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What?! Eat her brains!! EAT HER BRAINS!! ^__^
The party returned, stronger and better prepared, and downed the big v-litch. Only two of the six characters were mobile by then, one who had died and got a breath of life spell, the rest were paralyzed. Pressing on to the soul jar room, they found the Dutchess' body, sans grey matter.
Now they're traveling by ship to Absalom to get a True Resurrection for her.
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That's pretty far to go. Had they considered Brevoy?
Unless I misread things, none of the Brevic cities is large enough to have 9th level spells available for purchase. In addition, in my game the civil war between Issia and Rostland is still underway, making it pretty dangerous for nobility to be traveling around. A low-profile trip to Absalom was judged to be a better option. This plays into my designs nicely. I get to run my own river adventure, playtesting the skulls and shackles rules. The absense of the leadership sets up a great transition to Blood For Blood. Their transport is the pirate captain I introduced in my "brevoy attacks the locks" event, and she demanded a letter of marque for her services. Her post-adventure actions are going to raise tensions between Mivon, Rostland, and the PC kingdom, setting up the aldori civil war/reunification events that I plan on running before sound if a thousand screams. All of which is forthcoming in a thread here, soon.
Name: Sempor
Race: Gnome
Class: Druid 16
Name: Hêmael Zoari
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Cleric of Kurgess 14/fighter 2
Name: Iaurinn o-Lossaeglir
Race: Elf
Class: Conjurer (teleportation sub-school) 16
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: The House at the Edge of Time
Catalyst: Nyrissa
Gory Details: The long version of the campaign's acme can be found here. The short version is that the final battle against Nyrissa was tensed and that the evil nymph queen proved as dangerous and b!~%~y as its stat block suggests.
During the fight, Nyrissa used her Spell Synthesis to merge a fire storm for 72 points of damage and a chain lightning for another 53 points of damage. Failing both saves, the poor Sempor was turned into a pile of ash… and quickly brought back to life by a breath of life spell. Despite being healed he would a couple of rounds later be within one hit point of dying again.
A few rounds after this, Nyrissa cast a prismatic spray onto half of the group, turning the kingdom's general and cleric, Hêmael, to stone. Even Briar couldn't help him, but the high magister, Iaurinn, braved the battle field to break enchantment and turn Hêmael back to flesh.
Before the end of the 18-round long fight, Iaurinn himself died after being the main target of Nyrissa's evocation spells, culminating with the combination of a flame strike and a quickened lightning bolt. Little of the high magister was left after the assault, but the timely use of the group's last breath of life brought him back to life. Just barely…
In the end, the group prevailed, and Nyrissa plagues the kingdom of Gwendor no more.
Name: Count Basque Garess
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cavalier 4/Battle Herald 3
Adventure: Varnhold Vanashing
Location: Fort Varnhold
Catalyst: Pit trap and very poor rolls for the player
The Gory Details: The assault on Fort Varnhold had been going fairly well. By this point many members of the party had very eroded health. Towards the end, Basque decided to charge a wolf about to attack the party Paladin
As he did so, he triggered a pit trap, both him and his mount failed reflex saves and fell into the pit. The horse, poor Acheron, was skewered and knocked near his CON in neg hit points. Basque farred even worse, receiving a full serving of spikes which the DM rolled near max damage on all his dice, blowing through Basque's remaining hitpoints and his CON.
At least you got to use your Hunter. :)
Name: Alexander Makarov Sibirkovich (My PC)
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Paladin 8
Name: Pirag
Race: Half-orc
Classes/levels: FIghter 8
Adventure: The Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Mountain pass along direct line between capital of Varnhold and our kingdom’s capital
Catalyst: Random Encounter with a Peluda followed by failed knowledge checks and ending with failed fort saves vs poision with constitution damage
The Gory Details: We were travelling along the mountain pass. The lead party members see a spiky, dinosaur-like monster as they crest a ridge in the pass. Our inquisitor shouts something to the effect of “holycrapaspikydinosaur!!!” and retreats behind our usual front-liners, Alexander and Pirag. We dismount and sally forth, while Laguna, the cleric, cast Blessing of Fervor and Mac, the rogue, began circling behind our foe. Unfortunately, our wizard was elsewhere (on legitimate in character business while his player was out of town), and no one else could identify the beast, so we had no idea what we were fighting.
As we engage, we begin taking hits from the beast’s quills as we hit it. Pirag gets in the first swing, with Alexander following up quickly. Mac then gets to its flank and takes a chunk out of a tender spot. Then the creature bristles and launches its spines at everyone nearby. Horses and men are injured, and we all begin to feel the effects of a nasty poison. As we struggle to slay the beast, Alexander feels a call from the Gods of light. It was just a small thing, but they urged him to check for the presence of evil. He pauses his assault for a moment, and focuses upon his foe. Realizing what he faced, he calls upon the gods to aid him, and resumes his assault, reinvigorated by their presence.
Soon the beast falls, but it will not fall alone. Even in death, its poison was still working its way through us. Laguna’s divine power was taxed to its limit, and unfortunately, Alexander and Pirag succumbed.
Name: Wren, Blackturd the Almost Great, and Wendell the Wizard
Race: Half elf, Goblin, and Human
Classes/levels: Rogue 5, Ranger 3, Wizard 3
Adventure: The Stolen Lands
Location: Additional Site - Oubliette of the First World
Catalyst: Curiosly playing with powerful magical devices, Activating a law-bomb
The Gory Details: After heading east of Olegs to try and pick up the trail of Gaff the Wretched - a Necromancer in the region - the party came across an ancient druid site in the woods that both radiated a heavy magic, and caused two of the party members to be nauseated. However, curiosity got the better of them and they began fiddling with what was effectively a control panel for the site, and no good ends.
The site is called the Oubliette of the First World and is a cache hiding a relic of the Sidhe Court. In my game, there are barriers between the First World and Golarion that are eroding in the Stolen Lands. These barriers were set up by the natives to the region (Barbarians and Druids) 8,000-10,000 years ago, when the Sidhe Court (Oberon and Titania) discovered a way into Golarion and conquered much of the North East (River Kingdoms, Brevoy, Numeria, Galt, Razmiran, Kyonin). The Barbarians and Druids were displeased with their new fey overlords and a rebel movement was born to put an end to the Fey Rule.
At the same time, Narissa was left in the First World as regent of the Sidhe Court. It was there that she encountered Count Ralnak, and falling for the dastartly fellow, she began learning things she shouldn't be privy to. Jealousy bloomed in her heart and she and started amassing her own power base in the Thousand breaths and the First World.
When their tour of their newly conquered lands completed after a few hundred years, Oberon, Titania, and the court that was in Golarion returned to the first world to be met by Narissa's forces. This ended very poorly for Narissa, as she could not stand up to the might of the Sidhe King and Queen on their home turf. While this struggle was taking place, the rebel barbarians enacted their own plan to erect the barriers, closing off thier overlord's access to the lands of Golarion. As the rebels slipped into the first world, one group of them came across a treasure trove of the Sidhe Court. Not wanting to let opportunity slip away, they stole everything they could get their hands on and slipped back into Golarion as the ways were closing.
The site the players discovered this week was the holding place of one of these treasures of the first world - The Grand Return - a relic able to re-open a gateway into the First World. rebels created an elaborate mechanism to house, hide, and protect the relic, and sealed it with a trap infuced with the raw energies of Law, should any fey discover it. Unfortunately for our party, the Law Trap keyed off of alignment to cover the possibility of agents of the fey attempting to retrieve the device.
After discovering the site, and the obelisk therein, the party began to investigate the area. Blackturd and Shirin (Fighter 5) stayed back 60 feet from the clearing as they were both nauseated by the aura of the place. Wendell, Wren, Mort (cleric 5) and the Professor (Alchemist 4) went in to investigate.
The obelisk was a puzzle to Mort and Wendell who went to investigate it - made from a stone not native to the region, it's top sheared off at about 25 feet from what looked to be a lightning strike. The forest nearest the obelisk seemed to be encroaching on the monument, trees growing closer to it, their branches and roots almost reaching towards the stone pillar.
While the cleric and wizard were checking out the obelisk, the Professor and Wren began poking and prodding at what they figured was some sort of stone control panel nearby. as they started moving around the control stones (both Wren and the Professor had good Use Magical Device rolls and began activating the site), Wren's trap sense started to tickle and she became aware that there was a trap nearby. She could not pinpoint it, and yelled "It's a Trap!", high-tailing it out of the clearing, assuming that the others would follow suit.
At this point the ground started to rumble, and the obelisk slooooowly started to raise up out of th earth. The professor stood in amazement at the control device watching the proceedings. Wendell, having listened to the Rogue's alarm, fled the clearing, and moved 60 feet out to where Shirin and Blackturd were waiting, both puking from the nausea induced by the area. Mort moved over to there the Professor was and also watched, rather amazed.
And the obelisk slowly rose.
At this point they saw that the obelisk looked to be a mirror of itself on top and bottom, it descended deep into the ground tapering as is sunk deeper, much the same as the top of the monolith.
And the obelisk slowly continued to rise (about a foot every round).
Wren was about 250 feet away when she stopped and looked back, having expected an explosion, or something. She turned to see what was going on, and could make out the people still in the area. She then succumbed to her snese of heroic duty, knowing she had the best shot of disarming the trap, returning to where the obelisk continued to rise. Wendell was taking notes and drawing diagrams of the thing, Blackturd and Shirin were clutching their stomachs, Mort and the Professor watched in awe as the device was raised by the magical energies of the place.
Arriving just before the obelisk's 30 foot depth cleared the surface, Wren was accutely aware that the trap was located at the bottom of the obelisk. She had one shot to disable the device as it cleared the ground.
As Wren worked franticly to try and disable the trap. She was confronted with what looked like tendrils of stone cradling an ovoid chest made of blue iron, adamantite, mithril and spun threads of gems and light. She reached into the cradle and wrenched, tweaked, hammered, and fiddled with the device at the bottom of the obelisk.
Sadly the dice were not in her favor.
As sunlight hit the cradle, a pulse emenated from the obelisk of cold, hard, law-infused energy. The Law-bomb had gone off, and saves were now in order for everyone within 200 feet of the device. The save was Fortitude 22 - a tough one for certain. the 10d8 damage turned out to be 52 points. This was more than Wren, Blackturd, and Wendell could sustain, and the trap took them well into the arms of Pharasma. Mort made his save and sustained 26 points, Shirin failed her save but as a fighter had the hitpoints to soak it - she had 1 hp left. The Professor crit on his save, and then crit on his confirmation, and then rolled a 16 -- he was unaffected.
Our first deaths wound up being a trio. Though we've had tough scrapes and close calls, we hadn't lost anyone yet due to the fact that we've got some incredibly smart players who work very well together. As a gm you are never happy to see your players perish, especially against such nasty odds. It was also Wendell's first night with us - he's a longtime friend and player with our group but shedules hadnt allowed him to join in until last night. But in the end, people had a lot of fun, and there are options available to take care of getting the dead back should they choose to do so...
Name: Solovei Borga, duke of Mithurdane
Name: Alhirin, prized tournament fighter
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 9 (greatsword lover), fighter 9 (tower shield/versatility)
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location:
Catalyst: Hitting a proverbial brick wall without preparation
The Gory Details:
Druid, Cleric of Gorum (recently reincarnated from human into gnome) and Solovei and Alhirin went after baron Drelev (and lady Quintessa) who had managed to escape towards the barbarian encampement. Arriving there the birdie-druid went NOVA on the barbarians' asses, and the cleric had some magical fun with them before everyone was pummeled, sliced and diced, or headbutted into coma.
Finding the girls, and even Quintessa had them overjoyed.
It was clear the party wanted revenge on Quintessa for helping the baron escape fort Drelev (and confusing the cleric) so she "explained" that she was on the payroll. Her contract was now over, so she was free to do whatever she wanted.
As a token of goodwill she warned them that she overheard three old ladies in black cloaks who wanted the barbarian warlord to do some kind of ritual... *vague*
They went in, despite the druid saying, a bit droopyfaced, that she would not be of much (zappy) use anymore.
Entering the first chamber, they encountered the three ladies, and were instantly besieged by their summoned demonic friends.
Having nothing to overcome the DR10 and resistances/immunities, they were in over their heads. The girls and their bestow curses failed none of them, and the rest of the spell selection was NASTY...
The cleric and birdiedruid ended up retreating and covering their retreat with stone shape...
Aftermath:
Alhirin was reincarnated into a halfling.
Solovei, being firm believer in Gorum, was admitted by Zorek as one of the chambers defenders... He now stands waiting...
Name: Haggar Hillbreaker
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Cleric 6
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Ruins of Dwarf Fortress
Catalyst: Nagrundi the two-headed troll
The Gory Details: When the great hero-kings (though they are mere barons at the moment, they are in good standing with the citizenry) of Numas (I actually like this name for the kingdom better than Narland) first snuck in to the old dwarven stronghold that the trolls had made into their new lair, they managed to clear the way rather easily, the Catfolk Ranger and Human Necromancer co-operating in setting the giants on fire or spraying them with acid while also knocking their HP down at a steady rate with help from the Dwarf Cleric and Holstaur* Monk.
All of this came to an end when they managed to get the attention of a certain two-headed troll. Due to the tight space, the melee fighters were stuck in a spot they couldn't move from, the Ranger took such heavy penalties to her ranged attacks that they failed to work, and the Cleric couldn't channel energy to heal without healing the troll as well. While the Monk and Cleric started dishing out damage to the beast after a few lucky rolls, Nagrundi soon decided to switch from claws to teeth. He hit, started chewing the Dwarf and spat him out when he died, after which the Ranger and Monk manage to kill him.
He was later brought back by a Cleric of Urgathoa (True Neutral and an ally of the Necromancer), who likes to remind the Dwarf about the fact that he owes her one.
* = Homebrew race of mine. The Cleric of Urgathoa is also one.
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Name: General Bahrel
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Ranger 12
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: A battlefield south of Tatzleford
Catalyst: Avinash Jurrg
The Gory Details During mass combat, Bahrel challenged enemy general Avinash to single combat. Fully buffed, Bahrel was easily overpowering his opponent. Desperate, Avinash cast a hold person spell on Bahrel, then beheaded him while he was paralysed.
Name: Jaekah
Race: Centaur Runt
Classes/levels: Barbarian 7
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Mad Hermit's Lair
Catalyst: Random Encounter
The Gory Details: After dealing with the Mad Hermit, the party took their rest and made camp before heading west the next morning to investigate the "queen" in the forest ruins; during the night, a group of Goblins and Goblin Snakes led by a Barghest attacked. During the battle the Barghest charmed Lilith, the rogue and spymistress, and she badly sniped Jaekah from her place in the trees above. The Barghest took the opportunity to slash at the wounded General and scored a deep critical hit, slicing him down to 1 below negative CON. He was avenged less than a round later by the group's Marshal, the samurai Takeshi, who decapitated the Barghest with a crit of his own, which broke the charm on Lilith in time for the two of them to finish up the remainder of the surviving enemies.
His party members severed a hand, burned the remainders of his body, and marched back to Bokken for the hermit druid to reincarnate him. Jaekah returned several days later... in the form of a magma dragon! (Figures that the first use of my homebrew reincarnate chart would roll one of the 90+ "could be anything" options!)
Name: Nexxus Northman
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Fighter 14
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: Irovetti's Palace.
Catalyst: Throne room brawl.
Name: Serah Aldori
Race: Aasimar
Classes/Levels: Magus 14
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: Irovetti's Palace.
Catalyst: Poorly run stealth encounter on my part.
Name: Nexxus Northman
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Fighter 15
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: Farmstead in Southern Greenbelt.
Catalyst: Serah Aldori.
Name: Alianna
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Ninja/Sorc 5/4
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Dungeons beneath Fort Drelev
Catalyst: too sticky :D
The Gory Details:
As Alliana has los HP (and was focused on ranged sneak ray attacks) she got totally lost in this grapple. After a few rounds she constrict and acid damage did the rest.
The cleric tried to revive her wit h breath of life, but due to misplacement, AoO etc. he failed. The character gave her last will to another player a few adventures before and as the group opened it, they got knowledge that she don't want to get resurected again (died aleeady once before (sprigan chief in varnhold))
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Name: Silme Gorumsdottir
Race: Changeling
Classes/Levels: Cleric of Gorum 9
Adventure: The Varnhold Vanishing
Location: The second level of Vordakai's tomb
Catalyst: one crit too many (special mention: player overconfidence)
And then things went straight to hell.
Now in melee range, the zombie unleashed a full attack. As had been my policy with all the zombie cyclopes in the mod, I had her foe use its flash of insight ability on the first full attack it could make, setting the secondary axe attack (normally at +9) to a natural 20, and then rolling for the confirmation. With the weaker attack bonus, confirms had so far been rare, but it made the players nervous, which is exactly the tension I wanted from the fight. This time, though, not only did I confirm the battleaxe crit, but I also rolled a second natural 20 on the cyclops' slam attack, which also confirmed. With the help of the x3 crit modifier from the axe and some really hot dice rolls (I think the 6d6 from the axe crit alone did 30 damage, well above the statistical average), I wound up doing over 70 damage and blowing through all her remaining hit points and her Con score in one fell swoop.
Aecora Silverfire resurrected her as a half-orc, which we all agreed was a sign of Gorum's general approval of his faithful priestess.
Name: Kabal, Darro, and Astrella
Race: Half-orc, bear, and human
Class/Level: Druid (Bear Shaman) 8, Animal Companion 7, Cleric 8
Adventure: The Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's throne room
Catalyst: Too many player failed saves, too many DM good attack rolls, 1 level too low and some player overconfidance
At this point, since we had some many characters (lost 3 players) in and out, we all decided to move on to the next AP.
-- david
papa.drb
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Finally got my first PC death, but it wasn't actually in KM material...
Name: Mitts
Race: Suli
Class: Barbarian (elemental kindred) 2 / Crossbloded sorceror 1
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Golushkin Mountains, near the halls of the Golka Dwarves
Catalyst: Barbarian rage combined with being the wrong party for the job
IMC, everyone got a second character when they founded their kingdom, so this was the first adventure the second party had gone on. They were sent to Garess in order to try and win their favor by going into the Golka Clanholds to find the Duke's son. Unfortunately, there were complications.
I decided to make the Golka city a megadungeon, so that there would always be something to hack if my group ever felt the need. I also expected that my group of powergamers would always make characters that were suited to hacking dungeons all day every day. Turns out they made characters that were really good at running kingdoms instead. :/
So they went into the dungeon, and even stumbled onto one of the parts I was hoping they would find - a mithril mine that the new inhabitants of the dungeon had been working relatively near to the surface. Unfortunately, all the monsters they had run into were oozes and plants - the main inhabitants being fungus-men who use oozes as mining tools - and all the party's spells were mind-affecting.
They make some unlucky decisions about which hallways to go down, and end up triggering the group of pech miners that work for the fungus-men. I had planned that the pechs would just cast Wall of Stone and cut off their lair from the party and everyone would go home. Unfortunately, Mitts the barbarian charged when he saw some monsters and ended up on the wrong side of the newly formed stone wall.
Several strong attacks from the pechs, and the barbarian went down. One hp left before the last attack dropped him, ended his rage, and took him past -con. The rest of the party decided that the best thing to do was go home and try to assault the level from a different direction. Later.
His brother "Luigi" is going to come join the party soon, since he only got to play for a session and a half.
Name: Robert
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Rogue 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Troll den
Catalyst: One lucky troll
Troll two attacks. I am rolling 3 dice, a yellow one for the bite and 2 black for the claws. I look at the yellow one, a 3, that's going to miss. When I go to find the 2 black dice I notice that the players on one side of the table are all staring. Both black dice rolled 20s. Well, that is unusual. So I pick the dice up again and roll to confirm the critical hits. 2 more 20's... OK then. Now, our group uses a house rule that a nat 20 on a confirmation roll gets to confirm for instant death (so 3 natural 20's in a row instantly kills). I don't normally invoke this on players but the player for the rogue insisted since it would only be fair (this rarely comes up and the players enjoy it even if it has only ever killed a CR 1/2 goblin). So I roll again, two 5's... what the hell is with these dice?
Time to dish out damage: 2d6 +10 (claw 1), 2d6 +10 (claw 2), 1d6 +7 (rend). Ouch. 47 total.
I look at our rogue and ask him what that puts him at, he looks at his character sheet and says "-15, incidentally exactly enough to kill me" (he had max 42 HP and has a 15 Con).
Now to find a thread about how the kingdom reacts when the ruler dies (After the fight the party finished off the unconscious, regenerating trolls and retreated with a corpse, a badly wounded bear animal companion, and plenty of damage). On the plus side the fight did give them enough XP to level.
The consequences of a ruler's death on a kingdom are documented in the base Kingdom rules. It isn't pretty...
Sorry for the derailment, but where'd you find that, Turin?
All I could gather was
If the leader is assassinated, the nation gains 1d6 Unrest points and immediately suffers the penalties for not having a leader in that role until the role is filled during a subsequent Improvement phase.
And that's from the event section of "Of Cities and Kings" (under Assanation event).
Ruyan.
Sorry for the derailment, but where'd you find that, Turin?
All I could gather was
If the leader is assassinated, the nation gains 1d6 Unrest points and immediately suffers the penalties for not having a leader in that role until the role is filled during a subsequent Improvement phase.And that's from the event section of "Of Cities and Kings" (under Assanation event).
Ruyan.
Look in the King/Queen role text. IIRC the kingdom can take no actions at all without a ruler. The kingdom ability scores drop precipitously (loss of ruler's stat bonus) among other things. It's nasty.
True. Thanks, Turin for pointing it out.
And now back to all the detailed reports about the grisly deaths of unfortunate PCs. *Muaahahahahahahahahahhaaaa*
Ruyan.
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Name: King Nicholaedes Orlovsky
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cavalier 16
Name: High Executioner Turin Naldiir
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Ranger 16
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: The High Folly
Catalyst: Absolutely brutal ambush by Ilthuliak the Wyrm
During the surprise round it immediately blasts with it's breath weapon from 100' feet above both the alchemist and the witch on their flying carpet. The carpet is instantly destroyed because of failed saves.
Round #1: Dragon wins initiative before all but Ranger-archer, who cast Instant Enemy. Dragon casts Acid Cloud on entire (now grounded) party. Ranger, Cavalier, and Barbarian flee the cloud. Alchemist makes self protected against acid. Witch takes Ice Form.
Round #2: Dragon casts Mass Reduce Person to no effect. Archer continues to move away from cloud and bounces a couple of multishot deadly aimed arrows off 48 AC dragonhide. Cavalier flees to tower from still flying dragon. Barbarian/Rogue moves too and hides behind huge Athach statue. Witch and Alchemist Start flying and rise from acid cloud.
Round #3: Dragon turns Archer to stone with his failed save roll of 1. Cavalier begins climbing internal spiral staircase with his horse. Barbarian climbs 30' up athach statue hoping to attack dragon in flight. Alchemist moves up to dragon drinks potion discovering for the first time that her stuff is corrupted. Witch casts spell but fails to penetrate SR. The stone form of the archer disappears into the advancing acid fog.
Round #4: Dragon breaths acid on Alchemist and Witch second time knocking the witch unconscious. Alchemist flees to witch's side and throws dispelling bomb into acid fog to dispel it only to find bombs too have been corrupted. Cavalier, seeing his friends on the ropes, feeds potion of flying to his mount (which actually has been trained with a fly skill because he does this so much). Barbarian/Rogue dimension Doors via his cloak to the top of the tower in the hopes of distracting the dragon by finding eggs or looting it's hoard.
Round #5: Dragon casts haste. Alchemist grabs wand of cure light wounds and attempts to heal witch from -6 hitpoints but rolls only a 2(healing 3). Cavalier activates winged shield in preparation of a charge. Barbarian begins looting anything that may help him fly from dragon's hoard.
Round #6: Dragon advances on Alchemist and misses with a rolled natural 1. Alchemist attempts to heal witch from -3 hitpoints with wand but rolls only a 1(healing 2). Cavalier charges from the tower, needs a 9 to hit but only rolls a 7. Barbarian continues to loot.
Round #7: Dragon tears into cavalier and crits alchemist with tail(activating alchemists contingent transformation - not sure what it's called). Alchemist grabs wand of dimension door off of witch and flees through a dimension door with her. Barbarian in desperation calls to dragon about him looting her hoard but the cavalier finally strikes a telling blow doing 41 damage to dragon.
Round #8: Dragon has lost herself in the glory of battle and hits cavalier with EVERYTHING and pries his mithral full plate open and eats the soft squishy meat inside. THE KING IS DEAD!
Aftermath: Witch and Alchemist dimension door away 3 more times just to make sure they are safe. Barbarian/Rogue uses Dust of Disappearance and goes terminal velocity off the top of the tower to escape dragon's wrath. Party meets back up in The Shunned Falls, meeting up with the Cavalier's mount and the Archer's Thylacine animal companion that randomly fled that way. Time to go get a true resurrection for the king without letting the Queen know he's dead. She is the former Baroness Drelev and quite evil. Marriage was part of the peaceful annexation of Drelev after the Baron's capture and death(at the Baroness' hands). Gods forbid she should EVER find out she is the sole legitimate ruler of the players kingdom!
P.S. My players are QUITE experienced players but sometimes things just don't go your way...anyway just thought I would share. Dragon DC 31 saves are a real pain for ANY party. I'll update you for round 2 when they go to try and recover their Archer buddy with the help of a recruited Adult Silver dragon from chapter #3.
Name: High Executioner Turin Naldiir
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Ranger 16
An elf?! Pshaw, no wonder ... ;)
P.S. My players are QUITE experienced players but sometimes things just don't go your way...anyway just thought I would share. Dragon DC 31 saves are a real pain for ANY party. I'll update you for round 2 when they go to try and recover their Archer buddy with the help of a recruited Adult Silver dragon from chapter #3.
Thanks for sharing, Dark Arioch! That looks like a great fight for the final instalment of the campaign. Something similar could have happened to my PCs: they were scattering around randomly to avoid the blunt of Ilthuliak's assault and things were going south very fast when the dragon rolled a 1 on her save against a baleful polymorph! Maybe your leaders will get a similar revenge in their next session?
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I need a ruling in mass combat I wiped 2 PC armies and 1 major NPC does that deserve an obit post.
I'd say unless a PC is in said army when it gets flattened not to worry about it... nameless masses aren't as important or amusing to read about their demises compared to the singular focus on the PCs =)
death has been my gift lately, still haven't taken a pc head but the game has become much more deadly of late...
Name: Sootscale Sappers
Classes/levels: CR 5 large army
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: King H's stronghold
Catalyst: using reckless tactical option, heroic sacrifice
The sootscales were ready to take on King H with a huge army of knights raised by the PCs (my version up DMs plot but with larger meaner armies) but the fortifications of king H was impressive. Sootscales went reckless and halved the defense in an epiuc crit roll, only to immediately perish the same round of mass combat as the trolls also rolled a crit and dealt more than enough damage to the army 2 size catagories smaller. Ttoal wip, a memorial tot he sacrifice of the sootscales is being errected.
Name: Vrash (Ape animal companion), Spite (Wasp animal companion)
Classes/levels: 5th level companions (one thru Eldritch heritage feat one thru class dip in druid and boon companion feat)
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Against Stag lord's fort run by clan fox (ninjas)
Catalyst: Bad to the Bone Barbarian enemy, wrong location wrong time, respectively
Spite was destroyed by an attack of opportunity from a wood golem followed by a flurry of blows form a monk, Vrash was taken down by an amazing set of attacks by a barbarian fighter combo that was confused with the stag lord risen fromt he grave...
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Well, if you're looking for *amusing* deaths of major NPCs, read on:
If you can't kill someone dramatically, you may as well kill them hilariously.
She critted, confirmed, while power-attacking with a greataxe-- All the way to negative Con.
...though it sounds like your PCs managed to do both...
death has been my gift
Nice. "The GM lives in the action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound. He is destruction..." ;)
Catalyst: Random encounter
The Gory Details: Another random encounter.
Those things should come with a warning label on 'em or something. And I hear you on the, "Why would X number of creatures be hanging out together?" front. In Blood For Blood, I rolled an adult black dragon encounter. A THREE adult black dragon encounter...
Those things should come with a warning label on 'em or something. And I hear you on the, "Why would X number of creatures be hanging out together?" front. In Blood For Blood, I rolled an adult black dragon encounter. A THREE adult black dragon encounter...
My party's rogue got pounced on by three wyverns on Monday. There was a nest nearby, though after the near-pulverizing she got (poison took her down to 3 Con before the Oracle could remove it) I'm not surprised that they didn't bother to investigate.
Name: Warden Buzz
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 10
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Armarg's Tomb
Catalyst: Courage, Boredom, Failing to heal himself
The Gory Details:
The PCs fail to impress Zorek and he lays down a blade barrier to start combat with the PCs. Buzz confidently leaps through the blades, not afraid to take some damage. The party Rogue has snuck up on Zorek beforehand but the rest of the party is on the far side of the blades.
Always vicious with his axe, Buzz unleashes lots of damage to Zorek. The cleric d'doors away to heal up. Not wanting to jump back through the blades and thinking maybe Zorek d'doored past the locked doors they are at, the Rogue picks the lock while Buzz patiently waits (when he should have been drinking a healing potions). The rest of the party is searching on the other side of the blades for Zoerk, doesn't find him, so d'door to join Buzz and the Rogue at the now unlocked door.
They throw open the door just as Zorek returns and catches the party in perfect formation for a flame strike. Buzz is seriously injured, but is faced with the decision of staying at the door for healing and probably getting flame striked again or charging in to face Armarg and his skeletons. Always itching for a fight, he charges in and is cut down.
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Name: Jolene Barrett
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Conjurer Wizard 10
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Armarg's Tomb area 1
Catalyst: silence, summoned demons with sneak attack and flanking, poor coordination, botched dice rolls
The Gory Details:
Our intrepid heroes have begun their delve into Armag's tomb. In the very first chamber they encountered the Three Sisters of Gyronna (6-player power up). The Sisters got the drop on the party, and as their first action all summoned Babau Demons around Jolene, the party wizard and coinmaster of the kingdom. They were able to hit her with ease and did massive sneak attack damage to her.
The party's inquisitor/cleric/rogue of Erastil, Otho, dropped a silence on himself and rode Rocky, his animal companion Roc into the midst of the Sisters to prevent further spellcasting. Unfortunately, Jolene was caught in the silence as well. Not fretting, she used a Lesser Rod of Silence to defensively cast a Protection from Evil spell to ward herself against the summoned monsters... and didn't beat the spell resistance of 2/3 of them.
The next round, the Sisters start using their Aura of Madness and selective Negative Energy Channels, remaining combat effective in the silenced area. The two demons who passed the SR check to attack Jolene get her in a flanking claw/claw/claw/claw/bite/bite combo with 2d6 sneak attacks on all of them, and reduce her to less than ten HP. She tries to defensively cast a Dimension Door with her Silence rod, and botches the concentration check.
The rest of the party is ineffective at rescuing the wizard due to the Aura of Madness, doing as much damage to each other as the enemies, and on the third round the Babau demons drop Jolene to negative Con and knock out Perlivash, whom she has taken as a familiar.
One Reincarnation spell later, she's back as a half-elf.
lesser metamagic rods don't work on 4th level+ spells. :)
Pre-emptive summons, IIRC the Black Sisters used calling spells, not summon monster.
Also there are a few class abilities that allow standard-action summoning - for example, my group's Queen is a Spellscar Oracle who can (level)/day summon an elemental as a standard action.
I've got a couple new ones to list since last I posted.
Name: Elsa Silvertongue Goldwhistle Orlovsky
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Bard 8
Adventure: The Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vordakai's Tomb
Catalyst: Antipaladins are dicks
The Gory Details: After a long battle, the party managed to reach the inner sanctum of the ancient cyclops lich Vordakai. There they met the lich himself, along with the lich's champion - a Cyclops Graveknight Antipaladin (courtesy of the excellent six-player conversions stickied on this board). As the party's spellcasters traded spells with the lich, Baroness Drogza (the party paladin) challenged the Champion to a battle, and the two began smiting the hell (or heaven, as the case might be) out of each other.
This only lasted a round or two, before Kalinka, the party's battlefield control Sorcerer, used a combination of aqueous orbs and create pit spells to interrupt the impromptu duel.
It was several rounds before the Champion was able to emerge, and when he did, Drogza was ready to resume the battle. Being clever, she chose a position where the Champion would have to stand next to Kalinka's magical pits to engage her. Unfortunately, the Champion was also clever, and chose to ignore her and wade into the midst of the party's spellcasters instead, leaving only a space next to Kalinka's pit from which the mounted paladin could attack him. He then struck with his great flaming axe, doing grievious damage to Elsa while taunting Drogza to attack him if she dared.
Drogza maneuvered to a different position where the Champion could face her on even ground and once again called out a challenge. "Come and face me in honorable combat, and we shall end this once and for all!"
The Champion gazed at Drogza for just a moment before, with a laugh, burying his greataxe in the already critically-wounded halfling, killing her outright. "No! I'm Chaotic evil, motherf!&*#r!"
Needless to say, the Champion fell very quickly after that, and fortunately the party was able to get to Elsa with a Breath of Life spell before it was too late.
Name: Kalinka
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Sorcerer 10
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Drelev Keep
Catalyst: High Level Spellcaster Rocket Tag with Imeckus Stroon
The Gory Details: After his dastardly, unprovoked attack on Tatzlford, it was plain that Baron Hannis Drelev had to pay. The plan was a simple one. Sneak into Drelev keep through the escape tunnel, find and rescue General Numesti, and make their way up to the baron to demand answers.
Unfortunately, with an axe-crazy Barbarian in the party, the whole "sneaking" and "talking" parts of that plan proved to be a little overly complicated. The party was spotted quite quickly and the alarm was sounded, putting the entire fortress on alert and sending reinforcements scrambling to support the central tower.
Angus (the afforementioned axe-crazy barbarian), after being buffed with a Greater Invisibility spell, made his way up to the throneroom above. A create pit and grease spell placed by Kalinka to discourage reinforcements actually ended up discouraging the party from getting up to assist Angus.
Of course, Angus didn't actually need much help, although his negotiating tactic of cleaving his way through the palace guard while invisible didn't actually prove to be an especially strong negotiating tactic. Still, Angus was just one man, and while he wasn't in any great danger, without assistence he was not able to press his advantage fast enough to keep the situation from escalating out of control. By the time the rest of the party arrived to reinforce him, the Baron's own reinforcements were starting to arrive - most significantly the Evoker Imeckus Stroon, who flew outside the throneroom and, casting through the window, dropped a forcecage on Drogza (the paladin) just as she emerged to join the battle.
Solamus (the party witch) and Elsa (the party bard) immediately teamed up to try to lock him down as best as possible, and after dropping the wounded Baron Drelev down a Hungry pit, Kalinka moved to join them. In the space of just a couple rounds, Stroon found himself with nearly 50 points of nonlethal damage, 4 negative levels, spending two rounds in a row stunned by sound bursts, and blown all the way from the window to the palace wall behind him by a river of wind.
When the lockdown on Stroon finally failed, the Evoker took note of the fact that his enemies were lined up nicely so that they could see out the window to target him effectively. He therefore sent an Empowered Lightning Bolt in through the window, hitting all but Drogza (still stuck in a forcecage) and Angus (who had gone downstairs to engage the giants as they started to enter the first floor.)
13d6+6 damage later, and Kalinka was killed outright. Solamus was knocked into negative hit points and left unconscious. Seradin (the party's Oracle and main healer) was still up, but with only 1 hit point left. Only Elsa made it through without taking too much damage. Seradin did his best, but ultimately failed the concentration check to defensively cast Breath of Life on Kalinka before it was too late.
With Kalinka dead, per our table rules all of her non-permanant spells failed. This included the various pits, including the one imprisoning Baron Drelev. Reinforcements flooded into the throneroom, and things were looking grim for our heros.
Then Angus ran back up the stairs, and killed Baron Drelev with a critical hit. Rather than continuing the battle after the baron's death, Imeckus Stroon called for a truce, and it was agreed that he could take his sister and his gear and leave in peace. The guards, being mercenaries themselves, were also willing to lower their swords at that point, which left only the giants to be disposed of before the castle could be secured.
Kalinka's player has not yet decided whether she wants to bring Kalinka back, or whether she will create a new character.
This brings me to a total of 3 deaths thus far in Kingmaker - so far, so good!
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Name: Alroy
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Rogue
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Hex 2 spots SE of Olegs.
Catalyst: werewolf random encounter.
The Gory Details:Bad luck on the random encounter chart and after already fleeing from 3 Trolls at first level they met up with a lone traveler while exploring (werewolf). They had a nice conversation with the man who gave them information/misinformation about the terrain and hazards that lie ahead and went on his merry way. Later that night I rolled the same encounter on the chart so the same guy (werewolf) paid them a visit while they rested and gave the group a serious beatdown. Alroy using the withdraw action plotted his movement poorly and was hit by a AoO and killed. The rest of the party fled and lived to fight another day.
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Name: Takeshi, Marshal of Iomrall
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Samurai [Ronin] 8
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Ruined Keep
Catalyst: Dancing Lady + Teorlian flank one-two claw-bite-punch
The Gory Details: Upon breaching the Dancing Lady's chamber, General Jaekah and Magister Errol of Iomrall failed their will saves and succumbed to the enthralling dance. Takeshi however resisted, and when the kingdom's Duchess Elegy arrived right behind him and found herself attacked by the Dancing Lady's Kelpies - which wore the faces of dead bandits Kressle and Topper Red - Takeshi leaped into the fray, cut down the plantified Kressle in a single flurry of slashes, then shoved his way past the Grimstalker to reach the Dancing Lady. The vindictive fey followed though, and gutted Takeshi viciously from behind; the Lady then tore into him, lashing him into unconsciousness then death without at all breaking from the flow of her dance.
After Elegy and Spymistress Lilith killed the Dancing Lady and the party as a whole finished off Teorlian and the other Kelpie and rescued their fey friend (who had been given to the baobhan sidhe as a gift from Hargulka), they collected Takeshi's gear, severed one of his hands, and headed once again to Bokken's to purchase another reincarnate from the eccentric druid. Takeshi returned from the dead in the body of a Naga, the ruling species from his homeland of Senkaku; taking this new form as a sign of approval of his ancestors, he reclaimed his swords and retains his post as Marshal of Iomrall.
Name: Solamus Aldori
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Witch 10
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Drelev Keep
Catalyst: Overconfidence in the utility of greater invisibility
The Gory Details: With Baron Drelev dead, his guards surrendered, and Imeckus Stroon having taken his leave, the only foe between the party and victory in Drelev Keep was a group of Hill Giant Barbarians trying to fight their way up to the party.
The party had set up in the spiral staircase and were very effectively grinding the giants down one by one. Solamus, always one to take bold (and some might say foolhardy) risks, decided this was taking too long, and while still under the effects of a Greater Invisibility spell, broke out of the party's defensive line and flew carefully between the giants, then lined up and fired a lightning bolt which hit four of them.
Unfortunately for Solamus, he chose to do so from inside a doorway that two of the giants could reach. Knowing that a bolt of lightning had just blasted out of the door adjacent to them, the giants (who couldn't reach the party's warriors in the staircase yet anyway) decided to start swinging at where-ever that bolt of lighting came from. The 50% miss chance helped Solamus a little - it took 3 attacks instead of 2 for him to be squashed into oatmeal by the enraged giants.
The party managed to mop up the remaining giants 4 or 5 rounds later, and Solamus was raised by one of the party's scrolls of Raise Dead.