Joshua Randall
Legend
That's what makes it crappy, yup. Action economy is very important when you want to lay down the smack. On the other hand, buffing the party's defenses is also sometimes important.
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D&D 4E Running Commentary on Rel's 4e Campaign (Complete 8/2/10)
- Thread starter Rel
- Start date
Celebrim
Legend
Riggs: Based on the write up I was guessing about 4 hours, so I'm guessing 4 hours of play + 1 hour of BSing? That's not a bad ratio. I've been in sessions where it felt like 4 hours of BSing + 1 hour of play.
Do you do alot of IC conversation between player characters, or is most IC conversation between PC's and NPC's?
I'm curious because it feels to me from the write up and from what you've said that the rate of play hasn't changed all that much between the 1st edition and the 4th. You are getting about as much accomplished as I would expect you to get accomplished regardless of the edition you are playing. How does it feel when you game it? Do you feel like you are getting more done, or does it feel about the same? Or maybe you are having such a good time, that it feels like less because the session goes by so quickly?
The other thing I'm seeing is that the 'adventuring day' - how many events between long rests hasn't changed all that much between 1st and 4th edition either. Does this seem like a fair impression?
I like the 'transparancy' of the rules. The fact that you are playing 4e doesn't seem to color the story all that much (although I can somewhat tell that its 4e simply because your capable of facing a bit more powerful foes than equivalent low level parties in earlier editions, that's metainformation and not something from the story itself).
I mentioned how impressed I was as a DM with the wraith encounter design and the elevator encounter design. Where they as fun to play as read? What do you think was the most enjoyable encounter thus far, other than those two?
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Well last night's session promised to be an exciting one and it did not disappoint (not me at least). A scream came from inside the cloud of rancid darkness that was suddenly cut off. A moment later a reptilian maw snapped outward from the cloud and barely missed chomping down on Eshik. As it withdrew an instant later into the cloud of darkness it left drips of acidic saliva smoking on his leather vest. A moment later the darkness cleared and they could see the horse-sized black dragon crouched in the doorway. It's shoulders bore huge scars where it may once have had wings.
This fight was back and forth with the dragon inflicting some vicious damage but taking some attacks that did 20 HP or more in a single hit sometimes. At one point it withdrew and climbed up onto the rotting upper floor of the tower. Astavian thinking quickly pulled up the ladder that led down to the basement and used it to climb onto the upper floor (the old staircase had rotted away at some point in the past). Unfortunately the dragon purposefully collapsed the roof on top of he and Eshik the following round. Zanne kept after it with Eldrich Blasts and Hellish Rebukes but it was the critical hit by an arrow (one that she had wet in a nearby puddle and then coated with the purplish dust they found in the basement) from Mialain that finally sent the dragon fleeing from the tower. They looked around for the wounded creature in the darkness but it was nowhere to be seen.
It was still a couple hours before dawn and they settled into an uneasy rest as Lord Harrix stood guard along with the slaves they'd rescued during the night. By morning's light they could see a large building a couple hundred feet away. It was fairly newly built but showed some signs of having taken some damage with the front door ripped open and a couple of large holes in the roof and walls. They approached cautiously.
The stench that met them at the door reassured them that the dragon had been here and may be here now. Inside they could see that the building was divided into a front and back half by a wall that went to the rafters but had a doorway in the center that had been ripped open into a somewhat wider hole. Astavian went in first by himself. He hoped that if the dragon lurked within that he could prevent the entire group from being engulfed in the dragon's acidic breath. Looking around what had been a storage room he saw that everything within had been piled into one corner along with a dozen or so dead bodies that smelled of a week of rotting. But no sign of the dragon itself.
A moment later Astavian was lifted off of the floor and into the jaws of the beast by its strong but nimble tail. Astavian chopped at it with his greatsword that bore a thin coating of the purple dust they'd found in the tower and it left a wound that oozed with a thin, acrid smoke. Eshik ran in to aid him, having to leap into the air in order to bring his blade to bear on the dragon that was entwined in the rafters. The others ran in to attack as well and the battle was joined.
Similarly to before the dragon dealt considerable damage but the PC's were fresh from a rest and had their Daily powers back. Astavian kept constant pressure on the beast and took most of its attacks in the early going. Mialain kept up a constant stream of healing, bolstered further by her Beacon of Hope. It was the attacks by Eshik and Zanne however that were the true hallmarks of this battle. Eshik managed to scramble onto its back while Astavian had it Dazed with Radiant Delium and stab both swords into the scars on the dragon's shoulders with Dire Wolverine Strike. After that the dragon focused all its attacks on Eshik, ignoring the damage it took from Astavian's Divine Challenge.
That was until Zanne hurled a fistful of the purple powder onto its back and seared it into the beast's scales with the Flames of Phlegethos. The dragon screamed in pain and rage before breathing out another cloud of stinking darkness. Astavian, Eshik and Zanne all surrounded it and could feel it turn to flee through a hole in the wall of the building and they struck out at it blindly. Its tail lashed at the pair of Dragonborn before wrapping around the waist of the Warlock and dragged Zanne through the hole after it.
As the darkness faded the rest of the party gave chase as the dragon barreled across the plateau with Zanne still blasting at it even as it had her held by its tail. Mialain was the only one fast enough to keep up with the beast but she wasn't close enough to help when it flicked its tail and tossed Zanne down the 60 foot deep shaft where they had first emerged from the mines below. She reached for the edge but missed and plummeted to her death, her own corpse added to those of the diggers they had found there during their ascent.
Mialain stopped at the hole and the others rapidly caught up as the dragon fled over the gradual hill of the plateau. As they stood at the edge of the shaft, helpless to do anything for their fallen ally, they spotted an approaching airship. Surmising that this was the supply ship they had read about in the Black Moon journal they waited for it to arrive while Eshik climbed down into the hole to retrieve the body of Zanne.
A few minutes later the ship landed and turned out to be crewed by goblins, the captain of whom was named Tornear. Surprised to find that the Black Moon were all dead, and still wanting to make a buck on the trip, he negotiated with Astavain for passage aboard his ship (the "Rat Bastard") back to Opkhar for the PC's, Harrix and the rescued slaves. The status of these slaves upon reaching Opkhar was uncertain since slavery was recently legallized there but they seemed more concerned with the PC's not revealing the cannibalism they had been forced to resort to when they were trapped in their cell with no food.
Before departing the plateau Mialain performed the Gentle Repose ritual on Zanne's body while the Dragonborn searched through the dragon's "hoard". They did discover a scimitar and some chainmail that seemed in good condition and these turned out to both be magical. With that they departed on the three day sail upwind to Opkhar.
GM Comments:
So the dragon was their first Solo of the campaign and I found the mechanics very interesting. I liked that the dragon had different and interesting things to do each round that still all surrounded a central theme. I will note here that this was a Young Black Dragon (level 4 solo) in all respects except that I swapped its defenses with those of a Young White Dragon (level 3 solo). Otherwise the PC's would have had a very frustrating time hitting it.
They probably did a better job working together as a team in this battle than any other they've had. Despite the fact that this thing had 224 HP, the battles didn't drag on and on. The first took around an hour and a half and the second was about the same. Although it may not seem like it from above, Astavian probably did at least as much damage to it as the Strikers did thanks to his Divine Challenge. What I didn't anticipate was how that would interact with its Tail Lash interrupt attacks whenever somebody missed it with a melee attack. This put Eshik in the position of damaging it on every swing whether he struck it or not since it either took damage from his swords or Astavian's Challenge. I like how those design elements work together.
If you've been reading along then you know that Zanne's death is the first one of the campaign. I honestly didn't plan or anticipate that. It's pretty impressive how many things had to fall the wrong way for it to happen. If the dragon had fled with any fewer hit points then Zanne probably would have killed it with Eldrich Blasts before it could throw her down the hole. If she'd made the saving throw then obviously she'd have caught herself and Mialain could have helped her out when she got there. As it was the falling damage she took killed her by two hit points. If she could have survived that by even one point then Mialain could probably have gotten to her with healing before she failed the Death Saves.
Fear not however as, thanks to Mialain's Gentle Repose, you've probably not seen the last of Zanne. As I told the player, "Some interesting things are going to happen to you while you're dead."
This fight was back and forth with the dragon inflicting some vicious damage but taking some attacks that did 20 HP or more in a single hit sometimes. At one point it withdrew and climbed up onto the rotting upper floor of the tower. Astavian thinking quickly pulled up the ladder that led down to the basement and used it to climb onto the upper floor (the old staircase had rotted away at some point in the past). Unfortunately the dragon purposefully collapsed the roof on top of he and Eshik the following round. Zanne kept after it with Eldrich Blasts and Hellish Rebukes but it was the critical hit by an arrow (one that she had wet in a nearby puddle and then coated with the purplish dust they found in the basement) from Mialain that finally sent the dragon fleeing from the tower. They looked around for the wounded creature in the darkness but it was nowhere to be seen.
It was still a couple hours before dawn and they settled into an uneasy rest as Lord Harrix stood guard along with the slaves they'd rescued during the night. By morning's light they could see a large building a couple hundred feet away. It was fairly newly built but showed some signs of having taken some damage with the front door ripped open and a couple of large holes in the roof and walls. They approached cautiously.
The stench that met them at the door reassured them that the dragon had been here and may be here now. Inside they could see that the building was divided into a front and back half by a wall that went to the rafters but had a doorway in the center that had been ripped open into a somewhat wider hole. Astavian went in first by himself. He hoped that if the dragon lurked within that he could prevent the entire group from being engulfed in the dragon's acidic breath. Looking around what had been a storage room he saw that everything within had been piled into one corner along with a dozen or so dead bodies that smelled of a week of rotting. But no sign of the dragon itself.
A moment later Astavian was lifted off of the floor and into the jaws of the beast by its strong but nimble tail. Astavian chopped at it with his greatsword that bore a thin coating of the purple dust they'd found in the tower and it left a wound that oozed with a thin, acrid smoke. Eshik ran in to aid him, having to leap into the air in order to bring his blade to bear on the dragon that was entwined in the rafters. The others ran in to attack as well and the battle was joined.
Similarly to before the dragon dealt considerable damage but the PC's were fresh from a rest and had their Daily powers back. Astavian kept constant pressure on the beast and took most of its attacks in the early going. Mialain kept up a constant stream of healing, bolstered further by her Beacon of Hope. It was the attacks by Eshik and Zanne however that were the true hallmarks of this battle. Eshik managed to scramble onto its back while Astavian had it Dazed with Radiant Delium and stab both swords into the scars on the dragon's shoulders with Dire Wolverine Strike. After that the dragon focused all its attacks on Eshik, ignoring the damage it took from Astavian's Divine Challenge.
That was until Zanne hurled a fistful of the purple powder onto its back and seared it into the beast's scales with the Flames of Phlegethos. The dragon screamed in pain and rage before breathing out another cloud of stinking darkness. Astavian, Eshik and Zanne all surrounded it and could feel it turn to flee through a hole in the wall of the building and they struck out at it blindly. Its tail lashed at the pair of Dragonborn before wrapping around the waist of the Warlock and dragged Zanne through the hole after it.
As the darkness faded the rest of the party gave chase as the dragon barreled across the plateau with Zanne still blasting at it even as it had her held by its tail. Mialain was the only one fast enough to keep up with the beast but she wasn't close enough to help when it flicked its tail and tossed Zanne down the 60 foot deep shaft where they had first emerged from the mines below. She reached for the edge but missed and plummeted to her death, her own corpse added to those of the diggers they had found there during their ascent.
Mialain stopped at the hole and the others rapidly caught up as the dragon fled over the gradual hill of the plateau. As they stood at the edge of the shaft, helpless to do anything for their fallen ally, they spotted an approaching airship. Surmising that this was the supply ship they had read about in the Black Moon journal they waited for it to arrive while Eshik climbed down into the hole to retrieve the body of Zanne.
A few minutes later the ship landed and turned out to be crewed by goblins, the captain of whom was named Tornear. Surprised to find that the Black Moon were all dead, and still wanting to make a buck on the trip, he negotiated with Astavain for passage aboard his ship (the "Rat Bastard") back to Opkhar for the PC's, Harrix and the rescued slaves. The status of these slaves upon reaching Opkhar was uncertain since slavery was recently legallized there but they seemed more concerned with the PC's not revealing the cannibalism they had been forced to resort to when they were trapped in their cell with no food.
Before departing the plateau Mialain performed the Gentle Repose ritual on Zanne's body while the Dragonborn searched through the dragon's "hoard". They did discover a scimitar and some chainmail that seemed in good condition and these turned out to both be magical. With that they departed on the three day sail upwind to Opkhar.
GM Comments:
So the dragon was their first Solo of the campaign and I found the mechanics very interesting. I liked that the dragon had different and interesting things to do each round that still all surrounded a central theme. I will note here that this was a Young Black Dragon (level 4 solo) in all respects except that I swapped its defenses with those of a Young White Dragon (level 3 solo). Otherwise the PC's would have had a very frustrating time hitting it.
They probably did a better job working together as a team in this battle than any other they've had. Despite the fact that this thing had 224 HP, the battles didn't drag on and on. The first took around an hour and a half and the second was about the same. Although it may not seem like it from above, Astavian probably did at least as much damage to it as the Strikers did thanks to his Divine Challenge. What I didn't anticipate was how that would interact with its Tail Lash interrupt attacks whenever somebody missed it with a melee attack. This put Eshik in the position of damaging it on every swing whether he struck it or not since it either took damage from his swords or Astavian's Challenge. I like how those design elements work together.
If you've been reading along then you know that Zanne's death is the first one of the campaign. I honestly didn't plan or anticipate that. It's pretty impressive how many things had to fall the wrong way for it to happen. If the dragon had fled with any fewer hit points then Zanne probably would have killed it with Eldrich Blasts before it could throw her down the hole. If she'd made the saving throw then obviously she'd have caught herself and Mialain could have helped her out when she got there. As it was the falling damage she took killed her by two hit points. If she could have survived that by even one point then Mialain could probably have gotten to her with healing before she failed the Death Saves.
Fear not however as, thanks to Mialain's Gentle Repose, you've probably not seen the last of Zanne. As I told the player, "Some interesting things are going to happen to you while you're dead."
stobil
First Post
I have been playing Zanne and enjoying the Warlock for the most part. The death last session was disappointing, but hey, it's a grim world of perilous adventure. At least it is when you have the RBDM running the show.
I will say that I like 4e better than 3.5, mainly because of the variety of powers for both melee and magic and in between, and the echelons of At Will, Encounter, and Daily. Also, no need to have a dedicated healer in the party (although I'm glad we have Mialain). The house rules that Rel has come up with are also good. I like the tradeoff for exploding d6's - it makes every roll a little bit of an adventure in itself.
For Zanne, previous to the session where she died, I was contemplating a switch to Wizard. Less direct damage without the curse, but greater overall utility there with the powers offered and ritual capability is given at Level 1. Controller vs. Striker. We have a Striker in Eshik already, and his effectiveness will be increased by his recent acquisition of some good chainmail armor.
So, in light of recent events, I am once again pondering the switch to Wizard. Any thoughts on the swithch for those of you that have played both Wizard and Warlock?
I will say that I like 4e better than 3.5, mainly because of the variety of powers for both melee and magic and in between, and the echelons of At Will, Encounter, and Daily. Also, no need to have a dedicated healer in the party (although I'm glad we have Mialain). The house rules that Rel has come up with are also good. I like the tradeoff for exploding d6's - it makes every roll a little bit of an adventure in itself.
For Zanne, previous to the session where she died, I was contemplating a switch to Wizard. Less direct damage without the curse, but greater overall utility there with the powers offered and ritual capability is given at Level 1. Controller vs. Striker. We have a Striker in Eshik already, and his effectiveness will be increased by his recent acquisition of some good chainmail armor.
So, in light of recent events, I am once again pondering the switch to Wizard. Any thoughts on the swithch for those of you that have played both Wizard and Warlock?
stobil
First Post
Rel / Astavian - I was thinking about the Divine Challenge, because it seemed like it was pretty similar in design/nature to things like the Warlock's Curse and Hunter's Quarry. With both of those, you get to do the extra damage once per turn / target, I believe. If that is the case with Divine Challenge, then I think we were actually applying it incorrectly in the case of the dragon last session. I think, Rel, that you were hitting the dragon for the 6 points every time it didn't attack Astavian, even multiple times in one turn. If Divine Challenge works like the other powers, the dragon should have only been damaged once per turn for not attacking Astavian. Just wanted to see if that is in fact the case, because if it does take the damage every time, that makes Divine Challenge a little more powerful, especially in regards to something like the dragon which got the riposte attacks on a miss. I think that perhaps Ryukar was looking out for Astavian in the fight anyway, and extra damage from the Paladin's deity was appropriate for the nasty black dragon.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
You are correct that I was doing it wrong. The penalty to the attacks (-2) applies to all attacks but it only takes the damage once per round. Over the course of that last combat it probably took an extra 12 or 18 points of damage as a result. Given a dragon of 224 HP I'm not too concerned about that but thanks for pointing it out anyway.
Riggs
First Post
We do a decent amount of RP chat between characters, but sometimes we summarize. I can think of a time when we found a Draconic artifact/item trinket and I said IC that perhaps I should keep care of it until it could be returned to a proper temple, etc. I then realized that I had forgotten my dragonborn ally's story and thought he'd be best keeping it (as it was proper to) and meta-talked through that bit such as, "Oops, yeah I totally forgot, you should take that and amend what I said before to include "but since it is in your realm of expertise and interest, it should be yours, Eshik."
I tend to want to speak IC more than I do, and frame metagame comments with "Astavian would say... or would want to..." and sometimes I just say it. I'm better at thinking like my character than speaking like him I would say.
As far as rest time and rate of play, I think rest has sped up considerably, and rate of play has as well when you compare having all actions in front of you like a menu versus thinking/remembering spells/attacks each round while adapting to conditions.
I thought the Wraith encounter was fun, as the fight outside was where I was effectively in my underwear fighting undead, and any fight Rel has designed will be fun. If we fail a skill test and get uberbugs and stirges then that is not on the same scale of course, since it's not the same kind of thing.
My favorite is the last series of fights with the dragon. I went after that thing until I was spent, and then we all got up and did it again. I was begging for a whoopin each round I know, but luck (and Ryukaar) was with Astavian that time. Being lucky can be fun, but when it meshes with the flavor (Astavian is blessed by his deity and is doing what he is called to do) then it's all the better.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
I never got around to posting our update from last week so I'll be playing catch up here today. In order to organize this a bit and give the commentary about the mechanics of 4e as well as of how I tend to run a campaign, I'm going to break it into managable chunks.
So the PC's departed the "Prison Mines of Pelor" plateau where they fought the dragon and I sent them the following expositional piece:
[sblock]Arrival in Opkhar
Your passage to Opkhar is largely uneventful with the exception of not sleeping very well in light of the omnipresent rats which seem to chew on anything and everything including the occasional finger or toe. Mialain begins to grow concerned about bits of Zanne’s lifeless body being nibbled off and asks Tornear about any cloth from which she might fashion some kind of shroud. She thinks that he thinks that this is a waste of good sailcloth but he agrees to part with a torn storm-jib and Mialain wraps Zanne up nice and snug for safekeeping, even taking care to sew up the loose corners of cloth.
Aside from that Tornear is a fairly good host. He makes food available and, while not exactly gourmet fare, it is better than what you have been eating. The slaves in particular seem grateful for the food. Maklud however still seems haunted by recent events and remains a bit reclusive. He does appear to prize the sword that Eshik gave him and polishes many of the nicks and pits out of it with a piece of whetstone borrowed from one of the goblins.
The goblins don’t have much to say to the lot of you but they seem to cheerfully go about their work on the ship. Tornear lets them mostly do as they please but when he does growl occasionally at them for being lazy they move quickly to please him. A good bit of this takes place as they bring the ship alongside a dock just a hundred feet above the heaving Mist in the lower part of Sinking City. You have at last arrived in Opkhar.
The slaves bid you farewell with a smile, and say that they are forever in your debt. Maklud indicates that he and Sorid hope to secure employment in the coal mines. The black dust there should be enough to hide their identities. That should bring enough money for them to house and feed themselves and the women until the women can find new employment, “of an honorable sort” (you are getting the impression that Rina and Kula may have been prostitutes before). Maklud says that if you are ever in need of a favor that you should simply show up at the House of Juneesh and give your names. With that they depart and vanish into the depths of Sinking City.
Harrix gathers you and insists that you make no mention of his name in public, asking that you simply call him “Lord” instead. He explains that this is because he doesn’t yet know whether The Black Moon is aware of his arrival but that they are certain to be around since Opkhar is their home (a fact revealed by Zanne previously). For this same reason he pays a few extra coins to Tornear and his goblins to seal the Gift inside a wooden crate. Also considering that carrying around a corpse is conspicuous (not to mention that you may not get a very warm reception at the inn), he has Tornear’s goblins box up Zanne as well. He encourages the rest of you to keep quiet about all of this.
This is not the part of town that Lord Harrix had anticipated arriving in and asks for a recommendation of an inn. After some talk with Tornear he gets directions and you make your way a short distance to the Old Palace Inn. It turns out that this was, in fact, the actual Royal Palace of Opkhar some 300 years ago. But it was abandoned around 50 years ago as the Mists had risen to the point that they threatened to wash inside it when storms came. It was stripped of everything of value when the royal family removed to the New Palace high atop the cliffs above. Vagrants began to move into it and it became a haven for criminals until it was purchased by a Tiefling some 20 years ago.
Various rumors say that the Tiefling got the property for a steal, that he retired from the Adventurers Guild, that he was once a Mist Demon, that he single-handedly killed the criminals that had infested the property and that the delicious stew served at the Old Palace Inn contains bits of creatures that live only down in the Mists. The owner neither answers nor discourages any of these rumors. He seems to let a Halfling woman do most of the work of running the Inn proper and instead spends his time serving drinks from behind the bar, which he polishes constantly until it gleams like a mirror.
Lord Harrix pays for his own private room in one of the more luxurious ones available. He arranges for Astavian and Eshik to share a room as well as another for Mialain and has the crate with Zanne’s corpse placed in the corner of the room. You sleep the sleep of the righteous in real beds for a change and awake refreshed. Finding your way to the dining room, you are greeted by your Lord who treats you to a sumptuous breakfast. Astavian is absolutely insistent with the waiter that none of his food is anything that has touched the Mist and he eventually settles on a plate of hominy wheat served with sausages made from venison and mushrooms from the upland forests (those located as far from the Mist as possible). Mialain has a plate of pigeon eggs served with bits of trout flown in from Lake Opkhar with slices of apple. Eshik settles on some roasted pigeon in gravy with toast. There is applewine, juice and water to drink.
Over breakfast your Lord quietly explains his intentions to send a message to the New Palace asking for an escort for you and the “crate of presents” to his Royal Highness after which he hopes he can engage in talks with the King and his advisors on matters of interest with Emperor Vond. During the course of these talks he will explain the attack by The Black Moon, secure letters of credit (from which you and Tornear will both be paid) and ask whether there might be accommodations made for bringing Zanne back to life. With this plan ready to set in motion he asks that you all pack your thinks and make ready to depart while he pens his message to the King’s Chamberlain. Once packed you are to meet him in his room where you can remain together until it is time to depart for the New Palace.
Returning to your room it takes little time to pack up your equipment. Most of your belongings are in rough shape after the swim through the river and trek through the mines and you hope that you don’t have to present yourselves to the King like this. You do what you can to wash and polish things. It’s not until you are ready to head up to Lord Harrix’s room that you lift the crate holding Zanne’s body and discover that it is rather lighter than you recall. After a moment you discover that it has been pried open and her body is missing…[/sblock]
Meanwhile some interesting stuff was happening to Zanne while she was dead:
[sblock]Interlude
You plummet into the dark hole and land with a crunch. Your nose fills with the smell of death and warm darkness surrounds you. It grows hotter and darker still and a constant, roaring thunder sounds from one direction. You lie upon the stone and a curious sense of weightlessness fills you. Looking around you can see nothing but you taste the thick, choking Mist. Out of the Mist comes a pair of red eyes and a baleful gaze falls upon you from a towering figure.
A voice rumbles in Primordial. “Zanne of Ksalion. You have come to me earlier than expected. Pathetic…and yet your recent contributions held such promise. Such a waste.” His hand grips you even though you feel insubstantial and he lifts you up to stare into your eyes. “Nonetheless your soul will be put to good use in our…efforts.” He looks in the direction of the thundering.
“Not yet,” says a lilting voice. It is quiet and gentle but can somehow be heard over the thundering. Your captor turns to look at her. She radiates beauty but also a dangerous inner power. The Mist does not touch her.
He looks at her, eyes narrowing, “I’d heard a rumor that you were alive. So that makes two now? Should I be expecting more?”
She replies, “I know little of what became of the others. But it does seem that the world holds a few miracles yet, does it not?” A smile touches her lips as she says this.
He growls, “Your time is past. Don’t think that I can’t tell you have but the barest sliver of power now.”
“It is enough,” she says, “to deny you this soul for a while longer. One of my followers has placed her in Repose.”
“Do not think you can lie to a Master of Lies so easily. ‘One of your followers’ indeed. I see now how precarious your power truly is.” His voice is growing faint and a pale light begins to displace the darkness.
Although you are fading she looks directly at you, “Consider well how great a debt you now owe, Warlock.”
limbo…
You wake again on a hard slab. It is some kind of table or altar. Your body is wrapped inside a tight, cloth sheath. It is difficult to move and your head is pounding. A figure turns toward you, crouches down and says, “Welcome back. You’ll feel awful for a while but it’s better than the alternative. As long as you cooperate that hopefully won’t happen again for a long time. Here…drink this.” He brings a cup of water to your lips.
“Where am I?” you ask.
He brings a stool over and sits down upon it looking a bit tired. “Begging your pardon but I’ve just spent the last eight hours bringing you back from the dead. I hope you won’t find it rude if I do most of the question asking for a bit. No doubt your next question would be, ‘who are you’ but I’m more interested in you right now. So I’m wondering if your name is Zanne.”
Whether you wish to reveal it or not the look on your face tells him his answer. “I had a feeling. Excuse me for a minute.” He walks over to a nearby table where he gathers some items you identify as alchemical reagents. He’s clearly doing some kind of ritual. At one point he pulls out a golden coin and writes something on the edge of it with a quill. As he’s doing this he says your name several times. Walking across the room he continues to speak a low whisper of arcane incantations until he gets to a stone mantle jutting from the wall. With a final gesture he sets the coin spinning. It is then that you notice that there are four other coins on the mantle that are spinning as well. He regards this for a moment and then turns back to you.
“It seems that you are in fact Zanne of Ksalion. One can’t be too careful these days it seems. Since I know who you are then I’ll share my name with you. I am Zhomkar.”
“I know that name,” you hear yourself say.
He smiles, “I had hoped you would. Our meeting is happening under less than ideal circumstances, you being dead and so forth.”
Nodding back over his shoulder you say, “What was that all about?”
He turns and looks toward the mantle, “Ah. The Spell of the Spinning Coin. I performed a ritual on that coin using your name. It will continue to spin like that for as long as you live. In fact it was when your last coin stopped spinning that I learned you had died. I was using that to keep an eye out for your welfare ever since I learned you were headed to Opkar.”
Recent events start to tumble their way past the aching in your head. “Where are my friends?”
“Friends? Oh you mean the pair of Dragonborn and the Elf? I suspect they are looking for you right now. I…liberated you from them. I needed answers and I wasn’t sure that they’d hand over your body if I asked nicely. Fortunately I know people who steal things and people seldom think to guard a dead body very closely. Your friends appear to be fine and are staying at the nicest inn in the worst part of the city.”
“The city?”
“Yes,” he replies. “Sinking City. An airship brought you here a couple of days ago.”
You breathe an inward sigh of relief realizing that you’ve finally made it to Opkhar. Then, “What of Lord Harrix? Did he get the Gift here safely?”
Zhomkar looks at you piercingly. Then he glances at the stone mantle. “Yes, that’s something I wanted to have a word with you about. Lord Harrix arrived safely with the Gift on the same airship as your friends and you did. What concerns me however is that his coin stopped spinning twelve days ago…” [/sblock]
During the time that Zanne was being raised by Zhomkar the PC's were instructed by Harrix that he was sending word to the palace that they were at the Old Palace Inn, feared attack by the Black Moon if they walked openly in the streets, and would his majesty be so kind as to provide an escort to the New Palace. They would plan to bring all their belongings with them including the crate containing the urn as well as the empty crate that no longer held Zanne's body (because, hey, free crate!).
An armed squad of guards arrived and escorted them to the New Palace where they were greeted by the Chamberlain and showed to a sitting room. There Harrix explained the nature of his mission and they were invited to a dinner that evening at which Harrix would be allowed to present his gift to the King. They cleaned themselves up as best they could and waited.
Zanne and Zhomkar meanwhile hurried to the New Palace to try and intercept Lord Harrix, whom they were now certain was an impostor of some sort. However they arrived after the dinner had already begun and were denied entry by the rather irritated chamberlain. Zhomkar suggested that he "create a distraction" while Zanne tried to sneak in through the servants quarters. This they did although Zhomkar's distraction worked a little too well and Zanne's sneaking worked a little too poorly.
She ended up getting into a fight with the guard at the servants entrance and took a couple swipes from his halberd before she left him unconscious in the hallway outside the kitchens. She pressed on through the kitchen, sending a wave of terrified cooks and servants fleeing before her before locating the kitchen entrance to the dining hall.
The rest of the party meanwhile enjoyed a tasty dinner provided by the King. This was marred only by the sudden discovery that one of the minor nobles attending the dinner was none other than the Black Moon Cultist who had attacked them on the bridge from Semma and flown away on his gryphon. He currently wore nothing that would identify him as affilliated with the Black Moon and the PC's made no mention of it to the King. Finally the dinner was done and it was time for Lord Harrix to make his presentation to the King. He brought the urn over next to the King and...
...Zanne came bursting into the room yelling, "STOP!! He's an impostor!" She charged and attempted to tackle Harrix away from the king but failed (Strength is Zanne's dump stat).
Harrix opened the urn anyway and everyone held their breath as a beautiful, naked, lithe, female form stretched her way out of the urn and presented herself before the King. The King looked at her naked beauty with awe and asked, "Who are you?"
She replied, "I am...HUNGRY!"
************************
The two sblocked passages above were expositional information given to the players of Astavian, Eshik and Mialain (in the first instance) and Zanne (in the second). This is something I'm a big fan of in recent years. Rather than roleplay through each and every step of the stuff that happens between adventures I try to summarize it and give it back to the players in chunks that set things up for what is to happen next.
I take a lot of leads about what to include in these from the players themselves and the personalities they inject into the characters. Also I always give them veto power over anything I have their charater say or do as a result. But that doesn't happen very often because my players are really good at showing me the personality of their PC and I, in turn, try to make sure I portray them in a way that is true to that.
Anyway, obviously the big reveal that took place here is that Lord Harrix is not as he appears to be. I need to give props to Zanne's player for keeping that info to himself over the few days that he knew it (when none of the other players did). Also I think the other players were beginning to suspect something was up based on out of character knowledge but they did an excellent job of keeping that from influencing how they played.
Finally this segment saw something that I hadn't tried before and it worked out well, which was a mini, solo skill challenge for Zanne trying to get into the New Palace undetected. She failed a couple key rolls, mostly due to not being able to speak the language of the guard. The failed skill challenge had the consequence of her engaging in solo combat with the guard but that went very quickly and easily, not slowing down the game. And as a result of the other players being able to see the converging plot points I think that the scene with her bursting into the royal dining room came off very well.
Next post I'll give a quick rundown of the resulting battle and how that played.
So the PC's departed the "Prison Mines of Pelor" plateau where they fought the dragon and I sent them the following expositional piece:
[sblock]Arrival in Opkhar
Your passage to Opkhar is largely uneventful with the exception of not sleeping very well in light of the omnipresent rats which seem to chew on anything and everything including the occasional finger or toe. Mialain begins to grow concerned about bits of Zanne’s lifeless body being nibbled off and asks Tornear about any cloth from which she might fashion some kind of shroud. She thinks that he thinks that this is a waste of good sailcloth but he agrees to part with a torn storm-jib and Mialain wraps Zanne up nice and snug for safekeeping, even taking care to sew up the loose corners of cloth.
Aside from that Tornear is a fairly good host. He makes food available and, while not exactly gourmet fare, it is better than what you have been eating. The slaves in particular seem grateful for the food. Maklud however still seems haunted by recent events and remains a bit reclusive. He does appear to prize the sword that Eshik gave him and polishes many of the nicks and pits out of it with a piece of whetstone borrowed from one of the goblins.
The goblins don’t have much to say to the lot of you but they seem to cheerfully go about their work on the ship. Tornear lets them mostly do as they please but when he does growl occasionally at them for being lazy they move quickly to please him. A good bit of this takes place as they bring the ship alongside a dock just a hundred feet above the heaving Mist in the lower part of Sinking City. You have at last arrived in Opkhar.
The slaves bid you farewell with a smile, and say that they are forever in your debt. Maklud indicates that he and Sorid hope to secure employment in the coal mines. The black dust there should be enough to hide their identities. That should bring enough money for them to house and feed themselves and the women until the women can find new employment, “of an honorable sort” (you are getting the impression that Rina and Kula may have been prostitutes before). Maklud says that if you are ever in need of a favor that you should simply show up at the House of Juneesh and give your names. With that they depart and vanish into the depths of Sinking City.
Harrix gathers you and insists that you make no mention of his name in public, asking that you simply call him “Lord” instead. He explains that this is because he doesn’t yet know whether The Black Moon is aware of his arrival but that they are certain to be around since Opkhar is their home (a fact revealed by Zanne previously). For this same reason he pays a few extra coins to Tornear and his goblins to seal the Gift inside a wooden crate. Also considering that carrying around a corpse is conspicuous (not to mention that you may not get a very warm reception at the inn), he has Tornear’s goblins box up Zanne as well. He encourages the rest of you to keep quiet about all of this.
This is not the part of town that Lord Harrix had anticipated arriving in and asks for a recommendation of an inn. After some talk with Tornear he gets directions and you make your way a short distance to the Old Palace Inn. It turns out that this was, in fact, the actual Royal Palace of Opkhar some 300 years ago. But it was abandoned around 50 years ago as the Mists had risen to the point that they threatened to wash inside it when storms came. It was stripped of everything of value when the royal family removed to the New Palace high atop the cliffs above. Vagrants began to move into it and it became a haven for criminals until it was purchased by a Tiefling some 20 years ago.
Various rumors say that the Tiefling got the property for a steal, that he retired from the Adventurers Guild, that he was once a Mist Demon, that he single-handedly killed the criminals that had infested the property and that the delicious stew served at the Old Palace Inn contains bits of creatures that live only down in the Mists. The owner neither answers nor discourages any of these rumors. He seems to let a Halfling woman do most of the work of running the Inn proper and instead spends his time serving drinks from behind the bar, which he polishes constantly until it gleams like a mirror.
Lord Harrix pays for his own private room in one of the more luxurious ones available. He arranges for Astavian and Eshik to share a room as well as another for Mialain and has the crate with Zanne’s corpse placed in the corner of the room. You sleep the sleep of the righteous in real beds for a change and awake refreshed. Finding your way to the dining room, you are greeted by your Lord who treats you to a sumptuous breakfast. Astavian is absolutely insistent with the waiter that none of his food is anything that has touched the Mist and he eventually settles on a plate of hominy wheat served with sausages made from venison and mushrooms from the upland forests (those located as far from the Mist as possible). Mialain has a plate of pigeon eggs served with bits of trout flown in from Lake Opkhar with slices of apple. Eshik settles on some roasted pigeon in gravy with toast. There is applewine, juice and water to drink.
Over breakfast your Lord quietly explains his intentions to send a message to the New Palace asking for an escort for you and the “crate of presents” to his Royal Highness after which he hopes he can engage in talks with the King and his advisors on matters of interest with Emperor Vond. During the course of these talks he will explain the attack by The Black Moon, secure letters of credit (from which you and Tornear will both be paid) and ask whether there might be accommodations made for bringing Zanne back to life. With this plan ready to set in motion he asks that you all pack your thinks and make ready to depart while he pens his message to the King’s Chamberlain. Once packed you are to meet him in his room where you can remain together until it is time to depart for the New Palace.
Returning to your room it takes little time to pack up your equipment. Most of your belongings are in rough shape after the swim through the river and trek through the mines and you hope that you don’t have to present yourselves to the King like this. You do what you can to wash and polish things. It’s not until you are ready to head up to Lord Harrix’s room that you lift the crate holding Zanne’s body and discover that it is rather lighter than you recall. After a moment you discover that it has been pried open and her body is missing…[/sblock]
Meanwhile some interesting stuff was happening to Zanne while she was dead:
[sblock]Interlude
You plummet into the dark hole and land with a crunch. Your nose fills with the smell of death and warm darkness surrounds you. It grows hotter and darker still and a constant, roaring thunder sounds from one direction. You lie upon the stone and a curious sense of weightlessness fills you. Looking around you can see nothing but you taste the thick, choking Mist. Out of the Mist comes a pair of red eyes and a baleful gaze falls upon you from a towering figure.
A voice rumbles in Primordial. “Zanne of Ksalion. You have come to me earlier than expected. Pathetic…and yet your recent contributions held such promise. Such a waste.” His hand grips you even though you feel insubstantial and he lifts you up to stare into your eyes. “Nonetheless your soul will be put to good use in our…efforts.” He looks in the direction of the thundering.
“Not yet,” says a lilting voice. It is quiet and gentle but can somehow be heard over the thundering. Your captor turns to look at her. She radiates beauty but also a dangerous inner power. The Mist does not touch her.
He looks at her, eyes narrowing, “I’d heard a rumor that you were alive. So that makes two now? Should I be expecting more?”
She replies, “I know little of what became of the others. But it does seem that the world holds a few miracles yet, does it not?” A smile touches her lips as she says this.
He growls, “Your time is past. Don’t think that I can’t tell you have but the barest sliver of power now.”
“It is enough,” she says, “to deny you this soul for a while longer. One of my followers has placed her in Repose.”
“Do not think you can lie to a Master of Lies so easily. ‘One of your followers’ indeed. I see now how precarious your power truly is.” His voice is growing faint and a pale light begins to displace the darkness.
Although you are fading she looks directly at you, “Consider well how great a debt you now owe, Warlock.”
limbo…
You wake again on a hard slab. It is some kind of table or altar. Your body is wrapped inside a tight, cloth sheath. It is difficult to move and your head is pounding. A figure turns toward you, crouches down and says, “Welcome back. You’ll feel awful for a while but it’s better than the alternative. As long as you cooperate that hopefully won’t happen again for a long time. Here…drink this.” He brings a cup of water to your lips.
“Where am I?” you ask.
He brings a stool over and sits down upon it looking a bit tired. “Begging your pardon but I’ve just spent the last eight hours bringing you back from the dead. I hope you won’t find it rude if I do most of the question asking for a bit. No doubt your next question would be, ‘who are you’ but I’m more interested in you right now. So I’m wondering if your name is Zanne.”
Whether you wish to reveal it or not the look on your face tells him his answer. “I had a feeling. Excuse me for a minute.” He walks over to a nearby table where he gathers some items you identify as alchemical reagents. He’s clearly doing some kind of ritual. At one point he pulls out a golden coin and writes something on the edge of it with a quill. As he’s doing this he says your name several times. Walking across the room he continues to speak a low whisper of arcane incantations until he gets to a stone mantle jutting from the wall. With a final gesture he sets the coin spinning. It is then that you notice that there are four other coins on the mantle that are spinning as well. He regards this for a moment and then turns back to you.
“It seems that you are in fact Zanne of Ksalion. One can’t be too careful these days it seems. Since I know who you are then I’ll share my name with you. I am Zhomkar.”
“I know that name,” you hear yourself say.
He smiles, “I had hoped you would. Our meeting is happening under less than ideal circumstances, you being dead and so forth.”
Nodding back over his shoulder you say, “What was that all about?”
He turns and looks toward the mantle, “Ah. The Spell of the Spinning Coin. I performed a ritual on that coin using your name. It will continue to spin like that for as long as you live. In fact it was when your last coin stopped spinning that I learned you had died. I was using that to keep an eye out for your welfare ever since I learned you were headed to Opkar.”
Recent events start to tumble their way past the aching in your head. “Where are my friends?”
“Friends? Oh you mean the pair of Dragonborn and the Elf? I suspect they are looking for you right now. I…liberated you from them. I needed answers and I wasn’t sure that they’d hand over your body if I asked nicely. Fortunately I know people who steal things and people seldom think to guard a dead body very closely. Your friends appear to be fine and are staying at the nicest inn in the worst part of the city.”
“The city?”
“Yes,” he replies. “Sinking City. An airship brought you here a couple of days ago.”
You breathe an inward sigh of relief realizing that you’ve finally made it to Opkhar. Then, “What of Lord Harrix? Did he get the Gift here safely?”
Zhomkar looks at you piercingly. Then he glances at the stone mantle. “Yes, that’s something I wanted to have a word with you about. Lord Harrix arrived safely with the Gift on the same airship as your friends and you did. What concerns me however is that his coin stopped spinning twelve days ago…” [/sblock]
During the time that Zanne was being raised by Zhomkar the PC's were instructed by Harrix that he was sending word to the palace that they were at the Old Palace Inn, feared attack by the Black Moon if they walked openly in the streets, and would his majesty be so kind as to provide an escort to the New Palace. They would plan to bring all their belongings with them including the crate containing the urn as well as the empty crate that no longer held Zanne's body (because, hey, free crate!).
An armed squad of guards arrived and escorted them to the New Palace where they were greeted by the Chamberlain and showed to a sitting room. There Harrix explained the nature of his mission and they were invited to a dinner that evening at which Harrix would be allowed to present his gift to the King. They cleaned themselves up as best they could and waited.
Zanne and Zhomkar meanwhile hurried to the New Palace to try and intercept Lord Harrix, whom they were now certain was an impostor of some sort. However they arrived after the dinner had already begun and were denied entry by the rather irritated chamberlain. Zhomkar suggested that he "create a distraction" while Zanne tried to sneak in through the servants quarters. This they did although Zhomkar's distraction worked a little too well and Zanne's sneaking worked a little too poorly.
She ended up getting into a fight with the guard at the servants entrance and took a couple swipes from his halberd before she left him unconscious in the hallway outside the kitchens. She pressed on through the kitchen, sending a wave of terrified cooks and servants fleeing before her before locating the kitchen entrance to the dining hall.
The rest of the party meanwhile enjoyed a tasty dinner provided by the King. This was marred only by the sudden discovery that one of the minor nobles attending the dinner was none other than the Black Moon Cultist who had attacked them on the bridge from Semma and flown away on his gryphon. He currently wore nothing that would identify him as affilliated with the Black Moon and the PC's made no mention of it to the King. Finally the dinner was done and it was time for Lord Harrix to make his presentation to the King. He brought the urn over next to the King and...
...Zanne came bursting into the room yelling, "STOP!! He's an impostor!" She charged and attempted to tackle Harrix away from the king but failed (Strength is Zanne's dump stat).
Harrix opened the urn anyway and everyone held their breath as a beautiful, naked, lithe, female form stretched her way out of the urn and presented herself before the King. The King looked at her naked beauty with awe and asked, "Who are you?"
She replied, "I am...HUNGRY!"
************************
The two sblocked passages above were expositional information given to the players of Astavian, Eshik and Mialain (in the first instance) and Zanne (in the second). This is something I'm a big fan of in recent years. Rather than roleplay through each and every step of the stuff that happens between adventures I try to summarize it and give it back to the players in chunks that set things up for what is to happen next.
I take a lot of leads about what to include in these from the players themselves and the personalities they inject into the characters. Also I always give them veto power over anything I have their charater say or do as a result. But that doesn't happen very often because my players are really good at showing me the personality of their PC and I, in turn, try to make sure I portray them in a way that is true to that.
Anyway, obviously the big reveal that took place here is that Lord Harrix is not as he appears to be. I need to give props to Zanne's player for keeping that info to himself over the few days that he knew it (when none of the other players did). Also I think the other players were beginning to suspect something was up based on out of character knowledge but they did an excellent job of keeping that from influencing how they played.
Finally this segment saw something that I hadn't tried before and it worked out well, which was a mini, solo skill challenge for Zanne trying to get into the New Palace undetected. She failed a couple key rolls, mostly due to not being able to speak the language of the guard. The failed skill challenge had the consequence of her engaging in solo combat with the guard but that went very quickly and easily, not slowing down the game. And as a result of the other players being able to see the converging plot points I think that the scene with her bursting into the royal dining room came off very well.
Next post I'll give a quick rundown of the resulting battle and how that played.
