Key Our Cars

This was mainly a combat session with two boss battles and was marred by the fatality of one of the group.  I’m not ‘doing’ resurrection in this campaign, so a death is the final curtain, not a revolving door.

We pick up with our heroes after the end of the fight in the Temple with the demonic goddess.  They decided to go try and save Torn by taking a simulcrum to the temple of H’Estar, a goddess of healing, sun and all that.  The temple has been abandoned over time as the area controlled by the hobgoblin hordes to the south have encroached and overrun the area.

Acquiring horses the group heads to the temple where they perform the ritual of healing for Torn, channeling their own life force into the simulacrum they’ve had crafted, the ritual lead by Sushanna, acolyte of the temple of Eris and Biminey’s snuggle bunny.

As the ritual ends the release of magic breaks the illusion that’s been crafted on hobgoblins that are sneaking up on them from four directions. The fight was rough, Stak performing exceptional work thinning the hobgoblin grunts two at a time per round until there were no more, dropping them with a single arrow to a vital location each time.  The remainder dealt with the wardogs, soldiers and the hobgoblin fleshcarver.  The fleshcarver and two other hobgoblins escaped with their lives.

[It was a tough fight - 16 grunts, 5 soldiers, 3 archers, 4 war dogs, 1 fleshcarver, divided up in groups of 4 sets coming in from four different directions. I'm become not a fan of bad guys fighting to the point of stupidity and needlessly sacrificing their lives, at least the bosses of the fight and once the boss breaks and runs there's going to be one or two underlings who are going to see it as their duty to follow after him to keep him safe...]

Unfortunately their healing shortage cost them this time dearly.  Dra’kin, normally safe in the rear, but now up in front due to the four sided attack.  This provided to be ultimately costly to the warlock and left him with his life’s blood draining away on the battlefield at the end of the fight.

[In Dra'kin's defense (and mine), he failed 3 out of 4 death saves while Biminey the best healer in the group, failed two out of two healing checks to try to stabalize him. Apparently the gods of luck, whimsey and statistics wanted him dead.]

At the end of the fight they recovered and performed a second ritual for the simulacrum of Soozin, hoping that it would deal with the parasite lodged in her belly.

They fled home making the trip safely.  There they found Torn recovered, no longer a vegetable although still missing his hand.  Apparently regeneration wasn’t part of the package.  He’s a pit fighter though and while it sucks he can deal.

They find out that there were three days without murders but the last three days there have been a murder a might.

They also found [not sure if anyone actually heard it] that another farming village hasn’t had anyone come into town in awhile which while not unheard of is viewed with suspicion these days.  Maybe it’s nothing, or maybe it’s some evil influence spreading it’s power base.  Who knows?

They contacted Meri and informed her of Dra’kin’s death and told her they had something to give Shuk (the good luck amulet she gave Dra’kin on a braid of Tanner’s hair).  Meri passed on information that an eladrin was in town meeting with strangers in a warehouse in the dock area.

A mercenary showed up at the groups doorstep looking for work, T’Baktu the goliath barbarian.  T’Baktu came into town with the other mercenaries hired by the city but doesn’t really like the mercenary life.  He tried to join the City Watch but the Captain of the watch is suspicous of everything these days and turned him down.  The captain did though point him at our heroic group and offered to pay him gold if he’d spy on the group and inform the captain of their dealings and work.

The group showed up at the warehouse and found it guarded on the outside.  Stak with a bow shot from the gods killed the sentry on the south gate with a single shot through the head.

They crept up to the door and Biminey undid the barring and peeked inside spotting a large group of sailors, bearing tatoos like those they saw on the slaver sailors.

He stepped inside rolling one of his constructs of lightning into the center of the group, killing all six in one shot. [New record by the way].

The rest of the group rushed in and joined the fray.  A group of tougher thugs, two slaver and two bandits were spotted by a set of stairs.  As the screams started a slaver Overmage, and Warrick the leader of the bandits and his shaman stepped out of an office on the second floor.

T’Baktu took several hits in the opening round almost dropping him but he persevered and came back into the fight.  The thugs kept the group occupied while the  overmage, shaman and warrick’s bow decimated their health from above on the walkway connecting two upper level office structures.

Eventually the thugs were dropped as was the shaman.  The overmage descended to lower level to try and get a good usage out of his blast powers but was unable to without hitting his own troops.

Warrick seeing the way the wind was blowing tipped his hat in salute o the other bowman, Stak and fled through the office and up to the roof.  Torel was hot in pursuit but discretion proved the watchword of the day and didn’t follow the leader up to the roof where at least one other thug was on guard duty.

[As it was late and obvious the overmage was going to die I didn't play out the last round or two and just fast forwarded to his demise.]

The group recovered a Trishan Spine Bow from one of the hobgoblin archers and a Cape of the Red Path from the slaver overmage along with some gold  and healing potions.

Image credits

Excuse the hiatus, we take one week off out of every four and last week we also had a huge snowfall to contend with that made it dangerous to get together.  With any luck we’ll be playing this weekend.

In  the meantime –

“Councilman with all due respect I believe the idea has merit.  Council Lerik’s idea of locking the 5 of them up for a few days to see if the murders stop will harm no one and it might help uncover the truth.”

“See, even the guard are smart enough to know I’m right Garon.” came the oily voice of Councilor Lerik as he leaned forward, thrusting out a finger to point to the chainmail clad form of Captain Warik, commander of the guard.

The creases of Warik’s eyes bunched slightly and then smoothed out at Lerik’s tone, insulting without giving cause for insult. A skill the man possessed in spades, one that Warik couldn’t help but wish would get the man… hurt.  Not killed, he wasn’t that obnoxious but Warik wouldn’t be unhappy to hear that the councilor had met with some mishap, maybe a broken bone or two.  It would be too much to ask that Lerik became a victim to the person or creature that was killing townsfolk each night.

“Captain! Did you hear me?” Garon asked sharply.

“Sorry sir, something occurred to me about the murders that distracted me.”

Garon shook his head, “I said no we won’t be tossing them in jail.  They’ve done well enough by us.  They chased that creature out of the Eris temple, were captured and almost killed trying to solve our gold thefts, we know more about the murders because of them.  No, they stay free.”

“You realize they ‘found out’ information on the murders because they committed them!” Lerik spat out.

Garon leaned forward, planting his palms on the table, “That’s enough!  I know you have issues with them Lerik.  You have issues with anyone who doesn’t fit your god’s image of the ideal.  Oh I know who or what you worship.  So far your belief’s haven’t interfered with your ability to keep the merchants happy and in line but don’t push things too far.  Without my goods to sell and Teagan’s boats and wagons to ship them you’d be a little unpopular with everyone both merchant and commoner so I suggest you give up this little vendetta you have against these people.”

Lerik dropped back into his chair, mouth open and then a look of furious anger crossed his face.  Without a word he rose and stormed out of the council chamber, Jan, the pretty young woman who’d taken Tanner’s place following after an uncertain pause, tossing an apologetic look around the room.

“What a pleasant individual.” Warick growled.

“That’s enough from you too Captain.  We all need to get along.  I know we’ve had our differences, I know you don’t like the changes we’ve pushed down your throat as it were about hiring outside help, which again doesn’t indicate a lack of confidence in your or the Watch’s ability.  But with the slaver raid, the murders and I know you don’t care to believe in them but of late all the temple priests have spoken of auguries that bad times are coming, very bad times.  Better poorer but prepared.  Perhaps if we’d of had these extra troops then my own… Never mind. As I say we need to get along with him and each other for the protection and benefit of the town.”

Warick nodded curtly, “Aye, I can understand your position Councilor.”

“I hear a but in there but I won’t push it.  Please go on, we’ll go over your report and see if we can make anything out of it.  Do what you can to catch this killer and keep our people safe.”

“Aye, that I can agree with.” Warick saluted the two councilors and their aides and turning on a heel left the room.

Teagan, the eladrin in charge of shipping who up till now had been quiet spoke up, “Berylon would you and Spar be so good as to wait in the other room for a few moments?”

The two aides glanced at each other and Berylon shrugged, “Sure, just summon if you have need.  C’mon Spar.”

After the room was empty and the door closed Teagon leaned back in his chair.  Face calm and impassive, eyes wandering over the decorative carvings in the ceiling of the council chambers he spoke quietly, “You know that one is beginning to overstep his bounds.  His hatred of all non-humans is affecting his dealings with me. I know he’ll be dead in 20 or 30 years and be out of my hair but it’s going to be a long 30 years at this rate.  Out of curiosity as he’s without heir or acknowledged relation as far as I know who would inherit if something were to happen to our fellow councilman?”

Garon shot a sharp look at the eladrin, “You know the answer to that and I don’t like where that question is going Teagon.”

Teagon flicked his eyes over and gave a miniscule shrug, “I’m not proposing anything Garon.  I’m just noting that the man has a lot of people irritated at him.  And ever since that deal with the slaver, if it was a slaver, he’s gotten a lot worse.  Did you know he’s pushing all the merchants under his control to get rid of their non-human employees?  I also heard that he wants to erect an altar to that banal spiteful god of his.  Yes you humans make up the highest proportion of the cities population but humans versus non-humans you’re in a distinct minority.  It’s irrational hatreds brought upon people by the ideologies of the likes of that one and his ilk that could end up destroying this town much less the slavers or reavers or whatever it is that the priests are warning us is coming.”

Garon suddenly chuckled, “You know that’s the most I think you’ve ever said at one time.  Yes the man was never pleasant and lately he’s turned downright vile, even to his ‘own kind’.  I think though that you overestimate the draw of his beliefs and the power of Bain.  Did you know he already has an altar to his god in a cellar under his home?  Ahh, see, we both have sources of information.  And do you know how many people in his circle of ‘friends’ and acquaintances actually pay homage to his detestable little godling?  Only twelve that I know of.  Twelve followers out of how many people in this town?  Nay he poses no real threat to the security of the town.  And he’s brilliant at keeping the merchants in line, paying their taxes and not overcharging the commoners.”

Teagon’s lips curled up slightly, “I bow before your wisdom then Garon. Perhaps I shall learn somewhat of it during the time you have left on this plane of existence.”

“We live as the gods decree my friend.  Even your longevity might be cut shorter than you’d like as your gods wish. As for myself, I find it pointless to worry about it. Have you come up with anything we can do or have the Watch do to try and protect the people?”

Teagon shook his head, “Without knowing what we’re dealing with there’s little we can do.  Trying to ward every home, building and store against everything would be impossible.  But if we can find the creature’s nature we might be able to come up with something or so my people tell me.”

“The information that the group gave us was of no help?”

“Not really.  Necromatic arts are pretty far reaching.  We need to know the nature of the creature, if we could get something that belonged to it, an article of clothing or better yet flesh or blood then perhaps those skilled in the arts might come up with a way to track it.”

Garon snorted, “Blood? Hells we can’t even find the blood of the victims.”

“A chilling part of the deeds.  Where is the blood going and what is it being used for.  I fear the answer will not be one we wish to know.”

“Undoubtedly. Let’s get them back in here and start going over shipping needs.  The fish are pouring in from the boats and we’re going to have to get more barrels and crates to hold them.  I’d like another five hundred of the stasis crates as well, we should have planned ahead for this just in case.”

The two men, two of the most influential men in the city began studying the piles of documents that detailed the lifeblood of the city of Larkson, the fishing harvest and its dissemination.

Found an interesting document about Taint which is similar to the Chaos of say Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game.  I was looking for some mechanics to help simulate exposure to the places and creatures of Darkmith and found this link.  There’s no author’ship noted anywhere so I can’t give any credit.  If you happen to know who came up with this document let me know and I’ll see they get credit for it.

[Edit: Per a reader's comments this is a take on the Taint system from Heroes of Horror, a DnD 3.5 supplemental book.  Thanks for the info!]

The base premise is the characters are exposed to something or do something that ‘bends’ them mentally and or physically.  This can range from pyschosis to turning bestial and many other things.   Perhaps wandering the streets of Darkmith and the aura of evil and power that envelops that city might plant a seed of evil in someone.  Or maybe the touch of Liloth’s powers driving one to stab a companion in the throat might leave lingering inclinations to repeat the action unforced.

We will see.

A few snippets from the pdf although a quick perusal shows some missing entries and some small typo’s that could be fixed as well as generalized overhaul to fit my personal needs.

The Touch of Taint
Characters in the Vale that venture into the dark places of the world, or dabble in the waters of evil, run the risk of their minds and bodies becoming poisoned by taint. Mental taint, or depravity, can eventually send one mad, where physical taint, or corruption, can transform a living being into an undead horror.

Acquiring Taint
“Sometimes one’s soul can be filled with evil because of the evil of their actions. Sometimes all it takes is for one to pick up the wrong book…”

Committing acts of unspeakable evil
In cultures throughout the typical D&D setting certain acts earn universal condemnation amongst races and peoples with even the slightest moral code: murder, torture, genocide, and rape as well as fouler acts warp the mind of those committing them and result in the offending character gaining depravity.

This does not represent external evil creeping into the character’s mind, but rather represents the wearing away of one’s moral compass as characters begin to treat others as pawns and toys rather than as individual creatures worthy of respect. Even characters that describe themselves as “hardened” or “jaded” are not immune to gaining depravity in this fashion; indeed, one could argue that being extremely hardened to or jaded about the suffering of others is a sign of one gaining depravity.

Exposure to areas warped by evil
Whether due to the presence of demons, foul creatures from the Far Realms, or simply areas forever marred by evil of a less supernatural variety (such as the execution of an innocent man by a corrupt court, or the shack where a serial killer went to hide his “conquests”) can result in character’s gaining corruption through no fault of their own.

Typically, there are only certain areas in the blighted zone that bestow corruption (the area around the altar where innocents were sacrificed to dread gods), but in the cases of extreme blights, every square foot of the area might potentially bestow corruption. This corruption is typically applied to a character after a certain length of time and isaccompanied by a feeling of instinctive disgust that warn both the player and his or her character that it would be wise to spend as little time in the location as possible.

Certain sanity-rending locations that warp the minds of those who travel through them, like an area tainted by the energies of the Far Realm might very well bestow depravity instead as character’s minds break under the strain of sights alien to any sane man or woman.

Exposure to dread items
While tools and weapons both magical and mundane have no moral significance in and of themselves, the uses they are put to or the techniques used in their creation can sometimes result in them being a vessel of corruption or depravity.

A blade carved from the bones of a whimpering slave carries with it an imprint of the suffering of the one who “donated” the material for the blade and might whisper words of condemnation and hatred to a character who chooses to carry it, slowly increasing his or her depravity. A weapon wielded by a demonic general or an unknowable Far Realm entity might have acquired some of its master’s inhuman corruption, and might plague a wielder with disgusting growths. Then of course, there are weapons and other items specifically crafted by mad cultists or vindictive spell casters that slowly drive their wielders insane with lust for power, or that cause them to rot from the inside out.

Mental Condition –

Treacherous
Foul whispers cloud your mind with images of what you could receive if you struck your companions down. Once per encounter when an ally leaves a space that you threaten, the DM may choose to roll an attack with an attack bonus of your level +3 vs. the will defence of your character to represent the urge to take an opportunity to strike. If the attack is successful, you must make an opportunity attack against your ally. The upside is that your treacherous leanings make it easier to stab others in the back-you gain a +2 bonus to damage against creatures that you have combat advantage against.

Physical Condition

Internal Corruption (Ranked, maximum 3)

Your body is slowly consumed from the inside out by the corruption growing within you. While others cannot see it, it’s effects are all too obvious-for each level of this symptom taken you regain 2 fewer hit points from a second wind and take a -1 penalty to endurance checks. However, the festering growths within your body make you unappetizing to creatures that might otherwise want to make a meal out of you. If a living creature makes a bite attack against you that deals damage, it takes a -1 penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks for each time you have selected this symptom, until the end of its next turn.

Image Credits

Episode 6, part 4 of the Key Our Cars group’s 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons podcast gameplay session. Our heroes arrive in Darkmith where they raid the temple of the artificers while the ruined city erupts around them in a fit of evil.

Subscribe to the feed – http://www.keyourcars.com/feed/podcast/

Also available through iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 6, part 3 of the Key Our Cars group’s 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons podcast gameplay session. Our heroes arrive in Darkmith where they raid the temple of the artificers while the ruined city erupts around them in a fit of evil.

Subscribe to the feed – http://www.keyourcars.com/feed/podcast/

Also available through iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 6, part 2 of the Key Our Cars group’s 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons podcast gameplay session. Our heroes arrive in Darkmith where they raid the temple of the artificers while the ruined city erupts around them in a fit of evil.

Subscribe to the feed – http://www.keyourcars.com/feed/podcast/

Also available through iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 6, part 1 of the Key Our Cars group’s 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons podcast gameplay session. Our heroes arrive in Darkmith where they raid the temple of the artificers while the ruined city erupts around them in a fit of evil.

Subscribe to the feed – http://www.keyourcars.com/feed/podcast/

Also available through iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

“I see unsuccessful you have been.” spoke a voice that was filled with guttural rasping.  Image the sounds a person might make if they’d screamed for so long they were choking on their own blood, flesh ripped from the throat, vocal cords pulled so tightly they threatened to break with another sound, this might then be a pale imitation of this voice. The words spoken were in a ancient tongue full of harsh consonants and harmonics, living flesh cringing at the noise.

“The wardings of that accursed place hold true still.  They sap my powers more than imagined I.”  A second voice was definitely feminine, a caressing shiver of a voice that spoke of silk and whispers and promises of shadows and touch.

The first figure shrugged with a sinuous wave of its body, “I do not know stay shall I.  My freedom is enjoyable.” The figure gestured idly and nearby a man dressed in the uniform of the Larkson Watch drew a knife across his throat, the cut joining many many others on his body.  As the last of his life’s blood fountained as a scarlet ribbon in the air he slumped to the ground.  Only to rise moments later, dead eyes focused on its master.

The feminine voice changed in a flicker turning into a thing of razors and pain, “Mine husband you shall see free or your usefulness is at an end, know this Phy’el Fleshwalker.”

The corpse white skin of the first split open as the second’s words played over it, bloodless flesh gaping open. With no sign of pain upon its face it smiled slightly and nodded, “An it pleases you my queen.”

The voice, once again silken caresses, “Keep up the pressure on the wards.  Use the humans as you can to subvert them.  The Accursed One’s guardians seek to undo our release and attend to them I need.” Wings of green fire erupted from the second’s back and the body elongated.  The grass for yards around wisped into ash as it rose into the air with a lazy beat of her wings.  Hovering for a moment the solid black eyes looked down at him, “And use your command over the dead and flesh to recover Krag’s animus and restore him.  I do not wish my beloved to be deprived of his personal guard.”

Phy’el turned his head to follow the figure, using the heat of it to track it while the eyes of his head, boiled and burst in the first instants of the wings coming out and caressing his body, slowly regenerated. “Some day my queen.  Some day…”

Ranks of motionless figures jerked in unison minutes later as a single cry of raw anger and rage ripped through the air.  With a crook of his finger he summoned one of them to him.

---

“I hear you’re asking for Shuk.” Dra’kin started as a voice spoke behind him, the staff of wood he was carving slipping out of his hand and rolling across the worktable. He turned to see one of Shuk’s halflings, Keri he was almost sure.

“Yes, I wanted to check on her, it’s been a couple of days since I’ve seen her and I wanted to make sure she’s all right.”

“That’s why she has me.  Me and Meri. To make sure she’s alright. She went up stream with Meri to Forge.”

“Oh?  Why?”  Dra’kin gestured to a nearby chair and sat on the edge of his bed.

Keri shook her head, “Guild business.  I’m sure you understand.”

“When’s she coming back?”

“Guild business.” the halfling thief replied.

“Uh, okay.  When she gets back could you tell her I’d like to see her.”

“I’ll give her the message.”

“Great.  Are you hungry?  My treat. The council came through with a little gold to thank us for our ‘efforts’ in looking into the murders and for driving the creature out of the temple.”

She shook her head, “No thanks, I’ve got to look into some things.  You can’t give people a chance to get momentum or your place in the order of things becomes at risk.”

There was a tap on the door and moments later it opened revealing Torel standing there, “Hey we’re going to go over to… Well hey there.  Meri?  Keri?”

“Keri.  Meri’s with Shuk who’s…” Dra’kin paused as Keri shook her head slightly, “…busy right now.”

“Mi’lady Keri would you care to join us for the evening meal?” Torel asked with a slight bow.

“Thanks but no, I must be off.” she replied.

“Perhaps next time then.”

“Maybe.  Later Dra’kin.” Keri said, flashing him a look, a warning in it.  Torel stood aside to let her leave, coming further into the room.

“So what about you?  Hungry?”

“Sure, let me get my pouch.”

“So what’s up with Shuk?”

Dra’kin grimaced, “Guild business. Don’t think I’m supposed to talk about it.”

Torel shrugged “Okay, just being polite.  We’re going to try some place that Stak found down on the docks.  Swears they have a fish stew to die for.  Personally I think it’s not the stew but the person bringing it that he thinks is to die for.”

Dra’kin rolled his eyes, “Okay I guess.  But if there’s another gods damned drunken brawl this is the last time I’m letting any of you pick a place to eat.”

Torel protested, “Hey those were all Biminey’s fault!  Him and that damn hand of his trying to steal drinks from drunks.”

“I’m just saying, your fault, my fault, nobody’s fault. I have to jump through another window to avoid being thrown through it and I’m going to burn someone’s pubes off.”  Hellfire flickered to life on the finger he was pointing at Torel.  A sympathetic light pulsed in red crystal in a silver mount on his worktable casting a red glow onto the room.

Torel held his hands up with an innocent look, “Hey hey watch that thing!”

Dra’kin closed his fingers into a fist, the action causing the flames to go out, “Just remember what I said.  Now let’s go I’m hungry enough to eat even bad food now.”

Torel clapped him on the shoulder, then pulling his hand back as Dra’kin stopped to look at it. “Right right, the warlock that walks alone. Come one.”

Dra’kin’s eyes narrowed as the avenger of Kord walked ahead of him, a thoughtful look on his face for a moment before clearing.

In the shadows across the street two figures stirred, one stepping out to follow the warlock and avenger down the street, the other slipping away down an alley.

Image Credits

[Sorry for the delay on the session report and podcasts.  Busy at home and work and Life intruding and all that.]

This session saw the inclusion of a bard, a gnome by the name of Dash, seeking to record the exploits of the “only known survivors of a slaver kidnapping!!!” who met up with them at their tavern but I get ahead of myself.

Present were Biminey, Dra’kin, Elisssa, Stak, Torel and temporary guest star – Dash.

We start our journey with the quints getting back to town from their voyage down to darkmith.  There’s a lot of questions, answers, no answers and the like going on for the first few hours of the session.  The group discovers that for the last few nights a gruesome murder has taken place.  They’re unable to uncover any pattern to the murders, they seem to be random serial killings.  Each body and most times there were multiples, was dismembered and an odd lack of blood was found at each scene.  No one noticed the murders even though in one case it was performed at a whorehouse with thin walls and crowded clientelle.

They interact with the priests of Eris and the Captain of the Watch as well as the council about their past, present and future activities.

The researchers at Eris have a possible solution for Torn.  An old healing temple, now in Hobgoblin lands might be able to channel healing energies still through a simulacrum back to Torn.  Getting there might be a problem though.

A bloodied woman and child arrive at the town and they witness this and join in on the investigation. They determine that both woman and child have been impacted by arcane/necrotic energies and only after the energies are cleansed at the Eris temple’s circle are they able to get anything more than the White Man from the hysterical woman and catatonic child.  A ritual is performed and the woman reveals that a white figure she remembers it as a skeletal unearthly figure while the child remembers it as a man in white robes entered their village a day earlier and brought the dead to life and had them descend upon the villagers doing horrible things to them.  The two of them were then sent to the town to summon aid.

Unfortunately this information was uncovered after the town watch sent out a squad of men.  Once it was known it was a trap, at least the PC’s beleive it to be one, two additional watch were sent after the first squad to warn them but they had several hours head start and it’s unlikely they’ll catch up in time.

A day passes, the group on watch on the city walls but no ‘army of undead’ shows up.  The captain of the watch sends out two squads of the watch’s elite units although the group tries to persuade him otherwise.

The group determines that the murdered bodies are oddly drained of life energies, even dead flesh has some life to it.

Oddly Dra’kin has a hard time finding his girlfriend Shuk during the initial two days they’re back in town.

Anotehr thing of note is it’s been cloudy for the last 10 days, roughly equal to the time that whatever happened in Darkmith happened.

Two of the group were headed to the Temple of Eris to talk to Sushanna when they met her in the street outside.  The vault doors to the forbidden archives were locked, from the inside and although there were three priests in there no one was answering.  The rest of the group was summoned to investigate adn found the vault door sealed by magic.  While Dash got the door open, a summons was sent to the town watch but with the door opened it revealed a odd arcane circle floating in midair at the bottom of the steps.

The group went down into the forbidden vaults and uncovered a powerful female who summoned deamonic pets through multiple portals floating in air.  She was apparently searching for something as there were scrolls scattered everywhere.

While she kept the group busy with the four deamons and a golem crafted up from scrolls and bits of broken tables and stones she continued her search but as her pets dropped she was forced into the combat.

She fled as the combat turned against her, unable to flee through her own portals as they had grown unstable from the arcanic energies released during the fight she was forced to flee through the streets but was easily able to make her escape.

All in all the 5-6 hour session was split fairly equally between roleplay and fighting. The fight did take longer than I was hoping for, with 6 players at the table and 4 standards, 1 elite and 1 solo it was unfortunately an issue.  But the fight wasn’t geared for minions IMO and frankly this group has multiple minion killer powers so to make it a challenge I’d have to pump up the count.   THere is another fight though where this might apply…

Interlude – At Sea

The sound of sobbing drew him to the bow of the boat.  THe moon’s light was dim, hidden behind clouds.  Thank the gods that they were normal clouds, not the swirling banks of dark grey clouds lit from within by green flaring lights that they’d left behind at the ancient city of Darkmith.

Tucked into shadow behind two bales of fishing net, Torel found the girl sitting on the gunwhale, feet up on a bale and clutched to her chest.  She was rocking back and forth crying quietly. If the seas had been any rougher than the millpond it was currently he feared she’d have gone over the edge long ago.

Slowly he eased up to sit next to her, keeping just enough space between them to be able to grab her if she went too far back. “Hey,” he spoke softly, gently,”how’s it going?”

The girl’s muffled voice came softly from where it was buried between her knees. “I don’t want to die.  Things keep happening to me and I think I’m going to die and then other things happen and suddenly I’m not and I’m just so tired of it.  I’ve got this… thing inside me, I saw what it did, I don’t want to …” Her tear covered face looked up at him and she reached out to grab his arm in a grip that would leave a ring of bruises around his forearm. “Swear to me, swear on your life, on everything you hold dear in this world and the next that if this thing in me…if something happens…swear that you’ll end the pain.”

Torel didn’t, couldn’t look away from the fierceness of the girl’s gaze and found himself nodding, “Aye, Soozin.  This I swear on my life and my faith, if it comes to that, I will… stop the pain.”

For several long moments the girl was silent, eyes gazing into those of the holy warrior of Kord then she nodded and said simply, “Thank you.”

He moved closer, then hesitantly put an arm around her shoulders.  She leaned into him and he held her, offering what comfort he could.

They sat in silence that way, the salt taste of the water in the air, the gentle breezes from the south, warm and comforting blowing across the ship with the snap of the sails and the creak of rope and pulleys adding their own melody to the night.  Her tears like small raindrops rolling over his forearm.

Then the girl began to speak, voice calm as she watched the water flow past.  Telling him of her life, of growing up the daughter of a seamtress, her father lost at sea.  Of her hopes at the spring festival of finding someone, of her home and her brother, lost in Darkmith. Of Torn’s caring for her and their plans for the future.

“You said Torn was hurt but that the temple priests were going to fix him.  Was that the truth?”

Torel sighed heavily, “As far as I know little one. The temple has vast stores of knowledge and they seemed hopeful they would be able to find a way to heal him.  His brain was hurt during the attack and that’s the part they aren’t sure about.  I’ve seen those who’ve been damaged in such a fashion and I’ve seen them lay in a deep sleep for weeks and then come out of it.”

“And sometimes they don’t.”

“Aye, sometimes.”

“Thank you for the truth on that.”

“We’ll do everything we can for him, I hope you know the truth in that as well.  It’s only another two days and we should be home.  Gods willing he’ll be up and around and waiting for you.”

“The gods will as they will.  Damned be them all.” she said bitterly looking up at the skies.  “By all… what is that?” she whispered.

His eyes turned up as she gasped. A shadow was crossing through clouds overhead, outlined in green fire, the outline was that of a man but with abnormally long legs and arms and giant tattered shadow wings that beat the clouds into a frenzy at its passing.  Fragments of green fire dripped from those wings like water splattering into a rain puddle and each drop burned a section of the clouds away.  It soared without sound, significantly faster than the ship could sail, moving in a weaving graceful pattern, leaving wispy burned away clouds in its wake. 

Rooted to the spot they watched it, unable to look away as it sailed far ahead of the ship and then with a swirling loop it turned inland and vanished in the distance.

A deep terror filled the girl’s eyes as they shook off the spell.  “Do you…?”

Torel shook his head slowly, “No.  But I fear by all that I know that this does bodes dreadful ill for the future.  I fear those meddling fools may have doomed us all with what they’ve unleashed.”

He stood, helping the girl to her feet, “Come we must tell the others of this.”

Source Image

We’re short one player so Laura will be donning the warlock hat tonight, present in the flesh are Elisssa, Stak, Torel, Biminey.

Biminey exits the temple of the Artificers with the knowledge that he can get the group into the grounds without being attacked by making amulets for them that are essentially visitor’s passes to coin an anachronistic term.  He’s also found reference to the rituals and methods needed to repair the elemental ship as well as reference to override controller amulets, a kind of master key, that can be attuned to an airship for the purposes of controlling it much like the original 6 amulets were created during it’s construction.

The group enters the temple grounds and are ignored by the constructs which are going about their programmed business of fighting delaying tactics against the wear and tear of time. Many constructs stand or lie broken and worn out. Bolter turrets mounted in certain areas spark and crackle, malfunctioning while others turn to follow the groups movements.

Down a long flight of stairs they find the outer vault chamber.  The outer door is standing ajar, the inner door is sealed tight.  The sinking of the city into the swamp though, has destroyed part of the wall and there is enough room for the group to squeeze through.

They drop down into a series of hallways, lit by light crystals, panels roughly 4′ x 4′ that are inset into the walls.  The flooring is covered in 6″ of water.  As Elissa steps into one of the three hallways leading out the wall crystals start a slow pulse.   When Torel tries to follow the lights start a rapid pulsing and there’s the sound of metal on metal as doors start to go up around the complex.

Constructs start to appear, some spider like with nozzles for mouths that fire sticky webbing, others childlike in size with razored claws and containers of some fluid that lead to large needles embedded into their palms.  The creatures show up scattered out over the course of several rounds though and with the use of corners to prevent being surrounded, focus fire and especially the use of Elisssa’s lighting based breath, Stak’s Azurian longsword which deals lightning damage and Biminey’s Lightning Sphere the constructs are taken down without any of the party going down.

[DM's Note: It hit me after the session that Dra'kin should really be up in front soaking damage.  He has hit points as high as any of the group, a huge number of surges and Hellish Rebuke requires him to get hit to be truly effective. ]

The group investigates the area after the fight, finding mostly decayed and destroyed by damp furnishings, equipment and miscellaneous items.  Dra’kin is blasted by bolter fire as he steps up to open a locked door but the two wall mounted bolters inside are swiftly destroyed.  The room appears to have once held racks of some objects, long gone at this point and was apparently important enough to have secondary defenses with the bolters mounted up on the walls inside.

Down one hallway they discover the end of it has broken apart and light is gleaming from under the water.  As they move closer to look it over, the vines and mosses that have invaded in from the swamp come to live and stand up.  It shoots a cloud of spores that catch the entire party and they all rush forward in fascination to end adjacent to the creature.  Thorny vines swarm up their bodies against the party, all hit with only Dra’kin avoiding the vines as he shakes off the fascination.  Hollow pointed thorns on the vines plunge into their bodies, restraining them and draining them of blood.  [Fairly nasty creature I came up with.  Burst 6 pull as a minor then burst 3 that restrains and inflicts 10 ongoing damage (save ends) which is why I only had the one creature in this fight.  I also had three 20's in a row during this fight.  Unfortunately for me the 20's didn't actually do anything extra as it was just to apply the ongoing 10 and restrain effects.  Damnit.]

They uncover a way through the broken earth and stone and emerge into a vast chamber piled high with crates, timbers and building materials.  Naturally suspicious they use Dra’kin’s familiar to scout the area spotting a large form lying in wait behind a pile of crates.  They move to attack and as they do so there’s a roar of another creature on the far side of the chamber.

Two dragonlike constructs although without wings are enjoined in the fight.  Over the course of the fight two more constructs, comprised of chains and spikes drop into view from above.  Again the party’s tactics have improved and they focus their anger and damage onto single targets for the most part although twice they bunch up nicely and are subject to burst attacks that catch more than one person at a time.  Their sound fire control and especially the lightning damage pull it out although once or twice someone in the party goes down but is brought back up again to re-enter the fray.

During the fight a large quake throws everyone to the ground and the roof high overhead splits open, it was designed to do that so the elemental ships could be lowered into it but the holding mechanism fractures and it opens up partially.

They search the area and uncover two small containers of residium worth 10,000 gold, a master override amulet and enough specialized artificer gear to proceed with the repair and control of the air ship. They also see on a magical map a green dot among many red ones that appears to be nearing the coast line before it gives up the ghost destroyed by the quake.

The exit the chamber by climbing up through the roof [They didn't check but if they had they would have found the water passage now blocked from the quake]

Outside they find the temple structures had suffered serious damage and the constructs are too busy repairing to pay them any attention even if they were so inclined.

Overhead the clouds are boiling, a vicious greenish black tinge to them that cast the city into dark shadow although miles away the skies are clear.  Their first though is that the priests of Eris have breached the tomb of Larkson.  Dra’kin and Biminey both note that a subtle arcanic pressure over the city is now gone.

Rather than resting to recover, their recent activities have left them tired and worn out, they proceed to head to the coastline at the fastest possible route which is through the city.   The city creatures seem to have their hands full and they’re unaccosted.

Hearing the sounds of hunting hounds they swing to the side to investigate and find Merik (Merkin) treed up on top of a pillar while savage dog like creatures snarl and bite from below.   The party is detected and the hounds vanish into the rubble.  The high priest falls, impaling himself on a fence that surrounds the pillar.  The party arrives just in time to read his lips as he dies, “I didn’t know… gods forgive…”

They search him claiming a crystalline fragment on an amulet around his neck and continue their mad dash to the coast.

Passing through what they thought was merely an overgrown plaza turns out to be instead a grave.  One of the tomb doors shatters exploding and a giant abomination of a creature climbs out.  Standing 12′ tall, its guts hang out, wrapping around his torso, writhing like snakes.  It is Krag the Butcher, storied creature of a dark past.  It spies the party and calls forth its minions which claw their way from not so warded anymore imprisonment and the attack is on.

Stak does a good job of keeping the minions cleared out as they arrive in waves as they make their way up through the earth covering them while the rest pound on Krag. It’s a tough fight but they eventually put him down, even as Torel lies dying on the ground and Biminey after being encased in Krag’s grasping intestines is only released shy of death at the creature’s being killed.

Or so they thought as Krag rises again.  With the most wounded scrambling away, the rest continue to batter the abomination into the ground, this time spending the time and effort it takes to dismember the corpse before they consider it dead.

Almost dead from exhaustion and the toll of being on the go, fighting, sneaking and moving quickly for 24 hours they climb into the vacant tomb of Krag and rest while Stak stands watch.

They recover Krag’s Blood Sink Bracers and his Flensing Axe from the body and tomb.

[They were almost completely out of surges across the party, most were down below half health and of course their dailies were long spent.  All in all I think I got this balance of fight series just about perfect.  See the end of the post for the Blood Sink bracers]

They continue their cautious rush through the city to reach the beach.  There they find three men, emissaries of the slavers, waiting with what turned out to be Soozin.  The elemental ship is in tow on two ships and is disapearing on the horizon.  A third smaller ship lies in the harbor while a ship’s boat is on the beach.

The slavers want knowledge of how to control the elemental ship and they offer Biminey a kings ransom in gold, slaves and power if he has the knowledge and gives it to them.  They believe they will be able to figure it out eventually but they’re not patient men.

During the discourse the emissary which turns out to be nothing more than a slave dressed in finery arranges a deal with the group, one of the options he was given to offer is if Biminey doesn’t know how to control the ship, if they uncover it and provide the deal will still stand.   Biminey though has already told them he knows how to do it.  The slave has heard their plans and realizes that most scenarios end with him dead so he counteroffers.  He’ll go back and tell the Overmage on the ship that Biminey doesn’t know yet and will work on it but, and he indicates the two guards which are actually just ship’s cooks, he can’t afford witnesses.  Without a second thought, Biminey and Elisssa fry the two where they stand using his Lightning Sphere and her breath weapon.

The slave hands over a bottle, instructing them that Soozin has to have one drop in water a day or she’ll die. In comes out that he as well has been ‘infected’.

[They assume the girl has been poisoned but it's nastier than that.  They've both been infested with a parasite that's kept dormant by the liquid.  If it wakens it spawns immediately and hundreds of it's spawn burrow their way out of the host over the course of a few of the most painful agonizing last minutes of your life.  This will come out as they talk to Soozin on the trip home.]

The slave rows back to the ship and the group sets off overland, following the coast where they come across the ship that brought The priests of Eris to the area.  They arrange a deal to go back to the city on the boat and learn some boating skills of their own along the way.

Podcast should go out this week sometime.

Blood Sink Bracers “The deep red runes on these bracers flare with an evil light as energies seek out nearby open wounds.” Level 6 Price: 1800 gp Item Slot: Arms Power (Daily): Immediate Interrupt.  Use this power when you or an ally within 5 squares hits with an attack.  Add 1d10 damage necrotic to the attack and gain the same amount in temporary hit points.  Gain double the amount in temporary hit points if the target of the attack is Bloodied.

Modified Image created by me from this one

Episode 5, part 3 of the Key Our Cars group’s 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons podcast gameplay session. The group is arrested after the dock fight and works their way out of incarceration and then heads back to Darkmith after information and their airship.

Subscribe to the feed – http://www.keyourcars.com/feed/podcast/

Also available through iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 5, part 2 of the Key Our Cars group’s 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons podcast gameplay session. The group faces down ‘traders’ on the docks and ends up captured again.

Subscribe to the feed – http://www.keyourcars.com/feed/podcast/

Also available through iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 5, part 1 of the Key Our Cars group’s 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons podcast gameplay session. We find our heroes rescued by their friends and they find their friends missing.

Subscribe to the feed – http://www.keyourcars.com/feed/podcast/

Also available through iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Interlude – Temple of Artificers

Biminey looked up, cocking his head.  The sound came again, the voice of one of Torel calling from outside the complex.  He put down the scroll he was reading and removed the glasses.  Rubbing his forehead he waited for the headache to go away making yet another mental note to work on the plan for the translation goggles, one that wouldn’t leave him feeling like a foot long spike was being shoved through his head each time he took them off after using them for more than a few minutes.

But without them the scrolls would be nothing more than scribbles and strange alphabets. He tossed the scroll into his pack where it joined a growing selection.  The ancient outbuildings of the temple of artificers had proven to be a wealth of information of curious natures of his craft.  Reluctantly he’d marked several an collected them but had no plans for taking them.  There was only so much space in his pack after all.

Head only pounding now rather than splitting he went outside, grabbing a silvered spear he’d found next to a jumble of parts that had once been one of the spear constructs.  Night had fallen while he was reading and the moon shone down giving the courtyard a silvery blue tint.   He headed to the gate, his feet making soft noises on the heavy stone tiles filling the inside of the temple walls.

“What?  I didn’t catch that?” he yelled over the wall.

Torel’s voice came back, “Just checking on you, we’ve found a good place to set up, it’s about 50 yards south, southwest of the gate.  Some walls are still standing and give us some concealment but we can still keep an eye on the gate.”

“Great, I’ll find a place in here to get some rest and keep at it!  There’s a lot of information here to go through but I’ve found a building that holds a lot of rituals and knowledge that seems to be specifically with the air ships!”

“Fantastic!  Okay scream if you run into a problem and we’ll stand here and mourn you appropriately.”

“What a friend you are!” Biminey called back laughing.

“Get to work!  It’s cold out here!  And there are dark priests!”

“Riiiiight!”

The artificer went back in, the building he was currently rummaging through looked very promising as many of the scrolls held illustrations of various ships and ship components. With a sigh at the upcoming pain, he slipped the glasses back on and continued his search.  The hours came and went as he scanned scroll after scroll, the building headache looming larger and larger.

Finally he found it, a set of scrolls outlining how to make field repairs to elemental ships and another set that outlined the control mechanisms.  He scooped them all up, hugging them to his chest before storing them carefully into his pack, pulling out several of the others that he’d collected to make room.

Even tensing in anticipation did nothing to prepare him for the shattering white pain that ripped through his head as he removed the glasses and he was literally driven to his knees by the pain.  As darkness took him, he though, “Perhaps I won’t wear them so long next time.”

Sun was shining through the windows as he woke up, groggy and disoriented and for a few moments unaware of where he was.  Panic set in momentarily before the memories came crashing back.   His head was pounding still and it was the work of several minutes before he was able to climb to his feet. And several minutes longer before he realized that the sun was slanting in from the wrong direction.  It was almost evening again with morning come and gone.

“Biminey!?  HEY!!!” called an urgent voice from outside.

He stumbled out, pausing to lean against the door frame.  It took a couple of tries before his voice worked and then he replied, “I’m okay!”

“Baphomat wept!  For the gods sake man, we’ve been calling all day!  Dra’kin lost his little eye familiar trying to see inside and we didn’t know if you were alive or dead!” It was Elisssa’s voice that came back.

“I’m alive!  Mostly! Over did it a little and… never mind!  I’m okay!”

“Don’t worry us like that! Did you find anything!?”

“Right, found something.”  He remembered now what he’d been reading right before he’d dropped and his eyes widened, “Found something?!  I found EXACTLY what we needed!  Let me collect my stuff and I’ll figure out a way to get out of here.”

Gear in hand he headed toward the gate, a panel on the wall inside that he’d seen earlier glowed with a soft pale light much like the light of the crystalline windows of the tower on the island, the gleaming controls of the air ship and the crystal plaque near the tomb of Larkson.  At his command his familiar emerged from from a pouch at his waist and he picked it up and placed it on the panel.  The massive gate slowly began to shift open and he walked through it.

His friends stood just out of range of the guardian bolters atop the walls and waited for him.  Biminey held up his pack, “Got what we need, well I know what we need to do and where we need to find it.”

“Great, where to?”

“First I need to make you some passes that will get you into the grounds.  I found the ritual on how to make a amulet that will get you into the grounds without triggering the defense systems.”

Dra’kin spoke slowly, “And why do we need to get into the temple?”

“Because we’re going to raid the vaults under it of course.”

“Raid the vaults… say that again?”

“I found scrolls that tell me how to repair the damage done to the ship at least enough to get it moving again.  For that I’m going to need residium.  An ass load of residium.  And I’m betting we can find it in the residium vaults under the temple.  We’re also going to need an override amulet of control.  These are also stored for safekeeping in the vaults under the temple.”

“What’s that do?” Stak asked.

“With that I’ll be able to direct the elementals powering the airship and we’ll be able to fly that bad boy anywhere we want.  We’ll be gods damned kings of the world with that thing under our control.”

“Riiiiight…” Torel said rolling his eyes. “Until someone steals it.”

“Or sets it on fire with arrows.” Elisssa chimed in.

“Or he crashes it into a tower.” Stak added.

“Or a….” Dra’kin started to say.

“Enough! I get the point.”  Biminey int erupted wryly.

Elisssa snorted, “Someone has to keep you down to earth. So we just waltz down to the vaults, grab what we need and we’re off to save our ship.  The ship we don’t know where it is?”

“Exactly.  Well maybe not quite that… easily.”

Torel sighed, “So what are we looking at?”

“The amulets I can make should get…”

“Should?!” Dra’kin sputtered.

Biminey continued on, “should get you all onto the grounds and into the main temple.  In there we’ll find an entrance that leads down to the vault.  I should…”

“There’s that word again…And by the way I need a new eye construct.”

“I should be able to get us through that door without a problem.”

Stak asked, “But?”

“The vaults probably have a few safe guards on them.  You know to keep people from doing what we’re wanting to do.  On the plus side, the place is falling apart. There are bits and pieces of constructs laying all over the place where they just gave out.  The nine spearmen that came out?  Those are probably the last working ones.  I got this spear from a pile of parts just inside the door.”

Torel held up a hand and started checking off fingers, “So, just to sum up, you get us into the temple maybe.  We find the entrance to these vaults. We fight our way past guardians, traps and whatever else they might throw on the pile.  That may or may not be working.  We break into the vaults. Damn ran out of fingers. Steal the temple’s loot.  Figure out where our ship is.  Go get it from whoever took it.  Fix it.  And then you pilot us out home again.  Where the city council is probably dying to try and take it away from us not to mention everyone else with a sword and a desire for the power such a ship would give them.”

Biminey grinned, “Yep, that about covers it.  So.  Are you in?”

Torel grinned back, “Of course.”

Image Credits

Mine wife got me a couple of Hirst Arts Molds (70/75/201 for the curious)  for Christmas and a fifty pound box of Merlin’s Magic dental plaster.  I finally this weekend got rid of my holiday house guests and had all my accouterments ready to try molding.  I built a ‘pound board’ out of a $6 bamboo cutting board from Wal-mart.  Some scrap pieces of 2×4’s on the bottom and some hd foam glued to those give me a bouncy surface for helping to get rid of bubbles.   I was going to try and vibrate it with a… novelty item but the vibrations aren’t strong enough.  For that purpose.  I may look at buying a small motor from some place like American Science and Plus, awesome place for odd ball items on the cheap although their selection isn’t nearly as crazy as it has been in years past.  10 years ago you could get a paper catalog from them with 100 pages in it of esoteric crap.  Anyway, small motor, mount an out balance collar to the shaft and voila, instant vibrations.

So yesterday I finally got set up, on our dining room table of all places, it’s just been brutally cold here so the garage was out and I didn’t want to use our gaming table and didn’t want to set up another table as a considerable portion of the house is still carpeted and I imagine plaster spilled on carpet is probably a bad idea so the dining room was confiscated.

I’m using Merlin’s Magic as the plaster, it was the most recommended in terms of being user friendly while still being crazy strong.  I mixed it up per the recommended settings on the HA site to-wit 30 grams of water by weight to 186 grams of plaster.   It mixed up pretty well over all.  It’s damn pricey though, mostly due to shipping costs and I’m going to try to find Hydrostone locally or within a reasonable drive which usually goes for $40 per 100lbs.  MM is $40 for 50 lbs and shipping doubles the cost or more.

I’d cleaned my molds and spritzed them with ‘wet water’ and now poured them, actually Laura and I both poured.   I poured multiple times and ended up with the scraping method being preferable right now.  I also scraped within a couple of minutes of pouring for best results after trial and error.  Waiting the recommended six minutes resulted in the plaster being too set to scrape easily.

I also tried the ‘glass’ method where you take a piece of glass (I used plexiglass) and lay it down on the molds starting at one edge to squeeze the excess plaster out.  Unfortunately I had issues with air bubbles and weighting and all that.   I tried it twice (6 molds altogether) and one or two came out good, the others had bubbles or I ended up with ‘tall’ parts because the glass wasn’t in full contact with the top of the mold in all locations.  The first time I used water bottles which had the advantage of letting me see what was going on but weren’t evenly weighted.  The second time I used bricks so I couldn’t see just how tight the glass was to the mold top.

I may try again with thick glass that would be flexless rather than plexiglass.  But the scraping is working for me as well.

Realistically I could make probably 3 runs an hour if I wanted to really push it and with my current set up time perhaps 4 maybe 5 molds at one time.   Of course a lot of this is sit and wait time so if you had a lot of molds you could certainly be busy all the time with weighing plaster and water, scraping, demolding the finished pieces etc.

So now I have 4 or 5 runs of my 3 molds from last night and will probably do several more especially of the standard flagstone wall pieces and the floor tiles.  I’m not sure how much of the rest I’ll need right now.

The express purpose of all this is to build modular layouts in full 3D for playing purposes much like this but at much reduced cost long term. Dwarven Forge stuff is extremely nice looking but just too pricey for a many (myself included).  Although if you only need a smallish setup then it’s probably more cost effective to go that route than buy your molds and plaster.  But nowhere near as fun.   As an example you could buy this set up from Dwarven Forge for $109+Shipping or you could buy two molds from Hirst Arts, a wall and a floor mold and a box of plaster for the same money and make about 5 times as many pieces.  And after you go through one box of plaster the next set of 5x the bits and pieces is half the cost because you already have your molds.   And you can create your bits and pieces at the height you want, example I’m going to have short walls so it’s easier to see things especially since the map section on my gaming table is high.

All in all the process was pretty simple, a few bits of trial and error as temperture of ambient, molds, water and the  color of plaster and the humidity all have an effect on your plaster and dictate the times needed to wait to scrape off the excess plaster and how long it takes to demold and I’d bet bubble severity.

So if you have some time to spare and the cash to outlay (spread it out among your players as well) and of course the interest then these molds and techniques might be something to consider to raise the bar at your table.

We start out our evening with our heroes, Biminey, Dra’kin, Elissa, Stak and Torel bound, gagged and hooded.  They’re moved from the camp of their captors onto a boat where they sail without food and very little water for a couple of days, downstream by their reckoning.  They’re unloaded and sealed into crates which are then loaded and lashed down onto a wagon.  Or wagons as it turns out.

They can tell they’re traveling through town, their own obviously as there are none close enough for their travel time. Then the wagons stop moving and there are a couple of thuds, the wagons shake a bit and next thing they know they’re being released from their captivity by Meri (or is it Keri?) along with some of Shuk’s thugs.  One of the thugs drops a bundle of weapons, maces, longswords and hand bows and the group arms itself.  They’re weakened by their captivity and their first response is to go back to their inn where they raid the kitchen.

While they’re eating one of Shuk’s people comes looking for Shuk and passes on the information that “I seen four men go into the house where yer friend Torn is living with that girl of his.  Shuk asked us to keep an eye on him.  Three of them was sailors I think the other one had chain on…”

The group rushes off to help their friend.  They get to the boarding house to find an elderly woman dead on the bottom floor, apparently in the middle of cooking breads for the day’s meals.  They ease upstairs where they find several empty rooms, one body and then the room of their friend.

A warding of Silence has been chalked on the door as determined by Dra’kin.  He broke the warding and it released its energies in a psychic blast that encompassed most of the group.

Inside there’s been a big battle, three men, sailors by their look lie dead, cut up on the floor.  Torn is in a heap in one corner of the room, his left hand and part of his forearm missing.  Left for dead he apparently managed to loop a thong over the stump before he bled out completely and is unconcious but alive.  His head took a grevious blow though and it doesn’t look good for him.

Biminey healed him enough to stablize him and stop the bleeding.  They noticed the bed sheets were missing and bloody handprints leading out the window.

Leaving by the window they followed the trail around the balcony that ran around the upper story and into an alley way behind.  Signs indicate that someone dropped a body from the upper floor but that it was probably still alive at that time.  The fourth attack is presumed wounded as he or she is leaving bloody hand prints and a blood trail.

The trail heads downhill through the town and the group heads for the docks, they believe they know who it is, someone from the trade ship, slavers they think at the docks.

They’re stopped by a strange figure, a unusually non-descript looking person but as he smiles he reveals a mouth of teeth filed into points. He let’s them know he’s glad he’s found them and whistles for reinforcements. Elisssa believes that he may be concealed by illusion as to his real appearance and several people note a goblin like cadence to his bad Common.   Meri and Keri, show up at this time dropping from the roofs on either side, apparently they’d been tracking this gentleman.   Meri tells the gentleman that they don’t approve of ‘outside contractors’ and tells the group to go on, they’ll deal with this one.  The group is happy enough to bail, they’re trying to save Soozin.   They catch a glimpse of the figure shimmer then vanish from sight as they’re taking a side street.

As they get to the docks they’re spotted and multiple figures leap off the ship and combat is initated.  The overmage on the ship drops a capture net of magical energies over them as the ship’s forces charge to attack.

The battle is harsh and the group wins but the ship makes it escape.  Part way through the fight they hear a large force of armed men approaching from the city, assuming correctly that it’s watch.

The watch shows up and Tanner, Lerik’s flunky appears from the shadows and speaks to the captain of the watch telling him that the group had killed several people in a nearby warehouse and when they were heard the ship had sent people to investigate andt he party had killed them as well as he can plainly see.  It appeared to the group that Tanner was unusually convincing in his speech.

The party was arrested and tossed into the slam.  The next day Shuk shows up to hear their side of the story.  She arranges for better food and creature comforts with the jailor and leaves.  Another day passes and she shows up again to inform the group that their accuser has ‘apparently left town.’  *wink wink* and tosses Dra’kin an amulet on a braid of yellow hair.  Tanner had yellow hair of the same hue…

The group is informed they’re going to be put to the question, a ritual of Truth and will be asked questions to either prove their innocence or guilt.

They’re moved to the Temple of Eris where they’re subjected to the ritual.  Garon and Teagan ask their questions which prove their inocence more or less.  Lerik though asks if they’ve ever ridden in an airship which they of course have to answer yes.

There’s a bit of an uproar as Lerik is deviating from the program but eventually the group is free’d and allowed to collect their belongings.  They also claim right of victory over the trader ship crew for their gear which they do get.

Biminey agrees to the Ritual of Remembrance for the high priest of Eris and describes the tomb of Larkson and it’s immediate surroundings in vivid detail, every word and description taken down by scribes.

The high priest asks if the group would be ameniable to taking a group of scribes to the tomb.  Biminey puts him off saying he’ll need to talk to the others.

They work out a plan to do so since they’re going that way anyway but by the time they get back to the high priest he’s unavailable.  They wait a day, making preperations, then go back and he’s still unavailable.  Biminey thinks to ask Sushanna and finds out the high priest left with several other priests.

They’ve arranged travel on a small coastal ship and also find out that another ship left that morning with some scribey types on it.

Travel down the coast is mostly uneventful but as they near Darkmouth they’re beset upon by a ship similar in build to the one at the docks only bigger.  They turn to shore where they’re dropped off in boat and their ship beats a hasty retreat before the slave ship.

They work their way through the dangers of the fire swamps and make it to the city (failing my system for abstract combat horribly).  They move inland following the maps that Biminey had uncovered from the scrolls that the little thieves had stolen for him from the forbidden scroll room.  They’re heading for the Temple of Artifice as depicted on their map.

As they made their way they note that the airship is no longer near the top of the tower where they’d left it.  Acting on the assumption there’s no point in going after it if they can’t drive it they continue on to the temple.

They find the temple in an area that’s otherwise mostly destroyed but the temple though is still in good repair.  Dra’kin familiar is sent to investigate and is shot at by guardian constructs like the ones they fought back on the island where they got their airship to begin with. They attack it from extreme range and silver spearman come from the temple but as they stop attacking they don’t pursue the party.  Screwing up his courage Biminey moves closer his mechanical hand out in front.  As something seems to happen he  then approaches the temple.  As he’s looking for a way in the silver spearmen are recalled and he slips through the gate as it opens.

Inside he finds multiple buildings, some holding archives of knowledge, others workshops of artificing.  Constructs roam the grounds, fixing, repairing and guarding the temple.

Through the complicated method of yelling they communicate with each other as to what’s going on and the other four of the group find a semi-sheltered location where they can watch the gate and have some concealment and protection from the elements.

Image Credits

I won’t say I came up with this idea, cause I didn’t but I thought I’d show these around.  I picked up a sheet of foam core $2, a roll of 1″ magnetic strip $3, a bag of 12″ sticks $2 and black magic marker $3 and some plain ol elmer’s glue and fashioned these status flags.

I cut out 1″ square foam core pieces, well technically slightly less than 1″ square.  I also cut out 1″ pieces of the flexible magnetic strip.  I cut the sticks into 4″ long pieces.  Using an x-acto knife I cut a small hole in one corner of the foam core and glued a stick into it.  Once those were all dry I peeled and stuck the magnet bits to the bottom.  I have magnetic receptive game mats.

Using photoshop I made some number flags and some condition flags.  The numbered flags were glued directly to the sticks.  THe condition flags were glued to small pieces of drinking straws.

Now during play I can park a NPC on top of one of the flag bases and can easily see what number it is for the purposes of record tracking and announcing.   In addition as an NPC gets a condition I can drop a reminder on it.  By dropping them upside I can designate they go away at the end of the turn (turned over) or if they’re right side up they’re a Save Ends.  I made the status flags pretty generic without numbers because frankly having a marker for every freakin’ option is just too much.  +X ongoing, -X to AC (F/R/W), Save Ends, End of Next Turn, etc and so on. The status markers are just visual reminders when a creature has something odd about it.

If you’re mini’s also have magnets on the bottom of them then they all stick together quite well and you can use the status stand to move them around pretty easily.  Otherwise you just have to be careful when you pick them up to avoid the mini from falling off.

Anyway for $10 or so I made 25 of these with a ton of material left over.

Based on observation and experience with them in actual game play, as I went through the powers transcribing them to spreadsheets [We use spreadsheets of my own design rather than the character builder print outs or MtG style power cards, it's not nearly as cool but goodness it's a lot faster and easier and time's important], I’m modifying the following powers as below.  Note:  These changes have been made based on play experience with this particular party, this particular group of players, their particular brand of ‘tactics’  and my, unashamedly, admitted hard ass encounter budgets.  These remove small bits of “That sucks.” from game play that I’ve witnessed first hand for this particular gestalt situation.  Any number of differing particulars might make these changes not appropriate for you and they’re not intended to influence your own game play or to insinuate that the WotC designers are idiots for the original wording of these powers.

• Biminey’s Static Shock – Range has been changed to 5/10 instead of 5.   This gives him a little more reach (out to 10) at the expense of a negative to hit (-2) at the longer range.  When using it at a range of 5 or less it’s the same spell. Power up.
• Biminey’s Healing Infusion – Modified it as such “You or ally in burst regains hit points equal to their surge plus Int Modifier(+5).” This switches it from surge + wisdom mod.  Since the artificer is an int based class, basing their healing on at best a tertiary stat seems off and as the only healer the party needs the boost. Especially with me at the encounter design side of things.
• Stak’s Ferret An Opening is modified to read as such – “Gain Combat advantage against one adjacent target until the end of your turn.”  The original required you to first have combat advantage which then carried over to your next turn even if your co-flanker moved away.  Since that rarely happens I did away with the requirement and it now gives you CA against one target for your current turn.  Same power output, easier to use.  Power up.
• Stak’s Leonine Surge – Removed the dick you clause “If you miss with both attacks you grant CA to all enemies until the start of your next turn.”  When you compare this power against Two-Fang Strike that clause makes the power come up short.  Leonine surge was “Two attacks.  If both hit, deal +2 damage and knock the target prone.”  Two Fang Strike is “Two attacks.  If both hit, deal +Wisdom damage.”   While knocking a target prone is fairly powerful (move action to stand, grants CA while down), it’s not worth the you grant CA to everyone on the battlefield for a full round by any stretch of my imagination.
• Torel’s Oath of Enmity power now reads “When you make a melee attack against your oath target, make two attack rolls and use either one.”  This is a changed from the original removing the requirement which said that your oath target also had to be the only target adjacent to you. Rationale: Less complex situation to use.  Power up.
• Torel’s Deflecting Thunder now reads “Until the end of your next turn the next melee or ranged attack against you instead targets an adjacent enemy to you.”  This removes the exclusion that you couldn’t deflect an attack back on the person attacking you.  Didn’t see any reason for the clause other than that makes it a Reflecting Thunder rather than Deflecting Thunder.  And frankly since Torel’s never gotten this power to work…  Power up.
• Dra’Kin’s Flames of Phlegothos – Added the following:  “Miss: Half Damage”.  It’s one of a limited number of daily powers that either doesn’t have the Reliable keyword or a half damage on miss or some other guaranteed effect.  These are typically because they deal higher than normal damage but with the second gen classes out this is showing its age hence the modification. Because it’s such a high damage spell, half damage is the smaller power boost over Reliable so I went that way with it. Frankly missing with a daily sucks ass  and suckage should be kept at a minimum.  Power Up
• Dra’Kin’s Eldritch Blast – Modified the range to a 10/20 from a 10.  Increased range at the expense of accuracy.  Although the ‘conlock’ has more hit points than anyone he has less defense than most and as a result I think a little more range helps the character.  And a caster based striker with no ranged attack over 10 seems silly. Power Up.

Elisssa didn’t have any powers that I felt were in need of tweaking, the Defender is a solid second generation class and the power’s she’s chosen so far are all right in line with what they should be.

Image Credits

[D'oh.  There is a similar kind of thing that you can find here by GreyScott.  Different from mine but the spirit is the same.  I like mine better but then I like my kids a lot more than other people's kids so that's not unexpected.]

Barring dungeon crawls I don’t really do trivial encounters, that long progression of ‘gimmie’ fights that a DM puts a party through to do a slow drain on their resources to soften them up for the BBEG encounter at the end of the work day.  I certainly run multiple fights in one work day but typically they’re not quantified as ‘trivial’.  Each one has a chance to result in death for someone other than the NPC’s.

Let’s face it, the vast majority of us have limited play time and expending that playtime in fights that are ‘gimmies’ seems wasteful.  Many of these single type encounters can be done using Narrative rather than combat.  But there are times that you do need to show the wear and tear on the group as they go through a long series of encounters but breaking out the mini’s for each one just eats horribly into the time you have to play.

Lately I’ve been using skill challenges to drain surges from the group to simulate small but pointless fights as they flee pursuit through the swamps or try to hide from the hobgoblin tribes while making their way home.   But those seem rather flat.

So I’m considering something more combat encounter based and let the party use their combat values against some defensive value, kind of an abstract combat.

The key question is how, I like the 3 rounds and you’re out system I use for skill challenges (duh or I wouldn’t use it right?) rather than the three strikes and you’re out that is the official system. And right now three rounds of combat are close to typical for the group at the level it’s at and seems like a good place to start.

So primarily how to abstract something as tactical as 4th Edition combat is the big question.  I need to work in a way for the players to gain some benefit from the various level of powers, at-wills, encounters and dailies with the understanding that a daily used during an abstract combat encounter is a daily they will not have during that work day.  And we need a simplistic way to simulate buffage.

So my thinking is on any of the three rounds the players can elect to use an At-Will (base), Encounter (bonus), Daily (bigger bonus).  They will take their Attack value for that power, added the bonus for encounter/daily, and then roll against an abstract defense of their opponents.  This isn’t so much to abstract their ability to hit as it is to abstract their ability to do damage.  Encounters and Dailies = more damage output.

Enough failures and they will be forced to expend a surge for each round.   So the most they can cost themselves is 3(4) surges per A.C.E. which isn’t out of line with a trivial encounter.

But we also need a way to more equitably spread out the surges lost.  As we all know barring really hard fights it’s typical for some (defenders) to go through an asston of surges while classes that can remain out of harms way might spend none.

So as a first draft let’s see how this flies -

Abstract Combat Encounter System or ACES

Purpose:

To simulate resource drain for a fight the party is expected to win without much risk but without having to take the time to move to a tactical simulation.

Procedure:

The party will negotiate 3 rounds of abstract combat.  In each round each member of the party will pick one of the following, At-Will, Encounter, or Daily.  They will roll a d20, compute their attack roll and compare it to the appropriate DC for the encounter using the AC/F/R/W values as set by the DM.

On any round that there failed rolls are equal to or less than successes the members of the party will lose one surge.

On any encounter that the party does not garner at least one success they will be penalized an additional surge.

Details:

Characters /Attacks -

During each of the ACES rounds each member of the party will choose one of their powers to use.  If the power is an attack power that targets a defense, the character must roll against the appropriate DC/Defense as set by the DM.

If the power also enhances another member of the party then the player may grant/add a +2 bonus to another character’s roll using the Aid Other rules.  If the power does not make an attack against an AC/F/R/W attack but it grants a benefit to another character then the player rolls against a DC+encounter level.  If they succeed then it counts as a success and grants a +2 bonus to the other character’s roll.  [NOTE: Yes this grants higher 'value' to non-strikers in general but what the hell let's give them a time to shine.]

If the power is not an At-Will the character receives the following bonuses where appropriate:

• Encounter +5 to attack roll / Additional +2 bonus Aid Other.
• Daily +10 to attack roll / Additional +4 bonus Aid Other.

Monsters / Defenses / DCs –

The DM will determine the defenses / DC’s of the encounter using the average AC, Fortitude, Reflex, Willpower of the encounter creatures.  You can also use the following values as an overall average across all monster types

• AC = 14+Encounter Level
• F/R/W = 12+Encounter Level

All encounters are assumed to be at the Easy level.  If you wish to simulate a normal or harder fight then add +2 per increase in difficulty that you wish to portray.

Experience / Loot-

The party will earn loot for the encounter just like they would have if it had been played out tactically.

They will earn full experience of the encounter divided by 3 multiplied by the number of rounds they succeeded at with a minimum of 33%, even failure teaches us something.  i.e. if they only succeeded on two rounds then they get 2*33% or 66%.

If they win two out of three rounds they’ll also typically earn some mundane items of value.  By winnign three out of three rounds they’ll also earn some items of higher value or items of a magical nature.

Sacrifice –

One per encounter a character can elect to sacrifice a surge and take one for another member.   More than one character can sacrifice for a member but each character can only sacrifice once per encounter.

Major Failure / Death-

If the group fails all three rounds then one player determined randomly is assigned a Death Strike which counts toward their three death strikes for the day and as such can only be removed after an extended rest.

Long Term Usage / Wave Attacks -

Sometimes you might want to simulate a lot of minor attacks, wave situations for instance where the party might have to face 5-10-20… etc trivial fights.

In this case you could instead of each encounter being three rounds, you just decide how many rounds per wave you want simulate.   Each round rather than once per encounter a player may sacrifice a surge for another player.

If a character runs out of surges they’re considered out of the combat and the remaining characters incur a cumulative -2 penalty per out of commission character on their die rolls to simulate them being forced to ‘take up the slack’.  If all characters are reduced to 0 surges the encounter is considered lost.

High Level Example: Goblin Warrens for Level 1 Party

Setup: The party has been tasked with cleaning out a goblin warren on one of the caravan trails.  The creatures have been causing issues with the caravans, stealing things at night from the strong ones, attack and pillaging smaller ones after driving off or killing the guards.

Attacks against the goblins have proven of little use with only a few killed.  But now the location of the warren where they’re holed up has been found and the party has been sent to insure that one way or another the raids stop.

It’s assumed that trying to deal diplomatically has failed and there’s no point in talking to anyone but the leader of the goblins and the outside chaff won’t talk.

So the DM figures it’ll take 3 minor encounters to get to the inner sanctum of the goblins.  He chooses to do this with ACES to leave time for the big boss fight whether that turns tactical or roleplay.

The first two encounters are truly easy so the DC’s for those are going to be AC: 15, F/R/W 13 as they’re level 1 encounters.  The third one will see the goblin boss throwing in some of his personal bodyguards so he’s going to crank that difficulty up one notch and that fight will be at DC’s of AC: 17, F/R/W 15.

The final boss battle will be played out normally.

Encounter 1 – Party of 5:

• Round 1 – 4 successes – Result: No loss
• Round 2 – 4 successes – Result: No loss
• Round 3 – Only two success – Result: 1 lost surge

Total: 1 surge lost.  The paladin elects to sacrifice a surge for the cleric and loses two and the cleric loses none.  Experience gained equals 66% of the total.

Encounter 2:

1. Round 1 – 3 successes – Result: No loss
2. Round 2 – 4 successes – Result: No loss
3. Round 3 – 5 successes – Result: No loss

Total: No additonal surges lost. Full experience gained.

Encounter 3:

1. Round 1 – 2 successes – Result: 1 lost surge
2. Round 2 – 2 successes – Result: 1 lost surge
3. Round 3 – 3 successes – Result : No Loss

Total: 2 additional lost surges per party member.  The fighter sacrifices for the wizard and loses three surges while the wizard only loses 1.  The paladin does the same for the cleric losing three surges and the cleric loses 1.   Only 33% of the encounter experience gained.

ACES results –

• Wizard – Down 2 surges
• Paladin – Down 5 surges
• Fighter – Down 4 surges
• Cleric – Down 1 surge
• Ranger – Down 3 surges

Comments? Thoughts?

Image Credits