Doug M's Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

What items can we carry? Is there a danger if we take the warded box?

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If the group goes with the plan. Again I am waiting for what the group thinks.

Instruct the guard at the door to escort the group to where we want to go.

Then tell him to deliver a verbal message to the commander to meet either here in the magister's rooms OR in the commander's rooms on a specified time we think we can return as a group (which do we want to tell the guard, please pick one). Call it 30 minutes? Suggestions?

After the guard is to return to his post here. Until then the guard is not to let anyone in.

Bluff as the voice of the magister 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

I will go with what the group wants though.

Alternatively we can tell the guard to escort us to meet the others then escort us to the commander, Charm Person him first of course.

I suggested 30 minutes, feel free to give me another time use, I was just suggesting please feel free to fill the blanks or options.

A. If the guard tells the commander we have left the fort its one less thing the commander has to worry about, thinking we have left, the magister can now focus on a cure.

B. This way we regroup and know where the commander is if we specify the magister will meet him there.

C. This way no one comes to see how the magister is doing for 30 + minutes. It buys us time.

D. I am open to other suggestions of what the guard can relay to the commander.

Did you see my post on the items? What can we carry and what can Disable Device on the ward, or is that a Rogue only skill?

If Cy, Dren and Edmin want to take on the Commander, that is fine. It is suicide and all our plans will likely fail, but it is their choice. Yes, we might get very lucky, but I doubt it. The Commander is a Paladin and likely level 7-10, possibly higher. We do not have to kill him. We just have to disable to fort enough to get the bugbears in.

Judge read A and B.

We need time to meet and regroup (group meaning all of us) then find the commander, hopefully in an area where and when we asked him to meet the magister.

I repeat what I have said several times. Our goal is not killing the Commander, although he probably has some nice equipment. It is to get the portcullis and gate open. We have more than weakened the defenses of the fort, we just need to get the bugbears in now.

Does it look like the Magister was currently brewing something?

If so we will add some noxious things to the mixture to make is spoiled or is it in the Cauldron we are going to take? Can we fit it in the haversack?

Cy, it would be nice to take out the commander but we should get out and re-group with the others. Let's just have the guard give the commander a message from me once he has escorted us out.
I need to run an errand outside of the Tower for a few hours and will be back as soon as I can.
What do you think? It will just add more confusion to the tower.

Dren will draw the curtain closed again for the Golem so it doesn't see me transform back into my original form.

The plan being everyone will be leaving, the magister will give him the message and realize the Lady is still in the room. He will remind her it is time to leave, walk back into the room and a few seconds later Lady Sackville will exit waving goodbye to the Magister.

Does it look like the Magister was currently brewing something?

I posted a craft (Alchemy) spoiler a while back to figure out what he was up to. Don't think anyone made it.

The plan being everyone will be leaving, the magister will give him the message and realize the Lady is still in the room. He will remind her it is time to leave, walk back into the room and a few seconds later Lady Sackville will exit waving goodbye to the Magister.

Cute. Okay, that'll require a Bluff check to fool the guard. (So, you're not planning to charm him, then.)

What items can we carry? Is there a danger if we take the warded box?

Maybe?

Here's the guard's Sense Motive roll: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18. If your Bluff beats that, you're safe and away.

I repeat what I have said several times. Our goal is not killing the Commander, although he probably has some nice equipment.

Forgive me, I am not thinking about equipment here. I think the commander is a key factor of the fort's defense*. If he falls we can take command as the commander and the magister. If he survives he will actively make use of the defenses, rally the troops and will hinder all our efforts. He has to fall.

He must be dealt with. Remember Jax girlfriend's reading

Know your enemies. Stealth is your tool. Know your enemies. Poison is your tool. Know your enemies. Trickery is your tool.
Your champion is your champion. When you face the White Hero, all of you must fight. But put him to the fore and strengthen him with your magic. If he strikes first, you will prevail.

*To be honest I think we may have missed an opportunity with dealing with the dwarves.

I posted a craft (Alchemy) spoiler a while back to figure out what he was up to. Don't think anyone made it.

Craft (Alchemy) 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Cуровую made a Craft Alchemy 26 when you asked to make the roll, failed the Heal check though.

It was

That rich smell in the air? It's the stew. He has a sample of it in the kettle, and he's distilling and testing it. He'll certainly find the arsenic, and if he's good enough he may detect the presence of the Waters as well.

At DC 18 - the magister is almost finished. In fact, if he goes and looks carefully right now he'll probably spot the presence of the arsenic, and maybe the Waters too. Certainly he'll have conclusive results within a few minutes. (Presumably this is why he "may have to report to the Commander" shortly

Cy, it would be nice to take out the commander but we should get out and re-group with the others. Let's just have the guard give the commander a message from me once he has escorted us out.

The Judge and Dren misunderstood, my suggestion was we leave to meet the group, then head head to the commander, in other words we are in full agreement, we REGROUP. All I wanted to do was have the commander to believe we left so that he no longer thinks we are a distraction to the magister, that the commander be in a FIXED location we can find him and not searching out the magister and discovering his death while we prepare.

DM I had already rolled to Bluff

What items can we carry? Is there a danger if we take the warded box?

-

If the group goes with the plan. Again I am waiting for what the group thinks.

Instruct the guard at the door to escort the group to where we want to go.

Then tell the guard to deliver a verbal message to the commander to meet either here in the magister's rooms OR in the commander's rooms on a specified time we think we can return as a group (which do we want to tell the guard, please pick one). Call it 30 minutes? Suggestions? (I only say 30 minutes to buy us time, we can seek the commander out before then.)

After the guard is to return to his post here. Until then the guard is not to let anyone in.

Bluff as the voice of the magister 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

I will go with what the group wants though.

Alternatively we can tell the guard to escort us to meet the others then escort us to the commander, Charm Person him first of course.

I need to run an errand outside of the Tower for a few hours and will be back as soon as I can.

What do you think? It will just add more confusion to the tower.[/b]

Dren will draw the curtain closed again for the Golem so it doesn't see me transform back into my original form.

Suggestion please don't put the tarp back. The golem will guard the room. Let him.

Dren please read any of my four posts. The 'magister' does NOT want to pretend to leave the fort. That will arouse more suspicion, we simply have the guard carry a request and state the magister needs 30 minutes and then he will meet the commander with full results. It keeps the commander in a fixed position and it will explain why the magister himself cut the meeting with the Lady short, Cуровую already Bluffed.

That's fine, I think it will be difficult to get back to the magister's room in that time and the commander may decide not to wait and go find him early to find him not there. Who really knows what will happen.
We go with Cy's message, maybe we will get lucky or it will just cause more confusion when he is not there or the Golem attacks and uses up some of the forts men or resources.

The 'voice of the magister' already made an attempt to Bluff.

To speed things along.

'Soldier, the magister is terribly busy, we will return when he is not distracted.'

'Cellia' then discreetly whispers, 'My Lady is particularly not accustomed to having her meetings cut short nor to be kept waiting for to be escorted. Five pieces of gold will go to you if you we hurry now. For both our sakes soldier.

Bluff 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28

Perception for the walk for anything of note 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

No, it was a different bluff for the he-goes-in-she-goes-out routine. But anyway, it appears the guard is bamboozled.

You can keep your gold -- the lawful good soldier doesn't take bribes (or tips for doing his job).

Okay, so... you are forging a message to the Commander asking him to wait for the Magister, because he'll have results in 30 minutes? Do I have that right?

Perception for the walk for anything of note d20 +10

1d100 ⇒ 51

The dwarves are busy working on something in Area 34. You can't make out the details, but there's some sort of mechanism around the door. They seem to be doing maintenance on it.

Not a written message rather a verbal one from the 'magister' to the commander.

The verbal message to be delivered by the guard after he tells the commander the guests have left

Your pardon commander, I needed to send the Lady away early, I think I am on the verge of a cure and I CAN NOT have distractions for at least 30 minutes or so. I will meet them after out trials have passed. I will seek you out in your chambers well within the hour.

To be added to this is a rather cold and harsh verbal reprimand from the Lady Sackville for hurrying her along, Are all men of the north bores and brutes? This would certainly not stand in the capital! Now I know why these men were sent far along the border region ...

Snort.

Okay, ten minutes later you're all back together in the tunnel. Now what?

Now the Talingarde town named Balentyne, jewel of the north ... dies.

Heh.

Question #1: come straight in from the cellar, or do the set-the-town-on-fire thing fist?

Seek out the commander. Remove ravens from the rookery. Set fire to the town. Signal the bugbears. Then take command and systematically dismantle the remainder of the fort.

Pop the chilled champagne.

Let's be wary of area 32 and the adjoining rooms, the unknown 'celestial' went to there.

The dwarves are busy working on something in Area 34. You can't make out the details, but there's some sort of mechanism around the door. They seem to be doing maintenance on it.

Knowledge Engineering to make a guess at what they were working on 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Nope -- you didn't have enough time to get a good look at it.

Jax is going to start sneaking toward the main halls. Let's just go take out the gates.
1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

There are guards in the next room who will wonder why the door suddenly opened. Let's remove the comander first. Cy will pose as the magister with the hat and command the two guards in the first main room to come to the storage room to help grab a couple of things for the cure he is working on.
We kill them. Edmin and Xen pose as guards while you, me, and the judge go up invisible to the commanders quarters.
If his quarters are guarded I silence the area and Edmin and Xen with Cy kill the guards. We then storm the commanders quarters, the 3 of us still invisible and kill him and then take control of the fort.

Bonus Round

Would you consider Charming a servant have him bring 'corn' to the commander, follow him to locate the commander, and we trigger the device then follow explosion with our attacks?

Hopefully by the time the smoke clears and when guards come to investigate we Disguise ourselves as the commander and magister to address the situation.

Then again we could also play Fireball the guards for extra credit.

When Cy mentions using the statuette in this manner, the Judge shakes his head.
I think that is a poor choice. First, whatever demons are tied to it could easily take control of the charmed person and use that person against us. Second, what if the statuette allows the demons to take control of the commander. While I hate Talingarde and its holy nonsense as much as the rest of you, at least we know what to expect from their lawful goodness. If the statuette should give a demon control, who knows what type of chaos this might lead to. With these fools worshipping Mitra, at least we have a good idea what to expect.

And, finally, remember that we have no clue what this will do if, and when, it activates. It might destroy everything, including us, within a mile. It might just go poof. It might summon demons. We simply do not know which is why I was carefully protecting it to be returned to the Cardinal.

Jax is going to start sneaking toward the main halls. Let's just go take out the gates.

1d20+9

Snerk. Was that a Stealth roll, then?

If I hear no objections, then I'll assume that you've moved out of the passage and up into the storage room, and are preparing to move upstairs into the armory. You're not doing the fire elemental thing. The Judge has cast Mage Armor on Zimu; Morsum, Ragnar and Grumblejack are with the party.

Agreed, we can't control the item and it may not kill him just leading him to consider the fort under attack and rouse whatever guards and minions he has to search us out.
I would prefer we stick with your plan Cy to remove the commander and try to get to him with mine.

It's on!

Dren activates his shadow armor.
He will then cast Bless on the group just before we are about to enter the officer's quarters (5 minutes) meaning when we are about to leave the armory.
He then draws out the scroll of Silence for the guards upstairs or anything else we run into.

I will go invisible once we eliminate the guards and you have their armor on.

Grumblejack are with the party.

Should we leave Ragnar and Grumblejack here briefly until we have visited the commander?

Jax Naismith wrote:

Jax is going to start sneaking toward the main halls. Let's just go take out the gates.

1d20+9

Snerk. Was that a Stealth roll, then?

If I hear no objections, then I'll assume that you've moved out of the passage and up into the storage room, and are preparing to move upstairs into the armory. You're not doing the fire elemental thing. The Judge has cast Mage Armor on Zimu; Morsum, Ragnar and Grumblejack are with the party.

Yes it was.

We should bring both of them with us as we move room to room.

it may not kill him just leading him to consider the fort under attack and rouse whatever guards and minions he has to search us out.

The opening strike with 'corn' was supplementary to the plan because you said we don't know where the commander is, so we Charm a servant, give him 'corn' and follow the servant and attack the commander ourselves right after the initial big boom.

Okay. You go up the stairs into the Armory. It's dark and quiet; nobody is here right now. (Outside, the sun is going down in a welter of black and orange clouds.)

1d20 ⇒ 2

From the Armory, you can move into the hall that goes past the officer's quarters (areas 3 through 6), or upstairs to area 32 (which you haven't explored yet).

Before the group enters the armory Cуровую will cast Message on the group.

Perception for the next area 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Reminder the unknown 'celestial' went from the chapel to area 32

The 'magister' will still be somewhat pale from the stew but some color is returning, he may have found a cure and must make some final adjustments!

(Outside, the sun is going down in a welter of black and orange clouds.)

That reminds me, while walking the tunnel from the Dalliance

The 'magister' begins to whistle a little tune.

The Fools of Brandascar Play the recording while reading

And here you die, the Sergeant said,
Your life of crime comes to end.

Sinners, Traitors, Witch, and Gob,
On the Morrow, All your heads will roll.

The Axe is Sharp, the Hangman's Noose Secure,
Final Night begins, then the Day will break.

Your time is Nigh, Oh my Petty Fools,
Make your Peace, Lament your Lives of Sin.

And thus he spoke, and thus he spoke,
That Watch Sergeant of Brandascar.

But now there he lays, on Bloodied Halls,
With No One there to hear.

And thus he spoke, and thus he spoke,
The Great Black Fool of Brandascar.

For there he lays, on Bloodied Halls,
With No One There to hear.

Nice, Dren!

My vote is to hunt down the mysterious celestial, lets go to area 32?

Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

Grumblejack are with the party.

Should we leave Ragnar and Grumblejack here briefly until we have visited the commander?

We leave the two of them in the armory for the moment.

Once the Commander is finished we can should focus on that opponent next. While we have him going to a possible meeting point we should focus on sending him on his way. At that point we can control the tower and maybe find out more about the new "person" before trying to take it out.

Just my two coppers.

My vote is to hunt down the mysterious celestial, lets go to area 32?

I think the commander is the priority.

Knowing DM willingness to oblidge, we will face the two of them together with a squad of soldiers.

To be honest I am expecting the other person in his office as well. That is fine, let's get rid of them in one place and be done with it :]
If so then the fort would be ours to destroy.

We will check the officers door with Cy in front as the Magister just to make sure the Captain isn't down here then we rid ourselves of the two guards in room 8 per my plan of ordering them into the hallway and shutting the door behind them?

When we are getting close to the commander's room, the Judge will cast Shield and Evolution Surge(grab, claws) on Morsum.

Morsum: AC31
--> Hopefully enough to be able to trip and/or grapple the commander.
--> If there is enough space, I will also cast enlarge person on him immediately before entering the Commander's chamber.

Note that you still don't know where the Commander lives or works.

Jax wanted to investigate area 32, Dren wants to go to kill the guards in area 8. My general rule is "if three PCs or the party leader (Edmin) say X, then X." So, which will it be?

Cуровую casts a glance at her stern faced allies.

She is a bit surprised to see that Jax and Xen have taken a serious demeanor, and raises her right eyebrow when she noticed that even Ragnar appeared worried.

Cуровую forces a brief smile.

'In my ice ravaged and snow covered lands we have a saying,'

Her smile turns genuine.

'Death is like children, it is easier to smile when they are not your own.'

Good hunting, now let us send Bref some playmates.

Plan A: Jax's plan. Investigate Area 32 and look for Aliens (Outsiders). Determine next steps after that. There is probably a Lantern Archon guarding around there as well unless I am confusing that with another area.
Plan B: Dren's plan. Draw out/kill the Guards in area 8 when we think it is time to meet with the commander. Impersonate the GUards/Magister and make our way up to the commander's room and hope he is there and then attempt to take him out.
Please vote according to your conscience.