Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
So, when I asked Sanzuo what happened in the game, he said "read the thread" and I couldn't get any more out of him. You all know as much as I do...
D&D 4E Running player commentary on Sanzuo's 4e Dark Sun campaign
So, when I asked Sanzuo what happened in the game, he said "read the thread" and I couldn't get any more out of him. You all know as much as I do...
Sanzuo
First Post
Man, it was awesome. So rad I can't even put it into words.
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
Tonight session started with a handy recap. Here's roughly what happened last session:
Shalara, a noblewoman with a Mul bodyguard named Rock, hired us to escort her to her brother's estate along the trade road we were set to head down now that we had no desire to ply the Sea of Silt in spite of having a sand skiff.
The group was waylaid by a giant wanting a toll and getting death instead. Notably during the fight, Shalara revealed herself as an arcane caster and wasn't promptly murdered by the group.
The group then reached South Ledopolis, a city-state working on building a massive bridge to span the Estuary (local branch of the Silt Sea). The two previous attempts to build the bridge were foiled by the hill giants in the Island of Ledo. Locals requested that the group negotiate with the giants and the group, after a brief cost-benefit analysis, said nay due to being cursed by a lich and wanted to keep a move on.
End recap.
Tonight's session:
We left South Ledopolis along the trade road for a couple days before spotting the front of a (relatively) minor sandstorm, reaching an empty outpost right before the storm hit. Ducking into the largest tent we saw, we found it overturned, the bodies in there apparently - and strangely - drowned by silt.
As the storm built up outside, suddenly our tent collapsed and we began to suffocate in silt, everyone but Jinn taking a bunch of damage and being slowed.
We pulled our way out of the tent, finding our vision limited to 5 squares. The storm itself began manifesting, tearing into Eberk(29(!) damage and immobilized). We attacked the thickest portion of it, finding - to no big surprise - our weapons had little effect on it(pretty sure it was insubstantial).
After a couple rounds of using up most of our heals keeping Eberk alive, it condensed in next to Thoon in the back of the group as well. Rock, the mul bodyguard (NPC, not player) finally came out to help us during round 3, right after Jin bloodied it with one of the party's few burst/blasts (which seemed far more effective than our regular attack).
The first manifestation died trying to shift, triggering Viper's Strike's rider from Kyden(OA on shift) delivered via Rock and augmented by Jin's Ardent OA-boosting aura. The second replied by dropping Thoon and bringing a 3rd manifestation in to beat on Jinn.
Kyden used Fearless Rescue to keep Thoon from going down and the fight raged on. A 4th manifestation showed up behind Kyden, at which point the party was getting pretty worried. Thoon was dropped, and the 2nd manifestation was dropped shortly after via the same method as the first, just made a bit more exciting by Rock rolling a 1, breaking her fullblade for a re-roll, and critting.
Eberk finished off the third with an AP Daily + an Augment 1. The last manifestation dissipated into the fading storm.
Resources used: Kyden(1 surge, 1 daily), Jinn(4 surges, 2 dailies), Thoon(4 surges), Eberk(6 surges, 1 daily).
The outpost was found to be abandoned, so after some cursory looting, the group continued on to Balic. Two days later (-Thoon's player, +a visiting high-school buddy playing a Mul Fighter named Marok and his girlfriend playing an Elven Rogue named Athena) we neared Balic.
We saw two dozen Balic guards surrounding said Mul and Elf, hassling them. The group unloaded from our skiff and the Balic officer in charge of the men ordered we present all of our weapons and equipment for search. One look at Shalara's fearful expression and weapons were drawn.
This was essentially an introductory fight since Marok's player had only played 4e once and his girlfriend was new to roleplaying entirely.
The fight was pretty straight-forward. A dozen minion Artillery archers, four Soldier swordsmen, and an officer leader Controller with some psychic powers. Jinn got taken town by the leader(again brought up by Kyden's Fearless Rescue), but otherwise, no one even went bloodied. Half the archers ended up fleeing, Athena killed the last Soldier that tried to escape, and we took two of the last prisoner to sell as slaves.
A day later, we arrived at Shalara's brother-in-law Ermak's estate, a small walled compound with kradlu's, erdlus, and rows, a fountain, well, and rows of olive trees.
We settled down for dinner with Ermak. We found out he and his sister were members of something called the Veiled Alliance, also called the Preservers. We also ended up telling him about Uralek the "ancient undead defiler" that had enchanted us.
He proposed we go for the Scroll of Bodak, except bring it to the Veiled Alliance instead of Uralek. We made general travel plans(-> Balic -> Samarah -> Bodak) and rested, ready to head out the next day.
Session end.
Shalara, a noblewoman with a Mul bodyguard named Rock, hired us to escort her to her brother's estate along the trade road we were set to head down now that we had no desire to ply the Sea of Silt in spite of having a sand skiff.
The group was waylaid by a giant wanting a toll and getting death instead. Notably during the fight, Shalara revealed herself as an arcane caster and wasn't promptly murdered by the group.
The group then reached South Ledopolis, a city-state working on building a massive bridge to span the Estuary (local branch of the Silt Sea). The two previous attempts to build the bridge were foiled by the hill giants in the Island of Ledo. Locals requested that the group negotiate with the giants and the group, after a brief cost-benefit analysis, said nay due to being cursed by a lich and wanted to keep a move on.
End recap.
Tonight's session:
We left South Ledopolis along the trade road for a couple days before spotting the front of a (relatively) minor sandstorm, reaching an empty outpost right before the storm hit. Ducking into the largest tent we saw, we found it overturned, the bodies in there apparently - and strangely - drowned by silt.
As the storm built up outside, suddenly our tent collapsed and we began to suffocate in silt, everyone but Jinn taking a bunch of damage and being slowed.
We pulled our way out of the tent, finding our vision limited to 5 squares. The storm itself began manifesting, tearing into Eberk(29(!) damage and immobilized). We attacked the thickest portion of it, finding - to no big surprise - our weapons had little effect on it(pretty sure it was insubstantial).
After a couple rounds of using up most of our heals keeping Eberk alive, it condensed in next to Thoon in the back of the group as well. Rock, the mul bodyguard (NPC, not player) finally came out to help us during round 3, right after Jin bloodied it with one of the party's few burst/blasts (which seemed far more effective than our regular attack).
The first manifestation died trying to shift, triggering Viper's Strike's rider from Kyden(OA on shift) delivered via Rock and augmented by Jin's Ardent OA-boosting aura. The second replied by dropping Thoon and bringing a 3rd manifestation in to beat on Jinn.
Kyden used Fearless Rescue to keep Thoon from going down and the fight raged on. A 4th manifestation showed up behind Kyden, at which point the party was getting pretty worried. Thoon was dropped, and the 2nd manifestation was dropped shortly after via the same method as the first, just made a bit more exciting by Rock rolling a 1, breaking her fullblade for a re-roll, and critting.
Eberk finished off the third with an AP Daily + an Augment 1. The last manifestation dissipated into the fading storm.
Resources used: Kyden(1 surge, 1 daily), Jinn(4 surges, 2 dailies), Thoon(4 surges), Eberk(6 surges, 1 daily).
The outpost was found to be abandoned, so after some cursory looting, the group continued on to Balic. Two days later (-Thoon's player, +a visiting high-school buddy playing a Mul Fighter named Marok and his girlfriend playing an Elven Rogue named Athena) we neared Balic.
We saw two dozen Balic guards surrounding said Mul and Elf, hassling them. The group unloaded from our skiff and the Balic officer in charge of the men ordered we present all of our weapons and equipment for search. One look at Shalara's fearful expression and weapons were drawn.
This was essentially an introductory fight since Marok's player had only played 4e once and his girlfriend was new to roleplaying entirely.
The fight was pretty straight-forward. A dozen minion Artillery archers, four Soldier swordsmen, and an officer leader Controller with some psychic powers. Jinn got taken town by the leader(again brought up by Kyden's Fearless Rescue), but otherwise, no one even went bloodied. Half the archers ended up fleeing, Athena killed the last Soldier that tried to escape, and we took two of the last prisoner to sell as slaves.
A day later, we arrived at Shalara's brother-in-law Ermak's estate, a small walled compound with kradlu's, erdlus, and rows, a fountain, well, and rows of olive trees.
We settled down for dinner with Ermak. We found out he and his sister were members of something called the Veiled Alliance, also called the Preservers. We also ended up telling him about Uralek the "ancient undead defiler" that had enchanted us.
He proposed we go for the Scroll of Bodak, except bring it to the Veiled Alliance instead of Uralek. We made general travel plans(-> Balic -> Samarah -> Bodak) and rested, ready to head out the next day.
Session end.
Last edited:
TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
Just to clarify: you killed several Balic guards but some escaped. Now you're planning to walk in to Balic. Is that correct?
This is a fun read. Keep up the good work!
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
That's the plan. Jinn shot several of the escapees as they ran, but several still got away. No one ever accused us of being smart.
We figure if we get caught, we'll turn in Urlak and, if that doesn't work, give them Shalara and Ermak. Maybe even get something aside from a pardon out of the deal.
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
Tonight's session: The stable nucleus of our party - Jinn, Kyden, and Eberk - were the only ones tonight.
We set off from the estate, collecting our reward/down payment of 1000gp(!) from Ermak and headed off, under the (necessary) guise as hired guards for the Batar estate, leaving behind our distinct patchwork skimmer and escorting some of Ermak's servants on a trade/resupply run into Balic.
We arrived at Balic shortly, questioned by legionaries upon entry. We gave our actual names, though left out such details as working for house Wavir/a lich/the Veiled Alliance.
We quickly discovered that news of Sorcerer-King Khalik's death hadn't reached Balic yet, causing a bit of a stir. Jinn dropped a 30 Diplomacy to gather some information about the local Wavir/Tomblador situation, finding Wavir was dominating Tomblador in most areas except slavers(which Wavir refuses to deal in).
We also found out Raam (another city-state) was in a state of anarchy for some reason. He ended up talking with a potter for a while (resulting in a 5 minute sidetracked innuendo-filled conversation with the potter about jugs of all shapes and sizes... yup, all guys in this RP group).
We then headed out to contact Wavir. We arrived at a Wavir estate and met Rhitaan Wavir, a contact Jinn and Kyden had met on their last trip to Balic, finding that work was somewhat scarce at the moment, then renting pad for a month.
We then took in the sights, visited the arena, and, on the way home, Eberk(with the least terrible Perception) noticed we were being shadowed, Jinn lured him into a dead end with a Streetwise check, and Eberk knocked him out with a Bulls Strength. We then took him back to our place and interrogated him, culminating in an (assisted) 28 Intimidate from Kyden (not-so veiled threats of castration) and a 23 Diplomacy from Eberk ("I don't really want to have to knock you out again...").
Turns out one of the Praetors of Balic, Darian Heraxis, suspected one of Ermak's servants that we traveled with was a spy for the Veiled Alliance, and so had us followed.
Jinn then rolled an (assisted) 33 Diplomacy to convince the guy who was tailing us that we were innocent and had never even heard of the Veiled Alliance.
Then, what to do with the guy who was tailing us - who was going to rat us out to his Praetor pretty assuredly. Briefly glance between the party members.
Kyden went back to the jug merchant to buy various sized nondescript jugs to put the body in then left the jugs in various places around the city and threw the jug with the head into the Sea of Silt.
The next day, we prepared to head out looking for info on Iago (aka Slitbelly), but were intercepted by Rhitaan Wavir offering us some work meeting with tradesmen or as Silt skimmer guards. Or, we could head out to settlements near Balic to secure exclusive trade rights with Wavir.
We elected the last option and were told it would be official by nightfall.
On to finding Iago, asking around quietly (since Rhitaan Wavir told us explicitly not to start anything while Balic and under his employ) with Jinn's 30 Streetwise, we discovered that via marriage and "mysterious illness", Iago - now known as Lord Iago - became a minor noble in service of Tomblador. The group decided to hold onto that info for later.
Last thing before dark, we booked passage on the next convoy to Samarah, paid our 50gp/body fee (3 people + Skitch the trusty Erdlu), collected our Wavir writs and contracts, and headed back to rest only to find a luxuriously dressed man with a pile of Balic Legionnaires.
Yup, Praetor Darian Heraxis, accusing us in person of murdering his agent and being a member of the Veiled Alliance. Jinn's 28 Bluff got us off the hook for the agent murder we committed, but not the Veiled Alliance associations revealed by the Batar servant he tortured or the crime of carrying an artifact (Kyden's sword).
In true fashion, we spilled the beans about the lich Uralak and our geas to divert his attention. He then led us off only to be surrounded by armed Wavir guards on Kradlus in the street. Rhitaan Wavir threatened the Praetor with the full might of House Wavir if he didn't release us Wavir agents detained on spurious charges.
The Praetor whispered that he could free us from the Geas if he went along with him. After a quick huddle and a 17 Insight check from Eberk, we left the Praetor behind. The usual "you have made an enemy" threats from the Praetor followed us.
We then headed for the ship, giving Rhitaan our rough, only semi-bogus plans to set up a trade depot in Samarah and/or trade routes beyond to Raam or Draj.
With some Diplomacy 33 smooth-talking from Jinn, the ship captain let us bunk there for the night (we decided we'd rather not be murdered in our sleep by the Praetor).
The next morning, the captain told us some Balic guards had stopped by to see if anyone matching our description had booked passage as said brigands were suspected of killing a dozen or more Balic Legionnaires a few days back. The Captain, not wanting to deal with the hassle, suspicion, and likely delays just told them he hadn't seen anyone by that description.
6 days later... Samarah! A couple handfuls of buildings surrounded by jutting outcroppings of rocks dropping off into the Sea of Silt.
We stopped there long enough to gather some info about the Salt Mires of Bodach. A touch of Diplomacy at the local broi house gave us the location of an elf tribe that hired out as guides into the Salt Mires. A stray Streetwise told use only madmen came back from Bodach and that the elves would just lead adventurers to the wastes to die.
Off to the elves. We were led to a guide named Aroc. We haggled him down to 55 gp a day from 100 gp. He told us it would be about 3 days to the center of Bodach (which by our estimates would use up the Survival Days packed on our Erdlu + a bit more)... and we're off!
Sometime the second day, we found the (poisonous) Salt Mires, following the tug of the geas with Aroc leading us around Silt Sinks and numerous other hazards to rest on a rocky outcropping.
The next day as we neared the location of where a secret oasis should have been, Aroc was unsettled by seeing a massive rocky spire where the oasis should have been. As we closed to investigate, we saw the spire move, unfurl immense wings, and fly away.
We found the oasis blackened, all creatures and plants dead, the ground ashen.
And the vision of the Dray Mafoon in Grak's Pool came true. We followed the Dragon of Athas into Bodach.
Quotes for the night:
* "Slaughter is a general action verb for our party: 'You slaughter your way into Balic...' 'Hey guys, I'm going to slaughter over to the tavern and slaughter up some lunch.'"
* Kyden: "Roll the body up in a rug? Look, I just went and bought all these jugs and we're going to put somebody in them!"
* Praetor: "We know to whom your allegiance lies." Group: "Wow, that's more than we know."
* Booth-tender at Samarah: "Purple dye, purple dye! The only color the undead of Bodach can't see! Dye all your things purple!" *sells out of purple, purple adventurers head out into the Salt Mires* "Red dye, red dye! The undead of Bodach can't see red and only red!"
We set off from the estate, collecting our reward/down payment of 1000gp(!) from Ermak and headed off, under the (necessary) guise as hired guards for the Batar estate, leaving behind our distinct patchwork skimmer and escorting some of Ermak's servants on a trade/resupply run into Balic.
We arrived at Balic shortly, questioned by legionaries upon entry. We gave our actual names, though left out such details as working for house Wavir/a lich/the Veiled Alliance.
We quickly discovered that news of Sorcerer-King Khalik's death hadn't reached Balic yet, causing a bit of a stir. Jinn dropped a 30 Diplomacy to gather some information about the local Wavir/Tomblador situation, finding Wavir was dominating Tomblador in most areas except slavers(which Wavir refuses to deal in).
We also found out Raam (another city-state) was in a state of anarchy for some reason. He ended up talking with a potter for a while (resulting in a 5 minute sidetracked innuendo-filled conversation with the potter about jugs of all shapes and sizes... yup, all guys in this RP group
).We then headed out to contact Wavir. We arrived at a Wavir estate and met Rhitaan Wavir, a contact Jinn and Kyden had met on their last trip to Balic, finding that work was somewhat scarce at the moment, then renting pad for a month.
We then took in the sights, visited the arena, and, on the way home, Eberk(with the least terrible Perception) noticed we were being shadowed, Jinn lured him into a dead end with a Streetwise check, and Eberk knocked him out with a Bulls Strength. We then took him back to our place and interrogated him, culminating in an (assisted) 28 Intimidate from Kyden (not-so veiled threats of castration) and a 23 Diplomacy from Eberk ("I don't really want to have to knock you out again...").
Turns out one of the Praetors of Balic, Darian Heraxis, suspected one of Ermak's servants that we traveled with was a spy for the Veiled Alliance, and so had us followed.
Jinn then rolled an (assisted) 33 Diplomacy to convince the guy who was tailing us that we were innocent and had never even heard of the Veiled Alliance.
Then, what to do with the guy who was tailing us - who was going to rat us out to his Praetor pretty assuredly. Briefly glance between the party members.
Kyden went back to the jug merchant to buy various sized nondescript jugs to put the body in then left the jugs in various places around the city and threw the jug with the head into the Sea of Silt.
The next day, we prepared to head out looking for info on Iago (aka Slitbelly), but were intercepted by Rhitaan Wavir offering us some work meeting with tradesmen or as Silt skimmer guards. Or, we could head out to settlements near Balic to secure exclusive trade rights with Wavir.
We elected the last option and were told it would be official by nightfall.
On to finding Iago, asking around quietly (since Rhitaan Wavir told us explicitly not to start anything while Balic and under his employ) with Jinn's 30 Streetwise, we discovered that via marriage and "mysterious illness", Iago - now known as Lord Iago - became a minor noble in service of Tomblador. The group decided to hold onto that info for later.
Last thing before dark, we booked passage on the next convoy to Samarah, paid our 50gp/body fee (3 people + Skitch the trusty Erdlu), collected our Wavir writs and contracts, and headed back to rest only to find a luxuriously dressed man with a pile of Balic Legionnaires.
Yup, Praetor Darian Heraxis, accusing us in person of murdering his agent and being a member of the Veiled Alliance. Jinn's 28 Bluff got us off the hook for the agent murder we committed, but not the Veiled Alliance associations revealed by the Batar servant he tortured or the crime of carrying an artifact (Kyden's sword).
In true fashion, we spilled the beans about the lich Uralak and our geas to divert his attention. He then led us off only to be surrounded by armed Wavir guards on Kradlus in the street. Rhitaan Wavir threatened the Praetor with the full might of House Wavir if he didn't release us Wavir agents detained on spurious charges.
The Praetor whispered that he could free us from the Geas if he went along with him. After a quick huddle and a 17 Insight check from Eberk, we left the Praetor behind. The usual "you have made an enemy" threats from the Praetor followed us.
We then headed for the ship, giving Rhitaan our rough, only semi-bogus plans to set up a trade depot in Samarah and/or trade routes beyond to Raam or Draj.
With some Diplomacy 33 smooth-talking from Jinn, the ship captain let us bunk there for the night (we decided we'd rather not be murdered in our sleep by the Praetor).
The next morning, the captain told us some Balic guards had stopped by to see if anyone matching our description had booked passage as said brigands were suspected of killing a dozen or more Balic Legionnaires a few days back. The Captain, not wanting to deal with the hassle, suspicion, and likely delays just told them he hadn't seen anyone by that description.
6 days later... Samarah! A couple handfuls of buildings surrounded by jutting outcroppings of rocks dropping off into the Sea of Silt.
We stopped there long enough to gather some info about the Salt Mires of Bodach. A touch of Diplomacy at the local broi house gave us the location of an elf tribe that hired out as guides into the Salt Mires. A stray Streetwise told use only madmen came back from Bodach and that the elves would just lead adventurers to the wastes to die.
Off to the elves. We were led to a guide named Aroc. We haggled him down to 55 gp a day from 100 gp. He told us it would be about 3 days to the center of Bodach (which by our estimates would use up the Survival Days packed on our Erdlu + a bit more)... and we're off!
Sometime the second day, we found the (poisonous) Salt Mires, following the tug of the geas with Aroc leading us around Silt Sinks and numerous other hazards to rest on a rocky outcropping.
The next day as we neared the location of where a secret oasis should have been, Aroc was unsettled by seeing a massive rocky spire where the oasis should have been. As we closed to investigate, we saw the spire move, unfurl immense wings, and fly away.
We found the oasis blackened, all creatures and plants dead, the ground ashen.
And the vision of the Dray Mafoon in Grak's Pool came true. We followed the Dragon of Athas into Bodach.
Quotes for the night:
* "Slaughter is a general action verb for our party: 'You slaughter your way into Balic...' 'Hey guys, I'm going to slaughter over to the tavern and slaughter up some lunch.'"
* Kyden: "Roll the body up in a rug? Look, I just went and bought all these jugs and we're going to put somebody in them!"
* Praetor: "We know to whom your allegiance lies." Group: "Wow, that's more than we know."
* Booth-tender at Samarah: "Purple dye, purple dye! The only color the undead of Bodach can't see! Dye all your things purple!" *sells out of purple, purple adventurers head out into the Salt Mires* "Red dye, red dye! The undead of Bodach can't see red and only red!"
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
We're level 3. Jinn happens to have +15 Diplomacy (+1 Level, +5 Cha, +5 Trained, +2 background, +2 Racial) so he rocks those rolls. He also drops his Noble Adept power on them for an extra +1d4+1 if he feels like it.
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
Session 11
Thoon was actually here briefly (his player had to go study for a final).
We camped out at the "oasis" to the sounds of wailing in the distance.
The next morning, we headed towards the distant spires of Bodach and very soon found ourselves crossing a brittle crust of rock over boiling waters - a fact we discovered by Eberk falling into them. Jinn and Kyden promptly threw him a rope to haul him out while Thoon scouted the area carefully looking for a navigable route. Athletics for Kyden (aided by Jinn), Perception for Thoon, and Athletics for Eberk trying to hold on and swim/pull himself out of the water.
Result: Eberk got a bit scalded, but we pulled him out before he took too much damage. We continued on through the waste, the intense desolation inciting a set of individual Endurance skill challenges. As expected, Kyden and Thoon failed, loosing a surge each.
We did make it out of the salty wastes into fields of ash and reached a wall varying from 25-50 feet tall, a mixture of natural terrain and crumbling stone. Kyden used his +13 Athletics to handily climb the wall, dropping a rope to let everyone out.
Beyond the wall was a silent city of immense stony spires rising from a plain of twisted, petrified bodies, all coated in ash. We pushed through the eerie place, our Geas pulling us towards a huge ziggurat very similar to the one in Tyr.
We followed a pathway to the top, leading to a small room containing only an altar and carved symbols. Thoon, with a 28 Perception, found a secret door amidst the carvings. Thoon tried to jimmy it open (with some failed untrained Thievery), then Kyden broke Eberk's backup warhammer trying Athletics.
Note: Sanzuo mostly uses "traditional" skill challenges (x successes before y failures) on individual tasks (climbing a wall, picking a lock, etc). For larger-scale he'll use Obsidain.
We figured we had a few hours before dark, then headed into the nearest spire finding ancient bodies all over the place, sprawled about as if this were some ancient battlefield. We found stairwells leading up and down and indecided to go up(rolled a dice).
As we searched the next floor, Thoon spotted a humanoid figure down at the end of the hallway that disappeared without a trace as we searched for it. He spotted it again and lost it again, but found an obsidian idol sitting on a pedestal. Thoon pulled out handy sack of sand, tossed it a couple of times in his hand to measure it, then rapidly swapped the sand for the idol - which had a handy star-shaped base.
A 9 Thievery wasn't enough to back up his action and he triggered the trap anyway, dropping everyone but Kyden and Walter(who just stuck to the wall) into a pit full of snakes - very very ancient, dead snakes. Thoon also managed to land on the idol and break one of the points off.
Leading out of the pit was a treasure trove, with literally more wealth than we could carry. We then had to decide how much treasure to take, with Jinn rolling up a Streetwise to figure out what was the most valuable - determining that the idols and artwork would probably be harder to sell but worth far more.
We hauled up over two hundred pounds of treasure, deciding not to ditch any survival days since we'd need those on the way out. As everyone was loading up treasure and Kyden was hauling it up, he was attacked by an emaciated, skeletal figure that touched his arm that attacked him for massive necrotic damage (instantly bloodied) and slowed and dazed.
He followed up before Kyden could even react, nearly killing him instantly(2 hp from -bloodied). Walter scurried off to warn Thoon, who looked up to see it dropping Kyden. Jinn climbed up the rope and healed Kyden who second winded. The figure ran as the others began to climb up, unleashing an ineffective gaze attack at Eberk (who was near the top of the rope) before taking off.
Eberk chased it down, took another hit from it, and it escaped. We returned to gather the treasure to the sounds of distant sobbing. The sun was low on the sky as we run for the ziggurat, seeing the petrified bodies in the shadows beginning to stir.
We hauled up the ziggurat and huddled inside the upper chamber as terrible things began stirring outside. Out of desperation, Kyden and Jinn literally battered and clawed our way into the hidden door and moved in.
The labyrinth of passageways beyond were still immaculate, the stone polished to a mirror sheen. We hurried through, following the pull of the Geas, eventually reaching a frigid chamber with a walkway leading to a raised dais and altar over a bed of strange, glowing, silver sand.
As Eberk warily entered the room, an elf-like apparition appeared, demanding that we leave. Our response was predictable.
Strategists Epiphany from Kyden to let the group go first and the group rushed in, hitting him with several dailies before he got to go, doors on either side of the room opening to let chillborn zombies in. Fortunately, Sanzuo was rolling terrible, missing the first couple rounds until he crit(and dropped) Kyden at which point the party began missing terribly.
Suddenly, figure that dropped Kyden back in the loot-spire appears in the doorway... and charged one of the zombies, its necrotic damage largely negated by the zombies necrotic resist. A few rounds later, the mysterious helper is running off with a dying Eberk while Kyden is running off with 1 hp, 1 THP and Jinn on his back.
The pasty figure asked Kyden, "if I get the scroll, can I drink?" pointing at Eberk. After a bit of consideration he said yes. The figure ran in, somehow got the box with the scroll from the spectral guardian and took off with it. The spectral guardian chased after, only to disintegrate when reaching the door to the room.
After several 5 minute rests, Kyden was out of surges, the others low but back to full health. We followed the thing that stole the scroll back to the top of the ziggurat to find the figure had opened the box and taken everything out of the box.
In exchange for one of Eberk's surges worth of blood, we got the scroll and everything that had been in the box including... a level!
It also had a cracked urn of some sort, a big obsidian lens, and an iron key.
Meanwhile, outside, the moaning undead of the night approached on all sides of the ziggurat, cold blue eyes staring up at the group.
Session end.
Thoon was actually here briefly (his player had to go study for a final).
We camped out at the "oasis" to the sounds of wailing in the distance.
The next morning, we headed towards the distant spires of Bodach and very soon found ourselves crossing a brittle crust of rock over boiling waters - a fact we discovered by Eberk falling into them. Jinn and Kyden promptly threw him a rope to haul him out while Thoon scouted the area carefully looking for a navigable route. Athletics for Kyden (aided by Jinn), Perception for Thoon, and Athletics for Eberk trying to hold on and swim/pull himself out of the water.
Result: Eberk got a bit scalded, but we pulled him out before he took too much damage. We continued on through the waste, the intense desolation inciting a set of individual Endurance skill challenges. As expected, Kyden and Thoon failed, loosing a surge each.
We did make it out of the salty wastes into fields of ash and reached a wall varying from 25-50 feet tall, a mixture of natural terrain and crumbling stone. Kyden used his +13 Athletics to handily climb the wall, dropping a rope to let everyone out.
Beyond the wall was a silent city of immense stony spires rising from a plain of twisted, petrified bodies, all coated in ash. We pushed through the eerie place, our Geas pulling us towards a huge ziggurat very similar to the one in Tyr.
We followed a pathway to the top, leading to a small room containing only an altar and carved symbols. Thoon, with a 28 Perception, found a secret door amidst the carvings. Thoon tried to jimmy it open (with some failed untrained Thievery), then Kyden broke Eberk's backup warhammer trying Athletics.
Note: Sanzuo mostly uses "traditional" skill challenges (x successes before y failures) on individual tasks (climbing a wall, picking a lock, etc). For larger-scale he'll use Obsidain.
We figured we had a few hours before dark, then headed into the nearest spire finding ancient bodies all over the place, sprawled about as if this were some ancient battlefield. We found stairwells leading up and down and indecided to go up(rolled a dice).
As we searched the next floor, Thoon spotted a humanoid figure down at the end of the hallway that disappeared without a trace as we searched for it. He spotted it again and lost it again, but found an obsidian idol sitting on a pedestal. Thoon pulled out handy sack of sand, tossed it a couple of times in his hand to measure it, then rapidly swapped the sand for the idol - which had a handy star-shaped base.
A 9 Thievery wasn't enough to back up his action and he triggered the trap anyway, dropping everyone but Kyden and Walter(who just stuck to the wall) into a pit full of snakes - very very ancient, dead snakes. Thoon also managed to land on the idol and break one of the points off.
Leading out of the pit was a treasure trove, with literally more wealth than we could carry. We then had to decide how much treasure to take, with Jinn rolling up a Streetwise to figure out what was the most valuable - determining that the idols and artwork would probably be harder to sell but worth far more.
We hauled up over two hundred pounds of treasure, deciding not to ditch any survival days since we'd need those on the way out. As everyone was loading up treasure and Kyden was hauling it up, he was attacked by an emaciated, skeletal figure that touched his arm that attacked him for massive necrotic damage (instantly bloodied) and slowed and dazed.
He followed up before Kyden could even react, nearly killing him instantly(2 hp from -bloodied). Walter scurried off to warn Thoon, who looked up to see it dropping Kyden. Jinn climbed up the rope and healed Kyden who second winded. The figure ran as the others began to climb up, unleashing an ineffective gaze attack at Eberk (who was near the top of the rope) before taking off.
Eberk chased it down, took another hit from it, and it escaped. We returned to gather the treasure to the sounds of distant sobbing. The sun was low on the sky as we run for the ziggurat, seeing the petrified bodies in the shadows beginning to stir.
We hauled up the ziggurat and huddled inside the upper chamber as terrible things began stirring outside. Out of desperation, Kyden and Jinn literally battered and clawed our way into the hidden door and moved in.
The labyrinth of passageways beyond were still immaculate, the stone polished to a mirror sheen. We hurried through, following the pull of the Geas, eventually reaching a frigid chamber with a walkway leading to a raised dais and altar over a bed of strange, glowing, silver sand.
As Eberk warily entered the room, an elf-like apparition appeared, demanding that we leave. Our response was predictable.
Strategists Epiphany from Kyden to let the group go first and the group rushed in, hitting him with several dailies before he got to go, doors on either side of the room opening to let chillborn zombies in. Fortunately, Sanzuo was rolling terrible, missing the first couple rounds until he crit(and dropped) Kyden at which point the party began missing terribly.
Suddenly, figure that dropped Kyden back in the loot-spire appears in the doorway... and charged one of the zombies, its necrotic damage largely negated by the zombies necrotic resist. A few rounds later, the mysterious helper is running off with a dying Eberk while Kyden is running off with 1 hp, 1 THP and Jinn on his back.
The pasty figure asked Kyden, "if I get the scroll, can I drink?" pointing at Eberk. After a bit of consideration he said yes. The figure ran in, somehow got the box with the scroll from the spectral guardian and took off with it. The spectral guardian chased after, only to disintegrate when reaching the door to the room.
After several 5 minute rests, Kyden was out of surges, the others low but back to full health. We followed the thing that stole the scroll back to the top of the ziggurat to find the figure had opened the box and taken everything out of the box.
In exchange for one of Eberk's surges worth of blood, we got the scroll and everything that had been in the box including... a level!
It also had a cracked urn of some sort, a big obsidian lens, and an iron key.
Meanwhile, outside, the moaning undead of the night approached on all sides of the ziggurat, cold blue eyes staring up at the group.
Session end.
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Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
Session 12
We started out where we left off in the ziggurat, immediately assaulted by waves of zombies that we bottle-necked in the 2x4 corridor leading into the top of the ziggurat. Thanks in large part to Kyden's three crits in a row(these zombies dying instantly to crits) we held off the first two waves (two zombies, then 4 zombies) and braced for more.
We interrupt this combat for a brief level 4 snapshot of the "core" three: Eberk, Kyden, and Jinn.
Eberk is a pushy Battlemind, focusing on push-and-prone Bull's Strength - which he can't do optimally until we get him a spear. He's got 50hp, 22 AC, 17 Fort/Ref/Will.
Kyden is a "reactive critlord" Warlord, having only reaction/interrupt encounters and dailies and constant use 19-20 crit range Viper's Strike. He's got 38hp, 19 AC/Fort, 17 Ref, 16 Will.
Jinn is a heal/THP focused Ardent, focusing on powers that let him heal and using Energizing Strike constantly for 7 THP to an ally. He has 43hp, 19 AC, 13 Fort, 17 Ref, 19 Will.
Back to the battle: the next wave came, this time 8 of them, followed closely by a Mage Wight. Jinn unleashed his Dilettante Burning Spray followed immediately by Eberk's 2PP Bull's Strength.
In spite of the massive damage we were unloading, Kyden only had 2 surges left and was getting hammered, planning to pull back and play Lazy Warlord only to be immobilized on the front lines by the Mage Wight. Thankfully, Jinn hit with a Focusing Strike, granting Kyden a save - that he only made thanks to Adept's Surge shenanigans/
Perhaps foolishly, Kyden moved back up after a round of lazy warlord, only to crit the marked zombie and expose himself to attack again. Fortunately, the zombie that moved up to replace the one Kyden dropped miss. After we'd dropped 6 of the 8, the Mage Wight charged in to join the melee, only to roll miserably and have even less effect than it was having at range.
We were down to the Wight and one zombie when another wave poured in, 2 more zombies and a pile of skeletons carrying with armloads of random debris that they started throwing at us. Eberk took it all in stride, withering it with Iron Fist's 2 DR and constant 7 THP from Jinn and Kyden rolled Viper's Strike crit #5 of the fight to finish the Wight.
Eberk continued to stand up to all the punishment the dead could throw at them and Kyden rolled crit #6 to drop on that managed to slip past Eberk. By the end of round 13, we'd killed 14 zombies and a mage wight and no-one was bloodied. Looking pretty good but no end of the dead in sight.
Round 15, 8 skeletons and a zombie that started throwing pieces of itself at us. Fortunately, we got reinforcements too, with Thoon's player showing up, Thoon and Walter emerging from the depths of the ziggurat and immediately catching a Direct the Strike from Kyden, then dropping his AoE Covering Volley to damage some of the skeletons that were throwing things from the back.
Round 18, after Thoon dealed out 43 damage with a Two-Fanged strike to a skeleton and another was dropped by Jinn, another flingy zombie showed up to join the fight and I finally noticed that the giant obsidian obelisk in the center of the room could be big enough to block the entrance. Kyden ordered everyone to fall back into the room and started slamming into the obelisk to knock it over, discovering it was going to be DC21, 4 successes before 3 failures.
Round 23, with the party out of heals, encounters, dailies, and Eberk at 6hp, Kyden finally knocked the obelisk over and two rounds later we had shoved the obelisk into the opening, sealing us and a handful of undead in the obelisk.
Round 26 the battle finally ended, with a skill challenge to jam the obelisk tight and jam stuff around the edges to keep in place so we didn't have to stay awake holding it in place against the press of undead outside all night.
One of my buddies from out of town and his GF showed up trying and we tried to make them some essentials characters, but the Wizards CB kept locking up, then only printed the first 2.2 pages and wouldn't print any more than that, so we played a game of the Castle Ravenloft boardgame and some Gamma World.
We started out where we left off in the ziggurat, immediately assaulted by waves of zombies that we bottle-necked in the 2x4 corridor leading into the top of the ziggurat. Thanks in large part to Kyden's three crits in a row(these zombies dying instantly to crits) we held off the first two waves (two zombies, then 4 zombies) and braced for more.
We interrupt this combat for a brief level 4 snapshot of the "core" three: Eberk, Kyden, and Jinn.
Eberk is a pushy Battlemind, focusing on push-and-prone Bull's Strength - which he can't do optimally until we get him a spear. He's got 50hp, 22 AC, 17 Fort/Ref/Will.
Kyden is a "reactive critlord" Warlord, having only reaction/interrupt encounters and dailies and constant use 19-20 crit range Viper's Strike. He's got 38hp, 19 AC/Fort, 17 Ref, 16 Will.
Jinn is a heal/THP focused Ardent, focusing on powers that let him heal and using Energizing Strike constantly for 7 THP to an ally. He has 43hp, 19 AC, 13 Fort, 17 Ref, 19 Will.
Back to the battle: the next wave came, this time 8 of them, followed closely by a Mage Wight. Jinn unleashed his Dilettante Burning Spray followed immediately by Eberk's 2PP Bull's Strength.
In spite of the massive damage we were unloading, Kyden only had 2 surges left and was getting hammered, planning to pull back and play Lazy Warlord only to be immobilized on the front lines by the Mage Wight. Thankfully, Jinn hit with a Focusing Strike, granting Kyden a save - that he only made thanks to Adept's Surge shenanigans/
Perhaps foolishly, Kyden moved back up after a round of lazy warlord, only to crit the marked zombie and expose himself to attack again. Fortunately, the zombie that moved up to replace the one Kyden dropped miss. After we'd dropped 6 of the 8, the Mage Wight charged in to join the melee, only to roll miserably and have even less effect than it was having at range.
We were down to the Wight and one zombie when another wave poured in, 2 more zombies and a pile of skeletons carrying with armloads of random debris that they started throwing at us. Eberk took it all in stride, withering it with Iron Fist's 2 DR and constant 7 THP from Jinn and Kyden rolled Viper's Strike crit #5 of the fight to finish the Wight.
Eberk continued to stand up to all the punishment the dead could throw at them and Kyden rolled crit #6 to drop on that managed to slip past Eberk. By the end of round 13, we'd killed 14 zombies and a mage wight and no-one was bloodied. Looking pretty good but no end of the dead in sight.
Round 15, 8 skeletons and a zombie that started throwing pieces of itself at us. Fortunately, we got reinforcements too, with Thoon's player showing up, Thoon and Walter emerging from the depths of the ziggurat and immediately catching a Direct the Strike from Kyden, then dropping his AoE Covering Volley to damage some of the skeletons that were throwing things from the back.
Round 18, after Thoon dealed out 43 damage with a Two-Fanged strike to a skeleton and another was dropped by Jinn, another flingy zombie showed up to join the fight and I finally noticed that the giant obsidian obelisk in the center of the room could be big enough to block the entrance. Kyden ordered everyone to fall back into the room and started slamming into the obelisk to knock it over, discovering it was going to be DC21, 4 successes before 3 failures.
Round 23, with the party out of heals, encounters, dailies, and Eberk at 6hp, Kyden finally knocked the obelisk over and two rounds later we had shoved the obelisk into the opening, sealing us and a handful of undead in the obelisk.
Round 26 the battle finally ended, with a skill challenge to jam the obelisk tight and jam stuff around the edges to keep in place so we didn't have to stay awake holding it in place against the press of undead outside all night.
One of my buddies from out of town and his GF showed up trying and we tried to make them some essentials characters, but the Wizards CB kept locking up, then only printed the first 2.2 pages and wouldn't print any more than that, so we played a game of the Castle Ravenloft boardgame and some Gamma World.
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