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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JamesonCourage" data-source="post: 6489698" data-attributes="member: 6668292">Here we go again! Another 4 hour session, and another play report:[sblock]So, we ended our last session with initiative rolling against the wraith dragon in the room with the giant spiritual chess board. I described two giant vague humanoid shapes appearing, who proceeded to move the pieces. The white pieces were moved by a vague humanoid that held a large scythe in one hand, with a hood coming down to cover his face from view (it was only dark inside). The black pieces were moved by a silhouetted shape, but the PCs thought it was a woman. A successful Hard Religion from the Warpriest of The Raven Queen revealed that this was an event that had already played out and was being repeated now. The Raven Queen was playing chess against the former god of death (whoever that god had been was lost to time), and the game was now being played in front of them.In fact, both the white pieces and the black pieces got to move on their own initiative (white started, obviously). The pawns were 5 feet tall (and were blocking terrain) while the power pieces were 10 feet tall (also blocking terrain), and we played the entire combat on a glass chess set I own (instead of the normal battle mat).The Warpriest knew that this was his second test, and he knew that he was supposed to protect as many souls in the room as possible (every square not occupied by the large-sized dragon, the PCs, and the pieces had a single soul in it). And he knew the dragon could eat souls to recover health. Needless to say, the Warpriest wanted to take down the dragon as quickly as possible. The dragon, for its part, wanted to get revenge on the PCs; this was the same young white dragon that they had killed some time ago when they acquired their old frost giant castle. And, this was a good opportunity for it, since it was significantly powered up: it had regen (and could heal as a minor action by eating a soul within reach), it had phasing, it was higher level (a level 10 solo brute now), and (the best part!) creatures within 2 squares of it couldn't spend healing surges and were treated as in difficult terrain. So the fight was on, with the pieces moving (I let Moderate Insight checks as a move action guess the next move), and the dragon flying at them. The dragon hovered over the party to gain the advantage of its reach, but the knight started to knock it down (magic item to throw his hammer 1/encounter and get it back + Lightning craghammer for lightning damage + Mark of Storm to slide it down one square). The knight engaged it in melee with just the Warpriest for the first couple of rounds, while the Elementalist stayed back and missed over and over (three natural 2s in a row), and the Scout pelting it with his bow. After a  couple of turns (in which the dragon regenerated and ate souls up to full health), with the pieces moving in the center of the board, the wilden Scout started climbing the pieces (with his Spider stance giving him a +5 on his climb checks), hopping from pieces to piece as they captured one another (which required an Acrobatics check).The dragon started to feel the pain around round 4. The knight kept her locked down (his stance kept it slowed), and the regen was lost (it took radiant damage every turn [which negates the regen for 1 round], since the Knight marked it with his daily Paladin power, and the dragon didn't obey the mark). The Elementalist also started finally hitting (giving out THP on each hit), and using her move action to make Diplomacy checks to command souls to run away from the dragon. The Warpriest used some surgeless healing (he loves taking those powers when they come up), and the PCs overpowered and killed the wraith dragon after a tense fight.During the combat, as the pieces moved (everything was scripted, as the moves were chosen in advance), they would make attacks if they moved through a creature's square. Each pieces had its own type of attack and damage + rider, and they would always push the creature out of the way. Also, every move for the first few rounds, the gods playing the game would speak to one another. The Raven Queen told the other god that they were playing a game on an entirely different level, but the former god of death said that they were only playing this game, and that's all that mattered at the moment. The Raven Queen agreed with "at the moment" and left it at that, and they played on in silence.After defeating the dragon, the PCs left through the door they'd entered, and found themselves awake in their bodies again (the Warpriest had transported their souls to the passageway between life and death). The Warpriest felt satisfaction from his goddess (only five souls had been consumed, and many more had been spared), and he decided to roll a Religion on the conversation. He now assumed that The Raven Queen had foreseen his test, and was playing accordingly (moving pieces that might help him during the battle).Additionally, when the Warpriest woke up, he was holding a magical talisman, and he somehow knew all about it. It was the Talisman of Al'Akbar, an artifact of tremendous healing powers. It's had a great loyalty to Pelor, which confused the Warpriest. He prayed to The Raven Queen, asking why she had sent him the trinket, but was surprised to learn that it wasn't from her. While the Warpriest is a little weirded out by its appearance, he replaced his old magical holy symbol without hesitation.His test completed, the PCs split up. It took about a month to travel to the dwarven cities (the Knight to Kord Clan's city, and the others to the dwarven city where they'd been doing quests recently). When the dwarven Knight arrived, he was told that Kord was ready to test him (he'd been training to harness control of lightning, thunder, and wind). He called for the other PCs through the wilden Scout's whisper power, and they traveled to him. He had to exit this mountain and travel to the top of it, where he would find the test-giver.I ran this as a 6/3 skill challenge (with no advantages, so no trying to erase failures). Cutting it short, the PCs owned, and navigated out and up (with Athletics, etc.) with no issues, arriving at the plateau at the top with 5 successes and no failures. It was the Knight's turn, so he used Intimidate to call out the test-giver, yelling that he was ready for anything put before him. A lightning bolt hit the top and steam rolled out but cleared quickly, revealing a storm giant. (The PCs rolled Nature checks, and the Warpriest and Scout both hit a Hard DC, and they knew they couldn't take him).He said that he was ready to test the dwarf on behalf of Kord. It would be a combat (he produced a magical staff that folded into a greatsword), and he would take all comers. When Kord had been sufficiently impressed, he would tell the storm giant, who would call for the trial to end. He let the PCs position themselves (the plateau wasn't huge, and there were drop-offs that I'd drawn on the map.... first 10 feet, then 20 feet, then 40 feet), and then the Knight yelled to begin.The storm giant was a level 12 solo controller, and he put up a good fight, and laughed and taunted the PCs quite often as he attacked or took damage (though he gave an encouraging "Kord urges you to keep fighting!" when he was bloodied). He pushed the PCs back with a wind-recharge power (that never recharged), and he had over 500 HP (the highest to date). He fought alongside two floating storm shards (that would blast at the PCs each turn, though the PCs never targeted them), and two thunder clouds floated about. Whenever any creature took any lightning or thunder damage, each cloud would charge 5 damage, and they would move 1 square randomly on their initiative. His aura (if a PC starts within 2 squares, they take 10 lightning and thunder) was very effective at first (and charged the clouds throughout most of the fight), but the Warpriest and Elementalist kept their distance the entire fight, and the Scout ended up running around using his bow (we'll get to that), leaving just the Knight (and his artifact armor gave him resistance 10 to lightning and thunder).Early on, the storm giant threw a lightning bolt that knocked the Warpriest off the plateau (only down 10 feet, luckily), but it also dazed him, which made getting back up slower. The thunderclouds quickly charged into the deadly range (70+ damage), and it completely changed the tactics of the Scout. He asked if it was possible to somehow push the clouds, and I told him that I'd let a Hard Endurance check make it (he might be able to make it on a natural 20). He seemed disappointed, and asked about firing an arrow from his flame bow through the cloud, and arcing it towards the giant. I told him he could do it with a successful check, but that there'd be cover penalties, like normal, and that the clouds would lose a lot of effectiveness.After a few rounds, the Scout ran and jumped onto one of the lower levels to get a shot at a cloud. He ended up making it (his Hawk stance reduced the penalty to -2) with one of his shots (he used his Biting Volley power to get two shots against Reflex, and missed with the first). I used the cheat sheet that  [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION] made for page 42 damage, and set it at 4d10+5 lightning and thunder damage. He rolled 20 damage total (-10 resistance from the storm giant), and I moved the cloud to near the giant. He moved to the other side of the plateau and took a second shot, but ended up missing the giant's AC, and while he moved the cloud, he missed the damage.In the meantime, the Warpriest had climbed up, and used a daily to give everyone within a zone 10 free surgeless healing on a hit (sustain minor; also, this power proved very effective against the wraith dragon that didn't allow healing surges, but I forgot to mention it). The Elementalist ran in to tank at one point when the Knight was low on health (and out of range of the Warpriest), and had created a zone that lets people slide 1 extra square.By now, all the PCs had gathered, and the Knight used his lightning craghammer to slide the storm giant next to the still-charged cloud (1 square slide with Mark of Storm, +1 square for the Elementalist's zone). The Scout charged in with his charging stance, and knocked the giant prone. By the luck of the dice, the cloud moved onto the storm giant, dealing 175 lightning and thunder damage (-10 resistance), and he only had 50 HP before the trial was over.The storm giant was shocked quite badly. He yelled "I get it! I get it! The trial is over!" to Kord, and the PCs laughed, relieved that they had won. The storm giant informed the dwarven Knight / Paladin of Kord that he had passed his test, and the PCs celebrated. The giant left in the form of a lightning bolt, and the PCs healed up and headed back down the mountain. The Knight was rewarded with a Badge of the Berserker (lets him charge without provoking AoOs due to movement), and he was pretty happy with it.The PCs split up again, with the Scout traveling on his own to track down the primal wind spirit while the others traveled to the dwarven city to teleport home. I started a skill challenge for the Scout (6/3, no advantages), and he successfully tracked the wind spirit down. It had been imprisoned by a cult, and he needed help going in. The druids gave permission to bring in non-wilden, and he called for his allies, who came to him immediately. They stealthed inside (this was still part of the skill challenge), noting a couple pretty disturbing things. First, there were symbols of the Sleeper, the same cult that they had defeated in some woods a while ago. Second, many of the cultists (about half) were undead, and had the symbol of the Sleeper carved into them. Third, there were traces of magical energy that matched blackflame, which was a magical ability that the Death Knight (who had captured the old gnome Monk PC) used to travel between worlds and attack his enemies. Lastly, there were some symbols of Asmodeus (who the Death Knight served), which set off the Knight's Invulnerable Coat of Arnd (it hates tyranny).They made their way to cultists of the Sleeper by intimidation (the Knight yelling at them to move, while the Warpriest rode the Sleeper's skeletal warhorse and wore his old cloak). They were stopped by a man with a backbone at a large door inside of a domed compound, and they bluffed their way passed him. He let them through them through the door, and ordered himself and everyone else out of the compound. Inside was a platform about 40 feet wide by 30 feet deep, dropping off who knows how far. Various pillars rose from the ground, forming platforms that one could hop to if they needed to. At the other side of the huge room, chained to the wall with magical chains, was a wind elemental. The PCs moved closer to inspect, keeping an eye and ear out for danger.The Scout passively hits a Hard Perception, and he noticed something moving through the air towards them -though it was invisible. He immediately told the others, causing it to reveal itself. Floating before them was a full-on beholder (not a gauth, like the last one they'd fought), and it looked pissed. And, on top of that, it was obviously slightly decayed, marking it as undead. It yelled out that it would not be stopped, and the door closed. I said we'd get initiative next session.[/sblock]The players had a lot of fun, and we, once again, seemed to get a lot into the four hours we had to play. I'm looking forward to next session (where the players, if they win the fight, will move onto level 11 and Paragon), as is the Scout, who hates aberrations.</blockquote>

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