Journal Short Circuit's Journal: D&D: Backbreakers arc wrapup
So we finally wrapped up the story arc that started the campaign. It was awesome.
First, I should point out that I had done almost zero prep for this session. I got a little bit done last weekend, but most of that was scrapped when I realized I was that the templates I was applying was turning a Sor 5 and a Wiz 5 into two ECL 7 characters--and the party consisted of varying numbers of lvl 3 characters. Anyhow, I've been unusually busy all week, so I'd planned to do the prep the morning of the session. Instead, I found myself at work until thirty minutes before I was supposed to start DMing. (I'd actually made alternate DM arrangements in the case that I wouldn't be able to get out in time; I didn't have advanced enough warning to get word out canceling the session.)
So it was in this condition that I found the PCs making an assault on the headquarters of the criminal organization, a structure that extended two stories from the ground.
Anyhow, the PCs split into three groups. A psionicist(controlled by the player I once called spider-man) and a knight (with an AC of something like 23 and some peculiar combat abilities that include forcing everyone in the area to attack him.) used a psionic spell to get into a window on the second floor. A dragon shaman (the character formerly known as spider-man...handed to a temporary player who arrived late.) climbed to the roof, and the rest went in through the back door.
It was all over in six rounds.
The dragon shaman shot a guard from the rooftop, then broke into an atrium hallway. The mass party (consisting of two rangers, a cleric, a monk, and a character I'm forgetting. (Come to think of it, I normally hold on to the character sheets, but I forgot to collect them. Well, I hope nobody loses theirs in the next two weeks, or we're going to spend a couple hours rolling characters again.) ) barged in, holding off the five or six fighters who were on duty. (Though once they started making noise, the off-duty fighters woke up and began hastily donning armor.) The cleric cast an illusion of a giant wherewolf, which sadly didn't see much action.
The real treat, though, was the knight and the psionicist. Upon entering the window, they found themselves in the sorcerer den. (triggering a mental alarm.) They immediately stole everything off the desk, and then the psionicist recognized that the bat sitting in the corner was a magical familiar.
So the knight attacked the bat, nearly killing it. (It had 11hp) The door flew open, and the sorc stood there. The bat tried to fly out through the door, and the knight got an attack of opportunity, which wound up killing the bat.
Now, the psionicist has a power where he can animate objects and fling them. He animated the bat corpse and flung it at the sorceror. Critical hit (Nat 20, and confirm roll.). Roll damage? 1d10. Rolled 10. So the psionicist dealt 20 damage by attacking the sorceror with his own dead familiar. Leaving the lvl 5 sorceror with two hit points. Which the knight took care of.
They stabilized the sorceror, and the wall erupted in flames.
Now, you have to remember something about my campaign setting...It's a medieval city the size of New York. Eight million people in combination stone and wood structures. There's lots and lots of wooden structures. Now think "Chicago fire." Uncontrolled flame is a major, major concern. To have a structure with an uncontrolled fire is a major, major problem.
So the psionicist and knight grabbed the sorceror and leapt out of the window.
The funny thing? The fire was an illusion. The lvl 5 wizard was just outside the room, and had cast major image, which includes both visual thermal senses; Unless a character interacted with it, it would, for all intents and purposes, seem real. (If the psionicist had tried putting out the fire, he would have had an opportunity to disbelieve the fire.)
Once outside, the psionicist shouted "Fire", which was heard by enough people to get the building evacuated, during which the party slipped off into the darkness.
I'm sure it would have been a funny sight to see a bunch of fighters with half-donned chainmaille tormented with between running through a potentially burning building to the distant exit, or going to the near exit--the one with the giant werewolf.
In other news, we had a session recently without the player formerly known as spider man. It was...different. Honestly? Sessions run smoother with him around; When the rest of the players are indecisive as to what they want to do, he's already planned three steps ahead. So things tend to move quicker.
There's another new player who played in the previous two sessions. For a few different reasons, he's unpleasant to be around, leading to a lot of behind-the-back talk. I've given him the option to suppress some of these things, or not play in my campaign. Honestly? He took one warning, and seemed to fix the problem. (The issues that arose this week were more the fault of another player who was provoking him.)
There are only a few simple rules to playing in my campaigns. Don't smell like you have bad hygiene, and don't be negatively social. (Meaning, mainly, don't do something just to get a rise out of someone.) If you can do that much, you'll fit in well enough.
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D&D: Backbreakers arc wrapup
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