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City of Brass: Author Playtest Notes
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<blockquote data-quote="bowbe" data-source="post: 3807082" data-attributes="member: 6328"><p><strong>"Downtime"</strong></p><p></p><p>So the PCs have some downtime in the COB.</p><p></p><p>So far they are "in the clear" and unwanted as far as they know though for precautions sake they begin to move around under a veil spell when out in general public area to avoid drawing undo-attention to themselves. A few of the Silaal had escaped in their battles within the minaret of screams. Things are tightening up with guard patrols and what not searching for foreign insurgents within the city and that is all that is said.</p><p></p><p>The sultan is determined that he not look as if he has failed in anything thus hundreds of foreigners have been publicly executed as have any who fail to pray at the appropriate times. </p><p></p><p>The PCs are in possession of the name of the Sultan... a powerful tool, and also in possession of knowledge as to the where-abouts of the flask of sulymon but don't know what to do with that knowledge. They spend a bit of time reading their various tomes to juice their stats and for a couple lucky dogs, to level up... though actually everyone managed to squeeze a level out of their previous forays. </p><p></p><p>They know that the bottle is held in a cavern somewhere out in the plane of molten skies, and have come into possession of another bottle but do not know what is in it other than it is magical.</p><p></p><p>So they start out by rubbing the new bottle and out pops a half djinn girl (soon to be played by my wife, who will be playing a half djinn bard named kitiara). Kitiara introduces herself, and creates a feast and gallons of wine to throw a little introductory party for the PCs who enjoy this bit of time to RP and get to know one another.</p><p></p><p>The next day they head out into the lower city in search of Tarbish or Chufa Um Sofanie. Rhy is still waffling badly on the paladin issue, and hasn't really done anything for or against becoming one, and is fixing to gain another feat (of course). Coupled with a good pile of treasure and it having been a week or two they want to check into their newly crafted goods, and collect several items from the bazaar of arms and bazaar of arcana along the way.</p><p></p><p>Once they get to the handmaidens tower however, their veil fails at the gate and they are confronted by two maidens dressed in white (as Chufa was) who asks their purpose. They say it is to come and meet with Chufa to discuss important matters. </p><p></p><p>Problem: Ard suffers a lot of damage the moment he tries to pass through the gate, and glandril suffers some damage as well. A powerful Forbiddance rune is placed over the entire area and he cant get in, nor can SamQ2. Leaving only the newly good Konn, Rhy, Kitiara, and Elandrin able to enter. The fact that Ard and the others cant give in raises suspicion in the party immediately against Ard. Glandril cant get in because he is simply too chaotic and crosses against the forbiddance on two scores... Chaotic and Neutral. </p><p></p><p>Elandrin can get in because he is Good and Chaotic, though he has difficulties, but is eventually given a "pass" as he is not evil and is an outsider. </p><p></p><p>Same with Kitiara, however kitiara has a "pass" for some unknown reason, unknown even to herself as she is playing her character with amnesia.</p><p></p><p>Rhy Neutral (good) trying to be lawful so he has a few difficulties, but Chufa had given him a pass. </p><p></p><p>They head in to meet chufa. She tells them of the Pheonix warriors and of the obsidian angel in the desert with his army of undead djinn and the carnelian idol. How these armies could be brought to play as a suicide squad in the city, should other forces come into play that could weaken the powers of the Sultan, such as the destruction of the burning dervishes, or the rebellion of the fire giant mercenaries. Mostly the freeing of the Azer plays big into her plan, but she admits, its a 1 in a million shot at this point, as the sultan has a pet elder wyrm red dragon and the only creature able to match it is the solar dragon the old sultana once had. </p><p></p><p>She also mentions a great relic of immense power in the city of the dead sultana, one that could slay the grand vizier or any other efreet who is caught in its deadly rays. Regardless, when the time is right, Chufa and her army will be ready to strike in any way that they can help. She admits that they are weak, but their band fights well together and could at very least hold a defendable gap for some time unless the sultan or grand vizier themselves showed up to face them. </p><p></p><p>She gives Rhy some guidance on becoming a paladin (which he more or less flatly ignores for the duration of his stay with the party) and they are on their way.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime Ard rus across his old lawyer "friend" again and heads off with the lawyer to a place called Louis Sifer and Associates, which is really an illusiory front to the Chapterhouse of Lucifer the lightbringer. Ard trades relics and books that were in his possession (being the wizard) in exchange for some bearded devil minions, and a closer relationship with the dark lord. He continues to plot and plan against Glandril, Rhy (his sword), and Elandrin because he is seriously P.O.ed about the whole not getting into the paladins sanctum thing. The progress on this front is to somehow get the paladins into a trap where they can be annhilated by lucifers minions and a plot is hatched to eventually do just that. </p><p></p><p>After coming back together the PCs set out into the desert... not having found Tarbish for some reason... he must be busy. In actuality tarbish is recruiting a seperate assassination squad for his own devices but the PCs have no knowledge of this at the time. </p><p></p><p>In the plane of molten skies again the PCs make quick progress towards the hiding place of the bottle. A band of so called rebels holds the flask at this time but have been awaiting word from their master to get it.</p><p></p><p>I concoct a level appropriate convocation of efreeti, giants, and the rebellious salamander princes from the text and others to flesh out the caverns of Abdul Shihab (as i had rolled the location randomly as suggested in the text).</p><p></p><p>I mixed in some traps from grimtooths traps for the dungeon which i built out of dwarven forge pieces i got as a partial payment for a book i did years ago and we were on.</p><p></p><p>It wasn't a big dungeon and with the party's numbers bloating exponentially (though we again lost the psion) The whole deal was over in about two nights between the RP from this night and the finishing up on the 2nd night. It was a good encounter with some good challenges when i managed to roll well enough on initiative. The addition of the bard with her song and buffing abilities on top off the impressive damage the party already dealt was pretty impressive. She managed to charm several of the giants and got them easy access into the lair, but was annoyed with Glandril who being chaotic always rolled a die to decide what he would do, and ended up capping some critters she had charmed rather than saving them to absorb damage or at least question and get information out of. Such is a raging mountain plated chaotic neutral dwarf in your midst... x10 worse when he can double his size 3 times per day! Hahaha.</p><p></p><p>The PCs became a bit suspicious of tarbish when they got the description of the guy who they were holding the bottle for, so decided to keep their capturing of it a secret. Several of the salamanders managed to escape into a lava pool... which much of the fighting was fought in or around... slipping through a dimensional portal that led to Rappan Athuk. The PCs did not follow! Almost too bad that they didnt, about that time I had got my copy of RA Reloaded in the mail... but it isnt like these guys dont side trek a bit already and throwing the weight of Orcus's minions into the mix with The Great Sultan, Grand Vizier, Lucifer, agents of the Pheonix Warriors, and a mess of angry gods (Set, Anumon) ... woo imgine that! As is, about 4 more factions get added before its all said and done anyhow!</p><p></p><p>After they finished up, they discussed their next move and decided that really the best bet was to try and take on the City of the Dead Sultana (which floats within the city of brass)because... there seemed to be answers to many of their questions there.</p><p></p><p>One thing was certain... at this point the PCs were fully embroiled in a half dozen major plots and they had made enemies and allies both powerful and in some cases mysterious. This was really beginning to become what high level adventure is supposed to be about! Drama, itrigue, and insanely powerful PCs! Well so they thought anyhow.</p><p></p><p>Case</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="bowbe, post: 3807082, member: 6328"] [b]"Downtime"[/b] So the PCs have some downtime in the COB. So far they are "in the clear" and unwanted as far as they know though for precautions sake they begin to move around under a veil spell when out in general public area to avoid drawing undo-attention to themselves. A few of the Silaal had escaped in their battles within the minaret of screams. Things are tightening up with guard patrols and what not searching for foreign insurgents within the city and that is all that is said. The sultan is determined that he not look as if he has failed in anything thus hundreds of foreigners have been publicly executed as have any who fail to pray at the appropriate times. The PCs are in possession of the name of the Sultan... a powerful tool, and also in possession of knowledge as to the where-abouts of the flask of sulymon but don't know what to do with that knowledge. They spend a bit of time reading their various tomes to juice their stats and for a couple lucky dogs, to level up... though actually everyone managed to squeeze a level out of their previous forays. They know that the bottle is held in a cavern somewhere out in the plane of molten skies, and have come into possession of another bottle but do not know what is in it other than it is magical. So they start out by rubbing the new bottle and out pops a half djinn girl (soon to be played by my wife, who will be playing a half djinn bard named kitiara). Kitiara introduces herself, and creates a feast and gallons of wine to throw a little introductory party for the PCs who enjoy this bit of time to RP and get to know one another. The next day they head out into the lower city in search of Tarbish or Chufa Um Sofanie. Rhy is still waffling badly on the paladin issue, and hasn't really done anything for or against becoming one, and is fixing to gain another feat (of course). Coupled with a good pile of treasure and it having been a week or two they want to check into their newly crafted goods, and collect several items from the bazaar of arms and bazaar of arcana along the way. Once they get to the handmaidens tower however, their veil fails at the gate and they are confronted by two maidens dressed in white (as Chufa was) who asks their purpose. They say it is to come and meet with Chufa to discuss important matters. Problem: Ard suffers a lot of damage the moment he tries to pass through the gate, and glandril suffers some damage as well. A powerful Forbiddance rune is placed over the entire area and he cant get in, nor can SamQ2. Leaving only the newly good Konn, Rhy, Kitiara, and Elandrin able to enter. The fact that Ard and the others cant give in raises suspicion in the party immediately against Ard. Glandril cant get in because he is simply too chaotic and crosses against the forbiddance on two scores... Chaotic and Neutral. Elandrin can get in because he is Good and Chaotic, though he has difficulties, but is eventually given a "pass" as he is not evil and is an outsider. Same with Kitiara, however kitiara has a "pass" for some unknown reason, unknown even to herself as she is playing her character with amnesia. Rhy Neutral (good) trying to be lawful so he has a few difficulties, but Chufa had given him a pass. They head in to meet chufa. She tells them of the Pheonix warriors and of the obsidian angel in the desert with his army of undead djinn and the carnelian idol. How these armies could be brought to play as a suicide squad in the city, should other forces come into play that could weaken the powers of the Sultan, such as the destruction of the burning dervishes, or the rebellion of the fire giant mercenaries. Mostly the freeing of the Azer plays big into her plan, but she admits, its a 1 in a million shot at this point, as the sultan has a pet elder wyrm red dragon and the only creature able to match it is the solar dragon the old sultana once had. She also mentions a great relic of immense power in the city of the dead sultana, one that could slay the grand vizier or any other efreet who is caught in its deadly rays. Regardless, when the time is right, Chufa and her army will be ready to strike in any way that they can help. She admits that they are weak, but their band fights well together and could at very least hold a defendable gap for some time unless the sultan or grand vizier themselves showed up to face them. She gives Rhy some guidance on becoming a paladin (which he more or less flatly ignores for the duration of his stay with the party) and they are on their way. In the meantime Ard rus across his old lawyer "friend" again and heads off with the lawyer to a place called Louis Sifer and Associates, which is really an illusiory front to the Chapterhouse of Lucifer the lightbringer. Ard trades relics and books that were in his possession (being the wizard) in exchange for some bearded devil minions, and a closer relationship with the dark lord. He continues to plot and plan against Glandril, Rhy (his sword), and Elandrin because he is seriously P.O.ed about the whole not getting into the paladins sanctum thing. The progress on this front is to somehow get the paladins into a trap where they can be annhilated by lucifers minions and a plot is hatched to eventually do just that. After coming back together the PCs set out into the desert... not having found Tarbish for some reason... he must be busy. In actuality tarbish is recruiting a seperate assassination squad for his own devices but the PCs have no knowledge of this at the time. In the plane of molten skies again the PCs make quick progress towards the hiding place of the bottle. A band of so called rebels holds the flask at this time but have been awaiting word from their master to get it. I concoct a level appropriate convocation of efreeti, giants, and the rebellious salamander princes from the text and others to flesh out the caverns of Abdul Shihab (as i had rolled the location randomly as suggested in the text). I mixed in some traps from grimtooths traps for the dungeon which i built out of dwarven forge pieces i got as a partial payment for a book i did years ago and we were on. It wasn't a big dungeon and with the party's numbers bloating exponentially (though we again lost the psion) The whole deal was over in about two nights between the RP from this night and the finishing up on the 2nd night. It was a good encounter with some good challenges when i managed to roll well enough on initiative. The addition of the bard with her song and buffing abilities on top off the impressive damage the party already dealt was pretty impressive. She managed to charm several of the giants and got them easy access into the lair, but was annoyed with Glandril who being chaotic always rolled a die to decide what he would do, and ended up capping some critters she had charmed rather than saving them to absorb damage or at least question and get information out of. Such is a raging mountain plated chaotic neutral dwarf in your midst... x10 worse when he can double his size 3 times per day! Hahaha. The PCs became a bit suspicious of tarbish when they got the description of the guy who they were holding the bottle for, so decided to keep their capturing of it a secret. Several of the salamanders managed to escape into a lava pool... which much of the fighting was fought in or around... slipping through a dimensional portal that led to Rappan Athuk. The PCs did not follow! Almost too bad that they didnt, about that time I had got my copy of RA Reloaded in the mail... but it isnt like these guys dont side trek a bit already and throwing the weight of Orcus's minions into the mix with The Great Sultan, Grand Vizier, Lucifer, agents of the Pheonix Warriors, and a mess of angry gods (Set, Anumon) ... woo imgine that! As is, about 4 more factions get added before its all said and done anyhow! After they finished up, they discussed their next move and decided that really the best bet was to try and take on the City of the Dead Sultana (which floats within the city of brass)because... there seemed to be answers to many of their questions there. One thing was certain... at this point the PCs were fully embroiled in a half dozen major plots and they had made enemies and allies both powerful and in some cases mysterious. This was really beginning to become what high level adventure is supposed to be about! Drama, itrigue, and insanely powerful PCs! Well so they thought anyhow. Case [/QUOTE]
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