DM Aron Marczylo's Kingmaker - Part 2: Rivers Run Red (Inactive)

Game Master overfiend_87

"So what does that mean? They'll be ready for us?"

Telias just looks straight at Zorestar with a look that defies description. "I said they were Worgs about a dozen tahms."

"Might be ready fer us. Might not. All ah kin say is there in mah goddsdamn house pissin on mah floor!"

"So what does that mean? They'll be ready for us?"

"I would not put it past them. They are far more intelligent than ordinary wolves. To be honest, they are quite clever. Their favorite tactic is to bite onto their prey and pull them down to the ground where their victims will naturally be helpless. However, they could even coordinate their efforts with goblins and try to catch us in some sort of sick chase game, where they hunt us down and feast upon us like we are dinner."

"I said they were Worgs about a dozen tahms."

"Yes, yes, I've heard you mention that they were worgs, but did you know that their proper scientific name is magnum malum lupum?!"

Bronwyn seemingly blows away bothersome distractions from his mind and offers:

Alright, then. Big dogs somewhat smart. I'd say this would be a walk in the woods, but if Telias, ahem, retreated from them, they must represent a bigger threat. We need a proper scouting good enough to provide us a map and a general idea of their positions. We have to find a secure place for our casters and establish charging lanes for Jameson.

So Telias said he was going to scout the place using wild shape; Ganit could do the same using mundane stealth, and if needed Bronwyn could do it using the vanish spell. Is that enough to provide us with a layout of the terrain?

Done the map but bare in mind that this is a very vague map of the area and not accurate for distance in reguards to spells and arrows and such. You're in the hilly areas so you have some good hills to cover you being spotted and for the moment you are down wind as the worgs don't appear to have spotted you.

MAP

Are we there yet, Telias? We seem near.

Bronwyn will take the time to prepare for the wolves.

Sir Addercop, I trust you to lead the charge. Find a charging lane and make an opening for us. They won't even know what hit them.

Cast herosim on Jameson and moment of greatness on everyone.

Is Ganit with us, by any chance?

Ganit has not posted since June. Hopefully he is not gone.

Carina looks to her husband and then calls upon the Orcish rage constrained beneath her changeling exterior to grant him great strength and gigantic size.

Cast Bulls Strength. Then cast Enlarge Person.
Both should last 5 minutes.

Lets show these evil interlopers how Vertaria deals with those who would harm our land.

Bronwyn prepares himself for the battle, using every card on his sleeve and every trick in the book.

Also cast dazzling blade and mirror image before getting there. Both last for 5 minutes.

"The magnum malum lupum! I think we are here my friends. I am prepared to cast a spell I call "Haste" upon you, but I don't want to be too hasty. Well what I mean is at this distance its duration will likely run out before you even get to those worgs. Let's advance a bit closer and see if we still have the element of surprise. If we can get close enough, I will then execute my spell for all of our benefit."

Are we there yet, Telias? We seem near.

Bronwyn will take the time to prepare for the wolves.

Sir Addercop, I trust you to lead the charge. Find a charging lane and make an opening for us. They won't even know what hit them.

Cast herosim on Jameson and moment of greatness on everyone.

Is Ganit with us, by any chance?

For the sake of combat I'll DMPC him until I hear back from him. If I don't hear back from him when I've gotten a steady posting schedual down, it seems as if we'll need to look for a replacement player. Onto the game however, for the moment they haven't noticed you and Ganit is leading you down-wind from the creature so they shouldn't be able ot catch your scent until you're a stone's throw from them.

Ganit

Ganit waits by silently with bow in hand for other people's suggestions.
"There's only two of them I say we try to get closer, hill-to-hill and then strike when close enough." as he makes his suggestion he makes his way to a nearby hill and so far he appears to have remained undetected as one Worg sleeps and another chews it's bone.

Stealth 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16

James, Zorestar, Bron, Telias and I are all still posting fairly regularly, so we five should be good to continue. I have not seen a post from Ganit in quite some time. Might be worth a PM or email if you have one.

I should have cast Enlarge Person and Bull's Strength on Bron.

Carina will follow the men prepared to use her spells as necessary.

I had many times in the post when he seemingly dissappeared. He appears to have posted 3 times in Octorber on imjhonny, but nothing after that so no idea what might be going on his end. I will send him another, but I believe I've sent him 4 already with no reply.

Also when you move roll for stealth. They will be on negatives if they are unaware from you and being downwind means they can't catch your scent unless you are within 30 ft. There is always the possibility of a mess up.

Sorry, I'm around, just didn't have updates showing up.

"There's only two of them I say we try to get closer, hill-to-hill and then strike when close enough."

"I'm willing to try the sneaky approach, and furthermore, I am happy to offer an arcane spell that makes one invisibility if you think it would offer someone a relative maximum of sneakiness. Without it, I fear I would not be able to do much actual sneaking. However, if you want me to distract the creature, that is something I could do with very little effort."

Stealth: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Carina follows the men as quietly as she can.

"Yeah but kin ya keep yer mouth shut long enough to pull it off? Sneakin don't work if yer too busy makin lecturin."

Telias will cast Eagle's splendor on Carina, BArkskin on BRonwyn, and Fly and produce flame on himself If it will take more than five minutes before we engage them than I'll just opt for Barkskin on Bronwyn instead..

Ganit

Ganit looks to Jameson and Bronwyn "The spell will aid them more. Their armour makes it difficult to sneak." he states as the invisibility should aid them all in getting closer.

Bronwyn will cast vanish on himself, lasting 4 rounds. Stealth check: 1d20 + 3 - 4 + 20 ⇒ (9) + 3 - 4 + 20 = 28

Donal snorts.

"No sense sneaking, I'll prepare a different surprise for the beasts when you are in position. Let's do this."

Happy new years everyone. I'm going to try my best to build something resembling a hill in this hilly countryside and will let you all decide what to do next. Attacking Charge like Jameson is suggestion or sneaking up as Ganit suggested.

So far you've gotten up to 180ft (spell range, but much further by foot due to diagonal movement) and you have so far avoided detection. If you're going to charge them down or blast off a spell now is as good a time as any.

As you are closer you can see that the Worg's are chewing on bones that, from this distance, it is difficult to tell what they belong to, but there is a humanoid skull nearby suggesting they might be feeding on the remains of a possible human.

Intelligence: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

"I've been thinking, my friends. Do you not think it a bit odd that even though these worgs have thick fur that they would choose to stay outside of Telias' house. I mean I know that it would be cramped, but, would they still not prefer to be inside?"

"Not if sumthin else 'as claimed it. Ahm gonna do worse than kill em if I find s!@! on mah rug."

Ganit shrugs his shoulders at Zorestar's comment.
"Could be they are using it as an outhouse." he shrugs as he pulls a arrow ready "So how are we going to approch this?"

"I've been thinking, my friends. Do you not think it a bit odd that even though these worgs have thick fur that they would choose to stay outside of Telias' house. I mean I know that it would be cramped, but, would they still not prefer to be inside?"

I trust you on this, friend; their behavior puzzles me completely. Let's approach stealthily while Jameson hangs back little up north from our position. We leave a charging lane open on that direction so that when we engage he may approach the fight quickly.

"Very well, Sir Bronwyn. If stealth is what you want, I have two spells of invisibility that I would gladly offer. It will provide a great enhancement to one's ability to approach undetected. Mind you it is not fool proof. It actually does not mask sound that you make, but for those who rely upon the visual senses, it would certainly register as a marvelous illusion. Once I cast it upon those individuals, they are free to approach, but once they make the act of striking the foe, then the arcane powers will decease and the recipient will be fully exposed to sight once again. So who are the two lucky ones who wish to receive the benefits of my magic?"

Carina rolls her eyes at the city born mage:
Does it mask the smell of my husband? I believe that most wolves track by scent. If this spell of yours does not mask smell, then it does not sound like it will be of great effect.

"Does it mask the smell of my husband? I believe that most wolves track by scent. If this spell of yours does not mask smell, then it does not sound like it will be of great effect."

"Well, m'lday, naturally I am not guaranteeing complete stealthiness. I'm just aiding through the use of illusion in the area of one of the senses, mainly that of sight. I do not mean to ask such personal questions, but may I ask how long it has been since your husband has bathed?"

Carina nods at the wizard's response and ignores his question:
So, it does not inhibit their ability to smell anyone that cannot be seen. This will have to be carefully considered in our tactics.

Ganit takes a look to the Worgs and then puts his finger in his mouth for a second before putting it in the air to feel the wind.
"We are down-wind from them. They woun't be able to get a good sniff of us, 'till we are in charging distance." he states and moves up north, with bow in hand scouting a position.

"We are down-wind from them. They woun't be able to get a good sniff of us, 'till we are in charging distance."

"Then I think we should give it a try. The longer we stand around and blether about it, the more likely we are to give our position away. Now let me cast this invisibility spell and give one of you a chance to sneak up on them and land at least one good blow. Who is it to be? Are there any more spells to cast before we advance?"

Carina nods: Then let us prepare. Here is a little something to help our warriors.

She casts Enlarge Person and Bull's Strength on Bron. She then casts Bull's Strength on James.

- 5 minute duration on each.

Any more preparations or not? I'll wait till Tuesday to see if everyone's ready and then some combat commands if you are. As a reminder, so far you are roughly 200ft from the Worgs. They are sat outside of Telias' home and gnawing on bones, unaware of your presence unless the wind changes.

I don't think we'll do any more preparations, Aron.

Alright then. What are you surprise actions? I'll roll the init.

Iniative

Order for Round 1 after the surprises: only 1 standard action during a surprise round I believe.

Iniative:

The Hermit Ganit D'Artain 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Telias Markan 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Sir Bronwyn (Greenwood) 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Carina Stigard (Greenwood) 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21
Jameson Addercop IV 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17
Zorestar Lebeda 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Order:

Catrina Stigard (Greenwood)
The Hermit Ganit D'Artain
Telias Markan
Jameson Addercop IV
Zorestar Lebeda
???
Sir Bronwyn Raslov (Greenwood)
???

anyone heard from Ganit?

Might want to shoot Ganit a PM. I think he is still on the site as I believe he had a post with another avatar last week.

James might be gone. He does not seem to have posted at all since December.

How far away from the wolves are we? One round of moves? Or more?

I'm here.

Cool, now lets get going to wipe out the troublesome hounds.

Just realized why I though you might be gone. When I clicked on your Campaign tab, I only saw this campaign because it was showing them for James, not for Balodek. DOH!!!

Zorestar moves his hands in somatic gestures and casts Haste upon his companions.

"You should be able to get those wolves with some speed this time. Go get them lady and gentlemen."

Once they get close to the wolves, he will casts Flaming Sphere and directed the scorching ball of fire directly at one of the creatures.

Flaming Sphere: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 4) = 10

Reflex Saving Throw DC 18 for half.

just waiting for the other's reactions. Also depending on actions your action might change, but also is that a ready on your turn? Can't remember if you can ready on a surprise action. The creatures are more fierce than any normal wolf so plan carefully.

Readying an action is a Standard Action, since you can take a Standard Action in a surprise round, I would assume that you can ready on your surprise turn. You just cannot ready actions out of combat (although this sounds really foolish to me, it is apparently the RAW.)

Jameson steadies Donal and prepares for a charge.

I'll use a Standard to make sure I have a clear charge lane next turn.

If we are within 150', Carina will cast Spontaneous Immolation targeting the big white wolf.

Damage: 3d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 3, 4) + 3 = 14 <--- +50% of vulnerable - Fort DC17 for 1/2 damage.
--> if Fort Save misses, then catches on fire and takes fire damage each round, DC17 Reflex to put out each round

If we are within 150', Carina will cast Spontaneous Immolation targeting the big white wolf.

Damage: 3d6+3 <--- +50% of vulnerable - Fort DC17 for 1/2 damage.
--> if Fort Save misses, then catches on fire and takes fire damage each round, DC17 Reflex to put out each round

I don't believe there is a white wolf anywhere on the map so not sure which one you are targeting as both wolves have black fur.

Hmmm, for some reason I thought there was a winter wolf leading two other worgs. Not sure where I got that from. I will just target one of the worgs then.

not sure I stated it, but roughly bron is 170ft away if we only counted diagonals as 5fts. You're still a good distance away really.

170ft - good, then Carina will walk forward and cast Spontaneous Immolation. Range is 150ft.

Will have post tonight.

still waiting for more posts for people's actions. Also, will need to spend sometime to find a replacement for Ganit as he still hasn't messaged me and no one has told me if they've gotten in contact with him recently.