Grand Conjunction Problems

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Quinntonia
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

Post by Quinntonia »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:
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." :)

My guys bought Akriel's stuff hook, line, and sinker as well. In almost every review of this module people complained that their people didn't, did we just find the most gullible people to play with, lol?
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:EPIC!

:)

Yeah, it was super fun. And we are playing this upcoming Sunday so it should be awesome as they (hopefully) bust out and deal with the assembled gargoyles and monks and the dungeon crawl through the manor looking for the Crown.

I have decided that the Crown is going to be in his crypt.

Also, I forgot to mention that because the Darkonian knight was trapped in the coffin for less than ten rounds he didn't end up beginning the transformation into a vampire but he was told that until further notice sunlight is very painful and he has an aversion to all food expect raw, red, meat.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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So we got to play another session this weekend.

Basically, it focused on the players that were stuck in the chapel. What happened is that they decided to have the Forfarian Druid summon a couple of earth elemental - one large one and three smaller versions - and then opened the steel shuttered window and had the now magically enlarged Darkonian knight block the window with his magical short sword and bottleneck their foes.

They kicked open the window, and the gargoyles went to the attack, with the monks coming by soon after.

I played it as a great swarm of unthinking, unfeeling, savage, foes that were implacable in their quest to destroy the PCs. Imagine swarm of bat-like creatures clawing and biting at you as they try to enter the hole in the wall, while below a mass of zombie-like lobotomized monks used makeshift spears to stab at the players.

So with combat started they sent the elementals outside where they fought the gargoyles and were all eventually destroyed.

They were very careful not to kill the monks, as they were concerned that the monks were innocent victims in all of this (and they are) which hampered their fighting and tactics a bit. After a bit of a grind, they finally had killed off the gargoyles and moved on to finding their missing leader who had gone into the house to look for the Crown of Souls and stake the body of Dorminiani.

Of course, after stealing across the courtyard and up onto the bailey wall they eventually found their way downstairs via the secret doors, and proceeded to get trapped in a pit trap with a huge slab of stone above them, trapping them in. Of course, that means they also found the desiccated remains of a vampire hunter, and received his +2 dagger, vampire bane.

Eventually, and after using up quite a bit more magic, they got everyone out of the trap and found both the false laboratory and the the real one, as well as pocketing some valuables along the way. which I'm actually glad for as Ravenloft hasn't been terribly financially kind to them thus far.

They also found Dorminiani's back up coffin and completely destroyed it, but have not been successful in finding the Crown of Souls yet.

In short, parts of the estate are smoldering, with low grade fires, the zombie/monks (which for me are just lobotomized and brainwashed people) and they are underground, defiling, looting, and exploring the manor, but exhausted, having gone through two major combats and thus burned tonnes of spells and resources to this point. They are pressing on, and to be fair, there aren't that many other encounters here that could phase them, except maybe the Shadows in the library.

Next session I am also introducing a new character as we have a new player, who will be a monk from Hazlan. Very excited to have that character coming on board.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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How was the druid able to summon those earth elementals? Does he have that Creatures of the Id feat or whatever it was?
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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The Lesser Evil wrote:How was the druid able to summon those earth elementals? Does he have that Creatures of the Id feat or whatever it was?
I actually don't understand the question....
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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Wait!

Because of the limitation on summoning elementals on the Demiplane of Dread!!!!

Yeah, didn't think of it at the time, don't really care much now. Everything was destroyed though, perhaps if any survives to the end of his summoning time they may turn on the summoner next time? As in, summoning works, but they are trapped here now.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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Well we have had a few more sessions and are now through the Catacombs and bearing the crown!

- entering the canyon they first tried messing with the tree until they were attacked by the goblyn guards, after that they left it alone

- the group managed to find every single short cut on their own with no prompting, which sped things up considerably

- the barbarian and paladin (with no prompting) cut loose the skeleton in the canyon and it set off after Radaga, unfortunately they both touched it and felt its curse

- on the other hand, they both witnessed Radaga's death so they each got the benefit of the reward

- They found Radaga in her beautiful form but didn't buy it for a second and nearly attacked her before she gave up and just attacked them instead

- i gave Radaga and her throne some cursed weapons and watched with delight as the barbarian and paladin snatched them up without thinking

- Their next stop was into the other cave, where the wizard really really wanted to pull the lever... but was convinced to wait until they were LEAVING the cave as opposed to ENTERING it...

- The paladin fell off of the femur bridge and found the hidden pathway, leading to another shortcut

- The crown was recovered but the barbarian and paladin went down when their curses kicked in and they both frenzied nearly killing each other...

- While everyone was distracted, the sorcerer (turning evil and desiring power) put on the crown and hid it under his hat of disguise, everyone thinks its in his Bag of Holding... He has now failed a powers check...

- Now they are off to Dominiani with the Crown in hand, we'll see where things go next...
Have fun,

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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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Interesting. I wonder how the sorcerer thing is going to play out.

My players are so terrified of magical items that they refuse to even touch them before they are identified properly by the mage.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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Out of game, the paladin has just received a message from the Eternal Order to secure the crown and bring it back to Darkon, and to not tell his party about the message...

I'm wondering if my manipulations will have them at each others throats before they even get to Dominiani...
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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Haha, yes, I have had the Darkonian government reach out to the Darkonian members of my group, even the Darkonian knight having it explained to him that his wife and family has been taken into protective custody. Also had the Fraternity of Shadows reach out to the mage and the rogue leader, with the Vistani acting on Strahd's behalf with the Forfarian/Barovian character. It has been messy.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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Right now I have

- two members of the party wanting the crown for their own purposes
- one that wants to take it to Dominiani in the hopes that the good doctor will help cure him and out of a weird sense of chivalry
- one that is just along for the ride...

I'm having a lot of fun with this adventure and hope I can keep it up going ahead, like when my paladin realizes that he's been serving a Lich and that the Eternal Order isn't as good as he thinks it is...
Have fun,

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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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So a lot has happened since I last updated:

We introduced the new character, a monk from Hazlan. It was pretty easy to do, all things considered, he is all about fighting against the oppressors for the little guy and they were on a path to do just that, so it worked out well.

They entered into the countryside around Homlock, but not before Harkon Lucas made his presence known to them and had his wolfweres "escort" the party through Kartakass to the new domain that has opened up to the south. I actually played up the concept of the shifting knowledge that some Ravenloft residents seem to exhibit about their world and had the Ravenloft residents claim that the village of Homlock and the surrounding domain had "always" been there. One player even told a whole story off the top of his head of trading with merchants from that domain once when he was a kid and his father was buying something. The two outlanders in the group started to lose it and an in-character argument broke out as they tried to convince the Ravenloftians that their memory was messed up. Finally, one of them remembered that they had a map of the Core and pulled it out, and sure enough, the new domain was there as if it had always been.

This was cause for great concern, with one player actually starting to wonder if he was just "misremembering" it out of character, lol. That is, until Harkon Lucas explained to him privately that none of his minions would believe him, but he knew that place had not been there last week.

They then moved into the domain south of Kartakass and started travelling across the ghee grass plains towards the Village of Homlock. I had it be pretty uneventful but introduced the culture of the people and the geography of the place as they traveled. It was very much all about round ghee grass huts that people ran into and hid from the players as they came up and refused to answer them or come to the door when asked. The only time they spotted anyone they were wearing long, grey thick, robes that pulled over their head and hid their features completely. Of course, this meant that at times they spotted Goblyns and the undead dressed similarly and didn't know it.

When they arrived at the village they came up on the wall of skeletons and thought this a good time to leave their servant boy out of sight with their carriage (recently stolen from Dorminiani) and supplies, and entered the village. There they fought groups of Gobyns and skeletons and finally zombies as they moved closer to the church. Once at the church they killed the Goblyn seemingly in charge of the people pounding and "attacking" the church only to realize that they faced a horde of zombies and ran to get inside, where they were now trapped in a terrible dungeon crawl, with Radaga ready to presumably face them at a time of her choosing.

While inside they got to do the whole old school dungeon crawl and hero thing. They faced giant skeletons, which beat them down quite a bit, freed a couple of peasants who had obviously been tortured a lot. Then they stumbled across an elven warrior (name of Hordack-Caan) that was about to be executed by a dangling Goblyn until they intervened, but ended that combat really beat up. The elf joined them, and with no armour and a borrowed long sword would jump into every combat as though he was 8th-9th level like the PCs. They are starting to really like him actually, he may end up a longer term NPC than I originally thought.

They fought more zombies, nearly lost their Druid to an ambush, fought a Cloaker, which was a first for the players, and finally faced down a church sanctuary full of Goblyns, a Wight, and a pack of Darkenbeats, which ended with half the sanctuary destroyed and the balcony collapsed, and the Druid and Hordack-Caan both unconscious and everyone else beat up.

During this whole thing I kept playing creepy organ music in the background until the entered this room and then cranked up the volume as they saw a human playing the instrument during this foul service which they later discovered was to raise a huge group of new undead. Of course, the organist is a doppleganger, and I am statting him out now so that at the appropriate time he can sneak attack the shit out of the group. They even put their rescued peasants under his care.

At this point, they have just finished this combat, healed what they could with a found Staff of Healing and are being talked into a trap by the doppleganger. It is in the next session when they will face Radaga, and if necessary, Deagon.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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It occurs to me that I may want to put up character bios:


CURRENT PLAYERS:
Zoltan Viskozi: Level 11 Human Rogue
An outlander from a Spanish themed nation on another world called Kernland where nobles and the church controlled everything while the people lived in abject poverty and serfdom. Started out as a major problem for the group, now the de facto group leader who has taken on a bastardized version of the fallen paladin's quest.

Bellesarius - Level 9 Human Fighter, Darkon
The seventh son of a minor noble/knight on the Falkovnian/Lamordian borderlands, left his wife and children in the tender care of his family knowing that he would have no inheritance. Joined an Order that was tasked with hunting supernatural menaces only to be last surviving member after they had a run in with Adam in Larmordia. Joined the group but has very mixed loyalties with multiple interactions with Kargat members and messages recieved that his family has been taken into protective custody in the summer palace in Il-Aluk by Azalin to secure his cooperation. A huge man sheathed in metal armour, he has become the lynchpin of their combats, especially after the magic users left the group. Voted most likely to betray the party at a crucial juncture.

Oznapp - Lvel 9 Human Monk from Hazlan
Of the lower caste, but in rebellion had himself tattooed with upper caste markings. Was thrown into prison where he became embroiled in a pit fighting scene and eventually escaped. Driven almost to the point of obsession to avenge the downtrodden.

Joseph - Level 9 Human Human Druid Forfarian from southern Barovia.
Currently the only healer of the group, he is trying to bide his time and build enough trust from the other PCs so that he can enlist these powerful warriors to his aide in the Cause, which is, of course, freeing Forlorn so that his exiled people go home. Playing an expert amalgamation of Scottish/Irish patriot fighting for the homeland and superstitious and paranoid Barovian. Has been contacted by Vistani mutilpe times on behalf of Strahd, who demands reports on this group, and constantly reminds him of the large Forfarian population in his borders and that genocide is not above him.

Aslo: A Falkovnian Talon double agent is being discussed and made, about to be introduced by another player.

LIVING RETIRED CHARACTERS:
Filwik Permabender: Level 10 Gnome Wizard (Player away for a few months, hopefully)
An outlander from a gnomish kingdom wherein gnomes are the considered the top experts in all matters arcane. Began adventuring to gain knowledge and power in the field when money ran out to pay for college. Discovered a possible way out of Ravenloft in Lamordia and kept it to himself. Currently has left the party to take a position at the University of Il-Aluk after multiple offers from the Kargat with overtones of a possible apprenticeship to King Azalin.

Alexi - Level 8 Human Barbarian from Vorostokov (player moved to Texas)
A quick running hunter who depend don his partner and previous adventuring buddy Alten Tealeaf when he stumbled into Darkon, and left with Alten when that character left to protect his little friend on his way home.

Alten Tealeaf Level 8 Halfling Darkonian Wizard - Evoker (player had marriage issues and had to leave group)
A halfling mage from a small community in Darkon that once used his powers, such as they were, to defend a group of elven children from the dead in Darkon and was giften by them with some an elven cloak and boots that allows the character to his on par or better than the higher level rogue (The player rolled only 10 HP at level 8) and so developed a magical fighting style that created something of a "sniper-cannon" for the party. Found Alexi on the road and they became fast friends. After some veiled threats from the Kargat took Alexi and left for his community in Darkon to look after them in these troubled times.

NPCs:
Abu: apprentice of Zoltan, this street urchin was adopted by the group in Har'Akir and has been their servant boy since. I'm about to make him a 1st level rogue for his efforts.

Jeremy: Sir Aaron's squire, completely loyal upper middle aged courtier. Survived his master until he went missing on watch one night, never to be seen again.

DEAD CHARACTERS:
Sir Aaron Ramath, an human Paladin outlander that died fighting a Tanarri demon under the Sleeping Beast Mountains in Lamordia, heroically sacrificing himself so that the party could escape with Elise Mordenheim. Previous to that, the embodiment of an arrogant and naive nobleman more suited to tourneys than adventuring. More effective in death than life, that's for sure. When he entered Ravenloft he was a skirmisher in an army unit that consisted of Zoltan, Belgar, and Sir Aaron.

Belgar the Giant Slayer, an human Ranger outlander that died going toe to toe with Adam on a mountaintop. Was a very minor landed gentry where he came from and acted as a game warden on his home world. Most noted contribution was having a nose for finding magical trinkets and killing a much higher level than the party harper with an extremely long ranged NAT 20. Also, inventing a way to make iron rations more palatable called Balgar Stew. When he entered Ravenloft he was a skirmisher in an army unit that consisted of Zoltan, Belgar, and Sir Aaron.

Augustine of Lamordia, a human fighter/musketeer that for awhile was the heavy hitter of the group, but was basically one more failed powers check from being unplayable at the time of his death. His dark powers check has transformed him into a terrifying monster in his own eyes and he stayed on the road as not to face his love back at home. Died fighting in Har'Akir against an evil prophetess and a monstrously giant scorpion.

Father Max, a human outlander cleric that died in Har'Akir fighting the prophetess and a monstrously giant scorpion as well. Was originally in an adventuring party with Filwick that was ambushed by hordes of zombies until the two spellcasters ran into a cavern full of mist...
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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I'm kind of stymied, if I'm to be honest, at how freaking long this section in the church has taken.
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Re: Grand Conjunction Problems

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Quinntonia wrote:I'm kind of stymied, if I'm to be honest, at how freaking long this section in the church has taken.
You seem to be going at a fairly good clip. How many sessions were in that last report?
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