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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 5077185" data-attributes="member: 7737">Part 2[sblock]We rested fitfully that night, as reinforcements were rushed to Elturel from across Faerun. In the morning, we listened as Knight Commander Vessen informed us of our new task. The main force would hold the line while we -- the adventurers -- journeyed into the plaguelands to stop the incursion.[At the beginning of the adventure, one of the main NPCs commented that he didn't know why the plaguelands had chosen this moment to strike. But to me, it was obvious: they saw that we were massing a force to invade, and they struck a pre-emptive blow. We barely survived. And now, it was time to do what we had originally gathered to do: go into the plaguelands to bust some heads.]We trooped back to the southern part of the city and thence outside. The landscape was a scrambled mess, and we approached a rift in reality where the effects of the spellplague were so great that everyone spontaneously developed a spellscar.[This was a nifty feature of the event. Each PC had to draw a card from the "Change Deck", which consisted of a large number of different spellplague effects. Some of these were purely cosmetic, such as your skin becoming translucent blue, while others had a game mechanical effect, such as granting you a bite attack or rendering you vulnerable 2 to all damage. If your character already had a spellscar, you got to draw twice and choose which card to keep, representing your partial control over the spellplague's energies.]----------Encounter 4A group of slaads were gathered around the rift, marveling at the chaotic energy. As we approached, the slaads attacked. There were 3-4 flux slaads, 2-3 green slaads, 2 gray slaads, and 2 Large-sized red slaads (blood slaads).This was shaping up to be a very difficult fight. We couldn't effectively close with the slaads, as they kept sliding us around and knocking us prone. Meanwhile, the gray slaads were scooping up handfuls of chaos from the reality rift and throwing them at us, causing significant damage.But just as things looked dire, all of the slaad's heads exploded! Unperturbed by their lack of heads, the slaads moved towards the rift and jumped in. [I think the organizers decided we were running short on time and chose to end the combat early.]Everyone looked around, shrugged at this unexpected turn of events, and pushed onwards.----------We made our way to the curtain of blue fire that the monoliths had created the night before. It was a solid barrier of chaos, and when one NPC paladin drew too close, energy lashed out at him, blowing him into chunks, each of which landed, quickly grew into a full body, and then immediately died with an expression of pure agony on its face.Nobody went anywhere near the barrier after that.[Everyone did, however, spontaneously develop another spellscar, meaning another draw from the Change Deck.]Based on some documents captured from gnolls in the Reaching Woods (as part of SPEC 2-1 H2 Dogs of War), the ritual casters from Elturel informed us that each PC could call upon the protection of the gnoll god Yeenoghu. A handful of fools accepted this bargain, but none of The Morninglord's Many did so.----------Encounter 5The ritualists now had to cast a powerful spell to destroy the wall of blue fire. Each table had to protect and aid a ritual caster while he chanted the words.Mechanically, this was a skill challenge, but with a twist. In addition to assisting in the ritual (using Arcana, Nature, and Religion checks), the PCs had to defend against numerous plague motes that were attacking. A PC could use an appropriate skill check to do so (for example, Endurance to absorb the mote, taking damage but destroying it; or Athletics to hold it back), or could use powers to attack and destroy the motes.We began with six motes. After each round, any that weren't destroyed remained, and were joined by an additional six, plus two for every round. So, eight more on the second round; ten more on the third round; and so on. The ritual caster had to survive for ten rounds to complete the ritual, if we didn't help him to complete it any faster.This was another encounter in which having a controller with an at-will area burst would've been helpful, to destroy several motes at once. We quickly realized that there was no way our group could stay ahead of the growing number of motes, so we concentrated on completing the ritual as quickly as possible. We used Encounter and (a few) Daily powers to stem the tide of plague motes. At the last moment, Brother Solinus managed a barely successful Religion check to finish our part of the ritual, just before we were overwhelmed. (There were something like a dozen motes on the board at that point.)We did very well in this encounter, keeping our ritual caster completely unscathed, for a total success.----------Collectively, the group kept enough of the ritualists alive to complete the spell. A massive, disembodied pair of gnoll claws appeared in front of the plague wall. Yeenoghu's Hands pierced the wall and pulled it apart. [Sseklah was uncomfortable calling upon a demonic god, but game-wise we weren't offered a choice in the matter.]Beyond, we saw the center of the plagueland: a huge, pulsating heart covered in innumerable writhing tentacles. Many of the tentacles had pierced nearby earthmotes, and were holding them in place, syphoning energy into the heart. Some of the tentacles were topped with giant, mutated heads that seemed to be directing this abominable work.With a great cry, the adventurers rushed forward. [But not before drawing from the Change Deck again. At this point, Sseklah had two cosmetic spellscars, and one useful one, plague lash (a ranged 10 attack against Fortitude).]----------Encounter 6Each group had to defeat as many tentacles and heads as possible.The map consisted of two earthmotes, divided by a 2-square-wide chasm. [I'm not sure how we got onto the first earthmote; we just did.] The larger of the two earthmotes, consisting of about three-quarters of the map, held three tentacles, one at each corner. The smaller earthmote held the fourth tentacle in the remaining corner, along with a couple glowing sigils burned into the stone. In the center of the map, on the larger earthmote, was the tentacle-head.Silvana realized that the four tentacles were empowering the center head, and that each tentacle we killed would weaken it. [Mechanically, the head started out with excellent defenses and resistances. For each other tentacle we destroyed, its defenses went down and it lost some of its resistances.]Each tentacle was pretty tough, capable of slamming a PC for considerable damage. The tentacles that weren't in melee could exude a gob of mucous and hurl it as a ranged attack. Finally, the head in the center of the map could spew foul substances onto anyone who got close to it.We focused our attacks on a single tentacle at a time, rapidly downing the first. [Let's call it the northwest tentacle.] Star then rushed over to the northeast tentacle and landed a spectacular flurry of attacks on it, including a critical hit, dealing over 90 points of damage all told -- and dropping the thing in a single round. But as the tentacle withdrew from the earthmote, whipping around like an angry snake, it dropped off four smaller tentacle minions that tried to block our path.As each tentacle "died", it left behind a patch of ground infused with magical energy. By standing on this ground, a PC could draw upon its energies to empower himself. [Mechanically, you could regain a healing surge's worth of hit points without spending a surge or regain an Encounter power -- each of these only once per patch of ground.] Star recovered one of his better Encounter powers before joining the rest of us at the southwest tentacle.Meanwhile, Lynetta had used Arcana checks to determine that the sigils near the southeast tentacle (on the other earthmote) would allow one to more effectively fight the center tentacle-head. [Mechanically, you could crit it on a 19-20.] So it was in her interest to get over there. Star decided to join her, as he had ranged attacks in addition to his melee attacks.Everyone else polished off the southwest tentacle, and then began laying into the head. [We decided to ignore the southeast tentacle, figuring that weakening the head by three-quarters was enough.] A single enemy never lasts long against the concentrated attacks of six PCs, and that was the case here. We downed the first head, allowed for reinforcements (which brought in another head and two more tentacles), and destroyed those as well. Another total success!But would it be enough? Against the monoliths, our table had done equally as well, but the group as a whole failed....----------With the climactic encounter over, everyone waited anxiously for the results to be tallied. When they were, we learned that there were 28 tentacle-heads that needed to be destroyed. And collectively, we had defeated... 35!The room erupted into cheers as we realized that we'd done it. Across the plagueland, the blue fire was dissipating, and the souls of those unfortunates who had been captured and made to serve were streaming towards the heavens, there to be judged by Kelemvor.Except for one. We saw a particularly powerful soul, in the shape of a female elf and garbed in wizardly robes, refuse to ascend. With a shriek of rage, it sped deeper into the plaguelands. All we could do was shake our fists in impotent rage as it escaped.[/sblock]Part 3[sblock]The triumphant adventurers returned to Elturel. Our spontaneously generated spellscars fell away, to the great relief of most.In the Temple of Torm, the heroes sat down for a celebratory feast. The High Observer stood before us, flanked by Knight Commander Vessen and the mage Tirangal. The High Observer spoke words of praise and thankfulness, commending us for our perseverance in the face of horrible enemies. But as he neared the end of his speech, the High Observer suddenly staggered forward and clutched at his chest -- where three feet of steel had impaled him.Knight Commander Vessen wrenched his sword out of the High Observer's body, which slumped to the floor. As the shocked assemblage looked on, Vessen's eyes blazed with the all-too-familiar blue fire of the spellplague. He shouted a command, and around the Temple, dozens of hexagonal portals snapped open, while hundreds of enemies teleported in to attack.Including a dragon.----------Encounter 7Beset by enemies within what we thought was a safe haven, we had to defend the High Observer and his underpriests, defeat the foes, and close the portals.[Only the P2 tables were actually defending the High Observer, who somehow survived being stabbed through the chest. Other tables were defending lesser priests.]The portals were being held open by sharns (aberrant humanoids that share a group mind). The enemies included more plaguechanged archers and spellcasters on balconies above us, a handful of melee-focused enemies on the ground, and the dragon. If the table was lucky, it was merely a plaguechanged white dragon. If the table wasn't lucky, it was a dracolich.[In a previous special adventure, QUES 1-1 Black Cloaks and Bitter Rivalries, adventurers had infiltrated the Zhentarim. Some of those adventurers may have failed to prevent the Zhents from creating a dracolich, and if enough PCs with that failure were at a table, then the dragon was in its upgraded undead form. At our table, those who had participated in QUES 1-1 had successfully prevented the undead monstrosity from being created.][I have to give props to our DM for a great bit of misdirection. Throughout the adventure, he had been using pre-drawn paper maps. Because the paper had been rolled it kept wanting to re-curl, so the DM used his large-sized minis to hold down the edges and corners. So in multiple previous fights, he'd tell us, "These monsters aren't really here; they're just to hold down the paper." He told us the same thing prior to this encounter: "This white dragon isn't really here." When it turned out that it was, Silvana's player was mildly offended. "You lied to us!" she said. "Yes, I did," the DM replied.]The dragon reacted first, leaping forward onto Sseklah and rending him with its claws and bite. (As I put it: "Time for some hot dragon-on-dragon action.") Across the room, an enemy moved to menace the underpriest we had to protect. The archers and spellcasters shot us up, and a few of the hexagonal portals activated and blasted us, too.Sseklah assessed the situation. His blood boiled at the sight of the warped dragon, and he longed to take revenge for the savage wounds it had delivered. But Sseklah knew that if someone didn't defend the priest, the plaguechanged enemies would kill the helpless NPC.Raising forth his holy symbol, Sseklah called upon the name of might*, which thundered forth, dealing the dragon a grievous wound [critical hit for 40 points of damage] and slowing the beast so that it could not simply rampage around the temple as it wished.* [Just as I was making this attack, the lead organizer was passing by our table. When he heard me use name of might, he shouted, "Yeenoghu!" But I yelled back, "No, Amaunator!"]As the dragon staggered back, Sseklah raced away from it and towards the banquet table at which the priest was sitting. Narrowly avoiding the dragon's parting swipe (Opportunity Attack), Sseklah roared a divine challenge to the nearby enemy, then (Action Point) charged forwards, leaping onto the table (Athletics check) and smiting his shocked foe (charge attack culminating in virtuous strike, which can be used as a melee basic attack).This battle was frantic, closely fought, and epic.Brother Solinus brought forth a spirit of healing, which kept Sseklah and Lynetta alive -- the latter because the enemy archers focused their attacks on her, repeatedly bloodying the tiefling warlock. Star fey stepped up to one of the balconies, where he slaughtered enemies and closed a few portals. On the other side of the map, Ziz used come and get it to drag foes off the balconies and next to him, marking them so that they could not easily get away. And Silvana tirelessly battled anyone who threatened our fragile NPC charge.About 35 minutes into the battle, we finally killed the dragon -- everyone cheered. I stood up on my chair and shouted out, offering help to any other table that needed it. (We'd come a long way from requesting help to defeat minions!) A nearby table took us up on our offer, sending us their barely wounded dragon.Fifteen minutes to kill a fresh dragon -- which by the way, got upgraded to the high-level version of our H3 tier. It was a near thing. Daily powers, Action Points, and magic item uses flowed like water. The dragon was on its last legs, but unfortunately time was called before we could land the killing blow.[So... close...! It had 18 hit points left.]----------Overall, the group was successful: the High Observer and his underpriests survived, the plaguechanged enemies were put to the sword, and the sharn's portals were smashed and closed. After tallying up the final results, the organizers announced several things. First, because we had wisely chosen not to use the ritual to modify The Companion, it remained brightly shining in the sky above Elturel. Second, everyone was granted substantial rewards. (See below.)Third, the organizers gave public recognition to those tables that exceeded expectations and achieved multiple "total success" results. There were a lot of them, including The Morninglord's Many. We weren't the best table, but we did better than most.----------The rewards were nice: a large chunk of XP and GP, and your choice of any magic item up to your character's level plus two. In LFR, that's a big deal; normally when you get an "any magic item" bundle, it's only up to your character's level at most.Everyone also got at least two cool story awards. Number one, in gratitude for each PC's service, the leaders of Elturel named or created something within the city for that PC. (Sseklah Street? Sseklah Plaza? A statue of Sseklah the Stupendous?) Also as part of number one, if the PC ever dies, his soul will automatically appear in the Temple of Torm, where it will be raised from the dead at no cost and with no death penalty.Number two, each PC picked up a chunk of the smashed monoliths as a grisly souvenir. The plaguechanged rock sheds light as a sunrod and continuously morphs into different shapes. (Although as I put it, "There's no way Sseklah is carrying that thing around, unless it's in a lead-lined box.") Five randomly selected characters actually picked up an extra-special chunk. I saw one of those Story Awards the next day: the character can gain a spellscar (even though you normally have to start with one at level 1), and the player is supposed to write down the names of everyone he plays with at a convention. Once a certain number of names are accumulated, the player is to show the list to a campaign organizer, at which time the special rock will change in some way. (Why do I get the feeling it won't be entirely beneficial?)----------I thought that ADCP 2-1 turned out very well. Everyone I talked to enjoyed it, and it was far different than your run-of-the-mill LFR adventure. Any quibbles I have are minor in the scheme of things.I can't wait for the next one![/sblock]</blockquote>

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