted NPCs are a huge help, although still a ways away.
-t
Ooo, I got positively evil with statting up the bad guys in Crown of Fangs.
Once I get some more technical feedback posted up for the PF Beta rules set, hopefully I'll have some time before surgery this early Thursday morning to reformat to fit in this format.
Oooh, spiffiness Bubba, thanks!