In Search of New Armour (Part 5)

A long time it has been since I have put fingers to keyboard to update this blog. Suffice to say that, over the last five weeks, I have managed to play three sessions of this campaign. My only problem, however, is that I have been very busy playing Lord Of The Rings Online (LOTRO) that I have had little time to spend writing, save creating the continuing notes for this campaign.

LOTRO is an absolutely gorgeous game; it is a low-fantasy setting and so magic is not as abundant as in games like World of Warcraft (WoW) where demons, shamans etc. are as common an occurrence as alliance or horde characters (well, almost anyway). The latest graphics technologies have been used in LOTRO to create a truly awesome graphical experience. The colours are much more subdued and realistic, while the textures are not overstretched on surfaces. WoW suffers from colour graphics that are just a little too peachy and the buildings are chunky looking because of stretched textures. This is not to say WoW is not a good game, nothing could be further from the truth, however, LOTRO, at least to me, is a much more relaxed game and it also has a feel of being a mature gamer’s game, where I wouldn’t be surprised (I have done no surveys) if most of the players are adult aged, compared to that of WoW where many (not most) give the impression of little immature kids running around causing a ruckus. These sort of players do appear in LOTRO but they stick out like a sore thumb – very obvious, in WoW they are not so obvious because there are so many of them! But I digress.

[I wrote the above two weeks ago and since then I decided to include the latest session we played. The only problem is that I have been sick for six days (so far) and did not finish the write up prior to getting sick. Oh, well. The game was fun nonetheless and this blog is still going strong!]

So, without any further ado, I present you with the update of my Destiny Awaits campaign - at least it is accurate to the best of my memory. Hopefully Knight Errant Cavell Lazatar will correct me if I am wrong. Remember that you can click to enlarge the images and use the back button to return.

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The PCs have come across another ghoul burrow where the marks in the old cobblestones clearly indicate the coffin being dragged along the ground did not enter. The group decide to head underground anyway, continuing their search for treasure. The burrow is found to be empty of both ghouls and treasure.

Another ghoul burrow is found NNW of their current position and inside is found an open crypt with a large sarcophagus. The sarcophagus has a gold shield lying of top (later found to be gold plated) with symbols indicating worship of Eissa. The PCs feel they have hit the jackpot but as they open the tomb a chill cold creeps into their bodies and Xera removes herself from the presence of the Skeleton Lord, hurt not wanting to lose any Constitution points from being drained (it is one of the abilities of this particular monster).

The armour found on this skeleton is power perceived to be of evil channelling and so Cavell refuses to try it on, in fact, if he had donned this armour, he would only be able to remove it with a Remove Curse spell. An item also found with this creature was a Flail of Heavy Blows (+10 OB, Hits delivered x2, inflicts an additional Impact critical of severity one less than any normally occurring critical) – needless to say, Hanu took possession of this item since she is the only one trained to wield flails.

Following the trail to another mausoleum reveals a further two coffins with even more magical items suitable for use by party members but first they must fight the unlife.

This time a Corrosive Longbow (+10 OB, shoots arrows that inflict Acid Crits of severity one less than any normally occurring critical in addition to the arrows abilities.) and a Quarterstaff of Sorcery (+10 OB acts a x2 PP Multiplier (keyed to work only Sorcerers) and adds a special bonus of +15 to its wielder’s RRs against spells). Kodos takes the longbow greedily and Asmodeus automatically takes the quarterstaff.

The fight with the spectre left Xera and a few others injured. Not wanting to stay in the area while they heal the party head back to their camp of (relative) safety. Here it is that Cavell falls into a coma after trying to cast one too many healing spells on Xera. Their only avenue of saving Cavell is to take him to a nearby farming village located on a detailed map of the area Hanu happened to be carrying. They find an herbalist who just so happens to have a plant remedy that removes Cavell’s coma. They offer the woman a mere one gold piece as a donation (it was all she expected them to do) for the herb (which costs well over two hundred gold pieces, if bought in Sel-kai). That was certainly a lucky break for the PCs, otherwise they would have had to return to Sel-kai.

Following damaged tombs to the last mausoleum in this part of the graveyard, the party easily opens the stone doors and finds stairs with scrape marks leading down into darkness. Above the stairs is a coffin out of which an enormous Ghoul guard rises to protect the sanctuary of his master. A warning is given to them by the ghoul who then attacks viciously. The musculature on this foe clearly indicates a “supernatural” strength – this is definitely the thing that has been dragging the stone coffin around the graveyard of which they had been tracking. He is easily dealt with in a few rounds, especially since there are some new, high powered weaponry available to them.

Moving into the underground lair, their olfactory senses are assailed by a stench of rotting blood, so strong is it that three PCs are left nauseated for several rounds while they become desensitised to the smell. Sinks/bowls of the stuff sit attached to the walls.

Continuing to follow the scrape marks in the stone floor, the group head towards several coffins which they open and are attacked by a number of undead. These members of the Unlife are dealt with easily enough while themselves receiving only minor wounds in return.

Around the corner, another treasure finding opportunity turns out to be more slugfest!

Heading northwest, the PCs open a coffin …

Which triggers a collapse of the floor – Cavell finds that his feet are no longer on the floor and tumbles in, on top of the debris, taking little, if no damage. Investigation indicates that the tunnel beyond leads to the outside. This is confirmed as they detect a breeze moving through the now aptly named Crypt Of Blood.

Asmodeus checks out the centre column and notices a lever.

Pulling on the lever raises the centre column so that a large pool/bath of rotting blood is revealed. The stench once again becomes overwhelming and the PCs are asked to make another RR versus the stench or otherwise become nauseous. A couple of them fail and it takes a minute or so for them to become accustomed to the strong smell.

The adventuring group see the steps leading to the NW and clear the area.

They then decide to completely search this main chamber before heading down what appears to be the danger zone.

Six coffins guard the passageway leading into a chamber where there is another, but larger pool of blood that is thick and gooey. As the PC search the coffin room, Unlife burst forth intent on bringing them into their fold. They easily handle this encounter with the deftness they have developed as a team over the past several weeks.

Coming into the final chamber of blood the PCs see their goal – an ornate coffin with religious symbols of Eissa covering the lid. Their way is barred, however, by the semi-liquid pool of blood. Asmodeus decides to freeze the blood so that the party can simply walk across the ice and get to the coffin. Once the blood is frozen solid, the party notices a bump in the level of the ice across the middle of the pool. Hanu and Cavell choose to ignore it for now, more intent on opening the coffin they have been tracking all this time.

After having crossed the ice-blood a loud thud is heard coming from under the ice itself. Everyone stops what they were doing and listens intently. A second thud is heard and the ice cracks. Then a third and final thud is heard as the 4 foot thick ice shatters into the air revealing a rather deteriorated vampire. Clearly (but not to the frightened PCs) this vampire has not “eaten” for a very long time and is dying.

The vampire immediately attacks Asmodeus and bites him on the neck achieving a critical hit – now ready to start drawing blood. Hanu strikes the vampire and does some heavy damage but does not detach it from Asmodeus’ neck. Kodos shoots an arrow at the creature and the force of impact throws the vampire off its victim. It immediately pounces on Kodos who is on a higher level of the room so the vampire is forced to bite him on the lower leg. It is unsuccessful in achieving the critical it needed to start feeding, however, it again takes heavy damage from the other PCs for which its revenge is to cast Demonic Possession I on Rikku who fails his RR.

Possession is nine tenths of the law and “Rikku” immediately starts attacking Kodos, killing him, breaking a number of ribs. Kodos death, however, is not really due to Rikku’s one attack, but it is rather an accumulation of negative penalties (–100% in total) over a number of combat rounds. The vampire is quickly taken care of but Cavell and Hanu who then turn their aggressive tendencies towards the maniacal and homicidal Rikku. Asmodeus is the one who deals effectively with Rukku, putting him to sleep.

The currently active PCs deal with Asmodeus’ obvious bleeding wounds and then take outside the three unconscious bodies of Rikku, Kodos and the Vampire. The vampire does not last long in the sunlight and its ashes are collected later by one of the PCs – I don’t remember who. The PCs return to the vampire's sanctuary to open the stone coffin with the symbols of Eissa. In it they find what they have been looking for - Armour of Lesser Channeling - this armour is AT19 and has bonuses for casting spells while wearing armour as well as for transferring channeling power to another PC.

The party decides to rest a day before heading back to Sel-kai. Unsure of the state of Rikku’s mental faculties, they decide to tie him up to the trunk of at tree. His player is allowed to roll another resistance roll (RR) a day later, as detailed in the spell cast upon him by the vampire – he succeeds this time and rids himself of the demon that has been controlling his every action these last 25 hours or so.

Hours are spent collecting the bodies of the undead, many of which show indications of repairing themselves as their injuries have obviously healed somewhat. A huge bonfire is created using the bodies – this will stop them from coming back to “life”! More time is spent searching the vampire's coffin that is found to be full of thick, gooey blood - too bad they didn't check it out before the blood thawed - what a messy job that was, one I am unwilling to repeat. All I will say is YUCK!

Another day is taken to rest and complete their task before the group spend a day heading west to the road that leads north to Sel-kai. After a day’s travelling north along the road they rest at a clearing for the night. The session ends here with two days more travelling to be done to reach Sel-kai.

Till next time ...