I wonder if it might be possible to strengthen the Heart of Kazad Gravr somehow. You know, so it doesn't collapse on our heads?
Doesn’t Fyrtor have stone shape prepared?
I do. Idk if it would work or not, and getting up that high isn't easy though.
Apologies. I know what I want to do, but I seem to have trouble expressing it.
I am trying to get a post up, but find myself unable to compose it in a way that seems up to par.
Sympathies. I feel that way all the time.
Apologies. I know what I want to do, but I seem to have trouble expressing it.
I am trying to get a post up, but find myself unable to compose it in a way that seems up to par.
I know the feeling.
I know the feeling.Apologies. I know what I want to do, but I seem to have trouble expressing it.
I am trying to get a post up, but find myself unable to compose it in a way that seems up to par.
Really? I feel like you always do such a good job of writing. I especially love how having the spirits to consult with allows for such detailed and lengthy internal conversations. I makes me super excited to try to do something similar when one day I get to play the phantom blade I've been itching to play.
As a note I am constantly challenged to do better in my writing by this group. It's awesome to be playing with such talented writers.
Really? I feel like you always do such a good job of writing. I especially love how having the spirits to consult with allows for such detailed and lengthy internal conversations. I makes me super excited to try to do something similar when one day I get to play the phantom blade I've been itching to play.
I'm honored that you hold my writing in such esteem!
I spent a fair chunk of time trying to write more than that one sentence - had links and quotes and everything - but I couldn't get it to read right.
I’ve tried a similar character. Didn’t manage to execute it nearly as well. Much respect to Brolin for pulling it off.
Aye, what they said.
You are all great, but I was particularly impressed by both Brolin and Mel, even while reading along before joining, and you've done nothing to make me revise that opinion.
(Thats a subjective opinion - their style just impresses me! Kazador and Fyrtor are great and interesting characters as well but with a different - not worse - writing style.)
Matter of fact, I consider myself the inferior writer there, and am happy you guys let me tag along!
At least my dice rolls are great so I guess I can be the mascot?
Don't be too down on yourself, Turion. I particularly love your writing as Nelly. Really, I think I'm the least interesting writer here as I often focus on an update that moves the game forward instead of providing all the mechanical and flavorful description that I should. But given that this game (first PBP I ever started) is still going strong, I think that focusing on momentum works ok for me.
GM, how many crates are there?
I'm trying to figure out how on earth we're going to get them out of here.
Three crates. They're meant to equip a small army.
If we rest I can cast ant haul several times. Mount would work too if Turion happens to have it. I hope our ship is still there, or this is going to be a very long journey back...
Hrm. Let's see. A standard steel chain shirt weighs 25 pounds. A dwarven waraxe weighs 8 pounds. The crates weigh 400 pounds each.
Mel does math.
Assuming it's a chain shirt/axe combo and that each box weighs 4 pounds empty, we have 12 sets per box, for a total of 36. Which not enough to equip a Small sized army per mass combat rules. The best we can manage is Tiny (25 creatures) with some spare gear.
Unless it's made of mithral. Hrm.
Mel does more math.
If we assume mithral chain shirts and mithral dwarven waraxes and 4 pounds per box empty weight, we have 24 sets per box for 72 total, which would handily equip a Small army of dwarves, and almost an extra Tiny one.
I rather doubt the GM would do that, though, as the resulting giant heap of mithral would be worth 369,360 gp on the open market, and that might be too much temptation even for an upright group of non-murder-hobos like us.
I think I hear the GM yelling "THE POWER OF PLOT COMPELS YOU! THE POWER OF PLOT COMPELS YOU!"
Well, if you have a mix of other lighter weapons you should be able to bring the numbers up. Plus who says there aren't lighter armors like studded leather mixed in? Hmmm we should probably take a closer look though... Just to be sure.
You’re assuming full sets. It might well be boxes specialist weapons. The kinds that weapon familiarity would be needed for. With a few suits of armor for officers. It would go with the assumption that any Dwarven colony would be able to give themselves the basics.
You are all great, but I was particularly impressed by both Brolin and Mel, even while reading along before joining, and you've done nothing to make me revise that opinion.
Ach, if y'all maintain this level of flattery my ego will swell until it bursts. A burst ego is unpleasant all around - someone might trip on it. Seriously, though, Turion - in putting me in the same class of writer as Mel you made my day. I'll second what Fyrtor wrote upthread, that being in this group is a challenge to improve as an author, and that it's awesome to be in a group of wordsmiths of such calibre. Fyrtor and Turion were quick to self-efface, but the both of your characters are amazing. And don't be down on yourself, GM Brookside - take it from this player that you're doing everything right!
I'm trying to figure out how on earth we're going to get them out of here.
If we rest I can cast ant haul several times. Mount would work too if Turion happens to have it. I hope our ship is still there, or this is going to be a very long journey back...
The Sonder sailed back to Helm for repairs, and won't be coming back for us for weeks at least (that's how long it took to get to the Serpent Isles, never mind any time spent repairing the actual boat). And even when it does get back to us, it's too big to sail up the river - we'd have to go out to the edge of the ocean to meet it, lugging these crates the whole way. We could load them up on the Concordat ship, but we couldn't crew that by ourselves and it's already been established that necromancy is out of the question.
So, here's a thought. Before our fight with the orcish shaman earlier today, Muse asked Halak politely (and rolled a nineteen on the twenty sided die) that Team Blue take prisoners wherever possible. At the time, Muse didn't know what he'd do with any prisoners taken - "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" he'd thought. Well, Kazad Gravr is clear of Reds and we're now at that bridge.
Muse is level eight and has a high enough Leadership score to take on five more followers. Five followers which, added to the party's crew of seven, should be ample able hands to sail the Redress all the way back to Helm. If the GM permits and the party is agreeable, I'd like to recruit those followers here.
We've seen that orcs are on average higher level than humans (because they fight so frequently and the weak die in droves) but the followers Muse takes on would be level one. These orcs haven't had the chance to level up or be slaughtered, which says to me that they're pretty new to being an orc, probably only twelve to fifteen years old. Muse sees them as kids raised in a highly abusive household, because that's kind of what they are. The sailor's aware of the difficulties of deprogramming nearly half a dozen teenagers born and raised into a murder cult, but he's willing to give it a try.
If GM and party are agreeable, here's what I was thinking for followers:
Cimak Gehd - weak and unconfrontational, while no one was ever willing to teach Cimak how to fight they were still plenty willing to put him on the front lines to maybe soak an arrow meant for someone important. When he realized that the Blues were taking prisoners whenever convenient to them, Cimak laid down his weapon on the logic that his life couldn't get any worse.
Orc Commoner 1
Str 12 Dex 10 Con 10 Int 8 Wis 11 Cha 7
Rask Kunnuan - Impulsive and violent even for an orc, it's unlikely that twelve year old Rask would have made it far in a society that culls most before the age of twenty, and his elders didn't even pretend that he had a future. Filled with hurt and rage, he lashes out at the world around him.
Orc Warrior 1
Str 18, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 4, Cha 8
Iltruur - A half-orc born to a slave and orphaned at a young age, Iltruur strives to be the most orcish of orcs, so no one can deny her place and value in the tribe. Clever and mean, she's methodically cruel to everyone she can get away with coercing, but kowtows to those she knows she can't beat.
Half-Orc Barbarian 1
Str 18 Dex 14 Con 17 Int 7 Wis 11 Cha 11
Mikbignu - Mikbingu was always too empathic for his own good, and squandered any social capital he might have earned for strength and intelligence by going to bat for weaklings and slaves. Though Kazad Gravr was his first time in a raiding party and he's never seen a human 'in the wild', so to speak, since childhood he's felt torn between the human society he's heard stories of and the orc gods he feels he owes everything to.
Orc Fighter 1
Str 19 Dex 12 Con 16 Int 12 Wis 7 Cha 11
Fadren Karak - Not the sharpest light bulb in the barnyard, Fadren Karak is unswervingly loyal to orcish ideals and longs for glorious death in combat. He's good at taking orders (as long as they aren't too complicated) but terrible at executing them.
Orc Warrior 1
Str 21 Dex 8 Con 15 Int 3 Wis 5 Cha 5
Fun idea! Also the idea could dovetale nicely into Fyrtor's missionary of Sarenrae mindset. It would make coming to Port quite the challenge though. And who know what Algric would do. You can know for sure that he'd not be happy about it. Maybe the orcs have some none orc slaves we could trade for as well? A crew of half orcs and previous slaves would be easier to manage.
Aye, we should probably take a look into the crates. Honestly, I expect to find a lot of masterwork weaponry, few armors.
Armor is often made locally, emblazoned with coat-of-arms, and available anyway.
(The guards/militia/etc. will have armors for their duties) - as such, I think what is in the crates is meant as an upgrade.
So either a lot of masterwork weaponry - or magical officer sets.
Easiest to find out if we take a look.
What really annoys me is that usually one of the staple utility spells I pick or try to pick up is Floating Disk.
That said, Nelly has a strenght of 25, and is a large quadruped.
So a heavy load for her is...800x3 or 2400 lbs. She can drag along 5 times that, or 12000 lbs.
(Effectively, we could tie all of them to a rope and it would still be a light load for her, dragging-wise)
I'd just have to explain the importance to her, because normally she would be unwilling to perform the duty of an ox.
@Brolin: as said, personal opinion. The way you handle your spirits is impressive to me - I tried to build a spirit dancer a while ago and settled for something else because there's so much to consider and take care of. The way you handle that class is awesome. Maybe if you were a more mundane...say...swashbuckler, things could be different.
With Mel, it's the fact that I really loved the one Phantom Thief Rogue I had(game folded on the boards) - it fits her humble origins greatly, and I love how she works around that. So in both your cases, it's a combination of great writing and the class. :)
@GM: Don't sell yourself short! That, and I prefer a GM that has a reactive world with believeable characters, and is not trying to read the players a story based on his NPC's. You do great there, just saying there's different expectations for a different role.
@Brolin again: Of course, we could also burn that bridge when we get there. If there's no trouble expected, Fyrtor could also create a couple of his rafts and let us sail downstreams magically, to be picked up by the Sonder eventually. What WERE it's orders? We wouldn't want to be gone on a different ship, and have them wait for us at the mouth of the river when a Concordat war ship with a company of Lothern Sea Guard shows up to see what happened to their first one...
(Then again, it could be fun for a Pathfinder edition of "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes", where their drinking game ends with a lost arm after the dare to "poke the big wolf with a pointy stick"...)
But in all seriousness, it’s a cool idea. I second the half-orc angle, so there won’t be an issue with locals trying to kill them wherever we go. You could also “buy” them from the tribe. Something which they would likely be alright with in principle. That and getting rid of half-orcs in exchange for gold/Weapons is something they may well see as a win.
Fun idea! Also the idea could dovetale nicely into Fyrtor's missionary of Sarenrae mindset.
That's something that I'd already been thinking of! Didn't want to get too ahead of myself, though, as I'd yet to hear how it'd sit with the GM and party.
It would make coming to Port quite the challenge though.
I think that if we dress them up in a coat and hat and don't let them run wild through the streets (Muse would plan on keeping them on/near the Redress for the foreseeable future (he'll write up a contract for them to sign detailing such, as well as that he'll be hanging on to their wages until such a time as he decides to stop - functionally it's not much different than press ganging, but it's well-meaning and the little formalities are important to him.)) people will see that they aren't in the process of raiding anybody.
Maybe the orcs have some none orc slaves we could trade for as well? A crew of half orcs and previous slaves would be easier to manage.
If the Blues have any slaves with them here in Kazad Gravr, we should definitely pool any resources necessary to buy them. :(
If there's no trouble expected, Fyrtor could also create a couple of his rafts and let us sail downstreams magically, to be picked up by the Sonder eventually. What WERE it's orders? We wouldn't want to be gone on a different ship, and have them wait for us at the mouth of the river when a Concordat war ship with a company of Lothern Sea Guard shows up to see what happened to their first one...
I don't think the Sonder has even reached Helm yet, especially considering that it's missing a mast. Heck, if we took the Concordat ship, we might beat them there. Certainly we can reach the capitol before they finish repairs.
If we wait for the Sonder at the mouth of the river, it could be more than a month before they can pick us up. (A week or more to get to Helm, another week to get back here, and then however much time it'd take to repair the boat (GM said earlier that that would take a month, but that was assuming we were doing it on an island instead of in civilization, so it'd probably take less time - maybe two weeks?).)
(Then again, it could be fun for a Pathfinder edition of "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes", where their drinking game ends with a lost arm after the dare to "poke the big wolf with a pointy stick"...)
I'd plan on keeping them clear of both drink and pointy sticks, for the time being. :)
EDIT - misremembered, it took one week to reach the Serpent Isles, not two.
This sounds like a great origin story for a pirate ship.
This sounds like a great origin story for a privateer ship.
Fixed that for you.
I'll get us a letter of Marques and reprisal from Avinoax.It's not piracy if you got a license...then it's just profitable mercenary work as naval auxiliary :)
A commissioned privateer enjoyed the protection and was subject to the obligations of the laws of war. If captured, the crew was entitled to honorable treatment as prisoners of war, while without the licence they were deemed mere pirates "at war with all the world," criminals who were properly hanged
I'm open to the orc crew possibility but I won't guarantee the orcs will go along with it at first.
I'm open to the orc crew possibility but I won't guarantee the orcs will go along with it at first.
:D Wouldn't expect them to.
Great. Just so you understand I'm totally cool with things going that direction but I'm not going to safeguard us against decisions or outcomes that raise problems for the plan. :) Oh the problems there may be...
This could get very interesting. I did not picture us as a crew of privateers, but... character growth you know?
This could get very interesting. I did not picture us as a crew of privateers, but... character growth you know?
I didn't picture this particular party ever attacking civilian ships at the behest of a government either. No plans to turn privateer from this player, at any rate!
This could get very interesting. I did not picture us as a crew of privateers, but... character growth you know?I didn't picture this particular party ever attacking civilian ships at the behest of a government either. No plans to turn privateer from this player, at any rate!
Well...who said something about civilian ships? We would be subcontractors picking our own Targets ;-)
(And technically, you did attack a "civilian vessel" of Pirates on the behest of a government shortly after Meeting Fyrtor......)
Of course, purely speculation, but I think it has some validity to it.
If they were trying to see if there was some hope left, they would attempt to scry on all those they could think of, see if maybe someone raised an army and is marching on the gates, that sort of thing.
If they saw Kazador and the others fighting against the pirates or subsequently sailing for the river mouth, with Kazador urging to make haste for his home, while getting static on all other channels, they may have decided to bet their money on that team.
By creating highly specific items for them, it also works as insurance...even if the Orcs plunder the place, what are the chances they will have a spirit dancer medium with them(for sake of example).
Speaking of that: if there's a Dwarven spirit dancer embedded in it that never quite was satisfied with what was achieved afterwards, I would make a proposition to GM:
The Dwarf Spirit could take a different role from the other spirits already "collected" by Brolin, by being embedded in the item, rather than him(also explains how she gets to "leave" again/change disciples).
I was thinking something like:
Telepathy
Senses 120 feet
Darkvision
Guidance at will
Crafters Fortune 3/day
10 ranks in Craft(Runeforging)
Special Purpose: Defend Dwarves
Dedicated Power: Freedom of Movement
18 Int, 14 Wisdom, 12 Cha
That would be Ego 20 - which makes the Dwarven lady consider herself superior - but still generally cooperative.
@Doing it: Maybe someone faster should pick things up? I understand Kazador wants to be part of it but outrunning a cave-in on those stunted legs?
@Crates: Depends, I think there was a Cloudkill Trap area earlier? Is that still there or did it dissipate? We'll want to only make one trip through if the former.
@Warn: Well, first of all, we'll need to check if we can prop up the lever into a fixed "open" position. Otherwise whoever holds the door open is unlikely to make it out in time.
@Grabstuff: Túrion would add a haste to those involved, for the added movement speed. Won't help in the Antimagic Field, but may give some help before and after.
@Running: I'd like to add that Túrion is fleet-footed...I got Run as a Bonus Feat. I can take Kazadors place and retrieve the Helmet, if Kazador is up for some Legolas/Gimli Broship.
(I totally understand HE wants to do it, but it would be the smarter variant...)
It would be MUCH smarter for you to do it. But Kazador still insists. If anyone is going to destroy the heart of Kazad Gravr, it is going to be him.
The lever won't stay propped up on its own.
I'm game for that intelligent item. Might scale it back if necessary.
Whoa whoa whoa, hold on. I've got multiple questions before we do this.
1) How much of the place is likely to collapse? Is it:
A) Just the room?
B) The room plus part of the hallway?
C) The entire vault area?
D) The whole of Kazad Gravr?
E) Reality as we know it?
Some Knowledge (Engineering) checks would seem to be in order. Here's Mel's.
2) Why can't the lever be propped up? I've put a diagram of my understanding of what the lever is like in the maps slide show -- it's the second slide currently. If I've understood correctly, there's a slot in the wall with a lever sticking out of it. When the lever is down, the door is closed. When the lever is up, the door is open. The lever is heavy, or attached to a weight somewhere behind the wall, so that its natural resting position is down (closed).
Did I miss something? Why can't we just salvage some furniture or something from down the hall in Kazad Gravr and stick it in there to hold the lever in an "up" position?
1. Mel isn't sure but it seems like it will be more than just the current chamber but less than reality as a whole.
2. The lever pushes down pretty hard such that a really significant pile of furniture would be required to hold it up stably. You could do that but it would require additional moving back and forth through the cloudkill trap that Turion just mentioned. You do have a pretty accurate grasp of the lever situation, though.
So, stoneshape a custum prop and carry to place?
That would do the trick nicely.
Ok I'll post something here soon. I expect that a fairly low knowledge engineering check will be required. Could Mel aid that check? Probably by giving guidence to Fyrtor as he shapes the stone?
Sure thing. She has some string. She would go measure how high and wide it needs to be, cutting off lengths of string equal to the height and width it needs to be. Just a rectangular solid should be fine, maybe with a semicircular notch at the top for the lever to slot into.
Sorry to ruin GM plans, but I am glad we don't have to draw straws for who's going to risk death.
Players: ruining GM plotlines the world over...
Could be worse. My co-worker was once in a game of Star Wars d20, and the party had been instructed to go to a particular planet and find evidence of Imperial activity there.
Coming out of hyperspace in their stealth ship, they immediately noted a pair of Imperial cruisers in orbit. "Well, they've gotta be here," says one player. "The ships in orbit are a dead giveaway."
Their scanners picked up a small settlement down on the surface.
"You know ..." said their outlaw type, "I bet we could take over one of those cruisers, shoot down the other one, and then take the ship back as proof. The computer would have data showing it was here, and probably tell us all their plans."
The GM got very quiet.
"Yeah! That sounds cool!" said their Jedi. "Haven't we got a crate of explosives back in storage?"
The party discussed it, quickly coming up with a ballsy -- but doable -- plan. And so finally the GM sighs, picks up an enormous three-ring binder full of adventure notes, turns to one side, and drops the entire thing to the floor with a thump. "All right," he said tiredly. "Somebody look up hull stats for an Imperial cruiser."
They successfully managed to sneak on board, disable the hull breach alarms, and then vent the ship's atmosphere into space. After that it was a simple matter of a quick fight against the few ship's crew who managed to figure out what was going on and get to their space suits, then turn the ship's weapons on their unsuspecting sister ship and send it spiraling down to the planet as a flaming ball of wreckage, along with the GM's entire adventure.
That is an incredibly dedicated GM who would first to spend so much time building a campaign, and second to allow players to completely invalidate all of that work. I mean as a player I'd feel bad and want to change my plan rather than put a GM through that. I'm all for novel solutions and such, but that's just too much.
I mean, yeah. I'd rate that as a -1 on the Henderson Scale of Plot Derailment.
Well, nobody would have accepted a dead mans switch, I think.
At worst, since magic started working again in the area, we could have tried using elementals...(Earth and/or Aether, specifically)
@Plot Derailment: My players were professionals at that.
To the point that I made a reactive world.
Loose overall plot points for the overarching story, and several "chessmasters" moving pieces on the board. That allowed me to shape the plot dynamically and still give it consistency.
And a believable in-game-delay for working out details on how to deal with their latest plot breach.
They were supposed to find out the border raid was really a false flag operation by a third nation - instead they rallied the local militia and started a war...playing perfectly into the hands of the one who plotted it.
The prince is usurping the throne, king is murdered, and the chancellor sends the party away to escort the princess to petition her betrothed for help before she is killed? 2 of the party members work in concert to try and have a threesome with her and they decide her future husband is likely in on the whole usurping thing and instead take her cross-country to a far away nation.
They defeat a Blackguard, finding he was only a wasting shell, his adamantine runesword an intelligent item with the purpose to end all life having utterly destroyed his personality after dominating his ego. (Similar to that but predating it a few years. They are supposed to find a way to destroy this most evil artifact - and inmediately check who has the best will save/bab combination to try and wield it.
Just rolling with it, at some point, seemed so much easier than trying to get things back on track. If I prepared something in detail(a dungeon) and they pass it up(or fail to figure out the hook) then it simply gets used at some other point...
As a GM I’d let the players do that, and then use the lost notes to make the group’s next adventure.
Oh, my players got to do whatever they wanted. It just had very real effects on the world. :D
Well the dead man's switch is in the antimagic field. Magic works in the final vault itself but not in the AMF area. I could have been much more careful with the switch design but we don't need it to be a dead man switch so all's well.
Aye, but the final vault itself could still use summons. Earth elementals may be able to pass an item through the doorway, or alternatively make their way around the AMF to the area beyond where it works(or, depending on geography tell them to rush straight up and pick the stuff up at the surface). So we could summon them, wait for the guy holding the lever to arrive, then tell them to grab stuff and start moving.
Alternatively, get some more XP for a Levelup, then return with new tools in the arsenal :/
I doubt we would have left someone behind even if there was a volunteer NPC. *looks at Algric and Kelian*
Well, the Magister of Divination undoubtedly will do that. He may have some unexpected difficulty with that, because Mel put both dead wizards in the anti-magic field immediately after the fight. Any divination spell targeting either of them directly is going to just fail.
I don't think the GM anticipated that. There was a little bit of sputtering in his next post after I did it, as I recall. That made me happy.
There are doubtless other spells that will continue to work normally -- divinations that do not target those two wizards directly should work. And there's nothing preventing them from mounting another expedition to learn his fate (I hope so, I want them to waste time and resources!). But at least it'll slow them down a bit.
Moving on!
So we've propped open the door, and moved the crates out of the room, as far back as the edge of the Cloudkill zone.
GM, how wide was the cloudkill zone again? Could we tie ropes around the crates and haul them across to is, in order to minimize exposure to poisonous gas?
And then all that's left is for Kazador to grab the items and run like heck. A haste spell would be great if we happen to have one left. It wouldn't help in the AMF part of course, but should keep working in the main chamber and once he passes the AMF on the other side.
And then we just have to figure out how we're getting out of Kazad Gravr with three gigantic crates when the place is crawling with orcs ...