trimeulose
First Post
Ok some background info:
This is an EVIL campaign that I wrote myself. It was made clear to me that even though I wanted to do a Cyric based campaign we were going to do a Bane based one. The group consists of a NE Velsharoon worshiper, a N worshiper of Helm, and a LE worshiper of Bane. Hereto refered as NE, N, and LE. NE is a deputy mayor of a town of about 20. N is a bystander with some lockpicks. LE wants to make a name for himself for the church of bane and in the future wants to hopefully become the second in command to Fzoul.
LE and NE posses items that were not cleared by me. LE posses a +2 impact (keen for bludgeoning) burst (not sure which element), vorpal gauntlet. His reasoning being, " if they have a keen for bludgeoning they should have a vorpal too." NE has a pearl of power (any two spells). Me being the nice guy and knowing that they have a hard road ahead of them let them keep the items.
Onto the adventure (and the problems)
LE recieves a message from Zentil Keep reading-
The town of mistledale provides most of the dale lands with food stuffs. If we control the food we control the people. It is believed that the riders of mistledale follow their leader blindly. You should make contact with Zentarim agent acting in mistledale and find a way of placing yourself or a trusted agent in the position of power with the riders of mistledale. Once this is accomplished the Zhentarim will have control over the dalelands.
Long Story made short, the afforementioned town that NE is mayor of is attacked by a dragon, and the group finds out that a sect of red dragons is trying to take over the dale lands through brute force. In order to gain the acceptance of the people of mistledale and to protect the other town the group must kill the dragons. (there would have been things to do later)
Now the group is in the cave of said dragons and they are fighting a black pudding (if I remember correctly). LE is attacking the ooze with spells, then decides suddenly to switch to going melee. The ooze is acidic and does 50 points of acid damage to any equipment or weapons that touch it unless a reflex save is made. Now this is well more than the hardness and hp of the gauntlet of LE so it is destroyed (I gave the item a ref and a fort save, and gave the handler a ref save too. they all failed).
LE has cleric levels and casts destruction on himself and purposefully fails the save. "that gauntlet was the whole basis for my characters faith in Bane. Without it I'm nothing." NE and the rest of the adventurers congratulate him on a fine bit of role playing and express their condolences in the loss of his character. Now the ooze is taken care of but the group is one player down.
Now, NE watched me make the map and decides that he'ld rather go fight the end boss than truck through my cave. (which is possible in this cave) The group comes face to face with a matured male red dragon. The group knows that the "big" dragon is female so rather than kill this dragon they question it. They deciphered that Lillian (the big dragon) was older than him in the first place, but now she is also a dracolich (she also has a cleric present). They ask the dragon to join them, but he won't because he can tell they aren't powerful enought to take Lillian (even with just his help).
They go through a lab, which has a trap that is un passable (even if you know its there). The "rogue" disarms the trap and the group proceeds on to the door at the end of the hall. The rogue knocks.
who is it...
house keeping......hello (no answer)..hello. (kicks the door in)
Noone is there (there is another door in this room).
They open the door and die from the breath weapon of the dragon.
My notes:
The party had refused an offer for a nightwalker to join the their ranks.
The party could have recruited other allies in the caves.
There was experience to be earned in the cave.
LE killed himself because nothing was more important in regards to his faith to bane, yet he had orders from Zhentil Keep. If he would have done a little digging he would have found out the dragons and the cleric there all worshiped Cyric.
NE didn't want to leave his town because it had been attacked. He knows the general direction of the dragons, and knows they are taking over other towns.
The group critized me because I left their options very narrow, and their chances slim at best. Personally, I felt that at high levels and as experienced Players they should have known better than to take on the final boss when I made the "level" much larger than they explored. I also felt that the group should have considered more options than "lets just kill it".
On a more personal note I felt that the group should have been able to deduce that if a trap cannot be passed unless it is disarmed (which was a difficult trap), then it is probably in an area that isn't traveled much. Ergo knocking on the door (not to mention claiming to be room service) would not be the best course of action.
This is an EVIL campaign that I wrote myself. It was made clear to me that even though I wanted to do a Cyric based campaign we were going to do a Bane based one. The group consists of a NE Velsharoon worshiper, a N worshiper of Helm, and a LE worshiper of Bane. Hereto refered as NE, N, and LE. NE is a deputy mayor of a town of about 20. N is a bystander with some lockpicks. LE wants to make a name for himself for the church of bane and in the future wants to hopefully become the second in command to Fzoul.
LE and NE posses items that were not cleared by me. LE posses a +2 impact (keen for bludgeoning) burst (not sure which element), vorpal gauntlet. His reasoning being, " if they have a keen for bludgeoning they should have a vorpal too." NE has a pearl of power (any two spells). Me being the nice guy and knowing that they have a hard road ahead of them let them keep the items.
Onto the adventure (and the problems)
LE recieves a message from Zentil Keep reading-
The town of mistledale provides most of the dale lands with food stuffs. If we control the food we control the people. It is believed that the riders of mistledale follow their leader blindly. You should make contact with Zentarim agent acting in mistledale and find a way of placing yourself or a trusted agent in the position of power with the riders of mistledale. Once this is accomplished the Zhentarim will have control over the dalelands.
Long Story made short, the afforementioned town that NE is mayor of is attacked by a dragon, and the group finds out that a sect of red dragons is trying to take over the dale lands through brute force. In order to gain the acceptance of the people of mistledale and to protect the other town the group must kill the dragons. (there would have been things to do later)
Now the group is in the cave of said dragons and they are fighting a black pudding (if I remember correctly). LE is attacking the ooze with spells, then decides suddenly to switch to going melee. The ooze is acidic and does 50 points of acid damage to any equipment or weapons that touch it unless a reflex save is made. Now this is well more than the hardness and hp of the gauntlet of LE so it is destroyed (I gave the item a ref and a fort save, and gave the handler a ref save too. they all failed).
LE has cleric levels and casts destruction on himself and purposefully fails the save. "that gauntlet was the whole basis for my characters faith in Bane. Without it I'm nothing." NE and the rest of the adventurers congratulate him on a fine bit of role playing and express their condolences in the loss of his character. Now the ooze is taken care of but the group is one player down.
Now, NE watched me make the map and decides that he'ld rather go fight the end boss than truck through my cave. (which is possible in this cave) The group comes face to face with a matured male red dragon. The group knows that the "big" dragon is female so rather than kill this dragon they question it. They deciphered that Lillian (the big dragon) was older than him in the first place, but now she is also a dracolich (she also has a cleric present). They ask the dragon to join them, but he won't because he can tell they aren't powerful enought to take Lillian (even with just his help).
They go through a lab, which has a trap that is un passable (even if you know its there). The "rogue" disarms the trap and the group proceeds on to the door at the end of the hall. The rogue knocks.
who is it...
house keeping......hello (no answer)..hello. (kicks the door in)
Noone is there (there is another door in this room).
They open the door and die from the breath weapon of the dragon.
My notes:
The party had refused an offer for a nightwalker to join the their ranks.
The party could have recruited other allies in the caves.
There was experience to be earned in the cave.
LE killed himself because nothing was more important in regards to his faith to bane, yet he had orders from Zhentil Keep. If he would have done a little digging he would have found out the dragons and the cleric there all worshiped Cyric.
NE didn't want to leave his town because it had been attacked. He knows the general direction of the dragons, and knows they are taking over other towns.
The group critized me because I left their options very narrow, and their chances slim at best. Personally, I felt that at high levels and as experienced Players they should have known better than to take on the final boss when I made the "level" much larger than they explored. I also felt that the group should have considered more options than "lets just kill it".
On a more personal note I felt that the group should have been able to deduce that if a trap cannot be passed unless it is disarmed (which was a difficult trap), then it is probably in an area that isn't traveled much. Ergo knocking on the door (not to mention claiming to be room service) would not be the best course of action.
