JollyDoc's Age of Worms (Updated 11/30, Epilogue!)

[Quartz]

Yes, I felt that the Rod of Cancellation was a bit mean - after all, how much have the PCs used the Sphere? But I thought that in the adventure as written the Sphere was supposed to be destroyed by contact with Kyuss. And summoning the molydeus...

You've made the fight significantly harder already, Jollydoc, and now you've made it harder still. But that's your perogative. If they are victorious, it will be a very well earned victory.

 

[Joachim]

A couple of notes to the contrarians out there (yes, Sol, I am speaking to you) saying that the players 'really dropped the ball on that one':

1) To make the final battle more challenging, JD made the removal of despair have no effect on Kyuss' stats. Ergo, we decided that we weren't going to waste time on a boring, frustrating scavenger hunt through the streets of Starmantle that would have no effect on the final combat with Kyuss.

2) The module allows 2 rounds of Kyuss-free combat as he withdraws from his prison. To make the fight harder, JD allowed Kyuss to be active at the beginning of combat.

 

[JollyDoc]

Damn, this is seriously good stuff, but too bad you aren't gaming this weekend!!! Can't wait for the big finale. JollyDoc, it might be necessary to make some adjustments to Savage Tide, Kyuss-wise.

My guess is that Mak is the new Kyuss spawn, since he still had a fierce oponent and was a little...inconvenienced, what with his eyes being eaten.

But JollyDoc is not giving away the victory easily. As DM, I might have not equipped Kyuss' gang with the Rod of Cancellation (they managed to kill all oponents of the last fight, after all), but with it, things might have been too easy. Tough choice - although if you guys can't handle it...

Once minor thing, how did Kyuss summon the demon? I thought Malchor & friends were trying to prevent that from happening...

The module as written says nothing about the sphere being destroyed once it touches Kyuss. That was a suggestion from someone on the Paizo boards. The sphere removes half of Kyuss current hp per hit, and if he is at less than half his total when hit, it destroys him. To quote the sidebar in the module: "If Kyuss' minions have the time to react to this development, one of them can certainly procure a rod of cancellation (a blessed angel can teleport to any large city, where the item can be purchased after 1d4 hours of searching)."

Technically the Blessed Angels were Lashonna's servants, not Kyuss', so they are not restricted by the Dimensional Lock. So, the PC's used the sphere to wipe out several of Kyuss' major minions, and then left for a day. Kyuss, via Remote Sensing, can perceive everything within a one mile radius around any of his worshipers, holy sites, or other objects or locales sacred to him. So, he knows a Sphere of Annihilation is coming his way, and he has 24 hours to do something about it. BTW, Wish can also create a rod of cancellation, or several of them. Also, within that period of time, a broodfiend could simply fly beyond the city limits, and then Teleport. So, not much of a stretch for Kyuss to have obtained one or more rods.

As for Gateing in the molydeus, the Dimensional Lock applies only to Kyuss and his minions. The molydeus is not one of his minions. Now, Kyuss could not use the Gate to transport himself or his servants somewhere else, but he can bring anything he wants to him, as long as it is not a follower.

 

[JollyDoc]

A couple of notes to the contrarians out there (yes, Sol, I am speaking to you) saying that the players 'really dropped the ball on that one':

1) To make the final battle more challenging, JD made the removal of despair have no effect on Kyuss' stats. Ergo, we decided that we weren't going to waste time on a boring, frustrating scavenger hunt through the streets of Starmantle that would have no effect on the final combat with Kyuss.

2) The module allows 2 rounds of Kyuss-free combat as he withdraws from his prison. To make the fight harder, JD allowed Kyuss to be active at the beginning of combat.

Slight correction here...the removal of Despair would have had some other effects. Destroying the Negative Energy Vortex nullified some of the Spire's effects, and would have lowered some of Kyuss' abilities, ie, to hit, dmg, AC. I have since had time to rethink this, and when the battle resumes, these things may come into play, o/w I believe a certain TPK is looming. This just levels the playing field.

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

I can understand that all of you wanted a truely epic fight! You've been a group for so long that DM & players know how to challenge each other.

About the rod of cancellation, JollyDoc, I have come around to your way of thinking. Since Kyuss must have noticed everything that went on in the battle with Lashonna, it would be naive to think he would not take one of the measures you described.


Please don't feel like you have to justify your actions, you've proven your skills time & again. And even, if you hadn't: It's your game! It's just nice to get your rational behind some decisions that aren't obvious.

 

[Hammerhead]

A couple of notes to the contrarians out there (yes, Sol, I am speaking to you) saying that the players 'really dropped the ball on that one':

1) To make the final battle more challenging, JD made the removal of despair have no effect on Kyuss' stats. Ergo, we decided that we weren't going to waste time on a boring, frustrating scavenger hunt through the streets of Starmantle that would have no effect on the final combat with Kyuss.

2) The module allows 2 rounds of Kyuss-free combat as he withdraws from his prison. To make the fight harder, JD allowed Kyuss to be active at the beginning of combat.

Well, win or lose, you guys did it with style. Congrats.

 

[Solarious]

A couple of notes to the contrarians out there (yes, Sol, I am speaking to you) saying that the players 'really dropped the ball on that one':

1) To make the final battle more challenging, JD made the removal of despair have no effect on Kyuss' stats. Ergo, we decided that we weren't going to waste time on a boring, frustrating scavenger hunt through the streets of Starmantle that would have no effect on the final combat with Kyuss.

Well, it wasn't a scavanger hunt, the encounters simply rolled over you! Saving the citizens from the Overworms would have been one act, and stopping the church slaughter would have been a second. I'm pretty sure I remember what happened there. You Annhiliated Lashona, which is a third act, but 1 act out of a neccessary 3 or so didn't make the cut, unfortunately.

The adventure still lets you wiggle out of your predicament though, because there are families within the green mist waiting to be saved. You could have combined that with hunting for Lashona's horde, which contains, among other things, a fully charged Ring of 3 Wishes.

And, as Jolly has said... removing despair would have a number of effects on Kyuss. I don't think Jolly would have Malichor outright lie to you. Would you, Jolly?

2) The module allows 2 rounds of Kyuss-free combat as he withdraws from his prison. To make the fight harder, JD allowed Kyuss to be active at the beginning of combat.

Granted, that upped the difficulty of the finale a bit. Of course, you thus far have managed to steamroll most of the other signature encounters, including the souped-up Dragotha encounter. You can almost ignore death (barring enslavement to the wormgod, of course) with no level loss. You guys can throw quite a few Time Stops around there, despite having no actual arcane casters (except for Faust, he was completely legitamite in his abuse of the time/space continum). I think Jolly was just a little bit justified in giving Kyuss a few edges over you...

Don't worry though. I think you can still kill Kyuss (I'm being sincere here). Just watch out for that avalanchce 25 dice of damage, alright?

 

[Joachim]

This is problem Solarious. You have read the modules, and we as JD's players haven't. The majority of your posts hint at or directly reveal information that the players don't know. All of JD's players (except for Storm) read this board regularly, and every one of them does not appreciate the thinly veiled told-you-so's that we regularly see from you. Quite frankly, it is largely because of your behavior here that my activity on this board has lessened. I do read the weekly posts that Joe puts up here, as well as some of the weekly back and forth banter, but I find it grating when I come across your negativity directed at our group of PCs.

Getting to your specific comments, the only street-side encounter that was a failure was the one with the Overworms, and that was by only 1 or 2 citizens. The church 'slaughter' went down as a success for the party, but I understand that it's not convenient for for your argument here. None of the encounters 'rolled over us', until we ran into the debacle at the base of the spire which was, admittedly, an unmitigated asswhipping.

And again, we were told OOC that the removal of despair would not have a real effect on the end, so we as a group chose to just go straight to the endgame. It wasn't that Malchior was lying, it was just that JD felt that these effects would likely have made the end anticlimatic for 6 characters of our relative power level, none of which we are complaining about.

Don't get me wrong. Based on what I have seen on other Story Hours, you don't limit this kind of smarmy behavior to this board, so we don't feel like we are receiving special treatment or anything.

 

[Schmoe]

Wow, that's an awesome update. Some really great role-playing in the midst of the carnage, especially between Hawk and Maralee. Whatever happens, win or lose, this has been epic. In fact, I'm amazed that the group still has a chance of victory. That right there speaks to how well they've planned and worked together. Great gaming, everyone.

 

[gfunk]

Quite frankly, it is largely because of your behavior here that my activity on this board has lessened.

Ouch.

...but I find it grating when I come across your negativity directed at our group of PCs.

Double ouch.

...you don't limit this kind of smarmy behavior to this board, so we don't feel like we are receiving special treatment or anything.

Served! Joachim, seriously . . . haven't you heard the phrase "the customer is always right?"

I do agree that JD pretty much told us that he is not going to lessen Kyuss' power (except for the Vortex) so, as Joachim said, there was little point in saving people in Starmantle.

I argued a bit against Kyuss gating in his own allies but was over-ruled by JD. It's kind of a judgement call, I don't mind it too much.

Let me be plain with you all . . . Kyuss will die. Kyuss will absolutely bite the dust. At no time in our encounter with him did I even feel somewhat threatened. By healing himself up, Kyuss is merely delaying the inevitable.

There, the gauntlet has been thrown down . . .

Oh, and one final note. IMHO, any further magic items are essentially worthelss to us with the three following exceptions:

1) "Made up" items that make the final battle easier -- e.g the Circlet of Zosiel (long since destroyed)
2) "Epic" items, +6 weapons, +8 ability enhancers, +6 resistance bonuses
3) Major artificats

Since, I'm somewhat sure, none of these were present in Lashonna's horde I'm not concerned about missing it. In fact, I don't think we would be able to procure any three classes of items in this module (haven't read it, don't correct me if I'm wrong).

A ring of 3 wishes is somewhat redundant when b/w Havoc's scrolls of wish, Mak/Grubber's ability to cast miracle, and Faust's ability to manifest reality revision we have many, many magic of this level available.