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Inspectre
2010-05-19, 08:59 PM
So, for the entertainment of the bloodthirsty masses here at the Order of the Stick forums, I've decided to detail my recently started 4e campaign, Heritage of Lehederom (as you may have surmised from the title. :smallamused: ).

It is likely that I will be running a similiar campaign here on the forums at a future date. For those of you interested in playing in said campaign, and do not wish to be spoiled, I suggest you do not read this campaign journal. Note however, that if you are not concerned about spoilers, neither am I.

I will probably not be covering events in blow-by-blow detail, so even if you are aware of a given event you might not know what exactly triggered it. Likewise, this is supposed to be a fairly expansive sandbox game - this group's experience might be somewhat different than the pbp party. Finally, if you are aware of where our little group of guinea pigs go, you know to go in a different direction. :smallwink: And thus, all that hard work I put into Path #2 doesn't go to waste afterall. :smalltongue:

In any event, on with the show!

Lycan 01
2010-05-19, 09:18 PM
I'm looking forward to it. :smallsmile:

Inspectre
2010-05-19, 09:18 PM
Background Information

I'll be posting little snippets of information about the campaign world and the like here.

The Malandrin Kingdom

The ancient kingdom of humanity, this expansive empire once covered much of the continent. At the time of its downfall, the capital of Malandrin was located in the fortress city of Lehederom. After a massive explosion engulfed Lehederom, things went swiftly downhill. Now, a thousand years later, a number of new human kingdoms vie for control of the ruins and the powerful artifacts contained within.


The Kingdom of Zelt

The homeland of our heroes, the Kingdom of Zelt was the playground for a number of vampire counts for the first seven hundred years or so following Lehederom's downfall. Rather than be liberated by a bunch of heroes the way most of the other kingdoms were, Zelt's people liberated themselves after many centuries of strife.


The Kingdom of Lotaire

The rival nation of Zelt, the Kingdom of Lotaire was primarily liberated through the efforts of its first King - not surprisingly named "Lot", and the Holy Man, Tarenn Ross. Since their meeting three hundred years ago, Zelt and Lotaire have fought a series of on-again, off-again wars. After the last war dragged in most of the other nations on the continent on one side or the other, the two have enjoyed a period of peace that has lasted for the past fifty years.


Tarenn Ross

Widely considered a saint, Tarenn Ross was responsible for liberating the kingdom of Lotaire after slaying its primary oppressor, the Pit Fiend Baalberith. Afterwards, he led Lotaire to victory in the first war against Zelt, and organized the first official expedition to Lehederom since its collapse. There he met his end, but not before sealing the gates to the ruins once more with his staff, an artifact hence referred to as the Staff of Tarenn Ross.


The Staff of Tarenn Ross

Believed to be a powerful artifact, the Staff of Tarenn Ross was lost to the mists of time for nearly three hundred years. The year before the campaign started, the Staff of Tarenn Ross was found by a party of Lotairan adventurers (a player group from a previous campaign in the same world). The Lotarians have since used the Staff to open the ruins of Lehederom back up to exploration/exploitation. This is arguably in direct violation of the treaty from the last war, but the Lotairans don't seem to care.

Inspectre
2010-05-19, 09:24 PM
Cast of Characters

The PCs

Jesser - Deva Cleric
Gulv Turvl - Human Fighter
Artenja - Dwarf Invoker
Guulred (pronounced "Goal red") - Wilden Monk




Musical Themes
Act I: The Spreading Shadow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7clowT_Avc)
(Apparently, one player commented that this was the sort of music most D&D parties TPK to. I did not discourage that sentiment. :smallamused: )

Kaun
2010-05-19, 10:20 PM
Looking good, i will follow this with interest.

Lonna
2010-05-19, 10:36 PM
Can't wait to see what Inspectre puts his RL players through. :smallsmile:

Gralamin
2010-05-19, 11:03 PM
I'll be sure to watch/read. If I had any ability to tell stories well while not DMing, I'd put up a journal of one of my games. Time would be nice as well, I guess.

Grimlock
2010-05-20, 01:42 AM
This looks like fun!

Inspectre
2010-05-20, 09:16 PM
Act I, Session I
A Royal Invitation

A Breakfast and an Invitation

Our story begins in the capital city of the Kingdom of Zelt - predictably enough, called Zelt. (Most kingdoms in the region are named after their capital city). Our group of guinea pigs - excuse me, heroes - were just finishing up breakfast at the Early Sunrise Inn, an upscale establishment in the city. Their accommodations were being paid for by the King's own coin, as he apparently had invited them all to speak with him on an important matter.

After discussing things with the local barmaid (and Artenja placing an order for another mug of ale - dwarves apparently start drinking early :smallbiggrin:), they learned that the King had been regularly requesting local bands of adventurers to come speak with him about an urgent matter. Although they were not particularly well established yet, the party had worked together at the White Wind Monastery, an important religious and philosophical institution within the kingdom. As such, news of their existence got to the King, and like the other adventuring bands traveling about, they found themselves with an invitation.

Mardin Everblaze joins the party!

After briefly debating the matter, they decided to definitely meet with His Majesty at their scheduled appointment later that day. Arriving at the castle and showing their signed invitation to the guards, the party was swiftly escorted into the depths of the castle. At the doors leading into the Throne Room, the party met the King's Herald (conveniently enough named "Harold" :smallamused: ) and a tiefling.

The tiefling introduced himself as Mardin Everblaze, who had apparently also been hired by the King to serve as a wilderness guide for the party. Unfortunately, Mardin didn't know where exactly they were going yet either. Still, he was confident he would be able to get them there, and his Ranger skills could prove useful in a fight. (Essentially, Mardin was a Companion character I made based on the Ranger class to bring the party compliment up to five. Whether he will remain a permanent member of the party or not remains to be seen).

A Royal Meeting

Aware that answers would only be forthcoming from the King himself, the group informs Harold that they are ready to see the King. As it turns out, after meeting with numerous parties of adventurers, who by nature were quite paranoid and loved sneaking in concealed weapons, the King had removed the normal "no weapons in the Throne Room" rule. As such, the party of adventurers went in fully armed, which predictably enough they would turn out to need shortly. :smallamused: Harold the Herald was still clear, however, that if any of them drew weapons in the Throne Room, the Royal Guard present would be forced to kill them.

Announced as "Mardin Everblaze, Esquire", "Gulv Turvl", "Advocate Jesser", "Guulred of the Wilden", and "Artenja", the group was ushered into the throne room. After walking down the great hall's considerable length, they were face to face with His Majesty, King Duncan III, and his chief advisor, Madreena the Wise.

King Duncan (the Third) welcomed the party, and after pleasantries were exchanged, asked them what they knew about the ruins of Lehederom. After a few History rolls (and what the players from the previous campaign could dredge up out of memory), the party confirmed that they knew the ruins of Lehederom were what was left of the great capital of the former Malandrin Kingdom.

Packed to the brim with magical knowledge and artifacts long since lost, the ruins were also widely regarded as a deathtrap by those not insane (or not adventurers, which really are one and the same thing :smallcool: ). For several centuries, the great gates of the ruins have been sealed, preventing anyone from entering more than the outskirts. This, of course, hasn't stopped adventurers from occasionally traveling to the ruins, or for the various human kingdoms to go to war over who should inherit them. The key to opening said gates was believed to be the Staff of Tarenn Ross. The very same Staff of Tarenn Ross that was found by Lotairan adventurers nearly one full year ago (nice job breaking it, heroes). Since then, the adventuring party has opened the gates, and adventuring parties from Lotaire and its allied nations have flocked to the ruins.

For Zelt and its allies, this is obviously a very bad thing. Many Zeltic nobles had been pressing for war, and due to the Monarchy having Constitutional leanings, the King couldn't ignore them forever. In an effort to placate the nobles, and to prevent the Lotairans from completely seizing Lehederom for themselves, the King has decided upon a stop-gap measure.

He has dispatched a regiment of Zeltic troops to Fort Lionel, an old base of operations that was used for exploring the ruins of Lehederom on the Zelt side. They were attempting to re-establish it as a base of operations, so that bands of adventurers from Zelt and its allied nations could venture into the outskirts of Lehederom, and attempt to find their own way inside (since the Lotairans were certainly not going to share their way in).

As compensation, the adventurers would be entitled to whatever they found within the ruins, as standard adventuring commission. Hopefully, many of the artifacts of interest that they found while exploring the ruins they would donate/sell to the Kingdom, for use in helping to defend Zelt against Lotaire's rapidly growing power. Unfortunately, other than the base of operations, the King was unwilling to provide further direct assistance to adventuring parties at this time.

Upon being asked if they had any questions, Jesser spoke up. The Deva wished the King to explain why he was going to such trouble to pay "mere lip service" to the treaty with Lotaire, when his actions could be seen as provoking the war he claimed to want to avoid.

Proving his reputation as a wise and just king, Duncan III merely nodded and thanked the Deva. He explained that, of course, the Lotairans had broken the treaty first. And that while he earnestly wished for peace, the balance of power had been broken between the two kingdoms. If he stood idly by while the Lotairans ventured deep into the ruins unopposed, they would soon be powerful enough to sweep Zelt and its allies away, and establish a new Malandrin Kingdom by force. He could not let that happen, and so for now he had to take actions that might hasten the war's onset, in the hope some adventurer would find the power within Lehederom to deter the Lotairans.

At this point, Harold the Herald announced that an envoy from the Marquis de Levenault, a noble within Lotaire with sympathies for Zelt, had arrived with an urgent message. As the party was excusing themselves so that the King might receive this important message in private, a cold voice called from the back of the room, "Oh, that won't be necessary. I won't be long, and it might even prove . . . educational."

Enter Silas Darkthorne, Bastard Extraordinaire

All eyes turned to the back of the room, where a tiefling stood waiting. As was typical for tieflings, he had red eyes, reddish-brown skin, long black hair tied up in a topknot between his two swept-back horns, was wearing a full body cloak, and exuded an aura of menace. Giving a low bow, the tiefling introduced himself.

"I am Silas Darkthorne, envoy of the Marquis. I come to deliver a message."

The King questioned Darkthorne, as he was not the usual messenger that the Marquis sent. Predictably, the tiefling gave the excuse that he was "sick", and that Darkthorne had been sent in his place. Regardless, no one made a move as he advanced into the room and produced a scroll, which he unfurled and began to read.

Darkthorne's Speech

As Darkthorne was delivering his inflammatory speech, the party realized that he could only be an imposter. Unfortunately, there was little they could do about it at the moment.

Darkthorne’s speech

“To my dear friend King Duncan III, we have endured much together. Our mutual struggles and successes over the years have bound us as tightly together as brothers before all. In my lord’s court I am known as the Voice of Zelt, and you know that you only need ask me to hear what the people of Lotaire are whispering. My envoy has journeyed to your side today to tell you what the people of Lotaire are now shouting openly in the streets: the days of your kingdom are at an end. You have always looked down upon us, always seeking to crush us beneath the bulk of your former glory. But like a shadow before the rising dawn you have shriveled before our destiny, and now you shall disappear entirely as we reclaim our birthright. The throne of the New Malandrin Kingdom shall be sat upon by a Lotairan king. Your kingdom, and all others who ally themselves with you shall become nothing more than a footnote in the pages of history. We have reclaimed the power lying dormant within the ruins of Lehederom, and against this power you cannot stand. We shall build a new human empire across the continent, and it shall either be upon your surrendered lands or their barren ashes. I have witnessed this power first hand, and know now that allying myself with you has been a mistake from the start. We are no longer brothers, friends, or allies. We are enemies, and if you choose to wage futile war against my kingdom then I will personally grind you beneath my heel. But as a final parting gift to you, Your Majesty, my envoy shall now give you a personal taste of the power my kingdom now wields.”


Finished with his message, Darkthorne then began reading from the bottom half of the scroll, which seemed to be the vocal component to some sort of ritual. At this, Madreena's eyes flew open in alarm, and she called for the guard to stop Darkthorne immediately. The two closest guards rushed forward, while Guulred also sped back along the length of the hallway, closing rapidly.

Meanwhile, the two guards reached Darkthorne and attacked. Their halberds passed through him as easily as through air, however, and they nearly ended up decapitating each other as a result. Darkthorne merely smirked and continued to read. Conjuring up some powerful magic of her own, Madreena managed to dispel Darkthorne's protection a few moments later. It was a bit too late, however, as the tiefling completed the incantation before briefly blinking out of existence. When he reappeared, the enchantment protecting him broke violently, sending out a sheer wave of magical force that knocked the nearby guards off their feet and pushed Guulred back.

"Nice magic trick, half-elf, but you're too late! Much too late!" Darkthorne crowed as he released the scroll, leaving it hanging in mid-air as arcane sparks began to dance along its edges. "Enjoy your deaths, fools!" The tiefling taunted, as he pulled a small globe out from under his cloak. Smashing it to the floor at his feet, the tiefling disappeared from the Throne Room a moment later.

The Arcane Chaos

With Darkthorne gone and the scroll seeming to have a mind of its own now, the party figured out pretty quickly it was time to leave. Unfortunately for them, events happened a bit too quickly for them to dash out the door (since things were happening faster than I could describe them, I mostly ignored their cries of “we run away!”).

Ascending further into the air, the sparks surrounding the scroll grew more energetic, and it began to send out bolts of blue and purple energy. Where these bolts touched anything substantial, it fell apart. Holes were blasted in the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. As the storm grew ever more violent, some of the bolts began finding people. One by one, the Royal Guard fell, leaving behind only their armor and weapons as they were vaporized upon being struck.

Aware that the portal was between them and the way they had entered the throne room, the party started making its way towards the back door, commonly used by the King. Before they could get there, one of the bolts of energy inevitably snaked its way over to them. At the last second, it was deflected away as a shimmering wall of invisible force appeared over them.

Looking back, the party saw Madreena was responsible for erecting the field, and she was just beginning to create a second barrier when a bolt headed for her.

The King is . . . Barely Alive?

Moving faster than could be expected for an old man, King Duncan III shoved her out of the way and nearly managed to leap out of the bolt’s path himself. Predictably, he didn’t doge the bolt entirely, and it glanced along his side. While this was not enough to vaporize him like his guards, it was still powerful enough to fling him back across the room, through his own throne, and into the wall itself.

Rushing over to him with a loud cry, Madreena checked the King and breathed a sigh of relief as she found that he was still alive . . . barely. Just then, the scroll finally itself tore apart, leaving behind a gaping hole in reality. (:smalleek:) Beyond, those still alive could see an alien landscape, full of the same bluish and purple energy.

“The Arcane Chaos”, Madreena breathed, correctly identifying the plane of existence that lay beyond. (The Arcane Chaos is theorized as the primary source of magical energy for the world. Due to the rather hostile and primal environment, not much lives there – except scary monsters of course). A few moments after the portal stabilized, something began coming through.

ZOMG, Chaos Beast Rush!

The portal, by now quite sizable, began to ripple as droplets formed around the edges. These droplets of energy fell from the portal, solidifying into creatures moments after striking the floor. Before the party could prepare itself for a fight, Madreena hurled a fireball into the midst of the creatures, destroying them utterly.

She then called for the sole surviving Royal Guard, stuck near the front door, to leave and gather more guards elsewhere. They were to begin barricading the doors to the Throne Room shut – these creatures could not be allowed to escape the Throne Room! Turning to the party, Madreena begged the adventurers to help her seal the portal. After being informed that countless more Chaos Beasts would be coming through, and more importantly that their weapons should be able to harm the creatures, the party agreed to protect Madreena. For . . . the next five minutes (50 rounds D&D combat time), until she was able to seal the portal. Fortunately for the party, the first minute of casting was uneventful, allowing them time to prepare.

Details of Preparation

The points of interest for this fight:

Great quantities of rubble had been strewn all over the room by the portal’s quite violent creation. This made for difficult terrain where the rubble was located. Furthermore, in some spots the rubble was so high that it was semi-impassable terrain. A DC 10 Athletics check was required to enter such a square. Success meant you got to move into the square, counting it as difficult terrain as well. Failure meant you ended your move in the square you had been in before attempting to enter.
As a standard action, you could move one square of difficult terrain around, up to your move.
A square of semi-impassable terrain could be created by piling 3 squares’ worth of difficult terrain into the same spot. Vice versa, one square of semi-impassable terrain could be made into three squares of difficult terrain.
Madreena’s ritual was considered an attackable creature with 40 HP, located on the stairs leading up to the thrones.
While within 5 squares of the ritual, a character could spend a healing surge to allow the ritual to recover 5 HP.
Madreena herself was also able to contribute to the fight if asked, spending her action point to deliver one attack if the ritual became endangered. She also had one Healing Word to provide to help keep the party going.


After some mental calculation, the party determined that it could build a two-square thick wall of semi-impassable terrain, leaving two squares open for melee to block. They even eventually managed to convince Harold to leave his post by the back door, “guarding” the King’s body in event of an emergency retreat. I ruled he was only half as awesome as the rest of them, and as such they only got a single square of semi-impassable terrain out of him for the 10 rounds they had. :smalltongue:


On Round 11, the first wave of the Chaos Beast assault began. Eight droplets formed from the portal, dropping down to form into strange dog-like creatures, with twisted clawed arms growing out of their sides. (It is theorized that the Arcane Chaos’s denizens are twisted reflections of creatures from the Material world. In this case, for their tokens I used zerglings. Other Chaos Beasts that appeared later also used various other Zerg pictures, to the great amusement of my players. :smallbiggrin: This was mostly due to my desire to have disgusting-looking things for the token pictures more than anything else. As usual, the Zerg tend to take the cake for fugly. )

Seeing the only way through the barricade was blocked by Gulv and Guulred, the Chaoslings didn’t hesitate to charge forward. They inflicted several light wounds on Gulv, seeming to grow more dangerous as more of them clustered up into melee. Meanwhile, the others spread out and attempted to vault the wall. As intended, while very fast (Speed 8), these guys were terrible climbers (+2 Athletics, so they only had about a 60% chance of climbing over the wall. Fortunately, they had a Move and Standard to work with.) Unfortunately for those few Chaoslings that did make it onto the wall, they were quickly taken down by Artenja’s divine bolts and Mardin’s crossbow.

Chaoslings

Here, I was experimenting with a new type of minion classification: Swarmer. Individually, swarmer minions are near worthless, but grow much more dangerous if allowed to gang up on a single target. Basically, they’re worth half a normal minion, do about half the damage, but deal normal minion damage if they have two other Chaos Beasts in melee with their target. I mostly expected the party to cleave through these guys without much trouble, and was actually surprised at how well they did in the first round. They became (more or less as expected) comically bad after this first round, but they continued to provide the party with easy targets throughout the rest of the fight.


Despite the relative ease with which they dispatched the first wave, the party knew it was in for a very long fight. On Round 13, more of the dog-like creatures came through the portal, led by a pair of serpentine beasts with blade-equipped arms (yes, yes “Hydralisks” :smalltongue: ). These Vanguards proved to be more capable foes, actually capable of taking a few hits before falling. One even managed to deliver a nasty stab wound (critical!) to Gulv’s shoulder before being taken down.

Vanguards

Another experiment with minions, this time in the opposite direction. Dubbed “mooks” or elite minions in my notes, each Vanguard is worth only half a standard monster (or twice a normal minion). However, they have half the hit points of a standard monster, allowing them to survive AoE or autohit damage . . . for a round at least. They also didn’t do terrible damage, although still obviously less than a standard. Unlike their Chaosling brothers, they also had a pretty good Athletics check (+7), and had a Minor-action Knockback ability that was basically a rip-off of the Fighter’s Tide of Iron effect. Unfortunately, they tended to use their Knockback on Gulv, who has a very good Fort defense. :smallfrown:


Here there was a definite lull in the combat, giving the party time to reorganize themselves and recover. Only Gulv took significant damage from the first two waves, which was quickly fixed via Second Wind. The third round arrived at Round 20. More of the same, although this time the Chaos Beasts had brought along a very large friend with them . . . a Pummeler (*cough* Ultralisk *cough* ). This beast resembled a cross between a bear and a gorilla, walking on its hind legs and the knuckles of its beefy fists.

In addition to being very big and having Reach, the Pummeler proved it could take a beating as it shrugged off the bolts Mardin fired to greet it. Lumbering up to the wall, it tore down a chunk of it, scattering pieces everywhere. Unfortunately, it had less success in actually doing the same to the party, although it did manage to land one brutal hit on Guulred before joining its brethren dead on the floor.

Pummelers

Here at last we got to ye olde standard monster. A big burly Brute, the Pummeler didn’t do a horrific amount of damage, but it had an Encounter power it could use upon landing a hit, allowing it to take a second swing. It also had a Bloodied Reaction where-in it attacked every creature in a Close Burst 1. Sadly, it didn’t get to use that ability to very great effect, and the constant deaths of the Chaoslings and Vanguards meant it didn’t get to go ape on them either.


While Jesser tended to Guulred’s wounds (quite well, considering he was a Pacifist cleric, which meant he healed for obscene amounts of health), the next wave arrived. Two more Vanguards joined the fight, along with strange bat-like creatures that skittered about frantically in the air (represented by everyone’s favorite Zerg air uint, the Scourge). While the Vanguards gave Gulv and Guulred something to beat on, the Leapers flew over the barriers the party had erected. Working together, Mardin and Artenja worked on shooting them down, but only managed to drop two of them. The other two continued on next round to the ritual, dive bombing it for a somewhat concerning amount of damage. (And ruining the party’s chances of getting the faux “Unharmed Ritual” achievement. :smallyuck: ). The two Leapers died the next round before they could deal further damage.

Leapers

A fairly standard minion, except it had flight, enabling it to easily cross the Throne Room towards the ritual. On a charge attack, it’s damage was upped fairly considerably, representing the creature’s penchant for dive bombing runs. The only reason any survived to reach the Ritual was both Artenja and Mardin each missed on one of their attacks against a Leaper. Sadly, they didn’t get the chance to make a reappearance in the fight.


The last surprise the Chaos Beasts had in store for the party arrived on Round 25. Accompanied by a small swarm of Chaoslings, a creature that vaguely resembled an elf skittered out of the portal on spider-like legs. (Represented by the new artwork for the Zerg Queen). Known as a Warper, the party quickly identified it as one of the Chaos Beasts actually capable of magic. And it could see through walls without any difficulty.

These two facts meant that it had to die first, and so Gulv charged it, shrugging off a flurry of teeth and claws from the Chaoslings he ran past. (In this case, having the Chaoslings group up into a solid wall may have been a good idea, even if they ate a bunch of AoE because of it. Not like their spread out formation helped them survive any longer anyway. :smalltongue: )

Because he was a fighter, this meant that the Warper was pretty much screwed on its turn. It could eat an opportunity attack from the fighter from using a ranged ability in melee, or it could shift away to get clear and get attacked anyway. It chose to stay where it was and attack, taking another serious wound for its trouble. Fortunately, its attack was against Will, which has never been a fighter’s forte. :smallamused: After taking a fairly substantial wound from the blast, Gulv found himself several squares away, his position switched with a Chaosling. (*finger twirl* ) After opening up a portal right next to it, with the other end set on the far side of the party’s main barricade, the Warper made a run for it. Predictably, it didn’t get very far before Guulred ran it down and finished it off with a well-placed kick. As the portal began to close with the Warper’s death, the remaining Chaoslings also fell to the party’s attacks.

Warpers

Of all the monsters I designed for this fight, the Warpers were definitely the biggest disappointment. Artillery monsters never do well when the party can actually get at them, and the party had set up shop directly in front of the portal. This meant that instead of getting to play hide and seek with the party by hiding behind semi-impassable terrain and then shooting at them directly through it, they were all run down and cut apart in about two rounds. A huge waste, given their ability to create portals for the other Chaos Beasts to hop through to get behind the party’s defenses, and the amusing trick of swapping a party member’s position with a Chaos Beast. Fortunately, they at least survived long enough to show off said tricks, even if it did them little good.


After this fifth wave’s defeat, silence reigned in the Throne Room save for Madreena’s constant chanting. The party used the time it had to heal back up and ready themselves for the second half of the ritual. (At this point, with the massive battle half-over, I gave everyone a choice: they could recover an encounter power, or spend a healing surge and regain their Second Wind. Jesser also got back a Healing Word for free, as leaders without their healing abilities tend to be lackluster – especially pacifist clerics, whose sole function is pretty much healbot. Since everyone was still at mostly full health, everyone recharged their Encounter power. At least I got an appropriate fear response when I mentioned that the gloves were now off. :xykon: )

Sometimes You Feel Like You’re Dead . . . Sometimes You Don’t

As proof of my comment, the sixth wave, which arrived on Round 35, consisted of Two Pummelers. They promptly ran up and tore down two sections of the wall . . . and then tore Gulv a new one on top of it. To everyone’s horror (including my . . . shall we say, surprise instead), both of them hit. With everything.

Four attacks landing from a pair of brutes tends to be trouble, and despite their increase in hit points from past editions, first level characters aren’t invulnerable. Gulv went from full to lying on the ground bleeding out in one round. (:smalleek: ) With the party defender down, things were starting to look a bit grim for the party (not hopeless given Jesser’s recharged Healing Word, which likely would have brought Gulv back up to near full, but still ugly).

It was at this point that everyone remembered two important facts. One, Gulv had a large store of temporary hit points, both from his Battlerager abilities and Jesser’s temporary hit point abilities. Two, during the faux short rest, the party had clumped up so that Jesser could use his Daily power on everyone. Said Daily power gave everyone Resist 5 for the rest of the encounter, so long as Jesser spent a minor action to maintain it. As a result of this, Gulv went from lying on the floor bleeding out to not even being bloodied. (*facepalm*)

From there, the rest of the entire fight was pretty much a mop-up. The Chaoslings could not hurt anyone thanks to the Resist 5 (although they certainly tried), and Artenja and Mardin continued picking off the ones that got past Gulv and Guulred. At one point Guulred was mobbed by several Vanguards and Chaoslings, but thanks to his Resist 5 barely felt a thing. Another Warper showed up, but due to an error in judgment (another *facepalm* moment for me), it sent all of the Chaoslings through its portal . . . leaving it to face Gulv alone. Who promptly backed it into a corner and slammed its head into the wall, finishing it.

At this point, we called it a night. The entire fight had taken about three hours, and it was time for most of us to get some sleep so we weren’t zombies for work the next morning. Between their nigh-invulnerability and the fact that there were only two more waves left with only about 5 rounds left to go before Madreena finished, I hand waved it and declared the party victors. The last two waves consisted of mostly Leapers, along with another Pummeler and four more Vanguards. In theory, the Leapers might have been able to rush over and dive bomb the Ritual to death, but it seems unlikely.

During the final round, a truly massive (read: Huge) head thrust itself through the portal. A vile and horrid visage leered down at the party, and roared in fury. Fortunately, a few moments later Madreena’s ritual was complete, and the portal began to shrink. Irritated, the massive face pulled itself back through the portal, leaving the party triumphant. However . . . the portal shrank back down to a head-sized ball, but no further.

Shrieker

Really, this guy was just there to make the party piss its collective pants, thinking I was sadistic enough to put them through a boss fight after wading through dozens of monsters almost non-stop. Maybe next time. :smallwink: When he returns, mwahahaha! :xykon:


That’s a Wrap

Despite Madreena’s best efforts, the portal was still in existence, albeit sealed. It seemed likely that at some unknown date in the future (hours, days, possibly weeks or months), the portal would tear itself back open again. It was all the more imperative, then, that the party made haste for Lehederom, and attempt to find a way to seal the portal for good.

Thanking the party profusely for their assistance, Madreena asked them to remain in the city for a few more days (at the Early Sunrise Inn on the kingdom’s expense, of course). She would meet with them again tomorrow, which would give her time to treat the king’s injuries and gather more information on what they were up against. And, of course, attempt to control the panic racing through the populace and nobles. This one . . . she wasn’t so good at, as the party will soon find out.

For now, the party retired back to the Early Sunrise Inn victorious, and we ended the session. When asked for feedback, everyone had a few comments and concerns about future drawn-out fights and the fact that I was awarding substantially less XP for the fight (a deliberate decision I made, to slow down leveling by slashing XP gains across the board). Even so, their praise for the session far, far outweighed any criticism, which made me feel quite good after spending the last week or so in a panic. As usual, I started out very strong. It remains to be seen whether I can maintain the current quality. I guess we’ll find out next Tuesday, where they begin the process of traveling to Lehederom itself.

Lonna
2010-06-07, 11:16 PM
So... how'd the next session go?

Grimlock
2010-06-08, 02:32 AM
Awsome opening battle! Looking forward to the next installment!

Inspectre
2010-06-24, 10:39 PM
The bad news is that I've been too busy to write up sessions as they have occured. The good news is that we just had the sixth session this week, so I have plenty of material to work with as I try to catch back up. :smallbiggrin:

Act I, Session 2
The Road to Lehederom
(Or, Experiments in DM Mediocrity)

A Sleaze by Any Other Name

We started our second session almost exactly where the first one let off. Returning to the Early Sunrise Inn from their victory, the party found a well-groomed man waiting for them. Introducing himself as Simon Maxwell, he congratulated the party on their defense of the Throne Room. Stating that he served an anonymous but noble patron, Simon offered the party a sign of the noble’s appreciation – a gift of 50 GP.

The servant of this would-be mysterious benefactor went on to offer a proposition. Instead of working exclusively for Madreena, “the half she-elf witch”, the party would help Simon’s master out in return for his continued support. And Simon’s master was a very influential and powerful man, despite his resolute desire to remain anonymous.

The party withdrew to discuss this offer in private. Although there was some debate and Devils Advocating, in the end the decision was clear: the party served the King (and/or his designated servants), and the King alone. Not entirely unexpected given these guys were all from the White Wind Monastery (silly divine morals), and were all suspicious that this would-be benefactor refused to give his name. What did surprise me was that they also refused to accept the “no-strings attached” gift.

The party was somewhat polite in its refusal of both the sponsorship offer and the gift (despite Gulv starting it with “We cannot be bought!” ). Nonetheless, Simon Maxwell did not take the news well, and after overcoming his confusion and releasing the party could not be convinced or intimidating, left in a huff. “The Screaming Dark (read: Hell) take you!” He announced, shoving the sack of gold into his cloak and storming out of the tavern.

The Morning After

After waking up the next morning, the party finds another royal invitation waiting for them. This one was penned by Madreena, who as promised wished to see them today. After gathering themselves up for another important meeting, the party heads to the castle. This time, they are escorted to a different part of the castle, a semi-spacious room that nonetheless felt cramped due to the clutter of numerous tomes and arcane relics.

Behind a large desk sat Madreena, now acting Reagent of the Kingdom of Zelt. Judging by her sunken and pale features and bloodshot eyes, either power didn’t agree with her or she had spent the entire night awake. It was likely a mixture of both, as Madreena briefed the party on the current situation.

As expected, news of the attempt on the King’s life had gotten out very quickly. The council of nobles was in an uproar, with most calling for war either out of fear, bloodlust, or ambition. Madreena as a result was very busy with attempting to keep them all in line, and seemed convinced she would need to sleep with one eye open when she slept at all. If an assassin “unfortunately” slit her throat, the seat of Reagent would be open, and quite possibly the royal throne as well. In a time of war, and with the King’s only heir being a teenage girl, a strong hand was needed on the kingdom’s reins.

When pressed who would do such a thing, Madreena answered that the party could probably take its pick from a league of foolishly ambitious noblemen. Perhaps the one most likely to seize power, however, would be a Duke Volesin – a very influential man, and one who hasn’t always agreed with the King on matters of state in the past. With King Duncan the Third lingering in a coma, he would likely be one of the most forceful of the nobles in trying to seize more power.

Unfortunately, he and the rest of the noblemen were Madreena’s concern – the party’s concern was still Lehederom. For the moment, the sealed portal was stable, as was His Majesty, lingering in a deep coma. Finding some sort of solution to each problem in Lehederom was likely their only hope. After again thanking them for their assistance and stressing that they might well be the kingdom’s only hope (despite being level 1, they were the only nearby adventuring party aware of the full situation, capable and ready to adventure, and the only group Madreena trusted fully).

For their trip to Lehederom, Madreena provided them with a letter of introduction to give to Captain Thomas Lucent, the current commander of Fort Lionel. She also awarded them some “unofficial” royal support, gifting them with a small wooden box containing four healing potions (the party didn’t even look inside, and almost forgot all about it until I reminded them *facepalm* ). Instead of traveling to the Fort on their own, Madreena suggested that they speak with Captain Morgan Venault of the Silver Wheels Trading Company. Apparently, the merchant guild was assembling a supply caravan to travel to Fort Lionel, and said caravan was scheduled to leave in another few days.

With a few last words of thanks, the party agreed to check out the caravan and departed. On their way to the merchant guild’s offices, they were accosted . . . by a bum. :smallamsued:

John Taan, Bum Extrordinare

Greeting them with a “Woah, h-hey guys!”, the bum introduced himself as John Taan, a nobody street dweller. However, he had apparently just experienced a dream, in which the party had played a part. Skeptical even at this point, the party nonetheless allowed John Taan to ramble out his dream.

John Taan’s Dream

In my dream, I was in complete darkness. Then, like the sun at dawn, the Radiant Lady, Ledea, approached me. I then saw we stood at the center of an immense gem, set into a massive crown, perched atop the head of an enormous dragon. ‘Look upon these works, John Taan.” She said to me. “And remember them, for you must relay them to others.” Then, producing a pebble, she threw it up into the sun. There a massive stone tree grew, bursting out of the ground. Taking my hand, She led me to its height. There the very ground itself yawned open to swallow us, and I grew afraid. “Courage.” The Radiant Lady reminded me, and then we ventured into the heart of the tree. Insdie was an immense pile of wealth, waiting for me. And as I ran my hands through the piles of gold coins, I heard Ledea say, “Remember John Taan. And relay what you have seen to others.” And then I awoke, cold and alone on the front stoop of a tavern.


Unfortunately, the party was less than impressed with John Taan’s stumbling, stuttering rendition of his supposed dream, which ended with a brief flash of the party’s faces. When asked why he didn’t go find this treasure, John Taan admitted that he was a bum, and not an adventurer and thus had no idea what the dream actually meant. Just that it, apparently, led to fabulous wealth. Tossing him a few coins for his trouble, the party moved along, leaving John Taan behind.

(Again the party point-blank refused a potential plot hook, and the game’s first skill challenge. Considering these first couple sessions are meant to be me basically throwing handfuls of potential plot hooks at the party and seeing which ones they snap at, I’m not too concerned yet. So far, they seem determined to follow the “find cure for King and how to reseal the portal” plot hook with laser precision. Now *that* might be cause of concern, given how much stuff is standing in between them and those goals. :smallannoyed: )

Not bothering to meet with the Captain herself, the party meets with the page assigned to the front desk. They ask him when the caravan was leaving (4 Days hence), tell him that they’ll be there for the ride, and leave. Four days pass, and the party meets up with the caravan.

The Caravan From Hell

And here’s where the session begins its nose dive from the heights of the previous session. I had previously set-up a map of the routes available to the party to travel to Fort Lionel (and from there, to nearby Lehederom). They could take whichever route they wished, with the intention that making various Knowledge and Streetwise checks would give them an inkling of what sort of random encounters they’d face down a given path.

I had also decided that going with the Caravan was opting out of this, as the caravan had a set path in getting to Fort Lionel (the “safest” and therefore longest path), looping around in a round-about way to eventually get to the fort. Because of this, I essentially invalidated all of the work I had done preparing all of the alternate paths the party *might* have taken on their own. The worst part is with a bit more of a quick thinking I could have just had the party choose a route for the caravan, instead of putting them on rails. (*facepalm*).

As a result of this, the party got into an argument with the leader of the caravan’s guards, a Michael S. Jackson. They seemed rather incredulous that the caravan’s trio of mules were incapable of following anything but the straightest and most even roads, despite the ridiculously-sized carts they were each pulling (which they only noticed were a ridiculously oversized 25’ x 25’during the next session *facepalm* ). One of the players also made some sort of joke involving “vampires”, which only pissed the NPC guard leader off further. (Apparently, no one remembered that vampires had been the brutal overseers of Zelt three hundred years ago, and thus mentioning them was almost taboo). Eventually this bizarre argument spiraled into a fist fight between Gulv and the caravan guard (*face palm*). Fortunately, the fight was quickly broken up, and the party labeled the caravan guard under “unreasonable *******”. :smallannoyed: But at least things proceeded on, and the caravan set out.

Resident Cultist

After nearly two weeks of travel, the party arrives in Alstron, a large city that was once part of the Kingdom of Sudar. In the last war fifty years ago, the Kingdom of Sudar was conquered by Zelt. What parts the Zelts didn’t claim, Lotairans surprisingly did, spelling the end of their former ally. Understandably, the Sudarese still aren’t happy with this, but integration is slowly coming along.

Of course, since the party was proceeding along rails with the caravan I didn’t put much effort into describing the city, its background, or the trip there. This would come back, predictably, to bite me next session when the players were shocked to find their little trip to Fort Lionel took a month and a half of their lives! (Yep, the ruins of Lehederom are really far out there.)

In any event, the caravan passed through the city and onward to Fort Cassio, the next big stop on the journey. A few days into that route, the caravan stopped in the small hamlet of Lormaine, named after the local liege lord’s family. The party was enjoying a few evening drinks down in the dive bar attached to the local inn when trouble, predictably enough, shows up.

Five figures in black robes and cowls burst into the bar, splitting up as soon as they cross the threshold. Two go over to the tavern’s bouncer, Leon, and hold him at knifepoint. The other three meanwhile, assault the barmaid, Ashley, snatching her up and starting to bind and gag her. At her cries of “Leon, help!”, the bouncer merely replies, “Uh no!”, and everyone else chooses not to get involved.

As predictable as trouble showing up wherever the party goes, the party has no tolerance for this. They demand an explanation from these cultist look-alikes, and tell them to put the girl down. After a few more harsh words are exchanged, weapons are drawn and initiatives are rolled.

Wannabe Cultist

Another experiment with mooks. This time I gave them a boost to damage if they had combat advantage – which none of them ever got – as well as a new, experimental encounter power. Which, sadly, also didn’t get a chance to come up. Basically, in exchange for losing his weapon of choice – a sacrificial dagger or kris – the cultist would inflict Slowed (Save Ends) his target. The target could then either make a normal saving throw (at a -2 penalty), or rip the dagger out of his/her leg with a minor action, acquiring Ongoing 3 Damage (Save Ends) instead. Because I had expected a chase to occur as the party attempted to run down the cultist carrying Ashley, I thought this would be an interesting choice. The fight didn’t last long enough for the power to get used, sadly. :smalltongue:


Surprisingly, the would-be cultists roll very well and get to go first. While the largest of the bunch starts to carry Ashley over to the back door behind the bar, the rest of them charge forward. In a flurry of stabs, Guulred is seriously injured (they rolled surprisingly well). Well enough, in fact, to drop the wilden monk when he provokes a pair of opportunity attacks attempting to get past the wall of cultists. At least, until it is pointed out that Guulred got a bonus to AC vs the opportunity attacks, causing them to miss.

Rocketing past the cultists, Guulred spews ale in their faces, confusing one of them enough to turn and strike at his ally in the wild melee. This is enough to bloody one of them, and after launching their counterattack the party is once again on top of the situation.

Realizing that the cultist in the back was in danger of getting away with his hostage, Gulv called out for the barkeep to do his job and help protect his employee. Gathering his courage, the barkeep leapt at the cultist, managing to get a grasp on his robes and keep him locked in a grapple in front of the door.

Calling out to two of the nearby off-duty militiamen, the desperate cultist promised them the gambling money that the (by now dead) leader of the little cultist band owed them. After a bit of deliberation, the two guards agreed and prepared to join the fight until Jesser spoke up. He offered to give the guards the same amount of money, which would be collected off the dead leader’s body momentarily. Seeing how the group of adventurers had already managed to pound the group of punk cultist kids into the ground, the two militiamen wisely reconsidered getting involved and sat back down (and there went half the encounter budget. :smalltongue: ).

As the last of the cultists near the party fell, Guulred caught up with the cultist still struggling with the barkeep, Ashley still slung over one shoulder. A quick stab from the boy’s kris, and the wilden monk finally went down. At this point, however, the rest of the party was closing, Artenja had unleashed the full power of her god (Daily), and even though it had failed to blast the cultist’s head from his shoulders, he was nonetheless Slowed. And, with a timely word from Jesser, Guulred was back amongst the realm of the living.

With the odds hopelessly against him, the cultist did an unexpected thing: he surrendered. Throwing Ashely to the ground and dropping his weapon, the boy turned cultist threw up his hands. Guulred rewarded his wisdom by attempting to punch him in the face, and karmatically failing. Nonetheless, the cultist was swiftly bound, the guards were paid the money due them, and everybody was happy. Everybody but Ashley.

Heroes or Zeroes

As it turned out, Ashley knew these cultists – their leader actually being her ex-boyfriend. Yes, as the surviving member of their little clique was quick to explain, they were just a bunch of teenagers who had heard about “The Immortal One”, and thought that the best way to get into his good graces was to kidnap someone and offer them as sacrifice. The robes and sacrificial daggers thing was just because “it looked cool” and seemed “like the thing to do”, given their new lifestyle choice. Ashley wasn’t happy that her ex had been summarily executed, perhaps a first in such broken-up couples. :smallamused:

The players were less than happy to be treated this way, and grumbled about it the rest of the session. Maybe next time they’ll think about going for subduing people instead of killing them, but I doubt it. :smallsigh:

In any event, they did have one captive who was alive, and Jesser determined his fate. Although they wouldn’t kill him, the party expected him to learn his lesson – join a cult, and sooner or later, die. As his penance, the boy was expected to dig the graves for his friends, under the direction of the local graveskeeper (graveyard groundkeeper) – a firm but fair punishment. :smallamused:

At this point, they were approached by said Graveskeeper, an old haggard man named Willie who reeked of alcohol and body odor. After agreeing to keep an eye on the boy during his task, the graveskeeper motioned them over to his corner table. Apparently, he had some business of his own he wished to discuss.

The Immortal One

Taking yet another swig of ale to boost his courage, Graveskeeper Willie began his tale. Apparently, about a week ago the estranged son of Sir Lormaine, Graf Lormaine, had returned to the manor just outside of town. Or, at least his body did – apparently he had sought a life of adventure in Lotaire, and now his body had been sent back.

The funeral had taken place the next day, but this was merely a prelude to the real horror. Four days later (or three days ago, whichever you prefer), Graveskeeper Willie saw Graf Lormaine arise from his grave at night and go walking into the manor house. Since then, Willie had been maintaining a steady diet of intoxicants, and no one had exited the manor house. Apparently, word had gotten out, attracting the attention of the local gang of town hooligans-turned-cultist.

Willie was not concerned about the rest of the town, in point of fact, but about his niece, Jenna, who worked in the Lormaine manor as a maid. Like everyone else present at the manor the night Graf Lormaine, or “The Immortal One” as the cultists referred to him, arose from the dead, she was still in there, possibly alive and possibly dead. Willie had to know one way or the other, and implored the party to save her if anything could be done. The party dutifully agreed, after confirming that they would be able to conduct a search of the manor, sleep, and then be back on the road tomorrow morning with the caravan. Readying themselves, the party traveled out into the night to the outskirts of town, where the pitch-black Lormaine estate awaited.

A Late Night Spaghetti Dinner

Examining the estate, the group realized that there were really two entrances into the manor. They could go in through the predictable front door, or slip around to the stables located around the side. Hearing the sound of panicked horses coming from the Stables, the party decided to enter that way – cautiously. What they found would be quite horrific to anyone but a seasoned adventurer – one of the horses had been killed, its caress torn open. The other two horses were still alive, if a bit hungry and terrified. Then, a shadow by the body of the dead horse moved, and the party realized there was a man kneeling beside the body, tearing off hunks of flesh with his bare hands and consuming them.

Despite the disturbing way the man turned to roar in fury at them, he was not particularly threatening. Mainly because as soon as the party managed to land a solid hit on him, he collapsed into a messy pile of blood and innards – mostly his own. At this point, the true threat revealed itself as a pile of ephemeral tentacles and eyes tore its way out of the man’s ruined chest! Shrieking in their minds, the creature flailed out with its ephemeral tentacles, making a nuisance of itself but succeeding in little since it was five against one. A few moments later, the thing also collapsed to the ground, shredded and slowly melting away into goo with one last angry psychic shriek.

Pile of Tentacles and Eyes

For once, I was actually using a monster from one of the books, in this case the Monster Manual 2 – Fell Taints. They look exactly like the description I gave, and strongly resemble the infamous Flying Spaghetti Monster, leading to all sorts of jokes.

I did change one thing about them, although again they never got a chance to use it. By the book, they attempt to coup de grace fallen people, healing back up to full if they manage a kill. My versions instead would crawl into the unfortunate victim’s mouth, and the next time they were healed or otherwise came to, they would find themselves possessed (Dominated – Save Ends). I was very disappointed I never got to treat my players to that cruel surprise.


Sir Lormaine Will See You Now

Unknown to my players, the fell taint’s dying shriek sent a mental alarm to the other fell taints in the manor. The rest of the place’s denizens were therefore aware of the party’s unwelcome presence, and began to gather for a defense. This was as intended, as I wanted the party to get a chance to see the whole “fell taint possessing people” thing at least once before the main battle began.

Unfortunately, because the once spread out remains of the manor’s inhabitants gathered together in the front foyer, this left the rest of the first floor abandoned. The party therefore spent the next fifteen minutes to half an hour exploring the entirely of the first floor, without managing to enter the front foyer until the very last. As a DM, I have the very unfortunate tendency to try to create dungeons that “make sense”. Which, when it’s an inhabited building, means that there’s a lot of rooms that fit well together, but are quite boring because they’re not filled with masses of bloodthirsty monsters and traps. I had vowed not to do that with this game, but somehow fell back into old bad habits, likely as part of this mélange of mistakes and errors that really dragged this session down. As with the rest of my hindsight, I realized afterwards that what I should have done was sent the thing-possessed butler to go knock on the door to the Stables while the party was taking their short rest, and then announce that Sir Lormaine would see them in the front foyer. That may, at least, have possibly lured the party into the front foyer for the main battle right away, instead of letting them wonder around in my sensible but boring manor. :smallsigh: In any event, the worst of the evening was yet to come.

The Nearly Final Battle

Having through a twist of fate (actually, our gaming group has an obsession with following the left wall in dungeons – I need to come up with a way for this predictability to screw them over sometime in the near future. :smallamused: ) circled around the front foyer to travel through the rest of the back half of the manor, the party finally entered from the other side. Waiting for them were Sir Lormaine, a babbling girl who had to be Jenna, a nervously twitching butler, and a cook brandishing a bloody cleaver and a still-bleeding stump of a hand. Roaring that they would never take his son away, Sir Lormaine rushes across the front foyer (having won initiative) and engages Gulv in the doorway. Predictably, this was another mistake on my part, as for the rest of the fight both sides stayed clustered around either side of the door, grinding each other into meaty paste.

From the perspective of the monsters, this was both a good thing and a bad thing. It was good that Sir Lormaine, a level 4 brute (human berserker from MM1, only equipped with a greatsword instead of a PC-killing greataxe) was taking most of the hits, keeping the heat off the others. It was bad that Sir lormaine was blocking the doorway, preventing them from dragging the party out into the foyer using their aura power.

The mad men

Nothing particularly special about the manor staff. They were minions, human rabble (level 2 minions, MM1), with some of the theme abilities from the DMG2 tacked on. This made them somewhat more interesting, as with the Fell Taints inside them I gave them the Far Realm theme. So, when they died they zapped anyone adjacent to any of their allies for 2 psychic, and had an aura that caused any enemy starting their turn within 3 squares to slide one square. It stacked, which meant that there was a good chance a party member starting their turn anywhere near the group of minions would find themselves 3 squares away from where they started their turn, before even being able to react. As with the rest of the minion/mook junk this session, none of it got used much, or didn’t make much difference even when it did come up.

Sir Lormaine, however, had a few more . . . interesting powers. He had a rechargeable one that allowed his allies to shift two squares, essentially preventing them from getting taken down with AoE . . . at least until they all clustered up around the doorway to get at Gulv. He also had Psychic Scream, a Close Burst 5 rechargeable power that was just plain nasty. At level 1, 1d8+4 is nothing to sneeze at, and the power would hit fairly reliably, going against Will. But the true horror of this ability was that it not only inflicted Daze (Save Ends), but you were forced to attack the nearest enemy with your one action. Which meant Sir Lormaine turned himself into even more of a damage sponge than he already was.


The rest of this disastrous encounter I refuse to take blame for, as the party’s poor planning and absolutely awful dice luck took a fairly boring encounter and plunged it straight into HELL. Sir Lormaine’s Psychic Scream power recharged almost every. SINGLE. Round. Despite being Recharge 6. As a rat bastard DM among rat bastard DMs, I felt honor-bound to have him use it every time too, and so the party simply got hammered by AoE damage and the super Daze effect.

Artenja, at Gulv’s urging, targeted the staff members with her powers, dropping them all quickly and unleashing the Fell Taints held within. Several of which were Artillery monsters, who absolutely loved being able to stand behind Sir Lormaine and pummel the party with their own AoE rechargeable powers with utter impunity.

Guulred, who has suffered the monk’s cursed fate of having absolutely awful dice rolls, couldn’t land a single hit, and the lack of his damage landing dragged out an already torturous encounter further still. Eventually, he went down, and his potential for inflicting damage dropped to zero. Sadly, despite their salivating the Fell Taints were unable to cross the Gulv-guarded threshold and crawl into his mouth, possessing him as they had possessed the staff.

Jesser was pushed to the absolute limit of his healing, using both Healing Words as well as his Channel Divinity power, the impressive Healer’s Mercy. When most of the party is kissing the floor or about to, no one cares if the pacifist cleric is Weakened for a round. For once, even I was grateful for the cleric’s ridiculous amount of healing, as he alone was responsible for the party’s victory.

Eventually, Sir Lormaine went down, and out of a desire not to punish the party further, did not deploy the Fell Taint I had planned to have pop out of him. With their guardian down, the Fell Taints were swiftly run down and torn apart by Gulv and Artenja, with a revived Guulred providing token support. Unable to save against the Daze effect, Mardin Everblaze remained trapped on the party’s side of the doorway, blocked from actually doing anything because he couldn’t attack through the wall. All in all, a completely awful encounter that very nearly resulted in a TPK.

An End to the Horror

Surprisingly, or perhaps because they actually learned something from the tavern (fat chance :smalltongue: ), the party sparred the lives of Sir Lormaine and his staff, going for subdual rather than fatal blows. To their joint surprise, they were rewarded with this by discovered that now the fell taints were gone, all of the people woke up to find themselves normal again. Of course, with his self-inflicted wound, the cook required a bit of medical treatment, which Jesser was able to provide.

Now himself again, Sir Lormaine explained how Graf had come back from the dead as some sort of twisted thing, certainly no longer his son. He had forced them to drink his blood, implanting the Fell Taints inside of them and allowing them to take over. Thanks to the party’s interference, they were all now free (except the crazified groomsman, who was lying dead in the Stables).

Seeing a shadow cross the top of the stairs leading up to the second floor, the party realized that their work was still not finished. The architect of this nightmare, Graf Lormaine, “The Immortal One” still remained. As Sir Lormaine and his staff cleared out of the building to allow the party freedom to do what needed to be done, the party considered its options.

We were running very low on time by this point, but nonetheless agreed to push on and try to wrap up the final encounter with Graf Lormaine, the so-called Immortal One. Arriving upstairs, the party found themselves face to face with the cowled form of the Graf. Demanding an explanation from them, Graf only received an acknowledgement from Gulv that neither side was likely to be convinced, so the fighting might as well start now.

A quick shot from Mardin struck the cowled figure down, which dissipated as the bolt touched it. A laugh came from down by the end of the hallway, as a similarly dressed figured appeared, snapping off a hand crossbow shot that struck Jesser squarely in the chest, dealing massive damage.

At this point, believing they were now facing a teleporting, sneak-attacking cheese monster, up in a pitch black “attic”, the party threw up their hands and declared it was time to stop. Considering the unintentional mess they had just dealt with on the first floor, and admitting the fight with Graf might take longer than initially expected, I agreed and we ended the session. A very unpleasant session, all-in-all. Most of my players were somewhat unhappy at this point, but they were also quick to admit that it wasn’t my fault either. The near-TPK fight was caused by really awful dice rolls, but was otherwise a “normal” 4e fight. Most of the other mistakes I had made were small ones, but frustratingly correctible in hindsight. So, perhaps not a truly disaster of a session all-in-all, but certainly a mediocre one and very much of a letdown after the great heights our very first session had managed to reach.

Lonna
2010-06-25, 03:49 PM
Well, at least you know what went wrong. I presume (I hope) the next session went better as a result.