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Planescapin' - Part 4 -- Written by BlueFlames
[Note: Ragnore and the druid's respective players both dropped. Apparently, one of them was so caught up in the combat chapter of the PHB, that he couldn't fathom the use of a whiteboard in place of a battlegrid. Zah and Elrond were sans player. Zah's player will be back next week, and Elrond's should be back the week after.]
The session opened, this week, with a little more exploration and a lot of poorly timed fire. There had been a room in the north-east corner of the central structure that had yet to be opened up. Saka took the point, poking his head in, and spotting two light catapults. There was also another table, with a vial, much as was in the other room, and a stick. Quin got a lucky spellcraft roll to figure out what the potion did, but there was no telling what the wand did, besides trying to activate it, so he pointed it at an orc corpse, did the best he could to take cover, and tried to activate it.
At this point, the three players present look at me, and Saka's player says he'll kill me if it's just a stick. I was tempted, but there will be time for evil DM'ing later.
Quin handed the wand off to Zah to see if a divine touch would coax it into functioning. It seemed to work well enough at waking the dwarf back up. I'm not sure that necessarily made anybody happy, though, as while he was unconscious, Quin and Saka were working on a plan. Pelgoar walked inside, doused the battering rams in the south-eastern room in dwarven spirits and set them aflame. He didn't really mind that the entire structure was made of wood or that the wall next to the nearest exit was what caught fire immediately after the battering rams. In the other room, Quin, Saka, Elrond, and Zah worked frantically to haul one of the catapults out the back door, with the fire nipping at their heels.
They made it out with one of the catapults and a few large rocks for flinging. The plan was to flush any remaining orcs out of the peripheral structures by raining boulders down on their heads. I hadn't predicted this strategy, mostly because none of the characters had any kind of experience or training with siege weapons. Nevertheless, Quin and Saka started making strength and profession checks to load and ready the catapult for firing against the north-eastern structure. The first shot went long, knocking some timbers out of the fortress' outer wall. The second shot went slightly to the right, dropping through the corner of the building. Satisfied that nothing was going to come running out, Quin snuck over to the building, leaving the sieging of the next building to Pelgoar and Saka.
Inside the door, he saw a recently converted chapel. Heironeous' icon had been pulled down some time ago, and Hextor's had been raised in its place. Quin decided to loot the corpse of the orc that got smushed by the rock (oddly, the only corpse that got looted in the whole session) and start burning the place down. He didn't need to set Zah into a frenzy about the chapel's nature just yet.
Outside, Pelgoar and Saka were having trouble grasping the concept of hefting a rock onto a catapult arm. Quin's expertise (and by that, I mean luck) was the edge they needed against that wily rock. Pelgoar decided this was another time to use spirits as a weapon again, dousing the boulder and lighting it before it went flying at the south-western structure. The walls caught, and the boulder rolled into the edge of a well inside. Quin's ears caught some angry words echoing up from the well. Saka went around to the door on the eastern side of the building, while Pelgoar approached the flaming hole. He stuck his staff in and swung it around. I responded, "There's either nothing in there, or nothing that stupid in there." Saka kicked in the door and found that, beside the fire, the damaged well, and the rock teetering on the edge there wasn't anything in the room. Saka braved the flames just long enough to look down the well, and saw where the side opened into a corridor.
That left the north-west building. They sent a rock into the corner of that one too, to no great effect. There was little more than carts filled with pry bars, hammers, and wooden planks in here, but at the back of the room was a stairwell leading downward. Quin mounted Saka on the way down the stairs (yep, ride checks and all). Both of the sorcerers used Mage Hand to levitate a pair of torches to aid the exploration of the wide hallway that they had found. They didn't get too far before their quarry came charging out of the shadows at Saka.
It was a nasty little half-dragon kobold, with the brightest emerald green skin. Clearly, this was the lieutenant commanding the orcs, according to the intelligence that Lord Kirsching had conveyed earlier. The fight went poorly, with Zah and Saka swinging and missing repeatedly. In fact, Quin's crossbow was second in damage only to Elrond (whose racial enemy choice was paying off). Pelgoar had the brilliant idea to shoot a ray of fire past three allies to try to hit the creature. He ended up setting Saka on fire, much to the dismay of both he and Quin. He made his reflex save to avoid catching fire himself, but failed his quick dismount check, when Saka dropped prone to smother the flames.
The creature took its last shot at Saka on the attack of opportunity for putting out the flames, then darted off, deciding that his current wounds were sufficient for one fight. Elrond dropped his sword, drew his longbow, and waited for Quin to give the word. Quin cast Light on the arrowhead, and Elrond let fly. There was barely a split second to spot their attacker, but they did narrow down his position, and the arrowhead was exposed enough after hitting the wall to provide bright light around the well at the end of the corridor. That's how everyone saw the beast jump into the well.
Everyone ran forward to listen for a splash, squish, or crunch, but nothing came. Above them, the flames roared, but instead of the wind drawing air upward to feed the fire, the breeze was downward, into the well. Nobody wanted to lead at first. Who wants to lead the group to a splattery end, when the DM says, "Falling damage," after all? Ultimately, Quin made a remark about Hextorans, and Zah was down the well, head-first, before Quin could finish his sentence. Saka followed, albeit feet-first. Quin decided that this was one of those situations that veteran adventurers talk about when touting how essential rope is. Pelgoar actually tried repelling down the line first, but missed his climb check, letting his spine lead the way. Quin laughed, then made the same roll, against the same DC, and got the same result. Elrond went down last, rolling a 25 against a DC 10.
In retrospect, I should have grabbed some d6's, just to see how many players I could get to wet themselves. Instead, I went into detailed description of the breakdown of Physics inside a portal. Are you familiar with the stretchy-effect they use in shows like Sliders? That's what I went with, but I spent a good three minutes describing the effect, and the audience was interested in coming back for a second episode.
At that point, it was half-past midnight, so I was content to give them their experience (which I did) and call it a night. They wanted to know where the hell they were, and in retrospect, I should have just left it for the next session, since I don't think I did their first impression of Sigil justice, being visciously sleep-deprived. (I redeemed myself to an extent, e-mailing them an extended description of what they saw.) I'm not the greatest at working entirely off-the-cuff.
Pelgoar, Saka, and some gold turned a surly bartender into a useful source of information. Twenty-five gold for in exchange for a tankard of spirits and a few words seemed too generous to just advise them to find a tout. The main things they were concerned with was a place to stay the night and the direction that their kobold attacker had run off toward. Unfortunately, the kobold made it out the door with nobody paying it any notice, and the streets were packed with merchant booths and shoppers. He did, however, direct them to a house in the Lower Ward, where a friend of his could offer some work and quartering for a night.
Saka did remarkably well following a bar-napkin map with a compass that he didn't understand. Einrik, the owner of the house and the small forge outside, welcomed them in, once his focus was taken off of his work, and explained a situation that had arisen. He explained an area nearby, where a mass of razorvine had exploded through the ground, leaving a massive hole in the ground. Originally, it was thought that part of the Undersigil was beneath the neighborhood, but this turned out to be a crypt, with undead prowling about inside. The party agreed to investigate matters, but required rest first. Inside the house, Einrik moved the dining room table aside and opened a trapdoor to the liquor closet. There were some cots at the end of the hole, but the room was clearly ment for booze, not people.
Exp: 1250 per character (lots of kills, surviving a ballista, and some quest experience).
Loot: Surprisingly little, since nobody bothered to search the dead orcs in the fortress. They only came out with the potions and wand in the end.
Party Deaths: None yet.
Next Friday: Grave robbing and a brief lesson about the Cage.
Go Back to Part 3 ---- Proceed to Part 5
Planescapin' - Part 4 -- Written by BlueFlames
[Note: Ragnore and the druid's respective players both dropped. Apparently, one of them was so caught up in the combat chapter of the PHB, that he couldn't fathom the use of a whiteboard in place of a battlegrid. Zah and Elrond were sans player. Zah's player will be back next week, and Elrond's should be back the week after.]
The session opened, this week, with a little more exploration and a lot of poorly timed fire. There had been a room in the north-east corner of the central structure that had yet to be opened up. Saka took the point, poking his head in, and spotting two light catapults. There was also another table, with a vial, much as was in the other room, and a stick. Quin got a lucky spellcraft roll to figure out what the potion did, but there was no telling what the wand did, besides trying to activate it, so he pointed it at an orc corpse, did the best he could to take cover, and tried to activate it.
At this point, the three players present look at me, and Saka's player says he'll kill me if it's just a stick. I was tempted, but there will be time for evil DM'ing later.
Quin handed the wand off to Zah to see if a divine touch would coax it into functioning. It seemed to work well enough at waking the dwarf back up. I'm not sure that necessarily made anybody happy, though, as while he was unconscious, Quin and Saka were working on a plan. Pelgoar walked inside, doused the battering rams in the south-eastern room in dwarven spirits and set them aflame. He didn't really mind that the entire structure was made of wood or that the wall next to the nearest exit was what caught fire immediately after the battering rams. In the other room, Quin, Saka, Elrond, and Zah worked frantically to haul one of the catapults out the back door, with the fire nipping at their heels.
They made it out with one of the catapults and a few large rocks for flinging. The plan was to flush any remaining orcs out of the peripheral structures by raining boulders down on their heads. I hadn't predicted this strategy, mostly because none of the characters had any kind of experience or training with siege weapons. Nevertheless, Quin and Saka started making strength and profession checks to load and ready the catapult for firing against the north-eastern structure. The first shot went long, knocking some timbers out of the fortress' outer wall. The second shot went slightly to the right, dropping through the corner of the building. Satisfied that nothing was going to come running out, Quin snuck over to the building, leaving the sieging of the next building to Pelgoar and Saka.
Inside the door, he saw a recently converted chapel. Heironeous' icon had been pulled down some time ago, and Hextor's had been raised in its place. Quin decided to loot the corpse of the orc that got smushed by the rock (oddly, the only corpse that got looted in the whole session) and start burning the place down. He didn't need to set Zah into a frenzy about the chapel's nature just yet.
Outside, Pelgoar and Saka were having trouble grasping the concept of hefting a rock onto a catapult arm. Quin's expertise (and by that, I mean luck) was the edge they needed against that wily rock. Pelgoar decided this was another time to use spirits as a weapon again, dousing the boulder and lighting it before it went flying at the south-western structure. The walls caught, and the boulder rolled into the edge of a well inside. Quin's ears caught some angry words echoing up from the well. Saka went around to the door on the eastern side of the building, while Pelgoar approached the flaming hole. He stuck his staff in and swung it around. I responded, "There's either nothing in there, or nothing that stupid in there." Saka kicked in the door and found that, beside the fire, the damaged well, and the rock teetering on the edge there wasn't anything in the room. Saka braved the flames just long enough to look down the well, and saw where the side opened into a corridor.
That left the north-west building. They sent a rock into the corner of that one too, to no great effect. There was little more than carts filled with pry bars, hammers, and wooden planks in here, but at the back of the room was a stairwell leading downward. Quin mounted Saka on the way down the stairs (yep, ride checks and all). Both of the sorcerers used Mage Hand to levitate a pair of torches to aid the exploration of the wide hallway that they had found. They didn't get too far before their quarry came charging out of the shadows at Saka.
It was a nasty little half-dragon kobold, with the brightest emerald green skin. Clearly, this was the lieutenant commanding the orcs, according to the intelligence that Lord Kirsching had conveyed earlier. The fight went poorly, with Zah and Saka swinging and missing repeatedly. In fact, Quin's crossbow was second in damage only to Elrond (whose racial enemy choice was paying off). Pelgoar had the brilliant idea to shoot a ray of fire past three allies to try to hit the creature. He ended up setting Saka on fire, much to the dismay of both he and Quin. He made his reflex save to avoid catching fire himself, but failed his quick dismount check, when Saka dropped prone to smother the flames.
The creature took its last shot at Saka on the attack of opportunity for putting out the flames, then darted off, deciding that his current wounds were sufficient for one fight. Elrond dropped his sword, drew his longbow, and waited for Quin to give the word. Quin cast Light on the arrowhead, and Elrond let fly. There was barely a split second to spot their attacker, but they did narrow down his position, and the arrowhead was exposed enough after hitting the wall to provide bright light around the well at the end of the corridor. That's how everyone saw the beast jump into the well.
Everyone ran forward to listen for a splash, squish, or crunch, but nothing came. Above them, the flames roared, but instead of the wind drawing air upward to feed the fire, the breeze was downward, into the well. Nobody wanted to lead at first. Who wants to lead the group to a splattery end, when the DM says, "Falling damage," after all? Ultimately, Quin made a remark about Hextorans, and Zah was down the well, head-first, before Quin could finish his sentence. Saka followed, albeit feet-first. Quin decided that this was one of those situations that veteran adventurers talk about when touting how essential rope is. Pelgoar actually tried repelling down the line first, but missed his climb check, letting his spine lead the way. Quin laughed, then made the same roll, against the same DC, and got the same result. Elrond went down last, rolling a 25 against a DC 10.
In retrospect, I should have grabbed some d6's, just to see how many players I could get to wet themselves. Instead, I went into detailed description of the breakdown of Physics inside a portal. Are you familiar with the stretchy-effect they use in shows like Sliders? That's what I went with, but I spent a good three minutes describing the effect, and the audience was interested in coming back for a second episode.
At that point, it was half-past midnight, so I was content to give them their experience (which I did) and call it a night. They wanted to know where the hell they were, and in retrospect, I should have just left it for the next session, since I don't think I did their first impression of Sigil justice, being visciously sleep-deprived. (I redeemed myself to an extent, e-mailing them an extended description of what they saw.) I'm not the greatest at working entirely off-the-cuff.
Pelgoar, Saka, and some gold turned a surly bartender into a useful source of information. Twenty-five gold for in exchange for a tankard of spirits and a few words seemed too generous to just advise them to find a tout. The main things they were concerned with was a place to stay the night and the direction that their kobold attacker had run off toward. Unfortunately, the kobold made it out the door with nobody paying it any notice, and the streets were packed with merchant booths and shoppers. He did, however, direct them to a house in the Lower Ward, where a friend of his could offer some work and quartering for a night.
Saka did remarkably well following a bar-napkin map with a compass that he didn't understand. Einrik, the owner of the house and the small forge outside, welcomed them in, once his focus was taken off of his work, and explained a situation that had arisen. He explained an area nearby, where a mass of razorvine had exploded through the ground, leaving a massive hole in the ground. Originally, it was thought that part of the Undersigil was beneath the neighborhood, but this turned out to be a crypt, with undead prowling about inside. The party agreed to investigate matters, but required rest first. Inside the house, Einrik moved the dining room table aside and opened a trapdoor to the liquor closet. There were some cots at the end of the hole, but the room was clearly ment for booze, not people.
Exp: 1250 per character (lots of kills, surviving a ballista, and some quest experience).
Loot: Surprisingly little, since nobody bothered to search the dead orcs in the fortress. They only came out with the potions and wand in the end.
Party Deaths: None yet.
Next Friday: Grave robbing and a brief lesson about the Cage.
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Site Design: SSX-Anubis (based
upon a design by
SSX-Killjoy)
Thanks go to SSX-MS for graphical assistance.
Copyright @ SSX 2007, All Rights Reserved