TSR [Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon

5/6 players present. This one also started slowly, as the players asked about the city of L'trel and got a feel for what areas still remained undestroyed, with a focus on ones that might have good treasure to loot. After a bit of discussion, they noticed that all three temples on the left side of the map were still untouched, with the priests holed up prepared for if the kaiju came their way, which definitely seemed promising. They decided to go straight for the toughest nut, the temple of Heironeous. (using the map for the temple of Tempus from Polyhedron 115) There they saw three of the toughest clerics patrolling around the perimeter while more manned the ramparts. Of course, while they might have been high level for a gritty, low magic area, they were no match for the combo of invisibility and blasting power that the PC's have now and they were gone in a couple of rounds. This did not go unnoticed by the other guards on the ramparts though, and they sounded the alarm & sent a volley of crossbow bolts in the direction of the non-sneaky PC's. The binder & winged kobold were able to fly straight up to them to continue the fight, while the sniper blinked invisibly up onto the roofs to see what was happening further into the compound, but the priestess and the drow were left behind on the ground with no-one to fight. To make up for that, the drow used telekinesis to push one of the guards off into whipping range, then summoned an air elemental to carry the two of them up once that guy was thoroughly flayed.

Higher up, the binder continued to average one dead guard per round, while the others noticed that on the grounds, the clerics were scrambling to action and hurriedly assemble their attack dogs & mount their griffons. Since those might be more valuable resources if they could take control of them, the sniper unleashed his Wings of Flurry to selectively take out the griffon riders while leaving the griffons unharmed. The griffons still panicked and took off, but being well-trained, they'd probably wander back eventually once the havoc died down. The other inhabitants of the temple continued to die at a high rate, it all seemed like this would be another cakewalk, when they discovered I'd merely been lulling them into a false sense of security. From across the city they heard the sound of a massive foghorn like voice giving an indistinct command (think train station tannoys) and saw a colossal metallic humanoid shape emerging from the sea, towering over the buildings. It's time to pit the kaiju from Beast of Burden against the giant mecha from Heart of the Iron God and see how they really compare in a stand-up fight, which is a match-up I've wanted to do ever since I read the two adventures and have worked quite hard behind the scenes to set up. Let's see just what kind of havoc ensues next week.

The action continued straight on from last time and kept going all the way through this session. 5 players were present, including the return of one from the Hijinx sessions who jumped in and promoted Zhamthrul the beholder to PC status. This was extra handy because the githyanki player was still on holiday, so at least someone was on top of the Kadtanach to take charge when the Colossus appeared on the horizon. He dispatched three of the werewolves to head towards it, as their movement rate is quite a bit faster than the Kadtanach's, to scout out what was going on. But since it was still half a mile away it was obvious that it would be several minutes before any actual combat could take place on this front, which gave the other PC's a chance to wrap things up at the temple. The binder shredded enemies on the ramparts, the sniper used his AoE powers to fry the clerics coming from the barracks, the priestess and winged kobold fought the clerics and war dogs in the central courtyard head-on, while the drow hid behind them and spammed summons. A mere 30 seconds later, there were no enemy combatants remaining within line of sight. They spent another minute shovelling anything that pinged as magical into their extradimensional spaces, then the drow summoned another air elemental to carry everyone except the binder (who had wandered off into one of the buildings and could fly under her own power anyway, albeit at a slower pace) back at high speed.

Back in the city at large, things had not been static. While the colossus lumbered towards the kadtanach at a pace barely faster than regular walking speed, half a dozen hang gliders had launched from a hatch in its back and were headed towards it considerably faster. They passed over the werewolves, shooting them as they went, but since the bolts weren't silver they didn't actually do any damage and the werewolves couldn't attack back. They then reached the kadtanach and started shooting down at the PC's on there. However, this took some of them within range of Zhamthrul's eye rays, which did not go well for them. One was put to sleep and started veering off course dramatically, another was disintegrated and a third hit by finger of death, also sending their glider out of control on an imminent crash course. The remaining three curved around the Kadtanach and tried to ascend, shooting as they went and doing mild damage to the now returned priestess & drow. The werewolves remaining on the kadtanach tried to fire ballistas at the colossus, but the combination of range and untrained penalties (give them a break, they've only been driving this thing for a month now) meant they had no chance of hitting unless they rolled natural 20's. The colossus revealed it had balistas mounted in its hands and fired back, but since they were also eating a 600' range penalty they also missed despite a higher attack bonus. Most of the players also didn't have anything with enough range to contribute to this fight so they're holding actions on the kadtanaches back until the colossus gets closer. The only ones still actively doing stuff are the winged kobold, who's flown down to get a closer look at the colossuses feet, and the binder, trying to catch up as fast as she can. Just before we ran out of time, the colossus did reveal another of the tricks up its sleeve as its massive eye glinted, and the wizard inside cast an ice storm to rain down upon the beholder & priestess. So far, it's looking like I've done the math right so the PC's will probably win eventually, but this will be a massive multi-session fight as the two gigantic creatures finally get within melee range with the distinct possibility that there will be some PC deaths if the squishier party members don't watch their positioning.