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?

Underground They Go

Well the group managed to bluff their way past the troglodyte guards, they were easily confused as they think all humans are alike. They tried to stay as far away from the creatures as they could as all of them are suffering from some sort of malady and are diseased. Then they rescued one of them from a cage and he agreed to lead them to the "Lords of Dread." They are responsible for making the vile pearls and he leads them deep underground. They also freed an Olman warrior but he has been feebleminded and can't communicate with the group yet. Then they found a chamber that contained acid and rushed through it and then encountered a black pudding that struck without warning. Now the fight is on and we will see in two weeks what happens when Puddings Attack...

Starting the Lightless Depths

Well I managed to have some fun with the group and then had some down time before the group started the next chapter in the Adventure Path. The group met with one of the known monsters of the Isle known as 'The Glutton.' They managed to bribe their way past it after some interesting role-playing from the group. Now they will head underground for the next bunch of sessions.

Fighting the Pirates part 3

Well it took more sessions than I originally planned but the group finally prevailed tonight in the fight against the pirates and their nasty leader who turned out to be the brother of their patron. The group managed to kill him and his gang but not before I killed off two of the party members and a cohort or two. Also slain was an important NPC of the village. They have recovered three of the ships that the pirates used to attack as the remainder fled for their lives once they saw that the group was going to win. Now the group has to recover and attempt to revive the dead characters. One will not be coming back as the player has decided to make up a new PC so I can introduce it next game session. Now I can lead the group around looking for clues before they have to deal with the resident dragon turtle before they can head underground looking for answers. The next couple of sessions should be interesting before we take our Christmas break.

When Pirates Attack part 2

Well this fight went on a lot longer than I figured tonight and the group still hasn't encountered the boss bad guy yet. He sent in three Vrock's (nasty demons) and they caused havoc and destruction in the middle of the village. Then the tidal wave that was caused by the evil druid didn't help matters when it came ashore. The only good thing is it killed some of the pirates that were trying to attack the village. Once the water receded the fight was on with the Vrock's using their teleport skill to jump in and out of combat. At least I killed off one of the party members and I can still hope to hurt a few more before the fight is over. I hope next session this will be done and I can start planning on the next Chapter.

The Pirates Attack part 1

Well the group surprised me with their planning and managed to scuttle two of the pirate ships before they could get close enough to attack the settlement. Now as the long-boats approach filled with pirates approach the group has backed away from the water to regroup. I have to laugh as the group's most powerful fighter is in the water playing with an aquatic druid and his pets in the water. They didn't like it when they launched some fireballs and someone in one of the pirate ships started launching them back at them. The Sea Wyvern has been hit twice and the crew is now busy trying to put the fires out before it burns to the water line. The group has abandoned the ship in order to attack the pirates landing on shore. Part two will be next Sunday and this fight should be over by then. This will finish Chapter Five of the Savage Tide and the next chapter will see the group heading into the Lightless Depths of the Isle of Dread. Boy am I going to have fun with this Chapter. More to come...

When Pirates Attack

Well I managed to finish off the session last night with the group repairing their ship and sailing it back to Far Shore. They arrived just in time to vote in the election for Lord Mayor and managed to get their patron elected Mayor of Far Shore. Then they prepared for the attack to come and were busy working away the next day and were at the harbor when the alert went out that the pirates were on the horizon. Now to see if their planning works.

Playing Politics

Well the group has now spent two weeks in the settlement preparing for the attack to come. Most of the group turned their attention to the upcoming election for Lord Mayor of Far Shore. Seeing as their patron, the Lady Lavinia is in the running, they have decided to sway some votes to her side. There are enough undecided voters that they can get her elected if they can convince enough people to vote for her. Just as things are starting to heat up, they have sailed back around the island to try and repair and float the Sea Wyvern. But when they got there, they found that something else had apparently taken it over. Now the fight is on...

Starting to Upgrade Farshore

Well the group has made it back to the colony and is now helping out in some upgrades before they sail off to repair the Sea Wyvern. I managed to split the party up with the big half-Ogre heading off with his kobold flunky and a pair of the gnomes to investigate some frog-men. Little do they know that they were really Trogs but the four of them still made mincemeat out of the two dozen Trogs and their pet monitor lizards. I ended the session with them being attacked by a half-dozen frog-men who were just passing through. Next week should be interesting to say the least.

Playing With Snakes

Well I had the group manage to get past the huge snake guarding the temple and then they had to play with the flying feathered serpent. Good thing that a couple of the PC's were very diplomatic otherwise it could have gone very badly for the group. But they managed to find the racks of weapons just waiting for someone to find them. Now to get them back to the settlement of Far Shore before its too late. I still have them playing in the jungle and this week it was a shambling mound that almost did them in. Hopefully I can get them back to civilization next session to start planning on the Crimson Fleet Invasion to come soon. More to come...

Playing with Plants in the Jungle...

Well the second session the group didn't get as far as I planned but that's OK. They headed out from the village into the deepest part of the jungle and ran afoul of a massive sundew plant that almost had the group for lunch. It was the grapple that almost did them in as it snagged three of the group and then started constricting. They managed to overcome it but it was close. Then I almost lunched on one of the gnomes when a huge tarantula approached the camp and caught the gnome fighter with his pants down. The group was very lucky in that they made the Fortitude saves when it counted. After that I had them come across an emerald anaconda that was so big...

That the group eased back from its hiding spot and is now debating in trying to get the gnome druid to talk to it. When he spotted it for the first time it was all the group could do to prevent him from high tailing it the other way. We ended the session with the group still debating...

We will see next week what will come of the encounter with the massive snake.

The Savage Tide Returns

Well it has been a while since I wrote anything here so I thought I would post some thoughts on the Game Session tonight. It took a while to get going seeing as the group had not played since late march. We finally got into the swing of things and the group managed to kill a couple of critters thanks to wandering monsters. I managed to get them where I wanted to for the night but was hoping to get further.
Now they get to explore in the deepest jungles on the Isle of Dread for an abandoned temple to the cat people. This is going to be fun.

Dak-kon Convention Nearing

Wow has it really been 8 months since I posted something here. Oh Well.
Just around the corner is our annual game convention and I am looking forwards to it.
I will be GMing the 4th Edition D&D demo scenario that I got when the game came out.
We will see if anyone wants to play compared with the other games available.
Maybe I will be playing something instead.

D&D 4th Edition

Well I managed to run a demonstration of 4th Edition Sunday night in lieu of our regular game as a few of the players were unable to make it. The four players that played the mini adventure had some good comments about the new system and a couple of them said it reminded them of World of Warcraft that is played online. There were no negative comments at this time but I do not plan on playing 4th Edition in the foreseeable future as the adventure we are currently running could take another four or five years to complete.
I must say that I like what has been done to improve the gain and only time will tell how popular the game gets.

Sailing, Sailing, Over the Bounding Main

Well the group has set off from Sasserine in a caravel that they acquired after spending some time checking out a ruins. They had lots of fun there as they uncovered a Deck of Many Things and the group quickly used it up. I was intrigued by the cards they drew as three of them drew the Rogue card and are now worried about someone or something turning on them. They now have 5 cohorts so the party is getting rather large and now they have set off for the Isle of Dread following their patron as she is sailing there in her ship. Humphrey has tried his hand at fishing but has been warned not to tempt fate. They are following along the coast as it is the easiest to do. I have now finished GMing for the season and look forwards to playing again. My homework for the game is to update the old classic dungeon Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. It's an original 1st Edition Competition Dungeon that the group is willing to play through and we should be getting to it with the next session when we start up again in Sept.

Next week the Birthright Game starts up again and I am looking forward to it. The nice thing is that it is a smaller group and we seem to get more done. I guess that's my problem with having seven players in my group. Some sessions seem to bog down and I am forced to try and pick up the pace with the group.

Follow Up to Dak-kon

Well our annual convention here in the Comox Valley is done again for another year. It's amazing to realize that this was our 13th convention and we are already planning for Dak-kon XIV for 2009. There was a smaller turnout this year but I know that everyone that showed up enjoyed themselves even though it was quieter this year. I even managed to play a few new games this year in between running a few sessions of D&D third edition. The players that sat down at my table said they enjoyed themselves but we ran out of time before we could finish the adventure.
I am not sure I will be running a game for next year with 4th Edition due to be released in May. I will not spend more money on a game that seems to be constantly changing. My group is just now getting used to playing the current game and to be honest I have enough materials to play 3rd Edition for the next ten years.
Only time will tell.