"more Pathfinder Dark Sun goodness..." Topic
7 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Please remember not to make new product announcements on the forum. Our advertisers pay for the privilege of making such announcements.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Fantasy RPG Message Board
Areas of InterestFantasy
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Recent Link
Top-Rated Ruleset
Featured Showcase Article
Featured Workbench Article
Featured Profile ArticleThe Editor is fresh back from GenCon, one of the largest gaming conventions in North America.
|
Please sign in to your membership account, or, if you are not yet a member, please sign up for your free membership account.
Mardaddy | 24 May 2014 10:03 p.m. PST |
For intro, see TMP link You ever have an adventure where things seem to be going OK, then the PC's end up getting all Keystone Cops for the battle with the big boss at the end? Us in spades tonight
So we go to Tyr with this noble and his Capt of the Guard Half Giant to hire a new set of workers. While we (the PC's) are out tooling about, we return to the "inn" to bump into an elf making a beeline out of our room. The barbarian grapples her, just to have her "phase" through the floor to the lower level (psionics) The Barbarian and Rogue give chase down the stairs and out the door while the druid checks out our suite and finds the half-giant tied up with giant's hair (apparently VERY strong
they sell their hair as rope in Athas.) "She stole the noblemans cash – get her!" The barbarian and the elf have the same 40' move, since she has a much higher DEX, she can get ahead
so he teleports (psionics) in front of her, she phases and runs through him. This happens one more time before the barbarians psionics are depleted. The elf makes a left turn and phases through a wall. The rogue is waaaay back, having a 30' move rate, and since he is FROM Try, the GM says he recognizes the clan tatoo the elf had as a local clan, that they have an HQ nearby. The GM at this point is thinking he's pretty smart and set up the getaway. No dice. The barbarian SMASHES through the adobe wall still giving chase, completely surprising (and injuring) a family of three as he smashes back out the opposing wall as well. He starts yelling, "Stop that elf!" hoping to get the law or good samaritans on his side. The elf phases (YET AGAIN!) through another wall and the barbarian veers to go through the cloth hanging door instead of doing more smashing. She maintains her phase through another adobe house, and the barbarian smashes through that door. Well
actually we wished he did. He actually failed that initial check and had to make a concerted effort to break it down. And THAT is when the cops showed up. A constable and four half-giants with clubs bigger than the barbarian. In the meantime, the rogue is following the trail of destruction and comes across the injured family. He stops their bleeding and pays them off to fix their place/not get the law involved, then proceeds until he sees the cop/barbarian confrontation. The constable demands to know why he breaking down the door, the barbarian fails a diplomacy check to explain himself and is hit with a Hold Person spell (which he makes his save against.) The rogue recognizes the constable as a corrupt one, and offers his explanation while doling out some cash to shoo them on their way
success! We loom for the elf – she is gone, a caged window opening is ajar
|
Mardaddy | 24 May 2014 10:26 p.m. PST |
So now we have to "assault" the clan hangout. The Capt of the Guard Half-Giant who was the cause of all this (the clan is infamous for their con jobs, seduction, rackets, smash and grabs – they are not assassins or killers) tells us WE have to get the money back. When we balk at this, and tell him HE has to get it back, that we will back him up, he says fighting is not his job – he's the Captain. The rogue got all up in his face with my +13 Intimidation
And failed miserably. I thought maybe invoking the noble's name may do some good, but elves in Dark Sun are just s. Real jerks – no one trusts them for ANYTHING because they prove over and over THEY DON'T CARE about anything but themselves. So
we have to attack a clan hold we have no clue how many of them are in there, what the layout is, how powerful they may or may not be, with our mighty 3rd level's worth of mighty heroism. Stealthy ain't gonna do it, these are elves. The half giant will not fight with us. All of us are in trouble (apparently) if we wait until the noble finds out. So we decide to have the Capt hire ten other half-giants to assault the place at the ground level as a distraction while we teleport to the top and work our way down. We dispatched the two token lookouts quietly and easily enough, the barbarian climbs down the ladder to the fourth level, the rogue jumps down the same hole with his acrobatics so they can support one another at the same time. Multiple enemies – including the Big Boss and his daughter – the one who stole the money – and we have them all by surprise. Rogue & barbarian tied for initiative, but rogue goes first, gets in to sneak attack the Big Bad, and fails to hit an unawares opponent. Barbarian rages, moves in to attack as well and fumbles, falling down. The next eight rounds were hilariously pathetic as we swung at air, fell down, took hits and every so often got a random hit in here and there. The barbarian player was depressed with the bad rolls and taking damage all over, he's keeps saying, "TPK right here, man." I'm encouraging him to keep at it, this cannot last, there is a lot of them but we don't HAVE to kill them all to win – we just have to get the money back, I have a plan, we can still pull this off, kill the Big Bad! The rogue concentrated on the Big Bad, and hit three times for a total of 30 points while the barbarian did another 30+ by himself with two hits, killing him. We were all down pretty low, I told the other player, "Teleport us back up, we'll heal up and come back down to finish them off – we cut the head off, they gotta be demoralized somewhat." I spent a lot of effort in the druids craft potions ability when i generated the PC, and had previously made three Cure Light Wounds potions, and had two CLW spells. We did all that, cast Bulls Strength on the barbarian (STR 28!) adn went back down to kick some ass. |
Mardaddy | 24 May 2014 10:38 p.m. PST |
They took that opportunity to flee. Every. Last. One. Gone. Went down all the levels – they immediately split after the Boss died, completely bailed. And they had killed all the half-giants at the lowest level (but they were paid merc's, just a distraction from the main effort anyways.) I thought, and said aloud "Well, fine. If they just, 'bailed,' they had to leave a BUNCH of stuff behind, and we're taking it all. They cannot have their entire possessions in convenient 'bug-out' bags to split at any moment
" Yea they did. This was a temp place for them to crash, and they are a nomadic kind of clan. Barely any loot at all. FINE. The rogue and the barbarian sent the druid and Capt back to the inn to await the nobleman while we cut off the heads of the elves that were killed by the half giant fodder and placed them on stakes at the front of their clan hang-out – and burned the place to the ground. Dark, I know
but appropriate for the Athas setting, both our backstory's and our alignment. |
jpattern2 | 25 May 2014 7:59 a.m. PST |
Cool report. I never gamed Dark Sun, but I love the setting, and I have all the original modules, novels, and miniatures. |
Ethanjt21 | 26 May 2014 5:54 a.m. PST |
Sounded like an intense fight. Keep us updated! |
Mardaddy | 26 May 2014 3:24 p.m. PST |
It is going to be a long time until the next session (June 28th)
a long time to figure out how to roleplay this. The Half-Giant Capt got himself seduced and knocked out – he knows he was a sap, but at the same time, half-giants KNOW they are big, strong, intimidating and leverage that to their best advantage – and despite being an, "ally NPC," he's a jerk to us PC's. Would not put it past him concocting some story blaming the PC's for the money being gone, so we have to plan for that possibility. Fortunately, he felt bad enough over what he did he agreed to pay off the law to look the other way during the attack on the clan compound – not *that* much of a stretch as elves are universally despised for being crooks and all-around jerkwads. I'm thinking the DM will adjust to our failure by having the clan "not-quite-left-the-city-yet," or allow us to get on their collective heels out in the sand QUICK so we have potential of redemption. |
Mardaddy | 27 May 2014 10:40 a.m. PST |
Next session rescheduled – Jun 7th vice 28th! |
|