Adventure Log

[Scott]

There was a scroll in Queen Frupy's chamber, randomly determined spells: Astral Spell and Resurrection

[grodog]

Sounds like fight-retreat/rinse-repeat is working for them thus far

Allan.

[Scott]

Nov 29, 2020 17:29:05 GMT -5 grodog said:

Sounds like fight-retreat/rinse-repeat is working for them thus far

Allan.

It has. But fighting so close to the entrance has made it easy. The remaining giant forces have set up an ambush deeper in the Hall where they are going try to attack the party from multiple directions and cut off their escape route. That should prove more challenging, but with the damage the giants have taken, the party should be able to win as long as they don't squander their spells before they reach the ambush location.

[Scott]

A by the book note: It will take the party a full night's sleep, plus six hours of prayer/meditation to recover spells after a session like this. The plan is to spend the next day healing. With the damage they took, it will then take another full night's sleep and six more hours of prayer just to recover all of the cure spells.

[grodog]

Where are they doing this—any chance the giants/drow track down their hidey-hole?

Allan.

[Scott]

They are in the cave mentioned in the module intro. I am using the cumulative chance that the giants will find them listed in the module, but they’ve avoided detection so far.

[Scott]

My Astral Spell thread was inspired by the PCs discussing an attempt to scout the fire giants' lair using the Astral Spell scroll.
I don't want to nerf the spell, but I also don't think it would be in the spirit of the adventure to give it all away in this fashion. I could fudge it and have them run into something that could chase them away after acquiring some info. There are a few areas in the module that could cause problems: 1. the rakshasas: there is nothing in their MM description that indicates any connection to the astral plane, but they're listed as possible astral encounters 2. the Temple of the Eye: with such a direct connection to the EEG, I can see the effects here being felt on the Astral plane as well, maybe even an easier chance of getting the EEG's attention. 3. the tentacle wall: since magic can carry over into the astra plane the wall may be dangerous if the PCs get too close.

[Scott]

By the book, there's a chance the spell will fail due to the level difference of the caster and the level normally required to cast the spell. I haven't rolled it, but there would be a 35% chance of failure or something going awry.

[GRWelsh]

Since the Dark Elves worship the Elder Elemental God and demons, it might be reasonable to assume there are some demons or other extraplanar minions in astral form nearby and watching what the Drow are doing.

[Scott]

Yeah, that’s a thought. I wasn’t planning on running Q1 with this since it’s such an ‘out of the blue’ change of direction from the rest of the plot, but maybe if they bring any henchmen I’ll have a demon serving Lolth kidnap one to lure the party to the Web after dealing with Eclavdra.

[Scott]

The last two sessions were cancelled due to holiday commitments. Hopefully we will resume in 2021. Just looking ahead at the rest of G3 and the D series, there's so much prep work, and a lot to keep track of. The drow have so many special abilities and higher level spell casters for the DM to flesh out. And who knows if the party will decide to stick to the map. Erelhei-Cinlu is almost completely up to the DM to craft.

[GRWelsh]

I'm curious to see how you handle it, and the direction the players go in. I think Ernie said he and the others chickened out of Erelhei-Cinlu when EGG ran it.

[Scott]

Well, I will make sure there are plenty of clues explaining the competing houses structure, and who was responsible for the raids (house and Eclavdra specifically). Taking out, or capturing Eclavdra, will be the goal.
I wasn't originally planning on running Q1, but I do like the idea of the party having to go to save a kidnapped henchman.
I was thinking about tying in the Dorgha Torgu story, but I'm not sure. I may just want to wrap it up.

[Scott]

Sorry, I've been slacking on my updates. We've had a couple since I posted anything. Not a lot of news. More hit and run attacks. The slow process of getting all the king's treasure out. There's a ton of it. They haven't left the 1st level yet, and they have close to 500,000 GP in mostly easily transportable loot, and they're practically drawing up their castle plans now. I use the training rules, so nobody has leveled yet, but I'm sure they will. The party has started having Jastra teleport back to Sterich in between forays to have magic items identified.
There are only a handful of giants left, so it should be easy for the party to push through to level 3, depending on what they do in the EEG temple on 2.
The party did use the Astral Spell scroll to scout the Hall. They didn't try to scout everywhere, but they did see the titan prisoner. Their current plan is to free the titan and then go back to town to train.

[grodog]

Training takes time, which gives the giants and drow time to retrench and/or bail/retreat with the main loot, set traps (unique glyphs of warding, explosive runes, symbols, etc.), collapse the main entry hall, and other options.

If you're looking for ideas, and you've not re-read the TD#19 article on the Battle of Snurre's hall, it does offer some other thoughts about how the giants might respond to PC invaders.

Allan.

[Scott]

That's pretty much how most of our sessions have gone. The worst thing the party has done is failing to try to use stealth when approaching the Hall. A couple of sessions have been: march up to the front door, have a big battle at the front door, run away when resources get low. A couple times they snuck in, and looked around a bit, but they were never consistent about it. The next time they'd go right back to trying to kick in the front door. They got lucky on the rolls for the giants discovering their hiding place.
Last time they snuck in the chimney in Snurre's treasure cave and made better progress.

[Scott]

In a strange bit of coincidence, my cousin who was in the party earlier, but had to drop out of the game for a while due to work issues, will be rejoining the party, and his PC and henchman will be flying to the Hall on their hippogriffs.

[GRWelsh]

I love serendipity when it happens. Trampier is the defining artist of AD&D -- along with DCS, of course. But Tramp's artwork obviously had more effort behind it and has stood the test of time. To me the "AD&D World" will always be Greyhawk as illustrated by Trampier.

[Scott]

Maylin, who has a Book of Infinite Spells, has been on Precipitation for a long time. Never used it, but for some reason wouldn't turn the page. He finally turned it before leaving town and got Aerial Servant. That could be very good or bad for the party. If they think to send a 16 HD air elemental to kidnap Eclavdra, that could greatly alter the rest of the series. But if it fails, fighting off a frustrated aerial servant is probably something they'd rather avoid.

[Scott]

Maylin didn't end up making it tonight.
The party have been holed up in their cave for about a week. Jastra teleported to Istvin to have some of the magic items identified. A ring of elemental (water) control, a ring of three wishes, and a ring of invisibility. Upon returning Ember got the Ring of Elemental Command. The ring of wishes was given to Corbek with the understanding that it was for the party's benefit, and Plāsolder got the ring of invisibility (contrariness). Eric played the contrariness very well, and the first half of the session was a lot of confusion on the other players' parts as they initially couldn't figure out that there was a curse. They went from thinking he was distracted, to maybe plotting something, to putting the ring and the start of his strange behavior together. He's a 9th level fighter with a ring of free action, so it was no easy task to get the ring removed. Both clerics tried casting remove curse, but in both cases Plāsolder spoiled the spells during casting. The party ended up using one of the wishes to get the ring off. They moved to the second level and explored the cell block, freeing the thief and the titan. In the battle with the torturer and the headsman, Ingo the NPC gnome thief got tossed down the well. We ended the session after the party defeated the prison guard and his wererat companions. The ratmen were trying to flee and the party finished them off. They're now considering exploring the small rat tunnel they were trying to get too.