D&D 4E Running Commentary on Rel's 4e Campaign (Complete 8/2/10)
- Thread starter Rel
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Rel
Liquid Awesome
Just a notification that I'm moving this thread to the 4e discussion forum because of the reorganization of the forums a while back. Under the current setup of the forums I think this is the most appropriate place for it.
As for updating I had planned to yesterday but found suddenly that I was in the position of kicking off my next (short, Savage Worlds: Deadlands) campaign last night and needed to get ready for that in a hurry. I'm going to go ahead and do an update for this one today in just a little while though.
As for updating I had planned to yesterday but found suddenly that I was in the position of kicking off my next (short, Savage Worlds: Deadlands) campaign last night and needed to get ready for that in a hurry. I'm going to go ahead and do an update for this one today in just a little while though.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
The journey onward to Old Karak Tor had them stop in at the Tree of Life atop the plateau that held the Prison Mines of Pelor. Although they had available the quicker means of transport in the Sanctuary/Steelslicer combo they wanted to use it as little as possible for now. Nobody felt comfortable being inside it with the light from the void of the Place Between Places shining in and inducing insanity on any who beheld it.
At the Tree of Life Mialain performed a ceremony to officially ordain Llyra as the Priestess of Melora that she had become. They also took the time to pick some of the fruit that could help sustain them if finding food on their journey became a problem. Steelslicer roamed around a bit sniffing at the place she'd been prisoner for many years. They did not linger long however before continuing their journey.
Descending into the Mist they arrived at the River Gate of Old Karak Tor where the collection of dragon bones there held the Mist at bay. Zanne and Mialain had concocted a plan for how to move the dragon bones in large quantity. While Steelslicer, Astavian and Eshik kept watch for any Mist Demons the ladies would perform the ritual that they had copied from the walls of the cave/lair of Baelthrax the Blue Dragon. It had been one of the steps for creating his Dracotaur minions but the important thing to the party was that it animated dragon bones.
Unfortunately they had barely gotten started when the bow of an Arcanon Confederacy Flying Ship loomed out of the Mist and attacked. The Guildmasters aboard began to hurl magic at the PC's in the form of Lightning and Fire. This covered the assault by groups of their Bugbear minions who attacked with their battle axes. Some of these were magically Enlarged by the wizards of the Arcanon Confederacy and packed quite a wallop. Once the PC's were tied down with that assault they were beset by Ice Demons summoned by the Guildmasters!
These Ice Demons were soon identified as a major threat as they had the ability to swoop in and grapple the PC's, engulfing them in a prison of ice. This held the PC motionless and subjected them to crippling pain from the stabbing cold.
Zanne hurled horrible magics at the decks of the ships, ultimately robbing one of so much of its crew that Mialain was able to hurl it into the side of the plateau with her control of the winds. Astavian and Eshik hacked their way through the horde of Bugbears and attacked the Ice Demons whenever they could. Steelslicer swooped among the ships slashing at the crew with tooth and claw.
Finally realizing that they had to destroy the summoning circles that the Guildmasters were using to control the Ice Demons, Eshik flew up to the deck of the ship and began hacking at the magical inscription. Astavian was there to aid him thanks to Steelslicer gripping him by the armor and dropping him on deck at Eshik's command. Zanne kept the wizards on their toes with her area effect spells like Stinking Cloud and the Hunger of Hadar while Mialain and Llyra were forced to cast one healing spell after another simply to keep their allies standing.
At long last the circles were destroyed and the PC's were able to mop up the remaining Arcanon Confederacy mages, crashing the other Flying Ship in the process. It was a hard fought battle but they could not spend more than a few minutes resting afterward. They hurried to complete the ritual before any more AC forces showed up. Luckily nothing else bothered them and after successful completion of the ritual they had created three "Bone Golems". These were placed inside the Sanctuary for later use.
They then set a course for Opkhar and the lair of the Dweller.
********
I can't really do this battle justice because many of the details are forgotten. But I can tell you that it was one of the most hard fought, and at times frustrating, battles of the entire campaign. The combination of forces I sent against them was brutal.
The Guildmasters were based on the Sons of Mercy Wizards (with Fireball replacing their Thunderlance power) and those Icy Rays that immobilized the target were simply devastating in combination with the Ice Prison ability of the "Ice Demons" which were just renamed Ice Gargoyles. That combo kept half the party immobilized/imprisoned for a good chunk of the combat. Honestly it was so brutally effective that it was bordering on un-fun.
But hey, I didn't get my rep as a Rat Bastard for nothing and I have to imagine that the players all felt a sense of accomplishment when they finally defeated the last of those foes. I seem to recall that some of them threw dice at me.
I will say that one thing I liked about this battle was that it let me have them use the allies they had earned. Steelslicer and Llyra were both instrumental in them surviving this battle. Also I think it cut the pain of having your character Ice Prison-ed just a little if you had some allies around that you could help to direct the actions of.
Going back to something mentioned earlier, there was more "tying in old threads" going on here. They yet again visited the first, and most important, religious site that Mialain had established for Melora. And it also happened to be where they met, fought (with Zanne dying in the process) and ultimately redeemed Steelslicer. And later of course they got to use the ritual for animating dragon bones that I'd been anticipating they might use for this purpose for a LONG time. So that was cool.
At the Tree of Life Mialain performed a ceremony to officially ordain Llyra as the Priestess of Melora that she had become. They also took the time to pick some of the fruit that could help sustain them if finding food on their journey became a problem. Steelslicer roamed around a bit sniffing at the place she'd been prisoner for many years. They did not linger long however before continuing their journey.
Descending into the Mist they arrived at the River Gate of Old Karak Tor where the collection of dragon bones there held the Mist at bay. Zanne and Mialain had concocted a plan for how to move the dragon bones in large quantity. While Steelslicer, Astavian and Eshik kept watch for any Mist Demons the ladies would perform the ritual that they had copied from the walls of the cave/lair of Baelthrax the Blue Dragon. It had been one of the steps for creating his Dracotaur minions but the important thing to the party was that it animated dragon bones.
Unfortunately they had barely gotten started when the bow of an Arcanon Confederacy Flying Ship loomed out of the Mist and attacked. The Guildmasters aboard began to hurl magic at the PC's in the form of Lightning and Fire. This covered the assault by groups of their Bugbear minions who attacked with their battle axes. Some of these were magically Enlarged by the wizards of the Arcanon Confederacy and packed quite a wallop. Once the PC's were tied down with that assault they were beset by Ice Demons summoned by the Guildmasters!
These Ice Demons were soon identified as a major threat as they had the ability to swoop in and grapple the PC's, engulfing them in a prison of ice. This held the PC motionless and subjected them to crippling pain from the stabbing cold.
Zanne hurled horrible magics at the decks of the ships, ultimately robbing one of so much of its crew that Mialain was able to hurl it into the side of the plateau with her control of the winds. Astavian and Eshik hacked their way through the horde of Bugbears and attacked the Ice Demons whenever they could. Steelslicer swooped among the ships slashing at the crew with tooth and claw.
Finally realizing that they had to destroy the summoning circles that the Guildmasters were using to control the Ice Demons, Eshik flew up to the deck of the ship and began hacking at the magical inscription. Astavian was there to aid him thanks to Steelslicer gripping him by the armor and dropping him on deck at Eshik's command. Zanne kept the wizards on their toes with her area effect spells like Stinking Cloud and the Hunger of Hadar while Mialain and Llyra were forced to cast one healing spell after another simply to keep their allies standing.
At long last the circles were destroyed and the PC's were able to mop up the remaining Arcanon Confederacy mages, crashing the other Flying Ship in the process. It was a hard fought battle but they could not spend more than a few minutes resting afterward. They hurried to complete the ritual before any more AC forces showed up. Luckily nothing else bothered them and after successful completion of the ritual they had created three "Bone Golems". These were placed inside the Sanctuary for later use.
They then set a course for Opkhar and the lair of the Dweller.
********
I can't really do this battle justice because many of the details are forgotten. But I can tell you that it was one of the most hard fought, and at times frustrating, battles of the entire campaign. The combination of forces I sent against them was brutal.
The Guildmasters were based on the Sons of Mercy Wizards (with Fireball replacing their Thunderlance power) and those Icy Rays that immobilized the target were simply devastating in combination with the Ice Prison ability of the "Ice Demons" which were just renamed Ice Gargoyles. That combo kept half the party immobilized/imprisoned for a good chunk of the combat. Honestly it was so brutally effective that it was bordering on un-fun.
But hey, I didn't get my rep as a Rat Bastard for nothing and I have to imagine that the players all felt a sense of accomplishment when they finally defeated the last of those foes. I seem to recall that some of them threw dice at me.
I will say that one thing I liked about this battle was that it let me have them use the allies they had earned. Steelslicer and Llyra were both instrumental in them surviving this battle. Also I think it cut the pain of having your character Ice Prison-ed just a little if you had some allies around that you could help to direct the actions of.
Going back to something mentioned earlier, there was more "tying in old threads" going on here. They yet again visited the first, and most important, religious site that Mialain had established for Melora. And it also happened to be where they met, fought (with Zanne dying in the process) and ultimately redeemed Steelslicer. And later of course they got to use the ritual for animating dragon bones that I'd been anticipating they might use for this purpose for a LONG time. So that was cool.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Did I ever tell you that you're cute when you're mad?
more pl0x
Hi! I've been reading this campaign avidly for the past two days. I'd love to hear it turns out.
As far as the mechanical analysis is concerned, I've learned a lot from reading both your and Piratecat's experiments with skill challenges. I plan to improve countless elements of a currently unfolding diabolical plan to kill my PCs.
As others have said, thank you for the play by play!
- Rob
Hi! I've been reading this campaign avidly for the past two days. I'd love to hear it turns out.
As far as the mechanical analysis is concerned, I've learned a lot from reading both your and Piratecat's experiments with skill challenges. I plan to improve countless elements of a currently unfolding diabolical plan to kill my PCs.
As others have said, thank you for the play by play!
- Rob
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