Grizzly Hills session two: Thor Modan and the challenge of the Titans

Hey team! Last time we left off, the adventurers Rosalia and Fish welcomed their new member, Kal, to the party! (I called him Gron last post, he's Kal now) When they arrived at the Grizzly hills team leader's camp in the region, after a short battle with some vicious dire bears and furbolgs, they met with the new party member, Dr. Torval.

During the Doctor's analysis of the furbolg body, he attempted to remove the brain, and got a surprise when it attached itself to his mask and attacked! they killed it swiftly, and took the furbolg's blackened heart in his analysis jar. 

Through the information they gained from the trees (via Rosalia's speak with plants spell) the 'Children of Ursoc' had retreated to Thor Modan, an ancient, abandoned Dwarven city that housed an old Trial of the Titans where the Dwarves tested if they were worthy. 

Thor Modan

"As the trees grow more sparse, you smell salt on the wind, a light breeze, coming from the distance. Emerging over the hill down toward the ocean below, you see a small city of stone buildings below. Much is covered in moss and overgrowth, things, at least now, seem quiet. One specific building in the center of the city stands out and above the rest."

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I let them make some perception checks, knowledge (history), things like that. They learned about the Trial of the Titans, and with perception, saw that the door in front of the temple (since they rolled above 30) had the door broken off. They continued toward the city.

"Approaching the main arch into the city of Thor Modan, you see multiple statues depicting the different titans they worshiped: Aggramar the champion, Golganneth the lord of sea and sky, Khaz'goroth the shaper, Eonar the life binder, Norgannon the keeper of lore, and Aman'thul, the highfather of time themself.

There are cracks and breaks in their faces, along with the other statues, buildings and others covered in moss. Searching in a couple of buildings, it has long been abandoned, and looted."

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They made a few checks to see if the statues were stone or some magical material, and noticed things were quite quiet. Strange, considering the Children of Ursoc were said to have retreated there.

They noticed the ground shift, and a dark discoloration in the dirt and stone moved from place to place, around them, and back to the door of the large Temple in the centre of the city.

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You see an ooze of black goo emerge from the stone and dirt before the temple entrance; the temple door has been broken through, and the ooze moves closer to you. As in approaches, more come through cracks and crevices, merging with it, making the black amorphous mass grow larger, and larger, until it stands 20 feet wide.

(Reflex save for Dr. Torval, failed)

The jar leaps out of your back, throwing itself toward the temple toward the ooze. The jar of liquid, now pitch black, shatters on the ground as the black substance merges with the giant one."

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And the battle began against the peculiar ooze. There were multiple effects going on; a domination aura, a nauseating vapour that caused negative levels, a grab attack that caused negative levels, and the fact that it was an ooze made things complicated.

Fish started, and started shooting. Unfortunately for him, he uses a revolver, which caused the ooze to split (For reference, most oozes take no damage, and split if anything dealing piercing or slashing damage hits them). He shot three times, so now there were four oozes, and four saves per round for those who got close. Very rough, but they were making pretty good rolls.

Dr. Torval started slinging fireballs, Fish kept splitting them, Rosalia went in with her new earth elemental eidolon with its slam attacks, and Kal used his breath weapon of the dragoons! All the while, their companion Zigg used fury of air, a new shaman spell, and walked in to attack.

Now, most people gave the player who was Fish crap for continually splitting the ooze. This did cause them to make more saves. 

HOWEVER - splitting the ooze four ways caused it's health per ooze to be divided in four, and after, Dr. Torval fireballed them, which would be the equivalent of the one ooze taking fireball damage four times. So Fish actually did the group, in a strange way, a favor.

After a few grapples, domination effects, and negative levels, the ooze as a whole perished, and they were left with the entrance to the temple. 

Through their perception checks, they discovered the door was made of stone, and had remnants of a protection magic aura - aka, not opened by normal means, and sealed. Not only that, but it seems as though the stone slab was burst from the inside, rather than broken by an impact to it (such as a weapon). 

Stepping into the temple, there were the statues of the titans around the ourside of the circular building, with Aman'thul in the centre, with an inscription in an old language that they could somewhat understand as the 'challenge of the titans to prove one worthy.' There was a spiral staircase going around the statue, downward. 

Narrative began.

As you descend the spiral stairs, you come to a long hall lined with statues of warriors wielding various weapons, dwarf, vrykul, human, frozelia, and others. At the far end you see a light, along with a figure illuminated by the light behind it. As you approach, you hear a deep resounding voice.

“Mortals. You come to seek the titan’s challenge, but the corruption of this world emanates from your soul and fills your veins. If you wish to complete this, either we will prove you are worthy by combat, or I will wipe the corruption from this earth. 

As you enter the room, torches light the outside of the room, illuminating it with a warm light. The tall figure, with a body of stone, metal, and flesh all as one, and hair and beard of pure flame, he pulls a large sword from his back., lighting aflame as he holds it in one hand. “I, Aggramar, will test your strength. Only then may you continue.”

The combat was decently short, and with some raw hits from Kal, defeated him. He cast a fireball on them, and used a special ability 'foe breaker' on Kal, which was basically improved vital strike with a save or be knocked prone. Not only that, but it was a critical hit - though Kal negated it with his fortification armor.

He had a few other abilities; one was to have a protective barrier and draw in small elementals that if they made it to him, they would explode on everyone - though the room I made was a tad small, and the fight ended before he could do it. That and 'flame rend' which was a frontal massive damage cone, split between everyone within it's area (which they all went into, but it was too late, the players won!)

Gaining victory, Aggramar bowed his head, and told them many trials followed, and for them to be quick about it - as some had already come and gone. he opened a staircase behind him, and sent them on their way.

More narrative!

Descending the staircase, you come to a square room that is lined with murals and paintings depicting oceans below, swirling whirlpools, and storming skies above and high on the walls. A voice echoes throughout the hall. “You may have bested Aggramar, but the power of the sea and sky will wash away your corruption! If you are among the corrupt, shall not find those who seek refuge.”

Suddenly, water flows through cracks in the floor, walls, and ceiling, and a thick, dark cloud forms above you. Eight spirits that look identical (of an old man in light armor and electricity pulsing from his eyes) appear around the room’s edge, with their arms in the air, electricity crackling in their hands. 

The water swirls, the wind forms a tornado, and a crack of lightning courses down, forming three figures made of water, air, and electricity. 

This was an interesting fight to design. They were one each of a large air, water, and electricity elemental. They, however, were a distraction. The images of Golganneth were the true threat, which they discovered really fast. Some went for the images right away, slaying them quickly. They were easy to hit and kill. There were 3 elementals, and 8 images placed around them.

Others went for the elementals, which is good as well, since they were relatively hardy.

Until the end of the round, when Golganneth finished his first round of channeling. 

During this fight, any time a player character or companion went adjacent to another they were not by when the fight began, they took 1d8 electricity damage per image of Golganneth still alive, halved. That, and they were shocked for the full 1d8 per image at the end of each round, and each adjacent creature took half. 

They killed a good number in the first round, but the first shock still really hurt. Not only that, but since Rosalia rides her eidolon, they were both shocked on their own and shocked each other for half. Yipes! She dismissed her eidolon, to say the least. 

The rest of the battle was fairly harmless, since the number of images went down, Dr. Torval dispelled one of the summoned elementals, fish killed another, and so on. 

They also got through the fight before the water became too much - it rose 2.5 ft. per round, and it was at their necks when they defeated the final image of Golganneth. The storm above faded, the water seeped back into the floor, and Golganneth shooed them on their way, warning them of the battles to come.

And that was it for the session! They know there are more titans to come, and more challenges next week!

We've only seen a couple - there's still Khaz'goroth the shaper of worlds, Norgannon, the keeper of knowledge and lore, Eonar the life binder, and Aman'thul, the highfather of time.

Sargeras is on the right, he's the one that betrayed and destroyed the pantheon in the past and took control of the demons in the universe and made the burning legion. We don't like him.

In the back there, Aggramar's up front with his arms crossed, Khaz'goroth has his hammer, Eonar with her staff, and in the back, there's Norgannon with his big beard on the left, Golganneth in the middle back there, and Aman'thul on the right of them with his hand out.

Have a lovely week!