Wish you hadn't told me that, I was thinking about resurrecting him on my own away from the public eye.
Your instinct on this matter was correct - he was recently infected and could have been cured of the cursed affliction. He did not know that much - your fellow rulers relied upon detect alignment spells/abilities to determine their course of action. No one attempted to interrogate him, the poor bastard.
That would be fully in keeping with the highest standards of your declared alignment. :)
That would be fully in keeping with the highest standards of your declared alignment. :)Wish you hadn't told me that, I was thinking about resurrecting him on my own away from the public eye.
Your instinct on this matter was correct - he was recently infected and could have been cured of the cursed affliction. He did not know that much - your fellow rulers relied upon detect alignment spells/abilities to determine their course of action. No one attempted to interrogate him, the poor bastard.
Thanks
The only questions left, which I would cast commune to find out before hand, is if the guy will have more than 1 hit die (a.k.a. if bringing him back will work) and if he will still be infected.
That would be fully in keeping with the highest standards of your declared alignment. :)Wish you hadn't told me that, I was thinking about resurrecting him on my own away from the public eye.
Your instinct on this matter was correct - he was recently infected and could have been cured of the cursed affliction. He did not know that much - your fellow rulers relied upon detect alignment spells/abilities to determine their course of action. No one attempted to interrogate him, the poor bastard.
Thanks
The only questions left, which I would cast commune to find out before hand, is if the guy will have more than 1 hit die (a.k.a. if bringing him back will work) and if he will still be infected.
Yes and yes.
Yes and yes.That would be fully in keeping with the highest standards of your declared alignment. :)Wish you hadn't told me that, I was thinking about resurrecting him on my own away from the public eye.
Your instinct on this matter was correct - he was recently infected and could have been cured of the cursed affliction. He did not know that much - your fellow rulers relied upon detect alignment spells/abilities to determine their course of action. No one attempted to interrogate him, the poor bastard.
Thanks
The only questions left, which I would cast commune to find out before hand, is if the guy will have more than 1 hit die (a.k.a. if bringing him back will work) and if he will still be infected.
Can he still be cured? I was looking over the rules, and I don't see any removing the curse after 3 days of infection... Maybe it is not in the lycanthropy section?
Can he still be cured? I was looking over the rules, and I don't see any removing the curse after 3 days of infection... Maybe it is not in the lycanthropy section?Yes and yes.That would be fully in keeping with the highest standards of your declared alignment. :)Wish you hadn't told me that, I was thinking about resurrecting him on my own away from the public eye.
Your instinct on this matter was correct - he was recently infected and could have been cured of the cursed affliction. He did not know that much - your fellow rulers relied upon detect alignment spells/abilities to determine their course of action. No one attempted to interrogate him, the poor bastard.
Thanks
The only questions left, which I would cast commune to find out before hand, is if the guy will have more than 1 hit die (a.k.a. if bringing him back will work) and if he will still be infected.
Considering that he has been deceased, any "count down clock" is effectively held over while he is six feet under.
We need to discern what the rest of the characters' decisions were on disposing of the remains after the public execution first. Presumably, given the nature of the creature, the corpse was incinerated.
EDIT: After consideration, while the resurrection, restoration and immediate (same day) removal of the curse of lycanthropy from the victim are most noble and good - the ramifications upon the lawful authority of the kingdom are considerable, as follows:
- The act of restoring to life a serial killer / werewolf duly sentenced to permanent death is counter to the duly instituted laws of the Barony of Starfall - likely constituting High Treason ;
- The highly probable revelation of the restoration to life of the convicted and publicly executed serial killer / werewolf will greatly undermine the still-delicate authority of Her and His Highness' with the corresponding Unrest amongst the small population of the Barony of Starfall;
- Your doing so as the Guru to Her and His Highness' is directly counter to the authority of the Crowns and the governing persons, including that of the Marshall of Starfall (Mr Straw);
- In summary, consider this course of action carefully.
Can he still be cured? I was looking over the rules, and I don't see any removing the curse after 3 days of infection... Maybe it is not in the lycanthropy section?Yes and yes.That would be fully in keeping with the highest standards of your declared alignment. :)Wish you hadn't told me that, I was thinking about resurrecting him on my own away from the public eye.
Your instinct on this matter was correct - he was recently infected and could have been cured of the cursed affliction. He did not know that much - your fellow rulers relied upon detect alignment spells/abilities to determine their course of action. No one attempted to interrogate him, the poor bastard.
Thanks
The only questions left, which I would cast commune to find out before hand, is if the guy will have more than 1 hit die (a.k.a. if bringing him back will work) and if he will still be infected.
Considering that he has been deceased, any "count down clock" is effectively held over while he is six feet under.
We need to discern what the rest of the characters' decisions were on disposing of the remains after the public execution first. Presumably, given the nature of the creature, the corpse was incinerated.
EDIT: After consideration, while the resurrection, restoration and immediate (same day) removal of the curse of lycanthropy from the victim are most noble and good - the ramifications upon the lawful authority of the kingdom are considerable, as follows:
...
- The act of restoring to life a serial killer / werewolf duly sentenced to permanent death is counter to the duly instituted laws of the Barony of Starfall - likely constituting High Treason ;
- The highly probable revelation
The way I see it, it is simply reviving another victim and double punishing the actual murder, the lycanthropy. I will discuss this with the rest of the party.
Okie dokies!
Our Heroes turned to the tasks of handling the combative menaces that cropped up during their explorations of the Greenbelt prior to claiming their kingdom and/or during the early months of establishing the Barony of Starfall.
First up was the dryad's request to dispatch the scythe tree. Our Heroes traveled to the hex indicated by the fey, fired off a commune with nature, then used speak with animals to discuss the matter with an available owl.
The dice made the owl a bit ... dense. It seems that this particular owl was rather stupid for an owl. Lenny the Owl took a full day to take them to a clearing wherein large (for an owl) amounts of carrion could be found. The scythe tree's DC 40 Stealth check was almost sufficient to prevent easy detection by Our Heroes.
Almost is the same as "close" - either only count with horseshoes and hand grenades. In the case of the scythe tree, the "almost" translated into being spotted by Da Mystic Theurge, who outlined the bugger with a blast of glitterdust.
Then the artillery barrage opened fire.
The scythe tree had seen the ground pounders of the group just before the glitterdust blinded it, so its remaining two rounds of life were spent shambling forward in an attempt to close to within its blindsight range. It died a scant 10' from the nearest party member, blasted by cold, lighting and non-ignitive fire damage into a simmering husk of a tree some 20' in diameter. If memory serves, Da Mystic Theurge even tagged the thing with a dimensional anchor "just to be sure".
When the fireworks started Lenny the Owl fluttered from one tree stump near the scythe tree to another, older and larger tree stump.
Da Monk was the only one to succeed in penetrating the DC 45 (with range penalties) Disguise check of the thing that ate poor Lenny in a puff of feathers. The tree stump Lenny landed on ... turned out to be an Elder Monstrosity Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing.
A blast of faerie fire outlined the Huge tree stump to the rest of the party. Three of them were within move-and-full-attack range of the monstrosity. Da Mystic Theurge attempted to remove Da Monkette and Da Palizard from harm's way by moving up and poking them before firing off a dimension door to remove himself some 500 feet to the rear.
Sadly, Da Monkette did not wish to "Kirk in Limbo", nor did Da Palizard wish to not have the joy of smiting mightily. Both resisted the teleportation effect with 30+ Will saves. So Da Mystic Theurge wound up a half-minute in the back while his druid cohort and her pet velociraptor remained up with the mass of the party.
One 5' step put the monstrosity within its 45' reach of being able to attack Da Monkette and Da Cultist. One attack wiffed Da Monkette. The second attack (a natural 3) handily struck Da Cultist's 33 AC. All six remaining tentacles followed, dragging Da Cultist to near the monstrosity's maw, pinning him and forcing an egg down his gullet.
The artillery barrage continued, simply changing focus from the scythe tree to the EM Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing. Mistah Mwangi, Frost Woman the Eldritch Knight and Fluff Gugg bombarded the monstrosity with cold, fire and lightning. Multiple lesser rods of maximize are death in a pocket .... and they have so many of them ...
Da Cultist surprisingly failed - or perhaps not so surprisingly - the DC 32 Fortitude save to resist being implanted. Da Palizard declared the thing a Smite Evil target - and was surprised to find out the hard way that her vastly improved deflection bonus to AC did not apply against the AoO she provoked from closing into distance. She must have rolled abominably, because she could not hit its relatively low AC for beans. Or her attack bonus is much lower than I think it is ... oh well. ^_^
The monstrosity's next turn was spent largely constricting Da Cultist, attempting to put him down to negative hit points (so it could stabilize him, permitting its horrid offspring the time necessary to eat its way forth later) via constriction. The 4th constriction activated his armor's 1/day breath of life, the 7th put him back down to a proper negative hit point total. The 8th tentacle was used to whallop the palizard once more.
Sadly, the EM's 500 hit points were not enough to allow it to prevail - especially after Da Monkette got into full attack range. Six Power Attack unarmed strikes buoyed by inspire courage, haste, and two of the funky 4th level "choose your bonus" Cleric spells from the APG from both Da Cultist and Da Mystic Theurge led to a 169 point beat down from Da Monkette in a single round. A few choice evocation spells from the "Artillery Battery" (Frost Woman, Mistah Mwangi and Fluff Gugg) polished the critter off.
Our Heroes deployed magical healing to restore Da Cultist's hp to full before the hour-long "surgery" to extract the implanted egg sac from his guts. They beat the DC by enough to reduce the CON damage from the surgery from 11 to 9 points. A good thing they made sure he was fully healed first. ^_^
Next they turned to Vesket the Lizard King, whose accompanying illustrations just does not properly convey the majesty of such a creature. Especially packing a magical trident and bling alongside a CR 16 stat block. As usual, Our Heroes stacked everything onto Her Majesty - even against a DC 53 Diplomacy check (which they did not know about up front), they totaled a check of 62. Stupid divination specialist school bonus ... +8 ... really? *facepalm*
Having hammered out a suitable agreement between themselves and an exploding population of lizard folk - the gist of which boils down to "humans trespass, humans get eaten" (trespassing humans being recognized by agreed upon means) and a mutual protection pact - with expression of interest at some point in the future to expand via lizard men into the Hooktongue Slough from which they were driven 5 centuries ago by a pair of swamp dragons. The lizard folk population is not overly large ... but with proper quiet and food supply, they will more than exponentially increase within the decade.
The final task accomplished was to travel to the Lonely Barrow, which they had previously reconnoitered their first time in.
Our Heroes made their way in, tossing area effect spells into the back room where the Lonely Warrior was roused once more to assert its ire upon trespassers ... once it got out of direct line of effect (into a corner adjacent to the entrance into its resting chamber).
Unfortunately for Her Highness, she was the first living creature to enter the central 10' square of the trap dubbed "the breath of despair". All four dragon heads exhaled a bone-chilling miasma of black-gray vapor that drained life and vital energy from those tripping that center area of the floor. Unfortunately for her, she was the only living creature in that square. Even worse, one of the four enervations was a confirmed critical hit, totaling 5d4 temporary negative levels - generating 15 total temporary negative levels, snuffing her on the spot. "I feel weak ... " *collapse*
Mistah Mwangi and Fluff Gugg nuked the mook skeletons in the side chambers before beating a hasty retreat.
The Lonely Warrior did not last much longer, due to Da Palizard having Draggy the Dragon drop a death ward upon herself - a similar action which Frost Woman had forgotten to have Fluff Gugg do for her before so recklessly striding forth into the barrow's central chamber.
Da Cultist's pocket rogue was not within "auto-detect" range for that lovely rogue talent to have had a chance to pick up on the Search DC 50 of that trap. Oops. ^_^
The players attempted to argue that a magical trap could be dismantled and sold like so much loot. That was quashed by simple logic: a magical trap is constructed "in place", the same as the various glyph, rune, sigil and symbol spells are. Dismantling it will not provide loot, bypassed or not. Note: Mr Straw's Disable Device bonus is, apparently, a +48. O.o Overkill much? Needless to say, this has been "noted".
Her Highness was raised and double restoration'd after they let her corpse molder for a day to shuck off those pesky temporary negative levels. Too bad I did not think to layer that entire central chamber with those puppies ... however, it would probably have been much better to have re-architectured the entire encounter - centered around the Breath of Despair - which was something that time was not kind enough to provide.
Our Heroes are now 13th level, advanced (race) characters with 11th level doll cohorts.
The main item of interest was that they were able to restore the distorted map engraved into the top of the Elder Monstrosity W-i-S-C they dispatched. In Aklo, the map leads to some place dubbed "the Valley of the Dolls", in the mountains southeast of Varnhold...
We will not plan to have another game until sometime in January - weather, work and special "planning" on the various group members permitting.
At that time they have the matter of the owlbear lair, a missing boy a hodag and most importantly the menace of Candlemere to consider before resuming the "kingdom timeline" that they had worked up.
Then the trolls .. and a few interesting "events" that are percolating...
After all of that, the fun begins in Varnhold ... best guess is sometime late January or maybe February ... later if the winter is ugly enough.
insert gleeful cackling here
The scythe tree-WiSC combination encounter was cobbled together with the publication of Misfit Monsters Redeemed - I had originally intended to pair the Scythe Tree (CR 13 version) with a tendriculous (CR 18), but instead gleefully swapped the latter out for the CR 17 WiSC.
Naturally, the players appreciated raking in some 50k XP in one session, propelling them to 13th level... :)
Now the fun is going to really get started.
nice...
Clerics forgetting Freedom of Movement and/or Death Ward are my favorite things ever.
Well, that, and banjos.
'specially banjos ... *squirt* ... yep, 'specially banjos.
The players attempted to argue that a magical trap could be dismantled and sold like so much loot. That was quashed by simple logic: a magical trap is constructed "in place", the same as the various glyph, rune, sigil and symbol spells are. Dismantling it will not provide loot, bypassed or not. Note: Mr Straw's Disable Device bonus is, apparently, a +48. O.o Overkill much? Needless to say, this has been "noted".
Well, I thought of Mr. Straw as more of a problem solver. Built him to do it well so it wouldn't be a problem any more. Using 3 feats devoted to finding and disabling has its obvious benefits.
nice...
Clerics forgetting Freedom of Movement and/or Death Ward are my favorite things ever.
Well, that, and banjos.
Actually, I did use it to get away from that thing's grasp. If I had not cast it, I probably would have gotten grabbed with the AoO as I ran away with out it.
The players attempted to argue that a magical trap could be dismantled and sold like so much loot. That was quashed by simple logic: a magical trap is constructed "in place", the same as the various glyph, rune, sigil and symbol spells are. Dismantling it will not provide loot, bypassed or not. Note: Mr Straw's Disable Device bonus is, apparently, a +48. O.o Overkill much? Needless to say, this has been "noted".Well, I thought of Mr. Straw as more of a problem solver. Built him to do it well so it wouldn't be a problem any more. Using 3 feats devoted to finding and disabling has its obvious benefits.
The magic item providing a bonus better than a set of masterwork thieves tools ... yeah ... overkill ... and coming in with a bonus that high takes things from "solving a problem" to "irritant".
Actually, I did use it to get away from that thing's grasp. If I had not cast it, I probably would have gotten grabbed with the AoO as I ran away with out it.nice...
Clerics forgetting Freedom of Movement and/or Death Ward are my favorite things ever.
Well, that, and banjos.
This was referring to the clerics' (plural) not having cast that on the other party members. :)
The magic item providing a bonus better than a set of masterwork thieves tools ... yeah ... overkill ... and coming in with a bonus that high takes things from "solving a problem" to "irritant".The players attempted to argue that a magical trap could be dismantled and sold like so much loot. That was quashed by simple logic: a magical trap is constructed "in place", the same as the various glyph, rune, sigil and symbol spells are. Dismantling it will not provide loot, bypassed or not. Note: Mr Straw's Disable Device bonus is, apparently, a +48. O.o Overkill much? Needless to say, this has been "noted".Well, I thought of Mr. Straw as more of a problem solver. Built him to do it well so it wouldn't be a problem any more. Using 3 feats devoted to finding and disabling has its obvious benefits.
Fine, consider them gone. Would you mind if I keep one to keep the number to find and disable the same for simplicity?
Fine, consider them gone. Would you mind if I keep one to keep the number to find and disable the same for simplicity?The magic item providing a bonus better than a set of masterwork thieves tools ... yeah ... overkill ... and coming in with a bonus that high takes things from "solving a problem" to "irritant".The players attempted to argue that a magical trap could be dismantled and sold like so much loot. That was quashed by simple logic: a magical trap is constructed "in place", the same as the various glyph, rune, sigil and symbol spells are. Dismantling it will not provide loot, bypassed or not. Note: Mr Straw's Disable Device bonus is, apparently, a +48. O.o Overkill much? Needless to say, this has been "noted".Well, I thought of Mr. Straw as more of a problem solver. Built him to do it well so it wouldn't be a problem any more. Using 3 feats devoted to finding and disabling has its obvious benefits.
The feats I do not mind at all. Combined with magic item versions of the masterwork tools is where the overkill steps in. I would have probably gone with the trio of feats and masterwork tools myself - right up to the point at which I hit a +32 total bonus. At that point, anything higher is overkill under normal circumstances.
At this point, I am going to say that Mr Straw has what he has - we've done enough ret-conn'ing and retraining in this campaign already.
Fine, consider them gone. Would you mind if I keep one to keep the number to find and disable the same for simplicity?The magic item providing a bonus better than a set of masterwork thieves tools ... yeah ... overkill ... and coming in with a bonus that high takes things from "solving a problem" to "irritant".The players attempted to argue that a magical trap could be dismantled and sold like so much loot. That was quashed by simple logic: a magical trap is constructed "in place", the same as the various glyph, rune, sigil and symbol spells are. Dismantling it will not provide loot, bypassed or not. Note: Mr Straw's Disable Device bonus is, apparently, a +48. O.o Overkill much? Needless to say, this has been "noted".Well, I thought of Mr. Straw as more of a problem solver. Built him to do it well so it wouldn't be a problem any more. Using 3 feats devoted to finding and disabling has its obvious benefits.The feats I do not mind at all. Combined with magic item versions of the masterwork tools is where the overkill steps in. I would have probably gone with the trio of feats and masterwork tools myself - right up to the point at which I hit a +32 total bonus. At that point, anything higher is overkill under normal circumstances.
At this point, I am going to say that Mr Straw has what he has - we've done enough ret-conn'ing and retraining in this campaign already.
I was saying that from now on I am going to get rid of them. No ret-conn'ing.
For those who are somehow unaware of the reference, I give you dueling banjos.
The other references ... shall wait. >:)
For those here who are of the Cathulu-ian persuasion you have not been forgotten in this holiday season.
For those here who are of the Cthulhuvian persuasion you have not been forgotten in this holiday season.
Fixed that for you - awesome find by the way! <thumbs up>
A Merry Christmas - even if you don't celebrate it - to everyone. Dammit :P
To everyone from the carnivorous hobbit of dubious mental stability: A Happy New Year!
Just hope you don't here my above posted YouTube linky as the ball drops, shall we ? ^_^
To everyone from the carnivorous hobbit of dubious mental stability: A Happy New Year!
Just hope you don't here my above posted YouTube linky as the ball drops, shall we ? ^_^
Thanks and Happy New Year!
A bit over a week late, but:
Party's over, everyone of you ... fill your fists with steel, your heart with hate, your spirit with rage ... the time for dying is nigh!
This past Sunday Our Rulers resumed their campaign to pacify the Greenbelt.
The first order of business was to find the lost brat. They tracked him down to a glade of carnage, the mighty Hodag snacking on a couple of unfortunate bears. The brat was up a nearby tree scared half out of his tiny little mind.
Once more a ridiculous Diplomacy check ended the encounter and the Barony of Starfall has an intelligent creature with a burrow speed of 25'. This came in handy for the next order of business...
The Trolls had begun making meat snacks out of a few families along the southernmost border. Since this was unacceptable, they made a deal with the Hodag. In trade for shiny swag, a comfortably fitted lair and a steady supply of chow, the creature would in return occasionally serve as a living siege engine.
As it turns out, the Hodag finds trolls tastier than swamp sushi (lizard men), and that trolls are a meal that just keeps on giving.
Magical reconnaissance of the trolls' lair uncovered a fatal flaw - there was one door and a few arrow slits. Against conventional assault this would permit a few trolls to easily defend the entrance.
Using their mutual defense pact with the lizard men, a group of swamp sushi scouts let the bulk of the trolls on a merry chase through the local wooded hills. Once the bulk of the trolls were drawn out, The Plan was put into action.
Against Our Rulers, however, this was all of a few minutes' delay. The Hodag burrowed to where the tunnels left the original dwarven construction (at the back of the store room filled to the brim with 4 BP worth of swag), then left to acquire itself several self-propelled eternal field rations. In a coordinated effort, a wall of thorns filled the end of the tunnels trapping the two-headed troll, the troll witch doctor, the rock troll, the Boss Troll and two mook trolls. A wall of fire snaked its way around the tunnel, igniting the wall of thorns. Two walls of stone cast in succession sealed off that end of the complex with a foot of solid stone.
The slaughter of the remaining trolls and their troll hounds did not take long. They waited a day, ensured that the remaining trolls were annihilated and/or Hodag kibble, then opened the now-sealed tunnels via stone shape. Once the smoke cleared, they found and looted the asphyxiated corpses of the boss trolls.
No more Unrest for them, not enough time had passed to even accrue any.
Wagons were brought down, the loot loaded up and the Barony's treasury benefited from both the loot and the additional 10 BP awarded by the Swordlords for smoking the trolls out of the equation.
Lastly, they turned their attention to dread Candlemere. The central tower lurked atop a barren islet some distance from the main part of the island in the midst of the lake. Since the capitol is the next hex N/NE of Candlemere, the horrid threat had to be dealt with.
Reconnaissance confirmed an estimated 24 will-o-wisps lurking about the area. Our Rulers carpet-bombed the islet with a quartet of cloudkills - before moving in after having Da Cultist use a control weather to "deal" with a vicious wintry storm coming into the area.
Our Heroes succeeded in slaying a half-dozen of the 'wisps with the cloudkill carpet bombing - under cover of fog via control weather - before dissipating it and flying in for the kill.
They spotted the first six of the remaining 'wisps at about 70'.
The fight was close, but sadly, the 18 'wisps were not up to the task. That they were advanced vacuum-infused quickling variant will-o-wisps definitely put a respectable hurting on them (altough I declined to add 6 points of DEX the templates entitled them to, the resulting AC of 38 was deemed a tad overkill). The 10' vacuum aura, the persistant 30' fear aura and the 10' reach 2d8 disintegration damage took its toll. Sadly, no one managed to fail the Fortitude save against the vacuum aura, although Da Cultist had to borrow a re-reroll from Molly Missy to survive his first brush with that aura.
If requested, I'll happily spoiler the horrors' stat blocks here for amusement and gleeful cackling.
Da Palizard was not in attendance, but it sure didn't diminish Our Rulers' capabilities. Extensive use of lesser quicken metamagic rods with reams of prepared magic missile spells certainly did not hurt. Well, okay ... it sure hurt the 'wisps ... a lot ...
They now face a ruined tower with a persistent whirling wind within the stairwell leading down into the fetid bowels of the islet. What lay beneath no one knows ...
Zin Serina (Da Monkette) has a very high EGO ring compelling her to take care of the 'problem' that lay 'neath Candlemere.
Will Our Rulers rest and recuperate before venturing into the tower's maw ? Will they remember the rapid disintegration of a test brick thrown in ? What fell horrors await them ?
I hope that things get interesting ... 'Ravenous' interesting that is, by the end of our next session slated for 13th Feb, a week to the day after Superbowl Sunday. cues banjo music on the wintry winds...
I hope that things get interesting ... 'Ravenous' interesting that is, by the end of our next session slated for 13th Feb, a week to the day after Superbowl Sunday. cues banjo music on the wintry winds...
Insightful and helpful comments for the PCs, intended to be printed here, have been removed...
I hope that things get interesting ... 'Ravenous' interesting that is, by the end of our next session slated for 13th Feb, a week to the day after Superbowl Sunday. cues banjo music on the wintry winds...Insightful and helpful comments for the PCs, intended to be printed here, have been removed...
We can't have any of that, now can we. Well ... not any more than has already been doled out at least. >:)
I present, in coveniently spoilered format, the Candlemere Will-o-Wisps for edification and horror:
Candlemere Will-o-Wisps (24)
“Rivers Run Red”, page 27
CR 9 (7,200 xp each)
Variant advanced entropy-infused <vacuum> quickling will-o-wisps
Bluff +13
Aura:
• fear (30’, Will DC 18 negates – save DC increases by 1 per additional will o wisp overlapping – maximum DC 41, stackable, checked every 3rd round)
• vacuum (10’, Fortitude DC 18 to be able to start holding breath if successful or begin suffocating if failed)
CE Small Aberration (Air)
Senses: darkvision 60’, sees invisible and ethereal, lifesense 60’; Perception +20
Initiative +20
SQ: natural invisibility (ex, move action)
Speed: Fly 75’ (perfect); Acrobatics +26, Fly +36, Escape Artist +26, Stealth +30 (= +50 or +70 w/ natural invisibility)
Touch AC: 35, flat-footed 18 (10 +1 size +7 deflection +16 Dex +1 dodge)
HP: 76 each - Immune to all spells & (Sp) that allow SR except magic missile and maze (40 [9d8 aberration hit dice] +36 Con) – fast healing 5 whenever within 15’ of a dying creature & creatures suffering from fear effects
Immune cold, electricity, fire, sonic; necromancy (as magic immunity), negative energy (as if it were undead), energy drain, ability drain; does not breathe, drink, eat or sleep
Vulnerability acid (+50%), harmed by positive energy (as if it were undead)
Fort +7, Reflex +19, Will +11
SQ: Quickening (ex, 2 rounds per day) [take an extra standard action on its turn, +4 dodge bonus to AC – after using both rounds for the day, a candlemere will-o-wisp becomes fatigued for 20 minutes]
Disintegrate +24 melee touch (2d8 untyped, requires magical healing, 10’ reach – i.e., within its vacuum aura)
BAB +6, CMB +0, CMD 39 (10 +1 size +9 DCT +7 deflection +1 dodge +16 Dex -5 Str)
1 Str (-5), 43 Dex (+16), 18 Con (+4), 19 Int (+4), 20 Wis (+5), 18 Cha (+4)
Feats (5): Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes (B), Defensive Combat Training (B), Dodge, Improved Initiative (B), Weapon Finesse (B), Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus (disintegrate)
NOTE: Technically the stat block is incorrectly put together. What it does is convey the "WTF?!" nature of the Old Ones, at least as I envision them.
Our Rulers still do not really know what awaits them in the bowels of Candlemere ... these chaps were just the opening act. >:)
Our Rulers are not the only beings in the Barony of Starfall to kick butt and take names. His Highness Maximilian spends two weeks in the Barony attending to kingly (baronly?) duties out of every two months, being generally gone for 6 weeks at a clip attending to Society business.
Whilst Our Rulers were away playing with trolls, the hodag and eldritch will-o-wisps, Baron Max sallied forth with a small force to crush the owlbear lair.
In this case, thanks to the Spymaster's information, Max seals off the rear exit and starts up a fire at the front entrance that used the lair's natural ventilation to draw the smoke into the lair.
Those that did not die from asphyxiation, died at the business end of His Highness' spear.
Now Our Rulers - depending upon how they fare in the bowels of Candlemere - have only to deal with the fall harvest and a messenger arriving in the middle of the winter festivities ...
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Sunday this weekend (the 13th) Our Rulers are slated to brave the horror(s) that await them 'neath Candlemere.
I am busy busy busy working those horrors up for them in an attempt to do some scant justice to HPL's writings.
Hopefully, they won't ...
Ah, who are we kidding, we want them do die horribly, gibbering "Iai! Iai! Yog-Sothoth!" whilst being gutted like freshly caught children.
I rather suspect that most of the player characters will weather the place fine though, they have awfully good saving throw bonuses.
Stay tuned for the carnage that hopefully will ensue!
Our Rulers continued the Candlemere expedition.
Digest version:
Stymied by the entropic tornado eternally warding the lone stairwell descending into the bowels of Candlemere, Our Rulers elected to use prodigious Knowledge (engineering) and (dungeoneering) checks to discern the best location to burrow down into the Meeting Hall of the cult of Yog-Sothoth.
After Fluff-Gugg failed to resist a sudden onset of paranoid psychosis and Molly Missy attempted mightily to gut herself with her own hairpin atop the altar, the Horror itself made its presence felt alongside a haunt that would have hammered them with cacaphonic nastiness and castigation. The haunt did squat, the exemplar amalgam 15 HD chaos beast gibbering mouther was another matter.
Despite the horror's best efforts to messily dispatch Zin Serina, including multiple blood drains and even having engulfed her, alas the monk's messy demise was narrowly averted. Molly Missy's body was shredded along with 2 summoned fiendish bears, with a few flesh wounds dealt to Her Highness. Then the players got nasty.
A heightened reach bestow curse took hold upon the horror, along with a web and a half-dozen cloudkills followed by several coldballs (maximized). At 535 hit points and a 38 CON, this was no easy foe to put down. The curse itself put it at a 50% chance to do nothing every round. All told, six cloudkills robbed the Horror of over 20 CON (24 or so as I recall) before Our Rulers finally put the thing down.
The last haunt could have resulted in very bad things (true rez of Horror plus multiple extra lives), sadly no one saw fit to fail that save.
However, ol' Yog-Sothoth saw great potential in Our Rulers and has extended to them a pact. They will gain great power, at a cost.
Once they consecrated the grounds and complex and destroying the ring, Our Rulers returned to peacable rule. Maeger Varn stopped by for the Founding Festival, a tradition he would renew the next year.
A certain Lady in Purple attempted to seduce Baron Max and failed. She moved on to easier prey in the lands to the west.
At the third fall harvest, two burly wood elves that were disguised ancient dragons-at-arms came upon the spiked skulls of their offspring, the two tatzylwyrms slain during the Barony's first year. In exchange for not laying waste to the entire Barony - starting with the Rulers and their capitol - they received the gold mine and its kobold clan / work force, the immediate lands about the mine and permission to woo new brides from the Barony.
The session was concluded by a near-dead messenger from the Swordlords. Contact has been lost with Varnhold to the east, the Sworlords themselves have strife to deal with at home.
Will Our Rulers succumb to the same awful fate as Varnhold? In two or three weeks there is only one way to be sure...
Our Rulers have yet to decide as to whether or not they will accept the pact with Yog-Sothoth. It will be interesting to see if they do...
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The more developed telling of the tale of today's events, from the GM's point of view. First up, Candlemere.
Thanks to Tem's excellent suggestions for the horrors that befell the Cult of Yog-Sothoth at Candlemere centuries in the past, I will post my revisions beneath this wall of text:
Revision: Anyone sleeping or resting on Candlemere island are prone to suffering nightmares. The nature of the Old Ones in this place grants the effect superlative intimacy of resting creatures’ minds, save those immune to or that derive sustenance from fear and those devoted to the Old Ones. Elves are not subject to nightmares here unless they rest to regain spells – then the nightmare visions strike as they are beginning to prepare / regain spells, filling their sleep/minds with mind-numbing buzzing, visions of swarms of light-balls and peripheral glances of masses of huge, incongruous tentacles.
Haunt: Nightmarish Rest (CR 12) (xp 2,400 each for surviving) [CR 6 +2 persistent +4 perception DC 40 +0 daily reset +0 weaknesses] CL 12, 54 hp, Will DC 32 negates loss of 1d10 hp, becoming fatigued and unable to prepare/regain arcane spells for 24 hours. Succeeding on the DC 40 Perception notes the sussurrus of layered whisperings in Aklo and languages not even Linguistics comprehends and enables those who note it to participate in the surprise round.
Presuming that they are present within the 2 week window of opportunity for Unjust Vengeance to trigger, a single burst of channeled positive energy that overlaps the tower’s upper structure and dealing 82+ points of positive energy can disrupted both Nightmarish Rest and Unjust Vengeance.
Area A: Outside the Tower
The "tower" is actually a small low-lying building with a 50' tower attached at one end. The only entrance is into the building at the opposite end from the tower. Though persistently crumbling, the tower rebuilds itself over time so that it seems to remain the same state of disrepair.
Within 100' of the tower the first time the party approaches within this radius they are subject to the will-o-wisps’ Unjust Vengeance:
Revision: When those who slew the will-o-wisps bound to the tower return, they are subject to a phantasmal revenge upon approaching the tower once more, provided that they return within 14 days of having slain the ‘wisps. Such is the taint of the Old Ones.
Haunt: Unjust Vengeance CR 12 (xp 2,400 each for surviving) [CR 8 +6 for DC 50 Perception to notice during the surprise round], CL 14, 28 hp from channeled positive energy. Will DC 20 disbelieves – failure provokes Fortitude DC 20 partial: 5d6+14 hp if successful, 140 hp if failed – this also does not target those benefitting from greater heroism, mind blank and any other effect that provides immunity to fear. Remove fear delays the attack until the spell expires (typically 10 minutes unless extended).
Those who succeed on the DC 50 Perception check – and are subject to fear effects – feel a lust for souls and fear well up in their hearts and are thus able to participate in the surprise round.
If a being capable of channeling positive energy (28+ hp) is able to act before the haunt strikes on the surprise round, the haunt can be disrupted for a day. Only purging the island or avoiding it for 2 full weeks’ time is sufficient to thwart the ‘wisps’ unjust vengeance.
Haunt: Escape from the Depths (CR 4)
Revision: Cultists swarm up the stairs with horrified expressions as they flee from the complex below. Some scream while others are running wildly, eyes rolled back in their heads.
Haunt: Escape from the Depths CR 10 (1,200 xp each for surviving) [CR 7 +5 for the DC 35 Perception DC to participate in the surprise round], hp 24, reset: 1 day, proximity trigger, Extended Mass Pain Strike, Fortitude DC 17 negates being sickened for 20 rounds, suffers a +4 bonus for other creatures to Intimidate them and takes 1d6 nonlethal damage per round for the duration that they are sickened.] <Weak-ass for CR 12, reduced to CR 10.>
The haunt can be disrupted by 24+ hp of channeled positive energy for a day.
Just outside of the tower this haunt triggers.
Area B: Meeting Hall
A large open room 30' wide and 70' long.
Revision: The spiral stairs descend some 60’ from the surface into the meeting hall. Within this stairwell roars an entropic tornado funnel perpetually whirls within the stairwell. The tower rebuilds itself, although always apparently in a state of ruin. Creatures that derive sustenance from fear or are devotees of the Old Ones are neither subject to the winds nor to disintegration.
- The 300 mph winds render ranged weapon attacks within, into or out of the stairwell impossible. Flames are extinguished and sound-based Perception checks are impossible.
- Those who enter the stairwell – and thus the tornado funnel – are whirled around within the stairwell for (1d10) rounds, bludgeoned for (6d6) damage per round, before being expelled out of the top of the funnel in a random direction (if ascending) or out the bottom of the stairwell into the meeting hall (if descending). How far is 5x the damage taken in the last round within the funnel for a Medium creature (doubling or halving per size category smaller or larger) in feet, rounding down, subjecting the sorry creature to falling damage for half of the distance expelled.
- Inanimate objects within the funnel, as well as mindless creatures and mindless constructs are not subject to the winds. Constructs and objects suffer disintegration damage (3d6/round bypassing hardness unless comprised purely of magical force).
There are four effects of note while within the bowels of Candlemere that have survived the attrition of aeons past:
- Rest Eternal: those who do not believe in the Old Ones (or derive sustenance from fear) are subject to Rest Eternal at caster level 15th at the moment of death. This means that in order to attempt to communicate with the deceased, return it to life or turn it into an undead creature a DC 26 caster level check must succeed or the attempt is thwarted. A DC 26 caster level check with either break enchantment or remove curse can lift the curse from the deceased.
- Nightmarish Rest still plagues all those who trespass against the Old Ones herein.
- Divinations of the scrying subschool and those that create magical sensors that enter or are created outside and then enter the complex are especially likely to endanger the source of the scrying/sensor. (A)The caster must succeed on a DC 22 Will saving throw to resist insanity as his mind shatters from the brief viewing of Yog-Sototh. This is paranoid psychosis as detailed below, although the scrying / magical sensor spells caster is somewhat buffered by the the spell itself. (B)The caster must also succeed on a second DC 22 Will saving throw to resist being feebleminded if successful in resisting insanity as his mind shuts down attempting to repel the sanity-shattering reality so briefly glimpsed. Unlike a standard feeblemind, this permits a daily Will save to shrug off the effect.
- Calling and Summoning spells – including the bringing of eidolons into the complex – of less power than a binding or gate spell are thwarted (as though banished) unless the creature succeeds on a DC 26 Will save and at a +23 bonus to beat any spell resistance possessed by the subject creatures. Chaotic or Evil – and especially Chaotic Evil – called and summoned creatures are instead commandeered by the taint of the Old Ones to turn upon their conjurers, as are eidolons belonging to Chaotic or Evil summoners.
Revision: Paranoid Psychosis Haunt, DC 40 to participate in surprise round, 1.200 xp each for surviving, Will DC 25 negates becoming a paranoid psychotic immediately. Those who notice the onset of the haunt have a flash of belief that everyone else in the chamber is just waiting for the opportune moment to kill them – and that they should do all of them in pre-emptively; 24 hp to suppress the haunt for a day.
Those failing this Will save are inclined to be either argumentative or introverted and can fight against their madness one day at a time. Inevitably, they will plot the demise of everyone that was in this chamber with them (as eventually they will succumb to the madness unless it is cured before then).
While saddled with madness, they
- suffer a -4 penalty on Will saves and CHA-based skill checks;
- can neither attempt nor receive aid from the Aid Another action;
- become Chaotic Evil;
- are at a +20 competence bonus on checks to mask their madness;
- cannot willingly accept aid – including healing – from another creature unless they succeed on a DC 29 Will save (including the -4 penalty to Will saves);
- the character may suppress the urge to murder their fellows on an adjusted DC 29 Will save made daily.
Since the madness is involuntary, there is no requirement for atonement if at such time the madness is removed from the victim.
Area C: The Altar
At the opposite end of the meeting hall there is a raised dais with a waist height stone altar with a bowl shaped indentation in its center.
Haunt: Grisly Offerings
Revision: Grisly Offerings (CR 12 = 2,400 xp for surviving) [CR 6 +8 DC 50 Perception check +2 Persistent +2 1 minute reset timer -2 touch trigger <altar or dagger triggers>], 72 hp to suppress for a minute.
Victims that fail to resist the DC 17 Will save [increasing to DC 32 if they spent a rest period on the island] upon crossing the threshold at the far end of the meeting hall are compelled to disembowel themselves upon the altar. In the surprise round the victim(s) move forward, readying their best means of gutting themselves as part of that movement. On initiative count (10 + victim’s initiative bonus) they coup-de-gras themselves. Otherwise as above. A creature that resists the compulsion does not have to resist it again for 1 minute after they return across the threshold then re-cross it again after 1 minute.
Area D: The Pit
Original Text:
Revision: the pit behind the altar descends from beneath the belly of what was once an observatory above, long since gone to dust and ruin. At the top of the pit is Area E (head cultist’s cell), whilst at the bottom awaits the horror and its terrible treasure.
Haunt: Tentacled Horror (CR 14 = 4,800 xp for surviving) [CR 6 +2 persistent +2 reset 1 minute +4 DC 35 Perception to notice the slithering tentacles +2 for two linked effects -2 weak-ass DCs], hp 72 to suppress for 1 minute, CL 15
- Mass Cacophonous Call as the tentacled horror from the past emerges. DC 20 Will negates the nauseated condition for 15 rounds.
- Mass Castigate as the blasphemies uttered take root in the minds of those potentially affected. DC 20 Will save on the initial round results in being only shaken for 1 round. Failure means that the victim cowers in fear that round, with each successive round permitting a new saving throw. Successive rounds are at a DC 22.
Unlike the previous haunts, there is an excellent chance that this occurs simultaneously with the awakening of the actual Tentacled Horror nestled in the pit itself, especially if any creature disemboweled itself upon the altar.
Treasure:
Ring of Dreadful Rejuvenation
This ring only functions when it's wearer is suffering from a fear effect. When the wearer causes damages in melee, he gains temporary hp equal to half of the damage dealt. He cannot gain more than half of his total hp in this manner in a 24 hour period. These extra hit points disappear after 1 hour or when the wearer ceases to suffer from the fear effect, whichever comes first.
Note that this ring, if worn, will prevent your own death should you try to disembowel yourself (just sayin...) as long as healing is provided before the temporary hp disappear. In this case, you will be at -Con hit points, but with half your total hp as temporary hp and will remain alive.Revision: This ring must be destroyed upon the altar between sunset and sunrise, preferably by disintegrate. Sundering it or other means of physical destruction (other than immersion in acid or lava or something similarly destructive) result in the reformation of the ring, the tentacle horror and the will-o-wisps (1d3) days later. This time they move as a ‘unit’ (with the horror benefiting from the rejuvenation power of the ring) towards the capitol …
Area E: High Priest's Cell
At the top of the stairs behind the pit there is a single room. The room is entirely empty and without windows. Across most of the walls are faint carvings. DC 25 Linguistics identifies it as written in Aklo, then a DC 25 Knowledge[Religion] check identifies them as blasphemous prayers to the Old Cults and a DC 25 perception check finds the eerie name "Yog-Sothoth". Attempts to read the carvings invoke the following haunt:
Original Text:
Haunt: Ancient Obsessions (CR 4)
Notice: Percpetion DC 25 to hear whispered words following along as you read the writing.
hp 8; trigger reading; reset 1 day
Effect: The victim begins speaking Aklo and repeats the words carved on the walls in an obsessive way with growing volume and conviction. The words (though they may not make sense, even to the reader) completely occupy the victim's thoughts and affect him as a touch of idiocy (no save) which lasts for 24 hours.Revision: Perception DC 50, CR $ (6,000 xp for surviving), reset: 1 day, hp 90 (persistent) to suppress for 1 day, victim does as above, although the haunt has no immediate effect unless a victim falls prey to it after the tentacle horror has been dispatched. Failing a DC 30 Will save results in the victim chanting etc, bestowing a true resurrection upon the tentacle horror. This can only occur once per victim. If enough victims recite the passages, however, the horror gains multiple successive lives. If the passages are recited aloud before the horror is dispatched, its hit points instead are multiplied by the number of victims that recite the passages as a result of the haunt. If, for example, 2 victims recite the passages after dispatching the horror, it returns once more with (585 x2 =) 1,170 hit points.
Living creatures that recite these passages whilst under the effects of paranoid psychosis and at least one other of the haunts receive an offer of power from Yog-Sothoth itself. If creatures not subject to fear (paladins, those benefiting from greater heroism or heroes’ feast, for example) hear these passages they too are made an offer (below).
The offer is vague, although sincere.Those who are knowledgeable about such pacts (DC 35 arcana, planes or religion, individually checked – one check allowed per character) realize that the offer is most sincere – great power will be gained, at the cost of one’s very essence – if you are slain, you cannot be recalled from the clutches of Yog-Sothoth by any known means, not even the mightiest of mortal magic prevails against pacts such as these. Service will be to further the presence of the Old Ones on Golarion.
[ooc: GM Knowledge]The great power granted is that of the Eldritch Spawn Creature template (for living creatures – Book of Templates, p 41). In this case, alignment becomes [whatever] evil, with the patron Gawd becoming Yog-Sothoth – Paladins become Anti-Paladins directly, Clerics do not become ex-clerics.[/ooc]
Yog-Sototh compels the recipients, in reward for this power, to contribute equal resources between themselves and the glory of the Old Ones (Yog-Sothoth in particular) as they deem fit.
There is no saving throw attached to this offer (unless a player is insistent, in which case the Will DC to accept the offer starts at a 32 and is reduced based upon how trashed the character’s mind is up to this point – note that acceptance of the offer is subconsciously rejected by the rational mind, thus the stipulation that ordinarily only insane creatures are ordinarily affected), this is meant as a role-playing decision.
It is suggested that the DC to accept the pact be structured as follows:
[list] - DC 32 – having suffered no effects from any of the haunts
- -6 each for paranoid psychosis, grisly offerings or ancient obsessions.
- -3 each for tentacle horror, escape from the depths, nightmare rest or unjust vengeance.
- If some unfortunate soul has survived the effects of every haunt of Candlemere, the DC to accept the pact is only a 2.
CR 15 (12,800 xp award per character)
Flavor Text: This horrid thing is a mass of barbed tentacles, glaring eyes , incessantly yammering mouths filled with gnashing teeth, twisting upon itself and reshaping into new forms.
Exemplar Amalgam Chaos Beast/Gibbering Mouther
Initiative +11
CN Large Outsider (chaotic, extraplanar)
SR: 23 Space/Reach: 10’ / 10’
Hit Points: 585 (15d10 [150] +420 CON [14 x15 racial hit dice x2] +15 Toughness); DR 10/bludgeoning; does not go unconscious until reduced to -45 hit points (slain at-53 hit points)
Immune: critical hits, precision damage, mind-affecting, cannot be flanked
SQ: Amorphous (can move through spaces as small as one quarter of its space without squeezing, one-eighth its space when squeezing), Resistant to Transformation (immediately returns to its ‘normal’ form after being affected by a hostile transmutation effect at the beginning of its next turn as a free action)
Speed: 30’, climb 30’, swim 30’; Acrobatics +25, Climb +39, Swim +39, Stealth +21, Escape Artist +25
Senses: all-around vision, darkvision 90’; Perception +29
AC: 26 (touch +9 natural); flat-footed AC: 18
Touch AC: 17 (9 +1 dodge +7 DEX); flat-footed touch: 9 (10 -1 size)
Fort +23 (base 9 +14 CON), Reflex +16 (base 9 +7 DEX), Will +12 (base 5 +7 WIS)
Melee: 6 bites +28 (1d6+13 plus grab <blood drain after successful grapple = bite damage plus 1 CON damage>), 4 claws +28 (1d8+13 plus corporeal instability
SA: Corporeal Instability: contact-based curse; Fort DC 33 (10 +7 +14 CON +2 Ability Focus); onset immediate; cure 4 successive saves; effect amorphous body and 1 WIS drain per round
Amorphous Body (Su):
- Victims can take standard actions to attempt DC 22 Will saves to temporarily regain/retain its own shape for 1 minute; polymorph subschool spells can hold the victim in a stable form and prevent WIS drain for the duration of the spell, as can stoneskin; victims reduced to 1 WIS are permanently amorphous until the curse is removed.
- Victims failing to regain/retain their own shapes are unable to hold or use any item – clothing, armor, helmets and rings become useless – large items (armor, shirts, packs) hinder the victim <-4 DEX penalty> - Speed is reduced to 10’ or one quarter normal (whichever is less) – the victim cannot cast spells or use magic items and attacks blindly, unable to distinguish friend from foe (-4 penalty on attacks & 50% miss chance regardless).
Ranged: spittle +21 ranged touch (30’ range, free action 1/round, CON-based DC 31 Fort save to negate blindness for 2d4 rounds) [10 +7 +14 CON].
Gibbering (Su, free action, 1/round): CON-based DC 31 Will save negates being confused for 1 round as a mind-affecting compulsion insanity effect, all creatures within 90’; those that successfully resist do not have to further resist the gibbering until 24 or more hours have passed since last encountering the horror.
Engulf (begins a round with a grappled creature = attempts to pin, success = victim is swallowed and grappled while the horror is no longer grappled; AC 14, hp 30, DR 10/bludgeoning for a victim to free itself - those engulfed suffer 9d6 hp and 4 CON damage from blood drain every round; horror can only engulf one creature at a time)
Base Attack +15
- Melee AB +27
- Ranged AB +21
- CMB +29
- Grapple +33 (+4 racial), +38 to engulf
- CMD 46 - cannot be tripped
Skills: Acrobatics +25, Climb +39, Escape Artist +25, Perception +29, Stealth +21, Swim +39; Racial +4 Perception, +8 Climb, +8 Swim [30 ranks unspent]; size -4 stealth
Feats (8): Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Toughness, Weapon Focus (claws), Weapon Focus (bite), Improved Perfect Health [CON bonus to hp added twice], Ability Focus (corporeal instability)
Ability Scores: 36 Str, 25 Dex, 38 Con, 14 Int, 24 Wis, 22 Cha
Language: Aklo
Ia! Ia! <nom nom nom>
very nasty little scenario....thumbs up!
It was far less nasty than I had hoped it would be, primarily because of how haunts' save DCs are structured. At the higher CR ranges, the DCs generally are rather lacking.
However, I did enjoy executing it. My PCs bypassing the Stairwell o' Doom creatively was a nice bonus. (Too bad there were not any more Will o Wisps of Doom to vex them while they were digging...)
The "Lady in Purple" (Lady Moray) made her appearance as a bit of foreshadowing for what I believe is Chapter 4.
Attempts to tag her with nightmares and scrying were unsuccessful, although I believe my players think that I am invoking some form of plot protection.
The dragons-at-arms went along these lines:
Her Highness observed two very burly wood elves, clad in green-black scale mail, Greek-styled helms with a green crest running back to front and gold. Jewelry sparkling with emeralds and diamonds. The shorter is packing a massive maul while the larger carries a heavy repeating crossbow and a mattock.
arcane sight - which Zin Serina has permanent revealed a dozen or more strong magical auras as well as strong arcane spellcasting ability.
Da Cultist's true seeing peirced their veil, revealing to him that the shorter one is a Huge black dragon whilst the taller is a Gargantuan green dragon beneath the powerful illusion - and that the weapons are very much both real and properly sized.
They initially demanded 8 maidens and a wagonload of gold (100k gp) as weregild for slaying and displaying the heads of their offspring. They are referring of course to the spiked skulls of the tatzylwyrms, which you may recall from before were feral green dragons of respectable size.
Not desiring to tangle with the dragons-at-arms, Our Rulers realized that acceeding to their demands would ruin the budding dukedom, let alone just handing over 8 virgin brides. The negotiations went back and forth, settling on (a) permanent forfeiture of the gold mine, its Sootscales work force and the lands within a 2 mile radius of the mine in lieu of the wagon load of gold; and (b) that the dragons would be permitted to occassionally woo a bride for each of them from the populace.
Since the dragons pay a dowry of 10k gp to each bride's family and generally treat their wives very well, the "elven nobles" were the source of considerable fanfare before winter started to make its presence felt and the newlyweds departed.
During the first major storm to hit the region the aforementioned messenger arrived, his horse very nearly as frozen to death as the rider. The missive from the Swordlords tasked Our Rulers with finding out why Maeger Varn, whose pleasant company they had just enjoyed a few months prior at the annual festival, and apparently the whole of Varnhold had fallen silent. This could be as simple as "the big blizzard, DUH", or it could be much worse...
When facing this tentacled horror, our lines and moral to fight were truly broken. Seemingly effortlessly our immovable wall of a monk was quickly grasped and swallowed. *Oh dear, oh my*
Once he broke his way out of it, we proceeded to run, as between this deadly deforming beast also seemed to not be effected by the palizard's smite. How something of this nature existing under these circumstances not be of the most vile and evil is beyond me.
We casted a web spell in preparation of this action, but when re realized that my curse spell had taken hold we know we could take it down. This was followed by a good selection of attack spells weakening it. After a few good attacks, it seemed to just loose all will to survive as if suddenly flopped over dead (It failed its save vs. critical damage).
The two dragons were quite the surprise. I had no idea that pure blood dragons could make such offspring! Anyhow, I highly suspected the second I saw them acting the way they did that they were some form of chromatic dragon in disguise. I am now faced with a difficult decision with these dragons. They are chromatic, and are well known for being evil. I must keep a good eye on them and make sure they are not doing or planing anything nefarious. No matter what, preparation and planing for preemptive attacks is needed. We might not be able to take them on now, but in the future might have to. On the other hand, thus far these dragons seem to be decent beings, compared to how chromatic dragons usually go. Perhaps I can introduce them to some more morals (Bring their alignment from evil to neutral or in time possibly good). I am in a unique situation to do just that. With my belief in reincarnation, I will not be leaving like the rest of the other humanoids, and will be able to create by their definition, a long standing relationship. I imagine with their life span, humans and most humanoids, seem to blink in and out of existence rather quickly. So I might have a chance in the long term giving the city a chance of gaining a powerful ally. However going back to these dragons, with the production of a growing clutch they might become a growing threat with each passing year.
When facing this tentacled horror, our lines and moral to fight were truly broken. Seemingly effortlessly our immovable wall of a monk was quickly grasped and swallowed.
Once he broke his way out of it, we proceeded to run, as between this deadly deforming beast also seemed to not be effected by the palizard's smite. How something of this nature existing under these circumstances not be of the most vile and evil is beyond me.
The fact that the group at least nominally has three primary melee characters, yet the monk is the only one to actually do so regularly, is the group's own fault. At this point, the three melee primary characters should be buffing and attacking in tandem with each other.
As far as the creature itself, mechanical game terms I built it completely correct. Were I to have added the half-fiend template to make it evil, the group would likely have first eaten a blasphemy before it moved in to eat...
We cast a web spell in preparation of this action, but when re realized that my curse spell had taken hold we know we could take it down. This was followed by a good selection of attack spells weakening it. After a few good attacks, it seemed to just loose all will to survive as if suddenly flopped over dead (It failed its save vs. critical damage).
Half a dozen cloudkills will ruin or outright slay quite a few creatures given the combination of your curse and a web. This thing survived only due to having a truly monstrous Constitution, which the artillery quickly saw fit to address. Note that Da Monkette had an extremely easy time of pulverizing it (with an AC of 26).
The two dragons were quite the surprise. I had no idea that pure blood dragons could make such offspring! Anyhow, I highly suspected the second I saw them acting the way they did that they were some form of chromatic dragon in disguise. I am now faced with a difficult decision with these dragons. They are chromatic, and are well known for being evil.
There is no doubt that they are evil dragons. They also have their own goals. They have family (or had, you don't know). They have current short-term plans (newlyweds). They have mid-range and long-range plans. They could have razed the entirety of the Greenbelt if they saw fit to do so. Clearly they are not impulsively inclined, or the fleeing crowds would have been the results of hundreds dying in addition to an unrestrained version of frightful presence.
As far as the creature itself, mechanical game terms I built it completely correct. Were I to have added the half-fiend template to make it evil, the group would likely have first eaten a blasphemy before it moved in to eat...
Yes I know, but my character has the right to be astonished. ;)
Half a dozen cloudkills will ruin or outright slay quite a few creatures given the combination of your curse and a web. This thing survived only due to having a truly monstrous Constitution, which the artillery quickly saw fit to address. Note that Da Monkette had an extremely easy time of pulverizing it (with an AC of 26).
Okay.
There is no doubt that they are evil dragons. They also have their own goals. They have family (or had, you don't know). They have current short-term plans (newlyweds). They have mid-range and long-range plans. They could have razed the entirety of the Greenbelt if they saw fit to do so. Clearly they are not impulsively inclined, or the fleeing crowds would have been the results of hundreds dying in addition to an unrestrained version of frightful presence.
Yes, most notable reactions. But in the interest of the long term (and I mean long term for even dragons) safety of the city Da Cultist feels a need to plan and make actions regarding such a threat. Evil dragons up in a mountain literally breeding an army of such a strength and breed can not really be ignored for too long.
On the morrow Our Rulers once more need to sally forth and do battle with evil critters whizzing in someone's cheerios.
I expect that the Duchy of Starfall should be at a total hex count of 64 by the end of the 30 months prior to the beginning of this next session. At this point the Duchy is expanding at 4 hexes/month under ideal circumstances (since the beginning of month 28). Given the magic item economy, this is unlikely to be much of a problem.
Within the Greenbelt itself the plains and hills hexes, plus the northernmost forest hex of the Narlmarches [trap-filled glade] comprises a total of 41 hexes. That leaves 23 hexes, of which I expect they have claimed or will claim the radish patch, the thorn river camp, the temple of the elk and the lair of the lizard king - leaving 19 hexes "undecided". Most of these I suspect will be in completing their rulership of the Narlmarches, although I suspect that they will be reluctant to do so until the latter months when they have enough of an economic engine running to absorb the 'costs' of the forest hexes.
One thing of interest is that the abandoned keep is being used as a personal staging area by one or more of the player characters, but - as I recall - it is well outside the claim of Starfall. They seem to be a big fan of border solidarity, so I imagine that they will even up their border in the forest. If nothing else, because it provides some 'padding' around the capitol to the west, as well as to acquire the valuable resource hexes within the forest itself.
My best guess is that they will come very close to the western edge of the forest of the Narlmarches, picking up the fairy nest, the boggard and tuskgutter lairs, the thylacine hex (leaving tatzylford's hex alone), the grove, delicate situation and expedition, the blighted hollow, mad hermit and lizard king lair hexes along with the four mentioned above and the sole forest hex to the immediate southwest of Candlemere. Perhaps even adding the abandoned keep hex as their westernmost frontier. This still leaves 7 hexes undecided, although most of them will get 'consumed' by evening out their southwestern frontier to include the troll stronghold as their south/west watchpost and going north to the abandoned keep.
OR - I could be completely wrong and they avoid forest hexes like the plague, claiming only what they feel they must, gobbling up the primary 41 hexes before wrangling with forest hex claims.
I will endeavor to see if I can annotate my own copy of the kingdom to better provide a scope of the duchy's size and scope of operation.
Hard to believe this campaign has been going since 19th Sept 2009. How time flies! 17 months and we're just beginning Chapter 3 of Kingmaker.
well, you did go through Council of Thieves + bunches of homebrew material...
^^ Still, it feels good to be entering the exciting parts of Kingmaker.
Such as a certain bunch of banjo-playin' mutant miscreants...
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well, you did go through Council of Thieves + bunches of homebrew material...^^ Still, it feels good to be entering the exciting parts of Kingmaker.
Such as a certain bunch of banjo-playin' mutant miscreants...
oh indeedy...
a certain large lady will be dropping by for the opening fight in our Blood for Blood game, set to start 2 weeks from tomorrow (boo...work...hiss...).
I really really wanted her to be Project Image'd so as to keep her in reserve for the later bits, but I think a single round, far away, through a battlefield, and behind some (soon to be) Huge trolls should be safe enough.
Inspire Courage + Good Hope + Enlarge Person, Mass + Haste + Advanced x2 on those troll baddies should make 'em pause.
Then, little miss G & her hired Bard Buddy can peace out via Teleport, leaving poor little Fighter/Rogue in charge of some ravening, Huge, buffed-to-the-gills Renewable Walking Trail Rations.
I can't wait, to be honest...
Nor can I wait to see what her mu-mu wearing hideousness jacks your group up with.
Just for your edification, Pappy G and the other spawn of M's loins are "out there" somewhere. Can we say "posthole digger" ? I thought we could.
For further edification, there are eight boys, M, R, H, C, three or more pooches, Muck, Biggun' and Biggun's bestest buddies. Depending on how things roll ... well, we'll see tomorrow!
And they're all soooo hungry ... not to mention other base instincts ... Our Rulers have three wimmenz plus a female n-something druid and five widdle dolls. The gawds help them all if they get captured... which of course any self-respecting "killer" GM is pulling for.
Although I will be nice enough not to describe in graphic detail the horrors that befall them should such an incident occur.
The corpse in the well will tell a tale of VERY NSFW terror...
My players are a pretty savvy bunch though.
V has taken an interest in Our Rulers of course. And he does have that spiffeh lair. Our Rulers will not be facing the atrophied wuss that is the norm. Oh no ... while he has lost four levels from his prime, he is decidedly not a push over. He has amused himself with some "assistance" to the G's of an indirect nature.
well, you did go through Council of Thieves + bunches of homebrew material...^^ Still, it feels good to be entering the exciting parts of Kingmaker.
Such as a certain bunch of banjo-playin' mutant miscreants...
oh indeedy...
a certain large lady will be dropping by for the opening fight in our Blood for Blood game, set to start 2 weeks from tomorrow (boo...work...hiss...).
I really really wanted her to be Project Image'd so as to keep her in reserve for the later bits, but I think a single round, far away, through a battlefield, and behind some (soon to be) Huge trolls should be safe enough.
Inspire Courage + Good Hope + Enlarge Person, Mass + Haste + Advanced x2 on those troll baddies should make 'em pause.
Then, little miss G & her hired Bard Buddy can peace out via Teleport, leaving poor little Fighter/Rogue in charge of some ravening, Huge, buffed-to-the-gills Renewable Walking Trail Rations.
I can't wait, to be honest...
You will need to leave the arcane duelist/savage skald behind to keep that inspire courage up and running. Might I suggest a banjo-playing elf bard (with a horn of blasting)?
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I'm still unsure if I'll keep him in the fight, or bail at the first turn.
It'll depend on just how effective Huge trolls can be, mostly.
In either case, he's got his own ticket outta there, potentially grabbing one Large & one Medium along...
Lingering song (or a weapon/effect that does the same) may be in order here. Hmmmm...
I'm still unsure if I'll keep him in the fight, or bail at the first turn.
It'll depend on just how effective Huge trolls can be, mostly.
In either case, he's got his own ticket outta there, potentially grabbing one Large & one Medium along...
Lingering song (or a weapon/effect that does the same) may be in order here. Hmmmm...
You might want to consider a higher-end polymorph subschool spell than enlarge person - the penalties from being Huge are only partially offset by the small bonuses provided by enlarge person.
Might I suggest instead M spends 2 rounds to bestow the good graces of greater polymorph - say, to become fire elementals as per elemental body III? ^_^
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Trolls as Huge is mostly for reach & intimidation factor. That plus more space taken up on the mat
Greater poly on the singer is a great idea, though...invisible + air elemental form = excellent survivability.
He can stick around, buffing to the nines, with impunity, mostly.
A M simulacrum could prove interesting also...more misdirection is always good.
It helps that we're likely to have another PvP session soon...Altrums player has elected to retire his PC, but wants to take out Artemis (due to her policies of infanticide for deformed births) if he can.