[Wulf's BARAKUS FOLLIES] LOST CITY OF BARAKUS TPK...?

[MerakSpielman]

My favorite "Charm" situation happened when a wizard charmed the dumb dwarven barbarian in the middle of a battle.

She looked around, saw a room full of her good friends hitting each other, and decided they were having a free-for-all. About time those stuck-up lawful types loosened up. Good fun to be had by all!

She waded in and attacked both sides indiscriminatly, singing a bawdy dwarven bar song all the while, a happy grin plastered to her face...

 

[Len]

Though, I always wonder how quick some characters are to act violently. "Puts a token arrow into the character" - where is it written that a charmed person forgets his or her other friends?

He didn't. If a total stranger had attacked his "new best friend" he would presumably have done a lot more than shoot one arrow and shout "Stop".

Here's one that I like:

“Damnit!” shouts Morningstar, finally clearing her head of the beholder’s charm attack. “It got into my brain!”

“Hey! That’s my brain!” shouts Dranko, incensed. “Er, I mean, my fiancées brain! And if anyone’s going to mess with her mind, it’s going to be me!”

from Sagiro’s Story Hour

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Sorry to disappoint, but Wulf is originally from the state of Kentucky I believe. He works and lives in Rhode Island these days though - Providence I believe.

AS IF they could grow 'em as hard an' surly as me in New England.

BTW judging by your DM Log that you sent me of this session and the funny bit you have shared here - this campaign demands a story hour! I know you have said no, but I am askin' for a parley

Ahhh... I wish I had the time or inspiration.

Do folks REALLY need to see another grisly TPO (total party obituary) from Lost City of Barakus?

BTW, I got Vault of Larin Karr (4th-9th level) and Trouble at Durbenford (8th-14th level) in the mail today.

This might actually force me to... gulp... draw an overland map of my game. Almost like a real DM, even...

If anybody has any links to any maps anyone's done to link these fine Necromancer adventures, please send them to me!

Wulf

 

[Voadam]

Mine as a PC went as follows.

In the banewarrens we got split up.

My eponymous good viking ranger wizard witch hunter character gets charmed by a vrock when alone.

He talks to the demon who figures out he is charmed and tries to get him to hunt down a rogue kyton who is loose in the banewarrens. Voadam agrees, when the rest of the party comes back the demon disappears.

The party paladin asks if Voadam is OK, and Voadam says yes, he confronted the demon but ended up deciding to make an alliance to fight the more powerful evil that is loose and running around and wanted to convince the party before they splatted the demon on sight. Voadam is a bit of a fast talker and has worked with evil people/creatures before in the past for just such purposes so this is not even out of character for him.

The paladin says he can see fighting the devil but wants to kill the demon afterwards. So I talk to him about the meaning of honor and my given word, either we ally with him or not, and he has treated me honorably so far. I'm just on the point of convincing the paladin to work with the demon ("for the greater good and to defeat a greater evil") when the arcane trickster is suspicious and pissed off and dispels the charm. The AT had been attacked by the Vrock alone before the Vrock came upon Voadam and was quite torn up, only having escaped alive because of a dimension door item that allowed him to escape and hide. Upon finding out I was charmed the party goes to hunt down the demon.

But I almost got the paladin to agree, it would have been a sweet hunt with a paladin on one hand and a demon on the other.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Tonite could be another LOST CITY OF BARAKUS TPK...

Party:

5th level Cleric (trickery and magic)
5th level Fighter (spring attack, power attack, cleave)
5th level Sorceror (fire emphasis)
5th level Fighter/Rogue (rapier type)
3rd level Paladin (had a run-in with a vampire...)

After following a mysterious tunnel that led for miles-- yes MILES-- away from the dungeon, they finally enter a new section of dungeon, lit by everburning torches.

They cautiously move forward into a big 80x80 room with four doors.

The room has two shallow grooves in the floor, one running down the middle NS, one running down the middle EW.

To their credit, they expect a trap.

The rogue goes in alone to check the eastern door for traps. He finds none. (DC35).

(I am about to bust out laughing at this point.)

He tries the door.

As soon as he touches the door, two iron walls are conjured up. They each run the length of the room, along those grooves. So the room is now divided into four smaller 20x20 rooms.

It gets worse.

A dire ape is summoned in next to the rogue.

And one appears outside next to the rest of the party.

The rogue does pretty good-- whacks his ape down to 8 hit points-- before it rends him down to -9. (He stabilizes, and in a moment of mercy, I decide that the summoned ape won't go Samsonite on him.)

The party kills their ape, and then (with the best of intentions) they split up.

The paladin runs out to the east, to a hallway they saw earlier, trying to find a back way in through the eastern door to help the rogue.

The cleric runs out to the west, to his own hallway, trying to find a back way in through the western door.

Both of these hallways are trapped.

The fighter stars wailing on the iron wall, trying to chop through. The sorcerer burns off almost all of her remaing scorching rays trying to burn through the wall.

Just as the paladin and the cleric are about to run headlong into their own traps in the side hallways, exactly five rounds after the walls first appeared, the walls disappear.

And the two dire apes that were summoned into the other two quadrants are now able to rush out.

That's where we called it last week.

To sum up:

Rogue is down at -9.

Fighter and sorcerer are standing alone against three dire apes.

Paladin and cleric are both 2 turns away from getting back to help.

The only way I can see them surviving this is if the sorcerer turns invisible (and runs the hell away) and the fighter keeps the apes busy with some truly epic spring attacking.

And I'm wondering if they'll get the message that they probably shouldn't be in this part of the dungeon just yet.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Maybe dire apes are tougher than I remember, but a good built on a fighter with spring attack and power attack shouldn't have too much trouble if he's using a two-handed weapon.

5th level = +5 bab... any weapon focus, magic item, or strength bonus? Up to a potential +5 base damage bonus or +10 if using a two-handed weapon.

Sorcerer on the other hand... yeah, after burning through almost all the SR as you describe, they don't have a lot of hope.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Maybe dire apes are tougher than I remember, but a good build on a fighter with spring attack and power attack shouldn't have too much trouble if he's using a two-handed weapon.

I think he'll hit about 50% of the time, and he'll need to hit them each at least twice to kill them. That means 4 rounds on average, to kill each of the two apes that are still at full strength.

I use Action Points, though, so that will make a huge difference.

 

[GlassJaw]

they split up

Well these are the magic words. Best of intentions or not, in my experience, when a party splits up, bad things usually end up happening.

I don't think it will be a TPK. Most likely, the sorc and/or fighter will go down. It sounds like the sorc won't be of much help to the fighter. The fighter (with spring attack) should be able to take down one of the apes unless he gets rended. If the sorc doesn't get his invisibility off, he's probably done. The cleric and paladin should be able to clean up the rest once they return.

Here's the stats for the dire ape from the SRD:

Dire ape: CR 3; LA —; Large animal; HD 5d8+13; hp 35; Init +2; Spd 30 ft., climb 15 ft.; AC 15 (–1 size, +2 Dex,
+4 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 13; Base Atk +3; Grp +13; Atk Claw +8 melee (1d6+6); Full Atk 2 claws +8 melee
(1d6+6) and bite +3 melee (1d8+3); Space/Reach 10 ft./10 ft.; SA rend (2d6+9); SQ low–light vision, scent; AL
(Always) N; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +5; Str 22, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 7.
Skills and Feats: Climb +14, Listen +5, Move Silently +4, Spot +6; Alertness, Toughness. (Dire apes have a
+8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or
threatened.)
Rend (Ex): A dire ape that hits with both claw attacks latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh.
This attack automatically deals an extra 2d6+12 points of damage.

Beware the rend!!

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

They're in a doorway, right? The fighter could step back, go full defense, and try to hold the apes off for a couple of rounds to let the other PC's return - if the hall isn't too wide. Is slamming the door for a round or two an option (it sounded like there might not be a door into the big room)

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

They're in a doorway, right? The fighter could step back, go full defense, and try to hold the apes off for a couple of rounds to let the other PC's return - if the hall isn't too wide. Is slamming the door for a round or two an option (it sounded like there might not be a door into the big room)

The fighter and the sorcerer are 20 feet into the big room at the moment-- they were busy poundin' the wall. I think there is a door into the main room.

I don't think "holding them off" is a viable strategy against critters with Rend. You pretty much have to keep moving so any kind of defensive position is probably, statistically, a bad idea.

Frankly, I can see everybody but the spring attacker being killed. I am just not sure whether it's going to be the fighter chasing the apes around to slowly kill them, or the apes chasing the rest of the party around to slowly kill them.