The Test of High Sorcery
Mar. 26th, 2004 12:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothTonight was another session of Jeff's Dragonlance campaign. Since the bulk of the session was going to be the Test of High Sorcery, which it would be difficult to introduce new people into the middle of, everyone was told to be there no later than 6:30, in particular Sonnet and Morgan's players, who have been getting later and later as time goes on.
They showed up at 7:50, well into the test, even after some problems connecting to Luis, and some dithering over items. A discussion on that subject revealed that they were under the impression that the game started at 7:00, and that before then we were just bullshitting and eating dinner. We set them straight (some of that goes on, but we show up at 6:00 and try to start by 6:30) and hopefully they'll be on time next week.
They eventually got teleported into the test anyway, so they at least got to participate in the only battle of the night and didn't miss out on *all* the experience -- or the ludicrously expensive magic items we got as a reward.
After buying a few off the shelf magic items (like a mithril breastplate, a magic sword, and a bag of tricks) the party was ready to take Murphy's Test with him... but Sonnet and Morgan were nowhere to be seen! Sonnet was busy pestering Alhana Starbreeze about the box we'd sold her back, while Morgan was busy getting put into jail for pickpocketing (which he was innocent of) and shoplifting (of which he was guilty -- he tried to lift a 30,000 steel ioun stone from a magic shop, and got away with it at first, but was not only scried on and caught and beaten up, but blacklisted from ever entering a magic shop again).
So there were only four who entered to take the test -- Murphy the wizard who actually needed to take it, Kijj and Mike who were sorcerors and weren't *required* to but were *encouraged* to, and Thor who was 'OOOH, shiny magic item for finishing! Sign me up!'
At the start of the test, they stepped onto a magic circle and appeared in a room, with three doors -- a white door with the sign for air, a red door with nine of the sigil meaning 'head', and a black door with a set of vampire fangs. After some discussion, they took a vote, and the heads had it, so Kijj cast a bunch of short term enhancement spells and used a couple charges from a wand of cat's grace they'd found lying around, and they opened the door...
No 9-headed hydra, though. They hurried on, hoping to get to the hydra before their spells expired, but it was not to be.
The next four puzzles were mechanisms that needed to be dealt with: a chain in a mithril cage holding a door shut, whose crystal latch needed to be zapped with a spell to break it. An obvious rolling boulder trap, that was defeated with a rope trick. A quasi-illusionary door that needed a whole bunch of light spells (and finally a color spray) to be sprayed through a prism to dispel it. And a glowing red gem that needed to be destroyed, but shot scorching rays at anyone who damaged it, which they more or less powered their way through without figuring out whatever special trick was supposed to be used. [DM told us afterwards that we were supposed to scorching ray it back]
The fifth challenge at least had a monster involved, although the monster was not there to fight. There were also beds and food provided -- magical food which healed the party's wounds -- and they were told to take as much time as they needed before (or after) facing the challenge.
They were told, by the huge Efreet door guard, that they could only pass if they were worthy, and that if anyone who wasn't worthy tried to pass, then all of them would be attacked. Each of them would get to ask three questions of the efreet, which he would be bound to answer truthfully, and then could make one request of him, but they were not allowed to discuss what questions they would or had already asked, or what requests they'd made, or the Efreet would devour them all.
Kijj's experience was fairly typical (comparing notes afterwards):
"What do I need to do to be found worthy?" he asked.
"Actions up to this point have already determined that," the efreet responded. EVERYONE asked this question first.
"So what's the point of asking you questions, then?"
"To help you make an intelligent request."
"Okay... what should I request?"
"I'm not allowed to give you advice, only to answer your questions. But I can tell you, since one of your predecessors requested that I do so, that you alone of all your companions are already worthy... and that you should not waste your questions asking what you *can* request, as I will tell you if each request is permissible after you make it until you end up with something I can do.
"Furthermore, I can tell you that worthiness can be transferred, and if you are willing to give up your own worthiness, you could have two of the others considered worthy in your place."
At this point Kijj was stumped about what to ask, and went back to ponder for a while. When he finally got back, he asked a throwaway question ("Is there any way to get everyone to be worthy?" "Yes.") and then got on with the requests.
"Stand aside and let us all pass."
"I can only let you pass if you are worthy."
"Close your eyes and cover your ears and go stand over in the corner for an hour, then."
"I'm sorry, I can't abandon my post like that."
"Okay, then I want you to stand perfectly still and not move while I shove my spear through your eye and kill you."
"If you attack me, I will respond in kind, I cannot grant that request."
"Fine, then give me all your weapons and armor."
"I could grant your request, but you would not be able to hold or use my equipment, and it would return to me."
"*Sigh*, then I suppose I have no choice. Transfer my worthiness to Morgan and Thor. At least some of us can get out of this."
Which was, of course, the way to *actually* be considered worthy, for those of a good alignment, like the party. Most of what the efreet had said was a total lie, starting with 'I'm not allowed to lie to you'.
The last room had the 9-headed hydra in it. The party decided not to rest before proceeding, but had thought to recast their enhancement spells for the occasion, and the hydra was kept inactive until the party moved into the room, letting them all get the jump on it.
So Kijj (wielding a sword, for once) and Thor ran up and started chopping off heads, while Mike and Murphy stood back in the corners of the room to sear the stumps and keep them from regenerating. This plan did not work well. Each chopped off a head, to be sure, but Mike missed the stump he was trying to cauterize, and when the hydra's remaining seven heads attacked, both Thor and Kijj were badly wounded, to the point where neither wanted to stay in melee with the beast.
Kijj used alchemist's fire to cauterize the stumps, while stepping back to prepare to withdraw, but Thor, who was MUCH more hurt than the minotaur, just turned tail and ran, back to the Efreet room -- but the door was locked! There would be no mid-battle healing-banquets.
Luckily for Kijj, Murphy managed to get the hydra's attention with a scorching ray, and it ran to chew on him (with only one head, though). Kijj chopped off another head, which Murphy again cauterized successfully, then retreated to the corridor after Thor to recast his depleted Mirror Image and try to come up with some way to actually kill the damn thing.
Mike, feeling as doomed as the others, ran like a little girl to the far exit, which was blocked by a brightly glowing wall of force visibly attached to the hydra, that everyone else had just assumed was impassible until the hydra was dead. A detailed inspection revealed that it was, in fact, impassible until the hyrda was dead.
At that point, with the two meleers badly hurt and the wizards nearly out of damaging spells, and the hydra quickly healing what few non-decapitating wounds it possessed, Sonnet and Morgan, who'd finally shown up to watch the test from the gallery, begged to be allowed to join the fight and help. Jenna of the Red Robes allowed them to enter, but warned them that the beast would be all the fiercer for their interference, and it might be counter productive.
This turned out not to be the case. The monster did grow another head, but Morgan's sneak attacks were *vicious*, and Sonnet pulled a brown bear out of her bag of tricks that also tore into the monster's side. In addition, Murphy remembered that he had a glitterdust memorized, and blinded six of the hydra's seven remaining heads with it... and that he had a ray of enfeeblement... and that he had 'grease' memorized...
Blinded, enfeebled, and prone, the hydra was much less of a threat, and Thor (several healing potions later) and Kijj returned to help Morgan and the bear finish it off. Morgan went down under the beast's assualt, but survived. The brown bear from the bag claimed the killing blow.
Outside, Jenna congratulated everyone and gave each their reward -- which were MUCH better than expected, on the order of 20,000 steel value apiece. Murphy got a staff of Evocation, Kijj an amulet of natural armor +3, Thor an amulet of natural armor +1 that also cast an all-day resist elements once per day when triggered by elemental damage, Mike a bag of holding that had a dozen quick-draw pockets for easy access to wands and scrolls, Sonnet an amulet that increased her wisdom, and Morgan a +3 rapier that also let him feint more quickly.
Sonnet was offered her choice of stat-enhancement items, and everyone wondered why she chose wisdom of all things -- it actually made sense in character, though, since her lifequest as a gnome was to use a selection of profession skills to develop a truly permanent ink.
The party bummed around, then, until the wizard's conclave. They heard some rumors -- Nightlund was no longer a land of eternal night, there was a ruined city in a mountain range nearby with monsters and treasure, etc -- but nothing really earth-shattering.
More than 700 wizards were present at the conclave, of all races and alignments, but mostly elves. Palin stood up, welcomed the crowd, and announced that he was stepping down as head of the white robes, and that reconvening the order was to be his last act.
Then Jenna took over, and announced that sorcerors were to be treated with respect as long as they took the test and swore themselves to the cause of magic, like wizards did, and that they were taking suggestions about 'what to do about the other sorcerors'.
Also, the tower in Wayreth was being unsealed, and Dalamar installed as its master. Volunteers who were strong in magic (Murphy looked around with Arcane Sight and decided that this did not include the party, in their present company) were encouraged to sign up to help blaze a trail through the monster-infested forest of Wayreth so that this could be accomplished.
Afterwards, during the 'talk amongst yourselves' part of the convention, the party was offered two jobs: the first was to escort Palin, formerly of the white robes BACK to Solace so that he could live out the rest of his days with his family. It was a great honor, but offered no reward.
The second was to retrieve a magical gem from Nightlund for the black robes, for which they would be richly paid. The rationale for those not solely motivated by greed (which described not a single member of the party, since escorting Palin was the opposite of an exciting adventure) was that it would strengthen the Tower of High Sorcery as a whole, and was therefore a service to magic itself.
Murphy consulted with Jenna, who advised them to get the deal in writing if they were going to take a job from a black robe (they already had), but otherwise thought that it sounded legit -- there were several gems lost with the other towers that the black robes could be talking about, and it was never a wholly bad thing to have the black robes not want to hurt you in particular.
So it was decided -- the party would head to Nightlund, to find the gem.
last week next week
I'm trying to decide whether to take Empower Spell as my 6th level feat now (it would only help magic missile right now, but in two more levels would also help mirror image and elemental dart -- about half my spell list) or whether to take Leadership instead and pick up a 5th level cleric to follow us around and cast lesser restorations and remove paralysis on us when the undead inevitably chew on us in Nightlund.
The GM wouldn't let me take an anthropomorphic owl cohort that could build a nest in my hair and ride there, so I'm leaning towards Empower Spell.
They showed up at 7:50, well into the test, even after some problems connecting to Luis, and some dithering over items. A discussion on that subject revealed that they were under the impression that the game started at 7:00, and that before then we were just bullshitting and eating dinner. We set them straight (some of that goes on, but we show up at 6:00 and try to start by 6:30) and hopefully they'll be on time next week.
They eventually got teleported into the test anyway, so they at least got to participate in the only battle of the night and didn't miss out on *all* the experience -- or the ludicrously expensive magic items we got as a reward.
After buying a few off the shelf magic items (like a mithril breastplate, a magic sword, and a bag of tricks) the party was ready to take Murphy's Test with him... but Sonnet and Morgan were nowhere to be seen! Sonnet was busy pestering Alhana Starbreeze about the box we'd sold her back, while Morgan was busy getting put into jail for pickpocketing (which he was innocent of) and shoplifting (of which he was guilty -- he tried to lift a 30,000 steel ioun stone from a magic shop, and got away with it at first, but was not only scried on and caught and beaten up, but blacklisted from ever entering a magic shop again).
So there were only four who entered to take the test -- Murphy the wizard who actually needed to take it, Kijj and Mike who were sorcerors and weren't *required* to but were *encouraged* to, and Thor who was 'OOOH, shiny magic item for finishing! Sign me up!'
At the start of the test, they stepped onto a magic circle and appeared in a room, with three doors -- a white door with the sign for air, a red door with nine of the sigil meaning 'head', and a black door with a set of vampire fangs. After some discussion, they took a vote, and the heads had it, so Kijj cast a bunch of short term enhancement spells and used a couple charges from a wand of cat's grace they'd found lying around, and they opened the door...
No 9-headed hydra, though. They hurried on, hoping to get to the hydra before their spells expired, but it was not to be.
The next four puzzles were mechanisms that needed to be dealt with: a chain in a mithril cage holding a door shut, whose crystal latch needed to be zapped with a spell to break it. An obvious rolling boulder trap, that was defeated with a rope trick. A quasi-illusionary door that needed a whole bunch of light spells (and finally a color spray) to be sprayed through a prism to dispel it. And a glowing red gem that needed to be destroyed, but shot scorching rays at anyone who damaged it, which they more or less powered their way through without figuring out whatever special trick was supposed to be used. [DM told us afterwards that we were supposed to scorching ray it back]
The fifth challenge at least had a monster involved, although the monster was not there to fight. There were also beds and food provided -- magical food which healed the party's wounds -- and they were told to take as much time as they needed before (or after) facing the challenge.
They were told, by the huge Efreet door guard, that they could only pass if they were worthy, and that if anyone who wasn't worthy tried to pass, then all of them would be attacked. Each of them would get to ask three questions of the efreet, which he would be bound to answer truthfully, and then could make one request of him, but they were not allowed to discuss what questions they would or had already asked, or what requests they'd made, or the Efreet would devour them all.
Kijj's experience was fairly typical (comparing notes afterwards):
"What do I need to do to be found worthy?" he asked.
"Actions up to this point have already determined that," the efreet responded. EVERYONE asked this question first.
"So what's the point of asking you questions, then?"
"To help you make an intelligent request."
"Okay... what should I request?"
"I'm not allowed to give you advice, only to answer your questions. But I can tell you, since one of your predecessors requested that I do so, that you alone of all your companions are already worthy... and that you should not waste your questions asking what you *can* request, as I will tell you if each request is permissible after you make it until you end up with something I can do.
"Furthermore, I can tell you that worthiness can be transferred, and if you are willing to give up your own worthiness, you could have two of the others considered worthy in your place."
At this point Kijj was stumped about what to ask, and went back to ponder for a while. When he finally got back, he asked a throwaway question ("Is there any way to get everyone to be worthy?" "Yes.") and then got on with the requests.
"Stand aside and let us all pass."
"I can only let you pass if you are worthy."
"Close your eyes and cover your ears and go stand over in the corner for an hour, then."
"I'm sorry, I can't abandon my post like that."
"Okay, then I want you to stand perfectly still and not move while I shove my spear through your eye and kill you."
"If you attack me, I will respond in kind, I cannot grant that request."
"Fine, then give me all your weapons and armor."
"I could grant your request, but you would not be able to hold or use my equipment, and it would return to me."
"*Sigh*, then I suppose I have no choice. Transfer my worthiness to Morgan and Thor. At least some of us can get out of this."
Which was, of course, the way to *actually* be considered worthy, for those of a good alignment, like the party. Most of what the efreet had said was a total lie, starting with 'I'm not allowed to lie to you'.
The last room had the 9-headed hydra in it. The party decided not to rest before proceeding, but had thought to recast their enhancement spells for the occasion, and the hydra was kept inactive until the party moved into the room, letting them all get the jump on it.
So Kijj (wielding a sword, for once) and Thor ran up and started chopping off heads, while Mike and Murphy stood back in the corners of the room to sear the stumps and keep them from regenerating. This plan did not work well. Each chopped off a head, to be sure, but Mike missed the stump he was trying to cauterize, and when the hydra's remaining seven heads attacked, both Thor and Kijj were badly wounded, to the point where neither wanted to stay in melee with the beast.
Kijj used alchemist's fire to cauterize the stumps, while stepping back to prepare to withdraw, but Thor, who was MUCH more hurt than the minotaur, just turned tail and ran, back to the Efreet room -- but the door was locked! There would be no mid-battle healing-banquets.
Luckily for Kijj, Murphy managed to get the hydra's attention with a scorching ray, and it ran to chew on him (with only one head, though). Kijj chopped off another head, which Murphy again cauterized successfully, then retreated to the corridor after Thor to recast his depleted Mirror Image and try to come up with some way to actually kill the damn thing.
Mike, feeling as doomed as the others, ran like a little girl to the far exit, which was blocked by a brightly glowing wall of force visibly attached to the hydra, that everyone else had just assumed was impassible until the hydra was dead. A detailed inspection revealed that it was, in fact, impassible until the hyrda was dead.
At that point, with the two meleers badly hurt and the wizards nearly out of damaging spells, and the hydra quickly healing what few non-decapitating wounds it possessed, Sonnet and Morgan, who'd finally shown up to watch the test from the gallery, begged to be allowed to join the fight and help. Jenna of the Red Robes allowed them to enter, but warned them that the beast would be all the fiercer for their interference, and it might be counter productive.
This turned out not to be the case. The monster did grow another head, but Morgan's sneak attacks were *vicious*, and Sonnet pulled a brown bear out of her bag of tricks that also tore into the monster's side. In addition, Murphy remembered that he had a glitterdust memorized, and blinded six of the hydra's seven remaining heads with it... and that he had a ray of enfeeblement... and that he had 'grease' memorized...
Blinded, enfeebled, and prone, the hydra was much less of a threat, and Thor (several healing potions later) and Kijj returned to help Morgan and the bear finish it off. Morgan went down under the beast's assualt, but survived. The brown bear from the bag claimed the killing blow.
Outside, Jenna congratulated everyone and gave each their reward -- which were MUCH better than expected, on the order of 20,000 steel value apiece. Murphy got a staff of Evocation, Kijj an amulet of natural armor +3, Thor an amulet of natural armor +1 that also cast an all-day resist elements once per day when triggered by elemental damage, Mike a bag of holding that had a dozen quick-draw pockets for easy access to wands and scrolls, Sonnet an amulet that increased her wisdom, and Morgan a +3 rapier that also let him feint more quickly.
Sonnet was offered her choice of stat-enhancement items, and everyone wondered why she chose wisdom of all things -- it actually made sense in character, though, since her lifequest as a gnome was to use a selection of profession skills to develop a truly permanent ink.
The party bummed around, then, until the wizard's conclave. They heard some rumors -- Nightlund was no longer a land of eternal night, there was a ruined city in a mountain range nearby with monsters and treasure, etc -- but nothing really earth-shattering.
More than 700 wizards were present at the conclave, of all races and alignments, but mostly elves. Palin stood up, welcomed the crowd, and announced that he was stepping down as head of the white robes, and that reconvening the order was to be his last act.
Then Jenna took over, and announced that sorcerors were to be treated with respect as long as they took the test and swore themselves to the cause of magic, like wizards did, and that they were taking suggestions about 'what to do about the other sorcerors'.
Also, the tower in Wayreth was being unsealed, and Dalamar installed as its master. Volunteers who were strong in magic (Murphy looked around with Arcane Sight and decided that this did not include the party, in their present company) were encouraged to sign up to help blaze a trail through the monster-infested forest of Wayreth so that this could be accomplished.
Afterwards, during the 'talk amongst yourselves' part of the convention, the party was offered two jobs: the first was to escort Palin, formerly of the white robes BACK to Solace so that he could live out the rest of his days with his family. It was a great honor, but offered no reward.
The second was to retrieve a magical gem from Nightlund for the black robes, for which they would be richly paid. The rationale for those not solely motivated by greed (which described not a single member of the party, since escorting Palin was the opposite of an exciting adventure) was that it would strengthen the Tower of High Sorcery as a whole, and was therefore a service to magic itself.
Murphy consulted with Jenna, who advised them to get the deal in writing if they were going to take a job from a black robe (they already had), but otherwise thought that it sounded legit -- there were several gems lost with the other towers that the black robes could be talking about, and it was never a wholly bad thing to have the black robes not want to hurt you in particular.
So it was decided -- the party would head to Nightlund, to find the gem.
last week next week
I'm trying to decide whether to take Empower Spell as my 6th level feat now (it would only help magic missile right now, but in two more levels would also help mirror image and elemental dart -- about half my spell list) or whether to take Leadership instead and pick up a 5th level cleric to follow us around and cast lesser restorations and remove paralysis on us when the undead inevitably chew on us in Nightlund.
The GM wouldn't let me take an anthropomorphic owl cohort that could build a nest in my hair and ride there, so I'm leaning towards Empower Spell.
