Date:
2019-11-22Weather:
Cold (session entirely underground)Player Characters:
Elias (Wiggles), Wood Elf Cleric, 378 pointsGarreth (Zuljita), Half-Orc Fighter, 448 points
Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 445 points
Polly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 436 points
Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High Elf Wizard, 452 points
Significant NPCs:
Minia, Human Monster Hunter
3 Duergar Stagehands
Roper
Razor Boar
Bodak
5 Human Prisoners
2 Dwarf Prisoners
We resumed in mid-battle, with the PCs fighting the female human archer with black goggles and 3 duergar. Elias and Seépravir, both around the corner from the enemies, moved toward the fight. Garreth charged forward. The archer fired an arrow at each of Garreth's eyes, and another at his face, but he dodged all of them. All three duergar aimed their crossbows at Garreth. Zaber flew into the room. Polly fired a glowing bodkin at one duergar's vitals, knocking him unconscious and turning him into a light source. She then fired two more bodkins at another duergar, who dodged one and then was killed by the second.
Garreth stepped forward and threw a sai at a duergar, who took a major wound but was not stunned. He then fast-drew a flash pellet (I ruled Fast-Draw Potion could be used for this at a penalty) and threw it in front of the archer, closing his eyes as he threw. Everyone within 10 yards of the flash, except Garreth, made their resistance roll, but still ended up at -3 to DX for 10 seconds. The archer retaliated by loosing three more arrows at Garreth's face, but he dodged all of them. The conscious duergar also shot his crossbow bolt at Garreth's face, but he dodged that too.
Zaber flew forward, still invisible. Polly put two arrows into the last duergar, killing him. She then tried shooting the archer in the arm, but was dodged. Garreth, Great Hasted for an extra turn, went for an All-Out Attack on the archer's arm first, but was dodged. He then made his self-control roll against Bloodlust, and told her that if she surrendered, he wouldn't kill her. Seépravir tried Death Vision, but failed with the range penalty.
Seeing that she had 5 enemies, including one with Missile Shield and one with Great Haste, and no allies left, the archer surrendered and put down her bow, which Polly immediately picked up to see if it was worth taking. She dropped her falchion as well. Zaber asked what the statues did, and the archer said they were just statues of some evil duergar god. Zaber flew over to one and shook its hand, which revealed a steel key hidden in the statue's fist, which he took. He then flew over to the other statue, but it had no keys. Polly made sure all the duergar were dead.
Seépravir cast Possession on the prisoner. This gave her access to her memories. Her name was Minia, and she worked for the duergar as a monster and animal finder, hunter, and handler. This level was mostly just caged prisoners (human, dwarf, animal, and monster), and was pretty safe unless a guard patrol came up from a lower level. The goggles granted Dark Vision, so Seépravir-inside-Minia grabbed the Staff of the Beetle (which also gave Dark Vision) from her own slumped body, then took off the goggles and handed them to Polly. Minia gave a full inventory of her remaining equipment: really heavy (too strong for Polly to draw!) composite bow, fine dwarven large falchion, heavy leather armor with Fortify on it, and a quiver of various arrows.
After a few minutes more interrogating Minia, Seépravir tied her own hands, asked Garreth to keep an eye on Minia, went back to her own body, and cast Hold Breath on herself. Then she went back to Minia's body, and Garreth shoved the unconscious Seépravir into the Bag of Holding.
After a few minutes more interrogating Minia, Seépravir tied her own hands, asked Garreth to keep an eye on Minia, went back to her own body, and cast Hold Breath on herself. Then she went back to Minia's body, and Garreth shoved the unconscious Seépravir into the Bag of Holding.
The group headed south toward the sound of a huge boar with long sharp tusks trying to smash its way through a portcullis. When it saw them (through two portcullises) it tried smashing twice as hard. Polly started threading arrows between two sets of bars, into the boar. That made it even madder, and it went nuts, and succeeded in breaking out of its cage, and started bashing the portcullis right next to the party. While Polly kept filling it with arrows, Garreth started stabbing it between the bars. Eventually, he managed to stab it in the eye and knocked it out. Polly kept putting arrows into the boar for a while, until she was sure it was dead. Zaber picked the lock then lifted the portcullis, and Polly started skinning and de-fanging the boar. For good measure, Zaber ran around a bit and picked a few more locks.
Exploring to the east, Zaber saw a cell with a stalagmite in the middle. That looked suspicious, so Polly put an arrow into it, with no obvious effect. Seépravir cast Sense Danger and thought there was something dangerous nearby. Zaber opened the door. Polly covered the stalagmite with her bow, as Zaber observed it closely. He thought he noticed it move slightly, as if alive and breathing. As Zaber pointed that out, the roper gave up on hiding and fired a strand at Garreth, who dodged. Zaber, right behind Garreth, was also attacked, and also dodged. Seépravir, inside Minia's body, fired Minia's bow, putting an arrow into the ceiling. Polly reacted to the attack by filling the roper with more arrows, slowing it. One of the arrows was a critical hit, and one of its sad attempts to dodge was a critical failure, so the roper fell over. While it was down, the roper shot another tendril at Garreth, but he parried it. Polly fired three more arrows into the slowed, prone, not dodging very well roper, and killed it. Zaber searched the body for loot, but found none. (Prisoners rarely have loot.)
Exploring to the west, Polly and Zaber found a room with several levers. Zaber couldn't resist playing with some of the levers. Pulling one of them, he heard a crash to the southeast. Pushing another, he heard a portcullis winching up. Eventually, he got tired of playing with the levers, and the group went down a cell block passage to the southeast. At the end of the hall was a cell full of human and dwarf prisoners, with an unconscious human trapped under the portcullis, and the others trying to lift it off him. The PCs rushed over to help, and once Polly and Garreth both put their backs into it, they managed to lift it up. There were five humans and two dwarves, apparently prisoners of the duergar. Elias healed the one who Zaber had accidentally dropped a portcullis on, while Garreth tried to hire them to help carry loot back to Cillamar. They led their prisoners back to the guard room full of dead duergar, and let the dwarves put on some duergar armor for protection, and had everyone who wanted grab a duergar weapon. They also gave the prisoners some food.
Not wanting to head back to town yet, they decided to take the prisoners up to the river level and leave them in the care of Vulgaris and the stone giants. On the way there, they walked past a boarded-up cell, and Polly and Zaber wanted to check it out, but was asked to wait until after the prisoners were safe before starting any fights. Zaber pulled off a couple of boards anyway, and saw some extremely ugly undead creature inside, and felt that looking at it let it attack him at a distance. Polly shot an arrow in there, but then Garreth and Seépravir yelled to come and help bring the prisoners upstairs. Polly and Zaber agreed, but Polly said that if the undead escaped it would be their fault. Zaber boarded the cell back up, with his eyes closed.
The group walked their prisoners through the Immense Cavern. At one point they saw a dire tiger in the distance, but it did not approach their large group. When they reached the north end of the river level, Garreth ferried half the prisoners in a skiff, then came back and got the other half. When they reached Vulgaris, there was a bit of discussion about leaving them there for a little while, then the PCs headed back up. One of the giants clearly recognized Minia and was a bit afraid of her. Once they got Vulgaris to agree to babysit the prisoners for a bit, the PCs headed back down to the duergar level. With Flight, the trip back down was much faster than the trip up.
Everyone went back to the boarded-up cell. Garreth started removing boards, with his eyes closed. Polly kept her eyes open and started shooting arrows into the cell. She resisted the attacks from looking at the undead creature. She kept shooting and it kept attacking her at a distance. Eventually, the undead decided it was losing this battle, and hid around a corner. (Foolishly, the duergar made a cell with a hiding place in it.) Zaber started picking the lock. Seépravir decided to skip that step and cast Blink Other on Garreth to put him on the other side of the bars. With his eyes still closed, Garreth advanced around the corner at the undead creature. It attacked him with its fists, while he attacked back with his katana, using his Blind Fighting ability. Zaber readied his crossbow, in case he got a clear shot. But before the bodak came back into Polly's or Zaber's line of sight, Garreth managed to kill it with his katana.
We stopped there, with the party still inside the duergar cell block, not wanting to go back to town.
The Possession spell is a huge pain and I recommend never letting any PC take it.
Monsters in prison cells are not very hard opponents. So this session wasn't very exciting.
Pulling levers at random sometimes has negative consequences. However, pulling levers at random is almost mandatory if you take the Curiosity disadvantage, which is a fun one.
Exploring to the east, Zaber saw a cell with a stalagmite in the middle. That looked suspicious, so Polly put an arrow into it, with no obvious effect. Seépravir cast Sense Danger and thought there was something dangerous nearby. Zaber opened the door. Polly covered the stalagmite with her bow, as Zaber observed it closely. He thought he noticed it move slightly, as if alive and breathing. As Zaber pointed that out, the roper gave up on hiding and fired a strand at Garreth, who dodged. Zaber, right behind Garreth, was also attacked, and also dodged. Seépravir, inside Minia's body, fired Minia's bow, putting an arrow into the ceiling. Polly reacted to the attack by filling the roper with more arrows, slowing it. One of the arrows was a critical hit, and one of its sad attempts to dodge was a critical failure, so the roper fell over. While it was down, the roper shot another tendril at Garreth, but he parried it. Polly fired three more arrows into the slowed, prone, not dodging very well roper, and killed it. Zaber searched the body for loot, but found none. (Prisoners rarely have loot.)
Exploring to the west, Polly and Zaber found a room with several levers. Zaber couldn't resist playing with some of the levers. Pulling one of them, he heard a crash to the southeast. Pushing another, he heard a portcullis winching up. Eventually, he got tired of playing with the levers, and the group went down a cell block passage to the southeast. At the end of the hall was a cell full of human and dwarf prisoners, with an unconscious human trapped under the portcullis, and the others trying to lift it off him. The PCs rushed over to help, and once Polly and Garreth both put their backs into it, they managed to lift it up. There were five humans and two dwarves, apparently prisoners of the duergar. Elias healed the one who Zaber had accidentally dropped a portcullis on, while Garreth tried to hire them to help carry loot back to Cillamar. They led their prisoners back to the guard room full of dead duergar, and let the dwarves put on some duergar armor for protection, and had everyone who wanted grab a duergar weapon. They also gave the prisoners some food.
Not wanting to head back to town yet, they decided to take the prisoners up to the river level and leave them in the care of Vulgaris and the stone giants. On the way there, they walked past a boarded-up cell, and Polly and Zaber wanted to check it out, but was asked to wait until after the prisoners were safe before starting any fights. Zaber pulled off a couple of boards anyway, and saw some extremely ugly undead creature inside, and felt that looking at it let it attack him at a distance. Polly shot an arrow in there, but then Garreth and Seépravir yelled to come and help bring the prisoners upstairs. Polly and Zaber agreed, but Polly said that if the undead escaped it would be their fault. Zaber boarded the cell back up, with his eyes closed.
The group walked their prisoners through the Immense Cavern. At one point they saw a dire tiger in the distance, but it did not approach their large group. When they reached the north end of the river level, Garreth ferried half the prisoners in a skiff, then came back and got the other half. When they reached Vulgaris, there was a bit of discussion about leaving them there for a little while, then the PCs headed back up. One of the giants clearly recognized Minia and was a bit afraid of her. Once they got Vulgaris to agree to babysit the prisoners for a bit, the PCs headed back down to the duergar level. With Flight, the trip back down was much faster than the trip up.
Everyone went back to the boarded-up cell. Garreth started removing boards, with his eyes closed. Polly kept her eyes open and started shooting arrows into the cell. She resisted the attacks from looking at the undead creature. She kept shooting and it kept attacking her at a distance. Eventually, the undead decided it was losing this battle, and hid around a corner. (Foolishly, the duergar made a cell with a hiding place in it.) Zaber started picking the lock. Seépravir decided to skip that step and cast Blink Other on Garreth to put him on the other side of the bars. With his eyes still closed, Garreth advanced around the corner at the undead creature. It attacked him with its fists, while he attacked back with his katana, using his Blind Fighting ability. Zaber readied his crossbow, in case he got a clear shot. But before the bodak came back into Polly's or Zaber's line of sight, Garreth managed to kill it with his katana.
We stopped there, with the party still inside the duergar cell block, not wanting to go back to town.
GM's Comments:
Monsters in prison cells are not very hard opponents. So this session wasn't very exciting.
Pulling levers at random sometimes has negative consequences. However, pulling levers at random is almost mandatory if you take the Curiosity disadvantage, which is a fun one.
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