Servants of the Fallen IC

[Ryuuk]

Otho Humanoid (Human) -> Undead (Vampire), Int 18

Otho keeps smiling at the evolved elf’s words, but he seems to hold back a chuckle. “I see, my mistake, I’ve only… crossed over… about a decade and a half ago. Still… warm behind the ears?” After a while, he lets a good laugh go and smirks. He remembered his days as a child, meeting the occasional elf in the family’s tavern. Some had it more than others, but they all seemed to have an aura of superiority about them. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just that some things don’t seem to change, even after death.”

[DJDeMiko]

Gerard

He watches Vervasi's display and says "That's quite impressive my lady, but what will you do if they have it deep inside a locked carriage in a locked chest? I would not travel with such an item simply sitting on a cart and easy to fly past and grab. Even if you are capable of picking locks, in the time it takes you to get inside such a device, a mage inside it could flee."

[Fan]

"ah, so you are young then. You will improve my new freind.. we all improve with age, and experiance. Its one of the more "myerious" qualities of we undead."

[Ryuuk]

Otho

Otho nods at the woman's acrobatics. "Indeed, quite a show, but reaching the box is only half the fun. There's still the matter of the small army that'll be guarding it. The mages will teleport out... Why don't we teleport in? Divination, or one of our quietest members, can find the box. With that vital piece of info one of our mages can drop us all over it instantly, then we can set all our lock and fields and get to work."

[Whiplord]

Eclipse - Humanoid (Human) --> Undead (Evolved (x2) Gravetouched Ghoul. Int 22

Eclipse, who has been standing quietly in thought up to this point, suddenly speaks up. "Yes, we could stop the man from teleporting with a dimensional lock. However, there is no way we could get close enough to cast it, and warding the ravine is an impossibility. And the fact remains that it could be dispelled...."

As if the words just registered in his brain, he shakes his head in the direction of the younger undead, before stopping himself.

"Either way, I will need to be within approximately 180 feet of the target before I can cast it."

[Incendius]

Vervasi

"Who here has methods for handling the guards? I could reasonably take out one or two of the teleporters before they have a chance to get away, and I assume a few of you can handle the others, but the guards could seriously complicate extraction." Vervasi asks the others.

[Whiplord]

Eclipse directs his red gaze towards Vervasi. "We're sure we could steal some appropriate spells, however it would take some thought as to what might be appropriate. We can dominate one of them, but beyond that... Well, our specialty is not subtlety.

[Fan]

"As mentioned I can set the entire area alight with a fire that surpasses the heat of even the great volcano's of the south, but I need to get close for that, andI'm not sure if the box will be able to handle that kind of heat."
((Ravax, Wight/Evolved 4/Sword sage Int 11.))

[Jack_Simth]

"As for the casters, if they don't have countermeasures in place, I can Dominate maybe two to four of them, for a very short period of time, if they start out fairly close to each other. Keeping them controlled would pretty much put me out of the fight otherwise, though. I've also got a few spells that can disable people, usually in groups, if the Domination doesn't stick." Marassa looks down at the indicated Ravine. "Perhaps we could weaken the walls enough that they would collapse easily at a later time? It shouldn't be too hard to undermine the walls"

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How wide is the Ravine, how tall, and is it solid rock, loose rock, dirt, or something else?

Also, Acid does full damage to objects, and a 10x10x5 section of unworked stone only has 900 hit points - with hardness 8, and a 95% chance of hitting, it takes (on average) 72.89 rounds to demolish that amount of rock with my Acidic Splatter's 6d6 - and as I'm incorporeal, I can go inside the wall to cut things, so it doesn't show on the outside...

[Greyen]

Szeth

The first step will be to slow or stop the cavalcade. Possibly luring them into a false sense of security. A simple natural looking landslide blocking the path. No attacks until well after they begin to clear the slide. They will be expecting an ambush in such a place as a ravine. If we can make a natural slide slow them and pack them into close quarters, there are a great number of magics that could be employed with the right scrolls. A simple series of stinking clouds dropped to cover will disable the whole troop. You undead can simply walk in and take the box while they are left puking on the ground. says the halfling thoughfully. I am unprepared for this sort of assault, but I have had some experience in ambushes. Simply burying you undead in the roadway a short distance away from the block would be effective in getting you close to them with out detection. As would dropping from the skies. Simple darkness can be a very effective weapon against human troops.

But first let us go examine this ravine.

[Whiplord]

Eclipse gives another feral grin, and answers Szeth. "We like the way you think...halfling. However with a landslide keep in mind our victims will spook and be ready to flee like so many frightened rabbits." His gaze flicks towards the dead rabbit on the ground before continuing. "Who is to say they will not simply teleport away as soon as a landslide occurs, ambush or no ambush? We believe you suggestion has merit, but that must be considered. I think perhaps it may be more effective if we time my own dimensional lock with your stinking cloud. Better to simply disable them immediately, and secure the box, than depend on something so chancy as the landslide. However, the trouble still remains getting close enough to cast these spells without being detected.

He pauses once more to consider. "The suggestion of having us undead hide underground also has merit in getting us close, but I am afraid I must see the target I am to bind to this plane."

[Greyen]

Szeth

Szeth shakes his head, You misunderstand. We trigger the landslide now. Long before they come traipsing through the area. Easier to make them think its natural. Also that won't spook them too much. But if they are scrying ahead they will avoid the ravine if it is blocked. His face scrunches up in thought Maybe a sinkhole would be more effective.

[Whiplord]

"And they will undoubtedly scry ahead. And how will a sinkhole be any different?"
Eclipse stares quizzically at Szeth.

[Fan]

"i can personally garuntee that I can keep one person no matter who they are out of the fight, hell I could prevent them from breathing even if you wanted."

[Greyen]

Stinky

A sinkhole is a natural pittrap. Something that will mostlikely be undetectable by scrying unless they are checking inside the dirt beneath their feet.

Aside from that there are many ways of slowing their progress that will lessen the odd against us. Turning the ravine into a muddy pit will mire their horses and men, to say nothing of the carts or carriages. I could easily go to them now and begin a small campaign of sabotage slowing them to give you more time to prepare a better ambush.

With Waterdeep being a place where anyone can gather some necessary supplies I think that a quick side trip to that city, if possible might be necessary.

All of this is irrelevant if we do not examine the ravine first. If it is a cut stone slab none of my 'natural disaster' ideas have any merit. Let us move that way and see what we see. The halfling turns on his heels and begins to walk, fading a quick 3 steps away.

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Fly to the ravine

[Incendius]

Vervasi

"Agreed, the ravine is the first consideration." Vervasi rasps, quickly following, and even outdistancing, the "halfling" her feet hitting and sailing over the ground at a remarkable speed, as she disappears from sight into the forest of trees heading to the ravine.

[DJDeMiko]

Gerard

Gerard considers the boasts of how many men each of the group could kill or possess within a moment.

"While I appreciate the strength of the assembled . . . people," he says thoughtfully. "We shouldn't be so foolish as to assume that these mages are little more than fledgling casters. Perhaps the mages we will fight will be as foolish as to believe that they can simply and easily overpower opponents, as some of us are being. But perhaps they are intelligent and powerful and have prepared for attacks. We can not count on being ale to simply overwhelm them and kill them with pure skill. I have no fear that we can slaughter the entire contingent of the army given time, but the mages, assuming that we can simply walk up to them and kill them with a single attack is foolish and will certainly lead to disaster if our oponents have prepared properly."

[Fan]

":The fire I create is about five times hotter than Magma. You do realise that something that hot would turn the very bones of the most powerful warrior to dust, and turn a castle to boiling hot rock?"

[Belial_the_Leveler]

You move over to the ravine, a mile-long, ninety feet wide gap in the mountainrange. Twice as deep as it is wide, it appears to be cut out of the mountain by some outside force. Ancient markings in the rocks, once the anchors of faded wards, shed a new light in the origins of the path; this must have been long ago part of the Empire of Illefarn, an ancient trade route forged through the mountains. Millenia of new forest growth, harsh weather and the simple passage of time have almost hidden the marks of the tools used all those centuries ago. But the marks of the tools-or rather the only tool-used still remain here and there where the surface of the rock still retains the half-melted look. It would seem the people of Illefarn did not cut through a mile of mountains; they simply melted the stone away. The amount of magic that could perform such a feat is simply far beyond anything most modern mages could accomplish.

Despite the walls of the ravine being solid rock, several thousand years of exposure to the elements and the roots of trees have considerably weakened them. It would take only a few powerful blasts to collapse portions of them and an earthquake might be devastating. As you think of how to manipulate the terrain to your advantage, the three figures that hired you suddenly pause and look to the North.
The envoys of Neverwinter are less than a day away even at their cautious pace-and they have a skilled diviner with them. We have to go.
Says the first figure.
We can conceal your presence from divinations but our auras are too powerful to hide. Stay still a moment and we'll ward you.
Says the second figure.
Remember not to tread into the ravine at all; should a diviner evoke a vision of the past or a spell of hindsight, they'd see any preparations you've made... as long as you'd be visible while doing them.

The three figures begin to chant in unison, each going through one incantation that ecompasses all of you. The incantations seem familiar-and not; they seem altered, their effects enhanced.

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Spellcraft checks to identify the spells. The first (Spellcraft DC 24) is a reach chain nondetection. The second (Spellcraft DC 23) is a reach chain forbidden speech that ensures you cannot reveal, willingly or unwillingly, anything about this plan against Neverwinter. The third (Spellcraft DC 30) is a reach chain mindrape, contingent on the forbidden speech spell not working.

Spellcraft DC 48 to realise there's something else being cast other than the three above incantations, something with no material, somatic or verbal components. Arcane Sight automatically reveals that and a spellcraft check DC 29 after you're aware of it recognizes what spell is being cast. (I'll PM it)

@FF fanboy: magma is 20d6 damage, average 75 points of fire damage. I think it unlikely you can deal 375 points of fire damage with a maneuer.

[Whiplord]

After his employer's words, Eclipse feels the power of their spells cast over him, acknowledging with no surprise the extra contingencies they have put in place.

Eclipse stares down into the ravine, examining the earth within it. "Well, it seems that we should be able to manipulate the earth here somehow. However, the question remains of course, how will we do that."

Turning to Ravax, he says, "Although your abilities sound impressive, it is not the army we need most worry about, but the guards and the wizards who will be the greatest threat. We also must consider the possibility that the casters have given themselves and/or their troops elemental immunity of some type or another."

He stops to pause and look around. "However, that said, it does sound like one of our better options at this point. Beyond that, the best option seems debilitating the troops somehow, and simultaneously placing the wizards in a dimensional lock. However, as I seem to be the only one who can cast that..." He looks around, as if waiting for someone to dispute him, "I need to somehow get close enough to use it," he finishes.

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Spellcraft - (1d20+22)[32]

[Ryuuk]

Otho

They were magics beyond his understanding, he knew it, but none of the others seemed to worry much about them. No, if anything it was the fact that the attack would be at sunrise... A good hood maybe?

"Eclipse, if you have to be close to the mages for the spell, perhaps I could help you out. The spell "Dimension door", its a more localized teleport, but its range isn't too bad. It usually leaves the caster exhausted, but if we can chain them, we might be able to go around it. Once we know where in the caravan the box is. A group of three, one casts, then the other recasts as soon as they arrive. We could move you about a quarter of a mile in an instant." He shrugs, there seemed to be plenty of ideas already flowing.

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Spellcraft (1d20+8)[10]

[Incendius]

Vervasi

"The ravine has a few places the more experienced of us can lie in wait if need be. The view is obscured from the bottom, so we would only need two teleports to get in and out once we find the box, as simply moving away from the edge should be an effective hiding place. Are any of you skilled at divinations?" Vervasi asks as she turns back to the group.

[Whiplord]

Eclipse

Eclipse puts on a thoughtful expression, and then replies to Otho, "That could work. We all will need to time our castings exactly though. If you can get us in at the same time that you all do..whatever you do to disable them, this might work."

He then turns toward Vervasi, and nods. "What you say is true."

Then, turning to everyone, "Does anyone have any input on this? We think we may all have the basis of a plan here."

[Tacitus]

Zen-Ort

The power washes over him he shudders, "I may be able to hide amongst the stone. I blend easily and while it is hard to conceal my ponderous steps I can also freeze to possibly be mistaken for a mere statue if I am indeed spotted at all."

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Spellcraft checks!
Nondetection: (1d20+8)[10]
He already has Nondetection because of his hat, but I assume this one has a DC that is acceptably insane. Would this mean to detect me they have to make two CL checks?
Forbidden Speech: (1d20+8)[17]

[Jack_Simth]

"Eclipse, I can make you invisible for a short time; it'll last about 12 minutes or until you try to hurt someone. I do need about twelve seconds' warning to make it happen, though. That's not a problem in and of itself; just let me know when you're ready."

"Vervasi, I have some divinations, but that's limited to seeing magical and invisible things. I can, however, dismiss my materially visible form and look at things from the ethereal plane. Likewise, I can see through a short amount of dirt and stone, so I can hide underground and yet watch things; I can combine this with with dismissing my visible form, so I can get very, very difficult to locate if you need some spying done. Is there any particular datum you need to know?"

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Spellcraft: (1d20+11)[23]
Note: Undead are Immune to Mind-Affecting stuff, so unless there's an exception in the casting, both Forbidden Speech and Mindrape have exactly 0 effect on me.
Will save, in case there's one in there that can affect me but does not have the Harmless tag (Nondetection does have the Harmless tag): (1d20+31)[39]

Eclipse: I'll need to cast Spectral Hand and Invisibility, in that order (both second level spells). I'll do it on the asking, though, as I've got 2nd level spell slots to burn. Feel free to write it into your own actions when the time comes, if it's out of combat.

[Whiplord]

Eclipse

"That should work quite well, Marassa. Many thanks. Now all that remains is a definitive method of slowing and disabling the entire group to ensure enough time to secure the box. We will need to move in fast once the Dimensional Lock is in place, lest they manage to carry it out of the affected area. However, this should not be a large problem. Once we have the item, we can slaughter everyone at our leisure."

Eclipse once again surveys the group, seeking further input.

[The Glyphstone]

Barien

Barien seems to step out of nowhere again, shedding the protection of the nearby shadows.
<What need have we to hide behind rocks? A paltry task it would be for me to conceal us all in plain sight, particularly with how our benefactors have shielded us against the only magics that could penetrate my wardings. Let them walk into our very arms before we attack, instead of these risky plans dependent on short-range teleportations and such.>

Mechanics:

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Spellcrafts: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1794379/
1d20+26 → [5,26] = (31)
1d20+26 → [18,26] = (44)
1d20+26 → [15,26] = (41)
Spellcraft check isn't high enough to make the DC48 check - I have Arcane Sight available, but it'd be too metagamey to suddenly have precast it...need another level before I can get Greater Arcane Sight.

A Heightened Veil will be a DC25 caster level check for any Weave user on top of the CL check for the Nondetection effect even for True Seeing and such, and a DC31 Will save for Weave users to see through it once they interact with us.

And Belial, anything on our mysterious benefactors' creature types/Int scores?Even if they aren't registering for some reason, that's unusual enough to notice.

[Whiplord]

Eclipse looks unsure. "How sure of the strength of your enchantment are you? If we do it that way and they see through, all is lost."

[DJDeMiko]

Gerard

Gerard listens to Revax speak - The fire I create is about five times hotter than Magma. You do realise that something that hot would turn the very bones of the most powerful warrior to dust, and turn a castle to boiling hot rock?


Gerard laughs at this. "Even if that was true Wight," he says with a small grin. "You only act to prove my example. You so hastily believe that your power will turn the bones of the most powerful warriors to dust. Yet I am betting that it would but injure the majority of those gathered here, let alone such powerful mages as are our quarry. I do not know how versed you are in the ways of magic, I myself only profess a small knowledge, but I can think of many spells that even a weak mage could cast to ward themselves of fire." Gerard smirks at this. "Even fire as hot as that of magma."

Gerard looks at the sky and clasps his bare hands behind him, seeming to not notice the cold and thinks for a few moments.

After listening to the others for a few more moments he speaks again. "I believe that as it stands, our best option may be to move in quickly. Through talent or magic most of us seem capable of feats of speed. I myself can teleport myself and a few others. We must surprise them by anchoring the artifact while simultaneously attacking the mages. We don't know how powerful they are, but we must assume the worst. I believe that all of us must move in together, to overwhelm the mages. If we are lucky then our boasts are accurate and we can kill the mages swiftly. If they do not die then we must do our best to counter their dispelling. We will keep the mages occupied until they are dead and then deal with the other troops. This is my suggestion."

[Greyen]

Szeth

The halfling paces along the edge of the cliff as the three masters begin to cast their spells. He watches them listening in to their magics.

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Spellcraft 1- (1d20+13)[27]
#2 (1d20+13)[33]
#3 (1d20+13)[24]
#4 (1d20+13)[24] for hidden effect as Szeth pretty much has a constant detect magic going