Storminator
First Post
The group arrived in The Great Crag. To reduce suspicion they used Prestidigitation and split into two groups (staying within sight of each other) and moved thru the city. Turns out the Hags are in a cave at the top of the mountain. Climbing the mountain implied doom, so Zoras started asking around about meeting the Hags. Two options - become a Warlord of Droaam and use the stairs, or run the Gauntlet.
The group tried bluffing the Warlord castle, which is where the Warlords come to meet. It was going a little sketchy until Tuktuk announced he was the Slayer of Glory (among his many other boasts). Then it became Wall of Trolls sketchy, and the group hightailed it out of town to the Gauntlet.
This is a switchback trail up the mountain, with many hordes encamped on it. The first is a dispirited bunch of goblins - clan Grikka from the Eldeen Reaches! The group promises to fulfill the Grikka destiny by being their champions thru the Gauntlet and getting them an audience with the Hags.
We handwaved away a series of Gauntlet battles until we got to the top of the trail - the Illithid's clan. Beholder, 2 stone giants with lenses, 4 gricks, a contraption on tracks that swung thru the fight semi randomly, and a bunch of infernal flames that hurt, dazed, and moved around randomly. Also, one of the pillars in the fight was somehow tied to the Forgotten One. It gave Fort and Will bonuses.
There was a TPK - a three player kill. Skud, Travok and Tuktuk did not survive the battle. As if the beholder (solo) wasn't bad enough, the giants had huge magic disks that turned the eye stalk beams into blasts! But wait; there's more. There were gas clouds that flew about the map randomly. If they landed on you, you started your turn with 5 damage and dazed. Theres was also a huge pendulum contraption driven by goblins that crossed the map hitting anything in its path.
The battle was brutal from turn 1. The beholder was shutting down Travok and others from using their encounters and dailies. The anti-magic eye prevented heals from coming in as well as powerful attacks going out. We slowly whittled away at the giants to try and gain control of the discs while gricks were tooling on Krusk. We tried to lock down the giants and gricks, but the pendulum kept pushing us out of position. Eventually, the dailies were flying, but not before some of us were down. Characters got bloodied, fell unconscious and started failing death saves. Skud quickly ran out of heals and didn't get a chance to use his daily heal before dying. Ongoing damage and the gas clouds did him in. We eventually gave Travok a healing potion to get him upright and get some of his heals going. Zoras gets up and goes down fairly quickly. Tuktuk is also dead at this point and Skuurj has been unconscious for a few rounds. Travok gets Stream of life going and gets Skuurj and Krusk up. Travok then gets another eye ray and drops killing the SoL. The battle ends up being decided by an Intimidate check from Skuurj with a bonus from a Krusk utility to make the beholder surrender.
The aftermath was decided via email afterwards. Seeing his employers in shambles, being one of two upright warriors, and knowing there's a giant reward out, Krusk waits until the beholder exits in defeat. Then he knifes Skuurj, dropping him into the dirt. Krusk cuts the Hand off the dead Tuktuk and hightails it to the Hags as the wave of victorious goblins pour into the arena. Skuurj is rescued. He pulls the Eye from Tuktuk's head (will he implant it in himself?!). The goblin clan completes the destiny their dead shaman prophesied by going up to talk to the Hags. What is said? None report.
Skuurj disappears with the Grikka. Zoras passes from our tale. Zoul fades into the monstrous lands of Droaam. Krusk takes his trophy and heads out to claim his rewards.
And a new group is formed back in Darguun.
The group tried bluffing the Warlord castle, which is where the Warlords come to meet. It was going a little sketchy until Tuktuk announced he was the Slayer of Glory (among his many other boasts). Then it became Wall of Trolls sketchy, and the group hightailed it out of town to the Gauntlet.
This is a switchback trail up the mountain, with many hordes encamped on it. The first is a dispirited bunch of goblins - clan Grikka from the Eldeen Reaches! The group promises to fulfill the Grikka destiny by being their champions thru the Gauntlet and getting them an audience with the Hags.
We handwaved away a series of Gauntlet battles until we got to the top of the trail - the Illithid's clan. Beholder, 2 stone giants with lenses, 4 gricks, a contraption on tracks that swung thru the fight semi randomly, and a bunch of infernal flames that hurt, dazed, and moved around randomly. Also, one of the pillars in the fight was somehow tied to the Forgotten One. It gave Fort and Will bonuses.
There was a TPK - a three player kill. Skud, Travok and Tuktuk did not survive the battle. As if the beholder (solo) wasn't bad enough, the giants had huge magic disks that turned the eye stalk beams into blasts! But wait; there's more. There were gas clouds that flew about the map randomly. If they landed on you, you started your turn with 5 damage and dazed. Theres was also a huge pendulum contraption driven by goblins that crossed the map hitting anything in its path.
The battle was brutal from turn 1. The beholder was shutting down Travok and others from using their encounters and dailies. The anti-magic eye prevented heals from coming in as well as powerful attacks going out. We slowly whittled away at the giants to try and gain control of the discs while gricks were tooling on Krusk. We tried to lock down the giants and gricks, but the pendulum kept pushing us out of position. Eventually, the dailies were flying, but not before some of us were down. Characters got bloodied, fell unconscious and started failing death saves. Skud quickly ran out of heals and didn't get a chance to use his daily heal before dying. Ongoing damage and the gas clouds did him in. We eventually gave Travok a healing potion to get him upright and get some of his heals going. Zoras gets up and goes down fairly quickly. Tuktuk is also dead at this point and Skuurj has been unconscious for a few rounds. Travok gets Stream of life going and gets Skuurj and Krusk up. Travok then gets another eye ray and drops killing the SoL. The battle ends up being decided by an Intimidate check from Skuurj with a bonus from a Krusk utility to make the beholder surrender.
The aftermath was decided via email afterwards. Seeing his employers in shambles, being one of two upright warriors, and knowing there's a giant reward out, Krusk waits until the beholder exits in defeat. Then he knifes Skuurj, dropping him into the dirt. Krusk cuts the Hand off the dead Tuktuk and hightails it to the Hags as the wave of victorious goblins pour into the arena. Skuurj is rescued. He pulls the Eye from Tuktuk's head (will he implant it in himself?!). The goblin clan completes the destiny their dead shaman prophesied by going up to talk to the Hags. What is said? None report.
Skuurj disappears with the Grikka. Zoras passes from our tale. Zoul fades into the monstrous lands of Droaam. Krusk takes his trophy and heads out to claim his rewards.
And a new group is formed back in Darguun.
