Grrr...Computer crash ate my post! I will retype it as best I can.
Anyway, I can't speak for the players but I had a lot of fun last night. The session was choc full of RBDM goodness without any of the ugly downside.
The PC's couldn't find any easy way up after the Ghouls and decided that, for the moment at least, they weren't any real threat. So they went back to the chain attached to the iron ring that Eshik had found and it was attached to a rowboat. They could just barely make out the outlines of an island in the middle of the lake and they rowed out there. As they went it seemed that the evil darkness around them was intensifying, held at bay only by the Glass Book of Light that Mialain carried.
The island turned out to be only about 40 feet across and was steeply conical, like a tiny volcano, complete with a hole in the middle that seemed to go "a LONG way down". As they peered into the dark hole, a voice spoke in Primordial, "Destroy it." Moments later a trio of large ghostly hounds burst out of the hole and went right after Mialain.
Two of them nipped at her flanks while a third kept trying to grab the book in its jaws. But the agile Elf kept it from the beasts grasp. Still she was sustaining a terrible amount of damage from the other two and was barely standing by the time the rest of the party managed to destroy the spectral dogs. They were taking a moment to catch their breath when they heard the voice from the Maw say, "Rise."
They looked at one another in alarm and considered fleeing. But the only thing worse than having to fight the ghost hounds again would be fighting them in a boat on the lake. The voice below repeated, "Rise." Zanne tried to reason with it, calling down the hole, "We have no quarrel with you. We were sent by High Priest Dhalim to find the missing miners!" The voice spoke back, "You are all but insects to me...Rise." With that they heard the baying of the hounds once more and quickly arranged themselves to protect Mialain as best they could.
The phantoms came at her again and this time it was obvious that, not having been able to rest, she could not withstand their attacks. Astavian reached out to her and said, "Give the book to me!" Mialian did as he asked and the hounds immediately turn on him. While better able to withstand the damage, the Paladin was less agile than the Elf and more than once one of the hounds got its jaws on the book. But Astavian was also very strong and he kept a tight grip on it. Only once did a hound pull it away from him but he seized it right back an instant later.
Finally they sent the last of the destroyed hounds back down to their master and they immediately jumped into the boat. During the battle they had seen a light flicker to life on a shore closer than the one they had originally come from and they rowed in that direction with all their might. As they paddled away from the island they heard the Maw speak once more, "Rise."
As they approached the shore the stench of carrion filled the air and the boat scraped over dead bodies clustered at the edge of the lake. They had no time to react before they were set upon by a large, wormlike creature with waving tentacles around its toothsome mouth. Still having been unable to rest themselves they leapt upon it, chopping at it in desperation. The creature was no match for their combined attacks and, although it struck back a couple of times, it fell quickly to their blades and magic. As this fight took place, they saw a figure holding a lantern on a stone balcony overlooking the narrow, rocky beach. It retreated into a hallway cut into the stone of the cavern wall. They could also see a passage at ground level that went only a dozen feet before ending in a wooden portcullis.
They scurried out of the boat and fell to the ground beneath this balcony, gasping for breath. Moments after they had regained their composure and bandaged the worst of the bite wounds from the ghost hounds, a grunt came from above and a stone the size of a pumpkin was hurled into their boat, cracking the bottom and rendering it useless. A voice followed, "If you surrender now, some of you might one day walk in the light above again."
Astavian stepped from beneath the balcony to address Rhazul. "If you wish to parlay with us then we are willing. If you wish our surrender then you'll not have it." Rhazul smiled and said, "I know what you have seen and there is no reason for you to leave here alive." With that he and his pair of followers attacked. Rhazul dropped a cloud of fearful darkness at the base of the balcony that left Mialain dazed as the other two hurled their chakrams at Astavian, inflicting some vicious cuts.
Eshik ducked around into the passage with the portcullis to discover a pair of Black Moon initiates with crossbows guarding it. He ducked back out of the way before taking more than a scratch. For his part, Astavian desperately wanted to bring retribution to his enemies but there was a portcullis between him and their lair. He decided to fix that.
Bolstering himself with Divine Strength, he lowered his Horned Helm and charged directly at the wooden barrier. He burst through it entirely, falling to the ground in a tangle with the Black Moon Initiates. The rest of the party charged through behind him with Eshik cutting down both of the Initiates as they stood and fired their crossbows at Astavian.
Beyond this passage the found a larger room where more Initiates were preparing for battle. Astavian strode into the room and roared at them to surrender. Instead they fled the room into a smaller room adjacent. There they met the furious Rhazul who was able to bolster their morale (or at least make them more afraid of him than they were of Astavian). They turned and sent a hail of crossbow bolts at the Dragonborn. The burly henchmen at Rhazul's sides dashed forward, disassembling their chakrams into a pair of curved daggers and struck Astavian multiple times, dropping him to the floor.
But the rest of the party was right behind the Paladin and they unleashed a fearsome barrage of attacks that slew most of the Initiates in moments. Eshik charged into a group of them and lay all about him with his blades as Zanne hurled a Scorching Burst into their midst and Mialain finished a couple more with her Divine Glow. Although another group of Initiates with a chakram weilding leader joined the fray, in just a few seconds Rhazul stood by himself.
By that time Astavian was back on his feet thanks to Mialain and they all hurried after the fleeing Rhazul. He made it into his private chamber where one wall stood open, covered by a layer of vines and lineas with open sky beyond that. His griffon stood tethered, eating something meaty from a bucket. As Rhazul tried to leap upon his steed and escape yet again, Eshik dealt him a cut with his scimitar that dropped the Black Moon Cultist to the floor. His faithful steed snapped its tether and began clawing its way to Rhazul through Zanne. But Mialain went to its side and her affinity for Nature soothed the savage beast.
Bloodied but triumphant the PC's saw a large crystal pillar at one side of the room light up as the faint image of a female form appeared within and her voice spoke directly into their minds. "You have slain those charged with doing my bidding. Whether you become my friend or foe depends on if you take up the task of cleansing my brother. Seek me out upon my peak by the starlight of the dark of the moon." The crystal flickered and went dark again.
Astavian flexed his hand and turned to Eshik and Rhazul. "I hope he still lives. I have some questions."
******
To me there was some really interesting stuff at play here. First I got to see how things went when the PC's had to effectively fight three encounters in a row without being able to take a short rest. I was impressed not only by how well they managed to hold up but also by how they didn't seem to have to resort to using At Will powers over and over again in a way that grew dull. Even at level 3 they seem to have enough depth to their abilities that the fight stayed interesting.
Also I LOVED the dynamics of the fight with the ghost hounds (those were just some Phantom Warriors with different flavor text and some minor modifications btw). There were some really cool moments in there like when Zanne used her Etherial Stride and power stunted that to teleport Mialain out of their grasp in the first fight. And the bit where Astavian took the book from her, holding it tightly and going Total Defense was very cinematic. It was a TENSE moment for me (and everybody else I think) when he was nearly Bull Rushed over the edge of the pit with the book in his arms. It was a grim reminder of Zanne dying from a fall when she was tossed down that pit by the dragon.
Anyway, having to fight the Carrion Crawler without being able to rest after that was just insult to injury but they killed that thing in a hurry. Pretty impressive to see what kind of damage they can deal out against a single target. It helped that Zanne had some of her good Encounter Powers left that hit an area because she couldn't use them without hitting allies in the close quarters of the hound fights.
Bringing back Rhazul who has been tantalizingly out of reach for the past couple sessions was a sure winner. And I had him in a fantasticly defensive position that could be used to make the party pay for coming after him. That power stunt by Astavian, busting through the portcullis like that was, without a doubt, the highlight of the session for me. That move alone justifies me making that house rule. Just watching the intensity of the players faces as he added up his strength bonuses and then rolling a 19 on the die for the Str Check when they burst into cheers around the table, that's what gaming is all about for me. Awesome.
Finally the fight inside the Black Moon lair was their chance to deal with some tangible bad guys that were more level-appropriate than a lot of the nasty stuff they have had to fight recently. Also I used the exact same stats as the bad guys they fought in the first encounter of the campaign (the fight on the bridge) so it helped to point out how they have grown in power over the last couple levels. Killing gobs of bad guys is always fun and having a real hate-on for them makes it even better. Again, the intensity of their desire not to let Rhazul escape on his griffon again was palpable. It was good to see them succeed with that. Should be interesting to see how that interrogation goes...
