Doom of the Savage Kings report
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:31 am
After Sailors, my party had a choice: head north into some canyonlands (toward People of the Pit), or follow a small stream down the mountains to the south, which led into a swamp (Doom of the Savage Kings). They chose south. We handled a bit of the movement by e-mail/pbp, and the group chanced upon the pit of the hound in the mid-morning of the first day trudging through the swamp. They didn't have enough rope to descend into the depths, and one of the clerics used detect evil to determine that there was some serious evil down at the bottom. They returned to the stream and kept following it through the swamp, eventually coming upon the standing stones at about dusk. Shortly after they arrived and were investigating the stones, the mob led by the Jarl appeared.
There was a little bit of puffery, but the party allowed the mob to tie Morgan to the altar. They told the Jarl they were going to kill the hound, which was greeted with laughter. "Bring me the head, and you will be rewarded. I don't expect I'll ever see you again," he said.
So the party built a small campfire and took up defensive positions in the mist. Eventually the hound appeared from a random direction and pounced on the chaotic warrior, Juan Delgado, now clad in the black steel plate mail from Molan. (Combined with a shield, he's got a 19 AC... pretty stout. But, he only has 5 hp... so, I'm looking forward to finally connecting with a critical on him. heh heh.) The hound was rather ineffectual, and after the surprise round, the party engaged it. Shun Tai the Elf failed a sleep spell and put himself to sleep instead, but the other elf, Miao Yen, used color spray to knock the hound unconscious and blind it. (There's nothing I could see in demon traits that said immune to sleep or blindness, unfortunately.)
From there, they decided to tie it up - they had 50' of rope and 20' of chain - and then proceeded to whale on it. Rolling d24s to attack, first Juan Delgado missed (hah) but then Dolores the Thief, Fatty McGee the Warrior, and Yngwie Malmsteen the Dwarf all rolled criticals, so the hound went splat rather quickly. After it dissolved, Juan Delgado was convinced it was dead and that the Jarl owed them a reward, but Dolores reminded him that they needed a head for that.
Upon freeing Morgan, who was hysterical but ultimately calmed down and was grateful (though she wondered why they hadn't freed her before the hound came), and seeing that the party was mostly interested in a reward, offered that her father, Broegan, would reward the party. They determined that walking into town with Morgan visible was a bad idea, so Dolores used some make-up (Disguise +3 on Chaotic Thieves!) and cut her hair a bit and they trudged off to the town some distance away.
The guardsmen hailed them and let them in, asking for news of the outside world. The party comes from a town called Farburg (well, that's the castle that protects the town, anyway), though the people of Hirot live on the other side of some tall mountains, and have never heard of it. They went to the inn and Broegan was very pleased. He fed them a few rumors, and knew about the mound of the Ulfeonar, the ancient ones. Determining that the wolf spear was a fake, they did some light shopping and picked up a few new suits of armor and some shields before setting out for the tomb.
Once there, Dolores discovered a bundle in the pool, but they failed (after 3! attempts) to push open the door, so started looking around for another way in. They discovered the collapsed wall and climbed down inside, explored to the main chamber with all the snakeskins. They quickly discovered the crawlspace, and Leroy Jenkins the Thief climbed up inside, slowly and carefully, with a torch. He didn't go very far... they'd tied a rope to him to pull him out, and he wisely realized that the turns in the passage would prevent that, so he left before he'd gone far enough for the third tomb ghoul to sneak up on him.
They then went south and into the tomb of the bear, and searching around were attacked by the ghouls. The ghouls successfully hit Yngwie, but the dwarf has pretty good hit points, and then the party's warriors administered a beatdown. My players seem to like the defensive fighting deed as a default... part of that is because they're mostly in light armor, except for Juan Delgado.
Anyway, the ghouls went splat, then they explored south to the pit, took the stairs down to discover the spears, then went back upstairs. Seeing the danger in the room, Dolores said "Hey, let's break off all those spears before we cross, JUST IN CASE WE FALL." +1 xp for that, Dolores, well played.
We halted there, but I fully expect they'll arouse the water elemental next session and somebody's gonna get drowned. !
There was a little bit of puffery, but the party allowed the mob to tie Morgan to the altar. They told the Jarl they were going to kill the hound, which was greeted with laughter. "Bring me the head, and you will be rewarded. I don't expect I'll ever see you again," he said.
So the party built a small campfire and took up defensive positions in the mist. Eventually the hound appeared from a random direction and pounced on the chaotic warrior, Juan Delgado, now clad in the black steel plate mail from Molan. (Combined with a shield, he's got a 19 AC... pretty stout. But, he only has 5 hp... so, I'm looking forward to finally connecting with a critical on him. heh heh.) The hound was rather ineffectual, and after the surprise round, the party engaged it. Shun Tai the Elf failed a sleep spell and put himself to sleep instead, but the other elf, Miao Yen, used color spray to knock the hound unconscious and blind it. (There's nothing I could see in demon traits that said immune to sleep or blindness, unfortunately.)
From there, they decided to tie it up - they had 50' of rope and 20' of chain - and then proceeded to whale on it. Rolling d24s to attack, first Juan Delgado missed (hah) but then Dolores the Thief, Fatty McGee the Warrior, and Yngwie Malmsteen the Dwarf all rolled criticals, so the hound went splat rather quickly. After it dissolved, Juan Delgado was convinced it was dead and that the Jarl owed them a reward, but Dolores reminded him that they needed a head for that.
Upon freeing Morgan, who was hysterical but ultimately calmed down and was grateful (though she wondered why they hadn't freed her before the hound came), and seeing that the party was mostly interested in a reward, offered that her father, Broegan, would reward the party. They determined that walking into town with Morgan visible was a bad idea, so Dolores used some make-up (Disguise +3 on Chaotic Thieves!) and cut her hair a bit and they trudged off to the town some distance away.
The guardsmen hailed them and let them in, asking for news of the outside world. The party comes from a town called Farburg (well, that's the castle that protects the town, anyway), though the people of Hirot live on the other side of some tall mountains, and have never heard of it. They went to the inn and Broegan was very pleased. He fed them a few rumors, and knew about the mound of the Ulfeonar, the ancient ones. Determining that the wolf spear was a fake, they did some light shopping and picked up a few new suits of armor and some shields before setting out for the tomb.
Once there, Dolores discovered a bundle in the pool, but they failed (after 3! attempts) to push open the door, so started looking around for another way in. They discovered the collapsed wall and climbed down inside, explored to the main chamber with all the snakeskins. They quickly discovered the crawlspace, and Leroy Jenkins the Thief climbed up inside, slowly and carefully, with a torch. He didn't go very far... they'd tied a rope to him to pull him out, and he wisely realized that the turns in the passage would prevent that, so he left before he'd gone far enough for the third tomb ghoul to sneak up on him.
They then went south and into the tomb of the bear, and searching around were attacked by the ghouls. The ghouls successfully hit Yngwie, but the dwarf has pretty good hit points, and then the party's warriors administered a beatdown. My players seem to like the defensive fighting deed as a default... part of that is because they're mostly in light armor, except for Juan Delgado.
Anyway, the ghouls went splat, then they explored south to the pit, took the stairs down to discover the spears, then went back upstairs. Seeing the danger in the room, Dolores said "Hey, let's break off all those spears before we cross, JUST IN CASE WE FALL." +1 xp for that, Dolores, well played.
We halted there, but I fully expect they'll arouse the water elemental next session and somebody's gonna get drowned. !