The Valley #24-25

Yes, it’s been a bit since I’ve posted last.

The reason is simple: available time for me to write + how often we’ve gamed recently = longer intervals between posting.

From what I’ve heard of the PHB3, I’m not buying it.

Anyone who’s read this blog long enough knows that I hate psionics; mainly because in the previous editions it used an alternate version of “magic” to create the same effects.

I know that a lot of people hated the cast and forget version of the Vancian magic system. I actually liked it until high levels, but even then, it wasn’t bad.

Psionics used points. So while it had effects like magic, it wasn’t used like magic.

I honestly thought that with 4E the whole point system would be unneeded as everyone would use the at-will/encounter/daily power system.

From what I’ve been told, I was wrong.

So no thanks WotC/Hasbro. You once again failed to listen.

Ok WotC/Hasbro, listen to me now.

I’m not buying your books unless there is something of value in them that is more than a dozen pages of things I can and will use.

So unless you put value in those books by making them more than rehashed and failed ideas, and include a download for the pdf so I can copy/paste information from it for ease in making modules and characters, then I see no reason to spend $30-40 of my money on you when I can use it to buy something else for me, like a WoW game card.

Session 24
Admon (Scott); level 10 human war wizard
Edward (Aaron); level 10 human paladin of Brekaneth
Ander (Dale); level 10 halfling sorcerer

Justin had to cancel at the last minute, so my planned adventure had to be partially scrapped and reworked (and thus we ended our night a bit earlier than usual).

Dale is back in all of his usual low-rolling glory.

I wrote Duncan out of the module by saying that he went back to Silverhome to figure out what the runes from last session meant, since they appear to be created by dwarven hands.

While he was doing that, Admon and Edward rested at the runed door.

Eventually Ander showed up, and there was an “Oh, it’s you.” kind of reunion.

Ander had been wandering in this direction because he felt that another Chaos Spark was coming, and it led him here.

Rather than wait for Duncan to return, they decide to check out the door, and if possible, open it.

They could faintly hear something moving around in water on the other side.

They were also able to roughly translate the runes to be saying “do not enter”.

After that they opened the door by beating and blasting on the dried clay until it opened.

Inside they found a pair of vine horrors (with spellcasting abilities) and a pair of very large and very hungry snakes.

This fight was entertaining to me. They started the battle by nuking the vine horrors so hard that both were bloodied by the end of round 1, and one was at 1hp by then end of round 2.

I thought I was going to have to find a way to pump up the encounter, but then my dice rolls kicked in.

Every round it seemed that there were always 2 PC’s that had been blinded by the vine horrors, and 1-2 of them grabbed by the snakes.

Soon it was the PC’s who were in bad shape, but not so bad they couldn’t recover and kill both snakes and one horror and take a moment to rest.

Then the Chaos Spark arrived and Ander felt that it felt “off”.

It spit out some warped humanoids that were only interested in killing PC’s and then it started randomly attacking the group with a set of shadowy tentacles that dazed people for two rounds straight.

The fight was not all that tough on the party, and the group got the Chaos Spark under control (using rituals in the form of Arcana skill checks).

When it finally closed, it burst back open for a brief moment and a human-shaped figured fell to the ground.

The figure was Girvan Torl but something had happened to him.

He was utterly hairless, wearing his armor, drenched in sweat, and had a death grip on his sword.

He was in such agony that he did not seem to respond to anyone or anything until they got him back to the Grand Temple of Brekaneth. Only then did he seem to make a change for the better and relax just a touch.

Due to Edward’s less than positive view of Torl, the group made sure to bring him openly into town, rather than secretly.

Father Adrek thanked and told them they had done a good job, but the party knows that they had just been lucky.

After the clerics removed Torl’s armor (he still could not be coaxed into releasing his sword) they found something else different about Torl. On his chest, upper arms, and back were tattoos of a symbol; 5 purple “T”’s joined at the bottom in a star formation.

Edward immediately began suspecting that whatever was on the other side of the Chaos Spark had tainted Torl.

In actuality, Aaron is just looking for an excuse to say “taint” more often.

While Edward and Ander were having fun at the church, Admon decided to take the frozen package of vine horror to the mayor.

Admon attempted to carry on the same way with the mayor that Duncan does, but the mayor was very business-like and not at all cordial. But the mission was accomplished, so it wasn’t a big deal.

The following day they resumed reading Ivellios’s tomes and were able to get some data deciphered about Ivellios’s dealing with outsiders of the plane.

There was information about a lust devil named Stefforri that he conversed with using arcane means. She was unable to subvert him in any form, but he was able to get information about her which more or less allowed the group to find out what special powers Stefforri had.

Unfortunately, I tried to put a tiny bit of emphasis on a specific ability of hers, but they missed it.

During Session 25, while repeating the information to Justin, I did the same thing. Once again, they missed it.

Let’s see if you can see what they missed:

Charming Kiss (std, at-will): Charm:
+14 vs. AC; on a hit, make a secondary attack against same target
Secondary Attack: +12 vs. Will; target cannot attack Stefforri, & if adjacent to her when she is targeted by a melee or a ranged attack, the target interposes itself & becomes the target of the attack instead. The effects last until the succubus or one of its allies attacks the target or until the succubus dies.
If the target is still under the effect of this power at the end of the encounter, the succubus can sustain the effect indefinitely by kissing the target once per day. The succubus can affect only one target at a time with its charming kiss.

Session 25
Admon (Scott); level 10 human war wizard
Duncan (Justin); level 10 Silverhome dwarven cleric of Moradin
Edward (Aaron); level 10 human paladin of Brekaneth
Ander (Dale); level 10 halfling sorcerer

We jumped back in time with Duncan, to give him an opportunity to find out more about the runes, but he found out nothing more than what the party already had.

The next morning they had already taken care of business without him.

The party is still searching for “living silver blood”, but can find nothing of what that could be.

They keep returning to the conclusion of dragon’s blood, but the dragon’s are stonewalling them on that idea.

So Duncan goes to talk to Thlyria Isara to see if any elven scholars would know of something like that. She promises to ask, but does not expect them to know anything that Ivellios would not already have recorded.

He asks her if there is anyone else who may know. She responds with Lord Tonus.

So they look around town for him and can’t find him until they say his name aloud.

He appears and politely asks them what they need.

They tell him and he points them in the direction of a hermit wizard. The wizard never keeps the same name for long but he specializes in many odd magicks.

He lives in a magically cut cave not far from Heroes’ Rest.

Ander asks Tonus what has happened to all the sorcerers. They seem to have disappeared.

Tonus flatly tells him that several are probably working for the dragons, and some have died, like Fiermach (by an accident he caused).

Almost immediately they head out to where Tonus had pointed them.

Well where Stefforri, in the shape of Tonus, had pointed them.

The ambush scared the party at first – a hill giant, a wyvern, ogres, worgs, and goblins all magically appeared and surrounded them.

Unfortunately for the monsters, this party can dish out some damage, including some nasty blast attacks.

A few rounds later only the wyvern and giant were left. When the giant was dropped the wyvern flew off.

It was barely a challenge to the party, though it did scare them at first.
(How would you like it the DM put 8 large minis on the map, plus a dragon, and some scattered other minis?)

Among the loot was a piece of parchment with their pictures with skulls next to them and a pile of gold bars on it. They had been set up.

In spite of the expectation of a setup, they found the cave, but it was long abandoned. It was empty and held the faintest traces of powerful magic that had once been used here.

Empty handed, they return to town.

Over the next few days Duncan begins to pay money out of his pocket to begin his campaign for the city council.

He also tells the mayor his plans, and the mayor tells him he can get some people to help him out.

Girvan Torl is up and moving around at this point. He’s still hairless and very weak, but refuses to not wear his armor or carry his sword.

Edward feels that Torl may know about what’s on the other side of the “chaos sparks”.

With the faintest of voices, say “I sure hope he’s not tainted.”

Torl hears the comment and immediately calls Edward on it.

He orders Edward to the training grounds for an immediate lesson.

With a decent crowd surround them, Girvan makes several misses.

(Edward has 29+ AC while I kept rolling 3’s and 4’s).

Edward missed with a roll of 19 (not a total of 19, a roll of 19), so he switches to attacks that targets Torl’s Reflex defense and proceeds to roll 19, 20, 20, and 18 while Torl continues to or barely hit.

Edward knows he’s in bad shape, because even the minor attacks are forcing him to lay on hands and maneuver well.

Then Torl gets a crit with an at-will, and deals 50 points of subdual damage.

A few minutes later Torl slaps him awake with “learn some respect.”

Ander tries to talk to the dragons, but he gets their “answering machine”.

He searches for members of the sorcerers’ cabal and comes up empty yet again.

He heads home and sees a man on his balcony.

Tonus says, “I hear you were looking for me.”
“We were. I thought we had found you.”
“You my friend are in a scary situation. You have all the information you need to see clearly, but your not looking around. You’re failing to read the fine print. Whoever you saw yesterday was not me. I am simply here to say read the fine print.”

(As you can tell, I’m getting pushy with the “open your eyes” hints. But since we’re all guys at the table, hints do not get noticed.)