Re: LSO OOC Thread II
Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:42 pm
Here are my notes for the last session.
The title of this session, "Dark Side of the Mond" is a play on words of "Dark Side of the Moon." Mond is actually the German word for Moon and Deimos is one of the moons of Mars. The moon is often associated with chaos, so it all fit with what the League was doing.
Something I've noticed is that when the party is around NPCs of authority, they always defer to them. This is such unusual behavior for PCs, I never seem to expect it. Both with Sierra, back in the first arc, and just recently with Saren. It's strange that a party of such Chaotic characters would crave strong leadership so much.
The wounded elf they found was never asked for a name. He wondered aloud why the slaad that attacked him left him alive. Well, now we know. He had an egg-pellet implanted into his chest. The party lost track of him, so there's a chance he won't receive treatment and will 'give birth' to another slaad at a later date. Ew.
Another thing I thought was interesting was that the party members seemed fairly certain, at least at first, that the actions of the citizens in Mond were due to some kind of enchantment. If you remember back on the tribal island, there was a similar vein of thought--that the tribals were being controlled somehow through magic. At first I wondered if the party was just incredibly naive ("surely people don't kill each other over religion and politics!") but after some thought I wonder if perhaps the fantastical setting of a D&D game has kind of affected the thinking of many players. The idea that neighbors were killing each other over a political or religious disagreement just seemed too mundane a possibility in a world with demons, magic and mind-control?
I'm surprised Val is now trying to sell her trade goods. Vaneil is a very lawful, stable island with a strong law enforcement--i.e., a place that doesn't really need weapons and armor. Mond, however, is very chaotic and war-torn, as we saw. Tialis mentioned several times that the League would pay handsomely for weapons and armor, and Val never even reacted to it. Perhaps she decided that the side with the most cash wasn't the morally right one after all?
As we later learned, the frog-like creatures the party fought were Slaadi. This is the first time the party has fought extraplanar beings. They come from Limbo, which is the Chaotic Neutral afterlife. The League is CN themselves, which is why they would summon them.
The two mages, Kilmanjaro and Kadol, were old characters from an old game, although only Horizon would have recognized them. They are both quite mad and very powerful (10th level), so they seemed like good leaders for the League. The party was wise not to engage them. Although it's possible they could have defeated the mages, there likely would have been some PC deaths involved in the process.
The battle with the zombies wasn't supposed to be hard. As a level 5 cleric, Jocelyn can turn them without even rolling--it's automatic. So I was surprised when she never bothered and instead cast Protection from Evil on herself (Zombies are TN, so...). Seems like Turn Undead would have been ridiculously useful there.
I had originally intended to continue roleplaying Areilon until the end of the arc (although I admit, I never wanted to). But after she and Andar were wounded, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to write them out of the game. Especially with Gallath joining the group to replace her.
However, Andar was still carrying Jocelyn's bedroll and Val's two waterskins and her battle axe. I mentioned this numerous times in game, but nobody retrieved them, so they're gone for good.
The quest for the cannon of light was a call-back to the ending of the first arc. Never one to leave a plot thread hanging, I reintroduced the Eonian artifact here as an excuse for another big quest before the party faces the pirates. It should be a great opportunity for lots of XP, treasure and magical items.
In Gallath's Vignette, I actually had a whole plotline involving Naishe. Investigating her for possibly being in the League was meant to employ many of the skills Gallath has, including pickpocketing, lockpicking, eavesdropping, hiding and sneaking. Once he had the proof, he would have a choice; he could turn Naishe in, or let her go, or try and convince her to leave the League or maybe even join him as a henchman. But, Spyguy didn't seem interested in it. He kept posting he was 'passing the time' over and over again, so I took the hint and skipped over to the big battle at the end instead. Well, perhaps she'll turn up again later in the game.
Anyway, I'll get the next chapter up soon. What did you all think? Any feedback, questions, comments, so forth?
The title of this session, "Dark Side of the Mond" is a play on words of "Dark Side of the Moon." Mond is actually the German word for Moon and Deimos is one of the moons of Mars. The moon is often associated with chaos, so it all fit with what the League was doing.
Something I've noticed is that when the party is around NPCs of authority, they always defer to them. This is such unusual behavior for PCs, I never seem to expect it. Both with Sierra, back in the first arc, and just recently with Saren. It's strange that a party of such Chaotic characters would crave strong leadership so much.
The wounded elf they found was never asked for a name. He wondered aloud why the slaad that attacked him left him alive. Well, now we know. He had an egg-pellet implanted into his chest. The party lost track of him, so there's a chance he won't receive treatment and will 'give birth' to another slaad at a later date. Ew.
Another thing I thought was interesting was that the party members seemed fairly certain, at least at first, that the actions of the citizens in Mond were due to some kind of enchantment. If you remember back on the tribal island, there was a similar vein of thought--that the tribals were being controlled somehow through magic. At first I wondered if the party was just incredibly naive ("surely people don't kill each other over religion and politics!") but after some thought I wonder if perhaps the fantastical setting of a D&D game has kind of affected the thinking of many players. The idea that neighbors were killing each other over a political or religious disagreement just seemed too mundane a possibility in a world with demons, magic and mind-control?
I'm surprised Val is now trying to sell her trade goods. Vaneil is a very lawful, stable island with a strong law enforcement--i.e., a place that doesn't really need weapons and armor. Mond, however, is very chaotic and war-torn, as we saw. Tialis mentioned several times that the League would pay handsomely for weapons and armor, and Val never even reacted to it. Perhaps she decided that the side with the most cash wasn't the morally right one after all?
As we later learned, the frog-like creatures the party fought were Slaadi. This is the first time the party has fought extraplanar beings. They come from Limbo, which is the Chaotic Neutral afterlife. The League is CN themselves, which is why they would summon them.
The two mages, Kilmanjaro and Kadol, were old characters from an old game, although only Horizon would have recognized them. They are both quite mad and very powerful (10th level), so they seemed like good leaders for the League. The party was wise not to engage them. Although it's possible they could have defeated the mages, there likely would have been some PC deaths involved in the process.
The battle with the zombies wasn't supposed to be hard. As a level 5 cleric, Jocelyn can turn them without even rolling--it's automatic. So I was surprised when she never bothered and instead cast Protection from Evil on herself (Zombies are TN, so...). Seems like Turn Undead would have been ridiculously useful there.
I had originally intended to continue roleplaying Areilon until the end of the arc (although I admit, I never wanted to). But after she and Andar were wounded, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to write them out of the game. Especially with Gallath joining the group to replace her.
However, Andar was still carrying Jocelyn's bedroll and Val's two waterskins and her battle axe. I mentioned this numerous times in game, but nobody retrieved them, so they're gone for good.
The quest for the cannon of light was a call-back to the ending of the first arc. Never one to leave a plot thread hanging, I reintroduced the Eonian artifact here as an excuse for another big quest before the party faces the pirates. It should be a great opportunity for lots of XP, treasure and magical items.
In Gallath's Vignette, I actually had a whole plotline involving Naishe. Investigating her for possibly being in the League was meant to employ many of the skills Gallath has, including pickpocketing, lockpicking, eavesdropping, hiding and sneaking. Once he had the proof, he would have a choice; he could turn Naishe in, or let her go, or try and convince her to leave the League or maybe even join him as a henchman. But, Spyguy didn't seem interested in it. He kept posting he was 'passing the time' over and over again, so I took the hint and skipped over to the big battle at the end instead. Well, perhaps she'll turn up again later in the game.
Anyway, I'll get the next chapter up soon. What did you all think? Any feedback, questions, comments, so forth?
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