Just out of curiosity...
So, who did it?
My party dispatched him fairly easily...I was a bit disappointed because I am usually known for killer encounters. :P
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My party will be meeting him the next game... we will see. I gave some visions/warning but they think it's the necromancer and not SPOILER-GUY. We will see... I hope "Team Home Invasion Local 51" actually exercising some caution... but :heh:
Cesare + Paul Watson: What was the level/make up of your party?
(I don't see a typical party being able to take him down with out taking severe losses.)
My PCs negotiated with him. Let him go. Regretted it afterwards... not because of anything he did, but just on general principal.
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funny you should ask...
i haven't played either, but Seven Days to the Grave is tied with Children of the Void as my favorite all time Pathfinder adventures. It's weird but I see a trend in that the second in the path is my favorite in all four APs to date.
anyway, i will forecast that my players will do everything in their power to kill him...they're like that.
My group will be starting Seven Days in July (we only get to play one weekend a month) so I won't know what will happen for several months ...
I'm truly not sure what they'll do. With the King of Spiders, half the party wanted to go back and erase that evil from the world, the other half were concerned about escalation and survivability, but once a plan was made to take him down, they did the job quite thoroughly. So I can see it going either way with Ramoska. It will be interesting, I'm sure :)
My PCs negotiated and let him leave. They were kicking themselves the entire time, but since they'd already dealt with everything else on that level and were pretty bad off for their efforts, they didn't want to risk the confrontation. In my opinion, they made the right choice. He'd have mopped the floor with them at that point.
I'm truly not sure what they'll do. With the King of Spiders, half the party wanted to go back and erase that evil from the world, the other half were concerned about escalation and survivability, but once a plan was made to take him down, they did the job quite thoroughly. So I can see it going either way with Ramoska. It will be interesting, I'm sure :)
My group was rather resourceful in the way they dealt with Devargo.
Too bad about that Harrow Deck of Many Things. Since it was the rogue's plan, and he drew the card, I'm having the King of Spiders return as an undead foe looking for revenge.
My group was rather resourceful in the way they dealt with Devargo. ** spoiler omitted **
I'm truly not sure what they'll do. With the King of Spiders, half the party wanted to go back and erase that evil from the world, the other half were concerned about escalation and survivability, but once a plan was made to take him down, they did the job quite thoroughly. So I can see it going either way with Ramoska. It will be interesting, I'm sure :)
Ooh, good one on them :)
My group
The goons in the room all failed their saves vs. the Pyrotechnics, as did the King of Spiders. Not only that, because the conversation had been so wonderfully played up to the point, and _I_ didn't know what the party had planned specifically, they got the surprise on Bavarsi. That being the only thing that saved the poor wizard from a quick trip down below ::laughing:: The half-elves in the party had spotted the trap-door on this trip (we had switched from 3.5 to Beta between, and they didn't have the passive spot before) but could not signal the poor wizard of his danger!
Anyway, the rogue and ranger jumped Bavarsi and managed to not only get all possible bonuses with flanking and such -- they BOTH critted! The wizard magic missled him, and the cleric grabbed the wizard and yanked him off the trap door ... One surprise round later and there's a dead spider king, and the goons are being bound and gagged, while Majenko was freed from his cage.
They then proceeded to explore the rest of the boat and off the nasties in the basement, before leaving calmly with the shiver evidence and without alerting the exterior guards that there had been any issue what-so-ever ;p
Needless to say, I was proud of my players, and cursing my dice at the same time :)
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My party will be meeting him the next game... we will see. I gave some visions/warning but they think it's the necromancer and not SPOILER-GUY. We will see... I hope "Team Home Invasion Local 51" actually exercising some caution... but :heh:
Cesare + Paul Watson: What was the level/make up of your party?
(I don't see a typical party being able to take him down with out taking severe losses.)
I'm pretty sure they were sixth level at the time. Disrupt Greater Undead from the Wizard, Ranger/Evoker with Favoured Enemy: Undead and Paladin with lots of Lay on Hands left (each doing 3d6 damage) really helped. Other members included a Barbarian/Druid (Air Domain) with lightning arcs and a Fighter/Rogue with a mighty longbow. The Paladin really did the damage. He rolled phenominally well.
EDIT: Campaign Journal for my group is here.
My PCs negotiated with him. They weren't too happy about it, but they didn't want to mess with some sort of undead they'd never seen before, but was obviously fairly powerful. The Paladin wasn't there for that session, so that made negotiations a bit easier.
They attacked. He got away.
My group attacked, got their butts handed to them, and decided to flee. The Vampire took that time to leave.
Apparently though he made an impression. We're at Crown of Fangs and the PCs are contemplating attacking the castle. While discussing the bad guys, one of them said 'Hey, what about the vampire thing that was in the hostel? We haven't seen him yet. Bet he's in the castle too. Probably a whole tribe of vampires in there. Illeosa could be a vampire!'
So, from this, it sounds like most groups didn't kill him... *evilly taps the tips of his fingers together* Excellent.
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I am running 2 groups.
The first is in A History of Ashes. They had missed the He who shall remain Nameless, the first time through on their way down to fight She who Shall Remain Nameless. After their epic battle with her, they were forced to rest. They had done the rest of the place (top 3 floors and basement) in one shot and were tapped. They were heading out when one of them said, "Hey what about that one door we missed." There were 7 in the party so I had given him another level.
The party found him about to do something vial to someone. So they did what any reasonable PC group would do. They looked at him, saw the picture of him and...shut the door. No wait that was a different Vampire several campaigns ago. They looked at him and said, "What's Up Doc?" Then entered negotiations. After numerous bluff/sensemotive checks from both sides as well as a long negotiation on price to have him leave peacefully it came down to 3000 gp for the hostage and he walks out the door. The Rogue looked at him, then at the rest of the party and turned back to me and said. "Roll Initiative..."
As for the 2nd group I run...they are still in Edge of Anarchy and I expect Barvasi to be a telling part on how this group will work together. They will most doubtedly face him this weekend.
I found that the 1st time through the group dynamic was polished in that set of encounters (Chaos aplenty let me tell you). They wound up doing an elaborate distraction scheme to get some party members in to see Barvassi. As it succeeded in confusing everyone (including the players and myself) as to what was going on, their 1/2ling sorcerer (enchantment based sadly no longer with the group) ran into the room with Barvassi. Barvassi asked him point blank who he was and what he was doing there. He froze then shruged and exited. The rest of the party about killed him at that point. They eventually would all go in and explain the situation and make some damn fine Diplomacy rolls. But the beginning was pure unadulteratted Chaos.
I've run Seven days for two different groups. Both "bought" the Varisian ocarina player and let Ramoska leave in peace.
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My group was rather resourceful in the way they dealt with Devargo. ** spoiler omitted **
I'm truly not sure what they'll do. With the King of Spiders, half the party wanted to go back and erase that evil from the world, the other half were concerned about escalation and survivability, but once a plan was made to take him down, they did the job quite thoroughly. So I can see it going either way with Ramoska. It will be interesting, I'm sure :)
Ha, we think alike!
They managed to make it into the hole, leaving the boat tied behind them, and against all odds managed to make it across the broken floor of the bilge without slipping through. They kept sneaking forward, making their way up that rope ladder and into the ship. Then they go full-blown Metal Gear Solid with the stealth, checking almost every room and stopping just short of opening up the ettercap's lair when they heard scuttling beyond the door. Again with the amazing rolls for them, poor rolls for Chittersnap. Then a guard from upstairs makes a round in the corridor outside the room they were gathered in. They all tense up, ready for the hammer to drop at any moment while the guard idly relieves himself in the hatch they just crawled from(I decided on the fly that the latrines were either busted or for the boss only, just to get a rise from the players. They weren't happy about it).
The guard goes back upstairs, they sneak after and wait at the door leading to the main room(after the rogue lowers Devargo's sea-chest into the bilge, of course). They are STILL rocking the stealth rolls. They listen and wait until someone visiting Devargo on business leaves, they count to ten, and charge in blades first into a room containing Devargo on his throne and six thugs.
The rogue throws a tanglefoot bag right on target, the double doors leading outside. The party's front line charges to get close to Devargo, he opens the trap door and drinks the invisibilty potion, leaving both PCs clinging to the edge of the pit. And every spider downstairs and the ettercap come swarming in. Grade-A cluster@#$% in-progress, with the guards outside now trying to bash the doors in.
And the PCs still rock the joint. Devargo was visible and bleeding by the time the ettercap went down, but it still had the payoff of every little spider crawling over him(and in his mouth(long story(not really, he was going to spit them out at close range for psych out the enemy))) started biting him and giving him negative modifiers all over the place. The SWAT team/PCs essentially put him out of his misery, told the SINGLE surviving thug to find an honest living, tore Majenko's cage off the ceiling and took it with them, and made for the exit.
They run like hell. They make it downstairs when the doors finally give out. They made it into the bilge gracelessly and managed to just make it across the broken floor of the bilge and back onto their boat. They were a good distance away when they heard a splash and cut-off scream from inside the boat.
I was so proud. The only person who knows that the PCs killed Devargo Barvasi is Cressida Kroft and a thug who doesn't even know their names.
And then they opened the chest while in the rowboat. I asked for Reflex saves.
As for the vampire?
I'm giving the vampire another bargaining chip as well: While the cleric might be appalled at letting the vampire walk, knowing that there's a daemon nearby that needs to be put down is probably going to refocus his rage in a heartbeat.
Just out of curiosity...
** spoiler omitted **
So, who did it?
My party bargained with him. They had no money to offer, so I bribed him with the possessions of the clergy who had just defeated. Rasmoska warned them about the daemon, the players loved the idea of the daemons and PCs were a few moments talking with Rasmoska about cosmology. It was a curious and amusing scene, and we were glad to stop fighting for a while.
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My group originally talked to him (LE Diviner and CE Cleric of Nethys in the party), but when he highballed the price and they failed their diplomacy/bluff to talk him down...they attacked.
He did lots of damage, managing to dominate the fighter and rogue, but everyone was prevented from slaughtering everyone else with a magic circle vs. evil (Diviner).
He flew/climbed out into the big disease-vat chamber, tossed a couple of lightning bolts out, and was put down with positive energy, good aligned arrows, and hand of the acolyte spear shots from the CN cleric of Nethys (yes, 2 clerics)
-t
My group attacked the vampire and got their asses kicked by him. Vampire let them go though. After finishing the adventure they went back well prepared and killed the vampire.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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The Paladin in my group did not take kindly to letting a vampire live, so although they attempted to negotiate, he deemed the terms "unacceptable" and proceeded to start Smiting him down. It was a pretty tough fight, especially when the Rogue got Dominated, but they pulled through it all right.
By the way, they really enjoyed the treasure from that encounter. Congrats for the creativity on that one!
My group killed him. It was a brutal fight, but they were determined not to leave any witnesses behind who could identify them to the Red Mantis. It left them in a weakened position going into the climax of the chapter, and there were two deaths (one requiring an actual resurrection rather than a raise dead).
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They had gone into the hospice thinking there was just a simple basement where Ruan was likely being kept; they fully intended to sneak in, get Ruan, and sneak out. Things got complicated. After the run-ins with Davaulus(went down like a chump) and Rolth(who hit them harder than they expected and escaped! Oh how they hate him now) and swarms of cultists, they were out of spells and severely low on channellings. Most of the group was completely out of Harrow points as well.
When they about to enter the door, Ramoska told them to come on inside. They weren't expecting that, so they went in to see the vampire with his hand on one of the levers operating the bed Ruan was strapped into. He made small talk, asking who they had managed to kill so far, and then informed them that he was almost certainly going to tear them apart if they decided to take them on. He made the offer to leave peacefully, along with a warning about the daemon in the chamber nearby, along with the argument to the cleric about what he should be risking the last of his strength to fight, something that feeds on blood or something that feeds on souls. The cleric, very grudgingly, conceded that point.
They gave him enough of the looted magic items to cover the cost for Ramoska's trip back to Ustulav. Because of a misreading on my part they were perhaps a bit too quick to give away Davaulus' rapier(I told them in was a human bone rapier. With the bane property, after a reread while they were identifying it.
The fighter asked to know his name before they left. Ramoska asked why he wanted to know. The fighter said he might look him up some time if he ever happened to go through Ustulav. Ramoska smiled and gave his name, looking forward to the sport the fighter was promising in the future.
It was all very polite, if tense. Especially after their dealings with Rolth and Devargo.
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My party negotiated - more or less.
On an only slightly related topic... since I am not a fan of "encounter for the sake of simply wearing down the party before the big fight" I didn't have them fight the daemon, either. Well... they almost did, but I made it something that would have likely landed them a TPK - I had two of them. Having been imprisoned, they were mostly concerned with getting away rather than fighting the characters to the death. They used their breath weapons, waited for the characters to retreat to a more defensible position, one of them managed to gate in a new one and the three of them strolled out of the temple wreaking only minor havoc on the population above before departing. The party then faced the BBEG at nearly full strength and it was a darn tough fight. Greater Command worked very well - one of the characters crit-failed the save (the sorcerer) and was subsequently killed by a combination of Flame Strike, Spiritual Weapon, and her Vicious Scythe, while another player couldn't roll the save for the entire duration of the spell... then he stood up in time to stick the Daughter with his rapier and kill her.
Much fun was had. :)
hmm, they took him down, a bit too easily for my tastes even. Then again they came loaded for bear (reading vampire) expecting something up that alley after the vampire spawn encounter and feeling that "blood veil" was too much of a hint as to the opposition. Stakes, ample supply of holy water hurled in "six-packs", a scroll of gust of wind....
Rolth fell very fast (sudden-empowered orb of fire to the face + blindness when facing two rogues = low-life expectancy )when he gave himself away as a spell-caster, same with the doctor so they hit Ramarkos while still quite decently armed.
The fact that sneak damage in Pathfinder is now viable against undead helped not a bit either. neither did positive energy channeling.
The swarm form surprised them, but got struck by a "holy six-pack" and a "cone of acid", which ended the whole thing in a steaming puddle...
Not being able to regenerate, he got cookie-points for style and movie tie-ins , but low scores regarding "staying power"
Of course, the group actually believed him to be the mastermind behind the plot, which caused some surprises later on^^
Of course, the group actually believed him to be the mastermind behind the plot, which caused some surprises later on^^
Hah! That's the best! I love it when PCs get all smug and then are wrong. ^_~
Of course, the group actually believed him to be the mastermind behind the plot, which caused some surprises later on^^Hah! That's the best! I love it when PCs get all smug and then are wrong. ^_~
I blame their misspent youth playing "Vampire : The Masquerade" ^^