World of Warcraft - Interbellum (OOC Thread)

[BananaPhone]

Marion Stealth: (1D20)[3]


*Blows raspberry*

[MrAbdiel]

I would have thought the hardest part of Mor'Lag's job is actually coming up with the counter to that spell...

It may yet be. It might simply be a teachable moment- the difference between weird, monsterous bio-lightning and legit magical lightningbolts being the subject. But I'm not willing to say it's a foolish forgone failure yet! Just a longshot.

[Plaids]

(1d20+1)[21] Rolling for chilling the room
(1d20+1)[14] Rolling for stealth

After post: Great roll and almost good enough roll. I like it.

[MrAbdiel]

Turns out you didn't need that ogre off-the-cuff counterspell effort - atleast, not on the way in. Everyone but Jakkari piked the stealth, but Jakk'ari crit'd the roll I asked for environmental manipulation, so instead of it just going last in initiative for the first turn of combat, that big boy is brumating again. You might have to deal with him on the way back - but atleast, not right away.

You've moved on to the next connecting tunnel that is leading towards what the map called the "Crag of the Everliving", and are able to hear strange sounds in the room to come. If you have additional protections to apply, now is the kind of time that you might do so, if you were a paranoid person.

Otherwise, you may proceed into this next room!

[MrAbdiel]

I’m leaving room for character banter, but if everyone’s cool to proceed, then Proceed we shall. I appreciate the dungeon dive is somewhat linear right now, so it’s hard to be spontaneous when the options are forward and back!

[BananaPhone]

I will post tomorrow.

[MrAbdiel]

I'd almost caught up on all my games, but I'm getting punched in the sinus by some kind of flu thing; so I might not get the scene up until tomorrow some time :( But just me checking in to let you know I'm working on it!

[MrAbdiel]

Hah! Okay, thanks again for your indulgence. Post is up - ball's in your court, adventurers.

[Plaids]

I think going for diplomacy first is a good to start with. Though there is no common language a diplomatic act should work.

[MrAbdiel]

WTH jakkari why you keep rolling natural 20s for non violent solutions with my bosses fr

[BananaPhone]

Apologies all for sucking recently with posting, we've had some ups and downs at work recently. (though big ups more recently)

[MrAbdiel]

Grats on the big ups! And no worries with the posting; I hadn't given you much to respond to exactly. But here you are; magical shambling wonder monstrosity. React to that, at your leisure! :)

[Plaids]

I wasn't expecting a roll that good. Since Jakk'ari is actively observing and listening he will be relying on his party to follow up on what he conveys.

[MrAbdiel]

There, some Nat-20 insight for you on the situation, Jakk’ari. It does not escalate, yet; and none of your allies have given it reason to. You may consider conveying some amount of this to your allies, of course.

[Plaids]

Jakk'ari has told the party what he knows but is having a bit of mental breakdown. He'll be back in a turn.

[BananaPhone]

Jakk'ari's just trollsplained to Marion haha.

[Plaids]

It wasn't my intention to have Jakk'ari be dismissive or disparaging to Marion. Though I could see him brusquely disputing her not being taken well. If anything, I though Isaera would take offense. I also thought this would be a good time to show Jakk'ari's prejudice to arcane magic since he was being by far the least flawed. Since Isaera has the distrust of "savage" people, Marion has the haughty attitude, and Mor'Lag has the "might makes right" attitude.

[BananaPhone]

It's all good, it's RP'ing . I'm certainly not offended OOC haha. I just read that he answered angrily, and you mentioning he was going a bit temporarily nuts, so Mari's just like "fine, whatever" mood .

[WindStruck]

Right, so uh. Is there any chance of detecting the source of all this energy?

Around here, or is it still further within the cave? Or are we at a dead end?

[MrAbdiel]

According to the map that you found, past the exit at the end of this valley (which is guarded by Verdan it seems), the caverns finally bottom out in a terminal chamber. Isaera, particularly, would have the instinct that the source of the arcane radiation must be there, based on how it has graded stronger as you’ve approached.

For now, the gang has a choice. Jakk’ari knows this creature is beyond saving, and inevitably will become hostile to you. You could prepare and attempt to put it out of its misery, letting you make the first strike well prepared.

But unless there’s another creative solution that comes to mind, I’ll give Jakk’ari a Victory Point if he succumbs to his diplomatic optimism and distrusts the group’s potential first strike until it’s too late and the creature’s madness impels it to attack!

[WindStruck]

I don't know why, but I at least feel like cutting off the source of arcane energy first might be a good idea. Though I suppose it needs to be put down anyway??

Somehow I think mana tapping it is a bad idea. I don't think Isaera can hold any more mana herself!

[MrAbdiel]

Mana tapping Verdan? That might be a bad idea.

And this system rewards bad ideas.

I’ll give you a VP if your first action when combat begins is to attempt to siphon the mana from Verdan - then we’ll see how bad an idea it might be!

[WindStruck]

I think I have more bad ideas that I am more agreeable to, that might not doom my character horribly.

Maybe I could just condense all the extra mana into liquid, or crystals...

Let's give it a try? expertise arcana: (1d20+14)[19]

Spoiler: option 2

Show

OR, just start shooting endless fire bolts at a cave wall (better yet, let's just be more inefficient and alternate between ice and fire).

Of course, if we have to kill it, all those bolt spells could go to Verdan.

[MrAbdiel]

The consistent treachery of your rolls is remarkable, Windstruck.

With such a roll, you cannot imagine how you might siphon this loose mana into a portable or stable form - not without an ancient runestone build for such a purpose by mages of yore. But you would know what Jakk’ari has intuited with his own powers: that this creature, a kind of life elemental, has been more than partially transmuted into an arcane elemental by proximity to this radiation - a process undesired and painful, you must assume. A sufficiently well performed mana tap - like a DC 30 arcane check - might be the least violent way to euthanise Verdan - but that, obviously, is not a trivial effort. Attempting, and exposing yourself to potential backlash, will still earn a VP, but that’s quite a high bar.

[WindStruck]

Well I just figured, Isaera was already taught a ritual that she easily picked up which tapped into the nether. That created a little crystal.

I thought it would be easier since all the magical energy was .. RIGHT HERE, you know?

[MrAbdiel]

You would think so! But, in my capacity to make up the connective lore tissue to make sense of the patchy but enchanting world of Warcraft’s logic matrix, I’m going to say it’s a tempting but exclusive property of fel magic to be so easily composed into portable, tappable forms - thus the insidious nature of the dependency. It would certainly be easier to ‘harvest’ arcane from a location like this - that’s what exactly what Kael’Thas does in Tempest Keep - but while you’d only need manaforges to do so on an industrial scale, siphoning ambient arcane magic would require a ritual that would take some time and resource. Certainly not promptly possible in this case. It’s certainly easier to do from magical creatures - and perhaps easier still, from the true source of this disruption just beyond this chamber.

[MrAbdiel]

Plaids, shall I take this effort to forestall inevitability as a taking up of that Victory Point I offered?

[Plaids]

By "distrusts the group’s potential first strike" does that mean Jakk'ari simply avoids joining the preemptive attack or interfering?
Either way I was going to have Jakk'ari not attacking alongside the group due to actively Jakk'ari observing Verduran to glean some insight from him.

[MrAbdiel]

It means to basically surrender the opportunity to have a surprise attack, seeking for a less violent solution, resulting in it making a surprise attack instead when the inevitable combat begins!

[Plaids]

Ok, I think I'll have Jakk'ari forgo a surprise attack and leave himself open to one in exchange for a victory point. Should I roll for some skill or just keep Jakk'ari giving crazed glances?