thanks for the tip against oozes but we dont have a sorcerer or a wizard to throw fireballs at them...
Be careful who's advice you take, brave dwarf.
Mystic-Scholar wrote:
And fireballs work well against most Oozes. Of course, they work just as well against the Dwarves trapped within such Oozes too!
Actually, they don't in Pathfinder. Grey oozes have Fire Resistance 10. That means that every time they take fire damage, it is reduced by 10 points. The first time they (you, Tumak) fought those oozes, they threw flasks of oil on them and lit them with a torch - all to little effect.
Quote:
The only "future" problem I foresee is that spiders are a favorite food item of kobolds . . . creatures with a penchant for living in caves. all the more reason for them to attack your party.
I'll keep that in mind . . . if I should ever learn the Pathfinder "Guidelines." Like I said before, played in Golarion once . . . but someone else DMed.
Didn't realize this was a Pathfinder game. My bad!
Tumak wrote:
. . . we don't have a sorcerer or a wizard to throw fireballs at them...
It's been a while, but we recently found a chance to spend an evening gaming. We hoped for up to six players, but ended up with four plus me, DMing. That was a nice enough number.
Insidious
Participating PCs:
Zeke - 4th level male elven Rogue (he has thrown off the Ranger guise);
Blump Butter - 4th level male gnome Cleric;
Ynohtna Noswal - 4th level male half-orc Ranger;
Dwalt - 4th level male dwarven Barbarian.
As the adventurers gathered equipment to make another foray against the denizens of the Caves of Chaos, they worried that even the four of them would prove less than sufficient to prevail against the surviving bugbears or the Iuzian Clerics and their undead guardians. The answer seemed to come directly from a beneficient god as a Cleric of Pelor approached the group and introduced himself as Akkub. The party had seen him and his acolytes about the Keep during the last month or so and knew that everyone spoke well of him. He briefly introduced his two acolytes and explained that they were under a vow of silence, but that he hoped to accompany the party on their next outing so as to assist them and provide some life experience for his two young wards. The party could see his prominently-displayed Peloran holy symbol and the greatclub he carried upon his back, but asked concernedly about his lack of armor. Akkub smiled slyly and rapped his knuckles upon his chest. The clank of metal demonstrated that his attire was metal, rather than the cloth it appeared to be.
Our adventurers were delighted at the prospect of adding, not one, but three Clerics to their group and, detecting no deciet in the three, welcomed them to the club. Once again, they set off early in the morn to cheerful "Huzzah's!" from the soldiers upon the barbican and traveled peacefully along the road east to the palisaded guard post. After exchanging pleasantries with those guardsmen, they turned due west and made their way toward the ravine wherein lay the Caves of Chaos. Startling a small family of elves heading south for safety, they pointed the way and continued on.
The ravine seemed deathly quiet now. The heroes stealthily made their way to the thicket that hid the entrance to the lair of the buchveer. A narrow path led to the cave, but no guards were apparent.
Zeke carefully searched for traps and discovered a tripwire that would drop a net at the 'T' intersection, but promptly forgot about it after discussing the plan with the rest of the group. Fortunately, he managed to dive back before the weighted net fell upon him. Unfortunately, the clatter alerted the guards, who rushed to face the intruders while calling for back-up.
Though footing was unsure on the floor covered by a net with fist-sized rocks tied into it, the party made short work of the two bugbears that had no chance to outflank them in the hallway. They then turned to face a half-dozen, or so, that rushed them from the other direction, hurling spears before engaging in melee combat. Dwalt and Blump stepped back and, grabbing ahold of the weighted net, pulled with all their might as the first two bugbears stepped upon its other end. They successfully jerked it out from under those goblinoid feet and cast the two beasts onto their backs. The following two (ten foot wide hallway) failed to avoid their fallen comrades and tripped on top of them. All this right in front of the entrance. Thus, Akkub and his acolytes were perfectly positioned to attack the prone buheer. The acolytes were, apparently, unskilled at combat, but Akkub's greatclub smashed down upon one bugbear, slashing its shoulder and sending a spurt of blood Dwalt's direction. Dwalt advanced to chop the bugbears with his dwarven waraxe, but Blump jumped on top of the two in front of him and lept onto the third in line, still standing. His aim was true, this time, and his axe drew blood before he landed skillfully at the bugbear's feet.
Zeke and Ynohtna deduced that their five companions had the seven bugbears they counted easily contained and decided to (split the party ) search the guard room and the stairs up at the other end of the hall. Nothing of interest but a lit fire pit with skewers of meat roasting over it presented itself within the guardroom, but faint sounds could be heard from up the stairs. Zeke snuck to the top and found a door to the west and another locked, iron-bound, door around a corner to the east. Ynohtna quietly snuck up to the western door, where he discerned the noises were coming from. At that moment, that door opened and the bugbear chief emerged armed and armored for a fight. Spotting Ynohtna crouching just outside his doorway, he immediately engaged, slicing him with his own scizor and chopping him with a hand axe. Falling back, down the staircase, Ynohtna defended himself as best he could. Two armed females followed their chief out and Zeke followed them down the stairs after his Ranger friend.
Lesson learned: Don't try to hide in a doorway.
Blump and Dwalt slashed, punched, and stabbed as the bugbears fought to regain their feet and soon found themselves surrounded. Suffering several severe stabs from the bugbears' spears, the gnome managed to maneuver out of the mob to stand beside the dwarven Barbarian. Akkub moved behind them and cast a beneficial spell to empower his allies while his acolytes remained in the entrance attempting to hit the bugbears pushing toward the demi-humans standing firm in the hallway. Blump called a warning and commanded his shield to flash a blinding light, which blinded a few of the bugbears and one of the acolytes, who was slow to realize what the warning meant. Back on the stairs, the half-orc lost the one-on-one confrontation with the bugbear chief and collapsed in a bloody heap on the stairs. At the same time, Zeke cruelly back-stabbed one of the chief's bodyguards/lovers and he and the one remaining turned to face the now apparent elven Rogue.
Leaving Dwalt and the Pelorans to deal with the press of bugbears near the entrance, Blump ran over to heal the Ranger. As he did so, he was unaware that Akkub followed him until the traitor brought his greatclub down upon his back. This strike was painful, but tolerable to the doughty gnome. As Blump turned to face his new assailant, he called for his war dog to help. (Zeke noted the ugly slash the greatclub had left across the gnome's back as he turned.) Unfortunately, his war dog was intercepted by one of the acolytes who was pitifully unable to hurt it, but did manage to delay its assistance. Dwalt found himself surrounded by bugbears and the second acolyte kept casting spells at him that were distracting as he had to mentally fight them off while physically battling the giant goblinoids trying to stab him from every direction.
Akkub in his true form.
Ynohtna opened his eyes to find himself lying on the staircase between two powerful enemies - the bugbear chief and Akkub, who was attacking the gnome. Fearing that trying to stand up while next to those two warriors would only result in him being dropped in a bloody heap again, he instead took a swipe at Akkub's legs with his magical falchion from his prone position and rolled a few feet away. This proved little more than a slight distraction to the false Peloran, however. As the battle progressed, Dwalt called on the inner power of his rage and managed to defeat most of the bugbears engaged with him. Blump's dog tore apart the acolyte flailing at him with a mace, and Zeke dropped the other female bugbear who was trying to outflank him with her chief. At that moment, however, tragedy struck. Akkub swung his greatclub at the gnome's waist and Blump's attempt to dodge the blow was abruptly halted as he stepped into the wall at his back. Nearly being cut in two, just below his breastplate, the gnome fell down the stairs, dead, dead, ... dead.
Blump
Coldy furious, the half-orc Ranger pulled himself to his feet and proceeded to battle the traitorous Cleric, forcing him back down the stairs with overhand blows from his falchion that couldn't all be batted away by the Cleric's greatclub. Ynohtna cut down the offending Akkub, Zeke defeated the powerful blows of the bugbear chief's scizor and hand axe, Dwalt cut down the two remaining bugbears, and the last acolyte, seeing his master fall, turned and fled out the cave entrance. The Ranger called for Blump's war dog to chase him and the two proceeded to catch him and cut him down before he'd exited the thicket outside. Zeke and Dwalt checked Blump for life and, finding none, began to bicker over his magical belongings.
Zeke discovered that his magical sword had been broken in the fight, but the survivors searched the rest of the bugbear caves and discovered some nice treasure and freed some interesting captives. In one prison they discovered some kobolds, a goblin, and some orcs, all of whom they slew without much consideration. They freed a dwarven merchant, two human woodsmen, and two elves who claimed to live in the forest nearby. In another prison room they slew several imprisoned hobgoblins and a gnoll, but spared a bugbear on the word of a barbarous human claiming to hail from the far north. He claimed that this bugbear was imprisoned by the others because he objected to the tribe following the priests of Iuz. (He neglected to mention this was on account of that bugbear remaining true to the worship of Hruggek, his racial deity). The human explained that this bugbear had taught him to speak his language and had become his friend, preventing him from despairing in captivity. Thus, the party allowed the bugbear and barbarous human to leave together on their own recognizance.
Returning the other freed captives to the safety of the Keep, Zeke forked over lots of coin for the repair of his magical blade and the others forked over even more to have Figolwren, the elven advisor to the Castellan, Identify all the equipment they brought back that he detected as magical. They claimed a fine chain shirt of magical mithril from the bugbear chief and a magical (glamoured) black dragonhide breastplate from the body of Akkub (whom they discovered, bore the symbol of Iuz tattooed upon his shoulder). His greatclub ceased its magical disguise upon his death and the heroes discovered that it was a quite useful greatsword, which the Ranger claimed in place of his falchion. They claimed a magical hand axe and the chief's scizor for their friend, Tumak, should he rejoin them. Several potions proved useful, though they weren't quite sure what to do with the six potions of Undetectable Alignment they found upon the body of Akkub. The Bag of Holding full of catnip turned out to be a very nice spoil of the battle.
A merchant returned with a second Bag of Holding that Zeke had previously paid for, cheering the party further. They were awarded much reward for the safe return of the dwarven merchant and all party members not yet members of The Witch is Dead, et. al. guild were given honorary memberships. They then spoke to Abdiel about returning their clerical gnomish friend to life. Sadly, Abdiel appologized for not having the power to cast such a spell himself and explained that the scroll he used on Ynohtna was the only one he had. However, he promised to write a letter of recommendation that he suggested the party take to the temple of Heironeous in either Schwartzenbruin or Chendl, where there was likely to be a Cleric of sufficient power to bring their friend back to life.
Now, they had a hard choice: stay to finish off the threat the Iuzian Clerics posed to the good people of the Keep, or travel to a distant city to Raise one of their lost friends from death.
SirXaris
Last edited by SirXaris on Sat Jun 24, 2023 6:50 pm; edited 10 times in total
Are your players never going to catch a break? They could use one "real" cleric.
And let me add this: In spite of what the Source Materials may say, I've played many types of clerics in my computer game T.o.E.E. and the Cleric of Pelor always fairs better against the Undead -- which you needn't worry about here -- and always has the "most" healing available, which benefits any campaign.
Do you think the next adventure will be any easier?
Tumak, the man works for TPK Games!
What part of "Total Party Kill" do you not understand?
He just told you that you have to face an Iuzian cleric with Undead minions and the man refuses to allow you the ultimate "Undead slayer" . . . a true Cleric of Pelor! No other Cleric destroys Undead as well as does a Cleric of Pelor. I'm amazed that he allowed you to get this far and proud that you guys have actually reached 4th level!
Sir Xaris . . . messed up!
Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha!
I play my computer version of Temple of Elemental Evil quite often. And it's based upon the same Game Mechanics we use here, only, being a computer program, there's no way to "cheat." The computer is the DM.
I've played many Clerics of different Gods. None of them kill off the Undead the way the Clerics of Pelor do. At 9th and 10th levels -- the game goes no higher -- "Greater Turning" destroys them by the dozens.
The game is "turn" based. When surrounded with Undead, I simply "defend myself" until it's the Cleric's turn, then -- "Greater Turning." Poof! No more Undead. The Clerics of other Gods don't do that nearly so well. It's altered the way I play table top with my group. _________________ Mystic's web page: http://melkot.com/mysticscholar/index.html
Mystic's blog page: http://mysticscholar.blogspot.com/
Oh, I know where he works... It's just that Tumak the Mighty never died...nor will he :D
Now that we are level 5 (most of us I think) we are going to get this going. We went to their cave and...well I'll leave it to Sir Xaris to tell you the story I hope it will be soon though...
What part of "Total Party Kill" do you not understand?
He just told you that you have to face an Iuzian cleric with Undead minions and the man refuses to allow you the ultimate "Undead slayer" . . . a true Cleric of Pelor! No other Cleric destroys Undead as well as does a Cleric of Pelor. I'm amazed that he allowed you to get this far and proud that you guys have actually reached 4th level!
Sir Xaris . . . messed up!
Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha!
I play my computer version of Temple of Elemental Evil quite often. And it's based upon the same Game Mechanics we use here, only, being a computer program, there's no way to "cheat." The computer is the DM.
I've played many Clerics of different Gods. None of them kill off the Undead the way the Clerics of Pelor do. At 9th and 10th levels -- the game goes no higher -- "Greater Turning" destroys them by the dozens.
The game is "turn" based. When surrounded with Undead, I simply "defend myself" until it's the Cleric's turn, then -- "Greater Turning." Poof! No more Undead. The Clerics of other Gods don't do that nearly so well. It's altered the way I play table top with my group.
The caves shall flow with the blood of the non-believers.
Here is something I wrote about my dwarf with a little help of Sir Xaris
Long before the discovery of mithril, steel, silver, and gold, the mighty dwarven families used to smith lesser metals. The most famous family was the Whitebeards, and their elder, Kazgrym Whitebeard, was known as the best blacksmith in all the families that used to live under the Copper Mountain. By the time he was 181 years old his arms were weak and, while forging a war hammer, he accidently dipped his beard in the mold filled with copper and his beard was white no more. Since that day, all of his successors naturally started growing copper beards. The rest of the dwarf families living under the Copper Mountain took that as a sign of their god Dumathoin and started honoring the Copperbeard family as royal. It is said that a couple of his hairs fell off in the mold and made the war hammer magic.
Centuries later, Moruk Copperbeard, king of the Copper Mountain and High Herald of Dumathoin, sent his second son Tumak on a dangerous quest in finding the lost enchanted Earthbreaker of Return, forged by Kazgrym Copperbeard himself. Tumak and his younger brother Toruk are the only two direct heirs of Kazgrym Copperbeard and they claim the right of owning it. Now, after decades of it being lost, Tumak had his hands on it, yet it slipped once again. He has vowed to bring it back to the Copper Mountain, and prove his oldest brother’s death (the first son of Moruk died by the hand of giants while chasing after the missing Earthbreaker) to have been worthy of it.
Tumak Copperbeard, in fact, is the direct descendant of Kazgrym Copperbeard, rightful heir to the throne under the Copper Mountain. He is known by many nicknames such as Slayer of the Minotaur, the Mighty Duelist, the Orc Hewer, the Ogre Bane, and (for a short time) Tumak Nobeard. Royal blood rushes through his body, fear is an unknown word for him, and there are stories of his adventures and battles, but no one can tell the whole story except him since none who battled on his side survived to tell the tale. Now, the dwarven noble, disguised as a simple traveler, walks through lands uncharted on dwarven maps.
Edit: During a short interlude, the party traveled south of the Keep into the lands of the Wood Elves. There, they visited a temple of Ehlonna to request that their gnomish friend be raised from the dead. They offered their own witness of the gnome's forthrightness and produced letters from Abdiel, High Priest of the Keep, and Duebidale, the dryad. Ynohtna and Tumak had requested her assistance in this matter when they sought her out to give her the magical cloak that had been promised. A hefty donation (every bit of monetary value the party possessed) to the temple sealed the deal and Blump was returned alive and well to his friends.
The doughty adventurers prepared well for their foray against the Iuzian Clerics known to be lairing within the final cave in the ravine. Akkub's betrayal was keen in their minds, cementing their desire to strike back at Iuz even more so than the deaths of their comrads at the hands of the various humanoids. Eagerly, they made their way to the entrance.
Once there, they made a careful search for traps and, finding none, Zeke crept in. About 30 feet into the passage he encountered a 'T' intersection with a 20 foot wide passageway heading north and south. On either side of the entrance hall, he detected a magical rune, which Blump identified as a Glyph of Warding, a spell which he had recently learned to cast himself. Blump was able to deduce that the magical glyph had something to do with light, but he was not familiar with this particular one. Bill, the new dwarven member of the group solved this first dilema by boldly walking through it. He cringed a bit as the area around him immediately lit up brightly, then had no time to relax as he was attacked before his eyes adjusted to the change in brightness.
Four skeletons and an ogre zombie with a familiar greatsword were waiting for him around the corner. His companions, however, were quick to back him up and rushed in to the fight. They soon realized that they were a little too eager to join in as none of them checked the northern passage as they ran to face the undead to the south. Four more skeletons attacked from the north and the adventurers found themselves surrounded. Never-the-less, the party was quite capable of handling such adversaries and only the ogre zombie proved more difficult than expected. To whit, when its enormous gut was slashed open by multiple hits from axe, scimitar, and greatsword, a host of crawling vermin poured forth from within and assaulted the nearby heroes. An agile dance and some skipping and jumping served to dislodge the vermin swarms before they could make their way within the armor of the half-orc and the Barbarian. Realizing the swarms were very slow-moving, the group decided not to waste spells and resources in their destruction and simply advanced up the north passageway.
At it's end, they discovered a solid oak door, banded in iron to the east, another oaken door in the north wall, and a sloped passageway continuing upward to the west. Zeke cracked open the unlocked door in the northern wall and spied four amored humans preparing to emerge for battle. Stealthily, he shut the door and took up a position to the side. The other party members prepared to meet the assault as well and only one of the four Iuzian Acolytes survived long enough to take a swing with his mace. It was of no consequence, however, as he joined his evil fellows in death very quickly.
After taking a few minutes to loot the bodies of the fallen Clerics and their room, they heard a voice from the top of the stairs call them out, pronouncing a very painful doom upon them. At the top of the sloped passageway to the west, they saw a dark, plate-armored, figure silhouetted by the flickering light of torches behind him to either side. To his left and right hand stood unmoving zombies. Most of the adventurers moved into defensive positions, but Bill, the dwarven Barbarian, decided to put an end to the threats and charged up the slope. A laughing command ending in an unseen sneer behind his close-faced helm kicked the zombies into action. Two to either side of him upended a large barrel of oil, which ran down the slope, covering the floor. This was immediately followed by two torches which flew over the zombie's heads and, landing amid the oil, lit the slope in flames. Bill, managed to slip to a halt and reversed direction as quickly as possible, running back to join his compatriots outside the reach of the burning oil pooling at the base of the slope.
As they waited for the fire to burn itself out, they saw the zombies part and a host of skeletons run down the slope, through the fire, directly at them. Comically, a couple of the front-runners slipped on the burining oil and slid face-first into the fray. This brought down a few others behind them as well and it proved a much less-devastating charge than it may have otherwise been. As the heroes laid into the skeletons with bludgeoning weapons and the flats of their blades, they noted that they continued to burn, though they were no longer within the firey oil and they seemed to be unharmed by the flames. The heat from these burning skeletons, however, caused much discomfort to the heroes.
An evil chanting began to be heard from behind the plate-armored Cleric and his zombies. Blump called on the power of Garl Glittergold to summon positive energy and the skeletons staggered as pieces of bone erupted from their bodies. Blump was quite surprised to note that these skeletons were tougher than expected and not as susceptible to the effects of his channeled energy as normal skeletons. Then, pointing to Blump, the Iuzian spoke the words of a most insidious spell. He said, "Kill him!" None understood the true meaning of the words except Tumak, who immediately felt compelled to obey. Moving behind Blump, the Fighter slashed him across the back with his scizor. Crying out in pain and confusion, the gnome was little comforted by the dwarf's shouted appology.
The battle continued with the Iuzian continuing to assault the heroes with cruel magic from the safety offered by the burning slope. Blump channeled positive energy again and the skill of the warriors eventually brought the burning skeletons low. By this time, the oil on the slope had burned itself out, so the party charged to meet the enemy toe-to-toe at the top. The zombies proved a speed bump, but the Iuzian priest struck back at Bill the Barbarian with equal skill with a viper-headed rod. Fortunately, the sturdy dwarf's constitution withstood the venom injected into his veins with each strike. The top of the slope ended in another 'T' intersection, with passages running north and south again. More zombies and burning skeletons stood in both passages and moved to fill the gaps left by their falling brethren. Blump channeled positive energy twice more during this fight, but wanted to save his final use of the day. Many of the undead succombed to these forceful assaults, but many others largely resisted the effects. The Iuzian called loudly for 'Ragnar'. The iron-bound, eastern door at the bottom of the slope opened and a powerfully built warrior wearing an executioner's hood and wielding a greataxe emerged and charged up the slope to engage Blump.
As the Iuzian retreated step-by-step, Tumak managed to keep up and scored a serious blow beneath the evil priest's armpit. Four Iuzian Adepts leapt to his defense and he was able to retreat behind a sizeable horde of undead. The Adepts were little more effective than the undead at slowing the advance of the adventurers, but Ragnar proved more difficult to defeat. The Iuzian cast a spell that plunged the intersection into darkness, but Blump countered it with a newly learned Daylight spell. The Iuzian Cleric was then seen drinking a couple of potions as he retreated back up the darkness of the northern hallway. Eventually, burned, battered, and bloodied, the party destroyed the last of the undead and Ragnar, the half-orc executioneer, and paused briefly to bind their wounds. Shortly, they advanced north after the Iuzian priest. They quickly searched a barrack, confiscating the valuable dishes and coinage, and contiued their march. Bill noted a secret door in a slanting portion of the passage and hung back to check it out without informing the rest of the party. Discovering nothing but a dusty alcove behind it, he rejoined the others.
Zeke was the first to enter the temple at the end of the hall. Dark tapestries covered the walls of this enormous sculpted temple. A huge bell, three evil altars, and a dais with a bejeweled throne and four lesser chairs only briefly held his attention when dozens of candles burst into reddish flame. Even spying the Iuzian standing, arms upraised, before the throne couldn't distract him from the hypnotizing effect of the nauseating mural on the west wall. Zeke stood frozen to the spot as his companions moved up behind him. Tumak slapped him out of the daze, but succumbed to it himself. The Iuzian commanded him to kneel at the altar, but he forced his mind free of the hold the magic of the mural had on him. He, Zeke, Blump, and Bill all pretended to be enthralled and advanced halfway down the lengthy temple to kneel before the red and black altars. As the Iuzian commanded them to praise his dark lord, Zeke, Bill, and Tumak rose and charged him. A shouted command brought forth a dozen shrine-blessed, burning skeletons and a dozen shrine-blessed zombies from behind doors hidden by the tapestries, cutting off the party's escape. Ynohtna heard the shuffling feet approaching and ambushed the zombies as they emerged. Unfortunately, he quickly found himself surrounded, so Blump and his war dog ran back to his aid.
The Iuzian cleric.
An epic battle ensued between the three heroic warriors and the Iuzian priest. High on the power of several potions and enhancing spells, he battled all three with confidence. Blump used the final channeling power of the day, weekening most of the skeletons and zombies. These had the power of Iuz's temple enhancing them, though, so they were not so easily destroyed. After the exchange of many blows, the skeletons and zombies were mostly destroyed and the Iuzian was seriously wounded. He pulled a potion vial from a pouch at his belt and made to drink it. Tumak was quicker, but the Iuzian deftly avoided the dwarf's attempt to bat it from his hand. Downing the potion caused the Iuzian, armor and all, to disolve into a cloud of gas before the warrior's eyes. Unfortunately for the evil priest, that did not immunize him from the magical blade at the end of the Rogue's arm. The Iuzian solidified in death and dropped unceremoniously to the floor next to the throne.
It was at this point that the insidiousness of the demi-god's power was invoked. Iuz was already displeased at the failure of his priest to prevent the heroes from destroying the army he had amassed behind his enemy's lines. But, he was even more displeased that the heroes had successfully violated his temple. Bill, the dwarven Barbarian, and Tumak the dwarven Fighter, both coveted the plate armor worn by the Iuzian's corpse. They began to argue over who would claim it as spoils of battle. Blump and Ynohtna, being uninterested in the armor, ignored the arguing dwarves and concentrated on healing their wounds. Zeke stealthily sidled over to the throne and worked to remove the gemstones embedded in its backboard. Shortly, the dwarves fell to blows, but none of the other heroes felt compelled to intervene, as the fight had been agreed upon as an honorable duel. A few comments about waiting until they were safely out of the Caves went unheeded by the furious dwarves. Zeke was distracted briefly and broke the most valuable gem, shattering it into hundreds of worthless pieces. This motivated him to concentrate upon his task and ignore the battle completely.
Soon, two zombies armored in banded mail emerged from behind another curtain and assailed the battling dwarves. So enthralled with the greed of Iuz, the two dwarves completely ignored the zombies and continued to attack each other. Blump and Ynohtna raced over and engaged the zombies, defeating them in time to see Tumak's scizor slice open Bill's throat. All out of healing magic, Blump searched for a potion, but discovered that it was too late to save the Barbarian's life.
Bill . . . and Tumak . . . both coveted the plate armor . . . They began to argue over who would claim it as spoils of battle . . . the two dwarves completely ignored the zombies and continued to attack each other.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of Dwarves?
Sir Xaris knows!
Hahahahahahahahaha!
SirXaris wrote:
Four skeletons and an ogre zombie . . . they saw the zombies part and a host of skeletons run down the slope, through the fire, directly at them . . . from behind the plate-armored Cleric and his zombies . . . Soon, two zombies armored in banded mail emerged from behind another curtain . . .
And still that "bastard" from TPK Games won't let you players have a legitimate Cleric of Pelor in your group!
Or are you guys really that dumb?
SirXaris wrote:
An agile dance and some skipping and jumping served to dislodge the vermin swarms . . . Realizing the swarms were very slow-moving, the group decided not to waste spells and resources in their destruction and simply advanced up the north passageway.
C'mon guys! A Magic User/Cleric buys scrolls the way a Fighter/Warrior/Barbarian buys weapons! If you can't cast Fireball, at least purchase a scroll of Fireball! You can "toss it off" over your shoulder as you run!
Trust me, in my game . . . those swarms of vermin are going to be awaiting your return!
Tumak and the guys haven't learned their lesson yet, Xaris . . . kill off a couple of more of them!
I hadn't expected them to be 5th level by the time they took on the Iuzian High Priest, but they had a rough time of it anyway. Blump, the gnomish Cleric of Garl Glittergold, is doing a fine job of channeling positive energy when necessary, saving some for emergencies.
And, if you are familiar with The Keep on the Borderlands, you know that they have a surprise or two awaiting them as they finish searching the Clerics' cave...
. . . if you are familiar with The Keep on the Borderlands, you know that they have a surprise or two awaiting them as they finish searching the Clerics' cave . . .
Oh, yeah!
And by the way, you have permission to throw in a . . .
Unfortunately for the evil priest, that did not immunize him from the magical blade at the end of the Rogue's arm.
It was me who finished him with my ghost touch scizore, not the Rogue...
And just to clarify, I didn't mean to kill Bill, he challenged me on a duel to the death, and I didn't want to kill him I just wanted to get him bellow 0 HP, it's just that he raged and attacked me, and my final blow killed him instead of just putting him down unconscious... I hope the armor is worth it lol
haha - absolutely wonderful SirXaris! Your accounts demonstrate the importance of tweeking the modules to challenge the party. Very entertaining to read. I enjoyed seeing the keep set in the north vs Iuz, as I've run it in the yeomanry facing Wastri in for years. Well done. I also particularly like your treatment of kobolds - i have had similar fun buffing them up so now my friends have learned to dread ( iknow it sounds funny) the kobolds of the Tors. "I think I just saw a kobold ahead" followed by anxious groans and the sounds of weapons being readied. what fun!
Well done - keep it goin - looking forward to seeing what you've done with the "suprises" ahead of them.
Your accounts demonstrate the importance of tweaking the modules to challenge the party.
Yes. It proves, once again, that any module can be run for any level group of characters, it just takes a little work on the DM's part. The DM cannot be lazy.
GreyMaus wrote:
I've run it in the Yeomanry facing Wastri for years.
Interesting, you placed Wastri in the Hool Marshes although he is said to dwell in the Vast Swamp, which is on the other side of the Flanaess. Makes for an interesting game.
Yes, modules can be leveled up, or leveled down and set anywhere the DM likes. Wonderful gaming!
I am very glad that you enjoyed the read. I do like your idea of placing it near the Hool Marshes and using Wastri and his priests as the bad guys behind the gathering of various humanoid races in the Caves. I find it very likely that Wastri has priests in every swamp in the Flanaess. In fact, the presence of his clerics is canonized in the Cold Marshes north of the lands of Iuz, so there's no reason they couldn't also be in the Hool.
I agree with you both, wise Mystic and noble Xaris. I should have been a little more specific. I've not been so diabolical as to have my players actually face Wastri himself in the Hools. They are usually only levels 1-5 or so when doing my version of the keep and caverns. They have faced his priests and assorted followers of his however. I expanded the mound of the lizard men area encounter to give them clues as to the "real evil" lurking later in the shrine of evil chaos (K). I have also adapted the generic evil priests there in order to better suit the Hopping Prophet. Since many of my players seem to be demi-humans I found his hatred of these races fun to play with. Wastri "the Hammer of False Humans" does, I believe, reside in the Sacred Polystery in the Vast Swamps.
Now that I think about it I should start an evil based campaign this summer for my sons and friends. It would be fun to roll up some Bullywugs and Lizardmen and seek a little payback for the attrocites the gray toad has endured over the years.
As the battle between the two supposed comrades ended, Tumak sat down in dejected silence. Blump attended to Bill's body while Zeke searched the lair of the Iuzian High Priest. He discovered an opulently furnished waiting room beyond the curtains the last two zombies had emerged from. He collected a few bejeweled goblets, then continued his plundering in the bedroom through the next door. Within, he found some quite valuable bedsheets and personal paraphenalia, which he deposited into his bag of holding along with the goblets and various gemstones he'd previously collected. Upon opening the wardrobe, a fistful of tiny gems fell out at his feet. After sweeping them up into his hand, he searched the cloaks within until discovering one that appeared quite expensive. Trying it on, he began to itch, then felt those itches turn to pricks and pinches. Quickly discarding the garment, he watched in horror as a swarm of biting insects poured forth from its inner lining.
Blump rejoined the rogue and informed him that the distraught dwarf had decided to return to the Keep and, perhaps, his homeland in the Jotens for a spell. The gnome and half-elf then retraced their steps to the top of the ramp where they had first faced the evil clerics, their undead horde, and Ragnar, the executioner. Just south of that intersection was a room decorated as a temple to Iuz the Evil. Upon the altar sprawled a human male, bound with leather apparently made from the tanned entrails of previous human(oid?) victims. He had suffered myriad small cuts upon his body which allowed his life-blood to slowly eke away, running in rivulets down the sides of the altar to pool in a trough on the floor. Though unconscious, his breathing was perceptable to the two demi-humans. Blump immediately cast some healing spells upon the victim while Zeke set about cutting his bonds.
Having first healed his wounds, Blump was then able to revive the man and learned that he was a paladin of Heironeous recently captured while traveling the road to the Keep. Rickson, as he introduced himself, profusely thanked his rescuers. Just then, he noticed Zeke about to take up the golden unholy objects upon the various shelves at the back of the room and warned the rogue that he could see the evil in those accursed items and strongly advised him not to risk the consequences of laying hands upon them. Though the temptation was great, Zeke chose to heed the paladin's warning and let those treasures go.
Claiming his arms and armor from a storage compartment beneath the altar, Rickson joined his two rescuers. They headed south, bypassing one room to investigate a larger room with skeletal guardians standing at attention on the perimeter. Another long-dead skeletal form slouched upon a throne against the back wall. The cleric and paladin noted the glint of golden gilding upon the bones of the unmoving skeletal guardians while Zeke noted the shine of gems embedded in the throne's tall back. Moving forward cautiously, Zeke approached the throne. Blump and Rickson whispered a warning, but Zeke ignored them. Blump walked over and struck one of the golden ancient guardians a heavy blow with his morning star. It crumpled into fragments at his feet, the clatter of it's halberd, shield, and chain armor echoing loudly down the hallway. After about six seconds of anticipatory cringing, the three relaxed a bit when nothing seemed to come of the commotion.
Zeke resumed his mission to claim the gems and worked to pry one out of the ancient, preserved, wooden throne. As his hands worked and his mind focused on the task at hand, he tried not to be distracted by the sounds of battle as his friends found themselves surrounded by a dozen animated golden skeletons. Blump wisely channeled positive energy, but none of the enemy fell. Small chips and pieces of bone splintered from most of the undead, but they continued their advance and attacked with fury. Battling back to back, the cleric and paladin defended themselves from the incoming blows as best they could while summoning forth the power of the positive material plane as often as their experience and skills allowed their bodies to act as its focus. In less than a minute, the skeletons had all fallen into piles of ancient dust, but Zeke was not prepared for the shadowy hand that reached for his wrist from the back of the throne.
A shadow of blackest night reached forth, ghost-like, from the wood upon which he was working and grasped his wrist with a cold, weakening, grip. Jerking back, the rogue struggled to draw his weapon to battle this new threat. The shadow emerged fully from the throne and followed him, slashing with surprisingly sharp claws made of negative energy. Flailing before him with his magical scimitar, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it cut the creature as if it were flesh and bone. Blump and Rickson rushed over to assist with their own positive energy, but Zeke's holy scimitar successfully cut the thing to ribbons of blackness that quickly faded away to nothingness.
Quickly collecting his wits, Zeke returned to collecting his prize. It was then that Blump noticed a pack of ghouls racing toward them from the direction of the room they had bypassed on their way to this one. Calling a warning, the three made their stand, the holy warriors using up the last of their ability to channel positive energy, and Zeke slipping in behind the pack to cut them down by surprise. They were successful in resisting the paralyzing effects of the few wounds they suffered and Zeke was able to complete the acquisition of the gems.
I am running a DnD Next campaign test play of this module (redone), the characters are
Tyr Njoror Lawful Neutral Paladin (Warden). level 3
Sven Ar'den Lawful Neural Rogue level 3. Jeweller by trade
We are using the Norse mytholgy and have the campaign set in a alternate earth history.
So far the system seems to take me back to the days of 2nd edition, with enough new stuff to make things fun. I enjoy the playtest of DnD Next thus far.
The party managed to make it to level 3 during the first session. Culminated in the two of them taking down an ogre while thoroughly intoxicated. Good times.
The three healed what they could and made their way back north to the door to the dungeons. Following a twisting passage, they came to a barred, iron-bound oaken door with a small, barred window offering a partial view into a prison. From around a corner, a voice attached to two shapely female legs begged to be freed.
Zeke was unsure, but Rickson did not hesitate to open the door. Zeke, however, restrained the paladin with a hand on the shoulder and warned him to tread carefully. Recognizing the wisdom of such caution in the lair of the Iuzian clerics, Rickson moved around the corner with Zeke. Both men allowed their gazes to travel up the shapely legs and along the length of the woman's torso, but a sudden hissing stopped them at that point. Steeling themselves, they refused to look directly into the eyes of the snake-haired medusa chained to the wall. (Both players rolled natural 20s for their saves. )
Though the medusa made an heroic effort to convince the heroes to free her (promising to seek out and destroy every Iuzian she could find and leaving this area forever), they remained unconvinced of her sincerity. Rickson was sure that her soul was blackest evil, nor were Zeke or Blump willing to trust her with her freedom. While Blump remained outside on watch, Zeke moved in to finish her as humanely as possible. In her fury, however, she lunged at her executioner and nearly broke the chains from the wall. Zeke didn't hesitate any longer and simply stabbed as many times and as quickly as he could. One chain broke from the wall before the medusa succumbed to the many wounds inflicted by Zeke's blades and the warriors left the now-empty prison in silence.
Another passage led to a very old door that didn't appear to have been disturbed in recent history. Opening it, they followed a hallway down a long staircase to a tomb. Within were several dozen crypts and a large sarcophagus. Finding nothing of value within the crypts, the three carefully planned the opening of the stone sarcophagus. Weapons drawn, at its head and foot, Zeke and Blump prepared for an undead creature to arise as Rickson positioned himself to the side to push the lid off. With an impressive effort, he succeeded, and their preparations proved wise as a wight rose from within to assault them. The battle was furious, but quick. The three suffered a few scrapes, cuts, and bruises, but the blades of the heroes hewed it into permanently dead pieces and none were permanently overcome by the weakness the undead being's strikes had caused them.
Claiming some ancient jewelry, an equally ancient, but magical sword, and matching helm from the wight's tomb, the three victorious heroes returned to the Keep. There, Zeke informed Tornamir (the Castellan), Figolwren (his elven advisor), and Gelinjay (the gnome scribe) of their success. Rickson paid his respects to Abdiel (the high priest of Heironeous) at the chapel and Blump studied the papers they had recovered from the Iuzian high priest's chambers. When Zeke and Rickson rejoined their clerical friend, Blump gave them a run-down of their options. Apparently, the Iuzian had sent a group of adventurers off to the Cold Fens in search of an Iggwilvian artifact of interest to their demonic master. He had also been in contact with a Count Strahd von Zarovich of a barony in the Clatspurs, made mention of a slaving operation out of the Pomarj, and indicated that other Iuzians were involved in an operation to discover the secrets of the ruins of Castle Greyhawk. But, what interested them most of all was that the Iuzian priest had recorded several instances of cooperation between himself and Sir Bluto. It seemed that the ignoble knight and his men were responsible for sacking the pallisade fort and stealing all their horses, for abducting commoners, and for undermining the security of Lord Locks' realm. There was evidence that Sir Bluto's last employment had sent him to the City of Greyhawk to assist the servants of Iuz that planned to assault the ruins of the castle of the Mad Archmage.
Bringing this information to the attention of Tornamir resulted in copies of the documents being sent to Perrenland where the Hetman confiscated Sir Bluto's lands until he should present himself before the court and offer a defense. Sir Bluto thus became known as Sans Pite (without land/property).
After discussing their options, the heroes decided that pursuing Sans Pite was the best option. They also liked the idea of seeing the famed City of Greyhawk, the Gem of the Flanaess, with their own eyes.
Looks like Blump made it to the end after all. I like how the party had several avenues to explore after finding the clerics journal. I'm looking forward to seeing the next chapter in your campaign.
Thanks, Argon. I just posted the first installment in White Plume Mountain. It has proven quite entertaining for me and the players, though they have felt quite frustrated at times, as well.
he, just fished reading all the kobold battles. Epic, even with kobolds! I loved it.
Thanks, Ragnar. I had a blast pitting those little nasties against the PCs and I think my players had a lot of fun, too, despite learning lots of lessons the hard way.
Well, just getting into this; I'm about halfway actually, but who's counting? Anyway, pretty cool I really like how deadly it is! Is this from the original B2 module and just adapted, or is it the remake one?
To answer your question from the other thread:
I am using the original B2, The Keep on the Borderlands module, but I've added lots of stuff. I took some inspiration from Return to tKotB, but nothing specific - just attitudes of individual NPCs. My inspiration for the ruined watchtower (replacing the Cave of the Unknown) was a map I found online and the original Conan movie. I added Sir Bluto Sans Pite as there wasn't much background on him and he fit as a higher-level foil for the PCs - someone they could love to hate and hunt down in later adventures.
I've had lots of fun with bad guys like the kobolds, the evil cleric in the Keep (whom I named Akkub), Sir Bluto, the Tiger Nomads, and the Mad Hermit.
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I hope we'll finish this soon and get to the next campaign... 
I should start an evil based campaign this summer for my sons and friends. It would be fun to roll up some Bullywugs and Lizardmen and seek a little payback for the attrocites the gray toad has endured over the years.
