So, here's what I'm thinking. We know that someone tried to kill us once already, and that someone killed Rodrik in the middle of the night. Presumably they are the same someones, and most likely at this point to be the half orcs that were at the ramblehouse then went missing.
I'm thinking maybe we can try and do a sting operation, where we try to make ourselves look vulnerable and see if we can get someone to try and assassinate one or more of us while we're waiting in ambush. I'm not sure what the best way to go about doing that would be though.
Currently, I'm thinking we could try and spread rumors around town that our investigation is going really well, and that we're sure we're going to find the people in the next day or two. That would help put pressure on whoever is behind this to move against us. The second part would be making sure we're all somewhere where we look vulnerable and it is widely known where we are, but where we actually can ambush an attacker pretty effectively. We could potentially try to get fancy with pretending we've split up (like, maybe pretend that Zove, Grok and Cromwin are all back at their respective dwellings; although that might have its own issues), or we could just all go somewhere and make sure everyone knows we're staying there.
What do people think? I'll start an in character discussion on it if people like the idea. Also, usually you use diplomacy to gather rumors, but would we also use it to try and plant rumors?
We should probably have Zove detect poison on our food and drink for the immediate future as well, since that seems to be a preferred method of killing for these people.
Sounds pretty cool. Brin could spin a good story for the team.
Don't forget that there was also the mystery man staying at the Ramblehouse writing incriminating notes as well. Whether he is linked to the half-orcs or not is TBD, but I like him as our prime suspect much more than them.
Also keep in mind we wouldn't want Zove to have her home invaded given their guest, and it sounds like Grok no longer has a home as such. Crom, you lived out of town, yes?
Interesting idea. It seems like if it were the same person and they had the capacity to kill us, they would go for it when we were in the Plague House. If they are orc/half orc, they could even have picked us off when we ran from the ghosts, and certainly as we retreated from the house both times would have been a fine time to strike. This implies that they either estimate their strength as below ours (perhaps it's just one?), are fairly sure that our operations will not impede them, or were not aware of the opportunity.
We can go ahead and assume that the wolves were done by the person or persons who got Rodrik. If we do that, it means that they are quite sneaky indeed. If that is the case, they are probably still following us after the failed attempt with the wolves, and probably saw us go into the Plague House. Which means they also saw us go out of the Plague House, and decided not to attack us. And if they are real sneaky, we will likely not see them coming until they see that we are not, in fact, vulnerable.
Thus we would have to plan quite well.
A possible plan would be like this: we split the group up so that Maurie and Zove end up not followed, while Brin, Cromwin, and Grok are followed. Not sure how we manage this. Then BC&G approach a house via a circuitous route. Perhaps they mention that they need to go somewhere safe to talk, and look around nervously, implying that eavesdropping would be a good idea. Zove hides inside the house and uses detect magic, which would notify us if an invisible foe was outside (in which case fighting might not be the best idea, none of us have a sack of flour or anything). The invisible foe would, by virtue of being invisible, not be afraid of approaching within 60 ft if they thought there was some valuable information. Maurie hides on the circuitous route. She has the highest stealth and the highest perception. If the killer is visible, and we do not detect them, Maurie has a much better chance, since they might be following along at a distance.
I'm not sure about the plague house. Overtly attacking while we were fleeing probably would have been dangerous; we were running and separated, but we were also unhurt and armed and armored. The existing attempts seem to be based on sneakiness more than brute strength; perhaps they don't want to face us in combat directly. Attacking us at the moment we were most preoccupied with the cube probably would have been a good idea, but also could have been very dangerous to try following us down into the basement without being detected.
You're right that there are problems with "splitting up" to try and lure the person out, in that we don't actually want them to go to Zove's or Cromwin's because there are people there we don't want to expose to danger (also, Cromwin's place is relatively far away).
Hm. You know, if we make it obvious we're staying at the ramblehouse, I bet someone will either try to poison our food or at least carry poison into the place while looking to do us in in a more traditional manner. Do you think maybe we could get Zove hidden somewhere she could cast Detect Poison on people who enter the building? I can't imagine most people other than our assassin would be walking around with poison on them, so if someone goes into the ramblehouse and pings positive for the stuff, we've got a prime suspect to interrogate. Maybe we could hide her in the bushes diagonally between 16 and 1 on the map?
EDIT: Nope, Detect Poison is close range. Maybe we could get a room at the ramblehouse with a window that overlooks the entrance so she could scan people as they enter? I would say we could try just detecting people as they walk in the door directly, but I feel like it might weird people out to see her casting spells at them...
Well, the sanctuary does have a limited amount of healing, I think? We've already absorbed the paladin's healing capacity for the day, but I suppose it would stretch credibility a little.
Another possible idea; we did just find a lot of money in the plaguehouse. What if we went to the ramblehouse and celebrated not dying, finding a small fortune, and perhaps implying we uncovered important clues as to an unspecified sinister conspiracy going on there? We buy everyone drinks, talk a lot. Brin can tell stories about ghosts and how we were almost eaten by a gelatinous cube. We all pretend to get completely and totally sloshed before staggering upstairs in a "drunken stupor", at which point we can lie in wait. If we're right that we're being followed, that the person wants us dead and that they're connected to the plague house, that would have a good shot at triggering an attack, I think?
Interesting ideas, I'm not sure I'd buy the recover from wounds one on account of it just doesn't make sense to not go to Sanctuary, especially when we've already done that while presumably under observation.
I like the stealth detect poison idea, because no matter what if there is to be poison it would be active by the time it was in the food (I think?), at which point we could close the perimeter and be fairly certain that one of the people around was out culprit. Not sure how we'd go about closing the perimeter, especially if invisibility's a thing. Suppose there's a storm, so all we'd have to do is lock the doors and keep an eye on them, and if we get the guards involved cooperation would be a given.
You could silent image an orc, but not a specific one, right? In the same vein, could it make an actual image of Zove or just something close? Maybe it would be better used to create an image of a wound on one or all of us as we come out of the Plague House, potentially draw out an attack.
I've also been wondering, based on the falchion it seems reasonably likely, at least plausible, that one of the orcs was eaten by our gelatinous cube. Not sure that actually affects anything though.
Well, the sanctuary does have a limited amount of healing, I think? We've already absorbed the paladin's healing capacity for the day, but I suppose it would stretch credibility a little.
Another possible idea; we did just find a lot of money in the plaguehouse. What if we went to the ramblehouse and celebrated not dying, finding a small fortune, and perhaps implying we uncovered important clues as to an unspecified sinister conspiracy going on there? We buy everyone drinks, talk a lot. Brin can tell stories about ghosts and how we were almost eaten by a gelatinous cube. We all pretend to get completely and totally sloshed before staggering upstairs in a "drunken stupor", at which point we can lie in wait. If we're right that we're being followed, that the person wants us dead and that they're connected to the plague house, that would have a good shot at triggering an attack, I think?
I tried posting this, and apparently accidentally edited one of my earlier posts into this. Oops.
Maurie can do almost all the stealth type things you need (benefits of being a halfling) but unless I had a way to signal you guys to engage with me it would be a one on one fight at best (I have no problem with those odds, honestly, as I will also be likely to get my bonus to armor, AoO avoidance, etc) but if the guy himself has backup then it might be nice to have that bison whistle from Avatar to summon Appa.
Map updated and larger scale pics of the half orc and flood troll added to the 2nd NPC slide.
No problem Zove, thanks for the heads up good luck :)
Can someone move Brin to follow Cromwin? I can't make any moves with my phone.
I moved everyone to where I think we are, based on our descriptions. Brin, did you take the front like Cromwin suggested? Cromwin is hoping to attack over your shoulder with his lance if we run into them in the corridor, where you wouldn't be able to attack in the same situation if Brin is in back (although, you could cast spells then, but I don't think Cromwin actually knows you can do that).
Brin is not going to be casting in combat for a few levels at least. He'll get past Cromwin and be on the frontline for you.
I imagine it as putting magic in his words. I don't know if you all have ever read The Shannara series but the Wishsong is a big part of it, and inspired me a bit to try the Skald. The Wishsong was Uber powerful though and could pretty much warp time and space if it was used right.
I hope the troll is more concerned with Grok than me... 5 more damage and I die, if I am reading it right.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'll be more concerned with us than you; unless he manages to kill Grok and Cromwin too. We could be in trouble with a few bad rolls, since we can't wear him down an a war of attrition.
Cromwin is going to be happy when we get into an environment big enough for Anvil again, especially if he can see...
That acid sure might let us take things a bit slower. With Maurie down and Brin trapped we'll have trouble doing lots of damage quickly, so some magic may be required...not sure what though.
If Grok can hold out, Grok and Cromwin together can likely take down the troll, especially if Zove can hit with the acid. We just have to hope it doesn't roll like it did against Maurie before we can get everyone attacking it at once.
Agreed, sorry about those rolls guys, three d6s and 1 off max damage... ugh.
Is the bear trap attached to the floor somehow?
There are three bear traps all interlinked with wires according to the entry, no mention of them being attached to the floor as such. Do you have light cast BTW, I note it is one of your spells known but cannot recall if you used it? If you did what is it cast on?
Well, I got some decent rolls and the str bonus with a two handed weapon is quite good, since I normally have an odd str mod. Cromwin's using the lance two handed as well, right? Between our buffed attacks and acid disabling the healing, I think we'll do fine.
Going to be hard to catch the half orc, though, with Maurie unconscious and Brin trapped. Maybe if we can finish things up with the troll in another round or two then we can get to it before it escapes into the rain and dark.
Still easy enough to hit if its downed.
Given I can't reposition myself, what are the chances that I would get hit by the splash... and would it be enough to finish me off?
Brin hasn't cast light yet, being he's in darkness now he'll do that on his next turn.
@Maurie the troll already backed off last turn so you ought to be out of splash radius.
Yup, Cromwin is 2 handing his lance. He'll switch to 2 handing his warhammer if the Troll attacks him, since he can't step back without exposing Maurie.
Things are looking up though, especially if Zove can hit that fleeing Orc with sleep. We would probably be able to run him down, given how good Grok is at tracking orcs with Cromwin's help, but we're going to be too busy getting healing for Maurie I think.
I just had a power surge near me, and the Internet access went down. I still have access from my phone, but I might be a little brief until I get full access bank on my laptop. Hopefully this will be sorry term and service will be back tomorrow morning.
The half orc's turn is up in our fight, right?
Ah, that makes sense. Hope he gets better.
More just being a bit fuzzy headed and not realizing I was up, post incoming and my apologies.
Probably guilty of responsive posting quite often so if I fail to post giving one of the threads a quick bump will often draw my absent minded attention :)
I am still here, just no effective way I can post in the main thread until I get healed or something... go team go!
Sorry guys this flu/fever whatever is kicking my butt, spending far too long staring at posts and not processing and feeling dreadful. Headed to the Doctor tomorrow and anticipating a day or two without posting - see picture on slides for a 100% accurate depiction of my sufferings.
Hope you get better soon!