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terryclothTonight we suffered through the next part of Bastion of Broken Souls -- suffered mostly because the party refused to fight people who had no reason to either attack first or help them in any way. They eventually muddled through with a nonviolent solution, but it wasn't much fun, because nonviolence in D+D isn't much fun.
Then, they got violent, and managed to display new levels of egregiousness that I hadn't even suspected. Namely, Shapechange. And Maze.
Having defeated the Prime Dreamer, they received her tale. She pointed them to Eco, who waited in the depths of Pandemonium, guarding the prison of a former god who'd once violated the Ban of the Unborn by taking control of the Bastion of Unborn Souls, and had been stripped of his power by the other gods, fearful that the ban would fall on them all. In his possession was a fragment of his soul totem, which was the only thing that would allow access to the Bastion short of the gods intervention, which was not forthcoming.
So they went to meet Eco, who refused to grant them access. "But we need to stop the plague of soulless babies?" "The gods did not give me the authority to let you past." "So... ask them." "They are silent." "Okay, ask them if they'll let us through the door to get the key to the Bastion." "Sorry, they aren't talking." "Okay, don't mention anything about the Bastion, ask them..."
It went on like that for a while, but eventually they were able to ask permission indirectly enough for the gods to grant it. Or rather, for one of the gods to give it, as Eco served them all.
Inside the prison were a flock of Lillends, who were hostile at first, but receptive to the party's attempts at negotiation. The Titan Desaeus refused to give over the totem, however, as it was the last vestige of his power.
"We reeeeeally really need it."
"Go find the other pieces."
"Well, okay, can I touch it, so I can divinate on its other bits?"
"Eh, I guess so."
But the divination revealed that the last piece (Arshadalon, their foe, had the second) was in the possession of a major god in his home on Bytopia, and it seemed unlikely that he'd be any more willing to give it up than Desaeus.
So they went back in, and this time May charmed the titan with an eyebite. He still wouldn't give it up, but it was a long argument, and meanwhile Abbey snuck around behind him and pickpocketed it off him [using a skill check from the epic handbook]. The gig was up before they were clean away, but the prison wasn't very big, and they managed to run out the doorway (through which those imprisoned could not pass) before anyone got seriously hurt.
So they had the key, which, after identifying it, was also a guide to the spot on the Positive Material Plane where the Bastion was located. After much preparation, they shifted to the plane, and assaulted the demons guarding the gate.
One of the demons was a very impressive gigantic retriever, which Conner poly-any-objected into a squid. The other demons were not impressive in the least, so the only excitement was when May decided to prismatic-spray Abbey along with the enemy, and ended up sending her to the second level of Hell, where she cowered under the stands of a colliseum full of major devils, among the other tieflings, and imps, and lemures, until the party gated her out 30 seconds later.
They considered forcing her to obey their commands (and not rush into the middle of combat to get sprayed), but it would only last for a couple minutes, so they didn't bother. Some of them put on the torture devices the demons wore to counteract the overhealing of the plane, others just kept stabbing themselves every few seconds. Oh, and Erdann shapechanged back into a 50-foot high animated candle, immune to healing.
They placed the totem-segment in the obvious totem-receptacle, and entered the Bastion. They were immediately engulfed in fire -- the half-dragon kobold, half-dragon ettin, half-dragon dire bear, and gigantic chimera just inside had been watching through the doorway and were ready for them. Of course, the party had come expecting to face a Great Red Wyrm, so the fire did nothing to them.
Their retaliation was swift -- Erdann summoned a creeping doom upon the dire bear, which devoured its flesh from its bones before the insects *popped*, overhealed by the plane. The wolf and Abbey surrounded the kobold, threw it to the ground and backstabbed it, but it popped back up and flurried at Abbey with its unholy sword, mostly missing.
The ettin roared, angered at the loss of the bear, and unleashed its 8 attacks on Erdann, very nearly but not quite killing him. The May Mazed it. The kobold went down quickly, after that, and the chimera was never a threat.
The party put a wall of force around the spot where the Ettin had been Mazed, and walked into the light...
Most of them came out in a clearing where a lady and a dragon were conversing. They attacked immediately! The party that is, with a slime wave. The slime and Abbey killed the lady before she could do anything, but the dragon burned off the slime by flaming itself (and the party), flying up into the air.
Abbey couldn't follow, and May and Erdann couldn't be bothered to. They plinked at the dragon, which tried to go hide in the trees to heal, but was spotted and ice stormed and sunrayed. May loudly threatened to disjunct the dragon as soon as he saw it again, so it tried to stay out of sight, but the trees weren't *that* thick... but getting disjuncted made him mad, and he flew up to maul May. He got in two rounds of Mauling before May and Erdann brought him down, severely depleting May's stoneskin.
Meanwhile, Erdann's wolf, who'd been separated, ran back into the room, training a half dozen vrocks. And Conner -- who'd appeared halfway around the Bastion, and had had to run from group after group of horrible predatory positive energy creatures -- came in from the other side, trailing some friends as well: giant worms that did ~80 points of sonic energy to him, each, with a ranged touch attack, and flying energons that had tried unsuccessfully to suck out his soul and devour it.
So the battle wasn't over, and they still had no idea how to get to Arshadalon.
last session next session
Then, they got violent, and managed to display new levels of egregiousness that I hadn't even suspected. Namely, Shapechange. And Maze.
Having defeated the Prime Dreamer, they received her tale. She pointed them to Eco, who waited in the depths of Pandemonium, guarding the prison of a former god who'd once violated the Ban of the Unborn by taking control of the Bastion of Unborn Souls, and had been stripped of his power by the other gods, fearful that the ban would fall on them all. In his possession was a fragment of his soul totem, which was the only thing that would allow access to the Bastion short of the gods intervention, which was not forthcoming.
So they went to meet Eco, who refused to grant them access. "But we need to stop the plague of soulless babies?" "The gods did not give me the authority to let you past." "So... ask them." "They are silent." "Okay, ask them if they'll let us through the door to get the key to the Bastion." "Sorry, they aren't talking." "Okay, don't mention anything about the Bastion, ask them..."
It went on like that for a while, but eventually they were able to ask permission indirectly enough for the gods to grant it. Or rather, for one of the gods to give it, as Eco served them all.
Inside the prison were a flock of Lillends, who were hostile at first, but receptive to the party's attempts at negotiation. The Titan Desaeus refused to give over the totem, however, as it was the last vestige of his power.
"We reeeeeally really need it."
"Go find the other pieces."
"Well, okay, can I touch it, so I can divinate on its other bits?"
"Eh, I guess so."
But the divination revealed that the last piece (Arshadalon, their foe, had the second) was in the possession of a major god in his home on Bytopia, and it seemed unlikely that he'd be any more willing to give it up than Desaeus.
So they went back in, and this time May charmed the titan with an eyebite. He still wouldn't give it up, but it was a long argument, and meanwhile Abbey snuck around behind him and pickpocketed it off him [using a skill check from the epic handbook]. The gig was up before they were clean away, but the prison wasn't very big, and they managed to run out the doorway (through which those imprisoned could not pass) before anyone got seriously hurt.
So they had the key, which, after identifying it, was also a guide to the spot on the Positive Material Plane where the Bastion was located. After much preparation, they shifted to the plane, and assaulted the demons guarding the gate.
One of the demons was a very impressive gigantic retriever, which Conner poly-any-objected into a squid. The other demons were not impressive in the least, so the only excitement was when May decided to prismatic-spray Abbey along with the enemy, and ended up sending her to the second level of Hell, where she cowered under the stands of a colliseum full of major devils, among the other tieflings, and imps, and lemures, until the party gated her out 30 seconds later.
They considered forcing her to obey their commands (and not rush into the middle of combat to get sprayed), but it would only last for a couple minutes, so they didn't bother. Some of them put on the torture devices the demons wore to counteract the overhealing of the plane, others just kept stabbing themselves every few seconds. Oh, and Erdann shapechanged back into a 50-foot high animated candle, immune to healing.
They placed the totem-segment in the obvious totem-receptacle, and entered the Bastion. They were immediately engulfed in fire -- the half-dragon kobold, half-dragon ettin, half-dragon dire bear, and gigantic chimera just inside had been watching through the doorway and were ready for them. Of course, the party had come expecting to face a Great Red Wyrm, so the fire did nothing to them.
Their retaliation was swift -- Erdann summoned a creeping doom upon the dire bear, which devoured its flesh from its bones before the insects *popped*, overhealed by the plane. The wolf and Abbey surrounded the kobold, threw it to the ground and backstabbed it, but it popped back up and flurried at Abbey with its unholy sword, mostly missing.
The ettin roared, angered at the loss of the bear, and unleashed its 8 attacks on Erdann, very nearly but not quite killing him. The May Mazed it. The kobold went down quickly, after that, and the chimera was never a threat.
The party put a wall of force around the spot where the Ettin had been Mazed, and walked into the light...
Most of them came out in a clearing where a lady and a dragon were conversing. They attacked immediately! The party that is, with a slime wave. The slime and Abbey killed the lady before she could do anything, but the dragon burned off the slime by flaming itself (and the party), flying up into the air.
Abbey couldn't follow, and May and Erdann couldn't be bothered to. They plinked at the dragon, which tried to go hide in the trees to heal, but was spotted and ice stormed and sunrayed. May loudly threatened to disjunct the dragon as soon as he saw it again, so it tried to stay out of sight, but the trees weren't *that* thick... but getting disjuncted made him mad, and he flew up to maul May. He got in two rounds of Mauling before May and Erdann brought him down, severely depleting May's stoneskin.
Meanwhile, Erdann's wolf, who'd been separated, ran back into the room, training a half dozen vrocks. And Conner -- who'd appeared halfway around the Bastion, and had had to run from group after group of horrible predatory positive energy creatures -- came in from the other side, trailing some friends as well: giant worms that did ~80 points of sonic energy to him, each, with a ranged touch attack, and flying energons that had tried unsuccessfully to suck out his soul and devour it.
So the battle wasn't over, and they still had no idea how to get to Arshadalon.
last session next session
