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Yawgmoth
Sep 10, 2003

This post is cursed!

senrath posted:

Also the stupid gnome managed to strip off all of my buffs, which meant that for the first time in a long time Follow was actually in threat of dying. And then coming back immediately because he still has 3 Contingent True Resurrections stored up.
If Mevil hadn't confused the vast majority of them you would definitely be down to 2 extra lives, possibly 1.

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girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?
How did somebody manage to get three contingent rezzes?

senrath
Nov 4, 2009

Look Professor, a destruct switch!


Yawgmoth posted:

If Mevil hadn't confused the vast majority of them you would definitely be down to 2 extra lives, possibly 1.

I would've been considerably more worried about re-buffing if he hadn't already handled most of the summons and probably would've used Temporal Acceleration to give myself a few turns to re-buff.

PMush Perfect posted:

How did somebody manage to get three contingent rezzes?

My character has a sentient artifact rod of wonder named "Neat" (which my character named), who likes to "help". Through this Follow (my character) has gotten three contingent resurrections, complete with Mario 1-Up sound, 15 random domain powers, fast healing 4, actual blood (I'm a warforged), vampire fangs, the ability to manifest a mindbow, the ability to raise karnathi undead, resist electricity 5, resist cold 5, a bonus to int at a cost of str, permanent Foresight, enchanted himself with an enchantment that temporarily lowers the SR of things he punch, and somewhere around 7 bonus feats. I may have missed something. He also have called hostile Elder Eidolon Krakens, covered the party in Bees!, generated all of the drugs, covered multiple battlefields in butterscotch pudding, nearly killed the party with a Tsunami, turned into several different dragons, turned a rather scary enemy into a wyrmling, and unsealed a Daelkyr in the middle of Sharn. This list is not exhaustive.

cigaw
Sep 13, 2012

PMush Perfect posted:

How did somebody manage to get three contingent rezzes?
I was going to say Craft Contingent Spell feat, but...

senrath posted:

My character has a sentient artifact rod of wonder named "Neat" (which my character named), who likes to "help". Through this Follow (my character) has gotten three contingent resurrections, complete with Mario 1-Up sound, 15 random domain powers, fast healing 4, actual blood (I'm a warforged), vampire fangs, the ability to manifest a mindbow, the ability to raise karnathi undead, resist electricity 5, resist cold 5, a bonus to int at a cost of str, permanent Foresight, enchanted himself with an enchantment that temporarily lowers the SR of things he punch, and somewhere around 7 bonus feats. I may have missed something. He also have called hostile Elder Eidolon Krakens, covered the party in Bees!, generated all of the drugs, covered multiple battlefields in butterscotch pudding, nearly killed the party with a Tsunami, turned into several different dragons, turned a rather scary enemy into a wyrmling, and unsealed a Daelkyr in the middle of Sharn. This list is not exhaustive.
This is much better. :allears:

I'm honestly surprised the campaign has survived a Rod of Wonder; in my experience this is one of the most potent derailers out there. Has a Deck of Many Things popped up yet?

e: when you say your warforged now has blood, does this mean he's developed hydraulics, or does it just coat/drip off of him? I like both options.

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?
"Sentient artifact rod of wonder" is a legendary phrase.

senrath
Nov 4, 2009

Look Professor, a destruct switch!


cigaw posted:

I'm honestly surprised the campaign has survived a Rod of Wonder; in my experience this is one of the most potent derailers out there. Has a Deck of Many Things popped up yet?

e: when you say your warforged now has blood, does this mean he's developed hydraulics, or does it just coat/drip off of him? I like both options.
No Deck of Many Things yet, and Yawg has tweaked the Rod's table a few times since we started. Mostly in a futile attempt to prevent Follow from getting all of the domain powers.

And I mean he has a fully functioning circulatory system now. He got the fast healing from it, but he's also was at one point infected with a rather nasty blood-borne disease that he'd normally be immune to.

LimitedReagent
Oct 5, 2008
Reminds me of what was probably my best D&D game, back in college. We had a Staff of Wonder, which was like a regular Rod of Wonder except it had a list of about 300 effects and cast three of them any time you used it. We got the Staff of Wonder by taking three Rods of Wonder and putting them in the Alchemist's Box we had gotten. That artifact was basically like Diablo 2's horadric cube except more generally applicable: Put three of any one thing in the box, and a single greater version of that thing pops out. The original example the GM gave when we got it was, "If you put three cheeseburgers in the box, you get a double cheesburger back out." So, put three Rods of Wonder in the box, and out pops a Staff of Wonder.

The artifact Rods of Wonder were unique, special artifacts created by the evil wizard Tash that we were constantly chasing through the planes. Each of them had an expanded effects list and rolled twice. The wild mage in our group also had an entry on his wild magic table to add new context-appropriate effects to the Rod of Wonder. The Staff of Wonder, besides being triple-rolled each time it was used, also had the added bonus of picking up a few new effects for each plane we came to.

The alchemist's box also resulted in some pretty ridiculous things, like when we found a pool that had a liquid in it that, and I quote, "burned like the fire of a thousand suns." So of course we carefully collected three vials of it, stuck them in the box, and got a vial containing a liquid that burned like the fire of ten thousand suns.

Yawgmoth
Sep 10, 2003

This post is cursed!

cigaw posted:

I was going to say Craft Contingent Spell feat, but...

This is much better. :allears:

I'm honestly surprised the campaign has survived a Rod of Wonder; in my experience this is one of the most potent derailers out there. Has a Deck of Many Things popped up yet?
DoMT will never pop up. :colbert: The Rod's list of effects is a thing I built from the ground up a long time ago, back when I first started DMing. It's be edited several times over the years to be far less "high school anime nerd in the 90s" humor, but it still has what I think is a good mix of beneficial, harmful, and weird/silly/not-immediately-concerning effects, with the only permanent things being beneficial. It takes away a lot of derail potential when you don't have permanent shrinking or turning ethereal.

And then there's calling a daelkyr.

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?
Is this the same group/campaign where somebody got a demon addicted to heroin or something?

Yawgmoth
Sep 10, 2003

This post is cursed!

PMush Perfect posted:

Is this the same group/campaign where somebody got a demon addicted to heroin or something?
It is. In fact, it was the daelkyr they called with that sentient artifact rod of wonder that they got addicted to magical heroin!

JUST MAKING CHILI
Feb 14, 2008

PMush Perfect posted:

Is this the same group/campaign where somebody got a demon addicted to heroin or something?

That Daelkyr made his own choice to take the drugs and he got himself addicted, don't go blaming that on us.

cigaw
Sep 13, 2012

LimitedReagent posted:

Reminds me of what was probably my best D&D game, back in college. We had a Staff of Wonder, which was like a regular Rod of Wonder except it had a list of about 300 effects and cast three of them any time you used it. We got the Staff of Wonder by taking three Rods of Wonder and putting them in the Alchemist's Box we had gotten. That artifact was basically like Diablo 2's horadric cube except more generally applicable: Put three of any one thing in the box, and a single greater version of that thing pops out. The original example the GM gave when we got it was, "If you put three cheeseburgers in the box, you get a double cheesburger back out." So, put three Rods of Wonder in the box, and out pops a Staff of Wonder.

The artifact Rods of Wonder were unique, special artifacts created by the evil wizard Tash that we were constantly chasing through the planes. Each of them had an expanded effects list and rolled twice. The wild mage in our group also had an entry on his wild magic table to add new context-appropriate effects to the Rod of Wonder. The Staff of Wonder, besides being triple-rolled each time it was used, also had the added bonus of picking up a few new effects for each plane we came to.

The alchemist's box also resulted in some pretty ridiculous things, like when we found a pool that had a liquid in it that, and I quote, "burned like the fire of a thousand suns." So of course we carefully collected three vials of it, stuck them in the box, and got a vial containing a liquid that burned like the fire of ten thousand suns.
Oh, Horadric Cubes featured heavily on the games I played back when DII came out. I once did a goofy one-shot where the central artifact was a bit of a mix between the Hellraiser Puzzlebox and the Horadric Cube. The Cow Level was... interesting.

Yawg's game sounds like tons of fun. You guys need to post more stories here to distract me from the fact that I haven't played a tabletop game in years.

Yawgmoth posted:

DoMT will never pop up. :colbert:
Sure, there's a ton of potential for irrevocable hijinx, but deep down in your heart of hearts you know you want to do it. What is watching your carefully planned campaign and years of effort turn to dust and swirl into nothingness before your very eyes compared to the expectation of that first draw? Do eeeeeeet! :getin:

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!
Previously on Tanicus - Deals were broken and made with the Feywild and the goddess of death pointed us to our next destination...
 
*****
 
Roan.  The Keeper of the Book.  Chief among the gods of balance.  True Neutral God of commerce, civilization, community...and bureaucracy.  And the god who was given the responsibility of hiding the weapon Az wielded during his time as general of the Angelic Host, a spear of divine power.
 

quote:

Annwn - "My brother has taken up residence in Thaeren.  I cannot teleport you there directly for reasons you will soon discover.  However, my monastery's teleportation circle is connected to his monastery in the Hawkroost Mountains on the coast.  It is upon you to make your way to Thaeren from there and learn the location of Az's spear.  Be warned.  Once you have retrieved the spear, Az will soon be aware of your exact location.  And in my position as keeper of secrets I will know when he is aware.  I will reveal myself at that time and join with you for the final confrontation.  I will meet you at the place where Az was imprisoned, amidst the ruins of Dan Mydderil.  If you do not succeed...well, I suppose your past self will be meeting your present self once again."
 
Our party heads to the monastery's teleportation circle, and in a flash of yellow light we find ourselves in the monastery of the monks of Roan, the Order of the Invisible Hand.
 
*****
 
So the majority of our adventures have taken place on the world of Tanicus, specifically the continent of Ceilar. Across the ocean lays the continent of Thyrin.  The continent is shaped like a letter "C" and divided into four distinct areas.  The northern portion is split between two draconic entities - the nation of Drakona, home to the followers of Bahamet and the metallic dragons, and the empire of Kahn-Karath, the primary lair for the chromatic dragons ruled by Pyrefang, a ancient red dragon so old that the universe just said "You know what, you're pretty much a god anyway, welcome to the draconic pantheon."  The middle and lower halves of the "C" are claimed by the Saeras Empire, a nation of centurions and legionnaires patterned after the early Roman Empire.  Its longtime foes resides on an island that sits offshore in the open "middle" of the "C," the nation of Naicha based upon the democratic leanings of the Greek city-states, complete with highly trained hoplites and the secret of Naichan Fire that has helped keep Saeras from their shores.  Naicha is dedicated to the worship of Roan and is incredibly rare on Tanicus in that the nation is a representative republic where all debates and votes are handled in public.  Closed door dealings, bribes, and gifts are highly illegal.    
 
*****
 
The Order of the Invisible Hand sits high in the Hawkroost Mountains on the eastern side of the island of Naicha.  We arrive in the middle of their training yard just in time to interrupt an exercise - lines of humans and gnomes performing katas, their belts made of strings of gold coins dyed various colors and banners of red and gold adorning the walls.  Definitely the most ornate monastery our party has visited up to this point.  We're immediately surrounded by a legion of monks of Roan standing in a combat stance...which Cerin, as a monk of Bile, immediately matches, snarling "Which one of you is first?"  To which Falinerae responds "FINALLY!  Do you remember the last time we went to a monastery and had a battle over whose kung-fu is superior?"  Sadly for Falinrae and anyone wanting to see one monk vs one hundred, the Headmaster of the monastery, a human named Proudhon, walks through the the orderly lines and comes to a stop before us.  "And your purpose here?"  Ksena takes point, one monk to another, and explains our need to reach the capital city of Thaeren.  At this Proudhon shakes his head.  "You may find your journey most difficult."  He takes us over to the edge of the training yard and motions down to the grasslands below.  At the bottom of the mountain is an army encampment flying the flags of the Saeras Empire.  The army has surrounded the small village that sits at the foot of the pathway leading up to the monastery. "Saeras invaded Naicha a fortnight ago.  They've taken most of the southern half of the country save for the capital, which they currently have under siege by land and air.  They're making no efforts to take the city or the monastery.  They simply are preventing anyone from entering or leaving.  Not only physically, but magically.  The teleportation circle in Thaeren has been blocked by Saeras' wizards.  Any attempts to teleport inside find the caster outside the city walls directly in front of the Saerasan army."
 
"How could this happen," asks Falinrae.  "Naicha has a strong army and has always managed to hold the Saerasans at the beaches if they even made it past your navy." 
 
"This time, the Saerasans were accompanied by angels.  The Empire has thrown their lot in with Az." 
 
"Of course," Falinrae says.  "Once stirred Roan would be able to bring a powerful army and navy to join with Myrrdin.  But with their homeland under siege, they won't be able to spare any forces."
 
"The angels tipped the balance in their favor during the invasion.  They  have since disappeared, but by then the Saerasans had their foothold."  Proudhon shook his head. "If you wish to make it to Thaeren to see our god, I'm afraid you will find two besieging armies and numerous armed patrols in your path.  Saeras has put our entire country on lockdown."
 
Cue the standard fifteen minute party conversation about all the tricks and stealth we could attempt to pull off to avoid taking on a large portion of the Saerasan Army, which is still going on when Ksena's player sits up and pulls out her little notebook containing the names and important information for drat near every major NPC the party has interacted with in the past three years.  "Guys, we know someone in Thaeren.  The Earth Elementalist from the Convocation, Dahlia.  Is there any way we can contact her?"  Using the communication device given to Varis by the Circle of Seven, the party plays a game of telephone - first calling Inessa, head of the Circle of Seven and demigod of magic who still blames Varis for her receiving her godspark ("I wasn't my fault!  Blame Faeylin!"  "Faeylin is dead.  It's much easier to blame you when things go wrong."  "Don’t worry, blaming Varis has been our party's standard operating procedure for a very long time...").  Inessa was working to cleanse the Wilder region of any trace of chaotic wild magic, toiling side-by-side with Xiomara Abeforth, Grandmaster of the Conjuration School (and Varis' intended bride-to-be once they've actually sat down and had a proper introduction).  Xiomara, amused by the stuttering and nervous Varis ("A 20 Charisma means you're cute when you're embarrassed"), puts us in touch with the leader of the Earth Elementalists, who had rejoined the Cabal after being offered membership at the Conclave, and from there he places us in contact with Dahlia who remembers us from the Conclave and the brawl with Az and two of his angels.
 
The good news is that the Saerasans have only caused interference with the city's teleportation circle.  Dahlia's personal teleportation circle is still active...it's just that there is residual static spilling over from the spell cutting off the city's access making teleportation iffy.  There's a chance of landing in her circle, there's a chance of landing outside the city, and there's a chance of landing on another plane entirely.  It's a percentile roll with great risk versus walking two to three days through an invading army hell bent on keeping the capital cut off...
 
One roll later, the DM shakes his head.  "I had one mandatory encounter and two optional encounters planned out...however, the party appears inside a sunken portion of Dahlia's home on her teleportation circle."
 
*****
 
The party has never been in a city like Thaeren before.  It starts when Dahlia takes outside into the city proper and Cullus notices that she doesn't have any locks on her doors...nor do any of the houses surrounding her home.  The city is much larger than Highspire, though the buildings are built much lower to the ground and are more open to the elements as befitting a more tropical climate.  The streets are crowded with citizens who are incredibly polite to one another.  We see two people bump into each other and one apologize, but an actual sincere apology as opposed to a muttered "excuse me" and an actual heartfelt acceptance from the other person.  At most street corners stand marble podiums.  Many of these podiums are the home of orators who are going on about one topic or another, surrounded by a crowd of people who walk up, listen for a moment, and walk away.  At some of the major intersections, debates are going on between two orators, with crowds gathered and pamphlets being handed out by the supporters.  In one case, a Naichian soldier is trying to inspire the crowd to resist the invading Saerasan forces while across the way, a Saerasan centurion is attempting to convince the crowd to open the gates and allow the army to occupy the city.  No insults are being thrown, no insults are being tossed, and everyone is listening politely and reading the literature.
 
Dahlia is leading us to the central government building, our party having explained to her our need to meet with Roan. 
 

quote:

Dahlia - "In order to meet with Roan, you'll need permission from our governing body, the Consulate.  They are his gatekeepers and overseen by the High Priest of Roan.  If you get in line this morning, you should be able to meet with them in about seven months?"
 
Varis - "Seven months?!?"
 
Dahlia - "Yes.  The body listens to all issues brought before it, polls the public, debates the options, and takes a vote.  All issues require a 2/3rd's majority vote for confirmation..."
 
Falinrae - "How does a government function like that, especially in wartime?"
 
Dahlia - "Hey, we were doing just fine keeping the Saerasans out until religion got involved."
 
Varis - "Dahlia, we need to talk to Roan as soon as possible.  We just don't have seven months.  The world doesn't have seven months.  I don't even think we have seven DAYS."
 
Dahlia - "That's not going to matter to the Consulate.  Our system of government has always worked the way it has, no matter what the crisis."
 
Falinrae - "Annwn was right.  Bureaucracy."
 
Varis - "Dahlia, is there ANY way to jump the line?"
 
Dahlia - "The only individuals whose petitions are heard the very same day are the ambassadors from Saeras, who are usually bringing petitions asking for our surrender.  I believe that level of courtesy may apply to all ambassadors..."
 
Cullus - "Varis is an ambassador!"
 
Dahlia - "He is?"
 
Varis - "I am?"
 
Cullus - "Sure!  He represents the town of Dale and has come seeking aid against the forces of Az!"
 
Varis - "I..."
 
Falinrae - "Varis."
 
Varis - "...alright.  I'm the Ambassador to Naicha from the town of Dale in the nation of Karyn."

 
Varis gets in line behind seventeen other people an hour before the door opens.  It takes him about 45 minutes to get up to the desk, however as soon as he mentions that he's an Ambassador from Dale, the clerk behind the counter perks up.  "Are you Varis Stormglass, the Lightning Lord," she gasps.  "I can definitely get you in at three hours past high noon.  Be here 15 minutes before hand, or else you forfeit your spot."
 
The party splits up for a bit.  Falinrae and Cullus sit in the Consulate and take notes on the seven members that make up the governing body - six Consuls and the Polisec, who is considered "first among equals."  Each member wears a mask and uses a magical voice modulator, so they are completely anonymous during their six-month term as drawn from the population of Naicha by random lottery (imagine the Lords of Waterdeep and you're not too far off).  Taliessyn and Aeana go walk the walls, Taliessyn noticing that the Saerans are simply putting up a token siege effort, focused more on keeping the Naichans bottled up than actually taking the city.  Varis, the one who will do the talking, spends a few hours walking around the city, taking in the sights and listening to the speakers to get a feel for popular opinion, as well as trying some of the local cuisine and introducing his psuedodragon familiar to a lamb-based sandwich called a 'giro.'
 
While this is all going on, Ksena walks down to the harbor and takes out her Bowl of Water Elemental Summoning.  She summons Bubbles, the elemental bound to the bowl, and tells him that the end is coming soon and that she doesn't want to summon him to fight in a war against his free will.  She offers to release him from being bound to the bowl so he can return to the Plane of Elemental Water.
 
Bubbles' response?  He agrees to be separated from the bowl and dives into the harbor only to come back, reformed as a Water Myrmidon, telling Ksena in Elemental speech that he's there until the end.
 
*****
 
After cramming with Falinrae and Cullus before the session and being told the rules of the Consulate by Dahlia ("Always address a Consul by their numbers before speaking to them, don't interrupt, don't flatter or kiss up, and if you make a mistake immediately pause and correct yourself"), Varis finds himself called before the Consulate.  Cue about 45 minutes of social role-playing that I won't fully recap here, but imagine a much, much, much more formal and stuffy version of the British Parliament's "Question Time."  The crux of Varis' petition boiled down to "By allowing us to talk to Roan, our party may assist the nation of Naicha by removing the influence of the Saeran Empire's new patron, the archangel known as Az."  Everything had to be phrased to appeal to the Consul in question - one was pragmatic, one was concerned with Roan's safety, one was all about military matters, and one just wanted to know when lunch was.  Varis only made one misstep (he thought there was a pause in the discussion and interrupted two Consuls talking to one another) before the Consulate took its vote - two for, two against, three abstaining.
 

quote:

The Polisec - "The Consulate seeks to table this matter pending further debate and discussion.  However, due to the urgent circumstances of the matter I hereby use my position at Polisec to declare that this matter will be decided by the Trial of Abraxias, to begin immediately."
 
Falinrae - "I hate bureaucracy."
 
*****
 
The party is taken by the High Priest of Roan to a one-story stone building with no windows and no decorations.  It's just a long marble rectangle with two doors next to each other.  "The Trial of Abraxias is invoked when a deadlock has been reached after the final vote or during times of crisis.  The rules are simple.  You enter the building through that doorway, and you exit the building through that doorway.  You may leave at any time through the doorway that you entered by, but if you do leave your petition will be considered null and void."



The Trial was a series of rooms with a variety of puzzles, all based upon the philosophies of Roan and the society of Naicha.  The first room contained a statue of Roan, one hand outstretched above a small bowl.  By putting a coin in the statue's palm, the hand turned to drop the coin in the bowl before turning perpendicular to allow for a Naichan handshake (grabbing the forearms).  The second room was a large wine cellar where we had to choose two wine bottles based upon major events in Naichan history...in our case we chose the founding of Naicha and the year Roan returned from his imprisonment, although there were seven or eight we could have chosen from...and use those bottles as leverage to open the weighted door into the next room.  However as we cross into the next room through a short corridor, a loud roar shakes the building that causes some of the party to become frightened.
 
The next room contained three doors on the opposite wall, each one with a relief of an animal carved into it - a raven, a bull, and an elk.  We choose the bull as it was the animal most associated with Roan, and it turned out we chose correctly as the corridor led us to the next room where a series of marble statues awaited.  As we passed through to this room, another loud roar caused both fright and temporary deafness. 
 
The statues were of several men and women waiting for a dance partner, and it was easy to simply pick a partner and gracefully twirl out way to the next puzzle...and a final roar threw everyone to their feet, knocking us prone with a large wave of thunder damage.
 
In this room, a series of skeletal hoplites lined the walls.  All of them held spears and shields save for a trio of empty-handed skeletons who stood side-by-side in front of the door exiting the chamber.  Several items lay on a long table, including a spear, a series of potions and farming implements, and a banner displaying the Naichan flag.  This is the puzzle that took us the longest to figure out.  We eventually determined that the skeletons were standard bearers of some sort and we chose the items from the table that best represented Naicha - a single gold coin, a scroll representing public debate, and a Consul's mask.  Once we've placed the items with the trio of skeletons, they proceed to bow to the party and step to one side, allowing access to what would be the final room...



 
...and its resident, a large Androsphinx.
 
"Welcome adventurers," it said in a loud, booming voice.  "I am Abraxias.  You have survived my trial, and now you must face the final challenge which should be easy for your party...answer this riddle."
 

quote:

My tines be long
My tines be short
My tines flee ere
My first report
 
"What am I?"
 
It took some debate as we tried to remember what "tines" were and what the meaning of the word "report" could be in this situation.  After about ten minutes, Falinrae's player shoots up and looks at the DM.  "The answer is 'lightning.'"  "Well done, my Sidhe friend!  I am surprised it took you this long considering the company with which you travel.  You have passed my Trial and are free to leave.  However, before you leave I wish to grant you a gift - a glimpse of what would happen should you fail.  Behold a look into the future, one year hence and ten years hence."  With a flap of its wings, the Androsphinx opens the door leading outside of the building.  Beyond the door the city of Naicha is in flames.  The legionnaires of the Saerasan Empire march through the ruined streets while above them flies a host of burning angels.  A blink of an eye, and we see that little is left standing of Naicha.  The sky is blood red, and the few winged beasts that fly above the city are twisted and mutated beyond recognition, very little left to identify them as beings once celestial.  "Go forth, and tell Roan what you have seen."
 
*****
 
Upon walking out of the building holding Abraxias, our party finds the High Priest of Roan waiting for us with surprise on his face as he had not expected us to pass the Trial successfully.  He escorts us through the city to another unassuming building, a two-story building with only the seal of Naicha hanging above the doorway.  Inside is a room best described as a stereotypical Greek philosophical classroom with columns and benches stands a figure about six feet tell in a plain white robe held up by a sash of gold coins - Roan, the Keeper of the Book. 
 

quote:

Roan - "Greetings.  I am pleased to see you...and upset with my High Priest for making you jump through such hoops." 
 
High Priest - "My Lord, I was just following the rules and protocols..."
 
Roan - "I am the god of civilization.  Which means I would like there to be a civilization to save once everything is said and done.  And that means knowing when to circumvent protocol.  Leave us."
 
The High Priest quietly closes the door, and Roan sighs.
 

quote:

"Sometimes my priests adhere to the letter of the law and not the spirit.  As I was saying, I am pleased to see you.  More pleased than I was after hearing what you did at the Grand Conclave.  I had hoped for Az's religion to be officially recognized to flush out his high priests and influential faithful, but they remained in hiding after the vote.  No matter now however.  Az is in motion and his faithful have revealed themselves all across Tanicus.  The end game is beginning, but there is one more piece that needs to be placed on the board - Az's spear.  The weapon he wielded against the demons hordes.   You are aware that your grandmother is its protected Taliessyn, and that she has become an incredibly powerful lich, sacrificing what little remained of her humanity in her quest for revenge against the Sidhe.  During her studies, she was able to locate the location where I had hidden the spear and now acts as its protector.  It is a weapon that will hurt Az immensely when wielded against him and she is determined to ensure you never lay hands upon it until her master has burned the world.  I will teleport you to Eroth, the capital of the Saeras Empire, in a moment.  The building before you will be empty of all save your grandmother and her servants.  Before I send you away however, I have one piece of information for you...Taliessyn.  When you lay eyes upon your grandmother's phylactery you will immediately know that it is the item that contains her soul.  Destroy it.  End her existence, and perhaps find peace for your soul."
 
Roan waves a hand, restoring our hit points and spells/abilities, and tell us to close our eyes for ten seconds.  When we open them, we find ourselves standing outside a large building draped with Saerasan banners and topped with the emblem of a large burning eye - the symbol of the Cult of Az.
 
*****
 
The first floor of the building is indeed empty - a large room with pillars adorned with torch sconces in the style of a burning eye draped with banners and murals dedicated to history as Az has seen it - betrayals and the promise of incoming justice for those judged unworthy by the so-called "gods."  A spiral staircase leads both up and down.  Above the first floor is a large lavish apartment.  Taliessyn recognizes the furniture and decorations as Sidhe, and more importantly of those from her family line, especially the large portrait of a handsome Sidhe male in silver armor - Taliessyn's grandfather and Maleryse's husband, the one for whom Maleryse launched her crusade centuries ago.
 
With no one upstairs, the party heads downstairs to the basement.




 
There she is, in all her glory - Maleryse, and a whole bunch of cultists performing some kind of ritual. 
 
She and her cultists stand behind some kind of anti-magic barrier, so the melee characters charge while Varis hangs back just in time to get jumped by her no-longer invisible imp familiar, cuing Cadavell to engage in some hot familiar-on-familiar action.  I should point out at this point in the campaign, after over a year of having a familiar, I FINALLY learned how to best use him - to distract or use the Help action against trash mobs and also as a healing potion/ointment delivery service.  Although in this case it's just to tear the wings off of the imp. 
 
The fight goes a lot easier than we expected.  The cultists fall, and the DM puts little black plastic rings around them instead of removing their corpses but we never get to see what would have happened as the melee PC's just absolutely shred Maleryse over three turns.  On the last hit, Maleryse just smiles before exploding into a life-sized cloud of snow and ruby powder, revealing her identity as a simulacrum.  We begin to search the room and realize that everything was faked - the cultists were thugs hired off the street and then charmed to pretend to cast a ritual, the ritual circle is actually a trap that does psychic damage (much to Cullus' lament), and the books are just simple spell books found in any arcane shop.  It's the book on the pedestal that grabs Varis' attention. He opens it to find that it's also a spell book, but one that's much more profane than any he's ever seen.  Carefully Varis flips through the spell book, looking for anything that might give us a clue as to Maleryse's current location.  On the twenty-seventh page and several Wisdom saves later, Varis comes across a page that is completely blank save for one little black dot square in the center.  "Hey Taliessyn," Varis calls out as he points to the black dot, "could this be..."
 
At this point the black dot lashes out, an inky tendril wrapping around Varis with a flash of sickly black light.
 
Cullus turns away from the ritual circle, ready to ask if Varis has found something, only to see that except for Bubbles, everyone else has vanished.
 
*****
 
The party, save one Rogue and one Myrmidon, finds itself standing on a series of islands floating in the middle of a vast plane of nothingness that Varis soon identifies as the Astral Plane.  The middle island is inhabited by a motionless Stone Golem, but what truly catches the eye is the massive skull embedded into the ground on the far side of island.  On the top most island, floating in the air just above an altar dedicated to Az, his spear hangs in the air, glowing softly with a holy light that contrasts with the unholy altar below.




In front of the altar, between us and the spear, stands the true form of Maleryse man Ullaryen, a twisted, grinning, skeletal figure, flanked by a Solar of Az.
 


quote:

Maleryse - "Dear granddaughter, I..."
 
Taliessyn - "I did not come to this place to hear your words."
 
This was one HELL of a fight.  Fifth edition liches are nasty, before tossing in the Stone Golem and a Solar that turned into a skeletal dragon midway through the drat fight.



Maleryse spent most of the fight staying away from everyone thanks to a ring of Flight, leaving the melee to deal with the dragon and the Golem while Maleryse threw some nasty spells.  Our two ranged specialist spent most of the time either dispelling and counterspelling or healing left and right.  The nastiest thing Maleryse did was use a liar action to Soul Tether herself to Taliessyn, meaning half of all the damage she took was transferred to her granddaughter.  Taliessyn's response was to throw herself at Maleryse and do as much damage as she could until falling unconscious.  The party decided to let Taliessyn remain unconscious as long as she kept making her death saves since the Soul Tether couldn't take her past zero anyway.  The Stone Golem was eventually frozen by Cerise and shoved into the ether by Ksena (with Cadavell providing Help the entire time) and the dragon brought down once Varis could turn his attention to blasting the drat thing and Falinrae could stab the hell out of it. 
 
Along the way however, Maleryse managed to nickel and dime our healer, Aeana, to below one hundred hit points...and then pointed one crooked finger at her.  "Die."  Aeana instantly dropped to the ground at the feet of the undead dragon, who proceeded to swoop down and auto-hit Aeana through all three of her death saves.
 
At this point the party believes we're absolutely screwed.  Our healer is gone and resurrection is off the menu thank to Maleryse counterspelling our two Revivify's earlier in combat.  There's no way the party could bring Aeana back from the dead...
 
...do you know what happens when you kill a demigod?
 
Aeana's body suddenly explodes in holy light, throwing everyone back ten feet.  As we watch, her body floats into the air.  All traces of her skin, hair, and clothing are turned to golden ash, replaces by a small figure in leather armor with flowing golden hair - Aeana reborn as a goddess, specifically the goddess of healing.  All her spells back, all her hit points back, plus the ability to cast all healing and aid spells below 5th level at will and without costing a spell slot, along with being resistant to ALL damage and the ability to hover/fly at no cost.  She's not as powerful as she would eventually become being a newly born goddess, but for the time being she's on our side and gives us the edge to push Maleryse to the limit. 
 
Downside - in 24 hours, Aeana would ascend, no longer able to walk the mortal plane.  And all the items she was carrying, including scrolls, potions, and 15,000 in gold, are gone, save for the Shortbow of Az.
 
In the next few rounds, the party finally turns our attention to Maleryse.  In desperation after Cullus uses the magic carpet to backstab her and Varis unleashes a torrent of lightning, Maleryse drops the Soul Tether on Taliessyn.  As soon as that happens, Varis drops a vial of Khadgar's Ointment, a powerful healing salve, at Taliessyn's feet for Cadavell to dip his snout in and smear over Taliessyn to get her back into the fight.  She goes next and, not even bothering to get back to her feet, plays possum long enough to throw a high-level Magic Missile at her grandmother.  The bolts of energy tear through the undead mage's form, causing her to scream in agony before exploding in a torrent of arcane power.
 
*****
 
As we collect our breath, we take in our surroundings and try to figure out what the phylactery could possibly be.  We don't grab the spear quite yet, as doing so would alert Az and eventually let him know where we were.  The giant skull?  Turns out it's the skull of Un, one of the three primordial gods, along with Kaos and Io, who had left Tanicus before recorded time and had been slain somewhere along the line - not by Az thankfully, but by something out there on the Astral Plane that was bigger and stronger.  But it's not the phylactery.  Nothing on any of the islands is the phylactery.  We're tearing out hair out trying to find the drat thing...
 
Taliessyn pauses at one point.  An Insight check allows her player to make the connection - Maleryse had kept remnants of her old life in her apartment.  And there was one thing Taliessyn had in her possession, given to her two years ago game time when the party had met Maleryse disguised as a humble bread baker in the underground city of Evernight (before I started these recaps) - her old teddy bear which Taliessyn had kept with her all throughout our journeys.  And indeed, once she pulled the teddy bear out of her backpack, she instantly recognized it for what it was - Maleryse's phylactery. 
 
One beheading via Holy Avenger later, Maleryse's soul is sent screaming into oblivion where it belongs, and Az's spear is in the hands of Taliessyn.
 
When we attempt to teleport back to Saeras using the rune that brought us to Maleryse's lair, the party instead finds itself somewhere unexpected - the Feywild.  Annwn is there, along with the Queen of Falling Leaves.  "Rest," Annwn tells us.  "Once you have recovered, I will bring us to the ancient temple where this all began, and where it will end." 
 
So there the party sits.  Taliessyn attuning herself to the spear of an archangel.  Falinrae sharpening her Holy Avenger.  Ksena and Cerin talking quietly about their future.  Varis and Cullus finishing off the elven wine in the Bag of Holding so it doesn't go to waste.  And Aeana, floating there above the ground, eternity awaiting her provided she can save the world.
 
*****
 
Next time - Everything ends.
 

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

CobiWann posted:


 
As we collect our breath, we take in our surroundings and try to figure out what the phylactery could possibly be.  We don't grab the spear quite yet, as doing so would alert Az and eventually let him know where we were.  The giant skull?  Turns out it's the skull of Un, one of the three primordial gods, along with Kaos and Io, who had left Tanicus before recorded time and had been slain somewhere along the line - not by Az thankfully, but by something out there on the Astral Plane that was bigger and stronger. 

So naturally you used your new goddess of healing to revive the giant skull, and are now teamed up with a giant floating godhead, right?

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!

Tunicate posted:

So naturally you used your new goddess of healing to revive the giant skull, and are now teamed up with a giant floating godhead, right?

Yeah no. As a dead Primordial being, Un needs a large amount of energy to revive...like human souls. Varis touched it and almost ended up the victim of magic jar.

It's OK though. Cullus had been asked by the big-rear end spider that wove the world (the one we met under the mountains of Ancellyon) to find Un anyway. Let him take care of it.

Splicer
Oct 16, 2006

from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

CobiWann posted:

Yeah no. As a dead Primordial being, Un needs a large amount of energy to revive...like human souls. Varis touched it and almost ended up the victim of magic jar.

It's OK though. Cullus had been asked by the big-rear end spider that wove the world (the one we met under the mountains of Ancellyon) to find Un anyway. Let him take care of it.
Cast permanent reduce on it and then strap it to a club. Soul stealing one-shot-kill magic weapon that will eventually turn into a grateful god.

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!

Splicer posted:

Cast permanent reduce on it and then strap it to a club. Soul stealing one-shot-kill magic weapon that will eventually turn into a grateful god.

To quote my DM this morning, "And how do you think Io is going to react when you show up having made some she was incredibly close to into a god-killing weapon?"

ArkInBlack
Mar 22, 2013

CobiWann posted:

To quote my DM this morning, "And how do you think Io is going to react when you show up having made some she was incredibly close to into a god-killing weapon?"

"poo poo, that'll probably do something against Az"

cigaw
Sep 13, 2012

CobiWann posted:

To quote my DM this morning, "And how do you think Io is going to react when you show up having made some she was incredibly close to into a god-killing weapon?"

Pretty sure typical player response would be "I whack Io with the godskull-on-a-stick".

Splicer
Oct 16, 2006

from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

CobiWann posted:

To quote my DM this morning, "And how do you think Io is going to react when you show up having made some she was incredibly close to into a god-killing weapon?"
No it's uh some other god's skull.

You don't know him.

He's from Canada.

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?
Plot twist, Io is actually from Quebec.

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

CobiWann posted:

To quote my DM this morning, "And how do you think Io is going to react when you show up having made some she was incredibly close to into a god-killing weapon?"

"Un-concerned"

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!
"It is time."

Annwn's voice cuts through our party's thoughts. Without a word, we gather together at the feet of the goddess of death. "The temple where Az was sentenced to eternal imprisonment. It is there that the boundary between your plane of existence and Celestia, the plane of the gods, is the thinnest. Once we arrive, I will tear open that boundary. Both planes will co-exist at the same time within the temple. Az will sense your presence and the presence of his artifacts. His pride will not see him allowing you to keep possession of his holy relics. His armor and circlet will allow you to see through his illusions. His spear and shortbow will allow you to wound him. His cornet will summon a host of angels; however they will be a host fighting for those who called them. In order to slay Az once and for all, he must fall within Celestia. Otherwise, he will reform and continue his crusade."

Annwn turns to thank the Queen of Falling Leaves for her hospitality before literally grabbing the air itself and ripping a portal open to the party's home plane. The party steps through to find themselves deep in the heart of the Faerie Isles in a forest that has not seen a mortal presence in centuries. In front of us is a large temple that has fallen to the ravages of time. As we steel ourselves to enter, a shadow passes over us - the arrival of our silver dragon ally Paige (also known as Shimmerwing) and Keinan Dragonhall, to whom we gave the Cornet of Az for safekeeping.



After making sure the temple is clear, Annwn steps inside and walks up to the altar once dedicated to Arwin before the temple was abandoned. "Once I tear open the boundaries, I will join Myrddin and his armies."

With that, Annwn stands before the altar and, after a short prayer, once again rends reality. The skies above the temple turn a bright red as a shifting rift overlays our surroundings. The forest is still there, but in the far off distance, towering over the horizon, is a shimmering mountain - Mount Celestia, the home of the gods. "There. It is done. Hopefully by now Seane has stirred from his perch and..."

Annwn pauses in mid-sentence, most likely due to the fact that the Hand of Kaos has been driven through her back and exploded from her torso.

She gasps for breath, something she has never had to do before in all of eternity, before exploding with dark blue necrotic energy. Two of her godsparks shoot through the air and disappear into the forest. The third slams directly into the chest of the huge archangel looming over the spot where Annwn once stood.

quote:

Az - "Pathetic. This was your grand plan? To lure me here with my own artifacts and fight me on my home plane? All along, all the times you've thwarted me, all the times you've slipped away from me, all the times you've fought dragons and demons and my second-in-command...all to bring Annwn to me so that I could rip her godspark from her. Fate. Life. And now Death. All under my control. I will give you one last chance. Bow to me. Swear to join my crusade, and together we will cleanse this world of the gods and all they have profaned with their touch."

Falinrae - "...Cullus, I'm tired. Would you mind handling the response to this one?"

Cullus' response is to throw up both middle fingers.

quote:

Cullus - "Bitches."

Az - "So be it."

Az points to the sky above. From the plane of Celestia descends a huge horde of Angels of the Burning Host, the vanguard for several other hosts converging on the temple. "I have things to do and gods to kill. But first...I want my circlet back. I want my armor back. I want my spear back. And I want my shortbow back...along with that godspark you have inside of you, greensidhe."

The DM puts up a big green d20 to act as a turn counter, sets it to "1," and the fight begins.

*****



So Az is a greater archangel. High stats. Ridiculous saving throws. Buckets of hit points. Three attacks per round on top of legendary actions and legendary resistances. And a natural regeneration ability to go along with the ability to fly.

What makes this fight so difficult, aside from the fact that it's an archangel, are the godsparks. All of the godsparks that Az has stolen from the gods he has slain have given him extra abilities per round, like the power to regenerate a large amount of HP (Siyri, goddess of healing), to completely ignore all damage from one attack (Riva), hurricane force winds to throw us around the battle field (Dyanae), and damage resistance to nearly everything we can throw at him (Fergus), save for the spear of Az, the shortbow of Az, the weapons of those wearing his armor and circlet, and Varis' lightning attacks since he took Elemental Adept (Lightning), although he can (and does) still make Dexterity saves for half-damage. Az is focused on two main goals - staying out of melee range of Falinrae, Taliessyn, and Cullus, and doing enough mass damage that Aeana has to spend more time casting healing spells than doing damage with the shortbow, and even then we blow every single healing potion, Death Ward, and Revivify we have to keep in this thing.

And that's just in the first three rounds.

As this is all going on, the DM is narrating what is going on around the world. Towns and cities are under attack by the angels. NPC's, both heroic and evil alike, people we've come to know and love over the course of the campaign, are under assault. Myrddin's forces are tied up by hordes of angels just outside the Sidhe city of Springtide, the Ancellyn rebels are throwing themselves against angels and loyalist Ancellyn alike, Wavecrest Monastery is throwing down with Archons, and the Saerans have breached the walls of Naicha.


Round five comes along, and that's when the horde of Burning Host angels arrives. Just in time for Keinan to blow the Cornet and summon a host of Angels of the Freezing Host. The two hosts clash over the temple, and its bodies of angels slamming into the ground left and right. Several Solars of the Burning Host make it through and descend upon the battlefield only to be met by Ksena, Cerin, Shimmerwing, and Keinan, who proceed to tear through them thanks to the power of the Cornet. But the threat is still Az, and after putting Taliessyn on her back and forcing Aeana to blow her big heals to keep everyone up, Varis decides he's had enough. "Ksena, you and Cerin BETTER name one of your kids after me."

Varis pops his dragons wings and flies up to meet Az face to face. He had spent the entire battle peppering him with Lightning Bolts and doing little damage in the grand scheme of things thanks to Az regenerating. The archangel studies Varis like a dragon peering at an xvart. "You're the one who has been pretending he's a demigod. Begone from my sight. You have no power over me."

quote:

Varis - "My name is Varis Stormglass. The one they call the Lightning Lord. Protector of Dale. And spokesman for Abeforth's Apothecary. I come with a message from my god. And that message is...BEGONE.

This is for Riva you son of a bitch."

And with that, Varis takes his staff - a Staff of Power, a staff hundreds of years old, a staff that reopened the portal to bring the metallic dragons back into the world, and a staff that the Governor used to keep the chaotic powers of the Hellgate safely sealed away...

...and snaps it over his knee in an explosion of pure arcane power.

320 points of force damage later, Varis is nowhere to be seen. And Az is bleeding. "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! He looks down at his feet, where Falinrae is about to use a Ring of Jumping to engage him. "Beloved of Tulani...DIE!"

With those words channeled through the godspark of Annwn, Falinrae falls to the ground with zero HP, three blown death saves and a failed True Resurrection. She is stone cold dead. However, as Az turns to face the rest of the party, black energy courses over his angelic body. His form is wracked with pain as the energies of Annwn swirl inside of him, an unholy power never meant to be used by a holy archangel. The energy eventually fades, and the beautiful angel is been replaced by a twisted, vile demonic body, his true form revealed at last by his actions...

..and Falinrae's body explodes into a funeral pyre. Emerging from the fire is Falinrae in Phoenix form, given to her as a final gift from her god Tulani before he died - a piece of Seane's godspark, borrowed from the leader of the gods for this very moment.




Now Az looks worried. He's blowing the kitchen sink, using the stole godsparks like they're going out of style as the party begins wailing on him. But it's still not enough. The DM adds more scenes from around the world - Caradoc ripping the wings off an angel, Master Stillwind, Ksena's teacher, stomping a mudhole in a Lantern Archon and walking it dry, Genevieve Sablemoon laughing as a Hound Archon rips her forearm off at the elbow even as she's driving an axe into its spine. But the world is still burning, Myrddin's forces are at a standstill, and the party is running of fumes as Az keeps wailing away on us.

Meanwhile, Varis awakens to find himself a plane of necrotic energy and dark magic...the Shadowfell, blown there by the power of the retributive strike. As he gets to his feet, a cold chill, one that freezes him to his very soul, washes over him. A voice rasps with the accent of centuries. "You are not supposed to be here." Varis slowly turns around to find himself staring face to face with the Lich King. After a moment where Varis manages not to soil himself, the Lich King raises one finger. "I owe you nothing. Yet you assisted me freely and of your own will. Consider that debt paid. Ensure that there will be a world for me to conquer when I return." With that, the Lich King touches Varis in the middle of his forehead and sends him hurling back to the ruins of the temple to rejoin the fight.

Turn ten comes.

A howl sounds in the distance. A large white wolf, eyes burning with holy power, emerges from the rift above out heads. With it are a dolphin made of pure water, an ox of pure gold, a phoenix of bright summer flame, and an earth dragon leading the charge.

Bile, Emanyn, Roan, Seane, and Io. The surviving elder gods.

quote:

Az - "WONDERFUL! You have saved me the trouble of seeking you out! Come join this fight so I may slay you once and for all!"

Io - "You still do not understand Destroyer. This fight is not of your design. My daughter brought this party here and sacrificed herself to you to set this trap. Your fight is not with us. Your fight is with those who would defend this realm. Your time has ended. Grandson...come forth."

With one gesture, Io rips a godspark out of Az who howls with such pain that the entire Faerie Isles shake. The godspark leaves Az's body as a single golden thread, heavily knotted and twisted. We watch as the thread proceeds to untie and unknot itself before retying into a brand new series of knots and loops. When all is said and done, it's Riva, god of fate and chance, who stands before Az, a smirk on his face and a wink thrown in Varis' direction. "I told you I had a plan. What chance did you think you had archangel? This was all foretold the moment you began to plan your return. Destiny is NOT on your side this day. It is on theirs." With a gesture towards our party, Riva points to Az. "Now, would someone PLEASE kill this fucker?"

Permanent d10 inspiration. Advantage on all attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws. Maximum damage on all our attacks. The gods watch as we proceed to simply kick the living hell out of Az. Across the world, the last initiate of Annwn, huddled in a below-ground temple as a Solar comes down the stairs, explodes with power as a godspark slams into him. Arwin, Myrddin, and Caradoc stand back-to-back-to-back, and Stannis Grumgate, Xiomara Abeforth, and Neferia Loathall stand side-by-side-by-side throwing spells into the air and cutting down angels left and right. Pyrefang slams into the ground, the metallic dragons coming to the aid of a dwarven rebellion that brings the death of the draconic god and the end of an empire. The rakshasa refugees, led by their great hero Cho, tear through a host of jackal-headed celestials.

And at the end, Az screams into the sky.

quote:

Az - "THIS CANNOT BE! MY CRUSADE WAS FOR JUSTICE!"

Taliessyn - "Your crusade was for vengeance. That makes it evil. Begone."

With that, Taliessyn drives her spear...Az's spear...into his mouth. Az explodes with holy and unholy energies, throwing everyone to the ground. When the light fades, Az is nowhere to be found, nor is Taliessyn.

*****

And the world turns...

Falinrae's energies burn out soon after Az is defeated. Aeana cries as her friend disappears, beyond hope of any sort of resurrection, but there is still work to be done before she ascends. The remaining angels retreat. The allies of Az, Ancellyon and Saeras, pull back to lick their wounds, both empires broken and bloodied. Towns burn and cities smolder, but the rebuilding soon begins.

The elder gods retreat from the world to give their children a chance to do better than they did. The new pantheon's first act is to grant a portion of their power to their demigods. It will be from them that their clerics will be granted their spells and magics as the new pantheon dedicates themselves to oversight and the maintaining of balance. The old gods are remembered as their monks change from philosophers to historians, dedicated to remembering and teaching the legacy of their former masters, both good and ill.

Ksena Rainborn and Cerin Darkwinter dedicate their lives to bringing together the various monastic orders, establishing the Monastery of the Five Spires to ensure that the legacy of the old gods is not forgotten and the rivalries between the orders set aside for the common good. They would have two children - one who took after their uncle and grandfather with the blood of bronze dragons in their veins and one who would embrace Druidism and become a protector of the Wilder.

Cullus Greentopple founds the town of Port Cullus on the western shores, starting a family with his childhood sweetheart and settling down as best he could, although the lure of gold and dungeon delving would always pull at him for the rest of his days.

Varis Stormglass split his time between the town of Dale and the city of Highspire, balancing his responsibilities as a member of the Circle of Seven with the management of Abeforth's Apothecary as well as serving as the protector of Dale. He and Xiomara Abeforth would have four children. One would go one to become head of the Water Elementalists, one would become a member of the Circle of Seven, one would become a Paladin of Cymbr, and one would become a Monk of Riva.

Aeana Leaftree would become Aeana, Goddess of Freedom and Curiosity. Falinrae would become a Valkyrie under her watch, dedicated to protecting her goddess and striking down those who would take advantage of personal freedom to hurt another.

Taliessyn man Ullaryen would find herself before the Queen of Falling Leaves. "You have served me well. Your family line has ended and their evil removed from Tanicus. Now, I ask that you serve me in another capacity. Rise, my Captain of the Wild Hunt."

*****

And the world turns...150 years later, a new group of heroes would find themselves in the city of Fallcrest in the Eastwyld, to fight new threats and forge new legends.

However that's a story for next year.

CobiWann fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Dec 14, 2017

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?
Jesus Christ what an ending.

Samizdata
May 14, 2007
Gods, yes. And I love the wrapup of what happened to the party afterward.

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

Are the collected adventure reports gathered anywhere?

Ichabod Sexbeast
Dec 5, 2011

Giving 'em the old razzle-dazzle
Clicking to see his posts in this thread should get you most of them. Nthing the :drat: reactions.

I have to ask - does your DM have any tips on building a world that rich? How did they start? Do they have any DMing tips in general? Because holy gently caress your stories have inspried me to start DMing again.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


GodDAMN I aspire to be half the DM yours is some day. How long precisely did this campaign last?

Space Kablooey
May 6, 2009


Holy poo poo that was an awesome campaign!

I'm sad that it is over but I'm so glad that you shared them!

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!

Ichabod Sexbeast posted:

Clicking to see his posts in this thread should get you most of them. Nthing the :drat: reactions.

I have to ask - does your DM have any tips on building a world that rich? How did they start? Do they have any DMing tips in general? Because holy gently caress your stories have inspried me to start DMing again.

I'm actually about to start a Deadlands campaign for half this group - the DM, Ksena, Cullus, and the player who played the Governor, aka the guy who's staff Varis broke. The DM gave me these piece of advice.

- Have a beginning
- Have an ending
- Keep the middle bare bones. That's where the players do most of the heavy lifting.

Tanicus as a world is a quarter of a century old and the players have written about 75% of its history through their actions and the consequences of those actions, as well as whatever they put into their characters that the DM can pull on to tell stories. Everything else the DM fills in based upon whatever fits the story or world. The way he put it, "The players write the story I want to tell." I have a rough idea for the campaign and what I want in the campaign, I just have to figure out how to get the players there while letting they do what THEY want to do in the story.

Kavak posted:

GodDAMN I aspire to be half the DM yours is some day. How long precisely did this campaign last?

Six years to nearly the day. The DM told us because a memory popped up on his Facebook feed about how nervous he was to run for this group, which at the time was Cadavell/Cullus, Falinrae, Taliessyn, Aeana, and Skeever. Ksena and Varis came in half-way through, about three years in. And to go with the above, he wanted to tell a story about gods dying and retreating from the world but originally it was going to be the Lich King going around killing the gods to force them from the world, although at the time the party has no idea the Lich King was anywhere near involved with the story - it was just about sending a archdevil back to the Nine Hells.

However our party came across an old Temple of Az in a lost elven city in the Underdark that the townspeople had reopened because they felt Tulani had forsaken them when they went underground. At the time, Az was still the archangel who had been imprisoned away, but that was where that story ended. We spent an entire session telling the townspeople that Tulani hadn't forsaken them and that Az was bad news. The DM ended up running with it, changing the plot around to make Az the Big Bad while also keeping the Lich King's scheme intact, just on a much smaller scale (he's currently in the Shadowfell trying to hunt down the last of Qord's godsparks), all because we pulled really hard on the Az thread whenever it popped up.

Galick
Nov 26, 2011

Why does Khajiit have to go to prison this time?

Kavak posted:

GodDAMN I aspire to be half the DM yours is some day. How long precisely did this campaign last?

Not an empty quote.

Yawgmoth
Sep 10, 2003

This post is cursed!

CobiWann posted:

- Have a beginning
- Have an ending
- Keep the middle bare bones. That's where the players do most of the heavy lifting.
This is fantastic advice said perfectly. If I've learned anything as far as DMing goes, it's that your players are going to come up with some crazyass poo poo that you will definitely want to use and build on.

Ichabod Sexbeast posted:

I have to ask - does your DM have any tips on building a world that rich? How did they start? Do they have any DMing tips in general?
I'm not Cobi's DM, but for my part I would say that as far as building a rich world, I usually just start with a handful of NPCs that represent various groups and see who the PCs latch onto. Don't spend a huge amount of time statting them out of anything, just just general notes like "this is [name], they are [personality] and want [goal]; they will try to accomplish that by [methods]. They like [other NPC] and hate [different NPC]." Repeat x6 or so. From there you just flesh out what the players invest energy in. My game is going to be finishing up in a month or two so if someone reminds me I'll give an example of how I started writing for my game and how it could have gone.

Splicer
Oct 16, 2006

from hell's heart I cast at thee
🧙🐀🧹🌙🪄🐸

CobiWann posted:

To quote my DM this morning, "And how do you think Io is going to react when you show up having made some she was incredibly close to into a god-killing weapon?"

Tunicate posted:

"Un-concerned"
I insist other people see this.

bbcisdabomb
Jan 15, 2008

SHEESH
What a hell of an ending. Breaking a Staff of Power is usually enough to take out even an endgame boss, it's impressive that both parties involved eventually survived.

the_steve
Nov 9, 2005

We're always hiring!

CobiWann posted:

:words: Tanicus finale

:suspense:
Bitches.

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

bbcisdabomb posted:

What a hell of an ending. Breaking a Staff of Power is usually enough to take out even an endgame boss, it's impressive that both parties involved eventually survived.

The biggest nasties in 5e, Tiamat, Tarrasque Demogorgon, Orcus can tank it. It takes half or more of their hp off however.

MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Dec 14, 2017

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!

MonsterEnvy posted:

The biggest nasties in 5e, Tiamat, Tarrasque Demogorgon, Orcus can tank it. It takes half or more of their hp off however.

Az was regenerating a lot of HP a round thanks to his natural ability and a god spark. Basically I was trying to blow his first layer of armor off. Hell, it was the last fight of the campaign. Not like Varis was ever going to need the staff again. Go big or go home.

CobiWann fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Dec 14, 2017

Cooked Auto
Aug 4, 2007

If I had a pint of beer I'd raise it in honor for that ending.
Instead it was a cup of tea.

Tempest_56
Mar 14, 2009

It's been a hell of a read, Cobi. Thanks for sharing it over these years.

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MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

CobiWann posted:

Az was regenerating a lot of HP a round thanks to his natural ability and a god spark. Basically I was trying to blow his first layer of armor off. Hell, it was the last fight of the campaign. Not like Varis was ever going to need the staff again. Go big or go home.

Not saying it was a bad move. Twas an awesome finale and was glad to read about it.

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