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The Manly Man
2009-04-19, 11:12 PM
We were in the final session of a long-running campaign (The Tremedous Tales Of The Silver Company), over two and a half years long, spanning from level 1-14. The cast of characters were:

Mouse - male half-elf marshal 14 - the fearless (for a given value of "fear") leader of the troupe and on-again off-again love interest of...
Eve - female human - rogue 14 (played by myself) - a charismatic, rapier & dagger-wielding ex-barmaid
Manny - male human - fighter 4/paladin 10 - more Hinjo than Miko - found religion 4 levels into the campaign when saved from certain death by...
Morag The Strong - female half-orc - cleric 14 - never shy to heal in battle, or throw herself between a fallen ally and a painful fate
Giblet - male gnome - sorcerer 8/wild mage 5 - unlucky in love, unlucky in... pretty much everything. Continually lustful gnome who constantly ended up on the edge of death due to poor dice rolls and awful coincidences.

Other party members came and went, including Bailey the drunken druid, Reacher the mad wizard and Cook the kobold scout, but didn't last due to premature deaths or players leaving for pastures new.

We had started off in our home village, investigated a dead dragon's horde (and fought the ogres who had claimed the cavern). We went to a far-off continent and fought the Red Hand Of Doom. We slew the vampire coven who terrorised a remote town. Then we encountered an evil Baron (with the capital B) who had allied with a mind-flayer and was selling his people into slavery & worse for the promise of power and wealth.

We defeated the mind-flayer, and chased the Baron back across the ocean (no teleportation magic in this campaign world). We got distracted by a small but powerful zombie horde besieging a farm as we pursued him, giving the baron enough of a headstart to reach our home village...

The story had come full-circle. The Baron used his mind-flayer-given power (to the best of our understanding, he was now some kind of fighter/psion gestalt - in a non-gestalt campaign) to enslave the village, and use his cleric minions to sacrifice the villagers and summon demons.

We fought past the demons, subdued the villagers and made our way to the town-hall where the Baron had holed-up.

We burst through the door (poor tactics, but we didn't have much choice at that time), and Manny was instantly fried by a blast of psychic energy (poor time to roll a 1 Manny...)

Morag and Mouse engaged the clerics, while Eve was cornered by some summoned skeletons. Giblet tried to beat the Baron on his own, but got too close and a lucky power-attacked crit from the Baron's bastard sword killed him soon after. Morag then got hit with a hold-person type effect and was coup-de-graced by the clerics.

Mouse killed the clerics, but a rather explosive power from the Baron finished him off, and would have done the same to Eve if it wasn't for Improved Evasion. The skeletons were destroyed by that blast too, so it was only the Baron and Eve remaining. The Baron had exhausted his psychic powers and a duel between the two commenced...

Without a flanking partner, Eve had difficulty causing damage, and was praying like crazy. Eve was jumping onto tables to get that precious +2 to hit, and the Baron was sundering them underneath her. Not exactly efficient tactics, but we like to go for cinematic combats.

After several rounds of combat, Eve was down to her last few hp, and the Baron was still looking quite healthy.

Eve feints successfully, and rolls her first attack - a crit. I rolled well on the sneak attack dice and all of a sudden the Baron's not looking too good. Baron also takes Str damage from Cripplig Strike.
Second attack - a disarm. The Baron's bastard sword goes flying.
Third attack - a natural 20, followed by another. The Baron is seriously wounded - also on single-digit hp.

The Baron uses his turn to slump to his knees and beg for his life - and palms a dagger. I now quote the exchange...

Baron: "I came so close, but now my life is in your hands. Spare me, and I promise you will have everything you ever dreamed of."
Eve: "Offer me gold."
Baron: "Yes, yes!"
Eve: "Offer me power."
Baron (with the DM catching on): "All that I have!"
Eve: "Offer me anything I want."
Baron: "Yes of course, anything!"
The Baron then stabs forward with the dagger, and misses Eve's AC by a single point. Eve retaliates with a single strike from her rapier. The Baron slumps onto the ground and stops moving.
Eve: "I want my friends back you son of a bitch!"

I looked it up afterwards, and didn't get the dialogue exactly right, but it was easily the best climax of any campaign I've been in. It's a complete shame that it has now ended, but the DM is moving away and he managed to finish it all of perfectly. I know he lurks here, so... thank you for the marvellous game.

chiasaur11
2009-04-19, 11:21 PM
Nicely epic ending.

And even if you don't quote it quite right, the Inigo Montoya speech is a classic.

(Although he could have responded with "Okay. I know this really good cleric...")

Lycan 01
2009-04-19, 11:25 PM
*begins to slowly clap before standing up and delivering a standing ovation*

That sounds like it was a truely epic campaign... One of the best endings to any story I've heard of in awhile. I love the quotes, too. That was awesome... :smallbiggrin:

Kylarra
2009-04-19, 11:27 PM
Ahaha. Princess Bride ftw. :smallcool:



I have to admit to some small amount of amusement of a female character being played by "The Manly Man".

The Manly Man
2009-04-19, 11:46 PM
I have to admit to some small amount of amusement of a female character being played by "The Manly Man".
I haven't played a male character in quite a while, other than a games day pre-gen.

I'm still manly though. Football. Beer. Porn. Grr.

*flexes muscles*

Anyone convinced?

Skaroq
2009-04-20, 09:49 PM
You need a testosterone injection. Go watch a monster truck rally, or wrestle a grizzly bear. That ought to do it.

Otherwise, epic ending!

Wafflecart
2009-04-20, 09:51 PM
Our group has had a fairly epic moment, not quite this good, but it was our first campaign ever, and we were still getting the hang of it..this is pretty much where the rule of cool was discovered by the players, i.e. it doesn't have to be possible, just awesome.

Prepare to be wall of texted...

Four heroes stand at the edge of a stone walkway high above the distant floor below, facing a colossal stone statue of a Giant Goddess. In its outstretched hand the statue holds a pedestal which supports the treasure that the band of adventurers seeks. As they cross and reach the far side of the earthen bridge, wide only enough for them to walk single file, a lone figure dressed in rags leaps down from the ceiling above the path and lands behind them. As soon as the figure touches the rock, the Elven Archer in the party turns on his heel and fires six arrows, four of which hit their mark, while as one, the rest of the party drops to the floor. Slipping in her haste the Gnome Cleric falls from the pathway barely being saved by the Halfling Rogue's swift actions. Getting to his feet, the fighter, lone human in the group, confronts this monstrosity. As the Fighter stands the figure in rags lunges for his throat with long clawed fingers, but misses. The Fighter reaches behind his back and pulls from its scabbard a massive barbed harpoon to which a length of rope is attached. He rears his arm back and hurls the harpoon into the figure's chest; the barbs hold. The man in rags begins to tug on the harpoon with his fleshless and undead hands, fearing that the Fighter may overpower him with his control of the trailing rope. "So you think you're stronger than me?" says the Fighter. As the creature looks up from the harpoon to his adversary's face, the Fighter takes a firm hold of the trailing rope in both hands, and leaps from the bridge into open air. In the split second that follows, the figure realizes the implications of this bold adventurer's move. As the rope pulls taut the figure topples over the side. As soon as the abomination clears the edge, the Fighter hurls his shield from himself, to which the other end of the harpoon's rope is attached. Seeing his loyal friend in mortal peril, the Archer quickly attaches a length of rope to one of his arrows and fires it directly at his comrade's heart. The Fighter grabs the arrow as it is an inch from his flesh. Realizing he cannot hold his companion himself however, the Archer calls for aid from the rest of the party. But despite the other two at his aid, they are still losing ground. Thinking quickly, the Archer pushes his allies off the opposite edge of the path; their combined weight of girth, arms, and armor, are enough to hold their friend for now. Together they look to the floor, an unfathomable distance below. They see the skinless fiend falling toward it with the spiked shield beneath him. As the resounding clang of metal on stone echoes through the vast hall, there is another sound after it: the resolute crunch of bone, as the figure lands upon the spiked side of the shield. But for what it is, no blood seeps from its undead form. The fiend being destroyed, the loyal mount of one of the party members reveals itself from the shadows and grips firmly in its jaws the rope from which its master hangs. This great and armored bear has no trouble in towing its cargo back from the brink of death. Back on the stone path the group set their eyes clearly on their goal. Walking slowly and cautiously, taking specific care to avoid being ambushed so easily again, they make it to the pedestal. Being careful to avoid any would-be traps, the Archer picks up the item upon the altar: a lone, white-gold ring, set with a massive topaz. As the ring is lifted from its resting place, the stone bridge falls to dust. Yet another treasure of the Gods acquired. Four so far, yet five discovered. Seeing no other obstructions, the archer places the ring upon his finger. Nothing happens. "Why isn't it doing something? This is a Relic of the Gods themselves, is it not?" exclaimed the Archer. "Maybe you're doing something wrong, here, stand like the statue does." said the Fighter. As the Archer raises his hand in the image of the stone figure below his feet, a beam of light arcs forth from the gem. It strikes the far wall and creates a portal leading to sprawling savannah grassland. Startled, the Elf drops his hand, and the portal fades away. "Before we try the ring again, I need to retrieve my shield." said the Fighter. A slight pause occurs as the Halfling and the gnome look between the fighter and the ground far below from which he intends to reach his shield. "Good luck with that," said the Halfling. Barely phased, the Archer ties another rope to an arrow, and fires it across the chasm to where the bear stands. As the arrow fixes itself into the stone, the bear looks up slightly startled, but then goes back to examining the ground at its feet. The rope is tied to a finger of the Giantess' statue, and the fighter shimmies across. Once on the far side he leaps onto the back of the bear and rides through the series of tunnels and corridors down to bottom, grabs his shield and harpoon, and rides back to the top. As he reaches the ledge again, he finds his friends enveloped in a haze of smoke, gathered around yet another portal created by the ring, this one leading to a vast desert city. The Elf turns to the Fighter, smoking his pipe, "Don't ever ride my bear again," he says nonchalantly. We walk through the portal, knowing yet that three more treasures lay ahead of us undiscovered, and one yet to be reclaimed.

Sorry bout the wall.

ShadowFighter15
2009-04-21, 04:42 AM
MM: That is easily one of the best campaign endings I've read.

Wafflecart: For the love of God! Have you not heard of paragraphs? Ow, my eyes! (Not trying to be rude, I just feel like being a little hammy (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LargeHam))

Wafflecart
2009-04-21, 07:10 PM
Wafflecart: For the love of God! Have you not heard of paragraphs? Ow, my eyes! (Not trying to be rude, I just feel like being a little hammy (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LargeHam))[/QUOTE]

Hmm...that's odd...if I remember correctly it was in paragraphs when I typed it up...sorry 'bout that.