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Post by Wolfgar on Nov 27, 2012 15:04:46 GMT -5
I am guessing this place is large. Do we want to wander aimlessly around until we find what we are looking for? Or should we try the Crown of Kings to guide us directly to the Almanach of Abi-Dalzim? I am fine either way. I just want to make sure Khaddil doesn't leave without us. So the sooner we find it the better chance he will still be waiting for us.
Long term I could see setting up camp outside of the city and making repeated trips into the necropolis to open different crypts. Maybe we can make this first trip exploratory. Then we can take a list of the people buried here to the sage and he can tell us more about them.
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Post by Ginger on Nov 27, 2012 15:57:41 GMT -5
I think the city itself is obviously huge, but the Tomb of Crypts is probably much more manageable. I think that spending the first day just mapping is a great idea. I'm getting a "Where the Fallen Jarls Sleep" vibe, where we can methodically check the place out looking for our target crypt.
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Post by Friedrich on Nov 27, 2012 17:03:28 GMT -5
Well, I would imagine “our” target crypt will be different for each of us!! Friedrich is more than willing to help Colby retrieve whatever item he agreed upon in order to get trained for spells and welcomes the opportunity to introduce a lich or vampire to the broad side of his axe.
Still, should we stumble upon the resting place of….say… a long dead dwarven lord, he would hope his party members extend him the same offer.
Who knows what we will find down here.
Hey Venger, any XP this week?
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Post by Bolo on Nov 28, 2012 7:39:23 GMT -5
Bolo votes for the tomb of some fabulously wealthy person who was buried with his gigantic collection of enormous gems and spectacular jewelry. Also cash in vast quantities. Bolo is always down with cash in vast quantities.
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Post by Wolfgar on Nov 28, 2012 9:50:05 GMT -5
Bolo will be happy to learn that we found in the temple of Lu Yueh what appears to be paper money. We aren't sure how much it is worth but it is quite portable and we think that the banks in Barb-el-Shay will exchange it for gold.
It is impossible to say who or what is buried in each of these crypts without opening them. So far we have found 6 crypts with names like Vardak the Dragon Knight and Taunis Who Is Three. They seem to indicate some really nasty undead waiting for us on the other side of the mortared doors.
We also found a money lender from Barb-el-Shay who was teleported here by a mage. He promises us much in reward for returning him safely to the city.
There has also been a couple of traps in the little bit we have explored. I think mapping while the detect traps is up is the first priority. Then we can go back hit selected crypts as time allows.
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Post by Ginger on Nov 28, 2012 11:54:27 GMT -5
We have a ton of time to spend here. We're mapping the whole thing, partly to look for the particular crypt from which Colby needs a book, but also just to scope out the scale and look for points of interest. If we find a tomb labeled "Dwarven Axe Lord" or "Scrooge McDuck" or some such, you can bet we'll go visit.
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Post by Dead Greyhawk on Nov 28, 2012 21:48:27 GMT -5
I strongly encourage raiding Scrooge McDuck's tomb. He's rolling in it!
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Post by Bolo on Nov 29, 2012 12:39:13 GMT -5
We also found a money lender from Barb-el-Shay who was teleported here by a mage. He promises us much in reward for returning him safely to the city. This plot hook is interesting. Do we have any further details? Who is this moneylender? Bank-type or loanshark-type? Who is the mage and why did he teleport the ML away from Barb? And/or why did he teleport him to here?
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Post by Ginger on Nov 29, 2012 12:51:43 GMT -5
The moneylender didn't have much to say, but we didn't do all that much questioning. As Bolo well knows, moneylenders in Barb-el-Shay are sometimes unwise in choosing clients. I think he told us the name, but it didn't sound familiar to me (and it obviously could be a lie). If an evil mage in Barb-el-Shay were looking for a place to teleport a troublesome person, an accursed ruin is a pretty good spot.
His story is also suspicious. He had no idea how long he was trapped in the pile of bones, but Colby asked on what day he was teleported from B-el-S and it was a month ago. Friedrich quickly noted that he'd be long dead unless something was keeping him alive. Paavo believes the man to be evil, but run of the mill evil, not magically malevolent evil. Khaddil is insistent that staying overnight in the city results in being forever trapped, so perhaps whatever curse exists is keeping him unnaturally alive, or perhaps he's slowly being turned undead. I imagine we'll find out once we try to take him from the city.
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Post by Bolo on Nov 29, 2012 13:52:10 GMT -5
Is there any chance that in some strange undead way he is the moneylender we met before?
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Post by Ginger on Nov 29, 2012 14:52:05 GMT -5
Is there any chance that in some strange undead way he is the moneylender we met before? There's a chance of anything, but I'm confident that the DM would have told us it was the same person. It seems like a 1D6 perception check gimmie. Hey DM, can our friend elaborate on his tale a bit on the board and respond to questions?
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Post by venger on Nov 29, 2012 20:38:27 GMT -5
Baasim Al-Talavi is a moneylender who operates out of Barb-el-Shay. He made the mistake of lending money to a wizard. When he tried to collect the wizard ensorcelled him and transported him to a dark place. Just when he had given up all hope, the party showed up. He promises a palace in exchange for returning him safely to civilization.
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Post by Wolfgar on Nov 29, 2012 22:55:00 GMT -5
Is that a palace in Barb-el-Shay? Not in the slums? Currently unoccupied? No strings attached?
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Post by Ginger on Nov 30, 2012 0:49:20 GMT -5
Baasim Al-Talavi is a moneylender who operates out of Barb-el-Shay. He made the mistake of lending money to a wizard. When he tried to collect the wizard ensorcelled him and transported him to a dark place. Just when he had given up all hope, the party showed up. He promises a palace in exchange for returning him safely to civilization. What's the wizard's name? Is he a member of the College?
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Post by venger on Nov 30, 2012 12:43:48 GMT -5
Is that a palace in Barb-el-Shay? Yes. Of course not. As far as he knows. None aside from rescuing him from this terrible, terrible place. What's the wizard's name? Goldesbayul. Is he a member of the College? No idea.
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Post by Wolfgar on Dec 3, 2012 9:05:03 GMT -5
Among our various next steps, Colby has two to recommend. Since we clearly don't have the cash to pay for training, we'll need to undertake a quest to get Colby trained by the Master Conjurer. There will certainly be a bunch of other loot to acquire while we explore the other crypts. I think we know where to concentrate our search next time. We found certainly found the tomb-complex of Ymmu.
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Post by Wolfgar on Dec 3, 2012 10:14:40 GMT -5
How far back does the ring of time reversal go? Maybe we can avoid the current fight.
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Post by Ginger on Dec 3, 2012 10:23:57 GMT -5
I think the ring goes back 2 rounds. I was going to try it when we fought the specters, but I figured that fight could have gone a whole lot worse.
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Post by venger on Dec 3, 2012 10:45:36 GMT -5
I think we know where to concentrate our search next time. We found certainly found the tomb-complex of Ymmu. 1d6 vs intelligence to check the messageboard for clues the DM has already posted about the adventure. How far back does the ring of time reversal go? Maybe we can avoid the current fight. 2 minutes. Paavo gets the feeling there is something really horrible in this crypt.
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Post by Ginger on Dec 3, 2012 11:24:23 GMT -5
I think we know where to concentrate our search next time. We found certainly found the tomb-complex of Ymmu. 1d6 vs intelligence to check the messageboard for clues the DM has already posted about the adventure. How far back does the ring of time reversal go? Maybe we can avoid the current fight. 2 minutes. Paavo gets the feeling there is something really horrible in this crypt. Well I totally failed that check, since I did a search for "Iz Omazzi" (the name of the Master Conjurer who assigned the quest) and didn't pull up the right post.
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Post by Wolfgar on Dec 3, 2012 22:56:32 GMT -5
Some thoughts.
This fight is not going well. Maybe we can disengage and shut the door. Hopefully the spirit will stay with its skull. Alternatively we can try attacking the skull. We should probably just defend until we can come up with a plan of attack since our attacks don't seem to be doing much and that is the best way to avoid level draining. Dan will cast Prayer next round if nothing else.
If we can get out of this fight. We should probably retreat and rest up. We could use healing, leveling up and new spells. I think we can select our spells more judiciously now that we know that we are facing 99% undead.
We should double check the treasure room to see if it is still full of sand. Maybe we are just the first party to make it this deep into the crypt. Also the sand and/or the treasure could be an illusion. If not maybe Colby is willing to polymorph into a giant badger and dig around in the sand.
Did we check the sarcophagi in the tomb of Kuth of Toil?
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Post by Ginger on Dec 4, 2012 11:18:17 GMT -5
Closing the door is probably the best call. Can the DM remind us about how we opened the door? Was it a regular door, was there a seal we broke with a Knock spell? I can't remember.
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Post by venger on Dec 4, 2012 11:49:37 GMT -5
Closing the door is probably the best call. Can the DM remind us about how we opened the door? Was it a regular door, was there a seal we broke with a Knock spell? I can't remember. Door was Knocked to avoid the whirling blades trap.
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Post by venger on Dec 4, 2012 11:49:42 GMT -5
Did we check the sarcophagi in the tomb of Kuth of Toil? Box of gems.
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Post by Friedrich on Dec 5, 2012 13:14:27 GMT -5
FWIW, I’m pretty sure we are fighting a demi-lich (in case anybody here hasn’t figured that out yet).
Now I know Eddie alters monsters we face to keep us off-balance but, if this is the MM2 version of a demi-lich, Paavo’s Holy Avenger should do full damage. IIRC, the MM2 says that they are evil (with neutral tendencies?) so maybe the +10 dmg vs chaotic evil enemies won’t apply.
Still, it is pretty specific in stating that a paladin with a +4 or better weapon deals full damage to these things.
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Post by Ginger on Dec 5, 2012 13:18:16 GMT -5
FWIW, I’m pretty sure we are fighting a demi-lich (in case anybody here hasn’t figured that out yet). Now I know Eddie alters monsters we face to keep us off-balance but, if this is the MM2 version of a demi-lich, Paavo’s Holy Avenger should do full damage. IIRC, the MM2 says that they are evil (with neutral tendencies?) so maybe the +10 dmg vs chaotic evil enemies won’t apply. Still, it is pretty specific in stating that a paladin with a +4 or better weapon deals full damage to these things. No, it's specific that a holy avenger will do full damage when striking the skull. Not the same as striking the apparition.
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Post by Wolfgar on Dec 5, 2012 14:01:24 GMT -5
If it weren't for the no-save, instant death, Paavo could take it with some luck. Even without the +10 against chaotic evil, Paavo averages 15.5 for each hit with the holy avenger and 18/10 strength. With it having 50 h.p. and Paavo making his saves, it wouldn't last long. But no else has a chance to hurt it.
I say we retreat and shut it in. We can ask Fizzi or the sage in Barb-el-Shay who Kish Khimet (?) is/was and how to defeat him. I think the sonic fork or maybe the staff of light would do damage against it.
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Post by Ginger on Dec 5, 2012 14:18:41 GMT -5
If it weren't for the no-save, instant death, Paavo could take it with some luck. Even without the +10 against chaotic evil, Paavo averages 15.5 for each hit with the holy avenger and 18/10 strength. With it having 50 h.p. and Paavo making his saves, it wouldn't last long. But no else has a chance to hurt it. I say we retreat and shut it in. We can ask Fizzi or the sage in Barb-el-Shay who Kish Khimet (?) is/was and how to defeat him. I think the sonic fork or maybe the staff of light would do damage against it. The skull also has a -6 AC, which isn't easy. I concur that discretion is the better part of valor.
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Post by venger on Dec 5, 2012 15:15:45 GMT -5
COUGH demonspore COUGH
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Post by Wolfgar on Dec 6, 2012 10:07:23 GMT -5
We're not giving up on the Demon Spore quest. We were advised to get stronger before tackling that adventure. So we are trying to get stronger by defeating powerful creatures and taking their stuff.
That said, how can we get stronger: -Friedrich: leveling up doesn't help much. needs better weapon and/or armor. -Trommer: can be trained in druid spells now. magic user spells next level. needs better armor or a weapon with more bonuses for certain monsters. -Paavo: still two levels away from cleric spells. could use more h.p. or higher strength. -Colby: needs training for 5th level spells. three levels away from 6th level spells. needs better protection. needs to fix armband and figure out other abilities. -Bolo: 4x back stab at 9th level. at 10th level he can start reading magic scrolls. -Nordel: 3 shots per round at 7th level. 3/2 melee at 8th level. -Dan: soon to be 7th level. 4th level spells will be useful. -Mary: soon to be 7th level. more 4th level spells will be useful.
So the original members of the party aren't going to gain much from leveling up in the near future - certainly at the rate we are going. Everyone else has a little while before they reach the next plateau. So new magic items or abilities is how the higher level characters are going to get better. Experience and training for everyone else.
Suggestions: -Trommer retrain to be a bastard sword specialist so he can use Angvmar when needed. -Friedrich retrain to be a flail specialist so he can use the rod of flailing (+3 weapon, 4 attacks/round).
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