Session #24
The week leading up to this week's game was an unfunny comedy.
We already knew Brian was not going to be able to make it. And Joe made us aware that he was going to be late. Then Dale said he'd be even later thanks to some family matters. And finally, Justin for whatever reason thought we weren't playing.
So we just started a little later than usual and played a little later than usual. So for about 1/2 hour, Aaron and Jeff each played 3 characters.
When the session was in full swing, Jeff was playing Torin, & Aaron was playing Thunderclease.
Jeff & Brian will not be able to make the next session. Brian is missing for a variety of reasons. Jeff has some kind of job-related super-training.
Otherwise, the majority of this session consisted of 1 big fight...
Oh, and Joe did read the blog last week.
Map
The last session ended with Torin scouting a few of the rooms near room J27 and reporting his findings to the party.
The party discussed their options (at this point the players were only Aaron & Jeff, so the discussion was about 5 seconds long). The decision was made to attack the 2 trolls in the northern passageway and push it along. And they wanted to try to get the help from the azers in room J39, since the azers weren't evil and were enslaved by others in the region.
So they sent the invisible Torin back to this room to talk them into assisting them against the trolls.
Room J39: This large room had a large layered pit in it where 4 azers toiled to get the many gemstones present. Twelve other azers walked back and forth along the northern edge, clearing rubble and collecting any newly harvested gems.
Torin snuck up on the nearest azer and spoke to him.
"Don't be alarmed. We need your help with fighting trolls." (Or something to that extent.)
One below average diplomacy roll later.
"Intruders!"
The azer took a blind swing at the invisible Torin and connected. The other azers grabbed some makeshift weapons and came to the sole azer's aid.
Torin ran away.
So the party prepped to fight a couple of trolls.
Jeff: "This will be a quick fight. I won't need Righteous Might."
Hehehe.
Room J30: The party entered this room from the souther corridor. The top edge of that passageway was blocked by 2 trolls, as had been scouted out by the invisible Torin. The smoke of the region prevented vision from reaching any farther w/o getting closer. Previous attempts by Torin to get a closer look resulted in very low Move Silent rolls, which alerted the trolls and forced them to pay more attention.
The party had cast most of their standard buffing spells (Haste, Enlarge, Bless, Prayer, Greater Invisibility, etc.), and they rushed the trolls.
They had thought they would only have to face 2 trolls and this would be a minor blip of a combat...
What they see as they head north through the hallway is a large brass colored room with a large fire in the middle, 10 trolls hunched very close to the fire, and a very large demon bathing in the fire.
The demon delivers the standard Big Bad Evil Guy speech (BBEG) equivalent to "Destroy the intruders and feast on their bones!"
Round 1: Standard positioning and attacks on both sides. Size works against the trolls as the party attempts to set up the standard "Conga line of Death". Valden casts Righteous Might. Zorak drops a Fireball on several of the trolls. The trolls are last on the list of initiative, and so 2 of them get knocked down by the party before they can get some return fighting in. The demon flies up, casts a quickened Scorching Ray at Thunderclease, and then turns invisible.
For most of the rest of the combat, the trolls face a constant stream of setbacks as the party is able to limit the troll's attacking positions. In fact the trolls are almost a footnote in the whole combat. They act as a roadblock for the demon.
Round 2: The party proceeds to pound the trolls. No sign of the demon. The closest members of the party make notice that the trolls seems to be unusually close to the large fire.
Round 3: Continued troll pounding. The bodies of the large unconscious trolls begin to block the combat area, slowing movement. Torin and Dalron, and anyone w/o the ability to face a standing troll, chops up trolls even further. When they hit -100hp, they were considered out of combat, to be easily dispatched at a more convenient moment.
Round 4: The piles of troll bodies gets higher. Zorak attempts to back up a few squares and hits an invisible barrier. The rear party members step into action and take blind swings at what they believe to be the demon. They are correct. The demon had intended to take out the rear of the party, but its plan had been ruined by the confinement of the space. It's plan ruined, and the party more than capable of dealing plenty of damage to it, the demon lashes out with another quickened Scorching Ray this time at Zorak (with a crit), and then turns invisible again and flies off.
Round 5: The party returns to teaching the trolls a lesson. Valden casts Invisibility Purge, rendering the demon, Zorak, and Dalron visible. The demon at the time is above the party about 20' and out of reach of melee weapons. Zorak blasts it with a Cone of Cold, hurting it further.
The demon says "Would Master like me to summon some assistance?"
One of the trolls replies "Uh...yeah."
The demon waves his arms and a large red dragon appears behind the party.
It takes a single swing at Dalron and misses.
Trolls move away from the mouth of the hallway, in preparation for a fiery blast.
Round 6: Thunderclease stays near the main battle while the rest of the party turns to fight this new threat. A couple of Dispel Magic spells dispels the dragon and reveals it to be merely a distracting illusion.
"Would Master like some healing?"
"Uhm...ok."
The demon waves his hands and many of the trolls are healed. It then lands back into the fire.
The trolls return and finally begin to inflict some damage.
Round 7: "Would master like me to finish them off with some lightning?"
"Yes!"
The party gets assaulted with a Chain Lightning, centered on Thunderclease. Low rolling on the DM's part makes the damage laughable. (The DM then "retired" those dice.)
Another Cone of Cold hits the demon.
By the end of the round only 4 trolls remain and the demon has taken over 150 damage.
Round 8: The demon flies off to the side and out of sight of the party, but not after hitting Zorak with a quickened Scorching Ray. It then filled the combat area with a Wall of Fire.
More trolls get a nice nap. But not before getting a chance to return some damage.
Round 9: The demon, having only 10hp left, charges Thunderclease, attacks him, and gets a crit that deals 30 points of damage. This puts Thunderclease pretty low on hp, and his rage is close to ending.
But Valden is able to do the last little bit of damage to the demon. At that point it burns down to nothingness, dropping its equipment on the floor.
Valden, using his flaming greatsword +2, goes around and finishes off any still-twitching trolls.
Krieg and Valden then hand out enough healing to drain them of every remaining spell they have over 1st level.
-----
Changes to this encounter (as later revealed to the players):
There was a pit trap in the hallway. Those who fell in it took 10d6 falling damage and then had to make a saving throw or to be polymorphed into a grey ooze. It felt this was a bit much with a big fight nearby. So I removed it and made some other alterations to the demon.
The demon was really an efreeti. It had less hp than it needed to survive a fight with the PCs. So I gave it +100hp and some spell resistance of 17. But I also weakened its wishes during the fight because a properly used wish could be a TPK. Three wishes guarantees it.
And finally the trolls were heavily changed. Their AC was increased to 24, regeneration increased to 7, and all of their stats had been boosted.
-----
Finding only the demon's sword, armor, and magic ring, the party badly needed rest and began to search for it.
Room J31: This was small but immaculate closet. The party moved on.
Room J33: This room was a bedroom of paradise and decadence. The only thing that worried the party were 2 statues of armored trolls. Smelling a trap, the party sends Dalron into the room to search.
He found a chest under the bed area. He searched it and found a trap. He botched the attempt to disarm the trap and the trap triggered, and so did 4 identical traps. He had to make 5 reflex saves vs. a Fire Trap spell. He succeeded on all but the last 1, taking a mere 16 points of damage.
Inside the chest the party found 900gp, 1000sp, and a jeweled bottle that registers to Zorak as lingering magic, but no longer magical. That's when the party realizes what the demon really was. This was the home of the leader of the trolls.
The party decides to rest in this room as it is comfortable in a temperature in addition to the luxuriousness of it. But they definitely post a guard and stay clear of the statues...just in case.
They wake up refreshed.
Zorak determines the magical abilities of the items they just found; a suit of chainmail +1, a ring of feather falling, and a unholy keen scimitar +3.
Everyone in the party, except Torin, sees the need and duty to destroy the scimitar. They decide to find a suitable place to destroy this evil item.
The party then discusses a deal they didn't like taking, but feel they had little choice in it. They decide to head back to the fire giant queen, and take her down.
The DM, knowing that a situation like this won't take 15 minutes, says "Ok, session over..."
So we'll pick up next week with the party's plan to bring down the big queen.
We already knew Brian was not going to be able to make it. And Joe made us aware that he was going to be late. Then Dale said he'd be even later thanks to some family matters. And finally, Justin for whatever reason thought we weren't playing.
So we just started a little later than usual and played a little later than usual. So for about 1/2 hour, Aaron and Jeff each played 3 characters.
When the session was in full swing, Jeff was playing Torin, & Aaron was playing Thunderclease.
Jeff & Brian will not be able to make the next session. Brian is missing for a variety of reasons. Jeff has some kind of job-related super-training.
Otherwise, the majority of this session consisted of 1 big fight...
Oh, and Joe did read the blog last week.
Map
The last session ended with Torin scouting a few of the rooms near room J27 and reporting his findings to the party.
The party discussed their options (at this point the players were only Aaron & Jeff, so the discussion was about 5 seconds long). The decision was made to attack the 2 trolls in the northern passageway and push it along. And they wanted to try to get the help from the azers in room J39, since the azers weren't evil and were enslaved by others in the region.
So they sent the invisible Torin back to this room to talk them into assisting them against the trolls.
Room J39: This large room had a large layered pit in it where 4 azers toiled to get the many gemstones present. Twelve other azers walked back and forth along the northern edge, clearing rubble and collecting any newly harvested gems.
Torin snuck up on the nearest azer and spoke to him.
"Don't be alarmed. We need your help with fighting trolls." (Or something to that extent.)
One below average diplomacy roll later.
"Intruders!"
The azer took a blind swing at the invisible Torin and connected. The other azers grabbed some makeshift weapons and came to the sole azer's aid.
Torin ran away.
So the party prepped to fight a couple of trolls.
Jeff: "This will be a quick fight. I won't need Righteous Might."
Hehehe.
Room J30: The party entered this room from the souther corridor. The top edge of that passageway was blocked by 2 trolls, as had been scouted out by the invisible Torin. The smoke of the region prevented vision from reaching any farther w/o getting closer. Previous attempts by Torin to get a closer look resulted in very low Move Silent rolls, which alerted the trolls and forced them to pay more attention.
The party had cast most of their standard buffing spells (Haste, Enlarge, Bless, Prayer, Greater Invisibility, etc.), and they rushed the trolls.
They had thought they would only have to face 2 trolls and this would be a minor blip of a combat...
What they see as they head north through the hallway is a large brass colored room with a large fire in the middle, 10 trolls hunched very close to the fire, and a very large demon bathing in the fire.
The demon delivers the standard Big Bad Evil Guy speech (BBEG) equivalent to "Destroy the intruders and feast on their bones!"
Round 1: Standard positioning and attacks on both sides. Size works against the trolls as the party attempts to set up the standard "Conga line of Death". Valden casts Righteous Might. Zorak drops a Fireball on several of the trolls. The trolls are last on the list of initiative, and so 2 of them get knocked down by the party before they can get some return fighting in. The demon flies up, casts a quickened Scorching Ray at Thunderclease, and then turns invisible.
For most of the rest of the combat, the trolls face a constant stream of setbacks as the party is able to limit the troll's attacking positions. In fact the trolls are almost a footnote in the whole combat. They act as a roadblock for the demon.
Round 2: The party proceeds to pound the trolls. No sign of the demon. The closest members of the party make notice that the trolls seems to be unusually close to the large fire.
Round 3: Continued troll pounding. The bodies of the large unconscious trolls begin to block the combat area, slowing movement. Torin and Dalron, and anyone w/o the ability to face a standing troll, chops up trolls even further. When they hit -100hp, they were considered out of combat, to be easily dispatched at a more convenient moment.
Round 4: The piles of troll bodies gets higher. Zorak attempts to back up a few squares and hits an invisible barrier. The rear party members step into action and take blind swings at what they believe to be the demon. They are correct. The demon had intended to take out the rear of the party, but its plan had been ruined by the confinement of the space. It's plan ruined, and the party more than capable of dealing plenty of damage to it, the demon lashes out with another quickened Scorching Ray this time at Zorak (with a crit), and then turns invisible again and flies off.
Round 5: The party returns to teaching the trolls a lesson. Valden casts Invisibility Purge, rendering the demon, Zorak, and Dalron visible. The demon at the time is above the party about 20' and out of reach of melee weapons. Zorak blasts it with a Cone of Cold, hurting it further.
The demon says "Would Master like me to summon some assistance?"
One of the trolls replies "Uh...yeah."
The demon waves his arms and a large red dragon appears behind the party.
It takes a single swing at Dalron and misses.
Trolls move away from the mouth of the hallway, in preparation for a fiery blast.
Round 6: Thunderclease stays near the main battle while the rest of the party turns to fight this new threat. A couple of Dispel Magic spells dispels the dragon and reveals it to be merely a distracting illusion.
"Would Master like some healing?"
"Uhm...ok."
The demon waves his hands and many of the trolls are healed. It then lands back into the fire.
The trolls return and finally begin to inflict some damage.
Round 7: "Would master like me to finish them off with some lightning?"
"Yes!"
The party gets assaulted with a Chain Lightning, centered on Thunderclease. Low rolling on the DM's part makes the damage laughable. (The DM then "retired" those dice.)
Another Cone of Cold hits the demon.
By the end of the round only 4 trolls remain and the demon has taken over 150 damage.
Round 8: The demon flies off to the side and out of sight of the party, but not after hitting Zorak with a quickened Scorching Ray. It then filled the combat area with a Wall of Fire.
More trolls get a nice nap. But not before getting a chance to return some damage.
Round 9: The demon, having only 10hp left, charges Thunderclease, attacks him, and gets a crit that deals 30 points of damage. This puts Thunderclease pretty low on hp, and his rage is close to ending.
But Valden is able to do the last little bit of damage to the demon. At that point it burns down to nothingness, dropping its equipment on the floor.
Valden, using his flaming greatsword +2, goes around and finishes off any still-twitching trolls.
Krieg and Valden then hand out enough healing to drain them of every remaining spell they have over 1st level.
-----
Changes to this encounter (as later revealed to the players):
There was a pit trap in the hallway. Those who fell in it took 10d6 falling damage and then had to make a saving throw or to be polymorphed into a grey ooze. It felt this was a bit much with a big fight nearby. So I removed it and made some other alterations to the demon.
The demon was really an efreeti. It had less hp than it needed to survive a fight with the PCs. So I gave it +100hp and some spell resistance of 17. But I also weakened its wishes during the fight because a properly used wish could be a TPK. Three wishes guarantees it.
And finally the trolls were heavily changed. Their AC was increased to 24, regeneration increased to 7, and all of their stats had been boosted.
-----
Finding only the demon's sword, armor, and magic ring, the party badly needed rest and began to search for it.
Room J31: This was small but immaculate closet. The party moved on.
Room J33: This room was a bedroom of paradise and decadence. The only thing that worried the party were 2 statues of armored trolls. Smelling a trap, the party sends Dalron into the room to search.
He found a chest under the bed area. He searched it and found a trap. He botched the attempt to disarm the trap and the trap triggered, and so did 4 identical traps. He had to make 5 reflex saves vs. a Fire Trap spell. He succeeded on all but the last 1, taking a mere 16 points of damage.
Inside the chest the party found 900gp, 1000sp, and a jeweled bottle that registers to Zorak as lingering magic, but no longer magical. That's when the party realizes what the demon really was. This was the home of the leader of the trolls.
The party decides to rest in this room as it is comfortable in a temperature in addition to the luxuriousness of it. But they definitely post a guard and stay clear of the statues...just in case.
They wake up refreshed.
Zorak determines the magical abilities of the items they just found; a suit of chainmail +1, a ring of feather falling, and a unholy keen scimitar +3.
Everyone in the party, except Torin, sees the need and duty to destroy the scimitar. They decide to find a suitable place to destroy this evil item.
The party then discusses a deal they didn't like taking, but feel they had little choice in it. They decide to head back to the fire giant queen, and take her down.
The DM, knowing that a situation like this won't take 15 minutes, says "Ok, session over..."
So we'll pick up next week with the party's plan to bring down the big queen.
posted by BlueBlackRed at 10:05 AM
2 Comments:
For what it's worth the 'pathetic' chain lightning sent Thunderclese to -12, before you add his 20 hp from rage's con adjustment. At the time he was retreating back to the group to get healed.
The 'demons' final charge also sent him to -8 or so, before the extra con hitpoints.
I believe Zorak and Dalron were also into the single digits. It didn't seem close durring the game, but I chalk this one up to another lucky survival. Had that chain lightning been 10 points stronger....
Hey, I liked that combat.
I was able to keep it challenging without going too far in a too easy or too hard direction.
You all didn't event care about the trolls. That danged efreeti kept messing you all up (and vice versa).
I would have liked to have seen what would have happened had Zorak not backed up into the efreeti and exposing that he was there. He most likely would have dropped Zorak with his 2 swings (good chance of a crit) and the quickened Scorching Ray.
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