Yes, I still game. 

Last night, the party wrapped up the whole “Chaos” subplot, facing down the current holder of the box, the white dragon named Frostmire (I used the stats for Rime out of the Draconomicon, in case you’re curious).  We started around 8:30.  We wrapped it up about 1ish (give or take).

It was a long fight.  Frostmire kept recharging her Blizzard power and kept using it.  At one point, she managed to effectively shut down the two melee characters with her Frightening Presence.

Our warlock, Enmai, moved into an area near the box that held Chaos which, unfortunately for her, had a..oh, I forget the name of the hazard..the chaos one..it’s level 26…entering an affected square with a magic item or casting a spell (y’know, like all the warlock powers) when in an affected square caused a nasty psychic damage/dazing attack.  Out of teleportation abilities and Restrained, she pretty much kept having to suck up the chaos field’s effects every round when she used one of her warlock spells.

The warlord is awesome at high levels, handing out free attacks like they were candy.

I managed to take out Enmail (well, she helped to take herself out) and the warlord (who was able to use his Ring of the Phoenix) and pretty much everyone got bloodied and/or very low on hit points at one point or another.  It might have been a nastier fight if I had managed to not roll 1s and 2s.  A lot.

Also, 30 points of cold damage per round from her aura was nasty.  I did keep forgetting to use Frostmire’s Fling ability (though I did manage to remember AND successfully use it once to knock one of the fighters away).

It was a fun (if time-consuming) battle.  And I actually *like* high-level 4e play (as opposed to high-level 3.x play which sucked donkey balls).

Second session of the three-session Forgotten Realms 26th level Epic play mini-campaign.  All the characters were there this week (a couple later than others, but still).

We got to test out epic-level combat this time and, I’m glad to say, it really isn’t longer than lower-level combat.  There was a fight on the ice bridge leading to Frostmire’s Citadel between the party and a dragonborn death knight acting as her guardian.  I opened up by almost pushing Vintiko off the bridge and into the swirling Elemental Chaos below..but the bastard made his saving throw and was thus only prone.

The combat was pretty cool, and the PCs critted like three times IIRC.  Nobody went down (in fact, nobody went down for the whole session..I must be Doing It Wrong or somethin’), and the PCs approached the adamantium doors to the Citadel, noticing the Symbol of Suffering above the doors.  Once that was dispatched, it was into the Citadel itself, a monument to the hubris and pride of the ancient white dragon..filled with statues of herself.

They came to another room with yet another statue of Fromstmire in it; this one had a gem hovering above the statue…a soul gem trap!  It was disarmed by destroying the gem (causing it to esssplodeify), and our heroes carried on!  Next week, into the heart of Frostmire’s lair itself and a showdown with the vile dragoness.

BTW, high-level warlords are the shit.

We started our high-level Forgotten Realms 4e game today, which will last through all of December before we return to our regularly scheduled normal Aerith 4e game.  Sorry, but I can’t remember the paragon paths and epic destinies of all the characters (that’ll take a while for me to remember), but we have…

• Whisper, an archer-ranger/Chosen of Kelemvor and a retool of a character from the old FR campaign we ran years ago which is appropriate as this adventure is sort of a wrap-up/extension of that campaign.
• Enmai, eladrin warlock/demigod and possible (if rumor is to be believed) reincarnation of Elistrae.
• Azrial, human…uh..I’ve completely blanked on class.  Oops.
• Baledor, human fighter/kensai/undying warrior (I think)
• Vanktiko, human warlord

I should probably head back a few years to give you the setup.  Through a very long and convoluted series of events, an ancient elven lich (who hated humans with a passion you wouldn’t believe) had come into possession of a box containing an otherworldly god (in 4e terms, a Primordial) called simply Chaos.  The party spent over a year (in real time) tracking down this lich (Valdamar) after accidentally releasing her from her prison in the first place (at 3rd level) and foiling her plans.  In the final confrontation with Valdamar as she unleashed a summoned Tarrasque on Waterdeep as a cover to allow her to open the box containing Chaos (she was a little short-sighted in her plans..she meant to bring ruin to the humans, but this would end up destroying Faerun completely..but she didn’t *get* that), Whisper fired an arrow of undead slaying (on the first round of combat), I rolled a 1 on my Fortitude save (the only way I could fail) and she was taken out instantly.  Yes, rather anti-climactic, but that’s the way the dice rolled (and probably a good thing for the PCs, though as she was like a level 26 lich vs. a level…16 I think…party).

That was the end of the campaign, the PCs had gotten the Chaos box.  So now for the true setup to this adventure…

Whisper’s adventuring group (the Iron Gauntlet) had taken the box to try to at least place it somewhere safe, on the Great Glacier above the Spine of the World mountains.  Whisper had been called away to Myth Drannor and was, unfortunately, unable to accompany them.   Then the Spellplauge happened and, now that things have finally settled down, dreams of Chaos and what would happen when/if it escapes have begun showing up in the dreams of heroes all across Faerun.

Whisper also sent a letter to some adventurers (the other PCs) asking that they meet in the town of Orcgate at the foot of the Spine of the World.  And meet they did.  Whisper, armed with a map to the last known location the old adventuring party were travelling to (an ancient dwarven ruin deep in the Spine of the World), led the party across the bleak, winter-blasted landscape, only to discover that the old group had been destroyed, and the box was gone.

Enmai, using the Speak With Dead ritual, ascertained that the group was destroyed by followers of an ancient white dragon named Frostmire, who had a lair somewhat nearby…essentially a floating citadel over a permanent portal to the Elemental Chaos, attached only by a massive ice bridge.

And so, off the party went towards Frostmire’s lair.  After an all-to-easy Skill Challenge to climb the mountain (two of the PCs couldn’t fail even if they rolled a 1 on the Athletics check), the PCs reached the bridge and that’s where we called it for the evening.

I ended up with only three players, but quite honestly that was sort of my fault as I didn’t think I’d be up to playing due to having had surgery on Thursday and being released from the hospital earlier that day.  But, up for playing I was so we ended up with…

• Brother Iruel (Tiefling Cleric of Peleor)
• Que’Lara (Paladin of the Raven Queen)
• Erroll (Human rogue)

Improvisation time!

Que’Lara’s superiors asked her to gather a team to investigate the ironically named Peaceful Glade, a small village where the combat between the Clockwork forces and Stathas’ own took place; apparently one of the paladins there of the Raven Queen went insane and started slaughtering survivors.

Upon arrival, things looked even more bleank..not only was everyone in the village dead, but zombies began busting out of the houses.  After a fight with a corruption corpse and a few normal zombies, the temple itself was reached.

(Fun times:  Erroll popped a zombie in the head for a crit, destroying it instantly)

The temple was completely desecrated, the words “Why have you Forsaken me?” splattered in blood on the walls in various languages.  Oh, and a zombie formed of the three lay clergy left in there (zombie hulk stats).  After being batterled, bruised and bloodied, the party became victirous and a piece of the puzzle was uncovered.

Next week, quite probably no gaming session due to Thanksgiving, and in December, we kick the tires on epic-tier play, picking up a and tying off a very old Forgotten Realms plotline from way back in the day.

Meanwhile, two mini-reviews:  Martial Power and Draconomicon both rock my socks.

Two new players and a returning player!  The characters…

• Sindiin, human wizard
• Erroll, human rogue
• Akarnon, tiefling warlock
• Sora, dragonborn fighter
• (Later) Iruel, tiefling cleric of Pelor
• Aieliantros, eladrin wizard
• Drag’orm, dragonborn warlord

Very RP-heavy session.  After convincing the new peeps to submit to the doppleganger-discovering ritual, the party went to talk to Fanglord Remmerlie, showing him the body of “Ambassador Villem,” and subjecting him to the no-dopplegangers-here ritual.  Then conversation turned to convincing the king and queen to get them to test everyone in the palace.  But of course, what if the king or queen are dopplegangers?

Remmerlie came up with a test that didn’t involve the ritual, though he was quiet about exactly what said test was.  He sent the party off on a quest to the nearby town of Two Lakes, to bring back a girl from the orphanage.

And..that was pretty much it.  Low-XP session (just a quest reward).  I have nastiness in mind for next session though.  Oh yes.  I do.

I’m afraid, due to some secret stuff that needs to be kept secret from one of the players, I can’t really post much about this week’s session.  We got in a little gaming time after all the tricking and treating was done, and it was mostly a planning session as far as how the group was going to handle this doppleganger thing.

Akarnon, however, did reveal that he has gotten the permanent, Cult of the Hourglass version of the ritual performed on him by the Cult (effectively meaning he’s joined the Cult…)

Next session should be..ah..interesting.

Finally, we were able to get a session going.  This wrapped up the current plotline.  The players…

• Sindiin, human wizard
• Brother Iruel, tiefling cleric of Pelor
• Erroll, human rogue
• This One, warforged swordmage
• Akarnon, tiefling warlock

Arriving in Mangate, they group was escorted by Dorran, a liason for the Council of Wyrms, to a park on the way to the ambassadorial cottages to rest and relax a bit before Ambassador Villem was to meet with the Council the next day.

Unfortunately, there was an ambush by the Cult of the Hourglass, their main target seemed to be Ambassador Villem.  The Cult got the drop on the PCs, but (aside from missing Villem) did little.  In the first round of actual combat, Dorran showed his true allegiance and slew Villem.  The rest of the Cultists held back after Villem died, and near the end of that round, the truth was revealed..Villem was a doppleganger.

After some discussion, and the aggreance of most of the party (save Erroll) to undergo a ritual to make sure they weren’t dopplegangers, heads cooled and Dorran explained.

The Cult of the Hourglass has known about a conspiracy with a group of dopplegangers called the Faceless for some time.  The Faceless worship the demon lord, Julibex, and seek to destabalize the world’s governments, causing widespread destruction and dragging the world into the Abyss.  The prince of Stethia is one such doppleganger (thus why the Cult tried to assassinate him before the campaign’s first adventure), but the Cult is unsure of how far the conspiracy goes or who, exactly, is a member of the Faceless.

And here’s why I love this game.  :-)  I had one thing in mind for what the PCs were likely to do, but they went in a totally different direction.

Sindiin learned the doppleganger-finding rituals, and is going to modify them so that they create a tattoo in the shape of the Goldenscale family crest.  Then, if I’m understanding correctly (and if I’m not, maybe one of the players can correct me), the group is planning a public assassination of the prince to show the royal family what’s going on.  Provided they survive that endeavor and can reveal the prince for what he is, they’re going to try to get several people (such as the king and queen) to submit to the permanent doppleganger-sniffing ritual as a precaution.  From there, y’know, try to stop this whole war thing from happening.

Beyond that, the crew met with the Council of Wyrms and managed to convince the two eldest known dragons on Aerith (a red named Fireeye and a gold named Maddigan) to lend Dragonbend’s support to Stethia.

Oh, and, yeah, there is some inter-party conflict now, since the PCs aren’t sure if Erroll (who, remember, didn’t submit to the ritual) is a doppleganger or not.  And any of my players that have been playing with me long enough know I’m just rat-bastard DM enough to make such a backroom deal.  :-)

Also, I think I have one of the PCs on the verge of joining the Cult of the Hourglass.

After some tech issues (again, seeing the pattern?) we got started.  The characters..

• Brother Iruel, tiefling cleric of Pelor
• Que’Lara, eladrin paladin of the Raven Queen
• Sindiin, human wizard
• This One, warforged swordmage
• Akarnon, tiefling star pact warlock
• Erroll, human rogue (who came in about halfway through the session)

After leaving Arbortop, the party came across a bridge over a small chasm on their way to the City of Spires.  It was an obvious trap (one end of the bridge was blocked by logs), but not a very *good* one as all they would have to do is leap over the chasm with their horses.  But, of course, things were not as they seemed; oh no! Orc ambush.  2 orc berserkers, 2 orc raiders and an Eye of Gruumsh.

4e orcs are nasty, with some nasty surprises.  Most everyone ganged up on the Eye of Gruumsh first (especially after his opening maneuver, which involved a nasty chaos hammer effect).  One of the berserkers got a crit in on One (and did massive amounts of damage) and, in the end of course, our heroes were victorious.

After a short stay in the City of Spires, the party headed out for Gantor Hill, which held a shrine to the Raven Queen that would confer a blessing upon Her followers that prayed at the shrine…provided they could defeat the Great Raven guardian that watched over the hill and served to test the worthy (the area around the hill was covered in the not-quite-decomposing bodies of those that had tried and failed, kept fleshy by the Shadowfell energies that permeated the area).

The Great Raven itself was, essentially, a reskinned young black dragon geared towards necrotic energies rather than acidic ones and with the tail strike replaced with a power that let the dead on the hill around it “give it some of its power” (when a PC was bloodied).  i.e. heal.  Oh, and I threw in a couple of patches of doomspore, just for the fun of it (hidden inside corpses, natch).

It was a pretty nasty fight, and Que’Lara came extremely close to getting killed.  There was one point where, if the PCs hadn’t saved her, the next round ongoing necrotic damage would have taken her out on hit point damage alone.  Sindiin made good use of flaming sphere, and Akarnon got off a nice “combo” using action points.

After defeating the Great Raven (don’t worry, it’s immortal, it’ll come back!) and praying at the shrine, Que’Lara’s holy symbol was blessed by the Raven Queen and got an upgrade to a +2 Black Feather of the Raven Queen.  Akarnon (the other Raven follower in the party) prayed but nothing happened…or did it?  BWAHAHAAH!

After the prayer, a raven flew in and dropped off the badge of one of the higher-up paladins in the Raven Queen church, apparently torn bloody from clothes.  Que’Lara recognized the name of course (meanwhile, I totally forgot it…D’OH!).  As the raven flew away, it uttered one word, “Fallen.”

And that, as they say, was that.

Next week, it’s a special Halloween Shadowrun 4th Edition adventure!  Then the week after, we should be able to finish up this current 4e adventure.

Last night was mainly a “catch up to fourth level” session, so not a lot to type about. There was a bar fight in Arbortop between the party and some tiefling-hating elves, but Iruel did an awesome diplomacy check & defused the situation.

Then I got to feeling bad & we wrapped the session.

Checking to see if this app is posting from my ipod touch.