Posted by elmonster on Thu May 1 08:24:57 2003: IP Address: 80.145.39.43
In Reply to: seems i can´t submit a new posting... posted by elmonster on Thu May 1 08:21:45 2003:
There is one more thing I can not figure out: how in shar´s name does hazakian lose all those DIARY- entries??? I mean, really: he seems to be a “mage of no small water” which implies that he should have enough money to afford solidly bound books and a good protection for important things like a wizards diary! So why for example did he place one of those precious (for himself, at least) sheets seperately in platin scrollcase- only to lose it to some ropers or grells or deepspawn? Did he use the scrollcase as missile? And why does he lose not only one but so many entries? Is he so senile that he does not realise he es dropping sheets of paper every two or three days? Or does he do it deliberately? By now the party found only the scrap of paper in the deepspawns lair (how did it get there? Did they fight through the grells line of defences (leaving grells in their back!), ending up in the very hearth of their cavern- complex, drop the diary- entry there and fighting all the way out of the lair?) and have not asked these questions. But I know my players and I am sure they will find these sore points. They always do… *g*
Next came the loth-cursed complex of the rockseer. The ropers were dangerous- at first. After the first surprise (two sc were glued and slowly drawn towards the monsters but not too hard wounded) they managed to free themselves and started to attack the creatures from afar with arrows, magic missiles and melfs meteorites. Ropers dead in 2 rounds… that´s VERY unsatisfying for a dm! When they discovered the elf- statue deeper in the complex, I ruled that the two hidden ropers were “mimicking” the entrance sections left end right the round wall. The pc did not discover them and stood only some paces away from them. Now THAT was a fight! *g*
Snagger got caught and was drawn to the ropers mouth in two rounds (due to two failed saving throws and the short distance to the monster). The other seven of the party tried everything possible to save him: they tried to shrink him (reversed enlarge spell), put a tensers floating disc under him to support him (he hang face- down from the monsters mouth, legs already disintegrating by the strong digestive acids); finally they forced the teeth open with a crowbar and pulled him out. There was not really much left of his legs, fortunately he was unconscious – giving our priest (of shaundakul) a chance for some impressive healing.
They finished the complex after that without real problems, leaving the gem- growing “tree” alone (they suspected a trap and could not agree on a satisfying strategy. Besides: the Jelenneth- clock was ticking…). The crystal slime was no problem, but I feel it COULD have been a quite deadly problem should the pc had not watched their back. This is one of the potential “save-or-die” dangers I don´t like in the adventure. Yes, it is good for keeping the players alert and cagey, but if the price for that is a dead pc due to some bad saving throws… I don´t know…
Anyway, they found the livestone (our necromancer immediately fell in love with his(!) lifestone…*g*) but missed the message (handout) that is inside one of the ropers. They knew these are fierce opponents, and our necromancer and the “wannabe- halfdragon- girl” were exploring the underwater- part alone (not enough waterbreathing magic for all). I don´t know if I should place the handout somewhere more obvious, but on the other side I cannot guarantee that they will find every important scrap of paper that was lost over the miles of the underdark.
The party lumbered to the north to explore the “quaggoth- caverns”. They found the hook horrors first- and again it was snagger who was surprised by three of their guards as he scouted a few dozend yards ahead. They jumped down, surprised him- and delivered two critical hits. After barely rescuing him the bunch of them realised that all means of curing serious wounds (we use the players options rules and found that combat is a VERY good deal more realistic than with the standard 2nd edition rules) were used up, so they interrupted their explorations and went back to mistledale… still no Jeleneth found!
Back down (after re- equipping in tilverton and enjoying some nice and quite summer days in the sun), my players planned three real-time hours how to deal with both quaggoth and hook horrors. Some (game-time) weeks before as a lowlevel- party they spectacularly defeated one orc tribe and one hobgoblin band down in the great rockdale by staging a fake- attack of the orcs (secretly killing a hobgoblin gone fishing and then dropping a dead orc beside him) while at the same time warning the orcs of an imminent hobgoblin attack. Could this succed again? …in the end they simply threw some coins with continual light in the midst of the guards, used the moment the poor creatures were blinded and send a fireball their way. Of course the noise alarmed the remaining tribe, whose warriors came rushing in en masse. Very bad for them, as more than half of them were fried with melfs meteorites, disabled with grease and the few that actually came through were hacked apart by our fighters. Our two mages who just warmed up threw some fireballs after the fleeing rest (only to realise later that perhaps they should think again about their alignment… I stressed that none of the creatures posed a threat or was even attacking them, so this time THEY are on the wrong side of morals. that left some quite thoughtful pc down there *g*).
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