howandwhy99
Adventurer
I ran the 3rd session of our 3.5 Greyhawk AoW game Sunday. It's been a rough campaign so far. Near TPK the 1st session (2 dead). Near TPK the 2nd session (1 dead). And last session 3 more died. Every time I go home I have a cold feeling of dread freezing my spine and the back of my brain. You know the kind that wakes you up in the middle of the night screaming "What have I done!!". So in fits of what must look like paranoia I ask the players if they're having fun. And they keep saying "yes". Now I don't know if I've lost my mind or they've lost theirs.
The sordid details: (SOME AOW SPOILERS) - Keep in mind, the PCs are all 1st level.
A large battle with 8 lizardfolk & 2 kobolds (1 black) ended the 2nd session. Remarkably all 5 PC's stabilized in the negatives, 3 from cure spells, 2 from lucky rolls. 2 lizards ran in fear during the fight, most of the other opponents died, but the last living (and greviously injured) lizard landed the final blow on the last standing PC. We ended there after rolling for hourly consciousness (or hourly death for the 2 untended). I had the surviving lizard eat one of them (After rolling randomly, the players convinced me to use the the druid's animal companion. I"m too nice).
So the 3rd session began with the human fighter Rejjy gaining consciousness. He awoke inside the mud mound where the battle had taken place. Disabled he couldn't do much, but I made a house rule* so we could play. No living were around so he tended to the 2 dying (w/o success), heard a creature outside, played dead, and soon found himself in a pile of PCs outside 100' from the mound. While the lizard was active in the mound, Rejjy surreptitiously tended the wounded and noticed the bard, Calorian, was missing. 2 hours later same said bard makes his hourly check & wakes hearing the lizard right next to him. Both are still in the mound. Playing dead Calorian listens to the creature until it descend into a 40' hole leading to a large crypt below. 2 ropes lead from a makeshift spear/shield entrance blockade the lizard made and lead into the hole. Brilliantly Calorian doesn't fully cut them (1 was an early warning system) and leaves a thread connected on each. Rejjy's seen, waved over, and they start talking while dismantling the barrier. The lizard hears them & calls out, then the ropes break 1 at a time with a THUD afterwards.
The creature roars and curses "HUMAN! HUMAN!" to no avail. An hour later the halfling cleric Ludd would piss on him down the hole to add insult to injury.
Skipping over a bunch, Rejjy had managed to save the rest of the crew outside and stop Calorian's bleeding. All were still in the negatives w/o spells or any abilities, but healing would come the next morning (by a halfling cleric & dwarf druid). Unfortunately, when night arrived so did a pack of wild dogs looking for the fresh kill. Between cutting up the previous session's opponents (oddly laid all the way in the rear of the mound), tossing the cut bits outside, burning anything to keep the fire in the doorway going, and hearing the lizard below bawling, no one slept a wink. Fortunately Divine spells don't require 8 hours rest. :whew: With every spell spent on healing, the crew was thrilled to be back in fighting shape. The cleric was nearly full (7?), Rejjy at 1, the Druid at 2, and the others almost out of the negatives. When a howl below came from the hole (like the lizard falling swiftly downward), it looked like their troubles were over. They decided to make camp and spend a few days in their newfound paradise.
Sadly, early afternoon trouble arrived in a big way. The lizards who ran the previous session had made it home & another contingent had been sent out. But why such a big group just to collect their dead? All the PCs were in the mound when they heard the roars outside. The 2 injured & cleric Ludd descended to the tomb below as the Druid and Rejjy chose to fight. In vain, unfortunately. 10 foes with 3 hp's between 'em was a sacrifice fight. (Lizardlolk are 2HD CR1 btw). 2 dead and the session wasn't even half over.
Luckily the other 3 found their remaining equipment from the old lizard nemesis and spent the next few days exploring multiple rooms of the tomb. Water was found, but light was hard to come by. For food the cleric had to purify the flesh of the lizard he had earlier pissed on. (sweet irony) It was even rough the 1st night as they awoke a CR 1/3 human skeleton guardian. (in their condition the attacks were save or die until it was turned). The next morning they found the entrance above resealed. They were buried alive. Even worse, Rejjy and the druid's bodies were hung in nooses attached to the stone cap above.
I'd like to say that's were it ended, but I still have one more death to account for. Far more happened and I've skipped most of the flavor, but near the end the bard & the 5th PC (a human spellthief) tried climbing the hanged bodies to the lid above. (A lid they new was broken from their own attempts to remove it - during a previous combat) Both failed their saves as 200 lbs of stone fell 40'. Ludd healed the spellthief, but the druid and his (now ripe) fallen allies were squashed. And of course a couple rounds later spears rained down from the light above.
That's pretty much were we stand now. 3 PCs dead & 2 buried alive with guards above. It's no wonder I shiver on the way home.
So was this fair? I swear I never fudged.
*Disabled house rule - Standard actions are at -5 and take 10x as long, essentially 1 minute each. Strength and Constitution-based checks starts the Dying rule again, but communally they could be performed. DM's call. So no combat and no casting. With 1 exception: loaded crossbows could be fired (with the -5).
The sordid details: (SOME AOW SPOILERS) - Keep in mind, the PCs are all 1st level.
A large battle with 8 lizardfolk & 2 kobolds (1 black) ended the 2nd session. Remarkably all 5 PC's stabilized in the negatives, 3 from cure spells, 2 from lucky rolls. 2 lizards ran in fear during the fight, most of the other opponents died, but the last living (and greviously injured) lizard landed the final blow on the last standing PC. We ended there after rolling for hourly consciousness (or hourly death for the 2 untended). I had the surviving lizard eat one of them (After rolling randomly, the players convinced me to use the the druid's animal companion. I"m too nice).
So the 3rd session began with the human fighter Rejjy gaining consciousness. He awoke inside the mud mound where the battle had taken place. Disabled he couldn't do much, but I made a house rule* so we could play. No living were around so he tended to the 2 dying (w/o success), heard a creature outside, played dead, and soon found himself in a pile of PCs outside 100' from the mound. While the lizard was active in the mound, Rejjy surreptitiously tended the wounded and noticed the bard, Calorian, was missing. 2 hours later same said bard makes his hourly check & wakes hearing the lizard right next to him. Both are still in the mound. Playing dead Calorian listens to the creature until it descend into a 40' hole leading to a large crypt below. 2 ropes lead from a makeshift spear/shield entrance blockade the lizard made and lead into the hole. Brilliantly Calorian doesn't fully cut them (1 was an early warning system) and leaves a thread connected on each. Rejjy's seen, waved over, and they start talking while dismantling the barrier. The lizard hears them & calls out, then the ropes break 1 at a time with a THUD afterwards.
The creature roars and curses "HUMAN! HUMAN!" to no avail. An hour later the halfling cleric Ludd would piss on him down the hole to add insult to injury.Skipping over a bunch, Rejjy had managed to save the rest of the crew outside and stop Calorian's bleeding. All were still in the negatives w/o spells or any abilities, but healing would come the next morning (by a halfling cleric & dwarf druid). Unfortunately, when night arrived so did a pack of wild dogs looking for the fresh kill. Between cutting up the previous session's opponents (oddly laid all the way in the rear of the mound), tossing the cut bits outside, burning anything to keep the fire in the doorway going, and hearing the lizard below bawling, no one slept a wink. Fortunately Divine spells don't require 8 hours rest. :whew: With every spell spent on healing, the crew was thrilled to be back in fighting shape. The cleric was nearly full (7?), Rejjy at 1, the Druid at 2, and the others almost out of the negatives. When a howl below came from the hole (like the lizard falling swiftly downward), it looked like their troubles were over. They decided to make camp and spend a few days in their newfound paradise.
Sadly, early afternoon trouble arrived in a big way. The lizards who ran the previous session had made it home & another contingent had been sent out. But why such a big group just to collect their dead? All the PCs were in the mound when they heard the roars outside. The 2 injured & cleric Ludd descended to the tomb below as the Druid and Rejjy chose to fight. In vain, unfortunately. 10 foes with 3 hp's between 'em was a sacrifice fight. (Lizardlolk are 2HD CR1 btw). 2 dead and the session wasn't even half over.
Luckily the other 3 found their remaining equipment from the old lizard nemesis and spent the next few days exploring multiple rooms of the tomb. Water was found, but light was hard to come by. For food the cleric had to purify the flesh of the lizard he had earlier pissed on. (sweet irony) It was even rough the 1st night as they awoke a CR 1/3 human skeleton guardian. (in their condition the attacks were save or die until it was turned). The next morning they found the entrance above resealed. They were buried alive. Even worse, Rejjy and the druid's bodies were hung in nooses attached to the stone cap above.
I'd like to say that's were it ended, but I still have one more death to account for. Far more happened and I've skipped most of the flavor, but near the end the bard & the 5th PC (a human spellthief) tried climbing the hanged bodies to the lid above. (A lid they new was broken from their own attempts to remove it - during a previous combat) Both failed their saves as 200 lbs of stone fell 40'. Ludd healed the spellthief, but the druid and his (now ripe) fallen allies were squashed. And of course a couple rounds later spears rained down from the light above.
That's pretty much were we stand now. 3 PCs dead & 2 buried alive with guards above. It's no wonder I shiver on the way home.
So was this fair? I swear I never fudged.
*Disabled house rule - Standard actions are at -5 and take 10x as long, essentially 1 minute each. Strength and Constitution-based checks starts the Dying rule again, but communally they could be performed. DM's call. So no combat and no casting. With 1 exception: loaded crossbows could be fired (with the -5).
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