DrK Way of Wicked Take 2 OOC

[DrK]

Crit threat vs Sarris
[roll0] dam [roll1]

[Farmerbink]

Ouch. Sarris just got wrecked.

[DrK]

Ouch. Sarris just got wrecked.

Clearly the young captain wants company on the way down!

[Starbin]

So 6 men on the cutter left ... including the oarsmen and such?

What about the Frosthammer - are the five extra dudes dead?

[DrK]

So 6 men on the cutter left ... including the oarsmen and such?

What about the Frosthammer - are the five extra dudes dead?

Yes, two were killed by the crew, the 3 KO’d by colour spray were CDG
The fight did not go well for the Mitran naval patrol

[DrK]

Still waiting on our mage and archer, but I'll update tomrorow regardless. Not a lot else but mopping up to do now in this battle now

[Starbin]

Still waiting on our mage and archer, but I'll update tomrorow regardless. Not a lot else but mopping up to do now in this battle now

Sorry - it’ll be later this evening my time :smallbiggrin:

[DrK]

Anyone else taking up Odenkirk and Oghah's seal hunting plan?

[Farmerbink]

Anyone else taking up Odenkirk and Oghah's seal hunting plan?

Apologies, I did the classic "click the link but don't read it" and forgot I hadn't posted.

[DrK]

Will svae on the big one for the colour spray [roll0] + ???

Just Stavri /Sarris to go

[DrK]

tribal leader [roll0]
Shaman [roll1]
tribe peoples [roll2]

[Farmerbink]

[roll0] will save vs DC 14 (daze) Edit again: Also, it should have been +10 XD

edit: lol, a little overzealous, but I'll take it.

[DrK]

A definitive save there! Also a dead tribal chief and the others starting to surrender

[Farmerbink]

First things first, some sensing of motive here. Obviously self-preservation is a thing, but so is sufficient fanaticism to sink a boat you're on to kill a bunch of people you disagree with that badly. [roll0]

Secondly, Stvari is all about making sure these guys are legit. Anyone who doesn't accept servitude pretty much immediately will be killed- and if Stvari has his way, the new converts will be doing the execution (at threat of their own lives, of course). If need be, they'll be intimidated into it: [roll1]

He won't suggest forced cannibalism, but won't interfere should Oghash order it. As mentioned in discord, a lot (all?) of this can happen off-screen, or with very vague descriptions.

[Starbin]

Oh, and I forgot [roll0]

[Farmerbink]

I've got a new characters sheet, btw: https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2542010

Notable changes are basically domains and spells. A few incidental skill increases (heal as a class skill, for example :smallbiggrin:), and a single use of channel energy per day (stupid charisma).

I've got a few more extra dings worth of damage and utility, and a whole boatload of spells to pick.

And apparently, we're rolling init. XD

[roll0]

[Farmerbink]

Relevant question: do I have those spells now, or shall we run this one pre-gestalt? XD

[DrK]

Relevant question: do I have those spells now, or shall we run this one pre-gestalt? XD

As you’ve been travelling for 6 days use this as a test of your new gestalt powers

[Starbin]

Hmmm ... I haven’t started that yet :smallbiggrin:

[DrK]

Sorry, been ill for the past week. Recovering now but will take some time to catch up. Please bear with me.

[DarkOne-Rob]

We totally understand. Get well and post when you can!

[DrK]

Some Will saves [roll0]

[Farmerbink]

So since I took the level of cleric, Stvari is now proficient in the spiked chain. Mechanically, they're basically awash, so do you mind if I have him reveal his new weapon in the next few posts? I imagine chain wouldn't be hard to find aboard the ship, and am more interested in his newfound fascination with tools of violence than the details on whether or not he's mechanically capable of crafting such a thing aboard a ship. I can hold off until we're in a town proper if you prefer.

[DrK]

So since I took the level of cleric, Stvari is now proficient in the spiked chain. Mechanically, they're basically awash, so do you mind if I have him reveal his new weapon in the next few posts? I imagine chain wouldn't be hard to find aboard the ship, and am more interested in his newfound fascination with tools of violence than the details on whether or not he's mechanically capable of crafting such a thing aboard a ship. I can hold off until we're in a town proper if you prefer.

No I'm happy that over the 6 days he could have found a length of chain and then sharpened the edges and twisted bits of metal onto it. I'm happy to bend the continuity a little as we gestalt you all.

[DrK]

Apologies all, I've had some issues in work/home life so have been off the forums. I should be returning in the next week

[Starbin]

No apologies necessary - hope all is okay!

[Farmerbink]

I mean, I've got family in town for Thanksgiving, and that never simplifies anything. I largely plan to catch up next week XD

[DarkOne-Rob]

I can be patient!

[DrK]

So surprise round

Oghash - pushes the Captain 5ft against he railing, but not over
Stavri - Ironskin
Akhthami - From looking around they are "fighter types", experienced sailors but not massively strong willed

-- Starbin, once you choose your spell and launch it the Initiative for round 1 will be...


Ahkmathi
Stavri
"Odenkirk and the crew"
Oghash

[Starbin]

So Ahk will cast Euphoric Cloud (DC17 Fort save), if he can target only the ‘bad’ guys (probably something we could have worked out with our friendlies earlier.

If it doesn’t work, then use Color Spray (DC 15 Will save) to target the largest group. Results will obviously drive my next actions

[DrK]

Will saves [roll0] vs the cloud

[DrK]

Odenkirk and 2 of his nearby (and loyal crew) pass the euphoric crowd
- if you do colour spray then [roll0]

Then Odenkirk is the only one to survive the Colour spray and his two non-fascinated loyal crew are rendered blinded/stunned etc...

[Starbin]

If it were only a couple of them, he’d use color spray. The cloud would is his go-to for larger groups.

[DarkOne-Rob]

From Discord:

Loot from Captain Odenkirk
Chain Mail +2 - Stvari? Oghash, and she gives her old armor to Rollo.
Reavers axe (+1 greataxe, +1 vs lawful opponents) - Oghash
Potions (Cure serious, Cure moderate, Swimming) - Healing to Ahkmathi since the other PCs can heal themselves? Swimming to Oghash?

Plus he has 4500gp in neatly pressed gold bars from the Cardinal (90 lbs in a chest) - was this for our use, or did it need to go back to the boss?
1800gp in assorted coins/loot - party coin for purchases?
6 barrels of Rum in his cabin - leave with the crew, IMO.

[Starbin]

Loot from Captain Odenkirk
Chain Mail +2 - Stvari? Oghash, and she gives her old armor to Rollo.
Reavers axe (+1 greataxe, +1 vs lawful opponents) - Oghash
Potions (Cure serious, Cure moderate, Swimming) - Healing to Ahkmathi since the other PCs can heal themselves? Swimming to Oghash?

Plus he has 4500gp in neatly pressed gold bars from the Cardinal (90 lbs in a chest) - was this for our use, or did it need to go back to the boss?
1800gp in assorted coins/loot - party coin for purchases?
6 barrels of Rum in his cabin - leave with the crew, IMO.

Agreed with most in principle. Should a front liner take the cure serious, based on hp pools?

No vote on the axe and chain mail, but those both make sense. I think we need to keep the 4500 with us for now.



“Training is at an end. You have proven yourself worthy. Now, it is time for you to use that training and take on your first mission. Your mission is war, my children. You will bring war to Talingarde. You have two objectives.
First, you will see a shipment of munitions delivered to a bugbear chieftain named Sakkarot Fire-Axe. He makes his camp on the northern coast of Lake Tarik beyond the Watch Wall. With this shipment, the Fire-Axe will have resources enough to unite the barbarous humanoid tribes of the north and light the fire of war.

He pauses to gesture at the newly arrived longship. “Sitting on the dock as we speak is the longship Frosthamar captained by Kargeld Odenkirk. Tomorrow when the ship is resupplied it will be your transport. The captain is a ruthless mercenary and not to be trusted. He knows nothing of the specifics of our mission and you should keep it that way. He knows he is smuggling cargo to the north beyond the Watch Wall. That is all he need know. Once the cargo is safely delivered, he will take you just south across the lake under cover of darkness and land you near the town of Aldencross. There our contract with Captain Odenkirk will be concluded.


“It is shame how greedy he has proven. I had hoped to let the captain serve me again but it seems he is too much of a liability. Kill him. Kill his crew. Burn his ship and leave no survivors. It is crucial that no one suspects our involvement and that loose ends are taken care of. Be sure to reclaim the coin I gave him. Best not to be wasteful. That done, you will begin your second task. We will do more still to aid our ally the Fire-axe. The bugbears are mighty warriors but poor siege engineers. You will infiltrate the tower Balentyne, keystone of the Watch Wall, kill its commander and open the gate for Sakkarot’s horde. Once the shaggy monstrosities pierce the Watch Wall, the bugbears will pillage and lay waste to the townships of the north and the local garrisons will have no choice but to meet the Fire-Axe in the open field. Sakkarot is the most brilliant, gifted and murderous bugbear of his generation. I expect these battles will go poorly for the knights and yeoman of fair Talingarde.


Not sure how y'all interpret the above, but he said to 'reclaim the gold' and 'not to be wasteful.' I think we could argue the use of the money to improve our chances of success would be considered in line with his general wishes (i.e., buying gear for you lot). However, we may want to keep the gold in check for now. If we presume we're going to set up shop in town as travelers, then we can hide the gold in the room. If we're going to live outside of the town, we should bury/hide it somewhere. I'm not sure how much gear will be for sale in the town.

As for the 1800gp and rum, agree on that.

[DarkOne-Rob]

I say it here so it won't get lost - I do have some worry that we are being ambitious rather than obedient regarding [not] killing the crew.

Not that I want to do anything differently, just saying that we might need to be ready for a (painful?) scolding there.

[Starbin]

Agreed that there is a chance we'll be reprimanded. As I've mentioned before, Ahkmathi is a fairly calculating person. It is obvious that each member of a knot, each resource is only safe for as long as they are a valuable asset. Should they become a liability (or rival the folks above them) they will likely become targets. So he is willing to hedge the group's bets by having a few aces in the hole - the tribes men, the crew, the island. All part of his long term backup plan in case a) Thorn's attempt to take down Talingarde fails and we're all on the run; b) our resources get thin and we need additional support for a particularly difficult mission or objective; or c) should we become a threat to Thorn and need to hole up and build strength.

That being said, he is also content to work towards the greater good evil under Thorn, and reap the benefits until the situation changes. He feels confident that this is a case of RAW vs RAI ... and that the only reason the crew was expendable was because the Captain wasn't a true believer. We have fixed that issue and, in line with his direction to not be wasteful, have saved a literal boat-load of resources for future use. By sending them to a tribal island off the beaten sea lanes, we've also reduced the chance they'll be spotted, identified and/or tied to our efforts. All good stuff, right?

Besides, Ahkmathi doesn't plan on mentioning anything other than we have accomplished our objectives - arm Sakkarot with the weapons and infiltrate Balentyne / kill the commander / open the gates. :smallbiggrin:

[Farmerbink]

Agreed that there is a chance we'll be reprimanded. As I've mentioned before, Ahkmathi is a fairly calculating person. It is obvious that each member of a knot, each resource is only safe for as long as they are a valuable asset. Should they become a liability (or rival the folks above them) they will likely become targets. So he is willing to hedge the group's bets by having a few aces in the hole - the tribes men, the crew, the island. All part of his long term backup plan in case a) Thorn's attempt to take down Talingarde fails and we're all on the run; b) our resources get thin and we need additional support for a particularly difficult mission or objective; or c) should we become a threat to Thorn and need to hole up and build strength.

Stvari is 1000% on board here. If anything, I think he's more likely than Ahkmathi to hedge his bets and potentially even turn on Thorne first. That said, that's somewhere between idiocy and suicide at this point, so he's all in...

At least, until the winds change. XD

[DarkOne-Rob]

We got a bunch of good intel from Captain Eddarly:

The four Captains aren't all friendly - there is room for dissention within the ranks to do our work for us.
He and Captain Mott both love (lust after?) the same woman, Captain Mott's wife Kaitlyn. She could be a good piece of leverage to handle both of them.
This Keep is a political-dead-end and is likely a point of contention for the ambitious members of the Guard Force there. Perhaps any stymied-ambitions could be used to manipulate soldiers and incline them to sabotage the defenses in exchange for favorable treatment under Asmodeus...?
The rangers under Captain Varning are apparently not that effective...? They are at least not well-liked.
It occurs to me that a sneaky and vicious way for Oghash to get into this mess could be to discover what Kaitlyn Mott looks like, use the Iron Circlets to (at least) mimic her appearance, get into Captain Eddarly's bed (maybe in the keep?) and stir up more trouble. Does anyone have a problem with that? If we can get Oghash inside and let her cause some trouble she could use the circlet's disguise to escape pretty reasonably, right?

[Starbin]

I’ll say more later, but we don’t need to actually get into anyone’s bed (unless you want to). Remember the Thomas Jane Punisher? We just need to create the appearance of infidelity, not actually perform any. I mean, it helps on the path to corruption (say changing mid strike and saying “You are damned!”) but that’s just a bonus 😜

[DarkOne-Rob]

Good points all around. I just figured it might be a good way to infiltrate the keep, kill (and eat?) someone, and then change the disguise to walk out, leaving chaos in Oghash's wake...

[DarkOne-Rob]

Disguise (including the +10 from the Iron Circlet): [roll0]
Stealth: [roll1]

[DarkOne-Rob]

Cause I previewed my post...[roll0]

[Starbin]

[roll0] if necessary

[Farmerbink]

Just to be clear, should I assume Stvari doesn't notice anything especially out of sorts?

[DrK]

Just to be clear, should I assume Stvari doesn't notice anything especially out of sorts?

In the shop, no it seems a well stocked alchemist

[Farmerbink]

[roll0] know religion

kind of in place of linguistics for forgery?

[DarkOne-Rob]

Schedule
Day 3 (today) - Oghash works to get details about the patrol from CAPT Eddarly and the party tries to influence the duel to have both lose somehow. Perhaps we make it look like one of them cheated or something. If we can implicate the unfaithful wife in the scheme, even better. Investigate what the Illuminate Scroll has in their stock and if we can take all of that for ourselves too. Stvari needs to use his high(er) Intimidate modifier and Egorian Diplomacy (https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Egorian%20Diplomacy) to get things happening like we want them. Ahkmathi can cast Fox's Cunning on him if he knows it to improve the bonus further.
- Oghash and Stvari work together to convince Alicia and Bellam Barthold to "sell" their inn and brothel, take an extended (and sudden) vacation, and we kill them and get our investment back.
Day 4 - Morning: watch the duel go horribly, horribly wrong for all involved. The worse things go for everyone the better. Suggestions include - poisoning both weapons and planting poison in the home of Kaitlyn Mott. Also the Enthrall (https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Enthrall) spell to mop up any survivors.
Afternoon or Evening: ambush the patrol, kill them all, eat some of them, ensure things can't be tracked back to us.
Day 5 - Prepare to ambush the Priest and we disable the alchemist. Ahkmathi takes his place. We need to find out how large the Priest's entourage is and ensure we take him alone. We need to look through all the Alchemist's wares for buffs so we can start the combat on Day 6 with maximum power already applied. Possibly use mundane pit traps (via Expeditious Excavation (https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Expeditious%20Excavatio n)?) or something similar to help split off any support he has.
- Stvari and Oghash indoctrinate the brothel girls and begin working on their eventual corruption.
Day 6 - Ambush the priest and alchemist en route to the workshop. Take him alive (?) to ritually sacrifice both him and the alchemist as fuel to empower the golem (for a bonus on a relevant Spell Caster Check or statistic, as found in the Death Knell (https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Death%20Knell) spell). Tactics need to include summons, pits, isolate the Priest, fight in disguise, etc...
Day 7 - We do to the owner of the Illuminate Scroll what we did to the Alchemist (kill him, replace him, take his wares, etc...)
Day 8 - Bard arrives and we get involved somehow we find a way to use him to get into the keep itself. If we can do that and bring our Golem along, then we do Day 9 inside the keep instead of in the town.
Day 9 - We have the Golem attack the town and pick off individuals as they are weakened. We can buff the golem with temporary HPs by doing Electric damage to it ahead of time. It will eventually go berserk and go more crazy - I think we let it run its course and don't even try to regain control.


Brothel Goals:
1. (Simplest) Use the girls to get intelligence about the keep (rumors) and see if we can get into the keep somehow without being noticed.
2. (More involved) Allow problems to develop by having things get out of hand - soldiers getting in trouble, maybe some STDs going around, loss of military discipline, girls where they shouldn't be, figure out the highest ranked soldier visiting and blackmail him, etc...
3. (Full Corruption) Basically turn the brothel into a Temple Prostitution ring for Asmodeus. Encourage the girls to be ambitious, tricky, and craven. Let this go full HAM and cause several problems inside the keep and in town.

Alchemist Shop Goals:
1. How are we having the alchemist disappear? Are we concerned about repercussions?
2. Same question, regarding the Priest? Wasn't he supposed to lead a worship service?
3. What are we doing to empty the alchemist's shop? "Temporarily Closed" sign? Is that enough?

Illuminate Scroll Goals:
1. How are we having the owner disappear? Are we concerned about repercussions?
2. What are we doing to empty the shop? "Temporarily Closed" sign? Is that enough?

Other Goals:
1. The Keep: actually our primary goal - we shouldn't get too distracted - and we still need a solid entrance. Maybe a wand of Fly or something? Start from the top and go down? Or use the dwarven repair team somehow?
2. Timon Meadery: will it be worth doing anything here? Poison/drugs in the alcohol? Or just burn it down?
3. General Store and Smithy: burn them down. Make it big enough to be difficult to put out, maybe pick off individuals as they try to fight the fires...?
4. Graveyard: resources for a Lesser Animate Dead spell or two?
5. Dominik Vallison, village reeve: break into his home one night, kill him, rob him blind? Or try to Charm him and use him to get into the keep?
This is a work in progress - what else shall we add to our plans? I need to add what Oghash/Sharon is doing to get control of the brothel and use that against everyone.

[Starbin]

So in general, I love the idea of recreating "Needful Things" here in town. However, there are a couple of thoughts to keep in mind.

1) We have a month to weaken the place, so our efforts should be efficient and quick.
2) Not sure we expect much to remain here after the bugbears roll through, so any corruption efforts should be focused on key individuals (not just 'the town.').
3) We have several key targets, but the two we were specifically asked to kill are Havelyn and his mage.

I like the idea of having a timetable, and most of the stuff makes sense to me. Seems the major points of interest in the next few days are the duel, the patrol, and the priest. Beyond that, we need to spend some time getting to know the keep, just so we can navigate around in there. Here are a few thoughts I had

- If we are going to try and corrupt the ladies, let's not kill them. Let's take advantage of the action to the south and send them (saved by the grace of our Dark Lord) to continue their good works down there. That seemingly has a longer term affect on the bigger mission at hand.

- Taking over the Alchemist's shop is easy ... we're well postured for that, and it will certainly set us up for success. However, things get complicated with the priest ... if he disappears and folks thing the Alchemist had anything to do with it, we get burned. So let's make sure we don't implicate the alchemist publicly.

- Not sure about the scroll shop, but holding two of these places might be a chore, and we don't know the owner's relationship with the town. The alchemist was odd and prone to being reclusive ... not sure about the scroll keeper. Might be best if we steal some stuff and burn the place down. Unfortunate candle accident one night after the man had too much to drink.

- Let's rent / buy that manor and see if we can't hide all of our ill-gotten gains in it for the time being? It even has a sound-proofed basement for torture / culinary delights, and is a pleasant walk from Balentyne.

- Not sure when we deal with the reeve, but it needs to be at the right time, likely around when we decide to use his image to get into the keep ... when we go to kill the Lord and Mage.

- There was something about beef stew for the keep ... I think poisoning the stew to make folks sick and/or doing the same to the latest batch of mead are good ideas. Timing dependent, of course ...

- Do we need the bard to get into the keep? The reeve has access, as I recall. Might be useful to try and lay blame on the bard for some events ...

- Golem use: around the town? In the Keep? In the tunnels beneath? I think we need to leverage some of the information those dwarves have.

- Can we kill the smithy but leave the goodies? Might be another opportunity to either a) arm our own troops, or be, provide the bugbears with more stuff.

Ready to discuss more :D

[DarkOne-Rob]

My thoughts in red.


1) We have a month to weaken the place, so our efforts should be efficient and quick. - Agreed, hence the need for a plan.
2) Not sure we expect much to remain here after the bugbears roll through, so any corruption efforts should be focused on key individuals (not just 'the town.'). - I like a point you make a bit later on this topic...
3) We have several key targets, but the two we were specifically asked to kill are Havelyn and his mage. - But more death is allowed, right? Maybe even encouraged?

- If we are going to try and corrupt the ladies, let's not kill them. Let's take advantage of the action to the south and send them (saved by the grace of our Dark Lord) to continue their good works down there. That seemingly has a longer term affect on the bigger mission at hand. - This is BRILLIANT! I have not liked a more [Evil] idea in a long time. We totally work this angle with a select few, capable, ambitious, and willing women (if we find any) and spread the worship of Asmodeus through them. I absolutely wish I'd had this thought.

- Taking over the Alchemist's shop is easy ... we're well postured for that, and it will certainly set us up for success. However, things get complicated with the priest ... if he disappears and folks thing the Alchemist had anything to do with it, we get burned. So let's make sure we don't implicate the alchemist publicly. - Only if we haven't emptied his store of anything valuable. Then, if we let him take the fall, no loss, IMO. But if we plan to replace him for more than a day...yeah, we need to hide his involvement. That said, can we successfully replace him that long? Or is that too risky? Without more Face skills in the party, I think long-term deceptions/disguises-of-existing-NPCs are a tough sell.

- Not sure about the scroll shop, but holding two of these places might be a chore, and we don't know the owner's relationship with the town. The alchemist was odd and prone to being reclusive ... not sure about the scroll keeper. Might be best if we steal some stuff and burn the place down. Unfortunate candle accident one night after the man had too much to drink. - Totally agree, we shouldn't hold down both shops - as mentioned above, I'm not sure we should hold down one. Either way, we pillage this shop, kill the owner, eat him, burn it to the ground, etc...

- Let's rent / buy that manor and see if we can't hide all of our ill-gotten gains in it for the time being? It even has a sound-proofed basement for torture / culinary delights, and is a pleasant walk from Balentyne. - Is this necessary if we purchase the inn/brothel instead? Via forced-Diplomacy (Stvari using Intimidate and Egorian Diplomacy)...

- Not sure when we deal with the reeve, but it needs to be at the right time, likely around when we decide to use his image to get into the keep ... when we go to kill the Lord and Mage. - By "around [the time]" you mean, kill him shortly before, right? We should also plan to rob him blind, as I'm sure he's got resources...

- There was something about beef stew for the keep ... I think poisoning the stew to make folks sick and/or doing the same to the latest batch of mead are good ideas. Timing dependent, of course ... - I'm not opposed, but I'm not sure it's worth the time if we can remove forces more quickly/effectively in other ways. Poison/disease/starvation take time.

- Do we need the bard to get into the keep? The reeve has access, as I recall. Might be useful to try and lay blame on the bard for some events ... - Perhaps the bard is our first look inside, scouting, so we can later use the reeve's appearance for a deeper dive? I still think there may be better ways inside than the front door...

- Golem use: around the town? In the Keep? In the tunnels beneath? I think we need to leverage some of the information those dwarves have. - Golem + intelligence from the Dwarves sounds like a decent idea. I'm game for whenever you all think it's best, but having the golem kill soldiers instead of just random townsfolk seems like a more effective idea to me.

- Can we kill the smithy but leave the goodies? Might be another opportunity to either a) arm our own troops, or be, provide the bugbears with more stuff. - Sure? I doubt the bugbears need it much, but why not?
Do you have any issues with the timeline for at least the next 3-4 days as outlined in my post? I don't think we should plan too far in advance. Instead, we should get some IC posts that move things in the directions we choose. Specifically, I need to know if we poison CAPT Eddarly's sword and return it to him for use in the duel or if Oghash stirs up more trouble by delivering the sword to Mrs. Mott...

[Farmerbink]

Posting to add that I don't think we should try to "hold" either shop. We should loot them blind and burn them down, perhaps literally.

I'm pretty OK with buying the manor and the brothel, if we can. We plan to do a little GTA-esque murdering to get our money back anyway, right? Something about all your eggs in one place comes to mind.

Corollary, we can perhaps stash some of the looted goods in the purchased manor- specifically things we don't plan to use directly, but might serve our purposes in the hands of the bugbears?

[DarkOne-Rob]

I think FarmBink's points are solid. We've surely got the cash, given the GTA-style recompensating we intend.

I need an answer regarding poison - do we have something for the sword? Or am I dropping it off with Mrs. Mott to cause more trouble?

[Farmerbink]

We could perhaps find something at the alchemist's shop?

[DarkOne-Rob]

@DrK - did either Stvari or Ahkmathi see something that would work? Oghash isn't above breaking and entering overnight, if needed, to get some poison. She can do it in disguise, after all...

[DrK]

@DrK - did either Stvari or Ahkmathi see something that would work? Oghash isn't above breaking and entering overnight, if needed, to get some poison. She can do it in disguise, after all...

Nothing overtly poisonous at the alchemist shop. Its was mainly anti-dotes/anti-toxins and alchemist fire etc...

[Farmerbink]

Stvari will cast Egorian Diplomacy, (https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Egorian%20Diplomacy) as Bellam approaches. DC 16 will to resist specifically the "he doesn't remember the intimidation."

He will then use intimidate to coerce Bellam to find their offer more compelling: [roll0]

[DrK]

A will save [roll0] I'll read through the detailed IC posts as well and get back to this.

One thing with the pure sandbox of this part of Way of Wicked is it quites complicated for PBP! I hope you are enjoying it though and its still working

[DarkOne-Rob]

Investing would both satisfy Ahkmathi's concern of making connections so people wouldn't immediately assume us (investors in a town don't usually want to burn it down) and also give us a foot in the door to interact with the ladies in evangelical ways, so I think we go for it. We offer coin to help them expand and offer training to help cultivate "ladies with the right attitude" to see to the business when we can't be around.
We could be simple"
Stvari silently grabs loads of stuff, and we take it back to our place to work out the findings (not magically silent, just good stealth and darkvision plus detecting magic to avoid auras where he might have left magical defenses).
We could be less simple: grab things, start a fire, bail and hope the ruckuss covers our involvement
We could murder this dude, in so many different ways (few of them foolproof in the sense of not getting caught)
Regarding the cleric and alchemist, I strongly like the idea of using the alchemist's death as fuel for a death knell spell and the cleric as fuel for the flesh golem activation (I don't have any RAW mechanics for using ritual sacrifice to fuel this sort of thing, but that's like the most common literary trope maybe ever).

I think we're in agreement on 'expanding business' - however we need to work the rolls, it sounds like the boss was already good with opening up new opportunities. We don't care if he keeps the business here...w/in a month, they'll all be dead. We just want to get some of the best girls down south for a foothold (and ones that are familiar with us enough to feel safe working with us in the future. Especially with our 'shared tragedy' of losing Aldencross 🙂).

As for the Scroll, I'm not sure which way is best, but it might behoove us to get Oghash some 'real' food. Ahkmathi wants to read through some of the legal stuff...might be some good things to help us solidify our foothold in town. He wants to check out the magic scrolls, but w/out the possibility of someone crying theft and the whole city looking at the new peeps in town. That being said, we're probably best off killing him, robbing the place and burning it down. Whether that's today or another night, doesn't matter to me. Whenever we benefit from a big distract (like the day of murdering the priest) might be a good one. Would be nice to start some rumors of talking with the owner and hearing him mutter about his lost love and old regrets. Then the thought of the man getting drunk and knocking over his candle might be more believable.

Last thing - sure, let's get thematic with the golem. Just need to figure out how we hide the priest's death. We can either kill the alchemist first and trick the priest into meeting us in the woods alone (not suspicious at all). Or you two kill both of them at the same time while Ahkmathi wander's around town disguised as the alchemist, showing up at public places to off-set any suspicions about our cover story.
Let's try again with the innkeeper and madam. I prefer to get them out of the way entirely, in any number of different (tasty?) ways, but if we just work with them for a while, that's fine too.

As mentioned in Discord, I think we take this opportunity to kill the wizard, repair his backdoor, put up a sign to keep out nosey witnesses, and then take our time.

Death knell using the Alchemist is a great way for Stvari to power-up prior to the (presumed) fight with the Priest. I'd prefer we all be around for fights, but either a decoy or programmed illusion or something to keep the townsfolk from being suspicious sounds good. But honestly, if all else fails I think we have an easy failsafe - the golem. If both the alchemist and priest are dead, we let the golem loose on the town/keep, and it takes the blame. Afterall, it's an unholy abomination (construct) that must have gotten loose and attacked/killed them both. Shouldn't be a hard sell to convince people of that...

[DarkOne-Rob]

To summarize some tactical points and then recommendations that Oghash would like but be unable to express well...

We've already forced entry - we need to do something violent and permanent, preferably removing the evidence as well so that suspicion isn't placed up our disguised selves.
If we can prevent mundane retreat and get into melee, wizards have a bad time. Close quarters are our friend.
If we can find scrolls of Resist Energy (https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Resist%20Energy) or something similar to cast on ourselves, we likely beat the fire wizard outright and can ignore most mundane fire damage.
The wizards will have a bad time with ongoing fire damage, even of a mundane nature, if they aren't prepared.
Asmodeus approves of ambition, trickery, and fire. Oghash is devout and would revel in those things if given the opportunity.
All this said, I think we need to take several moments looking for scrolls of Resist Energy, use them if found, start a mundane fire (using any oil or other flammable materials to make it grow fast), and then collect everything we can that isn't nailed down. When the two wizards notice, Stvari and Oghash get into position to force melee and block exits while Ahkmathi prepares to counter their magical assaults/defenses anyway he likes. Then, once they're both dead we loot the bodies, finish collecting what else we can, ensure their bodies are thoroughly destroyed (minus a large muscle or two for Oghash), and get out of dodge. Change our disguises on the way out, flee if necessary, and then get back to the inn once clear in our original disguises.

What do you both think?

[Farmerbink]

Adding disable device checks. If he can, he'll take his time.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[DarkOne-Rob]

Oghash's Reflex Save: [roll0]

[DrK]

[roll0] and [roll1] for the bomb landing somewhere!

Ouch for the mage! cast defeinsively [roll2]

[Starbin]

@DrK - I think we're waiting to find out the answer to my question in discord - given the order of actions, wouldn't Stvari have tripped the mage instead of damaging him? It makes a big difference in response ...

[DarkOne-Rob]

I concur with this. Thank you for the consideration, @DrK!

[DrK]

I've been away for a few days seeing family over the jubilee bank holiday and was busier than I expected so didn't update. I'll have a read through and respond over the next couple of days

[Farmerbink]

I should probably also have rolled a bluff: [roll0] :smalleek:

[DrK]

I should probably also have rolled a bluff: [roll0] :smalleek:

That is an excellent bluff for Stavri! Especially in the dark and the chaos

[Farmerbink]

That is an excellent bluff for Stavri! Especially in the dark and the chaos

Haha, just might be enough to get out of here. Decently good timing on that nat 18! :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

[DarkOne-Rob]

Four more Cure Light Wounds spells, self-applied: [roll0], [roll1], [roll2], [roll3] HPs healed. Edit: Oghash hit full HPs after the second third-to-last spell.

[Farmerbink]

I've got one on Stvari to round off the blood rage: [roll0]

[DarkOne-Rob]

In that case I won't need another CLW. Thanks!

[Farmerbink]

Reposting to get it fresh in mind:::

Day 3 (today) - Oghash works to get details about the patrol from CAPT Eddarly and the party tries to influence the duel to have both lose somehow. Perhaps we make it look like one of them cheated or something. If we can implicate the unfaithful wife in the scheme, even better. Investigate what the Illuminate Scroll has in their stock and if we can take all of that for ourselves too. Done. Stvari needs to use his high(er) Intimidate modifier and Egorian Diplomacy to get things happening like we want them. Ahkmathi can cast Fox's Cunning on him if he knows it to improve the bonus further. What info did we get here?
- Oghash and Stvari work together to convince Alicia and Bellam Barthold to "sell" their inn and brothel, take an extended (and sudden) vacation, and we kill them and get our investment back. Didn't pan out, but still might
Let's try again with the innkeeper and madam. I prefer to get them out of the way entirely, in any number of different (tasty?) ways, but if we just work with them for a while, that's fine too.
Day 4 - (today) Morning: watch the duel go horribly, horribly wrong for all involved. The worse things go for everyone the better. Suggestions include - poisoning both weapons and planting poison in the home of Kaitlyn Mott. Also the Enthrall spell to mop up any survivors.
Afternoon or Evening: ambush the patrol, kill them all, eat some of them, ensure things can't be tracked back to us.
Day 5 - Prepare to ambush the Priest and we disable the alchemist. Ahkmathi takes his place. We need to find out how large the Priest's entourage is and ensure we take him alone. We need to look through all the Alchemist's wares for buffs so we can start the combat on Day 6 with maximum power already applied. Possibly use mundane pit traps (via Expeditious Excavation?) or something similar to help split off any support he has.
- Stvari and Oghash indoctrinate the brothel girls and begin working on their eventual corruption.
Day 6 - Ambush the priest and alchemist en route to the workshop. Take him alive (?) to ritually sacrifice both him and the alchemist as fuel to empower the golem (for a bonus on a relevant Spell Caster Check or statistic, as found in the Death Knell spell). Tactics need to include summons, pits, isolate the Priest, fight in disguise, etc...
Day 7 - We do to the owner of the Illuminate Scroll what we did to the Alchemist (kill him, replace him, take his wares, etc...)
Day 8 - Bard arrives and we get involved somehow we find a way to use him to get into the keep itself. If we can do that and bring our Golem along, then we do Day 9 inside the keep instead of in the town.
Day 9 - We have the Golem attack the town and pick off individuals as they are weakened. We can buff the golem with temporary HPs by doing Electric damage to it ahead of time. It will eventually go berserk and go more crazy - I think we let it run its course and don't even try to regain control.

Brothel Goals:
1. (Simplest) Use the girls to get intelligence about the keep (rumors) and see if we can get into the keep somehow without being noticed.
2. (More involved) Allow problems to develop by having things get out of hand - soldiers getting in trouble, maybe some STDs going around, loss of military discipline, girls where they shouldn't be, figure out the highest ranked soldier visiting and blackmail him, etc...
3. (Full Corruption) Basically turn the brothel into a Temple Prostitution ring for Asmodeus. Encourage the girls to be ambitious, tricky, and craven. Let this go full HAM and cause several problems inside the keep and in town.
Alchemist Shop Goals:
1. How are we having the alchemist disappear? Are we concerned about repercussions?
2. Same question, regarding the Priest? Wasn't he supposed to lead a worship service?
3. What are we doing to empty the alchemist's shop? "Temporarily Closed" sign? Is that enough?
Illuminate Scroll Goals:
1. How are we having the owner disappear? Are we concerned about repercussions? Heh, I guess we're not too worried now
2. What are we doing to empty the shop? "Temporarily Closed" sign? Is that enough? Snort. Defintely not enough.
Other Goals:
1. The Keep: actually our primary goal - we shouldn't get too distracted - and we still need a solid entrance. Maybe a wand of Fly or something? Start from the top and go down? Or use the dwarven repair team somehow?
2. Timon Meadery: will it be worth doing anything here? Poison/drugs in the alcohol? Or just burn it down?
3. General Store and Smithy: burn them down. Make it big enough to be difficult to put out, maybe pick off individuals as they try to fight the fires...?
4. Graveyard: resources for a Lesser Animate Dead spell or two?
5. Dominik Vallison, village reeve: break into his home one night, kill him, rob him blind? Or try to Charm him and use him to get into the keep?



1) We have a month to weaken the place, so our efforts should be efficient and quick. - Agreed, hence the need for a plan.
2) Not sure we expect much to remain here after the bugbears roll through, so any corruption efforts should be focused on key individuals (not just 'the town.'). - I like a point you make a bit later on this topic...
3) We have several key targets, but the two we were specifically asked to kill are Havelyn and his mage. - But more death is allowed, right? Maybe even encouraged?

- If we are going to try and corrupt the ladies, let's not kill them. Let's take advantage of the action to the south and send them (saved by the grace of our Dark Lord) to continue their good works down there. That seemingly has a longer term affect on the bigger mission at hand. - This is BRILLIANT! I have not liked a more [Evil] idea in a long time. We totally work this angle with a select few, capable, ambitious, and willing women (if we find any) and spread the worship of Asmodeus through them. I absolutely wish I'd had this thought. I'm on board here, as well

- Taking over the Alchemist's shop is easy ... we're well postured for that, and it will certainly set us up for success. However, things get complicated with the priest ... if he disappears and folks thing the Alchemist had anything to do with it, we get burned. So let's make sure we don't implicate the alchemist publicly. - Only if we haven't emptied his store of anything valuable. Then, if we let him take the fall, no loss, IMO. But if we plan to replace him for more than a day...yeah, we need to hide his involvement. That said, can we successfully replace him that long? Or is that too risky? Without more Face skills in the party, I think long-term deceptions/disguises-of-existing-NPCs are a tough sell.

- Not sure about the scroll shop, but holding two of these places might be a chore, and we don't know the owner's relationship with the town. The alchemist was odd and prone to being reclusive ... not sure about the scroll keeper. Might be best if we steal some stuff and burn the place down. Unfortunate candle accident one night after the man had too much to drink. - Totally agree, we shouldn't hold down both shops - as mentioned above, I'm not sure we should hold down one. Either way, we pillage this shop, kill the owner, eat him, burn it to the ground, etc... Check!

- Let's rent / buy that manor and see if we can't hide all of our ill-gotten gains in it for the time being? It even has a sound-proofed basement for torture / culinary delights, and is a pleasant walk from Balentyne. - Is this necessary if we purchase the inn/brothel instead? Via forced-Diplomacy (Stvari using Intimidate and Egorian Diplomacy)... I'm on board with this. We can always recover our investment in other ways :smallcool:

- Not sure when we deal with the reeve, but it needs to be at the right time, likely around when we decide to use his image to get into the keep ... when we go to kill the Lord and Mage. - By "around [the time]" you mean, kill him shortly before, right? We should also plan to rob him blind, as I'm sure he's got resources... If the battle mage we just dealt with is the same guy, I think we're actually off to a good start. As I recall, the reeve was the guy who could sell/rent the manor to us? Just saying :-)

- There was something about beef stew for the keep ... I think poisoning the stew to make folks sick and/or doing the same to the latest batch of mead are good ideas. Timing dependent, of course ... - I'm not opposed, but I'm not sure it's worth the time if we can remove forces more quickly/effectively in other ways. Poison/disease/starvation take time.

- Do we need the bard to get into the keep? The reeve has access, as I recall. Might be useful to try and lay blame on the bard for some events ... - Perhaps the bard is our first look inside, scouting, so we can later use the reeve's appearance for a deeper dive? I still think there may be better ways inside than the front door...

- Golem use: around the town? In the Keep? In the tunnels beneath? I think we need to leverage some of the information those dwarves have. - Golem + intelligence from the Dwarves sounds like a decent idea. I'm game for whenever you all think it's best, but having the golem kill soldiers instead of just random townsfolk seems like a more effective idea to me.

- Can we kill the smithy but leave the goodies? Might be another opportunity to either a) arm our own troops, or be, provide the bugbears with more stuff. - Sure? I doubt the bugbears need it much, but why not?

[DarkOne-Rob]

(Starting a new summary, for ease of reading)

The Keep
Our primary goal - got to keep this in mind and we still need a solid entrance. Maybe a wand of Fly or something? Start from the top and go down? Or use the dwarven repair team somehow?

Tomorrow (Day 5)
In the morning we need to ensure the duel ends tragically, with as much death as possible. We've done some work to this effect so far - time to seal the deal, IMO. Let's be ready for violence in the morning!
In the afternoon we find and dispose of the patrol. We've got some basic info on this, so following their path and finding their trail shouldn't be hard. If they're drunk or generally loafing about, we should be able to kill them all, feed Oghash again, and return to town with no one the wiser.
Spend the evening replacing the alchemist with Ahkmathi? Prepare an ambush for the visiting priest? I think we should empty out the alchemist shop of valuables so that he can take the fall for the priest's disappearance - when the townsfolk investigate, they find it gutted and him gone. He's an easy scapegoat that way.

Day after tomorrow ("overmorrow," Day 6)
Take out the priest's entourage via subtlety so we can fight him solo.
Ambush and capture the priest.
Sacrifice him to empower the flesh golem.
Find more trouble to make?

Day 7
Find more trouble to make?

Two days later (Day 8)
The bard arrives in town - how do we intend to use this for our advantage?

Day 9
Release the Golem as a distraction while we infiltrate the keep?

Other goals
I still want to take over the brothel, by force if necessary. Alicia and Bellam Barthold need to be pushed out of control of the girls, removed from positions where they could discover our subterfuge, or something similar. We've got a variety of ways to do it - just need to succeed somehow.


- If we are going to try and corrupt the ladies, let's not kill them. Let's take advantage of the action to the south and send them (saved by the grace of our Dark Lord) to continue their good works down there. That seemingly has a longer term affect on the bigger mission at hand.
Timon Meadery: will it be worth doing anything here? Poison/drugs in the alcohol? Or just burn it down?
General Store and Smithy: burn them down. Make it big enough to be difficult to put out, maybe pick off individuals as they try to fight the fires...?
Graveyard: resources for a Lesser Animate Dead spell or two?
Dominik Vallison, village reeve: break into his home one night, kill him, rob him blind? Or try to Charm him and use him to get into the keep?

Notes

We have several key targets, but the two we were specifically asked to kill are Havelyn and his mage. - But more death is allowed, right? Maybe even encouraged?
- One step completed - now we work on the commander of the keep and maximizing the death/destruction we accomplish.

Beef stew for the keep (poison it?)
Smithy?

[DrK]

Are you guys happy to move forward to the morning? And you can get involved in the heading down to where the duel is happening locally?
Also, if needs be you throw red smoke into the air to attract the bugbears early so you don't need to wait the full month if you opened the Gates of the Watchtower earlier...

[DarkOne-Rob]

I'd like to spread rumors more, but otherwise, yeah, I'm good to go.

[Farmerbink]

I'm good moving on to the next day

[Starbin]

I'll try to post something today, but we should at least poison weapons tonight, or at least plot how we want to rig the fight tomorrow. Do we know who the better fighter is? I'm presuming its the cuckold and not Eddarly, but you never know ...

[DarkOne-Rob]

Screwed up some dice rolls - neither attack misses due to concealment

Primary attack action: [roll0] to hit, [roll1] (20/x3), [roll2] magic slashing damage, [roll3] critical strike damage, +1 to hit and damage if the soldier is Lawful.

AoO: [roll4] to hit, [roll5] (20/x3), [roll6] magic slashing damage, [roll7] critical strike damage, +1 to hit and damage if the soldier is Lawful.

[DarkOne-Rob]

(Updating)

The Keep
Our primary goal - got to keep this in mind and we still need a solid entrance. Maybe a wand of Fly or something? Start from the top and go down? Or use the dwarven repair team somehow? (Tunnel under the gatehouse? Mentioned during the duel-scene.)

Today (Day 5)
In the morning we need to ensure the duel ends tragically, with as much death as possible. We've done some work to this effect so far - time to seal the deal, IMO. Let's be ready for violence in the morning! Done!
Need to babysit Eddarly and secure control of him, perhaps via Kaitlyn? Kidnapping her or something?
Secure an appropriate "burial site" for the four dead men.
In the afternoon we find and dispose of the patrol. We've got some basic info on this, so following their path and finding their trail shouldn't be hard. If they're drunk or generally loafing about, we should be able to kill them all, feed Oghash again, and return to town with no one the wiser. Is this still happening today? Are we fresh enough on resources? Oghash has spent four of her 10 rounds of daily Bloodrage...
Spend the evening replacing the alchemist with Ahkmathi? Prepare an ambush for the visiting priest? I think we should empty out the alchemist shop of valuables so that he can take the fall for the priest's disappearance - when the townsfolk investigate, they find it gutted and him gone. He's an easy scapegoat that way. I think we need to do this earlier, hide bodies, and then do the patrol-ambush in the late-afternoon.

Tomorrow (Day 6)
Take out the priest's entourage via subtlety so we can fight him solo.
Ambush and capture the priest.
Sacrifice him to empower the flesh golem.
Find more trouble to make?

Day 7 ("overmorrow")
Find more trouble to make?

Two days later (Day 8)
The bard arrives in town - how do we intend to use this for our advantage?

Day 9
Release the Golem as a distraction while we infiltrate the keep?

Other goals
I still want to take over the brothel, by force if necessary. Alicia and Bellam Barthold need to be pushed out of control of the girls, removed from positions where they could discover our subterfuge, or something similar. We've got a variety of ways to do it - just need to succeed somehow.


Timon Meadery: will it be worth doing anything here? Poison/drugs in the alcohol? Or just burn it down?
General Store and Smithy: burn them down. Make it big enough to be difficult to put out, maybe pick off individuals as they try to fight the fires...?
Graveyard: resources for a Lesser Animate Dead spell or two?
Dominik Vallison, village reeve: break into his home one night, kill him, rob him blind? Or try to Charm him and use him to get into the keep?

Notes
We still need to kill the commander of the keep and maximize the death/destruction we accomplish.
Beef stew for the keep (poison it?)
Smithy?

[DarkOne-Rob]

First, I suggest we hide these bodies in the abandoned warehouse...
Have we investigated this or broken into the building yet? Hope it's easy...Otherwise I like it. I think we are all on the same page regarding the alchemist.


Next, we must prepare to take on the patrol and end them quickly...
I agree with all this - let's get the bodies hidden and get moving!


After the patrol, we need to return and prepare for the priest's arrival tomorrow...
By "prepare" do we mean plan and handle spells? Go through alchemical buffs? Or setup an ambush site?


Finally, we need to find out about any hidden tunnels below...
I hadn't thought about using the tunnels to get bugbears inside. That seems to be an option if we don't intend to use it ourselves.

[DrK]

Right, lots of plans and lots of things you seem to be doing?


I'm happy to handwave the kidnapping of the alchemist. He's a low level alchemist and would be no challenge so happy for one of you to IC describe narratively what you did to him
THe patrol - will probably occupy most of your day. Its a few hour walk to the campsite above the shores of the lake. Thats probably the next sifgnifigant activity you need to do.
3. Eddarly will go and hide at home and seems sincere so you can park him till later

[DarkOne-Rob]

@DrK - I really appreciate your response to this. It helps me as a player know what my PC would actually recognize from the myriad context clues that we just cannot see as players. Thank you!

[DarkOne-Rob]

Casting two Cure Light Wounds spells to see how much healing that gets Oghash. She needs 17 HPs to be topped off... [roll0] and [roll1].

Edit: I will stop there and keep four spells available for the Patrol Ambush.

[Farmerbink]

If anyone provokes another AoO, Stvari will use it to trip: [roll0]

[DrK]

shaken [roll0]
fascinated [roll1]

[DrK]

still awaiting Ahkmathi and Stavri :smallsmile:

[DarkOne-Rob]

New Update

The Keep
Our primary goal - got to keep this in mind and we still need a solid entrance. Maybe a wand of Fly or something? Start from the top and go down? Or use the dwarven repair team somehow? Tunnel under the gatehouse? - No changes yet. We still need to establish a plan.

Today (Day 5)
In the morning we need to ensure the duel ends tragically, with as much death as possible. We've done some work to this effect so far - time to seal the deal, IMO. Let's be ready for violence in the morning! Done!
Need to babysit Eddarly and secure control of him, perhaps via Kaitlyn? Kidnapping her or something? Done!
Secure an appropriate "burial site" for the four dead men. Done!
In the afternoon we find and dispose of the patrol. Done!
Spend the evening replacing the alchemist with Ahkmathi? Prepare an ambush for the visiting priest? I think we should empty out the alchemist shop of valuables so that he can take the fall for the priest's disappearance - when the townsfolk investigate, they find it gutted and him gone. He's an easy scapegoat that way. Looks like this is our next step.

Tomorrow (Day 6)
Take out the priest's entourage via subtlety so we can fight him solo.
Ambush and capture the priest.
Sacrifice him to empower the flesh golem.
Engage in "Other goals" from the list below if time allows

Day 7 ("overmorrow")
Try to sabotage the dwarven tunnel repairs? Impersonate the Priest to get inside the Keep? Use CAPT Eddarly to get inside the Keep? Work on the brothel? Work to sow despair, especially with ripe targets like Kaitlyn?

Two days later (Day 8)
The bard arrives in town - how do we intend to use this for our advantage? The next patrol should be leaving sometime around this day...

Day 9
Release the Golem as a distraction while we infiltrate the keep?

Other goals
I still want to take over the brothel, by force if necessary. Alicia and Bellam Barthold need to be pushed out of control of the girls, removed from positions where they could discover our subterfuge, or something similar. We've got a variety of ways to do it - just need to succeed somehow.


Timon Meadery: will it be worth doing anything here? Poison/drugs in the alcohol? Or just burn it down?
General Store and Smithy: burn them down. Make it big enough to be difficult to put out, maybe pick off individuals as they try to fight the fires...?
Graveyard: resources for a Lesser Animate Dead spell or two?
Dominik Vallison, village reeve: break into his home one night, kill him, rob him blind? Or try to Charm him and use him to get into the keep?

Notes
We still need to kill the commander of the keep and maximize the death/destruction we accomplish.
Beef stew for the keep (poison it?)
Smithy?

[Farmerbink]

New Update
Tomorrow (Day 6)
Take out the priest's entourage via subtlety so we can fight him solo. I am least concerned about this- I intend to have a Death knell active from the alchemist, and suspect we will easily overpower anyone without a name.
Ambush and capture the priest.
Sacrifice him to empower the flesh golem.
Engage in "Other goals" from the list below if time allows

Day 7 ("overmorrow")
Try to sabotage the dwarven tunnel repairs? Impersonate the Priest to get inside the Keep? Use CAPT Eddarly to get inside the Keep? Work on the brothel? Work to sow despair, especially with ripe targets like Kaitlyn? I like impersonating the priest, and perhaps the leader of the Dwarven team.

Two days later (Day 8)
The bard arrives in town - how do we intend to use this for our advantage? The next patrol should be leaving sometime around this day...

Day 9
Release the Golem as a distraction while we infiltrate the keep?

Other goals
I still want to take over the brothel, by force if necessary. Alicia and Bellam Barthold need to be pushed out of control of the girls, removed from positions where they could discover our subterfuge, or something similar. We've got a variety of ways to do it - just need to succeed somehow.


Timon Meadery: will it be worth doing anything here? Poison/drugs in the alcohol? Or just burn it down? Meh
General Store and Smithy: burn them down. Make it big enough to be difficult to put out, maybe pick off individuals as they try to fight the fires...? Yes
Graveyard: resources for a Lesser Animate Dead spell or two? With enough time, easy peasy
Dominik Vallison, village reeve: break into his home one night, kill him, rob him blind? Or try to Charm him and use him to get into the keep? The reeve may be easier access than impersonation- none of us are good at face skills XD

Notes
We still need to kill the commander of the keep and maximize the death/destruction we accomplish.
Beef stew for the keep (poison it?)
Smithy?

[Gyrfalcon]

Thanks for the invite to join - I have Anton ready for review, and look forward to when he can join the group.

Anton Sicarius / Dahaki'larioni'riki'azz (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2717429)
M NE Half-Elf (Humanoid; human/elf) U. Rogue 1 / Necromancer 2 // Synthesist Summoner 3, Level 1/2//3, Init 5, HP 33 (27)/33 (27), Speed 40' (30')
AC 16, Touch 12, Flat-footed 14, CMD 16, Fort 3, Ref 6, Will 5, CMB +4, Base Attack Bonus 2
Trip Bite +4 (1d6+2, x2)
Trip (Bite) Full Attack (Bite, Claw x2, Sneak Attack) +4/+4/+4 (1d6+2+2d6, 1d4+2+2d6(x2), x2)
(+2 Dex, +4 Natural)
Abilities Str 15, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 16
Condition Immune: sleep effects
Saving Throws: +2 vs enchantment spells and effects, Evasion (no damage on Reflex save)
Senses: Low-Light Vision, Darkvision 60'

For color, I was thinking to take (over) blue and red as they don't look to be in use.

Anton on his own will speak in "Red. For no particular, Hells-induced reason."
Dahaki will speak in "Blue. The same color as my beautiful scales." when they are merged - which will be whenever practical.

[DrK]

Welcome @Gyrfalcon.

'm back from my sojorn in the desert so looking forward to getting games running

[DarkOne-Rob]

"We can either do something to bring him here to deal with his brother-in-law...
Something like killing and eating his sister? :smallamused:

[DrK]

Will saves [roll0]
Fireball 1 saves [roll1]
Fireball 2 saves [roll2]
Euphoric cloud will saves as needed (assuming not all the d20's will be needed after the fireballs) [roll3]

[Farmerbink]

Death Knell effects:
[roll0] temporary HP
+2 enhancement to strength
effective caster level +1
for 50 minutes

[DarkOne-Rob]

Will save vs Hold Person: [roll0] vs DC 16.

[DrK]

Will save vs Hold Person: [roll0] vs DC 16.

Oh dear doesn't bode well for the priest

[Gyrfalcon]

Rolled a crit in Scenario 1

Crit Confirmation - [roll0]

Crit damage is x2, so if confirmed 14 damage is dealt.

[DrK]

1 guard dead to Oghash
Both Stavri and Dahaki can throw their spells if they wish but can't reach melee in a single move or a charge (as the door was in the way )
What do you fancy doing?

[Gyrfalcon]

Scenario 2 then - move in, cast Grease - catch the priest (and hopefully the other guard), placed in a way to not inconvenience Oghash.

[Farmerbink]

1 guard dead to Oghash
Both Stavri and Dahaki can throw their spells if they wish but can't reach melee in a single move or a charge (as the door was in the way )
What do you fancy doing?

I'll go double move, sadly.

[DrK]

Ref save [roll0]

[Farmerbink]

When time permits, in character, Stvari would be very glad to have that wisdom amulet. I'll note it on the sheet. :smallbiggrin:

[Starbin]

I edited my last post to account for Ahkmathi taking the keys. Here's what I've got from the latest loot:

12 Mwk halberds, 12 Mwk chain mail suits, 88gp - Group treasure, weapons in the hut for now, gold can be split, or used for the ladies.
Heavy mace +1 with the heads shaped like a golden sun burst - Not sure who should keep this, but magic weapons can be useful.
Breastplate +1 - Oghash?
Necklace of inspired wisdom +2 - Stvari
Keys: a set of keys with 5 keys on it - Ahkmathi
Prayer Book of Mitra - Dahaki

[DarkOne-Rob]

88gp - gold can be split, or used for the ladies.
Heavy mace +1 with the heads shaped like a golden sun burst - Not sure who should keep this, but magic weapons can be useful.
Breastplate +1 - Oghash?
Oghash is using Chainmail +2 currently (not a Chain Shirt +2), so the armor isn't an upgrade. She wouldn't use the magical mace unless dealing with DR that wasn't being overcome by gratuitous damage... I think the gold should continue to be used to further pay for the corruption and fall of the town. We will be murdering and looting any remaining stores from which we would otherwise buy things, I think.

Long story short, Oghash isn't interested in the loot right now.

[Starbin]

Ahkmathi doesn't really need most loot ... I only note the gold since some of us require funds for item creation :smallbiggrin:. The weapon I think is still good to keep for now ... bestow it upon one of the bugbears as a gift, or one of our 'crew' as a sign of favor (along with the breastplate). Same with all the weapons and stuff - we have disciples to arm! As Hamilton once sang, this is not a moment, this is the movement.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Oh, I'm all for investing in the future. Totally agree with the special loot.

If you need the cash for scrolls and stuff, take it. Oghash might (briefly) resent that, but she'll get over it.

I'm trying to still play up the Superstitious part of things, since she will (shortly) get a couple of Rage powers, including Superstitious. Go nuts on weird magic - make her uncomfortable!

[DrK]

Book 2 May benefit from the retained loot as you start to set up your minion network….

For this one? It’s still early doors on this day, you’ll have a golem to activate and a guard to feed to it then the rest of the day is yours?

Heading to the keep yet or exploring the secret passage?

[DarkOne-Rob]

I know I was expecting/hoping for a dramatic, Frankenstein-esque scene with us animating the Golem. Was kinda looking forward to the RP moment there - not the sacrifice specifically, but the drama of the experience.

After that, I think the question is a slight bit more complicated - do we want to go at the keep with or without the golem? Like, scouting it out or frontal assault?

OR do we go into the tunnels, using the golem as a distraction? Or do we take it with us as meat?

I think our entrance to the tunnels is in the inn, so probably have to deal with the innkeeper, the matron, and setting up our own new brothel-lead before going to that route...

[Gyrfalcon]

In principal, the Breastplate is a minor, minor upgrade over the Chainmail still due to lower ACP, but up to you with that.

In that vein, we should retain all the masterwork equipment - we can either equip minions with it or gift it to the Bugbears (or equip Bugbears that swear to our cause with it). Or hell, in the future Anton can raise bloody skeletons and we can equip them with it. We might want to look into transportation for our loot if we start stockpiling gear for that.

Anton is very equipment-light - he wants stat enhancers and an amulet of mighty fists, but weapons and armor are lost on him in most situations - if caught outside dragon form he'd need rogue finesse weapons over a mace.

As for what to do next, I'd say scout the tunnel (with an emphasis on scout), or quickly make contact with the dwarves and find out what they're up to. With an iron circlet of disguise and his own skills, Anton has a Disguise of +15 to appear as a Dwarf, though critically he doesn't speak Dwarvish. He has a Diplomacy of +12 and a Bluff of +9 to bull**** his way out of that minor issue though.

[DarkOne-Rob]

In principal, the Breastplate is a minor, minor upgrade over the Chainmail still due to lower ACP, but up to you with that.
Except it has a lower AC - Chain Mail and Breastplate both have +6, and my +2 Chainmail has more AC than the +1 Breastplate.


In that vein, we should retain all the masterwork equipment - we can either equip minions with it or gift it to the Bugbears (or equip Bugbears that swear to our cause with it). Or hell, in the future Anton can raise bloody skeletons and we can equip them with it. We might want to look into transportation for our loot if we start stockpiling gear for that.
100%


As for what to do next, I'd say scout the tunnel (with an emphasis on scout), or quickly make contact with the dwarves and find out what they're up to. With an iron circlet of disguise and his own skills, Anton has a Disguise of +15 to appear as a Dwarf, though critically he doesn't speak Dwarvish. He has a Diplomacy of +12 and a Bluff of +9 to bull**** his way out of that minor issue though.
We've already had a failure there. I'm fine with murder - they argue less when they're dead.

[Gyrfalcon]

What, Oghash doesn't have a Dex of 16 while Large yet? :P

Fair enough, than the breastplate can go into the loot pile for a favored minion.

Speaking of, are Leadership feats on the table for later? That's a Level 7 issue, but the Knot certainly looks to be collecting cohort candidates.

As for the Dwarves, we can certainly dial M for Murder on them. Given that Ahkmathi Set has most of his spells and bombs available, we might be able to handle them still today if Oghash can let Dahaki and Stvari go first and take hits.

[Farmerbink]

Depending on details regarding the bonus wisdom, Stvari could hypothetically memorize a few new spells to make dealing with them today more reasonable.

Speaking of special loot, did we ever decide what to do with the big ol' horse? I'm seriously bummed just leaving it metaphorically on the table...

[Gyrfalcon]

None of our are really mounted characters. Akhmathi Set might make best use of it for the cheese is 'mount keeps moving while I can take full rounds to cast'?

Otherwise we find a cart and we can use the horse to help move our ill-gotten gains.

Also, nice to see the Knot come together in their polytheistic glory. I'm pretty sure the Golem isn't going to make a DC38 will save.

[DrK]

Let’s have a roll on that Will save [roll0]

Edit: You appear to have a new pet

[Starbin]

I didn't want to jinx myself, but one of the things I have a hard time with in most D&D / D&D adjacent games is how a 1 is always a fail and a 20 is always a hit. It means no matter how good you are, no matter how powerful you are, you always have a 5% chance of failure. And no matter how weak, or crappy or uncoordinated you are, you have a 5% chance of success. That just seems high to me.

Anyhoo, off my soap-box. Yay, we did a thing!

Also, I got the impression that Oghash was considering using the horse later. I thought we had hidden it for now in anticipation of a raging rider who might one day impart some of that rage into her steed.

[DarkOne-Rob]

The mounted rager is still a possible thing - not conclusively yet, but I'm considering it. The only thing I need to decide is how I'd get there, if I got there, and when to "pull the trigger" on that decision.

[Farmerbink]

I would love to see/help make that happen. I personally struggle to ignore thematic boons, especially when they're notably mechanically, as well. I don't know how closely you've looked, but there's really not any class features that can *make* a mount as good as that one would be.

It would be something very much like a truly unique boon for a ranger or cavalier.

[Gyrfalcon]

I didn't want to jinx myself, but one of the things I have a hard time with in most D&D / D&D adjacent games is how a 1 is always a fail and a 20 is always a hit. It means no matter how good you are, no matter how powerful you are, you always have a 5% chance of failure. And no matter how weak, or crappy or uncoordinated you are, you have a 5% chance of success. That just seems high to me.

An important thing here is that only applies to combat rolls - if you have a DC25 check and roll 20 on 1d20+1, you still fail. The same as if you have a DC15 check and roll a 1 on 1d20+20, you still pass. Mostly saying this because I see a common misapprehension floating around that people think the 1 fails, 20 succeeds thing applies to everything.

Personally I don't mind it much in combat - 5% can be a bit high, but it represents a combination of people getting lucky/unlucky in the heat of combat. It does tend to stack up with flurry builds though, which is why I will always avoid games where the DM thinks fumbles on a 1 are a good idea.

Also, we have a super horse? edit - found it back.


THe saddle has a worked silver thread name on it of "Bartheron" - a name that Ahkmathi and Stavri recognise as the as name of of Mitran Saint famed for his strength and loyalty. Good name for a stead.

Treat it as a light warhorse with +2 HD (with all the benefits that brings) and +4 Str/Con and +2 Dex

It looks to be an Advanced Horse (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/horse/horse-advanced/) with two extra HD. Overall a really good mount for lower levels, though we'll need to figure out ways to buff and advance it in the future if we want Oghash to ride one at Lv20. (If she doesn't want a bloody skeleton gold dragon as a mount at that point. :P)

edit 2 - I was looking at the Flesh Golem entry, but apparently Anton can also 'heal' it by casting Jolt on it over and over. Every 3 points of lightning damage will heal 1 HP for it. Jolt does 1d3, so it only works 33% of the time, but we can time-skip after a battle and Anton spends 30+ minutes [Jolt]ing the golem until its back to full.

[DarkOne-Rob]

It looks to be an Advanced Horse (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/horse/horse-advanced/) with two extra HD. Overall a really good mount for lower levels, though we'll need to figure out ways to buff and advance it in the future if we want Oghash to ride one at Lv20. (If she doesn't want a bloody skeleton gold dragon as a mount at that point. :P)
Um, yes please! Though the horse sounds fun too, in the meantime.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Resurrecting our list, with some edits.

Also, for reference: Here is the Summary of Town from DrK (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25315731&postcount=477).

Tomorrow (Day 6)
Take out the priest's entourage via subtlety so we can fight him solo. I am least concerned about this- I intend to have a Death knell active from the alchemist, and suspect we will easily overpower anyone without a name.
Ambush and capture the priest.
Sacrifice him to empower the flesh golem.
Engage in "Other goals" from the list below if time allows

Day 7 ("overmorrow")
Try to sabotage the dwarven tunnel repairs? Impersonate the Priest to get inside the Keep? Use CAPT Eddarly to get inside the Keep? Work on the brothel? Work to sow despair, especially with ripe targets like Kaitlyn? I like impersonating the priest, and perhaps the leader of the Dwarven team.

Two days later (Day 8)
The bard arrives in town - how do we intend to use this for our advantage? The next patrol should be leaving sometime around this day...

Day 9
Release the Golem as a distraction while we infiltrate the keep?

Other goals
I still want to take over the brothel, by force if necessary. Alicia and Bellam Barthold need to be pushed out of control of the girls, removed from positions where they could discover our subterfuge, or something similar. We've got a variety of ways to do it - just need to succeed somehow.

Timon Meadery: will it be worth doing anything here? Poison/drugs in the alcohol? Or just burn it down? Meh
General Store and Smithy: burn them down. Make it big enough to be difficult to put out, maybe pick off individuals as they try to fight the fires...? Yes
Graveyard: resources for a Lesser Animate Dead spell or two? With enough time, easy peasy
Dominik Vallison, village reeve: break into his home one night, kill him, rob him blind? Or try to Charm him and use him to get into the keep? The reeve may be easier access than impersonation- none of us are good at face skills XD

Notes
We still need to kill the commander of the keep and maximize the death/destruction we accomplish.
Beef stew for the keep (poison it?)
Smithy?

OOC - Suggest we chat this out in the discord or OOC, but here's some thoughts.
Rando stuff

To delay discovery of the priest's death, Anton could pretend to be the priest, perhaps with Stvari as a single bodyguard. Go to the local church (or wherever he was setting up shop) and mention being tired or wanting to prepare some sermons. If any asks about his guards, he can tell them he sent them out to investigate some recent rumors.
Oghash warns the ladies to get out of town. Once the city falls, they don't want to be here when the bugbears arrive, so if they start leaving now, departing in twos and threes, they can head to southern cities and start to set up a network. Make sure we give them a code phrase (nothing too overtly Asmodean, but something no self-respecting Mitran would say)
Is the Bard coming soon, and are there opportunities there to either disrupt festivities or implicate him in a plot?


Ways ahead
Go to the tower on the outskirts of town and kill the few guards there. Ring the bells that call a group of troops from the keep. Ambush them with Kamos to reduce combat power at the keep. Alternatively, we get the guards to respond while we attack the keep.
Head to the keep via the underground passage, leave the golem hidden with instructions on when to unleash hell (ideally when we want the distraction).
Go after the dwarves with Kamos and kill them all. Sabotage what we can.
Swing by and add some poison to Old Lady WhatsHerName's soup ... and maybe Timon's ale. Lower some stats before we fight?
Start another fire, this one at the armory. Attack the keep after troops arrive to help.

Key concerns
The keep commander ... I think he's a bad ass.
Getting the gates open for the bugbears
Time
Today, this morning (Day 6)
Take out the priest's entourage via subtlety so we can fight him solo.
Ambush and capture the priest.
Sacrifice him to empower the flesh golem.
- Done, and done well, if I do say so myself! We even have the afternoon to work and a good deal of our resources still available.

This afternoon
Impersonate the Priest - we just killed Father Donnagin (I think), so if we handle Brother Justin we could use the church as a new safe-house, if needed.

6. The Church of St. Alden
This is Aldencross’ local Mitra church. This small country church has been rebuilt only twenty years ago after a fire but is built on ancient foundations. The caretaker of the church, Brother Justin of Travismere is not a spellcaster. Instead, he is imply a humble devotee of Mitra, well-skilled at keeping the place in fine working order. The real authority at this church is Father Donnagin, the chaplain of Balentyne. Brother Justin is frankly in awe of the man and defers to him on all matters of any real substance. Still, Father Donnagin is rarely at the church save on holy days. The duties of the watchtower simply keep him too busy.
Sabotage the dwarven tunnel repairs - I think this will likely start with deception (impersonating dwarves?) and then lead to a brawl where we kill all the dwarven workers. I am so, SO down for this!
Scout the tower proper - probably in disguise as Father Donnagin? We should definitely do this before mounting a full frontal assault - knowing the layout ahead of time will be GREAT for us.

Tonight - We feast on Bellam and Alicia Barthold with the whores, finalizing their conversion to Asmodeus-bondage/worship and their service to us. We then arrange for the ladies to manage the inn for a couple of days since the couple "suddenly, and without warning, left town." Finally, we explore the tunnel to the keep and see if we want to enter the keep that way. Alternatively, we send the golem that way to distract while we enter via another entrance.

Tomorrow
General Store, Smithy, and dealing with the Reeve - These could be good activities for tomorrow morning. Collect the last resources in town while the golem distracts the keep? Then, while the soldiers are trying to recover, we begin the assault for real.
Graveyard: resources for a Lesser Animate Dead spell or two? How soon can we execute this? If it takes too long skip it, but if we can do it tonight or tomorrow, before we start the full assault, than it could be worthwhile.
Begin the attack at nightfall?

Two days later (Day 8)
The bard arrives in town - how do we intend to use this for our advantage? The next patrol should be leaving sometime around this day...

- I think we either scrap this or it is the last day outside the keep. The bard may or may not be a big deal, I don't really know, but I don't see him as much more than a distraction. If we kill him, great (Oghash is bloodthirsty and I enjoy these combat scenes), but if not we don't want him leaving to spread word that the town and keep are in trouble. I think "Go-Time" is tomorrow, because of his arrival.

If he arrives to find the town and tower a smoking heap, that would be a great way to spread the word after it is too late. Talk about free propaganda!

Other Goals
Prevent any call for help from the tower?

Victory Condition
Kill the Lord Commander of the keep and maximize the death/destruction we accomplish.

[Gyrfalcon]

Alright, let’s throw some thoughts together on what we can do.

I think from what the others are saying its worthwhile to have Anton impersonate the priest – the others can come disguised as guardsmen from his entourage. Make an appearance at the chapel and eat kill and eat Brother Justin. Not that he’s a caster himself, but then the church goes entirely quiet and we can indeed relocate and use it.

Before doing so, we’d need to interrogate him as much as possible so that we know as much about the Priest as possible. We can then go ahead and visit the Tower and get an idea of the layout, defenses and defenders as much as possible before its go time

Tonight we finish the plotline with the girls for now. I agree with Starbin that they need to get out of town soon, preferably right before we make our big move.

I’m categorically against throwing the golem away by sending it in to die. If we want to unleash it alone, then we want to attack as a group from another direction at the same time and force the defenders to split their attention and numbers. We also don’t want to just let it attack and then do nothing – such an event would force the defenders to try to send an alert. If it’s a messenger on foot or horse, we might be able to do something. But there are plenty of magical options and we don’t have any way to stop that.

My ideal endgame is that we keep the golem as a powerful minion for now – especially since it can take plenty of hits for the party and we can basically heal it for free given enough time out of combat.
Sadly, unless you guys have scrolls of animate dead kicking around, we’re not raising anything yet. Unless the graveyard has a naturally occurring undead problem. In that case, Anton can dominate them, and we can use them in the attack.

So now to organize that a bit
I think we want to do the following:
Afternoon – visit and secure the church, visit the tower and figure out defenses and defenders
Evening – Red Feast, scout the tunnel and insert the golem there to wait
Tomorrow morning – Finish the last stores and deal with the dwarves or tower.
Tomorrow night – infiltrate the keep, kill as many defenders in their sleep as possible. Once we’re discovered, go loud with the golem and rip and tear.

[DarkOne-Rob]

I think from what the others are saying its worthwhile to have Anton impersonate the priest – the others can come disguised as guardsmen from his entourage. Make an appearance at the chapel and eat kill and eat Brother Justin. Not that he’s a caster himself, but then the church goes entirely quiet and we can indeed relocate and use it.

Before doing so, we’d need to interrogate him as much as possible so that we know as much about the Priest as possible. We can then go ahead and visit the Tower and get an idea of the layout, defenses and defenders as much as possible before its go time.
Totally agree - solid details.


Tonight we finish the plotline with the girls for now. I agree with Starbin that they need to get out of town soon, preferably right before we make our big move.
I think the night before, or of, our attack we should send them out. Give them as long as possible for indoctrination and ensuring they remain corrupted, at least, if not faithful.


I’m categorically against throwing the golem away by sending it in to die.
100% agree - I think it's damage reduction will do a ton to ensure it lasts.


If we want to unleash it alone, then we want to attack as a group from another direction at the same time and force the defenders to split their attention and numbers. We also don’t want to just let it attack and then do nothing – such an event would force the defenders to try to send an alert. If it’s a messenger on foot or horse, we might be able to do something. But there are plenty of magical options and we don’t have any way to stop that.

My ideal endgame is that we keep the golem as a powerful minion for now – especially since it can take plenty of hits for the party and we can basically heal it for free given enough time out of combat.
Again, you are absolutely right. No reason to throw out a powerful boon due to laziness or negligence. That's bad tactics, bad strategy, and definitely isn't ambitious (i.e., in accordance with the teachings of Asmodeus). We need to ensure it survives the battle.


Sadly, unless you guys have scrolls of animate dead kicking around, we’re not raising anything yet. Unless the graveyard has a naturally occurring undead problem. In that case, Anton can dominate them, and we can use them in the attack.
/nods. Seems this is off the table, then. No big deal - I think we've enough resources here.


So now to organize that a bit...
I think we want to do the following:
Afternoon – visit and secure the church, visit the tower and figure out defenses and defenders.
Evening – Red Feast, scout the tunnel and insert the golem there to wait.
Tomorrow morning – Finish the last stores and deal with the dwarves or tower.
Tomorrow night – infiltrate the keep, kill as many defenders in their sleep as possible. Once we’re discovered, go loud with the golem and rip and tear.
I like it.

[Farmerbink]

Sadly, unless you guys have scrolls of animate dead kicking around, we’re not raising anything yet. Unless the graveyard has a

Just to be clear, as a cleric 3, Stvari can absolutely prepare up to two castings of lesser animate dead. :smallbiggrin:

Based on your timeline, I don't know that it'll be feasible. We'd need almost an entire day worth of 2nd level spells (not counting the domain spell). I'd really rather not do the infiltration in earnest virtually tapped out. BUT if we can weasel one more day between today and the infiltration, we could trivially have a pair of zombies or skeletons on hand- for whatever that's worth.

Relevant detail, and question for @DrK: Would a Desecrate spell do the same for lesser animate dead as it does for the regular spell (in this case, doubling the production rate to two critters per cast?). Or does the lesser part of the animate dead spell override the significance of a (potential) desecration?

[DrK]

Post your interrogation of the Solider after the massacre at the Cabin I'll let you see the map of the Keep

https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/190873/assets/857841/Balentyne_watchtower.png?1525620161

The town of Alden Cross lies to the West so you enter through the gates on the lower level. Some salient things that the guard would have mentioned

Lower Level:
Areas 10-13: Kitchen, dining rom, stores etc...
Area 9: Main barracks for the soldiers
Areas 3-7: Rooms for the 4 1 Captains
Areas: 14-17: The Holy Father and his assistants quarters
Area 2: Armoury stores
Area 18-19: Bridge of the ravine and gatehouse with double portcullis

Area 1 (the Vault): More armoury and stores (under Area 2). Currently as far as you are aware this is where the seceret passage from the Inn will end up

Ground Level
Area 24/24: Roof of bridge, murderholes over portcullis
Area 30: Stables
Area 26: The Chapel to Mitra
Area 31: The great Hall

Keep Level 2: Area 35 The jail cells
Keep Level 3: Area 40-41 The magister (also dead) quarter
Keep Level 4: Lord Captain's Quarters

[DarkOne-Rob]

We've already done quite a nice job of clearing out some of the most dangerous defenders.

@DrK What do we know about the upper levels of the tower? Above the Dwarven Vaults and Armory storage?

[DrK]

General training and storage or office space apart from the top floor which is the rookery with the messenger crows

[DarkOne-Rob]

Oooh...messenger crows. Methinks we should go through the tunnel tonight and up that tower to the top, kill the messengers...

[DarkOne-Rob]

Plan

Spells
0: resistance, acid splash, detect magic, detect poison, read magic, dancing lights, flare, light, ray of frost, spark, ghost sound, mending, haunted fey aspect, mage hand, message, open/close, arcane mark, prestidigitation

1: mage armor, grease, obscuring mist, protection from good, enlarge person, color spray, silent image, feather fall, snowball, shield, mount, magic missile, alarm, sleep, expeditious retreat, charm person

2: bull’s strength, flaming sphere, hideous laughter, invisibility, resist energy, create pit, glitterdust, Darkvision, euphoric cloud, summon monster II

Formulae
1-enlarge person, shield, expeditious retreat, cure light wounds, heightened awareness, targeted bomb admixture, touch of the sea, identity, abjuring step, blend, illusion of calm
I like the following plan:

Kill the messenger and the ravens.
Keep going
Leave the golem to guard our rear as we go up to the upper levels ASAP
Mop up anything still alive after fighting the golem
Since we're out of order, time-wise, in our posts now, I figure we should make the decision here and then progress forward with that assumed plan in our IC posts.

As for spells...

0 - Don't think they matter much, but I'd say Acid Splash, Detect Magic, and Message need to be included.
1 - Game changers like Grease, Obscuring Mist, Silent Image, and Sleep
2 - Create Pit, Glitterdust (AOE blind), Euphoric Cloud (if skipping Obscuring Mist), and Summon Monster II

Formulae - whatever buffs you want for yourself. Heightened Awareness is powerful and flexible...

[Starbin]

I like the following plan:

Kill the messenger and the ravens.
Keep going
Leave the golem to guard our rear as we go up to the upper levels ASAP
Mop up anything still alive after fighting the golem
Since we're out of order, time-wise, in our posts now, I figure we should make the decision here and then progress forward with that assumed plan in our IC posts.

As for spells...

0 - Don't think they matter much, but I'd say Acid Splash, Detect Magic, and Message need to be included.
1 - Game changers like Grease, Obscuring Mist, Silent Image, and Sleep
2 - Create Pit, Glitterdust (AOE blind), Euphoric Cloud (if skipping Obscuring Mist), and Summon Monster II

Formulae - whatever buffs you want for yourself. Heightened Awareness is powerful and flexible...

I was planning on some spells to help with misdirection and the like (invisibility, ghost sound, mage hand), but some of those lose utility once we go loud. I'm wondering if sleep is still a good spell, since the soldiers we have been facing are increasingly hardier (i.e. 2+ HDs, which means one or two soldiers per spell). Definitely improves the value of spells like grease (especially on the stairs) and euphoric cloud. Glitterdust can be pretty sweet too, unless they get lucky on saves.

For the Formulae, I have the infusions discovery, so I plan on one extract for Stvari to grow big ... the rest depend on what we need. Heightened Awareness is on my list right now ... maybe expeditious retreat, too.

I threw some thoughts down on discord as well (I just can't access that from work), so see what you think of that option, too.

[DarkOne-Rob]

I was planning on some spells to help with misdirection and the like (invisibility, ghost sound, mage hand), but some of those lose utility once we go loud. I'm wondering if sleep is still a good spell, since the soldiers we have been facing are increasingly hardier (i.e. 2+ HDs, which means one or two soldiers per spell). Definitely improves the value of spells like grease (especially on the stairs) and euphoric cloud. Glitterdust can be pretty sweet too, unless they get lucky on saves.

For the Formulae, I have the infusions discovery, so I plan on one extract for Stvari to grow big ... the rest depend on what we need. Heightened Awareness is on my list right now ... maybe expeditious retreat, too.
I would say anything with a saving throw needs to either have an effect even on passed saves and/or be area-of-effect so you can catch multiple enemies in it. That's the best way to be sure it will actually matter. Also, anything that will end precipitously (like Invisibility after attacking) strikes me as short-term gains when in this particular "dungeon" we need to last a bit longer...

The concern about Sleep is fair - I don't have a good counter argument except that it can really swing a combat if you're lucky.

Regarding Infusion, I don't remember if spells like Shield work - they don't in Potions - and even if they do I would only suggest ones that qualitatively improve our odds or are really, really significant numerically. Enlarge Person definitely fits the second category.

[Gyrfalcon]

Infusions do allow you to pass self-only spells to others and is one of the big draws of alchemists (and why you take infusions) - things like false life, shield and others can be passed around.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Oghash's Initiative: [roll0]. If she does well, she will be moving with all haste towards the fight!

[Gyrfalcon]

[roll0]

Anton’s first turn is to double move back towards the fight.

[Starbin]

I'd say Ahkmathi is in the same boat ... although all things being equal, he will let Anton get there first.

[roll0]

EDIT: Oooh ... a two. :smalltongue:

[Farmerbink]

I'd say Ahkmathi is in the same boat ... although all things being equal, he will let Anton get there first.

[roll0]

EDIT: Oooh ... a two. :smalltongue:

"let"

*snicker*

[Gyrfalcon]

Dragon goes *zooooom* anyway, but he’ll be gracious about his companion letting him blood his claws first.

[Starbin]

"let"

*snicker*

He’s very gracious :smalltongue:

[DrK]

I see much running to the fight. thats easy to handle

[Starbin]

Just in case Ahkmathi can have how roughy these guys are (I.e, approximate HDs/levels for sleep or color spray)

[roll0]

[DrK]

Just in case Ahkmathi can have how roughy these guys are (I.e, approximate HDs/levels for sleep or color spray)

[roll0]

The guards are probably < 4 HD, the captain i higher level

[DrK]

Will save [roll0]

[Starbin]

Guess we can roll for hit points … [roll0]

Average it is! :smallbiggrin:

[Farmerbink]

I believe my responses are still contingent upon DrK's assessment of HP loss (obv we can roll checks if need be- please do it for me).

I'll post under the assumption that Stvari does indeed survive :smalleek:

[Gyrfalcon]

Assuming your character sheet is correct and Stvari has 25HP at max:

He took two hits for 12 and 15 damage, putting him at -2 at the end of round 2.
At the end of round 3, he'd be at -3 from dying.
Anton casts Infernal Healing on him the next round, so he goes from -3 -> -2

Once the spell finishes, Stvari will be alive and functional with 7HP.

[Farmerbink]

Assuming your character sheet is correct and Stvari has 25HP at max:

He took two hits for 12 and 15 damage, putting him at -2 at the end of round 2.
At the end of round 3, he'd be at -3 from dying.
Anton casts Infernal Healing on him the next round, so he goes from -3 -> -2

Once the spell finishes, Stvari will be alive and functional with 7HP.

That was faster than I figured, but yeah. I dunno why I was struggling with basic math last night :smallcool:

[DrK]

I agree he does appear to be alive

[DarkOne-Rob]

Loot
Guards: 2x MW breastplate - sell or give to the bugbears
2x MW Halberd - sell or give to the bugbears
2x Potion (CLW) - we should give this to our non-healer spellcaster, Ahkmathi, as the others are likely in melee and have healing options available.
Potion - @[B]DrK, what does this mean? Is there one one of each potion?

Captain: Defiant Full Plate +1 - Oghash cannot use, but this is an expensive piece, definitely worth keeping and finding a way to leverage.
Lizardmarked Blade (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/lizardmarked-blade/) (Longsword) - Is this a Lizardmarked Blade that is based on a longsword instead of a gladius? I'm unclear, though the ability to increase it's effective size is appealing, potentially, to Oghash.
Gauntlets of Ogre Strength +2 - - [B]Oghash would love this!
Sash of the War Champion (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/r-z/sash-of-the-war-champion) - Does anyone have effective-Fighter levels? Or will this work like a Monk's Robes (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/r-z/robe-monk-s/) and give the Armor Training and Bravery class features as if a level 4 Fighter?


If the character is not a monk, she gains the AC and unarmed damage of a 5th-Level monk (although she does not add her Wisdom bonus to her AC). This AC bonus functions just like the monk’s AC bonus.
In short, someone in-character should bring the gauntlets to Oghash (who is focused on the retreating guard) who will wear them right away. She would also wear the sash, either as part of the disguise or if it gives effective-Fighter levels for the sake of those two class features. The sword is less obviously useful, given that she prefers a two-handed weapon, but it could be an option if she needed to have a shield for AC purposes...?

[DrK]

Yes there is 1 of each potion, so 1 x Bears endurance, 1x bull strength
This lizardmarked blade is a just a longsword version of the as written one, so a longsword instead of a gladius
If you have no levels this will give you effectively a level 4 figher's Bravry +1 and Armour Training I but will NOT allow any of the advanced armour training options or anything like that

[DarkOne-Rob]

I think several of us would appreciate the Sash of the War Champion, given that description, but it's not the most pressing issue.

The most pressing issue is, "Why are we stalled? On whom are we waiting?" I was expecting the answer to be me, but it hasn't proven true today. What do you need from us, @DrK?

[DrK]

Its been me delaying things, I've been under a lot of work stress and between long hours and simple fatigue have been mostly absent for a couple of weeks but trying to catch up now

[DarkOne-Rob]

/nods. I hope I am appropriately sympathetic, as I'm basically only posting on Fridays-Sundays lately and not updating at all in the two games I DM. If we can help let us know how!

[Gyrfalcon]

In that case, the sash is probably best on Oghash - The rest of us don't wear armor given we have a caster, a monk, and a dragon.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Kill the messenger and the ravens.
Keep going
Leave the golem to guard our rear as we go up to the upper levels ASAP
Mop up anything still alive after fighting the golem
Since we're out of order, time-wise, in our posts now, I figure we should make the decision here and then progress forward with that assumed plan in our IC posts.
Upon review of the map (https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/190873/assets/857841/Balentyne_watchtower.png?1525620161) and legend, I'm inclined to say we should return to the ground level ("Level 2") and either go desecrate their chapel or start on the keep proper.

From what I can see, there aren't many ways up from the basement, so our golem can continue to guard our rear and we can carry on with the surprise attacks. I'm not sure what "F" or "C" means, but they appear to be something like elevators or spiral staircases (2x2 squares, from the kitchens to the grand hall and from the priests' quarters into the chapel). If we can get a translation of those, @DrK it would be cool.

If they're passage from the basement level to the ground floor, we should block or disable them. That would leave only the bridge walkway ("24") that could connect the lower level to the ground without first going through the golem.

I'm curious of who might be in their jail (area 35)...Oghash would certainly consider freeing anyone there, just to cause more trouble down the road. If they were Asmodeans or convertible to the cause, even better.

Basically, I think we have nearly a straight shot to the Lord of the Keep (with the Magister dead already) and the chapel is on the way. We can ruin something beautiful and then cut down the leader tonight. From there, we might be...done? Like, let the golem loose in the basement and set fire to the keep? Summon Tiadora to report our success and get the next assignment?

(Or am I being too overconfident?)