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Post by Scott on Nov 6, 2022 13:55:35 GMT -5
They did slit Lyme's throat before they fled.
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Post by Scott on Nov 27, 2022 22:58:55 GMT -5
I didn't write it up yet, but the party is currently in the dungeon of the Great Fane of Lolth, and will likely encounter Lolth early in the next session. Not sure how that will go. She doesn't do a ton of damage, it's all save or die. She starts with 66 HPs, but her three heals push it to something like 150 depending on where she is when she uses them, and the -10 AC and 70% magic resistance it will be tough for the party to hurt her.
My strategy is to have her rush the party initially, teleport out of melee range when HPs get low, heal and summon a Type I demon and giant spiders, and use psionic blast and psionic domination from range while the party deals with the summoned monsters.
Plasolder has a ring of free action which I think may play a big part in whether the party survives or gets TPKed. He'll be able to move through the webs unhindered. The ring can also be a curse; there have been a few instances where PLasolder ended up being controlled by monsters, and the party could not try holding/paralyzing him, so they had to really fight him. I would probably roll randomly, depending on how the fight is going, to see who Lolth dominates if she gets the chance. If it is Plasolder, that's probably it for the party unless they get very lucky.
Also, if the clerics remember that they can turn the type I demon that will be a helpful. If they can get close enough, and they are willing to risk the possible negative effects of the item, they can always use Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn.
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Post by GRWelsh on Nov 28, 2022 8:46:15 GMT -5
Have you been using psionics by the book? I haven't tried using 1st edition AD&D psionics for years. I thought the rules were too complex and fiddly and also that psionics are kind of redundant with spell-like abilities. But if you take away the psionic abilities of powerful beings like demons and devils, that definitely changes the game. Also, you can't have mind flayers without psionic blasts so there must be some provision for it, I suppose.
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Post by Scott on Nov 28, 2022 9:21:28 GMT -5
Psionics aren't bad unless you are dealing with psionic vs psionic combat, otherwise it's pretty close to magic. I don't like them more so because of aesthetic reasons, but the rules are clunky, even by 1E clunky rule standards. And like you said, if you ignore them it can make some of the more powerful monsters less powerful. Lolth in spider form is a completely different encounter if you remove her psionics. You could come up with a magic equivalent for most of the stuff, like a mind flayer's psionic blast could just be magic that affects the brain the same way a feeblemind spell does.
in most situations most of the psionic abilities won't apply. Like Lolth has all attack/defense modes and a bunch of abilities, but the only ones likely to come up in this confrontation would be psionic blast and domination, so that's pretty easy to prep for.
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Post by grodog on Nov 28, 2022 23:09:15 GMT -5
She can do an awful lot with her spell-casting too, if she assume drow form.
Do you give her the Lesser God at-will abilities from Greyhawk gods too?
Allan.
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Post by grodog on Nov 28, 2022 23:10:26 GMT -5
They did slit Lyme's throat before they fled. Was that before or after he had a chance to activate Eclavdra's clone?  He could be raised by someone else in the house, too, IIRC? Allan. |
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Post by Scott on Nov 29, 2022 6:39:21 GMT -5
Do you give her the Lesser God at-will abilities from Greyhawk gods too? Allan. No, while running the adventure I play her as presented in the adventure. |
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Post by Scott on Nov 29, 2022 6:55:38 GMT -5
They did slit Lyme's throat before they fled. Was that before or after he had a chance to activate Eclavdra's clone? He could be raised by someone else in the house, too, IIRC? Allan. To me the mention of a clone in G3 was just a MacGuffin in case the party knocked Eclavdra off there. Elves, including Drow I presume, cannot be raised. And I guess primarily the nature of the Drow and thei society would result in there being more individuals happy to see her gone and interested in replacing her than there would be survivors in favor of her return. I’ve thought about a future adventure in the Vault. I wouldn’t want it to be D3 Redux. I want the party’s actions to have consequences so it’s a changed place for the next party to go there. |
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Post by Scott on Feb 22, 2023 21:57:59 GMT -5
Right now I'm thinking that when the PCs make it home I'll be taking a break from this party.
I might try to run a short game in some other genre, and then I'll be starting with fresh PCs for a hopefully more sandbox style ToEE campaign.
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Post by Scott on Mar 12, 2023 0:20:11 GMT -5
3/11/2023 Session Notes
After leaving the Temple of Lolth the party stopped briefly in Erelhie-Cinlu to gather their things and then fled the Vault. After putting some miles between them and the drow city the party started looking for a place to camp and rest. They quickly found a small cavern and made camp. They broke the watch into three shifts. On the third shift Jastra heard scittering, scuttling sounds in the passage outside their cavern. Taking a peek she saw seven huge spiders and what looked like a bloated drow torso and head on the body of a giant spider. She quickly threw up a wall of force over the entrance of the cave and the characters on watch started waking everybody else.In a few rounds the party was ready. Through the wall of force they could see the huge spiders surrounding the entrance, but no sign of the drider. Jastra dropped the wall.The spiders instantly pounced. The fighter they rescued fro the Temple was bitten and poisoned, but otherwise the party was handling the spiders easily. Then the drider, who had cast invisibility on himself (as well as shield and protection from good), appeared in the passage outside the cavern and cast a lightning bolt that caught Plasolder, Corbel, and Jastra. The 7th level caster rolled 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 1 for damage.All three party members saved, but still took 17 points of damage.The next round while most of the party continued to finish off the spiders, Plasolder moved to attack the drider and got polymorphed into a slug for the effort. With the spiders all dead the party attacked the drider in force and in several rounds took him down just as he was attempting to retreat.Ember neutralized the poison on the fighter and Corbel turned Plasolder back into himself with a dispel magic. A few cures were cast> The party rested a bit longer, and started on their way again.
To be continued...
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Post by Scott on Mar 12, 2023 20:41:07 GMT -5
After resting and re-memorizing spells the party continued along the passage. Several miles later the party surprised me. Instead of continuing on to the drow check point they had fought at on their way to the Vault, they took the tertiary passage southeast towards the ‘garden’ of Silussa and Belgos. After a short trek along the narrow passage the party saw a light ahead. They sent Ingo ahead to scout it out. The gnome returned a short time later to report that there was a moonlit garden ahead. Everybody in the party had the same reaction, “yeah right”. So the party creeps up to the entrance. Corbek disbelieved and could tell something was wrong. He told the rest of the party and was getting ready to cast true seeing when Belgos who had been nearby in bat form appeared in front of the party and attacked. Silussa animated and started using her abilities on the party from a distance. Corbek turned Belgos keeping him at bay, but when he saw the party attack Silussa he smacked Corbek’s holy symbol aside and resumed his attacks. He also brought bats and rats to help. Silussa charmed Faeringar and had him start attacking the party. Belgos hit Ember and drained two levels. Corbek has a wand of illumination that finished Belgos off. Silussa’s magic resistance failed on two big spells and she was done. The party searched the cave and found the steps dow to their lair and gained quite a bit of loot, but failed to find the magic items stashed in the lead lined box. They also discovered the deep gnome slave and healed him.
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Post by Scott on Mar 13, 2023 13:24:33 GMT -5
I was disappointed when the party avoided this classic encounter on the way to the Vault, so them stumbling into it on the way back was a nice surprise.
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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 13, 2023 13:41:39 GMT -5
It looks like the drider put up a better fight than Lolth did!
I'm so glad they had the classic Belgos and Silussa encounter before leaving the Underworld.
This party seems to so rarely suffer any serious damage, so it is a shock to see one of them lose two levels. It's a reminder of how bad ass the undead are in AD&D.
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Post by Scott on Mar 13, 2023 14:43:23 GMT -5
The drider really surprised them. They weren't ready for its spell casting ability.
A few of the main PCs saved against charm attempts by Belgos and Silussa, or the encounter could have been tougher. They also got lucky the vampire only landed one attack.
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Post by Scott on Mar 13, 2023 15:34:30 GMT -5
The party hasn't had an encounter during camp in a long time, and for most of the Descent the party were setting one person watches. I think the fear of pursuit was why the had more this time, otherwise the drider and spiders could have been bad (worse) news.
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Post by grodog on Mar 13, 2023 23:11:54 GMT -5
It looks like the drider put up a better fight than Lolth did! Indeed =) And no bounce-back on the LB, Scott? Allan. |
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Post by Scott on Mar 14, 2023 15:12:57 GMT -5
The 1” x 4” option doesn’t result in many bounce back situations, IME.
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