Wulf's "Lazy Days" Campaign Story Hour
- Thread starter Wulf Ratbane
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Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
SESSION SEVENTEEN-- friendly fire
KELLAN’s SEVENTEENTH SESSION JOURNAL
We began to interrogate the prisoners for more information. They claimed that orcs from the "old temple" were responsible for the attack on the caravan, and claimed no knowledge of any paladins with the caravan. Being depleted of spells and needing some recuperation, we tied up the prisoners and placed them outside the tower, where they could be watched by us from the tower at less risk to ourselves. At some point during the night, they were able to disappear - probably with some assistance from someone else we had not yet met, as another spell of darkness helped cover their escape. Seeing that they were gone, we decided to probe further into the complex.
After travelling deeper underground, we came upon a meeting room, with papers strewn about as if left in haste. While they were in a language we could not immediately decipher (Jorie eventually determined it was a form of Draconic), the imprint of Iuz was clearly in the signature at the end. What little Jorie could read said that the writer would rather "....your eyes would be burned by the rising sun than to cast your gaze across my operations." Some Verbobonc trade bars were also found further into the complex after much searching. One especially disturbing discovery was a passageway filled with decaying corpses, located across a large pool of tar that was only crossable over an old log - unless one has a companion who can fly, like Nikolai. He flew me over, and I proceeded to search the hallway extensively for evidence of Stirling Dale, but with no success (for which I was partially glad, as I would not have wished such an illustrious member of our brotherhood to meet such a gruesome end).
We decided to rest once again in the more easily-defensible exterior tower. During the watch Jaag and I took, I remember seeing a pair of glowing eyes outside the arrow slit, and the next thing I knew, I was running out of the caves towards the outside. I vaguely remember Jorie trying to stop me, but the force that dominated me compelled me to swing at him, and I actually hit the steadfast gnome. Luckily, I was able to force off the domination after only running several hundred feat, and Nikolai (who had been similarly affected, and who had also thrown off the domination) cast a door to dimension door us back to the top of the tower. There we found our companions fighting a huge snake-man; thanks mainly to Rodrigo's firepower (which unfortunately claimed the life of Jorie's wolverine companion, Darkclaw), we succeeded in reducing the creature to mist. It began to dawn on us that this was no ordinary creature, but probably an undead, perhaps even a vampire!
We did out best to follow the mist as it sought its coffin to regenerate. We saw it disappear down the corpse-filled corridor I had earlier searched; the two captains that had earlier escaped waited there for us to cover their master's escape. Rodrigo quickly dispatched them with a fire spell, and after we cleared the corpses into the tar-pit, it was obvious it had escaped through small holes into some space beyond. It remained for us to decide how best to come to grips with the nearly-defeated vampire before it successfully returned to full power...
*****
DM's SEVENTEENTH SESSION NOTES
A vampiric yuan-ti abomination. Very nasty. The way their racial abilities stack and combine with the vampire template proves very formidable. Just not quite yet:
With two party members dominated-- the paladin and the cleric, the only healers-- it would have been quite easy to finish them off; fortunately Rodrigo kept up the heat with fireballs and magic missiles until he was able to reduce it to mist form. In the end the only casualty was Jorie's wolverine, who unfortunately didn't understand what "Fire in the hole!" meant, exactly; Rodrigo was in no mood to risk his own life for one of Jorie's big doggies.
But I pulled my punches a bit, letting the party slowly realize what they were up against before I really put the fear of God into them...
Wulf
KELLAN’s SEVENTEENTH SESSION JOURNAL
We began to interrogate the prisoners for more information. They claimed that orcs from the "old temple" were responsible for the attack on the caravan, and claimed no knowledge of any paladins with the caravan. Being depleted of spells and needing some recuperation, we tied up the prisoners and placed them outside the tower, where they could be watched by us from the tower at less risk to ourselves. At some point during the night, they were able to disappear - probably with some assistance from someone else we had not yet met, as another spell of darkness helped cover their escape. Seeing that they were gone, we decided to probe further into the complex.
After travelling deeper underground, we came upon a meeting room, with papers strewn about as if left in haste. While they were in a language we could not immediately decipher (Jorie eventually determined it was a form of Draconic), the imprint of Iuz was clearly in the signature at the end. What little Jorie could read said that the writer would rather "....your eyes would be burned by the rising sun than to cast your gaze across my operations." Some Verbobonc trade bars were also found further into the complex after much searching. One especially disturbing discovery was a passageway filled with decaying corpses, located across a large pool of tar that was only crossable over an old log - unless one has a companion who can fly, like Nikolai. He flew me over, and I proceeded to search the hallway extensively for evidence of Stirling Dale, but with no success (for which I was partially glad, as I would not have wished such an illustrious member of our brotherhood to meet such a gruesome end).
We decided to rest once again in the more easily-defensible exterior tower. During the watch Jaag and I took, I remember seeing a pair of glowing eyes outside the arrow slit, and the next thing I knew, I was running out of the caves towards the outside. I vaguely remember Jorie trying to stop me, but the force that dominated me compelled me to swing at him, and I actually hit the steadfast gnome. Luckily, I was able to force off the domination after only running several hundred feat, and Nikolai (who had been similarly affected, and who had also thrown off the domination) cast a door to dimension door us back to the top of the tower. There we found our companions fighting a huge snake-man; thanks mainly to Rodrigo's firepower (which unfortunately claimed the life of Jorie's wolverine companion, Darkclaw), we succeeded in reducing the creature to mist. It began to dawn on us that this was no ordinary creature, but probably an undead, perhaps even a vampire!
We did out best to follow the mist as it sought its coffin to regenerate. We saw it disappear down the corpse-filled corridor I had earlier searched; the two captains that had earlier escaped waited there for us to cover their master's escape. Rodrigo quickly dispatched them with a fire spell, and after we cleared the corpses into the tar-pit, it was obvious it had escaped through small holes into some space beyond. It remained for us to decide how best to come to grips with the nearly-defeated vampire before it successfully returned to full power...
*****
DM's SEVENTEENTH SESSION NOTES
A vampiric yuan-ti abomination. Very nasty. The way their racial abilities stack and combine with the vampire template proves very formidable. Just not quite yet:
With two party members dominated-- the paladin and the cleric, the only healers-- it would have been quite easy to finish them off; fortunately Rodrigo kept up the heat with fireballs and magic missiles until he was able to reduce it to mist form. In the end the only casualty was Jorie's wolverine, who unfortunately didn't understand what "Fire in the hole!" meant, exactly; Rodrigo was in no mood to risk his own life for one of Jorie's big doggies.
But I pulled my punches a bit, letting the party slowly realize what they were up against before I really put the fear of God into them...
Wulf
Eridanis said:
You mean "Is my vow of chastity more important than following the precepts of 'Duty'?" Or "Am I really opening this sealed message to the leaders of my Order to protect them, and not just because I'm nosy?"
Of course, that gets us way ahead of where we are.
Eridanis
Bard 7/Mod (ret) 10/Mgr 3
Dinkeldog said:
Breaking my vow of chastity (or any vow I make) would strip me of my Paladin powers quicker than you can say "I slept with *what*?". In such a state, Kellan is not much good to anyone, especially Heironeous. As for the letter, it stays sealed until I have good reason to believe it's booby-trapped.
It's a point that definitely made me think, though, when you mentioned it at our last game. Too bad I didn't think of it myself when I was talking with Wulf about the consequences of my actions...
All of this being germaine to the part of the story y'all will see in a few weeks. Sorry!
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
I wish I could find the email where I answered your question, so I'll have to summarize.
I told you that Heironeous doesn't specifically require any vow of chastity of His followers, and that you would have to weigh mortal dogma against divine expectations.
On the other hand, although He wouldn't have asked you to make such an oath, He wouldn't advise you to break it willy-nilly either.
You're simply having to choose between Duty and Honor. You choose to uphold your oath and your Honor.
Wulf
I told you that Heironeous doesn't specifically require any vow of chastity of His followers, and that you would have to weigh mortal dogma against divine expectations.
On the other hand, although He wouldn't have asked you to make such an oath, He wouldn't advise you to break it willy-nilly either.
You're simply having to choose between Duty and Honor. You choose to uphold your oath and your Honor.
Wulf
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
SESSION EIGHTEEN-- the vampire dominates
KELLAN’s EIGHTEENTH SESSION JOURNAL
We hoped we would have several hours to rest before the vampire returned so that we could meet it with something like full strength. Unfortunately, it had other plans - barely an hour later, as everyone rested and Jaag kept watch, the vampire returned and dominated Jaag's mind. The only thing that saved us was that I happened to hear Jaag leave; Nikolai and I both awoke just in time to see the vampire begin its attack. We tried to fight back, but it was obvious we had little chance; all of our spellcasters were bereft of spells, and while swords could do some damage, it was killing us more quickly than we could kill it. I bore the brunt of the attack, while Jorie and Rodrigo fled; when I was at the very edge of death, Nikolai was able to gain the vampire's attention and I backed away. Unfortunately, it proved to be the end of my most valiant comrade; before I could think of a way to get him free, Nikolai was already dead in the coils of the snake-man abomination. With a heavy heart, and some measure of shame, I took the opportunity Nikolai had bought for me, and made my escape to the surface, finding Jorie and Rodrigo and an unconscious Jaag (they had apparently subdued him so as to get him away from the influence of the vampire).
We made haste, riding four hours until sunrise, when we hoped to be a bit safer from the attacks of our foe. We then began to plan how to rescue Nikolai's body; I would not countenance leaving him there to die, or worse, to become a vampire spawn himself. By my best recollection, we had no more than half a week to get him advanced divine aid before he arose as undead; so we agreed to go in, retrieve the body, and get out as quickly as possible, then return to finish the vampire when our strength was fully regained.
After a full night (day?) of rest, we made our way back to the fortress that had occupied our attentions for so long. Our plan was to have Jorie assume the form of a bloodhound, able to track Nikolai by scent; we were made invisible by Rodrigo's craft, and protected from evil by my own divine prayers, praise be to Heironeous. We entered the fortress as quickly as possible, knowing our spells would last us only so long; we detected Nikolai's body in a pathway we had not previously explored, and Jorie grabbed the body in his canine jaws and started to drag it back.
At that moment, we were confronted again. Jorie had apparently been dominated by the vampire, and he dragged the corpse away from us! The vampire materialized and began to attack us despite our invisibility, grabbing me once again in its coils. We fought back, and once again we were forced to defend ourselves at less than full strength, with only Jaag, Rodrigo, and myself to kill the evil spirit. Jaag's axe cut terrible wounds on the creature, Rod's spells burned and pummeled it, and my holy power, normally channeled for healing, hurt it even more. We quickly destroyed its corporeal form, and when it turned to mist and escaped (aided by Jorie's wall of stone to cut off any pursuit—curse that domination!), we were left with a dilemma. We knew we were right back where we started, with now two members down; pursuing the vampire would almost certainly mean all of our deaths, thrown away needlessly. We were able to catch Jorie and subdue him to unconsciousness; at which point we determined that I would ride back to Verbobonc with Nikolai's corpse (I removed the head to make sure it would not return as vampire spawn on the journey). Jaag and Rodrigo would follow with the armor and other spoils we had retrieved from the fortress (we would need the proceeds to pay for the divine miracles we would require to bring Nikolai back to life and restore myself to full power).
Our journeys were successful; after riding hard through the night, I was able to reach Verbobonc with small time to spare. After having Nikolai raised, we discussed the situation with our respective church superiors, and determined that we simply lacked the full power needed to destroy the vampire for good; every time we came to grips with the foe, we were short a party member, or lacking spells, or something else, when we all needed to be at top form to not kill the vampire but pursue it to its coffin to destroy it, too. After discussions, we hit upon another approach.
A week later, we returned to the fortress in full daylight with several acolytes in tow, and a scroll that would allow us to summon a planar ally. After the summoning, we instructed the earth elemental to drill holes in the earth over where Jaag determined the vampire's coffin would be located (about 100 feet below the ground). Our plan was to expose the chamber and the vampire to sunlight, and let the power of light destroy the vampire. It worked eventually; Nikolai flew down to make sure the thing was destroyed, as it finally had no place to run. We returned to Verbobonc victorious; although certainly not the type of victory usually sung about in bard's tales or in the stories of our order's feasthall, I am proud of our resolution and bravery, and finally ending the foe and its threat to the region.
The final fate of Stirling Dale is still unknown, and I will await further instruction on how to proceed. In the meantime, I shall spend time in contemplation and prayer, and consider my failures and successes in this past campaign against evil. I have much to consider.
In remain, in the service of the Great Knight,
Your obedient servant,
Kellan Evershar
-----
DMs SESSION NOTES
This would have been a much easier battle for them if Nikolai had not been so befuddled. After the first encounter where Jaag was dominated and Nik was slain, the party had the foresight to prepare themselves with protection from evil to hedge out the domination effect. Unfortunately, that line of thinking never led them to a magic circle against evil to protect the entire group at once; instead, they cast as many 1st level protection spells as they could-- and that approach left them one short: Jorie.
As his first dominated action, Jorie cast his one and only stone shape spell-- which the group was relying on to gain entrance to the vampires inner chamber and finish him off. A rat-bastardly act on my part; tempers flared around the table, let me tell you!
Fortunately, it was a minor distraction. They were able to destroy the vampire in combat and, as it had nowhere else to go, it was readily destroyed the next day.
Wulf
KELLAN’s EIGHTEENTH SESSION JOURNAL
We hoped we would have several hours to rest before the vampire returned so that we could meet it with something like full strength. Unfortunately, it had other plans - barely an hour later, as everyone rested and Jaag kept watch, the vampire returned and dominated Jaag's mind. The only thing that saved us was that I happened to hear Jaag leave; Nikolai and I both awoke just in time to see the vampire begin its attack. We tried to fight back, but it was obvious we had little chance; all of our spellcasters were bereft of spells, and while swords could do some damage, it was killing us more quickly than we could kill it. I bore the brunt of the attack, while Jorie and Rodrigo fled; when I was at the very edge of death, Nikolai was able to gain the vampire's attention and I backed away. Unfortunately, it proved to be the end of my most valiant comrade; before I could think of a way to get him free, Nikolai was already dead in the coils of the snake-man abomination. With a heavy heart, and some measure of shame, I took the opportunity Nikolai had bought for me, and made my escape to the surface, finding Jorie and Rodrigo and an unconscious Jaag (they had apparently subdued him so as to get him away from the influence of the vampire).
We made haste, riding four hours until sunrise, when we hoped to be a bit safer from the attacks of our foe. We then began to plan how to rescue Nikolai's body; I would not countenance leaving him there to die, or worse, to become a vampire spawn himself. By my best recollection, we had no more than half a week to get him advanced divine aid before he arose as undead; so we agreed to go in, retrieve the body, and get out as quickly as possible, then return to finish the vampire when our strength was fully regained.
After a full night (day?) of rest, we made our way back to the fortress that had occupied our attentions for so long. Our plan was to have Jorie assume the form of a bloodhound, able to track Nikolai by scent; we were made invisible by Rodrigo's craft, and protected from evil by my own divine prayers, praise be to Heironeous. We entered the fortress as quickly as possible, knowing our spells would last us only so long; we detected Nikolai's body in a pathway we had not previously explored, and Jorie grabbed the body in his canine jaws and started to drag it back.
At that moment, we were confronted again. Jorie had apparently been dominated by the vampire, and he dragged the corpse away from us! The vampire materialized and began to attack us despite our invisibility, grabbing me once again in its coils. We fought back, and once again we were forced to defend ourselves at less than full strength, with only Jaag, Rodrigo, and myself to kill the evil spirit. Jaag's axe cut terrible wounds on the creature, Rod's spells burned and pummeled it, and my holy power, normally channeled for healing, hurt it even more. We quickly destroyed its corporeal form, and when it turned to mist and escaped (aided by Jorie's wall of stone to cut off any pursuit—curse that domination!), we were left with a dilemma. We knew we were right back where we started, with now two members down; pursuing the vampire would almost certainly mean all of our deaths, thrown away needlessly. We were able to catch Jorie and subdue him to unconsciousness; at which point we determined that I would ride back to Verbobonc with Nikolai's corpse (I removed the head to make sure it would not return as vampire spawn on the journey). Jaag and Rodrigo would follow with the armor and other spoils we had retrieved from the fortress (we would need the proceeds to pay for the divine miracles we would require to bring Nikolai back to life and restore myself to full power).
Our journeys were successful; after riding hard through the night, I was able to reach Verbobonc with small time to spare. After having Nikolai raised, we discussed the situation with our respective church superiors, and determined that we simply lacked the full power needed to destroy the vampire for good; every time we came to grips with the foe, we were short a party member, or lacking spells, or something else, when we all needed to be at top form to not kill the vampire but pursue it to its coffin to destroy it, too. After discussions, we hit upon another approach.
A week later, we returned to the fortress in full daylight with several acolytes in tow, and a scroll that would allow us to summon a planar ally. After the summoning, we instructed the earth elemental to drill holes in the earth over where Jaag determined the vampire's coffin would be located (about 100 feet below the ground). Our plan was to expose the chamber and the vampire to sunlight, and let the power of light destroy the vampire. It worked eventually; Nikolai flew down to make sure the thing was destroyed, as it finally had no place to run. We returned to Verbobonc victorious; although certainly not the type of victory usually sung about in bard's tales or in the stories of our order's feasthall, I am proud of our resolution and bravery, and finally ending the foe and its threat to the region.
The final fate of Stirling Dale is still unknown, and I will await further instruction on how to proceed. In the meantime, I shall spend time in contemplation and prayer, and consider my failures and successes in this past campaign against evil. I have much to consider.
In remain, in the service of the Great Knight,
Your obedient servant,
Kellan Evershar
-----
DMs SESSION NOTES
This would have been a much easier battle for them if Nikolai had not been so befuddled. After the first encounter where Jaag was dominated and Nik was slain, the party had the foresight to prepare themselves with protection from evil to hedge out the domination effect. Unfortunately, that line of thinking never led them to a magic circle against evil to protect the entire group at once; instead, they cast as many 1st level protection spells as they could-- and that approach left them one short: Jorie.
As his first dominated action, Jorie cast his one and only stone shape spell-- which the group was relying on to gain entrance to the vampires inner chamber and finish him off. A rat-bastardly act on my part; tempers flared around the table, let me tell you!
Fortunately, it was a minor distraction. They were able to destroy the vampire in combat and, as it had nowhere else to go, it was readily destroyed the next day.
Wulf
KidCthulhu
First Post
Mmmm, Vampires. It's really true that a well played vampire can be a challenge for almost any party. A high level group can kill 'em fast, but making sure they stay down is the real trick. And they tend to bear a grudge.
KidCthulhu
First Post
So how is the Stat bidding thing working out for you?
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
From my point of view, it is working out very well.
It is nice to have distinctions between the characters-- everyone has one good stat and one backup, as opposed to everyone being good at everything.
It's nice to ask a character what his flat-footed AC is and not hear a result that is 2-4 points lower: not a lot of DEX to spread around. Armor makes a real difference to these guys. And it's fun asking Rod what his touch AC is: "Uhh, 10. As always."
It's nice to have characters with mediocre INT bonus actually having to make hard decisions about where to spend their skill points. It's been a factor several times that Rod or Kellan was unable to identify an incoming spell (or magic aura) due to a low Spellcraft score.
Jaag dished out a lot of damage on STR alone; Kellan can do the same, but he does it through Divine Favor and his nice (levelled) sword. Jaag can Power Attack with more frequency than Kellan, which makes a nice distinction between the two frontline fighters.
My players are consistently and oft-times desperately challenged. Their abilities are so varied and so intertwined that the absence of a single player at the table can make a drastic difference. It's just not possible for one person to pull the weight of several characters.
Everybody has their unique strengths and their own role at the table.
The players may have another perspective on this...
Wulf
It is nice to have distinctions between the characters-- everyone has one good stat and one backup, as opposed to everyone being good at everything.
It's nice to ask a character what his flat-footed AC is and not hear a result that is 2-4 points lower: not a lot of DEX to spread around. Armor makes a real difference to these guys. And it's fun asking Rod what his touch AC is: "Uhh, 10. As always."
It's nice to have characters with mediocre INT bonus actually having to make hard decisions about where to spend their skill points. It's been a factor several times that Rod or Kellan was unable to identify an incoming spell (or magic aura) due to a low Spellcraft score.
Jaag dished out a lot of damage on STR alone; Kellan can do the same, but he does it through Divine Favor and his nice (levelled) sword. Jaag can Power Attack with more frequency than Kellan, which makes a nice distinction between the two frontline fighters.
My players are consistently and oft-times desperately challenged. Their abilities are so varied and so intertwined that the absence of a single player at the table can make a drastic difference. It's just not possible for one person to pull the weight of several characters.
Everybody has their unique strengths and their own role at the table.
The players may have another perspective on this...
Wulf
