(I've removed the Scarab of Golembane from my game ... just doesn't make sense in my world.)
The party bravely marches up the stairs and begins their exploration of the Inner Vaults. They turn and begin searching the Santification Chamber, doing a thorough job of moving aside the ancient stone tables and such. They make enough noise, in fact, that two Wight Soldiers surprise them. Ariana Turns them before they can attack (DM Note: Oops on my part -- I hadn't reviewed my notes on the Wights in a week or so, and had forgotten they had Fighter levels. So, the first pair of Wights got turned into dust. I later decided they were just pawns of the rest of the Wights, who were properly more powerful), and they dissolve into dust. The party quickly readies for combat as Therras snoops in front of each door for sounds. At the door to the Desecrated Temple, he thinks he hears something, but before he can act on it the door from the Prison Entrance opens and a battle is on.
Using cunning tactics, the Wights make for difficult foes. Kaia is nearly beaten to death, and is knocked off her feat once by the rear-fighting Wights with their Guisarmes (DM note: No such thing as spiked chains in my world ...or, that is, there are but they are very exotic and the party has never seen them. These soldiers weren't the right place to introduce them). The party eventually prevails, with two of the Wights having fled due to a Turn effect.
The party gives chase through various open doors, but stops just short of the Conflaguration and returns to carefully search the rooms. They find the Dread One's note written in the Prison Entrance, they stand in awe of the pile of skulls, and then make their way towards the Bind Item trap. Walking side by side, Kaia and Therras both trigger the trap but make their reflex saves. Therras disarms the trap and the party continues. (DM Note: I'm getting something in the story wrong here as the party never tried to open more than one door in the skull room. In any case, these are the rooms they visited even if the order is a bit off
)
Therras is not so lucky with the Slamming Rock trap. He sets it off while searching the dead-end hallway, and half the party takes significant damage. He tries to disarm it but fails by enough that he gives up on the trap, realizing he'll never be able to get it right. The party stands about healing themselves and discussing what to do next.
All this noise, of course, has given Vallacor plenty of time to prepare.
Therras enters the room first, searching for traps. He just barely jumps back as Vallacor's hand reaches from around the corner and tries to Shocking Grasp him. Vallacor is Mirror Imaged, Blurred, Mage Armored, Shielded, and Stoneskinned. Everyone but Therras recognizes the creature as some kind of Lich, and pulls out all their stops. (DM note: With 3.5E Haste nefed for spellcasting, I didn't think he needed to be Hasted.)
Cole opens with a Magic Missile, targeting and eliminating the Mirror Images. Therras and Kaia try to dent the creature but have no effect; the Stoneskin is strong.
Vallacor is ready for the fight as well. He tosses his Force Bead into their midst and manages to trap Cole. (DM Note: Ooops # 2 on my part; Vallacor didn't throw the bead far enough to avoid the explosion and took damage himself.) Ariana, realizing that to fight Arcane Magic one probably would like to have Arcane Magic, Dispels the force globe. Cole is quick to Dispel the effects on Vallacor. An extraordinary series of rolls Dispels every effect but the Shocking Grasp (!!), which Vallacor is quick to apply to Ariana, Cleric of a Goddess who hates undead above all. Ariana makes her save and is not paralyzed, however.
With the Stoneskin gone and Vallacor's Armor Class in a more reasonable range, Kaia and Ariana are able to deal some significant damage. Therras is unable to bypass the creature's natural damage reduction, however. Cole readies an action to Magic Missile it if it tries to cast a spell -- hoping to disrupt the magic. Sure enough, Vallacor moves so as not to provoke an AoO and tries a Phantasmal Killer on Kaia.
The Magic Missiles do more than disrupt the spell, they destroy Vallacor. His body decays almost immediately. They all assume he will reform somewhere, sometime, but doubt they will ever find him again. I'll leave them thinking that ... maybe he will return someday, if I'm feeling particularly evil. (DM note: Without the haste nerf, this guy would have been much nastier. Alternatively, with one or two allies, he would also have been a pain in the neck. But with relatively few hit points, once the party got over the initial shock he wasn't that difficult)
By now, the party is all wounded. The Wights, the Stone Wall trap, and Vallacor are more than they can handle. They gather their loot and make for the Sealed Door area, where they spend the day tensely awaiting what could happen next.
Nothing does. Well, nothing dangerous. Cole identifies some of the items, and then receives a Sending from Jevicca (with whom he hasn't spoken in at least 10 days). She says that she has important information and has a friend the party should meet at the Ghostly Minstrel if they want it. Cole replies that the party is busy but they will meet soon. (DM Note: Didn't want to have to deal with the Scrying, not to mention that in order to teleport you must come with the subject -- you can't just send someone somewhere. So the party will meet Avach in Ptolus.)
After Cole explains the message, the party agrees to go see the friend ... eventually. For now, they sleep in careful shifts and return as soon as they can. They search Vallacor's chamber and miss the secret door. The next stop is the Conflagaration, which they study at a distance. Cole makes his checks and realizes how dangerous it is. He goes closer to examine it more accurately, and watches as the two Slaadi crawl up and out of the pit.
We end the session there.
(DM Timeline: The two turned Wights are fully recovered and waiting with the Betrayed for the party to return. If I can think of a good time to release the Betrayed on the party, I will -- otherwise he'll be waiting, ready, in the Broken Altar room. Avach will be run more or less as in the book, though as others have done I will likely make his brainwashing the result of an overzealous member of the group, not the group at large. The Pyramid's resealing attempt will happen once Avach is with them (or after they decide not to let Avach accompany them). Saarachk and Li (along with Feldon and Kikanuile) will pull their "trick" on the party next time they leave (or ... some other time, if I think it makes sense to wait). If the party doesn't work to repair their relationship with the church somewhat they might be bumping into a Church team soon too ... certainly is a lot going on!)
The party bravely marches up the stairs and begins their exploration of the Inner Vaults. They turn and begin searching the Santification Chamber, doing a thorough job of moving aside the ancient stone tables and such. They make enough noise, in fact, that two Wight Soldiers surprise them. Ariana Turns them before they can attack (DM Note: Oops on my part -- I hadn't reviewed my notes on the Wights in a week or so, and had forgotten they had Fighter levels. So, the first pair of Wights got turned into dust. I later decided they were just pawns of the rest of the Wights, who were properly more powerful), and they dissolve into dust. The party quickly readies for combat as Therras snoops in front of each door for sounds. At the door to the Desecrated Temple, he thinks he hears something, but before he can act on it the door from the Prison Entrance opens and a battle is on.
Using cunning tactics, the Wights make for difficult foes. Kaia is nearly beaten to death, and is knocked off her feat once by the rear-fighting Wights with their Guisarmes (DM note: No such thing as spiked chains in my world ...or, that is, there are but they are very exotic and the party has never seen them. These soldiers weren't the right place to introduce them). The party eventually prevails, with two of the Wights having fled due to a Turn effect.
The party gives chase through various open doors, but stops just short of the Conflaguration and returns to carefully search the rooms. They find the Dread One's note written in the Prison Entrance, they stand in awe of the pile of skulls, and then make their way towards the Bind Item trap. Walking side by side, Kaia and Therras both trigger the trap but make their reflex saves. Therras disarms the trap and the party continues. (DM Note: I'm getting something in the story wrong here as the party never tried to open more than one door in the skull room. In any case, these are the rooms they visited even if the order is a bit off
)Therras is not so lucky with the Slamming Rock trap. He sets it off while searching the dead-end hallway, and half the party takes significant damage. He tries to disarm it but fails by enough that he gives up on the trap, realizing he'll never be able to get it right. The party stands about healing themselves and discussing what to do next.
All this noise, of course, has given Vallacor plenty of time to prepare.
Therras enters the room first, searching for traps. He just barely jumps back as Vallacor's hand reaches from around the corner and tries to Shocking Grasp him. Vallacor is Mirror Imaged, Blurred, Mage Armored, Shielded, and Stoneskinned. Everyone but Therras recognizes the creature as some kind of Lich, and pulls out all their stops. (DM note: With 3.5E Haste nefed for spellcasting, I didn't think he needed to be Hasted.)
Cole opens with a Magic Missile, targeting and eliminating the Mirror Images. Therras and Kaia try to dent the creature but have no effect; the Stoneskin is strong.
Vallacor is ready for the fight as well. He tosses his Force Bead into their midst and manages to trap Cole. (DM Note: Ooops # 2 on my part; Vallacor didn't throw the bead far enough to avoid the explosion and took damage himself.) Ariana, realizing that to fight Arcane Magic one probably would like to have Arcane Magic, Dispels the force globe. Cole is quick to Dispel the effects on Vallacor. An extraordinary series of rolls Dispels every effect but the Shocking Grasp (!!), which Vallacor is quick to apply to Ariana, Cleric of a Goddess who hates undead above all. Ariana makes her save and is not paralyzed, however.
With the Stoneskin gone and Vallacor's Armor Class in a more reasonable range, Kaia and Ariana are able to deal some significant damage. Therras is unable to bypass the creature's natural damage reduction, however. Cole readies an action to Magic Missile it if it tries to cast a spell -- hoping to disrupt the magic. Sure enough, Vallacor moves so as not to provoke an AoO and tries a Phantasmal Killer on Kaia.
The Magic Missiles do more than disrupt the spell, they destroy Vallacor. His body decays almost immediately. They all assume he will reform somewhere, sometime, but doubt they will ever find him again. I'll leave them thinking that ... maybe he will return someday, if I'm feeling particularly evil. (DM note: Without the haste nerf, this guy would have been much nastier. Alternatively, with one or two allies, he would also have been a pain in the neck. But with relatively few hit points, once the party got over the initial shock he wasn't that difficult)
By now, the party is all wounded. The Wights, the Stone Wall trap, and Vallacor are more than they can handle. They gather their loot and make for the Sealed Door area, where they spend the day tensely awaiting what could happen next.
Nothing does. Well, nothing dangerous. Cole identifies some of the items, and then receives a Sending from Jevicca (with whom he hasn't spoken in at least 10 days). She says that she has important information and has a friend the party should meet at the Ghostly Minstrel if they want it. Cole replies that the party is busy but they will meet soon. (DM Note: Didn't want to have to deal with the Scrying, not to mention that in order to teleport you must come with the subject -- you can't just send someone somewhere. So the party will meet Avach in Ptolus.)
After Cole explains the message, the party agrees to go see the friend ... eventually. For now, they sleep in careful shifts and return as soon as they can. They search Vallacor's chamber and miss the secret door. The next stop is the Conflagaration, which they study at a distance. Cole makes his checks and realizes how dangerous it is. He goes closer to examine it more accurately, and watches as the two Slaadi crawl up and out of the pit.
We end the session there.
(DM Timeline: The two turned Wights are fully recovered and waiting with the Betrayed for the party to return. If I can think of a good time to release the Betrayed on the party, I will -- otherwise he'll be waiting, ready, in the Broken Altar room. Avach will be run more or less as in the book, though as others have done I will likely make his brainwashing the result of an overzealous member of the group, not the group at large. The Pyramid's resealing attempt will happen once Avach is with them (or after they decide not to let Avach accompany them). Saarachk and Li (along with Feldon and Kikanuile) will pull their "trick" on the party next time they leave (or ... some other time, if I think it makes sense to wait). If the party doesn't work to repair their relationship with the church somewhat they might be bumping into a Church team soon too ... certainly is a lot going on!)
