Wherein we see the effect of the right spell in the right situation. Twice.
First, we had to deal with some map confusion. Feathergale Spire stands on the edge of the Sighing Valley, through which flows the Lost River. This river is not to be confused with the Dessarin River which flows through the Dessarin Valley, but it was. So it took some time to work out that the party needed to go farther than just the other side of the canyon. Eventually they decided to follow the Larch Trail up to the cross road, head east to the Stone Bridge and then down the river to the monastery. So, the long way around, but they wouldn't run into any of the other keeps.
Looking for thematic encounters, I noticed that the Sighing Valley was home to blood hawks. I figured I'd mix it up a little and have them attacked by a flock of small things. What I failed to notice until I started was the LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARE of two dozen small opponents. Apparently I had blocked the memory of the giant tower battle, because otherwise, you'd think I would have learned something.
The blood hawk encounter lasted two rounds, and took up most of the session. At least I didn't give them all separate initiatives. They attacked, and the group got lots of practice with opportunity attacks as they flew past. Then we got our first right spell in the right situation: Lilliandra cast Sleep. Which starts with the lowest hit points. The wounded birds took 1d6 falling damage, which killed 3-4 outright and left another 3-4 injured. Most of the fighters used readied actions to attack birds as they closed, and the spellcasters had plenty of ranged options. So even though there were a lot of targets, the group made steady progress. In the end, 20 blood hawks died and 4 escaped.
The hippogriff had been hit by three attacks and was down to 25% HP. Freyja and Maendir had to do some tag-team animal wrangling to calm her down enough for Truth to provide healing.
I rolled for a benign encounter as well, so I had them meet a party of dwarves heading south, coming from a pilgrimage to the Stone Bridge. Su'uvarax spoke dwarvish and rolled very well on his clan identification, so they had a jolly meeting, spoiled only by some heavy rain in the night, and the cart pony's discomfort with a lurking hippogriff.
I was reluctant to get into the next encounter so late, but we decided we might as well get started. So the next day, they were attacked by a chimera. Lots of ranged attacks as it closed, but the thing has a ton of hit points. Most of the party scattered, but it was able to catch Silaqui and Miyamoto in its fire breath, and they both fell down. Su'uvarax pulled them to shelter and stabilized Silaqui; Lilliandra cast Healing Word on Miyamoto.
Then came our second right spell for the right situation. The group had rolled to see what they knew about chimera, and most of them were pretty knowledgeable. Truth wanted to know if it was intelligent and territorial. When the answers came back "no" and "yes," he cast Phantasmal Force to create an illusory chimera. The real chimera was fooled and used its recovered flame breath on its "rival."
We ended the session after the second round of combat. Next time, we finish that up and travel to the Stone Bridge. Since they'll be hiking along the river after that, I need to prep some of the more watery foes. I'm thinking a tag team of will-o-wisps and hag would be interesting.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Thursday, February 9, 2017
PotA Session 19
You can never plan on the dice.
The party was, as usual, split. The two on the pinnacle would probably be okay. But on the ground level, Su'uvarax and Truth were inside the tower, low on everything, and the drawbridge was halfway up and rising. My plan was to free up Freyja and Silaqui so they could get downstairs, and hopefully get the drawbridge back down to reunite the party. For resources, I had aarakocra in the valley who would be willing to help. Unfortunately, they're not that formidable; they'd be able to help turn things around, but probably not quickly enough to help Su'uvarax and Truth. However, five aarakocra are able to summon an air elemental, and that's a game-changer.
So at the start of the round, five aarakocra appeared up at the top of the tower and their air elemental dispatched the priest. That left Freyja and Silaqui fighting single targets. Another foe had made off with Freyja's hippogriff; he rolled poorly for Perception and didn't notice the reinforcements. Freyja finished her opponent but Silaqui missed.
Down on the ground, Zook was out of spells -- but he still had some sorcery points. So we got practice with another game mechanic and Zook used Misty Step to bring his full pool of HP inside the tower. Once there, all he had was a crossbow and some uncooperative dice, but it was a start.
Then Maendir moved along the edge of the canyon to line up a shot behind the half-raised drawbridge, through the double doors, and into the guy hauling up the drawbridge -- Roll20's ruler tool is so helpful with archers. And he rolled a 20. And he has the Sharpshooter feat. And the guy had only 5 HP left. So he was obviously utterly splatulated. I decided that his corpse got entangled with the drawbridge mechanism and left the drawbridge stuck at a quarter raised -- enough of an opening for the rest of the party to exploit.
Just about that time, Miyamoto Saigo showed up to chip in. Will decided that he was from some Far Eastern region, and had been magically banished when his clan was defeated. He has been wandering and working as a guard since. I figured he would like the military discipline of the Knights of Samular, so he's friendly with them. To put him on the trail of the missing delegation, I pulled the thread of the fallen soldier's body being returned for burial at Summit Hall. Then he ran into Hazel, the rescued halfling, travelling with a caravan to Waterdeep, and heard about the caravan raids from the towers. One player introduction successfully engineered. He recognized the party from Hazel's description -- Su'uvarax, for one, is quite distinctive -- so he helped out.
The downstairs priest tried using Gaseous Form to escape once the tide turned, but his movement was only 10' and the spellcasters managed to dispatch him. The hippogriff thief landed to attack Maendir, but the air elemental pursued and finished him off. One hurricane almost managed to get away, but I forgot that he had to open the outer stable door and he just ran out of movement at the last minute. Everyone but Liliandra and Maendir had chased him downstairs, so that was the end of him. The air elemental also took care of three initiates who were escaping on some giant vultures -- no survivors for the air cult.
Afterwards, one of the aarakocra landed and told Maendir, "They will staff the tower again." Maendir had stayed outside to protect Thoril's body from the hippogriff. She wanted to fly, so he let her go. I was hoping that would be the end of her, but I rolled high, so she came back to the tower stables during the night.
With the battle over and the aarakocra on their way, we wrapped up with Miyamoto introducing himself to the party, and then they came up with a suitable funeral for Thoril. Their night in the tower passed uneventfully.
Now it's across the hills some more to the Sacred Stone monastery. I'll have to find a good encounter with an air-based creature to bedevil them a bit.
The party was, as usual, split. The two on the pinnacle would probably be okay. But on the ground level, Su'uvarax and Truth were inside the tower, low on everything, and the drawbridge was halfway up and rising. My plan was to free up Freyja and Silaqui so they could get downstairs, and hopefully get the drawbridge back down to reunite the party. For resources, I had aarakocra in the valley who would be willing to help. Unfortunately, they're not that formidable; they'd be able to help turn things around, but probably not quickly enough to help Su'uvarax and Truth. However, five aarakocra are able to summon an air elemental, and that's a game-changer.
So at the start of the round, five aarakocra appeared up at the top of the tower and their air elemental dispatched the priest. That left Freyja and Silaqui fighting single targets. Another foe had made off with Freyja's hippogriff; he rolled poorly for Perception and didn't notice the reinforcements. Freyja finished her opponent but Silaqui missed.
Down on the ground, Zook was out of spells -- but he still had some sorcery points. So we got practice with another game mechanic and Zook used Misty Step to bring his full pool of HP inside the tower. Once there, all he had was a crossbow and some uncooperative dice, but it was a start.
Then Maendir moved along the edge of the canyon to line up a shot behind the half-raised drawbridge, through the double doors, and into the guy hauling up the drawbridge -- Roll20's ruler tool is so helpful with archers. And he rolled a 20. And he has the Sharpshooter feat. And the guy had only 5 HP left. So he was obviously utterly splatulated. I decided that his corpse got entangled with the drawbridge mechanism and left the drawbridge stuck at a quarter raised -- enough of an opening for the rest of the party to exploit.
Just about that time, Miyamoto Saigo showed up to chip in. Will decided that he was from some Far Eastern region, and had been magically banished when his clan was defeated. He has been wandering and working as a guard since. I figured he would like the military discipline of the Knights of Samular, so he's friendly with them. To put him on the trail of the missing delegation, I pulled the thread of the fallen soldier's body being returned for burial at Summit Hall. Then he ran into Hazel, the rescued halfling, travelling with a caravan to Waterdeep, and heard about the caravan raids from the towers. One player introduction successfully engineered. He recognized the party from Hazel's description -- Su'uvarax, for one, is quite distinctive -- so he helped out.
The downstairs priest tried using Gaseous Form to escape once the tide turned, but his movement was only 10' and the spellcasters managed to dispatch him. The hippogriff thief landed to attack Maendir, but the air elemental pursued and finished him off. One hurricane almost managed to get away, but I forgot that he had to open the outer stable door and he just ran out of movement at the last minute. Everyone but Liliandra and Maendir had chased him downstairs, so that was the end of him. The air elemental also took care of three initiates who were escaping on some giant vultures -- no survivors for the air cult.
Afterwards, one of the aarakocra landed and told Maendir, "They will staff the tower again." Maendir had stayed outside to protect Thoril's body from the hippogriff. She wanted to fly, so he let her go. I was hoping that would be the end of her, but I rolled high, so she came back to the tower stables during the night.
With the battle over and the aarakocra on their way, we wrapped up with Miyamoto introducing himself to the party, and then they came up with a suitable funeral for Thoril. Their night in the tower passed uneventfully.
Now it's across the hills some more to the Sacred Stone monastery. I'll have to find a good encounter with an air-based creature to bedevil them a bit.
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