RttToH: Chapter Four: From the Tomb, Into Shadow. (Game thread, ICC)

[nijineko]

Campaign will resume as the surviving party members stagger from the depths of the Tomb.

[Midnight]

The party is preparing to leave the original Tomb of Horrors. They have just defeated a monstrous demilich, although this was not Acererak himself. In the horrific fight, Grunther's body was utterly destroyed, beyond recovery, yet the characters found the gem that contained his soul and a soulless construct-like body to receive it. (Details to follow.)

Their objective is the defeat of Acererak the demilich, and they have won a major victory towards it: they have reunited the halves of an amulet, found by the wizard Dessatysso many years ago. He claimed that a message was hidden on the amulet, encoded; this message indicated how to get into . There are letters on the amulet; they are in Abyssal, and encoded, but decoded, they read: "The face of the fiend does more than devour; with the least of my form, 'tis the key to power." It has been speculated that this means the huge devil-face in the first corridor, which contained a Sphere of Annihilation to which Grunther lost his arm. The party is, however, leery of trying this for obvious reasons.

The party is right now recovering, with a great list of treasure (next post).
--- Merged from Double Post ---
Here's the treasure list!
XP: 9000 for 16th level, 11000 for 15th level, 20000 for Grunther (13th).

Potions:
Greater Magic Fang +5 (20)
Fly (5)
Heroism (5)
Shield of Faith +3
Magic Vestment +1 (5)
Magic Vestment +3 (12)
Magic Fang (1)
Magic Vestment +4 (16)
Cure Light Wounds (1)
Bless Weapon (1)
Magic Circle Against Evil (5)
Darkvision (3)

Scrolls:
1: arcane, Astral Projection (17th), Hold Monster (9th), Overland Flight (9th)
2: divine, Magic Stone (1st), Entangle (1st), Enthrall (3rd)
3: divine, Hold Person (3rd), Snare (3rd)
4: arcane, Jump (1st), Knock (3rd)
5: arcane, Arcane Sight (5th)
6: arcane, Hallucinatory Terrain (5th), Fly (5th)

+4 Ring of Protection
Rod of Metamagic, Maximize, Lesser
Staff of Size Alteration (50 charges)
Incense of Meditation (1 block)
Dark Blue Rhomboid Ioun Stone: Alertness feat
Cloak of the Bat

+4 longsword of defending
+2 vicious greatsword
+3 greataxe
+3 longspear


97 10 gp gems
Huge peridot worth 10,000 gp
Huge emerald worth 50,000 gp
A single, flawless opal the size of a man’s head, worth 100,000 gp

[nijineko]

{i don't know about the rest of the party, but i'm thinking of trying to exchange or sell some of this for useful gear. do we have any idea where we might end up trying to use that thing as a portal? not to mention the time we'll have attempting to get grunther through there... and i'm not sure about what the "least of his form" might mean. }

[Midnight]

OK, the DM is now ready to go. The new NPC will join the party at an appropriate time; for now, Andree will remain with the party.

We will continue without Shisaku until he is ready to join. You have discussed resupply; you certainly have the gold to do so. What do you intend? There's a city not too far away, and there seems to be no immediate hurry, although you obviously want to figure out what to do ASAP. BTW, Grunther has only his hammer, armor and an Eversmoking Bottle; it would probably be a good idea to spend money resupplying him.

Please figure out your equipment purchases ASAP.

One last thing: I have made a long post adding to Nijineko's summary. Please read it, ESPECIALLY the diary; it contains clues.

One more thing: Please post your characters in the "characters, sheets and status" thread ASAP.

Midnight

[nijineko]

righteo, i'll see what i can do. and get with matosapanjin (our remaining player) on the rest.

[matosapanajin]

ok i missed all that happened to grunther...both his axes are gone?
maybe the majority should go to reequip him....

[Midnight]

Here's the thing: In the original version, Grunther used a battleaxe. I retroactively changed that to a maul (essentially a big hammer); it fit the character design better. I had forgotten that he had two battleaxes, not one; he should now have 2 mauls, not one, plus his (ordinary) armor, an Eversmoking Bottle, and a +6 Belt of Giant Strength. He did not lose any equipment; he just had only incomplete equipment in the first place. I was merely suggesting that you get him some armor and such. In particular, he is now a variant of a Warforged, which I made up, called a Warforged Brute--a Warforged with the Powerful Build trait--and he's taken the Warforged Juggernaut class.

In summary, he currently has:
1) A +3 Undead Bane maul
2) A +5 Undead Bane maul of disruption (from the Deck)
3) A +6 Belt of Giant Strength
4) An Eversmoking Bottle
5) Adamantine full-plate armor (built in to his body)
6) Nonmagical shield
In terms of GP value, he's not much short of the rest of you, but you'll notice that he has no bonuses to his saves and his AC is poor. You should probably sell his lesser maul, enchant his armor and get something for his saving throws.

Midnight

[nijineko]

well, he can't wear armor... so we will have to get his body enchanted. he can, however, wear an armor crystal, and we can get another one for his shield, plus weapon crystals for his weapons. plus, we can get his shield enchanted. due to the nature and setting, i rather doubt that there are any embedded warforged items available, so i guess we are "stuck" with standard magic items. i suggest that we get him a vest of resistance, at the least. should mato' and i come up with a list? and are we aware of our heading towards the plane of shadows?

[Midnight]

I don't recall anyone ever mentioning the plane of shadows. The PCs believe that the portal, whatever it is, will take them to the "City That Waits", which is apparently some part of Acererak's holdings. You have also received warning (via a Divination spell) to be dressed for cold. That's all.

[nijineko]

excellent, just making sure. i didn't think so, but perhaps i was making unwarranted leaps of associations from the orb and tomb settings and even the journal. or maybe i'm just dimly recalling things i've heard about the adventure without realizing. in any case, much apologies.

[matosapanajin]

might be a good idea to get some cold gear, i sugest basic equip from frostburn, also how shall we intro my next victums

[Midnight]

Hmm...I can do one of two things:
1) A slightly generic introduction--your characters had heard of the horrible things being done by the Dark Academy and went to check it out, then found out that the current PCs had gotten there first and decided to join them.
2) Something more directly relevant to your characters--unfortunately I need to know a little more about your characters' personalities and backgrounds in that case.

[nijineko]

hmmmm, this is slightly meta, sorry, but isn't one of his upcoming characters capable of divination? ^^

[matosapanajin]

do you mean the radient servant of pelor? then ya prolly

[nijineko]

well, then, he could have divined the need for the two of them to be there at that time. i can just see him using a telescope with filter to be able to see the sun's prominences in order to divine the patterns of the future in the ebb and flow of the sun-fire. and the mystical side of that would be a good fit for mato.