Dealing With Demons

Well we finally finished a major encounter with 15 demons inside the ruins that the group has entered and the fight took three game sessions to run and lasted about 30 rounds before the group finally managed to overcome them. They killed off all but one, but that one is a spell caster and it will return to engage them again. I managed to kill off one of the party cohorts but if I had really wanted to, I could have taken out most of the party. The fun thing is that I managed to feeblemind two of the party members including Humphrey the half-ogre and one of the spell casters in the group.
The thing I liked is that I forced the group to cast off most of their high level spells in the encounter and I have a tough demon waiting for them if they try to retreat. So their only safe option is to head deeper into the ruins but that will bring them closer to the head demon and they will have to have most of their spells in order to survive.
The next few sessions before the new year will tell the tale. I wait to see how bold the group will be in pushing further into the ruins.

Dealing with Argumentative Players

Well last nights game session was rather interesting as a couple of them spent most of the session arguing with me about the actions that happened during the game. It is starting to frustrate me when my bad guys attack the group with a plan of action and the group seems to have to argue about it. They don't seem to realize that when they are attacking an enemy that is just as smart as they are and are able to plan an attack on the group that is coordinated for the most effectiveness in doing damage to the group that I as a GM is obligated to try and do as much as I can to hamper them. That and trying to say that a dinosaur animal companion is supposed to be as smart as the group and able to do things that a dumb animal wouldn't do. I am tempted to just kill off the animals that are with the group to cut down on the bitching and whining.
I guess I will have to see what happens over the next few sessions before I do something drastic. Oh well! More to come with this adventure and it promises to get very interesting over the next few sessions.

The Savage Tide Season Five begins

Well the first session for the year was played last night and I started off the game with a rather short and nasty encounter when a massive crocodile came up from under the group and attacked. The group got away relatively unscathed as it was a hit and run attack. It wasn't able to grab a snack and the group hurt it enough for it to retreat back to the depths of the lake.
But I did want I wanted to do by forcing the characters to react in different ways and spread them out over the lake and on the shore.

Then they encountered the aquatic demon guardian that was waiting for them at the entrance to the ruins. What made it interesting is that it was an illusion of the demon that the group attacked and I made them cast off some fairly potent spells to no affect. Next weeks session should get interesting as the demon has a lot of at will powers that can hurt the group if they don't roll well against it. Then they have to deal with what is inside the building and I can hardly wait.

Birthright done for the year, Savage Tide begins again

Well it has been awhile since I have posted anything and I thought I would leave a few thoughts about the Birthright Game. Our GM pulled out Tale of the Comet, a 2nd Edition adventure that we have played over the last season for Birthright. The last session lasted almost 4 hours and we managed to finish off the adventure in the last few minutes but the fight during the night was rather nasty. We were only in the craft for about 3 minutes but those three minutes took two full sessions to run. We managed to destroy the Overseer just as he was activating the transporter to start bringing in constructs from another dimension. The group had been forced to used the weapons that they found called blasters to hurt them as our medieval weapons we had didn't seem to hurt them at all.
The party dwarf had gleefully used a cannon that was usually mounted on a hard point to attack with and the damage was rather extreme when he managed to hit. We lost count of how many constructs that we killed during the adventure and now we have to wait until April before we take up the game again.
I am looking forward to the next session as I get to start GMing again with the start up of season five of Savage Tide. I can't wait for the first round as the group is walking across the lake to the island and they haven't spotted the immense crocodile that it coming up from below them to attack the group.

Birthright Meets War of the Worlds

Well last nights session was definitely interesting as we ended up being scavengers for the day as we had to snoop through the debris field looking for anything usable. It's a good thing we seemed to roll good as we ended up finding some good stuff including a blaster cannon still in its case. Our rock solid dwarf in the party just laughed as he picked it up and told us to point him in the right direction. We managed to equip ourselves with blaster pistols, a pair of rifles and a suit of foreign made armor that looked kinda like pottery. We have also rescued an elf that had been captured by the bad guys and he was forced to teleport himself away but he had to leave his pack behind.
Now we have also found some people allied with the woman. We now have to somehow eliminate the Overlord before he can build up too much power.
The next few sessions should prove to be interesting.

Birthright Begins Again

Well we played our first Birthright session for the season and we are now fighting something that is not of our world. We found the massive crater and blast zone of the meteor that struck the ground and when we tried to explore the hole we were chased off by some sort of metallic monsters that seemed immune to our attacks. We were forced to retreat back into the woods to lick our wounds. Then we had a strange woman appeared outside our camp and told us that these things were under the service of someone called the Overlord and if he was successful he would wipe out everything on Cerillia. She showed us a weapon that would work against them and it was a long tube with some sort of apparatus on one end. She told us that we would have to scavenge some more parts to make another one and she would show us how.

Playing Magic the Gathering

Well the last two sessions at the Candle Dragon Inn were spent playing Magic. There were six of us playing and the game took a combined five hours to finish. It was winner take all and the next time I think we will just play one on one.

Next to come is a one-shot session of Savage Worlds Pride Prejudice and Zombies hosted by the GM that plays Savage Worlds. This session looks like it might be fun and I am looking forward to it.

Savage Tide done for the Season

Well the last game session for the Savage Tide Adventure Path was finished Sunday Night with the group using magic to walk across Broken Lake towards Taboo Island, home of the demons. The group managed to accomplish more this season than I first thought and I stopped the game just as the group managed to spot the humongous crocodile about to attack them from underneath them as they walked across the water. The first session in Sept is going to be very interesting to see if anyone in the group gets swallowed by the twenty-foot maw of the beast.
Now we will be playing some one off games over the next five weeks until our Birthright GM returns from a vacation. The way the game was left in Sept, I don't look forwards to fighting metal machines ala World of the Worlds. I guess we will see in June.

Getting Over the River Canyon

Well the group finally got to the canyon containing a river about 2000 feet below the group. Looking across the 300 yards or so the group could see the central plateau. The party druid changed into a falcon and flew around the plateau and he could not find anyway across until he flew over the causeway to the south. The only problem was that the bridge over the river was broken and the gap was 150 feet across. The group managed to use the spells that the gnomes had for the day to get everyone across the causeway into the jungle. As the group headed inland, they were attacked by a very big demon and barely managed to kill it before it killed some of the party. If this is one of the guardians, the group could be in serious trouble before they even find the ruins.
More to come as we play the last few sessions for the season before we switch back to Birthright for the summer.

Nearing the Central Plateau

Well we spent this latest session with the group splitting up after one of the rangers decided to take a specialized prestige class called a Totemic Demon Slayer. He had to spend the session trying to track down an Olman Holy Woman who was the only one that could initiate him into the brotherhood of slayers. The fun part was when the ritual started he was offered a herbal drink that was highly hallucinogenic and he failed his saving throw and ended up passing out after seeing some very strange and bizarre visions. He woke up hours later to find his body now covered in Olman tribal tattoos as part of the ritual. Now he just has to learn the secret of unlocking them for him to advance further. Since they will soon be fighting more demons than they really want, I think it was a good idea for the class to be learned. Now they are only a days walk from the edge of the plateau with a nasty dungeon still to come. The sessions leading up to the end of the season are going to get interesting if not down right nasty.
Stay tuned for more from the Candle Dragon Inn.

Halfway through the Savage Tide

Well I finally managed to get the group through the end of Chapter Six and now get to prepare for the next Chapter but not before I managed to pound the Half-Ogre Barbarian into submission when I got the chance to jump him with a fairly tough demon when he was by himself in the tunnels. I shredded his enchanted armor and left him unconscious as the group accompanying him was in gaseous form and by the time they became solid he had managed to drive off the demon but not before he almost died from the poison that was in his system from the bites he received. I had to relent at the end or he would have been left as a puddle in the tunnel before he was healed.
They have returned to Farshore and next week I will start them on their next quest in the adventure. This time to explore the taboo central plateau of the Isle of Dread inhabited by a major demon and his followers. This could get interesting in the next few sessions until we finish in late April and switch to the Birthright game.

Finishing Off the Chapter is taking longer than I figured

Well last nights session dealt with the group still fleeing the rising waters. The gnome wizard has finally got teleport so he took three of the group with him to the ship while the others forced marched upwards. The gnome cleric them changed some of the group to vapor and sped to the ship and stopped there for the night. The next day she returned to the group with the wizard and the group continued walking upwards. Humphrey and the trog scout were the only ones still walking when the bebelith demon appeared again looking for Adla. This is going to be an interesting fight when we play again after Dak-Kon next week.

Finishing Off Chapter Six

Well the group finally got to the ziggurat and realized that it was alive. With trepidation the group entered and moved down to the bowels of it. They finally came to the last room and it was filled with pools of Black Bile of the World and swimming through it was a Bile Wretch that was a bizarre cross between an octopus and squid so weird that the party didn't know what to do. It showed how nasty it was when it spat something black at the group and the acid then ignited with the air. I managed to kill off one of the cohorts mainly because he was Lawful in nature and the bile reacted more because of it. They were forced to kill it while the aquatic master managed to dominate Humphrey and told him to leave. While they were engaged with it, the bebelith appeared in the room and attacked the group again. It was forced to flee when they attacked it. The session ended with the aquatic creature hiding in one of the pools. Once they deal with it they have to flee, the waters are coming.....

Playing With the Fishes

Well the group spent the session trying to maneuver through the Aboleth city and it took them a couple of hours to get across the cavern to finally see their objective. The ziggurat that looks out of place compared to the other buildings around it. They were forced to deal with the large Kopru guards that tried to dominate the party. They were unsuccessful so they were forced to engage and grapple with the group. Humphrey the Half-Ogre took the brunt of the damage when one of them grabbed him with its tail and proceeded to squeeze the life out of him. One of the others was forced to attack with a Great-sword and did so much damage to kill it, that most of the damage went through and hurt him. Now with the guards dead they are headed up the pyramid to investigate further. Next weeks session is going to be very interesting.

Exploring an Alien City

Well the group finally made it to their main objective by arriving deep underground to a city built by the Demon-fish millenia ago. This was after they had to overcome some obstacles including a couple of very big insects like a giant spider and scorpion. Then they dealt with the ghost of a trog but were not aware that it was a demon-fish using some of its abilities to hide from them. From there they have traveled close to 2 miles underground and at least 50 plus miles from the surface.
They found where the ancient artifact was that held the waters at bay and they destroyed it but not before they encountered some sort of brain collector that almost decimated the party with a well placed confusion spell. The results were nasty as the group started to fight itself as the Half-Ogre barbarian pounded away at the artifact.
Then the relic was finally destroyed and the group realized that the waters were about to pour in. Now for the second part of the plan, to destroy whatever was making the savage pearls. Most likely they can be found in the ziggurat and that's where the group is headed next, but not before they have to recover from the fight they just had.
At least most of the group has gained a level down here so they had accomplished the goal that was set out before them.
Now if they can make it back to the surface before the water rushes in... Good luck with that...

Through the Curtain We Go

Well the group has traveled further down into the darkness and have passed through a blue curtain that looks like water and have come across a small village of humanoids that eek out a meager living. The local leader tells them about the 'Lords of Dread' that now live in the city below that was the home of demon fish before the humans from above cast down the tear of a God that drove the waters away.
He asks the group if they wish to see one of these so called demon fish and the next day the group accompanies him through another passage and come into a large chamber. At the far end of the chamber they can see the blue curtain and on the other side, water and lots of it. On the floor in the middle of the room is a stone shaped fish like thing that is dozens of feet long. The headman invites them to put their heads against it. As they listen in amazement, they can hear things moving inside. Somehow this thing is still alive. What is it?