Modified Rise of the Runelords (Inactive)

Game Master mathpro18

"Yes, Belor," Baldric answers, pleased that for once he doesn't have to put on any airs, "It's bad news, as usual. The giant Teraktinus and his dragon are on their way here with a band of giants, or maybe only ogres, we're not sure yet. Shal intercepted a letter, they're coming for a raid, looking for something here in Sandpoint."

"Shal is going to ride out with Lamb and Wolf to try to learn more, and I thought we might ask Veznutt and Ilsoari if they could think of anything they might be interested in... Brodert too, obviously. In the meantime, we should be working on a plan to keep people safe and protect the town."

As the man says Zaphkiel interjects Obviously we need to prioritize the people, but we unfortunately don't know what they're coming for so it would seem that the fight will inevitably happen here at the town.

So Lamb and wolf are going with Shalelu? Lamb and wolf can you cast teleport at this point?

The sheriff goes a bit pale in the face. "First goblins...then murder cults...and now giants...when will this town catch a break. Again I thank you for your intervention and what ever help you may provide. The citizens of this town, my self included are in your debt...and I'm starting to fear its a debt we may never be able to pay. " he reaches into the drawer of his desk, pulls out a flask and takes three large gulps from it before offering it to Baldrick and Zaphkiel. "Have we assertained what kind of time frame we are looking at for the attack?"

Actually, yes, level 4 summoner spell. Yes, the two are part of the scouting party. Wolf will be a bit back from Lamb at this point, since she is better at hiding than he is

I would love for us to have ready access to teleport (so, please, feel free to overrule this) but technically she doesn't... unchained summoner has an altered spell list that moves many spells (like teleport) back up to their normal spell level. I think they mostly just did it to stop some of the odd fallout that came up (like summoners being able to craft wands of teleport), but RAW unchained summoners don't get teleport until 13th level (when they get 5th spells).

Baldric takes the flask from the sheriff and takes one long swallow before passing it to Zaph. "Not yet, no," he answers, "that's one of the reasons they're going scouting. Hopefully they'll be able to bring us a head count and an ETA. If we can find a good spot along their path we might try to face them outside of town but knowing that they're specifically after something in town there's no guarantee that Teraktinus and his dragon wouldn't just leave us to fight the giants and fly off to ravage the town with just the two of them..."

my bad, looked at wrong list then :/

Zaphkiel waves off the offer of alcohol, as he usually does. "My only exception is sacred liquors," he said that first night in the swamp when it was offered. "I'll drink on First Brewing and harvest days, but not for no reason."

We only found out about the attack ourselves after we arrived. It seemed prudent to tell you as soon as we figured out our plan to gather intelligence and Shalelu left.

He pauses while Baldric finishes his thoughts.

Well I doubt a 15-foot dragon could carry a giant that's big and nasty enough to command other giants, but it's certainly capable of reducing the town to little more than a corpse of itself.

going to assume Lamb and wolf and Shalelu split up to move things along a little.

Shalelu makes her way over to the garrison, moving quickly but not to quickly as she doesn't want to raise suspission. As she gets to the garrison she bursts into the sherrifs office. "We have trouble...Ravenmore...its been destroyed by giants...that puts them just 3 days away..."

"They paused to destroy Ravenmoor..." Baldric reflects, "that means they'll most likely raize Galduria tomorrow..."

The burly warrior sinks into quiet consideration for a moment as he runs through a few tactical scenarios- something his companions are accustomed to. "I wonder how many teleportation scrolls we could get our hands on? We could start a war of attrition against them; if we teleport out there we could magically augment their minimal town guard and then kill as many giants as possible before withdrawing. We could teleport back here afterwards to recover and check on preparations that night. The following day we could wind walk out to find them and launch a guerrilla attack- kill as many as we can as fast as we can and then teleport back again. By the time they reach Sandpoint their ranks could be greatly thinned..."

The sheriff pales at what Shalelu just said and taking the flask from Baldrick downs the rest of the flask in one big gulp. "Desna watch over us...can't we ever catch a break?." As Baldric speaks he nods in agreement but a questioning look grows on his face. "You have only returned an hour ago? Are you sure you are ready to leave again? I'm not saying don't go I just don't want to see anything happen to you...you are very important to Sandpoint.

Zaphkiel smiles slightly.

If they're coming here, we won't be any safer just by not trying to fight them. Besides, we have an opportunity to help the people of Galduria. We can't just leave them alone if we have the opportunity.

"Our safety is exactly why I'm suggesting this." Baldric says with a hint of a scowl, "we can't save Galduria, and that wouldn't be our mission. We can warn them ahead of time, which should spare lives; with our magical support their guard will be able to inflict higher casualties, and we can stay on the edges of the fight killing off foot soldiers. Without engaging Teraktinus and his pet we should be pretty safe but we can greatly diminish his soldiers so he has less protection when the time comes for us to fight him. And if we do enough damage to his army who knows, maybe they'll pullback and the town won't be completely lost."

Shalelu smiles at the two men and nods "I agree you guys can go on ahead, I can stay back and start on preperations here. Do you want me to get the others so we can discuss plans further? Why don't we meet at the Rusty dragon say in 15 minutes? I'm sure Ameiko can find somewhere quiet for us to meet."

didnt recieve updates

"We should give the other town some kind of chance. Letting them be a buffer for us is not a very honorable thing to do. Wolf and myself can ride there and warn them... when we get back we will rest then"

Wolf growls under his breath "Always so caring. I say let them die. Slow down the army, let them take wounds or make them rest a bit longer"

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Iozif catches up with the others just as they're getting ready to head over to the Rusty Dragon. Seeing Shalelu, Lamb and Wolf, he is full of questions. "How'd it go, do we know where they are? Does it look like they'll come along the coast?"

"They are a mere three days out. Unless they stop at the 2 town between us and them amd raise them... then we may have a day more" Lamb tries to answer his question

"Indeed. A day extra to increase our defences and come up with a proper plan. But i am willing to take on the pet dragon. I do not fear its flames!" Wolf adds with a smug grin

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Shalelu looks at Iozif and shakes her head "Not only are they 3 days off...but the town of Ravengrow...it gone...they leveled it for not apparent reason."

We were just discussing how to respond.

Zaphkiel sighs.

Whether we ought to intervene to save or assist those towns between here and them.

So You want to ride ahead Lamb and Wolf? I don't think that is wise but I won't stop you. I really should be getting back to the fort unless you want my assistance further.

"Well that sounds like they're more likely to come at us from along the coast."

Iozif whispers to Zaphkiel when L&W is out of earshot. "When you can, old man Vinder would like you to look in on Shayless. There is some concern for the child's health, Shay's supposed to have been on bedrest, but snuck out to see us."

You've done well, Shalelu. Go ahead and return to the fort.

He turns to face the others.

If it comes to be that the consensus is to warn them without intervening in the conflict ourselves, perhaps someone who is not themselves a portent of death he gives a meaningful glance at Lamb and Wolf Ought to be doing the warning. A warning is meaningless when it comes from someone the warned will not listen to.

He stretches.

I still believe we ought to at least try to do something to actually help them. Galduria has an academy of wizardry, does it not? Perhaps we will be better supported attacking them there than here in Sandpoint.

A very audible mumble comes from Wolf, leaving Lamb to simply shake her head with a chuckle

"You misunderstand me, Zaph," Baldric interjects, "I absolutely think we should intervene. In fact, I think we should head there now to warn people to leave or hide and to take stock of the town's resources to coordinate a defense... I just think we need to be prepared to withdraw once we attract too much attention. Maybe they'll be able to offer enough assistance and we can stop Teraktinus, but we need to remember that if we get killed there Sandpoint will unquestionably be destroyed."

Very well. Let's set off at dawn. We will need to sleep at least a little before we leave.

Zaphkiel will you be checking on Shayless this evening or wait for you guys to get back?

Yes. Thought the conversation was going to continue.

Baldric frowns. "Leaving in the morning means twelve less hours for preparations."

We just were on the road. It's possible we may lose more by sacrificing that one night of real rest.

"I'm not suggesting using any roads..." Baldric points out, "this whole plan hinges on being able to find teleportation scrolls- that's the only way we make it to Galduria before the giants do at all, and with it we could be there with plenty of time to alert the town leaders, start making a plan, and still get a full night's sleep..."

Not wanting to waste any more time in committee, he adds, "We need the scrolls no matter when we leave; I'm going to go see how many I can find." Then he heads out to check any shop that might have any scrolls for sale.

"Zaph and I can take care of some prep while the three of you sleep tonight. We have things to do here before we can leave again. Traveling overland, how long do you think it'll take to get from Ravengrow to Galduria? Although they'll probably have to stop for rest too."

Iozif and Zaphkiel have rings of sustenance, I didn't see one on either Baldric or Lamb and Wolf.

I'm not sure how to answer that... By canon, I believe it's 80-90 miles from Ravenmoor to Galduria (probably 4 days) but GM said they be to Sandpoint in 3 days (which is traditionally 100 miles/5 days, iirc, from Galduria), so I have no idea.

I'm guessing giants are faster, maybe have a movement of 50 or something like that.

That is my bad. Ravenmoore to Sandpoint is a total of 230 miles. Assuming that you travel at your standard 30 ft/round you go an average of 3.4 miles per hour on foot. Now assuming that Ravenmoore to Galduria is 90 miles we can take that off of the 230 to get 140 miles. Assuming the 3.4 miles per hour on foot you will get to Galduria in 41 hours. Assuming you need to stop and rest I'd say 3-4 days. The Giant army won't arrive in sandpoint for a week, assuming movement 30.

So it looks like we have some time for preparations. We can rest here the night and have the Sheriff begin preparations here while we move toward Galduria.

There are some things I must do before we depart in any event.

If there's any teleportation to be had here, I'll be quite surprised.

Zaphkiel goes to check on Shayless. We'll be hopping off to there before we sleep regardless, it seems. Either we have to race the giants there or teleport and make the most of our intelligence advantage.

the Outsiders take to rest. She needs her spells for the coming day after all

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