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Message: <blockquote data-quote="THEMNGMNT" data-source="post: 7942440" data-attributes="member: 6809274">Three out of five players in my 12th level campaign were able to make the latest session--which we play online. As the USA goes into lockdown due to coronavirus, I have a feeling we'll be playing more frequently. I guess that's a little bit of good in a terrible situation.In any case, the characters are in Ironslag, the fire giant lair from Storm King's Thunder. In this session, they faced off against the giant chief, Duke Zalto, and his wife, Brimskarda. For Brimskarda I used the stats of a CR14 fire giant dreadnought. For Zalto, he was a custom foe created using 4E design principles. For example, he had a special power that triggered when bloodied. And, combined with legendary resistance, I expected him to be basically unstoppable. Then came the halfling bard with Otto's Irresistable Dance, which mixed up both Zalto and the DM for a couple turns. It took 2 1/2 hours for the players to finally fell Zalto, Brimskarda, and a handful of minions. No players we're dropped, but they're basically out of spells and powers, so they're in trouble if they run into significant resistance.The juiciest part of the session involved the bard and his magical lyre, which is a special item created using 4E rules for concordance. Basically, the lyre grants him several charm-type spells. But it's sentient, inhabited by the spirit of his slain rival from bard college. And that rival is vainglorious and amoral. Well, the bard used up all the spells in the lyre, which required him to roll a d20. On a 1, the lyre would be rendered non-magical. Guess what? He rolled a 1. We discussed if there were any alternatives...and the player suggested that perhaps the spirit of the rival could begin to possess and even control his character. And the character would have no memory of what happened. Essentially, a selfish, greedy, and unethical magical artifact is now undermining the party from within. So...pretty awesome. Next session, they search Ironslag for Harshnag, a good-aligned frost giant in service of Force Grey, who can lead them to the Eye of the All-Father, a lost temple that holds secrets which will help them stop the giants.</blockquote>

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