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Tolamaker's Burning Sky
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<blockquote data-quote="Tolamaker" data-source="post: 8794685" data-attributes="member: 7031495"><p>Sessions 45 and 46: The Second Wave, and an Unexpected Party</p><p></p><p>The party and the line regroup after the initial wave of Steppengard's forces. The send the prisoners to the rear, and rearrange themselves behind the cheval de frises to better protect their line. Eluriah transforms into a giant eagle and flies out with a bottle of acid, and drops it on the catapult, aiming for the ropes. She misses, though she does splatter a few of the soldiers manning the machine. Back at the line, they prepare for the rush of cavalry and trolls coming their way.</p><p></p><p>Just before the wave arrives, a screech erupts in the air, terrifying almost the entire line. Though he is unable to withstand the fear himself, Corban sings a rousing song to bolster the line before the second wave crashes upon them.</p><p>The Steppengard Knights charge into the line with force, forcing Michael Gallo and the Dashgoban knights to plug up the center. The trolls also begin pushing their way throught he chevals, ignoring the spikes as their wounds heal almost automatically. Eluriah conjures spiky growths on the ground, tearing at the horses legs. Mishka and Aripose busy themselves with the trolls, tearing into them quicker than their healing allows.</p><p></p><p>The new formation works well, and a combination of flanking and speed is able to defeat the charge. Gruz hangs in the air ashamed, as he was unable to shake the fear in time to be of any help. As they push back the line, fresh troops arrive to replace them, and they are sent tot he back with the wounded and prisoners. Gruz's brother has a slash across his leg, but he seems fine otherwise. The party is called further back to speak with Gallo, who tells them that the hole they've created in the line should allow them to split Steppengard's forces. Soon after, that is exactly what happens. Gallo begins to prepare an envoy to parley, but is beaten to the punch when a courier from Steppengard arrives with a declaration of surrender. In the distance, Steppengard's army is already beginning to travel back down the Nasham River, in quite the disarray.</p><p></p><p>Gallo explains that the details also call for a council at Bresk, to discuss the matters "As civilized Dasseni." The party is immediately wary, but Gallo obviously wants to believe that his king has come to his senses. Despite their protests, he says he will go, but agrees to bring them along as part of his retinue.</p><p></p><p>Traveling to Bresk, they find that the entire city has been decorated for a great celebration, which strangely clashes wiht the somber mood of the city as soldiers from both sides of the conflict are brought in. A few fights break out, but Talon soldiers put an end to them. The parade is led to the courtyard of Castle Steppengard, where the king announces that there are scoundresl and parasites trying to lead them into civil war, and this celebration is a show of defiance at that.</p><p></p><p>The celebration involves food stalls, a performance competition, and a jousting tournament. Gruz takes part in the tournament, and easily makes his way to the final round, where he is unseated. Mishka and Aripos, who had been making a tidy sum betting on Gruz, lose out on their winnings. Corban and Aripose perform in the "Dasseni Idol" competition, but only make a few gold thanks to Aripose being drunk. Aripose, in between jousts, stuffs his face. He discovers the king's preferred chef, angrily telling his customers they aren't eating his food in the proper manner. Aripose butters him up, and discovers that the chef was told his services would not be needed for the evening's banquet. Eluriah, after learning this, goes to a vendor and buys the ingredients necessary to create antitoxin.</p><p></p><p>As the festivities wind down, the king bids the lords and ladies enter the castle for their own banquet. As they begin to enter, Eluriah distributes the antitoxin to the party and Gallo, but the Duke refuses. "I am here as a show of good faith. I cannot take this and claim to trust my king."</p><p></p><p>Post-Session(s) Thoughts</p><p>The second battle, honestly, was a bit of a drag. While I really enjoyed the first wave, something about this one was just a little bland. THe fear effect at the beginning of the battle did a good job of making it interesting, but it also led to Gruz's player feeling like he couldnt do anything as he kept failing his saves for the entire battle (he succeededon the very last round, and he was the last in initiative). I think if I were to change anything, I would give Steppengard's forces some archers. Something that would let me deal with Gallo's archers, and the caster PCs.</p><p></p><p>The session after was very fun. I decided pretty early that I'm going to plau Gallo as too trusting for his own good, and the exasperation from the players as soon as it was clear that he didn't think it was a trap was great. Basically the entire session was filled with them talking about how to keep him safe at this obviously-a-trap banquet. The session ended with Aripose's player declaring that they'll sneak an antitoxin into his drink. My Gallo wouldn't have the <em>protection from poison </em>spell cast on him, so this is great. The joust and all of the side events going on were fun as well, even if I cut most of it for time.</p><p></p><p><strong>Changes to the Module</strong></p><p>I didn't change much with the battle, though I changed some details of the surrender. Because I didn't allow them the chance to destroy the catapults (and because the catapult didn't really play a part in the battle) I kind of rejiggered the points for things a bit differently, where if they didn't use the Xorn they'd get extra points, keeping Gallo safe meant they didn't lose points, etc. All in all, they won, but not soundly. If they had, I would have forced the surrender at the Fend, and had a modified Banquet there. </p><p></p><p>The celebration isn't too different, though I did expedite the celebration and the banquet into the same night. I also didn't feel like they needed more hints about the king's banquet being suspicious, so I only had the one clue with the chef. The entire group is invited as the bodyguards of Gallo and his allies, and I think the pandemonium will be a nice bow on everything.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tolamaker, post: 8794685, member: 7031495"] Sessions 45 and 46: The Second Wave, and an Unexpected Party The party and the line regroup after the initial wave of Steppengard's forces. The send the prisoners to the rear, and rearrange themselves behind the cheval de frises to better protect their line. Eluriah transforms into a giant eagle and flies out with a bottle of acid, and drops it on the catapult, aiming for the ropes. She misses, though she does splatter a few of the soldiers manning the machine. Back at the line, they prepare for the rush of cavalry and trolls coming their way. Just before the wave arrives, a screech erupts in the air, terrifying almost the entire line. Though he is unable to withstand the fear himself, Corban sings a rousing song to bolster the line before the second wave crashes upon them. The Steppengard Knights charge into the line with force, forcing Michael Gallo and the Dashgoban knights to plug up the center. The trolls also begin pushing their way throught he chevals, ignoring the spikes as their wounds heal almost automatically. Eluriah conjures spiky growths on the ground, tearing at the horses legs. Mishka and Aripose busy themselves with the trolls, tearing into them quicker than their healing allows. The new formation works well, and a combination of flanking and speed is able to defeat the charge. Gruz hangs in the air ashamed, as he was unable to shake the fear in time to be of any help. As they push back the line, fresh troops arrive to replace them, and they are sent tot he back with the wounded and prisoners. Gruz's brother has a slash across his leg, but he seems fine otherwise. The party is called further back to speak with Gallo, who tells them that the hole they've created in the line should allow them to split Steppengard's forces. Soon after, that is exactly what happens. Gallo begins to prepare an envoy to parley, but is beaten to the punch when a courier from Steppengard arrives with a declaration of surrender. In the distance, Steppengard's army is already beginning to travel back down the Nasham River, in quite the disarray. Gallo explains that the details also call for a council at Bresk, to discuss the matters "As civilized Dasseni." The party is immediately wary, but Gallo obviously wants to believe that his king has come to his senses. Despite their protests, he says he will go, but agrees to bring them along as part of his retinue. Traveling to Bresk, they find that the entire city has been decorated for a great celebration, which strangely clashes wiht the somber mood of the city as soldiers from both sides of the conflict are brought in. A few fights break out, but Talon soldiers put an end to them. The parade is led to the courtyard of Castle Steppengard, where the king announces that there are scoundresl and parasites trying to lead them into civil war, and this celebration is a show of defiance at that. The celebration involves food stalls, a performance competition, and a jousting tournament. Gruz takes part in the tournament, and easily makes his way to the final round, where he is unseated. Mishka and Aripos, who had been making a tidy sum betting on Gruz, lose out on their winnings. Corban and Aripose perform in the "Dasseni Idol" competition, but only make a few gold thanks to Aripose being drunk. Aripose, in between jousts, stuffs his face. He discovers the king's preferred chef, angrily telling his customers they aren't eating his food in the proper manner. Aripose butters him up, and discovers that the chef was told his services would not be needed for the evening's banquet. Eluriah, after learning this, goes to a vendor and buys the ingredients necessary to create antitoxin. As the festivities wind down, the king bids the lords and ladies enter the castle for their own banquet. As they begin to enter, Eluriah distributes the antitoxin to the party and Gallo, but the Duke refuses. "I am here as a show of good faith. I cannot take this and claim to trust my king." Post-Session(s) Thoughts The second battle, honestly, was a bit of a drag. While I really enjoyed the first wave, something about this one was just a little bland. THe fear effect at the beginning of the battle did a good job of making it interesting, but it also led to Gruz's player feeling like he couldnt do anything as he kept failing his saves for the entire battle (he succeededon the very last round, and he was the last in initiative). I think if I were to change anything, I would give Steppengard's forces some archers. Something that would let me deal with Gallo's archers, and the caster PCs. The session after was very fun. I decided pretty early that I'm going to plau Gallo as too trusting for his own good, and the exasperation from the players as soon as it was clear that he didn't think it was a trap was great. Basically the entire session was filled with them talking about how to keep him safe at this obviously-a-trap banquet. The session ended with Aripose's player declaring that they'll sneak an antitoxin into his drink. My Gallo wouldn't have the [I]protection from poison [/I]spell cast on him, so this is great. The joust and all of the side events going on were fun as well, even if I cut most of it for time. [B]Changes to the Module[/B] I didn't change much with the battle, though I changed some details of the surrender. Because I didn't allow them the chance to destroy the catapults (and because the catapult didn't really play a part in the battle) I kind of rejiggered the points for things a bit differently, where if they didn't use the Xorn they'd get extra points, keeping Gallo safe meant they didn't lose points, etc. All in all, they won, but not soundly. If they had, I would have forced the surrender at the Fend, and had a modified Banquet there. The celebration isn't too different, though I did expedite the celebration and the banquet into the same night. I also didn't feel like they needed more hints about the king's banquet being suspicious, so I only had the one clue with the chef. The entire group is invited as the bodyguards of Gallo and his allies, and I think the pandemonium will be a nice bow on everything. [/QUOTE]
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