Gloomhaven: Fading Lighthouse and Pit of Souls
We’re sidetracking in our sidetracking, imagine that. Forget about the dragon or The Voice, there’s a lighthouse in the Lingering Swamp!
Scenario 61
Goal: loot all treasure tiles
Team: Brute (lvl 8), Elementalist (lvl 8), Soothsinger (lvl 9)
Set difficulty: 5
This is one of the coolest looking scenario (with Math’s 3D decor) hands down.
We’re not killing much monsters, the challenge is to jump over monsters and traps without getting too much damage.
Victory!
- we moved fast, mostly ignored (or immobilized) the monsters and got a secure win
Scenario 62
Goal: Kill the Hungry Soul
Team: Brute (lvl 8), Elementalist (lvl 8), Soothsinger (lvl 9)
Set difficulty: 5
A single, if somewhat large, room with living bones and living spirits. The elementalist wipe out the living spirits with a well-timed vengeance. We can then focus on the immediate goal of slaying 10 living bones (they keep popping up each round).
Once it’s done (not a big feat), the Hungry Soul manifests itself. Oddly, the Hungry Soul is no big deal as it’s just a slightly stronger elite living bones (with a strong shield that diminish the more living bones there is). So all in all, an anticlimactic end to the Fall of Man thread.
Victory!
- All three of us can now retire our characters, that’s pretty awesome!
Gloomhaven: Decrepit Wood
Now, maybe the sensible thing would be to get some information on who or what is The Voice exactly? But following what IT wants means that we get in the Lingering Swamp. And, as it happens, we have a swamp aficionado, of all things, among us. So to hell with prudence, lets go to the decrepit wood to seek something or other that our desincarnated employer wants so bad.
Scenario 32
Goal: Reveal G tile, kill all monsters, loot treasure
Team: Brute (lvl 7), Elementalist (lvl 7), Soothsinger (lvl 8)
Set difficulty: 4
I’m not quite certain what are Harrowers but they sure are tough cookies. But fortunately, as they’re melee attackers, they’re quite easy to outmanoeuver. In fact, we did so well with this scenario that… I don’t feel like there’s much to say?
The soothsinger’s forte is not high damage output.
We chose to enter the door in front of us instead of going by the side entrance. We get pesky Black Imps and more Harrowers.
Last room and we still have plenty of resources, no worries.
Victory!
- this one was a walk in the park
- we now unlock the elementalist’s life goal special (double) scenario
- Both me and the soothsinger will complete our own life goals too so we’ll retire as a team!
Gloomhaven: Echo Chamber
We’re supposed to investigate a dragon sighting in the copperneck mountains, but more frivolous adventurers the world as never seen. We’ve sidetracked at the first occasion, in this case after seeing some odd writings on the walls of a cave mentionning a « voice ». Or rather: The Voice.
Scenario 24
Goal: Open all doors
Team: Brute (lvl 7), Elementalist (lvl 7), Soothsinger (lvl 7)
Set difficulty: 4
We start the scenario with our first encounter with drakes (of the rending variety) and oozes. The soothsinger immobilize the whole lot before the elementalist softens them up. I then finish the two leftmost drakes with a devastating swing of my battleaxe. The way is clear (mostly).
In the next room floats 4 living spirits with their annoying shields and all.
But they’re promptly zapped into oblivion by the elementalist.
3 more drakes. We manoeuver so that they’re bunched together and:
Boom! They’re disintegrated, just like that.
Things are so smooth & easy, we’re swaggering our way deeper into the echo chamber. We will pay the price for our overconfidence though…
Only one door to open to win the scenario, but at least one of us must survive the round and it now seems far from certain…
The elementalist goes down too but the soothsinger survives to win the day. With 1 hp!
- That was an incredibly close call!
- Upon verification, surviving the final round isn’t mandatory but that would have felt like cheating…
- The drakes are hard-hitting but not very durable, glass cannons essentially.
- I think this scenario should be fairly easy, with a sound plan, on most play
More locations for Jungle/Chult hexcrawl
Dinosaur Boneyard
Miles upon miles of massive bones with no vegetation whatsoever. Somewhere in the middle is the ancient mansion of a necromancer. But first you’d have to get past the carrion critters and various undead dinosaurs.
Pit of the Broken Idols
A cave where a long-lost civilization have thrown offensive statues down the 60′ deep shaft. Their residual power has taken shape as a powerful Eidolon.
Treant Permaculture
A spectacular array of flowers and rare medicinal plants amongst the tallest trees of the jungle. This is the works of a cigar-smoking treant that doesn’t take kindly to trespassers. Sometimes, he does need help to get a rare plant he wants to add to his domain or to eradicate something particularly bothersome.
Plateau of the Aarakocra
A rocky promontory that serves as a place of commerce for Aarakocra traders of the Mistcliffs and their partners. Huge quetzacoatlus are used to bring goods from afar.
Ubtao’s Tooth
Rogue, evil Aarakocra, have made their lair atop this lonely peak. They’re given to banditry. They have tongueless harpies as their wretched slaves.
Sacred Cenote
A very ancient site of worship, originally to some obscure amphibian deity. Glittering precious stones can be seen in the pristine water of the pool. Evil winds are always present as well as more tangible threats.
Tunnel Cave (Mistcliffs)
A several miles long cave makes the link from dense, batiri-infested jungles to the coast, through the mistcliffs mountains. There’s many divergent paths and a lot of dangerous critters along the way.
Jagged Summit (Mistcliffs)
The greatest aarakocra « nest » of the mistcliffs, the numerous sentinels patrolling the air don’t miss much. Only rare visitors are considered trustworthy enough to be allowed further.
Sunken Firefinger
One of several rock tower that served to guard the border of the now defunct mezroan empire. This one has sunken below ground, only the uppermost tip remains. The lower part is now in the middle of a cave system inhabited by strange creatures.
Seashore House
Along the eastern coast, this lonely house is inhabited by a friendly hermit. Friendly unless you’re a pirate, if so you better give a wide berth to his house.
Dinotopia’s fantastic locations
I think James Gurney’s Dinotopia is just crazy good. Invaluable inspiration for a Lost World rpg campaign!
Gloomhaven: Clockwork Cove, Oozing Grove,Vermling Nest, Payment Due
Four random side scenarios in a row. I’ll make it short & sweet as it’s been several weeks and I’m going on hazy memory now.
Oh, and:
The Rat is Back, Baby!
Scenario 66
Goal: Activate pressure plate e
Team: Brute (lvl 6), Elementalist (lvl 6), Mindthief (lvl 5) Soothsinger (lvl 6)
Set difficulty: 3
We’ve cleared the oozes without much sweat but the ancient artilleries in next room are another matter. The mindthief takes control of the Elite and make it move in the first room just as we release the pressure plate, trapping it behind the door! Nicely done!
Next, we had to manoeuver uncomfortably between stone golems, oozes and artilleries. Add to this living spirits, once we got to open two more rooms (with treasures!). The Elementalist stood ready to step on the last pressure plate as we’re finishing a last xp & gold grab.
Scenario 72
Goal: Destroy all trees
Team: Brute (lvl 6), Elementalist (lvl 6), Mindthief (lvl 5) Soothsinger (lvl 6)
Set difficulty: 3
Our first encounter with forest imps and aren’t they lil’ motherfuckers?! Ranged attacks that do curses? Annoying. Anyway, with the first few rounds that seemed like we weren’t doing anything useful, we managed to cut down the tree in the central area. I then split off to get to the tree to the right, as the Elementalist had mostly cleared the way for me, while the rest of the group went for the tree to the left.
Scenario 94
Goal: Kill all monsters
Team: Brute (lvl 6), Elementalist (lvl 6), Mindthief (lvl 5) Soothsinger (lvl 6)
Set difficulty: 3
Hey, we’ve unlocked a scenario with vermlings, at last!
Scenario 95
Goal: Kill the Prime Lieutnant
Team: Brute (lvl 6), Elementalist (lvl 7), Scoundrel (lvl 5) Soothsinger (lvl 7)
Set difficulty: 4
The completion of Vermling Nest unlocked Payment Due. We have to find tokens dissiminated in two areas, one with damaging difficult terrain, and the other full of obstacles and deep terrors. Meanwhile, flame and earth demons keep popping up in the hallway so, no fooling around…
Our new member, the fast-moving scoundrel, takes on her to get the 3 tokens in the acid-filled room.
Deep terrors are brutal monsters. They’ve got range, annoying effects, and have retaliate to boot. The large room is difficult to navigate: rocks, columns, puddles, traps… The Cragheart would have done marvels, ahhh… The nimble Soothsinger gets the 2 tokens in the back while I get the other, not without taking many hits. Damn those tentacles!
Once we got the tokens, we could open the hallway’s door and fight the Prime Lieutnant. This fight was a pushover, really. He wasn’t even a true Boss, c’mon! It’s not even deserving of a pic (my phone’s battery died just before the final fight, oops)!
Isaac’s adventures VI
We’ve defeated the third Evil Ninja Boss in an epic mecha fight. The ENB used a giant serpent-robot that threathened to crush us in its coils but we had the perfect counter, with our patented hedgehog defense!
The next ENB can be found in a hotel (I think Isaac has only a vague idea of what is an hotel ha! ha!) and has a peculiar « power », his left arm is mechanical and he can remove his thumb, which is in fact a mini-bomb, so that he can throw it and blast his enemies!
It’s a NUCLEAR THUMB!!!
But NukeThumb-Guy, after we’ve killed all his minions, doesn’t go nuclear on us but choose instead to parley.
How about One million dollars to let him live?
My son: « One million dollars and two diamonds. Two big diamonds! »
Not too bad for a day’s work, my corruptible son, not too bad…
Papua New Guinea arrows (for D&D)
Papuan traditionnal hunters use a variety of arrows, each specialized to hunt specific preys (birds, wild pigs, etc.). And then there are arrows for warfare, for humans…
Those are serrated, barbed, jagged, lined with porcupine quills, so that they do gruesome damage when they’re removed. And there’s more: orchid fiber is laced on the arrows, bits stay inside the wound leading to infection.
Papuans are badasses…
Jagged Arrows for D&D
- typically used with a short bow
- range 10′ less
- 1d4 damage
- 1 damage each round until removed (per arrow), unless victim is prone
- to remove: Wisdom (medicine) DC 13 (as an action)
- advantage on check with expanditure of 1 use of healer kit
- success: 1d4 damage and arrow is removed
- failure: 1d4 damage and arrow still stuck
- orchid fiber causes 1 level of exhaustion next dawn unless medicine check was succeeded by +5 or more (note that another try could be attempted IF someone has any idea what’s going on)
Session 15c – Zotzilaha’s Guardians
The PCs doing the HSoT in « reverse » (from top to bottom) meant, in my mind, that the final scene would be with Zotzilaha himself. Accordingly, I wanted the last few encounters before the finale to have a more otherworldly feel. Also, the PCs had the choice to fight Zotzilaha, or not…
Characters:
- Shin (level 5), Tabaxi Fighter (Arcane Archer), Outlander; big-game hunter, has no patience for weakness
Phileas (level 4), Half-Elf Bard (College of Swords), Archeologist; “it’s not tomb-robbing if you do it respectfully”- Kalohan (level 3>>4), High Elf Wizard (Evoker), Inheritor; noble Elf, ill-suited for adventuring life
- Flyzus (level 6), Wood Elf Ranger (hunter), Outlander; sole survivor of his tribe after an orc invasion
- Rufb (level 6), Half-Orc Barbarian (berserker), Mercenary Veteran; captured by pterafolks, his fellow mercenaries killed, seeks riches and glory
- Vorn, Shield Guardian, found masterless by the party, beside a gaping hole in the ground
I’m no botanist but I don’t think it’s a tree
In a water-filled basin stood a twisted, unnatural-looking tree. Phileas approached to read the bronze plaque at the base of the basin. This triggered a reaction from the « tree » as it threw a tendril-branch to grab the Half-Elf. Phileas cut the tendril with one deft move of his rapier and his companions jumped into action. Rufb, knee-deep into the turpid water, hacked at the tree-thing with his greataxe while the others kept their distance, trying to evade the numerous flailing tendrils. They vanquished the creature and found some valuables as they searched the basin (2).
Drowning Kiss
The PCs then went to the deepest level of the hidden shrine, finally ready to enter Zotzilaha’s acrid sanctuary. Turning right, in a flooded passage, they heard cries for help. In a vast cavern (3), with the nearest two-third also flooded, a woman was seemingly drowning. Without a thought, Phileas swam frantically to get to her, albeit his companions tried to dissuade him. Surely something was amiss! He reached for the distressed, strikingly beautiful woman and she thanked him with a kiss.
Phileas started suffocating, his lungs suddenly filled with acidic water. His dismayed companions went into the water but were assaulted by a giant electric eel while the woman, who was in fact a water-spirit nereid, laughed evilly (4).
The adventurers killed the eel, but they couldn’t save Phileas in time. The nereid proved an elusive foe and she almost got Flyzus too before she was slain. She dissolved into water, only her silky shawl remained.
The Lord Snail is a Pervert
After the nereid’s cave, the PCs got into another area where the ground was muddy and uneven. There were many bowls littering the place too but most unusual, in front of them stood a strange hunched old man with a large snail shell on his back. He welcomed the adventurers, first in olman and then in common language, and presented himself as Zotzilaha’s seneschal.
« The Great Zoztzilaha, after being neglected for so long, is in dire need of offerings! » he said, as several giant crabs popped out of the ground, approaching the adventurers with threathening pincers.
The PCs determined that crab meat would have to do as an offering and proceeded to massacre the crustaceans. In the heat of the battle, wand-waiving Kalohan sent a lightning bolt directly at the Lord Snail. This angered greatly the seneschal and he transformed into a Humongous Snail! The viscous creature spat a stream of acid at the levitating Elf Wizard, sending her crashing to the ground, nearly dead. A shadow arrow from Shin softened the beast as Rufb, Flyzus and Vorn got in melee to finish the job.
The snail’s body disappeared, leaving behind it’s shell. Inside was a few of the seneschal personnal items, amongst them a lot of erotic drawings of the aforementionned nereid…
Zotzilaha’s Offer
As the PCs placed (5) crab meat in the offering bowls, the surrounding acrid mist coalesced into a fearsome presence: Zotzilaha! (6) Its initial shape rapidly shrinked, reflecting the fact that it was worship-starved. Notwithstanding his somewhat vulnerable, weakened state, Zotzilaha was still frightful to behold. As he spoke, voicelessly, Zotzilaha explained that he had lost control over his subordinate spirits, three of whom the PCs had defeated in battle (the Cyclops, the Nereid and Lord Snail) and the fourth had left the Hidden Shrine not that long ago. If the adventurers would so endeavor to slay the treacherous Sting of Decay, Zotziloha would be grateful and reward them accordingly. As an act of good faith, they could have one artefact for now: the Axe of the Cyclops (7).
Surprised by this turn event, the PCs accepted the offer, at least for now…
DM’s notes:
- Phileas’ player was in rather reckless mood this session.
- And a wand of lighning bolt for my power-crazed sister…
- I’ve enlarged the original room a lot.
- A nereid, played with her strengths, can be a surprisingly tough encounter, I discovered.
- Nothing forced them to do so at that point ^^
- Zotzilaha makes no appearance in the original module, is barely mentionned in fact, I thought it strange.
- The berzerk axe, an ambivalent item, powerful but cursed, fittingly I think.
Streets & Spores 