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Thread: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
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2024-05-11, 04:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
<“You’re right, but I don’t think we’ll need a lengthy infiltration. Just throw the cloak over your quills and armor pull the hood down as far as you can manage. There’s no way any of us are fooling a base with a bunch of hidden mind reading doppelgängers - but if we buy ourselves ten, twenty, thirty seconds of confusion from guards posted inside, we’ll be in a better position to drop them before we figure out how to break the prisoners out and draw out any dopplers among them. All we can do right here is stop them from nailing us with loaded crossbows when the door opens, or doing their worst for a few crucial seconds.”>
Further to that, he looks at his discarded things and curses. If he was feigning death for twelve seconds, he didn’t need to be disarmed at all. He hastilly replaced his gear and tried to gloss over that little oversight.Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-05-11, 08:06 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
>I suppose that makes sense. Unfortunately, it would need me to drop a lot of my psionic defenses, because they are visually obvious, thus negating the big advantage I normally have in a null magic zone. If you think subterfuge is the call though, I'll chance it. I can have them back in a matter of seconds.<
GNU Terry Pratchett
Survived Total War: Mandate of Heaven as The Witch-Doctors
Thrived in Empire! 7 as the Sakura-Jin
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2024-05-11, 11:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
< No, you're right - your edge is the best one we have in a null zone, with Oracle's spells and my ki thwarted. It may end up fooling no one, but we'll just have to hope they're dumb enough to not know what they're looking at for a few moments. If they peg us immediately... Well we'll do it the hard way. >
Last edited by MrAbdiel; 2024-05-11 at 11:20 PM.
Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-05-15, 12:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Damien's plan solidified, the party donned their disguises and made their way into the next chamber. As the large doors opened, Damien and Kate could feel a physical static wave trickle across their skin as the null zone was activated and took hold. For Oracle, it was a bit more jarring -- the arcane forces that had roiled inside of her since she was twelve, back when her powers first began to awaken, were suddenly and almost violently ripped away from her, as though half of the blood and tissue that made up her innards had suddenly vanished. She felt heady and nauseous for a moment, and then almost suppressed, like she couldn't breathe, and for the briefest of moments she had to fight back a panic attack.
Fortunately, she'd trained for this, and a fair bit of concentration allowed her to keep her composure. Eventually, her senses became a bit more used to the sudden, gaping, absence, and she had her wits about her once more. Still, it felt a little strange moving through the room, almost like she was walking through water -- slowed, yet lighter at the same time.
There were rows of cages along the inner entrance, and as the room opened up further in, they could see it was lined with several dozen large, stand-alone cages along each walled surface. Some other cages dangled near the perimeter from thick iron chains, as though the doppelgangers had acquired so many captives they had been forced to start creating overflow room. There were several long wooden ladders against one wall, underscoring the temporary need and explaining access to the hanging cages. Still, most of the captives were in the floor level cells, huddled against each other in the dank darkness. The room was mostly lit by a large wooden chandelier affixed with both candles and flickering torches, with some smudged and smoke-smeared mirrors in the ceiling to help -- weakly -- illuminate some of the darker areas in the room. There were two groups of guards inside, neither particularly interested in the newcomers entering their midst. Two men sat huddled on some low-slung wooden chairs, hunched towards each other, haggling over something and passing a cigar of devilweed back and forth. A few more were sitting on modified half barrels-***-chairs around a similarly modified looking table, this with it's own candelabra on it. They were playing cards, and drinking. There were four of them.
"Put the new deliveries in one of the hangers." someone muttered in the party's general direction, without looking up.
Before reacting, Kate happened to turn her head to the right, and came to find herself staring almost face to face with Liane's "Family". The captive bards -- who looked identical to the facsimiles they'd taken out in the Bards' Guild dormitories -- were huddled close together to comfort one another, but stared back at her with a mixture of fear and anger.
Spoiler: OOCOkay, no alarms raised yet, you're about halfway into the room, so maybe 30-40 feet between you and the door, another 40-50 feet to the other side of the room, though a chunk of that space is taken up by cells. So far, no one has really looked at you closely enough to see through the charade. If you want to make a move, now's the time.
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2024-05-17, 12:21 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Kate uses her primary school interest in geometry to figure a line that might grab as many of the goons as is practical and nonchalantly queues a Greater Stomp, a move she hadn't used since she had practiced with a powerstone in the training yard...
[Color=Red]The Bat has come! Surrender now and save yourselves some pain![/roll]
Spoiler: OoC
Intimidate (1d20+3)[4]
As many goons as are in the line must make a DC 18 Reflex save or be tripped and take [rol]7d6[/roll] damage. A save negates everything.
GNU Terry Pratchett
Survived Total War: Mandate of Heaven as The Witch-Doctors
Thrived in Empire! 7 as the Sakura-Jin
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2024-05-17, 10:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Dragged limpy into the room, Damien risked peeking through his eyelashes, but could make out little. But the ruse was working - the bored guards seemed to buy the whole thing.
< "Alright. Great. How many are there?" >
"The Bat has come! Surrender now and save yourselves some pain!"
At this point, naturally, it occured to Scion that the precious communication necklace and gems they'd worked so hard for wouldn't function in this room - all he could do was trust the instincts of his allies who weren't feigning unconsciousness. He bounded to his feet and took in the scene, whipping a shuriken at a shocked target as he did so!
Spoiler: OOC:VsFlatfoot - (1d20+20)[32] for (1d2+2)[4] damage plus (6d6)[21]!
Move action required to stand up.
Are we slipping back into the previous initiative order and this is a new surprise round? Cool, let's see how many guys are left after our ambush.Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-05-17, 11:21 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Of the six guards present, Kate was able to hit five of them -- one of the guards who'd bene smoking and drinking with his friend on the left side of the room avoided Kate's attack entirely.
One of the guards at the table managed to hop up to his feet rather than being smacked over by Kate's psionic burst attack. Of the remaining four guards, all were knocked over...and didn't get back up again. Damien's shuriken caught the guard Kate'd missed, and sent him tumbling to the ground too. The one remaining guard, suddenly startled and backing away from the table, backed away from his fallen comrades, and towards the center of the floor, falling to his kneeds.
"No...no no no no! Mercy, mercy please m'lord! I didn't do anything! I did m'best, I swear to ya!"
Around the room, all of the bards, stunned in their cages, looked on at the spectacle with shock and horror. All eyes were on the final -- surrendering? -- guard.
Spoiler: OOCWe can stick with the existing turn order.
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2024-05-21, 12:01 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Damien glances over the cages - perhaps forty, maybe as many as sixty prisoners here. The operation wildly outsized their estimations; there was no way this many people were getting crammed into a portable hole, and even if they were, they'd not be able to breath with the pittance of air afforded by the bottle. Adapt. Adapt.
"We're going to have to walk them out the way we came..."
He muttered, already dreading the prospect. They might have to bushwhack the guards in the break room after all...
That would have to wait. First thing first: sort the dopplers from the victims.
Atleast Kate's powers, and the fear of the bat, had neutralized the immediate threat in the room. First, the prisoner. Scion took advantage of the surrenderer's kneeling posture to disarm him, pat him down, seize keys or useful items...
"Repentance is the right choice, soldier. Stay on our side of the conflict, and you'll walk out of this alive. The Bat believes in redemption... Though I've rarely seen it. Now speak, quickly and clearly: what the hell is happening in this keep? Who is responsible for these blood wards? Why are they working with Karlo?"
Kate, alone, is equipped to cast her eyes about the gloomy room and spot for disruptive interlopers. In the dull candlelight, only her darkvision could make sense of much. Proud of his power as he was, Scion was much reduced in this circumstance - and he knew Oracle was similarly bereft.
Spoiler: OOC:Kate's got the decent spot check and Darkvision, so luck be a batlady tonight. If she does a quick glanceover and can't see any hidden dangers, all we can do is try to loot keys and prisoner manifests off these guys and start unlocking the cages... and trying to keep order here with these frightened prisoners.Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-05-21, 01:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2017
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- UK
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Oracle had barely had the chance to acclimatise to the sudden lack of depth of her vision when all to suddenly she was moving forward and Kate was taking control of the room by storm, something she felt entirely unable to help with. The questions that next faced them though wee those of prisoner containment and logistics, both things she had covered in her studies as a potential future justicar not as a mage, and so here she could feel herself getting to grips with the problem. First a quite word to answer Scion's own.
"If we can escape the are where magic is supressed I might have a way to shift them out without needing to go through the whole compound. It might need us to hold for a time though, but we shoudl be able to do that."
Then, she moved onto securing the guards. Those who were sent to the floor, well it would hardly be a suprise if these people were also being manipulated somehow, nor would it be a suprise if they were waiting for the one person who could still cast here to do something before they made a move. Thus she started moving to the slumped gards on the floor, trying to ensure they'd live through this healthy enough to give testemony, and looking for any signs as to their origin and loyalties.
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2024-05-25, 04:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
As Damien patted the guard down -- removing a generic looking cell key, several rolled up documents and his weapons -- the stunned man looked back at him with a confused expression. Damien ripped his thick hood and scarf off, revealing the face of a middle aged half elf man. His features were covered in grime, and thick black streaks coated the underside of his eyes. it could have been warpaint but was more likely that he was just filthy. His eyes were wide, and he seemed to give Damien an almost baffled expression, rather than answer his questions. Eventually, he just turned his head away from Damien, towards one of the cages at the corner, immediately across the hall from where Liane's family was huddled.
"I...I'm sorry, m'lord, I don't know what to say."
From the corner he was looking, behind where Damien was standing, one of the hostages stepped forward. There were a few other people in his cell, and all of them moved as close to the sides of the cell as they could. It had been hard to pick out their faces in the darkness, but it was now plain that they were wide in abject terror.
"Ah but you have nothing to apologize for, my hapless understudy," the "hostage" replied. "Except of course for being an absolutely horrible character actor. You've got to sell it, don't you see? Tremble your lip, clasp your hands together, beg for mercy. Make them believe that they've won!"
The hostage walked up to the edge of his cell...and then kept walking, passing right through the bars and reforming his features as though he was composed of some kind of enchanted putty.
"Then again," the elegant looking bard's features twisted into a vicious scowl. "That may be the one sin I can't can't forgive. I'm sorry, old chap," the bard "hostage", now free of his cage, began to grow, as though suddenly under the grip of an enlarge spell. "I just don't think that we have room in this production for your vision of 'Hapless Thug #4'."
The guard trembled. "B...but, m'lord, my name isn't #4 it's Leopo--" before he could finish speaking, the growing "bard" extended his hand, which shot forward with lightning quick speed, turning into a spear as it traveled, extending across the distance between the two men and ripping the prostate guard's throat open. Blood poured out of his wound as he choked on his own viscera, collapsing to the ground.
"I just absolutely hate it when people aren't completely dedicated to The Craft, do you know what I mean?" the giant grinned, and his features began to warp and melt, pouring together and turning a mottled shade of amber brown. His mouth split open wide revealing jagged teeth, and his eyes turned a dull, pupil-less yellow. He looked like a very large clay golem, standing nearly 9' tall, with one hand a fist of clay and the other forming into a series of metal-looking claws.
"What...the...fug...is....that....?" Damien wondered aloud, his jaw dropping. "Is this...could this be...Lord Karlo?" Kate said, baffled.
"either psionic or extraordinary abilities...both of which are rare..." Oracle cursed under her breath, recalling the conversation outside the door. "Of course. Why not."
Spoiler: OOCCan you guys just remind me what your earlier initiative rolls were? Was having trouble finding all three for some reason. Karlo's is 10, so since he used his surprise round killing his own dude, you could try to speak to him instead of initiating combat right away, if you think you could get somewhere with that. Otherwise I'm fairly confident one or more of you has a better init spot than he does.
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2024-05-25, 06:34 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Damien takes an instinctive step back.
Oracle had been right - Karlo had done something to himself with his black market alchemy. What he was now was something... inhuman. No physiology to speak of, which meant his poisons and surgical strikes were likely useless. And inside this zone, any magical shenanigans he could concoct with his special kills or items was moot. It would be a brawl, in here; one in which only Kate was fit to take part, and without support he chances were imperilled. Behind him, the door back to the corridor remained open... but if they were to flee, why would stop him from killing bards and sounding the alarm to there rest of the fort? And if they took advantage of Kate's powers, fled into the corridor and teleported out entirely... Karlo would have no reason not to liquidate hostages. Either all of them if he were abandoning the plan, or some to establish strength to negotiate.
But how could they fight, so disarmed..? The only actionable choice was to...
Originally Posted by Before...
"Alright. Bravo, I suppose, Lord Karlo. Given that the other houses call you a primadonna, I'd expected you to be playing a more glamorous role. I expect Lady Isley feels rather pleased by her foresight in picking you."
Spoiler: OOC:Actions. Damien uses a half action to trigger Expertise, so he's operating at AC 30 right now. He's not trying to do much with the other half action, however - just a little bluffing.
He knows Karlo is a blowhard and melodramatic, so he's trying to establish a baseline of repartee. Hopefully it'll incentivise Karlo to draw out the combat and boast instead of finishing it as quickly as he ought to. But also, Damien is flashing that shuriken so, if he gets hit, when he tumbles back and throws the key he picked up skidding into one of the cells, the metallic tinkling sound is likely to register as scattered shuriken rather than something that deserves in combat investigation.
Bluff: (1d20+15)[30] for this round.Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-05-26, 01:22 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Karlo's strange, mud-like skin bubbled and churned, as if the whole of his being was flummoxed by Damien's barbs.
"Primadonna, you little whelp!?" he bellowed. "As though the likes of my genius, my grandeur, could be contained by such base ego!"
Though he was, in this form, an amorphous blob or mud or clay, the way that his features shifted seemed to convey emotion in just the same way a man's face might, only horrific and diabolic in it's countenance.
"I am the Nea AND also the Tragōidía. I am drama made FORM! I am a force of nature unto myself!! The very idea that someone so seed-brained, small minded and uncharismatic as Lady Isley could possibly have anything to do with my Grand Opera, my Pièce de Résistance....well."
The great horrific abomination lumbered forward in Damien's directly.
"That's an insult weighty enough to make me want to kill a man."
Spoiler: OOCKate's turn.
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2024-05-26, 10:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
"Sadly, he's just a child. I may not be your favored brand of dance partner, but perhaps I am 'weighty' enough to keep you entertained..."
"I can't win this, but I'm the only one of us likely to walk out of here if he comes at me. While I keep him occupied, use your training to bust out the hostages. Once we're alone, I'll warp out." It was an icky sort of hypocrisy to insinuate Lord Karlo was cut from cloth complementary to herself, and unlikely to work on an actor. He was even more likely to have heard it before ad naseum than a bald female soldier. But it still came naturally, and Kate was, frankly, bad at banter. Anything that might get the abomination lord to charge her instead of murdering her young second cousin was a positive good....
Spoiler: OC
Intimidate (1d20+3)[15]
All defensive buffs active, full defense action.
Kate suspects her weapon is useless and she has no useful psi powers in this situation. But she can stall him
[/roll]Last edited by Feathersnow; 2024-05-26 at 10:13 PM.
GNU Terry Pratchett
Survived Total War: Mandate of Heaven as The Witch-Doctors
Thrived in Empire! 7 as the Sakura-Jin
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2024-05-26, 10:30 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
"I highly doubt that," the monstrous looking would-be actor gurgled. "You look as dull as a prop sword in a Rapid City production of Her Ravenous Winter Nights. But if you're asking for my hand in this first waltz, I won't turn a Lady down."
The clay monster began to stomp towards her, his strange gnarled "teeth" jutting out of his maw at random angles, the metal appendage he'd added to his off hand grinding against itself.
"I've got to start somewhere, after all. And you'll do."
Adjusting her grip on her heavy pole axe, Kate shifted her weight, her psionic powers swirling around her in defiance of the trap field the Karlos had erected, preparing herself for a melee.
"Are you sure you have to?" she continued, stalling for time. "We came here at the behest of the Bards, because we didn't understand what was going on. But perhaps if you explained it to us..."
"Oh! OH ho ho ho....oh no. No no, faire Dame. As far as weak and pathetic attempts at deception go, that's one of the saddest I've seen. But to answer your question, I'm afraid I will be needing to roll you all up here. I have so, so many questions to ask you, after all. And I can't be having you release my precious cargo. You see...my real partners, well. Their grandiose designs have almost reached fruition. And the request they made was clear. In order to finish The Game...the Dark Knights must be taken off the board. That, I'm afraid, is the real reason you are all here."
Spoiler: OOCStill Oracle's turn.
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2024-05-27, 01:33 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2017
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- UK
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
"If you are a the embodiment of drama, you ought to look inside for a moment. I don't know how often you've been able to make it to the Opera recently, but take in a few performances and you'll have a rather different feeling about facing down few flamboyant heroes in an esoteric manor. Watch the latest Bonetti and you'd expect a sudden betrayal by a lovestruck underling. If you prefer the Thibaultist offerings of Metropolis perhaps you'd guard against divine wrath. If you prefer the classics, Camillo, Pallermo and their like then it'll be plainly clear who exactly has set the trap here. Even the comic stylings of Falkirk suggest the humiliations about to follow, though those at least you survive with little more than pie on the face and if you've been following the high drama sweeping through Gotham lately, the broadsheet ballads and all the little stage plays put on by the lords for the reports, they'll tell you the Knights don't go down, and their rogues do. So are you going to play your role? The cursed villien, who can win nothing more than an empty life in even the darkest of Groutveder's Tragedies. Or are you the type of dramatist who can play more than the role written for them?
Of course unsaid in all of this was a few other considerations, as long as Karlo was monologing he'd be keeping his allies out of the fight and focused on their performance, while they had more allies in the city who would love in time. Equally she wasn't above taking the opportunity to head towards the entryway, where her arcane skills might be of more use, and carefully assess how quickly the bards could be strung provided those holding them were adequately distracted.
Spoiler: Rolls
Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) for timely and accurate theatre references: (1d20+14)[21]
Search (???) to assess the nature of the security features and how long it would take to spring the bards. (1d20+22)[42]
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2024-05-30, 11:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Karlo seemed taken aback, almost flabbergasted.
"What is this then? Have I misjudged you, vigilante? Could it be possible I've found a fellow traveler of the arts?"
Instead of striking Kate -- which he still seemed to be considering, by all appearances -- he took a couple of lumbering steps in Oracle's direction.
"Of course, my talents extend far beyond the normal milieu." His "skin" bubbled and gurgled again, and suddenly, briefly, he changed, into a perfect facsimile of Oracle herself.
"Perhaps I could be the intrepid, gutter-running adventurer," he taunted. He changed again, and this time, Oracle saw the Guildmaster of the Bards staring back at her. "Or the penultimate politician?" He morphed a third time, transforming now into an image Oracle recognized as the High Priest of the Imperial Church of Gotham. "Or, perhaps, a doomed and tragic hero, destined for an ignominious end." The "priest's" eyes, mouth, and eventually robes began to pour blood, as if he'd been stabbed a hundred times, and eventually the dark red ichor reformed into a rusted brown, revealing the monster for what he was once more.
"Sure I can play any role, young knight. But the casting is rarely done for us, and I, alas, have not the heart nor mentality for directing. Oh, to be sure, neither the Cranes nor the Isleys bare any sad thoughts for the sotten and downtrodden rulers of this fair city. But neither can they avoid being trampled in the coming tempest. You've clearly seen the sad results of your handiwork playing out every knight, in the fires in the streets, in the smoldering corpses of Uptown Noble Houses, snuffed out forever. How many Justiciars have died, since that great beast appeared in the night skies? How many Imperial Soldiers? How many innocents? Surely, you can't possibly think that an upjumped mage and her..." Karlo passed his eyes over Kate and Damien, briefly, and seemed to almost recoil in disgust or derision, "...friends...could possibly put a stop to what's in motion? I fear we'll all be forced to play the parts we've been cast, soon. How do you propose to change any of that?"
Spoiler: OOCSpoiler: Knowledge: Nobility and RoyaltyOracle could hardly believe her luck. All that time spent aggrieved in suffering through high society's expectation of her Lord Father, all those nights spent at the Opera or various smaller theatres to attend the pleasure of this local noble or that -- enough had actually rubbed off on her! Oracle had nearly winced, worrying that a slightly slipped reference would cause the clay monster to question her bona fides, or worse, lash out, but she'd clearly enraptured him with their "shared" interest.
Spoiler: SEARCHThe cells were relatively straightforward. The locks were of Superior craftsmanship, but with a key -- thanks to her heightened senses, she'd already observed Damien lift it off of the surrendering guard -- opening the cells wouldn't require much effort. The problem was they had to open the cells the better part of fourteen or so times, and some of the cages -- she counted two with actual occupants -- were hanging 9 feet or more in the air. They could get the ladders along the walls to reach them, but not during combat with a giant monster. If they could move Karlo towards the rear of the room, they could perhaps have Damien begin to start letting out captives nearest to the doors. (a DC 20 move silently check would allow them to open the locks and exit without him hearing) But, at some point, in order to reach the bards near the rear of the room, Kate and Oracle would have to maneuver the monster out of the chamber itself. That, or blow a hole in the rear wall and bog the monster down long enough to help the captives escape. Based on her knowledge of the geography of the motte, however, they'd need to move another 30 feet through the soil to escape the other side.
Then again, if Damien could start getting people out, with the outer corridor temporarily unguarded, he could potentially start to get folks all the way to the docks while they were still talking to Karlo. The trick was, how to get all of them?
There was something strange about how the monster was talking. Karlo was technically a Farmlords House, and thus pledged to House Isley, themselves pledged to House Crane. House Crane, was, of course, responsible for putting on the Harvest Solstice festival every year...the same festival the Fools seemed to want to sabotage. Karlo's assault on the bards could have been explained straightforwardly enough -- he seemed to want to be famous, and the Bards were themselves an incredibly useful political tool. But he seemed, by his own language, to be actively in the process of betraying his betters. To whom? And to what end? Who stood to gain from throwing the Farmlords into chaos, and what had they given him to secure his help?
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2024-05-31, 01:06 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2021
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
- Gender
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Barbara’s bluff succeeded completely where Damien’s needling and Kate’s goad had only partially. Very well - if Oracle could keep the wind bag distracted, and Kate could keep on them to attempt to contain the violence when it broke out, Damien would lead the emancipation effort. Casting his gaze across the captives, he picked the cage with the occupants who seemed the least terrified, the most capable, the most cunning, and discreetly opened the lock of their door.
“Stay quiet. There will be keys on the other guards - start unlocking other cages, but quietly. The way to the dock is clear… straight out and straight through the intersections. Throw the key to the cells outside this door.”
Spoiler: OOCsense motive to pick helpful allies.
Minimum to open the lock quietly is 23 so I can’t flub that part.
SenseMotive - (1d20+10)[18]Last edited by MrAbdiel; 2024-05-31 at 01:08 AM.
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2024-06-04, 07:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
There were a few bards in there Damien could use. They were mid-tier Guilders, operators, not head honchos and not understudies, either. The least fearful among them was a War Chanter who's elaborate, sturdy looking gear made him look more like a chief of security than a run of the mill enforcer. There were a few other bards in a couple other cells Damien thought might be useful. The War Chanter ran outside to remove the keys from the other guards, and passed one to the cells on the outside of the door.
Together, three other bards were able to open a second cage, carefully collaborating to avoid making too much noise.
Spoiler: OOCBased on the allies Damien's rallied, we've got two cages open on this turn without alerting Clayface, and another one on it's way in the VIP area. Once the War Chanter has finished distributing keys, there'll be 8 competent bards able to assist opening cages, with access to a total of five keys. Bards who are not actively on the lock can assist their peer making the actions quieter to lower the chance that a Listen check alerts Karlo.
There are 4 VIP cells outside of the room. There's twelve occupied cages on the ground, two suspended, and a total of five cages -- including both of the suspended ones -- are in Karlo's field of vision. That leaves a total of 18 targets when the VIPs are added in. This leaves 9 cages that Karlo isn't looking at, though two of them are quite close to his back (including the one he walked out of). Next turn, Damien's allies will have a total of seven cages open -- two VIPs, and five regular. The turn following that, they'll have opened 3 VIPs and 9 Regular.
So, provided that he doesn't turn around or pass a Listen check, you've got two turns to evacuate hostages before there's a potential reckoning. At that point, you'll have five cages inside the room -- accounting for 14 total bards between them -- that you'll need to reach, and that Karlo can see.
So far, Liane's "Family"'s cage is not yet open. It'll be reachable next turn.
It's Oracle's turn.
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2024-06-05, 05:16 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2017
- Location
- UK
- Gender
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Mentally Oracle apologised to the dean of curriculums at the mage college who didn't allow her to avoid taking the mandatory arts credit and the lecturer for classical illusionic pyrotechnics for being boring enough to drive her to learn about this instead. Nonetheless, now she had established some sort of credentials now was the area she was much less qualified to discuss. Extremely contemporary arts.
"I'm afraid that while you might not be looking to direct yourself, the production already has more than one creative mind behind it. Some seeking a simple three act structure, with this one last descent into the darkness. Others planning more of an epic cycle, with this but a spot of darkness before the dawn. Now I think your story ends on a better note if you take direction from a more established producer than the young upstart seeking to overturn the whole world of theatre, but I can't be sure until I know where this is all going. So tell me, if your director thinks I can't possibly win how would he direct us. In short, what's my motivation?
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2024-06-05, 09:14 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Kate is almost relieved that her dumb attempts at taunting failed, next to the more elegant attempt by Oracle. She readied herself to chop at him ineffectually with her poleaxe!
Last edited by Feathersnow; 2024-06-05 at 09:15 AM.
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