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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Daern" data-source="post: 5207706" data-attributes="member: 81800">Session 19 & 20: The Perfect StormLast session the heroes did some investigation and enjoyed some downtime.  The druid purchased a bookload of rituals from Sidoneth and had a positive interaction.  The Bard snooped around and managed to identifying Nelebekus at the Royale (he also tried out the "Best Joke Ever" on the bartender, ie Hideous Laughter, 9th lvl daily), but he was unable to eavesdrop.  The group returned to the Royale the next day and the barbarian challenged for supremacy in the arena.  He just barely managed to slay the champion, earning a bronze cup and two large pigs.  On the way back to town they were ambushed in the driving rain.  Ragesian archers, Inquisitor Damius, and Jezyk the assassin devil.  They fairly easily drove them off and Damius escaped.  Jezyk did not.  They never made the connection that she was following them about.  Perhaps I should have given her some dialogue. Finally, they were invited to the War Council.  I gave each player a cutout of the Ambassador descriptions from the module and told them they were going to play them.  The scene went well.  The players got into it and i think it built upon the already fairly thorough knowledge of the politics of the campaign.  It reaffirmed Dassen's ambivalence about fighting the Ragesians.  It was certainly better than me  performing the whole scene.  As it was, I did a lot of text reading.  The Giorgio thing fell flat, but I had already decided that the pace of the adventure required that the storm climax soon.  No play, though I can see it being a great scene.The arrival of the Shahalesti was great.  The players were totally unsurprised by the over the top demands of the Elven Nation, but they made comments like, "Maybe they think they're doing the right thing but the way it comes out is by taking control of everything."  The council broke up in pandemonium of course, and I had Sidoneth slip out quickly.  Two characters followed him to his house and more or less realized that he had jumped into the sea, possibly in the form of a sea creature.Then the hurricane hit!  Towers and trees fell, people were blown away, and the heroes walked nonchalantly through gale winds.  They were the only hope!  The druid had been consulting ancient maps and scrolls to discover the drowned Tomb of the Pyromancer and when the storm hit was able to aim towards its eye.  The party entered the prison and fought a horde of Burning Bones skeletons.  The session ended with the discover of a "force tube leading down through the water."So, I'm really happy with the way this mod has turned out.  It has provided an opportunity for players to process and interact with alot of the campaign info they've been hearing for so long.  It was fairly sandboxy in that they were able to follow leads and abandon them and try others.  They strongly suspect Sidoneth and won't be too surprised I think when the denouement features the hairless druid and an Emissary of Dagon.My plan is to wrap up the Tomb in 3 encounters... the trapped tomb itself, showdown with Damius and his soldiers at the fire bridge (plus a fire elemental I think!), and finally Sidoneth on the roof with the sea itself an adversary.  Then we will move on to the War Council of Dassen.  I think I will provide a bit of awesome by making the Dionem available for use in taming a clutch of griffons for use in traveling to Steppengard's Castle.  I will have to think on how flight will complicate the entry into the castle encounters.  The castle will certainly have ballistae!</blockquote>

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