Unafraid of the High Level Game

Well, this week we got in another session of the Night Below, and the second game of the assault on The City of The Glass Pool. The final stretch of the campaign.

I was sort of fearing this part of the campaign for a couple of reasons. One, I don’t have all that much experience with levels above 7th, even after all these decades. I’m not saying characters haven’t hit 8th, 9th, or even higher in past games. It’s just that my preference is to run for low to mid levels (1-7), probably because a campaign would end and I would be interested in new groups of PC’s. Secondly, I just thought that an assault on a city would be a logistic nightmare of the type I haven’t run for many a moon. Sure, I’ve had characters involved in wars and great battlefields, but an urban location being attacked by players is rare in my games.

One thing I do like about high levels is that things get more like comic book battles, which is what I was brought up on. And the last couple of games have been no exception. The COTGP is somewhat in lockdown mode, which means the streets are not exactly crawling with enemies. There are some large patrols, but in the first foray into the city the party used the 100 hydra teeth to create a small army of skeletons to run interference with patrols, and also Krysantha had whipped up an insect plague to mess with part of the city while they attacked the Illithid building and then in this game the slave pens before hoofing it out of the city and back to base for a rest (with some help from allies blowing up part of the city gate for easier exit). They got out and back to the safe place with around 100 slaves, many of them dwarves with skills that might come in handy. This was all much more fun than I thought it would be for me. It really is just like running a dungeon, just with much bigger corridors!

Back at the “Derro Town” captured mind flayer tower, the party found out that a band of drow, Avatara and her crew from games early this year, had taken over the tavern in the deserted under-town. Their goal is to eventually make their way to the site of the old drow city on the Sunless Sea. This is why they are rooting for the party to destroy the COTGP. Just one of many evil groups the party is forced to deal with.

As we are on the last couple of games of the campaign, here is a list of all the PC’s and NPC’s who are the “heavy hitters” of the campaign. For posterities sake if nothing else.

Vaidno (Andy): 8th level chaotic/good half elf bard from the big city up north. Not a btb bard, but my own more musically inclined bard class (based off the old houri class from White Dwarf magazine). Vaidno has survived many near death encounters, leading me to call him “Survivno.” Acrobatic, skillful with blades, Vaidno faces the nightmares of the Night Below setting with great bravery and is more like a fighter in mentality. Often gets short-shrifted on magic items. Recently gained both a tower and an 18 charisma from the Deck of Many Things.

Krysantha (Dan): 8ish level fighter/druid. Female drow raised by druids. Formerly lawful neutral, decided recently she was plain neutral. I think she is chaotic, but I’m tired of arguing with players about their alignment. Remorseless murderer of NPC’s, and big time grudge-holder. Along with Vaidno takes the most vocal leadership role in the group.

Helena (Terry): chaotic/neutral with good tend. 8ish level fighter/thief. Does not live a thiefly livestyle, is actually a kleptomaniac. Was raised in a house with several fighter brothers who taught her sword and shield. Has a knack for talking the other players out of magic items without even having to steal them. Like many of Terry’s characters, is obsessed with marriage. Got wishes from the Deck of Many Things, and used most of them for fairly petty gains.

Kayla (Terry): 8th level hobbit cleric of Sheenara and Sherriff of the southern hobbit border. A character of Terry’s since the early 90’s, I let her join the party pretty much just because she was in the area (and they did not have a cleric). A player kind of complained about Terry running two characters, which has some merit because Terry often takes a long time to take a turn for a character. As the other players did not defend her presence, I had her go back to her castle, where her new band of followers awaited her anyway. A high level cleric would be a big boon to survival right now, but since the players have not requester her they can lump it. If Terry’s Helena dies in the next couple games, I’ll have Kayla appear.

Lumarin (Big Ben): 8th level high elf lawful good MU. The main party magic user. Lost several points of intelligence from a Deck of Many Things draw. Originally joined the party early on in The Night Below campaign when the party saved him from being eaten by Gnolls.

Lily (Paul): chaotic/neutral (later evil) 7ish level thief/MU. Greedy harlot who was saved from Gnolls along with Lumarin. Got in many confrontations with Krysantha over stealing items from treasure troves. Eventually betrayed the party to her boyfriend Xavier. Ran off with Xavier and his gang after the fight. Officially out of the party, but still active in the campaign in case the characters want to find her and kill her. They kind of have bigger fish to fry right now.

Zith (Paul): I had sort of planned to have some Githyanki (extra dimensional anti-mind flayer warriors) show up at some point in this campaign. I didn’t, but when Paul could not run Lily anymore I just gave him an 8th level fighter Githyanki to run in the party. Paul seems to dig that character, but ultimately this is just a player running an NPC. If anybody dies in the next game or two, they can run a Githyanki as well.

Ormac (Little Ben): 6ish level gnome illusionist. Ben played for a while the other year, but had to drop out for work. He returned a couple months ago and so did Ormac. Ben misses a lot of games in general, so Ormac is kind of a “there not there” side player in the whole thing.

Major NPC’s

Dia: teenage ranger and (unknown to her until recently) daughter of Woodlord Arcturus Grimm. She pretty much got the party together over two years ago to go explore a dungeon. They got sidetracked by The Night Below. She is from the same town as Helena, and they knew each other growing up. She eventually took possession of the anti-Kuo Toa sword Finslayer.

Arcturus Grimm: One time Woodking of the ranger kingdom of Woodaria in the far north. A controversial figure, he is also known for having been possessed by evil decades ago when he caused great suffering in the land. He now lives in the southern frontier area in a garden temple dedicated to his sister Sheenara, goddess of the wood. Arcturus was my very first character as a little kid, and I kept him in my game world to use over the decades ( one of the few “super NPC’s” I indulge in). Arcturus has apparently spent the last few decades siring children all over the land with different women.

Clovis Grimm: underdark ranger in the Night Below, and son of Arcturus Grimm. Unlike Dia he is in frequent contact with his father, and has helped guide the party in some of their travels below. Currently protecting the freed slaves the party has saved.

Avatara: a fighter/MU/thief drow NPC and drow city expat I have used for decades in my games, going by a variety of names. She is best known for living in Tanmoor and acting as guild mage for the elvish thieves’ guild there. In the current campaign she is on some kind of mission with other, younger drow to find the lost city of drow on the Sunless Sea. After an encounter with Krysantha and Vaidno awhile back, Krys has sworn to kill her, but she is an asset currently (Avatara wants the party to destroy the City of the Glass Pool so she can travel down to the Sunless Sea). This NPC is personally responsible for killing one of Terry’s characters back in the 90’s. At one point in the late 90’s I successfully had her seduce a female wood elf PC.

A Sword Named "Finslayer"

Finslayer, the most iconic magic item to be found within the Night Below setting for AD&D 2nd edition, is about to be found by the party in my current 1st edition AD&D run of NB. Located (as indicated in book 2 of the 3 book set) in the treasure trove of a Rakshasa and hook horrors, it is looking to be taken into the possession of a neutral good Ranger.

Finslayer was created a few hundred years ago by an unnamed wizard, for a ranger named “Pajarifan.” Pajarifan had different racial enemies than the typical ranger. Instead of goblins and giants, Pajarifan hated Koa Toa and Drow. Finslayer was made to complement the hatreds of Pajarafan, who, as the greatest hero of the southern settlements, quested into the southern Underdark to defeat his enemies. Finally defeating the drow, Pajarifan unwittingly opened the door for the Aboleth to one day rule this part of the underworld. In the module, Pajarifan’s final fate was unrevealed, but it may be safe to assume he took the fight to the Aboleth eventually, and met his doom somewhere around The Sunless Sea.

Here are Finslayer’s powers and abilities:

-Finslayer is a long sword, +3, +4 vs. aboleth and drow, +5 vs kuo-toa.
-It is of NG alignment, very intelligent and has an ego to match.
-It converses with you via telepathy. It speaks in common with the others. It also speaks Undercommon, Drow, Aboleth, and Kuo-toa.
-At will (or by your request) it can:
o detect invisible objects within 10'
o detect secret doors within 5'
o detect magic within 10'
-It can cast "Strength" on you once per day, but the duration is a full 18 hours. If Finslayer strikes a kuo-toa it will confuse it for 2d6 rounds (they get a ST)
• Finslayer will not stick to kuo-toan armor.
• While holding Finslayer you are immune to kuo-toan Symbols of Insanity.
• Finslayer has extensive knowledge of kuo-toa, drow, and aboleth.
Finslayer will come in very handy at the climax of book 2, “The City of the Glass Pool,” where a Kuo Toa army is one of the obstacles to be faced.

Now, I made a couple of changes to the history of Finslayer. For one thing, I decided for some reason I wanted Pajarifan to be a female, so I added an “e” to the end of the name and made it “Pajarifane.” Nice, eh?

So at the game tomorrow night the party is about to dig in to the treasure trove, and Finslayer will be found. As it turns out (quite by accident, I created her long before deciding to do Night Below), the NPC in the party is a teenager ranger girl from the same area as Pajarifane, named “Dia.” The party had already discovered that she is special. A dozen games ago or so they found out she was the secret daughter of Arcturus Grimm, the most famous ranger in history and occasional benefactor to the characters. So Dia comes along being exactly what Finslayer is looking for – a neutral good ranger. So the weapon will most likely go to the NPC. That is probably going to work out pretty good, because it leaves me free to do what I like with Finslayer without basically controlling a player character.

So we will see how it goes tomorrow night. It is especially going to be a fun night, because it is all around the biggest and best treasure find I am bestowing upon the players in a year and a half of these characters adventures. I’ll hopefully get to kick back most of the night while the players argue out who gets what in all the great stuff, that in addition to Finslayer will include a druidic Scimitar +2, +4 when used outdoors in full sunlight, an elvish +2, +4 vs. goblin types long bow, +2 mace, wand of lightening bolts, and a few other goodies (note: I have heavily modified the treasure trove from what the book indicates).