Polychotomy

Farewell…

Trouble seems to follow us around. After hearing about a fire at Bob’s Apothecary, we went to investigate. There was a fair bit of smoke. A talking picture frame started telling us to go through a portal to meet our destiny. Wow, that must have been some good stuph – everybody else said they also saw the talking picture frame – but they also said that they hadn’t seen it there before. Anyway, there were some fat-assed critters blocking the doors to the apothecary. These critters didn’t attack us, but if I were to give them some advice, it would be ‘just say no to crack’ – yikes – that almost counts as a gaze attack.

Going through the aforementioned portal took us to (surprise, surprise) Gorgor’z Pitz. It seems that someone (e.g. with the initials Billgore) had a bone to pick with us – I can’t image why – we are decent adventurers simply wanting to earn a decent day’s XP. What is it with people always trying to harsh things up for us?

Our opponent in the pitz was named ‘Ricky’. Yeah, that’s right – rhymes with ‘jicky’. (I sure could use a lime rickey right now). The Rickster was all whoosh-whoosh and chop-chop with assorted sharp objects. He even set up a wall of rotating knives around Kalon and Ash. I buffed up (no, not that way) some of the other party members. After summoning a Xorn, I started to notice that Camus, Drentch and Shego were starting to go kind of apeshit. This is nothing new for Drentch; maybe the others got into my stash (were they mixing stuph with other substances? – I’ve heard that can be dangerous). Ricky and his blobbo buddies eventually dropped. No more knifey-spooney for them! This left Camus, Drentch and Shego duking it out with eachother and the Xorn. I had to call in an elephant to prevent them from coming after the rest of the party. It’s good that Kalon was able to grapple Drentch for part of the time with the tenticles. The Xorn dished out some sweet damage – here’s hoping they don’t have a union.

While we did defeat the Rickenator, we lost 2 of our own – Camus and Shego. Poor Camus – he was a good dog (his cohorts didn’t last very long – sort of like drummers for Spynal Tapp). Shego – may you rest in peace – I’ll think of you any time I see some dust on my blade. Dust to dust, indeed. We made sure they had decent memorials – the bastion will do something for Camus (we made sure that had his ribbon). Shego’s final trip was over the falls. I’m hoping to make some stone monuments to our fallen comrades – it will look nice in our fortress.

The funny thing about losing members of the party is that there is always a decent, honourable chap willing to step up and take the place of a fallen adventurer . It always works out that way. I’ve heard other adventurers talk about it – “somebody dies – somebody new shows up”. Yup, the circle of life has its ups and downs, but everything evens out in the end – it’s like we are all part of some great interconnected consciousness. Man, I need some stuph.

The XP report

the level 13 totals are 13163XP, which among six comes to 2194 XP each. (at level 12, Camus got 3000 XP as he tapped out.)

Well, the elementals have been taken care of. It was not the easiest task, but we nevertheless succeeded. I must figure out how these beasts can always see through my illusions.

After the trial, we made our way back to the Peace and finally made our meeting with Satibah. It turns out that Kishra is a nasty red dragon that had ideologies that could potentially destroy the Talon. DK and Neil are potential associates of Kishra. I wonder if Nirgali is also associating with her at this time. I guess time will tell.

We are returning to the tavern to check on messages. DK, Nirgali and Kishra in the mind . . .

The XP report

the omnimental was CR 15. for twelfth level characters, that’s 10800/6 = 1800 XP, for thirteenth level characters, that’s 7800/6 = 1300 XP. share and enjoy.

Whoo! gotta catch my breath – We’ve just gotta few heartbeats before we’re going to have to fight again. How the heck did we get to this? Let’s see – I was performing wy basic forms during the day’s training in the courtyard when all of a sudden 4 rather antisocial types suddenly popped into existence and started going for Suma. Weird. He got pounded a few times before the rest of us managed to react and join the fray – I swear that the poor guy was starting to dissolve for a minute there. He managed to pull himself together, though, and we all managed to finish ‘em off. Strange beasties – they looked like an amalgam of the elementals that Suma is so fond of summoning, but in a humanoid form. They weren’t too tough, though and we soon dispatched them. Just as we were bothering to ask ourselves, “What the fook?” We heard what sounded like something pounding on the tower. Something big. Damn big. We headed over to check it out and saw something that looked like a 50 foot tall big brother of the first four, only less humanoid – more bloboid, really. It was shouting a bunch of stuff that I couldn’t make out, except for the name of Suma! over and over again. Yeesh. I wonder what our Drummer pal has done to piss these heavies off, anyway. Suma and Camus tried to explain, but I didn’t pay attention – after all, there was a fight looming! I positioned myself between Suma and the baddie and stood at the ready. Bugger! this thing could fly and fly well. So much for trying to shield the druid. I hammered it when it was close to the ground when I could and peppered it with acid arrows when I couldn’t. Not my most ‘knockout punch’ spell, but it became quickly obvious that this dude was unaffected by fire or electricity – my normal two favourites. We sniped and pounded at it as best as we could and finally brought it down, with the party only somewhat the worse for wear. Now its remains seem to be coalescing into slightly smaller nasties comprised of each of its four constituent elements. Ah, well, a real fight is better exercise than the weapon katas anyway! I must remember to ask Suma what the heck is going on after all this is done.

The XP report

well, the unravellers are each CR 9, and there were four of them. at level 12, that’s 4 × 1200 = 4800 / 6 = 800 XP. at level 13, that’s 4 × 975 = 3900 / 6 = 650 XP. no XP yet for the omnimental – you’ve not yet defeated it.

Being the “sit and wait” types that we are, once the wounds were all bandaged we immediately set out. The bridge was covered in ice. As the others were discussing rope each other together, I thought I’d start out and see how far I could get. It was quite a challenge to try to stay on the bridge. Camus teleported to a spot and immediately slipped off and found out how far it was to the floor. The ice golems that greeted him were probably very happy to have something to do. The rest of the boys made it down the 80 ft or so and engaged the golems, while I tried to finish crossing the bridge. I must have been watching them too intently, because I soon joined Camus. A little help from the wall on the way down helped some of the impact, but it still hurt. We carried on to the end of the bridge from down below. Climbing back up and continuing, we found an ice pantry with a bizarre trap. Ice water kept shooting out of the ceiling, trying to freeze us to the spot. Keeping our distance, Kalon blasted most of the nozzles away. We removed a big chunk of ice to find a portal. Amazingly enough, we found ourselves in the cold room of a kitchen. After some snooping (and some soup, we were discovered by Jeeves the butler. He escorted us to a large chamber to wait. Turns out we were waiting for Anilhan, a rather large Copper Dragon. No one would quite tell us where we were, or who exactly DK might be (although she did own the place we were in). Anilhan was rather skeptical of our story, but showed us to a portal back to the Peace. Going through had us end up in a stronghold of the Sign of Swine. I find this interesting and am going to try and find out who this DK is and what could be going on, but first I really need to sleep.

The XP report

camus, welcome (back) to level 12. shego, welcome to level 13.

note that there’s also cash waiting for you in the tasty dagron, in the amount of 11000 gp each. again, in order to use this money, you must post something here explaning where it came from and why it’s yours. also, as usual, if you have shopping to do, please discuss with the DM (ideally by posting something here) before the next session, and sooner would be better than later.

also, i realize in retrospect that i could’ve been a little more generous with information in the encounter with Anilhan. i’m prepared to entertain retroactive Sense Motive and Spot checks – post your results here in the next day or two, and then watch your e-mail.

Wow, that was close! There were three doors left in the room we were left in. Door #1 help some food, bedrolls, toiletries and a note suggesting we hang tight written by “DK”. Not sure who that is. Maybe Dalong? Of course waiting around isn’t really our style. So we tried Door #2. Another spider like creature. No biggie. We dealt with it handily. I got a bit scratched up, but not really anything to worry about, so I didn’t bother anyone for healing.

Finally came Door #3. Before opening it, Camus and Shego said they heard some wailing or screaming or something from the other side. I wasn’t too stressed about it. So far nothing had been a big problem in here. I opened the door. The other side was different from the previous doors. A huge dark room/chamber/cavern with an icy bridge over it. Some flying things appeared in the darkness and emitted a horrible scream that had a number of us stunned. I couldn’t do anything for a while and one of the beasties took advantage of my stunned state and scratched me some more. Then a sheet of energy came out of the darkness and I knew no more.

I’m told that Shego took the lead. From what he tells me, he saved the day for us. Taking down at least three of the six flying things himself. I’ve also heard the Suma’s summoned elemental might have been elemental to our victory and that Ash and Kalon might have had something to do with our continued survival. In particular, I owe Ash a big one. Apparently, with Suma stunned he did an amazing move and hit me with a cure wand to keep me from dying.

The only thing I’m clear of is that Camus and I were both close to death a number of times.

Next time, I heal up before opening doors in an unknown environment.

The XP report

i find it mildly amusing that the single retriever and the half-dozen vrocks come out to the same XP value. the retriever probably shouldn’t give you full XP, as you dealt with it easily. the vrocks, on the other hand, are probably worth extra, given all the trouble they caused you. so i figure it balances out. dispute with me at your peril.

that’s a new level for ash, suma, and drentch. welcome to 13th, y’all.

tiny geeky thing to add: when ash joined the saturday Mobb, he was 3772 XP behind kalon. he’s now 10 XP behind kalon. the point: lower-level characters really do progress more quickly.

oh, and someone was asking when this all started (in game). the first session of the dearly departed Monday Mobb was on VII 417/2/39-40. as it’s now VII 417/4/15, that means that 95 days have passed. so you’re averaging something like one level every 7-8 days.

So we got back into the peace just about the same time for sumas and Kalons appointments. After we did some shopping and various errands we met back up after about a week. We all made it there but for some reason it took forever for Kalon to join up with us.

First we met with Kalon or sumas contact person. ( I forget which cause frankly I don’t care) Apparently though, we just missed him and they left contact information on where they could be reached. Instead of following them we decided to make the other meeting. So we made it to this meeting room and waited. All of a sudden this giant appeared Soon thereafter these beams bursted from this rainbow he had and stunned most of us.

According to mareko what happened next is he systematically gathered us in a bag of holding as Kalon booked it to get some help. when we came to we were in this square room with doors on each wall. With nothing else to do we opened a door to find this spider creature. The foul thing quaked at my might and was soon dispatched just as Kalon teleported in. Which is good, since he knew where to teleport he should know where we are.

the XP report

as i’ve got these numbers here now, i thought i’d get a jump on the XP. the critter up against which most of you were was a retriever, which is CR 11. the tables give XP for level 11 characters (popularly known as “Camus”) as 3300, and for level 12 (popularly known as “everyone else except the warlock who was getting help”) as 2400. that’s split amongst 5 PCs. which means the dog gets 660XP, and the rest of yuz get 480XP. by a strange coïncidence, the warlock who was getting help gets 480XP for puzzle-solving, etc. :-)

After recovering the rest of the prisoners we started ferrying them out of the stronghold and once everyone was out and at the base of the dam we made our way back to Brandiss Valley.

As the prisoners regained the composure They returned to their usual behavior of condescending glances and cloaked speculation. During the journey Kalon and Mareko periodically surveyed the area to ensure nothing was approaching. Also their return home was accompanied by the persistent rejoicing of “I’m alive … I’m ALIVE” from Darosa. Tilom was thrilled to be involved in such a heroing adventure despite the danger and personal loss to his family. He tried using this adventure as further proof that he has what it takes to join the Bastion, but after much convincing I got Tilom to stay in Brandiss Valley as He’s the “best defense they have against encroaching evil”

After everyone was relocated back to the village the “New Invincibles” made their way back to the Jade Fortress for the de-briefing. I conveyed the news in abbreviated form of what happened. They were all saddened by the news and that evening they performed the “Bastion right of honorable death” for Inavori and Soren. That night he told those that were interested the whole story of what happened (Camus is actually a really compelling and eloquent story teller)

In the morning after saying their goodbyes the team made its way trough the portal and back to “the Peace”

the XP report

i’d been meaning to give you a story award for completing this whole brandiss valley bizniss. here it is: 600 XP for the 12th level folk, 1200 XP for the recently dead 11th level chappie.

Wow, those dudes were tough to defeat. After teleporting in to find whats-his-name lying on a table, we heard his mother and her two new friends ask us what we were doing here. After some pleasant conversation (ok – maybe not so pleasant for Camus), we got into combat with the beholder and that other thing (which looked quite impressive). Two of our party members really wigged out during this combat – they must have had some nice stuff to smoke (I’ll have to ask them about that). The beholder dropped fairly soon, but that other impressive-looking thing took much more effort. Some collateral damage along the way – Camus almost took a trip to the ‘dog kennel in the sky’, but seems to have made a recovery. The mother of the dude who was on the table also didn’t survive – she seemed to have a bee in her bonnet about something. The cleric that we rescued was causing some trouble – some minor spells and attacks, but she was always apologizing for that.

the XP report

that makes for a total of 24750 XP (level 11) or 19800 XP (level 12), which means that among six PCs, you get 4125 XP (level 11) or 3300 XP (level 12). in camus’s case, as he’d been dropped to 55000 XP (the start of level 11) by the whole dead|raised thing, he’s now at 59125.

Where to start?

First, now that I am of sound mind, I can honestly say that I do not like those Beholders. Given that, we did take one out. (I felt sad at first, but now I am of sound mind.)

Seems these individuals enjoy getting into our minds. A confused Camus killed, his cohort, Inavori. This makes two that have gone in passing. I sure hope this one does not have a family that is in trouble.

Umber Hulks, a Beholder and a great big oozy fleshy thing marked our morning. Nothing even smells good here. (Well the tree is not too bad).

We did release the prisoners from the first area.That felt good. Only, however, to learn that there is yet another room with bigger things – Not so good news.

So that is where we currently are. In a larger room fighting larger things that like to get into your mind. Speaking of which, here comes yet another Beholder, a presumed charmed mother who wants her son “operated” on/dissected, and something is talking in my head.

Did I mention, that I hate this place? Here we go again . . .

the XP report

that’s a total of 23550XP amongst six of yuz, for 3925 XP each

We’ve had a bit of a lull in the action lately. Oh, there was one of those nasty moths, but Drentsch and Kalon were able to take care of it handily. We then had to figure out how to get from the portal to the tree. We ended up using the bags of holding that we found in the last shard to hold everyone save Camus and Kalon, who took us over to a suitable branch. We then finally spent a peaceful evening in rest. The next morning Suma managed to talk to the tree and locate where the prisoners likely were. Kalon scouted it out and discovered that there were two levels, each with a couple of those umber hulks that we fought earlier. Also, there was another critter that we hadn’t seen before floating in the middle of it all. Remembering back to my studies in the ‘Party’s library; a beholder, its called. These things are nasty. I related what I remembered of its capabilities to the party and after much brainstorming, we decided it best to go in on the top ledge and try to take out the two hulks there before trying our luck with the beholder. I think that we’ve got a chance – those umber hulks weren’t much difficult the last time we fought them. The only real problem is how to get in – there are no openings that we can see. Also, only two of our teleporters have the range to get through the trunk. Looks like will have to get Kalon and Camus to take us through in the bags of holding again. We’ll leave our rescued villagers behind on the tree where its safe, though. Okay we’re in the bags now. Good! I’m itching for a decent scrap at this point. Kalon should let us out any time now. Any time! Man. its taking a long time for him to let us out of the bag. Finally! now the bag’s opening. Now we can get into a decent dustup! Here goes….

the XP report

that’s a total of 7700 (level 11) or 5700 (level 12), for a per-PC XP reward of 1283 (level 11) or 950 (level 12). mr mar, welcome to level 12!