Friday night, and Saturday, somehow the gang managed to get together for quite a long Pathfinder session. Or perhaps I should correct myself to saying two Pathfinder sessions - since it was over two days, separated by an amount of sleep which was entirely not enough to GM off after a week of coding.
Nevertheless, we didn't get quite as much done as I had hoped, but fun was still had. Also, my fear that my players would simply stomp everything I was provided with by the Adventure Path was quelled, but more on that in a moment.
The session began with the group attempting to open the Wave Door - where a long-since-dead Pathfinder had stashed some supplies to assist whomever was involved in future attempts to secure Delvehaven. After finding the door (which proved quite simple due to two thirds of the party having insane Survival skills), they dealt with the crappy weakling shadows waiting for them, and got into the door. After being foiled by a locked chest, they decided the best course of action was to break the thing open. This worked perfectly - and they were rewarded with some notes, scrolls and potions. Hooray!
The next day was the prepared match at the Devildrome, where the group decided to send Dorn in to contend with Spammy McSpamalot (not his real name) 's army of summoned lemures. After intimidating the conjurer into losing two of his summon spells (which severely simplified the battle), he utterly stomped the lemures that managed to appear on the scene - enraging the summoner who decided the best course of action was to jump in the ring himself. He didn't last too long, though he did manage to deal a decent amount of damage to Dorn via the use of Acid Arrow spells. After restraining him, the group were awarded with their meeting with Ghaelfin - a passed Pathfinder who they intended to use a Grave Candle on to get some information about Delvehaven from.
Unfortunately, old Ghaelfin wasn't very useful. He was able to confirm the location of Coriana (which was a moot point considering they had already rescued her ashes from the Asmodean nuns), and to tell them that he believed Loremaster Liriam and Donatalus Bisby had left Westcrown, and teleported to the country of Absalom. This information conflicted with other information they had received... so who was to be believed? Was somebody lying, or is someone simply mistaken?
I'm not telling you. Not yet, anyway. I can't have the players read this and be spoilt can I? :P
The next day, they ventured into Delvehaven. This is where things got a little hairy for the players. After the party split (mainly due to Sarah getting bored whilst Mark and Andrew discussed things), a certain rogue (Sian!) appeared, looking for vengeance, appeared, stabbed Dorn, and then disappeared again. After regrouping, and tracking her to the library, she reappered and stabbed Azelia this time. After a few more rounds of combat, Sian fell - though she did manage to deal a decent amount of damage in the time.
The party then decided it was time to read - and they each had some memories of past Pathfinders imparted to them magically via books. This had the side effect of traumatising them slightly, however, the benefits were completely worth it. Permanent bonuses to certain skills, depending upon the book read! Azelia was unlucky in this regard - she learnt Draconic from her book. Being a Draconic bloodline sorceress, she already knew the language!
They opened the door to the next room, and were confronted by a large Triceratops skeleton. Wisely closing the door, the group decided to look upstairs.
Upstairs, they found the vanity room, where a water elemental had been bound to act as a mirror. Of course, over time, it became corrupted, and when Azelia looked into the water, the elemental attacked! After trying to escape over a rope bridge in the next area (which broke - dumping Azelia into a courtyard), the group managed to destroy the elemental - again which dealt some decent damage to the party via the use of power attacks and a high AC - although its inability to leave the pool it was bound to ultimately became its undoing. However, they had successfully avoided the triceratops room - since that was the room directly below them at this point.
Down in the courtyard, the group found some tiny toys which had malevolent spirits imbued in them - a tribal fetish; a teddy bear; a girls doll; a straw man and a dragon. After some fairly interesting (but ultimately simple) combat (mainly due to my forgetting that the long grass gave the tiny toys total concealment), the group annihilated all but the teddy bear.
They then entered the bottom area of the building they were heading for - and found a simple council chamber. There was nowhere else for them to go - without searching the triceratops room. Unfortunately, things weren't so simple in the council chamber. While Azelia and Dorn looked around, Kynan found himself being repeatedly electrocuted by an invisible force. When Dorn cast a field of protection against electrical energy on Kynan, the invisible force revealed itself by moving to attack Azelia. It was a Will-O-Wisp!
On the next round of combat, it was immediately surround by the party and pets, and annihilated before it could escape. However, it had definitely left its mark on the party - Kynan was left with a measly 8 HP, and Azelia wasn't in much better shape. The party resolved to return to the Shrine of Aroden, and rest up before returning.
And this is where the session ended.
Looks like I may be able to kill off a character! :P
Showing posts with label kynan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kynan. Show all posts
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
We interupt this Pathfinder session to bring you... PAIN
Yesterday, I had planned a Pathfinder session of the Council Of Thieves Campaign. We were to begin book 3 - What Lies In Dust, hopefully completing most of the chapters, apart from the dungeon / Pathfinder Lodge of Delvehaven (which, as a 4 floor lodge / dungeon crawl, would not have been doable in the same session as all of the investigation and side questing that the book allowed).
So, we started playing and all, with the group, predictably, outsmarting me in certain aspects (which will be covered in detail below), until I fell ill. Not your regular, "I've got a cold" ill, or the "I've been glutened, brb" ill either. This was more like, "Argh my stomach, it hurts!" *runs off to bathroom*. After returning, I was forced to run again 5 minutes later, to writhe in pain for a while. This was not a fun time for anyone - least of all myself.
The culprit was most likely milk. Allow me to explain.
Two members of our Pathfinder group, Andrew and Mark, have a penchant for purchasing 2 litre bottles of strawberry milk from Woolies, and consuming most of said bottle given half a chance. I like strawberry milk, and so I decided to join them on this endeavour this time. MISTAKE.
In the end, I had no choice but to end the session early, while I lay down and rested. Which achieved a grand total of *nothing*, as I remained ill for the rest of the night.
I did, however, recover enough to finish F.E.A.R: Extraction Point last night, and I feel that should count for something. Below is the summary / tale of what went down in the Pathfinder session.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After repeated failures, and somehow resisting the urge to simply hit it with a hammer, the Chelish Crux was opened (in the end, by Azelia). The crux held within in several papers, some scrolls, two wands, and a screaming, disembodied head.
The head of an Erinyes, seemingly immortal. Quite clearly insane. In her lucid periods, the head was able to tell the group that she had been stored (in her current form) in Delvehaven for a short period of time, and would be able to assist with some information about the lodge if taken there - since her memory is fuzzy. My group somehow also decided to destroy her head after this deed is done, in an effort to release her from her curse. While this was unexpected, I was happy to let this go on - since it frees up the crux for their use later, as well as disposes of what is surely the most annoying character this side of Thesing!
The papers, after some investigation, revealed some clues about the fates of 5 Pathfinders who were involved with Delvehaven in some way. It also revealed the presence of a cache of items which may assist - though the location and how to unlock it were not known. The crux also contained some grave candles - which the group can use to speak with the dead in lieu of using an actual spell (a good thing too, since none of the group actually knows this spell).
First off, they decided to investigate the whereabouts of Coriana (I *may* be recalling her name incorrectly here). The papers indicated that her ashes were in a jar, in an Asmodean nunnery in the ruined part of the city. These female monks are part of a cult that wishes to become Erinyes after their deaths - and typically hired out as assassins in the pre-Thrune Westcrown. Post-civil war, they have waned and are merely low level monk-thug-nuns. Monks with bladed scarves for weapons.
Seriously, this weapon is a scarf with knives stuck to the end of it. Pretty damn awesome.
Dorn drew the conclusion that since they wanted to become Erinyes, they could barter the head they found for the ashes - a tactic which worked perfectly until it became time to actually hand the head over in exchange for these ashes. My mistake here, was letting said events occur at the door of the monastery, with only a single nun in attendance. Dorn simply cut her in half in a single strike, with Azelia catching the ashes with mage hand. They then ran for their lives - a minor dungeon effectively bypassed. Smartasses...
Coriana's spirit was able to explain a cypher that was part of the notes they had acquired, as well as the location of the goods and how to unlock them. The cache is hidden in a small pocket dimension behind a door known as the Wave Door - above water, at night they must shine a Pathfinder's wayfinder upon the door's location, while someone recites the Delvehaven oath. Then the door opens and the goodies can be found.
For the rest of the day, the group followed up another lead, opting to visit the Devildrome - a semi-legal fighting ring run by Rance Lucca - who has the petrified remains of Aiger Ghaelfin, one of the Pathfinders who went missing. Rance believes the remains to be simply a statue.
Anyway, Rance was a member of the crowd when the group performed the Six Trials of Larazod - and as such was delighted to meet them. He was quite forthcoming with the fact that he has the "bust" of Ghaelfin, and in return for letting the group see it, he wants them to perform in the Devildrome for him.
The devildrome is a fighting ring, where two summoners pit their abilities against each other by summoning creatures to fight each other - like a game of Magic: The Gathering. If they are missing a summoner, he allows the "one person enters and fights a summoner's beasts" type of battle. Occasionally he runs this style of battle anyway, and it is always a crowd pleaser. The group has not yet decided if they will let Kynan have a summon-off in the Devildrome, or send Dorn in alone. To be honest, I would recommend to them that Dorn or Kynan actually enter the ring. I would love to see Kynan kick some ass!
It was at this point where I fell ill, and needed to end the session. Quite lucky that it was able to end so cleanly! When we pick back up again, the group will visit the Wave Door at night, and two days later, have their round in the Devildrome.
So, we started playing and all, with the group, predictably, outsmarting me in certain aspects (which will be covered in detail below), until I fell ill. Not your regular, "I've got a cold" ill, or the "I've been glutened, brb" ill either. This was more like, "Argh my stomach, it hurts!" *runs off to bathroom*. After returning, I was forced to run again 5 minutes later, to writhe in pain for a while. This was not a fun time for anyone - least of all myself.
The culprit was most likely milk. Allow me to explain.
Two members of our Pathfinder group, Andrew and Mark, have a penchant for purchasing 2 litre bottles of strawberry milk from Woolies, and consuming most of said bottle given half a chance. I like strawberry milk, and so I decided to join them on this endeavour this time. MISTAKE.
In the end, I had no choice but to end the session early, while I lay down and rested. Which achieved a grand total of *nothing*, as I remained ill for the rest of the night.
I did, however, recover enough to finish F.E.A.R: Extraction Point last night, and I feel that should count for something. Below is the summary / tale of what went down in the Pathfinder session.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After repeated failures, and somehow resisting the urge to simply hit it with a hammer, the Chelish Crux was opened (in the end, by Azelia). The crux held within in several papers, some scrolls, two wands, and a screaming, disembodied head.
The head of an Erinyes, seemingly immortal. Quite clearly insane. In her lucid periods, the head was able to tell the group that she had been stored (in her current form) in Delvehaven for a short period of time, and would be able to assist with some information about the lodge if taken there - since her memory is fuzzy. My group somehow also decided to destroy her head after this deed is done, in an effort to release her from her curse. While this was unexpected, I was happy to let this go on - since it frees up the crux for their use later, as well as disposes of what is surely the most annoying character this side of Thesing!
The papers, after some investigation, revealed some clues about the fates of 5 Pathfinders who were involved with Delvehaven in some way. It also revealed the presence of a cache of items which may assist - though the location and how to unlock it were not known. The crux also contained some grave candles - which the group can use to speak with the dead in lieu of using an actual spell (a good thing too, since none of the group actually knows this spell).
First off, they decided to investigate the whereabouts of Coriana (I *may* be recalling her name incorrectly here). The papers indicated that her ashes were in a jar, in an Asmodean nunnery in the ruined part of the city. These female monks are part of a cult that wishes to become Erinyes after their deaths - and typically hired out as assassins in the pre-Thrune Westcrown. Post-civil war, they have waned and are merely low level monk-thug-nuns. Monks with bladed scarves for weapons.
Seriously, this weapon is a scarf with knives stuck to the end of it. Pretty damn awesome.
Dorn drew the conclusion that since they wanted to become Erinyes, they could barter the head they found for the ashes - a tactic which worked perfectly until it became time to actually hand the head over in exchange for these ashes. My mistake here, was letting said events occur at the door of the monastery, with only a single nun in attendance. Dorn simply cut her in half in a single strike, with Azelia catching the ashes with mage hand. They then ran for their lives - a minor dungeon effectively bypassed. Smartasses...
Coriana's spirit was able to explain a cypher that was part of the notes they had acquired, as well as the location of the goods and how to unlock them. The cache is hidden in a small pocket dimension behind a door known as the Wave Door - above water, at night they must shine a Pathfinder's wayfinder upon the door's location, while someone recites the Delvehaven oath. Then the door opens and the goodies can be found.
For the rest of the day, the group followed up another lead, opting to visit the Devildrome - a semi-legal fighting ring run by Rance Lucca - who has the petrified remains of Aiger Ghaelfin, one of the Pathfinders who went missing. Rance believes the remains to be simply a statue.
Anyway, Rance was a member of the crowd when the group performed the Six Trials of Larazod - and as such was delighted to meet them. He was quite forthcoming with the fact that he has the "bust" of Ghaelfin, and in return for letting the group see it, he wants them to perform in the Devildrome for him.
The devildrome is a fighting ring, where two summoners pit their abilities against each other by summoning creatures to fight each other - like a game of Magic: The Gathering. If they are missing a summoner, he allows the "one person enters and fights a summoner's beasts" type of battle. Occasionally he runs this style of battle anyway, and it is always a crowd pleaser. The group has not yet decided if they will let Kynan have a summon-off in the Devildrome, or send Dorn in alone. To be honest, I would recommend to them that Dorn or Kynan actually enter the ring. I would love to see Kynan kick some ass!
It was at this point where I fell ill, and needed to end the session. Quite lucky that it was able to end so cleanly! When we pick back up again, the group will visit the Wave Door at night, and two days later, have their round in the Devildrome.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Pathfinder - The Cornucopia and The Asmodean Knot
The last Pathfinder session I ran for my group's Council of Thieves lasted quite a while. This is a session that began at around 10pm one night and ran until 4am. It then recommenced at 10-10.30am and ran to around 3pm. Quite a long (and difficult to run) session.
After the heroes had successfully survived The Six Trials of Larazod (well, some did and one was resurrected at the mayor's expense), they were invited to a decadent party to celebrate the play - thrown by none other than the mayor.
This was the entire point of the party acting the play in the first place. Let me back up a bit and explain. The city of Westcrown used to be the capital of Cheliax - until their deity Aroden died. How exactly a God can die is a bit beyond me, but anyway what followed was years of civil war - eventually with the House of Thrune - followers of Asmodeus (a Lawful Evil deity) won. They moved the capital north - leaving Westcrown as a shadow of its former glory.
Even worse, in recent years shadow beasts have taken to the streets of Westcrown - preying on all that venture outdoors after sundown. People are generally unhappy with the way things are in the city, which is where the campaign begins. The players are contacted by Janiven Key, a ranger who is also among the leadership for a revolutionary group that is attempting, at first nyway, to "make Westcrown a better place to live".
After rescuing the group's true leader (a half-elf cleric named Arael) from the incredibly fascist Hellknight Order of the Rack, the group has been beginning to fight for the people. First off they defeated the Bastards of Erebus. Though if you've read my earlier Pathfinder posts you'd know what they've done!
So an undercover Pathfinder requested that the players investigate the Westfall Pathfinder lodge (named Delvehaven) since there may be some clue there to the cause of the shadow beast scourge. However, data about Delvehaven is stored in a Chelish Crux (essentially a puzzle box mixed with a bag of holding), in the Asmodean Knot, which is a demonic pocket dimension attached to the mayor's home in Westcrown. They infiltrate the mayor's house by performing in the play.
So, surviving the play got them invited to the Cornucopia - a party held by the mayor at his home. The group attends, and tries to get as much information as possible about the Asmodean knot via rumours and such (they didn't learn much) before everyone gets too drunk and passes out - allowing the players to explore the house, find the knot, and enter it. Of course, it wasn't quite this simple.
Kynan was busy having ~fun~ with Calseinica (an actress from the play they were involved in). This kind of fun involved a pregnancy die roll. I will not reveal the results of said roll at the moment!
Also, Azelia decided it was a great idea to draw a smiley face on the passed out mayor. He woke up and summoned his guards, who threw her out.
Being 2am, she was promptly attacked by a shadow beast (finally confirming to the group that their existence was not simply rumour). The rest of the group heroically exited the mansion to save her, and then reentered. It shouldn't have been so easy to let them back in, but I let them do it simply due to them having done the right thing in rescuing her! Besides, the guards may well have gotten drunk too :P
When they eventually "found" the entrance to the knot (with some nudging from yours truly), Azelia was quite quickly cursed with a scroll. Within a day, a bone devil was doomed to come find her, and annihilate her unless she could get a Remove Curse spell cast on her, or get someone else to willingly accept the scroll. Luckily, she was able to pawn it off to an insane bearded devil later on in the dungeon.
The Asmodean Knot is a strange place. Constructed by the first mayor of Westcrown (after the civil war), it was orginally used simply as a vault. The second mayor expanded on this, by using it to conduct experiments in sadism using demons and prisoners. This, of course, left a lot of random monsters in the knot - as well as some traps (most of which were already disarmed). The knot itself had many a room which didn't adhere to the laws of physics - rooms that had staircases that folded in on themselves, leading the party back to where they originally were, rooms where the gravity was slower than usual, and falling off the bridge meant a slow fall downwards, and reappearing above the party as if in some kind of twisted video-game world!
The current mayor is the third mayor of Westcrown, and had no interest in the knot whatsoever, and never really explored it. Lucky for him, as the knot is a dangerous place!
When they found the prison, Azelia cleverly palmed the cursed scroll off to a clearly insane bearded devil. The devil was insane due to having spent decades in its cell. Once it was killed by the bone demon, they searched the dead devil, to find a spear made out of pure malice. This was taken by Dorn, who now owns an intelligent magical item!
This spear worships Asmodeus, and casts bleed upon any fallen creature - including other allies! (unless the wielder also worships Asmodeus - which Dorn does not... yet). Fun times for all.
Eventually the group encountered a giant poison devil, beat it down and acquired the Crux. As they were leaving, Crux and new treasures in hand, they were ambushed by a tiefling named Sian. After dealing heavy damage to Arael, and almost getting annihilated by Kynan and Dorn's combination of summoned Stirges and giant weaponry, she escaped. Dorn is very unhappy with letting her live - and it seems he will not rest until she is safely not-breathing-anymore.
Next up, the group has to figure out how to open the crux, and then glean as much information from it as they can before entering Delvehaven, looking for the cause behind the shadow beasts.
After the heroes had successfully survived The Six Trials of Larazod (well, some did and one was resurrected at the mayor's expense), they were invited to a decadent party to celebrate the play - thrown by none other than the mayor.
This was the entire point of the party acting the play in the first place. Let me back up a bit and explain. The city of Westcrown used to be the capital of Cheliax - until their deity Aroden died. How exactly a God can die is a bit beyond me, but anyway what followed was years of civil war - eventually with the House of Thrune - followers of Asmodeus (a Lawful Evil deity) won. They moved the capital north - leaving Westcrown as a shadow of its former glory.
Even worse, in recent years shadow beasts have taken to the streets of Westcrown - preying on all that venture outdoors after sundown. People are generally unhappy with the way things are in the city, which is where the campaign begins. The players are contacted by Janiven Key, a ranger who is also among the leadership for a revolutionary group that is attempting, at first nyway, to "make Westcrown a better place to live".
After rescuing the group's true leader (a half-elf cleric named Arael) from the incredibly fascist Hellknight Order of the Rack, the group has been beginning to fight for the people. First off they defeated the Bastards of Erebus. Though if you've read my earlier Pathfinder posts you'd know what they've done!
So an undercover Pathfinder requested that the players investigate the Westfall Pathfinder lodge (named Delvehaven) since there may be some clue there to the cause of the shadow beast scourge. However, data about Delvehaven is stored in a Chelish Crux (essentially a puzzle box mixed with a bag of holding), in the Asmodean Knot, which is a demonic pocket dimension attached to the mayor's home in Westcrown. They infiltrate the mayor's house by performing in the play.
So, surviving the play got them invited to the Cornucopia - a party held by the mayor at his home. The group attends, and tries to get as much information as possible about the Asmodean knot via rumours and such (they didn't learn much) before everyone gets too drunk and passes out - allowing the players to explore the house, find the knot, and enter it. Of course, it wasn't quite this simple.
Kynan was busy having ~fun~ with Calseinica (an actress from the play they were involved in). This kind of fun involved a pregnancy die roll. I will not reveal the results of said roll at the moment!
Also, Azelia decided it was a great idea to draw a smiley face on the passed out mayor. He woke up and summoned his guards, who threw her out.
Being 2am, she was promptly attacked by a shadow beast (finally confirming to the group that their existence was not simply rumour). The rest of the group heroically exited the mansion to save her, and then reentered. It shouldn't have been so easy to let them back in, but I let them do it simply due to them having done the right thing in rescuing her! Besides, the guards may well have gotten drunk too :P
When they eventually "found" the entrance to the knot (with some nudging from yours truly), Azelia was quite quickly cursed with a scroll. Within a day, a bone devil was doomed to come find her, and annihilate her unless she could get a Remove Curse spell cast on her, or get someone else to willingly accept the scroll. Luckily, she was able to pawn it off to an insane bearded devil later on in the dungeon.
The Asmodean Knot is a strange place. Constructed by the first mayor of Westcrown (after the civil war), it was orginally used simply as a vault. The second mayor expanded on this, by using it to conduct experiments in sadism using demons and prisoners. This, of course, left a lot of random monsters in the knot - as well as some traps (most of which were already disarmed). The knot itself had many a room which didn't adhere to the laws of physics - rooms that had staircases that folded in on themselves, leading the party back to where they originally were, rooms where the gravity was slower than usual, and falling off the bridge meant a slow fall downwards, and reappearing above the party as if in some kind of twisted video-game world!
The current mayor is the third mayor of Westcrown, and had no interest in the knot whatsoever, and never really explored it. Lucky for him, as the knot is a dangerous place!
When they found the prison, Azelia cleverly palmed the cursed scroll off to a clearly insane bearded devil. The devil was insane due to having spent decades in its cell. Once it was killed by the bone demon, they searched the dead devil, to find a spear made out of pure malice. This was taken by Dorn, who now owns an intelligent magical item!
This spear worships Asmodeus, and casts bleed upon any fallen creature - including other allies! (unless the wielder also worships Asmodeus - which Dorn does not... yet). Fun times for all.
Eventually the group encountered a giant poison devil, beat it down and acquired the Crux. As they were leaving, Crux and new treasures in hand, they were ambushed by a tiefling named Sian. After dealing heavy damage to Arael, and almost getting annihilated by Kynan and Dorn's combination of summoned Stirges and giant weaponry, she escaped. Dorn is very unhappy with letting her live - and it seems he will not rest until she is safely not-breathing-anymore.
Next up, the group has to figure out how to open the crux, and then glean as much information from it as they can before entering Delvehaven, looking for the cause behind the shadow beasts.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Pathfinder - The Sixfold Trial
Yesterday marked another session of the Pathfinder campaign that I am running - The Council of Thieves Adventure Path.
Yesterday, our intrepid group (Azelia played by Sarah, Dorn played by Mark, and Kynan of the Grove played by Andrew) had to perform in an uncensored version of "The Six Trials of Larazod" - a play which none of the main cast (with the exception of the part of Haanderthal - but more on that later) have ever survived performing.
The reason for this, is that the trials in the uncut version are real. Or at least emulate the goings on in the play.
The plot follows Larazod - a tiefling in the service of Asmodeus (an evil deity), undergoing a trial for apparent misdeeds done against Haanderthal - a judge. In reality, Haanderthal is a traitor attempting to cover up his own actions. The trial forces Larazod and his two friends to undergo six trials to prove their honesty and loyalty to Asmodeus.
The first trial involved the trio being whipped by a torturer, as well as Larazod being strapped to a "device" - which in this case was a typical "stretch them til they hurt lots, probably die" rack. After enduring this trial, the torturer actually joins the group - he has a change of heart, knowing that his whips have never failed to extract the truth, and as a result of their unbreakable will, believe that they are telling the truth. haanderthal, being a bastard and all, makes him undergo the trials alongside Larazod.
This fourth character was played by an important NPC by the name of Arael. He is the leader of the city rebels, and came along for this since the play demanded at least four player characters - and having a cleric along to heal the group up between acts would be useful. In fact, they never would have survived without him - despite his ridiculously horrible act rolls during the game!
The second trial would be the trial by pleasure. They had "Flukes of Asmodeus" inserted into them, and had to resist them. These "flukes" were, as per the plot, supposedly capable of delivering orgasmic pleasure beyond that of what a thousand succubi could. In the play, however, they emulated this by using ROT GRUBS (since Asmodean flukes don't actually exist).
Unsurprsingly true to their name, rot grubs cause disease - and dealt two points of Constitution damage per round, and also made it quite difficult to pretend to be in ecstasy while they are busy damaging the players.
For the uninitiated, Constitution determines how much endurance a character has, so a lowered constitution results in the player having less health to work with. Hitting zero hit points causes unconsciousness, and hitting a negative number of hit points equal to their constitution score causes death.
Kynan, playing the main role as Larazod, suffered greatly here.
The third trial is known as the Trial in the Belly of the Beast - where the group is eaten by a beast, and claws themselves out of it. This was emulated by a device which looked like a serpent, that they had to climb into. Then the "beast" was moved into a position where the only escape was climbing up the throat, and they had to get out. The "belly" was full of acid, as well. Also, because this wasn't deadly enough, they had an extra character from here on to deal with (a noncombatant by the name of Ilsandra), and there were spikes n the throat - which both served as handholds, but threatened to cut anyone climbing up.
They survived this without *too* much trouble, though Dorn did take a fair bit of damage.
The fourth trial is where things turn potentially dangerous for the crowd, as well as the actors. The Birthing trial involved the characters eating eggs, which then causes demons born of their own power to escape through their mouths. These demons would then attack them. This resulted in 5 lemures to deal with. While not particularly tough creatures, the act of vomiting the eggs up caused all sorts of trouble for the group, since they were weakened. (To be clear, they did not actually give birth to the creatures - the creatures were summoned into the egg leftovers by a hidden cleric)
Once that was dealt with, the Trial by Combat and Love began. This was essentially a boss fight, with two large troll skeletons for the group to fight (the love came from the group's solidarity, as well as Ilsandra and Larazod forming a relationship).
This is where there were difficulties, since both charge Larazod and attack him until either they die, or he does. And coupled with a fairly hefty constitution penalty from the rot grubs earlier, Kynan simply did not have the health to deal with two of these creatures at once - they hit hard, and they hit often.
He was bitten in half by a troll skeleton.
He may have not been, had Dorn not critically failed in the turn just prior - and had his sword stick in the stage.
After the death, combat continued, and due to two awesome critical crossbow shots by Arael, the skeletons fell without any more deaths. Of course, Arael was not allowed to heal in combat, in order to stay in character as the torturer!
The final trial was "Trial by His Own Dark Hand" - safe for the actors. Asmodeus himself (which was performed by the director of the play!) speaks to the party members (Kynan at this point being replaced by an illusion of himself so that the show can go on), and judges them himself. haanderthal is found out as the traitor, and dragged to hell, as the others are set free.
Luckily, the aftermath of the show left the mayor of the city in such awe that he paid for the resurrection of Kynan - and with some convincing, he also paid for the restoration spell that was required to undo the negative level penalty that the resurrection spell imparts. (This actually wasn't fudged by me - this is actually stated in the book as part of the story flow. It was the Mayor's idea to havethis particular play be performed in the first place, and the point of the play was to get invited to a celebration party of his in order to infiltrate his corrupt government).
So all was well in the end. Even if Kynan was dead for about 45 minutes.
Yesterday, our intrepid group (Azelia played by Sarah, Dorn played by Mark, and Kynan of the Grove played by Andrew) had to perform in an uncensored version of "The Six Trials of Larazod" - a play which none of the main cast (with the exception of the part of Haanderthal - but more on that later) have ever survived performing.
The reason for this, is that the trials in the uncut version are real. Or at least emulate the goings on in the play.
The plot follows Larazod - a tiefling in the service of Asmodeus (an evil deity), undergoing a trial for apparent misdeeds done against Haanderthal - a judge. In reality, Haanderthal is a traitor attempting to cover up his own actions. The trial forces Larazod and his two friends to undergo six trials to prove their honesty and loyalty to Asmodeus.
The first trial involved the trio being whipped by a torturer, as well as Larazod being strapped to a "device" - which in this case was a typical "stretch them til they hurt lots, probably die" rack. After enduring this trial, the torturer actually joins the group - he has a change of heart, knowing that his whips have never failed to extract the truth, and as a result of their unbreakable will, believe that they are telling the truth. haanderthal, being a bastard and all, makes him undergo the trials alongside Larazod.
This fourth character was played by an important NPC by the name of Arael. He is the leader of the city rebels, and came along for this since the play demanded at least four player characters - and having a cleric along to heal the group up between acts would be useful. In fact, they never would have survived without him - despite his ridiculously horrible act rolls during the game!
The second trial would be the trial by pleasure. They had "Flukes of Asmodeus" inserted into them, and had to resist them. These "flukes" were, as per the plot, supposedly capable of delivering orgasmic pleasure beyond that of what a thousand succubi could. In the play, however, they emulated this by using ROT GRUBS (since Asmodean flukes don't actually exist).
Unsurprsingly true to their name, rot grubs cause disease - and dealt two points of Constitution damage per round, and also made it quite difficult to pretend to be in ecstasy while they are busy damaging the players.
For the uninitiated, Constitution determines how much endurance a character has, so a lowered constitution results in the player having less health to work with. Hitting zero hit points causes unconsciousness, and hitting a negative number of hit points equal to their constitution score causes death.
Kynan, playing the main role as Larazod, suffered greatly here.
The third trial is known as the Trial in the Belly of the Beast - where the group is eaten by a beast, and claws themselves out of it. This was emulated by a device which looked like a serpent, that they had to climb into. Then the "beast" was moved into a position where the only escape was climbing up the throat, and they had to get out. The "belly" was full of acid, as well. Also, because this wasn't deadly enough, they had an extra character from here on to deal with (a noncombatant by the name of Ilsandra), and there were spikes n the throat - which both served as handholds, but threatened to cut anyone climbing up.
They survived this without *too* much trouble, though Dorn did take a fair bit of damage.
The fourth trial is where things turn potentially dangerous for the crowd, as well as the actors. The Birthing trial involved the characters eating eggs, which then causes demons born of their own power to escape through their mouths. These demons would then attack them. This resulted in 5 lemures to deal with. While not particularly tough creatures, the act of vomiting the eggs up caused all sorts of trouble for the group, since they were weakened. (To be clear, they did not actually give birth to the creatures - the creatures were summoned into the egg leftovers by a hidden cleric)
Once that was dealt with, the Trial by Combat and Love began. This was essentially a boss fight, with two large troll skeletons for the group to fight (the love came from the group's solidarity, as well as Ilsandra and Larazod forming a relationship).
This is where there were difficulties, since both charge Larazod and attack him until either they die, or he does. And coupled with a fairly hefty constitution penalty from the rot grubs earlier, Kynan simply did not have the health to deal with two of these creatures at once - they hit hard, and they hit often.
He was bitten in half by a troll skeleton.
He may have not been, had Dorn not critically failed in the turn just prior - and had his sword stick in the stage.
After the death, combat continued, and due to two awesome critical crossbow shots by Arael, the skeletons fell without any more deaths. Of course, Arael was not allowed to heal in combat, in order to stay in character as the torturer!
The final trial was "Trial by His Own Dark Hand" - safe for the actors. Asmodeus himself (which was performed by the director of the play!) speaks to the party members (Kynan at this point being replaced by an illusion of himself so that the show can go on), and judges them himself. haanderthal is found out as the traitor, and dragged to hell, as the others are set free.
Luckily, the aftermath of the show left the mayor of the city in such awe that he paid for the resurrection of Kynan - and with some convincing, he also paid for the restoration spell that was required to undo the negative level penalty that the resurrection spell imparts. (This actually wasn't fudged by me - this is actually stated in the book as part of the story flow. It was the Mayor's idea to havethis particular play be performed in the first place, and the point of the play was to get invited to a celebration party of his in order to infiltrate his corrupt government).
So all was well in the end. Even if Kynan was dead for about 45 minutes.
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