Going to be working on getting caught up somewhat on my gaming videos and rpg sessions, but as a short summary of the last Pathfinder session, we managed to pretty much wrap up the climax of chapter 4. For many weeks, the group has been tracking down Mokmurian, the leader of the giants who have been raiding Varisia, and they had traveled deep into enemy territory. Although the adventure began to drag over the last couple of sessions (partly due to the overly large player group making sessions slower, and partly due to perhaps a few too many challenges and combats to get thru), we started the final stretch with quite a bit of energy. Not sure if the group realized how close they were to the final battle, but there was a lot more attention to detail in the group.
To the group’s benefit, they operated very well together, and came up with a number of new and unique plans that they had previously not considered or been able to do. This made the fight turn from a very difficult one into a relatively simple one – though there was still a lot of danger.
Following their trend of scouting for information, the group opted to take advantage of the druid’s wild shape ability, and turned into an earth elemental. This allowed him to scout out and determine the parameters of the final chamber, without actually revealing their presence. He was also able to determine how many foes, and where they were located, along with a decent amount of information on the room itself. That simplified the fight immensely, since Mokmurian was relying on fog and obscurement spells to delay and hinder the group – without information, they would not know where to charge to reach their foe. But with detailed information, the bard and sorcerer could easily use teleport spells to move party members around the room, and many of the group bypassed the fogs.
The other major maneuver by the group was a multi-round coordination of activities. Through some convenient side conversations (where they whispered so that I could not hear them), the bard and sorcerer hatched a plan with the druid. First the druid used a Spit Poison spell, which surprisingly affected Mokmurian and blinded him for a round (the poison was incidental). Then the sorcerer used Dimension Door to transport the paladin, rogue, and fighter into a flanking position on the giant, where all three struck hard against the giant with their attacks. Mokmurian, sensing trouble, but disoriented after being blinded and overconfident in his abilities, opted not to teleport away and instead dropped a Fireball at his feet, damaging most of the group, but not defeating any. Finally, the bard concluded the plan with a Hold Monster spell, and while everyone held their breath, Mokmurian attempted to resist. Sadly, his saving throw roll was a 1, and his fate was sealed – a quick coup de grace after that and the paladin once again had executed yet another big bad villain.
