Great write-up again, @
JamesonCourage.
Thanks! I'm glad I'm not wasting my time on them. Speaking of, we played again tonight, though only three players could make it (the Wizard player skipped again due to personal reasons). Also, the player of the Monk is moving a couple time zones away as of tomorrow, so I might need to work her in via Skype starting with our next session. Anyways, tonight's session (which lasted about 7½ hours):
[sblock]I gave each player their minor quest for this session: The Warpriest had "mark someone seemingly important for death that The Raven Queen hasn't marked yet, whether or not you are able to kill them right now"; The Monk had "help solve a problem for followers of Kord, or make progress towards solving one"; the dwarven Fighter had "look into a way to redeem yourself from being an outcast, or a way to move on despite being cast out"; the Wizard (which I had to pursue in her absence) had "connect with your elemental roots and background somehow (studying something elemental, having a discussion in primordial, etc.)."
We started off the session with them having just defeated Idane, the monastery Master's best student. It was their third combat in a row (with a little breather in between, due to asking / negotiations), and Atha, the half-orc Master, congratulated them on a job well done. He said that he was interested in hiring them for a mission after having witnessed their abilities (and having judged the Warpriest's character, during their long conversation), but he would let them sleep and he would present the job tomorrow. The PCs, tired after sparring for hours and then three combats, gladly retired in areas provided to them: the Monk and Fighter were given mats in the open, outside, with the other students, while the Wizard and Warpriest were given individual rooms. (Extended rest, so full HP and surges.)
They gathered the next day (they didn't see Beid, the human bard that had accompanied them), but they talked to Atha about the job he had in mind. He told them that the storm elementals that guard the monastery do so willingly, and are not bound there through any magic. They had asked him for help, and he had agreed to help them to the best of his ability.
Apparently, in a cavern two days away from them, there are ice and rock elementals. Inside the cavern resides two powerful Elemental Spirit Guardians: Yone, a Spirit Guardian of Winter, and Eoh, a Spirit Guardian of Earth. According to Atha, every Elemental Spirit Guardian is tied to a shard, which can be used to control the elemental, but when the elemental possesses the shard, they are more powerful. Both of these elementals possessed their own shard, but there have been attacks on the Winter Shard. Atha is asking the party to investigate and stop the attacks on the Shard, so that the storm elementals outside the monastery will rest easy.
Of course, he offered to pay them. He said that the other four adventurers he had sent recently had not returned, and neither had some of his better students, so he could only afford so much. He offered them 230 gold and four gems worth 100 gold each if they returned successful (plus whatever else they found, of course). He asked them to learn the fate of his students, too, if possible, and the Monk said she would do her best (the Fighter nodded). The party accepted (the Monk pursuing her minor quest, I think), but Atha warned that the ice and rock elementals will likely attack them, as they have been more aggressive and defensive since the attacks began. Atha suggested finding Yone or Eoh, as they would be more reasonable, also noting that they command the lesser elementals in the cavern. The genasi Wizard knew that any elementals killed would only be banished back to the Elemental Chaos, and the PCs seemed that such a fate was acceptable if it helped Yone (the Winter Spirit Guardian). With that, they set off.
They found Beid (the bard) outside, where he had been asked to wait by the Monks after he woke up (he didn't fight his way in with the party, so he was given limited hospitality). A successful Nature check led them to the caves without incident, and their search for Yone began. I ran this as a complexity 3 skill challenge (8/3), and the PCs did pretty well. I also had Beid participate as a full member (in this skill challenge, the following one, and all the combats... I even split XP five-ways). The Wizard succeeded at a Dungeoneering check to navigate and remember the way out, the Bard to give tell the party stories and keep them in good spirits (successful Diplomacy), and the Monk succeeded at making a group Stealth check (Hard DC) to keep the party quiet and hide them from elementals.
After 3 successes, I announced a glimmer ahead -no, two different glimmers. Also, there were rock elementals emerging from the walls! A combat interrupted the skill challenge, with three rock elementals (level 3 standard brute) and two ice elementals (level 3 standard controller). This fight went slow, as everyone got used to their abilities (and I had to keep track of the Bard, which I was new to, and also play the Wizard, and my players don't like doubling up), but wasn't uninteresting. The ice elementals could coat the ground in ice (difficult terrain unless an Acrobatics was made, though failure could make you fall prone) as well as attack, and the rock elementals basically acted as defenders, attacking PCs if they weren't attacked, and sometimes having rocks grow to trap PCs in place. Though they won, the Monk and the Fighter both went down at various points, but the Bard's healing powers greatly helped, with the player of the Warpriest commenting how nice it was to have another healer (and the player of the Monk not making as many snide "useless" comments about him as she did before).
After the combat (and checking for loot -there was none), the PCs continued on. They made a few more checks, gaining a failure but then reversing it (with advantage), and were soon at 6 successes (and 0 failures). At 6, they were interrupted again by a similar group (though only one ice elemental), and they picked this group apart rather quickly and efficiently. Nobody dropped, though they did lose a few more surges.
After a couple more checks, they completed the skill challenge, with the Fighter using Athletics to make a group check to climb while inside the cavern. This took them twenty feet up, to another passage, but they spotted a glowing green shard help in place by rock. They investigated it, and an Arcana revealed that this was an Elemental Shard, likely of Earth, and that this should be where the Winter Shard was. They talked about shattering it, as they theorized that Eoh might have captured the Winter Shard to control Yone (and thus the lesser ice elementals). A loud voice told them to stay away from it's Shard, and a 12 foot tall rock humanoid with bits of metal lumbered towards them. The Wizard began to converse with it in Primordial (it only really knew that phrase in Common), and they explained why they were there.
Eoh expressed that he believed them, and filled them in on what had happened. He said that other mortals like them had attacked the Winter Shard and captured it, and had an earth elemental produce two corpses from the rock wall. One was an orc, and one was a kobold. He said that they had been attacking for the past two weeks or so in some numbers, and that the Winter Shard, and Yone, disappeared three days ago. He was here waiting for Yone to come home, and protecting her domain until she returned.
They asked him for a chance to use the ritual of Last Sight Vision on one of the bodies (the gnome Monk suggested the orc, as "taller people can see more"), and Eoh thought such information would be useful. The Wizard saw the last 10-12 seconds of the orcs life, and he saw the orc fighting a rock elemental. There was perhaps another 8-9 orcs, some of which may have been animated, and 8-9 kobolds, all of which were fighting Yone and various rock and ice elementals. One of the orcs grabbed the Winter Shard and commanded Yone to stop fighting, but the rock elemental killed the orc immediately after that.
The players thought this might somehow be tied to their first mission on the mountain top, as the Wizard had used Arcana on the way in, once again detecting traces of cold, necrotic, and necromancy magic (exactly what she identified during the skill challenge up the mountain in my first session). They weren't sure what the purpose was at all, though, and let the idea sit on the back burner for now. They asked if there were any elementals that had survived the attack, but Eoh said that every elemental present had fought to the last.
They then inquired about any bodies of any Monks (the Warpriest wanted to see bodies of anyone), and Eoh had his rock elementals gather the bodies. They found about two dozen orc and kobold bodies (they didn't find anything of value on them), three humans that looked pretty stripped down, and four Monks. The Monk made a note to pass the information on to Atha. A Heal check from the Warpriest showed that the humans -which the party assumed were the adventurers- had died to blades, likely orc-sized, which might explain why they were stripped down; the Monks had been killed via blunt force and ice, so likely the elementals.
The Monk thought that enough enemies had left that they could probably track them down, and the party seemed to think that was the next best course of action. Eoh warned that if Yone was to fight them while in the presence of her Winter Shard, he was almost certain that she would easily overpower them. He said there was a way to deal with this, but it was dangerous: if someone was to defeat an Elemental Guardian Spirit in the presence of their Shard, they would gain some defense against all other Guardian Spirits who used their Shard during battle. The players brought up fighting Eoh, who agreed, but warned that he had to attempt to kill them if the defense was to take place. They asked if he would call for backup, and he said that it would just be him and his other earthly manifestation (the smaller, sleeker earth elemental that had produced the original orc and kobold body), and that he would not leverage his own Shard against them. The party assumed that any other Elemental Guardian Spirit would use their Shard, as well as summoning backup, and agreed to fight Eoh.
They asked for a a couple of hours to prepare (the PCs wanted the Wizard to make more potions), and he agreed, since he wanted to help as much as he could within his means. I allowed the Wizard to talk while brewing the potions, and shse conversed with Eoh (helping towards her quest). The dwarven Fighter took the opportunity to talk Beid about dwarven history, to see if there was any way to redeem himself, even if he was looking into arcane magic. Beid recalled stories of accepted dwarven wizards, as well as some outcast warriors that redeemed themselves. The outcasts had done great deeds, like slaying giants, gathering powerful magic items, mastering crafts, and proclaiming their deeds to be in the name of their ancestors or their old clan. The Fighter made a note on this (helping towards his quest).
When they were ready (after the potions were made and healing surges redistributed via a ritual), they engaged with Eoh. I ran him as a level 5 elite soldier, with his smaller manifestation a level 5 elite lurker. During the combat, Eoh basically fought all of them while the lesser manifestation kept running into the rock wall and out again to attack, while also using a gaze-like power to begin to turn a PC to stone (though they always fought the effect off with a saving throw pretty quickly). (I told them afterwards that enough failed saving throws would have permanently turned them to stone, and their eyes went pretty wide).
When Eoh was bloodied, rocks fell from above, hitting everyone (I didn't roll less than a natural 13 on the six attack rolls... the 4 PCs, the Bard, and the familiar), greatly damaging them. The player of the Warpriest looked worried, but the very next person to go on initiative was the Fighter, and he used his second wind as a minor (dwarf, damn him!), giving him +2 to damage with his Kord blessing alternate reward. He attacked Eoh and missed, but then used an action point, and got a critical hit! He used an encounter power to enhance his damage (+1d10, maxed as well, as far as I can tell), bringing him up to 27 damage (1d10 + 5 + 2 + 1d10). His extra 1d6 damage from his thunder weapon rolled a natural 6 (with 5 vulnerability), bringing his damage up to 38, and he tacked on his hammer's daily power, for a rolled natural 8 (with 5 vulnerability), bringing his total up to 51. The elite had exactly 51 health left (I showed the player my notes in disbelief), and he killed it.
With Eoh down, the smaller lurker lasted one more round (with the Fighter taking him down as well, and yelling that "for [his clan name]!" after each hit; the player told me he would pick his clan name -which has been stripped from him and isn't on his sheet- later). While I expected the fight to last a bit longer, I don't mind how it ended whatsoever. The players couldn't believe how much damage the defender did, but it seemed like a perfect storm (for the multiclass Paladin of Kord!): maximum damage rolled on a d6 and a d8, vulnerability twice, and maximum damage with his encounter power. Nobody had broken 40 points of damage yet, much less 50! The player (the guy who hasn't played since 1e) was pretty stoked about it.
As soon as the smaller manifestation was destroyed, I announced that the ceiling started shaking, and a Dungeoneering check revealed that things were going to start collapsing. I made this a complexity 3 skill challenge (escape the caverns before it collapses), and the tension was high, since they didn't get a chance to rest to regain their surges after the first ceiling collapse that had damaged all of them. They started making checks, but racked up a failure early on, and I rolled damage against them (13 each), which was enough to drop the Warpriest, and bring everyone but the Fighter to 5 or less (the Fighter had 28... he was just owning this session). The Fighter used a Heal check to bring him back into the skill challenge and out of dying, but even as they gained successes, they failed a second check, losing a healing surges each. They were at 7 successes and 2 failures (with no advantages left), and the Monk announced she was using a daily power to balance on rocks and kick them out of the way (a daily that lets her shift enemies before attacking them), and I gave her an automatic success, letting them win the skill challenge.
The party made it out of the cavern, coughing and panting. They were all low on healing surges, and were looking to rest. The Wizard and Warpriest were pretty sure that the rock elementals could rebuild the cavern easily enough, so they weren't too worried about the elementals within, either. That, and partway through the skill challenge, ice elementals had started to chase them, so they weren't feeling too friendly to them. The dwarf led the party to a "defensible" place nearby to rest, and they set up camp.
I rolled a d20 (natural 19), and rolled 1d6+4 to see when the event would occur (how many hours). I rolled a 5 total, and 5 hours into their extended rest, the Warpriest (always on watch, since he needs less sleep) heard rustling sounds, and woke the others. It was coming from every direction, and undead orcs emerged, surrounding the camp, along with a single kobold wearing a symbol of Tiamat. The Warpriest marked him for death (hoping this would work with his quest) upon seeing the symbol of Tiamat. The Bard tried to talk him down, but the kobold wasn't interested, saying his master sent him to kill them, and yelled for the zombies to attack.
He was a level 3 standard lurker, and I also attacked with sixteen level 3 minions. The minions were taken down very quickly, as was the kobold (the Fighter caught him and bloodied him early on), though they spared the kobold. A quick rest (short rest, everyone had 0 healing surges, save for the Bard, who had 1) later, and a Heal check woke the kobold up. The Monk successfully Bluffed the kobold into trading information for his life (they knew they weren't letting him go), and the kobold agreed to spill anything they asked about.
He said he was working for Bazzalth (the Warpriest was the only one to remember the name when I had people roll to remember it), his goddess. He said that she (Bazzalth) wanted to "tie up loose ends" and have the PCs killed, but he didn't know why. He said that she was the one that had the Winter Shard acquired, and he expected it was in her lair, but he didn't know where it was. He suspected on top of one of the mountains, where it was coldest. The Bard and Wizard knew that kobolds can essentially worship dragons, and brought that up, and the kobold confirmed that Bazzalth was a white dragon. (The player of the Warpriest did a "we're screwed" kind of face palm, but I don't think the other players noticed; he's the most experienced, to my knowledge, but I'm not 100% sure how much the 1e player has played.) The kobold, when questioned, said that he basically only worships Tiamat because his goddess (Bazzalth) reveres her.
After a couple other questions, the Warpriest of The Raven Queen announced that he was marked for death by his goddess, and though the kobold protested in shock, he was executed by the Warpriest. (They also looted him, finding a Phylactery of Divinity that was given to the Warpriest, who plans to attune it to The Raven Queen during their next extended rest, instead of using it in its "neutral" state; the Warpriest destroyed another holy symbol of Tiamat.) Right afterwards, blackflame appeared, and the powerful undead knight emerged. The players turned to face him, hesitantly (no healing surges to draw on in a fight, and they could feel a very powerful presence from him), and the undead knight asked the Monk if she had "made a decision yet." She said she was fine where she was, and the undead knight said so be it, and left through the blackflame, which disappeared. The players decided to finish their extended rest, which they did without further interruption.
Upon waking and starting breakfast, blackflame appeared, and the undead knight emerged again, along with a fiery, humanoid devil, and four suits of animated armor. The knight said "here's your second test" and disappeared back into the flames, which died down again, and we rolled initiative.
The devil was a level solo brute, with the ability to shift his speed and leave fire in all the squares he vacated, dealing fire damage to anyone that passed through it or started their turn in it. The four suits of animated armor were level 3 minion soldiers, and healed the devil for 15 points of damage when killed (the PCs caught on to this early, and killed them first, to limit the healing to the solo). The fight was interesting, as the map kept changing as it went on, with the devil eventually having a large block of fire that he retreated into, making melee hard or impossible. He was eventually pushed over to the Fighter by Beid (the bard), and the Fighter took the devil down, sparing him.
A quick search found an Orb of Fiery Condemnation, which was given to the Wizard (though the Bard mentioned that he now technically has looting rights, too, due to the Warpriest's agreement with him, though he was fine with the Wizard having it). The devil erupted into blackflame, killing it, and the undead knight appeared, now next to the Fighter. Though I told the Fighter he had a normally-overpowering presence, I assured him that it only made him wary, not scared, though his dwarf thought that most people would be scared by the power of his presence when this close to him. The undead knight congratulated the Monk on her victory, but told her to think over the "deal" before he showed up again. She made a rude gesture to him, and he laughed condescendingly before disappearing again.
The Wizard basically insisted that the Monk fill them in on what all this was about, as they've been attacked by devils twice now over it, and after much hesitation and dancing around, the Monk finally caved and told them all about it. More on this briefly in the next spoiler block.
We ended the session here, and will probably pick up next session with them attempting to track those that left the cavern 3-4 days ago, or perhaps picking "the tallest, coldest mountaintop", and heading their. I'm not sure yet. They also had enough experience to hit level 4, so they leveled their characters and printed sheets before we broke up.[/sblock]
Whoo. Long enough? Geez.
Anyways, a few thoughts:
[sblock]I am right that the Fighter's encounter power, Power Strike, has the damage maxed on a critical hit? The one that adds on an extra 1[W] damage? The critical hit in the glossary section of the Compendium says "
Extra Damage: Magic weapons and implements, as well as high crit weapons, can increase the damage dealt on a critical hit by contributing extra damage. If this extra damage is a die roll, it is not automatically maximum damage; roll the specified dice and add the result to the critical hit’s damage." It doesn't mention encounter powers, just magic weapons and implements / high crit weapons.
The party is getting a lot tougher, although I'm sure some of that has to do with there being a second leader present. I originally intended the Bard to be blown off, but now that he's proven his usefulness, I think they might keep him around, or at least want him to be kept around. However, since I have to run him, and I'm adding more monsters to compensate, I think it is slowing things down a little bit compared to having four party members. I might have him transition out after this current arc, which might last for a while. Any thoughts? Is having five PCs that noticeably slower than having four, or will it be pretty close once I get used to his abilities?
The player of the Warpriest hates skill challenges. I've assured him that they're not going anywhere, and lightly suggested he learn to like them, but he says he won't. I guess that's okay, since it's a preference thing. However, he wasn't really able to express what he disliked about them, though the player of the Fighter did interject to say that he liked them, and had fun with them. I'm kind of at a loss at what to do with this; the Warpriest player did play 3.X for a long time, and he really liked it, but he has also told me that he wouldn't want to play it again after 4e, even if he doesn't like aspects of it. Any insight? I know you have even less to go on than I do, but maybe a new take on skill challenges will help me.
Quests, when made and given by me and not the player, are incredibly effective at guiding the party towards what I have prepared. Part of that is them cooperating with me, and me purposefully throwing things at them that I think they'll engage in, but I'm kinda afraid I'm getting into railroad territory, since they complained that their last DM railroaded them. I'm worrying because all of the stuff I had explicitly planned happened, and literally nothing more; I called each step of this session perfectly. I don't know if this was a fluke, if 4e is magic, or if I'm railroading.
The Monk has the "Infernal Prince" theme, and Asmodeus is sending beings to bring her into the fold and have her life basically dedicated to his will. The Monk doesn't want that life, but does want to keep progressing her power, so I think she might be willing to compromise at some point. This works for me, of course. Eventually, I suspect that they'll rise in power enough to fight the undead knight, and if they succeed, a "deal" can be worked out. After all, that's probably the first step towards corruption, which fits perfectly with how I see Asmodeus' plan all along, anyways. Does this sound about right for how things might unfold in the 4e cosmology?
Interesting terrain good, and not-interesting terrain bad. The fight in camp just before the devil (the fight with the 16 minions) didn't feature much interesting terrain (some bushes and trees), but the fire that slowly spread as the devil shifted around made it very tactical and interesting.
Also, as far as the "setting" or "story" goes, I'm not at all settled on where anything is at, since I improv so much. I've known I wanted to use a white dragon since my first session, which is why it was set in a cold area. Now I've added a Winter Guardian Spirit to the equation, along with a Winter Shard. I'm not fully sure what the white dragon's plan is yet, but it seems to involve cold and winter. While ideas for combat come quickly enough (I'm really looking forward to multiple, connected levels ending in a confrontation with Bazzalth, as well as fighting Yone, the Winter Guardian Spirit while she draws on her Winter Shard), I'm debating what I want to do with Bazzalth. Perhaps cause permanent winter in an area, so that she can control it? That would seem to go against the Warpriest's goals (since I believe The Raven Queen believes winter should end), and the Monk / Fighter seem on board for helping the monastery of Kord, and seem the most loot-oriented (so, you know, dragon horde!). The genasi Wizard is interested in magical knowledge, so I'm sure al ot of this is just interesting, plus the potentially strong elemental themes might appeal to her. I might also get Eoh (the Earth Guardian Spirit) involved as some sort of "defense" on their side during the fight with Yone, but I'm not sure. Thoughts, ideas, feedback?
Also, I'm planning on the undead knight, Voran, being a death knight, as I think that'll bug the players, especially the Warpriest. I think I want him around for a bit as a background antagonist, but as of right now, I have him envisioned as the one tasked with bringing in the Monk willingly, if possible. I imagine that's a lot of pressure, and I think I see him as more force-oriented than not. I definitely don't want him to seem Bad Guy DMPC, though, which is why I made it clear that the Fighter wasn't afraid of him, like others would probably be. I see this fight taking place around levels 8-11, but I'm not sure. I'm open to changing him up, if anyone has ideas.
I want to get dwarves involved with the Fighter, but I think I want his reputation to begin to spread a bit first. I think having some dwarves grapple with his place after they hear of some of his exploits (killing a dragon, maybe?) is in order. I have tentative plans to have Beid, the bard, spread word of the deeds of the party when all is said and done. If he's mistreated, then obviously he won't (he'll likely take off at some point, with the Everlasting Provisions basket), but if they keep him around and only ever joke about his usefulness / putting the fire out with him, he'll be fine. He can take a joke, even if it's the same one over and over. Any ideas on if I should hold off for something like this for the Fighter, or can you see a better spot to get him involved?[/sblock]
I think that's about it, for questions / thoughts I have. I had a lot of fun again, as did the players. Setting up a webcam for the battle map will be interesting, but I don't want to use maptools (or whatever) to run the game for her, so that'll likely be our best bet. I do plan on keeping her involved, mainly due to personal reasons, but we'll see how it goes. The game is going pretty dang well, and I'd rather keep playing it.
Thanks again for bearing with me, and giving me all the advice, suggestions, and encouragement that you have. I hope this thread energizes some people that read it, whether they play 4e or not. Wouldn't that be cool? We've already had that awesome pizza table idea!
