RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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My group is busy in Golismorga, having offed the Devourer and some freaky aboleth servitor/constructs with T2 melty powers. They're torn between the head (guarded by two vemeraks with ethereal phasing instead of earthquake) and the Ziggurat, and I think they're going for the head first. N'glothnoru was VERY persuasive, the silver-tongued pragmatic devil.
I've been prepping the Ziggurat just in case and have hit a speedbump. Is the inside big enough? I remember the first boss fight, way back in Sasserine, where Rowan Kellani's office was way too small for a fun combat.
The outside is 140 feet wide, and inside half that. Adding a bit more depth between levels I could easily make all those 5' squares 10' squares. More room, more bad guys, more actions for me :-)
What do you folks think?
Caveat: No Kopru, but Mind Flayers. No Behemoths but advanced Gugs.
I'm thinking of having patches of black tentacles in Ulioth's chamber, which ignore him. This will replace the terrain effects of his flooding the chamber, and if someone is grappled by them he can try to extract their brain with his dual actions. Mwahahahaha!!!
But anyway - is bigger better, or should I keep it cramped?
Scale to the original builders.
No solid fog deathbugs? Trained watchdawgs...
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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Doh! Almost forgot :-)
They're around too, I'm alternating them with the Nagas. At the minute the party are mumbling about resting after one (ONE) encounter! Okay, with a pumped up Devourer, but still...
The fighter is down four levels, and 9 Strength for the next 22 minutes. The vemerak are looking at them from the ethereal plane, and three PCs have See Invisibility up. With a bit of luck they'll run away and bump into a patrol instead. Dweomercats, Deathbugs, Mind Flayers and Destrachans. And if they really chicken out, I'll send a few Beholders after them, on a revenge tip.
It's going to be a good night!
Please report on the results! :)
The outside is 140 feet wide, and inside half that. Adding a bit more depth between levels I could easily make all those 5' squares 10' squares. More room, more bad guys, more actions for me :-)
What do you folks think?But anyway - is bigger better, or should I keep it cramped?
If your group of players is larger than 4, its pretty much mandatory (especially for the lower levels) as you will likely have more -- and larger -- opponents. IIRC I added 10, 20 and 30 feet respectively to the decending levels.
My group going through the Ziggy was 6 strong (bow spec Ranger, Monk, Barby, Cleric, Illusionist and FTR/Rogue Tempest wannabe). At first they tried to assault the stronghold without breaking the Tear. On their first attempt they used illusions to look like Kopru and weren't fully buffed. Their second assault they took time to buff and use Invisibity; after that failure, they decided to consider the breaking of the Tear.
Inside, I added a few extra mooks and I made good use of the Naga spellcasters and behemoths to whittle away their defenses. Flooding the middle chamber was a good idea, it gave them something else to consider tactically. The Barb *still* has the Cloak of the Manta ray. Gawdz I hate that item. :)
Pray that some of your characters are Lawful; the 'wretch's breath weapon and the ce-ment pond he hangs out in do some nice extra damage. This group has a real distaste for BBEG escaping, so they are prone to chasing them down when they try. When the 'wretch moved into the bile to get a better attack angle, the Monk decided to give chase and DOVE INTO the Black Bile. That shocked him hard.
Play up the atmosphere of the fleshy Zig, my guys were seriously creeped out by the Zig and golismorga in general, due to that Far Realms -- Lovecraftian vibe.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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Well, they made it :-)
They enchanted a crossbow with sonic damage and started shooting up the head. The Vemeraks charged in and caused carnage for a while, until the party rallied and took them down one at a time. They then destroyed the Head, receiving a vision of tired Olman warriors heading to the afterlife and tens of nagas and mind flayers pouring out of the ziggurat and seeking out aboleth.
They headed for the ziggurat and took out the three Gugs on top using Greater Invisibility, Haste and Fly on the main fighter. Ouchie!
Once they blasted the blister-door open, the fighter dropped down and was imediately mind blasted into oblivion by a few mind flayers inside. He was still invisible but I gave them the detect thoughts equivalent of arcane sight - constantly as if you have concentrated for three rounds. Luckily he also had freedom of movement active, and slipped out of their tentacles until the wizard teleported in and dimension doored back out with him (some sort of celerity). The ensuing battle saw one party member saving against being plane shifted to the Abyss (phew) and one illithid escaping after seeing his colleague become a smear on the floor.
Once they had dealt with the illithid they descended to the next level and raided Ulioth's sofa. The spellthief sneaked down the last oesophagus/ladder tube and spotted Ulioth buffing. Unfortunately one of the other party members shouted down that the rest "had better surrender" and Ulioth let loose with a blade barrier at ceiling level. The spellthief just got out in time and the party dimension doored, flying and invisible, down to the Bilewretch level.
While the fighter kept the Bilewretch busy (damn that freedom of movement) and almost died a few times anyway, the dragon shaman got blasted to -8 with a Reach spell Stop Heart or somesuch. LOL - 140 damage in one spell :-) Then the spellthief, greater blinking, stripped Ulioth of all his 6th and 7th level spells in short order, and confiscated half his buffs! (Damn that one effect or spell per sneak dice!)
That made the difference and the party emerged battered but victorious. Spellthieves don't often get to do their best tricks, but fighting a BBEG cleric or wizard... they come into their own!
The patry headed upstairs to heal up before leaving, and two pary members got themselves cursed with Rot (6 Con) while stealing the eyes from the statue of Demogorgon. With the death of the bilewretch the ziggurat began to wail and the party wisely teleported away before the nagas and illithid returned.
Great fun, and plenty more mind flayer action to come in the next adventure :-)
Thank you for the post-session report! I'm always interested in seeing how other DMs/parties tackle this particular AP, as I'm saving up the numerous pearls of wisdom (or should that be horror?) for when I finally get a chance to run it. :)
Well, they made it :-)
'BOUT TIME! :D
Really glad you got there and had a good time of it. Its refreshing to read another take on that encounter.
My group had been on a bit of a hiatus, I needed a break to recharge my DM battery. My guys just finished mopping up Red Foam, so you are still behind us, but not by much.