I'm surprised I haven't heard much about any of you dashing diplomats and highborn nobles having bitten the dust yet. Ah well, I'll kick things off.
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Here's the standard format.
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Name:
Race:
Classes/levels:
Adventure:
Location:
Catalyst:
The Gory Details: (optional)
Name: Breezy Headwind
Race: Sylph (Small-sized, Gnome-born)
Classes/levels: Occultist (Sha'ir) 4
Adventure: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur
Location: The joust
Catalyst: Baron Nicolaus Okerra
The Gory Details: Breezy was the only PC who opted to joust, and after getting an early lead in the first match (earned by lightly jabbing Titus back and forth for four passes, racking up repeated hits without ever dismounting him), ended up against Okerra in her third match.
Okerra got a crit on his first roll. He rolled really high on his damage, and it turns out that nonlethal can spill over and become lethal if you take too much of it. Breezy was dead on the spot.
Fortunately I'd already added the local archbanker to the list of party guests and declared that she was watching the joust and could hit Breezy with a Breath of Life before it was too late (Bartleby paid her in advance to handle emergencies and dodge the scandal).
Breezy went on to meet Okerra in the finals and seized victory with a critical hit of her own. Not long after, she saved Bartleby from assassination and pretty much cemented her position as the star of the evening.
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I would have posted earlier, but I didn't know this existed....
Before going into name and gory details....just a note that I am running a 6 player game,so I am often adding advanced templates or 1 or 2 character levels to NPC's (or adding more mooks).
Name: Orlen Drungal
Race: Aasimar
Classes/levels: Swashbuckler 3
Adventure: Crownfall
Location: Forgotten Archives
Catalyst: Imistos Gulbend
The Gory Details: The group set of the trap right before....which told the 2 halflings in the next room to prepare, and gave Imistos knowledge that his backup was there. Though I missed on all the daggers--I think out of the 2 people affected by the trap, I rolled 2 daggers on one person and 1 dagger on the other, the highest roll was a 4 (I was thinking this was going to be one of those bad nights for dice rolling).
The group opened the next door semi prepared for a fight. Because of initiative order, all were able to get in to fight the 2 halflings in the room....except for Orlen. He rolled poorly on initiative and was left in the previous room with Imistos...who had delayed to see who was left in the back room (the rest oft he NPC's were in the circular rat room including Imistos who was at the door). With Orlen left, Imistos came out of delay and charged. Because of all the bluffs I had been rolling were in the low to mid 20's nobody suspected him to attack Orlen. Got off a good hit, and that now had the fight in 2 fronts. Orlen (and another person in a round or two) fighting Imistos--who was using passing trick to great effect while the other halflings were getting beat up fast. Because of sneak attacks, Orlen dropped in 3 rounds...at well below his -CON.
Luckily the cleric had a breath of life scroll (conveniently actually written in the scenario) and a snake familiar. He was to far to get to Orlen--was in the other room--but could as a move action pull the scroll and standard action cast it...and I gave him as a ranged touch attack the ability to throw his snake through the 2 sets of doors...figuring the snake could take 1d6 damage as it hits the ground and 5' slithered to Orlen to do the touch attack--as Orlen had dropped right to the left of the door. It worked...so while Orlen didn't die permanently, he was out of the fight). All in all the total rounds of this fight was 6...with Orlen dropping on the 3rd round, and round 5 and 6 were just getting enough people in to gang up on Imistos.
Now....because of Book 1...EVERY Character AND Player has a hatred of halflings, and are all thinking about taking a ranger level to get favored enemy halflings in the rest of WftC....
Obituary threads are some of the most entertaining parts of adventure paths. The laughs I got out of reading the Shattered Star obituary thread were unreal.
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Name: Urag Bonerattle
Race: Half-orc
Classes/levels: Skald 2
Adventure: Crownfall
Location: Hall of the Protected
Catalyst: Walcofindes
The Gory Details The fearless skald, after failing literally (not figuratively) every skill check thus far in the campaign, heroically took point when exiting Senator Voritas' safe room, only to immediately fall prey to the walcofindes. A surprise round followed by the (top of the initiative order) undead's full round brought the man low, as his teammates looked on in horror. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the party retrieved the letter from Kalbio's parents from Urag's corpse, and were considerably more saddened by that than the loss of their useless skald.
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Name: Charolette
Race: Dhampir
Classes/levels: Rogue 5/ Shadow Dancer 4
Adventure: The Twilight Child
Location: Encircling Bower
Catalyst: Killing Prince Carrius
The Gory Details: The first to arrive on the scene with the prince, and then proceeded to kill the prince instead of 'wasting the princesses time with a fake'
Ironically, having shadow stepped into the room, they hadn't disabled the trap and when trying to leave was struck blind as the group in turn killed the rogue for being too blood thirsty
Ironically, having shadow stepped into the room, they hadn't disabled the trap and when trying to leave was struck blind as the group in turn killed the rogue for being too blood thirsty
Uh, that... surely did a number on your campaign. How did you deal with the resulting fallout for the events of the later books?
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Ironically, having shadow stepped into the room, they hadn't disabled the trap and when trying to leave was struck blind as the group in turn killed the rogue for being too blood thirstyUh, that... surely did a number on your campaign. How did you deal with the resulting fallout for the events of the later books?
My wife being the GM and new to game mastering has asked me a few ideas for fixing this issue, the easiest answer was a simulacrum, the Immaculate Circle fearing putting all of it's eggs in one basket created a Simulacrum and left it with the cult of the twilight child.
It did have the undesired effect of keeping emotional links to the child prince non-existent but kept the rest of the adventure fairly intact for the group.
The blame fell on Maxillar Pythareus for the creation of a fake prince carrius to rule as a puppet for him. (we haven't finished the campaign quite yet)
Alright then. Good thinking.
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Name: Gabriel (son of Gabriel) of House Sanctus
Race: Aasimar
Classes/levels: Oracle (4)/Paladin of Vildeis (1)
Adventure: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur
Location: The Pumphouse of Stachys
Catalyst: Going against six ghouls at once
Name: Knight Aurella Hadris
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Cavalier (5)
Adventure: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur
Location: The Pumphouse of Stachys
Catalyst: Going against six ghouls at once
The Gory Details: Two days after arriving in Meratt, the party decided that they should check out the pumphouse. Onora had told them that the townsfolk were talking about "The Lurker" that lived near there and was eating people. The party also thought that getting the pump working again should be top priority because draining the swamp would allow all that fertile land to be utilized for more productive farming...
So off they went. No boat because the citizens were unfriendly and didn't want to loan them their barges to make the trip easier. And they went during the day. Cue fighting the Lurker, followed by them thinking they had cleared the entire area. Our party also doesn't have any stealthy scouts. So the clunky new paladin and loud bard trundle through the front doors and wake up the six ghouls that were slumbering heavily. The party was quickly swarmed... They managed to take down three ghouls and pop a channel to do damage to the others before FINALLY someone started failing the paralysis checks. Down went the cavalier. Down went the paladin leaving squishy bard and investigator in the back row.
I didn't quite realize what a coup de grace at that moment (with players still at half health but totally helpless) meant, so luckily my partner pointed it out (being a new GM) before I rolled the dice and condemned them all. Cue twenty seconds of me solidly panicking about leading them all into a possible TPK (but to be fair they didn't do their scouting). I figured that the ghouls were too feral to stop attacking the paralzed people and at least go after the still moving creatures, so I kind of deus exed it using Marjorine and her fantastic backstory.
Considering she was in the next room and was supposed to come in within a few rounds, I had her come in and exert some sort of control over the ghouls, so that the bard and the investigator could pull their friends out of the room and around the corner to safety. 3/4 of the party wanted to run back to Stachys to figure out how to tackle what was going on at the pumphouse, but the freshly minted paladin of Vildeis couldn't allow undead to live. Intra-party debate about tactics ensued and proper use of consummables happened, and the party decided to charge back in and finish off the beasts. I was nervous as all hell. I intervened once, but I wouldn't do it again if one of them was going to die in this second round. Luckily their logic and planning was sound and they took out the ghouls with only Aurella getting paralyzed again, which wore off by the time Marjorine had finished telling her sob story to the party and asked to be put to the paladin's sword. Of course she couldn't hold back her instincts the entire time and she eventually attacked. They still managed to kill her, but again the two heavy hitters were paralyzed and the investigator was able to finish her off before she was able to pounce on anyone else.
They managed to live to tell the tale, but 3 out of 4 contracted ghoul fever... So... to be continued?
(PS I didn't realize how awful ghouls were. Paralysis sucks and I rolled high.)
I would have posted earlier, but I didn't know this existed....
Before going into name and gory details....just a note that I am running a 6 player game,so I am often adding advanced templates or 1 or 2 character levels to NPC's (or adding more mooks).
Name: Orlen Drungal
Race: Aasimar
Classes/levels: Swashbuckler 3
Adventure: Crownfall
Location: Forgotten Archives
Catalyst: Imistos Gulbend
** spoiler omitted **
The Gory Details: The group set of the trap right before....which told the 2 halflings in the next room to prepare, and gave Imistos knowledge that his backup was there. Though I missed on all the daggers--I think out of the 2 people affected by the trap, I rolled 2 daggers on one person and 1 dagger on the other, the highest roll was a 4 (I was thinking this was going to be one of those bad nights for dice rolling).The group opened the next door semi prepared for a fight. Because of initiative order, all were able to get in to fight the 2 halflings in the room....except for Orlen. He rolled poorly on initiative and...
The Imistos fight at the end of the entire underlevels is brutal as is. Not surprised people have died. My party made it out with single digit hit-points and all spells and abilities spent for the day. Made great suspense for what they might face when they got above ground and saw the bloodshed and were completely spent.
(PS I didn't realize how awful ghouls were. Paralysis sucks and I rolled high.)
Lol yeah, ghouls are an enemy that is mostly balanced for their CR except for that one powerful trick they have. They have to connect with their claws, the DC 13 Fort save vs. paralysis isn't too high, elves are immune, and ghoul fever is beatable, but DANG is it easy to fail those saves at low levels.
One easy way around ghoul TPK's is to make the paralysis only hit you once per day (like a witch hex) and for a single round instead of 1d4+1 rounds.
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The Imistos fight at the end of the entire underlevels is brutal as is. Not surprised people have died. My party made it out with single digit hit-points and all spells and abilities spent for the day. Made great suspense for what they might face when they got above ground and saw the bloodshed and were completely spent.
Oh, I fully 100% agree...the group (remember 6 players) basically walked through ALL fights up to and including the rat...and had basically hogtied/ripped off/persuaded Mimips to help...so effectively it was a party of 7 (almost 8, as the 1st level cleric that they saved in the main escape room was channeling to heal). Though they had almost no consumable (spells/abilities) left, just basic hack and slash at that point.
If I hadn't upgraded Imistos at all...that fight would have hardly been a speed bump to them. Now it is one of those stories the group often talks about (more so than a certain halfling end boss..which was just a slight speed bump (and I did add 2 war priest levels to her...sigh).
Also...has anybody else noticed their group having a chant of "I HATE halflings" and "Kill all the halflings", no matter if they are good or evil? ;-P
The Imistos fight at the end of the entire underlevels is brutal as is. Not surprised people have died. My party made it out with single digit hit-points and all spells and abilities spent for the day. Made great suspense for what they might face when they got above ground and saw the bloodshed and were completely spent.Oh, I fully 100% agree...the group (remember 6 players) basically walked through ALL fights up to and including the rat...and had basically hogtied/ripped off/persuaded Mimips to help...so effectively it was a party of 7 (almost 8, as the 1st level cleric that they saved in the main escape room was channeling to heal). Though they had almost no consumable (spells/abilities) left, just basic hack and slash at that point.
If I hadn't upgraded Imistos at all...that fight would have hardly been a speed bump to them. Now it is one of those stories the group often talks about (more so than a certain halfling end boss..which was just a slight speed bump (and I did add 2 war priest levels to her...sigh).
Also...has anybody else noticed their group having a chant of "I HATE halflings" and "Kill all the halflings", no matter if they are good or evil? ;-P
Yeah my group is LG, LG, NG, and CN (basically nothing fun happens, jk), but yes every time I introduce a character now they all shudder if I say the person is a halfling. I think equal to the "I hate halflings" chant is "I hate spiders." I didn't realize how much of an arachnid theme there was in book 2. One character developed arachnaphobia after nearly dying to the fantionette in book 1, then in book 2 you come across Opilio, the entire Telus barony + Baron Telus, then when Jambis gets back on its feet there are still spiders around because apparently they make for good animal husbandry, then Ehlers in the tower is gross and spider-like. My player intentionally put the frightened condition on himself during that fight due to arachnaphobia and was entirely out of combat for four rounds allowing his companions to take most of the damage lol.
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Yeah my group is LG, LG, NG, and CN (basically nothing fun happens, jk), but yes every time I introduce a character now they all shudder if I say the person is a halfling. I think equal to the "I hate halflings" chant is "I hate spiders."
While they haven't run into halfling rogues yet, my Beginner group in Mummy Mask has all in their opinion gained a fear of pretty much all Vermin, not just spiders.
:) if your PC's hate and fear these things, then as a GM your doing the job right. :-)
Name: Entire Party
Classes: Witch 2, Sorcerer 2, Bard 2, Fighter 2
Adventure: Crownfall
Location: Forgotten Archives
Catalyst: Telling Imistos to stand watch.
The Gory Details: After delving for a while into the forgotten archives, the party decided they needed to rest to regain spells. They figured their best option was to return to the safe-house they teleported into earlier, bring the nobles with them, and use the provided beds. The nobles didn't like the idea of resting and complained, preventing the party from getting any rest, so the party Witch used her slumber hex to put them all into a magical sleep, except the halfling Imistos, who they trusted instead to guard them while they slept... He took his time and quietly coup-de-grace'd each of them in their sleep, one by one, with none of them making the DC0 perception check any of the times to hear open combat with their -10 penalty of being asleep.
I don't mind killing characters (and actually killed two before the campaign start as I ran Honor's Echo as an introduction to the campaign), but party wipes end the story, so I usually allow a rollback during wipes so things can continue. In this case, I rolled it back to just as the first one of them was being coup-de-graced and gave the witch a nightmare of being stabbed in her sleep, and let her get a new perception check (she had a +8 bonus and didn't roll a 1 this time) to hear open combat. She awoke and screamed loudly, rousing the party, before stabilizing their dying friend. She decided she had her patron to thank for this vision of the possibly grizzly future, which came in handy later that session...
Name: Entire Party
Classes: Witch 2, Sorcerer 2, Bard 2, Fighter 2
Adventure: Crownfall
Location: Forgotten Archives
Catalyst: Swarms
The Gory Details: Having reached the circular halls of an old senatorial chamber where committees could debate and students could learn, the party heard the voice of the self-proclaimed Dagio the Great. Not finding him, they attempted to leave and were set upon by swarms of rats. Panicking, the casters were too distracted to successfully cast spells and were quickly devoured by the rats, leaving only the fighter standing with his sword. He swung again and again but was quickly downed by a combination of the swarms' numbers and Dagio's Acid Arrow.
This time, I blooped them back to just as they walked into the room, with the witch receiving another vision from her patron of the party being devoured by a swarm of angry circles. Warning her team, they made a dash for the exit only to find the door locked as Dagio the Great announced himself and sent the swarms charging in. Things looked bleak as the witch was immediately downed and the others were injured, but this time, the casters were no too panicked by the rats and through a combination of sleep and color spray were able to keep the swarms at bay before focusing on the swarms with their spells and the fighter's sword. With just Dagio remaining, they engaged in a duel of magic and bows until only the fighter remained standing and, through the use of potions, he was able to return his unconscious team to their feet.
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Name: Nyssa Piper
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Knife Master Rogue 3
Adventure: Scion, Songbird, Saboteur/Down the Verdant Path
Location: The First World
Catalyst: Wild Hunt
The Gory Details: The main PCs decided to send in their agents to investigate Lauchlein Lake, and so a secondary set of lower level adventurers trucked out to look around. After getting on the Swan Maiden's good side, they offered to help clear up a little problem for her in order to form an alliance with Stachys. The Swan Maiden's main problem was a First World breach that had formed near the standing stones on the lake's shore, where a bleachling gnome had crossed over whilst fleeing the Wild Hunt. The party, not really knowing what to expect, agreed to help the gnome get their color back from the first world.
Fast forward through all the insanity a trip to the First World entails, and the party found themselves fighting the last member of a band of the Wild Hunt, having taken the rest of them by surprise. The leader, a glaive-wielding satyr named Clortho, was completely surrounded when he managed to get off a Fear spell with his horn, and everyone but Nyssa the neutral evil thief panicked and fled.
The rogue was equipped with a pair of cold iron daggers, the only cold iron weapons in the party. She and the satyr fought a narrow battle of five foot steps all over the map for ten straight rounds before the rest of the party was finally able to return from their cowering - just in time to watch Clortho deliver a max damage glaive critical to Nyssa, practically cutting her in half and killing her instantly. While the rest of the party was able to dispatch the satyr shortly thereafter (with the unexpected help of a Glitterdust spell that came alive as a flying squid), there was nothing they could do for Nyssa. So they followed what they believed she would have wanted, stripped her gear and left her to rot in the First World.
Name: Gene
Classes: Sorcerer 4
Adventure: Scion, Songbird, Saboteur
Location: Forgotten Archives
Catalyst: Trapped with the Iron Lash's Spiked Tail
The Gory Details: After a wonderful first day at the tanager jubilee followed by a restful night (for all but the party's alchemist), the party got ready for the morning hunt. After meeting their quarry (a human who sold "spoiled milk" to Count Bartleby and was dressed as a buck), the party was quite confident the hunt would be a piece of cake, especially if all the other nobles were hunting also. They schemed as to how they might track down their quarry quickly and then hunt down Titus' prey and set off into the wood with a plan. When they found their quarry fleeing the Iron Lash, the fighter charged in its direction while the bard shot it with a bolt. The Iron lash surprised them by taking flight and moving to the center of the hunting party and lashing out with its tail. The witch put it to sleep, but it awoke from the falling damage, so as the party scrambled to arrange themselves, the witch used web to trap the Iron lash in place. While the web kept it from moving about too much, the sorcerer was still in range of its tail and it hit him hard. While the rest of the party attempted to use ranged attacks, the sorcerer couldn't escape the web and the Iron Lash's tail struck again, bringing him from conscious to dead.
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Going to add this again, group of 6 players, so adding things like advanced templates, or 1-2 character levels to NPCs (and changing the classes/levels of such to make more sense).
Name: Ser Ignacio
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Magus (blackblade)
Adventure: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur
Location: Stachys?
Catalyst: Duchess Veleto Lotheed
I was wondering if I should post this or not. Since it was a PC wanting to write off his character (was not liking Magus's one spell Johnny feel, especially with bad dice rolls), but since it was such an awesome story, felt it was worth it.
So, the Duchess found Ser Ignacio...interesting at the Jubilee, which of course meant she was keeping an eye on him everytime they went into Birdsong, or Lotheedar. Eventually (near the end of Act II, but before Act III, when the group HAD to split the party to go deal with final talks with some of the other Barons/Baroness), the PC in question "stayed at Stachys to guard it". This was where The Duchess came and nabbed him to bring him to the Palace of Birdsong, off screen killing him and using his body as an art piece.
Well, that was about 2 weeks before the assault. When they get to the Duchess (who was rebuilt to be level 6 Rogue level 3 Assassin) was wailing about the ruffians breaking into her home (playing the part with a high roll on the Bluff), the PC's were calming her down...about 30 seconds of talking (hint, hint). When right at that moment, 2 of the PC's not talking to her open the other 2 doors, one to her "child", and one to the "art room". Well, they found Ser Ignacio, flayed and toyed with, and the child was crying, and the Duchess got off her Death Attack. Hit, but the PC was able to (barely) make the save.
All in all...this fight was the one of the 2 that in Book 2 they were all talking about. The other was Baron Telus (who they "broke the curse" with).
I don't normally like PC death, but when a PC asks to be written out, it is often in a permanent way. I get their permission first (usually they come to me and ask to have their character removed because of either not liking the character, or in one case, the character getting too "dark" and affecting IRL the players mentality). When this happens, I usually make certain they understand it is for storytelling purposes on the death.
Now into book 3, where I get to see if I can drive characters insane, or maybe get them stoned. Just worried about the fact they are not really up to storming a garrison (not the right build of classes really).
Name: Finn
Classes: Bloodrager 4
Adventure: Scion, Songbird, Saboteur
Location: Random Encounter in the Jumblewood
Catalyst: Hungry Fog
Name: Wilbur Post
Classes: Cavalier of the Order of the Beast 4
Adventure: Scion, Songbird, Saboteur
Location: Random Encounter in the Jumblewood
Catalyst: Hungry Fog
The Gory Details: After learning of Baron Telus' affliction and curse at the hand of witches, the party decided to explore the nearby jumblewood to seek them out, hoping to cure the Baron. While exploring they met a few creatures, like giant skunks and depressed ents, before eventually stumbling across a strange fog. Deciding to explore it up close, Finn was quickly devoured by the hungry thing, and though it was slow, the team was hampered by the difficult terrain. Wilbur Post decided to try and lure the fog away from the rest, trusting his horse, Mr. Ed, to outrun the fog, but while he did save the party, Mr. Ed was burdened with heavy armor and the difficult terrain slowed him so that the fog eventually caught up to the cavalier and his steed.
They've not been seen since.
Name: Bai Hat Ingoma
Classes: Bard 4 Vivisection Alchemist 1
Adventure: Scion, Songbird, Saboteur
Location: Lake Pensaris
Catalyst: Conscripted by the General
The Gory Details: After hearing tale of the general, the party paladin, Emily Tiberan, decided to fish him up and take him as a trophy. Spending a few days tracking it down, they found one of the generals favorite fishing spots and decided to attempt to fish him up. After a few hours without success, and with everyone else in the party trying, Bai Hat decided to help despite her fears (Her player has been grappled and eaten by sea monsters twice in previous campaigns.) A natural twenty brought the curious general from its depts, and rolling highest on initiative, bit and grappled the fearful Bai Hat. While the others tried to help her, and tried and failed to use liberating command to free herself, she was quickly swallowed whole and eaten by the big fish.
The paladin kept channeling to keep her alive, healing the general in the proses, until the general swallowed Emily too, who found that Bai Hat had already died in the belly of the beast. Emily took it upon herself to kill the general from the inside and rescue her body before the General could drag them to the depths.
Name: Esdras Sellenson
Race: Human
Classes/levels: 14/Court Bard
Adventure: The Reaper's Right Hand
Location: The Hall of Final Deeds, Axis
Catalyst: Brutal, con draining catoblepas breath
The Gory Details:
The party gallantly agreed to help Lieutenant Fanalyx figure out where the corruption was coming from in the Hall of Deeds. After fighting the first two waves in the Hall, the party encountered the catoblepas. Esdras usually hangs in the back, being the bard, in order to keep his squishy squishy self out of battle and buff his companions with his amazing voice. However, the catoblepas trampled past the party to get behind them, putting Esdras on the frontline as the beast opened its mouth and breathed out, engulfing the whole party.
An investigator (now immune to poison) and a paladin were unaffected. Our cavalier failed the save, but managed to make the three required saves round 3-5 of the poison. However, our poor poor bard kept failing and failing his saves, reducing his constitution severely (I was rolling rocks). Bard just couldn't make the save. He was sitting at 1 con before someone managed to shove a delay poison down his throat.
... So did the PC actually die, or was it just a terrifying near-miss?
... So did the PC actually die, or was it just a terrifying near-miss?
Terrifying near miss. I just didn't feel like it was a fitting death for a PC. If they'd forgotten about the delay poison and hadn't removed it in time, I would've had no qualms about killing him in the middle of the night when it wore off.
Watching his friend wither away and nearly die in front of him without anything to be done gave the paladin a complex though, so the scare served its purpose.
Honourable Mention
Name: Crimson Bill
Race: Human
Class/Level: Bard 6
Adventure: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur
Location: Palace of Birdsong.
Catalyst: Saving the Vigilante
The Gory Details:
The party are finally facing off against Gul Gussairne in the Palace of Birdsong, but find him supported by a Clockwork Soldier. The brave swashbuckler dances through the area and swiftly dispatches Gul (huzzah!), but is surprised when the clockwork construct springs to life and attacks him!
The daring vigilante, who realised it was a threat, stepped in to flank and landed a blow with his axe, not even denting the strange creature. It didn't take kindly to the strike, and the return blow almost killed him. He staggered backward to escape almost certain death, and Bill, wielding Koriana's Blade in one hand and playing a flute with the other, stepped into the fray, desperate to protect her companion.
The ensuing back and forth between Bard, Swashbuckler, and Clockwork Soldier was a true sight to behold, until that fateful moment when, having already injured the bard, it struck the swashbuckler solidly, and then span to slice viciously at Bill, instantly quenching the life from her eyes (she was on 33 hp and took a 62 point critical hit).
That would have been the end of it for Crimson Bill, steadfast companion and friend, if not for the presence, a mere step away, of the cleric, Jordan, and his scroll of breath of life.
The Clockwork Soldier was bested by a strike from the swashbuckler, and Bill breathed once more!
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Name: Marzkar Siderite
Race: Dwarf
Classes/levels: LN Empiricist Investigator 4
Adventure: Crownfall
Location: The Silent Horse
Catalyst: A crisis of conscience
The Gory Details: Marzkar was considered quite unusual amongst the dwarven populace in Oppara for his written works of philosophy - having read much of the works of Jubannich and Hosetter, he penned many of his own broadsheets and articles on proper rulership, the concept of the Mandate of Heaven (and its legitimacy), and the fundamentals of living an honest life in compliance with the precepts of Common Rule. Unlike others who read Imperial Betrayal, On Government, or The Alchymical Wedding, he had no taste for the bloodshed of the Red Revolution or the subsequent tyranny of the People's Council. Proper living was as much a personal dedication to ethics and morals as it was to well-structured government, as he made clear in his frequent columns and debates in Oppara's coffee houses. It was those rhetorical flourishes, alongside his skill with the mixing flask, that encouraged Martella Lotheed to recruit him for her plots among the Exultation Day festivities.
After rescuing Martella from the Brotherhood of Silence, he was invited alongside the other survivors of the Exultation Massacre to meet before Eutropia and offered a knighthood and a leadership role amongst the Loyalist faction. He had many questions for the Princess, but most key amongst them was this: "If, by some circumstance beyond your control, the nation of Taldor was to gain greater benefit from you relinquishing your throne and title, would you do so without hesitation or bloodshed?" Essentially asking the princess which was more important to her: the nation's wellbeing, or her personal power and glory? Eutropia responded that she had no intention of yielding her right to rule to anyone else, and that by pursing the best for her and the rest of the Stavian line, she was providing the best for the nation of Taldor as a whole.
As much as he may have sought the authority afforded by an official knighting (even if Eutropia's claims to the throne were still shaky), Marzkar could not compromise the ethics that he had penned and the beliefs he'd espoused. To act as Eutropia's hand would require him to go against the precepts of common rule, to deprive others of the value their labor created against their will. Even if it was in the name of a sovreign whom he agreed with for the most part (and certainly more than the war hawk Pyratheus), he could not willingly serve someone who would ask him to betray his own morals for their own or his own gain. Instead, he wished the princess the best in her struggles, promised to support the other Loyalists as he could with his alchemical creations, and swore to oppose Pyratheus in any capacity he could. But if he was to swear fealty to anyone, it would have to be someone who would held themselves to the same level of accountability as he held himself, and would act first in the best interests of the nation, then the common folk, then their family line, then themselves. If they could not be trusted with his obedience, then they could not be trusted with rulership. So Marzkar retired to his alchemist's shop, continuing to craft his wares in compliance with his ethical constraints and publish his works on the divine rights of kings and man alike, so that perhaps Eutropia's inheritor may be more enlightened than she.
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That was.. a very interesting way to leave the game!
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Playing Marzkar was a real challenge - first I had to define his ethos, then actually depict it in a believable manner in word and actions. Ultimately, though, Golarion wasn't ready for his ideas, and he simply could not compromise himself and his beliefs by supporting a monarchist cause. Seeing as how he wasn't slain, though, he does still exist in the setting, and is the party's go-to source for alchemical equipment. His replacement, a warpriest of Chaldira Zuzaristan, fits much better into the crew and has beef with the clergy of Thamir Gixx, which leads to interesting roleplay opportunity.
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Name: Sir Gideon Mord
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Paladin of Iomedae 7/Oracle 1
Adventure: Twilight Child
Location: Encircling Bower
Catalyst: The Placid One/Betrayal
The Gory Details: After killing the High cultists and sentinels, the party's cleric decided to perform the Cult services that evening himself, posing as Vaddrigan and getting the other PCs to pose as cultists. He told the rest of the party that his aim was to reveal the cult's deception mid-performance, but had in secret made a deal with the Placid One to sell all of the cultists to Leng slavers. The Denizen returned to Leng, gathered several more Denizens, and returned with them at the height of the ceremony. The Paladin had refused to take part in the ruse, and when the Denizens returned and began abducting cultists, he threw himself into the fight.
While the party's Monk tried to catch the cleric for his treachery, the Paladin and the Magus fought two Leng slavers. Unfortunately for Sir Gideon, the Denizens managed to flank him, and both delivered full round attacks with full sneak attack, and a couple of crits thrown in. The Paladin took well over 100 points of damage, and the cleric had made off with the party's scroll of Breath of Life. At this point the monk and magus hid under the stage until the cultists had all been taken.
Sir Gideon was buried on a low hill in the Whistling Plains, and the magus carved him a headstone naming him the Shield of Yanmass.
Ouch! So the cleric will be on the party's S-List now?
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Name: Jonathan Sable
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Bard 16
Adventure: The Six Legend Soul
Location: The Halls of the Shadowed Circle
Catalyst: Suspicious reckless use of abilities
Although a number of characters have died (including Jonathan on at least two occasions) during the course of the AP the group were quickly approaching the end game while investigating The Halls of the Shadowed Circle with their original line-up intact.
The group had attacked the dungeon and after besting the blood spawn found the secret door to the chamber where the Earl hid in the guise of Eutropia. I had decided that Count Barnby Ghoom and Rhien would attack near the end of the fight since I accepted that the party would easily slaughter the three circle cutthroats and the Earl.
Never underestimate the PC's ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, however.
Jonathan rushed into the room amidst the party and their enemies and cast a Greater Song of Discord with a DC 27 Will Save. This affected the enemies (The Earl alone being immune). Some characters passed and some failed but on their following turn all characters were still under the spell's effects.
The party medium, under the sway of her champion spirit, failed her 50% roll and immediately attacked the nearest target (which was Jonathan who traditionally had a terrible AC and refused to increase it). As a result Jonathan was reduced from 90 hp (or so) to -45 hp.
The oracle refused to cast Breath of Life as he doubted his ability to roll 45 for healing.
Jonathan's player decided after the fight was over that his character had a DNR after finishing up his arc in book 5 and thus your humble narrator has to deal with a newly made 16th level PC next session who has absolutely no tie to a roleplay heavy campaign that has taken a year and a half.
Name: Kipi Deuteronomy
Race: Catfolk
Class/levels: Alchemist (Mnemostiller) 2
Adventure: Crownfall
Location: Forgotten Archives
Catalyst: Confusion Trap
The Gory Details:
With the whole party bundled closely together, Kipi the curious cat touched the chalk circles on the door leading to the old Senate, setting off the confusion trap and leading to each of the four party members failing their Will save against it. While most of them babbled incoherently, Vermeil and Kipi repeatedly rolled to attack one another, and Kipi, weak from the released bees back at the gala and her encounter with the Animate Hair, fell dead from the cavalier's blows.
I had Jowuan Zubari step in and channel energy, ruling that the beestings healed hours ago, and she didn't die.
Names: Anthea Basri, Kleo Merlott, Vermeil Cheval
Races: Half-elf, Human, Half-orc
Classes/levels: Cleric of Abadar (Lawspeaker)2, Unchained Rogue (Phantom Thief) 2, Cavalier (Courtly Knight) 2
Adventure: Forgotten Archives
Catalyst: Halfling Betrayal
The Gory Details:
After a brutal fight against Dagio and his swarms, Anthea (who had adopted first Kalbio and then Gulbend) was delighted that her so-called son was reunited with his friends! And when the halfling offered the party a drink of victory wine laced with arsenic, they all agreed, Kipi and Anthea failing their Fortitude saves.
Then the helpful halfling thrust his rapier into Anthea's kidney, a critical hit that dealt max damage across all dice, knocking the battleworn cleric deep into unconsciousness.
After that, the two halfling killers surrounded Vermeil, one of them also confirming a critical hit, killing him outright with a combined 42 damage.
From there, they moved onto Kleo, knocking her out before she had much chance to do anything.
I was hastily writing plans for a party wipe, going to have them fight their way out of Martella's Safehouse and into the sewers alongside Malphene, Martella and the "rescued" nobles from the Forgotten Archives (including a modified boss fight of Wyssilka and Mr. Smiles arguing in the Safe House dining area alongside their retinues/possibly also the fantionette), when Kipi acted uncharacteristically selfless, pouring a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds down Anthea's throat.
Malphene killed one of the halfling killers and drew their attention away from the party as Anthea revived Vermeil with the scroll of Breath of Life (which while technically too late, I allowed), and as Anthea stabilized Kleo, Kipi knocked out the two remaining halflings with her psychic bomb, ending a scary situation.
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Name: Sir Vesper Barbastelle
Race: Rakshasa-Spawn Tiefling
Classes/levels:Swashbuckler 1/Intrigue Mystery Oracle 4
Adventure: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur
Location: Lake Pensaris
Catalyst: The General
The Gory Details: What was supposed to be a "fishing minigame" turned tragic last session, leading to the death of a party member.
After The Night Swan attacked their festival, Baron Okerra invited the party to visit Pensaris to convince the party to help track down and bring the vigilante to justice. After a brief trip to Oppara to deal with some personal issues, the party decided to take the Baron up on the offer, and he offered to take them fishing in the nearby lake. Upon hearing legends of The General, a man-eating, barge destroying catfish, the party decided that they would try their hand at landing it.
After hours of searching, and the bleaching bard interrogating the local fish, they finally found the creature's lair. It wasn't long after that the chattering of fish went quiet, and Vesper felt a pull on his line. With the aid of the party hunter they pulled their catch towards them... what they didn't know is that The General was hunting them.
Initiative is rolled, Vesper goes first and readies and action to hit the fish as he came near, the Hunter fired Dignity's Barb but it disappeared into the murky waters. The General darted towards the little Tiefling who dared to hook him, opened his mouth and grabbed Vesper. The monk punches the fish, but can't free Vesper, the Bard blinds the fish with a well placed glitterdust, and the sorcerer throws some meteors. None of this is enough to free Vesper from the beast's mouth and with a final gulp our oracle goes down the creature's gullet.
While the beast is taking a lot of damage from the outside, Koriana's Blade is not enough to slice through its belly, leaving Vesper stuck inside. If the party can just hit the fish one more time he might just live. It all comes down to the monk, one hit will save his friend. He goes to flurry and... natural one. The monk falls into the water, and Vesper is consigned to his fate.
In the aftermath, the party decides to perform a harrow reading to decide if they should resurrect their fallen comrade, and proceeded to pull the worst spread I've ever seen. Not a single card represented a good outcome. The party deemed that a doom would befall themselves and Taldor if they brought him back, and so they thought that they should leave him for the good of the realm.
Name: Richeut Peiley-Pacias
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Investigator / 6
Adventure: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur
Location: The Beggarwood
Name: Izanami Kouchou
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Magus / 6
Adventure: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur
Location: The Beggarwood
Joint Catalyst: Underestimating the Enemy
The Gory Details: By the end of their third week in Merratt, the party was making a vast impression on the County: unraveling mysteries and hauntings at a breakneck pace, thwarting at least one of the Count's ongoing schemes in the environs of Lake Lauchlein, and liberating the unjustly imprisoned in a spectacular prison break in the town of Lotheedar.
Through it all, they had been playing an intense "both-sides-of-the-fence" sort of game with the Palace of Birdsong, portraying themselves as friends of the existing order while they leaned heavily into rebuilding Stachys. Unbeknownst to them, the sheer pace and audacity of events -- and particularly the prison break they had committed in Lotheedar, which was publicly fobbed off on the Night Swan but was far bolder than anything the masked outlaw had tried before -- had alerted the Count that something might be off.
Though continuing to portray friendship for his part, His Excellency decided to probe them. He sent Sir Gul Gusairne to "check in" on them in Stachys, taking in tow a poacher from the hamlet that had been caught on the Count's land so that the Seneschal might "observe" their trial. As the trial unfolded and the party sparred ever-so-subtly with Gusairne, he invited them after the trial to accompany him in rousting a group of bandits called the Four Hoods in the Beggarwood.
The Count wanted to see if any of the party would try to warn the Bandits before the Seneschal arrived, whereupon they would relocate to a hideout deeper in the woods. The Seneschal, who had found the location of this hideout, was to storm in on it and hopefully catch somebody there. As it happened, he did, and basically caught the party's Investigator and Magus flagrantly consorting with wanted outlaws while the rest of group were in tow with him, supposedly helping him apprehend the criminals.
What ensued was extremely messy and involved the Night Swan showing up, and a general melee in which it was super-unpredictable who would be fighting whom in the early going. Overall, however, the main party managed to preserve the impression of being there genuinely in the Count's behalf, and the Investigator and Magus were hung out to dry (by their own request) as rogue actors. The Magus, a foreigner from Amanandar, would have probably faced death, but the Investigator negotiated on her behalf and managed to get the sentence commuted to banishment in exchange for surrendering herself -- and access to her own informant networks in Oppara and elsewhere -- to the Palace of Birdsong.
It wasn't PC death, but it was a pretty definitive exit for both characters. Martella Lotheed is now faced with having to break out or (perhaps) even kill the Investigator to keep her knowledge from falling entirely into enemy hands -- I'm thinking I'll allow the first option rather than the second, since I like the character too much just whack her offscreen -- and has sent replacement operatives into a situation that is now substantially tenser than before.
It's a mess. It was also a really cool moment, though.
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Name: Jimballast Piscatoris (One-Tooth Jim) and Martella Piscatorius (Cross-Eyed Mary)
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Spiritualist 8
Adventure: The Twilight Child
Location: Tallgrasses
Catalyst: Unfortunate crit from Jondus Staubel's earthbreaker (or maybe karma)
The Gory Details: The second PC death of this campaign wasn't nearly as dramatic as getting eaten by an oversized fish, and the story isn't quite as interesting either, but may as well put it to paper anyway.
The PCs were deep into a fairly successful liberation of Tallgrasses caravanserai by the time they ran into Jondus. They had accidentally beelined for his sister without alerting the other guards and dispatched her efficiently (though her goat almost caused another obituary post).
They managed to sneak in an coup de grace the sleeping Drake beside her office (seriously, a DC 15 stealth to not wake him seems low) and started to tear through the traitorous bandits with surprising ease. They took a couple nicks, of course, but nothing they were too worried about. At least until they summoned Jondus.
It was Jim's fault that his killer noticed the combat. A casting of howling agony caused one of the officers to let out a blood curdling scream causing Jondus to come running down the stairs. As he makes his way the PCs finish off the mooks and begin to spread out to investigate the remaining rooms. Then they heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs behind them.
I show them the art of Jondus, and immediately they burst into laughter because of his goofy name. In response, Jondus stomped towards Jim, himself an ex-member of the Taldan Military and confirm a crit to deal 60+ damage, crushing his skull and killing him instantly. His wife, Mary, instantly banished as her task of tormenting Jim is finally over.
There is an almost sick irony in Jim's death. He was a veteran left crippled and abandoned by the army, blaming Qadira for his misfortune. He was killed by a member of the Taldan Horse masquerading as a Qadiran bandit.