[5e] The Siege of Kestelring [OOC]

[WhismurWanders]

The trade hub of Kestelring is nestled comfortably within the duchy of Cardorin. With roads spreading in each direction of the compass, and caravans coming from far off lands to trade their goods here, the city has enjoyed years of prosperity and peace. Though the lands were once harassed by orc and goblinoid raiders, the fearless soldiers and knights of the city chased the savages back into the forests from which they came. The Duke of Kestelring, Duke Alfred, has prided himself in keeping the city safe from threats on the outside and inside, and many credit the city's prosperity to his leadership and kindness. Though he has fallen somewhat ill in recent times, many of the citizens expect him to make a full recovery. Unfortunately, it is now that evil threatens to rise up again, and it will be heroes of circumstance who will come to the city's defense in its darkest hour.

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The orcs are attacking, the orcs are attacking! By land, by land! Or rather, they will be attacking, and your characters will be the ones to help with the defense. Your characters, however, won't be inside the city at the start of the adventure; rather they will be returning from their own escapades abroad just in the nick of time to aid with the defense.

Our Heroes

Player	Character	Race/Class
josienoms	Opal Frostmane	Hill Dwarf Moon Druid
Slingsby	Colborn "Col" Setwall	Human Drunken Master Monk
Vegan Squirrel	Winston Verne	V.Human Fighter/Rogue
OMG PONIES	Lucky "Duck" Duckets	Stout Halfling Divination Wizard

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IC Thread is here
Battlemaps can be found here

[WhismurWanders]

Welcome to our OOC thread; make yourselves at home. Feel free to claim colors and such. There were a few bookkeeping things I wanted to clear up before we got started properly, but we should be able to start tomorrow/the day after.

• josienoms - Please merge your background into your sheet somewhere so I can access everything about your character in one place.
• OMG PONIES - I think you have one spell too many prepared. Int modifier(2)+Level(3)=5, but I see you have 6 prepared.

Feel free to chat amongst yourselves, and maybe answer the following questions:

• How long has it been since you were last in Kestelring, assuming you've been there before?
• How long have you been on the road? Are any of you traveling together after realizing you're headed to the same place, or are you simply aware of other people travelling alongside you?
• Will those of you with ties to Kestelring be planning on spending the night at a residence of their acquaintances, or will you be staying in an inn?

[Vegan Squirrel]

I'm excited to be here! Winston Verne would like to speak in Golden Rod, the color of fine coinage, unless someone else really wants that color.

• How long has it been since you were last in Kestelring, assuming you've been there before?
• How long have you been on the road? Are any of you traveling together after realizing you're headed to the same place, or are you simply aware of other people travelling alongside you?
• Will those of you with ties to Kestelring be planning on spending the night at a residence of their acquaintances, or will you be staying in an inn?

First question, I guess it depends how far the trade routes go. I'm guessing Winston will have been gone anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months, on a trading trip to another major city or the like.

Second question, I'm totally open to anyone else's ideas about traveling together. I'll have to spend a little time getting to know your backstories before anything is obvious, but Winston has been returning to town as part of a merchant caravan.

Third question, I guess it would make sense he'd stay at his brother Quentin's place, the Verne family home.

And for the purpose of getting to know everyone, here's my initial background post:

Winston Verne—merchant, lovable rogue, and treasure hunter—is basically complete, though I might shift around some very minor details. There's probably more background than you need, so I'll provide a bullet points version here.

Spoiler: Background

Show

• Second son of a merchant, he grew up trading and traveling. Now he's a merchant and occasional smuggler/burglar/forger.
• His honest, hard-working brother Quentin now runs the Verne Trading Company, for which Winston still travels.
• He learned some magic tricks from an older fortune teller and street performer named Zenitha, his childhood confidante.
• Loved an elven herbalist named Emrellis, who left him unexpectedly (because his father threatened her; Winston doesn't know this).
• Driven by a thirst for recognition and also the thrill of adventure.
• He strongly believes that when an opportunity presents itself, he should strike while the iron is hot.
• He gets into and out of trouble a little too easily.
• He doesn't like to see his friends or innocents suffer.
• He's afraid of deep water due to nearly drowning as a child.
• There's a pompous dwarven gemcutter named Bhargus Brightstone who correctly suspects Winston got him caught for selling fake jewels.

Winston is a variant Human Fighter 1/Rogue 2 with the Guild Artisan (Merchant variant) background and the Magic Initiate (bard casting) feat. He will primarily fight with a whip and a set of daggers mainly for throwing, though he also carries a shortbow and he's more of a lover than a fighter. He will continue with the Thief and Battle Master subclasses.

[Slingsby]

Checking in! Really looking forward to this game

Col will be speaking in crimson, the colour of his noble house.

Will get some answers to those questions up later this evening (UK time).

EDIT:

• How long has it been since you were last in Kestelring, assuming you've been there before?
• How long have you been on the road? Are any of you traveling together after realizing you're headed to the same place, or are you simply aware of other people travelling alongside you?
• Will those of you with ties to Kestelring be planning on spending the night at a residence of their acquaintances, or will you be staying in an inn?

1) Col grew up in Kestelring, but it's been over three years now since he was packed off to the monastery. Since then, he's only been able to return for very brief visits while under close monastic supervision. Most recently was nine months ago, as part of a delegation from the monastery paying homage to the Duke.

2) Likewise open as to travelling companions - Col set out from the monastery by himself, and has taken a bit of a winding route back to Kestlering. It would certainly make sense if he had come across a merchant caravan or a group of fellow travellers along the way.

3) Col is expecting to spend the night at the home of his Uncle Lord Malcolm Setwall, although he hasn't actually got as far as making any formal arrangements about this. His family are unlikely to refuse him lodging, but Lady Olivia is likely to be less than impressed about the sudden imposition.

[OMG PONIES]

OMG PONIES - I think you have one spell too many prepared. Int modifier(2)+Level(3)=5, but I see you have 6 prepared.

My mistake--I've removed Fog Cloud from my prepared spells.

How long has it been since you were last in Kestelring, assuming you've been there before?

Never been before--Duck is en route to the town as his cabin in the woods has been running a bit low on supplies. He has decided to try a new city for his current shopping trip, and when he finds out about the bad luck befalling the town he is driven to help and share some of his good fortune. When he finds out the attackers are orcs, he has an even more personal reason to help defend the town.

How long have you been on the road? Are any of you traveling together after realizing you're headed to the same place, or are you simply aware of other people travelling alongside you?

Duck has been traveling for only a few days, but if he met anyone else on the road would travel with them in hopes of protecting them from unfortunate events.

Will those of you with ties to Kestelring be planning on spending the night at a residence of their acquaintances, or will you be staying in an inn?

N/A, no ties. Planning on an inn. Semi-related, what skill would one use to find out information like which inns might serve low-grade "recreational" poisons? Duck may have a bit of a problem...

[josienoms]

• josienoms - Please merge your background into your sheet somewhere so I can access everything about your character in one place.

I have now done so, it's in the "Other Notes" section on the last page of her sheet. Also, she'll be speaking in Dark Grey.

• How long has it been since you were last in Kestelring, assuming you've been there before?
• How long have you been on the road? Are any of you traveling together after realizing you're headed to the same place, or are you simply aware of other people travelling alongside you?
• Will those of you with ties to Kestelring be planning on spending the night at a residence of their acquaintances, or will you be staying in an inn?

• Opal was last in Kestelring maybe ten years ago, for a family wedding.
• She's been on the road basically on and off for years now, but for this particular trip, probably only a week or so. If she came across anyone on the way and realized they had the same destination, she'd be more than happy to travel along with them.
• She's expecting to stay with her son, Cinnabar Frostmane, and his family. Whether he'll actually agree to put her up for the duration of her visit is up for debate, but she thinks she taught him proper manners and hospitality well enough.

[Slingsby]

Each of us bumping into the trade caravan (possibly via a tavern or two) sounds then like a good way of getting us all in to the same place?

[WhismurWanders]

Works for me. IC Thread is up, go nuts!

[Vegan Squirrel]

I'll post in the morning when I have the energy for a creative intro, but just a quick note that Winston also has a mule (Eddie) and a cart, which I assumed he was traveling with. He can be beside or behind the wagons with his cart.

[OMG PONIES]

Since weasels have advantage on perception checks for hearing, rolled twice in the IC and struck out the lower roll.

[OMG PONIES]

Map link not working for me...how far away are the bushes and how far apart are the gobbos?

[Slingsby]

On a related map question, what rules are we using for diagonal movement?

[WhismurWanders]

Map link not working for me...how far away are the bushes and how far apart are the gobbos?

Strange. Anyone else having trouble viewing the map? Are you perhaps on mobile?
Here's a screenshot of most of the current situation.

On a related map question, what rules are we using for diagonal movement?

The PHB rules, diagonal movement costs 5'.

[OMG PONIES]

I am on mobile...neither the map nor your imgur are loading for me. Trying to determine if I could pop then with a quick Ice Knife (and if Lucky would be that aggressive toward goblins or not).

[WhismurWanders]

I am on mobile...neither the map nor your imgur are loading for me. Trying to determine if I could pop then with a quick Ice Knife (and if Lucky would be that aggressive toward goblins or not).

None of the goblins are close enough to each other that you would hit more than one with Ice Knife.

EDIT; Perhaps if I embed the image into a post?

Spoiler: The Map

Show

[OMG PONIES]

Still no mobile dice; will have to view on desktop.

[Slingsby]

Just a thought, but does this link work? I know my phone sometimes throws a strop when it tries to follow an https link to imgur

[WhismurWanders]

Seems like everyone is raring for a fight, so I rolled initiative and will have the next post up soon.

[Slingsby]

Here we go!

Just in case Col rolls terrible initiative and the gobbos go first:

Standing instructions for this current combat: unless stated otherwise, the first time each round that Col is hit by a ranged weapon attack he will use his Reaction to deflect/catch the missile, reducing the damage dealt by a roll of 1d10+6.

[WhismurWanders]

Here we go!

Just in case Col rolls terrible initiative and the gobbos go first:

Standing instructions for this current combat: unless stated otherwise, the first time each round that Col is hit by a ranged weapon attack he will use his Reaction to deflect/catch the missile, reducing the damage dealt by a roll of 1d10+6.

Col actually takes his turn right before the goblins do, but I'll keep that order in mind. If anyone else has reactions they'd like to prime, feel free to let me know.

[josienoms]

Once it's her turn, Opal's gonna Wild Shape into a bear as a bonus action. Then some goblins are gonna have a real bad day.

[OMG PONIES]

Hopefully a burning bush is enough to scare these gobby bois away...Fun fact, I'm trying to use Irish Gaelic words for my verbal components to really sell the leprechaun idea.

[OMG PONIES]

lol I targeted the bush behind them as a show of power without hurting them. Didn’t know if they’d get seared if I hit their bush, and Lucky’s not an aggressor.

[WhismurWanders]

lol I targeted the bush behind them as a show of power without hurting them. Didn’t know if they’d get seared if I hit their bush, and Lucky’s not an aggressor.

I would have ruled it similar to something like the Create Bonfire cantrip; creatures starting/ending their turn in or moving through a space of burning bush would take 1d4 damage.

Also, I understood that, it's just that goblin mooks aren't necessarily smart enough to grasp the concept of a warning shot. They likely think you just have poor aim .

[OMG PONIES]

Looks like Opal has taken about 25 damage...does she need any healing (and can anyone but her provide it)?

Also, for my turn, looking at a few options:

1. Target the goblin boss with levitate since he seems to only have a melee weapon handy. This could take him out of the equation for a while, but would require he fails a CON saving throw (DC 12) and he could probably still climb down the bush if it's more than 20 ft tall...
2. Spam fire bolt to burn the goblins and the bushes they're in.
3. Target the goblin boss and adjacent orc with ice knife, if Opal is already down or can move out of the way. If not, she risks taking 2d6 cold damage which I'd like to avoid.

Any suggestions from the group on my preferred course of action among the three?

[Slingsby]

Option 2 strikes me as the best of those three (although option 1 would be undeniably funny if it worked!).

Also, hypothetical mod question: Would making a melee attack against a foe in an on-fire square pose any risk of fire damage to the attacker (assuming that the square they're attacking from is not also on fire)?

[WhismurWanders]

Also, hypothetical mod question: Would making a melee attack against a foe in an on-fire square pose any risk of fire damage to the attacker (assuming that the square they're attacking from is not also on fire)?

Generally, no. I can think of a few factors that could change my mind (intensity of the fire, magical vs. nonmagical fire, is the target actually on fire or simply standing in a burning square, etc.) but none of them are really relevant here and now.

[josienoms]

Looks like Opal has taken about 25 damage...does she need any healing (and can anyone but her provide it)?

Also, for my turn, looking at a few options:

1. Target the goblin boss with levitate since he seems to only have a melee weapon handy. This could take him out of the equation for a while, but would require he fails a CON saving throw (DC 12) and he could probably still climb down the bush if it's more than 20 ft tall...
2. Spam fire bolt to burn the goblins and the bushes they're in.
3. Target the goblin boss and adjacent orc with ice knife, if Opal is already down or can move out of the way. If not, she risks taking 2d6 cold damage which I'd like to avoid.

Any suggestions from the group on my preferred course of action among the three?

Well, she can't cast spells in her Wild Shape, so... that's probably a good question.

She still has... 8 HP in her bear form, and if that gets defeated, she just turns back into a Dwarf. I'm not terribly worried about being healed at the moment.

I'll also second option 1 being hilarious if it works, but option 2 being probably more practical.

[OMG PONIES]

Well, she can't cast spells in her Wild Shape, so... that's probably a good question.

She still has... 8 HP in her bear form, and if that gets defeated, she just turns back into a Dwarf. I'm not terribly worried about being healed at the moment.

Great googly moogly, she's ferocious! For reference, that's way more HP than I bring to the table lol.

[WhismurWanders]

As an interlude: one goblin fires an arrow at Col, and he successfully reduces the damage to 0 via Deflect Missile. Do you want to spend the Ki Point to throw the arrow at anyone?