DrK Way of Wicked Take 2 OOC

[DarkOne-Rob]

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

[DrK]

Some Will saves (5d20)[9][2][15][14][5](45)

[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 (5d20)[8][20][1][13][5](47) vs the cloud

[DrK]

Odenkirk and 2 of his nearby (and loyal crew) pass the euphoric crowd
- if you do colour spray then (3d20)[17][4][9](30)

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.

[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): (1d20+9)[12]
Stealth: (1d20)[14]

[DarkOne-Rob]

Cause I previewed my post...(1d20)[2]

[Starbin]

Alchemy - (1d20+12)[23] 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]

(1d20+9)[21] 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 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 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?
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...