(I apologize for any typos and formatting errors -- I'm posting this at 1:30 A.M. at the end of a long week. PCat and you other players, chime in if I've forgotten anything.)
So, for Session #9, we picked up in the Floodford Armory, where a small lizardman force had snuck in via water-gate and was attempting to steal back the weapons that we had recently stolen from them. I'm sorry to say that they were successful.
Still standing were 3 lizardman minions, plus a stronger lizardy fighter and a huge two-headed lizard-man wielding an enormous axe. (This last monster had been slowed for several rounds, but had just made its save.) Collectively they had encircled the mass of armory weapons in a large rope, and were attempting to join the rope-ends together. We had already killed several of them, and Cobalt had grabbed one end of the rope himself to forestall the ritual.
Unfortunately for him, that made him the lizards' number one priority. Four of them went for Cobalt, collectively puncturing him with a spear, knocking him aside, and yanking away the rope. The two-headed beastie then grabbed both ends of the rope and touched them together.
It vanished.
So did most of the weapons in the armory...along with every non-magical item within the rope's circumscribed area! While Cobalt, Stron and Caducity were just outside the area, Toiva and Caldwell were inside, and so they were instantly deprived of their clothing, armor, money and equipment. In Caldwell's case his weapons were gone as well.
On the bright side, the lizards seemed shocked that they weren't included in the teleportation exodus. And, as all of them were inside the circle, they too were robbed of their weapons. There followed a scrambling combat where the lizards (and Caldwell) ran for weapons, except for two-heads who was satisfied with biting.
The minions were dispatched fairly easily, and we eventually brought down the two-headed brute, but the lizard fighter (badly wounded) fled down the stairs toward the water gate. Against the doc's suggestion, the also-badly-wounded Cobalt took off after him, followed by Toiva. Cobalt stayed close enough to get one dagger swing on him, but the lizard dove into the water, seemingly destined to escape. Cobalt took a deep breath and dove in after him.
It turned out that the lizard was waiting for him, and speared Cobalt with a readied action, knocking him unconscious. Toiva had better luck, jumping in and knocking out the lizard with an attack that also brought Cobalt back to (relative) life.
By that time, a number of Floodford guards and citizens were waiting outside the armory for someone to lower the drawbridge. We obliged, and they rushed in to grab weapons themselves from the depleted stores, what with a lizardman invasion of the town underway. (In the interim, our heroes took a short rest, and Doc and Toiva found some replacement clothes and weapons. Sadly, between the two of them, I think we're out over 400 gp worth of money and supplies, which is a lot of money for 2nd-level types.)
One of the citizens had a message for us from Commander Pikeline. We were to divide our (Grey Guard) forces evenly between the main battlefront on the north side of town, and the governor's office to serve as bodyguard. (We still suspected the Governor's Dragonborn secretary of treason.) Of course, Pikeline didn't know that the majority of Grey Guardsman at the armory (including Logan) were unconscious; we made the decision to send all the militia members to the front, and go collectively ourselves to guard the governor.
At the gate to the governor's estate, a guardsmen greeted us with skepticism. When we explained that the Gov's life was in danger, the guard's response was: "That's just what Secretary Scrit told us you would say," and he tried to turn us away. A one-two punch of Toiva's silver-tongued diplomacy and Cobalt's looming intimidation convinced him to accompany us to the mansion, where the governor, secretary and several guests were enjoying a formal dinner despite the ongoing invasion of their town.
Ah, what an awkward moment! Keep in mind that we were soaked in blood, and Caldwell was wearing what was basically a loincloth scrounged from the armory when his clothes vanished. The Governor demanded to know why we were there, and his secretary insisted that our services were not needed. We confronted the two of them with our suspicions – especially the part about Scrit’s scheme to get the town militia drunk – but the Governor was still skeptical. (Strontium was great in this scene, deadpanning a list of suspicions that the rest of us were too diplomatic to present without proof.) We stood our ground and took up defensive positions.
Then the secretary became oily and accommodating, and offered to pour drinks and talk about things. We all suspected a poisoning attempt was in the offing, and the Doc grabbed the first glass to inspect it. That’s when Scrit turned to the governor, aghast, and declaimed: “Did you see that? He just slipped poison into your drink!” And while that was physically implausible, his words had some kind of magical oomph behind them such that Cobalt, at least, thought it was true!
Toiva countered with a heroic use of Astral Speech, scoring something like a 36 on a Diplomacy check as she presented the case of the secretary’s perfidy.
And then, pretty much everyone involved decided it was time for fisticuffs, and initiatives were rolled.
The Governor ducked under the table, and Stron dropped down also, providing him extra cover with his body, while firing Magic Missiles under the table.
The fight itself tougher than we expected out of a 5-on-1. Scrit had multiple close-blast powers, both of which did high damage, and one of which did knockback. Still, with our superior numbers we were able to keep him fairly well surrounded and flanked. Also, Toiva’s paladin challenge was hurting him repeatedly, as she stayed on the opposite side of Scrit from the rest of the party. Cobalt was knocked out again during this fight, since, running out of Healing Surges, he wasn’t at full health going in. Toiva finally finished off the villain with an angry charge, knocking him out.
Most of the dinner guests had been killed in Scrit’s blasts, but the governor and his wife had survived. A search of Scrit’s body and bedroom revealed plenty of damning evidence, including full and detailed invasion plans, lists of bribed city officials, and a small vial of deadly poison called “vipermist,” tailored especially for poisoning food.
The session’s postscript saw the Floodford defenders repel the invasion (one hopes assisted by our recovered battle plans, send by fast messenger to Pikeline). We were not part of it, drained and battered as we were... we rested up, had some non-poisoned wine, and – DING! -- will be 3rd level when the next session begins. Joy!
Tactical Notes:
- At the start of the session, Piratecat rolled three “20’s” in his first 4 rolls. Meanwhile, the party’s attack rolls, collectively, started with this sequence: 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 4, 7, 3. Ugh.
- The bad guys in the armor were four repurposed kobold minions, a standard Greenscale Hunter, and a Blackscale Bruiser (Level 6 Brute) made Elite, given a second head, and afforded an Action Point.
- Piratecat tells me that Secretary Scrit used the stats from the Howling Hag, dropped from level 7 to level 5 but then made Elite, along with some other minor adjustments.
- After 8 sessions of everyone staying conscious, this one saw Cobalt go down twice and Strontium go down once.
- Cobalt did manage a critical hit on the evil secretary, which, with his magic dagger, did 34 points of damage with an at-will power. Neat! Semi-related: Having played in 9 sessions with combats aplenty, it’s clear that I use Piercing Strike – the one that targets Dex instead of AC – more than I use my other two at-wills.
- I’m glad that Piratecat is playing his monsters such that they don’t always attack the paladin every turn, just because of the Challenge.
- I’m pretty happy with the Grab rules. Yes, they’re not as deep and flexible as
3E’s convoluted system, but this is one case where simplicity trumps complexity. We resolved our Grabs in about 1/10th the time it would have taken to work out
3E grappling.
- Skills used this game: Athletics, Diplomacy, Endurance, Heal, Insight, Intimidate, Nature, Perception, Thievery.
- Toiva’s player noted after the game that Piratecat has ended up not running traditional, pre-announced Skill Challenges. There are clearly times when we’re in skill-heavy situations, and there’s been plenty of important skill checks made, but it’s all been mixed in fluidly with our general ongoing role-playing.
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