Heathy's Saltmarsh Campaign, II

Game Master Heathansson

Pip grimaces as his many wounds heal under Oso's potent magic

"Well, I can sing you folks a stirring tune, but that's about it. Without some shuteye I'm fresh out of juju."

Glances down at his unbloodied sword

"And you can see I'm a lover not a fighter."

Sorry, work and life has been terribly hectic of late. Had to pull extra hours to finish up a tile floor for an 80 year old woman who wanted it done for a superbowl party!
We leveled! Woo-hoo! I'll get to work on it today. I should be able to hit a post or 3 at night from here on.
Thanks for running Riese.

Yeah, this could go either way. I've got some explosive stuff left, but not much - and I have two unfilled 4th level spell slots. I'm leaning towards retreating, resting and then returning here during daylight before the vampire can return to the lizardman hall.

"Any more of those red lizardmen around?", Altai asks the surrendered foes.

"They are all outside. The red ones. They can't live here. They're too much trouble."

"I can keep going and face them hags un tree un things but I don't think we gonna win through without them magicks."

Can we fill the slots we have just gained? Could Oso pray now and learn his new shiny second and third level spells?

Oso prepares for battle and tries to fix his straps without shaking.

Can't fill the new slots until a new day......a lesson I learned the hard way.....

Interesting.....Do we rest, or do we surge forth? Quite the conundrum that....

"You know, it's not like the vampire doesn't know that we know about his hideout. He might even bring some minions and re-assault the hall tonight. And we might wait for him - again. By pulling back, we get to fight on our turf, rather than his."

It's like Groundhog day! Also, did we agree on a staking-the-vampire mechanic?

Awwrite...
how about this....
A vampire's heart is a "diminutive" creature. As such, if you can hit a diminutive creature with it's base a.c. i.e.....+4 to it's normal a.c. you hit the heart.
Then, unless the fogger's at zero h.p., you're going to have to do above 10 h.p. in damage to affect him, unless it's silver AND magic.
If you stake him, though, doing damage thusly, he's toast.
ALZO, a stake is possibly a makeshift weapon I'm thinking...

I think this is a decent compromise between "Buffy the Vampire Slayer mows through Vampires like they were 1 lvl. goblin warriors" and "we kill him, he turns to mist, we kill him again ad nauseum."

I think it should be possible, without vampires turning into the new cannon fodder.

(edit) I copy/pasted the previous post to the discussion thread; maybe it can be discussed there and whatnot so's I don't cluster up my own game thread...

"Hmmm... I have an idea. Let's head back home. I have a silver stake to smith." Altai turns to the lizardmen. "Go get the rest of your kin and get them out of here. Scatter into the marsh. Anyone left when we return will die, charred and cut by our fire and blades."

I'll take all the siver coins the party has, melt them down and make a proper vampire-killing stick. I'll temporarily enchant the silver spike with Magic weapon spells once the time comes. BTW, have you ever read the excellent Black Company series? I'm starting to feel like the wizards there - it's all about the tricks they cook up before the fighting starts.

heh heh....my Palladium/Rifts games back in the day were a lot like that...good build, I reckon.

EDIT I picked one of the books up back in the day; didn't get too far. I was always flighty unless I had nothing but time to read...

I'd really like to try some Runeblade class from the new Monte Cook book, but it's gonna be a bit before I have it. Permission to retcon when it arrives, sir?

Stig tosses Altai a bag of silver coins.

"Bluidsookin' fiends! 'Ell griven."

“Alright, that sounds like a good plan.” Beldan gets ready to get going. He’ll collect his rope once those who are climbing are down.

I'd really like to try some Runeblade class from the new Monte Cook book, but it's gonna be a bit before I have it. Permission to retcon when it arrives, sir?

Stig tosses Altai a bag of silver coins.

"Bluidsookin' fiends! 'Ell griven."

yeah, that sounds cool. What book is it again? Might need to look into it m'self. (edit) book of experimental might...sounds cool.....

One of the lizardmen speaks up;

"five of us will stay behind and slow them down as much as we can if it comes to that. I will stay. The rest, yes; scatter to the swamps for now.
They shall return to the village soon though....if the chief will have them back. They shall return penitent."

yeah, that sounds cool. What book is it again? Might need to look into it m'self. (edit) book of experimental might...sounds cool.....

That's the book that Paizo is expecting in any day now, so it'll be a good month before I see it. I just always associated dwarves with runes... I had a dwarf who etched nasty-arsed fighting runes on his sword in rolemaster back in the day.

Futharker!!! ;)
Yeah; I might have to get it as well.

Dwarves and runes go well together - Warhammer plays that stuff up as well.

Once we get back to the lizardman hall, Altai gets to work with the silver spike. For all intents and purposes, it'll be a bog-standard silver shortspear; Altai's a decent weaponsmith, but he can't craft a masterwork weapon in the time we have. I doubt the lizardmen have a proper forge, but it should be easy enough to smelt silver in the big firepit.

We need to stay alert all night. Once the sun comes up, we'll take a well-deserved nap and then head back to the tree around 2 in the afternoon or so. Can we re-memorise spells? I need to rethink my entire spell-suite for the upcoming dust-up.

Well, you are able to get back to the hall uneventfully.
The chief asks, "what....of my son?"
And lowers his head in disdain.
"Oh, well.....perhaps we will be free of this curse soon..."he says, trying to muster some form of optimism.

It's about 1 a.m. No spell recharge yet...
Does anybody sleep?

Assume Altai goes to work on a silver spear.

Oh, and don't worry...no action begins until everybody's leveled up.

Black Company? Dwarven runes? Am I in the right thread? ;P Thx for the lvl up, I'll get to work on it tomorrow, but there aint no way its happenin' tonite.

Elgan lands, and after a hasty cinsultation, reluctantly agrees to go back to the lizard-enclave and try again later. But he obviously isn't happy about it! But he admits the poor strategy it would be to go within the lizard-vamps lair without all of their resources intact.

Hopefully we wont have to hunt up a sapling godtree to pound Sakatha's spike into!

Pip stretches out and falls asleep once they get to the hall. He agrees to take whatever shift is needed.

Well, I for one, am tired and should be getting some sleep. A rested wizard is a happy wizard. Perhaps some of the big strong warriors will guard me whilst I recharge my batteries. If I can gain my spells back I can help to destroy these monstrosities easier.

"tink tink.....tink.....tink tink...."
Altai's forgework tinkles in the distance.

Oso sleeps first, then takes an early shift, followed by prayers. Or that is the plan.

His prayers revolve around making the right choices for spells and not becoming one of the undying. The prayers are accompanied by the gentle sound of whetstone rasping around at his sword and dagger.

The Dread Thread has finally struck! Check out the warning from the Post Monster in the discussion thread.

Here's where I'll be putting the second half of Heathy's Saltmarsh Campaign thread in an effort to unbork the boards.