Session #31

Ok, the players asked this session "Why didn't Serratine use that Ring of Wishes against us?"

Good question. The absolute honest answer...it didn't even occur to me. That ring became so much of a plot item that her using it was not even a concept. But having said that, I couldn't have used it anyway. Had she used it, the game would have been over. The whole campaign, 10 months of our lives, out the window because of a single magic item. Not something any of us were keen on doing.

Ok, now are you here for a dragon fight?!? Well too bad. It didn't happen. You'll have to read on to find out exactly what happened.

Joe had to skip this session, and Dale had to leave 20 minutes into it. Bad cheeseburger or something...

He apologized to my wife for what he did to our bathroom...(shudder)...

Ok, I didn't let the party know, but they changed regions.

For the first time they mapped out almost every single room in region J. So their map showed an obvious gap of where the dragon's prison/lair was.

But this DM wasn't giving them jack-squat for information. Including, this time, not telling them when they were changing regions. It's just plain fun messing with players' heads like that. Keeps them off balance.

But anyway, this map has some obvious problems with it. Nothing you can't ignore though.

Hack-a-map

The map won't even come into play for awhile though.

The party had to return to the garrison for some information and assistance.

I'm beginning to really hate the Wind Walk spell.

First, they went to talk to Mythlyrian once again to ask for help. He had just a few moments to spare. He mentioned that the garrison made contact with some another remnant of a garrison or two. (Read that as: more regions were being cleared as the party clears their own regions.)

Long story short, the party asked him for any assistance with defeating Tyrus. Mythlyrian said he could promise nothing, but would look for volunteers. He also told them that it was direct divine intervention by Tyr that imprisonned Tyrus.

After that the party, well Krieg, was forced to cast Commune. About an hour of game time was killed debating on the exact questions to ask.

100xp later...

12 questions that can be answered in "yes", "no", "maybe", or "I don't know".

The format is:
Question
Answer
Their response

Question #1 - Do we need to defeat Tyrus to make it to the next region?
No
Hooray

Question #2 - Is he weakened?
No
Boo

Question #3 - Is he frozen?
No
Boo

Question #4 - Can a wish imprison the dragon?
Maybe
Jerk

Question #5 - Will wishing directly to Tyr to restore Tyrus's imprisonment work?
Maybe
Jerk

Question #6 - Will "I wish for Tyrus's prison ceiling to collapse on him" work?
No
Thought so

Question #7 - Will wishing Tyrus to be reburied in ice work?
No
Eh

Question #8 - Is he in the northwestern section of the Pyrefaust?
Yes
Alright, we got one.

Question #9 - Do we get to his prison by digging through the room with the ice devil?
No
Hmmm

Question #10 - Is he a god?
No
Well that's a relief.

Question #11 - Do we get to his prison by going through the wyvern rooms?
No
Whew

Question #12 - Can we defeat him in a straight up fight?
Maybe
You bastard

They should have known better on that last one. While not probable, it is possible for everyone to roll natural 20's over and over again while the DM just can't help with getting natural 1's.

But oh well. They knew that asking the DM for excessive divine answers was risky.

While Wind Walk is still in effect, the party goes with their only route.

So while flying the party scouts out...

Room N1: This is a central area of tunnels. While the party is investigating a still smoldering fire, Valden makes his spot check.

What happened was that the noise that the mephits make whenever the party is around alerted the drow to the coming of the party. So the drow prepped for an ambush.

But the DM rolled like crap. Two Dispel Magics from the drow failed miserably.

The party flew away at high speed. Apparently the 5 rounds it would take for the party to return to solid form during combat wasn't too appetizing.

The party flew away, buffed up, and returned.
But the drow were gone.

I spent like 2 hours making some custom NPCs. Out the window. Eh, at least I can't say it's the first time that happened. Plus the party missed out on some minor loot that could have helped in a dragon fight.

So now on with the real Room N1.

Now that the party was in physical form, the dwarves got a closer look at this area. They realized that it any loud sounds or explosions could collapse the whole area.

And they also found a large skeletal creature rooting through the fire pit.

It, a devourer, attempted to talk to the party, talking to them in a very Gollum kind of way. "Yes master. Kind master. I'm not evil because I have a choice master, I must swallow the souls of the dead because of the hunger." And so on.

Senmonious: "Is he evil?" (Radar on.)
DM: Yup
Krieg: "Ash him boys."

Thunderclease charges him. Does 40% of the devourer's hp in a single hit. The devourer runs for it. Cleez's attack of opportunity leaves it with 4hp.
Cleez follows...combat over.

So the party moves on through the tunnels. Quietly and quickly so the ceiling won't fall in on them. Going so far as to casting a Silence spell on a rock and carrying it with them.

Then the party runs into a floating red ball of light. The party approaches and it moves away, never letting them get closer than 5'.

Finally someone realizes that Cleez is holding the Silence rock. Cleez moves away.

Then they are greeted with barrage of comments and questions from the sphere of light.

Another long story short:
- Tyrus's lair is indeed to the south.
- A cloud of fire recently flew past this area.
- The area to the east is in fact a prison for some powerful undead. And their is one particular undead in there that is trying to break free. Just like Tyrus.
- Tyrus and this other undead have a pact to free one another.

During this entire time, Vrisht, the lantern archon, turns into a needy, bored, and lonely celestial who can't leave his post. He all but begs the party to return soon and talk with him.

Krieg: "So is there anything to the south we need to worry about?"
Vrisht: "Yeah, there's a dragon down there."
Heh, walked right into that one.

Room J72 The Lair and Prison of Tyrus, Devourer of Kingdoms:
The party came to a large puddle of water, created through a slow steady trickle of water coming from a wall of ice, with a tunnel in it. The tunnel went straight up 60' in a matter of 20'. It was just wide enough for a burning hot ogre-magi to go through :)

Zorak cast Fly on only 2 people. The party had decided that unless there were some new and interesting circumstances, they weren't going to fight the dragon.

Why? Oh it's pretty simple. It's a CR23 and they are a group of 6 10th-12th level PCs armed with some toothpicks and a wish.

So Thunderclease and Valden flew up to scout things out. Cleez had the rock of Silence. Valden had the Ring of Wishes and he was a cleric of the Luck domain (he gets one free reroll per day).

What they saw:
A large cavernous room coated in ice. On the floor, in the center of the cavern, was a large pile of gold. And on the pile of gold was a giant sleeping red dragon.

Well that was enough to make the party think twice. If Thunderclease could sneak up to the dragon and get a coup de grace on the dragon, it would be an immediate win. A backup plan was being conceived. If an Otto's Irresistable Dance worked, the party would have a surprise round, and 2-5 rounds more of the party attacking a helpless dragon.

Ok, now here's what the DM knew...
The pile of treasure was real.
The dragon was not.
He was waiting behind a column of stone waiting for the party to fall for the ruse.

Can you imagine the cry of anguish from a group of players who fell for a simple trap like that?

I know I can...but nooooo.
The party chose to be cautious.

There are old adventurers and there are bold adventurers. But there are no old, bold adventurers.

Thunderclease tossed the rock of Silence and Valden raised up his hand with the Ring of Wishes and spoke.

(They spent probably 10 minutes on wording this one just right too.)

"I wish that the god Tyr will hear my request to restore the justful imprisonment of the ancient red dragon, Tyrus, the Devourer of Kingdoms, who now is before us."

Had I really wanted to, I could have totally punched some major holes in the wording. But their intentions were clear, and since their wish was a request from a god, it was granted.

A large apparition appeared before the 2 adventurers. It was a 10' tall man with an eye missing and a hand missing. Valden immediately recognized it as Tyr, the god of justice.

"Arrogant mortals, you have called on the power of the gods. But your goals are just, and your deeds are true. So I shall grant your wish. But only for a time. In one months time (4 tenday weeks), you must return to give justice to this dragon. Should you not return, or should you fail in defeating him, he will once again be free."

The apparition fades. And charging from the background is a very angry dragon.

(In the same kind of voice of Megatron from Transformers: Beastwars.)
"You will pay for this. Yes. You will suffer for this dearly."

Then the ice begins growing rapidly from everywhere.

Valden and Cleez dive back down the tunnel.

Hokey ending? Yeah. But hey, we're a bunch of grown men playing with little figurines and speaking in funny voices. If you expected more than that from us, then you're not reading the right blog.
:)

Would Tyrus have slaughtered the party had they tried to fight him?
Most likely.
It wouldn't have been a one-sided fight, but the party simply doesn't have the ability to withstand the amount of firepower a dragon of that magnitude can dish out.

Now, would I have killed them had they attacked the dragon foolishly?
Definitely. Momma didn't raise no chump dragons.

Next week. A new region.
Finally.