Hey folks. I've got a herniated disc with sciatica, so I'm effectively bedridden for the next few days and likely won't be able to post until things have been reduced. Carry on, and I'll join when able.
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As I've stated previously, I've been wondering about the time people are meeting. Anton likely missed out on the first meeting (and so I didn't post regarding it), due to prior engagements, but would like to meet and discuss other findings and options. That being said, Mordesel seems to have disappeared (he runs another game I'm in).
I would like to be able to meet with the group again for some more information sharing and potential planning, since Anton missed out.
What time is everyone meeting at? If it was occuring the same evening we arrived, Anton won't be there (but should be available the following afternoon/evening).
@GM: Anton remains with the partying soldiers to the wee hours of the morning, joining them in their joviality, an act of friendship, and giving them a wink and a nudge to enhance their lecherousness while telling bawdy tales in between sets. He also listens for any information he can glean from the drunken sots.
Once the party is complete, he helps Yalana clean up and joins her for a long much-needed 'sleep'.
I'll likely be offline until Wednesday (Nov 12th). Anton can rejoin the group after the party planning with Yalana. Maybe get the party to 'help out'. Take down a few guards (learning what we can about them individually) and take their place in the keep perhaps. I was also planning on joining the entertainment troupe when they come, but that could be even later on.
@GM: "Of course, my dear! I would be happy for my music to accompany your dance. These men deserve the best for their service in bringing down that demon. We must make sure it is... special. Will they be needing more workers, back-up dancers, or other celebrants? Given enough time, I can go and recruit some."
Ditto. Take care.
After spending some quality time with his lady, Yalana, Anton wanders through the seemingly happier town of Aldencross, the news of the demon's capture seeiming to raise everyone's spirits. After his information gathering, he joins the others at the appointed time.
Anton shifts into the form known to certain people in town and moves off in a different direction than the rest of the group, not wanting to be seen with them as yet. "I'm sure we'll be introduced later," he calls back. He immediately goes to visit the dancer Yalana. With all the commotion about, he wanted to be sure she was well. During his travel, he hears the hubbub of the crowd proclaiming that the demon was discovered and captured, by Mott of all people. Hmm, one hopes that the two were slain... He stays away from them, not wanting to be recognized if they do happen to remain alive. If they live we may need to get word to the ogre to move camps... and some of our disguises may be compromised, although, at least in my case, the association with Dane was already revealed and I played the part of the surprised and horrified companion. I'd rather not have another similar connection made with Sion.
"Indeed, welcome Morthos. With Dane and Scion," Anton says before looking at Grumblejack "and Grumblejack, performing interference and distraction out here, we'll need some extra bodies for our tasks at bringing down the keep." Anton fills Morthos in with the information previously given to Katlan before continuing. "There is an underground 'secret' path between the inn and the castle. That path may be compromised, depending on if the innkeeper discovered our use of it or not. And at least by certain 'personas' may be lost due to the curfew and their presence in the inn. As I have been staying with someone else, my guise should still be intact." "I would like to return to the town soon, and we should enter separately or in small groups. We can meet at the inn for lunch or dinner. We may need to let some things die down before we make our next move, however, but we'll find out more once we're back in town."
Welcome Javell/Morthos. I think the archetype fits since you slowly turn into a pseudo-undead anyhow. And you certainly wouldn't want to have the archetype and become undead in some other fashion. Wasteful. The AP gives two extra skill points per level, so that may play into your decision with regards to Dual Talent. A good strength would probably be a good idea. I probably would have put the focus on Strength with your rolls, and you'd still have ended up with high charisma. I don't think the AP itself gives free feats but we did get The Bitten feat for free (before being effectively forced to take the rest of the Vampire Path feats which are a way of balancing the template) so, to be fair, perhaps you ought to get a free feat as well (and at least you'll have some freedom in your build). That's up to the GM though. For HP, it looks like we've been doing half+1 per hit die after the first (so d10=6, d8=5, d6=4). For your high dex, Mithral full-plate might work for you. You could always "find" Dane's corpse being looted by a couple of guards and liberate his armor. He built it from earlier treasure we found. WBL-wise, I don't think we have much. Some masterwork items, Dane's old mithral full plate, some magic greatsword we picked up in the castle which has yet to be identified, and our silver circlets. I think Durova has a bit more since he came in later (3rd) with some appropriate WBL.
Anton looks at the note left behind and shrugs. "They may prove to be a distraction," he says to Durova, "not just for this camp, but for the mission as a whole. If they are seen out here, their forces may be concentrated outside the keep. If they are, unfortunately, killed out here, then perhaps the keep leadership will believe the problem has been solved." The pale man spins around when the half-elf noisily enters their camp. He slowly looks her over, his eyes catching sight of the circlet and the sickly paleness that they all seemed to be suffering through their transformation into the children of the blood. Ne nods to himself, satisfied with what he has seen and heard. It is highly unlikely that name Thorne is even known by any enemy that may be aware of the subtleties going on. She must have been sent by him. "Welcome to the Knot, Katlan. I am Anton of House Vitruvian. We are currently regrouping after our last foray. We are tasked with weakening Balentyne such that they will be unable to defend from an approaching army. This is something of a secondary camp, as it may be difficult for the ogre to pass amongst the townsfolk of Aldencross. It is there we tend to congregate." Turning to Durova he nods. "Indeed. I would be interested in knowing if there was any report of any doings by the innkeeper, seeing as he very nearly caught us using his tunnel." I would also like to pay a personal visit to Yalana, I think. Reinforce the importance of my being a part of her life... I expect the change to happen soon and I'd like to have an easily accessible source nearby.
Welcome Katlan. Good to have you aboard. The difference from the regular AP is that Cardinal Thorne is our Sire/Patron and stuff is all vampire related with Asmodeus more on the back burner. Durova (another who had not escaped Branderscar) was brought in by him, too, so there is some precedent. It's likely you'll either show up at the ogre's camp (more likely since everyone would be recognizable as allies, more-or-less, or in town (which may be more difficult if we're all in disguises). ------ Seeing as how we don't seem to have newer meat shield entries, then Morthos it is. He'll have to rebuild the character with the new stats and I'm curious to know whether or not he plans to vamp out. Sepulcher may be one of the few archetypes where it might not matter (since it basically turns him undead over time) and, if he doesn't, it would give him some freedom with his feats to choose things meat-shieldy/damage-dealery. If he is vamping out, I'd advise a different archetype. ------ I just found out there is a Book 7 for WotW. Came out in July or something. Apparently it has a bunch of information that didn't make it into the main AP (like a map of Aldencross, more information on the Empire of Night path, extra Grumblejack goodness, stuff about minions that I assume is for later, etc.)
On the prospects:
With Morthos, I'm not sure a knight of the sepulcher is all that great for a vampire since they have similar or better protections, unless the plan was for him to stay human. His former build has some odd choices but nothing too untowards. I'm not sure what Cedric is talking about with rituals to become a devil, there is one for demons but I haven't heard of anything for devils. Katlan, frankly, is the application that I like the most and has my vote. I'd insist on adding two, just to bring her in (and we are hurting for full-bore arcane). I'd still like to see more applications before I can decide on the meat shield. If this is all we get by EoD tomorrow, then, assuming Morthos is staying human, he'd be my choice. @Durova: I think you're missing 8 skill points. The campaign gives two extra per level.
Well, as the bard, we do have a modicum of arcane which could include some buffs which may overlap a summoner's (although we could discuss to make sure we don't choose the same spells), and I'll probably toss in some skill points into UMD at some point. I think we were thinking full-bore arcane rather than partial like bard/summoner/etc. That being said, the eidolon could easily fit the meat shield/dd gap we wanted to fill and we can collude to handle any overlap (as mentioned previously). I have nothing against a summoner, but I'll leave it to the GM to decide on their presence. Your foreknowledge doesn't bother me, although the level of knowledge from running a game is different than playing through it. As long as you can keep things separate, as you said you will, I have know issues with it.
I'm less convinced about that one due to the relation to Lamashtu rather than being a monk (although that is a factor). I love the flavor of Lamashtu and all (one of my favorite gods), but it's a CE god in an LE Asmodean campaign. We want to take Talingarde down and rebuild it for our cattle, rather than relegating it to the monsters. I expect we may have a few more submissions next week from the ones who didn't make it into DM Spooky's WotW campaign. I'm still surprised there wasn't much uptake yet, considering the number of times people have likely played through the prison escape before the game died, I figure it would have been refreshing to start some time later.
It should be noted as well that our patron and sire Cardinal Adrastus Thorn is not only a vampire but also a priest of Asmodeus. Although we seem to be following a modified version of this AP (with the Path of the Vampire feats mentioned by Mordesel above), there is still an association with Asmodeus. Make sure your characters can be on side with that. Note on those feats are that they take up feat slots which could make some builds a little more difficult. We're also probably pretty close to 5th level where we become weak vampires with The Risen feat (and no longer have to worry about our extra crappy Con, thank badness). Reminder that the rolls (d10+7, so -1 to them if you've already rolled d10+8) are placed in the order you rolled them with your focus and foible strewn within it.
No need to link yourselves to Branderscar. We've already escaped and it's unlikely it's still in use. You'll likely have been sent to us by our patron/benefactor/sire Cardinal Adrastus Thorn.
I believe that it's 1d10+7 and not +8 for abilities. Rolled in order (outside the Focus/Foible)
Will that other player, Mord's friend, be joining us? If not, we may want to look around for another.
I will be away all next week so may not ultimately be able to post until the 20th. DMPC Anton as necessary. After the darkness, if there are a good number of guards within 30' he might cast Blistering Invective before heading out. Assuming our actions go off without too much issue, I think we plan to meet up at Grumblejack where we can meet the new PC. Anton can fade into the background for the week if you like too, since he could just as easily spend time with Yalana, further preparing her to become a blood doll for when he turns (which, I think, happens next level).
Anton leans in to whisper to Mordesel as Durova speaks to the servants. "I can cast darkness... we can join the two servants on the way out and that should confuse the guards somewhat. We may need to slow them down, however..." The other 'servant' then turns to look at the two real servants Durova had been talking too. "Yes, quickly now. Out into the hall so we can have this all sorted out and return home or to our duties as the case may be."
The problem with #2 is that there isn't really any place for them to leave except out into the hall (since 10 and 11 don't seem to have any doors. Once there, they could point the guards at us inside and then we'd be stuck in a dead end. This would have been an excellent idea if there were a full complement of servants in here where we could cause a panic and get lost in the crowd. If the servants were killed I could toss a silent image to make them look like us while we look like them and then direct them further inwards, but there are only two, so that's out. I see an exit at 8a to Aldencross. Presumably we should be able to lose any pursuit out there (they're slower with armor and since this looks like the back door, they wouldn't have horses available). RE: ceiling exit. Is the box with a C a trap door? And it leads to F in 31? Is that on a ledge or something? Looks weird. Even so, to get all the way to the roof, we'd have to run from 31 up to 34, to 36 and up to 39, up to 44 and through that trap door to 48... Even if there was noone through those areas, how do we exit the roof? ----------- Actually, your mention of darkness. I have that spell. We can all head out to the hall (with the other two servants) as I cast darkness on your staff. It'll bring the light down to shadowy illumination or even darkness, depending on the light sources, meaning they may not be able to recognize friend from foe (sewing some confusion). Durova and I can shift to look like those two servants (enhancing confusion should they see features), while Mordesel does his thing to slow them down as we retreat. So a combination of 1b (back exit rather than roof), 2 and 4. Rendez-vous at Grumblejack.
Hmm. Haven't posted yet as I'm at a loss. Stuck in an area with no real exits. Unless the serving quarters is in 11 or 12 with a bunch of bodies to hide in, I think we're SOL. I kind of wish we had the big melee guy with us now. Thoughts? Ideas? There seems to be an exit with a road to Aldencross back out in the hall which we might get to if we hoof it and the guards & Mott are at the other end...
My apologies. I, admittedly, haven't been looking at the map (as I wasn't really sure where it was, although I see it now in Mordesel's profile {thanks!}).
"Please forgive us, milords. We are headed to the kitchens. One of our masters, and I shall not give their name in order to protect their honor given this late hour, is feeling peckish. They disliked the flavors that were initially brought to them and now wish something different," Anton says, humbly. "We did run into Captain Mott, back that way," he continues, indicating the door behind them. "He was fully armored and mentioned he had heard a scuffle. Perhaps he might be interested in your assistance?"
@Eldon: I think we were going into the kitchen and not the hallway. Also, check your PMs. I think Mordesel's friend may have PMed you about the game. As an aside, if you are losing interest in this game, please let us know. I know we haven't been the most diligent of players and we seem to lose players without warning (an artefact of all PbPs it seems), but I would hope we'd like to see it through as long as we can. If you have a prefernce for posting rate (like once a day excluding weekends works for me), we could attempt to apply such a rule. On the other hand, I wouldn't want you to continue something you're not interested in.
Agreed. I was chuckling at how, just as Dane disappears, the fellow he was searching for, Mott, shows up. If we go with Lisbeth, she might want to go to a 25 point buy instead of 20 (which is the other option to the rolls for this AP) and then level herself up and take those Vampire Feats (hopefully she doesn't have a feat plan past 1st level). So she doesn't end up with a profile she doesn't want, I would suggest she copy/paste the information on the character she's temporarily replacing (maybe Dane or Sion if she wants to stick with AntiPal?) into a spoiler in her own profile and just change the profile pic to match the original character. Once she can play Lisbeth, she can return to the original image and delete the other character's information. Maybe if we finish up this mission sooner (so pop into the kitchens to do whatever to the foodstuffs currently there and then either head back to the passage to spoil the stores in there, or head out the front gate). New Lisbeth could have been sent by whatshisnameIforgot and can be waiting either in town or near Grumblejack.
"'I want scones' he says... I bring him scones... 'No not those flavor, get me others' he says... I ask 'What flavors then, milord?' I ask... He says 'Surprise me', he says...," Anton mutters with an air of submissive annoyance as if he were telling his colleagues of a recent serving experience he had endured.
Sorry about that. Been a little busy at work. I understood that the next place we went was the kitchen (although as he had said, Anton would also like to damage/destroy their long-term food stores, but I think that's back near the passage which we might not be leaving by). Don't know what happened to Dane though. It's been nearly two weeks since his last post. His being the tank and primary DD, I've kind of been waiting for him to lead the way.
I'm all right with the return of Mordesel. Saves us from having to spend time recruiting and also puts another body between the enemy and us folks that like to stay in the back (not to mention doesn't need the GM to modify encounters to deal with a smaller party).
Anton shrugs, following the others. "Do as much damage as we can, but still leave an opportunity to escape, preferably without exposing our means of ingress. Spoil their food stores, ruin their weaponry and war machines, and the like... kill the leadership if given the chance. We can prevent them from supplementing many of those losses from the outside, now that the rookery is gone," he whispers.
Anton quietly follows Dane, keeping an eye out.
It does make things a little interesting with only three people, but we seem to have many of our bases covered. And when we can bring Grumblejack with us it adds to our capabilities (maybe we need to get him a hat of disguise so he can pretend to be something smaller). There are certain situations where things could get very hairy very quickly though (unless the ELs are reduced a little by the GM). Still, I'm good with getting some new blood. I'm just not quite sure where the best place to do so would be, considering we're in the middle of a secret mission. Maybe it would have to wait until after the bugbear assault, once our plans have come to fruition and we are more open about our activities. Or, as Dane suggested, someone take over an old yet existing character (after a fashion). They could modify a few things (or more if they pick someone who hasn't really established themselves much), and since we're on the Vampire path, there wouldn't be many feats to swap out, so it could be a little easier for them. It's probably less fun for the new player, but I've seen it happen.
Anton, on the off chance the good captain had survived Dane's muscled graces, steps up to the frozen man and plucks the blade from his hands, holding it away from the man but out for Dane, should he wish it.
Anton curses as Dane's sword is shattered. "Rethgual Suoedih," he mutters another spell targeting their opponent, this seemingly powerful warrior.
Anton mutters the words to a spell "Tnemelbeefne Fo Yar" sending a dark coruscating beam from his hand, hoping to catch the warrior off-guard and weaken his blows.
Not wanting to speak, Anton instead points at Dane and then at the sleeping man, making a chopping motion with his hand and then sliding his finger across his throat. No point in my getting dirty when there is someone else who can do the deed... likely far better than I.
"Indeed, but perhaps first toss the bodies into the flames. No need to make it easy to determine it was sabotage."
Anton shrugs. "May as well, since it happens to be along our route. The more damage we do to their defenses, the better."
Anton shifts his disguise back to the generic guard that he had been posing as previously, before following the others.
"A slow burn should give us a good amount of time to review any other areas of this tower before leaving through the tunnel, but if we desire to stray into other areas, and use the fire as a distraction for that, the tunnel will be off limits. Still, if all are busy or concerned with the fire, we'd likely be able to walk through the front gates if we liked," Anton says. "Well, perhaps not quite so easily."
Anton frowned. "That would be unfortunate. Perhaps, if he has not called upon the proper authorities, the inkeeper could be 'convinced' to remain silent. Or he could be replaced."
"In any case, considering the priest is still up and active, we had best destroy the body, or at least remove the head. A corpse without a mouth cannot speak to the priest to let him know that the 'demon' has allies." "And destroy the rookery, so that they will not be able to put it to use, even if any of the raven survive their feed. Fire tends to be something pleasant. Perhaps a slow burn so that we will be elsewhere when it truly burns high and the alarm is sounded... at which point their focus would be here at any rate, rather than where we may be wandering..."
"A few guards taken out of commission through poison will not have much of an effect in the grand scheme of things. If it doesn't kill them outright, not only will they still be available once the attack occurs, but they certainly will be more careful of their meals in the future."
Anton frowns at the bird feeder for a moment. "Can we be certain it will work?" he asks. He then shrugs "I know nothing of poisons, so I'll leave it to your expertise... but perhaps I can add another element." He mutters a spell under his breath and points at the feeder before looking at the others. "At least it may taste better for a while," he finishes moving to follow the others. "But don't forget to bring back your disguise..."
Anton begins to search the area, for recent incoming or outgoing messages, or even some valuables. In the process, he pauses and looks at the scattered ravens. "Hmm, we should probably kill them all and destroy their 'home' so any incoming messages will fail to arrive. Or just set fire to the entire room."
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