Empire of Night: Way of the Wicked (Vampire Campaign)

Game Master Neil Mansell

I'd like players to update their alias's so that character info is displayed under their character name. This makes it easier for me to find oft used character details very quickly.
Info should include:
Race|Class|HP ?/?| AC ?(T?/FF?)|CMB +?; CMD ?| Saves Fort , Ref , Will| Initiative +?, Perception +?, Sense motive +?

This can be done by going to the 'Profile' tab and filling in the appropriate details in Gender, Race and/or Class/Levels.

Example below:

This is an example

Here we go. Will update stat line shortly.

Ok, here's a quick test to make sure it's working properly.

Another test. Get excited everyone!

Here's my test.

Alright. Ready to play!

if I were in there I could probably get them past this obstacle
ah well
:P (mostly I am jokeing, but really I probably could)'

We have no disable devicers. Lol. That would possibly help with unlocking our manacles.

Yeah, honestly I suspect it's going to be the plot that gets us out more than our own machinations. A party of skilled adventurers could bust their way out of a maximum security prison, but a bunch of level 1s? Yeah not so much... :P

But regardless, gonna press on like I mean it!

I'm telling you guys, the Asmodean inquisition will come to our aid!

Hehe, yeah. I was surprised at there not being a single rogue application to choose from, so the disable device option was always going to be unlikely.

Okay, since Anton and Nikita are still to arrive (MPCampbell is recovering from a mega exam so he needs some recovery time) I won't go too much further until they post. Don't forget, you guys have 3 days before the executions, so don't worry, there's time.

EDIT: Almost forgot. Here's a test run of Roll20:
Here
Assuming it works, you should be able to move around PC tokens but not NPC tokens. Hopefully I'll be able to make it so that a PC token can only be moved by the specific player (and GM of course). But, baby steps. :)
If things don't work I'll use Googledoc instead.

I'm here. Might consider making one of my spells a cure spell for the near term, simply due to the fact we have no healers.

I actually do/did have a rank in disable device
and with one use of an at will spell like ability I would have been able to use my charisma score with it
so a +9 disable device (normally +3 because of a -1 dex mod)
I thought it would be silly to not have either that or escape artist or both
just throwing that out there

With GM permission I could switch a rank from escape artist to disable device. It wouldn't be excellent, but +5 is better than nothing. It would also still fit with my character concept, as he would be find of sneaking into places to look at documents he wasn't given access to.

I say this is just a call to get more creative! Did Edmond Dantes of the Count of Monte Cristo have any ranks in 'disable device'? I think not! And yet he escaped all the same...

Also I don't exactly think you can use disable device with your bare hands, you need some sort of tool, which we don't have.

We could definitely do with a healer, even if not a dedicated one to start, much appreciated Anton. Of the things I think the party should consider, here's what I believe we should try to gauge.

1. Though unlikely are any of the guards bored enough to actually try their hand at small talk with us, or generally be nicer to their fellow man in his final hours?
2. What is the professionalism level of the guards? For example, if we were to continuously cause fake "PRISON BREAK!!!" alarms ourselves, would the guard respond unfailingly, or would they eventually decide that it's just that obnoxious row of prisoners making noise again? Also, if we do cause an alarm, how long does it take other guards to respond, and how many come?
3. Are there floating patrols through the prison, or is our block at the least just static guards? If there are patrols, what's the timing?
4. When IS the Asmodean Inquisition coming!?

If we get this information, I think we'd have a better chance of forming a REAL plan, that doesn't just involve Dane threatening to break these cuffs.

One herpy derpy plan that may be stupid enough to work would be if the guards stop responding to our false alarms, whenever we figure out our best way out of our binds to just cause as big and loud of a scene as possible while we enact our escape so as to drown out any REAL alarms. :P

I probably shouldn't allow it, but considering the party skill set, I'll make an exception.
I'm not expecting to have anyone else request a skill switch, but in the off chance anyone wants/needs to make any specific changes let me know NOW (ASAP). No promises.

Also: Is there a time that the guards are less cautious and watchful than others?

Also we do have 3 characters capable of casting spells. I'm sure even those oft forgotten about utility cantrips (mage hand, dancing lights, ghost sound) could be used to at least some success in this situation.

I've faith that you didn't pick a party that couldn't even escape our first challenge, GM. I'm thinking Donovan's got the right idea and we need to get creative!

I had at will utility abilities like unseen servant, and spectral hand

Alright, sounds like we're going with no change then. That's fine too.

It's certainly possible to cast a few simple spells. You have them all memorized before you were captured (luckily).
Of course, it should be remembered that you have no spell component pouch, so an spell with material components cannot be cast (unless you have the feat 'Eschew Materials').
It IS possible to cast spells. To avoid being heard... That's something you need to find out for yourself.

We could definitely do with a healer, even if not a dedicated one to start, much appreciated Anton.

Anton is free to change a spell known to cure light wounds. I'm not THAT harsh. :)

1. Though unlikely are any of the guards bored enough to actually try their hand at small talk with us, or generally be nicer to their fellow man in his final hours?

Difficult task. These guards are well trained and know that you guys are the worst of the worst criminals. Not the most likely folk to get into a deep and meaningful chat with.

2. What is the professionalism level of the guards? For example, if we were to continuously cause fake "PRISON BREAK!!!" alarms ourselves, would the guard respond unfailingly, or would they eventually decide that it's just that obnoxious row of prisoners making noise again? Also, if we do cause an alarm, how long does it take other guards to respond, and how many come?

An interesting idea. But the simple solution would be simply to gag you all. You have no idea about response times. That being said, the guardroom is just next door (to the south, off the map) so at least a handful of guards could be in at a moments notice.

3. Are there floating patrols through the prison, or is our block at the least just static guards? If there are patrols, what's the timing?

A single guard sits outside, sitting by the door to the guardroom. He's mostly bored, but not chatty. He'll be relieved shortly... you're not sure when yet.

4. When IS the Asmodean Inquisition coming!?

I'm not expecting the Asmodean Inquisition... But then again:

He may not be a set of lockpicks, but an ogre sounds like an asset to me!

I am here. I did some last minute updating to Nikita this morning. I've dropped the Gravewalker archtype because once I really looked at it, I was giving up tons of hexes for animate dead 2 levels early. I also spent about an hour picking out the spells for her familiar before realizing it's gone.

Well, ummm, the deviant fetishist blasphemer introduced herself. I just know I'm going to burn in Hell for ever coming up with this character.

I just know I'm going to burn in Hell for ever coming up with this character.

That's the spirit!

Well. . . . Welcome to Branderscar. That was quite the introduction.

No idea what that just was lol

Gotta give credit where credit is due. I do believe we have our winner for most noteworthy introduction!

I didn't set out to play a pervert, it just kind of happened.

1. She's from the plane of shadow
2. Recently, paizo changed Kytons to be from the plane of shadow instead of Hell
3. The Bestiary 4 draws them all like Zon Kuthon wannabes
4. Talingarde is a lawful good country. Clean. Wholesome

So I started thinking - Where does evil start in a society like this? How does it gain a foothold? It has to be subtle, not immediately seen as dangerous. It has to start normal and then become evil. This brings two things to mind: Sex and Drugs.

I am playing a Pesh Addict/Cthulhu Cultist in another game, so I didn't want to do drugs.

That left sex.

With that in mind, go back and look at the kytons again. Somewhere deep inside paizo's art department, there is someone, sitting in a dark little room with a pad of paper and a set of crayons, that was already thinking the same thing.

My character wrote herself from there.

Which is fine - I just don't want to claim her.

In my opinion Nikita adds a nice touch of 'obvious evil' to the group. I know for me personally it can be difficult to get out of the typical 'heroes out to save the day' mindset (I tried to cheat my way back into this a little by infusing Donovan with a bit of the 'smiling serial killer' cliche). I think Nikita will serve as a nice reminder that we all are, in fact, as wicked as they come.

A very nice intro I must admit.
@Donovan: It's early days, opportunities will arise where you get to show off your wickedness. :)

It's early days, opportunities will arise where you get to show off your wickedness. :)

Oh believe me, I'm not worried about that in the least...

Anyone else having extreme difficulties accessing the Paizo boards?

Yeah, this is the first time I've been able to get on in several hours.

Same here. That was rather frustrating.

OMG forums are back up...

I picked a good time to get some sleep :)

@Anton: If you have any questions for 'the mysterious lady' ask them in a single post if possible. I want to move this part along fairly quickly since it does sort of leave the rest of the party with nothing much to do.

Haha, glad to know I wasn't alone in my suffering.

As for us not having anything to do; nonsense! Why do you think scheming was invented!?

What should I do for my spells? I did not really choose them as I knew I would have neither a familiar nor components. Should I choose some or is it better to just let them go?

Additionally: I am a once a day poster for the next 22 days, but I will post every day. Talk amongst yourselves and Nikita will join in when she can.

Feel Free to choose spells. The assumption is that you were captured without expending any spells The spell selection is entirely up to you.

OK. I'll post something now. Intersperse the questions as part of a normal conversation rather than a rapid-fire set.

Just whipped up a quick list of what resources we have/what we know to aid us in our escape plans. All of this information has either been revealed during gameplay or by the GM in the discussion thread, so it shouldn't contain any meta-knowledge that not all of us already know (for instance, the individual abilities of each character that have not yet been revealed). Hopefully whatever new information Anton comes back with will allow us to begin the escape in full. Also, as a final note, before we set our plans in motion I think we should take some time to see if we can learn the rotation of the guard at the door.

Escaping the Shackles:

• Through Force: possible but difficult, will create noise
  
• Through Escape Artistry: very difficult, may not be possible
  
• Through Lockpicking: no disable devicers, no tools, likely impossible
  
• Through Key: possibly our best(or worst) bet, the guard who watches us does not carry the key however (probably in guardroom)

Weapons:

• Chains, if we end up breaking them
  
• Mordesel
  
• Ogre tusks? or hands?

Other Possible Resources:

• Longsword (on guard)
  
• Club (on guard)
  
• Chain shirt (on guard)
  
• Shields (last seen in guardroom)
  
• Longbows (last seen in guardroom)

Things We Know from Grumblejack:

• The new warden isn't around much (not even at Branderscar?)
  
• Blackerly is in charge and not entirely competent
  
• Guards gamble and drink

Other Things We Know/Assume from the GM:

• Spellcasting is possible while shackled but no components are available
  
• Despite the drinking and gambling, the guards are all well-trained and professional (not likely to chat)
  
• The guardroom is nextdoor and a handful of guards can be summoned quickly

In addition...

Grumblejack has likely been poisoned or drugged for an unknown amount of time, seems to be rather weak from the effects at the moment.

At the moment, our best bet from my opinion would be as follows:

Break free of our bonds through sheer force, when the guards have all gone to drink and gamble. Hopefully the booze and likely noise from a bunch of drunken gamblers will cover the initial noise of our attempt. From there, we attempt to bust Grumblejack out, hopefully grab a few weapons from the guardroom, and bust our way out.

That said, that's the best plan I can make without knowing what's going on with Anton, and without further observation of the guards. So we should probably keep watch as you suggest Donovan, but I think we're getting a good thing coming together here.

I think i'm going for an evil version of Teal'c from stargate here. I may randomly start saying indeed. Lol.

Is that guard still at the post on this side of the guardroom door?
Did Anton see some details what was in these other rooms? (e.g. stockpile of weapons, alarm, barracks, etc.)?

The room in which you spoke to Tiadora was an 'interrogation room' and had little in way of furnishing. It is empty save for a single stout wooden table and four chairs.

The guard room is a bit more interesting.
A set of stairs head downstairs and a huge fireplace (unlit) is built into the south wall. There are two doors two of course, one leading to the interrogation room and the other to the cells. There are two chairs by the door to the cells. There is also a small table with various weapons resting on or against it (arrows, bows a few shields and a few daggers)
Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
A set of keys dangle from a peg by the cell door.

The room is comfortably warm, despite the fireplace being unlit. You suspect it might connect to a fireplace on the lower level, and heat gently travels from there, keeping the guardroom warm.

Is that guard still at the post on this side of the guardroom door?

Woops, missed that question.