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<blockquote data-quote="Tolamaker" data-source="post: 9021821" data-attributes="member: 7031495"><p><strong>Sessions 56 & 57: The Temple of Wind</strong></p><p></p><p>The party is able to defeat the mantidrake rather quickly, but the ringleader of the ambushing monks is able to escape. The party decides not to pursue. After stitching up their wounds, they continue into the valley. As they travel throught he drizzle and mist, Eluriah overhears the sounds of deep voices arguing amongst themselves. Aripos sneaks up and sees that the voices belong to a group of ettins who are patroling the edge of the temple. The party attempts to distract the ettins, but only incites their curiosity. As one ettin rushes to attack, another comes forward from the mist, with one head obviously belonging to Torrent the cleric. UPon second glance, it is clear that the ettins' heads are obviously a mix of halfling, dwarf, and human heads. The party is shocked, and immediately try to reason with her, but they can't break through. As a last resort, Corban polymorphs the Torrent ettin into a mouse, who runs around the battlefield attempting to bite the party. They manage to take out the ettins without killing them, and then release Torrent to her ettin form and manage to get through to her.</p><p></p><p>Torrent has memory issues, and only remembers being led to the valley by a "nice monk lady," and then being told to guard the temple. The party believes this to be Kai Lei, and descend into the temple to confront her. Torrent gives them a wave, and promises to explain things to the other "ettins".</p><p></p><p>Inside the temple, they see that the original temple vestments have been shoved aside for a series of tubes and pipes leading to vats of biomantic fluid. Some of the vats still have bodies in them, but draining the fluid reveals that they did not survive the process. Mishka's assessment of the bodies is that they are being transformed into creatures meant to be the perfect hunter warriors. Deeper in the temple, they hear arguing voices, but can't make out what's being said. Eluriah transforms into a spider, and crawls in to find a workshop, where glass-like orbs lie around, some empty, and some gray or black, with cracks and other imperfections in them. She relays the information back to the party, and she and Aripos spider-climb their way up to a statue of the primordial dragon and eagle.</p><p></p><p>They crawl up to see Kai Lei tearfully arguing with an image of Su Pli, an Orb of Storms in her hands. Su Pli's face is wracked with anger, and he berates Kai Lei. "I have never had such a stupid and ungrateful acolyte as you! The audacity to take the tools I have given you and put them in the hands of the Ragesians!"</p><p></p><p>Kai Lei tries to reason with him, holding her creation forth. “I have it now! I have the orb! We can give it to them, and then…”</p><p></p><p>“Idiot girl. If you had not cut yourself off from communications you would know that the Ragesians are defeated. Their general cut in half by a simple-minded half-orc Gate Passer barbarian. And you feared them. You trained for revenge for years, only to hand it over to them at the first sign of difficulty."</p><p></p><p>“You haven’t seen what they’ve created!” Kai Lei shouts, tears streaming down her face. “When I went and spied for you I saw what they’ve done with the mages. Your machines are still just prototypes, you can’t understand what they are capable of until you see it!"</p><p></p><p>A wind passes Eluriah and Aripos, and Kai Lei flinches. "They're here! Please, help me-"</p><p></p><p>Su Pli is unrelenting. "If you survive this onslaught, we will see what is to be done with you. Otherwise, consider this fitting punishment for your betrayal."</p><p></p><p>Kai Lei turns, with lightning suffusing her body, and battle breaks out.</p><p></p><p>Aripos is able to get a shot off, but Kai Lei catches the bolt, and breaks it in her hand. The rest of the part rushes in, with Gwenevere and Corban teleporting up to the second level, while Mishka has to run up the stairs. Up there, Gwen's catches sight of a strange purple banner hanging on the wall. As soon as most of the party is on the second level, the air coalesces into the form of a minotaur with an enormous warhammer. He rushes Gwenevere, but is impossibly stopped in his tracks. Kai Lei tries to launch a lightning attack, but Corban is able to counterspell her, causing her to rush him. As Mishka is running up the stairs, she activates her Enlarge rune. Not a moment too soon, as the stairs are lined with a Rug of Smothering, who immediately tries to smother her. However, with her large size, it is unable to completely engulf her and is dragged along as it pummels her.</p><p></p><p>Aripos and Eluriah shoot at the minotaur from a distance, as Mishka closes up with it. Once again, the Minotaur lines up to rush several, starting with Gwen, but Gwen catches its horns and stops it. Realizing that she isn't the squishy wizard he assumed, the minotaur turns instead and rushes Corban, who has been fending off the rapid blows of Kai Lei. Corban takes a horn to the shoulder, and is knocked unconscious. The minotaur roars as he finally lands a solid blow.</p><p></p><p>With the counterspeller out of the way, Kai Lei is able to do what she wants. She draws the ambient electricity fromt he air, and her entire body becomes lightning, passing through Mishka, Gwen, and Aripos, knocking Gwenevere out. Her lightning also burns the rug to a near crisp. As she returns to her natural form and runs for the door, Su Pli's form reappears, and berates her for her cowardice. The storm above intensifies, shattering the glass dome, and the temple begins to fall apart.</p><p></p><p>Eluriah heals the party, bringing the unconscious back to the land of the living. The minotaur rushes her, but Mishka intercepts and cuts the wind being in half. Artemis burns up the rug that Mishka had ignored, and Kai Lei is all that remains.</p><p></p><p>The party rushes down, where Kai Lei franticly defends herself, when Aripos lands two bolts to her heart, pinning her to the door. With the temple falling apart, hitting them with broken glass, masonry, and the occasional lightning strike, they have no time to celebrate, and just grab what they can. They take the minotaur's hammer, the Orb of Storms, Kai Lei's potion bracer, and Gwenevere runs back to grab the banner, revealing it to be the standard of the Moonlit Blades, Gruz's old company.</p><p></p><p>Running out, they barely make it out before the temple collapses. Outside, the storm begins to calm, and a parting of the clouds reveals a dark ominous object floating in the sky like a predator of the sea. It's enormous, the size of a small city, and Aripos has a moment of deja vu as he realizes he's dreamed of this before. The leviathan is covered by the clouds, and the party is left to ponder what they've seen, and whether or not to return to the monastery now that they know the true nature of one of its masters.</p><p></p><p><strong>Post session thoughts</strong></p><p>These two sessions were pretty good. The ettin fight was incredibly easy for the group, due to some absolutely abysmal rolling on my part. I think I only landed hits on Mishka, and that's because of Reckless Attack granting me advantage against her. The reveal that Torrent was one of the ettins was a great one, and I immediately called for a break at that moment just to let them freak out.</p><p></p><p>The finale fight was my favorite fight of the adventure, with the canyon fight coming in second. I combined Aurus with the Kai Lei fight, and honestly, I think it was just about perfect. Knocking a few people out with enemies that will absolutely attack you while you're down is a great motivator. The reveal of Su Pli (Pilus) was also great. I felt like it was necessary, because so much of what had come before suggested Kai Lei was a lone actor, and while that's half true, I wanted it obvious that while they disagreed on the ends, they were willing to use the same means (kidnapping and forced biomancy).</p><p></p><p><strong>Changes to the module</strong></p><p>I made Torrent and the Lyceum party ettins because I'm a coward who doesn't like to kill NPCs offscreen. I thought the shock of the ettin reveal was more fun than the sad horror of the mishaps, and it also gives the players a new problem as they try to figure out what to do with five "ettins."</p><p></p><p>As mentioned before, I combined the Aurus and Kai Lei fights, because I find that adding creatures works better than adding HP to a fight. The Aurus fight as written seemed like it would either be very frustrating, or very easy, and I think my combination allowed Aurus to be a real threat, rather than just a puzzle to solve.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tolamaker, post: 9021821, member: 7031495"] [B]Sessions 56 & 57: The Temple of Wind[/B] The party is able to defeat the mantidrake rather quickly, but the ringleader of the ambushing monks is able to escape. The party decides not to pursue. After stitching up their wounds, they continue into the valley. As they travel throught he drizzle and mist, Eluriah overhears the sounds of deep voices arguing amongst themselves. Aripos sneaks up and sees that the voices belong to a group of ettins who are patroling the edge of the temple. The party attempts to distract the ettins, but only incites their curiosity. As one ettin rushes to attack, another comes forward from the mist, with one head obviously belonging to Torrent the cleric. UPon second glance, it is clear that the ettins' heads are obviously a mix of halfling, dwarf, and human heads. The party is shocked, and immediately try to reason with her, but they can't break through. As a last resort, Corban polymorphs the Torrent ettin into a mouse, who runs around the battlefield attempting to bite the party. They manage to take out the ettins without killing them, and then release Torrent to her ettin form and manage to get through to her. Torrent has memory issues, and only remembers being led to the valley by a "nice monk lady," and then being told to guard the temple. The party believes this to be Kai Lei, and descend into the temple to confront her. Torrent gives them a wave, and promises to explain things to the other "ettins". Inside the temple, they see that the original temple vestments have been shoved aside for a series of tubes and pipes leading to vats of biomantic fluid. Some of the vats still have bodies in them, but draining the fluid reveals that they did not survive the process. Mishka's assessment of the bodies is that they are being transformed into creatures meant to be the perfect hunter warriors. Deeper in the temple, they hear arguing voices, but can't make out what's being said. Eluriah transforms into a spider, and crawls in to find a workshop, where glass-like orbs lie around, some empty, and some gray or black, with cracks and other imperfections in them. She relays the information back to the party, and she and Aripos spider-climb their way up to a statue of the primordial dragon and eagle. They crawl up to see Kai Lei tearfully arguing with an image of Su Pli, an Orb of Storms in her hands. Su Pli's face is wracked with anger, and he berates Kai Lei. "I have never had such a stupid and ungrateful acolyte as you! The audacity to take the tools I have given you and put them in the hands of the Ragesians!" Kai Lei tries to reason with him, holding her creation forth. “I have it now! I have the orb! We can give it to them, and then…” “Idiot girl. If you had not cut yourself off from communications you would know that the Ragesians are defeated. Their general cut in half by a simple-minded half-orc Gate Passer barbarian. And you feared them. You trained for revenge for years, only to hand it over to them at the first sign of difficulty." “You haven’t seen what they’ve created!” Kai Lei shouts, tears streaming down her face. “When I went and spied for you I saw what they’ve done with the mages. Your machines are still just prototypes, you can’t understand what they are capable of until you see it!" A wind passes Eluriah and Aripos, and Kai Lei flinches. "They're here! Please, help me-" Su Pli is unrelenting. "If you survive this onslaught, we will see what is to be done with you. Otherwise, consider this fitting punishment for your betrayal." Kai Lei turns, with lightning suffusing her body, and battle breaks out. Aripos is able to get a shot off, but Kai Lei catches the bolt, and breaks it in her hand. The rest of the part rushes in, with Gwenevere and Corban teleporting up to the second level, while Mishka has to run up the stairs. Up there, Gwen's catches sight of a strange purple banner hanging on the wall. As soon as most of the party is on the second level, the air coalesces into the form of a minotaur with an enormous warhammer. He rushes Gwenevere, but is impossibly stopped in his tracks. Kai Lei tries to launch a lightning attack, but Corban is able to counterspell her, causing her to rush him. As Mishka is running up the stairs, she activates her Enlarge rune. Not a moment too soon, as the stairs are lined with a Rug of Smothering, who immediately tries to smother her. However, with her large size, it is unable to completely engulf her and is dragged along as it pummels her. Aripos and Eluriah shoot at the minotaur from a distance, as Mishka closes up with it. Once again, the Minotaur lines up to rush several, starting with Gwen, but Gwen catches its horns and stops it. Realizing that she isn't the squishy wizard he assumed, the minotaur turns instead and rushes Corban, who has been fending off the rapid blows of Kai Lei. Corban takes a horn to the shoulder, and is knocked unconscious. The minotaur roars as he finally lands a solid blow. With the counterspeller out of the way, Kai Lei is able to do what she wants. She draws the ambient electricity fromt he air, and her entire body becomes lightning, passing through Mishka, Gwen, and Aripos, knocking Gwenevere out. Her lightning also burns the rug to a near crisp. As she returns to her natural form and runs for the door, Su Pli's form reappears, and berates her for her cowardice. The storm above intensifies, shattering the glass dome, and the temple begins to fall apart. Eluriah heals the party, bringing the unconscious back to the land of the living. The minotaur rushes her, but Mishka intercepts and cuts the wind being in half. Artemis burns up the rug that Mishka had ignored, and Kai Lei is all that remains. The party rushes down, where Kai Lei franticly defends herself, when Aripos lands two bolts to her heart, pinning her to the door. With the temple falling apart, hitting them with broken glass, masonry, and the occasional lightning strike, they have no time to celebrate, and just grab what they can. They take the minotaur's hammer, the Orb of Storms, Kai Lei's potion bracer, and Gwenevere runs back to grab the banner, revealing it to be the standard of the Moonlit Blades, Gruz's old company. Running out, they barely make it out before the temple collapses. Outside, the storm begins to calm, and a parting of the clouds reveals a dark ominous object floating in the sky like a predator of the sea. It's enormous, the size of a small city, and Aripos has a moment of deja vu as he realizes he's dreamed of this before. The leviathan is covered by the clouds, and the party is left to ponder what they've seen, and whether or not to return to the monastery now that they know the true nature of one of its masters. [B]Post session thoughts[/B] These two sessions were pretty good. The ettin fight was incredibly easy for the group, due to some absolutely abysmal rolling on my part. I think I only landed hits on Mishka, and that's because of Reckless Attack granting me advantage against her. The reveal that Torrent was one of the ettins was a great one, and I immediately called for a break at that moment just to let them freak out. The finale fight was my favorite fight of the adventure, with the canyon fight coming in second. I combined Aurus with the Kai Lei fight, and honestly, I think it was just about perfect. Knocking a few people out with enemies that will absolutely attack you while you're down is a great motivator. The reveal of Su Pli (Pilus) was also great. I felt like it was necessary, because so much of what had come before suggested Kai Lei was a lone actor, and while that's half true, I wanted it obvious that while they disagreed on the ends, they were willing to use the same means (kidnapping and forced biomancy). [B]Changes to the module[/B] I made Torrent and the Lyceum party ettins because I'm a coward who doesn't like to kill NPCs offscreen. I thought the shock of the ettin reveal was more fun than the sad horror of the mishaps, and it also gives the players a new problem as they try to figure out what to do with five "ettins." As mentioned before, I combined the Aurus and Kai Lei fights, because I find that adding creatures works better than adding HP to a fight. The Aurus fight as written seemed like it would either be very frustrating, or very easy, and I think my combination allowed Aurus to be a real threat, rather than just a puzzle to solve. [/QUOTE]
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