Monday Night Static Group - Lite RP - Sarlona

[Rig_O_Mortis]

After a TOEE/Update 25-loading hiatus, 4/13 saw Bruggs, Jorotte, Nacolito, Twizzix, Xerxax, and Zanbaur take on Stealthy Repossession, Where There’s Smoke…, The Swiped Signet, The Sacred Helm, Redfang the Unruled, and Kobold Assault.

Lesto Half-Price (the DB) asked us to clean up his mess by stealing back his worthless gem, but he wanted us to kill fewer than six kobold prophets until we did so. Yeah, yeah...fine. Nacolito said he would take the aggro from the prophets if the rest of us gave some crowd control and gave our brilliant bard, Xerxax, time to do the deed. At least I think that's what he said since Nacolito tends to go off on Spanish tirades, and it's anybody's guess what he's saying. Xerxax came through--an amazing thief, that one (Don't think I didn't see you take the silver from the barrel I just broke!).

We plowed our way through the other quests without a hitch and finished off the night with Kobold Assault. Next week we quest at level 5.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

The Monday gang was all present for the Waterworks, the Catacombs, and Freshen the Air last night.

Bruggs, our leader, started the evening out saying there would be no more rules for us since TRing had been a game changer. He seemed to be in a hurry as well; he kept entering quests before anyone had a chance to get their bearings. Jorotte and Nacolito chided him for this, but he kept to his speedy ways. Sheesh-rogues!

Nacalito had his own personal quest for the evening: sartorial splendor. He asked that we look out for belts and necklaces that would complete his ensemble; however, he nixed most of our offerings. He could take lessons from Jorotte, who was totally rocking her barbarian look and was quite fetching…in that Half-Orc sort of way.

Speaking of Jorotte, she ran into a spot of trouble during our run through the Troglodyte’s Clutch. She valiantly took off into the main room breaking boxes and trog bodies in equal measure. Unfortunately our cleric didn’t follow her out, and she ran into one trog too many. *Ding* She had done such a good job clearing out the trash that the rest of us could safely enter the room, grab her stone, and head upstairs. We finished the quest without further incident and with 20 minutes to spare.

Sparing nothing, Zanbaur was on fire with his spellcasting last night—more accurately, the bad guys were the ones lit up. So many flaming kobold, troglodyte and skeleton heads!

No leveling up this week, as we’re holding off until we complete a few more quests.

[Postumus]

Speaking of Jorotte, she ran into a spot of trouble during our run through the Troglodyte’s Clutch. She valiantly took off into the main room breaking boxes and trog bodies in equal measure. Unfortunately our cleric didn’t follow her out, and she ran into one trog too many.

Charging into a room full of Trog casters and Kobold throwers with an axe when everyone else agreed to hang out in the tunnel entry and soften them up with our ranged weapons? I'm not sure "valiantly" is the right adverb.


Next time we should get Mr. McSingsalot to follow Jorotte into the jaws of death as her own personal healer. Nacolito is much to wise to for that nonsense, but the bard is just a walking guitar with good hair.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

I'm not sure "valiantly" is the right adverb.

Mmm, perhaps a bit too much spin on that one. How about using valiant in a different way?...The bard has great Prince-Valiant hair.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

NAME	CLASS	RACE	LEVEL
Bruggs	Rogue	Halfling	6
Jorotte	Barbarian	Half-Orc	6
Nacolito	Cleric	Human	6
Twizzix	Paladin	Human	6
Xerxax	Bard/Fighter/Rogue	Drow	3/2/1
Xerxax' Hair	In a class by itself	keratinis aelf drowicus	Epic
Zanbaur	Wizard	WF	6

A full group explored STK, Proof is in the Poison, and Irestone Inlet last Monday. No deaths, zero, nada. Highlights of the evening: Nacolito telling Jorotte to get her big butt out of his face, as he was closely following her up a ladder; Jorotte claiming that Naclito had stinky feet; Xerxax mentioning he uses an air-elemental fan to blow on his hair when he's sitting around between quests because the movement makes his hair look so good; Jorotte imitating Yaaryar-"I will kill you, kill you all!"



We are now level 6.

Next week: Tangleroot (déja' vu ad nauseam)

[Postumus]

NAME	CLASS	RACE	LEVEL
Xerxax' Hair	In a class by itself	keratinis aelf drowicus	Epic

A full group explored STK, Proof is in the Poison, and Irestone Inlet last Monday. No deaths, zero, nada. Highlights of the evening: Nacolito telling Jorotte to get her big butt out of his face, as he was closely following her up a ladder; Jorotte claiming that Naclito had stinky feet; Xerxax mentioning he uses an air-elemental fan to blow on his hair when he's sitting around between quests because the movement makes his hair look so good; Jorotte imitating Yaaryar-"I will kill you, kill you all!"

Awesome.

Next week: Tangleroot (déja' vu ad nauseam)

... aaaaand that's why we didn't run Tangleroot last night in the ranged group. There are only so many times I can run that stuff in the same week without feeling like I'm Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

Everyone in the Monday-night crew was on hand. We ran the following on elite: Splinterskull, Splinterskull, Splinterskull, etc., A Small Problem, and Partycrashers.

Mumble, mumble, mumble…mutiny, mutiny, mutiny was pretty much how we all responded to Bruggs telling us we were off to Tangleroot. If a little goes a long way, Splinterskull is what happens when a lot goes on interminably. Twizzix decided she was in a HURRY to get it over with—zerg-o-plenty—get me out of Splinterskull. She had opened the first chest in the wilderness area before Xerxax had even gotten out of the One-Eared Bugbear Inn (no doubt making sure his hair was quest-ready). He uttered something reminiscent of a kobold curse, “Xerxax never forgive you, never forget!” but Twizz was long gone by then.

Splinterskull was a straightforward kill ‘n go. The only issue was that Twizzix, in her gotta-get-moving frenzy, opened a chest after Nacolito lost connection; she was subsequently barred from opening treasure.

On to House Phiarlan. We spoke to Glitter Underhill and met up with Brawnpits. After some cajoling, he decided to go all Kardashian; he has a reality show coming out soon-watch for it.

Next, we discussed quest terms with Cyan. She asked us to crash a big to-do going on in the Chapterhouse to foil the dastardly Maleficent Cabal. All that running and jumping we did for Brawnpits made us hungry and thirsty, so a party sounded great to us. It did not go exactly as planned, however. The spike traps in the Illusionarium hallway made a point of hurting all of us. Jorotte cursed them, and Zanbaur poked fun at them-all to no avail. Finally, Bruggs said, “Here’s a tip: find the right mark and destroy it.”

Nacolito responded with, “That’s a sharp observation; let’s get to it!”

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Hang on, Bruggs—nail it! …ding.

Round two of Partycrashers went significantly better, and we finished off the Cabal along with our evening of questing.

Favorite memory: Jorotte and Vomit, Zanbaur’s mimic pet, in a barf-off. (Jorotte won.)

Next week: Finish the Carnival chain.

[Postumus]

Got Undead?

Looks like those two cleric past lives actually came in handy.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

On May 11th, Bruggs, Jorotte, Nacolito, Twizzix, Xerxax and Zanbaur ran the following quests on elite: The Snitch, Under the Big Top, and the whole Delera chain. (Hear that whispering? It’s the voice of the master.)
The last two quests in the Phiarlan Carnival chain went smoothly-no muss, no fuss.

Next, we decided to help Delera Omaron get her mojo back, so she could finally rest in peace. Off we went to the graveyard.

Got Undead?

Looks like those two cleric past lives actually came in handy.

During a quick glance at our Experience Report while running The Missing Party, Twizz noted the following high scorers: Jorotte, 23; Zanbaur, 23; Nacolito, 68. Whaaat? It was accurate. Nacolito turned (and turned, and turned) the undead and had them lighting up like fireflies. At first, Twizzix thought she was a badass Paladin with her Turn Undead spell. She could light up a circular area with a radius of about her height; sometimes she had a pile of bones left, but most of the time the skeletons just went, “Ooo, scared,” and kept shooting or slashing. Nacolito, on the other hand, could clear a room with an almost imperceptible flick of his wrist. His kill count mounted. He has powerful charisma; jeez, even his pet bat, Guanito, leaves a trail of sparkles. (The bat leaves other stuff behind, too, and was originally credited with helping Nacolito’s score rise because there is nothing “ito” about its toxic waste.)

The only problem we had occurred during the Thrall of the Necromancer. As we headed down a corridor, five of us went right; Xerxax went straight ahead and got a face full of poison-ding! We got him to a shrine, and finished the chain.

Next week: Sorrowdusk—Yo, Bruku!

[Rig_O_Mortis]

Yesterday, the entire Monday-night group spent quality time together on Sorrowdusk Isle. Nine out of ten quests for the story arc were run; all were completed on elite. The group is now level 8.

Unfortunately, three party members died, each in a different quest: Twizzix and Jorotte both ran off to fight on their own-ding and ding. Carrying those giant swords seems to make them think they are invulnerable—size doesn’t matter, right? Xerxax was working his rogue skills—he has the highest “Find” in our group—but what he found did him in. Ding.

In the “Who Knew” department: Jorotte can sound just like a guy! She can imitate virtually all sounds in the game--any character, DM, or ambient noise. Last night she did Slim Pickens (“Well, boys, we got three engines out, we got more holes in us than a horse trader’s mule, the radio is gone, and we’re leaking fuel, and if we was flying any lower, why, we’d need sleigh bells on this thing…”) and Gunsmoke’s Festus. The Half-Orc’s talents are limitless…except for, maybe, staying alive.

Wiseguy, Nacolito, tried to get away with an old trick: “Hey, Jorotte, my hands are busy. Could you reach into my pocket and get the key out, so we can free these ogres? Jorotte just rolled her eyes and ignored him. Nacolito then made some comment about not needing her “meaty paws” anyway. When he still hadn’t produced the key, Twizzix said her hands were smaller if he still needed help, but he replied that he didn’t like the feel of cold steel. No matter, Twizz would have crushed his little…key anyway. Finally, he brought the key out, so the quest could proceed.

Cool DM voice over for the evening: https://youtu.be/vRU20v-L_oU

Pop quiz! What is a “miasma”?
A) The feeling you get when you go someplace holy…only the opposite
B) What you get when you pull Jorotte’s finger
C) An oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere that surrounds or emanates from something
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Next week: Church of the Fury (the final Sorrowdusk quest in the chain) and Chronoscope

[Postumus]

Pop quiz! What is a “miasma”?
A) The feeling you get when you go someplace holy…only the opposite
B) What you get when you pull Jorotte’s finger
C) An oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere that surrounds or emanates from something
D) All of the above
E) None of the above
F) DONUTS

I choose D but F is always a viable choice.

[Nesis]

Pop quiz! What is a “miasma”?
A) The feeling you get when you go someplace holy…only the opposite
B) What you get when you pull Jorotte’s finger
C) An oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere that surrounds or emanates from something
D) All of the above
E) None of the above


If I didn't just run into a need to use this word in my final essay for college writing I would answer. So I will plead the fifth, but to give a hint my final essay was about the impending Zombie Apocalypse.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

Well, I suppose your answer depends on whether you were describing the ZA or proposing its erradication although both B and F work for either. If you were writing about the latter, you might consider including something that uses fission.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

While out for his morning jog through the Marketplace, Bruggs ran into the father of a mate of his from his university days—Nolan Gann. He asked the gentleman about his son, Nat, only to hear a tale of woe. Bruggs was spurred to take action. Nat, a former pole dancer* (Not even kidding: http://ddowiki.com/page/Nat_Gann), was missing; his sister, Nelle was searching for him. Nolan asked Bruggs to help protect her, so he enlisted the Monday-night group’s help and posted an urgent message for any other Drawn by Fate adventurers to join the fight. The barbarian Risarr and the sorcerer Tuttlle answered the call. Except for Bruggs, the entire group thought the Gann family was nothing but a bunch of weirdos, but the thrill of questing soon overtook their initial reticence. Bruggs had always harbored feelings for Nelle and was hoping to get something going after the whole Chronoscope affair.

The group of eight met Nelle in her excavation camp and went on from there. It was good to have Risarr and Tuttlle along; Bazdor, Blood Plate, Razor Arm, and Tremas’ Abishai henchmen were dispatched with little trouble. In the end, the group met up again with Nelle. She said they would have the Gann family’s gratitude for all time. Bruggs asked for some private gratitude, and Nacolito suggested Nelle take over Nat’s pole dancing gig, but she turned them both down.

Risarr and Tuttlle left the party to go adventuring elsewhere, and the rest of the group headed out to Sorrowdusk and the Church of the Fury to complete their commitment to Lord Hragg. The biggest problem there was that after gathering some xp at an Explorer point, Twizzix turned left when everyone else had gone right and got properly lost. Bruggs doubled back to get her, and the crew carried on.

Completing Gwylan’s Stand rounded out the evening.

All adventures were run on elite, and the group experienced no deaths although Bruggs threatened Twizzix with it if she kept dawdling and getting lost.

Next week: anyone’s guess

*Pole Dancing DDO-Style

[Postumus]

Awesome recap.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

I see dead people.

"To the TOEE on elite" said Bruggs. "Yeah," we said, "to the TOEE!" Our excitement was running high; the Monday Marauders, Miscreants, or Fill in Something Alliterative had NEVER been to Temple of Elemental Evil though we had all heard the tavern tales and seen the booty...and the broken bodies of returned adventurers.

Part One went well enough through the demise of Falrinth. One or two deaths here or there, nothing egregious. Then we hit Part Two, and look out...

Zanbaur had done the most research on the second section, so he navigated the way, and our crew ended up in the Air Node. The assault we thought we would unleash quickly turned into a cluster... as waves of mephits, djinns, will-o-wisps, and air elementals pounded us from all angles. Nacolito healed, healed, and healed some more. He raised dead. He cursed a lot, too. Twizzix backed him up as best she could with Lay on Hands, wands, and potions while the others popped potions left and right. Twizz noted the party had suffered 11 deaths at one point, but there were many more to follow. Ding, #*%!; ding, #*%!; ding, #*%! Over and over.

By the time we reached Zuggtmoy, the monarch of morels, our group was drained of energy and resources. We tried. We tried some more. One by one, all six of us eventually succumbed to the fungal forces. Ding, ding, ding, ding,ding, and ding.

All in all though, a "bad" time adventuring with your buds in the evening still beats a good day in a Stormreach office, so our group will rest up, refuel, and redo Part Two next week.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

Without hesitation, we trouped off to TOEE to finish what we started in Part Two last week. Seven minutes—SEVEN-- after beginning, it was the end for both Twizzix and Bruggs. Little Miss Goodie Two Boots was yanked out of the dungeon by the Soverign Host for some unknown transgression. Twizz was dropped into a dark room where she had to stay for the remainder of the evening to “meditate on the remediation of her indiscretions. “ She had wanted to meditate on serving the Princess of Porcinis’ head on a platter. She hasn’t fessed up to anything yet, but the group thinks it might have something to do with the monk she's been hanging out with lately.

Bruggs disappeared at exactly the same moment; however, it is the group's belief that the Sharn Syndicate had something to do with his going missing. He’s been known to have a drink or three with Burgundy Tir after adventuring, and Master Tir is never up to any good what with his connection to Sel Shadra, the shifty Coin Lord, and all. Come to think of it, Bruggs is never up to any good either.

If another party member would please post the adventures completed last night, Twizzix and Bruggs will catch up by next week.

[Postumus]

If another party member would please post the adventures completed last night, Twizzix and Bruggs will catch up by next week.

We continued clearing the lower temple, entered the realm of fire, and got fried, fricasseed, flamed, bar-b-qued, burned, singed, and sauteed on our way to the lair of the Demonshroom Zuggy.


Before we entered her lair, Zergxax the Flammable decided to recall leaving Nacolito, Zanbauer, and Jorrotte to die horribly from poison spore infestation. That took the entire 2 hours.


At the end of the evening our kill count was over 800. Zergxax - 230+, Zanbauer - 250+, Jorotte 230+, Nacolito - 90+, Bruggs - 55, Twizz - 13. We also had 25 deaths with Jorotte leading the count at 10.We need a better strategy, or, in fact, ANY strategy to defeat Zuggmatoy.

[Rig_O_Mortis]

Whooo, sounds like a good time was had by one and all. Crispy critters--niiice!

I figured you had all gotten your mushroom caps last night, so I went back to Zuggtmoy this morning to try my luck...on normal. My boy, Samuel, and I traveled to her via the Fire Node. Three Siberys cakes later, I had her. She sends out concentric waves of light (?) on the ground before she zaps you with her AOE, so you need to get to a sheltering mushroom pronto when you see those things. Those mushrooms spawn when the waves start. She also sends trash mobs you need to fight off. I believe she either takes no damage or lighter damage when you're fighting her minions. It's possible to kill the toxic mushrooms, too. In the end, I didn't get any unique loot, nor did I get a mushroom cap, but I learned more about her. On normal anyway.

The electricity came back on @ 9:04--go figure.

[Postumus]

Whooo, sounds like a good time was had by one and all. Crispy critters--niiice!

I figured you had all gotten your mushroom caps last night, so I went back to Zuggtmoy this morning to try my luck...on normal. My boy, Samuel, and I traveled to her via the Fire Node. Three Siberys cakes later, I had her. She sends out concentric waves of light (?) on the ground before she zaps you with her AOE, so you need to get to a sheltering mushroom pronto when you see those things. Those mushrooms spawn when the waves start. She also sends trash mobs you need to fight off. I believe she either takes no damage or lighter damage when you're fighting her minions. It's possible to kill the toxic mushrooms, too. In the end, I didn't get any unique loot, nor did I get a mushroom cap, but I learned more about her. On normal anyway.

The electricity came back on @ 9:04--go figure.

It wouldn't break my heart to run part 2 on hard instead of elite.