The Ironfang Invasion: Fangs of War

Game Master vayelan

...Working on levelling up Undari. He is going to be making more Ironskin poultices too...

Yay!

Taking another level of Devoted Muse.
+1 BAB
+1 to Reflex
+1 ranks for Bluff, Intimidate, and Stealth
+1 to my AC from Artful Defense
Feat: Piranha Strike
Bonus Feat: Twinned Feint

Ooooo no.... That is going to be brutal. I have to think about what Im doing. Im either going back to Mesmerist and taking an additional level in Swashbuckler. I'll figure it out when Im off tomorrow.

Thorek remains a Warpriest, forever and ever amen.

+1 Ref, +8hp, no increase to BAB
Lunge & Greater Trip feats
+1 to Perception, Sense Motive, and Craft [Traps]
No 4th level spells until next level, but in the morning he'll certainly prepare Remove Curse

Embrace chaos, Lily!

Undari gets some hit points, a small bump in saves, and some skill bumps. He is now immune to poison and has 5th level spells. He is hoping things like Wall of Thorns are useful in the defense of the city.

Posting this in all my games, so I apologize if you've seen it already.

I'm going through a difficult period right now with my mental health, and it's making it hard for me to keep up with my games on here. I am not planning to quit or anything, but I just need a day or two to kind of unplug from stuff so I can get myself back to where I can be a more active contributor. In the meantime, I ask for your patience, and I will be back soon.

I really appreciate everyone's patience. I'm doing a lot better and I'm ready to get back into it. Might take a minute to catch up but I am here.

If there's something unusual about the map we might need a more detailed plan, but we're a scary group. I think we've got this.

This is the only Ironfang encampment that the AP doesn't provide a map for. I think it's meant to be a small, simple location.

The only terrain feature of note would be the piles of rocks the wyverns use as nests, which would obviously be difficult terrain.

Would you guys be comfortable proceeding without a map, or would you prefer if I find one that could adequately represent the site?

With a comparatively large number of opponents (at least nine, it sounds like?) I'd prefer to have a map just to help keep positions and numbers clear. Theatre of the mind works better irl when clarifying questions only take a few seconds in my experience.

The juvenile wyverns are non-combatants, so it's just six hostiles. Still, you make a good point.

I've updated the encounter map link to provide a layout for the scout camp.
The orange symbols on the map represent ladders leading up to the nest sites for the adult wyverns and the campsite for the hobgoblin riders.

Looks good. Undari will still be in giant eagle form and have his prep spells as indicated before. If we have a surprise round Undari will probably drop a Burst of Radiance on the hobgoblins and then take to the sky.

If you want to get the drop on them, please make Stealth checks.
The wyverns are especially wary of other creatures coming near their temporary territory.

Undari has miscalculated the relative threat of the wyverns and the melee focus of his companions…hopefully he is at least free of the grapple…

We should look into getting independent means of flight as soon as possible. Gaius was really carrying the team with all those buff spells!

So...Undari is at 4 HP right now, correct?

With one wyvern still grappling him and another about to unleash a full complement of attacks on him, along with the potential for his unconscious body to be dropped about 70 feet, there's a very real chance that he is about to be killed.

Before pulling the metaphorical trigger, I thought I should ask how we wanted to handle character deaths.

Oh, damn. I didn't realize you were in that much trouble. I also don't know that there's much I could do about it down here. :(

Well, Undari overestimated his combat capability and underestimated the capability of the wyverns, especially the grapple. With the others concentrating on the hobgoblins and having little to no ranged capability, it does not stretch credulity that they were too busy to understand Undari's predicament.

I have been dropping some hints without coming right out and saying, "Come on guys, help me out here." The grapple really screwed up Undari because it basically stops his spellcasting cold, and spending two rounds trying to get out of it almost worked...but not quite.

I suppose that's what happens when you have a healer try to go all hero and keep the poisonous dragon stingers off the rest of the party. Death is a real part of the game, and a combination of poor rolls, poor tactics (mostly on Undari's part, though I was hoping someone would shoot at the gravely wounded wyvern with Undari's neck in its mouth), and game mechanics means it is almost certain Undari will die.

Just make it a heroic death...maybe his death throes drag the grappling wyvern down with him.

...and maybe the Wyverns will have a glut of bad rolls and the druid will miraculously survive...

I would also want Thorek's death to be a heroic one, but I agree with Undari that death is part of the game and can happen.

On an OOC note, I would just say that it's okay--even preferable!--to just come right out and say "hey I'm in a tight spot and need an assist." Thorek could have been plinking away with his composite longbow instead of interminable Double Moves. Honestly I should have been doing that anyway instead of not getting stuck in until after Round 3. So that's some poor tactics from me as well.

Good point, Thorek. I have been guilty in the past of telling/suggesting to other people what actions to take and have tried to take a step back from that, but here in the Discussion tab I should have been more direct. They had a good round on Undari last time and he wasn't able to escape the grapple, so it suddenly got much worse, but that just happens sometimes.

It's just unfortunate it is your healer going down, since if any one of the others went down he could do a reincarnation.

IF Undari does die, I'm sure we can work out a means of returning him to life if that's your preference. Thorek could do it eventually, but not until Lvl13 :(

Grappled and ripped apart in midair by wyverns, then dropped seventy feet onto jagged rocks, is certainly an epic death.

It sure beats the last character death I had in a game.

The party was canoeing downriver and came upon a large, floating mass of vegetation. No one could identify the thing, so they pulled the canoe alongside it. One of the players decided to stick his head inside "the weird bush" to look for anything interesting.

So, yeah, the shambling mound chomped down on him and began flailing him around. The party tried to pull him out, but he died pretty quickly.

As an epilogue, the party did go on a quest to bring him back to life, but on his very first adventure back with the party, they encountered a medusa and he immediately got himself turned to stone. The whole party actually facepalmed.

So you know how I made fun of Thorek's poor stealth score. I was playing in Hell's Rebels and well my character was investigating a suspicious person. Figuring I could help my abysmal stealth score I cast invisibility and go in. Surprise round I get death attacked then immediately sneak attacked. I later realized I rolled a stealth score so low my perception modifier alone was enough to notice my invisible self.

And let's not forget the time Lily fell flat on her butt right in front of the Ironfang legion that they meant to ambush.

I wish I could figure out how to the flight issue because Mesmerist spell list was always odd. Could UMD a wand or scrolls

I could give people a teleport speed which thematically would fit her background of being attacked by fey but that's next level.

I'm so sorry, Undari. Like Thorek, I was just laser focused on sneaking up to the hobs (which was dumb, since they were already alerted and I didn't get the drop on anyone) that I failed to see how much trouble you were in.

This is definitely a humbling experience for us as players as well as for our characters. I'm definitely committed to doing what we can to resurrect Undari if that's what you want.

Thank you, Esperanza! Thinking that it would be nice to get Undari back—perhaps more cautious as well. Reincarnation would be more fun (and chaotic) and more in line with his Druid-ness, though…Perhaps that tree grove we visited has the power? If it proves impractical, though, I am fine with a new character too.

One thing we have in our favor, I hope, is that this is the first time we've had access to a town of any size. Fingers crossed that someone in Longshadow can cast (or has a scroll of) raise dead. First, though, we have to survive this encounter and then get to town the hard way.

hey gang, losonti/esperanza let me know they came down with viral bronchitis so they will be out of commission for a while. They gave permission to bot Esperanza as needed

If it would be easier on you Vayelan I could bot-post on Esperanza's behalf.

If it would be easier on you Vayelan I could bot-post on Esperanza's behalf.

Sure, I would appreciate that. I actually thought that was what you were going to do, based on your previous post.

OH gotcha, I just meant general permission but I'm okay with taking that on. I happen to know losonti outside of the Paizo boards so that's how I got the news.

Uh oh. Could we be on our way to a TPK? I haven't had one of those since the days of my high school gaming group.

Anyhow, I'll allow Thorek to amend his turn, if so desired, based on the outcome of the attacks on Esperanza.

Upon review, I've discovered that I've made a terrible mistake regarding the attacks against Esperanza.

The wyvern's bite attack should have dealt 16 damage, rather than 24. I was looking at the wrong numbers among the dice rolls when I was typing.

Whew!

How did he get here? Wasn't he just in some kind of battle? But here he is, flying free and straight, his beak sharpened to a fine point and his tailfeathers split into a sleek triad...

Could this be the mythical Summerlands of Erastil?

Oh no! Will Undari the Arrow spend his afterlife sticking out the trunk of an afterlife tree??

Longshadow has a spellcasting level of 5, so you can easily find one of the Hollow Hills druids visiting the town who can cast Reincarnate. However, since the doppleganger infiltrators slaughtered almost the entire Abadaran clergy, it might be more difficult to find a cleric who can cast Raise Dead.

The wyvern scout camp is approximately 16 miles from Longshadow, so it will take the entire day to return on foot.

With the days counting down until the Legion launches its assault, I want to do a little accounting to make sure I'm keeping proper track of the passage of time.

Day 1: Learned of pending attack, traveled to Longshadow, convinced mayor of threat.
Day 2: Began readying town's defenses; some sabotaged by infiltrators.
Day 3: Tracked down and killed infiltrators and assassins, found their hideout with messages and battle plans.
Day 4: Traveled to Navah's tower, met with the wizard and began her recovery, stayed overnight.
Day 5: Used magic to expedite Navah's recovery, flew from Navah's tower to wyvern camp, Undari slain by wyverns.

Assuming I have this correct, you'll get back to Longshadow at night at the end of the 5th day, leaving you with at least 6 more days until the attack.

That looks right to me. Vayelan, how do you want to handle rolling on the table and the ability adjustment? The way it works has always been a bit iffy to me, particularly if your original race's racial adjustment was to a mental stat, since you can only gain a boost to a physical stat from reincarnate (or, if you're unlucky enough, you can only get a flaw).

For what it's worth, Undari took Dual Talent as a human, with +2 to Wisdom and +2 to Strength. As a Druid, I would be happy for him to be reincarnated into just about anything, as long as it is found naturally in nature.

Right now, he is, of course, an arrow...

Interestingly, I think both ethnicity and gender are also random, so that could be interesting too.

I can understand some justifications for why mental ability adjustments might be wiped away by reincarnation: Intelligence might be affected because your new brain might by physically wired differently, Wisdom might be affected because of the near-death trauma and body dysphoria, and Charisma might be affected because you aren't used to your new body's nuances in non-verbal communication or appearance.

That being said, after reviewing some discussions of Reincarnate, I'm actually inclined to rule that the subject can retain racial adjustments to mental stats (Int, Wis, Cha) for a number of reasons: simplicity, identity integrity, and simply to offset the permanent negative levels you incur.

If the temple had something like a scroll of Raise Dead tucked away somewhere, we could try getting some Use Magic Device. Or maybe someone in down has a decent modifier and we could pay them for the service?

Reincarnation is fine with me, I just figure if Guiness prefers to keep Undari as they are this might be a reasonable alternative.

As a Druid I expect Undari would be more amenable to Reincarnation than Raise Dead, but he would accept either, for sure.

To be honest, I favor Reincarnation just because the prospect of rolling on the chart is very exciting. It's just a shame that the default chart doesn't include hobgoblin as an option. That outcome would have so much potential in this campaign.

Use whatever chart you like, DM. It will be an interesting RP challenge regardless.

I'd love to see a chart with every ancestry on it. That would be long.

Thorek, because raise dead is on your spell list and you have a caster level of at least 9, you can actually just cast it from a scroll without needing to make a check.

Right it's the caster level compared to cleric? I've forgotten how it works.

Here's the requirements to cast from a scroll:

To have any chance of activating a scroll spell, the scroll user must meet the following requirements.

The spell must be of the correct type (arcane or divine). Arcane spellcasters (wizards, sorcerers, and bards) can only use scrolls containing arcane spells, and divine spellcasters (clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers) can only use scrolls containing divine spells. (The type of scroll a character creates is also determined by his class.)
The user must have the spell on her class list.
The user must have the requisite ability score.

If the user meets all the requirements noted above, and her caster level is at least equal to the spell’s caster level, she can automatically activate the spell without a check.

It looks like Thorek meets all the requirements except for the ability score. However, we can get around that if he borrows Undari's headband of wisdom. It's a bit macabre, but it's for a good cause!

Also, I want to highlight that the Hunter Bureau is not just some addition to the town that I've drawn from a game or anime.

It's actually described in the AP's gazetteer for Longshadow, characterized as a combination of tavern and lounge that serves to assign bounties for animal carcasses, pelts, and monster hunting.

That sounds very familiar!

Important question: who do you guys think should make the roll for the reincarnated body? Me or Undari?

Good question. Also, uh, what's our current party wealth situation?