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Running player commentary on Sanzuo's 4e Dark Sun campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 5352390" data-attributes="member: 60965"><p>For our next session, we were again missing Gilneas the Psion, but added Ackbar the Desert Trader Fighter.</p><p></p><p>Ackbar wandered in out of the sandstorm and, having no Survival Days, was offered some if he could prove himself useful.</p><p></p><p>The session continued with Kyden realizing while on watch during the night, "hey, we're in the top level of buried tower, isn't there more tower below us?" We dug it out while the sandstorm raged outside.</p><p></p><p>The next level down had a giant sarcophagus with an Egyptian-style mask carved in the visage of death. It seemed to be thousands of years old, perhaps even older than Tyr, and also appeared to have been unopened since its construction. Searching several rooms resulted in only ancient mummies and the discovery that, in any room or hallway, we couldn't open a door until any other doors to the room were closed first. Curious.</p><p></p><p>Then we entered a room and found a fullblade sitting unattended on a dias.</p><p></p><p>Using Ackbar as a trap-finder(to earn the water Jinn let him have), the sword was brought back to Kyden only to have the party instantly attacked by a Tembo (a well-known and universally reviled cross between a lizard and a saber-toothed tiger, known for sneaking into settlements and carrying off, well, whoever they want) that appeared out of nowhere.</p><p></p><p>It had a necrotic aura 2 that did damage to everyone who started in it and did massive damage with its claws, dropping Kyden (of course) in a single round, then taking Jak to 1 hp in the next. We had taken it to heavily into bloodied when it became invisible and ran from the room we were in back to the one we had been in before, yet, when we pursued, we found ourselves in a completely different room - and very confused.</p><p></p><p>After a bit of experimentation, we found that any time we entered a hallway, a random room appeared to be on the other side. With our <em>1</em> Arcana-trained character being elsewhere for the session, we had no way of figuring out if it was magical (our meager untrained checks revealing nothing). While wondering around, we were ambushed again by the Tembo. The main highlight was Thoon doing 42 points of damage with a Two-Fanged Strike (one crit + one hit).</p><p></p><p>Determining the ambush was going to be a milestone, we unloaded our action points. Unfortunately, the Tembo was insubstantial, so it took a while to take it down. During the interim, it had also added to its aura power (or the DM had noticed he missed it before) the ability to halve all healing done while inside it. It also did 46 damage to Ackbar in one round thanks to twin crits on its claw-bite combo and killed him outright - but wait! on review, Sanzuo realized he hadn't applied the damage for Jinn's AP attack, which would have just barely killed it. Ackbar lives!</p><p></p><p>As a bonus, killing it released all the doors! Turns out the Tembo was controlling the shifting of the rooms psychically, messing with us while it prepared a new ambush. The rest of the tower-tomb was empty and seemingly unfinished - probably because a Tembo moved in, killed whoever was building it, then became trapped in there when the tower was buried by the sands.</p><p></p><p>Oh, Kyden also discovered the fullblade was a +1 Learning Fullblade - our first magical weapon and super-useful (+1 to hit the next attack after you miss, +2 to damage the next attack after you hit).</p><p></p><p>Upon returning topside, we found the half-giant gone... not good since the sandstorm obliterated any chances of us finding our way to the caravan again and our last remaining guide to Alterook... just took off. Enter an Obsidian Skill challenge to track him down.</p><p></p><p>Out of the gate on Round 1, Ackbar crits his Athletics check to pursue, 2 successes! A mix of Athletics, Perception(tracking), Nature(keeping the party moving quickly over the sands), and Diplomacy(keeping party spirits up) all yielded successes.</p><p></p><p>Round 2, was History(remembering the maps we'd viewed in Tyr to figure out where he was going), Perception(one failed, one succeeded continuing tracking), Nature(determining exactly where we are in conjunction with the History check), Endurance(keeping up at the fast pace the party was setting). Result, enough successes to succeed at the challenge without even needing to go to the third round.</p><p></p><p>The half-giant in sight, we switch to individual "standard" skill challenges (4 successes before 3 failures) to catch him as he sprinted through the rocky, broken lands we found ourselves in. Kyden, with +13 Athletics, auto-succeeded and everyone else managed to get them all, though Jak only made it with a Noble Adept nudge from Kyden to pull him through.</p><p></p><p>After catching the half-giant, we chastised him and convinced him we wouldn't kill him, leave him in the desert to die, or sell him as a slave at Alterook. As another bonus, between Jak and Thoon's amazing Nature rolls, they managed to forage enough survival days to keep the whole party alive for the full two days. Score!</p><p></p><p>Once in Alterook, we spent some time buying and selling. We discovered that the Tembo hide was worth a small fortune just about anywhere but that it could also be made into some pretty sweet armor for a medium fortune. The decision was made to hold onto it.</p><p></p><p>Session ends with us booking passage on a Silt-skimmer ship to travel across the Sea of Silt with a minimum of inconvenience and modicum of safety. Before it departs, however, Alterook hosts a bustling arena...</p><p></p><p>Random in-character and ooc quotes from the night:</p><p>"A Thri-kreen never goes back on his word. And the word is '<em>vvvvvbt</em>'".</p><p>"You find a +1 boot... to the head."</p><p>"What's 20% of a longsword? A dagger!"</p><p>"Can I cut off one of Walter's legs and sell him as exotic food and just use the Raise Beast Companion ritual to get him back later?"</p><p></p><p>We also invented a new word/concept, but I don't think it's appropriate to post here so I won't <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" />.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iron Sky, post: 5352390, member: 60965"] For our next session, we were again missing Gilneas the Psion, but added Ackbar the Desert Trader Fighter. Ackbar wandered in out of the sandstorm and, having no Survival Days, was offered some if he could prove himself useful. The session continued with Kyden realizing while on watch during the night, "hey, we're in the top level of buried tower, isn't there more tower below us?" We dug it out while the sandstorm raged outside. The next level down had a giant sarcophagus with an Egyptian-style mask carved in the visage of death. It seemed to be thousands of years old, perhaps even older than Tyr, and also appeared to have been unopened since its construction. Searching several rooms resulted in only ancient mummies and the discovery that, in any room or hallway, we couldn't open a door until any other doors to the room were closed first. Curious. Then we entered a room and found a fullblade sitting unattended on a dias. Using Ackbar as a trap-finder(to earn the water Jinn let him have), the sword was brought back to Kyden only to have the party instantly attacked by a Tembo (a well-known and universally reviled cross between a lizard and a saber-toothed tiger, known for sneaking into settlements and carrying off, well, whoever they want) that appeared out of nowhere. It had a necrotic aura 2 that did damage to everyone who started in it and did massive damage with its claws, dropping Kyden (of course) in a single round, then taking Jak to 1 hp in the next. We had taken it to heavily into bloodied when it became invisible and ran from the room we were in back to the one we had been in before, yet, when we pursued, we found ourselves in a completely different room - and very confused. After a bit of experimentation, we found that any time we entered a hallway, a random room appeared to be on the other side. With our [I]1[/I] Arcana-trained character being elsewhere for the session, we had no way of figuring out if it was magical (our meager untrained checks revealing nothing). While wondering around, we were ambushed again by the Tembo. The main highlight was Thoon doing 42 points of damage with a Two-Fanged Strike (one crit + one hit). Determining the ambush was going to be a milestone, we unloaded our action points. Unfortunately, the Tembo was insubstantial, so it took a while to take it down. During the interim, it had also added to its aura power (or the DM had noticed he missed it before) the ability to halve all healing done while inside it. It also did 46 damage to Ackbar in one round thanks to twin crits on its claw-bite combo and killed him outright - but wait! on review, Sanzuo realized he hadn't applied the damage for Jinn's AP attack, which would have just barely killed it. Ackbar lives! As a bonus, killing it released all the doors! Turns out the Tembo was controlling the shifting of the rooms psychically, messing with us while it prepared a new ambush. The rest of the tower-tomb was empty and seemingly unfinished - probably because a Tembo moved in, killed whoever was building it, then became trapped in there when the tower was buried by the sands. Oh, Kyden also discovered the fullblade was a +1 Learning Fullblade - our first magical weapon and super-useful (+1 to hit the next attack after you miss, +2 to damage the next attack after you hit). Upon returning topside, we found the half-giant gone... not good since the sandstorm obliterated any chances of us finding our way to the caravan again and our last remaining guide to Alterook... just took off. Enter an Obsidian Skill challenge to track him down. Out of the gate on Round 1, Ackbar crits his Athletics check to pursue, 2 successes! A mix of Athletics, Perception(tracking), Nature(keeping the party moving quickly over the sands), and Diplomacy(keeping party spirits up) all yielded successes. Round 2, was History(remembering the maps we'd viewed in Tyr to figure out where he was going), Perception(one failed, one succeeded continuing tracking), Nature(determining exactly where we are in conjunction with the History check), Endurance(keeping up at the fast pace the party was setting). Result, enough successes to succeed at the challenge without even needing to go to the third round. The half-giant in sight, we switch to individual "standard" skill challenges (4 successes before 3 failures) to catch him as he sprinted through the rocky, broken lands we found ourselves in. Kyden, with +13 Athletics, auto-succeeded and everyone else managed to get them all, though Jak only made it with a Noble Adept nudge from Kyden to pull him through. After catching the half-giant, we chastised him and convinced him we wouldn't kill him, leave him in the desert to die, or sell him as a slave at Alterook. As another bonus, between Jak and Thoon's amazing Nature rolls, they managed to forage enough survival days to keep the whole party alive for the full two days. Score! Once in Alterook, we spent some time buying and selling. We discovered that the Tembo hide was worth a small fortune just about anywhere but that it could also be made into some pretty sweet armor for a medium fortune. The decision was made to hold onto it. Session ends with us booking passage on a Silt-skimmer ship to travel across the Sea of Silt with a minimum of inconvenience and modicum of safety. Before it departs, however, Alterook hosts a bustling arena... Random in-character and ooc quotes from the night: "A Thri-kreen never goes back on his word. And the word is '[I]vvvvvbt[/I]'". "You find a +1 boot... to the head." "What's 20% of a longsword? A dagger!" "Can I cut off one of Walter's legs and sell him as exotic food and just use the Raise Beast Companion ritual to get him back later?" We also invented a new word/concept, but I don't think it's appropriate to post here so I won't :P. [/QUOTE]
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