Yup, you just rested, you should have all your spells besides a few dimension doors and any hours-long spells you routinely cast early on the morning.
Ah, I didn’t update my sheet. Awesome. I’m good to go then
Yep, I totally forgot that we went ahead and rested again.
In that case, Sunken Queen first? Maybe that'll just be a lead to another location. I really do want to find/free Ishani too, but I'm amenable to hitting the Sunken Queen since we've got some kind of time limit associated with it and we don't know when that'll elapse.
It is up to you on how to proceed here. But if you are interested into finishing a few tasks in the castle, I suggest we do it now that we are in the mindset, rather than having to do some back and forth in later times :)
If you want to stay in the castle, please tell me where you want to head next.
@Kalem, you have Infernal as a language, thus you can read the papers investing some minutes/hours, in case you want to open that Infernal spoiler and inform your colleagues.
@All, if you remain in the castle, please inform me what spell buffs you cast before moving, if you instead want to proceed to the Sunken Queen, let me know how you do prepare and travel to that location.
I mean, from a player perspective, I think the time limit is just a plot device, not something designed to run out on us. However, willing to go either way. I suppose if we have to weigh the "time limit" of killing the queen against the "time limit" of saving Ishani, from a character perspective, the death of the queen and the saving of the entire population outweighs saving our friend.
I have to say, IC knowing that any second you could die to an ancient ritual, along with a good chunk of the city, would make you rush. And logically, your friend would be best saved by first eliminating the major threat. I say we buff up and rush the Queen.
Also Kalem will inform the group, but will do so via skimming. As we are under such a time crunch.
I mean, player perspective, also a good idea... but I don't think we can have it both ways. If our characters are panicked about dying and saving the city, then we rush to Sunken Queen. If we are not panicked, then we finish things up and prepare and then go.
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Happy Thanksgiving. :)
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Yeah, Happy thanksgiving!
I think you're right about it being a bit of a plot device Zamanda. From a player standpoint, I'm interested to find out whats in the dragon's hoard, tracking down Ishani and Vavana, and otherwise digging through the rest of the castle. I figure once we go to the Sunken Queen, that's that for the castle, so I kinda don't want to miss out. I also have a sneaking suspicion that there's some kind of resolution mechanic based on how many objectives you complete at the castle - presumably the more we accomplish the more easily Cressida and the other "rebels" can rise up to overthrow whatever's left, and with less bloodshed.
So let's do the dragon hoard first since Ilsa wants to hit that. Then, my vote is more hitting at least Ishani and Vavana before we leave for the Sunken Queen. We can buff up before we go chasing after the two of those leads, but I suspect we don't need to be buffed to the gills for it.
If we're still looking pretty good on resources, we can start the Sunken Queen in the same day. Since we only have the crude map to it, teleportation is not going to be very accurate, and it may be that the location itself has enough encounters that we can't clear in one go.
I'm cool with that plan.
I am waiting to see what buffs do you prepare before visiting the dragon's lair.
No buffs ahead of time for me. I'll spot buff depending on the situation.
No buffs for now. With spells lost with my wish, I don’t want to use the spells up before they are needed. Will do my buffing before we face the Queen
See Invis, Keen Serithial, Ironskin and Hedging Weapons for me. It'll be easy enough to put them back up later if the dragon's lair doesn't end up having combat.
I am however redoing my bow again since it seems we are never visiting a shop again. Back to the original plan with the basics, and an idea:
Oathbow (worth 25,600)
Reforged into a new bow:
+3 enchantment which is 18,000
Orc Hornbow, size Large is 260 gold
Masterwork is 300
Adaptive is 1,000
But this only comes out to 19,560
Here are some options that don't cost enchantment levels:
Impervious is 3,000
Glamered is 4,000
either would be fine, but don't really *need* either, and taking both puts us over budget by 1,000. (Oh, and Resizing costs 4,000 too)
So... was thinking, what to do with the extra 6,040 gold in worth, which will be lost if not used now?
Is there something (not with an enchantment cost) special we could pull from another bow that would work here, or something storyline specific that we could make up to make this bow unique and special?
Is is worth a feat or a trait that we could add to it, or add something that enhances bard abilities?
Or Zamanda-specific, it could enhance bluff or something (I mean, "Bluff Bow" might be too much since hers is already so high)... or maybe not provoke AOOs [Edit: not sure about this one. Might be an enchantment-cost thing already.], or maybe it hums along and extends bardic performance by a round, or ... honestly, anything to make it cooler, and make it feel like that much gold wasn't just wasted?
Anyone with interesting ideas? I feel like we could do almost anything since this is imagination-forged from a card deck... but can't break the rules by taking something that actually has an enchantment cost already, and obviously has to be DM approved.
Liquid Glass
Source Merchant's Manifest pg. 17
This heatstone-derived glass is warm to the touch and slightly malleable, as if it were still liquid. A pliable nature allows this otherwise razor-sharp crystal to repair itself when it takes damage. An item made from liquid glass repairs damage to itself at a rate of 2 hit points per day, even if the weapon is broken or destroyed (but not if the weapon is destroyed in a way that the pieces cannot be retrieved, such as via disintegrate). If a weapon made from liquid glass has full hit points, it grants a +1 bonus on damage rolls. Items made from liquid glass have 10 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10.
Type of Liquid Glass Item Item Price Modifier
Weapon +800 GP
Drop impervious. +1 damage and it fixes itself! Some gold left over, but you get more out of it
I like it, but not sure it will work. Orc Hornbows I assume have to be made primarily of horn. Of course you could have a self-healing type of thing going on with the horn instead, which would be interesting.
(Although, interestingly when I was trying to find any other bow things that didn't cost enchantment prices, I ran across this: https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=238 ... apparently the history of the Orc Hornbows, which Orcs use, and which have separate stats [this is a P2e page], but they didn't come up with them in the first place.)
I listed impervious as an option, but haven't put it on the bow... trying to think of something cool that could be added that isn't necessarily in the book as a specific option. Like, there is a really expensive bow where one of the cosmetic things is that the string is something you can pluck like a musical instrument. If you had something like that, what could it do that would be cool for a bard, but doesn't make it into that other bow... that sort of thing.
If we can't think of anything, I'll just put Glamered on it and say it is made from super expensive materials and has cool runes and stuff inscribed in it, blah blah blah... just trying to make it cooler than that "blah blah blah" part.
Best I can think of is singing steel. 6k for a weapon
“ Steel, Singing
Source PPZO94102
This lustrous golden metal emits beautiful bell-like tones when struck. An alloy of gold and mithral, singing steel was originally created by the elves.
A weapon made of singing steel counts as alchemical silver for all purposes, including the –1 penalty on damage rolls with singing steel weapons. Most armor made of singing steel is treated as one category lighter (heavy armors are treated as medium, and medium armors are treated as light, but light armors are still treated as light). The armor or shield’s arcane spell failure chance is reduced by 5%, its maximum Dexterity bonus is increased by 1, and its armor check penalty is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0).
When wielding a singing steel weapon, shield, or item weighing at least 5 pounds, or wearing medium or heavy singing steel armor, the wielder or wearer can strike the singing steel as part of beginning a bardic performance. If the wielder can normally start a bardic performance as a standard action, he can do so as a move action instead. If the wielder can normally start a bardic performance as a move action, he can do so as a swift action instead. This ability does not function in the area of a silence spell or similar effect. After using the singing steel in this fashion, the steel must be carefully brushed to remove any lingering vibrations, a process that takes 10 minutes.
Singing steel items are always masterwork; this cost is included in the price. Singing steel has 20 hp per inch of thickness and hardness 10. Although formed partially from mithral, singing steel items weigh as much as their normal counterparts.”
That's interesting. I wonder if you could have an orc hornbow made of horn *and* singing steel... being able to start a bardic performance as a swift action would be a minor but valuable benefit.
I am fine with a singing steel bow that was shaped by a half-orc spirit to resemble the hornbow he used it in life.
Okay, cool... we'll go with it.
One question about that... it says that singing steel counts as alchemical silver, thus gets a -1 on damage. However, not sure which way we are going since it is a bow... do arrows shot from this bow count as silver, and thus take the penalty, or are arrows shot from this bow normal and don't take the penalty? I prefer the former as part of the overall magic of the bow, but happy either way... I would argue against a penalty on damage if the arrows don't count as silver though.
(obviously it would be part of the enchantment and temporary... you couldn't actually collect the arrows and sell them or anything. they would just retain that property long enough to do damage, and then lose it, which is fairly typical for bows with unusual ammunition enchantments)
No, unless you are using the bow as an improvised melee weapon, the silver part does not affect the ammunition.
In fact, even the enhancement bonus of a bow does not allow to bypass DR other than magical, but in the case of archers it is pretty easy to have a cache of silver, cold iron and adamantine arrows. By this level you can fill a handy haversack or efficient quiver with a tone of these arrows with just a few thousand golds.
Good, Law, Evil and Chaos alignment of the weapon and magic are the only things transferred to ammunition (see DR section of the glossary).
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Okay. I mean, it wasn't a rule question but a "how are we enhancing this bow" question, but that answers both.
Just a note for our game though... Zamanda's arrows all have a "real" enhancement bonus because she is an arcane archer. That's the first thing that you get:
"At 1st level, every nonmagical arrow an arcane archer nocks and lets fly becomes magical, gaining a +1 enhancement bonus."
I always thought that was a pointless and redundant ability because it also says
"The bonuses granted by a magic bow apply as normal to arrows that have been enhanced with this ability. Only the larger enhancement bonus applies. Duplicate abilities do not stack."
but I guess it matters in the unlikely event that I pick up a nonmagical bow, or if, because of that FAQ, there is some quality that doesn't carry over from the bow that is needed to hit something.
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)
I am enjoying quite a lot this game. The CotCT endgame seems much more interesting than most other APs out there, or maybe you are just making it fun for me! :D
My idea was that our bluffing can get their attention. When they aren't turned to you, you influence/mind control one of them, so that they can speak in our favor. Bluff, stealth...whatever works to make it less obvious.
It's like Kalem is asking Ilsa to pick their pockets. It would be far too obvious to have her just walk up and do it (putting her hand in their pockets is a dead giveaway). So he is talking up a storm to distract them, so she can make an obvious theft (of someone's mind) less obvious. :)
#goodguys
Who exactly are they going to take us to if the queen isn't here? Is one of the devils masquerading as the queen or something? That would be creeptastic, and also ruin our story.
So I guess the question is... do we try to deflect them to just let us through, or do we actually want to go with them and find out who is running things? ... Are we *certain* that the queen isn't here?
I can always say that I was asked here, but I am not under the queen's command, nor may I let that delay me or whatever, but that there can't possibly be a good reason for devils, and if you think your queen will defend them, then you'd best keep her far from me... etc. I mean that might make them protective of her and still let us through, but not sure.
I'm definitely not attacking them if they don't attack us, but just depends on where we want to draw the line for the poor brainwashed women.
We did it!
Given that we know we were being taken to the Queen, is there any chance that Kalem could have found the time to cast infuse self on himself before they get in?
If not, no big deal. He can spend round 1 casting it, and cause heroism to go off as part of starting his bloodrage. But it would be greatly preferable to be able to have Infuse Self up first, so he can spend round 1 doing heroism and starting another spell as part of the bloodrage.
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You can cast a single buff spell before following the maidens without rising their attention.
You are a magnanimous deity :)
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There is a scripted action for the Queen to include a suggestion on her speech for the most dangerous fighter to drop weapons and leave Korvosa which seems as a good signal for the combat to start (it went to Zamanda, because the suggestion only works on a fascinated target). Being an intrigue resource and the DC that low, I hope you do not mind too much this attempt to maintain the nature of the scripted encounter with her pernicious talk to trigger before Initiative was rolled. It is what a Queen that manipulated very seasoned men does, isn't it? :)
Note she can start the fascinating performance as a move action and use the suggestion as a standard action, so this can more or less work in a single round. Of course, the fascination is broken in the moment weapons are drawn.
Now imagine if we all failed our saves…
Damn Ilsa! Way to turn the tides!
Ha ha. That's AMAZING. :)
No... she isn't auto-healing from my arrow. Can't be I don't think.
Overwhelming presence! What a killer spell! And apparently none of these foes had particularly good Will saves, so you got the clean sweep!
We have to inform Cressida and the crew asap so they can get in here to take over... and send any Maidens that still want to be part of that out to Sabina. Probably better if we let most people believe the real queen is already dead, even though we still need to go finish her off.
Except... do you think there are more devils here, or are they all with the real queen? She had a deal with several, and we can't really leave them behind to tear up Cressida and the Seneschal.
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I do not know if Zamanda is trying to convince the maidens to drop their weapons and stop fighting, but Diplomacy during a combat is hard as it normally requires talking through a minute or more, when most combats last much less than that.
The use of the Bluff skill though makes me think she is more of trying to distract them or deceive them so she can reach the hounds, which looks good.
They are still choking at the death of the Queen, some of you might have noticed they did not do anything last round.
I put it under bluff just because the queen isn't dead and I am lying about that... but yeah, I get it. Just was trying to save some of them.
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Yay for raging, bard-songed scythe crits!
This is horrible, I realize, and Zamanda would never do it, but the player part of me kind of wants to just burn it all down... set fire to the whole room, stop trying to save people who don't want to be saved. I had to force myself to move that circle up to the living maidens instead of just generally burning it all (short of Ilsa and Laori of course).
Also, player perspective and not character perspective... I wish the Vavana stabs were lethal actually. She's the brainwasher that did all this to them, and I am guessing she is the reason Ishani is in trouble, too.
Also, player perspective and not character perspective... I wish the Vavana stabs were lethal actually. She's the brainwasher that did all this to them, and I am guessing she is the reason Ishani is in trouble, too.
Yeah I was very much inclined go for lethal attacks on her, but I figured it would look very bad to the Maidens if we're trying to get them to stand down.
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Understandable. I get you want to save the maidens and in time I look towards giving you this, but I felt it would do a weak favor to their background as strongly mentally trained to depict them as easily shifting alliances or surrendering easily.
Their statsblock actually says they fight to the death, and they just lose 1 round in shock after seeing the Queen transformed into snow, as they try to understand what happened, and I think those two things are very appropriate for them.
Now, after total defeat, and waking up to see their lives spared and the city under a different control, there might be a better time to talk with them and make sense of all that happened.
Actually, teleporting away might be the best way to avoid fighting them, but as you point out, Vavana is still alive.
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I removed Zamanda's fireball circle just now for clarity, sorry there.
There is a long stairs set outside that goes below the tower were Kalem is fighting right now. Those stairs turn south to access the castle into the hall north of A51. The maidens are calling reinforcements from there, the main castle entrance.
But you are right, everyone should pass through Laori's blades, except for anyone coming from the stairs north of Zamanda, that go down to the floor below.
I am tempted to throw at you all what remains from the castle defenses with this rising alarm, I think you can easily manage it at this point :)
But we can probably spare us the slog.