Session #9
Sorry about the delay. The holidays suck the free time right outta me (and most of the group as well).
On that note, this was the last session until January 7th, 2005.
Dale and Brian could not make it this week. So Dugan was played by Aaron and Dalron was played by Justin.
Luck played a big part in the game tonight. Namely the DM's luck. As part of the "Kid gloves are off" concept, I rolled all combat rolls in front of the group. I started off with average rolls. But in the final combat, single digits baby.
Day 8, Hour 4:
Room E21: We left off with the party doing some last minute healing after the hellwasp swarm beating. They then moved into the room and spiked the door to rest. In what would have been the last hour of rest, a group of 3 shadows moved through the door. Thunderclease was on guard, and he hoped to let the casters continue their rest and maybe him and Dalron could take on the shadows alone. Bad choice. While Thunderclease woke up Dalron, he was back attacked by a shadow while Zorak and Dalron were subjected to some near free hits. Combat ended on the 3rd round when Krieg finally woke up. But some serious damage had been done. Zorak was at a strength of 4 and thunderclease was down to 11. This combat set the tone for the rest of the night.
The group returned to room E20 rest. Twice. Krieg put the spell Lesser Restoration to full use. Krieg convinced the party that it was a good idea to head another direction. So they grabbed the door that was laying on its side from room E18 and laid it on the trap in room E16 (done by Dalron who nimbly dodged the resulting Fireball). After checking the door for traps and such, the party moved on to...
Rooms E15 & E14: Halls of portraits. Room E15 had 5 portraits (3 burned away from room E16) and room E14 had 8 portraits. Each one had a different subject, but each portrait mentioned the subject's duties in "the garrison" and when they died. Usually the death was at the hands of some fell creature after an earthquake.
Room E13: After much exploration (region E has several empty rooms with no description), the party found this room which appeared to be the study of an arcane spellcaster. But the party found many required components for some 1st-4th level arcane spells (notably a 100gp pearl). This would be the first of many good "finds" by the party.
After that, the group heads back to the eastern half of region E. When they open the north-south hallway near room E21, the party finds that there are Continual Flame spells cast about 10' apart.
Room E33: Prior to entering this room, the Dugan detects 4 objects of evil on the other side of the door. The party goes in ready to battle. They are not disappointed. The room appeared to be an armory with a recently deceased corpse of a humanoid creature, but before the group could investigate, shadows were upon them. The party was in a 5' wide hallway, meaning that melee had to be one on one in the hallway but since the shadows were in the room, they could do it two on one.
Here's some nasty things about shadows (for those reading this who don't know or remember). They deal no damage, but if they hit the victim loses 1d6 strength. Unless you're using a magical weapon, the damage has a 50% chance to miss. And worst of all, even though shadows are only +3 to hit, unless you're wearing magical armor, they ignore it .
Now poor thunderclease has a nice dex for a dwarf, but the DM was rolling average at this point. After the combat was over, Thunderclease was at 7 strength. Had Dugan not had a series of amazing turn rolls (a 4th level paladin with a 17 charisma requires a 19-20 natural roll to turn a shadow - he succeeded on this 3 out of 4 times).
Everyone in the party, except Thunderclease, was unscathed in the combat. And Thunderclease was whining like a little elf girl at a slaughterhouse for fluffy bunnies.
He shut up when Zorak cast a Detect Magic spell. There are 4 levels of magical intensity; Faint (level 1-3 spellcaster required), Moderate (4-6), Strong (7-9), & Overwhelming (10+). The platemail that was found was quickly ignored when the greatsword on the corpse registered as Overwhelming. And the one person in the group who uses a greatsword is...Thunderclease.
After his quick happydance, he went back to whining when he was told he would not get a chance to rest. Krieg slapped on another Lesser Restore and a Bull's Strength prior to entering...
Room E22: Once again, Dugan's Detect Evil saved the party from a nasty surprise. During the evening Dugan and Krieg had turned a number of shadows and the DM decided that this would be a good spot for the 4 of them hide. In the same room as their 4 brothers. This would be the marathon battle that even beat the Hellwasp Swarm in the number of rounds.
The room is small and so was the hallway. The group cast many pre-combat spells that would help them greatly; Magic Weapon, Bless, & Bull's Strength.
Thunderclease was not up in front this time around. Dugan was. He attempted to turn, and failed. Shadows nailed him good. Next round he stepped away and let someone else get up front. It was Thunderclease who had to do it, after he raged he had a 15 strength. He swung his new sword in combat. It connected, a light flashed from the sword, and the shadow was destroyed. (After the game I let Justin know that it was a +2 holy greatsword - it does 2d6+2 normally and an addition 2d6 to an evil creature.)
The group won out, but this was a combat that would not end. It started pretty even, but the shadows had numbers. Then the party started rolling poorly. Krieg's super-turning only destroyed 1 shadow. The meleers missed over 1/2 the time. Zorak could automatically hit with Magic Missiles, but it wasn't enough to do all the work.
Sadly the DM was the best ally for the party. The DM rolled in front of the players. The DM rolled "to-hit" (d20) and damage (d6) dice together. Rounds 1 & 2 went average. After that the rolls were consistenly single digit. Including one round with three attacks. The results: 1&1, 1&2, 3&6.
Combat was over. The party was worse for wear. Thunderclease & Krieg both had to remove their armor to be able to move.
They returned to room E20 once again...just reaallly slow.
And they leveled!
Thunderclease added a level of barbarian (brb4 / ftr1).
Krieg added a 5th level of cleric.
Zorak added a 5th level of sorcerer.
Dalron and Dugan will level when Dale & Brian makes it to the next session. Presumably they'll add a 5th level of rogue & paladin (respectively).
On that note, this was the last session until January 7th, 2005.
Dale and Brian could not make it this week. So Dugan was played by Aaron and Dalron was played by Justin.
Luck played a big part in the game tonight. Namely the DM's luck. As part of the "Kid gloves are off" concept, I rolled all combat rolls in front of the group. I started off with average rolls. But in the final combat, single digits baby.
Day 8, Hour 4:
Room E21: We left off with the party doing some last minute healing after the hellwasp swarm beating. They then moved into the room and spiked the door to rest. In what would have been the last hour of rest, a group of 3 shadows moved through the door. Thunderclease was on guard, and he hoped to let the casters continue their rest and maybe him and Dalron could take on the shadows alone. Bad choice. While Thunderclease woke up Dalron, he was back attacked by a shadow while Zorak and Dalron were subjected to some near free hits. Combat ended on the 3rd round when Krieg finally woke up. But some serious damage had been done. Zorak was at a strength of 4 and thunderclease was down to 11. This combat set the tone for the rest of the night.
The group returned to room E20 rest. Twice. Krieg put the spell Lesser Restoration to full use. Krieg convinced the party that it was a good idea to head another direction. So they grabbed the door that was laying on its side from room E18 and laid it on the trap in room E16 (done by Dalron who nimbly dodged the resulting Fireball). After checking the door for traps and such, the party moved on to...
Rooms E15 & E14: Halls of portraits. Room E15 had 5 portraits (3 burned away from room E16) and room E14 had 8 portraits. Each one had a different subject, but each portrait mentioned the subject's duties in "the garrison" and when they died. Usually the death was at the hands of some fell creature after an earthquake.
Room E13: After much exploration (region E has several empty rooms with no description), the party found this room which appeared to be the study of an arcane spellcaster. But the party found many required components for some 1st-4th level arcane spells (notably a 100gp pearl). This would be the first of many good "finds" by the party.
After that, the group heads back to the eastern half of region E. When they open the north-south hallway near room E21, the party finds that there are Continual Flame spells cast about 10' apart.
Room E33: Prior to entering this room, the Dugan detects 4 objects of evil on the other side of the door. The party goes in ready to battle. They are not disappointed. The room appeared to be an armory with a recently deceased corpse of a humanoid creature, but before the group could investigate, shadows were upon them. The party was in a 5' wide hallway, meaning that melee had to be one on one in the hallway but since the shadows were in the room, they could do it two on one.
Here's some nasty things about shadows (for those reading this who don't know or remember). They deal no damage, but if they hit the victim loses 1d6 strength. Unless you're using a magical weapon, the damage has a 50% chance to miss. And worst of all, even though shadows are only +3 to hit, unless you're wearing magical armor, they ignore it .
Now poor thunderclease has a nice dex for a dwarf, but the DM was rolling average at this point. After the combat was over, Thunderclease was at 7 strength. Had Dugan not had a series of amazing turn rolls (a 4th level paladin with a 17 charisma requires a 19-20 natural roll to turn a shadow - he succeeded on this 3 out of 4 times).
Everyone in the party, except Thunderclease, was unscathed in the combat. And Thunderclease was whining like a little elf girl at a slaughterhouse for fluffy bunnies.
He shut up when Zorak cast a Detect Magic spell. There are 4 levels of magical intensity; Faint (level 1-3 spellcaster required), Moderate (4-6), Strong (7-9), & Overwhelming (10+). The platemail that was found was quickly ignored when the greatsword on the corpse registered as Overwhelming. And the one person in the group who uses a greatsword is...Thunderclease.
After his quick happydance, he went back to whining when he was told he would not get a chance to rest. Krieg slapped on another Lesser Restore and a Bull's Strength prior to entering...
Room E22: Once again, Dugan's Detect Evil saved the party from a nasty surprise. During the evening Dugan and Krieg had turned a number of shadows and the DM decided that this would be a good spot for the 4 of them hide. In the same room as their 4 brothers. This would be the marathon battle that even beat the Hellwasp Swarm in the number of rounds.
The room is small and so was the hallway. The group cast many pre-combat spells that would help them greatly; Magic Weapon, Bless, & Bull's Strength.
Thunderclease was not up in front this time around. Dugan was. He attempted to turn, and failed. Shadows nailed him good. Next round he stepped away and let someone else get up front. It was Thunderclease who had to do it, after he raged he had a 15 strength. He swung his new sword in combat. It connected, a light flashed from the sword, and the shadow was destroyed. (After the game I let Justin know that it was a +2 holy greatsword - it does 2d6+2 normally and an addition 2d6 to an evil creature.)
The group won out, but this was a combat that would not end. It started pretty even, but the shadows had numbers. Then the party started rolling poorly. Krieg's super-turning only destroyed 1 shadow. The meleers missed over 1/2 the time. Zorak could automatically hit with Magic Missiles, but it wasn't enough to do all the work.
Sadly the DM was the best ally for the party. The DM rolled in front of the players. The DM rolled "to-hit" (d20) and damage (d6) dice together. Rounds 1 & 2 went average. After that the rolls were consistenly single digit. Including one round with three attacks. The results: 1&1, 1&2, 3&6.
Combat was over. The party was worse for wear. Thunderclease & Krieg both had to remove their armor to be able to move.
They returned to room E20 once again...just reaallly slow.
And they leveled!
Thunderclease added a level of barbarian (brb4 / ftr1).
Krieg added a 5th level of cleric.
Zorak added a 5th level of sorcerer.
Dalron and Dugan will level when Dale & Brian makes it to the next session. Presumably they'll add a 5th level of rogue & paladin (respectively).
posted by BlueBlackRed at 10:20 AM
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