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terryclothToday was the DM-switching Sunday game, which continued Tom's mini-adventure. We didn't finish it today either, due mostly to continued complications Tom made up on the spur of the moment.
Indeed, as predicted, the party refused to leave well enough alone, and awoke the flame-retardent super-mummy from the sarcophagus, which poisoned Alaric before getting beaten down. This time Alaric was at least ambulatory, so they pressed on.
At the next intersection, Tachi correctly identified the obvious proper path out of the catacombs, so the party instead decided to settle the matter with a roll of the dice, which led them into an ambush by 18,400 XP worth of Bombardier beetles. They just kept coming! The party was assisted by a kill-stealing fairy ghost, which didn't otherwise threaten them, and found some massive bowling-ball sized gems in a back room where the beetles stored their tasty grubs.
Enough people were wounded that they decided to rest the night in the formerly beetle-infested chamber -- no one in their right mind would come in there, since the beetles were so vicious. They weren't disturbed, and in the morning felt somehow... more powerful. Albinus figured out how to cast Fireball, and Tachi was *sure* that today he'd be able to turn into an animal, finally, if he tried.
So, having had enough of the random-encounters-that-almost-killed-them, they followed the hallway they should have taken the day before, which ended in three doors. Tachi correctly identified the proper door to take, backing up his random guess with an examination of the tracks on the ground, which confirmed it. So the party went the other way... although at least this time it was because they heard sobbing.
Through a door they found three human women (miniaturized like them) chained to a wall for use as 'wet nurses', although they were also often raped. Burne immediately freed them, but the party was split on what to do with them. Tachi figured they had no chance at a normal life since they'd spent their entire life chained to a wall, and wanted to give them clubs so they could die in battle getting revenge on their captors. Burne and Linn wanted to drop everything and immediately escort them to safety... not a trivial matter, since the ants had moved in on the far side of the secret door out of the crypt to the cavern.
They finally agreed to tie the two girls who couldn't speak or understand a language up in the sarcophagus crypt to keep them out of trouble, and let the one who could at least *try* to take orders follow them and maybe help guide them to the tower where princess Rosemary was being held (or possibly living in luxury).
Then, instead of taking the door that was obviously the way to the rest of the castle and the tower, they opened the third door, starting a long, tiring fight with a powerful necromancer.
The initial rush failed when Burne refused to grapple the necromancer's horrid maggoty armor, then turned into a rout when more than half the party was sent fleeing from a single fear spell. While they went running off in all directions to cower in assorted corners, Albinus, Diego, and Alaric were left to carry on the fight on their own.
Diego and Alaric kept flanking the necromancer and then missing their attacks, while Albinus threw his entire load at her, scaring her enough to make her go gaseous and flee through a locked door, ordering a horde of zombies to delay the trio (and incidentally separate them from the still-cowering bulk of the party).
Albinus knocked the door, and the three ran up a staircase after her, finding her through another door, with four acolytes, waiting for them. Diego tried to run in after her, and was grabbed and taken to the ground. Alaric tried the same thing, with more success, getting up in her face and menacing her.
So, she asked for a cease fire, and an uneasy standoff ensued, made more uneasy when her minions refused to release Diego, tried to grab Alaric again, and locked Albinus out of the room. Alaric was willing to play along, though, figuring the rest of the party would be unfeared soon enough.
Which they were, by that point. They just had to finish hacking their way through a dozen zombies lined up in a five-foot wide corridor. It took two or three rounds, depending on how you figure it.
Once Burne was up the stairs, the door was opened in short order (Knocked by Albinus -- the DM was aggravated, but had to admit that the knock spell specified that it opened 'locked, barred, stuck, or held' doors) and the rest of the party streamed into the room.
After clarifying the situation ("So, let me see if I have this right. You're an evil necromancer who's been keeping women prisoner for years for use as sex slaves, throwing the ones who won't cooperate down a well to mingle with the contents of their bedpans, and you want us to not kill you?" "No, that's wrong..." "Explain." "Those are Lord Malvinus' prisoners, I just work for him.") the party agreed to let the necromancer live if she would (a) give them directions to find Rosemary and (b) not sound the alarm. In return, they'd not kill her immediately, and not leave through her crypts.
Obviously, this deal had some issues, namely the lack of acceptable alternate escape routes, but most of the party was inclined to agree to it. Linn volunteered to go back immediately and lead the three rescued women past the ants and back to the good fairy camp while the rest pressed onwards.
Albinus was ready to rest, but no one else was seriously injured or drained, and it was likely that even with the necromancer's cooperation, the alarm would be sounded soon over the missing women.
last session next session
It was really, really obvious that Tom was just making things up as he went along, but he always does that, and it usually works out pretty well. I'm kinda jealous... it's way more work for me to run a game, since I have to actually prepare in advance.
Indeed, as predicted, the party refused to leave well enough alone, and awoke the flame-retardent super-mummy from the sarcophagus, which poisoned Alaric before getting beaten down. This time Alaric was at least ambulatory, so they pressed on.
At the next intersection, Tachi correctly identified the obvious proper path out of the catacombs, so the party instead decided to settle the matter with a roll of the dice, which led them into an ambush by 18,400 XP worth of Bombardier beetles. They just kept coming! The party was assisted by a kill-stealing fairy ghost, which didn't otherwise threaten them, and found some massive bowling-ball sized gems in a back room where the beetles stored their tasty grubs.
Enough people were wounded that they decided to rest the night in the formerly beetle-infested chamber -- no one in their right mind would come in there, since the beetles were so vicious. They weren't disturbed, and in the morning felt somehow... more powerful. Albinus figured out how to cast Fireball, and Tachi was *sure* that today he'd be able to turn into an animal, finally, if he tried.
So, having had enough of the random-encounters-that-almost-killed-them, they followed the hallway they should have taken the day before, which ended in three doors. Tachi correctly identified the proper door to take, backing up his random guess with an examination of the tracks on the ground, which confirmed it. So the party went the other way... although at least this time it was because they heard sobbing.
Through a door they found three human women (miniaturized like them) chained to a wall for use as 'wet nurses', although they were also often raped. Burne immediately freed them, but the party was split on what to do with them. Tachi figured they had no chance at a normal life since they'd spent their entire life chained to a wall, and wanted to give them clubs so they could die in battle getting revenge on their captors. Burne and Linn wanted to drop everything and immediately escort them to safety... not a trivial matter, since the ants had moved in on the far side of the secret door out of the crypt to the cavern.
They finally agreed to tie the two girls who couldn't speak or understand a language up in the sarcophagus crypt to keep them out of trouble, and let the one who could at least *try* to take orders follow them and maybe help guide them to the tower where princess Rosemary was being held (or possibly living in luxury).
Then, instead of taking the door that was obviously the way to the rest of the castle and the tower, they opened the third door, starting a long, tiring fight with a powerful necromancer.
The initial rush failed when Burne refused to grapple the necromancer's horrid maggoty armor, then turned into a rout when more than half the party was sent fleeing from a single fear spell. While they went running off in all directions to cower in assorted corners, Albinus, Diego, and Alaric were left to carry on the fight on their own.
Diego and Alaric kept flanking the necromancer and then missing their attacks, while Albinus threw his entire load at her, scaring her enough to make her go gaseous and flee through a locked door, ordering a horde of zombies to delay the trio (and incidentally separate them from the still-cowering bulk of the party).
Albinus knocked the door, and the three ran up a staircase after her, finding her through another door, with four acolytes, waiting for them. Diego tried to run in after her, and was grabbed and taken to the ground. Alaric tried the same thing, with more success, getting up in her face and menacing her.
So, she asked for a cease fire, and an uneasy standoff ensued, made more uneasy when her minions refused to release Diego, tried to grab Alaric again, and locked Albinus out of the room. Alaric was willing to play along, though, figuring the rest of the party would be unfeared soon enough.
Which they were, by that point. They just had to finish hacking their way through a dozen zombies lined up in a five-foot wide corridor. It took two or three rounds, depending on how you figure it.
Once Burne was up the stairs, the door was opened in short order (Knocked by Albinus -- the DM was aggravated, but had to admit that the knock spell specified that it opened 'locked, barred, stuck, or held' doors) and the rest of the party streamed into the room.
After clarifying the situation ("So, let me see if I have this right. You're an evil necromancer who's been keeping women prisoner for years for use as sex slaves, throwing the ones who won't cooperate down a well to mingle with the contents of their bedpans, and you want us to not kill you?" "No, that's wrong..." "Explain." "Those are Lord Malvinus' prisoners, I just work for him.") the party agreed to let the necromancer live if she would (a) give them directions to find Rosemary and (b) not sound the alarm. In return, they'd not kill her immediately, and not leave through her crypts.
Obviously, this deal had some issues, namely the lack of acceptable alternate escape routes, but most of the party was inclined to agree to it. Linn volunteered to go back immediately and lead the three rescued women past the ants and back to the good fairy camp while the rest pressed onwards.
Albinus was ready to rest, but no one else was seriously injured or drained, and it was likely that even with the necromancer's cooperation, the alarm would be sounded soon over the missing women.
last session next session
It was really, really obvious that Tom was just making things up as he went along, but he always does that, and it usually works out pretty well. I'm kinda jealous... it's way more work for me to run a game, since I have to actually prepare in advance.
