Sorry, missed a day yesterday- I was suddenly not so well last night and so didn't get to update this, back in fine fettle now however.
And so...
H1 Keep on the Shadowfell.
Encounter #24 Area 19: The Shadow Rift.
Round #5.
Grey, having almost forgotten what movement is like, continues to stand statue- from his outstretched hand a ball of force snakes out and smashes into Kalarel, the Scion of Orcus sways, a still breeze could knock him over.
Grey sends out yet another burst of arcanic (?) power at the dread Portal, the think shatters, into a million jet back glass-like shards which in slow motion explode and then implode, equally slowly, back into the inky depths- a great wind sucks at Kalarel, his robes bluster and flap, and the shadowy fist floating over him reaches down- crushes him in its grasp and shoots back into the Portal.
Poof! It's as if the Portal, or Kalarel for that matter, had never existed.
Grey steps to first the left, then the right, then back to the centre- he bows to his audience.
Grey- Immobilised (still). Magic Missile K; Hit 7 Force damage (1 HP bloodied). Disrupt Ritual- Religion Check- Success (8:2) & the Thing in the Portal Grabs Kalarel and drags him screaming into the ebony abyss- POP! It closes. Save vs Immobilised- Success.
Kaspard, now with fixed grin, hollers something holy and Lances a golden ray at the remaining Skeleton, which does the decent thing and distributes its component parts pretty evenly over much of the chamber.
The Shallowgrave Wight fumbles with evil phrases, attempting to knit together the aforementioned Skeleton- alas it come right, the startled Skeleton totters as if held together with string and spit.
Kaspard- Weakened vs SW. Move. Lance of Faith SS8; Hit 8 Radiant damage- DEAD Immediate Reaction SW Reanimate Minion (this is the first Minion killed within 10 squares of SW). Save vs SW Weakened- Fail.
The Wight, with Kalarel gone, looks... lost, and then looks down.
At the dagger which protrudes through what remains of his rib cage. Winstanly, behind the Wight- holder of the dagger, drags the blade down with a butcher's shop cutting motion- right the way through the pelvis of the Wight.
The Wight does the splits, like no other splits- before or since, and perishes.
Winstanley- Move. Sly Flourish Combat Advantage SW; Hit 24 damage- DEAD.
TitP- Gone.
Phrenic rushes over, fearless, to the lone Decrepit Skeleton, effects a number of shadow feints and then lets loose a flurry of unerring blows, all of which err.
The Skeletons totters some more.
Phrenic- Weakened. Move. Steel Monsoon SS8; Miss. Save vs Weakened- Fail.
SS1- DEAD.
SS2- DEAD.
SS3- DEAD.
SS4- DEAD.
SS5- DEAD.
SS6- DEAD.
SS7- DEAD.
Then attempts to lance its longsword through the Tiefling Warlord, who dodges the blow just in time.
SS8- Longsword Phrenic; Miss.
Dirty nonchalantly strides over, and with one hand, balancing on one leg, and squinting through one eye smashes the undead minion.
Dirty- 5 ongoing Necrotic -5 (Resist) = 0 damage. Move. Reaping Strike SS8; Hit 12 damage- DEAD.
Time to play 6 minutes.
Total time to play 1 hour 10 minutes.
End of Encounter-
Good Guys
Dirty Biskit, Male Dwarven Fighter 4 (HP30/55)
Kaspard, Female Half-Elf Cleric of Bahamut 4 (HP34/41)
Winstanley Portico, Male Halfling Rogue 4 (HP41)
Grey Morlock, Male Human Wizard 4 (HP27/36)
Phrenic, Male Tiefling Warlord 4 (HP38/44)
Bad Guys 2104XP Level 9 Encounter (including Ritual).
Skeleton Sentinels Level 3 Minion [SS] (x8) (HP1) 8 DEAD
Shallowgrave Wight Level 4 Controller [SW] (HP54) DEAD
Kalarel, Scion of Orcus 8 Elite Controller [K] (HP186) DEAD?
Hazard: The Thing in the Portal [TitP] Level 4 Lurker GONE
Skill Challenge: Close the Portal- 8 Successes 2 Failures CLOSED
Action Points 0 Total 4
Daily Powers 0 Total 4
Healing Surges 0 Total 4
2nd Winds 0 Total 1
Crits 0 Total 4
PCs Ko'd 0 Total 0
Bad Guys Crits 0 Total 1
Bad Guys Action Points 0 Total 1
Ritual Success 1 Total 8
Ritual Failures 0 Total 2
Comment: The players have come up for a name for the party, at first it was M or M's People, in honour of their previous leader, McGyver the Dragonborn Paladin. However at some point I said to them that I wanted them to play through the core adventurers, somewhere over the last six sessions they started referring to themselves as “Hard Core”, and so it has come to pass.
Back to this fight.
Obviously I hammed it up as much as I could at the table with Kalarel making all manner of racial slurs combined with prophecies of the Nentir Valleys imminent destruction- the PCs got into it, even kaspard (played by Becky) made the odd “by Bahamut etc.”; Dirty (Dave) I'm afraind relied heavily on profanity, all in all it was a winner, although the fight didn't last nearly as long as I thought it would. I think this has been the quickest version of this encounter I have ever played, but also the best- for roleplay and generally good (smart) play.
Stats: Statistically an oddity this one, to begin with the bad guys made more attacks in total than the PCs; PCs 32 attacks with 23 hits (71.88% connection), bad guys 38 attacks with 28 hits (71.79% connection). As can be seen the connection rates are almost identical- .09% difference, that said the PCs were delivering 55.17 points of damage/turn, the bad guys less than half that with 25.5.
Getting Grey nailed down early on certainly helped, as did the Crits for the PCs- just at the wrong moments for me as well, the PCs managed four Crit rolls in only five turns of combat, that's just not right. Grey was attacked 12 times in all, the most of any of the PCs and struck ten times, Dirty also took ten hits from 11 attacks. Grey's not used to being the Defender however, and Dirty managed to dish out nearly twice as much damage as he absorbed (Damage taken 62 vs Damage done 112), whereas Grey only just managed to get into the positive (Damage taken 55 vs Damage done 58).
Strangely enough Kaspard had the best connection rate of the PCs 85.71% (6 from 7 attacks), then Grey 83.33% (5 from 6). then Dirty 71.43% (5 from 7), then Winstanley 66.67% (4 from 6) and finally Phrenic 50% (3 from 6).
Only 1 hour 10 minutes to play out a Level 9 Encounter (with the Skill Challenge XP added in), although it was only 5 turns play- that's the slowest of all the encounters (average time/turn) at 11.67 minutes/turn.
Combined Stats tommorow, when I've worked out what to put, oh but here's a thing, at some point on the journey the PCs, actually Dirty (Dave) bought an exercise book and started writing down everything they had killed so far, he called it “Dave's Bumper Book of the Dead.” I obviously joined in and made my own list which appears below- mine doesn't include McGyver however, whereas Dave's of course does.
The Book of the Dead (& vanquished).
And so in completing the Keep on the Shadowfell the PCs put paid to the following creatures-
(Sorted by XP)
25XP
Goblin, Cutter Level 1 Minion (x8)
Kobold, Minion Level 1 Minion (x25)
Rat, Giant Level 1 Minion (x13)
Skeleton, Decrepit Level 1 Minion (x30)
31XP
Human, Rabble Level 2 Minion (x4)
Kruthik, Hacthling Level 2 Minion (x6)
38XP
Hobgoblin, Grunt Level 3 Minion (x18)
Skeleton, Sentinel Level 3 Minion (x8)
Zombie, Rotter Level 3 Minion (x22)
50XP
Vampire Spawn, Fleshripper Level 5 Minion (x5)
100XP
Goblin, Warrior Level 1 Skirmisher (x8)
Kobold, Skirmisher Level 1 Skirmisher (x4)
Kobold, Slinger Level 1 Artillery (x2)
Kobold, Slink Level 1 Lurker
125XP
Clay Scout Level 2 Lurker
Drake, Guard Level 2 Brute (x3)
Gnome, Skulk (Agrid) Level 2 Lurker
Goblin, Sharpshooter Level 2 Artillery (x6)
Kobold, Denwarden Level 2 Soldier (x2)
Kobold, Dragonshield Level 2 Soldier (x6)
Kruthik, Young Level 2 Brute (x3)
Rat Swarm Level 2 Skirmisher
Zombie Level 2 Brute (x10)
150XP
Hobgoblin, Archer Level 3 Artillery (x3)
Hobgoblin, Soldier Level 3 Soldier (x11)
Hobgoblin, Torturer Level 3 Brute
Hobgoblin, Warcaster Level 3 Controller (x2)
Kobold, Wyrmpriest Level 3 Artillery (x2)
Skeleton, Warrior Level 3 Soldier (x2)
Zombie, Gravehound Level 3 Brute (x2)
175XP
Dark Creeper Level 4 Skirmisher
Elf, Archer (Ninaran) Level 4 Artillery
Human, Berserker Level 4 Brute (x2)
Kruthik, Adult Level 4 Brute
Spectral Apparition- Kalarel Level 4 Controller
Spider, Deathjumper Level 4 Skirmisher
Wight, Shallowgrave Level 4 Controller
Zombie, Corruption Corpse Level 4 Artillery (x2)
200XP
Ghoul Level 5 Soldier
Hobgoblin, Warchief Level 5 Soldier
Human, Orcus Underpriest Level 5 Controller
300XP
Goblin, Chief (Irontooth) Level 3 Elite Brute
Ooze, Ochre Jelly Level 3 Elite Brute
400XP
Ooze, Gelatinous Cube Level 5 Elite Brute
700XP
Scion of Orcus- Kalarel Level 8 Elite Controller
750XP
Ooze, Blue Slime Level 3 Solo Brute
A total of 228 Bad Guys, worth 17,959 XP at an average of 78.77 XP each, which is a very low XP average, and down to the fact that of the 228 creatures 139 of them were Minions, they certainly get a run-out in KOTS. Still you can see what the games designers were doing- lots of bodies on the floor, lots of players with cheesy grins and piles of my miniatures before them.
And so...
H1 Keep on the Shadowfell.
Encounter #24 Area 19: The Shadow Rift.
Round #5.
Grey, having almost forgotten what movement is like, continues to stand statue- from his outstretched hand a ball of force snakes out and smashes into Kalarel, the Scion of Orcus sways, a still breeze could knock him over.
Grey sends out yet another burst of arcanic (?) power at the dread Portal, the think shatters, into a million jet back glass-like shards which in slow motion explode and then implode, equally slowly, back into the inky depths- a great wind sucks at Kalarel, his robes bluster and flap, and the shadowy fist floating over him reaches down- crushes him in its grasp and shoots back into the Portal.
Poof! It's as if the Portal, or Kalarel for that matter, had never existed.
Grey steps to first the left, then the right, then back to the centre- he bows to his audience.
Grey- Immobilised (still). Magic Missile K; Hit 7 Force damage (1 HP bloodied). Disrupt Ritual- Religion Check- Success (8:2) & the Thing in the Portal Grabs Kalarel and drags him screaming into the ebony abyss- POP! It closes. Save vs Immobilised- Success.
Kaspard, now with fixed grin, hollers something holy and Lances a golden ray at the remaining Skeleton, which does the decent thing and distributes its component parts pretty evenly over much of the chamber.
The Shallowgrave Wight fumbles with evil phrases, attempting to knit together the aforementioned Skeleton- alas it come right, the startled Skeleton totters as if held together with string and spit.
Kaspard- Weakened vs SW. Move. Lance of Faith SS8; Hit 8 Radiant damage- DEAD Immediate Reaction SW Reanimate Minion (this is the first Minion killed within 10 squares of SW). Save vs SW Weakened- Fail.
The Wight, with Kalarel gone, looks... lost, and then looks down.
At the dagger which protrudes through what remains of his rib cage. Winstanly, behind the Wight- holder of the dagger, drags the blade down with a butcher's shop cutting motion- right the way through the pelvis of the Wight.
The Wight does the splits, like no other splits- before or since, and perishes.
Winstanley- Move. Sly Flourish Combat Advantage SW; Hit 24 damage- DEAD.
TitP- Gone.
Phrenic rushes over, fearless, to the lone Decrepit Skeleton, effects a number of shadow feints and then lets loose a flurry of unerring blows, all of which err.
The Skeletons totters some more.
Phrenic- Weakened. Move. Steel Monsoon SS8; Miss. Save vs Weakened- Fail.
SS1- DEAD.
SS2- DEAD.
SS3- DEAD.
SS4- DEAD.
SS5- DEAD.
SS6- DEAD.
SS7- DEAD.
Then attempts to lance its longsword through the Tiefling Warlord, who dodges the blow just in time.
SS8- Longsword Phrenic; Miss.
Dirty nonchalantly strides over, and with one hand, balancing on one leg, and squinting through one eye smashes the undead minion.
Dirty- 5 ongoing Necrotic -5 (Resist) = 0 damage. Move. Reaping Strike SS8; Hit 12 damage- DEAD.
Time to play 6 minutes.
Total time to play 1 hour 10 minutes.
End of Encounter-
Good Guys
Dirty Biskit, Male Dwarven Fighter 4 (HP30/55)
Kaspard, Female Half-Elf Cleric of Bahamut 4 (HP34/41)
Winstanley Portico, Male Halfling Rogue 4 (HP41)
Grey Morlock, Male Human Wizard 4 (HP27/36)
Phrenic, Male Tiefling Warlord 4 (HP38/44)
Bad Guys 2104XP Level 9 Encounter (including Ritual).
Skeleton Sentinels Level 3 Minion [SS] (x8) (HP1) 8 DEAD
Shallowgrave Wight Level 4 Controller [SW] (HP54) DEAD
Kalarel, Scion of Orcus 8 Elite Controller [K] (HP186) DEAD?
Hazard: The Thing in the Portal [TitP] Level 4 Lurker GONE
Skill Challenge: Close the Portal- 8 Successes 2 Failures CLOSED
Action Points 0 Total 4
Daily Powers 0 Total 4
Healing Surges 0 Total 4
2nd Winds 0 Total 1
Crits 0 Total 4
PCs Ko'd 0 Total 0
Bad Guys Crits 0 Total 1
Bad Guys Action Points 0 Total 1
Ritual Success 1 Total 8
Ritual Failures 0 Total 2
Comment: The players have come up for a name for the party, at first it was M or M's People, in honour of their previous leader, McGyver the Dragonborn Paladin. However at some point I said to them that I wanted them to play through the core adventurers, somewhere over the last six sessions they started referring to themselves as “Hard Core”, and so it has come to pass.
Back to this fight.
Obviously I hammed it up as much as I could at the table with Kalarel making all manner of racial slurs combined with prophecies of the Nentir Valleys imminent destruction- the PCs got into it, even kaspard (played by Becky) made the odd “by Bahamut etc.”; Dirty (Dave) I'm afraind relied heavily on profanity, all in all it was a winner, although the fight didn't last nearly as long as I thought it would. I think this has been the quickest version of this encounter I have ever played, but also the best- for roleplay and generally good (smart) play.
Stats: Statistically an oddity this one, to begin with the bad guys made more attacks in total than the PCs; PCs 32 attacks with 23 hits (71.88% connection), bad guys 38 attacks with 28 hits (71.79% connection). As can be seen the connection rates are almost identical- .09% difference, that said the PCs were delivering 55.17 points of damage/turn, the bad guys less than half that with 25.5.
Getting Grey nailed down early on certainly helped, as did the Crits for the PCs- just at the wrong moments for me as well, the PCs managed four Crit rolls in only five turns of combat, that's just not right. Grey was attacked 12 times in all, the most of any of the PCs and struck ten times, Dirty also took ten hits from 11 attacks. Grey's not used to being the Defender however, and Dirty managed to dish out nearly twice as much damage as he absorbed (Damage taken 62 vs Damage done 112), whereas Grey only just managed to get into the positive (Damage taken 55 vs Damage done 58).
Strangely enough Kaspard had the best connection rate of the PCs 85.71% (6 from 7 attacks), then Grey 83.33% (5 from 6). then Dirty 71.43% (5 from 7), then Winstanley 66.67% (4 from 6) and finally Phrenic 50% (3 from 6).
Only 1 hour 10 minutes to play out a Level 9 Encounter (with the Skill Challenge XP added in), although it was only 5 turns play- that's the slowest of all the encounters (average time/turn) at 11.67 minutes/turn.
Combined Stats tommorow, when I've worked out what to put, oh but here's a thing, at some point on the journey the PCs, actually Dirty (Dave) bought an exercise book and started writing down everything they had killed so far, he called it “Dave's Bumper Book of the Dead.” I obviously joined in and made my own list which appears below- mine doesn't include McGyver however, whereas Dave's of course does.
The Book of the Dead (& vanquished).
And so in completing the Keep on the Shadowfell the PCs put paid to the following creatures-
(Sorted by XP)
25XP
Goblin, Cutter Level 1 Minion (x8)
Kobold, Minion Level 1 Minion (x25)
Rat, Giant Level 1 Minion (x13)
Skeleton, Decrepit Level 1 Minion (x30)
31XP
Human, Rabble Level 2 Minion (x4)
Kruthik, Hacthling Level 2 Minion (x6)
38XP
Hobgoblin, Grunt Level 3 Minion (x18)
Skeleton, Sentinel Level 3 Minion (x8)
Zombie, Rotter Level 3 Minion (x22)
50XP
Vampire Spawn, Fleshripper Level 5 Minion (x5)
100XP
Goblin, Warrior Level 1 Skirmisher (x8)
Kobold, Skirmisher Level 1 Skirmisher (x4)
Kobold, Slinger Level 1 Artillery (x2)
Kobold, Slink Level 1 Lurker
125XP
Clay Scout Level 2 Lurker
Drake, Guard Level 2 Brute (x3)
Gnome, Skulk (Agrid) Level 2 Lurker
Goblin, Sharpshooter Level 2 Artillery (x6)
Kobold, Denwarden Level 2 Soldier (x2)
Kobold, Dragonshield Level 2 Soldier (x6)
Kruthik, Young Level 2 Brute (x3)
Rat Swarm Level 2 Skirmisher
Zombie Level 2 Brute (x10)
150XP
Hobgoblin, Archer Level 3 Artillery (x3)
Hobgoblin, Soldier Level 3 Soldier (x11)
Hobgoblin, Torturer Level 3 Brute
Hobgoblin, Warcaster Level 3 Controller (x2)
Kobold, Wyrmpriest Level 3 Artillery (x2)
Skeleton, Warrior Level 3 Soldier (x2)
Zombie, Gravehound Level 3 Brute (x2)
175XP
Dark Creeper Level 4 Skirmisher
Elf, Archer (Ninaran) Level 4 Artillery
Human, Berserker Level 4 Brute (x2)
Kruthik, Adult Level 4 Brute
Spectral Apparition- Kalarel Level 4 Controller
Spider, Deathjumper Level 4 Skirmisher
Wight, Shallowgrave Level 4 Controller
Zombie, Corruption Corpse Level 4 Artillery (x2)
200XP
Ghoul Level 5 Soldier
Hobgoblin, Warchief Level 5 Soldier
Human, Orcus Underpriest Level 5 Controller
300XP
Goblin, Chief (Irontooth) Level 3 Elite Brute
Ooze, Ochre Jelly Level 3 Elite Brute
400XP
Ooze, Gelatinous Cube Level 5 Elite Brute
700XP
Scion of Orcus- Kalarel Level 8 Elite Controller
750XP
Ooze, Blue Slime Level 3 Solo Brute
A total of 228 Bad Guys, worth 17,959 XP at an average of 78.77 XP each, which is a very low XP average, and down to the fact that of the 228 creatures 139 of them were Minions, they certainly get a run-out in KOTS. Still you can see what the games designers were doing- lots of bodies on the floor, lots of players with cheesy grins and piles of my miniatures before them.
