We have a temporary player, who will be playing an 'aasimar' genie (marid) named Plank. I forgot to copy down his character, so his stats won't appear until next week after I see him again.
After Cast discovered that there was a permanent deeper darkness in the cave during his initial scouting attempt, he flew back to inform the party, where they all waited until after Urorae finishes animating the skeleton. At which point, the entire party suits up and heads over, but Ethedril's followers/cohort/dragon skeleton will wait at the entrance due to possible dangers if they enter it with the party.
Walking up to the limits of the darkness, Marshal stares it down until it's suppressed for a short time, showing them that 40' into the cave is a concave wall filled with skulls; all facing the spot immediately in front of a 10' square door that has the Arcanis words for 'Beware' and 'Trespass and Die' inscribed upon it. Once the darkness returns, Cast walks forward and gropes around for the door to open it and take the trap, and shrugs off the phantasmal killer thrown at him twice; once for opening the door, again for smashing it down to make sure it doesn't close behind him.
Inside is a 20' wide tunnel going deep underground, eventually splitting into three paths, the leftmost one with barely noticeable lights flickering and Ethedril hears light breathing down it. Going down that path, they find an abandoned 'open-courtyard' kobold warren, with but a single kobold in leather armor who asks for the party's business. When told that the white dragon is dead and they demand his hoard, the kobold curses them and declares that their lord's vengeance shall continue even in death; at which point, an animated and magically treated huge stone dragon wearing mechanus armor rises out of the courtyard and begins the offensive (it's got inscribed runes for magic slam). Cast goes on the defensive and hurls Draw Fire on it while the rest of the party slugs away at it for a good six rounds. While fighting, the kobold goes down the one other tunnel in the area and causes a cave-in so the party can't follow after it or the rest of the escaped warren.
Turning back, they go down the middle path, finding a massive vault-like door inscribed with the Arcanis words "All that glitters". Marshal figures out the question and states 'door' in the same language, which causes the entire thing to open, revealing a fairly sizeable ceremonial dance hall. Ephemeral music fills the air, never-melting ice crystal chandelier hang, and the walls hang a score of elaborate paintings of various wizards the party aren't terribly familiar with; including an empty frame with a design similar to the nearly-complete copper tower.
After extensive searching, the party finds some things, but not much due to the lack of any member of the party even possessing a single rank in Search. Everything is extensively gilded and very well designed. Even the center of the room features a rather large decorative circle with a pair of embedded dragon footprints (Hollywood style) filled in with never melting ice. They do find a supply closet filled with goblets, serving trays, wines, etc. They also find a brass bottle with a wax seal and words in Primal (eventually translated as "In Asar's name I bind thee"). Not finding anything else, they strip the place of everything of value; the furniture, the paintings, the goblets/trays, the bottle, the chandeliers, and even pry out the ice-made footprint casts in the center of the floor (informed to be surprisingly easy).
While going up-tunnel, they hear the sets of three footsteps coming towards them, but they take the one tunnel the party hadn't explored yet instead of the center one. Shortly, they hear blood-curdling screams of agony in Infernal & explosions, followed by silence. Dropping their stuff momentarily, they run for the source, and see bits of barbazu scattered everywhere in the room except where the large pile of gold and gems lay. They toss a rock, see nothing happen, followed by a length of rope which is dissolved when they try to pull it back. Then Marshal uses dispelling glare and waits four rounds, then tries again (rolling poorly this time), at which point one of the black gems sparks and attempts to use violent thrust telekinesis to pull him towards the pile, but he makes the save. Ethedril then flies over the pile, staying as close to the ceiling as possible, and cuts out a large chunk of stone from above to have it fall onto it; this knocks around some of the coins, revealing a shell with runes on it, but the coins roll back over it as several gems sparkle again; firinglightning bolt & flame strike at Ethedril, who simply parries it. Not sure of what else to do, they leave for the entrance.
They dump their accumulated loot with Ethedril's followers, with the command to begin constructing a wicker basket like thing so the dragon's ribcage can be used for carrying. Urorae analyzes the bottle, and determines that it contains a creature of some sort, and it is potentially a major magic item (at least a moderate) as it should ensure that the inhabitant will serve the owner of the bottle. Because he doesn't know which node it is connected to, let alone whether the node has been redirected or waned, he cannot guarantee that the item functions and will actually control whatever is released.
Figuring they can kill whatever comes out if uncontrolled and hostile, or get a servant they can sell for a shiny profit, they open the bottle. Which releases an amnesiac marid by the name of Plank, who wishes to follow the party to get a sense of what the world is about.
This is swiftly followed by a nearby ice puddle shimmering in reflection and four identical mirrored creatures rise up from it, asking for information as to the party's presence. The party states why they're here (talked to dragon, got in a fight, searching for loot), to which the creatures respond with acceptance and declare that any loot they have yet to claim still falls under 'finders keepers' rules (in so many words). The party doesn't mind, and as they speak, one of the four sinks back into the reflection. In a quid pro quo, the party asks for their identity. The three creatures tell them that they are natives of Mirror Peak, subjects to the King of Three Shadows, and seek treasure as well. After informing the party, the fourth returns holding a rather large tome and informs its compatriots that the library was found, but the hoard remains unaccessible.
This causes another disturbance in the reflection, alarming the creatures as a robed figure appears (stays on the reflection side) calls them back. Immediately after the creatures sink back into the reflection, the robed figure looks at the party and informs them that twice now they have seen him and lived, but they shall not survive a third encounter. With that, it fades away. Because I'm not the best person at voices, I simply told the party that the figure's speech pattern was much like the one they heard back when Cali escaped; he was going down a hall with a robed figure who was chastising him for some unmentioned slight, and when the party tried to catch them, the figure grasped Cali by the arm and the two teleported away. I just now noticed that scene wasn't in the old session notes, which is odd, because it was fairly important.
Meanwhile, Cast is eager to return home. After some time with a map of what they know, they properly explain to Plank where they need to go for his plane shift to work. Since they can't bring Ethedril's followers, Ethedril leaves standing orders to them to desconstruct the copper wizard tower and relocate it at the home village in the woods, reminding them of what she's willing to do if they disobey and run off (that wizard and the dragon were killed almost solely for granting sanctuary to a handful of them).
This cuts travel time to a week after a short sojourn through the elemental plane (description coming soon in setting), though they did miss on the first attempt to the Prime and landed on a tiny island in the middle of the sea (~300 miles south of Cast's castle); which they took as an opportunity to rest for awhile, since they figured nothing would know where they were at that instance.
At the castle, capital of Crystalis, they discover that the area had been attacked by ninja. Amongst the fallen were the royal triage expert (some healing focused adept), the castle interrogator, and several of the guards that had been guarding the former Queen and Gina. Fortunately, the castle did have Marshal's entire dojo relocated there (Sarou and all), Gina could take care of herself, as was Tenoc; who if you recall, is still the head of a noble house, and is attempting to get back into politics by hanging around the castle. There were five highly trained ninja that attacked from hiding within the castle, and two score lesser trained ninja came in from over the outer walls (which is where Tenoc had his fun, as he's since advanced to 5th level); only one ninja survived, mostly, and is held in the dungeon below for the party to handle.
Cast double checks every guard that watches the prisoner, as well as the personal guard of the family, by using his helm of telepathy as well has having them remove their armor to ensure that they aren't ninja in disguise; and then the interrogation begins. Marshal is the primary talker, but Ethedril is in the room as well to nick him with his sword while they talk, Plank joins to squirt him continuously, and Cast glowers behind him to use his helm of telepathy, who had Gina accompany them for additional intimidating support. When the ninja made the first Will save against the effect while Marshal yelled at him, Cast joined in and demanded that the ninja stop resisting and forgo all saving throws, knocking him into unconsciousness when he balks and having Marshal awaken him with healing. While he's getting brought back to consciousness, Cast reapplies detect thoughts and finally gets a hold in, and reiterates his demand in the ninja's mind when he comes to.
It's at this point, I get frustrated with one of the flaws of interrogation in D&D. Every single time, you get the entire party swarming and groping their prisoner, usually resulting in three or four people using aid another on the primary interrogator; and even if you don't allow aid another, you still result in them doing it anyway 'for moral support'. And unless you have a paladin around, it almost always breaks down into more torture than interrogation. As a result, I have a house rule to introduce...
Limits of Interrogation: Using intimidate to get information cannot receive aid another benefits. Use of torture or other sensory overloads, shorten the time to perform the check to a round at the cost of information limit. If the victim would not give the information to a good friend, then he will either resist all further torture or break and confess/believe anything the party wants, regardless of actual validity.
Once faced with this, the party leaves and waits a day to decide what to do, at which point Plank goes down alone to use Diplomacy (gets a 33). He learns that the ninja was trained in a dojo two days north of Naught Hill, and was recruited by the guild along with four others who joined in the attack. The ninja doesn't have a rendezvous point any longer, because the guild will have assumed him to be KIA by this point.
After conferring with Sarou (aka, my suggestion), they get a poison that will make the victim paralyzed, barely conscious, and easily suggestible, which they secretly apply to the ninja in one last torture session; so that the ninja will think that the party thinks him to be dead and toss him onto the trash just outside the castle, where the poison will wear off and he will believe his escape to be good fortune. This will give the best chance of a safe meetup with his guild, so Sarou will stalk the ninja to see who he meets with while the party plans their sojourn to the dojo north of Naught Hill.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Friday, November 16, 2012
Warriors of the Empire of the Sun: Session XV
New Character
Ethedril Killyl: Drow Samurai: Exiled from a failed coup in her Underdark city, she conquered a kobold settlement at the surface, incurring the life debt of a svirfneblin priest and his disciples to aid in her exiled lordship. Cursing the sun's brightness, she has the priest banish her sight so that it can no longer bother her. Now, she hopes to further expand her dominion, and will attach her company to the next band of powerful people in hopes of discovering new areas to dominate.
Session Proper
They use speak with dead to discover that Tow does not wish to return from the dead, so they bury his body and distribute his equipment amongst themselves. There is some concern over the ninja attacks, but after consulting with Sarou, they realize their is little to do right now besides wait and defend themselves. And so, Cast and Marshal mount up and go north to the valley of the white dragon to determine whether the rumours of a tall dwarf dressed in white is the same one that bought the contract on the barbazu army from months ago.
After almost three weeks, they eventually enter kobold territory, where they are waylaid by kobolds demanding an expensive toll before they can pass through alive. They refuse to pay the toll and laugh at the pitiful damage thrown their way, where Cast calmly walks around the troll skeletons (taking the AoOs for no damage) and up to the leader, grapple lifts him, and then uses his Knight's Challenge ability. By this point, Ethedril hears and enters the fray, admonishing the kobolds for so obviously getting in over their heads. After some conversation, she asks to join the party so as to get in favor with the Empire of the Sun; also wanting to join them into the white dragon valley because some of her kobolds disappeared into the area.
From Tow's prior reconnaissance, they know the following about the valley: it is mostly human and the land is technically under the 'control' of three separate kingdoms, but its distance and poverty make it not worth the effort to fight over each other for it, especially with the dragon living in the area. The dragon itself will occasionally eat a villager, its speaker (the tall dwarf) acting as a herald and forward scout to the people. A peculiar feature is that once or twice a generation, a wizard decides to call kip in the valley and enlists the local kobold population to assist in constructing a tower. No wizard reuses a former tower, so the land is scattered with abandoned towers in varying states of disrepair. Currently, a new tower was being built and nearing completion.
Once there, they head directly for the white dragon's cave, having Marshal yell into it to speak with the dragon. At which point, the dwarven herald steps out of the darkness. They state to know if he orchestrated the devil army upon the kingdom of Crystalis (Cast's kingdom), to which the dwarf states that neither he nor his draconic master have ever cared about their kingdom. The party then asked about the wizard tower in the valley, to which the dwarf flippantly states that what the wizards do in the valley are of little concern to him; to which he bids them farewell and good luck in tracking the barbazu down (they never stated what the devils were).
At the nearly finished wizard's tower, several urd placing the finishing touches on the roof of the five-story copper edifice, the party demands the apparently sentient door to let them speak with the master of the tower and return Ethedril's kobolds. There is some resistance from the door, and they begin to pull out their weapons to chop down the door while Ethedril yells out that if her kobolds will be taken she will take some of his and starts shooting at the urd. An urd is severely injured and the door is heavily dented before lightning forms out of the ground for a floating wizard to appear in storming glory. Ethedril demands for her stolen kobolds to be returned, at which point the wizard arrogantly declares that he doesn't steal like some petty thief but simply makes his desires known and 'lesser mortals seek to appease his divine will'.
Not liking the attitude, the drow charges and chops the wizard in half with a kiai strike. Some of the wizard's guardians (three large air elementals) come out to harass the party, but are quickly routed. They then bust their way into the tower to loot the place, and speak with a pair of imps they find held inside. The imps claim to have been bound to the wizard after he began work so know nothing of his origins or other secrets on the tower, ask to be released along with a family heirloom (a hat), and leave peacefully.
That night while they sleep in the tower, the dwarf from earlier teleports in after scrying a bit, and expresses displeasure at them killing the wizard (the party counters with his prior statement of apathy). Being magnanimous, he grimly informs them that their welcome has been worn short and they must leave the valley at once; where he walks out the door. With this ultimatum stated, they go back to sleep, wake up and wait until noon for more kobolds to arrive to the tower so they can find out where the rest are and Ethedril can drag her lost kobolds back.
With a snap, the dwarf teleports back in a cold rage at their willful defiance. Ethedril states she wants her kobolds back and Cast's annoyed at how their long travel didn't get anything done, so the party unloads their arsenal. After several rounds and almost 500 damage (dwarf just standing there mocking them), they get realize that the dwarf has a resilient sphere and get Marshal to use a dispelling glare on it; where the dwarf counters by turning into a huge white dragon and the real fight begins.
They finally kill it, plan to animate its corpse as a skeleton with Ethedril's cohort, and begin to head for the white dragon's cave.
Ethedril Killyl: Drow Samurai: Exiled from a failed coup in her Underdark city, she conquered a kobold settlement at the surface, incurring the life debt of a svirfneblin priest and his disciples to aid in her exiled lordship. Cursing the sun's brightness, she has the priest banish her sight so that it can no longer bother her. Now, she hopes to further expand her dominion, and will attach her company to the next band of powerful people in hopes of discovering new areas to dominate.
Session Proper
They use speak with dead to discover that Tow does not wish to return from the dead, so they bury his body and distribute his equipment amongst themselves. There is some concern over the ninja attacks, but after consulting with Sarou, they realize their is little to do right now besides wait and defend themselves. And so, Cast and Marshal mount up and go north to the valley of the white dragon to determine whether the rumours of a tall dwarf dressed in white is the same one that bought the contract on the barbazu army from months ago.
After almost three weeks, they eventually enter kobold territory, where they are waylaid by kobolds demanding an expensive toll before they can pass through alive. They refuse to pay the toll and laugh at the pitiful damage thrown their way, where Cast calmly walks around the troll skeletons (taking the AoOs for no damage) and up to the leader, grapple lifts him, and then uses his Knight's Challenge ability. By this point, Ethedril hears and enters the fray, admonishing the kobolds for so obviously getting in over their heads. After some conversation, she asks to join the party so as to get in favor with the Empire of the Sun; also wanting to join them into the white dragon valley because some of her kobolds disappeared into the area.
From Tow's prior reconnaissance, they know the following about the valley: it is mostly human and the land is technically under the 'control' of three separate kingdoms, but its distance and poverty make it not worth the effort to fight over each other for it, especially with the dragon living in the area. The dragon itself will occasionally eat a villager, its speaker (the tall dwarf) acting as a herald and forward scout to the people. A peculiar feature is that once or twice a generation, a wizard decides to call kip in the valley and enlists the local kobold population to assist in constructing a tower. No wizard reuses a former tower, so the land is scattered with abandoned towers in varying states of disrepair. Currently, a new tower was being built and nearing completion.
Once there, they head directly for the white dragon's cave, having Marshal yell into it to speak with the dragon. At which point, the dwarven herald steps out of the darkness. They state to know if he orchestrated the devil army upon the kingdom of Crystalis (Cast's kingdom), to which the dwarf states that neither he nor his draconic master have ever cared about their kingdom. The party then asked about the wizard tower in the valley, to which the dwarf flippantly states that what the wizards do in the valley are of little concern to him; to which he bids them farewell and good luck in tracking the barbazu down (they never stated what the devils were).
At the nearly finished wizard's tower, several urd placing the finishing touches on the roof of the five-story copper edifice, the party demands the apparently sentient door to let them speak with the master of the tower and return Ethedril's kobolds. There is some resistance from the door, and they begin to pull out their weapons to chop down the door while Ethedril yells out that if her kobolds will be taken she will take some of his and starts shooting at the urd. An urd is severely injured and the door is heavily dented before lightning forms out of the ground for a floating wizard to appear in storming glory. Ethedril demands for her stolen kobolds to be returned, at which point the wizard arrogantly declares that he doesn't steal like some petty thief but simply makes his desires known and 'lesser mortals seek to appease his divine will'.
Not liking the attitude, the drow charges and chops the wizard in half with a kiai strike. Some of the wizard's guardians (three large air elementals) come out to harass the party, but are quickly routed. They then bust their way into the tower to loot the place, and speak with a pair of imps they find held inside. The imps claim to have been bound to the wizard after he began work so know nothing of his origins or other secrets on the tower, ask to be released along with a family heirloom (a hat), and leave peacefully.
That night while they sleep in the tower, the dwarf from earlier teleports in after scrying a bit, and expresses displeasure at them killing the wizard (the party counters with his prior statement of apathy). Being magnanimous, he grimly informs them that their welcome has been worn short and they must leave the valley at once; where he walks out the door. With this ultimatum stated, they go back to sleep, wake up and wait until noon for more kobolds to arrive to the tower so they can find out where the rest are and Ethedril can drag her lost kobolds back.
With a snap, the dwarf teleports back in a cold rage at their willful defiance. Ethedril states she wants her kobolds back and Cast's annoyed at how their long travel didn't get anything done, so the party unloads their arsenal. After several rounds and almost 500 damage (dwarf just standing there mocking them), they get realize that the dwarf has a resilient sphere and get Marshal to use a dispelling glare on it; where the dwarf counters by turning into a huge white dragon and the real fight begins.
They finally kill it, plan to animate its corpse as a skeleton with Ethedril's cohort, and begin to head for the white dragon's cave.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Warriors of the Empire of the Sun: Session XIV
After some more searching, they come upon the discovery that the dungeon was used as a prison by the Red Saint rather than for him. They even find some historical records in an office, along with volumes of legal codices, that verify the history that the Red Saint was a priest of some kind that commanded celestials and spread his control over the land; his greatest threat being Lord Saral, the Master of Monsters, who was attempting to forge an independent kingdom in the woodlands where no humans called home (orcs, gnolls, elite trolls, etc). Armed with this, they grab every key they've found in the place and head for the room with the floating keyhole and the words "By my judgement, I imprison thee" written above.
Their first key intones "Visum, scout for Lord Saral", at which point a Rast to phases in, panics, and attacks the party. Only two more keys actually give names and release creatures, a troll skirmisher for Saral and a forge fiend, who aren't as violent when released; confirming their prior history lesson about the Red Saint. At this point, they identify some of their loot and realize that one of the golden scepters can be used to open the gateway back to Cast's dungeon. Once they've escaped, they inform the fiend and troll that they're safe to leave the country as long as they do so safely.
For the next month, they run the country and send Gina off for diplomatic negotiations, exporting national goods in exchange for magic items crafted by the Dwarven Nations. To make the delivery faster, Tow teleports next to Gina in the Dwarven Nations to make the pickup, only to discover that ninjas had hijacked the delivery. Tow is slain by the three ninja (level 3 warriors) before Gina can get rid of any, where she proceeds to grapple & lift one, then use suggestion on the other to attack the third.
We leave it off at this point. Tune in next week, where we meet our latest character (the player likes to make characters, so he's choosing not to be raised)!
Their first key intones "Visum, scout for Lord Saral", at which point a Rast to phases in, panics, and attacks the party. Only two more keys actually give names and release creatures, a troll skirmisher for Saral and a forge fiend, who aren't as violent when released; confirming their prior history lesson about the Red Saint. At this point, they identify some of their loot and realize that one of the golden scepters can be used to open the gateway back to Cast's dungeon. Once they've escaped, they inform the fiend and troll that they're safe to leave the country as long as they do so safely.
For the next month, they run the country and send Gina off for diplomatic negotiations, exporting national goods in exchange for magic items crafted by the Dwarven Nations. To make the delivery faster, Tow teleports next to Gina in the Dwarven Nations to make the pickup, only to discover that ninjas had hijacked the delivery. Tow is slain by the three ninja (level 3 warriors) before Gina can get rid of any, where she proceeds to grapple & lift one, then use suggestion on the other to attack the third.
We leave it off at this point. Tune in next week, where we meet our latest character (the player likes to make characters, so he's choosing not to be raised)!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Warriors of the Empire of the Sun: Session XIII + 1/2
The session was run short due to scheduling and one of the players being sick, but refusing to sit it out while pushing to end the session quickly so we could drive him to get food from Jack-in-the-Box.
They traveled a few more rooms, fought a couple advanced rust monsters who had gorged themselves on nail golems, found a map of the dungeon; which somehow exists on the faces of a cube without them being able to notice the curves, which got confusing when they found the room with three straight walls while the corners were still perpendicular. A few keys were found, as was a jar that spoke a name and relation to the Red Saint when the key was placed upon it.
Oh, and they found a font filled to the brim with magic when opened (to the point it seriously amplified any magic cast near it) that was under some kind of warding magic. Staying close to it, they did their level best to dispel the wardings over the font; which I have no idea why, because I'd assume an abjuration over a stupidly potent well of magic would be something you want to keep around...
They'll have the repercussions later.
They traveled a few more rooms, fought a couple advanced rust monsters who had gorged themselves on nail golems, found a map of the dungeon; which somehow exists on the faces of a cube without them being able to notice the curves, which got confusing when they found the room with three straight walls while the corners were still perpendicular. A few keys were found, as was a jar that spoke a name and relation to the Red Saint when the key was placed upon it.
Oh, and they found a font filled to the brim with magic when opened (to the point it seriously amplified any magic cast near it) that was under some kind of warding magic. Staying close to it, they did their level best to dispel the wardings over the font; which I have no idea why, because I'd assume an abjuration over a stupidly potent well of magic would be something you want to keep around...
They'll have the repercussions later.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Warriors of the Empire of the Sun: Session XIII
The Blackened Grove is reeling from their loss of a rather significant node, so the current situation between them and the Empire has dwindled back down to "annoying neighbors". The orcish horde from the east has lost a rather decent amount of army and a couple of their champions (another adventuring party behind the lines), so their offensive has been put on hold; that and their prior conquest of thirty miles inward was never actually undone, so they actually have some real land to use and keep themselves busy (the party forgot about this).
Ultimately, things are looking stable enough for the party, so they're taking a bit of a break before jumping on their personal interests. After a couple weeks of rest, they eventually find a riddle pertaining to Azasaraj the Red Saint, the knowledge stored being about the Red Saint's Prison (unclear as to a prison used by or for the Red Saint). This riddle vexes them for a time, but they eventually solve and are presented with a set of blueprints.
Unsure as to what the blueprints do, they dedicate the next month's coffers from Cast's kingdom towards constructing what it states; an elaborate and expensive room deep underground (they add it to the dungeon wing) filled with arcane circles and names of various celestials (Tow failed the Arcana check to figure it out). After this time is completed, they all enter the room and close the door behind them to complete the 'circuit'. This makes the entire place turn dark and one of the circles on the far wall turns into a passage leading down a set of glowing stairs. They head down.
We now enter a dungeon, where they discover magic circles that emblazon symbols in Classic Celestial onto their flesh when touched; remember that their Common is Celestial, so they all recognize them as ultimately gibberish for the time. I'm figuring the language works in a manner not unlike Inuit (?), in that a word consists of multiple 'mini-words' and powerful suffixes/prefixes that change their meaning; a made up example would be 'Ta' has to do with the act of witnessing, but requires additional parts to tell you whether it's the 'ignoring' kind of witnessing, bystander witnessing, participant witnessing, second-hand retelling witnessing (w/confession connotations that need to be specified here), etc.
While travelling, they run into a human who seems mad to the point of insane gibbering, having declared himself, his mother, and his uncle to all be the Red Saint; all the while pacing his room and drawing stick figures with all the subtlety/skill of a child. The party's current theory is that he's the Red Saint and this is his prison. They also run into several semi-sentient constructs made of nails that seem to be designed to attack intruders, as well as signs that a rust monster may be around, which has Cast scared out of his gourd. A couple more tattoing circles are found, the magic seeming to be arcane in design, but detect magic shows the same kind of aura that you'd find coming out of anything done by a cleric (something I've added to the spell), which doesn't make any sense as even the clerics of the Boccob Expy don't use arcane sigils in their work.
What's interesting is that the party wants almost the exact dimensions described to them for each room/hall they enter, but absolutely refuse to draw so much as a list of which turns they took. I warned them several times on this, so I'm letting them get lost on their own by this point.
Ultimately, things are looking stable enough for the party, so they're taking a bit of a break before jumping on their personal interests. After a couple weeks of rest, they eventually find a riddle pertaining to Azasaraj the Red Saint, the knowledge stored being about the Red Saint's Prison (unclear as to a prison used by or for the Red Saint). This riddle vexes them for a time, but they eventually solve and are presented with a set of blueprints.
Unsure as to what the blueprints do, they dedicate the next month's coffers from Cast's kingdom towards constructing what it states; an elaborate and expensive room deep underground (they add it to the dungeon wing) filled with arcane circles and names of various celestials (Tow failed the Arcana check to figure it out). After this time is completed, they all enter the room and close the door behind them to complete the 'circuit'. This makes the entire place turn dark and one of the circles on the far wall turns into a passage leading down a set of glowing stairs. They head down.
We now enter a dungeon, where they discover magic circles that emblazon symbols in Classic Celestial onto their flesh when touched; remember that their Common is Celestial, so they all recognize them as ultimately gibberish for the time. I'm figuring the language works in a manner not unlike Inuit (?), in that a word consists of multiple 'mini-words' and powerful suffixes/prefixes that change their meaning; a made up example would be 'Ta' has to do with the act of witnessing, but requires additional parts to tell you whether it's the 'ignoring' kind of witnessing, bystander witnessing, participant witnessing, second-hand retelling witnessing (w/confession connotations that need to be specified here), etc.
While travelling, they run into a human who seems mad to the point of insane gibbering, having declared himself, his mother, and his uncle to all be the Red Saint; all the while pacing his room and drawing stick figures with all the subtlety/skill of a child. The party's current theory is that he's the Red Saint and this is his prison. They also run into several semi-sentient constructs made of nails that seem to be designed to attack intruders, as well as signs that a rust monster may be around, which has Cast scared out of his gourd. A couple more tattoing circles are found, the magic seeming to be arcane in design, but detect magic shows the same kind of aura that you'd find coming out of anything done by a cleric (something I've added to the spell), which doesn't make any sense as even the clerics of the Boccob Expy don't use arcane sigils in their work.
What's interesting is that the party wants almost the exact dimensions described to them for each room/hall they enter, but absolutely refuse to draw so much as a list of which turns they took. I warned them several times on this, so I'm letting them get lost on their own by this point.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
[3.5] Archivist
This is not a class that has sufficient abilities that go beyond level 9, and is thus going to stop here. Many of the abilities this class does get scales with character level, so taking another class afterward isn't going to suffer the multiclassing woes with it like you would experience with a regular spellcaster.
Archivist
Books are the blessed chloroform of the mind...*whack*
Races: Because of their need for books, races that congregate around densely populated regions tend to hold dominance as archivists. For reasons archivists liken to seeing a cow become a burger chef, illumian archivists are shunned by all other archivists.
Starting Gold: Refer to Book (1d12) of Virgil’s Aeneid. Choose three random lines, total the number of vowels in those lines, and multiply it by the number of proper nouns that appear in those same lines.
Staring Age: As a ghostwise Halfling fighter.
Hit Die: d6
Base Attack Bonus: Medium
Saving Throws: Good Fortitude, Poor Reflex, Good Will
Class Skills: The archivist’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (All) (Int), Profession (-), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language, Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Use Magic Device (Cha)
Skill Points per Level: 4 + Intelligence bonus
All of the following are class features of the archivist:
- 1. Speed Reading, Can’t Put it Down (Shillelagh), Thrill of Discovery, Lore, Paper Magic
2. Translator, Vox Imperium
3. Syllable of Power, Copy Protection
4. Enochian Binding
5. Can’t Put it Down (Brambles), Mightier than the Pen
6.
7. Can’t Put it Down (Spikes)
8. Symbolic Language
9. True Lore
Books Around the Globe: For purposes of mechanics, a full book is assumed to be 300 pages in length, taking the character 15 minutes to read. Spellbooks are special mechanics, where spell level counts as a full book for purposes of the archivist's book-activated abilities. As a result, a completely filled spellbook equates to 100 books. Because scrolls are condensed and leave out critical information, each whole spell counts as a book rather than each spell level.
Speed Reading (Ex): Gained at 1st level. The archivist can read twenty times faster, including magical tomes to gain their benefits. For example, it only takes the archivist two and a half hours to read and gain the benefits of a manual of gainful exercise.
- Normal: The normal scholar can read one page per minute with full retention, which means it takes the scholar 5 hours to read a book and the archivist 15 minutes.
Thrill of Discovery: Gained at 1st level. Every time an archivist finishes reading a book he hasn't previously read, he gains a number of temporary hit points equal to four per class level.
Lore: Gained at 1st level. An archivist gains Skill Focus as a bonus feat for any knowledge skill he has at least one rank in. An archivist with Knowledge (history) or (local) is considered to know local knowledge & history of any area with a library, once the archivist spends at a cumulative total of eight hours reading books from the library.
Paper Magic: Gained at 1st level. The Archivist is considered to have every spell on their spell list for purposes of activating scrolls, both arcane and divine.
Vox Imperium (Sp): Gained at 2nd level. The archivist has learned what words people will listen to, and can use command at will, the save DC being 10 + ½ character level + Intelligence modifier.
Translator (Su): Gained at 2nd level. The archivist is considered to be under the constant effects of comprehend languages.
Copy Protection (Sp): Gained at 3rd level. The archivist can inscribe a sepia snake sigil or illusory script in any book that they have read.
Word of Power (Sp): Gained at 3rd level. The archivist can speak any power word they have the spell text of in their hand, so long as the spell level does not equal or exceed their class level.
Enochian Binding (Sp): Gained at 4th level. The archivist is constantly surrounded by a magic circle of every alignment. With a touch attack, a creature failing a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 level + Int mod) is entangled & anchored to their position for 1 hour.
Greater Lore (Ex): Gained at 5th level. An archivist gains the ability to understand magic items, as with the identify spell.
Mightier than the Pen (Sp): Gained at 5th level. The archivist can cast the glyph of warding on any book or scroll that they have read. The archivist and the warded object are immune to the effects of the spell. When using the spell glyph option, they can use any harmful spell of 3rd level or lower that they have on hand. The spell uses the archivist’s class level & Intelligence modifier as the caster level and spellcasting ability respectively.
At level 12, this ability upgrades to greater glyph of warding. It is common to set the triggering condition to when a creature is struck by the book as a weapon.
Symbolic Language (Sp): Gained at 8th level. The archivist can write any symbol they have read before whose spell level does not exceed their class level plus two.
True Lore (Ex): Gained at 9th level. An archivist can use their immense knowledge to gain the effect of the analyze dweomer or legend lore spells. This ability can be used at-will.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Warriors of the Empire of the Sun: Session XII
They walked down to the myconid village, who respond with fear and hiding. After some rapport spores, they talk and inform the myconids of their mission, demanding to know why they aid the Blackened Grove. Claiming ignorance due to isolation, another 'hard-edge' who knows the best route to the capital of the Mushroom Kingdom is pointed out to be nearby the village, living as a hermit. Once over to the Yoda-like house in the fungus filled swamp, they knock and meed the resident. She is a fit, just shy of middle-age human woman wearing a leather jacket, a single leg set of dress pants, and armed with two pairs of scimitars and daggers. She greets them as Leia of House Achilles. After some conversation, she tells them of the capital location, and asks for a friendly duel with someone. Marshal accepts, receives a very painful slap of subdual damage, then knocks her down in a full-attack on his own.
When standing, she cleans her blades of mud by wiping them on her leg, and does a quick blade sharpen by running it on the inside of her knee. The party realizes that her leg is invincible, and Tow remembers hearing rumours of a fallen house from the Blackened Grove known for their invincibility. She acknowledges that she is of said house, living in exile in the Mushroom Kingdom, and that other members of the family have different traits from her. She also offers a chance to try out an excessively rare mushroom to the party that will expire soon, figuring they could take advantage of it better. The mushroom has a small sign that says "Don't Eat Me" next to it, and when fed to Tow, he begins to speak in tongues and somehow manages to summon a fiend. This is how we introduce a one-shot player, who is playing a 7th level Fiendish Brute (aiming for a mini-glabrezu type), who must serve and protect the party for 3 days and 3 nights.
Travelling for a day with a shortcut, they reach the capital, and seek an audience with an elder. Eventually, they're allowed in, but they cannot speak to the Eldest Circle of Sovereigns unless they earn their trust. For rapidity, they offer to join in a hallucinagenic mind meld (works similar to a vision quest) to prove their non-violent intentions. And so, the crazy dreamscape begins...
Appearing in the middle of the smoking ruins of the Empire of the Sun's capital, they wander for a short time, eventually noticing that Cast has parts of his skin turning into mirrored metal. This is followed by a nearby, broken mirror and its reflection of Cast pouring out, shifting into something similar to T-1000 and altering to appear as a large, mirrored myconid declaring itself as Azasaraj the Red Saint and has declared that Cast must fall. It's a short battle before they smack it down, which causes a blank d6 to roll out of its body. Tow attempts to scan it with detect magic, which reveals ancient Celestial runes that flare like a flash bulb (that only Tow can see), which incinerates Tow into nothing, causing him to awaken.
Confused, the party looks around, only to find themselves inside that old building for the exterminator in the southern continent. The human stands from behind the counter, and asks the party if they're interested in getting rid of rats. While he asked, the glabrezu-lite player attempts to teleport back to where he was, which causes an internal spike of pain and him to vanish into nothing (and to awaken), confusing/worrying Marshal and Cast. Marshal asks the clerk if there's anything else, learning that all he has besides traps/poison for rats and racoons is an old toy; a wind-up clapping monkey with a ninja mask. Looking at it, Marshal asks the price, which is apparently a kingdom; only for suddenly the toy monkey to spit out a wad of spikes that cause his head to explode like an overripe melon (awakening him). Alone, Cast tells the clerk to run while he can, at which point he hears the scampering of feet outside the store. Looking out, there is a veritable sea of rats moving towards him, which burst through the door to both overwhelm and kill Cast, bite by bite, into the waking world.
This seems to convince the locals that they're 'worthy' to speak with the second oldest member of the myconid colony, Red Cap. They are brought before him, a giant of a myconid (12HD), wearing a helmet as an amulet, several rings large enough to fit his stub like fingers, and a bag with a chemical-filled flasks. Attempting to diplomacize, Red Cap speaks of 'state secrets' and their alliance with the Blackened Grove suits the Mushroom Kingdom in their future of conquest and expansion. The party is fazed with this decidedly un-myconid like behavior, & Tow had been maintaining a detect magic to see what kind of items he had. When he saw the helmet on the neck chain, he was amazed to find it covered with a strong aura of enchantment magic on it, which is technically artifact level in the game; this amazement is detected by Red Cap, who demands a better explanation of who they are before judgement is passed. Cast is the only who answers, using a long-winded form of his name and title, in which Red Cap declares himself as Azasaraj the Red Saint.
A fight breaks out, and they kill the elder myconid sovereign. Which prompts them being brought before the remaining Elder Circle of the capital under heavy guard. With some deliberation, good Diplomacy rolls, and having them examine Red Cap's personal chambers. Inside said chambers are many, very expensive circles of binding, banishing, and summoning. This convinces them of Red Cap's madness, so they allow the party to keep his tainted gear, and inform them that their alliance with the Blackened Grove, while still present for trade purposes, will be ended for the node connection.
During all of this, they run into Leia's eldest brother, a man known as White Eyes; an old man with milky white eyes, glad to see the heavier presence of Blackened Grove gone. Out of gratitude, he bestows upon the party his family's boon, a salve that will bestow invulnerability to a single body part. There is a little bit of deliberation, and Marshal gets it applied to his arm.
Afterwards, they return back to the Empire of the Sun, and Tow takes the time case to research the helmet; because the entire party is assuming that the helmet is the cause for Red Cap's insanity and likely possession by Azas. In his research, he discovers that the Red Saint was a figure of ancient history (~700 years) who attempted to steal power from the Minor Gods in an attempt towards forced ascension to go along with world domination. The helmet itself, with a more careful inspection, seems to be a helm of telepathy with tiny indentations on the inside portion.
When standing, she cleans her blades of mud by wiping them on her leg, and does a quick blade sharpen by running it on the inside of her knee. The party realizes that her leg is invincible, and Tow remembers hearing rumours of a fallen house from the Blackened Grove known for their invincibility. She acknowledges that she is of said house, living in exile in the Mushroom Kingdom, and that other members of the family have different traits from her. She also offers a chance to try out an excessively rare mushroom to the party that will expire soon, figuring they could take advantage of it better. The mushroom has a small sign that says "Don't Eat Me" next to it, and when fed to Tow, he begins to speak in tongues and somehow manages to summon a fiend. This is how we introduce a one-shot player, who is playing a 7th level Fiendish Brute (aiming for a mini-glabrezu type), who must serve and protect the party for 3 days and 3 nights.
Travelling for a day with a shortcut, they reach the capital, and seek an audience with an elder. Eventually, they're allowed in, but they cannot speak to the Eldest Circle of Sovereigns unless they earn their trust. For rapidity, they offer to join in a hallucinagenic mind meld (works similar to a vision quest) to prove their non-violent intentions. And so, the crazy dreamscape begins...
Appearing in the middle of the smoking ruins of the Empire of the Sun's capital, they wander for a short time, eventually noticing that Cast has parts of his skin turning into mirrored metal. This is followed by a nearby, broken mirror and its reflection of Cast pouring out, shifting into something similar to T-1000 and altering to appear as a large, mirrored myconid declaring itself as Azasaraj the Red Saint and has declared that Cast must fall. It's a short battle before they smack it down, which causes a blank d6 to roll out of its body. Tow attempts to scan it with detect magic, which reveals ancient Celestial runes that flare like a flash bulb (that only Tow can see), which incinerates Tow into nothing, causing him to awaken.
Confused, the party looks around, only to find themselves inside that old building for the exterminator in the southern continent. The human stands from behind the counter, and asks the party if they're interested in getting rid of rats. While he asked, the glabrezu-lite player attempts to teleport back to where he was, which causes an internal spike of pain and him to vanish into nothing (and to awaken), confusing/worrying Marshal and Cast. Marshal asks the clerk if there's anything else, learning that all he has besides traps/poison for rats and racoons is an old toy; a wind-up clapping monkey with a ninja mask. Looking at it, Marshal asks the price, which is apparently a kingdom; only for suddenly the toy monkey to spit out a wad of spikes that cause his head to explode like an overripe melon (awakening him). Alone, Cast tells the clerk to run while he can, at which point he hears the scampering of feet outside the store. Looking out, there is a veritable sea of rats moving towards him, which burst through the door to both overwhelm and kill Cast, bite by bite, into the waking world.
This seems to convince the locals that they're 'worthy' to speak with the second oldest member of the myconid colony, Red Cap. They are brought before him, a giant of a myconid (12HD), wearing a helmet as an amulet, several rings large enough to fit his stub like fingers, and a bag with a chemical-filled flasks. Attempting to diplomacize, Red Cap speaks of 'state secrets' and their alliance with the Blackened Grove suits the Mushroom Kingdom in their future of conquest and expansion. The party is fazed with this decidedly un-myconid like behavior, & Tow had been maintaining a detect magic to see what kind of items he had. When he saw the helmet on the neck chain, he was amazed to find it covered with a strong aura of enchantment magic on it, which is technically artifact level in the game; this amazement is detected by Red Cap, who demands a better explanation of who they are before judgement is passed. Cast is the only who answers, using a long-winded form of his name and title, in which Red Cap declares himself as Azasaraj the Red Saint.
A fight breaks out, and they kill the elder myconid sovereign. Which prompts them being brought before the remaining Elder Circle of the capital under heavy guard. With some deliberation, good Diplomacy rolls, and having them examine Red Cap's personal chambers. Inside said chambers are many, very expensive circles of binding, banishing, and summoning. This convinces them of Red Cap's madness, so they allow the party to keep his tainted gear, and inform them that their alliance with the Blackened Grove, while still present for trade purposes, will be ended for the node connection.
During all of this, they run into Leia's eldest brother, a man known as White Eyes; an old man with milky white eyes, glad to see the heavier presence of Blackened Grove gone. Out of gratitude, he bestows upon the party his family's boon, a salve that will bestow invulnerability to a single body part. There is a little bit of deliberation, and Marshal gets it applied to his arm.
Afterwards, they return back to the Empire of the Sun, and Tow takes the time case to research the helmet; because the entire party is assuming that the helmet is the cause for Red Cap's insanity and likely possession by Azas. In his research, he discovers that the Red Saint was a figure of ancient history (~700 years) who attempted to steal power from the Minor Gods in an attempt towards forced ascension to go along with world domination. The helmet itself, with a more careful inspection, seems to be a helm of telepathy with tiny indentations on the inside portion.
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