Well session one is in the books, and Nindo definitively pulled his weight.
Session 1:
Party Present: Me (Illusionist 4), Pixie (no class levels yet), Pirate (Swordsage/Fighter/Swashbuckler 2WF'r), Vampire (Rogue 2)
Game starts out in pseudo-narrative mode, where we are just being Stone to Flesh'd. Backstory is apparently all of the party was captured by some sort of fantasy ghostbusters types that turn evildoers to stone and put them all in a museum together. The town that this prison is in was attacked by a group calling themselves the Dark Legion, and all of the statuesque criminals and villains (all the PCs, plus many more) were turned back upon the takeover of this town. The Dark Legion offered us all of our equipment back that we had before capture, as well as a source of revenue if we join their cause. Everyone individually agreed, and we were given our things back, and a mission: capture the celestial mayor's daughter from a little town a day away and bring her to a specific place of sacrifice, to summon a powerful demon. Neat. Simple enough, from what we gathered this town was barely that, a few hundred people. We got ourselves a riding-dog-pulled cart (apparently the legion was out of horses to lend) and promptly loaded it up with the Vampire Rogue PC's coffin. We set off into the darkness toward the town of Qwizzl. Nearing dawn, we entered into the very dark, "Forbidden Forest." Not a very impressive forest though. Our lone attack was from 3 Dire Badgers, which failed horribly at doing anything. One was horribly smashed by the Pirate in round 1, another failed its will save from the Pixie's sleep arrow. I just Mage Armor'd round one, Blinding Ray on the next so the Vampire and Pirate could finish it easily.
Moving on, on the far edge of the forest we came upon an old gnome lady living in a rock-shaped hut. After it was revealed she knew little of Qwizzl, the pirate became angry and killed her. And then thrashed and burned her hut. Yeah, were evil, and leaning chaotic as a whole.
Vampire and I decided to stay with the cart and dogs on the edge of the forest for the day, while the other two scouted out the town. While they were gone, some local militia came to investigate the old lady's burning hut. Our plan had succeeded! A small portion of the towns guards would come to investigate, and we could dispose of them now to make our job easier later! We hid within the forest, and waited for them to approach. Surprise round Glitterdust ended the fight before it even really began. Vampire rushed towards them, I used Ventriloquism to say "Drop your weapons and no one gets hurt!" in a booming overhead voice, and DM ruled I had to make an Intimidate check vs their sense motive to disarm them. They failed, dropped thier weapons (blinded still) and the Vampire moved in, sneak attack energy drain slamming them one by one. 4 guards down, the rest of the town to go.
Pixie and Pirate returned, having located the mayor's house and a general layout of the town. We concocted a plan to make use of our respective abilities and kidnap the sacrifice flawlessly.
Nightfall.
All of the shops are closed up and locked. About 1/3 of the town guard is now sloshed from drinking at the pub. They are grouped mostly around the mayor's house (they are based out of there). The Pirate is hidden near the general store (its owner proudly proclaimed they sold BOTH types of corn!) I am hidden by pub, within viewing distance of general store. Pixie and Vampire wait nearby the mayor's mansion. Our plan goes into action! Simultaneously, the Pirate sets the general store afire, and I Major Image a screaming, 80 ft^3 firebreathing dragon next to the general store, seemingly setting the fire. Pixie invisibly flies to the balcony of mayors chambers, vampire mists his way up as well. This is where we later realized, everyone forgot the vampire special rule that disallows entry unless invited.
Old guard chief says to his boys, "Today, my friends, we die AS MEN! Definding our hometown so that others may flee. FOR QWIZZL!" and they rush toward the "dragon" as the town as a whole panics and flees. Distraction, success! The pirate loots and pillages several of the buildings, not really getting a lot out of it (the bank had 20 gold, and the general store had a 10 foot pole!
)
Turns out both types of corn burn pretty well. The fire ends up spreading, partially on its own, partially because the god damned pirate is apparently the most evil bastard of us all. Whenever the guards get close to engaging the dragon, I have it fly out of their reach again, hopefully visually setting things alight somewhat close in unison to the pirate actually doing so.
The Vampire and Pixie chase the mayor and his daughter quite aways, eventually leading outside the town (unbeknownst to the rest of us) in a sort of hidden castle hideaway a bit from town. Inside they take a wrong turn and end up face to face with a Sea Hag, who loses Initiative and goes down to sleep arrow with a blown will save. CDG!
They eventually catch up to the mayor at the top of a tower, and he brandishes a holy symbol at the vampire. Were the Vampire truly alone, that might have been sufficient, but he had not anticipated the invisible Pixie taking him out in the meantime. Vampire
dominates celestial teen girl. "Follow me." Neither of them kill the mayor, just tie him up. Odd choice IMO because I know that is going to come back and bite us.
They return to town, girl in tow, and we all start making a break for our camp outside town. I land the dragon on the opposite side of town we are going to leave from, and finally release concentration. The guards rush towards it (happy that it finally landed so they could at least try and fight it...no bows guys, really?) and we rush opposite. Was it really this easy?
As were leaving town, I ponder to myself about other people's points of view within the town. What are they going to think happened? None of them ever succeeded in disbelieving, AFAIK, at least until maybe after we left and they reached it. Maybe they will think they defeated, or scared off the dragon. Was what they did luck, a victory, a defeat? Did anyone notice the pirate from earlier in the day had returned and was behaving oddly during the fight? Who stole all kinds of stuff during the dragon attack? When they find the mayor, all he will know is that a vampire appeared, and while he was recoiling, something
else he couldn't detect made him fall asleep. Then he woke up, tied up and missing a daughter. They will all wonder...WHAT THE @&#% HAPPENED IN QWIZZL LAST NIGHT?
Meanwhile, we head towards a far away stone altar to summon a new ally.
Joining next week: Werewolf Barbarian, Fiend-Changeling, and some sort of Witch!