Whoa, sounds like a scary fight! Good job heroes!
A fun fact is that Xandu had given Rikert 156pts of cold protection and himself the same but from fire. As we entered the room Rikert said oh sure you have fire protection. That's when we get hit with two cold spells. Later Xandu gets hit a few times with fire. Xandu turned to Rikert and proclaimed the wisdom of Desna! It was a great fight. Xandu, with one hit point kept moving Moxie (Rikert once) and Kori'el to keep Moxie at range and Kori'el out of trouble. Even had to help Friedrich. Something that hardly ever happens.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Xandu even tried to teleport one of the demons onto another teleporter. He got past the spell resistance but the demon made his will save by one. Xandu then had to run back to the party. Would have been funny. Better luck next time.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
YAA...here's a fun fact about Lint/Xandus's "fun facts"!!!
"Xandu, with one hit point kept moving Moxie (Rikert once) and Kori'el to keep Moxie at range and Kori'el out of trouble....Xandu even tried to teleport one of the demons onto another teleporter. He got past the spell resistance but the demon made his will save by one. Xandu then had to run back to the party."
So the first teleport took us (Rikert, Kori'el,Moxie) to the back of the room, The second took us (Kori'el & Moxie) to the corner to the right of the entry. Third was an attempt to remove the glab away, except it left me alone with the GLAB and a locked up Kori'el!
Scathing detailed account to follow shortly!
Rikert Krupt – Paladin of Iomedae
We moved from the practice room into the passage to the left from where we initially entered. We found another set of teleportation circles in the room, and divided into two group to enter like we had done with the previous circles.
This time, we found ourselves stepping out into a roughly circular room with elaborate carvings and runes covering the walls and ceiling. In front of us was a wall of dark smoke. We moved off of the circle to make room for the second group to teleport in, and then formed up and moved toward the wall of smoke. When we passed through the smoke, we found an enormous room with tall columns and a roof high above, covered in fire. In the center of the room was a large seven-pointed star laid out in glowing runes on the floor.
We were immediately confronted and attacked by a woman, who magically flew up to us and blasted our party with two freezing waves of cold that damaged everyone to some degree, and actually dropped Mother Not to the floor. Luckily for me, Xandu had previously cast a protective spell on me that shielded me from the cold.
Just as the woman attacked, two enormous demons on either side of the entrance also moved to attack. As I stepped up to fight the closest one, it spoke some horrid word in the twisted, demon tongue, that left me frozen in place, unaware of what was happening. Evidently, I was in this state for some time, as I became aware and able to move later, but found myself alone in a different location with one of the demons preparing to strike me. I called on Iomedae's power and launched several furious attacks that destroyed the demon almost instantly. I was still somewhat confused as to my location, so I moved our from behind the pillar and saw that I was near the opposite end of the room from where we had entered.
My comrades were still engaged in combat with the flying woman, and the other demon was threatening Moxie and others close to her. I moved quickly to engage the woman, recognizing her as the real threat, but was intercepted by the other demon who teleported directly into my path. I focused my attack on him, and once again called upon Iomedae to smite the demon. This one was protected by false images of itself, and it took several rounds to destroy it with the help of Freidrich and some of the others.
As I moved again toward the woman, I saw Freidrich turn and launch several of the deadly bombs he carried at the woman. She seemed to take the full impact from these, and crashed to the ground as she died. We soon noted that the mark on her forehead and disappeared from her, and now was visible on Freidrich's head.
At this point, we helped our wounded companions, and then went back through the teleport circles to clear the rest of the area. In the opposite chamber, we found a few more of the magus that we had fought previously, but they proved to be ineffective foes. We quickly cut them down, and then gathered everyone together to take stock of our situation while we rested.
LOL
And poof!
Moxie tuns to Kori'el then looks at the demon, "Xandu? Where's....He left us!
Poof
Xandu looks at an empty teleporter with no demon in tow,"Oh crap, that didn't work. I better get back to the girls". oops
Xandu needs to take levels in bard. That's all there is to it.
I think you are spot on!
Moxie and Xandu both. :^)
Double post. What does it mean?
It's gone now. I guess you had to look fast. Oh well. Time to get ready. Hurry up Moxie we're on the edge of our seats.
Crickets
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Well, last night the gang headed into the Ravenous Crypts.
As they approached the doorway that led into F1 I described the doors as having been either knocked from their hinges or barely hanging. The walls near the doorway having been clawed at and somewhat destroyed. This damage was caused by Arkrhyst when he tried finding the party earlier. For those that know, this is why Arkrhyst was messed up when he fought the party earlier. Party assumed the mummies had given him mummy rot but are sadly wrong.
For the room encounter I had the mummies set to max health only and left them as is. The "surprise" round was the secret doors opening and the mummies stepping into the room. I randomly rolled which rooms contained mummies since there are 10 doors and 6 mummies.
The aura of Despair overlapping as it does makes this a fairly brutal encounter. Everyone sans Rikert and Moxie failed their saves and were paralyzed with fear for 4 rounds. I then had them just attack what was close. As it turns out, a Power Attacking, Vital Strike mummy hits like a truck. Thankfully for the group, Rikerts Lay on Hands mercy was able to get Xandu out of his funk on round 1 while the mummies just pummeled the crap out of everyone. For several rounds Rikert played party saver and as the casters came around were able to handle the mummies with fire spells and whatnot.
From here they continued on into F2 and then into F4 where they just turned around and left the portal alone. Moving then into F5 they got paranoid and buffed up and nothing happened. From here they moved into F6 and then into F8 where the other 6 mummies were located. Again the fear effect got almost everyone for 3 rounds but the group was able to just use Koriel's AC and Rikert to force the mummies to only attack them. Essentially they were able to bring them down without to much trouble, my dice going cold and not really hitting either of them more than once.
Because Davok was unable to get into any position to help he ended up searching the hallway and found the secret door leading to F9 but we called it there for the night.
*seizes the 666 post*
Mwahahaahahahahahahahaha!
Mine. ;)
Useplanb, that encounter sounds like it was fairly nasty. I look forward to eventually siccing it on my Skype group :)
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
From the diary of Kori’el Shalani, 5 Abadius(?):
After the nearly disastrous events in the Halls of Wrath, we decided to make camp before proceeding into the next section of the complex. Friederich and I took the time to examine the writings in the octagonal hall with the glowing weapons, and we discovered that the weapons themselves were enchanted and glowing with continual light. In consultation with the others we found that Sheldor and Xandu could shape the stone of the walls and retrieve the weapons to add to our (already enormous) store of loot from this place. I suppose the old adage “waste not, want not” applies. The writing on the walls was fascinating to me, since I’ve never had the time to indulge in the more creative aspects of magick, but Freiderich quickly lost interest. After resting, we prepared spells, and headed into the halls of Zutha, Runelord of Sloth.
The dragon had smashed the associated statue outside the halls, but Freiderich and I knew that in Thassilonian magick, sloth was associated with Necromancy, so we were able to prepare accordingly. As we approached a broken pair of doors, I cast some protective spells on myself, and Xandu busied himself casting other protective spells on many of us, including me. He seems to spend much more effort protecting me than Moxie; yet another sign that they believe that I need to be coddled. My spirit of independence rankles at such treatment, but I also know that I have given them no reason to suspect that I am capable of carrying my own weight. Elaborate and beautiful frescoes adorned the walls, and we stepped into a circular room with a number of skull carvings as Moxie moved up to inspect another set of doors. Just as Moxie was telling us that the doors were safe to open, several of the skull carvings on the walls opened, and undead creatures shambled forth.
A paralyzing wave of cold dread gripped my heart as they stepped into the room, and I had time to think, “Not again!” as the one nearest began to pummel me. My own protective magick as well as Xandu’s kept me from major harm, but I was too consumed with fear to even turn my head to see how my allies were faring; I feared that it would once again go poorly for us in this place. Then Rikert slapped my face and growled, “You’re not sitting this one out, too!” and his chagrin at my weakness snapped me back to my senses. I called on Calypso to protect me, and then blasted the nearest apparition with a scorching ray, totally incinerating it (critical hit). Moxie was screaming for help, but Freiderich was nearer, still frozen with fear as a creature smashed at him over and over. I am ashamed to say that Calyspo suggested letting the thing kill him before I finished it (so that I could selfishly take the rune of wrath for myself), but I admonished him, and once again released a scorching ray; putting everything I had into the spell (spell recall, maximized magic arcana). This one didn’t burn as well as the first, but I damaged it just as Freiderich came to his senses (with the aid of Rikert’s healing touch) and finished it with a bomb. One more ray spell (nothing special this time) damaged another of the things as the rest of the group shook off the paralysis and began fighting, making short work of the remaining undead. At this time, several of us found ourselves coughing and wheezing, I thought from all the dust that these things had left behind, but Freiderich informed me that I was suffering from some sort of rotting disease; Rikert was fortunately able to heal each of us with a touch (the last of us in the 10th round, just before we REALLY got in trouble).
We worked our way further into the complex, finding a strange room containing what seemed to be some sort of portal constructed of crystal plinths and dark energy, and a necromancer’s library/laboratory. In a side chamber, we were again faced with several mummies; but this time I was ready and the fear, while debilitating, didn’t freeze me in place. Others weren’t so lucky, and I was called upon to defend them. It turned out that lightning, shocking grasp and a force punch affects these undead things just marvelously, and this fight was much easier than the last. One of the creatures got lucky and struck me once (rolled a 20, not backed up. Kori’el had a 41 AC at the time), but afterward I was informed that I hadn’t contracted the rot this time. Rikert was facing more of them in his portion of the corridor, but I couldn’t get into position to help so I took a position guarding our rear…
|
|
The real issue is the overlapping auras. It takes the DC 19 Charisma based Will save to DC 27. Depending on how high you roll on the d4 for the fear effect could seriously put the party at risk. I also wouldn't allow the mummy to make a Coup de Grace on a helpless character. Only having one attack means they always Vital Strike, and Power Attack when appropriate.
The only other important note is the Caster level check to heal someone with magic if they are affected by Mummy Rot. I overlooked this and the channels to heal worked, so I just said that Xandu had made those rolls. Any healing afterward though had to make the roll to work.
Why does the overlapping auras increase the save dc? I don't quite follow. But yeah sounds like a rough encounter, chance are if you have to make 4 saving throws you are gonna fail one.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
WHERE AM I?!?
After reconnoitering the faux scarecrow room we hazarded a second set of arcane transporting circles. This time we decided on a tactical approach…OK we went in two groups of four. As part of the first group I went with Annie at the ready. The second group arrived quickly and with the troupe together again we formed a skirmish line and advanced on a wall of smoke.
As we moved through the smoky veil the contents of the room became evident. Enormous red marble columns, soaring to a domed ceiling of FIRE, lined both sides of the room and a large seven pointed silver star occupied the center of the room’s floor. After fully transiting the curtain of smoke we were immediately engaged by a sorceress and two gigantic foul creatures of murderous dark intent! Immediately we were engulfed by waves of the most frigid cold from the armored sorceress. All of which I managed to avoid deftly…HUZZAH! GrAnnie however ate them both and was flash frozen in an instant. Suddenly the huge foul beasts attacked from the flanks wading through the troupe with indiscriminant malice. I managed a good shot with Annie on the sorceress before being whisked with Rikert and an unresponsive Kori’el to the opposite side of the room by Xandu facing the wrong way. I regained my bearings and moved to take a second shot which struck the sorceress again…HUZZAH!! Then in an instant one of the dark beasts was upon me and just as quickly Xandu, Kori’el and I were near the entrance behind the first pillar on the right. Where was Rikert?!?!? What is wrong with Kori?!?! I was wholly discombobulated! I saw a corner, heard combat and so slinked to a good firing position preparing my last digger round and took careful aim…alas the shot went awry and my usefulness seriously diminished! As I attempted a reload in ultimate frustration I was greeted with an instant and un-neighborly assault from the second retched creature which had just laid Sheldor low. Pincers, claws and teeth. It had positioned itself with Xandu and Kori’el near the Column and myself nearer to the second column and the beast in between. This looked to be a quick pain filled moment. My only solace was in knowing it would not be a long drawn out event. Xandu quickly shattered that dream of peace with a healing burst followed by my attempt to batter the beasty with Annie’s butt plate, another sound beating, and Xandu leaving the currently comatose Kori’el and I at the mercy of this iniquitous villain!...
(I must take a moment to lend my fellow troupe mate the kindness and compassion of understanding. Having more than once lost the ability to control my own body and mind, I knew the feelings and disappointment fostered by the inability to contribute in dire circumstances to the mutual defense of our troupe. I would later offer unconditional forgiveness, comfort and understanding and illuminate the purpose and good will which the troupe has assumed the responsibility to ensure for all. Kori’el has already earned her line on the troupe muster roll!)
…..In a moment of panic, I made a snap decision to resign from sight, bad idea! I was summarily thumped yet again ending the affect at which point I ran between two pillars towards the entrance in hope…and only hope, that one of the troupe was still vertical, combative, mobile and nearby!!! Rounding the column in a battered state I found GrAnnie still frozen solid, Sheldor...D.R.T., Duh’rock trapped in an invisible cage, Frederich winding up to plaster the sorceress with a sparking bubbly elixir, and watched as my former assailant appeared before Rikert….WHEW! All was not lost. Rikert, Frederich and even Kori’el made short work of the sorceress and her minion. I slumped to the floor and sat nursing my tender bits until the merciful warmth of healing was dispensed. I inquired of the fallen and learned salvage was possible. The embers of life still longed to burn bright…HUZZAH!! Sheldor and GrAnnie awoke, a little worse for wear, but they woke! Though split apart and with some rendered useless for a small period of time, we still managed to prevail…Praise and thanks to my Eternal Rose!! We pressed on, and though the troupe was in a diminished state we cleared a nasty laboratory used for the creation of sin spawn, so Frederich said, and retired to a period of rest and recuperation. The Hall of Wrath was still. That accomplishment was satisfying but for one small detail, the run-ned mark emblazed upon the sorceress’ head had transferred itself to the forehead of our Frederich…hmmm????
UNDEAD LEPERS?!?
The troupe regained its vigor, stashed some loot for safe keeping and marched off to battle in the Hall of Sloth. The walls of the approach to a doorway were adorned with inlaid silver angels….inlaid?!? We will return to these later! Doors were checked for malice and spite…none was found. Locks were also absent. As we began to exchange our positions numerous ancient, linen wrapped, corpses walked from crypts in the walls. At first Rikert and I were the ONLY troupe mobile. Beatings commenced throughout the room. Rikert was busy attempting combat and reviving the troupe starting with Xandu who bounded about the opposite side of the room while I was unceremoniously pummeled into the floor. But once again Xandu saved(?) us from the dirt nap with a burst of vitality allowing me to experience the ordeal yet again…how kind! At long last, after ineffectually engaging this pugilist until all others had been vanquished, and being revitalized for another sound beating the troupe finally acquiesced to assist in my foes demise. I began to feel rather poorly until Rikert soothed the onset of what he claimed was a wasting disease of decay from contact with the undead creatures he called mummies. We advanced through Bookbraries, alchemy labs, vivi…viviviv…rooms where people were dismembered, a cool arcane contraption others called a gate with slow moving black lightning, and finally a burial crypt with stone urns….
It is here that Kori’el earned my undying affection. The troupe had advanced with Rikert in the lead when a sentry mummer let out another of those blood curdling screams which locked me up as tight as any ghouly-ghast bite! And yet my fearful little eyes were not surprised to see mummers pop out of the urns. As I watched them advance I was quite impressed when Kori’el leapt between the mummer and me. She stood toe to toe giving much worse than she received…HUZZAH! Once freed from the mummer fright I sped to the end of the hall and spent round after round in support of Rikert’s methodical advance. I relieved the last of the mummer’s of his head with a well-placed shot from Annie. Apparently Duh'rock had scouted the room where Kori’el made her stand and he has come across a hidden compartment. What putrid, vile, anger lurks beyond it is anyone’s guess!
|
|
I was under the impression that you make 1 DC save that increases by 2 for every equal effect. Unless thats just poison. Otherwise everyone at the table has to make 6 DC 19 Charisma based Will saves, that will drag on any game when there are 8 players. More than likely Im wrong, Ive made plenty of mistakes before. :)
I hate to admit that I've played a mixture (make all the different saves so I know which creatures you're immune to vs. make one save with +2 for each additional effect.) I personally find that I prefer "Useplanb's way" -- Just like poison, Aura DCs stack rather than having characters make a bunch of independent saves. May not be RAW, but it works well, and as Useplanb says, it doesn't bog things down with fifty-odd rolls to start combat.
Unfortunately, my party is built rather differently: The barbarian is the "wimp" of the party with only +16 Will, but if he's raging he's got Superstitious and that blows that out of the water, leaving the "puny" sorcerer at +20 Will.
Makes those high-20's low-30's Will saves nowhere near as "entertaining"...
EDIT: Er, Useplanb? The necromancy wing is Gluttony, not Sloth. Sloth is conjuration, is in, "I summon something to do the work for me."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I was wholly discombobulated!
+1 for using my favorite word!
Cool I never heard of that rule before, might have to use it myself :)
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
EDIT: Er, Useplanb? The necromancy wing is Gluttony, not Sloth. Sloth is conjuration, is in, "I summon something to do the work for me."
Yeah, that would be my fault. I must have written them down with the wrong associations or order. We've been going clockwise (I think), starting from the Halls of Envy, and this is the last one before Greed, with one more after that, then back to Lust to satisfy Rikert's prejudice against girls who are simply out for a good time. To which Useplanb told me Tuesday, "Yeah, about that..." but then refused to amplify. Guess we'll see. Then we have to Runeforge some weapons (not Kori'el, sadly), and then figure out how to get out of this dump.
LOL. "Rikert's prejudice against girls who are simply out for a good time."
Our paladin was perfectly willing to let everyone in the wing of Lust live... until she saw Mr. Mutt. Then she decided Delvahine had to die, and their first attempt resulted in the death of their barbarian (at "the girls'" hands) and the near-death of their sorcerer.
After that, she wasn't as kind-hearted towards "the girls".
Honestly, mixing and matching the wings isn't an issue as long as you figure out how to create the CORRECT runeforged weapons. And something tells me you'll be a bit careful along those lines...
|
|
I believe that we have the proper procedure for making the weapons we want to make, and the components for same. We're just mopping up to make sure we aren't rudely interrupted during the process. We've (Useplanb and I) decided that Runeforging the Black Blade is right out; I'm toying with the idea of getting him to role-play the discussion between Kori'el and Calypso regarding whether she should get a Runeforged dagger or something. Personally, I don't think the sword would go for it, but what do I know? Sure would be useful to have around.
I'd wondered and was considering suggesting that - the problem being you need a free hand to use magus spells. Of course, a Runeforged Hand Crossbow could be handy... ;)
|
|
Nah, she just needs it to absorb the three transmutation spells, then she can drop it and draw the rapier. Actually, I don't think it has to be in hand to absorb the spells, just "carried." Not getting the bonuses to saves isn't going to be a deal breaker, if the sword will acquiesce to her carrying it at all.
Hmmm... now who's been blabbing about absorbing transformation spells? wasn't me!
"The barbarian is the "wimp" of the party with only +16 Will, but if he's raging he's got Superstitious and that blows that out of the water, leaving the "puny" sorcerer at +20 Will."
Spewed beverage!!choke-cough-gasp!!!(wide eyed stare and incredulous expression!) 8o
To quote a notorious scoundrel of a sea "Captain"...."slander and calumny!!"Lascivious larceny!!Heretical hijinks!!...or at the very least blasphemous buggery!! I have worked so hard for what? A +2 corset of resistance to max out at +6? I hereby file a formal protest for I am sure someone is holding out with the good stuff!! YA!?! SO!?! I could stand for a little enlightenment but they don't make books that big!!! ;P
LOL.
15th-level barbarian base: +5
Cloak of resistance +5 (at only 25,000 gold, a must-have for all): +5
Good hope (always carry a bard): +2
Paladin (aura of courage): +4
That adds up to +16, but you made me check, and both Good Hope and the paladin are morale bonuses, so it's really only +14, and +12 unless it's fear-based.
I stand corrected!
|
|
Well, now I don't feel so bad.
Kori'el is a 14th level Magus base +9
Cloak of Resistance +1 (Useplanb capped new starting characters at 10th level gold, so she's a little under equipped. Still, Simon didn't have any single item worth 25,000!)
No bard in the party (that would be me, and I wanted to play someone who could hit for a change).
Paladin (aura of courage): +4
So Kori'el is rounding at at +14.
The paladin is of course immune to such things, and I think Xandu is coming in at around +18-20 without the paladin's aura, and he's the Will Save champ of our group.
Funny thing is I'd been urging the Barbarian to up his Will after a trial combat going up against a Succubus had him kill the group while Dominated. He's not the lowest Will of the group; admittedly, the low ball players are... not quite as lethal as a Raging Barbarian! And they're only 9th level right now...
Sorceress: 10
Arcane Trickster: 7
Barbarian: 9
Bard/Cleric: 15
Eldritch Knight: 8
The Cohorts include a Ninja (2) and Paladin (11), and the Sorceress can boost the Cleric's Bardic Song of Swearing to +2. I suppose the Ninja MIGHT be a threat, but has lower stats than those of the players and is two levels lower to boot so...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Well, Shiro (our bard) was a running bit of hilarity, having dump-statted Wisdom and then roleplaying his willingness to go along with anything. He was the one who ate Vorel's fungus at the Misgivings, for example. Unfortunately, along came Myriana and gave him the nymph's blessing (my party was a wee bit more diplomatic with her, not threatening to tear Yap's wings off or anything) for +4 Will, so he decided it was time to stop fooling around and got his own Cloak of Resistance +5 after that and since then he's been no fun at all. :-P
EDIT: Admittedly, I think Useplanb and I ran Myriana very differently; I really played up the "Overcome by grief and anger and lashing out at anything living" angle, (and with a bard in the party I HAD to run the Mysterious Derelict encounter) but I have managed to make my sorcerer's player choke up at least twice (and I think three times) with her story, and I figure "tears at the table" is an excellent measure of whether you're running things well. (Except at kids' games. Making kids cry for your own amusement as a GM is funny, but less-than-optimal GM'ing.)
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Diplomacy with this group is "right out the window." There are to many, did they just impugn my character verbally in front of no one? Proper response = kill. Every once in a while they get it right but there is sulking during and after. Sooooo I may have brow beat a few reactions to try and prove my point to the group. They're learning. Slowly. :)
|
|
Simon (the one who threatened Yap) was occasionally disgusted with the bloodthirstiness of some members of the group (coughRikertcough), who seem to be intent on pushing a deadly solution when diplomacy would be the better course. Since Rikert is also the party "face/diplomat", if he won't make the effort, the rest of us really haven't much choice.
Maybe I SHOULD be looking at a bard for the next AP...
Well....clearly my wisdom bonus is 1/3 of what it should be! I am forever filing the calluses from my knuckles, and were it not for the introduction of a hat my sloped forehead would surely have caused me to drown in the deluge prior to the dam!!!!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Aw, Useplanb! You've riled up your players and everything! :-P
No; I know *exactly* what it's like.
I'm running my RotRL players post-AP, and they're in Sandpoint dealing with Jubrayl Vhiski, of all people. We had a marvelous session last time where the paladin couldn't understand why she couldn't just hit him with Forced Repentance and then execute him for his crimes, while the bard wanted to do a classic "feet on the pavement" investigation. The paladin stood down, let the bard "do his thing", and now they have all the physical evidence they need to execute him. But they "wasted" 8 days getting said information in the paladin's mind. But she was willing to back down and let it happen "for diplomacy's sake".
On the other hand, in poor Leilani's Second Darkness campaign, she fought long and hard to get three prisoners released instead of killed, and only managed to negotiate having them dropped overboard in eye-deep water with their hands bound; she was hoping they would be able to walk/kick-swim to shallow water and escape. Instead they were eaten by sharks while she watched, horrified, and the other members of the party laughed uproariously at the slaughter.
Different groups, different approaches to "diplomacy"...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Moxie has for the most part learned to control her anxiety/fear by playing more of a support role in the troupe. I have on occasion lobbied for a less aggressive approach but find that in a less than overt, but still ever present way....as a female...gnome...non-ruffian...sneak about...I should know my place!(BOILING RAGE!)So I follow (but avoid the same path) the tracks of the soiled footprints of those who stomp through the steamy piles headlong into combat and fire from the back once the lid has been removed. It seems Kori'el's and my last comments passed unknowingly in the ether. Mine of course was plainly full on SNARK! :P
I find it quite amusing that my Runelords group are quite diplomatic. Though when the halfling cleric saw the atrocity that was the Graul Kitchen she wanted to burn the house to the ground without setting foot in it. :) They're about to deal with the Keep so... more fun awaits!
The Skyrim (Reign of Winter) group is an interesting converse as the only player who is a "face" (and has stats for diplomacy and bluffing) is the thief... who sadly hasn't been able to attend for the last four months. The cleric is far more conniving but less... able to fast-talk people when it comes to needed rolls. Though he did pump an extra point into Charisma, so he's probably shifting his focus to be more diplomatic. It fits his personality in RL so...
I'll argue that Leilani (my life oracle) has it the worst: She's a lawful good CHA-based aasimar with max ranks in Diplomacy, the Charming trait, and the Enhance Diplomacy cantrip, plus a masterwork royal outfit that enhances her Diplomacy roll in appropriate situations.
So at 5th level her base Diplomacy is +14 (+15 vs. men), usually +16 (if she knows she's going to be talking she casts Enhance Diplomacy), and +18 when she's dealing with nobility.
So the party says she talks too much and won't let her negotiate with ANYONE, even when the situation screams for her to be doing the talking. The CN rake with +9 Diplomacy talks instead, and the player intentionally antagonizes whoever we're talking to so most "diplomatic" situations result in fights, which is what the rake wants in the first place.
*SIGH*
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fourth Day of the Month Abidius
I suppose it has been a few days since I wrote last. To be honest the number of times I have nearly met with death have left me rather… fatigued.
Lets see, I left off right before the giant room with the peacock statue. Within said room were six illusionists, invisible illusionists. Both Davok and mother-not fell before we were able to finish off all of the casters, luckily Xandu came prepared and was able to revive both of them. The next room held a large study with many books including the massive journal of Xanderghul’s follower. It appears he was attempting to clone himself, however a dementia set in before he had perfected his technique. Shame, that would have been revolutionary information. Furthermore it appears that he was cloning not only himself, but also that blasted daemon who had taken possession of my mind. Once we had finished up with those we headed back to the study to tend our wounds and read more of the journal.
As we sat down whom should enter the study but that blasted dragon with a grudge. I was hopelessly out of bombs, and searching my person found a mere three flasks of acid from gods know where. So I did my best to distract the beast whilst the others did most of the heavy hitting. Eventually he too fell and we were all rather spent. We took some time to rest and then continued on to the halls of wrath.
Within we found a fascinating iron golem with a bow that cycled through different energy types. Unfortunately I had no means of harming the construct so I provided support to my friends. Once the golem was deconstructed we found the next room to house two teleportation circles, one red one blue. We found that they were ingress and egress circles corresponding to sister circles in a training room full of sinspawn and soldiers who had been training for war these last ten thousand years. They were eliminated without too many injuries on our part. A quick search of the area showed a dining hall, rooms for the soldiers and sinspawn and two more sets of teleportation circles.
The first set we entered brought us into a large circular chamber lined with glowing weapons, the only exit a smoky dark portal. We all entered together and were immediately berated by waves of icy cold. Before us were two massive daemons, and a dark flying woman with a fiery double headed pole arm and the thasilonian symbol of wrath on her forehead. Zandu teleported a number of us further into the room and after lobbing a confusion bomb at one of the daemons and a quick buff I made my way back to the main fight. Davok was trapped in a force cage, Sheldor wasn’t looking too good and mother-not was…dead…again. I engaged the woman at range with bombs that appeared to actually affect her as she turned quite perturbed, and cast a prismatic spray in my direction. I was lucky that I was hit with a flesh to stone ray, as I was in dust form and no longer fleshy. After another failed prismatic spray she wised up and hit me with a feeble mind spell. I don’t really remember what happened for the next few seconds, I can remember fire, and pain, then darkness.
I awoke on the floor, my mind returned to its proper state and I felt the powerful healing of Xandu’s god flowing through me. Judging from my surroundings I hadn’t been out for more that a few seconds so I pulled my dusty particles back together and reengaged that blasted woman with more explosive fury. As she fell from one last bomb I felt a burning sensation on my forehead and fear gripped me as I watched it slowly fade from hers. A quick study of the thing showed that it was a rather potent aid to whomever possessed it, however it was not without a downside, namely it made me a target for Karzaug… if I make it that far. Kori’el keeps joking that if I was really her friend I would let her kill me, at least I hope it is a joke.
Once the other two daemons were dealt with we discovered that a large silver sihedron on the floor of the chamber acted as a portal should someone cast a teleport spell within its boarder. Unfortunately we were unable to speculate its destination. That said it is still a possible exit from this unnatural place. We were able to clean out the rest of the wing with little difficulty and decided we should rest up before hitting the halls of gluttony.
Moxie took the lead searching the floor and any doors we came across for traps. As we stepped into the first vile chamber we were ambushed by mummies. My body was gripped by fear and I found I could not move it as I watched two of the mummies slam their arms into me with surprising force. Rickert laid a hand upon me and I felt a reassuring warmth enter my cold blood. I was able to move again and began tossing targeted bombs at any mummy left standing. Once all were dealt with and the disease was removed from any who may have contracted it, we moved further into the wing.
We came across a laboratory of sorts and while I wanted to start reading on what experiments had taken place here, I was reminded that we needed to clear out the rest of the area first. Which was for the best since the next area revealed more mummies that required rest. It just took me a little while to get my body to function in their presence again. Once the last of the creatures were put to rest Davok found a secret door behind one of the alcoves the mummies had come out of. So that is our next destination.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Rikert Krupt – Paladin of Iomedae
After resting and regaining health and spells, we moved into the next area controlled by the Runelord who used necromancy powers. I knew that it was likely that we would face undead and prepared accordingly.
The entrance area itself proved to be the first challenge, as we moved into a small, round room with skull carvings on the walls. As we moved towared the door, secret panels opened in the walls and several mummies attacked the party. Their overwhelming fear aura froze most of my comrades in place, leaving only Moxie and I to face them. I spent the next moments moving amongst the party, using Iomedae's healing touch to free my friends from their paralysis. The mummies are strong, but seemed to focus their attacks on Xandu, leaving me free to move through them for the most part, cutting them down as I advanced. As more of my friends joined the fight, the mummies fell quickly under our combined efforts.
We passed through the doors and found a chamber with a deep pit, crossed by two stone paths in an "X" shape. The drop was very long to the sides, so we moved carefully and kept away from the edges. We looked into one of the rooms and found a strange gateway created from dark energy. We decided this didn't look like a good area to enter, so we moved to the next doorway.
The next area appeared to be an alchemist's lab, filled with various chemicals and equipment. We moved on through the room to a hallway at the back which had alcoves filled with large ceramic urns. We hadn't gone far when the urns crashed to the floor and broke as we were again attacked by mummies hidden behind the urns. Their aura once again affected many of my friends, but this time, Kori'el and myself were both unaffected and in good positions to lead the combat. This fight was more methodical as we dealt with the mummies one at a time since they were constrained by the narrow hallways. We soon destroyed the last of them and moved to explore more the rooms.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Rikert Krupt - Paladin of Iomedae
"POOF!!!" What do you mean, "Moxie disappeared??!!"
|
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Well, last evening the gang went after Azaven. Turns out if you make a post about their lack of diplomacy skills they want to talk with a Lich. :P
After entering into the room I played Azaven as is written (except that he is advanced and I tweaked his spell usage for the beginning of the fight. Because of certain buffs the group was keeping track of round by round actions to maximize their Death Ward spells (which turned out to be fairly important).
As each party member walked into the room we played a free action conversation with each other. From here Azaven asked similar questions as to the Scribbler and even made a few comments (both snide and complimentary to the party). When he learned that the Peacock was dead (because he noticed the cloak now being worn by Xandu) he asked what happened. He had his muahahahah moment when he learned that there were over 200 clones of a rival he could "play with."
When Rikert in the back of the room cast Protection from Evil on himself Azaven attacked. He saw that spell (thank you high Spellcraft) as the precursor to the assault and wasn't about to be taken off guard. So he opened with Quickened Displacement followed by Prismatic Spray. I don't know what Friedrich is made of but he keeps getting hit by the damn Flesh to Stone beam while he is in Dust Form. Xandu, Koriel and Moxie were all hit with the violet (go to a different plane) beam and Moxie failed her save. So did Koriel, but she rerolled and got a nat 20. Others were hit with acid and Rikert was hit with two beams, Flesh to Stone and Acid, of which he made both saves.
I won't say where Moxie went until next week because I want to surprise the group. Shes not dead . . . well . . . we will just have to see now wont we. (cue evil laughter and mustache swirling)
He put up his Wall of Force and quickened cats grace but Xandu Dimension Hopped in with bubble boy right after Friedrich dusted in and dispell bombed the crap out of him removing of course, the only spell that would have stayed active in the bubble from the paladin. Thankfully Rikert missed with everything. So he did a quickened vampiric on Xandu and then stroked the wall releasing 6 wraiths. The area around the tables was now full and 1 wraith went out into the main room beyond the wall of force. Turns out Death Ward meant I didn't have to do any rolls as they were immune to the wraiths. Then Friedrich did a bomb fiesta destroying all the wraiths and damaging the wall and released 5 more. After that he excluded the walls from the AoE.
The fight at this point went fairly quickly. They can't fail a save and Azaven is turned into a really inept wizard with no Dispel Magic to remove the paladin aura to get back all his defensive spells so he just Dimension Doored away when brought to low HP.
Now his undead (advanced) Devourer minion on the other hand was having fun trying to rip out Koriel's and Davoks souls. Koriel made two saves and Davok failed one and saved against two. Even Grrannie made a save vs a lone wraith twice and didn't loose any levels so kudos to her.
But the fun part happened when the group scattered into the halls trying to locate Azaven. One group ran into F7 while another went to F3. Xandu nullified the up-armoured and advanced clay golem by casting Greater Teleport (no spell resistance) and it failed its will save to find itself being teleported into F2 where it then fell 150 feet into the pit. I decided the fall damage bypassed its DR (as bludgeoning) and then it began climbing its way back up and out at 5 ft per round. It will be a while before that becomes an issue, assuming it doesn't go berserk.
On the other front, the advanced Xyoddin latched onto Davok (hes half human at least) and managed to eat a large portion of Davoks INT before Davok was Dimension Doored away with Koriel leaving Xyoddin to decide on eating Friedrich or Grrrannie. Friedrich went first and again went to dust so he leaped onto Grrrannie. Before he could start to nibble aged brain they killed him. Several crits by Koriel with spells spelled his doom, as did bombs from the alchemist. (ie., 300 damage in 4 rounds????)
We ended there as it was beyond late for us and we will pick up their continued search for Azaven next week as well as what they will have to do to find Moxie.