Doug M's Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

Get the poor thing some pajamas! She must be shivering.

Sorry for the slow posting. Flew from Chicago to Boston, spent several hours doing an inspection on what will hopefully be our new home. Then flew back to Chicago arriving home at 12:00. Got 4 hours of sleep before being awakened by thunderstorms. In3 hours, we got close to 6 inches of rain. I spent most of the 3 hours outside pushing water away from our basement so that our incompetent sump pump could keep. Had moderate success. We got a little water in the basement, but FAR less than other storms with less rain, so I think my jury rigged water diversion was very successful. Just need to make it taller so that no manual labor is required next time.

Or, to put it another way, I am exhausted and will attempt to get something up, but have over 100 posts to read through at this point.

No worries, Judge. We'll wait for you.

FB post from a friend who was at the Supreme Court this morning: "OMG so many cute guys here".

Gotta love a man who wears robes to work.

Pretty sure she was referring to the crowd outside...

Considering what was put forth before the high court today, I would guess 90 percent of those men were gay. Explaining their good grooming.

I saw this on another thread and and wanted to share.

This is how it will go Zimu

Rd 1 Xenfal does something useful

Rd 2 DM Crits Xenfal and he dies.

I think it is a habit forming thing with him :)

ratfolk gunslinger, kobold gunslinger, Fetchling Alchemist, Wayang Bard, Kobold Bard perhaps?

I'm thinking we could use a Bugbear bard.

There'll never be a boss fight that you have more time to think about and prepare for.

This is true. We do need to plan for this.

Can we compile what we learned from the captain today?

Captain Notes:
He heals stupid fast in water--don't fight near water.
He has some kind of aura?
He is the CHAMPION OF A LEGENDARY MONSTER.
I think we should poison him and make substantial use of pre-buffing.

'Zerker.

Remove any water from his area before combat.

May be anti paladin?

Can you share what the captain did and said on deck so I can make some Knowledge rolls?

Jax, Xen or perhaps Edmin, I am working the next two days outside of the city, please feel free to use my character to ask the halfling bard useful information.

DM please don't advance the story too much for a day, I'll be back late Sunday, early Monday.

Going back on a few pages of posts I realized I may not had a chance to share this about the captain -

Under scrutiny of Detect Magic he is revealed to have

(1) A ring on his finger. Faint green glow, aura of transmutation.

(2) A flask at his belt contains a potion, oil, or some other magical liquid. Faint yellow, abjuration.

(3) He has something under his armor, in the chest area, that radiates another faint green transmutation aura. (Bingo - now what is it)

(4) He's carrying something in a belt pouch that radiates a brighter purple glow -- moderate evocation. (what could this be?)

He must have items in his room as well. I am actually very interested on any notes or correspondence he may have in his quarters.

and he has a magic axe and magic trident

cant wait to kill this guy

By the way, did we ever search the area Bag O Bones had as living space?

Did we get any items of use from him?

we did but we did not find anything.

At least that is what I understand

Correct.

Guys I know we all wish for the best, but we need to plan how to get the captain to shore, and once he is there, how we can deal with him without losing half of us in the process.

I have put this up several times. He likes to drink. Edmin is a good drinker. The captain is greedy as hell (or maybe the abyss). The captain does not drink on the ship. Thus, after we drop off the equipment to the bugbears, we get a big series of bets going on who can drink more, the captain or Edmin. This should take place on land since that is where the captain drinks.

If someone has a better idea, please post it. This might need some tweaking, but I think should work with the assets we have and the knowledge we have gained.

Then let's float the idea then. We start mentioning a 'celebration' of sorts when we arrive, call it a tradition.

But I really don't think drinking alone will get him off the ship. I assume that was when he is on the docks.

So we get him to the shoreline, what then? We need a feasible way of getting him further inland.

Once inland, what next? Perhaps Summon your entire repertoire and hope we survive long enough to take him out?

Possible weakness, he can't fly.

He is GREEDY.

Also we could use your Summoned creatures to look like we were being attacked, as a group, then when he starts defending himself we all focus on him.

I think if we are not careful he could take out half of us in as many rounds.

He does not heal on land, at least that is my understanding. This is not a celebration, it is a bet. Look at the risk he just took to get a couple of hundred gold. So we put up something of real value. Say Edmin's axe. The Captain puts up his trident. Now we have a good wager. The drinking takes place on the shore once we are off - we don't want drinking on the ship now do we. Will have to work on the reasoning for the bout to take place on shore.

It would be nice if we could make level 4 before the fight as I would like to be able to cast Haste, it is a game changer. If you can memorize buffing spells, that helps as well. Then we see how it plays out. Our orders are to see him dead, and all his crew as well. Unless you want the Cardinal and all of Talingarde on our tails, we need to make sure that he does not sail away.

So we put up something of real value. Say Edmin's axe. The Captain puts up his trident. Now we have a good wager. The drinking takes place on the shore once we are off - have to work on the reasoning for the bout to take place on shore.

That is my fear.

What stops him from taking anything we have of value once he realizes it's value, he does not need to play a betting game, furthermore, that does not guarantee he heads further inland when we dock.

It would be nice if we could make level 4 before the fight as I would like to be able to cast Haste, it is a game changer.

You can cast Haste at level 4?

Sexy.

so I steal something os his when we get on lanf I whip it out of my haversack and taunt him with it. He will comw

Couple of points.

1) You'll be at the bugbear camp soon. You'll probably make level four before you leave there.

2) The Frosthamar will take you from the bugbear camp to your final destination -- a wilderness road on the south shores of the northern lake. Captain Odenkirk's instructions are to drop you off there. That's pretty much Zero Hour. You can't easily kill him before that, because you can't sail the ship, and after that he sails away.

3) Any plan that relies on your target doing X should be carefully calculated to produce the maximum likelihood of your target doing X.

4) Finally, note that failure is an option! Of course, it's a bad option. Judge, you're the leader, so you can reasonably expect the Cardinal's wrath to fall on you first and foremost. Edmin got off easy because you guys were still novices. The Cardinal's not really the sort to show mercy twice.

2) The Frosthamar will take you from the bugbear camp to your final destination -- a wilderness road on the south shores of the northern lake. Captain Odenkirk's instructions are to drop you off there. That's pretty much Zero Hour. You can't easily kill him before that, because you can't sail the ship, and after that he sails away.

My main thought is I have a sneaking suspicion the captain may try something between those points. Also I had thought we could use the first mate to sail the ship if we tried before the second destination.

That is no longer an option.

We may need to plan this combat out a little more than normal.
Grease his axe, use command and confusion on him. Fighters attack with buffing spells. Have several summons ready.
If we can ambush him, I think we have a pretty good shot of killing him without a death...but a lot depends on getting the ambush.

As far as we have seen, does the captain have darkvision? Meaning have we seen him move around in darkness without hinderance?

As far as we have seen, does the captain have darkvision? Meaning have we seen him move around in darkness without hinderance?

Good question. No, you haven't.

The captain seems to have good Will saves.

He also has up to three attacks, very worrisome.

I don't think I made a Knowledge roll for the Kraken, I would like to try, and get Guidance from Dren if I am allowed.

What Knowledge would I need for our Bugbear 'allies' by the way?

I can start the fight by hitting him w touch of gracelessness, even if he saves he still takes dex damage

if he fails he takes more and can't move over half speed

Activity will be very sparse this week, on vacation with not internet unless I come to town. Sorry, will be able to post tomorrow afternoon and early Wed morn but probably not again til Friday night.

I had tried to post this yesterday morning and it seems to not have taken.

Please bot me if needed.

Starting tomorrow (early Wednesday morning US time) I'm flying home to Germany for the long 4th of July weekend. My posting will also be sparse through Monday night, though I'll try to get online at least once per day.

Also, Zimu, in case you missed it, you got invited into the cutscene. Feel free to jump in.

Also-also, in honor of the recently concluded NBA playoffs I think I have to post this: http://mightygodking.com/images/ac-nba.jpg

all of them are good, but CG, LN, CN and LE are perfect.

man! Xenfal never gets invited to anything!

Fair point. I need to do something special for Xenfal.

Hmm.

lol xen is goin to die lol

Also-also, in honor of the recently concluded NBA playoffs I think I have to post this: http://mightygodking.com/images/ac-nba.jpg

all of them are good, but CG, LN, CN and LE are perfect.

Hmmm - interesting that the only white guy is CE.

Dude. That's Bill Laimbeer, the guy so evil he got his own video game.

"Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball is a futuristic basketball video game released in 1991 by Hudson Soft for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System... The game stars Bill Laimbeer, who played for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA during a time when the team was notorious for aggressive and physical play.

"The game takes place in the year 2030. Bill Laimbeer has become commissioner of a basketball league, fired the referees and created a style of play without rules. There are no fouls and use of weapons is perfectly legal. Unlike in real basketball, players can physically check each other on the court without the threat of personal or team fouls. Destructive items such as bombs frequently appear on the court..."

or consider Laimbeer's official biography at NBA.com:

"In 14 bruising NBA seasons Laimbeer made up for his minuscule vertical leap, slow feet, and sluggishness by becoming a master of posturing, muscling, and anticipating -- plus fomenting trouble, pretending to be fouled, and drawing his opponents' ire. Laimbeer always seemed to be nursing a brawl-induced shiner or broken nose. He was punched by some of the league's best players, including Robert Parish, including Bob Lanier, including Larry Bird and including Charles Barkley. "We don't like him that good," Bird once told Sports Illustrated.

"The Laimbeer "flop" became the stuff of legend. A grimacing Laimbeer would often go careening to the floor in reaction to the slightest tap from an opponent. More often than not, the whistle went his way..."

-- though it does go on to acknowledge that Laimbeer was a world-class center, a four-time All-Star, and one of the very few players to amass 10,000 points and 10,000 rebounds. (He's basically the guy who taught Rodman to rebound.)

It's been 20+ years since he retired, and no star-level NBA player has yet matched his record of obnoxious behavior on the court. No player that good has behaved so badly. So I'd say the "CE" label is both funny and spot on.

Doug M.

That's..an impressive history, Doug. I don't think I've ever been interested in an NBA player until now! (Totally a soccer fan)

DM, at some point during the journey, Jax would like to get ahold of a candle or other wax (sealing wask on casks or food maybe?) to make a pair of ear plugs. The intent behind this is to keep him from audibly hearing Nimpy's Will-inducing magic after/during the Captain Odenkirk fight.

Jax may have jumped the crossbow a little but he and I were basically thinking the same thing, and I have Invisibility to help our halfling ally to get off the ship. He may have Minor Image that would be a help too.

I was thinking that after long torment on board the ship, if the halfling's singing, would be the signal to attack the captain once we were well inland, that would be a very Rains of Castemere moment.

Hot.

While I realize DM is merrily trying to kill us, I have to say I am blown away at the level of his story.

So kudos to him.

And I feel somewhat cheated now about all those spoilers I missed reading.

Holiday weekend coming up, so several of us will have limited posting. That's okay. Post when you can, and we'll try to pick up the pace when we're all back online next week.