Dungeon Master Forum

Lol, and a fun one it is too. See, no oe else cares about my NOPCs like you do. everyone's all rush in, hack their heads off, go get the stone. is Ian the only one who cares about what Ghlst wants, really?

I wanted to do somethigj a little evil to you for your roll of 4 earlier and Gholsts annoyingly good resist roll (I won't lie to you, it's a nat 20. Nice to see both extremes!) Still, you'll see about the sword. Oh yes.


A good weekend to you all! See you here Monday - Friday for the sad yet thrilling conclusion, I believe!

Well, it looks like Haynuus is about to get flattened. Westy might go down too, I somehow think. I might get blitzed as well if Theron throws a wobbly or Gholst decides to go for me after he's done wiping bits of Haynuus off his boots...well it'll be like I said before - the Grey Lord will finaly show up to see Gholst standing proudly among our dead bodies while suddenly Lolth finally bursts in and they all have a three-way uber fight which none of the resf of us much care about because we're all dead .

That will happen 'off camera' as I amuse myself in notepad with the final posts, and let you all just be dead and talk amongst yourself in the OOC thread

Oh ye gads that would be amusing. All the PCs go down leaving the NPCs to save the world! Go go Beo!

To be fair, at this late stage if that's actually what happened, it would STILL be directly because of the players. Deephold saved by Westian's drive, Helm strengthened by Ameena, Uumack and Guree by Haynuus, Passin turned by Aurek and Westian - the NPCs would only become heroic directly because of the players example, words, actions and sacrifice. So it would be a nice echo there.

Infact, I'll do it - thanks for the iencouragement Ian, beaheadings for all PCs! WOOHOO!

Ok, not really...nice to have a back up plan that doesn't suck, incase you guys really screw the pooch here though :p

So how are we all doing? Haynuus is looking a bit rougher than normal, and presumably won't be able to stand much longer against Gholst/Dargat.

Westian and Aurek are holding the door, successfully for now but still it is ultimately just a delaying tactic to buy others more time - we are not going to win just by holding back the grak-graks for a few turns.

That leaves Ameena - it looks like she is getting somewhere, assuming that the Grey Lord is willing and able to help us. And that it is not some alternative ending where actually Libralsus appears and fireballs us all.

So do people think we are on the right road? Do we have any other options? Maybe not - no way we can beat all the grak-graks (plus Lloth), and we cannot gang up on Gholst since everyone is busy.

Also, as for Karnadee using VI, do I remember something in the manual about using syllables without power runes being a really bad thing?

Even if we DID all gang up on Gholst, I'm pretty sure that he'd be the one putting the smack down
We really need a plan.

Lol, can I suggest that you don't need a coherent plan anymore, you simply need to - perhaps - think of one last moment of greatness that might aid the task you are doing. You'll see what I mean in my next update. But never hurts to get you thinking now...

The way I see it, it's:

- Ameena: trying to instill an idea through Fulcrum to the Grey Lord, something viceral that even the daft raven could understand, that could bring the Grey Lord back right away by getting his attention. Yes Ameena, I mean you might need the murafu to think of a phrase or word to pay off her previous comments (and good roll).
- Haynuus: one last act or comment of defiance on Gholst.
- Westian/Aurek: One last 'you shall not pass' or other idea to basically tell Lolth that she is not welcome in this place, and she has to get through you, and everyone like you, to damn well set foot on this place. Or some screw you action. Or something.

Again, I'll update first, but just wanted to answer your concerns and focus you a little...

Argh, I have to think of some kind of word or phrase that will mean "ooh shit I better get the boss over here right now" to Fulcrum apart from "the world will end if this goes badly"? Hmm...well, better wait for the update and se if I get any more clues 'cause if it's somehting that came up in passing about a year and a half ago, don't count on my remembering it now .

Lol, I know, tough for your little murafu given the verbage she usually comes out with :p One could almost say...*pinkie* impossible? WHAHAHHAHA!

Ok guys, update's up. Since something happens at the end of the first update, I'm gunna put spoiler tags aroudn the rest of my comments. Don't read them until you've read the updates posted. (edit: Removed spoiler tags now)


Teehee, ok, so as you miiiiiight spot, you guys aren't actually in that bad a spot. Infact, you might spot that you seem to be moving on to winning. Infact, it might seem like you guys have actually, already won, and even though it's looking liek thigns are at their worst and most stressful your your characters, this is the final moment just before it all goes good. Now is the time for your last proper action post to seal the deal


So no dice rolls, no fear of failure, you guys have played for 25 - that's TWENTY FIVE - long, wonderful (for me) months, and my last present to you is one last kick arse action that will work out.

Ameena - go on, what phrase or word will summon back the Grey Lord? Will Ameena be heroic, and figure out the one, encapsulating and heroic cry to arms that will see the Grey Lord come back? Or is it time for Ameena to let that mantle go, and just saw what one thing she actually wants, selfishly. Which, you know, would also sweetly bring the Grey Lord back.

Oh_brother - you've played the guys who's sort of been at the centre of things, and been who he always felt he had to be. How'd he going to resist Lolth? Who is he going to be after this? remember, not havign an answer and sacrificing himself in the do or die attemopt, or not having an answer and becoming evil are both wacky alternatives. But I'm guessing it might be fun to hithis emotional centre and for him to find himself right now

Lord_Bones - time for one last kick-ass action. Will it be something heroic and strong, something tied in to the elementals, something paladin like and noble. Your the guy at the door, buying the group one last moment for Ameena to act in. go for it

Ian - you have Gholst by the ...you know...thignies. He's charging for Haynuus, one last desperate move. Is Haynuus going to sacrifice himself? Is he going to resist in some cool, Haynuus-like way that combined stupidity and strength and undercuts Gholst's own intellect and evil? Is Haynuus just gunna blow it off in one last fun comment? Just know Gholst is gunna get his in the next update....


Anyway, so go on, make me laugh and smile and feel happy to have DMed you guys one last time. Oh, and more importantly, CONGRATULATIONS!

So... Haynuus save by... The Ghosts of screamers?

Great post Beo!

The ghosts of meals past, present and future :p

Fantastic update beo - quite a roller-coaster reading those!

25 months, its been emotional!

It's definitely been quite a ride! Thanks for investing in it, it would not have lasted this long if you guys hadn't been driving it

Wait, it sounds like a punishment playing well, when you say it like that

Ameena, try "Danger Thus Reveals Its Face" and say it to the Fulcrum the raven?

Too late, but if it worked for the forum it might have worked on Fulcrum

Awaiting LB's post, so I might keep you guys in suspense until tomorrow...though not really, of course. Either way, I'll wrap stuff up with tomorrow's update in the action sense, and then we can slide in to the epilogue rolling on to the weekend!

Wow... An epilogue. How many months will that be?!

Lol yeah I was thinking that - stuff nees to be wrapped up - bad guys dealt with, good guys also dealt with (but presumably in a slightly nicer way ), including NPCs who need some kind of ending. Hopefully we'll all survive and so want to get back to the surface - I imagine the Grey Lord (if the bloody dull-robed sod ever decides to show up ) can do that for us with not much hassle. And meanwhlie we've all gotta say goodbye-and-thank-you and stuff to every other character who's both still alive and on our side. Oh, and someone needs to go and get Ardur from the elemental cave if he's still down there...or at least find out what happened to him if the elementals sent him up their chimney to safety or something. And maybe some Screamers will volunteer to venture out into the outside world to join Haynuus in his quest to start a farm which will end up now being a Screamer sanctuary or something since they now seem to be sentient - omg the Screamer ghosts thing was so cool .

Ameena,you do get I'm not running a month long IC climb out of the mountain, right? :p

We're talking a day or two of updates. Some things can happen in a senternce or be left to the player's mention/imagination!

Oh yeah, obviously not everything will be covered in detail - but I mean, we just need to tie up all the loose ends, really. Make sure every character gets some kind of mention as to where they'll be off to next or whatever, and find out what happened to those we don't know what happened to, like Ardur...though actually be may be the only one who's not either dead or in the main room...

Ameena wrote:Oh, and someone needs to go and get Ardur from the elemental cave if he's still down there...

Lol, I forgot completely about Ardur!

I hope LB is still around, it would be a pity if he had to be autopiloted for his final actions

Yeah, me too


And lol, yup, I think everyone has been lip serviced at least or in the main room. You know where Ardur is, that will be up to the final character post what happens to him, really. There are those fighting on the group's behalf elsewhere and the blackskulls they are fighting against, but that will get resolved.

Yup, basically everything else should be those in the room

Anyway, action update tonight either way, and then probably in to character actions and epilogue mode to the end of the week.

And then we're sort of..done *sniff* Obviously we can still chat about the game and stuff beyond that, though I'll be gone between 19th - 26th.

I might give LB one last chance to post. Basically if I have my post provisionally written in notepad before I go to bed, then there shouldbe absolutely no reason not to be able to post it tomorrow before work. If LB has managed to post a cool finishing action by then, then that will be great.

Otherwise, I'll just have to go wit hthe update I have.


Shame to push right at the end of the game when I should be able to slow down, but the Cyprus trip and impending weekend kinda put an unexpected limit on how many more posts I can make!

Enjoy Cyprus - you earned it!

Sad to see the game finish, since it has been constantly there for over 2 years (I think the biggest break I had over that time was 4 weeks). Plus I got to like playing Westian!

Yay, good to see you managed to post LB, sorry I pushed us ahead passed the ending actions stuff. Just going to wait for Ian, and then will post again.

Sorry, I went to bed arly and also this next update is proving to be a monster. Will try to post it at lunchtime!

Edit: Nm, I just realised that I was going to leave a logical break before the last part, so I've been able to put it up after all. Rushign out the door now, apologies if anything is bad![/b]

Lol...I think the Grey Lord has missed out Petal in doing his rounds of the room but other than that - yay lots of people get free stuff . Ameena is just happy all her friends survived and stuff, so she won't be asking for any presents or anything. Just that everyone gets out safe and does what they want to do . I've made a post and I did forget to mention one or two things (such as Ameena's reaction to the group-telepathy thing fading, since presumably that severs her mental/emotional link with Helm as well), but I can add something about that next time I suppose.
Anyway, yaaaay we won . Next up, the sequel...Gholstbusters II, wherein a spooky painting in unearthed in the depths of some dungeon somewhere (if not either of the DM or CSB dungeons), depicting a scary-looking bloke and which turns out to be a picture of Gholst when he was alive and now acts through the painting to try and kick the shit out of the world once more, zomg...

I've not finished yet. Petal and Falkor's pay off (And Ardur, Theron's etc) will require the Grey Lord to be with the soul stone, which in turn is awaiting Deephold to speak.

I've been running on a weird sleep schedule, somehow mudged myself to waking up at 5am, and falling asleep before 10pm. Will try and stay awake for Ian's update, but more likely since OB is away for the weekend (I assume) I will let it go until some point tomorrow for a last-ish- post.

Then at the start of the week you guys can have probably one last reaction, and then figure out a final epilgoue for your characters *sniff*


I'll never say never about revisting youer characters (heck, I know the story I could run right now if I wanted to jump right in to a new adventure) , but at least for the moment it will be sad to see them retire They were good charactersm, and while some have been autopiloted, I'm glad that they've all managed to survive, and that hopefully their actions have made a difference.


Oh, as a windign down action, now nothing is going ot be spoilery, feel free to ask any questions regarding the plot/characters/erncounters/background/mechanics/design choices/storytelling choices/etc