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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack99" data-source="post: 5009619" data-attributes="member: 53135">We started right where we left off, with the final battle against King Balor, his pet quickling and nymph lover. What the players didn't know was that there was a 4th enemy to be fought, a balor. With a last minute cancellation by one of the players, it was suddenly a n+5 encounter. On top of having just gone through 6 encounters without an extended rest. I considered briefly making it easier, but ultimately just figured to test how far my players could go.As it turns out, not much more. We got a very long battle (for once, I didn't enforce the 20 sec rule, simply because they were under so much pressure), nay, we got a really long battle, almost 3 hours. Not that anyone felt it as grindy. No one was sure until the second last round of how the battle would end. Everyone was bloodied, long out of healing and cool powers when the fight ended. The fighter was down no less than 6 times, and ran out of surges about halfway through the combat. He was also stunned, immobilized or otherwise impaired to a degree that robbed him of any attacks about 2/3rds of the combat. Which was not very funny for him. I had tried to tone down the number of such conditions for a good while, but when I finally fielded monsters with such powers again, it immediately became a problem again. I am definitely going to have to watch the number of monsters that have such powers.After the fight, they returned to the church of Kord in Drahar, to find out what the place they need to complete the ritual was. The place is the Chamber of Rituals, the private ritual chamber of the Lord of the City of Brass.[sblock=The Ritual]Hidden MemoriesThrough a significant offering, you and your friends are able to enter the memories, possibly even those forgotten, of the entity which lies in front of you.Level: 22Category: DivinationTime: 8 hoursDuration: SpecialComponent Cost: 100,000 gpMarket Price: UniqueKey Skill: ArcanaWith the help of ancient arcane symbols and an enormous amount of residuum, you channel the magical weave into the subject and follow it (along with up to 8 others) into the memories of the subject. In there, you can navigate from memory to memory, even finding ancient memories that the subject had forgotten.Let it be known that such intrusion is very dangerous, and that the subject's subconsciousness, even if completely willing, will fight you every step of the way of your journey through his memories. The stronger the subject, the stronger the subconsciousness.While you are inside the mind of the subject, your body will stay outside, utterly helpless. You will not be aware of what happens to your body while inside the memories of the subject, unless the body is killed, in which case your mental projection will die immediately. Also be aware that only the ritual caster can end the ritual, not those he brings with him.Should your mental projection be killed by the subconsciousness of the subject, your body will still be alive, but your brain will cease to function. In a matter of hours, your body will die as well, unless raised from the dead. And even that is tricky at best, there has been several cases where Raise Dead has not been sufficient.After you enter the mind of the subject, you will have to make an arcana check once every 12 hours to maintain the mental projection. Failure to make the check will stop the ritual and expulse everyone from the memories of the target.The DC to enter the mind of a subject is: Subjects levelThe DC to maintain is: Subjects level +1/12 hours passed.This ritual can be used to enter anyones mind, even that of a god. In the case of divinity and other entities as powerful, one must have 3 things to power the ritual. 1 component (Heart of Grazz't), 1 item (Evil Eye) and 1 magical focus point (unknown so far). The component is consumed in the casting and the item and the magical focus point will be drained for 1 year and 1 day. Should you wish to recast the ritual, a new component must be gathered while waiting for the item and focus point to recharge.[/sblock]As they got back, Gnoguh found that that no less than 3 emissaries were waiting for his arrival. One emissary of a King, one of a merchant prince, one of a queen. As it turns out, the first two (the king and the merchant prince) want Gnoguh to marry their daughter and the queen wants Gnoguh to marry herself. He decided to talk things over with the rest of the party before he went out to view the possible prospects.Meanwhile, Torn also got word that several people wanted to retain his services. He never found out who they were, because we had a big break leveling (ding 22), which took longer than usual. Maybe because I forgot to warn the players a couple of days in advance as I usually do. Ah well, the guy playing the barbarian did need some help changing some things with the character I made for him. I assume this means he plans on coming back on a regular basis. Sounds like I got myself a new player. Or rather an old player back - he played 2e with us for many years.Anyway, the whole marriage galore and the sudden demand in Torn's services as a sage is of course an attempt to make the players feel more epic. When dragons and exarches come knocking on Torn's door to seek his advice and knowledge, and when kings battle for the right to wed their daughter to Gnoguh, they are hopefully going to feel pretty damn important. They will also (hopefully) realize that their actions (or lack thereof) at this level have pretty big consequences. You know, with great power comes great responsibility and all that jazz. It's corny, but true!. I am still considering what exactly will happen, but I think that at least one of those that Gnoguh does not choose will suffer greatly. Maybe the country will be invaded or something. I am still brainstorming with myself on that.I am also brainstorming a lot on their City of Brass adventure. I have the box set, but will probably run it as a hybrid between what little info we have in 4e, and the 3.x box set from NG. Still torn on what type of adventure City of Brass will be. Faction grinding or back alley backstabbing?</blockquote>

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