Well, they're not all dead yet...
We managed to get through 4 rounds of combat. Since each round had over 20 combatants, that's not too bad. Sadly, 4 hurricanes missed at least one turn because it took me a while to notice that they weren't in the initiative order. Too many moving parts, divided across 2 combats.
Up on the pinnacle, Freyja and Silaqui initially faced 2 hurricanes and a priest, with 2 more hurricanes joining in. One hurricane concentrated on stealing the hippogriff, in order to trap them on the roof. It took three skill checks before he could persuade it to take off. Freyja was occupied with fighting two more. Silaqui softened up the roof party with a few Scorching Ray spells and switched to fighting. She's a bladesinger with an AC of 20 and Freyja is a raging barbarian, so they're actually doing okay -- down to two half-dead hurricanes and a priest, since the hippogriff thief is out of it. The priest is letting the hurricanes handle things. He doesn't have any good ranged attacks, nothing that won't mess up his own guys. If they fall, he'll probably use Gaseous Form to escape to the stables, which have some giant vultures on standby.
The other combat was the frontal assault on the drawbridge. Thoril was the only one in the entry hall; the rest of them were outside using ranged attacks, but Su'uvarax parked his 315 pounds at the end of the drawbridge to keep it open. My strategy here was to get the drawbridge closed again. The downstairs priest cast a Dust Devil on the drawbridge. Thoril decided early on to withdraw but couldn't clear the drawbridge. The hurricanes have tons of movement, so they all popped out, cast Thunderwave, and popped back into hiding. Unfortunately, Thoril fell over from a thunderwave. Then he took damage from yet another Thunderwave (failed death save), rolled badly for a failed death save, and then took damage from the Dust Devil (failed death save). I offered Will a chance to save him, but the concept wasn't working out and he wants to try a samurai instead. Most likely I'll have him looking for the missing delegation, since that element isn't getting much attention yet. It would also be nice to give him a connection to the Knights of Samular, so someone could recognize the lich in the earth temple.
The hurricanes managed to clear the drawbridge and started to raise it. Su'uvarax slowed it by hanging off the end, and then Maendir shot the guy working the gears and it fell back open. Truth ventured inside the tower and Su'uvarax followed him, so the hurricanes started hauling it up again. This is making it hard for the outside group to get lines of attack. Truth got dropped but Liliandra used Healing Word to get him conscious again. She's out of spells, though. Zook used Misty Step to close and then blinded a couple of guys using him Gem of Brightness. Currently the downstairs group has Truth and Su'uvarax, both well below half, inside the drawbridge facing two guys with a handful of HP, one full strength hurricane and a priest who's above half. Zook, Liliandra and Maendir are outside; Zook is undamaged while the other two are down about half.
So things could get dire for the downstairs team, unless Freyja and Silaqui are able to join them in the next round, or they find a way to get the drawbridge back down. It's about halfway closed now, but that's enough to cut off the ranged attacks. Still, I'm impressed they've managed to make this much progress -- it's the party's third combat of the day and they were seriously outnumbered: 2 priests, 10 hurricanes, a knight and an initiate (two more initiates are in the stables, guarding the vultures). I've got a band of aarakocra as backup if things take a turn for the worse.
Of course, now they're going to expect to survive deadly encounters on a regular basis. Sigh.
Friday, January 20, 2017
Thursday, January 5, 2017
PotA Sessions 16 and 17
With holiday travel and other obligations, we wound up missing almost two months. Fortunately we were able to schedule a full-day game on New Year's Day; unfortunately, a couple of players had to leave early for a family issue; fortunately, we were able to schedule the next game for Wednesday 1/4. So two games in rapid succession to get people back into the swing of things.
We started on Sunday with a recap of all the various clues, and the party confirmed that they were heading for the earth people next. Then I promoted everyone to 4th level, granting them 505 XP for story bonus (which I had forgotten about). That got everyone poring over their character sheets again in search of optimization. This was the first time the players had gone through the full leveling process -- their characters in Lost Mine of Phandelver were pregens -- so I explained the three choices: take a level in a new class, 4th level and ability score improvement, 4th level and feat. There was a lot of interest in feats, so it took some time to sort through the various options.
Finally we were ready to play. I summed up the situation in Red Larch with the investigation, and the information about the Believers and the arrival of the priest Larrakh. They wondered if Larrakh was connected to the earth people that the Feathergale Knights wanted them to investigate. Next I had to get a decision of their path to the earth cult -- did they skirt the hills to the south or go through them? That path would determine what they would encounter next. Finally they decided to return to Feathergale Spire and proceed from there to the earth cult.
As a reward, I attacked them with four hell hounds as they were gathering to set out. The encounter took place in the middle of town. Zook had just learned Misty Step and used it to get to the roof of a nearby building; Truth made use of his new Witch Bolt spell to go all Emperor Palpatine; Maendir took advantage of his new Sharpshooter feat to trade 5 from his attack roll to an extra 10 damage. So we got through the hell hounds without too much trouble and the party took a short rest before heading out.
Then we paused for dinner, then I had to populate the response from the restocked Feathergale Spire, and then we had to break early. So we started Wednesday's game right off with a combat, as seven giant vultures and a Hurricane swooped in as they approached the tower. I started the combat with them 300 feet away, which let Maendir show off another aspect of his Sharpshooter feat -- no disadvantage for long range. Freyja had her hippogriff and flew to close, but stuck with throwing a javelin because she's not used to mounted combat.
I had thought about how to handle the hippogriff in flying combat. My decision was that the hippogriff could position itself to allow Freyja to attack, and Freyja would get the opportunity attack as they left, or the hippogriff could attack and take the opportunity attack while Freyja held on. Fortunately, the player didn't have any fantasies about riding a war hippogriff into battle, so I didn't wind up crushing any dreams.
With all the archers and spellcasters, only two vultures managed to close with the party and they were promptly dispatched. The party proceeded to the tower, and a quick scouting by Freyja revealed that it had been reoccupied. Su'uvarax had examined the fallen Hurricane and recognized him as the guy who escaped from their last tower assault, so they figured more Feathergale Knights had reclaimed the tower.
This is where cheaters never prosper: Since they managed to defeat the tower's occupants before, they are confident they can do it again. However, I've restocked the tower mostly with Hurricanes, who are tougher than the Feathergale Knights. The new occupying force is undamaged and had plenty of time to prepare for their arrival. At some point, the party will realize they're outmatched; it's just a question of how deep into the hole they are when that happens.
The plan once again splits the party; they can't seem to resist that. Freyja took Silaqui up on her hippogriff to start at the top of the tower. The rest of the party waited to assault the tower as soon as Su'uvarax lowered the drawbridge. His plan for that: use Mage Hand, which has a range of 30', and his memory of the drawbridge mechanism. It took a few rounds, but he managed to get the drawbridge open. Thoril charged in. The remaining party members weren't interested in closing, although Su'uvarax parked his 300 lbs at the end of the drawbridge.
During the first round, the downstairs attackers faced the last remaining Feathergale Knight, an initiate and two Hurricanes, while the upstairs attackers faced two Hurricanes and a priest. At the end of the round, which was the end of the session, I started adding reinforcements to the initiative order. So it's possible they're going to realize they're outgunned when the next round starts, but given their confidence level, I'm not planning on it. I'm also going to have the top-level attackers try to make off with Freyja's hippogriff, which would leave her and Silaqui stranded on the pinnacle.
The big question now is, when are they going to get that "oh, crap" feeling? I'm going to ready a flight of aarakocra to help them out. My main concern is that they'll figure they can retake the tower with their help, instead of taking the opportunity to run away. I'm going to expose the HP bars of the opponents, which I normally don't do; unless they get very lucky, they'll see their opponents are in no danger of dropping soon. But I might have to capture some people to make the point that not all the battles they run into are winnable.
We started on Sunday with a recap of all the various clues, and the party confirmed that they were heading for the earth people next. Then I promoted everyone to 4th level, granting them 505 XP for story bonus (which I had forgotten about). That got everyone poring over their character sheets again in search of optimization. This was the first time the players had gone through the full leveling process -- their characters in Lost Mine of Phandelver were pregens -- so I explained the three choices: take a level in a new class, 4th level and ability score improvement, 4th level and feat. There was a lot of interest in feats, so it took some time to sort through the various options.
Finally we were ready to play. I summed up the situation in Red Larch with the investigation, and the information about the Believers and the arrival of the priest Larrakh. They wondered if Larrakh was connected to the earth people that the Feathergale Knights wanted them to investigate. Next I had to get a decision of their path to the earth cult -- did they skirt the hills to the south or go through them? That path would determine what they would encounter next. Finally they decided to return to Feathergale Spire and proceed from there to the earth cult.
As a reward, I attacked them with four hell hounds as they were gathering to set out. The encounter took place in the middle of town. Zook had just learned Misty Step and used it to get to the roof of a nearby building; Truth made use of his new Witch Bolt spell to go all Emperor Palpatine; Maendir took advantage of his new Sharpshooter feat to trade 5 from his attack roll to an extra 10 damage. So we got through the hell hounds without too much trouble and the party took a short rest before heading out.
Then we paused for dinner, then I had to populate the response from the restocked Feathergale Spire, and then we had to break early. So we started Wednesday's game right off with a combat, as seven giant vultures and a Hurricane swooped in as they approached the tower. I started the combat with them 300 feet away, which let Maendir show off another aspect of his Sharpshooter feat -- no disadvantage for long range. Freyja had her hippogriff and flew to close, but stuck with throwing a javelin because she's not used to mounted combat.
I had thought about how to handle the hippogriff in flying combat. My decision was that the hippogriff could position itself to allow Freyja to attack, and Freyja would get the opportunity attack as they left, or the hippogriff could attack and take the opportunity attack while Freyja held on. Fortunately, the player didn't have any fantasies about riding a war hippogriff into battle, so I didn't wind up crushing any dreams.
With all the archers and spellcasters, only two vultures managed to close with the party and they were promptly dispatched. The party proceeded to the tower, and a quick scouting by Freyja revealed that it had been reoccupied. Su'uvarax had examined the fallen Hurricane and recognized him as the guy who escaped from their last tower assault, so they figured more Feathergale Knights had reclaimed the tower.
This is where cheaters never prosper: Since they managed to defeat the tower's occupants before, they are confident they can do it again. However, I've restocked the tower mostly with Hurricanes, who are tougher than the Feathergale Knights. The new occupying force is undamaged and had plenty of time to prepare for their arrival. At some point, the party will realize they're outmatched; it's just a question of how deep into the hole they are when that happens.
The plan once again splits the party; they can't seem to resist that. Freyja took Silaqui up on her hippogriff to start at the top of the tower. The rest of the party waited to assault the tower as soon as Su'uvarax lowered the drawbridge. His plan for that: use Mage Hand, which has a range of 30', and his memory of the drawbridge mechanism. It took a few rounds, but he managed to get the drawbridge open. Thoril charged in. The remaining party members weren't interested in closing, although Su'uvarax parked his 300 lbs at the end of the drawbridge.
During the first round, the downstairs attackers faced the last remaining Feathergale Knight, an initiate and two Hurricanes, while the upstairs attackers faced two Hurricanes and a priest. At the end of the round, which was the end of the session, I started adding reinforcements to the initiative order. So it's possible they're going to realize they're outgunned when the next round starts, but given their confidence level, I'm not planning on it. I'm also going to have the top-level attackers try to make off with Freyja's hippogriff, which would leave her and Silaqui stranded on the pinnacle.
The big question now is, when are they going to get that "oh, crap" feeling? I'm going to ready a flight of aarakocra to help them out. My main concern is that they'll figure they can retake the tower with their help, instead of taking the opportunity to run away. I'm going to expose the HP bars of the opponents, which I normally don't do; unless they get very lucky, they'll see their opponents are in no danger of dropping soon. But I might have to capture some people to make the point that not all the battles they run into are winnable.
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