DM Fang Dragon’s Ruins of Adventure (Inactive)

Game Master FangDragon

How much time has elapsed since his previous Intimidate check?
minutes: 1d6 ⇒ 1 10 minutes

Can't actually do an official roll on same target for 1 hour. I was hoping to just continue previously rolled check, but most likely been longer than 10 minutes...lol.

Intimidate

My apologies for being slow. My body has been giving me hell over the last 3 weeks, and my energy levels have been trash since. I'll get down to posting today, and I'll make sure I keep on posting. Sorry for dipping out on you the way I did.

Glad you're still with us. Hope you feel better soon!

Will get a post up in the morning.

Ishta's post and mine crossed threads so I edited mine.

Hey DM... we have reason to trust the auction company to be loyal to their customers, right? They aren't evil incarnate or working for the bad guys? I am basing some of this on their reputation, which I assume to be that they are loyal to the deals they make like businessmen. Obviously they make some questionable decisions about what to sell, but they wouldn't get very far going back on their agreements... so that's just what I am checking. I don't want to risk Azarra's parents being spirited away to be sold at another auction in another town.

I would describe them as being lawful neutral over all with evil tendencies a bit like any big bank. You're one of their customers now and they care deeply about their reputation. Their word is law, so in this situation they'll move heaven and earth to deliver no matter what if you sign a contract. Note they are completely unscrupulous in how they make money. I.e. if investing in killing babies was profitable they'd do it with gusto.

Ishta, you're doing fine. I'm not sure where we should arrange to meet him though... the guardhouse? We have to go there to get the gate open anyway. Maybe if I learn when the slaves will leave the town, we can arrange the meeting at the same time? :)

Or we could arrange to meet him at the banker's party. That was the other idea for how to get the gates open... time it with the bankers leaving, which is around midnight.

Thoughts on either of those options, or other ideas?

Azarra really wants to take her parents with her now, but I just don't see how it could possibly work. I mean, I have the two tattered cloaks to make them look like orcs, but taking them with me could put their lives in danger. She's trying really, really hard not to just take her hat off and show them who she is.

One more day, one more day... :)

I think the Guardhouse sounds good - if he starts up a fight, we can capitalise and start a big party, then open the door in the confusion. And he'll be the one to blame if all goes south.

What do you guys say?

I like the Guardhouse idea.

I'm just imagining Talia's reaction when a literal cart load of slaves are delivered to her whilst convalescing. She won't be expecting that one!

Ha ha, nope... but when she sees my parents, she'll get it, and she has the contacts to know what to do. :)

The port cullis has ropes and cutting them would release it. The gate on the other hand has a whopping great chain.

Will try to get a post up tomorrow morning.

Ser you have an action if you want to take it.

Mother's Day today, so I'll be away, but I promise a big, big Fireball ehhhhhh... Fire Trap when I'm back :)

That Lofferen! How twisted of him! ;)

Alright, so, I think I committed a bit of a misconception about the place. Since the action was with Half Hand and the orcish troops, I thought the chain was just there. So the plan was to fake an explosion, originated in the chain, that decimated the troops defending the door.

Now, if there are no troops nearby... Well, depending on who's around I might change the spell, if you allow me, or change the target.

Well, we are in the room with the windlasses. All the soldiers left except for three people who stayed behind to operate the actual windlasses (once I fix them supposedly). I was suggesting fire to scare them off, but I think your idea could work the way you wrote it, with us running and you triggering it from the door or something... basically trying to burn this place out (not the stone walls, but the wood structures inside), or at least scare people off.

If you want to change things and the DM is okay with it, you could also do a fireball at the orc troops if they go out to defend the drawbridge maybe... that might be far enough for us to see them from up here... or if there is a roof you could shoot from. I mean, someone might come after you, but Ser is here to make sure they don't get that far. :)

Honestly whatever you want to do to help the human side is probably welcome... we are kind of trapped here until the humans are safely inside the walls, and after that we have to be careful and know when to change disguises and make sure we talk to the leaders of the human force, protect my parents, and maybe also hunt down some of those auctioned things we couldn't afford if we have time. I really liked your whole blame-it-on Lofferen thing. That was inspired. :)

I don't mind if you want to adjust your action Ishta. A fireball of that magnitude would be complete overkill vs the three remaining labourers which is why I was a little surprised :)

Alright, all of this is based around the idea that the Fireball won't release the chains so the portcullis won't go back down. I will post it in Gameplay. Let's do this!

So we were in a cellar when Ishta detonated the Fireball? Well, I guess we had to go out of there, with everything on fire, right? So I thought once that happened, we weren't inside anymore, am I right?

Sort of a cellar (although it's half way up the wall). See this dodgy map where you where at the bottom room.

To go outside you need to climb upstairs, normally there'd be loads of guards there but they've all left to try and hold the line at the gates.

We went to the gates with the other orcs to prevent the human advance. Too bad that fireball just went off as we approached...lol.

Sweet! Where do you guys want me? Post after work.

Just wanted to say I'm going under a formation for lip-synching, dubbing and off-voice narrative. It's going to take away some time from me, specially at the beginning, so I'll be (even) slower than usual.

Thanks for the heads up.

I think the slaves are still being shipped as arranged, so we don't have to escort them. I was just worried about that idiot trying to get back at me through them, so I made sure my parents weren't a part of it.

Okay, so here is my question... we believe that Councilor Cardona is actually Jandark now, come back from the dead as a lich or something? How do we kill HIM?

Is going off to the Zhents the same place we need to go to help Delenn?

Are we destroying the orb? I suppose there is no way to use it for good? Does just breaking it work, or do we have to magically do something to it?

Since we gave up on finding Mirabel, can you just tell us about that part of the story?

He's either Jandark or is possessed by Jandark - you're not sure which.

Yes Delenn wants you to rescue Lenoir from the outpost.

The Orb can be dealt with by the council, its destruction likely a side quest too far.

Mirabel knows a lot about the Cardonas and would have been an invaluable ally in figuring out what is really going on. She's a prisoner however unable to escape her tower. A dragon (the father of the one you fought) became obsessed with her and you'd have had to kill it to break the enchantment that's preventing her escape.

How can we give the orb to the council if Jandark is one of them? That seems like pouring gasoline on a fire. He'll just betray the city again... and I don't know whether he is the one endangering the other council members' lives. If we don't do something about him, we could come back to no one good left alive.

... Thanks for the information on Mirabel. Sorry we didn't get to do that.

So I guess the question is, team... do we confront Jandark now and try to kill him, or keep doing these tasks and hope we can face him later?

A lich may be out of our league, depending on how many Wizard levels.
That being said; I agree that confronting him is a priority; assuming we have enough evidence?

> A lich may be out of our league, depending on how many Wizard levels.

Come on, where is your sense of adventure?! ... ok, you might have a point.

Also, if don't offer good proof that he's a lich, the Council won't aprove us trying to kill him.

Whatever you make of the Councilors and Phlan, they all care deeply about the law. Also consider this, is it moral to kill somebody who is possessed (and therefore can't control their actions) if that prevents a great evil?

Depends on what your character worships and your alignment perhaps, but in general, prevent a great evil and save many lives likely trumps saving one person.

Jandark betrayed this entire city and caused countless deaths. Nothing indicates that he won't just go ahead and do it again, probably worse because he's learned from the first time.

Will update tomorrow.

I've got nothing that will make us travel faster either... we could get some horses perhaps? No idea. Open to ideas.

Another option, since obviously all the heavy hints lead to one place ... we could just skip ahead in the story to there.

Honestly it's up to you if you take this particular mission. The councillors (mostly) want you to deliver a diplomatic message to the outpost.

Phlan currently counts as a large city so there's a fair amount of things that could be bought.

I don't have time to find everything and sell it and figure out what we can buy to go faster... I have a car being delivered today and a bunch of work, so if someone else wants to figure all of that stuff out, feel free.

So, are we going in guns blazing; or are we being diplomatic?

The former; we ride!

The latter; we may as well sell and purchase.

I assume that unless marked with pc name; we will sell it?
There is cloak +2 if anyone wants it?
There are some items Kardas may want? Boccob's blessed book?

@Azarra do you want me to 'sell' all the not marked items? What is the Yellow area?

If I mess up the Loot sheet; I apologize in advance...I am a bit clumsy in this area.

the only things I put on that loot sheet are the things at the very end that are marked as auction aftermath. I have no idea what the yellow means... but those are all marked "sold" anyway, so I don't think you need to worry about it.

If you think it is a good thing to keep or that someone wants it, then set it aside. I agree... someone probably wants the cloak.

I don't want you to do anything in particular. Zane was keeping the sheet... figure out what we have to sell, etc. That's all I've got.

This is embarrassing!

Looking at the Map, it is roughly 100 miles to Zhentil Keep. We are going about 50 miles; give or take?
Phantom Carriage would be best. We will have it for future travels too.

We can split the cost: 700gp to purchase

50 miles sounds about right.

Did you figure out what we have to sell?

Ugh, approaching Zhentil Keep is like wading into a sewer. This is going to get nasty.

Masterwork Agile Half Plate 500gp
Masterwork Scimitar 157.5gp
tasteful sheer silk dress 50gp

I marked these as Sold on Loot Sheet. This covers a Scroll of Phantom Chariot (plus tip).

Edit: for a 2nd scroll for Ishta to copy into spellbook
Collection of holy and unholy symbols 500gp
Masterwork Dagger 151gp
Tanglefoot Bag 25gp
Light Crossbow 17.5gp
Silver Holy Symbol 12.5gp

Hey Kardas, if you have an idea of something else to do, I'm all for it. Not really into the plot right now.

We could play the Zhentil game and rush to the outpost. Once there, we spread rumors, and see if we can get some local thugs to turn on the orcs.

'They're badly hurt and mauled, and their pockets are overflowing with gold and magical items.' Or 'I hear the City of Phlan put a big bounty on their heads. The orcs already lost a few of their numbers, so how hard can it be to best them? Surely they'll be exhausted and in need of sleep ...'

That's obviously *not* what Kardas would suggest, haha, but it is definitely what *I* am suggesting. And if the orcs happen to be high up the Zhentaril hierarchy (oof), that game probably won't fly and we might be in deep, deep trouble. I'm not sure if any of us are up to speed on how the Black Network is organized and or operates, but perhaps a knowledge local (?) check might be worth a shot.