Name: Syra
Race: Human, Female
Class/level: Witch 7
Adventure: River Runs Red
Location: Owlbear den
Catalyst: One mean momma owlbear
The party of level 7 PCs made their way out of the capitol in search of the giant owlbear that had just killed 1000 people and killed over 20bp worth of buildings. An easy trail leading to a cave was found. The quick scouting trip by an invisible fey familiar revealed a pile of troll corpses being chewed upon by the giant owlbear. The party buffed and made ready their assault. The sneaky charge was interrupted by shrieker mushrooms that were quickly chopped and sautéed. The enraged owlbear made his appearance and was engaged by the warpriest and eldritch knight. Things were fine on that front until the mate of the owlbear appeared at the cave entrance. Matters were further complicated by the appearance of a shambling mound (rolled randomly). The owlbear mate was held off by a giant roc animal companion, who unfortunately was turned into pulled chicken. Syra put up a fog cloud, which did prevent the owlbear from charging the casters. The main owlbear went down, and as the warpriest helped the castors deal with the grabby shambling mound, Netvor the Eldrich knight made his way to the owlbear. This turned out to be disastrous, as he was quickly grappled and reduced to single digit HP. Syra charged in with a touch spell and was caught in an AoO. Netvor, just back from Hell and not eager to return, plays dead. The owlbear tosses him aside and then tears apart the witch. Netvor barely escapes thanks to the cleric’s use of dimension door, and the owlbear goes down once the warpriest’s blade finds her. In total, this battle claimed an animal companion, a witch, and the witch’s familiar. Syra’s last stand makes Netvor the last original PC left.
Name: Morgrym
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Stonelord Paladin 1
Adventure: The Stolen Land
Location: Exploring the hex around Bokken's
Catalyst: Shambling Mound With Very High Successive Stealth Checks
The Gory Details: Morgrym and the rest of the party had just finished meeting old Bokken and decided to finish exploring the rest of the area. After walking around for a few hours, Morgrym spotted a rather bizarre looking plant that seemed to be staring at him. He alerted the rest of the party to it, and the Shambling Mound realizing that the jig was up promptly charged the poor dwarf who rolled poorly on initiative and was caught flat footed. A power attack and constrict later brought Morgrym to 1 hp from death. His turn immediately followed and he failed his -11 stablize check and bled out. His memory lives on.
Name: Ferkus the Barbarian
Race: Human, Male
Class/level: Barbarian 8/Champion 3
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Atop the Varnhold fort
Catalyst: A comment from the wizard
The gory details: After killing Agai, the players encountered Sagroc the Ugly, a powerful, advanced bogeyman who has appeared once before. He was there to provide a little bit of foreshadowing, drop a little bit of exposition, and generally make the players and characters feel a little bit creeped out. He stepped out of invisibility, expressed admiration for the PCs for spreading fear, then laughed a little bit and offered to parlay.
The party wizard averred that Ferkus could take him. As GM, I blinked once, then asked the barbarian if he really wanted to challenge Sagroc. One round later, the barbarian had literally died of fear (Phantasmal Killer). Sagroc asked after their next champion, or if they'd prefer to parlay. The answer was "parlay!!"
Afterward, they managed to use the Raise Dead scroll from the temple to Erastil to bring the barbarian back.
Barbarian player: "I had it under control until we rolled for initiative."
Name, race, class, role of the fallen:
King Zien Surtova, Human Sorcerer 7 (Sylvan Bloodline)
General Tyr Surtova, Human Warpriest of Gorum 7
Warden Rel, Aasamir Zen Archer 7
Councilor Eve Rosland, Aasamir Cleric of Desna 7
High Diplomat Netvor Orlovsky, recently redeemed Human Marshall 1/Arcanist (black blade) 6
Adventure: River Runs Red (mods)
Location: Forgotten Keep, then capitol city
Catalyst: Running into things head on (apply directly to forehead).
Part 1: The party was getting good at regicide, killing off the leaders of the lizardfolk, the boggards, and of the trolls. These monstrous races allied under a new leader who plotted the doom of the party. While the party explored the forgotten elf ruins, Rel was killed by a souped up assassin vine. The rest of them cleared the four towers and made it to the top, where the Dancing Lady resided. She was given the vampire template, giving her tons of charisma and Dominate Person at will. She convinced Zien to shove Tyr and Netvor out a window and to go down to kill them. While Zien was making mincemeat of them, the dancing lady sucked most of the life out of the cleric. She escaped with a dimension door, but was left with zero strength on the castle floor. With his teammates dead and still under control, Zien returned to the top floor to his doom.
At this point, I offered the players a choice. Either play as new people in their kingdom in chaos, or take up their old characters for one more shot. Enough of them choose the latter that I went for it.
Part two starts with the party as vampire spawn. They wait for night and return to their capitol, where they are chased off. People impersonating the party now sit on the throne, and the main party is pissed about that. They find them all together in the throne room and launch an attack. I had three friends play five people, near copies of the originals. I was prepared to have them make passionate arguments to convince the nobles that they were the right people, but instead we went for 15 rounds of combat.
Netvor: Went into Create Pit to retrieve black blade, and had the pit capped by Stone Shape. Crushed to death when the pit ejected him into a one inch space being blocked off by 12 inches of stone.
Rel: Killed by Tyr’s lookalike, a paladin. He lost 20HP when converted into undead.
Tyr: Died with his combat boots on, sword in hand.
Eve: Wavered about her duty to Desna. Took a crit and died.
Zien was left at round 10 with the fake Zien, Netvor, and Eve still around. Paladins were there but unable to hit the undead sorcerer. There was a wrestling match on the wall, and everybody was low on spells. Finally the spymaster created a cover and got Zien alone. He hands Zien a potion that immobilizes him, and then proceeds to kill Zien. The spymaster had been replaced by a Faceless Stalker some months ago and chooses then to make a decapitation strike.
Epilogue: The fake rulers worked in seamlessly to the young kingdom, stopping an incursion from King Surtova from Brevoy and signing a peace agreement with the monster kingdom. The queen bears the child of the original king, and now waits for her to age up and take the throne. A year has passed, and the ruling council now is in need of heroes for a new mission. Rewards include seats on the council, possible rulership, book 3 of the adventure, and continuing Kingmaker.
Name: Elensil Valandar
Race: Half-elf
Classes/levels: Wiz3/Clr3/MysTh3
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Vor Dakai's Throne room
Catalyst: An dominated party Arcanist...& one too many fireballs...
The Gory Details: The party reached the throne room & Simile (the arcanist) got the
highest init. Being curious (- despite a friendly warning from their ever-loving GM) &
wanting to identify her enemy, she used an ability to 'port deep into the room
to get a decent look...sigh...
First spell cast by Dekai was Dominate Person, which Simile failed...sigh...
Per an excellent idea from someone else on these boards, the command given was to
'teach these vermin what it is to annoy Dekai'.
In the 1st round Simile used a negative energy ray against Bremen, the party fighter,
but he'd been buffed against just such attacks... So after that, Simile started
using her fireballs...for 3 rounds in a row...into a room with all 4 of the other
party members - who were being held at bay Var Gakal, Vor Dekai's champion.
Elensil was put into negatives, & partially healed back up, FyreAmber (ranger)
was put into negatives & partially healed back up, Bremen & Orestil (druid) were
also sorely toasted...& partially healed back up... ;-p
The fireballs collectively did over 100Hp (not counting saves), & the last one
was easily enough to kill brave Elensil - who was near the front & channeling
as if his life depended on it.
(Luckily the player had enough Hero points to save him from being complete toast.)
We left our mighty heroes during a strategic withdrawal, with next session promising
more pain & mayhem.
TPK.
3rd level Oracle, Magus, Inquisitor, Alchemist.
Fought the Kobold Sorceror.
Since the sorceror was supposed to find to the death but had no combat spells, I changed the spells. He was a gnome prior to his reincarnation so I figured color spray and hypnotic pattern would be fluffy spells.
We won initiative and everyone failed their saves (no one rolled higher than a 4).
Played it that the sorceror took his time as he was glotting, and 2 of the 4 broke out of it. They failed the color spray save.
At this point we all decided the characters deserved to die and bourbon was passed to all in toast of the fallen heroes.
Name: Faraveil
Race: Gnome
Classes/levels: Bard (Prankster) 1/ Alchemist (Saboteur/Trapmaker) 2
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: The Staglord's Fort Cellar
Catalyst: Betrayed by jerk monk/ eaten by hungry druid
The Gory Details: The party monk, Mukhtar, has been secretly attempting to corrupt the party's fledgling kingdom. After annihilating the Kobold menace, save for the shaman Tartuk, Mukhtar began trying to recruit the new shaman, hoping to use him as a catalyst to transform her and her most trusted allies into rakshasas. However, there was a catch. The kobold required the head of the party's beloved gnome mascot Faraveil. The two put together a diabolical plan, to slay the poor gnome during their assault on the Staglord's keep. When the party summoner and the gnome entered the camp, the camp was already warned that poor Faraveil was to be offered as part of the party's tribute. The Staglord took him to a feast, before he placed him in an isolated room, where the gnome met his eand by the hands of Nurgra the Decrepid.
The Poshment wrote: TPK.
3rd level Oracle, Magus, Inquisitor, Alchemist.
Fought the Kobold Sorceror.
Since the sorceror was supposed to find to the death but had no combat spells, I changed the spells. He was a gnome prior to his reincarnation so I figured color spray and hypnotic pattern would be fluffy spells.
We won initiative and everyone failed their saves (no one rolled higher than a 4).
Played it that the sorceror took his time as he was glotting, and 2 of the 4 broke out of it. They failed the color spray save.
At this point we all decided the characters deserved to die and bourbon was passed to all in toast of the fallen heroes.
*lifts a glass* o7
Name: High Priest Simon Wellread
Race: male human
Classes/levels: Cleric 7 (Cayden Cailean)
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Tatzylford
Catalyst: repelling a troll invasion
The Gory Details:
I'm using a version of Dudemeister's "Monster Kingdom" idea, and one of the events is that a force of trolls invades the player's kingdom. In my version, the trolls were led by a hag coven. The players tried to strike at the trolls and the hags before they could do damage, but their army was destroyed and they failed to kill any of the hags. After regrouping, the trolls marched on Tatzylford and the players followed.
As the trolls tore apart the evacuated town, the players tried to take out the hags once again. They felled one and then tried to flee before the bulk of the trolls were upon them. The flying wizard, Mestinous, tried to trap the green hag in a create pit spell, but she jumped clear. The cleric, Simon, was not so lucky. Mestinous swooped down to grab the cleric out of the pit, but the green hag, Nekista Syla, jumped and grabbed the cleric as well. All three took off into the air.
Mestinous flew up to maximum falling damage and headed to regroup with the rest of the party. Nekista, realizing that she would lose if she had to fight all of the PCs, cast a grease spell on Mestinous' hands. The wizard lost his grip on the cleric, and the cleric and the green hag fell down into the Narlmarches below.
The falling damage obliterated the cleric. Nekista barely survived. Mestinous came down to finish her off, but she had already turned invisible. All that was left was the echo of her laughter...
Name: Councilor Breen Everstead
Race: male human
Classes/levels: Monk 7
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Hargulka's Lair
Catalyst: claw/claw/rend
The Gory Details:
The players stormed Hargulka's lair. A wounded Breen rushed forward to engage with Kargadd the rock troll. On Kargadd's turn, the damage from two claw attacks and the rend eviscerated the monk. Kargadd didn't even get a chance to use his bite attack.
Spatula wrote: Kargadd didn't even get a chance to use his bite attack. Oh - Poor Kargadd - Monks are soooo tasty! ;-p
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TPK
Name: Zahir ibn Mahoud ibn Jothan, Duke of Riverstan
Race: Male Human
Classes/levels: Bard / 9
Name: Volg Drohar, General of Riverstan
Race: Male Tiefling
Classes/levels: Paladin / 9
Name: Bandenmorroot, Deputy Undersecretary for Internal Affairs (Royal Assassin) of Riverstan
Race: Male Gnome
Classes/levels: Ranger/Shaman / 9th (unsure of the mix)
Name: Nolq, Spymaster of Riverstan
Race: Male Ratfolk
Classes/levels: Alchemist 9
Name: Hrolfa
Race: Female Human
Classes/levels: Warpriest 7
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: 12 miles NE of Fort Drelev
Catalyst: Random Encounter (4 Spirit Nagas)
The Gory Details:: Whereas the rulers of Riverstan had just returned to Riverton from vanquishing the lich Vordakai, and whereas they did save the wayward Nomen princess, and save the peoples of Varnhold, thus successfully sealing alliances with them both. And whereas these same rulers did immediately receive information regarding an impending attack against Tatzylton from the forces of Drelev, they did thus move to Tatzylton with all dispatch to defend what was theirs to defend. And whereas they did successfully defend Tatzylton from assault by the forces of Drelev, and in the process capture the leader of the invading army. And whereas, the good Duke Zahir (etc.) did foment trust with said invading general, such that he guided the rulers back to Fort Drelev. And whereas they having just reconnoitered Fort Drelev, made several alliances, discovered the existence of a back way into the fortress, and were discovered during the procoess. And whereas they had fought their way out of the town and withdrawn to the northeast intent on taking a couple days to let their precipitous leave blow over, and be forgotten before stealing in via the back way in an effort to directly assault the Lord of Drelev and cut the head off the beast. Be it known, that the dread lords of Riverstan were accosted in the wilderness by no less than four Spirit Nagas. These selfsame Spirit Nagas being considerably concealed, such that only one member of the group spied them before their ambush. And whereas a full volley of four fireballs from Spirit Nagas did slaughter the brave General of Riverstan and his cohort, and leave most of the rest of the council considerably weakened. And whereas they did fight back to the best of their abilities, but to no avail, as the Nagas were able to continue to beat down the survivors of the initial assault, until all were dead or unconscious.
Nooooooo - Zahiiiiirrr!!!
Philip Knowsley wrote: Nooooooo - Zahiiiiirrr!!! I know, I know! It was heart breaking. Probably time to change my default posting alias.
Name: High Priest Jarod
Race:Male Cheliaxian Human
Classes/Levels: Cleric of Asmodeus 7
Adventure: Rivers run red (Dudemeister's)
Catalyst: forgetting to take 5 feet steps. repeatedly. and too much fire.
The gory details: after receiving the invitation from the Sootscale kobolds the party spoke with Hargulka and decided that he was too much of a threat to let him go. they attacked him (plus nagrundi and another troll) just outside the kobolds' cave. After some 4 rounds of fighting, big H got hold of the cleric and proceeded to dismember him. right before that the PC had the brilliant idea of casting wall of fire. One round later Hargulka failed his save and proceeded to detonate, vaporizing himself, badly damaging Akiros (the baroness cohort/bodyguard) and charring the remainings of the poor cleric).
Name: Doran Muka
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Drunken Master Monk 13
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: Northwestern hex in the Glenebon Uplands
Catalyst: Engaging the enemy alone
The Gory Details: Thanks to hero points this is our first real death. While exploring the new map the PCs rolled a random encounter. I rolled up what the encounter would be and got "2d6 worgs". To me, the fact that the table even had an encounter from book 2 was ridiculous, so I changed it to 2d6 elder worgs and rolled an 8. The set up was that they were riding through a valley between hills when they spot worgs, four on top of either hill. The worgs were forty feet away, but that was nothing for the monk, so Doran decided to engage alone. This was after the oracle managed to damage three and blind two of those three, so they figured it shouldn't be that hard to take them out. That might have been the case had the first worg not tripped him when it successfully landed a bite. The second worg also landed its bite. The third worg missed since it was blinded but somehow the fourth managed to land a hit for over thirty points of damage. Since they were Power Attacking the damage was 2d6+22 each time. Doran didn't stand a chance and, sadly, died.
On the bright side we're all excited for the player's new character: an awakened kiwi Mesmerist.
Beware the fruit, for it will peel your mind like a grape.
Name: Jackson Whitehaven
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Warlord 2
Adventure: Stolen Land
Location: Nettle's Crossing
Catalyst: Having a Paladin Complex
The Gory Details: Jackson from the start was a Warlord with a Paladin complex. He picked up the Silver Crane Tradition (including its Oath to protect), and focused heavily on Silver Crane Maneuvers (including the stance that grants detect evil at will like a Paladin and the healing maneuvers), and took the Flaw that required him to stay near any fallen allies, as well as a 3.5 feat that grants immunity to fear effects. Basically he was a Paladin in Attitude, Oath, Deed, and Mechanics, but not in name.
So naturally, when the party encounters Davik's undead spirit, he was not inclined to listen even a little bit to the reasonable request to toss the Stag Lord's body into the river. This was an undead creature, and a powerful one at that, and for its mere existence it deserved to be destroyed. He convinced the rest of the party to attack by virtue of them following as he charged.
...Unfortunately things did not go well for the party. Davik was stronger and faster than they anticipated, dropping a ton of negative status effects on the party very quickly (at some point one party member had been confused and ran something like 300 feet away, another was dazed, and everybody was shaken or confused, both in some cases). When the first party member dropped, Jackson was stuck. He couldn't in good faith leave his fallen comrade's side. He made his stand there, standing over his friend's body while the group's cleric got into position to drop a heal to get him out of there.
Unfortunately, it took a round too long to begin the extraction, and a max damage hit from Nettles dropped our hero too low to be saved. The no-longer-confused character rushed back onto the scene just in time to see Jackson fall, and in a fit of rage landed a powerful splitting blow, disrupting the spirit's presence and allowing the rest of the party the ability to get out... but leaving the spirit still lingering and now directing his fury at the party as well as the Stag Lord.
Name: Jachem Rowe
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Rogue level 3
Adventure: Wandering Monster/home brew side quest
Location: Hex containing radish patch
Catalyst: Valiant effort to save compatriot
The Gory Details:
Jachem Rowe and his companions were leaving the woods and the party paladin, Reynard, saw an unusual plant that was not there before. Reynard stepped up to it and poked it with his longsword and it proceeded to drag him in since the plant was actually a Shambling Mound.
Jachem and Kwahu (party monk) both decided to try and save Reynard from his potentially grisly fate by attacking it with blades and torches.
Jachem was grabbed by the enemy and was critted twice by it and then squeezed to death in a matter of 3 rounds. Kwahu heroically slayed the creature just before Reynard passed out due to lack of HP and Jachem's limp body slumped to the ground in death. The funeral service was long and filled with much passion, even Oleg shed a tear for the fallen rogue. "Jachem may have been a ponce, but he was a loyal fighter till the very end"
Name: Kelso
Race: Gnome
Classes/lean Wizard 10th
Adventure: 4th Book
Location: Wilderess north east of the Hooktounge Looth
Catalyst: Bad luck
The Gory Details:
We were ambushed by a group of 4 Naga's, multiple fireballs were more then our crafting specialist wizard to take. He had to guess on the defences to put up and guessed wrong.
Travel back home and get Jod to use our scroll of raise dead.
after reading all these posts i would have to say I must have had some tactical genius because my group made it to book 4 with no deaths
Name: Odo Cobswoggle
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Alchemist/5
Adventure: RRR
Catalyst: The Dancing Lady, of course
The Gory Details: The Dancing Lady had the rogue commanded to serve her, who was now attacking the bard, and the rest of the party was entranced. The witch was flying too high, the oracle and the barbarian were stuck in the back. She went for the alchemist and rolled a little bit too much attribute damage. The bard ended up saving the party by blinding everyone with glitterdust, which I supposed meant they could no longer be entranced with her dance. They staggered around until they eventually slew her, and then ended up resurrecting the Alchemist, despite him being somewhat unpopular. The High Magister claimed it was so she could "scorn the gods".
Name: Othman
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian/6
Adventure: Following RRR, but before VoV
Location: Northern Greenbelt
Catalyst: Dueled a samurai.
The Gory Details: Everything had been going fairly well for the party following the defeat of the trolls in the south of the Greenbelt. They were slowly expanding their territory, running some follow-up explorations of the area, and building their cities. This when they hear about a group of around 200 strangers moving south through Brevoy, asking about anyone who matches the party rogue's description, who is a kitsune. She reveals she was a thief in Minkai, and during a burglary in the greatest museum in the country, was discovered. During her hasty and messy escape, she threw a scroll which accidentally teleported her to Brevoy, where she has lived ever since. She supposes these strangers, led by the legendary samurai who she recognizes by description, are after her.
The Minkanians are halted at a river and told not to cross under any circumstances, meanwhile Othman (the general) is hastily gathering warriors. Given the time constraints, he can only grab 25 battle-ready soldiers. Marching quickly, he discovers the Minkanians defied the demands and crossed the river. This annoys Othman, who knows now they will be able to use their numbers advantage if there is an open battle.
There is a parley between the two armies, where Othman, the Count (a Oracle), the High Magister, and the rogue herself meet with the samurai and his retainer. There is some excellent back and forth that establishes the samurai as a badass, with excellent roleplaying by the rogue to really underline that point. Othman proceeds to insult the Samurai as dishonourable, for he disobeyed the commands to not cross the river. The samurai retorts they are only bandits, while he is a samurai, and should be under no need to follow their orders. Othman continues to call him a liar, at which point the samurai challenges him to a duel.
I put them at forty-feet from each other, each with their weapons drawn. The samurai has improved critical with his katana, which is also enchanted to do extra damage against chaotic alignment (The Dutiful Blade). He is a CR7 encounter, on his own- a challenge for a duel, but not insurmountable for a barbarian.
Othman makes the fatal error of simply charging the samurai so he can get the first hit. He doesn't consider that while he only gets the one strike in, the samurai can full-round attack. The battle goes for a few rounds, with the two characters wailing on each other, neither ever missing, the samurai making critical strikes a few times. With the Samurai only on 11hp, his last full-round attack criticals both times, slaying Othman.
His cohort, an orphan boy of 15, reacts with rage and implores the Chancellor, who is with the army, to order an attack. When he is denied, he rushes forward to do it himself. Only the swift intervention by the Count prevents more bloodshed. The Count acts, for the first time, with great poise, despite being hurt that his best friend has been killed.
The next blow is the hardest. The samurai reveals they are only partly here for the thief, they need the treasure she stole. She doesn't recall taking any treasure, so she's a bit confused. Then they find out the entire Hall, the reliquary of the entire history and art of Minkai, disappeared with the rogue and they track it down to the Stolen Lands. If the party helps the Minkanians recover the Hall, they will forgive the crimes of the rogue. There are two catches: first, there are such horrors that were imprisoned in the hall they might now have escaped, so it will be incredibly dangerous. Second, the samurai, who just murdered their party member, will be accompanying them.
Close session.
Real good role play here!
Name: Ivan, farmer's son
Race: Half-elf
Classes/levels: Ranger 7
Adventure: VV
Catalyst: Cyclops axe to the face
The Gory Details: Just when he finaly got his animal companion to be a large death machine, a a critical hit to the face from a cyclops, a confirmation of natural 20, massive damage, bad crit card and our hero, a simple son of an elf farmer was dead. Dead beyond dead.
Name: Roland von Hasslehoff
Race:Half elf
Classes/levels: ranger 7 /fighter 2
adventure VV
Catalyst: a phantsmal killer in the shape of a red dragon (he doesn't know but he's related to Choral...)
the Gory Details: while fighting Vordakai the ranger failed both Will and Toughness saves. Saw a red dragon eating him. 'bye.
second death IMC :-)
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Name: Soren
Race: half-elf (drow)
Classes/Levels: ranger 3
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Catalyst: Tendriculos
The Gory Details: Brevoy's chartered explorers of the Stolen Lands eagerly continued exploring into the Greenbelt in search of mushrooms for Old Beldame before they had a chance to train their skills further. They came upon the disgusting mud bowl, and all but one were overcome by the nauseating vapors when an immense tentacled monster lurched to life.
The incapacitated members of the band tried to retreat as best the could while the one rider still in charge of his faculties held it off. Unfortunately, the half-drow ranger of the group miscalculated the length of the massive plant's vines and was subjected to a powerful barrage of tentacles that knocked him out. The tendriculos picked up the poor drow bodily, and he died in its maw.
Kaija the half-orc soon followed Soren, and cut her way out of the great creature's stomach. Although they recovered his body, there was no signs of life.
Name Maeve, Baroness of Cellyndor
Race Human
Class/Levels Sorcerer 14
Advemture War of the River Kings
Catalyst A battle of Monarchs between Maeve and Irovetti
The Gory Details We fought a long, three session combat assaulting Irovetti's palace after laying siege to the city with multiple armies. We fought no less than three fights where Irovetti fought beside his minions before we finally cornered him in his basement sequestory, accompanied by a false Nyrissa. A long difficult battle ensued, with Irovetti limiting actions with his bardic spells and magic items while the fake Nyrissa kept the heat on with devastating evocations. While most of us were forced to continually move to get an attack on the pair, Maeve repeatedly leveled her own evocations and enchantments at the two, to the point that she burned through all ten levels on Irovetti's spell turning ring. Irovett responded in turn, leveling his Numerian Rod of Razors at the monarch, striking her already injured form four times for roughly eighty damage, enough to put her past the point of death. Despite having access to Breath of Life, every spell slot that could have been devoted to that was used up at that point, and the queen fell. Fortunately, Irovetti carried the entire module's share of loot with him, so a portion of that was used to resurrect the queen back to life. The neat thing was the Harrowing my Harrower/Oracle companion performed for the group before the fights; the card 'The Empty Throne' was in the negative (evil) aspect of the future based on its placement, which foreshadowed both the death of our queen and Irovetti.
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Name: Alastor
Race: human
Classes/Levels: rogue 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Catalyst: shambling mound (directly), Dancing Lady (indirectly)
The Gory Details: After a long grueling battle with the Dancing Lady of the keep, where Alastor was mesmerized, pinned, and drained of a significant amount of blood, all thought that clearing out the rest of the keep would be easy. Without stopping to heal themselves, they returned to the Grimstalker's tower.
Emerging from hiding among the vines of the tower, a shambling mound burst forth, striking and grabbing the ruler of the small kingdom. Despite his friends attempt to save him, his already broken body was crushed to smithereens in the creature's tendrils.
(I moved the shambling mound to the Ruined Keep from the Lair of the Beast in order to eliminate the last dungeon and still have the Shamblesap quest. Admittedly the PCs were a little bit lower level, but the cause of death was really continuing to try to adventure after taking heavy Constitution damage.)
The Dancing Lady strikes again.
My group is normally 5 players and I've been using the 6 player conversion, but tonight one of our group couldn't make it so I just used the normal stock encounters.
The group simply walked through the front gate triggering the portcullis, dealing 22 points to the Knight/Paladin and cutting him off from the rest of the group. They made their way around to the large southern breach while Rigg starting hit and running the P/K. They chased him around the courtyard for a while before they stuck a glitter dust on him that blinded him, forcing him to retreat. The entire party has a movement speed of 20, so with the difficult terrain of the inner courtyard, they just couldn't get around effectively,
They kept on alert, waiting for the quickling to come back, the bard singing his head off all the while. Eventually settling on a defensive position in the bottom of the central tower. The DL called down to them to please stop with all the racket and to come upstairs so they could discuss matters civilly. They dawdled, and cast spells, and the bard continued singing so she can flowing down the steps and entranced the Wiz/Rog and the Bard with her dance. The P/K resisted her Suggestion and the Cleric dispelled her entangle, but that pretty much spent all of their magic.
After the P/K took a couple good chunks out of the DL with his cold iron long sword she called for Torlian to come to her aid. When he came out of his tower, Rigg came back on his heels and was able to get around the party and enable his and Torlian's sneak attacks to really get the job done.
The DL started safely draining the Wiz/Rog and got him to 0 Str just as the Pal/Kni dropped her. This freed the Bard, and would have freed the Wiz/Rog, but with his 0 Str he was rendered Helpless,
Torlian screamed in outrage, but offered to let "those that could still walk" the option to leave and never return. The P\K onbviously couldn't accept that, but he didn't last much longer with Rigg and Torlian teaming up on him. When he dropped, Torlian said "last chance" to the still standing Cleric and Bard. By way of answer, the Cleric stepped over to stabilize the P/K, sealing his fate and the Bard's (much to the confusion of the rest of the table. The Paladin not accepting to sacrifice one to save many made sense, but the Cleric has no similar honor/code preventing him from making an unfortunate but difficult choice to live).
The halting Druid with a super riding dog (ignoring the difficult terrain, had a cold iron weapon, etc), would have made a world of difference in those encounters and I guess I should have waited for the full party in retrospect.
My only thought to possibly salvage the campaign is to see if the players are interested in statting out the notable NPC's on their council and playing them moving on.
I hope my campaign isn't over, but like many DM's I enforce a dangerous world where bad decisions and poor planning can have terrible consequences.
Here's an old one:
Name: I don't remember! It was a couple years ago!
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cleric 6
Adventure: River Runs Red
Location: Where the Shrike meets the Candlemere
Catalyst: Shocker Lizards on a Boat
The Gory Details: The passage back to home with the injured crew was slow but faster than trekking by land, but the tales of the dangers in the water were not overblown.
The boat got stuck in a shallow sandbar, stirring a pack of shocker lizards eager for a meal. They easily clambered into the boat, and after a series of unfortunate events the cleric was coup de graced by ravenous lizards after falling to a lethal fully powered shock. The party was able to wade back and get her (she got separated from the group during the melee), and the journey to Brevoy was slow but they managed to just make it under the wire reviving her. A week later they were home and running the blossoming town for a time before they headed out again.
Well this was a temporary obituary anyways.
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Name: Vivian Orlovsky
Race: Aasimar
Classes/levels: Cleric of Apsu (long story) 2
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Northern Narlmarches
Catalyst: Overconfidence
The Gory Details: The party got ambushed at night by a random encounter with a bunch of bandits. This was still fairly early on, and the party were not yet known in the area, so the bandits made no special preparations before attacking them. A small amount of damage was done, but then the cavalier managed to mount her horse, and many Bandits were slain.
The few survivors a few turns later decide to leg it. Vivian, who had the travel domain and longstrider cast, (and who was thus really fast) decides to chase down one of the bandits as they flee. The rest of the party, figuring that she was going to be fine and that she was faster than them anyway, left her to it.
About 200 feet away from camp (In the dark, out of sight of everyone else), the bandit notices his pursuer, and realises he cannot outrun her. So he turns and makes a stand. One max damage attack roll later, and Vivian is at 0 HP. One successful will save from the bandit later (She tried to use a spell to stop him striking her again), and it's his turn again. He swings, and Vivian falls.
After looting the body, the bandit escaped and continued plaguing the party for some time to come (he got some class levels out of it) before being slain alongside his master when the Stag Lord's fort fell.
Name: Illimaer, Marshall of Sanctum
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Ranger 4/ Barbarian 1 (iirc)
Adventure: River Runs Red
Location: Just north of the abandonesd ferry station in the southern greenbelt
Catalyst: Underestimating the wildlife.
The Gory Details: Rolled a random encounter in the hex as they were traveling through, looking for troll tracks (the unrest from the rumours was annoying them greatly). It rolls as 2d6 (River) Elk, and ends up as 9 Elk. Its a lot, but eh, its not like Elk are aggressive.
So I tell the party they find no tracks, but do see a nice herd of Elk. I figure this will just be a little flavourful encounter, something to liven up the world. The party goes "Oh, well we needed some food/exp/fun anyway" and go closer.
The leader of the herd, a big bull Elk, moves forwards as they approach, bugling a challenge to the party and warning them to back off. The cleric (A Vivian who had been arduously brought back via prolonged RPing and some lucky rolls) casts Animal Trance, catching the bull and one of the other males.
At this point, the herd is mainly just wary of the party. They dont even realise the cleric has done anything (after all, the bull is still standing there and all). Then the ranger (Ilimaer) pulls out his bow and starts shooting.
Now, Elk are not especially aggressive or brave, but hey, they are big, powerful creatures, and the damage done was not much. I make a morale save for them, and they decide to charge instead of flee from these annoying huntsmen.
After the elk charge deals moderate damage across the board, and noting that the elk seem more irritated by the minor damage from the arrow, the party wisely decides to run away. This works, and the elk do not pursue. Except for Ilimaer. He decides that instead of fleeing, he wishes to leap from his horse, and try to land on one of the elk. I believe he must have intended to then ride it away, in what would have been a pretty impressive maneuver. Sadly for him, the dice gods frowned that day, and a nat 3 on the acrobatics check later, and he is prone on the floor next to the elk.
At this point my head is in my hands, but he brought this upon himself.
The elk then mostly surround him, and slowly start to kick him to death. The party tries to save him (channel energy from a distance, a ride by attempt to pick him up, out of the elk herd) but it gets to his turn with him still stuck and partly surrounded.
Seeing little other option, he stands up, provoking 4 attacks. 2 hit, and one is a crit from the bull Elk. Goodbye, Illimaer. You will be remembered.
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Got another one for you all.
Name: Lady Celestine
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cavalier 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: the Lonely Warrior's tomb
Catalyst: A certain +2 Feybane heavy flail
So the party had heard rumours that, somewhere in the hills, there was a barrow from which undead poured out each night. They had also gotten a map from the mad hermit showing the location of said barrow, and mention of a magical flail...
Now, Lady Celestine was very, very fond of flails. So of course, they head over to take a look. The breath of despair trap hits Celestine and the party bard, and they of course get swarmed by skeletons. However, having a cleric in the party with channel energy..... yeah, those skeletons got wiped out fast.
Emboldened by their easy victory, the party ventures further in to the tomb. And then they meet the Lonely Warrior. He starts calling them graverobbers, defilers, monsters etc, and though some in the party are calling for retreat (On the basis of having used several powerful spells already this day before remembering they had channel energy), Celestine notices the flail, and challenges the Warrior for it. As those who read the guy's backstory might have guessed, this is not something he appreciates.
Anyway, the fight initially looks like it is going the party's way. Between Lady Celestine and the cleric's animal companion, they get the Warrior down to about half health in a single round. However, they then proceed to miss him. On every attack. For 4 rounds. During this time, the Warrior is steadily whacking away at Lady Celestine, barely missing a single hit. And those negative levels start to add up....
The bard tries to dash past the Warrior to cast invisibility on Celestine, hoping it might save her, but takes an AoO (She was willing to eat the attack if it meant saving her friend). Unfortunately? It was a crit, and enough to (just) take the bard out of action. Then it's the warrior's turn again. And he crits again. And down falls Lady Celestine. Too many negative levels are bad for your health, it seems...
The truly sad part is that the animal companion finally manages to roll well the next turn, and the Warrior falls at last. if that had occured but one turn earlier....
And then to finish everything off, she cannot even rest in peace. Knowing that she would shortly rise against them, the party had no choice but to pretty much destroy her body as fast as possible before she rose as a Wight. There is no rest for Lady Celestine. Only oblivion...
Name: Arkis
Race: Half orc
Classes/levels: Paladin 2
Location: Bandit Ambush
Catalyst: Axe to the face
Found the bandit ambush with the two pulling the stuck cart, battle begins with an arrow to the Arcanist making him want to run, barely helps in the fight. Fight starts to go sour Goblin rogue wants to surrender.
Paladin kills two bandits thanks to an attack of opportunity, demands bandits surrender.
Axe wielding Bandit (can't remember her name) crits a thrown axe at max range, killing the paladin instantly.
In the end, we only killed 5 bandits (including the axe wielder) so we took his ear as well to get the 6 bandit bounty.
Name: Baldric Medvyed
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Bladebound Magus 11
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Armag's Tomb
Catalyst: Bad positioning, overconfident party
The Gory Details: The party had been kicking butt with book 4. So far the boggard boss and Baron Drelev had fallen easily, and now the barbarian armies had been crushed. The party made their way into Armag's tomb. The first room was a chore but the sisters and their summoned help went down with the party barely breaking a sweat. Next combat room was the long hallway of mists. The scouts go ahead until the two Derghodaemon are visible. In the first round Baldric runs ahead with his hand on one wall to navigate the fog until the Derghodaemon are seen. One of the party members chucks a fireball down the hall to try to roast them, burning Baldric in the process. The Derghodaemons turn comes, and the hallway is filled with ten summoned swarms that surround the party. Baldric uses a Storm Step to try and damage both of them and get behind them. His movement ends at the end of the hall, right next to a Derghodaemon. Over the round the party dimension doors out of the hall and the swarms are killed with a firewall that also hurts Baldric. On the Derghodaemon turn it lands many solid blows, knocking Baldric past the dead mark and leaving his body to burn in the firewall. The remaining party have a tough fight but eventually knock the daemons out of the fight.
Before the battle, Queen Alisa Medvyed had had a bad vision that Armag would destroy someone she treasured. She assumed it would be her husband the king, but never considered that her brother would fall in battle before they reached Armag.
Started running a Kingmaker game a few months ago...
Name: Dran
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Brawler 6
Adventure: Rivers Run red
Location: Ruined Keep
Catalyst: Bad Positioning, splitting up
The Gory Details: Dran fell into a pit full of rats, as he attempted to climb out he grew disoriented. Wizard cast fireball on the pit full of rats, and toasted Dran.
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Once more, I list a fallen companion.
Name: Shadiroprojo
Race: Fetchling
Classes/levels: Arcane Trickster 6
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Ruined Keep
Catalyst: Being simultaneously too bad and too good at his job
The Gory Details:
Shadisomethingsomething was our latest acquisition, a shadowy (literally - the guy was a fetchling) Arcane Trickster rogue with a perchant for being absolutely, stupidly good at stealth. He had only recently joined the party (Played by the same guy who ran Illimaer, a previous death, but who had only just had time to come back to the group after an extended absence). The party was attempting to take on the Ruined Keep after hearing about it from several sources. Shadi decides to go ahead and scout things out.
So, first off he failed to notice, then failed to dodge, the falling portcullis, which smashes down onto him, and deals fairly nasty damage. But that's fine, he gets healed back up, and the party lifts the portcullis and all enter with him.
Then, he gets stealthy and sneaks off to explore more.
Now, Rigg is sitting around watching the PCs at this point. He fails to notice where Shadi went at first, but DOES notice him when he opens the door to Rigg's tower. Rigg, being right next to him, stabs the guy as his surprise round. Rigg then wins initiative, stabs Shadi again, and bounces off to hide elsewhere in the keep.
At this point, Shadi is fairly majorly hurt, and bleeding, but he's still got plenty of life in him. In order to make sure he will be fine, he casts invisiblity on himself so he is even harder to detect. It is around this point that the poison from Rigg's blade kicks in, and he falls unconscious.
Here's the thing. The party knows this guy is near impossible to see. They have no way or reason to know that he is unconscious, and just assume he is being sneaky. Due to being invisible and generally hard to see, Shadi has something like a +65 to steath right now. As such, none of the party notice him, at all. All the while, Shadi slowly, slowly, agonisingly slowly bleeds to death in the middle of the courtyard, un-noticed by any. I think it took about 15 rounds all told, and they STILL didn't kill Rigg by the time it was over.
(Note: I thought spells like invisibility wore off upon death, but my players themselves assured me this was not the case.
OOC, the players knew what was going on, but they are pretty good at keeping metaknowledge out of play, and the biggest proponent against metaknowledge being used was Shadi's player themselves)
Name: Lukkas Brownbottom
Race:Gnome
Classes/levels: Brawler
Adventure: Varhhold Vanishing
Location: Valley of the Dead
Catalyst: Charging as always with Woooo! battlecry
The Gory Details: Cyclops Zombie Axe and brain chomp
Arrixxia wrote: Name: Lukkas Brownbottom
Race:Gnome
Classes/levels: Brawler
Adventure: Varhhold Vanishing
Location: Valley of the Dead
Catalyst: Charging as always with Woooo! battlecry
The Gory Details: Cyclops Zombie Axe and brain chomp
Was this a case of the cyclops using Flash of Insight for an axe crit? My players will find this hex soon and I worry one of them is going to bite it.
Alas, another one bites the dust
Name: El Vahlen
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Psychic 6
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Lizard King's Isle
Catalyst: Taunting a foe too far.
The Gory Details:
So I am sort of taking some ideas from the "Hargulka's kingdom" thread, and so there was a troll "ambassador" present on the lizard isle when the party arrived. I felt like making him a bit interesting and wierd, so he was a (low level) troll wizard. Abjurer, more specifically (I fear no acid!). Anyway, the party got into a fairly decent fight with the Lizard chief, Zaejin the troll mage, and the chief's pet caiman. The rest of the tribe were mostly infighting over who to help in this fight.
So the party manages, with moderate difficulty, to take down the lizard chief. They kill the caiman, and at last only the troll remains. At this point, the troll is looking for a way out, and actually talking to the party (Troll wizard, smarter than normal trolls).
El had done a lot of damage to the troll over the course of the battle, and decided now was a great time to taunt the troll. The troll says something along the lines of "Do that again, and I gut you". El does it again.
A full attack from a powerattacking troll (Meaning a bite, two claws, then two rending claws) later, El Vahlen is looking at 69 damage in a single round, and he wasnt at full health before this. (one of the reasons he was taunting so confidently is that he took an entire attack combo from this troll the round before, but back THEN the troll wasn't powerattacking, and one of his abilities was active giving him DR5. Also the troll rolled badly then)
The Party Magus gunman then crit Zaejin with a spellstrike'd death bullet for about 100 or so damage, disintegrating much of his torso
Anyway. This is why you dont taunt physically powerful foes who are in melee range of your when you have 11 ac and 20 something hps. it rarely ends well.
...On an unrelated note, Zaejin the troll mage still isnt dead. He openly said "I am an abjurer, and I fear no fire!". At which point the party used nothing but acid attacks against him. Guess what he -actually- took resistance to that day?
Nicely done with the troll wizard. :)
Indeed, that is beautiful.
Small note... Haerdalas wrote: (Meaning a bite, two claws, then two rending claws) You do know there is only one rend per round (when two claws hit), right?
Majuba wrote: Indeed, that is beautiful.
Small note... Haerdalas wrote: (Meaning a bite, two claws, then two rending claws) You do know there is only one rend per round (when two claws hit), right?
Ah. Upon reading it over, it seems my understanding of rend was flawed. I had not thought to interpret it that way, but it makes sense. Thank you for pointing this out to me. I was looking at as "when the rend procs, it hits with this effect (2 claws, Dealing x damage each). I'll make sure to use it like this in the future.
It wouldn't have saved him though. He ended up something like -35hp after his aegis of protection procced.
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Name: Kaija Thrall
Race: half-orc
Classes/level: warpriest 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Catalyst: Piscodaemon
Name: Lilly
Race: tiefling
Classes/level: brawler 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Catalyst: Piscodaemon
Name: Jin's boar
Race: boar
Classes/level: animal companion to samurai 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Catayst: Piscodaemon
The Gory Details: The brave rulers delved into the tomb of Vordekai, hoping to rescue the villagers and the daughter of the centaur tribe's high priestess. They battled past cyclopes and nasty traps to arrive at the prison battered and weary. The ugly crab demon guard allowed them to visit the prisoner unmolested, but they decided they couldn't simply leave the paralyzed centaur for another night. When their attempt to bluff past the piscodaemon failed, Jin attacked.
The battle became one of attrition. Noone had a way to easily get past the piscodaemon's profane hide and it shrugged of the barrage of many weak attacks. No one thought to prepare align weapon. First the piscodaemon battered the half-orc Kaija into submission, but she refused to slump into unconsciousness. For her bravery, the piscodaemon finished her off, than turned to face the brawler Lilly. After a few rounds of this punishment, she too hit the cavern floor and began to bleed out. Even though she stabalized each turn, she continued to take bleed damage.
Before Lilly's comrades could rush to heal her, the piscodaemon released a stinking cloud to try to get some relief from the constant pounding. Only Jin's loyal boar could stand the stench, so he stayed in the fog to allow the boar to continue beating down the daemon. His sister, Lia, and Soren retreated to a safe distance, but had to leave their fallen comrades behind. With only one threat remaining, the piscodaemon pounded the poor loyal boar to a pulp.
Luckily, the boar's sacrifice gave Soren and Lia enough time to recover from the stinking cloud in fresher air. Lia cast energy weapon to make Soren's bow ignite with sonic energy and his arrow shot true. The piscodaemon reeled and disappeared back to its dark home. They had just enough time to rush in and save Lilly with a potion.
(Since Kaija's player wasn't there, I actually had the piscodaemon switch the attack that would have killed Kaija to Lily, but she ended up unconscious anyway.)
Name: Jarl
Race: Dwarf
Classes/lean Ranger 11th (Archery)
Adventure: 4th Book
Location: Wilderness West of the Hooktounge Slouth
Catalyst: Nasty Wandering Monsters
Name: Sven
Race: Half Orc
Classes/lean Rogue
Adventure: 4th Book
Location: Wilderness West of the Hooktounge Slouth
Catalyst: Nasty Wandering Monsters
The Gory Details:
We bumped into a lair of two golden gourgers. Once these two were grappled, their damage output went down substantial. The are the Paladins worse nightmare (not evil, but can't be diplomasised)
Wizard could not save them either.
Only my 2nd post here, the group's been pretty good at avoiding death.
Name: Varin
Race: Centaur
Classes: Skald 15
Adventure: 6, Thousand Screams
Location: House of the Edge of Time, 2nd floor
Catalyst: Wyvern at the end of a running fight
My group finally cleared the outside areas and crashed The Thousand Breaths back into the main world, and entered the House at the Edge of Time. For reasons, I moved the zomok to the courtyard and put the Wriggling Man at the top of the tower. The party took down the zomok easily, but the wizard took a lot of work. Half the party worked up from the inside, accidentally exploring the lower floors of the north wing, while half flew/d-doored to the top of the tower.
After a long running battle, they cornered the Wriggling Man in the 2nd floor hallway. Some of the party pushed past him while the fighters whaled on him. That's when the barb-tongued wyverns reached into the hallway and dragged the oracle into their room. The centaur went to the rescue, followed by the rest of the party after the Wriggling Man's collapse. The cavalier was staggered by wyvern #1, the barbarian got grappled and rent (but still full of hp) by #2. The centaur skald raced past #1, hoping to establish a flank, as well as do some damage himself. He took AoO damage from the stinger on his way around (failed poison save), then the cavalier missed his one attack. Thinking he had time before finishing the cavalier, #1 turned about and lashed the centaur, who failed another poison save. Between lost Con and hp damage, he went all the way past 0 hp and negative Con to dead-dead.
The happy ending: their warpriest (Cohort to the cavalier) raced around #1 to hit the centaur with Breath of Life. Using the Blessing of Fervor's ability to stand as a free action, no AoO, the skald immediately killed the amazed wyvern.
Well, would you just LOOK at what time it is!
Name: Sister Areala
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Paladin 7
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Troll Lair
Catalyst: A 30 ft troll
The Gory Details:
The party finally mustered up the courage (and the levels) to try and take on the troll lair after their last attempt ended in them fleeing after running out of healing only 2 rooms in (this was back around level 5, so running was the best option). This time, they had a Paladin to tank for them, with plenty of lay-on-hands. They had a life oracle who could pour out frankly ridiculous levels of healing. They were strong, they were ready.
They managed to fight their way through the first few rooms without too many issues. They took some damage, used some spells, but made it through just fine. Then they entered Nagrundi's room.
I am using the 6-player conversion for my party, which is both large and experienced with pathfinder. In this conversion, Nagrundi got given the Giant template, making him approximately the same size as the room. The party actually initially mistakes him for the northern wall, though most notice him as soon as he starts moving.
Nagrundi and the party trade many blows, but alas the party's luck turns sour. The gun magus, the highest dps in the party has his gun break on him on the second shot, then full on explode on his desperate 3rd attack. Still, they are whittling down the troll. Areala is doing a fine job, tanking every attack then getting healed back to max each turn. Sadly, one turn Nagrundi actually hit with EVERYTHING. 2 bites, 2 claws and a rend? It totalled around 90 damage. And it doesnt matter how much healing you may have if you are at -32 below zero.
the next round the wizard finished off Nagruni with his 4th consecutive fireball. We ended the session there, with the party desperately trying to work out if they can get Areala's body to someone who can res her in time.
Now, here I have a question for you, fellow Kingmakers. You see, one thing found in this troll lair that isnt in the normal one is Rigg Gargadilly. He was driven away from the ruined fort, but not killed, at around the same time Hargulka started looking for additional allies against these adventurers, and pretty much has joined them as a scout (mainly for the purpose of getting revenge on the gun-magus, who shot out his right eye). Now, Rigg was pretty close by when all this happened, and WILL be able to investigate/follow the party. The thing is, drained as they are right now of their tank, most of their spells and a large part of their healing, a Rigg coming against them when they next rest would.... probably kill them all. Or at least stand a good chance of it. But its what would realistically happen...
So. Should I be kind, or killer?
Well if you go killer just be prepared to end the campaign there. When you start getting up in levels, it becomes more and more a pain to make new PCs, plus why would the new group have any clout in the kingdom?
My gut tells me to go killer.
Manny Goblin has a good point, though. Maybe this is an occasion for some NPC (Varn? Drelev?) to show up, help them stave off defeat, and extract some Big Reward that will hurt the PCs somewhere else (land, resources, marriage alliance, propaganda).
Lee Hanna wrote: My gut tells me to go killer.
Manny Goblin has a good point, though. Maybe this is an occasion for some NPC (Varn? Drelev?) to show up, help them stave off defeat, and extract some Big Reward that will hurt the PCs somewhere else (land, resources, marriage alliance, propaganda).
Hmm. Thinking about it, there ARE a few NPCs not too far from here they are on good terms with. I could have one of them intervene. Of course, they may well end up losing the NPC in such a battle, but so are the risks of adventuring. Should allow me to do another dangerous fight without being a near certain death for the party.
It's getting nastier as things build to the conclusion, these are both from last Friday night.
Name: Varin
Race: Centaur
Classes: Skald 15
Adventure: 6, Thousand Screams
Location: outside the House at the Edge of Time/Castle of Knives
Catalyst: smilodons accompanying the Misbegotten Troll
The party avoided the Troll when they passed through the Thousandbreaths and uprooted it. Last session, they tore up some of the denizens of the House, then retreated outside for some R&R. The Troll decided to follow them.
As it happened, the group's cavalier kept the troll occupied far from the group's campsite, even breaking and removing Necklace of Lovelies from him. The dire tigers gave the rest of the party all they could handle, even getting past the defensive-specialized bodyguard fighter to maul the Duchess. Varin was surrounded by 3 of them and was taken out quickly. Two rounds of 40+ damage each takes a toll, you see.
About 2 rounds later, Varin's player realized he'd forgotten about the temporary hit points he'd started with from Heroes' Feast (or some other spell effect I forget now), so he was ruled to be unconscious and only playing dead. Still, it's the 2nd time in two weeks he's been dropped, so the player was reminded he's not really a front-line fighter. This same fight saw three other PCs/NPCs dropped to very low hit points, all by the smilodons. The Troll really wasn't a factor, other than keeping the cavalier and his massive-damage lance tied up.
***
Name: Mikhail Papanovich
Race: human
Classes: fighter 13
Adventure: 6, Thousand Screams
Location: outside the House at the Edge of Time/Castle of Knives
Catalyst: Jabberwock's claws that catch!
Later that same session, the Jabberwock came calling. I was prepared for this, I'd bought and painted the Reaper mini 2? years ago! His fear aura and burbling led to much confusion among the party-- the cavalier was held far from the fight for a critical few rounds. Mikhail is the Duchess' husband-consort and dedicated bodyguard (all the defensive feats that could be found and a defending longsword), and the bearer of Briar. The 'wock went straight for him, in the middle of the group.
Its 2nd round of full attacking laid him out at the feet of his Lady, provoking cries of anguish! Fortunately, the barbarian recovered from her confusion long enough to zoom in and pick up Briar, while the Duchess DimDoored out of there with his corpse, over to where the oracle and warpriest stood. The oracle was nonplussed, but the warpriest was quick with a Breath of Life spell (NEVER leave home without it!), and the Duchess was spared further heartwrenching. With Briar at its full vorpal-ness, the beast went down eventually. No critical hits, though, so there was no "snicker-snack" sound effect.
This fight went 9 rounds, by the way, most exhilarating to the players.
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