Something Wicked This Way Comes (Inactive)

Game Master Fanguar

Level 7: Fighter (unarmed fighter) 1
Hit Points +8 (6 HD, 2 Con)
+1 BAB, +2 Fort
+7 Skill Points (2 class, 4 intelligence, 2 AP): Disable Device, Knowledge (arcana), Perception, Spellcraft, Stealth, Survival, Use Magic Device)
Level 7 Feat: Kirin Style.
New Class Features:
-Proficient with Light Armor, Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons, Monk Weapons (all, including exotic).
-Bonus Feat: Improved Unarmed Strike.
-Bonus Feat: Kirin Strike (class bonus style feat, so perquisites do not need to be met).

Option 2) There is a splinter faction of Sariana's order nearby. They're a bunch of martial types (Warrior NPC class) obsessed with becoming undead. They'd immediately latch on to Sariana as Xanos' "top student" and would be ready to become Vampire Spawn as soon as Sari and Albrekt get that ability. This idea entertains me for the roleplay possibilities, and would give us some much needed guards for the first and second of the Horn.

I like this one - in part because I have an opening in my feats so I could take Leadership too, which would be lots of fun! Then the 'top student' could have a 'top student' too! :D

Albrekt and Haruk can do it too - loads of mini-vamp cultists! :D

Option 3) Xanos' followers are all crawling hands. They would be the beta test subjects that Xanos has been playing with while he perfected how to animate his own right hand into a superhand. They'd all be slightly more powerful than a regular crawling hand (adding hit dice instead of class levels). This is the weakest and least useful option, but thematically interesting to me. Having Xanos walking around in a carpet of crawling hands is creepy cool.

Thematically very cool. Have you seen Oat Studios Zygote short horror? Might inspire you to think a little "bigger" in scale for Xanos' many hands :) Check it out if not.

Regards Leadership - I was mulling that also down the line. Have plans for the Orphanage in Farholde ;) heheh.

On a separate note I'll level up later today when work calms a little!

Levelling Up:

7th Level Anti Paladin (Hand of Pestilence)

+7 HP (d10 HD halved +1; +1 Toughness)

BAB: improves to +7/+2

Saves: No change

Class Ability: Smite Good 3/Day

Class Spells: 0 2nd Level per Day (CHA bonus pushes this up to 1)

Skills (6 [+1 Favoured Class] Ranks): +1 Rank in Bluff, Intimidate, Knowledge (Religion), Ride, Spellcraft & Stealth.

7th Level Advancement Feat: The Initiated (WOTW Vampiric Path Feat)

Hey Fang, would it be at all possible for Haruk to gain the Corrupter template, with the restriction that the What do you Covet ability is gained at 17th level, when you also Contractual Obligation?

I went ahead and used the NPC Elite Array to build Righty. That seems to be the standard. It's a 15 point buy. Fang, if you want me to change it let me know.

To figure out a Crawling Hand's attributes I subtracted either 10 or 11 to figure out the racial modifiers. A Crawling Hand gets +2 Dex, +4 Cha. I also noticed that a crawling hand is as strong as a medium sized creature. It doesn't have the low strength usually associated with Diminutive creatures, which makes sense since it's the hand of a medium creature. It just hadn't really occurred to me that a Crawling Hand is insanely strong for it's size.

So here's Righty's attributes with adjustments annotated.

Str 10
Dex 18 15 base, +2 racial, +1 fourth level bonus
Con -
Int 4
Wis 13
Cha 18 14 base, +4 racial

The rest is in the alias ready for perusal.

I'll swap Escape Artist and Fly for Bluff and Linguistics.

However, the Dragon Disciple has all knowledges as class skills. Can I thus limit it to Arcana, Planes and Religion, and then keep Fly, and swap 3 other knowledges for Linguistics, Disguise and Sense Motive?

Yup this is fine.

Re: Leadership: It's fine. The AP kind of assumes that at least some one will take it at some point. It even provides Grumblejack (the ogre from the prison) as a suggested cohort (he gets the fiendish template, it's pretty cool). I'm fine with the evil organization system in the AP if someone wants to go that way.

@Xanos re: cohort: I gather this is all on the up and up. So, consider it approved, but I reserve the right to request a rebuild in the future, if it ends up being game breaking in play.

@Haruk re: template: Tentatively yes, but only if you take it instead of leveling up and the wish ability is tied to the Contractual Obligation ability. (You're already gaining a 'free CR' boost through gaining the Half-fiend template, so I think gaining another template for free is a bit much).

How am I gaining the Half-Fiend template for free?

I know I'm getting the Devil-Bound template via levels in the Infernal Disciple PrC, but that's level based and not for free, unless I'm missing something.

Also, aside from the guardians, are we aware of any wards or anything preventing us from accessing the 3rd level?

I'm wondering if I should send my accuser devil up there to scout around again.

Alright, so I have it all 'official' and in one place, here's the list of the Infernal Disciple's skills:

Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Fly, Linguistics, Arcana, Planes, Religion, Perception, Sense Motive and Spellcraft.

I'll give up Engineering, Geography and Nature.

Thanks GM. If you don't have any events planned while the party is split up, are you ok with us taking the narrative reins and doing a montage of the stuff we are going to be up to for the next few days?

I'm wondering if I should send my accuser devil up there to scout around again.

I like this idea. Let's do it.

Xanos,

Evil organization team up??

I was considering taking Eldritch Heritage(arcane) for a familiar, but after looking over the evil organization rules, I'm considering leadership now(otherwise, I would take it at 9th).

Sure. Looks like together we'd have 8 points to spend among the 6 attributes.

My choice would be a +3 in Secrecy and Survivability and a +2 in everything else.

Would it not make more sense to go with one of the scores that grant actions a +3, so as to give us that much greater a chance to succeed in missions?

Also, two +3s only leaves us with 2 points, so we can only give one stat a +2 or two a +1.

Maybe go one +3 and five +1s to start?

Unless one of the other PCs wants to grab Leadership, I think making sure we have at least a +1 in each attribute makes sense.

Btw, what happened with Grumblejack? I know I joined after the breakout, but I don't recall him being with us at all.

I think I miscounted or something. That's what I get for trying to do two things at once.

You have more points than me, so place yours and I'll add to them. Personally, Secrecy is the ability I'm most interested in. I don't want anything we do to become public knowledge.

Ok, so we can do +2, +2, and then 4 +1s. 2+2+4=8

I'll do Connections +2, Ruthless+1, Loyalty+1 and Espionage+1

Xanos, if you want, can then do Secrecy+2, and Suitability+1.

Sounds good.

Xanos,

Evil organization team up??

So it begins...

Vetra Kali & The Disciples of Doom!

Time for Team: Vamp to step it up a notch too!

Agreed... let's see what we can do ;)

Ahem,

Only those who have taken Leadership get any say in the organization, including it's name :P

@Haruk: Sorry, Devil-Bound template. Regardless, there are a lot of perks and stat bonuses attached to the Corrupter template, so I'm a little leery of just giving it out for free. It negotiable, but for comparison, the it's taking the vamps 5 feats and 9 levels to gain at +2 template, and Lichdom in the AP costs 120k gp. Make me an offer.

RE: Third level: As far as you know it is just the two guardian Daemons. Which you now have the means to command.

@Xanos: Hold off a second of the RP, until I confirm how long people people are going to be in town. There will be plenty of time for montaging, but this part of the AP I need to keep track of time a bit.

RE: Grumblejack: He was left behind with Cardinal Thorne. He's still available as a cohort if people are interested

I'll see if I can come up some sort of appropriate trade for the Corrupter template, but it's not super important.

Thinking it over, Grumblejack would be a rather good cohort for Haruk.

If we sacrificed Halthus, could Rose then use Breath of Life to bring him back?

If we sacrificed Halthus, could Rose then use Breath of Life to bring him back?

We'd have to buy a scroll. I don't like him enough to do that. (Poor Halthus.)

We don't know much about him so I'm not sure I like him yet either, but free minions with class levels are pretty rare. 1125 seems like a cheap price for one.

Haruk's diplomacy is high enough that he might be able to talk Halthus into being a willing sacrifice if he knew he was going to come right back. Halthus is a Zealot after all.

I guess the real deciding factor is whether bringing the sacrifice back to life would invalidate it for the purpose of the ritual. We can have our Knowledge-y characters do some research about that and come up with an answer.

We might want to invest in a couple of Breath of Life scrolls anyway, just in case one of us gets unexpectedly dead.

Of course he could be sacrificed in a fashion that meant he died... then rose anew... and better ;)

Thinking it over, Grumblejack would be a rather good cohort for Haruk.

I think we still have a single-use token to contact Tiadora. Maybe two now. I don't remember them ever being used.

We could contact her, tell her our progress, and say that we need Grumblejack to help us guard this place while we conduct the ritual.

A teleport later and the Ogre's here.

We'll have to learn more about the ritual. If the sacrifice is brought back, does that disrupt the ritual?

Of course he could be sacrificed in a fashion that meant he died... then rose anew... and better ;)

That's also a good idea. I'm not sure if it would work though. I guess if the ritual isn't picky about how the sacrifice is carried out, it could be done with Vamp fangs. Seems like a cool twist, but again I'm not sure if the sacrifice would "count"

Xanos might be able to recreate the moment of Albrekt's vampiric rebirth and make Halthus a Vamp just after he died, but considering that moment included the direct intervention of a goddess on behalf of one of her only remaining champions, I'm not sure it would work.

Another option would be to get a scroll of Create Undead. Xanos can pump his caster level to the point where he can create anything on the level 11 or 12 list now. So, Halthus the Ghast or Halthus the Skeletal Champion is an option. It would cost about 2000 gp.

I rather like the vampiric sacrifice idea. We can do that with our other sacrifices too. And the fella would still be dead, just undead. Of course, more research needed to figure out if this works.

This might require some GM fiat, even if Breath of Life is the option we're allowed. Unsure if the AP would cover bringing a sacrifice back to life or not.

I rather like the vampiric sacrifice idea. We can do that with our other sacrifices too. And the fella would still be dead, just undead. Of course, more research needed to figure out if this works.

Technically we have to wait 2 more levels for that - Albie and I don't get create spawn until we take the final feat at level 9...

Albie lol...

Guess we're presuming that the "raw materials" of our sacrifices won't be consumed in the process? Have we got any notion of how they need to be sacrificed from the tomes or murals (know I'm probably jumping the gun).

Raising our sacrifices as undead would make sense - more soldiers for Der New Vurld Order! :)

Sari and Albie are best friends!

Worst kids show ever

If we want Grumblejack as a cohort, I'll get him to you. No need to expend resources.

Halthus is just the most convenient cultist at hand, theoretically you cold track down someone of a cultist's bloodline. Regarding using Halthus and then bringing him back, I think that just bringing him back to life seems a bit like cheating from the ritual's standpoint. Bringing him back as a vampire spawn, especially if Albrekt can convince him to change his allegiance to Urgathoa beforehand, seems reasonable.

RE: Gathering all the sacrifices ahead of time: Obviously, you are free to do things as you wish, but just be aware that kidnapping a member of the clergy and a member of the royal line are going to bring a lot more attention down on you.

Bringing him back as a vampire spawn, especially if Albrekt can convince him to change his allegiance to Urgathoa beforehand, seems reasonable.

Doesn't the ritual specifically need a follower of Vetra-Kali or the Horsemen? If Halthus changes religions wouldn't that make him ineligible as a sacrifice?

I'm traveling to Philly tomorrow to work Wizard World Philly all weekend, I'll have my laptop but may not be able to reply much.

Enjoy MG!

GM Fanguar wrote:

Bringing him back as a vampire spawn, especially if Albrekt can convince him to change his allegiance to Urgathoa beforehand, seems reasonable.

Doesn't the ritual specifically need a follower of Vetra-Kali or the Horsemen? If Halthus changes religions wouldn't that make him ineligible as a sacrifice?

The ritual requires the lifeblood of someone who was a cultist or someone that was of their line. There isn't anything that specifically requires them to be a current cultist. The AP is a little forgiving in case something happened to Halthus before the PCs knew about the ritual.

Ah, gotcha. That makes sense.

So how much disposable income do we have to spend now we've got hold of the Horn's treasury? I've lost track of what we get individually.

is that before or after the donations from everyone to New Vurld Order GoFundMe :)

I'd like to know how much money I personally have - specifically can I afford (after buying the wand of silence) to do the doggies ritual? :)

If the doggie ritual can be completed more than once Haruk would probably do it as well.

However, he would be more interested in the Nightmare one.

Starting to feel like a real necromancer!

Every bone in my diseased vampiric carcass wanted to throw down with the 7th... but in order to maintain our Farholde "allies" I toned it down to intimidation lol.

10 days is a big chunk of time. Here's the stuff I'd like to get done during that time (assuming that our away team comes back with supplies sometime in the first few days of that time-jump)

1) Now that we have the murals translated, we're going to need to send someone back to town to buy a horse and a few dogs. Can that happen during the 10 days? If so, I'd like to perform those rituals.

2) Lefty is going to help Xanos with Crafting. I want that Lyre of Building as soon as possible. I'll take care of the book keeping right here for simplicity. I was going to let Molsabar do this, but it doesn't look like Molsabar has any relevant Craft skills for making a Lyre. Xanos has Craft Scrimshaw and Craft Carpentry, so I guess Xanos gets to make the Lyre

3) I have some renovations I want to get started on down in the Boggard caves. Mostly digging underwater tunnels for them (we can refill the water with the endless water fountains upstairs). Xanos can do the engineering planning, the Boggards can work in shifts with tireless help from my Skeletons, and my Hands overseeing the project to make sure they don't screw up. With the right tools I think we can make some good progress on that in 10 days (especially after the Lyre is built).

4) After the Lyre is done Molsabar can get help from Lefty for makeing Sari's Conductive Amulet of Mighty Fists. That's 4 days worth of work with Lefty and Molsabar working together. The DC for the item is 19. Sari, you'll need to provide the 8k in materials. Xanos can whip up a scroll of Crafter's fortune if Molsabar needs a boost to his roll beyond the Aid bonus granted by Lefty

5) After all that, Molsabar has 3 days worth of 4x crafting speed to work on whatever he wants. He also has the first 3 days working alone to do whatever he wants while Lefty works on the Lyre with Xanos.

6) Xanos is setting up his Cauldron of Brewing in the Alchemist's Lab and starting to work on the Golem. 1 vial of Acid is harvested from the pool in the Boggard lair each day. I have 7 alchemist fire. I'll spend a week on a Crafting check and see if I can make the rest. God I hate the non-magical item crafting rules

Xanos spends a week and 26.5 gp making 4 alchemist fire. He'll put 10 into the golem and have 1 left over for himself.

7) With his remaining 3 days, Xanos is going to use the Lyre to seal the hole in the wall on level 2.

Crafters with downtime. It's like doing homework.

I'd like some doggies please!

Why was I getting a Conductive AoMF? The amulet is great, can't remember why I'd want conductive though... :)