Andrew Moreton
Adventurer
Just noticed there is no map of Axis Island showing were the Ritual site is.
ZEITGEIST The affirmative action racial recruitment team of the RHC
Andrew Moreton
Adventurer
The final battle is done. One more session to wrap up and then we are finished. Write up of the finale soon.
Andrew Moreton
Adventurer
We start with Queen Nevla and the angelic Ashima-Shimtu locked in an embrace
(aside do NOT google female angel in chains unless you want a lot of NSFW Images)
Manuel is distracted by the realisation that Ashima-Shimtu has learned the first person pronoun, but William and Ulvaar notice something strange happening
One of the Gnolls behind Pemberton turns Fuzzy then changes his shape to that of a Bewhiskered Red Kobold. Who launched into his speech
“Reneagade Tyrants should consider that others may be able to hijack their replicant links Fortunatly it is I El Extrano who has found this weakness and not your slow witted enemies. The box labelled bomb is your bedchamber is not an assasination attempt but a demonstration of kobold ingenuity.
No Fuming dragons should show patience. I am reporting from my study of the Ob forces on Axis Island. My agents and I have assembled a network of spying Purple frogs who arrived here from Mojang prior to the ritual , they have formed a hive mind and while we were not able to win them over with culinary conviction we revealed tp them the horrors of Danoran cuisine and they have done good work for us
Once our Canoodeling monarch and Incendiary capitalist are ready I will present their findings to you"
Catching the performance Manuel resists the temptation to applaud, A few minutes later Nevla and Ashima-Shimtu are paying attention again and their briefing on the defenses of Axis island begins
The Harbour fort has been reinforced with Lantern cannon and heavy gun batteries both for anti-shipping and anti-dragon use, and smaller batterries of guns have been set up around the coast one of which will be in the way of the airships approaching the Ritual site, The island is defended by Drakran wards but Kiov Hetman helped design them and can defeat their protections but except for a very stealthy approach they will still warn of intruders.
The Ritual site itself is protected by a pair of Lantern cannon turrets each surrouned by Anti-Dragon cannon on either side of the ritual site, outside of the range of the tendril of planar energy. Overhead six airships patrol one Squadron revolution, Liberte and Equality are commanded by Han the other 3 Ajax, Achilles and Agamenmon are under the command of Lya. On the ground three detchments of troops patrol
Danoran troops , a Battallion of Steam Tanks supported by shotgun armed tankrider suicide troops desperate to prove their value to society
Drakran Troops Tripod combat walkers with small lantern cannon and Ragnorak commando's in steam suits with maxim guns defending the forts, they have Frost Giant Auxiliaries with them
Beran troops. the Storm Bulls and famed Beran mercenary group of Kinetic Knight minotaurs wielding the power of their ancestor
A quick plan is hatched the SEAL team and some Kobold commando's will take down the coastal fortification , while the cloud bombers distract the main fortress. Then Cula and the Vekeshi along with most of the Pala monks and the last of El Extrano's troops will take out the lantern cannon at the Ritual site.
Tzertse will deal with the Frost giants they will follow him and change sides.
The assorted aerial units lead by Pemberton and his dragon fliers will then attack the other ground forces as necessary to keep them from intefering in the ritual, El Kevin will lead the dragon fliers while Pembertons daughter has been grounded in a locked room to make sure she does not join this fight.
The team asks questions and discovers that Kasavarina is onboard Lya's flagship and that there have been several arguements between Lya , Han and Nicodemus which suggests to them that Lya is not entirely onboard with the current Ob plan. They also discover that a Frog overheard an arguement about the use of Regulus between Nic and Han from which they conclude Nic is going with the Clockwork plan, they consider this insane as it is morally wrong and they fear that Outsiders and beings from other planets in the system would not be bound into the script and would be free to wreak Havoc.
They plan to sneak in and meet with Lya somehow , persuade her to defect and then have her try and convince Han to stand down. While they are debating this Nevla hits on the idea of using Share Memory to share their knowledge of all of Nic's questionable actions including ordering the destruction of Cherage and other cities, then decides that rather than just doing that with Han or Lya they should go big and use her remaining Miracle spell to share the memories with all of the people on Axis island to give them a real choice about standing with the Ob. They also hope this will mean less fighting with the Ob forces and Heroes should try to avoid killing people, and this gives a real chance to persuade the rank and file troops to stop fighting.
Manuel will sneak onto the island under a Mind Blank cast by Athrylla with the rest of the team inside the Absurdist web, when he is hidden in the forest beneath the Ajax he will take Nevla out of the web and she will use a spell to move them and the web onto it's bridge. There they will secure the loyalty of Lya and Kasavarina before trying the Miracle to win over everyone else.
Part 2 Endgame the Battle of the Ritual coming after I debug an SSIS Package
(aside do NOT google female angel in chains unless you want a lot of NSFW Images)
Manuel is distracted by the realisation that Ashima-Shimtu has learned the first person pronoun, but William and Ulvaar notice something strange happening
One of the Gnolls behind Pemberton turns Fuzzy then changes his shape to that of a Bewhiskered Red Kobold. Who launched into his speech
“Reneagade Tyrants should consider that others may be able to hijack their replicant links Fortunatly it is I El Extrano who has found this weakness and not your slow witted enemies. The box labelled bomb is your bedchamber is not an assasination attempt but a demonstration of kobold ingenuity.
No Fuming dragons should show patience. I am reporting from my study of the Ob forces on Axis Island. My agents and I have assembled a network of spying Purple frogs who arrived here from Mojang prior to the ritual , they have formed a hive mind and while we were not able to win them over with culinary conviction we revealed tp them the horrors of Danoran cuisine and they have done good work for us
Once our Canoodeling monarch and Incendiary capitalist are ready I will present their findings to you"
Catching the performance Manuel resists the temptation to applaud, A few minutes later Nevla and Ashima-Shimtu are paying attention again and their briefing on the defenses of Axis island begins
The Harbour fort has been reinforced with Lantern cannon and heavy gun batteries both for anti-shipping and anti-dragon use, and smaller batterries of guns have been set up around the coast one of which will be in the way of the airships approaching the Ritual site, The island is defended by Drakran wards but Kiov Hetman helped design them and can defeat their protections but except for a very stealthy approach they will still warn of intruders.
The Ritual site itself is protected by a pair of Lantern cannon turrets each surrouned by Anti-Dragon cannon on either side of the ritual site, outside of the range of the tendril of planar energy. Overhead six airships patrol one Squadron revolution, Liberte and Equality are commanded by Han the other 3 Ajax, Achilles and Agamenmon are under the command of Lya. On the ground three detchments of troops patrol
Danoran troops , a Battallion of Steam Tanks supported by shotgun armed tankrider suicide troops desperate to prove their value to society
Drakran Troops Tripod combat walkers with small lantern cannon and Ragnorak commando's in steam suits with maxim guns defending the forts, they have Frost Giant Auxiliaries with them
Beran troops. the Storm Bulls and famed Beran mercenary group of Kinetic Knight minotaurs wielding the power of their ancestor
A quick plan is hatched the SEAL team and some Kobold commando's will take down the coastal fortification , while the cloud bombers distract the main fortress. Then Cula and the Vekeshi along with most of the Pala monks and the last of El Extrano's troops will take out the lantern cannon at the Ritual site.
Tzertse will deal with the Frost giants they will follow him and change sides.
The assorted aerial units lead by Pemberton and his dragon fliers will then attack the other ground forces as necessary to keep them from intefering in the ritual, El Kevin will lead the dragon fliers while Pembertons daughter has been grounded in a locked room to make sure she does not join this fight.
The team asks questions and discovers that Kasavarina is onboard Lya's flagship and that there have been several arguements between Lya , Han and Nicodemus which suggests to them that Lya is not entirely onboard with the current Ob plan. They also discover that a Frog overheard an arguement about the use of Regulus between Nic and Han from which they conclude Nic is going with the Clockwork plan, they consider this insane as it is morally wrong and they fear that Outsiders and beings from other planets in the system would not be bound into the script and would be free to wreak Havoc.
They plan to sneak in and meet with Lya somehow , persuade her to defect and then have her try and convince Han to stand down. While they are debating this Nevla hits on the idea of using Share Memory to share their knowledge of all of Nic's questionable actions including ordering the destruction of Cherage and other cities, then decides that rather than just doing that with Han or Lya they should go big and use her remaining Miracle spell to share the memories with all of the people on Axis island to give them a real choice about standing with the Ob. They also hope this will mean less fighting with the Ob forces and Heroes should try to avoid killing people, and this gives a real chance to persuade the rank and file troops to stop fighting.
Manuel will sneak onto the island under a Mind Blank cast by Athrylla with the rest of the team inside the Absurdist web, when he is hidden in the forest beneath the Ajax he will take Nevla out of the web and she will use a spell to move them and the web onto it's bridge. There they will secure the loyalty of Lya and Kasavarina before trying the Miracle to win over everyone else.
Part 2 Endgame the Battle of the Ritual coming after I debug an SSIS Package
Andrew Moreton
Adventurer
Before starting their was one last ally who had to choose her path, Ashima-Shimtu was torn she offered to stay and fight alongside Nevla but also thought that she could be of value seeking out Heavenly allies to bring back to help the team. Nevla decided she should go and try to bring back allies, and Nevla would be here when she got back with a final embrace Ashima-Shimtu planeshifted to find allies.
Then Manuel Master of the night took advantage of the world being in perpetual night and crept onto Axis Island, with a stealth total ovr 80 nothing on the island could percieve him , not even the ground beneath his feet noticed his passage. Soon he was beneath the Ajax and Nevla was removed from the Web and used a Spiralling Ascent spell to appear on the bridge of the Ajax alongside Manuel. On the bridge where Lya and Kasavarina, some of the crew started to produce weapons but Lya gestured for them to stand down, she asked why Nevla was here and Nevla explained they had a plan to complete the ritual and thought that Nic was going to implement some sort of crazy Watchmaker solution, after a moments pause Lya agreed that she could no longer follow Nicodemus the Ob had turned much darker than the group she had supported. Kasavarina stepped forward and breifly hugged the reincarnation of her daugher, Manuel noticed she was pocketing the components for her Chain lightning spells as she did so , apparently if Lya had not backed Nevla she had been ready to help.
As Lya agreed to aid them Nicodemus awoke Bourne
“Borne my boy,” Nicodemus says, and his voice is heard by everyone in the
entire world. “We were sabotaged, but you were perfect, indomitable. Before you
fell, you nearly completed our grand design.
“The world we created truly is better, thanks to you, but outside forces were able to move against us.
I have restored you, son. I know you are confused and have questions, but you have
to trust me. Together, you and I, we’ll finish this ritual and set it all right. Do you understand, Borne?”
The colossus turns his head to scan the entire horizon. He pauses at the
sight of the Gyre, but only a moment passes before he narrows his eyes in a
confident smile.
“Guide me, father.”
The players were dismayed by this but they had a contingency plan, Grappa was on the Coaltongue, the prime philospher of the Sons of Pala was on standby and they had Bourne's mother Kasavarina onside. They had to at least persuade Bourne to stand aside or help because they needed one of their ships to move the seal and it could not do so while avoiding Bourne.
Nevla cast her Miracle including Bourne in the targets, she carefully crafted the stream on memories to show how Nicodemus was responsible for the state of the world, his order to destroy cities, his murder of fellow conspirators, his histroy of treacherously decieving Kasavarina everything to show his allies he was a scheming villain no longer the once enlightened philospher he pretended to be, also she shared the groups dream of a better world and freedom for all and asked them to stand aside and let them save the world.
As she did so Kasavarina flew out to hover near Bourne and begged him to join them and build a world worthy of his efforts and sacrifices. Nevla's miracle flowed the new memories into Bourne and he turned to look at Nicodemus "Father is this True"
Nicodemus replied
“Son, don’t listen to them. I made you, and you trust me. It’s
a damned combat, Borne, not time to discuss the nuances of
philosophy. I can hear them, son. Millions of people crying out
for you to save them! We finish this now.”
“Order. Justice. That’s what I’m creating. Selfishness will no
longer destroy what is good when free will is no more. People
will be moral because they’ll have no choice. For a thousand
years, chaos will be no more, and when the watch’s hand winds
down, yeah, then I’ll give these worthless people their freedom
back. But they won’t know suffering. I’ll have been their god,
one who can truly answer their prayers, who won’t have to let
evil into my world. I’m creating heaven, where no man will fear
tyranny. Whatever empty value you place on ‘free will’ pales to
the paradise this world will be.”
Bourne paused then turning his back on his Father he said "Mother , I will aid your allies , let us build a better world"
Han's airships launced white signal rockets the signal for his forces to stand down.
On the ground below there were some brief struggles as Ob loyalists were restrained by their fellows. Nic stood alone
"Fools all of you. You are unworthy of a better world , you have no vision petty squabbles and short sighted goals , I will build a better world You will not stop my, I and my allies will make this world worthy of my efforts"
The players were wandering what allies when ......
Dimensional portals opened up and the Shining legion began to deploy out onto Axis Island Lord Oswyn the magnificent in charge , flanked by Generals Marcus and Grumblejack. Marcus pointed his sword at Ulvaar and announced he had come for Ulvaar's soul (Interestingly Marcus is the former PC of Ulvaar's player).
At this point they linked with their selves from the Gyre and Ulvaar knew who Marcus was and why Marcus hated him.
The former Ob forces began to organise themselves to resist the Legion as the Coaltongue and Queen Nevla arrived to provide fire support accompanied by Pembertons Dragonfliers. Pemberton himself in his true draconic form lead the formation, Lord Kulp and Harkover launched themselves in Draconic form to take positions on his wing. William was heard to say if he gets killed in this fight we'll owe him a ressurection.
William and Manuel headed down to the ritual sight as between them they could manage all the difficult combinations of planar icons, Xambria and Livia Hatfield accompanied them as advisors which got them the maximum bonus for helpers I was allowing. Ulvaar flew off to one side away from everyone else so Marcus and his fear aura would not bother anyone else and challanged Marcus to come and get him. Kasavarina squared off with Nic and Nevla challanded 'Ozy' and moved to attack him, all agreed Oswyn hated disrespect and so fixed his attentions on Nevla.
While the allied force fough the legion Bourne and the ritual team raced to get the ritual completed before the Legion could break past their allies and intefere.
I was running this in an abstract manner strictly speaking it would take several rounds for each Piller to be changed , but that would mean the fights with the enemy commanders would end long before the ritual was done so it was one round of combat per pillar.
Ulvaar and Marcus was a slugging match, Ulvaar had more hit points but Marcus hit harder and the two hammerred away at each other. Nevla hit Ozy with an Implosion spell which failed and in return took a harm and a Destruction spell which hurt her.
Manuel juggled Gloriana, Celestia and Dunkelveiss carefully while Bourne shifted the pillar, as it was reseated three more portals opened from the first emerged the Lifeguard cavalry of Gloriana (In armoured cars), accompanied by the Grenadier guards and some artillery above them was the Gloriana dreadnought HMS Warspite with the magic of the Queen glowing from it. The second portal released three large and powerful Imperial dragons accompanied by a company of Iron Golems and a few Adamantine golems from Celestia. Both of these forces moved to attack the Legion and protect the ongoing ritual, from Dunkelveiss a Single eagle came through carrying Eriana the dwarven bard who moved to encourage her love Ulvaar.
Lya is seen duelling a Pit fiend atop the Ajax , while the Libery burns, the Airships are escorting the Risuri flying battleships which are beset on all sides by flying devils and a dogfight whirls around them as the Dragons and Dragonflyers aid the mighty ships. The ships pummel the Legion ground forces with Silver and Cold-Iron laces shells from their massive main guns.
Round 2
Nevla used a mass Heal on herself, Ulvaar , Marcus and any incidental allies in range. Ozy hit her with more spells and they noticed a female devil coming to his aid, his paramour a Wizard devil of signinfigant power.
Ulvaar and Marcus exhanged blows.
Nicodemus stopped attacking Kasavarina
Nic groans in confusion, “Who are you? Get out of my mind!”
Then his voice changes slightly. “I’m who you should have been. We
opposed the holy war because the hierarchs cared more about victory
than following any sort of moral code. Now you’re just like them, and
just as blind. Our arrogance caused the Malice. You should have been
horrified by what you’d done, but you were too proud to stop fighting.
Well dammit, I’ve spent five centuries with the ghosts of those you
killed. Feel what they lost.”
He stumbles and screams,
snaps free of his confusion. His posture
changes to guarded optimism. Miller, now in control of the ghostly body,
calls to the party. “I have only a moment. For now he’s overwhelmed,
and I’ve ended his link to the sacrament. Quickly, destroy me. I don’t
have time to apologize for it all, but I can help you stop him. Kasavarina I am sorry”
With his defenses down Kasavarina hits him with Chain Lightning and his spirit disperses .
Nevla his hit with wracking ray's which leave her almost helpless.
Manuel finishes the Air Pillar with Hendreiki and Winghome, as the Pillar slides into position he see's a third icon appear and is confused for a moment. Three portals open from the first a flight of Dragons emerges and tears into the Ob Horde, from the second a force of Flying barbaric warriors lead by a women with what looks like a Blazing star on her forehad emerge and attack the flying devils from the second a nearly naked redskinned women riding a castle sized giant Crimson Mutant bat emerges which starts to feast on Devils while the woman casually slaughters any which come in reach. None of the pc's have any idea who these last ones are they did not come from any Gyre plane they remember
Round 3
Nevla heals herself and is hit by more wrackign rays, level drain and the Wizard hits her with a Meteor storm, she is hurt
Kasavarina moves to help her but is attacked by Grumblejack and is unnable to reach her.
Ulvaar and Marcus pound each other, both are hurting
William and Manuel seat the fire pillar , there are no suprises this time Etheax and Wulfendyne are in place. Two giant Airships the size of a town emergy Castle Wulfenberg and Castle Hetrodyne, the second one has more Death Rays than cannon it also cackles maniacally as its guns annihlate devils.
Most of the Danoran airships are down by now, Lya stands atop the Queen Nevla duelling a pair of Pit Fiends
Round 4
-- Too be continued
Then Manuel Master of the night took advantage of the world being in perpetual night and crept onto Axis Island, with a stealth total ovr 80 nothing on the island could percieve him , not even the ground beneath his feet noticed his passage. Soon he was beneath the Ajax and Nevla was removed from the Web and used a Spiralling Ascent spell to appear on the bridge of the Ajax alongside Manuel. On the bridge where Lya and Kasavarina, some of the crew started to produce weapons but Lya gestured for them to stand down, she asked why Nevla was here and Nevla explained they had a plan to complete the ritual and thought that Nic was going to implement some sort of crazy Watchmaker solution, after a moments pause Lya agreed that she could no longer follow Nicodemus the Ob had turned much darker than the group she had supported. Kasavarina stepped forward and breifly hugged the reincarnation of her daugher, Manuel noticed she was pocketing the components for her Chain lightning spells as she did so , apparently if Lya had not backed Nevla she had been ready to help.
As Lya agreed to aid them Nicodemus awoke Bourne
“Borne my boy,” Nicodemus says, and his voice is heard by everyone in the
entire world. “We were sabotaged, but you were perfect, indomitable. Before you
fell, you nearly completed our grand design.
“The world we created truly is better, thanks to you, but outside forces were able to move against us.
I have restored you, son. I know you are confused and have questions, but you have
to trust me. Together, you and I, we’ll finish this ritual and set it all right. Do you understand, Borne?”
The colossus turns his head to scan the entire horizon. He pauses at the
sight of the Gyre, but only a moment passes before he narrows his eyes in a
confident smile.
“Guide me, father.”
The players were dismayed by this but they had a contingency plan, Grappa was on the Coaltongue, the prime philospher of the Sons of Pala was on standby and they had Bourne's mother Kasavarina onside. They had to at least persuade Bourne to stand aside or help because they needed one of their ships to move the seal and it could not do so while avoiding Bourne.
Nevla cast her Miracle including Bourne in the targets, she carefully crafted the stream on memories to show how Nicodemus was responsible for the state of the world, his order to destroy cities, his murder of fellow conspirators, his histroy of treacherously decieving Kasavarina everything to show his allies he was a scheming villain no longer the once enlightened philospher he pretended to be, also she shared the groups dream of a better world and freedom for all and asked them to stand aside and let them save the world.
As she did so Kasavarina flew out to hover near Bourne and begged him to join them and build a world worthy of his efforts and sacrifices. Nevla's miracle flowed the new memories into Bourne and he turned to look at Nicodemus "Father is this True"
Nicodemus replied
“Son, don’t listen to them. I made you, and you trust me. It’s
a damned combat, Borne, not time to discuss the nuances of
philosophy. I can hear them, son. Millions of people crying out
for you to save them! We finish this now.”
“Order. Justice. That’s what I’m creating. Selfishness will no
longer destroy what is good when free will is no more. People
will be moral because they’ll have no choice. For a thousand
years, chaos will be no more, and when the watch’s hand winds
down, yeah, then I’ll give these worthless people their freedom
back. But they won’t know suffering. I’ll have been their god,
one who can truly answer their prayers, who won’t have to let
evil into my world. I’m creating heaven, where no man will fear
tyranny. Whatever empty value you place on ‘free will’ pales to
the paradise this world will be.”
Bourne paused then turning his back on his Father he said "Mother , I will aid your allies , let us build a better world"
Han's airships launced white signal rockets the signal for his forces to stand down.
On the ground below there were some brief struggles as Ob loyalists were restrained by their fellows. Nic stood alone
"Fools all of you. You are unworthy of a better world , you have no vision petty squabbles and short sighted goals , I will build a better world You will not stop my, I and my allies will make this world worthy of my efforts"
The players were wandering what allies when ......
Dimensional portals opened up and the Shining legion began to deploy out onto Axis Island Lord Oswyn the magnificent in charge , flanked by Generals Marcus and Grumblejack. Marcus pointed his sword at Ulvaar and announced he had come for Ulvaar's soul (Interestingly Marcus is the former PC of Ulvaar's player).
At this point they linked with their selves from the Gyre and Ulvaar knew who Marcus was and why Marcus hated him.
The former Ob forces began to organise themselves to resist the Legion as the Coaltongue and Queen Nevla arrived to provide fire support accompanied by Pembertons Dragonfliers. Pemberton himself in his true draconic form lead the formation, Lord Kulp and Harkover launched themselves in Draconic form to take positions on his wing. William was heard to say if he gets killed in this fight we'll owe him a ressurection.
William and Manuel headed down to the ritual sight as between them they could manage all the difficult combinations of planar icons, Xambria and Livia Hatfield accompanied them as advisors which got them the maximum bonus for helpers I was allowing. Ulvaar flew off to one side away from everyone else so Marcus and his fear aura would not bother anyone else and challanged Marcus to come and get him. Kasavarina squared off with Nic and Nevla challanded 'Ozy' and moved to attack him, all agreed Oswyn hated disrespect and so fixed his attentions on Nevla.
While the allied force fough the legion Bourne and the ritual team raced to get the ritual completed before the Legion could break past their allies and intefere.
I was running this in an abstract manner strictly speaking it would take several rounds for each Piller to be changed , but that would mean the fights with the enemy commanders would end long before the ritual was done so it was one round of combat per pillar.
Ulvaar and Marcus was a slugging match, Ulvaar had more hit points but Marcus hit harder and the two hammerred away at each other. Nevla hit Ozy with an Implosion spell which failed and in return took a harm and a Destruction spell which hurt her.
Manuel juggled Gloriana, Celestia and Dunkelveiss carefully while Bourne shifted the pillar, as it was reseated three more portals opened from the first emerged the Lifeguard cavalry of Gloriana (In armoured cars), accompanied by the Grenadier guards and some artillery above them was the Gloriana dreadnought HMS Warspite with the magic of the Queen glowing from it. The second portal released three large and powerful Imperial dragons accompanied by a company of Iron Golems and a few Adamantine golems from Celestia. Both of these forces moved to attack the Legion and protect the ongoing ritual, from Dunkelveiss a Single eagle came through carrying Eriana the dwarven bard who moved to encourage her love Ulvaar.
Lya is seen duelling a Pit fiend atop the Ajax , while the Libery burns, the Airships are escorting the Risuri flying battleships which are beset on all sides by flying devils and a dogfight whirls around them as the Dragons and Dragonflyers aid the mighty ships. The ships pummel the Legion ground forces with Silver and Cold-Iron laces shells from their massive main guns.
Round 2
Nevla used a mass Heal on herself, Ulvaar , Marcus and any incidental allies in range. Ozy hit her with more spells and they noticed a female devil coming to his aid, his paramour a Wizard devil of signinfigant power.
Ulvaar and Marcus exhanged blows.
Nicodemus stopped attacking Kasavarina
Nic groans in confusion, “Who are you? Get out of my mind!”
Then his voice changes slightly. “I’m who you should have been. We
opposed the holy war because the hierarchs cared more about victory
than following any sort of moral code. Now you’re just like them, and
just as blind. Our arrogance caused the Malice. You should have been
horrified by what you’d done, but you were too proud to stop fighting.
Well dammit, I’ve spent five centuries with the ghosts of those you
killed. Feel what they lost.”
He stumbles and screams,
snaps free of his confusion. His posture
changes to guarded optimism. Miller, now in control of the ghostly body,
calls to the party. “I have only a moment. For now he’s overwhelmed,
and I’ve ended his link to the sacrament. Quickly, destroy me. I don’t
have time to apologize for it all, but I can help you stop him. Kasavarina I am sorry”
With his defenses down Kasavarina hits him with Chain Lightning and his spirit disperses .
Nevla his hit with wracking ray's which leave her almost helpless.
Manuel finishes the Air Pillar with Hendreiki and Winghome, as the Pillar slides into position he see's a third icon appear and is confused for a moment. Three portals open from the first a flight of Dragons emerges and tears into the Ob Horde, from the second a force of Flying barbaric warriors lead by a women with what looks like a Blazing star on her forehad emerge and attack the flying devils from the second a nearly naked redskinned women riding a castle sized giant Crimson Mutant bat emerges which starts to feast on Devils while the woman casually slaughters any which come in reach. None of the pc's have any idea who these last ones are they did not come from any Gyre plane they remember
Round 3
Nevla heals herself and is hit by more wrackign rays, level drain and the Wizard hits her with a Meteor storm, she is hurt
Kasavarina moves to help her but is attacked by Grumblejack and is unnable to reach her.
Ulvaar and Marcus pound each other, both are hurting
William and Manuel seat the fire pillar , there are no suprises this time Etheax and Wulfendyne are in place. Two giant Airships the size of a town emergy Castle Wulfenberg and Castle Hetrodyne, the second one has more Death Rays than cannon it also cackles maniacally as its guns annihlate devils.
Most of the Danoran airships are down by now, Lya stands atop the Queen Nevla duelling a pair of Pit Fiends
Round 4
-- Too be continued
Andrew Moreton
Adventurer
Round 4
William and Manuel set up the Water Planes, this is the last one Manuel will be doing as for the important Life plane and Tricky time plane slot they will be calling on Williams ability to roll a 20 on demand via the powers of the Medium.
Ulvaar and Marcus fight hard , Ulvaar is hanging on the edge of defeat.
Nevla burns her last Heal spell to recover and is hit for more damage by Ozy and his henchwizard who tries to place her internal organs in Canopic Jars, she too is on the backfoot. Fortuantly neither Nevla or Ulvaar actually need to win these fights they are buying time for the ritual team.
Kasavarina and Grumblejack continue their dance, while fighting rages around the field, the defenders are being forced back towards the ritual site and have taken considerable casualties.
As the Water plane pillar is set in place more reinforcements arrive a regiment of Vampiric knights from Bathory supported by several vampiric nuns they stop a break through from the Legions forces.
Round 5
William takes the lead on connecting to the planes of life calling on the Kings of Risur to role him a 20
Ulvaar gets hit hard by Marcus and goes down hard, Nevla rushes over to heal him as she does so she takes a savage hit from Ozy's spells (I believe another Destruction spell) and would have taken a Polar Ray and a Death clitch from the Wizard but Cula who has been fighting nearby takes the hit for her and goes down hard, her loyalty to Kasavarina lasting unto death.
The connections to the plane of Life form and portals open King Thasraldion rides onto the battlefield accompanied by a force of Treants and Anthropormorthic badgers riding War Hedgehogs, while a Mariarchi band accompanied by Skeletal cheerleaders and the King and Queen of Iretha Ket arrive providing bardic support to all of the none devil forces.
Round 6
Nevla casts a spell of healing flames which helps bring Ulvaar back merely to the edge of death , it also causes Marcus to withdraw to Oswyn for healing , Kasavarina moves to protect Nevla . In the mean time William with the help of the others forces a 20 and connects to the chosen planes of time a very hard task . The last of the reinforcements they are expecting arrives as they connect to Evermeet and Ascetia. Galadrial the guardian from Evermeet arrives and kills a pair of Pit Fiends.
Round 7
A pair of Pit fiends charge into the ritual site and are engaged by William and Padme while Manuel handles the Space column, Ulvaar is still dead, Nevla is trying to avoid joining him while the battle rages around them
Round 8
Manuel finishes the plane of Death Amrou and they hope that it's protective effects will start to discourage the Shining legion
Finally Bourne flips over the Seal , finishing the Ritual however the odds still look bad with freindly forces having sufferred heavy losses and Legion reinforcements continuing to arrive.
As the Sun rises there is the sound of heavenly trumpets and in the sky overhead a host of angels arrives, lead by two figures one of which is quicky recognised as Ashima-Shimtu the second appears to be one of the Heavenly Gods of War Iomedea a god often honoured in name at least by the clergy.
Oswyn see's the new arrivals and orders an immediate retreat with the cry "God on the field " , as the legion Plane shift out so does the heavenly host leaving just Ashima-Shimtu who flies down to land besides the batterred Nevla.
And a new age of the world dawns.
We will be doing a wrap up next week, but after 32 months (less a six month excursion into Star Wars) the campaign is over.
A pair of pitfiends charge into the ritual area and are intercepted by William and Padme , Manuel is easily able to finish the last
William and Manuel set up the Water Planes, this is the last one Manuel will be doing as for the important Life plane and Tricky time plane slot they will be calling on Williams ability to roll a 20 on demand via the powers of the Medium.
Ulvaar and Marcus fight hard , Ulvaar is hanging on the edge of defeat.
Nevla burns her last Heal spell to recover and is hit for more damage by Ozy and his henchwizard who tries to place her internal organs in Canopic Jars, she too is on the backfoot. Fortuantly neither Nevla or Ulvaar actually need to win these fights they are buying time for the ritual team.
Kasavarina and Grumblejack continue their dance, while fighting rages around the field, the defenders are being forced back towards the ritual site and have taken considerable casualties.
As the Water plane pillar is set in place more reinforcements arrive a regiment of Vampiric knights from Bathory supported by several vampiric nuns they stop a break through from the Legions forces.
Round 5
William takes the lead on connecting to the planes of life calling on the Kings of Risur to role him a 20
Ulvaar gets hit hard by Marcus and goes down hard, Nevla rushes over to heal him as she does so she takes a savage hit from Ozy's spells (I believe another Destruction spell) and would have taken a Polar Ray and a Death clitch from the Wizard but Cula who has been fighting nearby takes the hit for her and goes down hard, her loyalty to Kasavarina lasting unto death.
The connections to the plane of Life form and portals open King Thasraldion rides onto the battlefield accompanied by a force of Treants and Anthropormorthic badgers riding War Hedgehogs, while a Mariarchi band accompanied by Skeletal cheerleaders and the King and Queen of Iretha Ket arrive providing bardic support to all of the none devil forces.
Round 6
Nevla casts a spell of healing flames which helps bring Ulvaar back merely to the edge of death , it also causes Marcus to withdraw to Oswyn for healing , Kasavarina moves to protect Nevla . In the mean time William with the help of the others forces a 20 and connects to the chosen planes of time a very hard task . The last of the reinforcements they are expecting arrives as they connect to Evermeet and Ascetia. Galadrial the guardian from Evermeet arrives and kills a pair of Pit Fiends.
Round 7
A pair of Pit fiends charge into the ritual site and are engaged by William and Padme while Manuel handles the Space column, Ulvaar is still dead, Nevla is trying to avoid joining him while the battle rages around them
Round 8
Manuel finishes the plane of Death Amrou and they hope that it's protective effects will start to discourage the Shining legion
Finally Bourne flips over the Seal , finishing the Ritual however the odds still look bad with freindly forces having sufferred heavy losses and Legion reinforcements continuing to arrive.
As the Sun rises there is the sound of heavenly trumpets and in the sky overhead a host of angels arrives, lead by two figures one of which is quicky recognised as Ashima-Shimtu the second appears to be one of the Heavenly Gods of War Iomedea a god often honoured in name at least by the clergy.
Oswyn see's the new arrivals and orders an immediate retreat with the cry "God on the field " , as the legion Plane shift out so does the heavenly host leaving just Ashima-Shimtu who flies down to land besides the batterred Nevla.
And a new age of the world dawns.
We will be doing a wrap up next week, but after 32 months (less a six month excursion into Star Wars) the campaign is over.
A pair of pitfiends charge into the ritual area and are intercepted by William and Padme , Manuel is easily able to finish the last
RangerWickett
Legend
This is some anti-Endgame nonsense.
How long did this combat session last?
(Written while you were posting your last comment)
Man, I remember one Thanksgiving in high school getting together with two friends, intending to play Battletech all weekend. One guy who would be referee set up plans for a 'planetary invasion,' with each side having a regiment of over 100 mechs, and various objectives, and then the other two of us would be the generals commanding the two sides.
In the first engagement where the dropships tried to establish a beach head, we had something like 12 mechs and various tanks and helicopters on either side. Due to a quirk of weapon loadout, most of the heaviest mechs had short-range brawling weapons, so they ended up in a nasty massive confusing scrum a few hexes from one of the dropships.
My friend/opponent decided to focus fire on one of my mechs. The way the game works, you decide who's shooting what - for each and every unit on the field - and then you resolve all the shots. He ended up rolling far better than expected, and did a massive amount of overkill damage.
At which point the referee pulled out the rarely-used section in the book about, "fusion reactors going critical if they are destroyed in one round."
We spent the next hour resolve a chain reaction. The mech's engine exploded in a nuclear fireball. That blast hit several mechs nearby that were already damaged. Some of that damage set off ammo explosions which proceeded to obliterate those mechs, which triggered a cascade of more nuclear explosions. Each one was . . . relatively pretty small - just three hexes (300 feet) - but by the end of the chain reaction, 7 mechs had been obliterated in an instant.
Then we realized we hadn't been recording damage to the dropship, because in Battletech you basically never attack dropships; they're too valuable. The ref, though, found the stats, and we figured out that um, yeah, it was gonna go boom too. And its engine was way bigger.
We had maybe three rounds of combat total before half the battlefield vaporized. That kind of took the wind out of our sails to finish the campaign. Demoralized invaders fled.
I'm glad your combat has a happier ending. However, whatever CG artists are going to be animating that for the film version will shake their fists at you.
Congrats!
Andrew Moreton
Adventurer
We finished it in a normal evening session about three hours. The players spent less time plotting than I expected and we were moving along fairly quickly as all none pc action was narrative rather than mechanical, I had plans to split over 2 sessions but becasuse it became clear to me that Ulvaar and Nevla were going to be out of action about the time they got taken out I decided to not draw things out and let it come to an end/
The players enjoyed it and have ideas for what they want to do to shape the future.
I used to play a lot of Battletech, I think the engine explosion rule came out after my last campaign (nearly 30 years ago) but I looked at it and said this rule will ruin any campaign by blowing everything up. It seems I was right. I also backed the clan invasion kickstarter heavily and have around a hundred plastic battlemechs due at some point and a dropship so I will have to start playing it again.
I changed the structure of the battle a lot because my players had done a lot of work on the diplomacy side, I am glad I had planned on that because the Miracle to speak to everyone would have short circuited a lot of fighting anyway. I had the legion lined up partly to explain some of Nic's downslide to evil and largely to ensure some sort of climatic opponent. I also speeded up the time to change out each pillar as otherwise no pc could sustain high level combat long enough for the ritual to be done.
The players enjoyed it and have ideas for what they want to do to shape the future.
I used to play a lot of Battletech, I think the engine explosion rule came out after my last campaign (nearly 30 years ago) but I looked at it and said this rule will ruin any campaign by blowing everything up. It seems I was right. I also backed the clan invasion kickstarter heavily and have around a hundred plastic battlemechs due at some point and a dropship so I will have to start playing it again.
I changed the structure of the battle a lot because my players had done a lot of work on the diplomacy side, I am glad I had planned on that because the Miracle to speak to everyone would have short circuited a lot of fighting anyway. I had the legion lined up partly to explain some of Nic's downslide to evil and largely to ensure some sort of climatic opponent. I also speeded up the time to change out each pillar as otherwise no pc could sustain high level combat long enough for the ritual to be done.
Andrew Moreton
Adventurer
I determined planar complications by rolling a dice for each plane and on a 1 or 20 it had some unexpected complication and I rolled to see what other plane it effected.
Hendreiki rolled a random complication with itself so I had it create a world for the Cultural enemies of its people from the setting I stole it from, the Red Moon of Peloria which is where the Crimson Bat and Jar-Eel the Razoress came from.
Bathory rolled a complication with Dunkelveiss so Beer can now provide a large proportion of a Vampires nutrition, Vampire brewers are expected.
There was also a complication between Bathory and Gloriana which the players will discover in the wrap up.
Due to an emphasis on Earth and Air planes over water the global sea level is going to drop a couple of meters and Birds are getting larger. They also had a lot of life energy so people and animals tend to be healthier and live a bit longer.
Ordered civisilations and advenced technology are themes with a tendency towards individual human rights and liberties.
Hendreiki rolled a random complication with itself so I had it create a world for the Cultural enemies of its people from the setting I stole it from, the Red Moon of Peloria which is where the Crimson Bat and Jar-Eel the Razoress came from.
Bathory rolled a complication with Dunkelveiss so Beer can now provide a large proportion of a Vampires nutrition, Vampire brewers are expected.
There was also a complication between Bathory and Gloriana which the players will discover in the wrap up.
Due to an emphasis on Earth and Air planes over water the global sea level is going to drop a couple of meters and Birds are getting larger. They also had a lot of life energy so people and animals tend to be healthier and live a bit longer.
Ordered civisilations and advenced technology are themes with a tendency towards individual human rights and liberties.
Hi it is the infamous Bat Manuel (who is the night) who has now been granted access to these forums as we have just finished and had the dramatic conclusion. I'm planning to read this through and possibly comment on the more lunatic ideas we had.
I would like to thank RangerWickett for writing a truly excellent campaign, which covered characters from 1st to 20th level and gave them an increasing role in a complex changing game world. Thanks to your campaign I took the concept of 'Batman, but with poor social skills and the ridiculous "non-lethal" guns from Arkham Knight and all the Bat Mobiles in the movies' and developed him into a kindly academic, desperate to make a better, fairer world. A Goblin who was torn between his love of spectacular weaponry and his desire not to hurt anyone. A character still not fully able to reconcile his role as a policeman, academic and pillar of the realm with his deep-seated knowledge the best way to fight crime and improve the world was to dress as a bat and use (non-lethal) artillery on low-level street crime.
I would also like to thank Andrew for running it very well and tolerating my frank abuse of the bludgeoner feat to create "less lethal" guns, the abuse of the Steamsuits Str 60 large size carrying capacity to create a 100 ton mobile heavy weapons platform, me stealing all the tasty 1920s Ordnance from the pathfinder "Reign of Winter" campaign for personal use, generous misuse of the Goblin Gunslinger feat to wield huge firearms while in a large mechasuit, frank abuse of the stealth rules to get base +61 stealth while in a steam powered Mecha, and putting up with of the occasional 5 page document on planar configuration planning. You tolerated a lot of enthusiastic silliness and rebuilt all the encounters to put up with some very optimised / horribly power gamed builds.
Also the Nock Gun is now something I will attempt to squeeze into any campaigns with firearms, as a Huge Greater Vital striking Nock Gun is a thing of terrifying beauty expressed in 48d8 dice of damage. (7d6 medium nock gun, + 2 dice step to 12d8 huge nock gun, x 4 damage for greater vital strike feat). I cherished every occasion I got to fire it
I would like to thank RangerWickett for writing a truly excellent campaign, which covered characters from 1st to 20th level and gave them an increasing role in a complex changing game world. Thanks to your campaign I took the concept of 'Batman, but with poor social skills and the ridiculous "non-lethal" guns from Arkham Knight and all the Bat Mobiles in the movies' and developed him into a kindly academic, desperate to make a better, fairer world. A Goblin who was torn between his love of spectacular weaponry and his desire not to hurt anyone. A character still not fully able to reconcile his role as a policeman, academic and pillar of the realm with his deep-seated knowledge the best way to fight crime and improve the world was to dress as a bat and use (non-lethal) artillery on low-level street crime.
I would also like to thank Andrew for running it very well and tolerating my frank abuse of the bludgeoner feat to create "less lethal" guns, the abuse of the Steamsuits Str 60 large size carrying capacity to create a 100 ton mobile heavy weapons platform, me stealing all the tasty 1920s Ordnance from the pathfinder "Reign of Winter" campaign for personal use, generous misuse of the Goblin Gunslinger feat to wield huge firearms while in a large mechasuit, frank abuse of the stealth rules to get base +61 stealth while in a steam powered Mecha, and putting up with of the occasional 5 page document on planar configuration planning. You tolerated a lot of enthusiastic silliness and rebuilt all the encounters to put up with some very optimised / horribly power gamed builds.
Also the Nock Gun is now something I will attempt to squeeze into any campaigns with firearms, as a Huge Greater Vital striking Nock Gun is a thing of terrifying beauty expressed in 48d8 dice of damage. (7d6 medium nock gun, + 2 dice step to 12d8 huge nock gun, x 4 damage for greater vital strike feat). I cherished every occasion I got to fire it
RangerWickett
Legend
I applaud any munchkin-ing that does not annoy the other people in the game.
I'll always remember you declaring you were the night while in the Dreaming, and reality agreed so hard that the sun set.
In the original campaign I ran that inspired this adventure path (waaaaay back in 2004), one PC played a halfling in a mecha suit who got into a battle with Tinker Oddcog, but his character had just decided to betray the party and join the Ob. When the party found out and turned on him, he triggered his suit's "escape glider" which launched an ejector sea that could fly away. But they were indoors, so he ended up braining himself against the ceiling.
I'm glad your mecha PC had a longer shelf life.
Also, I'm honestly astounded that out of all the maybe ten different ZEITGEIST campaigns that I've seen people post about, only two PCs ever decided to join the Ob.
I'll always remember you declaring you were the night while in the Dreaming, and reality agreed so hard that the sun set.
In the original campaign I ran that inspired this adventure path (waaaaay back in 2004), one PC played a halfling in a mecha suit who got into a battle with Tinker Oddcog, but his character had just decided to betray the party and join the Ob. When the party found out and turned on him, he triggered his suit's "escape glider" which launched an ejector sea that could fly away. But they were indoors, so he ended up braining himself against the ceiling.
I'm glad your mecha PC had a longer shelf life.
Also, I'm honestly astounded that out of all the maybe ten different ZEITGEIST campaigns that I've seen people post about, only two PCs ever decided to join the Ob.
