Recent Posts For Tag: Boss Battle

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).

Der Monat Neth

- Loy Rezbin und seine Frau Latritia kommen zu unserem Königreich und bitten um Unterstützung eine Stadt zu gründen am Ort wo wir den Tatzelwyrm erlegt haben. Die Stadt soll auch entsprechend Tatzelfort genannt werden. Nach kurzer Besprechung haben wir zugesagt und dem Pärchen versichert das wir, sobald wir die Finanzen dafür haben, ihnen dabei helfen die Stadt zu gründen.

- Ein verzweifelter Fischer mit dem Namen Arven hat uns aufgesucht und von seiner misslichen Lage berichtet. Eine enorme Schildkröte hat ihn von seinem sehr etragreichen Angelplatz vertrieben. Um die müden Glieder etwas zu lockern und um unser Königreich weiter zu erkunden, stimmen wir zu und machen uns auf den Weg. Der Platz war gut versteckt und die Schildkröte hat uns aufgelauert, jedoch konnten wir den Hinterhalt durchschauen und haben sie schnell erlegt. Old Crackjaw, wie man die Schnappschildkröte auch nennt, wurde von Súldir erlegt und nachdem wir uns noch den Kopf mitgenommen haben um ihn an eine Trophäenwand zu hängen, haben wir noch einen magischen Edelstein gefunden, welcher angeblich einen mächtigen Wasserelementar beschwören kann.

- Meine Gefährten und ich kommen in eine Ruine eines Dorfes welches von Banditen wimmelt! Die waren sogar so dreist und wollten uns überfallen ... zu dumm das die nicht mit unserer überragenden Kampfkraft gerechnet haben. Schnell haben wir diesem Abschaum den Tod beschert, unter anderem durch einen vernichtenden Schlag auf einen der Kämpfer durch mich. Einen haben wir jedoch für eine Befragung am Leben erhalten. Wir haben von dieser Verschwendung von Lebenszeit einiges erfahren, unter anderem das ein neuer Banditenlord in der Gegend sein Unwesen treibt, das der Anführer der kleinen Truppe die wir erledigt haben Adolfus hiess aber ... am wichtigsten ist die Erkenntniss das diese VERDAMMTEN HURENSÖHNE Teil der Bande sind die meine Eltern getötet haben und meine Schwester entführt. Ich kochte innerlich vor Wut. Ich tue es auch noch immer, da man sich entschieden hat diesen Mistkerl am Leben zu lassen und in unserer Stadt zu richten.

- Weiter das Königreich erkundet und einen Hügel gefunden der durch irgend ein Naturphänomen aufgebrochen wurde. Wir haben zunächst gerastet und unser Baron, Fantir, hat seinen Gott um Rat gebeten. Wir erhielten daraufhin folgende Botschaft: "Einsamer Krieger erwacht. Wut. Einzigartige Waffe." Im Inneren haben wir antike Ruinen gefunden und uns daran gemacht diese zu erkunden, mit dem Abschaum vom Banditenhinterhalt im Schlepptau. Zunächst sind wir einer großen Menge an Fledermäusen begegnet die wir durch das geschickte Verhandeln von Fantir dazu überreden konnten uns passieren zu lassen. In den Ruinen selbst waren die Wände voller Malereien von einer antiken Kultur die keiner von uns genauer bestimmen konnte. Danach kamen wir in einen Raum mit einem sehr verdächtigen Skelett in der Mitte. Nach dem geschickten Gebrauch eines Enterhakens haben wir den Leichnam zu uns gezogen und einen besonderen Ring gefunden, welcher es erlaubt mit minimaler Rast seine Fähigkeiten zurückzuerlangen. Danach wurden wir von diversen Skeletten angegriffen und umzingelt! Einer von meinen Gefährten wurde sogar in die Falle gezogen, hat jedoch zum Glück überlebt. Die Skelette konnte ich recht schnell mit gezielten Tritten erlegen und so blieb uns nur noch ein Raum zu erkunden. Der letzte Kampf in diesen Katakomben war sehr gefährlich und hat mich fast mein Leben gekostet. Zum Glück konnte Súldir den mächtigen Untoten entwaffnen und machte ihn somit einfacher zu besiegen. Der Elf hat auch den finalen Schlag gelandet, wodurch seine Klinge von einem magischen Glühen erfüllt wurde und mächtiger geworden ist. Ich habe mir das Schwert dieses Feindes angeeignet, es war auch eine exotische Klinge wie diejenige die ich schon besitze ... vielleicht ein Zeichen das hier schon mal Mönche gelebt haben? Vielleicht sollte ich diese Tradition wieder aufleben lassen und ein Kloster in die Wege leiten, werde das mit meinen Gefährten besprechen müssen. Wir werden uns nach diesem Kampf erholen bevor wir uns wieder zurück in unsere Hauptstadt begeben.

I can't believe we've gotten this far without being noticed until now. Past the first layers of security and into the secret part of the "Secret Base." But from here on out, it will get trickier.

There are a lot of minions, for one thing. Well-trained minions. And who knows what else? More Grond-alikes? The real Grond? And ultimately, scariest of all, Bale himself.

He's got to know we're here. He must be setting us up, or something! We have to be very careful and watch out for each other...

I keep reminding myself that we are the only ones paying attention to whatever Bale is up to. Saving the world from He Who Comes is important, but saving it for Bale to take over would be disasterous. So, here we are. Take Bale out, then save the world. Right?