# Axis Island Outcome (spoilers)



## nayrelgof (Jul 17, 2012)

My players just finished axis island and most had a blast, as did I. Most of my impressions have been shared by others, but I ran into a couple gotchas.

We're using a house-rule where non-lethal damage leaves you stable, but still kills you if you go negative bloodied. I felt the fights would otherwise feel too bloodless in this campaign.

1) Holding the lighthouse was very well done, but it's not a perfect fit for every player type. One of my players takes special pride in the abilities he chooses for his character. He felt that was wasted on this encounter. 

2) With Asrabey's high defenses (we used the level 20 version), this player never got a hit in, so he felt his abilities were wasted here. He also flat-out died in the second round, due to the house rule mentioned above.

Since they found the brig the previous session, rescuing the prisoners to help take the lighthouse, and since they quickly talked their way past Ghillie Dhu, this player had a whole session with very little fun and died as well. I should have been more aware of his health and focused on someone else first.

If you have this type of player in your group, the level 2 version may be a better fit.


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## d2OKC (Aug 14, 2012)

I'm preparing to start running Zeitgeist with a group this Sunday, and I've been thinking about the encounter with Asrabey, though it is still several weeks away for us.

I definitely want to use the level 20 version. But, I'm concerned about my players being able to hit him. would it be crazy to insert a wand of magic missile somewhere along the way, just to make sure they have at least one source of consistent damage against him. I'd make it so that it had too few charges to actually kill him, of course.

Thoughts?

Also, we're running it as 4E, if that helps.


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## nayrelgof (Aug 14, 2012)

If your players have a few half-damage-on-miss powers or auto hit powers, there's no need. If they don't, I like the wand idea.

That said, the fight is possible without it. My group won in the end, and only one character died, which isn't bad considering. Here's what I'd do differently the second time around:

Know your players. If they want it brutal, be brutal. If they're particularly frustrated by something already, take it easy, by using Fire Sweep or Lion Shield on badly bloodied PCs, since they're less likely to outright kill the PC. Asrabey isn't trying to kill them; he just wants to finish his mission.

Most of my players got the "wow, I can't believe we pulled it off" feeling. I just should have paid a little more attention to my other player's frustration.


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