Muddled Pasts - Pathfinder 3.5

Session #56 - August 27,2012 - You Might Want to Have That Looked At

Notes: Welcome Back! We switched campaigns and I ran a Jade Regent/homebrew hybrid that took us 6 months, and now we're trying to finish the old-school Rise of the Runelords before the GM and his wife move to Maine (!). We got back into the groove with a tough battle, some research, and a starting request from Londis.

Dinner was linguini and turkey meatballs with salad and garlic bread. Yum.

From the journal of Baron Grezzalik M'rethen:

After Karzoug turned Mokmorian into black slime I slumped to the floor, a little light-headed. As far as spells went I was damn near dry, and it had been a long time since I'd been so drained. My spirits perked up a little as I cleaned off Mokmorian's robes and slipped them on - well, now these were nice, weren't they. After gathering the copious amounts of loot we staggered back upstairs, where we found Galenmir and Conna waiting somewhat anxiously. I'm no expert on giants but they looked plenty surprised when we sauntered in. They looked at each other and nodded, then both exited the room. Moments later we heard the sounds of combat from down the hall and the somewhat familiar sounds of lamia matriarchs shrieking in pain. Nice.

After a bit they came back in. "The dragons and lamias are gone. Detritus is all yours."

"Da," said Tofa, her eyes glittering and that freakshow sword rattling in her scabbard. "I can sense him."

"Yeah," I said, "we need to discuss this. Attacking him in his lair while I'm somewhat low on spells probably isn't the best idea."

Tofa walked out the door as if she didn't hear me. Or didn't care. I glanced at Conna, who shrugged. "Your problem. We're taking our troops and going. Good luck with the Black Monk in the tower, assuming you survive Detritus."

I slumped against the wall. "Yeah, it's been fun. See ya." With a sigh I heaved up and followed the others. Soon we stood outside the massive doors to Detritus' cave - which none of our meatheads could open. I opened a hole with the StoneStaff only to discover the coward was on the run.

So that's how I found myself in the claw of Londis' griffon as we chased the SOB. He was waiting for us in a spot of his choosing, and Londis cursed loudly as a huge rock smashed into his griffon. "Make those stones miss, sorcerer!"

'I kept trying to tell you, I'm super low on spel - agh!" I looked up just in time to burn one of my 4 remaining spells on a Feather Fall to lessen the impact, but the wounded griffon headed to earth in front of the massive giant. He was covered with glowing runes (all of which I recognized, none of which I was happy about) and I burned spell #2 to become an air elemental and get airborne. Good thing, too, as seconds later Detritus smashed into the ground and collapsed everything around him, sending everyone else sprawling. Linc stuck a few arrows in him but that proved to be a mistake, as his blood hit the ground and became large, nasty looking oozes.


TYofa and Londis started laying into the giant but one of the oozes flowed over Trixie and started squeezing the life out of her. I dropped a lightning ball on everything and while it hurt them, it wasn't enough to free her. But as the giant fell Tofa tossed a few arrows to Linc, who caught them and slagged the ooze - ooze-bane arrows, it seemed. Trixie had been healed by Master Pho but it was a close thing anyway.


We finally took then out. I glanced back at the tower, barely visible, and asked, "Can we rest before we go fight the 10000 year old mummy?"

------------

I spent a lot of time over the next two weeks locked in the library, learning all I could about Karzoug and how to fight him. I knew what he was after and what we needed to do to counter him - and it looked like we were going to need to go to Sandpoint yet again. Back in Turtleback Ferry, all was going pretty well. Selmira had been working happily in her lab - 'Seriously, I love this job," she told me with a broad grin" and come up with a few alchemical delights for me. I popped down into Magnidaar to sell a few things and buy myself a mess of scrolls and a ring of Freedom of Movement. When i got back Londis called us to meet and said, "Now is the time for Pho to make good on his promise to bring Bart Boylston to justice. Also, I need to go to Korvosa and kill the uncle of the Queen."

yeah. After much discussion the most we were able to get out of Londis was that this 'Perfumed Man' was an extremely bad person who sacrificed and tortured children for his own power gains. With a sigh I agreed to help. Korvosa, the land of Devils. I sat down and reviewed my spells. Might be time for a switch or two.

more notes: Grezz's mom and daughter are getting to know one another in Avalon. What could possibly go wrong there? Mok's robes give Grezz a +4 CHA and give him 4 extra spell levels to cast a day. Very nice. I wanted a luckstone but when I saw that a Freedom of Movement Ring was within reach, well . . . gotta do something to make the GM stop grabbing poor Grezz.

Just started to read your story hour - am really enjoying it, keep up the good work.

Session #57 - September 3rd, 2012 - You Can't Spell 'Diplomacy' Without 'Clod'

Notes: Aaaaand our side quest got off to a less than stellar start as we screwed the proverbial pooch, to put it kindly. Should be interesting to see ourselves extricate ourselves from this mess. But dammit, that's what makes gaming fun!

Dinner was bacon-cheese-stuffed burgers, fries, mac and cheese, and TWO delicious desserts. Our group rocks.

From the journal of Baron Grezzalik M'Rethen:

Did I mention last entry that during our fight Toka turned into a giant herself. I should probably make note of that. Evidently that crazy-ass blade of hers is pleased with her and gave her new powers. Her as a raging giant? Not frightening at all. Except for the part where it's terrifying.

Londis provided us with a few more details about what he had in mind as we also planned for a meeting with Bart Boylston. A few sending spells got us a time and place to meet, but when I tried to peek in his tiefling wizard dispelled my scry. Won't be a cakewalk, then. Feeling nervous about her scrying back, I called for Emma Valdane, my court bard. Not long after that she showed up, all smiles.

"Milord, what can I do for you?" She bowed deeply, blonde hair spilling over her shoulders.

"Please, Emma, when we're not in court just call me Grezz. No need for ceremony."

Her grin widened. "Yes, Grezz. Do you need my services?"

Trixie muttered something under her breath I couldn't make out. "Uhm, you have access to spells to keep this meeting from being observed magically, right?"

She nodded and swung her lute off her back. "Sure! I'll take care of that right away." Her fingers began to strum as her eyes closed, and a few seconds later I felt a 'pop' in the air. "Anything else?"

"No. Thank you, Emma. You're doing a great job."

She beamed before bowing and leaving the room, closing the door behind her. Trixie watched it shut with a scowl. "I don't like her."

I looked over, surprised. "You don't? Why?"

"Well, she's not very good at her job."

"You don't think so? She seems to be very good at it, as far as I can tell."

She blew a raspberry. "Well, we all know how clueless you are. I would be much better at it."

"You didn't want the job! I offered it to you as the same time as I offered you master of Spies, and you said you didn't want it."

Tossing her hair, Trixie said, "Hmmph. I don't remember that at all."

I rubbed at my brow. "I do. You weren't interested."

"Don't remember that."

"Can we get back to the business at hand," growled an angry Londis. "Grezz, when we grab Bart I need to deliver him to your girlfriend. Do you have a way to get in touch with her?"

Between Londis and Trixie I was getting ready to Lightning Ball the whole room. "She's not my girlfriend, and no. You could just use a sending scroll."

We did, and almost as soon as it vanished an idol of an owl appeared. Medea had her eyes on, it seemed.

Before we headed down to Korvosa it seemed like a good idea to try to use the Peacock God quill we'd found to gather more info. That went poorly for Linc, dulling his wits somewhat.

We teleported down to Korvosa with the plan of contacting a disgraced noble family to make a deal with. Since Korvosa is all about appearances we rolled in on Spirit Mounts, and I was sporting a disguise from Trixie's able hands. She was still irked with me over Emma, but sometimes I get tired of trying to figure her out. She had fun doing it, it seemed, as she kept giggling the whole time.

The noble part of town only had a few inns available and we went to one Londis had chosen. The proprietor looked at me as I arrived and said, "Lord Foxglove! So good to see you again!"

Wonderful. Trixie made me look like her dead ghoul boyfriend. Now that's not weird at ALL. We settled in and Londis sent Trixie to deliver a vague note. I followed her invisibly to cover her back and then fell asleep during the six hours they mostly ignored her for. I mean, I'm sure using my barony would have gotten us through the door but our research made it clear that while this Perfumed Man seemed evil it wan't necessarily the kind of evil that was illegal in this cesspit. Still, when we got back I was considering offering it but wasn't given a chance as Londis, upset at the failure, cursed at me and stormed out in full armor with Tofa and a paladin he'd brought along. With nothing else to do I just relaxed in the roof for about an hour before the three came back. The paladin was splattered with blood and all wore the indicators of having been in a fight.

"What happened?"

Silence. Londis wouldn't meet anyone's gaze. After a few moments I asked again, and Tofa cleared her throat and said, "Is possible we used too little persuasion and too much force at front gate. There was, ah, altercation. Altercations."

I looked to Londis, who for the first time ever looked somewhat abashed. "Things could have gone better."

Outside I hear claxons starting to ring. "Oh, wonderful. We need to be gone. Trixie, get Shotsie. Linc, get your wolf."

"Huh?"

I sighed. "Someone help Linc get his wolf."

Londis turned to me and squared his jaw. "I'm not leaving."

I was going to argue with him, then shrugged instead. "That's insane. Look, I'm teleporting out half the crew. When I come back, if yous till want to stay here when they come looking for the people who ATTACKED A NOBLE HOUSE, that's up to you. It's too delicate a position for me to be caught up in."

He rubbed at his chin. "Well, they'll probably be here soon. I left a note. Fine, I'll go."

Right. So long, Korvosa. Nice knowing you.

Dantardis said:

Just started to read your story hour - am really enjoying it, keep up the good work.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Enjoy! Although you should stop reading if you ever want to play Runelords, as spoilers abound.

Session #58 - September 10, 2012 - It Sounds Better When You Call It 'Privateering'

Notes: So, we come to the age old gaming problem of character theme vs. roleplaying vs. having fun. Let me start by saying that i like Londis' player very much and there is zero issues between us outside of character. What's going on is that his lawful character is doing some decidedly unlawful things that also go against the grain of what my NG character is comfortable with. Plus Grezz is the baron and while he knows he's a puppet, he takes the welfare of his people seriously. So on one hand I'm playing my character as the 'greater good for all' kind of doof he is, but at the same time we're doing side quests that are basically centered on revenge, murder, greed, and piracy. As a player I'm all for those things but in character it's tough to go along. At the same time I'm grinding the game to a halt and denying a player his side quests, so once I realize that I relent. Still,t here will be in-game repercussions for my poor sorcerer, who is just trying to make everyone happy, the dope.

Dinner was chicken and bacon baked beans.

From the journal of Baron Grezzalik 'M'Rethen:

I hope, when I'm judged for this someday, that those who read this realize that certain choices are made out of loyalty. Also, if the world fall under Karzoug's rule because we didn't stop him in time don't blame me.

As can be expected Londis and I continued arguing once we got home. He wanted to go hide out up in my North Tower, but I wasn't hiding from anyone. Then he wanted to teleport back to Korvosa and find the family of the man his lackey killed so he could make reparations. When I refused due to a lack of any coherent plan that would keep us out of jail, he stormed off, infuriated. I sighed and, low on spells, went to bed. I figured the trouble would arrive in the morning.

Nope, it didn't wait until then. Malgraves woke me up at about 4 am, informing me that the Lord-Mayor was here and waiting for me in the study. I shrugged into my clothes, making no real attempt to groom myself, and went down to get yelled at.

The Lord Mayor was without fat suit and with two dangerous-looking bodyguards. We talked for a while before Londis showed up and the fun could begin. As expected, those investigating in Korvosa knew exactly what had happened and exactly who was involved, and it was a big mess. Londis was belligerent anyway. I looked at the Lord-Mayor and held up my hands.

"Look, you hired him. Feel free to fire him."

Londis laughed. "And who's going to run the military - you?"

"I might as well - when's the last time you did any actual work with regard to that?"

He gave me a sour look - at least I think he did, it's kind of difficult to tell with someone who is perpetually glowering - but remained silent. The Lord-Mayor went on about how his diplomats would try to smooth things over but that we should expect a visit from members of the Queen's Hand in charge of the investigation. Why they were so involved in an attack on a disgraced noble house was curious, but not something I needed to worry about.

Something got said to set Londis off - maybe I said it, I don't know, it was freaking 4:30am - and he went to smash my desk with his hammer. before he could one of the bodyguards froze him and the other was at his neck with a sword in a flash. Realizing he was beaten, he stopped, then stormed out.

"Are you sure I can't fire him?"

= = = =

Later that day we had our new friends arrive. I would have rather spent the day up in my library doing research, but instead I was dealing with hardasses from Korvosa. And quite the trio they were: Magistrix Victus Carrizion, of the Church of Asmodius; Sir William Telaxis of the Hellnights and Lady Belia Zadoth, a Hellinigh Signifier. I'll spare you the long version and just break it down. they were surprisingly polite and reasonable within reason, and they seemed to appreciate when I teleported out to grab Tofa from the bar she was drinking in and brought her back. (Trixie had a conversation with them that turned out to be in Infernal or Abyssal or whatever - when I asked he what it was about she told I should go ask 'my little incompetent skank' if I wanted to know). They knew pretty much everything and wanted the three to surrender, but when we agreed that that was not going to happen they informed us that arrest warrants were out for us in Korvosa and left without further ado. Londis, as expected, was belligerent again, and once they'd gone said we needed to go get Bart Boyslton. This seemed like yet another foolish plan and one I wanted no part in, arguing with Londis (yet again).

"Bart captured your mother and gave her to your girlfriend, who turned her into livestock. Don't you want him to pay for that?"

Normally I object to when someone calls Medea my girlfriend, but i was acutely aware of the statue in the pouch at my waist. "He did. he also didn't cut her throat and dump her body at sea, which he could have done and probably was told to."

"So he should be given a pass for all the terrible things he's done?"

"No, he should be brought to justice. Which is not what you're proposing to do. You just want him so you can collect on whatever deal you've made with Hecate."

That earned me the mother of all scowls, yet finally I relented with great protests, if only to go along to help protect them. Which is how I found myself on a raiding ship disguised as a Ulfen.


We closed on our target ship as I feverishly cast protection spells , Tofa at the helm and cursing creatively. Trixie was still clad in skin of admantium she'd gotten from a draw from her magic deck - I found the cards utterly fascinating, but she wouldn't let me near them). They hit our sail with a fireball but our rowers proved more than enough for us to close and grapple, then all hell broke loose. Londis and Lorelai took the griffin over and set to with some of the officers while I dropped in lightning balls to help out. Trixie use her ring to knock one of their mages overboard with a surprised yelp, and all around us the ships seethed with the clash of the opposing crews. Tofa made her may to the other ship and, with a frothy howl, grew into a giant as Hadarga flashed with power. Something that looked human but had a tentacle for one arm died under blade and spell, but as the battle raged on the cabin door flew open and a large figure emerged.

It was only just beginning. And I had to consider the ramifications of what to do if we won this with regard to any survivors - we hadn't used names, but Trixie was the shortest Ulfen ever and I was tossing my signature spells left and right. First, though, we had to survive.

More notes: This is going to be hairy. There's two people coming up in the house colors of the nobles that own the ship, and presumably they're heavyweights. The crew we're fighting is not going down easily, and Londis is getting beat to hell. Trixie has a imp on her with a bag of Devouring, although Linc's wolf is there now. Plus the elf has gotten himself untangled and can hopefully start putting flaming arrows into things. I don't know whether to go airborne, keep tossing lightning balls, or haste everyone. I need more actions per round!

More more notes: Grezz had Trixie do a Harrowing for him which the GM translated to:
'Ware the handless queen, for the veneer disguises descent into darkness.
Trust not the flesh merchant, for he exacts a fiendish toll.
Do not sell to the dollhouse, only a jester's path will lead to the dead man's chest.

Is the last line about the Scribbler? is the handless Queen the Queen of Korvosa? SPPOOOOKKKYYY!

Sessions #59 - #60: Sept 23 and Oct 3, 2012 - Bite My Frozen Ass

Notes: Two session combined here today as I was crunched for free time with Otherworld. For the second session we were missing Londis and possibly the PC/NPC paladin. We have, as usual, gotten ourselves out of the frying pan and into the fire. Made level 12 between sessions (Disintegrate, of course. Was there ever a question?) and we're going to need every bit of it. I may be very happy my daughter maxed by HD roll.

From the journal of Baron Grezzalik M'Rethen:

The battle indeed become precarious for a while, but a big fellow in shiny plate armor found out about the gruesomeness of being in a hungry pit, and the casters fled as it became obvious we were going to mop the ocean with them. Bart tried to escape but Londis did something heroic/foolish to capture him. Still, I was concerned. We'd hidden our identities but the last thing I need to do was to start a war over some cargo.

Then we went belowdecks, and it all suddenly became okay. In fact, I wished we'd killed them all, because the hold was packed with would-be slaves from some far-off land.

Those bastards.

A Tongues scroll later and I had a whole bunch of new subjects of Grezzlvaynia. I made it strictly voluntary, but most seemed excited about the idea of being free to do whatever they wanted. I knew I was doing a good thing, but I also saw treecutters, and haulers, and militia, and craftsmen . . . win for everyone.

We sent the Uflen back with orders they surprisingly close to obey before I teleported us back to the island of the fates. Londis delivered Bart, who was seized by Circe and lowered into their spooky cauldron. He was then granted a vision that of course he didn't share with us, but knowing him it was either gold or something to hit other people with.



After that Circe and Hecate started trying to tempt Linc into making a deal he'd regret while Medea walked over to me. Trixie just rolled her eyes.

"So, Grezz, would you like to make another . . . deal? You never call, you never write." Her smile was coy, playful.

I sighed. "Look, Medea, if you want to see me or spend time with me, just say so. Or show up, or whatever. Don't be a snake under a chair or offer deals or . . . just toss aside the games."

Her eyebrws raised him surprise. "Fair enough, Grezzalik. Perhaps I'll see you soon." She walked off with a thoroughly distracting amount of sway. I started to gather the others together to teleport out when Trixie punched me in the arm, which hurt a little because she was apparently coated in adamantine.

"Not bad, you goofball. All my help is finally starting to sink in."

I couldn't resist. "Maybe, although I've been getting some pointers from Emma . . ."

By Shelyn's Grace, if looks could kill . . .

* * * *

Back at home we went into full study mode. Londis took a crack at the Peacock Oracle and basically had to be rescued by his god, or something along those lines. Still, we managed to gather up enough information to basically negate the need to go to Sandpoint and confront the Scribbler. in fact, we'd found the spot we needed and the riddle to unlock the spot for planar travel, thanks to Trixie and her ability to know pretty much everything.

The place was a lake called Rimestone, just south of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. We bopped down to Windsong Abbey to see if Pho wanted to come with us, although Londis would no doubt take the opportunity to mock the old man as well for his misjudging of Bart.

Windsong was a mess being repaired, with a good third of the buildings either damaged or destroyed. Pho was in good spirits anyway, proudly showing us models of mountains he's been working on. "Most surprising, the attacks. Some sort of lich-creature that tore the place apart until it found a book it wanted. We were unable to stop it.

I noticed that Londis looked like he was sucking on an extra-bitter lemon as opposed to the normal lemon-sucking expression he usually had, but I knew better than to ask.


Pho was interested in what we had to say but had a mission of his own - the Scribbloer had broken out. it had been defeated, but the shrine to Lamastu had to be destroyed. He wanted to take Londis and Lorelei with him and offered another brother for us. And so we found ourselves with Heung Loe, who was an ancient dwarf that wore a blindfold. A little Clairvoyance later and we were standing outside a ring of stones carved with the likenesses of the seven runelords. From the clues given in the riddle were able to figure out that a specific school of magic would activate each column and produce a key. But before that we had to figure out what to do about the bone covered stairs that led up the mountain to the giant carving of Xin's head with a mouth that was a cave. I summoned a dretch and sent it up the stairs, cursing and growling the whole way. As expected, earth elementals came out of the stairs and tried to kill it. They were successful before he made it to the top. Tofa summoned an unseen servant that went all the way up unmolested but sadly, SO SADLY, couldn't tell us what it saw. Sigh.

We did the magic and produced keys, ranging in material from gold and bronze to red-hot iron. Oh, and a silver dildo that OF COURSE Trixie laid claim to. With our prizes secured, we headed toward the stairs with me in the lead, the thought being my new ring would keep me from being squished if the stairs were still guarded.

Before we got there, it started to get cold. like, really cold. A dank, heavy fog appeared as if from nowhere, gobbling everyone up. And just before a blizzard made it impossible to see I looked up and saw something unthinkably huge dropping down from the sky . . . the biggest white dragon I'd ever seen.


I heard cursing behind me as the others foundered on the ice, but my ring kept me able to move. I turned into an air elemental and zipped up to take a look . . . By the Beauty of Shelyn, it was beyond gigantic. With a roar it dropped into the storm below and I heard a yelp of pain from Linc's wolf. I tried to dispel the storm but failed . A few seconds later it popped back out and leveled off. My fireball exploded harmlessly around it . I saw Linc pop out of one side on his badly wounded wolf, and Tofa soon appeared as an Ice Troll, with Hadarga screaming . . . the fight was on. Picked the wrong bunch to mess with, worm.

Session #60 - October 8th, 2012 - Thanks For the Stuff, Jerkweed

Notes: Sorry, fell behind a little and we're missing two weeks in a row as the GM is away for work. Feverishly trying to get to the end before he moves away, although maybe we can figure something out online. In any case, we moved along with some scary moments and poor Grezz burning through spells at an accelerated rate. We finished the dragon fight before dinner which timed perfectly with the players who'd been out for that arriving after we'd finished.

Dinner was GM chili. Mmm, chili.

From the journal of Baron Grezzalik M'rethen: The dragon hadn't been bothered by my fireball, but he'd noticed I'd thrown it. With alarming speed he streaked across the distance between us and gave me a nasty bite before swooping away and dropping down into the blizzard and fog below.

Stupid dragon.

I zipped over to Tofa and Linc and hasted them. Good idea, but then a frozen blast came up from below and damn near killed me. Well, actually, it kind of did. Thank Shelyn for the item I'd picked up . . .

NOW I was pissed. With a snarl I summoned a huge gust of wind and got rid of the dragon's fog. Nowhere to hide, bub. Tofa clocked it a few times and Linc pumped arrows into it as well. It was rapidly becoming an unhappy dragon.

I watched as Trixie, astride Shotsie high on a pillar, pulled a pair of cards from her magic deck and, after glancing at them, tossed one in the direction of the dragon. It rose up, wings laboring, and almost out of ideas that would allow me to penetrate its proof against magic I tossed a web at it with little hope of success.

To my surprise and pleasure the sticky gob enveloped the wings and it dropped like a stone. After it hit the ground with a thud the worm vanished and the webs slithered to the ground. Dimension door. "Coward!" I screamed, but there was no reply. The blizzard around us stopped and seconds later there was a pop as Pho, Londis and Lorelei popped into view. "Let me guess," said Londis, "there was some sort of fight and the sorcerer didn't cast haste again."

* * *

Getting up the stairs was an adventure as the earth elementals waited to attack Linc, and after a battle we reduced them to rubble. Up top we melted our way into the dragon's cave and after a walk on a crazy bridge we found our portal to the runeforge and his lair.

And his treasure trove, sealed in ice. We melted that and looted the hell out of it. Some frozen trophies too, including one holding a nice warhammer. Wish I could use it. Also another 12K in coin, which is nice because saving the world is expensive.

The keys we'd gotten earlier fired up the portal and we stepped through into a long, quiet corridor. We followed it without incident to a dome-shaped room about 130 feet across. there was a large pool of bubbling liquid in the center of seven statues that were of course dedicated to the sins of the Sihedron. I started to poke around a little, trying to figure out how to make it work.

"Hey," said Linc. He was over by the statue of Sorshen, Runelord of Lust. I wandered next to him and looked at the empty corridor behind it. "Trixie was back here a minute ago, but I don't see her now."

I growled a curse and started to examine the opening, then said, 'Screw it' and walked in. Suddenly I was elsewhere, inside a massive cathedral. It was over-the-top opulent, with a 90 foot high ceiling and statues of people and creatures fornicating in every way imaginable. A series of cages stood in a row, all filled with long dead bones except one. Trixie and Shotsie clung to a wall as a quartet of creatures flew nearby . . . Alus. I remembered them from one of my classes - pretty but not gorgeous; usually horribly evil but not always; and, of course, immune to electricity. The offspring of a succubus and a mortal. I could see the bones of the mortals - so where was the leader of the pack?

Notes: Good time for us to have a paladin along, eh? Plus the first thing I'm doing is casting Prot/Evil. Grezz is too pretty to be a succubus' plaything. So it doesn't get forgotten, the loot from the dragon:
Boots of Winterlands
2 Greater Dragonslayer arrows
Bronze Horn of Vahalla
+3 half plate
Scroll of Invulnerability (Grezz)
Wand of CLW -(46)
Chime of Opening (5)
Scroll - Heal
Scroll - Remove Blindness (2)
Cloak of Resistance +3 (which of course I just bought for myself)
Vest of the Vengeful Tracker
Band of the Stalwart Warrior
Belt pf Physical Might
2 small mithral shirts
Wand of Bear's Endurance (38)
Pearl of Power Level 1
Pearl of Power Level 2
16K in artwork
Boots of the Winterlands

Sessions #61 and #62 - 10/9 and 10/12/2012 - Kiss With a Fist

notes: a Friday/Monday doubleheader as we try to fit in as many sessions as we can before the DM and his wife depart for Maine. I'm sure the Runelord authors didn't design the module just to make Air Sorcerers get extremely frustrated but then again everything we're fighting is unaffected by electricity so it's been hairy. We had some levels drained, party members, uhm, sexed up, and a few moments of 'oh .' Dinner was chicken and noodles one night and grilled chicken legs the other.

Oh, the title just seemed appropriate for succubi and alu demons. To hear the song here's the link: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SmxVCM39j4[/ame]

From the journal of Baron Grezzalik M'rethen:

So here's the deal - we walked into the wing of Lust and while we were trying to figure out what was going on out, from the side of a massive tent, pops Trixie.

A naked Trixie. Well, she had boots on, but otherwise she was, uhm, naked. I was probably going to just stand there and gawk for a bit because ye gods, but an Alu demon came out right after her and that kind of made it not quite as cool. I zapped it with a disintegrate spell but it resisted. Still, it gave Trixie enough time to Dimdoor to safety as we went to war against a couple of giants in gimp suits and 4 Alus. After a a few moments the giants were paste and two of the Alus were toast. The battle lulled for a second, and a massive half-demon half-giant suddenly walked out of the tent and said, "the Mistress will see you now."

Hmm. parley. I was figuring a succubus but maybe we needed her to figure out how to use the Runeforge.

That became moot when Linc drilled a few arrows into the demon's back. It popped out of existence as I sighed. The remaining alus followed as Trixie summoned a cadre of Ulfen with her horn. No, really.

We rested, planned, and tore through the side of the tent until we found the succubus - waiting for us, of course, with more giants. Then the lights went out, and it got crazy. the succubus teleported in and kissed Linc a few times, which didn't seem to make him feel good at all. Londis headed into the main room to deal with the giants, but suddenly I found myself in a chamber alone with Hung, Linc's wolf, and the bad guys - an Alu, a giant, and the succubus. And my mirror images started disappearing one by one. The smart thing to do was to get the hell out of there, but i couldn't leave Hunga alone. So with a single image left to protect me I stepped back and tried my disintegrate spell again on the alu. The green light hit her and her saucy smirk had just enough time to switch to a moue of surprise before she turned into dust, completely eradicated. I looked over at the succubus, who was stunning, pointed a finger and said in what I hoped was an even voice, "Surrender or you're next."

I saw it in her eyes, for just a moment - a flicker of fear - then she snarled, "See you when your spells run out, honey." Then she was gone, along with her demon, who had been fighting Tofa and Lorelei outside the tent. Tofa looked especially disheveled.

"You okay?"

She glared daggers - hell, she glared battle axes at me and stalked away, muttering. I didn't pursue the issue.

We managed to push further into the tent as I went elemental to disperse the mind fog hanging out there, and found a large number of, uhm, sexual aids that were insanely charged with enchantment magicks - and probably just what we needed. Of the succubus there was no sign, and she didn't appear to be in the wing at all. Great. I had no doubt we'd see her again, and with all of us running on empty.

Healed up as best as we could the lot of us headed back out into the main chamber, which seemed awfully cold . . . and rimed with ice . . . and full of ancient white dragon breathing on us . . . and me with my cold resistance ring in a pouch instead of on my finger . . .

Session #63 - November 18, 2012 - Bangers and Mash

notes: between the gorram hurricane and GM requirements our sessions are dwindling to a precious few and it's unlikely (read: ain't gonna happen) we'll finish the path before he moves away. Although we could always chat room/Skype/ROllD20 it. In any case, we did some dragon whuppin. Dinner was a delicious lasagna.

From the journal of Baron Grezzalik M'rethen:

Stupid dragon.

I mean that. Even as the massive white dragon nearly entombed us in ice I couldn't help but thinking what a bad move he'd made. Sure, he'd gotten the drop on us, but there were seven and Lorelei has trained herself to beat the hell out of things like that.

In the end, though, it came down to Londis, like it usually does. Between portions and magic shoes the others got out of the ice pouch the dragon had created. I went whirlwind and scooped up Trixie.

"Watch the hands," she growled, but there was a twinkle in her eyes. not once she got a look at the dragon - then it was all Wand of Wonder, which was a good thing as she outlined it with fairie fire. this was helpful as it called in a blizzard. I was trying to figure out what to do besides hasting everyone - which I did before Londis could bitch about it - when Trixie let out a yelp and almost fell into the center of my winds. For a few seconds I saw her tangled up with a glassy-eyed Shotstie - so that's where he was! Then she was gone is a poof of smoke and a whiff of brimstone, and I tossed the gecko to the ground.

I could go into detail of our epic battle against the ancient, massive worm, but in the end we were too much at it died. It damn near took Lorelei with it, first trying to toss her into the Runeforge and then sitting on her, but Londis pretty much beat it to death with his shield.

really. that's what happened.

We stripped it of good things and surveys ourselves - beat up and low on magic. Since we didn't trust a square inch of the place I dug into my pack and pulled out a scroll of Rope Trick, providing us with a safe haven.

It wasn't perfect. Trixie snores a little, and either Tofa or Londis kept making us wish the place had a window. But it was much nicer to have all my spells as opposed to three of them, which was about what I'd had left.

When we crawled out the dragon carcass was gone, with a bloody trail leading into the Hall of Gluttony. Well, at least they'd have a nice meal. We made our way over to the Hall of Illusion, stepped in and found . . . mirrors. Lots of mirrors.

looks like this part of the mission will give us a chance to reflect on ourselves. ::runs::

Sessions #64 and #64 - December 3/10, 2012 - This is the End, My Beautiful Friend

Notes: And so, after 2.5 extremely fun and challenging years, our campaign comes to a halt as the GM and his wife ready a move to Maine. The six hour drive preludes us keeping our weekly sessions, methinks. I have great sadness about this, of course, because a weekly campaign that pretty much stuck to schedule is hard to find. Plus we had two fairly new players manage to keep their characters alive and make it to 12th level, and another newbie drawn in near the game's end. Hell, 12th level is the highest I've ever gotten a character to, and that's with me having awful stats and making laughably bad rolls most of the time. Kudos and thanks to our GM Duane for his patience and enthusiasm, and our loss in the Maine's gaming world's gain. The tentative plan for now is to have me slip back into the GM's chair and have us resume the Jade Regent campaign. We need at least one other player, possibly two if one of our newbies decides this isn't for her. Plus we're working around class schedules and work, with Sunday nights being a maybe. We shall see.

The final two sessions were combat heavy and will thus, even combined, be a pretty short post. It is entirely likely I will add fictional posts after that, completely non-canon takes on how things might turn out for Grezz and his friends. I'm going to miss playing the doofus and being able to slog through miserable Mondays at work knowing that in a few hours I'd be slinging shocking rays and being berated by the Inquisitor for not casting Haste immediately.

From the journal of Baron Grezzalik M'Rethen:

When is it too much of a good thing? When you have multiple Trixies.

See, I know that sounds like an awesome thing but not when the extra ones are casting harrowings on themselves and trying to destroy us. And that's in addition to the doubles of Londis and Tofa. Any number of Londises more than one is more Londises than should be.

It's pretty simple, what happened. At the edges of a T-corridor someone had set up a pair of Mirrors of Reflection. Tofa and Londis were walking point, and suddenly there were three of them and all hell broke loose. I almost triggered a copy of myself before Linc dragged me back by the scruff of my neck. In the end we managed to take out the copies and destroy the mirrors, but not before Londis was a bloody mess. it seems one of the only things that can actually hit Londis with a weapon is another Londis. Or another pair of Londises. Londi. Whatever. Also, Trixie shrunk herself to three-apple-high size again. At least it only took me one dispel to get her back to normal. She's still all shiny and admantine-y.

We moved along to reach the eventual main chamber, being greeted by an empowered fireball before discovering our host sitting in a prismatic sphere. There were a few copies of the guy spread out tossing spells left and right, and our good friend the succubus as well. She smirked at me, confident that between her spell resistance and immunity to my electricity I posed her no threat. But I knew something she didn't know, and, drawing on my innate abilities, dropped a lightning ball on her head. It didn't hurt her, but both she and I knew the next one was going to. I was going to go with shocking bolts instead when suddenly things got a little messed up for me. I snapped out of it only to discover the fight over and all the bad guys dead. What?

We found some notes that indicated the denizens of the Runeforge were getting tired of each other and had in fact wiped Envy off the face of the earth. This dude had wanted Xanderghul to come back and was concerned with Karzoug, so much so he'd sent out proxies to find him in Xin-Shalst and determine that the place was inaccessible - unless, as my research had indicated, we had weapons infused with crazy-ass powerful enchantment and illusion magicks. So out to the Runeforge we went, and right after Londis dipped his hammer in an image of Karzoug showed up. there was more of his bloated, tedious 'I'm awesome and you're worms' yapping - maybe he should have been pride instead of greed - and he fired up his statue into a stone golem, which he was really proud of and figured would make paste out a group that, say, didn't feature both a psychotic with a admantine hammer and an angry sorcerer with both grease and hungry pit spells at his fingertips. After the 4th time the thing clambered to the top of the greased, contracting pit only to get brained by Londis again it was actually kind of funny. Linc's Gravity-bowed fire arrows helped as well. And soon we were moving around a pile of rubble as we dipped the rest of our weapons