Pool of Radiance AAR: A GrogHeads™ Experience

Started by BanzaiCat, August 20, 2015, 10:46:03 AM

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BanzaiCat


mirth

"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

JasonPratt

The dancing gif distracted me from seeing Carlton (or whoever that is) composited into the party behind Mirth singing at the kobolds.

Which is even better.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

BanzaiCat

#48
Quote from: JasonPratt on August 25, 2015, 11:12:12 AM
The dancing gif distracted me from seeing Carlton (or whoever that is)

David Alan Grier. He's done goofy stuff like that for years.

One of my favorites of his is "Don 'No Soul' Simmons":



This stuff was from a movie called Amazon Women on the Moon, a sketch comedy film much like Kentucky Fried Movie.

mirth

"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

bbmike

"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

"There's a horror movie called Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you!"
-The Doctor

"Before Man goes to the stars he should learn how to live on Earth."
-Clifford D. Simak

BanzaiCat

I'll have another update Friday evening. Too much going on at work and home these last few days.

I think I'll probably get more detailed in future posts  (after the Slums are finally done, that is), but that's only if you guys are okay with that. I've been thinking I've been a little light on the narrative thus far, but I didn't think everyone wants to hear about every encounter, unless significant and/or entertaining.

By 'more detailed,' I mean more maps, more back-and-forth among the characters, that kind of thing. We'll see how it goes. If you hate it, don't hesitate to say so.

JasonPratt

The occasional funny back and forth is funny. Good narrative balance of styles already.

Still, won't complain about moar Groghead Radiant Experiences!  O0 (If it feels fun and comfortable for you, go for it. We're living vicariously.  O:-) )
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

mirth

Quote from: JasonPratt on August 27, 2015, 06:43:11 AM
(If it feels fun and comfortable for you, go for it. We're living vicariously.  O:-) )

And don't limit this advice to video gaming.
"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

BanzaiCat

#54
Entry #6
Phlan Slums; A Return to Phlan (again)


We returned to Phlan, still getting evil stares from the guards; but I could hardly blame them. We were just another group of wannabes seeking our fortunes. We hadn't proved ourselves yet. And no doubt GUSINATOR was striking a rather handsome figure to some of those lonely, lonely guards.

Besides, it was the middle of the night, no doubt making the guards more randy.

We wandered by the City Hall, and that's when I realized I hadn't taken note of the Proclimations posted thereon:



Proclamation LXIV: Be it known that the council is interested in acquiring information as to the disposition of various formerly-living entities rumored to be harassing honest citizens in the vicinity of Valhigen Graveyard. A reward is offered to any person who shall travel to said graveyard and return with an eye-witness account.

Yyyyyyeah, we're just going to pass that one by for now. Any statement with the words "graveyard" in it is too deep for us to get our hands dirty on.

Proclamation LXXVIII: Be it known that the council is offering a reward to any person or persons who can provide information as to the disposition of several council agents who have been sent to investigate the unseemly happenings in the vicinity of Valhigen Graveyard.

Aaaaand that's another swing and a miss. So this Valhigen Graveyard seems to be quite the hot spot, so much so that "council agents" probably went and got themselves all Terminus'd by some not-living characters. I think we'll avoid this one too.

Proclamation CIX: Be it known that the council is offering an inducement to any individual who shall serve in the rescue force for the mercenary band of 'Taimalg-the-Invincible' which has disappeared inside of Valhigen Graveyard.

They're not doing themselves any favors by lining these suckers up like this. It's basically a whole row of 'nope,' 'nope,' and 'f&cking nooope.'

Proclamation LIX: Be it known that the council is interested in reclaiming the remaining blocks of the city of New Phlan. To reclaim said blocks they must be first cleared of monsters, vermin, and other uncivilized inhabitants. To this end the council is offering a reward to any person or group who is responsible for clearing any block of the old city.

Well, yeah, that's what we've BEEN working on, sheesh.

The Phlan Slums have been proving to be both a boon and a stumbling block. We'd heard rumors of some very nasty creatures in the southwest part of the Slums. Mostly giants, though some claim trolls; another said a dragon. The rumors spinning around Phlan threaten to catch it in their pull and set the town to spin right out of the ground and over the horizon. Still, we've avoided that area like the plague, finding no more random encounters.

Clearing vermin is what we do, though it's slow going.

We've managed to level up a few of the party as we go along. I'm now Level 3, as is GUSINATOR. KYZBP is a 3rd-level Cleric. BBMIKE is a 2nd-level Mage, almost 3rd-level (which I think brings the juicy, juicy Fireball spell). BARTHHEART is a 3rd-level Thief. MIRTH is the only disappointing one of the bunch. He's somewhat stuck in 1st-level for both his Fighter and Mage specialties, as experience earned is halved between the two as if two warring egos were fighting for dominance over the same body.

He's close, but not close enough, and slaughtering Kobolds is like slaughtering Jawas - if Stormtroopers can hit it, you know they're jack poop. We're pretty much the Stormtroopers of the adventuring world. If we can clear that final encounter, maybe we'll be able to push a little further and start kicking some butt.

Finally, after a few pushes into the unclaimed zones (even going so far as to go into the adjacent Kuto's Well in search of some valuable experience - nothing really happened of note and I didn't push the exploration), we got our levels as far as we could, and I finally bought missile weapons for every party member.

One thing you'll never be sure of is exactly how your party will deploy; it really depends on the direction you're facing when you trigger the encounter, and the structure of the surrounding terrain. Even if you keep someone in the fourth slot of your party, that doesn't mean they won't be on the front line, as poor KYZBP has found time and again.

Suitably armed, we moved into the Slums once again, camping out just outside of the area we knew the ferocious beasts to be. And we saved the game, too - we're not totally stupid.

We advance into the area, and are greeted by two huge Ogres and four Trolls.

Great.

They're all playing hacky-sack with a 100-pound bag of grain. Their attention diverted, I give the signals to the party to prepare to engage...and with that, the bag they were playing with hit the ground with a satisfying crash, spilling a smoky haze and impossible thousands of bits everywhere. That's when they noticed us.

"OH NO," said an Ogre. "WE DROP. WHAT WE THROW NOW?"

The others had noticed us...

I know...

You know what I dunno, mate? I dunno what color yer lungs are...c'mere a minute, eh?

No, YOU come here little man. We throw in game.

You look like the Tony Romo of the Troll world. Seeing that broken bag on the ground just proves it.

Goddammit, Mirth.

Oh, sorry! AHEM...♪ ♫ You're the BESST...AAAH-ROOWW-OOUNNND...♪♪ NUHH-ONE'S EVAR GONNA BRINNNG YA DOWNNN...♫ ♪

NOOO SHUT UP SHUT UP TROLLS LOOVE JOE ESPOSITO YOU IDIOT

YOU NO RUIN JOE ESPOSITO! PIANO IN DARK IS UNDERRATED SONG! HUMAN LIKE YOU RUIN HIS MOOSIC CAREER!

Aaaaand it was on. At least MIRTH didn't sing Lady, Lady, Lady.



This is NOT an easy fight. But, it can be made easier by four simple strategies. The first is to have the hero with the highest AC at the front. There's only one Troll in the front line; the others are left to play grab-greenass in the backfield (sort of like the backfield of the Texans, AMIRITE?).

The second is to ignore the Ogres. What I do is cast Sleep on them - there's a small chance Sleep might work, and by doing so we actually put one of the bastards to sleep.

Thirdly, and this is very important, we managed to uncover a Fireball scroll in the muck of the Slums. I can't recall where, exactly. What matters is that BBMIKE has it in his hands and he uses it here, frying one Troll (whom was already wounded), and halving the HP of two others.

Our hired Warrior rushed through an opening and slaughtered the helpless Ogre. His timing could have been better as there were still two Trolls that were up - hurt, but up.



This brings me to the fourth strategy - ranged weapons. You'll learn that lesson the hard way, trust me. Our ranged fire was rather effective and we managed to cut the other two Trolls down quickly, fortunately. The Ogre didn't last long, either.

I was stunned (STUNNED, I tell you) that none of the Trolls stood back up. I had my characters occupy the space(s) they dropped in, but I lost track as the battle ran down. This is another reason why missile weapons are important in this little fracas, so that you can still hit the enemy without having to be in melee range. Believe me, this battle is frustrating enough without finding yourself on the winning edge, only to have a fully-healed greenie stand up behind you.



We actually won! I couldn't believe it.*

*Note: this took about ten tries. The Trolls were lighting fast and would often hit three, four, or even five times in a row, as if to say, "Oh, one hit isn't enough to bring down your frontline fighter? Here's another! That wasn't enough? Here's a third! Tell you what, let's just keep doing this until he dies, eh?"

Returning to Phlan, I ID'd the remaining equipment (some of us managed to get good weapons with +1 bonuses). From that final 'boss' battle, we got a +1 Composite Longbow, which went right to MIRTH (with his six HP and verrrry sloooow leveling, his ass wasn't going to be in the front line of tough fights). A set of Banded Mail +1 was there too, which I donned, giving me an awesome AC.

I will update you guys as to the status of the characters next time. For now, we returned to Phlan, rested, ID'd equipment that needed it (the best way to tell is, when selling to a shop, if they offer you a small fortune for an innocuous item - like 1,750 gold pieces for a broad sword - that should set off alarm bells that it's a magic weapon). Next time, we'll see about leveling up (hopefully MIRTH), and I will update you all as to what level everyone is, and what equipment they're carrying.

Next, we'll be headed to Sokal Keep.





bbmike

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on August 28, 2015, 06:17:58 PM

We've managed to level up a few of the party as we go along. I'm now Level 3, as is GUSINATOR. KYZBP is a 3rd-level Cleric. BBMIKE is a 2nd-level Mage, almost 3rd-level (which I think brings the juicy, juicy Fireball spell). BARTHHEART is a 3rd-level Thief. MIRTH is the only disappointing one of the bunch. He's somewhat stuck in 1st-level for both his Fighter and Mage specialties, as experience earned is halved between the two as if two warring egos were fighting for dominance over the same body.

bbmike would also be at 3rd level but the Tom Jones tunes are clearly distracting him from studying his mage-onmics.  :)) 
"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

"There's a horror movie called Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you!"
-The Doctor

"Before Man goes to the stars he should learn how to live on Earth."
-Clifford D. Simak

JasonPratt

Yes, 3rd level brings (exactly one slot for a) juicy, juicy Fireball spell. And opens up (as an alternative, exactly one slot for a) Lightning Bolt for a more focused attack of the same strength but with different resistances and weaknesses of course.

Decisions, decisions.

But clearly the right decision was more AAR.  O0 :smitten:
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

BanzaiCat

Entry #7
Current State of the Party


BANZAI-CAT
Human
Level 3 Fighter
XP: 6,373 (need 8,001 for 4th Level)
Current Equipment: Banded Mail +2, Shield, Broad Sword +1 (also, Long Bow and 20 Arrows)

GUSINATOR
Dwarf
Level 3 Fighter
XP: 5,929 (need 8,001 for 4th Level)
Current Equipment: Chain Mail +1, Shield, Battle Axe (also a Long Bow, a Short Bow, and 38 Arrows)

KYZBP
Human
Level 3 Cleric
XP: 4,504 (need 6,001 for 4th Level)
Current Equipment: Ring Mail, Shield, Flail +1 (also, Wooden Holy Symbol of Tyr, and three Clerical Scrolls with two Cure Light Wounds, one Animate Dead, one Silence 15' Radius, and one Detect Magic).
Spells: Cure Light Wounds x 4, Hold Person x3

MIRTH
Elf
Level 2 Fighter/Level 2 Magic-User
XP: 2,798 (need 4,001 for 3rd Level Fighter and 5,001 for 3rd Level Magic-User)
Current Equipment: Scale Mail, Shield, Long Sword, Composite Long Bow +1, 32 Arrows
Spells: Sleep x2

BARTHHEART
Human
Level 4 Thief
XP: 5,847 (need 10,001 for 5th Level)
Current Equipment: Leather Armor +1, Long Sword, Sling, 180 Arrows (he's the Arrow Mule, apparently)

BBMIKE
Human
Level 3 Magic-User
XP: 6,373 (need 10,001 for 3rd Level)
Current Equipment: Bracers AC 6, Dagger, 58 Darts
Spells: Sleep x2, Stinking Cloud x1

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you can see, we're pretty heavy on the Humans, and light on the wimminz (though MIRTH'S character is giving that impression a run for its money).

In the previous game, we let the Warrior go. I considered keeping him around for Sokal Keep, and I might have to do that if we get our butts kicked and need more firepower.

My mages are heavy on the Sleep spells and Hold Person spells - this is for a good reason, because Sokal Keep is going to hold a bitch of a fight for us. We'll need every one of them.

Having leveled up MIRTH twice (once for each of his classes), and BARTHHEART and BBMIKE each once, that side of things is done (and the list above reflects the status as of this writing). Only thing is, BBMIKE can't get the Fireball spell yet. I had forgotten that 3rd level Magic-User spells require 4th character level...I think. In any case, when I leveled up BBMIKE, he could only choose one 2nd-level spell, so I grabbed Stinking Cloud.

Next, we headed for the Inn to rest and memorize the new spells for our two Magic-Users. Rested, full up on equipment and spells, we headed to the docks to board a ferry to Thorn Island, where Sokal Keep waited...



JasonPratt

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on August 29, 2015, 10:41:33 AMI had forgotten that 3rd level Magic-User spells require 4th character level...I think.

AD&D 2.0 -- a bitter tease of a mistress.  :tickedoff:


It is my legitimate hope that you can keep this up for the whole quadrology.  :smitten:

(Though it's about time you got another banzai cat for the avatar.)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

BanzaiCat

#59
Entry #8
A Journey to Thorn Island; Sokal Keep




The Harbor Master ended his statement with a wry grin and a snicker. Under his breath, I could hear him say something like "more children off to their dooms." That didn't bode too well.

Striding to the end of the pier, we found that, surprisingly, the trip to the island was free.



I'd seen some slasher movies start with this, but as this was a sausage-fest of epic proportions, I wasn't worried about watching my corn hole.

Unceremoniously dumped on Thorn Island, we were left to our own devices. Thorn Island wasn't much to write home about; it was very small, craggy, and absolutely commanded the approaches to Phlan. Clearing out the Keep would be a huge boon for the struggling city, opening up trade routes from throughout the Moonsea. Not only would it mean growth and a large flow of coin and equipment, it would mean a large flow of coin into our pockets for freeing them from the shackles of this stone fortress.

The boatman hadn't just quietly dropped us off, though. He told us tales of how the Keep was haunted by the spirits of the damned, the defenders of the Keep, whom made their last stand during the fall of Phlan.

I wanted to learn more about the history of this area, but there wasn't time. The Keep is not far from Phlan.

We contemplated the gates that stood before us, and passed easily into the inner courtyard. The gates themselves, once formidable and strong, were worm-eaten and rotted.



The courtyard itself was rather empty.



Still, we took a look around. We split up, poking around in the forlorn, lonely grasses, seeing if anything had been stashed away by previous parties.

A shriek from KYZBP from the northwest corner of the courtyard sent all of us scrambling over.



KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT WITH FIRE

I told him it was already dead. Our cleric was clutching his Holy Symbol tightly. His face was still twisted in a mask of naivety and friendliness, but his words that spilled forth indicated a hatred for the undead. This particular pile of bones was going nowhere, though; the hapless Elf that used to form a living being around it was long gone.

Stopping MIRTH from breaking into "Kiss From A Rose" by Seal, we decided to search the bones and rotting bag slumped against it.





We were able to translate these words into:
LUX
SHESTNI
SAMOSUD

Having no idea what these meant exactly, we did recognize them as possible passwords or answers. We'd have to be careful with which answers we chose.

The doors to the inner courtyard lay before us...just as formidable as those on the outside, perhaps a bit stouter, but unsecured and unable to resist our need to enter.