[3.5] An Eberron-flavored Red Hand of Doom Campaign Journal

[Horatio@Bridge]

Just wanted to say, loving reading this game. Eberron is my favorite campaign setting and RHOD is my favorite adventure module, so seeing them both together makes me smile. I tried running that combination once, but we never got past the first act. It's sad, too...the Zil necromancer was amassing quite a collection of skeletal servitors...

[AslanCross]

Thanks for your support. :D The battle of Brindol is coming up, though it might take a couple more weeks till the long weekend on which I'm planning to hold the opening session of the battle. Stay tuned!

[Rising Phoenix]

Thanks for your support. :D The battle of Brindol is coming up, though it might take a couple more weeks till the long weekend on which I'm planning to hold the opening session of the battle. Stay tuned!

Good luck with it! I am planning on finishing it tomorrow

R.P.

[Pain~less]

Doesn't a trebuchet have literally thousands of HP? I ran the Battle of Brindol a while ago for my group, and tried to incorporate some rules from Heroes of Battle too.

The first thing that surprised me was how much HP the siege engines have. I saw no feasible way for my players to kill even the ballistas and mangonels I planned to use. In the end I just stuck to the regular hill giants from RhoD.

Another thing I tried were the volley rules and aerial bombardments. I organized the hobgoblins into 20-man-squads, and gave the hill giants 5 of those as backup. After several rounds of combat, the volleys started coming, and were eventually successful in driving back the players. Hill giants were dead though.

Aerial bombardments gave me mixed results, I used sphingen (sp?) and wyvern wielding rocks. I think they dealt 2-4d6 damage apiece, not too shabby. Killed a lion of brindol in the Streets of Blood, iirc. More often than not though, the rocks would simply miss.

Anyways, very nice campaign log you have here, even though i'm not familiar with Eberron, i greatly enjoy it.

[AslanCross]

That's the weird thing about the Trebuchet. The table says that the Heavy Treb has 7000 HP, which is going to be an incredibly boring hackfest that will run them out of ammo before they can stop it.

On the other hand, the Encounter samples only say it takes a few hundred.

I wanted to put in the aerial bombing as well and I will be using the volley rules, but I've deviated quite a bit from the book already and I might stretch them too thin. Especially now that Kikkeni died and is going to be the recipient of the Staff of Life's raise dead, they might run out of steam even before Kharn comes calling.

Thanks for your support! Next session will be tomorrow.

[AslanCross]

I had hoped to cover more ground today, but unfortunately Linny's and the Magroens' players were sick and couldn't make it. Kikkeni's and Lyka's players arrived late. Since Kikkeni was dead, her player took over Linny for now, while Lyka's player took over Holden in addition to her character. Since Loven was charmed and had no way of ever passing the opposed charisma check versus the Greater Barghest, he just aimed and reloaded at Lyka every turn.

Rag Doll

Spoiler

Show

The round begins with Loven shooting at Lyka. The Greater Barghest (in dire wolf form) bites Holden and pulls him to the ground, while Lyka assails the tiger knights. Linny casts Sanctuary on herself to protect her from the Enlarged hobgoblin duskblade and tries to skirt around to get to the meat shields.

The three remaining hobgoblin tiger knights continue to pound on Lyka, but she executes a flawless Mithral Tornado and his every single one of them AND their mounts. This takes a huge chunk out of their HP. The warcaster, still hidden in the abandoned watchtower down the road, casts Manyjaws at Holden, chewing him up for a lot of damage for three rounds.

Lyka weathers the beating from the three tiger knights and eventually kills the second tiger. The two knights, now on the ground, issue fighting challenges against Lyka and renew their assault while the remaining mounted knight continues to fight with his mount. Lyka's AC proves to be too high, however, and most of them roll badly.

Holden is dropped really close to death several times by the Manyjaws, while Linny, who was able to move up to him, continuously heals him. The Barghest gets tired of Loven missing and just tells him to sit down and "contemplate what passes for a life" and blasts the PCs (and the tiger knights) with Crushing Despair. Holden, Lyka and Loven each fail, while strangely enough, I roll high on the saves of all the knights and tigers.

Lyka uses Iron Heart Surge to shake off the Despair and soon drops the third tiger knight (the one still mounted), but his tiger keeps fighting. It manages to back up and gets enough clearance to pounce her. Most of its attacks miss, but it manages to grapple her as part of its pounce. Holden, however, turns to the tiger and cracks its spine in half.

Holden, despite drawing his best maneuvers, keeps missing the Barghest but eventually manages to lower its HP down to 31.

The remaining Hobgoblin Duskblade keeps trying to hit Lyka and Holden, but keeps missing. At one point it succeeded in Enfeebling Lyka one turn from the end of her Whirling Frenzy, but she was able to shake it off with Iron Heart Surge. As the duskblade began to run out of spells, Lyka ran up to it and split it clean down the middle with Soaring Raptor Strike.

Linny buffs Lyka with Bull's Strength even as Linny's Whirling Frenzy wears off.
The Greater Barghest changes shape, and on its next turn, turns to Loven and mauls him, taking off about 28 HP. The Rogue snaps out of the charm and moves to flank the Barghest, but fails to deal any damage on his first attack. The next time he tries, though, he crits and drops the Barghest to 1 HP. The Barghest tears Loven apart like a rag doll. Thankfully, before the Barghest has a chance to devour Loven's soul, Lyka shanks him dead. The last knight goes down easily on Lyka's blade. (That means Lyka killed all three tiger knights, two of the tigers, the Barghest, AND one of the duskblades. Do. Not. Piss. Her. Off.)


The party takes a breather to use the Staff of Life on Kikkeni (it was pretty unanimous that she was far more useful than Loven ever was), and makes a break for Brindol.

The War Council

Spoiler

Show

After spending some time to heal up (they bought another Wand of Lesser Vigor), the PCs are summoned to Brindol Keep.

Lady Kaal, whom the PCs have never met before, is snappy and sarcastic, thinking the PCs inept and useless, using every opportunity to make herself a thorn in Jarmaath's side. The PCs each introduce themselves, but only Holden and Kikkeni are able to make any favorable impressions of themselves.

We contact Linny's player through Yahoo Messenger and set up voice chat to facilitate things. The planning begins.

Choosing the Battleground
Jarmaath makes his case for fighting outside, while Ulverth makes his for fighting along the wall. Tredora wants to escape to Vathirond, while Lady Kaal is pretty sure she doesn't want to deploy her private army.

The PCs discuss for a bit, and they immediately agree that putting the army outside the wall (the only advantage they have left), is a bad idea. Even if the enemy were to come from the air, at least the city has favorable terrain. Fighting in the farms would make things very difficult for them. Diplomacy checks are made, and they successfully convince the council to hold the walls. Escaping to Vathirond is a Very Bad Idea, since it's the last city on the frontier before the Mournland, and they had sent all their sick people there. Fighting in the open would just get them outmaneuvered: the superior speed of the worg riders and tiger knights would completely screw them, not to mention the flyers. The most favorable option is chosen: Fight from Brindol's walls.

City Defense
The PCs immediately bring up the topic of what to do in the event that the Horde breaks through the walls. They're pretty pragmatic about it and suggest barricades, rally points, the works. The idea of the clerics is mentioned.
The PCs huddle (Linny's player was around thanks to Yahoo Messenger's voice calls). They try to adopt a compromise by deploying them throughout the city but have them fall back when things get hairy, OR have some of them deployed while keeping the majority inside the Cathedral.

They eventually agree and convince the council that keeping the clerics in the Cathedral will get the soldiers killed, they decide that deploying the clerics in field hospitals about 100 feet behind the front lines will allow the clerics to escape if the front line collapses. Ulverth thinks a compromise is not going to be an efficient tactic, but the PCs are sure of this and make their diplomacy checks. The council agrees to deploy the clerics.

The Telepathic Bond
Immerstal enters with his scrolls, and Kikkeni immediately suggests that she could instead use her racial Mindlink to connect to Jarmaath instead, allowing them to keep two slots open. They then suggest that the telepathic bond be used to connect to the commanders instead. However, they roll low and fail to convince the council; Lady Kaal prevails, claiming that it would do well to have a backup town leader in the event that Jarmaath would go down.

At this point the deliberations took more than an hour and a half, and we call it a day.

Thoughts
-Do NOT mess with Lyka. Seriously.
-The players' frustration with Loven has come to the surface. They found him annoying in general and they were confused as to what his player wanted to do with him exactly. He was unfortunately no good at the things Rogues are usually supposed to be good at and his sniping was rarely successful.
-I contacted Loven's player and he said he had a changeling Rogue idea for backup, so he just needs to roll him.
-I wish we had enough time to being the siege, but I guess it wouldn't be a good idea with them a man down and with Linny almost out of spells. They haven't trained the Lions of Brindol yet, and Ulverth predicts the horde to make a move within a week.
-It seems that characters typically die when other players sub for absentees.
-We definitely need to start the Battle of Brindol next meeting. Hopefully we can meet again soon.

[BooNL]

How do your players respond when their character dies when they themselves are absent? It's happened to me once and I was not amused, I felt the other player used the wrong tactics and that he wasn't as involved with my character as he was.

On the battle: I like the idea of aerial bombardment put forth by Painless, I do understand that it might be a bit much for the players to handle. How about just using it as background fluff? Describe how wyverns (or other creatures) fly over the city every once in a while and try to make a ruckus. I can't recall how your players faired with the elves, but maybe a couple of those owl riders could be used to disrupt the wyvern attacks.

[AslanCross]

How do your players respond when their character dies when they themselves are absent? It's happened to me once and I was not amused, I felt the other player used the wrong tactics and that he wasn't as involved with my character as he was.

On the battle: I like the idea of aerial bombardment put forth by Painless, I do understand that it might be a bit much for the players to handle. How about just using it as background fluff? Describe how wyverns (or other creatures) fly over the city every once in a while and try to make a ruckus. I can't recall how your players faired with the elves, but maybe a couple of those owl riders could be used to disrupt the wyvern attacks.

They were disappointed, but there really wasn't much to be done. In Loven's case, shooting while in melee would've been far more fatal. Running away and hiding wouldn't really contribute to killing the Barghest and also involved provoking a painful AOO from the brute.

Well, there will be some ranged air units in the battle, but I won't really make heavy use of them. The PCs didn't get the owls for themselves, but the elves do bring owls by default for their own use.

[BooNL]

Well, there will be some ranged air units in the battle, but I won't really make heavy use of them. The PCs didn't get the owls for themselves, but the elves do bring owls by default for their own use.

In that case, just describing the scene should be awesome enough. No need to roll dice if you aren't planning on a lot of aerial combat. Though there is something cinematic about describing how wyverns and giant owls battling overhead while your players are laying the smack-down on those filthy knobhoblins.

[AslanCross]

In that case, just describing the scene should be awesome enough. No need to roll dice if you aren't planning on a lot of aerial combat. Though there is something cinematic about describing how wyverns and giant owls battling overhead while your players are laying the smack-down on those filthy knobhoblins.

Yeah that might be the case. The battle does come with some air units by default, but those will be low flyers. They'll have their hands full with the dragon anyway.

[kjones]

Your trebuchet idea seems good in theory, but it doesn't make sense to me tactically why the Red Hand would attempt to bombard the city rather than break through the wall. As you (correctly) point out, opening multiple breaches within the wall would be devastating to the defenders of Brindol. Furthermore, the trebuchet would certainly have line of sight to the wall, so it would be much more effective at destroying the wall than at bombarding random targets within the city. It just seems like a foolish choice for the Horde to split their firepower, rather than to focus it on the wall - and the Horde is better than that.

[Eldariel]

Your trebuchet idea seems good in theory, but it doesn't make sense to me tactically why the Red Hand would attempt to bombard the city rather than break through the wall. As you (correctly) point out, opening multiple breaches within the wall would be devastating to the defenders of Brindol. Furthermore, the trebuchet would certainly have line of sight to the wall, so it would be much more effective at destroying the wall than at bombarding random targets within the city. It just seems like a foolish choice for the Horde to split their firepower, rather than to focus it on the wall - and the Horde is better than that.

Spoiler

Show

Then again, in WWII era military tactics, artillery fire was focused on enemy rally points in an attempt to prevent efficient grouping of the units and simply to maximize casualties. If the Horde doesn't doubt its ability to destroy the walls (as it shouldn't with a Dragon and large hordes of Giants deployed), using Trebuchets to disrupt the defenders' organization and kill as many as possible could be a rational option.

Of course, it could also be intended as it's used here; as a trap to try to lure a fist unit of probably very skilled warriors out of the city, cut the fist off off and destroy it. I personally do quite like it, as well as the aerial bombardment.

[kjones]

Spoiler

Show

Then again, in WWII era military tactics, artillery fire was focused on enemy rally points in an attempt to prevent efficient grouping of the units and simply to maximize casualties. If the Horde doesn't doubt its ability to destroy the walls (as it shouldn't with a Dragon and large hordes of Giants deployed), using Trebuchets to disrupt the defenders' organization and kill as many as possible could be a rational option.

Of course, it could also be intended as it's used here; as a trap to try to lure a fist unit of probably very skilled warriors out of the city, cut the fist off off and destroy it. I personally do quite like it, as well as the aerial bombardment.

Spoiler

Show

But the trebuchet isn't focused on "rally points" or any such target - it's just firing blindly (and thus inaccurately) into the city. I find it hard to believe that the Red Hand would not take full advantage of such firepower. If they don't doubt their ability to breach the walls, they should - especially if the party takes out one of the hill giant batteries, at which point it seems to me that they would redirect the trebuchet's fire against the walls.

And I don't deny that the trebuchet could be used as a trap - that's fine. But it can still be used as a trap if it's used to fire against the walls. If you want to set a trap, you want the trebuchet to pose as much of a threat as possible, and what's more of a threat than breaching the walls?

One more problem with the trebuchet - siege weapons are slooow. The Red Hand has, all things considered, been making good time across the Vale. Having to cart around siege weapons makes that less realistic.

Also, Aslan: What's the etiquette for spoiler tags in this thread? What should I be spoilering?

[AslanCross]

Spoiler

Show

But the trebuchet isn't focused on "rally points" or any such target - it's just firing blindly (and thus inaccurately) into the city. I find it hard to believe that the Red Hand would not take full advantage of such firepower. If they don't doubt their ability to breach the walls, they should - especially if the party takes out one of the hill giant batteries, at which point it seems to me that they would redirect the trebuchet's fire against the walls.

And I don't deny that the trebuchet could be used as a trap - that's fine. But it can still be used as a trap if it's used to fire against the walls. If you want to set a trap, you want the trebuchet to pose as much of a threat as possible, and what's more of a threat than breaching the walls?

One more problem with the trebuchet - siege weapons are slooow. The Red Hand has, all things considered, been making good time across the Vale. Having to cart around siege weapons makes that less realistic.

Also, Aslan: What's the etiquette for spoiler tags in this thread? What should I be spoilering?

As a rule I spoiler anything that I'm planning, as well as anything that's tl;dr.
Anyway,

Spoiler

Show

Kjones: You have a point, though my biggest problem with attacking the wall directly is that it's well, a REAL threat that has a good chance of getting the city overrun, VP be damned. It would be totally bizarre if the wall got breached in two or three places, nullifying pretty much the only advantage the good guys have, and the PCs won simply due to their VP totals.

One compromise I can think of is the trebuchet making the other breach in the wall instead of another group of titans. Then they can start disrupting the inside. After all, the siege engine commander can fly.

Trebuchets are typically wheeled (at least the stabler, more accurate ones are), and are crewed by several large-sized creatures. The ground is baked hard due to the continuous days of hot sun, so they shouldn't have trouble with getting stuck in the mud. They never needed to set it up against the smaller towns along the way, so the trebuchet would be packed up into a wagon until the horde encamps outside Brindol.

[Count Dravda]

Ok, just read the whole thread start to finish. LOVE this writeup. I've run Red Hand of Doom before, and it's probably my favorite module. And I'm glad I seem to have finished right on the eve of the Battle of Brindol! Oh, and if you were wondering about the setting, I've never played Eberron before, but I've had no trouble understanding anything, and reading this actually makes me want to play Eberron!

Spoiler

Show

This one's a killer. I'd like to point out that the Streets of Blood will very likely be lost. Wave three: the goblins are riding things (Bluespawn Thunderlizards?) that have a breath weapon usable EVERY DAMN ROUND. Yeah, multiple reflexes vs. electricity damage every round, which they have litle reason to expect is coming. When I ran it, the party just shrugged and beat a tactical retreat, valuing their ability to continue fighting over possibly winning one battle at the cost of many lives.

Abithriax is an awesome encounter, and his breath weapon is not to be underestimated in my opinion. However, I just like describing him: several city blocks are lit up by a blast of flame as he torches a building. The dragon flies in low circles over the city, blasting buildings to the ground and throwing screaming people from huge distances up.

The encounter with Skather was a lot of fun, especially the introduction:

Lord Jarmaath: "Nym! [Party druid who got the link] The Red Hand have overrun a significant part of Brindol! Get back to the cathedral so we can--HURGH!" He shouts in pain before the connection goes out.
Immerstal: "This is Immerstal! Lord Jarmaath has just been killed by a sniper on the Eastern side of Cathedral square! Repeat: Lord Jarmaath has been assassinated! Get--AUGH!" [Immerstal goes down: the module does say that several aids and such are hit]
There is a moment of tense silence. I was using a messenger to communicate the link to the player, so he was shouting at the air while the rest of the party glanced uneasily at each other.
Finally..."This is Lady Verasa Kaal. Lord Jarmaath and Immerstal have just been struck down by a sniper on the Eastern side of Cathedral Square and are presumed KIA. We can't regroup for a counterattack until the sniper is removed. Can you deal with the situation?"

Most people assumed Jarmaath was dead, not merely wounded :P. My players were FREAKING OUT. It was awesome the amount of buy-in they had.

In that encounter, I also replaced those sorcerers with those Redspawn Arcanisses. About the same CR, and more true to the feeling that more and more spawn of Tiamat are joining the fray. Also has the "WHAT THE **** IS THAT?!" factor.

One last thing: if the PCs come up short of the VP total, they have an extra mission to do: assassinate as many Red Hand commanders as possible before dawn, so as to throw the horde into enough chaos that they turn on each other instead of counterattacking. My players got the VP total easily, so I never gave this speech, but I wanted to. Lady Kaal gives them their orders and is more than a little reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine.

"The Red Hand horde is falling back, and they will counterattack before dawn. If they do so, Brindol will be lost." She hands them a list of all the surviving commanders and dragons. "Here is the entirety of the Red Hand command structure. Wipe them out. All of them. Do not hesitate, show no mercy. If you are swift and efficient, we may yet live to see another dawn. You have your orders. Go."

[kjones]

Ok, just read the whole thread start to finish. LOVE this writeup. I've run Red Hand of Doom before, and it's probably my favorite module. And I'm glad I seem to have finished right on the eve of the Battle of Brindol! Oh, and if you were wondering about the setting, I've never played Eberron before, but I've had no trouble understanding anything, and reading this actually makes me want to play Eberron!

Spoiler

Show

This one's a killer. I'd like to point out that the Streets of Blood will very likely be lost. Wave three: the goblins are riding things (Bluespawn Thunderlizards?) that have a breath weapon usable EVERY DAMN ROUND. Yeah, multiple reflexes vs. electricity damage every round, which they have litle reason to expect is coming. When I ran it, the party just shrugged and beat a tactical retreat, valuing their ability to continue fighting over possibly winning one battle at the cost of many lives.

Abithriax is an awesome encounter, and his breath weapon is not to be underestimated in my opinion. However, I just like describing him: several city blocks are lit up by a blast of flame as he torches a building. The dragon flies in low circles over the city, blasting buildings to the ground and throwing screaming people from huge distances up.

The encounter with Skather was a lot of fun, especially the introduction:

Lord Jarmaath: "Nym! [Party druid who got the link] The Red Hand have overrun a significant part of Brindol! Get back to the cathedral so we can--HURGH!" He shouts in pain before the connection goes out.
Immerstal: "This is Immerstal! Lord Jarmaath has just been killed by a sniper on the Eastern side of Cathedral square! Repeat: Lord Jarmaath has been assassinated! Get--AUGH!" [Immerstal goes down: the module does say that several aids and such are hit]
There is a moment of tense silence. I was using a messenger to communicate the link to the player, so he was shouting at the air while the rest of the party glanced uneasily at each other.
Finally..."This is Lady Verasa Kaal. Lord Jarmaath and Immerstal have just been struck down by a sniper on the Eastern side of Cathedral Square and are presumed KIA. We can't regroup for a counterattack until the sniper is removed. Can you deal with the situation?"

Most people assumed Jarmaath was dead, not merely wounded :P. My players were FREAKING OUT. It was awesome the amount of buy-in they had.

In that encounter, I also replaced those sorcerers with those Redspawn Arcanisses. About the same CR, and more true to the feeling that more and more spawn of Tiamat are joining the fray. Also has the "WHAT THE **** IS THAT?!" factor.

One last thing: if the PCs come up short of the VP total, they have an extra mission to do: assassinate as many Red Hand commanders as possible before dawn, so as to throw the horde into enough chaos that they turn on each other instead of counterattacking. My players got the VP total easily, so I never gave this speech, but I wanted to. Lady Kaal gives them their orders and is more than a little reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine.

"The Red Hand horde is falling back, and they will counterattack before dawn. If they do so, Brindol will be lost." She hands them a list of all the surviving commanders and dragons. "Here is the entirety of the Red Hand command structure. Wipe them out. All of them. Do not hesitate, show no mercy. If you are swift and efficient, we may yet live to see another dawn. You have your orders. Go."

Spoiler

Show

I had a similar moment with Skather's attack - it was glorious. However, I'd be very surprised if Aslan's group was coming up short for VPs by now - mine had nearly enough even before the battle began, and they missed all kinds of things. (Granted, they killed every dragon/behir they met, which helped.) I'm too lazy to read back through your archives, Aslan - care to give us a rough estimate of where your group stands?

[AslanCross]

Ok, just read the whole thread start to finish. LOVE this writeup. I've run Red Hand of Doom before, and it's probably my favorite module. And I'm glad I seem to have finished right on the eve of the Battle of Brindol! Oh, and if you were wondering about the setting, I've never played Eberron before, but I've had no trouble understanding anything, and reading this actually makes me want to play Eberron!

Thanks for your support and for taking time to read through everything! Do try Eberron out--it's a very interesting world. It's my group's favorite setting and we enjoy it a lot.

It really depends how the group plays out the Streets of Blood encounter; My group has been pretty formidable up to the last Marked for Death encounter. It took a LOT to catch them off guard and get someone killed. The ton of XP they got from finishing that last encounter bumped Holden, Lyka and Linny up to Lv 10. Although Kikkeni is stuck at Lv 8 thanks to the res, Loven's player is bringing in a new Rogue at Lv 10. It's going to be a pretty interesting fight.

Lyka, for one, hasn't been trying up to now---she has only used her Whirling Frenzy twice and her Shifting once so far. And when she did actually use those two, she really tore things to pieces. She almost single-handedly soloed that encounter kill-wise.

Linny will be getting her third level of Paragnostic Apostle this level up, and I'm not yet sure what her player will be taking.

Holden will only get tougher, and Kikkeni is still a formidable artillery piece even in her leveled-down state.

Spoiler

Show

I had a similar moment with Skather's attack - it was glorious. However, I'd be very surprised if Aslan's group was coming up short for VPs by now - mine had nearly enough even before the battle began, and they missed all kinds of things. (Granted, they killed every dragon/behir they met, which helped.) I'm too lazy to read back through your archives, Aslan - care to give us a rough estimate of where your group stands?

Spoiler

Show

Let's just say the only VPs they've missed are the ones from killing Ulwai and some of the points from the defense council.

[Count Dravda]

Spoiler

Show

Let's just say the only VPs they've missed are the ones from killing Ulwai and some of the points from the defense council.

Wow. Yeah, it's seemed like they've been doing pretty well. I once read over the VP totals in the book: I believe that if you succeed on everything, it is possible to win the Battle of Brindol before it begins! That MIGHT include assassinating Kharn prematurely, though...I forget.

Anyways, you're right: you DO have quite a powerful group of players. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

-Count Dravda

[kjones]

Wow. Yeah, it's seemed like they've been doing pretty well. I once read over the VP totals in the book: I believe that if you succeed on everything, it is possible to win the Battle of Brindol before it begins! That MIGHT include assassinating Kharn prematurely, though...I forget.

Anyways, you're right: you DO have quite a powerful group of players. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

-Count Dravda

Spoiler

Show

Don't get the wrong idea about VPs in RHoD. All they determine is what happens to the Horde after they defeat Kharn in front of the Cathedral. (Emphasis on defeat - if they lose this fight, they should lose the battle, regardless of their VP condition. The Horde breaks into the Cathedral, the rallying point of the defenders falls, the battle is over.) It might make VPs during the battle unimportant - and therefore they don't really have to worry about killing Skather, or Abithraix, or defending the Dawn Way. However, a canny DM will find ways to make them pay for these losses regardless of VP totals.

To reiterate: VPs only determine whether the Horde retreats or counterattacks after Kharn is killed. Nothing else.

[AslanCross]

Indeed, kjones. Thanks for reminding me of that. Victory doesn't always have to be overwhelming. The victory could be a pyrrhic one on either side.

[Rogue 7]

Criminy, I want to play this campaign! This looks like scads of fun, though I'd probably have to DM the damn thing just based on the fact that I've read through all of this.

[AslanCross]

Criminy, I want to play this campaign! This looks like scads of fun, though I'd probably have to DM the damn thing just based on the fact that I've read through all of this.

Thanks for taking the time. :D RHOD is indeed a very good module, though you might notice that I've modified it significantly to suit the needs of my party. The overall idea is great, though, and it really makes for a very engaging campaign.

[AslanCross]

Awesome, awesome session today.

We begin by introducing Loven's replacement, a changeling rogue/swordsage named 20 (though he prefers to be called "Free.") His actual player wasn't around, but a substitute player handles both Holden and Free.

Due to some miscommunication with the original player, Free made many choices that were not only suboptimal, but downright dangerous to the party (Charging Minotaur for a Swordsage who had 10 Strength, for one, 4 ranks only in UMD, and dumped Cha and Wis.) Lyka's player had tried to help this guy make his new character, but unfortunately it seems this didn't work.

In any case, everyone spent about an hour and a half fixing Free (with his original player's permission). After gear was chosen, skill points reassigned, and martial maneuvers re-selected, we were finally able to begin.

Training the Lions

Spoiler

Show

The party decides to go ahead and train the Lions of Brindol for their new and improved careers. Lyka successfully trains Teyani in her new career as a Fighter/Warblade.
Holden, with his short temper, is unable to keep his cool in transmitting his ideals to Wrogann, and fails to give him his Crusader levels.
Kikkeni, crippled by her level loss, is unable to make the DC and rolls low as well, so Narcy remains an ordinary fighter.
Finally, Free passes all his skill checks and successfully trains Jonz as a sniper (somehow).

After seven days' training, the sentries on the wall call everyone's attention to the horizon. The Red Hand has come into view.

The Red Hand troops set up just outside of bow range. Kikkeni, still a bit addled by her recent Raising, champs at the bit and tries to convince the others to ride out on their pet dire lion.

They convince her to hold back, and so they wait.

The Hammer Falls
BGM: The Hammer Falls (Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 OST: Destiny)

Spoiler

Show

The alarm goes up---two artillery teams have begun their bombardment. From the wall, the outlines of three hulking ogres and two enormous warforged titans are visible---the titans are heavily modified, and from the gates Linny can make out that each has one massive arm-mounted cannon powered by human-sized Eberron dragonshards. Each of the titans lets loose a shrieking, wailing projectile that pulverizes the walls extremely quickly.

From their HQ at Brindol Keep, the PCs decide to go after the southern strike team, since they can get there closer.

Before they go, Jaarmath, Ulverth, Immerstal, and Lady Kaal gather the PCs for one last word.

"We're as ready as we'll ever be. If we survive here, then good work, everyone. If we fall, gods help us."

After setting up the Mindlink and Telepathic Bonds, the PCs march out and make a run for it.

The PCs start out 450 feet away from the ogre/titan battery. Lyka makes a run for it on foot, while Holden and Free, mounted on the dire lion (whom Lyka says reminds her of her grandfather), ride out as fast as they could.

Kikkeni and Linny remain behind. Immediately Kikkeni opens fire with her Energy balls, but since she could only hit one of them at a time she focuses on one of the three ogres. The first ogre saves well against the energy balls and is able to survive the first few blasts well, but soon is unable to weather the fire and starts chucking boulders at Kikkeni. The other two ogres and the titans keep up their fire.

By now they realize (and Linny also mentions) that the titans can only fire after three rounds of recharging their dragonshard resonators. It takes a bit of juice to get the dragonshards to reach critical, so they can only fire more or less every 20 seconds (or every fourth round). Linny tries taking potshots at the ogres with Ice Knife, but she's unable to even make their AC.

Before long, the melee characters close the distance. The three ogres go down quickly once the frontliners get to them. The party then focuses its attention on the Titans. At this point, though, Kikkeni wants to conserve her PP and decides to refrain from launching any more projectiles.

Lyka attacks one of them all on her own and wails on it with everything she's got, eventually accumulating enough damage for the titan to un-entrench itself and start trying to stomp her. With its cannon no longer trained on the wall, they party at this point has bought at least a one minute extension on the wall's life span.

Holden, the lion, and Free don't fare against the second titan so well. Their weapons deal miserable damage despite Holden full attacking and using Fight with mount to give his lion full attacks. Even when he did get Elder Mountain Hammer, Holden rolled a natural one and lost his first opportunity to deal significant damage to it. Unfazed, the titan continues recharging and firing. Seeing her companions in distress, Linny decides to use Divine Vigor and make a run for it to get close enough to drop an Earth Reaver on the Titan that continues to fire.

It takes her a couple more rounds to get close enough even with her enhanced run speed, but once Linny fires off the Earth Reaver, the titan fails its reflex save and topples. With their target disabled, Holden, the lion and Free continue their assault.

As the titan gets up, the three take their AOOs against the mechanical monster while Linny follows up reluctantly with a Sound Lance. Though the titan is resistant to sonic damage, the blast rips off a huge chunk of its armor.

Lyka, in the meantime, continues beating on the other titan while sustaining severe injuries from the titan's stomps. With a final Soaring Raptor Strike, she sunders the titan's dragonshard resonator and it goes down.

Holden's lion manages the impossible---winning a grapple check against the titan. This ties up its cannon and prevents it from firing. Free attempts to use Devastating Throw on the titan twice (he wanted to be able to brag about it here), but fails completely---at one point he fails by 1.

Finally, Holden gets Mountain Hammer and bashes the titan's chest cavity in. The titan goes down.

After picking up their loot (a whole bunch of dragonshards from the exploding resonators, some GP, a Minor Schema of Resist Energy and a Robe of Useful Items), they try to contact Jaarmath.

Jaarmath only replies "Oh gods, it's coming! COME QUICKLY!"

Fire in the Night
BGM: Fire in the Night (Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom ~Nuclear Fusion~)

Spoiler

Show

Abithriax---55 feet long, with gold dragonmarks embossed onto his ebon horns, and holding an enormous Red Hand banner in his front claws---flies overhead, roaring a challenge:

"I, Abithriax, Chosen Prince of Tiamat, hereby claim this city in the name of the Dragonqueen! If you wish to dispute my claim, come after me if you dare!"

He then flies over Cathedral square and throws down the flagpole-sized standard into the earth. With the Red Hand now flying over the city, Abithriax begins circling and setting the city on fire, butchering any troops he could get his claws into.

The PCs make a run for it, quaffing potions and casting spells as they went---most notably, Magic Circle Against Evil, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, Fell the Greatest Foe, and Antidragon Aura.

By the time they get into the city, the entire southern district is on fire, and the windstorm (conjured by Ulwai) is causing the fires to spread at a dramatic rate. The inferno raises huge clouds of choking smoke that block out the sky. The party wants to put out the fires first, but knowing that the dragon could easily start them again, they face down the dragon.

However, they unwisely chose to enter and remain in tight formation---as they are unable to spot the dragon through the thick smoke and unwilling to take cover between the burning buildings, they remain in the city street, flailing in panic.

The dragon swoops down over them, uses his Blindsense to pinpoint them, and, swooping out of the smoke, uses his Explosive Metabreath. I roll 49 damage out of 10d10---slightly below average---but this is enough to send Kikkeni to the negatives instantly. Free and Linny also fail and take the full brunt of the blast, while Lyka and Loven save. The lion also fails its save and is dropped to 8 HP out of 60 (it had taken 3 damage from Holden spurring it). The shockwave from the dragonbreath knocks everyone prone. While the dragon is visible, though, Linny notices the multiple dragonmark glyphs orbiting around it and successfully identifies the buffs it has active.

Remembering their Potions of Fly, Lyka and Free quaff theirs while Linny desperately tries to get herself back up to decent HP. Holden spends some time trying to get back onto his mount, only to get swatted by the dragon with a Flyby Awesome Blow. The dragon's attack throws Holden 10 feet from his mount and flat onto his face on the pavement stones. Abithriax then climbs sharply into the smoke.

Linny, in her desperation, uses the second to the last charge on her Staff of Healing to bring back Kikkeni to full HP. However, with the dragon flying too high above the smoke for them, everyone is unable to attack him directly.

Lyka and Free attempt to fly a bit higher, but are still unable to maneuver much. Everyone pretty much fumbles around, flailing and panicking.

Free then decides to make a heroic sacrifice. He flies up to about 30 feet and readies an action to attack the dragon once it gets into range.

The dragon spots him, and takes a bite out of him. With 14 HP left, he drops to -1. And falls to the ground. And craters for 10 damage. Exeunt Free.

Lyka tries to use Soaring Raptor Strike but gets a face full of Dragonmark glyphs as she bounces off the shimmering barrier.

However, this buys the party some very important time---the dragon is now BELOW the smoke and in range. Torn between outright blasting and conserving PP, Kikkeni decides to use Ego Whip, albeit pumped up. She realizes she could take it down through ability damage as well, so fires off a max-augmented Ego Whip.

Before she does this, though, I remember one thing I ALWAYS forget on dragons: Frightful Presence. Everyone but the dire lion makes their saves, so oh well.

Kikkeni she breaches spell resistance.
Abithriax fails his save.
Kikkeni rolls 5 damage.

"You're not as cool as you think you are."

Abithriax, his pride wounded, drops down to 9 charisma. Still a long ways to go, but I realize something important---this shuts down his spellcasting.

The party cheers, and Linny excitedly lines up her Dispel Magic.

And all four of the dragon's buffs---Mage Armor, Shield, Scintillating Scales, and Resist Energy (Cold)---shatter into pieces of arcane detritus.

Another cheer from the party---Free's sacrifice ACTUALLY GOT THEM SOMEWHERE.

Holden quaffs a potion of fly and begins soaring through the air, while Lyka wails on the dragon with renewed vigor. The dragon attempts to knock Lyka out of the sky with Awesome Blow, but fails, and then lands onto the ground.

Linny attempts to punch a hole in Abithriax with Sound Lance, but fails to breach SR. Fearing that the dragon would be able to launch his breath weapon again, Kikkeni runs off to the side and waits for it to move into view.

Abithriax has other weapons at his disposal, however, and with a flourish, smacks his tail into the pavement. Windows along the street shatter and everyone within 95 feet fails their bull rush resist attempts against the dragon and are sent sprawling to the ground. Even the dire lion is knocked down.

Only Holden and Lyka, flying above the ground, are unaffected.

At this point, Abithriax is still at a massive 180+ HP. But Lyka has other ideas. Using Dancing Mongoose, she full attacks---and crits. Piling on her multiple attacks plus Fell the Greatest Foe, Lyka racks up an amazing 91 damage on Abithriax and takes off almost half of his HP in one turn.

I pick my jaw up off the floor. Linny follows up with Earth Reaver, using her Manifest Ethos ability from Paragnostic Apostle to turn its fire damage into sacred damage. Another huge chunk is taken out of Abithriax, and although he isn't knocked prone, he's down to about 71 HP.

Enter Holden and a maul furiously glowing with the Silver Flame's Divine Surge. Crack.

10 HP left. The dragon angrily roars at Holden, vowing to drag him screaming to Dolurrh, and full attacks, taking a -10 penalty to use Power Attack. Only the bite and two wings hit, though (he was lucky the tail didn't bean him) and Holden takes about 50+damage.

Kikkeni tries to finish off the dragon with an Energy Bolt, but fails to breach SR.

Lyka attempts one last full attack, slashing madly. She takes several swipes and finally plunges her longsword into the dragon's heart, ripping its chest cavity open. Dragonmark glyphs erupt into a fiery conflagration around the dragon and begin consuming its body as it lets out a horrible dying roar---until Abithriax explodes.

As the fire and smoke clear, ash rains down from the sky.

Just as Kikkeni laments how she wanted one of the horns as a souvenir, one of the horns indeed comes spinning out of the sky and crashes into the ground.

Kikkeni levels up from the XP.

Commentary

Spoiler

Show

1. Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome. This definitely makes up for the colossal suck that was the Regiarix battle. Everyone was able to contribute meaningfully in this session.
2. The players quip how Free, in his two encounters, was able to contribute far more than Loven was able to do in his entire career.
3. I scrapped the trebuchet---just too much trouble to deal with.
4. The party needs to conserve its resources very well, though---Linny's primary blasting spells are gone, and she's now down one Dispel Magic. Kikkeni still has about 1/3 of her PP left, but that was a bit too much spent in the opening battles. They've got a long way to go, and I think they were a bit too careless in the first one.
5. The sub player has been accepted as an official player now, and is planning to put together a decent sniper. He's done quite well as a player in out past games, so I think he'll be a good addition.
6. I've put together a fair bit of surprises for the coming battles.
a. Streets of Blood will feature a larger number of hobgoblins using indirect volleys pinpointed by hobgoblin dragoons on manticore mounts plus one Doom Hand Confessor (upgraded Doom Hand Warpriest)
b. Berserkers galore and some other nasty martial treats.
c. Still no idea if I should modify the third wave. Probably not.
d. Fourth wave for flavor: spellcasters mounted on a howdah on an otherwise standard warforged titan's back. This might be a bit too much, so the casters will now have to pace themselves as they call on their reinforcements.
7. Lyka. Is. Amazing. She went from meat grinder to adamantine grinder to, as Linny's player calls her, an "anime character."

[d13]

This. Is. Awesome.

I'm suddenly getting, once again, the urge to run this module in Eberron

[Eldariel]

Spoiler

Show

Hm, well, that cut close. The Dragon coming within reach definitely gave the battle a turn of theirs for a change. The Ego Whip really did help too; Scintillating Scales and the magic buffs woulda made hitting 'er MUCH more difficult.

They won, but they won barely. Now they'll have a hell weathering the rest of the Battle. I just wish the casters have got some Wands or Dorjes in the pocket; otherwise they're looking at ½ BAB bows for a while.

That sounded epic all-around. I can't imagine any player NOT having a blast in a session like that. And yeah...Free definitely earned 'er slot, if only for a moment. I only wish they'd have the charge in Wand of Life left to bring 'er back.

[AslanCross]

We all enjoyed it. Everyone played a part in taking the dragon out, and I'm happy with how terrified they were of not being able to even spot the dragon through the thick smoke. The dragon battle was tough as it was meant to be, and I didn't suffer from the awful luck and stupidity that I had in the Regiarix battle.

Kikkeni still has a completely unused dorje of energy ray, and Linny still has a wand of scorching ray, a wand of magic missile, and a wand of ice knife. They're pretty good mook sweepers, at least. She also has a wand of lesser vigor, but that's not going to do much when the consecutive battles come in rounds.

Oh, I forgot something---Linny helped taking down the first Warforged titan with Magic Missile too. Force damage, however little, helps a lot in breaching those guys.

[ShadowFighter15]

You know; if this thread gets popular enough, Lyca could become a Memetic Badass around these forums. She's certainly fulfilled the second-half of that title.

[AslanCross]

You know; if this thread gets popular enough, Lyca could become a Memetic Badass around these forums. She's certainly fulfilled the second-half of that title.

I'm sure her player would love that. Dicing up an adamantine war machine with a big cannon then cutting up a red dragon in the span of less than five minutes without a terribly optimized character is pretty awesome.

[AslanCross]

Streets of Blood

Much ownage, but much pain.

Preparations:
Holden's player was absent again due to parental reasons. Lyka's player was also unable to attend due to the severe traffic between her place and mine; she lives outside of town south of Metro Manila while I live in the North. As such, it's a pretty damn long trip for her. She only gets to come here regularly during school weekends since her university is nearby.

In any case, my new permanent player introduces his rogue sniper character, Nox, by taking potshots at the Red Hand as they enter. The character is pretty well built, and the player knows how to set up sniping, so he pretty did well today. More on this later.

The PCs call on the four Lions of Brindol, who support them and the militiamen in this encounter. The Militiamen are led by Rampant, the warforged subcommander of the Brindol Lion guard.

PCs:
-Holden
-Lyka
-Linny
-Kikkeni
-Nox, incognito, and unseen on a barn's roof (it's one of the buildings in the center of the map). Basically, nobody knows he's there until he actually starts shooting.

The Lion Guard:
-Rampant, Warforged Fighter 2/Warblade 4
-Teyani, Fighter 2/Warblade 2, disarm build with Two-Bladed Sword
-Jonz, Fighter 2/Rogue 2, sniper build
-Narcy and Wrogann, vanilla two-hand bastard sword builds.
-10 militiamen

I put up a barrier made of small Mauly clips and folded index card scraps across the part of the map where the wagon is.


Wave 1: Air Strike

Spoiler

Show

First wave:
-2 Hobgoblin dragoons mounted on advanced manticores
-1 Doom Hand Confessor (Cleric 5/Ordained Champion 3)
-10 Hobgoblin regular archers (mwk composite longbows instead of longswords)

The manticores come in hard and fast, carrying hobgoblin dragoons on their backs and 50 lb rocks. The Doom Hand Confessor appears, already buffed with Divine Power and Divine Vigor, and heads straight for the barricade.

Holden, Rampant and Lyka damage the confessor significantly in the first round, but the two manticores drop their rocks on Holden. Holden takes a wallop from the first rock, but the second misses.

Kikkeni stays prone on the roof of the cottage above the wagon, doing her best to lie low. However, with the manticores overhead, she desides to leap down and join the fray below instead of being plastered on the roof .

Nox sneaks the closest Manticore (his Hide check is 50), dealing significant damage to it.

Before the confessor can get any damage off, he's dropped to critical HP by the mobbing PCs. Jonz takes a few ineffectual potshots while the other three Lions stay behind the barricade.

At this point, one of the dragoons barks out an order in Goblin: "Alright, drop the hammer on 'em!"---and an arrow volley strikes the militiamen. Four are severely injured, and Wrogann takes a hit as well.

Holden leads the militiamen in a concentrated arrow volley on the Confessor, and they actually get in a hit. The Confessor attempts to smite Holden by channeling Contagion into his heavy flail, but fumbles. Lyka cuts him down.

The Manticores retaliate by spraying the defenders with their tail spikes. The four injured militiamen die instantly, plus two more. Improved Natural Attack FTW. The other manticore fires at Kikkeni, Teyani, Wrogann and Narcy, but only lands a hit on Narcy.

A second volley of arrows comes down on Holden, Lyka and Rampant, but only Holden gets hit. Nox takes a second shot at the manticore he shot, and it comes crashing down. Its dragoon jumps off and lands very close to Lyka.

Linny comes out of hiding and blasts the second manticore with blast of force and it fails its Fort save, falling out of the sky. However, it doesn't take enough damage to die and instead lands uncomfortably close to Kikkeni. It ineffectually tries to attack, but Linny knocks it into the negatives with scorching ray.

Although the two dragoons wound Lyka significantly with their halberds, the party's frontliners and Rampant easily take them down.

The hobgoblin archers close in on the street, but Nox drops a glitterdust on them from a scroll. Seven of them are blinded, and the remaining ones, seeing the party tear up their frontliners, beat a hasty retreat, dragging the blinded guys with them.

Wave 2:

Spoiler

Show

-4 Blood Ghost Berserkers (Barbarian 2/Warblade 2)
-1 Blood Ghost Revenant Blade (Warblade 3/Bloodstorm Blade 3)
-1 Hobgoblin Dirgedancer (Fighter 4/Swordsage 2/ Dervish 2)

They remember to call the dire lion, which Holden mounts and moves in front of the barricade.

The Dirgedancer uses her movement speed to blaze her way down the Dawn Way. Holden and Lyka rush to attempt to block her off, and so does Rampant.

Nox drops a scroll of black tentacles on the berserkers, trapping all of them. Since they have decent strength, I decide to actually roll the grapple checks for them so that they could escape. This kind of slows down the game, but it gave a sense of more urgency.

The Revenant Blade appears, having sneaked onto a rooftop with a potion of invisibility, and throws his heavy flail at Lyka. Lyka's player (who was on a YM conference with Holden's player) expresses her shock. The Lions attempt to open fire on the Revenant Blade, but none of them manage to land any hits--26 AC is a tall order even for concentrated volleys.

The Dirgedancer executes Burning Blade and Flashing sun along with her Dervish Dance, scoring a crit on Lyka. Her second and third strikes miss, but the last hits. Lyka drops down to 34 HP from the 70s. Holden attempts to use Battle Leader's Charge on the Dirgedancer, but unfortunately this and the dire lion's pounce all miss.

In the meantime, the berserkers all continue struggling with the tentacles. They don't get much progress until the first one manages to break loose and fight through until the edge of the tentacles.

The Dirgedancer again takes multiple shots at the lion, dancing all the way around it, but deals very little damage. Without burning blade, she's kinda weak. However, she makes it over the barrier.

The Four Lions of Brindol surround her and begin attacking. Linny follows up with a Magic Missile, dropping the Dirgedancer to critical HP.

The Revenant Blade launches his heavy flail again, disarming Holden successfully. Holden climbs down from his mount to pick it up, and re-mounts.

One by one, the berserkers pull out of the tentacles. One bashes Lyka for 25 damage, dropping her to a dangerously low 9 HP. She tries to retreat to Linny for healing. Nox nails one of the berserkers with a scroll of ice lance.

The Dirgedancer retaliates against Wrogann, slicing him down to 12 HP, but Linny finishes her off with a Magic Missile. The Revenant Blade disarms Holden again, and at this point he says "Screw this" and leads his mount to pounce on one of the barbarians who had just whacked Lyka. The lion grapples the brute and begins to dismember him, while Kikkeni puts in some potshots with her dorje.

At this point, one of the barbarians charges the dire lion and drops him to 0 HP, but Holden smacks him and heals the dire lion with Revitalizing Strike. The lion tears the bugbear a new one.

Lyka, refreshed with new HP, jumps across the dire lion's back and executes a Soaring Raptor Strike on the last berserker, and Holden caves in its face with a Falcon punch Divine Surge punch.

The Revenant Blade leaps down, only to be confronted by Rampant, who attempts to smash him into a wall. The bugbear puts up a great fight, though, and refuses to be crushed against a wall.

Lyka and Holden come to support the warforged commander, landing a couple of solid blows, until Rampant finally manages a solid, crushing, Dungeoncrasher with a spray of blood and splinters. Just as the dust clears, a bolt comes careening through the air c/o Nox, finishing off the Revenant Blade.

Wave 3:

Spoiler

Show

-5 Bluespawn thunderlizards
-5 Golin'Dar Outriders

The party regroups, and they send the surviving militiamen into the small gaps between the cottages towards the east side of the map.

Holden, healed up, mounts his lion again and stands with the rest behind the barricades. Kikkeni decides to conserve the remaining dregs of her PPs, and so does Linny with her spells.

The blue rhinos come in. Linny readies a scroll of Web against the first creature that passes through the gap (there's only one narrow choke point where a Web will actually work), while Lyka sneaks up to an alcove and gets ready to stab the next hostile who passes by.

Nox takes a shot at the lead goblin, and lo and behold---the goblin's mount makes its spot check versus Nox's godly modifier. It opens fire with its lightning bolt on the sniper's position, but he manages to evade it fine. The thunderlizard then moves toward the middle, promptly triggering the readied Web.

With the trap sprung, Holden charges forward with his mount and attempts to attack the thunderlizard, but barely lands anything. Then the thunderlizards all light Holden and his lion up. Lightning bolt after lightning bolt streaks across the battlefield, with a couple of bolts actually blazing past Holden, the lion, and the barrier, hitting the defenders behind it.

Kikkeni, failing her reflex save against one bolt, decides to spend some PP to keep herself alive, and raises her Intellect Fortress for herself and Linny. However, the dire lion, scorched and shocked beyond recognition, drops dead. The web is now burnt through, and although the th

In retaliation, Nox and Kikkeni light up the bank of thunderlizards with a scroll of fireball and the last of Kikkeni's energy balls. Most of the riders are killed instantly.

Without their riders, the ornery beasts charge and crash the barrier. Holden runs into a corner after having taken so much damage, but Lyka and Rampant engage the rest.

Lyka grinds up the remaining rider and its mount with a mithral tornado, while severely injuring the other. Rampant beheads another one of the lizards with Emerald Razor + Power Attack, while Wrogann and Holden take out the last two.

The ground begins to shake rhythmically---they've got one round before the final wave.

Wave 4:
BGM: Death Doll

Spoiler

Show

-Warforged titan
-Ruven, Kulkor Zhul War Adept
-Kash-Tari, Doom Hand Confessor

And the final wave marches into view---a hulking warforged titan, with what appear to be bunker spaces on its back. Inside its bunkers are Wyrmlord Kharn's two concubines, working in concert to completely flatten the defenders on the back of their Titan.

As soon as it appears, one of the bunkers launches a scintillating sphere at Lyka, Linny, Teyani and Narcy. The titan then marches straight for the barrier and begins smashing it wide open. Lyka and Holden attack it, with Holden smacking it with Elder Mountain Hammer.

Almost instantly the titan is dropped to 70 HP, but the casters inside hit Holden with a Ray of Dizziness and Lyka with a Moon Bolt. Lyka takes 2 strength damage.

All this time, Nox is lining up a rope and grappling hook as he scampers across the rooftops, attempting to catch the Titan and swing onto its back.

The Titan walks right over the shattered barrier and mauls Holden, dropping him to 13 HP in short order. Lyka drops a Death From Above on the Titan, critically injuring it,
but then the caster inside retaliates with a Ray of Enfeeblement. Ruven rolls high, slashing 7 Strength off Lyka's score. The Titan then beats Lyka into a pulp, dropping her to exactly 0 HP. Kash-Tari drops a Confusion spell on Narcy, Rampant and Kikkeni, all of whom make their saves. Kikkeni runs into the narrow alleyway to take cover from the onslaught.

Lyka, using the last of her strength, tumbles out of the Titan's reach, flopping down onto the ground beside Linny. Linny heals her back up while Rampant runs up to the Titan and stabs his blade into its leg actuators, disabling it.

The titan's systems fail, and it breaks down into a kneeling position in the middle of the Dawn Way.
Just as Holden is about to rejoice, Ruven shoots him (as he is the only hostile visible to her due to the bunker's field of vision) with an orb of electricity.

And crits.

Alas, 47 damage was not enough for Holden's pool to absorb. A huge hole is blown through the dwarf crusader's chest, and he falls flat on his back, dead.

The party is furious, but there's very little they can do. Nox swings onto the back of the Titan and, using a wand of knock pried from Free's body by Lyka, pops the lock--but not before using a potion of invisibility on himself. (At this point I only play out Ruven's and Nox's turns to speed things up.)

He knows Ruven is in there, but he didn't want to reveal himself. Not knowing what to do, he reaches into his Survival Pouch and drops...a campfire at Ruven's feet. She gives herself away, casting Great Thunderclap on Nox. Both of them fail their Fort saves and go deaf.

Nox eventually shoots her to death with his crossbow.

The assassin swings to the other side of the Titan and cracks open the second bunker. Kash-Tari is invisible. Using a waterskin from his Survival Pouch, Nox sprays her with water. The angry cleric, now partially visible, breaks her invisibility by channeling Contagion into her heavy flail, but the rogue ducks underneath it. He begins stabbing her with his dagger quite ineffectively, while the cleric responds by casting Darkfire and burning Nox with it.

Tired of this back-and-forth, Nox grapples her. The cleric attempts to burn him while they wrestle, but Nox successfully prevents her from touching him and pulls her out of the bunker and pushes her off the Titan's wreck and onto the ground.

Rampant finishes her off with his Shocking Fist.

Jaarmath contacts them to check up on them. Just as he gives the PCs the order to fall back, he stops talking. Everyone hightails it to the Cathedral of Dol Arrah.

Thoughts:

Spoiler

Show

That was tiring. Although the session lasted about 5 hours, it took so much brain power that I'm amazed I can write this now.

I'm glad I pared down that last encounter---originally it had a Kulkor Zhul Beguiler and two duskblades. Those would've been killed very quickly.

Holden finally bought it. We're still in the dark as to how to fix this predicament. The party still has a long ways to go, so Linny can't use Raise Dead on him yet. Holden's player is of course disappointed, saying that he loses a character whenever he doesn't come, but I don't think it mattered---he died a fair death. It just wasn't his lucky day.

While the party doesn't have diamonds on them, they have enough GP. However, to get the diamonds NOW, they'll have to broker a deal with Lady Kaal.

Whether or not they ultimately decide to raise Holden, his player will have to use a character in the next couple of battles. I offered to build up Rampant for him, but he says he prefers to make his own character. I told him it would be too much of a stretch if we ass-pull a Lv 10 character out of nowhere---Lv 10 Characters in Eberrron are a rarity and wouldn't be available just like that---ESPECIALLY if they were famous martial or divine characters. Nox had an excuse, at least---as an assassin, it makes sense for him to slip in incognito. In this situation, what would you do and how would you fit in a new Lv 10 character?

We still haven't decided what to do, but the next session won't be for a while. After Christmas break ends, I have a ton of work to finish.

I did take some pictures of the session, though. I shall post them when I have time.

[Eldariel]

Spoiler

Show

I'd force them to purchase a Scroll of Raise Dead. Those...could exist, if in sparse supply, and there may be some around in the city. Given every single person of any note in Brindol probably knows how huge Holden's contributions to stopping the Horde have been (and how big a deal his very presence is), I'm willing to bet if one exists, they should be able to acquire it, especially at a point like this where their very survival is at stake.

Resurrection must wait though; Kharn won't. I'd probably just try to persuade the player into taking over Rampant for that fight, given he's pretty much the only high-level Adept in the city capable of taking a similar role as Holden had.