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  1. - Top - End - #151
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lake Jackson, TX

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Harass, harass, harass!
    The beatings will continue until morale improves!

    Vaz approval for the best backstory. Villainous Competition 16: Burn Baby Burn
    http://www.giantitp.com/forums/shows...&postcount=114

    Honorable Mention Villainous Competition 22: I Am The Night
    http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...e-Night!/page6 Xihu Ayame

    Click my Vulpix to feed it yummy berries!

  2. - Top - End - #152
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lake Jackson, TX

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    So... I just read The Romanov Incident. That was bloody brilliant. :D
    I matched up which character belongs to which player, and kept it in my head as i was reading. It was a lot of fun imagining them as their current character and how they interact with each other. :-P
    Keep up the amazing work y'all!
    The beatings will continue until morale improves!

    Vaz approval for the best backstory. Villainous Competition 16: Burn Baby Burn
    http://www.giantitp.com/forums/shows...&postcount=114

    Honorable Mention Villainous Competition 22: I Am The Night
    http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...e-Night!/page6 Xihu Ayame

    Click my Vulpix to feed it yummy berries!

  3. - Top - End - #153
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Quote Originally Posted by PrismCat21 View Post
    Harass, harass, harass!


    Glad you enjoyed reading the Romanov Incident
    Last edited by curious-puzzle; 2016-05-16 at 10:32 PM.
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  4. - Top - End - #154
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Not dead, vacation was good, and just had a couple spurts of fun inspiration for future monsters- hehehehehe...

    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  5. - Top - End - #155
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    DwarfClericGuy

    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Detroit, MI

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    One thing I love about this journal is that you guys/gals play on about the same schedule as my group does (we're every other Sunday), so I get a good RPG fill for a couple of days!

  6. - Top - End - #156
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    NinjaGirl

    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Wild North Yonder

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    So long as Puzzle isn't too distracted and posts in good time lol. Looking forward to the game this weekend :D

    Got some SHOPPING to do *girly glee sounds*

  7. - Top - End - #157
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    Sofia, Bulgaria
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    Male

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Looking forward to the next update. This journal is way too much fun.

  8. - Top - End - #158
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Session 20, and I'm apparently enamoured with the sound of my own voice, because it was another exposition-heavy night. No Talvosh player today, so he's playing the quiet game

    Spoiler: Leaving the council
    Show
    As the party heads back towards their quarters from the Central Tower, they notice something strange. What they clearly remember as an alley is now a storefront...one with a sign that ignites in Faerie fire as they slow down and stare.

    Grabislov's Emporium - Open

    The party members who rush into the pitch-black entrance (and have to save vs the Wall of Smoke that's being used as a curtain) find a store littered with various bizarre items and knick-necks, and the same short hooded figure sitting behind a colossal counter.

    "Welcome to the grand emporium of Grabislov the - hey, you look familiar!" It is indeed the same merchant that they encountered in the Canyons, creeping floating hands and all. Only Talvosh and Spotter decide to do some shopping here (this technically had happened at the end of the previous session, but I decided to lump it in with this one), the rest of the group deciding to wait and check out what's available in Logos. Grabislov makes his offer of paying for Talvosh's blood, and this time without spell casters around to warn him of the dangers of such a thing, he agrees. After losing a third of his constitution to blood loss, he decides to buy (Something decided next time I hang out with Talvosh's player). Spotter decides to take the same deal, and he buys a Pick of Piercing (which is super cool, by the way). He then asks if Grabislov has any greatbows.

    "I have in fact the greatest of bows!" Somehow the short hooded merchant and floating disembodied hands pull up a bone bow up from behind the counter that's about 12 feet tall, with a string the thickness of a man's arm. Grabislov is disappointed that Spotter seems uninterested. Instead, Spotter trades his current bow for a jet-black lacquered bow that is eerily silent to both draw and fire. There is no creak of wood, no hum from the bowstring at all (mechanically it's a +1 hunting composite longbow).

    I’m sure there aren’t any dangers in freely offering your blood up to a mysterious magical merchant…

    …*cough*

    The rest of the party waits until the next day, and after selling/trading all the various treasure they’ve been hoarding, go on a shopping spree. I don’t stress too much about the exact items each shop may or may not have - with how few places of safety I’ve offered, and this being the remains of a city renowned for magical innovation for centuries, I just go with “under X amount, you can find it, between X and Y, you can get it commissioned.” Angelena gets some metamagic rods and a periapt of wisdom, Sammael picks up another piece of the vestments of divinity, Sona gets a better cloak of charisma, and Puck gets his legs chopped off.

    Wait, what?

    Puck in fact commissions an arachnid chassis and longstrider sigil from the Forged smiths, Hammer and Anvil. He also begins a bit of training from Bulwark to reflect his first level in Psychic Warrior. The party generally revels in not being on the road, using the downtime to relax and recover. This downtime is also an opportunity for any meetings the party wants to make with any of the Council members or other NPCs.


    Spoiler: A letter
    Show
    Sammael receives a letter from Councilman Tarr in regards to the issues in the northern part of the city. Apparently the investigators have sent back an all-clear via messenger pigeons. There’s something strange about the letter though; it’s awfully verbose for such a simple message, and some of the letters are different sizes. The deathpriest makes his check to decode the message, revealing that the councilman wishes a discreet meeting.

    One evening Sammael does just that, slipping away to an outdoor tavern. It seems that Tarr is suspicious of the all clear report. For one, why the investigators didn’t come back themselves if everything was fine. Second, the report was just detailed enough to not warrant further questions, but didn’t really explain anything. Tarr asks the party to make their way up to that region quietly, sometime in the next several weeks before they attempt the portal to Revelation. That way, there’s no big obvious fuss from Tarr demanding another scouting party. His offer of payment in diamonds still stands, so Sammael provisionally agrees for the party.



    Spoiler: What’s in the box?
    Show
    I roll randomly, and one evening later in the downtime, Puck receives a gift. It’s an elegant wooden box, covered in thin scrollwork, and there’s a card attached to the box, simply labelled, “Compliments of Madchen Brunhilde.”

    Inside is a set of wicked looking shortswords, and two index fingers. The blades look to be a match to the ones the creepy twins from the Mummers used...and the index fingers are both right-hand index fingers.

    Brunhilde did say they wouldn’t have to worry about them. An intelligence check from the group clicks the party into the fact that for the fingers to have not crumbled to ash, they would have to still be alive…


    Spoiler: The Library of Logos
    Show
    While Sona was shopping, she asked on the “passes” the council had mentioned the party would need, and received a somewhat...unusual answer. Apparently they won’t be ready for a bit - the library is upset. Expressing understandable confusion, Ember (who seems to have been designated as their assistant and aide) escorts her to the Library entrance (which ended up being near where she bought most arcane items anyways). Descending into the lower sections of the Central Tower, Sona enters what seems to be a bunker. The open doors are several feet thick, and seem to be solid steel (or something denser). Inside there is a circular room with barricades set up next to bookshelves, “librarians” who look more like long-suffering wartime veterans, and another oversized metal door with a pair of ballistae pointing at it.

    That is the entrance to the grand Library of Logos, and an extremely twitchy looking individual wanders over and elaborates with jerky hand movements and the occasional piercing stare at the library door. Apparently the Library was managed and maintained by a controlling intelligence, a grand construct that sorted, retrieved, catalogued, and moved books and information for everyone. It was known as the Custodian, and to the surprise of no-one playing in my game, the centuries of catastrophes, damage, and cursed Hollows drove the Custodian mad. Or broke it, no-one is entirely sure. The construct began to occasionally kill, maim, dissect, or vanish people attempting to use the library, and it just got worse over the years. Eventually withdrawing any information from the library became essentially dungeon-delving, which might be why the librarians look so tightly wound.

    And the Custodian also changed its name, choosing to go by Pathos.

    The twitchy librarian recommends Sona come back in a few days, and to bring her friends “as backup.”

    Later in the week Sona does just that, convincing everyone (minus the missing Talvosh) to come along. Misery loves company!

    The Doors open to reveal a moderately sized room, consisting of multiple large tables and chairs, empty shelves, and a small podium with a metal sphere hanging at mouth height. As the party enters, a smooth male voice emanates from everywhere in the room.

    “Hm, 2 warforged, 3 humans - one with a celestial infusion and one with curiously seeming draconic heritage. Interesting. I am Pathos. What is it you are searching for?”

    The party is very polite and very careful with their words, and manage to not set off the ssslliiiigghhtly unstable Pathos. They manage to wring out quite a bit of info, which is below in mostly point form.
    Spoiler: Info!
    Show

    -The Curse has been ongoing for at least several hundred years, or more than 500
    -Logos is either 200 or 600 or 1000 years old
    -Dates seem to be an issue, with most answers seemingly having multiple options. Time apparently is more fluid than it should be
    -Puck’s “heart” is in fact from Logos, though the rest of him is not. His animating crystal is #76, while Spotter’s is #144 *Note-Spotter and Bulwark had mentioned that at full strength there were always 343 Forged*
    -The party is not cleared to request information regarding the connection between Maria of Logos and the Traveller, and if they are unaware of what is required for clearance, they don’t have clearance for that either
    -Maria of Logos disappeared at least one hundred years ago
    -Maria of Logos is in illegal possession of 13 479 tomes that are far overdue to be returned to the Library. The party offers to try and retrieve some of these tomes in exchange for more sensitive information, and receive a giant pile of book titles and a “maybe”
    -The Curse seemed to reduce in intensity several hundred years ago also, right around the time records noted strange individuals from distant worlds and places appearing with the Curse
    -There are seven gods; Adremmelach, Uthra, Rhamiel, Valeos, Thelesis, and Anael
    -Eulethron is one of the largest civilized cities remaining. It is ruled by a council of nobles, and was famous for its Healing Church. Especially interesting in that the worship of Uthra (the goddess of healing and death) was nearly nonexistent there
    -Helios is what remains of the Solar Empire, which once dominated most of the known world. Inhabitants of this island have always been known to have a greater than normal concentration of sorcerous talent. Sorcery in fact was and is required to acquire titles and political power.
    -The Gravefields are exactly that: a gigantic graveyard spanning over 100 miles.
    -The Stone Prison is the domain of a group of Medusae, who will petrify and watch over individuals for payment. Several kings of shattered kingdoms are suspected to be long-term guests. Petrification was also a possible solution (for those with the means) for the Curse.
    -The Dragon lands also have a pretty on-point name. What information Pathos has is mainly a high concentration of dragons, a lack of large cities and settlements, and a large concentration of stable portals to Lethe.


    This leads to Angelena and Sona requesting to read several books. Sona on the different Planes surrounding Artaith, Angelena on Helios and the Solar Empire. A few minutes later one of the walls fades away, and several books float in and come to a stop on the table.

    Spoiler: The Planes
    Show

    The Prime, otherwise known as the Material plane
    The Summerlands, domain of the Fey
    Hyperborea, home of the Gods
    The Shadow
    Sheol, the Gates of Death
    Lethe
    The Astral Sea


    Spoiler: Book on Helios/the Solar Empire
    Show

    The book is extremely aged, in fact nearly ripping when it’s handled (dex save is made though). It turns out to be a book on some terrible catastrophe that befell the Solar Empire before the Curse, called the Castigation. There is a passage speaking of a six-winged angel appearing before the Emperor, and its words booming from every altar of Adremmelach:
    “My Father looks down upon you, and finds you wanting. You have become indolent and fat, content to rest upon the glory of conquests past. You insult his blood, that through which magic flows through you. You have brought this destruction upon yourself, and you must make amends if you are to receive the blessing of Adremmelach! Go forth, defeat those who would oppose you. Reach new heights of magic, of power. Prove yourself worthy of the blood of magic, or you will be emptied of it!”

    The Emperor apparently suffered some terrible punishment after this. Another legible portion of the book is dated “the 15th year of dark skies.” The writer is speculating that with the combination of the Solar Empire losing most of their armies to the destruction of Midpoint (the party can’t find more information on that name), the Castigation and loss of the Emperor, and the natural disasters plaguing the world, that the Solar Empire would never rise to its former position of power.

    The rest of the book is too damaged to read, but with no mention of the Curse, the party assumes it is prior to that.


    Pathos suddenly speaks again, sounding slightly agitated. Those books weren’t the ones that were meant to be sent, they’re too old and restricted. An invisible force snatches the books away to safety, but the party manages to calm Pathos down again to ask some more questions.

    -Questioning the discrepancy in how many gods there are just has Pathos insisting that he never said 7, there have always been 6.
    -The party (surprise) do not have clearance for why dragons hate sorcerers. They do get the creepy mumble of “They have to pay for their Sins. All of them.” Nothing more after that though
    -The only information on what caused the Solar Empire’s downfall other than the Castigation is a single name: Tephras

    Sona asks about any books by Vaughn of Esmerra, and everyone decides to leave when Pathos starts bellowing about “That talentless hack!” Everyone escapes, and the door slams shut. Asking the librarians (who all wince when they hear that name), they explain that the adventuring scholar wrote something that enraged Pathos to the point that so much as mentioning his name is a BAD IDEA.


    The party leaves the library with a disappointing lack of deadly neurotoxin being released.

    Spoiler: Ambassador Noctis
    Show
    The other big NPC that the party interacts with is Ambassador Noctis, as Angelena is intrigued by the similarities between Pelor and Adremmelach. After some fruitless searches, it turns out that there are no churches of Adremmelach in Logos, nor have there ever been. Noctis is the only one that Ember knows of, and he has a personal shrine in his own garden. Angelena manages to find an actual wine merchant, and buys a solid bribe; a 300 gold Helios wine recovered from a sunken ship. Sona goes along as well, as does Spotter, and they manage to smoothtalk the man enough that he agrees to take them to the shrine.

    Noctis emphasizes how much of an arrogant noble he is with every word and gesture, but he also actually apologizes to Angelena and Spotter after an off-hand comment about “ungifted chattel.” After all, it’s not their fault that they were born without sorcery. Strangely enough, he doesn’t become fast friends with any of the party :P. Sona and Angelena keep Noctis interested enough to keep talking though, and they find out that the strange crystals found Wwwwaaaayyyy back in the Sunken Village are control crystals for an Elemental sailing vessel, which is probably near where they found the crystals. The ship will not function for anyone without them. Noctis also offers payment or magical service in exchange for information or relics related to the Solar Empire, but the group doesn’t have anything for him right then.


    There’s a bit more back and forth and roleplaying (including when Puck shows up with his new Robo-spider legs and scares the bejeezus out of everyone), but we end the session with the party planning to head north next game. Sona and Angelena hit level 12!

    Spoiler: DEATH COUNT
    Show
    Still 17, two sessions without combat *shocked face*
    Last edited by curious-puzzle; 2016-06-07 at 11:17 AM.
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  9. - Top - End - #159
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    DwarfClericGuy

    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Detroit, MI

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Everything is better with robo-spider legs!

  10. - Top - End - #160
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Quote Originally Posted by Brion View Post
    Everything is better with robo-spider legs!
    Undeniable truth!
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  11. - Top - End - #161
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    The 21st session, and continuing the trend of lots of talking-

    Nope, violence time! All the characters are geared up/out of money/don't want to talk to NPCs anymore, so they set out towards the Northern Fire of Logos to investigate the strange going-ons reported by Councilman Tarr.

    Spoiler: Go north
    Show
    Puck and Spotter are waiting around for their fleshly compatriots outside the apartments, when Ember notices their obvious travel-readiness. Curious, he asks Spotter where the group is off to.

    "To the Northern Fire, and Rambleshack." (Spotter had recalled the name of the community around that Fire)

    "I...see." Ember is a little confused. "Why are you going there, if you don't mind me asking?" Sona has made it out by now, and tries to play it all low-key. She manages to get out, "Sightseeing" right before Spotter blurts out the truth.

    "To investigate."

    Ember is more confused now. They're sightseeing as part of an investigation? For whom? Before Sona can stop him, Spotter continues on his rampage of truth.

    "We're not supposed to say who, it's a secret."

    Poor Ember does not know what to do. The group settles him down somewhat by assuring him that it's nothing serious, and that they will in fact return shortly to seek Revelation. With that, the party sets out to the northern bridge of the Inner City, and onwards from there! They don't make much of an effort to sneak, but it's pretty smooth going since they've become somewhat famous in the Inner City already. They talk briefly with the gate guards on the bridge about reports coming from the North. Apparently there's been a lot of Ash Wraiths spotted lurking about, and the last wagon mentioned something about a large predatory...something lurking between the Inner City and Rambleshack.

    The first day of travel goes without incident, other than it starting to rain in the evening. One immediately noticeable thing is that this region of Logos is much more destroyed and damaged. Buildings are partially (or fully) collapsed more often than not, and there is much more wood, weathered and worn structures or repairs. Partway through the second day of travel, the group comes across an obstacle of several large buildings that have fully collapsed and created quite the mini-mountain of rubble. Luckily, there's a tunnel through the rubble...a pitch black tunnel. Perfectly safe. Everyone travels through in a group, and everyone has around the same Vitae level, so the DreadAsh wraiths attack random targets. Sona's Blindsense lets her act in the surprise round, but she rolls slower than the four creepy silhouettes seemingly made of ash. Talvosh makes his save, but Angelena fails and takes some con drain as supernatural ash steals her warmth away. Sona wins the lottery and gets two wraiths - she makes one save, but fails the second and I roll max damage (8 con drain!) for that one. In retaliation Sona busts out a Wings of Flurry, but none of the fell beasties are dazed. In response to her demonstrating her ability to reliably harm them, another wraith floats over and all three reach for her delicious life-force. One is blocked with Wings of Cover, but the other two connect and that's all she wrote for Sona.

    The rest of the party's incorporeal miss chance tilts mostly in their favour, and good rolls plus a large chunk of damage from a destroy undead burst kills 3 of the 4 wraiths with only Angelena taking more con drain. I get her down to 1 hp before she manages a Restoration on herself, and the remaining Ash wraith disappears into the wall. Everyone has an action readied to attack, so when Sona's wraith rises up from her body the following occurs:
    1) Puck chops it
    2) Spotter shoots it
    3)Sammael kicks it

    And the wraith is instantly blasted to -30 or so. The final dread wraith brushes Sammael, but he makes his save and it gets chopped down. Sona is reborn with only part of her Constitution restored, and there's a bit of dismay until they figure out which magic is strong enough to deal with ability drain. Our heroes move on from the tunnel swiftly, and find shelter for the night. The rain hasn't stopped, and has instead started coming down harder.

    The next day of travel is wet, miserable, and slow due to the inability to travel in a straight line because of the crumbling buildings. Sammael and Spotter make their Survival checks like kings, however, so there are no truly dangerous detours. It’s getting dark by the time the party comes across a decent-sized house, fully intact and door hanging slightly ajar. Puck is about to step onto the porch when Talvosh manages to make his spot check and grab Puck’s attention - those porch railings seem awfully jagged...and teethlike...and moving. The house stands up, and up, and up, on titanic legs - terrifyingly long arms burst out of the sides, and a ravenous maw splits the former house. The Gigantean Mimic finishes its cutscene intro, and it’s Initiative time!


    Spoiler: Mega-Gazebo!
    Show
    Sammael charges the colossal mimic, and thwacks its ankle. Puck skitters around to its backside in preparation for an attack. Sona lobs a Sound lance for a bit of damage, and Spotter fires off some arrows.

    Then the mimic goes, snatching Sammael and Puck up into the air and biting at Talvosh. They flail in the creature’s grasp to little effect, and I cackle with sadistic glee as the other party members fire futilely at the monstrosity. Except Talvosh ruins my glee by landing a crit for over 150(!!) points of damage. Change of plans time! The mimic rears back, and hurls poor Sammael like a javelin at the grouping of Sona, Angelena, and Spotter. Sona protects everyone -well, everyone but Sammael-with a Wings of cover (perks of dragonblooded), and the death priest cartoon squeegee slides off the invisible shield. Talvosh is snatched up and gobbled down the hatch, but both him and Puck are able to continue dealing damage with their armor spikes. Spotter and Sona keep firing away, Angelena launches a Bolt of Glory for big damage, and Sammael darts in with his furious fists and feet. Puck gets launched and suffers the windshield effect as well, and then the mimic is pissed. Food should not hurt it this much! It starts stomping and smashing with abandon (max power attack) while Talvosh keeps thrashing with his frenzy-raged armor spikes inside. Sammael avoids serious harm with Elusive Target, but Angelena gets smashed and yanked skyborne. The group keeps attacking with abandon, and Angelena manages to escape with her anklets of translocation and a willingness to fall 50 feet or so. Another blow puts her to negatives, but Puck and Spotter manage to land the final blows, and the humongous housemonster crashes to the ground!

    There’s some frantic maneuvering and healing, and Sammael saves Angelena. In order to rescue Talvosh from dying as soon as his rage ends, they swap Spotter and Talvosh, and Talvosh crawls out of the mimic’s gullet without too much damage due to his armor crystal. The party picks another house to spend the night in. :)

    Puck spends the night hacking into the mega-mimic’s guts, so I roll the random treasure chart, and he manages to find the mostly-digested remnants of a pair of Forged arms. On them are gleaming bracers, which turn out to be Bracers of armor +5 (!).

    In the morning, Spotter guesses that they’re just under two days travel from Rambleshack. The name seems fitting already, as there is a plethora of rough lumber and wooden additions/repairs/substitutions to the decaying stone buildings (and the lumber is rotting as well). Partway through the day though, he manages to spot a tripline juuuust in time strung between a collapsed building and an intact one. Suspecting it might be the work of scouts from the Steelguard, he calls out. No response. He follows the tripline into the building while the rest of the party decides to wait outside after learning he doesn’t have ranks in disable device.

    The tripline leads into the building, and seems to be attached to a flint striker...which is set up next to a fuse...which leads to a large barrel. Carefully plucking the fuse out with a lucky Dex roll, Spotter examines the barrel to discover it’s full of alchemist’s fire. This much would have probably collapsed the building on whoever tripped that line. Creeping upstairs, he manages to avoid two more traps (why a building is trapped when the first trap would destroy the whole place strangely enough isn’t questioned). Finally, opening the door gets Spotter shot with a heavy crossbow bolt, but he ducks the other two. Inside is a massive heavy repeating crossbow on a tripod, and the faint remains of habitation.

    Puck spider climbs (not the spell, he climbs with his spider legs) up the side of the building and deposits Angelena inside, then checks the roof. After scouring the place, they determine that several people had stayed here, but most likely several weeks ago, and that at least one was a bowyer and fletcher. The party carefully departs, and I’m surprised that they simply leave the crossbow and barrel of alchemist’s fire.

    The rain finally stops! Yay!


    Spoiler: Rambleshack
    Show
    It’s evening by the time the party is approaching the edge of Rambleshack, and Spotter and Sammael creep ahead to scout. As they stealth their way forward, they can see a lot of light, and hear...music...and laughter!? Staying at the edge of the light, they peer around a corner to see the edges of what is apparently a festival of sorts. Lanterns and torches hang everywhere, and there are several large bonfires visible in the distance (no Bonfire, though). The group of people they can see seem to all be wearing masks, and everyone is laughing, drinking, and eating.

    Sammael is instantly suspicious of revelry and fun. :p

    Unable to get any closer due to the excessive amount of firelight, they sneak back and confer with the party. They decide to just wander in while Spotter keeps watch on the closest rooftop he can get to. By the time they get to the corner of town, most people have wandered further into the town. A straggler wearing a plain white mask spots the party, and as soon as he wanders a little closer, Sona nails him with a charm person. He cheers and welcomes his old buddy, teasing her for not being at the celebration already. He eyes Puck suspiciously, but shrugs since a friend of his friend must be all right. All Sona can get out of him is that the dance is starting at the center of town, so they’d better all hurry!

    They do just that, while Spotter does his best Batman impression and lurks on a rooftop. As the party gets further into Rambleshack, it seems to be quite the celebration. Food and libations are all over, most people are wearing masks, and everyone seems to be having the time of their life. There’s at least several hundred people around, and as the party gets to what seems to be the center, a massive circular dance starts up (play this at 1.25 speed). Sona gets swept up, but the rest of the party hangs back. Sammael is sensing for magic and evil as much as he can, and gets the occasional flash, but people are moving too fast around the (Very large) bonfire to examine in detail. Said fire contains illusion and transmutation magic, though…

    As the dance dies down, a figure dressed in soot-stained white robes somehow leaps on top of the bonfire, standing comfortably atop the flames.

    “Brothers, Sisters! It warms my heart to see you all here, enjoying yourselves!” There’s a loud amount of drunken cheering. Everyone laser-focuses on what seems to be a Flamekeeper. Sammael can’t get an alignment off of him, and Sona is certain that the voice isn’t familiar.

    “For joy is so very important in our dark world. We must strive to live to the fullest, to exult in life! We must stoke the fires of our hearts, for the way is through Fire!”

    “The Way is through Fire!” The crowd chants back. Everyone’s creepout meters edge up.

    “And Fire is Life!”

    “Fire is Life!”

    The group is muttering amongst themselves about just what the hell is being celebrated when the Flamekeeper spots them.

    “And even strangers are welcome to our night of revelry! Please, eat, drink, enjoy yourselves!” Sammael is eyeballing everyone, trying to sense if anyone is being compelled or influenced by unnatural means. Angelena asks what the celebration is about, and the Flamekeeper offers to explain to them. If they’ll just step this way


    We leave it at that totally not a cliffhanger, and Talvosh hits 12.

    Spoiler: DEATH COUNT
    Show
    18...and several close calls. The megamimic was so much fun!
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  12. - Top - End - #162
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Character build updates! Cause I said so...
    Spoiler: Angelena
    Show
    Lesser Aasimar Cleric 6 / Radiant Servant 6

    Spoiler: Puck
    Show
    Warforged Fighter 6 / Warforged Juggernaut 5 / Psychic Warrior 1

    Spoiler: Sammael
    Show
    Human Cleric 3 / Monk 2 / Paladin 6

    Spoiler: Sona
    Show
    Dragon-blooded Human Sorcerer 7 / Pact bound adept 5

    Spoiler: Spotter
    Show
    Warforged Ranger 9 / Deepwoods Sniper 2

    Spoiler: Talvosh
    Show
    Orc Barbarian 1 / Fighter 5 / Frenzied Berserker 6


    Think that's mostly correct...And to make up for the dearth of deaths over the past few sessions, I'll have to cheat harder turn up the intensity for the upcoming sessions.
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  13. - Top - End - #163
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    GreenSorcererElf

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Is that Prestige Paladin, or is Sammael just being weird? (Not enough BAB for prestige paladin actually so it can't be that). I've never been quite sure what all he's doing, though when I saw Cleric/Monk I was assuming Sacred Fist.
    Last edited by Fizban; 2016-06-27 at 08:19 AM.
    Fizban's Tweaks and Brew: Google Drive (PDF), Thread
    A collection of over 200 pages of individually small bans, tweaks, brews, and rule changes, usable piecemeal or nearly altogether, and even some convenient lists. Everything I've done that I'd call done enough to use in one place (plus a number of things I'm working on that aren't quite done, of course).
    Quote Originally Posted by Violet Octopus View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Fizban View Post
    sheer awesomeness

  14. - Top - End - #164
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Nope, is normal Paladin. Sammael is a bit of a frankenstein-experiment , with a home-brew feat that lets these three classes stack together for some class features in exchange for losing other ones.
    Last edited by curious-puzzle; 2016-06-27 at 01:46 PM.
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  15. - Top - End - #165
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    22 sessions now (yeesh), and I think this was the most I've been sworn at in a game.
    Spoiler: Relevant image
    Show


    Anywho, so we left off last time with the party (minus Spotter, who was still the terror that flaps in the night) heading off with the Flamekeeper to ask some questions.

    Spoiler: Off to the Bonfire
    Show
    The party is still going from the looks of it as our heroes follows the Flamekeeper through Rambleshack. People are drinking, laughing, eating, slipping off to alleys with each other...all in all it's quite a wild celebration. Aaannndd everyone in the party is really weirded out by this. After a few minutes, the Flamekeeper leads the group to a large cliche Church (heavy stone building, stained glass windows, set off by itself in a large open courtyard, giant double doors). There are a couple dozen people about the courtyard, but all are praying rather than partying from the looks of it. The Flamekeeper pushes the doors open and gestures invitingly to the suspicious group.

    Meanwhile, Spotter has fallen behind, as he has to make detours and move more slowly from rooftop to alley and back to stay out of sight. It's noisy enough that he manages it, even with the frankly absurd number of lanterns, torches, and light sources. He sees about the same as he's creeping from alley to alley, a large amount of people absolutely bound and determined to have to the time of their lives.

    The Flamekeeper finally coaxes the party into the church, Puck leading the way. It's quite a large building, with multiple rows of pews, an upper balcony, and a large Bonfire almost spilling out of the stone hearth it's set into. Asking about the investigators who were sent, the Flamekeeper responds that they had arrived, found everything to be in order, and left almost a month ago. Seems direct and reasonable to everyone. The party expectantly waits for an explanation as to what's being celebrated.

    "Life, quite frankly. The fact that we are all alive, and in such a world, everyone needs to revel in the simple fact of life more often." When asked how often such celebrations occur, the Flamekeeper responds "twice per moon-cycle." Sammael had been spending a good amount of time with the Flamekeepers and Flamespeaker in the Inner City the last while, so the fact that whatever this Flamekeeper is describing, it's brand new, is strange. The whole party is on edge, watching for a hint of an ambush, but there's only them, the Flamekeeper, and what sounds like a few acolytes shuffling about upstairs. The Flamekeeper goes into a bit more detail about the celebrations, and finally explains that through such celebrations, they hope to strengthen the Bonfire. He also asks which of the group is their Torchbearer, and Puck actually successfully bluffs that it's him. No-one attunes to the fire though...and Angelena gets a weird feeling off of it. While she's concentrating, the Flamekeeper continues.

    "We Flamekeepers have been too passive. We've been stagnant, simply sitting and waiting for the end. It's all well and good to provide succor for the Cursed, but all that does is to let their candleflames flicker a little longer! We should be trying to feed all the Fires, strengthen them, spread them!" He acknowledges that the Fires require Vitae to be strengthened, but claims that such wild celebration can help to restore the Vitae lost much more quickly.

    So...happy feelings help fight the Curse. Strangely enough, everyone is more than a little skeptical of the claim. Puck actually grabs the Flamekeeper by the collar and is about to do something drastic, but everyone else manages to convince him to back down. Spotter finally makes it to the Church, and nonchalantly sidles in to lurk among the pews. The rest of the group demands to know where these ideas came from, and a surprisingly familiar voices pipes up as a figure enters from a door further back in the church.

    "It's partially from me, to be honest." A hooded and robed figure that sounds exactly like Janath closes the door behind him! "Sona. Sammael. Angelena. Talvosh. Puck. It's so very good to see you all!" Dun dun Dun!

    Everyone is surprised and just as suspicious, as one of the reasons Janath had left was some severe philosophical differences between himself and Sammael and Angelena. They're also surprised how he managed to get further north than them by himself.

    "Not without difficulty, I assure you. I have suffered, to the point that I've had some changes of heart." Janath pulls his hood back to reveal his face...which has been horrifically burnt. An eye is almost destroyed, and heavy scar tissue mars over half of his face. "And with the things I've come to understand, I wanted to apologize to all of you. Especially you, Sammael. I was wrong, I just had too much pride to admit it."

    Huh...okay. Janath explains that he had died several times, quite painfully, and the realization that his life would simply flicker away had galvanized him to the point that he had become determined to change his ways and do something that would improve this place. The burns apparently were from a fiend of some sort, whose saliva burned and scarred Janath even through death and rebirth. There's a tangent as Sona asks if Janath knows anything about the Labyrinth, and Janath gets excited lecturing about the Blood War, and how the fiends here seem to have no divisions along Law or Chaos. Sona walks up to the fire, and hands Janath a bottle of his preferred liquor, which he accepts quite gratefully. Pouring some out for everyone, Janath explains that it was partially his knowledge of souls and partially inspiration that led to his work with the Flamekeeper. Sona and Sammael demand if Janath, or this cult (Janath and the Flamekeeper grudgingly admit it could be seen that way with a smile) has anything to do with Jezelle, the "Red Lady."

    "Never heard of her, sorry." Again, he seems honest. Everyone but Puck, Spotter, and Angelena take a cup (Janath showing off with a wand of mage hand), with Talvosh taking their shares. Janath proudly points to the fact that no-one in Rambleshack has went Hollow in the past month, even with almost everyone in the town having attuned themselves to the Bonfire, and having been sacrificing Vitae to it. Janath asks why Angelena doesn't attune herself to the Bonfire, as she's the group's Torchbearer. Uh oh...Angelena makes a bit of an excuse, but everyone tenses a little more. Hands have been near weapons this whole talk, and Spotter gets quite aggressive as he notices the heavy doors being closed by two acolytes. Janath and the Flamekeeper's assurances that they just want to keep the church quiet doesn't relax any quivering nerves. Spotter demands to know what happened to the scouting group, and the Flamekeeper repeats himself. No-one is moving any closer to the Bonfire to attune to it, but no-one's drawing steel yet at least.

    Janath sighs, lamenting that everything would be so much easier if they would just attune themselves to the Bonfire. With that, he speaks a WORD that blasts everyone's senses except for Spotter (who's out of range) and Puck (who's Evil in alignment). The Flamekeeper hurls a cone of eerie flames that clings and drags at Sammael/Angelena/Talvosh, and an unseen force lifts Puck into the air to float helplessly. Initiative!


    Spoiler: Betrayal
    Show
    The swearing begins, what with me hitting the group with a Blasphemy in a surprise round, and then entangling and/or reversing gravity on them. Janath uses the round that everyone is dazed to further increase frustrations by slapping a Black Tentacles down (flavoured to be grasping limbs of heat-stealing ash). One of the acolytes by the door soars through the air and throws a punch at Spotter, but things don't match up. It hits earlier than expected, and a punch gouges claw marks into his armor...but Spotter flubs his will save to see through the illusion. Puck Expands himself, but is still stuck in the reverse gravity What seems to be a small child hops down from the balcony, and casts mirror image. The fairly uneventful first round ends with that.

    The next round doesn't go much better for the party, with Janath comboing his Black Tentacles...with a Solid Fog.

    Can you guess the theme of this fight already?

    Another acolyte dives at Sona, and she sees through the illusion. It's not a robed figure, it's a hideous bird-man demon! Which claws at her ferociously. Poor Angelena, Talvosh, and Angelena spend several rounds laboring through the Solid Fog and grasping tendrils, and there is much grumbling. Janath does some sort of trick, and there's now one of him standing up on the balcony as well. Spotter finally breaks the illusion to reveal that it's a Vrock attacking him as well, and they exchange blows over the pews. Sona manages to dispel the magic holding Puck in the air after taking some damage, and Puck rushes Janath! Unfortunately, "Janath" crumbles away into ash as soon as Puck collides with him! The real Janath chuckles from the balcony, and lobs an Eldritch blast out. The Flamekeeper hits Puck with more flames (he's a dragonfire adept, but I just reflavored it to look like Pyromancy) that slow his movements. Angelena uses her anklets of translocation to finally escape the tentacles and fog after taking a beating from them, and activates her ring of Silent spells (neat magic item) to try and hinder the Flamekeeper. Talvosh reaches the edge of the fog and tentacles, he's halfway out...and the eerie child giggles nastily and hits both Talvosh and Spotter with another Reverse Gravity.

    The Vrock on Sona mauls her savagely - Wings of cover isn't enough when the creature attacking you has 5 attacks. Janath then snipes her with two Eldritch Blasts, one of which used all the charges on one of his items, and drops her to negatives. Puck responds by straining just close enough to the Flamekeeper to land a max-power attack critical attack! The Flamekeeper is alive, but barely. Unfortunately, the Vrock next to Sona pierces her heart with its claws, killing her. Some of the party notices that the flames of the Bonfire flare up and strengthen as Sona dies...

    A third Vrock kicks Talvosh back into the solid fog from his mid-air perch, and I'm pretty sure the group almost mutinies on me for that one. I don't die, so we continue on :). Angelena blows the Flamekeeper's head off with a Searing Light (again the flames dance higher), but then Janath somehow steals her persisted positive energy aura. Puck turns around and thunders at the creepy child...who's actually a Glabrezu. He takes a claw to the face, but smashes the Glabrezu against the wall for solid damage. Talvosh makes it out of the solid fog again...but he steps right back into the Reverse gravity. Janath takes aim, and drops Angelena unconcious with an Eldritch blast. The second Vrock divebombs Angelena and shuffles her off the mortal coil, and everyone sees the flames swell and blaze. Sammael finally makes it to the edge of the solid fog, and using his Bolt shirt, appears right next to Janath and punches him in the face. Alarmingly, his second blow is blocked by Janath's...shadow? It's a Spiritual Guardian spell, just fluffed to look more sinister.

    The Glabrezu teleports away from Puck and stalks towards Talvosh and Spotter, who are floating in mid-air still. A duplicate of Janath appears behind Sammael, and both step away and zap Sammael. Puck rumbles towards the Glabrezu, and Talvosh manages to fire off an arrow with a rope tied to it, and drag himself out of the crowd control suffering. Sammael chooses the wrong Janath and it crumbles to ash (Janath urging him to just give in and feed the fire), and then one of the Vrocks appears behind him. Spotter gets slapped around by the Vrock - pretty sure the only reason he's alive at this point is his armor crystal that absorbs damage. Puck goes all out on the Glabrezu, and manages to break all of the Glabrezu's remaining mirror images. Then Talvosh is up...and he hits every single attack after frenzying, raging, and declaring max power attack. Dealing a disgusting amount of damage, the howling orc chops the Glabrezu in half.

    Janath zaps Sammael again, and then Sammael lands a flurry of blows and manages to stun Janath! The Vrock flails ineffectually (as I roll a string of under 6 for attacks). The three on the ground clash with the Vrocks, killing one of them. After Janath spends a round stunned and getting punched again, he's had enough. Using his last quickened Flee the Scene, he zaps over to the other side of the balcony, and pulls out a large glass vial of blood.

    Activating the scroll/item, Janath commands Talvosh to kill them all. Since the scroll was created using Talvosh's freely given blood, he takes a massive penalty to the save, and he fails against the dominate effect.

    WAAAAGGGGHHH!!!

    Spotter fires a barrage of arrows at Janath, and Sammael hops off the balcony, dodging blows from both remaining Vrocks. Puck forces every inch of speed out of his new legs, and sprints up the wall, along the underside of the balcony, and up next to Janath...who teleports back to the other side of the balcony. Talvosh winds up, and juuuusst misses decapitating Spotter. Puck leaps off the balcony and manages to trip Talvosh, and keeps him on the ground long enough for Spotter to keep firing and Janath, dropping him unconscious. But the positive energy aura wakes him up, and he stands up and blasts Spotter...down to one hit point. Sammael is on the defensive against the two Vrocks, and Spotter's return volley kills Janath.

    He slumps against the wall with a smear of blood. His dying words echo through the church.

    "The Labyrinth...Opens!" The Bonfire EXPLODES, the flames turning jet black and roaring straight up to the ceiling.


    Spoiler: New development
    Show
    Sona and Angelena awaken at the Central Flame, but the resurrection is much more painful than it should be...and they both lost an additional Vitae when they died...they scare the life out of Flamekeeper Ember with their abrupt appearance, and Sona immediately demands that Flamespeaker Alexandria be summoned.

    Talvosh is fully in the grip of a blood-frenzy, but the random number gods make the Vrocks his first target. Wisely, the remaining 3 party members decide to make a tactical retreat at top speed, as the black flames are already burning across the stone ceiling, and there are eerie screams and howling coming from the flames. As they burst through the doors, they're treated to the sight of all the people who had been praying outside the church.

    They're burning. Some have crumpled into gruesome human torches, others are still trying to crawl away. Judging by the screams from back in the town, it's happening there too. The stained glass windows are consumed in blasts of ebon flame, and the roof starts to slump as the trio of Sammael, Puck, and Spotter run for their lives.

    Inside, Talvosh finishes murdering the Vrocks in time for another Glabrezu to leap forth from the flames. Then another. Then more Vrocks. Then things he doesn't recognize. With a scream of fury, he charges and goes down fighting. He reappears with Angelena and Sona just in time for Alexandria to arrive and ask what's going on. As Sona and Angelena explain about a seemingly corrupted Flame, Alexandria looks grim. When Talvosh mentions the black flames and the Daemons, she goes pale. She barks for an assistant to go find Commander Bulwark, and for another to ring the bell warning of great danger.

    Spotter, Sammael, and Puck are running at top speed through the village, and most have already combusted. Sammael shouts for those still alive to follow, but then fiends start appearing in bursts of smoke. Since Puck and Sammael are so much faster than Spotter, Puck uses his second Expansion Engine charge, and runs with Spotter on his back. Since Puck is big enough, Spotter balances on one or two of his legs and his lower back, and gets a rail-shooter minigame to discourage the fiends from catching up. He lands enough hits, and the heroes hightail it out of Rambleshack at high speed. As they're leaving, there's another massive explosion, the black flames reaching into the sky and forming a massive wall. A shape bursts out of the flames...a shape that's massive, and winged, and Red.

    It's a dragon, and Sammael and Spotter make their checks to notice the figure riding the dragon as it roars past overhead. It's heading south, towards the Inner City.

    The trio manage to get out of sight long enough to hide in a cellar. This is just in time for Sona to get a hold of a Sending Scroll, and her and Sammael trade info. As the planning on how to get the trio back without suicide starts, I roll a natural 20 on their luck check, and Ambassador Noctis slouches in. Angelena and Sona manage to convince him to help, and he pulls off a scrying-teleport combo to reunite the party. We end the session with Bulwark about to arrive, and the planning of the Inner City's defense to begin.

    Sammael levels to 12!


    Spoiler: DEATH COUNT
    Show
    21! Triple combo night, and all three of the surviving heroes were at low health levels
    Last edited by curious-puzzle; 2016-07-05 at 11:56 AM.
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  16. - Top - End - #166
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    DwarfClericGuy

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    If there's one thing I've learned about DMs, they make sure that any party members that leave WILL come back and be a huge problem later.

  17. - Top - End - #167
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    NinjaGirl

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Quote Originally Posted by Brion View Post
    If there's one thing I've learned about DMs, they make sure that any party members that leave WILL come back and be a huge problem later.
    Members that leave, other potential PC concepts that turn into villains... there is no lack of inspiration for Puzzle to use at his discretion with a little reworking.

    "Oh, you'really going to discard that? Excuse me while I take it, break it, reform it in the darkness and then send it after your soul!!!"

  18. - Top - End - #168
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Hey, I'm just providing them with an escape from the island of discarded characters.

    And purpose.

    And VENGEANCE!
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  19. - Top - End - #169
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    NinjaGirl

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Quote Originally Posted by curious-puzzle View Post
    Hey, I'm just providing them with an escape from the island of discarded characters.

    And purpose.

    And VENGEANCE!
    My only solace in this pattern is that if I had played Jezelle instead and left Sona on that island, we'd be dealing with something a lot harder to kill... I think. Oh who knows?! First it was a fey-warlock mafia family, now it's bi-polar MeriDEATH.

  20. - Top - End - #170
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    People give me backstory, I give them horrific enemies. It's a wonderful cycle.
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  21. - Top - End - #171
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    Jeargroth's Avatar

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    I am both saddened and elated to see Janath's return. Saddened because it was so short a time, I worked hard on that character, his return was short but memorable. I feel he should have been able to remove more of the party than that, but given circumstances guess the best he could with bad rolling. I hope he has enough Vitae to return again and again. He had great flexibility in my original build, I believe Curious Puzzle has further bent, twisted and made up new rules that allow him a even more breadth of deadliness.


    To the party members remaining. I say "Please allow me to re-introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste..."
    SPOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNN!!!!

  22. - Top - End - #172
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    BlueKnightGuy

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Just finished reading everything in the story so far. Intriguing premise for a game. I like it.

    More please!

  23. - Top - End - #173
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Glad you like it , Toxic Shaman! Might not be able to accommodate you with more this upcoming weekend (scheduling schtuff), but I'll try posting either some teasers for the upcoming battles or something along those lines.
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  24. - Top - End - #174
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Okay, voting time! What sort of fiends should our heroes face off against first? Devils, demons, daemons/yugoloths, obyrith, or a combination of two?

    Note that I say first, I have ideas for later encounters...
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  25. - Top - End - #175
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    BarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Quote Originally Posted by curious-puzzle View Post
    Okay, voting time! What sort of fiends should our heroes face off against first? Devils, demons, daemons/yugoloths, obyrith, or a combination of two?

    Note that I say first, I have ideas for later encounters...
    Well, Devils/Demons are technically the two extremes of the Fiendish variations. You mentioned that in Artaith, the two sort of got over the whole Blood War thing, and started working together, or at least not the eternal levels of hate they're had in normal planes of existence. Which is a pretty NEUTRAL Evil thing to do, so imo, that fits the Yugoloth type much better. However, late on I could see actual Fiendish extremists/purists factions appearing working towards their own lawful/chaotic/whatever ends.
    I Am A: Neutral Good Half-Orc Fighter/Barbarian (2nd/1st Level)

    Ability Scores:
    Strength-16
    Dexterity-16
    Constitution-17
    Intelligence-17
    Wisdom-16
    Charisma-13

  26. - Top - End - #176
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Specifics, Mongobear :P

    Horned devil flanked by Vrocks? Bearded devils & bebeliths? Nalfashnee and a Nycaloth? Gimme fun/silly/horrifying combo ideas! For *REDACTED* plot reasons, any combo of evil outsider is possible.
    Last edited by curious-puzzle; 2016-07-16 at 10:54 AM.
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  27. - Top - End - #177
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    BarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    Perhaps a "Harem" full of Erinyes and Succubi hidden by illusion that tempt the male players (and/or Female players) for carnal pleasures. Then if/when any of them actually dive into the "fun" they get split up which is where the illusion falls and they have to fight their way out of the "Sex Dungeon" half-fully naked.

    Would be even more awesome if the "Owner" of this Harem type thing was an Avatar of one of the more Hedonistic Demon/Devil Lords, I think there were mid-level CR versions of them in the Fiendish Codexes (Codexii? Codii?).


    Not too sure on specifics of anything else though, I actually never really used Demons/Devils that often in my own games. Maybe find ones who have similar abilities, or odd synergies with one-another that would have a sort of "cool, we both like fire/torture/poison/mutilation, lets be friends!!"
    I Am A: Neutral Good Half-Orc Fighter/Barbarian (2nd/1st Level)

    Ability Scores:
    Strength-16
    Dexterity-16
    Constitution-17
    Intelligence-17
    Wisdom-16
    Charisma-13

  28. - Top - End - #178
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    Jeargroth's Avatar

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    I would personally recommend, bearded devils mounted on Nightmares. Each flanked by a squad of Yugoloths.
    SPOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNN!!!!

  29. - Top - End - #179
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    But what sort of Yugoloth?

    Feed me mooooorrree...
    The Romanov Incident A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Magic! Mystery! Mind control! Murderous Demon Apes!
    The Curse of Artaith A 3.5 campaign journal, complete. Heavily influenced by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Featuring lots and lots of death, player (character) and otherwise!
    Dammerung(old) and Dammerung 2.0 A 5e campaign journal, ongoing. My latest kitchen sink of a campaign setting, with magic radiation storms, underground undead hordes, and elder-god worshipping vikings

  30. - Top - End - #180
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    SamuraiGuy

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    Default Re: The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

    May I suggest Echinoloths? Nasty CR8 yugoloth with spell resistance and several elemental resistances, persistent wound damage, generally nasty for casters, especially divine. Not sure how it would fare against the warforged or melee though... Only average of 75ish HP and low AC...

    But it fits the Lovecraft horror theme established by the Voor =D
    Quote Originally Posted by Flickerdart View Post
    Why would elves be better at detecting things? We all know that cats use their whiskers as part of their senses. Now compare elves and dwarves. Elves cannot grow facial hair. Dwarves have luxurious beards. Of course dwarves should be better at detecting stuff.

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