Homebrew Tome Game [Sessions]

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virgil
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Post by virgil »

No, they're up-to-date. They just don't include the buffs that Marshal hands out in their stat line. Although, I do have to lower Cast's AC by one because I wrote his Dex mod as +3 (which a 14 does not give).
Last edited by virgil on Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by virgil »

Session IX
This was a session showcasing the Mass Combat Mini-game from Races of War. It is also the last session for the player of X37, which means the next session may be postponed, depending on scheduling for Tow's player and my ability to find a replacement player.

Also, out of apathy for the game caused by the prospect of thinking of a new character, Cast decided to keep his character and we had a slight retcon of him taking a celestial hippogriff and arriving two days later. The hippogriff was already established last session, as the Empress had attacked an invading force on the capital, and in her fury a celestial hippogriff got sorta stuck on the Prime; this being the same fight that got Chantico's arm destroyed. Also, he finally got a magic weapon and switched out his sun plate for an adamantine carapace.

Reconnaisance from Tow revealed that the orcish horde had been calling in the minor camps and consolidating for a larger attack. His attempt at clairvoyance revealed a giant salt crystal wielded by the war chief named The Knight of the Dunes (orc ghoul that looks desert mummified), and his sensor was spotted.

The party decided to piss off the war chief of the orcish horde into attacking them, so they could intervene before reinforcements from the Wastelands could make the army any larger. They met on the open battlefield, with intermittent squares of light forest.

Enemy Forces
  • 20 Orcs: Move 2, HP 3, Damage 3, Morale 1
  • 5 Orc Elite (Warrior 2, Elite array): Move 2, HP 6, Damage 5, Ranged, Morale 1
  • 1 Dustblight Cavalry (Ashworm mounts): Move 2, HP 14, Damage 8, Burrow (open terrain allows +1 Fortification), Morale 7
Player Forces
  • 12 Human Conscripts: Move 2, HP 1, Damage 1, Morale 0
  • 2 Human Archers: Move 2, HP 2, Damage 2, Ranged, Morale 1
  • 2 Human Pikemen: Move 2, HP 3, Damage 2, Morale 1
  • 1 Undead Archers (X37's): Move 2, HP 6, Damage 5, Morale 2
Notes
Marshal's warshout (+3 morale atk & damage): +3 unit damage to all units
Marshal's other buffs: +1 unit damage to personally lead unit
Marshal's healing aura: heals 2 unit HP at end of round (if they survive, fully healed)
Tow's Invisibility Sphere: one-use 'first strike' given to unit, cannot be reapplied unless they are not attacked for a turn and move at half speed
Tow's Major Image: Deals 3 HP to a unit, ignores terrain, only usable once per unit (concentration, so he just smacked a new unit each turn)

Through judicious use of Set when in the light forest squares, Cast's whirlwind attack on a hippogriff dealing 1 damage to up to four orc units (DR 9 ~ unit DR 2 = 10 damage per orc unit entered, went into Marshal's unit for the healing aura afterwards), Tow's magic, they managed to route the orcish horde.

They took out all but six orc units, at the expense of 11 conscripts & 1 pikemen. The warchief, who was the leader/commander of the dustblight cavalry, managed to personally escape; which greatly vexed the party. They began to torture the captured orcs, have Tow ransack his tent (teleporting once the camp noticed), and then have him go to the Green Oracle and fork over what money they had to the diviners. All this to find out where he was so they could gank him.

At this point, I figured I might as well make him more important to the story and changed a few names and moved the timetable ahead. He fled towards a massive underground lake that is the heart of all the wells in the kingdom bordering the wastelands, and he is planning something that threatens the entire Empire of the Sun.

They move as fast as they can, which takes half a day; except for Tow, who finds the local Elementalist that is the caretaker for the lake and is told the directions through the underground system to get to the area. He even allows Tow to cast misdirection with him as a source, so he will register as the Elementalist to all of the wards.

Stopped the session on a 'to be continued', but I had everyone ding to level 7.
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Post by virgil »

Session X
After entirely too much time wasted, waiting for all of my players to be able to get together again, we seem to be able to begin again. Next week, we have a new player come in to fil the void left by X37's player.

They flip the hidden switch inside the crypt spoken of by the priest, then travel down the sloping hallway for hundreds of feet past many doors on the left side and alcoves with running fountains. While walking, one three of the fountains begin releasing a large water elemental. The three elementals speak of the node being damaged and must be protected. They attack, and are taken out over a few rounds without doing much to the party (fire mage & beguiler hide behind illusions).

After a time, the right side finally has an opening, leading up a 100' of stairs behind a large waterfall. At the peak is a warded door, where Tow speaks the password. Inside is a 20' square chapel in honor to the element of water. At this point, a trap is set off; closing the door and casting raise water on the low level of water in the room. Surprised, they try to hold their breath and Marshal dispels the effect. After half a minute, Tow figures out that six rounds after at least 10 tons weigh on the floor a pit trap opens up. Disabling the trap, they enter the pit w/slide.

At the bottom of the slide they find themselves on the shore of a vast underground lake, near a skiff. Kast hears faint chanting away from the shore. A bonfire is made to better illuminate, showing an ashworm resting on an island. Upon the center of the island is an open ceiling temple made of solid water and a teal beam of light in the center, flickering into the color of salt.

They ride the skiff towards the center and try to stop the Dark Knight of the Thirsting Dune (level 8 orc ghoul knight) from attuning the node towards the Hungering Maw. He was guarded by a water mephit and an advanced dessicator (large size). It was a fairly long fight, with the mephit taken out quickly through miser's envy (taking the salt crystal focus for the ritual). The dessicator was killed first, the ashworm mount was frightened from Marshal's terrible shout ability. Finally, Marshal was killed by the knight's melee attack due to two consecutive rounds of not getting hit (Marshal being his challenge).

Before they could figure out what to do, the mephit returned long enough to throw and shatter the salt crystal near the pillar of light. This released all of the energy being focused from the node, which shifted toward the Hungering Maw for a few moments before resorting back to the Empire of the Sun. Because it was so short, it instead went towards the ashworm (a spawn from the maw), which began to mutate it. It grew to the edge of gargantuan before burrowing out of sight, its scales lengthened and darkened into almost quill-like things, its teeth increased in number then transformed into rubbery arms, and deep in the center of its mouth an eye began to form with a most terrible gaze.

Not sure what to do, they took the corpse of Marshal and made their way to the Emerald Oracle to ask for aid from Auzrha in raising him. We leave off here, as there's a chance that the player for Marshal might decide to let himself stay dead and try a new character. Also, they assumed that I would let the rules for level loss remain with raise dead and similar.
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Post by virgil »

Session XI
Fairly short session. Our potential replacement for the X-37 player ended up with a run of RL preventing him from being able to join in.

They brought Marshal's body to the Emerald Oracle and paid the hag her fee for raising him. I had decided that the level loss would be represented by a permanent negative level penalty (can be removed with the likes of wish), that will go away one at a time with a natural level up (~5450gp was her charge). Meanwhile, Tow brought over his equipment piecemeal via his teleporatation and spent time relaxing at the capital until they rode back there (two weeks long). There was a message left to Marshal by Sarou, but the player didn't seem to pay attention (the other two players did), so he won't discover the contents until later.

Upon returning to the capital of the Empire, they run into Sarou. He had been keeping an ear on the ground and noticed that there have been more than a few peculiar assassination jobs lately. The victims are of random lots in life, the only unifying factor is that they had a single organ of their body expertly excised. No possession would be taken, only killed such that the organ wouldn't be damaged, and then removed post-mortem. The party couldn't get the interest up, and instead looked for a mission from their superior.

While there, they get to go through a short ceremony and are given Imperial medals for their actions in routing the orcish horde of the Hungering Maw. Ensured of their status as first tier nobles in the Empire (second tier nobles are one step relatives).

Their prior superior officier turned out to be dead from one of the attacks from the Blackened Grove. Their new one is named Bunarti, a blonde, beardless dwarf with a Led accent, wearing black & gold cloth. He told them that part of their recent advantage in power was absorbing the Mushroom Kingdom into the fold. Their mission was to find out why or how the Blackened Grove was able to convince the native myconids to accept the alliance, as their culture makes subjugation or even aidful alliance difficult.

The border between the Blackened Grove, while relatively open for travellers, was guarded to prevent egress of the nobility from the Empire of the Sun (read: adventurers). From what they could figure out, they would be suspect for being nobility if they stood out for weirdness or be noticed for their particular combat prowess (Sense Motive to see how good they are in a fight if they ever do something violent) and would likely be subject to cursory magic item scans (adventurers light up like holiday trees). Main roads would be the obviously guarded route, and the Blackened Grove was known for its druids, so moving through the forest beyond the roads would be equally bad when none in the party are familiar with moving through the woods.

After half an hour, they decided to take a boat from Star Cove, captained by a 3rd level warrior aquatic elf (former privateer of another kingdom). The Mushroom Kingdom's on the southern coast of the continent, about 320 miles west of Star Cove. The kingdom is a cold marsh that is like a cross between World of Warcraft's Zangarmarsh and the fungal forest in Nausica of the Valley of the Wind.

While moving along the coast, they can only find a single port, which consists of two seaweed ladened docks near three rundown and seemingly abandoned shanties. For safety, they send Tow out on reconnaisance, so he casts invisibility and begins to teleport around

At one point, he teleports atop one of the roofs, which collapses beneath him. Falling inside, he lands inside a pool of stagnant saltwater and sees a bit of movement below him in the pool. Before he can react properly (lost initiative), he finds himself grappled and pummelled with subdual damage unto unconsciousness (never able to make the Concentration checks).

The rest of the party sits for fifteen minutes before getting worried and docking to looking for Tow; unsure of exactly where he went because they couldn't tell if he fell through the bit of roof that collapsed in (as he had been invisible at the time). When they check the inside, they notice an open pit of stagnant water filled with seaweed at the center of the shantie, below the open hole. One other building also has an open pit, and all of them are filled with mold and bits are growing over with moss, the signs of civilzation being shelves of hollowed out mushrooms filled with various herbs.

They decided that Tow likely fell in and never came out, so Cast takes off his armor, ties himself to a fair bit of rope, and dives in. After a few rounds of looking around, he finds and goes down a tunnel to the side, popping up a hole. Inside are seven more humanoid looking skum that seem to be using a seaweed base, Tow in a corner unconscious. The creatures don't seem to speak his language, so he attempts to mime that he wants the tiefling, and they seem to mime that they don't want to give him up. He pauses for a round, then jerks at the rope as he dives for Tow to grab him. The whole lot of skum begin to bite and claw at him, attempting to subdue him at first as he starts getting dragged back into the water (holding Tows mouth/nose shut to prevent water getting in). About 10' from the surface, the skum did enough damage to knock Cast unconscious and then cut the rope. At which point, they swiftly dragged both bodies back to their lair, leaving Marshal with a surprised look and cut rope.

There's some time deliberating by Marshal with Tenoc as to what to do, because he's no idea what's going on below to cause all this, and his defensive capability is severely compromised without the armor (and very much not swimming with it on). After awhile, they realize that the captain is a sea elf who's likely fast enough to quick check and get back before getting caught. Reluctantly, Marshal allows this and gets the basic gist of what's where. From the lay of the land, he figures out that he can likely walk down the tunnel and climb up to the hole while wearing his armor. At which point, he does so and ends up killing most of them on the way due to their surprisingly weak battle prowess. After half an hour, Tow and Cast awaken (sleeping spores were used), and they search through the room to find a secret passage. Further down the tunnel, they reach the exit and find themselves in a fungal forest with myconids working the 'fields' within sight.
Last edited by virgil on Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by virgil »

Session XII
They walked down to the myconid village, who respond with fear and hiding. After some rapport spores, they talk and inform the myconids of their mission, demanding to know why they aid the Blackened Grove. Claiming ignorance due to isolation, another 'hard-edge' who knows the best route to the capital of the Mushroom Kingdom is pointed out to be nearby the village, living as a hermit. Once over to the Yoda-like house in the fungus filled swamp, they knock and meed the resident. She is a fit, just shy of middle-age human woman wearing a leather jacket, a single leg set of dress pants, and armed with two pairs of scimitars and daggers. She greets them as Leia of House Achilles. After some conversation, she tells them of the capital location, and asks for a friendly duel with someone. Marshal accepts, receives a very painful slap of subdual damage, then knocks her down in a full-attack on his own.

When standing, she cleans her blades of mud by wiping them on her leg, and does a quick blade sharpen by running it on the inside of her knee. The party realizes that her leg is invincible, and Tow remembers hearing rumours of a fallen house from the Blackened Grove known for their invincibility. She acknowledges that she is of said house, living in exile in the Mushroom Kingdom, and that other members of the family have different traits from her. She also offers a chance to try out an excessively rare mushroom to the party that will expire soon, figuring they could take advantage of it better. The mushroom has a small sign that says "Don't Eat Me" next to it, and when fed to Tow, he begins to speak in tongues and somehow manages to summon a fiend. This is how we introduce a one-shot player, who is playing a 7th level Fiendish Brute (aiming for a mini-glabrezu type), who must serve and protect the party for 3 days and 3 nights.

Travelling for a day with a shortcut, they reach the capital, and seek an audience with an elder. Eventually, they're allowed in, but they cannot speak to the Eldest Circle of Sovereigns unless they earn their trust. For rapidity, they offer to join in a hallucinagenic mind meld (works similar to a vision quest) to prove their non-violent intentions. And so, the crazy dreamscape begins...

Appearing in the middle of the smoking ruins of the Empire of the Sun's capital, they wander for a short time, eventually noticing that Cast has parts of his skin turning into mirrored metal. This is followed by a nearby, broken mirror and its reflection of Cast pouring out, shifting into something similar to T-1000 and altering to appear as a large, mirrored myconid declaring itself as Azasaraj the Red Saint and has declared that Cast must fall. It's a short battle before they smack it down, which causes a blank d6 to roll out of its body. Tow attempts to scan it with detect magic, which reveals ancient Celestial runes that flare like a flash bulb (that only Tow can see), which incinerates Tow into nothing, causing him to awaken.

Confused, the party looks around, only to find themselves inside that old building for the exterminator in the southern continent. The human stands from behind the counter, and asks the party if they're interested in getting rid of rats. While he asked, the glabrezu-lite player attempts to teleport back to where he was, which causes an internal spike of pain and him to vanish into nothing (and to awaken), confusing/worrying Marshal and Cast. Marshal asks the clerk if there's anything else, learning that all he has besides traps/poison for rats and racoons is an old toy; a wind-up clapping monkey with a ninja mask. Looking at it, Marshal asks the price, which is apparently a kingdom; only for suddenly the toy monkey to spit out a wad of spikes that cause his head to explode like an overripe melon (awakening him). Alone, Cast tells the clerk to run while he can, at which point he hears the scampering of feet outside the store. Looking out, there is a veritable sea of rats moving towards him, which burst through the door to both overwhelm and kill Cast, bite by bite, into the waking world.

This seems to convince the locals that they're 'worthy' to speak with the second oldest member of the myconid colony, Red Cap. They are brought before him, a giant of a myconid (12HD), wearing a helmet as an amulet, several rings large enough to fit his stub like fingers, and a bag with a chemical-filled flasks. Attempting to diplomacize, Red Cap speaks of 'state secrets' and their alliance with the Blackened Grove suits the Mushroom Kingdom in their future of conquest and expansion. The party is fazed with this decidedly un-myconid like behavior, & Tow had been maintaining a detect magic to see what kind of items he had. When he saw the helmet on the neck chain, he was amazed to find it covered with a strong aura of enchantment magic on it, which is technically artifact level in the game; this amazement is detected by Red Cap, who demands a better explanation of who they are before judgement is passed. Cast is the only who answers, using a long-winded form of his name and title, in which Red Cap declares himself as Azasaraj the Red Saint.

A fight breaks out, and they kill the elder myconid sovereign. Which prompts them being brought before the remaining Elder Circle of the capital under heavy guard. With some deliberation, good Diplomacy rolls, and having them examine Red Cap's personal chambers. Inside said chambers are many, very expensive circles of binding, banishing, and summoning. This convinces them of Red Cap's madness, so they allow the party to keep his tainted gear, and inform them that their alliance with the Blackened Grove, while still present for trade purposes, will be ended for the node connection.

During all of this, they run into Leia's eldest brother, a man known as White Eyes; an old man with milky white eyes, glad to see the heavier presence of Blackened Grove gone. Out of gratitude, he bestows upon the party his family's boon, a salve that will bestow invulnerability to a single body part. There is a little bit of deliberation, and Marshal gets it applied to his arm.

Afterwards, they return back to the Empire of the Sun, and Tow takes the time case to research the helmet; because the entire party is assuming that the helmet is the cause for Red Cap's insanity and likely possession by Azas. In his research, he discovers that the Red Saint was a figure of ancient history (~700 years) who attempted to steal power from the Minor Gods in an attempt towards forced ascension to go along with world domination. The helmet itself, with a more careful inspection, seems to be a helm of telepathy with tiny indentations on the inside portion.
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Post by Cynic »

So what exactly is an invulnerable arm supposed to account to mechanically?
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Post by virgil »

He can use that arm as a non-penalizing buckler without it taking up a magic item slot (can't really be enchanted w/out taking up said slot though). Also, against foes with a damaging aura (such as azer), if he just uses that arm to attack, he won't take damage. The very rare set of spells that disables limbs won't work when they're used on that specific arm. In theory, he wouldn't lose control of the arm when possessed (which only controls the body, not the mind that controls said body), but that's not a definite yet.
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Post by Cynic »

virgileso wrote:He can use that arm as a non-penalizing buckler without it taking up a magic item slot (can't really be enchanted w/out taking up said slot though). Also, against foes with a damaging aura (such as azer), if he just uses that arm to attack, he won't take damage. The very rare set of spells that disables limbs won't work when they're used on that specific arm. In theory, he wouldn't lose control of the arm when possessed (which only controls the body, not the mind that controls said body), but that's not a definite yet.
Not losing control of an arm while possessed just leads to a mental picture of "Stop hitting yourself" in order to prevent excessive damage to party.

What can be enchanted as such? THe D&D slot system being used for this?

So an invulnerable neck can't be cut off but has no other benefit? An arm as a buckler is nice. But what benefits for other parts? Brass balls = no STDS? crude joke that. but still.
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Post by virgil »

Yeah, the possession-proof arm does lead to Evil Hand; which I don't think is a bad thing.

I have the advantage of this boon being very easily controlled in terms of vulnerability, so I'm not going to ponder too deeply on the mechanical benefits of other invulnerable body parts. I'm curious as to whether the party will think of tricks with the arm I hadn't thought of.
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Post by virgil »

Session XIII
The Blackened Grove is reeling from their loss of a rather significant node, so the current situation between them and the Empire has dwindled back down to "annoying neighbors". The orcish horde from the east has lost a rather decent amount of army and a couple of their champions (another adventuring party behind the lines), so their offensive has been put on hold; that and their prior conquest of thirty miles inward was never actually undone, so they actually have some real land to use and keep themselves busy (the party forgot about this).

Ultimately, things are looking stable enough for the party, so they're taking a bit of a break before jumping on their personal interests. After a couple weeks of rest, they eventually find a riddle pertaining to Azasaraj the Red Saint, the knowledge stored being about the Red Saint's Prison (unclear as to a prison used by or for the Red Saint). This riddle vexes them for a time, but they eventually solve and are presented with a set of blueprints.

Unsure as to what the blueprints do, they dedicate the next month's coffers from Cast's kingdom towards constructing what it states; an elaborate and expensive room deep underground (they add it to the dungeon wing) filled with arcane circles and names of various celestials (Tow failed the Arcana check to figure it out). After this time is completed, they all enter the room and close the door behind them to complete the 'circuit'. This makes the entire place turn dark and one of the circles on the far wall turns into a passage leading down a set of glowing stairs. They head down.

We now enter a dungeon, where they discover magic circles that emblazon symbols in Classic Celestial onto their flesh when touched; remember that their Common is Celestial, so they all recognize them as ultimately gibberish for the time. I'm figuring the language works in a manner not unlike Inuit (?), in that a word consists of multiple 'mini-words' and powerful suffixes/prefixes that change their meaning; a made up example would be 'Ta' has to do with the act of witnessing, but requires additional parts to tell you whether it's the 'ignoring' kind of witnessing, bystander witnessing, participant witnessing, second-hand retelling witnessing (w/confession connotations that need to be specified here), etc.

While travelling, they run into a human who seems mad to the point of insane gibbering, having declared himself, his mother, and his uncle to all be the Red Saint; all the while pacing his room and drawing stick figures with all the subtlety/skill of a child. The party's current theory is that he's the Red Saint and this is his prison. They also run into several semi-sentient constructs made of nails that seem to be designed to attack intruders, as well as signs that a rust monster may be around, which has Cast scared out of his gourd. A couple more tattoing circles are found, the magic seeming to be arcane in design, but detect magic shows the same kind of aura that you'd find coming out of anything done by a cleric (something I've added to the spell), which doesn't make any sense as even the clerics of the Boccob Expy don't use arcane sigils in their work.

What's interesting is that the party wants almost the exact dimensions described to them for each room/hall they enter, but absolutely refuse to draw so much as a list of which turns they took. I warned them several times on this, so I'm letting them get lost on their own by this point.
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Post by virgil »

Session XIII + 1/2
The session was run short due to scheduling and one of the players being sick, but refusing to sit it out while pushing to end the session quickly so we could drive him to get food from Jack-in-the-Box.

They traveled a few more rooms, fought a couple advanced rust monsters who had gorged themselves on nail golems, found a map of the dungeon; which somehow exists on the faces of a cube without them being able to notice the curves, which got confusing when they found the room with three straight walls while the corners were still perpendicular. A few keys were found, as was a jar that spoke a name and relation to the Red Saint when the key was placed upon it.

Oh, and they found a font filled to the brim with magic when opened (to the point it seriously amplified any magic cast near it) that was under some kind of warding magic. Staying close to it, they did their level best to dispel the wardings over the font; which I have no idea why, because I'd assume an abjuration over a stupidly potent well of magic would be something you want to keep around...

They'll have the repercussions later.
Last edited by virgil on Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by virgil »

Session XIV
After some more searching, they come upon the discovery that the dungeon was used as a prison by the Red Saint rather than for him. They even find some historical records in an office, along with volumes of legal codices, that verify the history that the Red Saint was a priest of some kind that commanded celestials and spread his control over the land; his greatest threat being Lord Saral, the Master of Monsters, who was attempting to forge an independent kingdom in the woodlands where no humans called home (orcs, gnolls, elite trolls, etc). Armed with this, they grab every key they've found in the place and head for the room with the floating keyhole and the words "By my judgement, I imprison thee" written above.

Their first key intones "Visum, scout for Lord Saral", at which point a Rast to phases in, panics, and attacks the party. Only two more keys actually give names and release creatures, a troll skirmisher for Saral and a forge fiend, who aren't as violent when released; confirming their prior history lesson about the Red Saint. At this point, they identify some of their loot and realize that one of the golden scepters can be used to open the gateway back to Cast's dungeon. Once they've escaped, they inform the fiend and troll that they're safe to leave the country as long as they do so safely.

For the next month, they run the country and send Gina off for diplomatic negotiations, exporting national goods in exchange for magic items crafted by the Dwarven Nations. To make the delivery faster, Tow teleports next to Gina in the Dwarven Nations to make the pickup, only to discover that ninjas had hijacked the delivery. Tow is slain by the three ninja (level 3 warriors) before Gina can get rid of any, where she proceeds to grapple & lift one, then use suggestion on the other to attack the third.

We leave it off at this point. Tune in next week, where we meet our latest character (the player likes to make characters, so he's choosing not to be raised)!
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Post by virgil »

Well, the player who lost Tow is planning on making a drow samurai who willingly blinds himself to avoid the glare of the sun; taking Danger Sense, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse. He's a little saddened that he still has the -2 AC from being blind. I'm suggesting that he get himself a double weapon for his samurai, since I'm fairly certain the ancestral weapon will enchant both ends.

EDIT: Now he's dropping TWF in favor of a large, 2H rapier.
Last edited by virgil on Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Come see Sprockets & Serials
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virgil
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Post by virgil »

Session XV
They use speak with dead to discover that Tow does not wish to return from the dead, so they bury his body and distribute his equipment amongst themselves. There is some concern over the ninja attacks, but after consulting with Sarou, they realize their is little to do right now besides wait and defend themselves. And so, Cast and Marshal mount up and go north to the valley of the white dragon to determine whether the rumours of a tall dwarf dressed in white is the same one that bought the contract on the barbazu army from months ago.

After almost three weeks, they eventually enter kobold territory, where they are waylaid by kobolds demanding an expensive toll before they can pass through alive. They refuse to pay the toll and laugh at the pitiful damage thrown their way, where Cast calmly walks around the troll skeletons (taking the AoOs for no damage) and up to the leader, grapple lifts him, and then uses his Knight's Challenge ability. By this point, Ethedril hears and enters the fray, admonishing the kobolds for so obviously getting in over their heads. After some conversation, she asks to join the party so as to get in favor with the Empire of the Sun; also wanting to join them into the white dragon valley because some of her kobolds disappeared into the area.

From Tow's prior reconnaissance, they know the following about the valley: it is mostly human and the land is technically under the 'control' of three separate kingdoms, but its distance and poverty make it not worth the effort to fight over each other for it, especially with the dragon living in the area. The dragon itself will occasionally eat a villager, its speaker (the tall dwarf) acting as a herald and forward scout to the people. A peculiar feature is that once or twice a generation, a wizard decides to call kip in the valley and enlists the local kobold population to assist in constructing a tower. No wizard reuses a former tower, so the land is scattered with abandoned towers in varying states of disrepair. Currently, a new tower was being built and nearing completion.

Once there, they head directly for the white dragon's cave, having Marshal yell into it to speak with the dragon. At which point, the dwarven herald steps out of the darkness. They state to know if he orchestrated the devil army upon the kingdom of Crystalis (Cast's kingdom), to which the dwarf states that neither he nor his draconic master have ever cared about their kingdom. The party then asked about the wizard tower in the valley, to which the dwarf flippantly states that what the wizards do in the valley are of little concern to him; to which he bids them farewell and good luck in tracking the barbazu down (they never stated what the devils were).

At the nearly finished wizard's tower, several urd placing the finishing touches on the roof of the five-story copper edifice, the party demands the apparently sentient door to let them speak with the master of the tower and return Ethedril's kobolds. There is some resistance from the door, and they begin to pull out their weapons to chop down the door while Ethedril yells out that if her kobolds will be taken she will take some of his and starts shooting at the urd. An urd is severely injured and the door is heavily dented before lightning forms out of the ground for a floating wizard to appear in storming glory. Ethedril demands for her stolen kobolds to be returned, at which point the wizard arrogantly declares that he doesn't steal like some petty thief but simply makes his desires known and 'lesser mortals seek to appease his divine will'.

Not liking the attitude, the drow charges and chops the wizard in half with a kiai strike. Some of the wizard's guardians (three large air elementals) come out to harass the party, but are quickly routed. They then bust their way into the tower to loot the place, and speak with a pair of imps they find held inside. The imps claim to have been bound to the wizard after he began work so know nothing of his origins or other secrets on the tower, ask to be released along with a family heirloom (a hat), and leave peacefully.

That night while they sleep in the tower, the dwarf from earlier teleports in after scrying a bit, and expresses displeasure at them killing the wizard (the party counters with his prior statement of apathy). Being magnanimous, he grimly informs them that their welcome has been worn short and they must leave the valley at once; where he walks out the door. With this ultimatum stated, they go back to sleep, wake up and wait until noon for more kobolds to arrive to the tower so they can find out where the rest are and Ethedril can drag her lost kobolds back.

With a snap, the dwarf teleports back in a cold rage at their willful defiance. Ethedril states she wants her kobolds back and Cast's annoyed at how their long travel didn't get anything done, so the party unloads their arsenal. After several rounds and almost 500 damage (dwarf just standing there mocking them), they get realize that the dwarf has a resilient sphere and get Marshal to use a dispelling glare on it; where the dwarf counters by turning into a huge white dragon and the real fight begins.

They finally kill it, plan to animate its corpse as a skeleton with Ethedril's cohort, and begin to head for the white dragon's cave.
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Session XVI
We have a new player now, who will be playing an 'aasimar' genie (marid) named Plank. I forgot to copy down his character, so his stats won't appear until next week after I see him again.

After Cast discovered that there was a permanent deeper darkness in the cave during his initial scouting attempt, he flew back to inform the party, where they all waited until after Urorae finishes animating the skeleton. At which point, the entire party suits up and heads over, but Ethedril's followers/cohort/dragon skeleton will wait at the entrance due to possible dangers if they enter it with the party.

Walking up to the limits of the darkness, Marshal stares it down until it's suppressed for a short time, showing them that 40' into the cave is a concave wall filled with skulls; all facing the spot immediately in front of a 10' square door that has the Arcanis words for 'Beware' and 'Trespass and Die' inscribed upon it. Once the darkness returns, Cast walks forward and gropes around for the door to open it and take the trap, and shrugs off the phantasmal killer thrown at him twice; once for opening the door, again for smashing it down to make sure it doesn't close behind him.

Inside is a 20' wide tunnel going deep underground, eventually splitting into three paths, the leftmost one with barely noticeable lights flickering and Ethedril hears light breathing down it. Going down that path, they find an abandoned 'open-courtyard' kobold warren, with but a single kobold in leather armor who asks for the party's business. When told that the white dragon is dead and they demand his hoard, the kobold curses them and declares that their lord's vengeance shall continue even in death; at which point, an animated and magically treated huge stone dragon wearing mechanus armor rises out of the courtyard and begins the offensive (it's got inscribed runes for magic slam). Cast goes on the defensive and hurls Draw Fire on it while the rest of the party slugs away at it for a good six rounds. While fighting, the kobold goes down the one other tunnel in the area and causes a cave-in so the party can't follow after it or the rest of the escaped warren.

Turning back, they go down the middle path, finding a massive vault-like door inscribed with the Arcanis words "All that glitters". Marshal figures out the question and states 'door' in the same language, which causes the entire thing to open, revealing a fairly sizeable ceremonial dance hall. Ephemeral music fills the air, never-melting ice crystal chandelier hang, and the walls hang a score of elaborate paintings of various wizards the party aren't terribly familiar with; including an empty frame with a design similar to the nearly-complete copper tower.

After extensive searching, the party finds some things, but not much due to the lack of any member of the party even possessing a single rank in Search. Everything is extensively gilded and very well designed. Even the center of the room features a rather large decorative circle with a pair of embedded dragon footprints (Hollywood style) filled in with never melting ice. They do find a supply closet filled with goblets, serving trays, wines, etc. They also find a brass bottle with a wax seal and words in Primal (eventually translated as "In Asar's name I bind thee"). Not finding anything else, they strip the place of everything of value; the furniture, the paintings, the goblets/trays, the bottle, the chandeliers, and even pry out the ice-made footprint casts in the center of the floor (informed to be surprisingly easy).

While going up-tunnel, they hear the sets of three footsteps coming towards them, but they take the one tunnel the party hadn't explored yet instead of the center one. Shortly, they hear blood-curdling screams of agony in Infernal & explosions, followed by silence. Dropping their stuff momentarily, they run for the source, and see bits of barbazu scattered everywhere in the room except where the large pile of gold and gems lay. They toss a rock, see nothing happen, followed by a length of rope which is dissolved when they try to pull it back. Then Marshal uses dispelling glare and waits four rounds, then tries again (rolling poorly this time), at which point one of the black gems sparks and attempts to use violent thrust telekinesis to pull him towards the pile, but he makes the save. Ethedril then flies over the pile, staying as close to the ceiling as possible, and cuts out a large chunk of stone from above to have it fall onto it; this knocks around some of the coins, revealing a shell with runes on it, but the coins roll back over it as several gems sparkle again; firing lightning bolt & flame strike at Ethedril, who simply parries it. Not sure of what else to do, they leave for the entrance.

They dump their accumulated loot with Ethedril's followers, with the command to begin constructing a wicker basket like thing so the dragon's ribcage can be used for carrying. Urorae analyzes the bottle, and determines that it contains a creature of some sort, and it is potentially a major magic item (at least a moderate) as it should ensure that the inhabitant will serve the owner of the bottle. Because he doesn't know which node it is connected to, let alone whether the node has been redirected or waned, he cannot guarantee that the item functions and will actually control whatever is released.

Figuring they can kill whatever comes out if uncontrolled and hostile, or get a servant they can sell for a shiny profit, they open the bottle. Which releases an amnesiac marid by the name of Plank, who wishes to follow the party to get a sense of what the world is about.

This is swiftly followed by a nearby ice puddle shimmering in reflection and four identical mirrored creatures rise up from it, asking for information as to the party's presence. The party states why they're here (talked to dragon, got in a fight, searching for loot), to which the creatures respond with acceptance and declare that any loot they have yet to claim still falls under 'finders keepers' rules (in so many words). The party doesn't mind, and as they speak, one of the four sinks back into the reflection. In a quid pro quo, the party asks for their identity. The three creatures tell them that they are natives of Mirror Peak, subjects to the King of Three Shadows, and seek treasure as well. After informing the party, the fourth returns holding a rather large tome and informs its compatriots that the library was found, but the hoard remains unaccessible.

This causes another disturbance in the reflection, alarming the creatures as a robed figure appears (stays on the reflection side) calls them back. Immediately after the creatures sink back into the reflection, the robed figure looks at the party and informs them that twice now they have seen him and lived, but they shall not survive a third encounter. With that, it fades away. Because I'm not the best person at voices, I simply told the party that the figure's speech pattern was much like the one they heard back when Cali escaped; he was going down a hall with a robed figure who was chastising him for some unmentioned slight, and when the party tried to catch them, the figure grasped Cali by the arm and the two teleported away. I just now noticed that scene wasn't in the old session notes, which is odd, because it was fairly important.

Meanwhile, Cast is eager to return home. After some time with a map of what they know, they properly explain to Plank where they need to go for his plane shift to work. Since they can't bring Ethedril's followers, Ethedril leaves standing orders to them to desconstruct the copper wizard tower and relocate it at the home village in the woods, reminding them of what she's willing to do if they disobey and run off (that wizard and the dragon were killed almost solely for granting sanctuary to a handful of them).

This cuts travel time to a week after a short sojourn through the elemental plane (description coming soon in setting), though they did miss on the first attempt to the Prime and landed on a tiny island in the middle of the sea (~300 miles south of Cast's castle); which they took as an opportunity to rest for awhile, since they figured nothing would know where they were at that instance.

At the castle, capital of Crystalis, they discover that the area had been attacked by ninja. Amongst the fallen were the royal triage expert (some healing focused adept), the castle interrogator, and several of the guards that had been guarding the former Queen and Gina. Fortunately, the castle did have Marshal's entire dojo relocated there (Sarou and all), Gina could take care of herself, as was Tenoc; who if you recall, is still the head of a noble house, and is attempting to get back into politics by hanging around the castle. There were five highly trained ninja that attacked from hiding within the castle, and two score lesser trained ninja came in from over the outer walls (which is where Tenoc had his fun, as he's since advanced to 5th level); only one ninja survived, mostly, and is held in the dungeon below for the party to handle.

Cast double checks every guard that watches the prisoner, as well as the personal guard of the family, by using his helm of telepathy as well has having them remove their armor to ensure that they aren't ninja in disguise; and then the interrogation begins. Marshal is the primary talker, but Ethedril is in the room as well to nick him with his sword while they talk, Plank joins to squirt him continuously, and Cast glowers behind him to use his helm of telepathy, who had Gina accompany them for additional intimidating support. When the ninja made the first Will save against the effect while Marshal yelled at him, Cast joined in and demanded that the ninja stop resisting and forgo all saving throws, knocking him into unconsciousness when he balks and having Marshal awaken him with healing. While he's getting brought back to consciousness, Cast reapplies detect thoughts and finally gets a hold in, and reiterates his demand in the ninja's mind when he comes to.

It's at this point, I get frustrated with one of the flaws of interrogation in D&D. Every single time, you get the entire party swarming and groping their prisoner, usually resulting in three or four people using aid another on the primary interrogator; and even if you don't allow aid another, you still result in them doing it anyway 'for moral support'. And unless you have a paladin around, it almost always breaks down into more torture than interrogation. As a result, I have a house rule to introduce...

Limits of Interrogation: Using intimidate to get information cannot receive aid another benefits. Use of torture or other sensory overloads, shorten the time to perform the check to a round at the cost of information limit. If the victim would not give the information to a good friend, then he will either resist all further torture or break and confess/believe anything the party wants, regardless of actual validity.

Once faced with this, the party leaves and waits a day to decide what to do, at which point Plank goes down alone to use Diplomacy (gets a 33). He learns that the ninja was trained in a dojo two days north of Naught Hill, and was recruited by the guild along with four others who joined in the attack. The ninja doesn't have a rendezvous point any longer, because the guild will have assumed him to be KIA by this point.

After conferring with Sarou (aka, my suggestion), they get a poison that will make the victim paralyzed, barely conscious, and easily suggestible, which they secretly apply to the ninja in one last torture session; so that the ninja will think that the party thinks him to be dead and toss him onto the trash just outside the castle, where the poison will wear off and he will believe his escape to be good fortune. This will give the best chance of a safe meetup with his guild, so Sarou will stalk the ninja to see who he meets with while the party plans their sojourn to the dojo north of Naught Hill.
Last edited by virgil on Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Utterfail »

I think your post got cut short.
Failing since 1989

I suppose this signature has run it's course.
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Post by CatharzGodfoot »

And dammit, it's a cliffhanger!
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
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Mount Flamethrower on rear
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Post by virgil »

Woops, sorry about that. It was late, and it cropped off more than you realize. It should be fixed now. What was strange was that the entire session was only three hours.
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Post by virgil »

Session XVII
The party waits three days for Sarou to return from his fact-finding mission. He returns with a mention that he will need to get more poison. The 'escaped' ninja had laid low for two days before contacting his superiors, at which point Sarou followed the superior who would know more, only to discover that he was expecting to be followed and Marshal's cohort was ambushed. Fortunately, his training allowed him to escape with a fair number of them dead. After escaping, Sarou researched more on the fact one of the ninja in the ambush was an unusually pale orc that proved particularly resilient to Sarou's techniques.

In his own research, he determined that it was very likely to have been a vampire orc, and the source of vampiric orcs is from the Red Fang Clan to the east (prior mention had been made of them). Culturally, Red Fang vampires are incredibly reluctant to ever be farther than three nights' travel from their clan, which hinted of at minimum an outpost near the wastelands about a week's travel east.

After some discussion, the party decided a more solid lead would be to the dojo north of Naught Hill from their captured ninja. Thanks to Plank's plane shift and the royal maps, they were able to shift within 3 days travel of the dojo. They were interrupted by a pair of noble hill giants along the way (wore quality gear rather than random sticks), but convinced them that Imperials going through the land was for peaceful purposes and continued onward.

The dojo was built into a plateau that was being strip mined very slowly by hand (literally) as a method of training for the humans there. It took a moment, because Cast was trying to speak first and he doesn't know Giantish, but one of them knew the Imperial tongue. Only those sufficiently enlightened in their ways could actually receive training or wisdom of any kind from the He Who Supports the Firmament (head of the dojo). One of the higher ranking monks (titled Bellower, who spoke softly and squeakily) informed them that there existed two 'quick' ways of wisdom in their ways.

Our first method was to show that could be an immovable object, by staying true against the force of Shifting Glacier, a Jotun (half-giant stats) monk with the Juggernaut feat. After Cast was almost casually bull-rushed, they opted for the very dangerous second test, to prove themselves (individually or as a whole) as an unstoppable force. This test was to utterly defeat a stone golem without receiving a single point of damage, which the party agreed to. An unknown entity from behind a gauze curtain in the dojo seems to stare with glowing eyes, causing nearby debris & slag to rise and become a stone golem (concentration duration, close range). Thanks to Cast's ability to fight defensively and his Draw Fire ability, this was done readily enough.

Speaking with He Who Supports the Firmament, who is a Stone Giant Elder (switch transmute for the golem ability and increase by one or two HD), he informs of a group of recruiters attempting to encourage his disciples to "act like the rolling avalanche rather than the shifting earthquake". After learning of Firmament's displeasure of this practice, he suspected they recruited students who had left the dojo. As a favor, Firmament told the party that he would speak with gravestones of the recruiting ninja about their clan. The next morning, they were informed that this ninja clan was called the Shadowed Hand, and had four five fingers throughout the land, and one of these fingers lay on the border of the Empire of the Sun and the eastern wastelands. Also, this finger could only be seen under the light of the noon sun.

Bidding farewell, the party did the plane shift trick to get within three days of Cast's castle to recoup, and had Sarou do a fact-finding mission on what they've learned thus far.

Were this dojo to actually be veiled except under a noon sun, would imply a shadow well and very likely a node along such a theme. This made such an outpost quite likely the clan's HQ and guarded by shadows due to the node's theme. Considering the danger, they decide to rest for a week or so and call in some magic items to be constructed for themselves (since Cast will go in with his sun plate instead of adamantine carapace).

While resting, in the dead of night, numerous ninja from the Shadowed Hand attacked the party. One of their high elites (level 4 Samurai) managed to get into Cast's bedchamber without being heard (even after one-shotting the guards), and the surprise round + normal round, Cast was sent into the negatives. Thinking quick, Gina used her skill-based fascinate/suggestions to convince him that he'll bleed out and to leave her in her grief (which works). The rest of the party was similarly ambushed, but they were attacked by 'regular' elites (similar to the Barghest Maw regular ninja); three elites on Marshal, two on Plank and Ethedril each. With less skilled assaults, the rest of the party survived and repelled the attacks readily. Ethedril in particular managed to hear the ninja before they even got within melee, but pretended to remain asleep and killed all three the moment before they made their melee attacks.

This convinced Cast to rearrange the bedchamber arrangement so that any stealthers would have to go by Ethedril's room to reach any of the other party's, and to use the higher level followers for the guard patrols.
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Post by virgil »

XVIII
Once Plank returns, the party suits up and heads for the NE in search of the base for the Shadowed Hand, in unclaimed territory where none travel. After about a week, they eventually pick up signs that indicate frequently traveled yet well-hidden paths. Following it, they come upon a village built to be as inconspicuous to any but those who practically walk straight in.

From afar, they see that the village is populated by humans, hobgoblins, and a minority of orcs of the Red Fang Tribe. It's a little past noon, so they decide to camp just out of sight and wait until noon. Once night rolls in, a very small bonfire is made and the party hears a song coming from near it; spoken in the Shadow dialect of Primal, telling a tale that the party is familiar with that involves the Empress and an ex-lover. It's a tale that likens their relationship between night and day, and how their separation creates the cycle as it is known. During this song, Cast and Plank receive something akin to a sending within their minds reminding them of their fate and to accept a swift death; though Plank received an additional message offering quarter if he came to their side (Bard's Siren Call, resisted). Readying their weapons for an imminent attack, none come, and the party eventually sleeps.

That morning, some hunters from the village are coming close to the party's camp, and the sound of Cast trying to put his armor on gets their attention. Concerned, one of the three hunters heads back to the village while the other two head towards the party (only seeing Cast and Marshal, the rest too well-hidden); wondering why unwelcome strangers are in the middle of nowhere. Cast declares that they come seeking information (never more specific than that) and they can't promise that they won't enter the village because of certain information they await. Eventually the third hunter returns and confers with the other two out of sight and from some distance, though Ethedril listens in with supernatural ears. They are worried about these vague and noncommittal adventurers, and decide to warn the elder of their presence. One of them returns, leaving the other two to watch the party, as well as a screecher arrow to warn the village if they're going hostile.

Once noon rolls around, the village looks unchanged, so Cast decides and informs the two villagers that he's going to fly up on his hippogriff to just have a look around. The villagers warn against such, because their watch was not warned of him and would fire upon him; but would accept him if the villagers could spread the news. Not wanting to be delayed, he tells them that he'll weather the shots, understanding that the villagers can't prevent any harm coming to him. With a trot and flap, he begins flying upward, which convinces the villagers (who are seen to be worried) to fire their screecher arrow, which triggers Ethedril's readied action to charge and kill them before they can act; and does so.

Cast sees a bit north of the village a spot of forest that's appreciably darker than the rest of the area, despite a lack of clouds above or the angle of the sun allowing the hill to normally create such shadow naturally. Dodging arrow fire deftly, he returns back to the party and informs them, a little disheartened at the sight of the villager's death. They suit up and begin moving around the village as fast as possible to get to the shadowed area.

While moving, they begin to hear a sound akin to a tuning fork that fascinates Plank. Just as they break it, an unarmored elf with black eyes and tongue, wearing a ceremonial shield and an elven thinblade that he continually knocks onto something to continue its humming sound. Coming up from behind are eight silk-steel armor wearing ninjas (Ethedril hears six more out of sight that are slowly flanking the party). Introducing himself as Shadowtongue and representative of the village that the party attacked. Cast offers compensation for the villagers' death, but they must continue on their recon mission to a shadowed area to the north which he believes to be a base for the Shadowed Hand. Shadowtongue is disappointed, telling the party that there is a price for such knowledge, which is blood.

Marshal is infuriated when he discovers that something's enhancing Shadowtongue's Countersong to counter abilities that require targets to be able to hear (such as many of Marshal's buffs, or even Cast's designate opponent).

After a couple rounds of pain, all of the ninja are dead and Shadowtongue surrenders just before an attack is levied against him. He informs the party that the Shadowed Hand likely has an escape clause in their contract with the party (usually by ending up too expensive for the guild), but they'd have to have the leader of another ninja guild request a calling in order for any kind of safe negotiations to begin. As a favor, Shadowtongue tells the party he can make a few contacts to see if Marshal's request will count (he does command a dojo of trained ninjas, afterall), allowing the party to rest in the town for the day.

With a warning as he walks away, he informs the party that should they cause any more death to the village, then they must fear the wrath of the Crow itself.
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Post by virgil »

Session XIX
Our player for Plank had to leave, unfortunately, due to having gotten a job that requires his presence on Saturdays. And thus, the game has returned to three once more. The game also got started late because one player slept in and got enthralled playing Dragon Age on his computer, that and when conversation began he got bored and drove off quickly for food (very common behavior for him).

After a day of holing up in their room in town for nearly 24 hours to await their meeting with the Shadowed Hand (avoiding the townspeople like crazy), the shadows in their room coalesce into a figure to inform them to go north to the dojo for the meeting. At about noon, they reach the place, and they enter the area that looks much like the Plane of Shadow. They can see the building built into the bottom of the cliff, and the front gate to the grounds is guarded by a pair of orc vampires. The guards open the gate slowly into impenetrable mist, request that the party wait a moment for the path to be shown, in which a gust of wind from the other side of the fog parts the way so the party can swiftly walk across and into the building.

Inside is a dark room with interior paper walls, the largest one being a long table with cushions all around. At the head of table is Shadowtongue (two ninja guards behind him), and on each side of the table are individuals that Shadowtongue introduces as representatives of two other ninja guilds to witnesses to the proceedings. One is a ghoul-like bugbear named Jabb, who leads the Barghest's Maw. The other is a human with a deathly blue flame coming from his eyes, wearing samurai armor made of stone, representing the Scratch. Shadowtongue introduces himself as a negotiator for the Shadowed Hand itself.

Talk about what the party wants is laid out, the contract to be ripped up under threat of violence, the contract to be nulled by a competing offer, or the name of the individual who bought the contract. Negotiation is slow at first because the player for Cast doesn't like the idea of giving the Shadowed Hand anything; 2000gp is his initial limit for buying out the contract (basic magic items are generally worth that, and Cast himself pulls in ~8k a month from taxes). Eventually, Ethedril brings up the idea of giving up the wizard tower they obtained back in the Valley of the White Dragon, with the extra bit that Ethedril will inform her kobold followers to put it back in place (and repaired). This would be in exchange for the name of the person who hired the Shadowed Hand. One Diplomacy check later, and things work out.

Shadowtongue tells them they must wait until tomorrow to leave due to the nature of how they entered the place, and provides the party access to the guest wing. He promises that they will not make any attempt on their lives until nightfall the next day (giving them half a day's travel of seperation from the base), as part of a general pact of hospitality that comes with a ninja negotiation. Inside the guest wing, they are offered a wide selection of food and women and are told they can ask for any other diversion for the day. They all forgo any pleasures, Cast specifically asking for a white room for him to sit and ignore everything in, though Ethedril tries out the food and discovers that it's illusory (30% real because it's a shadow illusion). The next day, they suit up and leave for the Valley of the White Dragon to inform the kobolds to undo what they've done to the tower so far.

They push themselves to the limit of fatigue to avoid getting ambushed in camp right at nightfall, delaying it until about 4am, where half an hour into their rest they are interrupted by a wall of fire forming on them, dealing vile damage (yay Carnage domain). Marshal manages to spot something above the party, nearly 200' above them with wings flapping utterly silently, while releasing a bird to begin diving towards the party. While Marshal and Cast jump out of the fire, Ethedril charges upward to chop the bird in half mid-flight, discovering that it was a very simple conjuration that holds a scrap of real paper. At the winged creature's turn, with a flap it seems to fold itself into the night and disappear (Ethedril cannot sense it). The message tells the party that while they are not yet at the level for his full attention, they are worth a visit to soften them up for the rest of the guild, and it is signed from the Crow.

The thing they saw looked roughly like this but with crow wings instead Image
Last edited by virgil on Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by virgil »

Session XX
They level up by this point, and are now level 9.

After having taken the damage, they decide it prudent to turn around and instead head for the capital to heal up the vile damage, and just send Ethedril's cleric to the kobolds. This should take about four or five days, and they pass through a couple small towns with warm welcome. On the third day, they encounter a hamlet that's been holed up as if under siege, and find out they've been attacked by a horde of ninja over the last three days (two attacks thus far, three dead).

Cast and escort travel to pick up the more isolated people who were trying to weather the assault in their cottages, and helps them suit up to leave by morning (~75 of 'em). When morning draws near, a score of Shadowed Hand genin charge, and 15 of the villagers are revealed to be chunnin in disguise in this attack. The party makes quick work of them, three rounds of Marshal's fast healing removing the marks made. Concerned of further treachery, Cast makes sure not a single villager has any weapons, and keeps his weapon readied at them. Once at the castle, the villagers are quarantined, and will be released after the party leaves.

At the castle, they get some information concerning the name they were given on the person who hired the Shadowed Hand to kill them; Ssevar'nac the Golden Lord, Plague Father, Master of Shapes. He is a disgustingly wealthy lord of a node in the Blackened Grove, known for his mastery of shapeshifting, ability to birth monsters, and curse people into all manner of shapes, and is also known to shape corpses (fabricate level) for the Grove's war machine. They get directions and convince the Empress to loan them two hippogriffs so as to swiftly reach the node (with a buff from Chantico), as well as a handful of fireball flasks to deal with swarms.

They travel long hours, but are a mere 10 miles from Ssevar'nac's castle when they make camp. In the middle of the night, Ethedril is awakened to the sound of an old man singing very off-key in some local dialect on a path that will go through the party; and hears him far enough away for Cast to put his armor on and ready a bow. When the old man sees the party, he barely has a chance to register their presence before Cast knocks an arrow and demands that he turn around and go the other way, stating that they are adventurers under siege. Old man, partially apologetically and partially crotchety, states he's just trying to reach a shrine that the party is on the way of; and if he could take his old knees and around far enough out to not be seen by either. Just the act of explaining nearly brings Cast into a rage (the insolence, near as I can tell), which Marshal manages to subdue him enough to not just slay the old man where he stands.

The old man backtracks a bit and takes the long way around the party, mumbling with crotchety annoyance at them and hoping that Ssevar'nac that turns them into stoats. Ethedril can hear this from the distance, which sorta surprises Cast that the old man knows of Ssevar'nac, tempting him to go and kill the obvious spy; Ethedril instead follows the old man to the shrine, which is dedicated to Kiransal. When the old man enters, Ethedril overhears him making confessions, which for Kiransal means confessing of every sin visited upon you; and money is exchanged for karmic vengeance, the party having been mentioned. The priestess inside exits the shrine to deliver the money and prayers to the greater church, who Ethedril sees to be a harpy.

Following the harpy, Ethedril goes awhile without being seen, but is eventually spotted. The harpy asks a question, getting a snarky answer with a hint of danger, so she sings her Captivating Song and Ethedril rolls a natural 1. And so, our drow is lead directly into the Ssevar'nac's estate, and brought before one of the accountants under the guard of two trolls. The harpy is paid and leaves, while the accountant questions Ethedril for a name and reason for being around. Ethedril delays for a short bit, then flies forward to cut the accountant down and attempts to batter a wall down to escape; but is grappled and rended unto death by the two trolls (reach is a powerful thing when you don't otherwise have the edge).

After four hours, Cast and Marshal decide to search for Ethedril, following the old man's tracks. They come upon the shrine with the old man outside and partially on his way away, where Cast demands to know what happened to his travelling companion. The old man states he hasn't a clue (Sense Motive checks state he's telling the truth) but does a short cackle at the idea, which is the last straw for Cast who charges and kills; revealing that the old man was an Obake, a lesser type of human-turned-oni with a bee hive in their hunch (minor shapeshifting hides this).

Marshal enters the shrine to ask the priestess for information, eventually being convinced to pay a small tithing (4gp), where she tells them she will call upon divine wisdom from Kiransal to lead them. She asks for them to follow, where they mount up and do so; Cast tries a few times with his helm of telepathy to start reading her mind, eventually getting through the Will save and finding out that she's leading them to the primary counting house instead of the ancillary because there were two of them.

At the central counting house, there are half a dozen dire vultures in gilded cages with three well-groomed gnolls in fine clothing caretaking the entire room. The floor is covered with ivory white marble expertly cut, the floor otherwise being fairly bare aside from the back end where three japanese-like men in kimonos write notes and keep track of numbers with an abacus, while formian workers work behind them to physically move money at their demand.

The three accountants, looking close enough to be brothers, ask for their names. They are told the full titles, and that the two are seeking Ethedril. Notes are passed to a formian worker, who wanders off with it, and the head accountant tells them to wait a moment for them to receive permission. After a couple minutes, the formian returns with a message, which the accountant reads and informs the party that they can simply enter the palace to speak with Ssevar'nac for further information.

This does not sit well with Cast, who demands to know immediately where Ethedril is, which the accountants state that they cannot tell them. Cast begins walking towards them with the intent of blocking the back exit (which is 15' behind the accountants, the front door is on the opposite side over 75' away), where the gnolls move to keep him from getting too close to the accountants. Cast cuts down the gnoll, which sends the entire room into a flurry and a fight breaks out. The accountants prove to be expert unarmed combatants, pinning and disarming the two, but proving to be virtually incapable of scratching them (disguised Ogon no Oni from Creatures of Rokugan, 5000 koku on them). Once the first accountant is finally struck down, they surrender and beg to be spared, telling the two that Ethedril had been killed for slaying their brother and his corpse is with Ssevar'nac and is likely being interrogated.

Cast is tempted to slay the two anyway, though there exists the chance he would use the suggestion power in his telepathy helm, demanding the Ogon no Oni to both give up his money bag and to forgo any incoming saving throw (will immediately kill the oni if he doesn't forgo). But we end the session and debate there for next time, likely in two weeks because Cynic's coming down and wants a one-shot (aWoD).
Last edited by virgil on Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by virgil »

Honest opinion from outside viewing audience. Does it look like I've been overly dickish and/or promoting a PoV that it would just be easier to just kill any and all strangers (including new faces with names) that have a speaking part in the narrative, almost regardless of circumstances?
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Post by Username17 »

virgileso wrote:Honest opinion from outside viewing audience. Does it look like I've been overly dickish and/or promoting a PoV that it would just be easier to just kill any and all strangers (including new faces with names) that have a speaking part in the narrative, almost regardless of circumstances?
When it gets to the point when even random villagers are probably ninja/demons/cultists then there really stops being any purpose in talking to people. It's not a question of dickishness, it's that if there aren't really any helpful NPCs there's no reason to talk to them. It just reduces everything to hack-n-slash.

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Post by virgil »

I had actually intended that old man demon to potentially be helpful. The village under siege only had those 15 villagers disguised, and the ones that the party actually talked to were real and attempted to be helpful.

After the situation with Ssevar'nac, the ninjas are going to leave the stage, and they've pretty much been the only source of non-obvious NPC danger. My concern is that the 'damage' is already done though, and that any helpful NPCs will either be killed or made hostile because of preemptive mistreatment.
Last edited by virgil on Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!
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