Probably wouldn't be that interesting to people anyway. :p
I just continued in here as people replied. :)
Done now anyways. I'm sure there will be more deaths soon, most likely Suzaku on his lone quest!
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Name: Layden
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 9
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Throne Room
Catalyst: Phantasmal Killer
The Gory Details: Upon reaching Vordakai's throne, Layden was terribly upset with the death of the people of Varnhold and strode forward into melee combat, winning first initiative. Vordakai went immediately afterword, casting his spell upon a former Grey Maiden (I had run this same party through CotCT).
Fortunately, the party cleric managed to bring her back not long thereafter but Vordakai proved to be a terribly difficult opponent.
Name: Dunkon
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Gunslinger 1 / Alchemist 10
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Fort Drelev
Catalyst: Cutting to the chase
The Gory Details: Sneaking into the back, we went immediately to confront the Baron. All was going well until 30 guards and his brother the wizard showed up. The fight took 3 sessions and about 12 hours of "real-time" to play out, with the party entering and exiting the castle more than once. When all was said and done the good guys won but at the cost of my dwarfs life, all of our potions, spells, and other consumables, and several hundred gold in bribes. The whole party hit negatives at some time or another, and the emergency heals where flying.
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Name: Happs Bydon
Race: Human
Class: Ranger 1
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Oleg's Trading Post
Catalyst: Ambushing the Bandits
The Gory Details: In my game, my players have very much min/maxed their characters, and since there are 5 PCs with my Witch NPC as a #6, I ramped up the game using the 6 PC recommendations.
Not wanting to spoiler this event, my PC were very ready and described in great detail their plans for when the bandits showed up. Because of their great planning and attention to details, I decided to give the PCs a round of surprise on the bandits. The Cleric of Erastil wins initiative, pops up from his hidey spot and shoots Happs while he is still lazily sitting on his horse giving orders, flat footed.
Player rolls a natural 20. (Which in my game I have house ruled is an auto crit)
Players rolls a 7 on his longbow damage. x3 is 21 points of damage. Which is more than enough to send Happs into negative HPs. I hang my head in shame as the major NPC for this encounter has just bit it. My players by this time are hooting, hollering, high fiving and dancing around the room.
My players laughed about this for a good while until they encountered the Moon Radish patch. Where I proceeded to roll 3 natural 20s!!! If it hadn't of been for the Cleric, it was almost a TPK.
Good times with the AP!
Name: Serah Aldori
Race: Aasimar
Class: Magus 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: River Trap Room, Vordakai's Tomb
Catalyst: Sprung river trap and leaving the magus alone.
The Gory Details:
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Name: Duke Vadim
Race: Gnome
Class: Sorcerer 3, Summoner 4
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Kiravoy River in Varnhold
Catalyst: Swimming alone
The Gory Details:
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Name: Duke Vangrin Torsas and Duchess Jiselle Torsas
Race: Human
Class: Cavalier 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Catalyst: Phantasmal Killer
The Gory Details:
My brave party found their way to Vordakai's throne room. Unprepared, they got smacked around pretty good and retreated with haste and Vangrin's tactics abilities to make a quick getaway with Vordakai's taunts burning in their ears. They rested, prepared their buff spell routine ("Yes little heroes, take all the time to prepare you need. I await you at your convenience" said he), and charged in again.
Vangrin ate the Phantasmal Killer and rolled a 2 and 3 on his saves, instantly dropping dead on the first round of combat. After Vordakai's Champion (playing the 6-player version) beat Ylijah the Xeph Psion to single digit hitpoints several times and reduced everyone else to low hp with fire blasts, the party decides to retreat again...
... Leaving the Duchess (Vangrin's cohort), an oracle with the lame curse, far in their wake. Vordakai quickly paralyzed her and captured her. I haven't decided yet if she's going to get her brains eaten or tossed into the soul jar storage. Vangrin's player gets whupped pretty regularly and was shook up over tonight's events, so I'm leaning towards survival. I still count it as a kill, however!
What?! Eat her brains!! EAT HER BRAINS!! ^__^
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Name: Spymaster "Silent" Valkeri Sothis
Race: Human
Class: Bard/Gunslinger/Arcane Marksman
Adventure: Return of the Fellnight Queen
Location: Shadow Celwynvian
Catalyst: Drawing Aggro/Mercy Killing
The Gory Details:
It was the barbarian Sarynn that finally slew the queen and the party used the key and the aid of the Feegles to escape back to Kyshahn.
The happy ending. The party mercifully killed Valkeri and Kif in order to reincarnate them Valkeri is now an elf, and Kif is once again a Grippli. In Kif's druidic paradigm this is a sign s/he still has work to do. Katrina was resurrected with a Scroll of Raise Dead.
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Name: Spymaster "Silent" Valkeri Sothis
Race: Human
Class: Bard/Gunslinger/Arcane Marksman
Adventure: Return of the Fellnight Queen
Location: Shadow Celwynvian
Catalyst: Drawing Aggro/Mercy KillingThe Gory Details: ** spoiler omitted **
The happy ending. The party mercifully killed Valkeri and Kif in order to reincarnate them Valkeri is now an elf, and Kif is once again a Grippli. In Kif's druidic paradigm this is a sign s/he still has work to do. Katrina was resurrected with a Scroll of Raise Dead.
Oh my god you killed Silent Valkeri! You bastard! :P.
Name: Wilin
Race: Human
Class: Fighter 1 (Tower Shield Specialist)
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: Forest outside of Bandit Camp
Catalyst: Don't Split the Party
Gory Details: Fed up with the group's insistence on returning to the Trading Post and keeping prisoners (instead of releasing them to run back to the Stag Lord) the party fighter, Wilin, leaves to head to the Stag Lord's Fort. A random encounter Shambling Mound later, he joins the graveyard.
Name: Belac
Race: Human
Class: Cleric 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: Temple of the Elk
Catalyst: Don't Split the Party
Gory Details: Fed up with the group's debate the party Cleric returns to the cleansed Temple of the Elk. A random encounter Will-o-wisp later, he joins the graveyard. He technically saved himself with 2 Hero Points, but I count the death.
Awesome stuff.
You, sir, are one cruel GM. I salute you. It is not nice to throw random encounters on alone characters. But that teaches them a lesson about not splitting the party I suppose. ;)
I'm waiting to see lot more obituaries from your KM group.
I let the dice gods sort them out. There was a third character that split from the party, but he did not get a random encounter. He did safely navigate to the trading post. This post I just realized that I had forgotten one that happened the previous week (and should have been the lesson for the others)... I also run a 8-10 player group even doubling the river bandits encounter they ambushed them and destroyed the camp in 2 rounds without taking a single point of damage. Smart players so I have to take advantage of any mistakes to challenge them. They always love me more for it in the end!
Name: Alessandra/White Orchid
Race: Aasimar
Class: Rogue 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: Bandit Camp Forest Hex
Catalyst: Don't Split the Party
Gory Details: After attempting to cause party friction by stealing the charter and writ of credit from the fighter which caused her to get tied up, she decided to forge it alone. Spending three days searching for the bandit camp while her companions waited for supplies to arrive at Oleg's Trading Post she ran a foul with a random encounter Werewolf. 2 Hero Points and a failed Fortitude save later she is unknowingly inflicted with lycanthropy.
Note: Even the forums agree that I am evil... below this posts it says "651 to 666 of 666" which means I am post 666. Yay!
I will back it up some, I haven't posted them all.
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Name: Ariel
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Shaman 2
Adventure: The Stolen Land
Location: In the forest, random encounter
Catalyst: Risky decision
The Gory Details: The party was sleeping and woke up to a werewolf (rolled randomly on the encounter table) attacking them. After taking a lot of hits and going pretty low, Ariel backed off and started throwing spells, but right when the werewolf was close to dropping, she made the decision to go in for a solid attack. While she hit, she ended up not dropping him, and it retaliated in turn, bringing her low enough that her missed Constitution checks ended with her dying.
However, she ended up getting reincarnated into a male halfling, changing the name to Arie.
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Name: William Oakley and Are
Race: Human and Halfling
Classes/levels: Spell-less Ranger 5 and Shaman 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Hodag Cave
Catalyst: Unexpected Occurrence
The Gory Details: This one takes a bit of back story. In my campaign, the party has found an intelligent item, in the form of a bone spike, named Arcum. He was found in a box that was sealed with powerful magic, but they were able to enlist the help to get it open. Arcum only knows his purpose is to find the other parts of himself that exist, though he can only really sense them if they're relatively close. They've been told, from the wizard that got them into the box, that Arcum resembles part of a scepter that was rumored to have had a hand in mysteriously disappearing a very large and powerful tribe of barbarians that ruled the land long, long ago.
I had placed a piece of it in the cave, and when they entered it, they were close enough that Arcum's dedicated power, which was Dimension Door, was available. He took the third party member, a spell-less ranger/rogue/fighter human named Aric, who held the spike, to the back of the cave while the hodag rushed the rest of the party. They fought valiantly, eventually having to dismiss the shaman's spirit companion to avoid it's death. The hodag moved on to the other prey.
Arcum's dedicated power faded when Aric had the box containing the other piece (also magically sealed), and he ran across the cave as fast as he could. However, at this point, Arie had used spider climb on himself, and on the wall next to William, cast it on the ranger as well. William was in reach of the hodag but at 0 hit points, so he was unable to move without provoking. Aric, in a desperate attempt to reactivate Arcum's Dimension Door power, threw the other box across the room, towards the combat. Arcum didn't want this to happen, and for the first time in the campaign, the spike tried to take control over Aric, to keep him from throwing the part away from him. Aric had a +0 Will, unfortunately due to his multiclass decisions, and even using an action point, failed the save. Arcum casted Rope Trick and climbed inside, leaving Aric's player to simply watch his friends die.
I was slightly challenged on this, so I want to clarify: when they first entered the cave, the hodag didn't notice them and was content munching on a dead body it had. Arcum, who is fairly intelligent, knew this meant it wasn't very perceptive, and using Aric's (quite high) stealth skills, the spike knew he could get out unharmed once it calmed down.
The hodag took down William, then chased Arie (who was running on the ceiling) around, until Arie kited it enough to be able to heal William back to consciousness. William fled cave, which left Arie to be taken down with a poorly timed critical, killing him on the blow. William returned after drinking a potion, but unfortunately moved right into a space where it could 5' ft. and then full attack, which also killed him on the second to last hit that landed. Aric was forced to watch as his friends were carried to the back of the cave.
Hours later, Arcum (still possessing Aric) climbed out of the rope's extra-dimensional space and sneaked away. The next day, he didn't try to assert dominance but did apologize for the events that passed, though it held no real emotion. He simply asked Aric to return to the wizard who got into the first box. Aric threw both the spike and the new box, after succeeding on another Will save when Arcum realized his intent, out into the forest. He was able to return and find the hodag sleeping, killing it and retrieving the bodies of his friends and all the loot the hodag had collected.
After returning to their capital city, Aric withdrew the BP to get them reincarnated.
Are accepted, becoming a male half-elf. William refused, for fear of coming back as something like a goblin. For fun, the player rolled, and his number was a female gnome (which is a bit hilarious, because the player HATES gnomes with a passion).
Session 3 was last night which ended in an official character death and the repeat (and final deaths with lack of hero points) of Alessandra and Belac.
The session opened...
Name: Belac
Race: Human
Class: Cleric 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: Forest Hex near Oleg's Trading Post
Catalyst: Don't Split the Party
Gory Details: Continuing to press his luck in the dangerous wild lands and wandering around in the forest alone. Belac found himself run a foul with an angry and hungry grizzly bear. The bear is no longer hungry, but indigestion is continuing to make him angry.
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Several hours later...
Name: Alessander/White Orchid
Race: Aasimar
Class: Rogue 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: Temple of the Elk
Catalyst: The looming threat of Lycanthropy and her own pistol.
Gory Details: Several Knowledge (Religion), Knowledge (Arcana), and Knowledge (Nature) checks later the party has learned a considerable amount more about Lycanthropy. Some of them are completely freaking out about the werewolf in the area (see random encounter that became a focus of the game session). They decide to hunt for some Wolfsbane, but the only field of it in the Greenbelt is on the shores of the Tuskwater in the shadow of the Stag Lord's Fort. With less then 2 days before the full moon, Alessandra did not like her prospects and after everyone else fell asleep she wrote her memoirs long into the night before saving the party (or the Wolfsbane) the trouble of having to kill her if she turned.
Name: Preston
Race: Human
Class: Gunslinger 1
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: Temple of the Elk
Catalyst: The looming threat of Lycanthropy.
Gory Details: Confirmed to have Lycanthropy when he started screaming about it coming and freaking out like an addict unable to get his fix when the Alpha Werewolf arrived in a rush to carry away its dying (dead) progeny Alessandra. After a lengthy discussion the party decided to go after the Wolfsbane but left Preston with Jhod and a recruited NPC Gunslinger with orders to the NPC to shoot him if he tried to flee or started to change before they got back. Given the options of survival he decided that fleeing was the best option when he got an opportunity, but he did not survive the attempt. His death did bring the Alpha back who was killed by the NPC gunslinger, but not before inflicting him with lycanthropy which the party returned moments before the change began, crammed wolfsbane down his throat and promptly dumped him in the Temple of the Elk's pool. The NPC Gunslinger was saved (3 con left after poison ran its course and he passed the second save).
Wouldn't Alessandra be immune to Lycanthropy since it only works on Humanoids (and Aasimar are Native Outsiders)? >_> [/nitpick]
Wouldn't Alessandra be immune to Lycanthropy since it only works on Humanoids (and Aasimar are Native Outsiders)? >_> [/nitpick]
We all apparently missed that over the last two sessions. We did have a nice discussion on Lycanthropy, and the fluff/myth behind it too.
Kewl - death by self-inflicted full cranial evacuation. I like it!!
Name: Jimmy Swaggart
Race: Human
Class: Cleric 9
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Throne Room
Catalyst: Don't give a lich a chance to prepare.
Gory Details:
No one from the party died but this was pretty horrific.
Name: Happs and Company
Race: Human
Class: ... you all know who they are ...
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: entrance to Oleg's trading post
Catalyst: coming to pay Oleg a visit
Gory Details:
Step one of the party's ambush was setting up a line of bear traps near the wagon. A good Disguise Self roll by the party's alchemist and a poor perception roll by Happs led him right into the traps. Happs didn't stand a chance when the trap closed around his leg. For cinematic effect I took his leg off mid-calf as he went down to one hit point.
Two of the bandits went down in the surprise round - one to an arrow by the party rogue and another to the paladin and his animal companion bear.
Round one saw Happs finished off with a knife across the throat by the vivisectionist and bandit number three was knocked prone ... into one of the other bear traps. He didn't get back up. The rogue put an arrow into bandit number four and almost finished him off. The bandit (who was still on horseback) turned made a dash for it. He was finished off by the druid who rode out after him on a wolf!
Hahahahah niiiiiiiice.
My players were less vicious but more stomach turning, and weaponized the midden piles, launching them from the roof onto the bandits after the Magus set them aflame.
Name: Jimmy Swaggart
Race: Human
Class: Cleric 9
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Throne Room
Catalyst: Don't give a lich a chance to prepare.Gory Details: ** spoiler omitted **
Yikes! My party has this encounter coming up and I have a pretty strong suspicion it will end up in just this sort of thing. TPK theater, here we come.
Last weekend I had not only the first death in my Kingmaker campaign, but the first two death's!
Of course, I will share them with you...
Name: Argus Treeblood
Race: Elf
Class: Magus (Level 4)
Adventure: RRR
Location: Border to the Narlmarches
Catalyst: Random Shambling Mound
Gory Details:
The party was exploring the woods to the west of the Staglords Keep. During one night, they camped and Argus took last watch, like he does often to memorize his spells.
But it seems, that he was too busy with studying this time. He missed his Perception roll and was therefore surprised by the Shambling mound behind him. He also rolled very badly on Initiative, so that the Shambling Mound came up to him during the Surprise round and almost all of the other PC's slept during the actual first round of combat, before Argus could call "ALarm! We are attacked!". The Shambler just looked at the screaming little fleshling before him, slammed him two times, reducing him nearly to 0 and grabbed him.
On the following round, Argus didn't made his Escape Artist check and was constricted to death. The player prevented the death by spending two hero points...
Name: Erin
Race: Elf
Class: Witch (Level 4)
Adventure: RRR
Location: Lair of the Scythe Tree
Catalyst: Angering an evil tree by burning him
Gory Details:
Searching for a specific tree in a wood was quiet too much for the party. So the scythe tree (pumped up by the 6-player conversion) took the advantage and attacked the Druids companion elk as they went by. In the following battle my players were quiet surprised, what such an old tree could do. Erin, which couldn't slumber the tree (of course) and had already put an Evil Eye on him advanced and casted Burning Hands (they knew that he is vulnerable to fire). When the turn was on the tree, he decided to attack the two PC's, which had hurted him most (almost... he couldn't get to the Magus with the Scorching Ray wand... so he decided to attack the Paladin right beside him and poor Erin, which stood 15 ft. away). The paladin took two blows, which took away half her HP. Erin also took two hits, one of them a critical and was brought from full HP to death.
The player prevented the death by spending two hero points. And soon after, a loud "TIMBER!" was shout through the forest...
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Name: Grand Diplomat Valister
Race: Human
Class: Paladin 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Catalyst: A nasty lethal trap
Gory Details:
Name: Spymaster Svany
Race: Human
Class: Fighter 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Catalyst: The same nasty lethal trap
Gory Details: See above. Perished trying to save his companion.
My first!
Name: Jarek Windsong
Race: Human
Class: Cleric 4 of Gozreh
Adventure: Rivers Run Read
Location: Exploring the Narlmarche
Catalyst: Wandering Monster
The brave explorers hear the flap of leathery wings and turn to see a manticore swooping in from behind. The manticore wins initiative and poor flat-footed Jarek is hit by 4 spikes before he can even scream. He's dropped deep into the negatives and bleeds to death on his next turn.
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Name: Nico Catherine Robin
Race: Elf
Class: Wizard 7
Adventure: Rivers Run Read
Location: Scythe tree hex
Catalyst: the scythe tree rolling 3 20 on 4 attacks.
The seven level party is clearing the last stuff in the area. I am running the 6 player conversion so the scythe tree has an extra HD.
The party is searching for it guided by the satyr Falchos. In the dense forest they all fail to see the tree till they are near it (he has rolled exceptionally well for its stealth check, getting a 18 on the dice for a total of 34).
The party is all mounted, so they are a bit hindered in their movement by the terrain.
The tree attack Falchos in the surprise round, delivering 16 hp of damage (he like fey flesh). Initiative is rolled and most of the party go before the tree.
The first party member to act is Nico that move her horse 5', getting just outside the tree reach and cast a scorching ray, hitting the tree for 52 hp of damage. Then the fighter move and attack, missing (his horse heat the Attack of Opportunity as the tree try to stop him from getting near), the summoner cast shield on his flying eidolon than then move and attack, missing and then it is Falchos turn that move out of the monster reach.
I was already thinking that it would have been a short and uneventful encounter.
Now it is the tree turn. So far the only danger for it has been the wizard that with 1 spell has delivered enough damage to reduce it at 1/3 of his hit point. So she is the target of the tree. It move 5' and use lounge to get a full attack on Nico. Roll dice 20-20-20-9 all hit with 3 confirmed critics. That is 70 hp of damage plus 7d4.
With one full attack Nico was reduced from full health to well beyond -CON.
Next one to go was the witch that with a lighting bolt finished the tree.
Nico was later raised by a cleric in Restov.
3 kills from a party of 5 last night, with the other 2 escaping heavily CON damaged...
Name: Crispin Weaving
Race: Half-Orc
Class: Alchemist 4Name: Fenian Fickleston (3rd kill on this player out of 5 in the AP)
Race: Halfling
Class: Witch 4Name: Sumak (2nd session this player attended...heh heh heh...)
Race: Halfling
Class: Rogue 4Adventure: Rivers Run Read
Location: Barbarian Barrow East of the Staglord's Fort (inserted by me)
Catalyst: Wraith, his long dead Wraithspawn wives...& 'wraithspawned' PCs...The Party had been exploring the barrow for a couple of sessions, and found a way down into the tomb below the old barabrian camp.
Sumak deftly found a trap behind a door, & then failed his disable roll by just a little too much. A foul looking poison mist spread through the air, but he managed to hold his breath just in time...& spent a Hero point to also make his next save...
The heros couldn't believe their luck, having gone the right direction & found the trophy room before fighting any foes. Numerous magical auras were detected, including a beautiful sickle for Lord Orestil (Druid).
Exploration...well, curiosity...followed as Fenian grew bored & wandered down the corridor. He found a magnificent tomb, at the foot of which was a softly glowing (detect magic'd) 'pint-sized' longsword...
Sumak, the trusty trapfinder was called forth, & crept slowly into the room, searching carefully after his recent near death experience. Finding no traps on the floor, he very carefully inspected the sarcophagus for anything suspicious, before almost absentmindedly reaching down to pick up the glowing (magic aura only) longsword...& setting off the magic trap, which caused the barbarian lord's bones to explode...
Luckily however, Sumak dodged gracefully to one side - only to scream in horror as the wraith of the lord materialised out of the sarcophagus & landed a draining blow to the poor rogue.Phaedre the bard was next to act & calling upon her magnificent knowledge of all things...
Woops.
signed,
Fenian.
(via Ouija board)
The party found out about the village of Varnhold when they were in their 5th year of building the fine kingdom of Aperion. They ignored the rumours of the vanishing for something like two years, because the various Troll attacks and the like that they were suffering were more important to them in the here and now. In the meantime, Varnhold became more and more worn down.
Eventually they followed up the rumours, and found some of the leftover spriggan bones, the deserted and nearly disappeared village, and the name of Vordakai. Following the various clues they went down to the Centaurs and so on, following plot. Eventually they came across the tomb and delved into it.
(As a side note, because some of the party were unavailable to play at this point, I did gestalt the party so that they didn't have to run multiple NPCs or PCs. This might have contributed to the craziness.)
Over a 12 hour session, they completed the tomb, coming across V, they begin listening to his monologue. The gestalted Cavalier/ Paladin began powering up, used his last challenge and used a smite on Vordakai. A long battle later, with Skeletal Champions and more Cyclops being made to join the battle, and eventually V fell.
The most impressive part was the manner that they used to cripple V. A silence spell cast on the Paladin. V got no save against it, and therefore was more or less crippled in terms of the spell casting ability. Therefore was a sucker for the lance charge that even without a crit, but because of the smite and charge did 237 points of damage!
Name: Buzz
Race: Human
Class: Ftr 4
Adventure: Rivers Run Read
Location: Mud Pit
Catalyst: Foolishness
The PCs manage to spot the tendriculous and bump some arrows into. The beast comes lumbering across the hills towards, making slow progress. The PCs are mounted, could easily stay at range, and pepper the poor creature to death with arrows. Buzz, for reasons unknown (I'm guessing player boredom), charges in on horseback. Tentacle, tentacle, bite. Failed to escape the grapple. Bite, swallow, acid. Dead fighter.
at the end of book 6
not sure that counts as dead?
at the end of book 6
** spoiler omitted **
not sure that counts as dead?
I think it counts, if they don't have a way out.
Yep. Details man, details! =D
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at the end of book 6
** spoiler omitted **
not sure that counts as dead?
Or perhaps thats simply the close of the prologue of the real story...?
Hmm... A chance to turn things into a Mythic Adventure by seeking a way to free the Stolen Lands from the inside?
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its currently a chance to going back to rolling one d20 a round and adding only +3
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Name: Duke Rousek
Race: Human
Class: Cavalier 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Catalyst: Run in with a soul eater
Gory Details:
Now the party has a dilemma. Using suggestions from Dudemeister's modifications, the party previously had met a "spirit of air" called Kizabubwa, a massive black-feathered roc living atop Talon's Peak. After having a vision in the tower of a time when elves made war with the cyclopses long ago, and how the ancient centaur tribes were driven to war upon the cyclopses empire, the cavalier opted to be "tested" by the spirit. He failed the test but survived. Kizakubwa declared his spirit forfeit to the land, that when he should die, his spirit could not be raised lest he draw the wrath of Kizakubwa upon him (and whatever kingdom would shelter him). [Note: heavily mysticized the Heights and fleshed out centaur culture, made "nomen" a derogatory name humans gave the centaurs].
Curious to see how this plays out as the Duke's wife back home is expecting him back and the party has a Raise Dead scroll....
But this will wait as the group has, in the meanwhile, stashed the body and penetrated Vordakai's inner tomb. Likely we'll see more names here, but may the dice fall kindly!
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Name: Minister of Resources Falinax
Race: Gnome (First World)
Class: Druid 6
Adventure: RRR
Location: Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Grappled by a wyvern in mid-air
Gory Details:The party managed to kill the Stag Lord, but due to other political events in Brevoy and very bad weather, were unable for several months to take control of the fort. When a group of roving barbarians out of Numeria moved in, led by a 10th lvl Blight Druid, they had to go take it back. Unfortunately, the barbarians and the druid reinforced the keep and had two months to work on it before the party came after them.
After the combined effort of a Mivonese lord, forces from one of the Swordlords wooing the Baroness, and the Baroness' own troops sieging the fort, the good guys finally managed to break through the wall and take the fort back. As the fort fell, the Blight Druid left on a diseased roc and his departure was defended by two wyverns with riders. The druid Falinax(giant eagle form) and the Magister Drakkus(Fly spell) tried to stop the druid and ending up in an aerial combat with the two wyverns. After taking a javelin of lightning to the chest (failed save), Falinax was grabbed in the bite of the wyvern. Two rounds of grappling later and he was dead, falling to earth near the fort. The wyverns fell to the combined forces of Drakkus and a deadshot ballista wielding knight on the fort wall and Falinax was restored to life by the High Priestess.
Name: Bellatrix Bonecruncher
Race: Half-Orc
Class: Bard 12 cohort
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: The Shrieking Children
Catalyst: Eaten alive by a mandragora swarm
Gory Details: The PCs have come to the north of their kingdom to investigate the shrieking children bloom. They make their stand in a small hamlet that has been completely overrun by the thousands of tiny mandragora plants. The two swarms the PCs face turns out to be a bit too much for them, in particular their confusing poison.
The cleric Hêmael, general of the kingdom, saves the high magister from certain death with a timely heal but he can do little to save Bellatrix Bonecrunsher, bride of queen Lilac. Bellatrix is slowly being eaten alive, unable to flee in front of the swarm that continuously confuses her. Lilac, riding her trusty poney Buttercup, is able to grab an unconscious Bellatrix and rides away, but not fast enough to outrun the swarm, which catches up on them and brings the half-orc down to -20 hit points or so, killing her.
Saving the day once again, the general brings Bellatrix back to life with a breath of life spell. And the leaders can finish off the mandragora plague.
Name: Hêmael Zoari
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Cleric of Kurgess 12/fighter 2
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Rise of the Mire Worms
Catalyst: Swallowed and (half-)digested by a mire worm
Gory Details: The leaders of the kingdom have answer a call for help from the boggards of the Hooktongue Slough: gigantic worms have appeared out of nowhere and are wreaking havoc in the boggard swamp, destroying tribe after tribe.
Led by a few scouts, the PCs are led to the deeper parts of the slough. There they encounter a group of three mire worms that are attacking a small group of boggards. The fight unfolds reasonably well with flying spell casters out of reach from the monstrosities, a very mobile general (Hêmael) staying away from the monsters' bites, and the shining knight paladin charging the worms in turn.
Things take a sour turn when a worm is able to bite and grab the general. Despite his knowledge of dimension door, the firm grip of the worm prevents him from properly casting the spell. Within seconds, he is swallowed whole by the mire worm and gets slowly digested by the creatures acidic enzymes.
A crazy move from the high magister who teleports into the stomach of the beast, grabs the general, and teleports out, proves too slow and he can only recover the melting body of a dead Hêmael at -21 hit points.
Once the mire worms are dealt with, the group teleports back to their capital, where the general is quickly raised.
Olwen, Thousand Screams is written for adventurers level 15+ and it's expected they be level 18 at the end. If your party is level 14 and about to enter the House, it's no wonder they're getting beat down - they're at least one and more likely two levels below what the encounters are written for (particularly for your full casters, who gets 8th level spells starting at 15).
Not quite. :)
They are supposed to be 16 when they enter Thousandbreaths, reaching level 17 at the end of the campaign. They were level 15 instead of 16 when they entered Nyrissa's realm, with a bard cohort, and they are a rather competent group, so they are doing reasonably well. They are about half a level behind, which is about where they need to be given the group and the players who are quite competent. I wouldn't want it to be too easy as it's the grand finale. Even so, Ilthuliak wasn't too much of a problem for them, although it didn't start too well, the linnorm on the bridge didn't last more than 3 rounds, and the jabberwock took more than 200 damage points from the charging paladin, forcing him to flee, panicked. So I think they are doing fine, even if they are slightly behind. ;)
Name: Kursch (named after Hansi Kursch, the lead singer of Blind Guardian)
Race: Orginally Human, then Half-Elf, then Dragonborn, and now Goblin
Classes/levels: bard 5/disciple of (heavy) metal 7
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Tomb of Armag
Catalyst: Becoming a pincushion from bloody skeletons
The Gory Details: (optional) Upon entering the room of bloody skeletons (D10 on the tomb map), the bard split off from the group to explore the stalagtite and stalagmite formation. Attempting to flush out anyone who might have been hiding in the formation, the bard called for his mighty guitar axe and conjured a shout spell that blew apart some of the stalagmites. This made him a target, when he was critically hit by one arrow and then 8 more from the waiting champions. Given this was his 4th death, the group didn't have the appropriate funds or items on hand to raise him, especially since to finish off the skeletons they raised water from the nearby river into the chamber, summoned up a gravity elemental who create a gravity well at the bottom of the pool, and conjured a blade barrier into the middle, causing his body to form a nice protein shake, complete with bone powder. The party collected the pieces, and then used reincarnation to bring him back as a goblin.
Current party makeup
goblin bard 5/disciple of metal 7
kobold cleric of Sarenrae 12 (also a victim of critical hits, and being swallowed by a purple worm as a random encounter. He was reincarnated as a kobold.)
dwarf 12th level druid, saurian shaman with an anklyosaur AC
Dwarf 12th level fighter
10th level human paladin of Sarenrae cohort
Tiefling 5th level shadow assasin/5th level assassin (the bard's cohort)
Gravity Elemental?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/elemental/eleme ntal-gravity-tohc
Essential miniature black holes.