My players are used to me being a nasty DM, it keeps them on their toes.
Cheers
IMP
Rappan Athuk
Moderator: Stik
Egads! We are actually going to play tonight! Finally everyone can make it so I'll list the bad guys and their minions just to show you what they are up against.
Koraashag a 10th level priest of Orcus
Tavic (badie from Crucible of Freya) a 6th level Cleric of Orcus.
2 5th level priests of Orcus
2 4th level priests of Orcus.
10 Acolytes of Orcus (1st level)
5 battle zombies
5 zombie servants
3 font skeletons
4 Ghouls
3 Shadows
2 Ogres in plate armour armed with great axes and long spears.
I skipped listing all the stats and equipment as I would be here forever, I will update you later tonight or tomorrow to let you know how it turned out.
Sorry for the wait.
Okay so our heroes charge through the front gates in all their glory and get hit by dispel magic and hold person, all PC's make their save and start hacking their way through the minions. I have the Ogres and the acolytes, undead near the front while the High Priest and the two 5th level Priests are 150' away near the statue (which provides them with an unholy aura). I roll a 5 for the dispel and they laugh at the hold person (they all rolled high and the paladin has a ring of free action). This means their buff spells are still active. On round two Tavic casts dispel magic and I roll a 20! Yippee! The parties buff spells are fragged and the evil guys give the party two fingers (unfortunately that will be my only 20 in the game I rather not talk about my other rolls). The party undaunted continue to fight and they have made a mess of the low level front rank guys, my high priest decides that now is a good time for a flame strike ! The paladin is targeted and she fails her save and is down to -2 HP, the ranger who was knocked unconscious by an Ogre that round is now at -30HP and is a pile of ash. Just to summarise; the rest of the party waste the low level guys and even though my High Priest is using his ring of spectral hand to cast his cause wounds spells I just could not hit even though it was only a touch attack. Well after the party made a mess of the badies they charged the High priest and the two 5th level priests. The two Priests intercepted the party so the High Priest could continue to cast spells. I fumbled my attacks a they hit me, the High Priest cast slay living but before he completed his spell the fighter moved in and critical him for 24 damage which disrupted his spell. What I thought could have been a possible TPK or at least a tough fight turned out to be a walkthrough for the party which is nice for a change as they have had it pretty tough. The fought the High Priest and even though with his high AC and the unholy aura they just couldn't miss, I on the other hand might have well been granny kobold with my +2 unholy mace of the wraith which was a cool weapon if it ever hit. Anyways even with my potions of heal he was unable to fend off their attacks or even get a hit in. The high priest managed to escape due to a contingency spell and teleported away through a portal back to Rappan Athuk where he will have to explain himself to the High priest there. In the end the party got together loads of Holy water and consecrate spells and destroyed the statue which is necessary to destroy the fountain of blood on the first level. They also cleared out the rest of the level and rescued the prisoners in which a female barbarian joined the party. There was enough experience for the party to go up a level and they found some really good loot (31,000gp, and a book of vile darkness) I can hardly wait until someone tries to read the book. They went back up to level two to rest in a sanctified area while the druid took the rescued people back to Wildsgate. The Party have found an entrance to level 5 ( via level 2) through the underground lake ( they have a scroll of airy water). I'll leave it there then until next week when they take on the Tsathar and get closer to their goal to find Abysthor.
Cheers
IMP
Koraashag a 10th level priest of Orcus
Tavic (badie from Crucible of Freya) a 6th level Cleric of Orcus.
2 5th level priests of Orcus
2 4th level priests of Orcus.
10 Acolytes of Orcus (1st level)
5 battle zombies
5 zombie servants
3 font skeletons
4 Ghouls
3 Shadows
2 Ogres in plate armour armed with great axes and long spears.
I skipped listing all the stats and equipment as I would be here forever, I will update you later tonight or tomorrow to let you know how it turned out.
Sorry for the wait.
Okay so our heroes charge through the front gates in all their glory and get hit by dispel magic and hold person, all PC's make their save and start hacking their way through the minions. I have the Ogres and the acolytes, undead near the front while the High Priest and the two 5th level Priests are 150' away near the statue (which provides them with an unholy aura). I roll a 5 for the dispel and they laugh at the hold person (they all rolled high and the paladin has a ring of free action). This means their buff spells are still active. On round two Tavic casts dispel magic and I roll a 20! Yippee! The parties buff spells are fragged and the evil guys give the party two fingers
(unfortunately that will be my only 20 in the game I rather not talk about my other rolls). The party undaunted continue to fight and they have made a mess of the low level front rank guys, my high priest decides that now is a good time for a flame strike ! The paladin is targeted and she fails her save and is down to -2 HP, the ranger who was knocked unconscious by an Ogre that round is now at -30HP and is a pile of ash. Just to summarise; the rest of the party waste the low level guys and even though my High Priest is using his ring of spectral hand to cast his cause wounds spells I just could not hit even though it was only a touch attack. Well after the party made a mess of the badies they charged the High priest and the two 5th level priests. The two Priests intercepted the party so the High Priest could continue to cast spells. I fumbled my attacks a they hit me, the High Priest cast slay living but before he completed his spell the fighter moved in and critical him for 24 damage which disrupted his spell. What I thought could have been a possible TPK or at least a tough fight turned out to be a walkthrough for the party which is nice for a change as they have had it pretty tough. The fought the High Priest and even though with his high AC and the unholy aura they just couldn't miss, I on the other hand might have well been granny kobold with my +2 unholy mace of the wraith which was a cool weapon if it ever hit. Anyways even with my potions of heal he was unable to fend off their attacks or even get a hit in. The high priest managed to escape due to a contingency spell and teleported away through a portal back to Rappan Athuk where he will have to explain himself to the High priest there. In the end the party got together loads of Holy water and consecrate spells and destroyed the statue which is necessary to destroy the fountain of blood on the first level. They also cleared out the rest of the level and rescued the prisoners in which a female barbarian joined the party. There was enough experience for the party to go up a level and they found some really good loot (31,000gp, and a book of vile darkness) I can hardly wait until someone tries to read the book. They went back up to level two to rest in a sanctified area while the druid took the rescued people back to Wildsgate. The Party have found an entrance to level 5 ( via level 2) through the underground lake ( they have a scroll of airy water). I'll leave it there then until next week when they take on the Tsathar and get closer to their goal to find Abysthor. Cheers
IMP
The party used a scroll of lower water to make their way past the Crystal Lake on level-1 and used the slimy ooze covered stairs and made their way down to level 5. When they reached their destination they were greeted by a group of frog like humanoids (Tsathar) along with a pair of giant poisonous frogs. The druid cast spike stones while the rest of the party awaited an attack. The frogs jumped at the party and landed a bit short on some spikes ( ouch ! ), the lower level Tsathar charged while the frog priest cast silence at the party. The minion Tsathar were badly hurt on the spike stones and became confused on which way to go as they could not see the spikes, the frogs were nearly dead. The rest of the party killed off the lesser Tsathar while the priest after casting his spell croaked for help. The druid cancelled his spell so the party could move forward, the same time the Priest buggered off and got help, also at the time another group of Tsathar coming from the south overheard all the noise and attacked the party. The fight readied his trident as they leaped at him (the trident by the way is a +1 +3 frog bane). It was found on level one ages ago and a few times the party were going to sell it as they thought it was a useless weapon (they don't think that now!). Two Tsathar impale themselves on the trident while the third attacked the paladin. The lesser Tsathar were dispatched quickly before reinforcements arrived. The party faced two Tsathar Priests, four giant frogs and a group of lesser Tsathar. The battle raged for around six rounds before the frogmen were killed, the party suffered minor injuries (I’m starting to worry they are actually planning attacks). The part head west into a cavern in where they fight and kill a pair of giant frogs. they search the west passage and find a tunnel that just keeps heading down ( underdark) they decide to turn back and go down a passage with a strange orange moss growing everywhere in the cave. They see some giant rats eating the moss but leave them alone.
Sorry must go will update again later tonight .
Sorry must go will update again later tonight .
The party continue for a while searching along the caverns but besides a couple of giant frogs find nothing of interest and start to backtrack. They take the North-east passage out of the main cavern and see to their right a ledge starting at ground level and then rise up to 30' high along a cliff, they can see a strange green light in the area beyond the ledge, they avoid that and head back south to where they started. They continue south, pass the way they came in, walk around the dead Tsathar and enter a massive cavern filled with stalagmites and stalactites along with a few stone pillars. The party automatically think “piercers ! " and start looking up for something moving, well they don't see anything so they keep on going. Unfortunately a Roper (six in total but spread throughout the cavern), attacks the party lashing out at random characters hoping to lure them in its maw! The paladin and the druid get hit and fail their saves, the paladin slips out of the ropers grasp to its surprise! (ring of free action) and off topic for a second, if you are wearing one of these you basically become a roper killing machine. The paladin had a strength enhancement spell (22 str which is +4 to hit in C&C) and it was then lowered to 11 due to the poison. But it didn't matter too much as she was armed with a +2 long sword of dancing along with a +3 longsword and she made roper mince pie out of these things in a few rounds because if the roper can't keep a hold of you its screwed. Anyways after the demise of the roper the druid cast neutralise poison on the paladin and a fighter that was also weak. The party continue and run into another roper and the druid becomes creative and casts a stoneshape on a stalactite trying to weaken it so it falls on the ropers head. I gave the player a 40% chance that it would work and he rolled a 25% so the roper had a bad headache along with all the slash wounds he was getting from the fighters. I did manage to grapple the druid and fighter for a while but missed on the bite. They party decided to cast fly on the paladin and have her fly around the cavern to scout around, a couple more ropers attacked but she managed to slay them both ( the party are starting to see ropers as a xp present ). The paladin scouts around and finds a small cave down the lower south west of the cavern and the party make their way down the 50' ledge via levitate and a flying paladin and camp there for the night. They wake the next day and the druid again cast neutralise poison on the paladin and they spend the next couple of hours checking the north east exit where they find more frogs and Tsathar. They go towards to the green lake and a few of the group passout due to nausea, this forces them to retreat as they are under attack by a large group of poison killer frogs. They go back into the large roper cavern and head west (which they later regret). They see a passage in the west of the cave and explore finding loads of broken armour and bones, it seems whatever did this continued to smash the bones even after the creature was dead. They prepare themselves for battle and see a bloody skeletal dwarf in full plate armed with a rune double headed battle axe (axe of blood currently +4). The creature is a bleeding horror with an AC of 31 and a plus bazillion to hit. The party put on a brave face but I bitch slap the paladin and one of the fighters in unconscious in a few rounds. Then by round three I was rolling my 1's and 2's again and the party had their revenge. A while later after a very tough fight the Bleeding horror is dead along with some badly wounded but still alive PC’s.
After the death of the undead dwarf the barbarian (a prisoner from the temple of Orcus which is now played by Dave), takes the axe of blood and they head back to the spirit of Flail for advice on how to find Abysthor. They arrive and speak to Flail and he tells them to head back down to the lair of the Tsathar and head straight where they will find a passage that heads right. They are to blindfold themselves and go into the cave where they must feel their way around until they find a set of stairs. The reason for this is because the entrance to 5a is hidden by a powerful illusion and there was no way the party could find their way down is they entered the cave normally (if they can't see the illusion it can't affect them). They head down to level 5a knowing that the quest is finally nearing its close, at the bottom of the stairs they encounter a group of frogmen lead by a priest. The fight is tough and Dave’s fighter fails a save against hold person and is then killed by a scourge Tsathar who was fighting alongside the priest. The rest of the party slay the frogmen and put Dave's fighter in a portable hole (this is on loan from a wizard who gets 15% of everything they find (gp value). I had to make some adjustments to the module as C&C is a slower progression game compared to 3rd edition so some of you may notice some changes. The party head south then east along the passage where they are teleported to the maze of a gynosphinx where they correctly answer all three of here riddles (failure meant death), they use the crystal rod to de-activate the teleported then continue east until they find the monolith, finding it impossible to enter they head west and take the first passage to the south where they find a cave filled with rare minerals. The party go east and meet the stone guardian who tells them of a person he met long ago who was blessed by the earth god. The party tell them of their quest and ask for his assistance which he agrees to if they hand over all their armour! The party comply and he gives them seven coloured beads and an 80lb chunk of mithral ore! (Very nice). He tells them that he will feed his children their armour and warns the party to avoid them (elder xorn). The party then head west until they come to a passage blocked by a prismatic wall; the beads are thrown one at a time at the wall (correct colour bead to the corresponding wall). They then continue to the Earth Blood cavern! Well this is where most of the party die and the adventure nearly came to an end; I forgot to mention the sphinx gave the party living rock vials to collect the earth blood which is needed to get inside the monolith. But the party was warned not to touch the earth blood or their was a very good chance they would be dead, well you know what players are like when it comes to magic pools or decks of cards, they just had to touch it. The druid managed to save (only he had to make a CL: 13 Wisdom save the others were a Challenge level 13 Con save). the druid gained great strength but lost some dexterity and also since I made this area his " quest area" he communed with the earth god and also gained the ability to have all his earth spells do max damage and a +1 to wisdom, the fighter, barbarian and the wizard tried and died becoming nothing more than base elements. Then of course the NPC cleric tries and easily makes a save and gets more power than anyone else and decides to leave the party when he gets back to town to go on a quest to wipe out Iuz (good luck!) With only two characters left our suicidal party continue the adventure and manage to make it inside the monolith in where the paladin and cleric each loose a level assisting Abysthor in destroying the monolith which was going to unleash demons upon the earth if the Priests of Orcas ever found it and activated it. The monolith is destroyed! Yippee! Abysthor sacrificed his life and told the pair they could have his treasure, which was a ( get this ! ) a +3 holy heavy mace of disruption ( Ravenloft here I come) , a stone horse ( umm yeah thanks), staff of life ( very good) , rod of absorption ( how does it work really?) and a ring of sustenance. Well done to the party but the adventure wasn't over yet.