Traversing the Demon Wastes

[jguy]

My gaming group is about to cross my DM's homebrew area that is essentially the Demon Wastes from Eberron. Demons and Devils are trapped on the material plane and kept in check on in their area by minerals in the ground and my party has to cross it.

I need any ideas to assist in crossing it and I will list what we have so far.

Party consists of a Druid, a Dragon Fire Adept, a Ranger (archer), and a Mercenary (think Swordsage mixed with a little rogue. From Tome of Tactics on the homebrew forum) We are all level 6 and might hit 7 before we begin our adventure.

Right now we are doing quests around town to make money for supplies. So far what we are going to get are

1.) Field Provision Box
2.) Two Fiendslaying Crystal, Lesser
3.) Crystal of Dragon's Roar (Homebrew item for DFA to turn his breath weapon into sonic but reduces the dice to d4)
4.) Orb of Mental Renewal/Rod of Physical Restoration

The DFA gives us Endure Elements every day and I can heal us up every fight back up to full.

We are lacking Arcane magic to solve a lot of problems.

1.) Mode of transportation. Either we go on foot to avoid the inhabitants and go much slower, or we take horses and a cart but are much easier to see and its one more thing to hide.

2.) Safe sleeping. Lack of Rope Trick hurts. We'll need to sleep outside and I can't think of any Druid Spell or magic item that can hide us in the Wastes.

3.) Escaping. If we get into a fight over our heads, running is a lot harder when the enemies can teleport and/or fly.

Any suggestions for us guys?

[dextercorvia]

1. Wind at Back (SpC); 4th level Druid spell; Doubles overland movement rates of your whole party (including mounts) for 12 hours.

2. DFA UMD's a wand of Rope Trick.

3. ?

[begooler]

1. Wind at Back (SpC); 4th level Druid spell; Doubles overland movement rates of your whole party (including mounts) for 12 hours.

2. DFA UMD's a wand of Rope Trick.

3. ?

3: See number 2. DM's hate this though, so expect him to try to foil the plan by camping an increasing number of monsters under your hideout.

[jguy]

Our DFA has not gone the route of UMD monkey, so the wand is out. Besides, eternal wants can't be customized for higher CL if I remember correctly so it'd only last 3 hours.

It seems we'll be relying on our Druid for most of the support when it comes to traveling but I am trying to lessen his load as much as I can.

My idea was to dig a 10X10 pit every night and put up a wood plank covering over it along with dirt and stuff to camouflage it. We'd sleep under there with some illusions to disguise it and hope that is good enough.

Does anyone know if this would be a good idea, and if it is, how long would it take to dig with our group layout. Note: Only the ranger has a positive Strength Score

[JonestheSpy]

I'm just going to point out that if I was the OP's DM I would totally regard this thread as cheating. If I create challengers for the players, it's the players' job to figure out how to handle them, not the internet's.

[blazingshadow]

digging such a hole might take quite a while to just do it every night after walking all day

[dextercorvia]

I'm just going to point out that if I was the OP's DM I would totally regard this thread as cheating. If I create challengers for the players, it's the players' job to figure out how to handle them, not the internet's.

I'm going to point out that many of these challenges seem to be in the OP's imagination, at this point.

@OP: None of you requires rest for spell recovery, so 3 hours ought to be fine, and then you reset camp. Alternatively, you can all pick up Rings of Sustenance, and only have to sleep the 2 hours/not need to worry about food or water.

[jguy]

I'm just going to point out that if I was the OP's DM I would totally regard this thread as cheating. If I create challengers for the players, it's the players' job to figure out how to handle them, not the internet's.

The DM has given no specifics for the Demon Wastes, just that it is big and has Demon/Devils in it. Everything I've listed is stuff I expect to need and I've asked if anyone else has any more ideas for us.

The Ring of Sustenance for all of us might be a good idea. Only needing 2 hours of sleep and no food means we can travel longer and don't need to keep watch much longer.

[blazingshadow]

if you still want that cart have the druid pull it while wildshaped as a horse

[jguy]

I was thinking Survival pouch to summon donkeys for traveling, then dismissing them at night as to not attract attention. Also, I could probably flip the cart at night and cover it with dirt and other things to make it look like a random hillock. Get a small tree and put it on top and sleep under the cart at night