You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 8511161" data-attributes="member: 6669384">It was time to wrap up my adventure.Backstory:  D&D 3.5 game with six PCs, averaging level 13-14Party had been advised, by an enemy, that a known assassin with a grudge against the party Wizard, had taken a contract to kill the Duke of Starfall.  He planned to cause trouble first, specifically to draw the party in so he could get another shot at the Wizard.  The enemy had said, straight up, that he didn't care who got killed, the Wiz' or the Assassin, he won either way.In short, it was a trap, they knew it was a trap, they were told it was a trap, so of course they walked into the trap.Bad guy did what the bad guys do.  He caused disruption, the party helped hold things together, and in the process proposed a celebration, one that would involve the Duke, and thus make him available as a target.So the bad guy's plan worked perfectly, in that he got his shot at the Duke, and managed to kill him at the feast.  It was several minutes before anyone noticed that he wasn't moving.That was the previous session(s).Now the party had finally managed to Scry the Assassin, and thought they recognized where he was.  They also know, or at least heavily suspect the cover identity he was using:  Food taster for a guild master.  They think he's hiding in the guild master's wine cellar.So all they need to do is walk up the road, 10 or 15 minutes walk, and confront the Assassin before he moves on.  The Scry showed them where he was, not what he was planning or where he planned to do it.Party wanted to ramble into town to get diamond dust for Stoneskin spells, amd would have gone shopping for other stuff as well if I hadn't emphasized that that would take time.  They knew that he was a Dark Elf, and that he was sitting in a pitch-black underground chamber, a wine cellar.  So when they hit they had 15 minutes to plan (I timed, real world time) and cast prep spells.  Nobody prepped lights or cast Darkvision or Low-Light vision spells.  No elemental resistance spells.  The Cleric tried to insist that they'd had Hero's Feast, which would make them poison-immune.  I asked when they had done this, since it takes an hour to consume.  Hero's Feast was out.  Wiz had six alchemical Anti-Toxin draughts, each good for an hour.  She drank one, offered two to others, who didn't take them, and hoarded the rest for herself, in case she needed them.Party entered the house, no real attempt at stealth.  Biggest, least stealthy character in front, they went down the stairs to the wine cellar.  Half the room was dark, and at the far end was a door.  No sign of the Assassin.They approached the door and the Barbarian (big, non-stealthy guy) uses a staff to rattle the door, to set off any easily triggered traps.  Did I mention that he''s not very stealthy?No kaboom, so they went in and demanded to know what they saw.  Which was nothing, since the room was pitch black, and the only light was what ever came in from the far end of the room behind them, past their bodies blocking the door (beautifully framed and backlit, from the Assassin's point of view).  They heard voices in argument (no one had bothered to listen at the door.)  Faint shadows moving.  No one spoke Undercommon or Drow, but I was nice:  Two other Drow asking for proof that the Duke had been killed.  Small note:  In our worlds, if a person with wealth, property or title is killed, the heirs inherit.  Now.  Even if the wealthy landowner/noble is brought back.  Res' can happen decades later, after all.  Marriages are ended ('Til Death do us Part and all that), life goes on.So the Duke had died, but the party had hidden this fact and used Resurrection to bring him back.  (In 3.5 an Assassin's "Death Attack" can't be reversed with a simple Raise Dead.)  So he was still on the throne, which defeated the purpose of the murder-for-hire.The other Drow had a few Troll Hunters (Trolls with Ranger levels, straight out of the MM.)Should have been a good fight, fairly even.  Bad guys out CRd the party slightly, but the party was larger and could/should have had some element of surprise.  Buff spells up, defenses ready etc.  (See previous comments).Then a PC pulled a wild card out, a spell I didn't know he had.  We accept some spells from Spell Compendium, subject to a group vote.  I didn't recall this spell being voted on or approved.  It's called Wall of Light, or something like that.  Daylight bright, and can be set up as a curtain, or wrapped around an area as a dome.  High enough level that it tops any Darkness spells my bad guys had.That effectively took the other two Drow out of the fight.  They were blinded for a full round, then dazzled (they have light sensitivity).  PCs threw area spells into the middle of the mess, Drow threw area spells just as blindly (we had them roll a To-Hit to see if the Fireball bead accidentally hit someone before it reached the designated distance.  Rolled a NAT-20 on the Barb').Surprisingly, the lower level speed bumps, the Troll Hunters, lasted the longest.  The Assassin got beaten down to 3 hit points in about two rounds (okay, one surprise action and a round), then manage to get off his one 4th level spell and D-Doored out.The two Drow retreated into the secret passage they'd used to enter (Party saw it open for a split second as the Lightwall came up.  Lightwall hid it after that.)So now it's over, they won.  Assassin is still at large, still hates the Wiz', and still has an open contract on the Duke.So several party members decide to maybe settle here for a while.  Including the Wiz'.  Players want to shuffle things about and bring in different characters.Yeah, the Wiz is talking about spending a few months of time here, in NPCdom, in the same city with the master Assassin who was in serious hate with her.  <Tears hair>  Does nobody bother to follow the plot lines any more?Anyway, another DM is taking over from here next week.  Same characters, though my Druidess will be exiting her NPC status and rejoining, while the new DM's character will fade to background for the duration.</blockquote>

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