starwoof
2009-12-31, 08:27 AM
Tonight our 9th level party met for our semi-weekly session. We knew beforehand that another group of players would be joining us for a PvP session later in the night. Our party is a hobgoblin cleric, kobold dread necromancer, ibixian duskblade (npc for now), and a half ogre fighter/barbarian. We just entered an ancient dwarven tomb located underneath the local town and are fighting our way past low level skeletons.
We managed to rest before the other party arrived. I prepared the best spells I could but we all knew we didn't have much chance because they have high fort and will saves, which happens to be what me and the necro target. We also have a severe lack of our normal WBL (see: nothing but +1 weapons and armor) while the dwarven party had full level 9 gear.
So the other party arrives, blasting a hole through a wall behind us while our party eats breakfast. The dust from the explosion is concealing everything and choking us. Over the next few rounds I buff a bit, the ibixian is knocked down to 1 hp and flees, and the half ogre is mauled to bits by the dwarven bear warrior.
So the kobold does his thing. He falls to the ground crying and begging the fighting to stop. The two dwarven fighters (an occult slayer and his ridiculous tank buddy) stop to talk, while the bear warrior keeps mauling our half ogre. We basically decide it's a lost cause and I don't bother to use Slay Living on him (like I could have).
The dwarves inform us that they have a bounty on the ibixian, given to them by blue man named Xorven. We've heard this name before, and me and the kobold connect it to our (former) patron, a blue dragon. One who has neglected to pay us for three jobs performed and we're now really mad at.
We waffle for a while, trying to decide whether or not to go fight the banshee down in the dungeon, subjugate the orc village, or hunt down Stogoph (the ibixian). I was forced to make a big speech for our troops. I basically just said "Yeah, go kill them and stuff," in my character's skeletor voice, followed by some weird noises.
Then the kobold mentions that the dragon probably won't pay them, and rolls ludicrously high on diplomacy/bluff (its probably true).
So we decide to join forces and slay the dragon.
Our DM was actually drunk at this point and tried to convince us that ballista bolts were instant death and that there was no way we would survive going out into the battle in the orc town. We started a war there, by the way. Not really important, heh. We finally convince him to let us escape through the underways, using hide from undead and death ward to pass the banshee unharmed.
Two day's travel into the desert up north we find the dragon's lair, now a small mountain compared to the hole in the ground it was before. We enter a narrow corridor and are challenged by the dragon.
"Why do you dare to enter my lair with these two, alive?"
"We took them prisoner. The goat's head is in the bag." responds the tank fighter. Sense motive passes by a lot, and the blue dragon shoots us with his line breath weapon. Somehow the fighter gives us all improved evasion by being behind his shield and so we don't take much damage.
The dragon grapples the tank on it's initiative, while we all poke at it. The bear warrior enters a grapple. The DM fails to understand the grapple rules and gets a little ticked as we fan out around the dragon without any fear of reprisal. The occult slayer uses his arcanist bane spear to wail on the dragon HARD every round, so the dragon drops the tank and grabs him.
I am informed that I can't hit him with a freedom of movement without some means of flight... so I guess it's a good thing I prepared Updraft. The spear fighter drops out of the dragon's claws and finishes it off with a few well placed thrusts.
The fight took us 4 rounds, and theres not really much the dragon could have done about it. We all went up to level ten and got a bunch of loot.
All in all it was a really fun session that would have ended in a TPK for us because we are not optimized and the dwarven phalanx was ludicrously tough. And my buffer lost a buff target. One diplomacy check turned them neutral, and some bargaining made them friends.
We even overcame a bit of racism (hobgoblin allies with dorfs). :smallsmile:
It could have been a boring PvP fight, but we made it something a lot more interesting.
Thought I would share that.:smallsmile:
We managed to rest before the other party arrived. I prepared the best spells I could but we all knew we didn't have much chance because they have high fort and will saves, which happens to be what me and the necro target. We also have a severe lack of our normal WBL (see: nothing but +1 weapons and armor) while the dwarven party had full level 9 gear.
So the other party arrives, blasting a hole through a wall behind us while our party eats breakfast. The dust from the explosion is concealing everything and choking us. Over the next few rounds I buff a bit, the ibixian is knocked down to 1 hp and flees, and the half ogre is mauled to bits by the dwarven bear warrior.
So the kobold does his thing. He falls to the ground crying and begging the fighting to stop. The two dwarven fighters (an occult slayer and his ridiculous tank buddy) stop to talk, while the bear warrior keeps mauling our half ogre. We basically decide it's a lost cause and I don't bother to use Slay Living on him (like I could have).
The dwarves inform us that they have a bounty on the ibixian, given to them by blue man named Xorven. We've heard this name before, and me and the kobold connect it to our (former) patron, a blue dragon. One who has neglected to pay us for three jobs performed and we're now really mad at.
We waffle for a while, trying to decide whether or not to go fight the banshee down in the dungeon, subjugate the orc village, or hunt down Stogoph (the ibixian). I was forced to make a big speech for our troops. I basically just said "Yeah, go kill them and stuff," in my character's skeletor voice, followed by some weird noises.
Then the kobold mentions that the dragon probably won't pay them, and rolls ludicrously high on diplomacy/bluff (its probably true).
So we decide to join forces and slay the dragon.
Our DM was actually drunk at this point and tried to convince us that ballista bolts were instant death and that there was no way we would survive going out into the battle in the orc town. We started a war there, by the way. Not really important, heh. We finally convince him to let us escape through the underways, using hide from undead and death ward to pass the banshee unharmed.
Two day's travel into the desert up north we find the dragon's lair, now a small mountain compared to the hole in the ground it was before. We enter a narrow corridor and are challenged by the dragon.
"Why do you dare to enter my lair with these two, alive?"
"We took them prisoner. The goat's head is in the bag." responds the tank fighter. Sense motive passes by a lot, and the blue dragon shoots us with his line breath weapon. Somehow the fighter gives us all improved evasion by being behind his shield and so we don't take much damage.
The dragon grapples the tank on it's initiative, while we all poke at it. The bear warrior enters a grapple. The DM fails to understand the grapple rules and gets a little ticked as we fan out around the dragon without any fear of reprisal. The occult slayer uses his arcanist bane spear to wail on the dragon HARD every round, so the dragon drops the tank and grabs him.
I am informed that I can't hit him with a freedom of movement without some means of flight... so I guess it's a good thing I prepared Updraft. The spear fighter drops out of the dragon's claws and finishes it off with a few well placed thrusts.
The fight took us 4 rounds, and theres not really much the dragon could have done about it. We all went up to level ten and got a bunch of loot.
All in all it was a really fun session that would have ended in a TPK for us because we are not optimized and the dwarven phalanx was ludicrously tough. And my buffer lost a buff target. One diplomacy check turned them neutral, and some bargaining made them friends.
We even overcame a bit of racism (hobgoblin allies with dorfs). :smallsmile:
It could have been a boring PvP fight, but we made it something a lot more interesting.
Thought I would share that.:smallsmile: