Crystal Cantrips

[aje8]

Pure win as usual SilverClawShift.

I can't wait for the end of this campain to be up.

[9mm]

*drools*

this champaign is awesome.

[Forrestfire]

:smallbiggrin: Sweet.

(ARGH! Cliffhanger!)

[Fayd]

You have mastered a far more evil art than necromancy SCS...the dreaded cliffhanger.

Kudos.

[Willfor]

Everyone keeps on pointing out it ends on a cliffhanger. After asking her to put up the story before it's finished being typed up. :smallfrown:

[Zeful]

Everyone keeps on pointing out it ends on a cliffhanger. After asking her to put up the story before it's finished being typed up. :smallfrown:

Yep it our own fault.

[Dragonmuncher]

Heh, nice!

But wait, I'm confused. If it will "definitely kill" the volunteer, then what does it matter if the dragonborn has more Con, or the swashbuckler can heal himself?

[Fayd]

Everyone keeps on pointing out it ends on a cliffhanger. After asking her to put up the story before it's finished being typed up. :smallfrown:

Willfor, we say it, and deep down...we love it. This is an EPIC place to break off the telling.

[Mnymosene]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!

This is awesome.
In my personal opinion cliffhangers are fun times.

[Zeful]

Heh, nice!

But wait, I'm confused. If it will "definitely kill" the volunteer, then what does it matter if the dragonborn has more Con, or the swashbuckler can heal himself?

I think it's more of the dragonborn's con will allow him to survive longer to absorb more healing energy, while the swashbuckler can produce more healing energy per round than the dragonborn. That and I think the swashbuckler wants to be the heroic sacrifice for the dragonborn's happy ending.

[Roc Ness]

That was good! :smallbiggrin:

[GreatWyrmGold]

Awww..........SCS! Please, post the rest! If you wait too long, we'll die of cliffhanger!...or something!
(You could probably control half the forum by threatening not to post the rest.)
PLEASE post the next campaign, too! And tell us who the new character's players played in previous campaigns. Please.

[Roc Ness]

Awww..........SCS! Please, post the rest! If you wait too long, we'll die of cliffhanger!...or something!
(You could probably control half the forum by threatening not to post the rest.)
PLEASE post the next campaign, too! And tell us who the new character's players played in previous campaigns. Please.

How much is half the forum anyway? :smallconfused:

Edit: Also, GWG your eggs are dying cos' you got too many views and too little clicks. Better take them to another thread :smalltongue:

[Nohwl]

How much is half the forum anyway? :smallconfused:


assuming the number at the bottom of the forum index is accurate, there are 37,746 members.

half would be about 19000.

[13_CBS]

Sweet, another update. :smallbiggrin:

I'm at work at the moment, though, so the editing and archive updates will have to wait.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Wow. Just wow. Seriously awe-inspiring

[MrEdwardNigma]

assuming the number at the bottom of the forum index is accurate, there are 37,746 members.

half would be about 19000.

That number does not accurately portray the number of active members. If we said half of the forum were 2000 people, that would be a lot.

[only1doug]

Thanks for another awesome update SCS.

People, please stop pressurising SCS about posts, she may be reluctant to post the next campaign if you keep hassling her.

[VirOath]

Thanks for another awesome update SCS.

People, please stop pressurising SCS about posts, she may be reluctant to post the next campaign if you keep hassling her.

QFT.

Her writing is awesome, her group is a gift form the gods and the DM alone is more than worth his (ego) size in gold. (Which should be atleast Huge normally, Colossal if he reads this thread and it's comments)

Heavens Forbid that someone put him into an intelligent item. The Ego Score would be Epic! And with his history of world destroying, that could be a bad thing. ("Push the button! You know you want to!" *Ego check*)

So yes, the wait is more than worth it!

[GreatWyrmGold]

First of all, I didn't mean LITERALLY half the forum.
Second, let's stop pressuring SCS so she posts the next campaign!

[TheCountAlucard]

Awww..........SCS! Please, post the rest!

...

PLEASE post the next campaign, too! ... Please.
Second, let's stop pressuring SCS so she posts the next campaign!...from the looks of things, you were the only one doing any real pressuring... other than pointing out it's a cliffhanger, that is.

[GreatWyrmGold]

...from the looks of things, you were the only one doing any real pressuring... other than pointing out it's a cliffhanger, that is.

Meh, minor detail. :smallbiggrin:

[Olo Demonsbane]

Thanks for updating SCS :smallsmile:

[Raz_Fox]

After reading through the Campaign Archives, I have a very urgent warning for SCS:

Never let your DM find Exalted. Ever. Half a dozen ways or more to destroy the world? Check. Horrendously powerful villains who must be outwitted, not fought outright? Check. Player characters who are heads and shoulders above the ordinary citizenry? Check. Moral ambiguity? Check. Sheer awesomeness and epic storylines directly encouraged by the rules? Check.

Worst of all is the fact that he only needs one book to start up a game. Keep it out of his hands at all costs!

[VirOath]

After reading through the Campaign Archives, I have a very urgent warning for SCS:

Never let your DM find Exalted. Ever. Half a dozen ways or more to destroy the world? Check. Horrendously powerful villains who must be outwitted, not fought outright? Check. Player characters who are heads and shoulders above the ordinary citizenry? Check. Moral ambiguity? Check. Sheer awesomeness and epic storylines directly encouraged by the rules? Check.

Worst of all is the fact that he only needs one book to start up a game. Keep it out of his hands at all costs!

Actually, you bring up a good point.

SCS, I need to know how to reach your DM, I'm going to see about blackmailing him with a hardcopy to get me in at your table.

[Kyeudo]

Suddenly, I can just imagine SCS playing an Abyssal and dodging the emo bullet.

[SilverClawShift]

PLEASE post the next campaign, too!

No promises, we'll see if I have more free time when that campaign starts up :smalltongue:


Never let your DM find Exalted. Ever.

Fortunately, we usually stick with D&D 3.5. If we play something else, it's usually Shadowrun, or we just use the D20 setup in another setting (urban rangers dual weilding crowbars in a Lovecraft setting :smalltongue:)

Working on the next bit, but I might not be able to get it posted today.

[GreatWyrmGold]

No promises, we'll see if I have more free time when that campaign starts up
Alright, I hope you have the time.


Working on the next bit, but I might not be able to get it posted today.
Yes! I hope you do.

[SilverClawShift]

So where was I?

Our various minions (undead dragons and my soul-bound mental patients) were outside the desert ziggurat fighting off... a question mark. Bugs, we didn't know how many, and whatever indistinct shapes that had been approaching from the horizon.
The structure itself was being slowly cracked open by self-destructing disintegrate bugs, and the fact that they were starting to pry into the lowest chamber meant that our dragons were probably KIA. My mental patients would still be fighting, but ineffectively, and only because they couldn't actually die as long as I had their souls.
Our Swashbuckler is standing in the middled of the room, Macguiller is performing a ritual to turn him into a heal-bomb of epic proportions, and the freaking roof is starting to cave.

And away we go.

***************************************

Through the cracks, streams of bugs begin pouring in in long tendrils, acting almost like unified tentacles. Macguiller yells for the Swashbuckler to stay where he is, but he does draw his sword to fend off anything attacking him.
We don't know if the Drifter realizes we're even performing a ritual, he might just be attacking out of spite and out for revenge, but our goal is still to keep him away from the Swashbuckler as best we can.
Sunlight begins streaming through the cracks in the roof as large chunks of rubble give way. The Dragon Shaman takes to the air and begins roasting the tentacles with his fire breath at the thickest parts, and hacking at them in impotent fury while waiting for his breath to recharge. The Factotum tells me to put a ring of fire around the ritual area, which I do (my exact response was "It's a solid plan, and I endorse it"). After I throw up the fire ring, the kobold springs into it to protect the Swashbuckler directly. I fly into the area too. The Swashbuckler was going to cast "Repel Vermin" on himself, so we could really focus on protecting Macguiller, but Macguiller said that would ruin the ritual. At one point, Macguiller did get 'swatted' to the ground by a tentacle made of living bugs, but the kobold hit him with his healing touch to patch him up and the ritual continued.
At one point, a massive chunk of the ceiling gave way all at once and began falling directly onto the Swashbuckler, but the dragon shaman flew himself in the way of it, and with a strength check, managed to deflect it off to one side (while suffering massive physical trauma from basically using himself as a cushion to protect the swashbuckler :smalltongue:)

After a few more rounds of fighting the tentacles, "it got real" when through the cracks, actual non-bug monsters began jumping down. We had to make spot checks due to the confusing nature of the battlefield (falling stone, ritual chants, a ring of fire, and the air full of OMG BUGS). We made out at least a few dozen people, a handfull of minotaurs, and what looked like living statues (gargoyles) all with runes glowing on their forheads.
The fight was bad. Even being high level we were really outgunned, and missing our heaviest hitter (who was forced to watch us failing to stamp out a problem he could have easily taken by enlarging himself and starting to bodyslam :smalltongue:).

Finally though, we held out for long enough that Macguiller pointed a tthe swashbuckler and said the last few words of his chant. Instantly, the Swashbuckler was swarmed by the healing bugs (good thing he didn't cast "repel vermin" or something... that was a case of our Dm protecting us from our own short sightedness). At first only the healing bugs used in the ritual swarmed him, but eventually, every healing bug still active crawled out of the cracks and made their way to him the best they could, coating him in a chitinous shell of writhing golden insects. He began to glow with a heavenly light, and in a massive pulse, the insects all simultaneously died and fell to the floor around him, and he was left with a vague otherworldly glow.
Macguiller smiled broad and said it had worked.
As a beneficial side effect, the pulse of the ritual finalizing was enough to kill every bug in the chamber, and heal the creatures we'd been fighting. Unfortunately, the idiot gargoyles just continued attack :smallannoyed: but the surviving minotaurs and people helped us finish them off, and we got a few seconds to catch our breath (we could hear the bugs outside making their hideous buzzing chittering noise, and we knew they were just re-swarming).

We had to escape, and doing it on foot would be suicidal. I still had one scroll of teleport, but it was only enough for our group. I couldn't even bring my mental patients, let alone any of the surviving group. They were very upset about that revelation, but the Kobold calmed them by pointing out that if what we were trying to do worked or failed, nothing that was happening right now would matter (once for a good reason, one for a horrible reason).
We looked over the glowing Swashbuckler, who just gave a small sad smile about his impending self destruction. We asked Macguiller how much healing energy we needed.
Macguiller told us there was no way of knowing for sure, but that when he had enough stored, it wouldn't even be a decision for him. He'd just pop in a brilliant display of positive energy... and god willing, it would be enough.
If it wasn't? Well, there's always suicide.

We said our goodbyes, with Macguiller pulling out a few wands and promising they were going to go down swinging... then we sprinted up through the tunnels (the much SHORTER tunnels, now that most of the structure had literally been turned into dust over us). We booked as fast as we could while Macguiller and the other survivors caused a distraction by fighting in the main chamber... and when we got far enough away, we linked hands, and...realized that we didn't have anywhere to go.
Dragon Shaman: The bar?
Kobold: Lunacy, the Drifter could put two and two together what we were doing in that area, and he'd expect us to return.
Swashbuckler: Well central island is damn well not going to work, last we saw the air was literally just a wall of bugs.
Dragon Shaman: Same for the jungle area, even Papa HeeNo wouldn't have been able to do much against that mess.
Me: ...ug.
Kobold: What?
Me: Mercyglade :smallfrown:. And then I snapped my fingers.

And we were once again left looking at the front wall of an asylum full of angry ghosts. And in this part of the world, the sun was setting.

************************************************** ***

We leveled up here, by the way. Actually, this was the end of the tuesday campaign, so there's one more campaign, and then the climax. I'm going to go ahead and post this now, not because I want to keep teasing, (I'd really love to be done with this) but because we game again tommorrow night and I don't know how much I'll be able to get written up before our next campaign starts. Doing my best, promise. :smallsmile:

*edit*

Oh, and I finally took Eldritch Cone :smalltongue:

[GreatWyrmGold]

Whoo! The last part! Well, not glad it's over, just glad it's posted.
And that I'm the first to comment on it!
Edit: Wait, this is the end of the campaign, but you haven't posted the climax? Did I read that right?

[Saruchan28]

I believe there's... I'm reading a maximum two more sessions, including the climactic ending.

And I can't wait!

[DragoonWraith]

I'm so excited to learn what happens but I don't want it to end!

[Olo Demonsbane]

Yay update.

I cant wait to see what happens!

[Ripped Shirt Kirk]

I love your DM.
I'm not trying to be creepy (or gay), but your DM is a badass storyteller who deserves a reward for his story's. In fact, most all of his stories, are better then most books I've read

[SilverClawShift]

Wait, this is the end of the campaign, but you haven't posted the climax? Did I read that right?


I believe there's... I'm reading a maximum two more sessions, including the climactic ending.

And I can't wait!

This. I said Campaign, but I meant "session". The story has one and a half nights worth of gaming left.


I love your DM.

He be good at what he do.

[SilverClawShift]

Okay, second to last post here!

This was our saturday night session. It might seem a bit shorter than normal, that's for two reasons. I was trying to keep the details as tight as possible to get the story down before my mind starts swimming in our next campaign.
Also, the session was bogged down a little by normal combat (which is time consuming) and some video game intermissions (super smash brothers :smalltongue:).

But here we are. I won't be responding to anything anyone says at this point, because mark my words, the next time I post will be the end of the story :smalltongue:

*********************************

So we're in front of Mercyglade asylum, and the Swashbuckler is glowing faintly, having become our Deus ex Machina. We need to pump him full of as much healing magic as we can realistically get our hands on, and we need to do it quietly enough that we don't just get hammer-stomped into the ground by the Drifter.

The world's teetering on the brink of total collapse under his ravenous influence, and we have no secret allies or hiding spots left, (except for a haunted asylum sure to be the death of us). The Swashbuckler is our only remaining card, so to speak.

It's officially just us versus him.

***********************************

So first thing is first, we pump (almost) all of our remaining healing magic into the Swashbuckler. The Dragon Shaman dumps all but 5 of his "Lay on Hands" healing touch, the Swashbuckler uses most of his spell slots to cast cure spells, and the Kobold uses every use of his own healing touch. We only saved enough healing magic to stabilize party members who hit negatives, for emergencies. All in all, we pumped close to 500 hitpoints worth of positive energy into the guy... and we could see the difference quite clearly. His glowing aura became very pronounced giving off a strong light...
That was bad news. He was a bright shining beacon that said "I'm the special one, kill me first!", not to mention making him harder to hide in the approaching darkness.
Speaking of which, the rapidly approaching darkness had us once again (third time now! :smallannoyed:) booking away from Mercyglade asylum as fast as our legs would take us. We didn't even have our zombie dragon mounts to drag us along at a rapid pace, it was just the four of us, running through the mountainous woods, and hoping we didn't find any trouble (we weren't in a great position for combat, what with all our healing magic being tied up).

We ran through the woods, trying to keep a low profile as the sun set (as low a profile as one can when you're glowing with the energy of a small holy sun).
After we'd gotten far enough from the asylum, we took to trying to figure out what to do about the Swashbucklers light. He couldn't surpress it, but we found that if we wrapped him in enough fabric we could stiffle it. It still shone through, but not as a peircing floodlight of divine energies.
Annnnd it was at this point that we realized... we hadn't run far ENOUGH from the asylum to escape the notice of some of the vengful spirits inside of it. A few ghostly figures of rotting mental patients and orderlies came floating out between some of the trees, howling maddeningly.
I'm not ashamed to say that we ran for all we were worth. I would fire eldritch blasts back at them, and occasionally connected (even killed a few), but they persued us for miles before finally turning back. Why they turned back is something you can speculate on, but we came to the conclusion that there's only so far from their haunted-home they could realistically go, and we finally got out of their range of attack.
Fortunately we didn't take too much abuse during the run, but we'd cut into the night time hours we could rest during, and we NEEDED to rest to recover any healing energies we had to put into the Swashbuckler.

It also occured to us that I had, strangely, become a valuable meat-shield. The Dragon Shaman still had a huge AC and high CON, but most damage he took, he was going to have to deal with, as we couldn't afford to waste it on stupid things like "life threatening wounds". But I had Fiendish Reslience, which meant that once a day, I could turn on fast healing and shrug off injuries that should kill me.
It wasn't perfect, but I was the only one of us that could hit negatives, and still stand back up afterwards. I was hesitant to fling myself out in front of the party though, for any number of reasons (including cowardice, selfishness, and the realization that I'm still SQUISHIER than the other three party members are by a long shot).

Still. There's selfish, and there's stupid, and I was not the latter. I promised I'd do whatever I could to keep ole Swashie safe if it came to that.

**************************************

I also had to keep watch the entire night, which put me in a state of irritable sleep-deprived fatigue. The other party members needed a full rest to recover their assets, I didn't. So while it was prudent, I still had to stay awake all night staring out into the darkness for signs of trouble.
Leaving the unhinged and unashamedly evil witch guarding you while you sleep was an interesting decision for the party to make, but I didn't bring it up. Just did my job. In the morning, they once again started pouring as much healing magic into the Swashbuckler as they could. I quote the DM here, "He begins to glow with a brilliant light that rivals the rising sun". We didn't know how much healing energy we needed, but when you start glowing brighter than the rising sun, you know you're probably close to it.
You know you're also a big sore thumb on an otherwise bleak and ravaged landscape, and predictably, we were spotted.

By a single Drifter bug.

We spotted the glowing run on its back when we turned away from the Swashbuckler to shield our eyes. It was just sitting peacefully on the side of a tree, staring at us. It didn't attack, it didn't try to escape, it didn't even move. It just watched us.
I plunked it with an eldritch blast, but it didn't matter wether the bug lived or died... what mattered was the Drifter had done the smartest thing he could have. Send a small number of bugs to as many locations as possible. And now he knew where we were.
Before we even had a chance to discuss what we were going to do, the first wave of attack came down on us. It wasn;t an epic assault... a few deer, a wolf, and some small woodland critters. The combat wasn't difficult (though it was exhausting knowing that every tiny little scratch or knock on the head from a hoof was going to stay there for lack of a way to cure it). But the fact that we were being attacked by infected woodland creatures was not good news for us.

After we killed the infected creatures (and watching them dissolve into swarms of bgs afterwards, fanning out to likely infect more creatures :smallfrown:) we ran. Since it was daylight, we could see the area around us a little better, and we noticed some caves up on one of the hills about a mile away.
But we also heard crreatures charging at us from all sides, including the direction we wanted to go. Normal animals or not, there were so many of them that a fight (especially a fight with no healing magic) would have been ridiculous. Fortunately, the kobold recalled that his spellcasting was recharged, and we linked hands, he snapped his fingers, and teleported us into the cave mouth.

**************************************

Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

The smell hit us all at once on our arrival in the strange unexplored cave system. It wasn't just an empty stone face. It reeked of rot and refuse, and before we had a change to even assess our situation, the kobold was struck bodily by a club so hard that it nearly bent him in two.
We'd teleported straight into a den of trolls. Uninfected trolls, but it didn't really matter if they were infected or not. They were TROLLS. They jumped out of the darkness and began attacking us with clubs, claws, and teeth.

It was everything we could do to keep the Swashbuckler safe while we fought. He regretted not carrying a reach weapon while the three of us backed him into a wall and formed a protective half-circle around him, fighting off the trolls who were more interested in the 'shiny man' than the three normal looking defenders.
Luckily, we were decked out in all kinds of firey abilities. The Kobold hit the biggest looking one with an acid arrow, while I put up a wall of fire covering our area and the dragon shaman torch-breathed anything that got close. Most of them went ahead and charged right into the flames, but them standing IN a wall of fire while we fought definately gave us the edge. The smarter trolls hung back and pelted us with very heavy rocks, which certainly hurt, but I was peppering them with Eldritch Blasts, which I guarantee hurt a whole lot more. Finally, mercifully, we killed the last of them and scorched their remains to guarantee they wouldn't stand back up.

We took a moment to catch our breaths, before I remembered excitedly: "Hey wait, fresh corpses!"
The Dragon Shaman just went "Really?" while we were stuffing black onyx in their stupid troll faces. The Swashbuckler didn't have any spell slots to raise anything, but me and the kobold both raised as many as we could, leaving us with around a dozen undead giant bodyguards. Hey, we needed all the help we could get.

We kind of half thought the DM would give us a bit of a breather... after being chased by ghosts, attacked by swarms of woodland creatures, and then teleporting into a nest of hungry trolls. How foolish we were.
The DM informed us that we could hear a faint "wooshing" noise outside, as if large amounts of air were getting displaced, followed by a very not-rythmic thumb that vibrated through the ground itself.
The kobold dashed up the the entrance, with the rest of us a few heartbeats behind. When the kobold got to the cave mouth, he realized that we hadn't been deep enough to conceal the Swashbucklers holy glow. Everything in the area knew where we were, which meant the DRIFTER knew where we were. And we didn't have any more teleport tricks up our sleeves, and wouldn't without a good nights rest.

A good nights rest it didn't look like we'd be getting. On the horizon, we could see it. A dark shape so massive it rivaled the mountains we stood amongst. A being of such epic size that "Collosal" didn't even begin to cover it. A massive, mishapen, spiderous form 'crawled' along the ground in our direction, composed entirely out of bugs. Where its 'legs' hit the ground, it uprooted trees and left gapeing craters in its wake. The horrible thing lolled to one side, so massive that its components didn't have the proper mind to make it symetrical.
And it had the drifters face.
A face we'd almost forgotten, one we hadn't seen since he first completed the ritual to become the parasite he now is. But there it was, clear as day, his face sculpted entirely from living scarabs in a chitinous monstrosity.
And as we looked on, we could see smaller swarms flutting up to join the mass, contributing to its mishapen akwardness.

The drifter was coming, and it looked like we had his undivided attention.

**************************************

The kobold said what we were all thinking. "Deeper into the caves. Now".

And with that, the session ended (and we leveled up again). The kobold got access to sixth level spells he couldn't cast without a good nights rest, the Dragon Shaman got another boost to his breath weapon, the Swashbuckler actually took another level in archivist for more healing spell slots (that he still needed a good nights rest for), and I got my first Dark invocation. I wanted Dark Discorporation so bad. SO BAD.
But I did the smart thing and took Impenetrable Barrier to throw up walls of force. Being attacked by forces that outnumber us to an extreme amount, in a cave with limited mobility... the ability to create an indestructible wall only made sense.

[Protecar]

Another post of amazingness! I can't wait for the concluding chapter to top off that penultimate scene! You really are good at capturing a reader's attention!

[SilverClawShift]

So we ran deeper into the cave system in the mountain, not really sure what to expect. We saw signs of life along the way, but we just weren't sure if what we saw was traces of the trolls we had allready killed, or something worse. We tried not to think about it, simply running along the previously-dark caves now lit by the walking sun we counted in our ranks.
We could hear the horrible monstrosity that was the giant drifter 'construct' scrabbeling closer and closer to our cave, but we just ran deeper and deeper.

And to our absolute horror, we discovered a full on dead-end.

There were no turns, there was no where to double back to, and we had no way to teleport our troubles away this time. Even I couldn't escape with Flee the Scene, because there was nowhere in range for me to flee TO.
I audibly kicked myself for not taking Path of Shadow instead, but what was done was done. Like it or not, we were forced into a final-stand situation.
We couldn't even try to rest here, as we'd just woken up and started a new day. We, were, screwed.
The entire mountain shook as the Drifter monstrosity finally connected with the terrain immediately surrounding it, and the entire cave system began to shake. Stuck literally between a rock and a hard place, we began weighing the likeliehood of a cave in versus the likeliehood of the drifter swarm just absolutely shredding us into tiny bits.
A larger boom and the ground shaking even more made the decision for us. We couldn't let ourselves get buried under a few thousand feet of collapsing rock. If we could arrange some kind of controlled cave in, MAYBE, but even that would be stupid and suicidal, as the Drifter would have a full day to try to tear his way down to us.
So we ran back up. About halfway to the surface, we saw how futile our struggles were. The entire tunnel was literally filled with rapidly approaching bugs. It was truly just a massive wall of chitinous shell and tearing mandibles, and the occasional "pop" as one of the self-destruct bugs went off in a rage.
We didn't even have a way out. or so we thought at first. The Dragon Shaman panicked and hit the wall with a fire breath, carving out a 30 foot cone of freedom. Of course, the bugs just instantly refilled the space, but it gave me an idea.
I through up a wall of fire...30 feet into the mass of bugs. And then an impenetrable wall directly in front of us, buying us a few turns to think. Of course, the self-destruct bugs, since they were using a disintegrate effect, just began to eat away at the impenetrable wall... but not so fast that we couldn't hack at the bugs to keep them at bay while explaining the plan.
I do a double wall setup. When the dragon shamans breath recharges, I drop the impenetrable wall and he hits the (weakened by the fire wall) mass in front of us with his breath weapon, at which point I cycle the walls thirty feet further and we repeat and fight our way back to the surface, 30 feet by grueling 30 feet.
Swashbuckler: And what do we do when we get to the surface?
Kobold: Split up.
Dragon Shaman: Suicide
Kobold: Our only chance. We know the drifter has trouble focusing on multiple areas at once, the only way we're going to keep him from stomping us on sight is by moving in multiple directions. I'll go with the Swashbuckler, you and the witch take to the skies, we'll send the trolls out in four groups of three to fight, and we'll cross our fingers.
Swashbuckler: But what's our long term plan?
Kobold: Die horribly I guess.
Swashbuckler: I'm glowing like the FREAKING sun, I can't need that much more healing juice. One more day, that's gotta be all it'll take.
Me: We're SOL. We need to run and hopefully we'll come up with something. Anything.
Swashbuckler: I wish I had some healing potions.
We all stopped akwardly at that and skimmed over our gear-lists, but we actually DIDN'T have any healing potions. Which is fortunate, in a way, cause we would have felt really stupid.
It did give us a goal though. Book for the nearest town and raid the Apothecary and churched for any kind of healing juice. That might just be enough to top him off.
Assuming we can make it that far.

Which, upon finally fighting our way out to the cave mouth, seems less than likely.

There were so many bugs that our visibility was limited to about ten feet in front of us, but through the fray, we could make out that the 'tunnel smash' we'd been fighting up from had only been one of the swarm/monstrosities many legs jammed into the face of the mountain.
With me making a pair of walls meeting in a V shape away from the cave (fire and force, respectively), and me and the dragon shaman using our cone weapons (fire and eldritch magic, erspectively), we managed to clear enough of a gap to let the Kobold and the trolls out first. The kobold booked straight up the mountain like the speedy little ninja he is, making a hide-in-plain-sight to dissapear into the fray, even from the bugs that were causing the swarm. It worked by him moving too fast, in too unpredictable of a pattern, for the swarm to get a good grasp on where he was in relation to the other parts of the swarm.
The trolls, as ordered, march/shuffled into four groups and away from each other, drawing the attention of some parts of the swarm without really doing much against it.
Then me and the shaman fired off another pair of cone attacks to give the Swashbuckler a chance to get out. When he broke free from the cave entrance and began running upwards (following in the kobolds trail, as he was going to guide the swashbuckler to a town), his light was so blinding that the swarm actually reeled from his presence, backing away slightly for a moment before moving to attack him.

Unfortunately, being such a bright target meant that...well, he was a bright target. The Drifter monstrosity reared back in pain from the sudden increase in light, but then recovered and sent an arm-swarm flying in the Swashbucklers direction, swatting him and sending him tumbling over the rough path and clinging to the rocks.
The Dragon Shaman and I both left the cave. We were going to instinctively run to the Swasbuckler to help... but we came to the conclusion that it really WAS best to try to divide the drifter swarms attention here. So instead? We flew up at the drifters massive face, zig-zagging and slashing at the bugs ineffectively, before both of us unloaded directly at the 'eyes' of the Drifter.
While he was a swarm... he really couldn't focus through every pair of eyes at once. That had to be WHY he was forming 'limbs' and 'bugamentals' and all of that. Which meant when the Dragon Shaman breathed fire at his face, and I created a ring of fire inside his 'head', he still reeled (in a sense) from the strike. The swarm 'hiccupped' and his entire bodily shape grew indistinct as the outline holding him together slightly dettached from itself.
It gave the Swashbuckler and kobold time to get withint visual range of each other and attempt to run over the top of the hill/mountain to tumble down the other side, leaving me and the Dragon Shaman as the distraction. Obviously, part of the swarm still persued... but the effects weren't as devastating as if we'd been in one massive group.
Me and the Dragon Shaman flew past each other in the opposite direction. I shouted out to him "If you die before I do, tell them I repent my lifetime of evil deeds!" The Dragon Shaman shouted back, incredulously, "Truly?". I just smiled, and said "No, not really" before firing an eldritch cone straight down and "Dropping' out of midair and through the newly formed hole in the swarm.
The Dragon Shaman muttered an expletive under his breath before exhaling his breath weapon straight up and going further skyward, leaving the Drifters focus splitting between us. We could tell it was having an effect, because his 'face' was gone, and just replaced with a massive swarm of bugs. Holding onto a solid shape was getting too tough.

Not so tough that he didn't just utterly destroy all our zombie trolls though, and then "Stomped" both the kobold and the swashbuckler in a pillar of bugs. They both took massive damage as a result, but continued trying to escape.
Me and the Shaman weren't in much better shape. We were taking heavy slashing damage from the bugs flying by us and scraping with their mandibles along the way. Every space we tried to clear for ourselves just instantly filled with a new set of bugs. I hit solid ground, made a ring of fire around me, and starting firing eldritch cones upwards. It was all I could do to keep the area directly above me cleared, as swarms circled, launched themselves down at me (trying to "stomp" me too), and doubling back for repeat tries as I kept firing cones up getting more and more desperately close to faltering and getting crushed under a massive pile of insects.
The Dragon Shaman was plagued with suicide-bomber bugs, bursting the in path and making him roll Fort saves to shrug off the effects of their disintegrating shockwaves. Finally though, he managed to get above the Drifters 'head' area, waited for his breath weapon to full recharge, and then stacked every meta-breath feat he'd taken onto a single breath attack, and dive-bombed his way into the thickest part of the swarm, letting out a massive cloud of blistering heat through a bellowing roar.

As an aside, I apologize to the more meticulous playgrounders, but I don't actually have his list of meta-breath feats :smalltongue:.

But the effects were pretty immpressive. He took out such a huge swath of bugs that the entire swarm hiccuped again, which bought all of the rest of us some extra time in our various pursuits.
Unfortunately, the drifter reacted well to the dragons dive-bomb, and actually swatted him out of the sky in the same direction he'd traveling. The combined force was enough to barrel him into the ground next to me, making a decent crater. The Shaman was low on hitpoints. There was nothing I could do about that though, instead, I took to the skies and left my ring of fire around him, letting him weakly fight off the descending bugs with his sword and shield while waiting for a breath weapon to recharge. I tried to fight skyward to pull off a similar stunt, hoping we could make a difference in letting the two runners get away.

We didn't. They were taking a brutal pounding out in the open, and with both of them having limited mobility, there wasn't much they could do but TAKE it. The Swashbuckler even enlarged himself, making himself an easier target, but a stronger and more stable one. But in the end, it was no use. The Drifter Swarm created a veritable wall of bugs, and with a mighty 'sweep' managed to knock the two of them off the hilltop and into the trees below. They crashed, hard. The kobold had a handfull of hitpoints. The swashbuckler...

The swashbuckler hit negatives :smalleek:

I got similarily swatted out of the sky, and hit the ground hard, activating my Fiendish Resilience just before I crashed and ALSO fell into negatives.
The kobold had no healing. The Dragon Shaman could stabilize one of us, if he could REACH us without dying... it was looking for all the world like we'd failed at the last bit and managed a TPK despite everything.
When the DM rolls a D4, and has the kobold make a spot check.
"You notice a twitching form scuttling around in one of the Swashbucklers packs. Chitter is molting."

Yup. Like all adventurers. We'd forgotten about the arcanists darn familiar.

The kobold pulls out Chitter, noting that he's bigger and brighter... meaning he could cast higher level healing spells... meaning...meaning we'd forgotten to use the bugs darn healing in the FIRST place.
The kobold just lets out a sick grin and looks down at the bug sitting happily on the back of his hand. "Hey little guy. ...Time to do your thing."

Chitter pounces off the kobolds hand and onto the swashbucklers face, and with a bright flash, expels one of his healing gems.

*****************************************

The effect was instantaneous.

The Swashbucklers glow became so bright that the entire world, even the sun, seemed darker against him. And in brilliant pulse that erupted from his location, he vanished entirely. For a heartbeat, everything stood still. The swarm around us even stopped in its tracks, as the glowing sphere collapsed in on itself before bursting outwards in all directions, a cleansing wall of pure energy so brilliant and powerful that there was nothing to do but watch.

We watched the wall travel off into the distant at the speed of light, and knew there would be no stopping it. Nothing would stop it until it met itself on the other side of the world.
And it worked. The Drifter bugs didn't falter, or scatter where they were hit... they fried where they stood, falling out of the sky with heavy thuds, landing in great heaps, blanketing the ground four or five feet deep like some kind of perverse snowfall.
The Dragon Shaman watched them closely. Not a one of them twitched. They were done for.
The kobold stared into the distance, making an inspiration-point boosted spot check. He could see animals in the woods, running around in confusion, clearly not infected.
I finally healed above negative hitpoints with fiendish resilience, and scrabbled my way out of the three feet of bugs I'd been buried alive in, coughing and spitting angrily.

We did it. :smallsmile:

*****************************************

So, the epilogues.

First, the Dragon Shaman made sure to mark the area where the Swashbuckler had fallen, noting that he would ensure that the location was always hallowed and revered.
The three of us rested up in the (now cleared of danger) cave, and as soon as we were recovered, the kobold teleported us to just outside the church where the consecrated ziggarut had been, as per the Dragon Shamans request. There was no longer a reason not to, so the three of us dug our way down to the doorway to the ziggarut, and managed to pry it open. We could hear a faint hum coming from inside.
We went lower and lower, and finally found her. Sitting next to a broken human-sized egg that looked like it had been cobbled together from bone and bits of broken coffin... a very makeshift egg. With a Dragonborn female curled up on the floor next to it, sleeping soundly.
I said that it could be another trick, but at the noise, the ex-Changeling woke up and looked around in confusion, before whispering in a melodious voice with tear-filled eyes, "No. It's not."

Me: So we're just going to forgive her?
Kobold: Yes, we are. She's not the same person anymore. That's what becoming a dragonborn means.

And with that, the Dragon Shaman helped her to her feet, and we left the ziggarut.

*******************************************

With that taken care of, we set about assessing the damage around the world. It was pretty severe. Over the next few days, we made stops at various noteable locations. We picked up Macguiller and the survivors in that ziggarut, now uninfected. We went to Central Island (it is Macguillers home, after all) and discovered that through it all, the captain of the guard had survived. Not only had he survived, he's the only person on the island who never fell to the infection. He barricaded himself in the cellar of the prison, which had enough provisions to see him through (barely). Most of the populace was in fact, gone (dissolved into the drifter swarm, most likely), but there were survivors nonetheless.

The same was true in a lot of places. We'd visit various coastal towns, kingdoms, and the like. Papa HeeNo and his tribe were gone, but there was no way to be sure he didn't just move them somewhere. He wasn't likely to grab our attention now that we weren't needed.
Some towns survived, some didn't. A small handful were completely untouched. Some were destroyed entirely. Others fell somewhere in between the two extremes. There were misunderstandings after the infection dissapeared, and a lot of innocent people were executed for having BEEN infected... but, well. What are you gonna do?

The world, slowly but surely, churned on as it always had.

*******************************************

The Kobold, feeling antsy and unsure, decided he needed to do something to make sure. He tried to Scry on the drifter. He tried, but the spell faltered. He wasn't convinced though, so he tried twice more. The third time, the spell started to fizzle, but suddenly made a connection... On a five year old girl, with a glowing run on her forhead.
We poured over the surroundings, and finally reached the conclusion that she was in the volcano ziggarut on central island!

Obviously we teleported right over there, and found there was no way in. The lava had bubbled up and cooled over, sealing the entrance.
So, the Dragon Shaman tunneled in, and me and the kobold carefully followed through the blisteringly hot rock that threatened to return to being active any day. We found her... the last infected person, one of the children who'd lived on central island and somehow didn't fall into the volcano. Presumably, she was one of the kids the Drifter had 'thrown' into the volcano, but had missed, and simply returned to being infected when her death wasn't needed.

She sat in the corner of the desecrated main chamber, holding her knees and rocking angrily. When she saw us come in, she snarled. Began muttering insane babbeling thoughts to herself. Said "We came so close, we saw the light, we saw it. We could taste it..." Then she glared up at us, and said "You don't know what we ARE. You think we'll stop? We'll never stop!"
The Dragon Shaman had heard enough, and said we should heal her. I said that was stupid. She was infected, and no matter how thoroughly we healed her, we would never know enough about things to be sure she could ever be let back into the world.
Dragon Shaman: You're seriously suggesting we kill a five year old girl?
Me: ...Do what you want. I'm officially done with this world, and now I have the time to find a way off of it.

So they heal-bombed the hell out of her. They made sure she was kept under surveilance for days, constantly being hit with healing magic to make sure the infection was really gone.
Once the kobold scryed on the drifter over and over, and still got nothing, he was convinced the Drifter was truly gone, and they let the girl back into the world.

*******************************

Final epilogues.

The kobold took the little girl as his ward, and no one really objected. Her parents were dead, and he was one of the heroes who'd saved the world. He said he was going to take care of her partially just to be kind, but partially to ensure that he was there to do something if the Drifter turned out to be tucked away in some tiny part of her mind.
Aside from that, when asked what he was going to do post-story, he said "I saved this entire world, and now I'll continue robbing it blind".

Then the DM asked me what I was going to do post-story, and I said I was going to plane-shift myself to the abyss, along with my soul-bound mental patients, and start a little mom & pop soul trading business. Hopefully I'll keep growing in power until I can become a true fiend, and then, fingers crossed, a demon princess.

The Dragon Shaman coughed.

See, no. Cause once I have some time to think about it, I'm going to hunt her down and either get her to repent, or END her.

The DM looked at us both for a minute, thinking, before drawing a plain square on the battlegrid, and saying "Okay. You find her right as she's finished packing her bags (and souls) and getting ready for the ritual that will take her to the abyss."

So the Dragon Shaman walks into my little inn room.
Me: "Can I HELP you?"
Dragon Shaman: Yeah... see. I've had some time to think about it. And remember when I said you were small time, and we had bigger things to worry about? Well we DON'T have bigger things to worry about any more. And now? You're officially the most evil thing I know.
Me: So now we lock horns and fight to the death?
Dragon Shaman: You could repent.
Me: ...Roll intiative.

So, we fought. Hard. But it was kind of a stalemate. For every hit one of us made on the other, we would shrug it off or instantly heal it with fast healing or lay on hands.
After a few rounds of combat, the DM sends me a private note that says "You need him out of the room to complete the ritual".
So... we fight a bit more, still really a stalemate... but finally, he lines up a few feet in front of the door to the room... and I hit him with a repelling blast that knocks him clean into the hallway, before running and slamming the door shut.

Me at the table: All I say before slamming the door, is "See you in Hell."

The Dragon Shaman got up and kicked the door in... only to discover the room is gone. Not empty. GONE. It's a doorway leading to the open air, and the foundation the building was built on.

*******************************

So, having taken care of my epilogue, the DM turns to the Dragon Shaman.

Dragon Shaman: So I didn't kill the witch, but I saved the world and got the girl? Happily Ever After?
DM: Happily Ever After. No one knows who the ex-changeling is, or what she did, except for you and the kobold. But you both respect the fact that dedicating her soul to Bahamut is a second lease on life?
Kobold: Oh yeah
Dragon Shaman: Definately
DM: Then that's how it goes. She becomes Dragonborn Bard, joining you in trying to subvert the actions of evil dragons and promote Bahamuts will on the world, and becoming famous for writing and performing songs of your deeds. Occasionally, you find her scribbling enigmatic looking seals, but that might be another story entirely.
Dragon Shaman: Happily ever after?
DM: Scouts honor.

*******************************

The end :smallsmile:

Wow. I'm so glad to have that all DONE. I didn't think I'd have time to wrap it up today before our gaming session. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read it, and for being patient with the delays and my occasional incoherance. Hopefully it wasn't a let down (every story has to end sometime, some how :smalltongue:).

Usually, after a really big story, we have a batch of smaller stories, or some one-shot combats, or things like that, but our DM had such a big plan for our next campaign that we're actually jumping into another rolling saga tonight.

I'll try to post about it too, but I'm a little busy in real life right now, sooo... I can't make any promises about promptness or anything like that. Still, thank you for your interest and kind words everyone :smallsmile:

And for anyone just popping back in, I just did three posts in like two days, so it might be confusing if you don't backtrack to the right spot.

[only1doug]

Awesome!

Thanks SCS

[Umael]

...

*reverely walks forward and places a d20 in the floor, in the middle of the ritual circle*

*pulls out a mechanical pencil*

All Hail SilverClawShifter, Herald of the Awesomest DM Ever!

*sacrifices the d20*

[memnarch]

Dang that was a good campaign! Thank you for taking the time to type it up for us. :cool:


Question though; how does your DM do world building and combat? Does he write up a description of the world and then use a generic grid for any combat that might happen?

[Rizban]

Awesome ending. Way to show up that goody, goody dragon shaman.

[DragoonWraith]

Whoo, that was excellent! Thank you, SCS.

[SilverClawShift]

Question though; how does your DM do world building and combat? Does he write up a description of the world and then use a generic grid for any combat that might happen?

Depends really, on what material he can scavenge or create with relative ease.

We use this three-layered plexiglass thing he has, and can put maps under it and draw overtop it with dry erase markers. A lot of the times, especially if we do something unexpected and end up somewhere he hadn't planned on, he'll just draw up a crude map as needed/as we explore.

If it's a planned big campaign, he usually has at least a real world map, and sometimes smaller maps for key locations. Other things he just sketches out and tells us what's what.

[Dragonmuncher]

Great stuff!


Regarding your next epic saga, does your DM tell you the general concept of the plot/campaign world before you pick your characters? Or have you already picked something to play, and you'll just be surprised?

[Bigbrother87]

My highest regards to you, the other players, and of course to the DM. That was epic, and you have my sincerest thanks for actually taking the time to finish writing it up this quickly.

Having it be the Zero Hour, all hope lost, "We're Doomed," moment, and make it through because of Chitter? That, I think, is one of the most awesome moments of this campaign. If I wore a hat, it would be off to you.

Also, if you can't start a journal about the new campaign immediately, save your notes! Just tell us about it when you've got the chance. Please and Thank You.

[13_CBS]

Sooo...

1) We got to see the ending of a most excellent story.

2) More importantly, THERE ARE MORE ON THE WAY. They may come soon, they may come later, but there are more stories to tell.

I'm so glad to be alive. :smallsmile:

(As a side note, I'll actually try to update the archive this time :smalleek:)

[kamikasei]

*Applause*

An excellent story, well told, much appreciated, and sorry for any pressure, nitpicking, or other obnoxiousness.

[SilverClawShift]

Great stuff!


Regarding your next epic saga, does your DM tell you the general concept of the plot/campaign world before you pick your characters? Or have you already picked something to play, and you'll just be surprised?

That actually depends a lot on what we're doing. We like to talk about the 'type' of game we're going to play as a group, and going from there. One of our all time best campaigns started because we sat down and said "We've decided, we're all going to be bards." and the DM looked down, scratched his head, and said "Really? Bards?".

And when he realized we weren't joking, set out making an epic bard campaign for us :smalltongue:

So it varies a lot. This campaign, we made our characters without a clue as to the world.

This next campaign, he's actually given us a lot of info about the world and its locations, and asked that we make characters that can all reasonably fit into one specific city in the setting, as we have to actually reasonably be citizens of this one city specifically.
He still gives a lot of leeway even within those criteria though.


Having it be the Zero Hour, all hope lost, "We're Doomed," moment, and make it through because of Chitter? That, I think, is one of the most awesome moments of this campaign. If I wore a hat, it would be off to you.

Really.

The real hero of this story is the oft-forgotten familiar. Stuffed in a pack and left to sit amongst moldy scrolls and stale trail rations. But in this campaign the familiar saved the freaking day.

And then promptly dissapeared the second his action was performed, like a good little familiar :smalltongue:

[Drakyn]

That was GOOD as in the doubled goody that comes hand in hand with gumdrops. You had a good ending against terrible odds without contrivance or a deus ex machina in a way that was internally consistent and awesome.
Everyone went out in the best ways possible, and I have to say that absolute stalemate in the showdown between you and your friend was beautiful. No curbstomps, no even momentary dominance, just "Ow heal Ow heal" until the fight is removed. The endings all felt goooood and delicious, like strawberries covered in molten caramel and chocolate that remain cool, crisp and intensly flavourish inside. The mental image of what is essentially a kobold version of the Flash raising a human orphan who is probably bigger than he is already? The dragonborn saving someone and having it stick without a doubt despite tiny hints of worry? You going off to try and make a living in the Abyss? This entire campaign has been performed substantially better than most (the random guesstimator says 85%) fantasy novels.

EDIT: Epic bard campaign? You started out as a garage band? You each specialized into the burly drummer meleer, the crazy illusionist bagpiper, the healboy vocalist?

[13_CBS]

EDIT: Epic bard campaign? You started out as a garage band? You each specialized into the burly drummer meleer, the crazy illusionist bagpiper, the healboy vocalist?

I wonder how that one started? :smallconfused:

*A small middle-class house in a out-of-the way town, with a handful of young bards strumming/playing their instruments, relaxed on couches and chairs, with many an empty pouch of "pixie dust" strewn about*

Player 1: "Dude."

Player 2: "What?"

Player 1: "...we should, like, be adventurers."

Player 2: "...woah."

Player 3: "Wicked."


*Years later*

Adoring Fan: "So tell us how your adventures all started!"

Player 1: "Uhh...>_>"

[memnarch]

Depends really, on what material he can scavenge or create with relative ease.

We use this three-layered plexiglass thing he has, and can put maps under it and draw overtop it with dry erase markers. A lot of the times, especially if we do something unexpected and end up somewhere he hadn't planned on, he'll just draw up a crude map as needed/as we explore.

If it's a planned big campaign, he usually has at least a real world map, and sometimes smaller maps for key locations. Other things he just sketches out and tells us what's what.

Thanks for the advice! :smallsmile:

[Chineselegolas]

*applauds* 'cause words aren't enough

[SilverClawShift]

Epic bard campaign? You started out as a garage band?

Basically, yup. We were traveling performers, and we all prestige classed out into various bard classes (Sublime Chord, Dirgesinger, ect). But the campaign was a very musical one.


Thanks for the advice! :smallsmile:

No problem! I didn't realize I was actually giving advice.

I recomend at least one sheet of plexiglass (home depot) and then print out various sized grids. You can swap out the grids to make everything the appropriate scale (tiny little grids for huge areas full of lots of activity, larger grids for room to room exploration, and such).

Each player has their own color dry erase marker, and then you can just scribble and erase at your leisure. Requires a fair bit of imagination, but once you get into it, it works very smoothly :smallsmile:

[Magicus]

Brilliant. A fantastic ending to a fantastic campaign... I'm taking notes, because that trick of bringing the players right to the edge of despair and failure just before something unexpected allows them to triumph (without resorting to a deus ex machina, of course) is one of the coolest things a DM can do, imo.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to share your glories with us poor denizens of the internet, SCS! Here's looking forward to your next tales of awesomeness (whenever they may come)!

[Anxe]

So you guys never figured out why the Drifter was referring to itself it a plural sense? Or even the Drifter's real name? That stinks.

[Alleine]

So you guys never figured out why the Drifter was referring to itself it a plural sense?

I really hope this is sarcasm. He was a hivemind for goodness sakes.


@SCS: Halfway through mad scramble to get away from drifter/super bugamental, I was thinking to myself "Why didn't the Swashbuckler just keep a casting of Repel Vermin or whatever the spell was prepared?", but then I realize how extremely boring it would have been if you all crowded into it radius while the drifter watched on powerlessly. Plus your DM would probably have made him just smash you with some non-bug terrain instead, so it's undoubtedly for the best. :smallbiggrin:

Many thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to write up this amazing campaign for us.

[Eldariel]

Well, that was beautiful. All I can say is thanks for posting these and don't mind the delays; as long as it goes up, we be happy! :smallbiggrin:

[Jalor]

That was the most epic thing I've read in a long time. All hail Chitter, savior of the world!

[The Tain]

I'm usually a lurker, but I'm coming out of hiding to say that I've thoroughly enjoyed (and highly anticipated) every installment in this thread and the Army of Commoners campaign. Thanks for taking the time to write it up for all of us; it's the next best thing to being there. :smallbiggrin:

Though at this point I'm just echoing what's been said dozens of times before, your DM's work is a prime example of the craft at its finest; kudos to him. It's a demanding job, and I applaud that he has the fortitude and flexibility to do it at this level of quality.

[Mnymosene]

It's so fun to get to hear so much in quick succession. I feel spoiled. Very much worth the wait.

*clapclapclap*

[Lewin Eagle]

Awesome campaign, thanks for writing it down.
And I kinda doubt that it would have made any difference if you had used the bugs healing powers when you used all your heals on the Swashbuckler. After a final battle when you are nearly death is just the appropriate time for the positiv energy bomb to go off.

[13_CBS]

I've finally gotten off of my lazy arse and updated the archive with the last of the story posts, all of the known vignettes, and a minor touch up.

[evil-frosty]

Thank you SCS, this was amazing. I dont mind the delays as it builds suspense which is a good thing right? And we get to speculate on what will happen which can be fun. I would love to hear about your new campaign and if you cant write it up now since real life is getting in the way then just save your notes and right it up at a more convenient time. Thank you again.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I wonder if someone could turn this into a novel...or maybe makes a fanfic about what hapens later?

[Willfor]

Rights to that sort of thing tend to fall to the group/person that creates them.

[VirOath]

All I can say is AWESOME!

Wonderful ending to it all, and I hope you have fun before we see the next campaign up (Or, atleast hope there will be another campaign journal of the Adventures of SCS.)

[Anxe]

I really hope this is sarcasm. He was a hivemind for goodness sakes.

Was it a hivemind before it turned into a bug swarm? I remember him being just one man then.

[Admiral Squish]

You, SCS, have officially become the goddess of D&D. I, from here on out, will dedicate my natural twenties to you, and every point of RP XP shall be sacrificed in your name. And I know I won't be alone in these beliefs. These campaigns of yours are everything D&D should be and more. I would be thankful to have a single campaign as awesome and incredible as the ones you have so regularly.

[Aether]

Hmmm.... when the Drifter was destroyed... what happened to all the bugs' Crystals?

With all the Bug forces the Drifter came at you with, wouldn't that mean that you guys found yourself surrounded by HUNDREDS of spellcasting gems?

And is Chitter really gone? He wasn't part of the Drifter's horde; he wasn't a negative energy bug or undead... pity if he really is gone.



What level were you guys when the campaign was finished?


Also, I imagine the Atomic Heal Bomb would have wiped out all/most/a lot of undead from the world as well, huh? Wonder what happened to Mercyglade?


That was a really cool campaign.:smallbiggrin:

[Alleine]

Was it a hivemind before it turned into a bug swarm? I remember him being just one man then.

No, it was sort of an at-the-same-time kinda deal, IIRC. Was he referring to himself as more than one person before that? If he was, it might have just been psyching himself up, or referring to his partners.


I feel like I only have two options now.
1: Begin Dming immediately so that I can one day be an awesome DM like SCS's DM, or...
2: Abandon all hope. There is no way I'll ever be that good, and trying to do it will just remind me of how much fail I am compared to SCS's DM
:smalltongue:

[Roc Ness]

I feel like I only have two options now.
1: Begin Dming immediately so that I can one day be an awesome DM like SCS's DM, or...
2: Abandon all hope. There is no way I'll ever be that good, and trying to do it will just remind me of how much fail I am compared to SCS's DM
:smalltongue:

Never ever give up hope :smallbiggrin:

[Olo Demonsbane]

*Sniff*...it was so beautiful...and now its over...*Sob*

You have my eternal gratitude for gifting the world with these campaigns.

May your soul always stay in your possession and my you steal the souls of many others. :smallwink:

[Dire Ferret]

Once again, a great campaign. Thanks for sharing it.

[Dragonus45]

SO about the time i get to the very end of the combat, firefox crashes on me( problem ive been having since it updated) well i let it restart and then... BACKUP IN PROGRESS WAIT 30 MINUTES LOSER. Talk about heart stopping suspense. Well anyways today is my groups dnd campaign and i hereby dedicate my kenders antics to SCS and the DM OF DOOOOOM.

[GreatWyrmGold]

That was a really cool campaign.

The guy spesks the obvious.

May SCS's character always have her soul (but not SCS's, she probably needs that), and may SCS never stop posting her awesome games.

And, SCS, if/when (I hope when) you start posting your next campaign, please add a link here.

Finally, this campaign inspired me to make a campaign with these creatures which were inspired by the campaign. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6593151#post6593151)

[Fizban]

I just started reading this one this (well last) night, after finding out that the cantrip gem thread I wasn't too interested in turned in a a campaign journal from SilverClaw. Looks like I picked the perfect time to do it too, showed up just after the end.

Agreed that the ending was pretty much perfect. Naturally a few things could have gone better over the adventure, but that's what makes it an adventure. Epilogues were perfect though I have to wonder what happened to Chitter. As the familliar of a dead master (according to Tome of Magic) he retains his familiar abilities at -2 level, which could either mean he loses them entirely or defaults to minimum 1 and is still intelligent. For that matter, did anyone try reincarnating the the Swashbuckler? Strike that, body explodes with positive energy, no remains to reincarnate from, and it probably took Chitter with it. Sad day.

I also have to wonder why he volunteered, if it was just because he'd have more healing available (which it turned out made the difference), or possibly because he didn't have as much to keep going for (the Shaman had to save the girl, the witch had plans, the Kobold had... something?).

Great campaign, good detail at the end despite getting backed up, great read. Applause and thank you for posting.

[Mitth'raw'nuruo]

Great story.

Thank you.

[Reaper_Monkey]

/comes out of lurking...

Legendary, a wonderful read, thanks for putting the effort into writing it up for us all! Five star performance, enjoy your time in the abyss :smallbiggrin:

[SlyGuyMcFly]

*Gives a standing ovation*

My hat goes off to you and your DM. Thank you for sharing this astounding slice of awesome.

[mostlyharmful]

Yeah... evil demon princess:smallwink:. Cool beans SCS.

[13_CBS]

Given how quickly the DM is getting into a new campaign, I have to wonder if he's using the same setting, only fast forwarded (or even rewound) a few years.

...which may mean that we get to see Speedy, Dragon Shaman, and Valenia again :smalleek:

[Fayd]

Would be awkward to suddenly be fighting yourself, wouldn't it?

[13_CBS]

I think it'd be awesome. :smallamused:

[SilverClawShift]

You're very welcome, everyone :).

Sorry for not expressing my appreciation individually, but, you know. It'd be the same line a lot of times.

And our next campaign started allready. It's not in the same world, not even fast forwarded (and if it is, it's far enough that the continents are different :smalltongue:). That doesn't necessarily mean it's not connected to the same planar cosmology though, so I guess we'll find out.

We do occasionally bump into older characters... but I find it less likely in this case.

[Corwin Weber]

Incredible. Just incredible.

Thank you SCS. This was an amazing story.

[Deth Muncher]

I sincerely hope that in the next campaign, your witch-turned-demon princess is the BBEGirl, and someone plays a Binder to bind the characters from the Undead campaign (that was that campaign, yes? I forget).

And also, gratz on the awesome story SCS. If we ever meet irl, I'll buy you a set of fancy dice or something from Crystal Caste.

[Fayd]

SCS, if it IS the same cosmology (or at least, connected cosmology) the only character I could think you'd conceivably bump into is your witch. Unless you take a trip upstairs and bump into the dragon Shaman and his wife.

[Jayngfet]

Wow, I come back after about four days vacation, brutal and exausted from physical exertion and caked with sweat and fish guts, switch on the 'ol laptop and check this thread, read the last few updates and suddenly it's a great day to be alive.:smallsmile:.

[Lilienthal]

I've gone quiet for a while, but that was a great read, thanks SilverClawShift. :smallwink:


A question: do you usually play characters of a "less morally hampered" nature? :smalltongue:

[SilverClawShift]

No actually. I usually play characters that are listed as good, but wind up being played neutral (my characters tend to be more on the pragmatic side of things, one way or another).

Every now and then I want a villain though :smalltongue:

Also, I hesitate to mention this, because people will start to think my group makes custom vestiges after every campaign (we most defiantely do not), but we're considering making the drifter and/or the swashbuckler vestiges for the binder class.

Which will be really interesting considering our current campaign has a Binder character.

We're having trouble deciding what level they should be though. I want to make the Drifter an epic level vestige (there aren't many of them). The other player talking about it thinks 6th level or lower.
If anything comes of it, I'll post them here.

[Lilienthal]

[Swashbuckler name here], Brighter than the Sun
Binder Power: Channel Positive Energy through your fists.
Binder Sign: Permanent sunlight effect on your fists.
Binder Influence: Scream "This hand of mine glows with an awesome power!" and proceed to fisticuffs with any undead you encounter.

Hilarity guaranteed.

[Deth Muncher]

[Swashbuckler name here], Brighter than the Sun
Binder Power: Channel Positive Energy through your fists.
Binder Sign: Permanent sunlight effect on your fists.
Binder Influence: Scream "This hand of mine glows with an awesome power!" and proceed to fisticuffs with any undead you encounter.

Hilarity guaranteed.

I want to say...one of the later Gundam Series?

Anyway, I lol'd irl. It's a good thing I'd just swallowed my Pepsi before reading that.

[13_CBS]

I want to say...one of the later Gundam Series?

Anyway, I lol'd irl. It's a good thing I'd just swallowed my Pepsi before reading that.

G Gundam. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_au7Jc4JbY)

(Watch out, Lilienthal! The others will flame you for daring to post anime references! :smalltongue:)

[Deth Muncher]

G Gundam. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_au7Jc4JbY)

(Watch out, Lilienthal! The others will flame you for daring to post anime references! :smalltongue:)

Well, I'm sure that he has an appropriately oversized sword to deal with them. And you can be the zany comic-relief sidekick!

[13_CBS]

Well, I'm sure that he has an appropriately oversized sword to deal with them. And you can be the zany comic-relief sidekick!

But comic-releif sidekicks are the butt of all jokes! :smalleek:

13_CBS: Nyoro~n. (Wait, no, no, I promised not to do that here again.)

[Deth Muncher]

But comic-releif sidekicks are the butt of all jokes! :smalleek:

13_CBS: Nyoro~n. (Wait, no, no, I promised not to do that here again.)

They also have hilarious misadventures, and often end up being vitally important to the plot. And you already demonstrated the “hilarious/annoying catchphrase” bit too.

[Lilienthal]

(Watch out, Lilienthal! The others will flame you for daring to post anime references! :smalltongue:)

I'll take my chances. :smallbiggrin:

[Dragonus45]

Awww come one guys, i thought we agreed not to taunt the anime haters.

[GreatWyrmGold]

SCS, would it be OK if I wrote a fanfic of your campaign fast forwarded, say, 10 years after the end and posted it on the site?

[pingcode20]

Well there's a milestone.

You're popular enough to have (bad?) fanfic written about you.

[Roc Ness]

Meh, fanfics are fanfics. I could have done a passable flash animation, 'cept I don't have the several uninterrupted months I need to create it :smalltongue:

[13_CBS]

You know, there's been a number of other campaign journals appearing, recently.

...has SCS started a new wave of quality entertainment, the Tabletop Campaign Journal? :smallconfused: Like a Let's Play, only for tabletop games?

[SilverClawShift]

SCS, would it be OK if I wrote a fanfic of your campaign fast forwarded, say, 10 years after the end and posted it on the site?

Doesn't bother me any.

Mind you, if our DM ressurects any of those characters or storylines for whatever nefarious purposes he has, it'll be extremly non-canon :smalltongue:


You know, there's been a number of other campaign journals appearing, recently.

I consider that a good thing. Reading about other peoples gaming sessions, if done well, is somewhere close to being as entertaining as playing through them.

Of course, actually GAMING is still more fun, what with the social interaction and element of chance and ect, ect, but reading about odd characters in odd situations always makes for a good time.
I've read the Shadowrun C.L.U.E. files enough times that I can tell you a good number of them off the top of my head :smalltongue:

[GreatWyrmGold]

Doesn't bother me any.

Glad to hear it!
I just have a question:
Do you know what demon or whatever you sold your soul to?
If not, can I make it Orcus?

[SilverClawShift]

I was definately picturing Graz'zt, but since the story isn't directly connected, and which demon lord it is never came up, go for it.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I was definately picturing Graz'zt, but since the story isn't directly connected, and which demon lord it is never came up, go for it.

Huh. I was thinking Orcus because...well...remember the whole zombifying thing? I do. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6298119#post6298119)
Why Graz'zt?

[thorgrim29]

Because he's sexy?

[SilverClawShift]

Because he's sexy.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Because he's sexy.

...
Also, for those that don't regularly check the Campaign Archives, here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119894) is a link.

[Fayd]

SCS, if you're still checking this...when you guys DO finish the vestiges, would you mind posting them, along with the ones from your horror campaign?

And if you did, I'm sorry...I can't manage to make search work right.

[The Glyphstone]

She's too sexy for Orcus...
Too sexy for Graz'zt...
So sexy that it hurts...
Oh yeah...

[GreatWyrmGold]

...
WOW.
That is dumb.

[Lilienthal]

...
WOW.
That is dumb.

Do you ever stop to read what you've typed before you hit submit Wyrm? Even if you dislike Glyphstone's attempt at humour, that's no reason to resort to infantile language.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Do you ever stop to read what you've typed before you hit submit Wyrm? Even if you dislike Glyphstone's attempt at humour, that's no reason to resort to infantile language.
Alright, I'll think twice before posting.
Now, if only there was a spell that let me grow an extra head...:smallbiggrin:

SCS, I have a few questions.
What do you think the party calls the dragon shaman in-character?
What is the name of the adopted girl? (If you don't know, please say so.)
I haven't really got a hold on the kobold's personality; mind enlightening me?
That's all.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Three things:
1.) It's sad that it seems this thread has died. Here lies Crystal Cantrips, May-August 2009.
2.) Sorry to double post, but I had to do it to do #3.
3.) Bump...in hopes to keep the thread alive! (er)

[DragoonWraith]

Well, I already mentioned in the Archive thread, but since you're asking for relevant posts, the Cerebremancer overhaul in my signature has a Crystal Cantrips class feature. It lets you give spells to your Psicrystal.

[Willfor]

Why should the thread be kept alive? SCS has moved on to a new thread for her current campaign. The Archives link back here if anyone needs to read anything.

[SilverClawShift]

Yeah, this thread's pretty much KOed unless me and the other player wind up working on the vestiges :smalltongue:

And the answer to all three of Gold's questions are "Iunno"

[GreatWyrmGold]

Yeah, this thread's pretty much KOed unless me and the other player wind up working on the vestiges :smalltongue:

And the answer to all three of Gold's questions are "Iunno"

Alright, A.) I'd like to see the vesitges, and B.) I'll hope to post the fanfic soon.

Adios, Crystal Cantrips. :smallfrown:. Times, oh, about 1,000,000.

[Sliver]

I think this thread should remain holy and pure. The thread may die, but Crystal Cantrips shall remain in our hearts forever. I don't want to see this thread rise as an undead hollow beast with nothing more to add just so that the thread "live".