Lol, that's a great read, guys. Sounds like a tremendous time is being had by all. Still wondering when RA will claim its first adventurer...sounds like a couple close calls already!
So I'm in the middle of running our latest session right now... and I must say, you will NOT want to miss the next update.
How do you even heal ability damage on an eidolon? Or a disease? Wouldn't the disease have affected both Farden and his Eidolon?
How do you even heal ability damage on an eidolon? Or a disease? Wouldn't the disease have affected both Farden and his Eidolon?
You have to pay for it sadly, no natural healing on him . I have to check the faqs section regularly regularly about the synthesist eidolon as I am often confused with little questions like this. As I understand it, as long as i am "wearing" it, any ability damage to my physical stats (STR, CON, DEX) apply to him and any mental go to me. For most purposes he IS my body until dismissed or killed.
I see. That PC is rather fiddly, I'm looking forward to the statblock.
Also how do you imagine he looks like? I gather he needs to have a large glowing rune on his brow but how does the rest of his eidolon suit/armor look like? Are his claws extentable/sheathable?
Well my personal idea is that it (he?) is a slightly translucent "spawn suit" that reflects the evolutions I have taken. Mostly skilled and since it doesn't have its own mental stats anymore they appear as physical changes. disable device turns the claws into more slender dextrous digits. Perception is, as the big man thought and I agree, is a large eye in the middle of the chest. Diplomacy is something along the lines of resplendent golden trim along the neckline and features. UMD is....Hmmm....I guess i would describe it as less of a physical change and more of a mutable magic aura that assists me in simulating prerequisite abilities, race, etc.
As for the claws I imagine they are there all the time. Coupled with the disable device skilled evolution they are probably pretty gnarly looking things.
As with all Eidolons it is entirely up to the person that "made" him. This is just how I envision him. I'm sure the others think it looks much different in their minds.
I see. That PC is rather fiddly, I'm looking forward to the statblock.
You have no idea, my sheet is filled with parenthesis and asterisks just so I know when to apply various buffs and abilities that i have one minute but not the next. Stat block is about to be upgraded/dead in next session so its coming soon.
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Thanks, Smarnil! I'd be interested to know which items you bought, and what you thought of them.For the moment, I am afraid none, but given your low price tag policy, I will soon get some from your Class Acts line if only to show my appreciation.
Oooooohh, the thrill of answering one's own posts !
OK, got both monkish Class acts as a sample (I'm not a crunch guy and had absolutely no idea of where to begin in your catalog), and must say I'm favorably impressed by the new options offered. The ascetic athlet archetype would be fine for a Zuoken monk in Greyhawk, for instance.
Now you can officially boast that your campaign journal DID boost your sales, as I wouldn't have looked for your products otherwise, for the aforementioned explanation (not a crunch guy) !
Ok so I am going to be posting my feats and such. I apologize if there is a format i am not adhering to but the big guy can change it of he wants to. I didn't put HP and such in there as it is easy to determine. Just the choices. If I left anything out that people want to know about let me know.
Farden LN Human
Synthesist 1 Rogue 4 Noble scion 2
STR 10 (16)
DEX 10 (12)
CON 10 (13)
INT 14
WIS 14
CHA 21
Alternate racial traits:
Focused study- Replaces feat trait
Silver tongued- Replaces skilled trait
Favored class is Rogue. (HP)
Traits:
Merchant Family- From campaign traits adapted for Rappan Athuk
Natural Born leader
Feats:
Human Skill Focus (Use Magic Device)
1 Noble Scion (Scion of war)
3 Skill Focus (Disable device)
5 Extra Evolution (Skilled-Diplomacy)
7 Escape Route
Rogue Talents:
Black Market Connections
Trap Spotter
Evolutions:
Biped Base Form
Skilled-Use Magic Device
Skilled- Disable Device
Skilled- Perception
Skilled- Diplomacy
Skills (Not all are maxed and I don't have my sheet with me to confirm ranks)
Appraise
Bluff
Diplomacy
Disable Device
Escape Artist
Knowledge Nature
Perception
Stealth
Use Magic Device
* Knowledge Nobility is in there as well.
* The Rogue archetype I took is Burglar.
Following in Farden's footsteps (can't let him have all the fun!)
Sansera-Sensei
LG Aasimar
Drunken Sensei 7
STR 14
DEX 14
CON 12
INT 10
WIS 25
CHA 10
Alternate racial traits:
Immortal Spark
Favored class is Monk. (HP)
Traits:
Reactionary
Monster Hunter
Feats:
Improved unarmed strike
Stunning Fist
Combat reflexes
Panther Style
Panther Claw
Panther Parry
Dodge
Skills
Acrobatics
Perception
Sense Motive
Stealth
Just got some good gear to give me some extra bonuses, but the head honcho will explain more in his update I'm sure!
If your physical stats are all 10's, what do you do in combat? I know you are fused with the eidolon, but you can't use armor when you are fused.
Seems like you will have more and more problems with that as you level up. To me it seems like maybe you should have dipped 1 level of Rogue, and done the rest synthesist.
Or do you have some kind of angle on the whole thing? I see you have taken Noble Scion.
This is indeed a big problem in combat. Always planning ahead with items and gear is my solution to this problem. Partially anyways. "AHHH OMG help me wizard HELP ME!!!" is another possible solution. The feat escape route will also help me stay out of trouble. But yes I agree AC is a big problem for me. A wand of mage armor and the spell shield (one of my two known spells) keep me at a very respectable AC....for a level 3 character. Combat was never going to be my specialty. I leave that to Sansara and Brugard.
PS I set off my second trap ever this most recent session.....Was not happy about this.
PPS Over 2 Million copper was spent on a recent mission. Update to come soon.
The feat escape route will also help me stay out of trouble.
Who else in the party has Escape Route? Or do you have some way of using teamwork feats by yourself?
The feat escape route will also help me stay out of trouble.Who else in the party has Escape Route? Or do you have some way of using teamwork feats by yourself?
Brugard has taken it as well as my new cohort(Noble Scion's Greater Leadership) . So that is an awesome amount of battlefield mobility and security for me....Brugard would be fine without it. Oh and I forgot to mention in my earlier post about staying alive, Brugard has bodyguard/ In harms way to keep suckers like myself with low ac alive. And (haha there are just so many things to help) Sansara can grant certain class features to other people with Ki so there is an option for +4 ac in there somewhere as well.
Thank you for the updates, its interesting reading. But how on earth does a 7th level monk have a 25 wisdom?
Rappan Athuk in known for crazy amounts of treasure. We recently went shopping/Crafting.
I think its something like (17 base +1 from HD 4 + 1 Middle aged + 2 Aasimar and a + 4 headband)
Brugard Duerdek
LG Dwarf
Stonelord 7
STR 14 (16 with belt)
DEX 12
CON 20
INT 10
WIS 10
CHA 10
Alternate racial traits:
Craftsman (replacing Greedy, as it didn't seem right for a pally)
Favored class is Paladin. (HP)
Traits:
Crusader Initiate
Eyes and Ears of the City
Feats:
1 Combat reflexes
3 Bodyguard
Stonelord 4 Elemental Channel (Earth)
5 In Harm's Way
7 Escape Route
Skills
Linguistics 2 ranks (Celestial, for team chat, Terran to speak to Aatos, my Celestial Earth Elemental companion)
Perception 7 ranks
Sense Motive 5 ranks
Not all that impressive really, except for the 85 HP before Defensive Stance which makes it 99.
I know it is a lot of work, but any chance this journal will be updated soon (last updated on 5/3). It is very interesting to follow along with the groups adventures! I see that they are level 7 at least now.
Yes! Soon indeed I'm told
Excellent, it is enjoyable to see how your group handles the many challenges of the adventure! Even without a group to play in, I am considering buying a couple of the Abandon Arts products, since the characters seem really cool!
Updates are coming, as Farden says. Best guess: tomorrow night (with a two-session update).
Sorry so late; I've got family in town, etc.
On with the updates! Actually, I don't have time for a two-session update, as promised, but things are about to get interesting, and I'll get the second update done soon. The session ends on a cliffhanger worthy of your patience, anyhow. ; )
Campaign Journal: Session 8
Day 37: Communal mounts get the party out of the hills.
Day 38: Communal mounts travel continues, and Farden's filth fever runs its course.
Day 39: The party arrives at Zelkor's Ferry at about 2 PM. Farden uses his black market connections to procure a restoration from a shady priest of who-knows-what-deity (Farden makes a point of making no inquiries) while the rest of the party hangs out around the hamlet, keeping Vorlak out of trouble. The plan is for Vorlak to stay at Zelkor's Ferry, and hire on as a guard.
One paid restoration later, Farden is still in bad shape. The priest doesn't have more than one prepared, so Farden convinces him to meet him again tomorrow.
Day 40: After a total of four restoration spells (one yesterday and three today), Farden's eidolon still isn't fully healed. Meanwhile, the rest of the party is having no success getting Vorlak a home. Unfortunately, Odo Bristleback (the guy who pretty much owns half of Zelkor's Ferry, if you know the module well) refuses to allow an ogre to stay in town. If the party leaves him there, he'll be run out or put down. Farden pays the shady priest and schedules one last healing session for the next day. The diplomatic merchant then tries his hand at convincing Odo to let Vorlak stay, but even Odo can't change the minds of the entire village, who hate and fear monsters (especially ogres, which have an especially disturbing, violent, incestuous, and man-eating reputation in Golarion).
It is then that Brugard, having promised Vorlak a secure place to live out the rest of his life (in redemption, hopefully), has an idea. As you no doubt recall, the party happened upon an iron door set into a stone formation on the other side of the river from Zelkor's Ferry. Glitch made out deep voices speaking in the Giant tongue, so Brugard (curious about the door, anyway) decides to visit the iron door and see who's inside. If another tribe of giants will take Vorlak in, perhaps Brugard and company could reach out to them later. You see... Farden hopes to forge a true bastion of civilization out here in the wilderness, and having allied (and potentially non-evil or redeemable) giants to call upon when the time comes could be a tremendous advantage for a fledgling township. Since the "monster" population is so dense out here, and Zelkor's Ferry is so intolerant of "typically evil" races, the potential for a diverse and powerful civilization under Farden's rule is a great one. The party makes plans to leave tomorrow...
Day 41: Two more restorations leave Farden fully healed, and Farden pays for a sending as well, contacting family friends in Brevoy to request teleportation to Nerosyan (the PCs really need to sell their wares and do some shopping). A wizardly porter is arranged for, to be paid for his spellcasting services in full. The porter is scheduled to arrive in two days, and with those arrangements made, the PCs buy a ferry ride across the river and had for the iron door to find Vorlak a home (and to try their hand at making friends with a clan of giants).
Unfortunately, the party had no idea about Turane.
Brugard knocks on the iron door, and - after confusion subsides on the other side of the door - is greeted by a contingent of five trolls. Brugard stands between the trolls and his allies (who are all - except Vorlak - still mounted on communal mounts), and Vorlak takes a cautious step back. The trolls, barely concealing their eagerness to gobble up the party as Brugard and Farden attempt to greet them, size up the party while their master, the wizard Turane, flies invisibly out of the dwelling. Buffed with displacement, mirror image, mage armor, greater invisibility, see invisibility, and fly, Turane positions himself above and behind the party before dominating the obvious target... Vorlak.
Combat erupts as Vorlak goes after Glitch with his enormous club. Glitch turns Farden and herself invisible with an invisibility sphere. Turane's confusion spell is largely a misfire, though it hits Glitch's horse. The trolls join in, focusing on the targets presented to them (Brugard and Sansara), and Turane turns his attention to the dwarf, using his wand to throw hold person spells around. Brugard saves, but the combat isn't going well. The presence of an invisible spellcaster is obvious, and Glitch (forced to deal with her suddenly-insane mount) casts a see invisibility of her own as soon as she gets a free turn. She also makes Farden independently invisible, so that he can leave the sphere and begin using his wands to help out. The trolls aren't going down easy, and Turane (who can see the invisible Glitch and Farden just fine) begins directing some of his trolls to attack the invisible PCs' spaces blindly. Deciding to break off the encounter to heal, regroup, bottleneck the trolls, and maybe wait out some of Turane's round-based buffs (like greater invisibility), the PCs elect to dash through the iron door and into the lair. Sansara eats up the trolls' attacks of opportunity, dashing around with Panther Style. She takes quite a beating during the process - she's not in good shape by the time she gets inside. After Sansara, Glitch, and Farden are safely inside (and unflankable by trolls in the narrow doorway), Farden shuts the iron door. His plan is to open it just before Brugard's turn, so that Brugard can dash in with a readied action, allowing Farden to slam the door shut behind him without allowing any trolls to come through.
Unfortunately, the door is arcane locked. Shutting the door on Brugard had doomed him to remain on the far side. Once the dwarven paladin realizes this, he gives Aatos a grim directive in the Terran tongue: get the party into the bag of holding and take them far from here, toward the river.
Aatos complies, and does not open the bag of holding until the party is too far gone to come back for Brugard. Glitch actually has to use air bubble on herself and an arcane-bonded reduce person on Farden in order to conserve air inside the bag. For his part, Brugard battles the trolls for quite some time while Turane looks on in invisible amusement. Vorlak stands, dominated, while Brugard is quickly running out of defensive stance and lay on hands. Despite this, the dwarf does manage to use his ridiculous AC to hang on long enough to down a troll (even delivering a coup de grace in order to delay the speed of it's regeneration).
Turane calls the trolls off, vaguely worried that he might actually lose one if the paladin is packing any fire, and tells Brugard that he wishes to negotiate. The dwarf agrees, and that's when Turane hits him with a charm monster spell. Brugard fails the spell, and Turane convinces the charmed dwarf to accept a dominate person.
Aatos' continued existence (and the unbroken bond between paladin and servant) tells the party that Brugard is still alive, but they do not know his condition. Glitch prepares a communal mount in one of her empty slots, and hides in a rope trick near the river. The ferry is scheduled to arrive in the morning, when Operation: Rescue the Paladin must commence.
Awesome! Just wanted to jump in and let you know how much I am enjoying this journal. It sounds like you've got a really good game there. I'm jealous! :)
Just to clarify a little, I did not "hang on" long enough...I was slowly and steadily kicking troll ass. I believe I took a grand total of 14 damage over the course of the fight.
New faces! Did someone die? Is Farden secretly stealing a % of the loot. Find out during the session 9 & 10 updates.
Wow! That sounds awesome, everyone. Please keep the updates coming, this is great reading.
Great update and thanks for a peak at the stats. Keep'em coming!
1 new grave has been filled outside Rappan Athuk. Epitaph reads:
Here lies Farden,
He is Alive and Well
Updates to come soon!
I'm back, and finally getting this journal up to date.
Campaign Journal: Sessions 9 & 10
Day 42: Brugard is Turane's captive, but Aatos' continued bond is evidence that the paladin still lives. The party waits out the day until the ferry arrives at sundown, as arranged for. The party rows across the river and returns to Zelkor's Ferry.
Day 43-44: The previously-scheduled teleport from Nerosyan arrives. Farden takes charge of expenses, and the party sells the efreeti bottle, the +3 dagger, and several other major and minor treasures in preparation for a rescue operation. Farden buys up a number of scrolls for Glitch and himself, for use during the rescue. The party also acquires a scroll of wall of force and a necklace of fireballs.
Day 46: After a very expensive scroll of discern location confirms Turane's location, another teleport spell purchased in Nerosyan brings the party back to the vicinity of Turane's lair. The party uses a plethora of buff spells and scrolls, including scrolls of earth glide and invisibility. Undetectable and able to pass through walls, the party is able to use Aatos' tremorsense to pinpoint to location (and relative sizes) of creatures moving around within the underhill lair. Guaranteed a surprise attack, Sansara is able to stun Turane with a stunning fist attack. Exposed to a surprise round and stunned for his first action, Turane doesn't stand a chance. Unfortunately, Turane's trolls have a standing order to execute the captive Brugard should any trouble start. Moments before the trolls' first round, Glitch uses her scroll to erect a wall of force between Brugard and the hungry giants. Fireballs from the necklace take care of one of Turane's "pet" trolls, and the rest (despite Turane having hired extra trolls) remain trapped behind the wall of force. Having no earthly idea how long the wall of force might last, the trolls quickly become frustrated with it and exit the lair, waiting out the party at the lair's only exit.
Glitch is able to remove Brugard's compulsion, and the party loots Turane's body (and lair). While looting Turane's chest, a phantasmal killer trap almost kills Farden (who fails the Will save and succeeds on the Fort save). Meanwhile, the PCs notice the writing on Brugard's forehead.
The coal inscription says: "Attack the wizard or attempt to free me and the trolls will bite my head off." Good thing the trolls guarding Brugard never got a turn! One final teleport brings the reunited party back to Nerosyan for an extended shopping spree.
Day 47-82: Extended crafting, scribing, and shopping in Nerosyan. Brugard (now missing all his gear except for his axe) buys new armor and a new shield, enchants his waraxe, and buys a ring of sustenance, a ring of protection +1, and a belt of giant strength. Glitch buys a ring of sustenance and a bunch of new spells. Sansara has Glitch make her a set of monk's robes, an upgraded headband of wisdom, an amulet of mighty fists +1, and a second tengu drinking jug. Farden buys a heavy load belt, muleback cords, a quick runner's shirt, jaunt boots, gloves of reconnaissance, a headband of alluring charisma +2, a pearl of power (for Glitch, so that the wayang mage will always have a slot with which to prepare darkvision for his future cohort), a bead of newt prevention, dust of dryness, dust of acid consumption, a ring of sustenance, and a new wand of mage armor. On day 82, the party prepares to teleport back to the Lackthroat road in the morning...
Day 83: A scroll mishap intended to bring the party back to the Lackthroat Road bridge near Rappan Athuk brings the party to an unknown location within Rappan Athuk instead. Perched on a narrow stone bridge over a sulfurous sand pit, the PCs feel immediately light-headed from the sulfur fumes. Though the bridge is narrow, no-one slips from the high ledge. Another scroll (Farden is always very prepared) reverses the mishap, and brings the party back to the Lackthroat Road.
The PCs decide to visit Vorlak's old lair, to check up on the kobolds they had promised to aid before the botched attempt on Turane's lair and the month-long shopping trip. The lair is empty, but the PCs find a message scrawled on a kobold-sized boot. The message is from Meepo, and it tells the PCs that the kobolds had gone with a pink-skinned gang of bandits that "recruited" them after word of Vorlak's defeat spread.
The party spends the night in the empty kobold lair.
Day 84: Nearly a dozen stirges await the PCs outside of their rope trick in the morning, having taken up residence in the cave overnight. The stirges pose little threat, and the PCs set out for what they believe to be the bandit lair where Meepo, Draupnear, and the other kobolds now dwell.
On the morning of day 85, a pre-arranged sending from home confirms Farden's location, and help arrives from back home in the form of a family friend and religious ally (Roustaf, LN Priest of Abadar) and a mercenary hire from Nerosyan (Griznak, NG Myrmidon Magus).
Day 85: Uneventful travel toward the alleged bandit camp.
Day 86: Offroad travel. Meepo's boot makes for a poor navigational tool, and the party spends the day wandering the wilderness, searching for the camp. Eventually, the PCs find a clearing where a camp clearly has been, but no evidence of recent occupation.
Day 87: Glitch scries on Meepo, and sees the kobold (and a handful of others) digging a ditch in an unfamiliar location. The PCs make camp and prepares for a port in the morning. The night is uneventful.
Day 88: Another scrying reveals Meepo in a comfortable room. Glitch uses a message spell to communicate with Meepo. Glitch is able to determine that Meepo and his clan have been recruited by a bandit named Corrak. Meepo even has his own room and treasure, though he is disappointed that he will not get to lead the tribe after all. Unfortuantely, the bandit Corrak opens the door to Meepo's room, overhearing a part of the kobold's too-loudly whispered message conversation with Glitch. Corrak correctly determines that Meepo is conversing with an outside party, and runs the poor kobold through with his rapier. Brugard, Sansara, Grisnak, and Roustaf teleport in to save the dying kobold.
Corrak uses his thug archetype abilities to frighten Sansara and render the rest of the party (save the fear-immune Brugard) shaken. Corrak then withdraws around the corner and the bandit's greenskin henchman Jel tries to pin the party down in the doorway to Meepo's chamber while a greater invisible Griznak stalks Corrak. A critical spell combat attack drops Corrak while the bandit mage Zanaphia wastes some of Sansara's actions with an illusion. the dwarven bandit Grawlic joins the fray as well, but proves useless. Zanaphia's fireballs do considerable damage to the party, and brigands reinforce the bandit leaders while Corrak dies of his injuries. Roustaf's healing gets Meepo up, and the kobold hides under his bed. Griznak lands another two critical hits (one against a brigand and another with a scorching ray), and Brugard tanks Jel and Grawlic for most of the fight.
After mopping up, Zanaphia surrenders and the party confiscates the bandit's treasure. Glitch copies Zanaphia's spells, and the party lets her live. With the half-elven wizard's help, the party identifies the bandit's magic items, which include a lyre of building.
Day 89: Glitch finishes scribing Zanaphia's spells, and the party sets out for the old kobold liar, to return Meepo, Draupnear, and their clan to their home. The kobold clan is made to stand guard around the night's rope trick, and in the night, a shadowy humanoid figure clad in heavy armor slays and absconds with one of the kobolds. Farden knows the figure: the fallen general Simrath. Simrath escapes with his kill, and the rest of the night is uneventful.
Day 90: A bandit gang, led by a spellcasting warlock, happens along during the PC's downtime. Initially thinking the kobolds leaderless, the rogues approach until Brugard and company present themselves. The bandits know of Brugard, Farden, Glitch, and Sansara by now, and wisely hurry on their way.
Day 91: The party arrives at the kobold lair, and Sansara, Griznak, and Brugard venture inside with a kobold guide to make sure it's clear. Glitch, Roustaf, and Farden remain outside with the kobold clan. Inside the lair, the party encounters a group of three trolls who have taken up residence within the lair, while another band of three trolls comes across the PCs stationed outside. By freak chance, Meepo is among the first kobolds to go down. Glitch uses invisibility and invisibility sphere to hide the party. Miraculously, Roustaf is able to save Meepo a second time, and Glitch takes to the air with a fly spell before dropping a troll in an acid pit. Unable to see or reach the intruders upon their home, the remaining trolls flee as their brother melts inside Glitch's pit.
Meanwhile, inside, the near-invulnerable Brugard tanks trolls while Griznak and Sansara put them down easily.
Having cleared the lair, the party uses the lyre of building to reinforce select rooms and leaves Vorlak's +3 spear with Meepo (who has gained an experience level and taken, with Farden's help, a level of synthesist summoner). Meepo appoints Draupnear his advisor, and the PCs leave the kobold clan on its own for now.
Day 92-93: The party heads back for Zelkor's Ferry, passing a merchant caravan on the first day and the bandit "adventurers" they had previously met in passing on the second. As the party passes Turane's old lair, they investigate it only to find the interior burned out by an unknown party.
Day 94: The party again arrives at Zelkor's Ferry.
Day 95-98: Our heroes spend some time crafting, selling, buying, and resting at Zelkor's Ferry. Griznak has Glitch craft for him a pair of bracers of falcon's aim and a headband of intellect +2. Farden restocks on some scrolls and expendables. The PCs decide to head back to Rappan Athuk proper in the morning.
Day 99: The party sets out on communal mounts. Worgs, who now fear this particular group of adventurers, flee the party en route.
Day 100: The party arrives at Rappan Athuk, and camps half an hour away in a rope trick. The night is disappointingly uneventful.
Awesome thread keep it up!
I have to say, that is one well planned and impressive rescue.
Because god forbid that I should get to have any recurring villains. -_-
I have to say, that is one well planned and impressive rescue.Because god forbid that I should get to have any recurring villains. -_-
He was! We encountered him on 2 separate occasions days apart. It (barely) meets the definition. Also it was an expensive rescue...almost didn't make it into the budget.
Did you consider trying to use the Efreeti Bottle before you put it up for sale, or was it not worth the risk?
Not worth it, to me at least. Though it was talked about briefly. We decided it was best to sell it and buy things we wanted/needed. That pesky chance to lose the bottle and get no money for it was just to risky. Not to mention the Paladin ....just imagine "No hes evil we have to destroy the bottle and not use it" better to just sell it without him knowing.
Abandoned arts abandons NOTHING!.....shut up.
But seriously we have had some RL delays. We look forward to resuming shortly.
(I am in no way speaking officially for Abandoned Arts, They could very well abandon puppys at airports all the time for all I know)
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Things that the founder of Abandoned Arts has abandoned:
1.) personal dignity
2.) faith in humanity
3.) hopes of making any actual money at third-party publishing
The campaign / campaign journal is not among them. Expect a large update in the next 2-3 days.
:-)
Haha yeah he is on a cruise right now. Shortly after he gets back someone (me) is going to nag him to death till he updates. A lot has happened. I wish I could tell you a summary of what has happened while hes away ...But he hits me if I do that.
Ask for forgiveness, Farden, not permission.
Farden knows better, with how often and close he has come to death :)
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Speaking of Farden's death, it IS time for an update!
Sorry for the huge delays. Abandoned Arts has been working on a couple of massive projects, some post-release and some super-secret and still in-development. Shh.
Also, we had kittens and I went on vacation. "Woot" on both counts.
So, yeah, this update is nuts. Read on for the death-but-not-death of Farden, encounters with Marthek the Mad, Ambros the Ogre, Saracek the Fallen, Aragnak the Red Dragon, and a completely insane and partially-accidental assault on one of Orcus' temples!
Also: someone (other than Farden) actually dies, and the module claims it's first real fatalities!
Campaign Journal: Sessions 11, 12, 13, 14, & 15
Day 101: For the first time, the party takes the time to read the graves and tombstones outside of Rappan Athuk. One freshly-dug, open grave bears a tombstone warning that reads “Brugard, Paladin of Abadar, at Peaceful Rest Here Lies.”
Ignoring the threat or warning, Farden grabs the key from the dwarven statue and approaches the mausoleum entrance. The green gargoyle guardians are slain with no trouble, and the party even pries open the sarcophagus inside to kill the black skeleton within it. With the surface guardians dispatched, our heroes descend again. Keeping a wary eye out for mimic toilet-monsters, the team heads back down to level two and begins to search a previously-unexplored southern corridor.
Suddenly, Aatos’ tremorsense picks up movement on the other side of a wall that Farden is inspecting for traps, secret doors, and the like. Farden, alas, notices nothing and is denied a surprise round action. The secret door finds Farden before Farden can find it, and ghouls and ghasts lurch out and surround Farden. Some, on just the other side of the door, are able to five-foot step through and bite Farden in the surprise round, paralyzing him. The ghouls win initiative and Farden is coup-de-graced by a ghast bite before the first post-surprise round is even over.
In the briefest of moments, a secret door opens, ghouls pour out, and Farden is paralyzed and dead.
Mopping up the ghouls is no problem, and a couple of fireballs later and the mournful party is collecting what remains of Farden’s charred corpse (and its possessions). Glitch uses her arcane bond to cast make whole on Farden’s bag of holding, and his possessions are collected.
Moments after the battle is concluded, however, something even more surprising happens…
…Roustaf receives a sending from a very much still-alive Farden. Farden cryptically explains that he is fine and that the party should take care of his gear. It is revealed later that Farden had actually paid to have himself cloned with the clone spell during a previous trip to Nerosyan.
The PCs quickly bury Farden’s corpse. His tombstone reads: ”Here lies Farden. He is alive and well.”
Day 102-104: The party reunites with clone-Farden at Zelkor’s Ferry, and spend this time using make whole to repair Farden’s gear and destroying some of the green guardians’ gemstone eyes.
Day 105: The party travels back to Rappan Athuk, and kills four ogres outside of their rope trick in the night.
Day 106: The party heads back into level two of the dungeon. In the days since the party’s last foray into the dungeon, Marthek the Mad has become fascinated with and moved into the star-shaped room where the ghouls once laired. There is a brief standoff when the party discovers Marthek, who screams and rages like a madman when encountered, which attracts Ambros the Ogre and his ogre companions. Marthek wields a jar at Sansara, who actually disarms him of it before he can throw it. Farden, not knowing what the jar contains but expecting it to be bad, blindly throws it at Ambros, splattering the hallway with green slime. Though his ogres go down quick, Ambros hangs on for a while, resisting hold person blasts from Farden’s wand and even defying Glitch’s black tentacles spell while fighting Sansara and smashing up Roustaf a bit. Sansara and Brugard clean house eventually, and the party finally explores the star-shaped room and Marthek’s belongings.
Pressing on, the party comes across a large set of gilded doors – the doors to Saracek’s tomb. The skeletal champion Saracek easily hears the party approach (they are not a stealthy lot), and buffs up a little, hiding around the corner from the doors. During the surprise round, Saracek lands a very high-damage blow on Brugard (who used Harm’s Way to throw himself in front of an attack meant for Sansara). Unfortunately, the use of Saracek’s unholy blade tells the undead antipaladin that Brugard is a prime target for smiting. The PCs put some damage on the antipaladin, who smites Brugard hard. The dwarf goes down moments before Griznak crits him to death.
After looting Saracek’s tomb and finding both an incredibly powerful unholy sword and a highly-magical holy shield (locked in a chest, since the antipaladin could no longer use it), the PCs also uncover an extraordinarily rare and valuable treasure: a tome of understanding +2. Afterward, the party continues exploring. Their next discovery, a garden of dangerous fungus and mold. Within, the PCs find a tunnel to ground level, and heads topside for a brief rest before returning to the dungeon. In an abandoned storage room, the group finds the elixir of stone to flesh. In the mess hall, black skeletons fall upon Roustaf, messing up his strength score pretty badly.
Day 107: Griznak and Glitch successfully identify the treasure they’ve accumulated, and Sansara joyfully begins to study her tome of understanding. After heading down a level, the party finds a dire warning: “Beware of Purple Worms,” scrawled above the archway leading into the next level. The PCs quickly decide to turn around, and head into the Gut instead. Inside the Rune Chamber, the party discovers the lair of the Spiker. None of the party is affected by the Spiker’s gaze, but it is Griznak that fells the fallen Spiker with a postcombat coup-de-grace. Griznak narrowly avoids becoming the next Spiker, barely making his saving throw to avoid becoming overcome with the compulsion to spike his allies’ heads into to the wall.
Shortly thereafter, Griznak narrowly avoids death a second time as he – the best swimmer on the team – elects to explore a waterlogged tunnel much deeper within the Gut. Griznak encounters an aquatic snake, who gets a surprise round on him, then goes negative within a round. The party hears the sound of battle and dives in to save him. Brugard gets freedom of movement from Roustaf, and a mildly scary underwater encounter ensues. Brugard takes a bit of damage, but – very fortunately – nobody is poisoned. The party camps near the snake’s lair.
Day 108: The party discovers the Last One Inn, but is mildly creeped out by it and quickly moved on. After much exploration, the party unknowingly emerges into a lower level of the Mouth of Doom – a level called the Fountain of Pestilence. Our heroes explore the level, fighting rats and plague zombies. All is going well until Farden contracts the Pestilence when the party gets too close to the slime that leaks throughout the level. Farden also touches a book coated with contact poison, and is poisoned. The party looks for a way out and finds a previously-explored level of the Mouth of Doom. Before leaving, Farden and Griznak waste a few thousand gold playing with the Altar of Chance.
Day 109: Back to Zelkor’s Ferry! Roustaf casts a sending to request a teleportation service to Nerosyan.
Day 110-160: Selling and crafting in Nerosyan. Farden lies to Brugard about the fate of Saracek’s sword, which Farden sells on the black market. Sansara finishes reading the tome of understanding and upgrades her amulet of mighty fists to a +1 flaming amulet. She also buys bracers of armor +2 and buys a third tengu drinking jug. Brugard buys juggernaut’s pauldrons and Roustaf has Glitch make him gloves of storing and a noble’s vigilant pillbox Griznak upgrades his bow to a +3 adaptive composite longbow (because Strength damage and enlarging effects keep screwing up his ability to draw his bowstring.
Glitch also spends some gold and time using the new retraining rules to trade her 8 Knowledge (arcana) ranks (which her headband gives her anyway) for 8 Perception ranks.
Day 161:[/i] The party decides on their next move: they’re going to approach Ghotan at the ruined keep along the Lackthroat Road in order to claim the fort for the settlement that Farden plans to build. After meeting with a city planner, Farden (and his absolutely amazing Diplomacy bonuses) comes to a very advantageous agreement with the original landowners. Farden reserves the right to claim the fort by right of conquest after Ghotan is removed. Under the authority of Mendev’s ruling body, Farden is given what amounts to an eviction notice for Ghotan, revoking any “right of conquest” the bugbears might have had, and requiring by law Ghotan’s abandonment of the property.
Ghotan, after a tense standoff meets with Farden in front of the fortress and, predictably, does not acknowledge Farden’s “piece of paper.” After buying time (by boasting about the brass dragon egg that they hold and the ravagers’ status as dragonslayers), for one of his ravagers made invisible with Scarl’s magic to sneak up on the party from behind, Ghotan orders a dozen or so of his bugbears to attack. Sansara opens with a fireball from her necklace of fireballs, but Ghotan is protected by a pre-combat resist energy from Scarl. Roustaf casts a blessing of fervor and moves his horse back, and Farden drinks a potion of invisibility and does the same (with Glitch riding on the back of his horse with him). Ghotan drinks a potion of shield of faith, and steps forward to meet Brugard in combat. The bugbear warlord tries an intimidating glare, but fails since Brugard is immune to fear. Glitch puts Farden, herself, and Roustaf inside an invisibility sphere. Griznak and his upgraded bow do a little damage to Ghotan from afar, but the shield of faith does a good job of protecting him from harm. The invisible bugbear behind the group uses scent to go after the also-invisible Glitch-and-Farden horse. Ghotan’s bugbears reveal their opening tactic: they have split up a necklace of fireballs between them and advance after peppering the party with fireballs. Scarl appears on the scene and holds the charge on an inflict serious wounds spell. Farden makes himself fly with a scroll of evolution surge, and Sansara enters her stance and provokes three or four bugbears with Panther Style. Griznak, a serious damage-output source, becomes quickly surrounded by ravagers, and Sansara attemps to come to his rescue. Ghotan engages Brugard in combat, who has used his juggernaut’s pauldrons to become Large sized. Glitch uses a greater invisibility spell on herself and produces a potion of invisibility for Roustaf. Griznak tries to step away from his attackers, using his arcane accuracy arcana and a fairly successful full attack action to thin out the ravagers surrounding himself and Brugard. Brugard, meanwhile, has brought Ghotan to 100 damage. More ravagers pour out of the keep while Farden tries in vain to hold Ghotan with his wand of hold person. Brugard gets a little banged up by Ghotan’s +1 morningstar of speed, but bad rolls keep Ghotan from putting Brugard down. A few bugbears take javelin shots at the airborne Farden, and Ghotan backs up for healing, filling in the ranks with bugbears to surround Brugard. Griznak readies an acid arrow for Scarl should he attempt to cast anything, which he does. It works, and Scarl’s healing spell (the casting of which ruins the inflict charge he was holding) is also ruined. A lightning bolt from Glitch kills both the weakened Ghotan and Scarl. The numerous bugbear ravagerss continue to fight, focusing on Brugard and Griznak. A couple of them fall into Glitch’s acid pit. Aatos tries to help out, but is put down by a raging ravager, and is soon after revived by Roustaf.
After the ravagers are mopped up, the party explores the ruined fort. The PCs encounter a trio of ravagers in the fortress below, who, upon realizing that their numbers have been defeated, attempt to destroy the brass dragon egg that they hold. Glitch uses a telekinetic charge to launch Sansara close enough to the bugbears to save the egg before they smash it. After obliterating the lone trio of ravagers, the party rests within the fortress.
[b]Day 162:[/i] The party explores and claims the ruined fortress hex. Using resources provided by the Mendevian authorities that Farden negotiated with (Build Points), workers and pilgrims arrive and construction begins on Farden’s new settlement: the town of Goldthroat.
[b]Day 174[/i] Two bugbears come by looking for Ghotan – a mighty bugbear warlord that they’d heard rumors of. The PCs are below the surface of the ruin when the bugbears arrive, and the monsters take hostages – a woman and a child. Farden negotiates with the bugbears, but one of them gets skittish and attacks. Sansara stuns the monster with a Stunning Fist, while Glitch puts the endangered hostage in a resilient sphere. Paladin Brugard slays the stunned bugbear, and peace is restored to the township-in-progress.
Day 183: Days after Ghotan’s defeat, construction is underway on the settlement of Goldthroat. On patrol during the nighttime, an incredible and unexpected tragedy strikes the settlement. The great red dragon Aragnak – responsible for the ruination of the fortress in the first place, long ago – had been in negotiations with Ghotan for the brass dragon egg that his ravagers possessed. Upon hearing of the unexpected and swift defeat of Ghotan, Aragnak decided to “investigate” the new fortress-squatters. Without the shred of a warning, an invisible Aragnak materializes in the courtyard as it attacks the patrolling Brugard with its enormous bite attack. A Greater Vital Strike bite attack does some serious damage, and – when Aragnak wins initiative after the surprise round is over – the second one hurts just as much. His point made, Aragnak makes his demands… he wants the egg. The dragon demands the egg or the forfeit of the lives of everyone present, and every pilgrim and worker on-site. The Paladin Brugard – unable and unwilling to negotiate for the surrender of a helpless, good-aligned dragon to an evil one, refuses Aragnak’s demand, lays hands on himself, and takes a full attack action against “big red.” Roustaf hustles forward to heal Brugard. Angered at the refusal of his demands, Aragnak lets loose a cone of roasting-hot flames… killing both Brugard and Roustaf on the spot. Glitch blasts Aragnak with a well-rolled, high-damage lightning bolt. Aragnak lands in melee with Glitch, and Sansara takes an attack of opportunity to get past the dragon’s reach and into melee with Aragnak, then lands a critical hit on him. Griznak shoots him with an acid arrow, and the very injured Aragnak tells the party that the next time he arrives, they had better have his egg ready. The dragon casts invisibility, and successfully retreats... leaving Brugard and Roustaf dead in his wake.
[ooc]At this point, we bring in Brugard’s replacement character and Farden’s new cohort. The arrival of pilgrims and workers to the under-construction settlement of Goldthroat is a perfect tie-in for new characters. Farden’s new cohort is a ratfolk witch (with the Deception patron) by the name of Skreel. Skreel is a support and utility caster built around the fortune, misfortune, evil eye, and cackle hexes. Brugard’s player is bringing in Madric, a hellknight signifier cleric and his master of blades, a gnomish hellknight by the name of Krolmket. Madric is built for offense and the use of the scorpion whip, and has fairly significant channeling abilities (very good Charisma and the Selective Channeling feat). Krolmket has the Bodyguard, Combat Reflexes, and In Harm’s Way feats. His small size, heavy armor, shield, feats, and general build are very defense-focused.
Meanwhile, not far from the ruined fort, a small caravan of merchants is en-route across the Lacktorat Road. The caravan had picked up a passenger much earlier, a ratfolk named Skreel, recently escaped with his family from a village in Numeria after being run out of the settlement for being a witch. This unfortunate caravan encounters the fleeing Aragnak, flying across the road. Seeing an opportunity, Aragnak roasted the first several wagons, killing most everyone within. Skreel, who happened to be in a wagon near the back of the caravan at the time of the encounter, survived the attack, and it was then that the dragon roared his demands: go west, to Goldthroat, and tell the man called Farden that the dragon Aragnak would be sending minions and monsters to his fortress to wait and watch. The message that Skreel was bid to deliver was simple: if Farden or his crew sets foot outside of the fort before the dragon returns for the egg, his minions will burn and destroy everything and everyone within the town-in-progress.
And so, the ratfolk Skreel, whose family (in exile, due to his status as a witch) had just been burned alive in the wagons near the front of the caravan, went west with several other survivors to deliver Aragnak’s message. Also arriving that night, on another caravan bearing workers and pilgrims headed for Farden’s fledgling settlement, are two important figures: a priest of the archdevil Moloch by the name Madric, and his servant, a gnome by the name of Krolmket. Both Madric and Krolmket belong to the Hellknights, and seek to establish a new Hellknight order in Goldthroat.
Meanwhile, the surviving PCs have decided not to go after Aragnak tonight. Instead… they bury their allies.
[b]Day 184: A plan is formed. Glitch begins to scry while the party buffs up in preparation for a big fight with the hopefully-still-grievously-injured Aragnak. Glitch’s scrying reveals Aragnak – who looks to be in much better shape than the party had hoped – settled into a thirty-foot wide pool of lava. Because Glitch’s teleportation abilities are limited, she can only take Madric, Griznak, and Skreel with her to attack the dragon and avenge Brugard and Roustaf.
Aragnak, for his part, has received quite a lot of healing from the cultists of Orcus, to whom he fled for patching up. Knowing that the adventurers are very likely to be after him, he has taken great pains to be healed up (he only has a couple points of damage on him) and located somewhere defensible. When the party arrives, the PCs find Aragnak attended by several cultists and a vrock demon!
Fortunately, the party (or at least those members in attendance) gains a surprise round thanks to the teleport. Glitch opens with a surprise cone of cold on Aragnak, which also happens to kill a cultist. Aragnak returns with a cone of flame, but the pre-buffed party was ready for fire. This time around, the dragon’s fire breath deals only a bit of damage to the PCs. A cultist tries, unsuccessfully, to catch Madric with a ghoul touch, just before a cult leader, Zhen, reveals himself atop a platform suspended above the wide pit of lava that dominates the center of the room. Zhen uses his ring of telekinesis to telekinetically grapple Glitch, intending to dump her into the lava pit, but a liberating command spell from Madric frees her. Griznak puts an arrow in Aragnak causing the dragon to begin taking bleed damage. Aragnak, bleeding and somewhat seriously injured by the cone of cold (having had no opportunity to put resist energy up), casts invisibility and the PCs lose track of him. Madric’s invisibility purge does not reveal the dragon, and the vrock trips him with an attack of opportunity when he attempts to move the purge spell around the room. Zhen tries again to Grab glitch on his next turn, but Glitch escapes with her shadow step shadow subschool ability. New cultists arrive, but Skreel manages to catch most of them with a lightning bolt before they can do anything. Madric slaps a bestow curse on the vrock with his +1 spell storing scorpion whip, and begins losing actions left and right Zhen enervates Madric, firing from his lofty platform, and Aragnak reappears (having staunched his bleeding with a fortunate untrained Heal check), pinning Glitch into a corner, within his reach. His breath weapon having recharged, Aragnak turns a cone of fire on Madric, Griznak, and Skreel. Despite their resistances, the party is looking pretty banged up after the breath weapon, and Griznak is staggered. More acolytes arrive on the scene, and Glitch manages to cast defensively despite being pinned into a corner within the dragon’s reach, and successfully pulls off a lightning bolt that overcomes Aragnak’s spell resistance. The lightning bolt puts Aragnak into the negative hit point range, but the acolytes bring him back up with cure light wounds spells. The vrock loses action after action to Madric’s bestow curse, while Skreel and Madric heal the party up as best they can. Griznak puts the dragon back down with a hail of arrows, and Zhen fails to affect Glitch with a hold person spell. One of the acolytes, however, gets lucky with the same spell, causing Glitch to become paralyzed.
Despite this setback, things were looking good… until Nardoj the specter appeared. The spectral wizard catches Skreel and Griznak inside a black tentacles spell. Aragnak, meanwhile, bleeds out and dies. Skreel struggles against the tentacle spell, but remains stuck. Madric channels negative energy, which kills the vrock and a couple of acolytes who had come up to coup-de-grace Glitch. Zhen attempts (but fails) to catch Madric with his ring of telekinesis, and the devil-priest begins climbing the stairway to the demon-priest’s platform. Things start to turn around when Glitch puts Nardoj in a resilient sphere[i] and Nardoj’s [i]black tentacles finally release Griznak, but Nardoj immediately escapes the sphere by using his arcane bond to cast a dimension door spell.
A critical hit from Griznak kills Zhen dead, and a second shot puts a little damage on the specter. Madric backs off of the stairway, and heals Skreel, who is really getting his ass kicked by tentacles. Glitch tries to affect Nardoj with a scroll of feeblemind, but it doesn’t work. Griznak is landing hits on Nardoj, but the specter’s incorporeality is keeping it from taking much damage. Some of the remaining acolytes channel energy to harm the PCs, while others heal Nardoj. Madric dispels Nardoj’s black tentacles,[i] finally freeing Skreel (who casts a much-needed heal on himself). A pair of scorching rays from Nardoj staggers Griznak yet again, and Glitch’s scroll of fireball kills off the remaining acolytes, cutting off Nardoj’s healing and leaving the specter as the only target. Skreel heals Griznak with a potion, and Nardoj’s [i]magic missiles – which would have otherwise put Griznak down – are absorbed by the tiefling’s shield spell. Griznak, the party’s best option for putting damage on the specter and the clear focus of Nardoj’s attacks, gets a greater invisibility from Glitch. Madric tries a casting of spiritual weapon (which, as a force effect, can attack the specter easily), but the spell misses just about every swing. The battle becomes a damage-race; Madric uses his fire domain spell to hit Nardoj with a fireball, and Nardoj flies down and drops Skreel with an energy draining touch. Glitch uses dissolution’s child ability to become invisible and Madric heals Skreel back into the realm of positive hit point totals. Nardoj slaps a couple of negative levels onto the ratfolk, so Glitch casts her last greater invisibility[i] on him. Madric’s [i]spiritual weapon finally lands a couple of hits, and Madric heals himself up with a breath of life. Finally, the invisible Skreel kills Nardoj with a cure moderate wounds spell delivered by a spectral hand.
Finally victorious despite the tremendous and ridiculous odds against them, the (mostly invisible) party dashes to shut and hold the doors in the room before anything else shows up… which it soon does.
Three spectres, aware of their master’s death and now full-fledged specters themselves, float through the wall and into the temple chamber. The specters verbally toy with Madric, the only visible party member, until Glitch makes him invisible too. Using obscure languages to communicate invisibly, the party, heavily injured and bereft of resources – in no shape to take on three specters – agrees to convene on the small, raised platform. The party had no real time to loot anything, but they did have time to use detect magic to determine that Zhen had a number of magic items on him. While specters investigate the room, the party invisibly teleports out with Zhen’s corpse.
Their destination? A wizard’s shop in the metropolis of Nerosyan – one that they had visited before.
And so it came to be that the party teleported, invisibly, into a shop in the middle of a heavily-trafficked city under martial law, with an evil cultist’s corpse.
Of course, all the attendant sees is a corpse, wearing a golden holy symbol of Orcus, teleport into the middle of his shop. Naturally, the shop attendant – a capable spellcaster in one of the most high-level cities in the campaign world – immediately screams for guards. Glitch dismisses her invisibility, and attempts to calm the shopkeeper down. Her Diplomacy check fails miserably, and actually makes the attendant’s attitude worse. The spellcasting shopkeeper, seeing the very strange wayang suddenly materialize to one side of the floating corpse before him, officially freaks out, and draws a wand. Griznak and Madric (a tiefling and a priest of Moloch, wearing his holy symbol) are the next to appear (and their Diplomacy rolls are almost as horrible), which does nothing to make matters better.
At this point, heavily-armed and well-armored guards kick open the door to the shop. Skreel, seeing the impending disaster unfolding before him and the only party member who is still invisible, simply scampers invisibly out the door. As Griznak attempts to explain himself to the guards, he, Madric, and Glitch are arrested. Injured and unwilling to take on all the forces of Nerosyan, the three do not resist arrest.
A few moments after Griznak, Madric, and Glitch are dragged away and arrested, Skreel strolls into the shop, perfectly visible, and simply buys the necessary scrolls (including a scroll of shrink item for Aragnak’s corpse). Skreel teleports back to Goldthroat-that-will-be, and brings Farden and Sansara up to speed.
Fortunately, Farden is able to smooth everything over and get everyone out of jail. The teleportation back to the temple is a success, and the party shrinks Aragnak’s corpse and teleports it back to the fort. Create treasure map is also a success, and the party learns of the location of the dragon’s treasure on an island to the east. They need to get there, and fast, but the team has no real, immediate options for fast, long-distance overland travel across water. So…
Day 185: Madric casts lesser planar ally to conjure aid in travelling to Aragnak’s island. Moloch sees fit to send not a nightmare, as Madric hoped, but a bearded devil…
The fiend that Madric summons introduces himself, and agrees to perform a service which will allow the party to get to the island lair instantly. All he asks in return is that the party does a favor for him. There is a sword – an intelligent weapon – that possesses whatever remains of the spirit of a warrior which the bearded devil wishes to possess. The name of the warrior, and the sword, is Grindor. Madric, or any mortal that he chooses, may possess the sword for the extent of his mortal lifespan, after which the blade will fall into the bearded devil’s possession. The devil – who calls himself “Backsnapper” – says that Grindor’s onetime allies passed the sword which came to hold the vestiges of his soul down to their children and apprentices. Grindor’s last wielder went on a quest to assault some sort of cavern complex along the coast in the area. In life, Grindor and his allies were dragonslayers, and Backsnapper was once the servant of Aragnak’s father. Backsnapper expresses a wish to possess whatever remains of Grindor’s soul as a means of exacting revenge upon it for having slain his master in life.
The party agrees, and Backsnapper – who is very familiar with the region – uses his greater teleport spell-like ability to teleport himself to Aragnak’s island lair so that Glitch can scry upon the place, observe it, and teleport the party there. The plan goes off without a hitch, and the party is able to collect and count the dragon’s hoard.
In addition to VAST amounts of material wealth, the party finds: a suit of +3 full plate of spell resistance 13, a +5 sickle, a +1 icy burst heavy flail, a +1 heavy steel shield, a rod of negation, and a rod of the viper.
Day 186: The party takes a trip to Nerosyan to sell and upgrade items. Glitch begins upgrading her headband of vast intelligence to a +6 item. Madric upgrades his weapon to a +3 spell storing scorpion whip. Griznak buys a ring of freedom of movement and upgrades his bow to a +4 adaptive composite longbow. Glitch buys a lesser maximized metamagic rod.
More importantly, taking a cue from Farden, everyone (including Farden) has a clone made… even the cohorts!
Day 192: Construction on Goldthroat is finally complete! The settlement of Goldthroat consists of housing and a single inn. Meepo, Draupnear, and the kobold clan are among the citizenship, and the town of Goldthroat is declared a place where members of any race may live and work, so long as they keep the peace and adhere to the laws of Mendev and of the city. Glitch settles in to spend the wealth acquired from the dragon’s hoard on wondrous item creation for herself and the team, so the PCs settle in for some settlement-development time during Glitch’s crafting spree.
Despite this, a movement breaks out among some of Goldthroat’s population; almost an “inquisition” against the kobold membership of the populous. Meanwhile…
Day 201: Glitch finishes upgrading her headband of intellect +6.
Day 211: Glitch finishes upgrading Sansara’s headband of wisdom +6.
Day 215: Glitch finishes creating Farden’s hand of glory.
Day 220: The brass dragon hatches! The party is quite enamored of her, but does not give her a name, choosing to wait until she is old enough to choose a name for herself. The talkative, inquisitive young wyrmling quickly becomes a favorite citizen among the population of Goldthroat.
Day 222: The first settlement phase is complete (read up on Ultimate Campaign’s settlement rules if you’re not familiar with settlement building). Construction is complete on a brewery and another small housing development. Farden is successful in putting down the kobold “inquisition.”
Day 252: The second settlement phase is complete. Goldthroat now sports a jail.
Day 261: Glitch finishes creating Sansara’s belt of physical perfection +4.
Day 282: The third settlement phase is complete: Goldthroat now boasts an exotic artisan’s shop (a jeweler’s shop). Farden raises taxes, and Warden Krolmket’s guards captures some smugglers.
Day 283: Glitch finishes upgrading Madric’s headband of mental prowess +4 and begins scribing some new scrolls.
Day 286: Glitch is finished scribing her scrolls.
Day 287-293: The PCs hang out in town, ruling the settlement and generally maintaining order.
Definitely worth the wait!
One question: How did Farden keep his original clone fresh?
EDIT: I'm also wondering if the party decides to take a few months off for town construction/clone growing/etc., will the GM create a bunch of custom reinforcements for the dungeon, but that's probably not possible to answer without spoilers. :-)
@ hogarth: The clone was produced and kept fresh (gentle repose, restore corpse, general alchemical preserves, etc; simple enough for any spellcaster capable of casting clone) in a lab in Nerosyan (possibly accessed with black market connections).
As for the dungeon, the last time the PCs left it (for just a few days), Marthek had wandered into the chamber formerly occupied by ghouls and ghasts and equipped himself with the weapons and armor stored there. An absence of months will no doubt result in further "shuffling," the arrival of reinforcements, the "repopulation" of areas, and an appropriate response from the temple of Orcus.
And they'll have plenty of time to do all that, because the PCs are actually under contractual obligation with a bearded devil to go after Grindor (last known location: a cavern somewhere along the coast) before taking on any other dangerous forays into the region.
@ hogarth: The clone was produced and kept fresh (gentle repose, restore corpse, general alchemical preserves, etc; simple enough for any spellcaster capable of casting clone) in a lab in Nerosyan (possibly accessed with black market connections).
I was actually wondering about the cost aspect of it (e.g. if Farden ordered a clone 8 months ago in order to be sure it would be ready in time for the adventure and it ripened after 5 months, presumably there is some cost to keeping it fresh for 3 months). But it sounds like you kind of hand-waved it, which is reasonable.