Memorable Moments: "Whazzup!"

Time for another one of our groups most memorable and at the same time embarassing moments. This one happened with the same party from the previous installments and will be the last story about those pitiful adventurers.. Really!

So, after exploring the mountains around town and getting tossed around by Fire Elementals and Basilisks, for some reason we end up attacking the local church. Apparently they were up to something not so good... Anyway, the denizens of the temple put up a hell of a fight and the party had to expend most of their resources to win. Both my Bladesinger and the Cleric had almost no spells but that didn't prevent the Monk and Rogue from wanting to go on. We had discovered a secret entrance in the temple, which we knew probably led to some serious opposition... Both me and the Cleric thought that we should rest and recover our spells first, but somehow we got dragged in continuing on to the church's underground, despite my constant reminding them that "I have no spells!". 

Anyway, we go down the stairs and have several choices of paths to take. We could go left, right or through a closed door right in front of us. We took some time deciding, with seemed to upset the Monk somehow, who seemed to be in a rush for combat. So, while we were pondering what to do, he decides to kick the door down and screams "Whazzup!" at the top of his lungs, much to our dismay... Nothing happened though, but now we had no choice but investigate the room, which at first glance appeared to be empty. When we had all entered the room, suddenly a Firewall appeared behind us, blocking our exit through the door, and a flying Imp appeared above us. Initiative is rolled and we start the battle against what we thought was a single imp.. We couldn't be more mistaken...

Being a mostly melee party, the darned imp would give us some trouble if he decided to keep on the fly, which he did, forcing us to use our ranged weapons with which we were not very adept.. Well, we quickly found out that we weren't against a single Imp, but several almost always invisible, flying, Fireball hurling Imps with lots of Wizard levels... We rapidly found ourselves nearly dead to a point where retreating through a Firewall would most certainly kill us.. The Cleric and the Rogue were the first to fall, the Rogue failing to save against the Fireballs and thus evading them completely. To add insult to injury, when there were only me and the Monk still alive, a couple of large demons teleported into the room to finish us off. Ironically, thanks to his high saves and Evasion ability, the Monk responsible for alerting the whole complex was the last one to die, killed by one of the larger demons. 

In retrospect, the DM told us that this battle was punishment for our recklessness throughout the whole adventure, and that after the Monk's actions it was time for us to die. To tell you the truth, i think we deserved it...

Memorable Moments: "Straight in the eyes"

Taking a small pause from our adventures on Wizard of the Coast's Keep on the Shadowfell, i will now share with you another one of our favorite moments in our DnD history. This one happened with the same party from the previous installment of Memorable Moments and in the same adventure. You''ll be surprised to know that i have still another funny story from this adventure to tell you. This is because at the time we were more careless than we are now and also we had a party-killer DM, who is now playing Kralho, the Rogue, in Keep on the Shadowfell.

On with the story. So, after reviving the Cleric who had died casting Create Water at the fire Elemental, we resume investigating the mountainous area for reasons i can no longer remember. After some time we arrive at a clearing and notice a lizardlike beast resting in the sun. This was no ordinary beast however... Performing some Knowledge checks, we immediately recognized it as a Basilisk, a fearsome beast whose gaze can turn flesh to stone, much like the mythological Medusa. The DM informs us that we are aware that staring into the beast's eyes would expose us to it's petrifying gaze and that if we choose to avert our eyes we would have only 50% chance of becoming exposed. Either way, we all knew that a failed saving throw against the Basilisk's gaze would mean instant petrification. Initiative is called and the Rogue goes first. 

Dm: "So, what do you do? Do you avert your eyes from the beast?"

Rogue: "I look at it straight in the eyes."

Dm, me and the Cleric: "What??", screaming in disbelief.

Rogue: "Straight in the eyes!!", he screams full of confidance.

Monk: "Me too!", pounding his fist on the table, while the rest shook their heads...

Well, you can probably figure out the outcome of this battle on your own, but it turned out a little different than you would expect. Both the rogue and the monk decided to meet the beast's gaze eye to eye, while myself as the Bladesinger, and the Cleric decided to avert our eyes from it. The funny thing is, that despite our efforts to not become exposed to the Basilisk's gaze, most of us got petrified really fast. Myself, the Monk and the Cleric were all petrified, having amazingly rolled 3 consecutive savings throws with a natural 1... What are the odds of that? Meanwhile, the Rogue, who had dared to face the creature head on, not only succeeded in saving against the gaze several times, he still managed to flee the scene and head back to town. 

Luckily for us, the travelling higher level Cleric that had raised our own Cleric from the dead was still in town and agreed to return with the Rogue to the battle scene and cure our petrification, if the Basilisk hadn't made a meal of us yet... There were other risks though... The process of turning us back into flesh was dangerous and we had to make a saving throw to avoid death. When they arrive at the clearing the Basilisk was nowhere to be seen and our petrified corpses were intact. Myself and the Cleric managed to make the save to avoid dying, but the Monk, who had the best saves of us all, manages to roll another natural 1 and dies... Fortunately, the travelling Cleric was at hand to revive him...

Well, after this, we never looked at Basilisk's  the same way again...

Memorable Moments: Create Water...

Memorable Moments will be a regular installment in this blog. Basically, it's all about retelling some of our more interesting experiences as Dnd players. And what a better way to start than with one moment in particular that we often remember...

For some reason i can't remember, our party is tasked with investigating a mountainous area near a town which was experiencing some sort of difficulty. At the time we were using 3rd Edition rules and our party was composed of a Bladesinger (myself), a Monk, a Rogue and a Cleric. Not the most balanced of parties but it worked well, mostly because of the Bladesinger's lack of respect of monsters ability to hit him. Back then, a well built Bladesinger could tank like nothing else. My own at the time was reaching between 30 to 35 Armor Class in combat. Most monsters at our level couldn't scratch his supreme armor and dodging skills <--- shameless self-promotion... 

And off we went, strolling through the mountains when suddenly we are beset by a very large  Fire Elemental. All busy appreciating the view, we couldn't see the beast in time and it caught us by surprise. First thing he does is approach the Cleric who was for some reason at the head of the party and starts pummeling him to oblivion... Initiative is called and the Cleric goes first. Time to get some payback, he thinks..

Cleric: "Ok, my turn.. I take a 5ft step backwards and cast Create Water" (starts looking up the description of the spell in the Players Handbook)

His idea was clear. He was going to attempt to drowse the Fire Elememental. Some discussion ensues, because some of us don't think that a low level spell like Create Water could do any more than create a lot of steam against such a large Fire Elemental. He sticks with it though...

Dungeon Master: "Ok, as you start muttering incantantions the Fire Elemental gets an attack of opportunity against you..."

Cleric: "What? But i took a 5ft step, i am out of his reach.."

Dungeon Master: "Actually no. Because of his size and height he can reach up to 10ft, so your casting a spell gets him a free attack. Ok, rolling dice... Oh look, a 20."

Back on 3rd Edition Dnd , rolling a natural 20 on the 20 sided die is an automatic hit and a critical hit, if a secondary roll confirms that the hit can penetrate the target's armor.

Dungeon Master: "Ok, critical confirmed. Rolling damage dice..."

Having already been badly hit by the Elemental's previous attacks, the critical damage is enough to kill the Cleric outright, to the sound of laughter all around the table. The Dungeon Master also ruled that the Create Water plan was definitely not going to work. 

We still managed to kill the elemental, mostly because he couldn't hit my Bladesinger, and we managed to revive the Cleric thanks to a travelling higher level Cleric who just happened to be in town. So remember kids, don't cast Create Water at Fire Elementals, especially if your still within their grasp. You just might end up splat on the floor.