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View Full Version : Near TPK... averted



starwoof
2009-09-18, 08:05 AM
Warning: Wall of text.


So. My dnd group met tonight for a game. Last session we were traveling through the wilderness to be beset by gnoll bandits. We dealt with them, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't difficult. Mostly because there was a gnoll warlock flying around and "we didn't look up".:smallannoyed:

Our group is:

Tegurius Tegu, Kobold Dread Necromancer. He has no possessions other than a small battleaxe I bought him. He's a great spellcaster though, and our principal ranged damage dealer. His troll skeleton's have saved us several times. This character is really submissive and does whatever I tell him.

Stogoph Laserson, Ibixian Duskblade. He took practiced spellcaster to make up for his racial HD. He's a somewhat new player, but he's been contributing. He goes unconscious a lot.

Muaag Khatijad'Kon, NE Hobgoblin Cleric. This is my character. I've never played a cleric before... and I'm barely playing one now! I traded out my ability to channel inflict for the ability to channel destruction spells. I also can't turn undead because I traded that too. The party regards me as the worst cleric ever.:smallcool:

The whole party is 6th level, pretty close to second. We are a bit below standard WBL (especially the kobold, who is mostly naked for some reason), but it hasn't been a big deal up until now. The ibixian didn't spend all of his gold for some reason. I feel like I'm overequipped.:smalltongue:


The session started with us regaining our spell slots. Since we were planning on reaching town today, I prepared some spells like Hold Person and Contagion. Y'know, just in case. Everyone is well rested and I use a bunch of scrolls to get us up to full hit points after the gnoll fight. After playing two sessions with this GM I expect to be attacked at the gates.:smallannoyed:

As we passed the lake, we met a band of hill giants. Six of them to be precise, carrying a boat. The kobold hides. Some really high number. The goatman gets like a 19. I GOT A FOUR. The giants spot us.

"HEY YOU" they shout in giant.

We all check our sheets.

"Hello?" repsonds the ibixian, being the only one who understands and also the newbie who doesn't really know what to do in a social situation.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

"I was taking a whiz."

NO! The other players shout in unison! Don't lie to them! They can beat the piss out of us! But sure enough he fails his bluff check and the giants get mad.

"YOU FISH?"

"What?"

"WHAT CLUB YOU IN?"

Apparently the giants belong to some sort of fishing club. They fish competitively. Great. They pull out their fish bashin' sticks and charge us. The ibixian gets ready. I cast sanctuary. The kobold just hides. It takes approximately ten minutes in real time for the ibixian to be bludgeoned into unconsciousness. I just surrender, and they beat me too. Our necromancer is hiding in a bush, but the hill giant 'trips' over him and he is revealed. Okay, right.:smallannoyed: So he casts darkness and ditches. Sweet.:smallbiggrin:

Giants rifle through our stuff. They take the ibixian's gold. They take my HOLY SYMBOL and both my rings (protection and feather fall). They also took our magical chest of emptyness, which is also some sort of bag of holding. And did I mention that the chest is full of a dragon's horde? Yeah. Xorvental. We can't take a transport, we can't tell anyone where were going, and the goatman has to carry it himself. Woo.

I stand up and release a ululating howl (IRL) because they took my ring of feather fall. And damnit, thats MY ring. OH, and the holy symbol, but I bashed out a temporary replacement out of my spoon.

In our wounded condition (or apparently our full capacity) we are unable to fight Hill Giants. So we go to town, and pick an inn. Its the ogre inn, "The Groggy Meadhall" or something. Our kobold just feels TINY. We all made nice with the ogre bartender.:smallsmile:

Ogre: Hello, what'll you have today?

Ibixian's Player: Wow he's actually intelligible.

Me: Yeah, he's got a level in expert. He went to college. His name is Pythagorus.

We all shared a laugh and started to call him Pythagorus. I mention in passing that we've been robbed and insulted by "The Mighty Cudgels", which is what the hill giants call themselves. The ogres growl. They HATE these guys. Its like a big rivalry between the fishing clubs. So they march down to beat the piss out of them.

Kobold: Yes, the Mighty Cudgels insulted your fishing ability!
Me: They called you stupid. (assist)
Kobold: They did!
Ogres: GRAAARGH.

Our twelve ogres and three party members waltz down the mountainside to the lake. We meet the giants halfway. The NPCs trade some insults. We do a bit of buffing (I cast shield of faith, boosting my AC to a nice 25). Kobold casts False Life on himself and the Duskblade.

Ogres charge! Ogres get ANNIHILATED rather quickly.

Wait a minute! Hill Giants are CR 6. EACH.

We summon some critters to help... and we took down a giant. My huge fiendish centipede bites a lot before getting beat to a pulp. He threatened a huge area though, and I don't think we would have done this without him. The Duskblade moved in to mix it up in melee, and he killed a giant... before getting stirred up by greatclubs.

It took some doing, but we reduced the giants to four members. Thats about when the duskblade went down. My worm was fighting 2, I was fighting one... who's weapon I had shattered thanks to channeled Destruction Domain. :smallsmile: So I was feeling good, until I got charged. Shield of faith only goes so far. Our kobold was doing his spectral hand schtick.

I got bashed.

DM: Okay [starwoof], take 35 damage.
Me: Okay. I'm dead.
DM: How far into negatives?
Me: -10. I'm dead!

...

...

Me: WAIT! I shattered his club!

So I lived.:smallbiggrin: Barely. I'm now at 6hp, but my faith is strong. I wasn't confident that we could handle this battle... but I cast a Widened Obscuring Mist to escape from combat.

That mist saved our BUTTS.

The giants wandered around aimlessly, but we had a few of them targetted. The troll skeleton moved in to finish off the one by me... but it was already dead, slain by Pythagorus! We didn't really expect to see him. We all groaned. If he was here then we wouldn't be able to claim all of our loot (which was actually rightfully ours!) So while it seems like DM Fiat in our favor it was actually against us.:smallannoyed:

The last giant leaves the fog cloud. The kobold calls out for his skeleton, but is interupted by Pythagorus, who moved next to him. "He's over there!" The kobold points randomly, rolling a scatter die... which happens to be exactly the right direction. Pythagorus charges off wildy, and the kobold follows.

I'm in a silence effect (I was planning to bolt, and its easier to be Silent in full plate), but I dispelled it to cast cure light wounds on the Ibixian. I rolled poorly so I had to use two scrolls.:smallyuk:

Were really down to the wire here. The kobold has ONE spell left: Inflict Light Wounds.

So he casts it through the spectral hand. Along with a scabrous touch.:smallamused:

Two failed fort saves later and our giant is BLINDED by blinding sickness.:smallbiggrin: We dispatched him easily. Well, sort of. We pulled that win out of the skin of our teeth! We SHOULDN'T have won. In fact, we wouldn't if I hadn't taken Scribe Scroll for obscuring mist. We were ALL out of spells. We all had less than ten HP left... and I only had that much due to Bear's Endurance. It was brutal. We were cheering at every hit and failed save on the giant's part. For every miss for us there was a lot of groaning. We all almost DIED. The ibixian was at -9.

We did get our loot back though. Most of it. I got my rings and my holy symbol. The ibixian got half his gold. The ogres wouldn't let me sacrifice the giants to Maglubiyet.:smallfrown:


So we must be leveling at LEAST once. Because that was RIDICULOUSLY HARD. Nope. 3300 xp each. Or something. Almost enough. Were doing XP wrong, I think.

Our GM just gave us some bonus XP.

Because seriously.

Six CR sixes.

For 3 level six characters.




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GAH! Someone needs to read up on CRs.:smalltongue:

Myou
2009-09-18, 08:16 AM
Wow, your DM sucks. :smallyuk:

starwoof
2009-09-18, 08:18 AM
Yep.:smallbiggrin:

Sipex
2009-09-18, 08:19 AM
Well, it looks like he made a misjudgement but he did give you bonus xp to help the level up. I would've given you more treasure than you originally had though.

starwoof
2009-09-18, 08:24 AM
Yeah. Getting treasure at some point in this campaign would be nice. Were apparently getting some phat lewts when we finish our quest though... who knows when that will be.

Or whether the lewts will actually be phat.

talus21
2009-09-18, 09:31 AM
Sounds like a great time. DM mistake or not, a truely desperate fight is a great thing.

Dixieboy
2009-09-18, 11:12 AM
A truly desperate fight is a great thing.

Agreed, what's the fun in always fighting weaker enemies?

bosssmiley
2009-09-18, 11:48 AM
You got into melee with Hill Giants and seem surprised at the near TPK. Why not attempt to bribe or fast-talk the proverbially stupid creatures ("Yes, I am the local Fisheries Inspector actually...")? Why not ride like fools the heck away from them? And, when the fight began, why was no-one targeting their weak saves? :smallsigh:

And it sounds like your DM suffers from the same info-hoarding disease as does oxinabox's. If something plot important happens the PCs should always have at least a chance to notice it (even if it's just 1-in-20 or something). :smallannoyed:

Myou
2009-09-18, 11:51 AM
Sounds like a great time. DM mistake or not, a truely desperate fight is a great thing.

The problem is that they were forced into losing all their items, and never even got them all back, let alone got a reward for the hopeless battle. They didn't even get the amount of XP that they should have.