Except us?
Pats Bedlam on the head and says, "Of course, Bedlam! Of course..."
If we did deal with the RiddleFORT with extreme prejudice, I was hoping to do so in a way that could frame the hobgoblins. Maybe it would be easier to frame Magnimar? I admit I'm not sure what that would look like, but we might be able to deal with the fort without burning bridges if we're careful. If we give the powers that be the idea that our little stretch of land here is a bit too hostile on its own to bother with, maybe they'll squabble over somewhere else.
Anzath, what would you like to give the dragon for tribute so we can hold it back from sales activity? Do you want to give it The Sword, or one or two of the smaller items we picked up?
As the tense stand off with the dragon begins, Tragershen casts ventriloquism to make kissy noises coming from Anzath. :)
Perhaps Tal stays at Zelkor's Ferry to help bolster the town guard from the looming threats? That way when his player feels up to coming back in, he's not in a distant city or anything like that?
Yes! And something like a magic talisman that will allow him to rejoin you when convenient for the player.
I'm fine with offering the sword, although its prob worth way more than what we owe. Maybe that'll buy us more time before we have to pay homage again.
I'll post in game soon(tm) later today.
If you think we could get away with offering one or two smaller value items, I would be all for that. We do have: +1 hide armor, +1 amulet of mighty fists, +2 greatclub, +1 studded leather, +1 dagger, +1 breastplate, 38 +1 arrows, +1 keen dagger, +1 keen throwing axe and a +2 warhammer. Unless the dragon has a reason to demand Tragershen turn out his magic haversack, he doesn't need to know about the tome, shield or greatsword.
Tal and I should split those arrows.
GM, what’s our monthly bill with Aragnak?
If anyone else wants any of those items, speak now or forever hold your peace.
Not certain how I missed this, but Bedlam would like +1 amulet of mighty fists.
Aragnak doesn't have a monthly price in mind. If he feels like you're selling him short, he might get grouchy.
Ok, I think I’m going to offer the greatsword with the hopes that one day we will get it back. Also, because of its tremendous value, I’m hoping Aragnak will be very pleased and let us off the hook for a while. Please, if anyone thinks this idea is s@#@e, stop me.
Speak now, or forever hold your peace.
And Anz: yes, you can sell your masterwork equipment to Zelkor's Ferry. I'll convert those items to GP and adjust the spreadsheet.
Please remember that we were going to allow Ippolit and Gelver to equip themselves from the masterwork items if they didn't have them already.
Anzath, as for you giving the dragon the sword, I trust your judgment. I've enjoyed the subplot you've created immensely. And if we are really adventurers worthy of the name, we'll reclaim it someday. In the meantime, the rest of the items we have should give us a decent boost when we head back to Rappan Athuk.
GM, a quick question on the RiddleFORT folks. Are they officially there for a city, or is it just one or more noble houses of the city laying claim.
GM, a quick question on the RiddleFORT folks. Are they officially there for a city, or is it just one or more noble houses of the city laying claim.
The city being an oligarchy, yes and no. The average Riddleporter would recognize the expedition as Riddleportian, but also as a pet project of House Curchain.
This is awesome. I hope it goes well.
I don't have any spells to disguise appearance other than invisibility. I suppose I could tear off the bottom of my robe and wrap it like a headband to conceal my pointy ears. I don't think I would change my spell line up for this.
I guess Aragnak isnt one for logistics, but hows the rest of the party supposed to get over there in time?
Also, I'm going rainy beach camping Fri-Sat nights! I'll be brainstorming about the mighty battle while I'm out there...
They can get there by boat--Aragnak's isn't terribly far from the hobbo hillfort.
Or we can wait here while you go on your romantic date mission.
GM, are you thinking this is going to be a handwave assault, mostly by the dragon? Or are you thinking we'll actually play out a large melee?
Are we going after the Hobgoblins, humans or better yet both?!
We could level to 8th and play out both! Making a Red your ally could be worth that XP!
Or did he level and took Leadership Feat?
Anzath is hoping to aim Aragnak at both armies.
I'd love to play this out vs handwaving. Although that could take a whole year of pbp.
I think running a combat with hundreds of individuals would be EPIC and fun, but hard. Let's talk about how it could go. Total brainstorming:
1. Play it out. DM's Orcs vs. DM's humans vs. DM's dragon + PC party. PbB. Most obvious solution. A lot of work for me. I've still got a lot of time on my hands. This method might be the best just because it would guarantee that I get hired for a demanding new job as soon as we committed to it, right?
2. Split the factions into subteams, dole them out to players, run massive battle royale. Something like Anz, Aur, Bed, Lol's orcs vs. Tal Ter Trag and my humans vs. DM's dragon + PCs still play their party. We could randomize or draft or something to make sure everyone gets something cool and fun to do. Might require a stronger mapping system than the forum offers. Might be too complicated, like playing eight-handed three-team Warhammer Fantasy by post. Might be amazing. Or we could give players subteams based on their time to spend, I know some of you have IRL distractions!
3. Handwave/narrative. As currently mapped out, the humans are at CR 10-11, the orcs at CR 12, the dragon is CR 14 on his own and CR 15 with the party, the party is at CR 12 on its own. It might not be worth running a combat where you have such a commanding lead. On the other hand, I could balance it to give you all a proper challenge easily enough, I just have to declare more warriors present than are currently involved. We could also do a variant where you all can narrate what you're doing, but we wouldn't roll out everything. Lolly wants to kill a hobgoblin? Is the hobgoblin standing next to Lolly? Ok, it's dead. Next hob. Etc.
1-2 would be gritty, grindy, simmy, and possibly unforgettable peak (virtual) tabletop ridiculousness, but that flavor of fun is pretty different from what we've done so far.
3 would still be a joy to write and play through. Heck, I wish I could draw. Cinematic s!*% is about to happen.
4. I could learn more about troop combat and the other ways that already exist to solve this problem.
5+ ??? Anyone got any cool ideas?
Depends on our tactics, i could see us being split into smaller teams. Perhaps instead of one huge battle, have individual encounters with smaller groups of enemies, but just throw them at us in waves.
The Seige of Trunau in Giantslayer does a good job of focusing in on the PCs as a much larger battle takes place in the backdrop around them.
Throwing in epic cutscenes between each wave could be nice, but the idea is we're going from one encounter to the next without much time for recuperation.
Intriguing, I'll think about that approach.
The PFS Conventions have season ending epic Modules that have multiple tables that each individually have their own "encounters", but are collectively used for the story line.
Each "table" can send "aid" to other tables during the Module.
But it is similar to Anzath's idea. There can be a bunch of background things happening, but our party will have their own mini battles to reach a goal.
I am open to handling it whichever way. We were toying with tackling these anthills without the dragon, so going with is just epic icing on the cake.
Back! Don't trust coastal forecasts: drizzle and 5mph winds turned into quite a storm. Bailed out to an airbnb yurt.
I think interactive mini-battles sounds ok, but I want to preserve your ability to move where you want, when you want. I'm leaning toward a fog-of-war video game approach where you are embroiled in a local situation while things around you are progressing simultaneously, but if you move it will come into focus and dice will start rolling.
Sounds great!
Should we level on the way? We do have a dragon!!!
No. You just leveled!
Fast Bombs Discovery is soooo close! Haha!
Terapin joined when you leveled last--since then, you've done like three encounters. Steady on those fast bombs, it'll be a while.
Sounds like a great approach to me!
How far do we need to go?
Could our Master Summoner conjure Medium Air Elementals to fly us individually? They Fly 100' (Perfect) Str 14 and last 7 minutes, I believe?
Bedlam already has googles!
That's creative! You could get from the boat to the battle that way, I think, except for those of you who weigh more than 175 lbs.
GM, was I able to use some of the sold loot funds to purchase the belt of con back in town? I think I’m going to want it.
Yes. I've made a note in the Loot sheet.
Ok, I need to update my profile. Thanks.
I’m all updated. I took the 20 +1 arrows from Saracek as well. I don’t have any mounted combat feats, so shooting from dragon back may be risky. I need to read up on mounted combat and the ride skill. My Ride Skill is +6, so I hope I can stay on!
And just FYI, if I’m not TWF, my AC is 19.
What size category is Aragnak?
He's Huge.
If you want, I can use prestidigitation to color your eyes red, hair white and skin black to maximize your drow heritage. It would last for an hour.
Edit: Frankly, I may do that to disguise myself. I suppose I could make Bedlam look like a gray dwarf.
If you want, I can use prestidigitation to color your eyes red, hair white and skin black to maximize your drow heritage. It would last for an hour.
Edit: Frankly, I may do that to disguise myself. I suppose I could make Bedlam look like a gray dwarf.
Theoretically you could do it to everyone in the party.
Excuse me, we are looking for a half-elf ranger, and elven wizard, a human cleric, a human drunk, a gnome summoner, and a dwarven lunatic. What's that? Oh, the dwarf had red hair, nevermind, move along.
My masterpiece, the hobgoblin fort in pencil.
A rough map. Humans are camping in the south, but they have outposts at each cardinal direction to maintain the siege. They have mantlets set up outside the hobgoblin double gate. The hobgoblins have a walkway circling the entire crater. The cone in the center contains the cave.
I was considering changing his colored contacts from blue to light blue...
Bedlam's Buffs: Mutagen, Heightened Awareness, Barkskin, Heroism. 70 minutes.
Vermin Repellent
Antiplague
Antitoxin
Alchemical grease
Deodorizing Agent
He will chug an Enlarge Person once the fun starts!
I like them. I feel as if we just went ol' school!
Only Bedlam would combine Vermin Repellent and Deodorizing Agent...
...and thanks!
"We want to make sure that no one from the siege gets back to their fort. I'll start us off on the ground here with my accelerant spell, and then contribute where I can."
if we're more than 170ft apart from each other, communication with hand signals might be tricky.
Can we take a moment to all learn flag semaphore?
I think the signal might end up being "When the Red Dragon dives, attack."
Sorry to bail right when things are getting interesting, but I'm heading to Goblins Gate and beyond from Sat-Sun nights. Swoop upon the vile humans on Monday, adventurers!