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Amazingly, both of my deaths have been in side-treks.
Name: Rodrigo
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Paladin 2 of Iomidae
Adventure: Side-Trek in Stolen Lands
Location: Tomb next to barrow wight's Cairn
Since we are using slow xp, I put a lost dwarven cairn used by a secretive dwarf sect guarding a floating artifact, an iron hoop(a gate to hell) next to the cairn of the forgotten king. Before they found the hoop's room, they stumbled into a crypt of the long-dead guardians of artifact. Recognizing the 'leader' by his ornate arms and armor, the paladin ran through the skeletal dwarf bodyguard to attack the skeletal champion..and promptly became surrounded; the undead champion ordered his guards to 'tear him to pieces' ....after the foolhardy paladin was knocked unconsious, they rolled a perception check to sense if the paladin still lived...a '20'. They followed their orders to the letter...
Name: the paladin's replacement character (not sure his name)
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cleric 3 of Gorum
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Enroute from The Old Beldame's home after deciding she can watch their horses.
"We can explore on foot. You guys stay here and I'll bring these mounts to her place."
(on the return trip): "Hmmm I have a 5% chance of you getting an encounter in this hex. Oohh pretty; a 02. Do you want to roll your own fate?"
Cleric: "Sure!". (Rolls a 98%).
Several laughs later: "..the wyvern slowly banks around for a better look...you can almost see the fiendish grin grace it's draconic mug as it see's its prey alone and helpless..."
The rest of the group finally got tried of waiting and went to see what happened to the cleric...finding his great sword in the tall grass by the trailside. In the distance they saw a wyvern, a look of sated contentment on its face (and a suspiciously large belly below that) as it flew lazily eastward...
This is the same player who failed many climbing checks to surmount the stairs in the Babao shea's lair. Some weeks later, he went from 70 hp to 3 after again failing multiple climb checks in his plate mail while trying to navgate the stairs to the dam at skull dam in the Hook Mtn Massacre (I ran this as a fill-in adventure too, since their low XP allowed its inclusion). He exhausted his Lay on hands between falling down the stairs 4 times and finally the other party memebers threw him a rope....
Name: Kazin the Great
Race: Tiefling
Class/Level: Magus 6
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Owl Bear's Lair
The party returned from destroying the trolls to find their city destroyed and their waterfront destroyed. Having found the lair during exploration, they knew where to go. They made their way into the first cavern and the shriekers attracted the attentions of a shambling mound in 1 round and the enraged owlbear 3 rounds later, just as te party downed the mound.
Because of the damage output of the party, I run most creatures at full HP. I increased the hit points of the owlbear a bt further to make this fight as climatic as the troll lar. After a couple of rounds, Kazin crits the creature for 111 HP (not the first time he'd done this in recent sessions. Their synthesist went next and got the creature down to one hit point. It went next.
I rolled two crits for the claw attacks, confirmed them both, and hit him with the bite. It was an insta-kill. Kazin's player had errantly spent one of his two remaining hero points, so he didnt have two to save himself. The owlbear ripped Kazin in half. The ranger put five arrows in te beast and killed it. As Kazin's player was going to roll an Oracle as part of a respec/rebuild opportunity, the other players decided to build a monument in ther city in his honor. It's a fitting end in place of the retirement he intended.
Name: Veran
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/levels: Ranger 6
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Woods encounter
Catalyst: Hurts to be without the fighter, and 10ft reaches and bad luck don't go well for ranged and spellcasting types.
The Gory Details: First, for a bit of background, I had my PCs find backers for their nation to raise BP, rather than have all of it be gifted to them at the start. Also, I am taking a page from Hargulka's Monster Kingdom and having him and the trolls be active, rather than passive.
The game is set in Faerun and at the moment the party was helping a mercenary group who had helped back their nation in return for a hex to train in. There were troll attacks regularly and they had gone from annoyances to major offensives as the PCs were on their way. Also, the trolls and their orc allies had been heavily trapping the approaches to the mercenary camp. The party was engaged in trap clearing when I rolled a troll war party random encounter.
There were five PCs, Veran the half-elf archery ranger, Jordan the human dagger-wielding rogue, Althea a human cleric of Tempus, Keilian the human wizard, and Nimue the elan psion. They were missing their heavy hitter, Azog the half-orc fighter, so instead of my 5 troll war party I substituted a scouting group of 2 trolls and a quartet of orc barbarians to give the group a more reasonable fight.
Unfortunately, good luck by the trolls on reflex saves and initiative, combined with horrible luck by the casters in their concentration checks led to the party being flanked and surrounded by raging orcs and trolls with their 10ft reaches. A rend with a confirmed crit on one claw brought the wizard down to -9hp, but poor Veran got the worst of it, being dropped to 1 by a few attacks and then taking a max damage bite from the troll, dropping him below -12 and killing him permanently.
In the end the party killed their attackers with fire, and the mercenaries coughed up a reincarnate scroll in gratitude. The dice came up DM's Choice, and so the story of Veran the half-elf has ended, and the story of Veran the fey touched has begun!
I'm taking the reincarnation as an opportunity to put in more clues about the overall story of the AP, giving more hints so that the villain of part 6 doesn't come up from nowhere.
We just had our first session of Kingmaker tonight and I've got three already. I haven't done any DMing since 3.5 was (very) new.
As our first session, I don't remember the names clearly, however the rest I have.
#1-
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Sorcerer 1
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Oleg's Trading Post
Catalyst: New DM, horrible (player) skill rolls, and/or great open (DM) combat rolls - you pick
So, the Alchemist, the Sorcerer and the Barbarian get the background information and prepare an ambush for the bandits arriving at sunrise. The plan is for the Alchemist to rain fire from above, the Barbarian and Sorcerer to take on anyone that gets far enough to not be splashed and possibly someone to close the gates.
The Alchemist tried to hide, but a 1 on the Stealth roll is low enough that the bandits spot him. Initiative is rolled (Happs rolled seperately) and the bandits manage to beat out everyone else. An arrow manages to hit the Alchemist in the head (6-8 damage) - a sign of how the battle would go. Oleg runs into the stables to warn the other two - to allow the others to join the battle earlier.
The Barbarian uses a potion of Enlarge Person, but the bandits knock him out before he can do anything (he does stabilize on his first try, though). The alchemist manages to get a bomb off, damaging all the enemies, while the sorcerer tries to Shocking Grasp one of the bandits. Happs got the low initiative, so he's damaged but there are still two bandits there - he shoots the sorcerer. I roll a 20, which then confirms for 20-some damage, instantly killing the sorcerer.
It gets weird after that - haven taken 5 damage, the bandit's morale is shot and they flee. The alchemist (the only one able to do anything) gets to the barbarian and pours Cure Light Wounds down the Barbarian's throat, getting him standing. Happs, damaged with no bandits to see him, surrenders (I wasn't quite sure if he should flee or surrender, it's a little unclear to me). I later have to explain how the morale conditions were set to try to convince the party that it wasn't me fudging it in their favor - it was me following the book as written in their favor.
He was buried outside Oleg's.
#2 & #3
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Barbarian 1 and Cleric 1
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: The Stag Lord's Keep
Catalyst: Bad Timing and the Owlbear; Also no random encounters and failed Perception checks
About a week after the Sorcerer died, a Cleric came into Oleg's and agreed to help out the party. The began to explore the forest near Oleg's, finding the Radish patch (and bombing the Kobolds by splashing off the basket they ate from) and finding the bear traps. I allowed a successful Perception check to spot it before the others stepped in it, only for a bad Disable Device check to trigger it - the damage knocked out the Alchemist. But that was all they encountered in the six hexes they explored, so they decided to find something more exciting (Happs got them the general area of the Keep) and headed for the area. Crossed the rickety bridge, swam back across (one got a horrible swim roll, but it was right by the crossing, so he hit that instead).
They headed south and got to the fort. Not quite prepared for this, I was reading quickly and missed the approach, so they got to the outer wall and attempted to light it. Watchtowers spotted that and began to get guys on water detail while a couple other bandits were going to head out to deal with them. They went ahead and fought, with really poor rolls on my side meaning that the bandits were going down quickly. I let them head inside, using that as a point of preparation - of course, the barbarian climbed a tower instead and killed that bandit.
After the break, the cleric charged Dorvak (who had gotten by the owlbear's gate, but hadn't opened it yet) - he managed to get 10 damage in. A bandit flanked him and was in turn flanked by the alchemist who killed the bandit. The Barbarian came down into the armory. Dorvak tried to open the gate (I figured that it would give an attack of opportunity - giving the party a chance to avoid the owlbear fight) - the Cleric hit for 9 damage, knocking him down to 0. So he completed his action (opening the gate) and passed out.
The owlbear managed to beat everyone's initiative, and charged the cleric - his bite missed. The bandits headed for the front exit and spotted the Barbarian - they took some cheap shots, and managed to knock him out (he stabilized). The cleric got a good hit in on the owlbear but kept in melee range, allowing the owlbear to get in both claw attacks (which got him 2 away from instant death)
The alchemist managed to get to the back exit, where the Stag Lord was getting up. He tried to bluff that he was a bandit, but even the Stag Lord saw through it. He asked if it was just him (getting an affirmitive answer) - so I had the Stag Lord play a little, getting his Longsword and attacking.
Amazingly, the Stag Lord only got in one hit, for near minimum damage, allowing the Alchemist to make a withdraw out and he managed to get back to Oleg's with his single HP.
We're planning to try it over - they were realizing that the exploring was to get them experience before taking on the base about the time the Owlbear was released.
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@ Thamori: point out to them that Happ spoke about the river crossing camp, much more manageable for a 1st level party. (encounter K)
The side quest in the front and back inside cover will give them a bit of useful treasure and 400 xp for each quest completed. Each explored hex is another 100 xp too.
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Sasha Rastilov, Baron of our little realm for all of a year, passed away.
Book 2, wandering into the Tendriculos' lair, our would-be ruler discovered that a +10 Fort save is not necessarily enough to save one from paralysis and slow digestion. The party is in a great deal of disarray as we attempt to shuffle personnel about. My new Elven Alchemist may have an irrational fear of tentacles...
Well our Kingmaker campaign was cut short after only three sessions.
Races/Classes/Levels Dwarf cleric, Human rogue, Elf sorceress, Dwarf paladin, and Human ranger... all level 1.
Adventure Stolen Lands
Location Mite lair under the Old Sycamore
Catalyst Softened up from a previous fight, high CR encounter, and high attack/damage rolls from the monsters
The Gory Details
Two of the PCs headed to the mite lair to recover the statue of Old Sharptooth for the Sootscale Kobolds and met the other three who were also hunting mites (had three new players and just wanted a quick way of getting them together :P). They arrived at dusk and found the entrance after seeing a group of mites come from the tree from afar.
They easily killed two mites playing with caltrop mini-catapults, and also made quick work of a group of six tormenting a kobold. After killing three and watching the others flee, they saved the kobold and headed to a root-filled underground chasm. They spotted knotted roots rigged to come apart, and the cleric successfully clambered over with a rope. However, the giant whiptail centipede that lived in the chasm sprang out and attacked, bringing the cleric and paladin down. The sorceress and ranger managed to slay it, then revived their fallen comrades.
Wounded, the PCs decided to press on over the chasm and found themselves facing another group of mites with a giant tick. The sorceress quickly downed the leader of the mites with an elemental ray, but the giant tick proved to be too much for the party to handle. A series of devastating bites brought down each PC until the party was humiliatingly defeated... by an overgrown parasite.
Captain Oakenforge, a valliant NPC hero in our Kingmaker game, was killed in the line of duty while protecting the fair city of Roberts from outside forces.
The Queen gave a Press Release today from the Dread Castle Roberts that stated the following:
"Captain Oakenforge was truly a hero, and an example to all men. Attempts have already been made to resurrect this great hero, but he has declined them, stating that he wishes only for his eternal spirit to run through Oakenforge and make us as a whole stronger.
He was not one who worry about things such as rewards or personal glory, and indeed his true identity was not know until his death. To honor his memory, we will not make this information public, only his immediate family have been notified. His loss is great, and he will be mourned."
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Well our Kingmaker campaign was cut short after only three sessions.
Races/Classes/Levels Dwarf cleric, Human rogue, Elf sorceress, Dwarf paladin, and Human ranger... all level 1.
Adventure Stolen Lands
Location Mite lair under the Old Sycamore
Catalyst Softened up from a previous fight, high CR encounter, and high attack/damage rolls from the monstersThe Gory Details
Two of the PCs headed to the mite lair to recover the statue of Old Sharptooth for the Sootscale Kobolds and met the other three who were also hunting mites (had three new players and just wanted a quick way of getting them together :P). They arrived at dusk and found the entrance after seeing a group of mites come from the tree from afar.They easily killed two mites playing with caltrop mini-catapults, and also made quick work of a group of six tormenting a kobold. After killing three and watching the others flee, they saved the kobold and headed to a root-filled underground chasm. They spotted knotted roots rigged to come apart, and the cleric successfully clambered over with a rope. However, the giant whiptail centipede that lived in the chasm sprang out and attacked, bringing the cleric and paladin down. The sorceress and ranger managed to slay it, then revived their fallen comrades.
Wounded, the PCs decided to press on over the chasm and found themselves facing another group of mites with a giant tick. The sorceress quickly downed the leader of the mites with an elemental ray, but the giant tick proved to be too much for the party to handle. A series of devastating bites brought down each PC until the party was humiliatingly defeated... by an overgrown parasite.
So you're ending the campaign or shall there be a second charter issued?
So you're ending the campaign or shall there be a second charter issued?
Ending the campaign for now, unfortunately. One of the other guys had started a campaign of his own awhile ago that we had set aside until we found a group of regulars. Three of the five NPCs had just started playing with us last session, so we decided to switch GMs for a fresh start. Everyone expressed interest in revisiting Kingmaker at some point though!
Well our Kingmaker campaign was cut short after only three sessions.
Races/Classes/Levels Dwarf cleric, Human rogue, Elf sorceress, Dwarf paladin, and Human ranger... all level 1.
Adventure Stolen Lands
Location Mite lair under the Old Sycamore
Catalyst Softened up from a previous fight, high CR encounter, and high attack/damage rolls from the monstersThe Gory Details
Two of the PCs headed to the mite lair to recover the statue of Old Sharptooth for the Sootscale Kobolds and met the other three who were also hunting mites (had three new players and just wanted a quick way of getting them together :P). They arrived at dusk and found the entrance after seeing a group of mites come from the tree from afar.They easily killed two mites playing with caltrop mini-catapults, and also made quick work of a group of six tormenting a kobold. After killing three and watching the others flee, they saved the kobold and headed to a root-filled underground chasm. They spotted knotted roots rigged to come apart, and the cleric successfully clambered over with a rope. However, the giant whiptail centipede that lived in the chasm sprang out and attacked, bringing the cleric and paladin down. The sorceress and ranger managed to slay it, then revived their fallen comrades.
Wounded, the PCs decided to press on over the chasm and found themselves facing another group of mites with a giant tick. The sorceress quickly downed the leader of the mites with an elemental ray, but the giant tick proved to be too much for the party to handle. A series of devastating bites brought down each PC until the party was humiliatingly defeated... by an overgrown parasite.
This enounter was almost a TPK for my party too. If I had not secretly changed a 6 I rolled on damage to a 1 it would have been TPK for my party at first level, in the first game session. Everyone was down accept for our wizard who was out of spells, he smacked the weakened tick with his staff and took the Tick down.
We had our first Kingmaker character death last night. I have a 6-player group, so we run the excellent 6 player conversions which are hosted on these boards. So far, the group has done a good job of steamrolling everything in their path, but last night they finally bit off a bit more than they could chew.
Name: Angus McDougal
Race: Male Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian 6
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Campsite an hour's ride from the Troll Lair
Catalyst: Half-assed retreat, followed by overconfidence and forgetting that trolls have a 10-foot reach.
The Gory Details: Having learned that a lair of trolls could be found in the southwestern corner of their lands from a drunken giant that they befriended, and being that they were already looking for some troll blood, the party mounted up and rode down to raid the place.
The fight went well initially, with the party's sorcerer and witch keeping the trolls bottled up with debuffs, Create Pits, Webs, and the like while the party's frontliners hacked their way through. Things went well, with more than half of the trolls in the lair being slain, when the group entered the natural caverns at the rear of the cave.
Once again they started with the battlefield control and debuff spells, but the appearance of the 3 named trolls (Nagrundi, Kargadd, and Hargulka) convinced the party to retreat, although not before they took out Nagrundi. The necklace of fireballs negating their tactic of hiding behind pit-blocked chokepoints was probably a deciding factor in this. The party covered their escape with several more web spells, got back on their mounts, and rode away to recover before returning.
The party didn't go very far - they stopped after only an hour's ride and confidently set up a cheery campsite complete with campfire to ward off the autumn chill. Unfortunately for them, Hargulka gathered Kargadd and the remaining 3 trolls under his command to attack the party at night. Fortunately the PCs on watch easily heard the massive trolls trying to sneak through the thick carpet of leaves on the ground, and the group was able to rouse itself for battle before they arrived.
The battle started off as well as the previous ones had, with Entangle and the Slumber hex forcing the first couple trolls to attack (and be defeated) one at a time. The third and forth to escape the entangle (Kargadd and a regular troll) got out at about the same time from opposite sides of the spell, leaving the Drogza (the Paladin Baroness, who had not had time to put on her heavy armor for the fight) to go after Kargadd and Angus to handle the regular troll. Kargadd got too close for Drogza to use her Spirited Charge/Rideby Attack combo on, so she called out to Angus to get out of the way of her charge and delayed until after him.
Rather than taking a step out of the way, Angus (momentarily forgetting about reach) decided to begin raging and charge at Kargadd instead. Unfortunately, the 20% miss chance from his Spirit Totem wasn't enough to protect his effective 12 AC from being hit by both the troll and Kargadd. He hit Kargadd and did pretty good damage, but then it was Kargadd's turn, and not even the Misfortune Hex and the penalty for Power Attack were enough to stop him from hitting a 12 AC with his bite, both claws, and the rend. In less than a round, the barbarian went from full HP to dead. The loss of Angus, combined with the overall lack of resources, prompted a retreat at this point, this time riding hard long into the night before setting up a hidden site with no fire to prevent Hargulka and Kargadd from finding them again.
The group was able to recover Angus's severed arm and his weapon, so they elected to send them on a fast horse to Restov along with the party Oracle and the Halfling Bard, who arrived just in time to have Angus reincarnated (Raise Dead being a bit outside of the party's pricerange). Angus came back as a Dwarf, which his player had almost picked as a race to start out with.
The party is now arming and preparing for a second raid on the Troll Lair to finish off Hargulka and Kargadd - and this time it's personal!
Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
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Name: Yurg,
Race: Male Dwarf
Classes/levels: Fighter 11
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Armag's Tomb
Catalyst: Polymorphed into a Turtle...by another party member, failing both saves.
The Gory Details:
Not getting involved, Yurg reached for the warlord's sword, being a worshiper of Gorum himself, Ovinrbaane would surely find he was worthy. And worthy he was found, immediately wielding the weapon, and growling to the party to stand down from "his" treasure.
Wearily they turned to him and realized he had lost the battle of wits with the weapon, as he set upon them to attack with a mighty howl. Too bad the party wizard had had enough of him, and promptly baleful polymorphed him into a turtle.
Yurg failed both saves and the sword could not dispel him due to a poor roll.
The party mourned the loss of their stalwart companion, but found a nice spot in the river for him, making note of the location in case a breed of super hardy turtles with snapping jaws happened to be a source of complaint in their kingdom's expansion.
Name: Viraqk
Race: Aasimar
Classes/levels: Alchemist 15
Adventure: Sound of a Thousand Screams
Location: High Folley
Catalyst: Acid and a blind dragon
The Gory Details: The dragon escaping from a smitey paladin of doom caught up with the flying alchemist and ripped into him with a vital strike bite, knocking him down to about 60% hp. The alchemist chucked some bombs, taking an AOO, down to 40% or so. Having hit Ilthuliak with a blinding bomb the alchemist remained the only one in visible range (of blindsense) - the dragon knew he wouldn't have much luck attacking in melee so breathed on him, and with a failed save killed him down to -40hp*.
*The player pulled out some 'Questionable Mechanics' and the alchemist survived and self stabilized.
Name: Salt
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Adept 1/Monk 1
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Tatzlwyrm Lair
Catalyst: NPC class hit points plus critical bite/grapple/rake/critical rake plus 6 con damage.
While exploring the Stolen lands, the Wayward went hunting tatzlwyrms for the reward. The Wayward rogue crept up to where he saw one (the female) sunning itself. Little did he know that it's mate was nearby, hidden in the trash. A slight mistake on the GM's (me) part let the male to not only surprise the brigand Wayward, but a bite, followed by a a pair of rakes left the man bleeding on the rocks.
The bruiser Wayward charged forward, stopping at the age of the difficult terrain where he thought he could stop the beasts from getting tot the rest of the party. The tatzlwyrms went next, with the female biting, grabbing, and raking the bruiser while he was still on his horse. The male went after the next closets, which proved to be poor Salt. The NPC lasted less than two rounds in the tatzlwyrm's gentle embrace, a byproduct of too many critical strikes, to many failed fortitude saves, and adept hit points.
On the other hand, she came back as sort of a Shifter from Eberron (but her new intelligence is now 4...), and the party killed the grizzly at the Temple with braced spears, and a very nice critical strike (who gave the bruiser a polearm?) without the bear even getting a chance to attempt an attack.
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Name: That clumsy 7th Level Paladin that got beat up by a flight of stairs.
Place: Varhold Spriggan Fort
How: "As you jump full tilt into the dark well (in Full Plate)in pursuit of the spriggans and are swept down the underwater passageway, you realize in the back of your mind, you probably saw the nitch that held their potions of water breathing...."
Name: Hurk [don't call him Phil]
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 5th
Adventure: The Rivers Run Red
Location: Home City
Catalyst: Assassination attempt [successful]
The assassin in this case was a 8th level fighter [CR+1 APL] who won initiative, scored a hit with vital strike, and scored a critical- with maximum damage (over 50)- the second round. Two strikes and the fighter was in the negatives.
He was rescued by an NPC rescued earlier in the game.
Name: Kima [NPC]
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Fighter 2nd/Barbarian 3rd
Adventure: Between the Stolen Lands and The Rivers Run Red
Location: Oleg's Trading Post
Catalyst: Left to guard two prisoners
Months later, the leader of the Pure Hearts returned, collapsing at the gate- a Paladin named William- with his two scouts tied to his horse suffering terrible wounds. When William woke, he told a tale of how the long dead paladin did not kill the demon, but trapped it in his sword. The demon them corrupted the paladin, and turned him on his crew. The tainted paladin drove the sword into a rock with his last bit of sanity, and walked away, never to return. William's sister (another member of the Pure Hearts) lacked the strength of will of the long dead paladin, and attempted to kill her group the moment she picked up the blade. What returned with will was the only part that survived.
After several days of random murders and evidence the scouts were similarly corrupted, Kima was put on guard to insure the scouts stayed locked up. She unfortunately, she was killed by the corrupted William, who had been the villain the whole time.
She was reincarnated as a half-orc, much to the party's delight.
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The Two Deaths of Vandyre
Name: Vandyre
Race: Apparently Human (really Tiefling)
Classes/levels: Alchemist 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Varnhold Village (Random Encounter)
Catalyst: Peluda Poison and Failed Knowledge Checks
Gory Details: The party happened on a Peluda randomly in the previously cleared Varnhold Village, feasting on the delicious lobster flavored Chuul. Startled by the Party it let loose a Quill Barrage, poisoning the Barbarian, the Alchemist and the Ranger Cohort. With Con damage each round the battle was put on a timer, and the PCs managed to defeat the Paluda, but the poor Alchemist's poor rolls and the GM's high Con Damage rolls combined to bring the Alchemist to 0 Con. The Party decided to head to the Centaur Camp to get him raised.
It was a little later when the Druid (a new player) realized she had a scroll of lesser restoration. So we retconned Vandyre to life (albeit on 1 Con), a couple of days rest holed up in the village and all the Druid's second level spell-slots had Vandyre back in tip-top shape.
Name: Vandyre
Race: Apparently Human (really Tiefling)
Classes/levels: Alchemist 8
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: Nomen Camp
Catalyst: Soul Eater Snack
Gory Details: The party was resting in the Centaur Camp, due to travel to the burial mounds with the Centaurs in the morning (having reached Trust Score 26). That night on the Duke's watch the Soul Eater snuck into the Gazebo and attacked one of the PCs responsible for the death of the Raven. With a full-round of attacks it struck Vandyre (didn't Coup de grace in order to use its soul eating ability). Trapped in the belly of the beast Vandyre could only watch in gibbering madness as his allies fought the creature of smoke and shadow. Some good grapple checks from the Fire Elemental formed Druid, kept the Soul Eater in place long enough for the Barbarian, Cavalier, Rogue and Ranger to destroy the thing freeing Vandyre's soul.
Lessons Learned: Peludas have a lot of very deadly abilities (A DC 20 Con poison is entirely too much), I think changing the poison to Strength or Dex would be better because Poison attacking Con is a cheap way for a PC to die.
The Soul Eater worked exactly as hoped, placing a fellow PC in peril and putting a timer on the battle.
Looks like a streak of unlucky rolls for the Alchemist against the poison (unless he selected archetype that removes his poison resistance). Two levels later and he would ignore the poison completly.
Name: Koridan
Race: Eladrin
Classes/levels: Bladesinger level 3
Adventure: Stolen Land
Location: Tuskgutter's Lair
Catalyst: Lack of back-up (aka Never Split the Party)
NOTE: We are using 4E; hence the odd race/class options. Also, to meet 4E encounter standards (where solo monsters are usually unexciting), I added a couple of creatures to the scene.
Gory Details: The PCs found the lair unoccupied, and laid an ambush. Unfortunately, they weren't expecting Tuskgutter to have allies. Most of the group got bogged down dealing with his mates (a were-boar priestess of Gyronna and a were-boar dryad), while Koridan led the charge down-slope to battle a wicked treant. They were well-involved in these separate battles when Tuskgutter arrived and charged Koridan. Before the others could reach him to provide support, the dire boar had gored him to death, and pounded him into the dirt for good measure.
All was not lost, for the PCs had recently made friends with a group of gnomes, and they were quickly able to contact a gnome druid regarding the possibility of a Reincarnation. I quickly built a random table of possible 4E races and the player rolled - a Pixie!
(The embarrassed druid backed away with the comment, "No refunds!" - and was later heard to mutter, "At least it wasn't another kobold...")
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Looks like a streak of unlucky rolls for the Alchemist against the poison (unless he selected archetype that removes his poison resistance). Two levels later and he would ignore the poison completly.
The player tends to have very swingy luck with the dice, strings of terrible rolls with critical successes at vital moments. He understands that failure makes for more complex stories than success.
Name: Caur Delacroix
Race: Human
Class/Levels: Witch 3
Adventure: Stolen Land
Catalyst: The Stag Lord
The Stag Lord had previously knocked two other weakened party members into negative hitpoints (they had stabilized), so the paladin decided to charge the bandit leader head-on to prevent him from picking off any other party members. Unfortunately, the Stag Lord manages to drop the previously-wounded paladin, and aim his second attack at the witch behind him. He confirms a critical, and deals 41 damage to the witch, dropping him from full to dead in a single attack. They are naming their first city after him.
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Hmm...forgot to include this one...
Name: Ganon Malfoy
Human Infernal Sorcerer 14
Adventure: War of the River Kings, at Whiterose Abbey.
Catalyst: Sorcerer AC + favored enemy.
The party walked right into the established ambush (convincingly laid out with the assistance of an added Illusionist npc) where Hestia the Barbarin slew a couple of mooks before turning into a pincushion for the wererat ranger up in the rafters.
A Cloudkill then gassed out the poor mooks, but provided plenty of cover for said ranger, since he could stay above the cloud and unleash arrows at will.,
,
Ganon, intent on finishing this fight quickly, moved out of cover and tried some enchantment shenanigans, which failed. He then took a full volley of deadly aim, point blank, favored enemy human bane
arrows to the chest. And face. And probably knee.
He spent 2 hero points to avoid permanent death, but chalk another kill up.
It was actually an arrow to the heart. Well, not to it so much as through it...
Name: Ekada
Race: Genasi
Classes/levels: Artificer level 3
Adventure: Stolen Land
Location: Random encounter at the Rickety Bridge (location Q)
Catalyst: Epic fail on Perception at the start of the encounter
NOTE: We are using 4E; hence the odd race/class options and random encounter monsters.
Gory Details: The PCs were crossing the Rickety Bridge one at a time. When half the party had made it across, the three previously unnoticed perytons suddenly swooped down and attacked the party members on one side of the bridge.
(Cue Benny Hill music)
The PCs keep trying to gang up on and pin down the perytons, which continually manage to fly around and attack PCs who are separate from the others. One peryton snatches Ekada into the air, dropping her on the next round for near-maximum falling damage. She is bloodied but still fighting, and manages to heal herself back up to a decent HP total. But that doesn't last long; another peryton swoops down on her and attacks, knocking her to -1 hp with a prodigious blow. Papa peryton, seeing a "dying" adventurer, moves away from his current battle (shrugging off the ranger/assassin's opportunity attack) to use its Feed attack on the unconscious girl to rip out and consume her heart.
The warlock used an immediate reaction to shove the peryton 1 square away from Ekada's dead body. Because the peryton's Flyby Snatch Attack hadn't recharged, it therefore wasn't able to do what I wanted to do - snatch her body and fly away with it.
The PCs are now headed to their friendly neighborhood gnome druid for another Reincarnate (2nd in two weeks - see above). Ekada's player has to wait 2 weeks before learning at our next session what she'll be reincarnated as - and the other party members are praying to Erastil that they won't end up with another pixie.
Who says you can't kill PCs in 4E?
Well, although we've had heroes survive longbow crits and axe wielding maniacs, it was a gore from boar that had death in store.
Name Al'dori (yes, really)
Race Human (Taldane)
Classes/levels Fighter 2 (Aldori swordlord style)
Adventure Stolen Lands
Location Tuskgutter's Lair
Catalyst Failing a stealth check + GM's dice + "Oh, I only have two points of damage... I'll be OK"
Well, the party barbarian-ranger correctly identified the leavings around the layer and the tracks as that of the infamous Tuskgutter. The brave swordlord Al and Lily Teskertin (acting as an NPC rogue for the party) attempted to sneak up upon the sleeping boar to catch it unawares. Al rolled a 1 on his stealth check (and Lily didn't fare much better), and then equally poorly on his initiative. An awakened and angered boar looks about and charges the first (closest) opponent he sees... rolling a critical, confirming and near max damage of 2d8+16->31. The swordlord, with 18 of 20 hp and a 12 constitution, went from healthy to disemboweled in one strike. So much for aspirations of Kingship.
Tuskgutter then proceeded to be entangled by the cleric of Erastil and dispatched by the barbarian without landing a second successful hit. The party decided to build an inn and make a bust of the fallen Al'dori... and place the preserved head of the boar above the bust, in their darkly humorous way.
An awakened and angered boar looks about and charges the first (closest) opponent he sees... rolling a critical, confirming and near max damage of 2d8+16->31.
So those two missed hit points decided of his instant death?
Remember kids, top you health whenever you have chance... Later may be too late :>
This death occurred during a side adventure at the beginning of the Rivers Run Red. Tartuk had escaped the Scootcale caverns and found himself a band of orcs, 2 death dogs (Courtesy of the Tomes of Horrors Complete), and a tiger companion:
Name: Duin Forgefist
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: Cleric/Devout follower of Torag, Level 4
Adventure: a tweener adventure based on rumors and a purple kobold and an orc band were assaulting trappers.
Location: The Narlmarshes near Dead Trapper
The Gory Details: The new leaders were eager to quell reported unrest near the old dead trapper site. They responded to rumors of a purple kobold and small orc band, who were roughing up trappers. In their haste they left Olegton poorly equipped and during the late day. Two days out of town, they made camp and were probed by the band, which had a few death dogs. The companions were nicked up but they managed to kill an orc and two death dogs. The next morning the party followed the trail that moved along a narrow game trail covered with briar bushes. The party, of six, leading their horses and ponies decided to continue on being strung out in a long single party line.
Eventually the two party members, a ranger and cavalier, who were leading the party came upon a slippery mud trap and each slid down a small hillock. The ranger went left and the cavalier and his wolf slid right. The cavalier and his wolf slammed into tree and two orcs befell upon him. The rest of the party stopped then Tartuk cast darkness over the middle of the baggage line (I boosted Tartuks level by one and gave him the darkness spell). This caused a panic and chaos.
The summoner and his eidolon protected the front of the line while the cavalier, his wolf fought valiantly. The bard protected one side of the line while the rogue protected the other side. Pulling up the rear was the dwarf cleric Duin, who for all intensive purposes took up a defensive position for many rounds. As the battle died down in the front, Duin got the battle lust when he saw a glitter farther back down the game trail. He waddled out to explore and ran right into the heart of the Orc band. An archer was decoy to draw out the Dwarf, while the Orc chieftain and his pet tiger flanked the cleric. The chieftain hit hard and his tiger mauled the dwarf in a few rounds.
The remaining party fled and regrouped. They brought the former high priest back to Olegton for mourning, and dedicated a monument: Duin’s Falls in his honor.
Tartuk and his band of orcs have become a thorn in the party’s side. A perfect segue for Grigori’s soapbox.
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Ok.
Multiple deaths, same encounter.
Just rolling them all into one.
Names:
Three mounts (one bonded)
Tarron
Kyris
Race:
Horse (x3)
Human
Elf
Classes/levels:
Horse
Paladin 5
Draconic Sorcerer 5
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Candlemere Shoreline
Catalyst: Short-handed party missing a "primary healer", paladin hubris, loud conversations on the shore about forgetting to bring a boat, low perception checks and even worse initiative rolls.
The Gory Details:
The previous session the party more or less routed all encounters and were feeling pretty good about themselves. Down a member (who also is the only one with access to spontaneous heals) they decided to explore the territory south of town with a couple of cure potions and a can-do attitude.
As the party discussed whether to travel back to their town to pick up a boat, look for something suitable to use around the lake, or attempt a swim to Candlemere tower (on horseback) they caught the attention of a small nest of shocker lizards in the nearby underbrush.
Regretfully, the shocker lizards did not catch *their* attention until they were surrounded on the surprise round.
Even more regretfully, the rogue-posing-as-a-ranger, the improved initiative sorcerer, and the hapless smite-adin did not out-roll the lizards on initiative.
The rogue DID roll well enough on his knowledge check to explain that large groups of shocker lizards turned what amounted to little more than a nuisance into a lightning-bombing nightmare, and that they could annihilate much larger prey in a matter of just seconds in some cases. He communicated this clearly as he made his reflex save + evasion to the be-plated paladin, who did not.
After the lightning burst, all of the lizards began sparkling and crackling while bolts of energy arced between them, as if to warn the party the GM had rolled a 1 for the "number of rounds" they had to wait for another attack.
Everyone stood their ground, the Paladin laying hands on himself for an additional 10 hit points to bring him to a total of 11 while his bonded mount lay dying at -10 hp.
Next round, the shocker lizards (not so surprisingly) unleashed a slightly smaller, but still very deadly burst of energy, with only the rogue making his save.
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Eventually the two party members, a ranger and cavalier, who were leading the party came upon a slippery mud trap and each slid down a small hillock. The ranger went left and the cavalier and his wolf slid right. The cavalier and his wolf slammed into tree and two orcs befell upon him. The rest of the party stopped then Tartuk cast darkness over the middle of the baggage line (I boosted Tartuks level by one and gave him the darkness spell). This caused a panic and chaos.
Interesting. it was a trap or a natural hazard? How do you managed it?
In Kingmaker this kins of hazard should be a common problem, so I would like any suggestion about how to handle them.
Eventually the two party members, a ranger and cavalier, who were leading the party came upon a slippery mud trap and each slid down a small hillock. The ranger went left and the cavalier and his wolf slid right. The cavalier and his wolf slammed into tree and two orcs befell upon him. The rest of the party stopped then Tartuk cast darkness over the middle of the baggage line (I boosted Tartuks level by one and gave him the darkness spell). This caused a panic and chaos.
Interesting. it was a trap or a natural hazard? How do you managed it?
In Kingmaker this kins of hazard should be a common problem, so I would like any suggestion about how to handle them.
It was actually a combination from an earlier rainfall and a trap created by the orcs and Tartuk. They enhanced the area by using a nearby watering hole as a source to ensure the ground was slippery. The probe the night before was intended to test the party's weakness but more so, to leave a fresh trail, to lead them towards the hazard/trap.
Environmental hazards are useful at low levels. I tend to roll up quite a few of these hazards early in the game, such as: briar bushes, slippery ground, small holes that wreck hazards on a horse or ankle. It warms my heart when a dwarf dressed in full plate has to cross the river. This group had a particularly difficult time crossing a river near the Thorn River once.
One simple equalizer against a powerful party is to draw them out in a long column, which is what I did here, so it was difficult for everyone to know what was occurring at one time and to render aid.
Name: Salt
Race: Shifter (a reincarnation idea stolen from Eberron) NPC
Classes/levels: Rogue 2nd/Monk 5th
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: In the troll den
Catalyst: Going toe-to-toe with a rock troll enforcer
The Gory Details: A childhood friend of the party who had the misfortune of being the first one to the door when the rock troll came through. Two rounds of claw, claw, bite, rend, and she was in pieces.
The party was a bit higher level than the adventure called for, so I up'ed the level and gave the behemoth troll a pair of [i]claws of the beast[i], from Savage Species, power attack, improved natural attack [claw]. The resulting mess was...well, this wansn't the first time she spent time in the Druid's care.
Thins time, she came back as a tibbet...
Name: Minx
Race: Half-Elf (Half-Fiend Template)
Classes/levels: Monk 5/Fighter 4
Adventure: Blood for Blood
Location: Fort Drelev/Armag's Tomb
Catalyst: Fighting Armag
The Gory Details: I combined some things to have Armag actually in Fort Drelev when it was attacked. The PC took several decent hits from Orvinbaane and was knocked out. She was healed by the bard to about 17 HP and went back into melee, where she met her doom. The rest of the party finished off Armag, whereby the Druid, thinking his will save good enough, picked up Orvinbaane and was immediately taken over. Fortunately, the bard managed to disarm him.
The dead PC was taken back to the kingdom, where they found an evil cleric to resurrect her in exchange for their organization having immunity to legal issues.
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Name: Peter
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cleric 9
Adventure: Book 3 Varnhold Vanishing (playing "The Harrowing" as an interlude to book 4 though)
Location: Dead in the garden
Catalyst: lost Init to an invisible caster who nailed the whole party with an empowered 14th level cone of cold.
The Gory Details: 88 HP damage, cleric was the only one not to make the save for half, and rolled a 1 to boot. Bard was able to bring him back UMD-ing a scroll of Raise Dead.
This was my groups 4th death (so far) in the campaign. We lost a fighter early on when we ventured south of Nettles Crossing while in book 1 (dead to random encounter from book 2, we were 2nd or 3rd level). Lost an Elf wizard to Will-O-Wisps on Candlemere. He elected to Reincarnate, and came back as a "different" elf! 3rd was my human Ranger Herrara Miguel Coronado Sandival de los Santos (now Horizon Walker), was Critted and rended by a troll back at level 6. Was reincarnated as a dwarf. And now our cleric of Erastil. We are spreading the deaths around, nobody has died more than once!
Name: Brother Nevaine Arelle
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Monk 2
Adventure: Stolen Land
Location: Stag Lord's Fort
Catalyst: Insightful Shot, naturally.
The Gory Details: By the time the Stag Lord entered the battle (a prolonged, back-and-forth fray that began with a literal "kick down the front gate" approach), the party had already been softened up by the Stag Lord's (mostly dead by now) minions and pet owlbear. Several failed Perception checks to notice the Stag Lord slinking in the shadows later, the bandit leader took aim at the monk (who unfortunately happened to be the only target within sneak attack range) and fired an insightful shot, instantly taking him from two-thirds his total hit points to -18. The party nonetheless triumphed that day, but not without a price.
Name: Aralandi Talvathir
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Bard 4 (Archaeologist)
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: The Blighted Hollow
Catalyst: Scythe Tree and a whole lot of bad luck
The Gory Details: After setting out from Tiressia's grove in search of the scythe tree, the party arrived in the Blighted Hollow, whereupon all party members proceeded to bomb their opposed Perception checks. The scythe tree gets a surprise round in, takes a swing at Aralandi, and crits. The entire party then proceeds to roll absolutely terrible Initiative, causing the tree to go first once regular combat begins. Its first branch hits, the second misses (but just barely), and then the third lands a second crit on the already injured bard, resulting in one very, very dead elf.
Name: Mulder 'da Cultist'
Race: reincarnated advanced half-elf (I've lost track)
Classes/levels: UA Cloistered Cleric 17
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: Irovetti's Palace, hallway leading into the throne room
Catalyst: 1 failed Fort save too many after a breath of life - 2 deaths for the same character in consecutive rounds!
The Gory Details: destruction, destruction, destruction! The bad guys' theme in the tail end of Chapter 5 is tying up loose ends. In this case, they arranged to clone the two Black Sisters that had so fiendishly taken them to task in Armag's Tomb. Having access to multiple prepared destruction spells and a desire to deny heal spells to their foes, the Black Sisters focused their ire upon Mulder. He failed his save against the first and made his save against the second, surviving solely due to the determination property of his armor. At the Sisters' next go 'round, a 3rd destruction against which Mulder failed his Fort save obliterated his reincarnated pointy-eared self into profaned ash.
Name: Fluff Gugg, Molly Missy
Race: advanced soulbound doll cohorts
Classes/levels: Cleric of Lamashtu 15, Bard 15
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: Irovetti's Palace, hallway leading into the throne room
Catalyst: 2 construct-slaying arrows imbued with empowered shocking grasps each
The Gory Details: Irovetti's degenerate-mutant troll bodyguards, all six of them, are switch-hitting arcane archer / eldritch knights. Under benefit of unnecessary true strike, they fired Vital Strike, shooting each doll in turn before moving to the next doll that they could see. Fluff Gugg bought it first, then Molly Missy, before they fired their last two arrows into ...
Name: Her Majesty the Queen of Starfall, Eirwen Kirsi
Race: advanced human
Classes/levels: Fighter 1/ Sorcerer 7 (water) / Eldritch Knight 9
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: Irovetti's Palace, hallway leading into the throne room
Catalyst: the last 2 arrows that had a little doll's name on them
The Gory Details: eating the last 2 arrows from the bodyguards, between a previous fireball, raw arrow damage and 22d6 of empowered shocking grasp technically killed her, thwarted only by her own armor of determination. At 6 hp, reduced to 1 from the temporary negative level, she was probably all to happy to get mazed immediately afterwards.
Name: Crossbowpeon; King Starmight I of Cordelon; General Armag-Varn of Starfall
Race: human cohort; construct-variant lich (elf); advanced human
Classes/levels: Fighter (crossbowman) 15th; Mystic Theurge 10; Fighter 17
Adventure: War of the River Kings
Location: Irovetti's palace
Catalyst: mass cacaphonous call; axes to faces
The Gory Details: (optional) Starmight's cohort dubbed "Crossbowpeon" failed against Irovetti's mass cacaphonous call and proceeded to blow chow for the rest of his violently shortened existence. Irovetti's retooled personal guard trolls, brereft of their beloved bows, switched to their +3 adamantine greataxes before wading into melee with the 'good guys', delivering killing blows to Crossbowpeon, Starmight and the General in that order. The General got better from a combination of breath of life, heal and an aid from Ovirnbaane. Starmight won't reconstitute for 4 days, so he's hoping that the PCs are able to evacuate his stuff from the battlefield before any more area of effect spells destroy it. Crossbowpeon will require some form of real mojo to come back from being killed again.
You are chewing through your party, like, uh, mad? ;)
You are chewing through your party, like, uh, mad? ;)
The first time around (5 deaths) they used a miracle to escape. The second time around Irovetti and crew abducted the PC kingdom's King 1/2 an hour after the first time around, forcing the PCs to attack the bad guys on terms of their choosing. The next session will pick up right after this last one ... and it's the bad guys' initiative. ;)
The next session will pick up right after this last one ... and it's the bad guys' initiative. ;)
In such case.... See you soon! :D
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On behalf of one of our gamers, our first campaign death:
Name: Honzik, Spymaster of the Barony of Myr
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Rogue 4
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Lizardfolk Village harem
Catalyst: Critical hit from the king's trident
The Gory Details: Snuck into village to search for lost boy Tig while party provided a diversion on shore. Went into king's harem and killed his women. King heard the screams and went to harem, trapping rogue inside. First attack was a confirmed critical hit for 40 damage + (crit card effect) 1d6 bleed + 1 Con dmg. Dead before he hit the floor.
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Name: Jerrod
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Ranger 3
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Stag Lord's Keep
Catalyst: A brief moment of heroics in an otherwise aloof character
The Gory Details:
Jerrod wasn't always a team player. Throughout most of the exploration of the Stolen Lands he preferred to stand back and shoot his enemies, vexed by the fighter Joran's uncanny ability of getting in the way, and the monk Lumos' habit of preaching non-violence whenever possible. He was irked by the Evoker Aang, who was constantly whining about how we shouldn't eat animals, and he found the Ken the Cleirc's vanity to be annoying at best. Jerrod’s creative tactics, such as stabbing a sleeping kobold and then following its trail of blood back to their hideout, were universally shot down. Often it seemed his only friend in the Stolen Lands was his hunting dog Jayne. Still, as time went on, Jerrod found his place among this group of misfits, eventually connecting with the fighter Jorran, having realized they grew up only a few miles from one another. Jorran's love of fishing mirrored Jerrod's thrill of the hunt, and together the two started taking trophies from fallen enemies: several wolf pelts, boar tusk's, and even an owlbear's coat, all the while laughing at the vegetarian elf's opposition to such gruesome displays. It was this bond that would eventually lead to Jerrod's death.
After the Cleric had failed to convince the bandits at the Stag Lord's camp that we were merely merchants coming to sell alcohol, all hell broke loose. Jerrod stayed back from the thick of fighting, as was his usual style, taking out the bow wielding guards with ease. As the last tower guard fell, Jerrod saw his comrade Joran being torn to shreds by Beaky the owl bear. Popping a potion of enlarge person and running in with his guisarme, Jerrod managed to fell the owlbear with a single swing. As Beaky collapsed into a pile of feathers, the menacing Stag Lord appeared from the shadows behind him. One shot from his bow dropped Joran to his knees. Jerrod knew that Joran would not survive another hit and placed himself in between the stag lord and his staggered comrade. Joran called to the cleric for help, who with the monk was preventing the pansy rogue from frolicking into a flanking position. The stag lord released another arrow, this time at Jerrod, who managed to just barely survive the hit. Jerrod rushed the stag lord, hoping to trip him and prevent him from using his bow. Unfortunately Jerrod’s trip attempt failed, as the stag lord's sickly appearance belied his quickness. The cleric ran up to help, calling upon his deity Cayden Cailean to channel positive energy. Instead of a brilliant flash of righteous light that usually accompanied such an act, the pewter mug serving as a holy symbol merely sparked and sputtered as the cleric rolled snake eyes in his heal attempt. The stag lord took one last shot on the injured ranger Jerrod, and the final arrow pierced through his chest. Jerrod was dead before his body even slumped to the ground.
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Name: Xonder
Race: Elf
Classes/levels: Wizard 4
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Lizardfolk settlement
Catalyst: pissing off plot devices
The Gory Details: I'm using DM_aka_Dudemeister's monster kingdom idea. With the lizard king, I put a troll "ambassador", who I had statted out as a CR 9 monster to be encountered as part of fighting the monster kingdom. He was a Troll half-dragon(green) monk 2(Master of Many Styles/Monk of the Sacred Mountain). He was clearly not to be messed with: I had him lounging on a throne watching the little lizards fight, and made sure to describe his wings and intimidating physique (str 29, con 30). Xonder proceeded to magic missile this bad boy. The troll shrugged off the first two missiles with verbal warnings, then went aggressive on the third. He charged Xonder and blasted him with a crit claw, a regular claw, and a bite, and then rended. 64 points of damage put the elf at negative his hit point value, leading another player to exclaim "Even in 4e you'd be dead!". The party prevailed (the rest of them were level 6) due to well built characters, lucky crits, and solid teamwork.
My first kill!
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Name: Jerrod
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Ranger 3
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Stag Lord's Keep
Catalyst: A brief moment of heroics in an otherwise aloof character
The Gory Details:
Jerrod wasn't always a team player. Throughout most of the exploration of the Stolen Lands he preferred to stand back and shoot his enemies, vexed by the fighter Joran's uncanny ability of getting in the way, and the monk Lumos' habit of preaching non-violence whenever possible. He was irked by the Evoker Aang, who was constantly whining about how we shouldn't eat animals, and he found the Ken the Cleirc's vanity to be annoying at best. Jerrod’s creative tactics, such as stabbing a sleeping kobold and then following its trail of blood back to their hideout, were universally shot down. Often it seemed his only friend in the Stolen Lands was his hunting dog Jayne. Still, as time went on, Jerrod found his place among this group of misfits, eventually connecting with the fighter Jorran, having realized they grew up only a few miles from one another. Jorran's love of fishing mirrored Jerrod's thrill of the hunt, and together the two started taking trophies from fallen enemies: several wolf pelts, boar tusk's, and even an owlbear's coat, all the while laughing at the vegetarian elf's opposition to such gruesome displays. It was this bond that would eventually lead to Jerrod's death.After the Cleric had failed to convince the bandits at the Stag Lord's camp that we were merely merchants coming to sell alcohol, all hell broke loose. Jerrod stayed back from the thick of fighting, as was his usual style, taking out the bow wielding guards with ease. As the last tower guard fell, Jerrod saw his comrade Joran being torn to shreds by Beaky the owl bear. Popping a potion of enlarge person and running in with his guisarme, Jerrod managed to fell the owlbear with a single swing. As Beaky collapsed into a pile of feathers, the menacing Stag Lord appeared from the shadows behind him. One...
Great story! I'm glad you made his death heroic.