So we begin the session in the midst of chaos, an enormous battle unfolding as the final fate of the town is decided. This did take a while to get off the ground, because painfully reassembling the exact locations from last week was not an easy task. But then it began the fight for guts and glory, and before the days end there were a lot of guts.
So the first focus of the action is on the ogre and the engineer dueling, one with a large stick, the other with an even bigger stick. There was an experienced fighter, but he lost a large quantity of his face to the first hit, so was quickly taken out of the fight. The engineer would have easily been brought down and killed, if not for the timely intervention of the High priestess, healing him for as much if not more than he was being damaged. This fight was joined by the totemist, three heads flailing, dealing a moderate amount of damage to the ogre. This fight lasted for a while, and a particularly strong hit from the ogre brought the engineer down to unconsciousness, though he was quickly revived by the priestess. The final blow was an enormously powerful hit from the engineer, severing the ogre in twain, giving the engineer a better, heavier, messier weapon.
On another side of the battlefield the party warlock ran into some trouble with a bear. This bear could climb, and climbed up to where he was, mauling him for significant damage. The warlock fled, as one does, and managed to evade the bear, leading to him landing right in the middle of the two other fronts, read to maul any who came near.
This leads us to the tale of these two fronts, one of wolves and one of humanoids. Be aware these are all zombies, and fast ones at that, think 28 days Later not Night of the Living Dead. So the samurai, with a cleric, fighter, and warrior try to hold off the five wolves, which is made difficult as their barricade is destroyed by fire. This was the result of an ineffective molotov cocktail, and led to just about everyone but the samurai being killed. The wolves smashed their way through the barricade, dealing fairly major damage to all present, excluding the cleric, and then proceed to systematically kill all but the samurai, who is a PC. One critical hits and eviscerates the warrior, another slowly rips apart the cleric, and the fighter is pursued by one as he attempts to flee. This is compounded by the bear.
The bear actually took its time getting down, enabling the other front to be defended for a small while. Six zombies versus a monk, hexblade (The PC), cleric, and warrior. The warrior is the first to go down, right at the same time the bear arrives, clambering over the barricade. He was ripped apart by one of the stronger zombies, after being healed by the cleric, just to hang on a little longer. The hexblade now maneuvers his way over to the bear, and attempts to damage it. These attempts are largely unsuccessful, missing at least twice as much as he hit. Once the monk went down over here it really started to collapse, as had the front line and main defence.
See the front line consisted of sword and shield guys at the front and longspeared commoners at the back, a decent plan, but their first action is to charge the zombies, two of them getting ones and falling or dropping their weapons, and the others missing completely. The zombies responded a bit better, doing significant damage and that was simply the warm up. When the peasants came in is when the real meat grinder started. With no PC backup they were fish food, even with the captain of the guard, he just didn't take up that much room. So the zombies managed to slip around and feast on these commoners, as well as batter down the front line, leaving little left alive. At long last the ogre was slain, and the totemist came to help, but it was pretty much over by that point, only the captain was left alive.
So this looks bad for the heroes, having defeated at most 1/4 of the zombies, and having lost most if not all their NPC help. But all is not lost, as the bear falls due to everyone concentrating on it, eventually simply swarming it, though the hexblade did lose consciousness, he was again brought back up, through all the healing concentrated on him. The zombies were also fairly easily defeated once the main threats had been dealt with, namely the ogre and the bear. So their was victory in the end, at the cost of 3 clerics, 5 commoners, 2 tavern owners, and 5 warriors.
The town leader, high priestess, one lower order cleric, and all the PCs manged to survive. And they leveled up, so all was happy in the end. Though there was still a little something to deal with... Oh right, the necromancer. But that will have to be left until next session, as the week comes to an end, as do the lives of many a brave man.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Snakes, Why did it have to be Snakes
We begin the session as we last left off, in the midst of an epic combat. Our intrepid heroes, (bard, dragon shaman, knight, druid and ranger) fighting an enormous zombified centipede. Also zombified is totally a word, no matter what the spell checker says.
So the fight progresses normally for a turn, hits being exchanged on both sides, nothing abnormal. Then the bard decides to charge in with his 5 health, yes he hit, and for some damage, but something bad was bound to happen. And it did. The bard was ripped in half by the centipede's (Which can have between 20 and 300 legs) mandibles. This was quite a surprise to everyone, especially to me given on average damage I wouldn't kill him, but I rolled max.
So now the dragon shaman stabs him one more time, and manages to take down his one hit point that he had left, and the battle is over. Everyone levels up, yay! Except for the unfortunate bard. So after that is done, and some significant time is spent on it, we proceed to the next great encounter, a wizard descending from the ceiling.
This wizard immediately begins summoning centipedes, smaller ones, but still man sized, and still fairly dangerous. The party decides a fighting retreat is the best way to get out of here, and it almost works, but the knight gets critted by one of the centipedes, and is stunned for 4 rounds, bringing him down and out for quite a while. Meanwhile the others are fighting to the best of their ability, but the wizard is summoning more centipedes, and can not be hurt by arrows or thrown stones.
So the druid runs in and begins dragging the knight, at a whole five feet per round. This does actually end up working alright, as everyone else escapes with their lives, though not much else. They return to there guild for much needed healing, and go looking for a quest, which they decide is better than wandering around aimlessly. But first the druid and the ranger need new animal companions, so they go to a pet store. The conditions at this place, more of a livestock storage area than store are not good, so the druid burns it to the ground while saving the animals, except for a snake who he hates for some reason.
Anyway they find several jobs, but the one that strikes their interest is the rogue guard, not of the rogue class, who has holed himself up with some firearms. The find the place, and try talking to him. This doesn't go so well, as they lost their only member decent at diplomacy, so it is up to them to fight it out. So after attempting to leave the party knight gets shot, and pissed off, and charges the door while trying to smash it down. He gets shot a couple more times for his trouble, but breaks down the door successfully, and we then had to end the session, as real life got in the way.
So the fight progresses normally for a turn, hits being exchanged on both sides, nothing abnormal. Then the bard decides to charge in with his 5 health, yes he hit, and for some damage, but something bad was bound to happen. And it did. The bard was ripped in half by the centipede's (Which can have between 20 and 300 legs) mandibles. This was quite a surprise to everyone, especially to me given on average damage I wouldn't kill him, but I rolled max.
So now the dragon shaman stabs him one more time, and manages to take down his one hit point that he had left, and the battle is over. Everyone levels up, yay! Except for the unfortunate bard. So after that is done, and some significant time is spent on it, we proceed to the next great encounter, a wizard descending from the ceiling.
This wizard immediately begins summoning centipedes, smaller ones, but still man sized, and still fairly dangerous. The party decides a fighting retreat is the best way to get out of here, and it almost works, but the knight gets critted by one of the centipedes, and is stunned for 4 rounds, bringing him down and out for quite a while. Meanwhile the others are fighting to the best of their ability, but the wizard is summoning more centipedes, and can not be hurt by arrows or thrown stones.
So the druid runs in and begins dragging the knight, at a whole five feet per round. This does actually end up working alright, as everyone else escapes with their lives, though not much else. They return to there guild for much needed healing, and go looking for a quest, which they decide is better than wandering around aimlessly. But first the druid and the ranger need new animal companions, so they go to a pet store. The conditions at this place, more of a livestock storage area than store are not good, so the druid burns it to the ground while saving the animals, except for a snake who he hates for some reason.
Anyway they find several jobs, but the one that strikes their interest is the rogue guard, not of the rogue class, who has holed himself up with some firearms. The find the place, and try talking to him. This doesn't go so well, as they lost their only member decent at diplomacy, so it is up to them to fight it out. So after attempting to leave the party knight gets shot, and pissed off, and charges the door while trying to smash it down. He gets shot a couple more times for his trouble, but breaks down the door successfully, and we then had to end the session, as real life got in the way.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Night of the Dead
So today's, (Well yesterday's) session went fairly well, with everything I was hoping for to be accomplished. We started out by finishing off the few zombies from last week, with the cleric character changing back to a samurai, and the ninja changing to a rogue/fighter.
So the zombies are dead, but everyone is on low health, with absolutely no means of healing. Later they discover they have 2 healing potions, but right now they have nothing, and multiple people in the single digits. They press on anyway determined to kill whoever is causing this. Now they come up to a small stone bridge, which they are immediately suspicious of, based on the fact that I actually showed them what was here. So the brilliant warlock thinks there might be something hiding under the bridge, and so climbs his way, under the bridge.
This surprisingly does not go well, as he is attacked by zombies and almost pulled into the water. Here there are 4 zombies, and later a dire rat zombie all intent on killing the party. So two of the water zombies manage to grab onto the warlock, but with a manly scream the others come to help, and manage to pull him out. This is when the real fight starts.
Of course the warlock's first action is to run up a tree and hide. Something which he does admirably. The rest of the party then gets their weapons out and fights for their life. The enemies immediately gang up on the recently changed ninja, bringing him down to fairly low health. This is when the rat comes from behind for a sneak attack, doing a little bit of damage to the engineer.
Now the zombies do actually manage to bring the rogue down, and damage a few of the others bringing some doubt to the plan of continuing on. This is further enforced by the warlock's scouting, seeing at least a dozen zombies, including a bear. So running away is the obvious course of action.
They get back to the town and get healed up by the clerics, essentially running them all out of spell slots for the day. Then they hole up in the inn and prepare for sleep. The next day is when things really get serious, the town defence is prepared and a small militia is created. This consists of about 11 weak guys, 3 clerics, 2 lieutenants, and one leader cleric and one leader fighter. So they have a fairly formidable force, and manage to set up barricades to funnel the enemy down a chokepoint.
Now I had them make spot checks, lots of spot checks to see if they saw anything. This was an attempt to create some tension, I'm not sure how well it worked. Then boom, a large amount of zombies swarm. These aren't ordinary zombies though, they are faster than a normal human, as well as stronger. More like 28 days later than Night of the Living Dead. So they smack into the rogue who was used as bait, and he runs away, leading them into the small line of militia. Wolves now arrive from the west, and an ogre smashes through their barricade to the east. This is unfortunately where it ended, though I hope to resume next session with the same positioning and stuff through use of pictures.
So the party now consists of an engineer 3, Samurai 3, Rogue 1/Fighter 2, Warlock 3, and Totemist 3.
So the zombies are dead, but everyone is on low health, with absolutely no means of healing. Later they discover they have 2 healing potions, but right now they have nothing, and multiple people in the single digits. They press on anyway determined to kill whoever is causing this. Now they come up to a small stone bridge, which they are immediately suspicious of, based on the fact that I actually showed them what was here. So the brilliant warlock thinks there might be something hiding under the bridge, and so climbs his way, under the bridge.
This surprisingly does not go well, as he is attacked by zombies and almost pulled into the water. Here there are 4 zombies, and later a dire rat zombie all intent on killing the party. So two of the water zombies manage to grab onto the warlock, but with a manly scream the others come to help, and manage to pull him out. This is when the real fight starts.
Of course the warlock's first action is to run up a tree and hide. Something which he does admirably. The rest of the party then gets their weapons out and fights for their life. The enemies immediately gang up on the recently changed ninja, bringing him down to fairly low health. This is when the rat comes from behind for a sneak attack, doing a little bit of damage to the engineer.
Now the zombies do actually manage to bring the rogue down, and damage a few of the others bringing some doubt to the plan of continuing on. This is further enforced by the warlock's scouting, seeing at least a dozen zombies, including a bear. So running away is the obvious course of action.
They get back to the town and get healed up by the clerics, essentially running them all out of spell slots for the day. Then they hole up in the inn and prepare for sleep. The next day is when things really get serious, the town defence is prepared and a small militia is created. This consists of about 11 weak guys, 3 clerics, 2 lieutenants, and one leader cleric and one leader fighter. So they have a fairly formidable force, and manage to set up barricades to funnel the enemy down a chokepoint.
Now I had them make spot checks, lots of spot checks to see if they saw anything. This was an attempt to create some tension, I'm not sure how well it worked. Then boom, a large amount of zombies swarm. These aren't ordinary zombies though, they are faster than a normal human, as well as stronger. More like 28 days later than Night of the Living Dead. So they smack into the rogue who was used as bait, and he runs away, leading them into the small line of militia. Wolves now arrive from the west, and an ogre smashes through their barricade to the east. This is unfortunately where it ended, though I hope to resume next session with the same positioning and stuff through use of pictures.
So the party now consists of an engineer 3, Samurai 3, Rogue 1/Fighter 2, Warlock 3, and Totemist 3.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Journey To the Center of the Dog
We begin today's session as everyone is rested up and healed, and now that we have health potions it is time to go back to where we were a few days ago. Again this is for no real reason, just a personal curiosity, some hope to discover something.
Before this however they met a little assassin, intent on taking the orc from a few quests back's life. This was accomplished with a magical arrow, and a nice 20 on the to hit roll. So the assassination a success he tried to flee but was run down by the party knight, though the knight failed his bullrush miserably and was pushed back.
The party ranger then sinks a shot into both the knight and the assassin putting the murderer down, but the knight only down a few hit points. They then left the corpse of their ally and his killer on the street, since they couldn't decide what to do with them otherwise.
So after discovering that they have no idea how to go back to the barrel room they decide to go to the woman's house from before, with the centipedes. Of course they expect no centipedes for some reason, so go in and wander about for a little while. Of course what they do is they run into some centipedes. Specifically 2 large ones and about 6 smaller ones. These are dealt with with a fair amount of ease, but doubt sets in about future combats, especially if there are a large number of them.
Next they wander about for a bit and discover another huge room containing another huge centipede. This one is a little different from the last however, because this one is dead. Well really undead but the point is is that it is different. That, combined with a few other walking corpses make for a moderately difficult fight. This is compounded by the limited area and the party tank having relatively few hit points. The fight starts off with the knight and his KNIGHT'S CHALLENGE against the centipede, giving him a little bonus to attack and damage.
The druid proceeded to use a flaming sphere which just about everyone dodged, then switched to smacking people with his stick. These zombies were headless orc corpses, something which may be relevant in the future. So they managed to fight the centipede to a standstill, winning mainly because they had the action economy enabling them to get 5 hits in for its every one, even if its attacks really hurt. And that is where we ended, the centipede aliveish and kicking, and the party locked in desperate combat.
Before this however they met a little assassin, intent on taking the orc from a few quests back's life. This was accomplished with a magical arrow, and a nice 20 on the to hit roll. So the assassination a success he tried to flee but was run down by the party knight, though the knight failed his bullrush miserably and was pushed back.
The party ranger then sinks a shot into both the knight and the assassin putting the murderer down, but the knight only down a few hit points. They then left the corpse of their ally and his killer on the street, since they couldn't decide what to do with them otherwise.
So after discovering that they have no idea how to go back to the barrel room they decide to go to the woman's house from before, with the centipedes. Of course they expect no centipedes for some reason, so go in and wander about for a little while. Of course what they do is they run into some centipedes. Specifically 2 large ones and about 6 smaller ones. These are dealt with with a fair amount of ease, but doubt sets in about future combats, especially if there are a large number of them.
Next they wander about for a bit and discover another huge room containing another huge centipede. This one is a little different from the last however, because this one is dead. Well really undead but the point is is that it is different. That, combined with a few other walking corpses make for a moderately difficult fight. This is compounded by the limited area and the party tank having relatively few hit points. The fight starts off with the knight and his KNIGHT'S CHALLENGE against the centipede, giving him a little bonus to attack and damage.
The druid proceeded to use a flaming sphere which just about everyone dodged, then switched to smacking people with his stick. These zombies were headless orc corpses, something which may be relevant in the future. So they managed to fight the centipede to a standstill, winning mainly because they had the action economy enabling them to get 5 hits in for its every one, even if its attacks really hurt. And that is where we ended, the centipede aliveish and kicking, and the party locked in desperate combat.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Record Breaking
On the game informer website there has been an attempt to beat the record for most hours on a multi-player fighting game. They are trying for at least 27 hours, and will probably get more. This has inspired me to beat a record of my own. So in the next school holidays I'm planning to gather some friends and beat a record of some kind.
I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to do, but I know I'm going to do it with friends. One idea that has been suggested is to try for the world's longest gaming session. I'm just trying to figure out how feasible this is, and if any of those reading this would be interested.
Of course we'd record this, have some sort of live blog type thing from me, and possibly some video evidence, as well as witness's report, this is all if it is even allowed, which I think it should be. I figure I'll contact the Guinness people and see if it can be legit, and if it is recruit people.
I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to do, but I know I'm going to do it with friends. One idea that has been suggested is to try for the world's longest gaming session. I'm just trying to figure out how feasible this is, and if any of those reading this would be interested.
Of course we'd record this, have some sort of live blog type thing from me, and possibly some video evidence, as well as witness's report, this is all if it is even allowed, which I think it should be. I figure I'll contact the Guinness people and see if it can be legit, and if it is recruit people.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Undead Rising
So this week's sessions were surprisingly crime free, those this one did involve a rather large amount of zombies.
We started off in the small town of Eastbrook, located on the ground in a forest, and under constant assault. The culprits consisting of masses and masses of zombies, rampaging through the town every night for the past week, resulting in a terrified populous, and some adventurers sensing something to do. After asking around town for a while they discover that the town has tried and failed to fight back, and that the zombies have been coming from the east.
They also discover that there is a wizard living at the edge of town, someone they suspect may be involved. A visit to his house results in very little, as he tells them what they already knew, and offers no help nor safety. They wander around for a while, meeting up with a blacksmith who they claim is overcharging for his weaponry, and the party warlock goes off in a huff.
They decide to spend the night at the Wolf's tavern, and see for themselves what is going on. Everyone but the warlock falls asleep and heals, resulting in them ready to face the new day. Fortunately for them the huge swarm of zombies, at least dozens, rushing past are not interested in the tavern, and leave before the morning sun rises. After this, and some bargaining for holy water they set off in a hope to stem the flow of the zombies, putting an end to the worries of the town and hopefully earning a healthy reward.
After marching for about 2 hours with their top tracker, the totemist, they find what appears to be a trap, in that they sprung the zombie trap, as zombies attacked. They were only 2 zombies, but they managed to do a good bit of damage to the party, at the very least shaking them up for the next encounter, which had a good more than 2 zombies.
See these were not ordinary zombies, not like the ones they faced before. These zombies where able to run and were more difficult to hit, as well as able to sustain an enormous amount of damage. So they defeated these leaving the ninja at single digit health, and continued on. The next encounter was with 6 zombies, and some howling in the distance which could mean anything.
It turned out the real villain here was the party's totemist, managing to damage not only himself, but the cleric and engineer too. See this totemist managed to roll 3 ones to hit, and a few more otherwise, dealing enough damage to down the cleric and engineer, though at different times. They still managed to survive with the warlock blasting down from a tree and the ninja shoving a healing potion down the cleric's throat so he could heal, but at the end of the session it was a fairly close fight, a bad indication for their probable future.
We ended the session here as it was getting late. I also would have posted this earlier but I was too busy playing this game, incidentally, I will pay five dollars to anyone who can finish level 19 on the game.
We started off in the small town of Eastbrook, located on the ground in a forest, and under constant assault. The culprits consisting of masses and masses of zombies, rampaging through the town every night for the past week, resulting in a terrified populous, and some adventurers sensing something to do. After asking around town for a while they discover that the town has tried and failed to fight back, and that the zombies have been coming from the east.
They also discover that there is a wizard living at the edge of town, someone they suspect may be involved. A visit to his house results in very little, as he tells them what they already knew, and offers no help nor safety. They wander around for a while, meeting up with a blacksmith who they claim is overcharging for his weaponry, and the party warlock goes off in a huff.
They decide to spend the night at the Wolf's tavern, and see for themselves what is going on. Everyone but the warlock falls asleep and heals, resulting in them ready to face the new day. Fortunately for them the huge swarm of zombies, at least dozens, rushing past are not interested in the tavern, and leave before the morning sun rises. After this, and some bargaining for holy water they set off in a hope to stem the flow of the zombies, putting an end to the worries of the town and hopefully earning a healthy reward.
After marching for about 2 hours with their top tracker, the totemist, they find what appears to be a trap, in that they sprung the zombie trap, as zombies attacked. They were only 2 zombies, but they managed to do a good bit of damage to the party, at the very least shaking them up for the next encounter, which had a good more than 2 zombies.
See these were not ordinary zombies, not like the ones they faced before. These zombies where able to run and were more difficult to hit, as well as able to sustain an enormous amount of damage. So they defeated these leaving the ninja at single digit health, and continued on. The next encounter was with 6 zombies, and some howling in the distance which could mean anything.
It turned out the real villain here was the party's totemist, managing to damage not only himself, but the cleric and engineer too. See this totemist managed to roll 3 ones to hit, and a few more otherwise, dealing enough damage to down the cleric and engineer, though at different times. They still managed to survive with the warlock blasting down from a tree and the ninja shoving a healing potion down the cleric's throat so he could heal, but at the end of the session it was a fairly close fight, a bad indication for their probable future.
We ended the session here as it was getting late. I also would have posted this earlier but I was too busy playing this game, incidentally, I will pay five dollars to anyone who can finish level 19 on the game.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
A Journey From the Center of the Dog.
Today we had what turned out to be a fairly strenuous session, especially for those accustomed to the 15 minute work day.
We started off where we last left off, with the party standing almost fine amongst 4 huge unconscious dwarves. Unfortunately these unconscious guys began getting up almost immediately after the party started celebrating. They had very little health, so were brought down again quickly, but this did not bode well, as they had no real permanent way to bring theses guys down.
Soon after the big bad came clomping his way up, really all he was was a higher level version of what they were fighting, but that didn't stop them from freaking out. So he comes calumphing, which I declare to now be a word, down the hallway, and they all begin worrying. Things are especially bad because the party dragon shaman rolled a 1, which in my group means we reach for the 100 sided die.
See I have a table from one of the dragon magazines giving very interesting results in the case of a critical fail, this being one of them. Unfortunately for the party he rolled high, and managed to critical hit himself, bringing him from a little under half to -6 and dying. Now at this point the boss guy is still down the hallway, so they have a chance to heal the shaman and get out of there.
At this point the bard has only one level one spell left, and the druid only has his magic stones. This is bad, but what is worse is the bard's healing brings the shaman up to -1, 1 less than what he needed to get his healing aura up, healing the entirety of the party. Then things got worse, as the boss charged and brought the party knight down to -1, leaving all the parties meat shields disabled, and a bard, druid, and ranged ranger to fend for themselves.
So the bard challenges the big dwarf to melee, and with a snowflake wardance he manages to charismatically do some damage, especially combined with inspiring courage and some rapid shots from the ranger. And the druid threw his stones. They actually do manage to bring him down, though he brings the party bard to 1 health. Lucky him.
So now they have a very limited amount of time to bring their two heaviest party members away from this place, and up the newly discovered staircase. They manage it with some pulling and pushing, but the party ranger gets brought down to 1, leaving the party's health at -1, -1, 1, 2, and 3, the druid having the most health.
They drag everyone up the stairs, and meet a large centipede, who they manage to defeat without taking a hit, again lucky them. They then go exploring, find some dwarves who give them one healing spell, bringing the dragon shaman up and allowing him to heal them all. So everyone manages to get to half health, and they find the exit emerging into the city proper. They retreat back to the guild and call it a day, though the knight gets fed up and goes to buy 5 healing potions, just in case.
We started off where we last left off, with the party standing almost fine amongst 4 huge unconscious dwarves. Unfortunately these unconscious guys began getting up almost immediately after the party started celebrating. They had very little health, so were brought down again quickly, but this did not bode well, as they had no real permanent way to bring theses guys down.
Soon after the big bad came clomping his way up, really all he was was a higher level version of what they were fighting, but that didn't stop them from freaking out. So he comes calumphing, which I declare to now be a word, down the hallway, and they all begin worrying. Things are especially bad because the party dragon shaman rolled a 1, which in my group means we reach for the 100 sided die.
See I have a table from one of the dragon magazines giving very interesting results in the case of a critical fail, this being one of them. Unfortunately for the party he rolled high, and managed to critical hit himself, bringing him from a little under half to -6 and dying. Now at this point the boss guy is still down the hallway, so they have a chance to heal the shaman and get out of there.
At this point the bard has only one level one spell left, and the druid only has his magic stones. This is bad, but what is worse is the bard's healing brings the shaman up to -1, 1 less than what he needed to get his healing aura up, healing the entirety of the party. Then things got worse, as the boss charged and brought the party knight down to -1, leaving all the parties meat shields disabled, and a bard, druid, and ranged ranger to fend for themselves.
So the bard challenges the big dwarf to melee, and with a snowflake wardance he manages to charismatically do some damage, especially combined with inspiring courage and some rapid shots from the ranger. And the druid threw his stones. They actually do manage to bring him down, though he brings the party bard to 1 health. Lucky him.
So now they have a very limited amount of time to bring their two heaviest party members away from this place, and up the newly discovered staircase. They manage it with some pulling and pushing, but the party ranger gets brought down to 1, leaving the party's health at -1, -1, 1, 2, and 3, the druid having the most health.
They drag everyone up the stairs, and meet a large centipede, who they manage to defeat without taking a hit, again lucky them. They then go exploring, find some dwarves who give them one healing spell, bringing the dragon shaman up and allowing him to heal them all. So everyone manages to get to half health, and they find the exit emerging into the city proper. They retreat back to the guild and call it a day, though the knight gets fed up and goes to buy 5 healing potions, just in case.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Ocarina of Time is the Best Game Ever
Our school decided to have a long weekend for reasons that can not be explained and I had nothing better to do so I decide to replay The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Now I can't quite live blog here, but I can post updates periodically, and that is what I plan to do.
Of interest is this speedrun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKpHukOaBIY&playnext=1&list=PL7C57F4892EFB8C0D , though I won't be doing it quite that fast.
9:00 Started the game. Opening cut scene.
9:22 First Dungeon started, and completed. Stone get.
9:40 Zelda met, time to get a song.
10:22 Second dungeon done.
11:02 Third dungeon done.
11:16 I'm a big boy now, time to do some more dungeons.
12:28 Finished the Forest Temple, this could take a while.
1:38 Had my first death against the boss of the fire temple, then tried again and didn't get hit. So fire temple beat now.
2:05 Ice Cavern finished, stupid sliding block puzzles.
2:12 I'm now going to attempt the water temple unaided by guide or anything, this will not be fun.
4:10 The beast is dead, the water temple is finished, the rest is amazingly easy compared to that.
5:43 Shadow temple done, one more and then final castle.
7:24 Spirit Temple done, just the final castle now.
8:27 Ganandorf's dead, castle destroyed, now to finish off ganon and win the game.
8:35 And Ganon is toast, the game is over. Boy that was amazing. Nice credits sequence and then it's over, time to do side-quests.
This game is still almost as amazing as I remember it, with clever puzzles, good combat, and a decent enough story. It is everything a game should be, thank you Shigeru Miyamoto. Now I don't like to give games perfect ratings, as nothing is perfect, but if I did this game would get it, this game and this game alone. I know that it seems like kind of a short game taking me only 12 hours to finish, but the side-quests and everything take a lot longer and add a lot to the game.
So this is still my favorite game, and I have a feeling it always will be, regardless of how many hours I sink into Team Fortress 2. This is, and will always be the perfect game. If you have never played this game pick it up, even if you have to buy an N64, Gamecube, or Wii to play it it is an absolute necessity. I plan to buy it once it comes out on the 3DS, because owning one copy is just never enough.
So yeah, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, best zelda game, best N64 game, possibly one of the best things every made by humans, go play it.
Of interest is this speedrun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKpHukOaBIY&playnext=1&list=PL7C57F4892EFB8C0D , though I won't be doing it quite that fast.
9:00 Started the game. Opening cut scene.
9:22 First Dungeon started, and completed. Stone get.
9:40 Zelda met, time to get a song.
10:22 Second dungeon done.
11:02 Third dungeon done.
11:16 I'm a big boy now, time to do some more dungeons.
12:28 Finished the Forest Temple, this could take a while.
1:38 Had my first death against the boss of the fire temple, then tried again and didn't get hit. So fire temple beat now.
2:05 Ice Cavern finished, stupid sliding block puzzles.
2:12 I'm now going to attempt the water temple unaided by guide or anything, this will not be fun.
4:10 The beast is dead, the water temple is finished, the rest is amazingly easy compared to that.
5:43 Shadow temple done, one more and then final castle.
7:24 Spirit Temple done, just the final castle now.
8:27 Ganandorf's dead, castle destroyed, now to finish off ganon and win the game.
8:35 And Ganon is toast, the game is over. Boy that was amazing. Nice credits sequence and then it's over, time to do side-quests.
This game is still almost as amazing as I remember it, with clever puzzles, good combat, and a decent enough story. It is everything a game should be, thank you Shigeru Miyamoto. Now I don't like to give games perfect ratings, as nothing is perfect, but if I did this game would get it, this game and this game alone. I know that it seems like kind of a short game taking me only 12 hours to finish, but the side-quests and everything take a lot longer and add a lot to the game.
So this is still my favorite game, and I have a feeling it always will be, regardless of how many hours I sink into Team Fortress 2. This is, and will always be the perfect game. If you have never played this game pick it up, even if you have to buy an N64, Gamecube, or Wii to play it it is an absolute necessity. I plan to buy it once it comes out on the 3DS, because owning one copy is just never enough.
So yeah, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, best zelda game, best N64 game, possibly one of the best things every made by humans, go play it.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
A Little Town Goes a Long Way
Not too much happened in today's session, we started back in the mountains. So after a good night's rest and a level up the party is ready to depart. After heading south for a significant amount of time they come upon a group of kobolds. After a little bit of talk, and deciding just to pass them by they attempt to depart.
This is the kobold's cue to attack, and a swarm of rocks come pelting the party's way. Everyone turns around and a fierce battle ensues. No one in the party actually gets knocked out, though the party ninja manages to miss with a lot of shurikens and the party totemist/grappler manages to be out-grappled by the kobold. The main effect of this was minor wounds to the party, prepping them for their next encounter.
What the party did do was take the kobold leader as their prisoner, tying him up and strapping him on the totemist's back. They proceed south and arrive in a forest, here is where they find the first town for a long time, and they don't think about the kobold, and cart him around the entire town, almost being driven out because of it. So now instead of sleeping in an inn or anything they camp a bit outside the town and settle down to sleep.
Zombies! The party leave the engineer to guard them, and he is sneak attacked by zombies because of his abysmal spot and listen. He figures he can take these two and tries to solo them with his spears. This doesn't end up working too well and he requests help from his sleeping comrades with great prejudice. So everyone is awake, but the battle goes on for quite a while because of the timely arrival of a zombie wolf.
The zombies manage to bring down most of the party to single digits, but no one is actually knocked unconscious, and the rest of the night goes on uneventfully. After they wake up they decide just to kill the kobold that they had worked so hard to keep, because they couldn't decide anything else to do with him. The session started to break down at this point, with some people journeying in to town and others just wandering around.
Sorry that this was brief but I have had kind of a difficult week. So not much happened this session, but I hope for more next week.
This is the kobold's cue to attack, and a swarm of rocks come pelting the party's way. Everyone turns around and a fierce battle ensues. No one in the party actually gets knocked out, though the party ninja manages to miss with a lot of shurikens and the party totemist/grappler manages to be out-grappled by the kobold. The main effect of this was minor wounds to the party, prepping them for their next encounter.
What the party did do was take the kobold leader as their prisoner, tying him up and strapping him on the totemist's back. They proceed south and arrive in a forest, here is where they find the first town for a long time, and they don't think about the kobold, and cart him around the entire town, almost being driven out because of it. So now instead of sleeping in an inn or anything they camp a bit outside the town and settle down to sleep.
Zombies! The party leave the engineer to guard them, and he is sneak attacked by zombies because of his abysmal spot and listen. He figures he can take these two and tries to solo them with his spears. This doesn't end up working too well and he requests help from his sleeping comrades with great prejudice. So everyone is awake, but the battle goes on for quite a while because of the timely arrival of a zombie wolf.
The zombies manage to bring down most of the party to single digits, but no one is actually knocked unconscious, and the rest of the night goes on uneventfully. After they wake up they decide just to kill the kobold that they had worked so hard to keep, because they couldn't decide anything else to do with him. The session started to break down at this point, with some people journeying in to town and others just wandering around.
Sorry that this was brief but I have had kind of a difficult week. So not much happened this session, but I hope for more next week.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Down the Rabbit Hole
We begin the session back at the guild as always, now with a new member of the group, but not party, not yet anyway. So the party realizes they are missing some equipment and head over to their dear friend mister shopkeeper who they don't know the name of. They see him arguing with a large customer, somewhat similar to a dwarf. This is our new party member.
You see he is a half-minotaur dwarf knight. After defusing the situation and giving a discount to this stranger they coerce him into joining them. Happy as a clam to have an actual bruiser in the party they set up to destroy the door that ever thwarted them before. The one they sat around waiting for a day just for something to happen. This time they do manage to break it, only to be surprised by what is inside.
They find two apparent stoners sitting in chairs around a table, as well as 2 doors. In a typically militaristic fashion they proceed to guard the doors to prevent them from escaping, then talk to them. After finding out that they know nothing, they go through the other doors very little. They find a room full of bunk beds as well as one sleeping occupant, after just about everyone leaves the ranger is left alone with the two original guys, who reveal they are a bit more aggressive than expected and attack with daggers. Incidentally the ranger player was not here and was played by the warlock player from the other party.
These sneak attacks manage to deal about half of her health, resulting in some worried players and some screams from the character. This causes everyone to run towards them, and combat begins. The druid runs in and uses flaming sphere to deal a moderate amount of damage to one, and the ranger sprints away as fast as she can. The little rogues now run over and try to stab the druid, resulting in a couple of bad rolls and misses. After some more fire, and the timely arrival of the knight and the battle was over.
Next came some "interrogation" work on the sleeping dude, as he was knocked into unconsciousness and revived multiple times due to the dragon shaman's healing aura. Eventually he revealed that he knew nothing, but the house was a hotspot for people coming and going, so after some investigation work they find a trap door, which the party druid ever reckless immediately opens. A successful reflex save later and he takes no damage, and soon descends into the depths.
After all the party reaches the bottom, with no one falling luckily, they proceed forward into a hallway. Oh look, a pit trap, some one should really think about these things. So everyone falls down, some taking less damage than others, and are in a cage. Of course no cage can hold a man with 20 strength, so a few smacks later and they are out to fight the wardens.
These wardens are giant dwarves similar to the knight, with mutated lumps of flesh for hands, which they use as clubs. Druid uses an entangle hitting two of them, and the bard greases another. Unfortunately, for the party at least, two of them made their saves and come lumbering towards the party. The knight gets knocked down quite a bit of health, brought all the way down to 2, then promptly healed again, and manages to tank it out bringing all of the enemies to unconsciousness and bringing the session to an end.
This was unfortunately a short session, as making the character took quite a bit of time, and we started a bit late anyways. We'll resume it next time as they attempt to escape from their underground prison.
You see he is a half-minotaur dwarf knight. After defusing the situation and giving a discount to this stranger they coerce him into joining them. Happy as a clam to have an actual bruiser in the party they set up to destroy the door that ever thwarted them before. The one they sat around waiting for a day just for something to happen. This time they do manage to break it, only to be surprised by what is inside.
They find two apparent stoners sitting in chairs around a table, as well as 2 doors. In a typically militaristic fashion they proceed to guard the doors to prevent them from escaping, then talk to them. After finding out that they know nothing, they go through the other doors very little. They find a room full of bunk beds as well as one sleeping occupant, after just about everyone leaves the ranger is left alone with the two original guys, who reveal they are a bit more aggressive than expected and attack with daggers. Incidentally the ranger player was not here and was played by the warlock player from the other party.
These sneak attacks manage to deal about half of her health, resulting in some worried players and some screams from the character. This causes everyone to run towards them, and combat begins. The druid runs in and uses flaming sphere to deal a moderate amount of damage to one, and the ranger sprints away as fast as she can. The little rogues now run over and try to stab the druid, resulting in a couple of bad rolls and misses. After some more fire, and the timely arrival of the knight and the battle was over.
Next came some "interrogation" work on the sleeping dude, as he was knocked into unconsciousness and revived multiple times due to the dragon shaman's healing aura. Eventually he revealed that he knew nothing, but the house was a hotspot for people coming and going, so after some investigation work they find a trap door, which the party druid ever reckless immediately opens. A successful reflex save later and he takes no damage, and soon descends into the depths.
After all the party reaches the bottom, with no one falling luckily, they proceed forward into a hallway. Oh look, a pit trap, some one should really think about these things. So everyone falls down, some taking less damage than others, and are in a cage. Of course no cage can hold a man with 20 strength, so a few smacks later and they are out to fight the wardens.
These wardens are giant dwarves similar to the knight, with mutated lumps of flesh for hands, which they use as clubs. Druid uses an entangle hitting two of them, and the bard greases another. Unfortunately, for the party at least, two of them made their saves and come lumbering towards the party. The knight gets knocked down quite a bit of health, brought all the way down to 2, then promptly healed again, and manages to tank it out bringing all of the enemies to unconsciousness and bringing the session to an end.
This was unfortunately a short session, as making the character took quite a bit of time, and we started a bit late anyways. We'll resume it next time as they attempt to escape from their underground prison.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
And now for something completely different
Allways
Once there was a house. In that house there was a door, and in that door there was a allway, and in that allway was a room. Through that room there were some stairs, some stairs that lead nowheres. Why would there be stairs that led nowhere, because there is no real reason anything should lead anywhere.
This allway was dark, devoid of light and life and everything that comes and goes with it. These stairs went here, there, and everywhere, but nowhere all the same. This is a bad place, with bad stairs, bad doors, bad allways, all in the bad house.
I used to live in this ever-cursed house, living a normal life, wife, and kids. But then the door arrived, appeared, and that was when everything went wrong. She didn't want me to go in, the pets neither, but there was something about it, something that draws everything in, into nothing. The draw of exploration called for me to tame the beast, and so I tried. I needed something, an exploration, an explanation. This was all recorded, all this till the end. The first time terrifying, the second exhilarating, and the last ... end.
The dark allways were monstrous in their depth, they demanded meaning, providing none, providing nothing yet taking all. The blackness darker than the darkest night, but on the calling claimed, it would be safe. I went on, and on and on. I don't know how long, the time is different there, the hours, days, minutes, meaningless, doesn't matter anymore. Walls, ceiling, floor, it's all the same in the darkest dark. The rules of this everything no longer apply. The light was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was a glint of hope in the ocean of darkness, the light was nothing, yet everything to some, to me. Back, back from the pit, the other side, the allways.
That should have been the end to it. The thing was explored, done with, all over. But it never ends, the curiosity drives us, drives me, that need for discovery. Why? The cat, Schrodinger was his name, went in, never came back. That should have been the end, the real one. But again, the door lies open, some damn fool wandering inside it.
I thought I was prepared this time, but never, never really prepared. I had a rope, a means to get back, a trail of breadcrumbs, I wouldn't get eaten, I'd be safe. No one knew, none of them understand, this is for me and me alone. It was the darkest part of night and no one knew. The journey began with stairs, it ended with the end, as things are like to do.
These stairs, they were hundreds on thousands on millions of millions. Turning, twisting, whiling away, an eternal hourglass ever-dripping. Stairs are always a way to get up and down, but not these, these are no means to an end, they have no destination, they are the end.
But the end is not the end, not for me, not yet, as the rope strains taught it is time to return, there are those who need me, and return I must. The journey up is easier, the family at the end certainly help, and soon the journey ends, yet no one knew. No one knew how close it came, there at the end.
We went, we went away, away from that place, that house, the allways. But there, at the back, that place you can't quite see, can just barely feel it lie waiting. It came back, there was no stopping it, there never really is. I went back, I told them, they heard, they could not understand, but they heard. And away I went, the door still there, still closed, and now to open for a final time.
Down I go, no safety net, I descend till it ends. It will end, as all things do, even nothing has a limit to the amount it can take. The descent was haphazard, but in the end there it was, a door. Through that door lay everything, everything that no one knew about, just like the door and the rooms and the stairs and the allways and the house.
RIP Joseph Manford Barber III
Once there was a house. In that house there was a door, and in that door there was a allway, and in that allway was a room. Through that room there were some stairs, some stairs that lead nowheres. Why would there be stairs that led nowhere, because there is no real reason anything should lead anywhere.
This allway was dark, devoid of light and life and everything that comes and goes with it. These stairs went here, there, and everywhere, but nowhere all the same. This is a bad place, with bad stairs, bad doors, bad allways, all in the bad house.
I used to live in this ever-cursed house, living a normal life, wife, and kids. But then the door arrived, appeared, and that was when everything went wrong. She didn't want me to go in, the pets neither, but there was something about it, something that draws everything in, into nothing. The draw of exploration called for me to tame the beast, and so I tried. I needed something, an exploration, an explanation. This was all recorded, all this till the end. The first time terrifying, the second exhilarating, and the last ... end.
The dark allways were monstrous in their depth, they demanded meaning, providing none, providing nothing yet taking all. The blackness darker than the darkest night, but on the calling claimed, it would be safe. I went on, and on and on. I don't know how long, the time is different there, the hours, days, minutes, meaningless, doesn't matter anymore. Walls, ceiling, floor, it's all the same in the darkest dark. The rules of this everything no longer apply. The light was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was a glint of hope in the ocean of darkness, the light was nothing, yet everything to some, to me. Back, back from the pit, the other side, the allways.
That should have been the end to it. The thing was explored, done with, all over. But it never ends, the curiosity drives us, drives me, that need for discovery. Why? The cat, Schrodinger was his name, went in, never came back. That should have been the end, the real one. But again, the door lies open, some damn fool wandering inside it.
I thought I was prepared this time, but never, never really prepared. I had a rope, a means to get back, a trail of breadcrumbs, I wouldn't get eaten, I'd be safe. No one knew, none of them understand, this is for me and me alone. It was the darkest part of night and no one knew. The journey began with stairs, it ended with the end, as things are like to do.
These stairs, they were hundreds on thousands on millions of millions. Turning, twisting, whiling away, an eternal hourglass ever-dripping. Stairs are always a way to get up and down, but not these, these are no means to an end, they have no destination, they are the end.
But the end is not the end, not for me, not yet, as the rope strains taught it is time to return, there are those who need me, and return I must. The journey up is easier, the family at the end certainly help, and soon the journey ends, yet no one knew. No one knew how close it came, there at the end.
We went, we went away, away from that place, that house, the allways. But there, at the back, that place you can't quite see, can just barely feel it lie waiting. It came back, there was no stopping it, there never really is. I went back, I told them, they heard, they could not understand, but they heard. And away I went, the door still there, still closed, and now to open for a final time.
Down I go, no safety net, I descend till it ends. It will end, as all things do, even nothing has a limit to the amount it can take. The descent was haphazard, but in the end there it was, a door. Through that door lay everything, everything that no one knew about, just like the door and the rooms and the stairs and the allways and the house.
RIP Joseph Manford Barber III
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Rocky Road
Second party today. We began with what many sessions begin with, the disposing of the body. Of course in this case it was the body of their comrade, the recently deceased warblade guard. The party decided it was not worth the thousand gold to reincarnate him, so off the city he goes. Now they realize they are wanted criminals, and should probably do their best to get out of town so it's time to hop off.
I don't think I've described the world before, so here is the basic description. In this world pretty much all the major cites are situated on the backs of giant animals, like really really big. For example the city this party is in is, called Innisfraught, is situated on the back of an enormous horse like animal. So getting off the city is a bit more involved than just leaving the gates. There plan was to simply jump off the back off the animal, with a friendly wizard casting feather fall so they don't fall to their deaths. Now normally feather fall would not work at such a distance, but this is a slight homebrewed version, such as my lower level create food and water which provides sustenance for the cities.
So they hopped off the city, and landed in the mountains at the northern part of the continent. Now these mountains are fraught with dwarves, kobolds, and gnomes, all fun to play out, and on their journey they met all of these. The party decides to head south, on the basis that the lord of Innisfraught is traveling south with a guard. They plan to help stop any would be attackers hopefully earning the lord's trust and his "rupees". Their first encounter would be with some troublesome gnomes.
See these gnomes were actually sorcerers who used color spray and silent image, which can be used to both knock out and confused the enemy, or in this case the party. So they arrive at a roadblock, (actually illusionary), and are accosted by a gnome, who demands 400 gold for the four of them, which they promptly refuse. They plan to come back at night, and as befits an evil party murder them in their sleep. So the ninja, totemist, and warlock go out to attack some gnomes, leaving the cleric behind to sleep.
This doesn't end so well as the tent they find contains one awake gnome, and after a few failed stealth checks and the ninja sticking his head through the flap resulting in a color spray to the face, and unconsciousness. The totemist then charges straight in, fails a grapple check to a natural 20, and gets color sprayed. The warlock then decides to just break the tent and stabs the gnome for max damage, which with his -2 strength is only 6, but enough to bring the gnome down.
After some cleanup with potions, everyone retreats back, and the warlock decides to hang out on the side of a mountain. I guess the totemist would want me to mention, he punted the gnome's corpse up a tree. So some non common speaking dwarves walk by, and the warlock fires a "non-hostile" eldritch blast over the dwarves head, and their response of throwing axes was very surprising to him. So the rest of the party wakes up and rushes out to fight and fairly easily defeat the dwarves.
Now it's late so I'll be brief. They then ran into the old warblade player playing a dwarf engineer in half plate mech armor. Then they kept going south, found some kobolds, talked to them, then wandered into a kobold's lair, triggered a few traps, found the kobold leader, then were shunted out and we ended it there with a level up. So everyone but the engineer is level 3, though both the ninja and totemist are taking a level of monk. Party now is Warlock 3, Cleric 3, Ninja 2/ Monk1, Totemist 2/ Monk 1, Engineer 2.
I don't think I've described the world before, so here is the basic description. In this world pretty much all the major cites are situated on the backs of giant animals, like really really big. For example the city this party is in is, called Innisfraught, is situated on the back of an enormous horse like animal. So getting off the city is a bit more involved than just leaving the gates. There plan was to simply jump off the back off the animal, with a friendly wizard casting feather fall so they don't fall to their deaths. Now normally feather fall would not work at such a distance, but this is a slight homebrewed version, such as my lower level create food and water which provides sustenance for the cities.
So they hopped off the city, and landed in the mountains at the northern part of the continent. Now these mountains are fraught with dwarves, kobolds, and gnomes, all fun to play out, and on their journey they met all of these. The party decides to head south, on the basis that the lord of Innisfraught is traveling south with a guard. They plan to help stop any would be attackers hopefully earning the lord's trust and his "rupees". Their first encounter would be with some troublesome gnomes.
See these gnomes were actually sorcerers who used color spray and silent image, which can be used to both knock out and confused the enemy, or in this case the party. So they arrive at a roadblock, (actually illusionary), and are accosted by a gnome, who demands 400 gold for the four of them, which they promptly refuse. They plan to come back at night, and as befits an evil party murder them in their sleep. So the ninja, totemist, and warlock go out to attack some gnomes, leaving the cleric behind to sleep.
This doesn't end so well as the tent they find contains one awake gnome, and after a few failed stealth checks and the ninja sticking his head through the flap resulting in a color spray to the face, and unconsciousness. The totemist then charges straight in, fails a grapple check to a natural 20, and gets color sprayed. The warlock then decides to just break the tent and stabs the gnome for max damage, which with his -2 strength is only 6, but enough to bring the gnome down.
After some cleanup with potions, everyone retreats back, and the warlock decides to hang out on the side of a mountain. I guess the totemist would want me to mention, he punted the gnome's corpse up a tree. So some non common speaking dwarves walk by, and the warlock fires a "non-hostile" eldritch blast over the dwarves head, and their response of throwing axes was very surprising to him. So the rest of the party wakes up and rushes out to fight and fairly easily defeat the dwarves.
Now it's late so I'll be brief. They then ran into the old warblade player playing a dwarf engineer in half plate mech armor. Then they kept going south, found some kobolds, talked to them, then wandered into a kobold's lair, triggered a few traps, found the kobold leader, then were shunted out and we ended it there with a level up. So everyone but the engineer is level 3, though both the ninja and totemist are taking a level of monk. Party now is Warlock 3, Cleric 3, Ninja 2/ Monk1, Totemist 2/ Monk 1, Engineer 2.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
A Burning Desire (For Loot)
Today's session was the first party again, and this time someone besides the druid got knocked out, it was very exciting.
We started the session off as we normally do, everybody fully rested inside of their ramshackle shack called a guild. Being the bounty hunters they are they went to the bounty board, an incredibly useful plot device. Advertised was a man driven out of house and home by a glowing, floating ball of light, which the party druid identified as a will o' wisp, not entirely accurate but a good guess.
After confronting the owner of the house and strong arming him for a better reward they departed to his house in the upper class part of town. After arguing about the best way to go inside, and the party druid going all the way back to the tavern, only to find out that the door was in fact, unlocked, they finally get in. Here they see a fairly nice house, and journey into the kitchen to find a glowing purple orb who with the surprise round shoots a ray of energy at the resident tank, the dragon shaman.
What follows is a fairly low key battle, between the CR 1 spark, a cat, and the party. They managed to take down the spark with only two hits, and minimal loss of HP, though the cat proved a bit more trouble. See this was a special cat, one that can fly and spit acid, it is a very special cat. The spark was his too, and this acid takes a minor toll on the party ranger. After dispatching the cat with its huge 2 hit points they proceeded upstairs, only to be greeted by an ambush.
Death cats, a party's worst enemy. These guys are actually CR 1/4, just optimized with some soulmelds. So up the stairs there are 2 cats, one to the front, and one to the back, which resulted in a fairly fun battle, being attacked from both directions. With some above average rolls from the dragon shaman, and some courage from the bard the fight ended well, and then the druid decided that he didn't want to waste his fire from the battle, so the obvious solution was to toss it at the first thing he saw, in this case a large wooden bookcase in the large wooden house. I suppose fire is always fun.
As a further proof the next encounter after claiming their reward is a burning house, not caused by the druid, but by some rats. They actually acted fairly heroic here, going up and even saving an orc from the building, though the party bard was assuming lotr orcs and was fairly surprised they didn't kill it immediately. I suppose I should mention here that the druid was knocked unconscious, yet again. This person may prove to be of some importance later, or not, either way. The key is choice, and their choices will definitely affect what happens next.
Next they retreated back to their "guild" and had a little rest, recovering spells and such. Here they fought an interesting creature called a Necrophidus, a skeletal snake with a human skull. This guy managed to down both the oblivious ranger who managed to roll a 1 on both spot and listen, and bring the bard down to 0 HP, tough he subsequently healed himself, so in the end a good fight was had, bringing everyone up to the next level, after about 13 1/2 encounters.
And here is where we ended it, with everyone leveling up. It seems like it was the party ranger who got the short straw this time, having at least four ones in this session, though I suppose it all balances out given her 4 20s in the other.
We started the session off as we normally do, everybody fully rested inside of their ramshackle shack called a guild. Being the bounty hunters they are they went to the bounty board, an incredibly useful plot device. Advertised was a man driven out of house and home by a glowing, floating ball of light, which the party druid identified as a will o' wisp, not entirely accurate but a good guess.
After confronting the owner of the house and strong arming him for a better reward they departed to his house in the upper class part of town. After arguing about the best way to go inside, and the party druid going all the way back to the tavern, only to find out that the door was in fact, unlocked, they finally get in. Here they see a fairly nice house, and journey into the kitchen to find a glowing purple orb who with the surprise round shoots a ray of energy at the resident tank, the dragon shaman.
What follows is a fairly low key battle, between the CR 1 spark, a cat, and the party. They managed to take down the spark with only two hits, and minimal loss of HP, though the cat proved a bit more trouble. See this was a special cat, one that can fly and spit acid, it is a very special cat. The spark was his too, and this acid takes a minor toll on the party ranger. After dispatching the cat with its huge 2 hit points they proceeded upstairs, only to be greeted by an ambush.
Death cats, a party's worst enemy. These guys are actually CR 1/4, just optimized with some soulmelds. So up the stairs there are 2 cats, one to the front, and one to the back, which resulted in a fairly fun battle, being attacked from both directions. With some above average rolls from the dragon shaman, and some courage from the bard the fight ended well, and then the druid decided that he didn't want to waste his fire from the battle, so the obvious solution was to toss it at the first thing he saw, in this case a large wooden bookcase in the large wooden house. I suppose fire is always fun.
As a further proof the next encounter after claiming their reward is a burning house, not caused by the druid, but by some rats. They actually acted fairly heroic here, going up and even saving an orc from the building, though the party bard was assuming lotr orcs and was fairly surprised they didn't kill it immediately. I suppose I should mention here that the druid was knocked unconscious, yet again. This person may prove to be of some importance later, or not, either way. The key is choice, and their choices will definitely affect what happens next.
Next they retreated back to their "guild" and had a little rest, recovering spells and such. Here they fought an interesting creature called a Necrophidus, a skeletal snake with a human skull. This guy managed to down both the oblivious ranger who managed to roll a 1 on both spot and listen, and bring the bard down to 0 HP, tough he subsequently healed himself, so in the end a good fight was had, bringing everyone up to the next level, after about 13 1/2 encounters.
And here is where we ended it, with everyone leveling up. It seems like it was the party ranger who got the short straw this time, having at least four ones in this session, though I suppose it all balances out given her 4 20s in the other.
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