As I threatened long ago to Steve and Morgan, an actual play report on Midnight.
Anyway, the reason I posted was that I was still flabberghasted by last night, which was a very memorable game.
The Party consists of Illyn, an doddering, forgetful Elven Channeller, Ke an ass-kicking Danisil (Jungle Elf) (think Jolene Blalock as a teenager with super-strength), Owen a towering Dornish barbarian, Torin is a Dornish homicidal maniac (kills orc at the drop of the hat) wildlander, and Arman a shell shocked southerner out of place in the North, but with a gift of the gab.
Other Midnight details to make sense of things. Legates are evil clerics, and their altars to the Dark God Izrador suck the magic from the land. When these altars (always kept in the dark) are defiled, the start to go critical, a bit like a nuclear reactor destabilising. Astirax's are demonic spirits that act as familiars to Legates. They can possess animals, even magical beasts and familiars. Hashram is a Legate who has been hounding them since 1st level and whose Astirax possessed Illyns horse familiar, Aristophanes
Last session, the PC's went on a Mission Impossible quest to infiltrate a Temple of Izrador and blow the altar. The Temple was next to a huge orc military barracks/staging post for the War in the Veradeen. There was also a subjugated Dornish hamlet around the walled compound.
Declining to infltrate the regular services at the Temple that the
Dorns were forced to attend, the PC's dressed up their uber-social Pureblood rogue Arman as a Legate, with the 2 big Dornish Barbarians/Fighyers as body guards and Ke was pretending to be their prisoner.
Because the Caransil Channeller Illyn couldnt make his Alter Self spell work (he was going to be a Orc Captain), he was left behind to watch for trouble, and light a signal fire in case of danger.
So the PC's Bluff their way to the chapel, confusing the orc guards
and demanding all sorts of things, then while the pseudo-Legate tried to keep the orcs talking, the other 3 made a run for the altar.
At that point, I threw a twist to their plan and the Channeller
started to sense a familiar presence. He then spotted their archenemy Hashram mounted on the Astirax possessed familiar and leading a detachment of orcs. Knowing he was heading up the hill to the Temple, he decided that he had to distract the Legate or the mission would be a bust.
So he decides to make empathic contact with the familiar and alert the Astirax to his presence. He then legs it to the river, where the Colours of Magic are slightly less Grey.
Meanwhile the Temple infiltrators plan has gone wrong by itself. 3 of the PC's are fighting off orcs in pitch blackness, as the Danisil
Juggernaught tries to find and knock over the Altar. Then she hears a slithering noise in the dark...
So our Heroic channeller gets to the river and exhausted, confronts Hashram and the horse.
As he does so, theTemple PC's use one of their Path powers and the brief white glow this creates in the Shadow (Paths are internal magics from a mysterious source in my game) lets the Danisil see a terrifying snake/human hybrid coiling around her, fangs about to strike!
Dodging out of the way in the nick of time, she is able to bring her unstoppable strength to bear and crack the altar. Catalysmic
consequences begin to rumble as black lightning starts to arc through the earth, into the sky! O'Fortuna begins in the background as our soundtrack/
As the clouds flee across the night sky, away from the column of dark energy now burning through the temple, our Channeller blindsides me with the use of Silverblood.
Hashram and the possessed familiar catch up with the
elven channeller who had his back to a river. Imagine this- a dark
caped, swarthy rider, pulling out a long sword while his white mount with demonic red eyes comes to a halt in front of the cowering, exhausted elf.
I ask the Channeller what he wants to do?
"I cast Silver-blood. On the Astirax".
"Silver blood doesnt work that way" I say "You need to cast it on yourself and then bleed over a weapon to coat it."
"Except you can cast Personal spells on your familiar as if they were you. And the Astirax is possessing my familiar!" he replies triumphantly!
Aieeeeeeeeeeeee!!
I'm still impressed.
So the horse rears in agony and the Legate is thrown. Our brave 10 HP 4th level channeller then tries to kill the 50 HP 7th level Legate!
He batters him across the skull! For once he hits with his staff!
Then as the groggy Legate starts to rise, drawing his Longsword, the Channeller pumps spell energy into Burning hands. A gout of flame envelops the Legate. (10 HP damage there!), igniting his robes. Then an even greater BH, chars the left side of the Legates face to the bone! (15 damage on 4d4!). Hashram dives for the river, putting out the flame.
Somehow the channeller is winning, even though hes nearly out of SE!
Then I point out that his familiar is dying. The Astirax keeps trying
to leave the silver poisoned horse, but the unendurable agony is too much for either creature to bear much longer.
Does he want to pause in his fight with Hashram to lift the spell?
He's not sure. He loves his familiar, but Hashram must die. I tell
him that he's maybe got another round of grace before the horse dies, so he chooses to go for the kill on Hashram, saying "Its what I would do".
He wades into the shallow river, and brings up his staff to cave in
Hashrams head! The staff rises high and descends! (then the PC rolls a 3!)
The Legates longsword, somehow still in Hashrams hand, comes up out of the water, blocking the blow!
Hashram rises, dripping wet from the dark river, as far behind him
the black lightning strobes across the sky and the earth shakes. His face is a charred ruin, clothes and skin burnt and broken.
As lightning flashes behind him, his dark longsword arcs into the sky and comes crashing down into the Elfs chest and everything fades to black.......
Meanwhile the other PC's have used their Path powers to survive the dark lightning that has just blasted to ashes a thousand orcs and is raining doom down on the Hamlet of Thorns. As they desperately flee to the river, they see a dark shape floating down the river towards them.
To the sounds of "Adagio in G Minor", they find the waterlogged body of their companion floating face down, the elf watcher far from his post and an inch from death. Desperately clearing his lungs of water, they use all their Healing skills to stabilise him at -9 HP and with his limp body must flee across the Plains of Eris Aman with the catastrophe they ignited lighting the sky behind them and shaking the land.....
Analysis- The PC's had one of their most challenging missions yet.
Most were near dead by the end of it, and the Channeller should have been.
But, because I was so impressed by his heroism in distracting the
Legate, and his sheer chutzpah in taking on a 7th level Legate and Astriax possess horse (EL-11ish?) I felt it better that the river take him down to his companions, and it would be their skills that determined if he lived or died. I also presumed that Hashram, terribly wounded as he was, wouldnt be too concerned with the elfs body, more intent on healing himself and saving the dying Astirax. (and thinking up an excuse as to how the Temple he was just about to visit was defiled).
Now the PC's are shocked and shaken at the sheer destruction they have wrought in the cause of the War. They killed a thousand orcs in one night, but 200 Dornish villagers also died since the Temple was surrounded by civilian housing. The Elves are happy, but the human PC's are rethinking this whole Mirror-breaking strategy.
As for the elf channeller? When he recovered in the Veradeen, his
hatred of Hashram the Legate is now all consuming. Vowing to become a Bane of Legates, the party know that the terribly scarred Hashram will never forgive them, never forget and never stop tracking them across Eredane.....
All in all, an epic game session lasting 6 hours. (lots of earlier
infiltration and discussion)!
SJE
__________________
Anyway, the reason I posted was that I was still flabberghasted by last night, which was a very memorable game.
The Party consists of Illyn, an doddering, forgetful Elven Channeller, Ke an ass-kicking Danisil (Jungle Elf) (think Jolene Blalock as a teenager with super-strength), Owen a towering Dornish barbarian, Torin is a Dornish homicidal maniac (kills orc at the drop of the hat) wildlander, and Arman a shell shocked southerner out of place in the North, but with a gift of the gab.
Other Midnight details to make sense of things. Legates are evil clerics, and their altars to the Dark God Izrador suck the magic from the land. When these altars (always kept in the dark) are defiled, the start to go critical, a bit like a nuclear reactor destabilising. Astirax's are demonic spirits that act as familiars to Legates. They can possess animals, even magical beasts and familiars. Hashram is a Legate who has been hounding them since 1st level and whose Astirax possessed Illyns horse familiar, Aristophanes
Last session, the PC's went on a Mission Impossible quest to infiltrate a Temple of Izrador and blow the altar. The Temple was next to a huge orc military barracks/staging post for the War in the Veradeen. There was also a subjugated Dornish hamlet around the walled compound.
Declining to infltrate the regular services at the Temple that the
Dorns were forced to attend, the PC's dressed up their uber-social Pureblood rogue Arman as a Legate, with the 2 big Dornish Barbarians/Fighyers as body guards and Ke was pretending to be their prisoner.
Because the Caransil Channeller Illyn couldnt make his Alter Self spell work (he was going to be a Orc Captain), he was left behind to watch for trouble, and light a signal fire in case of danger.
So the PC's Bluff their way to the chapel, confusing the orc guards
and demanding all sorts of things, then while the pseudo-Legate tried to keep the orcs talking, the other 3 made a run for the altar.
At that point, I threw a twist to their plan and the Channeller
started to sense a familiar presence. He then spotted their archenemy Hashram mounted on the Astirax possessed familiar and leading a detachment of orcs. Knowing he was heading up the hill to the Temple, he decided that he had to distract the Legate or the mission would be a bust.
So he decides to make empathic contact with the familiar and alert the Astirax to his presence. He then legs it to the river, where the Colours of Magic are slightly less Grey.
Meanwhile the Temple infiltrators plan has gone wrong by itself. 3 of the PC's are fighting off orcs in pitch blackness, as the Danisil
Juggernaught tries to find and knock over the Altar. Then she hears a slithering noise in the dark...
So our Heroic channeller gets to the river and exhausted, confronts Hashram and the horse.
As he does so, theTemple PC's use one of their Path powers and the brief white glow this creates in the Shadow (Paths are internal magics from a mysterious source in my game) lets the Danisil see a terrifying snake/human hybrid coiling around her, fangs about to strike!
Dodging out of the way in the nick of time, she is able to bring her unstoppable strength to bear and crack the altar. Catalysmic
consequences begin to rumble as black lightning starts to arc through the earth, into the sky! O'Fortuna begins in the background as our soundtrack/
As the clouds flee across the night sky, away from the column of dark energy now burning through the temple, our Channeller blindsides me with the use of Silverblood.
Hashram and the possessed familiar catch up with the
elven channeller who had his back to a river. Imagine this- a dark
caped, swarthy rider, pulling out a long sword while his white mount with demonic red eyes comes to a halt in front of the cowering, exhausted elf.
I ask the Channeller what he wants to do?
"I cast Silver-blood. On the Astirax".
"Silver blood doesnt work that way" I say "You need to cast it on yourself and then bleed over a weapon to coat it."
"Except you can cast Personal spells on your familiar as if they were you. And the Astirax is possessing my familiar!" he replies triumphantly!
Aieeeeeeeeeeeee!!
I'm still impressed.
So the horse rears in agony and the Legate is thrown. Our brave 10 HP 4th level channeller then tries to kill the 50 HP 7th level Legate!
He batters him across the skull! For once he hits with his staff!
Then as the groggy Legate starts to rise, drawing his Longsword, the Channeller pumps spell energy into Burning hands. A gout of flame envelops the Legate. (10 HP damage there!), igniting his robes. Then an even greater BH, chars the left side of the Legates face to the bone! (15 damage on 4d4!). Hashram dives for the river, putting out the flame.
Somehow the channeller is winning, even though hes nearly out of SE!
Then I point out that his familiar is dying. The Astirax keeps trying
to leave the silver poisoned horse, but the unendurable agony is too much for either creature to bear much longer.
Does he want to pause in his fight with Hashram to lift the spell?
He's not sure. He loves his familiar, but Hashram must die. I tell
him that he's maybe got another round of grace before the horse dies, so he chooses to go for the kill on Hashram, saying "Its what I would do".
He wades into the shallow river, and brings up his staff to cave in
Hashrams head! The staff rises high and descends! (then the PC rolls a 3!)
The Legates longsword, somehow still in Hashrams hand, comes up out of the water, blocking the blow!
Hashram rises, dripping wet from the dark river, as far behind him
the black lightning strobes across the sky and the earth shakes. His face is a charred ruin, clothes and skin burnt and broken.
As lightning flashes behind him, his dark longsword arcs into the sky and comes crashing down into the Elfs chest and everything fades to black.......
Meanwhile the other PC's have used their Path powers to survive the dark lightning that has just blasted to ashes a thousand orcs and is raining doom down on the Hamlet of Thorns. As they desperately flee to the river, they see a dark shape floating down the river towards them.
To the sounds of "Adagio in G Minor", they find the waterlogged body of their companion floating face down, the elf watcher far from his post and an inch from death. Desperately clearing his lungs of water, they use all their Healing skills to stabilise him at -9 HP and with his limp body must flee across the Plains of Eris Aman with the catastrophe they ignited lighting the sky behind them and shaking the land.....
Analysis- The PC's had one of their most challenging missions yet.
Most were near dead by the end of it, and the Channeller should have been.
But, because I was so impressed by his heroism in distracting the
Legate, and his sheer chutzpah in taking on a 7th level Legate and Astriax possess horse (EL-11ish?) I felt it better that the river take him down to his companions, and it would be their skills that determined if he lived or died. I also presumed that Hashram, terribly wounded as he was, wouldnt be too concerned with the elfs body, more intent on healing himself and saving the dying Astirax. (and thinking up an excuse as to how the Temple he was just about to visit was defiled).
Now the PC's are shocked and shaken at the sheer destruction they have wrought in the cause of the War. They killed a thousand orcs in one night, but 200 Dornish villagers also died since the Temple was surrounded by civilian housing. The Elves are happy, but the human PC's are rethinking this whole Mirror-breaking strategy.
As for the elf channeller? When he recovered in the Veradeen, his
hatred of Hashram the Legate is now all consuming. Vowing to become a Bane of Legates, the party know that the terribly scarred Hashram will never forgive them, never forget and never stop tracking them across Eredane.....
All in all, an epic game session lasting 6 hours. (lots of earlier
infiltration and discussion)!
SJE
__________________
Last edited:
