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Noodle's campaign [SPOILERS]
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<blockquote data-quote="Noodle" data-source="post: 5980278" data-attributes="member: 6676731"><p><strong>Risuri Jones and the Ziggurat of DOOM (Jul recap)</strong></p><p></p><p>As always, spoilers abound.</p><p></p><p>Wrapping up the separate party threads:</p><p>Pieter withheld the staff from Prof. Weber; Weber vowed to go over his head</p><p>Sam successfully arranged a meeting with Kaja Stewart at the Lanternwood Subrail Station</p><p>Ben turned down Cippiano, even after Cippiano sweetened the offer to a two month supply of fey pepper and information that ‘could be of interest to the RHC’.</p><p></p><p>At 4 PM, the team met in Lady Saxby’s office in response to her summons. She kept you waiting about 10 minutes before ushering in Lord Viscount Inspector Nigel Price-Hill and introducing him. The Lord Inspector seemed very enthused to meet you, especially Sam & Ben as fellow veterans. Lady Saxby sped the interview along and admonished you to get back to work, but not before ordering Pieter to hand over the Ancient staff to the University – as they were an important political player in the city and she did not want to antagonize them.</p><p></p><p>The meeting with Kaja was set for 6 PM. At 5, Ash & Slate started casing the Lanternwood construction site. They found it deserted. Slate clambered up to an overwatch position on some scaffolding ~40 feet above the pit. Ash continued to poke around ground level, until Slate spotted a woman approaching, accompanied by a hulking 7-foot figure in a black coat. At Slate’s signal, Ash dropped and hung beneath the wooden bridge. The pair of shifters managed to stay hidden while the construct went around dropping a few piles of tubes in various locations around the site. Ash snuck over and examined one of the piles, but saw only metal tubes.</p><p></p><p>[Noodle note: I had Ash make about 4 Stealth rolls over the course of this encounter, and she rolled a 19 or 20 on each. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite9" alt=":eek:" title="Eek! :eek:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":eek:" /> ]</p><p></p><p>At 6, Sam showed up, flanked by Pieter and Ben. Kaja had the construct carry a chest across the pit to Sam, and show off her wares. Sam’s eye was caught by two carved wooden objects (a sword & amulet) similar in nature to the staff they had recovered earlier in the day. Also in the chest were some Gauntlets of Ogre Power – items Sam had tried to find at the Expo or requisition from the RHC without luck. Negotiation ensued, and a price was agreed of 8000 gold for all 3 items. When Sam couldn’t immediately produce that much money, Kaja had the construct close the box and walk back. Ash snuck across the scaffolding in order to drop behind them and keep them from leaving. When she got near the construct, though, it noticed her and started to attack. Kaja materialized a pair of pistols and the fight was on. Team Six quickly brought down her construct, and pinned Kaja against the construction fence. After even a summoned cannon failed to deter our intrepid heroes, Kaja surrendered – amid imprecations that ‘you RHC types keep ruining my life’. Sam was able to draw out of her that she had worked as a researcher for MacBannin, and swiped most of her goods from the manor. To her great surprise, Sam offered to try to get her a job with the RHC instead. The team confiscated the Ancient artifacts, but Sam still paid for the Gauntlets.</p><p></p><p>[Noodle note: OK, this one took me by surprise. The team went off to the ziggurat with Kaja still alive.. I think I'm going to have her already working for the RHC when the assassin team hits.]</p><p></p><p>The full team then headed back to the University to meet once more with Professor Weber. With two more artifacts in pocket (and unmentioned to the Professor), Pieter reluctantly handed over the staff. Professor Weber mentioned it would be held under strict guard, and investigated by PU and ROA (the Royal Office of Antiquities) mages, but that he planned to make it the prime exhibit in an upcoming ‘Gala of the Ancients’ slated to open on the 31st of the season.</p><p></p><p>The professor wrapped the staff in gold thread, then bundled it in a cloth. He escorted the team to a townhouse in PU’s Faculty Housing area, and introduced you to Dr. Xambria Meredith.</p><p></p><p>Dr. Meredith was very excited to see the staff, and provided you with her story and the location of the dig. She occasionally went off on odd tangents, or seemingly spoke to someone who wasn’t there. She denied anything was wrong with her, though. She also provided the name of her benefactor – one Caius Bergeron, a tiefling from Danor. She knew he had been staying in Risur, but had lost contact with him.</p><p></p><p>Following Dr. Meredith’s directions, on Autumn 2, you all boarded a train to the city of Bole (50GP each). From there, you traveled overland to the city of Agate on the edge of the High Bayou, arriving the evening of Autumn 3. The locals told you of the Voice of Rot, the fey titan said to inhabit the Bayou. They also said there’d been another group heading out to the dig site before you – and they came back carrying something big & rectangular. You decided to buy the tailings from the local butcher (20 GP each) and wait around another day for it to begin to rot. On the morning of the 5th, you set out across the bayou for the dig site, rotting meat in tow.</p><p></p><p>Nothing much happened until you got there, where you found the remains of the camp left by Dr. Meredith’s team, along with a few of her compatriots still laying in the rain where they fell – almost. It’s clear that the site has been disturbed since the calamity happened.</p><p></p><p>Entering the Ancient ziggurat, you all began to be affected by a mild form of Distant Madness, and some of you received visions – or maybe hallucinations. Ash saw the deaths of the archaeologists, and something disturbing enough she didn’t share it with the team. Pieter received a vision of himself back on the docks, being kicked and brutalized by the Flint PD.</p><p></p><p>[Noodle note: I have a set of 'good' and 'bad' hallucinations for each of the party that I will reveal as they explore the temple. Essentially, they see themselves alternately reaching the pinnacle of their profession, or something terrible happening which shows they have labored in vain.]</p><p></p><p>You started exploring the ziggurat to the left, and came upon a ‘rainbow room’ – with colored bridges and veils of light. In the midst of solving the puzzle of how to cross the room, you were set upon by several more of the ‘thoughtform’ beasts you’d encountered at the Expo, as well as apparently normal centipedes that had been mutated by exposure to the magical energies of the ziggurat.</p><p></p><p>After dispatching the beasts, and completing the puzzle, Sam reached the other side of the room and pressed the final stone. He received a vision of the Sealing of Apet (see wiki) and the ability to speak and understand the Ancient tongue.</p><p></p><p>----</p><p></p><p>The puzzle went well, but I'm very glad we hashed it out on this forum beforehand. I didn't trigger the combat until Pieter pressed the purple stone .. meaning the party was spread-out and it was hard to focus-fire. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious :]" data-shortname=":]" /> Ash's player was a bit put out since she was trapped on the initial platform and couldn't contribute much (as a monk, she specializes in multi-target melee damage - for the most part the combat was at range from her). She ended up being a button pusher to drop/raise walls/bridges at key points in the encounter. </p><p></p><p>The main issue I had with the encounter was the design of the 'headcrabs' as we called them. They're minions, who need to land two attacks at melee range to really do their thing. I actually managed to get one character affected by Distant Madness with this attack based on some lucky rolls. If I were running this again, I might have 3-4 implanters with goon-level HP.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Noodle, post: 5980278, member: 6676731"] [b]Risuri Jones and the Ziggurat of DOOM (Jul recap)[/b] As always, spoilers abound. Wrapping up the separate party threads: Pieter withheld the staff from Prof. Weber; Weber vowed to go over his head Sam successfully arranged a meeting with Kaja Stewart at the Lanternwood Subrail Station Ben turned down Cippiano, even after Cippiano sweetened the offer to a two month supply of fey pepper and information that ‘could be of interest to the RHC’. At 4 PM, the team met in Lady Saxby’s office in response to her summons. She kept you waiting about 10 minutes before ushering in Lord Viscount Inspector Nigel Price-Hill and introducing him. The Lord Inspector seemed very enthused to meet you, especially Sam & Ben as fellow veterans. Lady Saxby sped the interview along and admonished you to get back to work, but not before ordering Pieter to hand over the Ancient staff to the University – as they were an important political player in the city and she did not want to antagonize them. The meeting with Kaja was set for 6 PM. At 5, Ash & Slate started casing the Lanternwood construction site. They found it deserted. Slate clambered up to an overwatch position on some scaffolding ~40 feet above the pit. Ash continued to poke around ground level, until Slate spotted a woman approaching, accompanied by a hulking 7-foot figure in a black coat. At Slate’s signal, Ash dropped and hung beneath the wooden bridge. The pair of shifters managed to stay hidden while the construct went around dropping a few piles of tubes in various locations around the site. Ash snuck over and examined one of the piles, but saw only metal tubes. [Noodle note: I had Ash make about 4 Stealth rolls over the course of this encounter, and she rolled a 19 or 20 on each. :eek: ] At 6, Sam showed up, flanked by Pieter and Ben. Kaja had the construct carry a chest across the pit to Sam, and show off her wares. Sam’s eye was caught by two carved wooden objects (a sword & amulet) similar in nature to the staff they had recovered earlier in the day. Also in the chest were some Gauntlets of Ogre Power – items Sam had tried to find at the Expo or requisition from the RHC without luck. Negotiation ensued, and a price was agreed of 8000 gold for all 3 items. When Sam couldn’t immediately produce that much money, Kaja had the construct close the box and walk back. Ash snuck across the scaffolding in order to drop behind them and keep them from leaving. When she got near the construct, though, it noticed her and started to attack. Kaja materialized a pair of pistols and the fight was on. Team Six quickly brought down her construct, and pinned Kaja against the construction fence. After even a summoned cannon failed to deter our intrepid heroes, Kaja surrendered – amid imprecations that ‘you RHC types keep ruining my life’. Sam was able to draw out of her that she had worked as a researcher for MacBannin, and swiped most of her goods from the manor. To her great surprise, Sam offered to try to get her a job with the RHC instead. The team confiscated the Ancient artifacts, but Sam still paid for the Gauntlets. [Noodle note: OK, this one took me by surprise. The team went off to the ziggurat with Kaja still alive.. I think I'm going to have her already working for the RHC when the assassin team hits.] The full team then headed back to the University to meet once more with Professor Weber. With two more artifacts in pocket (and unmentioned to the Professor), Pieter reluctantly handed over the staff. Professor Weber mentioned it would be held under strict guard, and investigated by PU and ROA (the Royal Office of Antiquities) mages, but that he planned to make it the prime exhibit in an upcoming ‘Gala of the Ancients’ slated to open on the 31st of the season. The professor wrapped the staff in gold thread, then bundled it in a cloth. He escorted the team to a townhouse in PU’s Faculty Housing area, and introduced you to Dr. Xambria Meredith. Dr. Meredith was very excited to see the staff, and provided you with her story and the location of the dig. She occasionally went off on odd tangents, or seemingly spoke to someone who wasn’t there. She denied anything was wrong with her, though. She also provided the name of her benefactor – one Caius Bergeron, a tiefling from Danor. She knew he had been staying in Risur, but had lost contact with him. Following Dr. Meredith’s directions, on Autumn 2, you all boarded a train to the city of Bole (50GP each). From there, you traveled overland to the city of Agate on the edge of the High Bayou, arriving the evening of Autumn 3. The locals told you of the Voice of Rot, the fey titan said to inhabit the Bayou. They also said there’d been another group heading out to the dig site before you – and they came back carrying something big & rectangular. You decided to buy the tailings from the local butcher (20 GP each) and wait around another day for it to begin to rot. On the morning of the 5th, you set out across the bayou for the dig site, rotting meat in tow. Nothing much happened until you got there, where you found the remains of the camp left by Dr. Meredith’s team, along with a few of her compatriots still laying in the rain where they fell – almost. It’s clear that the site has been disturbed since the calamity happened. Entering the Ancient ziggurat, you all began to be affected by a mild form of Distant Madness, and some of you received visions – or maybe hallucinations. Ash saw the deaths of the archaeologists, and something disturbing enough she didn’t share it with the team. Pieter received a vision of himself back on the docks, being kicked and brutalized by the Flint PD. [Noodle note: I have a set of 'good' and 'bad' hallucinations for each of the party that I will reveal as they explore the temple. Essentially, they see themselves alternately reaching the pinnacle of their profession, or something terrible happening which shows they have labored in vain.] You started exploring the ziggurat to the left, and came upon a ‘rainbow room’ – with colored bridges and veils of light. In the midst of solving the puzzle of how to cross the room, you were set upon by several more of the ‘thoughtform’ beasts you’d encountered at the Expo, as well as apparently normal centipedes that had been mutated by exposure to the magical energies of the ziggurat. After dispatching the beasts, and completing the puzzle, Sam reached the other side of the room and pressed the final stone. He received a vision of the Sealing of Apet (see wiki) and the ability to speak and understand the Ancient tongue. ---- The puzzle went well, but I'm very glad we hashed it out on this forum beforehand. I didn't trigger the combat until Pieter pressed the purple stone .. meaning the party was spread-out and it was hard to focus-fire. :] Ash's player was a bit put out since she was trapped on the initial platform and couldn't contribute much (as a monk, she specializes in multi-target melee damage - for the most part the combat was at range from her). She ended up being a button pusher to drop/raise walls/bridges at key points in the encounter. The main issue I had with the encounter was the design of the 'headcrabs' as we called them. They're minions, who need to land two attacks at melee range to really do their thing. I actually managed to get one character affected by Distant Madness with this attack based on some lucky rolls. If I were running this again, I might have 3-4 implanters with goon-level HP. [/QUOTE]
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