Escape From The Demon-Web

[venger]

We're baaaack!

Antonus stands ready to read any number of spells from his spellbooks in order to save the party.

Polymorph Self is #1 on the list. He can lead the party as a drider. Or as a nightmare with Otto on his back, as you prefer. It's 1 hour to rememorize Minor Globe if we want to wait- but I think Antonus can make a convincing enough drider that we'll be able to bypass encounters with enemies that aren't giant insects.

We're on a terminus platform without a door or a gate- there aren't many of those on the map so we should be able to determine if we are actually on the map fairly quickly and then set a course from there.

[Ginger]

Remember that doors wither somewhat quickly when there's no one inside. Once we establish we're on the map, what then? We know of two gates back to the Oerth. One leads to the Underdark (although it might still be destroyed) and the other goes to Little Boy Mountain (although it would have to have grown in the meantime). Should we just wander around looking for new gates?

[Wolfgar]

We are assuming that we are on the 3rd level of the web given that both parties rolled a 3. That may or may not be the case. Certainly it makes sense to try to orient ourselves. It would be nice to find a room that we had already cleared to give us a chance to rest.

We know how small the gate to Little Boy Mountain has become so we won't all be able to fit through it. And a small party of drow could wipe us out so the Underdark doesn't sound appealing. If we head for another gate it is likely to lead to a world where we are going to set upon again by overwhelming forces.

We could send one or two people through the LBM gate and hope they find a way to increase the size. How about Grizela (ring of regeneration) or Otto (50 hp) goes through and bleeds herself/himself to increase the size of the gate? It is certainly an evil act giving ones blood as a sacrifice but hopefully the greater good of rescuing the party makes up for it.

[venger]

In the past, rooms we emptied have disappeared after the inhabitants were slain. One of the gnolls always had to stay behind, otherwise their gnoll kitchen would be consumed by the Abyss. It's unlikely we'll find a safe haven in the Demon Web.

Antonus would like to wear the silver bracers Adler is carrying around. AC 6 just isn't cutting it against drider bites and he's out of Shield spells.

Through judicious use of the only Drow words he knows; "Heal," "Slay" and "Protect," Antonus feels he can make a convincing enough drider. Everyone else can act like they're prisoners who have just been subdued, beaten and brought to 0 hp by drider bites.

Shouldn't be much of a stretch.

[Wolfgar]

We should see if Hisspeck speaks the language of the drow and driders. Maybe he can look like another guard for us.

Who ended up with the stone horse? We could really use that for all of the bodies and invalids?

Can we fill in the current status of everyone with the main party?

Otto: 50 hp, one critical to armor, full plate degraded (AC -4?), 4 druid spells, 2 magic user spells
Raven: 8 hp, paralyzed
Adler: 8 hp, no spells
Hisspeck: ? hp
Cedrus: ? hp, no spells
Antonus: ? hp, no spells, Bob
Florin: ? hp
Grizela: 1 hp and counting
Hugh: 0 hp, paralyzed, a couple of death's door and neutralize poison
Pfiffwin: 0 hp, paralyzed, possessed by sword, 3 1st, 2 2nd level spells
Will: 0 hp, paralyzed
Perrin: 0 hp, paralyzed, no spells
Solaria: 0 hp, paralyzed, ? spells
+2 Invalids
Al: dead
Jasper: dead

[Ginger]

Raven and Adler both have 8 HP. Winthrop has the stone horse.

[Wolfgar]

Reordered status by hp count.

[venger]

Jun 16, 2008 14:31:55 GMT -5 Wolfgar said:

Can we fill in the current status of everyone with the main party?

Otto: 50 hp, one critical to armor, full plate degraded (AC -4?), 4 druid spells, 2 magic user spells
Raven: 8 hp, paralyzed
Adler: 8 hp, no spells
Hisspeck: ? hp
Antonus: 6 hp, spells: Invisibility, Protection from Normal Missiles, Polymorph Other - Scroll of Flame Arrow, Scroll of Wizard Eye, Magic Candle Snuffer summons 1hd fire elemental
Cedrus: 5 hp, no spells, 3 commands left on the Staff, Scroll of Protection from Magic, Scroll of Protection from Elementals, Scroll of Death's Door, Speak w/Dead, Find Traps, Potion of Human Control
Florin: 2 hp (*critical to armor, chain/shield effective AC 5)
Grizela: 1 hp and counting
Hugh: 0 hp, paralyzed, a couple of death's door and neutralize poison
Pfiffwin: 0 hp, paralyzed, possessed by sword, 3 1st, 2 2nd level spells
Will: 0 hp, paralyzed
Perrin: 0 hp, paralyzed, no spells
Solaria: 0 hp, paralyzed, ? spells
+2 Invalids
Al: dead
Jasper: dead

[sam]

Solaria was poisoned, but considering she was really weak, it might have worn off by now. She has one spell left, entangle, but obviously can switch it out.

[Wolfgar]

Given that the random encounters have tended to be stronger the lower we have gone into the web, we should get off this level as soon as possible and get onto a upper level. I will rely on Antonus to determine how to do this. I think we can still handle giant bugs but more driders would be disastrous.

We should consider moving in near darkness and rely on the members with infravision to spot danger. This may allow us to miss encounters from over and underpasses. If we do have encounters then we can bring out light stones.

We should use our last cleric spells on Raven and Grizela. We will need to rely on our fighters to get us out of here. If anyone has better armor for Raven or Grizela I suggest they swap.

Does anyone want to use the vorpal sword? Pfiffwin is currently unconscious and isn't proficient with it. If not Otto will take it just to remove it from Pfiffwin's possession. Otto will still use the frostbrand since it gives defensive bonuses as well.

We should see if the caduceus works in the hands of cleric. Hisspeck tried to use it but I doubt it will work for a non-cleric.

Should we have Hisspeck drag Jasper's body?

[Ginger]

Sounds like a plan. I don't know who can use the sword. Dell is the only other non-good PC who can use a sword, right?

[Wolfgar]

Jun 18, 2008 8:19:28 GMT -5 Ginger said:

Sounds like a plan. I don't know who can use the sword. Dell is the only other non-good PC who can use a sword, right?

I thought we decided any neutral could use the sword. It hurt CG Cedrus but not CN Pfiffwin.

[Ginger]

I think that neutrality along the good-evil axis might be more important than neutrality along the law-chaos axis, but I don't know. Does anyone have an INT and CHA that combine to more than 28 (Pfiffwin's score)? It's 26 for Raven, so at his low HP score he would be dominated by the sword.

[venger]

Jun 18, 2008 8:01:59 GMT -5 Wolfgar said:

I will rely on Antonus to determine how to do this.

... technically we started on a lower level. We were teleported to a higher level and had to jump down to get back to the original gate level. The threads of the Demon-Web interlace in such a way that one thread can pass over another and 60 feet later pass under that same thread without a discernable slope.

We're doomed, doomed I say! I'm rolling up a half-orc.

Jun 18, 2008 8:01:59 GMT -5 Wolfgar said:

We should consider moving in near darkness and rely on the members with infravision to spot danger. This may allow us to miss encounters from over and underpasses. If we do have encounters then we can bring out light stones.

Your mapper will need to be able to see to some degree in order to determine where we are and how to get out...

Jun 18, 2008 8:01:59 GMT -5 Wolfgar said:

We should see if the caduceus works in the hands of cleric. Hisspeck tried to use it but I doubt it will work for a non-cleric.

We need holy water. Antonus had 1 allocation and Hisspeck wasted it. Nobody else seemed to have any.

Jun 18, 2008 9:40:56 GMT -5 Ginger said:

Does anyone have an INT and CHA that combine to more than 28 (Pfiffwin's score)? It's 26 for Raven, so at his low HP score he would be dominated by the sword.

Antonus has a 32...

[Wolfgar]

We should just ask the sword who should wield it. It is intelligent, should speak a number of languages and can detect good and evil. If it doesn't help us get out of here it will never get to save the lizard people. So it is in the sword's best interests to help us.

I wonder if the ego of the sword is decreased since its bonuses are also effectively lowered in the abyss. An argument could be made that its ego should be decreased by 4 since special swords get double their + rating in ego points. Any comment from the DM?

Did the driders possess anything out of the ordinary?

[Ginger]

The sword is intelligent, but it is still a magical construct. It is pretty single-minded, and may not necessarily be able to do the kind of rational long-term evaluations we'd like it do do.

[venger]

Jun 19, 2008 11:11:19 GMT -5 Ginger said:

The sword is intelligent, but it is still a magical construct. It is pretty single-minded, and may not necessarily be able to do the kind of rational long-term evaluations we'd like it do do.

I don't think we can quite trust its judgement either. I mean, it wanted to turn around and fight that horde of demons we were fleeing from.

[Ginger]

Jun 19, 2008 11:23:41 GMT -5 venger said:

I don't think we can quite trust its judgement either. I mean, it wanted to turn around and fight that horde of demons we were fleeing from.

True, but it was persuaded that it was a bad idea. It does seem to be a bad judge of limitations, as it thought it was a good idea for Pfiffwin to go out and fight the demons, when he could have easily died. However, he didn't die, so maybe it isn't that bad of a judge after all...

[venger]

The vorpal sword died.

Antonus died.

Cedrus died.

Hugh died.

Adler died.

Pffifwin died.

Florin, -4

Grizela, -3

Raven, 0

Solaria, 0

Otto, 0

Will, -5

LeBarge, 0

Abercrombie, 0

Hisspeck, missing.

Al was already dead.

Jasper was dead.

Am I missing anyone?

Of the Company only Dell and Winthrop and Adrienne made it out of the Abyss... : (

[Wolfgar]

Driders, demons or drow?

[Dead Greyhawk]

The party suffered a TPK against ghouls, ghasts, and a wraith. It was a close battle, but the paralysis of the ghouls and ghasts were too much for the Company, in the end.

I see a few paths out from here.

1. Samantha, Dell and Winthrop and the surviving henchmen can try to mount a rescue mission of those not killed. I'll use Hisspeck as the vehicle to transmit the relevant information to the mages. The creatures of the demonweb take prisoners, and it will be up to the Company to locate and free their compatriots before more unduly horrible things happen to them. Players without characters can roll up 1st level characters to accompany the mages (representing loyal Yeomen sent to accompany Samantha).

2. Samantha, Dell and Winthrop and the surviving henchmen can leave Little Boy Mountain and the Abyss behind. Players without characters can roll up new characters. The fates of the rest of the Company will remain unknown.

3. Samantha, Dell and Winthrop can retire into the annals of time. All players will start up new characters and start a new campaign at 1st level.

Talk it over on the board and come to a consensus for next weekend. We'll go from there.

[Wolfgar]

Was this a random encounter? It sounds like we decided to go through a door. ???

I would be up for mounting a rescue. Have we figured out how to grow the size of the gate? How many hours will have gone by in the time it takes for Hisspeck to find us? Winthrop, Dell and Samantha could polymorph themselves and attempt to come in as driders or drow with the others disguised as prisoners. But if the rest of party has already been moved I don't see anyway they could be found let alone rescued.

[venger]

Jun 22, 2008 20:13:20 GMT -5 Dead Greyhawk said:

The party suffered a TPK against ghouls, ghasts, and a wraith. It was a close battle, but the paralysis of the ghouls and ghasts were too much for the Company, in the end.

We ran into 2 male driders. Slow, Fireball, Ice Storm, Lightning Bolt, Magic Missile and everyone was unconscious but Otto. Antonus died. Scroll of Protection from Magic was used and we just barely beat them. Then we sought shelter in a room. Full of undead.

Jun 22, 2008 20:13:20 GMT -5 Dead Greyhawk said:

I see a few paths out from here.

1. Samantha, Dell and Winthrop and the surviving henchmen can try to mount a rescue mission of those not killed. I'll use Hisspeck as the vehicle to transmit the relevant information to the mages. The creatures of the demonweb take prisoners, and it will be up to the Company to locate and free their compatriots before more unduly horrible things happen to them. Players without characters can roll up 1st level characters to accompany the mages (representing loyal Yeomen sent to accompany Samantha).

2. Samantha, Dell and Winthrop and the surviving henchmen can leave Little Boy Mountain and the Abyss behind. Players without characters can roll up new characters. The fates of the rest of the Company will remain unknown.

3. Samantha, Dell and Winthrop can retire into the annals of time. All players will start up new characters and start a new campaign at 1st level.

Talk it over on the board and come to a consensus for next weekend. We'll go from there.

Option 1 is just going to delay Option 3 by a week or two. But I'm game.

Option 2 is difficult. All the low-level characters are going to stay in the back while Winthrop and Dell kill everything. Whoever lucks out and doesn't die will get enough experience to level. "Welcome to Morningstar Security!"

Option 3 is my vote. I already started at level 1, mid-campaign.

[Wolfgar]

Jun 22, 2008 20:47:42 GMT -5 venger said:

Jun 22, 2008 20:13:20 GMT -5 Dead Greyhawk said:

The party suffered a TPK against ghouls, ghasts, and a wraith. It was a close battle, but the paralysis of the ghouls and ghasts were too much for the Company, in the end.

We ran into 2 male driders. Slow, Fireball, Ice Storm, Lightning Bolt, Magic Missile and everyone was unconscious but Otto. Antonus died. Scroll of Protection from Magic was used and we just barely beat them. Then we sought shelter in a room. Full of undead.

I'm guessing no one knew to use Otto's amulet of protection from undead. :( It only has a 5' radius so it wouldn't have saved that many people but it might have made the difference between a TPK and mostly (un)dead.

[Ginger]

We could maybe have held our own against different similarly powerful creatures, but the entire party had 1, 2 or 3 HP. That made the ghoul's claw, claw, bite perfectly suited to wipe us out. Also, they were immune to turning.

Also, we chugged the potions we found from the proto-dragon lair many weeks ago. Otto had a potion of invulnerability, which is the only thing that let him survive as long as he did. Once it went down, he got paralyzed. Florin drank a potion of invisibility.

[Ginger]

Oh, no one mentioned that Cedrus was killed through level-drain. He's now an 8th level cleric. And a wraith.

[Ginger]

Jun 22, 2008 20:47:42 GMT -5 venger said:

Option 1 is just going to delay Option 3 by a week or two. But I'm game.

Option 2 is difficult. All the low-level characters are going to stay in the back while Winthrop and Dell kill everything. Whoever lucks out and doesn't die will get enough experience to level. "Welcome to Morningstar Security!"

Option 3 is my vote. I already started at level 1, mid-campaign.

I mainly agree with this. Its hard to imagine Option 1 not resulting in another TPK after a week or two. At the very least all of the new characters will get killed. But we might want to delay restarting a new campaign for a few weeks because a) Rose is leaving soon anyway and b) we want to recruit new players and c) we want to spend a bit of time planning new characters.

I think the only merit to Option 2 is if we only have Samantha stick around with the party for a few weeks until Rose leaves. She gets to keep her character and we get a boost for the first few adventures.

[venger]

Jun 23, 2008 9:49:08 GMT -5 Ginger said:

I mainly agree with this. Its hard to imagine Option 1 not resulting in another TPK after a week or two. At the very least all of the new characters will get killed.

It'll be a blood bath.

Jun 23, 2008 9:49:08 GMT -5 Ginger said:

I think the only merit to Option 2 is if we only have Samantha stick around with the party for a few weeks until Rose leaves. She gets to keep her character and we get a boost for the first few adventures.

If we're starting new we should start new. Samantha fireballing the enemy for us, letting us copy spells, turning us all invisible to escape, identifying all our items, etc. really takes away from the challenge of playing 1st level characters.

[Wolfgar]

I am leaning more towards option 3. I don't think we should use the current campaign as the starting point for the next one. Also Dana may have ideas for what the next campaign might center on. Maybe we can start a campaign that isn't all about undead armies.

[Ginger]

If we do option 1, here's how I see what's happened to our guys, in terms of plausibility.

1) The ghast leaders dragged the unconscious and non-negative HP people away to their masters. Those who fell in battle to the undead became undead. I don't know what happens to those who were already dead. Maybe they just get eaten and stay dead. That depends on the rules for ghoul creation.
2) The undead bind the wounds of those who are bleeding but not yet dead. Otherwise, same as 1.
3) Nobody becomes undead by some miracle. We're all brought to some location. They interrogate the living and have the corpses stacked up somewhere waiting to cast speak with dead or raise them or something. Or maybe the undead are separated from the rest and left to be raised at a later date in case they need something from them.

I think only the first is remotely plausible. That doesn't leave much of a company left to be rescued.

If we want to try to rescue the company, I think the only way to do it would be to have those who escaped hire a high level party to accompany them into the Abyss. Maybe the pre-gen characters from Q1 or something? It sounds like Dana doesn't want to do that, so I'd probably want to just restart the party from scratch.