|
Adam Flenar
United States
Carmel
Indiana
-
Note #1: This series of session reports are copied from our private game forum. I thought the community at large may be interested in seeing how these books play out. Some at-the-table player knowledge is assumed in understanding these reports, so, sorry if some things aren't totally coherent. Fair Warning©: Spoilers ahead for ye players. Also, as the GM, I took a number of creative liberties with books' contents.
Note #2: You'll notice we don't do anything related to kingdom building or mass combat. This is because, as a group, we found kingdom building to be fun at first, but it quickly grew tedious and, frankly, pointless. As for mass combat, I was frustrated and disappointed that the kingdom building and mass combat rules do not interact whatsoever. Also, the mass combat rules presented did not excite me. So we skipped them as well.
Adventure: Kingmaker: War of the River King's (Book 5 of 6)
Date: February 1, 2012
Session Summary
• Kahr, Dehvin, Noel, and Humar have a joyous reunion. Sonash takes a hike, literally.
• The boys spend some quality time shopping and chatting at the Fort Cassius mall.
• A scheme is percolated to infiltrate King Irovetti's palace from the bottom up.
• Skirmishes break out inside the palace walls with increasing danger and musical aesthetics.
Extended Summary
After the groups' escapades in the wilderness, they decide to head back to Fort Cassius to catch up on a few things. First on the list, sell all the pilfered loot they've accumulated at the various shops around town. That should boost the war-torn economy! A little shopping is good for team morale too so they spend a little of their hard-earned cash while they're out and about as well. Dehvin has trouble deciding which magical flying garment he wants, but after trying on a few numbers, ends up choosing to look like an eagle over looking like a bat. It is a wise decision, but it puts his funds in the red and he is forced to borrow from his fellow heroes. Humar is a bit forlorn at Dehvin's decision to not trust in Humar's crafting capabilities, but their friendship is stronger than a few thousand gold, apparently. Noel window-shops for awhile until he ultimately settles on something-or-other. Kahr wastes no time in picking his new monk-enhancing gear, but still has to wait around for the rest of the team to finish their patronization. Eventually, everyone comes away pretty satisfied with their fresh purchases and only a couple fail their Will saves and suffer buyer's remorse. Now, off to fight that dastardly King Irovetti! Golarian has no room for such war-mongering fools.
The foursome make the three day journey across the plains, hills, and swamplands of the River Kingdoms and eventually reach the city of Pitax around dusk. The wise and noble King Noel takes a quick tour of the main gate and the city section beyond with his stealthiness, and soon he returns with the intel. A discussion of battle plans takes place and it is decided to ignore the lakefront areas of the city and instead take an aerial route via Dehvin's new eagled flying capabilities and the ever-handy portable hole. Kahr, Humar, and Noel hop into the impossible circle while Dehvin performs a textbook takeoff. The Pitaxian guards seem to take little heed of the large-ish bird flying overhead. The paladin makes a swift landing in-between two humble buildings near the castle and and dump the other three out of the hole. Now it is just a matter of getting into the palace itself.
Observing the bizarrely-designed palace's wild roofline and the seemingly single-story architecture, they come to the conclusion that a vast underground complex lay underneath the first floor. Another crack plan is hatched where Kahr becomes the mode of transportation while Noel, Humar, and Dehvin take a turn in the magical hole. Humar sees into the future and decides that, yes, this is a good idea. With the trio in the hole and a twinkle of the monk's eye, they are teleported deep into the earth and punted to the nearest void of solids. Again, three men jump out of a hole and they find themselves in a damp wine cellar. The next room over appears to be a cellar of sorts, what with the various crates of foods and spices. With a single staircase leading upwards, their next path is set. The stairs lead them to a deserted, but still warm kitchen. Although no one is present in their current room, voices and footsteps echo beyond the many wooden doors nearby.
In an attempt to maintain their late night and unexpected stealthiness, Noel silently creeps and Dehvin carefully clinks and clanks his well-armored physique over to a set of doors and peeks through the keyholes. A few Pitaxian heralds with crossbows are spotted, and Noel goes to work jamming up the doors. Another set of doors leads to a dining hall with a group of wardens and heralds relaxing and chatting. Again, the doors are jammed and the heroes investigate the final doorway out of the kitchen. The only thing visible through the keyhole us a short section of hallway immediately turning a corner. Of the three options, this one deemed the best and so into the hallway they go.
The corner leads to a narrow passage lined with doors including, but not limited to: one herald, three casually-dressed wardens, and two sleeping wardens. A brief, but uproarious skirmish initiates. The Pitaxian soldiers frantically attempt to arm themselves and defend the palace, but they are only successful in raising a commotion. Dehvin feels compelled to keep the body-count low so the battle results in a small bedroom piled with six unconscious fellows and a jammed door. After exiting the hallway at the other end, a similar battle begins, but the group of guards there are also piled in a heap within a second small bedroom. In this room, Dehvin and Noel have a disagreement on how to proceed, and they decide to part ways momentarily. Noel heads over to look into a small closet, while Dehvin and the rest go down another narrow hallway leading to a strangely positioned, diagonal door. The closet door and diagonal door are then simultaneously opened for dramatic effect. Noel takes a moment to check out some fungus, while Dehvin sweeps aside the large canvas in front of him. As soon as the canvas is moved, a battleaxe is driven down onto him and another battle ensues.
This time the four heroes face two trolls dual-wielding battleaxes, two wardens, and another annoying herald. The room the fight occurs in appears to be the entrance to the palace and contains a fountain with a golden statue of Irovetti in the middle along with four walls adorned with larger-than-life paintings of Irovetti looking super cool. After the first strike against Dehvin from the troll, he retaliates back with his holy scimitar. Kahr and Humar roll into the room and take on the human opponents while Noel makes his way over to the battle from afar. The trolls lock up Dehvin between them and take shots battering him back and forth. The herald improves Team Pitax with some jaunty tunes. The wardens strike against Humar, but fail to do any meaningful damange. Noel falls in with Dehvin and soon the first troll is taken down. The herald is soon to follow and the Pitaxian morale begins to plummet. One warden goes down and the other ducks around a canvas in hopes of escaping with his life. The second troll thinks this is a good idea too and heads towards a door behind another painting. Dehvin and Noel pursue the troll and take him out. Humar blasts some healing magic while Kahr chases after the fleeing warden. Beyond the painting, Kahr sees the warden running down a large, marbled hallway lined with high balconies holding a half-dozen heralds. The heralds take the opportunity to fire cheap shots at the monk, but Kahr deftly avoid the arrows or simply plucks them out of thin air. The warden's cries for help echo down the hallway into darkness, but he is abruptly silenced by Kahr's fists. The heralds in the balcony break out into a six-part harmony and make each other feel pretty good.
Kahr leaps up into the southern balcony and fights the helpless heralds one by one. Dehvin, Noel, and Humar also duck under the painting and join in the fray. A second batch Pitaxians consisting of two trolls and a few wardens march out of the darkness from the room beyond the battle. A mishmash of clashes occurs, when suddenly, a big ol' floating ogre in fancy armor appears beside Kahr and smacks him thrice with a greatsword. Kahr's life flashes before his eyes and he politely asks Humar for some friendly aid. Humar obliges. Humar even takes his aid to the next level and heaves one of the heralds over the balcony's edge. The herald grasps the lip of the balcony with his fingertips and gets a little pitchy, dog. The ogre joins in on the next verse of the heralds' song and the guards feel even better. Dehvin grants the power of smites to his fellow comrades and smite they do upon ye yonder ogre. Dehvin turns partially avian and swoops up to smack down the ogre. The ogre takes a few more swings at Kahr, but the heroes pile too much damage upon him and he is forced to attempt an escape. He crescendos his part of the song and whirls his hands around dramatically, but forgets how to do magic in the process. Dehvin punishes him for his stupidity and the ogre falls to the ground dead. A few more wardens and two more trolls join this epic clash. The first new troll tries to impress his friends and does a running leap attack against the bird-like Dehvin, but ends up stumbling into the painted canvas of Irovetti and wrapping it around himself. The second new troll knows he can do better than the first, but he too ends up on the ground. A laugh is had by all.
Then, out of the darkness, steps the man we've all been waiting for. The one, the only: King Irovetti! He grins and struts around like he owns the place. He strikes a few poses to match the ones on the paintings. He winks at all the ladies. He loudly proclaims, "So you have come for me at last, have you? I knew you would. Very well. No more games. No more tricks. No more decoys. Skill against skill, strength against strength, and we shall see who deserves to rule, and who deserves to die!" It's pretty dramatic.
Player Information
• Chris played, and his character, Kahr, started this session as a Human Monk 13 with 378030 XP with 403230 XP afterwards.
• Nathan played, and his character, Humar, started this session as a Human Oracle 13 with 365775 XP with 390975 XP afterwards.
• Derek played, and his character, Dehvin, started this session as a Human Paladin 13 with 365775 XP with 390975 XP afterwards.
• Kyle played, and his character, Noel, started this session as a Human Rogue 13 with 363097 XP with 388297 XP afterwards.
Experience
• 10 Pitaxian wardens (human fighter 6) knocked out, tied up, and/or skewered for 16000 XP.
• 11 Pitaxian heralds (human bard 6) laid out, bound, and/or perforated for 17600 XP.
• 3 troll guards (troll fighter 5) beaten down and cut into pieces for 28800 XP.
• General Avinash Jurrg (ogre mage bard 10) swatted out of the air for 38400 XP.
Total: 100800 XP (25200 XP per player)
Loot
• None (yet). 
Campaign Links: First Previous Next
-
|
|
|
Posted Thu Feb 2, 2012 8:34 am