With my current spellslots, If I put 1st level spells into my 2nd level spellslots I've got 7 slots to work with, so I can cast 7 magic missles, or hit 7 times with my blade, below is what each kind of damage each of those options would put out
With perfect strike from kensai and 6 arcana points, damage for all perfect strikes is 124 (obviously plus or minus due to actual rolls etc) and spell combat from magus, I can cast perfect strike in the same round as making a full attack with a -2 penalty, only issue being it has to be a full round action
Issues with that is the will o wisp moves faster than me, so unless I'm faster it will take a bit longer to chase it down, which is where the haste wand, I can double my damage if it stays and fights. with magic missle, speed is less an issue, but once I run out of slots I can do no more damage except a lucky 19/20
Another positive is that I have electricity resistance (5)
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I think that 7 of my magic missilrs should be enough to finish off the wisp, with the haste wand to ensure it doesn't escape, as long as I can see the wisp, that is. Even if I roll minimums I'm still putting out 42 damage which leaves only a little damage left to be done to it, which the rest of that wand should do the trick. Plus it's way more simple and doesn't have any variables except damage done by the missles
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#arcanegatlinggun
All in all, it is a pleasant enough visit with Lanyssa. You come away from the experience well rested and richer a few potions and a wand she had that may aid in your future fight with the will-o-the-wisp.
You leave at first light, making your way back to Elkmark. The journey is blissfully uneventful, beyond the grumblings of Vesket and his warriors wondering why they are being drug around the entirety of the Greenbelt.
Once you make it to Fort Redemption, Celebeth can tells her uncle to draft up plans to set up a spot for Vesket and his people on the east side of the river while Meridian starts prepping the townspeople for the fact that they will have some new neighbors.
Having set the arrangements in motion, the traveling group re-provisions and sets off westward in search of the ruined keep Jubilost had marked on your map.
One day's travel gets you to the lumber camp to rest the night, the next day, you pass through Tiressa's grove and turn southwest into unexplored territory. As you travel on, it is obvious that you are in some very old woods. The trees here are very large and the canopy is dense, making for a shady journey.
As the sun is about to set, you have apparently reached your destination. A ruined, circular keep looms out of the forest, surrounded by towering, ancient trees draped with hanging moss. Four circular towers sprout from the cracked walls like the trunks of great trees, at least one crumbled into rubble. Twisting vines and thick moss cover the walls in a coat of verdant green, blending the ruins almost seamlessly into the surrounding woods. The overgrown remains of a path lead to an open, arched gateway gaping in the keep’s eastern wall, its doors long since rotted away.
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Celebeth "ooohs" as she looks up at the ruined keep in the distance.
"I wonder who made this? Is it another Taldane fortress?" she asks aloud.
Should we camp for the night out here before going in, or do you guys want to go in and find some shelter within the walls?
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"Wow, that is....incredible...and likely ancient!" Rhiannon says with a hushed tone, clearly amazed by the structure and the primeval forest around it.
"I would think it safer to camp out here and begin exploring it in the morning." she suggests. "Whatever little light there is inside would be better than nothing.
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"I agree that we should rest after our travels, clearing out this keep well rested will be much easier than trying to do it tired. Does anyone have any preferences for spells for tomorrow?" kalaman says after the camp is done getting set up, and everyone is settling down and he is getting ready to study his spell book for the next day.
In answer to your question, Celebeth, it looks to me like it pre-dates the Taldane explorations in this area.
Older than Taldane, but as for exactly who and what, really no idea, sorry.
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Celebeth tosses down her pack as the sun is setting and starts pulling out her incongruously long tent poles.
"I like the hanging moss," she says. "Probably no good for the structural integrity, though."
She pauses in assembling her tent and then says, "Critters tend to wind up inhabiting these places, for shelter. I can sneak in and take a peek tomorrow, see if I spot any tracks or remains. We should probably start with those towers before going inside the main structure."
Sounds like a good plan.
Azen helps her sister set up the tent, and then clears ground and gathers firewood for their night in the woods. She was looking forward to this. Old structures fascinated her.
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Garathane looks at the wood in Azen's hand and offers a suggestion. "If we want a warm camp, we may want to retreat a bit from the spooky old ruin. I'm simply not in a mood to receive visitors tonight."
Heeding the advice of Garethane, the party sets up camp some twenty minutes away from the keep. The night is cool and misty, making for a less than pleasant evening when you are not in your tents, but otherwise uneventful.
The morning comes with overcast skies and a light drizzel, as far as you can see anyway with the rather mature forest canopy in the area.
After a decent breakfast, you break camp and head back for the keep. As you approach, you see the same open archway door in the eastern wall as you saw last night. Additionally, you see that the keep’s exterior walls and those of the flanking towers are built of 5-foot-thick stone and are 20 feet high.
The keep’s southern wall has been breached, creating a rubble-choked opening leading inside.
Peering inside the walls, from either the opening, you see that a graceful tower rises out of the keep’s central courtyard, now overgrown with bushes, undergrowth, and several sizable trees. Like the outer walls, the tower is draped with vines and creepers, and several small plants have taken up residence on ledges and in cracks along its sides.
Azen approaches the eastern archway to take a look. It looks like the easiest way, but it could be warded or something, so she tries to be cautious. She casts Detect Magic and takes a thorough look. If it seems safe, she moves into the inner courtyard.
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Celebeth joins her sister, applying her keen eye for hazards as she scans the underbrush, the stonework, and the hanging ivy.
Following the sisters as they sweep the area for traps or dangerous magic, Rhiannon keeps a wary eye out for any signs of danger, ready to place herself in front of any threat.
Kalaman will follow rhiannon with his blade drawn, keeping his eyes out for additional threats, as well
And almost trips over his own feet, not seeing them until it was almost too late
Since I am the only one that moved on the map, let's say I started out ahead, and we begin single file.
Azen ins just about the cross the threshold of the archway when she catches sight of switch on the interior side of the doorway.
Thinking that a bit odd, she glances up to see the iron spikes of a portcullis gate, waiting to drop on any poor soul that crosses the entry way without first triggering the switch.
Azen will cast mage hand and have the hand appear by the switch, then switch it. She will not stand under the portcullis or let anyone else go through until she sees that it is safe.
She will also ask Celebeth:
Can you disable the trap so it doesn't reset and harm anyone else?
Garathane will cast Greensight and Barkskin prior to taking the rear position, guarding the back of the head of state with bow ready.
"Mmmaybe," says Celebeth. "Depends on how it's set up."
She starts with detect magic to see if there's a magical trigger of some sort, then kneels down to comb the ground for signs of a physical trigger like a snare, noose, wire, vine, or the like. If both of those turn up empty she slowly works her way up the outside of the gate-frame, looking for anything that could connect to the portcullis.
"Here. There's a pressure trigger of some kind, disguised with magic. It's um... I don't know if pressing it locks the gate, or makes it fall. If everyone wants to step back I can push the button and see what happens. If the gate falls, of course, we'll have to break through it somehow, or go into a different tower," explains Celebeth.
"And why would a trap like this be kept working if there's nobody to keep it up? I have a bad feeling about this."
As the team discusses what to do about it, she casts mage armor.
When Celebeth presses down on the pressure plate, nothing happens. Apparently, the trap was deactivated, at least temporarily, when Azen triggered switch on the wall via mage hand.
"I guess it's set for now. Assuming someone outside doesn't trigger it."
You can't make it so it won't reset though? I turned it off for now. Just not sure how long it will last.
Well, better get through quickly.
She walks through and motions to the others.
"Not sure. I'd have to disassemble it, probably. Would take a while, and make a lot of noise, as I'd have to remove some of the stonework," says Celebeth.
"Well we know it's here, so if we go through now we're aware of it on the way out, and can deactivate it again if it resets." Rhiannon reasons. "Besides, it might not be a bad thing if anything that follows us in triggers something like this. At the very least we'll have a warning...I can't imagine that dropping down quietly."
Yeah, that makes sense. I was just thinking of children playing around and running into something like that. But we definitely don't have time to move stonework right now. Maybe it would be easier to just destroy it... on the way out of course.
Seeing the trap, kalaman takes a second to cast shield in preparation for whatever fight was coming
The group hustles through the archway into the inner courtyard of the keep. Massive vines and all other manner of undergrowth make traversing the courtyard a chore at best.
"If someone is still here, they oughta trim their hedges," quips Celebeth. "I'm gonna check out one of the towers, see the sights."
She turns to examine the southern tower.
Fighting your way through the overgrowth, you find yourselves in front of the southeast tower. A wooden door made from roughly-cut timber planks, obviously of newer construction than the rest of the keep, blocks the entrance to this tower.
The 40-foot-tall southeast tower is also missing its roof, but interwoven, leafy vines and the forest canopy above provide a ceiling of sorts.
The Elf whispers to the party, "Do we assume hostility and go for the ambush, or just knock like normal visitors? The new door doesn't scream monster lair."
I think without a roof you would usually assume that it is uninhabited, and walk in... but trying to figure out how new this door is.
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Looking over the rough-hewn door, your best guess is that it was installed sometime in the last few years.
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"I'll check it for traps."
You find no traps.