Reign of Winter (Inactive)

Game Master Just a Mort

On that basis, I will spend two 5th level spell slots, to give each of Einar/Dimitri/Mr Whiskers/Greta 15 hours of Life Bubble (Geist and Crummock are already covered 24 hours per day).

The breath weapon does not even state it is a disease. So that I really can't give that.

"A nuckelavee’s breath weapon is a cone of withering foulness that causes painful welts, cramps, and bleeding, and only harms living creatures—this damage bypasses all energy resistance and damage reduction."

It carries disease, sure, that I'll take.

Otherwise you'll get the..."Hey that red dragon breathed fire on me! I'm immune due to life bubble!" That one...is really ridiculous.

Diseases are stupid anyway - they take too long to kill you :P

Mind you - that's only for spread of disease by breath weapon...if it spreads disease by some other means, life bubble will not cover.

On that basis, I will spend two 5th level spell slots, to give each of Einar/Dimitri/Mr Whiskers/Greta 15 hours of Life Bubble (Geist and Crummock are already covered 24 hours per day).

wouldn't the gas mask protect from the disease in the breath?

You used meat dumplings to soak up your soup, lol, Einar?

Hey I was trying to get a quick post in, but yes, I would use dumplings to soak up soup ;)

Yes it would - so Crummock can skip Einar.

Sorry. I shouldn't laugh so much but it strikes me as a tad odd, since for you can get meat dumplings in soup.

Again, British eat their fries with mushed peas. So what the heck.

Well, considering I distinctly remember being in Brussels a few years back, and discovering that they made their kebabs with french-fries *in* them, I am not surprised ;-)

Re: Life Bubble, in that case, I will cast it once, and each of Mr Whiskers/Greta/Dimitri gets 10 hours of coverage.

Well, considering I distinctly remember being in Brussels a few years back, and discovering that they made their kebabs with french-fries *in* them, I am not surprised ;-)

French fry kebabs is that like meat stuck on a really sharp thin fried potato...

Nope. Chips mixed in with the kebab meat, inside the casing!

Crummock's talking about this

Some places have it here, I prefer more traditional kebab instead of those with fries in them.

lol, you said kebab and I heard shish kebab

personally I would be happy to try both traditional and nontraditional ;)

I've had kebab at Cafe Istanbul an upscale place My daughters introduced us to and at Pita hut which is across the street from where my daughter lives, it's really easy if she doesn't feel like cooking.

Dimensionally locked means no teleportation effects or summoning effects, right? I just want to make sure I'm clear on the restrictions since my first several thoughts involved d-door, getaway and other spells like that.

Still absorbing the info dump and discarding plans.

Personally I'm not keen on the Queen acting as bait -- likely to mean the first few actions on my part are protecting her rather than controlling the battlefield.

You may summon as much as you want, you cannot teleport. You get what the spell says you get, nothing more, nothing less.

I like middle eastern cuisine. I'm particularly fond of Hummus dips, even tried making one myself(which didn't work out so well, since I added sesame oil to replace the sesames, which resulted in the whole sesame oil taste instead of chickpea taste).

I like falafels, kebabs,shawarma and their grilled halloumi cheese.

Love Baklavas beacuse I am a sweet tooth.

Again I eat almost anything...

My daughter has a hummus dip recipe she loves. She got it from her college roommate who lived in Egypt with her parents while they were going to language school.

I've never had halloumi cheese I will have to keep an eye out for it. baklavas however I eat regularly, it's one of my top three deserts!

Also, Grey on slide 11 is cliff - which is unpassable unless you want to climb or you fly.

in game;

Also earlier retcon

Rajet, the captain of the guards thinks that if the nuckelavee army does not fly - the only place they can land will be at the beach of H, and make their way up through the woods towards the Golden City. Unless they care for scaling the cliffs, of course...

Are we going to try and defend both the queen and the city?

Queen first. After you defend the Queen, the nuckelavees are going to get pissed and start invading the city. Then you get to defend the city.

I'm not moving because I'm waiting for genius ideas on defending the Queen!

Part of the fun of D&D is planning, planning how to defend the Queen gives practice on how to defend the city, so I wouldn't cheat you on it.

in the real world I would set up the Maxim where it could cover both, but I don't know that we can in game. A belt fed medium size machine gun like that could easily cover 600 yards out, but what the game will allow is probably different, oh well.

Never planned at this level before so will let Mister Whiskers and Crummock play general!

I'll say ooc that the number of encounters you get in the city defense part is dependent on how well you plan - that's why I have to pause the planning phase.

The problem is using the maxim in the city may hit civilian Maftets (especially once they get close) - since you hit everything in a line, whether it's under total cover or not.

Scale on map 11 - 1 square is 400 feet. Maximum range of a maxim is 1200ft (10 range increments). After 5 range increments - it's standard AC, not touch.

On a more serious note:

If you position the maxim on sacrificial rock you won't be able to hit the city from there since sacrificial rock is about 320 ft below the city. You'll only be able to hit city walls/cliff.

If you position the maxim on a high point on the city, you can hit things on sacrificial rock, but since it's more then 480 ft away (somewhat like 800 ft), it will be against standard AC, at -10 for range increment.

Placing the maxim in a high point on the city will give you shooting up to 3 squares out from the city.

Scale on map 11 - 1 square is 400 feet. Maximum range of a maxim is 1200ft (10 range increments). After 5 range increments - it's standard AC, not touch.

yeah see, in real life "The PM M1910 was a heavy machine gun which had an effective range of 1000 meters and a rate of fire of approximately 600 round/min"

So I know we can't use it like I'm thinking, but Crummock or Mister Whiskers will know the best way to use it, or to not use it at all.

The good news is we could use it at the rock, and leave it or put it on the city and go to it after the rock is defended.

But yeah, you can't fire it into melee...

Yeah I know that'd add up to 3280 feet. Unfortunately the guy who wrote up advanced firearms didn't take that into account and your GM is not interested in reading up on how guns actually work, so we'll do Pathfinder RAW for simplicity.

that is for the best, follow the written rules so everyone will know what is expected!

Sorry, I haven't had a lot of time to work on a plan here. I should have more time tomorrow.

I work best throwing out ideas and having others point out which are the best. Tell me what of this sounds like a good idea so we can start refining it.

I have been taking Wall of Force and Wall of Stone. If we can build any stone fortifications we anticipate needing the night before, that gives me that many more spell slots to use in the actual battle.

Suggestions on where to place them would be greatly appreciated.

I have a scroll of alarm that we can use to be warned when the creatures are coming before we can see them. Sounds like there is only one way they will be coming up. That will allow for a little bit of buffing. I'm thinking perhaps that plus an Earth Glide will allow someone like Greta or Einar to be near the Queen while being out of sight.

I have a scroll of Hallucinatory Terrain. My gut is telling me this is the time to use it, but I haven't had a chance to re-read the spell in order to understand the limitations.

Since we are dealing with a potential army, I expect that Confusion and Black Tentacles would be useful.

I also have Acid Fog, but that one has a large chance of getting in our own way. Without a freedom of movement, we would not be able to move through it ourselves and we would also want to do a Communal Resist Acid to be safe.

I have Wall of Fire which can be used to channel opponents. At our level, a resist fire should negate any damage that person would take from walking through it.

A strange spell I recently picked up is Ice Body. This is normally a personal spell, but since it is a transmutation I can use my Share Transmutation to put it on someone else. The reason I mention is it this:

You are immune to ability score damage, blindness, critical hits, deafness, disease, drowning, electricity, poison, stunning, and all spells or attacks that affect your physiology or respiration, because you have no physiology or respiration while this spell is in effect. You cannot drink (and thus can’t use potions) or play wind instruments.

@GM Mort You will probably want to look at it and figure out the interactions between this spell and that nasty breath weapon that is described as disease.

Those are the main ways I can do battlefield control.

Thoughts, suggestions?

The breath weapon carries disease, but is not described as a disease. Thus I can't do anything with regard to disease immunity and damage.

The assault will start from beach H. And move upwards.

I'm still organizing my thoughts on the defenses, but came up with several questions.

How fast do the nuckelavee move?

How fast do the popobalas fly? Do they also have a land movement rate?

Are there fishing nets available? Something we could string up to slow down any enemy flyers?

Can they spare a group of guards to patrol the other parts of the coastline? We would want them to flee and report if there were signs of an incursion -- not fight.

I assume we can arrange some sort of signal drum or something to carry the warning from the city to the sacrificial wall.

Is the queen willing to stay back in the city? Mr. Whiskers can cast Major Image which should be enough to make a fake Queen getting chained up provided the guards are careful.

Edit to add:
Is there such a thing as a mirror that reflects darkvision?

We will assume that Mr Whiskers has used the tome of knowledge to open up the library, sometime during the night.

Nuckelavees have 50ft land speed, 50ft swim. They have 3/day obscuring mist, and tend to favour attacking in darkness, using conjured mists to obscure their position.

A popobala has 30ft ground movement, 30ft climb and 80ft fly speed.

There are lots of fishing nets available. The maftets used to fish a lot, but after the attacks from the sea, they dare not go out. They apologise for the lack of seafood in your dinner.

They can spare a group of guards to patrol other parts of the coastline.

Signals can be passed to sacrificial rock by light. They will send out fireworks, should the city be under attack when the party is at sacrificial rock.

The jungle would also provide cover from aerial patrols.

Sorry, my connection on train is currently very laggy. Took a few tries to get that post out.

You'll need to explain the plan to the Queen, but she would want to see how like the real thing the image is to see if it will pass muster.

Not that I know of, on mirror of darkvision.

According to this site, you can hear a drum about 200m away which translates to about 656 feet, which falls short of the 800ft distance from city to sacrificial rock.

Drum signals can be done but you need a relay of Maftets.

After some searching, found a signaling device in Ultimate Equipment.

A signal horn should work. It goes out 1/2 mile, which is 2640 feet. This doesn't mean they have one, just that such a mundane device can carry the distance.

Thanks for all the answers.

Showing her the illusion may be a problem since I don't have a scroll of the spell and don't have the spell in memory.

Do it tomorrow morning then, before the convoy sets off.

Signal horns work, and yes they can use something like a signal horn.

So, what I've got is this:

We have enemies that can move faster than us, much faster in Mr. Whiskers' case. Hopefully there are a limited number of the flyers.

I also discovered that Overland Flight is a personal spell. Fortunately it is a transmutation which means that Mr. Whiskers can share it if he spends a point of arcane reservoir. Normally it can't be cast on others.

Preparations:

The night before:

Arrange signals via signal horns and fireworks. Patrols are trying to find enemies coming ashore or in on wing. The patrols are to retreat and report -- don't fight.

Arrange for two sets of 50' knotted rope on the cliff going down to the sacrifice rock. Have a couple of Maftets at the top ready to pull the ropes up or cut them as needed.

On his tour down at the sacrifice rock, Mr. Whiskers uses Wall of Stone to redecorate. He has 14 spell slots he could use if needed, I doubt he would use that many.

Map 11

Two protected areas at the base of the cliff where the ropes will drop down to. Open top, walls around with a single entrance. That entrance has outer walls that turn so that a breath weapon can not reach inside the climbing area.

This allows all but one person to start climbing without having someone attacking them as they start out.

I assume the stretch of beach (F) between the city (E) and the sacrificial rock (F) is difficult terrain based on the description. Please confirm this.

Map 15

A set of stairs up the back of the grey rock allowing us to quickly get down from the top of that rock. Make sure they are hidden from the sea entrance.

A well protected area just big enough for Nivean at the top of the grey rock. Provides improved cover while allowing him to see where the illusion will be with a tiny tunnel back to where Mr. Whiskers could be lurking.

Use scroll of Alarm at the sea stairs where the enemies are expected to come up. Set it for a silence mental alarm. Spell Tinker to increase the duration. Base spell lasts 8 hours, with tinkering it will last 12 hours. I've crossed the scroll of my inventory.

Mr. Whiskers should be able to use Message to keep contact with Nivean (the forward observer) and the rest of the group. That will allow us to coordinate when everything is happening.

Major Illusion takes the place of the queen. The alarm spell (hopefully) or Nivean (as backup) spot the creatures approaching. We expect them to hide in mist so a fog creeping up the stairs probably indicates they are there.

I'm not sure where others want to be placed. Since Mr. Whiskers has to concentrate to maintain the illusion, he can't cast buff spells with short durations.

He will be doing the following buffs:
* Mage Armor on Nivean, Greta, Dmitri
* Heightened Awareness on himself, Greta, Dmitri
* Heroism extended via rod on Greta, Dmitri
* Overland flight on Mr. Whiskers

Let me know if more are required.

I wish that I had a potion of invisibility.

I believe that Crummock is going to provide Life Bubbles, except Einar who has a gas mask.

Mr. Whiskers intends to start off with a Black Tentacles to cut off their retreat -- basically at the top of the stairs. The cliff face should give him some cover if breath weapons get aimed up.

I would like to know what others plan to do when the ballon goes up.

We will need to retreat at some point.

Suggestions on how to make that retreat work? We have a few flying ointments, may be time to use them.

---

Once we are back up the cliff, I think we would like to make towards the beach in order to attack them coming in there. If not, I guess we try to defense the city at the outer walls as they come up to the city.

I expect that Acid Fog and Confusion will be used a lot on the beach. The acid fog gets used to restrict their approach. The confusion gets used on flyers to hopefully disrupt their formations and cause them to attack each other.

Partial spell list:
0: Message, ?
1: Shield, Grease, Feather Fall, ?
Spells in lattices: Mage Armor, Heightened Awareness, Anticipate Peril, Unseen Servant
2: Glitter Dust, Mirror Image, ?
3: Heroism, Resist Energy (Communal), Haste, Major Illusion
4: Black Tentacles, ?
5: Overland Flight, Wall of Stone, Wall of Force, ?
6: Greater Heroism, Acid Fog, ?
7: ?

---

Feedback from other players greatly appreciated.

Beach from E to F is considered as difficult terrain.

Nice plans =)

Don't use flying ointment because the siege is very...spread out in terms of timing.

wow, nice planning, I think I understood most of it. will Einar be best served near the stairs with a weapon, or someplace else.

Are we using the maxim in any way shape or form, where would it best be set up at? Aimed at the rock or at the attackers coming at the city?

I assume he will cast earthglide and fly, along with the shield and mirror image.

Do I have time to scribe one spell into my spellbook?

I would like to scribe Giant Form I.

Edit to add:

I also need to pick up Mass Fly at some point, but I'm thinking Greta in Giant Form of a troll is likely more useful for this battle.

Re: Use of Maxim
It is really hard for me to say. Maybe at the top of the 50' cliff that overlooks the sacrificial rock? That way he can fire down on any that come near the rock over the difficult terrain.

The rock is 320 below city level. You'll want to put it on city to fire(badly) at rock. If you put it on rock, you can't fire onto mainland.

You can always swivel the Maxim later anyway...

You can scribe the spell tonight, before sacrificial rock business the next morning.

When EInar puts it back in the bag of holding he could fly to the city and set it up there.

Are we set for planning? Position your minis on where you would want them to be on slide 15.

I would like a better plan, but will go with it. Let me update my spells.

He will be doing the following buffs:
* Mage Armor on Nivean, Greta, Dmitri
* Heightened Awareness extended via rod on himself, Greta, Dmitri
* Heroism extended via rod on Greta, Dmitri
* Overland flight on Mr. Whiskers

Updated header for spells, runestones of power, rod of extend from queen.

Currently involved in something else. Go ahead and bot the actions.

Will place Mr. Whiskers as best I can. He is trying to hide from anyone on ground level.

I gave some kind of positioning, but feel free to reposition.

Evidently only I and Dmitri are hiding so that the creatures approach...

As noted, arrow is the stone stairs I created with Wall of Stone the night before.

Nivean is forward of Mr. Whiskers someplace he can see the illusion and the stairs from the water up.

Message Spell is up so we can communicate.

Edit to add: Major Image cast as well. Just deducted that spell.

I dunno if the rest want to hide. I guess I can wait a while longer so they can decide if they want to hide. Dimitri isn't hiding per se, but using the top of the cliff as a sniping position. He could hide if he wanted to.

I was thinking Einar would hide, but earthglide is limited so he can't really hid in the rock and then pop out, any recommendations?

He can hide behind the rock and wait for Mr. Whiskers to announce they are coming. Dmitri can stomp on the rock when the action starts to tell you if you are earth gliding that battle has started.

Mr. Whiskers did the Alarm which should still be effective, so he will have warning.

I'll move the game once Crummock has a chance to place his mini, or indicates the current position for him is fine.

If were not putting the queen on the rock, I assume its just a trap for killing the bad guys.

For the attack on the imaginary queen, if she isn't really there, we don't need someone on the stairs protecting her. So where do we put Einar and does he use melee or the maxim?

When do we shift to defending the city?

It depends on Crummock.

If everyone is hiding, we can put Einar back with the stairs. He does his earthglide thing when we see the enemy. The enemy comes up, we attack. Einar knows when to attack because Dmitri (on top of the rock) stomps his feet or Greta pounds on the grey rock as a signal for Einar to attack.

If Crummock and Geist aren't hiding, then Einar on one side and Crummock/Geist on the other 'protecting' the fake queen. The bad guys now know that we are interfering and may start moving people on to the southern beach before the try to kill the Queen. They come up against the two to three defenders and are hopefully surprised that there are more.

Attack goes down, we are more likely to be defending the city rather than catching them on the beach.

---

I think I've been misinterpreting the descriptions and map all this time.

@Mort

Is the sacrificial rock higher than beach F? I was imagining the 50' cliffs being above the sacrificial rock, but the map makes it look like beach F is at about sea level with the rock being up 50' from that.

The sacrificial rock is higher then beach F by 50 ft, and the rock itself is 30ft higher then cliff.

If you want to do some hiding, go behind the grey line on slide 15,otherwise go make your own tunnels through the rock.

I am happy to be hiding.