Aubrey's Other Eberron Campaign - The Unbinding (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

Yah, i'm not sure Aubrey is down with handing us 3,500 xp for some shuteye. :D

It would have to be an eventful night...

oh i get it now, i thought i just hit 10k but that must have been some time ago..?

I asked for 4k and change after we ran away from the warforged titan, but he wouldn't give us that either.

Whinge whinge whinge. <-- A spelling concession to my friends across the pond.

Edit: we leveled to 5th in October, after the fight with the shaman and his pet Blackscale.

so to recap of what our mission is here... i don't quite recall other than my desire to steal the airship and get the hell out of here. we obviously cant take them on, trying to find an artifact seems like a needle in a haystack if the hay is trying to kill you.

That made me laugh.

The crater is largely lost in shadow, but they can make out the reflection of the last glow of the sunset on the lake which occupies most of it. But Da'sheth itself is quite easy to make out, about a half-a-mile distant. Powerful lights illuminate the site, throwing the actual buildings into sharp silhouette. Figures can be seen moving about. Some sort of metal tower, seemingly forming the focal point of the invaders' camp, has been erected in an open space. And, tethered to a different building by a number of hawsers, looms the bulk of an airship.

At least we know exactly where our needle is. It's got to be the tower.

Aubrey, roughly how many figures are moving about? Are we talking about a cast of thousands? Hundreds? Dozens? And that tower -- is it closed, or an open framework? Can we make out anything about what's inside?

Whatever the number, a frontal assault doesn't look smart.

Without serious disguise Vaard, Ashshar, and Eshsheth are serious liabilities to a deception-based infiltration. No one down there is going to trust lizardfolk. Rehil could be a problem too because Aubrey hasn't mentioned elves in the enemy camp at any time.

We could try to sneak in. But there's a lot of them and a lot of us. Some enemy's bound to roll high perception; one of us is bound to roll low stealth.

Rehil wants the airship too. Arguably it would 'cripple' these jokers, but really, he just wants the airship. It's options -- and a bit of phat lute. But we also need the pilot, right? Or do the casters think they could steer it? I doubt Rehil's +4 UMD skill will cut it.

Information. We want ... information.

Wultram or Nalverren can probably handle the ship

Aren't they camping in a volcano? And we have a druid wth us? Let's have Eshsheth do his nature spirit hoodoo and burn us up some mercs. :D

More seriously, though, can we use the volcano somehow?

Yeah I belive it is opposed cha check against the bound elemental to get it to listen. Of coarse pilot would be preferable but probably not something we should risk a lot of to get.

Out of pocket today. Will be able to post tomorrow.

I will be on a business trip from Monday through Wednesday. I might have time to post updates, and I might not (I'm not sure). I'll be back Thursday.

Sorry about the general lack of posting - the house is being redecorated so I can't get to the computer at home, and while I can post at work I'm a bit busy.

Okay, I'm back. I'm catching up now....

My spell selection could include a few things to help us through:

Water breathing, one casting, 10 hrs
Or Blessing of the mole, darkvision for a few and +2 stealth
Silence
Muffle Sound +4 bonus to stealth
Lay of the Land
Floatsam Vessel!

Let me know what you suggest I take. Not many casters in this outfit...

So, we have dudes patrolling the area, likely including the rim of the lake at least part way around (not sure how likely they are to patrol the entire lake, but it is possible).

We have dudes on the towers.

dudes around the menhir.

*****

possible goals include stealing the ship which will hurt them a great deal

another idea is to jack up all the wiring and stuff around the menhir, it seems highly technical so that could possibly deal a great deal of harm to their operations.

unless i am mistaken, that menhir is probably the most important part of the site, in the eyes of the lizardfolk. there seems to be a history of them calling spirits and things out of the water and the little plaza surrounded by buildings at the top of a ramp leading to the water seems pretty standard in terms of important lizard sites.

*****

approach along the inside rim of the lake crater could help (assuming the guards are patrolling above the rim of said crater... are they?). We could start early, it would take us a long time to move at 1/4 speed along difficult terrain and take breaks to avoid fatigue, etc. Then we could approach up the ramp, stick near the creeping vines (i assume that is what Aubrey meant) and get close to the menhir.

another idea would be to get to one of the ballistae, use it to take out the other two while Cole or someone guards the ladder/stairs up to the one we are shooting, then hopefully use that to sufficiently damage the crap they have built around the menhir. With the ballistae in play, going for the airship might be a gamble, as they might shoot it down. Then again, if we don't try to control it quickly, they might fly it away to warn others or get reinforcements.

The soldiers don't seem to be patrolling the whole lake - most of the shore is steep, jungly cliffs.

So it would take a long time but seems doable, right?

Messing up the feed to the menhir sounds like a good idea, but if we could get in and sneak a peak would be better, no?

Maybe we could try to burn down 2 of the buildings with ballistas, commadeer the remaining one to wreck havoc, while some other peeps take care of the airship and pick up the ones handling the arcane ballista and then we get the hell out of dodge.

While we can't take on the full force by any means, perhaps with bottle necking we would have a decent enough chance to buy enough time.

Only other viable option that I see is very long extended hit and run tactics.

OK, so the plan is?

I think Wultram's idea of setting fire to two of the towers has merit, provided they are flammable with the materials we have and what they are made of. That should help clear two of the towers, even one would be a help if we capture the third and use it to fire upon the second.

As far as splitting the party goes, i don't like it, but it seems almost necessary here. and we have a larger party than usual so it could be doable. That said, we need to discuss who is on what team, etc.

As the sun rises they can make out what lies within Empty Mountain. Most of the crater is filled with the lake. It is a bright, almost unnatural blue, with shores that slope steeply down straight to the water's edge. However, in a notch in the crater wall a few hundred yards wide the ground slopes much more shallowly, and it is here that Da'sheth has been built.

The site, about half-a-mile distant, consists of a cluster of buildings fringing the lake. They are quite tall - several storeys each - and narrow, smothered in creepers. Facing towards the lake is an open semi-circular plaza which steps down to the water.

Humanoid figures move around the area. They look primarily like a mixture of the warforged soldiers they met on the path and humans in dark military uniforms. Some patrol on foot, and others keep watch from the tops of the taller buildings. More stand guard on the deck of the airship, which is tethered by hawsers to the ground, with a .

Beside the airship, and standing out like a sore thumb amid the vegetation, is an odd tower of shiny metal scaffolding. Standing in the plaza, it encloses a large menhir, to which it is connected by struts and wires. More figures, seemingly more like technicians than soldiers, scurry about it.

***

It's too far away to see any insignias, although they look similar to the uniform of the corpse you found in the river. You reckon most of the force comprises a few tens of warforged - say, forty or fifty - and about half than many humans.

***

You can't see any titans here. Three of the buildings have arcane ballistas on top.

***

Just getting it all in one place.

Presumably the titan and 2 ballista are still on the trail.

DW, those are great spells to help us get into position.

Do we have any spells or other means to guarantee setting the towers on fire? Rehil's got 5 tindertwigs.

Fire towers, seize tower, seize airship. I see three objectives, three captains, three ships. Sorry

But would that be spreading us too thin? I'd prefer only two teams.

Rehil, the skeleton, and the lizardfolk can't move through the camp freely.

That leaves Cole, Nalverren, Otto, and Wultram that can.

Aubrey, can you place the towers and airship with respect to their perimeter? Near edge, mid-zone, or near center should be descriptive enough.

without uniforms, i doubt any of us can move "freely"

Uniforms we can get. They might be a little stained.

Regarding the fire thing, Wultram has pair of torches and flint and steel, so depending on what the things are built out of we should manage. Maybe Nalvarren could manage some sort of crude flamable stuff(grease or fat from what animals we have managed to hunt or something) with his skills to help things along.

Well uniforms would certainly help. Not sure how easy it would be to get those.

If we are going with the 2 teams approuch.

Airship team:
-AoE would be nice
-Someone with solid charisma to pilot the thing
- Some melee to protect squishies
-Ranged attacks for when flying.

Ballista team:
- Solid melee needed to act as a roadblock
- BFC would be nice to have.
- Someone who can use the ballista with decent enough accuracy

I don't think it is possible but if either team can consist of people who can hide in plain sight via uniforms that could give us a solid surprise.

What are the rules for running an arcane ballista? I thought they were a semi-autonomous construct. We might need to convince them we've authority to order them about.

What would the knowledge check for that be, Aubrey?

Know(local or dungeon): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

A Knowledge (Arcana) check would suffice.

True I did not even stop to think that, was kist focusing on the word ballista, well hopefully not or if so at least they are none too smart.

Well take 10 for total 19 on K arcana.

arcana: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28

Please note I'll be away for Eastern from Thursday to Monday, with little if no posting possible. Feel free to bot me as needed.

Sorry for being scarce. My boss dropped a super-last minute project on me with a turnaround window of "tomorrow".

.. so ... yah. I'll check back in when I can. Hopefully in the next day or so.

[Dice=arcana]1d20+12

If you are rolling dice it should be in the game thread.

oh dang, was just doing it over here because that is where the particular discussion was taking place.

A simple business trip to Toronto has turned into a debacle. I may be out of touch for a couple days.

My preferred plan is keep the party together and seize the airship. Odds are we'll take a captive or two and can interrogate them.

Wultram's plan is acceptable if we split into no more than two groups. In my mind, assignment of personnel depends most strongly on where the objectives lie in the camp. Rehil, skeleton, and the lizardfolk shouldn't try for any objectives near the camp center.

I will abide by any majority decision.

I do not feel that strongly towards either plan. Taking care of the ballistas would help in the future, but staying together is more reliable.

Anyways people start casting your votes and then we can talk how to execute the plan decided.

My main worry with the ballistae is if we steal the ship and they shoot us down

More health issues now, but different and not nearly as bad as two months ago. I ought to be up and functioning again in the next couple days.

So, Rehil, Vaard, Ashshar, Eshsheth, and Skelly hit the ballista tower?

Nalverren, Wultram, Cole, and Otto are for the airship?

Does anyone in the ballista group have the skill required to fool the ballista?

Also shall we create distractions?

Will we try to get those uniforms?

Okay, my schedule should be back to normal. My apologies for the over-long quiet on my part. Work kicked the crap out of me.

I like the two-prong assault idea, though I think it's pretty crazy-dangerous. I also have a concern for the ballista crew actually having a way of controlling it. But at least knocking it out of commission might be worthwhile.

Vaard's got a pretty good charisma.

If taking the tower works, that should be distraction enough for the airship crew. I am opposed to splitting the party further to create distractions, but if you can think of anything that wouldn't require splitting the party, I'd be up for it.

I'm thinking uniforms will find us. Hopefully we can pick off a small group at the city's edge without causing a general alarm.

Aubrey's asking for the teams. And we need to set routes so Otto can pick spells. It would be supercool for the airship team to go in via water just so Otto could use waterbreathing.

Silence could be a life saver.

I kinda wish Rehil was going for the airship. Sky pirate sounds so fun.

So, Rehil, Vaard, Ashshar, Eshsheth, and Skelly hit the ballista tower?

Nalverren, Wultram, Cole, and Otto are for the airship?

I can't think of a better team split than this. A water approach for Team Airship sounds fun (and hey, cole doesn't need the Water Breathing spell. Bonus!) Is it possible for both teams to make a water approach? 2 hours divided by 7 is just over 17 minutes each. It might allow us to skip the need for uniforms.

I don't think we can depend on Cole walking freely. Unless there are similar models of Warforged in the camp, a report of the encounter has likely gotten back to the CO's around here about a skirmish that included a 7 foot nearly-black, adamantine warforged.

this division is good with me as well.

How do you intend to do the water approach? Old-fashioned swimming?

Wouldn't it be smarter for the ballista team to use the water?

I mean all lizardfolk have racial bonus to swim and hold breath special ability, skelly doesn't breathe and finally Rehil has a pretty good swim modifier.

On the other team we have cole while doesn't breathe and high STR that ACP is murder, Wultram is a crappy swimmer, Nalvarren isn't that much better off, Otto has a decent STR but that is it.

Regarding Cole fitting in, I would say we can't trust it but it might pass a casual glance, so it isn't imidietly obvious like lizardfolk and skelly(assuming there aren't necromancers and/or traitors on the opposing team.)

Yes, it's a good point - Cole might not look like the warforged you have seen to date, but the lizardfolk will much more stand-out.

So, are we going to run with this - one team going in on foot for the airship, the other going in by water for the ballista?

OK, just in outline - what's the plan once you get down to the enemy base?

I agree with Wultram. Team Ballista should use the lake. Do you guys need some of my spells though?

Water breathing, one casting, 10 hrs
Or Blessing of the mole, darkvision for a few and +2 stealth
Silence
Muffle Sound +4 bonus to stealth
Lay of the Land
Floatsam Vessel!

You might enjoy this, though the singer is a bit dodgy. Totally safe for work, though maybe a bit too loud.

EDIT: I've been informed this probably won't work if you are outside the UK. Sorry about that.

Ahh the map!

Sugar! One tower is right by the airship. An attack there won't draw troops away, but it's so close that it poses a real risk to the airship. On the other hand, is it close enough that casters or ranged combatants could support the other team?

The far tower is right at the water's edge. Waterbreathing would let us go deep on our approach. We'd probably get good stealth bonuses if that one is our target. Is Aubrey evil enough that thoroughly wet bows won't work?

Which tower do we try for? I favor the one closest to the airship although we'd get style points for a scuba attack.

And we all know that it's style points that count!

Ahh the map!

Sugar! One tower is right by the airship. An attack there won't draw troops away, but it's so close that it poses a real risk to the airship. On the other hand, is it close enough that casters or ranged combatants could support the other team?

The far tower is right at the water's edge. Waterbreathing would let us go deep on our approach. We'd probably get good stealth bonuses if that one is our target. Is Aubrey evil enough that thoroughly wet bows won't work?

Which tower do we try for? I favor the one closest to the airship although we'd get style points for a scuba attack.

I say the tower near the water and the airship, but whatever happened to trying to see what's going on in the obelisk? It's also near the water.