Pipes, Pints, and Polyhedrons

So I hate that we ran with only two last night, but damn I had fun running that adventure. I've been sitting on that one for a long while and it felt so good to play through it. I feel like the challenge was spot on for the party. As always I'll take any feedback y'all have. On to the results!!

We had one PC death and a near TPK, but Fizgix saved the day again with excellent spell casting. I wish you had been able to make it Jay, but Jared played him very much in the spirit of the character you have created. Unfortunately, we lost Solas to the extraplanar barghest that had been corrupting the temple. The dice and the darkness combined to overwhelm him. With the creatures defeat though Sir Aeron has been recognized by Glorianna and has received a boon for his efforts. The treasure haul was quite nice and I believe all the survivors have leveled. I'm hoping we can get another special session in next week.

Much fun was had! The atmosphere inside the temple was well-executed by The Captain. I thought we were screwed when it was down to just Sir Aeron with 4 hps left and Fizgix.

Something I'm wondering... why did the barghest not kill the bear that was inside the temple?

Several reasons actually.

- The barghest feeds on souls of intelligent creatures; non-sentient animals aren't really high on it's target list.
- Most of the barghest's tricks require above animal intelligence in the target to be effective
- The bear wasn't a threat to the barghest.
- The bear provided cover to the barghest's activities. Claw wounds look the same to most.
- The barghest generally stayed away from the bear, or levitated past it if need be.
- The bear smelled/viewed the barghest as part of the scenery.

Also in a melee, if things had gone wrong the bear could have come out the winner. If a bear lands both claw attacks you are automatically hugged for extra damage, and subsequent rounds result in automatic bite damage, unless you can break free (str check) on your turn. They are both 3 HD monsters. In a 1-1 fight the advantage is to the barghest but it's not an absolute thing.

Captain_Blood wrote: ↑December 14th, 2020, 6:46 pm Several reasons actually.

- The barghest feeds on souls of intelligent creatures; non-sentient animals aren't really high on it's target list.
- Most of the barghest's tricks require above animal intelligence in the target to be effective
- The bear wasn't a threat to the barghest.
- The bear provided cover to the barghest's activities. Claw wounds look the same to most.
- The barghest generally stayed away from the bear, or levitated past it if need be.
- The bear smelled/viewed the barghest as part of the scenery.

Also in a melee, if things had gone wrong the bear could have come out the winner. If a bear lands both claw attacks you are automatically hugged for extra damage, and subsequent rounds result in automatic bite damage, unless you can break free (str check) on your turn. They are both 3 HD monsters. In a 1-1 fight the advantage is to the barghest but it's not an absolute thing.

Emphasis mine.
Good points. Also well done on providing regular reminders on the climate (winter) by flavor text and as a potentially dangerous consequence of getting out of the lake (hypothermia).

Cool session tonight. I liked the emphasis on weather and considerations for travelling through deep snow. The steam resulting from hell hounds was a good effect. I wonder how hell hounds got there. Maybe a cave lair not too far off....

Ancalagon wrote: ↑December 20th, 2020, 1:02 am Cool session tonight. I liked the emphasis on weather and considerations for travelling through deep snow. The steam resulting from hell hounds was a good effect. I wonder how hell hounds got there. Maybe a cave lair not too far off....

Hell hounds...why did it have to be hell hounds...

Another good session a couple of nights ago. Hard fought with real risk of PCs buying the farm! **cough cough5e** My craptastic dice rolls probably prolonged things a great deal... :wink:

They didn't help, but we got a new character in. The next adventure should be fun. We'll see if the Baron thinks you need to go play outside with the Hobgoblins again.

I designed a coat of arms for Sir Aeron so now there is something to actually display.

The seat of power for Lord Tiberius and House Penrose now has an official name. Rather than "Castle Penrose" as we've been calling it, the castle's name is Thornhaven.