I just almost killed an entire 17/18 level party with an umber hulk!
The party were raiding a drow armoury/treasure room. The room was encased in a large anti-magic field - it spread out over several hundred yards of passageways, with access to levels of magic dropping off as they got closer to the room. Once inside the room, no magic at all.
They had bluffed their way into the drow house, but were unfortunately discovered. They fled in the direction of the treasure room (their illithid ally/guide had extracted its general location from a drow soldier's mind). By the time they got to the room, they were fairly depleted - with their magical powers disappearing, they were forced to circumvent traps and locks the old fashioned way, and discovered they weren't great at it! During this process, the paladin managed to spring a trap and get himself paralysed by snake venom.
With the drow soldiers behind them, they barricaded themselves in the armoury. They blocked up the massive doors. They knew there was a secret way out (the illithid knew how to get to the armoury from outside it via the secret passage, but didn't actually know where the passage was - he knew the directions from the other side of the door). So, they had a few rounds before the drow broke in and made life very miserable for them.
They spent those few rounds searching the room frantically for the secret door (5' squares at a time, counting the rounds!) gathering as much treasure as they could and nervously eying the door, while the cleric desperately tried to cure the paralysed paladin (I allowed a difficult heal check seeing as no magic was available). They could hear the drow trying to get through.
Then they heard a rumbling beneath them and a massive umber hulk came thorugh the floor! This slowed down their searching and treasure gathering somewhat. It was the "Truly Horrid Umber Hulk" from the MM, and it pretty much took them apart (a wizard, a sorcerer, a cleric, a wounded/parlaysed paladin and a mindflayer). The cleric managed to revive the paladin after about 3 rounds, a couple of them gathered a fair amount of treasure, and they hadn't found the way out.
The umber hulk dropped the paladin, the mindflayer and the cleric, leaving a sorcerer and a wizard - both without magic. Then the drow came in. The two spellcasters surrendered, of course. The drow killed their familiars out of spite. Forced them to drink a potion (sleep poison - one made his save and bluffed/feigned sleep successfully, the other made his save and got himself shot full of hand crossbow bolts for his trouble, rendering him unconscious).
The two survivors woke in a drow dungeon, chained to the wall. The sorcerer managed to free himself with escape artist checks. A drow priestess came in with 6 drow guards. Told them they were lucky because they were to be sacrificed to Lloth. The wizard pretty much decided to be suicidal at this point, said something very rude to the priestess and was immediately killed for his trouble. Leaving one survivor, the sorcerer, who managed to take advantage of the drow murdering his friend to teleport to safety.
So now he's back in the main city nearby. No equipment or anything. He has managed to arrange for the cleric and paladin to be raised, although the wizard player had opted not to be - he wants to play something else, and the party could do with a better configuration than 3 spellcasters and a paladin.
The new character will come back one level lower with full equipment (I think he's going to go for a minotaur tank-type affair). The three survivors all have nothing but the shirts on their backs. The paladin wants to go back and show those drow what-for - and get his kit back!
Oh, and the defeat and imprisonment meant that they all missed a deadline for an important mission, which will have some nasty ramifications and has created a new enemy for them.
Looking forward to next week! Haven't decided what to do yet. There's an army 2 days from besieging the city they're in (they're on the outer planes, and the army is an army of demons - nasty!) and they have an appointment with the Grand Inquisitor of the city (think Judge Dredd) although I haven't fully decided why he wants to see them yet. He may well put them to work defending the city against the demon horde attacking.
All fun in all!
The party were raiding a drow armoury/treasure room. The room was encased in a large anti-magic field - it spread out over several hundred yards of passageways, with access to levels of magic dropping off as they got closer to the room. Once inside the room, no magic at all.
They had bluffed their way into the drow house, but were unfortunately discovered. They fled in the direction of the treasure room (their illithid ally/guide had extracted its general location from a drow soldier's mind). By the time they got to the room, they were fairly depleted - with their magical powers disappearing, they were forced to circumvent traps and locks the old fashioned way, and discovered they weren't great at it! During this process, the paladin managed to spring a trap and get himself paralysed by snake venom.
With the drow soldiers behind them, they barricaded themselves in the armoury. They blocked up the massive doors. They knew there was a secret way out (the illithid knew how to get to the armoury from outside it via the secret passage, but didn't actually know where the passage was - he knew the directions from the other side of the door). So, they had a few rounds before the drow broke in and made life very miserable for them.
They spent those few rounds searching the room frantically for the secret door (5' squares at a time, counting the rounds!) gathering as much treasure as they could and nervously eying the door, while the cleric desperately tried to cure the paralysed paladin (I allowed a difficult heal check seeing as no magic was available). They could hear the drow trying to get through.
Then they heard a rumbling beneath them and a massive umber hulk came thorugh the floor! This slowed down their searching and treasure gathering somewhat. It was the "Truly Horrid Umber Hulk" from the MM, and it pretty much took them apart (a wizard, a sorcerer, a cleric, a wounded/parlaysed paladin and a mindflayer). The cleric managed to revive the paladin after about 3 rounds, a couple of them gathered a fair amount of treasure, and they hadn't found the way out.
The umber hulk dropped the paladin, the mindflayer and the cleric, leaving a sorcerer and a wizard - both without magic. Then the drow came in. The two spellcasters surrendered, of course. The drow killed their familiars out of spite. Forced them to drink a potion (sleep poison - one made his save and bluffed/feigned sleep successfully, the other made his save and got himself shot full of hand crossbow bolts for his trouble, rendering him unconscious).
The two survivors woke in a drow dungeon, chained to the wall. The sorcerer managed to free himself with escape artist checks. A drow priestess came in with 6 drow guards. Told them they were lucky because they were to be sacrificed to Lloth. The wizard pretty much decided to be suicidal at this point, said something very rude to the priestess and was immediately killed for his trouble. Leaving one survivor, the sorcerer, who managed to take advantage of the drow murdering his friend to teleport to safety.
So now he's back in the main city nearby. No equipment or anything. He has managed to arrange for the cleric and paladin to be raised, although the wizard player had opted not to be - he wants to play something else, and the party could do with a better configuration than 3 spellcasters and a paladin.
The new character will come back one level lower with full equipment (I think he's going to go for a minotaur tank-type affair). The three survivors all have nothing but the shirts on their backs. The paladin wants to go back and show those drow what-for - and get his kit back!
Oh, and the defeat and imprisonment meant that they all missed a deadline for an important mission, which will have some nasty ramifications and has created a new enemy for them.
Looking forward to next week! Haven't decided what to do yet. There's an army 2 days from besieging the city they're in (they're on the outer planes, and the army is an army of demons - nasty!) and they have an appointment with the Grand Inquisitor of the city (think Judge Dredd) although I haven't fully decided why he wants to see them yet. He may well put them to work defending the city against the demon horde attacking.
All fun in all!
It was my first higher level experience with them and I can really see why people hate them so much... Shame we failed so close to our goal, but it has to happen sometimes?
