Of Kings and Commoners - Kingmaker AP

Game Master RPGGGM

Durgan mounts up and unties his horse.
"Alia, either kill the beast, or let's have it chase us. It's healing too fast and we can't stick around when it wakes up. It will just attack us again."

Training an animal takes weeks. We don't have weeks. We don't have minutes before it is awake and at full strength again. And we don't have wild empathy.

It is not all that difficult to sneak the couple of miles between the raft and the base of the hill the fort rests on. It's from there that things get difficult. If you are taking the horses you will have to walk them.

The space around the hill has been cleared of foliage to a distance of 30 feet from the walls. The hill itself is steep and the terrain was left with a lot of small bush and sapling stumps making it nearly impossible to run a horse through. One side of the hill faces a long drop into Lake Tuskwater. This all leaves a clearly marked winding switchback trail along the northeastern side of the fort as the only obvious path to the gates.

The Fort. Questions?

Scarlet cracks her knuckles. "A shame about the whole hydra thing. Aw well."

"So, how do we do this? Posh, can you make Alia invisible? Or Zokon? You want to climb up the tower and take out a guard, right. That requires stealth... which I can't do."

"If you want to just charge the damn thing we can do that. I can grow big and make lots of noise."

"Where should I stand?" Erevenywg says bouncing with excitement.

"Erevenywg? I need you to stay back a bit. You're our guest and the last thing I want is you getting injured." Scarlet scratches her head. "It's going to get a lot more violent from here on out, yeah? I don't want you getting hurt."

"The north side has a tower adjacent to the wall. A Spider Climb from Alia and any of us can get up there. First one in clears the tower and drops a knotted rope. The rest follow. If things turn bad, we go out the way we came in. A Vanish spell from Posh could be useful for the first one up."

Durgan is at a -2 Climb with his ACP, but a knotted rope and wall is DC 0.

"We could even use Enlarge Person to have an invisible giant scaling the wall with another of us on their back. That would get two of us into the tower right away." Durgan has 1 potion of Enlarge left. And Scarlet has her SLA.

Scarlet blanches. "There is no way I'm getting up that tower without magical help, and I'd hate to have one of us trapped alone in there with a dozen men or more without any backup or means of easy egress."

"We could put the Spider Climb on you, Serena." Although at DC 0 for knotted rope and wall, you would have only a -3 Climb check with your shield stowed, so you'd make it on a 3+ on 1d20.

"The towers aren't that big. Could you handle two guards if you were invisible and got the drop on them? I believe I could." If every bandit was on guard duty all the time and they did nothing else, they could have 36 men on guard duty (12 per tower) for 3 shifts per day if they had 108 men. I think more likely about 2 guards per tower.

"Do we have any means of scouting the towers? If not, then whoever is climbing up while invisible can look in the tower and abandon the plan if it seems too difficult."

Or, we could just break down the front gate.

"If you want me to turn big, hehe. I can get big." Scarlet has a wand and potion of Enlarge Person.

"Make me big and I'll get their attention, if need be."

"I'll follow your plan, Scarlet. Call it."

We're all here because you got us going. Let me know what to do.
My remaining spells: 10 min/level are Barkskin, Resist Energy, Resist Energy. 1 min/level are Bull's Strength, Shield of Faith, Bless, Invisibility Purge (CL5 scroll), and Deadly Juggernaut (CL5 scroll). I am out of Channels for the day but Serena has some and I have a wand of CLW.

"How big can you get? Big enough to put someone in the tower? Or boost em? This could make it alot faster... Alia or Serena first to hold then me to shoot and then the rest to hold and move." he kinda blurts after listening and thinking for a while.

"I'm perfectly willing to go first if that is the plan," Serena acknowledges.

Scarlet thinks for a bit. "Alright. I'm the shock and awe type, yeah? I grow big. Someone makes me invisible. I pick up Zokon and put him in the tower so he can start shooting."

"Then I hoist Serena and Durgan in so they can go for the front gate." She pauses. "I'll also go for the front gate and tear that thing down- we need to scare the low level guys into scattering, we don't want to fight them all. We need to give them an exit."

"Alia, Erevenywg, Posh. We need you to locate and cut off access to their extra weapons. Free slaves. Ruin their food- whatever it takes to demoralize them."

"That should draw out the Stag Lord, that pathetic wizard with the floating head, and that tough second in command. Hopefully one at a time, but we won't know."

"Sounds good to everyone?"

"Uhmm..." Illthir mumbled feeling a bit lost and not only because she wasn't mentioned; she hadn't stormed any castles before. Forts even. "Should I just tag along with Alia, Posh and Erevenywg?"

Scarlet is counting on her fingers. "I missed someone, didn't I? Oh! Illthir!" She comes to attention.

"Yeah, yeah. Use your... um... social knowledge and help raise a ruckus. When the leaders show up we will need your warchants to keep us going."

Durgan casts Barkskin on himself.

"I'd prefer we all stick together, we should all go over the wall and all defeat the occupants, working together to keep us all safe. For my mind I want Alia in the keep with me, skewering bad guys. Too much planning makes for too much that can go wrong and we have so little information about what is inside. Better to keep it simple." he says with a little concern

Serena draws her scimitar and checks her armor buckles. "Wherever you need me, I'll be there," she says.

"Alright, we'll risk fireball formation. Alia, Zokon: climb the tower. Everyone else: protect the base of the tower. We're gonna get surrounded and we'll need our force to break through."

Meanwhile someplace dark. So dark in fact that Victoria has began to wonder if she has been blinded as well as being shackled to the cold stonewall.

"My, what handsome human woman you are. Your skin I so pale. You must enjoy the dark a lot. That appeals to me, though I must say that I've had another face in mind this past week. You aren't jealous are you?" says an unseen voice with a strangely familiar accent.

The voice has been your only real company since your arrival. You know that it comes and goes from the place, but somehow light never seems to trickle in. It is like the sun has gone out. All you can tell about the space is that the air seems stale and it smells of death and mold.

There's been noise the last few days to be sure, though it has grown quieter of late. Most of it from outside the oubliette you find yourself in. The raucous sound of brigands yelling, swearing, fighting, and carousing with one another as wild men might out away from civilization. One man whose voice always seems a roar nearly beat another to death for "walking too loudly" while he was overcoming a hangover. All the other men seem to fear this one and with good reason. The bandits took the beaten man down to "the old man" for treatment though there was a lot of hesitation, as if the old man was somehow as scary as their brutish leader. When the beaten man returned a day later the others made mention of him not being "right in the head" anymore.

There's talk of some young Mivoni noble coming to the camp to make the men there all rich. In the next day or two. The time span though never seems to shorten. It is always a day or two away and because of that the tension around the camp has grown.

So which tower are we shooting for? After a few minutes of watching you can tell that most of the tower guards' attention is aimed toward the front gate of the fort. In fact the guard in the tower nearest the lake hardly seems to move at all.

On the one hand, Victoria is almost pleased to hear another voice. On the other, she's been dreading that almost more than anything else. Gods know what another voice might portend. She tries to remain aloof, polite even. It would do her little good to antagonize her captors. "Jealous? Of course not. Why, I must look a fright. I can't recall the last time I had a proper bath," she adds. Dammit, V, don't talk about baths! Or anything that involves me without clothing. She wracks her brain trying to recall the accent. "I guess the darkness does have a slimming effect that some might envy," she quips. She doesn't actually relish the dark at all, especially after this ordeal. Her magics tend to assume being able to see a target. And without her dear Arris, she has no access to her spells. If I get out of here, I swear by all the gods to never take my vision for granted again.

"Okay, we know about 3 towers, right?" Scarlet ponders. "Let's try the western tower." In the lower left corner of the tactical map.

"It's the furthest from the front gate, but everyone's attention is away from us. It will take time to rally."

So who is heading up the hill first? How are they going about it? It is basically thirty feet to the wall from the woods or lake cliff. The main path to the gates however is cleared out about twice as far. Remember it is dark out. The towers have torches in them.

Everyone checks their weapons. Double checks their gear.

It's time.

"Posh, cast Invisibility on me (or Vanish if you don't have it.) Zokon, Alia, hold onto this rope." Scarlet loosely ties some rope around her waist. "Vanish Zokon and Alia if you can, too."

"Durgan, Serena. I'm sorry, but I need your two to hold torches and approach, maybe 30 feet away from us. Just wait half a minute after we move ahead. It will give us all light. And if they see you they won't see Zokon and Alia climbing up."

"The rest of you, wait another half minute and then follow to back them up."

"Alia can cast Light on my axe. And Serena can cast Light on her sword or shield. But I don't mind being a target - I'll cast another spell to make me harder to hit."
Light is just as good as a torch and keeps a hand free.

Durgan will cast Shield of Faith on himself before approaching.

Scarlet uses her spell like ability to cast Enlarge Person on herself.

Everyone checks their weapons. Double checks their gear.

It's time.

"Posh, cast Invisibility on me (or Vanish if you don't have it.) Zokon, Alia, hold onto this rope." Scarlet loosely ties some rope around her waist. "Vanish Zokon and Alia if you can, too."

I'm just going to say he does (3 castings, CL 4). That leaves him with one 2nd level spell slot and one 1st level spell slot left.

"Okay ..." Illthir says to no one in particular, feeling both nervous and excited. "If we'd like an distraction that won't mind arrows I can add a Silent Image..."

On the one hand, Victoria is almost pleased to hear another voice. On the other, she's been dreading that almost more than anything else. Gods know what another voice might portend. She tries to remain aloof, polite even. It would do her little good to antagonize her captors. "Jealous? Of course not. Why, I must look a fright. I can't recall the last time I had a proper bath," she adds. Dammit, V, don't talk about baths! Or anything that involves me without clothing. She wracks her brain trying to recall the accent. "I guess the darkness does have a slimming effect that some might envy," she quips.

"Not to my eyes, but eventually. I'll see to it that you loose a whole lot of weight. But business first before pleasure."

"WHOO WHOO!"

There must be an owl somewhere close outside.

"Not to my eyes, but eventually. I'll see to it that you loose a whole lot of weight. But business first before pleasure."

Well THAT sounds extremely ominous.

Zokon holds on to the rope and has bow out, he follows Scarlet and then jumps/climb up on the wall when she gives him a boost

climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Given that Posh can only cast vanish 1/round and it only lasts a round/level (CL 4) he casts it on big Scarlet first. Who takes a move action to get into position. Except that half-way up the hillside the hill's "readied action" kicks in.

A moldering corpse's hand shoots up from the earth, and then another and another and Scarlet finds herself encircled by the undead! The creatures moan as their eyeless faces look about for whatever roused them.

The creatures are considered prone as they are still clawing their way up from the earth. It doesn't seem like they can see her as of yet.

Surprise Round! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Zokon surprise round action
__ Serena surprise round action
__ Durgan surprise round action, barkskin and shield of faith
__ Scarlet surprise round action, big and invisible
__ Posh surprise round action
__ Illthir surprise round action
__ the undead! knowledge (religion) DC 10
__ Alia

Map updated.

Does Deadly Juggernaut trigger on destroying undead?

"Can't say I'm too surprised." MegaScarlet watches the undead. She slashes the first one closest to her.

Cold Iron Masterwork Longsword: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
2H Damage: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (5, 4) + 6 = 15

She lops the things hands and head off, without which it can't pull itself free.

They are all equally close so you tell me which one you want to hit, front, left, right, or back?

Does Deadly Juggernaut trigger on destroying undead?

I'm goin' with 'yeah.'

Surprise Round! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Zokon surprise round action
__ Serena surprise round action
__ Durgan surprise round action, barkskin and shield of faith
__ Scarlet big and invisible
__ Posh surprise round action
__ Illthir surprise round action
__ the undead! knowledge (religion) DC 10
__ Alia

Map updated.

Scarlet digs her swords into the thing behind her. "Of course he would have undead sentries. Bah!"

Is Zokon invisible atm? if so he does nothing hoping to not give it away,

Zokon remains inactive, he switches his bow to his off hand so he can have his good hand ready to active his spring loaded sheathed dagger

Durgan draws his Scroll of Deadly Juggernaut.

Is Zokon invisible atm?

Not yet.

Surprise Round! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Zokon surprise round action
__ Serena surprise round action
__ Durgan barkskin and shield of faith
__ Scarlet big and invisible
__ Posh surprise round action
__ Illthir surprise round action
__ the undead! knowledge (religion) DC 10
__ Alia

Map updated.

Zokon will pop out his cold iron dagger from his wrist sheath move up to red zombie and slash at him

dagger: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25 dagger: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Zokon will pop out his cold iron dagger from his wrist sheath move up to red zombie and slash at him

That one has already been dealt with by Scarlet. Sorry, just got around to updating the map.

Serena breaks from the treeline, dashing up the hill to take on the yellow zombie.

Scimitar attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15 Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Illthir charges as well - going for the yellow zombie!

To Hit: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 7 + 2 = 29

Damage?: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

edit: Confirm?: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 7 + 2 = 20

Extra Damage?: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

There's going to be none left for me...
Durgan will likely end up putting away his scroll.

Hold up! Hold up! Surprise rounds allow you to take either a move or a standard action (or a charge action for your normal movement amount not double that).

Serena breaks from the treeline, dashing up the hill to take on the yellow zombie.

Serena can do this if she charges.

Illthir charges as well - going for the yellow zombie!

I don't think that's possible given your location on the map. Maybe blue would be a better target.

Zokon will pop out his cold iron dagger from his wrist sheath move up to red zombie and slash at him

And Scarlet post-facto boggarted your target meaning now you will have to charge to actually get in range to attack. Otherwise Zokon can move or standard action as you will.

Zokon will charge then if he can... Just add +2 to hit and -2 AC?

Illthir Winlowe wrote:

Illthir charges as well - going for the yellow zombie!

I don't think that's possible given your location on the map. Maybe blue would be a better target.

Huh I could have sworn that that one was the yellow one. Maybe I'm going colour-blind? Yeah the one she is currently standing within hammer-reach of : )

Zokon and Illthir pound the northern zombie back into the ground. While Serena hacks at the one rising from the south. Poshbot not totally clear on the paln at this point makes Aliabot vanish (CL 4).

The undead rise up to their feet. AoO, ya'll.

Surprise Round! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Zokon
__ Serena
__ Durgan barkskin and shield of faith
__ Scarlet big and invisible[b]
__ Posh
__ Illthir[b]
__ the undead! knowledge (religion) DC 10; muddy yellow -6 hp
__ Alia

Map updated.