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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack99" data-source="post: 5031866" data-attributes="member: 53135">63rd sessionAfter returning from the cold fortress of the rebel Githzerai, the Swords of Drahar wasted little time. They researched about the Mad Dragon, found out where it had it's lair, and hired Captain Morgan again to fly them out near the area where the Mad Dragon lived. As it turns out, it was a nightmarish place, full of lava, geysers, firestorms and in general a lot of nasty terrain and hazards. Luckily for the Swords, Torn's Phantom Steeds can fly, so after a rough arrival where Gnoguh got tossed around by some geysers, the Swords took the arial route to the 3 volcanoes further inland, where the dragon should have its lair.They didn't quite make it all the way though, because about halfway across the rocky island, they were hit by an imploding thunderstorm. That turned out to be quite painful, and Truxas ended up dieing to a weather phenomenon.[sblock=Imploding Firestorm]Imploding Thunderstorm  Level 22 Solo HazardThe very air around you crackle with fire and energy.Hazard: An imploding thunderstorm is a magical phenomenon found exclusively in the Elemental Chaos. They appear out of nowhere, with very little warning, and cause havoc and death to anyone caught in one. Sages speculate that it is the symbiosis of different types of energy that causes these storms to appear.Perception     DC 27: The character notices something like heat waves in the air, just thicker     DC 31: The character notices that the heat waves seem to move towards the same point in spaceArcana (if perception is passed)     DC 34: An imploding thunderstorm is about to form, a lethal magical hazard that destroys everything within..Initiative +8Trigger: When a character is within the radius of the Imploding ThunderstormAttackStandard Action      Close burst 20Targets: Every creature within the burst.Attack: +25 vs. FortitudeHit: 3d8 + 13 fire and thunder damage and the target pulled to the square of origin and knocked prone. Miss: 1d8 + 7 fire and thunder damage and the target is pulled 4 squares towards the square of origin.Special: Each creature takes 15 fire and thunder damage at the beginning of each turn it starts within the burst of the Imploding Firestorm.Special: Vision within the storm is difficult at best (DC 21 to see into the square adjacent to you, +1 for each squared removed from you)Countermeasures     Leave the thunderstormThis homemade hazard proved to be just as lethal as intended. Actually a bit more. The poor vision made coordinating things hard for the players, and shut down the use of most teleports. At first, they underestimated its lethality a bit, and by the time things they realized just how bad it was, it was almost too late. They could probably have gotten out with everyone alive, but a reluctance amongst some to use AP's to "beat" some bad weather cost the life of the Warlock and quite a few surges around. I think they even used a couple of daily utilities. It was a big surprise and worked like a charm. Gave some very different dynamics and (for me) it was fun.But to be honest, I should never have prepared all the hazards for the journey. I should have realized there was no way the epic wizard would walk across such an area, unless forced to.[/sblock]Of course, with Revive handy, Truxas was up and running in only a few moments. Torn quickly made some new flying Phantom Steeds, and the Swords continued their trip towards the Tri-volcano-area. Once there, they quickly noticed several cave entrances, picked one, and landed in front of it. And promptly got jumped by 5 elementals. Even though they seemed to do their best to focus their firepower on a couple of targets (Torn and Gnoguh in this case), the Swords managed to dispatch them without anyone dieing.[sblock]This was actually a n+3 combat against 5 elites of equal level. It was quick enough and went well for my players. I wouldn't call it a very hard encounter, but they definitely used a lot of healing and powers in order to beat the elementals.I have now been trying a new thing. With elites, instead of giving them two attacks, I am instead increasing the damage they do on one attack significantly. For example, an elemental which would normally deal 3d8+10 now deals 3d8 + 22, or 50% more damage. Seems to help a little, speed-wise, that I only have to make one attack for the elites. It also gives a few more scary moments, such as when Gnoguh used Come and Get It and then got attacked by all 3 and then they all action pointed. If he hadn't had some fire resist, he would have been dead in a round. Which is no mean feat.[/sblock]Once the elementals were dead, the Swords searched the area, and Carric determined which entrance was the most likely to lead to the dragon's lair. And his perception didn't fail him again. Deep inside the volcano, they found a huge grotto with a lake of lava, an island covered in gold, and of course the dragon and his two pet fire titans.And boy did they get owned. First Torn slept one of the Titans, which made Gork rip him a new one in a matter of seconds. Then Torn rendered the other helpless, which caused Gork and Truxas to rip it apart in a few more seconds. And thank god for that, because the Dragon proved just as hard as expected. For a while it looked like an easy fight, and the Swords even wounded it greatly (bloodied) but then suddenly the tide turned, and its aura became more and more lethal. But in the end, it still died.[sblock]Sleep, Face of Death, Thief of Five Fates, Rune of Peace and Moment of Peace are all powers I have grown to despise quite a bit. They can just shot down solos and turn an interesting combat into something uninteresting.Then again, without those spells, they would probably have TPK'ed, because it was fairly close, even after burning those.But yet again, the single most difficult feature to deal with is the enormous amount of healing. Monsters have to dish out a huge amount of damage to get anyone down if Carric is around. Or they have to last long enough to make Carric run out of healing. Which means looooooong combats. Like really long, of the n+5-6 type[/sblock]</blockquote>

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