Eternal Horizons - Gameplay Thread 2 (Inactive)

Game Master Jacob DeCourcey

Rosa stands still wile the group talk over their plans, then as Mierra talks in Infernal she replys in infernal

our master seeks new domains to which he can bring his order, what better place than here, The tower could not only act as out base of operations but also as a temple to out lord and master, with the little king here helping. This could be a very good days work Mierra

Rosa snuffs out the fire ball and moved to follow Gaius and hes found friends.

In common Then let us make our plans for war, and I shall tell you of the wonders of Asmodeus and the splendorous life that awaits those who choose to serve him

Since Rosa's on board...

Gaius chuckles at Rosa's remark about the wonders of Asmodeus. As they descend into the tree fort he remarks, "You know, I was actually raised up in a monas'try dedicated to the Dark Lord. I reckon I know most of the Asmodean Monograph by heart. Damn monks had us repeatin' it so many times. Where you think I got all that philosophical jazz about 'Will' back in the tavern?" Only thing 'splendorous' there was all the asses of the higher-ups I had to kiss, that and hard work everyday...pfah!

Mierra laughs at Gaius' comment as they work their way into the tunnels. "Interesting group that we all make. I start to wonder what the other group is talking about, possibly how to properly wash underclothes?" . She laughs loudly at her own comment

You duck into a small trapdoor at the base of the tree, take a few small spiral steps straight down, then proceed into a full-size straight staircase that leads down about 15 feet. You come out in an entirely empty room dug out of the ground. The walls are smooth and hard, obviously well-made, and there are cobblestone floors. The big goblin and his cronies proceed down a second set of stairs along the opposite wall from the first. At the bottom of the second flight of steps, also about 15 feet down, you enter an 80' x 70' room with a campfire in the middle. 8 more goblins await you there, sitting in a tight group on the opposite side of the fire from you. The big goblin sweeps his hand over the unassuming group and says This is them. Not much.

Mierra shakes her head and speaks in Infernal to herself "Not much indeed!"

She turns to Gaius, "Well, whats the plan from here?"

"Lets make one." Gaius replies. Turning to the boss he says in Goblin, "What's your name? I, as I said am Gaius, the really really tall devil is Rosa, the mage is Amar and the other devil is called Mierra. Tell us everything you can about the tower. Where is it? Describe the terrain around it. How are the goblins there equipped? How many of your people can fight, all 12? Are the goblins there active at night or day?" Realizing that he's giving this guy a lot to chew on at once, Gaius slows down an waits for him to respond, translating for the others as he does. Gaius sits crosslegged on the floor, and motions for the others to make themselves comfortable. "This might take a while."

My name Horsesniffer, but friends call me Sniff. The tower is 2 days southwest of here. It still in woods, but no trees grow close to it. The ones there have arrow shooter that they use from top of tower. They kill some of us when we leave that way. The goblin hesitates for several seconds, trying remember what else Gaius asked. One of his friends pipes up We can all fight! Like to fight! The big goblin shoots him a dirty look and says And we should fight them in the day. Want to make sure to get them while they all there. They go hunting at night.

Rosa looks around at the group assessing there Combat Acumen, what arms do they have, ranged and CQC, do they look session, Rosa spent lifetimes fighting endless battles in the Hells, most of them short and bloody with the outcome of her awaking once more in the Blood pits only to be sent back out into the field of battle again, death is no escape in hell.

For me it was simple, I was sold to the hells before I was even conceived, so long ago it dos not matter now, There I leaned of order and chaos, One must fight the madness of Chaos with will 1st in that you are right for unless we do, all of creation and reality is lost. We must temper our wills to be harder than Adamantium, rip away weakness and foolishness if we are keep Chaos at bay.

when Rosa says this the second eco voice in hers seems to take the center stage as if this mantra of faith is coming from some stage of hell itself. The thing under her skin shifts and moved wile she talks.

Now ask them about this tower and its comings and goings.I have an idea how we can take it

In goblin, "How far is the tree line from the tower? How many steps? Is the tower stone or wood? How many horses tall is the tower?" Gaius asks Sniff.

Edit:My rudimentary plan would be to hide the goblins in the tree line, say south, of the tower. I would be with them. Mierra, Rosa and Amar sneak around north of the tower. I step out from the trees alone, and being firing arrows to draw the sentries. I walk back, leading them into the tree line and waiting goblins. Once they abandon their posts, you three perform a surgical strike on any remaining sentries on/outside the tower proper. After securing the outside, we leave the goblins to guard any escape routes and go in to finish off the ones inside, with maybe a couple goblin slingers as backup. Oh, and attack about 2 hours past dawn, when they are most tired. We'll see what Sniff says.

Trees are 30 steps from the tower. Tower is stone. I hate horses. One of the big 'uns said tower is 50 "feet" tall, but I think it much taller than that. My feet are so small...

"Do you know how many guards they put out?" Gaius asks.

Rosa Smiles,
Assuming your are translating all that has and is being said Gaius

could I offer up an approach that may help in thinning there numbers, and gain us more information.
Rosa looks around at the others

our new friend her said that, the ones from the tower like to come down here and ask him to do things, would could ask him to send a massage saying he would like to talk to some one from the tower here, when who ever they send comes, we take them captive, then get information form them about whats inside that tower. Then we make a new plan to take the tower and act on it before they know any thing is amiss.
Rosa sits back with a smile

It may work a little better than just a frontal assault on a heavily defended fixed fortification

Gaius replies almost instantly to Rosa's suggestion.
"Good idea, we could combine the plans. I agree, a frontal assault on fortified ground is foolish. But, Goblins aint so disciplined-like. I think if'n we get to shootin' 'em from the tree line, they would have ter fight back. Elsewise they'd be picked off like boils on an orc's arse. Thirty steps aint nothin' for my bow, and I'm guessing you could light them up like a Tien candle from that distance." He pauses to allow the mental image to take hold.
"If we hide the gobbies in the bush, they gonn' think it's only a small group of adventurers attacking and walk themselves right into an Ewoks on the forest moon of Endor type scenario.(sorry, couldn't resist) Sniff probably knows better than me, but if they been out all night huntin' they's gonna be tired. Combine that with a sense of complacency as big dogs in these parts, and I'd imagine they don't set mor'n three gaurds. Either way, more intel couln't hurt.

Rosa nods I worry that using fore around the tower may leave us with a burned out shell, rebuilding that will cost, if we can then them out and get in to finish them hand to hand then I think we can do it, I like your idea of pulling them out, but if they do not fall for it, were in for a long sedge, get your new chum to send a message and will hide get ready for who ever comes, also what food do they have, let eat

Still waiting on answer about if Sniff knows how many guards they place. Just a note so the question doesn't get lost in all these posts.

Gaius asks Sniff, "Do you have any food? We're starving, and all we have is rations." Turning back to Rosa, "Are we really willin' to lose four 'r five days while one of these fellas skitters down there and back? That other group is still out there huntin' our bounty. The faster we wrap this up the better. Maybe we could scoot down to within half a day's march of the tower. Then send a messenger, and have him lead the tower's envoy back into an ambush. We could interrogate one at the ambush site, and make it to the tower that much faster after. They wouldn't even be lookin' fer 'im back fer a few days anyway." he suggests.

Yes all they have to do is leave the tower, once they are are out of sight we can jump them, so we all go, No loss of time as we will be close to the tower. All they need do is say, the boss has found some thing that that could be worth gold but they need help getting it, greed is the best bait, once we have more information we make a fuller plan to take the tower. cheap safe an Simple, I should saay I have done this kind of thing before.

Gaius will translate the plan for Sniff, and ask "How quickly can you mobilize your people?"

Assuming Mierra and Amar are okay with it, it looks like we have a plan. Let me list the questions for Sniff to make it easier for you GM_Jacob

• What are your 12 fighters armed with?
• Do you have any food?
• How many guards are posted on the tower?
• Do you agree to the plan?
• How long to mobilize your people?

add one more "whats the path/root like between here and the tower? dangerous/safe? whats on the path"

I'm good with the plan, if we had a herd of dogs we could send them into the tower as distraction/bait, but not sure we can get one of those.

If all these goblins have are small slings and clubs, a pack of dogs might be more combat-effective as well.

• Mostly clubs and slings, a few daggers, leader has a MW dagger
  
• Picking over a wild boar in the other room, but with 12 goblins they can easily hunt for food
  
• Usually 2
  
• Plan sounds good
  
• Right now
  
• We won't take the path because the bugbear cave is between here and there. We'll go around. If we took the path it would only take 1.5 days
  

"Is the bugbear cave where Gurg lives? Or are there more bugbears? If so, how many?" Gaius asks Sniff. "Tell your people to get ready to move. This is a ride or die deal, so have them bring everything they need. Oh, and bring us some of that boar while we finish planning."

I'm off to bed, feel free to begin the journey while I'm gone. Gaius will go with the others. My vote is we avoid any bugbears where possible, they're too dangerous. Half a day is little price for safety. If the others want to rest before setting out Gaius will agree, but he'd rather leave now. Impatient as always.

Agreed. Better now than later

Nodding along their speaking and agreeing with Rosa and Gaius about setting off. Sooner, the better.

There is only one bugbear, and he lives in the cave.

The goblin chief barks some orders to his crew, and they all run through a door into the next room, chattering and whooping. Yay! Going to fight!

Make any final preparations or raise any final objections, otherwise, we set sail at once.

I am good and ready to go

Same here

The goblin arm themselves, bring out as much food as they can carry, and you set off.

I will just roll on the daily travel tables...

Two days of travel pass without incident. The hunting goblins provide plenty of food for you to eat during the trip. The night of the second day, you set up camp How far? away from where the goblins say the tower is, and prepare to enact your plan...

You traveled south one hex, SW four hexes, and south one more hex. You are in the hex with the goblin tower, to the north of it.

Amar will be following Rosa and Mierra as Gaius indicated. We need to be fast and eliminate as many as possible in fastest way... hopefully

out of sight I think, no fire, so in the tree line back long the path, some 500m. Then have Gaius do his planning and setting up, if he looks to be doing some thing dumb Ill say some thing, but it looks good so far,be 1st we need to scout around see there is nothing else here

After the group selects a good site for an ambush, Gaius will say "Alright this is it people. No fires, not worth the risk. We can all of us can see in the dark, and Amar can make light as he wills." Taking in the surrounding trees and path, Gaius says "This here looks like a good place for a classic-like kill zone with enfilading fire. Sniff and I will mosey up to the tower. I will hide in the treeline and cover him while he delivers the message to the tower. We can tell 'em that the tribe found a huge chest of gold and weapons, but that there's an ogre guarding it and they need help to take it. I'll have a whistle case the sh*t hits the fan. You three will hold position for the ambush, but be ready to hustle up there if you hear the whistle." He will pause to translate for Sniff, and ask "Think you can handle that? You'll need to lead the tower goblins back here."

He turns to Rosa, "You said you done this before. Good, you can make sure nuthin' goes wrong on this end. I reckon you take the north end of the zone, Mierra the south. We kin set up two lines of six goblins on either side to form the 'walls'. Fifteen foot back from the trail, with slings readied. Sniff leads the envoy down this trail, once they're in the kill zone, Rosa steps out and blocks off northward escape. As they turn to flee backwards, Mierra steps out and blocks the southern route. Amar will be behind the west line of goblins and me the other. At that point we open up with everything we got and call it a day, take one alive if'n we can." He squats down and draws a simple diagram in the dirt with a stick.

Hopefully that makes sense, if it doesn't tell me.

its fine so far :) sounds ok

Its time to send some souls to our masters, You heard the bow king, Mierra take two sling throwers with you to the south, under your command, your a good fighter, what for my signal to start from there you do what you think is best. Ill talk to with me north, that will giive Gaius hes ranged kill zone, if and when they come out I will try and block there retreat back in to the tower, if I fail you must do it Mierra, if they get back inside we will have a really hard task taking them. Amar your center with the Sniff and the gang, look to Gaius, when he says attack let them rush who ever comes out, you know to keep back as a spell slinger we need your mind on spells and not on being hit. do not wast spells, unless you have you, the tower will be next and we will need every thing for that. Gieus will Signal when we are in place. Rosa movers out with her two slingers, then signals when shes in place.
.
.

oooGooo
ooo1ooo
Roo1ooM
Boo1ooB
Boo1ooB
ooo1ooo
ooo1ooo
Boo1ooB
BBBBBBB
oooAooo

1=path
R=Rosa
M=Mierra
A=Amar
B=Bugbear
o=trees

I was thinking more like this. Top is north, tower is to the south.
.
.
.
.
ooooo<------R
oSoooPoooSo
oSoooPoooSo
oSoooPoooSo
ASoooEoooSG
oSoooPoooSo
oSoooPoooSo
M------>ooooo
oooooPooooo

P=path
R=Rosa
M=Mierra
A=Amar
S=Goblin Slinger
G=Gaius
E=Tower Envoy
o=trees

I actually tried to do this earlier, but didn't think of using Os as place holders so it didn't work. We should keep the goblins out of melee if possible. Except maybe Sniff, who would be leading the envoy

Mierra nods to Gaius and Rosa, she selects two of the meanier looking goblins, "You two! With me, lets go!" She unfurls her urumi's and begins to head off towards the south path to block the way from fleeing goblins.

Another reason to keep the slingers to the sides is that we don't know how many the tower will send. They could send quite a few depending on how things go. If we leave like 20' open on either side of the path, that would allow Rosa to rush south and Channel, without killing our allies. Also, if everything goes according to plan we should rest for 8 hours after taking out the envoy. The tower won't be expecting them back for several days, so a few hours won't hurt. I'm going to assume you healed me on the way here Rosa. We had plenty of time. That means we can go all out here and not worry about being fresh going into the tower.

I can only see two things effing this up at this point. 1)The tower goblins shoot on sight, or don't believe Sniff. 2)A returning hunting party walks into us before we're ready.

Sniff looks at Gaius hard, and, with a remarkable conviction replies, in stiff common, no less I can.

He'll wait until you're good and ready.

Gaius you have me wrong, the idea was keep well away from the tower not encircle it yet, we lour some out its with a Goblin messenger who says the boss wants to talk to them about gold he knows about (they just omit that its the old in tower he wants to talk to them about so its not a lie.) our messenger tells them to follow and walks along the path some 500m away from the tower where we ambush them as shown. THEN get info THEN move on to the tower. you getting ahead of yourself. I know the good team are in combat now, but we are not in the same situation. We are after the tower intact as our base, with Hench men in to. If we can get to top guy out the tower then even better. In war you bet it right or your dead

Rosa says Hold it, thats not the plan, thats just wrong, we need to bring some out along this path here, we jump them well away from the tower, not close so they know what going on, or they will close up tight and we will spend an age staving them out, so move to where I told you and send that messenger, hes to say, sniff wishs to talk to them about a hord gold he knows about but its protected, of course the old is their and its guarded by them but we do not tell them that. The we ambush here, get the info, an we may find out about a way in that has more elegance

what did I say about stooping Giuse doing some thing dumb

Gaius you have me wrong, the idea was keep well away from the tower not encircle it yet, we lour some out its with a Goblin messenger who says the boss wants to talk to them about gold he knows about (they just omit that its the old in tower he wants to talk to them about so its not a lie.) our messenger tells them to follow and walks along the path some 500m away from the tower where we ambush them as shown. THEN get info THEN move on to the tower. you getting ahead of yourself. I know the good team are in combat now, but we are not in the same situation. We are after the tower intact as our base, with Hench men in to. If we can get to top guy out the tower then even better. In war you bet it right or your dead

That is exactly what we're doing. I just rearranged our ambush positions a little. I am going to go with Sniff, hidden, to cover him while he tells the Tower goblins that his tribe found an Ogre with a big chest of gold and weapons and they need help to get it. Sniff will lead the tower goblins back up the path into the ambush as diagrammed. The tower will still be south of us out of sight. I'm just saying that the goblins should stay at least 20' to either side of the path where we ambush the Tower's envoy so that you can run into the middle and channel if need be. Mierra has resistance to fire so she'll be fine, and Amar and I would be behind the goblins out of harm's way. We're still going to ambush an envoy before going anywhere near the tower.

Looking at Rosa strangely, Gaius says "I know, that's what we been plannin' this whole time." Turning to Sniff he says, "More clever'n you look, eh?" in common. "Lets go, these three can handle setting up the ambush." He continues, and then motions Sniff onward, slinking quietly behinds him. When they near the treeline Gaius will sneak forward as close as possible while remaining hidden, with the whistle clenched in his teeth, and watch what happens. He will have his bow drawn and an arrow knocked as well, ready to defend Sniff.
Perception at treeline1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Stealth at treeline1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18

Edit:In case this doesn't get seen until after I hit the sack, feel free to keep things moving. If all goes according to plan Gaius will stealthily follow Sniff back to the ambush site and take up his position, waiting for Rosa to trigger the attack. If Sniff gets attacked at any time Gaius will blow the whistle, and provide covering fire for Sniff while we retreat back to the ambush site. Feel free to make any rolls for me as necessary Jacob.

Rosa says

Edited we do not split our forces, you stay put and all the Goblins help with the ambush, no running off when your needed, you can take one flank or the other in mine or M place, but you stay here and fight like a good king, no running into the tower with a small gang of goblins so you can lock us out, so stay put and fight or you may find us gone when you come back.

Rosa gets on setting up the ambush

OMG. I'm gonna say this one more time. THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING!!!!!! Go back and triple read it, I have never once contradicted that plan in any way. Only reason I'm not staying with the ambush is because I have a +12 stealth and specialize in ranged weapon. He can't go completely alone because if things go FUBR, we'd have no idea. If it all goes well I'll be back in position just as you spring the ambush on whoever the tower sends to 'get the gold'. When I said tower was to the south in my diagram post I meant like 500meters to the south as you said. Just to make this perfectly clear, WE AGREE, we are doing exactly what Rosa's suggesting. I have agreed this entire time.

just to make clear, we follow my map 100% set up an ambush 500m+ away along the path we just came down, You go no ware near the tower its up along the path a long way and you do not make any sound other than fighting. You can take my place to close the trap if you like but you agree to stay the hell away from the tower until the ambush is over and we have captives. There is 20 odd in that tower, stripping us of any Goblins would be a bad idea so you can have none unless you in on the ambush. Thats my plan so if you agree fine, so no sneaking off to start a fight with the tower, wile we are bogged down.

Exactly as we planned before we even left the tree fort, yes. I'm saying all 12 goblins should be with you, in columns of 6. One on each side of the path, 20' back. Amar can hide behind the left or right one, I'll take the other. This will form a 'tunnel' of goblins lining the path. Sniff will lead the Tower Goblins into the ambush 'tunnel'. You will be at the north (top) end hiding behind a tree, once all the enemy are flanked by our goblin slingers you will step out and trigger the ambush. Mierra will cover the south (bottom) end of the tunnel to prevent them running back towards the tower. The lines of goblins, Amar and I will cover east and west. Rosa, you cover north. They will be boxed in with no chance of escape. We then fill that box with pain in the form of slingstones, urumis, arrows, and fire until there is only one enemy standing, who we capture and interrogate.

Well other than the fact you move all of us from my map to a totally different lay out, please see my map, where I have Left flank, That is what its called with me and right flank with Mierra you spotting up front and most of the goblins blocking the path at the front then yes gosh its the same plan I made from the start. I had or Mage up front because because we want to bottle them up for hes area affect spells, Greece Color Spray, Burning Hands. a long line of bad guys is not good. But with them meeting snuff they will stop, "why are you here" etc, then me and Mierra come from behind and the will bunch, if there are 5 or more we color spray and go at em, if less a show of force may end the fight with out blood, thats why my map is the way it is, and why with them comming down from the top v you spotting we can get down and ready.

Mierra heads off to the South path with her two goblins slingers in toe. She poisitions herself along the path as Rosa and Gaius stipulated and waits for the signal

The rest of you, figure out what your setup is going to be and post it up quick.

Already ready!

Ill Pop CopyCat on they come into sight
ooopooo
ooopooo
ooopooo
ooopoMo
oGopoGo
oGopoGo
oGopoGo
oGopoGo
oGopoGo
oGoRoGo
oAoPooo
oooPooo
oooPooo

Mierra taking Flanking
and Me taking Point
now both Sniff and Giuse have gone onto the tower

ready

If he betrays us, I will eat him. Gaius thinks as he spends tense moments waiting for Sniff to re-appear from the tower.

Amar waits patiently behind the lines of goblin in hide and wonder where he had entered when he signed that contract... in the end did not really matter as long as he could research his stuff and find out true meaning of spells and powers within himself. And he never really cared in the end about other people but... there had to be some kind of trust and connections so some sacrifices were necessity in this life

Huoh... hopefully this will be fine... starting to get annoyed by those giggling noises Amar sighed as he listened snickering of the goblins