The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

[wobner]

Good Read, Thank you once again for the updates. I've been needing a campaign journal fix and the others i follow have halted. It is appreciated.
I'm curious as to how realistic stopping janath in time really was. It doesn't sound like they got too bogged down in their mad dash, and yet just missed him. Was there really an oppertunity to interupt him or was it pretty much predetermined and this was just drama?

[curious-puzzle]

There was a chance, but a pretty slim one. There were also a few multiple minute breaks the party took in between fights (getting into the tower particularly). It was a RRREEAALLLLYYY short window to stop the apocalypse from going off. Janath probably still would have gotten desperate and consumed all of the Vitae he could claim from anyone who made a deal with him and transform, but there would have been more allies in the fight against him.

[Jeargroth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FClAikNoJ2I

Thank-you,

Just thank-you.

I know its not the end. But its "our" end.

Spoiler: Oh Janath

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz5Mx3a8kRw

I will miss you.

[curious-puzzle]

Anyone else have a PC (morally ambiguous or otherwise) that they want me to turn into a soul-devouring monstrosity? :P

[Mongobear]

Anyone else have a PC (morally ambiguous or otherwise) that they want me to turn into a soul-devouring monstrosity? :P

Oh...

Oh, my...

These poor, damned souls.


Does it have to be "legal" or follow any specific guidelines? I could throw an entire portfolio of old 3.X PCs i've made/played/turned into bad guy at you.

[curious-puzzle]

Session the 40th, and we were short a Talvosh player, who had been struck down by the dread Man-cold.

Spoiler: Aftermath

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There is a collective intake and exhausted exhale as Janath's body desiccates away to a withered corpse. The party is out of EVERYTHING that has a daily limit, spells and special abilities alike. Several glittering Vitae float above what was once Janath, but as with Jezelle before, there's something a bit different about them. There's a faint greenish tinge to them...

This time the party isn't taking any chances. After they decide who is claiming the Vitae, they physically pin down that party member one at a time. Their caution is warranted! As the Vitae is absorbed, each participant is filled with the near-overwhelming urge to murder their companions and take their most valuable-looking possession. It's THEIRS, they NEED IT HAVE TO HAVE IT - it takes a moment for the sensations to subside. They also gleefully strip the body of anything that looks even vaguely magical and shiny, as is necromongermurderhobo tradition.

Gazing out at the blasted city below, it's hard to feel triumphant at this victory. Of course there is the thought of what would have been left of the city if Janath hadn't been stopped, if anything...

Exhausted, the party staggers over to the Fire placed in front of the eerily realistic crystal statue. However, they can't seem to touch it, an invisible force blocking any attempt.. Before they resort to Spotter's pick of force-breaking, they search about the fire and the throne. After a bit, they notice a keyhole on the side of the throne, right near the bottom. After a few more minutes of puzzling over it, I allow a "You may have forgotten but your character remembered" Intelligence check to remind Angelena of the strange key that had been passed to her. by the robed priest. Inserting it with a CLUNK, the warm embrace of the Fire washes over the party as the force lock subsides. It's quickly agreed that the party needs to rest - they can't help anyone being as completely empty as they are. Slumping over by the fire, everyone quickly passes out (except for Puck and Spotter, who are caught up in repairs and keeping watch). Partway through the night, though, there is someone new at the Fire...

A hunched and wizened figure, wrapped in the yellow priestly robes that the party had seen at the temple of Coronis. Angelena recognizes the old priest/priestess as the one that had bumped into her and palmed her the key! The priest also has noticeable lumps on their back, bulging out at the shoulders. Oh, and when they look up, their eyes glow like yellow stars. A keen sense of intuition tells the party that there's something otherworldly about this old priest.

"You have my thanks, Pilgrims. You have done more than I dared dream, and you prevented an even greater atrocity." The "priest" seems particularly focused on Angelena, though they answer anyone who speaks up. After a bit of talking back and forth, someone finally asks what the hell the crystal statue is, and why Janath seemed so focused on it.

"That...is the emperor of the Solar empire, the King of Helios. Cursed by his hubris and frozen for an aeon, forced to await judgement." The priest turns their golden eyes to Angelena. "The choice is yours, High Priestess of the Sun. In your power lies the choice to release the King, or to leave him to his imprisonment."

So...she's got the choice of what to do with to do with a near-mythical mage-king who's been cursed and frozen for centuries (if not longer). No pressure!

There's a bit more RP and questions, and the priest evades the question of who or what he/she is by simply replying "I am lessened from what I once was." After some more vague answers (my trademark!), the otherworldly individual reiterates that it is Angelena's choice whether to show mercy or not. Then with the glare of a reflected sunbeam, they're gone. Slightly weirded out, the party passes out again to replenish themselves.

When morning comes, after a bit of debate it's decided that Angelena will free the emperor. The talk with the strange priest had revealed that (game-wise) she would need a Break Enchantment prepared in her highest level slot (which she has 8th level slots now!). She also decides to prepare a heal, since apparently the King had been aware this whole time. After praying, the party sets themselves up in a loose circle just in case, Angelena focuses her magic and reaches out to touch the crystalline Emperor. As the statue begins to glow, everyone squints as the light becomes brighter and brighter. There's an audible hum and shudder in the air, and right as the glow becomes blinding, Angelena reaches out with her Heal spell, she touches warm flesh.

The mage-King of Helios opens his eyes.

Spoiler: DM note

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This is where we had actually ended the previous session, and I had cut it off in the time-honored cliffhanger.

I also had other contingency plans, such as if they had been forced to retreat and Janath had succeeded in stealing the King's lifeforce, or if the statue had been broken.

Alas, no wrathful-towards-all-life Ghost King for now

Spoiler: Hail to the King

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The Emperor doesn't seem to be that unusual. He's wearing rich clothing, but no crown. A little short and on the slender side, he has similarly sharp and defined features as Angelena, though his eyes have a startling ring of gold around both the iris and pupil. The truly unusual thing is the fact the the party can physically feel the magic emanating off of him, the hair on their arms and back of their necks shivering (and for those wearing metal or made of it, a resonating hum tingling through them). The young-seeming man lets out a shaky sigh, then slowly walks past the party to stare out the massive window. After some weighty staring down at the destruction, he turns and smiles sadly at the party. His first words are in a truly archaic-sounding Draconic (ironically, Sona is more familiar with this more formal dialect since she was taught by dragons), but he quickly changes to Common after a bit of muttered magic.

"Thank you, Priestess."

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - SOLAR EMPEROR REVIVED

BONUS ACHIEVEMENT -AND YOU MADE SURE HE WASN'T MURDEROUSLY INSANE

The party handles themselves remarkably well, and offer to help gather and aid any survivors that can be found. The King (I'll continue alternating between king and emperor just because I feel contrary, nyeah) expresses how grateful and thankful to the party he his for keeping his kingdom alive,
and for slaying the one who had nearly snuffed them out. In fact, he declares that it is a debt that can never truly be repaid. He accepts their offer of help, stating that it will take several days to gather survivors before the journey begins.

Journey? Well, after a bit of quick plot-magic divination, it's revealed by the king that less than an eighth of those living on Helios survived the fiery apocalypse. Its people live, but the island of Helios has been dealt a death-blow that cannot be recovered from. The scars left by such magic and tragedy are not ones that normal mortals would be able to live by. The King announces that he needs to go down to his people, though, and the party can speak to him again at any time, either by finding him down in the city, or by calling for him loudly enough in the throne chamber. He also encourages the party to take anything useful they can find in the tower, and that while it does nothing against the debt he owes them, he will grant any boon within his power to the party.

EDIT (might have forgotten to write this part in): The King/emperor also gives a bit more info on the whole Pilgrim's journey shenanigans. Once the party has gathered all the Primal sparks from the Great Fires, and reached the Heart of the Worlds, they will have a choice. They will be able to kindle the fire, and stoke it back up to push the Labyrinth (and Darkness with a capital "D") back. Or...they can let it die, and allow the world to fall to darkness. The party is a little suspicious now, what with Janath and the Shadow (back in the temple of Revelation) claiming that allowing the Fires to persist was an exercise in futility. The players who have played Dark Souls (which is pretty much everyone) are really squinting at me now, too. I'm not suspiciously vague, whatever do you mean...

There are two other important pieces of info that the King knows (because despite being all impressive and ancient, he has been trapped in the same room for quite a long time). Every time the party uses powerful divination magic, the Beast (which is a monster related both to the Labyrinth, and even more alarmingly, to FATE) gets closer to tracking them down. So they should be cautious. The other bit is to be cautious of what they discuss under the sight of the Burning Moon...who knows what may be listening.

Ominous foreshadowing!

Angelena levels a stern glare upon the king, and archly requests that he not do anything to regret her decision. He smiles and chuckles softly,
agreeing and promising to keep that in mind. With a gesture, he opens a shining gate in the air, and a Solar angel steps through.

I've never been a fan of the "giant dude with coloured skin and fluffy wings," greatly preferring the more unusual images and ideas for angels, and I always REALLY liked Aslancross' description in his RHOD journal (which if you haven't read it, go do that now). So what steps through is a six-winged giant of living flame. Golden eyes cover the surface of the gleaming wings, and flowing smoke from the ever-shifting fire forms words of heavenly power and prophecy before fading away as the Solar steps through the Gate and booms out, "BE NOT AFRAID." After some unspoken discussion, both the king and the Solar disappear in a flash of light.

Well...guess they aren't going to be the only ones on rescue duty. After a bit more discussion, the party decides to check out the rooms of the tower on their way down, and then head down to the city to try and help anyone they can. The tower is in obviously bad shape, with noticeable cracks letting light seep through the once solid-walls. There's the occasional scrape of stone shifting, but no catastrophic collapse yet thankfully. Walking into the library, the party is greeted with puffs of ash with each step. Unfortunately, 60 points of unholy fire damage does bad things to a library of wood and paper. There are only the bare vestiges of shelves left amongst the piles of ash. Surprisingly, there is a corpse off in one corner,
and it's not even that crispy. Examining the body reveals a middle-aged man with an expression of utter terror and agony locked onto his face,
and his hands deathgripped (hee hee) on two items: a heavy black book, and an elaborate looking rod.

When Puck's usual shaking technique proves fruitless, he disarms the corpse (sorry, couldn't help myself). As the hands relax, Sona carefully plucks the book up while Puck grabs the rod. The book is sooty, but mostly intact. There is an ouroboros symbol engraved on the cover, but nothing other than that. Knowing that I am a colossal jerk and a gleeful fan of cursed tomes, Sona's player very carefully explains how quickly and carefully she cracks the book open for a peek. Nothing but a blank page. Next pages, same thing, as is the next. The entire book is blank. Puck examines the rod, which is made of polished brass and has an inset core of blue crystal, which is cracked and dull. The Forged can hear breaking and grinding noises as he turns the rod back and forth, but it doesn't do anything. With a shrug he hands it to Sona. As Sona's hands close around the rod, the resulting feedback nearly blows her off her feet! She makes her save to avoid damage though, and quickly wraps it in cloth before examining the rod more closely. It's a metamagic rod of Greater Maximize, but it's badly broken. With careful use, they'll be able to charge 3 spells with it before there's the danger of a catastrophic overload.

While Puck and Sona were checking that, Spotter and Angelena manage to find something solid in the ashes - a crystal globe. As a spellcaster touches it, it's revealed to be a crystal ball with See invisibility imbued into it. After some more searching, the party continues downwards.

There's unfortunately nothing to be found in the pleasure chambers, the kitchens and dining halls, or the guard chambers. If there was anything of value, the flames scoured them away. Walking through the gigantic (and collapsed) main doors, the party is surrounded by several thoroughly shattered piles of blood-soaked and stained statue, quite probably the guardians that Krennos had mentioned. Spotter also notices that the whole floating island is listing to one side slightly, and the previously ever-present roar of the waterfall is gone.

Walking through the once-luxurious gardens continues to hammer the depression home for the characters, as there is absolutely nothing left alive. Once they reach the edge of the floating palace, everyone links hands and warps down to the city below.

Spoiler: Disaster relief

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It is an absolute mess as expected, but there are already survivors gathering around the main temple, sheltered and protected by battered looking legionnaires as well as more angelic figures (Chain-gating and summoning for a good cause!) The party sets to work helping however they can (which is more background stuff, not going to make anyone roll to see how many survivors they can hear under a collapsed building). Angelena and Sona warp back to the grand docks, and find that their boat is intact. They also manage to find a squad of marines including the grim Captain who originally escorted the party to Helios! After some fast talking, they convince him to come back with them to Helios. In the meantime, Puck and Spotter escort the Emperor around, and stop a crazed Isolationist from trying to launch a spell at him. Finally, the party goes to talk to Coronis, the high priest at the temple that had been so helpful to them.

Only he's not there.

Angelena cuts right to the heart, though, and busts out a Discern location to learn Coronis is...back in the throne room? Suspecting shenanigans of some sort, the party uses the Fire to warp back to the Throne Room.

Coronis is indeed there, staring down at the city below much like the Emperor was earlier. They also notice that he two has bulges in his robe on the back of his shoulders, and there's a strange double vision effect between Coronis and the old wizened priest the party was speaking with earlier. He turns back to look at the party, and his eyes are the same miniature suns.
When the party asks exactly what he is, he simply replies, 'Lesser than what I once was." They ask why he isn't down helping the Emperor,
and Coronis laughs bitterly, replying that he doubts he would be a welcome sight. "Too much a reminder of what had been done." As the party chides Coronis for hiding, he finally snaps back, 'Have I not done ENOUGH?" His final word booms with the same power and fire as the Solar angel, but only briefly.

Angelena absolutely cranks her charisma roll, however, and manages to talk some sense into into what they're more than certain is a celestial being of some sort or another. After a bit more, Coronis sighs and laughs softly. Agreeing that the party is right, he steps away from the window.
Before he disappears though, Puck demands that he apologize to Angelena. With a final laugh, Coronis remarks that the Pilgrims truly are remarkable individuals, and vanishes.

After the party warps back down to continue helping, they find Coronis inside the temple, healing and comforting people. Conspicuously, there are no more angels around wherever Coronis is, and vice versa. There's a brief moment where Puck continues to demand Coronis apologize, but Sona and Angelena get him away from provoking what they're pretty sure is a fallen Solar.

In the evening, the party heads out to Priscus' estate, hoping to find signs of their companion. I have them roll, and a nat 19 means Priscus did indeed have the Willpower necessary to not become Hollow! They find a miserable looking Priscus plunked in front of a fire, and a singed but still dignified Gorgrun turning a spit over said fire. After a cheerful reunion, Priscus half-heartedly bemoans the fact that he is now Cursed, and asks the party if they have any other terrible events to throw at him.

"We brought your King and Emperor back."

"What."

"And he's gathering everyone together to travel to Logos, as this place will be a haunted ruin in no time."

"What."

Gorgrun simply nods precisely as the party speaks.

"WHAT." They manage to convince Priscus to stop hiding in his estate and go to the church. As he trundles off, Spotter briefly stops Gorgrun.
He looks...different. Much larger, more muscled. His hands and teeth seem larger, too, and sharper. And he swears he can see the hint of bracers of some sort around his wrist...

"Are you...happy serving Priscus, Gorgrun?"

"Oh yes, sir. It's a longstanding arrangement with his family, one that I am quite satisfied with." He smiles with those slightly sharper than they should be teeth, having daintily devoured the spitted meat rapidly. "But I thank you for your concern."

The party continues onto their last stop for the evening - the Demnius estate, where they suspect the traitorous Isolationists had gathered earlier. This estate seemed to have a lot more plant life and trees incorporated into its design, which unfortunately means it looks rather barren and destroyed. Despite the still solid front gates having an Arcane lock running, Puck and Spotter manage to smash their way through it. The glimpse of a figure flashes out of sight upstairs, and Pucks lurches after it! He collapses the stairs on his way, but nimbly spider-jumps onto the wall and continues. By the time the party catches up, Puck has caught the struggling young man and slammed him firmly against a wall. It's the heir of the Demnius family, Regulus' son - the one who had been at the Grand Assembly as a stand-in for his father.

The party is pretty skeptical and harsh with him, but Demissus convinces them of his ignorance in his father's (and the Isolationist's) schemes with Janath. All he knew is that Regulus had been in meetings and sessions with an unusual magus, and planning for a grand shift that would allow the Demnius family to claim far more influence over Helios. He didn't expect...Demissus chokes up at that point and gestures before throwing up and weeping. After more interrogation, Demissus gets an unnerving dead look in his eyes, particularly when asked about what he's going to do now. A quick heal check (I improvise this one) confirms to Angelena that the young man is in severe psychological distress and shock (durr). Not wanting him to attempt suicide the moment the party takes their eyes off of him, Angelena full on faith-heal grabs him, pressing a thumb against his forehead and slapping him with a Restoration. It's not official, but I rule that's enough to snap him out of doing anything at least super drastic.

In thanks, Demissus leads the party to what remains of his family vault (where he had panicked and teleported to when the daemons attacked), and hands over what remaining treasures he could find. I roll randomly for some powerful magic items, and the party scores a Lesser metamagic rod of Quicken, a cube of Force, and a scroll of Summon Monster VII and another high level spell I've already forgotten.

As it's getting dark, the party drags Demissus along and heads back to the Church to rest. Before going to sleep, Sona talks with the rest of the party about what she's learned about Tephras, the dragon who apparently caused the beginning of the end for the Solar Empire. More importantly, who's an ancient being who has a very good chance of knowing what the F is going on with this place. All the party has to do is somehow reach a ruined and partially sunken island in the middle of the ocean that is probably horribly haunted by the thousands killed in its catastrophic destruction.

This seems like a good plan to the party.

*shrug*

In the morning the party decides to ask the Emperor to teleport the party to the sunken island of Midpoint for their boon. He confirms that there is a Fire still there, and after a bunch more RPing and talking, promises to aid the party again when they meet once more in Logos. With a Wish, the party blinks away.

They reappear on a narrow little pillar of jagged volcanic rock (I played both of them together), barely enough room on its flat sections for everyone to stand about the feebly flickering Fire. All around them are roaring waves, crashing against gleaming black rocks jutting out of the water in chunks. The water steams and bubbles violently in patches and flows. To the north is what looks like part of a mountain rising out of the water, quite possibly the top of a volcano.

And we leave it there!

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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Still 38, non combat night

[PrismCat21]

Non combat session is no excuse.
More PC deaths are required.

I have an old favorite PC I'd be interested in seeing turned into a soul-devouring monstrosity :P

[Picanet]

Apocalypse Dragon! What could possibly go wrong? Not going to lie, kind of banked on the 'what could possibly be worse than what we've just witnessed' to elbow party members into meeting Tephras.

To be fair though, between cryptic warnings not to use divination magic if we can help it, and avoid making plans in the light of the burning moon, AND WHETHER WE SAVE THIS WORLD OR LET IT FALL TO DARKNESS is a choice we will likely have to make? Not to mention that the word 'sacrifice' has been used in conjunction with saving 'the flame' and I FINALLY beat a dark souls game? I have a suspicion how this ends.

If we're making those decisions, we need more info than some blessed pilgrim prophecies of great hardship and noble sacrifice. Eff that.

(Also, damn puzzle showing me up and double lapping me on journal entries. I hereby remark upon my shame.)

[curious-puzzle]

Picanet has reminded me that the bit of discussion with the Mage-King was kind of important, so entry has been edited and added to accordingly.

[red_kangaroo]

A fallen solar? Eh, I place my bets on a certain someone of Strength and Sunlight.

[Fizban]

I am once again caught up. Do we get any more information on fallen solar priest guy? The only thing I can think of is that maybe he's responsible for icing the mage king on the god's orders and thus eventually dooming the place, since I doubt he'd be claiming responsibility for letting Janath in or something. Or he could just be the god period.

[curious-puzzle]

A fallen solar? Eh, I place my bets on a certain someone of Strength and Sunlight.

Maybe a little bit of inspiration from him. He's not wearing the Sunlight set, but he is a friendly solar-themed ally certainly.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe he's responsible for icing the mage king on the god's orders and thus eventually dooming the place

Got it on the first one - he was the angel who delivered the god's (Adremmelach's) punishment upon the Mage-king, and then relinquished his divine duties out of guilt/sorrow/doubt/combination of those.

And I didn't forget about the soul-devouring monstrosity offer! Came up with a better idea instead;

Invaders!

So if you have one or two (please don't completely inundate me with these ) character ideas you'd like to see as an invader set against our heroes, PM me with the build/rough sketches. Anything from 12th-18th level is great. I make no promises, but I will try and toss them in!

I also make no promises on how well I play them, or how the dice treat them.

[Picanet]

Oh sh*t bring 'em on! Them and their sweet loot!

[Mongobear]

And I didn't forget about the soul-devouring monstrosity offer! Came up with a better idea instead;

Invaders!

So if you have one or two (please don't completely inundate me with these ) character ideas you'd like to see as an invader set against our heroes, PM me with the build/rough sketches. Anything from 12th-18th level is great. I make no promises, but I will try and toss them in!

I also make no promises on how well I play them, or how the dice treat them.

Damn... the one I was really hoping to show off needs 18 levels just to be what he is, before class levels/template acquired from the campaign he was played in.

Any chance you feel especially evil and want to throw them against an ECL 25 or so former PC of mine? He didnt actually have any feats or gear from the Epic Level handbook, I just managed to shennanigans my way to a higher ECL.

[curious-puzzle]

Maybe a tad overkill for an invasion ;p

[Brion]

Finally all caught up after a hiatus. I am going to miss Janath.

[curious-puzzle]

No game this week, partially due to conflicting plans, partially due to me being not as prepared as I'd like and taking advantage of the opportunity to take more time to get ready!

[curious-puzzle]

Despite some last minute complications, we gamed yesterday! I shall have the writeup done in the next few days...and plot-wise, things are starting to accelerate.

[curious-puzzle]

Session the 41st! Down an Angelena player, but she left her spell list so buffs could be applied.

Spoiler: Which way?

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So everyone is balanced rather precariously on the little spit of rock jutting out of decidedly unhappy waters. There’s a bit of debate on where to start, but Angelena wins the first of her “MVP but not actually present” points when they slap Find the Path onto Spotter. Choosing “Tephras’ lair” as the target, the glowing objective arrow appears in the Forged’s HUD. As it points directly at the giant volcano to the north, they decide to use some more of their cleric buffs before heading out (Angelena stays at the fire). Water breathing for Sona and Talvosh, and then (Spoilers) the #1 lifesaver of the whole night: Extended Mass Resist Energy (fire). With spells applied, the party heads off and leaves Angelena to her ocean meditations.

Using Talvosh’s spool of endless rope (every time they use this item, I remind them how lame they thought it was originally with increasingly smug comments), they tie off to each other, and the Forged submerge. Spotter and Puck drop down...and down...dragging Talvosh and Sona with them. It’s a couple hundred feet before they touch bottom, through uncomfortably warm and very murky water. With the glowing arrow pointing due north in Spotter’s mind, they trudge off carefully across the uneven rock floor. Everything smells of smoke and sulphur (it’s a weird sensation smelling underwater thanks to water breathing), and there is absolutely no life to be seen. No fish, no plants, nothing. Eventually the party comes across a fissure, with a wall of boiling bubbles streaming up from it. Spotter tries to force his way through, but fails the strength check and is pushed back. Puck bears down and surges through the wall of boiling water, with Sona clinging to his back! I wasn’t sure if I hadn’t emphasized the boiling part, or if they just felt confident in their magical protections. I roll a little above average and they take 8 points of scalding damage through their fire resistance, and Puck makes his frenzy save to not mangle Sona.

Talvosh wanders back and forth a little, and just walks around the fissure :D . Spotter follows him, and then they keep going. After a bit, they can see several humanoid silhouettes at the edge of their vision…

Creeping closer, they see what seem to be crude statues of 5 people, arms outstretched to protect against something behind them.

“Think Pompeii?” The party asks.

“Think Pompeii.” I confirm.

Spotter is up front, and walks right up to the statue, and promptly gets jumped by the 4 dire wraiths hiding in/around/under the statues. 3 touch him, but he makes two out of three saves and only takes 2 con drain. The rest of the party jumps in, and there’s several whiffs and passed Fort saves (yay underwater combat :P) before Sona taps Talvosh’s axe with Celestial Brilliance. The wraiths freak out and dive beneath the ground, not wanting anything to do with holy “brighter than sunlight” light. The party continues to the north, surroundings lit brightly now. They’re walking on a noticeable incline, and after a while eventually emerge onto the giant volcano. Find the Path says up the slope, so up they go.

Spoiler: Something something Frying pan

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The slope is steep, but still walk/crawlable, so the party scrabbles their way up-and up-and up. It’s quite the hike up (except for Puck the all terrain untiring spider-bot), and as they approach the lip of the Caldera, they can hear some strange noises. Spotter sneaks up the rest of the way, and peeks carefully over the edge. What he sees is that this volcano is BIG. Below him seems to be an outcropping of rock, with some lumpy “structures”, more like hovels, and then a chaotic profusion of tangled bridges, ropes, cables, and platforms stretching across hundreds of feet to another rock outcropping on the other side of the volcano. Further down the volcano he can see a bright glow, but details are obscured by heat shimmers and yellowish gas. There seems to be a massive metal shaft or pole stretching the full length of the volcano, but it’s roughly in the middle and Spotter doesn’t look too closely at it.

What does catch his eye is the hooded and robed figures on the bridges, a few of them seemingly arguing with one another. The speech more sounds like the hissing and crackling of a fire, though, and their movements under their ratty cloaks seems...strange. He shuffles back (Sona was carefully studying their surroundings for a Teleport spot while this was going on), and after some discussion, Puck and Talvosh fly over to the bridge while Sona and Spotter take up overwatch positions at the lip of the volcano. The two fliers are noticed quickly and pointed at as the figures hiss and jabber at each other. There’s no immediate violence, so Talvosh and Puck land on the bridges near the robed creatures. I say creatures, because as the bridges sway and creak alarmingly, Puck and Talvosh can see horrible and twisted deformities, along with serpentine/reptilian traits warping these “people.” One has a massive tail instead of legs, another’s face has a jaw and teeth obviously meant for a snout stretching his skin to the point of breaking, scales are bulging out of another’s skin…All in all a cheerful looking bunch!

After the pair’s attempts to speak are met with weird hissing and popping (Ignan), Talvosh flies back to grab Sona while Puck begins a pantomime face off. He points at himself, at the bridge, at the lead creature, and then makes a brushing off gesture. The creature takes offense, puffing its chest out and gesturing that in fact, no, Puck needs to move first. They’re still going at it when Talvosh and Sona float back. Some translation magic later, Sona catches some snatches of “the Maker” down below, and “trials” to see him.

“Is Tephras the Maker?” Whoops, apparently that’s a taboo word. They all shriek with indignation and the leader rears back and up. Spotter hears yelling and sees what considers aggression, so he fills the hapless creature full of arrows. Fight time!

I used Noble Salamander stats for these dragon-Blighted madmen, so they’re not specifically threatening. The most dangerous aspect is when they start hurling fireballs (flavoured as explosive napalm phlegm) around the haphazard bridges, burning and snapping whole sections. Sona frantically dives and ends up hanging by her fingernails from one section of bridge, only to hear hissing and shouting waay from the other side of the volcano. Another three Blighted start hurling fireballs at the bridges and people on said bridges, and down Sona goes. Good news: She’s still in mid-air on her next turn, so she can cast a spell to not go splat. Bad news, that means the fall will splatter her all over the bottom of the volcano if she doesn’t pull the spell off. She manages to vorp herself up onto the first shelf of rock, behind the three Blighted who had long-range bombed her. As they turn about, Spotter machine-gun arrows them down. The bridge salamanders get chopped, slammed and bull-rushed to an ignominious demise, but not before one manages to Dispel Talvosh’s buffs, most importantly his fire resistance.

I’m sure that’s not important…*cough*. Talvosh immediately feels the heat, and takes some damage from the ambient temperature. There’s only one blighted mutant remaining, and he prostrates himself before Sona, wailing for mercy. The bridges between the rock shelves aren’t really crossable, but a Dim-door just barely gets Sona, Spotter, and their hostage across to the second outcropping to meet up with Puck and Talvosh again. However there’s no time for questions, as a hideous shriek echoes through the air. The hostage starts gibbering about “the Terror, the Terror,” and tries to scramble away. It seems another inhabitant of the volcano has taken notice of the party. Heavy wingbeats whoosh and flap closer, and then a THING surges into view.

Massive bat-like wings frame a tangling mass of frighteningly thick coils and scales, the 10 serpentine lengths terminating each in a grim skull-like face. Each mouth is full of jagged fangs dripping with unwholesome fluid. The Half-dragon Ten-headed Shrieking Terror howls in fury and hunger, and it’s fight time again!

Spoiler: Something something Fire

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The fight starts off with everyone saving versus the Terror’s Shriek, and E-v-e-r-y-o-n-e failing :D.

Everyone except Puck, being immune to those sort of shenanigans. He promptly goes into Overdrive (Frenzy+Rage), Max-Power attack Heedless charges, and crits. That’s half the Terror’s health right there D:

The Terror responds with 10 Power-attacking (my version had power attack) bites, landing eight of ten bites (rolled 2 nat-1s). Puck is horribly shredded, and down to alarmingly low health (and anyone else would have failed one of those eight poison saves and been infected and unable to heal). So he max-power attack Crits again, chopping the Terror in twain.

*Sigh* Enough miniboss and/or boss monsters have fallen to the dreaded Puck Double-crit that it is officially a Thing.

Once everyone else is no longer paralyzed in terror (I may have whined about how cool/gruesome the Terror’s Kiss ability was), they hunker down and let Puck’s vigor do some work while they regroup. Spotter’s Find the Path HUD still says down, so he does some snooping. There’s a tunnel into the outcropping of the rock, which curves down and around, terminating in a decidedly terminal-looking drop down to the bottom of the volcano. There’s a lot of lava, along with that strange metal shaft, which disappears into the lava. There’s also a set of gigantic chains jutting out of said shaft, one sitting in the lava, one sitting on the bare rock next to it. There’s also some unhealthy looking gas above said lava. With some more flying around and some awkward descriptions at first, the party figures out that the large metal shaft is meant to lift something up by pulling on the chains below.

Sona scrounges up a scroll of Protection from Energy for Talvosh, so he shouldn’t immediately combust. Using the Spool of Endless Rope (Smugness intensifies), they descend to the bottom of the volcano.

It is lethally hot, Talvosh’s protections ticking from just the air temperature. As the party creeps closer to the massive chain (which is what Spotter’s HUD points to), a voice hisses out across the lava. A humanoid made out of flame stands on the lava, challenging the party as to their purpose and intent. When they explain their intent to complete the “Trial” the blighted mentioned, the fiery creature scoffs and gestures to the chain. Sona makes her knowledge check and identifies the thing as a Holocaust Disciple, an exceptionally malevolent elemental who loves to burn and destroy. Suspiciously, Puck takes hold of the gigantic chain and gives a mighty heave. Passing the (high) strength check, the air fills with the clanking and whirring of gears spinning against one another. Puck keeps pulling, and the pool of lava ripples, disturbed by something. All of a sudden, the chain jerks taut and nearly tugs Puck right into the lava. He barely resists and keeps pulling. When this happens again, Spotter (who is hiding behind a chunk of rock) notices that the Holocaust Disciple is gesturing subtly to something whenever the chain stops. He springs up with bow pulled taut and threatens the elemental. It crackles with sadistic glee, and we’re into initiative!

The Holocaust Disciple (MMIV) opens up with a Meteor Swarm, whacking people for some rock damage, but that energy resistance keeps everyone looking healthy. Talvosh loses an alarming amount of his energy protection right there though, as everyone is in each other’s blast radius. Two Fire elementals, a Cinder Swarm (MM3), and an Ember guard (MMIV) surge out of the lava, and it’s chaos.

Spoiler: DM note

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I was reaaalllly hoping someone would hop into the lava to grab the second chain, trusting in their resistance and/or polymorphing into something fire immune, and then get jumped by everything and pummeled

Angelena solidifies her place as MVP of the night despite not being present - Without that fire resistance 30, the amount of damage being hurled around would have quickly overwhelmed the party. The Ember guard’s Slow effect from his fire breath locks down Talvosh and Puck for much of the fight, Spotter takes pot shots at the Holocaust disciple (who is quite upset his flame bolts only do scratch damage), while Sona blows up the Cinder swarm, uses Neutralize Poison from a scroll, and turns into a Gold Dragon. Only mirror image keeps her from getting grabbed and drowned in the lava by the second Ember guard hiding in the lava.

The fight lasts a while, with everyone except Talvosh taking bits and pieces of damage. Fire breath, burning from elemental slams, fire bolts, walls of fire, and heat charbroil our favourite orc. He avoids getting lobbed into the lava, as does Puck, but there’s a lot of punishment thrown back and forth. Sona hits the second ember guard with a Disintegrate , and I roll a two and he’s dust. I roll a lot of 1s and 2s, in fact, and the party manages to snuff out all of their fiery foes. By that point, though, Talvosh is the negative hundreds of hit points, and crumbles into ash Looney-Toons style. Sona has enough time left on her polymorph to fly back and get Talvosh (who receives one more Energy resistance), and then the group continues yanking on the chain. Without meddlesome Ember Guards holding on under the lava, it’s much easier.

What emerges from the lava is a gargantuan block of faintly glowing metal, carved in the shape of a winged dragon. The block is 20 ft across on each side, and must weigh an asinine amount. Seeing as the shaft stretches the length of the volcano, the party figures that it is the mother of all door knockers. Up, up, and up it goes. Finally it locks at the top with an audible CLANG. The chain is taut, feeling like something would happen with one more tug. Puck does just that, and down the block screams.

Spoiler: Encounter

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The impact is monumental, lava flung every direction and the whole volcano quaking as the block crashes down. There’s a deafening crack, and the whole pool of lava quickly disappears as the stone below is sundered. The party peers over the edge, seeing a much larger chamber below that glows with heat and fire.

Then there’s another Rumble. The party scrambles back from the edge as there’s the crash of stone crumbling. Then again, and again. Rhythmic crunches getting closer as something climbs up towards the party.

A gigantic claw lifts out of the pit and slams down on one side of the party, then a second on the other. The shield-sized scales are a gleaming ruddy gold, but occasionally streaked through or covered with shiny black rock. Then hundreds of feet of neck and body heave upwards as Tephras emerges. He coils around one side of the pit, almost filling the entirety of this chamber. White-hot eyes glare down at the Pilgrims, and there’s a puff of acrid smoke as rock and stone crumbles away from the dragon’s maw.

“So,” rumbles the ridiculously colossal dragon, “what has managed to disturb me?”

Spoiler: DM note

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I was kind of thinking someone was going to take a swing at the apocalyptic dragon, and were going to be summarily squashed like a bug, but the swelling music and size descriptions were a suitable warning

The dragon’s first words were wall-shakingly loud, but go down to just slightly painful after that. Sona busts out all the draconic formalities and titles, laying it on thick before reminding Tephras of his previously stated willingness to answer questions. Eventually the bored wyrm tells her to get on with it, something about the Pilgrims piquing his interest long enough to humor questions.

Sona’s first question is the one that’s been plaguing her ever since the beginning, somehow even more than anything about the Curse;

What happened to the dragons of this world? What was this great Crime she’s heard whispers of?

Tephras snorts in a bit of surprise.

“Where have you been told sorcery springs from?” When Sona replies that all the sorcerers she has spoken to claim that sorcery is descended from Adremmelach, god of magic, the wyrm dryly asks where she thinks the god got it from.

“Your god ripped the sorcery from our blood and souls, from our very progenitor, and gifted it to you mortals, you humans instead. Such an act shattered our minds and spirits permanently, and wrenched rulership of the world away from dragons.” Sona’s proxied indignation is dampened a little bit by Tephras bitterly musing that without the advantage of sorcery, humanity (along with all the mortal races) would have been consumed utterly and wiped out by the dragons.

The questions move on to the big topic: What the hell is all this about stoking the fire at the Hearth of the World, or letting it fall to Darkness? Out of game the players were pretty certain it wasn’t a pleasant choice, and Tephras confirms it for them in game.

Flame requires fuel.

If the Pilgrims are to stoke the Fire and preserve this world, they will have to offer themselves up to burn. When asked if this will allow them to return home, there is a sarcastic puff of smoke from the dragon’s snout and a smile with sword-sized teeth. Consensus is no.

The other option doesn’t sound much better though. If the Fire goes out completely, the Curse consumes everything. The only thing waiting in the dark is oblivion.

Next up is the other big conspiracy, the question of the Seventh God, and what exactly the Burning Moon is. At this the dragon actually laughs (which is an uncomfortable experience right there).

“Clever little insects. You are on the cusp of truly dangerous knowledge...are you strong enough to endure it?” And Dragonfear slams the party into paralyzed terror - except once again Puck, who stands around casually. A glint of something more than bored amusement sparks to life in Tephras’ eyes, and the grip of dragonfear fades.

“The Seventh Goddess is she who is responsible for the Curse, and she who opened the Labyrinth. She who is imprisoned within the Moon.

Zophiel, the three-faced Goddess of Fate."

The party has a pretty good stiff upper lip at the revelation that they’re up against the divine. There’s some back and forth about exactly what the Labyrinth is, and what the hell the Curse is doing, which Tephras humors.

“Do you think this is the first time these events have occurred?”

Spoiler: DM note

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I am guilty of using Tephras to ask sarcastic questions as big plot-bombs, aren’t I? Little cheesy, but appropriate for the moment hopefully

With that second verbal punch thrown, Tephras continues. The work of gods is not easily undone, not even by another god. But every time the fire is stoked, the fabric of the worlds frays and weakens (Tephras demonstrating by ripping a hole in reality and closing it). The Curse gnaws away at everything. And if the fire is not stoked, and goes out? The fabric tears entirely. How the Labyrinth ties in? It’s still a little vague and ominous (my specialty), but it seems that the Labyrinth are the broken and shattered pieces of planes that have been destroyed by the Curse, and all the negative emotions and events congealing together into an abyss of madness and death.

With their only two choices being heroic self-sacrifice, or allowing omnicide through negligence, the Pilgrims do what heroes/PCs are supposed to do.

Look for a third option, preferably involving murdering whomever set up the first two choices!

“So we have to kill a goddess.”

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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39...mmm Orc-b-q.

Alas, the Shrieking Terror was sooo close to a TPK :D

[PrismCat21]

It would have been funny if someone made an illusion of a second Shrieking Terror right after the first one died. :D

What kind of weapon is Puck using again? The Dreaded Puck Double-Crit should become an official signature move for the party. Complete with music.

[Brion]

Can Puck mail me his dice?

[curious-puzzle]

Hey, I'll mail you all their dice - the monsters might live a little longer

[curious-puzzle]

Session # 42! We cut back to our protagonists having just discovered the being responsible for a whole bunch of the misery and general shenanigans in this world:

Spoiler: Fate

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Zophiel, the imprisoned goddess of fate. Presumably the fact that the moon is on FIRE has something to do with her prison. There aren’t too many questions on that, the players either absorbing the fact that they’re playing a rigged game against a god, or just not wanting to push their luck too much with the bemused giganto-dragon.

But not pushing their luck is for characters not named Puck. The spider-bot is shuffling back and forth, carefully trying to peer down the chasm into what is presumably Tephras’ lair with a greedy little gleam in his optic receptors. Tephras notices, and dryly remarks that there’s no treasure left, it’s all gone. Being the cheeky thing that he is, Puck asks if there’s anything they can have. With an amused snort, Tephras plucks a single scale from his side and drops it into Puck’s outstretched arms. Puck gains a roughly shield-shaped dragon scale that emanates a +1 luck bonus to saves to all allies within 10 ft! Any further attempts to ask for stuff is stifled by the other characters, however. With a little more talking, it turns out that there is a still-intact library somewhere within the submerged ruins of this island. A library that predates the Curse...the party asks if they would be permitted to search for said library, and Tephras kindly agrees. The final major piece of information gleaned comes when the question of how to slay a god comes up.

“Search to the north, where another god was slain.” Eulethron lies to the north as well...

Then it’s Tephras’ turn to ask questions of the players, specifically if anything “interesting” has occurred recently. And here’s where Sona’s background does not benefit her. Being raised among dragons and trained in sorcery by dragons means she has a pretty positive viewpoint of them. There’s also the fact that this gigantic reasonable-sounding dragon has gold scales. He must be good, right?

Spoiler: DM NOTE

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No. No. He is not. The only member capable of Detect evil not being present probably wasn’t that bad of a thing in retrospect.

So when Sona quite merrily describes how the party freed and awakened the Mage-King of Helios, she doesn’t seem to notice how one claw gouges deep grooves into the rock, or how the temperature creeps even higher. The rest of the party is a little concerned, but after a tense moment, Tephras simply rumbles, “Interesting.”

Then Sona keeps going about how the other member of their party is a priestess of a sun god, and how she was the one to free him. Those claw-grooves get a little deeper, and there is more than a safe amount of interest in the dragon’s glowing eyes. By this point the rest of the party has convinced Sona to ix-nay on the alking-tay, and an awkward silence falls.

“Tell me about this...priestess of yours.”

“You don’t worry about her. She’s none of your concern.” The gigantic head tilts to observe Puck, heat visibly rippling off the pair of molten eyes. Slowly Tephras reaches out and scoops Puck up with a single claw, lifting him to mouth level to stare more closely. With a slight squeeze and a surprisingly deft claw-tip, the dragon opens Puck’s chest panel to gaze upon his crystal heart.

“Hmm. Would you look at that...they made you to feel love. How cruel.”

Seemingly satisfied with the bitter observation, Tephras sets the so-still-he-could-be-a-statue Puck back down on the ground. The mountain of dragon shifts as Tephras shifts and begins to descend back into his lair.

“I look forward to seeing if you accomplish anything of meaning, Strugglers. Oh, and you may wish to step back.” A blast of white-hot FIRE (too large and hot to not be capitalized) visibly heats and deforms the rock and stone surrounding the hole enough that a massive claw stretches and drags the nearly-molten stone back across the hole, sealing it up again.

“I still think we could have fought him.”

“Shut up, Talvosh.”

Spoiler: Strings

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The party wisely decides against trying to brute-force/teleport their way into Tephras’ lair to ask more questions/possibly fight/shenanigans of some sort. Sona has one 5th lvl slot remaining, so a teleport reunites the party back at the miserable spit of rock topped by a Fire. There’s some debate about what the next step is (with only a little bit of “Game over man” joking). Searching for this hidden library comes up as option one, but that gets pushed aside as the party looks over the updated group loot list and realize that they have a LOT of unused magical gear and treasure that could be put to better use. It’s agreed that some downtime in Logos is a good idea.

Warping back to the Central Fire of Logos, the church is in notably better condition than the last time the party was here. There are also a lot of tanned individuals wearing light robes and sandals - apparently the grand exodus from Helios was successful.

**AVAILABLE GOODS AND MAGIC IN LOGOS INCREASED, ALONG WITH GENERAL QUALITY OF LIFE AND DEFENSE**

The next bit takes a good chunk of time in real life, but is really short in writing. I announce that any treasure or goods is worth straight across value rather than half, so everyone has more than enough treasure/money to get some serious gear upgrades. Which is exactly what everyone does!

Spoiler: DM note

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I went with this route because it had been a while since the last treasure dump, plus who knows when the next time they have safe harbor and downtime will be…*ominous finger steepling*

Notable treasures include Talvosh cranking his strength and constitution (shock), Angelena getting some metamagic rods, Sona improving her pacts, Puck getting a Battlevisor, and Spotter getting the whole Cadillac treatment - improving his bow, armor plating, getting a wand chamber installed in his bow, and a rod slot into his arm.

Puck also scours the entirety of the city searching for some way of purchasing Daern’s instant fortress. The player is mildly obsessed with this item, and even goes to the point of finding the Mage-King and asking if he had such an item. There’s a slightly uncomfortable moment when the Mage-King (who’s name is Rahn, when Puck finally asks him) gets a little demanding about the whereabouts and condition of Tephras. Remembering the “history” between them, Puck refuses to give too many details, such as where to teleport. Grudgingly, the King allows him to leave without incident.

So with Spotter spending pretty much his entire time in the Forges, and the rest of the gang wandering about the market, church, and various shops, it’s agreed that they spend at least a week or two in downtime. It’s on day 4 or 5 that I start making them roll

I’d also been very particular asking about where people where going, and when. It’s a little bit of a “gotcha” move, but Angelena rolls the lowest the first, and no-one explicitly said they were staying together.

Angelena fails a will save, and finds herself walking down an isolated alleyway by herself. As the fog in her head fades, she is forced to make another save as a disintegrate beam darts out from an unseen assailant! Angelena is smashed back and forth by brutal blows that stun her with every strike. She doesn’t have a chance to try and flee, or fight back before she’s knocked to critically low health. The last thing she remembers is a cold finger pressing against her forehead, and a harsh voice whispering,

“Play the role you were destined for.” Then a flash of green as she dies. A moment later she reappears at the Central fire, a chill running down her spine. Angelena immediately starts to head towards where she saw Puck last, but turns and heads towards the market as she makes a really high Listen check to hear a hollow explosion and screaming.

Said explosion turns out to be Talvosh and Sona getting ambushed. Several Fireballs, and then invisible assailants landing on the edge of Sona’s perception quickly leads to her demise as the same brutally powerful blows smash her broken body to the ground. Talvosh lasts a bit longer and actually deals some damage after pinpointing the square where one of the creatures is, even with just his gauntlets (absurd improved power attack). However, another cold finger presses to his forehead.

“Your destiny is already set. Do not try to stray from it.” And another Disintegrate. Except Talvosh uses Mad-Foam Rager to delay and punches that invisible creature out of spite before crumbling to dust.

Sona and Talvosh coalesce next to Angelena as she nearly makes it to the marketplace, guards and sorcerer squads rushing towards the chaos. They head to where the marketplace attack occurred to look for clues, only for Puck to catch up a few minutes later, practically drifting around corners. They quickly realize that Spotter is most likely the next target. Before they leave, Angelena persists Invisibility Purge. Puck is the only one who makes his spot check though, and notices a hooded and robed figure staring down at them from a nearby rooftop. He can’t see any facial features, but he can see one hand flexing up and down, with silvery threads stretching from the fingers. The Forged and the mysterious figure notice each other. Initiative!

Puck wins and crits on a max-power attack Heedless charge. I bounce my head off the nearest surface and cry a little on the inside. Slain in one blow, the hooded figure reels back in a cloud of...that’s not blood. Spiders! The figure breaks apart into a swarm of silvery spiders which in turn quickly burn away in little puffs of argent light.

A lot like moonlight...Sona emphatically makes a rude gesture skyward, and then the party rushes off to the Forges (Sona using a teleport, no messing around).

At said forges, Spotter is drifting back and forth in memories while several assistants and Anvil work on further enchanting his armor and body. Suddenly he hears a distinct Ping from above. Much like a retaining bolt breaking loose from the large crucible of liquid steel hanging up above. Another sharp Ping and said wrecking ball of burning death crashes downwards!

Spotter and Anvil make their saves and partially get out of the way, while the poor assistants are melted on the spot. As Spotter gets back to his feet, an unseen force smashes into the crucible and sends it careening away with deafening clangs! A hateful voice assaults and scrapes against Spotter’s ears (audio input sections?) in Infernal.

“Time to burn, Kindling.”

We had to cut it short there, so Cliffhanger!

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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42
Some decidedly unfair and brutal tactics, but that’s exactly the theme I’m try to convey. The party has learned some reaaaallllyyy dangerous knowledge. There are consequences for that

[PrismCat21]

Woohoo!!
Kill/session ratio back at 1:1 :D

Was there any other 'must have' item the party wanted, besides the instant fortress?

[curious-puzzle]

Everybody had things they were searching for (since most of the party had around 40K or so to burn), but that was certainly the most unusual item. Most other stuff was all focused on "How do I kill things more efficiently," or "how do I prevent myself from dying so much."

Philistines.

[Jonagel]

I didn't check this thread for months :(

But that means I got to binge read it the last two days! :)

Amazing stuff, as always (from the DM and PCs). I need to re-read a few things to brush up on the story, but that just means more reading.

Think you could
1) PM anything you have on Vitae? I saw someone ask and I'd be fascinated to see how the system works in detail! (Honestly this should be a published campaign, if try it out in a heart beat)
2) try harder to kill the PCs? Find the way to trigger frenzy before combats begin maybe? :D

Keep it up!

[Tyrant_2d]

Yeahhhhhh Spotter is not really in the best shape for the upcoming fight, being partly disassembled for upgrades (mechanically speaking everything is not upgraded, but otherwise still functional) and his bow is on a bench out of reach, also being upgraded.
On the plus side he survived the Alpha strike 😎

This is the player to Spotter BTW. Finally got a profile for the forum!

[curious-puzzle]

Thank you very much, Jonegel! I'll send a Pm as well, but figured I might as well post an updated Vitae/ Bonfires primer.

Spoiler: Vitae, the currency of the soul

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-Vitae:The essence of your character’s identity, quite possibly their soul. The Curse consumes Vitae, eventually reducing its victims to empty, Hollow shells.
-Choose an attribute that you feel is a defining one for your character (Intelligence for a wizard, Strength or Constitution for a barbarian as an example, you should probably pick your highest one). Your Vitae total is equal to half this attribute, rounded down. All characters begin with a Vitae score equal to their total

-When you die, 1 minute later (combat delays this - should be one minute of peace) you are reborn at the last Bonfire you attuned yourself to (or next to the Torchbearer you have attuned yourself to after they have rested for a minute) with full hit points and all of your gear, but daily abilities/spells/powers are NOT refreshed. Some creatures might be able to interfere with this, causing you to lose equipment or not be reborn with full hit points

-You lose one Vitae point when you are reborn

-As you lose Vitae, your body and mind begin to degrade and break down. You look more and more like a walking (burnt) corpse, and you lose your memory and identity. Eventually, everything that made you, you, is burnt away. This is a subjective level, but I'm aiming around half your vitae score is when it goes from superficial to serious mechanical penalties (such as losing the ability to benefit from morale bonuses and a scaling penalty to social skills). All Int/Wis/Cha skills should take increasing penalties as well (spellcasters might be able to avoid this, but I leave that up to individual GMs)

-When you reach 0 Vitae, you are nearly Hollow. You gain the undead subtype, but none of your other statistics change. If you die while in this state, your character has gone completely Hollow, and is gone forever, now a mindless soulless killing machine under the GM’s control.

-You can regain Vitae through defeating powerful monsters, other Cursed individuals, or sometimes find it in a rare crystallized form

-There may be side effects to having too much Vitae…As your score goes above your original total, your emotions and passions run hotter. Any solution that does not involve immediate gratification or violence is distasteful, and as the score creeps higher, the character must make saves to not give in to bloodlust. If you ever reach twice your starting Vitae stat, you are corrupted and twisted into a daemonic monstrosity, a warped reflection of what you once were. Your character becomes a monster under the GM's control (and will most likely do its utmost best to murder former allies).

-Known abilities of Vitae:
Spend one to regain all of your hp (standard action)
-Sacrifice one to a Bonfire to kindle it, increasing its healing ability
-"Supercharge" magic, allowing vitae to serve as extra levels for the purposes of metamagic (part of casting), or to cause additional effects from the spell
-Spend a Vitae as an immediate action to reroll a saving throw, taking the better of both rolls
-Spend a Vitae to return to the Bonfire which you were attuned to (or the Torchbearer you are attuned to). This takes a minute of uninterrupted concentration
-Other abilities of Vitae still remain unexplored (i.e. more things learnt from experimentation/other abilities people find cool if they're using this idea)

Spoiler: Bonfires

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Repositories of Vitae, these flames heal and soothe the Cursed in their struggles. As a full round action, a Cursed individual can attune themselves to a Bonfire. If they die, they will be reborn at this location. A Torchbearer attunement overrides a Bonfire attunement: For example, the Torchbearer is attuned to Bonfire A. A hero is attuned to Bonfire B, but completes the ritual with the Torchbearer. If the hero dies, they will be reborn by the Torchbearer's side, not the Bonfire.

Speaking of that, the Torchbearer! By collecting a drop of blood and a piece of hair/skin from other Cursed (WILLINGLY - can't shanghai people), a person can act as a mobile Bonfire of sorts. Instead of being reborn at a Bonfire, the members of the group will instead be reborn by the Torchbearer's side. This ritual takes 10 minutes, and is completed by casting the collected blood and hair/skin into a Bonfire, and reducing your Vitae score by one. You cannot regain this point while you are still the Torchbearer.

Sleeping within 30 feet of a Bonfire is incredibly restful for a Cursed, they heal double the amount of hit points for resting 8 hours (so character level + CON mod)x2. You do not have to be attuned to a Bonfire to benefit from this. This is just the benefit of a basic Bonfire, they can be kindled to greater power by offering Vitae. If a Bonfire is kindled with 1 Vitae, it then fully heals Cursed who rest at it. Further kindling should begin to do things such as heal more ability damage, cure disease, neutralize poison, and perhaps even break curses.

The almost hypnotic flames also hinder violent action about them. The Bonfires radiate a 30ft Sanctuary effect, with a heightened save. It depends on how inviolate you want the Bonfires to be, but always at least DC 20 (I would think higher), and the possibility of Cursed receiving a penalty against this save. How harshly you want to enforce this depends on how much you mind the risk of spawn-camping.

As for the second request, I'll try. Despite the heckling from my players, 3 in one night is pretty good ;P

[Jonagel]

Many thanks!!

[curious-puzzle]

Session the 43rd! This one may seem a little shorter word-wise, but it was in reality a 3.5 hour slobberknocker! And I only realize as I begin to type this that I’m going to type Fate and Destiny a lot.

Spoiler: The cold machinations of Fate

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Spoiler: DM notes

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So this hit squad started as a group of three beasties, three being an important number.

The Facilitator:A Protean Scourge Arcanist (MM3), half of which Puck squished earlier

The Handmaid: An Olethros Psychopomp (Pathfinder bestiary 6, I know I know)

The Executor: A Horned Devil (Core monster manual)

And since these creatures were acting as agents of a hidden deity of Fate, they get some frankly unfair abilities:

The Shrouding Skein: Constant Greater Invisibility. Also, those with insufficient will (i.e. grand majority of NPCs) will find it near impossible to recall these individuals even if they somehow see them

The Aegis of Destiny: Fitting with its grandiose title, this forces all attacks against the recipient to roll twice and use the lower roll (so disadvantage on attacks against the agents)

In addition, each agent had their own ability, just because I’m a terrible creature.

The Facilitator had Walk the Skein - Greater Teleport at Will (self only), as well as their Split and Reform abilities were sped up drastically, not that it came up (SPOILERS).

The Handmaid had Punish the Defiant - The Handmaid’s killer must immediately save vs a heightened Bestow Curse.

Finally, the Executor had Inevitable Fate - a recharging Fortunate Fate as well as DR 10/Chaotic on top of its normal DR.

All of these abilities could be dispelled for the encounter, and in fact in the case of Inevitable Fate, were very important to do so. So with unfair evil-goddess powers lined up, here we go.

Oh, and I also swapped the Executor’s summon ability from Barbed Devils to Bone Devils. While a lower CR, they were far more important for this fight.

We start off right where the last session cliff-hangered, the rest of the party bursting into the Forge workshop to back up their companion Spotter. The Forge is in chaos, fire blazing from the pool of molten steel, smoke spewing about, and the workers frantically scrambling to get away from the unseen creature destroying things. Puck makes it up next to Spotter, and with his shiny new Battlevisor, can see what had smashed the Crucible and was standing there all menacing-like.

It looks mostly like a Horned Devil, a nasty foe that the party had faced before. However, there’s some differences. The Executor has patches that seem to be made from silver. With a closer look, those silver parts are made of incredibly fine silver thread. It looks solid until the limb flexes or moves, revealing an unnerving emptiness in those sections. As well, the Executor has arachnid hints, the wings looking more like exoskeleton and webbing rather than skin and bone, and multifaceted eyes. All in all, cheerful looking. With that, it’s TIME TO RUMBLE!

So apparently all my complaining and whining about how hot the player’s dice are upset my black&red GM dice, and they started off the encounter in spectacular fashion; the Handmaid and Facilitator going 1st and 2nd while the Executor was rumbling up for 4th place in initiative. The Handmaid is far enough away to be out of Angelena’s Invisibility Purge, and has terrain blocking line of sight to Puck, so she lines up and shoots Sona twice and Angelena once, critting on Angelena and once on Sona. That means of my first 7 rolls for this fight, I rolled 3 20s.

Squeaky GM gets the crits.

The Handmaid’s bow does a lot of damage, especially on crits, so the resident spellcasters are understandably alarmed as they are both nearly half-killed on the first turn. They’re also creeped out by me marking down ticks next to character names, and describing how the arrows fade away into silken threads after landing; threads that cling and move like they’re attached to something. The Facilitator follows this up by running along the side of the Forge (spider climb) and zapping Talvosh with an enervation for 3 negative levels. The Facilitator is definitely in range of the Invisibility Purge now, and is an ominous robed+hooded figure standing sideways in defiance of gravity, eerie marionette strings trailing away from fingers.

Angelena goes into full damage control mode, using armbands and rods to slap Death Ward onto her/Sona/Talvosh, and a maximized mass cure crit so the two of them don’t die. Then the Executor glares as it notices Puck can actually see him, waving a claw and managing to summon 4 Bone Devils. Said Bone devils mess everything up, throwing up ice walls and teleporting about to make the battleground faarrrr more complicated. The workshop is tall enough that flying above the walls is possible, but that requires...well, you know, Flight. Spotter retrieves his bow from the nearby workbench (fluff description has him just barely snatching it away from the grasping claws of a Bone Devil) and falls back towards the rest of the party to try and prevent everyone from being cut off with ice walls. One of those walls has blocked Puck’s path to the Executor, so instead he rockets at the Facilitator, chopping deep into its side and activating a brutal surge to smash it into the wall, rendering it very dead (he had managed to activate his vest as he rushed into the workshop). Sona anklet-hops next to Angelena to avoid being walled off by herself, while Talvosh turns his flying boots on and prepares for a charge.

The Handmaid takes potshots at Puck (as he’s the only one flying about in sight) and fills him full of arrows , while the Bone devils dart about and cause more problems with ice walls, and also hitting both Talvosh and Angelena with Dimensional Anchors. Alarmingly a second Horned Devil appears with a roar! Spotter quickly determines that it’s just an illusion with a single arrow, and uses the rest of his on a Bone Devil.

Puck shoots back towards the Executor and trades blows, getting the worse of the exchange due to the Executor being extremely resilient (high AC, high DR, regeneration, and the Aegis of Destiny essentially negating the chance for a crit). He’s at extremely low health when Sona busts out her new shiny Robe of Mysterious Conjuration to call up a bunch of Clockwork Mender Swarms, which zip over to Puck and use their sacrifice swarm ability to heal up a big chunk. This ends up being used multiple times in the fight to keep Puck from being reduced to a pile of scrap.

Angelena and Talvosh are shut down by Bone Devils teleporting all around them and surprise attacking them. When Talvosh lands a hit, they splatter, and Angelena’s spells have much of the same effect, but the battlefield keeps getting blocked and divided with ice walls. That plus the dimensional anchoring means the usual tactics of transposition and dimension stepping are nowhere near as effective. It’s almost as if the enemy is aware of the party’s preferred tactics *Insert smug chortle*

As Puck is patched up by the mender swarms sacrificing their bodies to repair his, the Handmaid darts forward with her super speedy flight speed, silken threads trailing and fluttering behind her. Puck can see now that his archer is a robed figure wearing a metallic mask shaped like the face of an old woman. It almost hurts to look at, though, the features twisted and just wrong to look at directly. Said Handmaid reaches out and taps Puck, and I call for a Fort save with a penalty equal to each time he was shot with an arrow. Luckily for him he rolls really high, and he is not frozen outside of time permanently in Temporal Stasis. His retaliation is to chop downwards and use a brutal surge (since they’re fighting in the air) to send the Handmaid cratering into the ground.

The battle swings back and forth, Spotter shooting anything he can see as Bone Devils pop back and forth, Angelena and Sona fighting back as they try to avoid being herded into separate ice corridors. Talvosh manages to join Puck in attacking the Handmaid, and they chop a good chunk of her health away before she withdraws and zips out of sight (and invisibility purge range).
I land another crit on Angelena, and there is much despair...except it’s a Bone Devil claw attack...so a mighty crit of 2d4+4. However, the Executor teleporting behind Angelena is a much better cause for despair. Spotter and Sona manage to finish off the remaining Bone Devils except for one, and start trying to break through the ice wall separating Angelena from them. Talvosh zips back to fight the Executor, while Puck uses the last charge of his Vest of Flying to shoot after the Handmaid.

Puck is fast enough that the Handmaid barely had enough time for a full attack on Spotter before he was bearing down on her. Seeing as actually landing a blow was a serious problem for both Puck and Talvosh against these foes, he takes the direct approach and dungeon-crashes her into the wall. He needs to beat her check by 20 to make the distance! The Handmaid is many things, but physically strong is not one of them. The wall cracks and craters, and one more attack after that finally finishes the Handmaid. As she dies, she reaches out and annoints her murderer with a smear of blood, calling down a terrible curse!

Which Puck is immune to. So good luck there :P.

Talvosh lands some heavy blows, and Angelena lashes out with a Sound Lance, blowing a massive hole in the Executor’s chest. There’s cheering and celebration!

Except the Executor stands back up as Fortunate Fate triggers, his wounds regenerating and healing almost fully right before their eyes.

“The Plans of our Lady are not so easily deterred.”

Angelena gets dropped into negatives from a flurry of chain blows, and Talvosh takes a renewed beating from the hulking behemoth. The final Bone Devil, barely holding onto consciousness from a Cometfall, sees his moment to shine and repeatedly stabs the unconscious Angelena, finishing her off with glee.

Puck manages to fly back close enough to call out a warning about the magic surrounding the Executor, and Spotter bashes open the ice wall. He’s at such low health however that walking through the supercooled fog will probably kill him, so he takes some pot shots at the Executor instead. Sona peers around the corner and throws out a Greater Dispel and manages to succeed against the Executor’s Inevitable Fate blessing, shattering the Fortunate Fate spell.

Spoiler: DM NOTE

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I forgot that there should have been a round where the Executor should have disappeared again, seeing as how Angelena had the Invisibility Purge on herself. My goof, so I just rule that it was dispelled as well

The party piles in their final attacks, and with a roar, the Executor falls. Talvosh immediately falls into a pile of beaten and mangled flesh, far beyond the chance of saving even if Angelena was still alive.

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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And Talvosh is looking quite crispy and unhealthy, down to 3 Vitae