Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

Sefayll considers taking the scout time to study the stone giant's spellbook, but decides against it. Instead she closes her eyes and focuses on her helm once more. Detecting thoughts in the direction of the voices to see if they are in range, first of all, to see what she can learn.

Camlo nods and wanders forwards.

stealth, camlo: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (7) + 25 = 32
Perception, camlo: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (15) + 15 = 30 +4 vs traps

stealth, dravite: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33
Perception, dravite: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22 I think those are the right values underground...

Just to interject a metagame perspective here, in the scenario things pretty much peter out at this point. The tunnels are not mapped and the DM is encouraged to steer the PCs elsewhere. You could probably exterminate the ogres in the mines, but the leadership of the Kreeg ogres has already been dealt with and there isn't much to gain in terms of treasure or xp. Chances are the ogrish danger won't re-establish itself any time soon and these ogres will likely disperse (probably to be murdered by other tribes).

sounds good. As a dm elsewhere I get that.

"F+%$; I don't know what I was thinking. We're going east."

We could at least astart a fire, and wander the other way }:)

Seeing nothing useful in the ogre common room, the adventurers head back to the last turn they haven't taken. They find a dank chamber. Judging by the weird bits and bobs adorning the cavern walls - animal, vegetable and mineral - and the cauldron lying over some hastily doused embers, whover lived here was of some shamanistic bent. There are three filthy sleeping areas or indeterminate size and evidence of someone making a hasty exit, but otherwise the place is deserted.

Before Vatters goes on about it again, 3,200xp for the ogre mash back in the corridor.

We'll toss the room. Perception 11+14=25.

Whoever was in here has more-or-less cleared out their stuff, and searching through the foetid middens in which these slovenly creatures lived in not pleasant, but in the end it bears fruit. The hurriedness in which they departed - no doubt taking advantage of a lull in the carnage in the corridor when the group headed off to take on the giant wizard and his bodyguard - meant they left behind some choice items, probably because of their small size.

Time to use some items from Ultimate Equipment, details of which can be found in the PF Reference Document on the Paizo website. You find:
- a short sword (sized for a Small person)
- a ring
- a small bead
You also find a gemstone. Spellcraft for the items, Appraise for the jewel (don't forget you have a dwarf with you).

Dravite has no ranks in Appraise. But he can help out Camlo - Appraise 9+1(untrained INT)+2(Stonecunning)=12, which is a successful Aid Another.

"Huh. This is a nice-looking dagger..."

Spellcraft checks:
* Sword: 12+14=26.
* Ring 9+14=23.
* Bead: 11+14=25.

The sword is a Cutthroat's Apprentice. The ring is a Ring of Foe Focus. The bead is a Bead of Newt Prevention. I'll put you out of your misery with the gem - it's an emerald worth 2,000gp.

"I'm romancing the stone,...."

Nicely rolled.

"I think the little sword is well-designed for someone with Camlo's... skills. The ring should go to someone fighting on the front lines," she looks at Alwyn and Hudak. "The bead is a protective item. It will only work once, but it should prevent you from being turned into some harmless creature like a toad."

OK, that's Hook Mountain cleared out. What's your next move?

Rest and recover our spells. I'd like to toss out the Lamashtu statue and consecrate their shrine to Gorum. After that, we move on to the giant stronghold.

Aye.

Sounds good. If I'd known we were resting so soon, I would have burned a few more ogres... Preferences on future spell selection? More fire, maybe?

Sefayll will study the stone giant's spellbook at first opportunity.

More fire, maybe?

Is that a trick question?

I thought I posted yesterday. Camlo will happily take the sword.

On the more fire question, I think Sefayll needs to have a bit more offensive punch than maybe she displayed this time around. I appreciate you were trying out the various aspects and you are a bit new to playing wizards, and you were also sensibly conserving resources, but I think the mind-reading thing is maybe better out of combat than in, as you use up loads of rounds before anything exciting happens (that's a couple of fireballs not fired). I was also probably over-generous with it - I forgot about the range (most of the ogres were actually out of range when I let you detect them) and the problem with stuff blocking the signal (most divinations are blocked by enough solid rock in the way, like in these caves).

Fatey is the great expert on playing wizards, but he's not available for comment. Maybe Ithers can give you some pointers. I am certainly no expert on the subject - I tend to play monsters more than character classes. Clearly, as an enchanter, you are maybe less about the fireballs (though they have their place) and more about the Dominations and Charm Monsters (which also have the benefit of not causing explosions that can be seen for miles). You should also consider buffs (Haste is a firm favorite of course, but there are plenty of others) and debuffs.

As an enchanter, your metier is probably neutralising the big bad boss monster while the others duff up the weaker minions, since the powerful enchantment spells tend to affect a single target, whereas Vethran the evoker was more about powerful area effect spells to burn down the minions very fast and let the others concentrate on the boss. But you also should have an eye towards laying down a bit of area effect devastation when called for, since that it what wizards do best compared to any other class. There are, nevertheless, a fair few debuffing enchantment spells affecting multiple targets (Crushing Despair, Confusion) which are also useful in this context. Many of the enchantment spells are really quite powerful and debilitating to the enemy - but you need to also consider, and plan for, the contingency of meeting up with opposition with strong Will saves or immunity to mind-affecting effects (vermin, undead and constructs in particular) and have a few handy burn-y spells available.

Just looking at the spells you have available...
-You are an Enchanter. Get a minion. A single Charm Monster will last you 9 days (18 if extended) and you can telepathically communicate with the minion for free due to your enchanter levels. Since it functions as charm person making the minion attack its friends isn't a great option, but you can use it for other things like gathering intel. Alternatively- bring a minion from outside the "dungeon" area who won't mind fighting your enemies. Keeping a rotating cast of minions to melee for you while you cast should be high priority. The minion also becomes option number one when the foe is immune to mind affecting spells so you can buff instead.

-Almost all enchantments are close range. Make sure you have longer ranged options. (Illes can do almost nothing offensive magically until he is within 40 feet) Hold Monster and Confusion are medium. Fireball is maybe your only long range at the moment.

-Parties count on the wizard to lock up large groups of enemies when they are too many to deal with at once. You have black tentacles for that, but this may be a difficult task going forward if we are primarily fighting large and huge things. You might want a wall spell to cut the battlefield down instead when you need to. Your pit spell can drop a single large target our of a fight too, if you need to target reflex over will for some reason.

-You should get a rod of persistent metamagic as soon as you can afford it. Your enchantments will become nearly unstoppable.

I think I may be ready to bring Illes back sooner rather than later so you might not have to cover both blasting and buffs. Our two pbps aren't that demanding time wise. Before I got overwhelmed I had 3 and was running a weekly online AP that was requiring more time than I could come up with.

Cool - nice to have Illes back!

And thanks for the advice, a lot of aspects I hadn't thought about, especially regarding range. And the Persistent Metamagic thing - didn't know about that, wow that's nasty. When Illes does come back, it'd probably be a good idea for Sefayll and Illes to have a good conversation about how to coordinate their efforts. Since Alwyn pretty much wades in, he can probably carry on like before.

Also, have you decided on who is getting which of the items you have found?

Finally, resting may have to wait until you leave the caves. Although you aren't really threatened by the remaining ogres, you can't rest there since they will be attacking you and ruining your beauty sleep (and they are as capable of performing a coup de grace as the next guy) so you'll probably have to leave the shrine and move on to your next objective.

Taking their new-found treasure, the group decide to head back outside. As they reach the choke-point filled with ogrish corpses, there's a sudden crack as the air is parted and Vethran and Illes abruptly teleport into view.

Vethran looks around at the butchered and half-cooked corpses lying around with distaste. "I see you've been meeting the locals. Gah! I'm standing in an ogre's... And these are new shoes!" He stands on one leg and tries to shake something unpleasant off his finely-tooled footwear. "Illes decided that rebuilding our home town is no longer his key priority. He can explain - I've got to get back. Eww!"

With that, the wizard disappears, leaving his cousin behind.

And Illes is back. Assume Illes has the same number of xp as the rest of you (assuming you all the have the same number of xp, which is probably not the case).

"You'll be missed, wizard;" says Hudak.

.. Since Alwyn pretty much wades in, he can probably carry on like before...

Also, have you decided on who is getting which of the items you have found?

I really like the ring, and, as I spend a lot of time in melee and my BAB is lower than Hudak's, I think I would benefit more than him from it. Also, I'm fine with moving on. Do we pass through the ogre caves, or do we go back, and then take another branch of the path?

I didn't see anything too exciting for Hudak.

Excellent to see Illes back!

Thanks for the pointers, fellows. I was actually thinking more in line of what the other characters wanted, but the information is fantastic. I was very concerned about conserving spells and leaving the smaller numbers to the warmongers because I assumed I would be needing my few larger-scale destruction spells later. I used the detect thoughts as often as I did because I was not seeing non-spellcasting options. I figured you would tell me no if I was out of range or otherwise blocked, so I didn't ask. I will try to do so in the future as a reminder.

I did not realize that charm monster was good for days! I've been thinking to do just what you describe, but did not think it would work until I had dominate monster in my options. Part of my reluctance to cast is the high failure rate I've already experienced - I had, what, one? spell actually affect anything in the battle for Sandpoint. I need to get over that.

The bead is a get-out-of-jail free card for someone targeted by a baleful polymorph, essentially, right? That targets Fortitude, so it makes sense for a low-Fort character to pick it up. At this point, it appears to be a close race between Illes, Camlo, and Sefayll, but she has the best of the three, so I'm fine with Camlo keeping it.

"Well met once again, Masters Tallomane and Elandru. Mind your... Oh, dear, never mind. And farewell!"

You were unlucky in Sandpoint. And stone giants all have the Iron Will feat, so they aren't pushovers for enchantments. So you might want to get Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment) at some stage.

Illes begins to slur, "Well they can just…" until Vethran vanishes mid sentence and the Varisian blinks before looking around suddenly realizing he isn't standing in Vethran's place back in Sandpoint. His shirt is open just a little too far even for a Varisian revealing more hairy chest and abdomen than anyone really needs to see and when he turns around he nearly stumbles on an ogre corpse before catching sight of Sefyall and flashing her a purple toothed grin and an "How you doing?" before squinting and scowling. "Oh. It's you. Where the hell am I?"

"It is good seeing you again, Illes", Alwyn beams. "Welcome to Hook Mountain. We've been doing Our Lord In Iron's work here, making the lands below safe for human habitation again."

"It turns out the local ogres were led by a giant witchdoctor. We've killed him and his ogre minions; now it is time to move on to their main base. I trust you brought your armour and weapons?"

Sefayll raises an eyebrow. "Yes, I remember seeing that in your dossier. It does appear that we missed one - someone left in a hurry while we were distracted."

survival for dravite 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14 to see if he can pick up any tracks of the one that got away.

"Armor?" Illes looks a little dismayed until he notices a sack and his backpack where Vethran dropped them. "Well I guess I did." He hauls out his chain shirt and begins struggling into it.

Camlo giggles "Veth really wanted rid of you quick didn't he?"

"No sensible person goes anywhere without armour", Alwyn notes archly. "Luckily for you, we brought a spare horse. The Black Tower is a bit of a walk away."

I re-read the description of the ring, and I think I misread it the first time. As it boosts AC and saves, wouldn't Hudak benefit a lot from it? He has kinda meh AC, after all.

I'll take it; my ac sucks.

Dravite finds traces but on the stone floor and the ridge outside he can't follow them far. "Sorry laddy, hard to follow-up with only rock to leave footprints in."

Meh, he's good, but he's no Janosz.

"Ach, look, I ought'ta be heading back. I've got me wee lads I'm training in woodcraft and giant-slaying. Are yoos gonna be alright withoot me?"

"Good to see you again. Not to smell you though."

"Thank you, Master Dravite, for your aid. It was a pleasure to meet you and I'm happy to know that your abilities exceed your reputation. Travel well."

Contrary to Alwyn's earlier post, I believe you have a couple of mules but no horses as they couldn't handle the terrain. It isn't a big deal either way.

Before departing to head back down to Fort Rannick, Dravite points out the trail to Lake Coal. "Remember, follow the track doon ta the loch, and follow the shore aroond to the north until ye find the river. Then ye follow the river and it'll take ye intae the Iron Peaks. That's giant country, so ye'll need ta keep ye wits aboot ye. When ye get ta where the Coal River rises, there's a saddleback pass over tha moontain. On the other side, it's tha headwatters of the Muschkal River. Ye follow that and ye'll eventually reach Jorgenfist.

"Ach, I'd love to do me some hooking, but I've got me wee boys back at the fort ta think of. Good luck, laddies - and you, lassie. Hit 'em where it hurts!" Dravite glances at Illes. "And ye, ye wassock - sober up, this here is serious business."

With that he is gone, whistling a tune.

Over to you guys.

Let's head down the trail.

Oh; Aub.....I put your first post in this pbp in a "writing analyzer" on facebook. Sez you write like Mario Puzo.

I got James Joyce for my first one in the Saltmarsh/Dread game.

I've never read Mario Puzo, so I'll have to take the analysers word for that. Maybe I'll grab a Mario and see. I've actually tried to change my style slightly to make the sentences shorter since that first post, way back when. James Joyce - that could be amazing or terrible, depending...

heh heh. I read his Borgias book; that's about it.

That said, I always felt you had a great turn of phrase that made me feel a little pedestrian and workman-like in the way I wrote, so maybe me writing in a thriller-potboiler style and you like one of the great 20th century authors is correct.

that's crazy, because I had a US ejymickation, and although I was capable of penning an essay at the end of highschool that got me a year's college cred for free, your intimidating vocabulary meains I routinely have to google words you seem to have no problem comprehending and remembering well enough to use in your writing.

Imagination is my strong suit though. Coming back to earth,.....not so much.

Oh,.....and my combats I think are pedestrian compared to your setups.

Plus you have this "sounds like a Britisher wrote it" thing going on that has a great deal of charm.

The adventurers follow the trail down the other side of Hook Mountain. Illes sobers up quickly and painfully as the brisk breeze and the strain of hiking on a warm summer's day take their toll. They don't meet anyone else for the rest of that day - perhaps unsurprising given this is ogre territory, and visitors are usually eaten. As the sun begins to dip behind the hills they make camp on a high promontory overlooking Lake Coal.

It is clear from where it got its name - the waters are black and look forbidding. But the scene is nonetheless beautiful - the shore rises steeply, clad with pines. Across the water on the other side is the dark green expanse of the Sanos Forest, famous for its gnomes and other fey mysteries. The forest stretches from here to the stilt-town of Wartle on the Yondabakari, where the party had got mixed up with the Varisian gang of thieves what seems like years ago.

And north loom the Iron Peaks - their destination. Shadowy crags and uncompromising grey bluffs dare the travellers to enter at their own risk.

OK, maybe time to roleplay, chat to Illes, whatever.

"some night, huh Illes? You smell like a winery."

"I'll take winery over donkey balls. Desna weeps man. You are getting a little too in touch with nature out here."