Still, he can have the pickaxe! Or we could be really evil and give them the potions of inflict moderate wounds.
Sounds like a good deal to me for a guide!
OK, passage secured. What next?
Goooood question.
We should probably head back and gather up everyone? It's almost time to go.
BP, what kind of timetable are we looking at here? How long to finish the last boat/load everything up?
Concensus wise, it looks like-
Istiel: Hold off the Frozen until everything is ready
Drazan: Load up/do what we can and leave now
Alright - I have gotten a bit confused about which of the planned preparations we did.
Did we try to exhaust the food in the "upper" hex?
I know we talked about turning the complex into an inferno death trap - how far has that plan gone?
We discovered the Nargun are all gone, right?
Seems like the Engineers could bring tunnels down. That'll make following us harder, but pretty much means we're not getting Nat's people back ever, I think.
Oios Votes to leave, making sure everything of use is destroyed before we leave.
I'll answer what I can here.
Did we try to exhaust the food in the "upper" hex?
BP has been letting us get a free pass on food because everyone not building boats has been foraging the upper head. It's probably getting close to decimated by now.
I know we talked about turning the complex into an inferno death trap - how far has that plan gone?
I don't think anything has happened on this. I don't know what the engineers have been up to, but I don't think any traps have been made.
We discovered the Nargun are all gone, right?
Yes, they appear to be "dead", their bound souls have escaped. I don't know if the dwarf lich could reactivate them without the binding ritual.
Seems like the Engineers could bring tunnels down. That'll make following us harder, but pretty much means we're not getting Nat's people back ever, I think.
I don't think we're getting Nats people back at all considering we already broke the original agreement. However, Nats deal with Ashkesh was to inform him of where we settled later on, it didn't have anything to do with our agreement to leave, so it could still be possible.
Using the adamantine pickaxes, the last of our explosive paste, and some good engineering rolls from Imix and crew we might be able to quickly collapse the tunnel at a choke point to prevent the Frozen from getting in for a while. That could buy some time to finish the boats/load up properly, but it looks like most are in favor of leaving ASAP.
The flames access to their own explosives makes me worry that the tunnel collapse will be barely an inconvenience, but it's the least we can do for them.
Whatever we have now and can be gathered while we sack the settlement should go as soon as possible. We've delayed long enough, and additional plans or actions will only dilute efforts away from a proper retreat.
Drazan will focus his time on sacking the tunnel once a majority of the Sarre's men have fallen behind the line and then the fyorge. After that, assisting in any last minute packing that won't take too long, family first then the other Shadeholme refugees. Drazan will be the last man off the dock since we can swim and or fly.
Did we try to exhaust the food in the "upper" hex?
Istiel has the long and short of it. No worrying about food is needed until the flatboats take off from the pier. We can say the hex is largely exhausted.
I know we talked about turning the complex into an inferno death trap - how far has that plan gone?
I recall the decision to not turn it into a death trap was made.
We discovered the Nargun are all gone, right?
Yes, Nargun are gone, effectively just soulless piles of rubble.
Seems like the Engineers could bring tunnels down. That'll make following us harder, but pretty much means we're not getting Nat's people back ever, I think.
Yes, you can bring down the tunnels with your paste and the engineers, if you all are inclined to do so.
So we have some consensus:
You're going to grab what you can, and get the boats loaded ASAP.
Don't forget, one boat is yet to be finished. Are you going to finish it or leave it?
Sounds like you want to collapse a tunnel. Some part of the upper tunnels if I understand correctly, above the town square that Yd and family used as a throne room?
Is the keelboat to flatboat conversion 1:1 in terms of number of them and ability to carry stuff?
Is the keelboat to flatboat conversion 1:1 in terms of number of them and ability to carry stuff?
IRL, flatboats could hold about twice as much as a keelboat. For our fantasy purposes (and ease of use) they'll be the exact same.
In that case, if we do not wait for the last boat to be finished we will have to give up either food or goods. We have 1 ship dedicated to carrying goods and 3.5 ships dedicated to carrying food.
We really should have some goods to get started with once we decide to settle down so we can kickstart the building process. But we don't know how long it will take to cross the swamps, and there is little food...
I vote for leaving behind a food ship if we're leaving now.
Sarre's report of smoke from what is likely the Flame's advance party makes me think we are literally out of time. I'd like Sarre's advice on time before the Flame arrives, before we make a final decision, but I would agree that I think we will need to leave a food boat incomplete.
If we collapse from the top we might do better. We probably need to assume the undead have another secret passage, however.
I'm tempted to try to use animated adamntine to try to help collapse it, actually.
GMBP: how much does the chain weigh? How much admantine ore (rocks with admantine) do we have?
Also, the Nargun bodies should still be animatable, right? That might give the Frozen pause, in addition to being good at turning the top area to rubble.
GMBP: how much does the chain weigh? How much admantine ore (rocks with admantine) do we have?
The raw adamantine you have was determined here. 540 gp worth. That's not including the chain. Let's say the chain is another 5000gp worth of adamantine.
Also, the Nargun bodies should still be animatable, right? That might give the Frozen pause, in addition to being good at turning the top area to rubble.
The Nargun bodies would be animatable, sure.
Is it possible to crack the "vessel" in the Nargun-Maker?
Nope. The vessel is really the confluence of the ley line, the moonbow, and the geyser. You could perhaps collapse the chimney (easier) and/or ritual room (harder).
Has the stuff there already been salvaged?
Imix absolutely wants the chain.
Nope. I'm inclined to think that your average Shadeholmer is not going anywhere near that room.
I was looking into weight because I was thinking of animating it. Adamantine ignore rock hardness, which should help.
1. Order Engineers to find spots to put paste & break things to collapse tunnels. Break up pickmen among engineers. They have half an hour. They are assigned rough areas. Meet up before collapsing.
2. Put two watchpeople on duty up top with a signal whistle and orders to run. Imix considers these expendable.
3. Salvage the chain
4. Destroy the chimney - Imix will concentrate on this first.
5. Meet up with the engineers. Check what they intend to collapse.
6. Start from the top down, working together. Make sure watchpeople are recalled before blowing the exit.
I'm hoping the kids remembered we had plans to take the books.
If we get the alarm Imix will run up and animate Nargun to buy time.
Imix, your plan is bold and I like it, but I don't think the logistics and time will work out. I think we only have enough time to sabotage the Fyorge and possibly the Nargun-Maker. That and as Drazan pointed outt the Frozen Alchemists make the blasting paste- a collapsed tunnel won't sow them down too much.
Sarre said the fires were only a half-day away and were spotted a few hours ago. I don't think we have time to collapse the tunnel without risking a fight. I'm more in favor of sending all npcs away on the ships, us doing our business, and then leaving with the canoe.
If we're forced into a fight it will probably be an elite squad of Frozen scouts and the dwarf lich. It will be a bloody and awful battle, even if we meet them in the defensive tunnels.
Definitely get the chain though. It would be deadly if animated! If Imix starts walking around with a adamantine chain strapped to his body that he animates to fight.... Badass.
One of the issues with PBP is that a discussion that can take a few minutes tableside can stretch into days and days.
I decided to force the issue. Hope that is ok with everyone!
Sorry busy again this Friday. Post again Monday!
I feel like we were coming to a conclusion, but this works too.
Shall we meet them outside and see if they just want to push us out the door, or indiscriminately slaughter them in the shield room, where their numbers count for nothing?
We should probably meet them outside, maybe with a good intimidate roll Oios can convince them to just let us leave. If it turns nasty Imix could animate a Nargun pile to distract them while we retreat to the shield room for indiscriminate slaughter?
I like Istiel's plan, meet them up front delay them and fight them in the shield room if necessary while the flight does its namesake.
So... GMBP, are you okay if Imix does an animation nova?
I'll hold off from any "full size Nargun", if you like.
Imix, sure, go nova!
Questions:
Who's grabbing the chain?
Who's going topside?
Who's directing the flight? To do what?
Sending NPCs to do any of these things is fine, of course.
That's more Frozen than I was expecting... I'm impressed they moved hundreds of people that quickly.
I can only answer one of those questions, BP. Istiel is going Topside.
I vote we should send Nathan down to lead the Flight in their.. Flight. Pack up, move out.
Sorry I don't have much of a sense of the geography of the place. We are going to collapse something to make it very hard for them to follow, right?
I vote we should send Nathan down to lead the Flight in their.. Flight. Pack up, move out.
Nathan?
Sorry I don't have much of a sense of the geography of the place. We are going to collapse something to make it very hard for them to follow, right?
Yup, you all discussed it. Who's going to work on collapsing stuff?
I think Istiel's point about not having time to collapse stuff was a good one.
so: can I assume Imix's Wizardry is Animate (I keep it out of there so I am not tempted to nova, normally)
Let me lay it out...
14 spell points.
CL = 3+1(spec)+1(wiz)=5.
+1 CL at <=7SP
spend an additional SP to make +2 Cl.
spend an additional SP to effect an additional CL/2 objects
spend an additional SP to multiple duration x10
At CL 5 animate medium. at CL 8 animate large.
1 SP+1 SP(targets)+1SP (duration)=CL 5 = animate 3 objects for 50 minutes
1 SP+1SP (targets) =CL 5 = animate 3 objects for 5 minutes
1 SP+1SP (targets) =CL 5 = animate 3 objects for 5 minutes
now at 7
1 SP+1 SP(targets)+1SP (boost)=CL 8 = animate 5 large objects for 8 minutes
1 SP+1 SP(targets)+1SP (boost)=CL 8 = animate 5 large objects for 8 minutes
= 10 large and 9 medium objects (chain is one) for less than 10 minutes, but hopefully enough time to make a difference.
Nathan?
LOL oops sorry... I meant Nat. Damn phone autocorrect.
Imix- Wow that's... Nuts. BP wanted to know who's grabbing the chain for you? Given the Frozen are waiting you might be able to grab it yourself?
Sounds good, Imix! It will certainly delay things quite a bit!
EDIT: Oh, that makes sense, Istiel - thank you!
You guys are going to have to point Oios in a direction on this one!
Yeah, I'm planning to animate that in the first batch of items.
I'm not sure what sort of items he's actually going to come across, except rocks. I guess left-behind items? Wood?
Oios should come topside with the rest of us. Who knows, the Frozen might want to negotiate?
Yeah, I'm planning to animate that in the first batch of items.
I'm not sure what sort of items he's actually going to come across, except rocks. I guess left-behind items? Wood?
There's plenty of rocks from the Nargun bodies, as well as on the floor of the lake, and scattered around the island from the tower's slow crumbling.
Not so much wood is in range - the treeline is a bit of a ways off, out of Imix's casting range.
Oh yeah, not planning on splitting the party. But his player has no idea what the battle plan is!
I'm now wondering if 8 minutes will be enough. I could spend his last spell point to boost one of the "large" animations to 80, and just keep concentrating on the last one to get an indefinite time.
If not, then he's likely to try to provoke an attack now.
Before I go wrecking anything, do other PCs want to weight in OOC on how they want to handle this?
Awesome, Imix.
I don't think we have a plan. Because we don't know what they're going to do, other than the indication that BP said "they look like they're going to attack"
If they do attack, we'll see it coming a long way away- they have to get over the water somehow. Even with the dwarf lich or magic casters it's going to take a bit.
If they send one to five people they probably want to talk, and we tell them we're actually leaving right now so if they hold their top knots or whatever no one has to die.
If they just all rush in to attack us we fight by the entrance to the tunnel inside the tower, killing as many as possible. When Imix animations are destroyed or run out of juice we start to fight a retreating battle back to the shield room, then hold them there until they give up or everyone is evacuated or we all die. Unfortunately the wildcard in all of this is the lich- it wants us REALLY dead, and we don't know what kinds of magic it's capable of. Hell, it could be invisibly flying down the cliff to fireball all our boats and refugees right now and we couldn't do anything.
In any case it's not a great plan but what options do we have?
I guess delay it is.
Its a little hard to come up with a battle plan, let alone an effective one when the Flame seems capable of landing on top of us with only minutes of warning, and in a great deal of numbers. The best we can do is delay them as long as we can here, then in the shield room, and then with a collapsed tunnel to give everyone a chance to escape.
Yeah - well, we knew they were going to be coming and we spent our PC time looking for a path through the swamp.
I think it was the right choice, as IF we get away we should get away clean.
If nothing else the Stones are large and strong - they should be able to ruin some of the tunnels.
I like the idea of leaving then quiescent and letting the Flame attack, then when they hit the "beach" we have the stones ambush them.
Oios: does your magic affect the stones as well?
Hehe, old man Oios just did the Takayan version of GET OFF MY LAWN!
Sorry, very busy day yesterday. Post incoming soon.
He is speaking in Abyssal just to be clear :)
For the magic, The barrier ward is basically an invisible wall so it covers anything that's behind it.
The Armored Magic Aegis is single target only and Oios wouldn't have enhanced any of the constructs unless requested to.
The Aura of Serendipity covers all allies and I think Imix's creations qualify for that.
^ Sure, they're not at the lake to talk, however!
Thanks for the reminder on the barrier.
Oh boy look at all this xp rushing towards us!
Really though wow this is going to be rough. If you have any more buffs for Istiel or Drazan we'll take 'em.
We have like 18 acid flasks in Oios' haversack, can anyone think of something clever to do with them? Imix could animate them and make them leap from the walls or something?
Also, I really wish Naira was here. She'd really make them regret getting in the water.
Heh, yeah, Naira would have been nice to have. Buuuuttt, you've still got Imix. Those "Nargun" are going to hurt.
Seems like trying to keep them in the water is a good initial plan somehow. Bombard them with the flasks maybe?
Yeah, the pseudo-nargun are going to hurt a lot.
Oios, I would agree if we had the means (Naira) but we'll quickly get surrounded if we leave the tower. Flasks are certainly going to get tossed, though!
Imix is pretty much out of charge, all he has left is channel and "Picking" a fight.
Were they not in such numbers I'd be tempted to meet them in the water.
I don't suppose anyone has a ranged weapon? If not, I'm going to have Imix start cantripping the closest ones.
You have NPCs with ranged weapons. Sarre's team are archers, and the other soldier teams would have slings and/or javelins.