/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

>>143131
Aral, please try to contact me whenever your internet is fixed. We've been discussing finishing the session during the week.

Aral, you still alive, m8?

Don't mind me, just copying my notes for tommow's session session in a place where I won't lose them:
Proper boat speed: check
Boat revision: check
Plot Encounters: check
Random encounter tables: check
Pre-rolled encounters: check
Travel time estimation: check
Enemy stats: check
Combatant NPC reactions: check
Commander Auras: check
Enemy/NPC morale levels: check
Terrain/weather effects: check
Lootpiles: unfinished/revise
NPC reaction flowchart(s): check
Boat speed(s): check, revise
Number/order of enemies: check
Building structure memorized: check
COUNT special ammunition: check
McGuffin(s): check/revise
Optional quest hook(s): unfinished/revise
Plot derailment flowchart(s): unfinished/revise
Ad Hoc plot fixes: check
Party battle maps: revise
Download maps: unfinished/revise
Artorias's sheet: unfinished/revise
Artorias's thing: revise
Dragon nonsense: unfinished/revise
Variant villain stats: check
Session timeline established: check
Night Shroud's thing: revise
Aral's thing: revise
Vomeo's thing: revise
DM notes with players: unfinished

Okay, this week's session didn't go anywhere because the party tank wasn't able to attend, and the rest of the party didn't want to go forward without their designated pincushion.
I took the opportunity to rewind time by five hours (not retconning), and pointed out to the party that they were at a distance where they could have freely chatted with one another in the five hours during which they were observing Rhest, making the session an RP session where the PCs got to know one another, and rolled some Arcana/Local/History/Religion checks to see what they knew about the region.
I gave them some hype about the War Wizard Cromar, the Wizard whome they had been looking for. Cromar was among the mightiest wizards in Elsir Vale, stronger than Immerstal The Red. His War Magic Study spells and War Weaving laid waste to entire armies of goblins in the last war. He was a genius arcanist who had developed a vast array of personal and unique [War] spells. Despite his decorations, he refused to join the lord's court after the last war, retired to the Blackfens in solitude. Cromar was a skincaster, who'd tattoo'd his spellbook onto his body, and kept his most personal spells in his spellshard: an item known as the Eye Of Cromar. When he retired, he took his spells with him, and all advancements in the school of [War] magic study.

They rolled checks about hobgoblins as well. They knew that goblinoids of all kinds have cowardly and selfish tendencies, but hobgoblins above all value hierarchy and power. Hobgoblins will proudly fight to the death under the command of their leaders, which makes them apt in becoming samurai trained in the path of the ironheart. However, as goblins, they're cowards at heart, and their morale can be break easily if their leaders are slain.
Religion checks revealed that the patron deity of the goblinoids is Maglubiyet, the god of battle. Hobgoblins will worship whatever gives them power, but the instance that all hobgoblins in the region would have united under worship of Tiamat instead of fighting one another is not a common occurrance. These goblinoids must have been influenced by something to convert them all in such a quick manner, something powerful.
Further Arcana/Local checks revealed that goblinoids do indeed readily form connections with chromatic dragons, especially blue dragons. Their power-hungry and tyrannical tendencies make them well acquinted with the great blue beasts of the wastelands. Mighty blues often "adopt" a nearby tribe of hobgoblins, while stories tell of tribes that raise wyrmling blue dragons to adulthood over many generations. Some hobgoblins even share blue dragon blood, and these hobgoblins are known as the sunscorched goblins. Sunscorch hobgoblins appear much like their fellows, except for their brilliant azure eyes. They display exceptional cunning and patience, but often share the vanity of blue dragons. They have a natural love of power; when a sunscorch hobgoblin isn't leading a warband or tribe, he is likely the voice of wisdom behind its leader.
So if the party sees a hobgoblin with glowing blue eyes, he's likely one of the leaders.
The piss-goblin Cleric and the Sorcerer the party fought earlier are exanples.

Further Arcana/History checks revealed draconic hobgoblins ruling over hobgoblin tribes since generations ago. Legend tells of the Blood of Morueme, an organization made up of the dragon and draconic hobgoblin descendants of the legendary blue dragon Morueme. The blood of Morueme is likely to have seeded the radicalization among the hobgoblin tribes in the name of Tiamat.
So, basically, if the party sees a half-dragon hobgoblin or draconic hobgoblin, it's almost definitely a leader.
There were some religion checks rolled about Tiamat. She's basically dragon-Satan, and she's not a goddess you want to be involved with. The fear of The Dark Lady may be involved in fueling the hobgoblin morale, because dying in battle is preferable to sacrifice on the Altar of Tiamat.

Oh, and Aral's fancy new longbow is an intelligent weapon (because I hate myself, and went ahead and rolled all of the tables...). It appears to be compatible with him, but he has not figured out how to communicate with it yet. He may learn more about it when he's spent some more time with it. (And when I get around to fleshing-out this unexpected NPC...))

Artorias's egg-thing remains a mystery. All Artorias knows is that the temple wasn't hesitant to give it away at all, and that it's supposedly essential to the final steps in his training.
The metallic egg-shaped device is clearly manufactured; this being revealed by the rivets on its surface. Artorias wasn't given any instructions on how to incubate it, so he can't assume that it has any sort of creature in it. The device doesn't have any sort of magic aura either, so it's purpose is a mystery.
Artorias, having had this thing for several months now, may have been feeling that his temple just gave him this thing to get rid of him, when they sent him off on an ambiguous crusade to a far-off region. However, the mysterious prophecy of an army of doom rallying under a red banner has proven itself to be true, so maybe this heavy trinket might indeed be important to his carreer as a Cleric.

For some reason this egg wouldn't upload.

Oh, and for any of you lurkers who read this ugly thread, RHoD is still accepting new players. We could use another tank or a blaster.

Yesterday's session was great! We played for five hours, and the party managed to get through six encounters. That's a new record.

>The party, on the sunken bell tower, decide that it's too risky to row to the Rhest town hall now that the alarm has been sounded
>Decide to use-up Night Shroud's Swan boat feather token, conjurring a massive, self-propelled swan boat
>This was clever, because the "giant bird" intimidated the lizardfolk, who would have otherwise attempted to steal their oars and capsize their boat
>Dashing towards Rhest town hall at breakneck speed, they exchange fire with the guarding ogres, who hurl javelins and boulders at them
>Eventally, they bump into Rhest town hall, ang Ogres immediately board their ship
>The battle is intense, as the ogres are lead by two fearsome Skullcruser captains, and a hobgobin samurai with a powerful commanding aura
>Outnumbered and outsized, the party fight for their lives aboard the deck of the ship, which turns deadly when one of the Skullcrushers grapples Aral
>Night and Vomeo's healing capabilities prove essential, as the Skullcrusher's power attacks take large chunks out of their HP
>The other ogres eventually stop throwing things and board the ship as well, one of which failing his check and falling into the swamp, promptly being devoured by the cowardly but savage lizardfolk
>The party eventually slays the last ogre, and move onwards to the town hall
>Lizardfolk still watching party. Artorias intimidates them
>Seeing no immediate way inside, Vomeo and Night use their mountain hammer to smash through the wall
>They are met by a severely-brainwashed Ettin guarding the chamber; melee and ranged combat ensues
>The two-headed giant fights callously, not flinching when it's severely wounded
>Eventually, the beast keels over, and the party is free to explore the town hall
>Unbenownst to them, an invisible enemy is watching their every move
>They explore the dragon's lair, the ettin's chamber, and a torture chamber
>Vomeo finds a +6 belt
>The party hears an exploding signal arrow whistle above their heads
>It seems like someone was still there
>Aral hears commotion near the other building
>Party heads in that direction, and the
>Climbs onto the building, and are met by a Greenspawn Razorfiend
>A battle ensues, in which Night is nearly killed
>The gates beneath them fly open, and what appears to be a hobgoblin runs back towards town hall
>The party enters the building, and finds that this is the building is where the greenspawn razorfiends were nesting
>Then, suddenly, Aral is targetted by a powerful mind-effecting spell, and saves heroically
>This reveals a very disappointed and angry sunschorched hobgoblin bard/mindbender, holding an expended scroll of Dominate Person
>The bard is promptly shot to death, and the party proceeds to make the world's biggest omelet
>Using is heretic-detection ability, Artorias is able to efficiently locate every single one of the thirty greenspawn razorfiend eggs
>The party heads back to the main building
>At this point, some five dozen lizardfolk are surrounding the party, still not moving
>As they're about to enter the building, a a very-angry looking black dragon launches itself out of the water and sprays them with a metabreath-augmented line of clinging acid
>On the dragon's back is an equally angry goblin, who pelts Artorias, Aral, and Night with Bane Arrows
>As the boardwalk beneath them melts, the party has to think quickly
>Aral casts Resist Energy, Mass, protecting the party from continuous effects of the sticky-green slime
>The rest of the party heads inside for cover, Artorias casts Wind Wall to block the opening from breath weapons, arrows, acid flasks, psychic powers, and poisoned projectiles thrown by the lizardfolk, who have been driven into a frenzy by the sudden arrival of their "god"
>"Regiarix! Regiarix! Regiarix! Regiarix! Regiarix..!" The lizardmen chant, as they clamber aboard the melting boardwalk in frenzy
>Aral pins the dynamic duo with a Fireball, and is nearly slain with Bane arrows before he himself also enters the town hall to be healed by Artorias
>The goblin and dragon save against the fireball, returing fire
>Two lizardfolk manage to break in as another square of the boardwalk melts, they charge Vomeo and Aral with Acidic bite attacks, missing
>Aral makes quick work of both of the lizards
>The Dragon circles the town hall, roaring challenges and making rally checks for the lizadfolk as it waits for its breath weapon to recharge
>It's goblin rider buffs the two with spells and items, preparing for brutal combat
>both the goblin and dragon shout long slurs of proffanities, their tones a mixture of rage and panic, ready to kill the motherfuckers who stormed their base while they were out hunting
>Losing the greenspawn razorfiends is very bad on their reports, it seems
>with the dragon circling, the goblin ready to shoot, and the lizardfolk clambering onto the collapsing melted boardwalk, the party's options are limited
>What will they do next?
>To be continued

Note: I mentioned there were about five dozen lizardfolk in the area. Knowledge checks will be necessary to find any further information.

Some more-detailed maps of Rhest Town Hall

It took four tries to upload those. Idk what's been going on with this site lately...

The maps we've been using so far:

>>143678
>Where we last left our group of heroes, lizardfolk are currently pushing into the room while the dragon sits overhead and throws insults and the gobbo on the dragon's back screams at anything and everything
>Everybody retreats into the room with the big room with the hole going all the way up to the roof
>gold coins scattered across the floor
>This is the dragon's hoard, isn't it?
>New idea: try to draw in the dragon by messing with its stuff!
>No, wait, don't do that yet, the lizards have formed mobs
>Don't worry, Vomeo the party tank can handle holding them off for at least a little bit!
>Vomeo dies in 2 rounds from engaging them
>shit.png
>Nothing but a skeleton left, the friggin' lizards even stole her gear
>Luckily, Bro's new character is here to help!
>... Wait, what's that? They (because it's that one race that's actually just two dudes, whatever it's called) want nothing to do with it and were just here to kill Vomeo?
>... And you say they're retreating up the stairs as we speak?
>Wow, not what we expected
>Well, this should still be possible for the party, right?
>...
>A very grueling fight later, the three party members present have managed to scrape past the pile of lizards and drove them off with a gross misuse of action points
>Good, now we can get a breather, right?
>Right?
>5 rounds/30 seconds later, the dragon and gobbo burst in through the hole in the floor!
>Bossfight initiated
>Saarvith and the dragon start off the fight by putting everything in magical darkness
>Luckily everyone in the party has a way to get around that, whether it be magic torches, magic helmets, darkvision or just not being there
>The fight with Saarvith and the dragon starts off alright, and even goes a bit better than it should given the dragon decides to pick his nose for 2 rounds instead of fight
>However, things don't always stay peachy
>People start dropping health points like they've been given the ol' spicy keychain, and eventually start dropping themselves
>Luckily for the heroes, Artorias gets indirectly blessed by Bahamut and singlehandedly survives the dragon's onslaught with 1 hp left while both other present party members are downed
>Artorias then uses his turn to pick up the swordsage (still don't know her name, sadly) who in turn uses a stored positive charge to pick up Aral, saving the party from a total wipe
>After this, Saarvith takes enough damage to wimp out and hide under his dragon and start chugging potions like a Cure Light Wounds addict
>This leaves the dragon to do literally everything, and it somehow does better when the gobbo's not in charge of it (HMMMMM)
>After another few rounds, one party member's left standing again against the full power of a black dragon
>The swordsage, being this party member, pours a potion into Artorias's mouth, bringing him back and allowing him to burn yet another action point to bring Aral back as well
>Luckily for the party, this is the last time this happens
>Saarvith dies unceremoniously, and then the dragon dies very ceremoniously a few rounds later
>Very ceremoniously meaning with a mace shoved up its ass and its heart ripped out!
>Boss defeated, everybody heals up and levels all around!
>Looting time!
>BREAKING NEWS, Artorias's magic metal football has started to vibrate!
>After the three onlookers stare dumbfounded at it and pass/fail some con saves, the newest addition to the party, Billie the Silver Wyrmling, is born!
>Alright, now it's looting time!
>Saarvith had some dank gear on him and the dragon's horde is divided three ways, everybody takes gear as they want it
>Except for a few things
>2 bags, another bag, Lanikar's lost gear, a silver box, and some letters
>The first two bags end up containing the severed heads of Lanikar and (magic oppenheimer), generating some buzz from the party and some burning (literally) rage from Aral's sentient bow
>Hey, at least we know what happened to them now
>Saarvith stole their heads and presumably fed their bodies to the dragon (don't quote me on this)
>Lanikar's gear will be given back to the Tiri Kitor along with his head
>The third bag, silver box, and letters are all plot-related too!
>Inside the third bag contains a necklace with a metric fuckload of necrotic energy surrounding it, the silver box contains the letters, and the letters say that this is the Ghostlord's phylactery and that it was entrusted to Saarvith for safekeeping until the Ghostlord can be "convinced" to help the Red Hand!
>Is the lich being held hostage by the gobbos? THE PLOT THICKENS!
Stay tuned next week for if Bro's newest character even joins the party and for what we tell the elves when we get back to them!

>>143760
Gain 1 Action Point for le ebin recap.

Actual Video of Vomeo being eaten alive by the lizardmen this session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6YVDb1kH-E

>>143760
>Billie the Silver Wyrmling
Billie isn't a Silver dragon. She's a steel dragon.
There's an important distinction:
>Silver dragons want to fuck hoomans
>Steel dragons want to be hoomans.

>>143760
>(magic oppenheimer)
That would be the War Wizard Cromar, who's skull looks something like this, with the brilliant spellshard embedded in the eye socket.

the Swordsage is a slight statured human Woman named Night Shroud.

>>143762
>>143763
>>143764
Thank you, and noted

Meta note: you guys got to fight every species of lizardfolk this session.
>standard
>quanak
>poison dusk
>viletooth
>blackscale

>>143762
There is no official art for steel dragon wyrmlings it sees.
So have this silver dragon, and imagine it looked blue and catlike, as if I actually tried to prepare content.

I will post the loot rolled in a bit. I have some work to do first.
If any of you were to poke your heads outside, you'd notice that the ogres and hobgoblins on the swan boat are mostly only incomplete skeletons at this point, the harrowblade too. Vomeo is almost completely eaten, only a bit of her spinal cord remaining (rest in pizza). The surviving lizards have dragged away most of their former allies bodies as well; ever-resourceful those scaly motherfuckers are. I'll roll some appraise checks on ther behalf to see what was left for you guys; they didn't have much time to loot themselves, but they do know meat is worth taking.

THe swan boat is thoughoughly beat-up, scraped, partially-melted, pissed-on, and covered in blood, but it will remain fully functional until the afternoon of day 19. It's large and stable enough to make camp on, if you want.

DAY 18; LATE-AFTERNOON/NEAR-EVENING.

Most of the lizards seem to have fucked off after the mobs broke up, followed by the death of their "god". It seems like you guys cut down their population quite a bit, with substantial losses for the "giga-lizzer" blackscales, and the draconic black viletooth lizardfolk (WHAT?! DICEROLLS SAY THE BLACKS WERE DISPROPORTIONATELY KILLED?! RAAACIIISIIIM!!!); pics related. I guess it looks like the small greenies, strong brownies and psionic whities will have lake Rhest to fight over themselves for a while.

>>143790
Slightly-larger image of the viletooth lizardfolk, from Dragon Magic.

Last session we didn't do very much, due to scheduling complications. The only notable events were that a new PC was able to meet with the party and Saarvith's pet eagle flew out the window when Artorias shoo'd it away.
Aral was able to confirm that one of the tattoo'd skins in Saarvith's quarters was indeed Cromar's. After dexterously dodging a heightened Septia Snake Sigil, he was able to make out the following spells:
Cantrips:
>[ALL CORE CANTRIPS]
>Slash Tongue
>Launch Item
>Launch Projectile
>Zap Trap
>Heat Water
>Glittering Razors
>Thunderhead
>No Light
>Necrosurgery
>Stick

Lvl 1
>Locate City
>Persistent Blade
>Wall Of Smoke
>Daggerspell Stance
>Instant Of Power
>Nerveskitter
>Enlarge Person
>Fist Of Stone
>Magic Missile
>Blade Of Blood
>Blockade
>Ebon Eyes
>Power Word: Pain
>Control Darkness and Shadow
>Beget Bogun
>Rope Trick

Lvl 2
>Cloud Of Knives
>Whirling Blade
>Wraithstrike
>Lesser Celerity
>Alter Self
>Fox’s Cunning
>Alter Fortune
>Rage
>Create Magic Tattoo
>Dragon’s Eye Rune
>Blinding color surge
>Stretch Weapon
>Seeking Ray

lvl 3
>Greater Mighty Wallop
>Dispel Magic
>Hesitate
>Bands Of Steel
>Energy Surge
>Launch Item
>Scintillating Sphere
>Explosive Runes
>Greater Magic Weapon
>Blink
>Shrink Item
>Vampiric Touch
>Prismatic Mist
>Wingblast
>Ferocity of Sanguine Rage
>Energy Aegis

lvl 4
>Firetrap
>Dimension Door
>Burning Blood
>Channelled Pyroburst
>Parboil
>Celerity
>Lord Of The Skies
>Greater Mirror Image
>Phantom Battle
>Shadow Conjuration
>Slashing Dispel
>Stone Shape
>Bite Of The Werewolf

lvl 5
>Acid Sheath
>Shadow Evocation
>Sonic Shield
>Greater Blink
>Unfettered Heroism
>Telekinesis
>Wall Of Stone
>Fabricate
>Chain Lightning
>Toxic Weapon
Of course, this wouldn't be all of Cromar's spells, most of his spellbooks would have been confiscated upon his retirement when he left the circle. It notably does not include any of his apocalyptic [War] spells though, so those can be assumed to be somewhere else. Perhaps the Spell Shard embedded in his skull?

In the next session, we will be wrapping up part two of the adventure (probably), and the party will (probably), be leaving the blackfens.
I have to say, the pace has picked up quite a bit since we switched to voicechat. We'll probabably be finished by the summer, Pelor help us.

I will be making a new thread for part 3 of the adventure after next session. The early travel parts of part three are loose enough so that the game won't grind to a halt in case one or two players can't make it, and I've got a few miniquests I've been wanting to run. I'm looking foward to the next part.
The Battle of Brindol approaches.

Pics are some scenes from this adventure:

RIP Saarvith and Little Reggie. We hardly knew ye...

>>144419
I forgot some:
>True Strike (1st)
>Firebrand (5th)

Pic of what the party might've seen at Cinder Hill, had they gotten past the bridge...
Also what Terrelton looks like right now; you guys would've heard rumors from peasants that a massive army of thousands or hobgoblins, beasts, giants and dragons has advanced from the ruined Drellin's Ferry.

Okay, that was a sort of clumsy RP session, but at this point we've concluded Part II of the campaign. The party has impressed the elves so much that they have secured their assistance in fighting the Red Hand at the battle of Brindol, and were even able to secure several giant owls to cut down their travel time.

Elven Alliance points earned:
-5 Razorfiends slain: 6 points
-Elves friendly via diplomacy check/PC interactions: 1 point
-Performance At Funeral: N/A; 0 points
-Lanikar's Remains: 2 points
-Kindness; Returning every piece of the Fleet Warrior's Array *and* the Millenial Chainmail: 2 points per gift (8 points)
-Defeating the Red Hand: 2 Points
-Dropping the N-word in front of the priestess: -4 points
Which is just barely enough to get the owls. Now I get to roleplay 5 more intelligent NPCs...

They now seek to fly south to the Thornwastes, to bargain the phyactery of the Ghostlord.

END OF PART TWO

For the rest of the week until next session, I'll have the party do some basic resource management. I might DM Jorr's reactions after the party decides what to do with him after they meet up.

I will be making a new thread for the start of part 3.

>>144537
>tfw your passing comment at goblins is the entire reason why the party lost over a fifth of their potential extra help
I guess int is my dump stat IRL too

>>144749
Lmao, don't sweat it. My flowcharts aren't so brutal to cause irreversible damage by passing comments. The knifeears elves were as impressed as they could have been by the party's actions, considering everything you did for them without even asking for help. I just lowkey didn't want to give y'all flying mounts.
I did not, however, expect you guys to so readily agree amongst yourselves to return some 120k worth of hand-picked, class specific equipment. You guys got affiliation/piety points for that, not just with the elves but with your respective churches.
Killing so many harrowblades (the razorfiends, as the elves called them) played a role too, because thety really were a plague on the Blackfens, as I described earlier. You can assume that little Reggie had been in these parts for nearly a century, but the rapidly-spawning harrowblades are dysgenic bioweapons who reach maturity in only a few weeks (so yeah, every single one of those thirty eggs would have made it to Brindol with the horde). The Tiri Kitor have always kept the monster population down in the Blackfens, but even Lanikar (evidently) couldn't handle getting dogpiled by harrowblades and promptly volley-ambushed by a Ranger mounted on a Young-Adult Stalking Wyrm. Even now you might've overheard Killiar setting off with his hunters to track down that one that got away.
Returning Lanikar's remains in addition to his kit was the coup-de-grace though. Lanikar was really an irreplaceable figure in their society, and elven funeral rites are taken very seriously. Death among their kind is so rare...

So yeah, you guys handled this part quite well. Aral's Surival skills helped you avoid most of the encounters that would have hampered you, his arcane and divine spells made all of the difference in many encounters, and he's made a reputation out of killing harrowblades in 12 seconds flat. Artorias's healing and support capabilities turned out to be indespensible in the boss encounter when he was the only one left standing; he also proved to be quite the melee combatant when fighting the Cult Of The Dragon, and did get to clinch finishing blow against little Reggie, who was predisposed to flee at low health and make the party fight him all over again. Night Shroud's martial capabilities were uncontested in melee and surprised me many times with her clever application of skills, maneuvers and RP tactics; her auxhillery healing capabilities proved essential when it really mattered in the hardest fights. Vomeo's thicc, meaty body proved to be an ample meatshield worthy of a Crusader, taking shot after shot with her auto-healing and doing damage to enemies all the way as she protected the party by absorbing ever more, and her flesh was tender and juicy enough to buy you guys a couple extra rounds as the frenzied lizardfolk devoured her like piranhas after mobbing her, which really seemed like it made the difference between a solid victory and a TPK considering how close that fight was.

Pic related: Artorias trying not to say the N-wurd.