ZEITGEIST (Inactive)

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

"Agreed. We move in as quietly as possible...." Corynne pauses for a second, acutely aware that her spiritual entourage could easily make that difficult if agitated. "Make our way to the gates, and yes keeping silence in reserve is a good move. Once we get the gates open, the chaos of defending against the incursion will give us the freedom to hunt the Duchess."

Looking at each of her companions she measures her words. "No matter how much we plan, things will go awry. So we act and we adapt. But we need to move."

Alice loads a flare in her pistol and checks her rapier. "Yeah. Let's go, and may the Stars watch over us."

Azaghal nods emphatically, checking his rifle to make sure it is still loaded and ready to fire. "I will be careful of discharging rifle. Az knows this is quiet mission. If spell of Silence is used, it would be nice if Az could be fit into its range."

Je nods at Az.
"Noted." he says, then moves out.

Miselle looked at the small cannon she had constructed. "Yes, silence might be good."

Jierre's information proves accurate, and your passwall scroll works precisely as intended. You've made it into the outer fortress, but your job is far from over. Inside the fort, are dozens of buildings, although most appear to be damaged or destroyed. Still, several remain apparently untouched. Past the buildings, a 40ft-high inner wall surrounds a central keep that is topped with an astronomical observatory. Beyond that (on the north side of the fort) are the docks and sea gate - your objective.

This area is only lightly patrolled, and you can make it to the sea wall with a DC 8 Stealth check. The downside is you'll get very little information about the fortress' inhabitants and possible places of interest. If you want to explore a bit, let me know where and how, and I'll let you know how it goes. I'm pretty flexible with skills, but Stealth and/or Bluff will generally be your best bets.

Ellena, not wanting to go off the reservation on such an important mission, makes for the sea wall without diversion. That said, she'll follow the more senior members if they'd like to check something out.

With her accent and armament, Miselle tried to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Stealth: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Bluffing is not Jebediah's strong suit, so he first attempts skulking;

stealth: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Stealth: 1d20 ⇒ 11

Az creeps as quietly as he can with the others, hardly even daring to breath for fear of his lack of stealth giving them away.

Assuming we are not threatened and distracted, I'll take 10 for a 14
Alice skulks in the shadows together with her fellow officers, her light and sure footing keeping her steps quiet.
Curious as she may be about the Duchess' and Danor's plans, taking care of the main mission is paramount. Gathering informations after the battle will be easier.

Since everyone else is in agreement, I'll assume that Corynne does the same. Take10 gives her a 12.

On your way to the sea gate, you notice that only two of the outer buildings seem to be guarded at the moment - the brig and the teleportation circle. Fortunately, your path doesn't take you close enough to either location to worry about being seen, and you make it to the harbor with little difficulty. Once there and on the sea wall, it's about 300ft to the lighthouse. According to your briefing, the sea gate controls are inside. Unfortunately, you're not alone....

As you get closer, you can see several of the Duchess' forces standing guard both inside and outside the lighthouse. There's also a pair of individuals searching a ship docked nearby.

You're a couple hundred feet away, so nobody's paying any attention to you at the moment. There are gaslight lamps every 60ft providing illumination, but there are small pockets of shadow between them. You also have easy access to the ocean. Have fun! XD

"A frontal assault is out of the question. Even if we skulked around, we would still have to deal with those inside, and I doubt that even our silencing magic will help. I think that we need a diversion. Either we go for the brig, try to release any Danoran prisoners who may be within, or we could light a fire on the opposite side. Other ideas?"

"Perhaps both. A fire to draw some of them out, free the prisoners to split their attention and make for the sea gate controls" Corynne whispers.

"Could we swim around, climb up the chain and slip through the mechanism? It might be wide enough, for maintenance and such."

Miselle nodded at Ellena. "We have those water breathing potions, so swimming should be simple enough."

"I have a couple of potions of Monkey Fish, too, so that would help with both the swimming and climbing. Only enough for two of us, though."

"It might be a good idea, if there is indeed space enough. Once inside, we'll have to cast the silencing spell if we have to fight."
A pricking at the back of the neck reminds Alice of her tactics lessons. Kildare! Your back against the wall means you don't have to watch it, but also that you have nowhere to go! Check your surroundings!
"We should have an escape route too. Getting caught inside the lighthouse, we would be way too easy to smoke out. We may leap in the water, perhaps. Or we could still make a diversion, even if we try climbing from the outside."

"Could we maybe use potions and tie ropes around others to use as lifeline? Or we should maybe save potions as backup if we need to bug out."

"Hmm. Seems to me we need to do 3 things. One, set the prisoners free. Two, start a fire. Three, lower the sea gates. Since the attack on the Sea gates needs to be timed to take advantage of the diversions, we need at least 2 and possibly 3 teams. I would suggest we not split ourselves too much, so 2 teams would work well; one for the distraction and one to infiltrate the lighthouse. If I may suggest, Az, you should be part of the distraction team; that way if you need to fight you don't need to worry about setting off your firearm since that will act as a distraction all by itself. The infiltration team will need heavy stealth, who's good at stealth and can fight well too? Alice? Ellena? Any one else other than me good at stealth?"

"Afterwards, we should designate a location to meet up, then we can decide what further action we need to take"

"Being sneaky? No... but I am light on my feet. I also brought one of those fish-monkey potions they had in the armory."

"I'm far more likely to be a distraction." Corynne says with a hint of a smile. "I can definitely get their attention

The dwarf gives a nod, patting his musket. "If it's noise you need, I am your dwarf!"

"And like Ellena, I'm not too bad at sneaking. I don't really like the idea of splitting, but it could be time efficient. Take care, and be sure you have a way to retreat."

"I can be a distraction. I make tons of noise, even when I don't want to. It drives ma mère insane."

Corynne snorts, which then turns into an embarrassed laugh, at Miselle's statement.

Miselle grinned back at Corynee cheerfully. "In defence, most of the noise was things exploading. It takes trial and error to make things correctly. Now, though, most of the noise I make is optional." The Machinesmith considered. "Most of them time."

"Yeah, don't take stupid risks. Making noise will get their attention, but you don't want their attention when you retreat. Just try to make the noise somewhere you are not."

"And do you have flares?" Alice fishes in a pocket, presenting the gunners with two alchemical cartridges. "Shoot 'em if you are in distress, I'll do the same and we'll try to regroup. Hope it doesn't get to that, in any case."

Brig Group: the prison is guarded, but there's at least two ways to gain entry. Bluff DC 12 will get you temporary access. Alternately, Disable Device DC 20 will open a permanent way in as long as each person passes a Stealth DC 8 upon entry.

Lighthouse Group: as you've seen, the area is guarded, so getting closer will be difficult. The closest water access is via the docks near the docked ship. Swimming there won't require any checks as long as you can breathe underwater (your potions have worn off by now). From there, it'll take Stealth and/or Bluff to get the rest of the way there. Alternately, while we're on the topic of water travel, you can get right by the lighthouse via a 40ft Climb from the water to the North of the map. That will likely take multiple checks unless you have something to aid your ascent.

Moving up the lock in question, Miselle squinted at it before starting to work on it. [/smaller]"Keep an eye out, please," she whispered to the others.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Smiling as she popped the lock, Miselle moved inside.

Stealth: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Alice approaches the waterfront, grabbing one of the waterbreathing potions. "Let's stay out of sight" she tells her companions "and as soon as we get to the lighthouse we'll get the other potions and climb up the lighthouse. Let's go."

Popping the cork stopper, she drinks her potion and slips into the water.

Nodding, Ellena double checks that Fabian and the rest of her gear is secured. She downs her own potion in a single swallow and follows.

Az keeps out of the others way for the moment, though he keeps his musket ready to raise and fire at a moment's notice. When Miselle breaks the lock with relative ease and slips inside, Azaghal follows.

Corynne keeps an eye out for any sign of trouble, though the focus of keeping her spiritual entourage quiet is substantially distracting. As Miselle effortlessly disables the lock, she flashes her an impressed grin, moving to follow with the silence of a ghost herself.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Stealth: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

Quaffing his potion of waterbreathing, Jeb enters the water and heads for the lighthouse.

Stealth: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24 That should do it

Azaghal seems hesitant to step forward, knowing his own tendency for noisiness. With the door now unlocked, he looks questioningly to the others, trying to gesture to them and see if they want to go ahead and make use of their silencing magic or if they want to hold it in the wings for now.

With a quiet huff of breath, Azaghal follows the others; no point being so nervous about making noise that he wouldn't even take a step!

Stealth: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

-Posted with Wayfinder

Lighthouse group: I'm unsure if you're swimming to the dock or going directly to the lighthouse (and then attempting to climb).

Brig group: The lock is of Danoran make, so Miselle cracks it with ease. Sneaking inside, the three of you can tell that this building was originally a stable. Inside are ten of the Duchess' troops. They're guarding approximately 50 individuals. The majority of the prisoners are human, but you see 10-15 tieflings as well. Most of the prisoners are wearing either servant or factory uniforms, but you also see several cooks and a single Danoran officer. You haven't been spotted yet, but doing anything other than observing and promptly leaving will expose your position.

Miselle quailed at the site of ten troops guarding the place. And only one soldier. It would not go especially well if the people here did not fight as well.

She looked at the others, nodding to the enemy soldiers and gesturing to her gun, then back to the door and lowering the rifle. Which did they want to do?

"Well freeing them would certainly be a distraction all right. If we can get one each with a single shot, we might have a chance." Corynne whispers."I could start things off with a thunderstone."

Miselle nodded. She pointed at Corynne, then one guard, Azghal and a second, and her self and a third. Wipe out a third of the force before they even knew they were there, and things might go better...

Thinking for a moment Corynne shakes her head for a moment holding up her hand. Drawing out one of the Silence scrolls, she holds it up, signalling that she would start the fight off covering her companions,s attacks with silence before joining in the shooting.

Az seemed unconcerned, or at least minimally concerned, with the odds against them. If they started things off with enough confusion, even those ten troops wouldn't be able to do much before the people they were guarding could make themselves a much greater threat.

Still, discretion was the better part of valor, so he held off on acting until signaled by the others.

Alice sticks close to the sea floor, out of sight of the guards, until she manages to reach the rocky foundations of the lighthouse. There she peeks cautiously to find the best spot to climb without being seen.

Jeb follows Alice as she approaches the Lighthouse. Arriving at the foot of the lighthouse, he rummages through his pack until he finds the potions of Monkey Fish, offering one to Alice.

The map doesn't show the guards/cage. How far are they from us?

Here's a map of the brig. To avoid excess clutter, I'm leaving the prisoners off, but assume they're spread among the various stalls. You can place yourselves anywhere in the room to the left. You can observe what's going on via a crack in the (closed) door, but opening it to initiate hostilities will immediately attract attention.

Brig

If I can see through a crack in the door I can center a spell on a spot I can see right?

That's correct. ;-)