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Didn't realize that they were 5th level! Hooray sixth.
Do the PCs plan on returning to the River Gate to get more bones for Mist-resistant armor? Or do they just think that the bones they collected are enough?
Also, it looks like you glossed over Eshik killing the bugbears that beset him. Did you handwave that part in favor of focusing on the rest of the group/making them wonder how he was faring the whole time, or were you running his battle in addition? (I'm tempted to do handwaving in the future, in circumstances like that, for narrative purposes).
Figured I should stop all the lurking and maybe contribute...
First off, Rechan, while I appreciate the vote of confidence, I didn't kill the hobgoblins at that fight...they (more accurately, the archers) laid me quite low, although I consider 10-on-1 to be just North of a fair fight.
You may not have gathered this from all the narrative bits, but Eshik's got this...tendency...to run off either to run down fleeing foes or to pin down a second front before it plows into the casters. This time, though it wasn't his fault--I rolled so poorly into the initiative order that I couldn't make it to the hallway without picking up a bunch of OAs and ending up pretty much where I ended up.
I'm also VERY bad about not using some of my defensive abilities and/or saving my action points 'for a rainy day' when hurricane-force floods are already pouring down on us. I've cautioned more than once "it's a shame to die with action points and unused dailies", but I sheepishly count those when I'm rolling Death Saves. In this case, I could've and should've either AP'ed an extra move, and/or stunted to do something fancy and get to cover--my bad for the failure.
One other RP clarification...
Quote:
So basically I announced it to the group and then started the debate. Astavian and Eshik felt that they should destroy the bust (presumably by throwing it in the lava) because they worried that a dragonslaying weapon (which appears to be a property of all adamantite in my world) might be somehow turned into a dragonBORNslaying weapon. Further, Eshik felt that any weapon designed specifically to slay the majestic dragons was a bad thing.
Eshik's primary concern was the latter, and he agreed with the former as a position-solidifying move. Fortunately, the trustworthy Zanne' was able to plan ahead and retroprevent the conflict, hehe...
I wonder how much the class make up of the party affects how much can be thrown at the party and get away with? Would things be different without a dedicated healer or no defender, all melee or all ranged damage dealers.
I have little doubt that we would've lost MANY of our fights if we didn't have not only a primary healer (who also does some damage-dealing) but also a defender who can heal others--replace Mialain with a sorcerer and replace Astavian with a regular warrior, and we're burning out much faster.
One by one Astavian and Eshik dragged the bodies of the slain minions of the Arcanon Confederacy to the edge of the cliff and cast them into the Misty abyss below. Meanwhile Zanne and Mialain took time to examine the glassy orb mounted to the deck of the broken ship. After some experimentation they determined that it could still be made to work to some degree by constantly channeling magical energy into it. It required concentration and was fairly exhausting but it would get them off this rock.
They gathered what treasure could be found from the battle including a couple more dwarven tablets that were stored on the ship as well as one of the Eladrin bows that Mialain felt was superior to the one she had already. Then, Zanne at the helm, the ship lifted slowly from the ground and began its slow, inelegant flight to the south.
At the end of the day Zanne and Mialain were both very tired and could tell that the ship was requiring more energy the longer they went. The crack ran a bit deeper into the orb than it had when they took off. But with some luck it would get them all the way back to New Karak Tor. Still they opted to fly fairly low over the ground in case the orb should suddenly fail.
One their second day they suddenly spotted shapes approachign them. It was a trio of Gryphons with riders. In the lead was the blue-skinned, white-eyed servant of Mayaheine, the "demi-goddess" that lived atop New Karak Tor to whom they had refused service upon leaving Opkhar.
Eshik: "Didn't we kill him?"
Astavian: "I guess it didn't take."
Zanne was at the helm and lowered their altitude further but the incoming Gryphon riders didn't drop to meet them. Instead the lead rider hurled a javelin which struck the deck near none of the PC's. It trailed a ribbon.
Astavian dislodged it from the deck seeing that the head of the javelin had an emblem carved in it. The ribbon read, "Come before me or feel my relentless wrath."
The PC's had a sort conference that, condensed and paraphrased went something like this: "Do we want to come before her? No. Do we want to feel her relentless wrath? Even less."
Suddenly a Gryphon was on the bow of their ship, causing the already cracked keep to creak dangerously. The blue skinned servant of the White Queen addressed them: "I would have your answer."
Astavian approached him and said, "We will make our way to your mistress as soon as we are able." He offered back the elaborate javelin. "Keep it," said the Gryphon rider and took to the sky.
The next day they finally approached the border between the bulk of Hluroth Plateau and the land spit that connected it to the towering spire of New Karak Tor. They each breathed a sigh of relief, none more than Zanne who was struggling to keep the craft aloft through pure magical power.
As they passed over the guard towers on the Hlurothi side of the border, Eshik and Mialain, standing in the bow of the ship, spied sudden movement. Then a ball of flame rocketed skyward and exploded around them. They raced toward the rear of the ship as the bow was engulfed in flames. Another fireball followed the first as Zanne pushed the ship as hard as she could.
Suddenly a huge fist of ice appeared near the stern and attempted to snatch the Warlock away from the control orb. Astavian hacked at it with his greatsword, breaking one of the giant fingers. It was enough to allow Zanne to escape its grasp.
The Arcanon Confederacy Mage who had conjured it levatated above the towers below to remain in range and have it swipe at Zanne once again. But he was distracted by the arrows that Mialain was raining down upon him with her new bow. Eshik joined with his crossbow and forced the Wizard to retreat.
Mialain turned her attention to the flames at the front of the ship and reached out to her link with Melora. The clouds gathered in the chill mountain air and sent a brief but intense rainstorm down upon them, dousing the flames. Still, the damage was done.
"Hold on!" screamed Zanne. The ship continued to lose altitude and they landed just down the hill from the hostel they had stayed at during their previous trip to New Karak Tor. They were all thrown to the deck but none of them was seriously injured. They regained their feet in time to see an entire company of dwarven guards hurry downhill toward the border.
Gorom the dwarven Warden was suddenly beside the ship. "I think you'd best get inside!"
*****
So the bit with flying the Eladrin Winged Ship was done with Arcana checks to establish control over it and the expenditure of Healing Surges to keep it aloft. It started the trip needing one Surge per hour to keep it going and by the end it was up to 2 Surges per hour. So Zanne and Mialain were kind of worn out.
Amazingly they avoided combat with the Gryphon-riding servants of Mayaheine! I really didn't know how this was going to play out (keep an eye on that trend) so I had combat stats ready to go but the PC's decided to agree to their request. Wonders never cease.
The artillery barrage by the Arcanon Confederacy Wizards at the border crossing was not much of a direct danger to the PC's themselves. But it had the potential to cause catastrophic damage to their ship and crash them on the wrong side of the border. Fortunately Mialain pulled off a flawless stunt to conjure the rain shower that extinguished the fire on the ship (that was growing each round). I think she rolled above a 35 Nature check.
Up next they are received by the Dwarves and we find out how much of an international incident they caused. Also they get to meet yet another deity.
Actually I'm not quite to the end of that one. I'll try and finish it out today.
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So, can you tell us a little about this god, or are you saving that for the next entry?
(This is the lamia, right?)
No, this isn't the Lamia. Her whereabouts is unknown.
What the PC's knew about Mayaheine at this point was that she was the primary force behind the Cult of the Dark Moon that they encountered in Opkhar. Supposedly she is the sister of The Dweller, the dark and mysterious deity that lives down inside the Opkhar Plateau. After the PC's destroyed at least one cell of the Dark Moon, she contacted them and told them that, because they had destroyed her minions, it was now their responsibility to take up the task of cleansing her brother of the corruption caused by the Mist. She indicated that they could find her "by the dark of the moon" and later the PC's spotted a faint glow coming from the very tip top of the spire of Karak Tor, up so high that even the dwarves don't venture there.
When the PC's refused to help her she sent some more Dark Moon Cultists, led by that guy with the blue skin and glowing eyes, to kill them as they flew from Opkhar to New Karak Tor aboard the Rat Bastard. Since the PC's defeated them, slaying Mr. Blue Guy in the process, they were a bit surprised to see him reappear.
I have little doubt that we would've lost MANY of our fights if we didn't have not only a primary healer (who also does some damage-dealing) but also a defender who can heal others--replace Mialain with a sorcerer and replace Astavian with a regular warrior, and we're burning out much faster.
Rel would you have changed any of the encounters if the party makeup was different?
Rel would you have changed any of the encounters if the party makeup was different?
Almost certainly.
It's hard to cite specifics but I'll note that some of the encounters would probably even have been different if the party makeup was the same but we'd been doing some of the rules correctly. For most of the campaign I was allowing Melora's Tide to continue funtioning for a character at zero (or lower) hit points. That made the character it was cast on (usually Astavian) virtually unkillable. As such I felt I had nearly carte blanche to throw nasty encounters at them. Discovering that Regeneration doesn't work for a PC at zero hit point meant that I needed to dial things back a bit.
Another good example is that I would probably use more Minions and Swarms if they had a Wizard. As I mentioned above, there have been some encounters where I wish I'd used more Minons anyway. But with all the Dragonbreath flying around plus as few of Zanne and Mialains area effect spells, they don't tend to last very long when I do.
Couple of quick questions: have any of the other PC's Quests come into play yet (other than the one Zanne had to meet the guy who brought her back to life)?
Mialain (cleric) here...
Several of my quests have been completed.
First, I had a "Cryptic Riddle" quest based on a vision from my goddess Melora. The phrase I remembered was "Find the Light in the Book That Isn't There." This was the glass Book of Light that we found in the desecrated temple of Pelor. We used the book to save our butts from the Mist and despair surrounding the Dweller in an earlier episode. I almost goofed by trying to leave the book behind thinking a book made of glass wouldn't make it far and didn't want to stael from the temple of Pelor. Whoops - that's me being dense.
The next was a major quest for me which was my Tree of Life Quest based on another Melora vision. I saw myself kneeling at the roots of a huge black tree with no leaves, opening the book and light pours out. This was the scene on the island where we returned to finish off black breather. The tree had sprouted around where I camped and prayed on our first stay at the plateau and now it had grown considerably. The dragon burned it (and some of us) with a burst of flames so therefore it was the black tree from the vision. I opened the book and the tree became massive and the healing burst healed/changed black breather (she sprouted fresh wings and was no longer tainted by mist or darkness or whatever). That is where we found out her name is Steel Slicer and we chose not to kill her after all.
I have an ongoing quest to search for my brother Sellarian who disappeared from home before this whole adventure started . I was off looking for info about him when I joined up as a caravan guard. I have found out some info recently about him which is VERY interesting and Rel should post about that session soon.
I also have an ongoing quest to "Spread the Faith" by taking the fruit from the Tree of Life and planting the seeds far and wide as well as spreading the message of Melora. I have planted two trees so far at the Dwarf hostel and at the River Gate, and have tried to represent Melora as well as possible, although I have not really had a lot of time or chance to do much proselytizing (except some on the slaves who ended up as zombies which we killed).
The other PCs have similarly had several quests each in progress or completed.
Zanne's player here. Rel has a few sessions to catch up on, but it might be about two weeks before he posts anything again. His computer is down for the count and he has a new one on the way, but is heading out of town for a vacation. So, he might post with his wife's laptop or get on with his old PC, but maybe not.
Anyway, some thoughts on the campaign in general. I've enjoyed playing 4E, as much or more than 3E. Rel does a good job with storylines and settings in general, and I'm a big fan of lots of magic being thrown around and fantastical critters, and we have had plenty of both. The house rules have been good, and I, probably more than the other players, like to utilize stunts and action points. I would say I have attempted more stunts than the other players, although not always in the most creative ways. More than half the time it has been to modify a power to make it more lethal, or hit multiple targets, or something of that nature. But I really like the added flexibility it allows.
Well, I hit the tab button and ended up posting before I was done, but here is the conclusion of my thoughts -
The plot line has been interesting, and we are all curious to see where it takes us, while keeping the basic motivations of our characters in mind. It has been a fun gaming experience so far and I look forward to its continuation.
My new PC is here and functioning! Yay! I actually started to type this update about three times yesterday but each time something finished installing on the new machine and it wanted to restart. Anyway, I'm not sure whether I'll have the time or inclination to get things caught up while I'm away next week but at least I won't be falling further behind.
So...
The PC's spent a couple of days resting up from their trip. During this time they were also brought inside the walls of New Karak Tor (a rare opportunity for non-dwarves) and presented to the Council of Seven. Here they were asked to retell their tale of what happened at Old Karak Tor and present the items they recovered to the Council.
The PC's explained what took place there, particularly noting the presence of the agents of the Arcanon Confederacy, and handed over several dwarven artifacts including:
Numerous old weapons they recovered from the battle site at the River Hall
The recipe for dwarven beer they located in the old throne room
The crown of the Everstone King
The mithril bust of Galron Silverbeard
The Council of Seven was ecstatic. They offered their deepest thanks and indicated that further, more material, rewards would follow. Furthermore they told the party that the Arcanon Confederacy's insistance that they be extradited for their "crimes" would be rebuffed, even if it meant war. They were to be given the unusual honor of being allowed to remain as guests of honor within the walls of New Karak Tor, with all available hospitality to be extended to them.
Over the next couple days a few things happened. First Mialain took the slain Eladrin woman to the dwarven priests and asked if they could restore her to life. After examining the body for a time the priests said that they could do so but that her soul seemed to be in a faraway realm and it would take more time than usual.
Zanne spoke privately to Gorom the Warden and told him about the secret of working adamantite that the bust held and asked that this be kept quiet out of respect for the Dragonborn members of the party. Gorom agreed that this would be best and passed word of this to the Council. Zanne also spoke to some of the dwarven scholars and sages, showing them the book she had recovered from the basement of the old tower where they had fought Blackbreather. They agreed to study it and tell her anything that could be learned from it.
Finally the entire party was presented once again to the Council of Seven who formally thanked them for their efforts on behalf of the entire dwarven nation of Karak Tor. They were presented with gifts crafted by the most skilled artisans and Artificers of Karak Tor. Astavian got a new set of Dwarven Plate, with the symbol of Ryukaar in mithril inlay on the chestpiece. Zanne was presented with a heavy wand forged of "starsteel" that held the secret of Frigid Darkness. Eshik was given a thick, white fur cloak that would bolster his defenses and provide him extra protection against the cold. Mialain was awarded a pair of very light mithril bracers that would enhance her archery and also had embedded a large saphire that would bolster her innate power. Finally the group was given a rather fancy box containing equally fancy vials of Healing Potions.
After this meeting with the Council the party told Gorom of their need to get to the top of Karak Tor to meet with the Mayaheine, the White Queen. They showed him the javelin with the carved tip that was delivered by her servants and the Warden's eyes seemed to widen. "That's her calling card alright." Gorom made arrangements for the group to take the aerial tramway up to the highest village on the mountain. From there they would have to proceed on foot. Gorom warned them of the Yetis that roamed the icy, airless heights of the mountain and gave them a dwarven drink that would gird their lungs against the intollerably thin and cold air.
The arrived at the upper end of the tramway and made their way onward through the snow. It was easy to determine where they needed to go: Up. After a few hours they stopped to try and catch their breath. Although their lungs were burning for air and their limbs grew numb, they were unsure how much further they would need to go and held back on drinking any of the draught that Gorom had provided. They pressed onward when suddenly they found themselves within a few yards of hulking white shapes. It was a pair of Yetis and the white bears that were their companions!
Astavian and Eshik charged forward to do battle while Zanne and Mialain kept their distance as usual. Some vicious blows were exchanged but one of the bears in particular seemed to have a cruel bite. But the PC's called upon the mightiest of their powers and it wasn't long before they laid the Yettis low and the remaining bear attempted to flee. A couple of distant bowshots by Mialain killed the last of them, providing the party with a pair of nice pelts to bring with them against the cold.
They pressed on as a snowstorm surrounded them. Most of them finally availed themselves of the dwarven snow-liquor, which put a fire in their bellies and calmed their lungs a bit. As they continued they stumbled across a set of tracks and the marks of something being dragged through the snow. They followed these a short distance uphill and suddenly found themselves standing at an open entrance into a large fortress made entirely of ice. A pale light came from inside...
******
Not a ton of rules stuff to mention here. This was a pretty roleplay heavy session bookended by the attack by the Arcanon Confederacy at the border and the fight with the Yettis. I had reskinned and de-powered some Ice Trolls for that purpose and thrown in a couple bears and just called them Polar Bears. That one bear rolled three 20's in his first four rolls.
I knew that fight would go the PC's way and it was there to demonstrate how far they had come. And they totally got to unleash their shiny new 6th level powers with abandon. I guess they'd better hope that they don't get into another fight real soon since they spent most of their dailies...
Hooray sixth. 
For most of the campaign I was allowing Melora's Tide to continue funtioning for a character at zero (or lower) hit points. That made the character it was cast on (usually Astavian) virtually unkillable. As such I felt I had nearly carte blanche to throw nasty encounters at them. Discovering that Regeneration doesn't work for a PC at zero hit point meant that I needed to dial things back a bit.
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