Correction, "home" should have been "hope" from the bottom of last week's report.

There is an additional PART 3 to this report. Where out of characters Players discussed future plans for this campaign.

To prevent forgetfulness of what happened this week, this is an attempt to get it out as soon as possible. Our pizza this week was a large Canadian Bacon and Pineapple. (And for anyone across the water, "Canadian Bacon" is just an American euphemism for slices of ham.)

Due to one Player announcing he had to work on Tuesday nights for several weeks, we were down one Player. We also had several no shows so there was only the Players for Numrendir and Fundisha present. I handed control of all missing Player character sheets to these fine gentlemen.

++++ START OF SESSION ++++

I'll try not to be sequential but instead cover each character before moving onto the next.

Another item missed in last week's report, as soon as Aeon was sacrificed in the Well of Souls, I rolled for a number of Soul Eaters to appear. I rolled a six and they are on approach to Party members at the beginning of this session.

Early on this session I ruled that Elefus was suffering from migraine headache. Since he was in the middle of combat he could not rest, thus all his hits and damage were at minus one. Also at the beginning of the session, Numrendir had a Grand Mal seizure, thus putting him out of commission for the remainder of the battle. (The Player could only play other characters.) Good thing his character was in the back row.

Starting at Round 8 from last week, Fundisha took a major hits from the module character Sher Yakub, a 12th level Fighter, bringing her down to negative one hit point. Failing her Constitution check, she is unconscious and bleeding to death. She has five rounds losing one hit point per round until death is certain. Sher Yakub moves to the back of Elefus (who is fighting a pair of Efreet) and strikes. I play a card that also causes twenty points of damage to Elefus' armor, causing some dents.

Elefus turned to meet the fighter at his back and missed several times.

There were two Efreeti fighting Kridor the Sollux, who was hit several times. This time it turns out the Efreet had poisoned their scimitars, and Kridor had to roll save versus poison or die several times. He was also hit by a Soul Eater a couple of times. Finally Kridor succumbed to the poison.

Time to turn to the Soul Eaters who actually used some discretion. If a character fell (as in the cases of Numrendir, Fundisha and Kridor), instead of having the Eater take their soul, I had the Soul Eaters go after a more active threat. With the presumption of winning, I decided any hungry Soul Eaters can go after the fallen after it is over. In such cases I had the Soul Eater pause a round to decide on a new target. Two Soul Eaters went after Bosero and Brother Richard respectively only to discover they had pre-cast "Protection from Evil" on themselves. So one went after Weasel who already had one chasing him, the other one headed for Elefus, who also had one on him. At the end of the session two Soul Eaters were in decision-process, two were on Weasel, two were on Elefus.

Weasel used his Module S3 Blaster Rifle and Pistol hitting several Efreet until the ammo ran out. Since there were two Soul Eaters chasing him in flight all the way up to the ceiling, it was necessary for him to use his Rod of Security to go to his Happy Place and reload. Before going there, I attempted to Play a GM card on Weasel causing him to save or fall with cramps for 1d4+1 rounds, but he saved and was able to avoid the Soul Eaters. At the end of the session these two Soul Eaters hovered around his last position, waiting for him to pop out of non-dimensional space.

Bosero continued to concentrate on his Summon Earth Elemental, which was designated to appear beneath the Well of Souls and appeared at the beginning of the next Turn. The intent was for the Elemental (upon rising), to toss the Well of Souls into the lava pit on either side. Since an Elemental was extraplanar, I ruled that it could not have been born, I had to allow the Elemental to pick it up in the "Atlas" position. Whether or not the Elemental could "shrug" it in the correct direction I rolled for an eight pointed rose and it stayed on the Player level. That being said, it WAS a round urn, and I allowed it a roll 5 feet closer to one edge of the cliff. The very next round the Player intent was for the Elemental to give it one swift kick into the lava.

However, Murphy struck with an unforeseen event. On the second round, the Elemental turned on the caster and made a beeline for Bosero. It had not reached Bosero by the end of the session, although it should be remembered next session, Bosero is still under a Protection from Evil spell for 16 more rounds, although the Elemental is not aware of it at this time. Will Bosero dispel the Elemental at a 50% chance every round for 16 rounds? Probably. But there also is the chance Bosero could be distracted.

Umra Dir, the Barbarian Priestess attempted a Command spell on Elefus, but he made his save. Next, since she became aware of the Earth Elemental nearby she successfully cast a "Hold Monster" on the Elemental, thus inadvertently helping the Party, since it had turned on Bosero, but she had no way of knowing.

Elefus was being attacked from all sides, he chose to concentrate on a Soul Eater while he was attacked from all sides. Sher Yakub (mentioned above) and two Efreet in the rear. Like Kridor, sometimes the Efreet managed to get enough damage to get through Elefus' armor, causing him to make several Save vs Poison or Die rolls, all successful so far.

Brother Richard in the nick of time cast a Heal Nasty Wounds from a distance (as opposed to Cure, which needs touch) on Fundisha, bringing her back into the fray. Fundisha is currently en-route.

Lastly, some hitherto unknown Barbarians rushed in through the busted secret door from the Party's rear and commenced attacking Sher Yakub who was on Elefus' flank. Apparently the Party had some unknown allies.

Pending successful destruction of the Well of Souls, I reminded the Players of what ALWAYS happens in a movie whenever an artifact is destroyed underground in the caldera of a volcano and should be thus prepared accordingly.

++++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR ++++

BT








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PART 2. CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

(Some characters have been removed due to death.)

PLAYERS:

Weasel, Human Male, Guild Soldier (T14), Magician (MU6), & Myrmidon (F6). (Multi-class. How'd a human get that way? Don't ask.)

Snizzlephish, Gnome Male, Visionist (Illu6) & Footpad (T2) (Multi-class.)

Elefus, Human Male Deacon (CL12)

Numrendir, Human Male Demander. (Conj5).

Fundisha - Fighter/Infiltrator (F2 / Infiltrator2)


NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS:

Jallapierie, a 17th level Wizard (MU17), (taken offline for defensive scrying against Rahl).

Hieronymous Castagere (F13), a 13th level Fighter and ship's navigator, assigned to them by the Royal Blackmoor government. (Captured by Barbarians)

Gerry Castagere, a Fingersmith (T7), daughter to the ship's navigator who has fallen in love with Elefus.

Bosero the Drunkard, a 14th level Wizard (MU14), seconded in to replace Jallapierie in the party since Jallapierie is busy.

*Deceased* Kridor the Sollux, (F14), module NPC.


INACTIVE CHARACTERS:

Mysery Reigns, Halfling Female Killer (Rogue6). (On maternity leave, just gave birth to twins, Halfling Half-Orcs.)

D'Vine_Justice, Elf Female Initiate of the 5th Circle (D7). (Semi-Retired)


BT







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PART 3. FUTURE PLANS (or Things We Write in the Summer Sands).

Since there were only two Players present we discussed further adventure options. There were three:

1) Elefus's divorce trial. Since the Player for Elefus is out for several weeks due to a work conflict, this was put off.

2) Snizzlephish's Big (Solo) Adventure. This may also occur if the Player returns. As it stands the Player for Snizzlephish has been incognito for several weeks. However should he return, I advised the rest of the Players they should play the Characters and Monsters in his area. I also had to reveal Snizzlephish had gone to Rahl's lair, which turned out to be old Fortress Badabaskor, now under new Management (Rahl).

3) There remained the fact that even if the mission is successful, should the Well of Souls be destroyed, the Barbarians are still in control of the Duchy of Ten. I floated the idea of another mission, which would be more of a "Role" playing adventure instead of a "Roll" playing one. It would be centered on finding and activating another artifact called "The Freedom Bells" that needs a ceremonial formula to work. It would be situated in far off land even the Barbarians gave up on. This country is probably a place called "Murrica".

It needs to be activated during a ceremony which several prerequisites or conditions must all exist:

1) All participants of ceremony must be within view of the artifact.
2) It must occur between Sundown and Midnight.
3) At least two characters must observe from a doorway.
4) It must be conducted during a thunderstorm with hail.
5) There must be one cursed Fighter who loses strength points when he fights.
6) There must be one unarmed refugee from the Duchy of Ten.
7) There must be one soldier present who has lost all his battles, one you'd can bet on him losing, an 'underdog' as it were.
8) One searcher for the artifact has to take a vow of silence until it is found.
9) There has to be a pair of unrequited lovers present.
10) There must be a Brother of the Greenwood present, a "rebel" as it were.
11) There must be a sixth level Swashbucker present.
12) There has to be an orphan present with no caretaker.
13) There has to be a tribal or racial outcast present.
14) There has to be a representative from a charity present.
15) There must be a Githyanki present.
16) There must be a Bard present.
17) There must be a Blind person present.
18) There must be a Deaf person present.
19) There must be a Mute person present (cannot be the same person with vow of silence).
20) There must be an unwed mother present.
21) There must be a sixth level Brigand present, with outstanding warrants.
22) There has to be Prismatic Spray spell cast during the bell ringing ceremony.
23) Prior to the ceremony all participants must drink and hold water without swallowing.
24) The Party must act as if under a confusion spell during the ceremony and bound as if under a Hold spell.

Persons may combine their abilities to meet the above requirements except for numbers 8 and 19.

Can anyone can tell where I'm going with this?

BT







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In case no one has figured it out, choice number 3 in the next proposed adventure was inspired by Bob Dylan:

http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/chimes-freedom