Anaurok: He's from the church of commerce-
DM: Abadar
Olivie-OOC: Abadee, Abadar, that's ALL, folks!
Snerk!
Olivie: Okay, so we have two options. One, we heal everyone until they finally stop getting sick. Two, we kill everyone and start a new town.
True murderhobo adventurer's spirit!
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Sometimes, I forget that I don't have any Good or Lawful party members. These lapses never last long.
Session 4
The group set out immediately to investigate this illicit body dumping, and it did not take them long to find the alley...or the puncture wounds in said bodies. Tolo immediately began freaking out about the potential of vampires in the area, while Olivie, ever the intrepid one, found a hole in the building and promptly shoved Corbin inside to investigate like any older sister would. Maril slipped inside as well, followed by a nervous Tolo. Maril's sharp eyes wasted no time in finding one of the coffins, and she pulled forth her silver blade and ganked the first one...only for its shrieks to awaken the others. Said screams got Echo's attention, and he entered, followed by one of Anaurok's fire elementals. Between Echo and Maril's silver and Tolo's channeling, they dispatched the group with a final assist from Olivie, who, frustrated with her arrows' inability to do more than irritate, remembered the silver ring she wore and simply walked over and punched the final vampire spawn...managing to kill it. They reported their success to Kroft and returned home after swinging by the Vault to raid the deposit box they'd found the key for.
A few days later, Ishani approached them with another favor - could they investigate a miracle cure that had supposedly sprung up about town? Echo was passingly familiar with the business in question, reminding the group of their Free Imps! promotion, and the handful that weren't busy (read: NPC'd) agreed. Echo, Olivie, and Tolo had no trouble finding the place...or more specifically the line for the place. Olivie took one look at the line and decided there were easier methods to do this, declaring that they should meet back there later. She and Tolo then proceeded to the nearest bar, where the elf introduced the priestess to the wonderful world of peer pressure and substance abuse, during which process Tolo drank so much that she was barely able to stay on her stool and attempted to hit on the bartender by announcing herself a healer...quickly amended to a smooth as sandpaper pickup line when the clientele took notice. Echo decided to go shopping instead rather than join in the girls' day out.
After sunset, they returned to find an improvised campsite of desperate and eager customers and a single guard. The trio came up with a plan. Tolo walked over to the group, wearing her new boots of striding and springing and openly displaying her holy symbol. Much of the desperate crowd reacted as before, swarming her desperately, and the guard moved to investigate the disturbance/ Echo and Olivie took advantage of the confusion to slip inside, and Echo simply swiped a few vials; they then ran for it. Tolo then gave a repeat performance of her screaming cough and rabbited the other direction.
Examining the vial of Lavender Liniment, Echo was able to discern that the contents of the potion were, in fact, primarily river water...
Notable Quotes
Olivie: I push Corbin into the building and stand on the bodies.
Echo-OOC: I had a question about my tumor.
DM-OOC: Pretty sure it's benign.
Tolo: I...walk in. And scream silently....and cry a little bit.
Olivie: V-I-C-T-O-R-Y, that's the Rainbow's battle cry!
Tolo: Can I jump the line if I pull out my holy s-
Olivie, Echo: NO!
Olivie: I don't wanna wait in line. Let's break in; that's easier.
Tolo: I flirt with the bartender. UM....I....um...am...a....healer.
Tolo: OH OH NO A HEALER OF BROKEN HEARTS IT'S A PICKUP LINE
Tolo: Sarenrae doesn't let me have any fun.
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Session 5
After a heated argument involving threats of kidnapping and blackmail, Echo, Tolo, and Corbin convinced Olivie to...just take their evidence regarding the fraudulent cure to Ishani and be done with the mess. The priest accepted the news gravely and promised to have the perfumery dealt with. At a loss for anything else to do, the group them made their way toward the Citadel to see if the Field Marshal had anything for them to do.
On their way to speak to Kroft, they were flagged down by a worried young woman called Deyanira Mirukova. She explained to them that she had been trying to speak to the guard for several days but had been turned away, asking if they could possibly help her. Tolo agreed without question, and Deyanira explained that her brother Ruan had gone missing after a private performance at Carowyn Manor. She explained she couldn't pay them much...and Olivie cut her off, requesting only tickets to her next performance. Deyanira, relieved, agreed gratefully, promising season passes.
Finding the manor wasn't difficult. Finding entry, however, was. Maril set to picking the lock. This, however, was taking too long for the elves, who decided they must hop the fence and capture one of the Ember Lake charigs in the pond. Corbin made it with ease, but Olivie fell off several times, injuring herself, before managing to pocket one of the little lizards. The fence took further vengeance as they hopped back over as Echo called that Maril had opened the door.
They pushed the great doors open and froze upon seeing the bloodstains in the hall, noting the many, many corpses...including six dancing ones. Echo immediately threw a bomb at them, and the fight was on....briefly. The dancers posed little threat and collapsed with little resistance. But what could have happened here...and where was Ruan?
Notable Quotes
Echo: Do I have to roll a save for my tumor?
Olivie: Aren't you gonna introduce us?
Echo: NO.
Olivie: C'mon, Corbin! Another girls' night!
Corbin: What.
Tolo: Corbin's a girl, right?
DM: Ok. Finish figuring out what you're going to do about the elixir. I'm going to refill my water.
~~~
DM: Okay, I'm b-
Olivie: We can travel the world and become gourmet chefs!
Corbin: I can't cook!
DM: ...what.
Olivie: You have, like, chloroform, right?
Echo: Why do you just assume that?
Tolo: Don't mind her. I'm the sane one.
Olivie: YOU?!
Deyanira: My brother's missing.
Olivie: You can have mine!
Corbin: I WILL KILL YOU
DM: Echo, you've heard of Ruan Mirukova. He and his sister both perform at the opera. She's in the chorus; he plays ocarina in the orch-
Echo-OOC: HE'S LINK!
Olivie-OOC: When we rescue him, will he go HYAAAAAGH?!
DM: You fall off of the fence and take...5 more points of damage.
Tolo: You don't get to make fun of me about the door anymore. This is so much worse.
Olivie: I WILL climb this fence.
DM: Maril's just about finished taking 20...
Olivie: IT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING
DM: And in the center of the room, three obviously-dead couples dance in a jerky waltz.
Tolo: Dead?!
DM: Know Religion.
Tolo: ....I still ship them.
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Session 6
The group continued to search the manor for Ruan Mirukova, discovering a deadly and quite dead feast in progress. After dispatching these zombies, they decided it would be best to cover more ground separately. Tolo poked into the kitchen alone, reflexively channeling when startled by another pair of zombies, killing them with healing light. Olivie and Corbin startled an undead harpist and spent several rounds first attempting to convince the creatures already identified as mindless to stop attacking them and then suffering a fit of poor rolls before dispatching him.
Tolo then poked her head into another room, discovering three more zombies within...first slamming the door shut with a shriek, then reluctantly opening it again to fight them. Anaurok and his elemental approached the room from the other door, splitting the undead troupe's focus; Echo came to Tolo's aid as well. This led to Tolo devising an unorthodox strategy - curling into a fetal position for Echo to push her into the zombies like a sapient bowling ball. This failed due to a combination of factors, namely Echo's lack of strength modifier and any space to build up any speed to have more effect than simply rolling the dwarven priestess onto her side. The nearest zombie took immediate advantage of the prone cleric until she gave up and simply channeled again, solving the problem.
As the party reconvened in the atrium, Olivie and Maril heard soft footsteps and rustling cloth and ran to investigate, catching a glimpse of a woman in a harlequin's gown and makeup ("I don't know her name, so I'm calling her Harley," insisted Olivie) about to close the door behind her. When asked to stop, she giggled, announcing she had to go to do something for "Mista Rolth." Echo and Tolo immediately recognized the name from their favor for Thousand Bones. Olivie attempted to follow the woman, but was unable to discern whether she had gone to the cellar or through the dining room.
Not two minutes after Olivie, Maril, and Tolo entered the cellar, Tolo ruining Maril's attempt at the lock with her enthusiastic axe swings (dwarven lockpicks, yo), Anaurok called from upstairs that he saw something on the stairs. And thus the party hurried to the second floor of Carowyn Manor...
Notable Quotes
Olivie: When we find him, we're adopting him.
Olivie: Are the zombies hot?
DM: They are quite room temperature.
Tolo: I open the door.
DM: Two zombies in matching lion and lioness costumes and attended by a peacock-costumed zombie look up.
Tolo: ...I CLOSE THE DOOR AND CRY. And Sarenrae is like "Sun, I am disappoint."
Olivie: I roll diplomacy to ask the zombie to play something nice.
DM: The zombie, being mindless, is not moved by your plea.
Olivie: ...I try praying to Desna to put them to sleep.
Echo: Why?
DM: It fails.
Olivie: I WANT A NEW GOD.
Echo: I hide in the closet.
-later-
Echo: I get out of the closet.
Olivie-OOC: SAY IT LOUD AND PROUD.
Tolo-OOC: SAY IT TO THE ZOMBIES.
DM: It's been an hour, and we've accomplished one room.
Olivie: We accomplished a lot! Echo came out of the closet! We delivered some sick burns to the zombies! And I didn't shoot my lizard out of my bow!
"Harley": "Can't stay and play! Got bizness for Mista Rolth!"
Echo-OOC: OH
Olivie-OOC: I WANT TO DATE HER
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Can you give them a scroll that says "Hastur" over and over again, just to see if they read it out loud? Or maybe "Candlejack"?
Why? Why would you want them to say Candle Jack? What would that accom
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I don't think they would get a Candlejack joke given the show is about twenty y
Trinia fails her check to get as far as possible and cannot move. Echo barely misses her CMD. Maril nat 20s. The DM goes temporarily deaf from teenage girl screaming. The dice hated Trinia.
I'm convinced none of the AP writers ever do statistical analyses of their "side games". I've run Crimson Throne twice and read three other versions, and Trinia never gets more than 3 squares before being captured. Less a "chase" and more a "we grab her" moment.
But it lets the DEX-based characters shine, so it's not bad. Just... short.
Tolo, meanwhile, fished out the scroll of remove disease she had found in the Deep Warrens and read it over Brienna, following it up with a couple of lesser restorations to bring her back to full health.
Bless you for not requiring the ludicrous Caster Level check on Remove Disease and Neutralize Poison.
There's nothing like, "Well, I shelled out for a 3rd-level scroll of Remove Disease, but it's only got a 50/50 shot of removing that DC 16 disease you have."
I despise the caster level checks on those spells. But my players won't let me get rid of 'em. Mainly because in the ONE game I get to play in, and the ONE game where I run a GMNPC, I play divine casters. "No extra power for NobodysHome! Never!!"
I actually forgot to make her roll the CL check for the first one. Whoops. By that point I figured I should just grandfather it in and streamline a bit.
I tend to ignore the CL check requirement unless there's a specific reason I want/need the disease to be particularly difficult to remove. Like something like Brood Fever from Elder Evils's Father Llymic or Savage Plague from Savage Tide I would enforce the check, but a regular old ghoul bite, Filth Fever from a random rat, or a fistful of Mummy Rot I wouldn't bother. But that's just me.
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I'm going to need more rope.
Well, if it isn't Candlejack! What are you u
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Session 6...This led to Tolo devising an unorthodox strategy - curling into a fetal position for Echo to push her into the zombies like a sapient bowling ball. This failed due to a combination of factors, namely Echo's lack of strength modifier and any space to build up any speed to have more effect than simply rolling the dwarven priestess onto her side. The nearest zombie took immediate advantage of the prone cleric until she gave up and simply channeled again, solving the problem...
In Book 2 of our (second) Crimson Throne campaign, we had a paladin of Torag (warhammer) and a mace-wielding fighter, neither using Power Attack, fighting ONE ZOMBIE for SIX ROUNDS.
So there we were, with two 5th-level full-BAB fighters unable to defeat ONE zombie.The rest of the party died a little inside that day...
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I do have to admit that I'd probably be That Guy about Power Attack. I'm sure the instant I started taking that -1 to hit, I would start capping my rolls at exactly 1 below AC and crit as soon as I stopped getting that sweet bonus to damage. Because I live in a sitcom.
Luckily, it hasn't come up on my swash in our current campaign because she has 10 Str...
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Session 7
The party immediately met with another party, three zombie attendees attacking. The zombies made short work of the elemental and took a chunk out of Echo before the combined efforts of the party (augmented with Corbin's scythe and Olivie's crit) put them down. Maril hushed the party, hearing movement by the window. They turned, seeing the mad clown.
Anaurok (with a 33 diplomacy) begged her to stop. Amused, the woman asked if they wanted to play a game. Anaurok, at a loss, asked what game. The clown responded hide and seek. Humoring her, Anaurok agreed to count to twenty. The woman drank a potion and vanished. Much yelling at Anaurok ensued. They frantically searched the upper floor, finding no harlequin but instead two zombies, one of whom Tolo identified as the lady of the house. These were disposed of with little trouble.
Anaurok and Toothless (along with Corbin and Olivie) continued to poke around upstairs, convinced the woman was still hiding up there. Echo, Tolo, and Maril, meanwhile opted to reinvestigate the door in the cellar. Maril began to work on the lock, and a crossbow bolt shrieked from the corner, striking Tolo as the harlequin revealed her hiding place. Tolo and Echo promptly attacked with bomb and axe; the woman drank another potion and vanished, easily evading Anaurok and Toothless' notice as they finally arrived at the sound of the screams.
Corbin was the next struck with a bolt, failing his save against the fear effect. This, however, proved poor tactics on the woman's part as it allowed the party to corner her in a closet. Anaurok attempted to sweet-talk her out, yielding only a happy sigh of "You remind me of my puddin'." Echo whispered that lying was always an option, and Anaurok changed his tack, rolling an assisted bluff that they'd already caught her Puddin', so tell them where the musician was. The woman immediately panicked, begging them to let her go and not to hurt him. This secured, she confessed that Mistah Rolth had taken the musician for a special project...but they should know where he was since they'd found him, and please don't hurt him.
With no other leads, they reluctantly let her go...and had Maril follow her in secret. This yielded little as the mad clown's priority now that her love was in danger...was to find the nearest pesh den and get higher than a kite.
Tolo, meanwhile, had entered the secret room in the hopes of finding Ruan...instead finding Mr. Carowyn.
Notable Quotes
DM: Olivie, you just heard your brother start screaming.
Olivie: I laugh.
Anaurok: Do we find anything in the room?
DM: Well, the zombies' costumes are very richly-made gowns. But they have been on zombies, so you probably don't want them.
Echo: I MIGHT.
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Blast it! At least she didn't let everything slip. But she's going to be useless until that brew gets out of her brains!
I'll just have to keep a few surprises waiting for these troublesome interlopers. I've certainly got a bone to pick with them! Aaaaaahahahahahahahahah WAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
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Blast it! At least she didn't let everything slip. But she's going to be useless until that brew gets out of her brains!
I'll just have to keep a few surprises waiting for these troublesome interlopers. I've certainly got a bone to pick with them! Aaaaaahahahahahahahahah WAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
Uh, sir? You dropped this. I think it's your lower jaw...
Pretty sure if they hadn't split up, she wouldn't have.
Pretty sure if they hadn't split up, she wouldn't have.
Yes... but they SPLIT UP!!!
I'd say, "Soooo jealous!", but checking back on my Serpent's Skull thread, they DID manage to get pretty much every single castaway killed by constantly splitting up, so...
Don't you know, you never split the party...!
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Sessions 8-9
Tolo took the opportunity to talk to the very nervous Mr. Carowyn and, regrettably, inform him of his wife's passing. He had no information on the crazy clown woman that the party found useful. At a loss, they returned home to find a letter from Ishani asking them to meet him at the Abadaran temple. There, he explained that he was growing suspicious of the Queen's Physicians due to the apparent lack of progress in curing the plague...but with his priests getting continually reinfected, there wasn't much he could actually do. Anaurok and Maril asked if they had done anything about the coins...realizing that they had failed to mention that detail when they had attended Brienna Soldado. Ishani's stunned silence answered their question quite handily, and they agreed to investigate the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden.
The attending nurse, bundled against the plague, was reluctant to let them in until Anaurok sweet-talked her into believing they had been sent to help. The Physicians and Maiden inside, however, had no time for his talk and set to attacking. By some miracle, no stray attacks hit the injured, but one Physician escaped the mass knocking out and killing. Corbin was sent after him and to fetch Ishani - the situation with the sick was beyond their capability. Maril discovered a cargo lift with a missing button. Though she discerned that she could easily hotwire the thing, she stopped its downward lurch, not wanting to leave the top floor unexplored to reinforce whatever lay beneath. In the aftermath, they discovered a cunning plan - Echo and Anaurok seized the uniforms of the Physicians, while Tolo squeezed into the Maiden's armor. Maril rolled a disgusting stealth check, and Olivie waited downstairs. Anaurok bluffed their way into the experimentation room, even convincing the Physicians within to leave without a fight. Olivie ducked into the stairwell as the group passed, then hurried up to join them. They stared in horror at the experiments in progress, and Tolo was visibly upset at their suffering, and her thoughts fell on a deity that had to be responsible - Urgothoa.
Spying a door, Maril and Echo quietly crept in. A familiar face, that of Dr. Davaulus, bent over a desk, offhandedly scribbling on a paper, seemingly unaware of them . Sneaking right up beside him, Maril read the notes. While much of the medical jargon was beyond her, she got the gist - some of the populace had proved immune to blood veil, and they were trying to discern why. Anaurok knocked on the door, and Davaulus cast invisibility before opening it. Cue the party flailing to hit an invisible enemy as he simply...leaned against the wall until they gave him enough space to land a nasty sneak crit on Echo. Cue Maril sneaking him right back and the party pouring into the room to dogpile. Echo dropped a precise bomb for some nice fire damage, and Davaulus managed a crit on Anaurok with his bane bonus before tumbling to the relative safety...of being the perfect target for Olivie to crit with a point-blank arrow and Maril to finish off with a sneak from behind. Searching him, they promptly dibsed all of his gear like good little murderhoboes and found the missing button to the lift.
Fearing what they might find below, they opted to send Maril and Anaurok to buy potions and a wand of cure light while Echo, Olivie, and Tolo waited for Corbin to return with the Abadarans. About an hour later, the party was reunited along with Ishani and a pair of clerics from the temple, who stayed to tend the ailing while they party went below.
Once downstairs, Echo and Tolo looked into the guard room to investigate. Still disguised, they attempted to convince the physicians that Dr. Davaulus needed them upstairs. Key word being attempted. They were quickly dispatched, Maril landing a nasty sneak-crit with her shiny new humanbane rapier that utterly one-shotted one of the unfortunates. But there was much left to explore in this mysterious place...
Notable Quotes
Maril-OOC: Did we bring the psuedodragon?
Anaurok-OOC: No because we never think about the pseudodragon always sitting at home.
DM-OOC: Eating your cheetos.
Maril-OOC: We have cheetos?!
DM-OOC: Not anymore.
Ausio Carowyn: Have you seen my wife?
Tolo: ...uuuuuum
Olivie: You can get a new one, right?
Anaurok: ...can I roll diplomacy?
Tolo: That's it. We have to blow up the bank.
Olivie: Really, if the town's under quarantine, we can just burn it down and solve the plague.
DM: And where are you?
Olivie: In the city.
Olivie: Okay, so we hire a highly-specialized team of experts...
Anaurok: Oh my God.
Echo: My tumor makes me sneaky!
Tolo: I hate that thing.
DM: You see...him.
Tolo-OOC: ...we're fighting Nic Cage?
Tolo: What's the spell to speak with the dead?
DM: ...Speak with dead.
Tolo: ...Oh.
Maril: Can I leave my rapier in him so I know exactly where he is?
DM: If you want to not have your rapier.
Maril: I HAVE KNIVES.
Tolo-OOC: Is there a reason we can't move diagonally?
DM-OOC: ...What?
Maril-OOC: WAIT, we can move diagonally?!
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Session 10
Echo boldly stepped forward to examine the door, touching it just as Maril announced it was trapped. Surprisingly, nothing happened as he opened the door. Tolo then demanded he shut the door because she wanted to open it and stomped to the front, doing the same. The skeletal painting promptly swung its scythe at her and emitted a foul gas. Maril and Echo both yelled at her. Maril spent some time carefully disabling the trap, only for Echo to push the door open just as she finished it as he had before, wondering why they had spent several minutes on this. The trio discovered a horrifying abundance of writhing undead...and panicked for a moment before realizing they were behind a thick layer of glass.
In the other room, Anaurok found a supply of spare masks and coats for the rest of the party to disguise themselves, and now were fortunately immune to bloodveil. Slipping into the adjacent chamber, they promptly set to attacking the Urgathoan priests and doctors within, with some respectable crits from Olivie's bow and eager bites from the now-draconic Toothless. This dealt with, they returned en masse to the central room, debating whether to take the north or east path. Maril chose east, and the rest followed.
There, they found a bloodstained man hard at work and quickly (and correctly) assumed him to be Rolth. Tolo, Corbin, and Anaurok less possessed of stealth capability than the rest, the necromancer grinned widely and raised several zombies from the corpses around the room. Anaurok pulled out the scroll of control undead they had found and managed to turn one of them. Olivie's arrows went wide. Rolth dropped an ice storm on them. Toothless, Anaurok, and Good Zombie dealt with the other undead. Maril crept into position and fumbled a sneak attack. Echo moved for a better vantage point. Corbin fell back on acid splashes. Rolth attempted a ghoul touch on Maril but failed. Echo spat forth a swarm of spiders. Rolth sidestepped and fired off a lightning bolt, catching Echo, Olivie, and Good Zombie as it came to help, vaporizing the unfortunate undead. Maril got off a good hit with her humanbane rapier, and Rolth, down to 9 HP, dimension doored away with a final taunt. The party, Maril in particular, was quite miffed.
Anaurok cast reduce person on himself to ride the miniature dragon that his eidolon had become. Tolo laughed at the tiny summoner. Anaurok cast reduce person on Tolo, who bombed her save. Maril picked the lock on the inner door, and they were beset by further temple devotees. Olivie's dice were hot, and rapid shot meant the fight was short. Maril spotted a number of captives within and quickly freed them. Yet they had not yet found Ruan, and there remained another door to the north...
Notable Quotes
DM: You detect a trap on the mural. However...you sense that it is oddly attuned toward evil. Perhaps if you knew someone morally bankrupt...
Olivie: Echo, you're evil!
Anaurok: And almost bankrupt!
Anaurok: Well, if he's a smear, I'm not moving.
DM: You see...
Party: NOOOOO
Rolth: You people need to chill out!
Anaurok-OOC: Oh my God I hate him
Echo: I use vomit swarm.
Olivie-OOC: Eeeew, like... "FEAR ME. BLEEEEGH!"
Anaurok: Don't hit my zombie!
Tolo: UGH fine, I won't hit your zombie.
Olivie: Look at me, I'm Anaurok. I have a dog and love zombies!
Rolth: Something's wrong here, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Oh, it's you!
Olivie: BAD TOUCH.
Maril: CAN I ROLL TO TAKE A SHOWER.
Tolo: Every time Echo speaks, there's just a spider stuck in his teeth.
Echo: Bleeeeeh.
Tolo: Don't touch me.
Tolo: Can I hide under the bed?
Maril: Why?
Tolo: So I can be the monster under the bed. Are you saying I'm not a monster?
Anaurok: ...there are many things I could call you. Monster was not one.
Maril: ...that was almost a compliment.
Anaurok: ALMOST?
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Bleed you next time, deadbeats!! Heheheheheheheh.... Hahahahahahah.... WAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Always nice to see Rolth do SOMETHING.
In my first game it was:
Surprise round:
- Rogue opens the door.
- Paladin Smites Evil, charges, and crits.
Er, Rolth? Rolth? Where'd he go?
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That fine red mist you see is just the smoke trick I used to cover my tracks! Yeah, that's the ticket!
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The fight really should've been tougher. Between mediating the six-way argument over who should do what on whose turn and scrolling up and down in the PDF, I completely missed that Rolth was supposed to have a couple physicians and a priest in there with him. Whoops.
Buuut at least Rolth and Jolistina are freely wandering about Korvosa for a possible return...
Also, quite proud of Echo for the vomit swarm. If they'd focused on him enough to cut him off from 5' stepping out of the swarm, which they almost managed toward the end, the concentration checks would have hampered his ability to cast. They're learning!
Yeah, I'm going to have to remember that one for next time. Don't think you can joke a jokester twice, kiddos!
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Oh, yeah. They hate him so much, I'm going to have to find somewhere to bring him back. Whee!
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Session 11
The party limped on, still badly damaged from their fight with Rolth. Glad to take out their frustrations on something, they quickly dispatched the Urgathoan priests in the next room, noting the eerie, phlegmy liquid in the vats with an eloquent "Gross."
Anaurok and Toothless entered the next room alone, spying a rather suspicious pile of dirt. After some hesitation, he bade the eidolon to dig through it, yielding...dirt. Echo and Tolo found another storeroom, this one filled with barrels of water. They explored another side room, finding an ominous-looking operating table occupied by a young man - Ruan Mirukova. All but Anaurok hurried in, summoner and eidolon inspecting another door. As Maril and Echo examined the table, a figure appeared beside Echo, casting dominate person.
Echo, ordered to kill his companions, promptly bombed his saves and stabbed Tolo. Tolo shoved him away. Maril and Olivie concentrated their efforts on the nosferatu. Corbin identified the spell and tried to attack the vampire, missing. Anaurok and Toothless hurried in. Echo continued stabbing. Anaurok attempted to dimension door Echo away from the others. Echo rolled his only double-digit save of the session, leaving Anaurok alone in the hallway. Olivie, Maril, Corbin, and Toothless combined their efforts to put the vampire down, though he successfully got off a scorching ray on Tolo and Toothless before falling. Tolo channeled to heal them all for at least some of the damage.
Yet Ruan is still strapped to the table, and Echo still attempting to harm his companions, and more challenges must await through the unexplored doors...
Notable Quotes
Anaurok-OOC: Can I change my alignment to Lawful Good?
DM-OOC:
Anaurok-OOC: What?
Anaurok: So, we should just hide in the closet until they find us. We can eat Maril to survive.
DM: This is why you're not Lawful Good.
Olivie: I hate the temple of Uma Thurman.
Olivie: OH. I still have a lizard in my pocket.
Tolo: Did it suffocate?
Olivie: NO. I feed it.
Tolo: What do lizards eat?
Anaurok: ...oh god, why are you rolling.
DM: Look, if I haven't made you paranoid, I haven't done my job. Go ahead and search.
Tolo: I'M SCARED.
DM: Echo, I need a will save.
Echo: OH NO.
DM: You hear a voice in your mind..."KILL THEM."
Rest of table: OH NO.
Tolo: Hey.....who's your best friend, Echo?
DM: Didn't you throw a door at him?
Echo: ...yes.
Tolo: I SAID I WAS SORRY!
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Olivie: I hate the temple of Uma Thurman.
Where they all dance like her...
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Session 12
After some initial confusion, Anaurok dispelled Echo, clearing the alchemist's mind of his nascent murderous tendencies. The party breathed a sigh of relief. Maril, Anaurok, and Tolo then turned their attentions to the curious operating table. Maril pointed out the levers, and they managed to free Ruan with minimal hesitation. Leaving the musician in the hands of the cleric and alchemist (with some lingering hard feelings between the recent sun-blessed pincushion), Maril and Anaurok slipped into the adjacent room to look for treasurethings that would help them cure the plague like good little altruists. It didn't take long to find the coffin, which they set to destroying immediately, as well as an earthworm hiding within because it moved and startled them.
Tolo used the cure wand on Ruan, bringing him back to consciousness. The man was understandably terrified and confused, but the priestess did her best to calm him. They explained that his sister had sent them to look for him, and he calmed down upon seeing Sarenrae's symbol. Not wanting to take the traumatized musician with them through whatever waited ahead, Corbin escorted him upstairs where Ishani's priests were still tending the sick mistreated by Davaulus, then hurried to rejoin the group.
Opening the next door, the priests within went down to a sneak from Maril and three well-placed arrows from Olivie before they could even realize they were there. Olivie gaped at the leuokdaemon, declaring she wanted it as a pet. This idea was discouraged, and they quickly moved past it and down the ramp into an immense dome dominated by a golden statue of Urgathoa. Lady Andaisin looked down on them from her air walk with a coldly serene smile, congratulating them on finding her and inviting them to Urgathoa's embrace, gesturing to the bubbling vats behind her. Olivie immediately took the opportunity to flirt with her. Everyone else went on the attack as best they could.
Corbin fired a scorching ray, critting with one of them. Echo relied on his crossbow. Anaurok sent Toothless to attack, following this with a magic missile. Andaisin smacked the eidolon with her scythe. Maril crept to the wall, making use of her wall climbing talent. Olivie shot with her bow. Anaurok decided to use the cape of the mountebank recovered from the vampire to dimension door above Andaisin, hoping to knock her from the sky. Her air walk kept her in place, but Anaurok managed to grapple for dear life. Andaisin smacked him with her bleeding touch domain power. Maril then backflipped off the wall to sneak attack the priestess, knocking her into negatives...which dismissed the air walk keeping the three of them in the air. Anaurok and Maril managed to reduce their falls, but the damage was enough to kill Andaisin.
They began to loot immediately, searching the room for treasure, finding the compartment hidden within the statue as well as quickly claiming Andaisin's valuables. As they squabbled over who got what, a sudden chill fell over the room, and the lights dimmed. Andaisin's body began to crackle with dark lightning, soon enveloped in the black light, stretching and growing, becoming a Daughter of Urgathoa. The party screamed.
Olivie unloaded more arrows , causing Andaisin to roar in outrage. She flailed at Anaurok. Corbin hit her with another scorching ray. Maril tried to hide herself for another sneak attack. Toothless full-attacked; Anaurok continuing the magic missile party. Andaisin took out her frustrations on Toothless, landing all three of her attacks and critting once, leaving the little dragon barely standing. Tolo channeled. Olivie shot her more. Toothless attacked again. And predictably, Maril finished her with a sneak attack. The abomination screamed in pain and rage, collapsing into a mess of bone, flesh, and entrails.
The party made their way back to the temple to share their findings with Ishani. Echo, always eager to play with chemicals, lent his aid to the creation of a cure from their recovered notes, and blood veil gradually faded from the streets of Korvosa. Ileosa herself publicly thanked them for discovering the treachery in her ranks . However, the award of 5000 gold each was enough to quiet him...for now.
Yet despite the party's discoveries, Ileosa remains on the throne, and she is unlikely to give up now that her pet plague has been cured. But that is a tale for another day...
End Chapter 2
Notable Quotes
DM: The levers are labeled: left for up, right for down.
Anaurok: So...we just move them left, right?
DM: Which?
Maril: Left! It says left!
Tolo: But what if that's what he wants us to think OH GOD.
Anaurok: Right. We move them left.
DM: ...please be very specific.
Anaurok: I move right and push the lever I'm on the right of to my left. Right?
DM: ...We're in an Abbot and Costello routine.
Maril: OH MY GOD. LEFT. WE MOVE THEM LEFT.
Tolo: What if it's a trick?
DM: Do you really think I could make it more confusing than you already have?
Anaurok: So the only living thing in the coffin was a stupid earthworm?!...I stomp on the earthworm.
DM: This is why you're not LG.
Tolo-OOC: Do you want to talk to him, or should I?
Echo-OOC: I have minus one charisma.
Ruan: Where am I? Who are you?
Tolo: The Temple of Uma Thurman.
Echo: Urgathoa...
Tolo: QUIET. YOU HAVE MINUS ONE CHARISMA.
Corbin: Olivie's helpful. I'll take him upstairs.
DM:
Anaurok: WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING.
Olivie: Can we keep it?
All: NO.
DM: I'm beginning to think flirting should be a full-round action.
Maril-OOC: Why is the map up here?! It goes down then up then...augh!
DM-OOC: Because you don't believe in Santa.
DM: And, standing in the air, you see...
Echo, Tolo, Olivie: WHOA.
Olivie: Hey, baby, are you blood veil? Because I'd let you take over my life and consume my being.
Entire table:
Andaisin: Then drink, my dear.
Olivie: ...I don't know if I want to drink Uma Thurman's Kool-Aid.
They did not tried to flirt with Andaisin lady again after she revived as divine undead monstrosity?
I am disappointed...
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I'm more disappointed that Andaisin didn't get to take anyone out. Almost got Toothless, though. If she'd gotten one more initiative...
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Chapter 3: Escape from Old Korvosa
Sessions 1-2
The Harrowing
Role Cards:
Maril: The Snakebite
Olivie: The Foreign Trader
Anaurok: The Wanderer
Corbin: The Hidden Truth
Tolo: The Vision
Echo: The Inquisitor
Past: The Unicorn, The Dance, The Demon's Lantern
Present: The Waxworks, The Locksmith, The Joke
Future: The Trumpet, The Bear, The Peacock
A month passed as Echo and Tolo aided in the creation of a cure, Echo because SCIENCE and Tolo because it was a Good thing for a priestess of Sarenrae to do. Corbin spent some time with his spellbook, while Olivie played with her new snake companion Legs. Anaurok, meanwhile, decided to recuperate some of his finances after a shopping spree...by begging. He contracted blood veil three times during this period with an irritated Tolo curing it each time. Maril made knives. Shortly after the cure was completed, Queen Ileosa made another public address. None of them fans of the queen, they party did not attend, but rumors began reaching them: the recently dismissed Captain Endrik of the Sable Company had attempted to assassinate the queen at point-blank range with a crossbow. She not only lived but murdered him in front of the crowd with the bolt pulled from her own head.
Word came from the Citadel soon after. Kroft urged them to find Vencarlo, believing that he had found some helpful and damning information about Ileosa before Old Korvosa had been cut off in quarantine, something about an infernal bargain. She offered them all she could spare from her much-dwindled resources, wishing them luck and safety...and regretting that her duty meant she could not herself leave.
Reaching the banks of the river, Anaurok and Olivie dimension doored the party across to the quarantined island. Not long after arriving, they ran across a group of children playing with a toy guillotine. Echo crept over, still wearing his unsettling mask, but Anaurok managed to soothe their fears. The party asked them what they were doing, and the bravest child began talking about the "emp'ror." Maril mused to the group that there had long been an unofficial leader of the island, but she couldn't recall more than that. With little else to go on, they continued to Vencarlo's school.
The school, unfortunately, was a charred remnant of what was once a building, and anything valuable therein had long since been looted (to Maril's disappointment). She did remember that Vencarlo's house wasn't far and led the party there. The group knocked before entering, calling for Vencarlo. When he did not answer, they pressed inward, Maril and Olivie creeping silently through the house. Anaurok wasted no time in attempting to lock Tolo in the bathroom, an effort thwarted by the door opening inward and therefore being completely unaffected by the chair. Echo and Tolo spent some time goofing around downstairs while Anaurok and Corbin moved to join the girls.
Maril and Olivie began searching the room, rolling high enough stealth to frustrate the DM. Olivie found a hidden compartment in the closet containing a lockbox, which Maril dibsed. Corbin tromped into the room with all the stealth a 0-dex character could manage and was promptly attacked by a pair of Red Mantis assassins. Olivie shot the only one she had a clear vantage on from the closet, while Corbin attacked another. Maril brutally sneak attacked the less wounded one, dropping him. Anaurok fired a bolt from his brand-new flaming humanbane crossbow...rolling a nat 1 and striking the wall. Having consistently bombed their checks to notice the dried alchemist's fire on the walls, they were completely shocked when it went up in flame. The remaining assassin hurled his own vial of alchemist's fire at the other wall and attempted to flee, acing his acrobatic checks but not making it far before Anaurok pegged him twice with the crossbow, dropping him at the window.
Maril sprinted down the stairs to fetch water from the bathroom. Corbin began firing rays of frost at the fire. Olivie, screaming, grabbed the bedsheets to begin beating out the flames. Tolo jumped out the window to run for help. Anaurok, in a display of pure priorities, looted the bodies. With their concentrated efforts, they managed to put out the flames. Anaurok attempted to address the gathering crowd about the neutralized threat of the Red Mantis...Maril quickly pulled on one of the masks and appeared next to him in the window, pulling him away from sight. The screaming crowd dispersed.
Now able to work in peace, Maril turned her attentions to the lockbox, but was unable to coax it open. Anaurok brought his morningstar down on the box. Maril yelled at Anaurok. Echo offered to help. Anaurok cast cat's grace on Maril, and between the magic and Echo's aid, the rogue managed to sprin the lock. Inside the box lay a bag of holding containing some rather familiar-looking equipment. Anaurok immediately began doing the told-you-so dance, while Maril ferreted off to the bathroom to change.
Now carrying the mantle of a local legend with them, they were no closer to discerning Vencarlo's fate. But they did have a lead, for the children had mentioned an emperor of some sort...
Notable Quotes
DM: Endrin fired the crossbow into Ileosa's skull.
Olivie, Anaurok: YES
Olivie: Is she dead?
DM: The queen does not fall. She reaches up and pulls out the bolt.
Anaurok:
Olivie-OOC: So, my thundering bow does sonic damage?
Anaurok-OOC: It summons a blue hedgehog, and rings fall out.
Olivie-OOC: That is the BEST.
Olivie: I'm very certain that Korvosa is fine and we need to leave RIGHT NOW.
DM-OOC: Why does your snake have diplomacy?
Olivie-OOC: ...cause I forgot I copied my sheet to make him.
Olivie-OOC: The worst thing about Rolth is that he won't just stay in the campaign, no, he shows up in the log to taunt us!
DM-OOC: You...do realize I'm going to have to post that.
Olivie-OOC: We're going to just be lying in bed and hear that stupid laugh.
Maril-OOC: ...how much will it cost to improve the house?
Anaurok: Say Urgathoa.
Olivie: Uma Thurman.
Anaurok-OOC: I need to get a god.
DM-OOC: ...get?
Maril-OOC: Hello, I would like to order one god, please.
Tolo: Anaurok! Put the wall down, we gotta get outta here!
Maril: Don't fight with the window, you already lost to a door!
Echo: Can I roll sense motive on the fire?
Maril: I don the armor.
Anaurok: Blackjack's a guy!
DM: Well, not necessarily. The real Blackjack has been retired for 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.
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Maril: I don the armor.
Anaurok: Blackjack's a guy!
DM: Well, not necessarily. The real Blackjack has been retired for 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.
Soooooo awesome!
Did they get it?
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Maril: I don the armor.
Anaurok: Blackjack's a guy!
DM: Well, not necessarily. The real Blackjack has been retired for 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.Soooooo awesome!
Did they get it?
About 50/50.
Olivie-OOC: The worst thing about Rolth is that he won't just stay in the campaign, no, he shows up in the log to taunt us!
DM-OOC: You...do realize I'm going to have to post that.
<cackles>
Can't be rid of me that easily, boys and girls! Rolth is back in town!| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Session 3
It didn't take long for them to locate the palace of Emperor Pilts of Old Korvosa, helped in no small part by there being a rather large and unruly mob. Anaurok managed to convince them that they needed to see the emperor, and the mob's ringleader seemed quite amenable to watching some newcomers in a game of Blood Pig. With some reticence, they handed over their arms. Emperor Pilts looked over the group from his balcony with a sneer, declaring them one man short, best be off to the dungeons...and then an enthusiastic voice piped up from the crowd that they had one more.
The party was joined by an excitable elf in hooked chainmail who wore the symbol of Zon-Kuthon and called herself Laori. When Anaurok asked why she wanted to play, she said that Blood Pig was the best sport, why wouldn't she? She enthusiastically explained the rules to them, and the game was on. Luck loosed the first pig near them, and they immediately took to the task of beating the stuffing out of the opposing team, including a couple instances of Maril and Olivie shoving their opponents into the wolverine-infested pits.
After their victory, the Emperor reluctantly agreed to speak with them in a few minutes' time. Laori gleefully thanked the party for letting her play. Anaurok asked if she wanted to come with them to speak to the Emperor. She told them yes, explaining she had a question about a local artist...which horrified the party as she casually pulled out half a dozen skulls, identifying them all as artists and craftsmen. Noting their fear, she clarified that they'd been dead when she got there, sheesh. She then waved a scrap of fabric at them, which most were able to recognize as a part of the uniform of Castle Korvosa's seneschal. Anaurok additionally recalled that the seneschal's office was the only one with the legal ability to depose a monarch and became very interested indeed.
The Emperor called them in, and they asked after Vencarlo. He had little information to offer. Laori piped up, asking if he'd happened to know where she could find Salvator Scream. This, he was able to help them with, showing them to the artist's cell and, reluctantly, waiting outside. Scream immediately begged them to save him, and, with the promise that they would speak where it was safe, Anaurok used the wand of invisibility Kroft had given them to hide the artist while Echo stuffed the mattress to make it seem he was still there. They reclaimed their gear and departed the palace.
Notable Quotes
Echo: I don't wanna do it!
Olivie, Tolo: PEER PRESSURE. PEER PRESSURE.
Pilts: Well, looks like y'don't gots enough t'play. Unless there's a volunteer...
Laori: OOH OOOOOOOH! I DO I DO I DO!
Olivie-OOC: ...oh god, she's Pinkie Pie.
Anaurok: Let's knock him out together!
Tolo: YEAH.
DM: This may be the first time you two have ever worked together.
Laori: OH that was so much fun thank you for letting me play! OH did you hear him scream?
Anaurok: How would you like to help us make more people scream?
Laori: You're my new best friend!
Anaurok: OWWWW
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Thank you guys! This was SO MUCH FUN! I can't wait until we get to play again! And I got to meet Salvatore Scream! EEEEEEEEEEEE!! I need to show you guys some of the stuff he's painted, it's WONDERFUL.
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Oh, what a WONDERFUL way to introduce Laori!
And they didn't kill the Emperor and burn down his entire holdings?
Your kids are nicer than my adults. BOTH groups of my adults...
The diplomancer got to his dice first, and they had given their weapons to the guard. Murder was desired but not at this time feasible.