Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tolamaker" data-source="post: 8627547" data-attributes="member: 7031495">Session 31: Eye of the StormThe party takes a rest, and explores the rest of the caverns. They find a room with a body, transformed into an elf, and the unsuccessful remaking of the H'andreas' hut and Tidereaver manufacture. Eluriah dumps the cauldron, disgusted witht he actos committed in the room. Further south, Gruz and Mishka find cages, with an opalescent white pillar in one. Gruz feels a strange attraction as he nears it. In another cell, a Lyceum mage by the name of Tamara tells them that she was attempting to try out some fire mitigation to allow for teleportation, but she and the Wayfarer that were testing it were instead transported here. From what she heard from the soldiers that fed her, the pillar was responsible for redirecting teleporters. Mishka decides she can carry the pillar out, despite Eluriah's desire to throw it in the lava. When the party once again disagrees, Eluriah takes out her frustration on the Inquisitor, letting the magma swallow his body up.As they begin to exit the prison, they realize they overlooked a dragon statue in the room the Ragesian soldiers had set up. Investigating the mouth, they realize there is a Darkness spell obscuring what lies behind. Gruz and Orwin investigate, finding a small room with a door with faint glowing Ignan script around it. Despite being unable to read it, Orwin recognizes the sequence as similar to a Glyph of Warding, and is able to smudge out certain runes to disable the trap. The door is still locked however, though Aripos is able to easily pick it. Inside that room, is a sarcophagus. Eluriah's elven eyes pick out another Ignan script, smaller and fainter, and Orwin is able once again to disable the runes. With Mishka's help, they lift the lid, and discover the body of the Pyromancer, dessicated from the dry heat of the lava. They take a jagged gold ring from his finger, and his conical hat.The party makes their way up and out, to a roaring sea. As they exit the prison, a lightning bolt pierces down, scattering them. Above, a hooded Lee Sidoneth angrily calls down on them, telling them he will wipe out the weakness in them. Mishka, Orwin, and Aripos run up the side, while Eluriah climbs the side of the prison. Gruz starts to follow, but a giant squid appears, attempting to strangle him.Lee calls down lightning bolt after lightning bolt, seriously injuring Aripos and Orwin. Mishka is headed off by two gargoyles. In a fierce sea battle, Gruz slays the squid, and helps the others to focus fire onto Lee to end his lightning. Mishka knocks Lee out, and Eluriah grabs his wand, and the others are able to finish off the gargoyles. As the battle subsides, Eluriah feels a tug at her robe, and looks down to see Lee's panicked face beg "Master, let your winds destroy them!"A cyclone rips Lee's body apart, and the party rushes down to the prison again to escape the tearing winds. As the cyclone grows, it leaves behind calm water in its wake, and when they step outside, they see the eye of the storm widening, and the orange glow of the sun rising. The storm is over.Post-Session Thoughts:This was a mixed bag for me, to be honest. I think if I were to do it over again, I would fundamentally change something about the dungeon. As it is, the structure of exploring it feels like a disappointment, and then a random twist ending. There was a definite point where everyone in the group wondered if they had explored everything in the dungeon, and I had to reassure them that they had. There was a definite lull between uncovering the pillar and tomb, and the fight above ground.The final fight was also strange for me. It's probably the closest I've felt to playing rocket-tag (or a glass cannon) in D&D. Lee unleashed hell on the group due to his surprise attack, and then when everyone realized what a danger he was, they all focused fire and dealt with him in two rounds. Now, part of this was due to a lackluster Lula (zero hits even with hidden advantage) and the gargoyles getting low initiative and being unable to really react in time, but it still felt strange. I don't think this was the worst combat of the module, but it definitely felt like it wasn't the right way to end it.One thing I will say is that I didn't do much prep for Lee, so I didn't really come up with a plan. The H'andrea fight went really well because I understood their roles as control casters. The fight at the bottom of the dungeon went well because there were a lot of combatants to hold the players off from the Inquisitor, AND I was determined to remember how to run an Inquisitor as the counterspelling bastards that they are. I didn't have that firm a grasp on Lee as a character or a character sheet, and I think that's about what it boils down to. I tried to do some naughty word-talking during the fight, but my heart wasn't really in it.Changes to the Module:I changed out the prisoners in the dungeon. Because the Ragesians were trying to implicate the Shahalesti, it didn't make sense to me that they would keep a real one around just for shits and giggles. I made Tamara (formerly Teymour) a Lyceum faculty trying to help the Wayfarers on a whim, but I like it, so she'll probably show up again.I forgot that Lee was supposed to implode, so I quickly retconned that. In time I think, but it still was funny. Oops, let me let this guy you knocked out just pop back up. They still have that Ragesian soldier, so they're not empty handed.Next week is some clean-up and a level up! I've enjoyed this chapter, but I'm glad to be moving on almost 20(!) sessions later. I'm going to have a Session 0.5 to discuss how everyone's feeling, and likely make changes to the modules based on that.</blockquote>

Verification