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thekwp's War of the Burning Sky Unchained
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<blockquote data-quote="thekwp" data-source="post: 6986004" data-attributes="member: 56444"><p><strong>Session 09 - Dec 14, 2016</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Player Summary</strong></p><p></p><p><em>The Scouring of Gate Pass</em></p><p><em>Act Five: The Inquisitor (cont.)</em></p><p></p><p>Gath continues to hold the front door closed. Once again, he can feel vibration through the door as though someone pounding or beating on the door, but it doesn't even budge with the efforts the opponent is making. Dom takes a healing potion, while Bosma remains positioned to help Gath.</p><p></p><p>Out the back door, the bugbear moves and attacks the goblin, who is caught off guard by the betrayal. Ceilthanus and Krombholz take the opportunity to team up on the remaining skeleton, and soon dispatch it. Inside, Gath continues to feel the vibrations and pounding on the door, but like the last time, and unlike the first time, the door doesn't budge in the slightest in response to the efforts of their opponents.</p><p></p><p>The silence ends, and Torrent uses her magic to help heal Dom. While the bugbear continues to attack the goblin, Krombholz maneuvers back, to reload his crossbow and line for a shot. However, he sees Inquisitor Boreus, Smiley and soldier approaching around the corner, and calls out a warning. In response, Bosma calls for the group to help Ceilthanus and Krombholz. Gath tries to open the door; it doesn't budge in response to his efforts. He abandons it and heads to the back of the house.</p><p></p><p>The bugbear kills the goblin, and Haddin directs him to kill Inquisitor Boreus. Boreus casts a spell, and the bugbear turns on Haddin instead, injuring him. Ceilthanus changes tactics to attack the bugbear. Smiley advances forwards, and swings his axe. He scores a hit on the Haddin in the doorway, and the aged wizard drops to the ground. The forces outside turn on Ceilthanus, just as Dom and Torrent move out to help.</p><p></p><p>The battle still looks very tense, when Bromsby moves out the door. Assessing the positions of his foes, he casts a Color Spray that catches the remaining forces, and none are able to resist his magic. The party quickly swarms and dispatches the stunned opponents. Dom checks Haddin, but it is too late.</p><p></p><p>Bromsby returns inside, and keeps Crystin from going round the corner. She is distraught but also strangely affected by her father's death, saying that she feels like she can think clearly for the first time in years.</p><p></p><p>The party burns the corpses of their foes, then buries Hadden in a cairn near the other two carins, of his wife and brother, building it from stones taken from the wall. A watch is placed for the rest of the night, but no troubles occur. The house is searched for equipment and supplies. Ceilthanus speculates that there must be a hidden compartment they have not found, where Haddin kept his spellbook, but no such compartment or secret cache is found.</p><p></p><p>In the early morning, the party packs up their supplies, and discusses the logistics. They settle on one horse per pair of people, with a skill rider on the first horse leading a second horse. Bosma and Torrent on Hitcher, leading Gath and Crystin. Krombholz and Bromsby on Krombholz's horse, leading Ceilthanus and Dom. They place blindfolds on the horses in an attempt to keep the horses from spooking in the Fire Forest. After carefully coaxing their chosen mounts to drink the potions of Stand the Heat, the party members consume their own potions, and head down the road toward the Fire Forest of Innenotdar.</p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p><strong>Story Deviation & Extra Details</strong></p><p></p><p>Inquisitor Boreus is described as patient and cautious. I felt that he would stay focused on the known danger and on his goal, but not ignore what he encountered on the way. In a way, this proved a successful tactic for him, as his group did succeed in killing Haddin. I had expected to have deal with the old wizard on the trip, and find myself actually relieved a bit that I will only have two NPCs with the party to juggle rather than three inside the Fire Forest.</p><p></p><p>The goblin that was stationed out front never came into play, and was never spotted by the party. He fled, and will eventually provide a report to Guthwulf, albeit a limited one that did not see that action that happened at the back side of the house.</p><p></p><p>The party actually spent a fair amount of time between the last session and in this session figuring out the logistics of getting through the Fire Forest. They have compromised for speed and skills on handling the horses. Between the potions that Torrent brought and the ones they acquired from Diogenes at the School of War, they had 24. With six party members, two NPCs, and four horses, they have enough to go for two full days. The encumbered horses will still move faster on a road than a gnome or dwarf will, and with each pair of horses being lead by an experienced rider, they feel like they are in good shape to get through the forest. It's a good plan, actually; they just aren't prepared for Indomitability.</p><p></p><p>We ended the session before I could have Crystin talk much about the last few days. I want her to be aware of the people who have tried recently to get through the Fire Forest. It's discussed in the first adventure as being perceived as impassable, but with the remains of Durval and his family, and with the wreckage of the old gnomish wagon at the bottom of the gorge, it is clear that some have tried it before. Since in my campaign, I made Stand the Heat a recent innovation, I am considering having the gnomish wagon be not that old, and instead be group fleeing the inquisition from Gabal's School of War, brining with them most of the School's supply and notes. Either that, or I will remove the stash of Stand the Heat. In any case, Crystin is aware of who has tried recently, and I want her to speak to the party about them before their remains are encountered.</p><p></p><p><strong>Tactical Notes and Conversions</strong></p><p></p><p>After the first attempt to open the door failed, Boreus used a Wand of Hold Portal to keep it sealed, then ordered one of his soldiers to continue to beat on it until he was called. He then lead Smiley and the other soldier to the back. The concept was to seal the party in, then summon fire elementals to descend down the chimney to attack the party. As the words of power spell Servitor could be boosted to summon 1d4+1, and as a fire spell it would be empowered, this could have been a large number of small fire elements descending into the house. As it happens, the timing did not quiet work.</p><p></p><p>The spell that Boreus did use is <em>Suppress</em>, which allows another ongoing spell to be suppressed in effect for the duration of the <em>Suppress</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>Overall, the encounter was not as difficult as I had anticipated it being. Starting the encounter inside of a heavy stone structure provided the party a fortified position to work from, and the doors proved effective bottlenecks for the party to keep the encounter handled mostly at their pace. I tried to use some of that against the party as well, which did end up with the party wasting actions holding a door against a foe that had moved on, but on the whole this did not feel as risky to the party as a whole as the Black Horse mercenary fight did. Smiley was devastating, though. </p><p></p><p><strong>Mechanics Issues</strong></p><p></p><p>Small discussion about if you could maintain a free action, and delay. In this case, could a character using Bardic Performance which could be maintained as a free action, delay on their action. I ruled that as "no" because while maintaining it is a free action, you could only do free actions if you have your turn to take your action.</p><p></p><p>A stunned opponent drops whatever they are holding. When Smiley was stunned, he dropped his axe. Whenever an enlarge creature releases an item, it reverts to its normal size, and does not enlarge again should it be picked back up. Smiley was stunned at the end of the previous session by Bromsby's <em>Ear-Piercing Scream</em>, but both I and the players forgot this implication -- which we discussed at the time -- when this session resumed. After the battle was nearly over, when the Color Spray stunned him again, did we recall this. I decided not to change events that had happened earlier in the encounter by attempting to change the amount of damage that had been inflicted. The first time Bromsby used his spell, last session, I had forgotten Boreus's Reactive Counterspell and Rebuke Magic. In this session, I did remember, but he rolled terribly, failing to counter spell and then failing to make his Will save.</p><p></p><p>There are very poor mechanics defined in the Pathfinder or D&D system to determine what spooks a horse. I warned the players that taking the horses inside of a burning forest would require hourly DC 15 skill checks with Ride or Handle Animal, and increase the difficulty for handling the horses in combat, etc. We discussed the benefits for blinkering the horses, and settled on the fact that a blinkered horse only needed a DC 10 check. One of the player's pointed out that this is was the technique used for getting horses out of a burning barn, having done so in the past.</p><p></p><p><strong>Notable player reactions</strong></p><p></p><p>The players picked up on the two cairns there, and the two back story deaths, without any prompting from me. It's a nice touch to bring together the family. And now there are three.</p><p></p><p>Quote: "He's an acclaimed artists, now he's dead... Aren't his paintings going to be worth more now?"</p><p></p><p>They also picked up on the story that Haddin might be dominating his daughter, and her strange reaction to his death, and put it all together. While Ceilthanus's was disappointed they wouldn't have a high level caster with them, Bosma and Krombholz were glad that the party was not going to end up dominated by the old wizard as they traveled.</p><p></p><p><strong>Props, music, images, supporting handouts, etc</strong></p><p></p><p>Music for this session was:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Gladiator by Hans Zimmer</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">National Treasure by Trevor Rabin</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dune (1984 version) by Toto</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spectre by Thomas Newman</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lemony Snicket's A series of Unfortunate Events by Thomas Newman</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Last Starfighter by Craig Safan</li> </ul><p></p><p>There were no additional props or handouts for this session.</p><p></p><p>I have promised Ceilthanus that I will get his expanded background to him before the next session. He has made up a backstory for his character, and the sword he carries, but I of course have made the truth be something that involves a bit more of the campaign story.</p><p></p><p>We did not play on December 28, because I was out with a cold. The next session will be January 11, 2017.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="thekwp, post: 6986004, member: 56444"] [b]Session 09 - Dec 14, 2016[/b] [B]Player Summary[/B] [I]The Scouring of Gate Pass Act Five: The Inquisitor (cont.)[/I] Gath continues to hold the front door closed. Once again, he can feel vibration through the door as though someone pounding or beating on the door, but it doesn't even budge with the efforts the opponent is making. Dom takes a healing potion, while Bosma remains positioned to help Gath. Out the back door, the bugbear moves and attacks the goblin, who is caught off guard by the betrayal. Ceilthanus and Krombholz take the opportunity to team up on the remaining skeleton, and soon dispatch it. Inside, Gath continues to feel the vibrations and pounding on the door, but like the last time, and unlike the first time, the door doesn't budge in the slightest in response to the efforts of their opponents. The silence ends, and Torrent uses her magic to help heal Dom. While the bugbear continues to attack the goblin, Krombholz maneuvers back, to reload his crossbow and line for a shot. However, he sees Inquisitor Boreus, Smiley and soldier approaching around the corner, and calls out a warning. In response, Bosma calls for the group to help Ceilthanus and Krombholz. Gath tries to open the door; it doesn't budge in response to his efforts. He abandons it and heads to the back of the house. The bugbear kills the goblin, and Haddin directs him to kill Inquisitor Boreus. Boreus casts a spell, and the bugbear turns on Haddin instead, injuring him. Ceilthanus changes tactics to attack the bugbear. Smiley advances forwards, and swings his axe. He scores a hit on the Haddin in the doorway, and the aged wizard drops to the ground. The forces outside turn on Ceilthanus, just as Dom and Torrent move out to help. The battle still looks very tense, when Bromsby moves out the door. Assessing the positions of his foes, he casts a Color Spray that catches the remaining forces, and none are able to resist his magic. The party quickly swarms and dispatches the stunned opponents. Dom checks Haddin, but it is too late. Bromsby returns inside, and keeps Crystin from going round the corner. She is distraught but also strangely affected by her father's death, saying that she feels like she can think clearly for the first time in years. The party burns the corpses of their foes, then buries Hadden in a cairn near the other two carins, of his wife and brother, building it from stones taken from the wall. A watch is placed for the rest of the night, but no troubles occur. The house is searched for equipment and supplies. Ceilthanus speculates that there must be a hidden compartment they have not found, where Haddin kept his spellbook, but no such compartment or secret cache is found. In the early morning, the party packs up their supplies, and discusses the logistics. They settle on one horse per pair of people, with a skill rider on the first horse leading a second horse. Bosma and Torrent on Hitcher, leading Gath and Crystin. Krombholz and Bromsby on Krombholz's horse, leading Ceilthanus and Dom. They place blindfolds on the horses in an attempt to keep the horses from spooking in the Fire Forest. After carefully coaxing their chosen mounts to drink the potions of Stand the Heat, the party members consume their own potions, and head down the road toward the Fire Forest of Innenotdar. [HR][/HR] [B]Story Deviation & Extra Details[/B] Inquisitor Boreus is described as patient and cautious. I felt that he would stay focused on the known danger and on his goal, but not ignore what he encountered on the way. In a way, this proved a successful tactic for him, as his group did succeed in killing Haddin. I had expected to have deal with the old wizard on the trip, and find myself actually relieved a bit that I will only have two NPCs with the party to juggle rather than three inside the Fire Forest. The goblin that was stationed out front never came into play, and was never spotted by the party. He fled, and will eventually provide a report to Guthwulf, albeit a limited one that did not see that action that happened at the back side of the house. The party actually spent a fair amount of time between the last session and in this session figuring out the logistics of getting through the Fire Forest. They have compromised for speed and skills on handling the horses. Between the potions that Torrent brought and the ones they acquired from Diogenes at the School of War, they had 24. With six party members, two NPCs, and four horses, they have enough to go for two full days. The encumbered horses will still move faster on a road than a gnome or dwarf will, and with each pair of horses being lead by an experienced rider, they feel like they are in good shape to get through the forest. It's a good plan, actually; they just aren't prepared for Indomitability. We ended the session before I could have Crystin talk much about the last few days. I want her to be aware of the people who have tried recently to get through the Fire Forest. It's discussed in the first adventure as being perceived as impassable, but with the remains of Durval and his family, and with the wreckage of the old gnomish wagon at the bottom of the gorge, it is clear that some have tried it before. Since in my campaign, I made Stand the Heat a recent innovation, I am considering having the gnomish wagon be not that old, and instead be group fleeing the inquisition from Gabal's School of War, brining with them most of the School's supply and notes. Either that, or I will remove the stash of Stand the Heat. In any case, Crystin is aware of who has tried recently, and I want her to speak to the party about them before their remains are encountered. [B]Tactical Notes and Conversions[/B] After the first attempt to open the door failed, Boreus used a Wand of Hold Portal to keep it sealed, then ordered one of his soldiers to continue to beat on it until he was called. He then lead Smiley and the other soldier to the back. The concept was to seal the party in, then summon fire elementals to descend down the chimney to attack the party. As the words of power spell Servitor could be boosted to summon 1d4+1, and as a fire spell it would be empowered, this could have been a large number of small fire elements descending into the house. As it happens, the timing did not quiet work. The spell that Boreus did use is [I]Suppress[/I], which allows another ongoing spell to be suppressed in effect for the duration of the [I]Suppress[/I] spell. Overall, the encounter was not as difficult as I had anticipated it being. Starting the encounter inside of a heavy stone structure provided the party a fortified position to work from, and the doors proved effective bottlenecks for the party to keep the encounter handled mostly at their pace. I tried to use some of that against the party as well, which did end up with the party wasting actions holding a door against a foe that had moved on, but on the whole this did not feel as risky to the party as a whole as the Black Horse mercenary fight did. Smiley was devastating, though. [B]Mechanics Issues[/B] Small discussion about if you could maintain a free action, and delay. In this case, could a character using Bardic Performance which could be maintained as a free action, delay on their action. I ruled that as "no" because while maintaining it is a free action, you could only do free actions if you have your turn to take your action. A stunned opponent drops whatever they are holding. When Smiley was stunned, he dropped his axe. Whenever an enlarge creature releases an item, it reverts to its normal size, and does not enlarge again should it be picked back up. Smiley was stunned at the end of the previous session by Bromsby's [I]Ear-Piercing Scream[/I], but both I and the players forgot this implication -- which we discussed at the time -- when this session resumed. After the battle was nearly over, when the Color Spray stunned him again, did we recall this. I decided not to change events that had happened earlier in the encounter by attempting to change the amount of damage that had been inflicted. The first time Bromsby used his spell, last session, I had forgotten Boreus's Reactive Counterspell and Rebuke Magic. In this session, I did remember, but he rolled terribly, failing to counter spell and then failing to make his Will save. There are very poor mechanics defined in the Pathfinder or D&D system to determine what spooks a horse. I warned the players that taking the horses inside of a burning forest would require hourly DC 15 skill checks with Ride or Handle Animal, and increase the difficulty for handling the horses in combat, etc. We discussed the benefits for blinkering the horses, and settled on the fact that a blinkered horse only needed a DC 10 check. One of the player's pointed out that this is was the technique used for getting horses out of a burning barn, having done so in the past. [B]Notable player reactions[/B] The players picked up on the two cairns there, and the two back story deaths, without any prompting from me. It's a nice touch to bring together the family. And now there are three. Quote: "He's an acclaimed artists, now he's dead... Aren't his paintings going to be worth more now?" They also picked up on the story that Haddin might be dominating his daughter, and her strange reaction to his death, and put it all together. While Ceilthanus's was disappointed they wouldn't have a high level caster with them, Bosma and Krombholz were glad that the party was not going to end up dominated by the old wizard as they traveled. [B]Props, music, images, supporting handouts, etc[/B] Music for this session was: [LIST] [*]Gladiator by Hans Zimmer [*]National Treasure by Trevor Rabin [*]Dune (1984 version) by Toto [*]Spectre by Thomas Newman [*]Lemony Snicket's A series of Unfortunate Events by Thomas Newman [*]The Last Starfighter by Craig Safan [/LIST] There were no additional props or handouts for this session. I have promised Ceilthanus that I will get his expanded background to him before the next session. He has made up a backstory for his character, and the sword he carries, but I of course have made the truth be something that involves a bit more of the campaign story. We did not play on December 28, because I was out with a cold. The next session will be January 11, 2017. [/QUOTE]
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