DMDM's Way of the Wicked, Part II: The Dark Tower

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

When everyone is ready Ulp downs a shield extract and takes to the air.

he will down his shield the round before judge summons and then take off the same round he summons which will let him attack the round after the elemental a start

Now you see Ulp better than Zargo!

He flies up to 50 feet away

"Easy big guy! We don't want any problems here! What is the problem? We are just looking for some people that may have come through here a few weeks ago, we are afraid they may have gotten into some trouble."

diplomacy:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Detect Good

Detect Good

The thing radiates an aura of smarmy, selfless do-gooding that immediately sets your teeth on edge.

"We are not wanting a fight. We will leave, but have you seen the ones we speak of?"

Edmin sent me a PM, so based on that

While taking several steps back in preparation to leave,

'Sir Havelyn, before we depart we should at least warn this Ancient Guardian of the threat we we were sent to deal with. The Guardian should at least know what is to come.'

DM not trying to get past it but trying to give it false information if I am allowed.

In Fey then Common

'Most Ancient Verdant Guardian, we will leave but know this! We were sent by those who were saplings of the Victor, and wise is the council they keep. The seal that is within the tower, because of the corrupt disease it had to hold back, may itself have been rotting from within.'

'Think of your most eldest of trees here, if one were to fall to disease, it may still look strong from the outside, yet it is dying within, and even the smallest of storms may send a once proud tree to the ground.'

'We fear others have known this, and all we ask is if you do not let us pass, then ensure that none do so! We do not want any to be able to have access to the foulness within the tower.'

Please aid if you can

Bluff 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

Dren "accidentally" lets his holy symbol of mitra slip out from the folds of his shirt as he fixes his shoes.

Sir Havelyn, based upon this noble treants reaction no others would have passed this way. Isn't that correct? he poses to the creature.

I do worry about the seals on the tower though, from what we read they could be weakened considerably and the evil...every day it could be building its strength. Some of the others may be hired hands but if that evil escapes...I couldn't live with myself.

Bluff Assist 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Guys, I said -- you had one shot at Bluffing this guy, and that was that. He knows you're lying, he doesn't believe you, and he's not listening now.

The creature reaches down one huge, branchlike arm and picks up one of the rocks from the cairn or pile of rocks standing next to it. With a surprisingly swift motion, it flicks the rock at you. Warning shot, so it'll only hit on a 1. 1d20 ⇒ 13

The rock -- which is rather larger than your head -- flies past you with a flat WHUMM noise; the wind of its passage makes your hair fly up. It hits a tree behind you -- CRACK -- and then bounces off something in the distance behind that -- Thump -- and then, a moment later, off the ground still further away -- thump.

"LEAVE. NOW."

I listened :)

Ulp leads the retreat, then he buffs, etc.

Make Judge invisible, let him summon fire monsters. Once that start I can start to bomb and burn the stupid tree!

I am going to bed, DMDM you can see above my actions, to prepare for the fight, but add to that he will use alchemical allocation to take a potion of Bears endurance and his mutagen prior to the attack

also because I am taking my mutagen my init is actually 22, though as mentioned prior I will not actually act until rd 2, because my first rd will involve me activating fly and moving into position

Briefly stopping after taking at least a full minute to walk quickly away.

'I believe Edmin was considering we leave this guardian behind, and keep him as a safeguard should the Eighth decide to trail us, which I wholeheartedly agree to. Perhaps we can by pass it.'

'Should we decide to strike at it before further progressing to the tower, then I suggest we should withdraw further, the animals and perhaps even the trees may be able to warn that walking tree and even if we destroy it, it may be able to send off a warning to other creatures or fellow guardians, be they Fey or Druids.'

Edmin sent a PM suggesting we keep the treant here are 'insurance' and I would consider that. If we do fight, we should back off and try to surprise it later, with Stealth and Invisibility.

DM Cуровую made some Knowledge Nature checks 22, about the treant to figure out what we could do. And Perception 28, to see if we are being watched by others or detect anything significant.

Knowledge: Treants are plants, with plant characteristics. So, no mind control or phantasms or sleep spells. They can talk to plants. They can throw rocks with considerable force. They can animate trees to fight for them.

Would Disguise and Invisibility still work?

Would Disguise and Invisibility still work?

The Disguise skill always works. Invisibility would still work. (Assuming it doesn't have tremorsense or something.)

Okay, so it looks like the party is retreating. I assume you go at least five minutes march back into the forest, out of sight and presumably earshot. (Note that it's still a damp, drizzly morning -- a little bit easier to sneak around in, harder to see or hear things far away.)

Nothing seems to have followed you AFAYCT.

It probably has the ability to speak with the trees anyways like a Druid or Dryad. The squirrel could have followed us as well.

Set up message before we say anything.
After.
I don't think we can bypass it, at least not the way you think we can. The squirrel may just be part of a larger defense network. Perhaps there is a druid of something else around connected to this tree but I do think it will know if we passed.
These trees can move beyond the site it is normally?
Then it can come after us, we will have a hard time getting by it and it may then just come up on us.
We failed to lie our way by it, then we should probably destroy it, otherwise we will just have to deal with it later, possibly even as we are leaving the tower where it can ambush us in a weakened state.

Let's climb the cliff at a different point then move over in stealth and then attack it full force. I can possibly delay its distance attack while we move up.
Can they see like we do in the dark?

"I agree with Dren. I don't like the idea of leaving yet more enemies at our back."

And we should kill that squirrel, just for good measure.

"If we encounter the guardian again we will slay it. I would prefer not to fight it as of yet as it may lessen our capabilities we may need when we finally reach the tower. We have to believe it will detect us if we try to move around it right now so unless we decide to fight it now, we need to move back towards town for a few hours before turning back towards the tower."

If we are going to probably fight it anyways wouldn't it better for us to chose the time and place vs. the guardian?

The Judge listens to the others.
I can summon a pile of fire elementals and just let it burn. If we retreat a few hours, then we will have to come back. As I have said, Morsum can fly most of us up there if I make him bigger. So, getting to the top of the cliff is not the issue. The issue is what else awaits. We know that this guardian is here. But, are there other guardians like this? Or does this one move around? I hate dividing the party. However, if we went up the cliff at two points, then we would know whether there was more then one of these trees.

The Judge pauses.
Does anyone have the ability to create darkness or blind the tree? If so, it would make tossing those stones at anyone nearby much more difficult.

If we are set on slaying the guardian now, make it come to us. We should not fight it where it has a defense. Maybe burn an area and wait for it to arrive? That could also give us a chance to pass it by if it is to powerful.

The problem is that it is at the top of a cliff and can throw large rocks a really long distance, as it just demonstrated. This is why I was considering going invisible and lighting it up with fire elementals. It will easily take out 1-2 each round, but I can keep summoning 1d3 every round as soon as the last summons are eliminated. Also, they can all Smite Good to get through any DR.

Morsum can fly most of us to the top of the cliff a ways away, but it will still have its tactical position. I do not know how many bombs Ulf has, but if I have a few fire elementals at its base, then if the treant tries to throw rocks at Ulf, the fire elementals will get AoO as well.

This is why I was asking about Darkness. If we cast that, then the treant will not be able to see us approaching. I think that Jax has it as a SLA.

Dren has Darkness as a spell now, which is why I asked if it could see in the dark. We are probably being watched and followed and if we go up I am guessing it will be reported to the treant that we went up another way and will move to intercept us which is why Dren believes we should move up and attack it in full force.

Ok, so here is a plan.

Cast Invisibility on the Judge. He is then carried up to the top of the cliff by Morsum. Once up, the Judge will dismiss Morsum and move close enough to start summoning fire elementals directly next to the treant. The elemental do fire damage and also will cause burn damage which continues for 1d4 rounds doing 1d4 damage, plus more if it is vulnerable to fire as many trees are.

Once she sees the blaze, Cy can unload a fireball to help with the burning and Ulp, who is invisible and flying, will start to toss bombs. As noted, unless the treant wants to draw lots of AoO from the elementals (and get more burn damage), it should be unable to use its ranged weapons.

It will take a few rounds, but while this fire is going on, Dren, Jax and Edmin charge up the path, hopefully arriving around round 5 or 6 while the treant is attempting to extinguish itself.

Dren can cast darkness on a stone, but then the treant just has to move away. Also, Edmin will be unable to see in the darkness. If someone has Glitterdust, that might make it blind, thereby reducing its ability to fight and make AoO on Jax and Edmin as they charge in.

I like it

Jax has a wand of vanish that he can spell combat with and numerous other spells that will let him close without provoking, so he has no worries on that front.

Does anyone have the ability to create darkness or blind the tree? If so, it would make tossing those stones at anyone nearby much more difficult.

'Cуровую, Jax and Dren can, but at a very limited range, and we would lose any Invisibility we would cast.'

Does Mirror Image not work on plants?

I am with Edmin that we should try to bypass the troublesome tree.

If we attack though then we should try to have it leave its current location, by starting a fire or something similar from behind its current position, not towards us but further heading to the direction of the tower, so it has to advance and go forward, not come to us.

Starting a fire does two things, it draws its attention and makes it leave its post, enabling those that can not Fly to close in. Second, we will see if there are any hidden allies nearby watching.

If the group wants to try to surprise it instead and not start a fire, Cуровую can cast Fly on Edmin and Invisibility on him to get him up to the area, he will carry her up there as well, she will also be Invisible and will have Levitate on so she can cast spells from above.

Whatever we do, we should Disguise ourselves or have Alter Self to make us appear like the Eighth Knot.

Don't cast any more spells than necessary. I can also lend my slippers of feather step to Edmin so that moving up the stairs is not difficult terrain.

I was not even going to go invisible, honestly it is not needed, with my AC pushing 30, I suspect the tree needs at least a 15, maybe higher to hit me with its ranged attack. I mean it is a tree. how agile can it possibly be

The reason I wanted to fight it was assuming its just another encounter, the first of the tower area and not spend numerous days discussing how to deal with it rather than actually dealing with it. Jax votes for whatever option leads to us actually doing something other than sitting around planning for hours/days. That is, he votes for the simplest option.

I concur with Jax. Judge has a solid plan. I have voted for it, and posted my buffs and my initiative. Others did not want to be left out, so Morsum will fly everyone up under invisibility and Edmin can wear the feather step slippers to charge up the path. Once morsum lands judge will summon his elementals and on that same round, Ulp will toss his first bomb. My init was 24. Lets kill it.

Jax will hang back and see if the first round or two of elementals and bombs doesn't finish it off. He's inherently lazy..

Let's do it.

When the time comes Edmin will let judge start the combat and call upon his smite good ability before moving to attack. Edmin will not rush blindly into combat, I would think it would be second round before he attacks giving him time to get his challenge in also. if hee is so far away as to make it 3 rounds before attacking he will use his team work ability Precise Strike.

Edmin calls upon the powers given to him by the dark prince of hell before charging into battle. As he runs towards the treant the headsmans axe burst into flames.

1st round: Smite good!
Second round: challenge +1hit +1 damage

Power Attack: 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 11 + 2 + 1 = 22
Damage:1d12 + 14 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 14 + 5 + 1 = 27
Fire Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

I am just waiting on DMDM to set the stage. I think that most of us are now in agreement that it is a good time for a forest fire (of limited scope).

My concern about the forest fire is it will draw attention. Yes it takes time to discuss but DM gives us intelligent encounters, we need to be careless as well.

'Edmin do you want a Fly?'

Cуровую will cast Mage Armor, and borrow the Hat of Disguise to make her seam like she is Dostan.

Do you want Cуровую to begin with a Fireball?

'Judge will you consider casting Haste when the battle begins?'

Do we get a chance at surprise?

Initiatives to help DM

Ulp 22
Jax 20
Judge 19
Cуровую 14 But will we start with Fireball?

I posted my attack because I am working 12 hour shifts right now. Bot me for my follow up attacks if needed. I would rather fly as then I could carry Ragnar with me for a flanking buddy.

my init is 24 zimu I failed to take my mutagen into accoubt

Sorry I only read up to your first post, I saw the 20 roll I thought it gave you +2 not +4 as per your first post.

Wow your mutagen gives you a +8 Dex! Sweet! Your like a guided missile.

no it gives me +4 to my dex and +2 NA my other +4 to ac is from shield

I have no problem casting Haste, it just requires all the targets to be close together. Once Jax and Edmin are in the area, I will cast it. I left Cy well out of harms way since Fireball has a range of close to forever.

Wait, now I am confused, if you rolled 20 for Int then its +2 then right so I was right at the post of 22? Not bad though considering you can make this daily.

Cуровую will make sure the squirrel is in the Fireball

[ooc]My concern about the forest fire is it will draw attention.

Nobody reads my flavor text.

I do, its hard though to discern what are clues sometimes.

I think that he means it is damp and drizzly. Things with burning abilities - fireball, fire elementals, etc - can start a fire, but it is not going to spread very far.

I got that part. My worry is wet wood means any fires will be rather smokey and will be seen at a distance.