150718 Temple Demon Battle Aftermath, Last Minute Errands in Hommlet, and then a 500 Mile Journey to Highport

TWITCH STREAM Be sure to participate with the group each week LIVE! at <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire" rel="nofollow">www.twitch.tv/dm4hire</a> every Saturday night at 6 PM until midnight. View this entire session here... <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/678802524" rel="nofollow">http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/b/678802524</a> Twitch.tv keeps each broadcast for one week only, so be sure to stay up-to-date while it is still available, and be sure to click the heart icon under the twitch screen to 'follow' the group and be alerted of each new session. Brief portions of these weekly sessions can also be found on Youtube with the same date code. FROM THE DESK OF THE DM I just wanted to take a moment and thank all the players for hanging in there during this portion of the campaign, as I know it was difficult (as are most Gygax written challenges), so cudos to you all for not cutting and running but instead using your abilities, your gear, and that always present luck variable that, in this case, worked to your advantage, when the last remaining baddie was unable to further their tactical strategy by not being able to gate in another of their own kind. So, the lesson to be learned here, is that, despite your current level and current abilities, the party is still quite young overall and this brief side quest I believe demonstrated that quite clearly that we all have to realize our abilities as well as our limitations and that sometimes things can be a little overboard to say the least. But, hey, don't blame it on me, I'm just the messenger! It was Mr. Gygax who had a little bit of a torturous attitude toward the players! LOL! The main thing is, is that you all managed to live to fight another day....and THAT speaks volumes! &nbsp;Good job! QUICK READ RECAP With Zuggtmoy, the demoness of fungi absent from the temple (having previously escaped to the ethereal world for reasons unknown) the party continues to battle the three demons brought upon themselves after having removed three gems from her throne. Just when they think they have it all under control, one of the demons successfully gates in another demon, compounding the issue even more! After defeating the monsters, the party makes a tactical retreat and decides what to tell the cleric of Hommlet upon their departure for the city Highport, regarding the status of the threat. Maybe some time is needed to think things over on how to defeat the powerful entity and be continued in the future before Hommlet falls to her evil? DM SESSION LOG 150718 Spells memorized. Tralann : 1: Hypnotism, Magic Missile*, Wall of Fog, Color Spray, 2: Web, Invisibility, 3: Fireball Argo : 1st lvl: Magic Missile** x2, Chromatic Orb, Burning Hands*, 2nd lvl: Irritation, Blur*, 3rd lvl: Protection From Evil, 10' Radius* Karmadel : 1st lvl spells = Detect Magic x1 / Bless* x2 / and Cure Light Wounds x2, 2nd lvl spells = Cure Serious Wounds* x2 / Hear Heartbeat x2/ and Heat Metal x1 and 3rd lvl spells = Prayer* x1 and Dispel Magic* x1 At will abilities 10' wide 60' long is Detect Evil and Detect Undead Kyra : 1st Bless. 4xCLW, 2nd 6x CMW**, 3rd Prayer*, Dispel Magic, Repair Injury Shenjo: Spells Memorized: Detect Magic*, Enlarge*, Blur 5th combat round Leaxle carefully withdraws from combat on dias to cure serious wounds from party loot. Kyra follows and casts cure moderate wounds on Leaxle for 4 hp of life. Argo shoots darts making a critical hit for 2 hp of damage. Demon attacks Karmadel for 8 hp of biting damage reducing him to 38. Kell hits the same demon for 11 hp of damage. Balfon fumbles his axe. Serandon shoots a demon with two +2 sheaf arrows for 7 and 6 for 17 hp of damage at point blank range (+2 each). Tralaan throws the last 10th vial of holy water at the demon attacking Karmadel and Kell for 1 hp of damage for evil. Shenjo drops his sword. Karmadel casts prayer for his players (-1 save and to hit for demons). Demon on dias moves toward main entry door and casts fly on self raising 10' into the air. Bjorn drops weapon. 6th combat round. Demon attempts to gate another demon but fails with a roll of 51% Shenjo picks up his weapon. Bjorn picks up weapon. Balfon picks up weapon. Karmadel makes save vs. spell for demon gaze. Demon fails magic resistance with a roll of 66%. Argo shoots magic missile 12 hp of damage killing the airborne demon. Kyra casts cure moderate on Leaxle for 3 hp of health. Tralaan attempts to cast hypnotizm on a demon but he fails his save vs. spell and falls victim to the demons gaze similar to ray of enfeeblement giving a strength of 5 with penalties to hit and each die of damage. Demon resists hypnotizm spell. Demon moves off dias toward door, Bjorn makes 13 hp of damage on an attack of opportunity. Serandon fires an arrow for 15 hp of damage killing the fleeing demon! 7th round combat Demon gates another demon. Karmadel fails save vs. spell and becomes feeble due to demon gaze, collapses to the ground due to the weight of his armor and shield (-2 to hit and -1 to damage penalties). Karmadel yells out don't look into their eyes. Serandon shoots normal arrow for 12 hp of damage on the original demon killing it! Aaron hits the last remaining demon for 7 hp of damage. 8th round of combat Argo casts burning hands on gated demon. Demon resists spell. Karmadel casts bless for 6 rounds, while on the floor. Demon casts fear affecting Aaron, Bjorn, Shenjo and Kyra. Tralaan hits demon with vial of holy water for 19 hp of damage. Serandon shoots two arrows at point blank range for 14 and 10 hp of damage. 9th round of combat Karmadel's sword speaks aloud "What's the matter with you!?!? This is not the time to sit down and take a break, we're right in the middle of a battle! Suck in that stomach soldier! Stand up straight! " Demon fails to gate in another demon rolling 90%. Shenjo hits the last remaining demon for 15 hp of damage killing it! Party makes a strategic retreat to get out of the temple as quickly as possible. Party lump sum XP with all aspects considered (including but not limited to) session survival, skill usage, role-playing, alignment checks, etc: 11,188 Karmadel, Priest/Bjorn/Shenjo (Christopher S.): Human/Human/Elf: 1017/1017/1017 Argo Mage/Leaxle (Paul W.): Human/Elf: 1017/1017 Tralann (Shalvenay K) Elf, Half: 1017 Kell/Aaron (Robert D.) Human/Human: 1017/1017 Balfon (Skyhawk) dwarf: 1017 Serandon/Kyra(Charles W.) Elf/Dwarf: 1017/1017 SESSION LENGTH: 4 Hours

Good job everybody, you survived against some insurmountable odds, and, you managed to come away with a few (soon to be identified) mystery toys! I would much rather see the party live to fight another day, then stay in a situation that might well be a little too much to deal with in one go. Let's file that one away in the back of our heads for the time being, where, maybe in the future, before things get a little too out of control for Hommlet, we help them before it's too late....at a later date? If Kell is correct, there might be the possibility that Zuggtmoy might return to pick up where she left off ? What will the party say to the cleric of Homlett at this point?

For those folks that have some errands to take care of in Hommlet, remember the rule of thumb with regard to magic item creation/revision. A mage is only capable of doing such things after a certain level is attained, and the population often times dictates the level of mage that may be present in that particular city. For instance, a 10th level mage may be found in cities with a population of at least 100,000. Likewise, a 20th level mage might be found in cities with populations of 200,000, and so forth. Please keep this in mind, as some errands may not be possible here Hommlet, and might present a side quest for these tasks. Good homework would be to take a look at the DM Guide and see what the XP value is for a similar magic item, to get an idea of what the approximate GP cost would be, to see if it would even be feasible money-wise at this time, as well as the associated time to do said activity....these things often do take a considerable amount of time to complete.

Woot i think that XP u gave me might finally lvl me up to lvl 6 :)

Yeah that is true about the mages in the towns, but some low lvl magic can be done and they would most likely have scrolls of permanentcy that will help, that they either bought or traded for, like a limited supply every so many months from their mage order. And if not then he/she could direct us to one that could,

We can spend 2-3 days in Hommlet to do minor repairs, replace items (magical or food or weapons, etc) but then we can start that 500+ mile trek to Highport -- and do any 'travel detours' if there is a wizards tower or other place that you had tasked on the way UP to Hommlet. Figure the trip to Highport will take about 2 weeks unless we are killing our mounts to get there. BEFORE leaving Hommlet, we should give the local priest who called for heroes about what we encountered -- ie. a temple covered in molds, spores, etc. The 'old crone' on the throne that disappeared and the mushroom thing / Zuggtmoy came forward and attacked and yelling about 'her' treasure... which appears to be the gems on the throne. Once running Zuggtmoy off (at least temporarily) we attempted to remove gems from the throne and discovered that each gem removed brought forth a demon. 3 gems / 3 demons... HOWEVER, if injured enough, the demons could call in more demons! We defeated 4 demons and had to withdraw due to injuries, damage and using up all offensive weapons / spells we had. Advise the priest that the temple is not 'cleansed' and will take a more prepared party to defeat Zuggtmoy, close any dimensional links, and cleanse the temple... something we can not do at this time. Also, before leaving Hommlet, it is hoped between our own clerics and the priest, the party can be healed of any injuries from the battle AND any potential harm we might have had from the exposure of all that mold, spores, and whatever Zuugtmoy may have laid upon us. phew... are we safe yet?

Before we can continue, we need to transfer our characters to the other campaign dated 150725 (with the actual photo of Gygax). Some were copied when the campaign expansion was created, but most have been revised since then. If the character sheet is not there, then I will need to open up a new sheet so we can copy and paste between the campaigns before next session. I'll try to do as much as possible, but if you all can help, that would be appreciated.

Link is not working.

Oh Great DM of yore, as I was retreating I was attempting to reclaim the 10 +2 Sheaf Arrows I used. How many will I be able to retrieve. Also, more arrows of a + nature is what I will be looking for in Hommlet.

@Charles The saving throw for an arrow in this situation is 13. &nbsp;We only need review the DM Session Log posts to determine how many of the ten arrows hit, calculate how many missed, and if you go into the game, state you're making saving throws for the arrows and make those rolls on a 20 side die, we'll have that answer as to how many survived the impact on the stone temple walls. &nbsp;Roll20 records the chat window so I don't have to be there at that time. &nbsp;I can review the rolls later if need be. &nbsp;The fact that you indicated you wanted to retrieve your arrows/thrown weapon is the most important part of the entire equation. &nbsp;If a player doesn't verbalize that some how before the next session begins, then at that point the hand is literally "off the game piece" and that opportunity is forever lost. &nbsp;That's when you'll hear me say these dreaded words in the very next monster battle... "What arrows/thrown weapon?"

@All Be sure to read line item 14 in the in-game DM Player Notes handout regarding the acquisition of magic items. &nbsp;In fact while you're there, it never hurts to re-read the group rules section to reaffirm our commitments to keeping the group grounded and focused, and to maintain our professionalism for the twitch viewers as we always do. &nbsp;Thank you all for upholding those core values by the way, it is appreciated. &nbsp;Our viewership increases weekly.

Just because I am weird about these things -- here is a nice link to an article about "How Far Could They Travel" -- which takes references from old 1800s Horse Calvary info to determine who far someone riding a horse (or horses/mules pulling a wagon) might get in a day. &nbsp;Plus modern examples which indicate how they can do in worst terrain/all out race mode. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; How Fast Could They Travel?

THE Dungeon Master said: Before we can continue, we need to transfer our characters to the other campaign dated 150725 (with the actual photo of Gygax). Some were copied when the campaign expansion was created, but most have been revised since then. If the character sheet is not there, then I will need to open up a new sheet so we can copy and paste between the campaigns before next session. I'll try to do as much as possible, but if you all can help, that would be appreciated. Is there a link for this?

THE Dungeon Master said: Before we can continue, we need to transfer our characters to the other campaign dated 150725 (with the actual photo of Gygax). Some were copied when the campaign expansion was created, but most have been revised since then. If the character sheet is not there, then I will need to open up a new sheet so we can copy and paste between the campaigns before next session. I'll try to do as much as possible, but if you all can help, that would be appreciated. The link was sent to everyone in Skype. &nbsp;It is the other campaign dated 150725 (with the actual photo of Gygax)

Ah... &nbsp;I keep forgetting to monitor the Skype feed. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Kell & Aaron's 'front page' is there but I can't get into his stats just yet.

I added you to the sheet so now you have access. &nbsp;That's just the way roll20 works. &nbsp;As soon as you go into the game and it records your name as having been there, then I can assign that player to their sheet. &nbsp;Same goes for Shenjo. &nbsp;Craig now has access to the sheet.

I went in to the new campaign and did not have full access to Serandon yet.&nbsp; I did roll for the 4 arrows that I calculated I could try for and got one +2 Sheaf Arrows.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Think the wizard tower at Hommlet has a resident magical hermit that could produce more in 2-3 days? &nbsp; Or is Highport sure to have a 'magic shop'?