Grand Conjunction Problems

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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Of course, there's always the possibility that a trickster like Harkon would let the PCs "kill" and "oust" him so he can keep tabs on them and manipulate them in their new home. (see also, Angel season 5)
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:Of course, there's always the possibility that a trickster like Harkon would let the PCs "kill" and "oust" him so he can keep tabs on them and manipulate them in their new home. (see also, Angel season 5)
Great point! If I wasn't being as traditional to the GC as written, I may even have stolen that idea.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

So finally had another session. Sadly, we lost two players, one of whom moved out of the country and another for whom the time commitment got a bit too much and he had to step away for a time. This is ad, as the group lost quite a bit of muscle and magic. One was their 7th level halfling mage from Darkon and the other was a 7th level barbarian. In game, they decided to leave the group as the Kargat had threatened the halfling's home village and so they went back to try and reason with the government.

So, basically they had left the Keep/Asylum of Dr. Dorminiani and left Gundarak and headed back to Skald. They then took the scroll to the Old Kartakan Inn, where they got a booth where they could pull the curtain across the front for privacy. Soon They saw Lucas in "Akriel" form, and she didn't immediately come over, but eventually they sent for her. It was interesting playing Lucas as trying to pretend to be Akriel but not knowing what the hell they were talking about it. "She" then revealed that they had been played, and told them how to destroy the Crown and how to kill the new Dark Lady of Homlock. They, of course, were pretty pissed, especially when she told them that Dorminiani was an evil cerebral vampire and she had "uncovered" this and wanted them to go back and get the crown and then go into Homlock and destroy his new rival and remove the crown from the board.

Of course, they basically were so angry that they demand that Akriel come with them back to the asylum, which, of course, she refused. She even tried to leave and they threatened to take her by force, at this point, she transformed into Lucas and threw open the curtain, revealing a room full of wolfweres. They immediately decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and wanted to talk it out.

Lucas then decided that he would be straight with them, and try and manipulate them by taking advantage of their better natures. So, he explained that Dorminiani was going to use the crown and likely ally himself with Akriel to overthrow both Duke Gundar and Lucas. He explained that with both the creation of this new realm on his border and the coup attempts, with suggestions that the Crown would be used for conquest, the whole region would be destabilized and war could come, with hundreds or thousands of people dying, all because they handed the Crown off to Dorminiani.

They acquiesced, but demanded a lot of supplies, which were readily provided by Lucas at great expense and then sent them off towards Gundarak glumly while giving them "safe passage" by way of an honour guard of wolfweres. They traveled into Gundarak very glumly and I thought this was a successful role-playing session when they commented, "It's like we are a weapon that Harkon just aimed and fired at his enemies."

Win.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by vachtor »

Very nicely played! I'm hoping that my game will go similarly when they get that far into this adventure...
Have fun,

V
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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It was a lot of fun.

The last few sessions, I think, are basically just going to be a series of epic confrontations/battles, and everything has gone well thus far.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Cromstar »

Quinntonia wrote:"It's like we are a weapon that Harkon just aimed and fired at his enemies."

Win.
So very, very much win here, and its good that they picked up on it themselves...which doesn't really help them with the feeling of defeat or resignation, of course...
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by jamesfirecat »

Quinntonia wrote: "It's like we are a weapon that Harkon just aimed and fired at his enemies."

Win.

First rule of shadowrunning adventuring in Ravenloft is don't trust Mr. Johnson.
Last edited by Gonzoron of the FoS on Thu Oct 29, 2015 9:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: code fix
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Cromstar »

jamesfirecat wrote: First rule of shadowrunning adventuring in Ravenloft is don't trust.
Fixed your typo there :D
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

jamesfirecat wrote:

First rule of shadowrunning adventuring in Ravenloft is don't trust Mr. Johnson.

I thought it was "Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon."

Fun fact: our group has two games on the go at any given time and we alternate back and forth between them. One week Ravenloft, the next, the Sixth World.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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Quinntonia wrote:
I thought it was "Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon."

Fun fact: our group has two games on the go at any given time and we alternate back and forth between them. One week Ravenloft, the next, the Sixth World.

Being a hero in Ravenloft is actually a lot like being a Shadowrunner, you're an exception to the rules and sometimes the "rules" react quite violently to that fact.

It's all about knowing where the various people in charge draw their borders and how you can play them against one another to keep yourself from getting flattened by their greater strength. Don't expect to change the way things work... but you can make life a little better for at least a few people and that counts for something (also you just might get paid while doing it)
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Joël of the FoS »

Quinntonia wrote: Fun fact: our group has two games on the go at any given time and we alternate back and forth between them. One week Ravenloft, the next, the Sixth World.
We do that too, half of the games in Ravenloft (I DM) and half the games in Paizo's Cauldron (another DM). With different PCs of course.

But we do cycles of two games in one setting, then two games in the other.

It's the best way I think since the DM becomes the player in the other's game, so you do not DM all the time and get to play too. And it relieves DMs from constant planning to the next game, you get a break :)

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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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And another session:

So, they had traveled from Kartakass into Gundarak in order to confront Dorminiani and get the Crown of Souls back.

I had the setting be during another thunderstorm as they knocked on the gate. They talked briefly with Dorminiani, trying to convince him that they had important information to give him. He relented, letting them in, and when the monks in the courtyard tried to disarm them, they rushed the manor house and confronted Dorminiani, who rushed the leader, 11th level rogue Zoltan, to open combat. The opening salvo was a natural 20 slam attack by Dorminiani to Zoltan, resulting in a bunch of damage and 4 negative levels. Everyone had a healthy respect going in, but that really focused attention.

Following that, Belessarius, the Darkonian knight, bull rushed Dorminiani, knocking him back a few feet and off Zoltan, trying to hold him off with his ridiculous armour class. At this point I had the gargoyles on the gatehouse come alive while monks were pouring in, which had the Forfarian Druid cast an entangle and summon a lightning storm to start zapping Dorminiani with. The gnomish wizard tried to dispel the gargoyles, which proved ineffective and in a really tense moment, their ward, the little thief boy they adopted in Har-Akir, Abu, was nearly stabbed by one of the monks.

The fight lurched forward, with everyone rushing into the manor house while fighting Dorminiani and barring the door behind them to try and stave off the gargoyles, who I depected as slowly waking, moving more and more each round.

They then had Dorminiani attempt to Dominate the Darkonian knight, not known for his Will saves, because he was having issues hitting him at all. The knight miraculously saved, resulting in cheers at the table as Dorminiani got peppered with spell, silver weapon, and magical item until a combination of a flame strike and a lightning bolt finally brought him down.

Of course, the gargoyles by this time had been battering the door until they started making it through as Dorminiani dies, causing everyone to rush up a flight of stairs together, where they used a Rapier of Teleportation that they had to jump into the locked Old Chapel. Oh, with his head, of course.

Of course, it started to scream and blow wind, so the Darkonian knight tried to pry open the coffin with his short sword. Of course, he was sucked into the coffin and on a DC 30 Knowledge: Arcana check the gnome exclaimed that they had a limited time to get him out. They tried attacking the coffin, which was starting to bleed, with muffled screams coming from inside, and I started tracking damage. I even asked that player what his Hit Points were as the blood started to pour and there were many tense moments where they paused to ask, "Are we killing him?" "Should we stop?" And so on. They, of course, freed him and he appeared dead, but they quickly discovered he was under the effect of a spell that caused the appearance of death, and when they all vacated to the crypt beneath the chapel he eventually woke up. But while they were waiting, Zoltan realized that the head was healing and they remembered that hey had forgotten to stake Dorminiani's body.

Zoltan decided that he would sneak out, after having Greater Invisibility cast on him, and looked out the window to see the monks wandering listlessly about, some three gargoyles within sight of the doorway, and their horses all dead. One of the gargoyles noticed the door open and streaked for the chapel, only to have it slammed in his face by those left inside as Zoltan went and repeatedly staked Dorminiani. Now the gargoyles were relentlessly attacking the chapel, and with the knight awoken, they waited for Zoltan.

Zoltan decided to go looking for the Crown, and nearly died in a couple of traps at this stage.

The rest finally began to worry that the gargoyles were going to breach and that they had not heard from Zoltan, so they began making plans to fight the rest of the gargoyles as the session ended.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

EPIC!

:)
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by vachtor »

My game was not nearly as epic as that! My team has just travelled from Harmonia to Skald, with the Woodland encounter added in, and met with Akriel. Some highlights:

- After besting the wolfwere at the farm, they refused to go to his place to, in their words, "steal from the dead". Missing out on a lot of loot.

- They are convinced the Maria, Ontosh, and kids are all wolfweres and it was a rivalry so they refused to help them anymore...

- Had them be attacked on the road by 3 Dire Wolves, which they were convinced were going to shift into Maria et al upon death...

- They have completely bought Akriel's story without questioning things at all. They are now on their way into the Dead Hills...


Things I'm looking forward to:

- Seeing if I can pull off 180 skeletons without killing them...

- Hoping someone touches the bound skeleton...

- Our first real dungeon crawl in about a year...
Have fun,

V
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

vachtor wrote:- They are convinced the Maria, Ontosh, and kids are all wolfweres and it was a rivalry so they refused to help them anymore...
...
- They have completely bought Akriel's story without questioning things at all. They are now on their way into the Dead Hills...
Bwahah. "These farmers terrorized by wolfweres, surely wolfweres. This damsel with a convoluted story who wants a magic crown, seems legit." :)
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