Chamber 5-2: Run!

Finding detects plenty of magic in this chamber, lots of different auras. Not enough time to discern the details though!

Lohmi looks to Joryn, "This must be some kind of trap...curses. Let's see if we can find a way out. I think it may have to do with these cubes." With that, Lohmi dashes across the traps with plans on examining the second cube in the eastern alcove (first vestibule).

The swordmage never makes it that far. As he traverses over the traps, a barrage of ghostly saw blades the size of shields spins violently upwards from the slots in the floor! The blades flash with violet magic and have the image of a sneering skull etched in the center.

Lohmi is sliced clean in two, his vicera and brain matter spilling outward in a heap of crimson and gray. The smell of your friend's insides hits your nose instantly.
Tech: Natural 20 for the Ethereal Vorpal Skull-Blades means instant death!

Both Finding and Tharl leap into the chamber, over the horrific trap. Finding lands on the far side, and Tharl has to seek the safety of the western alcove. Vondal times his approach, rolling under the descending wall and getting to safety before the skull-blades can activate again. He seeks the safety of the eastern alcove.

Before Ambrose can choose his action, the wall seals him out. Will he be the only one that lives through this?

OOC: It's initiative time! I'm still keeping Ambrose in the initiative order in case he thinks up some cool scheme to get through the wall. If you're wondering why Vondal wasn't also sealed behind, it's because his player contacted me privately via IM and gave me instructions to get into the chamber. I assumed you'd want to stop in places that weren't on top of the trap; I hope I picked out good locations for you.
 
Tharl is standing by the cube with the SUN showing. Vondal is standing next to the cube with the MOON showing. Let me know if you'd like to spin those cube to have a different face showing (minor action)
 
Joryn and Finding, you are standing next to a translucent wall of souls. Reminds you of thick glass.
 
Initiative
18 Joryn
17 Tharl
07 Vondal
07 Finding
06 Ambrose
05 Ethereal Vorpal Skull-Blades (done)
05 

 

Best of luck,

MilwaukeeJoe

Chamber 5-1: Run!

The green line is the strange swirling wall of souls.

OOC: See last comment of previous post for some final healing words and comfort for the diseased.

This hall leading south is a series of vestibules connected by slightly raised platforms. You see patches of dried blood coating the floor and ceiling. Translucent walls of swirling souls block passage between the vestibules. You can barely see the contents of the areas beyond the first vestibule.

Faint weeping and fainter hysterical laughter can be heard coming from somewhere in the deeper vestibules.

Taking a careful look in this first vestibule without stepping in, you see in both wings there is a foot-long cube embedded into the far walls (so, two cubes). They look as if they could be rotated (such that one face is exposed). The west wing shows a picture of a SUN, the east shows a picture of a crescent MOON.

Finding and Tharl instantly see two traps. The first is right before them; two long grooves in the floor in front of them (as shown on the map). Probably spears stabbing upward, or scything blades, or some such thing.

The second trap are a scattering of holes in the eastern wall, arraigned around the cube showing the moon. Darts? Poison gas holes? Flame jets? Hmmm....

Looking ahead, you see the strange wall, the souls crying out for release.

OOC: And why in the abyss is this chamber called "Run!"? That's certainly an odd choice.
I'm rooting for you,
MilwaukeeJoe

Chamber 3-Finale: Convector

Congratulations on finishing Chamber 3!

XP and Treasure

You each gain 125 xp. That should bring your accumulated total to 445 xp.
You found 2 pp; let's auto-convert that to 200 / 6 = 34 gp for each of you.
The cold-iron dagger is worth 100 gp, but I will assume you do not sell it unless I hear otherwise.
The gem holding the spirit is also worth a whopping 900 gp, but I'll assume you do not sell it yet.

Extended Resting
Extended rests are available for 5 points. A short rest is free.

Scoring Breakdown
Primary Objective:

• Fit the skull into the brass door (5 points)

Secondary Objective: 

• Slay the ogre (3 points)

Minor Objectives (1 point each):

• Find and take the scrap of preserved human flesh 
• Break open the chest without triggering the trap 
• Have no dungeoneer take damage from the steam vent trap 

Performance:

• Having no dungeoneers fall unconscious (2 out of 2 points)

Total points scored: 13 out of possible 15
Total points accumulated = 16+13=29

Where to go next? Allow me to describe briefly the three areas you can head into:

Chamber 9: Beyond the door, with its odd skull key, is a short cooridor that opens into a gruesome chamber, whose floor is covered in thick, flowing blood.

or perhaps you'd prefer...

Chamber 4: When you return to the first chamber, you see a secret door has opened. Beyond is a narrow passageway, choked with dust and cobwebs.

or maybe...

Chamber 5: When you were last in this area, it was simply a treasure cache. It has changed. Now you see a hall; a series of vestibules connected by slightly raised platforms. Strange translucent curtains separate the vestibules.

OOC: Don't read anything into the change from closet to chamber. It was simply a design conversion difference between Bulmahn's original and Sersa V's fourthcore version.

Choose and Perish!

Chamber 3-4: Convector

You find one more item of interest as you search the chamber. Near the ogre's skeletal corpse, you spy a scrap of preserved flesh! There is an image inked onto the scrap, as shown to the left.

What does it mean?

OOC: A fourthcore hint. Often you will find items that don't have meaning until later areas.

Since this needed a picture, I created this new post to show it.

You're close to the end of this chamber, and a much deserved Short Rest! What will you do next?

Good Luck,
MilwaukeeJoe

Chamber 3-3: Convector

Vondal threads another arrow into the Grub-Blighted Fiendish Ogre, this time into its left leg.
Tech: 10 damage, you're slowly bringing it down! Vondal is down 1 healing surge; 7 surges remaining.

Standing next to the southwest doors, Ambrose turns to fire a magic missile at the demon ogre, hitting it square in the chest.
Tech: Autohit, for 7 damage. Ambrose loses a healing surge from the heat; 5 remaining.

The Ogre turns his attentions to the south, to Joryn, Finding and Tharl.... and then vomits. Yes, vomits!... a gush of writhing white grubs all over the three adventurers. Only Tharl is able to back up enough to avoid the bulk of the blast.
Tech: 22 points of damage to Joryn and Finding, both are bloodied. Both also have ongoing 5 damage (save ends) and have contracted Rot Grub Infestation  (which means a healing surge lost, and vulnerable 5 necrotic - for starters!). 

Tharl takes 11 damage (no ongoing or disease). 

Initiative

*** Round 3 Continued ***

09 Vondal 

08 Ambrose (done)

*** Round 4 ***

20 Joryn

16 Lohmi

11 Finding

10 Tharl

10 THE OGRE (bloodied, approaching critical)

Things to remember:

• You will take a healing surge damage from the heat, unless you do a standard-action endurance check to resist.
• The ogre is getting to critical wounded levels.
• The treasure chest has not been opened yet, and it is locked with a complex lock.

Any questions, let me know. Good Luck!

MilwaukeeJoe

Gencon and What's In Store for Grind4E?

I'm back from Gencon, and as usual had a blast. A total of 30 hours of D&D, spread over 7 games.

Game Highlights:

1. Death's Door: A repeat game from previous years, had a good run. I think the players really liked it. One dungeoneer died to save the others, taking a  Score: A-.
2. Gauntlet: A new game... not so good. I didn't put enough into it, didn't playtest it. I wasn't happy with it. Players gave me the "good game, we'll steal the idea", but I didn't get that "awesome" vibe inside. @CStevenRoss's Team Fouthcore Deathmatch was epic levels better than my puny offering. I will not run this again. Score: C-.
3. All But Shipwrecked: A repeat game from previous years, had an awesome run for a second year in a row. Nobody won the $10 prize I was offering. Many dungeoneers died in that one. Oh the carnage! Score: A+
4. SND01 Revenge of the Iron Lich: I love this module. I got lots of great feedback. Our own Gencon4James/Tharl played in it (fantastic player!). The game session doesn't earn the highest grade though, as there were some kid players at the table that made things rough for the other players who were trying to get serious about the run. Still, WILL run next year for sure. Players got a 259 score out of 1000+. Two dungeoneer deaths due to Telefrag (including Gencon4James). Score: A
5. C1: Crucible of the Gods: I ran this twice, once officially and once for friends (including our own Gencon4James/Tharl)! This game is sooo much fun. @saveversusdeath and crew do such an amazing job putting together modules. Without a doubt, MUST run this again in 2012. I don't think there's a scoring for players on this one. Score: A+
6. Claustrophobia: This game was supposed to incorporate some fourthcore ideas, but it did not have any of the punch of SND01 and C1. SND01 and C1 are so much more than some "save or die" effects. They have such flavor to the descriptions, and go over the top. Claustrophobia did not achieve that. It was an alright game, won't run it again. Score: B

As usual, when I drive home from the con, I have plenty of thoughts about what I should do next year. I want to focus on fourthcore, and I kinda realize that I have more fun running games that others make more than creating my own adventures (at least for the moment). That's why Grind4E is so much fun for me. Someone else (Sersa V, Jason Bulmahnn) made these rooms, and I'm simply running them - which makes it really fun for me. 

But at the same time, I DO want to try my hand at being Fourthcore-creative. And lo-and-behold, Grind4E will need that once we get past the rooms that Sersa V has already converted. These lines of thought brought me to a conclusion:

I will run Grind4E at Gencon 2012 as "GrindFest 4e"!

This works in several ways. First, this play-by-blog serves as a development grounds for the convention game. I can use the art I accumulate, the playtesting and even your dungeoneers as pregens. Second, your scores will help me mock those at Gencon 2012 who don't even come close to them.

Finally, I have an active investment to keep this game going since it will directly improve my Gencon 2012 run. Expect me to get a post out by today to re-start after the hiatus!

One more prep day, then Gencon!

Dungeoneers,

Thanks for your continued patience while I go through my yearly ritual. My ritual without fail is the following

1. In the months prior to the con, I do some write ups, but nothing too serious.
2. In the weeks before the con, I start to get nervous. Feeling the deadline, I get more into the work.
3. In the week before the con, I freak out. I get depressed. I wonder if anyone will like any of this crap I'm writing, or if any of it will work.
4. In the day or two before the con, it all seems to come together. My mood elevates, I feel like no matter what comes next, I will be ok.

I am at #4 at the moment! Lots of little details to do, but if they don't get done it's no big deal. Like I haven't busted out the D30, set it on the map and said, "Hey, pretend that's a golem. I ran out of time to produce a mini for it."

Looking forward to the months to come, not only for Grind4E (with my hand at converting rooms 6+), but also trying to work on an SND game of my own.

Later!

MilwaukeeJoe