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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 6891117" data-attributes="member: 6801286">Escape from the Temple of the Three Serpents - part 2After many sessions of mostly role playing, I now got to serve my players several sessions full of combat and lots of action. And my players seemed to love it! Last time our players were stuck down in the Kooghan temple as it was flooding with hot molten lava. The players used a simple bucket lift to ascend to a higher floor. Here they met with a friendly Kooghan wizard who had been battling the minions of Aram Seen the Unseen* for hours. (* Aram Seen the Unseen is a powerful member of the Circle of Azarah, and also a dangerous master of illusions.)The wizard informed the party that he was all out of spells, but he saved one last teleport spell, so he could take three people out of the temple. Mwinji the Splendid, the Kooghan Elder, refused to abandon the players and recommended taking some of the weaker characters out of the temple. The players decided that the wizard should take the wounded priestess, the hostage they had taken, and Chantal (one of their low level crew members). Mwinji removed his robe, to reveal two crossed bandoliers full of flintlock pistols, grenades a Dha-blade and two pepperbox pistols. The elder was armed to the teeth, and I gave one of the players control of him throughout this session.(The teleport was a simple solution from me as a DM to reduce the amount of characters that were crammed onto the map, and to make the combat a bit more manageable. Its not fun to micro manage too many npc's, and a lot of these characters were simply useless and in the way. For the purpose of the combat that was about to follow, I had now worked out the statistics for Mwinji, so he could help the players. He was a level 12 warrior, one level higher than the players, but not overpowered.)[ATTACH]76661[/ATTACH]Among the crumbling platforms, and above a stream of flowing lava, the players did battle with the illusionists and a bunch of ogre cannoneers. I had some fun with illusion spells here, by having the wizards create the illusion that one of the bridges had collapsed. I used dungeon tiles to fill in some of the bridges, so I could also easily remove them if needed.The platform in the middle was high above a huge flow of lava. A drawbridge would have to be lowered to reach the other side, by operating the mechanism in the middle. It would take at least two people, or one really strong person. The two ogre cannoneers were both wielding a light cannon, with a grenade rifle as backup. While they could quickly deal a lot of damage to the ogres, the damage from the light cannon was not something they could easily ignore. Fortunately Bioran was able to charm one of the ogres, and hypnotize one of the wizards with a Hypnotic Pattern spell. Shifter was able to lock one of the ogres and two of the wizards in place, with an Entangle spell. They were curious what was behind the door to the north west. But after feeling just how warm the door was, they figured that opening it was probably not a good idea. Thus they were able to cleverly avoid accidentally releasing the lava flow behind it.There were also three levers, each which opened and closed the hatch behind it. This was an optional way to deal with the lava, in case they opened the door. But they ended up not using it.Captain William Roberts used his ring of the ram to knock one of the wizards straight into the lava, much to the amusement of everyone at the table. Unfortunately the magical possessions of the wizard caused a violent reaction in the lava, and angered one of the protectors of the mountain; A huge fire elemental. But the players were clever enough to use their diplomacy and religious knowledge to convince the elemental that they were not a threat.(The players remarked that this was a relatively easy battle for them. Little did they know that this was simply a small fight to soften them up, and the real battle was about to follow. I wanted them to be familiar with what illusionists could do. I wanted them to be ready for improved invisibility spells, and devious use of Persistent Image. This is btw one of the first dungeons in the campaign that does not revolve around water.)[ATTACH]76662[/ATTACH]The players climbed the stairs and now found themselves back on the first floor of the temple. They could go forth towards the main hall and entrance, but they noticed that the vault had been breached, which is where the Kooghans kept all their riches. Curiosity got the better of them, so they went into the vault. Boss battle![ATTACH]76660[/ATTACH]So in this battle we had:Player - Captain William Roberts, human leader of the partyPlayer - Bioran, elf abjurant championPlayer - Ché, half-elf clericPlayer - Shifter, human druidNpc - Sophie, fighter and crew member (controlled by Shifter)Npc - Amaziah, cleric and crew member (controlled by Ché)Npc - Diksnor, gunslinger and cohort (controlled by William Roberts with his leadership feat)Npc - Mwinji the Splendid, Kooghan Elder and story character (controlled by Bioran)Summoned animal - Dire WolfAgainst:Aram Seen the Unseen, powerful CR14 illusionistSimulacrum, created by Aram Seen the Unseen2 x Ogre Cannoneers, CR7, wielding light cannons and grenade rifles4 x Unseen Wizards, CR10, specialized in illusions and mind affecting spells1 Golden Serpent, CR10, animal with construct traits, who attacks both partiesThey found themselves inside a massive treasure room. Piles of gold were all over the place, along with countless treasure chests. Aram Seen the Unseen, two ogres and a bunch of wizards, were in the middle of a fight with a huge Golden Serpent. The players were surprised to find that the Golden Serpent that was mentioned before, actually existed. Mwinji quickly warned the players not to touch any of the gold, or they would anger the guardian. The Golden Serpent had been angered, and thus would not be able to tell friend from foe. They quickly found out just how true this was. Even stepping on the gold coins was enough to draw the attention from the Golden Serpent. The Golden Serpent was an animal with construct traits. It could deliver a shocking bite attack, and then automatically grapple and crush its victim. The amount of damage this thing could do in one round could easily kill, (-and almost did kill) several of the players, if it weren't for Bioran's Freedom of Movement spells throughout the battle, to escape the grapple.The players decided to use stealth and surprise, and so Bioran cast a mass invisibility and haste on the party.Best moment of the session:The rest of the battleCaptain William Roberts used his harpoon with a rope to strike Aram Seen the Unseen, and pull him down into the coins below. Thus providing a tasty distraction for the Golden Serpent. But I figured that such a clever villain would quickly realize when a cause is lost. And so I had him teleport to safety, as any villain with a sense of self preservation would. My players agreed that this made sense, and they were secretly kind of happy that he lived to fight them some other day.Meanwhile the other Unseen Wizards were having fun with Dominate, Confusion and Persistent Image spells. They created the illusion of a Huge Fire Elemental to scare the hell out of anyone that failed their disbelieve check, and many did. But perhaps the cruelest thing that I did, was have a wizard create the illusion of golden necklaces around William Roberts' neck, and his pockets all stuffed with coins and gems. This immediately angered the Golden Serpent, and he attacked the poor captain, grappled him, and reduced him to 4 hit points instantly. Talk about a clever use of illusion spells! Yes, I am an evil DM. Another well placed confusion spell turned their cohort Diksnor against them. And this npc could do a lot of damage! I also had the wizards cast improved invisibility, and Mirror Image, to confuse the players. Fortunately Bioran was able to use Glitter Dust to reveal all of the invisible wizards, and blind some of them. I have rarely seen so much good use of Glitter Dust.In the end the players were victorious, but quite wounded, and almost all out of spells. They decided not to kill the Golden Serpent, but make a run for it.(I think when a battle is exciting, and the players are victorious, yet several are severely wounded, that the battle was well balanced. Initially I was a bit worried about the difficulty, since the first battle went really well for them. But if you throw a powerful foe such as the Golden Serpent in the mix, it can quickly turn things around. Plus if more of the Dominate spells had succeeded, the wizards could have easily decimated the party. It is hard to balance a high level battle when lots of spells are involved.)Escaping the vaultThe players fled the vault, after killing all the other foes. The Golden Serpent did not follow them outside the vault. They then proceeded to the entrance of the temple, which had been collapsed. It would take a lot of spells to get rid of all the debris, and they were pretty exhausted. The only way out now, would be to do the trial of the fire serpent!The trial of the fire serpent is a test that all young aspiring Kooghan captains must overcome. Mwinji himself had done it once as a young man. Once you make your way through the entire test, all you need to do is take a leap off the cliff of the island, and survive. Right now the test is their only way out. So Captain William Roberts got his wish after all.As they arrived at the test, they found themselves in a large underground chamber. The bottom of the chamber was filled with lava, and several pillars would have to be jumped on, to hop over to various pressure plates, which would then open a portcullis to the next room of the test. Obviously the lava wasn't always there, so the test was now a lot harder. They would need to work together, and get a person on each pressure plate, to open the gate. (I may need to add a couple of extra factors to this test, to prevent them from trivializing it entirely with spider climb and shape shifting. An anti-magic field is an obvious choice to prevent spell use. And maybe hot air currents can limit how far the Druid is able to fly in his animal form. I don't want to take away his ability for this, because otherwise what would be the point? But I don't want him to carry all the players over one by one on his back. So I'll need to come up with something that seems fair, and yet retains some of the challenge.)We ended on this cliffhanger, and I gave them their experience rewards. I gave them full exp for overcoming the fire elemental and golden serpent, even if they did not kill these foes. We spend the rest of the evening leveling their characters, and talking about the campaign. They are now level 12, and get to choose from lots of interesting feats and prestige classes. I'm a bit cautious what I allow in my campaign, but my players always ask me for permission first. They are aware that some stuff in 3rd edition is blatantly overpowered, so we try to keep things fair and fun for everyone.(Quick side note, my players are huge fans of these huge printed maps that I make. They are great for placing miniatures.)</blockquote>

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