| Ian G |
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Our heroes blitzed the haunts. The hellhounds nearly killed Misha but Isett poured a potion down her throat.
Misha then did research and telepathically asked Lilliana if Isett likes-likes her while Isett and Lilliana killed Tiarise again. "Welcome to Kintargo." *blam* Then they blew up the hellcat bones with gunpowder. There was some collateral damage.
Everybody had fun fighting Barzillai's head, and Lilliana found the heart's location.
The popawhatsit went down in 2 rounds like a chump. Even his feeblemind failed.
The hellish prison was destroyed with a bit of quick research and creative use of chains of light, which I allowed because I liked it.
Next week: the souldbound fane. Then, the descent into Hell...and the final confrontation with His Excellency His Grace, the Imperious Leader, Lord Mayor Paracount BARZILLAI THRUNE, High Inquisitor of the Church of Asmodeus, King of Kings, Sliver of Infinity, Future of Humankind, the New Divinity, Eternal Leader of New Barzillai (formerly Kintargo), EMPEROR OF THE UNIVERSE, Standard-Bearer of the Faithful, Outstanding Leader, Eternal Ruler of His Adoring Subjects, Commander of the People of New Barzillai (formerly Kintargo), Brilliant General Who Descended From Heaven, Sublime and Supreme Intellect, Bringer of Divine Wisdom, Very Stable Genius, Father-Leader of the Chelish Race, Master of All He Surveys, Once and Future Master of the Seven Sins, Everlasting Imperator of All Mankind, Lord of the Four Corners of the World, Champion of the Human Race, Defender of the Virtues of Mankind, Beloved Leader, Marshall of the Divine Hosts, LEADER OF ALL HUMANITY, Envy of the Gods, Muse to All Artists, Excellent Leader, Inevitable Emperor of Golarion, Lord of All the Beasts on the Earth and the Fishes in the Sea, Conqueror of the Rebellious Scum in the World in General and in Cheliax in Particular, Last King of Ustalav, Beacon of Infinite Modesty.
| Ian G |
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Heroes explore the soulbound fane.
Lilliana does 154 points of damage to the wyrmwraith then gets Finger of Deathed, fails the save (avoids it temporarily with a magic ring), Misha is Energy Drain'ed for 6 negative levels, Isett kills the wyrmwraith by a hair.
Misha then teleports back to the healing pool and Lilliana uses the healing pool to not die.
An auspicious start.
Hetamon and some cleric friends are summoned to patch up the party. The party hears that Zea is setting up her wedding date with her girlfriend/fiancee and wants Isett to walk her down the aisle. Everybody is psyched.
They 'port back after healing. Ambush and kill the shadow golems, negotiate with Nasperiah, and then kill the nemesis devil in 1 round despite losing initiative.
Isett grabs the heart. Lilliana blows up the dragon's bones on the way out.
It's time to kick some Dear Leader ass.
Next week: The trip to Hell, and hopefully the final death of Barzillai Thrune.
| Ian G |
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Barzillai Thrune is dead.
The heroes managed to get the apostate devil talking and then killed him while he was monologuing about his plans to become Bobby Kotic. The fight with Cornistan was over fast thanks to Isett and Lilliana.
A quick trip to Barzillai's sanctum later, and they finally confront the self-proclaimed Universal Emperor. He threatens to subject Lilliana to a hundred thousand eternities of torment, and the heroes attack.
Barzillai still goes first.
He summons a pit fiend that meteor swarm plus quickened fireball nukes the heroes...for no damage, thank you fire resistance spells. Isett charges and Lilliana shoots Barzillai in the throat.
Isett takes no damage from Barzillai's second round of melee attacks, Misha chains of light's the pit fiend. Then Isett stabs Barzillai in the throat, getting him down to like -250. The next round, she rams his heart into his chest, and Barzillai spits out the bullet for one last "NO!!!!" before being incinerated.
The heroes spar verbally with Mephisto and return home.
To cap off the campaign, Isett walks Zea down the aisle as Misha bawls in the front row and Lilliana arranges a big confetti thing after Zea and her new wife say their vows and kiss.
Isett starts her own tattoo parlor, Misha goes back to Hell to magically turn the remains of the tower of bone into an oasis, then returns to Kintargo to ask Isett on a date (Isett accepts), and Lilliana sets up a crafting studio with their family, then starts working on becoming a boogeyman to those who would hurt innocents.
Cheliax implodes as the Glorious Reclamation, fueled by arms funneled in from dead minions in former occupied Kintargo/"New Barzillai" (never accepted!) via Andoran's Revolution Exportation Department, closes in on Egorian. Ravounel and Andoran can look forward to a long period of teaming up to rebuild the gutted Cheliax and protecting against Molthune and Nidalese aggression. Such aggression, of course, may run up against some dangerous figures in the night...silent champions of justice...A team of dark knights!
| ActuallyAltaria |
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Misha here! I very much enjoyed casting Prediction of Failure on Barzillai and reminding him that, of the two 9th level spells he'd used on us, he hadn't managed to leave a scratch on us. And then Lilliana put a bullet with his name on it through his throat. It certainly helped that we made the assumption that, going to Hell, we would be encountering a lot of fire, and planning for it! I am surprised the adventure path didn't seem to expect that kind of preparation. Overall, it was a fun romp, but I'm quite glad we can settle down now!
| Ian G |
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Overall review: Probably an 8/10
Biggest negatives:
--Was hard to work Misha's backstory in early on, surprisingly.
--Aboleth fight became a party meme for how fast it was over.
--General Pathfinder linear fighters/quadratic wizards issue. But this is a problem of the d20 chassis.
--The parts I did most out of the box flagged the most because there are a lot of noob training wheels in the early books that frustrated people (esp. Misha's player)
--Book 5's second arc was just bland. Literally the only thing people truly loved here was the dragon, but that was because I ran him as an egregious neckbeard. Mangvhune only worked because he killed Zea's girlfriend, which only worked because I expanded that NPC's role to such a degree. Act 1 of book 5 was a bit hit or miss as well.
--Book 4's territory control needed some reworking to be more dynamic.
Highlights:
--The final dungeon is great and everybody loved it.
--The opera house scene in book 3 is the best scene I've ever DMed. Book 3 in general is quite good.
--Devil's bells were very popular. Loved that stuff.
--NPCs are great and very easy for the DM to work with.
--People had a lot of fun in Vyre. See above about book 3.
--Sense of progression is very good.
--This AP is good to read on its own.
--The tone, at least as much of it as doesn't depend on the DM, is quite good. You get a really nice sort of spy-movie feel, could vary from Bourne to Get Smart depending on the DM.
This is best for a fairly experienced Dungeon Master, who knows how to hold back the noob training wheels bits in the early books. I do NOT recommend this for new players, the mid to late game is too difficult for those not used to extensive prepping for dungeons. Highly recommended for RP heavy groups and those enjoying an action-movie tone and pace.
The tone could vary a lot based on the DM. My players commented that it felt like a Saturday morning cartoon at times because I played Dear Leader Barzillai as so completely over the top, which they enjoyed, but they could also see it being much darker with more reprisal actions and such and a grittier tone with a different DM.
I had a good time for the most part. Players' issues with PF1E as a system (Isett's player in particular got frustrated a lot) and Kel's player discovering that he wasn't having as much fun with tabletop as he really wanted to definitely contributed to my high social anxiety and made sessions where people weren't in a great mood less fun! However, the highlights were freaking high indeed.
It really picked up in books 2 and especially 3. Book 1 was merely OK. By book 3, it was great. 3-4 really are the sweet spot I think.
I definitely want to play this again for a different group, but not for a couple of years.
| Ian G |
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Misha here! I very much enjoyed casting Prediction of Failure on Barzillai and reminding him that, of the two 9th level spells he'd used on us, he hadn't managed to leave a scratch on us. And then Lilliana put a bullet with his name on it through his throat. It certainly helped that we made the assumption that, going to Hell, we would be encountering a lot of fire, and planning for it! I am surprised the adventure path didn't seem to expect that kind of preparation. Overall, it was a fun romp, but I'm quite glad we can settle down now!
To be fair on this, Lilliana got soul-trapped and only by use of a "delay save-or-die effect" ring they bought were they able to survive. Even then, you guys literally got back to Kintargo...and Lilliana was immediately stuck inside a gem. XD