Neverwinter Nights Higher Ground Pet a Paluzza:

Neverwinter Nights Higher Ground Pet a Paluzza:

Last night I logged onto Higher Ground to start our nightly guild run and had to chuckle out loud as I was greeted by a menagerie of strange creatures standing on the docks of Ascension.  

There was a Balor, Dragon, Dust White, Sanguineous Drinker and an Adaru all hanging out on the docks like a vignette from the Star Wars cantina (Minus the music thankfully).

As I stepped on the docks, immediately I got tells from three different players asking me if I have tried out the new pets! New pets who, what?

Well the HG Dev team is always working on something amazing and this was no exception. Pretty much all the summons at every level, familiars and epic summons have all been reworked to scale up to their master’s level. Add to this that the variety has been drastically increased as well and you have a Pet a Paluzza.

Many regular players on the mod, logged in and began trying out all of these new helpers. I must admit that my Pariah (A class specific to Higher Ground) did join in this mission of discovery, summoning my little pixie to see if her open locks, find traps and other skills had been bumped. And they had! That means that my Pix will be even more useful than usual what a great surprise!

Once we started our run Werehound Silverfang (Who is an HG DM and Dev) was playing a cleric as we ran Stygia (The fifth layer of the Hells). He was having a blast and making us all laugh with the quantity and variety of the summons his cleric was able produce. It was a very fun memorable run as his cleric produced Balors, Pit Fiends, Maryliths, Adaru was well as dominating an Orthon to help out the party.

Thus I would count Higher Ground’s Pet a Paluzza a huge success.

bb.hgweb.org (Come try it out and join the fun)

Bad

Obox-Ob Defeated as Prince of Demons Last Night

The thud heard round the Universe, (Obox-ob as Prince has fallen)

Last night’s Obox-Ob as prince of demon’s fight was an impressive testament to team work and everyone knowing their jobs.

I have found that huge endgame runs such as this really seem to bring the group together, and the sum becomes greater than the individual parts.

The key to a Demon Prince is on everyone focusing their fire power on him. Though that is not really enough, everything must happen in the correct order with each class knowing what to do when.

Thus one of your arcanes starts the spawn with Death of Magic, initiating the fight so that the rest of the Prince spawn appears without buffs etc.

Then a well timed Immutable Force is key, this gives the group a much needed 30 seconds of invulnerability. The druid then needs to use Natures Frailty, to bring down the Prince’s spell resistance as fast as possible, if this is followed up with several Natures’ Balance spells, then this allows the arcanes to get to work.

It is the Tanks job to be on the Prince applying pressure and keeping his regeneration in check. If they have used a Constitution enhancing artifact and have Breath of the Beast available, this is the time to use it and inflict the prince with fire vulnerability for a short time.

The cleric needs to get Blade Barrier under the Prince and being using mass heals on the party to keep us fighting.

Our Bard must Curse quick and use taunt on the Prince to bring his ac down thus giving the tanks an opening to do their jobs. Healing spirit and healing circle are his next priorities. As well as a quick song for anyone who goes down.

Just as Immute is about to go down it is up to the leader to time and call for Starfires (this Epic spell does a large amount of magic damage in a large area and inflicts magic vulnerability for a short time.) If the Starfires are well timed, this also provides another few seconds breathing room.

Once all this is in place; then it finally comes down to who wants it most, and how much heart your party has. As people go down and are resurrected only to go down again. This is when people start thinking about limbo; this is when parties break as one then two then most begin hiding in Greater Sanctuary looking for a way out of the crushing spawn.

 These epic battles are the forge fires for true heroes, they are the test and temper of their will to fight and these fires burn bright every night on Higher Ground.

Just want to share a tiny taste of a Demon Prince Fight.

http://bb.hgweb.org

Tonights Main Event Obox-ob

Obox-ob Prince fight tonight

Tonight for the 3^rd time in Higher ground History, our group of insane hmm I mean intrepid adventurers will take on Obox-Ob as Prince of Demons.

This is going to be a battle for the ages with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance. Nearly a month worth of abyss runs will culminate in this showdown between good and evil.

I love Higher Ground for these epic endgame battles, huge spawns backing up some of the deadliest foes known to Dungeons and Dragons. What better way to spend an evening with friends than on this epic quest. The suspense building  with each passing night as you get closer and closer to this one night and this major challenge.

As I write this, I am thinking about the changes and updates coming to HG very soon. Limbo the mysterious plane and Paragon area, and the 66th layer of the abyss and facing down Lolth* in her true goddess form, then finally the Elder Evils; wow that is going to be some amazing content.

When I first heard about the Elder Evils and the Paragon areas in the pipeline I knew it was time for us to plan and build for the future. Now we are almost ready, the guild has 9 players able to field level 80 paragons to defend the universe against this new peril.

Right after Obox-ob we will again face Demogorgon and his offspring Arendagrost** in the last demon prince fight for quite a while as our next step will be a grand cycle of the hells which will include 5 demigod tags for those who are up to the challenge.

We are doing this in final preparation for the elder evils and paragon areas yet to be released. It is a time to learn and a time to teach as we get ready for the future.

*According to the Forgotten Realms storyline, Lolth began as an intermediary goddess abiding in the sixty-sixth layer of the Abyss, the Demonweb Pits. Through the events that transpired in War of the Spider Queen series, she transformed herself into a greater goddess as she is depicted now in 4th edition, the Demonweb Pits becoming its own plane.

**According to accounts at the time, "The beast vaguely resembled an immense wingless dragon of gargantuan size. Instead of legs, it moved upon a sea of tentacles. In place of scales, it was covered in coarse black fur and had three heads that resembled monstrous horned fiends that breathed bloody acid, fire, and frost. Its six-fold eyes offered instant death to anyone catching their hideous gaze..."

Pelor and Destroying the Wand of Orcus

What do they say in the Matrix? “No one ever makes the first jump.”

Well last night’s attempt to destroy the Wand of Orcus was the first jump for all but 2 of the party members, and it showed.

The whole idea of bringing the wand to Pelor is quite a fun twist. You get to fight through the plane of Elysium which has been taken over by the hordes of the abyss.

Many of the spawn compositions are quite challenging because they include unusual combinations of Party Kick back monsters and tough old favorites such as Balors, Mariliths etc.

This keeps the party on their toes, and keeps them from just going duke nukem on the big badies until the problem monsters have been eliminated.

The whole trip though Elysium to the Palace of the Sun takes about an hour of game time, this is a tad slow as the group adjusts to the new challenges they encounter.

As always the Death Knights seem to be a sticking point for the group, they are tough and can turn and fear their opponents causing chaos to erupt wherever they go. Pretty much the current strategy seems to be, have the Bard use Dirge of the Deathless (This is an epic spell that grants temporary Fear and Critical Hit immunity) while the tanks pile on the Death Knight (no negative damage can be used as this heals the Death Knights) and the casters go crazy with acid damage and evards to bring them down as fast as possible.

Once the group arrives at the Palace of the Sun, they are ushered into the Invocation Chamber where they give the pieces of the Wand of Orcus to Pelor. 

Pelor then goes into a trance state as he attempts to focus all of the powers of light on destroying the wand.

This is when the Lords of the Abyss, chose to make a final attempt at reacquiring the wand pieces.

Graz’tz, Obox-Ob, Jubilex, Demogorgon and Orcus all send hordes of their minions to wrest the wand from Pelor’s hands.

The party then has the unenviable task of defending Pelor who is in a state of total concentration from these hordes as he works on the wand.

The group must prevail against 13 mega spawns that gate into the chamber, each spawn is composed of some of the nastiest denizens of the abyss who continue a relentless assault upon Pelor and the wand.

The novelty of all this was too much for the group last night and Pelor fell to the hordes  demons on the 4^th spawn. But our group is resolute and will attempt to destroy the wand again on Sunday.

Stay tuned for more exciting developments in this mega quest, which is played out only on NWN Higher Ground. http://highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi