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AslanCross
2009-04-23, 09:08 PM
After much planning, expense and frustration at uncommitted players, my summer run of Red Hand of Doom set in Eberron took off.
Out of the original six PCs I had expected, I only ended up with four---with each player handling two characters.

The characters are :
Holden Magroen (Dwarf Crusader 5, affiliated with the Silver Flame and de facto party leader)
Loven Magroen (Warforged scout Rogue 5, Holden's adopted "brother")
Ashiedae Jiourrn (Human artificer 5, affiliated with House Orien)
Kikkeni Yurashtai (Kalashtar psion 5)

Three of the above names are rather silly puns. :P

Anyway, since the campaign has a different setting, I took some liberties with the adventure intro and added a prologue.

Start

The PCs started out in Flamekeep, the capital of Thrane---seat of the Church of the Silver Flame's power.
Awakened in the middle of the night by a summons to the Cathedral, the PCs drag themselves out of bed.

They were called by Jaela Daran herself, the 11-year old Keeper of the Flame. She explained to the PCs that she had been seeing disturbing visions of hobgoblin warriors stirring in the eastern wilderness of Breland, and that among them were dragons and other creatures of great power. The visions would always culminate in the image of a great clawed hand sweeping across all of Khorvaire, and blackness in the end, and a whisper---"Five Sorrows."

Kikkeni and Holden know that "Five Sorrows" in Draconic is "Tiamat," the daughter of Khyber and one of the most powerful demon overlords with the power to corrupt and enslave dragons. If she somehow breaks free, she can single-handedly plunge all of Eberron into another Age of Demons. On the other hand, the dragons of Argonnessen could perceive the threat and launch an apocalyptic invasion of Khorvaire, like they did to Xen'Drik ages ago. Either way, death and destruction will rain from the sky onto the continent. Jaela sends the PCs on a downsized chartered lightning rail train to Vathirond, the easternmost city of Breland, immediately.

Ride the Lightning

The train ride is uneventful and comfortable for the most part---the Silver Flame had chartered a first class cart for the PCs, so everyone was comfortable---except perhaps for Ashiedae, who couldn't stand the smell of Holden's homemade, alcoholic gravy--which he poured on everything he ate. At the end of a long day of travel and two hours from their destination, a tall, broad-shouldered female guard tells the PCs that they're close, and they might want to get some rest since they arrive late at night.
Kikkeni and Holden decide to go to sleep. Ashiedae stays the hell away from Holden, while Loven sits on guard due to his lack of need for sleep.

Soon after, the lights in the cabin go out. Ashie hears something walking along the roof, and Loven rushes to wake his brother up. Ashie wakes up the sleeping Kikkeni, just as she realizes the train is accelerating.

Rakshasa

Ashie tries to walk up to the front of the cart so she could check up on the engine car, but the door opens. It's the female guard who'd told them to sleep earlier, and she asks if something was the matter.
Ashie asks if something is the matter, because the lights went out and the train seems to be accelerating.

The escort snarls, saying she can't let the PCs go any further, and draws a black-bladed, curved greatsword. Roll initiative.

The PCs are trapped in the narrow aisle in this order:
<Holden><Loven><Space><Kikkeni><Ashie><???>
Initiative goes as follows: Holden, Loven, Ashie, Rakshasa, Kikkeni.

Due to the darkness, only Holden can see properly.
Holden goes first, but is rendered unable to attack or move by the lack of space. He moves in front of Loven. Loven attempts to tumble past the assassin but fails, ending up where he started. Ashie retreats to make room for the frontliners and get a light infusion going. The monster is next, and she changes shape into a slick-skinned, eel-headed humanoid form. Kikkeni can see in the shadowy light from the door that the monster has backwards-twisted hands--the mark of a Rakshasa. They were usually spellcasters, but this one is evidently a warrior of some sort---a Naityan Rakshasa. Somehow, the agents of Tiamat were onto them.

Kikkeni attempts to get out of the way, drawing a slash from the Rakshasa. Already injured, she has no other recourse but to blast the Rakshasa with energy missile. The hit connects, but does little to slow down the beast. Holden then takes his turn, and is able to land a solid Mountain Hammer, breaching the fiend's damage reduction. Loven again tries to tumble past, but fails miserably and draws an AOO--which thankfully misses. Meanwhile, the train continues to accelerate to bone-shattering speeds.

Ashie's light finally gets going, and she casts it on Loven. The little warforged scout glowed like a disco ball, allowing everyone to finally see clearly. She manages to run past the Rakshasa into the engine without getting AOO'd, but Holden yells after her---"It's dangerous for you to go alone!"

The Rakshasa tries to lay the dwarf open using its Ghost Blade maneuver, and deals significant damage. Kikkeni uses constrictor's touch, wrenching the Rakshasa's outfit into an uncomfortable position. For a while, this is the only damage they get as everything else just bounces off the Rakshasa's DR and Loven fails to tumble past repeatedly.

Ashie reaches the control room of the engine and sees the Dragonmarked pilot of the train lying dead. Since she was the only other character with an Orien dragonmark, she attempts to gain control of the train, over and over again while the Rakshasa severely injures Holden with its Shadow Garrote strike. He thankfully makes the Fort save, or else he'd have been vulnerable to the Rakshasa's sneak attack in the next round.
Kikkeni activates intertial armor and stays back. After another series of unsuccessful attacks by Holden and Loven, the Rakshasa changes to its Elusive Adversary form and runs off into the train's engine. Everyone gives chase, with Holden picking up his adopted brother and dropping him inside the train engine car so that he can run close enough to flank.

Ashie realizes she has an angry displacer beast-like monster charging at her with a greatsword, so she decides to drop the lightning reins first and use align weapon on her crossbow---the only way they'll get to deal any damage to the Rakshasa.

Loven gets as close as he can, attempting to tumble past so he can flank the Rakshasa, but his checks just keep falling short. The Rakshasa takes one step toward him and hacks into him viciously with its greatsword and then takes a bite. All three attacks connect, injuring the rogue within an inch of his life.

Kikkeni steps up and shoves the Rakshasa hard against the ceiling with telekinetic thrust--the Rakshasa falls far enough to take even more damage. Holden is unable to go any further, and unsuccessfully tries to hit the Rakshasa while it's on the ground. Loven withdraws into the first class cart to prevent his impending scrapping at the monster's hands. Ashie takes a shot with her crossbow but misses, and decides to just turn her attention to stopping the train from hurtling out of control.

Although the PCs have been experiencing great difficulty in dealing with it, the Rakshasa decides it can't do enough damage in this condition and tries to run out the door, successfully tumbling past Holden, but failing to get past Kikkeni. Everyone panics, thinking the fiend was really trying to kill Loven.

Holden again tries to strike unsuccessfully, and Loven switches to his bow. Due to the light spell cast on him, however, he has no real way to hide. Without the light, the rest of the party is unable to fight in the dark. The Rakshasa, however, unexpectedly veers right past him and climbs onto the roof of the first class car.

Everyone agrees that it would be a good idea to disconnect the rear carts and leave the Rakshasa there, but Kikkeni remembers that there was one more cart to the rear. She runs with everything she's got, risking getting left behind with an angry rakshasa to check if there are still people in the back. She gets to the rear, sees the door to the galley cart in the rear hanging open. She calls out, but nobody answers. Deciding that she's risked enough, she decides it's time to run back.

Ashie remembers she left her homunculus--an iron defender--behind in the first class cart and orders it to run up to her. Holden and Loven successfully decouple the train, and the rear carts begin to decelerate. Just as Kikkeni is about to run back, however---the Rakshasa drops down right beside her and gives her a vicious slash, dropping her to 1 HP.

The player faces a tough decision---escape with her life or die trying to jump across the widening gap between the train cars? She decides that Kikkeni would rather risk running and provoke the AOO instead of withdrawing. Running would take her further and allow her to get close enough to the front of the cart before the gap widens any further. She provokes the AOO.

The Rakshasa rolls a 20.

Not wanting to see the party blaster die in the first encounter, I give her the alternative choices that she could do. She could withdraw, spend a full round action to gain Psionic Focus to activate her Speed of Thought feat (giving her a boost to her jump to clear the widening gap), or withdraw and then just jump the next round. She decides it's better to have a lower bonus than to have a higher DC, and withdraws, intending to make a running jump the next round.

The Rakshasa furiously pursues Kikkeni, but she runs across and makes her jump. Rolling low, she spends an action point to clear the gap as Holden catches her. Left behind, the Rakshasa snarls at them from the first class cart while they pull way.

I ended the session there.

Thoughts

The party handled the encounter surprisingly well, considering the Naityan Rakshasa was CR 7 and the terrain was very unfavorable--not to mention the uncontrolled elemental in the train's engine. The part is still considering using Kikkeni's energy bolt to rip through the carriage's floor with sonic blasts, destroying the mounting of its conductor stones and sending the whole thing off the track.

It was a really bad move of Ashie to cast light on the guy who relied on stealth, although it would've been even harder to fight blind. DR 15/good and piercing and the 50% miss chance would've made it almost impossible to damage the Rakshasa.

Now that the PCs have finished the intro, I'll be dumping them into the adventure proper, starting off from Vathirond (which replaces Dennovar in the adventure), and taking the 120-mile journey from there to Drellin's Ferry via chartered House Orien coach. From there, the party is going to see a lot less of civilized Khorvaire. Eastern Breland is quite easily the middle of nowhere, bordered by the Mournland (wasteland of a country destroyed in the Last War) to the east, Darguun (fledgling goblinoid nation) to the south, and mostly open plains and savannah to the west. The nearest large city to the west, Starilaskur, is a good thousand miles away.

The threat of Azarr Kul's Red Hand of Doom cult is too remote to be dealt with by a large mobilization of Breland's army, and Thrane of course isn't willing to send its military into another country's territory.

Spoilers
Azarr Kul's immediate objective after crushing Elsir Vale and Vathirond is to march east to the Mournland, where an enormous arcane Khyber seal sends power to Tiamat's prison proper---the Pit of Five Sorrows in Argonnessen. There are five such seals across the world, but weakening the seal will allow Tiamat to send in more and more of her Aspects, bolstering the hobgoblin cleric's power and allowing them to face off with Breland's considerable military might. He's even made a pact with the self-appointed Prince of the Mournland, a rogue troll warlord who has brought his band of mercenary berserkers into the Red Hand military---the border with the Mournland, after all, is not guarded well.

If Azarr Kul manages to breach the first Khyber seal, it could either give him a massive boost in power---or it could provoke a draconic invasion the likes of which have not been seen since the dragons destroyed Xen'Drik.


Even with just 2 players, I'm really looking forward to next session, where they first tangle with the Red Hand marauders.

KillianHawkeye
2009-04-23, 09:39 PM
Sounds cool!

Question: I don't know much about Eberron, but I seem to remember something about dragons not following their typical D&D alignments. If so, will you be changing any of the chromatic dragons in RHoD to metallic ones?

AslanCross
2009-04-23, 09:50 PM
Dragons aren't restricted to their traditional alignments in Eberron, true. In Dragons of Eberron, there's an example of a one-eyed CE silver dragon who took over a tribe of frost giants and hunts down drow for food. Even the Lawful Good ones will generally not care much about the rest of the world unless it threatens them---and when they feel threatened, they usually resort to a scorched earth policy.

That's how Xen'Drik (empire of giants) was crushed 80,000 years in the past. They were invaded by the Quori (nightmare creatures from the plane of Dreams), so the dragons helped them out. Towards the end of their reign, their slaves (the elves) rebelled, so they tried to exploit the dragons' magic again. It didn't work out as planned and the giants ended up endangering Eberron, so the dragons decided to end the giant civilization once and for all.

I don't think I'll be swapping out the dragons in the adventure, though---dragons of the same age category have different CRs depending on their color/metal, so it might make the encounters a bit too difficult. Metallic dragons are generally stronger.

However, Azarr Kul's co-conspirator is a high-ranking agent of Tiamat, a half-bronze dragon Naityan Rakshasa named Indravan-Yagna. He was the one who sent the Rakshasa assassin onto the lightning rail.

kjones
2009-04-23, 10:53 PM
I like the changes you've been making, and the lead-in is very clever. Don't be afraid to use the module as a guideline, and try to give the party as much freedom as they can in choosing where to go and what to do. Be careful that you're not overwhelming your party with the difficulty of the encounters (a rakhshasa at 5th level? Dangerous!).

AslanCross
2009-04-24, 08:04 AM
Thanks, it took a while to figure out how to change the adventure hook--I avoid using the "treasure hunting" hook unless that really is the point of the adventure.

I used the Naityan Rakshasa from Tome of Battle. It's a CR 7 melee fighter that gains martial maneuvers and stances depending on what form it's in. They were able to breach its Spell Resistance just fine, although they had a lot of trouble dealing significant damage to it due to its DR. Most of the hurt was dealt by the psion.

I did "script" him to run away at a certain point, which he did--just that the kalashtar running to the back was way too tempting a target.

That said, this encounter was originally supposed to be against six PCs, but how easy it would have been is debatable--six PCs would've had an even harder time due to the constricting terrain.

Kol Korran
2009-04-24, 08:12 AM
i think i remember when you posted a thread about adjusting RhoD to Eberron, it was you, wasn't it? i'm glad to see you following through.

a 2 player party cane be a curse or a blessing, depending on the players. i liked the "warforged scout as an adopted brother" idea. the challange for the players is not to play both their characters the same, and also not to play them as two seperate teams who happen to be together.

i don't have RHoD, and my eberron books aren't with me, but ido have some questions, if i may:
1) east of Vathirond? i always thought there were maybe up to 20 miles up to the mournland from there. isn't that a bit too close for the setting? of course you can always change the distances. but even so, they are bound to travel in the shadow of the mournland- how are you handling that?

2) if i gather right, then some of the adventure takes place in the mournland itself (the ghost lord perhaps? definetly the fane of tiamat) i'm intrigued as how you plan travel and survival there.

3) so, are the goblinoids composed of disgruntled tribes of Darguun, or some other background?

4) a half bronze dragon Rakshasa? in Eberron? now there is an interesting character! how did it come to be, especially considering the enmity between the species.

5) i'm intrigued by the "prince of the mournland" (the troll) is he a replacement to the ghost lord? he has a definite advantage in the mournland (the fast healing work i presume, or is that halted too?)

6) is Vathirond going to replace the major city in the campaign (forgot it's name). if so, how do you flavour it? this place has changed hands the most during the war, and probably has quite a few bitter chips on their shoulders, especially against characters from Thrane (though that may change in a hurry once the party prove it's worth). i've flavoured it some what for a campaign i was running in the past, i could share ntoes if you like.

7) are any of the dragonmarked houses going to get involved in this? i'm asking since one of your characters is affiliated with Orien. just intriguing, that's all. (i can certainly see Deneith elite merceneries working for the other side, perhaps even sent to track down and hunt the party in the main settlement, where the main force can't enter)

all in all, it seems you've put some considerable though about modifying the module to the game world, and it sounds intriguin indeed. Kudos to you! i'll be watching this thread as long as you post on it. (also, i suggest you read Saph's and Kjones threads, just to know what to expect)

just remembered one last point you should be prepared for- RHoD tends to have a high mortality rate, and with Eberron's general approach of high magic being rare, reincanations and raise dead spells may be realy, realy, realy hard to come by (unless the artificer makes some scrolls). i suggest ou may send a messanger/ cohort from Jaela who is capable of such a feat, just to keep the party going.

good luck to you,
Kol.

kjones
2009-04-24, 08:59 AM
One issue for you to consider. The Vale should be isolated - the Horde is a serious threat to a rural community, but not to any kind of empire with a significant standing army. (Hell, even Brindol puts up a good fight.) How do you plan to convey that sense of isolation in the context of Eberron, such that the party's first instincts won't be to run for help from outside the Vale?

(Keep in mind that I know little about Eberron.)

AslanCross
2009-04-24, 10:52 AM
i think i remember when you posted a thread about adjusting RhoD to Eberron, it was you, wasn't it? i'm glad to see you following through.

a 2 player party cane be a curse or a blessing, depending on the players. i liked the "warforged scout as an adopted brother" idea. the challange for the players is not to play both their characters the same, and also not to play them as two seperate teams who happen to be together.

Yep, that was me. I put a lot of planning into this early on so as to avoid the traps I fell into in my first campaign.


i don't have RHoD, and my eberron books aren't with me, but ido have some questions, if i may:
1) east of Vathirond? i always thought there were maybe up to 20 miles up to the mournland from there. isn't that a bit too close for the setting? of course you can always change the distances. but even so, they are bound to travel in the shadow of the mournland- how are you handling that?

Looking at the map of Breland in Five Nations, Vathirond is still a good 160-odd miles from the border. I'm putting Elsir Vale to the west of Vathirond, and the starting town (at least according to the adventure), should be 120 miles to the west. They're going to be quite far from the Mournland.



2) if i gather right, then some of the adventure takes place in the mournland itself (the ghost lord perhaps? definetly the fane of tiamat) i'm intrigued as how you plan travel and survival there.

I thought about that, but decided against it. Azarr Kul's Fane is further west of Vathirond.

Here's my edited version of the RHOD map:
http://eberronrhod.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/elsirvaleoverworld.jpg
I edited out the locations of the Fane and the Ghostlord's lair since this map was for players, but the Fane is in the Wyrmsmokes and the Ghostlord's Lair is in the Thornwaste, as per the original module.

I don't really intend for the PCs to go into the Mournland. If they fail to stop Azarr Kul from overrunning Elsir Vale, he will continue to push east into the Mournland to get at the Khyber Seal--this is where either of the Worst Case Scenarios happens: Tiamat breaks free or the dragons invade Khorvaire. At that point it's pretty much a game over scenario.



3) so, are the goblinoids composed of disgruntled tribes of Darguun, or some other background?

Definitely. Lhesh Haruuc has a hard time holding the tribes together, and Azarr Kul's people are one of the many splinter groups.


4) a half bronze dragon Rakshasa? in Eberron? now there is an interesting character! how did it come to be, especially considering the enmity between the species.

On the thread I posted way back about Tiamat in Eberron, someone said that Tiamat's heralds are half-dragon rakshasas. Tiamat can dominate dragons of any color or metal, so it wouldn't be a stretch for this to happen.


5) i'm intrigued by the "prince of the mournland" (the troll) is he a replacement to the ghost lord? he has a definite advantage in the mournland (the fast healing work i presume, or is that halted too?)

I intend for him to figure in the Siege of Brindol, as I'm going to use the War Troll stats from MM3. He's going to be quite a bit harder. My intention is that he replaces the hill giant and ogre grunts in the final battle with Wyrmlord Kharn.


6) is Vathirond going to replace the major city in the campaign (forgot it's name). if so, how do you flavour it? this place has changed hands the most during the war, and probably has quite a few bitter chips on their shoulders, especially against characters from Thrane (though that may change in a hurry once the party prove it's worth). i've flavoured it some what for a campaign i was running in the past, i could share ntoes if you like.

Vathirond is the replacement for Dennovar. The central city in the adventure is Brindol; Vathirond is only the fall-back city in case Brindol falls. I would appreciate notes about it, though.



7) are any of the dragonmarked houses going to get involved in this? i'm asking since one of your characters is affiliated with Orien. just intriguing, that's all. (i can certainly see Deneith elite merceneries working for the other side, perhaps even sent to track down and hunt the party in the main settlement, where the main force can't enter)

Since Elsir Vale's in the middle of nowhere, the Dragonmarked Houses will only have a very minor presence in Elsir Vale. Orien's going to be carrying them for the most part, but after that they're on their own. I made Kellin Shadowbanks, the halfling innkeeper, a member of House Ghallanda, but that's probably the limit of the Houses' presence in this area. It's remote and not very profitable.



all in all, it seems you've put some considerable though about modifying the module to the game world, and it sounds intriguin indeed. Kudos to you! i'll be watching this thread as long as you post on it. (also, i suggest you read Saph's and Kjones threads, just to know what to expect)

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out so far. And I've been followng both their threads; they're the reason why I was inspired to go ahead and do this as well.




just remembered one last point you should be prepared for- RHoD tends to have a high mortality rate, and with Eberron's general approach of high magic being rare, reincanations and raise dead spells may be realy, realy, realy hard to come by (unless the artificer makes some scrolls). i suggest ou may send a messanger/ cohort from Jaela who is capable of such a feat, just to keep the party going.

good luck to you,
Kol.

From the looks of it, another player might be joining, and he's playing a druid. There might be a lot of reincarnation monkeying, like what happened in Saph's campaign. It would be hilarious to see how that will turn out--especially the warforged scout.


One issue for you to consider. The Vale should be isolated - the Horde is a serious threat to a rural community, but not to any kind of empire with a significant standing army. (Hell, even Brindol puts up a good fight.) How do you plan to convey that sense of isolation in the context of Eberron, such that the party's first instincts won't be to run for help from outside the Vale?

(Keep in mind that I know little about Eberron.)

Eastern Breland is about as isolated as one can get on the central continent of Khorvaire. While Breland's army is pretty powerful, almost all of it is garrisoned in the west, around the major metropolitan centers and the borders with Droaam (nation of monsters). It would take a very long time to mobilize the Brelish army to move the thousand-odd miles to Elsir Vale.

Thrane, the nation the PCs came from, is to the north of the area. They wouldn't dare send a military force into Brelish territory---especially since the Treaty of Thronehold, which concluded the very recent Last War, had just stopped the Five Nations from annihilating each other.

To the east is the Mournland, which is full of Very Bad Things. The PCs won't get any help out of there, though Azarr Kul did.

To the south is Darguun, the goblinoid nation from which Azarr Kul's clan split. Though he's a pretty nice guy for a hobgoblin warlord, Lhesh Haruuc has enough of a difficult time dealing with civil war within his own borders; he's not likely to send any help to the PCs. Like Thrane, he's got his hands tied---any large force he sends across into Breland will be construed as an act of war. Besides, the PCs have to cross a very high mountain range and survive other not-so-kind goblinoid clans wigging around the borders.

Thanks for all the comments, guys, it helps a lot in fleshing out my other ideas. [Here] (http://eberronrhod.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/chapter-1/) is the story version of the events of yesterday's session.

Stand by for the next chapter!

Kol Korran
2009-04-24, 02:54 PM
don't have much to say, other then thanks for the speedy replies. i'll dig through my notes when i get the chance and look for the info on Vathirond. however, since it's only a fallback, i doubt you'll need any of it.

main things i remember though (maybe you can use them for some other town, maybe even Brindol):
1- mayor was a female human warrior/expert, who'se husband and sons died in the war fighting for Breland. she is bitter to outsiders, having long ago decided that Vathirond shall take care of itself, not trusting the outside forces who have squabbled and killed quite a few of the city's population. the city's guard are all quite veteran soldiers (though nothing compared to adventurers) under the name "Vathirond's true". a small outpost of the brelish army has also been set here, mostly as a force to deal with the horrors of the mournland under the command of a dour dwarf wizard (in truth a changling who is loyal to the brelish crown, but has kept his/her true identity a secret)

2- the town sports influences from thrane, breland, and cyre, and customs, behaviours, even dress code and language are mixed.

3- there is a quite a sizeable ex-cyrian population here. (third or fourth in size after New Cyre). these survivors are only partially accepted here, as they tend to stick to customs of their old country. however, since Vathirond was under Cyrian rule twice, some of these custom also prevail here. it's a very mixed and charged autmosphere.

4- there is a small operation of House Orien here, which tries to follow the old lighting road into the mournland, and perhaps retrieve valuables (some say that there was a special cargo delivered that eventfull day, but when ever someone follows the tracks inside, they lose them in the myst and find themselves miles away)

5- another small operation is that of a specialist healer from hosue Jorasco, one (with a small team), that specializes in psychological stress as well as the strange afflictions people living close to the mournland suffer from. (in my campaign there were several diseases related to closeness to the mournland). the halfling is optmisitic, jolly, and enthusiastic to the point of annoyance. s/he realy believe in the affects of positive thinking. the team both treat the sick, as well as research into the nature of the decay of the mournland.

6- there are two strange beliefs in the town. the first is very small, that of the Ashen Faced- a small group of pilgrims from Thrane, led by a paladin who led a company against the mournland on the day of mourning, and were close to where the wall of mist stopped. the paladin was deeply affected, and pondered this, and came to the conclusion that all who participated actively in the war were somehow responsible for the horror that befell that day. so he took the Oath Of The Sleeping Phoenix, which demands he wear ashes on his face and clothes every day, and help those he have wronged (the Cyrians) until he makes amends for their previous actions (and then be cleansed by the silver flame like a phoenix does at rebirth). s/he persuaded other to follow him/her, and ventured to the closest place they could reach.

these guys can be a potential source for future adventurers.

7- the second strang belief is "the forsaken": a group of Cyrian who believe that the soverign host has forsaken them, and are now looking for a new divinity to save them. i don't remember the exact details of this "cult", but it's somehwere between The Becoming God and the blood of vol (they believe in creating their divine being through their own actions and belief). i do remember i had their leader be captured in a darguun slave cage when the mist descended on it, and the mist covered only his right arm, which became dead flesh. this human from then on carries his dead arm with pride, and many repsect him for it ("i live with the memory of that day by my side constantly!"). he is charismatic, manipulative and diplomatic, but works in secret to wreck havoc on all who have some how betrayed Cyre (which he considers pretty much everyone, even some cyrians). this guy was a major villain in my campaign, but you could just make him an interesting character in yours, with some modifications.

8- other then that there were the usuall religions in town.

there is probably more, Vathirond was pretty importent in my campagin as i said, but i just can't remember. if you wish for more i'll try and dig it up.

AslanCross
2009-04-25, 10:29 PM
Thanks Kol, I appreciate it.

I'm preparing for the first marauder attack in the module, and I noticed that the foldout map provided covers a smaller area than the one shown in the actual encounter entry. o_o Weird. It seems to leave out the eastern side somewhat.

Since I'm using Tome of Battle, I made some changes to some of the Red Hand rank-and-file members. Especially of note are the Bladebearers and the Doom Fist monks, which I made Ftr 1/Warblade 3 and Monk 2/Swordsage 2, respectively. It's okay to post the statblocks I made here, right?

Leaving them out first, but I'll put them up later if it's okay.

In any case, I figure that Uth-Lar in the first encounter will be able to do quite a bit more damage due to Wolf Fang Strike and Steel Wind, and also allow the regulars to have better chances of hitting with Leading the Attack. However, I figure that once he's taken out, the marauder attack should collapse pretty quickly, as it should. In my experience with martial adept monsters, they're usually only able to land a couple of maneuvers before they get mobbed and taken down (or glitterdusted). Except for that one ridiculous time in another campaign where glitterdust backfired---the PC wizard stopped the two hobgoblin warblades on a castle wall from attacking---so they did nothing but spam White Raven Tactics on their caster companion. That sure taught the PCs to abuse save-or-sucks, hehe.
No Wizard in this campaign, and the Artificer hasn't made any scrolls of glitterdust, so I don't think I'm going to have trouble with that spell anytime soon.

I'm not so sure if I should do anything to the cleric. His second level spell selection seems pretty lame---monsters healing only prolongs the fight and rarely makes things more interesting. Any suggestions?

Finally, I felt like playing around with the hell hounds and replaced them with fiery, raptor-like creatures. They still use the hell hound stats, but I had a couple of Guard Drake miniatures I wanted to use, so I just "reskinned" the Hell Hounds.

kjones
2009-04-26, 09:25 AM
Thanks Kol, I appreciate it.

I'm preparing for the first marauder attack in the module, and I noticed that the foldout map provided covers a smaller area than the one shown in the actual encounter entry. o_o Weird. It seems to leave out the eastern side somewhat.


Yeah, it does. It's a shame - the maps are really cool, but you only get three of them, two of which don't come into play until much, much later. My players got all excited when I busted out that map for the first encounter, and were a little disappointed when we went back to our normal whiteboard.

However, for a few of the bigger battles, I printed out map tiles - really cool if you have access to a color printer (they'll eat up a lot of ink/toner). I don't remember exactly where I found them but you can probably find them by digging through the links here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=855450). That link has a lot of good resources in general, even if a lot of it is 404'ed. (The MIC treasure conversions in particular are well-done - don't stick with default treasure. Especially the sword in the basement of Vraath Keep.)



I'm not so sure if I should do anything to the cleric. His second level spell selection seems pretty lame---monsters healing only prolongs the fight and rarely makes things more interesting. Any suggestions?


Give him more scrolls of summon. When he started summoning hell hounds into the middle of my group, they were all, "Aw, hell, naw!"

Then they killed them really quickly. But it was fun.

Don't forget to make him invisible!

AslanCross
2009-04-26, 04:54 PM
Thanks again, kjones. I did pick up the MIC recently and I wanted to use it to give more treasure to the PCs, since as the module says, there's really not much they can buy.

kjones
2009-04-26, 09:16 PM
Here's the links, HTH:

Chatper I (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-818920)
Chatper II (http://boards1.wizards.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-819787)
Chatper III (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-822059)
Chatper IV (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-823394)
Chapter V (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-828607)

I referred to these extensively - frankly, a lot of the treasure placement in RHoD is just poorly done.

I point once again to the +1 frost bastard sword in the dungeon of Vraath Keep. A +2-equivalent weapon is too much for a 5th-level party, a bastard sword is not a particularly useful weapon for most people (EWP), and there's not much there for other party members to use. It's just... bad.

AslanCross
2009-04-27, 07:03 AM
Thanks again, kjones. Lots of helpful links there. I have to admit that from the get go, I saw the +1 frost bastard sword and died a little inside, thinking "nice to put in high-level loot that nobody is ever going to use." That thing is really going to have to go.

Anyway, a flavor-related issue brought up by one of the links I read:
The module makes extensive use of giants; Warklegnaw's tribe of forest giants, and the hill giants in the employ of the horde. The thing is, giants (at least the "true" giants, barring ogres and trolls) are not native to Khorvaire, instead coming from Xen'Drik---which was trashed in the ancient past by the dragons, as I'd mentioned in an earlier post. As such, giants shouldn't really be around.

Here's my solution:

Warklegnaw
An interesting solution proposed on one of the links was using an enclave of lycanthropes to replace Warklegnaw's tribe. This works well with the reclusive nature of lycanthropes in Eberron--the Church of the Silver Flame initiated a bloody crusade against the lycanthropes, aiming to eradicate them, but this particular group got away---at least, until Amery Vraath came along. A member of the Silver Torch (the extreme Silver Flame hardliners), he led his own inquisitions into Elsir Vale from his keep, pushing deep into the Witchwood in search for Warklegnaw's group of lycanthropes. The lycanthropes got even, ravaging the keep and razing it, mortally wounding Vraath. The keep was abandoned, and although Warklegnaw is still alive, he's hurting, bitter, and sick. There might be some friction with Holden, who is a crusader of the Silver Flame, but the player was clear his character did more in the military campaigns of the last war.

Azarr Kul's giants
This is a bit more difficult. Ogres are easy enough to come by, but by and large, even the primitive hill giants aren't native to Khorvaire, and they certainly wouldn't have been able to launch an expedition all the way into central Khorvaire all the way from Xen'Drik.

Trolls are native to Khorvaire, especially in this area, but I didn't want to have too many of them. They're feral creatures and as a rule, I'd want to keep the number of regenerating creatures low. Furthermore, there's the giants' role as living trebuchets.

Thankfully, Monster Manual 3 has a pet favorite of mine: The Skullcrusher Ogre. They're slightly smaller than the usual ogres, but are stronger, smarter, and more disciplined. The vanillla skullcrusher is CR 5---stronger than the vanilla ogre, but not as strong as the Hill Giants I mean to replace. The CR 8 skullcrusher sergeant in the book, however, is a lot closer to the Hill Giant's stats:
-Approximately the same HP.
-Substantially higher AC, but that's due to the full plate the sergeant is wearing
-Same BAB, similar AB
-Similar saves
-A lot more feats due to 3 fighter levels
-Similar ability scores

Finally, skullcrushers share something in common with the giants: Rock throwing. They're not as good at it, having only a range increment of 100 feet (as opposed to the 120 that Hill Giants get), but they seem to fit the bill well enough.
I might have to do some tweaking (warrior levels instead of fighter to get rid of the mass of feats, as well as keeping the CR low, less equipment), but I think the skullcrushers can make a good, flavor-consistent replacement for the Hill Giants. Also, I prefer neat-looking ogres in spiked armor to 12-foot tall cavemen.

I was thinking of making the skullcrushers part of the Prince of the Mournland's employ (will get to that in a bit), as a tribe from Droamm hired by some now-dead army who escaped Cyre before it blew up.


The Prince of the Mournland's Company
Still thinking of an official name for his lackeys, but here's my plan for them:
The Prince himself was a troll chieftain from Droamm who had proved to be smarter and more tactically capable than most trolls, who prefer to rush into battle and tear stuff apart. In an effort to beef up Cyre's beleaguered military, the Prince and his tribe were hired as mercenaries by Cyre, and initially this proved successful.
However, the high command at Metrol was not content with the trolls' impressive combat ability and sheer tenacity, so they decided to come up with more experiments, partially funded by a renegade branch of House Cannith that specialized in warforged grafting (ie, renegade mastermakers).
Unfortunately, the experiments in improving the strength, intelligence, and tenacity of the trolls--namely removing their vulnerability to fire, which was common on the battlefield--were only successful in one case: The troll chief who became the Prince of the Mournland.

The experiments drove the rest of his tribe almost completely insane (even by troll standards). Not wanting to put the benefit of their aggression to waste, the trolls were grafted with armor that clung to their regenerative skin, and implanted remotely-detonated magical bombs into them, so that they could kill the trolls should they go out of control. The result of this salvaged experiment was a new superweapon: the bladerager troll. (See Monster Manual V)

Nobody wanted to be responsible for the control of these monsters, so they gave it to somebody who did---the Prince of the Mournland. A telepathic device was implanted into the Prince's brain, allowing him to control his former tribe.

However, this new superweapon, which might have decided the battle on the Day of Mourning had the Prince and his tribe supported Cyre's warforged legions, was nowhere to be found on that fateful morning. Many suspect that in exchange for future services, some organization that was aware of the devastation that would turn Cyre into the Mournland later that day told the Prince about it. (Due to House Phiarlan's apparent escape from the apocalyptic explosion, some circles believe they were responsible for the Prince's desertion, as they seemed to have advance knowledge of the destruction.)

Whatever the case may be, the Prince of the Mournland is said to have watched the sky catch fire over Cyre with the rest of his tribe and the other mercenaries (skullcrushers) who joined him. The Prince saluted his creators for one last time before marching off into Breland. The confusion on the Day of Mourning, along with the arcane fallout and the alleged House Phiarlan cover-up allowed the Prince and his tribe to escape into the Wyrmsmokes in the little-known and isolated parts of Eastern Breland almost undetected. The Prince makes a living hiring out his tribe's services to special interest groups, usually from Darguun. Azarr Kul is his latest client.

I'm still weighing if I should go on with this. The Prince, with his DR/adamantine and vulnerability to acid only (not fire), would make the battle with Kharn a lot tougher. Even if the PCs did manage to perform a successful assassination attempt against Kharn, they'd still have to deal with the Prince and his regenerating, slash-happy suicide bombers.

Kol Korran
2009-04-27, 01:59 PM
my humble opinions of your modifications:

1- Warklegnaw

i like the idea of the shifters hiding in the woods, especially since msot of your party is from Thrane. but... it seems a bit unbelivable that they stayed so close to the nation that hunted them for so long (especially since Thrane even controlled this area for some time during the last war). i suggest you add some serious concealment magic to the settlement, to explain it hiding. another idea that comes to mind is a Kalashtar settlement who is protected by the psionic forces. (could play well with your party's psion). hey, you can even combine the two ideas- lycanthropic Kalashter... combining the feral with the spiritual/ mental.


2- Azarr Kul's giants

the skull crusher sergents are fine, but i have an idea who might be a bit more iconic to Eberron. how about modified warforged titans? replace one of their arms with a sort of a mini- cataput (or ballista), and you have a walking living siege engine. they could be remants of the old war repaired and used by Azarr Kul's forces. i suggest to make them look beaten up, perhaps even a bit rusty, perhaps displaying old banners such as of Cyre or Thrane. your artificer would love to fight these... and they are a bit more memorable than ogres. (i don't have the right MM so i can't realy tell if skull crushers might be cooler)


3- The Prince of the Mournland's Company

interesting idea you have there, but i have a few problems with it:
- the players are likely to just see the outcome of the story- horrible strange trolls, but they probably won't learn what led to them, which is a bit of a waste of a good story. it would only confuse the players i think.

- the battle at Brindol is hard enough as it is, the end fight should focus on Kharn, and your monsters seem to steal the thunder. plus- unless the players have some way to know of the suicide bombing, then it is realy unfair (and would probably result in one or more character deaths) to spring it upon them. if you want them to fight these trolls, have them fight a few earlier in the campaign, so they'll have some idea what they are when they get to brindol.

- the party lacks a wizard, and the artificer ain't likely to produce a wand of melf's acid arrow or something else that cause acid damage. plus, the party's resources will be spread thin or over by the time they face the prince. result- he is nearly invincible, perhaps even tougher than Kharn. have the party learn of this elite foe (perhaps even face him earlier, and run away?) if you plan to use him.

- over all the trolls present a whole new kind of threat the party needs to especially prepare for. give them the info and time to prepare, don't use them as mere surprises, and especially not at the battle of brindol- it is complicated, surprising and full all unto itself.


i hope i haven't discouraged, all in all interesting ideas.
Kol

AslanCross
2009-04-27, 10:50 PM
my humble opinions of your modifications:

1- Warklegnaw

i like the idea of the shifters hiding in the woods, especially since msot of your party is from Thrane. but... it seems a bit unbelivable that they stayed so close to the nation that hunted them for so long (especially since Thrane even controlled this area for some time during the last war). i suggest you add some serious concealment magic to the settlement, to explain it hiding. another idea that comes to mind is a Kalashtar settlement who is protected by the psionic forces. (could play well with your party's psion). hey, you can even combine the two ideas- lycanthropic Kalashter... combining the feral with the spiritual/ mental.


Hmmm. Well, the idea behind Warklegnaw's tribe is that he's got enough muscle to help delay the horde, but not exactly join the battle. Kalashtar are fond of throwing up cloaking devices that conceal entire communities, true, but I think they'd have to have a fair amount of trade to sustain their community. A permanent community might be a bit too hard to conceal unless the nearby towns agreed to keep them secret, shroud or no. The kalashtar lycanthropes is interesting, but I feel that the players will wonder too much about the strange breeding and fall off the hook---it's happened to these particular players before.

I was thinking that Thrane did find the lycanthrope enclave---Amery Vraath did pick fights with them---but due to strained supply lines and the difficult terrain, his men couldn't push far enough into the forest and the nearby mountains. In the end, the werefolk got even and trashed Vraath Keep. By the time the news got to whomever Vraath's superiors were, Thrane realized they had bigger fish to fry.


2- Azarr Kul's giants

the skull crusher sergents are fine, but i have an idea who might be a bit more iconic to Eberron. how about modified warforged titans? replace one of their arms with a sort of a mini- cataput (or ballista), and you have a walking living siege engine. they could be remants of the old war repaired and used by Azarr Kul's forces. i suggest to make them look beaten up, perhaps even a bit rusty, perhaps displaying old banners such as of Cyre or Thrane. your artificer would love to fight these... and they are a bit more memorable than ogres. (i don't have the right MM so i can't realy tell if skull crushers might be cooler)


Ooooh. I was seriously considering adding a titan or two to Kharn's forces, but I never thought of mounting siege engines on them. I'm definitely going to use this---probably a mix of the ogres and the titans.

3- The Prince of the Mournland's Company

interesting idea you have there, but i have a few problems with it:
- the players are likely to just see the outcome of the story- horrible strange trolls, but they probably won't learn what led to them, which is a bit of a waste of a good story. it would only confuse the players i think.

- the battle at Brindol is hard enough as it is, the end fight should focus on Kharn, and your monsters seem to steal the thunder. plus- unless the players have some way to know of the suicide bombing, then it is realy unfair (and would probably result in one or more character deaths) to spring it upon them. if you want them to fight these trolls, have them fight a few earlier in the campaign, so they'll have some idea what they are when they get to brindol.

- the party lacks a wizard, and the artificer ain't likely to produce a wand of melf's acid arrow or something else that cause acid damage. plus, the party's resources will be spread thin or over by the time they face the prince. result- he is nearly invincible, perhaps even tougher than Kharn. have the party learn of this elite foe (perhaps even face him earlier, and run away?) if you plan to use him.

- over all the trolls present a whole new kind of threat the party needs to especially prepare for. give them the info and time to prepare, don't use them as mere surprises, and especially not at the battle of brindol- it is complicated, surprising and full all unto itself.


Okay, good points. I was fine with adding a more dangerous monster to the final battle with Kharn, to be honest, but the Prince is going to be much harder to kill. (Btw, I made Kharn a Crusader 10 to make him a great deal tougher and more dangerous; the Favored Soul/Talon of Tiamat combo seemed really weak for an act boss to me.) Still I keep forgetting that the psion can't make her energy powers deal acid damage. Somehow I kept thinking she could. Perhaps this idea might be canned.


i hope i haven't discouraged, all in all interesting ideas.
Kol

No problem, I appreciate the comments. They're helpful either way, and I'd rather have constructive criticism than no replies.

Eldariel
2009-04-27, 11:11 PM
Regarding Kharn:
If you want to edit his stats, I'd make Kharn a Ruby Knight Vindicator (reflavoured, of course, but pretty much just using the class requires reflavouring so that's to be expected...). Crusader 1/Cleric 4/Ruby Knight Vindicator 5, to be precise (Favored Soul doesn't have turning so it wouldn't qualify without handwaving, and I frankly agree with your assessment; also, in this particular case, Crusader 2/Cleric 3 may be more interesting as it doesn't actually cost him a spell level). Spellcasting of an 8th level Cleric and maneuvers as an 8th level Crusader.

Pretty much precisely what you'd expect from the chosen one of a martial deity - absolute kickass melee prowess to go with potent spellcasting. He'd only need 2 levels for the elusive Ruby Knight Vindicator 7 and level 5 spells + swift action casting. But I think the above is more loyal to his fluff, and more effective than Crusader 10.

Hell, you could toss him something like Glaive or Scythe (unfortunately you can't pick style points for running him with Claws, Tiamat's favored weapon, as...well, Kharn doesn't have any) and truly enjoy the action economy of getting your out-of-turn AoOs, in-turn swift, standard & move abilities and free action recovery.


But I wouldn't toss him there without any spellcasting in there as going into a battle without Dispel Magic, Air Walk and similar abilities is just asking for a walkover, unless you decide to acquire them through other means; PCs have access to plenty of pesky buffs and easy flight by the time the fight comes along and having Kharn stand around dumbfounded as the PCs fly and bombard him would be anti-climatic to say the least.

AslanCross
2009-04-28, 07:15 AM
Great suggestion, Eldariel. Thanks a lot, that'll really help. I was also a bit miffed that his maneuvers were just too monotonous.

Eldariel
2009-04-28, 09:15 PM
Glad I could help; only the best for your players :smallwink: Another thing I'd personally rework is his equipment - presently they're rather bland, but you could rather easily make them more interesting (as I alluded in kjones's thread, giving him a weapon made out of some infernal material could be very interesting, especially if it's something PCs haven't encountered).

And of course, defensive stuff and stuff that allows him to act more; Circlet of Rapid Casting, Belt of Battle or some such. He can afford all that if he does his weapon/armor enchanting himself (with spells) rather than buy already enchanted weapons (and why wouldn't he? He's got the power.). Also, it'd make some really nice loot for PCs, something they're probably dying for in this campaign which mostly caters basic +X items. Considering the amount of allies he's got, I'd also consider a Martial Script of Order Forged From Chaos. That particular maneuver is perfect for commanding troops, and he'll often have his own Move Actions to burn anyways after initiating a strike, using a counter/boost/swift spell and enjoying a good position.


I just calculated his combat gear wealth and it comes down to about 60500gp (of course, ~13000gp of that is the Full-Plate even unenhanced (enhancements adding another 9000gp to it), which you'll probably want to keep as it's such an awesome fit for him - at least the Red Dragoncraft part of it).

AslanCross
2009-04-29, 05:25 AM
I was wondering why he had so much gear. Currently I settled for the recommended PC gear equivalent of 49000 GP, but if he has 60500, then I could afford to give him more.

Currently he has:

16650: +2 red dragoncraft full plate
4000: gauntlets of ogre power
4000: Periapt of wisdom +2
18318: Kor'Korvuul, the Crimson Carnage (+1 brutal surge bloodfeeding scythe)
2000: lesser rubicund frenzy
2000: ring of protection +1
1000: cloak of resistance +1
1000: dispelling cord

I could probably swap out a couple of those for the circlet of rapid casting.

I made the following changes to the encounter:
Original Encounter:
-Kharn
-2 ogres
-2 hill giants

My first plan:
-Kharn
-Rage Drake as Kharn's mount
-The Prince of the Mournland, War Troll

As per Kol Korran's suggestions, I dropped the War Troll since it's likely he's going to be waaay tougher than Kharn.

The encounter now stands as such:

-Kharn
-Rage Drake
-2 whitespawn berserkers (why these guys are hanging out in this heat is beyond me---must be the immunity to fire their mounts give)
-2 redspawn firebelchers (fire immunity on the whitespawn will be hilarious)

-I fear for anyone who gets charged by the Rage Drake while Kharn's Leading the Charge stance is active. 'Nuff said.
-The whitespawn and firebelchers will serve the role of artillery. The berserkers have composite shortbow^5s, and with their mounts can add a lot of harassing fire. Should the mounts die or Kharn order them to close in, they charge.

If the party proves exceedingly tough, I might throw in a couple of skullcrusher ogres with class levels or a Bluespawn Godslayer.

Eldariel
2009-04-29, 09:35 AM
Wops, pardon me, he only has 50500gp. I accidentally counted his armor & shield as +3 rather than +2. That said, you could easily cut the +2 from the armor (4k), Gauntlets (4k), Ring of Protection (2k) & Cloak of Resistance (1k), which is almost enough to get him the Circlet (15k) - all those items are rather unnecessary as he can do it all himself. As you've still got about 2k worth of wealth unspent (if you gave him 49k), I think trading those for the Circlet is a fair game.

kjones
2009-04-29, 10:58 AM
That encounter sounds interesting, but beware. Keep in mind that this is a EL 12+ encounter coming right on the heels of 6-8 other EL 10+ encounters (and party level will probably be 9-10 at this point). To enumerate:


Defend the Walls (EL 11)
Fight Abithraix (EL 10, but these two aren't really comparable - he's a friggin' dragon)
Streets of Blood, first wave (EL 9)
Second wave (EL 10)
Third wave (EL 11)
Fourth wave (contingent on the destruction of the hatchery in Chapter II) (EL 12)
Fifth wave (contingent on negotiation with the Ghostlord) (EL 12)
Sniper Attack (EL 11, with a lot of potential for nastiness, particularly if they get themselves poisoned by Skather)


Many of these can be leveled by giving the party NPC allies, but some of them (notably Sniper Attack, Defend the Walls, and Abithraix, due to fear effects) will not lend themselves well to that route. Six encounters above party level is a lot.

Finally, keep in mind that Kharn may not be alone. Any surviving Wyrmlords will be there with him, and if the party did not break the Ghostlord's alliance, he'll be there too. That will make a big difference.

You'll be better able to judge this when the time comes and you can see what your party looks like going into (and during) the battle. I'm just saying, be careful. Many times in the past have I made the mistake of making encounters that were really awesome, but much too difficult for the party.

AslanCross
2009-05-01, 07:47 AM
Thanks kjones. Brindol is still a long way off, so I've a lot of time to think about it. If the party gets beaten up too much in the initial battles, I'll probably just default to the book (with the exception of Knight of Five Sorrows Kharn. That is a keeper.)

Anyway, Session 2:

The Terminal
Ashie, the artificer, successfully brought the train's berserk air elemental under control. Slowing down the train would mean the rest of the trip takes 2 hours, while keeping it at maximum speed means they arrive at the terminal in less than 30 minutes---at the risk of losing control of the train again, derailing, or smashing into the Vathirond Terminal, likely killing themselves and a lot of people in the process. Deciding to play it safe and avoid an imminent crash, Ashie slows down the train.

Kikkeni, the Kalashtar psion, having been dropped to 1 HP in the previous encounter, is healed with a wand of lesser vigor.

Knowing that the party is now riding one third of the train they'd departed Flamekeep in, and that the said remaining third of the train contains several dead crew members, the party figures out what to tell the authorities at Vathirond. After weighing the pros and cons of lying and Holden, the dwarf Silver Flame crusader, says he's beholden to tell the truth, and so they reluctantly agree.

The train arrives at Vathirond, and Father Larrister, the local contact, is shocked to see that only a third of the train is left. Holden quickly tells him they were attacked, and Larrister quickly calls in his guards to seal off the train before anybody tries to investigate, much to the chagrin of the House Orien personnel in the station.

Larrister brings the PCs to go to the Silver Flame diocese so he can brief them further.

At the Diocese

The PCs explain exactly what happened. Larrister is shocked, but since the PCs successfully identified the assassin as a rakshasa, Larrister explains that it wasn't a random attack; a rakshasa who stayed in close proximity to them for hours wouldn't have made a mistake. The attack was a deliberate assassination attempt, and the PCs have also come to this conclusion. Intrigued by the turn of events, Larrister says that they may be up against more than just a warband of hobgoblin bandits.

Larrister explains where they're headed next: Drellin's Ferry, a town at the forefront of a lot goblin attacks. Since the town is in the middle of nowhere (we joked that Drellin's Ferry's town motto is "More Nowhere than Nowhere"---there really is a town in central Breland named Nowhere, but at least the Lightning Rail system gets there. Drellin's Ferry is over 160 miles from the nearest station.), Breland can't really mobilize an army to meet the threat of a few random bandit attacks; said army would have to cross most of the country, and frankly, King Boranel is more concerned with the hostile Droaamite attacks on Breland's western border than random bandit attacks in the east. The PCs have yet to make the Rakshasa-Khyber-Tiamat connection, but I expect they'll get there by the time they get to Wyrmlord Koth. Either way, Larrister is convinced the PCs are up against more than just "random bandit attacks."

The PCs bed down for the night in the diocese, waking up to find a House Orien coach specially chartered for Drellin's Ferry. The coach driver/courier, Kien d'Orien, is a man of few words. Loven, the warforged scout rogue and the dwarf's adopted brother, says the carriage reminds him too much of the boxes humans put equipment in, and declares that he wants to ride on the coach's roof. Kien sarcastically tells him to enjoy the 160-mile ride. Loven shuts up and sits in the carriage.

Holden also opens up a letter that Larrister slipped him as they left; the Letter talks about Amery Vraath and his failed lycanthrope-purging crusade into Elsir Vale. Vraath was nasty, bloodthirsty and altogether unlikeable, and ultimately he was killed by the lycanthropes he was hunting. There are lots of rumors about him being infected with lycanthropy himself or that his ghost haunts his old base in the Witchwood. Larrister simply asks Holden to check out Vraath Keep while he's at it, but the old vicar himself says he never really liked the guy.

Marauders
Ah, the first encounter in the module. Kien spots the ambush for the PCs, and stops the carriage a few miles out of Drellin's Ferry, and in a dreadfully quiet manner, tells the PCs that there's an ambush just up ahead. The PCs get down. Kien hangs back to protect his cargo from looters, while the PCs engage.

Roll initiative.

The battle goes very, very badly for the hobgoblins. All of the archers miss their first attacks, and for the most part, miss over and over again for the entire encounter. Loven decides to sneak into the woods and carries his bag of boulders---one of the most fun low-level items for rogues, ever.

Ashie lays down a wanded entangle spell in the middle of the area, covering almost the entire map. However, since the trail down the center had no foliage, only the hobgoblins in the trees are entangled. Almost all of them fail; the only one who made the save was "hobgoblin A," the furthest down the right side of the map. Hobgoblin A constantly makes high saves and high attack rolls, even a couple of natural 20s. I dub him "Lucky" henceforth.

Kikkeni takes a round to get psionically focused.

Soon after, Uth-Lar the bladebearer and Zarr the cleric rush out of the farmhouse, telling the PCs to attack the spellcaster (at this point, Ashie is the only person who's cast anything.) The two of them rush down the path with the two scorch drakes (just the hell hounds I reskinned to become bipedal lizards). The scorch drakes run at tremendous speed.

One of the scorch drakes runs past Loven, who throws a pebble from his bag of boulders. It would've likely been a fatal sneak attack, but unfortunately, he rolls horribly and misses. Holden, maul drawn, sets about bashing in heads on the left side of the map. He hits one hobgoblin, which he kills with a massive crit on his second turn. (x3 crit = win) With two hobgoblins dead, all but one of the archers entangled, and every single one of the hobgobins rolling badly, it looks like it's over for them.

Zarr turns invisible; Uth-Lar runs at full tilt toward Kikkeni. Uth-Lar successfully lands an AOO on Kikkeni as she tries to slip away, while the archers keep firing at Ashie.

Kikkeni, with her 40-foot speed thanks to Speed of Thought, is able to get out of the way and shoots an electric energy bolt across the path, frying one of the scorch drakes and one of the archers. Ashie buffs herself with shield. Uth-Lar pursues Kikkeni into the forest, but as he enters he passes by Loven, who attempts to sneak him with his shortbow. The attack hits, but Uth-Lar's uncanny dodge prevents him from getting creamed by the sneak damage.

One of the scorch drakes engages with Ashie's iron defender homunculus, damaging it for half its HP with a single bite. Holden charges the scorch drake with Battle Leader's Charge, reducing it to a fine red mist. Holden: 3, Red Hand: 0.

The second wave of hobgoblins doesn't do much better. Most of them miss consistently, although a number of solid hits land on Kikkeni and Ashie over the course of the battle, dropping them to single digits. Kikkeni responds in kind by killing almost all the second wave with one application of energy missile and then runs off into the forest. Ashie, on the other hand, is unable to help much. A CL 1 magic missile wand really doesn't do much. Uth-Lar pursues Kikkeni, and Holden follows. Ashie orders her homunculus to chase down Uth-Lar as well.

Holden saves Kikkeni with Defensive Rebuke, forcing Uth-Lar to attack him. The bladebearer obliges, cursing Holden in his language (Holden knows Goblin; I translate Uth-Lar's swearing as "Your mother has less honor than a flee-bitten centaur whore") but his rolls are also bad. Only one of his Wolf Fang Strikes hits, and his Wall of Blades counter to parry Holden's Mountain Hammer rolls a pathetic 3. Zarr reappears behind Holden and nails him with an inflict moderate wounds---Holden fails his first save but uses his Zealous Surge to reroll his failed will save. He takes token damage.

Loven throws another charge of his bag of boulders from concealment, this time successfully sneak attacking Zarr. The cleric takes significant damage and is left bleeding (c/o Pathfinder Rogue talent); Ashie helps by pumping him with another shot of magic missile.

The homunculus shakes down Uth-Lar, finally dropping him to exactly 0 HP. Only Zarr and two hobgoblins---one still entangled and the other ready to piss in his pants---are left. Zarr attempts to rally the two and uses his smite on Holden, but Holden has cover thanks to the foliage. Zarr misses, and finally collapses due to blood loss. Holden makes sure he's dead with a coup de grace. The unentangled archer runs for the hills. The other one is stuck, and in no morale to fight any more. Loven walks up to him and executes him with an arrow to the back of the head.

I changed the treasure here. I said one of Uth-Lar's short swords broke and replaced it with a bunch of low-level magic items that had been with the merchant whom the hobbos had ambushed earlier. Same thing with Zarr's armor; nobody needed it, and since the town doesn't offer much in the way of gear, I decided to scrap it.

Loot:
-one darklight (Secrets of Sarlona). A very interesting magic item that can change ambient light when imbued with psionic power. Due to simpy changing the ambient light and not emitting actual light, nobody can really pinpoint the bearer. The party finds it a very interesting item and thinks of all the various applications of the said lantern---then they see another darklight already in Kikkeni's gear list (the character's loot was prepared by me in an emergency due to players being unable to come). They shrug and move on.
-healing belt. Without a cleric, they needed it.
-restful crystal. Now the dwarf doesn't take his armor off anymore. Ick.
-eternal wand of shield
-everlasting rations
-355 GP
-one unconscious hobgoblin marauder.

The party also hoovers the miscellaneous mundane gear and stacks it onto the carriage and ties up Uth-Lar BENEATH the carriage. They haul everything into town.

Kien delivers his goods and leaves while the PCs talk to the militia.

Tarnished Silver
Due to my re-fluffing of Amery Vraath as an unlikeable Silver Torch zealot who made life more than a little difficult for the Ferry folk during the Last War, the militia are wary of the PCs. However, desperate to have the hobgoblins dealt with, they're let into the town.

Loven nonchalantly drags Uth-Lar toward the Old Toll House while the two girls look for an inn. They decide on the Old Bridge, which is a House Ghallanda operation---the only one for miles around.

The dwarf and the warforged start talking to Norro Wiston, and Soranna is impressed by how the PCs dealt with the ambush so easily. The women arrive just as Speaker Wiston offers a pay of 500 GP. Holden hates goblins so accepts off the bat; the others are fine with it. They tie up Uth-Lar in a cell.

Holden=Jack Bauer

Holden makes an Intimidate check as Uth-Lar comes to. Uth-Lar's steely façade and pointed-back ears melt away---despite his+4 bonus to resist Intimidate checks, he rolls low and Holden easily makes his point by smashing a chair into powder with his maul.

Uth-Lar sings like a canary, telling the party about Wyrmlord Koth's base in Vraath Keep, and also mentions Azarr Kul. He's not sure of the entire horde's command structure, and gives no certain description of Tiamat's involvement---all the PCs know is that Tiamat is involved, since the hobgoblins keep raving about her, and that the holy symbol Zarr carried was Tiamat's. The PCs puzzle over the title of "Wyrmlord," but Uth-Lar doesn't know why that title was chosen.

Holden explains to the party that the worship of Tiamat---a demon Overlord---is unheard of among goblins. The ancient goblinoid Dhakaani empire was agnostic, trusting in its own glory more than any gods; Darguun, the nation of Lhesh Haruuc, at least publicly worships the Sovereign Host in order to appear more civilized; other goblinoids in Darguun may turn to the worship of the Dark Six, the Sovereign Host's dark brethren. An actual cult of a demon Overlord is very, very rare, as most of them are in suspended animation.

Ashie asks if there were other races involved. Uth-Lar snaps back at the artificer, saying that unlike humans, "the People" or "the Dar" have always considered themselves a single race with three different bloods (this is consistent with Eberron's goblinoid fluff), and that humans were fools to separate them into three different races.

Uth-Lar mentions Karkilan the minotaur, but the PCs seem to gloss over this---Uth-Lar begins to get his courage back, Holden smashes Uth-Lar in the knee. Uth-Lar mentions one last important bit of information---the Red Hand is coming to slaughter the "human river village." Ashie presses Uth-Lar some more for information, asking if the horde will continue pushing eastward past Drellin's Ferry. Uth-Lar, his courage and adrenaline back, simply keeps raving about the Red Hand coming.

Annoyed, Holden orders Loven to shoot him "where it hurts," but I tell him that Uth-Lar is too far gone and any further attacks would kill him. Holden then grabs Uth-Lar's broken knee and twists it. Roaring in pain, the hobgoblin simply keeps swearing and says that he's confident his brethren would feast on their innards, even if he were to die.

The party leaves Uth-Lar, and Soranna leans over to Ashie, saying that it was nice of them to leave the hobgoblin for them to take care of for the night. Loven hears this, turns around, and shoots Uth-Lar in the head. Soranna sighs, drags out the body herself, and orders one of her men to bury it out back. The captain tells the party that Vraath Keep wasn't far, and that meeting up with the woodsman Jorr could help them get through the Witchwood without much trouble.

Shopping
The party visits Delora Zann, but she's closing down for the day, so the party goes to sleep. Early the next morning, they go to Morlin Coalhewer, who accepts Holden as a fellow dwarf, and purchases the masterwork longswords and suits of mail. The party donates the rest of the gear to the town guard, much to Soranna's delight.

The party spends the gold buying scrolls from Brother Derny, the local cleric of Dol Arrah (female Pelor to non-Eberron players, she's one of the Sovereign Host, the predominant pantheon-based religion), and Sertieren the Wise. Finally, they buy mounts and gear from Delora Zann, and ride off for Jorr's place.

Jorr the Badass and Hydra Soup
Jorr greets the PCs in typical hillbilly fashion. They make their intent to explore Vraath Keep known; Jorr blows them off and tells them that it's just "down the road, can't miss it." He responds a bit favorably to their flattery, but since the PCs feel they can't trust him yet, they only speak in uncertain terms. He responds by saying the wood isn't that unsafe, and that while the Keep is haunted, they don't need his help. It's only when they mention the goblins that he perks up and offers his help.

Not long after, they arrive at the Blackwater Causeway. Jorr takes point, tells the PCs to keep watch, and leads the crossing. The PCs dismount and take the horses with them. Jorr fails his spot check and misses the Hydra completely.

"Aw hell. I dinnow there wuz a hydra here."

Roll initiative.

Intiative goes as follows: Kikkeni, Loven, Hydra, Jorr, Ashie, Holden. Kikkeni's Knowledge check result spooks the player; she advocates either mounting the horses and attempting to run full speed across the causeway (which would've made an awesome chase scene reminiscent of that one area in Metal Slug), or running back toward the town. Holden stows his maul and draws his greatsword.

I simply tell her that the hydra will give chase, that horses can't run at full speed with a rider, the causeway is too slippery and rickety to cross with charging horses, and that the beast will follow them all the way back to town if they ran.

Kikkeni uses inertial armor, while Loven tries to get cover and hides to snipe. The hydra takes the path of least resistance---the river. Ashie fires a ray of enfeeblement from a scroll, greatly crippling the hydra's abilities. Its attack bonus is down to +5, and its bites no longer had their damage bonus. Jorr Rapid Shots, hitting both times. Holden scrambles straight into the path of the monster as it swims up the river to where the causeway crosses the deep water.

Kikkeni opens fire with her energy bolt, but rolls low. To make matters worse, hydras have good reflex saves despite their size, and takes very little damage. All its heads are intact. Loven sneaks the hydra with his bow, dealing a good amount of damage. The hydra moves in to attack Holden, using its superior reach to savage him with bites. Only one hits, and deals a pathetic 4 damage. Jorr keeps the arrows pumping, dealing 7 more damage. Ashie fires a magic missile from her wand, dealing 2 damage. Holden pulls out a blast disk, sets it to "Proximity," and plants it in the bridge.

Turn 3. Kikkeni blasts again, searing off a head. Loven sees what his brother is doing, and makes a run for it, climbing back over the causeway to the side opposite the hydra. The hydra stays put, attacks Holden with everything, and misses all but one bite. Again. Jorr goes "What th' hell are ye doin'? KEEP SHOOTIN'!" and stays on the bridge. One more Rapid Shot: 17 damage. Ashie makes a run for it, jumping into the bog on the east side of the causeway, and Holden makes a run for it, ducking under the hydra's would-have-been devastating sextuple AOO (none of it hit), and jumps into the bayou as well.

Turn 4. Kikkeni blasts yet again. A second head comes off, dealing damage to the beast's body. Loven is already off and running away. The hydra takes the bait and steps right into the blast disk's range. BOOM.

The bridge is sheared off its posts and falls into the water on the far end. Unfortunately the hydra makes its save again. It does take enough area damage to shear off another head, though. Jorr almost falls, but manages to stay up---and keeps shooting. "I hope that wasn't the only one ya got, because it's still COMING!" Another Rapid Shot and the hydra's HP is down to 26. Holden swears at his failed plan, stomps back toward the hydra and plunges his greatsword into the body.

And rolls a 20.

And confirms with a 17.

The hydra's heart bursts under the impact of 28 damage, and the whole thing collapses into the water.

End of session.

Thoughts

The PCs have extracted a good amount of information from the clues that have been dropped, but their patchwork of intelligence isn't meshing together just yet.
1. They do know that a certain "high wyrmlord" is directing attacks through a lesser "wyrmlord."
2. They do know that the hobgoblins are planning a massive attack on Drellin's Ferry, possibly with bugbears and goblins as well.
3. Karkilan the minotaur is mentioned, but the PCs don't really realize he's a minotaur.
4. The PCs know the base's location. Vraath Keep is their next target.
5. The hobgoblins worship Tiamat.

What they don't know:
1. The Rakshasa attack was more involved than they realize.
2. The exact structure of the Horde is unknown.
3. The relevance of the title "wyrmlord" is still unknown.
4. They don't know when "the day of ruin" is.
5. They don't know exactly how the Horde plans to move, or how far they're moving. In fact, they don't know if there's a Horde at all. They only know of the "Red Hand."

The first encounter was a bloodbath. I was consistently unlucky with rolls except for Lucky, and in the end he got fried with a single energy missile. The encounter is a lot easier than its EL lets on, as the module admits, but even as a martial adept, Uth-Lar sucked---I blame it on bad rolls.

I really didn't know what to do with Zarr---I figured he could add some battlefield control, but all he did was sneak up and then start attacking. Too little, too late.

I may have given a lot of treasure in that first encounter, but the PCs aren't going to get much otherwise. A bunch of low-level, "cute" treasure (situational but otherwise useful) instead of high-level "let's sell this" loot, seems to draw the players in more.

The hydra encounter was priceless. The module has the hydra running away when its HP goes down, but I figured the PCs could kill it anyway, so I let it fight on. Jorr's presence did make the battle way easier, but in the end, the PCs still took the glory. Ashie didn't do much damage, but ray of enfeeblement was absolutely crippling even if it didn't drop the hydra's STR to penalty levels.

I'm concerned about Loven. He's had a lot of opportunities to sneak, but it seems he's not able to optimize well. The player isn't so sure about what direction to take with his build either. I was suggesting going with Crossbow Sniper, but he's still considering it. Any advice?

Next week: Vraath Keep.

Kol Korran
2009-05-01, 08:32 AM
nice recount. i especially liked how you played out the interogation, and the hydra fight. your players seem to know what they're doing (the ray of enfeeblement was definetly in place)

it seems you party had better fortune with the hydra than other parties i met. nice work.

oh, and byt the way- i love how you integrate all kinds of little Eberron-flavour-pieces into your world, like the mention of The Dar and so on. i'm thoroughly enjoying that AslanCross

got nothing to add realy,
Kol

Eldariel
2009-05-01, 08:45 AM
nice recount. i especially liked how you played out the interogation, and the hydra fight. your players seem to know what they're doing (the ray of enfeeblement was definetly in place)

it seems you party had better fortune with the hydra than other parties i met. nice work.

oh, and byt the way- i love how you integrate all kinds of little Eberron-flavour-pieces into your world, like the mention of The Dar and so on. i'm thoroughly enjoying that AslanCross

got nothing to add realy,
Kol

Yeah, I think the Ray of Enfeeblement was what made the party so "lucky" vs. the Hydra (because the hydra probably needed to be rolling around 18-20 to hit anything at that point). I guess it goes to show why debuffs are awesome against single tough guys.

By the way, just curious, was Holden Power Attacking? Because 28 seems "small" for a critical.


Awesome session, I'll have to echo Kol in the Eberron flavour praise - it really makes it feel totally different from Your Average RHoD (Heh.) giving it a certain color of its own.

Great chapter, keep it coming! I'm interested in seeing how your players tackle the bigger, more tactical obstacles to come.

RTGoodman
2009-05-01, 10:57 AM
Yeah, I think the Ray of Enfeeblement was what made the party so "lucky" vs. the Hydra (because the hydra probably needed to be rolling around 18-20 to hit anything at that point). I guess it goes to show why debuffs are awesome against single tough guys.

Indeed - none of the party's I've ever DMed through RHoD have ever done any debuffing, and the Hydra has been among the toughest encounters in the first couple of chapters of the module. It took some handwaving to keep it from being a TPK at least once, though most recently it wasn't so bad what with the Improved Sundering Wizard/Fighter PC.

I'm liking the recap so far, even if I'm not as familiar with Eberron as others. One thing I might have done differently would be having Uth-Lar give out less information during the interrogation. I mean, yeah he rolled pretty badly, but he's supposed to be an elite Red Hand trooper, right? I would think he'd be even more resistant to intimidation/torture than anyone else. (And speaking of, your party seem to be really good at the torture, intimidation, and execution thing - I think it'll be interesting if any of them get captured later and have to beg for mercy from any Red Hand "interrogators." :smallamused:)

AslanCross
2009-05-01, 06:26 PM
Thanks for the comments, guys. It helps to know I'm doing something right (or wrong). ^_^

The ray of enfeeblement was indeed the primary reason the hydra wasn't as strong as it should have been; at Holden's AC of 21, the beastie would've needed 16 or higher to hit. I was particularly concerned about the special hydra Combat Reflexes at first, but again this was practically neutralized by the ray. It was kind of a metagame choice on the player's part, since she remembers their party wizard in an old FR game nailing the first boss with it. Still a good choice, though.

Henceforth she's going to be scribing more of these; I need to find a good way to keep the fights challenging. We're using the Craft Point variant from UA so as to not waste the entire point of the artificer and still be able to run around Elsir Vale as the adventure demands without sitting around just so she could craft.



I'm liking the recap so far, even if I'm not as familiar with Eberron as others. One thing I might have done differently would be having Uth-Lar give out less information during the interrogation. I mean, yeah he rolled pretty badly, but he's supposed to be an elite Red Hand trooper, right? I would think he'd be even more resistant to intimidation/torture than anyone else. (And speaking of, your party seem to be really good at the torture, intimidation, and execution thing - I think it'll be interesting if any of them get captured later and have to beg for mercy from any Red Hand "interrogators." :smallamused:)

I do think I slipped a bit with Uth-Lar's mention of Azarr Kul; I just thought it was reasonable for him to know that there is such a person--the intro of the adventure does begin with the warlord giving the speech with everyone listening. I guess it wouldn't have hurt to omit that, as the PCs can now guess at what's beginning to mobilize. Apart from that, I've only revealed what the "capture a hobgoblin" sidebar detailed, and I made him start to rave when I realized the player thought he could keep up the Jack Bauer act.

Strangely enough, one thing the players seemed to miss was to ask Jorr where the hobgoblins are coming from. They only know about Vraath Keep; they have no idea that there's a much larger force camped out somewhere. They still have Jorr with them anyway. (How did you guys run him? Did he accompany them into Vraath Keep? I intend to do this given his hate of the goblins and his agreement to help them fight.)

I have no idea how the players are going to sneak into the keep. The players have always been pretty lousy at stealth, and it doesn't help that the only guy who has Darkvision isn't particularly stealthy. They're going to need some creative use of the darklight here. It's a pretty good thing too that two of the PCs can understand Goblin. I need to compose some elf jokes for the guards to tell each other at night.

Eldariel
2009-05-01, 06:47 PM
The ray of enfeeblement was indeed the primary reason the hydra wasn't as strong as it should have been; at Holden's AC of 21, the beastie would've needed 16 or higher to hit. I was particularly concerned about the special hydra Combat Reflexes at first, but again this was practically neutralized by the ray. It was kind of a metagame choice on the player's part, since she remembers their party wizard in an old FR game nailing the first boss with it. Still a good choice, though.

I think it's actually quite logical for the character too, even if she [the player] did it for reasons other than in-character choices. I mean, anything that doesn't cast spells is usually a good target for Ray of Enfeeblement. If the player was able to figure out that it's probably going to brawl (which, by the thing's size and the number of heads is something you can deduct, especially if it's not breathing fire or casting spells) and not much else, it seems like the most logical thing to do to take the weakening spell most likely to have a crippling effect on the thing and throw it at it; casting Ray of Enfeeblement is pretty much sits right at home there.

AslanCross
2009-05-01, 07:17 PM
I think it's actually quite logical for the character too, even if she [the player] did it for reasons other than in-character choices. I mean, anything that doesn't cast spells is usually a good target for Ray of Enfeeblement. If the player was able to figure out that it's probably going to brawl (which, by the thing's size and the number of heads is something you can deduct, especially if it's not breathing fire or casting spells) and not much else, it seems like the most logical thing to do to take the weakening spell most likely to have a crippling effect on the thing and throw it at it; casting Ray of Enfeeblement is pretty much sits right at home there.

Yeah, it definitely is, though she did mention herself that she remembers how helpful it was in the old campaign.

KillianHawkeye
2009-05-01, 08:39 PM
They still have Jorr with them anyway. (How did you guys run him? Did he accompany them into Vraath Keep? I intend to do this given his hate of the goblins and his agreement to help them fight.)

Well, my players really didn't trust Jorr at all at first. A couple thought he might actually be in league with the goblins. They got some information on the keep from him, but didn't actually hire him until after the battle. I think he helped out at the battle of Skull Gorge Bridge, though.

RTGoodman
2009-05-01, 11:21 PM
They still have Jorr with them anyway. (How did you guys run him? Did he accompany them into Vraath Keep? I intend to do this given his hate of the goblins and his agreement to help them fight.)

I ran him as just sort of a hillbilly with his huntin' dogs that helped out but in general wasn't really that useful. Against the hydra he fired off many an ineffectual arrow, and at Vraath he refused to go in (it is haunted after all :smallwink:) but agreed to stand guard outside in case any goblin reinforcements came in. They didn't, so he just sat around.


I have no idea how the players are going to sneak into the keep. The players have always been pretty lousy at stealth, and it doesn't help that the only guy who has Darkvision isn't particularly stealthy.

My group that got this far actually threw me a curveball here - they weren't particularly stealthy either (they had a Rogue, but the rest were a Str-based Ranger, a Cleric of Pelor in full-plate, and a Soulknife/Soulbow), but they came up with an ingenious plan. They got out ropes and grappling hooks and proceeded to scale the side wall of the keep, avoiding a lot of trouble that would have occurred from just waltzing in the front door.

What that meant was they could pick off most of the goblins, hobgoblins, wargs, and stuff down within the courtyard (though Karkilan scaled the walls in one turn and went after the Rogue), but didn't have much room to fight the flying, spike-throwin' manticore. (I also put a secret door in at the top of Koth's tower, and had him waiting inside it with a readied blindness/deafness - which he hit the Rogue with immediately; fortunately for the player, I rolled to determine which he used, and it was just deafness. The Cleric cured it the next morning with remove blindness/deafness.)


EDIT: Also, one thing that I did that you could use to screw with your players is the throw an air mephit miniature (http://www.trollandtoad.com/images/products/thumbnails/155027.jpg) at the very top of the tower and tell the players they see a wispy white creature up there and here all sorts of chains rattling and stuff. They'll probably think it's a spectre or ghost or something (and maybe shoot at it to no effect whatsoever), only to realize upon inspection that it's a sheet and some chains blowing in the wind that Koth put there to scare off any nosy explorers/adventurers. :smalltongue:

AslanCross
2009-05-02, 06:59 AM
Thanks for the advice, Killian and rtg. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

One of Eldariel's questions that I forgot to answer: No, Holden wasn't Power Attacking. He hasn't used PA so far.

Since Vraath Keep is coming up, I've gotten around to rewriting the lore for the keep and its former lord, Amery Vraath and his run-in with the lycanthropes (who are taking the place of the forest giants).


This region of Breland was the center of some very violent conflicts during the Last War, and the territory changed hands many times between Thrane and Breland. At the forefront of the occupation was the Silver Torch, a hardliner Silver Flame sect, and at head of the cell that settled into Elsir Vale was the young paladin Amery Vraath.

The Witchwood was notorious for its lycanthrope packs, and since Vraath was the self-proclaimed protector of the area, he took it upon himself to lead the most zealous anti-lycanthropes of his cell, dubbed the Argent Axes after Vraath's weapon of choice, to scour the land of the lycanthropes.

Vraath struck swift and hard, slaughtering hundreds of the lycanthropes, many of them too young to fight a band of zealots.

Then the lycanthropes got even.

A band of over fifty werebears and wereboars attacked in the middle of the night, catching Vraath's lackeys off guard. A good number were killed or badly injured. Most of them were shredded, but the leader decided to make an example of Vraath and bit him.

Fearing an infection, Vraath, retreats into the keep without telling his remaining men about his injury and holes himself up in his own basement. None of his paladins are a high enough level to actually heal him, and neither is Vraath himself. Most of the band are only warriors, even.

A week later, Vraath turns into a werebear while in his basement. His followers turn on him. In a blind rage, he slaughters every last one of them, even planting his own greataxe into his lieutenant's ribcage.

The next morning, he wakes up naked and bloody, and sees all of his followers dead. He recognizes his own injuries as sword slashes and arrows. Horrified by the bloodlust of his own followers, he moves into the woods, and seeks out the lycanthropes to beg for forgiveness. The lycanthrope elders see that his remorse is genuine and that he has nothing left to go back to, and accept him into the pack, bestowing the name Warklegnaw on him.

Many of the pack have since died, either slain by adventurers or by age and disease. Vraath himself is now and old, sick man, but his hybrid form is still much stronger than any of the PCs. He's the Warklegnaw the PCs find, but nobody knows that until they match the Silver Torch emblem on his axe with the Silver Torch tattoo on his face.

Vraath is bitter at the Silver Flame for abandoning him when Thrane pulled out of Breland, but he's looking for a way to redeem himself in the name of justice. If the PCs are careful with their words, they can convince him to call any other remaining lycanthropes and lead them in a guerilla war against the Red Hand, accomplishing the same thing as the forest giant tribe would.

TL;DR version:
-Forest giants scrapped; they're not native to this continent in Eberron's world, and they have no way of migrating to Khorvaire from their ruined civilization. Lycanthropes of the large kind replace them.
-Vraath was an extremist zealot who led a purge into the Witchwood. The Ferry folk didn't really like him, and in the end, Vraath failed to wipe out the lycanthropes.
-Vraath gets infected himself and slaughters his own men. In remorse and knowing his own church would likely kill him, he begs for forgiveness and joins the pack of werebears that attacked.
-The PCs find "Warklegnaw," formerly known as Vraath, in the forest giant's place.
-His greataxe takes the place of the giant gauntlet in the treasure; the bastard sword will be replaced with other, more useful treasure.
-Instead of the Twistusk tribal marking, the PCs match up the Silver Torch emblem with Vraath's tattoo.

KillianHawkeye
2009-05-02, 08:51 AM
Hey, no problem. This adventure was my first time DMing, so I know I made a lot of mistakes. But if I can help anybody else out, that makes it worth it. Just keep up the great work! I'm sure learning a lot about Eberron by reading this!

This adventure makes the best campaign journals! :smallbiggrin:

P.S. I LOVE what you did with the Vraath/Warklegnaw writeup. :smallwink:

EDIT: Wait, did you say Vraath was a paladin? Don't paladins get immunity to disease, even magical ones like lycanthropy?

kjones
2009-05-02, 08:56 AM
When I ran Jorr, I played him more as the gruff woodsman type - he didn't entirely trust the PCs, but he hated the hobgoblins enough to help them out. He basically just hung back and missed with his bow - although he did stabilize Ross the paladin when he was at -9 during the Battle of Vraath Keep.

I would keep in mind that the battle doesn't necessarily require stealth. Fast, decisive action can be just as effective as sneaking. They'll be a lot less likely to get the drop on Koth (and consequently get the map), though.

Koth has a high AC for his CR when Shield and Mage Armor are up, but this advantage disappears quickly if he's cornered and/or forced into melee. Have him use his scroll of fly during the battle, not after it.

RTGoodman
2009-05-02, 10:24 AM
Aslan - sounds good to me. I can't really think of any problems with the change off-hand.


EDIT: Wait, did you say Vraath was a paladin? Don't paladins get immunity to disease, even magical ones like lycanthropy?

They get immunity to disease at 3rd level, but I don't think Lycanthropy counts as a disease. I think it's more a magical "curse." And if not, Aslan can just say he's a Paladin 2/Fighter 2 or maybe even a Crusader (I don't think they get immunity to disease).


Koth has a high AC for his CR when Shield and Mage Armor are up, but this advantage disappears quickly if he's cornered and/or forced into melee. Have him use his scroll of fly during the battle, not after it.

Very true. And don't forget, if you think you're party is gonna destroy him too easily, change up some of Koth's spells known, maybe throw in some non-Core ones.

KillianHawkeye
2009-05-04, 04:36 AM
They get immunity to disease at 3rd level, but I don't think Lycanthropy counts as a disease. I think it's more a magical "curse." And if not, Aslan can just say he's a Paladin 2/Fighter 2 or maybe even a Crusader (I don't think they get immunity to disease).

It is according to D&D's default assumption of how lycanthropy works, although AslanCross is certainly free to change that in his campaign. There have certainly been different explainations of how it works in various stories and settings.

It's not on the SRD for some reason, but the phrase "such as mummy rot and lycanthropy" is appended to the description of Divine Health in the PHB.

AslanCross
2009-05-04, 04:51 AM
Sorry Killian, I know I posted a reply to your question, but the board "ated it" as lolcats would say. He's only a Paladin 1/Fighter 2, which might explain why he sucked so much at his job.

In order to keep him at CR 7, I had to keep his class levels really low.
The low levels are pretty consistent with what Eberron has usually done with NPCs---most of the rulers of nations are only Aristocrats. The king of Breland is an Aristocrat 3/Fighter 8. The only really high-level mortal characters are Keeper of the Flame Jaela Daran (11-year old, Lv 18 Cleric, haha. Only when she's inside the Cathedral, though. Outside she drops to Lv 3), King Kaius of Karrnath (Vampire Aristocrat/Fighter 11).

kjones
2009-05-04, 09:01 AM
And don't forget, if you think you're party is gonna destroy him too easily, change up some of Koth's spells known, maybe throw in some non-Core ones.

This. Swapping out lightning bolt for fireball makes a world of difference.

And fer the love of the gawds, give him some frickin' ranks in Concentration. Boost his Int if you have to.

Coidzor
2009-05-05, 07:30 AM
Truly, fascinating to see what you've done so far and what you're thinking of doing.

Hmm, that reminds me that we've yet to actually figure out going about finding the lousy fane of tiamat. or figuring out what fane means.

Hmm... That artificer is either going to make things a lot easier in the battle of brindol by having the magical aid being slightly more abundant/easily portioned for rationing or going to make the party moan for an actual caster.

Seriously... the 6th level drow necromancer(so EL7...somehow) finally doing some necromancing (the paladin no longer breathing down her neck had something to do with this, and here I thought they gave bonuses against fear by being around :smallyuk: Also, Blackspawn Raider zombies have some impressive hit dice) was what made the difference between limping through the fight with Kharn, Ulwai, Saarvith and Kharn's elite bodyguard and getting a TPK (it was especially bad since our party's barbarian had challenged them to send forth their champion to face him at the walls and they'd ignored him, and so when Kharn issued his challenge before the cathedral, he rushed out to take it about half-buffed, versus an over-buffed Kharn, end result, Kharn decapitated him after about 6-10 rounds of one on one combat between two guys with around 150 hp each.)

AslanCross
2009-05-11, 09:36 AM
Session 3, covering Days 2-4 of the adventure: Much wickedness is smote with a flying, burning, stuffed owlbear, allies are made and an old paladin is given a chance at redemption, and the PCs behold their first dragon.

Hydra Aftermath
After defeating the hydra, the party searches the wagon and retrieves the +1 mithral breastplate. This goes to Ashie. The party crosses and continues north.

The trip to Vraath Keep is approximately an hour from the Blackwater Causeway, but 30 minutes into their trip, they run into a not-so-friendly forest denizen.

Girallon Attack
Jorr spots a girallon stalking the PCs in the woods. The monster growls at them.
Initiative: Kikkeni, Girallon, Holden, Loven, Ashie, Jorr.

This random encounter goes by surprisingly fast. Kikkeni opens up by moving behind some trees to prevent the girallon from charging at her, but it covers the distance pretty quickly by double moving (it spotted her first). Everyone else moves to close in.

At the top of the second round, Kikkeni uses a simple but highly effective power on the raging monkey: déjà vu. Naturally the creature fails its save---It has to repeat its last action, so it moves toward Kikkeni. Again. A risky tactic, but this prevents the ape from using its decidedly deadly full attack. By this time everyone was within its 10-foot reach, but due to déjà vu, the girallon couldn't do a damn thing. Everybody wails on the monster with Jorr joining in to flank and plant a dagger in the girallon's ribs. This continues for one more turn. The girallon fails to make any attacks at all until Holden bashes its skull in with Mountain Hammer. One dead ape.

Stakeout
The party continues north and arrive at the periphery of Vraath Keep at around 11 am of Day 2. (12th Lharvion, 998 YK by Eberron's actual calendar) Loven and Jorr scout ahead and scout the perimeter. Jorr identifies the scattered large skeletons as those of werebears and wereboars, but apart from seeing the breach in the wall and the crushed gates, they don't find anything else outside.
Jorr didn't want to go in, and Loven wouldn't dare venture in alone, so the two retreat to the camp.

Kikkeni is completey out of power points, and deciding they didn't want to enter the keep without heavy artillery, the party sets up camp and rests, with Loven staking out the castle from a tree. He spots the fake haunt (of course he just knows there's a glow and eerie moaning), and the smoke rising from the keep.

Once more before they enter the keep, Loven, Jorr and Seiza the iron defender sneak towards the breach in the southern wall. They hear hobgoblins making lame elf jokes (Jorr translates), and they see the embers of a fire burning low, casting a flickering light. They report back to the rest of the party.

At approximately 8 pm, the team moves in, with Jorr remaining in the camp to watch over the horses.

Breach
The party decides to enter the doors to the right of the entrance (the stables). Listening carefully, Holden detects creatures speaking Goblin inside. With nothing else to do, the party sticks to the wall of the north guard tower, and Holden opens the door.

The goblin riders inside were too busy with their game of stickbeetle to notice that they were being creeped up on, so the PCs get a surprise round. However, due to bad positioning (only Holden had line of sight into the stables interior), all of them end up passing their standard actions.

Round 1: Holden and Ashie roll 23s on their initiative and go first. Holden enters and attacks the first goblin rider, taking off about half his HP using his greatsword. Ashie uses up her second eternal wand of shield use for the day.
The gobbo (already damaged) closer to the door makes a run for the worg stables, but Holden makes his AOO and cuts the goblin in half before he's able to do anything.
Next, Seiza, Ashie's homunculus, runs inside and attacks the second goblin, taking out a good chunk of its HP. Hearing the death scream of the goblin, one of the worgs (the closer one) closes the ground between its stall and Ashie quickly, and tries to bite. However, Ashie's high AC keeps the worg at bay.
Kikkeni enters, and also raises her inertial armo. The second worg rushes to confront Ashie and misses as well.
Loven enters , rapier drawn, and runs up to the haystack in position to attack the last goblin. Loven sneaks (Rider B is still flat-footed), but rolls low. He ends up dealing only about 12 damage, but his bleeding attack renders him a dead man walking. He retaliates, attacking Loven, but he misses badly.

Round 2: Holden turns on Worg B, while Ashie attempts to put some distance between herself and the worgs, five-foot stepping back toward the door and shooting at the goblin with her magic missile wand. Her homunculus attacks the second goblin, tearing its throat out and killing it before it gets to act again. The first worg attacks Holden, but is unable to bypass his AC. Kikkeni fires cold energy missile at the two worgs; A saves, but Kikkeni rolls really badly. A only takes 4 damage, while B takes the full 8 damage. Still not daunted, the second worg fights on and attacks Loven, but misses. Loven tries to move into a flanking position, risking the AOO from the first one. Worg A hits and easily trips Loven. This round is incredibly noisy, with the worgs yelping loudly. The manticore in the nest at the southern end of the keep climbs onto the roof of its lair, peering at the sources of the sound, but doesn't bother to do anything.

Round 3: Holden attacks the first worg this time, rolling maximum damage, dropping it down to 8 HP. Ashie moves back even further and tries to use her wand once more, but rolls low on her UMD check. Seiza runs to engage worg B, killing it. Kikkeni conservers her power points and passes her turn, while Loven gets up, provoking an AOO from Worg A. He gets hit again, and his attack misses too.

Round 4: Holden finally takes down Worg A with Mountain Hammer. The party quickly closes the door and tries to figure out what to do.

After a brief discussion, they wait for any reactions to the sound of fighting. Nothing really happens, so they decide to check out the building on the other end of the keep (the manticore's lair).

They sneak up, avoiding the break the wall where the flickering firelight had been seen earlier. They open the door in the southern tower, cramming into it. Holden tries to listen through the door to the manticore lair, but hears nothing---Ashie can see why.

Ashie was the only party member left outside the southern tower; she sees the manticore looming on the roof of its lair. It peers at them and says "No bother, Koth inside tower."

A few halfhearted attempts at diplomacy end with the manticore telling them to go away since Koth "pay better," and retreats groggily into its lair. (It's not the brightest crayon in the box.)

Taxidermist's Nightmare

Holden and Seiza take up positions near the crack in the barracks' eastern wall, while the rest of the party goes to the north end. Holden screams, with a thick dwarven accent, "Help! Help!"

Instead of rushing to his aid, one of the hobgoblins simply laughs, saying "I'm so drunk, I can hear a dwarf speaking in bad Goblin!" Much laughing echoes out of the barracks. Holden hears a deep, angry grunt from the other side of the room.

Holden: "Help! Gods damn it, HELP!"

Second Hobgoblin: "Hey, I think I can hear it too! 'HELP! HELP!'"

By now, the hobgoblins are in stitches. Holden hears the grunt again; it sounds like a much larger creature. The minotaur can smell the dwarf now, so it angrily yells at its minions to wise up---intruders were about. The barracks goes silent for a moment, and then the scream of drawn steel rips out of the room. Holden steps straight into the breach in the wall, and he spots Karkilan the minotaur, and three of the four hobgoblins.
Initiative:
Kikkeni, Koth (not joining the battle yet, but he rolled 24), Loven, Veteran A, B, Seiza,C, Karkilan, Ashie, D, Holden.

Kikkeni opens the door, sees Koth's stuffed owlbear and the fourth hobgoblin, and improvises. Telekinetic thrust sends the owlbear and one of the hobgoblins (B) flying. I made an honest mistake here, completely forgetting the augmentation cap on psionic powers. I rule that the owlbear, due to poor stuffing, is only about 100 lbs, while the hobgoblin with his armor totals about 225 lbs. She augments the power further than she should have been able to, and flings the owlbear (large enough to hit more than one target because they were all adjacent), while she sends B flying toward A. Kikkeni crit misses on C, but hits D and Karkilan with the owlbear, dealing 4d6 damage. B fails his save and, being dense and heavy, would deal an astounding 9d6 damage to A. Thankfully, Kikkeni rolls low and B smacks into the wall as A ducks. B falls on top of A. Loven leaps into the doorway, rapier drawn, but sticks to the wall. A is able to disentangle himself and attacks Kikkeni. He misses. B likewise gets up and stands beside A, right inside the doorway. Seiza runs in and sticks close to Loven. C sprints for the doorway as well (provoking an AOO from Loven), attempting to engage the deadly caster. Karkilan moves to the crushed wall to attack Holden and misses, while Ashie casts fireball from a scroll.

A tremendous burst of fire sets Karkilan, C, D, Karkilan's bed, C and D's bunk, AND the owlbear alight. Karkilan saves, but C and D fail. Everyone survives it, though. D manages to run away from the burning upholstery, and then Holden goes in to attack the minotaur.

Once more, Kikkeni flings the burning stuffed owlbear, but at this point I remember the augmentation limit---Kikkeni shouldn't be able to augment at all, since she's only at Manifester Lv 5. We don't bother backtracking the previous telekinetic thrust, though, but this time, she can only fling the owlbear. Once more, she hurls it at the now angry minotaur. At this point, Koth opens the door to his tower, asking what the blazes is going on, SEES that the blazes ARE going on, and quickly casts invisibility. I change the music I'm playing to おたずね者との決戦 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDsAKatOqXk): The encounter has just become a boss battle. Koth actually double moves out of the place and is now in the courtyard, however. The manticore climbs onto the roof of its lair again after smelling the scorched minotaur.
Loven attacks C, but finds his blade parried. A and B continue to ineffectually attack Kikkeni. Karkilan tries to chop Holden down, but misses again. Ashie uses her last scroll of fireball, dropping Karkilan and D.

C soon goes down, then B. Memory is fuzzy as to how this happened, but eventually, it was just the party, the invisible Koth, and the manticore, who still isn't attacking, and A, standing in the doorway of the barracks.

Koth spots Ashie and Kikkeni, and drops a fireball on them. Ashie saves, while Kikkeni fails. Kikkeni is now at critical HP, while Ashie is in the low teens. The fireball also catches A in the blast and vaporizes him.

Loven tries to go take a sniping position outside by the boulder at the barracks' northeast corner. Holden spits curses, going after Koth, while the manticore rains its spines at Ashie---Kikkeni is thankfully out of the manticore's line of sight. Two of the spines hit---Ashie is now down to single digits.

Holden yells at Kikkeni, telling her to get the hell into the room, but she bravely says she still has a job to do, and uses the last of her PP to energy push Koth. He saves against most of the damage, but he gets flung into the pile of wereboar bones leaning against the southern guard tower. Flitting behind the boulders in the courtyard like a shadow, Loven shoots from his bow, but is too far to make sneak attacks. Ashie also takes one last shot with a scroll of scorching ray before running back into the room to help Kikkeni get back up on her feet.

Koth goes invisible. With the girls vulnerable inside the building, Holden rushes in to support them, while the manticore jumps to the southern wall and perches there, shooting at Holden. The girls use Ashie's potions to heal, while Koth reappears and blasts Holden with the dreaded ray of enfeeblement. Seiza charges Koth, who fights it away with his morning star, while the manticore jumps down beside Koth to defend him. Eventually, Seiza shakes down Koth, dropping him to -1. The manticore flies away.

The party levels up---the encounter gave massive XP, and creativity got them through it despite having two near deaths.

Even better, Koth isn't dead, so Holden stabilizes him and Loven leaves him gagged and bound. They drag Koth close to the burning bed, douse him in alcohol, and have the homunculus lie down on top of him to prevent him from escaping.

Skeletons in the Closet Basement
They decide to go to the second floor first to check out the "ghost," finding the dead man and the glowing light. Holden performs a few rites for the dead farmer and puts out the continuous flame. They then check out the room below.

Due to crappy sense skill ranks, Holden can't find the vault entrance despite his stonecunning racial trait. I rule that he can sense something is off about the foor, but it takes 20 minutes of searching by Kikkeni to find the vault entrance. They climb in.

The first thing they check out is the skeleton by the eastern alcove. They check it out to see that a silvered greataxe is embedded in its ribcage. "The Arm of Vraath" is engraved in Dwarven runes on the axe haft, while the Silver Torch emblem is embossed on the axe blades. At first they surmise that Vraath somehow committed suicide, but Holden says it would have been impossible for him to swing a greataxe into his own chest. A sneaking suspicion comes upon them: Vraath may have turned against his men for some reason. Holden does a little RIP ritual on the skeleton, then Loven comes in and shoves the skeleton unceremoniously out of the way. Holden picks up the greataxe.

Loven's player realizes he HAS NO RANKS IN OPEN LOCK. Since he leveled up, I just let him put ranks in, but he still keeps failing. Eventually he just takes 20 on each lock, taking over 3 hours to open everything. Ashie gets impatient, imbues the big chest with the spell storing item infusion, putting knock into it, and basically has the chest open itself. They claim the staff of life and the other odds and ends inside the chest. While Loven slaves over the locks until past midnight, Holden goes back to camp, wakes Jorr up, and tells him what happened. (I forget to give the PCs the replacements for Vraath's bastard sword and gauntlets of ogre power, though they should have picked those up. I'll send them the list.

Ashie and Kikkeni meanwhile read Vraath's journals, learning how he boasted of killing over 300 lycanthropes ("They weren't all that big."---this was supposed to imply that he massacred children, though they didn't catch that until I explained it later), then skip to his last entry ("We were attacked. My men were torn to pieces. Those left shouldn't find out what happened to me."---implying he got bitten, and Kikkeni feels her suspicions were confirmed.)

The players first think that it would be a good idea to give Jorr the deed to Vraath Keep, but don't tell him this. As they move into the barracks, Jorr points out something the players missed almost entirely: The war room. As they read Koth's notes (Ashie and Holden know Goblin), the PCs finally realize that they're in much deeper than they thought they were. Jorr then sees Koth, draws his dagger, and almost kills him. Holden tells him that if he keeps Koth alive, they might have chances to kill more goblins, so Jorr leaves him alone.

They bed down in the safety of the vault and rest until the next morning.

Day 3: Jack Bauer, Pt. 2

The PCs drag Koth back to Drellin's Ferry, along with the map and Jorr. They immediately set up an interrogation session with the town's leaders. At first, Norro Wiston is pleased to know that they've cleared out Vraath Keep, but then Holden shows them the map----translating each note into Common, writing the notes onto the map.

Norro Wiston is flustered and indecisive. He has no idea what to do, and at the moment is in denial. The PCs then turn to Koth and have him talk about this.

Interestingly enough, Holden and Loven don't actually physically inflict any damage on Koth, and most of their attempts fail. They prefer not to use the elixirs of truth in Koth's bag. Koth refuses to say anything about their size and what the Red Hand is, though the party has a pretty good idea that it's a large force, able to easily raze the vale's hamlets---Koth says that they're only hamlets, so it won't take much to destroy them anyway.

Ashie really knows how to push the buttons here:

Holden: How many? Infantry, cavalry, artillery?
Koth: *grins, baring teeth*
Holden: How many tribes are there?!
Koth: We are only one tribe now!
Ashie: How many are there in your tribe?
Norro: We can handle a hundred or so.
Koth: If you could handle it, you wouldn't be asking for help!
Ashie: "So apparently, you weren't trusted with holding the Skull Gorge Bridge."
Koth: "They trusted me with the vanguard."
Ashie: "So you're only part of a larger force."
Koth: "*nervous, seething grin*"

When Ashie finally mentions how important the Skull Gorge Bridge is to Norro, he goes ballistic (while Koth goes pale). Norro says that it's the only source of trade for them.

The PCs are able to learn that Koth really is only in charge of the advance party. Norro is slowly being convinced, but he refuses to mobilize his town to evacuate until he gets a number---it's just too much trouble for a possible false alarm. Ashie's able to make a Knowledge (History) check regarding the Ghostlord, and remembers him as a powerful caster from the goblinoid Dhakaani empire and that his contemporaries were the old Dhakaani province of Rhest (had to throw out the idea that they were an ancient human kingdom, since this area had long been under the Galifar kingdom).

Ashie also suspects that while Kharn and Saarvith sound like Goblin names, she thinks Tyrgarun and Ozzyrandion aren't. Koth gives vague answers to this question.

In the end, they decide that they can't do much more. Holden turns Koth over to Jorr. Jorr says that it's no fun killing him with him bound, but Holden warns him that untying him would allow him to cast spells.

Jorr says "This is fer mah daughter!" and plunges his dagger into Koth's eye.

The PCs leave the deed to Vraath Keep with Soranna, and say that she could probably use it to hold the Dawn Way for a while longer; in the mean time, they were headed to Skull Gorge. They buy a few more scrolls and leave Drellin's Ferry at about 1 pm of Day 3. Jorr mentions the effigy tribal marker up north along the Dawn Way, they could check it out too.

"Warklegnaw"
They travel the whole day, way into the evening. At about 10 pm, they see the marker and decide to walk up the track at Jorr's suggestion.

After two hours of walking into the night, they get to the ruined fortress and find an old human sitting by his cooking dire boar.

They spy on him, listening to his ranting, and eventually they see the bottom half of the Silver Torch tattoo on the man's face. Holden decides to approach in a diplomatic manner, thinking that as a Silver Flame member, the man could help them. He moves without stealth into the clearing, carrying his (Vraath's) axe in a nonthreatening gesture.

The man notices Holden's Silver Flame symbol and goes into a rage.

Holden: The Silver Flame needs your aid.
Warklegnaw: The Silver Flame ABANDONED ME! They TURNED ON ME!

At this point he changes into his werebear form and says he just wants to be left alone, and that he wanted nothing to do with them, while breaking into coughing fits.

Holden makes a diplomacy check ("You did not kill them---the demon that holds your body did. Your soul is innocent of those crimes."), tells him about the situation, and eventually, the werebear says that he was willing to help---if they gave him back his axe. Holden then realizes that Warklegnaw was Amery Vraath, and he offers him the weapon.

Vraath says that he may still be able to find some of his tribe---the tribe that had accepted him after he showed that he repented of slaughtering their children---and that he would be able to fight for justice again. What he really wanted was this---a chance to redeem himself.

"I do not want to go back to Thrane. They will not accept me. They will kill me. But I will fight for justice once more. Only the Flame can judge me. I do not want to go back to the church and suffer their prejudices. Now leave me be. An old paladin has a lot to think about. To pray about."

He offers them some food before they leave, and also says they can stay for the night. The party eats, while Loven attempts to amuse Vraath by telling him about the flying burning owlbear. His miserable façade cracks, just a bit. The party soon leaves Vraath, and continues hiking toward Skull Gorge Bridge.

They arrive at approximately 4 AM.

Here Be Dragons

And they see the bridge. And the hobgoblins. And Ozzyrandion. The party decides that it might be too late if they wait until midday (if they rested), so they decide to pull back about an hour's walk and begin to strategize. An hour before dawn, they get back up and begin the walk back to Skull Gorge.

End of session.

Thoughts
It just keeps getting better and better. Now that Kikkeni's player knows what her powers do, she's able to function much more effectively. I just fear she may be burning up her points too fast. She's got to learn how to pace herself.
-Burning Owlbear.
-The Vraath = Warklegnaw angle turned out beautifully. Holden really felt that he was serving the greater good by consorting even with a lycanthrope to thwart the much greater threat of a Demon Overlord's cult rampaging across Eberron.
-At first I was a bit troubled that the PCs decided to go back to Drellin's Ferry first, but I realized that I should let the PCs move as they please. It paid off.
-The interrogation was a bit messy---I can't remember half of what they got out of Koth. For the most part, they didn't really get anything---they didn't bother using magic, and frankly, Koth would have made his saves easily if they forced him to drink the elixir. My plan was to make him tell the truth---in Infernal, which nobody in the party knew. It didn't come to that, though, and now, Koth is dead.

The PCs have now bought Drellin's Ferry 3 more days. Let's see if they can raise that to six days by wrecking Skull Gorge bridge.

Next week: Ozzyrandion, betrayer of Siberys

AslanCross
2009-05-12, 06:24 PM
Hate to double post, but I'd like to ask if anybody has tried running Ozzyrandion as a Juvenile (Large, CR8) dragon instead of the default (Very Young, Medium, CR 6).

There are a number of reasons why I'm doing this:
1. This is likely our last encounter for the vacation, and it's the climactic encounter (more or less) for Part I.
2. It's the only encounter I'm planning for that day.
3. The PCs have Jorr with them (who will also serve as an XP sink to decrease the amount of XP the PCs will get).
4. I can already predict that the tower snipers will die very quickly.
5. I only have a Large Green Dragon mini.

In this combat, I can see the following:

-Holden, the Dwarf Crusader: Racial stability + Stable Footing feat. He is not going anywhere. He has the highest HP and the best reliable damage, and they plan on making him fly. However, even with all their buffs he can't fly fast enough to catch up with the dragon.

-Loven, the Warforged scout Rogue: I'm worried about him. He'd better tie a bungee cord around his waist, because if Ozzy flings him over the edge (very likely), he's going to end up in some prospector's pan downstream in the form of mithral nuggets.
I'm not sure how well he can contribute---it's going to be almost impossible to flank here, so unless he makes good use of Hide, he's not going to get any Sneak Attacks. His small size makes it worse---decreased weapon damage.

-Ashie, Human Artificer: She wasn't able to restock her offensive scrolls due to their urgent movement from Vraath Keep to town to Skull Gorge. She does have a wand of magic missile, but once the dragon flies out of range she's going to have a problem.

-Kikkeni, Kalashtar Psion: She's pretty much the only person who can destroy the bridge (energy bolt or energy cone dealing sonic damage will pretty much wreck the bridge in short order. Since the party plans on checking out Cinder Hill first, they're going to leave the bridge intact first. The problem is she's incredibly squishy (the party didn't buy the scroll of resist energy in town, and a single breath attack from Ozzyrandion is going to kill her, even if he was his default CR). If they lose her, they're pretty screwed.

-Jorr won't be able to help much, here. He has 12 arrows left, so he might be able to take out a sniper or two, but he doesn't have the same tenacity as the PCs and will retreat to the undergrowth.

-The Hobgoblin Sergeant here has been changed to Warblade 3 (Iron Heart and White Raven), so he has a good amount of tactical maneuvers. I might swap out one level for a level of Fighter so that he can at least use a bow.

-The archers here have more class levels, so I'd think they have a better chance of hitting than the horrible archers in the first encounter. I don't really know just how much good they will be, though.

Eldariel
2009-05-12, 07:01 PM
You may recall Saph pondering about buffing Ozyrrandion to Juvenile as well, but ultimately deciding against it. She found it a correct choice as the battle is already tough; your party has little in ways of efficient long range weapon and I'm really, really surprised if they manage to seriously damage Ozyrrandion (Wand of Magic Missiles almost deals negative damage to the Dragon - it's just that bad; and as Ozyrrandion is a skirmisher, chances of Holden ever getting to hit him are miniscule, so we're talking about a level 5 Psion vs. a Young Dragon, it'll be hard enough without additional problems) as it stands; I'd definitely suggest against the buff.

If your party had a bunch of competent casters and efficient ranged characters, it'd be different and as CR suggests, Juvenile wouldn't break the game (although do note that the encounter is already EL 10, slightly over the capabilities of level 5 characters), but as it stands, I'd imagine a smart Juvenile Green would wreck them. With regards to the miniature problem, you could just make him Large. It's not like the party should know his age category anyways, and since he isn't a melee type really, the size isn't all that relevant.


The biggest problem is really the HD increase. They'll have trouble dealing 104 (plus Cure Serious Wounds) damage at range, let alone 140. Slightly less will be enough to drive Ozyrrandion away, but meh.

kjones
2009-05-12, 08:44 PM
In my experience, the battle for Skull Gorge Bridge was challenging enough in its own right. Your party sounds like it doesn't have much in the way of ranged-damage capabilities, so if you boosted Ozyrrandion up to a Large, you might want to change his feats to give his tactics more of a melee focus.

Your concerns about having Ozyrrandion throw people off the bridge have a simple resolution - don't have him do that.

Ozyrrandion (and pals) were a challenge for both parties when I ran them through that encounter. Boost him at your peril.

AslanCross
2009-05-12, 09:28 PM
They've hit Level 6 already, so I'm going to see what they're going to be taken then. Ashie has Koth's CL 5 wand of magic missile, so at 3d4+3 she's at least going to be doing as much damage as anyone who bothers with ranged combat out to 150 ft. Only 10 shots, though.

I guess I should talk to them soon, as I'm going to be out of town over the weekend and next session is this Monday. I'm not entirely sure if Holden's player has swapped out any of his maneuvers (starting at 4th level, and now 6th).

If I do decide to go against the buff, I guess I could just make the large size a cosmetic thing. That might be the best solution.

kjones
2009-05-12, 10:08 PM
It's entirely possible to make him Large without making him Juvenile - you're the DM, after all. You can tweak his stats however you like.

Coidzor
2009-05-13, 12:13 AM
You didn't even have your NPC think that maybe it's a bad idea to not get any more arrows before going to attack a bridge with a group of adventurers?

... guh? His INT's not that low, is it?

LOLC2k
2009-05-13, 12:49 AM
With that party, I would not boost him to juvenile. But, you might want to consider him having a scroll of shield or some such, and give him ranks in UMD (All dragons should really have that). Don't metagame and make him use it as soon as he sees the PC's, but if the wand of magic missle starts being a hassle, he can fly away and use it.

Strafe, and please, for the love of god, don't play the dragon dumb. If it melees, it was a bad move. Let it fly away and wait for its breath to come back. I'd rather see a DM play a lower CR in a smart fashion than a too powerful one dumb. And if you play it smart AND up it to juvenile, does the party even have a chance? Finally, make the dragon flee the battle if its coming close to dying. I've run this module twice, and neither party was able to kill the dragon. They still handily won the battle, however.

AslanCross
2009-05-13, 02:01 AM
Alright, I'm keeping him as it is, though changing his size to Large.

I've run a dragon before, and it was in the air almost all the time. Even when it landed to full attack, nobody dared to actually go near. I think the most dangerous thing about it is still strafing with its breath, though.

Anyway, Holden scavenged 80 arrows from the hobgoblins at Vraath Keep. He can give Jorr some.

AslanCross
2009-05-18, 05:52 AM
This was supposed to be the final session for this summer, but it seems that we'll be able to sneak in a couple more sessions before the school year breaks us down with work.

Ozzyrandion
BGM: Locked Girl ~The Girl's Secret Room Betrayers of Siberys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKqBTD1XsSE&feature=related)

As I'd mentioned, I kept Ozzyrandion's hit dice, but I made him large. I didn't even raise his ability scores; I only wanted higher damage dice and a tail slash attack. I'm glad I didn't use a Juvenile (CR 8) version; this would have killed the PCs. Thanks for the recommendations, guys.

The players decided to wait until dawn (approx 6 am of Day 4) before attacking so that they wouldn't get hosed by illumination disadvantages. At this point they were very close to fatigue, but they didn't want to risk concealment and getting spotted before they could even see their targets. Everything else had better senses than they did.

Ashie the artificer then proceeded to buff the hell out of the party while they stayed in the trees at the very edge of the Witchwood:
Holden: -shield of faith, bull's strength, enlarge person
Loven: -cat's grace, shield
Jorr: -cat's grace
Ashie: eagle's splendor, shield

She also cast haste on everyone and gave Holden the potion of fly.

Dripping with buffs, they rolled initiative, with Ashie, Jorr, Loven and Kikkeni staying in the undergrowth, "hiding" (they didn't know that Ozzyrandion had spotted them all), while Holden and Seiza charged down the stone pathway toward the Hell Hound Scorch Drake. Unfortunately, Ozzyrandion rolled a natural 20 on his initiative.

Immediately, Holden and Seiza were bathed in a shower of supernatural acid. Seiza was instantly reduced into a spitting, hissing puddle of slag, which severely injured Ashie with its death feedback. Holden also failed his save and was left at half HP. He went next and charged the closer scorch drake, pulping it instantly. The other scorch drake also died before it was even able to attack---it ran out of move speed right outside Holden's reach and he burst it like an overripe tomato the next round. (I should have replaced them with Dire Wolves here; Hell Hounds are seriously rather useless.)
The archers in the camp began grabbing their gear (with the one round delay stipulated in the adventure), while the archers let loose. Due to some wise placement, however, the PCs were able to avoid fire from the archers on the far side by placing themselves behind one of the towers. Ashie and Kikkeni ran up the stairs; Kikkeni's speed was up to an amazing 70 feet thanks to Speed of Thought and haste.

Almost immediately the hobgoblins started dying. Kikkeni was able to throw one of the nearer ones into the other with telekinetic thrust, knocking the target out of the tower and to his death at the base. Jorr kept missing this time, and would prove to be mostly a distraction for the archers. He took potshots at Ozzyrandion, but he just kept missing.

And so did the archers. The total AC ratings of the PCs were about as high as Ozzyrandion's, so they'd only hit on a roll of 17 or higher. The Stormtrooper Effect seems to apply to these guys, as they kept rolling badly while their numbers were large and then started rolling better when they began thinning out. The archers in the camp and the sergeant immediately closed in after picking up their gear; the sergeant had no ranged capability (due to being a Warblade 3) and double moved as fast as he could across the bridge in order to take out Kikkeni, while Jorr tried to flank and sneak attack (but he missed).

Kikkeni stayed on the staircase of the southeast tower for a good part of the encounter, as she wanted to avoid the breath weapon and Flyby Attacks coming from at least half of the possible attack vectors. Ashie wasn't so fortunate, as she stayed on the ground. Their combined firepower, however, packed a punch. After Holden had smote Ozzy, who was hovering above him, with a successful Bonecrusher, the two girls were able to blast the dragon down to less than half HP in short order.
Loven just made some rather ineffectual attacks for most of the encounter (having 1d4+2 damage on his CSB is really lame. Any suggestions for making this guy work better? He hasn't really been making an effort to get into sneak attack position.), managing only to crit against the sergeant, who was threatening Kikkeni as she came down the stairs for a better spot.

Kikkeni renders the sergeant useless by making him chase her like a lovelorn stalker by using déjà vu (Seriously, I hate this power now), wasting his turn.

Enraged by the barrage, (and almost getting smacked into a wall with energy push) the dragon flies back to his roost and to drink his potion of cure serious wounds, then his potion of invisibility. Freaked out by the dragon's sudden disappearance, the party attempts to stay put, thinking it mostly unwise to devote all their resources to killing the archers. Ashie casts call lightning from a scroll and begins blasting away while the flying dwarf dive bombs the crossing archers. His Charging Minotaur shatters one's body in several places, sending him flying like a rag doll along the bridge.

Everyone is still frustrated by the dragon's invisibility; they did their best to spread apart to avoid being bathed in acid. To their chagrin, however, Ozzyrandion reappears right beside Kikkeni and proceeds to wail on her. Kikkeni survives the full attack with 5 HP left. Holden, coming from the bridge, dive bomb-charges the dragon, but he fumbles his attack roll.

Kikkeni accomplishes something amazing here. She makes a concentration check to manifest defensively, and uses energy push on Ozzyrandion.

The dragon makes his Reflex Save.
And fails his opposed Strength check---by 10.
The impact of the psionic power sends him skidding 15 feet toward the edge of the map. Using her incredible speed, Kikkeni runs out of the danger zone and towards the bridge itself. Ashie blasts away at Ozzy with her dwindling call lightning shots in the meantime, and finds herself backed into a corner at the edge of the map. Ozzyrandion charges her on the ground. His bite bounces off the edge of her shield. Ashie risks the AOO and she runs as far as she could in the tower's direction---she just really wants to stay away from the dragon's full attacks. Holden runs to her rescue, attacking the dragon but missing once more. This puts Holden and Ashie directly in the path of an acid blast. But we'll get back to that later.

In the mean time, Jorr is exchanging fire with the hobgoblins and taking most of their shots. The archers fire mostly at Holden, the giant flying dwarf, but seeing that this doesn't work too well, go after Jorr instead. Loven simply keeps missing or dealing pitiful damage, though he does manage to KO the sergeant.

Ozzyrandion uses his breath weapon on Holden and Ashie. Both save successfully, but by now are at critical HP levels---however, Ozzy is critically injured as well. Holden retaliates in the most fantastic manner---using Revitalizing Strike, he shoves his maul into the dragon's maw, splitting the dragon's head open. I describe the fatal strike as a surge of warmth and strength while the dragon's polluted life force drains away---the Silver Flame's power fills Holden, rewarding him for smiting this foul, corrupt dragon.

Just as Holden strikes down Ozzyrandion, Jorr takes a fatal shot, dropping to 0 HP. I rule that the extra 2 HP from Holden's Martial Spirit saves his life and gets him right back up, but the cinematic image of Holden turning toward Jorr just as he gets shot down is pretty awesome.

Jorr stands right back up and crits the guy who shot him as he runs away, shooting him through the head.

Ashie, in the meantime, attempts to overtake the hobgoblins by doing the most awesome action movie stunt in the adventure so far. She first wanted to slide down the scree-covered slope in order to get close enough to use her dragonmark's dimension leap power to teleport across, but I rule that she needs to make a Reflex save to avoid falling, then make the Concentration check to cast her spell-like ability in violent motion. I give her an alternative, but she chickens out at first. Then she remembers her action points.

She has an awesome move speed thanks to haste. This gives her a prodigious boost to her Jump check. She rolls a 2 on her d20. She spends an action point to gain an additional 4. Her total Jump check lands her a 13---enough to jump 10 feet off the edge of the cliff. Then she taps her dragonmark to dimension leap the remaining distance and lands right on the edge of the other cliff. She lands with a wand in each hand, ready to kick some Red Hand rear.

Kikkeni, emboldened by their victory over the dragon, runs over the bridge as well, and slams the northeast tower archer with telekinetic thrust into the northwestern archer.

At this point the hobgoblins begin to retreat, but Holden beats them by landing at the base of the stairs of the northwestern tower. Kikkeni lays down psionic grease, and both the hobgoblins slip up and fall. Holden ends them with a full attack.

Cinder Hill

The party apprehends two hobgoblins---the sergeant and one of the archers--and ties them up, hanging them off the side of the bridge while they're unconscious.

Jorr and Loven continue to scout out Cinder Hill, while the rest of the party searches the bridge.

The scouts confirm their worst fears: The Red Hand is a horde, and they have not only thousands of hobgoblin and goblin warrios, but worgs and ogres as well---not to mention a red dragon and at least 3 warforged titans, which Loven spots being stripped of their tattered Cyran battle banners and refitted with Red Hand heraldry.

The party decides to hightail it back to the town, dragging their prisoners behind them. Kikkeni easily destroys the bridge by using energy cone to blast the weak spot, ruining it after 3 shots.

I decide against throwing another random encounter against them since we were running out of real time, so I let them get quickly through the Witchwood back to town.

The party gets back to town at about 10 pm of Day 4 to deposit the prisoners at the Old Toll House and rest for the night.

Jack Bauer. Again.
The next morning, the PCs take Norro Wiston and Sorrana to the interrogation. Wiston expresses his distaste for the torture, but the PCs are determined to do this.

The torture is pretty fruitless by now. The grunts don't know much; all they get from the crazed sergeant are visions of glory that Azarr Kul showed them, of a Dragon-inspired hobgoblin empire greater than Dhakaan, spreading across Khorvaire and Argonnessen. A dragon-inspired hobgoblin empire ruled by Tiamat.

Kikkeni rolls a high enough knowledge check to realize the implications of this crazy idea, but by now the sergeant is no longer saying anything helpful. Both hobgoblins are executed.

Ahead of Schedule
It's only day 5 and the PCs are already itching to get Drellin's Ferry evacuated. This seems to be something that the adventure doesn't expect. I make the lame excuse that they have to wait for two more days since Iormel is out of town and Wiston sort of fears him, and thus refuses to start the town council without him.

The PCs try talking to Sorrana, and although she expresses utmost concern for the safety of the town, she says she ultimately has to follow orders, and that despite Iormel being an unlikeable, proud bastard who is likely to oppose the town's departure, they really have to wait for him.

OOC I tell the players that they're actually way ahead of schedule and that the Red Hand is not going to reach Drellin's Ferry anytime soon. This causes them to relax a bit, so they decide to craft stuff---Ashie wants new homunculi to replace Seiza.

Postmortem
-The PCs performed admirably on the bridge despite the difficulty of the encounter; their strategic discussion paid off.
-The dragon died faster than I had expected---he was already supposed to run away after he attacked Ashie, but Holden and Ashie presented him with such a great opportunity to kill them that I decided to just have him use his breath weapon again.
-I was a bit frustrated by the PCs being a bit too convinced that fighting to save the town was a hopeless cause, their panic really caused me to make some lame, railroading excuses which I preferred not to do. Also, they're way too early---the Chimera attack and the town council would have to be bumped up way earlier. Any suggestions?
-We're about to enter the second part of the adventure, and I'm pretty happy with the progress we've made. As we're approaching the rather loosely-tied threads of Part II's hooks, is there any advice you guys can give?
-I'm really worried about Loven. Since the beginning he hasn't really dealt any fatal damage to anyone. I don't know if there simply isn't enough decent space for him to sneak and snipe. Is there any feat that would help him sneak at a longer distance? Should I just recommend that he tote wands instead?

Eldariel
2009-05-18, 07:00 PM
Too bad Big Ozzie died. I was really rooting for a big baddie to survive for a change, and Ozzie definitely seemed like the type to be able to do so, being so well-poised vs. the party. Fine session though; near-TPKs are always fun. Although I'm a bit sad none of the party died. Call me a sadist, but when a Dragon fails to kill even one party member, it feels like a failed Dragon to me. :( But huge fights are still always good!


As far as Loven goes, first step I'd do would be to offer him few gentle nudges on trying more to sneak attack in combat (as a single sneak attack deals more damage than 4 of his standard ones). That is, when possible, find some cover and hide, and use flanking on opposing melee types (he's Holden's adopted brother so I'd expect for them to have learned to coordinate their combat abilities and to fight together) and just to make it a priority to trigger sneak attack.

Second would be to get few Wands. Next level, Ashie could build them (or rather, build a Dedicated Wright that gets them done while adventuring), and a Wand of Grease, Wand of Invisibility and some such could really help (along with one offensive Wand, probably cantrip like Acid Splash, to deliver ranged sneak attacks as touch). Also coordinating a bit with Kikkeni (provided he knows Psionic Grease or some such) could go a long way.

AslanCross
2009-05-19, 04:00 AM
I was expecting one death, at least. Loven wasn't even damaged at all (he was out of the sight and attack range of almost all the archers). I did enjoy the looks on their faces when the homunculus died instantly.

As for Loven, I'm going to tell him to flank with Holden more. He's tried too hard to snipe (but he's not familiar with the snipe mechanic), and even then he always finds himself out of range. I recommended Crossbow Sniper, but he's still iffy on that. I might allow him to retrain his feats just for this level.

Would this be a good time to start upgrading threats? I have a feeling that the marauder and chimera attacks on town are just going to be cakewalks (though this could work to the party's disadvantage---if they soundly beat the attacks, the town could get complacent again and delay).

Marauder Attack: First Wave.
-Hell Hound: Useless. Their outsider type is probably the only reason why their CR is what it is. I'm almost certain I'm going to erase them completely and replace them with Dire Wolves. Same CR, much bigger HP and damage.
-Goblin Riders: They were pretty useless in the stables because they were cornered. This time around they're going to be mounted on the worgs, so all of them can outpace the PCs handily. Their damage is pretty pathetic, though. I'm not too sure how this is going to be an EL 7 encounter.
-Worgs: A lot tougher than their CR lets on, but their damage is lame. Their speed will come into play here, at least, since they have a lot of room to maneuver.

Second Wave:
-Kulkor Zhul War Adept: As a caster, he's going to be a pretty serious threat especially if I swap out his spells (lightning bolt? No, thanks. scintillating sphere would be better). Any recommendations?
-Regulars: These guys are going to die. Would it be a good idea to bring less of them and include a couple of bladebearers and/or veterans instead? Even the veterans on Skull Gorge were pretty pathetic. (Then again, the party was overbuffed.)

Chimera Attack:
-I've no idea how this guy will fare. I typically don't run magical beasts, so I can't really tell how well he'll do. If I'm not mistaken, the other campaign journals say that the Chimera was ripped to shreds rather easily.

Coidzor
2009-05-19, 06:34 AM
Hmm, some musings, to be taken with a grain of salt due to my own inexperience... Warg riders with reach weapons and bows harass the enemy and skirmish against more powerful foes, trying to trip or disarm them depending upon what kind of pole-arm you want to give them, and making use of their mobility and the durability of their mount so that they try to ready actions to full attack anyone who gets through the goblin's reach? Really annoy the PCs by trying to split their attention and peppering 'em with flaming arrows. Not really trying to stand and fight with the party, but more trying to soften them up (as that's their job as outriders for the raiding party), possibly trying to get the party enraged and led into a planned ambush with the main force of the raiding party (say, as soon as the wargriders realize they're facing real resistance, one of them blows a horn and withdraw the next round, seemingly on the run, possibly as a result of the party's first kill)

How easily are the regulars getting slaughtered? It was... pretty fast for my group, but we had a party of 6. Maybe divvy 'em in half, give 'em one sargeant (with the war adept in command of the other half), turn 'em into veterans and give each veteran two regulars? so... 2 sargeants, 5 veterans, 10 regulars...That'll be like...an encounter level of... 10, which would be overpowering without Jorr and Sorrana.

Or, maybe double the number of regulars so that there's ten, give each squad of five a "sarge"(or have the war adept in charge of one) and have one group engage at range so as to both harass the party with fire and back up the war adept that'd be an EL 9, and the PCs may or may not still have Jorr with 'em and would be possibly backed up by Sorrana. Or just make a sarge and corporal(sergeant with veteran), that'd be two groups of seven hobos and the war adept...

So that's a force of 15 hobgoblins to harry at a human settlement and test its defenses or destroy it if it's within their power, with three warg-rider scout/skirmishers... Maybe beef up the warg riders' numbers slightly and have any NPC help you provide the party arrive after the main force of hobbos shows up. Maybe they're busy making sure that the granary they set up isn't completely destroyed by the fire attack. I believe Jorr's survival skill check from his ranger levels would come in handy there.

In any event, it'd be a chance for them to get a taste of the horde's actual organized force(since before they've had, if not the element of surprise, the advantage of not facing the military in regular combat[half-assed ambuscades not withstanding...]), and get them moving again rather than waiting around on their thumbs. At least, I think that's what you're wanting to do with this. Am I right?

Ed1: Depends on what you have planned for dragonspawn as well, as using one or two here with a rather fearsome effect....well.... hehe... say, having the kulkor zhul war adept riding a greenspawn and then dismounting after finishing buffing it with mage armor(or arriving with it already buffed and himself as well) and maybe something else you'd like to switch out one of the less usable spells for a good buff to make it a mage and monster battle after the wargriders are vanquished. That'd be about an EL 9... So a bit more powerful than the original EL 7... Or maybe make it the war adept and a group of blackspawn raiders (I mean, it's part of their name!) Maybe out on a test-spin by seeing how much damage the blackspawn will cause before they slip away. 4 Blackspawn would be about an EL 9, so maybe a blackspawn heavy and some minions or 2 Blackspawn with him for EL 8... Hmm...

Maybe play it as they'll only fight to the death if it seems easily within their power to get something out of it, preferring to keep alive and spread chaos to dying for a failed attempt at killing a humie, do a fighting retreat after a certain amount of difficulty/resistance, seeking more to spread fear and chaos than cause real damage? Depending upon whether you want to run something more or less powerful...

Plus they would be wanting revenge for Koth being eliminated and the bridge/Ozzy being taken out, maybe have a tie in where they try to confirm that the PCs were the latest flies annoying the horde, and attempting to get word back to the horde via the adept retreating via fly or some-such, thus leading in to scrying and attacks against the party, as a way to explain random encounters happening sooner if the party is going fast enough that they shouldn't be happening timeline wise.....

AslanCross
2009-05-19, 10:52 AM
1. Worg riders: I'm not so sure if giving them polearms is going to help them in melee. They're small and have got crappy strength. Holden is impossible to trip unless it's done by a much larger creature (hence the Dire Wolf). I'm going to have them stick to ranged skirmishing here.

Question: Does Expeditious Dodge work with mounted combat? This might help these guys live a little longer.


2. Kulkor Zhul War Adept: I'm thinking of tossing out the default sorcerer stats given in the book and using the Hobgoblin Warcaster from MMV instead, with two Wizard levels. Out of the box, the warcaster is a CR 4 monstrous humanoid that casts as a 4th-level wizard, plus some nifty abilities (Pillar of Magic gives SR 14 to all goblinoids within 30 feet for 1 minute). This will give the caster more options so he doesn't have to blast all the time. I want to show the PCs that the Red Hand has intelligence on their side too. The default stats are pretty good, actually, and the enhanced caster level on the spells might be useful---but just how many times is he going to need to cast summon swarm and mirror image?


3. MMV also has canned stats for CR 3 hobgoblin duskblades. Their channeled shocking grasps will pack a punch, since the spell gives an attack bonus versus targets in metal armor (all of them have metal armor except for Kikkeni).


4. I'm not sure whether I want to include dragonspawn at this stage. The Blackspawn Raiders are kind of tough, so I was thinking that I could use Greenspawn Sneaks instead (those guys raid too). They're pretty soft, though, so they're going to have to use stealth---if I use them, they might be able to teach Loven how to actually snipe.

Here are my plans for the marauder attack:
First Wave (EL 8)

-Goblin Worg Riders---CR 3 (3)
-Worgs---------------CR 2 (3)
-Dire Wolf------------CR 3


Second Wave (EL 9)

-Kulkor Zhul War Adept (Hobgoblin Warcaster Wizard 2)---CR 6
-Hobgoblin Bladebearer (Fighter 1/Warblade 3)-----------CR 4
-Hobgoblin Duskblades --------------------------------CR 3 (2)
-Greenspawn Snipers (Greenspawn Sneak Rogue 1)------CR 3 (2)

The goblin raid is supposed to come between Day 4 and Day 14 anyway, so it's "on time." The Chimera attack, however, is listed as coming between Days 10 and 14. I'd like to bump it up sooner.

I do think that an exploratory raid on the town is a good idea. By now Kharn would have gotten word of Ozzyrandion's death, and could easily send word to his lackeys to get a feel of how strong the PCs are---this might also explain the Greenspawn wanting a piece of the PCs for killing Ozzy, who was a "big brother" to them.

Coidzor
2009-05-19, 12:48 PM
Sounds like a good plan. As I said, I was pretty much throwing out ideas there...

Insomnia'll do that to a guy...haha.

Hmm, now that would be interesting to make up some kind of lieutenant that coordinates an entire group of weaker hobgoblins, giving them access to maneuvers of some sort, but only as long as he's actively maintaining/alive...

The greenspawn sneak especially seems like a good idea, both tying in the increased interest and Ozzyrandion's death... Heck... could either play it as the greenspawn getting reckless in trying to kill them or basically there as an observer for Kharn that'll take targets of opportunity if they seem weak enough for them to finish off.

Granted, I don't really know anything about them as to whether that could actually work, but, y'know.

Eldariel
2009-05-19, 01:39 PM
Worg Raiders as they're printed are pretty friggin' sad. 1d4 damage is rarely enough to even drop a Commoner, and they're supposed to be able to harry real military; as they aren't much better than 50/50 to hit even an average soldier, I just can't see how they'd expect to be an efficient unit against opposing military forces, as their opponents can return fire with twice as powerful bows and without penalties from shooting ('cause they aren't mounted). Medium Longbows at least pack enough punch to make a dent; worth noting that Composite Longbows can be used while mounted.

Honestly though, if they're supposed to mimic Mongol Mounted Archers, they'd need Composite Bows with Str-rating; that could produce stats equivalent to a Recurve Bow. Of course, Goblins are small and have crappy Strength, so I suggest a different approach: Give them a level of Scout. Oh, and **** that errata that states Skirmish can't be used mounted; it's friggin' made to be used mounted. 1d4+1d6 could at least be relevant. Burn Point Blank Shot and Weapon Focus and instead give them Far Shot and Ranged Skirmisher [Dragon SomethingSomethingSomething], so they can operate at range (increases Skirmish-range to 60').

Most efficient would be to base them as Crossbow characters though (fits Eberron anyways; it's a technological world and no matter the "simplicity", a crossbow is technologically more advanced than a Longbow); Crossbow Sniper would single-handedly get you a nice Skirmish range and adds a bit of damage to the roll. Crossbow Sniper and Rapid Reload would make a Heavy Crossbow perfectly usable, and hell, you could even give them Exotic Weapon Proficiency for friggin' Great Crossbow [Races of Stone], which could really put a dent (2d6 base damage for small characters! 3d6 with Skirmish and 3d6+1 with Crossbow Sniper; 3d6+2 if you put 'em on point buy or give them the 4th level). At that point, they might actually have enough damage output to hurt armored soldiers.

And yes, Expeditious Dodge should work while mounted. Unlike Skirmish, it doesn't have the huge amount of specification as to what exactly qualifies as "movement".


And yeah, skirmish tactics obviously. They're mounted archers, and that's frankly the only thing mounted Goblins are good for. They don't have the Strength to pierce people with Lances (although throwing a group of Dragonspawn/Drake-riding Hobgoblins intent on doing exactly that at some point could be interesting; mounted units are extremely efficient in the open), nor to use reach weapons for combat maneuvers or some such. Disarming is a more interesting option though, but it's still hard for them and would require refocusing their feats (Weapon Finesse at least). Also, if they operate on the outskirts of the Horde, I'd make them subject to constant harassment from these new-and-improved Worg Riders. After all, that's outriders' biggest role in an army; to mask the army's movement and to engage opponent's scouts and do harassment of their own on any hostile units in their operational radius.


And I'd go for it with a Dragonspawn already. Make it clear there's more to the Horde than a bunch of Hobgoblins; that Dragons are a major part of it (the fact that they just fought Ozzy should really hammer this point home).

AslanCross
2009-05-19, 08:45 PM
Thanks for the advice, guys. I decided to go with composite longbows (thanks for pointing out that these could actually be used mounted, Eldariel) for the riders, as a GreatXbow/Xbow sniper build would consume too many feats and I'd end up having to sacrifice the Mounted Combat feats. I didn't want to have that mounted archery penalty, as the PCs have been able to boost their AC massively so far.

I scrapped the bucklers; while they could work with the bows, again I didn't want to add any penalties. As it is, they're only going to hit Holden on a roll of 12 or better, which leaves a paltry 40% hit rate. They're going to make up for this by being annoyingly hard to kill.

I was pleasantly surprised to realize that goblins have bonuses to Ride and Move Silently, and that 5 ranks in Handle Animal gave a bonus to Ride checks as well.

Brushing up on the Ride skill, I remembered that riders can use their mounts as cover (doesn't specify soft cover, which other creatures usually give, which doesn't give bonuses to Reflex saves) as a non-action. This might allow them to survive Kikkeni's artillery; their speed is going to help in this too.

Here are the redone rider stats, constructed with 25 point buy:


Golin'Dar Outrider CR 3
Goblin Fighter 2/Scout 1
LE Small humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +2, Spot +2
Languages Common, Goblin, Draconic
----------------
AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 15; Expeditious Dodge
(+1 size, +4 Dex, +4 armor)
hp 31 (3 HD)
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will -1
----------------
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares); 50 ft. mounted
Melee mwk scimitar +4 (1d4+1/18-20)
Ranged mwk composite longbow^1 +8 (1d6+1/x3)
Ranged Point Blank Skirmish +9 (2d6+2/x3: 4d6+6)
Base Atk +2; Grp -1
Atk Options skirmish +1d6, Point Blank Shot (+1 to AB and damage w/in 30 ft)
----------------
Abilities Str 12, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 6
Feats Point Blank Shot(B), Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery(B), Expeditious Dodge
Skills Handle Animal +3, Hide +10, Listen +2, Move Silently +10, Ride +16, Spot +3
Possessions combat gear plus +1 studded leather, small mwk composite longbow^1, small mwk scimitar, 20 arrows

Eldariel
2009-05-19, 09:17 PM
Standard Light Crossbow build works too, and you need to only drop Point Blank Shot for it. You'd get 60' Skirmish with:
Mounted Archery
Mounted Combat
Weapon Focus: Light Crossbow
Crossbow Sniper

Basically, costs you Expeditious Dodge. Trade-off, but something to consider. It's a Move Action to load a Light Crossbow as per standard; this'd get you almost identical stats to their present Point Blank Shot stats, up to 60' range. Either way, I'd give them the Scout-level first for the massive skill point bonus; in addition to Hide and Move Silently, they could use Tumble to skirmish without mounts if something happens to them. Balance could also be handy, along with Spot and Listen - they're Outriders, after all. Minor thing either way though.

What you have right now is very servicable. They have enough Hide and Move Silently to do it occasionally, enough Ride to make versatile use out of their mounts (also noteworthy that they can fast dismount and bolt away from their mounts if that's required; they're fine harriers on their own right without their mounts), and a somewhat relevant damage output (now they actually do an average of 9 points of damage within 30', rather than an average of 3.5; a vast improvement, and even outside that range, it's now 4.5 vs. 2.5). Bleh, too bad it's a pain to include the second Scout-level; else they could make awesome runners with their 40' land speed. But it'd cost a feat (though Expeditious Dodge is something to consider), so meh.

Oh, and for if they're forced into melee, you could give them the "Dismount Attack" skill trick from Complete Scoundrel. Really handy to pull off in lieu of the "Fast Dismount & Get Hell Out Of Here"-plan. Not amazing considering their melee capabilities are almost nil, but still something worth thinking about; it seems like just the thing Goblin Riders would use in combat to make up for their shortcomings.


I would suggest a Barbarian-level with Whirling Frenzy if making them just as an encounter for PCs, but such "once per day for few minutes"-capabilities have little use in a military force so I'd say such should be saved for elite troops only expected to be deployed in the thick of the toughest battle.

Colmarr
2009-05-19, 09:26 PM
(remember Small-bonuses too)

It would be strange indeed to give a hide bonus based on size to a goblin that is at the relevant time mounted on a warg...

Eldariel
2009-05-19, 09:34 PM
It would be strange indeed to give a hide bonus based on size to a goblin that is at the relevant time mounted on a warg...

*shrug* Spotting the Warg =/= Spotting the Goblin on it.

AslanCross
2009-05-20, 05:15 AM
One silly trick I have planned is for
the goblins to use their mounts as cover to hide. While the PCs will be preparing for little guys running around getting killed, they won't expect 4 huge canines waiting for them. The goblins only reveal themselves as the worgs run past the PCs, just in time to pop them with arrows. I'm sure that would count for the +2 on attack rolls, at least.

Fenix_of_Doom
2009-05-20, 05:44 AM
Here are the redone rider stats, constructed with 25 point buy:


Golin'Dar Outrider CR 3
Goblin Fighter 2/Scout 1
LE Small humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +2, Spot +2
Languages Common, Goblin, Draconic
----------------
AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 15; Expeditious Dodge
(+1 size, +4 Dex, +4 armor)
hp 31 (3 HD)
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will -1
----------------
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares); 50 ft. mounted
Melee mwk scimitar +4 (1d4+1/18-20)
Ranged mwk composite longbow^1 +8 (1d6+1/x3)
Ranged Point Blank Skirmish +9 (2d6+2/x3: 4d6+6)
Base Atk +2; Grp -1
Atk Options skirmish +1d6, Point Blank Shot (+1 to AB and damage w/in 30 ft)
----------------
Abilities Str 12, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 6
Feats Point Blank Shot(B), Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery(B), Expeditious Dodge
Skills Handle Animal +3, Hide +10, Listen +2, Move Silently +10, Ride +16, Spot +3
Possessions combat gear plus +1 studded leather, small mwk composite longbow^1, small mwk scimitar, 20 arrows

How are you getting 31 HP?, you get 10 HP from your first fighter level and another 10 from your fighter and scout level, plus 3 HP from your con bonus gives you 23 HP. This is significantly less than 31, you should really consider upping con by 1 point, and while your doing that, might as well raise wis with 2 points to get rid of the ugly negative save and call it 28 point buy and be done with it.
Additionally I advise usage of fractional BaB and saves from unearthed arcana, it just makes sense and it would make the will save of you goblin better.

Eldariel
2009-05-20, 06:02 AM
Hmm, the last feat that you're using for Expeditious Dodge right now...I wonder if it could be used better. More precisely, I'd give them Martial Study: Moment of Perfect Mind. Right now, they're gonna get Will-raped and killed. Seeing that the world has lots of magic and they have Warblade officers, chances are that someone would've bothered to put them through a lot of rigorous training for protecting their own mind.

A second point in Con and they should be pretty well off (I think you can afford to cut that one point from Int if you give them the Scout-level first for the billion extra skills), as Martial Study makes the appropriate key skill in-class for all your classes.

AslanCross
2009-05-20, 06:14 AM
Maximum HP on the hit dice. 20+8+3. That's really not going to be a problem considering how much damage the PCs can dish out.

I looked at the fractional bonuses--just how much will they matter? The 2.75 BAB will get rounded back down to 2 anyway. Having better saves would be cute, but as it is, these aren't horrible. They are just monsters, anyway, and the only Will save effect they have to worry about is Kikkeni's déjà vu lock. (Which depends entirely on the monsters not attacking on their turn, but as the case seems to be, mounted archery is going to make the goblins just repeatedly spam her with skirmish arrows.)

EDIT: Martial study looks like it's worth it. I could probably give up Balance for Concentration.

Coidzor
2009-05-20, 11:18 PM
Gah! I can't wait to hear about how it goes...

AslanCross
2009-05-22, 05:17 AM
And it goes just as planned, Coidzor. I intended for this encounter to show how nasty the Red Hand can be, and it works. These aren't moronic grunts---they have a good grasp of strategy, tactics, and as it turns out---arcane magic.

Day 5
The party decides to take it easy for now. Unable to do much, Ashie commissions Morlin Coalhewer (I gave him a human apprentice who does sculpture and pottery) to start making the three homunculi she wants to use: a new Iron Defender, a Furtive Filcher, and an Expeditious Messenger. Even with expert craft skills, none of the homunculi are completed in one week, and they won't be done until the Red Hand arrives. Wanting to be nice to the players, I tell them that their choice of one homunculus will be completed by the day before the horde arrives. They decide on the Expeditious Messenger.

The party goes to sleep, only to be awakened at midnight by distressed screams coming from the far bank.

Outriders
Jorr accompanies the PCs, but he's so badly wounded that they tell him to stay back and leave the fighting to them.

The goblin outriders and the dire wolf (for which I swapped out the hell hound) roll high on their initiative, while all the party ends up at the bottom of the stack.
Immediately the dire wolf charges Holden for a lot of damage and knocks him down, while the outriders break out of hiding (they were wearing wolf pelts and use their surprise advantage to score painful skirmish damage on the PCs.

The party is able to quickly subdue the dire wolf, but the outriders just prove too sneaky. Only Kikkeni's energy cone is able to deal much damage to them, but the tried and true "use your mount as cover" trick works like a charm, and the outriders roll really high on their reflex saves.

Eventually, the PCs are able to bring one worg down, but its rider makes a beeline for Sterrel's Provisioning and sets it on fire. However, by this time, Ashie and Kikkeni have HP in the single digits and are only using the dire wolf's corpse as cover.

(In case you didn't notice----they did not heal themselves between their fight with the dragon and now.)

Ashie is able to use her wand of entangle on the grass around the burning warehouse, trapping the goblin who set fire to the building.

Loven manages to use his bag of boulders+sneak attack to seriously injure one worg rider, so they begin to run away.

Second Wave
The two remaining mounted goblins begin running off the grid as quickly as they could; both escape, with the second wave arriving just in time to cover them---two Kulkor Zhul duskblades, two greenspawn snipers, a bladebearer, and a Kulkor Zhul War Adept.

One greenspawn sniper reveals itself, taking shots at Kikkeni from the roof of the other nearby warehouse (Jendar's Warehouse), and it fails its attack roll and snipe check badly. When Kikkeni's turn comes around, the greenspawn gets flung to the ground with telekinetic thrust for all his trouble. He survives the huge fall, however, but now that he's out in the open, he has a hard time with hiding.

The first duskblade nails Holden with ray of enfeeblement, dropping his strength back down to 12.

Ashie thinks she could nail the newcomers with entangle, but the War Adept goes right before her turn and blasts her and Kikkeni with a scintillating sphere.

Both women fail their reflex saves badly. Kikkeni is dropped to the negatives by the explosion, while Ashie dies instantly. The spell deals just enough damage to send her to exactly -10.

The party gets screwed really badly from here on. The Kulkor Zhul War Adept uses its Pillar of Magic ability (see Hobgoblin Warcaster, MMV) to grant SR 14 to its lackeys.
Loven runs to try to heal Kikkeni and finds a potion of cure moderate wounds in her pack, bringing her back up to the single digits.

The party is lucky they're able to move around so quickly and t

Holden is quickly surrounded by the duskblades and the warblade; one channeled shocking grasp and a critical hit from the warblade later and he's in the negatives; even his damage pool couldn't absorb enough.

Seeing Holden go down, the duskblades and the warblade go after Kikkeni and Loven.
Kikkeni is able to breach the SR and flings the warblade away with TKT, while Loven drinks a potion of invisibility to help out his dwarven brother.

In the mean time, Kikkeni flings back one of the duskblades with TKT again (now her favorite power), squishing him. Ouch. The other guy survives and also runs after her.

Loven is able to run as fast as he could towards Holden, and he activates Holden's healing belt bringing him back up to the positives. Not wanting to attract the nearby War Adept's attention, Holden continues to play dead.

Kikkeni tries to outmaneuver the warblade, but she decides she's not willing to risk a TWF full attack on her next turn, so she risks an AOO instead so she can get a safe distance away to cast a spell. Not this player's lucky day.

The warblade rolls a 20 on his AOO, but fails the confirmation roll. This is still enough to bring Kikkeni down again, so the warblade rejoins the fray as the War Adept casts mirror image. Holden uses up the belt's charges and gets up, attacking one of the mirror images (giving Kikkeni 2 HP due to Martial Spirit), while Loven pokes at the mirror images as well.

The War Adept is able to nail the now-revived Holden with scorching ray putting him at a dangerously low HP level---once his damage pool hits next turn, he's going to go down to 0 again. He smashes the warblade with Mountain Hammer.

With Kikkeni back up, she's able to nuke the mirror images with energy missile, exposing the caster. He barely takes damage from it, but he retaliates with summon swarm. The spiders take Kikkeni down to 0 HP again, though she thankfully saves against the poison.

The remaining duskblade runs off into the woods.
At this point the War Adept tries to escape as well; its buffed AC keeps it safe for the most part. However, as it moves away, it's unable to maintain the concentration on the swarm spell due to a painful AOO from Holden, and tries to cast haste to bolster his escape.

Holden and Loven stay on his case, but eventually the War Adept is able to cast invisibility from a scroll and escapes with his life.

The party calls Jorr to ask for help with the fires, which thankfully haven't spread so much. Ben Sterrel's store is mostly intact.

Postmortem (Literally)

This is the first time I've ever killed a character---I've never killed one off in-game (except for that one plotkilled Swashbuckler)---and frankly, they deserved it. I have no idea why they decided not to heal. The War Adept had a grand total of three blasting spells, and the first one almost wiped out half the party.

While the party has the staff of life, Loven's crappy UMD ranks prevent him from emulating the 15 Wis required to cast the spell. They decide to lay Ashie to rest, cutting off a lock of her hair to send back to House Orien, should they decide to have her resurrected.

Now that the party has got a taste of the Red Hand's competently dangerous side, they're convinced more than ever that Drellin's Ferry has to be evacuated. I also tell them that the implications of the outriders, the snipers, the War Adept and the duskblade getting away are very dire: The raid was not a coincidence. The outriders had found Vraath Keep empty and tracked the perpetrators to Drellin's Ferry, and now that they've seen the PCs and gotten away to report to the Horde, there's a good chance that later attacks will be much, much harder.

Ashie's player decides to roll a character, and given the dangerous nature of the adventure, Holden and Loven's player decides to roll an additional character as well.

Ashie's player wants to tank this time, since she realized that having only one tank makes things kind of difficult. I ask her if she's willing to give up her party's utility casting, and she says she prefers survivability. As such, I recommend she roll a cleric instead, to which she agrees.

We recommend that the other player's additional character (he's going to be controlling THREE characters now O_O) be a fast, DPS striker, so we recommend a Shifter Barbarian/Swordsage or Warblade. He also decides to make this character female.

Due to Ashie's death, I'm going to give the PCs a modifier on their Diplomacy checks during the Town Council on day 7---surely the death of a seemingly powerful adventurer would strike fear into the hearts of the people. (I'm using Rich's Diplomacy rules). However, this could also mean they are just as likely to surrender.

We don't know when next session will be yet. It will likely include the council meeting, as well as the Chimera attack. I tweaked the beast a bit, giving it a blue dragon head (partially due to Azarr Kul's and Tyrgarun's vanity) to give it some range on its breath weapon.

RIP Ashiedae Jiourrn d'Orien
16th Lharvion 998 YK

Eldariel
2009-05-22, 05:10 PM
Ouch; they just lost their only source of reliable healing and arcane magic... But yeah, they definitely deserved that. First rule of not-getting-killed: always heal everyone after battle. Also, I'm a bit surprised you didn't play the soldiers more aggressively and with focused fire to take out people in negatives (after the first-guy-down was healed, I would've imagined they realize they need to truly finish off their opponents to win as it's definitely in their advantage not to have people rising from the dead all the time), but then again, doing so would've probably resulted in TPK so I do sorta understand your reasonings.

But yeah, seeing that your party's been relatively smart lately, I'd hope they would be a bit more intelligent in the future. 'cause HP is the one resource you can never have too much of. Also, it'll be interesting to see what modifications you'll do as consequence for the escaped soldiers.


One thing I'd like to point out; if using Hobgoblin Regulars, having them walk in a close 4*2 (or 5*2) formation and ready Aid Another to improve AC of whoever is being attacked in the back rank (using Longspears or another reach weapon, this is possible - seeing D&D's way of handling combat, this is pretty rational) and using some Aid Another to help the attacks too makes them much more fearsome. And of course, such a tight formation can easily whirl into a surround if someone rushes to face the formation alone (the rear elements can take a move action and switch to melee weapons).

I'll have to say, the session sounds great though. I may be on the minority here, but PC death really adds a ton to the game when it happens; feeling and illusion of being here. This is especially true if it doesn't happen on a conveyor though; constant death of course devalues it, but a game with hero death is much less memorable than one the players plowed through. The whole funeral sequence adds a ton to the game and the other characters' reactions are often surprisingly genuine there. My experience anyways.

Coidzor
2009-05-22, 06:23 PM
Brutal... But then, that's what happens when you're torn up and forget to heal... Really weird that they forgot to do that, actually.

AslanCross
2009-05-22, 07:39 PM
I had the Kulkor Zhul squad going for capture instead of the kill; I did warn the players that should they all get KO'd, they're going to find themselves in a prison wagon.

I'm kind of iffy about having hobgoblins march in formation; Kikkeni is just way too fond of blasting formations. I'll probably run the Easy Skirmish this way, though, since it is an Easy skirmish after all.

My plans for the Elsir War encounters in part 2:

-Miha Serani is going to be swapped for a Zakya Rakshasa if the PCs meet her early. I want to remind the PCs that Tiamat's Rakshasa agents are operating with the Red Hand and have done a lot of infiltration by now.
If the PCs meet her after Blackfens, she's going to be upgraded to the core Rakshasa so she'll retain her spellcasting.

-Barghest Reavers: The barghests have a lot of cool (Sp)s, but they're not going to be doing much damage. I'm swapping out one of them and two of the regulars for two Kulkor Zhul duskblades. The duskblades have proven themselves as effective damage dealers (shocking grasp is a favorite), and the raiding party that escaped from Drellin's Ferry knows they're quite effective against PCs.

-Marked For Death: This extremely dangerous encounter is going to go as written; the greater barghests are quite impressive, but I plan to have them remain in their giant hobgoblin form and wield heavy flails (I want the PCs to keep guessing as to what they are unless they get Ashie's replacement soon.). Mass bull's strength and mass enlarge person are rather poignant ways of giving the PCs a taste of their own buffing medicine. A bunch of giant hobgoblins and dragonmen crashing out of the forest is sure to frighten the daylights out of them. Not likely to happen until after Rhest, though---depends on when the PCs catch on to the need to go off to the Blackfens.

-Marked For Death Mk II: Much later in the adventure (maybe just before Brindol), Holden is going to receive word that his wife, a cleric of the Silver Flame, has been assassinated. (The player asked for this.) Depending on how much the party frustrates the Red Hand, and if their intelligence network remains intact (say, escaping wyrmlords) this might happen earlier---a Naztharune Rakshasa assassin (maybe with one level of swordsage to offset the action advantage) is going to go after them.


I'm really liking how the adventure flows pretty freely despite having an overarching timeline. It really allows the DM to improvise.

Anyway, some developments:
-I might be getting a third player (the girl who was originally supposed to play Kikkeni), since she's likely to say in the same college dorm as the girl who plays Kikkeni and Ashie. She's preparing a Shifter Barbarian/Warblade, and we rolled her stats really well (13, 13, 14, 15, 15, 17).

-Ashie is likely going to be replaced by a Cloistered Cleric; the player isn't so sure yet. She wants the skill point boost and is leaning towards Aureon (the Force and Magic Domains are pretty awesome), but may also choose The Traveler for an interesting twist. Really odd to have a cloistered cleric of the Traveler, though. If all else fails, though, she could just go with a more martially-oriented Sovereign Host deity like Dol Arrah or Dol Dorn.

Eldariel
2009-05-22, 07:47 PM
Complete Warrior includes the alternative formation tactic of moving with readied action (to AoE attack, or command - however you want it) to scramble for cover. But mostly, low-level mooks aren't very efficient unless Aiding each other (or even better, aiding a guy with an actual damage output).

And yeah, area effect damage really puts a damper to medieval military tactics and formation combat (one of the big reasons I've been working on different anti-magic applications for standard gear like shields, and some skills - makes traditional tactics actually efficient). With base rules, it almost calls for modern warfare if wanting to account for them logically in military tactics; artillery isn't all that different from fireball spam. Of course, since sword has little place in modern military tactics (or melee weapons outside dense forest/jungle-areas in general), this is something one can't implement straight without losing the "feel".


Third player sounds really nice - one player playing one character is always ideal, after all. Would be a step closer to that.

Kol Korran
2009-05-23, 01:23 AM
just wanted to add it was a nice read.
i didn't expect anyone to die here, but then again- no healing...
i'm realy intrigued at the idea of a cloistered cleric of The Traveler. if that does happen, tell us how she managed the personality and religious aspects. could be done, but should be interesting.
um, that is all from me. keep o nthe good work.
Kol.

AslanCross
2009-05-23, 05:04 PM
The cleric rolled really good ability scores all around as well. She's looking at a more martial deity instead, so maybe Dol Arrah, Dol Dorn, or Silver Flame.

EDIT: Now that the PCs are closing in on chapter 2, I'd like to ask---are Saarvith and Regiarix good as printed? I know Saph and Kjones bumped Regiarix up to Juvenile for large size, and that KJones gave Saarvith a couple more levels and tweaked his pathetic strength.

AslanCross
2009-05-31, 06:34 AM
Sorry for the double post.
Anyway, it's pretty much confirmed that I'm getting two more players.
The first newcomer is a shifter barbarian warblade optimized for speed, while the second will be the wand-wielding cleric I asked about in that other thread. Of course, more members = stronger party = bigger encounters, but that will come later.

Right now, the PCs have the town council ahead of them. Here are my notes about the encounter, using Rich's Diplomacy fix.


Diplomacy checks to influence the Ferry council:

PC modifiers:
Koth's map and notes: +2
Jorr's testimony: +4.
Town heroes: +2.

Norro Wiston (Aristocrat 5)
Wis 13
Base DC: 21
Relationship: -2 . Acquaintance---Norro Wiston trusts the PCs somewhat, as they've brought obviously positive results in dealing with the immediate threat of the raids.
Risk vs Reward: +0. Norro is undecided. The people can potentially escape with their lives, but where to? If the Dawn Way is blocked and the town is destroyed, what livelihood do the townsfolk have to return to when the war is over?
Final DCs:
-Flight: DC 19
-Fight: DC 19
-Parley: DC 19

Delora Zann (Lv 7)
Wis 10
Base DC 22.
Relationship: -2. Acquaintance. The PCs purchased mounts from her and took good care of them.
Risk vs. Reward: -5 if the PCs advocate running. She knows how bad raids can get, and favors this. +5 if the PCs advocate fighting or parleying.
Final DCs:
Default Stance: Flight.
-Fight: DC 25
-Parley: DC 25

Iormel (Lv 3)
Wis 8
Base DC 17.
Relationship: +0. The PCs have had no dealing with Iormel yet. However, arguing him out of his position nets a +2 DC due to his inherent grumpiness.
Risk vs. Reward: Flight nets a +10. Iormel really, really does not want to leave his business and doesn't give a damn about the townsfolk. Parley is slightly less unfavorable, since it still allows him to keep his business. He just doesn't want to be given the job. +5.
Final DCs:
Default Stance: Fight
Flight: DC 29
Parley: DC 24

Kellin (Lv 5)
Wis 10
Base DC 20
Relationship: -2. The PCs have been staying at Kellin's inn for a while, so he believes they are good customers.
Risk vs. Reward: Flight nets a +0. Being insured by House Ghallanda, Kellin knows that he can drop his business if he has to as long as he has exhausted every possible alternative. Fight gets a +2. Kellin would rather not have to stand and fight if he can help it, which is why he prefers to parley.
Final DCs:
Default stance: Parley
Flight: DC 18
Fight: DC 20

Soranna (Lv 5)
Wis 10
Base DC 20
Relationship: -5. As an ex-adventurer and having seen the PCs work, Soranna currently knows them best.
Risk vs. Reward: Flight nets a -5. She is not confident about dealing with the army, and knows the risks involved.
Fight nets a +2. She is pretty sure she cannot handle it, but will do what she is told.
Parley: +5 . Soranna knows enough that this is futile.
Final DCs:
Fight: DC 22.
Flight: DC 15.
Parley: DC 25.

kjones
2009-05-31, 10:29 AM
Two more players? Does that bump your party size up to 6? If so, that's a pretty big difference, and you'll need to plan accordingly.

Good call on bumping up the Worg Riders, though. That's something I really should have thought of - in retrospect, it's quite obvious. The mounted goblins simply aren't much of a threat. (The worgs themselves, however, managed to cause some problems...)

As for Saarvith and Regiarax, well, you know my feelings on this already, so I'll say no more.

EDIT: With regards to the timeline, I had the same problem. You handled it reasonably, I think.

AslanCross
2009-05-31, 11:03 AM
Nope, Ashie died in the Goblin raid. We're left with 5. Another person wanted to join, but I've handled 6-PC parties before and didn't want to do so again.
Holden, Loven, Kikkeni, the shifter, and the cleric.

Eldariel
2009-05-31, 01:45 PM
EDIT: Now that the PCs are closing in on chapter 2, I'd like to ask---are Saarvith and Regiarix good as printed? I know Saph and Kjones bumped Regiarix up to Juvenile for large size, and that KJones gave Saarvith a couple more levels and tweaked his pathetic strength.

Regiarix is already Juvenile. The Young Adult-bump isn't a bad idea though; just 'cause Dragons should be Large at least. Also that nets him Frightful Presence, Dragon trademark. And he isn't much tougher than Ozyrrandion as Juvenile. I think Young Adult makes for a more memorable, but still doable, encounter especially if the party grows.

And Saarvith is just a tough version of the Goblin Worg Riders. Maybe he should be a Swift Hunter? Also maybe make him Mystic Ranger to drive home the Wyrmlords' ties with Tiamat; he'd be tougher that way. Either way, I think he needs the most work as he's not a caster unlike all the other Wyrmlords.

AslanCross
2009-05-31, 05:49 PM
Regiarix is already Juvenile. The Young Adult-bump isn't a bad idea though; just 'cause Dragons should be Large at least. Also that nets him Frightful Presence, Dragon trademark. And he isn't much tougher than Ozyrrandion as Juvenile. I think Young Adult makes for a more memorable, but still doable, encounter especially if the party grows.

And Saarvith is just a tough version of the Goblin Worg Riders. Maybe he should be a Swift Hunter? Also maybe make him Mystic Ranger to drive home the Wyrmlords' ties with Tiamat; he'd be tougher that way. Either way, I think he needs the most work as he's not a caster unlike all the other Wyrmlords.

My bad, I meant young adult. I'm definitely doing that; I don't like the idea of a 6-foot long dragon either (especially since I did make Ozzyrandion large). I also realized that even at Young Adult, Regiarix's breath weapon only deals an average of 25 damage, which should be easy enough for the PCs to resist if they prepare for the fight like they did with Ozzyrandion.

I was working on Saarvith's build last week, but put him on the back burner for now as it'll be a while before we get there. I'm still thinking about it, and was definitely thinking about a Swift Hunter build.

Eldariel
2009-05-31, 06:31 PM
My bad, I meant young adult. I'm definitely doing that; I don't like the idea of a 6-foot long dragon either (especially since I did make Ozzyrandion large). I also realized that even at Young Adult, Regiarix's breath weapon only deals an average of 25 damage, which should be easy enough for the PCs to resist if they prepare for the fight like they did with Ozzyrandion.

I was working on Saarvith's build last week, but put him on the back burner for now as it'll be a while before we get there. I'm still thinking about it, and was definitely thinking about a Swift Hunter build.

I think Scout 4/Mystic Ranger 4 could be pretty decent. Second level spells, two bonus feats while still clearly a martial type (BAB 7). Two favored enemies (like before), but 2d6 Skirmish. Feats could be:
Rapid Shot (from Ranger)
Swift Hunter (from Scout)
Mounted Combat (1st)
Far Shot (3rd)
Ranged Skirmisher (6th)

Damn, one feat short. 9th would give you Mounted Archery. Dropping the Ranged Skirmisher-part, you could give him Improved Skirmish and Mounted Archery. Of course, if you want a non-SA build, a straight Mystic Ranger is very decent too. Exacting Shot [Spell Compendium] is very brutal against all Humans and Elves, Hunter's Mercy can do very mean damage too, and Mystic Ranger would already have level 4 spells (at level 8) and thus Foebane. Oh, and Superior Magic Fang for Regiarix (you'd need to give him an extra point of Wis to be able to cast level 4 spells though). Oh, and Arrowstorm.

If you do add Skirmish (especially Improved Skirmish), I'd be sure to include Sniper's Shot (provided you're willing to houserule extend it to other forms of precision damage). Either way, Find the Gap is also awesome.

kjones
2009-05-31, 09:34 PM
If you're just one feat short, give him a flaw.

Skirmish damage is clever, but if I were you, I would be more concerned about his overall squishiness, especially in the face of your party's psion. It sounds to me like telekinetic thrust and similar powers could make short work of a mounted character like Saarvith without precautions taken on your part.

Eldariel
2009-05-31, 09:36 PM
If you're just one feat short, give him a flaw.

Skirmish damage is clever, but if I were you, I would be more concerned about his overall squishiness, especially in the face of your party's psion. It sounds to me like telekinetic thrust and similar powers could make short work of a mounted character like Saarvith without precautions taken on your part.

Oh yeah, as a corollary, his Will-saves... (even if you raise him to level 9, the base is mere +3; he'll be a butt monkey to any PC who aims anything at him) Maybe giving him higher Wisdom for all his spells and skills wouldn't be a bad idea?

EDIT: But for Real Real, the most important part is giving him useful spells. PHB has none so he has crap prepared, but SC suddenly adds a boatload of things that actually help a Ranger.

skeeter_dan
2009-05-31, 11:10 PM
My bad, I meant young adult. I'm definitely doing that; I don't like the idea of a 6-foot long dragon either (especially since I did make Ozzyrandion large). I also realized that even at Young Adult, Regiarix's breath weapon only deals an average of 25 damage, which should be easy enough for the PCs to resist if they prepare for the fight like they did with Ozzyrandion.

I was working on Saarvith's build last week, but put him on the back burner for now as it'll be a while before we get there. I'm still thinking about it, and was definitely thinking about a Swift Hunter build.

I ran RHoD in Eberron as well; I did bump Regiarix to young adult, but ran Saarvith as is. Both escaped after a pretty good battle. I had him underwater for the beginning of the battle and definitely gave the party a surprise.

Coidzor
2009-05-31, 11:16 PM
Yeah, Sarrvith could do with some beefing up. When my group was playing through RHOD(campaign postponed pre-Fane of Tiamat for the summer), the party pretty much placed him as a very secondary threat and sort of killed him as an afterthought, though regariax easily recovered the body due to his advantages against us with a huge lake in the area when he got tired of dealing with the party by himself. This was possibly due to the fact that we encountered him riding a large-sized regariax at the time.

Heck, the DM got bored with him, both during his initial appearance where he forgot to have him take some of his actions and the end fight of the battle of brindol and just asked us to take a minute and deal with this goblin ranger so he didn't have to think about him anymore.

So maybe I'm biased against the idea of him as any sort of a threat as-is...

AslanCross
2009-06-01, 08:26 AM
Where's the Mystic Ranger from, Eldariel?

Eldariel
2009-06-01, 09:49 AM
Where's the Mystic Ranger from, Eldariel?

It's a Dragon Magazine-variant of Ranger - apparently from DR336. It's detailed in the Crystal Keep (http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/index.php) Base Classes PHB. Basically, it's a Ranger that postpones all his other class features (and loses few like the animal companion, melee weapon proficiency & shield proficiency and Endurance; whoopedoo) and starts the spellcasting progression from level 1, capping out at level 5 spells (the list is given in the PDF) around level 10 or so.

Personally, I'd definitely prefer using Mystic Ranger to standard Ranger in this kind of a "boss fight" simply because of the versatility Mystic Ranger adds to the mix; big fights shouldn't be against one-dimensional opponents (and with the Ranger Spell List expansion in Spell Compendium, those spell slots really do make a difference with tons of crits, extra powers vs. favored enemies and touch attacks).

AslanCross
2009-06-02, 05:48 PM
Oh, that looks great. Indeed, the Spell Compendium ranger spell list has a lot of gems.

I'm planning for a 9th level build as the party is larger now and they added a full caster.

The new cleric will be a Cloistered Cleric of Aureon with the Magic and Force domains. She's likely going to go Knowledge Domain.

Rising Phoenix
2009-06-03, 12:10 AM
Oh, that looks great. Indeed, the Spell Compendium ranger spell list has a lot of gems.


Hello AslanCross,

First of all thanks for your journal its been great! Thanks for sharing.

Secondly I just finished rebuilding Saarvith as an 8th lv mystic ranger and yup he's now genuinely scary... at least against his favored enemies (3 crits per round via exacting shot through a +1 hunting longbow and bane arrows on humans and elves should shock the PCs) plus now he has a decent chance of hitting everyone (thank you find the gap).

He's a Wyrmlord, he should be somewhat scary.

Oh and for my group I kept Regiarix medium size. The party was small (only 3 people) when they reached Rhest so didn't bother upgrading him...Now for the next session I am expecting 5 people so yeah need to upgrade something...

Cheers and good luck with your group!

R.P.

Edit: Perhaps I should tone him down a little. He could take out the party Paladin in one round...

AslanCross
2009-06-03, 06:19 AM
First of all thanks for your journal its been great! Thanks for sharing.



No problem, it's my pleasure. This Saturday we're going to have what should be the closing session for part I; after that we're going to get two more players.

Anyway, I'm currently weighing two 9th level builds: Pathfinder Ranger 6/Scout 3 and Mystic Ranger 6/Scout 3. Since both have the same number of Scout levels (I didn't really like the Scout bonus feat list, so I'll pass on that 4th level), most of my analysis centers on the ranger side of the build.

Pathfinder
Feats:
1 Mounted Combat
1B Track
2B Rapid Shot
3 Mounted Archery
3B Endurance
6 Point Blank Shot
6B Manyshot
9 Swift Hunter

Pros:
-d10 HD
-Favored Terrain
-Gets Manyshot
Cons:
-Lousy (default) spellcasting

Mystic Ranger
Feats:
1 Mounted Combat
1B Track
3 Mounted Archery
3B Rapid Shot
4B Endurance
6 Point Blank Shot
9 Swift Hunter

Pros:
-boosted spellcasting
Cons:
-d8 (default HD)
-No Manyshot

I was tempted to take a flaw but made my Will save. I find flaws really cheesy and banned them from my game; I want to keep it that way. Had I chosen to take a flaw at level 1, I'd have taken Point Blank Shot to qualify for Manyshot at level 6. It would be nice to take the 7th level of Mystic Ranger to get Manyshot, but that would mean losing out on Swift Hunter, as I wouldn't have enough scout levels to qualify.

Manyshot is pretty minor in hindsight; it only adds an average of 5 damage, so I think I can do without it. The spells that the ranger gets from SC are really good; at this rate he still gets Arrow Storm, and if the situation is right, he can actually cast it and still get Skirmish damage (apparently it is possible to make a ranged full attack from a mount even if it does a single or double move).

AslanCross
2009-06-03, 11:22 PM
Since Part II is coming up, I decided to write up something about Rhest and its common history with the Ghostlord.

I posted the legend, The Death of the Lion, here (http://eberronrhod.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/death-of-the-lion-an-eberron-adaptation/).

Coidzor
2009-06-04, 12:10 AM
Well, that's a nice write up. Really enjoyed reading it and it seems like a nice touch, and I could conceivably see this going over pretty well with a group that's hearing this IC....

As it stands, your choice of Sarrvith seems to be taking it as a given the party will encounter him mounted, so his type of hit dice don't quite matter as much with the addition of the cover from the mount, right?

AslanCross
2009-06-06, 05:38 PM
Due to inclement weather, our session was postponed. I've been filling up the RPG void with Diablo II and rebuilding the stats for later boss monsters.

I came upon Skather. Now from the campaign journals I've read, he's pretty dangerous. Then again, the other parties haven't been using Tome of Battle. Since my party is going to have two powerful front liners (Holden the Dwarf Crusader and uh...Pickles the shifter barbarian/warblade) and a new cleric coming soon. As such, I figured Skather mind find his ninja skills are inferior to a martially-competent party's.

So what do you guys think of swapping out Skather's ninja levels for Swordsage levels? I was thinking of giving him one Ninja level just to keep Sudden Strike (or change that for a Rogue level) and then give him 5 levels of Swordsage so he gets Assassin's stance.

I wanted to keep ninja for sudden strike, poison use and great leap, but eh. I realized those come too late in the level progression.

I'd like to keep the poison use ability, because it would be pretty dumb for an assassin to accidentally poison himself, but the Swordsage is so good at being a ninja that I wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity.

Eldariel
2009-06-06, 06:14 PM
Go for it; no frills, just SS 6. There's "Master of Poisons"-feat in Drow of the Underdark for Poison Use if that's what you want anyways. As a bonus, it enables applying Poison as a swift action.

If not going SS 6, I'd go Rogue 1/SS 5. The extra skillpoints are awesome. Hell, you could reasonably apply the Drow of the Underdark Rogue ACF that trades Trapfinding for Poison Use. As a note, SS doesn't have Shortbow proficiency which is another thing in this build's favor.


Heh, you could actually make him an Unarmed SS if you add the Rogue-level as he gains all the relevant proficiencies from the Rogue-level. That would enable him to TWF with a weapon and Unarmed Strikes if he gets cornered. Without that though, Mithril Chain Shirt would make for the perfect armor. No ACF and +4 AC; that'd put him at 27.

Oh yeah, and with Insightful Strike and all the strikes he gets, he'll be much more dangerous in melee than as written.


I think Wilderness Rogue (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rogueVariantWilderness Rogue) actually makes the most sense. Allows you to maintain a skill list very close to the one he presently has too.

Coidzor
2009-06-06, 08:31 PM
Hmmm, all I know about Skather is that he was one-on-one against our party's barbarian at the top of some stairs he'd covered with caltrops... I think for about 4 rounds before he decided to flee and quickly outran the entire party, JUMPED onto the roof of a two story building in a single bound somehow and then turned around to take potshots at us while we closed before roof-hopping some more. So his main strength when we encountered him was that he had poison use (which got a couple of us with minuses to strength for the boss fight) and that his mechanics/the DM/scenario as written denied us much opportunity to engage with him.

AslanCross
2009-06-06, 09:47 PM
Sweet. Thanks, Eldariel.

Coidzor> The ninja has the Great Leap class feature, which enables him to jump as if he were running and had the Run feat even from a standstill. Pretty awesome, though the Swordsage could approximate that with Sudden Leap.

AslanCross
2009-06-20, 08:03 AM
Phew. I thought this thread would time out before I was able to post again.

Short session today; this served mostly as closure for the first chapter so we could cleanly introduce the new PCs next session: Linnea Leiranoff, cloistered cleric of Aureon, and Lyka aka "Pickles," a brilliant, savage, shifter warblade.

The party decides to bury Ashie quickly and send House Orien a lock of her hair should they wish to resurrect her. After resting (the previous session was a pretty solid thrashing), they woke up to find Teyani Sura entering the Old Bridge Inn.

Teyani, as haggard as she is, quickly fills them in on what happened to the Rhest Trail. It's beginning to become clear that the Red Hand is sweeping far wider than they had expected, and that simply taking out a bridge isn't going to stop them for long. She asks for a map to mark the blockade, and is surprised to see and hear from the PCs what else is coming their way. She quickly scribbles down notes on whatever scraps of paper she has, and leaves for Brindol without even getting her ale.

The Town Council
The party's immediate impression of Iormel is that he is a Grade A jerk; he harshly tells Holden to shut the hell up when he begins trying to plead against Iormel's stance (fight).

After hearing all of the council members' cases (one each for fight, flight and parley, one undecided [Norro] and one that's practically an abstention [Soranna]), they try to convince Kellin first. Holden rolls really badly at first (he's the only guy with ranks in Diplomacy), but the others are able to aid him in saying that the goblins wouldn't have tried to torch the town the previous night if they wanted to plunder. They get Kellin's vote.

Second, they try Norro. I assigned the lowest DCs to Norro (using The Giant's Diplomacy rules) since he isn't committed to any particular course of action. Kikkeni easily makes the case; Norro told them to destroy Skull Gorge Bridge if they had to, and they did. Norro changes his stance to flight as well.

Finally, just to be sure, they try the cantankerous Iormel. He has the highest DC for the flight option (DC 29), but Holden rolls a 20. His +6 modifier is bolstered by Jorr's testimony, the map, and their performance in fighting against the goblin raid.

<Holden> A town is more than its holdings. A town is its people too.
<Iormel> ...I...No way I'm fighting under the banner of the Lord of Brindol.
<Holden> Better to live to fight another day.
<Iormel> What do you know about fighting?
<Holden> We cleared out Vraath Keep. We defeated Wyrmlord Koth. We slew a dragon. I assure you, sir, we know about fighting. But we also know when to run, and no is one such time.
<Iormel> Fine.

The council reaches a unanimous decision to flee, and the town begins packing.

Chimera Attack
At about 2:30 pm, the chimera attacks. The thing died practically as it hit the ground. It rolled dead last on initiative, and even with its beefed HP and the party down one man, the combined firepower of Kikkeni, Loven and Holden takes it down to 13, then 3, then -21 HP before its third turn. The chimera does try to thrash Holden, but only hits with its first bite and gore. Its breath weapon (I gave it lightning instead) barely grazes Kikkeni.

Evacuation
As the party leaves, they decide to escort Norro, Soranna and the rear guard to Terrelton first, and then proceed to the blockades to the North.

Anyway, it's reeeeally early into the timeline and they've already sent the people along the Dawn Way packing. Rhest is a pretty small place and will be pretty easy to clean out if they observe it. The encounters are going to be beefed up a lot more. The speed at which the party slew the chimera is pretty insane.

KillianHawkeye
2009-06-20, 11:40 AM
It's not strange for that chimera to get pulverized. One chimera against an entire party of 4 or more is pretty much doomed from the start.

AslanCross
2009-06-20, 04:55 PM
I figured; I guess I was expecting it to be slightly more difficult because it was statted as "somewhat tougher."

In any case, the Chapter II encounters are going to be a lot tougher for them. With five members and a cleric plus a Barbarian Warblade optimized for speed, I'd think they're going to be able to do some serious damage. I guess the restats of Saarvith and Regiarix were in order.

AslanCross
2009-06-29, 04:55 AM
Wonky schedules abound. Next session happens on the 11th.

Now I've been mulling over a certain build since the beginning: Should I swap Nurklenak's Bard levels for Beguiler? I never really thought Bard fit the concept of a torturer. A Beguiler seems to fit the bill much more cleanly.
He will still easily qualify for Mindbender, although by my reckoning he doesn't even really need this. The same build will work for all the other Mindbenders the PCs encounter later on. What do you guys think?

Eldariel
2009-06-29, 06:22 AM
Sounds reasonable. It is indeed a better fit for an interrogator (although the fact that you won't have Cha-based spellcasting and thus can't prioritise it to the exclusion of all others is a drawback) and sorta more powerful overall.

The big question is whether you want to change him into Beguiler 7/Mindbender 1 or stick to Beguiler 6/Mindbender 2 or even Beguiler 5/Mindbender 3; the higher level abilities aren't really amazing, mostly replicating spells. Also, Beguiler gains far more skillpoints than Mindbender. Beguiler 8 or Beguiler 7/Mindbender 1 seems most reasonable here. That does give him 4th level spells though, which is quite a power increase so be careful with that.


Keen Intellect [DR318/Oriental Adventures] could be a great feat to give him since it'd make his Sense Motive (and Spot, Survival & Heal) keyed off Int instead of Wis, making him far better an interrogator (what good is an interrogator if he can be lied to right in his face?). Also gives him Int to Will-saves.

But overall, I definitely agree with making him a Beguiler.

AslanCross
2009-06-29, 06:37 AM
Hmm yeah, I wanted to keep Mindbender 1 since it still advances his casting while giving him an ability he wouldn't normally get as a Beguiler. Telepathy would work quite well given the small area of the Town Hall.

Eldariel
2009-06-29, 06:54 AM
Hmm yeah, I wanted to keep Mindbender 1 since it still advances his casting while giving him an ability he wouldn't normally get as a Beguiler. Telepathy would work quite well given the small area of the Town Hall.

Yeah, Mindbender 1 isn't bad. It's just that Beguiler gets so many more skillpoints and actually has worthwhile abilities on its own. But actually, Beguiler 5/Mindbender 1/Beguiler +2 gets a 4th level spell on the second Advanced Learning, which is definitely a nice bonus (overall, the plotting of the Advanced Learnings is funny, always being 1 level before you gain access to a new spell level), and can max out all the Beguiler-skills too.

Now, what to pick with the Advanced Learnings is another matter entirely.

kjones
2009-06-29, 05:44 PM
Did you make a decision on Regiarax, with regards to size? I should warn you against boosting the difficulty of the Rhest encounter in general. It's very, very possible for the party to be encountering many of the foes of Rhest at once, which can turn a challenging encounter deadly. If they manage to sneak in and pick the Red Hand off one at a time - good for them. But you need to be prepared for the possibility that they'll have to take on all of Rhest at once.

That being said, making Nurklenak into a beguiler seems like an eminently reasonable choice, as do the tweaks you've made to Saarvith. Just remember that Rhest has a lot of potential to be a party-killer - your party will be (literally) out of their element, making escape difficult should something go wrong.

AslanCross
2009-06-29, 05:54 PM
I boosted Regiarix to Young Adult for now, but I'm ready to fall back on the default stats if the party proves to be less intelligent than before. There's going to be 5 of them now with a full caster and two martial adepts, so I'm going to wait and see what happens in the blockade battle. I raised the difficulty of that significantly by replacing the ogres with skullcrushers, removing one of the sergeants and making the remaining sergeant more tactically-relevant Crusader 4.

AslanCross
2009-07-11, 06:11 AM
My regular players didn't arrive, but they sent others to take their place and carry on with their characters. The new girl, who was playing a longstride shifter barbarian/warblade, took over for Kikkeni in addition to her character, while Holden and Loven were subbed for as well by another player. Unfortunately the cleric's player did not arrive, so the party had to slog through the adventure without a divine caster.

I'll try to go through the adventure by timeline.

Day 7, 5 pm:
The party departs from Drellin's Ferry along with the remnants of the militia, Norro Wiston, and Soranna. They head eastward towards Terrelton. Halfway there they camp for the night.

Day 8:
The camp begins to pick up and continue eastward. Random weather brings fog, slowing down progress, but they get to Terrelton around noon. There they meet Lyka, the new player's shifter. She was also an adherent of the Silver Flame, but not really given any special honors apart from a military rank in Thrane's army. She was dispatched to support Holden's efforts.

They immediately get thrown into the action when they realize that a nearby tavern is being looted. The newly-reformed party easily mops the spilled wine on the floor with the four looters. One has her head opened up by Holden's maul, while the second is torn to shreds by Lyka and Holden via AOOs. Kikkeni greases the remaining two inside the tavern; one fails his reflex save, faceplants in the broken glass, and fails to move when he tries to get up later. Loven snipes him fatally with his crossbow.
(Strangely enough, this new player snipes with far greater skill than Loven's usual player).
The last looter is Charging Minotaured into a wall by Holden, knocking him down to 3 HP. He sheepishly begs for mercy as the party knocks him out and ties him up for what's left of the local law enforcement (Leille, also a Silver Flame cleric) to deal with. The party then heads eastward towards Bridol.

Days 8-9
The party travels to Witchcross, passing through Nimon Gap and Talar. They part ways with the Ferry folk there and head north, but not before spreading word of the coming Red Hand. They arrive in Witchcross on the evening of the 9th day and continue to advise townsfolk to pack up and move toward Brindol.

Day 10.
Severe rain impedes the PCs' progress. They decide to stay in Witchcross for one more day.

Day 11: The Rhest Blockade.
Leaving Witchcross at 6 am, they travel 12 hours to the Rhest Blockade. Due to tree cover, they're able to hide in a ruined cottage close to the palisade. Loven sneaks up to the blockade and uses his new crossbow skills to snipe. He easily takes out the 2 half-asleep sentries on the roof, then retreats as the guards go on alert (one of the roof sentries topples down the ladder).

Since the playing field is literally not level, the PCs decide to take advantage of their abilities. Kikkeni airbursts with her newly-learned energy ball and gets the drop on one of the ogres (made it a Skullcrusher), who runs into the tower in agony. The eastern half of the palisade is now on fire.

Kikkeni then turns to the other half and repeats. The ogres, being skullcrushers, are a bit smarter and decide to head for the cover of the tower instead of taking repeated hits. As the structure begins to burn, the hobgoblins and ogres dash out the front gate. The sergeant is a beefed up Crusader 4 brandishing a halberd, while his minions retain their generic Warrior 2 template. The skullcrushers drag with them barrels of throwing rocks.

Hiding out inside the ruined cottage, Loven continues to snipe, dispatching one hobgoblin with a headshot, while Lyka uses her awesome Jump modifier to leap onto the wall. The grunt hobgoblins and the injured ogre get mowed down rapidly by Kikkeni's suppressing fire, while the sergeant crashes through the woods to get to the PCs' makeshift bunker. Holden goes out to meet him, uses Battle Leader's Charge to close the distance, but fumbles. The sergeant duels him while Lyka leaps onto the sergeant from above.

Deciding he's taken too much damage, the sergeant tries to flee, using Douse the Flames on Holden to prevent AOOs. He takes one from Lyka, though, and is down to dangerous HP levels. The remaining ogre keeps trying to throw rocks (he threw one at Lyka while she was still on the wall, though she dodged that with great skill).

Loven snipes the last remaining grunt hobgoblin while Kikkeni wails on the sergeant. Eventually, his damage pool isn't enough to stem the damage, and he dies.

Holden draws Divine Surge and tries to take out the skullcrusher in one hit, but fails his attack roll by one. The ogre then offers the crusader a face full of morningstar, to which Holden gladly obliges. The ogre crits, smashing off half of Holden's HP. He then follows up with his spiked shield, but fumbles that roll. Lyka uses her agility and nails the ogre with Soaring Raptor Strike. Kikkeni fires a final energy missile that scorches the brute to death.

With night falling quickly, the PCs decide to spend the night in the ruined cottage, with the burning palisade to warm them in their sleep. They decide to continue going to Rhest, since Koth's map marks the ruins as suspicious.

Day 12: Heat Wave.
The PCs trek the remaining 2 1/2 hours down the Rhest Trail. Lyka begins to take nonlethal damage from the miserable heat, though the rest of the party is none the worse for wear. They get close enough to the giant sinkhole where the ruined city of Rhest lies rotting, but Lyka decides to go ahead of the party to scout more effectively. She spots the soldiers in the town hall, the bell tower, their respective modifications, and the lizarfolk and their rafts.

Before they continue, the PCs try to make knowledge checks. Holden remembers a little history: Rhest was the capital of one of the goblinoid Dhakaani empire's provinces, although unlike most of the empire which slowly declined into civil unrest and anarchy, Rhest collapsed suddenly, though he doesn't know why.

Thinking the lizardfolk neutral and indifferent, Holden and Lyka go up to try to talk to them while Kikkeni and Loven stay some distance behind, with Loven hidden.

To their horror, Holden and Lyka discover that the lizardfolk were at least as big as the ogres they had fought, and were black-scaled. At first the unintelligent brutes didn't react much to their presence, and simply demanded why they were there. Holden is still clueless and asks if the party could use the lizards' boats. The lizardfolk demands that they not disturb the "dragon god" and that they leave immediately. Holden tries to maintain a respectful mien, but when the blackscale taunts him that the 2 PCs don't even know the dragon god's name and is are thus unworthy to enter his presence. Holden says "…is it Saarvith?"

The blackscale froths at the mouth and charges, rambling incoherently in broken Draconic, while its companion jumps out of its hut as well.

Kikkeni opens fire with energy bolt, which was of course a mistake. She badly chars the second blackscale and slightly injures the first. Loven snipes the second blackscale as well. He gapes as the bolt lodges itself firmly in the brute's skull but fails to kill it outright, though it begins to bleed profusely from the wound. The lizardman bounds toward Loven (he failed his snipe hide check) and swats him firmly with his greatclub. The blow leaves a massive dent, shearing off 25 HP. Just before Lyka's turn, a bell starts ringing in the tower. Everyone groans, but Lyka perks up:

"Permission to speak, sir?" she says to Holden.
"Speak!"
Turning to the blackscales, she screams "WE ARE WORTHY, YOU HEATHENS!"

…and executes a Soaring Raptor Strike on the first blackscale, critting and opening up its belly. Holding in its guts, the blackscale flails madly at her, hitting with both its club and its bite. Lyka takes over 30 damage. Holden decides to finish off the heavily-injured blackscale and uses Bonecrusher on its sternum. Its chest implodes, and it falls over backwards, quite dead.

Kikkeni realizes that while the alarm has been triggered, there's no point in delaying, so she blasts the remaining blackscale with energy missile. Burned and bleeding, the second brute drops dead.

With the entire camp in a flurry of action, the PCs decide to hightail it for now and flee toward the cover of the marsh. OOC, they lament on their lack of a full caster and gripe a bit about how the player didn't show up.

Anyway, back IC, Lyka once more asks for permission to speak. When granted permission, she simply whimpers "We are doomed, sir." With the lizardfolk being a lot larger than they'd expected and the superior visual range of the tower, they simply couldn't think of a way to get into Rhest. They pull back and decide to find a way to beat the heat before the badly-injured Lyka collapses from heat exhaustion.

They pull back about a mile away and then meet the Tiri Kitor elves for the first time.

Since both Lyka and Holden can speak Elven, they call out to the rangers. One of them lands while the others continue circling. Holden explains their situation, but the elf simply tells them that Rhest is nasty business and wishes them whatever luck they need. After the elves leave, Lyka is able to find a shaded mangrove spot for the party to cool off in.

Day 12, Noon: Scouting
Since Loven is immune to the exhaustion from the scorching heat, they decide to send him to scout the sunken city once more. One key problem: Loven's sensory skills suck.
I tell the player that if he took time, he could actually end up seeing everything that someone with better sensory skills would detect in no time. He then stakes out the city for an hour, then three, then five.

He gleans the following from his observations:
-He hears the distinctive chittering roar. They haven't met any of the razorfiends yet, so he has no idea what it is.
-The troopers in the tower are indeed hobgoblins.
-The lizardfolk are not really part of the Red Hand. They simply worship the "dragon god" inside. This comes from his realization that Regiarix dissolved a couple of lizardfolk for bothering him.
-He sees Regiarix and Saarvith take off to go hunting towards the 5th hour of observation. Regiarix is a black dragon, and larger than Ozzyrandion by a noticeable margin.

Loven reports to the other PCs, and again, much OOC griping at the lack of a buffer. They attribute their success in taking down Ozzy primarily to their overbuffing. Kikkeni makes a knowledge check to try to learn what the creature is. I give her some hints, but I don't tell her what it is exactly---only that it's a spawn of Tiamat, and that it's probably either black or green given the surroundings. Without a buffer and without a way to get to the ruins in the first place, they begin to succumb to despondency.

They then wander around the swamp for a while, trying to find a decent place to rest. It is then that they come across the remains of Lanikar's Greater O RLY Owl Giant Owl and try to examine it---only to hear the distinctive chittering roar that Loven had heard earlier. Two razorfiends pounce.

Day 12, Dusk: Dance of the Harrowblades
Kikkeni goes first. She uses her new death urge power on one of the razorfiends, and it fails its save.

The second razorfiend charges, clearing the trees on top of the hill and landing beside Kikkeni. It hits her, but rolls low. Loven, having trouble attacking an enormous angry draconic beast with razor-sharp wings at this range, draws his rapier and flanks with Lyka, shanking the beast for a heft sum. Holden draws Divine Surge and swats down hard on the injured razorfiend's wingblade and crits, shattering it at the shoulder and clavicle for 52 damage. Lyka then follows up with Soaring Raptor Strike and bisects the wretch for fatal 44 damage. The other razorfiend's turn comes around, and under the influence of Kikkeni's death urge eviscerates itself.

Dear Lord. 93 damage to itself. That's highest damage dealt in a single turn to anything I've ever seen in this game in my 3 years of play. (Death Urge forces a creature to kill itself in the fastest way possible; performing a full attack that automatically crits. So much for x3 multipliers on its wingblades. )

The PCs then search the dead owl (silly jokes about "Is it dead?" and the owl coming alive and saying "YA RLY" break out) and find the band. Realizing that the owl once had a rider, they decide to search the conveniently eviscerated corpses of the razorfiends and find Lanikar's ring.

Enter Killiar Arrowswift. With his cold demands, the PCs immediately try to be respectful and friendly. The PCs quickly catch on to why he's around and explain that they found signs of the owl's rider. Killiar demands the jewelry and then asks them to come with him to Starsong Hill.

Day 12, Evening: Starsong Hill
The PCs catch a glimpse of Starsong Hill from above, and are mostly happy that they can get some healing now, as they don't want to just try sleeping off the damage. Loven is unfortunately very bad at repairing himself, so they can't figure out what to do for now.

Sellyria explains the events to them and also tells a little of the history of the place, confirming what Holden had learned: Rhest was the victim of a sudden collapse, not a gradual decline, and the Daelkyr (aberrant Lords of Madness from Xoriat, the plane of insanity) may have corrupted a hobgoblin Gatekeeper druid until he went mad and ruined the city he once saved; the city is now in the middle of an enormous, still-sinking sinkhole.

While the elves have dealt with some aberrant leftovers from the Daelkyr invasion of the city in the past, and the dragon and its blackscale cult have been there for a hundred or so years, the harrowblades (razorfiends) are a new threat, and moved in only a few months prior along with the goblins.

Holden explains the Red Hand horde, but Sellyria is unable to offer any aid apart from Illian Snowmantle's healing, consumables, and boats to take upstream back to the Rhest sinkhole.

The PCs dine, rest, and get up at dawn the next morning for Lanikar's funeral.

Day 13, Dawn: Storm Over Starsong
A thunderstorm breaks out over Lanikar's funeral. Lyka is able to predict the weather will turn for the better in 5 hours, and the following day will be tolerable. The day after, however, will be a heat wave day once more.

After the solemnities end, the merrymaking and celebration of Lanikar's life begins. Holden is able to convince his sister Trellara to help them identify the loot from the razorfiends' coffer, which I had replaced with significantly more useful treasure. Unfortunately, Trellara can only cast Identify 3 times a day, and so is only able to identify three pieces of treasure: Dragonhide Bracers, Devastation Gauntlets, and a White Cloak of the Spider. Lyka takes the bracers and cloak, while the gauntlets go to Holden. Loven takes a crossbow, which Kikkeni is able to identify with her DC 30 Knowledge (Arcana) check (Magic Item Compendium rules) as a simple +1 light crossbow. The better to snipe with, anyway.

For now, the PCs plan: The best way to get to Rhest is not to use a boat, but to take Water Breathing potions from Illian and walk on the bottom of the lake (none of them have good swim checks, and slogging through the bottom is better than getting spotted on the surface). However, none of them have cleric spells, so they decide to consult Illian. Since the potions have good duration, they can easily take their time. I round down a mile to 5000 feet, and due to the pitch black water and its hazards, the PCs will have to take full round actions to move 5 feet.

I crunch the numbers quickly:
-5000 feet to traverse.
-5 feet per round.
-5000/5=1000 rounds of walking.
-6 seconds per round.
-6000 seconds of walking along the lakebed. This translates to 100 minutes or 1 hour 40 minutes.

Of course, this is only their initial plan. As substitute players, neither of them wanted to go ahead and execute the plan. They were also counting heavily on the cleric being around for the next session so they could proceed with less problems; they just know the dragon will be too much for them.

Thoughts

-Kikkeni is getting to be a seriously powerful blaster. While the substitute player continued her fine tradition of mass incineration, those 4th-level powers are seriously deadly. Death Urge especially.
-Speaking of Death Urge. 93 damage. Seriously. I know the Razorfiend failed its save, but that's still crazy. Very worried as to what it might do to bosses later on, regardless of their base saves. (They're definitely getting action points now)
-I haven't really forced the PCs into a situation where they had to use action points. For the most part they've either passed checks with flying colors or utterly failed them. Maybe the boss battle with Saarvith and Regiarix will bring them to such a place.
-I've finished rebuilding Nurklenak (whom I renamed a less silly-sounding and meaner "Nurkulnaak") as a Beguiler 7/Mindbender 1. I gave him shadow conjuration for his 4th-level advanced learning, though I intend to use low-level teleportation spells like dimension step instead of blasting spells, which is just silly.
-The cleric. The party may be able to do fine without her now (they totally kicked ass), but once they start facing full-casting clerics and especially when they get to the Fane later on, they're going to need all the support they can get. Bad enough that they don't have a wizard.

kjones
2009-07-11, 11:24 AM
Why didn't they meet the elves when they first arrived in the Blackfens?

AslanCross
2009-07-11, 03:56 PM
They headed straight for Rhest and it was still early in the morning. I reckoned that the elves have been keeping away from Rhest since the arrival of the Red Hand detachment. Had they taken Rhestwash route they probably would have met the elves first.

Eldariel
2009-07-11, 05:19 PM
Well, goes to show what an effect weather may have on the adventure - really interesting to see it played out.

Would be awesome to create grand scale weather patterns for Eberron; I guess it's sorta besides the point for an RPG, but logical weather (of course, "logical" could mean pretty much anything - I live on a cyclone zone so any predictions beyond two days tend to be wrong even with modern tech) would be another step towards an even more immersive experience.


Anyways, yeah, always getting next level abilities is a huge breakpoint in character power. Level 4 spells, level 4 maneuvers, that extra attack in melee (although only for non-Adepts; Adepts don't use their iteratives that much), etc. just vastly increase character efficiency.

Looking forward to the Rhest encounter. I'm really happy that your party had the brains to hightail the hell out of there when things got dire.

AslanCross
2009-07-11, 09:27 PM
My players kept commenting how the weather in Elsir Vale was somewhat like the weather here in the Philippines: Hot one day, sweltering hot the next, and then suddenly raining like a madman. As far as weather in this part of the world goes, the random weather my players have been having is fairly realistic. @_@

Should I start giving monsters max HP now? Many of the grunts are dying without even getting a shot off, especially since Kikkeni has always been lucky at initiative.

KillianHawkeye
2009-07-11, 09:55 PM
Well, if you want your mooks to last a little longer, you could always secretly set them to 1 hp whenever they'd first get killed. Basically, require 1 extra hit to kill them, unless the player crits or the damage is really high (like 2x remaining hp if not at full, or something). It might help them actually get a turn. :smallwink:

And considering how the next part went with Saph's group, I'm also really looking forward to the battles at Rhest.

kjones
2009-07-11, 10:30 PM
Giving the mooks max HP isn't a bad idea, but it probably won't help that much. Their saves and AC are still too low to protect them, and their attack bonuses are too low to pose much of a threat.

I don't see anything wrong with the mooks dying off like... well, like mooks. Just make sure that they're never at the forefront of the battle. They should be distractions, at best.

AslanCross
2009-07-11, 11:12 PM
Hmm, I guess you're right. It was pretty awesome how Loven's sub player actually used concealment and sniping to take out the sentinels on the blockade. Good planning and execution should never be punished, I guess.

AslanCross
2009-07-25, 08:35 AM
What I expected would be a series of epic battles quickly turned into loads of crack.

A New Face
Day 13
The day starts out as a continuation of where the party left off: waiting for the thunderstorm after Lanikar's funeral to dissipate. Enter Linnea Leiranoff, cloistered cleric of Aureon, found lost and wandering aimlessly in the swamp---utterly drenched except for her books.

Linnea performs an invaluable service for them: she identifies the remains of the loot they got from the razorfiends. This included a greater crystal of aquatic action, eyes of the eagle, third eye freedom, and a rod of silence.

The party formulates their plan:
1. Purchase potions of water breathing from Illian. These potions last 12 hours.
2. Paddle up the stream to the rim of the Rhest sinkhole.
3. Drink the potions and walk across the stream bed. The crystal of aquatic action obviates Holden's need for water breathing, and Loven doesn't breathe, so the party gets to save on potions.
4. Take the bell tower first, then investigate the town hall.

Capsize

The party borrows a boat from the elves and paddles up the stream. Close to the sinkhole, they're ambushed by a blackscale and four poison dusk lizardfolk.
The blackscale is spotted lurking underwater, but instead of surfacing as they had expected, it easily capsizes the boat and dunks everyone into the drink.
The party is lucky that the stream is only 4 feet deep and that their shorter party members don't have problems with breathing water.

The lizardfolk are quickly overwhelmed; Linnea takes a poisoned arrow but her Strength isn't damaged much, while Holden takes a sound bashing from the blackscale, he easily drops the blackscale after applying Divine Surge to the beast's crotch.

Lyka, the shifter, is able to use her Jump to leap through the nasty undergrowth to grapple one of the poison dusks while Loven and Linnea apply some liberal fire from their soggy positions to take out two of the other snipers. Kikkeni freezes the last sniper with energy ball. Overkill, but it gets the job done.

They attempt to interrogate the remaining lizardfolk (again), but it only tells them the party stumbled through their territory. They dump him there---Kikkeni and Holden begin to argue about leaving him alive, while Loven just walks over to him and shanks the lizardman. They begin moving towards the tower.

Memorable lines:
<Lyka, to Holden> Look, sir, it is a large heathen!
<Lyka, to Holden> Look sir, it is a miniature heathen!
<Lyka, to Holden> Sir, it appears you have water in your eyes.

The Tower
Traveling to the tower underwater, the party enters the submerged floor of the tower. Loven sneaks up into the second floor to scout and spots three of the hobgoblins inside.

The party decides to have him plant the exploding spike at the stop of the stairs. Loven plants it in and splashes loudly into the water. The hobgoblins investigate the sound, and the spike goes off.

All of them are burnt within an inch of their life, but they draw their swords anyway. Lyka runs up to skewer one of them, but misses both. Kikkeni comes in and wastes them all with energy missile. As they come up, though, they see someone running up the stairs and give chase.

Red Alert
Lyka is the first to arrive on the top floor. Korkulan the bladebearer (now a Warblade 4/Fighter 2) confronts her, while the other hobgoblins drop their bows and draw their swords. Korkulan is initially able to counter Lyka's strike with Wall of Blades, but when Loven tumbles past him, his advantage quickly turns. Holden runs up the stairs and uses an action point to jump from one of the lower steps onto the top floor (over the railing) and joins the battle. However, one of the hobgoblins begins ringing the bell.

Kikkeni joins the fray with an energy missile, nailing all four hobgoblins. Two of them die, while Korkulan and the last veteran are able to stand a little while longer before Lyka cuts them down.

However, the party spots lizardfolk beginning to get into their rafts to paddle toward the tower.

Crack ensues.

Holden hoists up one of the guard corpses and begins waving its arms so that it appeared to be waving at the lizardfolk. In a loud goblin voice (he can speak the language), he tells the lizardfolk to leave, that it was a false alarm. And he rolls really well on his Bluff, and it was too ridiculous to not let slide, so the lizardfolk begin paddling away.

The PCs then go down and search the bunks, and discover Korkulan's potions of fly. They reemerge onto the lookout deck to spot the ogres on the Town Hall roof beginning to stir.

Last Flight of the Black Dragon
One of the ogres jumps down into Regiarix's lair. Within a few seconds, the ogre climbs back out, and so does Regiarix.

The PCs quaff their potions---Holden, Loven, and Lyka are able to fly. Linnea inherited a potion of fly from Ashie as well, so she drinks but decides to stay in the tower.

Holden says: "We're like flies guarding a piece of ****."

Saarvith, astride Regiarix, wing angrily toward the tower. Kikkeni begins a devastating barrage of energy balls.

I roll horribly on their saves. By the time Saarvith and Regiarix close to breath weapon range, Regiarix is down to 105/152 HP. Saarvith is down to less than half (he started with a beefed 62 HP). This is despite me giving them action points and despite Kikkeni's player rolling badly.

Regiarix lets loose a breath weapon but only hits Holden. Despite Holden's failure to save, I roll badly and Holden only takes around 20 damage.

Holden and Lyka charge. Holden scores massive hits, while Lyka fumbles one of her two Two-Weapon Pounce attacks. The dragon retaliates with a full attack (bad idea; I should've remembered the dragon was supposed to keep his distance) , and rolls a mass of 1s and 2s. Not a single attack hits.

Holden and Lyka flank the dragon and combo him with Soaring Raptor Strike and Bone Crusher. At this point, the dragon is down to 32 HP. Kikkeni softens it up even more by detonating an energy ball BEHIND Regiarix, bringing the dragon down to 19 HP.

I should've wised up and had them run away, but no. The dragon flies upward and dives toward the tower. Saarvith uses his Arrow Storm but only hits Kikkeni for damage that is pretty much irrelevant at this point. (I should've used Hunter's Mercy on her instead)

Kikkeni simply blasts the dragon and rider with energy cone. Saarvith is already at -2 at this point, and he slumps back in the saddle. The dragon is down to 7 HP.

Enter Linnea. Blast of Force. 8 damage.

Regiarix rolls a 1 on his Fort save, and falls out of the sky. The fall (even into the water) kills both Saarvith and Regiarix.

It's All Ogre
The regular ogres on the hall's roof hightail it when they see Regiarix fall out of the sky. The two remaining skullcrushers stay put and hurl some boulders ineffectually at the flying PCs as they close in.

Kikkeni blasts them once more, and Lyka and Holden quickly cut down the two ogres once they clear the space.

The Hatchery
The PCs investigate the ruined building off the side and find the Razorfiend waiting. It breathes acid on Lyka and Holden, but they cut it down quickly before its next turn, and Linnea finishes it off with a scorching ray. The PCs hear the loud hooting of Nurkulnaak's ettin as it comes onto the roof. Nurkulnaak, wielding a rapier, emerges with them.

Final Showdown
This battle gets silly quickly. Nurkulnaak rolls high on initiative and raises a solid fog; Lyka and Kikkeni get trapped in it. The other PCs are unable to get in good shots due to the fog, and Nurkulnaak quickly raises a greater invisibility to attempt to escape.

Linnea is able to dispel the fog after Kikkeni and Lyka extricate themselves, while Holden flies up out of the Hatchery to drop down on the Ettin. The two beatsticks attack the Ettin and damage it quickly.

Still invisible, Nurkulnaak blasts Lyka and Holden (and the Ettin) with confusion. Lyka makes her save, but Holden remains floating in the air, babbling like a moron.

Loven snipes the Ettin, which rolls 'attack nearest enemies' in its confusion and hits the two beatsticks before collapsing from Loven's bleed damage.

Kikkeni climbs onto the roof and tries to find Nurkulnaak with Lyka. Kikkeni tries to hasten the process by randomly choosing a spot to grease.

And dumb luck strikes: she catches Nurkulnaak in the area, and he fails his save, falling flat onto the ground, cursing loudly.

Lyka tries to close in on the grease spot and chooses one of the squares to attack, but she doesn't pick the right square. Nurkulnaak begins crawling toward the stairs leading down to the boardwalk. Linnea summons a Hound Archon and orders him to hunt down the hobgoblin by using detect evil. Kikkeni fires an energy bolt through the spot where she thought the beguiler was, but Nurkulnaak was no longer there by the time she does so.

The beguiler creates a major image trying to climb over the rampart and jumping down onto the boardwalk below. Immediately the PCs give chase (Holden rolls "babble incoherently" for 3 rounds); the Hound Archon is first. It slashes at the image with its greatsword, destroying it. Using its scent, the Hound Archon picks up the beguiler's trail, and Kikkeni greases the boardwalk to prevent Nurkulnaak from escaping toward the hatchery.

With Lyka groping around blind, swinging her sword as if at a pinata, Holden drifting lazily through the air babbling, Kikkeni down to the last of her power points and Nurkulnaak nowhere to be found, I ask them if they want to give up looking for him. The players yell "NO!" in unison.

The beguiler tries to escape into the water, but his own invisibility gives him away---the PCs see the bubble in the water. Holden rolls "flee from caster at top speed" and ends up hovering over the water, way out toward the southwest. Kikkeni uses the last of her power points to fire an energy missile at the beguiler, but misses (I rule that the miss chance still applies since the spell is aimed at creatures, not spaces).

The beguiler dismisses his invisibility and surrenders as the Hound Archon brings him down on his knees.

The party ties him up for interrogation later and drags him into the hall while they explore.

They find everything they need to find: Ulwai's letter, Regiarix's hoard, and most importantly, the Ghostlord's phylactery.

Linnea is able to provide the necessary information regarding the phylactery:
-It was most definitely a lich's phylactery, and the letter gave his identity away.
-Linnea's History check recalls that the Ghostlord was once Uriikel Zaarl, a hobgoblin druid who fought alongside the Gatekeeper sect against the Daelkyr invasion of Eberron more than 5000 years ago.
-After successfully slaying the Daelkyr who took over Rhest, Zaarl left, but after about 200 years a pride of ghostly lions ransacked Rhest, and an unnnatural quake collapsed Rhest into the sinkhole that it is now.
-The creator of the phylactery is not an arcane caster but a druid, and a blighter at that.

Kikkeni also points out the Ghostlord's lair on Koth's map.


Plans
This might be the source of party conflict. Holden and Lyka want to destroy the phylactery and slay the Ghostlord, while the others are sure there might be a reason why the goblins have it.

Holden balks at the thought of trading the lich his phylactery for aid, but Kikkeni says "We don't necessarily have to ally ourselves with him.

Thoughts and Plans
PLAYERS KEEP OUT! :smallannoyed:
I MEAN IT! :smallmad:
KATE :smallfurious:

-The PCs really wasted Rhest. The Ozzyrandion battle was harder.
-This might have been due to the adventure assuming the PCs don't raise the alarm until they are able to get into the building; I built my battle plans around this assumption.
-Despite being advanced, overbuffed AND having action points, Regiarix and Saarvith crashed and burned really badly.
-All dragons are definitely going to have max HP now. Also considering bumping up Abithriax to Huge and Tyrgarun to Gargantuan without advancing their HD.
-I really want Nurkulnaak to escape. He's a coward and an evil jerk, sure, but he should be smart enough to use his massive repertoire to escape and inform the Red Hand higher ups of the slaughter. This should allow the Red Hand to start sending out death squads and beef up the Ghostlord's lair security as well.

kjones
2009-07-25, 10:07 AM
Wow, that was... slightly anticlimactic. I guess I expect the Battle of Rhest to be a killer, considering what happened with me and with Saph. That trick with the exploding spike was pretty cool, though.

A few thoughts - first of all, the way you told it, it seemed that they could see the town hall from the watch tower, but they're 1000 feet apart. According to the Spot skill, there's a -1 to spot checks per 10 feet, so technically they shouldn't have been able to see him until he was a few rounds away. A lot of people don't play with those rules, because they're kind of silly in practice, so if that's what happened, that's cool. But since my players weren't specifically watching the town hall, they didn't see Regiarax's approach until he had closed the distance significantly.

Either way, it seems like the chance to concentrate fire on Regiarax and Saarvith for several rounds made a big difference. Well, that and some very bad luck.

(Another thing you could have done would have been to have Regiarax make an underwater approach once he started taking fire. He moves pretty fast underwater, Saarvith can hold his breath for long enough, and water blocks LOE IIRC.)

Anyway, don't let this color your perceptions of the other dragons. Abithraix is a red dragon - most damaging breath weapon for age category around. A battle with him is likely to degenerate into rocket tag - average of 44 damage on a breath weapon, assuming your party is 9th level, that'll drop characters with d4 or d6 HD, and maybe d8 depending on their Con. (Of course, they'll probably be smart enough to resist fire, so...)

Resist temptation to boost up single monsters. It seems like your party is effective enough at blasting that they can toast any single target pretty quickly. Instead, try to add additional targets, forcing them to spread out their fire.

Of course, you know your party better than I do, but these are just suggestions. A juvenile red dragon with max HP has 256 HP - that's a lot. My concern is that you'll end up accidentally overbalancing the other way and nearly kill your party - I do this all the time. In my opinion, it's better to have an encounter that's too easy than one that's too hard, since it's simpler to correct.

But yeah, Rhest is a somewhat singular situation, one that won't recur for the rest of the campaign, so don't extrapolate too much from that single point of data.

Unrelatedly, sounds like you've got a good thing going on if you can inspire conflict regarding the Ghostlord's phylactery. Bonus points if you have a paladin in the party! (We did, but he died at the hands of that damned fiendish behir. Now there's a guy what needs no buffing. Watch out for him.)

Kol Korran
2009-07-25, 10:56 AM
nice telling.

i agree that most of what took the dragon and his wyrmlord down was the focused fire beforehand. once they had taken fire, i'd advise them to take different tactics. they both aren't fools after all... that was a foolhardy rush on. when the party got to the dragon, instead of the other way around (like in saph's and Kjones diaries) he was a killer.

Loven and your psionic character (forgot her name) are proving mighty deadly.

you made the Ghost lord a blighter! awesome! i loved that twist! much better than what he is orignally as i get it... waiting to see how that would work out.
i love how you integrate the module into Eberron.

Kol.

KillianHawkeye
2009-07-25, 11:12 AM
you made the Ghost lord a blighter! awesome! i loved that twist! much better than what he is orignally as i get it... waiting to see how that would work out.
i love how you integrate the module into Eberron.

The Ghostlord is a Blighter normally.

Philistine
2009-07-25, 12:36 PM
Ahh... of course the party would be able to see the town hall from the watch tower. 1000 feet is less than a quarter of a mile; unless something is obstructing your view, you should easily be able to discern a human-sized figure at that distance. Larger creatures, such as ogres, or a dragon large enough to ride? No problem. A flying dragon should be almost impossible to miss.

The Spot skill as written works very, very poorly on the macro scale.

kjones
2009-07-25, 12:52 PM
Ahh... of course the party would be able to see the town hall from the watch tower. 1000 feet is less than a quarter of a mile; unless something is obstructing your view, you should easily be able to discern a human-sized figure at that distance. Larger creatures, such as ogres, or a dragon large enough to ride? No problem. A flying dragon should be almost impossible to miss.

The Spot skill as written works very, very poorly on the macro scale.

I agree that it shouldn't be ruled as written - 1000 feet is not much more than a football field, and you could definitely see something 10 feet tall from a football field away (say... the bottom bit of the goalpost? Yeah, that's visible). However, Rhest is not just a lake. As I read it, there's ruined buildings sticking up all over the place. Sure, none of them are as tall as the town hall or the bell tower, but they could provide some cover.

I don't remember how clear I was in my writeup, but they did see Regiarax pretty quickly. However, they waited until he was within range for Solid Fog - ~200 feet IIRC. The next round, Saarvith cleared it with Wind Wall, and the fight was on.

I guess the moral of the story is, don't charge an entrenched location over open terrain. :smalltongue:

I don't mean to criticize, Aslan. If my party had been smart enough to start hitting him as soon as they could, my battle would have gone very differently. (I didn't even think of the underwater approach until my post this morning, though I did use his water breathing to his advantage during the battle.) Hopefully, this is just a lesson learned - and Abithraix won't be as easy. For one thing, he's smack-dab in the middle of the Battle of Brindol.

Olo Demonsbane
2009-07-25, 01:30 PM
That was...slightly anticlimactic.

Of course, not as much as my party...they didnt even get to act...yours sounded much more entertaining.

Thank you for writing this up.

AslanCross
2009-07-25, 05:15 PM
I guess the moral of the story is, don't charge an entrenched location over open terrain. :smalltongue:

I don't mean to criticize, Aslan. If my party had been smart enough to start hitting him as soon as they could, my battle would have gone very differently. (I didn't even think of the underwater approach until my post this morning, though I did use his water breathing to his advantage during the battle.) Hopefully, this is just a lesson learned - and Abithraix won't be as easy. For one thing, he's smack-dab in the middle of the Battle of Brindol.

My biggest mistake was this, yes. I thought 152 HP would be able to absorb enough of their attacks. I'd also forgotten how easy it is to hold one's breath, argh. 28 rounds should've been more than enough.

I still wonder if it would've mattered, though, considering I defied the laws of probability with my rolls yesterday. -_-

I always thought the tower was 500 feet away from the Town Hall, thought--at least that what the map seems to say, and what I'd been telling the party since they got to Rhest. I know the tower was 1000 feet from the shore, but not the Town Hall. That said, the spotting distance penalty is something I forget to apply a lot.

Anyway,

The beguiler needs to escape. After going over his spell list I saw that he could Still several of his spells (unfortunately he's out of fourth level slots, so he can only still until 2nd level). They conveniently forgot to gag him.

-He's definitely going to cast Glibness, though he can't Still it because he's out of 4th-level slots. It would be great to give one thing from him now and another conflicting report from Ulwai.
-Touch of Idiocy for irony, but he needs to get out of his ropes for him to do that. I gave him some Escape Artist ranks (his modifier is +7), so maybe he could struggle out of the ropes and bluff that he has his hands still tied.
-Failsafe is just to have him cast invisibility on himself (the rope will turn invisible as well by RAW), then follow up with silence and count on his 50% miss chance to save his life.
Kikkeni is out of PP, so they can't nuke the place anymore, and I'm sure they'll execute him once they get back to dry ground. This guy needs to get away.
-I noticed how many Beguiler spells have M components, which is more than a little annoying. However, this guy needs to take advantage of the PCs' oversight---they didn't strip him of his gear. He should still have his component pouch with him.

Eldariel
2009-07-25, 05:16 PM
Yeah, definitely anti-climatic, but as you pointed out, it was mostly how you played the monsters. Saarvith is definitely a ranged combatant (and yeah, you'd really want some buffs on before engaging) and as such, Regiarix should avoid engaging rather doing breath strafes primarily.

And as a Wyrmlord, engaging alone seems extremely uncharacteristic of him; as a ranged type, he's a support character and commander so not having any troops engage the opponents is rather foolish. But yeah, I strongly suggest against just making the opponents tougher; instead focus on playing them to the maximum of their efficiency within the given boundaries - that makes for more interesting fights while still giving PCs the quick win-alternative if they play their cards right. Also give the wyrmlords access to some healing; Wand of Cure Light Wounds woulda made pulling a very attractive option for Saarvith/Regiarix duo and a great treasure for the PCs (or even a heftier healing such as Faith Healing; yeah, actually, use that).


But yah, nice session, too bad you missed out on a good fight. Ah well, it's D&D and luck comes into play - that happens (oh yeah, if you find Dragons downing too easy, let them cast Mage Armor and Shield or some such on themselves; they're perfectly eligible and even likely to use those and that makes killing them through melee considerably more difficult - add Awaken Spell Resistance for caster fun).

AslanCross
2009-07-25, 05:26 PM
While Holden isn't a Paladin, he still is a Crusader, and the players' been RPing his faithfulness to the Silver Flame quite well. Lyka considers herself his subordinate and is likely to follow his example. These two might push harder for the party to engage the Ghostlord.

Again any help regarding Nurkulnaak escaping would be welcome.

Coidzor
2009-07-25, 05:57 PM
Hmm, I'll turn my attention to that in a bit, but I just remembered a variant of the Scout called the sniper which might be interesting if you look into it. Believe it's in the Crystalkeep variant base classes pdf.

Something sneaky that takes advantage of the telepathy.
Hmm. Ravens have language.

Kol Korran
2009-07-25, 06:15 PM
regarding what you asked help with, i have an idea. bear in mind that i do not know the campaign, but this might be nicely done, if a bit cheating

just add another group of the red hand, an elite group meet the party and engage them, also ensuring your guy escapes. there could be several reasons for them showing up:

the party has allready given some trouble to the horde. these elite group was sent to make sure everything was up to plan. once they spot the characters, and their captive, they decide to try and tackle them, while getting back an importent asset. the might kill the caster if they can't get him free though, to silence him up.
either him, the wyrmlord or the drgaon got some other kind of alaram away, maybe to the lizardmen tribe that had been sending them all the troops? not the tribe and their shaman is up to avenge their god, and possibly rescue his helper.
replacement forces that have come? one is a friend of the captive and tries his best to free him?

as to what group, well that depends heavily on the reasons. in any case i suggest diversion forces, and a small sneaky force who goes t ofree the captive. and then retreat. but if the party stands up to it, let them have their captvie, they've earned it!
hope this helped,
Kol.

P.S. so the ghostlord was a blighter all along? thought that was a master touch of yours. oh well, you have enough of these allready...

AslanCross
2009-07-25, 11:07 PM
P.S. so the ghostlord was a blighter all along? thought that was a master touch of yours. oh well, you have enough of these allready...

I don't know about master strokes; the disastrous battle yesterday put me in my place. >_o; And I thought I'd planned well for it.

The Ghostlord is indeed a Blighter by default. The only thing I changed about him is his history (and his race, but that's largely irrelevant given most of his power comes from being a caster).

I have a rough plan already for next session. Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

Btw, any suggestions regarding
The Ghostlord's lair? The Ulwai encounter looks like it's highly vulnerable to Kikkeni's shake n' bake strategy, which she won't have much trouble doing. Unless they party's resources get dampened by a random encounter once they enter the Thornwaste and by Varanthian, they just have to saturate the area.

I'm not sure if they're going to get that far next session. Most likely I'm going to throw them some of the Elsir Vale encounters to slow them down. As it is, the Red Hand hasn't even reached Drellin's Ferry yet.

I do plan on having them witness the sack of Drellin's Ferry from afar, though. It would be an ominous sight---clouds billowing up from the horizon, as well as the flashes from the War Adepts' spells and Abithriax's breath.

Eldariel
2009-07-26, 10:48 AM
Btw, any suggestions regarding
The Ghostlord's lair? The Ulwai encounter looks like it's highly vulnerable to Kikkeni's shake n' bake strategy, which she won't have much trouble doing. Unless they party's resources get dampened by a random encounter once they enter the Thornwaste and by Varanthian, they just have to saturate the area.

I'm not sure if they're going to get that far next session. Most likely I'm going to throw them some of the Elsir Vale encounters to slow them down. As it is, the Red Hand hasn't even reached Drellin's Ferry yet.

I do plan on having them witness the sack of Drellin's Ferry from afar, though. It would be an ominous sight---clouds billowing up from the horizon, as well as the flashes from the War Adepts' spells and Abithriax's breath.

For Ghostlord's lair, maybe some magic (given transparency) sapping traps or "dead magic" areas or such? He's an old blighter and has drawn magic from the land for a long time so some of it developing dead magic traits wouldn't be weird and it'd certainly make the whole dungeon more scary.

But I'd frankly be more inclined towards some magic/psionics sapping effects (or creatures, even) that trigger when such powers are used in a given locale or such. Of course, nothing major to truly counteract her, but some small surprises could be interesting for the dungeon. Some undead naturey creatures such as plants would make sense given Ghostlord for what he is. Unfortunately I can't think of anything perfect off-hand.

Also, Ulwai could have some increased anti-magic/psionic capability, such as a Ring of Spell-Battle (some redirection). This would also make sense given the potential enmity of Ghostlord who is a powerful caster on his own right; Ulwai would likely be prepared to fight him if need be.


Bleh, I have little to offer here; I never put that much thought into changing anything with the Ghostlord's lair. It just didn't feel necessary, although buffing Ghostlord himself definitely helps given what a debuff Blighter is. Extra Blighter-level helps a lot, as does giving him some animated animals to work with. It's a real pity Undead lack Con-score; few Zombie Shambling Mounds would make perfect "guards" for Ulwai.

AslanCross
2009-07-26, 08:44 PM
My plans for next session (Warning: Wall of text and players keep out :smallfurious:)

1. The party was able to turn away the lizardfolk initially, right? Well, not all of them are that dumb. I'm planning on introducing a half-black dragon blackscale sorcerer. He was originally supposed to be one of the random encounters, so I have stats for him. He's not related to Regiarix in any way, but he tried to pass himself off as Regiarix's son to gain control of the blackscales. It never really worked since the other blackscales just thought he was scary, but Regiarix allowed this superstition to persist to cause the blackscales to be easier to subjugate.

The explosive death of a dragon over a lake isn't hard to miss. This new character, Korrovok, saw this as an opportunity to consolidate the blackscales and even attempt to join the Red Hand (though he probably won't get that far; only Korrovok himself might be recruited). He takes some of the warriors loyal to him to investigate Rhest this same day, and will lay out an ambush on the roof. Most of the blackscales will be speedbumps, but with Kikkeni out of PP, the group really has no way of laying down withering fire. All Nurkulnaak needs to do is relay a telepathic message to Korrovok, knowing his ambitions, and forward the info to the Red Hand. Korrovok can fly (Large half-dragon wings), and by this time the fly potions have expired. Even then, the half-dragon can fly much faster than any of the PCs under fly. He can definitely escape while his thugs cover for him.

Another silly plan related to Nurkulnaak's telepathy is to have him speak to the characters using Daelkyr, bluffing as he goes. None of the characters know Daelkyr, but they do know that Rhest was the epicenter of the local Daelkyr invasion centuries ago. The elves have told the PCs that some life forms tainted by the Lords of Madness still dwell in the ruins.

It will probably just keep them guessing, but it will buy him time. He could then feign an "seizure" by casting blur on himself---it's the only spell he can cast while bound, gagged, and without material components (Silent Spell bonus feat). The party can't use Spellcraft to identify the spell without detecting any of the components, at least initially. Hopefully this will distract them long enough to prevent/interrupt any interrogation. (The party's highest Sense Motive modifier is +5; Nurkulnaak's Bluff is +13 and given the history of the place is fairly believable.)

2. The players have made it clear that they will execute the beguiler (they still think he's a wizard) after interrogating him, as per their SOP. As long as he gets to relay his message (the invaluable info will likely allow Korrovok a place in the Red Hand), the horde's high command can start sending out their death squads.

3. Now one problem presents itself: the party hasn't really tried making the elves friendly. No diplomacy checks, no gifts, nothing. They've only tried asking, but didn't really make any rolls. I'm using The Giant's alternate Diplomacy rules, so I need to draw up the DCs for this, but while the PCs have rid Rhest of the Red Hand presence and killed all the Razorfiends, none of them have really showed any interest in talking to the elves, except for them trying to console Trellara (to get her to cast Identify). As it stands, their Alliance score is a paltry 7. The owls would have been very helpful.

4. On the way back, assuming Nurkulnaak either gets away or manages to relay his message (highly likely given the party's current resources---I can't believe it took THAT MANY encounters to drain Kikkeni's PP), they'll be facing the Marked For Death encounter soon after hitting Elsir Vale. This time it will definitely be a pincer attack, potentially putting the soft casters in grave danger of damage.

5. I still don't know what the PCs have planned by the time they return to Elsir Vale---will update this as necessary. By this time, however, the Red Hand brass can easily dispatch the assassin---likely the Naztharune Rakshasa---who's supposed to kill Holden's wife in Flamekeep. (The player asked for this since it was part of his character's backstory in a higher-level adventure we'd played a couple of years ago.)

6. Along the way to the Thornwaste, the party is going to witness the burning of Drellin's Ferry on the horizon. They're also going to meet some of the horde advance parties---the easy skirmish, then the Barghest Reavers. I'm probably going to save Miha Serani for later so I can make her a full-blown Rakshasa instead of a Zakya. If I do make her a Zakya, though, she'll be coming in earlier.

7. Here's my redone random encounter table for the Thornwaste. Due to the area's diseased nature and the Ghostlord's power, the area has become a haven for all sorts of predators---the Ghostlord's undead, and the remnants of the Daelkyr-tainted wildlife that fled Rhest after it was destroyed. (My fluff for the Daelkyr lord that inhabited Rhest before the Ghostlord slew it was that he was some guy who liked tentacles; conveniently enough the Hound of the Gloom and pseudonatural animals are pretty much tentacle monsters.)

{table="head"]|%|Encounter|EL
1st|01-04|Varanthian|10
2nd|5-10|hound of the gloom (LOM)|9
3rd|11-15|2 pseudonatural dire lions (LOM)|8
4th|16-19|bulette|7
5th|20-29|1d4 dire lions|7
6th|30-34|1d4 ghost brute lions|7
7th|35-38|1 ghost dire lion|7
8th|39-46|1d4 ambush drakes (MM3)|7
9th|47-52|2 boneclaws (MM3)|7
10th|53-57|1d4 lesser bonedrinkers (MM3)|6
11th|58-72|1 megaraptor|6
12th|73-78|1d6 wights|6
13th|79-85|1d4 deinonychus|5
14th|87-94|tendriculos|5
15th|95-100|demonthorn mandrake (MM5)|5[/table]

Apparently the editors forgot that Varanthian was half-fiend, and listed her EL as only 8, despite the appendix stat block listing her as her proper CR 10. I already rolled. Sadly the party is encountering Demonthorn Mandrakes, though I guess it would be their first time to fight plants, so this will be interesting.


8. Varanthian will not remain at 109 HP. The party's shown it can deal 20-45 damage easily. While the behir will resist a lot of Kikkeni's blasting, the beatsticks have torn everything to shreds. I'm not sure how the encounter will play out yet. I might playtest it today.

9. Ulwai's monks have been buffed up to Monk 2/Unarmed Swordsage 3. Strangely enough this seems to be the appropriate level for them given the encounter's listed EL in the book. Their Evasion ought to protect them from shake n' bake, but they can only keep their luck up so much. I'm planning on swapping out one of the clerics for a Kulkor Zhul War Adept so they can at least blast back.

10. The Ghostlord is getting another Blighter level, definitely-- and a flunkie, just to make fighting him seem a lot less feasible. I'm throwing in a half-Farspawn bugbear psychic warrior 6; one of the Ghostlord's Daelkyr-tainted friends whom the Ghostlord respected enough to let live--if you haven't read my BG on the Ghostlord yet, he was a hobgoblin druid who worked with the goblinoid inhabitants of Rhest to kick out the Daelkyr who invaded it. The bugbear's all wrenched out of shape (Willing Deformity [Tall]), and has unsettling tentacle growths.


EDIT: I've playtested Marked for Death. It's freaking brutal! Largely due to luck, though: In my playtest Holden critfailed a Charm Monster save and grappled Kikkeni, while Linnea got torn to shreds by an Enlarged, Bull's Strengthed critical falcion c/o a Blackspawn full attack. Granted Kikkeni can still manifest powers when grappled, she can't move to save her life. Halfway through the second round, one caster is dead, one fighter practically out of the battle, and the second caster is down to half HP and grappled. The pincer attack locked out Lyka (who rushed ahead to attack the ogre) who rolled highest initiative and went first.

They're going to need to maintain their luck if they want to make it out of this one alive.

AslanCross
2009-08-03, 05:55 PM
Tangent while we wait for this Saturday's session:

I'm trying to help Linnea's player look for a PrC. We're both aware that a full casting PrC is the way to go, and as such that severely limits our choices. A lot of cleric PrCs seem to have partial casting.

Her current build stands as such:
Human Cloistered Cleric 7 (Aureon)
Domains: Magic and Force
Feats:
1st: Knowledge Devotion
1st Bonus: Craft Wand
3rd: Divine Defiance
6th: Imbued Healing

My initial suggestion is Sacred Exorcist (CDiv) if she wants to pursue the demon hunter theme, with Paragnostic Apostle (CChamp) being a distant second---it fits the cloistered cleric. Both of them have highly situational abilities (as RHOD isn't really heavy on undead or evil outsiders until the end), and Paragnostic Apostle's abilities are even more situational.

While Paragnostic Apostle is only 5 levels long, it doesn't really have a capstone and as such seems kind of boring. Only upside is that it has the Lore ability to, but trivia isn't going to help much later on against the foes in chapter 3, 4, and 5.

Sacred Exorcist seems like a good choice for now, but I can't see it being of much use; it might just end up being a PrC for the sake of having a PrC. (Though I guess with the addition of the Rakshasa Talons of Tiamat to the adventure it might be slightly more useful than in the garden-variety RHOD module.)

The player herself isn't really sure what direction to take with the character; her concept for her anyway was more of a joke character than anything, but I told her it might not be a good idea to give her 5 levels in Commoner. @_@ (She wasn't intending to do that anyway.)

Since she's not a general Sovereign Host cleric, Sovereign Speaker is out, as are any other religion-specific Faiths of Eberron PrCs.

I'm toying with the idea of Mystic Theurge, but even if she took the requisite 3 levels of Wizard and the remaining 2 in MT, she's only going to end up with 3rd level Wizard spells and 5th level Cleric spells. Against the later enemies, she's definitely going to need 6th level spells, and of course giving up CL is bad.

Any suggestions?

KillianHawkeye
2009-08-03, 07:43 PM
How did she take Craft Wand at 1st level? It has Caster Level 5th as a prerequisite.

Eldariel
2009-08-03, 07:46 PM
Cloistered Cleric is just fine without PrCs. Otherwise you may homebrew some PrC that matches CC in mechanics instead of standard Cleric (BAB, HD, skills). What's her alignment? When it comes to Cleric PrCs, that's the 1000-dollar question.

Also, any specific interests outside her usual field of study? Fighting undead? Interest in arcane magic? Purity of her own church? Knowledge and information? Divination?

AslanCross
2009-08-03, 11:13 PM
How did she take Craft Wand at 1st level? It has Caster Level 5th as a prerequisite.

Ah, I interchanged the order in which she took her feats. They're legal.


Cloistered Cleric is just fine without PrCs. Otherwise you may homebrew some PrC that matches CC in mechanics instead of standard Cleric (BAB, HD, skills). What's her alignment? When it comes to Cleric PrCs, that's the 1000-dollar question.

Also, any specific interests outside her usual field of study? Fighting undead? Interest in arcane magic? Purity of her own church? Knowledge and information? Divination?

She's NG. I haven't been able to talk to her much about that. I asked her what further interests she might have, but she hasn't given me any definitive answers yet. I'll ask her again when I get to meet her online.

kjones
2009-08-03, 11:28 PM
Don't worry about the players not making friends with the Tiri Kitor - if they want to treat them as NPCs rather than as people, that's their call, and they'll pay for it later. (In my game, the owl-riders served a valuable reconnaissance function in invalidating Ulwai's successful bluffs. And the owls were nice, too.)

But make sure they realize that befriending the Tiri Kitor is a possibility. Play up the personalities of key elves. Have them try to make friends with the PCs (yes, this is against their secretive nature, but if the party clears out Rhest, that will earn them some goodwill). This will make it more clear that the elves are amenable to an alliance, but only if the PCs are diplomatic about it.

I would suggest that you find some way to emphasize the military might of the Tiri Kitor, to get the players to recognize how valuable an alliance would be, but this could backfire - your players may start asking the valid question, "If the elves are so tough, why can't they deal with Rhest on their own?" Or conversely, "If the elves aren't even strong enough to take on Rhest, then how would they be helpful in the defense of Brindol?" There are workarounds for this - the elves have other reasons for avoiding Rhest - but be careful.

I think the best thing you can do is just let it play out naturally. Which I guess is probably what you were doing anyway, so ignore these last few paragraphs. :smalltongue:

Kol Korran
2009-08-04, 04:34 AM
just an idea that might fit a cleric of Aureon- what about divine oracle? i suggest only the 3 first levels, the rest are crap.

this is only usefull if she uses a lot of divination spells though. if not, then it's utterly wasted.

you can replace the prequisite of knoweldge (religion) with the knowledge devotion perhaps?

other suggestions:
1) she could "come to see the truth of the host" and become a cleric of all of it, and so be eligable to soverign speaker, which is a more than decent PrC. if she stil lwants the character to be a joke, you can have her be a sort of holy woman made partially mad by the voices and whispers of the host, so she keeps alternating her own speech and behaviour accordingly. just a suggestion.

2) in the wizards boards, quite a long time ago, there was a thread creating a PrC for each of the host disciples. (part of the reason for my nick name. the PrC for Kol Korran all revolved around "everything has a price" theme) i hope it's still there, good luck hunting. don't remember where it was.

3) there is always contemplative. i realy dislike that PrC though, it doesn't realy give much i think, and it's flavour makes it quite hard for the character to continue adventuring. it's only positive side is that it doesn't have that special prequisites. only problem- she oculd take it only at level 11 due to the religion preq. but you can always lower that to fit in your campaign...

hope this somehow helps,
Kol.

AslanCross
2009-08-04, 06:16 AM
Don't worry about the players not making friends with the Tiri Kitor - if they want to treat them as NPCs rather than as people, that's their call, and they'll pay for it later. (In my game, the owl-riders served a valuable reconnaissance function in invalidating Ulwai's successful bluffs. And the owls were nice, too.)

But make sure they realize that befriending the Tiri Kitor is a possibility. Play up the personalities of key elves. Have them try to make friends with the PCs (yes, this is against their secretive nature, but if the party clears out Rhest, that will earn them some goodwill). This will make it more clear that the elves are amenable to an alliance, but only if the PCs are diplomatic about it.

I would suggest that you find some way to emphasize the military might of the Tiri Kitor, to get the players to recognize how valuable an alliance would be, but this could backfire - your players may start asking the valid question, "If the elves are so tough, why can't they deal with Rhest on their own?" Or conversely, "If the elves aren't even strong enough to take on Rhest, then how would they be helpful in the defense of Brindol?" There are workarounds for this - the elves have other reasons for avoiding Rhest - but be careful.

I think the best thing you can do is just let it play out naturally. Which I guess is probably what you were doing anyway, so ignore these last few paragraphs. :smalltongue:

Well, the session where the PCs first met the Tiri Kitor didn't have my regular players around; due to bad weather and ornery parents they weren't allowed to go. The new players ended up having to sub ("bot" would be a more appropriate term, as this is what Kikkeni's player calls them) for them. As such they didn't really know how to RP the characters and only managed a few terse thank yous and pleases. They kind of backed off once the elves said they aren't willing to leave their town.
Kikkeni's player realized that they might be helpful, so she kind of facepalmed when I told her the bot-players didn't try to make any interaction checks. She plans on fixing that next session.


Kol> Thanks for the suggestions. I'm planning on talking to her some more. She hasn't come online yet, and I don't want to decide for her.

Eldariel
2009-08-04, 06:19 AM
Out of the box, Loremaster seems better than Divine Oracle with more skillpoints and an expanded skill list along with continued Lore and some other handy class features. Though whether it's worth losing 2 SP per level is a big question mark.

AslanCross
2009-08-04, 06:44 AM
Out of the box, Loremaster seems better than Divine Oracle with more skillpoints and an expanded skill list along with continued Lore and some other handy class features. Though whether it's worth losing 2 SP per level is a big question mark.

Well, she has 17 Int and is human, so 2 less skill points isn't really such a big dent.

AslanCross
2009-08-08, 08:40 AM
5:24 PM

Session 9: An Alliance and An Assassination

Day 13: Twilight Telepathy
After raiding the dragon's hoard and finding the important plot-relevant items in the Rhest town hall, the PCs figure out what to do with Nurkulnaak.

They plan to tie him to the side of the boat partially immersed in the water, among other grave threats and such. They even laughed at the irony of finding his torture implements inside his Haversack.

However, at this point things don't go as they've planned and go surprisingly well according to my plan.

Using his telepathy, Nurkulnaak sends messages to the PCs heads in Daelkyr. None of them know the language, but the term "Daelkyr" is used. Nurkulnaak himself acts shocked and horrified, and begins looking around him in horror. Loven quickly rips off the gag while holding his rapier sharply against the beguiler's throat (they still don't know that he is one) and demanding what was going on.

"You fools, it's the Daelkyr! Don't you know the history of this place? It's tainted!"

All this while, the same line keeps repeating in the heads of the PCs:
Fathk nrathkyl quyrafl uytrlk Daelkyr
Fathk nrathkyl quyrafl uytrlk Daelkyr
Fathk nrathkyl quyrafl uytrlk Daelkyr

Using Silent Spell, Nurkulnaak casts blur on himself---the only spell he can cast---and feigns a seizure.

Everyone does their best to try to figure out what's going on, but without any spell components to identify the spell with, Linnea couldn't really tell whether he had cast a spell or not.

Thoroughly spooked, they decide to quickly get the hell out of there and drag Nurkulnaak behind them. When they get onto the roof, they realize they're surrounded.

Where things do NOT go according to plan.
Four blackscale lizardfolk stand on the roof. These guys are enormous. Three of them are carrying tree-sized greatclubs, while the fourth has the telltale horns and wings of a half dragon.

Nurkulnaak secretly sends telepathic messages to the blackscales, telling them to run quickly and inform the Red Hand, and they will be rewarded. Despite their dim wits, they respect Nurkulnaak as a herald of Regiarix and fight a little longer only to escape. The half-dragon is the most intelligent and fastest, and as such is an ideal messenger, but Nurkulnaak broadcasts it to them just in case.

Once on the roof, Kikkeni begins to use her backup dorje of energy ray as she is out of PP.

Holden, however, quickly takes out the winged half-dragon via a lucky Divine Surge. The beast falls to the ground and almost pins him, but he successfully gets out of the way.

One of the remaining blackscales grabs Nurkulnaak from Holden, tucks him under his shoulder, and leaps into the water. The others do likewise, scattering in different directions.

Lyka manages an amazing leap onto the back of the blackscale holding Nurkulnaak and proceeds to hack at him, while the flying Holden pursues. Linnea plants an Ice Knife in the blackscale's back, but it keeps on paddling. The two other blackscales escape unmolested.

Eventually Linnea uses her Rod of Viscid Globs on the blackscale, and Lyka shanks it dead. With the blackscales gone, their escape from the accursed ruins is going to be easier. More importantly, Nurkulnaak is alive. Still frothing and blurred, but alive.

They decide to paddle back to where they left the boat, using the dead lizard as a raft.

Don't look at me, I just DM here. o_o;

Return to Starsong.
Much to the shock of the elves, the PCs paddle in triumphantly, towing the corpse of an ogre-sized lizard behind them. The community gathers to welcome them, only to gape at their grisly trophy.

Killiar arrives and congratulates the PCs. He asks if they need to see the elders, to which they reply "Yes, we need items identified." (SIGH.)

Trellara comes in and identifies Nurkulnaak's gear, while Illian easily deduces that the PCs have been had. He dispels Nurkulnaak's blur. Much wincing around the table.

Sellyria arrives and asks them what they plan on doing. "We wish to interrogate our 'guest'."
The old druid says she understands their needs, but says they may not shed any blood within Starsong. Holden assents, and they bring Nurkulnaak into a tent for interrogation.

In Your Face, Jack Bauer
Holden and Lyka decide to use both the candle of truth and the elixir of truth for redundancy. Nurkulnaak fails his save against the candle.

Despite the zone of truth's effects, Nurkulnaak is able to remain dodgy. He knows how these effects work, and as such only answers yes/no questions. He also replies with questions, making it harder for the PCs to get any info out.

Here's how the interrogation played out:
<H> What is the Red Hand's strategy?
<N> What kind of strategy do we need against an army of farmers, farriers and stable boys?
<H> What are the Red Hand's plans?
<N> You have the map. You tell me.
<H> Irrelevant. I asked you a question.
<N> I don't know.
<H> Any specifics? What was the Red Hand's purpose in Rhest?
<N> You saw the hatchery, didn't you? We were breeding Greenspawn Razorfiends for use as shock troops.
<H> How many are your forces?
<N> *shrug*
<H> I want a number.
<N> I don't know the exact numbers.
<H> Are there other spellcasters like you?
<N> Yes.
<H> To what platoon or organization do you belong?
<N> I am a member of the Kulkor Zhul, the elite spellcasting brigade.
<H> What do they specialize in?
<N> I'm sure you would consider any spellcasting special, Mr. Mundane Dwarf.
<H> *annoyed* I was asking what kinds of sorcery the others could do.
<N> Various kinds.
<H> How many casters are there?
<N> I'm not sure. I've been stationed here for a while. Not many survive our training.
<H> How many do you know survived?
<N> About two dozen.
<H> How do you intend to deal with Brindol?
<N> How does any large army deal with a fortified city?
<H> So you're planning on laying siege to it?
<N> *shrug*
<H> What about the dragons? How many dragons serve---
<Kikkeni interrupts Holden> Dragons serve no one.
<H> Fine, how many dragons fight with the horde?
<N> One.
<H> What type?
<N> Red.
<H> Name?
<N> Abithriax.
<H> How old?
<N> I am not well-versed enough in draconic lore to know.
<H> Who is in command of the horde?
<N> Wyrmlord Hravek Kharn.
<H> Who are his direct subordinates?
<N> It wouldn't matter anyway, would it? Two of them are dead.
<H> Who is still alive?
<N> Wyrmlord Ulwai.
<H> Where is Ulwai stationed?
<N> I don't know.
<H> Who reports to Ulwai?
<N> The Wyrmlords are assigned specific tasks, and typically don't directly command the armies.
<H> Why does the Red Hand have the Ghostlord's phylactery?
<N> What is every lich's greatest fear?
<H> What is your relationship with the Ghostlord?
<N> Liches never make friends with anyone.
<H> What are you asking him to do?
<N> I don't know. Ask Ulwai.
<H> Where is the Ghostlord's lair?
<N> Ask Ulwai.
<H, tries to intimidate> You're lucky we aren't allowed to spill your blood here. Tell me what you know.
<N, laughs, grins> I know how these things go. This was my JOB in the Red Hand! I know all about interrogation and torture. You're doing it wrong, and your precious principles are holding you back.


Presently, Killiar enters and asks them how things are going. They reply that they haven't been getting much, and feel they're about done. They escort Nurkulnaak off the grounds, asking Killiar to keep the archers' bows trained on the hobgoblin as they leave the community.

Loven begins to turn into a cyborg Belkar as he says "You know, I don't like killing. But I can kill in the name of the greater good. And you know what?" he glowers as he pushes his rapier against the hobgoblin's throat.

"THIS IS THE GREATER GOOD!" *STABBITY* (At this point, the pizza arrives and we break for lunch.)


Day 14: Recovering the Hoard and New Allies

The group purchases some sacks to carry the cash from Regiarix's hoard, and spend the first half of the day doing this. They then return to a banquet in celebration of their feats, and Sellyria tables the alliance dialogue.

One by one, the elves state their cases.
Killiar: Is not convinced the Red Hand directly threatens them; thinks dividing their military to help the humans is a bad idea.
Trellara: Wants vengeance for her brother, but is not too confident of her opinion as she is the youngest of the elders. She also thinks that acting out of passion may be a bad idea.
Illian: Wishes to help Linnea, a fellow Sovereign Host cleric (though Illian is a cleric of Balinor and Linnea is a cleric of Aureon), but does not want to put Starsong's leaders into a situation where they are cut off from Starsong itself in the event that the Red Hand lays siege to Brindol.
Sellyria: As the oldest of the elves, she remembers the ancient wars fought between the humans, and she knows all of the Last War's history. She is not convinced the humans are trustworthy enough, and while she is aware that war devastates her beloved nature, she knows its destruction need not come if she can avoid it.

The players break into a very long and well-Rped discussion among themselves, excusing themselves while they put together their case.
Holden, being the party face, leads the discussion.

Holden admits all four of them have good cases and wants to concentrate on convincing Killiar. He thinks that Starsong's military need not be divided, as all of them could march to Brindol and take all the people with them.
Kikkeni and Lyka react, saying that bringing even more refugees to the likely overburdened Brindol is not feasible.
Holden doesn’t see refugees but an army; Kikkeni says there are a good number of noncombatants who might be put directly into harm's way.
Lyka echoes this.
Kikkeni also brings up the matter of Starsong Hill being sacred ancestral ground; it's not a plot of land to be abandoned so easily.
Holden realizes this and begins formulating other suggestions.

-The proximity of Rhest to Starsong Hill suggests that it is likely that once the Razorfiend army was completed, Starsong Hill would have been used as a testing ground.
-The leaders of Starsong need not go to Brindol.
-Kikkeni suggests that if the Horde is indeed able to lay siege to Brindol, then it is likely that an army able to deal with a fortified city can easily breach a grove of trees. The red dragon alone could smoke them out like rats by setting fire to the entire tree wall.
-Holden tables a substantial offer of gold to the elves.

The PCs conclude that staying in Starsong Hill is not the right course of action, considering the power of the horde. Holden makes his checks, and the others, having contributed to the discussion, make their aid another checks as well.

Poker-faced, the elves break for their own huddle. They return, still poker-faced, and begin with their response.

Alliance point tally:
-Killiar: Completely convinced. (DC 31) +2 alliance points.
-Trellara: Completely convinced. (DC 23) +2 alliance points.
-Illian: Partially convinced. (DC 32 to convince completely). +1 alliance point
-Sellyria: Partially convinced. (DC 34 to convince completely). +1 alliance point.
-Razorfiends slain: 3. +3 AP
-Rhest cleared of Red Hand presence: +2 AP
-Generous gift of gold: +2 AP
Total: 13 AP

Impressed by their performance, the elves offer a cadre of archers to bolster Brindol. Killiar and Trellara will go as well. Illian will remain behind in Starsong to manage it while Sellyria goes off to Brindol to meet with its leaders. She will then promptly return to Starsong.

Illian hands the PCs a sending stone for them to use to call on the elves; only then will they send the army and their representatives.

Sellyria concludes: "While we elves live long lives, not many of us live to see times as dark as these. It is fortunate, however, that in these dark times we have allies as honorable as you."

The players rejoice, though I tell them what they would have gotten if they had been slightly more successful: They missed out on the owls. Massive groaning. They also remember now that they had left their mounts at the edge of the swamp. They give up their mounts for dead, and figure it would be best to depart quickly.

They travel the remaining half of the day and camp out in the burnt-out shell of the Rhest blockade.

Days 15, 16, and 17

Day 15: Random weather says Heat Wave. They decide they would rather risk the fatigue and nonlethal damage than have the potential obliteration of Brindol on their heads. They press on and fail a lot of saves, but none of them passes out.

Day 16: Uneventful.

Day 17: They march through the day and arrive at noon at Witchcross, which has become a ghost town. They decide to make use of the remaining half of the day and spend time to train for teamwork benefits. Lyka and Holden primarily gain the use of Crowded Charge, Massed Charge and Like A Rock. They camp.

Day 18: Marked For Death

Half a day's journey from Brindol, they come to a clearing in the road early in the evening and spy two men being tortured by a gang of hobgoblins and an ogre. Loven is unable to see well in the gloom and can't spot whether the men are still alive; the distance makes his check worse. He slips into the woods and brings out his crossbow.

They decide to throw caution to the wind and attack; it's late in the evening, so they can afford to spend all their spells and power points. Kikkeni launches a devastating augmented energy missile at the gang, dropping almost all of them dead in one shot. Holden and Lyka close in on them rapidly.

Then the excrement collides with the ventilation.

Linnea and Loven begin walking towards the woods. An enormous hobgoblin materializes, swinging a wicked-looking heavy flail. He takes two swings at her, smashing off about half her HP. Breaking invisibility, two other large creatures appear---9-foot tall black-scaled dragon men wielding giant falchions, their eyes gleaming with cunning and wickedness.

Almost immediately, Linnea is dropped to -2 HP by a critical hit. A voice enters Holden's mind, speaking to him in Goblin, saying "Hold tightly onto the Kalashtar and it will be over quickly." (Holden fails his save vs the Charm Monster (Sp), and grabs Kikkeni).

Kikkeni struggles against the grapple, and two more blackspawn appear in the forest, bearing down on Loven. Lyka uses her incredible speed to reach one of the giant blackspawn and cuts it down. Kikkeni is able to use energy missile once more, augmenting it to its maximum level, and hits the greater barghest and two of the blackspawn. The barghest is damaged and responds by casting blink on itself, while the blackspawn goes down. Meanwhile, the sinister voice compels Holden to drag Kikkeni into the woods where the newly-materialized blackspawn await the slaughter.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Loven makes a break for Linna and uses a potion of cure moderate wounds on her. The cleric woozily gets up and immediately identifies the giant hobgoblin as a Greater Barghest, a soul-devouring lupine fiend. Immediately another Barghest materializes right beside Kikkeni. The compulsion on Holden seems to let up for a bit, as the Barghest takes swings against the psion. Kikkeni manages another maximized energy missile on the first Barghest, sending it shrieking back into the void.

Ultimately only one Barghest and one Blackspawn are left. Attempting to take out the psion once and for all, the remaining blackspawn attempts to grapple Kikkeni and hold her down for the Greater Barghest to feast on. While she manages to land an AOO on the Blackspawn, her nonmagical staff simply bounces off his DR (YAY DR/MAGIC WAS USEFUL FOR ONCE). At this point, Kikkeni is down to 4 HP.

Without the compulsion forcing him to act, Holden uses Revit Strike to hit the Barghest and heal Kikkeni up to more comfortable levels. The Barghest dimdoors away to safety, considering the day's work done, while the remaining Blackspawn drags the psion away from the party. Linnea puts a smoldering hole in its head with her wand of scorching ray.

Shaken, but not stirred not slain, the party heals up and rests uneasily.


To The Slaughter
Day 19. The party wakes up and begins to continue walking toward Brindol, which is half a day's journey away. As soon as they clear the Witchwood, they see a massive column of smoke rising in the west. Its base is periodically illuminated by flashes of blue-white light and long, slow blasts of red fire.

Drellin's Ferry has fallen.

End of session.

Postmortem:
-We started really late and only had two combat encounters, but this is seriously one of the best sessions I've ever DMed. The roleplaying was good, and I was able to make the Red Hand troops look far more competent. Suddenly they aren't grab bags of XP anymore; they can think, they can fool the players, and have an intelligence network that makes them dangerous. Even Lyka's player said she found "finding out we were beguiled was honestly very awesome."

-This session, IMO, epitomizes all of the good things about RHOD. It's malleable enough to fit in any campaign setting, allows the PCs to perform their own actions while sticking to an urgent timeline.

-This high-risk, high-reward session really carried the feel of urgent danger and lucky saves that Eberron is all about.

-I was really happy with the roleplaying in both the interrogation encounter and the negotiation with the elves.

-It was hilarious how they first thought that the burning column of smoke was Brindol. I had to explain that the smoke was coming from the direction of Drellin's Ferry.


-The Marked for Death encounter happened almost exactly as I had playtested it. My heart was pounding really hard as they fell for it, and I was honestly worried about one of them getting eaten by the Barghests. Still, they pulled through with perseverance, teamwork and heroism. They really deserved that big chunk of XP they got from it.

kjones
2009-08-12, 06:30 PM
My apologies for not stepping earlier with my highly valued and extremely helpful commentary. :smalltongue: I've been off in the woods.

That sounds like a fantastic session. I wish I could have had the opportunity to role-play Nurklenak the way you did - both times I ran the battle of Rhest, he was killed instead of captured. You did an excellent job there.

It also sounds like the Marked for Death encounter went very well. (and I'm mightily impressed that you actually play-test your encounters - that's much more dedication and time than I can muster!) You successfully shifted your encounter difficulties from low/moderate level (in my mind, level 6 and below) to moderate/high level (level 7 and up - 4th level spells make a big difference). This is something I had a lot of trouble with, and the party breezed through a few sessions worth of encounters before I successfully re-calibrated the difficulty level.

I guess my point is, watch this closely. In my opinion, the module continues to overstate the difficulty of its encounters in the face of full casters - up until Chapter 4 and the Battle of Brindol. Depending on how well your party manages resources, those can get tough, and when pumping up the encounter levels for Chapter 4, throw caution to the wind.

Just out of curiosity, since you mentioned that you told your players about the owls they could have earned. Under what circumstances do you tell your players about things that could have happened in the game, but didn't? I find myself doing this fairly frequently, mostly because I'm always a little disappointed when my players manage to miss something cool I've concocted. However, I sometimes find that I regret it later, since I'll end up in a situation in which I could have re-used the idea if I hadn't told them already.

AslanCross
2009-08-12, 11:51 PM
Thanks, I was really happy with how it all turned out. (And thanks for the reply as well, was afraid this thread would go extinct.XP )

I began to playtest because it gets pretty frustrating when the encounter is described as dangerous in the book and thus logically be more difficult when upgraded, but then it gets overrun by the players. At least this way I'm able to plan the monster tactics and gauge how well the players can tackle it. As for time, I get off work at 12:30 pm, so I do have a lot of free time.

Future plans:

-I've mentioned before that I was considering making Varanthian stronger. However, I've playtested the encounter a few times and I've come to the conclusion that there will be at least one death.
--It is impossible to sneak up on her without any foreknowledge. Her scent will detect anyone walking up to the foot of the stairs.
--It is possible for Varanthian to crawl up to the ceiling and hang over the entrance. With her massive Climb modifier, she can get up there without worrying about her speed. Her reach will allow her to bite anyone from there, making it difficult for any melee characters to hurt her. Lyka can possibly jump that high (there is enough space for her to move 20 feet and make the DC 32 Jump), but that's not very reliable.
--I've only ever seen someone break out of the behir's grapple twice---Lyka through the use of rage and an action point, and Holden through a natural 20 plus a natural 6 on his action point roll.
--Furthermore, she's immune to electricity (Kikkeni's favorite) and has both SR and energy resistance. While this doesn't make her unkillable, it makes her last a lot longer.
--Despite the 25 damage threshold of the behir's gizzard, it's a lot harder to do than usual with only a light weapon. (This is also the reason behind my other thread about ToB and grappling.)
--The gizzard's grinding hurts a LOT. They might have to use the Staff of Life after this encounter---assuming that the characters who die don't do so in Varanthian's belly. It would really REALLY suck if the character was carried off when Varanthian escapes. (I intend to have her try her best to escape, especially since it adds a further threat in Chapter IV)

-I swapped out the lesser bonedrinkers for standard bonedrinkers. The little rats are going to get swatted practically instantly.
-I've yet to see how the PCs might deal with the incorporeal monsters. That might be the subject of my next playtest.
-The Ulwai encounter is going to get a Kulkor Zhul War Adept. The fight's going to turn one-sided really quickly if Kikkeni resorts to her shake-and-bake.
-The Ghostlord's getting an upgrade and a lackey, as I've mentioned in the post above, just to add a further reason it might not be a good idea to fight him now.


Linnea's player has settled on getting Paragnostic Apostle for her PrC. She says it fits her character concept and kind of enhances her blaster spells (Earth Reaver, Ice Flowers, etc) so the class would make her a secondary blaster. This worries me a bit considering how blasting has allowed the party to easily kill encounters so far, but for now, they can bring it on.

AslanCross
2009-08-19, 08:34 AM
DAY 19, Noon

The PCs arrive in Brindol at noon. They pay the gate tax and enter, and meet a group of clerics of Dol Arrah tending to a whole bunch of sick people by the roadside who are being evacuated into wagons headed for Vathirond in the East. The clerics ask the PCs for help, and they oblige.

Players keep out.
I MEAN IT!
SERIOUSLY!
"Miha Serani" is actually a common identity shared by the Talons of Tiamat, the Rakshasa cell working with the Red Hand. Their Detect Thoughts ability, along with their shapeshifting, makes them excellent spies. "Miha Serani" is known to the citizens of the Vale as a wandering sorcerer, a storyteller who performs at children's parties and performs minor spellcasting. This persona has been in the Vale for months already.

This particular Rakshasa is the default spellcasting variant, with illusion and offensive spells. Her most recent contribution is the spreading of plague throughout Brindol, along with spreading melee-dampening stories about the horrors of war. The frightened children in the wagon are among her victims.

They notice Miha, who immediately tells them that she's something of a fan and would like to join up once her arm gets better. Kikkeni is suspicious as she's the first to notice the unusual amount of attention she was giving them, but the rest of the PCs don't really catch on. They think she might either be a spy or a legitimately noble person, but have no reason to absolutely believe either case.

Insert a hilarious exchange between Holden and Lyka. Lyka threatens to write to Holden's wife back in Thrane about his supposed temptation to have extramarital dalliances with Miha, to which he violently reacts. ("TALL WOMEN DO NOT TURN ME ON!") He orders her to do pushups and sits on her back. She simply retorts that his wife would not approve of this close contact, to which he orders her to do 50 more pushups.

In any case, the clerics order the wagon to move on ahead and also mention that Cpt. Sorrana was looking for them.

The PCs run into her soon, and she embraces the PCs she's met before. Lyka and Linny introduce themselves. The cleric does not fail to mention her novels, which she offers to Sorrana. The soldier actually expresses interest, while Lyka warns her that the books deal with forbidden romances between hobgoblins and dwarves. "And the hobgoblins sparkle too," she adds.
"They sparkle? I thought they just stank."

She brings the PCs to Brindol Keep, where they meet with Lord Jarmaath and Cpt. Ulverth.

The PCs introduce themselves and tell the two everything they know---the information about Abithriax is news to Jarmaath and Ulverth, but the reports of Koth's and Saarvith's deaths help their spirits a lot.

The PCs attempt some discussion regarding siege tactics, but none of this is much help at the moment considering Lady Kaal isn't around. One interesting idea that Holden floats is un-petrifying the stone wyvern (which I'd described as a Thrane air cavalry unit that had been downed during the Last War and petrified, so they can actually use it as a mount) for them to use as a quick means of transporting them around the battlefield when the attacks reach their climax.

The PCs then mention the phylactery and ask for help regarding information about the Ghostlord and the Thornwaste. Jarmaath directs them to Immerstal THE RED.

They proceed to Immerstal and meet Alandri. She tells the PCs that Immerstal can't be bothered right now, and then changes into her sphinx form, offering to allow them to bother Immerstal if they can cough up a riddle. Kikkeni makes an Int check and rolls a 26, but the player didn't have anything on hand so I let her think of one to give it another time.

Immerstal comes down and haggles with them over the price of information that they can get regarding the Thornwaste and the Ghostlord. They refuse to pay the 400 GP it will take for an immediate rush job, so they instead let him hit the books overnight. They also make the very clever move of talking about the phylactery and then ask HIM to pay them 20 GP for the information. He grumpily grants them a 20 GP discount on his research fee.

The PCs then return to the Keep, asking more about Miha along the way. They learn that she was a traveling sorcerer, and Loven believes her story checks out enough to trust her. They also learn that she had blown away a guard who was making inappropriate advances at her (and broke her arm). The PCs can't agree on whether to recruit her or not, and in the end say it would be a good idea to keep her close in any case.

They talk to Ulverth again about the state of the army. He tells them that while the Lion Guard is capable, the militia is pretty much a collection of maggots. Their equipment is pretty decent, but that's pretty much it.

Finally, the party convinces Ulverth to loan them mounts.

The PCs go rest (we have lunch).


Day 20-26: To the Thornwaste

Early the next morning, the PCs get their info from Immerstal---apparently Linny's knowledge was pretty much complete, but it's Immerstal's info that points them to the actual location of the Ghostlord's Lion---12 miles into the Thornwaste.

They also learn that the Thornwaste is home to a the Daelkyr-tainted wildlife that escaped the corruption and subsequent destruction of Rhest. The badlands are home to all sorts of predators---natural, undead, and aberrant.

They then buy provisions for the journey and get a wagon as well. They take their horses and ride off as fast as they can.

The PCs move as quickly as they can, stopping in Prosser, then Dauth. The weather gets pretty nasty, but they continue anyway; their rationale is that the visibility is just as bad for whoever is watching them anyway.

Day 22: The PCs encounter a small band of hobgoblins with a dire wolf marching down the road. (Easy skirmish). The PCs wipe them out easily--Kikkeni opens up with an Energy Ball that incinerates the grunts. They're surprised the dire wolf and the bladebearer survive, but Holden charges in on his horse anyway. This was a bad move. The wolf overpowers the horse and trips it, sending the dwarf sprawling onto the ground.

Lyka charges the bladebearer with Two-Weapon Pounce, but rolls two natural ones. Pathetic.
Loven and Linny take potshots from the wagon, but it's Kikkeni's energy missile that kills the dire wolf. Finally, Lyka finishes off the bladebearer with Death From Above. Easy XP.

Day 26: I swear this is random. I roll a tornado on the random weather table. Instead of blowing them away (almost did, but it didn't make any sense for a twister to appear out of the blue and blow them away), I have the storm rage on the horizon, with the twister rampaging across the prairie. A sign of things to come.


The Temple of the Rotting Lion
The PCs decide not to stop at the edge of the Thornwaste; I decide to dispense with the random encounters I rolled (it was just a bunch of demonthorn mandrakes anyway; if it had been a Hound of the Gloom or a Pseudonatural Megaraptor I'd have gone with that).

They didn't want to be caught dead sleeping in the Thornwaste, so they decided to continue pushing towards the Lion. The trip is made much easier by Lyka's ranks in Survival, so she pulls them through.

They arrive at the Lion at sunset. One by one, the ghostly lion shapes wink into vision around the monolith, and the PCs gape in awe at those for a while. Linny assures them that the vestiges aren't harmful, and that they might be bound magically to the monolith. Before they enter, a brief debate flares up over what exactly to do with the phylactery. Holden and Lyka want to destroy the Ghostlord; Loven wants to blackmail him; Kikkeni doesn't want to fight him either way, and finally Linny is neutral. They still don't know what to do.

The PCs see the mouth and the cavern in the Lion's chest; they decide that it would be better if all of them enter together as not everyone can make the climb up the monolith's side.

And they walk straight into Varathian's lair.


Crushing Coils
The behir had smelled, spotted and heard them way before they even entered the cavern. She is poised to strike, hanging upside-down from the ceiling, 15 feet up.

Everyone forgets to make Spot and Listen checks (which is kind of silly, as Holden and Loven's player was continuously rolling during the journey). As such, Varanthian gets a surprise round. However, my bad luck and the players' stellar luck figure heavily in this battle once more---Varanthian rolls a 1 on Initiative.

Immediately she uses her Smite Good with her bite, ripping a huge chunk out of Holden and grabbing him into her coils. The rest of the party decides to run, but Holden curses at Lyka for even thinking of abandoning him.

Using her Whirling Frenzy to boost her strength and squeezing out every last bit of bonus by using an action point, she jumps up and grabs Holden.

And beats Varanthian's grapple check (she rolls a natural 1).

I did forget to ask for a Jump check (hard to beat that massive Jump DC), but considering how awesome the situation was, I decided to go with Rule of Cool and let her extricate her superior officer.

Kikkeni has nothing that can work well on the behir at the moment, so she decides to go for broke and manifests Death Urge. Varanthian's SR is breached, and she fails her save (+5 will save on a boss? WTH?!).

The party hightails it out of the cavern while Varanthian attacks herself. She shreds herself real badly, roaring all the time and yelling out threats to the Kalashtar.

Once outside, Kikkeni fires an Energy Ball into the cavern, using Electricity. The behir crashes out of the cavern, unscathed. Lots of PPs gone right there. Loven and Linny's attempts at hurting the behir with wands simply bounce off her SR; Kikkeni resorts to Energy Missile due to her target being smack dab in the middile of the party, but this bounces off her SR. but the Behir grabs Linny and begins crushing the life out of her (she goes from full HP to 12 in one attack)

Lyka chops down the Behir to 7 HP with Soaring Raptor Strike, and Holden, in a livid rage, uses Divine Surge on the Behir. Varanthian splits apart and explodes in a huge mess out of which Linny emerges, covered in steaming black blood.

The party pushes on into the Lion.

The Lion's Path
What would've been the most flavorful encounters in this chapter get laughed at. The first two ghost brute lions get slaughtered despite their incorporeal miss chance; Holden smashes them into oblivion. The dire lion fares only slightly better by hitting Holden and draining away 1 point of strength; Linny Turns Undead and sends it fleeing. Disappointing.

Guests

Long story short: Fog Cloud is awesome. The line of sight made fighting highly frustrating for everyone. Since Ulwai's retinue is well-prepared (lots of noise from Varanthian), they're able to set up a rather effective ambush. The monks (now Monk 2/Swordsage 3) make nuisances out of themselves, although their attempts at grappling with the dragonchains fail repeatedly.
The Kulkor Zhul war adept is able to summon a Fiendish Dire Wolf into the middle of the party, but Kikkeni is able to pull away in time. The wolf is eventually taken down by Loven, but Lyka walks straight into the monks.

Despite their buffs, the Mass Shield of Faith that Linny had cast on the party was working wonders in frustrating their attacks. The Evasion that the Monks had kept them alive longer than the PCs expected, but ultimately they went down thanks to the PCs' persistence. The War Adept raved about taking down the PCs with him and began casting his final Scintillating Sphere, but he miserably failed his Casting Defensively Concentration check (YES IT CAN FAIL), and tried to run away. Holden cut him down.

However, one critical boo-boo in this fight---Ulwai got away. Casting Haste on her party and drinking a potion of gaseous form, she was able to slip away and get her Phantom Steed going. The monks in the guardroom escaped as well. Things aren't always in the PCs' favor, and they'll have to deal with that.


The episode ends with the PCs going deeper into the Ghostlord's lair and entering the Chamber of Rebirth.


Thoughts

-I'm surprised at how roleplay-heavy this day was, but the battles that they fought really mattered. Holden/Loven's player is beginning to say that the encounters really feel like they're taking a toll; that STR drain really stung him.
-Again, my luck is miserable.
-The ghost brutes were pretty useless. How did you guys run them? They just popped like bubbles here.
-The party still does not know how to deal with the Ghostlord. I hope they choose wisely.


Plans; players keep out
You thought I was kidding?
You've got to be kidding me. :P
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!
-The lesser bonedrinkers have been swapped out for true bonedrinkers. I might throw in a boneclaw for AOO goodness, or maybe a ghost dire lion.
-The escape of Ulwai and the Staff of Stormclouds is going to make life difficult for the PCs, but how does it actually affect the course of the battle? I know they're definitely going to have to deal with more fires c/o Abithriax.
-That does it. I want a dragon battle that is as grueling as their first one. Abithriax is most definitely going to be a Young Adult. I'm thinking of giving him Tempest Breath to add extra insult to injury.


And please feel free to comment. I don't want to look like I'm talking to myself here. ):

Saph
2009-08-19, 09:19 AM
The ghost brutes are pretty much speedbumps, yeah. They just can't do enough. The ghost dire lions are something else, though. Sure, you can turn them, causing them to flee through the walls, but they just come back 10 rounds later. Several Str drain hits can add up.

The behir fight sounds like it was swung by good luck in the PCs' favour. That's just how it goes. If the PCs are abilities like Divine Surge, though, you should probably bump up the monsters' HP to compensate; they won't last long otherwise.

Future plans:
The bonedrinkers should be much more of a challenge, especially since the PCs haven't yet rested. A boneclaw would be a nasty surprise too, with its reach. Make sure to doublecheck the floorplans before the fight, though; the conditions are very cramped.

Ulwai escaping means two things; firstly, she'll be able to pump up the fires at the Battle of Brindol, and second, she'll be accompanying Kharn in the final battle. Having her around to cast haste on the ogres and giants makes quite a difference!

AslanCross
2009-08-19, 05:42 PM
The ghost brutes are pretty much speedbumps, yeah. They just can't do enough. The ghost dire lions are something else, though. Sure, you can turn them, causing them to flee through the walls, but they just come back 10 rounds later. Several Str drain hits can add up.

The behir fight sounds like it was swung by good luck in the PCs' favour. That's just how it goes. If the PCs are abilities like Divine Surge, though, you should probably bump up the monsters' HP to compensate; they won't last long otherwise.

Future plans:
The bonedrinkers should be much more of a challenge, especially since the PCs haven't yet rested. A boneclaw would be a nasty surprise too, with its reach. Make sure to doublecheck the floorplans before the fight, though; the conditions are very cramped.

Ulwai escaping means two things; firstly, she'll be able to pump up the fires at the Battle of Brindol, and second, she'll be accompanying Kharn in the final battle. Having her around to cast haste on the ogres and giants makes quite a difference!


-Yeah, since they've continued pushing all the way through, they aren't in tip-top shape anymore. Although they've been using the wand of lesser vigor to stay full, Kikkeni expended a lot of PP in those two encounters, and Linny's dispel magics are expended.

-The birthing chamber is quite cramped, yeah. The funny thing is, Holden's player has gotten incredibly annoyed by all the grappling that's been happening since the Varanthian fight. I wonder how he'd feel once his bones get liquefied.

-I still don't know if they're planning to fight the Ghostlord or not. Loven plans to blackmail the Ghostlord into working for THEM, but given the Ghostlord's irritation at this tactic, I'm pretty sure the lich is not going to like this. Their diplomacy worked on a repentant werebear in chapter I, but the Ghostlord is no Vraath.

Eldariel
2009-08-19, 07:36 PM
Loved the exchange between Lyka and Holden - that was hilarious. And yeah, the Ghost Brute Lions are worthless - it's a simple matter of fact that they actually have no damage output. A level 1 commoner with standard array has a similar average damage output; that said, when kjones was running them, we couldn't really come up with anything to make them relevant (even Aid Another is pretty useless with them since aiding a Ghost Dire Lion's touch attacks is largely redundant and aiding its AC when its primary defense is incorporeality is equally pointless; the only thing they really do is take space - Bloodcurling Howl is literally all they have). Mostly, they're just losers. Like, a-member-of-town-militia-eats-them-for-breakfast-given-weapons-that-hit-them kinda losers.

The Dire Lion is much more impressive if the miss chance rolls don't go horribly weird. The Str-drain and Cha-damage abilities make it quite able to be a very real threat. If you want to make the standard Brutes more like Dires and more scary, give them the Draining Touch too; it's a fair game according to the Ghost-creation guidelines (right now they have Corrupting Touch, which is frankly completely worthless without a lot of work). But yeah, Turning them is hardly very efficient at all as it's still around and will come back once the effect wears off.

Rising Phoenix
2009-08-20, 08:00 AM
Thanks for the update! :-)

My party opted to enter via the mouth...so I had Varanthian and the monks flank them...'Unfortunately' Varanthian rolled miserably low and the cleric activated his travel domain power and thus the party got away without anyone getting swallowed. In order to terrify them even more I had Varanthian chase them via smashing the doors all the way to the stairwell... (read: trapped in the Ghostlords lair :smallamused:). They did deal the beast 32 points of damage but only one of the monks had time to use his healing potion (:smallamused: x2).

The encounter with Ulwai was... pathetic... the monks and clerics didn't have any staying power and thus Ulwai surrendered to them naked pretending to be a victim... (you did read my other thread) None of my PCs believes her but they haven't figured out ways to get the truth out of her just yet... Am planning to have her turn invisible and bolt off as soon as they run into the bonedrinkers next door. Perhaps she will try to grab the phylactery as well if they tell her that they have it...

Future plans:

Even for my unoptimized (though stat roll happy) party the bone drinkers are just too weak. So I will probably be boosting them as well...
As for the Ghostlord I upped him to lv 13 (CR 15) and gave him access to life ward . He's meant to be powerful and scary and it would be too much of an anticlimax if the party cleric approached him and just cast cure spells on him. If the party is going to be cocky...they're gonna pay for it...either by a ghost lion swarm or via finger of death...I am planning to houserule that anyone who dies under the GL influence automatically becomes a ghost under his control (so long as the person is willing to give up their character of course...)

AslanCross
2009-08-20, 07:09 PM
I knew the book's stats for the Doom Hand Monks were pretty pathetic; they were among the first I boosted since I was including Tome of Battle.

The Ulwai encounter contained:
-Ulwai, HP maximized to 72.
-Kulkor Zhul War Adept (Hobgoblin Warcaster [MM5] Wizard 2)
-Doom Fist Monk, HP maximized to 50. (Monk 2/Unarmed Swordsage 3) x3
-Doom Hand Cleric

The fog made it really difficult for the party casters to target the monks (as the fog was centered on the door), and the melee guys couldn't see past the monks. The narrow entrance and the fog made it impossible for Holden, the Dwarf Crusader, to charge.

AslanCross
2009-08-24, 05:32 AM
Okay, the encounter with the Ghostlord is coming up. I'm not exactly sure what the players are planning to do with him at this point, but there's a burning question here:

The Ghostlord has a lot of loot in his treasury. Obviously if (IF) the PCs defeat him, he's going to be leaving behind his entire lair for them to plunder. However, if they manage to convince him to take back his phylactery in exchange for withdrawing his support from the Red Hand, how do they go about getting his treasure?

It seems from the fluff that he doesn't care much for it anymore since he did destroy quite a bit of it when he rampaged after losing the phylactery, and I think they need the cash. However, would he still be okay with the PCs plundering his trove even after they returned his phylactery? I wouldn't think so.

(That said, the fat wad of XP from convincing him to withdraw his support is actually a pretty good reward.)

Eldariel
2009-08-24, 05:52 AM
Okay, the encounter with the Ghostlord is coming up. I'm not exactly sure what the players are planning to do with him at this point, but there's a burning question here:

The Ghostlord has a lot of loot in his treasury. Obviously if (IF) the PCs defeat him, he's going to be leaving behind his entire lair for them to plunder. However, if they manage to convince him to take back his phylactery in exchange for withdrawing his support from the Red Hand, how do they go about getting his treasure?

It seems from the fluff that he doesn't care much for it anymore since he did destroy quite a bit of it when he rampaged after losing the phylactery, and I think they need the cash. However, would he still be okay with the PCs plundering his trove even after they returned his phylactery? I wouldn't think so.

(That said, the fat wad of XP from convincing him to withdraw his support is actually a pretty good reward.)

If you want, you could have him offer it in the trade. His phylactery is quite a bit more valuable to him anyways so getting it back could easily make up for all the treasure and it's not like he wants to work for the Red Hand anyways.

That said, I would only do that if they negotiate well. They don't really need the treasure though I'm sure they'd appreciate it. I'd say keep it as an extra reward for negotiation well done, or have the Lord part with parts of it depending on how the deal goes.

Saph
2009-08-24, 06:11 AM
How they're supposed to get the treasure - they aren't. They get the treasure if they can successfully rob or kill the Ghostlord, which is supposed to be crazy difficult. And he's not the generous type either.

My suggestion: After the Ghostlord episode is over and the party heads back to Brindol, ask everyone for their total character wealth, compare it to WBL, and have them receive the difference (plus a bit more) from the government of Brindol in the form of stuff they can use to help defend the city. This makes far more sense than having a maniacally selfish lich just decide to hand them goodies. :)

Rising Phoenix
2009-08-24, 06:19 AM
Hello


"However, if they manage to convince him to take back his phylactery in exchange for withdrawing his support from the Red Hand, how do they go about getting his treasure?

However, would he still be okay with the PCs plundering his trove even after they returned his phylactery? I wouldn't think so."

Simple: They don't unless he allows/ gives it to them (unlikely). It's still his stuff and he can do whatever he wants with it. He would certainly not take kindly to it being stolen... If a sneaky type manages to run off with some items have a ghost or two go after them. If they survive that, let them keep the stuff.

I also like Eldariels' idea of trade. However, remember that the ghostlords has a lot of ghosts at his disposal if the PCs become greedy...

*In a somewhat sarcastic voice*

GL: "Tell me, young one, who am I?"
PC: "The Ghostlord"
GL: "And how long have I lived?"
PC: "A long time"
GL: "And what do I like to do?"
PC: "Ummm...make ghosts?"
GL: "Correct... how many ghosts would that make?" *have ghosts enter the room from everywhere "So then... What were you saying upon not handling me my phylactery?..."

Edit: AslanCross: The Warcaster Stats are tasty...I will have to use them now...:smallamused: thanks...

KillianHawkeye
2009-08-24, 07:02 AM
I'm not sure if it was written in the book, or if this is just how I ran it, but after he got his phylactery back he basically said "Alright, a deal's a deal. Now get the hell out of here before I kill you." I also had him get progressively angrier the longer the PCs tried to talk to him.

That's about the only time I ever managed to intimidate my players with a villain. Darth Vader doesn't scare them, but the Ghostlord did. :smallbiggrin:

AslanCross
2009-08-24, 07:22 AM
Hmm, thanks for all the suggestions.

I think having them get the money from the Brindol government as a reward instead makes much more sense. I see the Ghostlord as the type to threaten the PCs with undead animation if they try to mooch of him more than he's willing. (Given that in my version of his lore, he dates back to the Dhakaani Empire, 5000+ years before the present.)

It seems the players have a consensus that the Ghostlord is bad news if they fight him. Not so sure yet what they're going to do as a whole, though.

Killian> that's pretty much what the book says. His good mood doesn't last long. And given the lore I've built around him, he's rather crazy.



Rising Phoenix> No problem. The base stats for the War Adepts are kinda weaksauce and they don't have much variety.

kjones
2009-08-24, 02:53 PM
With regards to the session:

Your players got extremely lucky in the battle with Varanthian. Beating him on a grapple check? The dice gods were smiling.

Good job on the battle with Ulwai - when my party was confronted with the fog cloud, they simply waited for it to disperse, then approached more carefully. Ulwai's survival will make the battle with Kharn much more interesting. My party saved a feeblemind throughout the entire Battle of Brindol just for her, so she didn't really get to do much, but had she survived she would have had a grand old time. (You think the War Adept's Concentration is bad? Wyrmlord Koth doesn't even have any ranks in Concentration. I found this out the hard way.)

Ghost brute lions are completely useless, save for the fact that they make it hard to rest and recuperate within the lair. If you want to be mean, swap them out for ghost dire lions, but this will probably be too difficult, especially if your party is not well-prepared to fight incorporeal foes. I wish there were more incorporeal monsters that didn't drain your strength, since I'm always wary about throwing too many of those at the party at a time.

If you haven't done so already, upgrade the Lesser Bonedrinkers to regular ol' Bonedrinkers. Pare down their HP a little if you're worried about their strength. Small-sized grapple-based foes are just lame.

Have fun roleplaying the Ghostlord - that was one of my favorite moments of the campaign.

Regarding the Ghostlord:
The Ghostlord should get angry if they try to take his treasure. If they manage to get away with it... well, with his phylactery back the Ghostlord has no reason to side with the Red Hand, but if the players steal his treasure, he may reconsider. That's how I'd play it, at least.

Are you worried about the players attacking the Ghostlord?

AslanCross
2009-08-24, 04:14 PM
Regarding the Ghostlord:
The Ghostlord should get angry if they try to take his treasure. If they manage to get away with it... well, with his phylactery back the Ghostlord has no reason to side with the Red Hand, but if the players steal his treasure, he may reconsider. That's how I'd play it, at least.

Are you worried about the players attacking the Ghostlord?

Well, it seems OOC they weigh heavily towards trying to convince him not to join the Red Hand, which is good. However, Loven wants to convince him to join THEM---don't know how yet, but the DC to do this (using the Giant's alternate diplomacy rules) is astronomical, and if Loven tries to do it by blackmailing the old lich again, he's not going to take it sitting down. Being blackmailed by a horde of hobgoblins with powerful clerics is one thing. Being blackmailed by a motley crew of adventurers is another altogether. (Although he will definitely attack anyone who blackmails him, he will let those who try to escape instead escape.)

Edit: I noticed there's a really stupid misprint on the Blighter entry in CDiv: "resist elements" and "protection from elements." These spells do not exist. I think they mean resist energy and protection from energy. <_< It's not even addressed in the errata, as the errata only fixes the duplicate printing of harm on the list.

Re: Bonedrinkers
I immediately swapped them out for true bonedrinkers. I have two really strong frontliners, and Holden was still able to extricate himself from the Doom Fist grapple monks despite his drained strength. I actually gave the Ghostlord the Corpsecrafter and Nimble Bones feats so the Bonedrinkers are much tougher and faster. Hopefully this encounter will be hard enough to drain most of their resources and make it clear that going medieval on the Ghostlord is a patently bad idea.

Rising Phoenix
2009-08-28, 11:25 AM
Aslan,

It seems that your PCs are going to finish with the Ghostlord early leaving nearly a month of game time before the Horde reaches Brindol. Have you thought of how you are going to fill in that time? I am currently creating an extra chapter for this reason...

Cheers!

R.P.

AslanCross
2009-09-04, 06:26 AM
Well, Holden's player made a special request. His character's wife is a cleric of the Silver Flame in Thrane. He wants me to kill her. I already agreed, so we're going to have that extra complication.

Now might be the time for them to hunt down the Rakshasa sleeper agents. They already failed to get Miha, but as I've mentioned before, there are at least three "Miha Serani" Rakshasa agents.

The PCs could also go out and take some swings at the Red Hand's vanguard or scout out their movements, which I've yet to work out.

The trip back to Brindol will take at least a week, assuming no delays, so that would be at around Day 35. There are still the following tasks to do:

1. Find the Shining Axe gold and send it to the Hammerfist Holds.
2. Find the Rakshasa sleeper agents and kill them.

With the Horde beginning its rampage, I could have them running into various spawn of Tiamat, variants of the earlier marauder encounters, and ambushes.

I'd think they'd be pretty occupied and might have about a week to spare before the horde comes knocking.

Anyway I've also been planning the ultimate treasure for the PCs:

-Holden gets Kumbhakarna's Penance, a variant of the titanic hammer from Explorer's Handbook.
-Lyka gets Vaanon'Gan, the Twilight Devourer: +1 byeshk brutal surge bloodfeeding greatsword. This was originally the Ghostlord's weapon in his ancient past, but he discarded it and the Red Hand found it. She'll have to pry it from Kharn's cold, dead hands, though.
-Loven will be getting a more sniper-friendly variant of the Warforged armbow component. Still haven't gotten around to homebrewing it, though.
-Linny will be getting a custom staff, The Quill of Aureon:
-+1 quarterstaff
-amanuensis, light, and read magic at will.
-+5 competence bonus on Spellcraft and Knowledge checks.
-1/day: glyph of warding
-10/day: blast of force
Did I compute this right? The price comes out to 36700 using these rules. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm) Did I do that right? I'm still not happy with it, though. I might just make it have 50 charges as most staffs do, although I'll keep the at-will powers.


Which brings me to a conundrum. I don't know what to give Kikkeni. She's easily the most powerful of the characters in the party, so giving her a Cognizance Crystal, Psionatrix or Headband of Intellect +4 is both boring and just allowing her to blast more times per day. It would be a lot easier if she were just a wizard. I could've made an Aureon's Spellshard with cool spells in it. If Kikkeni dies soon, then that might happen, but I still need to come up with something for her. What do you guys suggest? (Please spoiler answers.)

Zephyros
2009-09-04, 09:06 AM
Why not an Aureon's Powershard :smallcool: If you are afraid that she is so OP that she shouldn't get something really associated with her class you could give her something situationally useful but flavorful nonetheless. Like a Symbiont or an undead, elemental, plant graft... Eberron books are full of those :smallsmile:

AslanCross
2009-09-04, 05:59 PM
Why not an Aureon's Powershard :smallcool: If you are afraid that she is so OP that she shouldn't get something really associated with her class you could give her something situationally useful but flavorful nonetheless. Like a Symbiont or an undead, elemental, plant graft... Eberron books are full of those :smallsmile:

Good suggestion. The Quori-Embedded Shards look like a good idea.

EDIT: Spoiler fail

AslanCross
2009-09-19, 10:06 AM
SESSION 11: The Turning Point

The Chamber of Rebirth
The PCs open the door to the Chamber of Rebirth and are immediately greeted by the sickly green glow of the pool. I replaced the Lesser Bonedrinkers with true Bonedrinkers bolstered by the Ghostlord's Corpsecrafter tree feats, and also add an advanced Boneclaw, also boosted with Corpsecrafter feats. The PCs only manage to spot one of the Bonedrinkers in the gloom; the Boneclaw and the second Bonedrinker remain hidden.

Holden immediately charges toward the Bonedrinker he spotted, but his movement prevents him from getting close enough to attack. The Bonedrinker beats him handily in its full attack and grapple check. Seeing the tentacles, Lyka warns her superior to guard his backside.

Yelling for help, Holden calls out. "Damnit, this things going to drink my bones!"

"I'd be more worried about the tentacles," Lyka quips.

Kikkeni entrenches herself in the narrow corridor leading to the Lion's Heart, while Linnea and Lyka take up positions near the pool.

At this point the Boneclaw emerges, using its speed to squeeze easily past the lion statue and shanking Kikkeni from 20 feet away. The second Bonedrinker also emerges and begins to grapple Linny before she gets a chance to do anything offensive.

Things don't go too well at first. With Holden grappled and unable to beat the Bonedrinker definitively, he quickly accrues a lot of CON damage. He takes a total of 9 CON damage across the encounter while Linny takes 3.

Linny's Religion checks reveal the Bonedrinkers' resistances and the Boneclaw's immunity, so Kikkeni resorts to using electricity to attack them. Given their huge amounts of HP, however, they're able to shrug off the fire for a while.

Linny (played by a substitute) attempts to blow the Bonedrinker grappling her away, but she fails to make the Concentration check. Kikkeni, however, lays down a curtain of withering fire. Eventually, the Bonedrinkers stop moving. Eager to get back in the fight, Holden leaps up.

Lyka gets attacked repeatedly by the Boneclaw, taking lots of damage in the process despite her high AC. Braving the Boneclaw's massive reach and AOOs, she tumbles toward it and executes a Soaring Raptor Strike. It's not fatal, but it opens up an opportunity for Holden to finish it off with a Bonecrusher.

Now if you were wondering where Loven was, he was off to the side, missing with his Bag of Boulders and his Wand of Scorching Ray. It was rather sad.

The party stops a moment to rest and begins to look around the chamber. They discuss the value of the Lion's Heart and then look into the pool and try to figure out what to do with the dire lion within. Loven uses a rat from his Gray Bag of Tricks to test the effect of the liquid, and sees that the rat gets pretty much paralyzed.

Thinking it would be a great morale boost to the people of Brindol (knowing how the lion was their symbol), they rescue the dire lion by pulling it out of the pool via a rope.

They search around the room for a while and find the path to the Ghostlord's Chamber.

The Ghostlord
The Ghostlord stands up from his meditation to regard the PCs, his hand on the byeshk great scimitar at his waist. A twisted bugbear, tainted so thoroughly by the touch of the Daelkyr that his body had to be bolted together with splints and metal bars, moves out of the shadows and walks up beside his master.

The Ghostlord demands the PCs explain themselves.

<Holden> "We bring a gift, my lord."
<Ghostlord> "What do you have to give me? I have lost everything! I demand to see your tribute!"
<Holden> *flashes phylactery*
<Ghostlord> "…where did you get this?"
<Kikkeni> "We found it in a dragon's hoard when we raided a Red Hand outpost."
<Holden> "My lord, the Red Hand has nothing more to coerce you with."
<Ghostlord> "…and what do you want in exchange for it?"
<Holden> "We wish that you would work with us to fight the Red Hand."
*party facepalms*
<Holden> "…or at the very least stop aiding the Red Hand."
<Ghostlord> "Do you think that after all these years I would serve anyone?"
<Holden> "We wish for you to withdraw your support from the Red Hand."
<Ghostlord> "Rift."

A tentacle slips out from the bugbear's side and grabs the phylactery from Holden's hand.
<Ghostlord> "Are there any remaining hobgoblins in my lair?"
<Kikkeni> "They're all dead."
<Lyka> "One got away, though---a gaseous form."
<Ghostlord> "That would be Wyrmlord Ulwai---I have longed to push that bitch into the pool myself, but you have rid me of her."
<Holden> "We would be glad to fight alongside with you---"
<Ghostlord> "You speak presumptuously, dwarf."
<Holden> "Forgive me, my lord."
<Ghostlord> "Now get out. I will withdraw my support from the Red Hand. Go, before I change my mind. GET OUT!"

The party hastily retreats, dragging out the paralyzed dire lion after them.

They get a massive XP doleout from the Ghostlord---4800 XP---boosting them to Lv 9. (I redid the encounter so that it would be an EL 15 instead of an EL 13)

Back to Brindol
The party camps fitfully outside the Ghostlord's lion, since they came out in the middle of the night. Deciding it would be better than camping in the middle of the Thornwaste, they sleep fitfully under the light of the Ghostlord's lion spirit vestiges.

The party travels for three days, arriving at a crossroads. They come upon a group of several ogres messing around with a wagon that has been pulled off the road. Four of the ogres are pretty normal-looking, while one of them is covered in spiked plate armor. A hobgoblin stands nearby, shouting orders and eventually calls the attention of the ogres as it spots the party. It changes shape into an ogre mage.

The party stays on their horses; Kikkeni and Linny share the same horse. Kikkeni lays down an energy ball, taking down two of the ogres, slightly damaging the berserker, and gravely injuring the ogre mage. The melee characters charge in on horses, and before the berserker in spiked armor is able to do anything, Linny drops a resilient sphere on it.

The ogre mage goes invisible, but Kikkeni is able to spot it with her new psionic true seeing. However, the ogre mage moves above the spot where Lyka is dueling one of the two remaining ogres. Instead of attacking them, though, the ogre mage instead drops darkness on Kikkeni, Linny and their horse. While Kikkeni can see through it, the horse is paralyzed in fear by the darkness and refuses to budge (I rule that it's complete darkness instead of the silly shadowy illumination) and Linny can't see the ogre mage either. Kikkeni responds with an energy bolt, but the ogre mage saves. Loven, sick of being useless, decides to take a shot. He deals enough damage to drop the ogre mage to 0 HP, and he falls out of the sky to his death. Holden finishes off the other two ogres. (They scavenge the bodies of the ogres for meat to force-feed to the still-paralyzed Dire Lion---they figure they don't want to restore it to working order until they can bring it to someone who can communicate with and train it.)

They investigate the wagon and are thankful they convinced Kikkeni to not shoot her initial attack straight into it---they find the bodies of the Lions of Brindol as well as the letter for the Shining Axes, as well as the payment. Not wanting to have to carry the bodies on their cart, the PCs decide to cremate the Lions and set out for Hammerfirst Holds immediately.

Before the resilient sphere on the berserker wears off, the PCs (apart from Kikkeni, who didn't want to waste PP) surround the ogre and attack it as the sphere goes down. They get in several solid hits before the ogre itself flies into a rage and drives it spiked shield into Lyka, chopping off more than half her HP. Then Loven downs the ogre with a crossbow shot.

The detour costs them a day, but it's well worth it---they arrive at Hammerfist Holds and immediately get Captain Helmbreaker and his men onto the road. Helmbreaker is happy to receive the business, blows his horn and summons his brethren to kick some goblin ass, to which they respond enthusiastically. Loven recoils in shock, because he's never seen so many Holdens (male and female) in his life. The Shining Axes march off with the PCs to Brindol.

The Plague of Brindol
The PCs arrive at Brindol on day 34. Immediately they set out to inform Lord Jarmaath of the arrival of the dwarves, but they can't help but notice that the entire city seems more sedate than usual, and that several areas of the city have been cordoned off.

They ask Jarmaath about it and discover that the epidemic that was starting when the PCs first arrived has become a full-fledged plague and that the soldiers have been devastated by it. The clerics of Dol Arrah could only do so much. The PCs decide to investigate the city and ask the clerics about it, but before they could leave, Jarmaath pulls Holden aside to give him a sealed letter.

The worst has happened: Holden's wife was found murdered in their home in Thrane. The initial investigation shows that there were no signs of forced entry and that she was killed with little struggle.

Holden flies into a screaming rage, pounding at the floor until his fists begin to bleed. The rest of the party decide to leave him alone while they attend to their business, but Loven shows a rare moment of humaneness and embraces his grieving brother. Holden vows to not stop fighting until he has bathed in the blood of every Red Hand man, woman and child.

Jarmaath knows that flippant shows of sympathy will be rebuffed, so he instead goes up to Holden and asks if he will still fight for them.

"To my last breath," Holden replies.

They then leave to look for Soranna, who is said to have some experience in animal care and woodcraft (I gave her a couple of ranger and warblade levels so she wouldn't be so boring in the later fights), but she then points them to Delora Zann, whose trade was animal husbandry before they left Drellin's Ferry.

They find Delora Zann training cavalry soldiers, and although she welcomes them, they notice that she is wearing only one bracer over her forearm. The PCs are immediately suspicious, as they had never noticed this before. They ask her about it and she claims it's nothing serious.

Loven and Lyka (Holden was left at Brindol Keep) convince Kikkeni to use her true seeing to examine Delora; this revealed nothing extraordinary. The PCs then convince her that they were trustworthy, with Loven hinting that they'd killed lots of Red Hand people already (a not-so-subtle threat if she were indeed an operative). She takes them aside and strips off the bracer to reveal a Dragonmark of Handling that she'd been hiding to avoid drawing House Vadalis's attention; she refuses to work with a Dragonmarked house and so hid the mark to maintain a low profile.

They take her to the dire lion, and Linny un-paralyzes it with restoration. Immediately the lion springs up and roars, terrifying the horses and the cavalrymen, but Delora lays a hand on its forehead and taps her Dragonmark, pacifying the beast.

"Leave this to me," she says. "Next time you see him, he'll be a terrifying mount. Pay me when this war is done."

Loven is exultant at this development, saying that it would be a great thing to lift Holden's spirits with---then he remembers that Holden's wife resigned her commission as a cleric of the Silver Flame due to her pregnancy.

The PCs go off to the Cathedral of Dol Arrah to consult the clerics, who are busy rushing about and tending the sick.

Tredora Goldenbrow explains that the plague is a mundane disease (shakes), and that it is spread by contact. However, those afflicted have spoken of noxious brown mists spreading throughout the marketplace; it's said that these are the initial cause of the plague. Tredora is unable to explain what this might be; she asks the PCs to investigate.

The PCs seek a second opinion and consult Immerstal, mentioning their fascinating encounter with the Ghostlord and his necromantic engine. They also offer him Ulwai's Tiamat opera, which he accepts and pays them 1000 GP for. He tells them that the clerics didn't think to consult him regarding the plague and reveals that the brown mist in the marketplace is Contagious Fog---a short-term spell that nonetheless causes people to get sick and carry the disease. The spell would have to be cast repeatedly by a caster hiding out in the marketplace for it to last long.

The PCs immediately go and check it out.

Talons of Pestilence

The PCs arrive at the edge of the marketplace to find Holden staring into space, slowly imbibing his alcoholic gravy blend. They nudge him on, and so they walk off towards the dark of the cordoned-off marketplace.

As they walk down the abandoned lanes, they see a figure of a peasant woman walking out of the buildings. Knowing that the place is cordoned off, they are immediately suspicious and order her to halt. She looks listlessly in their direction and stops.

When asked why she's there, she simply looks down limply. Kikkeni immediately uses her true seeing and identifies this as an illusion. Linny identifies it as a minor image spell, which meant that the caster was nearby.

Suddenly a cloud of brown mist envelops them---contagious fog. Holden and Linny fail their saves; Linny takes a full wallop of 8 Dex damage from the shakes while Holden takes 3. The cloud moves slowly down the street, and with Linny knowing that the cloud moves away from its caster, she can deduce that the caster was in a rather large house down the street. Linny dispels the cloud while Loven feeds Holden his potion of remove disease.

Lyka charges toward the house at the end of the street and gets zapped by two scorching rays; everyone runs into the house and up the stairs. As they enter, they hear the sounds of spellcasting; Linny identifies mage armor and shield being cast. However, they get to the house's top room and realize that no one is inside.

Kikkeni enters and looks around, spotting the caster--a Rakshasa--hiding in the corner with her active greater invisibility. Kikkeni uses psionic grease to make the Rakshasa slip and fall facedown, while the rest of the party members enter and attempt to mob the fiend.

However, she casts web, trapping the PCs partially in the room. The PCs then embark on a rather frustrating exercise of attacking something with very tough DR and spell resistance. Cornered and outnumbered, the Rakshasa is barely able to do anything but keep casting spells that annoy the PCs; ultimately, after starting two fires and using up almost all of Kikkeni's PP, Linny remembers to cast align weapon on Lyka's short sword.

Leaping from a bed, Lyka plunges the weapon into the Rakshasa's heart. Silver fire flares out of the Rakshasa's dying body as it shatters and dissolves.

End of session.

Thoughts
That was another awesome session.
-The Bone squad did quite well; they were frustrating and dangerous without being annoying and tedious. I highly recommend this modified encounter if you have a tough set of PCs.
-The Ghostlord encounter was far quicker than I had expected; they didn't beat around the bush.
-I had a very large and powerful ambush planned in Dauth, but unfortunately the PCs decided to skip the towns and cut across the plains with the dwarves. No outriders would dare to ambush such a large company. As such they were able to avoid a lot of the difficult encounters I'd planned along the way.
-I loved what they did with the dire lion; the bit about Delora Zann was completely improvised as I hadn't expected them to take out the dire lion. I also didn't want them to simply despair at the lack of a decent druid in Brindol. Now they have a mount in battle that will put war horses to shame.
-I finally killed off Holden's wife. I'm going to add insult to injury soon, but I'll need pull the PCs out of Brindol for the second attempt on the PCs' lives.
-I'm not yet sure how to do this. I could have a supply wagon that needs protection, or maybe a mobile trebuchet crew that needs to be taken out.
-Although the Battle of Brindol begins 2 days after the horde arrives, I feel like I want to start it early by having the Red Hand set up a trebuchet to fling live prisoners, dead cattle, and severed heads into the city.
-Finally, I'm going to give the PCs the option to train and/or choose what training method their cadre of Lions of Brindol would use. There's still a lot of time to burn, but mostly I'll just have to give them emergency missions.

Olo Demonsbane
2009-09-19, 01:34 PM
Awesome session. Keep updating :smallsmile:

I really liked the Delora Zann Dragonmarked thing you came up with on the spot. That works really well, and lets them have an awesome awesome mount.

Eldariel
2009-09-19, 02:14 PM
That's interesting; definitely tons of awesome stuff. I loved how you pulled the Dragonmark there and the whole Ghostlord-encounter seemed to go in an interesting fashion. Too bad they "missed" the encounters on the trip back, though the Ogre encounter was nice; Resilient Sphere can be brutal. Battle of Brindol is IMHO the highlight of the entire campaign; I'll really be looking forward to that.

By the way, have you thought about how exactly you'll deal with the last chapter yet? If BoB is the highlight of the campaign, I find it to be the low point. Will be looking forward to your reworks of that.

Zephyros
2009-09-19, 07:53 PM
Congratulations on both your DMing skills and this diary (which is a very refreshing and organized -as in not walls of text- read :smallwink: )

I think the Ghostlord part must have been rather tense... Even short as it is almost every word of the PCs reeks with fear and respect.

Once again, nicely done.

PS:I am a bit curious about your steady supplies of substitute players. Do you have a regular audience or something or you brief everyone in before you start playing?:smallbiggrin:

AslanCross
2009-09-20, 07:19 AM
Olo: Thanks. I do it for you guys and the other DMs who want to play this module.

Eldariel: It was a good idea for them to skip the towns; they did so primarily because they wanted to shave time off their journey.

The problem with the Fane is that it doesn't seem to provide the same sense of danger and urgency. I have the following in mind:

1. An alarm system would be very helpful. They have a series of very dangerous traps; I'd think they could afford to install an alarm system too.
2. Patrols and a detailed response plan. While the adventure says at this point the PCs would be sick of fighting hobgoblins, but I'd think Azarr Kul would have a few elite troops remaining and some outsiders (Barbazu and Mezzoloths, probably) patrolling the area. If the PCs aren't careful, they can find themselves fighting overwhelming waves of defenders.
3. Like kjones, I'm likely dropping the Night Hag encounter as well. It serves no real purpose and encourages the PCs to LEAVE the dungeon to bring her to safety. I might replace it with a Rakshasa assassin encounter (this would be the guy who killed Holden's wife), but I'd think Azarr Kul would have the Talons of Tiamat be a lot more proactive and try to attack the PCs directly. Either I get the PCs out of Brindol (now easier considering Kikkeni can teleport), or have him hit them directly. It's going to be difficult, but it would be fun to strike up a little paranoia.
4. I'm definitely changing the following encounters:
a. The Great Temple of Tiamat is a good opportunity for the PCs to get back at Kharn's attempted desecration of the Cathedral of Dol Arrah. (I just might have him take the fight into the Cathedral over the course of the final battle in Brindol.) It's a good, wide open space, so I'm going to be replacing the wyverns with a far more dangerous Abyssal Drake and a few Mezzoloths.
b. The Cavern of the Guardian Spawn is going to be a last-ditch effort to hold off the PCs as well as be a foretaste of what might happen in the event that Azarr Kul succeeds. Definitely going to have a Bluespawn Godslayer here, as well as some of the other Dragonspawn that confer energy immunity on others.
c. Outer Sanctum: My current plan is to have the Rakshasa ringleader, a half-dragon Naityan swordsage named Indravan-Yagna, to be posing as one of the clerics here. However, I feel the PCs might feel more emotionally-motivated to finish the final battle if I put Indravan there and instead have the fake cleric here be a Large Advanced Abishai. I might also add a Nycaloth to the treasury encounter so that the Hamatula wouldn't get shredded instantly---knowing how well the PCs deal with single opponents, an extra tank is going to make this much harder. To make things interesting, the PCs might even find the two outsiders fighting each other out of boredom.
d. Azarr Kul is either going to have a single Large Advanced Abishai or Indravan and his two Erinyes concubines with him.
In any case, I'm still going to have to prepare Brindol. The Fane will have to wait for now.

Zephyros: Thanks for the support! Indeed, the players kind of tried to avoid talking about what to do with the Ghostlord initially---I think I had impressed upon them successfully that it could go horribly wrong if they did something stupid. Thankfully they did the right thing.

As for the substitutes: Most of my players go to the same university (and they all hang out together), and the girl who plays Lyka doesn't have a ride to my house, so one of their friends brings her to my house. Since I've played with this guy too, he enjoys watching our games and hangs out. He subs for people when they're late (or unable to come).

This session he wasn't around, but another of my former students told me he'd come and watch. He DMs PbP games, but gets tips from me.

PsyBlade
2009-09-20, 08:18 AM
Just posting to say that I am enjoying this journal. I do hope your players can keep up the good work. I have no worries that you'll be able to keep up the standard that you've made.

AslanCross
2009-09-20, 05:28 PM
Thanks for your support, Psyblade. :smallbiggrin:

rasbadar
2009-10-14, 08:33 AM
Great read!
Thanks for all the input.

I will put my group through the GL's lair next monday night....

regards
ras

AslanCross
2009-10-17, 09:09 AM
Since I don't want this thread to die and it looks like it will be a couple more weeks since I can update, here's some filler:

Aslan's Red Hand of Doom Soundtrack
Since this campaign is set in Eberron, I mixed in some metal and techno. I did keep orchestrated themes for the dragons, however.

1. The Tale of the Elsir War (Prologue F from Macross Frontier: "Opening Theme") (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKYpL--2V2U)
2. We Are the Kulkor Zhul (FFXII Theme of the Empire: Used in the read-aloud intro) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4_Qi49ZdKg)
3. Just Another Day in Eberron (FF IX Remix battle: Regular Battle theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW17fei7YKw)
4. Shadow of War (The Druid Grove from Baldur's Gate II: Drellin's Ferry Theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRsCWpK41CE)
5. The Witchwood (Boy from Britannia from Code Geass: Witchwood Ambience) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVZM6ILJLro)
6. Fight For Your Lives (Decisive Battle x Metal Max from Final Fantasy VI and Metal Max: Generic Boss Theme) (http://ssh.ne.jp/mp3/fm_bat2.zip)
7. The Lords of Dust (Dark Prison from Super Robot Wars: Rakshasa Boss Theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNUgLz8X4rQ)
8. Betrayers of Siberys (The Locked Girl from Touhou: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody: Ozzyrandion and Regiarix boss theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rda4JOvYNI)
9. Glimpsing the Red Hand Banner (Overwriting from Code Geass R2: Played when the PCs see the Cinder Hill encampment) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fhOSNu6f_Q)
10. The Massacre at Drellin's Ferry (What's Justice from Code Geass R2: Played when Drellin's Ferry is sacked) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h2BjXdHhwc)
11. Wake of the Daelkyr (nocturne from BlazBlue: Rhest ambience) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijerql4S8nU)
12. The Crushing Coils (The Fierce Battle from FFVI: Varanthian's boss theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoFoMZSp96s)
13. Temple of the Rotting Lion (Wheel of Fortune from Parasite Eve: Ghostlord's Lion ambience) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC63E9xH1ig)
14. Dancing in the Dark (Searching for "The Answer" from Super Robot Wars OGG: Battle in the Ghostlord's Lion) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sPNo4Cz430)
15. The Ashen Aria (Omoikane Sousou, remix of Eirin's theme from Touhou:Imperishable Night: Ulwai's boss theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApGSOFP4nVE)
16. Defiler (Son of Chaos, remix of the Shinra Company theme from Final Fantasy VII: Ghostlord dialogue) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5yl8K8kedw)
17. To Defile or be Defiled (Suwa Foughten Field [S.S.H. Remix] from Touhou: Imperishable Night: Ghostlord boss theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXmd-PzHYb0)
18. Five Sorrows (Reversed Thinking from Code Geass: Brindol theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPHfQSe5e20)
19. Warrior's Rest (Le Repos du Guerrier from Code Geass: Tavern theme. Very good pizza break theme too. :P ) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJniLZSV4fA)
20. Waiting for the Dawn (Paris Cathedral from Deus Ex: Cathedral of Dol Arrah ambience) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF_ih1V9ZP8)
21. High Tension (Monster Express 666 [remix of Rumia's theme] from Touhou: Regular battle theme after Ghostlord) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIw21NxcHCw)
22. Dance of the Three Progenitors (The Grimoire of Alice from Touhou [Pizuya's CellxMyonMyon remix]: Boss theme after Ghostlord) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9oNhinGkik)

The following haven't been used yet:

23. Fire in the Night (Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom from Touhou: Subterranean Animisim: Abithriax's Boss Theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Br7AcIiu84)
24. Our Finest Hour (Midnight March, remix of Onigashima in the Fairyland ~Missing Power~ from Touhou: Immaterial and Missing Power: Battle of Brindol theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnxkLiSFgKc)
25. The Crimson Carnage (Rage, remix of Onigashima in the Fairyland ~Missing Power~ from Touhou: Immaterial and Missing Power: Kharn boss theme--yes, it's the same song, different remix) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAP124dQZk4)
26. Path of the Dragon (The Last Judgment from SRW OGs: Wyrmsmokes Ambience) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxZu4j2Wagg)
27. The Fane of Tiamat (Poison Prison from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Fane of Tiamat ambience) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtfOn_6MZd4)
28. Talons of Sorrow (Nameless Warriors from SRW OGG: Fane of Tiamat regular battle theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYTaUZZVQNw)
29. The Onrushing Storm (CHAOS from SRW OGs: Tyrgarun's Boss Theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vds5cJ_RnAU)
30. Harbinger (ZEST SEVEN from SRW Alpha 3: Indravan-Yagna*'s theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQLUXVa5CwE)
31. HEXAGRAMMATON (World's End Est [remix of World's End from Touhou: Mystic Square]: Azarr Kul's boss theme) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jl6oNX2HBA)
32. Hymn of Tiamat Triumphant (Yama of Xanadu [remix of Fate of 60 Years from Touhou]: Aspect of Tiamat) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nYwHXJY-7s)
33. The Story Stops, But Never Ends** (Battle Frontier from Macross Frontier: Ending Theme for the escape from the Fane and the aftermath) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ss4eZuk65U)


*Indravan-Yagna is the boss rakshasa who is Azarr Kul's close associate
** "The story stops but never ends" is a traditional closing to goblin legends in Eberron

Barbarian MD
2009-10-17, 09:11 AM
Ah. I was all excited about reading another installment. Oh well. I've got this puppy subscribed, and I can wait until you post again.

AslanCross
2009-10-17, 09:33 AM
Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. AH1N1 shaved off a lot of days off our schedule, then a bad typhoon hit us and robbed us of another week. School admin forced us to have classes on Saturdays.

It's too bad, because this would've been an optimal time for us to play (my players are on semestral break).

AslanCross
2009-11-03, 09:32 AM
Yesterday's session was rather slow. We were supposed to hold the session last Saturday, but a storm hit the country and power got knocked out, so playing would be pretty frustrating in the dark. Yesterday was a holiday, so we tried to take advantage of our collective free schedules and play.

Unfortunately, Lyka's player couldn't make it, while Kikkeni's player was visiting the cemetery and would only be around after lunch.

Linny's player is unfortunately out; her parents were no longer allowing her for some unclear reason. It couldn't be helped, so I decided to ask a regular attendee (who doesn't play but watches) to take over her character. At first I told him he could use his own character, but he said the party needed a buffer/healer and graciously offered to play as Linny.

We started yesterday with Holden and Loven's player handling Lyka as well, while Linny's new player also handled Kikkeni until her actual player arrived.

The party started standing over the rapidly-dissolving body of the Rakshasa they'd killed last session; I had forgotten to roll treasure for it, so I gave them the following: 3500 GP, a large Khyber dragonshard, some gems, a Vest of Defense, an Oil of Bless Weapon, a Scroll of Invisibility, and a Handy Haversack.

They went to report their success to the authorities and booked themselves at the Stone Wyvern for the night.

The Stone Wyvern

When they got to the Stone Wyvern, the gnome owner squeaked "AAAH! ADVENTURERS!" when he saw his new guests, and slammed the door.

When the party actually went in to see what the problem was, he apologized and explained that he's always been paranoid of adventurers because he was afraid of them unpetrifying the wyvern.

"Ah, yes, we'll have to talk to you about that…"

The PCs offered a great deal of money--an initial downpayment of 750 GP---to take out the wyvern and unpetrify it for use as a mount in the coming battle. Holden said that the Church of the Silver Flame would compensate for whatever damage and/or profit loss that taking the wyvern might cause--after all, the wyvern WAS a Thrane air cavalry unit and as such was property of the Church. After a Diplomacy check, the gnome, Mr. Yule, reluctantly agreed.

The next morning (Day 35) , they awoke to find Yule sitting nervously under the wyvern, so much so that when he saw them coming down the stairs, he stood up and almost knocked himself out on the stone monster.

Then came the hilarious problem of getting the wyvern out of the building---if you read the writeup of Brindol, it says the inn was built around the petrified wyvern. Holden asked Yule what kind of an idiot built his inn around a petrified monster, to which Yule replied that it made a lot of entrepreneurial sense when his father did it---mostly founded on how only an idiot would unpetrify the wyvern while it was inside the building.

There were several issues here: wyverns weighed one ton unpetrified, so the obviously denser statue would be far too heavy to drag out without smashing the floorboards. Even if they did manage to drag it, it was too big to fit out the door. Finally, if they unpetrified it while inside the building, it would likely trash the place.

Holden offered more gold and set about unhinging the door, while Loven took everyone's rope and tied the petrified wyvern up as tightly as he could.

They then called Delora Zann in case they needed someone to handle the animal (though they were reluctant since they knew Delora was trying to keep her dragonmark a secret), in addition to some soldiers.

Just before Linny cast Break Enchantment on the wyvern, the soldiers all backed off and began to express their fear. Most of them knew that the wyvern was part of one of Thrane's infamous air cavalry units, and some of them knew what it was like to see friends getting snatched up by wyverns and smeared on the ground.

Holden says that's exactly WHY they wanted to unpetrify the wyvern, and tells Linny to go ahead.

As the wyvern turned back into flesh and blood, it made a series of strength checks against all the ropes, but failed to break any single one. Delora was about to use her dragonmark as the creature struggled, but it instantly calmed down when it smelled Holden.

Delora explained that it might have been accustomed to the scent of the standard-issue armor polish that Thrane soldiers used, and as such was calmed down despite having been stoned for quite a while. Holden and Lyka lead it out of the door without much trouble, and then realize that they don't have a stable to put it in.

They ask the gnome if they could let the animal roost on the roof of the inn, but Yule refuses outright. They decide to chain the wyvern to a large stake they hammer down into the middle of the Cathedral square---after Lyka takes it for a spin.

Meet the Lions

The PCs then head off to Brindol Keep to ask if there is anything that needs to be done.
Jarmaath and Cpt. Ulverth introduce the PCs to the Lions of Brindol squad they'll be fighting with during the battle: Teyani Sura, whom they'd met in Drellin's Ferry, and three others: Wrogann, Jonz and Narcy.

I also introduced them to Rampant, Cpt. Ulverth's 7'5' tall warforged lieutenant. Rampant is a bit unusual in appearance as warforged go; his head plates are shaped into a lion's head, complete with mane, and his left arm is conspicuously larger and has an armor-plated hose running along its length.

Teyani was rather upset that Loven was checking her out and smacked him upside the head; Wrogann brought up the unfortunate topic of female dwarf facial hair; Jonz explained he didn't talk much because his parents were from Karrnath and were often accused of being spies; Narcy enjoyed teasing Loven regarding his height.

At this point, Cpt. Ulverth asks the PCs what special training they'd like him to give the Lions---Holden's player doesn't really get this at first since he thinks they're asking for a battlefield deployment order and not a training specialization; Ulverth hints at this---would they rather have a sniper, or a close combat sword specialist, etc. As such, Holden wants the Lions to help them charge the incoming warforged titans. Ulverth is flabbergasted at this supposed veteran's war experience and shoots down the idea.

Eventually I break down and tell them OOC that this is a chance for them to "customize" the Lions so that they aren't just sword/boarders. Furthermore, if the players are willing to do some one-on-one training with the Lions for a week, they can swap out that last fighter level for a single level in crusader (for Holden), warblade (for Lyka), rogue (for Loven), duskblade (for Linny) and finally psychic warrior (for Kikkeni) if they pass a series of skill checks appropriate to the class.

They agree that Jonz, who is more dexterous than the others, can be a sniper, while Wrogann (who is the strongest of the four) would be trained as a crusader and Teyani could be a warblade (she's the smartest and that extra Int would at least help with warblade's first-level abilities). Finally Narcy (apparently, sarcasm = Wis) is going to swap her fourth Fighter level for Psychic Warrior, assuming their PC-trainers make the appropriate skill checks.

Finally, Jarmaath informs the PCs that the hobgoblins are closing around the town of Talar, and that the town council delayed evacuating, so the villagers were in danger of being overtaken by the outriders.

The PCs take their horses and ride hard to Talar, covering the distance in three hours.


Talar

They arrive at Talar around noon. The people are packing up, but don't seem to be in any particular hurry. Holden and the other PCs go check on the town council, which was said to have been responsible for the delay.

They find Lady Celiira, the lord of the town, arguing with the council. The council wants to stay, but Lady Celiira advocates immediate evacuation. The PCs passionately argue and convince the council to hasten the evacuation, but the proud old men decide to stay behind with some volunteers to attempt to delay whatever is coming their way.

The evacuation is completed at dusk.

Don't Stop Running

The PCs leave the town last, along with 20 villagers who are the weakest and not capable of running all the way. After about an hour of walking, they stop to camp, as most of these people are incapable of marching overnight to Brindol.

Just as they're about to pitch their tents, however, horrid howling echoes out of the woods. Linny identifies the sounds as barghest howls!

Immediately the villagers panic and begin running, and soon after, four hobgoblin outriders on incredibly fast worgs begin running out of the woods and strafing. Linny immediately buffs the party and the three weakest villagers (three children, one of whom was fat---I ran out of halfling miniatures and represented him with a dwarf wizard :P) with Mass Shield of Faith. Kikkeni activates one of the darklights and hands it to the fat kid---the 80 ft. radius of bright illumination helps the PCs a lot in dealing with the attackers.

The PCs try to keep a screen around the villagers, but the worgs' superior mobility allows them to run circles around everyone---three villagers get shot down. The riders get off a lot of painful shots against Linny, including a critical hit that drops her to 12 HP. The panicking villagers make it difficult for Kikkeni to lay down supressing fire, so Holden tells them to stop and get down to avoid getting sniped.

To make matters worse, two Barghests dimdoored into the woods close to Kikkeni and began attacking her and Lyka.

Kikkeni launched an energy ball into the woods close to her, setting it on fire. One by one the worgs were shot or cut down; one of the barghests was incinerated with a scorching ray while the other got its head caved in by Holden. Amusingly enough, one of the worgs (already riderless) tried to trip Linny, but she actually SUCCEEDED on the strength check and slapped the bad doggy away.
Linny splattered the last of the goblins with Sound Lance, while Lyka and Holden took down its worg.

The PCs then kept running with the villagers.

When the Night is Darkest

The PCs continue moving with the villagers toward Brindol through the night, and this time Loven keeps attempting spot checks.

They hit upon a very serious snag, though---none of them have both good sensory and stealth capabilities at the same time. Loven has no darkvision and has a lousy Spot modifier; while Lyka has Low-Light Vision, she has no ranks in Spot. As such, nobody can scout ahead, so they stick together and try spotting every 20 feet instead.

They get closer to the abandoned watchtower at the edge of the wood, which marks the beginning of the open road. Their technique of spotting doesn't work when the enemies are Invisible thanks to a Greater Barghest's Invisibility Sphere, though.

Loven trips a trap (he has no ranks in Search and isn't exactly cautious) that casts Ghost Sound behind them----more Barghest howling. They immediately take positions around the PCs, with Holden and Lyka closest to the sound and Loven, Kikkeni and Linny farthest from the sound. Between then the villagers huddle.

After a few tense moments of hearing crashing through the forest, a thunderous bang erupts in the middle of the crowd of villagers. It was a Great Thunderclap spell, which knocks out all the villagers, renders Holden and Linny prone, and deafens Holden. The other PCs are unable to see where the spell came from, but soon after they begin hearing movement from the road.

At this point, a 9-foot tall hobgoblin duskblade bursts out of the woods with a long, curved sword crackling with lightning and slashes at Kikkeni. Her HP drops to 22 out of 55 in one attack, and she begins making plans to set fire to the woods again---unfortunately, she can't see very far through the dense trees even with the darklight. Linny quickly casts Righteous Wrath of the Faithful on the party.

Things go to hell really quickly.

A hobgoblin knight---riding a tiger---materializes out of the darkness and mauls Kikkeni. Almost all of his attacks miss, but the tiger's claws and the rider's lance are enough to drop her to -5 immediately. Even worse, the hidden Greater Barghest (advanced and elite) casts Charm Monster on Loven, ordering him to shoot the Kalashtar---he misses due to Kikkeni's shield of faith and inertial armor. The PCs run to Kikkeni's aid, and Holden heals her with his healing belt. Lyka moves in quickly and eviscerates the duskblade, while a second enlarged duskblade teleports beside Linny and swipes at her, but misses. Two more knights break invisibility; one charges Linny while the other, without a clear path, simply moves up and stabs Kikkeni, dropping her to -7.

Loven's turn comes up, and again he hears the compulsion. He tries to fight it off with a charisma check, but fails miserably. He takes the shot, hoping it's a miss---and rolls a natural 20. Due to the Righteous Wrath of the Faithful buff, even if he rolled a 1 on his damage die he'd still end up killing her. For the record, he rolls, and gets a 6. Kikkeni bites the dust.

The Greater Barghest rewards Loven by pouncing on him and biting, but the beast misses. Linny blasts the tiger knights and the duskblade with Earth Reaver, knocking down the duskblade and burning one of the tigers partially.

Since Lyka's player was absent and she was avoiding raging and shifting for RP reasons, we contact her over Yahoo Messenger and tell her what happened. She immediately agrees to let us rage and shift her character, and Lyka flips out on the two Tiger Knights. She cuts down one tiger from beneath its rider and badly injures another, but as it stands, it's too little, too late.

Exhausted, we agree to end the session there, 4 rounds into the battle.

Thoughts

-I've decided to give the PCs more customization control over the four Lions of Brindol---I wanted them to have more of an attachment to them while retaining their relative squishiness. By giving the players some control over what he NPCs are and by giving them personalities and even portraits (I drew the four of them), I've given them a group of underlings who are more than cannon fodder without them being spotlight-hogging DMPCs. If the PCs fail at the skill checks needed for their special training, they remain 4th-level fighters in the specialization that the players chose.
-They still don't know what to do with the wyvern, actually. Holden is the only guy with ranks in Ride, and he's too heavy for the wyvern to carry and still be able to fly. Lyka is much lighter, but her big problem is that she has no ranks in Ride and her maneuvers are completely useless in the air.
-Kikkeni is my fifth PC kill in my 3-year DMing career.
-While this battle is going to be hard, the PCs should be able to overcome it. Unfortunately, there's still a caster they've failed to spot.
-The PCs plan on raising Kikkeni with the Staff of Life---it’s all they've got---but having her come back at Lv 8 is going to deal a painful blow to their combat options. They’re going to have to rely on Linny's 5th level spell slots for True Seeing now that Kikkeni will not be able to cast it until she levels up again.

-Greater Barghests are pretty damn scary for CR 5 monsters (this one was advanced to CR 8, though).

Zephyros
2009-11-06, 02:13 PM
My players always have someone who can spot things pretty well. I even DMed in a party with a paladin that pumped spot ("Do I spot evil? I SMITE IT!) Pity Kikkeni died though... TBH I expected your player to roll a new character as a replacement, having read your foreboding anticipation of her death :smallwink:

AslanCross
2009-11-07, 01:23 AM
My players always have someone who can spot things pretty well. I even DMed in a party with a paladin that pumped spot ("Do I spot evil? I SMITE IT!) Pity Kikkeni died though... TBH I expected your player to roll a new character as a replacement, having read your foreboding anticipation of her death :smallwink:

Yeah, it's kind of unfortunate, but I guess in the future my players will learn to invest in sensory skills now. Despite Loven's Hide and Move Silently skills being better than those my monsters have, the monsters are able to out-stealth them every time.

Now about Kikkeni---well, IC they know they have the Staff of Life. I'm not exactly sure whether using it NOW is a good idea, but hey, it's their choice. The simple issue here is that even if they raise her, Kikkeni's utility powers are gone. Teleport would've been a potential lifesaver in the Battle of Brindol and even the Fane.

Btw, some silly dialogue I forgot to include:

(Linny was left with the role of feeding the wyvern as everyone else had something to do)
<Holden> Ya jest haf ta throw meat to et.
<Linny> But I...I throw like a girl! I AM A GIRL!
<Lyka> *flexes*
<Linny> But you're a WARRIOR and I'm a...writer.
<Lyka> Well, someday, dear, you'll have to realize that the pen is in fact not mightier than the sword.

Eldariel
2009-11-08, 11:37 AM
It's always really difficult to construct stealthy and spotty characters simply due to the way the numbers go; characters with inherently high Wis tend to be best Spotters (á la Druid) while inherently high Dex tend to be best sneaks (á la Rogue) and yet none really have the combination (even Monk generally has to focus on one or the other...and it's the Monk).

Best I've managed is a Rogue/Wizard with Keen Intellect; that gets you nice Spot, but still leaves Listen wanting. But yeah, that was pretty epic. Greater Barghests truly can do a lot. Spellcasters/"Spellcasters" in general have great impact far beyond their level when using appropriate spells.


That was quite the epic session though. Will be hoping the heroes pull through this battle. And I'm betting the Wyvern could make for a nice mount to one of the Lions trained for it.

Btw, been a while. Nice to see you updating!

Starbuck_II
2009-11-08, 12:09 PM
They could buy the Wyvern a Str boosting item. Like a Belt of Str.

The lion team reminds me of Voltron.

AslanCross
2009-11-08, 05:52 PM
It's always really difficult to construct stealthy and spotty characters simply due to the way the numbers go; characters with inherently high Wis tend to be best Spotters (á la Druid) while inherently high Dex tend to be best sneaks (á la Rogue) and yet none really have the combination (even Monk generally has to focus on one or the other...and it's the Monk).

Best I've managed is a Rogue/Wizard with Keen Intellect; that gets you nice Spot, but still leaves Listen wanting. But yeah, that was pretty epic. Greater Barghests truly can do a lot. Spellcasters/"Spellcasters" in general have great impact far beyond their level when using appropriate spells.


That was quite the epic session though. Will be hoping the heroes pull through this battle. And I'm betting the Wyvern could make for a nice mount to one of the Lions trained for it.

Btw, been a while. Nice to see you updating!

That's a good suggestion, Eldariel. I'll run that by the players. Holden's too heavy and Lyka's maneuvers are useless mounted, so yeah.

Eh, between natural disasters and tons of work to deal with, there have been many reasons not to hold sessions. @_@


They could buy the Wyvern a Str boosting item. Like a Belt of Str.

The lion team reminds me of Voltron.

Unfortunately, the Belt of Giant Strength +4 is both way above their budget and the GP limit of the city. They probably could mount one of the Lions of Brindol on it, yes.

...ok, that Voltron thing would really work ESPECIALLY because Rampant, the Lions of Brindol subcommander, is a warforged with a lion's head motif on his head armor who wields a greatsword. :smallbiggrin:

Eldariel
2009-11-08, 06:00 PM
Eh, between natural disasters and tons of work to deal with, there have been many reasons not to hold sessions. @_@

I hear ya. Surprisingly natural disasters can be disruptive to gaming. Who knew? Glad to hear of you anyways, tho. I'll be expectingly waiting for you to finish this; it's the best adaptation of RHoD I've ever read of simply because of how well you've tied the setting to all this.

And expanding on the "Mount a Lion on the Wyvern", you could consider the one trained as a Crusader for the job. Leading the Charge is just about the best Stance for a mounted character anyways and having a bunch of Fighter-levels gets the feats for the job. That and he has access to Battle Leader's Charge which is v. nice mounted, as are the healing strikes working much as "protecting the mount". Shield Block and the like are really nice too. And since he's being trained by Holden anyways, it seems like an appropriate place for the mount in that sense too.

AslanCross
2009-11-09, 04:25 PM
I hear ya. Surprisingly natural disasters can be disruptive to gaming. Who knew? Glad to hear of you anyways, tho. I'll be expectingly waiting for you to finish this; it's the best adaptation of RHoD I've ever read of simply because of how well you've tied the setting to all this.

And expanding on the "Mount a Lion on the Wyvern", you could consider the one trained as a Crusader for the job. Leading the Charge is just about the best Stance for a mounted character anyways and having a bunch of Fighter-levels gets the feats for the job. That and he has access to Battle Leader's Charge which is v. nice mounted, as are the healing strikes working much as "protecting the mount". Shield Block and the like are really nice too. And since he's being trained by Holden anyways, it seems like an appropriate place for the mount in that sense too.

Thanks for the vote of confidence; at times I was worried people were getting bored of it due to the low body count and/or unfamiliar setting.

I will definitely consider that build for Wrogann. Thanks again for the advice! :D

Eldariel
2009-11-09, 05:03 PM
Thanks for the vote of confidence; at times I was worried people were getting bored of it due to the low body count and/or unfamiliar setting.

I will definitely consider that build for Wrogann. Thanks again for the advice! :D

It may help me that I've played some Eberron-games myself. That said, given how in-depth you are, I wouldn't imagine it at all a problem even if the settings were foreign.

On the contrary, it can serve as a sort of a crash course to Eberron, with many major players of the world along with races and factions on full display.


Btw, I just realized that Wrogann actually doesn't have level 2 maneuver access 'cause his initiator level is only 2.5, not 3; stupid odd Fighter-levels. That cuts out Battle Leader's Charge and Shield Block. That said, he still has decent access to handy things like Leading the Charge, Crusader's Strike, Stone Bones and Leading the Attack.

A workaround for that would be to handwave it a bit and just allow them to replace two Fighter-levels with something else given how mechanically anemic Fighter 3 is anyways...except that I just realized that Crusaders don't get new maneuvers on level 2. Ah well, whatever. I'm officially out of ideas :smalltongue:

AslanCross
2009-11-09, 05:45 PM
Yeah, actually I was looking at the builds again and remembered the "Never take an odd number of fighter levels" rule, but there is that problem. Out of the three Martial Adepts, the only one who doesn't get maneuvers at second level is the Crusader. Oh well.

AslanCross
2009-11-12, 06:12 PM
Players keep out.

I still have a couple of weeks before our next session, so I'd like to throw out some thoughts regarding the coming battle of Brindol.


Even with Kikkeni one level down (considering they do go ahead with their plans of raising her), it's still very difficult to tire out the party even with the consecutive battles. I'm putting in the following encounter to make the battle like less of a railroad:

The Red Hand Red Herring Trebuchet
Since I have Heroes of Battle, might as well use it.

The Red Hand has constructed a trebuchet and is using it along with the skullcrusher/warforged titan combo (which I used to replace the Hill Giants, which do not exist in this region in Eberron) to lay siege to Brindol.

However, while the skullcrushers and titans are attacking the walls directly, the trebuchet uses its superior range to lob its projectiles over the wall and into the city. It has a maximum range of 1,500 feet, so it can shoot well into the city center even if it starts 1000 feet outside the southern wall.

All three siege squads attack simultaneously. In addition to the original quandary of the players choosing which ogre/titan squad to attack, they can also choose to attack the trebuchet instead of the two wall breach squads.

However, here's the catch: The trebuchet is only a distraction. It does provide some devastating long-range firepower, but due to its crew's lack of LOS and the distance at which it attacks, it doesn't really do much damage. Taking it out is only worth 1 victory point as opposed to taking out the wall-breaker squad, which is worth 2.

The players have two options:

A. Leave the trebuchet as is; let the Brindol defenders deal with it.

If the players leave the trebuchet as is, it continues to fire into the city during the Streets of Blood encounter. However, due to its inaccuracy, it serves only to make a nuisance out of itself.

Halfway through the encounter, the trebuchet crew moves it up to the breach in the southern wall. This closes the range to 600 feet and allows its crew to spot from the wall's ramparts; this greatly increases its accuracy. Woe betide anyone who gets hit by it directly. We're talking about 14d6 damage here.

Eventually, Ulverth orders a sortie against it at around the same time Jarmaath is shot by Skather. The sortie is led by the warforged subcommander, Rampant. Left to his own devices, Rampant lays open the trebuchet's defenders and crew, but is eventually taken out himself.

If the PCs join Rampant, Skather escapes while taking down Ulverth as well. (Which also sucks)

B. Take out the trebuchet.

If they choose to take it out instead of the wall-breaker squads, both walls fall. That will SUCK.

If they choose to take it out after Abithriax (assuming they're still alive), they fail the Streets of Blood encounter. That sucks a lot too.

Generally speaking, the trebuchet is meant to be a damaging threat that is credible enough to tempt the PCs off their primary mission of keeping the goblins from penetrating deep into the city, but it's not actually that dangerous.

Zephyros
2009-11-13, 01:46 AM
Although I like the way you ran RHoD and absolutely love the "pressing against overwhelming odds" way you lay the smack on your PCs, I think this time (esp w/o Kikkeni's teleporting powers) they 'll have to spread too thin, or choose between loose/loose situations (which will increase the possibility of a TSPK - total split party kill :smallbiggrin:)

Also watch the timeline of combat 'cause moving a heavy siege machine 400ft gotta take some time.

I really look forward to reading the battle report after seeing that modification. If they had Kikkeni's psionic teleport available they could just hop at the Trebuchet when it approached and then hop back to deal with the dragon. Right now I can't see a way to avoid a defeat in one of the battle-fronts.

AslanCross
2009-11-13, 03:44 AM
Although I like the way you ran RHoD and absolutely love the "pressing against overwhelming odds" way you lay the smack on your PCs, I think this time (esp w/o Kikkeni's teleporting powers) they 'll have to spread too thin, or choose between loose/loose situations (which will increase the possibility of a TSPK - total split party kill :smallbiggrin:)

Also watch the timeline of combat 'cause moving a heavy siege machine 400ft gotta take some time.

I really look forward to reading the battle report after seeing that modification. If they had Kikkeni's psionic teleport available they could just hop at the Trebuchet when it approached and then hop back to deal with the dragon. Right now I can't see a way to avoid a defeat in one of the battle-fronts.

Actually, if they can get Kikkeni up on a house's roof, she can actually get line of sight and deal enough damage to frag it once they bring it up to the wall. (Even at ML 8 she can lob the energy ball 720 feet away.) That is of course, if she has enough PP left.

Even when Kikkeni did have her Psi Teleport available, they'd found it to be much too cumbersome---9 pp to transport only half their party. They didn't want to spend more than a 10th of their PP just moving around.

The trebuchet is crewed by 7 skullcrusher ogres and an ogre mage, and the Abithriax fight should last long enough for them to move the engine up close (most trebuchets have wheels and the weather has been hot and dry for quite a while--they shouldn't have problems moving the machine).

The trebuchet isn't a lose/lose situation, actually---they've got a LOT of VP and are well on their way to having an overwhelming victory as long as they stay as smart as they've been. The siege engine's inaccuracy keeps it from being a deadly superweapon. If the Horde has such a thing, it's Abithriax.

Eldariel
2009-11-13, 08:11 AM
My immediate reaction to the Siege Engine would be "Kikkeni drinks a Potion of Invisibility and frags with the Trebuchet with Sonic Boom as soon as in range, while the rest deal with the wall breach." Sounds like an interesting addition though. Here's hoping they play it smart.

Battle of Brindol is the one really tough endurance rally in the campaign, so it's always dangerous to add stuff there, but given this doesn't really impact the PCs much as long as they ignore it, I suppose it's not that big a problem.

Though Rampant is awesome so I kinda wish they manage to save him :smalltongue:

AslanCross
2009-11-13, 08:58 AM
Well, I still have a lot of time till then, so I can playtest it. I think there are other far more dangerous threats.

Horatio@Bridge
2009-11-16, 12:32 AM
Just wanted to say, loving reading this game. Eberron is my favorite campaign setting and RHOD is my favorite adventure module, so seeing them both together makes me smile. I tried running that combination once, but we never got past the first act. It's sad, too...the Zil necromancer was amassing quite a collection of skeletal servitors...

AslanCross
2009-11-16, 10:28 AM
Thanks for your support. :D The battle of Brindol is coming up, though it might take a couple more weeks till the long weekend on which I'm planning to hold the opening session of the battle. Stay tuned!

Rising Phoenix
2009-11-16, 11:06 AM
Thanks for your support. :D The battle of Brindol is coming up, though it might take a couple more weeks till the long weekend on which I'm planning to hold the opening session of the battle. Stay tuned!

Good luck with it! I am planning on finishing it tomorrow:smallsmile:

R.P.

Pain~less
2009-11-28, 12:41 PM
Doesn't a trebuchet have literally thousands of HP? I ran the Battle of Brindol a while ago for my group, and tried to incorporate some rules from Heroes of Battle too.

The first thing that surprised me was how much HP the siege engines have. I saw no feasible way for my players to kill even the ballistas and mangonels I planned to use. In the end I just stuck to the regular hill giants from RhoD.

Another thing I tried were the volley rules and aerial bombardments. I organized the hobgoblins into 20-man-squads, and gave the hill giants 5 of those as backup. After several rounds of combat, the volleys started coming, and were eventually successful in driving back the players. Hill giants were dead though. :smallsmile:

Aerial bombardments gave me mixed results, I used sphingen (sp?) and wyvern wielding rocks. I think they dealt 2-4d6 damage apiece, not too shabby. Killed a lion of brindol in the Streets of Blood, iirc. More often than not though, the rocks would simply miss.

Anyways, very nice campaign log you have here, even though i'm not familiar with Eberron, i greatly enjoy it. :smallsmile:

AslanCross
2009-11-28, 05:24 PM
That's the weird thing about the Trebuchet. The table says that the Heavy Treb has 7000 HP, which is going to be an incredibly boring hackfest that will run them out of ammo before they can stop it.

On the other hand, the Encounter samples only say it takes a few hundred.

I wanted to put in the aerial bombing as well and I will be using the volley rules, but I've deviated quite a bit from the book already and I might stretch them too thin. Especially now that Kikkeni died and is going to be the recipient of the Staff of Life's raise dead, they might run out of steam even before Kharn comes calling.

Thanks for your support! Next session will be tomorrow.

AslanCross
2009-11-30, 06:58 AM
I had hoped to cover more ground today, but unfortunately Linny's and the Magroens' players were sick and couldn't make it. Kikkeni's and Lyka's players arrived late. Since Kikkeni was dead, her player took over Linny for now, while Lyka's player took over Holden in addition to her character. Since Loven was charmed and had no way of ever passing the opposed charisma check versus the Greater Barghest, he just aimed and reloaded at Lyka every turn.

Rag Doll
The round begins with Loven shooting at Lyka. The Greater Barghest (in dire wolf form) bites Holden and pulls him to the ground, while Lyka assails the tiger knights. Linny casts Sanctuary on herself to protect her from the Enlarged hobgoblin duskblade and tries to skirt around to get to the meat shields.

The three remaining hobgoblin tiger knights continue to pound on Lyka, but she executes a flawless Mithral Tornado and his every single one of them AND their mounts. This takes a huge chunk out of their HP. The warcaster, still hidden in the abandoned watchtower down the road, casts Manyjaws at Holden, chewing him up for a lot of damage for three rounds.

Lyka weathers the beating from the three tiger knights and eventually kills the second tiger. The two knights, now on the ground, issue fighting challenges against Lyka and renew their assault while the remaining mounted knight continues to fight with his mount. Lyka's AC proves to be too high, however, and most of them roll badly.

Holden is dropped really close to death several times by the Manyjaws, while Linny, who was able to move up to him, continuously heals him. The Barghest gets tired of Loven missing and just tells him to sit down and "contemplate what passes for a life" and blasts the PCs (and the tiger knights) with Crushing Despair. Holden, Lyka and Loven each fail, while strangely enough, I roll high on the saves of all the knights and tigers.

Lyka uses Iron Heart Surge to shake off the Despair and soon drops the third tiger knight (the one still mounted), but his tiger keeps fighting. It manages to back up and gets enough clearance to pounce her. Most of its attacks miss, but it manages to grapple her as part of its pounce. Holden, however, turns to the tiger and cracks its spine in half.

Holden, despite drawing his best maneuvers, keeps missing the Barghest but eventually manages to lower its HP down to 31.

The remaining Hobgoblin Duskblade keeps trying to hit Lyka and Holden, but keeps missing. At one point it succeeded in Enfeebling Lyka one turn from the end of her Whirling Frenzy, but she was able to shake it off with Iron Heart Surge. As the duskblade began to run out of spells, Lyka ran up to it and split it clean down the middle with Soaring Raptor Strike.

Linny buffs Lyka with Bull's Strength even as Linny's Whirling Frenzy wears off.
The Greater Barghest changes shape, and on its next turn, turns to Loven and mauls him, taking off about 28 HP. The Rogue snaps out of the charm and moves to flank the Barghest, but fails to deal any damage on his first attack. The next time he tries, though, he crits and drops the Barghest to 1 HP. The Barghest tears Loven apart like a rag doll. Thankfully, before the Barghest has a chance to devour Loven's soul, Lyka shanks him dead. The last knight goes down easily on Lyka's blade. (That means Lyka killed all three tiger knights, two of the tigers, the Barghest, AND one of the duskblades. Do. Not. Piss. Her. Off.)


The party takes a breather to use the Staff of Life on Kikkeni (it was pretty unanimous that she was far more useful than Loven ever was), and makes a break for Brindol.

The War Council
After spending some time to heal up (they bought another Wand of Lesser Vigor), the PCs are summoned to Brindol Keep.

Lady Kaal, whom the PCs have never met before, is snappy and sarcastic, thinking the PCs inept and useless, using every opportunity to make herself a thorn in Jarmaath's side. The PCs each introduce themselves, but only Holden and Kikkeni are able to make any favorable impressions of themselves.

We contact Linny's player through Yahoo Messenger and set up voice chat to facilitate things. The planning begins.

Choosing the Battleground
Jarmaath makes his case for fighting outside, while Ulverth makes his for fighting along the wall. Tredora wants to escape to Vathirond, while Lady Kaal is pretty sure she doesn't want to deploy her private army.

The PCs discuss for a bit, and they immediately agree that putting the army outside the wall (the only advantage they have left), is a bad idea. Even if the enemy were to come from the air, at least the city has favorable terrain. Fighting in the farms would make things very difficult for them. Diplomacy checks are made, and they successfully convince the council to hold the walls. Escaping to Vathirond is a Very Bad Idea, since it's the last city on the frontier before the Mournland, and they had sent all their sick people there. Fighting in the open would just get them outmaneuvered: the superior speed of the worg riders and tiger knights would completely screw them, not to mention the flyers. The most favorable option is chosen: Fight from Brindol's walls.

City Defense
The PCs immediately bring up the topic of what to do in the event that the Horde breaks through the walls. They're pretty pragmatic about it and suggest barricades, rally points, the works. The idea of the clerics is mentioned.
The PCs huddle (Linny's player was around thanks to Yahoo Messenger's voice calls). They try to adopt a compromise by deploying them throughout the city but have them fall back when things get hairy, OR have some of them deployed while keeping the majority inside the Cathedral.

They eventually agree and convince the council that keeping the clerics in the Cathedral will get the soldiers killed, they decide that deploying the clerics in field hospitals about 100 feet behind the front lines will allow the clerics to escape if the front line collapses. Ulverth thinks a compromise is not going to be an efficient tactic, but the PCs are sure of this and make their diplomacy checks. The council agrees to deploy the clerics.

The Telepathic Bond
Immerstal enters with his scrolls, and Kikkeni immediately suggests that she could instead use her racial Mindlink to connect to Jarmaath instead, allowing them to keep two slots open. They then suggest that the telepathic bond be used to connect to the commanders instead. However, they roll low and fail to convince the council; Lady Kaal prevails, claiming that it would do well to have a backup town leader in the event that Jarmaath would go down.

At this point the deliberations took more than an hour and a half, and we call it a day.

Thoughts
-Do NOT mess with Lyka. Seriously.
-The players' frustration with Loven has come to the surface. They found him annoying in general and they were confused as to what his player wanted to do with him exactly. He was unfortunately no good at the things Rogues are usually supposed to be good at and his sniping was rarely successful.
-I contacted Loven's player and he said he had a changeling Rogue idea for backup, so he just needs to roll him.
-I wish we had enough time to being the siege, but I guess it wouldn't be a good idea with them a man down and with Linny almost out of spells. They haven't trained the Lions of Brindol yet, and Ulverth predicts the horde to make a move within a week.
-It seems that characters typically die when other players sub for absentees.
-We definitely need to start the Battle of Brindol next meeting. Hopefully we can meet again soon.

BooNL
2009-11-30, 07:26 AM
How do your players respond when their character dies when they themselves are absent? It's happened to me once and I was not amused, I felt the other player used the wrong tactics and that he wasn't as involved with my character as he was.

On the battle: I like the idea of aerial bombardment put forth by Painless, I do understand that it might be a bit much for the players to handle. How about just using it as background fluff? Describe how wyverns (or other creatures) fly over the city every once in a while and try to make a ruckus. I can't recall how your players faired with the elves, but maybe a couple of those owl riders could be used to disrupt the wyvern attacks.

AslanCross
2009-11-30, 07:51 AM
How do your players respond when their character dies when they themselves are absent? It's happened to me once and I was not amused, I felt the other player used the wrong tactics and that he wasn't as involved with my character as he was.

On the battle: I like the idea of aerial bombardment put forth by Painless, I do understand that it might be a bit much for the players to handle. How about just using it as background fluff? Describe how wyverns (or other creatures) fly over the city every once in a while and try to make a ruckus. I can't recall how your players faired with the elves, but maybe a couple of those owl riders could be used to disrupt the wyvern attacks.

They were disappointed, but there really wasn't much to be done. In Loven's case, shooting while in melee would've been far more fatal. Running away and hiding wouldn't really contribute to killing the Barghest and also involved provoking a painful AOO from the brute.

Well, there will be some ranged air units in the battle, but I won't really make heavy use of them. The PCs didn't get the owls for themselves, but the elves do bring owls by default for their own use.

BooNL
2009-11-30, 08:07 AM
Well, there will be some ranged air units in the battle, but I won't really make heavy use of them. The PCs didn't get the owls for themselves, but the elves do bring owls by default for their own use.

In that case, just describing the scene should be awesome enough. No need to roll dice if you aren't planning on a lot of aerial combat. Though there is something cinematic about describing how wyverns and giant owls battling overhead while your players are laying the smack-down on those filthy knobhoblins.

AslanCross
2009-11-30, 04:29 PM
In that case, just describing the scene should be awesome enough. No need to roll dice if you aren't planning on a lot of aerial combat. Though there is something cinematic about describing how wyverns and giant owls battling overhead while your players are laying the smack-down on those filthy knobhoblins.

Yeah that might be the case. The battle does come with some air units by default, but those will be low flyers. They'll have their hands full with the dragon anyway.

kjones
2009-11-30, 05:51 PM
Your trebuchet idea seems good in theory, but it doesn't make sense to me tactically why the Red Hand would attempt to bombard the city rather than break through the wall. As you (correctly) point out, opening multiple breaches within the wall would be devastating to the defenders of Brindol. Furthermore, the trebuchet would certainly have line of sight to the wall, so it would be much more effective at destroying the wall than at bombarding random targets within the city. It just seems like a foolish choice for the Horde to split their firepower, rather than to focus it on the wall - and the Horde is better than that.

Eldariel
2009-11-30, 07:52 PM
Your trebuchet idea seems good in theory, but it doesn't make sense to me tactically why the Red Hand would attempt to bombard the city rather than break through the wall. As you (correctly) point out, opening multiple breaches within the wall would be devastating to the defenders of Brindol. Furthermore, the trebuchet would certainly have line of sight to the wall, so it would be much more effective at destroying the wall than at bombarding random targets within the city. It just seems like a foolish choice for the Horde to split their firepower, rather than to focus it on the wall - and the Horde is better than that.

Then again, in WWII era military tactics, artillery fire was focused on enemy rally points in an attempt to prevent efficient grouping of the units and simply to maximize casualties. If the Horde doesn't doubt its ability to destroy the walls (as it shouldn't with a Dragon and large hordes of Giants deployed), using Trebuchets to disrupt the defenders' organization and kill as many as possible could be a rational option.

Of course, it could also be intended as it's used here; as a trap to try to lure a fist unit of probably very skilled warriors out of the city, cut the fist off off and destroy it. I personally do quite like it, as well as the aerial bombardment.

kjones
2009-11-30, 10:54 PM
Then again, in WWII era military tactics, artillery fire was focused on enemy rally points in an attempt to prevent efficient grouping of the units and simply to maximize casualties. If the Horde doesn't doubt its ability to destroy the walls (as it shouldn't with a Dragon and large hordes of Giants deployed), using Trebuchets to disrupt the defenders' organization and kill as many as possible could be a rational option.

Of course, it could also be intended as it's used here; as a trap to try to lure a fist unit of probably very skilled warriors out of the city, cut the fist off off and destroy it. I personally do quite like it, as well as the aerial bombardment.

But the trebuchet isn't focused on "rally points" or any such target - it's just firing blindly (and thus inaccurately) into the city. I find it hard to believe that the Red Hand would not take full advantage of such firepower. If they don't doubt their ability to breach the walls, they should - especially if the party takes out one of the hill giant batteries, at which point it seems to me that they would redirect the trebuchet's fire against the walls.

And I don't deny that the trebuchet could be used as a trap - that's fine. But it can still be used as a trap if it's used to fire against the walls. If you want to set a trap, you want the trebuchet to pose as much of a threat as possible, and what's more of a threat than breaching the walls?

One more problem with the trebuchet - siege weapons are slooow. The Red Hand has, all things considered, been making good time across the Vale. Having to cart around siege weapons makes that less realistic.

Also, Aslan: What's the etiquette for spoiler tags in this thread? What should I be spoilering?

AslanCross
2009-11-30, 11:26 PM
But the trebuchet isn't focused on "rally points" or any such target - it's just firing blindly (and thus inaccurately) into the city. I find it hard to believe that the Red Hand would not take full advantage of such firepower. If they don't doubt their ability to breach the walls, they should - especially if the party takes out one of the hill giant batteries, at which point it seems to me that they would redirect the trebuchet's fire against the walls.

And I don't deny that the trebuchet could be used as a trap - that's fine. But it can still be used as a trap if it's used to fire against the walls. If you want to set a trap, you want the trebuchet to pose as much of a threat as possible, and what's more of a threat than breaching the walls?

One more problem with the trebuchet - siege weapons are slooow. The Red Hand has, all things considered, been making good time across the Vale. Having to cart around siege weapons makes that less realistic.

Also, Aslan: What's the etiquette for spoiler tags in this thread? What should I be spoilering?

As a rule I spoiler anything that I'm planning, as well as anything that's tl;dr.
Anyway,


Kjones: You have a point, though my biggest problem with attacking the wall directly is that it's well, a REAL threat that has a good chance of getting the city overrun, VP be damned. It would be totally bizarre if the wall got breached in two or three places, nullifying pretty much the only advantage the good guys have, and the PCs won simply due to their VP totals.

One compromise I can think of is the trebuchet making the other breach in the wall instead of another group of titans. Then they can start disrupting the inside. After all, the siege engine commander can fly.

Trebuchets are typically wheeled (at least the stabler, more accurate ones are), and are crewed by several large-sized creatures. The ground is baked hard due to the continuous days of hot sun, so they shouldn't have trouble with getting stuck in the mud. They never needed to set it up against the smaller towns along the way, so the trebuchet would be packed up into a wagon until the horde encamps outside Brindol.

Count Dravda
2009-12-02, 10:25 PM
Ok, just read the whole thread start to finish. LOVE this writeup. I've run Red Hand of Doom before, and it's probably my favorite module. And I'm glad I seem to have finished right on the eve of the Battle of Brindol! Oh, and if you were wondering about the setting, I've never played Eberron before, but I've had no trouble understanding anything, and reading this actually makes me want to play Eberron!

This one's a killer. I'd like to point out that the Streets of Blood will very likely be lost. Wave three: the goblins are riding things (Bluespawn Thunderlizards?) that have a breath weapon usable EVERY DAMN ROUND. Yeah, multiple reflexes vs. electricity damage every round, which they have litle reason to expect is coming. When I ran it, the party just shrugged and beat a tactical retreat, valuing their ability to continue fighting over possibly winning one battle at the cost of many lives.

Abithriax is an awesome encounter, and his breath weapon is not to be underestimated in my opinion. However, I just like describing him: several city blocks are lit up by a blast of flame as he torches a building. The dragon flies in low circles over the city, blasting buildings to the ground and throwing screaming people from huge distances up.

The encounter with Skather was a lot of fun, especially the introduction:

Lord Jarmaath: "Nym! [Party druid who got the link] The Red Hand have overrun a significant part of Brindol! Get back to the cathedral so we can--HURGH!" He shouts in pain before the connection goes out.
Immerstal: "This is Immerstal! Lord Jarmaath has just been killed by a sniper on the Eastern side of Cathedral square! Repeat: Lord Jarmaath has been assassinated! Get--AUGH!" [Immerstal goes down: the module does say that several aids and such are hit]
There is a moment of tense silence. I was using a messenger to communicate the link to the player, so he was shouting at the air while the rest of the party glanced uneasily at each other.
Finally..."This is Lady Verasa Kaal. Lord Jarmaath and Immerstal have just been struck down by a sniper on the Eastern side of Cathedral Square and are presumed KIA. We can't regroup for a counterattack until the sniper is removed. Can you deal with the situation?"

Most people assumed Jarmaath was dead, not merely wounded :P. My players were FREAKING OUT. It was awesome the amount of buy-in they had.

In that encounter, I also replaced those sorcerers with those Redspawn Arcanisses. About the same CR, and more true to the feeling that more and more spawn of Tiamat are joining the fray. Also has the "WHAT THE **** IS THAT?!" factor.

One last thing: if the PCs come up short of the VP total, they have an extra mission to do: assassinate as many Red Hand commanders as possible before dawn, so as to throw the horde into enough chaos that they turn on each other instead of counterattacking. My players got the VP total easily, so I never gave this speech, but I wanted to. Lady Kaal gives them their orders and is more than a little reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine.

"The Red Hand horde is falling back, and they will counterattack before dawn. If they do so, Brindol will be lost." She hands them a list of all the surviving commanders and dragons. "Here is the entirety of the Red Hand command structure. Wipe them out. All of them. Do not hesitate, show no mercy. If you are swift and efficient, we may yet live to see another dawn. You have your orders. Go."

kjones
2009-12-02, 11:15 PM
Ok, just read the whole thread start to finish. LOVE this writeup. I've run Red Hand of Doom before, and it's probably my favorite module. And I'm glad I seem to have finished right on the eve of the Battle of Brindol! Oh, and if you were wondering about the setting, I've never played Eberron before, but I've had no trouble understanding anything, and reading this actually makes me want to play Eberron!

This one's a killer. I'd like to point out that the Streets of Blood will very likely be lost. Wave three: the goblins are riding things (Bluespawn Thunderlizards?) that have a breath weapon usable EVERY DAMN ROUND. Yeah, multiple reflexes vs. electricity damage every round, which they have litle reason to expect is coming. When I ran it, the party just shrugged and beat a tactical retreat, valuing their ability to continue fighting over possibly winning one battle at the cost of many lives.

Abithriax is an awesome encounter, and his breath weapon is not to be underestimated in my opinion. However, I just like describing him: several city blocks are lit up by a blast of flame as he torches a building. The dragon flies in low circles over the city, blasting buildings to the ground and throwing screaming people from huge distances up.

The encounter with Skather was a lot of fun, especially the introduction:

Lord Jarmaath: "Nym! [Party druid who got the link] The Red Hand have overrun a significant part of Brindol! Get back to the cathedral so we can--HURGH!" He shouts in pain before the connection goes out.
Immerstal: "This is Immerstal! Lord Jarmaath has just been killed by a sniper on the Eastern side of Cathedral square! Repeat: Lord Jarmaath has been assassinated! Get--AUGH!" [Immerstal goes down: the module does say that several aids and such are hit]
There is a moment of tense silence. I was using a messenger to communicate the link to the player, so he was shouting at the air while the rest of the party glanced uneasily at each other.
Finally..."This is Lady Verasa Kaal. Lord Jarmaath and Immerstal have just been struck down by a sniper on the Eastern side of Cathedral Square and are presumed KIA. We can't regroup for a counterattack until the sniper is removed. Can you deal with the situation?"

Most people assumed Jarmaath was dead, not merely wounded :P. My players were FREAKING OUT. It was awesome the amount of buy-in they had.

In that encounter, I also replaced those sorcerers with those Redspawn Arcanisses. About the same CR, and more true to the feeling that more and more spawn of Tiamat are joining the fray. Also has the "WHAT THE **** IS THAT?!" factor.

One last thing: if the PCs come up short of the VP total, they have an extra mission to do: assassinate as many Red Hand commanders as possible before dawn, so as to throw the horde into enough chaos that they turn on each other instead of counterattacking. My players got the VP total easily, so I never gave this speech, but I wanted to. Lady Kaal gives them their orders and is more than a little reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine.

"The Red Hand horde is falling back, and they will counterattack before dawn. If they do so, Brindol will be lost." She hands them a list of all the surviving commanders and dragons. "Here is the entirety of the Red Hand command structure. Wipe them out. All of them. Do not hesitate, show no mercy. If you are swift and efficient, we may yet live to see another dawn. You have your orders. Go."

I had a similar moment with Skather's attack - it was glorious. However, I'd be very surprised if Aslan's group was coming up short for VPs by now - mine had nearly enough even before the battle began, and they missed all kinds of things. (Granted, they killed every dragon/behir they met, which helped.) I'm too lazy to read back through your archives, Aslan - care to give us a rough estimate of where your group stands?

AslanCross
2009-12-03, 02:42 AM
Ok, just read the whole thread start to finish. LOVE this writeup. I've run Red Hand of Doom before, and it's probably my favorite module. And I'm glad I seem to have finished right on the eve of the Battle of Brindol! Oh, and if you were wondering about the setting, I've never played Eberron before, but I've had no trouble understanding anything, and reading this actually makes me want to play Eberron!

Thanks for your support and for taking time to read through everything! Do try Eberron out--it's a very interesting world. It's my group's favorite setting and we enjoy it a lot. :smallbiggrin:

It really depends how the group plays out the Streets of Blood encounter; My group has been pretty formidable up to the last Marked for Death encounter. It took a LOT to catch them off guard and get someone killed. The ton of XP they got from finishing that last encounter bumped Holden, Lyka and Linny up to Lv 10. Although Kikkeni is stuck at Lv 8 thanks to the res, Loven's player is bringing in a new Rogue at Lv 10. It's going to be a pretty interesting fight.

Lyka, for one, hasn't been trying up to now---she has only used her Whirling Frenzy twice and her Shifting once so far. And when she did actually use those two, she really tore things to pieces. She almost single-handedly soloed that encounter kill-wise.

Linny will be getting her third level of Paragnostic Apostle this level up, and I'm not yet sure what her player will be taking.

Holden will only get tougher, and Kikkeni is still a formidable artillery piece even in her leveled-down state.


I had a similar moment with Skather's attack - it was glorious. However, I'd be very surprised if Aslan's group was coming up short for VPs by now - mine had nearly enough even before the battle began, and they missed all kinds of things. (Granted, they killed every dragon/behir they met, which helped.) I'm too lazy to read back through your archives, Aslan - care to give us a rough estimate of where your group stands?

Let's just say the only VPs they've missed are the ones from killing Ulwai and some of the points from the defense council.

Count Dravda
2009-12-03, 01:57 PM
Let's just say the only VPs they've missed are the ones from killing Ulwai and some of the points from the defense council.

Wow. Yeah, it's seemed like they've been doing pretty well. I once read over the VP totals in the book: I believe that if you succeed on everything, it is possible to win the Battle of Brindol before it begins! :smallbiggrin: That MIGHT include assassinating Kharn prematurely, though...I forget.

Anyways, you're right: you DO have quite a powerful group of players. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

-Count Dravda

kjones
2009-12-03, 04:15 PM
Wow. Yeah, it's seemed like they've been doing pretty well. I once read over the VP totals in the book: I believe that if you succeed on everything, it is possible to win the Battle of Brindol before it begins! :smallbiggrin: That MIGHT include assassinating Kharn prematurely, though...I forget.

Anyways, you're right: you DO have quite a powerful group of players. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

-Count Dravda

Don't get the wrong idea about VPs in RHoD. All they determine is what happens to the Horde after they defeat Kharn in front of the Cathedral. (Emphasis on defeat - if they lose this fight, they should lose the battle, regardless of their VP condition. The Horde breaks into the Cathedral, the rallying point of the defenders falls, the battle is over.) It might make VPs during the battle unimportant - and therefore they don't really have to worry about killing Skather, or Abithraix, or defending the Dawn Way. However, a canny DM will find ways to make them pay for these losses regardless of VP totals.

To reiterate: VPs only determine whether the Horde retreats or counterattacks after Kharn is killed. Nothing else.

AslanCross
2009-12-03, 04:34 PM
Indeed, kjones. Thanks for reminding me of that. Victory doesn't always have to be overwhelming. The victory could be a pyrrhic one on either side.

Rogue 7
2009-12-07, 11:07 PM
Criminy, I want to play this campaign! This looks like scads of fun, though I'd probably have to DM the damn thing just based on the fact that I've read through all of this.

AslanCross
2009-12-07, 11:18 PM
Criminy, I want to play this campaign! This looks like scads of fun, though I'd probably have to DM the damn thing just based on the fact that I've read through all of this.

Thanks for taking the time. :D RHOD is indeed a very good module, though you might notice that I've modified it significantly to suit the needs of my party. The overall idea is great, though, and it really makes for a very engaging campaign. :smallbiggrin:

AslanCross
2009-12-26, 10:04 AM
Awesome, awesome session today.

We begin by introducing Loven's replacement, a changeling rogue/swordsage named 20 (though he prefers to be called "Free.") His actual player wasn't around, but a substitute player handles both Holden and Free.

Due to some miscommunication with the original player, Free made many choices that were not only suboptimal, but downright dangerous to the party (Charging Minotaur for a Swordsage who had 10 Strength, for one, 4 ranks only in UMD, and dumped Cha and Wis.) Lyka's player had tried to help this guy make his new character, but unfortunately it seems this didn't work.

In any case, everyone spent about an hour and a half fixing Free (with his original player's permission). After gear was chosen, skill points reassigned, and martial maneuvers re-selected, we were finally able to begin.

Training the Lions

The party decides to go ahead and train the Lions of Brindol for their new and improved careers. Lyka successfully trains Teyani in her new career as a Fighter/Warblade.
Holden, with his short temper, is unable to keep his cool in transmitting his ideals to Wrogann, and fails to give him his Crusader levels.
Kikkeni, crippled by her level loss, is unable to make the DC and rolls low as well, so Narcy remains an ordinary fighter.
Finally, Free passes all his skill checks and successfully trains Jonz as a sniper (somehow).

After seven days' training, the sentries on the wall call everyone's attention to the horizon. The Red Hand has come into view.

The Red Hand troops set up just outside of bow range. Kikkeni, still a bit addled by her recent Raising, champs at the bit and tries to convince the others to ride out on their pet dire lion.

They convince her to hold back, and so they wait.

The Hammer Falls
BGM: The Hammer Falls (Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 OST: Destiny) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMChEHUPkaY )

The alarm goes up---two artillery teams have begun their bombardment. From the wall, the outlines of three hulking ogres and two enormous warforged titans are visible---the titans are heavily modified, and from the gates Linny can make out that each has one massive arm-mounted cannon powered by human-sized Eberron dragonshards. Each of the titans lets loose a shrieking, wailing projectile that pulverizes the walls extremely quickly.

From their HQ at Brindol Keep, the PCs decide to go after the southern strike team, since they can get there closer.

Before they go, Jaarmath, Ulverth, Immerstal, and Lady Kaal gather the PCs for one last word.

"We're as ready as we'll ever be. If we survive here, then good work, everyone. If we fall, gods help us."

After setting up the Mindlink and Telepathic Bonds, the PCs march out and make a run for it.

The PCs start out 450 feet away from the ogre/titan battery. Lyka makes a run for it on foot, while Holden and Free, mounted on the dire lion (whom Lyka says reminds her of her grandfather), ride out as fast as they could.

Kikkeni and Linny remain behind. Immediately Kikkeni opens fire with her Energy balls, but since she could only hit one of them at a time she focuses on one of the three ogres. The first ogre saves well against the energy balls and is able to survive the first few blasts well, but soon is unable to weather the fire and starts chucking boulders at Kikkeni. The other two ogres and the titans keep up their fire.

By now they realize (and Linny also mentions) that the titans can only fire after three rounds of recharging their dragonshard resonators. It takes a bit of juice to get the dragonshards to reach critical, so they can only fire more or less every 20 seconds (or every fourth round). Linny tries taking potshots at the ogres with Ice Knife, but she's unable to even make their AC.

Before long, the melee characters close the distance. The three ogres go down quickly once the frontliners get to them. The party then focuses its attention on the Titans. At this point, though, Kikkeni wants to conserve her PP and decides to refrain from launching any more projectiles.

Lyka attacks one of them all on her own and wails on it with everything she's got, eventually accumulating enough damage for the titan to un-entrench itself and start trying to stomp her. With its cannon no longer trained on the wall, they party at this point has bought at least a one minute extension on the wall's life span.

Holden, the lion, and Free don't fare against the second titan so well. Their weapons deal miserable damage despite Holden full attacking and using Fight with mount to give his lion full attacks. Even when he did get Elder Mountain Hammer, Holden rolled a natural one and lost his first opportunity to deal significant damage to it. Unfazed, the titan continues recharging and firing. Seeing her companions in distress, Linny decides to use Divine Vigor and make a run for it to get close enough to drop an Earth Reaver on the Titan that continues to fire.

It takes her a couple more rounds to get close enough even with her enhanced run speed, but once Linny fires off the Earth Reaver, the titan fails its reflex save and topples. With their target disabled, Holden, the lion and Free continue their assault.

As the titan gets up, the three take their AOOs against the mechanical monster while Linny follows up reluctantly with a Sound Lance. Though the titan is resistant to sonic damage, the blast rips off a huge chunk of its armor.

Lyka, in the meantime, continues beating on the other titan while sustaining severe injuries from the titan's stomps. With a final Soaring Raptor Strike, she sunders the titan's dragonshard resonator and it goes down.

Holden's lion manages the impossible---winning a grapple check against the titan. This ties up its cannon and prevents it from firing. Free attempts to use Devastating Throw on the titan twice (he wanted to be able to brag about it here), but fails completely---at one point he fails by 1.

Finally, Holden gets Mountain Hammer and bashes the titan's chest cavity in. The titan goes down.

After picking up their loot (a whole bunch of dragonshards from the exploding resonators, some GP, a Minor Schema of Resist Energy and a Robe of Useful Items), they try to contact Jaarmath.

Jaarmath only replies "Oh gods, it's coming! COME QUICKLY!"

Fire in the Night
BGM: Fire in the Night (Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom ~Nuclear Fusion~) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Br7AcIiu84)

Abithriax---55 feet long, with gold dragonmarks embossed onto his ebon horns, and holding an enormous Red Hand banner in his front claws---flies overhead, roaring a challenge:

"I, Abithriax, Chosen Prince of Tiamat, hereby claim this city in the name of the Dragonqueen! If you wish to dispute my claim, come after me if you dare!"

He then flies over Cathedral square and throws down the flagpole-sized standard into the earth. With the Red Hand now flying over the city, Abithriax begins circling and setting the city on fire, butchering any troops he could get his claws into.

The PCs make a run for it, quaffing potions and casting spells as they went---most notably, Magic Circle Against Evil, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, Fell the Greatest Foe, and Antidragon Aura.

By the time they get into the city, the entire southern district is on fire, and the windstorm (conjured by Ulwai) is causing the fires to spread at a dramatic rate. The inferno raises huge clouds of choking smoke that block out the sky. The party wants to put out the fires first, but knowing that the dragon could easily start them again, they face down the dragon.

However, they unwisely chose to enter and remain in tight formation---as they are unable to spot the dragon through the thick smoke and unwilling to take cover between the burning buildings, they remain in the city street, flailing in panic.

The dragon swoops down over them, uses his Blindsense to pinpoint them, and, swooping out of the smoke, uses his Explosive Metabreath. I roll 49 damage out of 10d10---slightly below average---but this is enough to send Kikkeni to the negatives instantly. Free and Linny also fail and take the full brunt of the blast, while Lyka and Loven save. The lion also fails its save and is dropped to 8 HP out of 60 (it had taken 3 damage from Holden spurring it). The shockwave from the dragonbreath knocks everyone prone. While the dragon is visible, though, Linny notices the multiple dragonmark glyphs orbiting around it and successfully identifies the buffs it has active.

Remembering their Potions of Fly, Lyka and Free quaff theirs while Linny desperately tries to get herself back up to decent HP. Holden spends some time trying to get back onto his mount, only to get swatted by the dragon with a Flyby Awesome Blow. The dragon's attack throws Holden 10 feet from his mount and flat onto his face on the pavement stones. Abithriax then climbs sharply into the smoke.

Linny, in her desperation, uses the second to the last charge on her Staff of Healing to bring back Kikkeni to full HP. However, with the dragon flying too high above the smoke for them, everyone is unable to attack him directly.

Lyka and Free attempt to fly a bit higher, but are still unable to maneuver much. Everyone pretty much fumbles around, flailing and panicking.

Free then decides to make a heroic sacrifice. He flies up to about 30 feet and readies an action to attack the dragon once it gets into range.

The dragon spots him, and takes a bite out of him. With 14 HP left, he drops to -1. And falls to the ground. And craters for 10 damage. Exeunt Free.

Lyka tries to use Soaring Raptor Strike but gets a face full of Dragonmark glyphs as she bounces off the shimmering barrier.

However, this buys the party some very important time---the dragon is now BELOW the smoke and in range. Torn between outright blasting and conserving PP, Kikkeni decides to use Ego Whip, albeit pumped up. She realizes she could take it down through ability damage as well, so fires off a max-augmented Ego Whip.

Before she does this, though, I remember one thing I ALWAYS forget on dragons: Frightful Presence. Everyone but the dire lion makes their saves, so oh well.

Kikkeni she breaches spell resistance.
Abithriax fails his save.
Kikkeni rolls 5 damage.

"You're not as cool as you think you are."

Abithriax, his pride wounded, drops down to 9 charisma. Still a long ways to go, but I realize something important---this shuts down his spellcasting.

The party cheers, and Linny excitedly lines up her Dispel Magic.

And all four of the dragon's buffs---Mage Armor, Shield, Scintillating Scales, and Resist Energy (Cold)---shatter into pieces of arcane detritus.

Another cheer from the party---Free's sacrifice ACTUALLY GOT THEM SOMEWHERE.

Holden quaffs a potion of fly and begins soaring through the air, while Lyka wails on the dragon with renewed vigor. The dragon attempts to knock Lyka out of the sky with Awesome Blow, but fails, and then lands onto the ground.

Linny attempts to punch a hole in Abithriax with Sound Lance, but fails to breach SR. Fearing that the dragon would be able to launch his breath weapon again, Kikkeni runs off to the side and waits for it to move into view.

Abithriax has other weapons at his disposal, however, and with a flourish, smacks his tail into the pavement. Windows along the street shatter and everyone within 95 feet fails their bull rush resist attempts against the dragon and are sent sprawling to the ground. Even the dire lion is knocked down.

Only Holden and Lyka, flying above the ground, are unaffected.

At this point, Abithriax is still at a massive 180+ HP. But Lyka has other ideas. Using Dancing Mongoose, she full attacks---and crits. Piling on her multiple attacks plus Fell the Greatest Foe, Lyka racks up an amazing 91 damage on Abithriax and takes off almost half of his HP in one turn.

I pick my jaw up off the floor. Linny follows up with Earth Reaver, using her Manifest Ethos ability from Paragnostic Apostle to turn its fire damage into sacred damage. Another huge chunk is taken out of Abithriax, and although he isn't knocked prone, he's down to about 71 HP.

Enter Holden and a maul furiously glowing with the Silver Flame's Divine Surge. Crack.

10 HP left. The dragon angrily roars at Holden, vowing to drag him screaming to Dolurrh, and full attacks, taking a -10 penalty to use Power Attack. Only the bite and two wings hit, though (he was lucky the tail didn't bean him) and Holden takes about 50+damage.

Kikkeni tries to finish off the dragon with an Energy Bolt, but fails to breach SR.

Lyka attempts one last full attack, slashing madly. She takes several swipes and finally plunges her longsword into the dragon's heart, ripping its chest cavity open. Dragonmark glyphs erupt into a fiery conflagration around the dragon and begin consuming its body as it lets out a horrible dying roar---until Abithriax explodes.

As the fire and smoke clear, ash rains down from the sky.

Just as Kikkeni laments how she wanted one of the horns as a souvenir, one of the horns indeed comes spinning out of the sky and crashes into the ground.

Kikkeni levels up from the XP.

Commentary

1. Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome. This definitely makes up for the colossal suck that was the Regiarix battle. Everyone was able to contribute meaningfully in this session.
2. The players quip how Free, in his two encounters, was able to contribute far more than Loven was able to do in his entire career.
3. I scrapped the trebuchet---just too much trouble to deal with.
4. The party needs to conserve its resources very well, though---Linny's primary blasting spells are gone, and she's now down one Dispel Magic. Kikkeni still has about 1/3 of her PP left, but that was a bit too much spent in the opening battles. They've got a long way to go, and I think they were a bit too careless in the first one.
5. The sub player has been accepted as an official player now, and is planning to put together a decent sniper. He's done quite well as a player in out past games, so I think he'll be a good addition.
6. I've put together a fair bit of surprises for the coming battles.
a. Streets of Blood will feature a larger number of hobgoblins using indirect volleys pinpointed by hobgoblin dragoons on manticore mounts plus one Doom Hand Confessor (upgraded Doom Hand Warpriest)
b. Berserkers galore and some other nasty martial treats.
c. Still no idea if I should modify the third wave. Probably not.
d. Fourth wave for flavor: spellcasters mounted on a howdah on an otherwise standard warforged titan's back. This might be a bit too much, so the casters will now have to pace themselves as they call on their reinforcements.
7. Lyka. Is. Amazing. She went from meat grinder to adamantine grinder to, as Linny's player calls her, an "anime character." (http://aslancross.deviantart.com/art/Artemis-Lykaios-Thunderpaws-143939278)

d13
2009-12-26, 01:25 PM
This. Is. Awesome. :smallamused:

I'm suddenly getting, once again, the urge to run this module in Eberron :smalltongue:

Eldariel
2009-12-26, 08:50 PM
Hm, well, that cut close. The Dragon coming within reach definitely gave the battle a turn of theirs for a change. The Ego Whip really did help too; Scintillating Scales and the magic buffs woulda made hitting 'er MUCH more difficult.

They won, but they won barely. Now they'll have a hell weathering the rest of the Battle. I just wish the casters have got some Wands or Dorjes in the pocket; otherwise they're looking at ½ BAB bows for a while.

That sounded epic all-around. I can't imagine any player NOT having a blast in a session like that. And yeah...Free definitely earned 'er slot, if only for a moment. I only wish they'd have the charge in Wand of Life left to bring 'er back.

AslanCross
2009-12-26, 09:26 PM
We all enjoyed it. Everyone played a part in taking the dragon out, and I'm happy with how terrified they were of not being able to even spot the dragon through the thick smoke. The dragon battle was tough as it was meant to be, and I didn't suffer from the awful luck and stupidity that I had in the Regiarix battle.

Kikkeni still has a completely unused dorje of energy ray, and Linny still has a wand of scorching ray, a wand of magic missile, and a wand of ice knife. They're pretty good mook sweepers, at least. She also has a wand of lesser vigor, but that's not going to do much when the consecutive battles come in rounds.

Oh, I forgot something---Linny helped taking down the first Warforged titan with Magic Missile too. Force damage, however little, helps a lot in breaching those guys.

ShadowFighter15
2009-12-28, 01:36 AM
You know; if this thread gets popular enough, Lyca could become a Memetic Badass around these forums. She's certainly fulfilled the second-half of that title.

AslanCross
2009-12-28, 05:27 AM
You know; if this thread gets popular enough, Lyca could become a Memetic Badass around these forums. She's certainly fulfilled the second-half of that title.

I'm sure her player would love that. Dicing up an adamantine war machine with a big cannon then cutting up a red dragon in the span of less than five minutes without a terribly optimized character is pretty awesome.

AslanCross
2009-12-29, 10:27 AM
Streets of Blood

Much ownage, but much pain.

Preparations:
Holden's player was absent again due to parental reasons. Lyka's player was also unable to attend due to the severe traffic between her place and mine; she lives outside of town south of Metro Manila while I live in the North. As such, it's a pretty damn long trip for her. She only gets to come here regularly during school weekends since her university is nearby.

In any case, my new permanent player introduces his rogue sniper character, Nox, by taking potshots at the Red Hand as they enter. The character is pretty well built, and the player knows how to set up sniping, so he pretty did well today. More on this later.

The PCs call on the four Lions of Brindol, who support them and the militiamen in this encounter. The Militiamen are led by Rampant, the warforged subcommander of the Brindol Lion guard.

PCs:
-Holden
-Lyka
-Linny
-Kikkeni
-Nox, incognito, and unseen on a barn's roof (it's one of the buildings in the center of the map). Basically, nobody knows he's there until he actually starts shooting.

The Lion Guard:
-Rampant, Warforged Fighter 2/Warblade 4
-Teyani, Fighter 2/Warblade 2, disarm build with Two-Bladed Sword
-Jonz, Fighter 2/Rogue 2, sniper build
-Narcy and Wrogann, vanilla two-hand bastard sword builds.
-10 militiamen

I put up a barrier made of small Mauly clips and folded index card scraps across the part of the map where the wagon is.


Wave 1: Air Strike

First wave:
-2 Hobgoblin dragoons mounted on advanced manticores
-1 Doom Hand Confessor (Cleric 5/Ordained Champion 3)
-10 Hobgoblin regular archers (mwk composite longbows instead of longswords)

The manticores come in hard and fast, carrying hobgoblin dragoons on their backs and 50 lb rocks. The Doom Hand Confessor appears, already buffed with Divine Power and Divine Vigor, and heads straight for the barricade.

Holden, Rampant and Lyka damage the confessor significantly in the first round, but the two manticores drop their rocks on Holden. Holden takes a wallop from the first rock, but the second misses.

Kikkeni stays prone on the roof of the cottage above the wagon, doing her best to lie low. However, with the manticores overhead, she desides to leap down and join the fray below instead of being plastered on the roof .

Nox sneaks the closest Manticore (his Hide check is 50), dealing significant damage to it.

Before the confessor can get any damage off, he's dropped to critical HP by the mobbing PCs. Jonz takes a few ineffectual potshots while the other three Lions stay behind the barricade.

At this point, one of the dragoons barks out an order in Goblin: "Alright, drop the hammer on 'em!"---and an arrow volley strikes the militiamen. Four are severely injured, and Wrogann takes a hit as well.

Holden leads the militiamen in a concentrated arrow volley on the Confessor, and they actually get in a hit. The Confessor attempts to smite Holden by channeling Contagion into his heavy flail, but fumbles. Lyka cuts him down.

The Manticores retaliate by spraying the defenders with their tail spikes. The four injured militiamen die instantly, plus two more. Improved Natural Attack FTW. The other manticore fires at Kikkeni, Teyani, Wrogann and Narcy, but only lands a hit on Narcy.

A second volley of arrows comes down on Holden, Lyka and Rampant, but only Holden gets hit. Nox takes a second shot at the manticore he shot, and it comes crashing down. Its dragoon jumps off and lands very close to Lyka.

Linny comes out of hiding and blasts the second manticore with blast of force and it fails its Fort save, falling out of the sky. However, it doesn't take enough damage to die and instead lands uncomfortably close to Kikkeni. It ineffectually tries to attack, but Linny knocks it into the negatives with scorching ray.

Although the two dragoons wound Lyka significantly with their halberds, the party's frontliners and Rampant easily take them down.

The hobgoblin archers close in on the street, but Nox drops a glitterdust on them from a scroll. Seven of them are blinded, and the remaining ones, seeing the party tear up their frontliners, beat a hasty retreat, dragging the blinded guys with them.


Wave 2:

-4 Blood Ghost Berserkers (Barbarian 2/Warblade 2)
-1 Blood Ghost Revenant Blade (Warblade 3/Bloodstorm Blade 3)
-1 Hobgoblin Dirgedancer (Fighter 4/Swordsage 2/ Dervish 2)

They remember to call the dire lion, which Holden mounts and moves in front of the barricade.

The Dirgedancer uses her movement speed to blaze her way down the Dawn Way. Holden and Lyka rush to attempt to block her off, and so does Rampant.

Nox drops a scroll of black tentacles on the berserkers, trapping all of them. Since they have decent strength, I decide to actually roll the grapple checks for them so that they could escape. This kind of slows down the game, but it gave a sense of more urgency.

The Revenant Blade appears, having sneaked onto a rooftop with a potion of invisibility, and throws his heavy flail at Lyka. Lyka's player (who was on a YM conference with Holden's player) expresses her shock. The Lions attempt to open fire on the Revenant Blade, but none of them manage to land any hits--26 AC is a tall order even for concentrated volleys.

The Dirgedancer executes Burning Blade and Flashing sun along with her Dervish Dance, scoring a crit on Lyka. Her second and third strikes miss, but the last hits. Lyka drops down to 34 HP from the 70s. Holden attempts to use Battle Leader's Charge on the Dirgedancer, but unfortunately this and the dire lion's pounce all miss.

In the meantime, the berserkers all continue struggling with the tentacles. They don't get much progress until the first one manages to break loose and fight through until the edge of the tentacles.

The Dirgedancer again takes multiple shots at the lion, dancing all the way around it, but deals very little damage. Without burning blade, she's kinda weak. However, she makes it over the barrier.

The Four Lions of Brindol surround her and begin attacking. Linny follows up with a Magic Missile, dropping the Dirgedancer to critical HP.

The Revenant Blade launches his heavy flail again, disarming Holden successfully. Holden climbs down from his mount to pick it up, and re-mounts.

One by one, the berserkers pull out of the tentacles. One bashes Lyka for 25 damage, dropping her to a dangerously low 9 HP. She tries to retreat to Linny for healing. Nox nails one of the berserkers with a scroll of ice lance.

The Dirgedancer retaliates against Wrogann, slicing him down to 12 HP, but Linny finishes her off with a Magic Missile. The Revenant Blade disarms Holden again, and at this point he says "Screw this" and leads his mount to pounce on one of the barbarians who had just whacked Lyka. The lion grapples the brute and begins to dismember him, while Kikkeni puts in some potshots with her dorje.

At this point, one of the barbarians charges the dire lion and drops him to 0 HP, but Holden smacks him and heals the dire lion with Revitalizing Strike. The lion tears the bugbear a new one.

Lyka, refreshed with new HP, jumps across the dire lion's back and executes a Soaring Raptor Strike on the last berserker, and Holden caves in its face with a Falcon punch Divine Surge punch.

The Revenant Blade leaps down, only to be confronted by Rampant, who attempts to smash him into a wall. The bugbear puts up a great fight, though, and refuses to be crushed against a wall.

Lyka and Holden come to support the warforged commander, landing a couple of solid blows, until Rampant finally manages a solid, crushing, Dungeoncrasher with a spray of blood and splinters. Just as the dust clears, a bolt comes careening through the air c/o Nox, finishing off the Revenant Blade.

Wave 3:
-5 Bluespawn thunderlizards
-5 Golin'Dar Outriders

The party regroups, and they send the surviving militiamen into the small gaps between the cottages towards the east side of the map.

Holden, healed up, mounts his lion again and stands with the rest behind the barricades. Kikkeni decides to conserve the remaining dregs of her PPs, and so does Linny with her spells.

The blue rhinos come in. Linny readies a scroll of Web against the first creature that passes through the gap (there's only one narrow choke point where a Web will actually work), while Lyka sneaks up to an alcove and gets ready to stab the next hostile who passes by.

Nox takes a shot at the lead goblin, and lo and behold---the goblin's mount makes its spot check versus Nox's godly modifier. It opens fire with its lightning bolt on the sniper's position, but he manages to evade it fine. The thunderlizard then moves toward the middle, promptly triggering the readied Web.

With the trap sprung, Holden charges forward with his mount and attempts to attack the thunderlizard, but barely lands anything. Then the thunderlizards all light Holden and his lion up. Lightning bolt after lightning bolt streaks across the battlefield, with a couple of bolts actually blazing past Holden, the lion, and the barrier, hitting the defenders behind it.

Kikkeni, failing her reflex save against one bolt, decides to spend some PP to keep herself alive, and raises her Intellect Fortress for herself and Linny. However, the dire lion, scorched and shocked beyond recognition, drops dead. The web is now burnt through, and although the th

In retaliation, Nox and Kikkeni light up the bank of thunderlizards with a scroll of fireball and the last of Kikkeni's energy balls. Most of the riders are killed instantly.

Without their riders, the ornery beasts charge and crash the barrier. Holden runs into a corner after having taken so much damage, but Lyka and Rampant engage the rest.

Lyka grinds up the remaining rider and its mount with a mithral tornado, while severely injuring the other. Rampant beheads another one of the lizards with Emerald Razor + Power Attack, while Wrogann and Holden take out the last two.

The ground begins to shake rhythmically---they've got one round before the final wave.


Wave 4:
BGM: Death Doll (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-S1hEdPMAQ)

-Warforged titan
-Ruven, Kulkor Zhul War Adept
-Kash-Tari, Doom Hand Confessor

And the final wave marches into view---a hulking warforged titan, with what appear to be bunker spaces on its back. Inside its bunkers are Wyrmlord Kharn's two concubines, working in concert to completely flatten the defenders on the back of their Titan.

As soon as it appears, one of the bunkers launches a scintillating sphere at Lyka, Linny, Teyani and Narcy. The titan then marches straight for the barrier and begins smashing it wide open. Lyka and Holden attack it, with Holden smacking it with Elder Mountain Hammer.

Almost instantly the titan is dropped to 70 HP, but the casters inside hit Holden with a Ray of Dizziness and Lyka with a Moon Bolt. Lyka takes 2 strength damage.

All this time, Nox is lining up a rope and grappling hook as he scampers across the rooftops, attempting to catch the Titan and swing onto its back.

The Titan walks right over the shattered barrier and mauls Holden, dropping him to 13 HP in short order. Lyka drops a Death From Above on the Titan, critically injuring it,
but then the caster inside retaliates with a Ray of Enfeeblement. Ruven rolls high, slashing 7 Strength off Lyka's score. The Titan then beats Lyka into a pulp, dropping her to exactly 0 HP. Kash-Tari drops a Confusion spell on Narcy, Rampant and Kikkeni, all of whom make their saves. Kikkeni runs into the narrow alleyway to take cover from the onslaught.

Lyka, using the last of her strength, tumbles out of the Titan's reach, flopping down onto the ground beside Linny. Linny heals her back up while Rampant runs up to the Titan and stabs his blade into its leg actuators, disabling it.

The titan's systems fail, and it breaks down into a kneeling position in the middle of the Dawn Way.
Just as Holden is about to rejoice, Ruven shoots him (as he is the only hostile visible to her due to the bunker's field of vision) with an orb of electricity.

And crits.

Alas, 47 damage was not enough for Holden's pool to absorb. A huge hole is blown through the dwarf crusader's chest, and he falls flat on his back, dead.

The party is furious, but there's very little they can do. Nox swings onto the back of the Titan and, using a wand of knock pried from Free's body by Lyka, pops the lock--but not before using a potion of invisibility on himself. (At this point I only play out Ruven's and Nox's turns to speed things up.)

He knows Ruven is in there, but he didn't want to reveal himself. Not knowing what to do, he reaches into his Survival Pouch and drops...a campfire at Ruven's feet. She gives herself away, casting Great Thunderclap on Nox. Both of them fail their Fort saves and go deaf.

Nox eventually shoots her to death with his crossbow.

The assassin swings to the other side of the Titan and cracks open the second bunker. Kash-Tari is invisible. Using a waterskin from his Survival Pouch, Nox sprays her with water. The angry cleric, now partially visible, breaks her invisibility by channeling Contagion into her heavy flail, but the rogue ducks underneath it. He begins stabbing her with his dagger quite ineffectively, while the cleric responds by casting Darkfire and burning Nox with it.

Tired of this back-and-forth, Nox grapples her. The cleric attempts to burn him while they wrestle, but Nox successfully prevents her from touching him and pulls her out of the bunker and pushes her off the Titan's wreck and onto the ground.

Rampant finishes her off with his Shocking Fist.

Jaarmath contacts them to check up on them. Just as he gives the PCs the order to fall back, he stops talking. Everyone hightails it to the Cathedral of Dol Arrah.


Thoughts:

That was tiring. Although the session lasted about 5 hours, it took so much brain power that I'm amazed I can write this now.

I'm glad I pared down that last encounter---originally it had a Kulkor Zhul Beguiler and two duskblades. Those would've been killed very quickly.

Holden finally bought it. We're still in the dark as to how to fix this predicament. The party still has a long ways to go, so Linny can't use Raise Dead on him yet. Holden's player is of course disappointed, saying that he loses a character whenever he doesn't come, but I don't think it mattered---he died a fair death. It just wasn't his lucky day.

While the party doesn't have diamonds on them, they have enough GP. However, to get the diamonds NOW, they'll have to broker a deal with Lady Kaal.

Whether or not they ultimately decide to raise Holden, his player will have to use a character in the next couple of battles. I offered to build up Rampant for him, but he says he prefers to make his own character. I told him it would be too much of a stretch if we ass-pull a Lv 10 character out of nowhere---Lv 10 Characters in Eberrron are a rarity and wouldn't be available just like that---ESPECIALLY if they were famous martial or divine characters. Nox had an excuse, at least---as an assassin, it makes sense for him to slip in incognito. In this situation, what would you do and how would you fit in a new Lv 10 character?

We still haven't decided what to do, but the next session won't be for a while. After Christmas break ends, I have a ton of work to finish.

I did take some pictures of the session, though. I shall post them when I have time.

Eldariel
2009-12-29, 01:10 PM
I'd force them to purchase a Scroll of Raise Dead. Those...could exist, if in sparse supply, and there may be some around in the city. Given every single person of any note in Brindol probably knows how huge Holden's contributions to stopping the Horde have been (and how big a deal his very presence is), I'm willing to bet if one exists, they should be able to acquire it, especially at a point like this where their very survival is at stake.

Resurrection must wait though; Kharn won't. I'd probably just try to persuade the player into taking over Rampant for that fight, given he's pretty much the only high-level Adept in the city capable of taking a similar role as Holden had.

AslanCross
2009-12-29, 05:03 PM
That's pretty much what I was thinking. Hopefully he'll listen to mine and everyone else's advice. The other players are in favor of it too.

Schylerwalker
2009-12-29, 05:33 PM
I just finished reading this thread, and I must say, I enjoyed it immensely. Very few of my own campaigns have reached this much success, and only one published module (Black Sails Over Freeport) was nearly as cool. You, sir, have conducted yourself and your players masterfully. ~Bow.~

I was shocked when I read the death of Holden, and I was very disappointed. I have also lost characters when others were playing them, and it's really frustrating. I think the best solution here would be to let him play Rampant, though another idea is to simply let him play all four of the Lions of Brindol. Individually, they wouldn't be very satisfying to play, considering their low level. However, as a crack tactical squad, it could be quite interesting.

I look forward to seeing more updates!

AslanCross
2009-12-29, 10:10 PM
Thanks for your support! :D I'm glad my readers are able to enjoy this journal as much as I enjoy writing it.

I'm going to keep suggesting playing Rampant to the player; he's still kind of emotionally distraught over his losses. After all, he did lose three characters in as many sessions.

Count Dravda
2009-12-30, 08:06 AM
RIP Holden Magroen, glorious crusader. We will never forget your sacrifice.

AslanCross
2009-12-31, 03:36 AM
Well, good news: Holden's player has agreed to play Rampant until the end of the Brindol arc. Not sure yet if he is going to bring back Holden via Raise Dead (which I did inform him is possible) or insist creating a new character. He seems to be ok with the idea of letting him come back, though. It's a good thing his character died now that they have a cleric who has access to Raise Dead.

Anyway, I'd just like to share a few pictures I took of the battlefield.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/AslanCross/DnDCampaign/DSC05573.jpg

I used the map that came with the book, of course, and several random generic miniatures for the militia. Rampant is represented by the Shadowbane Inquisitor. The barricade is made up of index card cutouts and Mauly clips.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/AslanCross/DnDCampaign/DSC05574.jpg A more dynamic view of the same. The four Lions of Brindol are standing off the map in the background.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/AslanCross/DnDCampaign/DSC05575.jpg
So...a Pink warforged titan. I didn't have a minature on hand, and my Strike Rouge IWSP had the right size and enough space to put the two casters on, so I used that. Ruven and Kash-Tari are on its wings.

Elf archer on the left: Nox
Dark-skinned female in gold armor: Teyani
Combat medic in red robe: Linny
Shifter ranger beside titan's foot: Lyka
Dwarf in plate: Holden
Bronze armor in purple cloak (Shadowbane Inquisitor): Rampant
Long-haired female in blue cloak with a staff (Inspired lieutenant): Kikkeni
Blonde female with sword: Narcy
Guy with greatsword inside building: Wrogann
Red-cloaked guy lying on his face: Jonz. I don't know why he seems passed out on the floor here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/AslanCross/DnDCampaign/DSC05577.jpg

The titan has gone down. Nox has killed Ruven and is now engaging Kash-Tari.

Needless to say, while 1/144 Gundams make good warforged titans, they tend to mess up a lot of stuff when they topple (which is quite often, as it's easy to snag on some random pointy part).

AslanCross
2010-01-23, 05:38 PM
It's almost been a month since I last posted here, so I'm bumping it so that it doesn't lapse into the Abyss forever.

Next session (probably on Feb 6 due to the upcoming prom on the 30th; I finally have a hot date I actually want to sit with for 6 hours; I have to pick her up early.) will build up to the climax of the Battle of Brindol.

Skather
I honestly don't feel like putting in yet another caster. I intend to trim out one of the Kulkor Zhul War Adepts; I'll be replacing him with a hobgoblin swordsage 8. This will be an unarmed swordsage and will be pretty much the boss of the Doom Fist Monks who haven't been seen since the the Ghostlord's lair. Although he's technically CR 8, he's going to be less threatening than a second battlefield caster while at the same time being more effective in close quarters. He's also kind of squishy for a CR 8 character, so I'm not so worried about the party dealing with him.

Skather will be using his Rogue 1/Swordsage 5 build, but for the most part I intend to make him fight to escape. The remaining war adept will drop a Fiendish Dire Wolf to hold off the PCs at the ground floor and then flee to join Skather and the monk on the second floor. From there on it will just be delaying tactics---I guess I should plan for a rooftop chase scene.


The Final Showdown
As it stands, the following will be at the boss battle:
-Kharn (CR 10)
-Ulwai (CR 9)
-Two skullcrusher ogre warblade/fighters; one specializing in High Sword Low Axe and the other with Awesome Blow. (CR 7 each)
-Kharn's rage drake mount (CR 9)

I don't know if I should add anything else. The rage drake alone is a meat shredding machine against the mooks. If I do add anything, it will probably be along the lines of 2 extra whitespawn berserkers.

PCs
-Rampant in lieu of Holden
-Lyka
-Linny
-Nox
-Kikkeni

The Lions
-Wrogann
-Narcy
-Teyani
-Jonz

To make things a bit less taxing on my brain, I'm going to have each of the players run one of these.

The NPCs
-Immerstal
-Tredora (as a cleric of Dol Arrah, she's quite a bit different from the default stats; she has the War Domain for one. Her stats still suck, though, so while she might go Divine Power, she's not really that effective)
-Killiar
-Trellara

Not sure how effective the elves will be, but I guess every little helps at this point. What I'm worried about is the PCs feeling useless since they've drained almost all of their resources (notably, Kikkeni---honestly I have no idea why she burned herself out this quickly; she seemed to have panicked during the artillery attack) while the NPCs themselves are going to be at full strength---unless of course I have them all wounded and lacking in spells.

Any suggestions? Should I trim out some of the NPCs?

Zephyros
2010-01-27, 05:08 PM
Trim and boost (if you fear that it will take a heavy toll on your brainpower during the battle :P ...and still want to not have the players wiped out..)

If you think that Kikkeni won't be able to contribute much and if the players still have charges on their Staff of Life (do they?) have them burn 1-2 charges to replenish her mental life-force :smallbiggrin: However she may be able to demolish the encounter after that by going all-out-nova (at that point every player's metagaming sense is tingling that its the last stand :P)

Or may be have the elves use some kind of ritual to help with the burnt out casters and then quietly withdraw; thus, making your life easier and boosting your players

AslanCross
2010-01-27, 06:04 PM
Unfortunately, they've got one Heal left on the Staff of Life. They already used it to raise Kikkeni the last time she got killed.

Zephyros
2010-01-28, 01:56 AM
You can always ask someone to co-dm with you on this session (solves many many problems)

kjones
2010-01-28, 09:58 AM
Go AslanCross! I don't really have anything to say other than keep up the great journals, and have fun with Skather! The stealthy battle provides a nice change of pace from Streets of Blood.

AslanCross
2010-01-28, 06:06 PM
Thanks, everyone! Having difficulty finding a co-DM, unfortunately. I did find some solutions to the problems at hand, however:


-Tredora can have dweomer of transference prepared. She can pump a few spells into Kikkeni to replenish a bit of her PP so that she won't be so useless in the final battle. This is perhaps the best solution within RAW. To heighten the tension, the PP-recharging can happen just as the Red Hand starts crashing Cathedral square.

Sniper Attack
-Skather is accompanied by a hobgoblin swordsage 8 and a single Kulkor Zhul War Adept (figured two casters would be too much; besides, the space is too small).
-The War Adept has a lot of weakening spells prepared such as power word weaken, ray of weakness, and ray of dizziness. Basically his entire spell payload is meant to slow down the PCs to allow Skather to escape; at 50% HP he escapes and they'll end up chasing him across the burnt-out rooftops left in Abithriax's wake.

CTLC
2010-01-28, 10:43 PM
quite possibly my favorite thread ever.

kjones
2010-01-29, 12:59 AM
quite possibly my favorite thread ever.

I'm not sure I would go that far - for one, it doesn't have a single post about how monks are better than wizards!

AslanCross
2010-02-07, 12:56 AM
The Final Showdown
I'm sure you've been waiting for this entry. We finally got around to holding the final session for Brindol. Nox's usual player couldn't make it, Holden/Rampant's player could only stay till noon, and the rest had to leave by around 3 pm, so I asked my players to come really early. Unfortunately, Rampant's player arrived early. It took the rest a while to arrive; we were only able to start at 10:30 am.

The party hurries toward Cathedral square only to find Jaarmath being dragged into the safety of the cathedral. Captain Ulverth hurries toward the PCs, telling then that Jaarmath was taken down by a sniper. Seeing that Brindol is in grave danger, Rampant tells the others that Cannith designed him with a one-time use program that greatly increases his abilities, but only lasts for an hour. He activates this program and begins speaking in Autobot lines.

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

They enter the Cathedral to check on him and run into Tredora, who is tending her fallen lover. As much as she loves Jaarmath, she isn't willing to use up her spells when she knows that they might be needed later. Linny volunteers her one prepared lesser restoration and brings Jaarmath back to 4 Strength.

Jarmaath orders Cpt. Ulverth to take command since he doesn't want Lady Kaal giving orders. He then orders the PCs to look for the sniper.

The Sniper Attack

The PCs begin by sending Rampant into the area where soldiers had fallen to the sniper. Almost immediately Skather takes a shot and scores a critical hit against Rampant. His fortification doesn't protect him and he instead takes a full 20+ critical sneak attack. Nox is able to spot Skather as he takes his snipe hide check and quickly tries to enter the coffin maker's shop.

Nox enters the back door and begins sneaking in extremely well, while the rest of the party gathers around the door outside. As Nox explores the interior, he opens a door that creaks noisily, alerting the invisble Kulkor Zhul War Adept hiding in the stairwell. However, Nox's hide checks are so high that no matter how high the War Adept rolls, he is unable to spot Nox.

Nox spots into the stairwell and is able to discern the vague outline of an invisible creature. Taking his survival pouch, he rips out a campfire (AGAIN) and throws it at the War Adept. He hits, dealing a full 6 fire damage to the War Adept, who promptly swears and runs up to the second floor. The party rushes into the door while Nox follows the still invisible War Adept up the stairs.

When Nox gets up to the second floor, he opens the door to the supply storage room only to find a fiendish dire wolf snarling at him. He quickly backs away and enters the room on the other side of the stairwell to avoid getting pinned down by the wolf. The other party members pound their way up the staircase. Lyka immediately steps in front of the wolf, closely followed by Rampant. Linny tries to run past the wolf, but in the process gets AOO'd---the beast grabs her leg and shakes it, dealing a massive 30 damage, but Linny is actually able to succeed on the opposed trip attempt. Kikkeni remains on the ground floor, keeping watch in case someone comes in the front door.

Nox takes a shot with his crossbow at the Dire Wolf through the space between Lyka's legs, taking off almost 3/4 of the wolf's HP. Rampant steps in and then decapitates it, spraying Lyka with black blood.

"You're going to have to polish my armor," Lyka tells Rampant.
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings," replies the warforged.

Lyka spots someone hiding behind some boxes in the storeroom--a hobgoblin. Rampant stomps all the way up to the hobgoblin, taking a double move, and stopping short of attacking him.

"Would you like to butt heads with me?"
The hobgoblin emerges from his hiding place and attempts to bash Rampant with Death Mark, but misses spectacularly.
Linny follows into the room while Lyka attempts to close in with the hobgoblin swordsage. With the stairs clear, Kikkeni decides to head up to the stairwell and try to help the others on the second floor.

Nox, in the meantime, investigates the back rooms to see if there is anything else. He notices that the doors in the bedroom are curiously He spots the windows in the bedroom and decides to try investigating it. Rampant then roars---"This hobgoblin is not our sniper!"

Right at that moment, the War Adept reveals himself and casts shatterfloor on the rickety floorboards, dropping Rampant and Lyka (Lyka fails her save to grasp onto the vertical wall below her) onto the first floor. Rampant's player attempts something so awesome that I let slide at the cost of one action point---initiate a grapple with the swordsage and pull him to the ground with him. He makes the touch attack and succeeds in his grapple attempt, pulling the hobgoblin down. They crash into the coffin display on the first floor.

Lyka falls prone onto the ground, only to see none other than Skather suddenly materialize over her with his poisoned blade at the ready! He performs a Strength-Draining Strike on Lyka, his blade pulsing with black energy in the gloom.

Lyka rolls natural 1s versus both the Strength-Draining Strike and the poison. Her strength instantly drops from 18 to 8. Rampant then attempts to bash the grappled hobgoblin's face in with his slam (headbutt), even using Emerald Razor and a full power attack, but misses. Lyka, still ever sarcastic, quips: "My hope! It is draining away faster than my strength!"

Linny takes a shot at the War Adept who now has a spectacular bird's eye view of the desperate fight below, blasting him with scorching ray. Nox attempts to jump across the gap using a rope, but hearing the mess going on, he decides to crash through one of the ground floor windows into the display room. Kikkeni rushes to Lyka's assistance, while Lyka weakly tumbles away from Skather to take her position beside the psion.

The War Adept drops a glitterdust on Kikkeni and Lyka, but both make their saves.

Skather uses Cloak of Deception and materializes behind Kikkeni, his blade firmly planted in her back. Half of her HP is gone instantly. All this time, Rampant and the hobgoblin are wrestling in a stalemate. Although Rampant's grip is overpowering, he keeps failing to injure the hobgoblin except for one landed punch.

Linny decides to try to help Kikkeni by using her Rod of Viscid Globs at Skather. She hits and Skather fails his save. Nox attempts a crazy stunt with the grappling hook and tries to throw it at the war adept to pull it down, but it is quickly found lacking as an improvised weapon and simply fails to hit.

Kikkeni pulls back from the now stuck Skather. OOC the player agonizes over which of her powers to use---she's down to her last use no matter what she does, and decides she wants to end the battle quickly and increase her chances of taking Skather out by using her highest-save viable power--Death Urge.

Skather rolls a 3; even with his impressive +14 modifier, he fails to make the save. Lyka tries to help Skather along, but her awful attack rolls and modifiers fail to do anything---and to add even more injury to injury, the War Adept drops a power word: weaken on Lyka. 2 points of Strength drain.

Skather stabs himself, leaving him with very little HP. Rampant, in the meantime, caves in the hobgoblin swordsage's head with Emerald Razor + full power attack while Linny and Nox finish off the war adept.

Skather is unable to break free of the goo, and is finally finished off by Linny's scorching ray.

The party collects their loot and moves back to Cathedral Square, with Rampant toting the corpses of Skather and the War Adept. The party reports to Captain Ulverth, who commends them on a job well done.

Not long afterward, Killiar and the hunters land their owls close by. Killiar reports that the Red Hand is making a final push on Cathedral Square, and that he expects them to arrive in about 10 minutes.

Hearing this, Jaarmath gets up and staggers to the Cathedral square to show that he's still up and about, and delivers an inspiring, albeit recycled speech. Rampant continues this by saying, "Our chance of success is very slim, but we can make it happen because we are heroes---and everyone that has fought here is a hero!"

Tredora takes Kikkeni aside, saying that she senses Kikkeni is extremely fatigued. Kikkeni says she just wants some tea, but Tredora forces her on her knees and lays her hands on the psion's head. She casts dweomer of transference and sacrifices enough of her spells to bring Kikkeni up to 26 PP (+1 from the cognizance crystal she has). Tredora uses up the two lesser restorations to bring Lyka back up to 16 Strength (she can't get the 2 Strength drain from the power word weaken back yet).

While we have lunch, the party then goes about the very tedious and hassled process of procuring potions and scrolls from the 5000-GP item pool given to them by the merchants.

Lyka: bear's endurance, bull's strength, girallon's blessing and dragonskin, shield of faith. She had a bunch of spare +1 short swords so she put those to good use with her extra arms.
Rampant: shield of faith
Nox: cat's grace

Finally, they had Immerstal cast haste on the PCs.
Killiar, Trellara and the elves took up their positions on a grandstand in the corner of the Cathedral Square. Tredora stood by the Cathedral's stairs with Narcy, Wrogann, Teyani and Captain Ulverth. Rampant, Lyka, and Linny stood in front of them, while Nox, Kikkeni and Jonz took up sniper positions on the Cathedral spires.

Nox's and Kikkeni's player help each other run Killiar, Trellara and the elves, while Linny's player runs Rampant and the Lions. Kikkeni's player also runs Tredora and Cpt. Ulverth. Lyka's player has a handfull enough with her oodles of attacks.

Everyone nervously awaits the coming of the horde. As they wait, the rhythmic beating of swords on shields accompanied by goblin chants fills the air. The blaring of dragonbone horns rises above the din.


The Symphony (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAP124dQZk4) of Crimson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpF_jkZHVmQ) Carnage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vvMrkMGyQc )

The horde charges the barricades surrounding the Cathedral Square, and the assembled soldiers do their best to fight off the oncoming tide. However, the sound of soldiers screaming as they are flung through the air fills the Cathedral Square. Immediately afterward, a fireball shoots out of the melee and strikes the Holy Symbol of Dol Arrah on top of the Cathedral, setting it on fire. The wicked red-orange light casts dancing shadows all across the Square.

Two skullcrusher ogres lead the charge, one of them carrying an enormous halberd while the other wields a longsword and an axe. Between them are two muscular, white-scaled dragonspawn wielding spiked chains---Whitespawn Berserkers---mounted on Redspawn Firebelchers.

Finally, mounted on an enormous Rage Drake, Wyrmlord Kharn makes his entrance. He is clad in red full plate, has his long hair in long, tight dreadlocks woven into a very long braid, and an enormous jagged greatsword. The sword's steel is a deep purple, and the blood that sticks to it seems to be rising instead of dripping off.

Livid with rage, Kharn orders the charge.

Before they are even able to move, Lyka charges. She savagely slashes at the halberd-toting ogre, taking off almost a third of its HP before it's able to do anything. Killiar, Nox and Immerstal shoot him as well, while Captain Ulverth charges on his horse. The halberd ogre is brought down to extremely low HP before it is able to even do anything, while Kharn, on his turn, vanishes with invisibility.

Tredora and the Lions charge the second ogre, while Kikkeni drops an electric energy ball on the berserkers. Linny casts healing circle, giving the party and their allies a multiple-use healing source.

Kharn reappears in his mega-buffed form (12 feet tall with a chromatic pentagram halo, long, black horns, pitch-black eyes, and dragonmark glyphs floating all over him) behind Ulverth and stabs him with his greatsword. The blood slick on the sword seems to get sucked into the hilt, after which the spikes on the sword flare out. Ulverth cries in agony. Kharn, one of the berserkers and the rage drake close in on Ulverth, Rampant and Lyka, while the other berserker uses his mount to spew artillery fire at Linny and the Lions.

The Lions close around the second skullcrusher, while the elves open fire on the halberd-wielding skullcrusher.

Linny tries to dispel Kharn, but he is able to counterspell it with his Divine Defiance feat.

The invisible Ulwai casts haste on her party, while Kharn slashes Ulverth, tearing him down from his horse. The captain was left at -1, so Kharn began to concentrate on Tredora and Rampant. The rage drake tries to maul Lyka, but is unable to hit her with its bite due to her high AC.

Rampant tries to use Charging Minotaur on one of the firebelchers to push it into the rage drake's space, but he's unable to overpower the massive beast.

The melee continues for a round before Kikkeni is no longer able to fire an energy ball due to the muddled-up battle lines, but the elves and Immerstal are able to continue supporting fire. Amazingly, despite the -4 penalty for shooting into melee, the elves roll incredibly high and are able to score successive hits on the ogres and on Kharn.

Lyka breaks invisibility and starts using Thunderstrike on Tredora, then Lyka.

Rampant slashes Kharn and then activates his fleshgrinding greatsword, painfully wounding him. Kharn angrily raises his own weapon and executes Divine Surge on Rampant, practically melting him in half at the waist. With Rampant dead, Linny angrily attempts a second Dispel Magic on Kharn---and Kharn rolls a natural 1 on his Counterspell. His buffs shatter one after another. The rage drake makes a beeline for Linny and tears her apart like it would a rag doll.

The Firebelchers eventually fall to Lyka's blades and the Lions' attacks, while the archers take down both ogres. One of the ogres is able to trip Teyani, but he doesn't do enough damage to kill her. With only the berserkers, the Rage drake and Kharn left, the Lions and the snipers concentrate their fire on one of the berserkers while Kharn attacks Tredora. Kharn continues taking damage from Rampant's still-grinding greatsword, but he keeps fighting on.

Arrows bring down the last of the berserkers after the Lions kill the other one. Lyka shreds Ulwai to pieces, dealing over 40 damage with her second full attack.

Immerstal gets the killing shot on Kharn, blasting clean through him with his magic missiles. The Lions and Tredora get in some hits on the rage drake, until a solid headshot from Nox kills it. Immerstal fireballs the rage drake's corpse for good measure.

We end the session there.

Casualties:
-Rampant
-Linny

Severely Injured:
-Cpt. Ulverth

Postmortem

-This gets better and better. This was truly the most epic series of encounters so far, despite both of them lasting for a relatively short time.
-I had an epic chase scene across the tops of the burnt houses for the Skather battle, but Nox's snooping around in the back rooms prevented Skather from escaping in the midst of the fight.
-To any DMs planning to run RHOD---I highly recommend the use of shatterfloor in the Coffin Maker's Shop.
-It was nice of Linny to sacrifice her lesser restoration for Jarmaath, but I did have to make some excuses as to why Tredora didn't use her own spells on Jarmaath. In the end I boiled it down to her wanting to keep him from fighting and getting killed.
-The archers and mooks were actually useful here. The players running them were extremely lucky with their d20 rolls.
-One of the best things about the Kharn finale was that I got the players to make their rolls in advance so that we didn't have to move so slowly. When it was Lyka's turn, Killiar and Nox were already making their rolls. It was a pretty efficient way of running things and made the battle move really smoothly and swiftly.
-Lyka has become so badass I can't even describe it. She's been dropped to negatives so many times and yet she's always managed to bounce back and tear her enemies apart. She took 10 Strength damage + 2 Strength drain and still managed to come back and shred one of the Wyrmlords.
-Raising Holden has now become a huge problem. With the only cleric in the Elsir Vale with Lv 5 spells dead, they have no way of getting either Holden or Linny back. Although I might be able to have them procure a black market scroll of raise dead from Lady Kaal, I still think they will probably not have enough money for both of them. Any suggestions?
-I'm looking forward to tweaking Act V. I'm going to make it so that they can't just wander about the interior with impunity.

kjones
2010-02-07, 11:57 AM
*claps*

Bravo, sir! You have outdone yourself. The shatterfloor in the coffin shop was a stroke of genius. And I wish I had thought of this:


Immediately afterward, a fireball shoots out of the melee and strikes the Holy Symbol of Dol Arrah on top of the Cathedral, setting it on fire. The wicked red-orange light casts dancing shadows all across the Square.

Simply epic, through and through.

As for the resurrections - Kaal always struck me as the sort of person who wouldn't expect you to pay her in money... she deals more in favors owed, if you catch my drift. Someday she'll approach the party with an offer they can't refuse.

Zephyros
2010-02-07, 05:07 PM
I believe congratulations are in order (again!) both for your narrative-DMing-skills and writing it down in this magnificent diary..

After all those combats it will be truly hard to add new members in the party. Old-members have shed so much blood together that they must look really grim to outsiders!

...and Lyka is one badass shifter. Isn't she thinking about prestiging at the moment?

Eldariel
2010-02-07, 05:13 PM
I'll be looking forward to what you do with the last Chapter too. Good job tho.

I'd say black market scrolls are the way to go. Since they have...contacts, maybe they could get some discount or help from the church/whatever. Or maybe they could resurrect the Cleric first...though I suppose that'd cost her the ability to cast 5th level spells.

You could handwave that somehow tho; maybe toss 'er enough XP to be level 10 before then or something so back at level 9 and enough XP for Raises. Or you could give them a Candle of Invocation and bring down a Solar to do the dirty work :smallbiggrin:

DarkEternal
2010-02-07, 05:23 PM
I am currently near the end of that campaign, but I'm making the party have a challenge by having them at level 9 after they kill the blue dragon(which they did in the last session). Since their characters started this campaign after trudging through previous ones, they already are fairly well equipped and are pretty strong, still the dragon almost got them(the cleric was down on -7 before he got stabilised and two more partty members were below 10 hp).

The session ended(since it was bloody late) with one of the wyverns poisoning the cleric(again) and taking some good 12 con away from him.

It was amusing(especially since the cleric is a bit scizophrenic :))

Next session they'll try to take out Azar Kull. Wish me luck in slaughtering them all ;).

AslanCross
2010-02-07, 05:51 PM
Thanks for all the support, everyone. My players all think that was one of the best sessions we ever had, and now we know how to run the game with lots of additional NPCs.




As for the resurrections - Kaal always struck me as the sort of person who wouldn't expect you to pay her in money... she deals more in favors owed, if you catch my drift. Someday she'll approach the party with an offer they can't refuse.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought. It's pretty consistent with Eberron's deep levels of intrigue as well.



After all those combats it will be truly hard to add new members in the party. Old-members have shed so much blood together that they must look really grim to outsiders!

...and Lyka is one badass shifter. Isn't she thinking about prestiging at the moment?

Haha, perhaps! At the same time it also strains plausibility that some random high-level character will be wandering around nearby.

I originally recommended Bloodclaw Master to Lyka, but I think she wants to continue her maneuver progression.



I'd say black market scrolls are the way to go. Since they have...contacts, maybe they could get some discount or help from the church/whatever. Or maybe they could resurrect the Cleric first...though I suppose that'd cost her the ability to cast 5th level spells.

You could handwave that somehow tho; maybe toss 'er enough XP to be level 10 before then or something so back at level 9 and enough XP for Raises. Or you could give them a Candle of Invocation and bring down a Solar to do the dirty work :smallbiggrin:

I forgot about the level down problem. I realized that a Candle of Invocation will actually allow Tredora to cast Raise Dead on both Holden and Linny without even using the gate effect. Of course, asking a Solar to cast Miracle or Wish is more expedient and can even bring them back without leveling them down.


I am currently near the end of that campaign, but I'm making the party have a challenge by having them at level 9 after they kill the blue dragon(which they did in the last session). Since their characters started this campaign after trudging through previous ones, they already are fairly well equipped and are pretty strong, still the dragon almost got them(the cleric was down on -7 before he got stabilised and two more partty members were below 10 hp).

The session ended(since it was bloody late) with one of the wyverns poisoning the cleric(again) and taking some good 12 con away from him.

It was amusing(especially since the cleric is a bit scizophrenic :))

Next session they'll try to take out Azar Kull. Wish me luck in slaughtering them all ;).

Good luck! I Azarr Kul doesn't suffer from Natural 1s at critical moments like Kharn did. :smallwink:

ShadowFighter15
2010-02-10, 04:55 AM
Amazing session. I'll have to keep that floor-shattering spell in mind. Is it in the Spell Compendium?

Also, is Girallon's Blessing good for a TWF character? I've got a TWF Warblade in a game and I'm wondering if it'd be smart to invest in a wand of it along with a second pair of swords (She's got max cross-class ranks in UMD, so she should be able to use a wand of it reliably).

AslanCross
2010-02-10, 09:48 AM
Amazing session. I'll have to keep that floor-shattering spell in mind. Is it in the Spell Compendium?

Also, is Girallon's Blessing good for a TWF character? I've got a TWF Warblade in a game and I'm wondering if it'd be smart to invest in a wand of it along with a second pair of swords (She's got max cross-class ranks in UMD, so she should be able to use a wand of it reliably).

Shatterfloor is in Spell Compendium, yes.

Girallon's Blessing is best if you have easy ways to get full attacks. If you're a Lion Totem Barbarian or a Warblade with Pouncing Charge, it's great. Otherwise, don't bother. It's a good way to use "vendor trash" +1 short swords, though.

ShadowFighter15
2010-02-11, 02:14 AM
Shatterfloor is in Spell Compendium, yes.

Girallon's Blessing is best if you have easy ways to get full attacks. If you're a Lion Totem Barbarian or a Warblade with Pouncing Charge, it's great. Otherwise, don't bother. It's a good way to use "vendor trash" +1 short swords, though.

Thanks. What sort of penalties are there for quad-wielding, or is there a section in the SRD or somewhere that explains it?

AslanCross
2010-02-11, 07:58 AM
Thanks. What sort of penalties are there for quad-wielding, or is there a section in the SRD or somewhere that explains it?

Here. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsterFeats.htm#multiweaponFighting)

Girallon's Blessing says the original arms count as primaries, while the new arms are secondaries. Without MWF, the penalties apply.

asphen fox
2010-03-06, 08:15 PM
Sorry for the thread necromancy but I think I have to do this. I know people are expecting further posts on this thread especially since the campaign is about to come to an end.

Anyways, According to RAW, Multi-Weapon Fighting automatically replaces Two-Weapon Fighting if the creature has more than two arms. It's written under a special clause in the Multi-Weapon Fighting Feat. I think this is to make Girallon's Blessing an actual useful spell. I am yet to see a [Non-Thri Kin] PC with Multi-Weapon Fighting written in their character sheets.

AslanCross
2010-03-06, 09:34 PM
Say hello to asphenfox, Nox's subsitute player.
It's not thread necromancy until the thread's more than a month dead, if I remember correctly. You're in the clear.

Anyway, I've been seriously rethinking Azarr Kul's tactics in the final battle. Actually, the tactics entries are one thing I really ignore. AK's go a huge spell list at his disposal. There are a lot of nasty things he can do.

I also found a cool way of allowing the PCs to discover what AK's plan really is. There's a room in the fane that is a great place to put the pieces of the puzzle together. :D

Ladorak
2010-03-06, 11:14 PM
Hey nothing really to add to the topic, my group didn't make it as far as Azarr Kul. But I just wanted to say I've really enjoyed this thread, so thanks for that:smallsmile:

AslanCross
2010-03-07, 12:35 AM
Hey nothing really to add to the topic, my group didn't make it as far as Azarr Kul. But I just wanted to say I've really enjoyed this thread, so thanks for that:smallsmile:

Thanks for dropping by. :) I want to share my experiences so I can hopefully help others who want to run the same adventure.

Eldariel
2010-03-07, 01:14 AM
Sorry for the thread necromancy but I think I have to do this. I know people are expecting further posts on this thread especially since the campaign is about to come to an end.

Anyways, According to RAW, Multi-Weapon Fighting automatically replaces Two-Weapon Fighting if the creature has more than two arms. It's written under a special clause in the Multi-Weapon Fighting Feat. I think this is to make Girallon's Blessing an actual useful spell. I am yet to see a [Non-Thri Kin] PC with Multi-Weapon Fighting written in their character sheets.

Chorus: Hi, fox.


Anyways, here's hoping we get to see the aftermath of the Battle for Brindol soon! And yeah, the last chapter could use all the rewrite you can give it. Sounds just about right.

asphen fox
2010-03-07, 09:52 PM
XD Heyo.

Glad I'm in the safe. Never really appreciated the necromancy school that much. :D Anyways..

I can't wait for the next session. I might just have to round up everyone to distribute the goods taken from the corpses soon. It's gonna eat up too much time if we wait for the cut until the session comes. Any ideas now about when the next session would be?

CheshireCatAW
2010-03-08, 06:12 AM
Firstly, you have done an amazing job both in preparing the adventure and transcribing it eloquently. Bravo on both counts. I think I've learned a lot from merely reading what you have done and I look forward to putting it into practice.

Secondly, I have an idea regarding your PC deaths. I will preface my thoughts by mentioning that I've never read the module itself and my familiarity with Eberron is shamefully low.

The Red Hand is not a small organization by any means. In addition, it's got to be able to count on a certain amount of Divine (or, I suppose, Infernal) guidance. With these two things in mind...

The Wyrmlords were paragons of their kind. They seemed to be incredibly important to the structure of the hoard; likely to their morale as well. While I'm certain that Evil likes to punish those who fail it, losing valuable pawns is something that should be factored in. If I were the Red Hand leadership, I would look for a way to return the Wyrmlords to life. Possibly even the Dragons, though I think that would skew the difficulty a bit much. It would be boring to merely bring them back via normal magic spells. I thought it would be entertaining to offer a side adventure that might tie up this desire by the Red Hand and your PC deaths.

Create a side adventure where the Red Hand has located an ancient Magi-Tech laboratory. To make it more interesting and to not mess up XP have the adventuring party that goes to find this place as the Lions accompanied by some named NPC's that have a great debt to the PC's (And at this point in the adventure EVERYONE owes the PC's, from the Elves to the townsfolk of both towns to the Wereboar. Nothing says "Thank you for saving my portion of the world" like risking your life to save someone else's.

As to the specifics of the adventure itself? I'm afraid I have little actually worked out. I would consider making the Ghostlord a figure central to this quest (perhaps he has recently began dabbling in ways to return Ghosts to flesh and blood?) as you've spent much time working on him already and making him a fantastic character, it would be a shame to never see him again. Perhaps Lady Kaal can offer this bit of obscure knowledge as her grudging way of thanking the PC's for saving her life without actually thanking them (Or, if she could even offer this in return for future favors by the Lions).

There should be a price for this. The PC's might reconsider raising their dead if they know that the Wyrmlords will return if they activate the equipment. Or perhaps the Wyrmlords have already returned and there's only one or two people that can be returned to life with the remaining abilities of the equipment. Or perhaps one or more of the Lions gives their life to resurrect their mentors.


Of course, this is only a suggestion and it diverts a good bit from the module. Anything you do, I'm certain, will turn out amazing. I eagerly await further word of your groups' doings. Best of luck, and thank you for posting this.

AslanCross
2010-03-26, 07:22 PM
Firstly, you have done an amazing job both in preparing the adventure and transcribing it eloquently. Bravo on both counts. I think I've learned a lot from merely reading what you have done and I look forward to putting it into practice.

Secondly, I have an idea regarding your PC deaths. I will preface my thoughts by mentioning that I've never read the module itself and my familiarity with Eberron is shamefully low.

The Red Hand is not a small organization by any means. In addition, it's got to be able to count on a certain amount of Divine (or, I suppose, Infernal) guidance. With these two things in mind...

The Wyrmlords were paragons of their kind. They seemed to be incredibly important to the structure of the hoard; likely to their morale as well. While I'm certain that Evil likes to punish those who fail it, losing valuable pawns is something that should be factored in. If I were the Red Hand leadership, I would look for a way to return the Wyrmlords to life. Possibly even the Dragons, though I think that would skew the difficulty a bit much. It would be boring to merely bring them back via normal magic spells. I thought it would be entertaining to offer a side adventure that might tie up this desire by the Red Hand and your PC deaths.

Create a side adventure where the Red Hand has located an ancient Magi-Tech laboratory. To make it more interesting and to not mess up XP have the adventuring party that goes to find this place as the Lions accompanied by some named NPC's that have a great debt to the PC's (And at this point in the adventure EVERYONE owes the PC's, from the Elves to the townsfolk of both towns to the Wereboar. Nothing says "Thank you for saving my portion of the world" like risking your life to save someone else's.

As to the specifics of the adventure itself? I'm afraid I have little actually worked out. I would consider making the Ghostlord a figure central to this quest (perhaps he has recently began dabbling in ways to return Ghosts to flesh and blood?) as you've spent much time working on him already and making him a fantastic character, it would be a shame to never see him again. Perhaps Lady Kaal can offer this bit of obscure knowledge as her grudging way of thanking the PC's for saving her life without actually thanking them (Or, if she could even offer this in return for future favors by the Lions).

There should be a price for this. The PC's might reconsider raising their dead if they know that the Wyrmlords will return if they activate the equipment. Or perhaps the Wyrmlords have already returned and there's only one or two people that can be returned to life with the remaining abilities of the equipment. Or perhaps one or more of the Lions gives their life to resurrect their mentors.


Of course, this is only a suggestion and it diverts a good bit from the module. Anything you do, I'm certain, will turn out amazing. I eagerly await further word of your groups' doings. Best of luck, and thank you for posting this.

Thanks for the suggestions, and sorry for the late reply. Between work and graduate studies, things have become really quite heavy for me lately; the school year ended with my brain left in the doldrums. Also, there's the Starcraft 2 beta to blame.

Anyway:

Players keep out!
That means you too, asphenfox.
:smallfurious:

The deal here is that High Wyrmlord Azarr Kul's Red Hand "horde" is only the vanguard of a vast fiendish army he is summoning from the battle-plane of Shavarath (originally Baator in the module; devils in Eberron come from Shavarath instead). The last chapter of the module is about the PCs taking the fight to the High Wyrmlord's headquarters--the Fane of Tiamat--up in the mountains.

There are a few reasons why I don't want to bring the other wyrmlords back:
1. A couple of them aren't actually that important. Wyrmlord Koth was the newbie, and while his failure was an inconvenience to Kharn (the military commander), he was ultimately not that relevant. Besides, it's his failure that allowed the PCs to catch on to the Red Hand's plans.

2. Saarvith was assigned backwater duty because of his perceived weakness. He understood (correctly) that the Big Blue Man only kept him around because Saarvith's black dragon companion was an asset. With Regiarix dead, Kul doesn't need Saarvith anymore.

3. Ulwai and Kharn were far more important, and indeed Kharn was a good friend of Azarr Kul, but Azarr Kul is far more concerned with clinching the victory now instead of struggling to regroup the Horde from all over Elsir Vale.

4. Azarr Kul has still got a couple more powerful allies, but I'd rather not post those here right now.

5. I do have a plan for the PCs' return now. I've already told the players that getting new PCs altogether will not make sense as they'll be too high a level to just be wandering around the countryside; as such I'm encouraging them to take the offer that they will be getting soon.

6. I have very bad experiences with side adventures. My first campaign ended up with the players confused because they couldn't see how the stories tied together. They were always "Whatever happened to those cultists of Bane we thought were the bad guys in the very first part?! Who are all these new guys?!" Given how cohesive the plot has been up to this point, I'd rather stick to the story I've put together so far:

Since simply filing off the serial numbers is rather boring, I decided to raise the stakes and bring more of Eberron's fluff into this.

1. The Fane of Tiamat is actually not a temple dedicated to Tiamat. It was originally a complex dedicated to the maintenance of a giant (and I mean continents-wide) planar seal that keeps Tiamat, the daughter of Khyber, safe in her prison in Argonnessen. The PCs will discover several clues in the final chapter that hint at this. The current trappings of a Tiamat-worshiping cult were far more recent renovations.

2. The Fane is so far away from Argonnessen because it is only one of the points on a massive pentagram-shaped matrix of energy that powers Tiamat's actual prison---the Pit of Five Sorrows---in the center of Argonnessen. The Elsir Fane is one point; the Pit of Five Sorrows is another. There are two more points in Xen'Drik, and the fifth is deep underwater in the Dragonreach. While Tiamat was imprisoned approximately a hundred thousand years ago, the planar seal system is much newer, having fashioned by the dragons a little after the fall of Xen'Drik about 39,000 years ago (the Quori invasion weakened Tiamat's prison; the dragons harnessed the energy released by Xen'Drik's destruction to reinforce the shard she's imprisoned in).

3. Azarr Kul has constructed a giant planar orrery that he's using to manipulate planar energy. By aligning the plane of Shavarath, he's going to get both an infernal army AND weaken Tiamat's prison.

4. If Azarr Kul successfully disrupts this seal, he plans to conquer the neighboring nations and seize national and Dragonmarked House assets in order to facilitate the disruption of the other seals. What he fails to see is that Argonnessen is bound to catch on and will get ready to act should Tiamat's seal begin to fail.

Eldariel
2010-03-26, 07:28 PM
Anyway:

Players keep out!
That means you too, asphenfox.
:smallfurious:

The deal here is that High Wyrmlord Azarr Kul's Red Hand "horde" is only the vanguard of a vast fiendish army he is summoning from the battle-plane of Shavarath (originally Baator in the module; devils in Eberron come from Shavarath instead). The last chapter of the module is about the PCs taking the fight to the High Wyrmlord's headquarters--the Fane of Tiamat--up in the mountains.

There are a few reasons why I don't want to bring the other wyrmlords back:
1. A couple of them aren't actually that important. Wyrmlord Koth was the newbie, and while his failure was an inconvenience to Kharn (the military commander), he was ultimately not that relevant. Besides, it's his failure that allowed the PCs to catch on to the Red Hand's plans.

2. Saarvith was assigned backwater duty because of his perceived weakness. He understood (correctly) that the Big Blue Man only kept him around because Saarvith's black dragon companion was an asset. With Regiarix dead, Kul doesn't need Saarvith anymore.

3. Ulwai and Kharn were far more important, and indeed Kharn was a good friend of Azarr Kul, but Azarr Kul is far more concerned with clinching the victory now instead of struggling to regroup the Horde from all over Elsir Vale.

4. Azarr Kul has still got a couple more powerful allies, but I'd rather not post those here right now.

5. I do have a plan for the PCs' return now. I've already told the players that getting new PCs altogether will not make sense as they'll be too high a level to just be wandering around the countryside; as such I'm encouraging them to take the offer that they will be getting soon.

6. I have very bad experiences with side adventures. My first campaign ended up with the players confused because they couldn't see how the stories tied together. They were always "Whatever happened to those cultists of Bane we thought were the bad guys in the very first part?! Who are all these new guys?!" Given how cohesive the plot has been up to this point, I'd rather stick to the story I've put together so far:

Since simply filing off the serial numbers is rather boring, I decided to raise the stakes and bring more of Eberron's fluff into this.

1. The Fane of Tiamat is actually not a temple dedicated to Tiamat. It was originally a complex dedicated to the maintenance of a giant (and I mean continents-wide) planar seal that keeps Tiamat, the daughter of Khyber, safe in her prison in Argonnessen. The PCs will discover several clues in the final chapter that hint at this. The current trappings of a Tiamat-worshiping cult were far more recent renovations.

2. The Fane is so far away from Argonnessen because it is only one of the points on a massive pentagram-shaped matrix of energy that powers Tiamat's actual prison---the Pit of Five Sorrows---in the center of Argonnessen. The Elsir Fane is one point; the Pit of Five Sorrows is another. There are two more points in Xen'Drik, and the fifth is deep underwater in the Dragonreach. While Tiamat was imprisoned approximately a hundred thousand years ago, the planar seal system is much newer, having fashioned by the dragons a little after the fall of Xen'Drik about 39,000 years ago (the Quori invasion weakened Tiamat's prison; the dragons harnessed the energy released by Xen'Drik's destruction to reinforce the shard she's imprisoned in).

3. Azarr Kul has constructed a giant planar orrery that he's using to manipulate planar energy. By aligning the plane of Shavarath, he's going to get both an infernal army AND weaken Tiamat's prison.

4. If Azarr Kul successfully disrupts this seal, he plans to conquer the neighboring nations and seize national and Dragonmarked House assets in order to facilitate the disruption of the other seals. What he fails to see is that Argonnessen is bound to catch on and will get ready to act should Tiamat's seal begin to fail.





Slowclap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhTiJEYqqY8). Job. Well. Done. Now then, let the games begin :smallwink:

iamstillwater
2010-04-12, 04:00 PM
Just finished reading all 9 pages of this today, after I did a search for Aslan's name on the forums.

This is the campaign he was talking to me about yesterday before our class started, and I'm actually excited to see how it plays out. :)

I was hoping to sit in on their session, but I might have other things to attend to, so I'm hoping he puts up the next installment soon! :D

AslanCross
2010-04-16, 10:18 AM
Hey everyone, it's been a while.

Since it's been a while since our last session, we had a rather slow start.

We started out at the end of the Battle of Brindol. Kharn's rage drake had just been taken down.

Wyrmlord Kharn himself stands up, clutching his chest. With a grin on his face, he roars.

"It's not...it's FAR from over!"

Kikkeni orders the elves to open fire. Kharn gets turned into a pincushion. A beam of brilliant light shoots out of the dead Wyrmlord's eyes and mouth, straight up into the midnight sky. His body then dissolves into a pile of black goo.

The remaining hobgoblins run for their lives as the Horde breaks apart. The Red Hand has been defeated. Brindol is saved.

Jarmaath tells the PCs to take the rest that they've earned. After taking the ruined bodies of Linny and Holden into the Cathedral, they loot the bodies of Kharn and Ulwai.

The Next Morning
Day 49 (3 Rhann 998 YK) 7:00 AM
The PCs wake up at the Stone Wyvern Inn (sans Wyvern) and are greeted by Delora Zann and Captain Soranna, who both survived the battle albeit with heavy injuries. Delora reports that she actually took the wyvern out for a spin during the battle, although she had a bad fall. The wyvern survived without much problems and was waiting outside.

Soranna then tells the PCs that Jarmaath was waiting for them at Brindol Keep, saying he has a message that he wanted them to hear personally.

It's Far From Over
At Brindol Keep, Jarmaath introduces the PCs to Sheen, a changeling spy who was able to infiltrate Kharn's camp. She bluntly tells the PCs the problem: The hobgoblin horde was only the advance guard.

Much swearing all around.

She informs them that the High Wyrmlord, Azarr Kul, is summoning an army of devils from the plane of Shavarath, and that if that gets through, there'll be not enough military power in the Five Nations to stop them. She explains the Planar Orrery that Azarr Kul is using to realign the planes.

The PCs wonder about how this army of devils is related to Tiamat, but Sheen can't answer that question. All she knows is that the Wyrmsmokes are already crawling with devils and that when she tried to infiltrate the Fane of Tiamat itself, Azarr Kul's Erinyes chased her away.

Sheen marks the location of the Fane on the PCs' map. The PCs turn to leave, but a soldier in a battered tabard enters. He says that he has a message for Sheen and approaches her---and subsequently stabs her in the throat with a short sword, saying "High Wyrmlord Azarr Kul and Grand Talon Indravan-Yagna would like to say 'That's enough.'" The soldier then jumps into the shadow of Jarmaath's desk and vanishes.

Gathering the last of her strength, Sheen manages to write a few words in her own blood: "Beware Azarr Kul's fa---------"
The last word is scrawled out into a line, as Sheen goes limp and dies.

Shaken, Jarmaath tells the PCs that they should go and investigate the Wyrmsmokes at once, or else all the sacrifices will be in vain. He could not, however, offer any solutions to the PCs' predicament---they're two men down.

An Offer They Couldn't Refuse
The PCs leave Brindol keep and encounter a carpenter (part of the rebuilding effort) passing by. The carpenter drops a crumpled piece of paper and nods at the PCs, and goes on his way.

The message reads: "I have a gift for you. See me. -- Lady Kaal"

The PCs decide that it might not be a good idea to turn down the gift, so they proceed to Kaal Manor.

When they get there, the guards usher the PCs into a large, plush audience room. Lady Kaal soon enters with a long, thin casket. She says that before she shows them what's in the case, the PCs have to agree that they wouldn't be telling Jarmaath anything about this. Nox tries to convince her to reveal something more by bluffing, but doesn't get any results. He then has her put it into writing first. Lady Kaal agrees. She goes on saying that Jarmaath is a small man in the greater scheme of things and as such wouldn't understand.

She opens her case to reveal the contents: a silk-wrapped rod on a cushion--a Candle of Invocation tied to Lawful Good.

The PCs ask what she wants in return. Lady Kaal furnishes them with a contract that says:

We, ____________, hereby receive the payment of one Candle of Invocation from Lady Verassa ir'Kaal in exchange for any future service that she might require. In the event that we do not perform the duty she requires, we grant her the lawful duty to execute the appropriate punishment in whatever measure she might deem necessary.

Signed,"

Nox tells the others that he's got a lot of experience with contracts, and as such knows when to be wary. However, in their desperation, the group decides to sign it.

Lady Kaal smiles, saying she knew that the PCs would be sensible. She hands them the case and says that she has another gift. Immerstal enters, muttering to himself.
"Mr. Immerstal here can bring you most of the way."
"Look, Lady Kaal, I don't--"
"You don't have any more words to say, Immerstal."
The wizard throws his hands up and sighs. "Fine. I have enough preparations of the teleport spell to bring all of you as far as Drellin's Ferry. I am not going to risk teleporting straight to the Fane. If we encounter a mishap, we might just end up getting torn apart by fiends."
Lady Kaal nods. The wizard continues: "I suggest you pick up provisions for the Wyrmsmokes---you do know what the Wyrmsmokes are like, don't you?"

The PCs stare at each other for a while, but Linny tells them: The Wyrmsmokes are a desolate volcanic region to the West of the Elsir Vale region. Immerstal nods, but continues to explain that small Fernia (elemental plane of Fire) manifest zones wink in and out of existence throughout the Wyrmsmokes, usually coinciding with areas of unnaturally high volcanic activity. The manifest zones are even hotter than the rest of the badlands, and sometimes storms that rain fire appear in the skies over these zones. The PCs also have to bring their own food and water.

The PCs discuss their provisions and determine that they wouldn't need to bring so much due to their spells and magic items. Immerstal tells them to visit him after they get their friends back so they can begin the teleportation relay.

Credits to Eldariel for the idea, btw.

Resurrection

The PCs discreetly return to the Cathedral, where Tredora has preserved the scorched corpse of Holden and what's left of Linny with gentle repose. Kikkeni presents the Candle to her. Tredora, bemused, asks where they got it, but the PCs say nothing. The cleric decides it doesn't matter, sends out the other acolytes, and sets up the summoning.

A stark white light washes out the windows of the Cathedral, and a brief but violent quake follows. The gate opens above the altar, and a terrifying vision of celestial glory descends---six wings covered in eyes, metallic skin, opalescent eyes, and snow-white hair upon which verses of holy writ flow in elegant script---a Solar. An enormous fiery greatsword whirls about around it. (No, I'm not a fan of the bald angels in the MM, nor the faceless angels in 4E)

"Ye shall name thyselves, mortals," it calls out in a voice that sounds like both the crashing of waves and the booming of thunder. " And the reason thou calleth me from my Battle Eternal."

The PCs made a big mistake---they forgot to figure out what to say. Tredora fills in for them. "These champions of righteousness have fallen in service of their gods, but their quest is not yet complete."

The Solar gestures with its hands, and the bodies of Holden and Linny begin to reform and heal.

"Arise, ye champions. Ye shall yet struggle, and struggle mightily, for thy great enemy yet stands."

The bodies of Holden and Linny rise up into the air, and the Solar exhales upon them. Bluish-white energy glows softly on their wounds, and their flesh begins to knit. Broken bones snap back into place. Their eyes open, glowing fiercely with the same blue-white light, and their mouths open in an incessant stream of words in multiple languages. The tongues cease, and then the two of them speak once more, along with the Solar, in the Solar's voice.

"Ye shall yet struggle, and struggle mightily, for thy great enemy yet stands."

" I take my leave of thee."

The fabric of the planes distorts once more, and the Solar vanishes with a thunderous bang.

"...that was AWESOME," says Lyka.

The Ruins of Drellin's Ferry

<The PCs do some retroactive shopping and get the donations from Jarmaath.>

Immerstal tells the PCs that Drellin's Ferry is the furthest he can take them, as he grew up there. He teleports the PCs to the burnt-out husk of a town that is Drellin's Ferry. Immerstal laments the fate of his hometown, then excuses himself , teleporting back to Brindol.

The scene is apocalyptic. The town had been put to the torch as the PCs had seen much earlier, and now the wind howls through the ruins. However, the eerie calm is shattered by the sound of arguing---deep voices speaking in Giant, and two human-like voices. The argument escalates into a shouting match, followed by two screams that seem to be approaching them. The PCs hide in the trees along the path.

A Kalashtar and a Warforged covered with crystals run toward the PCs, with four skullcrusher ogres, a hobgoblin dirgedancer and two whitespawn berserkers hot on their trial.

The PCs leap out of the trees. Kikkeni drops an energy ballon the monsters, and Lyka makes a beeline for the ogres. Unfortunately, nobody else is able to match her speed because of the trees---she's stuck in the middle of the bad guys, alone. Every single monster attacks her, thrashing her down to -2 HP in the course of one round from full HP (That's exactly 100 damage; I rolled really lucky on the attack rolls.) Lyka stabilizes herself with an action point.

The PCs immediately try to rush to Lyka's rescue, with Holden and Kikkeni leading the charge. Nox attempts to sneak attack one of the berserkers with a scroll of ice lance and crits, but unfortunately it makes its save and doesn't get stunned and thanks to Uncanny Dodge is unaffected by Sneak Attack.

The Kalashtar and the psiforged thank the PCs and try to fight back; the psiforged charges up his deep crystal bastard sword while the Kalashtar reveals something interesting---concealed under his sleeve is a mechanical arm much like a warforged. He tells the PCs to hold the monsters off as he begins to infuse his arm. The NPCs' efforts aren't necessary---the remaining PCs finish them off in short order, except for the dirgedancer, who is left at 0 HP.

The kalashtar introduces himself as Tharkhad, a wandering psionic artificer looking for a way back to Sharn. He doesn't know what's been happening in Elsir Vale, and says that he and his companion Synapse came from Darguun. The PCs break the news, and Tharkhad simply tells his friend flatly---"Told you we were going the wrong way."

Tharkhad and Synapse thank the PCs profusely, but then Tharkhad notices the red dragon horn that Kikkeni is carrying, saying that if she had killed a dragon, part of its spirit might have fractured off and trapped in the horn; Tharkhad's hypothesis is further strengthened by Kikkeni's explanation of how they took down the dragon. Her ego whip, which damaged the dragon's Charisma enough to shut down his spellcasting, could have forced more than a small bit of the dragon's personality into dormancy. Its death would have then released the "sealed" part, which would escape into any little remainder of the dragons' body---in this case, its horn.

Tharkhad says that he could craft the horn of Abithriax into a weapon if the PCs have a Siberys Dragonshard to act as a focus for Kikkeni's Quori spirit. Kikkeni gladly lets him do so, as she'd been looking for a way to use the horn. She also tells him about the Quori embedded components she salvaged from Ulwai's backpack. While she has her surgery, Holden attempts to do a Jack Bauer on the Dirgedancer. Nox, being a man of the appropriate profession, aids him. Unfortunately, she knows nothing about the current state of the Red Hand and if there are any remaining camps along the Dawn Way. Nox coup de graces her.

The party finishes early and lets Kikkeni know they're going to go ahead to Vraath Keep to scout. Kikkeni waves them on, and surprisingly enough gets there before they do thanks to psionic teleport.

The PCs then strike out for the Wyrmsmokes.

The Fiery Death Mountains

Immerstal was not kidding. An hour into the foothills of the Wyrmsmokes, the PCs are attacked by a spellwarped dragonne in a canyon.

Linny pulls out her lore, as usual, figuring that this monster is of the spellwarped variety and as such gets stronger when spells bounce off its SR. A brief discussion over the monster's lame name comes up. Is it a "drag-own"? A "dragonnay?" The party decides to think of a new name for it.

Lyka advances again, making a jump check high enough to clear 40 feet of rubble along the canyon floor. Much snickering about the effeminate nature of the name comes to a sudden halt when the dragonne pounces on Lyka. Holden drops his maul, moves a bit forward and tries out his bow. Once the beast drops down beside Lyka, however, he decides to just go in for the kill.

Kikkeni offers to toss Holden. The dwarf grumbles, saying that he'd rather walk, but the opportunity is too good to pass up, as he'd have to double back to pick up his maul. Kikkeni throws Holden AT the Dragonne, busting it up pretty badly, and then throws his weapon after him (barely missing him). Holden falls prone in the monster's space, and then dispatches it with a solid critical Elder Mountain Hammer punch with his gauntlet.

<Kikkeni> ...so, what do we call the dragonne?
<Nox> "Dead."

The PCs then journey forth, but stop at the edge of a particularly large Fernia Manifest zone. No way they're camping in that hellish area overnight.

The players spend the rest of the session retroactively buying gear since we discovered how much money they actually had (about 13k GP)

Thoughts
1. It was a pretty slow day, honestly, but I'm not surprised. It's been a long time since we last played.
2. Even though I made the Wyrmsmokes significantly more dangerous thanks to the environmental hazards, the PCs seem to be taking it pretty well.
3. It's a shame they won't be seeing more of Tharkhad anytime soon. I thought the opportunity to add a Renegade Mastermaker who can actually make stuff for them was too good to pass up, considering that Kikkeni just had no way of getting her Quori components to work .
4. Any suggestions on what gear to buy? I think everyone's mostly going to buy a few potions of endure elements, but they want other things to do with their gear. Nothing worth more than 16k, as that's the Brindol GP limit.

AslanCross
2010-04-17, 07:10 PM
Session 18

Hack and slash session this time. The Wyrmsmokes were rightly billed as a dangerous place, and one does not simply walk into Mordor.

Journey Through the Wyrmsmokes, Continued
The PCs get up on the morning of Day 50 after camping on the edge of the Fernia manifest zone. They drink their potions of Endure Elements and set out on their way.

It's not long before they encounter a group of fiendish enemies.

A Certain Psionic Railgun

The PCs arrive in the center of a Fernia manifest zone in the middle of active volcanic scabland and spot an ominous reddish glow in the distance crossing the road. Nox takes another potion of invisibility and sneaks ahead to investigate.

Nox's rolls are really high, and the fiends don't even hear him as he approaches them from the volcanic scab rock. He goes back to the party and describes the appearance of the fiends--about as tall as a man, hunched over and heavily built, with glowing red eyes, shredded, useless wings, long writhing beards, and upward curving horns. The three of them wield massive, saw-toothed glaives. Linny identifies them as barbazu.

Nox, still invisible, climbs up the scab basalt along the other side of the road and takes up a sniping position. Before he does so, he empties his pack of all his scrolls, spreading them out all over the ground. He then takes his shot, severely injuring one of the devils. The other PCs attempt to blitz the barbazu and catch them off guard, but the plan backfires--the devils hear them coming.

Kikkeni takes the high ground on top of the basalt scab along with Linny. Lyka runs along the path instead. Two of the devils teleport to confront Kikkeni while the third teleports into Lyka's path. Although Linny was able to identify their weaknesses and defenses as devils, she didn't roll high enough to determine their exact abilities.

The devil taunts Lyka, saying that the strong faith of Purified like her make their souls good eating. Lyka replies "My blades taste good too."

Holden moves too slowly to help Kikkeni, so Kikkeni once more throws Holden at one of the Barbazu using telekinetic thrust.
Linny fires off a Sound Burst on the two devils, but it barely grazes them. Kikkeni tries to back away, but due to their teleportation and reach weapons, the devils are too hard to shake.
Nox takes another shot at the already bleeding devil, which Holden dispatches with his maul.

The remaining devil pursuing Kikkeni bites into its finger, saying it's not that easy to kill them, and summons another Barbazu. Much swearing around the table.

Linny keeps up her blasting while Lyka tears into the devil that accosted her. The badly injured devil takes a step back, bites into its arm and scatters blood all over the ground. The black blood crawls around the warblade and begins coalescing into a dozen Lemures---all around Lyka. More swearing.
Linny identifies the Lemures as "entry-level devils," and Kikkeni's player says "...so they're call center agents?"
I reply: "If you think in terms of infernal bureaucracy, I don't think the truth would be very far from that."

Kikkeni Energy Pushes the two devils near her into each other, but the recently-summoned one teleports to Linny in the back, slashing Linny with a devastating critical hit.

Nox drops a Black Tentacles centered on Lyka, disabling the Lemures---and Lyka. Ironically, the devil with 1 HP gets away. (More snickering about how Lyka---and her player's characters--are ALWAYS in compromising situations---grappled by tentacles and surrounded by devils.)

Eventually, Lyka gets out of the tentacles, and Kikkeni pulls her out by throwing her at one of the other devils. Holden finishes off the last Barbazu. The tentacles crush the remaining lemures into gruesome black mush, and the PCs press on.

Wyvern attack
The road snakes through deeply fissured ground with a lot of rock spires scattered about. The spires make great roosts for wyverns, and a pair are nesting in this area.

Nox once more drinks a potion of Invisibility, getting close. He immediately expresses interest in retrieving the wyvern stings for use as poison, and tries to snipe one. He damages the wyvern, which immediately attacks Lyka (again---she's always in front). The Wyvern successfully grabs Lyka and attempts to pull her up, but she's able to break free.

Kikkeni once more flings her favorite Dwarven projectile, crushing the wyvern's ribcage. The wyvern bleeds to death from Nox's shot.

The second wyvern buzzes Linny, stinging her, but she makes her save. She tries to back away while Holden and Lyka try to hit the wyvern (Nox scoring a sneak by using Deadeye Shot), but the dragon thrashes Linny down to 5 HP. The PCs take down the wyvern and continue on their journey.

They later encounter a flamestorm, but they're able to find cover in time under a rock shelf.

They continue marching for 4 more hours than they usually do in a day, and fatigue begins setting in. Ironically, while Lyka fails two checks, Holden fails one and Nox fails all four forced march checks, Linny gets fine well enough. They make camp, scarcely a day's march away from the Fane.

Last Legs
They at last come to a place where the ground drops away dramatically into the large central canyon of the Wyrmsmokes. The lip of the canyon is guarded by a small outpost of elite troops---four legion devils (probably the most complex CR 3 monster EVER), a Narzugon and its nightmare mount, and a 15-foot tall, two-ton monstrosity: a Mountain Troll.

The outpost is built among the ruins of a crashed Lyrandar airship, and a couple of Ballista bunkers are scattered about the area.

The party is spotted by the guards long before the party sees them, so the Narzugon and his troops immediately form ranks.

The Narzugon and its nightmare prove very hard to pin down thanks to the mount's at-will Etherealness. It phases through the ground, while the mountain troll charges. Kikkeni activates her True Seeing, and Lyka draws Vaanon'Gan, the greatsword she got from Kharn.

The PCs try to take up covered positions behind the crashed airship, while Nox, once more invisible, tries to get into a bunker behind the troll. He dumps his oil of Dolorous Blow onto the ballista bolt and waits for an opportunity to shoot.

The legion devils, in the meantime, move up to a place behind another hull section. (These guys are pretty scary, being able to teleport to locations close to other legion devils as a move action).

The Narzugon phases up out of the ground beside Kikkeni, fills the area with smoke, but misses his attacks. The nightmare goes ethereal once more.
Nox tries to attack the mountain troll, but misses due to nonproficiency penalties, and wastes a very good opportunity.

Lyka runs up to the troll and uses Death from Above, but the beast smacks her with its greatclub for half her HP. Lyka, being a natural magnet for devils, once again gets surrounded by teleporting legion devils, who begin wailing on her (only one hits, though, despite their massive bonuses).

Holden challenges the Narzugon to single combat, which telepathically accepts. Kikkeni points out the Narzugon's location, but Holden misses due to not seeing his target. Instead of rushing in to attack him, the Narzugon flies behind Linny and shoots Holden with its triple scorching ray.

Lyka uses Mithral Tornado to slash the legion devils, significantly damaging their collective HP, then tumbles out of the mass and the troll's reach, after which the cleric gets up to her to heal her with CureCrit. Nox takes another shot at the troll, this time with his crossbow, and finally gets in some decent damage.

Kikkeni then blasts the troll and the legion devils with a powerfully-augmented Energy Missile: Fire (failing to remember that the legion devils are immune to it). Although she deals damage to the troll, the legion devils are unscathed.

Linny then drops an Earth Reaver on the legion devils and the troll, who make their collective saves but get blasted into oblivion by the flying rocks. After getting healed, Lyka activates her lesser Siberys armor, sprouting glowing dragonmark wings, and flies up to the troll once more, and uses Soaring Raptor Strike and Vaanon'Gan's bloodfeeding power. As she leaps out of the sunlight, she plunges the greatsword into the troll's chest, and the vicious weapon shreds the troll with its extending spines. The troll collapses.

The Narzugon attacks Holden but misses again, and Holden smites the devil with a Divine Surge, disintegrating it in a column of silver fire. Its rider dead, the nightmare goes ethereal and flies off.

As Lyka turns her back on the troll, however, it gets back up and whacks her again with its club. Nox finishes it off with a headshot. Two tons of troll hit the dirt, the sound of the impact reverberating off the canyon walls.

As the PCs walk up to the edge of the cliff, the view sends shivers down their spine.

A treacherous winding path (the last two hours of the trip) descends the cliff face below them, and crosses a long, narrow stone bridge to the other side. And there, at the end of the bridge, is the most impressive door any of them has ever seen:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_gallery/95674.jpg

The five stone heads of the Tiamat statue gaze tyrannically across the canyon.

Thoughts
-While I thought it was rather boring to run hack and slash the whole day, it was pretty cool to throw fiends of various natures at the PCs. The encounters didn't really draw much blood apart from the last one, but they sure had a fun time trying to match wits with the devils.

-Nox managed to level up to 11 at the end of the encounter (technically, so does Lyka as she's never died and thus should have the most XP. We spend about an hour trying to account for disparate XP totals and decide that Nox has the most accurate count, so I set Lyka's XP to his.)

-Nox really wanted to make those wyvern stings into poison, but we underestimated the difficulty of crafting something overnight, so he gave up on them (he'd unfortunately invested all of his Lv 11 skill points into Craft:Poisonmaking). I let him use the stings as single-use, improvised weapons.

-We discovered that Kikkeni was lacking 2 powers she was supposed to get at Lv 10, and then realize that she completely forgot to level up. @_@

-Now that they've got two Lv 11 characters, I'll have to raise some of the smaller encounters in the Fane. There's still a fair amount of difficulty in getting around the Fane due to its defensive mechanisms and its small size (hard to escape monsters in the corridors).

-The Psionic Dwarf Railgun thing is getting to be really powerful. It allows Holden to bypass his inherent slowness, feeds his damage pool, AND deals damage to the enemy. It might be harder to use in the close quarters of the Fane, though.

-They made good time thanks to that forced march. It's the end of Day 51, so they've got four days to beat the Fane before the Orrery completes its alignment.

Barbarian MD
2010-04-17, 07:17 PM
Two updates in two days!? It's like Christmas! :smallbiggrin:

AslanCross
2010-04-17, 07:21 PM
Nah, I was really busy last week so I wasn't able to finish last week's session in time. :smallredface:

Barbarian MD
2010-04-17, 07:25 PM
But I don't know that.

AslanCross
2010-04-17, 07:54 PM
Well, I hope you enjoyed them, regardless. :D

There was a funny discussion with Lyka's player afterwards (she was absent, so Linny's player handled her).

<Me> The group sees the entrance to the Fane. *displays Tiamat's Fane picture*
<Her> D: D: D: Does it COME ALIVE?!
<Me> Nah. You should meet the doorkeeper, though.
<Her> D: D: D: Villains tend to be a lot worse than their doorways let on. It's a great welcome mat. You can totally expect the people inside to nice, upright, peaceloving vegans who don't have any taste for kalashtar, dwarven, shifter, or human meat. I'd hate to meet the doorkeeper....OR THE BUTLER.

Starbuck_II
2010-04-17, 08:54 PM
Which demon battle was most fun to run against them?