Sean's Campaign - Session #19
Another good week and this one had its fair share of role-playing and combat.
No Brian this week, and Dale cancelled at the last minute (literally) due to him feeling ill. Allen played Zelast and Aaron played Artemis. Justin showed up this week so we poofed Trebor back in.
Since everyone that was going to show showed early, we started a little early.
The leaders of the town had to meet that red dragon in the Ring of Death in two days time, leaving one day for the party to get in on that meeting.
Lindo reported his year long expedition to his brothers at his order (I think I called them the Order of the Shining Fist). They thanked him and offered him an opportunity to be their addition to the city mayor’s escort to the meeting. During the evening he used his skill in acrobatics and tumbling to perform for the crowd at the inn.
Sorra reported to the local knighthood (the Order of the Shining Shield I believe) to offer aid to them as a trainer, mercenary, or whatever she could do that they needed. But a natural 1 on a diplomacy check gathered her the ire of the knight captain. Something about her just irritated the guy (maybe he’s a misogynist), so he sent her off to be the bodyguard of the mayor and his wife for the meeting with the dragon.
Ari didn’t bother trying to get in on the trip to the meeting. She chose to hang around the selfish and arrogant upper crust of the city’s merchant families until she found out that all of the available talking to her were more interesting in her potential money and crown than anything else about her.
Since Dale and Brian weren’t around, and Justin was still updating Trebor, only Sorra and Lindo went on the trip.
The next morning an escort of 11 city guards, Lindo, and Sorra joined the mayor and his wife for their journey. The mayor seemed somewhat detached from the world, mixed with impatience and arrogance. His wife however was the icon of politeness and diplomacy.
The area north of Lataan is a volcanic area, and the Ring of Death is a grouping of hot springs that form a ring.
Late in the day the party arrived at the ring, as did the dragon (who had several smaller dragons scout for him before hand).
The dragon asked for the money, and the mayor’s wife said they brought 25,000 in gold plus a magic bag it was brought in (a simple bag of holding). The dragon scoffed as he knew that the merchant families of the town could afford much more than that paltry sum. He demanded 100,000 gold and told the town good luck. With that he flew off.
Some well rolled spot checks later and both Sorra and Lindo noticed a tiny smile on the face of the mayor’s wife.
Lindo questioned the mayor’s wife (while the mayor himself barely noticed a thing the entire time), and accused her of holding out. Of course she denied it. (Later on the knight captain would place the blame on Sorra for it.)
When that group returned the next morning, Lindo and Sorra told the group what they saw and Ari told them what she saw during the night. Late at night she saw some large shapes coming out of the water, but couldn’t make them out quite clearly. She alerted others, finding that she wasn’t the only one to see them. A few moments later and a rainstorm started pouring down.
In a rare bout of “ballsiness” Lindo decided to spy on the mayor’s wife, alone.
The following is the result of some of the most amazing rolls I have seen in nearly 5 years. Lindo spotted her leaving the mayor’s mansion while wearing a disguise (natural 20 on spot). He followed behind perfectly with a couple of move silently and hide-in-shadows skill checks (all 4 results were above 25). And when she went into the sewer, he continued to follow her (2 more sets of rolls, same results – not a single roll under 12 before his +18’s from his skills).
She finally stopped at a large intersection of the sewer where she stopped to converse with a huge creature. It had the general shape of a hydra, except its single mouth was in it abdomen and each of its ten heads ended not with a head, but with an eye.
Amazingly, Lindo’s hiding check beat the spot check of the thing with ten eyes!
His listen check was enough to get a little information.
- The dragon would not be helping the city.
- General Takral’s troops are eating more food than is available, so he will be sending his weakest troops in first as a suicide strike to thin out the numbers.
- The kraken is doing its part.
Then she left the “eyedra” and went into her own room in the sewer.
Lindo snuck away and ran back to tell the party what he saw.
They weren’t sure what to make of the eyedra, but they wanted to find out what was in that room. So the next morning they prepped up and entered.
They were able to catch the eyedra by surprise (it was sleeping and botched a listen check while they rolled well enough to not have to worry about it).
It had a not-so-great initiative roll, and they had a surprise round. Even though it was a CR14 with the same powers as a beholder (minus the central eye), the party took it down before it had its second action.
Note: Lindo’s amazing rolls ended the moment combat started.
But it did cost the party. Artemis did 63 points of damage to it with a Sudden Empowered Orb of Cold on the first round, making him a huge target. So it cost him all of his d20 re-rolls and his only d6 roll to survive the Disintegrate, Flesh to Stone, and Finger of Death eye rays. (This is why I gave them the d20 re-rolls – it’s hard to balance an encounter for 7 PC’s.)
Next they checked out the door. Trebor found no trap, but there was one. When Zelast or Sorra opened the door they had to save against a Phantasmal Killer, they did.
Inside the room they found a large plush bed with some naughty things on it (like handcuffs), a large mirror, a dresser, and a large pentagram on the floor.
They avoided the pentagram and Sorra checked out the bed. The bed was a mimic with some rogue levels, and hit her for about 20 points of damage. That was all it did because it was summarily slaughtered by the party.
They did find a chest of treasure hidden in the wall behind the mirror. Other than a Rod of Wonder and a gold and emerald necklace (which Lindo knew to be the ceremonial necklace to be worn by whoever is mayor), there wasn’t all that much of interest in the room other than a book found by Trebor. It was pretty much pictures of the mayor’s wife with bat wings performing acts best not described here (but you can find it just about everywhere else on the net if you look hard enough).
Trebor felt the book trying to draw him in, but he was able to close the book in time. Though when checked with a Detect Magic spell, the book exuded no magical aura. Trebor held onto it anyway.
Next the party decided to sneak into the mayor’s mansion to get some more information. As usual, things didn’t quite go their way.
The mansion was in lockdown, so Ari, Trebor, and Lindo invisibly climbed in through a window on the second floor. Had Ari not rolled a 6 for her move silently check they might have something more. But instead they heard a woman casting a Teleport spell, and entered the room.
The smell of brimstone was in the air of the mayor’s bedroom, and they found the mayor alone in his bead. He was ashen white and dead with a very recently slit open throat.
They all knew that if they were found they’d be blamed so Ari cast Teleport and sent the three of them to the town’s fountain.
All this happened while the rest of the group was watching the mansion from a distance. All they saw was about 30 minutes after half their group entered the house, all hell broke loose in the mansion when the guards found the mayor.
Once the two halves of the group got back together, they went to their rooms and tried to be inconspicuous.
They carry the mayor’s necklace, no one knew where they were during the time the mayor was killed, and the mayor’s wife is missing. Things don’t look good for the party in the near future.
Nothing happened on that little story arc as of yet, but another part of the story occurred.
The weak first wave attacked the city shortly after 4pm the next day.
First the party saw two large tentacles rise up out of the water past the harbor. The tentacles moved around and light shimmered around them as they cast a spell, then the weather darkened as storm clouds gathered.
Then the alarms were raised that the monstrous army had returned.
By the time the party made it to the nearest wall the horde was less than 300 away from the city wall and the city guard stood ready with spear and crossbows.
The horde consisted of orcs (x24), ettins (x4), ogres (x8), hill giants (x4), and athaches (x4), all with class levels. They charged the city wall.
We only dealt with a fraction of the overall combat itself. On the party’s side was themselves, 10 city guards (level 4 warriors), and a sergeant (level 6 fighter).
It is safe to assume that where the party wasn’t there were knights, monks, and city guards.
The party started off strong and stayed there.
The horde had to clear nearly 200’ of distance, which was hindered much when Ari placed Solid Fog spell in their path. This happened while the guards, Zelast, Lindo, Sorra, and Trebor filled the air with arrows and bolts (Trebor usually did more damage than the rest combined). And of course Artemis nuked any mass of creatures he could.
By the time the horde made it to the wall, they were down by a third to a half of their original numbers.
When the horde made it to the walls the orcs began climbing while the huge and large creatures attacked the guards and the party. Most of the guards didn’t last too long in that mess.
Sorra, Zelast, and Lindo were able to do much more damage in melee than through ranged attacks. Artemis was much more effect at handing out the damage with all of the horde getting bunched up at the wall. Ari was flying invisibly (greater) and otherwise control the combat with her spells.
By the time they realized how much damage that Artemis was doing, it was too late. Only one attach escaped, and even then only barely.
The combat was won in this area, so the party ran to aid where they could.
And that is where we stopped for the evening.
No Brian this week, and Dale cancelled at the last minute (literally) due to him feeling ill. Allen played Zelast and Aaron played Artemis. Justin showed up this week so we poofed Trebor back in.
Since everyone that was going to show showed early, we started a little early.
The leaders of the town had to meet that red dragon in the Ring of Death in two days time, leaving one day for the party to get in on that meeting.
Lindo reported his year long expedition to his brothers at his order (I think I called them the Order of the Shining Fist). They thanked him and offered him an opportunity to be their addition to the city mayor’s escort to the meeting. During the evening he used his skill in acrobatics and tumbling to perform for the crowd at the inn.
Sorra reported to the local knighthood (the Order of the Shining Shield I believe) to offer aid to them as a trainer, mercenary, or whatever she could do that they needed. But a natural 1 on a diplomacy check gathered her the ire of the knight captain. Something about her just irritated the guy (maybe he’s a misogynist), so he sent her off to be the bodyguard of the mayor and his wife for the meeting with the dragon.
Ari didn’t bother trying to get in on the trip to the meeting. She chose to hang around the selfish and arrogant upper crust of the city’s merchant families until she found out that all of the available talking to her were more interesting in her potential money and crown than anything else about her.
Since Dale and Brian weren’t around, and Justin was still updating Trebor, only Sorra and Lindo went on the trip.
The next morning an escort of 11 city guards, Lindo, and Sorra joined the mayor and his wife for their journey. The mayor seemed somewhat detached from the world, mixed with impatience and arrogance. His wife however was the icon of politeness and diplomacy.
The area north of Lataan is a volcanic area, and the Ring of Death is a grouping of hot springs that form a ring.
Late in the day the party arrived at the ring, as did the dragon (who had several smaller dragons scout for him before hand).
The dragon asked for the money, and the mayor’s wife said they brought 25,000 in gold plus a magic bag it was brought in (a simple bag of holding). The dragon scoffed as he knew that the merchant families of the town could afford much more than that paltry sum. He demanded 100,000 gold and told the town good luck. With that he flew off.
Some well rolled spot checks later and both Sorra and Lindo noticed a tiny smile on the face of the mayor’s wife.
Lindo questioned the mayor’s wife (while the mayor himself barely noticed a thing the entire time), and accused her of holding out. Of course she denied it. (Later on the knight captain would place the blame on Sorra for it.)
When that group returned the next morning, Lindo and Sorra told the group what they saw and Ari told them what she saw during the night. Late at night she saw some large shapes coming out of the water, but couldn’t make them out quite clearly. She alerted others, finding that she wasn’t the only one to see them. A few moments later and a rainstorm started pouring down.
In a rare bout of “ballsiness” Lindo decided to spy on the mayor’s wife, alone.
The following is the result of some of the most amazing rolls I have seen in nearly 5 years. Lindo spotted her leaving the mayor’s mansion while wearing a disguise (natural 20 on spot). He followed behind perfectly with a couple of move silently and hide-in-shadows skill checks (all 4 results were above 25). And when she went into the sewer, he continued to follow her (2 more sets of rolls, same results – not a single roll under 12 before his +18’s from his skills).
She finally stopped at a large intersection of the sewer where she stopped to converse with a huge creature. It had the general shape of a hydra, except its single mouth was in it abdomen and each of its ten heads ended not with a head, but with an eye.
Amazingly, Lindo’s hiding check beat the spot check of the thing with ten eyes!
His listen check was enough to get a little information.
- The dragon would not be helping the city.
- General Takral’s troops are eating more food than is available, so he will be sending his weakest troops in first as a suicide strike to thin out the numbers.
- The kraken is doing its part.
Then she left the “eyedra” and went into her own room in the sewer.
Lindo snuck away and ran back to tell the party what he saw.
They weren’t sure what to make of the eyedra, but they wanted to find out what was in that room. So the next morning they prepped up and entered.
They were able to catch the eyedra by surprise (it was sleeping and botched a listen check while they rolled well enough to not have to worry about it).
It had a not-so-great initiative roll, and they had a surprise round. Even though it was a CR14 with the same powers as a beholder (minus the central eye), the party took it down before it had its second action.
Note: Lindo’s amazing rolls ended the moment combat started.
But it did cost the party. Artemis did 63 points of damage to it with a Sudden Empowered Orb of Cold on the first round, making him a huge target. So it cost him all of his d20 re-rolls and his only d6 roll to survive the Disintegrate, Flesh to Stone, and Finger of Death eye rays. (This is why I gave them the d20 re-rolls – it’s hard to balance an encounter for 7 PC’s.)
Next they checked out the door. Trebor found no trap, but there was one. When Zelast or Sorra opened the door they had to save against a Phantasmal Killer, they did.
Inside the room they found a large plush bed with some naughty things on it (like handcuffs), a large mirror, a dresser, and a large pentagram on the floor.
They avoided the pentagram and Sorra checked out the bed. The bed was a mimic with some rogue levels, and hit her for about 20 points of damage. That was all it did because it was summarily slaughtered by the party.
They did find a chest of treasure hidden in the wall behind the mirror. Other than a Rod of Wonder and a gold and emerald necklace (which Lindo knew to be the ceremonial necklace to be worn by whoever is mayor), there wasn’t all that much of interest in the room other than a book found by Trebor. It was pretty much pictures of the mayor’s wife with bat wings performing acts best not described here (but you can find it just about everywhere else on the net if you look hard enough).
Trebor felt the book trying to draw him in, but he was able to close the book in time. Though when checked with a Detect Magic spell, the book exuded no magical aura. Trebor held onto it anyway.
Next the party decided to sneak into the mayor’s mansion to get some more information. As usual, things didn’t quite go their way.
The mansion was in lockdown, so Ari, Trebor, and Lindo invisibly climbed in through a window on the second floor. Had Ari not rolled a 6 for her move silently check they might have something more. But instead they heard a woman casting a Teleport spell, and entered the room.
The smell of brimstone was in the air of the mayor’s bedroom, and they found the mayor alone in his bead. He was ashen white and dead with a very recently slit open throat.
They all knew that if they were found they’d be blamed so Ari cast Teleport and sent the three of them to the town’s fountain.
All this happened while the rest of the group was watching the mansion from a distance. All they saw was about 30 minutes after half their group entered the house, all hell broke loose in the mansion when the guards found the mayor.
Once the two halves of the group got back together, they went to their rooms and tried to be inconspicuous.
They carry the mayor’s necklace, no one knew where they were during the time the mayor was killed, and the mayor’s wife is missing. Things don’t look good for the party in the near future.
Nothing happened on that little story arc as of yet, but another part of the story occurred.
The weak first wave attacked the city shortly after 4pm the next day.
First the party saw two large tentacles rise up out of the water past the harbor. The tentacles moved around and light shimmered around them as they cast a spell, then the weather darkened as storm clouds gathered.
Then the alarms were raised that the monstrous army had returned.
By the time the party made it to the nearest wall the horde was less than 300 away from the city wall and the city guard stood ready with spear and crossbows.
The horde consisted of orcs (x24), ettins (x4), ogres (x8), hill giants (x4), and athaches (x4), all with class levels. They charged the city wall.
We only dealt with a fraction of the overall combat itself. On the party’s side was themselves, 10 city guards (level 4 warriors), and a sergeant (level 6 fighter).
It is safe to assume that where the party wasn’t there were knights, monks, and city guards.
The party started off strong and stayed there.
The horde had to clear nearly 200’ of distance, which was hindered much when Ari placed Solid Fog spell in their path. This happened while the guards, Zelast, Lindo, Sorra, and Trebor filled the air with arrows and bolts (Trebor usually did more damage than the rest combined). And of course Artemis nuked any mass of creatures he could.
By the time the horde made it to the wall, they were down by a third to a half of their original numbers.
When the horde made it to the walls the orcs began climbing while the huge and large creatures attacked the guards and the party. Most of the guards didn’t last too long in that mess.
Sorra, Zelast, and Lindo were able to do much more damage in melee than through ranged attacks. Artemis was much more effect at handing out the damage with all of the horde getting bunched up at the wall. Ari was flying invisibly (greater) and otherwise control the combat with her spells.
By the time they realized how much damage that Artemis was doing, it was too late. Only one attach escaped, and even then only barely.
The combat was won in this area, so the party ran to aid where they could.
And that is where we stopped for the evening.
posted by BlueBlackRed at 10:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home