Week five of Tombs of the Serpent Kings. I have five out of six players present this week. The players correctly figured there were only two rooms left. The magic user filled the people who missed last week in on everything that happened. He's also brought a "friend", a rude and abusive NPC, a lout named "Julian", who seems to be the magic user's best friend!
I played Julian as a total misogynist asshole and everyone hated him. The magic-user said "Before we start, Julian and I have to go take care of something." The magic-user's player and I break out into a private chat room. The magic-user took Julian upstairs to the quarters of Xiximanter the Lich. The magic-user apologized for his previous rudeness and informs Xiximanter he has brought a gift. The magic-user then presented Julian for the purpose for which he was charmed. Xiximanter accepted and gave the magic-user the choice of one of his many potions: Diminution, Flying, Control Undead, Levitation, Heroism, Control Animal, Giant Strength, Speed, Fire Resistance, Healing, Poison, and Longevity. The wizard was intrigued and chose Longevity. He also noted the pile of stuff against the wall in Xixmanter's store room.
Their transaction concluded, the magic-user left, highly creeped out and a little afraid for his life. It was a good time.
He rejoined the party and they finally opened and looted the throne room. They found the secret passage to Xiximanter's store room, but the magic-user remembered that it opens behind the pile of stuff. I described the door as a thin sheet of plaster made to look like a wall. So they worked out a plan - the thief would use a knife to cut a small hole in the thin secret door, reach in, and steal stuff off the pile without alerting Xiximanter. The thief rolled 96 for move silently. She cut the door and the plaster shattered into a million brittle shards. Xiximanter was surprised! She grabbed one random thing from the pile - a jar of seeds from an extinct plant - and took off!
The party ran away and regrouped in the domed room with the last unopened door - a vault door that needed a key.
The thief tried to open it but broke her picks when she rolls a 94. It was not her night! She remembered hearing something small and metal hanging around the basilisk's neck, so they deduced it had the key.
The magic user worked out an amazing plan! They took some of the tables and wooden boards lying around and fashioned a large moveable 10' wide siege shield. They affixed every hand mirror they owned, plus the silver ones they just got in the throne room, to its front. They pushed it into the basilisk room. They attacked through small openings in the shield. Meanwhile the thief snuck up from behind to try to steal the key.
The basilisk was tethered to a 20' long chain so they kept to the edge of that distance. The basilisk attacked the shield, tearing off the mirrors, while they stabbed at the basilisk for nickel-and-dime damage.
The basilisk almost turned itself to stone attacking the mirrors. It failed one save but made every other.
The thief failed to pick pockets on the basilisk - another 90+ roll - and opted to just snatch the key and run away. She survived the basilisk's glare as the rest of the group withdrew with their shield and remaining mirrors.
It was a genius idea!
They returned to the vault and get a lot of treasure!
Everyone hauled their loot back to town and the everyone is now level 2!
After that we started our hexcrawl. They're headed to the Tower Arcane - a wizard school six hexes away - to sell the snake-man statues for a bigger profit to a collector.
They spent the first night in an inn, heard some rumors about a cult in a nearby dungeon. The next day they encountered a group of 14 orcs! They chose to engage. The wizard put 8 of them to sleep with a sleep spell. The remaining orcs put up a good fight - the cleric had to splinter his shield to avoid a fatal blow! It was starting to look grim, then they made some good rolls and took out some orcs and turned the tide of battle - winning the day!
That's where we ended. Next week - the beginning of the Tower of the Arcane!
No comments:
Post a Comment