Community

As the ship appeared on the horizon, bells in Landinium began tolling.  Runners had alerted the city hours before that the vessel carrying the Guardians of Shining Hope was almost to port, and now that the bells had begun their toll, people began making their way to the docks to witness the heroes that had saved the city from the Diodane war make their way back home.

            The docks were covered in cold water as the grey clouds above misted down cold rain.  Autumn was deep and most of the leaves on the trees had long turned colors and dropped to the ground, leaving only the cold pre-winter wind and a drab landscape.  The ocean itself was slate gray, and the waves that washed to shore sung a faint dirge; an event that had begun a couple weeks before hand and accredited to the strange happenings that afflicted the world that year.

            Along the rocky shore, fungus had begun sprouting between the rocks.  Capped with red, they sported small fleshy mouths which emitted the dark sounding song.  Attempts at removing the fungus only ended in frustration as the creatures returned a few hours later, apparently from nothing but sand.

            People crowded onto the planks of the dock while the ship grew nearer.  Standing at the front of the boat was a tiny figure that looked more like a small child.  Her pink hair flowed freely in the breeze as she gripped the wooden rails and stared with determination at her home city.

            Standing next to her was a young teenage boy with dark tan skin and golden hair.  His arm was in a sling, and he was lightly dressed despite the cold wind and the falling mist. 

            Men scrambled up the rigging of the vessel, drawing the sails down to slow the approach and within moments it drifted into the harbor and threw mooring lines at the dockhands, who secured the ropes against large metal mooring hooks set into the dock.

            The people surrounding the dock were very excited as the gangplank was lowered down.  The gnome came down first, her tiny shoes clicking against the damp wood.  A spider-monkey sat on her shoulder, peering at the crowd.  Behind her walked the youth and a gith dressed in what appeared to be golden leaves.  All walked as if they were in some pain.  None carried any expression on their faces at all except for exhaustion.

            The crowd parted to let the three pass as ship-hands began to unload cargo from the boat.  It only took a moment to register on the faces of many as to the contents of the cargo.  Solid wooden rectangular boxes were being unloaded one by one.  There were five in all, each the same size – that of a person. 

            The procession walked somberly through the crowd and past the dock gates as the bell towers continued their toll.  What had been a moment of triumph and excitement for the people of the city had quickly turned to sadness, for while their heroes had returned, many had returned home in a box.

            “Tis the life of an adventurer saer.”  Said one of the ship-hands carrying a box as he walked through the crowd, addressing no one in particular.  “Fame and glory aye they receive, but in the end the dangers will see many in a box like this.”  The man’s companions carrying the box gave him an evil look, and he fell silent.

            Folks lined the streets watching the procession pass.  Up the streets it went, through the warehousing district and through the gardens, all the way to the center of the city where the palace stood overlooking all.  From there, the queen watched patiently from atop a turret, dressed in heavy fox fur and with a face lined with worry.

            As the returning heroes entered the palace courtyard, the queen entered the palace to receive them, removing her furs and calling her attendants to the throne room.

            Maddie, Shanti, and Gold Talon entered the palace as the guards opened the main doors for them.  Maddie made a passing glance back as she watched the ship-hands take the boxes containing her friends to a different part of the palace as directed by the guard.

            The interior was quite chilly and cold drafts howled through the walls.  Torch light illuminated the passages as the three entered into the grand throne room of Landinium; a place that was not unfamiliar to them.

            The queen was standing near the two thrones.  She was dressed in a white gown and had a string of pearls about her slender neck.  Her face was as cold as the stone that made the castle up, which was something that had not changed since their last encounter. 

            Standing next to her was an older man dressed in dark blue robes who was bereft of any hair atop his head, but had a long and pointed grey beard that reached down toward his belly.  The court physician, Maddie recalled, and she nodded to the man who nodded in return.

            At the corner of the room stood three dwarfs.  All looked as beaten and worn as the three Guardians had been, their armor dented and cracked and their faces covered in bruises.  One of the dwarves was missing half of his beard and hair atop his head.

            “It gives me pleasure to see that you have returned, champions of the realm.”  The queen said in a flat and icy voice.  Her face remained expressionless.  “The dwarven company from Caendun has also returned last night.”  She nodded toward the dwarves who grumbled something incoherent.

            “Did you find the object of your quest?”  The queen addressed the room.  There was a moment of silence.  Maddie looked up at Shanti who handed her the silver piece of the rod that was recovered on the Isle of Heroes.

            “Aye.  The Iron Company was able to recover the piece of the rod that ye bade us find, though our losses were great.  Fifty dwarfs were slain and fifty more laid out injured, I only have twenty or so able bodies remaining.”  One of the dwarfs said, a dour look on his face.  He reached into a pouch and pulled out another silver rod that looked similar to the one Maddie held in her hand.

            “What happened Simon?”  The queen asked, raising an eyebrow. 

            “Dragon ilk and a great red beastie is what happened.  We were ambushed along the pass of Erethas by an army of em, and the red that was leading them was bigger en any dragon I’ve ever seen in me life.”  The dwarf commented gruffly, before grinning.  “We took the blasted bugger down finally.  Even got me a new shield.”  Simon chuckled as he indicated the polished red dragon scale shield that he held in his left hand.

            “We honor our end of the agreement and we consider our oath to Landinium fulfilled now yer highness.  Take yer rod with our blessing and we will await payment per our contract.”  Simon walked up to the queen and presented the rod, which she took in a slender white hand. 

            “You have done well sir dwarf.  Thank you for your aid.  Your oath is indeed fulfilled.”  She nodded her head, and all three dwarves nodded back and with a click of their heels turned and left the room.  The queen turned her gaze toward Maddie.

            “And you?  Have you recovered the piece of the rod held within the palace of Zith?”  Maddie walked up to the queen and handed her the fourth piece of the rod.  The queen took it in her other hand and smiled.

            “You have all done well.  Though I see that this adventure was not without its loss.  I have heard of the deaths of your friends.  Tomorrow there is to be a feast in honor of the paladin Bashir and of your deeds and losses before his burial.  As to your other friends, there will be several higher ranking clerics present who should be able to restore their lives.

            “I would not ask of this except that the kingdom is in dire need and heroes seem to be running in short supply.”  The queen’s mouth was tight lipped at this.  “Bashir is to pass on for his time has come and his body torn.  Your friends, however, have hope still.”

            “Death seems so paltry a thing.”  Maddie said.  The queen looked down at the gnome and nodded her head.

            “Indeed.”  She looked up and regarded Gold Talon for a moment, appraising the youth.  “And who is this?  I do not recognize him.”  The queen asked, her eyebrow raised.

            “I am Gold Talon your highness.”  The youth said, bowing his head. 

            “You are a dragon.”  She returned cooly.  Gold Talon looked up and he shared the same look as both of his comrades.

            “How did you know that?”  Maddie asked. 

            “Dragons have an aura that is felt.  I felt his when he entered.  It has been some time since I have been in the presence of a gold.  Your assistance to my kingdom is appreciated then, Gold Talon.”  The unease that the party felt dropped slowly, and the queen regarded it with a look of small humour.

            “We can discuss this later.  For now you need your rest.  In the meantime…” the queen bundled the two pieces of the rod in one hand, and walked over to a small table behind the thrones.  She opened a small drawer and produced the two pieces of the rod that had already been assembled.

            With all of these pieces together, she walked over to the party and handed Maddie all three components.

            “These are safest with you all.  We have had two attempts to break into the palace and steal these while you have been gone.  One of the thieves almost succeeded.  I don’t have to tell you how important it is to keep these safe.”  The queen leveled the last sentence heavily. 

            “No highness.  We understand.”  Maddie said.  “I will work on assembling these pieces tonight.  When are we to reconvene?” 

            “Tomorrow after the feast.  We will meet in the dungeons.  I have something of interest to show you.”

            The queen dismissed the three, who bowed and made their exit.  As they were walking out of the palace and onto the street, Maddie made the comment “That was odd that she knew you were a dragon.  I’ve never seen anyone be able to pick up on that so quickly.” 

            The arch-wizard sat in the stone basalt throne gazing at the entrance of his chamber with interest as two figures entered.  The first was a silver draconic.  It carried a familiar helmet in its taloned hands:  a polished black helm bearing five dragon heads in the semblance of Tiamat.

            The other was a lithe and sinuous woman dressed in blue silks.  A white cloth belt tightened the silk at her waist, leaving her desirable form open to scrutiny.  Her hair was done up in a pile atop her pretty head.  It was almost as blue as her cloth and nearly matched her icy gaze from blue eyes that pierced like arrows.

            “Arch-wizard.  I have been sent by the queen to go over our next plans.  It would seem that your choice in champions has failed you.”  The woman said with a sardonic look of amusement on her face.  The draconian tossed the wizard the helmet.  It sailed through the air and was caught easily by the man.

            “Dresh has failed.”  He said simply, looking down at the helmet.  It stank of oil and had a heavy metallic stench associated with it. 

            “Indeed.  It would seem that these Guardians of Shining Hope are more of a threat then you had given them credit for.  Such a common trait in villainy these days.”  The woman said, standing before the wizard.  He gazed at the helmet for a moment more before setting it atop a table next to his throne.  With a fluid gesture he indicated that the woman sit in a chair close by, and she did so.

            “The queen is worried that these so called heroes will put a stop to our plans before we even have a chance to launch them.  The chaos-bringer must be brought here.  Of this, all things depend.”  She said, reclining back and crossing her legs casually.  Her voice held the same casualty, as if she were talking about the impending rain carried in by a summer storm.

            The arch-wizard stood and walked behind the table by his throne, pulling a pair of goblets from a shelf and producing a crystal decanter that held a golden glowing liquid.  He pulled the crystal stopper and poured, offering her one of the goblets.  The woman took the offered goblet and took a drink, smiling as she did so.

            “Skardenaigh.  I have not had this in many years.  Where did you procure a bottle?  It is quite rare.”  She purred.

            “I have my ways emissary.  Now, what does the queen wish of me.”  The arch-wizard drank deeply from his goblet and sat back down on his throne.

            “First and foremost, the Rod of Law is now over halfway completed.  It seems that its completion is now not a matter of if but when.  Of course, that was until I personally intervened and found something for you.”  The woman nodded to the draconian who produced a small wooden box which he gave to the arch-wizard.

            His eyes widened as he opened the box and pulled out a small silver piece of metal, no more than four inches long. 

            “It was held in a vault atop the Ringing Mountains and guarded by a silver dragon named Braez.  At least that’s what the creature said before I tore his jaws off so that he could not speak any longer.”  She smiled and drank more from her goblet. 

            “This is …”  The wizard sputtered.

            “Yes.  A piece of the Rod of Law.  The only way the Guardians of Shining Hope are going to assemble that rod now is to take a piece from you, arguably the most powerful spellcaster on the face of this rock.  I assume that an arch-wizard of your power can take care of something as trivial as guarding a small bauble?”  The woman drained her goblet and set it atop a small table near her chair.  “Have you located the other two pieces?” 

            “I had located one months ago.  It has been secured in a place that will be very difficult for our heroes to find.  The last piece was located in the Shadowfell, and I have sent Dezma to recover it.”

            “You hold a lot of faith in your minions wizard, yet you send them to do important tasks by themselves?  You are not dealing with one or two heroes of the land, you are dealing with a party that has recently slain a champion of Tiamat, rebuffed a powerful elder dragon, and dispatched an entire company of soldiers.  I recommend that you up the ante a little.”  There was silence for a moment as the arch-wizard regarded the woman for a moment.

            “I have the power to call kingdoms under my command should I want…” he began.  She quickly raised a hand and cut him off.

            “That’s not good enough.  It’s time.  Time to open the chaos gate.  It is time to wage war on this world and clear away our enemies for good.”  The arch-wizard narrowed his eyes at this.

            “Emissary, the rod of chaos is not yet charged.  Doing so now may cause the gate to collapse in on itself and take this whole mountain with it.”  He argued.

            “The gate will never be opened if our enemies manage to assemble the rod and destroy it.  You have had months to charge it.  The queen wants the gate open now.  This is her command to you, and ultimately the command of the chaos-bringer.”    She stood to her feet, looking down at the wizard.  He sneered and stood up as well.

            “As you wish.  We will open the gate…”

New little blogosphere of mine.  Feel free to participate if it is something of value to you =)

So if you've followed any of my postings for any amount of time, you know that I typically have six levels of difficulty that I use in my adventure design.

At level encounters = encounter levels that meet the same level as my PCs.  These I consider to be very easy encounters that require little to no effort on the part of my players to overcome.

Encounter level +1 = encounter level is one higher than my PCs.  These I consider to be easy encounters that require maybe about 10% of my players' resources.

Encounter level +2 = Moderate encounter.  Requires about 10-20% of my players' resources.

Encounter level +3 = Challenging encounter.  Requires about 20-30% of my players' resources.  Will typically be overcome without a character death though it is possible (though very rare).  I use these for midlevel apexes that are not boss level encounters.

Encounter level +4 = Difficult encounter.  Requires up to 50% of the players' resources.  Can sometimes result in one player death (20%) or two player death (10%).  Has the capability of a TPK if the party makes mistakes and/or has bad run of dice.  I consider these minor boss battles.  

Encounter level +5 = Very difficult encounter.  Requires anywhere from 60 to 100% of the players' resources.  Should result in at least one player death.  Multiple player deaths possible.  TPK is possible.  These are major boss battles / climatic ends to story arcs. 

Note:  These encounter level formulas I used were done with modifications to the monsters from the MM.  I nearly always upgrade monster damage 30-40% from the stock entry in MM1 & MM2.  I have not tinkered with MM3 yet though.  I also mod elites and solos to do enough damage to equivalate two or five monsters (depending on the type) or have the actions of said monsters. 

If you go by the stock entries in the MM only (RPGA, your own preference) then drop these difficulties down a notch.  (+3 = moderate, +4 = challenging, +5 = difficult, +6 = very difficult)

NEW MONSTER EXPRESSIONS
The July errata gave us new monster damage expressions which upped the damage.  I have been using these tables for the past three adventures now and here are the results that I have come up with.

All of my encounters are bumped up a notch of difficulty.  This is good news!  This means that challenging encounters can be had at only +2 to the party level instead of having to always go to the well with +3, +4, or +5 level to the difficulty.

My only concern will be my boss battle adventure design, as if I use a +5 boss, I fear that it is going to result in a TPK way too often, and while I want there to be great challenge and player death during boss battles (which should be the pinnacle of combat experiences of a character's career), I do not want to wipe the party.

An example of a tough encounter was an experiment last night with a purple worm.  Normally a level 16 solo soldier, I amped him up a little to fit my design goals of having the ability to do multiple actions per round instead of just one thing.  In this case, I gave him back his ability to project acid and gave him an encounter level power that disgorges the contents of its stomach onto its foes, doing a lot of acid damage, but at the cost of not being able to use his acid spit attack again.

I also upgraded his damage to match the new damage expressions for his level (a big difference).  To round out the encounter, because my party consists of six players and I wanted a full +2 level encounter, I added a juvenile purple worm which I made level 14 and a lurker (and medium sized). 

The party is level 14, the total encounter level is 16 which involved the Purple Monster (upgraded) level 16 solo soldier, and the Purple Monster Juvenile - level 14 lurker.

As a +2 encounter previously, this would have been a mop with some expenditure of resources.  With the new expressions it should have bumped to a moderate encounter, which means I expect my party to overcome it but to use a lot of resources in doing it.  I was kind of nervous going into it as the upped damage and swallow whole ability were pretty deadly, plus the new acid spitting meant that it could spit and then bite so I was wondering if it was too far overboard or would it fit in?

Here is the stat block of my purple worm:

Purple Worm (updated) Level 16 Solo Soldier
Huge natural beast XP 7,000

HP 780; Bloodied 390
AC 33; Fortitude 34; Reflex 30; Will 29

Speed 6, burrow 3 (tunneling)
Immune gaze, illusion
Saving Throws +5; Action Points 2
Initiative +13 Perception +10 Blindsight 10, Tremorsense 20

Standard Actions
m Bite • At-Will
Attack: Reach 3; +21 vs. Reflex
Hit: 3d8 + 11 damage plus the target is grabbed (until escape). The purple worm cannot make bite attacks while grabbing a creature, but it can use clamping jaws.

M Clamping Jaws • At-Will
Attack: If a purple worm begins its turn with a target grabbed in its jaws, it makes an attack against the grabbed creature:; +21 vs. Reflex
Hit: 3d8 + 11 damage.
Miss: Half damage.

M Swallow • At-Will
Attack: The purple worm tries to swallow a bloodied Medium or smaller creature it is grabbing; +21 vs. Fortitude
Hit: The target is swallowed. The swallowed target is inside the purple worm and is dazed and restrained until it is no longer swallowed. The swallowed target has line of sight and line of effect only to the purple worm, and no creature has line of sight or line of effect to the swallowed target. The only attacks the swallowed target can make are basic attacks. At the start of each of the purple worm’s turns, the swallowed target takes 10 damage plus 10 acid damage. When the purple worm dies, the target is no longer swallowed and can escape as a move action, appearing in the purple worm’s former space.

R Acid Bath (acid) • Encounter
Requirements: The worm cannot have a victim in its jaws.
Attack: 5 blast 3 (all creatures); +21 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d10 + 11 The targets are covered in purple worm acid, and they take ongoing 10 acid damage and are blinded (save ends both). After the first save the target takes ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends) After a worm uses this attack it can no longer use it's Acid Spit power for the rest of the encounter.
Effect: 5d8 + 15 ongoing acid damage (10) and blinded (save ends both).
Miss: Half Damage

Minor Actions
R Acid Spit (acid) • At-Will
Requirements: The purple worm cannot have a victim in its jaws.
Attack: Range 5 blast 3 (all creatures); +21 vs. Reflex
Hit: 3d6 + 8 ongoing ACID damage (10) save ends.

Triggered Actions
C Bloodied Acid (acid) • At-Will
Trigger: When worm is bloodied.
Attack (Immediate Interrupt): Close burst 3 (all creatures affected); +21 vs. Reflex
Hit: 3d6 + 8 When the worm is bloodied, it's body oozes its acidic blood, spraying all those near with it. Creatures struck by this take an ongoing 10 points of acid damage (save ends).

Str 24 (+15) Dex 16 (+11) Wis 14 (+10)
Con 20 (+13) Int 2 (+4) Cha 4 (+5)
Alignment unaligned Languages —

© 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This formatted statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.


The end result?  Well for a solo encounter it was quite fun.  The party consists of (all at level 14):
Human paladin (AC 30/28)
Gith Monk
Genasai Warlord
Deva Shaman
Gnome Warlock
Dwarf Runepriest

Up to this encounter the party had an at level encounter where they spent a couple surges and no powers.

The child worm started the encounter, and the paranoia of the worm was as such that the warlord lunged at it and used a daily right out of the gate (thinking it was the big daddy only hiding most of its body)

The main worm erupted out of the ground (and the warlord smacked himself for falling for the bait and losing a daily)

The shock and awe of the huge creature made it tense for the first couple rounds.  The acid spit is a blast attack and my party so graciously stood close together to allow it to maximize it's abilities, spitting as a minor and taking hit points, and then biting the paladin since he had it marked.

The paladin is a nasty fellow in terms of his hit points.  His AC was not really a problem, since the worm's main attacks do not attack AC, they attack REF.  A high fortitude on the worm of 34 means that athletic checks made to try to escape the restrainment are difficult, since the athletics check has to beat the DC 34 of the fortitude of the worm.  A 30 REFLEX save of the worm makes acrobatics check also difficult, but not as much so.

All in all the combat lasted eight rounds.  The child worm was killed in two rounds.   The party nova'd the worm as expected with their dailies and encounters.  Because the dwarf, paladin, and warlord stood next to each other, they took the brunt of the acid attack for three rounds before the worm used it's encounter power and inflicted 51 points of acid damage on each of them. 

The worm was able to swallow the paladin and in the end was able to swallow the warlord. 

The warlord was taken to 0 healing surges.  The paladin still had a good 25% of his surges left.  The dwarf was taken below half of his surges.  The shaman and warlock were still healthy on surges since they stood in the back while the front line did its thing, and the monk still had a healthy amount of surges left as she stood away from the main line and avoided the attacks and acid area of affects.

The paladin finally finished the worm from the inside, cutting its way out, and the warlord was shot out of the worm's mouth as it fell over dead, crashing into the dwarf.

End result of this +2 encounter with a solo with new damage expressions (and my tinkering to add capabilities to the solo):
Nearly all dailies expended
No item dailies used
Around 50% healing surges used
No casualties
One party member (warlord) is down to 0 surges

The party has retreated into the worm's lair on the island to extended rest.  Of course whether or not they get this extended rest... heh heh

All in all it fell exactly as I'd expect a new +2 encounter to work.  As a moderate encounter, it tested them, it had the ability to kill one of them (and almost did) but the party was able to overcome and still have a healthy amount of resources left.

I wonder what would have happened instead if the worm was not a solo... and instead was five level 16 monsters.  Would the party have nova'd their dailies?  Hmm.  I suspect the answer is the healing would be the same, but there would be more dailies remaining.

My Monday night group is preparing to hit paragon path.  They are as of now as follows:

Gnome warlock (level 11)
Genasi Warlord (level 10)
Deva Shaman (Level 10)
Half-Elven Ranger (Level 10)
Dragonborn Paladin (Level 10)
Human Paladin (Level 10)

The Genasi and Deva are 300 xp away from level 11.  The ranger is about 500 or 600 and the paladins about 1000.

I mix in some dungeon delve material with original material.  We have had several major story lines come to a conclusion.  You can read my blog about the warlord's possessed hammer being cleansed.

Story line close:  Diodane, the demon in the hammer, was purged and the party makes their way back to their home city, which is now under assault from a previously friendly kingdom and an enemy kingdom.

The party, having returned from the Blood God's layer of the abyss, was sucked into combat as flaming undead and demons emerged from the sewer.  (I used the level 11 Dungeon Delve in Dungeon Delves for the next three encounters which takes them into the sewer to battle demons and eventually close a portal to the abyss guarded by a nasty solo Abyssal Spitter)

The end result of that was the portal was closed, but at the cost of four of the six PCs lives (the most lethal encounter I have run in 4th edition, but the party did get cocky and burn off a lot of resources in encounter 1 & 2 leading up to it which led to their deaths)

The two remaining (warlock and shaman) helped retrieve the body's of their allies and they now lie in repose in a crypt.

The city is now hard pressed and King Ceddryck petitions to have the bodies of the slain heroes raised from the dead at his expense (treasure from the delve so the players don't have to cut into personal expenses, considering that they prevented a demon horde from coming from below the city I think that well warranted the 2,000 gp reward for raising)

The rest the players have not played yet but with one member already level 11 and two so close, I have decided that the next session involves the last heroic tier encounter. 

The freshly raised heroes are rushed in their raising and thus are fatigued and drained.  In game terms, as they are not having a full rest to recover from death and being raised, I am halving their healing surges (the four that died)).  They still have their full compliments of powers.

The table is a massive 6x4 wargame table I have with a castle wall, village houses, etc... they will be asked to help direct the battle from the walls.  So they get to do some tactical leading of armies, etc... sounds pretty simple...

Until Diodane arrives.  The demon, seeking a new form, found one in the rocks below the city and emerges as a type of demonic golem (level 15 solo brute).  The golem blows through the streets, leveling houses, and killing enemies of the kingdom and friends alike.  This leads the party to team with their enemy to take down the demonic titan creature, who is weakened in this state (as he was an avatar of the blood god and an epic level creature)

My end boss battles are typically party level +5 (hence the level 15).  This is as high as I go.  The PCs have an advantage in that they don't have lesser encounters to whittle their resources away, which is why I'm going with the half surges for the freshly raised dead. 

This will net them over 1000 xp a piece and send most of them if not all of them into paragon.

Now... at this juncture I have given them four quest chains to choose from.  Throughout heroic tier we have opened up several major plot hooks and they have had a serious discussion on facebook that has been lengthy.  This makes me happy that the story is that endearing that every hook has merit.   (I'm proud of it, so yes I am bragging a little)

The choice that they choose follows a major power theme:

Arcane - While in the City of Brass the gnome warlock was given a rod and told it was a rod of wonder and would lead to chaos magic if she planted it in the crypt of the major temple of the island (the neutral territory ... a central volcanic temple where the gods are said to inhabit).  She planted the rod and essentially it began to unravel the winds of magic.  Wild magic is now in the area (2nd edition Forgotten Realms) and to fix it they must travel the world and the other worlds in search of the Rod of Seven Parts.  Until this is fixed, strange things begin to happen such as gravity reversing, mountains floating, the seas boiling, etc... another hook is who was the stranger that gave the rod to the gnome and what is his goal (future end boss)

Divine - The players would continue to hunt down Diodane as he hunts for a way to be reborn.  More demons, trips to the abyss, other planes to stop him from reforming as an avatar.  The success or failures of their 10 levels of play would determine Diodane's strength at the end encounter at level 20.

Martial - The players would focus on a military campaign and lead armies to face their foes, both the enemy kingdom that attacked, and their former friends. 

Primal - The spirits of the dead can no longer go to the afterlife.  Something keeps them locked on this world.  Undead begin to rise in great numbers.  When there is no more room in hell the dead shall walk the earth   The deva shaman had a shard of her memory lost and that shard reformed into a shadow version of herself which is essentially creating an army of dead spirits and corpses to walk the land and claim it for herself.

The deva needs to reclaim this shard to become complete... and the entire nine kingdoms of Cict need saved from the unwashed undead presence.  Shades of Ravenloft here with parts of the world crossing over into the Plane of Shadows.

The players as a group pick one of these paths which will dictate the overall goals for the next 10 levels as well as end bosses, major enemies, locations, etc....

How do you transition over into paragon?  What are some stories?

I will caution this... if you go the route I have gone do NOT tell them what power source each chain is tied to.  The arcane users want to do arcane, divine want to do divine, etc... instead just give quest chain names and basic plot points.  That's the big thing I am dealing with at this time with my Monday night group.

dnd.chrisnye.net/Audio/Jan11Session.mp3

For your streaming love.  24 meg mp3 of the session.

The party continues on in the belly of the iron fortress in an attempt to slay the daemon prince of the Blood God and free Sardis' war maul once and for all of Diodane's presence.

Unfortunately for them... the party has made some noise in entering the fortress and it is on high alert.  Through the use of stealth, guile, wits, and some good party tactics, the group dug their way through the fortress, engaging in a couple of battles before ending the evening in the daemon's main throne room with a staircase ascending up to higher levels, and a secret passage where a daemonic minion had escaped... to where? 

We continue Saturday with our monthly gaming day... all day of slinging dice.  We'll see what happens then!!

Chris - DM
Jamie - Idria the deva Shaman level 9
Nick - Sardis the genasai warlord level 9
Becci - Maddie the gnome warlock - level 10
Kris - Kris the human paladin level 8

Leigh the half elven ranger was not present this night.

My group is currently in the 94th layer of the Abyss, attempting to purge the Warlord's daemonically posssessed maul artifact.

The party is:

Gnome Warlock level 9
Genasai Warlord Level 9
Daeva Shaman Level 9
Half Elven Ranger Level 8
Human Paladin Level 7

Short short summary:
During a delve, the warlord rolled a massive crit with his +2 flaming maul and then proceeded to max out the extra damage.  Essentially on five dice he rolled maximum for each.  Spur of the moment I decided that the item was an artifact and that he had awakened it, but with a catch.  The once noble weapon had been tained by a daemon.

To cleanse this, the party had to do three tasks.  The first was to bathe the hammer in the Pool of Tears that is guarded by the Valkyries in the fey.  The second was to forge the hammer again in the fires where it was birthed (a temple to all the gods in a volcano).  The last is to slay a daemon of the type infesting the hammer.  They are on the last step.

Anyhow within a Cathedral made of the bones of daemons and slain foes, the party encountered a large war host of blood daemons.  These are modeled after the khorne daemons from the warhammer world.

The party fought an Encounter Level 9 group first, consisting of a controller, 2 brutes, and 2 soldiers.  Within the cathedral they made short work of this through a good use of tactics, only using an action point and three total healing surges.

They snuck out back and were attempting to hide from the remaining daemons as they knew they could not take on a small warhost by themselves.  Good call.  Until the paladin rolled a "1" on his stealth.  The wind kicked up and his white billowing cape was seen.

Another Encounter Level 9 ensued.  This time the party rolled poorly.  In the open they were hit one on one (five daemons to five players).  In the middle of the fight I had one of the players roll for a random encounter as a warhost was nearby and they rolled and rolled a "2" on a D20 (a 1-3 would bring in extra daemons).  This escalated the encounter to level 10. 

The party had cleaved the original daemons down to 2 of it's original 5 members.  The reinforcements brought the number back to 5.  The party was stretching a bit but was at about 50% of their strength, with all but one having expended a daily.

I reminded them that even in really savage encounters to look for the keystone and break it, and that can cause the other enemies to make morale checks or cause other hardships for the enemy.  They rightly figured out that the new controller that had arrived was a leader and that by killing it they could shake the daemons enough to either defeat them easier or make a retreat.  (I give solid hints at these things so that the players know their options)

A round of really bad rolls ensues.  The blood daemon brutes (low to hit roll, nasty damage roll) crits the paladin, bringing him to his knees.  The controller casts an burst 3 area effect chaining spell that restrains those in the effect.  This is an encounter power that he can only use once.

The gnome warlock fries a brute and the warlord pulps another down to almost dead.  It's coming down to the wire as the ranger, needing some armor upgrades, is taken down, then the paladin is taken down.  The blood demons don't stop at KOing you, they go for the kill... and coup de'grace the paladin and kill him.

With a party member dead, the ranger know KOd, and the shaman teetering on the brink, the warlord and the warlock realize that they are in trouble.  The three remaining daemons resist another round of poor dice rolls and the shaman is KO'd, leaving the warlock and the warlord standing.

Warlord has been taking a steady beating by the soldier demon.  They don't do a lot of damage but with a good to-hit roll, they can steadily chip away at you.  Warlord is bloody, and warlock is bloody, and three party members are down against a controller, a brute, and a soldier.

They know that the controller is key but are starting to panic now.  By this point in the encounter, dailies have been expended, second winds have been expended, healing surges are running low.  The warlord refuses to retreat as he will not leave anyone behind.  The warlock is preparing to retreat to save her butt.

At this point, a TPK is in the wings.  It's still possible for the two remaining players to pull it off as the remaining damage dealing brute is bloodied as well and the warlock has the ability to lay a lot of pain down.  However, an option opens itself up in my head.  As the paladin is dead-dead, I wanted there to be a way to bring him back, but I didn't want a cheesy "knights of good ride in to hell and save you" or anything like that.

The warlord held the key in his hand.  And reading Harry Potter triggered a good mixture   Horucrux.  The daemon in the hammer was almost purged.  It was desperate.  Once the final ritual was complete, the daemon would be completely expelled and it's essence boiled into the ether.  It did not want this.  It struck a deal.  It asked the warlord for a personal price to pay in return for it sealing the fate of its enemies.

It would not say what that personal price was.  Tension in the room.  The warlord sweated.  His player controlling him sweated.  The daemon was ever so mindful... making so much sense.

The warlord agreed.

The hammer glowed and one round went.  The warlord and warlock fought on.  THe remaining daemons, seeing the warlord and his hammer begin to glow, backed off but it was not enough.  A wave of fire and pain exploded out.  All were consumed by the daemonic fire.  The item had expended a powerful surge of energy, destroying the weakened daemons.  The warlord passed out.  The warlock was the only conscious member left.

I asked the warlord to pay his price.  He rolled a d10.  I told him to roll low.  He rolled a "9".  He lost 9 permanent hit points.  What he paid for was the daemons destruction, and...

The paladin's body was carried into the cathedral by unseen daemonic powers.  His body was rejuvenated.  His armor blackened.  His head ripped fromhis body and replaced with something similar... his face... only stretched a bit across the skull.  His eyes took on a slight yellowish glow.  Burned on his armor over what was once the white field of Bahamut was now the symbol of the Blood God.

The paladin was reborn.  Given the 9 hit points from the warlord's loss.  And his strength boosted by 2 points.  His alignment shifted to neutral and now there are two in the body.  One the champion of bahamut.  The other... the new champion of the Blood God.

The daemon is a little bit more relaxed now... for even when the hammer is purged of it... part of it now lives on in the paladin...

And thus another story hook opens up out of the chaos.