D&D General How Was Your Last Session?

[el-remmen]

It ended in a total party kill...

Well, if they didn't die, it was not a "kill."

My group also had a total party defeat last session and ended up captured (the 3rd time of the campaign!)

 

[Gorg]

Well, if they didn't die, it was not a "kill."

My group also had a total party defeat last session and ended up captured (the 3rd time of the campaign!)

Crapola! I just realized the Fighter totally forgot about both Second Wind, and Action Surge... With those, he MAY have survived even for another round- and possibly dropped another orc with his second attack. Maybe getting the steamroller moving in the other direction. Darn newb DM's and Players... lol.

 

[el-remmen]

My current group has been together for 5+ years and they still forget stuff all the time!

About 3 levels into the campaign, this was an actual quote directed at the paladin's player, "Wait! You can smite stuff? Why haven't you been doing that!??"

 

[Richards]

In this week's "Ghourmand Vale" session, the PCs:

• Returned to their keep after several adventures away from town
• Were awakened at the sound of something large landing on the roof of the keep (those who slept through that were awakened by the sound of a thundering arrow the elf archer shot into a hallway wall for that purpose)
• Dealt with simultaneous attacks by a whisper demon (vaporous, incorporeal demon the size of a human) from the ground floor (it had simply flown through the wall of our stables and attacked our animal handler) and a sorrowsworn demon (15-foot-tall humanoid demon with bat wings) coming in through the fourth-floor balcony, after having kicked in the door to the half-elf paladin's room
• Had the elf archer, human sorcerer, and shield guardian take on the whisper demon while the half-elf paladin and elf druid took on the sorrowsworn demon; the halfling rogue was unfortunately overcome by the whisper demon's confusion effect and was either babbling incoherently or stabbing herself in the leg with a dagger
• Managed to take out the whisper demon first (with a combination of maximized magic missile spells and the archer's holy water arrows), at which point my sorcerer grabbed the archer and used a dimension door spell to teleport them up to the paladin's room, where they could hear fighting going on
• Took out the sorrowsworn demon - after a somewhat lengthy fight - primarily with the druid's sunbeam spells, the archer's arrows, but mostly the paladin's +3 keen flaming burst holy longsword (and several confirmed crits with the same)
• Checked on the animal handler and found him dead
• Had the druid cast a reincarnation spell on him; he's now an orc!

We had some more crappy rolls, with the paladin rolling a natural 1 on his smite evil attacks (the first of four attack rolls per round when making a full attack - we're 16th level) not once, but twice in a row over two consecutive rounds, and the halfling only escaping the whisper demon's confusion effect when we slew it - she couldn't make a decent Will save the whole time. And it turned out the DM had two more potential adversaries ready to join the fray, but he opted not to use the 17th-level cleric of Iuz due to time (it was getting late) and the allip never came up because we'd just had the druid cast a hallow spell (with death ward) on the keep the night before, so the slain animal handler didn't turn into an allip like he normally would have.

Johnathan

 

[Richards]

In tonight's "Ghourmand Vale" session, the PCs:

• Were sent to get fitted with matching cloaks for a reception in our honor in two days' time (I hated that plot hook, as I personally hate wearing matching outfits, and I don't imagine my aristocrat sorcerer does either...the DM's wife was also not a fan, but we pressed on so as not to ruin the adventure he had planned for us tonight)
• Heard an explosion as we got near to the clothier's shop - it came from a perfumery/mining supply shop (two buildings sharing a common wall), and went to investigate in case anyone was hurt
• Determined the explosion happened in the lower level of the perfumery; elf archer and halfling rogue went in the back way, guided my sorcerer into safely using dimension door to teleport the half-elf paladin, celestial pegasus, and elf druid with him into the perfumery basement, behind an elderly female gnome wizard, alchemical golem, and grisgol (a golem in all but name)
• Listened as the gnome explained the explosion away as a simple accident, nobody was hurt, thanks for your concern but we don't need any assistance, please leave - and druid's Sense Motive check indicated she was lying
• Refused to start combat, although paladin detected two sources of evil between the three figures, because we aren't murderhoboes
• Only attacked the gnome after she tried using a greater command spell to get us to leave, then she called on the alchemical golem to defend her
• Killed the gnome with archer's arrows and halfling's sling stone/sneak attacks
• Found out the alchemical golem is immune to basically all magic, and oozes acid when you hit it; paladin burned himself fighting it with his longsword
• Had my sorcerer follow the grisgol out to a barge tied down to a pier, tried scorching ray - nope, it's immune to all magic
• Had my sorcerer try sinking the barge by casting shrink item on a section of the barge's floor - nope, the barge is magical
• Incapacitated the alchemical golem by having the halfling web a vial of sovereign glue on the ceiling above it, then having the druid cast reverse gravity on the area in which the golem was standing, resulting in an alchemical golem glued to the ceiling by the top of its head, unable to attack us
• Had the archer "air drop" (via carpet of flying) our shield guardian onto the barge, so it could slug it out with the grisgol (who was piloting the barge away from the pier)
• Had my sorcerer detect magic, find out there's magic in a bag tied to the grisgol's belt
• Had the halfling steal the bag, and had the druid sink the barge with a wood shape spell
• Watched the grisgol walk away underwater along the riverbed
• Went back to take out the helpless alchemical golem with ranged attacks
• Found out the bag contained various magical potions and oils, which the gnome wizard had been hired to make for a client; the grisgol was the messenger sent to pick up the goods

So, a shorter listing of events could easily be:

• Killed a gnome wizard on her own premises for engaging in legal commerce with an unknown client, and destroyed the alchemical golem sent to defend her in her own home

This was not a particularly fun adventure, since all my sorcerer got to do was cast haste and Rary's telepathic bond on the group as we approached the site of the explosion; everything he did after that was doomed to failure (the few spells that could affect the alchemical golem and grisgol were spells my PC doesn't know). In addition, we had no real reason to be fighting these foes, and in fact would probably be seen as the offending parties in a court of law. So, do we need atonement spells now? Do we even dare show up to the gala in our honor in two days' time, after having slain a member of the city we're here to protect? The "correct" action would have been to leave the perfumery when the gnome said everything was fine, as she was breaking no laws - but then there'd be no adventure for tonight's weekly session? That didn't sit right with any of us players.

Ugh. At least we had fun gluing the alchemical golem to the ceiling. But otherwise, the night was kind of a waste.

Johnathan

 

[Jiru]

oh boy, unfortunatelly it was years ago.. I took some illustration commissions for a party starting a campaign, so I decided to join them and play too.. we played together for a a couple of years and it was very fun (had a sorceress with some homebrew spells).. I remember my last encounter, I was trying to use a very powerfull lava spell (don't recall the details), rolled a nat 1, ended up with both my arms covered in lava, they melted away and I had to find replacements.. we laughed so much, I had to remake my character avatar illustration to add the lava, and was from then on known as Yulien, the Self Melting Sorcerer hahahahahaha.. oh, those were the days

 

[Older Beholder]

We played last night for the first time this year, as the DM just get back from holiday.

Was fun, we’re in some underground tunnels that lead inside a volcano. We’re looking for the first of 6 legendary artefacts that will make up the campaign endgame (after 2 years). Even at level 14 it feels dangerous to have to keep tunnelling down, a couple of times we’ve broken through only to be dangling above a pool of lava.

We played for about 3 and a half hours, due to the DM having had more time to prepare from after his break. Previously the sessions had been closer to only a couple of hours at the end of last year.

 

[Richards]

In today's "Dreams of Erthe" session, the PCs:

• Agreed to aid a spider familiar in finding and possibly rescuing her master, after the empathic link between them was severed three days ago, and is now phasing in and out as if trying to reestablish itself
• Got the backstory: the drow wizard was in love with a nobleman's daughter, but he was of mere common blood and her father and brothers forbade her from seeing him; the last the spider familiar saw of him, he was going to meet with her anyway
• Had the half-orc cleric/paladin use his robe of blending to impersonate the spider's master (she helped him fine-tune the magical disguise), with the intention of letting word get out that the wizard was still out and about
• Went to the estate where the daughter and her family lived, rang the bell at the gate, and was told by the drow butler he was not allowed onto the grounds, per the father's wishes
• Hung around after the butler left, only to have the father and a drow cleric come rushing out of the house, whereupon the cleric tried rebuking the half-orc (still disguised as the common-blood drow wizard)
• Caught the drow up in a black tentacles spell (cast by the invisible elf sorcerer), which the half-orc threatened would drag them to Hell if they didn't bring the "ghost" back to his body
• Followed the drow back into the house (with most of the other PCs invisible), only to have the cleric cast a heal spell on the half-orc in an attempt to "kill" the "ghost" with positive energy, and when that didn't work, the father tried stabbing the half-orc with his rapier - at which point the ruse was up, and full-fledged battle was on
• Ended up blinding and deafening the father with a holy word spell cast by the half-orc, while the cleric was slain by the invisible human bard/rogue who ran him in with his rapier
• Went further into the manor - specifically, the open gardens in the center of the building, complete with a hedge maze, where the two drow brothers were fighting off phase spiders
• Joined in the fight, noticing new phase spiders entering the gardens each round, and a ghostly figure seemingly directing them
• Determined the ghost was indeed the spider's slain wizard master (which explained why the half-orc's ruse worked so well outside) and agreed to help him get vengeance on his killers
• Killed the two sons, and allowed the ghost to slay the father with a chain lightning spell
• Brought the ghost to the daughter, who was aghast to learn her father and brothers had slain her lover; she agreed to pay for a resurrection spell bringing the slain wizard back to life, and is now in charge of the family's business (she opted not to resurrect her family members)

It was a fun time; I was amazed when the players figured the wizard was probably dead and trying to come back to life and decided to have the half-orc impersonate the slain wizard, as it was 100% believable to the killers (they had hired the cleric to come into the manor to take care of the ghost who was starting to manifest in the gardens where they had killed him and buried his body).

Johnathan

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Almost 30 sessions into my 13th Age campaign. Eyes of the Stone Thief expanded to cover all 10 levels. Five player characters now at 4th level.

I've not been posting regular updates, but we are playing on the regular.

Since I last posted, a lot has happened. The characters:

• Infiltrated a koru behemoth used as a war machine by the Crusader's special forces, the Ebon Gauntlet. They wrecked face, destroying both the Inquisitor and Commander. They have now drawn the Crusader's personal attention, and he has dispatched his High Executioner to eliminate them. The players want to return to the behemoth and free it from the Crusader's domination. That's going to be a cool moment.
• Returned to the swashbuckler's estate to discover it had been swallowed by the Eyes of the Stone Thief. They also discovered that the Thief had been summoned by the swashbuckler's sister, who now resides within the Thief and is known as the Witch of Marble Hall.
• Broke into the prison that no one can break out of, the Panopticon within the Imperial Prison at New Port. There they killed the Warden (who was secretly part of the Cult of the Devourer, the surface agents of the Stone Thief), sparked a prison riot, survived an assault by an Imperial Magistrate, and failed to rescue their target: Prisoner 13, who holds important secrets of the Thief.

Now the characters have been again swallowed by the Stone Thief. They are on their way to Dungeon Town, with plot hooks that will pull them to the Sunken Sea, the Ossuary, the Grove, Deep Keep, and beyond.

 

[Richards]

In today's "Dreams of Erthe" session, the PCs:

• Were approached by an air mephit, with a message from a noble djinn: his six daughters had each accepted assignments from drow wizards in the city the PCs were approaching, but had been tricked into servitude via genie traps: they were to serve their master for 101 days, but on day 100 the wizards all placed them in the genie traps and exchanged them among themselves, "restarting" the 101 days with a new master (this had happened twice so far, with no end in sight)
• Learned the half-orc cleric/paladin, as an adherent of Cal, God of the Air (and Healing), was the closest Callite to the city and was thus the potential answer to the noble djinn's prayer
• Agreed to free the six imprisoned djinn
• Scouted around town and found out the five homes of the six wizards (two were twins who lived together), then decided to attack them one at a time, starting with the twins' manor
• Tried bluffing their way into getting one of the twins to exit his dwelling with a fake story about hiring him to read the runes on the wood colossus they'd discovered outside the city (where they'd parked it before entering the city), but he wasn't biting
• Forced their way into the manor, which meant fighting off a pair of dread guards and a Huge animated rug before making their way to where the twins were making their stand
• Killed the twins and destroyed their genie traps, freeing the first two djinn
• Realized the elf sorcerer's pseudodragon could telepathically communicate with the djinn from outside each wizard's dwelling, so went from home to home, establishing contact first, explaining they were sent by the djinn's father to rescue them, and learned all about any defensive traps waiting in the dwelling, plus a rundown of where the wizard in question was at the moment and what he was doing
• Send the human bard/rogue in, invisibly, to kill the wizard with a full-action sneak attack combo with his magic rapier, Deathwhisper
• Slew the other four wizards in that manner, rescuing all six djinn
• Had the noble djinni appear and grant each PC a wish at any point in the future - but he warned them he'd looked into their likely futures and suggested they hold on to their wishes for now, as if what looked like was going to happen actually came to pass, they would desperately need them then
• Agreed to hold their wishes for now, and watched as the noble djinni and his six daughters plane shifted to the Elemental Plane of Air
• Gathered up all the loot from each of the five dwellings of the evil wizards (and it was a lot of accumulated treasure!)

This was adventure #90 (only 10 more adventures left in this campaign!), so everyone leveled up to 19th at the end of the session.

Johnathan