Way of the Wicked - the Fall of Andoran (Inactive)

Game Master increddibelly

And we're off!! Super-excited.

Talon, as discussed, your wings are hurting. My guess is that this pain is related to those two guards, (Dan with the freckles, and Bart with the hideously bad breath) taking a blunt saw to them - the wings will take months to grow back in any useful manner.
In the meantime, feel free to be extremely annoyed with these guardsmen, or guards in general - I'm sure you won't forget their faces anytime soon!

Huzzah! Hello everyone.

DM, Is it alright if the runic F brand is on the base of my neck, near the left shoulder? My character has the Blackened curse so my arms are kind of, well, gross and black which makes it hard for any brand to be apparent there.

on the neck? Ha, after the guards realised the brand wouldn't show on your arms, I'm sure they would take great pleasure in branding you again on whatever body part you happened to twist toward the branding iron!

You are all being watched.

*whip crack*

Oops, back to work on Book VI.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

So are you. Get back to work ;)

Thanks for this awesome adventure path :)

Oh ya, this'll be fun haha. cant wait to get started!

Let's see how this goes :) I'd love to keep this adventure active and exciting, so it is my intention to post at least once every 24 hours. If you haven't posted in that time, I guess I'll have your character do something very sensible.
Also, if life breaks in and for whatever reason you can't post for a little while, that's fine, but please let all of us know in the discussion thread.

I feel like I'm stating the obivous, but it's only fair to set everyone's expectations at the start :) Now let's get to know eachother :D

Really excited for the game. This is gonna be a good one, I can already tell. We're waiting on Haldhin and Caladwhen, right?

We are being watched! *gasp* And yes, huzzah for this AP!

Seems like it'd be a swell group.

Also, Happy New Year's everyone!

It's a little railroady, but the adventure has a very nice way to get the game started. Please bear with me for a little while.

Sindran, expect a PM as you're being moved from the cell to your visitor...

-edit-
On second thought, let's put the meating inside spoiler tags. Then *if* Sindran desides to tell his story to his cellmates, all they have to do is click.
Heh. I'm used to physically taking someone into another room for things like this ;)

Man, I really like this group, and have been waiting for an adventure like this forever. It's hard to get that 'right group' for evil AP's, but I think we've done it. I think we have all the right players, and am really excited to get a real game going.

Ooh, that's a nice feat. Three posts within a minute by different people.

*stealthily edits his post to fit in the previous post*

Mmm. Auspicious rolls.

Also, this is a good title, don'tcha think: Sindran Eithe, Pitchpaws of Branderscar Prison.

I will collect titles. Yessss.

Good idea!
And I shall now start collecting champagne, as fireworks are exploding all around me. Must be some sort of social event ;) See you next year, with new hopes for your villains' lives :)

Once I can get a book and something to write with, My character is gonna keep a journal in her profile...

Sorry for the delay. Unfortunately, I'll be a bit infrequent in my posts until after tomorrow.

Hello all, very happy to be here, and glad to meet everyone. I think this group is going to be lots of fun.

I'm going to read the gameplay a bit. I might have to find a hard copy of this book and run it with players in person.

I'll post some details about your location, the immediate area, and things you may have noticed during transport.
Happy 2013 everyone, may this year bring you many natural 20's. Except in my game, of course.

what better way to cure a hangover than rolling some dice ;)
I've put up some descriptions of things you'd have noticed while you were brought here. I think I haven't left any questions unanswered but as always, feel free to poke me if I missed anything.

In a little while, I'll post an edited map of Andoran with WotW-relevant topography added to it.

Hey all, Happy 2013. Hurray for information!

I hope everyone's okay with me trying to shoehorn into being group leader. :P

With the exception of the black wingless creature, everyone is impressively chatty. You do have highest CHA, but I'll leave it up to the characters to decide :)

I'm down, it looks like that's where it's going. I'll just want someone who wants to take charge, not forced into it.

Hey DM, I had an idea for using escape artist to free my hands from the manacles, would that be probable with a 9 for escape artist?

Arryn, unfortunately that would be an exercise in dealing with frustration.
Time is not (yet) a problem, so I'll allow you to take 20 - but the book explicitly says that escaping manacles is DC 30 - that's not just me being mean.
However, any viable lubrication would give a bonus that would bring this within reach. Can you think of any?

Can I spit on it?

Hmm, even if your elven half would allow you to salivate like a rabid dog, I think that would require too many attempts and too much moisture for a captive who hasn't had a sip of water in hours.

lol, ok, just wanted to see

fair enough :) Anything that would be remotely plausible is probably going to work, especially if we get a laugh out of it.

This puzzle should help you to get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses; however it is also potentially very frustrating. Let me know if you're stumped and I'll gently nudge things forward. You're going to have to solve it yourselves though ;)

I took the liberty of doing something like a 'ready action' in spoilers. If someone does the required action, feel free to clicky! Or for more clarity, DM, feel free to post having my character do whatever action I did, or more or less what I intended. :P

I usually do it either when I'm unavailable for an amount of time or during fast-paced games when I'm not around and I want to leave a general way for my character to react while everyone else is still going.

Hope that's fine.

im following along pretty closely, its my character thats not the chatty one. once we get moving ill have a lot more posts...plus my head is not quite 100% clear today haha

Just a thought for a potential plan, assuming Sham has arrived ahead of the other guard.

Arryn is free now, so if I can enchant Sham before the other guard arrives, I could lure him alone into the cell. With the two daggers in veil, Arryn could quietly end Sham before the other guard arrives.

Thoughts?

Arryn has the skill to be that stealthy and use a dagger, but could you enchant him? If so, it sounds foolproof. The problem would be when the next guard comes in, what do we do?

I took the liberty of doing something like a 'ready action' in spoilers. If someone does the required action, feel free to clicky! Or for more clarity, DM, feel free to post having my character do whatever action I did, or more or less what I intended. :P

[...]
Hope that's fine.

that's actually a very good idea. Stuff like this keeps the game moving.

plan

sounds like a solid plan if Sham comes in alone. Now to think of something in case Ron joins him?

Is there a necklace to go with the unholy symbol on the veil? im looking for something I can choke a guard with, and I figured the rope is probably a little too big

@caladwhen. as this infers, i'd like to see if we can suffocate the guard. one, he can't exactly call out for help. two, no blood spill. I'm more worried about the first one, a dagger to the neck would certainly get the job done

To go along with Caladwhen's more subtle enchantment, Sindran also has the useful Murderous Command which is purely verbal. Even if he were shackled, he'd still be able to use it as long as he can speak.

A more subtle plot of his when we try to escape would be to catch sight of one of the guards and cast that spell on him, making him attempt to attack any guards nearby for a single round. Enough to create some confusion and paranoia and the aftereffects can create a long-enough distraction.

Other than that, Sindran can make things go BURN which isn't exactly subtle but useful if we need to destroy/kill things.

@Caladwhen: if you happen to use enchantment, try to pump the guard for as much information as you can before we kill 'em. Ways out, number of guards, weaponry, what facilities they have, like an armory or storage, important rooms, transportation, hours of watch and how often they switch, what's on the right side of the prison, any other prisoners aside from them, who the heck is Grumblejack, and what is that mysterious looming tower in the south? Things like that.

Okay, I think based on what I'm reading, we'd like to enchant the first guard. Can somebody make a distraction so he won't notice Caladwhen's verbal or somatic actions as I charm him, just in the event he passes his saving throw?

Incidentally, we have a good chance of charming him. The saving throw is Will DC 16.

I'll post my action in about 45 minutes, have to run out for a bit.

I could attempt a Bluff for distraction or Intimidate to shaken him to get him to suffer a -2 to saving throws, but that might get him unfriendly to me.

Bluff seems better for subtlety. Arryn has a better Bluff skill than me, and seems keen on working with you so she'd be a better choice.

Also: Hahahaha @ definitely male. XD

I agree, a bluff from Arryn might be better. Caladwhen can discreetly cast Charm Person if he's distracted by Arryn, and all the better if we suffers a Will save penalty, improves our chances greatly.

Once he's under Cala's influence, I can go all kinds of things. My first thought is to send him on an errand once there is just Ron and Sham, asking for something inconspicuous and innocent like "Could you please get me a pillow or two Ron? I'm so uncomfortable here."

At that point, we have only one guard to contend with, Sham. We'd have to create another scene, something that might draw him into the cell alone. Once he does that, Arryn could promptly dispose of him with one of the daggers.

The other possibility is for Cala to try and set Ron against Sham, planting thoughts like "He plans to hurt me, you have to stop him Ron." It would be comical to watch the two guards kill one another, so we don't even have to lift a finger :)

Edit: Oh sweet, I just read that Ron is carrying a mug... he might be drunk which will make him even more susceptible to our needs.

Trying to have Cala set Ron against Sham is a sweet, evil idea. Especially since Sindran can make Sham attack Ron.

My suggestion would be to have him escort you to a toilet. I mean, really, Ron, would you have a lady so brazenly urinate in public? For shame.

Alternatively, you could also ask for some water. Maybe want that mug and whatever is in it. Mostly because we're thirsty.

While you're on the way, you could look around and pepper Ron with seemingly natural questions or comments like "What's that over there?", "There doesn't seem to be any other prisoners here", "It seems so quiet here. You guards must get bored standing around all day here", "Why does that room have such thick walls? And the door metal?" and such.

(Ron, why don't you put that mug down? You can get it back later once you've returned. You don't want to be carrying that around everywhere.)

That also leaves the rest of us free to dispose of Sham if he's there, or if not then we're free to plan and stretch our legs.

Trying to have Cala set Ron against Sham is a sweet, evil idea. Especially since Sindran can make Sham attack Ron.

My suggestion would be to have him escort you to a toilet. I mean, really, Ron, would you have a lady so brazenly urinate in public? For shame.

While you're on the way, you could look around and pepper Ron with seemingly natural questions or comments like "What's that over there?", "There doesn't seem to be any other prisoners here", "It seems so quiet here. You guards must get bored standing around all day here", "Why does that room have such thick walls? And the door metal?" and such.

That's a great idea Sindran, it'll help us get the lay of the land. If he falls under Cala's influence, I'll have him take me on a tour under the pretense of using the Lady's privy.

Sorry I was out, I was sleeping... Looks like we got a lot done.

Yup. Before I forget, Talon, I'd much appreciate it if you could topple that mug over using Mage Hand when you get the chance and the guards are distracted.

Lol I sleep in once and see what happens lol. Normally I post as much as you guys do, after I shake off the final...erm 'effects' of new years ill be pretty active

Haha. I'm eager for that—I have the feeling Talon will be fun once he's shaked off some aftereffects of his own. :D

Oh ya, the Strix are a little bestial in nature. Plus he's used to the freeing feeling of flight (say that 3 times), he's pretty ticked about being chained down inside...not to mention them clipping his wings

The forums have been eating up my posts for the past hour. Hope I'm not disturbing any good plans by being late.

Because time is now relevant, on a tabletop game I would now normally go to initiative to keep track of time spent - but as this is my first PbP game I'm not sure if that would work here. Any suggestions from your end?

Please also roll initiative so that we have something in place.

@DM increddibelly: Once my games go into initiative, I ask people to post actions they want to take in a round, then I post a recap including NPCs. Seems to work well for my groups, and we aren't all waiting on one person to post in initiative order.

with regard to distances, there's a map of Branderscar here and a map of the prison level here
10" scale. movement inside the cell is free, because I'm feeling generous.

If any of you have suggestions regarding a nice mapping tool, that'd be great, otherwise I guess I'll just use excel for now.