Episode Number: (TG313)
Original Airdate: 10/2001
Still no sign of Tierney. The party stumbles through the Clockwork Room, and gets attacked by a whole buttload of litle clockwork spiders. While they're not that difficult to kill, they seem limitless in number, and the dangers of the room itself start to wear the party down. When Timus fails to appease the Tasan, it begins to act up with a prismatic spray that floors Arlemis, injures Aldamar, and sends Timus to another dimension. The party finally gets out of the room, though Aldamar runs to parts unknown when the exit from the room is revealed to be the entrance to the shadow pool. As the party enters the shadow pool they are challenged by the wraith king. And Sendant accepts.
The party took a whuppin' here, no question. And it was a whuppin' not from big nasties that did double-digit damage. It was from mechanical spiders the size of terriers. The party seems to have a history of acting as though they are in a video game. In a video game, you know that there's treasure and xp for every monster you kill, and because of that, unless you're in a time crunch, there's no reason not to completely search every nook and cranny of every room, kill every monster, and leave no stone unturned.
It's possible that this mindset may be changing now that the party is a) Injured, and b) Running low on spells. The south wall of the clockwork room had a mess of levers, which could conceivably have stopped the spiders or revealed hidden treasure troves. But the party did the intelligent thing by hightailing it.
This is the first three-way split the party has experienced. It's currently giving DMP a big headache. Be on the look out for random acts of teleportation.
How many spiders were there?
Let's say that, given the party's hit points and strengths and weapons, they could kill some arbitrary number, say, x. The number of spiders would be equal to x+1.
the tasan never does anything
I think you should wait to see The Clockwork Tasan episode. It should change your mind. If you don't stop the Tasan pretty quickly, it's liable to get grumpy. Prismatically Grumpy. It's a small sign, a dribble from a leaky faucet, compared to what will happen if the Tasan goes off full power.
When you have four spider-things on you, trying to hump your legs and generally impairing your movement, you don't think about leaving the room. You think about removing them from your person. The time crunch can go børk itself.
I hate being nibbled to death. I really do. Fortunately, the death part hasn't shown up. Yet.
Aldamar: I'm going to cast "Resist Plot."
Patrick: I have bad news and I have bad news. The bad news is that Leny gets a reflex save to avoid it...(rolls dice)...NOPE!
(Aldamar rolls a balance check)
Patrick: Fifteen? You get jiggy wid it, and fail to fall down.
Geordan: Sheathe while tumbling?
Patrick: And successfully remove your appendix while you're at it.
(Geordan rolls 3d8, gets 3 + 1 + 1)
Geordan: Ass!
Patrick: Next!
Patrick: Why don't you make a reflex save?
Geordan: 20.
Patrick: 20?!
Geordan: 20.
Patrick: Ah, fuck.
Dave: Does the Tasan vibrate?
Patrick: It's set to vibrate, and Awe and Dread.
Aldamar: I think I'm going to launch a little, uh--
Patrick: (interrupting) Steam!
(A jet of steam erupts from the floor towards Aldamar)
Aldamar: (pause) Fuck.
Dave: For future reference, would now be a bad time to roll a 1? Just for future reference. In case I actually do roll a 1.
"If you try to kill a hydra by chopping off its head, it won't work, 'cause it will just grow back two heads. So what you do is use a double-barrelled shotgun and shoot it in the heart and cut off the flow of blood to its brain so it dies of lack of oxygen."
:: --Logan Kottler, Age 5, Future Gamer
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