|
Post by LOBO on Nov 3, 2009 14:20:43 GMT -5
i've never even heard of ghosttouch weapons before, is that something new? And odds are we dont have any because we havent found any, sounds like the kinda thing we would probably hold onto.
|
|
|
Post by PandoraGreen on Nov 3, 2009 15:25:48 GMT -5
I actually thought that this time, turning the ghost and having it flee was a good strategy. Given that we were all asleep, unarmored and unequipped. It gave us a moment to collect ourselves and some of our gear. The second time they were turned gave us time to get the cleric back on his feet.
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Nov 4, 2009 1:59:44 GMT -5
Lobo, wasn't it you I had the conversation about Ghost touch weapons with? We were going through the DMG looking for useful weapons at the appropriate gold level. Maybe it was Oloaroso, but I know all of you were present, physically at least You did find one Ghost-touch weapon, it was either a short sword or a dagger, you guys promptly sold it. The problem with Ghost-Touch is that it works out to be a +1 bonus, so even a basic +1 Ghost Touch weapon costs as much as a +2 or a +1 Keen or a +1 Flaming. I think at the time you guys got it the gold was much more attractive.
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Nov 4, 2009 8:58:52 GMT -5
I actually havea spell that will ignore those ghosts' nasty incorporeal shenanigans. I believe its called Mystic weapon or something like that. IT summons a weapon that ignores the incorporeal chance to hit thingy of undead like that and it does other things too. bad part is that I think it uses my base to hit score which stinks. I believe it also ignores damage resistance and in in tune with my alignment so it also does "good" damage or extra damage to things that are evil. I believe there is also a "greater" version of this spell in the higher levels... Now I am researching something to enchant our weapons so that they will be able to hit ghosts like that. Maybe its something that I will be able to research and possibly create as a unique spell in the game! I am sure there is something like ti already out there but if I cant find it thats next on my list of things to do... right before the gladitorial arena!
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Nov 19, 2009 12:11:47 GMT -5
Cant wait for saturday!!!!
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Nov 23, 2009 13:10:22 GMT -5
Once again the Glorious light of Pelor emboldened and protected us through another harrowing dungeoun delve. When that fiendish undead abomination attempted to rip our very souls from our bodies, Pelor granted his chosen the divine might to banish it from our world! And when our companion was bedazzled and struck low by the fiend it was Pelor again (working through the good cleric) what stayed her hand and brough solace to her troubled mind.
Verily he is a great and benificent god and we who do his work do prosper and enjoy the fruits of our labours blessed by Him.
Doubt not his hand in all things... I await our next adventure in a fortnight's time.
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Nov 24, 2009 1:32:38 GMT -5
Summary:
Started off the game with the players still floundering trying to figure out what to do next. Asking around town for leads it was eventually suggested to them by one of their close friends to give up and just go exploring in Castle Greyhawk and reminded them of a story they told of an abandoned mine they had found but not fully explored.
So the party took the suggestion and returned to level 4 of The Tower Of War the first floor of Shatterstone! Here they explored an area where they had fougt off a couple of trolls. Exploring a natural shaft off of the main mining shaft the party met their first challenge of the day. A trio of Rust Monsters.
I've never seen the party so scared of a monster as when Gelna's sword turned to rust after just one hit. Everyone except Erebos was scared to even enter the room, and Genla was quickly pinned in and cut off from the rest of the party. Erebos' magical chain armour was the next item to fall to the Beasts.
A quick aside: Around this time I realized I had messed up the rules for the rust monsters, and Gelna got her sword back. I would feel bad about this but it was nothing compared to the revelation that Gelna had been cheating for 3 levels.
The fight was a quick one but costly for the characters. The creatures weren't that tough and really didn't last long but they did end up being costly for the characters. As a new near armourless Erebos exemplified.
After defeating these beasts the party explored the rest of the abandoned mine. There were some rather amusing scenes based on the fact that the players assumed I had let slip that a secret door was in a room and lots of discussion about putting hands in stagnant water covered in pond scum, but no real threat to the party.
Eventually after exploring a few other rooms the party found themselves in an ancient library. Here they were ambushed by the Ghost of a Cleric of Boccob. This was a tough fight for the first two rounds until the act that inspired the above post by Gore happened. Sunstone rolled the best possible result on his greater turning and banished the ghost. The party had no time for celebration though. One of the first things the Ghost had done at the start of the battle is cast Confusion and unfortunately for the adventurers Gelna has a weak mind.
The next 5 rounds of combat had a confused Gelna attacking her own party. Civ took a pretty nasty hit and Erebos managed to score a critical hit on the confused half-orc. Sunstone again stepped up and made short work of this threat with another excellent roll, this time on a Dispel Magic Spell.
With the ghost dead(?) and Gelna brought back to her senses the party explored the library. Here they found 1/4 of a magic book (who's name required the group to grab a dictionary). Further searching turned up a hidden closet filled with what seemed to be a Janitors group of magic items. A couple of immovable rods, a robe of usefull items and a magical broom.
The next scene was one of the funniest I think I've seen in a game. Erebos attempted to activate the boom. It immediately animated, flew between her legs, lifted her up, did a loop and dropped her on her head. It then began a relentless assault on the Warlock. The rest of the party doubled over in laughter as the broom attacked. It quickly blinded Erebos with it's straw side slapping her across the face, only to be followed up by a critical hit by the broom end. Blinded Erebos struggled to get away. The broom perused. The combined assault of Civ and Sunstone were no match for the broom and it continued to assault the warlock keeping her blinded. Gelna eventually stopped laughing and grappled the broom, which allowed the rest of the group to finish it off in short order.
After the battle of the broom, the party found that they seemed to have explored all there was to see in this ruined mining area and headed back to Greyhawk. Traveling through town they noticed quite a few wanted posters up, all for a 'messenger' they had recently saved from the Tower of War. It seems their rescued prisoner was not who he claimed to be. After a night at the inn with quite a few drinks and more laughs at the days missadventures the party was told that a friend wanted to see them and that they were to meet with the leader of the Thieves guild in the morning.
That next morning the party had a lengthy discussion with the Queen of Thieves. Seems the guild knows where to find the Key but wants the party to recover an item for them as well. The trick: both items are in the Guild of Wizardry, founded by Zagig himself. The group debated on wether to agree to this offer. They went to some old friends and possibly let a bit of a cat out of the bad. After letting the secret of the key slip in to what may be unfriendly hands the party agreed to go with the Thieves Guild's Plans.
So starting at noon on the next day the party plans to hid in a magic bottle, get deposited into the guild of wizardry, find an ancient library, find a specific book, use that book to get to the secret penthouse of the guild, steal Zagyg's Key and a Golden Monkey, then get back to the bottle.
Now doesn't that sound easy? We'll see how things go next session.
|
|
|
Post by nightparade on Nov 28, 2009 3:05:24 GMT -5
Pshh, what could be easier than that?
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Dec 1, 2009 9:46:43 GMT -5
I'll tell ya what could be easier... Just slaying that stupid mage and taking over his temple and YOU convincing everyone yuo are the second coming of Zagyg! Now that would throw the DM for a loop!
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Dec 2, 2009 0:05:46 GMT -5
Are you talking about the High Priest (aka Cleric) of Zagyg, GrandFather Magic?
If so, feel free to try it. He's fully statted out in the module just for fools who try. You thought being turned into a toad was bad?
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Dec 6, 2009 16:03:01 GMT -5
Wow the dice gawds hated the players last night.
The night started out with the confirmation that the party did indeed want to stick to the proposed plan from the Thieves guild.
So they hid in the Refuge Bottle, tossed on some disguises and 12 hours later found themselves inside Greyhawk's Guild of Wizardry. They set out to find the library they were looking for. Thankfully for them, most of the Wizards in the area were distracted by a class on Demon summoning. They party managed to get by these distracted wizards easily and into the Library they needed to be in.
As the party moved about the library searching for the correct book, Civ was the first to notice an odd phenomenon, where the lights in different stacks would come on or off. She was also the first to realize that this phenomenon was caused by the Beholder Liberian.
Civ did not last long at all. After first saving vs. being turned to Stone, she then saved vs. sleep. This frustrated the beholder that finished her off with a Finger of Death Eye. As the party rushed over to help the Beholder used a ring of Invisibility and moved about the room. At right about the same time Olaroso found the book the party had been looking for. It was quickly decided that the multi-eyed librarian was too much for the party. Gelna scooped up Civ's corpse and the party made for the door. The Beholder was a little bit too slow to block escape, but managed to catch Olaroso with it's Flesh to Stone Eye before the party could get out of the room. Torn between leaving the elf in the Library to escape or fighting the Abberation the party hotly debated what to do.
The party decided that a diplomatic (read bold faced lies) approach would work best. Erebos stepped up to the Beholder, still disguised as one of the Guild Wizards and berated him for attacking them. She pointed out that they were on an important task for the guildmaster to recover the very book they needed. Being ridiculously charismatic this ploy worked. So the party escaped mostly intact.
The problem they faced now was what to do. They were pretty much stuck. They had the book they wanted, but it was now a stone book held in the arms of an Elf Statue. They debated their situation for a long time. They couldn't figure out a way to get Olaroso out and weren't even sure if they would be able to get back into the Guild if they failed. Erebos stepped up again, though much more reluctantly this time. She used her wiles and charms and managed to convince one of the Guild Wizards that a Magical Accident had Happened and that the Beholder had got another two students 'accidentally'. The ploy worked. After a bit of time this student produced a Wish spell to bring Civ back to life and a Flesh to Stone scroll for Olaroso, expecting to be paid back by the Head of the Guild for these spells due to the Librarians obvious mistake.
Back in the fight and only a little worse for wear the party returned to their original mission. They used to book to find the portal to Zagig's hidden lair. To get to the portal the party had to pass one more test. Entering a room full of pillars all the hues of the Rainbow the party had to play Trivia. This was a rather humorous fight. The party had to do thing in the right order as well as answer questions correctly. Each wrong answer or miss touched pillar resulted in a deafness spell being cast. Which made answering the questions even harder. By the end of the fight only Civ still had her hearing. In addition to this 3 animated guardians joined the fight as wrong answers were made. Each of these was incredably tough and each had it's own form of defense.
Again the party chose the 'strategic retreat' option. While Gelna proved her worth as a human shield and tank the rest of the party moved about the room and answered Trivia Questions, eventually opening up the portal. By the time they got out of the room, 3 of the four members were hurt and Olaroso hit near death yet again.
Finally reaching the top of the Guild and the Room they sought the party began looking for the key and Golden Monkey. Here they found one of D&D's most famous characters. The Wizard Mordenkanen. He rambled on for quite a while about old deeds and lost friends and explained that his best friend, the fighter Robillar had been replaced by an evil twin who went by the name Billaro. Interestingly the party had shared many meals with Billaro in the guise of one of Ricard's best friends at the Green Dragon Inn. Mordenkanen agreed to provide the party with Zagyg's Key if they promised to try to banish Billaro and return Robillar to the world. The party quickly agreed.
Having gotten the items they sought the party now just had to get back to the room this whole miss-adventure started from. This should have been an easy task, except that the summoning class that provided them a distraction earlier had now ended. Badly. Seems Ascarial the Unanticipated, a Hezeru demon had escaped his bonds and was now taking revenge against every Wizard he saw, and the party just walked right into his view.
This was a long tough fight for the party. The creatures aura of stench combined with repeated use of the Blasphemy spell always had at least half of the party weakend, stunned, nauseated or Sickened and often had people suffering from multiples of these attacks. The parties most powerful asset spend the entire fight unable to attack as Gelna was violently ill and her resolve diminished by this creatures damnation. Though amazingly she did manage to intimidate it right at the start of the fight. Olaroso also spent most of the fight out of it due to both assaults on his religion and the horrible stench. He did make it back into the fight at the end to fire off one of the weakest fireballs in all of D&D's history. Civ started the fight out of it and managed to get back in during the middle but had extreme difficulty overcoming the creatures spell resistance and energy resistances. This left the fight to the Cleric and the Warlock.
Quite the pair. The Cleric of Pelor bravely approached the beast bringing to bear every single offensive spell in his arsenal. The Warlock stood back and continuously blasted the demon with Infernal Blasts. At the same time the creature tried again and again to smite the Cleric that stood for everything this creature hated. Chaos Hammers, more Blasphemies and relentless Claw and Bite attacks were doing little to the Dwarf. Eventually Sunstone found a spell that seemed to work the best. His newly gifted Dragon Breath Spell. At the same time Civ hit upon using Doom Scarabs from a distance.
So while Gelna stood on puking and Olaroso cast ineffective fireballs (due to bad rools), Erebos blasted the creature with Eldritch Bolts, Sunstone breathed Ice on it and Doom Scarabs filled the hall eventually banishing the creature back to his home plane.
Breathing heavily and cleaning some of the vomit off of themselves the party returned to their initial entry room and entered the Refuge bottle for some much needed rest. After a few healing spells and some sleep the party felt much refreshed. They had accomplished their task despite many challenging obstacles. After 12 hours Civ twisted her magic ring and the party bamf'd out fo the bottle.... and found themselves standing in a magic circle surrounded by 5 clerics of Iuz............
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Dec 9, 2009 10:32:35 GMT -5
We should have known better than to trust the thieves guild. Its not like they are the most stand-up group we could have aligned ourselves with. What were we thinking?!?!?
The part that really threw me for a loop was that the 2 people that were killed by the beholder in the library were the ones that ran into the library A SECOND TIME to try and trick the beholder into fighting for us against the demon! WTF?!?! I think that would have been the LAST place that I would step foot in again if I was in their shoes. I guess being turned to stone and getting killed and losing a level wasn't enough of a deterant for them! MF'ers were on their own on that one I can tell you that much!
So what did we ever do to piss off the clerics of Iuz ayways? I mean i guess you dont have to provoke them to do nasty things and capture you after all.... Iuz is an evil god.
The +2 INT would have been awesome had we completed the trial of the pillars, but then we would have had to do them all over again to get into the secret room and 4 out of 5 of us were already deaf and bashed from the constructs so it would have been touch and go I think, but worth it.
ah well... at least we completed the mission and go the key. All I can tell you is that the thieves guild is going to have to pay us a pretty penny, or get us out of the jam with the clerics of Iuz if they want their precious monkey statue!
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Dec 9, 2009 15:55:35 GMT -5
"So what did we ever do to piss off the clerics of Iuz ayways? I mean i guess you dont have to provoke them to do nasty things and capture you after all.... Iuz is an evil god."
I guess you will have to find out Friday }:>
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Dec 15, 2009 8:42:55 GMT -5
Well I still dont know what we did to piss off the priests of Iuz so much since we only let them get about 3 questions blurted out before we started cutting them down. Ah well... so much for negotiating I suppose. It's our own fault for letting the half-orc barbarian be the spokesperson for the party. Contrary to popular belief "raging" does NOT improve ones Diplomacy skill!
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Dec 16, 2009 16:20:18 GMT -5
Totally forgot to update this after last game. That was a few days ago now so things are a little fuzzy.
This session was all about closing up loose ends and finding new story threads. The party now had Zagyg's key and should be able to start exploring The Tower of Magic, but there were a few things in their way. First of which was 5 Iuzite Cultists.
The session started with the players appearing inside a magic circle in some type of basement shrine. They were immediately inundated with questions like "How did you learn of Vayne's Plans?", "Why are you acting against The Old One", "How deep in the ruins have you gotten", etc. Thankfully for the party they all passed their will saves for the Zone of Truth that surrounded them and they didn't give up any information. After a couple rounds of questioning the party had had enough and decided to fight back.
This was quite the fight. By the third round Olaroso was down and out and Gelna (with 10th level Barbarian HP) was "Bloodied" to use the 4e term. Civ also suffered 75% of her hit points. The cultists fared just as poorly with two getting cut down by critical hits in the first round. After the initial onslaught the fight was over pretty quickly and ended with the party chasing an invisible cultist who was trying to escape and finishing him off on the stairs. Searching the house they found out an old friend was a member of the cult (the Rehene who had tried to desecrate Rigby's corpse) and found out that one of the Officials at the Able Carter Coaching inn was also implicated. They turned in the remaining cultist and headed to the Green Dragon.
Once at the Dragon there the party learned that the Watch had been looking for them due to association with a known murderer. At the same time they met a Monk who pointed out that they had been entered into a contest of strength that began that day. The party was initially confused by this until the Monk pointed out that Beldam (remember him)? had signed them up and that they were honour bound to participate.
So the party spent the day doing some selling before heading to the Monastery. At the monastery the party faced off against three of their best monks. This was an interesting fight but it didn't last long. Between multiple layers of the battlefield and various pit traps the monks seemed to have an advantage but they were outnumbered and outclassed by the party. After defeating the Monks the players learned that the contest was set up to find adventurers such as themselves. Here they received a quest to both free and avenge the Monk's god Zuoken. They also learned that it was Robillard who had betrayed the Monks (attentive players also noticed that the reason Robillard didn't remember these Monks was the fact that it was Billaro who came out of the Dungeon and not Robillard after the original quest to free Zuoken).
With a new quest added to their 'quest log' the party then set out to find the Thief and Murderer they were accused of assisting. This decision was made after the party foolishly went to their house, knowing they were wanted men. The watch persuaded them to clear their names within a week or they would be deported. So after a trip to the Rhene (gypsy's) and a Fortune Teller they found the Thiefs hideout. From here there was a desperate and very very close rooftop chase. Here Civ really showed her stuff. This was probably her most shining moment (besides sleeping with a Fossergrim 9 levels ago). Using a jump spell and boots of speed she literally leaped rooftop to rooftop closing 40 foot gaps to catch up to the Thief.
After turning the Thief in (totally forgetting to loot his lair) and doing some shopping the party headed back to the Ruins of the Tower of Magic. Here they gave the insane Godfather Magic their key and gained access to the Tower.
Next session the group begins exploration of the next section of the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk.
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Dec 21, 2009 9:38:42 GMT -5
Yeah its gonna be a long wait just to get killed by some magical trap. oh well. BTW I snagged the ruby encrusted skull and key when the crazy mage dropped it Im thinking it would make a good necklace, my cleric could use some "bling" he is kinda dull. Maybe I should trick out my plate armor as well. get some gold leaf designs on it or perhaps some fur trim. Get some gems inlaid in it. I will be big pimpin' for sure!
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Dec 21, 2009 16:42:26 GMT -5
So you have the key... good to know }:>
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Dec 22, 2009 8:31:32 GMT -5
oh yes... after losing out on gaining stats and forgetting to loot the house of a thief... A THIEF!!! I have decided to try and be as proactive about things so we dont forget to do something or miss some treasure or secret room. Plus I am sure its worth a pretty penny!
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Feb 12, 2010 14:27:53 GMT -5
As we are finally going to pick this campaign back up this weekend I thought it was time for a bit of a refresher on all of the open quests:
Open quests:
Haulds Apothecary:
Immense Fungal Garden near the bottom of the Tower of War. Whiteshiver Mushrooms, thrives in this garden an no where else known to man elf or beast. They can be identified by the small red lumps on their caps and their distinctive onionlike smell. Will pay 50gp per mushroom.
Dark Moon Monastery:
Believe Robilar murdered their brothers when he was hired to free their god who was trapped by the godtrap. They want revenge.
The Lore of the Lake:
Not really a quest but Gulfor Leeds is willing to stuff and mount any interesting monsters or beasts you bring back. Cost is up to 1000 gold but he will knock off some cash if you give information on the creature and where it came from to help inspire him in his work.
Lord Henway's Meangerie
Missing a pair of Aurumvoraxes. Originally owned by Lord Raknian director of the arena who was implicated in a plot to kill thousands and bring about an apocalypse called The Age of Worms. Think they were taken by magic. $2,500 per living Aurumvorax.
The Wizards Guildhall
After your trials and tribulations in the Guild of Wizardry it seems you found a friend or at least an associate. Mordenkanen the master manipulator seems to have known you were coming and seemed to have his finger on the pulse of everything that is going on, including your actions and the break in. He has offered what assistance he can. He has explained how his friend Robilar has been replaced by the evil clone Billaro and has asked that you get his friend back.
Ghostly Scholar
You have half of a book 'Voluminous Vexations of the Void' - you wonder where the last two parts are?
Stillguar's Map
A dwarf was looking for fragments of an old map showing the way to a lost treasure. These stick out because they are scribed with a vibrant copper ink. He was willing to pay 100gp each for any pices.
The God Nerull
You have helped the God Nerull once by re-assembling his statue in his temple (which you liked to call teh OrcChasm). You have also seen a toppled statue of his throb with power as you approached it but you were all too scared to go near it. What does this god of Death have in store for you?
The Hidden Threat
You have defeated the Half Orc Ulgrek a general in the Orkish army, defeated and dispersed a cult of Iuz, battled the General At-Ur Rehmat and his Fiendish Black dragon recovering Rickard's sword and you thought cutting the head off of the orc army. You then found out there was someone pulling even the generals strings and found out they are somewhere in the Tower of Magic. You recently managed to find a way into this tower of magic and are looking for this new headmaster. Hopefully defeating him will demoralize the army in the towers and head off any future attacks.
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Feb 16, 2010 12:26:47 GMT -5
yeah... we need an itinerary next time. We should have gottten the mushrooms and then gotten the Aurumovoraxes then headed into the tower of magic. Those 2 should have been doable in one session at least. I guess we just all dropped the ball and didnt actually "read" the clues and the list from the DM
|
|
|
Post by PandoraGreen on Feb 16, 2010 18:40:44 GMT -5
Well the mushrooms are somewhere back in the Tower of War. Who knows where we missed them. And really, for like 50gold I'm not lining up to go back in there just to find some mushrooms.
As for the Aurumovoraxes... who the heck knows where they are. The menagerie owner claimed they were "taken by magic". That could indicate they are somewhere in the tower of magic, or heck the mage guild may have them. Maybe we missed them when we were "exploring" the mage guild. Who knows?
I think we just need to keep our eyes open and remember the side quest hooks as we continue on our way. I don't think any of the side quest reminders suggest we should be doing anything other then continuing on our way in the Tower of Magic.
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Feb 17, 2010 8:11:00 GMT -5
Im not too worried about the gold either, its the XP that we are potentially missing out on that urks me. Also... we gotta remember to THUROUGHLY SEARCH big places and rooms b4 we bed down for the night and to think a bit more when we are confronted with tasks and puzzles. so fare we have missed out on 2 FREE INT stats points and last week we missed all those dragon eggs. I know we cant get everything but some stuff should be obvious. I mean the fighting was over and we just left rooms un explored and someone came in a thiefed all those eggs from under our sleeping noses. Now we get to fight all those dragons when they hatch now Yuck... Anyways... im just saying maybe we could benefit from being a little more diligent in certain areas.
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Feb 18, 2010 0:24:42 GMT -5
"Anyways... im just saying maybe we could benefit from being a little more diligent in certain areas. "
I think this is a common thread throughout this campaign. If you read back through I think you can see it mentioned a few times.
A quick summary, which I should have posted sooner but 12 hour shifts had me a bit beat up and lethargic.
Last session the party began their exploration of the Tower of Magic. This started out pretty well for the party with them getting to know the level known as The Guantlet. After some exploration they came across a series of rooms set up like an ancient cathedral to Tiamat.
The first challenge the party walked right into was an Acid trap that doused their Dwarven Clearic nice and good. After walking into the trap the party started to explore the room and were ambushed by Blackscale Lizardfolk. Lots of them.
This fight went on rather long and was a good fight. Most of the party was well below half hit points and the party had exhausted roughly half of their spells and other resources. Near the end of the fight the Lizardfolk attempted to bargain with the party but they wanted none of it. At this point the Hobgoblins attacked. This turned the fight from a good victory to a desperate battle for life. The fight was long and hard and went on for 2 hours real time.
By the end of this fight most of the parties resources were spent and even the parties barbarian hung dangerously low on HP (she would have fallen if it weren't for Temp HP due to rage). The party considered resting but then noticed the sound of chanting that was covered up by the earlier battle. They chose to investigate.
Civ spoted the leader of the Hobgoblins, a Talon of Tiamat first. After a failed ambush, the leader just fled the room and locked the door. Whie the party fumbled about totally stumped and blocked by a locked and barred door the Cleric of the 5 headed god summoned allies and buffed himself with spells. Eventually it was the Hobgoblin that opened the door and immediately nullified Gelna's combat ability by dispelling the magic on her Greatsword.
This was another long fight as the party battled the Cleric and his summoned Fiendish Dire Wolf and Fiendish Giant Crocodial. By the end of the fight two of the parties spellcasters were out of magic and most people were badly injured. At this point the party opted to rest instead of exploring the rest of the cathedral. The result of this you can get from the players posts above.
From here the party moved onward, somewhat frustrated by their lack of courage in sleeping instead of exploring further and frustrated by they loss of expected treasure (and xp). After some more exploration they found a way down to the Ochre Crypts, the next level of the Tower of Magic. Here they spent some time exploring before coming upon a new sight in the dungeon. Another group of explorers.
The party faced down a Wizard and a large group of Kobold bodyguards. They found them in the midst of an old Alchemists lab. After some discussion on how bad an idea a Fireball would be the party advanced into the room challenging the Kobolds. This was a great fight actually. The kobolds used the various objects in the room to hinder the party while the Wizard attacked with spells and scrolls. The wizard took a few hits from the parties Warlock though and seeing his meager hit point total reduced quickly opted for a Wall of Ice spell and made his escape vowing vengeance on the party. The Kobald minions, being abandoned fought on ferociously but were overwealmed by the might of the party.
So now the party continues onward, exploring the Ochre Crypts looking for any sign of the Iuzite forces and a lead onto where to find the leader that tauned them from a Crystal skull nearly a week past.
One has to wonder how much the Iuzites have been able to accomplish in that week. While the party fumbled around trying to appease Grandfather Magic and then spent time in the city reading books when they could have been exploring.... plus a mage swore vengance against them... I wonder if they will see him again?
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Feb 21, 2010 0:25:57 GMT -5
Besides a couple players showing up an hour late we had a pretty good session. The party started off wandering aimlessly around The Ochre Crypts. With no one with any Dungeoneering skill they weren't exactly sure where they should be heading. They stumbled upon an interesting trap. The hallway they were in had portcullis ahead of them and once touched doors slammed down behind the party. At this point 3 Specters came out to play. The fight with the Specters went poorly at first with a total of 6 levels lost among the party. The group did manage to beat down one of them quickly though so it could have been a lot worse. The faith of Sunstone the Dwarf was more then enough to drive the other two away but not before they drained a couple levels from the bearded one himself. After dusting themselves off the party took stock of their restorative abilities. Seems they had enough to cure two of the members of their level losses so Civ and Olaroso went from having a very bad day to an okay one. From here the party came upon a group of Ghasts feasting on ancient bones. Sunstone bravely confronted the Undead beasts as the party moved into position to support. The fight was quick and brutal with not even a scratch suffered by the group. Searching the now empty crypts the party found and wasted some magical incense and noted they were at a dead end. A bit more wandering had them give up on the Ocher Crypts and head back up to the previous level. After some searching they found another way down and moved deeper into the Tower of Magic. From here the party explored deeper and found a Well of Fire. A magical room directly linked to the elemental plane of fire. Here the spellcasteres realized that they could possibly take some of the rooms power into themselves. Cautiously approaching the center of the room Olaroso was suddenly surrounded by flames as conduits to the elemental plane opened. Stepping through the conduits was a Huge Fire Elemental and his Large ally. The party moved in to confront these creatures while Olaroso continued to concentrate on the magics in the room even as he was burned and scorched by flames. Battling the elementals seemed a daunting task as the party found them very hard to hurt. After Olaroso had finished channeling the magic of the room the party decided flight was better then flight. Unfortunately this meant flight through the huge elemental. While most of the party rushed past the beast, getting scorched and burned for their efforts, Gelna seemed to enter some sort of focused rage as she challenged the Large Elemental. The rest of the party fled the room yet Gelna continued to fight. Sunstone fearing the worst returned to the room just as the Large Elemental fell. He then watched Gelna run past him out of the room and felt the full onslaught of the Huge Elemental. Beaten and burned he fled the room himself currently on fire flames licking behind him. The new floor they had reached appeared to be mostly classrooms. In one of these the party was challenged by an Ocher Jelly. This was an amusing fight but one the party easy handled. Among notes and such in the room the party learned of two paths open before them. The first was a shortcut back to town, bypassing the earlier levels and the second was to a Floor Called "The Vaults of Creation". Thinking cautiously and wanting to id magic items that had been found, the party elected to return to town, just for a quick stop over. After returning to the Tower of Magic the party faced one more encounter before descending to The Vaults of Creation. They faced off against an old friend: the Ghost of a Bocobite Cleric guarding the 3rd quarter of The Vexations Vuluminations of the Void or whatever that book is called . This was a scary fight due to the clerics gaze attacks. 1/3 of the party had their Charisma drained. Some clever moves like tipping over bookshelves that the ghost was attacking through won through the day for the party. We start up next session as the party steps out into The Vaults of Creation... can anyone say Golems?
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Feb 22, 2010 9:45:59 GMT -5
Golems! Yes I should deffinately keep more of that diamond dust around for my restoration spells. I havent had to use that spell for several sessions now and all of a sudden BAM! I am tapped dry of components after 1 encounter. Ok... I think that we have/had a book somewhere that had a writeup of various creatures and their habits, strengths/weaknesses etc... Or we can find one in the vaults of creation somewhere that will give us a bit of knowledge about golems before we have to fight a bunch of them. From what I remember they usually have very high resistances to elemental damage (fire, ice, electricity) and some of them actually heal them. It would be nice not to have to go through all this again. I still have a bad feeling that we are missing out on all sorts of magicky goodness in the tower of magic by not searching everywhere but that may just be my paranoia talking
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on Feb 22, 2010 14:09:29 GMT -5
You have a book, I have a real life prop copy as well. Feel free to refer to it before we start the next session.
Regarding exploration: I'm sure you guys are missing out on tons of stuff, but the thing is you are infiltrating the Tower of Magic to find the army leader who taunted you. The one behind what seems to be a coordinated assault on The Gem of the Flanesses, The City of Greyhawk itself. Perhaps if you were just treasure hunters, spending a year just on The Gauntlet level would be worth while, but you have a cause, and that cause is the largest city in the world, the magical, political and societal hub of humanity. Surely if the City of Greyhawk were to fall the rest of the Flanesses wouldn't last long after.
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Feb 23, 2010 14:21:36 GMT -5
So you ARE saying that if we took more time we would find lots of stuff then... I thought so!!!
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on Apr 29, 2010 7:11:33 GMT -5
2 DAYS...
|
|
|
Post by gorechyld2000 on May 11, 2010 7:29:28 GMT -5
Well we managed to avoid death not just once... but TWICE! Cant wait to tempt the fates again!
|
|
|
Post by Gilvan Blight on May 12, 2010 0:32:48 GMT -5
Totally forgot to write up a summary. It's now like two weeks ago so my memory isn't going to be perfect.
We started with the party having just reached The Halls of Creation, floor 6 of The Tower or Magic. They are still looking for the mastermind behind what looks to be a planed invasion of the Jem of teh Flanneses, Greyhawk.
The parties first challenge was an odd shaped room and a Huge Black Oooze. This was a fight filled with comic releif as the Dwarf and Half Orc spent most of the fight Naked. The party did very well dispite this setback though having learned well from the Ocre Jellies two floors above not to use their piercing and slashing weapons.
After dispatching the ooze, while trying to get dressed the party was ambushed by a Verbeeg. These are misshappen Giant Kin not known for their agression. The party dispatched the group of Verbeegs fairly quickly but not before takign significant damage from their magic glaives. The Verbeegs seemed very adept at strategy and posed quite a challenge for Gelna who resorted to an Enlarge potion to get through the fight.
After dispatching the Verbeegs and exploring their lair the party explored more of the level. Eventually they came across a dead end that almost became their graves. In this small natural cave was a pool of green liquid and an invisible Mind Flayer. The Mind flayer quickly stunned Gelna and put it into Sunstones head that the only way to save her was to toss her in the green liquid. Some excellent roleplaying on Gorechylds part had Sunstone trying to smother Gelna in colonies of green slime, while Civ attempted to hold the Dwarf back and Erebos battled the still invisible Illithid. The Warlock wasn't doing so great on the Illithid due to his high magic resistance and Sunstone and Civ continued to battle over Gelna. Luckily Sunstone figured out a spell that would restore Gelnas (inexplicable) Con drain around the same time that Lobo managed a Nat' 20 and caused the Mind Flayer to become Nautious. Once nautios the Illithid stopped being much of a threat. Due to the luck of that hit the party was able to destroy tough foe and get magic items they should not have been able to get (the Mind flayer should have used planar travel once down to half hit points).
That was the first near TPK. The second was a room and a half later. The party came in on some Verbeeg guards and quickly moved to assault them. What they failed to notice was a Gauth peeking through an eye hole. The gauth used his stunning eye ray each round and quickly got 3 out of 4 party members stuned. Thankfully for the group this occured after the Verbeegs were disptacted. This left Civ all on her own vs. a Gauth trying to save 3 party members.
After much indicision she decided to use the Wand of Greater Invisibilty that the party won off of the Mind Flayer and rush in and grab one party member at a time. Each time she got into the room she managed to fight off the Gauth's eye rays and pull another party member out. After 5 tries she finally had everyone out of the room. After a lot more indicision she decided the only way to keep the party safe was to finish off the Gauth. This was an awkward fight with her rushing about, the Gauth chasing her, her hitting the Gauth, it retreating to heal, her coming after it, it trying to ambush her, etc. It would be impossible for me to recount every step (and misstep). The end result though at the end of the day was a dead Gauth and a saved party.
At this point the party holed up in a semi defended room and we stopped for the night.
|
|