Another Day, Another TPK
Dec. 7th, 2004 12:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothTonight we had a session of Jeff's Darksun game... we ran into an encounter designed to kill the party, which worked very effectively. Then we spent the rest of the session making new characters, because Ed had never bothered to actually maintain his character tree.
After curing Tenpeg of his oathbreaker's curse by dunking him in a barrel of water, Brightstone, April, and Logan (the claw-using psychic warrior) ventured into the mine. April tried to scout ahead with Prying Eyes, but the eyes couldn't see in the dark and gave back no useful information. She'd held a few back at least, for later use.
The tunnels were twisty, dark, and narrow -- Brightstone had to shrink his crodlu Peppermint to let it navigate the passageways. They travelled in silence and darkness for thousands of feet, before hearing a blood-curdling scream!
Not being a particularly altruistic group, they only went to investigate the scream in case it was a harbinger of danger -- and it was! They followed bloody tracks around a couple corners into a side passage, and were attacked by half a dozen energy-draining dog-things. Brightstone killed most of them with a flame strike, and the other two were killed in melee by Logan and Peppermint, with only Logan suffering the chilling touch of their horrible claws.
Their previous victim was somehow not dead -- they'd been toying with him. He was a dwarven slave, who'd escaped from a group of Gith, but had hid out in the tunnels because he had nowhere else to go. They told him that the surface was safe, but he insisted that he had to press on to save his buddies. They agreed to let him come (as a darkvision-enabled lookout) if he promised to stay out of combat, since he was so badly hurt -- he'd been brought back to consciousness with a cure light, and April wasn't about to waste any more spells on him.
He didn't last long. A swarm of Hej-kin popped out of the walls an hour or so later, slaughtering the naked dwarf, but utterly failing to touch the rest of the party. Three quarters of them were killed by the party's counterattack, including the leader, and the few that remained fled.
A little later, they finally got to the mark that indicated the breach into Gith territory. April sent a prying eye ahead to look for light or Gith, and it reported back that just past the breach was a lit area full of Gith, at least enough for a guardpost. They cast some barkskins, and other medium-duration spells, and Brightstone turned into a big snake, and they tried to sneak up.
They were spotted, though, by a Gith with a glowstone. April fricasseed him with a scorching ray, and Logan and Brightstone downed his companion, and so they were able to ambush the guard post after all -- once again, killing all the Gith without raising an alarm.
The next guard post was up a ladder, off a largish room -- again, they got the drop on the Gith, and this time April fireballed them... setting off a chest full of gunpowder, killing all the Gith and alerting everyone in the entire complex. As the sounds of spellcasting came from the next room (up a set of stairs), they decided to hide out in the guard chamber and ambush people who came to investigate. Brightstone slithered in first... and was blinded by a trap. Not a good place to hide.
The spellcasting continued, but no one actually came down to investigate, so they decided that attacking would be foolish, with one of their number neutralized and the enemy well prepared. April cast a rope trick in a dead-end passage, and they rested the night undiscovered.
The next day, they exited the rope trick, silent and invisible, and crept up on the central chamber. There, they saw a few normal, boring Gith, with a lieutenant in a fortified central area and what looked like a mage doing deskwork on a stage, next to four chained prisoners. They plotted (mentally, through a mindlink) and decided that the lady on stage was probably the leader of the Gith, and if they could only take HER out...
The plan was to retreat, cast some additional buffs, and dimension door in, taking her by surprise. Unfortunately, while they were double-checking the distance to her little stage, she looked up from her papers and saw them. They saw her saw them, and d-doored up to her right away... but she reacted quickly, and d-doored back to the central area herself, leaving them mostly alone on the stage. Logan killed the last Gith up there with them.
Brightstone sent Peppermint down the stairs to engage the Gith, as she was well armored and best suited to take the brunt of their assaults... but it triggered a flamestrike on the way down, seriously injuring her. He also cast a flame strike at the fleeing Gith mage, taking out some of her attendants. April fireballed a group of Gith running in from a side passage, while others closed off potential exit tunnels or swarmed Peppermint.
Unfortunately, April went a little too far spreading out of fireball formation from Brightstone, and triggered a greater glyph of warding. When the Gith wizardess fire-stormed the stage, April was very, very killed -- and there went the party's planned route of escape, along with any hope of actually winning the battle.
While Peppermint held off the ground-bound Gith for a round, Brightstone cast a Phantom Stag just off the stage to carry Logan to safety, while picking up April's body and shifting into a Giant Eagle to try to fly out and escape. All this left him about a round behind the fleeing psychic warrior...
Unfortunately for Logan, there was a flame strike trap at the exit to the chamber, which finished off the phantom stag (after all the AoOs it took running across the room with him on its back). Using his 'hustle' power to increase his speed, he was able to run out of the complex, though -- with the Gith in hot pursuit, but unable to catch him, although he had to dodge a few thrown spears from other guards.
Right behind him, Brightstone launched himself across the room as the Lady of the Gith built an astral construct blocking the doorway. She pointed a finger at the eagle, and ordered him to surrender or perish. Not wanting to find himself enslaved to a sorcerer queen (which is what her powers suggested she was), he decided to try to continue the escape, hoping against hope that luck would be on his side...
But it wasn't. Seeing him continue on his course, she disintegrated him.
Outside, Logan alerted the other members of the team -- Laika, Cypher, and Saurian, who hadn't gone down into the mine -- and they braced for a counterattack. But the Gith were quiet, for the moment.
last session | next session
There were several things that could have saved us. First, April could have NOT stepped on the glyph of warding. She had no reason to go back into that alcove. Second, she could have made her save against the firestorm and not died from it. Third, Brightstone might have had better luck turning into a burrowing creature and digging his way out... although I'm not sure if burrowers are allowed to burrow through *stone* at the listed rate.
But, really, there was no hope of victory in that battle. I really don't see why another group would choose to go down there to their doom -- the main enemy in the battle was a 13th level cleric *and* a 13th level psion, with 16th caster level in each (advanced being prestige class). Backed up by a 12th level fighter, an 8th level fighter, two 6th level psions, and 10 5th-6th level Gith grunts PER ROUND. Jesus christ!
The party's levels were 12 (April), 10 (Brightstone), and 9 (Logan). Really, really not up to that fight.
After curing Tenpeg of his oathbreaker's curse by dunking him in a barrel of water, Brightstone, April, and Logan (the claw-using psychic warrior) ventured into the mine. April tried to scout ahead with Prying Eyes, but the eyes couldn't see in the dark and gave back no useful information. She'd held a few back at least, for later use.
The tunnels were twisty, dark, and narrow -- Brightstone had to shrink his crodlu Peppermint to let it navigate the passageways. They travelled in silence and darkness for thousands of feet, before hearing a blood-curdling scream!
Not being a particularly altruistic group, they only went to investigate the scream in case it was a harbinger of danger -- and it was! They followed bloody tracks around a couple corners into a side passage, and were attacked by half a dozen energy-draining dog-things. Brightstone killed most of them with a flame strike, and the other two were killed in melee by Logan and Peppermint, with only Logan suffering the chilling touch of their horrible claws.
Their previous victim was somehow not dead -- they'd been toying with him. He was a dwarven slave, who'd escaped from a group of Gith, but had hid out in the tunnels because he had nowhere else to go. They told him that the surface was safe, but he insisted that he had to press on to save his buddies. They agreed to let him come (as a darkvision-enabled lookout) if he promised to stay out of combat, since he was so badly hurt -- he'd been brought back to consciousness with a cure light, and April wasn't about to waste any more spells on him.
He didn't last long. A swarm of Hej-kin popped out of the walls an hour or so later, slaughtering the naked dwarf, but utterly failing to touch the rest of the party. Three quarters of them were killed by the party's counterattack, including the leader, and the few that remained fled.
A little later, they finally got to the mark that indicated the breach into Gith territory. April sent a prying eye ahead to look for light or Gith, and it reported back that just past the breach was a lit area full of Gith, at least enough for a guardpost. They cast some barkskins, and other medium-duration spells, and Brightstone turned into a big snake, and they tried to sneak up.
They were spotted, though, by a Gith with a glowstone. April fricasseed him with a scorching ray, and Logan and Brightstone downed his companion, and so they were able to ambush the guard post after all -- once again, killing all the Gith without raising an alarm.
The next guard post was up a ladder, off a largish room -- again, they got the drop on the Gith, and this time April fireballed them... setting off a chest full of gunpowder, killing all the Gith and alerting everyone in the entire complex. As the sounds of spellcasting came from the next room (up a set of stairs), they decided to hide out in the guard chamber and ambush people who came to investigate. Brightstone slithered in first... and was blinded by a trap. Not a good place to hide.
The spellcasting continued, but no one actually came down to investigate, so they decided that attacking would be foolish, with one of their number neutralized and the enemy well prepared. April cast a rope trick in a dead-end passage, and they rested the night undiscovered.
The next day, they exited the rope trick, silent and invisible, and crept up on the central chamber. There, they saw a few normal, boring Gith, with a lieutenant in a fortified central area and what looked like a mage doing deskwork on a stage, next to four chained prisoners. They plotted (mentally, through a mindlink) and decided that the lady on stage was probably the leader of the Gith, and if they could only take HER out...
The plan was to retreat, cast some additional buffs, and dimension door in, taking her by surprise. Unfortunately, while they were double-checking the distance to her little stage, she looked up from her papers and saw them. They saw her saw them, and d-doored up to her right away... but she reacted quickly, and d-doored back to the central area herself, leaving them mostly alone on the stage. Logan killed the last Gith up there with them.
Brightstone sent Peppermint down the stairs to engage the Gith, as she was well armored and best suited to take the brunt of their assaults... but it triggered a flamestrike on the way down, seriously injuring her. He also cast a flame strike at the fleeing Gith mage, taking out some of her attendants. April fireballed a group of Gith running in from a side passage, while others closed off potential exit tunnels or swarmed Peppermint.
Unfortunately, April went a little too far spreading out of fireball formation from Brightstone, and triggered a greater glyph of warding. When the Gith wizardess fire-stormed the stage, April was very, very killed -- and there went the party's planned route of escape, along with any hope of actually winning the battle.
While Peppermint held off the ground-bound Gith for a round, Brightstone cast a Phantom Stag just off the stage to carry Logan to safety, while picking up April's body and shifting into a Giant Eagle to try to fly out and escape. All this left him about a round behind the fleeing psychic warrior...
Unfortunately for Logan, there was a flame strike trap at the exit to the chamber, which finished off the phantom stag (after all the AoOs it took running across the room with him on its back). Using his 'hustle' power to increase his speed, he was able to run out of the complex, though -- with the Gith in hot pursuit, but unable to catch him, although he had to dodge a few thrown spears from other guards.
Right behind him, Brightstone launched himself across the room as the Lady of the Gith built an astral construct blocking the doorway. She pointed a finger at the eagle, and ordered him to surrender or perish. Not wanting to find himself enslaved to a sorcerer queen (which is what her powers suggested she was), he decided to try to continue the escape, hoping against hope that luck would be on his side...
But it wasn't. Seeing him continue on his course, she disintegrated him.
Outside, Logan alerted the other members of the team -- Laika, Cypher, and Saurian, who hadn't gone down into the mine -- and they braced for a counterattack. But the Gith were quiet, for the moment.
last session | next session
There were several things that could have saved us. First, April could have NOT stepped on the glyph of warding. She had no reason to go back into that alcove. Second, she could have made her save against the firestorm and not died from it. Third, Brightstone might have had better luck turning into a burrowing creature and digging his way out... although I'm not sure if burrowers are allowed to burrow through *stone* at the listed rate.
But, really, there was no hope of victory in that battle. I really don't see why another group would choose to go down there to their doom -- the main enemy in the battle was a 13th level cleric *and* a 13th level psion, with 16th caster level in each (advanced being prestige class). Backed up by a 12th level fighter, an 8th level fighter, two 6th level psions, and 10 5th-6th level Gith grunts PER ROUND. Jesus christ!
The party's levels were 12 (April), 10 (Brightstone), and 9 (Logan). Really, really not up to that fight.
