Empire of Verzi IC

[Waitingnomad]

Hadia's Sheet (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=591537)
---------------------------------------------
A skeleton of its former glory, even after being stripped bare the great towering pyramid of the obsidian Verzi Palace forms a potent and imposing testament to the past strength of the empire. The surrounding fiefs, many once proud and propsperous cityscapes, have now largely degenerated into poverty, with the citizens of Verzi all but entirely stripped of their national pride. The Weeping Accord and the interference of the Foreign Council has crippled this once great nation, stripping its knowledge and resources- but still, the waters of discontent stir. The people speak, with quiet murmurs, though with each passing generation their voices become progressively weaker. Now, however, a true blood successor to the legacy of Maledictus has been born, and soon this nation will change; for better or worse, by blood, or fire, it will change.

OOC

And so we begin!

[Glarx]

Empress Hadia sat on her throne and looked around the empty auditorium. Where once hundreds would sit, waiting for the words and decisions of the Emperor, now there was nothing. Not even dust or cobwebs sat on the benches -- the unseen servants removed such debris, constantly keeping the throne room prepared for its first true audience in years. And that, thought Hadia, is what this palace is. A museum, a perfectly preserved mausoleum to the memory of the old world, the old ways, the old Empire. Time doesn't pass inside these walls. They wanted to make us stew in our own extravagance, to turn the people against us... they wanted to remind us what we could never have. The fools. They think they've destroyed the Verzi Empire? That they've mounted our heads above the mantle? Wrong!

She slammed a fist into the arm of the throne, gritting her teeth. The thought of the Foreign Council filled her with rage. But Hadia quelled that, pushed it deep with herself. Standing, feeling for the side satchel that held her various crystals, Hadia sent a jolt of power into her robes. It wouldn't do for her to be angry and unable to adequately voice her plea for the nations to surrender their claim over the province.

Moving to one of the teleportation circles and completing the rune to allow for full access throughout the palace, Hadia brought herself to the private study at the very top of the fortress. There, she had access to the various pens, inks, parchments, sealing waxes and whatever else she would need for this ruse.

Honored Members of the Foreign Council of Diplomatic Oversight, she began writing through clenched teeth, it has been only a short time since I have assumed the throne, although I learned from my father during his reign, may the Gods save his soul. During that time, I have come to appreciate your help in the governing of the Verzi Province, and in seeing to it that the terms of the Weeping Accord are seen to with exacting accuracy. Through your tireless efforts, my people have learned the error of the past, and I firmly believe that they have accepted their position in life. We endeavor each day, through the sweat and the toil, to pay back the world for the errors of previous generations.

However, has it not been said that the son of a murderer is not a murderer? Is it not unfair for a people to be enslaved for the foolishness and ambitions of the past? I ask you this: have we not paid back the damages we inflicted eight decades ago? For every ten bushels of apples we grow, nine leave our hands before we might choose what to do with them. For every ten bales of hay, nine are delivered to one of the thirty gates around our province to be distributed to the nine other provinces. For eighty years, the vast majority of our people's efforts have left the province, and my people are destined for this poverty for the duration of their lives. The urge for children is being quelled, as prospective parents question whether or not they ought to bring progeny into a life of slavery. The Weeping Accord has done its work -- the Verzi people have been stopped. How could we rise again, after so many years? The ruins of the Aggression still litter the province, while in every other land the reminders of the war are restricted to monuments, memorials. Does it please the nations of our world to see a fractured province in the middle of their lands?

Our people suffer. My father saw this, and he could not bear the pain of his people. He cast himself from the palace, giving up his life in an excruciating way. My father's death was a symbol of the Verzi Empire -- a slow death, crashing from the highest point down to the jagged bottom. My province has followed my father. We have crawled across the obsidian ridges, flaying off our skin and bleeding for the sins of our forefathers. Have we not bled enough? Does the pain of my people matter so little, due to the blood that saturates our bodies -- that very same blood that we now pour into the earth?

I ask you for independence. In the eighty years since the Verzi Aggression, we have raised no armies to fight you, we have given no sign of quarrel. We have taken our servitude gratefully, for we are grateful to survive. And now that I am empress, now that the eighth decade of our peace has begun, I ask that we be given a chance to lift from ourselves the shackles of the Weeping Accord.

You have seen my province. We are a poor people. The land remains rich. I ask for the chance to work it again, for ourselves. Please meet me in the Vexus Palace, regardless of your answer. I wish to show you my people and their suffering, to show you the penance we have paid for the actions of our forefathers.

Please consider my words, members of the Council. You hold the fate of our people in your hands.

She removed a small pin and stabbed her thigh with it, yelping and forcing tears to form. Then she let them fall over the paper, particularly on the area with her father's death and towards the end. A small act of pageantry, but Hadia wasn't so proud that she wouldn't fake tears over a letter. Once the letter had been stained appropriately, she folded it and placed it within an envelope, sealing it with wax and imprinting the seal with the royal crest from her ring. Thereafter, she took the teleporter down to the first level and handed the envelope to a messenger.

For the time being, that would be enough. She used the magic of her clothing to change her appearance to that of a normal Verzi citizen. It was time to scour the Empire for those who might hold the spark of ambition that her people once were renowned for. It was time to reassemble the Platinum Knights.

Infusion: Skill Enhancement. +2 to Diplomacy checks for 30 minutes.

[roll0] for the diplomacy check that is the letter to the Foreign Council.

Standard Action: activate collar of disguise, change form to that of an average citizen of Verzi instead of the Empress.

[roll1] for the first of many Gather Information checks regarding the province, and of any 'spirited' individuals. She'll speak with the police, go to inns, that sort of thing. The actual searching will take a while, I presume, since it's a big Empire. If you give me a 'Hadia might have heard something over from the Fifth Ring' then we can move on from there. :smallsmile:

EDIT: OUCH. Luckily skills can't critically fail, but yowza. I don't think Hadia's going to learn anything during the first day of searching. Eesh.

[Waitingnomad]

Through all her searching, Hadia is unable to turn up even the slightest hint of rebellion in Verzi's dilapidated people. Wherever she walks she sees poverty; homeless citizens and starving children line the streets, and everything seems empty. Empty of life, of people, of prosperity; the populations are dwindling, through disease and starvation, and a crippling infant mortality rate. What has been done here, to these citizens, is just as horrific as the violence of Verzi's war- this time turned upon the innocent. On the surface, they are a people sapped of the will to fight back any longer.

OOC

As this letter is, presumably, being sent out over a great distance by messenger, you are unlikely to see any response for several days. Whether you wish to expedite this by waiting or use the intermittent time to your own ends is of course up to you.

[Glarx]

The rage Hadia felt wasn't for the suffering and pain of these people, as she had written in the letter to the Foreign Council. That was a ploy. She was incensed by the lowness that had the Verzi Empire had been brought to. While she waited for the response, Hadia traveled to four points in a 'square' of sorts, with the Palace in the center. Each point was four miles away from the others, and roughly five point six miles away from the palace. At these four points, she activated some of the crystals that she had grown recently. Within a circular area of four miles -- a circle with a radius of two miles, that is -- the farmlands would produce a third more crops than normal throughout the year. There was very little overlap, such that the most area would be improved in this fashion. An empress had to set the table for the future, after all.

While she traveled to the various points on the square, she also spoke with the people, continuing her search for anyone who might have the fire of ambition still in their hearts. She worried that she'd need to improvise sooner or later, to either create her Platinum Knights as crystalline homunculi or some sort of golem, but if Hadia could find actual men and women devoted to the Province as she was, she preferred them.

So she searched, and asked around. It only took a day or two to ride to the points and cast the magic, infusing Verzi with the power of magic once more. But Hadia continued to speak with the people in the circles. After casting the four points, she gave instructions to her messenger on how to contact her once the response came, and then she went to the farthest reaches of her province to investigate the border towns, areas where there might be more lawlessness.

Let's hope for a better roll this time!

[roll0]!

Also, she cast four plant growths, as described above. I've removed the 'scrolls' from her inventory.

EDIT: No, but really. That just happened.

[Waitingnomad]

The dwindling infrastructure of Verzi has begotten banditry in the countrysides; where once the soldiers of the empire patrolled, now those who have decided their hunger would be best abated by the work of others see to it that their needs are met in whichever way they please. Whilst the Accord dictates that nine in every ten items of produce are given in tithe, the enforcement of this in the farthest reaches of the province is sparse at best. In parts both most affected and least effected, these people can lay claim to more than just a tenth of their produce, but often see it taken from them both by outlaws and the taxmen of the Accord, leading them to both thrive- at least moreso than is common in the current Verzi- and suffer in extremes. Nonetheless, even out here Hadia is unable to determine any signs of rebellion.

Unassuming in her current guise, Hadia manages to make her way to these far reaches mostly unmolested. However, a lonely target, however unladen, makes for an appealing one. On the long stretches of road between the capital and the far ends of the countryside of Verzi, long since stripped bare of even the sparse natural resources offered by the open planes, a group of swaggering individuals, bearing upon their breasts the symbol of the Weepers scatter themselves about a bridge spanning one of the few rivers running through the landscape. These are the men appointed by the Foreign Council to collect their nine-in-ten tithe, and their names are well deserved. Little more than thugs, they can be heard laughing loudly, joking with one another, as they sit atop a makeshift barricade across the small wooden bridge.

OOC

Mix things up a bit while you search :smallbiggrin: the dice do not seem to be your friend at the moment

[Glarx]

The Empress observed the men, counting how many there were and how close together they were.

[Waitingnomad]

There are four of them, sitting around close to one another upon the barricade.

[Glarx]

Reaching into her satchel, Empress Hadia removed a Deep Slumber crystal and quickly tossed the energy within at the four men, hoping to place them in a terrible sleep!

DC 17 Will to stop from being hit with sleepy time.

[Waitingnomad]

Three of them slump forward, immediately entering a deep slumber. The last stands up suddenly, confused and reaching downward to grab ahold of his sword. Turning to face Hadia, he exclaims loudly, moving towards her, his sword now at the ready. "Oi, witch! What have you done? I'll have you know we're soldiers of the Council!"

[Glarx]

Hadia held the crystal and it shifted colors, change from cloudy white to black. "Paid thugs, fools with the pretense to believe they're enacting some justice. You are vermin, stealing from my lands, and you've hobbled my citizens so that you might never find yourself being punished for your numerous crimes." She cast Ray of Enfeeblement on the last man standing. "I'm afraid you've made a mistake."

Move action: switch scrolls out (refluffed).
Standard action: cast spell.
Free action: be snarky.

[roll0] against his Touch AC.
[roll1] Strength penalty.

[Waitingnomad]

The remaining soldier stumbles upon being hit with the ray, and moves with heavy steps thereafter. Swearing, he raises his sword and charges the last few steps towards Hadia, bringing it down in a a curving arc towards what still appears to be a peasant woman. "Die, witch!"

However his weakened swing takes him too wide, and his sword slices nothing but air and buries itself in dirt.

OOC
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
By the way, my apologies in advance for the somewhat sparse posting on my front, I'm having a few computer issues at the moment. They should all be resolved within the next week or so.

[Glarx]

"I'm surprised you can even walk," the Empress said with a grin. She cast another Ray of Enfeeblement, attempting to make the weight of his armor and weapon too much for him to carry, while her hawk swooped in to attack!

[roll0] v. his touch AC.
[roll1] strength penalty.

[roll2] v. his normal AC.
[roll3] damage, min 1.

Oooo, a critical!

And no worries. :smallsmile:

[Waitingnomad]

He can, but only barely. The next ray nearly takes him to his knees, and each step becomes a labour of monumental exertion. The claws of the hawk strike him a bloody gash across the face, but fail to dig deep enough to do any true damage and his next swing falls labouriously through the air, shaking wildly as his arm struggles even to support the weight of the blade. It manages to make contact with Hadia, but such is the fragility of the swing there isn't enough force behind the blow to score more than a light gash across her arm.

OOC

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Roll to confirm the crit, though with the 11 points of Strength damage he's taken it probably won't make much difference :smallbiggrin:

[Glarx]

[roll0] v. Touch AC to confirm critical. I'll do my turn thereafter.
Newp.

[Glarx]

The Empress looked down at her attacker while Crellain went to her outstretched arm. The disguise dropped, and she stood there in her royal attire. "Assaulting the sovereign of a province, even the Verzi province... why, that's a capital crime." She closed her eyes and concentrated, the stone in her hand changing colors to a terrible, glossy purple. "It's just not your day." Her hawk swooped in to attack the man again while she cast a horrid spell on him.

Move action: Change scrolls (refluffed).
Standard action: cast Bonefiddle.
Free action: Snark.

Fort save 17 or he takes [roll0] damage.

Crellain attacks. [roll1] v. Normal AC.
[roll2] damage, 1 minimum.

[Waitingnomad]

He arches his back as the very bones within his body crack and snap beneath his skin. So wounded and sapped of his strength that he can barely lift his sword any more, he charges towards the queen, attempting to trip her to the ground before she can hurt him any further, but tumbles past, falling flat on his face behind Hadia, squirming pathetically on the floor to right himself.


OOC

Trip attempt: [roll0]
Strength check: [roll1]
(Has improved trip feat so you don't get an AoO
Edit: Ignore that.. critical miss! He's now prone.)

Fort: [successful]
Damage: [5]
(Already rolled this but needed to edit in a new roll)

[Glarx]

His Fort was successful? :smallconfused: And out of curiosity, do you roll damage, or do I? 17 and 5 are wildly different amounts of damage.

The Empress moved backwards, not wanting to get anything on her, and continued to maintain concentration on the spell. Crellain attacked again.

Move action: 30 feet forwards, away from the man. Provokes Attack of Opportunity. Can those be made while prone?
Standard action: continue bonefiddle. If I roll for damage, [roll0].

Crellain: [roll1] v. Normal AC.
[roll2] damage, minimum 1.

[Waitingnomad]

Sorry, my mind is in a complete muddle. You roll for damage, the [5] roll wasn't for you but for him, and got muddled completely when I was editing the post. Disregard everything there, and go with this: His trip attempt critically failed and he is now prone. He failed his fort save, meaning your attack was successful. And yes, I believe he does get an AoO while prone, but at a -4 to hit.
Thus: AoO on you for [roll0] to hit and [roll1] damage
Edit: Didn't see you continue Bonefiddle. He's quite dead.

As Hadia backs away he makes one last desperate slash at her with his blade, but misses completely before the hawk's claws sink deep into his throat and his bones crack and pull apart, leaving nothing but a desiccated corpse in place of what moments ago was a man.

[Glarx]

Hadia laughed, extending her hand and letting Crellain grab hold. She then took the man's sword, went to each of his sleeping comrades, and slit their throats. Afterwards, she converted the crystal to that of Animate Dead, converting the three sleepers into zombies. If she had the ability to do so, she'd also turn the Bonefiddler into one as well.

"In life, you stole from my people, ate our food, served our enemies. In death, you shall redeem yourselves. You shall fight for the Verzi Empire, and perhaps, in time, you will earn yourselves a proper afterlife." She put the disguise back on herself as however many zombies rose. "I may not be able to find people in my country who are willing to fight for our cause... so I'll make you do it. It's not a perfect solution yet, but..." She shrugged, placing the crystal back in the satchel to her side and continuing on.

Sleeping means they're helpless. Coup de grace. She can raise 12 HD of zombies with this scroll. Not sure if that allows for all four or not.

[Waitingnomad]

OOC
You can res them all and still have 2HD left. Their equipment is all studded leathers and longswords. Cumulatively they were carrying 120gp, some food and some bottles of cheap wine as well as basic traveling kit. The leader also had a dagger on him. You also gain 1000XP! The joys of solo, eh? All have 12HP minus the bonefiddled one, who has 10 from having his skeleton hacked up a bit. Feel free to dictate your next move from here.

[Glarx]

Out of curiosity, did you use the rules for Animate Undead's zombies in their creation?

With her new cadre of zombies, Empress Hadia began to return to the palace to see whether information had come from the Foreign Council. With her four zombies, Hadia wasn't going to be able to take on anyone in particular, but it would give her an edge over any other weepers she might find. If she did happen upon any others, she would engage them in combat.

The zombies would need to be disguised somehow. The blood from their butchering would probably be distracting...

[Waitingnomad]

Ugh, sorry I'm completely useless today. I just saw '12HD' and didn't think twice. In that case, you have the option of controlling 2 zombies, one of which will be HD 4 and the other HD 2, or 3 HD 2 zombies. One of the HD 2 zombies will have 10HP, the others will all have 12 and the HD4 zombie will have 19HP. Your HD cap is 6, as thats twice your caster level and you only gain one CL per level in gestalt. So this means one corpse left over, and no remaining HD.
Oh, and are you going to disguise them before returning to the palace? As a general note, I do award circumstance bonuses for extra attention to detail on top of the rolls via RP, particularly well-worded diplomacy or intimidate attempts etc.

[Glarx]

Oh right, you can control 4*CL zombies, but you can only raise 2*CL zombies with one casting. I'll cast the spell twice so that all four are following me.

From the SRD:

Regardless of the type of undead you create with this spell, you can’t create more HD of undead than twice your caster level with a single casting of animate dead. (The desecrate spell doubles this limit)

The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level.

My mistake -- I forgot I needed desecrate for it to be 1:1 instead of 2:1. :smallredface:

Re: your edit about disguising them, Hadia will have the newly risen zombies wash their not-yet-dried wounds and armor in the river where they were killed. Should make it reasonably indistinguishable from a distance. Sadly I have no mass illusions yet.

[Waitingnomad]

No worries :smallsmile: So yep, two scrolls used, 2HD of undead remaining, and all zombies are now under your command.
They arose, shambling and slow, spilling blood from the throats of their still-warm bodies. The bonefiddled weeper creaks as he moves, and walks with a twisted hunch, his body mangled beneath his armour. All are ready now to serve their new queen.

[Glarx]

After having them clean themselves off and pick up their weapons -- and try to snap into position the bones of the Bonefiddler -- Hadia continued back to the palace and searched for any additional Weepers on the way. She did so disguised, of course, and tried to time her march so that she would be returning to the palace near nightfall.

[Waitingnomad]

They were spread far and wide across the country, and on her return to the palace Hadia was able to hear of an officer staying in one of the nearby inns on the outskirts of the capital. The people were quick to speak of him, and whilst they held back from outright criticising him when there were so many ears nearby, their tone made it evident that his visit was poorly received. He drank ale he did not pay for, and groped all the barmaids shamelessly before retiring to someone else's room for the night, turning them out with the authority of the Council.

OOC
How are your zombie weeper friends traveling in relation to yourself? Are they nearby, and visibly in your presence, or are they hanging back so that they don't appear to be associated with you? And are they bearing a disguise or are they still dressed as weepers?

[Glarx]

Traveling as weepers and near her at the moment. Once she approaches the Capital City (Obsidian City I think I called it? Very tired, hard to remember...) she would drop her disguise so it was Empress Hadia and the weepers.

The Empress noted the inn with the captain, but needed to check her mail before she did anything else. Four weepers going missing? Not an issue. A captain? Might warrant an investigation. And she didn't have the clout or personal power to prevent that, or stop it once it began. Not yet. So she returned to the palace to read any responses, and if there were none, she would go to visit the captain.

[Waitingnomad]

Upon returning to the Vexus Palace she was greeted with a message from the Council. Should she choose to open it, it reads...

"To her Empress Hadia of Verzi, we thank you for your letter. Indeed, it is true that you are only recently ascended to the Obsidian Throne and it is of course for that reason that the Council sees fit to continue to guide Verzi through its troubles. Unfortunately, the hardships bourne by the Verzi Province, whilst saddening, are a weight that must be carried so that the other provinces may flourish. The good of the many outweighs the needs of the few, after all, and whilst once it was Verzi that rose high upon the backs of the many, it is now the solemn and important duty of the Council of Diplomatic Oversight to ensure that this balance remains righted.

It may indeed be said that the son of a murderer is not a murderer, but the blood of murderers runs thick in the veins of every citizen of Verzi. They were raised by murderers, and those murderers were raised alike. As such, is it not right that such a nation of sinners bears the burden that keeps the hardworking peoples of the other provinces aloft?

It is indeed an even heavier burden you bear, as leader of this decrepit province. Your father was too weak to bear it, and this is why the need for the Council is proved ever further. No, you will not have your independence until every transgression of the war is repaid tenfold. However, it is clear you are but young and naïve- perhaps the throne is too much weight for you to bear also. To this end, we will dispatch a team of advisors to the Vexus palace, to help you rule Verzi for the betterment of the allied provinces, and for Verzi."

[Glarx]

The Empress laughed, then went to find the Captain who was in one of her inns.

[Waitingnomad]

Awake now, and back downstairs with a flagon of ale in one hand and a very anxious-looking barmaid in the other, the Captain could be heard from several houses away. He was clearly having a fantastic time- and equally as clearly, he was the only one doing so. As the inn door opens to reveal Hadia and Her cadre of Weepers, much of the room descends into hushed tones, though in his drunken stupor, the Captain barely notices. Most of the room attempt some form of curtsey or bow, and those that do not are either to stunned or too drunk to do anything but stare in amazement.

[Glarx]

"Captain!" she began with false civility, one hand in her pocket, the other outstretched towards him. "I only just received word of your arrival in my lovely city, and I simply had to come here at once to greet you. A few of your men so courteously decided to join me for this stroll. So protective!"

She moved forward to take his hand in hers. "I understand you have been shown the heights of Verzi hospitality, is that not so?"

[Waitingnomad]

"Mmwhat? Eh? Another wench to warm m- oh wait- Empress! Is it the Empress? I must be drunk!" He lets out another large laugh, bellowing and loud. "Ahaa barkeep this is some fine ale if I'm seeing the Empress before me! Your girls have really outdone yourself, and all for me? I'm honoured!" He lets out another laugh, clearly oblivious that the woman standing before him is the true Empress, and not just a serving girl in fancy dress. He eyes Hadia up and down before turning to his 'men', the now enslaved corpses of former Weepers, and laughs once more. "Ah, I understand now, this is a present! A finely wrapped young wench for my enjoyment, eh? She's nice enough, but a bit scrawny by my eyes. Even so!" With his last comment, he raises a groping hand towards the Empress and attempts to stand. All the faces in the room are now masks of fear, horror and confusion, waiting mouths agape at what would happen next.

[Glarx]

The Empress reached out and took his hand -- before shooting terrible tendrils of ice through his body!

"Making such advances on the Empress! Even the Council would not stand for it."

Considering he's trying to touch her, I think the touch attack should automatically succeed. In case you disagree, [roll0] v. Touch AC.

[roll1] Dexterity Damage.

[Waitingnomad]

He reels back, shouting and swearing, and immediately reaches out to grasp his greatsword. He shouts out towards the zombie Weepers flanking Hadia for aid "Men! To arms! Help your captain!"

OOC

Initiative!
His: [roll0]
You go first, as that more or less qualifies as a surprise attack, but roll up your zombie friends.
His attack, whenever he makes it, will be against you, as he still assumes for the moment that the Weeper zombies are his allies.
To hit: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]
And his second attack:
To hit: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4]
If he hits, he bull rushes you and does not provoke an AoO: [roll5]
Both of his attacks hit for nonlethal damage at a -4 penalty- you might have just attacked him, but your recent attack has him worried you're the real Empress.
Oh and you need to make an opposed strength check.

[Glarx]

I don't actually know what the modifiers are for the zombies... :smallredface: But some d20s.

Bonefiddler: [roll0]
Sleeper 1:[roll1]
Sleeper 2:[roll2]
Sleeper 3:[roll3]
Crellain:[roll5]

Shivering Touch to Hit:[roll4]
Crellain to Hit:[roll6]

[roll7] if Shivering Touch hits again.
[roll8] damage, minimum 1 from Crellain.

All zombies will attack the captain.

Reaching out, the Empress drained away the last of the Captain's dexterity, leaving him paralyzed. Crellain took flight in the limited space and attacked the man's eyes, while the Weeping Corpses moved around the captain and prepared to dismember him.

"Captain, your Council punishes my people for being murderers. For being raised by murderers. Look around you. How many people are rushing to join? Hmm? NO ONE! Not a single soul is helping me, except for those I raised from the dead! We are not murderers, but this is what you have pushed me to, Captain! You and your Council! So understand this: this is your fault. You are to blame for this.

"Every day my people toil for the provinces. They fight a neverending war against the twin fronts of Hunger and Oppression. Your council feels this is just. They have sent me information claiming that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Instead of seeing what they have wrought, the Council sends advisers to me -- to me! -- as though I am foolish and unfit to rule for seeing that the Weeping Accord has choked the life out of this province for eighty terrible years!

"And I will not take it. No, oh no... I have no intention of laying down and allowing my empire to suffer under the inhumane conditions those fat imbeciles have imposed upon us! And while I awaited the reply to my plea to unshackle this province, do you know what I did? I searched. I observed. No one in my province raises a hand to their oppressors. You've broken them.

"But not me. And now, the men I killed, with the magic of Qu'o, those very men are going to eat your flesh and kill you slowly. And I might even raise you as a zombie afterwards. Or maybe a skeleton, depending on the damage to your muscles... and do you know why, Captain? Why I'm doing everything?

"It's all because of you. Now... I'll leave you to your men."

She slipped the crystal back into the satchel, watching as the zombies sheathed their swords and lowered themselves onto the paralyzed form of the captain, beginning the process of killing him via consumption. And the Empress watched.

Crellain watched the doors, making sure no one came in to attack Hadia while she monologued.

[Waitingnomad]

The room watched on in horror, many of them screaming and vomiting at the sight of the captain being devoured alive by the undead Weepers. One fell to his knees, praying in fast whispers. And one, one came forward. "Empress... make them sop. Please, Empress, I beg you. He... he was a bad man. He deserved to die. There, I said it!" He looked around at the shocked faces in the room. "Its true! 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?' Bah! The many have no more needs; everything they could possibly desire is provided by the slavery of our people. We live in poverty and squalor, barely managing to scrape a living under the weight of the Accord, and they think we haven't suffered enough because they still have needs?" He turned back towards Hadia. "You're right Empress. This needs to stop- but my sister is here. My mother. There are young women, even children in this room. This isn't something they should see." He got down slowly to his knees and prostrated himself, awaiting her response.

[Glarx]

"Cease, minions. Your prey is dead." Hadia turned her attention on the man who had spoken to her. "You... what is your name?"

[Waitingnomad]

He rose, and bowed again, shakily. The man was tall and muscular, albeit a wiry, lean muscle. From his standing it was evident that he was no fighter, but at the same time his stoutness in the face of such gore betrayed a familiarity, if not any proficiency, with violence. "Thank you, Empress. They will sleep easier tonight. I am Kendrick, if it pleases your majesty."

[Glarx]

"Mm. Kendrick, do you have any friends who think the same as you, or are these thoughts you've expressed your own, hidden away and never expressed until now?" Crellain turned his hawky head and examined the man before her.

Empress Hadia considered what the Captain's gear was and weighed the merits of raising him, since one of her zombies would probably be destroyed in the process. Then again, the Bonefiddler had been mangled rather heavily... replacing him with someone superior would be useful.

Did we go with Pathfinder feat progression or no? I just cleared my inbox messages like an idiot and forgot to check. :smallfrown:

[Waitingnomad]

"Empress...I... I think many people harbor similar opinions but are too afraid to voice them. Something like this, if you make it known, then... then they may feel they can speak up. That their words will mean something. There's another who I know... a man named Vas... and a woman. Rita. I can speak to them, but what would you have me do?"

As for the body of the deceased captain, Hadia's zombies have gnawed away enough of his flesh to render the process of zombification somewhat difficult. His skeleton, on the other hand, remains almost entirely undamaged.

OOC

Pathfinder progression is OK; as for the Captain, resurrecting him will mean you have to drop all of your zombies to meet the HD requirement. As for your zombies, pre-zombification they were first level fighters of the thug variant. I can't quite remember what stats they had, so say 14 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 8 Int, 9 Wis, 8 Cha and apply the undead template to them. The Captain was 6th level, which means a 12HD skeleton. All zombies/skeles get full hp at first and average each level from then on.

[Glarx]

"Word will spread of my rebellion, even if it is simply me. I can only hope they will see this as a simple insurrection and treat it as such. If not, we will all die." Hadia scratched Crellion under the beak with her free hand.

"Speak with them. And if they know of others, speak with them. Collect everyone and gather in the Palace over the next few days. I shall see what we have to work with for Verzi's bid for independence."

:smallconfused:

1 class level = 1 HD, I thought. Can you link me to something that says otherwise? If I've been doing HD wrong, I'd really like to know! :smalleek:

[Waitingnomad]

"Yes, Empress, I will. Um... shall we dispose of the body, or..." He gulps and nods towards your zombie minions. "Give me two days, and I'll come. I don't know how many will follow, but as word spreads I'm sure more will join us. I can only hope."



Hit Dice: Drop any Hit Dice from class levels (to a minimum of 1), double the number of Hit Dice left, and raise them to d12s. If the base creature has more than 10 Hit Dice (not counting those gained with experience), it can’t be made into a zombie with the animate dead spell.
If I'm reading this right, then if creature HD=level, that means that rezzing a 1HD fighter results in a 2HD zombie with d12s and so on. I have to say, my experience with necromancy is almost nil, so I may be reading the RAW horrifically wrong. If so, don't hesitate to correct me.

[Glarx]

In every source I've ever seen, there are HD and RHD. Humans have no RHD. So HD = CL. Thus, a level 1 fighter has 1 HD. Raising him would create a 1 HD zombie or skeleton. Et ctera.

"Everyone, leave the area. I will deal with the late Captain myself. And I would so dislike for anyone else to be scarred by tonight's... entertainment. In two days, Kendrick. I will be waiting."

[Waitingnomad]

OOC

Thats what I thought until I saw that on the SRD! :smallbiggrin: It certainly makes more sense. In that case, you can take the Captain for 6HD and the other zombies will take you up to 5, for a total of 11HD of zombies and skeles under your control. Sound right? Anyway...
Do you have business to attend to, or shall we timeskip to the palace in two days time?

[Glarx]

Nope, time skip away! :smallsmile:

[Waitingnomad]

Gathered in the palace stand a smal group of very different-looking individuals. Four, in total. Not quite an army, but then again, what can be expected at such short notice? It may not be an army, but it could be the beginnings of one. There is Kendrick, the man from the inn, a woman of medium height and build with short black hair and a wiry musculature about her. This must be Rita. There are two more men, also. One must be Vas, and the other is a new individual entirely. Kendrick stepped forward and began to speak. "Empress, I'm sorry I could not gather more, but... well, I did not know who I could trust. The wrong word in the wrong ear, and my life is forfeit. This is Rita" spoke Kendrick, gesturing towards the woman, "And this is Vas, the two I spoke of." With this he gestures to one of the two men; this one tall and broad-shouldered, with red hair and a ruddy complexion. The last one, a smaller, stockier man with a short beard and a head of scruffy brown hair, stood awkwardly to attention. "This is Rikkon, another friend. We are all ready to serve your majesty, if you will have us."

[Glarx]

Oh, did I get experience for taking down the level 6 dude? :smallsmile:

Hadia nodded, her five Weepers behind her. "Four is more than I had two days ago. Thank you for bringing these people to me, Kendrick. All of you... I intend to remove the Foreign Council, either by force or coercion. If you wish to see the Verzi Empire thrive once more, if you crave to free your fellow citizens from the oppressive, choking grip of the Weeping Accord, then I will help you. And you will help me. Together, nothing will stand in our way. But for this to work, you must trust me. The road to victory is not without sacrifice, but know this: I have the Empire's best intentions at heart.

"We will succeed, but only if you are able to trust me, to follow my instructions. If you are afraid, if you will shirk at doing what is necessary in order to achieve victory, then leave me. There is no shame in that. It is the state of our province that many good men and women blanch at the thought of doing what is necessary. And I hold no hatred or contempt for my citizens. So if you will be a liability, if you cannot do what must be done, then leave. Tell no one of this. And when we achieve victory, you will still revel in it. There is no punishment for backing out now."

She looked at each of the four in their eyes, while the zombies and skeleton made no noise. Crellain looked at each before turning and looking at Hadia.

[Waitingnomad]

"We are with you, Empress." Each member spoke in turn, giving their assent. "But none of us can fight... not properly. We are untrained and inexperienced. We will do as the Empress asks of us, but I'm afraid out usefulness is only measured by our skills."

OOC

You do! 600XP in the bank for that one. I figure you might want to train your new recruits up a bit. Those levels in commoner aren't doing them many favours :smallwink: whatever you train them in will replace their level in commoner with a respective level in whichever class they enter, and of course the class they enter needs some sort of justification as to how they came across those skills.

[Glarx]

She waved her hand dismissively. "My various tutors are going to train each of you in a different art. I intend to make use of potions and tinctures to improve your physique, to improve your mind. When I am done with you, you will all be better suited to the life of the rebel. It is irreversible, however. If you do this, you will not be able to return to your lives as normal citizens. And when we recover our province from the hands of those who would consume us, you will have places of power among the government." Empress Hadia motioned for the group to follow her, beginning to navigate the great labyrinth that took up the majority of the first floor of the palace.

Time skip to when they've been trained or when the advisers arrive, whichever comes first?

[Waitingnomad]

OOC

What are you training them as/in? They all get class levels. The advisors will arrive first, as any form of formalised combat training is going to take awhile, however if you need them for anything you can treat their commoner levels as warrior/expert/adept levels depending on what you deign to train them as, and say they're 'half-trained'. That way you actually get to use them for something if you need them during the advisor's visit. They all start at first level, but assuming you send them on missions and the like, they'll quickly toughen up and I'll just ad-hoc the XP.

[Glarx]

Presuming my precious children aren't gestalt as well:

Kendrick: Warblade

Rita: Druid

Vas: Human Paragon

Rikkon: Wizard

[Waitingnomad]

Indeed not! I haven't made characters for them, so feel free to draw them up from a 32PB and allot whichever portion of your wealth you see fit to arm and armour them.
Anywho: TIMESKIP
http://www.ogilvie-fleet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/delorean_01.jpg

There was a great deal of unrest within the palace at the arrival of the advisors, and it was inarguable that their appearance was not received with anything less than an almost forced restraint from hostility. Six of them in total, dressed in grand robes and officious and overbearing in nature, they strode towards Hadia and began to speak. "We have heard some disturbing news on our visit here- that you personally assaulted and killed a member of the Council's own tax collectors. Now, personally I see this as absurd- you are but a child, and he an accomplished soldier in his own right, but the extent of your magical education worries us that the case may be otherwise. Perhaps you can elucidate on the matter?" They spoke tensely, and it was noticeable that with them came their own contingent of guards- and none of them looked like simple amateurs.

[Glarx]

Considering I haven't received very much money this level since char-gen, I'm kinda unable to give people a portion of my wealth. :smallfrown:

How many guards?

[Waitingnomad]

Point. Hmm, well I'm sure you can steal some basic equipment like longswords and chain shirts from the palace armoury, and there's the stuff you looted off of the Weepers and the Weeper captain (A Masterwork dagger, a +1 Brutal Surge great-sword, Masterwork half-plate and about 600gp)
Also, there are 8 guards, and they look about as tough as the captain.

[Glarx]

The Empress laughed. "Learned gentlemen, please. As though I could kill a man!" She giggled into the back of her hand and straightened on the throne -- for indeed, she would receive them in the throne room.

"I have had only the most basic training in the magical theory of Qu'o. By their ranking system, I can barely cast the First Circle spells. And even then they aren't particularly remarkable spells... oh! I can clean clothing with my magic, and I can create caltrops!" She smiled happily.

[Waitingnomad]

OOC

Can you make a bluff check?

[Glarx]

She isn't lying about the magic, so I would rather not make one for that.

As for the 'Me? Murder?' Sure. [roll0].

Not entirely sure how to go about defeating 14 people, when 8 of them are quite clearly three levels higher than me. Not without using cheese. Which I'm fine with doing, but it does feel a bit silly.

Then again, a level three against eight level 6s is pretty silly from the get-go.

[Waitingnomad]

OOC

Indeed, I was referring generally to the whole 'I'm a harmless, innocent and naïve young girl' play she had going on there.


Visibly relaxing, though still slightly on edge, the advisor spoke again "Well, thats what we thought. Good. Yes. Anyway, I am lord Yul, my companions are lords Sennor, Greywick, Thanwel, Pycus and Glennin. Our journey was long, so will you have your servants show us to our quarters so that we may rest for the night?" The men, despite their introductions, are all rather indistinguishable beneath their robes. All are of similar height and build, with thin, wispy grey hair and beards.

[Glarx]

Ah. That's how.

Hadia nodded, and several invisible servants (their presence made known by the floating white gloves each wore on one hand) came from the room to show the men to their rooms.

Their rooms, which were several floors down. Without Hadia to activate the teleportation circle, it looked like it was the stairs for these men.

Long, tedious stairs.

Life was about the small victories.

She would need to quickly attune a crystal to a specific frequency in order to allow for what she had planned for the night. Each guard, taken alone, would be simple to rid herself of. It was en masse that they posed a significant threat. By getting the drop on the men, she could take care of them swiftly and silently. There were fourteen foes.

The Empress took the teleportation circle to her private study, locked the door, and began making the new crystals...

[Waitingnomad]

Indeed :smallbiggrin: They're going to be here for a long while yet, so you have plenty of time to plan your next move. Your level one 'children' will be ready in a month. How have you quartered the advisors, by the way? Are they all in separate rooms, or separate chambers within one large room?

[Glarx]

In the Suite level of the guest quarters, which is beneath the division between the palace qua fortress and the palace qua palace -- in other words, the nicest rooms that aren't in the proper Royalty area.

So they're in separate suites that are spaced apart from each other, with their own little bathrooms and closets and white-gloved servants.

Smaller bedrooms have been provided for the guards on the same level.

We'll see if all eighteen last the night, let alone the month... but for now, I need to do some research on spells between level 1 to 3. :smallsmile:

[Waitingnomad]

Let me know when you're ready to move on. As for the guards, they are obviously patrolling throughout the night, though they take shifts.

[Glarx]

Actually, while I could conceivably kill all 14 of them in a single night, that's not ultimately the wisest course of action. Judging by the overreaction of the advisers to a potential threat, the Council is actually taking this place seriously, which is annoying. After 80 years you'd think they'd've taken it for granted.

So never mind, ignore this post. I need to sleep and consider what to do. While I want to murder, that doesn't seem conducive to the game.

[Waitingnomad]

The old man was disrobed now, wearing silk linens across his bent frame. He sat, hunched and deeply focused, over a pile of books and papers at a desk in front of him. The only light in the room was a the lamp hanging above the desk, its mellow light basking the room in a dim yellow glow. Yul was clearly deeply absorbed by his work.

[Glarx]

Hadia waited, training and alchemically enhancing her four soldiers over the course of the month. She had the upper levels of the palace locked off, so that the Royal Palace itself was unable to be reached. For a brief moment she entertained the notion of slipping into each of the adviser's rooms, waiting until they were asleep and cutting off their heads, and then hunting down each guard with a combination of the darkness and silence spells in addition to her undead minions. But it wouldn't do. She needed the ability to fight off the Council, and the few individuals she had currently weren't enough.

She couldn't control great swaths of the undead. Despite her ability to best the guards one on one, the Empress couldn't protect her people from the other provinces.

So for the time being she would play nice with the advisers. She would ignore them until meal times. Since they were really just here to keep an eye on her, she denied them that ability, hiding in the vast palace and making sure they were contained downstairs. The title Emperor or Empress was a worthless one. No decisions were made, no people were inspired.

And so Hadia watched her four students grow and planned on how best to successfully plan this coup.

But damn if I didn't have a good plan.

What's the money per month looking like?

[Waitingnomad]

Pretty nonexistant. The guards around the palace are fairly sparse, and if it wasn't for the Unseen Servants then there wouldn't really be any at all. At the moment, near enough every gp Verzi makes goes right back into keeping the province on its knees rather than sprawled across the floor. That said, you are the empress so you could see if you can jiggle the national finances around a bit in a way that won't set the advisors off, though doing so could cause you to be seen more negatively in the eyes of the people and impact your recruitment margins.

Generally, while it seems somewhat less realistic, I'd prefer to keep any form of regular income to an absolute minimum in order to control WBL, and have you derive your own personal spending money by other means to help maintain balance. All money generated by the state can be generally handwaved as being re-invested into the state, though of course when Verzi is back on its feet I consider such things as providing rations and the like for your armies and palace guard to be covered by these expenses. Things like personal guard, elite strike units, special forces (like your current recruits) and such similar groups will be funded personally by you. The amount of number crunching involved in figuring out the income and expendature of a nation is a little more than I want to handle :smallbiggrin:. Much handwaving will be involved, I'm sure.

Edit: All that said, you do have a nation to provide for so your WBL is going to be higher than normal.

[Glarx]

Well then, I'll just have to sell scrolls and make money that way.

Do the advisers ask any questions worth writing out at the moment, or are they pretty much just lame?

[Waitingnomad]

They're just enjoying themselves at the expense of Verzi for now, though I'm sure they will find plenty reason to interfere as soon as anything goes amiss in the province...
Or indeed, in the palace.

[Glarx]

I think I need to leave Verzi for a little while, go level up a few times and then return with an army of people I've convinced in the outside world to act as my rebellion. Heading over to Ralla'binti or Maliz seems like it wouldn't be a terrible idea. Cause some trouble, pretty much dungeon crawl for a little bit, then come back with my crew to take action. Since the advisers don't seem to be doing anything with Hadia, and they can't make use of the teleportation circles, locking down the palace's Royal Section and then heading out seems like a viable solution.


I need to level before I can start taking these people on. They're significantly higher level than I am and consistently have the numbers on me.
I need to level, and the only experience so far has been from combat. As such, I presume things like writing letters to the Council isn't going to be gaining me levels. For this reason, becoming a raider is pretty important.
I need money. The only way I can sell my scrolls is if I head out of the terribly impoverished Verzi Province to areas where such things would be useful and a market existed for them.


Thoughts?

[Waitingnomad]

I'm afraid I hadn't really considered awarding XP for things such as letter writing and other noncombat 'experiences', as your gestalt made my mind immediately jump to thoughts of Hadia being regularly embroiled in combat. However, now you've brought it up I would be very happy to award XP for things like that, though I'd have to have a little think about the scaling of it. Nonetheless, say 300XP for the initial letter to the council. Additional XP would also be awarded for completed 'tasks', for example the advisors are hardly going to net you much in the way of combat XP but removing them would net XP for having accomplished that 'task' with potential bonus XP for doing it in certain ways, and so on. I'm trying to keep things as sandbox as possible, so if you want bigger fights you will have to look for them.

As for leaving Verzi, you will need to find a way of justifying your departure to the advisors, or making your travels short enough that they won't notice, or somehow otherwise providing a distraction that may allow you more freedom from the capital. Their role, in its entirety, is to ensure that you sit about doing nothing like a good little figurehead, and any deal of known independent movement coupled with reported changes are going to make them think suspiciously. Furthermore, if they see you absent from the capital for any significant length of time they may decide to take a more... active role in government.

That is indeed one way of making money, but others certainly exist. Of course, due to heavy taxation, most of your income mediums are going to be less than legal by terms of the accord and so you will have to plan appropriately in order to avoid such issues. Honestly, if you can think of a way to do it then I don't really mind how you go about it. These things are obstacles, not barriers, and have been designed as such. Hopefully that provides you with more of an idea as to how to plan your next move.

[Glarx]

I certainly didn't intend to be embroiled in combat all the time. A self sustaining cycle, it would seem -- I did combat to get experience, you gave experience through combat because that's what I was doing, et cetera.
Since they can't get upstairs, they couldn't find out she was gone. It's a gigantic palace, and it has a maze as its entire first floor. This isn't the sort of place where someone not part of the family is just going to intuitively know how to traverse. And if your entire childhood was spent exploring and hiding...
She can disguise herself magically, so getting out of the palace isn't too hard.
Again, she isn't going to be Empress Hadia selling you X, Y, Z. She'd in mystic disguise. :smallwink:
The advisers might not give me experience, but those guards would. They're three levels my senior. :smallannoyed:
No, I'm still trying to figure out what to do. Being level three does not lend itself to very great feats of daring-do.

Hadia left the Royal Section of the palace and headed to where Lord Yul was residing.

[Waitingnomad]

They would still expect to be able to interact with Hadia to check up on her etc. And though they may not know their way around they would mislike being ignored. But yes, I'll award experience based upon your actions, not necessarily just for combat. Like you said, if you fight then you get XP for that, if you invest yourself into diplomatic situations and similar such things then you will get XP there and so on and so forth for whichever 'encounter', be it violent or no, you are involved in.

My meaning with regards to the advisors is that whilst you would get combat XP from the guards, you would also get 'quest' XP from having successfully completed your aim of eliminating the advisors, despite them not giving you much in the way of experience from the actual act of their elimination, what with being defenceless old men. Thus you would get XP from killing the guards AND 'quest complete' XP, and potentially bonus XP from killing the advisors and successfully using their deaths to your political advantage, and so on.

Also, is she heading there in 'person' or still as an altered-form gaseous creature?

[Glarx]

As herself. Flying floating invisible gas creature isn't coming out yet. I realize as I speak with you that a reason I'm having difficulty with the situation is there's still stuff I don't know. And the only way to find out is to ask. :smallbiggrin:

[Waitingnomad]

As you enter the suite area in which the advisors are stationed, one of the guards moves forwards to intercept you. He is tall, muscular and scarred. An obvious veteran. He wears what appears to be half-plate armour over a thick, deep green vest. Upon the armour is the nine-branched white tree, the symbol of the council, and next to it what looks like a blue circle with a line dividing it cleanly through the middle. A huge sword lies slung across the back of the man, the blade alone even longer than the full height of the man himself. Another man, similarly garbed, stands further down the corridor, eyeing Hadia silently- the other guards cannot be seen.. The first man speaks, his voice like gravel. "Their lordships are sleeping... Empress. What is your business here?"

[Glarx]

"They are my advisers, guard. They exist to advise. They are failing at that task, and I have questions for them. Considering their age, I would rather get their wisdom before they all die."

[roll0] on the intimidate check.

Sorry, that should be 2 higher, there're skill synergies I didn't record. Apparently being trained in bluff makes you a better intimidator?

[Waitingnomad]

Taken aback at such harsh words from what appears to be nothing more or less than a young teenage girl, the guard reels slightly. "Um... well... fine then. Go ahead." He nods to the guard standing further down the hall, and steps hastily to the side to let you pass.

[Glarx]

Hadia entered the room where Lord Yul was currently residing, presuming all the advisers weren't currently up playing backgammon or something of the sort. In the pocket of her robe was a small crystal, ready to be used at a moment's notice.

After all, if the guards had gotten uppity, she would have needed to make an example out of them...

[Waitingnomad]

You enter to see Lord Yul still hunched over his table, so absorbed in his work (and likely hard of hearing) that he does not notice you enter.

[Glarx]

Standard Action: Charm Person. (Will Save, DC 15)

That's a really small DC, actually. Oh well!

Also, [roll0] Diplomacy.

Tapping the crystal, she cast a spell at the old man in the room. After a few moments of waiting, she cleared her throat.

"Lord Yul. It would seem the guards were mistaken in their estimation that you would be resting. I have need of your experience."

[Waitingnomad]

He jumped in his seat in surprise at the sudden voice behind him, before slowly shuffling around and speaking, "Hmm? What? Eh? Oh, its you, Empress. Yes, I was just going through some papers. How may I help you?"


He passed on the save, but he's still helpful.

[Glarx]

"In the response from the Council, I was informed my province needed to repay history tenfold. I wished to determine how much we had repaid so far."

[Waitingnomad]

"Hmm? Well. The Verzi have certainly served well under the Accord, but the cost of war isn't just monetary. Indeed, the Verzi have repaid the material cost of the war, though only just. However, this says nothing for the lives lost and families destroyed by the war. Even when accounting for the material costs, those repaid are only the immediate costs of the war- those lost lives, tragic as they undoubtedly are, also posed a greater economic impact. The men that did not return from war are men that did not return to till the fields of their home provinces, or work in the cities. The economies of all the provinces suffered as a result. Whilst it is of course regrettable that the Verzi people suffer, they do so that the provinces wounded by their elders may recover to their former glory. Of course, I understand why you may feel this way. You see the hardships of your people every day, and you are still but a child and cannot be expected to see this bigger picture, or understand it. It is for this purpose that we are here to advise you, and I see now how apt a decision that was." He spoke calmly and confidently, although reciting a rehearsed speech, though his words did not betray dishonesty.

[Glarx]

She walked over to him until she was only a foot away. "Lord Yul, how much of the debt have we to repay. It isn't a difficult question. You say we've repaid the monetary amount. Excellent. Then how much more do we have to pay?"

[Waitingnomad]

His eyes narrowed somewhat, and he began to speak again. "Empress, I understand your agitation, but the impertinence of your tone is most unacceptable. You have repaid the immediate monetary cost of the war itself, not the long-term economic impact. And you have not repaid the lives lost- lives taken by Verzi soldiers. Many of them civilian lives, and done so out of nothing more than greed. I fear that this is a price that will never be repaid, though that is not my decision to make. Indeed, the extent of what Verzi must yet repay is something to be decided upon by the Council. Until then, the Accord stands in the fullest of its terms."

[Glarx]

"No. You wish to speak of impertinence, old man? Fine then. Let us have a lecture upon the impertinence of this world. You pathetic bureaucrats have been attempting, over the course of eighty years, to morally justify the slavery of an entire province. The cost of the war would have been covered in ten. I know this because I CALCULATED THE COST! I did my research! The output of this province is incredible! We are an inherently blessed people because of the land we live on! And you lie to me, you speak these imbecilic words that you rehearse, constantly attempting to force yourself into forgetting that the food you eat comes from MY PEOPLE. That everything you have now is because of the slavery and destitution of MY PEOPLE.

"Over eighty years, you're right, I haven't given you more citizens. Know why? BECAUSE YOU WON'T LET ME. You forbid emigration! So of course we can't bloody repay the people! But that doesn't mean you lot haven't! Thanks to my bread and my grain and my livestock, your women can lay heavy with child at all times! So don't give me that bull****, Yul. We both know the population equalized years ago.

"And you know what? The Accord is broken. Your recourse -- well, not your recourse, but the recourse of your Council -- is to go to war. To invade a province that is poor and cannot defend itself, and to slaughter its people in cold blood. You claim we are murderers -- well then. Let's see if your people are willing to stoop to our supposed level, while we can do nothing to defend ourselves.

"And before I let your armies come, I will poison every well, salt every ounce of this earth, and your provinces will suffer from their sudden lack of free food. It is the bounty of Verzi that keeps your populations level. I wonder how long the alliances will last when the hunger hits? I wonder how your people will handle the agony, the constant pain, the suffering.

"The Weeping Accord was written under duress, and its terms are guarded by fear. Well, Yul? I have no more fear. My people have no more fear. You will either lose the food of the whole Verzi province, or you will acknowledge our independence and allow us to remove the chains around our necks. But we are done paying for a war we never committed. We are done spending our lives to pay a debt our foes haven't taken the time to double check."

[Waitingnomad]

Yul sat there for a moment, reeling in shock at the sudden tirade he had just received. Completely unable to summon a response, he stammered and stuttered, his expressin swinging between confusion, anger and fear. "Empress- you can't- I mean, think abou- you can't possibly-" He stumbled up to his feet, and began to stride towards the door. "Guards! Guards!"


At any point you may deign to... incapacitate Yul before he summons the guards. That said, wow. Just, wow. I have as many words as he does.

Incidentally, where, during all this, are your recruits stationed?

[Glarx]

The Empress reached into her pocket and activated the crystal, casting Hold Person on the man before he began calling for the guards.

Will DC 17.

The zombies and the recruits are currently upstairs in the Royal Section.

I believe I was allowed to 'act' before he summoned the guards, if I understood your statement correctly.

[Waitingnomad]

I keep forgetting to roll these in the spoilers. He nat 20'd and has Will coming out the wazoo, so no such luck. Man's a venerable aristocrat. I hope you have a contingency in place... I imagine you must have anticipated something like this before you declared war on him.

*And yes, you had enough time to cast on him before he summoned them- unfortunately he passed the save.

I always assume zombies under your command as controlled via telepathic link, so you can summon your zombies from where you stand. Presumably, you could use one of these zombies to attempt to communicate with your recruits also.


Eyes bulging, he shrugs off the magical attack with ease. "The council will hear of this! Guards!" Within moments the man to whom you spoke outside enters, his hand on the gigantic sword strapped to his back. "Lord Yul? What's the matter? I heard arguing, and then-" He was cut off by the elderly aristocrat stumbling past him and attempting to push his way into the hallway.

[Glarx]

"Assassin!" she shouted, pointing at the old man, eyes wide with fright. "A Maliz assassin! Protect the advisers from that man!"

[roll0] for Bluff.

[Waitingnomad]

[roll0] for Sense Motive
http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l538/pauldonahue717/obama-not-bad-face.jpg


Stunned momentarily by the sudden turn of events, the guards reeled before reasserting himself. Turning back to the hallway he called out "What? Assassin? Guards! Restrain Lord Yul! Protect the advisors!"

[Glarx]

Hadia ran out of the room and away from the hubbub, reaching the teleportation circle and making use of it to ascend to her study. There, she took her five zombies, turned herself into a Qu'o abomination, gave herself False Life and Greater Mage Armor, and then returned back to the adviser's level. It was time to end this charade.

[roll0] temporary hit points. It would probably take two minutes to get there, buff, and get back with the zombies.

RE: Meme

Thanks! Sometimes a well placed bluff can really get things going. Just wait 'til (if) I get to level 5. Then I get permanent glibness for +30 to lying. :smallbiggrin:

Also then I can make magical arms and armor. God. That's going to be nice.

[Waitingnomad]

Do you have sheets ready for your recruits? I have to say, I didn't expect you to declare war quite so early :smallbiggrin: I fear they may be somewhat underleveled for this experience. That said, they sure as hell won't be after this. Those that survive, anyway.

And permanent glibness sounds... horrifying. :smallwink:


As you return to the suite, you discover a furious Lord Yul conversing ferociously with a now-angry guard. As you approach, its clear that the situation has now been explained in full, and the guard is fully alert to the possibility of an attack. He's soon proven right by your approach, and he draws his sword while shouting down the hallway at his fellow guard. "Wake the others! Assassins! Protect the advisors!" Lord Yul, now terrified, turns and runs back towards his suite as fast as his emaciated old legs will carry him. Assuming a low combat stance, he prepares to receive your attack.

[Glarx]

"THE HORRORS OF QU'O GREET YOU, OH MIGHTY COUNCIL!" the distorted voice of the Empress shrieked. The five undead creatures ran forward to attack the first guard, while the Empress assaulted Yul with a Bone Fiddle attack.

All of my recruits are still upstairs, and no, I haven't made sheets for them yet. Zombies and skeletons are more disposable.

Fort Save 17 or Yul takes [roll0] points of damage.

[Waitingnomad]

Fort: [roll0]

[Waitingnomad]

Zombie mob initiative: [roll0]
Guard: [roll1]

Do you want to control the zombies or shall I?
They're all basically first level fighters, apart from the captain who's a sixth level fighter.
All stats are as follows, with the zombie template applied (as I can't remember their individual stats) 18 Str, 10 Dex, - Con, - Int, 10 Wis, 1 Cha, though cap gets 20 Str and 12 Dex.
They would therefore have an AC of 17, as they are equipped with chain and gain +2 nat armour, but cap gets 20 due to his half plate. Their weapons are all greatswords, apart from the cap, who has a +1 brutal surge greatsword which allows him to make bull rush attempts for free when he lands a successful hit. All have 15hp, excepting the cap who has 37 and mr fiddles who has 13. I forgot all zombies gain toughness.


Yul shrieks and immediately collapses in a heap on the flaw, cracking sounds coming from his writhing body.

[Glarx]

If you want to abstract the zombies' and skeleton's actions I wouldn't mind. I can direct them, but actually doing their attacks and such isn't too important to me.

[Waitingnomad]

Fair enough. Unless you want them doing anything special, I'll have them bashing away like the mindless drones they are. Cap can use his bull rush.
Zombie 1 attack: [Roll]1d20+5[Roll]
Damage: [Roll]1d20+4[Roll]

Zombie 2 attack: [Roll]1d20+5[Roll]
Damage: [Roll]1d20+4[Roll]

Zombie 3 attack: [Roll]1d20+5[Roll]
Damage: [Roll]1d20+4[Roll]

Zombie 4 attack: [Roll]1d20+5[Roll]
Damage: [Roll]1d20+4[Roll]

The Cap attack numero uno: [Roll]1d20+11[Roll]
Damage: [Roll]1d20+5[Roll]
and the second... [Roll]1d20+6[Roll]
[Roll]1d20+5[Roll]

If hits, Bull Rush: [Roll]1d20+11[Roll]

Guard AoO Steely Strike: [Roll]1d20+11[Roll] for [roll0]
Second attack, Steel Wind vs the Cap and Zombie 2: [roll1] for [roll2]
+2 AC vs the Cap, -2 Vs. Everyone else.

If he gets this far... Guard attacks the Cap:
One: [Roll]1d20+7[Roll] for [roll3]
Two: [Roll]1d20+2[Roll] for [roll4]

[Waitingnomad]

Fair enough. Unless you want them doing anything special, I'll have them bashing away like the mindless drones they are. Cap can use his bull rush.

Edit: Damn, didn't include the '/'
Zombie 1 attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Zombie 2 attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

Zombie 3 attack: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

Zombie 4 attack: [roll6]
Damage: [roll7]

The Cap attack numero uno: [roll8]
Damage: [roll9]
and the second... [roll10]
[roll11]

If hits, Bull Rush: [roll12]

[Glarx]

Why is he getting an Attack of Opportunity?

Also:

The captain was a level 6 fighter, but the guards are freakin' warblades? :smallannoyed:

I no longer feel bad about my Shivering Touch usage.

A quick mention on tone -- I'm being silly, like, 100% of the time when I'm writing in these spoilers, so please never think I'm actually angry or anything like that. It's just comedic observations and commentary. :smallredface:

[Waitingnomad]

Still working out the results of everything. Number crunching minion control kills me :smalltongue: And they aren't 6th level warblades, fear not. I'm not so cruel as to throw 8 sixth level full warblades at you and your zombies!

His AoO on the cap is due to the Bull Rush. He's a zombie now, so he doesn't observe the benefit of his Improved Bull Rush feat any longer, much, I am sure, to his null Int disappointment.

Feats: A zombie loses all feats of the base creature and gains Toughness.

[Waitingnomad]

Aghh numbers all over the place. Fiddles scored a crit though, so good on him. Shocking effort from the cap on his bullrush though.

Damage from zombies, not rolled as a d20 this time...

[roll0]
[roll1]

Confirm Crit: [roll2] [roll3]

Opposed strength check from the guard: [roll4]

AND FINALLY...


The guard receives a deep slice from one zombie, only barely being able to return the blow in kind, and the bonefiddler carves a vicious arc that seems to completely ignore all armour as it tears through the guard's flesh. At the same time, the captain's sword scores a blow of its own thats swiftly followed by his charging body, throwing the guard back across the room, and as he stumbles backwards the zombie's swords come slashing down once again...

[Waitingnomad]

AoO on the bull rushed guard from your four zombie buddies:

[roll0] for [roll1]
[roll2] for [roll3]
[roll4] for [roll5]
[roll6] for [roll7]

End of first round of combat, by the way. Its your turn again.
Oh, and to give you the running stats on your zombies, they all remain unhurt but for zombie 2, who got hit for 11 damage and took 6 (DR 5/Slashing), and is now on 9, making him slightly less robust than Fiddles.

...wow. Thats 40 damage in one round, and Yul's down. Good hustle, team.


...and as those swords come down once more on the stumbling guard, two more find their mark. It is testament to the shaken guard's skill that he was able to fend off the other two blows, for the two that did hit him gore him deeply. Having only just barely bourne the brunt of the zombie's first charge, what is left is a man who is clinging to life by sheer willpower alone.

[Glarx]

Sorry, still curious -- how does he have AoO on everyone? :smallconfused:

[Waitingnomad]

I explained a bit higher up in an edited post but I'll repeat and expand here:
The Cap, having lost his Improved Bull Rush feat upon gaining the zombie template, now provokes an AoO when attempting to bull rush, regardless of success.


Initiating a Bull Rush
First, you move into the defender’s space. Doing this provokes an attack of opportunity from each opponent that threatens you, including the defender. (If you have the Improved Bull Rush feat, you don’t provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender.)

Feats: A zombie loses all feats of the base creature and gains Toughness.

Likewise, the zombies gained AoO on the guard after the cap successfully bull rushed him.
The defender provokes attacks of opportunity if he is moved. So do you, if you move with him. The two of you do not provoke attacks of opportunity from each other, however.)

The guard gained an AoO against the Cap, and used that AoO to use a Manoeuvre that allows him to attack two opponents in the same attack. He used this to attack a second zombie during the AoO made against the Cap.

I'm pretty sure that all checks out...

[Glarx]

"KILL THE GUARD, BRING HIS CORPSE TO ME! PREPARE FOR THE OTHER GUARDS -- WE SHALL DINE ON THE FLESH OF ALL NOT QU'O!"

Standard action to maintain the spell. DC 17 of [roll0] damage.

The problem with the AoOs was I thought the guard got them on all five of the zombies. That's where my confusion was coming from. :smallredface: Thank you for satisfying my curiosity!

In case you haven't noticed, magic is more my forte, not melee. :smallbiggrin:

[Waitingnomad]

Likewise, actually! I had about 5 different tabs open the entire time :smallbiggrin: I'm familiar enough with all of it, but I've never actually run a proper melee character before, so I'm on something of a learning curve . Not to mention the amount to keep track of with so many in the fight.

Yul is now very much dead. The advisors may have a few levels in aristocrat, but they're all old men with no combat experience so d8 HD seems to be pushing it a bit. As such, they're not particularly hardy by any measure.

Anyway:
I figure not all of these will be necessary;

Zombie 1 attack [roll0] for [roll1]
Zombie 2 attack [roll2] for [roll3]
Zombie 3 attack [roll4] for [roll5]
Zombie 4 attack [roll6] for [roll7]
The Cap: [roll8] for [roll9]
[roll10] for [roll11]

Guard maintains stance for a +2 to AC vs the Cap and -2 to everyone else. He attacks the Cap: [roll12] for [roll13]
[roll14] for [roll15]


His focused stance allows him to just barely turn the weight of the Captain's attack, deftly gliding past the swinging swords of the other zombies, but as he does so there is one he cannot avoid. Swung by the mighty strength of the undead warrior, the blade plunges through his armour and pierces him through his heart, sending him falling to the ground. At the same time, Yul's screams can be heard fading to silence.

As soon as this first guard falls, however, the second appears with two more men at his side, shouting. "We'll hold them here; don your armour, quickly men!" He stops upon seeing his fellow executed in front of him, and screams in fury, charging right for the zombie responsible. It can be noticed that other than him, the two others he is with clutch their blades whilst wearing nothing more than their bedclothes.

[Glarx]

Content that Yul had paid the price for his unexamined philosophy, the terribly transfigured Empress changed the crystal in the satchel to her side, creating an invisible fiendish ape behind the second guard.

"YOU WILL ALL SERVE QU'O! IN TIME, THE GREAT MAGES WILL SHOW YOU THE ERROR OF YOUR MEDIOCRE, MUNDANE LIVES! YOUR ARMOR IS NO MATCH FOR OUR WIZARDRY! FEEL THE WRATH OF QU'O!"

Never hurt to spread lies. Someone might survive.

Fiendish (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/fiendishCreature.htm) ape (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ape.htm). And he's invisible (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#invisibility). I imagine he's none too pleased.

I believe he can act on the same turn he's conjured, so he'll go in for a sneak (?) attack on the second guard.

And yes. I didn't think there were enough combatants currently in the fray, so I wanted to summon one for three rounds, just 'cause. :smalltongue:

[Waitingnomad]

No sneak attack, but he does get a surprise attack! Which means a surprise round, then we enter normal rounds with him at the top of the initiative ladder. He's invisible, so he gets +2 to attack and his opponent is treated as flat-footed, but when he acts he loses his invisibility. He's just been summoned behind the poor guy so no listen checks for him.

Anyway,
Surprise round: Ape (full) attack! And no AoO against him as he's surprising the guy (don't think this is covered in RAW, but it makes more sense that way)
Claw: [Roll]1d20+15[Roll] for [roll0]
Bite: [Roll]1d20+10[Roll] for [roll1]

Non-surprise round:
New guards' initiative: [roll2]

Order of attack pending:
He's only around for 3 rounds, so the ape can go in for another full attack.
Claw: [Roll]1d20+13[Roll] for [roll3]
Bite: [Roll]1d20+8[Roll] for [roll4]

Armoured guard's AoO on the ape:
Steely Strike: [Roll]1d20+11[Roll] for [roll5] and [roll6]
[Roll]1d20+2[Roll] for [roll7]
He suffers -4 to AC for the rest of the round, coupled with Punishing stance which gives him a total of -6 to AC this round.

All other guards are in Punishing Stance for +1d6 damage and -2 to AC

Armoured guard charges at zombie... 2? I think 2 killed the other guard. Anyway, he attacks:
Steely Strike: [Roll]1d20+11[Roll] for [roll8] and [roll9]
[Roll]1d20+2[Roll] for [roll10]
Man does not care about his AC.

Unarmoured Guard 1 attacks the ape:
[Roll]1d20+11[Roll] for [roll11]
[Roll]1d20+2[Roll] for [roll12]

Unarmoured Guard 2 attacks the Cap and Zombie 4:
Steel Wind [Roll]1d20+11[Roll] for [roll13]
[Roll]1d20+2[Roll] for [roll14]

All zombies bar the cap converge on the armoured guard, who is now suffering a tidy -6 to AC (if he attacks last) or -10 if he attacks first.

1 [roll15] for [roll16]
2 [roll17] for [roll18]
3 [roll19] for [roll20]
4 [roll21] for [roll22]

The Cap attacks and bull rushes the unarmoured guard that attacked him.
Attack [roll23] for [roll24]
Bull rush! [roll25]

Gah!! Attack rolls coming. So much to keep track of here...

[Glarx]

Actually, because of Invisible Spell, for the whole duration he'll be invisible.

[Waitingnomad]

Ah, alright. I'll count the 50% miss chance in there as well. Thats metamagic, aye? How many spells do you have left?

Surprise round: Ape (full) attack! And no AoO against him as he's surprising the guy (don't think this is covered in RAW, but it makes more sense that way)
Claw: [roll0] for (1d6+5)[11]
Bite: [roll1] for (1d6+5)[7]

Non-surprise round:
New guards' initiative: (1d20+2)[11]

Order of attack pending:
He's only around for 3 rounds, so the ape can go in for another full attack.
Claw: [roll2] for (1d6+5)[10]
Bite: [roll3] for (1d6+5)[6]

Armoured guard's AoO on the ape:
Steely Strike: [roll4] for (2d8+4)[7] and (1d6+4)[6]
[roll5] for (2d8+4)[17]
Don't know how to roll percentile on this so I'll use a d6, with 1-3 being a miss and 4-6 being a hit: [roll6]
He suffers -4 to AC for the rest of the round, coupled with Punishing stance which gives him a total of -6 to AC this round.

All other guards are in Punishing Stance for +1d6 damage and -2 to AC

Armoured guard charges at zombie... 2? I think 2 killed the other guard. Anyway, he attacks:
Steely Strike: [roll7] for (2d8+4)[17] and (1d6+4)[7]
[roll8] for (2d8+4)[10]
Man does not care about his AC.

Unarmoured Guard 1 attacks the ape:
[roll9] for (2d8+4)[11]
[roll10] for (2d8+4)[11]
Miss chance: [roll11]

Unarmoured Guard 2 attacks the Cap and Zombie 4:
Steel Wind [roll12] for (2d8+4)[12]
[roll13] for (2d8+4)[9]

All zombies bar the cap converge on the armoured guard, who is now suffering a tidy -6 to AC (if he attacks last) or -10 if he attacks first.

1 (1d20+5)[24] for (1d8+4)[6]
2 (1d20+5)[22] for (1d8+4)[6]
3 (1d20+5)[16] for (1d8+4)[10]
4 (1d20+5)[22] for (1d8+4)[9]

The Cap attacks and bull rushes the unarmoured guard that attacked him.
Attack (1d20+11)[25] for (1d8+5)[6]
Bull rush! (1d20+9)[10]

[Glarx]

These are scrolls. I have many scrolls left. Reflavored as 'crystals.' Thanks to the Handy Haversack I can use a move action to switch one scroll out with another without provoking an attack of opportunity, so I refluff that as 'changing the crystal.' Sounds better than "I have like fifty pounds of crystal in a bag, let me just grab a new one." :smalltongue:

And what a bull rush from our man Cap'n Undead.

Also, we need a way to abstract combat for so many people. :smallfrown: I don't want you to get frustrated with all the various rolling, and I know I'd forget half the time.

[Waitingnomad]

Wow... those were some interesting rolls.
Ape confirm crit: [roll0] for [roll1]
Armoured guard fumbles and is flat-footed.
Unarmoured guard 1 crit confirm on ape: [roll2] for [roll3] (He 'missed' but I'm saying the crit means he got the ape anyway.)
The other guard who fumbled is also flat-footed.
And opposed strength roll... [roll4]
For someone built to bull rush, the cap is putting a shocking effort in. :smalltongue:
Whatever happens, our armoured guard buddy has been shredded like paper.
And yeah... I'll have to think of something. Didn't really expect so many combatants on the field, which is why I'm sending the guards out in groups (and they're really getting slaughtered out there, time to... amp things up a little). I'll roll a bunch of them IRL and post success, should hope to streamline things a little.

And fair enough, it makes more sense if you're using a metamagic scroll.
...wow, the ape nearly crit on his crit, and unarmoured guard one did crit his crit. Just how.
Forgot armoued guard's crit; he succeeded and got an 11 as well.
Which means the ape got hit for... 46 damage, so no more ape. Seeing as the armoured guard got wasted by the ape, i'll have them all attack unarmoured guard 2, who gets promptly hack to pieces. The Cap is thrown back and falls flat on his face due to that painful display during the bull rush attempt.
Poor unarmoured guard one is all thats left. Zombie four would be dead now, but unfortunately guard 2 never made it that far.


Everything happens in a blur. The ape stikes out in a flurry of blows at the back of the armoured guard, dealing multiple nasty wounds before the man can turn and retaliate. Both cause brutally damaging wounds, and as the ape rears up for another onslaught, the armoured guard is quickly overcome, being torn clean in two by the ape's furious assault. One of the remaining guards, his face a mask of horror, swings down his mighty blade, and his blade somehow guided with uncanny accuracy, carves the invisible ape's head clean off it's body. The remaining guard rushes to engage the captain, still awash in the blood of his rent fellow, and manages to rebuff his charge, throwing him from his feet to the ground, though he catches a nasty wound of his own in the process. His second swing bites nothing but air, however, and the weight of his blade carries him off-balance, allowing the remaining zombies to rush in and hack his body to pieces, blades falling across his entire body. Horrified, the final guard steels himself for a final stand.

[Glarx]

But one of the uses of concealment is to make people who would normally always hit or who have a high chance of critting you fail... that's why it's such a useful buff. :smallfrown:

It doesn't really matter for the ape, he'll be back to nonexistence soon enough. It's more the precedent that's set -- criticals suddenly bypass concealment. It definitely hurts things like displacement and other sources of miss chance. Like mirror image -- if you get a natural twenty there, do you just ignore that spell?

Unless I'm misinterpreting what you mean by 'miss'. With all the numbers and all the rolls, it's a bit hard to keep track of. :smalleek:

And yes, the guards have been extremely unlucky, to my advantage.

The altered form of the Empress pointed towards the final guard. "AND SOON WE SHALL CONSUME THOSE ADVISERS, AND KNOW WHAT THEY KNOW! STRIKE DOWN THE FINAL GUARD, AND PROCEED TO THE NEXT ROOM! TAKE THEIR LIVES FOR THE GLORY OF THE MAGITOCRACY!"

[Waitingnomad]

I'd say with things like mirror image, the attacker is going after the image and not you- so his nat 20 might do some serious damage to the air he's swinging at, but as you're standing 20 feet to the side, you're alright.

For incidences like this, where the attacker knows to a fair degree of accuracy the location of the foe, though he himself cannot see him, I'd say a nat 20 has a greater chance of scoring a hit. The way I tend to do it, is if you nat 20 on a foe with full concealment (provided you have a good idea of where they are) then you get a re-roll on the d% for that attack. I redid this one with a percentile die IRL, treating the ape as if he had 25% miss chance due to being covered in the blood of the guard he just tore in two (thus making his outline visible through blood splatters), and the guard hit him. Sorry, in all the mess of numbers I should probably have made that clearer. In general, I prefer to tend more towards amending things for realism's sake than going with blind RAW, e.g. with diplomacy there are things that a person simply won't do no matter how high you roll. I'm fairly big on situational modifiers as well, so for example, if you wanted to make an intimidate roll with that big ol' evil redtext of yours on the next hapless group of poor souls to emerge from the guards quarters, the sight of their buddies splattered all over the walls would help you out.

Oh, and its your turn again. I'm going to start doing these mostly IRL now to save having to wade through sheets of numbers in the spoiler tags. Should streamline things a lot more.

[Waitingnomad]

The last guard alters his stance to the defensive, holding fast against the oncoming mass of swords, hoping to hold out until his companions can appear. It does him no use though, and the swinging blade of the captain scores two deep wounds across his chest before his head is cleanly removed by the second zombie. His cry of "Protect the Advi-" is never finished, and with the hallway now awash with blood, there are no more men left in the corridor to hold the line.


Everyone in the hallway is dead and the rest of the guards will appear soon, but you have a short time to act before they arrive. 4 left. You may be interested to know that zombie two scored another critical hit, bringing his kill total to two men.

[Glarx]

The Empress had her zombies pull the bodies of the guards nearer to Yul's body before marching forth to kill the final four guards. She had more invisible ape fiends to summon, the ability to increase the number of attacks her zombies could make, spells to summon great axes of ice from thin air -- it was just about taking all those spells, all the resources at her command, and applying them to the situation. She knew the guards were more powerful than her Weepers, but they were tenacious zombies... still, she could let the guards decompose and raise them as skeletons as her forces dwindled, or zombies if her current crop died before long.

The zombie horde and their mistress marched forward.

[Waitingnomad]

Where are you marching, by the way? Into/towards the guard chambers, or into/towards the rooms of the various advisors?

[Glarx]

Are the guards not in the same room as the advisers? :smallconfused:

I'll go to the advisers' room first. If they've tried to run, we'll chase them down. If not, the guards will come looking for them.

[Waitingnomad]

Well you have to go past the guard's chambers to reach the advisor's chambers. All are located in the same corridor, with the advisers at one end and the guards at the top. Hopefully this will work....
=====================You
|| || || || || || | |Guard room with x4 guards
Advisor's rooms

You killed the other guards to fast that you'll be able to move one or two zombies past their room before the rest come out.

[Glarx]

I'll send one zombie past to hold the door to the advisers' room shut while the rest of my boys and I take care of the guards.

[Waitingnomad]

Which one? 2 is injured and Fiddles (number 4) has less health than the others. I assume you're keeping the Cap behind, and 1 and 3 are unhurt thus far. Honestly, I'm quite shocked at how poorly these guards have been doing :smallbiggrin: They've suffered some fairly awful rolls.

For reference, by the way, one of the guards is very literally in two separate halves. The ape tore his entire torso clean in two. I suppose you could patch him up a bit, though? I think one is also headless.

Anyway:


As the zombie lurches past the door to the guard's chambers, the door bursts open to reveal the remaining guards. They all look slightly groggy from having just been awoken, but all four clutch their swords meaningfully. One, standig taller and wider even than his fellows, cries out and charges straight towards the remaining zombies. He motions to one of his companions to attack the lone zombie that just made it past the door, whilst the others join him in engaging the main hoard.

[Glarx]

When you have corpses that aren't quite whole, you clearly stitch them together and create a greater abomination. :smallsmile:

I'll send... Fiddler. Zombie 2, while damaged, is also a hoss. Can't take him out yet! Even when he inevitably dies and I have to watch him crumble to ash, he will have died doing what he loved. Being forced to commit treason.

[Waitingnomad]

For a fist level fighter zombie, he is doing remarkably well :smallbiggrin:

Anyway, initiative for the new guards: [roll0]
I'll do the rolls IRL to speed things up and post results in a minute.

Edit: It really is not these guys day for initiative. Thats the third time they've lost initiative against a group of shambling corpses...

Zombie 2 is now dead :smallfrown:, bonefiddler has been wounded again but is still standing at 3hp, and zombie 4 has also been wounded and is now at 7hp. DR5/Slashing really is a wonderful thing.
Edit: Fixed it; forgot that the fiddler was the one down the corridor, not 2.
What does Hadia do?


The Captain charges in, scoring a wound off of one of the guards, and charging him back down the corridor. Failing to steel himself against the rushing zombie, the guard suffers another wound from the swinging sword of one of the captain's fellows, but manages to turn and avoid the rest. Almost immediately, the remaining zombies converge upon him once more, and it is testament to the skill of the guard that he was able to avoid all but one more of the blows. Wounded, but still very much standing, the guard attempts to return the favour, but only manages to score a glancing blow upon the fierce captain. The huge guard, however, lunges forth, his massive blade swinging once into the flesh of the zombie that killed his two fellows, and then again; this time clean through it, splitting it clean in two. With a roar of satisfaction, he turns his blade to the next zombie, diving forwards to follow up his initial attack with a second sweeping cut that sinks deeply into the flesh of another zombie. The remaining guard charges in to follow up an attack of his own against the wounded undead, but his blade barely scuffs the armour of the lumbering warrior, inflicting minor wounds only.

Further down the hallway, the lone zombie twists to engage his pursuer, his blade biting into the flesh of the following guard, but the damage he receives in turn matches it with potent effects. Still standing, but damaged, the zombie holds his ground.

[Glarx]

Hadia made use of her crystal, summoning an invisible fiendish gorilla behind the guards who had dispatched her zombie. It was time to get some revenge. She also backed away so that, in the event the guards did break through the entire line, she would have space to summon more defenders to fill the gap. Despite her altered form, the Empress had no desire to be harmed.

[Waitingnomad]

Zombie 2, you will be sorely missed, God speed, you magnificent bastard.
Surprise round from the ape, and its at the top of the initiative chain, not that it matters considering the guards have been displaying some horrendous initiative rolls all night.

The ape did a lot of damage, but due to a string of uncanny rolls from our resident guard he's been taken out almost immediately. The captain has the upper hand in his little duel, with his DR 5/Slashing combined with a series of fairly low damage rolls having meant the majority of attacks he's received haven't done much to break his stride. The bonefiddler isn't going to last much longer down there; he's low on hp's and is a level one zombie against a fresh level 6 fighter with a level in warblade. Its amazing he's still standing, really, and his DR is the only thing that's kept him in the fight this long. As for the big guy, he's causing a lot of damage but hasn't taken that much. He's hurt, but doesn't look like he'll be falling any time soon.


The third guard reels as huge claws rend through his armour, dealing him vicious wounds all across his back. Abandoning his defence utterly, the guard spins to face his invisible attacker, receiving additional wounds in the process as great unseen arms and teeth tear into more flesh. Still fighting on, the guard launches blow after blow after blow with his huge blade, feeling the splashes of invisible blood spray across the room as somehow, miraculously, each hit finds its mark on the invisible enemy, slaying it instantly. His victory is dampened by the swinging blade of the zombie he turned from, which carves a bloody arc through the air, and leaves the guard only barely standing, his entire body laden with wounds.

At the same time, the huge guard is met with blow after blow from his undead enemies, many of whom see their attacks find their mark. The damage is clearly not enough to fell him, however, and the strikes of his huge blade nearly end the unlife of yet another zombie. He stands as a demon of battle, turning with incredibly swiftness to slice into a second undead foe, though none of his attacks see the end of either zombie.

Slightly further down the corridor, the captain and the bull rushed guard enter a vicious meleé, with both landing damaging wounds upon one another and the captain appearing to shrug off the mighty blows taken by the slicing blade.

And even further away are the lone guard and the bonefiddler, who does not fare nearly as well as the captain, and is nearly destroyed by the singing blade. His hardy, undead flesh saves him, shrugging off the worst of the damage and allowing him to land a blow of his own, even despite the thick armour of his pursuer. The damage is minor, however, and it is evident that this fight will not last much longer.

[Glarx]

I hope that guard feels proud, as he kills level one zombies. Truly, he is a god of battle. :smalltongue:

I'm going to target the guard attacking the bonefiddler and I'mma ruin his day. Invisible gorilla. And if this one gets one-shot...

Also: mmm, flanking bonuses.

In order to prevent the advisers from leaving their rooms -- presuming, of course, that the old men were even still in their rooms -- Hadia sent an invisible fiendish gorilla from the nether over towards the Bonefiddler, directly behind the Bonefiddler's attacker.

[Waitingnomad]

I'm trying to create a dramatic atmosphere, ok :smallwink:
How many of those gorillas do you have left? O.o


The Bonefiddler turns to strike his pursuer once more, who receives a further flurry of blows from behind as he is attacked by another invisible predator. Somehow managing to stand against all the attacks, he strikes twice in quick succession, before abandoning his defence and pressing te attack to the invisible ape, slashing again and again. Many of his blows fall through air, missing his foe entirely, but those that do land care deep into the flesh of his attacker.

The captain and the guard continue their furious melée, the captain scoring yet another blow. However, this time the guard manages to press the attack, putting his manoeuvres to good use, and the captain finds himself taking damage.

In the main battle, the remaining zombies converge upon the injured guard, finally slaying him, though not without cost. Yet another zombie falls at the hand of the large guard as he swings his massive sword through undead flesh.

[Glarx]

I have 5 more gorillas.

Sorry, I'm preparing to go on a charity event thing and it's just eating all my time. I leave on Friday, so it's looming -- last minute stuff to do!

How many guards are still alive?

[Waitingnomad]

Three; the big guy, the one fighting the bonefiddler and the one fighting the cap

[Glarx]

The Empress summoned another invisible fiendish gorilla behind the Captain's opponent, in order to provide help to that fight.

Don't forget to be applying the Fiendish Template to these gorillas. They're not just standard gorillas. :smallwink:

[Waitingnomad]

Yeah, don't worry, I've been counting the template :smallsmile:.

I'm afraid today's posts are going to be fairly short as all I have is my phone- sorry about that in advance!


This new invisible ape tore into the guard whilst at the same time the captain hacked away with his blade. Reeling, and seriously wounded, the guard managed to get off a few quick swings in defence, though many fell short of both his zombie assailant and his invisible foe.

The man engaged in battle with the bonefiddler resumes his assault on the invisible ape, slaying it, but not before he himself is killed by the zombie's attacks and the ape's furious blows. His dying breath is what sends his sword through the heart of the creature.

Further up the hallway, the large guard fends off attacks from both zombie foes, receiving only minor wounds, but his own blows failing to produce much impact either, only really succeeding in hurting the first, and rather mildly at that.

[Glarx]

[roll0] v. Touch AC on the big guard. If it hits, [roll1] electrical damage to the man.

Changing her stone to a bright blue, the Empress shot a seeking ray at the large guard who was causing her zombies so much trouble!

Short posts from me as well, since it's just... action. :smallfrown: I'm sorry this combat is so one sided in terms of division of labor!

[Waitingnomad]

Arcing his back in reaction to the electrical attack, and the swathe of swinging blades that somehow all managed to find their mark, the large warrior was finally showing to show some signs of fatigue. This did nothing to dissuade him from resuming his attack, however, and his great blade managed to hack through yet another zombie, and carving a bloody straight into, and through, the next.

Further down the hallway, the bonefiddler zombie moved down the corridor to hold fast the door of the advisor's room.

The ape resumed it's flurry of attacks on the second last guard, and though it received its own fair share of injuries in retaliation, the captain finally managed to put him to the sword, ending his attacks once and for all.


Cap is on about 2/3rds health now, the ape is probably down to 1/4th; both of the zombies on the big guard are now dead. The bonefiddler is down to about 4hp but he's hanging in there, and there's nothing else threatening him.

In total you have 1 ape, the captain and the bonefiddler still standing.
In total, the only current survivor of the guards is the big guy.

[Glarx]

"KILL THE FINAL GUARD! LET NONE STAND BEFORE THE MIGHT OF QU'O!" The Empress gestured towards the final guard and shot another ray at him.

All attack the final man, and also! [roll0] for Touch AC, and if it hits, he takes [roll1] electrical damage. The ape has 2 more rounds on the Material Plane, btw.

Both of those rolls were terrible. Wow.

[Waitingnomad]

The captain and ape run towards the last guard, who roars in defiance and slams into the captain, knocking him backwards before slicing down towards him and nearly severing an arm- but not before the captain makes two quick slices of his own, both scoring blows but wounding only mildly. The ape fares better, however, and the lage guard reels in pain before landing what looks to be the penultimate blow on the fiendish beast. The second lightning strike dissipates harmlessly across the guard's armour, who barely notices it in his bloodlust.


Ape is on 3hp. The captain is still doing alright, as his DR/slashing is keeping the worst of the wounds at bay, but this slice did a fair bit of damage.

[Glarx]

What did the Bonefiddler do?

[roll0] v. Touch and [roll1] electric damage.

I'm really sorry about the delays, so so busy IRL. I'm trying to keep to at least once a day, sometimes more. I don't mean to be abusing you. :smallfrown:

Snarling in rage, the Empress shot another bolt of lightning at the final guard. She knew her apparition would be disappearing soon, but it could still deal a great sum of damage to the remaining fellow. Her zombies had almost all fallen, but they had served their purpose. Useful tools, in truth. She had made a mental note of their efficacy.

[Waitingnomad]

He's running more or less on autopilot of "Execute given command unless it becomes necessary to defend yourself". As such, he's carrying out his last given order of holding the door so that the advisors can't get out. Would you prefer to send him back up to take on the guard?

As the battle stands: The ape is gone, and both the guard and the cap are in a similarly sorry state. They are about evenly matched, with the guard having an upper hand for the following reasons:
They have roughly comparable ACs, as the guard's dex bonus is more or less balanced by the Cap's nat armour bonus. The Cap is stronger (zombie template goodness) and can fend off the worst of the damage dealt to him due to his DR/Slashing. On the other hand, the guard does a lot more damage than the Cap, and has a much higher attack bonus, so not only is he more likely to hit he is also doing slightly more damage than the Cap when he does, even with the DR. On top of that, the guard is part Warblade, and so has manoeuvres at his disposal.
Of course, what the Cap doesn't have is lightning bolts being shot through his body.

As for the sporadic posting, don't worry about it. Our timezone overlap is such that most of our post exchange occurs when I have nothing but free time anyway :smallbiggrin:.


Reeling at the shock of the electricity coursing through his body, and suffering additional wounds from the ape and the captain, the large guard is displaying obvious signs of his injury. Dragging his body now, his wide chest heaving with the effort of moving his blade, he strikes down at the ape, cutting once through thin air but then again; and cleaving the beast in two. He follows through, cutting towards the captain and dealing another blow on top of that, causing the undead warrior to balk at the weight of the swing, his undead flesh warding off what would have otherwise been a twice-fatal attack.

[Glarx]

:smallfrown: Helping people can be exhausting!

Move action: switch crystal
Standard action: Summon Invisible Fiendish Ape

Empress Hadia channeled her hate into the crystal, bringing back an invisible abomination to finish off the final guard. She was impressed by how well her zombies had done, all things considered. Slowly ideas were forming in her head. Plans for the future.

She could repair the zombies who hadn't ceased to be animated. That wasn't the issue. And these guards were truly spectacular. Once she raised them from the dead, Hadia was certain they'd be excellent additions to the force.

How to handle the next people who came to investigate or enforce the will of the Council... she didn't know. She would need a vast quantity of poison.

... or perhaps the threat of enough volcanic ash over the whole of the province to choke out all life.

Hmm. Hadia knew one of her ancestors had pulled out the primary magma chamber and that Maladictus had converted it into a crystal creation cavern. But either she could bluff her way out, or perhaps find some way to make the threat real.

Still, she had a goal. Hadia watched, in her abominable form, the end of the final guard.

[Waitingnomad]

Reeling at the onslaught of blows, the huge guard finally succumbs to the flurry of blade, tooth and claw raining down upon him. Sinking to one knee, the Captain's sword sings downwards and slices his head clean off. Finally, the guards are all dead.

[Glarx]

Hadia approached the room where the other advisers were theoretically hiding. It was vital to make sure her victory was complete.

[Waitingnomad]

As you enter the room, you see the advisors huddled together on the opposite side of the room, cowering against the wall. Each terrified advisor clutches a scroll in one hand, prepared to cast whatever spell was sealed within, should the guards fail. Noticing the zombies moving towards them, and the deformed magical creature at the door, they hurry to cast the spell. Two of them flicker out of existence as one of them makes an exclamation of relief before disappearing. The others stare horrified at the useless pieces of paper they hold in their hands.


UMD:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

Basically, they were scrolls of teleport with DC25 UMD checks, and all apart from that one incredibly lucky guy, they failed their UMD checks. This means the two that escaped are within a 100 mile radius of the palace, and still within the borders of Verzi. Note that you need to make a DC20 spellcraft check for this, so this is pre-empting you having made it successfully. You could also use read magic on the remaining scrolls to figure it out, which is probably the easiest option by far.)

[Glarx]

[roll0] for spellcraft. If only one succeeded on his UMD check, how did two escape? :smallconfused:

It's also something of a problem because I literally have no way of knowing where they went. There're about 31,415.93 square miles to search. And that's presuming the dynamic duo doesn't move and doesn't use another scroll of teleport (a spell I can't even hope to produce for several levels to come). In short, there's no way I'm familiar with to find the two individuals who teleported away.

I certainly can't scry on them. Augury shouldn't work in this world, given the fluff -- even if it did, since Maliz does have a thriving divine magic environment, it only has a 73% chance of being accurate. That error would compound over the ten or more castings I'd need in order to narrow down where in the Empire they are. There's no mass communication, so I can't tell the citizens to detain them. There're still Weepers, so I have no chance to quelling the advisers before they spread the word.

It's a valid tactic, but it's annoying because it's a significantly higher level tactic than I have the ability to combat. I'm not sure what you anticipated I'd be able to do here in this situation.

Anyways, I hope that was worth some sort of experience. Fighting a plurality of creatures several levels above me should've been worth something.

Hadia had the Captain kill the advisers and observed their scrolls before moving around to collect the money and belongings from each of the individuals killed tonight. As some of the advisers were no longer in the palace, containing the situation was impossible. It was good she had screamed about Qu'o, but the time had come for her to lock the doors of the palace and leave under the auspices of the event.

After rifling through their belongings, her form would have stabilized back to how it normally was and she would call her acolytes down. Together with the remaining zombie, they'd move all the guard corpses together and all the adviser corpses together. Hiding these in the deepest part of the palace would be useful. She'd raise a few of the guards, as many as she could control and who hadn't been brutally obliterated. The rest would be allowed to decompose. She could fashion a terrible undead monstrosity from the congealed corpses later.

Hadia had in her mind an idea for a great crystal pillar, capable of growing in power as the souls of the dead were fed to it, and it would be this great pillar which would extend influence across the whole of the Empire. The citizens would be sacrificed, raised as zombies, and it would be this mighty army that would act to free the Verzi Province. Not every citizen would be sacrificed -- obviously, that would be absurd -- but a great many of them. And there were old graveyards, waiting to be plundered for the sake of a mighty army.

The Province was rich in many things, but corpses seemed like the most abundant resource currently within her control. And Empress Hadia was contemplating how best to make use of it.

Still, it would take a degree of expertise she simply didn't possess. It would be difficult, but she'd manage to make it work.

As she observed the various things she had obtained from the dead men, Hadia attempted to consider what to do about the escaped advisers.

[Waitingnomad]

You gain 7038XP
Which, I believe, takes you to 5th level.

Sorry, only one would have escaped. I misread the text for the spell when checking the CL, and my sleep deprived mind isn't functioning as well as I'd like.

As for their escape;
1. Though it may be difficult for you to combat, it is possible. Besides, you did run down the corridor screaming about the magic of Qu'o, so his escape is not necessarily entirely to your detriment. I've also included a way for you to track him down, so consider having a closer look at the scrolls.

2. Its not unreasonable- and is probably expected- for the advisors to have brought with them some form of contingency in the event that they needed to escape and their guard failed them; they were visiting a subservient country, yes, but one that they had spent years oppressing, and besides the guards they had no other means by which to defend themselves.

3. They would have had to roll a minimum of an 18 in order to activate the scroll, so even with this contingency there was a fairly small chance of it working.

As for experience (and loot) you get... a lot. I'll have to spend a while working it all out, but suffice to say, there's a lot of it.
Off the top of my head, each guard was equipped with half plate armour, a +1 fullblade and a vest of resistance each. All of the advisors had a ring of +3 Use Magic Device. They also brought with them a fair amount of spending money, and of course you now gain 4 scrolls of teleport, which will work again after 24 hours (which, for the record, is generally how I treat failed scroll use that didn't suffer a mishap). None of the other advisors carried a second scroll, it can be assumed that wherever this lone advisor his, he is very much on his own.
All told, though I haven't looked up the exact prices as d&dwiki is down, its worth about 18000gp at resale.

[Glarx]

It'll take me a little to level up, then.

Re: escape:

1. I'll look at them, then. I figured they were just regular scrolls of teleport. :smallredface:

2. Definitely not unreasonable. It's just that teleport is a level 5 spell, so the earliest I could make such a scroll is at level 8. So it's sort of like if they started to spam Disintegrate -- it's very powerful and to be expected, maybe, but it's not necessarily fair. :smalltongue: But as per 1, you have apparently given me something of a hook, so it isn't as painful as it might've been.

Thanks to my Mercantile Background, I sell things at 75% instead of 50%, so it will be worth a little more than predicted. Once you've had the chance to tally everything (and feel free to take your time, I'm currently off educating the underprivileged so I have very little time for posting!) we'll carry on. Hopefully I'll've leveled by then! :smalleek:

[roll0][roll1] for HP.

[Glarx]

I believe I've leveled the Empress up. Just need the finalized loot/gold before I can carry on with creating magical arms and armor for my four little minions -- and examining the teleportation scroll more closely so I might head off at the pass the fleeing adviser.

[Waitingnomad]

OK so the monetary total worth of all items is 48, 480gp, and obviously your cut is whatever percentage of that Hadia gains in resale. All together they were also carrying 7200gp in cash as well. The items gained as the cost of it are just the prices of all the items I mentioned in the previous post, so if you want to keep some of them just look up the cost and subtract however much you'd gain from your cut in gp. This doesn't include the worth of the scrolls of teleport, but if you sell them as well just look those up and add them in.

[Glarx]

Cool, so around 43,560 gp as well as some scrolls of teleport. :smallsmile:

I'll have to double check and make sure no one has anything I'd like to keep. Of course, I can probably sell it and remake it for a fraction of the price, so it's not really a big deal.

Time to make this!
http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/12/26/82/36/sans_t34.jpg

[Glarx]

The Empress observed the scrolls the now-dead advisers had attempted to make use of before dying, attempting to discern whether the location of the final fleeing man could be discerned or not. Her minions, including her four 'rebels,' picked apart the remaining gear and pocket change from those men she'd killed. Selling off their gear and making use of it for her own nefarious needs wouldn't be easy, but it would definitely be necessary.

Hadia sighed and considered what she'd just done. The Verzi Empire wasn't capable of fighting a war. She was gambling on the notion that the other nations were more concerned with their own international issues than they were about the Verzi Province. She could handle small skirmishes, taking out those bands of warriors they might send as a token sign to the Council. If the actual armies did come to attack, however...

She'd have to disable the vast network of magical aquifers that kept the province watered, and then pour poison into the irrigation system. If her empire was dying, Hadia would make sure everyone else did, too.

Sorry for the delays! I spent a fair amount of the gold, just need to see about which other spells I want to put into wands, but that isn't pressing. And I'm back from my little trip! Hooray!

So yeah, I hope you're still around! :smallredface:

[Waitingnomad]

Spellcraft/Decipher Script checks please :smallsmile: And yes, I'm still around! Helping out some relatives as the move house, so my posting is likely to be affected somewhat, but I shall post as regularly as I am able. As a heads up, I will be out of the country, and probably without internet from the 6th to the 16th of August. Its possible that I may be able to get a few posts in during that period, but chances are I won't.

[Glarx]

No worries about the ten days! :smallsmile:

[roll0] for Spellcraft.

[Waitingnomad]

After studying the scrolls for some time, Hadia is able to discern that they all seem to share one feature; a predesignated target location of some sort. Evidently, these scrolls were designed to bring their users to a specific location upon activation. What may lie there, or even where this location may be, Hadia has trouble making out. It appears to be in the westerly regions of the province, somewhere amongst the spattering of agricultural villages and hamlets in the area. The largest town nearby is that of Xarrus, though 'large' would be a generous designer. Perhaps some further study of the area would offer greater insight into the potential location of the errant elderly advisor.

By which of course I mean Knowledge: Geography and Local checks, but fluff them out a bit :smallsmile: doubtless you have a library of some sort at your disposal that might aid in your search.

[Glarx]

Hadia, despite her immense basin of knowledge, wasn't familiar with the location mentioned in the scroll. She moved to the Royal Library, making use of her crystal magic to bolster her familiarity with the geography of the area.

Using the infusion of Skill Enhancement twice.

[roll0] for Geography.
[roll1] for Local.

[Waitingnomad]

From her reveiwing of information on the region, Hadia was able to determine that Xarus, once a fairly major industrial town during Verzi's prime, has since shrunk vastly in population and output. The master smiths are mostly gone, or dead from old age, and the vast manufactoriums that once churned out weapons and armour for the Verzi army lie cold and dormant. Much of Xarus is abandoned shops and homes, their owners and occupants either having left the town for search of better fortune or dead from famine and untreated illness. The town itself has not grown any smaller, though large portions of it lay unused and uninhabited but for squatters and various homeless. Some regions are controlled by gangs, who use the abandoned buildings for hideouts and bases of operations.

Xarus aside, the surrounding countriside is largely agricultural, and very sparsely populated. Villages and hamlets dot the plains surrounding Xarus, supporting themselves with farming and what little trade they can facilitate. It seems that the errant advisor would have fled either to one such hamlet, or to a pre-arranged location in the slums and abandoned sectors of Xarus.

I suppose I needn't remind you of the human resources at your disposal.

[Glarx]

The Empress investigated the area for any belongings of the adviser who escaped, knowing there would be some time before the arcane power of the Qu'o scroll would be ready again. If she could obtain the proper focuses, it would be far easier to scry on the man. Her four acolytes were assigned to find the best looking corpses and bring them to her, such that she might raise them. The Empress also wondered about how many zombies had ultimately survived, since they would be in a state of some dishevelment and thus would probably be better replaced than repaired.

She would also see about making Crellain some better armor, and perhaps equipping her four lieutenants with items and such that would make them better at their jobs.

I really need to make their character sheets... :smallfrown:

[Waitingnomad]

I believe that there are two surviving zombies- the Captain and one standard zombie. Both are fairly badly injured. One of the Guards has been torn completely in two, and other was completely eviscerated and as such are somewhat beyond zombification. The eviscerated one would be possible to turn into a skeleton, however, and the big guard remains intact. All were the same level; the big guard simply had higher Con and the Str necessary to wield a fullblade without a to-hit penalty. I believe, however that with the zombie's +2 to Str they will be able to wield a fullblade without penalty also, should you choose not to sell them.

[Glarx]

So there are... 8 new zombies and 1 skeleton now? What HD do they have? They're dead now, it shouldn't be a spoiler. :smalltongue:

Just trying to figure out how many I can raise and how many I need to keep on ice, so to speak.

No, I can craft the blades relatively quickly and with far better enchantments for the price of selling it. Once we take care of the fleeing adviser.

Did he leave behind anything? Personal items, a hairbrush?

[Waitingnomad]

Its OOC-ey so in spoiler tags it goes :smallbiggrin: erm... well that would be 7 reanimateable corpses for a total of 6 zombies and 1 skele. If you wanted you could also reanimate the advisors as zombies, not that they have anything particularly impressive the way of combat stats. They would have, I believe, 3HD and a Str of 6 (including the +2 from being zombies). As for the others, all share an HD of 6, the same as the Captain. They were all pretty much just slightly less strong versions of the Cap with a level in Warblade and better equipment.
So thats:
6 new 6HD zombies
1 new 6HD skele
4 additional zombies (the advisors) with an HD of 3, if you're really desperate for some shock troops. They're fairly awful in melee.
1 remaining (injured) standard zombie (Not including the cap)
The Cap.

[Glarx]

Sorry, just contemplating. Out of curiosity, can I change one of my NPCs' classes? I haven't actually done anything with those four, so it shouldn't be an issue, but it's best to ask.

[Waitingnomad]

Yeah, sure. Once you've done the character sheets I'll call it final, but you can 'train' them as whatever you want retroactively, provided you would actually be able to. So you wouldn't be able to train them as a class if you have no access to sufficient material or knowledge about that class. You have a massive library anyway, so this shouldn't really be a problem unless you wanted something incredibly exotic/to have them go into a very secretive PrC etc. If you do want to do that eventually, let me know and I'll work something into the campaign for you.

[Glarx]

Step One: Establish and recruit for the Hathran Circle....

No, I just wanted a dread necro instead of... one of whatever I had. I didn't remember that they existed until recently, and I just love them now. Super cool, from top to bottom, and I think I need one for the undead army Hadia making.

Actually, I think all four will be dread necromancers. Outside of an idea I have (that, admittedly, requires a huge amount of GM fiat to work [the RAW is solid, but whether it was RAI is debatable] so I'm not banking on it) for raising an undead army, I think having four lieutenants who can raise a fair amount themselves will be useful.

Sorry for the delay. Just in case you missed the question -- did Hadia find any hair, any personal belongings, anything of the sort for the adviser who escaped? She did search for it.

[Waitingnomad]

Seems odd putting this in spoilers, but eh; she does indeed find some things. The advisor didn't exactly have time to clear up after himself, and he had numerous papers, spare clothes etc. with him that remain in his chambers. Not quite a hairbrush, but an assortment of generic personal effects that one would expect a person on an extended visit to bring with them.

On a side note, I will be on holiday until the 13th of August, starting tomorrow evening, and as such will probably not be able to post until I return. If I have internet access I will by all means attempt to post, but if I don't (I probably don't) then feel free to make whatever preparations etc. you will, and I'll pick up once I return.

[Glarx]

Welcome back! :smallbiggrin:

[Waitingnomad]

Yep! Got back pretty late last night, actually, but I'm around again. :smallbiggrin: I'm afraid I may be somewhat similarly absent across the next few days, as I receive my A Level results tomorrow- I'm sure I don't need to elaborate. I'll respond as soon as I am able, though, and of course the waits shouldn't be more than a day or two at most. :smallsmile: