Recent Posts For Tag: Boss Battle

I had a bad feeling about taking the invitation to the Ice Queen's lair. That said, the time for stealth had clearly passed - may as well confront her before spending any more of our strength. The bad feeling grew as we discovered how many of her followers were close to hand in her throne room.

It didn't appear that we had anything to negotiate about, so I led the fight off with a roar - two roars, specifically, as I turned Peck and Aramil into Tyrant Lizards. The Ice Queen didn't seem to appreciate the evening of the odds, because she followed up with a word of death. As I slipped from consciousness, I could feel the Polymorph spell dropping.

I found out later that the party had responded to that first with a Fire Wall by Varis, to begin softening up and hindering our foes. The rest of the group then targeted the Queen with a focused assault, followed by a Sleep spell by Miri - only just powerful enough to take hold after the beating she had taken. This gave Peck the opportunity to administer the Coup de Gras, finishing her off.

Rather than surrender, the remaining giants continued the attack. To keep it out of their hands, the Queen's Orb was picked up first by Oscar, who narrowly avoided domination by the device. Miri then took it off his hands, and was able to firmly resist it. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no time to Attune with the device and make use of it now (too bad - my impression is that the giants were only barely keeping their dragon 'pets' under control even with the Orb).

The rest of the party engaged the remaining giants, with mixed results. Anton and Theron each caught a group of them with Lightning spells, but the giants ganged up on Anton and Oscar... managing to bring both of them down. With the giants clear of his Fire Wall, Varis switched to a Blade Barrier just above our heads - weakening our foes further and giving us cover.

It was at this point that my journey on to the afterlife was interrupted by Varis' Revivify spell. Noticing that he had also saved Oscar with a Healing Word, I responded with another T-Rex Polymorph for both of us. We rejoined the fight with renewed vigor, and Oscar was able to take down one of the giants after a brief scrape with the Blade Barrier. Peck was able to save Anton with a healing spell.

Theron put up a Sphere of Force around himself - knocking the giants away and killing one by knocking it into the Blade Barrier. The giants retaliated, taking Anton out again, but Varis incinerated one with a Flame Strike and revived Anton with a Healing Word. Peck and Miri's wounds forced them to hide, while Oscar continued his prehistoric rampage - killing two giants.

Anton served up another helping of Lightning, and Theron traded his Force Sphere for an Air Elemental to distract one of the giants. Aramil protected himself with a Blink spell, and slew a giant which was harassing Anton. The remaining giants rallied again - knocking down Anton and nearly doing the same to me (I changed forms at the last moment, and protected myself with a Shield spell). Miri healed Anton, and the Air Elemental engulfed a giant.

Varis wounded several giants with a Radiant Dawn, and I bolstered the party with a Mass Cure Wounds - followed by a Spiritual Weapon to pressure one of the giants. Peck sniped giants from hiding, killing one, and Oscar continued his fight with two of them before being knocked down and out of Dino form. Anton was finally able to disengage and hide, and Theron tossed more Lightning.

At this point, the tide of the battle turned entirely in our favor. Miri continued healing the party, saving Oscar... while the Air Elemental finished off a giant. Varis used his last Radiant Dawn to blast the life out of another, while I cast another Mass Cure Wounds. The last three giants were slain by Oscar, Anton, and Theron. I think I missed a giant or two in all of that, but what a fight!

We all stopped to catch our breath - our thoughts turning immediately to escape. Theron informed us that he had kept back one teleportation circle - he just needs a minute uninterrupted to cast it. I suggested we quickly loot the bodies, and then pile them up in the doorways to buy us time. I'm temped to see what treasure we could find here, but I think we have little time to spare for it.

So we can add 'Dragonsbane' to our list of honorifics - although, I got a strange sense of Deja-vu about that. The gargantuan white beast took out many of Draven Thornbolt's fine crew, though Varis and I were able to bring two of them back from the brink with a little Divine intercession. That eases my mind to some degree - this isn't their fight, though I noticed their cook acquitted himself quite heroically.

We continue on, and the lookout yells ‘sails’ - this turns out to be a a wrecked ship (the 'Wander', apparently - a whaling ship). We pass close enough to hail the ship, and get no response. We notice marks of a dragon attack, and no lifeboats left on it. As discuss whether there's anyone left to rescue, Blackwolf smells human & chickens on ship.

We grapple onto the ship, head to the front with ropes, and my blade quickly de-ices the doors. We open the passenger area, and find no one - it was looted (by giants, no doubt), but they left behind an emerald (worth 300gp), 20 silver pieces, and two pieces of scrimshaw (worth 10gp each).

Continuing on towards the back of the ship, in the hold, we find chickens, 4 goats, and the cook (Bor Medred). He is unconscious, and suffering from hypothermia. Varis is able to cure this, and we take him back to our ship. Apparently his vessel was having some difficulty with their hunt, due to giants in the area also taking whales. They must've ended up too far afield in their search, because they encountered a giant longship with a shackled dragon (sounds familiar) which wiped them out & looted them. Bor heard in bits and pieces that the dragon apparently didn't come back to the ship after the fight, much to the giants consternation.

We keep going, and were able to get in a long rest unhindered. On a sleety day, we again get a call of ‘Sails’ - a giant longship! They pass us by (possibly aided by some impromptu magic to hide us), and seem to be following a guiding device parallel with the shore to deeper waters (looking for another of Aramil's family?) Further out, we see a bigger iceberg, with a huge hole down to the water-line (with a giant black chain hanging out from it, and a giant frosted face above it). Our ship anchors at an iceberg and lets us off. Draven is only willing to stay for 24 hours - if we're not back by then, we'll have to find our own way home.

We come up with the following plan to surprise the giants: Anton casts water-walking, and we head straight there single-file (behind a minor illusion I keep up, of the area behind us) As we get closer, we see large arctic owls - might be dangerous if hostile. We get a better look of the giant face - a depiction of a giant ocean god. We get a bit of a scare about the possibility of giant sea creatures swimming below us (the area is known for them), but we make it safely to the iceberg (off to the side of the opening)

Around this time, a SECOND huge white dragon flies out of the cave in the direction we came from. We hear signs of battle, and then see it come back with Draven in its claw. I'm not optimistic about the rest of his crew, but it looks like we've got someone else to save. We use two upscaled Invisibility spells along with a Locate Object (targeting Aramil's signet ring), and then head into the cave (using ropes to stay together).

Peering around the edge, we see a large harbor inside with five giant longships and 1 normal ship (possibly of elvish make?). A giant staircase of ice seems to lead up to a huge ice castle, and below that is a wide, bloodstained beach (covered with whale bones). We cut across the bay inside the harbor, up the beach, along the edges and up the ramp towards the castle.

Peck squeezes under a door on the ramp, and finds three people frozen solid against the wall (no one we know). With a combination of Wildshape, Polymorph, and Dimension Door, we're all able to make it through the door quietly. We replace the invisibility spells and pass through another door, narrowly evading an axe-wielding Giant sentry. He seems to hear us, but we're able to sneak past him and then flatten up against the wall.

We make it to a 4-way intersection, leading to a kitchen and various shut doors. With our options seemingly limited, we continue straight (following the locate spell) to a locked door.
Peck picks the lock, which attracts the attention of the giants inside (note to self - good time for a Silence spell). We decide that the time for stealth is past, and engage the pair of giants in the room. The fight seems to be going well, but their yells of pain are attracting further attention. I square my shoulders and prepare for a long fight.

As we pass through the mists and back into our homeland, the memories of our recent adventures start to seem foggy and unreal. At this point, the following still sticks in my mind:

Oscar, Anton, and I left the Vistani wagon heading out of Ravenloft, and turned back toward Valaki. We were met by Laucian - a Cleric survivor of Mordenkainen's peasant army, Randy - a Bard from another world, and Sergei - a Paladin who had a run-in with the Vistani. They agreed to join us, so we gathered up supplies & horses and headed towards Strahd's castle.

Rather than barge through the main gate - setting off traps and attracting guardians, we discovered a back door of sorts. We had just enough magic between us to levitate slowly up behind the castle to the attached outbuildings, then shatter a window and enter. We discovered coffins identified as King Barov and Queen Ravenovia. There seemed to be no threat, so we left them in peace.

We dispelled a blue magical field around the outbuilding, and entered the burial vault. We explored a group of numbered crypts, including one with Laucian's named on it (and containing his 'corpse') - more of Strahd's deceit, no doubt. Another crypt belonged to Gralmore Niblenobs - inside we found a white-bearded corpse clutching a staff of brass and marble. Ray put the staff into a shallow recess in a slab within the crypt, which opened a chamber containing a leather case containing a sword hilt.

We discovered that the hilt was magical - upon wielding it, a shimmering blade projected from the hilt. Somehow I got an empathic reading from the blade - it apparently belonged to Sergei (Strahd's brother). It was originally a thin crystal blade, before Strahd instructed a wizard to destroy it. Somehow, the wizard's apprentice (Niblenobs) snuck the hilt out and preserved the enchantment - deadly to undead creatures. I accepted the weapon to use against Strahd.

Further inside the vault, we discovered a room containing three coffins - these turned out to belong to three women in wedding dresses who rose out to attack us (along with swarms of bats from the vault). We were able to destroy one and drive off another, only to be confronted with Strahd himself.

Little remains in my mind of the fight with Strahd, except that it was long and grueling. He struck again and again with powerful spells, transported himself around the room to frustrate our tactics, and taxed the last reserves of our strength - but somehow we prevailed. We did everything we were aware of from Van Richten's notes to dispose of the beast for good, and left the castle behind.

Unfortunately, it seems that this evil realm abhors a vacuum - without a new Lord to take Strahd's place, he main return again regardless. I'm not sure how I know this - perhaps a final taunt from the vampire. All I know for sure is that my vengeance is spent - yet it feels empty.

How to summarize recent events?

Bextl's mother's last words to him were not to trust anyone, which seemed like a safe bet. It didn't seem prudent to throw our lot in fully with either side: A Sith Lord with an army of clones (some loyal, some rebelling, and some just convinced he's invincible), or a Moff with ties to creepy alien things who ingest people and spit out other alien things.

Playing it by ear, we head back to the gas giant to pick up the Plaque, and then arrange a meeting with the Moff. Despite the precautions we took (leaving it locked in the Headhunter, slaved to our ship and booby-trapped), Bing still managed to get his hands on the Plaque, and started proceeding with plans of his own. At least we make it safely back to Kal'Shebbol and arrange a secure dock - on the Hungarian's space station of all places. We narrowly avoid a firefight between Bing, the rest of the group, and the Hungarian's security forces.

Sargusta Jors shows up, and accompanies us to the Moff's real seat of power - a gas giant with bunches of moons 8 hyperspace-hours away from Kal'Shebbol. The Moff's fortifications include a number of Star Destroyers (with unusual energy signatures from their tech), and an odd rocky moon with no atmosphere but heavy shielding. We land and head deep underground - leaving Bing behind in the Headhunter and passing through tight security before meeting with a huge football-field sized centipede-looking thing. This creature is DarkStryder, and it is surrounded by an orb with flashing purple lighting, jars in brains, and unrecognizable tech. The Moff meets us here as well, and allows us to converse with DarkStryder.

We next discover another huge creature - a green/black 'queen-alien'-looking thing chained up with various tubes attached. The creature was apparently made using DarkStryder. The Moff brings in Caitlyn, and agent of with extensive injuries - she is slid into one tube of the creature, and comes out another tube apparently transformed into a Krayt Dragon - she heads off to enact retribution on the Hutts responsible for her injuries. This is apparently the 'new start' the Moff had mentioned in our last meeting.

We are then taken to a meeting with the Moff's Generals, Admirals, and Intelligence heads. We explain about the Plaque, 000, Darth Vex, and our work for ISB. We explain that we could use our status as double-agents to his benefit - revealing tech he can afford to lose, to throw ISB off his trail. The Moff is surprised to learn Darth Vex's identity, but believes she is dead in the most recent outbreak of 000's droid rebellion.

Around this time, Bing goes missing from the Headhunter, and alarms begin going off. The Death Star has arrived, and destroys one of the Moff's Star Destroyers. The Moff asks us to use his 'Sun Crusher', a small vessel with similar power to the Death Star, but created using his unusual tech. Further alarm klaxons blare, and main power goes off.

The party splits up (always a good idea), with some headed towards the Sun Crusher, some back to our ship, Bing doing his own thing (giving cryptic reports over the comms), and Bextl staying behind in the meeting room (hearing voices in his head of someone coming to him). Emergency power comes back on, and we get reports over our comms of Imperial ships landing to secure the bay where our ship is docked.

Jocko and Maris take off in the Sun Crusher, which takes the opportunity to make 'modifications' to them for proper interface. They gain innate knowledge of the ship, and discover it is a Yuuzhan Vong craft. They head to the system's red giant and absorb energy to use against the Death Star. They bank around the sun and head straight for their target, taking a hit but continuing on. They plow into the core and expel all of the energy - destroying it and two nearby Star Destroyers.

The rest of the group hides to let a group of stormtroopers from the landing party pass (leaving only a dozen or so behind). They then assault the troopers - taking hits buy laying down enough smoke cover to get inside our ship. From there, it's a simple matter to gun down the remaining troops and enemy craft.

In the meantime, Bextl has a rather explosive disagreement with Palpatine, who showed up to recover him. Bextl released the deadman switch on a readied thermal detonator, taking out many troopers and all but one backup clone, with Paltaine was able to 'jump' to. Our ship takes off, destroying more of the dock on our way out, and meet up with the Sun Crusher. We clamp onto it and prepare to leave under impulse power.

At this point we discover Bextl himself (or yet another clone) still on-board. He says that we need to stop the DarkStryder-created bug-creature, before the Palpatine can use it to restore his imperfect clone body. Bing finds another docking bay for us to use (near him and the creature), and we land there & use vac-suits to enter - oddly enough, we discover barefoot Toydarian footprints on the outside.

Maris rigs up an explosive vest for Bextl to wear (at his suggestion), in case Palpatine takes over his body. We enter the base, and Bing rigs up an isolation helmet for Bextl as well, in an effort to limit any information Palpatine may be able to pull from his mind over a 'tether' which may still exist.

Bing pauses at a console to deal with some remaining troopers, and we discover other Star Destroyers have arrived and begun shelling the area near our ship. It becomes apparent that Palpatine is somehow listening in despite our preparations, and that he appreciates our idea about the bug-creature - he takes it over, and begins moving quickly towards the moon's surface.

Bing touches Krieger, somehow signaling him to head back to the ship and get it operational (also providing schematics for the moon\space station). The rest of us follow, quietly. We discover that it's badly damaged, and time for repairs is in short supply. It looks like one of the Star Destroyers is trying to land to pick up the Bug Emperor, so Bing takes control of the moon's propulsion systems to slam it into the Star Destroyer. He tries going after others, but they wisely keep their distance.

Bing then tries to eject the Moff and his remaining techs, to take full control of the moon, but this starts up a scuffle with the rest of the party, and he's knocked down by Zansatsu. Eventually, the rest of the party leaves him behind, to try and deal with Palpatine. We drive off on a ground vehicle loaded on our ship towards the wreck of the Star Destroyer.

Around this time, additional Yuuzhan Vong craft begin showing up in the system. Bing and the Moff come to a tenative agreement to deal with them - it seems as if the Moff wasn't actually in league with the Vong, but just attempting to hijack their tech. The rest of us drive up to a hidden turret, hack into it, and begin firing on an Imperial Shuttle headed to meet the Bug Emperor as it breaks free of the Star Destroyer's wreckage (sporting an impressive-looking shield of some sort). Bing provides additional fire from another turret.

The shuttle takes heavy damage, but manages to land and out steps a young Anakin Skywalker? (apparently a clone). Krieger shoots at him, and he tries (and fails) to block it with his lightsaber, taking a solid hit. The rest of us join in, including Zansatsu who lands a heavy punch. 'Derp Vader' manages to block further blaster fire from us, and throws his saber - destroying Zansatsu's shock gloves and wounding him. However, Kel'Kabukk knocks him back with an explosive quarrel, and Maris leaves him on the ground twitching after a full-auto burst from his blaster rifle - should've held onto that lightsaber.

The Moff & Bing use the Moon's guns to take out the incoming Vong craft, leaving just us and Palpatine. Unsurprisingly, he now wanted to talk. Bextl is able to lull him into a false state of security and get close - walking inside the bug's shield. Maris then triggers the explosive vest - the explosion amplified by being inside the shield, it basically atomizes everything inside. Both Bextl and Palpatine try to jump into the barely-alive Vader clone, but Bextle gets there first.

It's unclear if Palpatine was able to jump to another, further-out clone, or if he still exists in some other form. At any rate, we're still alive, the Moff seems grateful (if a bit shell-shocked), and for once we may even be free of bounties. Kel'Kabukk takes the opportunity to reveal Barret Demora's treachery to the Moff (hey, the guy was definitely guilty of something, right?), and is granted a favor: a nice trip for two back to Kashyyyk for a prolonged hunting trip. Some things, you just need to savor (like medical trials on how many body parts a Wookie can tear off and cauterize, while still keeping the subject staggering along).