Sounds good, then. (The aboleth are polite enough to not say anything even if they do notice you snoopin')
Illia, that was awesome.
Flying tomorrow so may not post.
P.S. Anaxian—if you brought the Belier skeleton with you (since the sharkboat is big enough to carry it), it would currently be stored with sharkboat in the stables.
Sounds good. I assumed it wasn't with us at the moment.
Thank you. My first concept was to do a part for every layer of hell, slowly building up the character. But after I passed 1000 words, I figured it was time to wrap it up. :P
Tip of the day: Unintelligent undead are completely invisible to Detect Thoughts
Badgers?
Heeheehee.
I figured it was time to raise the stakes a bit...
P.S. Aboleth slime requires a Fort save, and thus undead are immune to it.
Err... which questions were for the aboleth, Anaxian?
Anaxian is talking to the fake Dris. If I need to say something it can't hear, I'll make it clear.
Right now I'm giving it false information about our goals and letting it lure the master of souls out somewhere.
My plan is to have Illia talk it in circles about the elephant ship and distract it while we do the real job.
As awesome as all this planning is, I'm kinda feelin left out atm.
Drisquar, you're in telepathy range of the rest, and I'm pretty sure the team is filling you in on what happened. But I figure it's probably time to move the scene along anyway.
Illia-: you probably have no reason to no this, but aboleths typically have absolutely no interest in or knowledge of the outer planes. "Angel" and "devil" was pretty much the best they could do to identify you and dris.
In Espionage and Con Artistry, there's a concept called a 'dead spy' which isn't actually a spy that is dead.
Instead, its a spy that has been compromised but isn't aware their cover has been blown. When that happens, information can be fed to the spy, which the spy believes is true, that can essentially be used to lead large organized groups around by the nose.
There is nothing more valuable in the world of espionage than a Dead Spy. Those idiot fish just handed us the whole game.
This is going to be fun. :)
There is nothing more valuable in the world of espionage than a Dead Spy.
There's always a Dead spy agency
...and aboleths aren't known to be the smartest of enemies; these are creatures whose highest stats are Str and Con, but whose vanity nevertheless leads them to believe themselves the ultimate intelligent/evolved lifeform. My big reason for not wanting you to fight them immediately was getting to carry out 1-2 more fun aboleth conversations.
I think I got ninja'd while writing my big post. I didn't see that Illia and Drisquar wanted to start a fight.
We can do that if you all want to. I thought it might be fun to Oceans Eleven the stupid fish.
Well, Illia- said "take him out unless someone raises an objection." Then Anaxian raised an objection.
Of course, if you wait a bit longer before fighting, I've got some fun ideas for fake Drisquar's "mastermind scheme" that you just received the instructions to.
FYI: the Alboleth would need something besides the actual invisibility spell to be invisible underwater. The actual invisibility spell turns you invisible, but you can see the outline. Mechanical translation is visible, but 20% miss chance.
However, it's not unreasonable to think that underwater creatures could have come up with an "invisible wave form" spell or some such that allows actual invisibility underwater.
Yeah... but it's dark enough down here that you're basically relying on darkvision or low-light to see most things, especially things hiding in shadows; and I'm not sure how well darkvision could see an invisibility shadow.
Also, air and water both have refraction indices quite different from a solid person. I'm not sure you actually do leave a visible outline (from a physics point of view, you shouldn't, unless the rules say so; but you might need to tune the refraction index of your invisibility spell from "invisible only in air" to "invisible only in water")
Yeah... but it's dark enough down here that you're basically relying on darkvision or low-light to see most things, especially things hiding in shadows; and I'm not sure how well darkvision could see an invisibility shadow.
Also, air and water both have refraction indices quite different from a solid person. I'm not sure you actually do leave a visible outline (from a physics point of view, you shouldn't, unless the rules say so; but you might need to tune the refraction index of your invisibility spell from "invisible only in air" to "invisible only in water")
I was referring to the rules, not actual physics. It's in the environment section.
Found it. It's an obscure rule. I'm just pointing it out. Naturally as DM you may do with it as you like.
Stealth and Detection Underwater: How far you can see underwater depends on the water's clarity. As a guideline, creatures can see 4d8 × 10 feet if the water is clear, and 1d8 × 10 feet if it's murky. Moving water is always murky, unless it's in a particularly large, slow-moving river.
It's hard to find cover or concealment to hide underwater (except along the sea floor).
Invisibility: An invisible creature displaces water and leaves a visible, body-shaped “bubble” where the water was displaced. The creature still has concealment (20% miss chance), but not total concealment (50% miss chance).
I have true seeing and See in Darkness. That is my answer to everything always.
Good call! But I'm going with "When you prepare invisibility, you can target it to water instead of air" for this, because physics suggests it's equivalent, and the spell research rules allow things like that.
I put everything in spoilers for sake of simplicity, but I think it would be a lot of fun to do the upcoming scenes publicly.
My goal is to have all of you mess with them so hard that they don't notice the tunnel being dug beneath their city. Since all of you are nigh indestructible in your own right, immune to most of what they can throw at you, and extremely adept at just outright screwing with people, I thought it would be fun to give everyone a loose goal and let you all run wild.
Anaxian is the only who likes things all organized and planned. I figured without him convincing you to reign it in you could probably light the underwater city on fire.
The only thing that I'm cautioning against is outright combat (but if it happens, whatever. I'm sure you'll be fine).
So go forth. Sow chaos. Show off. I'll do the boring digging.
My mistake. Not spell craft. Knowledge Arcana.
I can see the aura, which gives me school and magnitude of the spell. From there I can use Knowledge Arcana to determine a spell effect that is in place (DC 20+ level of spell, which I auto-succeed).
Hmm. I'd argue that identifying a spell currently in place requires some observation of the spell's effects, and the spell is currently showing none. If there's a clear indicator somewhere that this isn't how it works, I can change that, but it seems to make sense.
Also: as Anaxian said, there's nothing really secret about the spoiler tab'd information; people can read each other's here if they want, but I'm keeping it separated for the sake of clarity.
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is magical traps. They aren't even active effects. They're more like spells in a can. They can be identified.
Next thought, magic items. Even the ones that don't have obvious powers, like figurines of wondrous power, can still be identified by examining the item's aura to figure out the kind of magic it is enchanted with and extrapolating from there.
I guess it doesn't really matter. I'm going to dispel it anyway.
...wtf is going on with the site today?
Magical traps and items can be identified; but magical traps have visible circuitry, and they respond to being read, rather than staying still. Magic items are also somewhat wibblier. But yeah, Anaxian's int/knowledge is high enough to pretty much know all the non-custom spells there are, and reasonably extrapolate.
P.S. I actually only had about 10 *fun* places Illia- might end up, and kept rolling until I hit one of them. Luckily, it was one of the most fun. I only stuck about 1.5 levels' worth of stuff for you guys in this mission (rather than calculating exp exactly, I scale the total enemy strength to exp to begin with now), but I might wind up awarding bonus group roleplaying XP for the sheer lunacy of what Anaxian's leading you all into.
SHENNANIGANS!!!
I love everything about these scenes. This is so much fun.
Thanks! Aboleths are pretty much the best thing ever, and the general invulnerabilities of this party means I can play them for laughs instead of terror.
EDIT: It's also hilarious how much stuff nobody's been able to identify, because Anaxian is the only character who's studied aberrations.
P.S. If anyone's curious, Illusory Wall + Explosive Runes is a trick I learned from Harry Potter and the Natural 20
P.S. If anyone's curious, Illusory Wall + Explosive Runes is a trick I learned from Harry Potter and the Natural 20
I'm totally using that trick.
Meredian, the Master of Souls just wanted to see proof that you could nab something from another plane (because he's not into empty boasts). But hey, you offered to get him a trinket...
Meredian, the Master of Souls just wanted to see proof that you could nab something from another plane (because he's not into empty boasts). But hey, you offered to get him a trinket...
He suggested that I'd only be good for manual labor. Clearly he's gotta die.
Meredian, the Master of Souls just wanted to see proof that you could nab something from another plane (because he's not into empty boasts). But hey, you offered to get him a trinket...He suggested that I'd only be good for manual labor. Clearly he's gotta die.
I love how petty and vindictive our group is. I'm about to obliterate their civilization because they cast a spell on my minions after I told them not to.
No such thing as overreaction around here. Too much is never enough.
Be careful with the Master of Souls though. Its pretty obvious he's a lich, or something similar. To permanently kill him will take a little work.
Welcome to an average party of neutral evil, and thank you for playing your alignments well!
(though actually if you show him you can plane shift, he's got an amusing "employment opportunity" for you)
Meredian, the Master of Souls just wanted to see proof that you could nab something from another plane (because he's not into empty boasts). But hey, you offered to get him a trinket...He suggested that I'd only be good for manual labor. Clearly he's gotta die.I love how petty and vindictive our group is. I'm about to obliterate their civilization because they cast a spell on my minions after I told them not to.
No such thing as overreaction around here. Too much is never enough.
Be careful with the Master of Souls though. Its pretty obvious he's a lich, or something similar. To permanently kill him will take a little work.
I was thinking somehing like the trigger object option of Trap the soul.
Welcome to an average party of neutral evil, and thank you for playing your alignments well!
(though actually if you show him you can plane shift, he's got an amusing "employment opportunity" for you)
As I don't know that I'll continue and plot his demise.
Speaking of i was thinking about our previous conversation regarding my planeshift/teleport abilities.
I think I should be able to just move into another plane without breaking astral projection. I believe that's the basic purpose of the spell.
I was thinking somehing like the trigger object option of Trap the soul.Meredian, the Master of Souls just wanted to see proof that you could nab something from another plane (because he's not into empty boasts). But hey, you offered to get him a trinket...He suggested that I'd only be good for manual labor. Clearly he's gotta die.I love how petty and vindictive our group is. I'm about to obliterate their civilization because they cast a spell on my minions after I told them not to.
No such thing as overreaction around here. Too much is never enough.
Be careful with the Master of Souls though. Its pretty obvious he's a lich, or something similar. To permanently kill him will take a little work.
I was thinking Feeblemind, Charm Monster and ask where his phylactery is.
I was thinking Feeblemind, Charm Monster and ask where his phylactery is.I was thinking somehing like the trigger object option of Trap the soul.Meredian, the Master of Souls just wanted to see proof that you could nab something from another plane (because he's not into empty boasts). But hey, you offered to get him a trinket...He suggested that I'd only be good for manual labor. Clearly he's gotta die.I love how petty and vindictive our group is. I'm about to obliterate their civilization because they cast a spell on my minions after I told them not to.
No such thing as overreaction around here. Too much is never enough.
Be careful with the Master of Souls though. Its pretty obvious he's a lich, or something similar. To permanently kill him will take a little work.
Dealers choice.
Dealers choice.I was thinking Feeblemind, Charm Monster and ask where his phylactery is.I was thinking somehing like the trigger object option of Trap the soul.
Actually isn't he immune as a Lich?
Actually isn't he immune as a Lich?Dealers choice.I was thinking Feeblemind, Charm Monster and ask where his phylactery is.I was thinking somehing like the trigger object option of Trap the soul.
Not if Anaxian sets it up (because Agent of the Grave).
Also, Meredian: you can definitely go to other planes.
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I cheat. It means he won't see it coming.
Actually isn't he immune as a Lich?I was thinking Feeblemind, Charm Monster and ask where his phylactery is.I was thinking somehing like the trigger object option of Trap the soul.
L
Dealers choice.Not if Anaxian sets it up (because Agent of the Grave).
Also, Meredian: you can definitely go to other planes.
Oh, right.
Fun thought of the day: I don't think the party is actually capable of this, but... what happens when a water-breathing aboleth is suddenly teleported to the City of Brass?
Halibut flambe?
When Anaxian is Magic Jar-ing his larger body he's actually less competent at skill checks because he doesn't have access to his masterwork tools (which are Secret Pages of information tattooed on his wings).
But, because he actually does carry around a research library, he can pull off something impressive. See gameplay in a couple minutes.
Heheh. Possibly the most work anyone has ever gone through to figure out an enemy's alignment...