Xiang is so in. He wants to end her.
Nope. Legitimately, he wants to kill her.
Yay! Ok, gang, I'll be updating tonight when I get home. This seems like it's going to be involved, so I'll need more time than what my phone can provide.
i'm off on my adventure to michigan. I WILL have internet, and it'll be good internet too, yay! so other than a small delay this weekend while i'm bouncing between family houses... i'll be updating on a pretty decent schedule! W00T!
also, there wasn't a surprise round, because.. you guys were telegraphing that you were itching for a fight. Also, so was she.
Hence why I have not acted.
Don't the spiders and Yaoren have to go before we do?
Hmm...entangle or Mage armor? I would only get Yaoren at first with entangle, but two of the spiders have to pass through it. Course, that could also inconvenience our melee fighters. Mage armor is just plain useful. Any thoughts?
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You could entangle the spiders (lessening their contribution to ranged and melee attacks) or grease the witch.
That sounded wrong.
Know what might be interesting? Charming (and overriding the charm) on Yeoren's playtoy husband. The other ninja probably obey her and not him, but it'll be funny to see what occurs if you told him to get help.
I thought about that but I forgot that charm person is a standard thought it was a whole round action.
The spiders are actually outside the entangle radius if I try to get everyone. I could choose to go for the back 2 and Yaoren, though...
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DM, it seems logical that they wouldn't want to be drived from their homes.
Is it plausable for us to split our forces and send our guardsmen allies to Three Trees? I don't think it is.
Killed local leadership, confused war aim, looking for exit strategy...Sounds like we're in a quagmire already.
I suggest we nominally rule this town by setting a representitive chosen by the townsfolk and agreed to by us, and once the path between the mountains and our fort is more safe, we build a road to link the two together.
Maybe even set up some a series of outposts between three trees and the fort to deliver news and move quickly between the two for rapid response.
In legend, oni and yokai acted as fey: strong in magic but never organized.
It's possible. You could try and get more troops from King Huang to secure this place. You can also just walk away and let the peasants rot. The border for idea can work. It'll take resources, but you can pull in favors or set your men to getting them.
Well we can't just walk away. Morally or strategically, we'll need a mine for metals and such anyway and I'm sure the spider b@$%!es will just send a new puppeteer if we leave it alone. These people have suffered enough as is.
Are Hayashi's ninja trustworthy? We could always use them as our go between traveling between three trees and the fort.
You've only had them for a few weeks, so it's any guess where their loyalties lie. So far they haven't been traitorous, but they haven't had the opportunity yet
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Zao and Ren are still fresh. Ideally, I will not deploy them until their loyalties are cemented.
I support the idea of sending to King Huang for more reinforcements, citing Three Trees as a testiment that we (as a team) and this (as an idea) has strong potential to work with some backing.
Hayashi could use his own Honor points to send word to the Kage Ryuu clan for aid...though I am not sure what they will do.
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I still wonder if Kage Ryuu didn't send Jia Hua just to play both sides of the field, ninja are tricky like that. I think sending to King Huang would probably be our best bet.
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I still wonder if Kage Ryuu didn't send Jia Hua just to play both sides of the field, ninja are tricky like that. I think sending to King Huang would probably be our best bet.
Hayashi fears that might be the case. In any case, a mission is a mission.
Capturung Jia Hua seems a bit beyond our capabilities so far, but this is not the last we'll hear from him.
No I'm positive he's going to continue to be a thorn in our sides.
Him, the Stag Lord, and other yokai like Yaoren.
At this point, I think we've managed to overextend ourselves. We can't easily protect this village, and we definitely can't leave Chao Si here. He needs extended treatment and we need to find a way to break the spell on him.
I think we need to pull in reinforcements from King Huang, and not just soldiers. I think we need administrators as well. Possibly even settlers.
We could also teach the villagers how to defend themselves. That would save us from needing soldiers, although I don't know how effective they would be.
Baolin and I could also request aid from House Hu, since we are both of that house. House Hu would gain great prestige from that, which might prove added incentive.
Of course, they also may expect a certain amount of power in the government, which may not be ideal.
Btw, guys, you are freaking awesome! This is beyond my wildest dreams of how I wanted this game to go! You guys are awesome!!
(Now watch, I've totally broken the spell)
Each of your ideas are very plausible. As well as an assessment of your problems.
I think one of the main things is we have to make sure the villagers don't feel like their exchanging one yoke for another. Give them something to look forward to. Maybe send a care package with who ever comes here. Some one to rebuild some of their homes since they are falling apart.
These miners have nineteenth century problems.
Could we maybe do a change of base to here while we train the villagers up? It's at least a stopgap until we get reinforcements and the trading post is at least a little fortified. It can probably survive our inattention a bit better than these miners.
It's been awhile since I handed out Honor. Each of you gains 7 points of Honor.
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I would support gaining settlers and training the village-folk on the bearing of arms, creating some form of minutemen militia. To that end, we must learn of their grievances with the yokai, and why they were under control--did the yokai need their metals, or were they just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
None of these courses can be initiated by Hayashi himself, though.
@Jian Xi: Congratulations on the awesome (free) weapon enchantments!
he only gets one! :-)
everyone basically gets 1 free 2000gp item.
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@Party: Here is a breakdown of current options to help us decide. We have several ideas floating around, with positives and negatives with each:
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1. We have the village-folk leave and join us in Bai-Cheng's trade outpost-turned-defacto-capital.
+ We gain more populace in Bai-Cheng's fort, and that will aid us in developing our defenses until we can deal more firm blows against the yokai. In the long term, we should gain access to the sea for trade, which means that we should look to the east (where the sea is) rather than the west (the mountain chain).
+ We will not have to overextend ourselves in defense or communication, and can concentrate our defense efforts in the fort's region (which is hilly and has good vantage points).
- The populace are experienced in mining, and having them in the fort (abandoning their homes and mines) is mismanagement of resources that are in optimal area.
- Losing Three Trees denies us access to the resources of that area (iron, coal, or whatever they mine), which can be used for our war efforts.
- Having them leave might be used as fuel against our efforts. For all we know, our enemies are claiming that we kidnapped them and sold them to slavery. Expect more ninja attacks.
Assessment: This approach befits the defensively-minded. We turtle up our resources and people and whether blows, until we can strike out and blitz before turtling up again. Good against assassinations, as we will be amongst friends.
But this will take a long time, and we might have a crippled economy and internal discontent from crowding. Three trees has a big enough populace for the ninja to blend in, and for Hayashi's disguise to go unquestioned for a while.
2. We can promote local personnel (chosen by us) to leadership of the village.
We give them protection, autonomy, and crops from the lowlands in exchange for resources, loyalty, and troops (ninja if we can find them)--as some kind of political alliance/pseudo federal state. They fly our flag.
+ Gives hope for other villages to join once we prove that we can whether the yokai's efforts to retake the village (which will probably come soon, by Hayashi's estimate)
+ If we choose wisely, the NPC promoted to leadership will take their job seriously, and the autonomy will mean we get what we want (aid when in the region, troops, and resources) while investing little in turn.
- Once we leave, we have no guarantee that the party we promoted will obey us or stay clean, or will survive an assassination, especially with Jia Hua aligned with the Yokai.
- Autonomy opens the door for possible revolt or cutting ties if we cannot uphold our part of the agreement (sending crops and providing protection). If that happens, we hope the yokai will not take over the place and place stronger guard.
Assessment: Overall, this approach is a balance between offense and defense.
We will invest only initially in the village (until it can stand on its own), and then return to defend our fort, plan attacks on the east, and support the village by clearing and making roads to them. If they are under attack, we send reinforcements, and vice versa. We overall focusing our efforts in and around the fort (which is considered 'our territory'), and gain troops and resources.
3. We can take formal control of the village either temporarily or permanently. We declare that the village is under our protection, and raise our flag.
+ The village's resources (both human and no) will be under our command so long as we act in wisdom, and we will have the ability to command and control from a defensible northern outpost.
+ Should our ruler prove wise and enlightened, other villages will consider joining us, and we might get lucky and receive a request for aid from them. Maybe the ninjas will deliver it and join us, as well.
- This requires that we distribute our forces more thinly, such as us breaking up the party (as before when hunting Jia Hua), or us staying in Three Trees until we can build a militia. We will become vulnerable to raids my magical forces and nightmares, and possibly assassinations when we least expect them.
Split party might be fine (considering how well-built most of us are), but the distribution must be studied well.
- We will be in a region that has long been under the yokai's control. They must surely have backup forces or enchantments weaved in the area (traps and such). We are fighting on their ground until we can call it ours, and that might call for several abjurations (dispelling traps, having alarm spells, and anti-evil/chaos outsider defenses).
Assessment: The most aggressive plan of action is this. We take the fight to them after securing the area, but we form a string of several weak points (the village is undergoing transition, the fort is not attended to by us, the roads between the two can be ambushed).
Of course, choosing between such options assumes that we are discussing this in-character (which I think we are).
Hayashi's foresight:
"Despite winning the village, and having a fort-capital south-east, I advise against leaving the village now. The yokai's counterattack will come soon, and if we have the locals with us, we can use the terrain to our advantage (Quinglong can fly, the village-folk can fight, and we can make use of bottlenecks in the mountain paths)."
Questions for DMAsh:
1. What is it they mine in the first place, and how many populace are in Three Trees and Bai-Cheng's fort now?
Bai-Cheng has him and his wife, Fa Shi, his wife and child, the reformed bandits lead by Gao, Zan and Rong, and Baolin's guardsmen.
2. I am not sure of this, but Zan and Rong are from Baxing, not Three Trees, correct? Is it on the map?
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everyone basically gets 1 free 2000gp item.
The numen rules from Kirthfinder! Fancy seeing something similar.
I don't know if you are familiar with Kirthfinder, but this sounds like the numen rules: instead of treasure allocations, characters are entitled a number of 'ghost gp' that is equal to their old WPL. You can spend this numen by 'finding' weapons and enchantments, or coming across them in story fashion.
Any item you find during the course of an adventure can be declared magical, if you have the numen to spend on it. “I pull one of the dragon’s teeth, and will use it henceforth as a +1 flaming dagger!” is completely legitimate, if you have the numen to spend. Magical heirlooms left to you by ancestors are a favorite gimmick. King Arthur had his sword Excalibur handed to him by the Lady of the Lake, and no one told him that was “against the rules.” The general philosophy here is that, because a character’s items are such an important part of the character, their exact origin and abilities are best left up to the player’s creativity.
Heh. I'm not sure if this is going to happen all the time, but I figgered this would work the occasion
But I like the idea... And the ability boosts per levels.
@Party: Here is a breakdown of current options to help us decide. We have several ideas floating around, with positives and negatives with each:
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Ya that pretty much domes it up. Now,
1). There are about 20 ppl (including the PCs) at the forth2) Ran and Zong are from Baxing, but they probably know about Three Trees. The mine is for jade.
Which means the mine's benefits aren't military, they're financial. That makes Three Trees even more important.
Xiang Lun's take: I agree that we cannot yet abandon Three Trees, but we also cannot abandon Bai-Cheng or the outpost. We must make plans to allow the village to hold on its own, at least until we have the support to project our full presence in the land. I propose that we have them elect a village council of 5 who are able to serve, along with a governor that we appoint. The governor will advocate for our position and represent our interests, and the Council will see to the day to day affairs of running the village, as well as adjudicating disputes between villagers. We can train the people to defend themselves for a short while, while preparing for the Yokai counterattack, and then return to the fort, and focus on building ourselves here to Three Trees.
Kirthfinder for the Paizo boards semi-virgins among us.
I apologize for the confusion. Apparently, I'm not at my best when I'm herding children with no sleep
I'm fine with any option. Baolin would prefer to bring them back so that we can all be at one place for defense purposes, but anything else works.
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@DM: Three Trees seems a bit large. How many people are there inside?
All right, we have 1/2 all players already voted.
Supporters (1): Hu Baolin
Possible end results:
+ We gain more populace in Bai-Cheng's fort, and that will aid us in developing our defenses.
+ We will not have to overextend ourselves in defense or communication, and can concentrate our defense efforts in the fort's region.
- The populace are experienced in mining, and having them in the fort (abandoning their homes and mines) is mismanagement of resources that are in optimal area.
- Losing Three Trees denies us access to the resources of that area (jade), which can be used for our war efforts to attract wealth and investors.
- Having them leave might be used as fuel against our efforts. For all we know, our enemies are claiming to their populace that we kidnapped them and sold them to slavery.
Projection: We will rely more on aid from Lengshen in the long-term, since we will need more than we can produce.
Course 2: Give then autonomy and Alliance-
Supporters (2): Hu Xiang Lun and Hayashi
Possible end results:
+ Gives hope for other villages to join us.
+ If we choose wisely, the NPC promoted to leadership will take their job seriously, and good autonomy means we get what we want (jade, advance base, allies, populace) in exchange for a small initial investment.
- Once we leave, we have no guarantee that the party we promoted will obey us or stay clean, or will survive an assassination, especially with Jia Hua wandering about.
- Autonomy opens the door for possible revolt or cutting ties if we cannot uphold our part of the agreement (sending crops and providing protection).
Projection: We will need to be able to secure the path to Three Trees.
According to our map, we have the creepy house and cursed shrine in adjacent hexes, and two hill tiles, three plains tiles, and one mountain tile to reach Three Trees. With a trail or road, we might save travelers an hour of travel.
Dawei is fine with whatever the group decides. He's happy to be a subordinate.
I think for their safety it'd work better if the came with use and then once we've gotten their area made safe once again to return home. But that's going to be really hard to convince them of.
Three Trees has about 200 ppl.
You can do it with judicial aid another's (even Quinglong can do this) and/or spells
You can ask King Huang for more guards. I'm sure he would be very pleased with your success and more than willing o provide aid
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@Jian Xi: It would be.
@DMAsh: That's a relatively big hamlet.
@Party:
Overall, it seems we're defaulting on the second course. We're letting the miners stay (which they will be undoubtedly grateful), and we might spend the next few days learning their ways/getting to know them, setting up defenses against the yokai counterattack (if any is forthcoming), looting the yokai's home and cleaning the region, and choosing leadership after surviving the assault.
You can ask King Huang for more guards. I'm sure he would be very pleased with your success and more than willing o provide aid
True. We should find a time to send another missive, although I am not sure if we should depend on Lingshen too much.
I've posted to push action a bit.
sorry.. apparently trans-pacific flights take a crap ton of energy out of me. I live. and am ready
Thanks for the bump in the posting.
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I live. and am ready
Feel sort of threatened by that. XD
It's very interesting to hear us described as 'the wise seven'.
Also, you guys are 4th level. enjoy.
Yesss---
HP +7 HP (1d10+2)
Skills +1 Perception, Stealth, Heal, Acrobatics, and Knowledge (Local)
Feat None
Abilities Fast Movement: +10 to base speed (now 40') so long as unarmored.
Ki Powers: 4 Ki Points. With 1 Ki, can make 1 additional attack with flurry of blows.
With 1 Ki in reserve, strikes are treated as magic for damage reduction purposes.
+1 to Dexterity (19 now)
Also, I claim natural armor amulet if no-one else does.
Realization: I haven't used Mantis Style, Flurry of Blows, Stunning Strikes, or even Improved Grapple even once for nearly two levels of monk. Got to change that.
Remember we also have a ring of prot+1 still from the bandit camp. I think Hayashi has the cloak of resist. I'll claim the longsword I may name it the Silken Blade since it did strike down Yaoren. In the process of leveling up as we speak.