Piratecat's Updated Story Hour! (update 4/03 and 4/06)

[Sagiro]

Here's a small preview of things to come; I hope I'm not giving too much away, as the Story Hour is still a few runs behind.

Lest anyone forget that Piratecat is a right rat bastard, consider the following. Velendo is a 17th level Cleric with a 20 Wis, and as such gets a big ol' pile of spells every day. Seldom does he come close to using them all up, especially as he is very conservative, and almost always saves spells in case of dire emergencies. He also has only one magic item that will some day run out of charges, and is extremely stingy with that one -- it's a Wand of Maximized Dispelling (yes, despite the usual fact that Dispel can't be Maximized). It had seven charges when he found it, and up until recently it still had seven charges. Like I said: stingy.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you a list of the spells Velendo has cast in the last 24 hours -- almost every one, especially at the higher levels, was spent in fairly desperate circumstances. I'll start with the small, and work upward:

Endure Elements: Cold
Endure Elements: Fire
Endure Elements: Electricity
Bull's Stregnth
Bull's Stregnth
Endurance
Endurance
Endurance
Owl's Wisdom
Invisibility Purge
Magic Circle vs. Evil
Searing Light
Searing Light
Restoration
Unfailing Endurance
Mirrored Wall (like a Wall of Force, but with one side mirrored)
Dispel Evil
Flame Strike
Positive Wall (a wall that only hedges Undead)
True Seeing
Flexibile Wall (like a Wall of Force, but infinitely shapable)
Blade Barrier
Greater Dispelling
Heal
Heal
Calphas' Comfortable Castle (essentially Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion)
Holy Word
Summon Monster VII
Iron Body
Firestorm
Mass Heal
Sovereign Wall (like a Flexibile Wall, but larger, longer lasting, and even harder to get rid of: it's the 9th-level spell in his Wall Domain.)

In addition, Velendo used a Miracle to spoof the druidic spell "Spellstaff," and has kept another Mass Heal in it. And he used that.

And, he felt compelled to use two of the seven charges from his Wand of Maximized Dispelling.

And, after having the horrible experience of [details redacted to preserve suspense], he had to use his power of Disbelief, which he only gets to do every three months.

Also, Velendo was not the only one similarly taxed. That same period has included, among many other spells, Agar casting Disintegrate, Limited Wish and Cone of (Sonic) Cold; Nolin casting multiple Mass Hastes, multiple Healing Circles, and Fire Seeds; and Tao casting multiple Flame Strikes and Gate, with which she called in a [details redacted to preserve suspense] to aid us, though in hindsight I wish she had saved it to help us fight the [details omitted this time because I haven't the slightest idea what it was, other than unspeakably horrific].

And Malachite used up all of his Positive Energy Bursts.

Piratecat has, of late, been voicing concerns about it being difficult to challenge a party of 15th-19th level characters.

It doesn't seem to be a problem, really.

Yeesh.

-Sagiro

 

[Piratecat]

As always, the Calphas’ Comfortable Castle provides a restful sleep and delicious food, and the group is refreshed when they awake the next morning. Velendo drops the sovereign wall, and dwarven troops scatter through the cavern to serve as scouts. There’s a momentary scare inside the Castle when the group hears Agar scream. Running to his room, they see TomTom Badgerclaw standing on the bed looking confused. “He just appeared in a prismatic display!” exclaims Agar. “I think my theory was correct.”

“Where are we?” asks TomTom. “Or rather, how did I get here? I was in Eversink a second ago.” He suddenly twitches and spins, reaching behind him and pulling something off of his back. A large, crystalline spider hits the floor. “And WHAT is that?”

“I don’t know!” says Agar, reaching for a specimen jar before anyone can step on the slow-moving crystal spider. “But it’s fascinating. I’ll do some research on it as soon as I can.”

The group explains to TomTom that he’s suffering from a side effect of their earlier trip to Kodali’s Retreat. TomTom looks aggrieved. “I had tens of thousands of gold pieces invested in Eversink. Please tell me you cashed out our investments.” No one meets his eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud.”

“One thing is important, TomTom,” says Tao. “Give us all of your magic items in case this happens again!” Instead, TomTom gives her a vaguely obscene gesture, and the group settles down to a hot breakfast.

“What were you saying yesterday about The Narrows, Priggle?” asks Velendo.

“It’s an extremely tight section of the cavern. There’s about enough room for me to get through without crouching too much, but a man in armor would be in trouble. I’d guess that maybe Malachite could squeeze through, if he wasn’t armored. It’s an excellent place for ambushes, because people crawling have a hard time fighting.”

The group exchanges glance. “And incorporeal undead could easily move through stone,” concludes Malachite. “We’ll have to scout it first.”
As the heroes discuss the relative merits of etherealness versus clairvoyance for such scouting, they’re interrupted by a dwarf entering the main hall. “Found something interesting,” the soldier says. “Message plaques from a dwarven outpost less than a day’s march away. Looks like the dwarves tried to send several messengers to get help.” He looks sorrowful. “None of ‘em got any further than here.”

The group reads the stones. The first reports that the dwarven city of Mrid has fallen, and the dwarven outpost of Mridsgate is receiving refugees. It is expected that the ghouls will arrive before long, and reinforcements are needed from anyone on the surface who can help. The second reports that the ghoulish army is closing, renewing a plea for any refugees on the surface to return and fight. The third reports that the ghouls are less than a day away, and survival seems slim, but that they will defend the fort to the last man. As the Defenders piece together the picture, the dwarf shakes his head, beard wagging. “We found some mostly-eaten bodies,” says the soldier. “I think the ghouls somehow got some troops up here to cut off messengers or escape. That must be what we fought yesterday.”

“How far to this outpost?” asks Velendo.

“Most of a hard day’s march,” answers Priggle.

“Then let’s go.”

To be Continued….

Next: Negotiating the Narrows! Drums in the deep! And an overwhelming foe….

 

[Ashy]

::chuckle:: You'd be surprised what an advanced, ethereal, psionic, undead, half-troll, negative-energy infused KOBOLD can do!!! BWAAAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!

Erp - sorry, PC, I did not mean to give away your surprise.....

 

[Piratecat]

Oh, you mean Klixxit!

• 
  
  Klixxit, male ethereal psionic ghast half-troll negative-energy infused kobold Sor20: CR 27; Size S (3 ft., 6 in. tall); HD 22d12; hp 146; Init +3 (+3 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 23 (+3 Dex, +1 Size, +9 Natural); Attack by weapon +17/+12/+7 melee, or +11/+6/+1 ranged or 2 claws +17 melee, 1 bite +12 melee; dmg claw 1d4+7, bite 1d4+3; SV Fort +6, Ref +9, Will +14; AL CE; Str 22, Dex 16, Con --, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 25.
  
  Languages Spoken: Draconic, Infernal, Undercommon.
  
  Skill points: Sor 92
  Skills and feats: Craft +9, Hide +14, Knowledge (arcana) +11, Listen +5, Move silently +14, Profession +2, Scry +20, Search +5, Spellcraft +26, Spot +2; Craft wondrous object, Empower spell, Enlarge spell, Heighten spell, Lightning reflexes, Scribe scroll, Toughness.
  
  SA: Rend 2d4+9, psionics, spellcasting, paralysis, negative energy infusion, create spawn
  
  SQ: Regeneration, undead, turn resistance, stench, manifestation
  
  Possessions: 220,000 gp in gear.
  
  Sorcerer Spells Known (6/7/7/7/7/6/6/6/6/6): 0th -- Arcane Mark, Detect Magic, Flare, Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Read Magic. 1st -- Change Self, Chill Touch, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield. 2nd -- Blindness/Deafness, Blur, Flaming Sphere, Knock, Melf's Acid Arrow. 3rd -- Dispel Magic, Fireball, Haste, Lightning Bolt. 4th -- Charm Monster, Emotion, Polymorph Other, Solid Fog. 5th -- Dream, Permanency, Summon Monster V, Teleport. 6th -- Acid Fog, Analyze Dweomer, Mass Suggestion. 7th -- Shadow Walk, Simulacrum, Teleport without Error. 8th -- Demand, Horrid Wilting, Mass Charm. 9th -- Energy Drain, Shapechange, Time Stop.
  
  Psionic powers known: charm person
  
  Special attacks
  
  Rend (Ex): If Klixxit hits with both claw attacks, he latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack automatically deals an additional 2d4+9 points of damage.
  
  Paralysis (Ex): Those hit by Klixxit’s bite or claw attack must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 28) or be paralyzed for 1d6+4 minutes Elves are not immune to his paralysis.
  
  Negative energy infusion (Ex): Those hit by Klixxit’s bite or claw attack must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 28) or suffer 2 negative levels per hit from the negative energy that has infused the kobold's being.
  
  Create Spawn (Su): In most cases, Klixxit devours those he kills. From time to time, however, the bodies of his humanoid victims lie where they fell, to rise as ghouls themselves in 1d4 days. Casting protection from evil on a body before the end of that time averts the transformation.
  
  Special qualities
  
  Regeneration (Ex): Fire and acid deal normal damage to Klixxit. If he loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 3d6 minutes. He can reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to the stump.
  
  Undead: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage.
  
  Turn Resistance: Klixxit possesses +2 turn resistance.
  
  Stench (Ex): The stink of death and corruption surrounding Klixxit is sickening. Those within 10 feet must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 28) or be wracked with nausea, suffering a –2 circumstance penalty to all attacks, saves, and skill checks for 1d6+4 minutes.
  
  Manifestation (Su): As an ethereal creature, Klixxit cannot affect or be affected by anything in the material world. When he manifests, he becomes visible but remains incorporeal. However, a manifested Klixxit can strike with his touch attack or a ghost touch weapon. A manifested Klixxit remains on the Ethereal Plane but can be attacked by opponents on both the Material and Ethereal planes. When Klixxit is on the Ethereal Plane, his spells cannot affect targets on the Material Plane, but they work normally against ethereal targets. When he manifests, his spells continue to affect ethereal targets and can affect targets on the Material Plane normally unless the spells rely on touch. His touch spells don’t work on material targets.
  
  Darkvision 60 ft.

Nah. He's just a mascot.

 

[Piratecat]

Good Lord!!!! that thing is mean machine... mascot indeed... Awesome critter Piratecat, very awesome... suprised you were not crucified for that one. Rat Bastard DM's everywhere applaud thee I am sure... I know I do.

Klixxit is just a joke. I whipped him up after I read Ashy's post, adding template after template until he toppled over from the weight and lay there squeaking and waving his little claws. Maybe he lives somewhere in the underdark, but blessedly, my players can rest assured that I'd never use him after displaying his stats here. Poor little fella; now he feels all abandoned and rejected. Sniff.

I tend to reject too many layered templates as inherently silly, although I'm willing to make a rare exception.

What my players DID fight was somewhat more off-beat.

 

[Argent Silvermage]

Can I have Klixxit? I promis to keep him warm and feed and walk him! Please....?

 

[Piratecat]

The Narrows are no problem at all.

After worrying for hours about the tactical nightmare of fighting incorporeal foes in a small space, the Defenders of Daybreak have considered almost all of their possible resources: extraplanar travel, wind walk, teleporting, dimension doors, reduces, and many other possibilities. These turn out to simply not be needed. Arriving at the narrowing end of Funnel Cave, TomTom and Mara both turn ethereal to scout the cascading tunnel carefully, and they find that the narrow and winding tunnel is completely unoccupied other than by beetles and rats. No ghouls, no ghosts, no wraiths – nothing.

A small dwarven guardhouse deep within the difficult passage seems to be abandoned as well. Tao uses her helm to double-check, and the group concludes that it seems safe to pass. The passage is a bit difficult – horribly claustrophobic for those who don’t like tight spaces – but uneventful. Soon the entire company is safely on the other side of The Narrows and headed down an uneven, dank passage towards the dwarven outpost of Mridsgate.

“Shhh! Did you hear that?” Nolin holds up his hand in caution. The company slows and stops.

“What?” Mara asks. All she hears is the ever-present trickle of water, her own heartbeat, and the heartbeat of her warhorse Luminor.

“Drums,” answers Nolin. “Very distant. Let’s get moving.”

Several hours later the passageway dead-ends in a solid wall. “Rubbish,” says TomTom. "It’s dwarven make. See? The outlines of the door in the stone are right here… and here.” He looks for a keyhole on this side of the door, but doesn’t find one.

Tao concentrates, touching her helm and focusing its power. “There’s a dwarf in there,” she reports. “He’s asleep, and looks exhausted. The door is doubly locked and barred. He’s got a few weapons as well.”

“We can knock down the door,” someone suggests.

“Hmmph,” snorts Nolin. He casts detect thoughts while Mara and Malachite simultaneously try to detect evil and undead. No one gets anything; apparently, either the dwarf is dead or the stone door is especially thick. As a result, Nolin knocks on the door.

“That woke him up,” reports Tao. She’s interrupted as a hitherto undetected peephole rasps open.

“Who’s there?” asks a rusty, strained voice. “Who are ye?”

“Friends,” answers Nolin in dwarvish. “We’ve come from the surface to help your folk.” The dwarf is silent for a few seconds, processing the answer. He finally responds.

“From the surface? Stick yer hand through this slot.”

“Don’t do it!” someone whispers.

“Don’t be silly,” says Nolin, and pushes his hand into the dark rectangular peephole. He feels something touching his skin.

“Yer flesh is warm! Yer alive!” comes the dwarf’s muffled voice, followed by the clanging of iron bars bouncing off of stone. A minute later, the heavy stone door swings open, and the tired dwarf looks out over the group. “Where’s the rest of ye?” he asks in confusion, trying not to sound disappointed.

“This is it,” says Nolin. “But we’re really good at fighting undead.”

The dwarf shakes his tired head. “I sure hope so. When they ordered me up here, the ghouls had camped outside of the walls, screaming and smelling. Morale was bad; they had a few of our dead from Mrid with them.” The dwarf shudders involuntarily. “That was yesterday. They might have already fallen, I dunno, but I don’t think so; no refugees yet up the tunnel. Can ye go and help?”

“That’s what we’re here for,” answers Tao. The dwarf fishes in his belt pouch.

“Then here’s a key to the back gate,” he explains, quickly handing over a heavy iron key that TomTom eagerly grabs. “When you go through it, turn right, then right again. That’ll lead ye to the courtyard. If ye go straight, ye’ll end up in the outpost proper. I wish I was going with ye… but I have me orders. Moradin speed ye!”

On the other side of the guard room, the rhythmic beat of the drums is much louder; the faint noise throbs, echoing deceptively up the stone passageways. Once they hear a bugle blast as well, and the tired group trots even faster over the uneven ground. At long last they reach the back gate, and TomTom opens the door without effort. There is no guard there, and the heroes run through echoing corridors as they race for the combat. They know they’re close because they can hear it now; screams and howls, chanting and the clash of metal on metal. One last corner, hearts pounding and breath rasping in their chests, and they burst out into a small gatehouse overlooking the courtyard. Anxiously peering through the arrow slits, the Defenders look out into a vision of Hell.

To be continued….

 

[ForceUser@Home]

When I read that last line I pictured the Defenders hunkering down on a high wooden catwalk, watching a rippling horde of grey beings undulate in a fiery light.

*shivers*

It reads like a good movie.

 

[KidCthulhu]

Anxiously peering through the arrow slits, the Defenders look out into a vision of Hell.

To be continued….

Ah, but what Pkitty hasn't told you is whose version of hell it is. What the Defenders are currently seeing is Nolin's version of hell. The plain is littered with countless karioke machines, each manned by a squadron of drunken louts singing off key and forgetting the words. Behind the drunken karioke shock troops come rank on rank of angry husband cavalry backed up by the the shrill pregnant girlfriend rocket troops. All commanded by General Hairloss Potbelly, the middle aged lothario.

Shudder.

 

[Piratecat]

• For folks who are curious, go fetch your copy of The Stronghold Builders Guidebook from WotC, and flip to the sample dwarven outpost near the back of the book. I used this map for Mridsgate. The Defenders came in the back (on the far right of the map) and ran down the corridor to the easternmost guardhouse overlooking the courtyard. Incidentally, there is nothing more fun than taking a jar of pennies, dumping them on your battlemap, and saying “Here is your enemy….”

The dwarven outpost of Mridsgate is normally close to impregnable, so long as it’s manned by enough dwarves and not facing any truly powerful magic. It’s been crafted by the finest dwarven engineers, designed to withstand spells and armies, engineered to let the dwarves kill their foes without taking any casualties of their own.

The ghouls have breached it.

As the Defenders look out, they can feel palpable evil seeping into their veins. Vision is obscured by clouds of greasy smoke that drift across the courtyard, but even with limited sight it’s clear that the dwarves won’t stand for long. A single breach in the wall has allowed more than a hundred orcish and goblinoid ghouls access into the inner courtyard, scuttling up and over the wreckage of the wall. The first undead through fell like hewn trees before the dwarven soldiers, but the ghouls just keep coming and coming, often using the paralyzed bodies of living dwarves as shields – and field rations – as they push their way forward. The Defenders of Daybreak quickly realize that at the moment the odds are about even, and every second makes the odds worse and worse for the dwarves.

Nolin casts mass haste, and Agar opens the door to the gatehouse and steps out of the way. The other heroes run past him along the narrow wall platform or down into the surging, screaming melee below. Tao pauses at the door, looks down in revolted anger, and turns undead. She feels the power of Galanna surge through her with the same force that drives a tree root through rock, and three – only three! – undead explode into dust beneath her. Worried, she casts flame strike into the ghoulish line, and is somewhat more rewarded to see charred, twitching carcasses after her pillar of fire disappears. Even there, however, the holy energy seems to be somewhat subdued.

Agar has arcane sight up, and sees what caused it. “It’s that wall!” he yells over the cacophony of gurgling undead and ripping flesh. “It has unhallow cast on it, along with some spell that ruins morale! It’s suppressing holy energy!” Velendo’s head snaps up.

“What?” he asks in shocked disbelief. “WHAT! Those… those bastards had the nerve to unhallow a WALL?” His face narrows to an angry grimace. “I don’t think so.” Pushing his way through the door, he steps out on the wall, and he immediately feels the cloying foulness trying to worm its way into his soul... feelings of hopelessness, of surrender, of defeat. Defiant, Velendo stands on the unhallowed wall, and heedless of the ghouls around him he raises his voice in a prayer to The Wallbuilder. Then Velendo’s hands slap down onto the mortared stone, and his dispel evil reverberates throughout the bastion.

There is a bright flash, a sound something like a gong, and the insidious sense of evil simply disappears.

“Hah!” shouts Velendo triumphantly, his old voice cracking. “Defile a WALL, will you?” He turns and casts positive wall directly into the breech to his left. The space instantly fills with sparkling yellow energy. A ghoul finds out the hard way what it does when it scuttles through, hunger in its rotting orcish eyes, and falls into a pile of steaming bones on the far side. “Nothing’s going through there,” mutters Velendo in a pleased tone.

As soon as the unhallow is gone, the rest of the Defenders work to clear the courtyard. Malachite runs carefully along the ledge, finally unleashing a positive energy burst for maximal effect. Luminor quickly solidifying beside her from his gaseous form, Mara leaps down and begins to lay about her with her holy mace. The ghouls which surround her are still smoking from Malachite’s attack, and they leap at the beautiful paladin with a ferocity born of desperation. Blond hair flying, Mara slams her shield against an encroaching ghoul and swings Lightbinder into its stomach with a crackling burst of light. The undead hobgoblin dissolves like tissue paper under her blow, and she spins to continue sweeping her mace around her. Every single ghoul she hits is burst into two, and within a few seconds there are no enemies within 5 ft. of her. “Luminor!” she calls, and her horse coalesces into flesh in time for her to mount.

Near her, Galthia spins his quarterstaff of disruption with perfect precision, dropping two ghouls and blasting two more into golden dust. Galthia’s eyes dance, but he never smiles.

Up in the guard chamber, Nolin opens up with two fireballs in a perfect spread pattern, catching the ghouls without hurting any dwarves, and the Defenders of Daybreak maneuver (or gallop) through the courtyard cutting down the injured ghouls. The dwarves, now regrouped, join in the fight, and very quickly there are few ghouls let in the courtyard to fight. Twitching limbs and crawling maggots abound, but no ghoul who crossed the breached wall still stands.

“Watch out for a leader!” calls Nolin. “There will be someone giving them orders!”

From his vantage point atop the wall, Velendo and Nolin suddenly catch a glimpse of something disturbing through the drifting smoke. A squat ghoul shambles forward into view… a ghoul with glowing red eyes, like Kellharin’s when he held his parley the day before. “You showed up a little before I expected,” he admits. “If you’re sure we can’t be friends….?” Then the ghoul’s mouth opens impossibly wide, and hideous syllables issue forth from it, infernal words that no man should know. The ghoul finishes the spell as it holds something over its head, smiles sublimely, and then his head explodes. The body topples backwards, whatever he was holding skittering a few feet away.

“His head exploded!” says Nolin in surprise. Then Agar points, and Nolin sees the hideous rip in reality that has opened up above where Kellharin was standing. It squirms, twists, and ruptures open into a circular inferno of fire and brimstone.

Out from the gate slithers a 12 foot tall serpent creature with a woman’s body and a woman’s face. Coiled, hellish armor adorns her otherwise naked chest, and six scimitar sheaths line her scaly flanks. Her eyes catch Velendo’s, and they look to him like burning coals.

“Kill everyone in the fortress?” The demon’s voice sounds like dragon scales dragged across stone. She sounds amused. “I accept.”

To be continued….