The Faceless GM's Irrisen: The Realm of Winter Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master kamenhero25

I need to do some identifying on the items we liberated from their evil owners as well, but it may not be the best time at the moment. I am most worried about holding this position; once the fey figure out what's going on here they will attack, as Vosi predicted. But to leave now would be highly unwise.

Am I seeing this right that there is still a skeleton up there? In that case Nathara, as a follower of Sarenrae, will definitely want to destroy it.

Tiferet destroyed the skeleton once she was told it was one of the ranger's "desecrated" body (or so she'd put it)...

I believe the idea is to leave the lodge before that happens. Unless they're spying on us, it'd take some time for them to learn of our raid (we've been relatively subtle), and by that time we'd hopefully be halfway out of these woods. Unless Fawfein somehow managed to contact his bosses.

We're really going to march all of the bandits back to Heldren?

Eirikr would argue against this plan, but he's busy outside moping and I don't feel like he'd come inside any time soon, what with the whole people thinking he's a werewolf thing and since talking about it with Inire didn't seem to go great.

Yeah, it does seem pretty unwise to move the whole place, doesn't it? :P

But them's the breaks of not killing them. Silly Inire. That being said, we could also totally just take their gear and clothes and leave them in the lodge. They wouldn't be able to leave for fear of freezing, until this weather problem got cleared up, or they'd scavenged clothing.

Yea but then what? We can't leave them there to starve or freeze and we can't really send in the town with a forest full of fey

Also we should make a list of what everyone wants to keep from the loot...Dips on the spyglass

That was from the first set of treasure. And I already dibs'd it all. Then Nathara stole Inire's new spell book. :|

In all seriousness, Inire is interested in the Holy Symbol (once she finds out it exists), and the Thieve's tools. She'd also like to look at the cyphered scrolls.

We should also see which of the not-obviously-magical stuff is magical. Like the robes and probably the boots.

As Eirikr would see it: Rohkar's likely the one principally responsible for what happened. He seems to have kept his men in line through threats and bullying, and didn't seem to hesitate to kill one of them when it was convenient. The bandits may be bad, but Rohkar's the only one who really needs to be dealt with. Furthermore, the snow portal is of more concern than the bandits. Trekking fifteen or so people back to Heldren seems like it would be a huge time expenditure--time we don't know if we have. We aren't agents of Taldor--if they want to send people to deal with the bandits after we return the lady, that's their business.

Well, the Fey don't know they're all disarmed and naked, ideally. Likewise, I should hope they have enough food to hang out for a bit.

No matter what we do, we need to make that trek so we can 'level up' monetarily :p

Actually, leaving a bunch of naked, disarmed bandits at the place where someone is supposed to come pick up Argentea is exactly what I was suggesting. So... nevermind. That really -does not- work. :)

I'm in full agreement that Rohkar is the real big bad guy here, though leaving the others go free on a Nuremberg defence / 'we're just here to get the Lady' basis seems perhaps... a technicality? Also (but this is strictly from a Good standpoint), as Eve and Inire pointed out, leaving them unarmed in a frozen wood infested by fey who would hold them responsible for Lady Argentea's escape seems hardly the merciful choice.

In addition, since we have to go back to Heldren nonetheless to escort the Lady through the woods, I don't believe taking them with us would slow us down all that much – if at all. By RAW, our marching speed is capped by Tiferet's medium armour (and probably encumbrance, after we're done splitting the loot). The 9 of them plus Rohkar, being unarmoured and unencumbered, would move at their standard 30 ft./round speed, just as they presumably did when they came back from their raid. The usual objection is that one thing is a person willingly walking on his own, another is him being unwillingly dragged in chains. But really, would they be that unwilling? When the alternative is being left alone, naked and unarmed in these woods (as an Intimidate check would remind them)?

By the way, Tiferet wouldn't act on these threats as it is against her nature and alignment – just as she wouldn't have killed Rohkar after he surrendered (though that took her a considerable dose of self-restraint after she witnessed him casually killing an ally just to get a temporary bonus); she would have just pinned him. But the bandits don't need to know that ;)

EDIT: so, according to The Faceless GM's estimates, it took 4 hours to get from Heldren to the ambush site, 'a few hours' more to reach our first campsite, then 3 hours of trekking through the woods before we stumbled upon the 3 bandits, and finally 1h and 15 minutes to get to the lodge. So I'd say it'd take 12 hours to return to Heldren, give or take... Correct?

Once we have addressed the fey problem it should not be much of a problem to bring our prisoners back to Heldren and Nathara is definitely not going to kill anyone out of convenience. What may also slow us down is the fact that some of the bandits are sick, to transport them we need to wrap them in in lots of sheets and have others carry them. It will take some time, but it's not like it's going to take days to walk back to Heldren if we walk in a straight line.

On a side note: The reason why Nathara has not done anything about the sick people yet is that she doesn't know about it.

Ditto about the sick guys... which I had forgotten about in the meantime. :| (I believe Morgraine knows about them right?)

The way I understood it is that the fey, bar the occasional scout, are mostly encamped around the Portal, which is still a couple of days away from here, deeper in the woods. It's probably a safe bet that it's going to be us who have to go to them rather than the other way round (though I admit that's pretty meta-gamey).

Morgraine knows they're sick, but their comfort probably isn't much of a priority atm to her. If we decide to take them with us she'll hex 'em so they don't slow us down, otherwise...

This is assuming healing hex deals with sickness of course.... cure wounds and cure disease are two different things after all.

It would take about 12 hours to make it back, give or take. Bringing the prisoners with you won't really slow you down very much.

The healing hex was more to put them back on their feet without having to wait for natural healing to run its course (1 nonlethal dmg./h) rather than curing them of their sickness ;)

Oh right. Derp. Yes, once we are ready to go she can wake them up. Also, very busy day today. Will try to catch up as soon as I can.

Don't worry, there was a veritable mountain of post to peruse through...

Also, if nothing else transpires I personally believe I'm good to move the game forward – which I believe would be dealing with Fawfein (redux).

So are we ready to head back to town?

We haven't really divvied up the loot, though we can probably do that ooc. I'd appreciate if someone would talk to Eirikr since I don't think he'd be ready to just go along with the rest of the party what with the skinwalker thing, though we can do that in spoilers while we move the thread along if that's preferable.

Feel free to make the decision on who's carrying what and who's taking what gear ooc. Just tell me a final decision and than I'll move you on.

Trying to track loot so if you want something would you kindly post it so I can mark it?

Nice work Eve!

There's also a 'rather nice suit of studded leather armour' (mwk.?) Rohkar was wearing which he threw into the pile (plus a short sword and a dagger), I believe.

The leather bound portfolio contains two scrolls of Magic Weapon and one of Endure Elements – plus an unseen Servant Spell Tiferet could not identify. I believe Nathara claimed the Spellbook (as she's the only one who could find some use for it).

Tiferet would claim one oil of magic weapon... The other valuables we could sell and split the cash?

Also – a spyglass is worth 1000 gp, easily more that all the rest of the loot combined :o

Masterwork Thieve's Tools are definitely a 'want'. Similarly, Masterwork Studded Leather is pretty much the best Inire will wear... though it'll wreck her carrying capacity. And in a few levels, Leather will be better again. And Mithral Anything will win out. :)

So, really, all Inire cares about is the shiny new tools, which she'll add to her collection, keeping her favorites from her old set (they were a gift!)

There's also a 'rather nice suit of studded leather armour' (mwk.?) Rohkar was wearing which he threw into the pile (plus a short sword and a dagger), I believe.

The leather bound portfolio contains two scrolls of Magic Weapon and one of Endure Elements – plus an unseen Servant Spell Tiferet could not identify.

Added

I believe Nathara claimed the Spellbook (as she's the only one who could find some use for it).

Tiferet would claim one oil of magic weapon... The other valuables we could sell and split the cash?

Sorted

Also – a spyglass is worth 1000 gp, easily more that all the rest of the loot combined :o

Yea I knew it was worth a lot which is why Its the only thing I had her take short of the gold if you'd rather sell it I'd be fine with that instead, If we can sell it for 1/2 listed and split it we'd all get another 83 Gold which is pretty nice.

Eh... at higher levels might be a cool flavour item to hold on to, but since we're somewhat gold-starved and who knows when the next chance to resupply will be after heading into the portal...

Though since there are still a couple of items which may be magical (the cloak, for instance) we haven't identified yet, I concur it's better if we just postpone the splitting until we're back to Heldren and we see what they have for sale (it's a small village after all). If there's nothing interesting to be bought, Eve might as well cling to the spyglass ;)

If anyone wants to roll spellcraft, they can try to figure out what Rohkar's cloak does. You have enough people that can detect magic that I'm going to assume that you're already sure he was telling the truth about it being magic.

Somebody might want to cast detect magic while staring at the pile of junk

Eve is leaving the loot alone until we get back to town

Alright. Sorry, I was working on a post for something else. I'll move things on then.

if he lets us past and you still want to kill him please wait until we get past the river first I have a feeling this trap will not go well when were tied to a line of prisioners

Of course - Tiferet has no intention of interfering with Eve's work though I believe this particular line of bluffing has run its course :(

Since she promised Eirikr she would get his spear back, I thought about her walking into the snowman to retrieve it (and probably getting blasted). It would at least provide a modicum of IC justification to an otherwise purely masochistic act.

(I think Fawfein mentioned he 'doesn't want to spend any more time resetting it', so it's probably single-shot.)

It's looking like the likelihood of bluffing our way out of this one is pretty low. Whoever still has alchemist fire might want to just go ahead and chuck it at him.

Thanks for the loot listing. For now Nathara has only claimed the spell book. I wanted to have a look at things again once I have read magic and detect magic prepared.

How much of the party would I be able to effect with a bless spell right now?

The roll20.net map has been updated I noticed... Easily the whole party and then some. It appears we're all clumped together.

The booby-trapped snowman is in the F1 location right? I kind of remember it being on the side of the ford we originally came from...

Also, does it take an Acrobatics check to thread on the icy surface?

Assume that Tiferet (as the official party 'mule') is carrying every unclaimed loot item we found... including the prisoners' weapons she would have removed when she was tying them up. She still has 80 pounds of encumbrance to spare before getting into Heavy Load, is it enough?

I am a little puzzled regarding the darker spots on the ice. I am inclined to have Nathara walk around them. I still could reach Fawfein with a double move, but then not attack of course.

I can drop my bow on the way and would still count as being armed, due to my natural weapons.

For now the most viable course of action seems to be to make ready actions to shoot when he casts spells. On the other hand - someone must reach him and Nathara is the only one with a 40 feet movement range, even though Inire's acrobatics score is likely higher.

I haven't made spellcraft checks because it was quite obvious which spell struck Evelyn and on the spell on Tiferet was just the same.

I am a little puzzled regarding the darker spots on the ice. I am inclined to have Nathara walk around them. I still could reach Fawfein with a double move, but then not attack of course.

Me too. I'd say when in doubt, let's avoid them. Tiferet would also try to make her way across the ice, though at a considerably slower pace.

I can drop my bow on the way and would still count as being armed, due to my natural weapons.

For now the most viable course of action seems to be to make ready actions to shoot when he casts spells. On the other hand - someone must reach him and Nathara is the only one with a 40 feet movement range, even though Inire's acrobatics score is likely higher.

I understand your doubts. Nathara's basically our only ranged fighter, and even then, more by accident than choice being effectively a melee build. I'm personally a fan of the idea of trying to disrupt his spell-casting while getting some damage through by means of readied actions. Trying to rush to him would probably be interrupted by whatever's lurking under the surface anyway...

Also, I see our GM is still posting in a couple of threads, so thankfully there seems to be nothing wrong with him... Is there something else that's stalling the game I'm not aware of though? If those Szassh and Skrikks guys aren't doing anything at the moment, can we just go on with our actions until Fawfein's next turn?

I'm still here. Sorry, I was distracted when Morgraine posted and completely forgot that she went and therefore overlooked updating this game. I realized this about three hours ago as I was about to go to bed. I was going to sleep, then get to it tomorrow, but I'm currently suffering from a bout of insomnia so I figured I'd drop in and promise that I'm not going to let this game die off. I'll have game updated in the morning, assuming I can actually sleep. Sorry about the delay everyone.

I'll be back to post (if it's my turn) in a bit. BUT, on the topic of dark circles... the last time we were here, there were holes in the ice, alongside the 'trap'. The imp (Inire doesn't know what he is!) said that he had beasties inside, and called them off when we went through... the first time.

You're absolutely right... It appears they're indeed holes!

A snowman stand innocently on the near bank.

However, it quickly becomes clear that the ice has been broken and shattered everywhere other than the ford, perhaps deliberately. Crossing would be difficult at best and risk falling into the frigid waters.

"We were waiting to knock any humans that came through into the holes, but it is fine for you."

"Skrikks! Szassh! These people are allies. Let them cross unharmed."

Tiferet and Nathara's cold resistance is well suited against such a hazard. Their swim modifier... not so much. Still, Eve's right when she says that we'll have to cross this ford sooner or later.

Basically, the fight is going to be 'shoot fawfein' over and over... or trigger his 'trap' and fight his pets. We could really upset him by just -waiting for his shrinking spells- to run out, while shooting at him, though. :P

Tiferet's next action is probably going to be 20 ft. movement + readied action against anything that tries to push her.

As for the waiting tactic...

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

...nope, it appears it can cast reduce person at will.

EDIT: ...oooor she might just rush to save Ashen.

What check do I need to make to try and pull Ashen out of the water?

You succeed automatically, but it's a full round action.

Well, even if the ready action is triggered it won't hit. *sigh* This is somehow not my fight.

Well, I don't know if that makes you feel better, but truth be told it's really been no-one's fight until now...

Where is the snowman exactly? I wouldn't want to accidentally trigger it...