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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6125246" data-attributes="member: 42582">I ran my second Epic session yesterday - it follows on from the OP of this thread.The previous session had ended with the PCs taking an extended rest. As this was their first extended rest as Epic tier PCs, I though that some epic dreams were in order - this would give me a chance to drop some backstory and suggest some possible directions for the players.The deva invoker/wizard/Divine Philosopher/Sage of Ages - whose Epic status (particularly +6 to all knowledge skills) was narrated, within the fiction, as his Memories of 1000 Lifetimes becoming transparent to him. In his dream, he recalled his role, in the distant past, in helping Erathis construct the Lattice of Heaven; and then Lolth's betrayal, such that she no longer helped in weaving the Lattice together; and then the Dawn War, in which the Lattice was shattered. He also recalled his subsequent participation in Erathis's "Game of Making" - whereby the Lattice cannot be rebuilt until all things that can be made have been made. And finally, he recalled that he had been sent to the mortal world in human form to remake the Sceptre of Law (= Rod of 7 Parts), for when this is done then the Game of Making will be complete. (I posted a report of the session in which the human wizard/invoker was reborn as a deva invoker/wizard <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?324018-Wizard-PC-dies-returns-as-Invoker" target="_blank">here</a>.)The PC currently has 5 bits of the Sceptre - he gained the first at 2nd level after being killed while fighting undead among old Nerathi ruins. In real life, I asked the player if he wanted to keep playing his PC, which he did. And he conjectured that his PC would be returned to life by the Raven Queen and Erathis because there was something that he would have to recover from the ruins. In the game, the PC returned to life shortly after dying, with memories of the Raven Queen and Erathis discussing his fate, and realised that there was something he had to find in the ruins - as it turned out, the first shard of the Sceptre.The player was intrigued by the dream, and interested to learn that as well as a purpose that he has been imbued with by the Sceptre - namely, to finally kill Miska the Wolf-Spider - he also has a purpose for which he was sent from the heavens into the mortal world - namely, to reassemble the Sceptre. But the PC is also a (closet? reluctant? the nature and details are a little obscure) devotee of Vecna, and he's not sure he wants to re-establish the Lattice of Heaven and absolute divine order, because it seems to him that in such a world there is no room for secrets, or for anything to be hidden.The tiefling paladin of the Raven Queen/Questing Knight/Marshal of Letherna dreamed of a part of the Shadowfell he had not heard of before - the Bridge that may be Traversed but Once. He saw the wailing souls of the dead trudging across it, into some unknowable distance, under the cruel supervision of Ometh. Ometh is an exarch of the Raven Queen whom this PC has never met but doesn't particularly care for - Ometh was formerly an exarch of Nerrul whom the Raven Queen subdued and brought into her service. (The idea for Ometh I got from a mini-module - the Bloodtower - in Open Grave - Ometh is described there as resembling a flayed dwarf.) As Ometh seemed to be being venerated by Vecna cultists, the paladin also feels that he may not be fully loyal to his mistress.This PC's current Quest (an element of his paragon path) is to free the Soul Abattoir from Torog (which is how the PCs ended up in the Underdark in the first place). He is now adding Ometh and the Bridge onto that list, I think.The elven cleric-ranger of the Raven Queen is an undead and demon hunter who is more interested in the fate/destiny aspects of her portfolio, rather than death. This PC felt Lolth calling to him, speaking of the debt that the elves owed her, and that remained unpaid, and of her desire to be restored as the god of fate. But the PC was not tempted, even though Lolth's temple was barely a stone's throw from where he was sleeping, and he remained resolute in his hostility to her and to her demons.The fighter/cleric/Warpriest/Eternal Defender - a paladin of Moradin - of course dreamed of the forges of Erackinar, where Moradin works day and night with his exarchs and servants preparing arms and armour for the Dusk War that he fears must surely come. At 24th level an Eternal Defender grows in statute and can wield large-sized weapons, and this PC has two weapons - an exotic halberd and a dwarven thrower artefact (Whelm) reforged as a mordenkrad (Overwhelm). The dream of Moradin's forges portended the need, soon, to reforge these two weapons if the paladin is to stand, when the time comes, as a true defender of the world against the onslaught it faces. The reforging of Whelm as Overwhelm took place in a mortal forge, but it seems likely that next time that will not be adequate for the job.The fifth PC is the drow chaos sorcerer/Demonskin Adept who, in the previous session, took aid (not quite knowingly, but perhaps with some wilful blindness) from Yan-C-Bin, letting himself be healed by the Prince of Evil Air Elementals while temporarily trapped on the Abyss. As he tranced while the others slept, he felt low whispers calling to him, speaking of the only force powerful enough to stop the gods turning all to stasis - an ancient, primordial power called the Elder Elemental Eye. This produced some discussion - partially in-character, partially out-of-character (an ambiguity that I didn't feel any need to press on) about the merits of stasis vs utter chaos and death, and the possibility of a middle way which perhaps all the PCs might embrace. The drow also realised that - for some reason that he could only guess might be connected to his dealing with Yan-C-Bin - he had some sort of affliction giving him -2 Fort and Will defence vs elemental creatures. (The only PC capable of casting Remove Affliction is of course the Sceptre of Law-wielding invoker.)Anyway, after this bit of free narration and discussion I then cut to the next stage of their dreams, which I had taken from the P2 module itself - Zirithian, the former knight of Lolth who has turned to the worship of Orcus and called forth the the demons and undead who wiped out the drow outpost, called the PCs into a dreamworld to taunt and question them.In the module this is a complexity 3 (8 successes before 3 failures) challenge - I ran it as complexity 5 (12 successes before 3 failures), but with something in mind to happen when the players reach 8 successes. To run this I used @Mabearcat's idea: after the first skill check - which was Arcana from the drow to ascertain whether or not it was an illusion - I set down three dice, a d12 on 1 (for 1 success of 12), a d4 on 4 (for 0 failures, with 3 failures meaning loss) and a d6 on 6 (for 6 "advantages" remaining, as per the Rules Compendium treatment of skill challenges). I briefly explained this to the players, and then they went at it. The paladin greeted the drow knight respectfully (Hard Diplomacy success, counted as two by spending an advantage) and the drow greeted him in return as a fellow knight of death. The invoker (Hard Arcana success, counted as two by spending an advantage) realised that it was indeed a dreamworld, and I let this count as realisation for the drow too, but the other PCs didn't know yet. The dwarf charged the knight of Orcus (spending a daily power in the process) and hit, but the knight just reformed, laughing and complimenting the dwarf on his prowess but mocking him for not having realised that the scene wasn't real (a 6th success). The ranger used Insight to try to ascertain the mood and purpose of the knight and his dreamworld (a secondary check, upgraded from a +2 to a difficulty shift by spending an advantage) while the invoker mocked him for his adoration of Orcus, pointing out that Orcus could not and would not give him immortality (Intimidate success) and the ranger then made a successful Diplomacy check, pointing out that Zirithian seemed to have made a pointless change of allegiance, from the Demon Queen Lolth who is nothing but lies and treachery to the Demon Prince Orcus who is nothing but the promise of eternal dissolution.At that point 8 successes were reached, and Zirithian, angered by the mocking and cut to the core by what the elf had said dismissed the PCs from his dreamworld. But instead of being returned to their slumber, the were brought into another dream by an old enemy of theirs, a voidal lich whom they had fought and killed once before when it was sent by Pazrael to hunt them down, but who now had reconstituted itself (they had never looked for the phylactery). The drow made a show of a reasoned desire to bargain, which the dwarf picked up on but theatrically treated as genuine, and used as an excuse to reaffirm how committed he and the others were to opposing Orcus - and then the paladin (citing the example of Kas, a vampire who is allied to the Raven Queen) called upon the lich to change its allegiance (two Diplomacy successes again). This took the player to 12 successes, and so instead of attacking them (for real) in their sleep, the lich decided to talk with them instead, sharing its knowledge and making it clear that if felt no loyalty to Orcus (Orcus had let this spirit of the Far Realm take over the body of a human performing the ritual of lichdom in return for handing over the secret of making putrid slaads), but mocking them also for being trapped in "this side" (whereas it was from "the other side") and therefore being doomed to dissolution when its mistress returns.This was a chance for the PCs (and the players) to get some more backstory - the drow had already heard the prophecy that soon "A’othorh’s shroud will darken the gateway" (this is from the Demonomicon), and knew that it was connected to the sigils of chaos emblazoned on his demonskins and also on the inside of his eyelids (hence his 16th level "Glimpse of the Abyss" paragon path feature). The PCs now learned that this was prophesied to occur when the Sceptre of Law is reassembled, and hence that the PC's quests don't matter to the eventual course of things. The lich also told the PCs that all things lost can be found in the Abyss (including, it hinted at least, part of the Sceptre), in the land of Oublivae, but that this doesn't matter either as when its mistress returns all will come to an end.  Even the fate of Miska the Wolf Spider will be irrelevant. And it told the PCs that if they want to know more about the end of all things they should speak to Ygorl, the most powerful of slaads, who is (the lich pointed out) known as the Lord of Entropy - indicative of the entropy and dissolution that lies at the end of this world.The paladin of the Raven Queen did take some comfort, though, in proving that the lich didn't know the fate of the souls who traverse the Bridge that may be Traversed but Once, suggesting that at least some lost things may not end up in the Abyss. He also got the lich to tell him more about the Soul Abattoir, and learned that Torog shrives the souls that come there, drawing out their power by torture, before they then pass on to Letherna and the Shadowfell proper. He also got advice on how to beat Orcus in combat - call upon Pazrael for assistance, and trigger a +5 to hit and crit range of 18-20. The player duly noted all this on his character sheet, but the PC then gave a long speech about the folly of calling upon evil powers, written on his own body - his horns, his tail - by the wickedness of his ancestors. Which led the player of the dwarf to declare that "I've finally worked out why he's so obsessed with death - it's self-hatred of his own tiefling nature!" The player of the tiefling, meantime, muttered things about needing to have a longer talk with the dwarf.So anyway, the interview with a lich ended - the lich saying that it looked forward to meting the PCs in real life again, when they came to close the second Breach - and the PCs returned to their bodies and awoke refreshed (although in the case of the dwarf also down a daily power). They decided it was time to head off and close the second Abyssal Breach. They opted not to take the drow soldiers with them this time, but instead to go via the house of Jhaelent, a drow wizard whom they had earlier befriended (sort of, after breaking down his door but then apologising nicely about it), and whom they knew to be a chaos necromancer with slaads preserved in formaldehyde, and therefore someone who might give them tips on dealing with putrid slaads (they had fought them before, and wanted some acid resistance).The NPC wizard couldn't give any tips, but was keen to come along and see some putrid slaads, and so shifted his consciousness into the body of his web golem and sent it to tag along with the PCs.I ran this as another complexity 5 skill challenge - 6 successes to negotiate with Jhaelent and make it to the Breach, and 6 successes to actually close the Breach. (With some ideas as to the consequences of failures along the way). Negotiating with Jhaelent went smoothly (the drow, tiefling and invoker handled this), as did the trip to the Breach - the ranger flew up on his flying carpet and used Perception to plot a path, while the dwarf fighter fought off the minor demons and undead (I didn't handle this as a combat, but gave the fighter the option of either losing a healing surge, spending an encounter close burst power or clocking down an advantage in the skill challenge - the player opted to lose one out of 15 surges).The Breach was guarded by the voidal lich, plus a pod demon and a ghoul eyebiter. In conjunction with the Breach this was a 22nd level encounter. It lasted for 1 round and two turns - the drow sorcerer opened and unleashed Thunder Summons and his Daily Prismatic Explosion, and the invoker/wizard - riding on the flying carpet borrowed from the ranger-cleric - went next, opening an Arcane Gate and flying through it next to the Breach 50' up in the air, getting a double success with Arcana and then spending an Action point to get a double success with Religion.The ranger went next, shooting and killing the lich (who had been blinded by the Prismatic Explosion). At this point the demon and ghoul got to act - the demon spawned one podspawn and flung more at the flying invoker, while the ghoul attacked the ranger with its Eye of Doresain, forcing the ranger to Yield Ground. But then the fighter charged in, using Come and Get It to draw in both demon and ghoul. And the paladin came in last, killing both with his Astral Thunder. The four PCs had done over 600 points of damage in one round (and this without Expertise feats in use). The web golem just watched, impressed.The sorcerer on his next turn used Blazing Starfall to take out the one lonely podspawn, and the invoker then acted again and, with a double success from spending the last of 6 advantages, closed the Breach.I think everyone was a little surprised by how easily and quickly it went - especially compared to the hard slog of the previous one - but I guess it shows what a well-rested party can do when they take the initiative.They took a short rest, but are about 20 yards or so from the front door of the temple of Lolth, and so are planning on keeping the initiative and bursting in there to clear it out before they then tackle Zirithian himself - they figure that now that the Breaches are closed there will be no more demons and undead to keep the drow at bay, and they don't want to tackle Zirithian first and then have to come back to face drow trickery or treachery.The PCs are a little more than 6,000 XP short of 22nd, so should level next session. So far, at least, Epic has been pretty awesome, and I'm looking forward to more of it.</blockquote>

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