Balthus Tauran |
Thanks, that's what I thought but we don't yet have a meeting scheduled with them.
FYI: I have two days of 'field work' ahead of me but I'll still be able to post in the mornings (brief?) and later in the evening/night. However, don't expect anything from me during the day for the next two days.
Jetta Stahle |
Going into the woods to investigate, or heading straight back for the fort?
We should probably go take a look, even if the culprits aren't there anymore. Maybe there is some clue to what they are, or why they attacked.
Lord Perry Arizian |
Is Ursa a puppy or a combat hound? I don't see it fighting (which suggests a weak puppy), but I don't understand why Amund is bringing it to battle (or out into dangerous areas) if it isn't combat-ready.
Jetta Stahle |
Jetta already succeeded at the Survival check to determine where the creature went, so I'll assume she answers Amund's question.
I assume he means their actual destination (i.e. "they headed towards/landed near landmark X"), rather than just the cardinal direction.
Jetta Stahle |
@Perry - I'm assuming the question for divination is "what happened here"?
Divination can only be used to get information about future events.
Lord Perry Arizian |
This event or activity can still be targeted by the spell if it develops within the week.
Similar to augury but more powerful, a divination spell can provide you with a useful piece of advice in reply to a question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity that is to occur within 1 week.
Perhaps the question should be "Will tbe burning shadow descend on Fort Thorn, or will it be our enemy in any way?"
Jetta Stahle |
@GM: Here's the plan:
- Notify the scouts to prepare for dragon sightings so we have advanced warning
- send for Oakbrow and/or warn the other fey of the dragons and request aid
- study regional maps for any location reasonable for dragons to reside
- study the fey-flesh ritual if it needs other reagents we can get before the enemy
- see if we can make ballistas (will take 1 week if going by these rules)
- and prepare useful spells (I'll need you advice on this: any anti-dragon spells?).
Other question: Are we running with the damage-risks-falling-if-flying houserule? We're going to need it.
That seems like a good plan, assuming that we reach a consensus on whether or not we should stay.
To add to that, Jetta is planning to...
- Arm everyone in the fort with ranged weaponry (d'oh).
- Shield the pallisades and wooden buildings from fire by coating them with water.
- Make sure there is water for putting out possible fires; enlisting capable civilians for a temporary fire brigade.
- Maybe try to cash in on our deal with the lizardfolk?
As for useful spells, a couple of air walks could be key. As long as even one of the 'dragons' remain airborn, we are f*cked. Something to shield us from fire seems like an obvious choice, too.
GM Rennai |
Sounds like a plan to me. I'll work on moving it forward - let me know if there's any other preparations you guys want to try and make.
@Perry - Falling after taking damage unless the victim passes a Fly check isn't a houserule, it's right in the Fly skill. (It doesn't make them fall to the ground, but they do lose ten feet of height, and if you've got archers with a ton of attacks it can add up.)
GM Rennai |
Perry, I'm not seeing in the page you linked where it gave a time for building a ballista, and according to the Craft rules, it'd take a lot longer than a week to build it (even a light ballista). Even using the Unchained crafting rules and passing the check every day, it'd take a good twenty days.
However...since bettering the fort's defenses has been one of your concerns and since Amund has been in contact with home recruiting people (yay Leadership!), one of his followers (probably a 1st level fighter) will have arrived with 1d3 ⇒ 1 light ballista and the proficiency to supervise a small team using it. That ballista could be set up within a day, easily.
Or, if you prefer, it can be a 1st level gunslinger who'd be able to direct the quick smithing of a cannon, which, because of the Gunsmithing feat said gunslinger would have, could be completed in six days. It'd be more damage, but a slower reload and more difficult to manage.
I'll leave the call up to you guys. I'm working on preparations now (it'll be done by the end of the morning) and I'll use the weapon that's agreed upon when the fight begins tomorrow cause may or may not arise to have need of it. ;)
Balthus Tauran |
I'm not the strategist, but a cannon sure does sound like fun :).
Yeah but the dragons are coming sooner I think so I vote light ballista.
GM Rennai |
Balthus was not happy. he was never much good at waiting. Always the hunter, always the stalker, his best defense was either a good offense or getting out of the way.
He checked his magical quiver, brimming with arrows, one more time. He made sure he had an extra bowstring and the one on his bow was in good order.
Earlier that morning, he had prepared spells that would help him to either shoot arrows or resist fire.
He was as ready as he was going to be.
And he hated waiting.
prepare: resist energy, gravity bow, and aspect of the falcon
Lord Perry Arizian |
1d3 light ballista sound great. For added fun, we smith rings and hooks to the ballista bolts and connect them with ropes that connect to the ground. Then we have trapped dragons when we heave, dragging them to the ground.
/Gulliver's Travels
As for Percival--I'm not sure what to expect, so I'm reverting to my regular spell loadout.
I'm also preparing to scribe 2 Resist Energy scrolls (25 gp, 2 hrs). Perry is also taking orders if anyone else of the fort (PC or NPC) is willing to have their behinds covered from fire.
@Prep: Percival also casts Stone Shape (covers 70 cu. ft.) up to 3 times to cover areas vulnerable to fire (water well, support beams, infrastructure, etc.).
Also, is it possible to use Wind Wall at an angle if the base surface is angular? I'm thinking using it to deflect fire breath might work, but that's your discretion, GM.
@Anthuria: Do you have the time to study the ritual to know how it works?
GM Rennai |
I've moved the map of Fort Thorn back to slide two in the map slideshow, so feel free to use it as a reference in fort defence.
It'd be seventeen cubic feet, not seventy, but I'm good with using stone shape that way. (A protecting cover would only have to be a couple of inches thick, so each cast could presumably cover as much as a hundred square feet or so.) The keep and the church are stone buildings, so structurally they're less vulnerable than the rest - everything else is built of wood, including the walls.
For wind wall, the spell does specifically say the wall has to be vertical, which seems like it would be irrespective of ground conditions. But if the breath is coming in at an angle, a vertical wall of sufficient height would do it (and at a 35 foot high wall it is quite possible, especially for the first attacks before they realize something's up). I'd let one casting of wind wall be sufficient to protect a smaller building (A4 or the smaller building of A6 on the map), or two to protect a bigger structure (anything but the keep) for its duration.
Lord Perry Arizian |
Right. 10 + 1/level. I read it as 10 + 10/level. :O
I'm really low on ideas, so I think that's it from me for now.
Question on the Divination result: Divination has only been used twice so far--the second yielding a verbal result that all heard. Does Perry have reason to believe that Jetta is right and that this is a message from Abadar (or down the command line)?
Jetta Stahle |
1d3 light ballista sound great. For added fun, we smith rings and hooks to the ballista bolts and connect them with ropes that connect to the ground. Then we have trapped dragons when we heave, dragging them to the ground.
As much as I'd love to have a cannon, this seems like the most practical option.
As for Percival--I'm not sure what to expect, so I'm reverting to my regular spell loadout.
I'm also preparing to scribe 2 Resist Energy scrolls (25 gp, 2 hrs). Perry is also taking orders if anyone else of the fort (PC or NPC) is willing to have their behinds covered from fire.
I would love to have air walk prepared for the attack, in case we don't manage to ground all the enemies. Jetta has a bow, but she would be most useful in melee. I'll pay you to craft a scroll, if you'd rather save spell slots for something else.
Lord Perry Arizian |
Air walk is fine, but I'd be worried if going up is more dangerous.
The scroll is a whopping 700 gp, so I'll cast it (casting Fervor as a buff and Air Walk once they approach). Your call otherwise.
Amund Basurto |
Gm I have an odd request. If I were to have a Anchor feather token made and were able to get it attached to the flying monster would it be anchored to the ground?
As a slightly cheaper option for 450 gp I can get the floating feather token made that gives you 10 rounds of having wings.
Communal resist energy might be helpful. If we could get you in close bestow curse would be great but that has a lot of maybe factors.
So to the party the cohort can get two spells of either dispel magic, fly, bestow curse, or vampiric touch. Those touch spells have a range of 30ft. My vote is fly and bestow curse.
GM Rennai |
@Perry - He doesn't have a reason to disbelieve that it's Abadar or someone in Axis' chain of command who responded, and it was Abadar to whom he prayed to receive the message. It's certainly a very Abadaran cause Perry is championing, protecting a bastion of civilization in the wilderness from destruction by the forces of chaos. But, he'd also know that it's not customary to receive auditory responses from divinations - usually the responses are mental impressions. From there, he can have a crisis of faith or not, as he prefers. ;)
@Amund - Because I enjoy creativity, yes, I'd let an anchor feather token ground a flying enemy if you can make a touch attack with it.
@All - So a ballista it is, with someone skilled enough to man it unless one of you gets a wild hair to take over operating it. Stone shape and wind wall over more vulnerable parts of the fort, air walk from Perry/fly from Amund's cohort/floating feather tokens or potions of fly to get folks up in their faces, covering fire with bows from Balthus and the fort's guards he leads. Sound like everything?
Lord Perry Arizian |
Interesting. So far his response is reserved, adopting a 'wait-and-see' attitude. It certainly isn't usual to get called up by God unless you're the chief priest or a prophet.
Incidentally, for some reason he's not keen on using Divination again.
Cosmology/Lore Question: It's been seen before in-lore that divinations or communications with deities can be hijacked (Zon Kuthon and Asmodeus employ this a lot), and to some extent resurrections.
Could this (non-malevolent hijacking) possibly be something similar?
@Plan: I'd say so.
@Jetta: If you're going up to melee with the dragons, Jetta will benefit from a Shield Other spell.
Amund Basurto |
So we are going with Jetta and I in melee and everyone else is going ranged right?
@GM And yay! I am hoping it works.
Lord Perry Arizian |
Here's the plan:
We evacuate or shelter the people of the fort.
When we get notice of the dragon, we move into position (melee characters in the fort's square, hidden from sky's view/ranged characters on towers). The ballistas are at the ready with hooks and rope for leverage. Perry casts Blessing of Fervor in the meantime to work with Anthuria's Haste.
We ready to attack the dragon(s) once they begin circling our fort's airspace. The ballista shoot--even one successful hit can be used for the characters to drag down the flying offender with proper leverage (thinking bolts and tackles here, as well as employing the hidden evacuees). If we're lucky, the dragon will fall regardless due to having to roll to stay aloft from the ballista and multiple ranged attacks.
If a dragon falls to the ground, the melee characters go out and chop it to croutons.
If the dragon does not fall and continues attacking and efforts to ground them failed, Perry casts Air Walk on Jetta with Amund getting Fly to engage the dragon in midair.
If the dragon does not fall and tries to escape, our fanned-out scouts can track them until their base--which we attack.
Seems sort of solid. Plans are in short supply these days unfortunately.
Balthus Tauran |
Here's the plan:
We evacuate or shelter the people of the fort.
When we get notice of the dragon, we move into position (melee characters in the fort's square, hidden from sky's view/ranged characters on towers). The ballistas are at the ready with hooks and rope for leverage. Perry casts Blessing of Fervor in the meantime to work with Anthuria's Haste.
We ready to attack the dragon(s) once they begin circling our fort's airspace. The ballista shoot--even one successful hit can be used for the characters to drag down the flying offender with proper leverage (thinking bolts and tackles here, as well as employing the hidden evacuees). If we're lucky, the dragon will fall regardless due to having to roll to stay aloft from the ballista and multiple ranged attacks.
If a dragon falls to the ground, the melee characters go out and chop it to croutons.
If the dragon does not fall and continues attacking and efforts to ground them failed, Perry casts Air Walk on Jetta with Amund getting Fly to engage the dragon in midair.
If the dragon does not fall and tries to escape, our fanned-out scouts can track them until their base--which we attack.Seems sort of solid. Plans are in short supply these days unfortunately.
I approve.
Amund Basurto |
Few questions. Evacuation was already shot down. Moving the people when the fly monster shows up would get them killed. They will need to move before or stay in the Fort.
We have one ballista as I understand things and they take time to reload if it misses. And they are basically a big spear so we are altering them to add rope and assume we can pull it down, correct? We would need a lot of people to hold onto that rope. And a lot of rope way longer than the normal 50ft ones.
The damage could do it but it is more likely that most of the fight will happen in the air. Arrow will do only so much. The ballista is the heavy hitter and if it missed the baddie will have one or two rounds to do as it pleases while we reload.
Also if there are two of them the plan would change some I assume. If there are two of them people will need to get into the air quicker if that is the route we are going and then with all the archers they could get hit, which would suck.
I would assume if there are two of them they will either stay very close to each other. Which would work well for if the ballista hits and we can drag one down. Though the arrows in the air will still be a danger to those going to meet the downed monster.
The other thought, and I think it is more likely, they will keep a great distance to attack from two sides. This way lets the ballista and archers handle one while the flyers go for the other.
There will be fire and smoke so our vision, and that of the archers will be impaired after a few rounds. We really do not have much for that. People working on water lines yes but they are in the cross-hairs that way.
If they are being sent by this 'wizard' what happens if ground forces are sent as well?
To be fair I have had some vicious GMs and that is how I tend to think if we are given time to plan. I am not trying to be a downer.
And also plans are not is short supply. We are not a planning group so far. Either because we have not had a chance to or life gets in the way.
@GM - Also I have invested a fair amount of time into the cubs and would rather they not die in the fight. Would there be a place in the Fort I could keep them for a few days? Like a cellar or a storage room? I could if I had to put them back in the wagon and stash them in a room somewhere this gives them two levels of something they have to break though to get out.
Balthus Tauran |
Amund...
Good points.
I wouldn't discount bows. Balthus should be shooting +8/+3, 1d8+7, 19-20, x3 on any given round so who knows, a critical from a bow is nasty. If I can get haste then that's another attack at full BAB.
I am always of the mind set of concentrating all attacks into one 'dragon'. Once that one is down then we go for the next one.
I would also expect them to keep their distance and use their breath weapons and not engage anyone.
I'm not sure how reasonable it is to expect for Amund and Jetta to take the fight to them but I guess we'll see.
Amund Basurto |
I agree on the ranged tactics for the critters. Andit is nit you, as an archer,I am worried about but the npcs.
While, if there are two, I would prefer to deal with one then the other that leaves one free to be destructive. From what I gathered ice Jetta and I Haverford with one Anthuria would be with us as would my cohort
Balthus Tauran |
Andit is nit you, as an archer,I am worried about but the npcs.
Hey, I trained them! :)
Amund Basurto |
Fair point old man ;) Also a critical fail from you, that hits one of us will really suck.
Jetta Stahle |
I approve.
Ditto.
We have one ballista as I understand things and they take time to reload if it misses. And they are basically a big spear so we are altering them to add rope and assume we can pull it down, correct? We would need a lot of people to hold onto that rope. And a lot of rope way longer than the normal 50ft ones.
Regardless of whether or not we can use the ropes to ground the enemy, at least they'll be unable to flee. That'll stop them from doing fly-bys, and allow us to engage them in melee. Additionally, the rope will keep them within range of our archers, who will be providing cover for the ballista as it is reloaded, in addition to ourselves engaging the enemy.
We have the people, and I don't think finding enough rope will be a problem.
The damage could do it but it is more likely that most of the fight will happen in the air. Arrow will do only so much. The ballista is the heavy hitter and if it missed the baddie will have one or two rounds to do as it pleases while we reload.
As Balthus says, I wouldn't discount our archers. We have a lot of people with bows, which means that even the lousiest of them will be hitting some of the time. I'd assume that would be simulated using the troop rules, or just by having the dragons take a certain amount of damage each round automatically. Either way, the enemy will have lots of chances to fail their Fly checks.
Also if there are two of them the plan would change some I assume. If there are two of them people will need to get into the air quicker if that is the route we are going and then with all the archers they could get hit, which would suck.
I would assume if there are two of them they will either stay very close to each other. Which would work well for if the ballista hits and we can drag one down. Though the arrows in the air will still be a danger to those going to meet the downed monster.
The other thought, and I think it is more likely, they will keep a great distance to attack from two sides. This way lets the ballista and archers handle one while the flyers go for the other.
We'll have to wait and see how many of them will be, and what their tactics are. Focusing fire on one of them at a time seems like the smartest idea, though we might very well have to split our efforts.
There will be fire and smoke so our vision, and that of the archers will be impaired after a few rounds. We really do not have much for that. People working on water lines yes but they are in the cross-hairs that way.
As you say, we don't really have any way to deal with that, except to try our best to stop the enemy from lighting too many fires, both by keeping them busy and letting the fire brigade do their job.
If they are being sent by this 'wizard' what happens if ground forces are sent as well?
That is a possibility, but we have no reason to think that will be the case. The fort has walls to keep out infantry, in any case.
Jetta Stahle |
I wanted to open dialogue about a few different options is all Jetta.
Yeah, I get it. I'm not trying to shoot you down or anything, but we probably shouldn't overcomplicate things either. We can only plan for so much.
Amund Basurto |
I knew I stood the chance of being shot down and I can accept it. I know that we can only plan for so much and that most plans do not survive the first encounter. I do not feel that it over complicated anything.
Lord Perry Arizian |
@GM: Can Anthuria prepare and cast Earthbind by discovering the spell (or scroll page) in the fey book?
1. It makes sense that the rose king would keep such a spell for a rainy day when the deal goes south.
2. The spell is in 3.5 and 5e, so no balancing is required with backwards compatibility.
3. It makes sense to discover the spell in a fey-book, since it is unknown to the wizarding public (not in pathfinder core). It could be known as a fey spell.
@Evacuation: They won't be moved once the monster shows up; they'd be moved (or sheltered) once we get news of them. Even an hour is good enough to get people hiding in the cover of the trees or in the river with some shelter (or any place we determine is safe). Razing the fort is probably the dragon's main objective.
@Ballista: We have 1d3, so 2 on average. We also have other archers (adding to our characters--each of which has 2 ranged attacks for 10/round), we can probably get 4-8 additional archers. That's nearly 14-18 arrows per round. A few of them are bound to be critical hits.
As for pulling the dragons down--using leverage with bolts and tackles increases our effective strength and can be used by multiple people (if we're contesting strengths), or if we're counting this as encumbrance, we can tie the rope down to stone foundations.
Combine that with the dragon falling a few feet every arrow, and we got this in the proverbial bag.
As for reload times--well that's just a difficulty we have to live with.
@Multiple Dragons: That will be handled by focus fire. If dragons see focused resistance, they are sure to reevaluate their strategy.
The above strategy's main objective is to deny the dragons' mobility by making each round they spend in the air dangerous for them, and the risk of falling and being chopped up will be too great to ignore. If we're any kind of lucky, the dragons will see any progress as too costly.
They didn't live long by making stupid bets.
In fact, we can have Kasta demoralize them by speaking in Draconic. We may even manage some battlefield diplomacy.
@Fire and Smoke: That will only happen if our archers hide in buildings and not spread out and take cover.
As Jetta added, the fire brigade will be doing its job as well.
@Wizard Ground Forces: That seems unlikely. Ground forces will have to march through the forest, and Oakbrow expressed interest in helping us.
However, if that happens, we will still have to focus on the dragons first. If they burn down the walls, we'll be doomed.
At any rate, I have a plan B if the rope/arrows/bolt/spell(with GM's approval) plan doesn't work out.
Percival will summon Quan'zlam, the Criminal defense lawyer of Apes onto the dragon (complete with court dress). With its +8 CMB, it will grapple the dragon, bend its wings behind it, suplexing it to the ground while shouting a David Otunga reference.
...I should make Percival summoning an animal court some running gag.
Amund Basurto |
@Evacuation: I do not like the idea of moving the people when the critters are inbound. We should either move them way before or try to protect them in the Fort. The River is way to open to be safe. And that is a lot of people, most not skilled to defend themselves, alone in a appointed place in the forest.
@ Ballista: The GM has already rolled for it and we have one. I have no issue with this plan. I really do not. What I wanted to discuss was what would happen if it did not work.
@ fire and smoke: No smoke will go where it wants. We cannot control that and more fires will be put out with more people at the Fort.
@Wizard Ground Forces: I am aware that it is unlikely but it is better to be over prepared than under.
@ Plan B: A plan should never be dependent on one player. We could try to lure them away. With flying PC who have to land a touch attack to get the anchor feather token we could have one or more dragons downed and trapped to the limit of the chain.
@ Rope: Rope is flammable and a 'dragon' could easily bite though it in one round. That was why I proposed the archer token. That is a chain.
Jetta Stahle |
@GM: Can Anthuria prepare and cast Earthbind by discovering the spell (or scroll page) in the fey book?
That would be awfully convenient, wouldn't it? :P
@Evacuation: They won't be moved once the monster shows up; they'd be moved (or sheltered) once we get news of them. Even an hour is good enough to get people hiding in the cover of the trees or in the river with some shelter (or any place we determine is safe). Razing the fort is probably the dragon's main objective.
I do agree with Amund on that evacuation seems counterintuitive, as the keep is still the safest place in the Vale. That's what it is for, right? The non-combatants that aren't part of the fire brigade (the children, the sick, and the elderly) wouldn't do too well on their own in the wilderness. If we fail in defending the Fort, they'll just starve out there anyway, or get picked off by monsters.
They didn't live long by making stupid bets.
In fact, we can have Kasta demoralize them by speaking in Draconic. We may even manage some battlefield diplomacy.
If these are, indeed, actual dragons. Which I still doubt. Taunting them could still work, though, even if they are of a dumber variety.
Lord Perry Arizian wrote:@ fire and smoke: No smoke will go where it wants. We cannot control that and more fires will be put out with more people at the Fort.@Fire and Smoke: That will only happen if our archers hide in buildings and not spread out and take cover.
As Jetta added, the fire brigade will be doing its job as well.
Of course we can't be 100% sure where the fire will be, but we'll just have to deal with that as it happens. From what we saw at the glade, the dragons might very well just be out to destroy whatever they can as revenge, so we can't expect them to strike tactically. Keeping them busy and letting the fire brigade do its thing will be our best bet of minimizing the threat of smoke.
The sheltered non-combatants won't be part of the fire brigade, so for that purpose it doesn't really matter if they are here in the fort or out there in the wilderness (though I'd still rather have them here).
@ Rope: Rope is flammable and a 'dragon' could easily bite though it in one round. That was why I proposed the archer token. That is a chain.
The plan would be to be on the dragon before it has a chance to free itself, both by peppering it with arrows and having us two get up in its face. That, and keep hitting it with more ballista bolts and ropes. But yeah, slapping the anchor token on it to make sure that it's stuck would certainly help.