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Cosmar
Seeker
89 Posts |
 Posted - 27 Oct 2022 : 17:37:44
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For level 6 spells, I picked up Greater Dispel Magic, Contingency, and Freezing Glance (enchantment from Frostburn book). Using Harper resources I also procured and learned Planar Binding and True Seeing. From the Song of Silence relic spellbook recovered from a previous adventure, I learned Ruby Ray of Reversal and Greater Anticipate Teleportation.
For additional level 5 spells I learned Overland Flight and Prying Eyes, and used Harper resources to procure and learn Greater Blink. For my third free-level up spell for 5th level (I get 3 free levelup spells thanks to Elven Generalist), I'm torn between Vitriolic Sphere and Boreal Wind (from Frostburn). Vitriolic Sphere is nice because it does acid damage and is SR: No, with a lot more damage done on a failed save. Boreal Wind is tempting because it's basically a much larger and stronger and longer-lasting (and re-directable) Gust of Wind that also does cold damage each round (a successful fort save negates damage, but it lasts for several rounds, potentially dealing a huge amount of damage to anyone who stays in the area). With my newly acquired Elven Spell Lore feat, I can choose one damaging spell to alter its energy type, which I would apply to either Vitriolic Sphere or Boreal Wind, depending on which I choose (so I could change Boreal Wind or Vitriolic Sphere to deal either fire, electricity, acid or sonic damage). It's hard to choose which because they both seem great for different reasons. Boreal Wind would be a great battlefield control spell regardless if targets save against the damage, but Vitriolic Sphere is SR: No, which would be really helpful against demons etc. (And also I could use Sculpt Spell feat on it to greatly enhance its area.)
I did also pick up a scroll of Dismissal, and also learned the Manyjaws spell and Dimensional Anchor.
I also picked up a pair of Bracers of the Entangling Blast, which 3/day can halve the damage from a damaging spell and cause anyone who took damage (any amount of damage) to be entangled for a few rounds (NO SAVE). I also upgraded my Headband of Intellect from +2 to +4.
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Regarding the game, we just finally basically finished our 10-day rest in Everlund leveling up and training in the meantime.
On the morning of the current day, a "miracle" happened in Everlund. Everyone in the city who was sick or injured (esp. all the soldiers) woke up to find themselves completely healed, even regenerated lost limbs. Some beneficiaries reported seeing a hooded and robed figured with "flaming eyes" they claim is the one who healed them. They've declared the day a holiday, and people are referring to it as the "Healing Dawn." A lot of people think it was an avatar of Lathander, but some subtle hints suggest it may have been Rain of Embers who we'd just released from our last mission.
Our party was meeting for lunch when we got a summons from the Harpers about a development in the Gatekeepers Crystal situation. We're currently meeting in Moongleam Tower with Earlraun Shadowlyn and Lady Amrallatha as well as a surprise guest...Lord Roraurim, one of the Morueme blue dragon brothers, disguised as a human. (Our party has some history with him indirectly, since a couple adventures back, we'd explored an abandoned stronghold of Grazzt-worshiping sun elves from Siluvenade called the Circle of the Black Hand, which we arrived at at the same time as Morueme hobgoblins who were trying to secure it as a new Morueme stronghold. That's where I found the Song of Silence spellbook and discovered the truth about Kethamil's father's disappearance.)
Roraurim has informed us that the fey'ri have started using the ruins of the Lady's Hand Monastery on Ladypeak as a refuge, and that if we want to find a piece of the Gatekeeper's Crystal, we might start there. It was just a few months ago that the Morueme destroyed the monastery in retribution for their mother's death, but they couldn't penetrate all the way into the caves under the monastery. We're now trying to get more information from him. Earlraun has said that Roraurim's aid comes at a dear cost that they're willing to pay, but we don't yet know what the cost of his aid actually is. He said he's helping us because the Morueme don't want to see fiends seize control of these lands, and that they don't want another Ascalhorn to come to power again.
So that is interesting. Our half-orc paladin PC is a worshiper of Ilmater, so I figure he'll have strong feelings about the Loviatar temple.
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Edited by - Cosmar on 27 Oct 2022 17:53:18 |
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Cosmar
Seeker
89 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2023 : 17:59:16
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After an unexpectedly long hiatus due to holidays and travel and sickness in the group, we finally got back up and running.
After studying the incomplete map of the ruins of Lady's Hand monastery created by Morueme scouts, we've prepared a bit and have now teleported to the ruins' vicinity in the Nether Mountains. Here, I experienced my first-ever in-game teleportation mishap! Fortunately it wasn't too bad. We got shunted a bit off course by colliding in transit with something. We all took 8 damage and arrived more north and west than we meant to, with the mountain to the west.
Now we're traveling to find the location where we're supposed to meet up with the Morueme scouts to get more information on the Daemonfey's comings and goings from the ruins before heading inside. Lord Roraurim instructed us to meet up with them at a menhir circle in a valley south and east of the Ladypeak mountain where the ruins are.
The map provided to us indicates a couple locations in the ruins where there are invisible fiendish sentries, and the locations of some wards. Many of these wards can be bypassed with holy (unholy?) symbols of Loviatar, and some other wards also require whips (one ward in particular requires the whips to be covered in blood). So before we left, we scoured Everlund for those things and found them. This way, we can at least bypass most or some of the wards without expending resources or time trying to take them down. (Also we're not even sure exactly what the wards do - we do know that one ward is a magic trap using the Wrack spell.)
We also learned that the entire site is affected by an Unhallow spell, with the Bane spell attached to it. And the Morueme scouts did not get a chance yet to delve deeper into the ruins, so the map only covers the surface and the first maybe half or so of the first level.
Our plan so far--unless we need to change it based on information we get from the scouts--is to infiltrate the ruins as stealthily as possible, assuming that the demonfey are there. If they are not there, we'll try to wait in the ruins for them and maybe ambush them. I plan to employ my newly learned Greater Anticipate Teleportation spell, and I advised our cleric to make sure she has one or two Silence spells prepared, and I will have a Dimensional Anchor prepared to try to prevent their escape. Assuming they have a shard of the Gatekeeper's Crystal with them, we're assuming they will prioritize escape rather than fighting, so we'll try to stop that.
Also, I'll finally get to try out my new Overland Flight spell during our overland trekking. No more feebly struggling over rocks and up mountainsides for this wizard! (I do have the Fly spell already, but since it's so short duration, I usually try to keep that in reserve for combat or other immediate situations.)
I also want to use Telepathic Bond to keep us in communication without maybe alerting things to our presence with speaking, but the annoying thing about that is that our group has one more member than my current target cap for the spell, so one person would have to be left out. Which is kind of frustrating.
One thing we don't know yet is whether any Loviatans survived the dragons' initial attack, if they're still in the ruins somewhere, and if so if the Daemonfey are aware of this and what if any interactions the Daemonfey have with them. |
Edited by - Cosmar on 18 Jan 2023 18:10:07 |
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Cosmar
Seeker
89 Posts |
Posted - 10 May 2023 : 14:43:29
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Just a quick update: this game has slowed to a crawl recently, with myself, the GM and others all just very busy with work and other life things. But there are signs of life and hopefully we'll get moving more consistently again.
We've met up with the half-dragon Morueme scouts, who filled us in on some of the demonfey's comings and goings. They occasionally send out hunting parties at night, and they have a barl'gura demon that roams the surface level as a sentry. Apparently the demonfey arrive and depart from the ruins by flight. Which makes me wonder if the ruins are warded against teleportation, since if they COULD teleport into or out of the ruins, why wouldn't they? (And given our past encounters, and our current level, I would assume they have a spellcaster capable of casting Teleport in their group, if not at least one of them having it as a spell-like ability. Plus, the Barlgura can teleport at will.)
We waited a few hours to see if any hunting parties would emerge from the ruins for us to ambush, but there hasn't been any sign of activity. So now we're approaching the ruins on foot, and are debating about how best to enter the ruins without being seen: using magic to fly up from below and straight over the walls, attempting to cross a broken bridge that is very exposed, or taking a winding stair from below that is more hidden but also warded. (A number of the wards are bypassed by holy symbols of Loviatar, which we happened to pick up in Everlund, so that should help.) |
Edited by - Cosmar on 10 May 2023 14:44:23 |
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Cosmar
Seeker
89 Posts |
Posted - 09 Dec 2023 : 10:16:39
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This PBP game started going again, albeit at a glacial pace.
We decided on approaching the temple ruins via the winding stair from below. We detected some wards, but were able to bypass them with our holy symbols of Loviatar. At the top of the stairs, we managed to spot a Bar'lgura demon sentry, but we were stealthy enough that it didn't hear us. It was preoccupied with torturing a broken-winged bird and painting weird abyssal symbols on the walls with its blood. Our cleric got rid of it with a successful Dismissal spell.
Then we cautiously descended the central staircase down into the ruins. Passing a bunch of closed sarcophagi, behind one of which was hiding a quasit, who we managed to spot peeking out at us. My wizard surprised it with a magic missile spell, which killed it.
Our party scout then stealthed farther down the hallway to a room marked on our map as a suspected fey'ri hideout. Sure enough, the scout spotted a group of four demonfey around a campfire. Judging from their description, they sound like they could be a balanced party, with at least one dedicated caster and a couple warriors (one of them perhaps a ranger, and one perhaps a gish-type). We're currently working out the specifics of our surprise round. Our tanks (fighter/ranger/occult slayer, and paladin mounted on a griffon) will do a charge attack, and my wizard will follow up with some sort of disabling spell (maybe great thunderclap or glitterdust, or perhaps a sculpted vitriolic sphere which I have, via the Elven Spell Lore feat, converted to sonic damage, and which I would imbue with entangling powers via Bracers of the Entangling Blast).
I've buffed the party with Haste, the scout (swashbuckler/rogue) with Greater Invisibility, and myself with Shield and Greater Blink, adding that to already running Mirror Image, Mage Armor, and Greater Anticipate Teleportation.
We still don't know if teleportation magic works inside the ruins, but we did sense a couple different magic auras covering the entire ruins, one of which we assume is the Unhallow effect. If any of the fey'ri try to teleport away, I will cast Celerity and either do a blast in an effort to force concentration, or fire off a Dimensional Anchor, hoping that it hits. (Edit: Actually, with Greater Anticipate Teleportation running, if they attempt to teleport, we should be able to easily stop them, I think...)
(Also, I've been playing around with some AI art generators, and I've come quite close to what my character looks like now: https://images.nightcafe.studio/jobs/KhHjAcFMmb37tRObWhLu/KhHjAcFMmb37tRObWhLu--1--hkx6y.jpg?tr=w-1600,c-at_max ) |
Edited by - Cosmar on 09 Dec 2023 10:30:27 |
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Cosmar
Seeker
89 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jun 2024 : 00:39:46
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The game crawls on at a glacial pace.
We've just now actually gone into the room mentioned in the previous post. It turns out that the four fey'ri in this room were just the watch guards. We completely caught them by surprise, and our paladin and ranger/fighter outright slaughtered 3 of them before they could react (2 in the surprise round, and a third in the first round proper but our PCs won initiative).
The fourth is still alive after catching a sneak-attack arrow from our rogue/swashbuckler, and he tried to run for it through a back passage, but I used Celerity + Baleful Transposition to switch places with him after he'd expended most of his movement but before he disappeared from sight. With our places switched, he was now just about out of movement and also with our other PCs between him and his escape.
We were about to kill him, but the paladin piped up first demanding the fey'ri's surrender (being all paladin-ish and trying not to kill someone who doesn't necessarily need to die). The fey'ri surrendered and we took his weapons and we're now interrogating him.
He revealed that he and his 3 now-dead companions were keeping watch, and were about to check in with the main group (comprising 8 more fey'ri, according to him) deeper in the ruin. He said that they will most likely get suspicious soon and come check what's going on. He also stated in response to our questions that between here and their main camp deeper in, they dispelled some "inconvenient" wards that had already been there and erected some new ones of their own. He also stated that teleportation magic doesn't work here.
We're currently debating what to do, whether to press further in or try to set up an ambush here. I'm in favor of an ambush, with everyone getting out of sight of the entrance from which the other fey'ri will emerge, and maybe me setting up a Silent Image to distract them when they first enter, maybe an image of one of the now-dead fey'ri being alive. (Our fighter has already moved the bodies out of sight, but we determined we don't have enough time to clean up all the blood before the other fey'ri come in here.)
Also I'm wondering what we should do with our captive. He has answered our questions, but no one has yet even rolled trying to see if he's being truthful. I'm trying to get someone to do so, since I could try, but with a +0 Sense Motive modifier, the odds aren't good. I think we should at least bind and gag him so he doesn't call out to warn the others. |
Edited by - Cosmar on 06 Jun 2024 00:43:36 |
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House Sylairaque: in search of lost glory
