The Ironfang Invasion: Fangs of War

Game Master vayelan

Shield of faith at this level is a +3 deflection bonus. :)

Edit: Oh, I see. You wrote +2 deflection meaning that was the net increase. My bad!

This is why I've taken to saying "If an X hits, you take Y damage."

I could not possibly keep track of all of these modifiers for the whole party while also managing the enemies.

It seems like we barely can, either!

Speaking of keeping track am I supposed to go again?

I believe only Silvia hasn't acted this turn, but their player let me know in another game that they're traveling, so Vayelan may want to bot.

I believe only Silvia hasn't acted this turn, but their player let me know in another game that they're traveling, so Vayelan may want to bot.

I had forgotten. Thanks for the reminder!

Does Wall of Thorns provide cover, concealment, or block line of sight?

This will greatly affect the actions for the alchemists and golems.

The spell is not explicit, but it does say it is a wall, which typically are pretty solid. As a 10 foot high barrier of tangled and thorny plant matter, I could see it much like a tall hedgerow—dense but not fully solid…a gas or swarm of fine creatures could go through, but trying to aim a spell or an arrow through any significant thickness of the barrier would be almost impossible. Tough and strong enough that forcing your way through is only possible if you are very strong, and it scratches the crap out of you along the way…

Looking it up online, most people say it blocks line of sight and direct line of effect, but there is some variation. It does need a more official ruling, though.

Thanks for the effort, Daria, but alas the dice roller had other ideas :(

The spell is not explicit, but it does say it is a wall, which typically are pretty solid. As a 10 foot high barrier of tangled and thorny plant matter, I could see it much like a tall hedgerow—dense but not fully solid…a gas or swarm of fine creatures could go through, but trying to aim a spell or an arrow through any significant thickness of the barrier would be almost impossible. Tough and strong enough that forcing your way through is only possible if you are very strong, and it scratches the crap out of you along the way…

Looking it up online, most people say it blocks line of sight and direct line of effect, but there is some variation. It does need a more official ruling, though.

Thank you for the illumination.

I envision the enemies throwing blindly, essentially lobbing their bombs in an overhead arc and hoping for the best. Therefore, I'm going to treat this as though they were attacking an invisible opponent.

Hey GM, if it would be helpful would you prefer for me to handle botting Silvia? I actually know their player in real life and can reach out if we run into anything extra sticky

Hey GM, if it would be helpful would you prefer for me to handle botting Silvia? I actually know their player in real life and can reach out if we run into anything extra sticky

That would actually help a lot, especially since I don't know how to maximize their character's build.

I'm getting over some kind of illness that's really knocked me off my feet. I've spent the last 16 hours or so laid up in bed.

I'll try to bot Lily and get a post up tonight when I'm in a better condition to crunch numbers.

I'm very sorry to hear that, Vayelan! I hope you're feeling better, but if now the game(s) can wait! IRL stuff is always more important, and health definitely tops the list.

@Daria, who is your spell targeting?

@Daria, who is your spell targeting?

Thanks, I made it more clear. I intended to hit the red hobgoblin alchemist (that she was taking cover from), but it is now much more clear with the edit.

If the cloud were still up, she would have gone Whirlwind on it…

GM unless Im really bad at math wouldn't rolling the miss chance be 33 percent? Three objects one of which is real. I maybe completely wrong about that.

I think they can't see at all through the wall of thorns, so they're just rolling against total concealment (and thereby can't be fooled by the mirror images).

Of course... Thanks

I actually forgot to factor the Mirror Image trick into Thorek's layers of protection.

Bomb hits Thorek on 1: 1d3 ⇒ 3

Okay. The bomb hits one of the mirror images created by Lily's trick.
Thorek only takes the 5 points of splash Cold damage instead of the full damage.

We all have air walk active courtesy of Daria, right? Just double checking because I've been operating under that assumption and I don't want Lily to feel like they have no options.

Yes, communal air walk is up. Feel free to attack from above, but you risk getting bombed…

I completely forgot about that... Thanks for reminding me

Did the golem throw its bomb while still within the reach of Esperanza and Thorek's weapons? If so, I believe we'd each get an attack of opportunity (barring an ability or feat like Point-Blank Master).

Did the golem throw its bomb while still within the reach of Esperanza and Thorek's weapons? If so, I believe we'd each get an attack of opportunity (barring an ability or feat like Point-Blank Master).

I believe you are correct. The text of the ability reads "As a standard action, an alchemical golem can throw a bomb as a ranged touch attack to a distance of 60 feet (no range increment)," so it would trigger attacks of opportunity.

Sorry about my delayed posting. Work is chaotic right now with all the college students coming back.

Hey everyone, really sorry but there's been a bunch of fairly time/brain intensive stuff at both work and school, so I'm needing to get that sorted out.

In response to Thorek, yes - my daughter is doing much better. Her 15-month pediatrician appointment was, fortuitously, already scheduled for the day after we had to take her out of daycare. She had a minor viral infection and has been cleared to return to daycare tomorrow.

In response to Esperanza, I'm sorry to hear about the stress you're under.
Please take the time you need to accomplish your tasks and take care of yourself.

I think I have mentioned this previously, but just in case: I will be flying to Europe for vacation with my spouse this Friday, and won't be back until 9/16. Please feel free to bot me as necessary during that period :)

I'm back in action! It was mostly a lot of time sensitive things that all came down at once, which didn't leave me with a lot of time or energy at the end of the day. Glad your daughter is on the mend.

Thorek is 110% in favor of using the charges against them during their attack on Longshadow

Sounds good. How heavy is the wagon fully loaded? I may have to work up the Giant Eagle/Ant Haul combo weight limit…

Edit: As a huge, bipedal beast, Daria gets a x4 carrying capacity boost for huge, +6 strength to 22 strength for huge, and x3 carrying capacity for Ant Haul. This takes her to 2080 lbs as a light load (to be able to fly).

After doing some quick research and calculations into the weights of wagons and artillery shells, I've concluded that the wagon - loaded with the breaching charges and enough smaller munitions to make a difference in the town's defense - would be within Daria's light load limit.

If I had to quantify it, I'd say the modified wagon weighs 500lbs, each breaching charge weighs 75lbs, and the other munitions would total 100lbs - for a total load of 900lbs.

Also, Esperanza - I missed the notification for the message you sent. I will have a look at it now.

Daria is extremely low on spells. Thinking we should either rest nearby or fly back to town and rest before taking on another Ironfang outpost…

Yeah Lily is low on resources too. I think it would be prudent to rest.

If it is late in the day, we should rest here. If it is only halfway through the day, we could risk getting back to Longshadow and resting there (so we could drop off the bombs).

Thorek's low on spells too. If we can carry the loot with us awesome, but if we're leaving Thorek will destroy anything we can't carry.

These revelations about the carrying capacity of giant eagles will only add more weight to the arguments about "why didn't they just fly the hobbits halflings to Mount Doom?"

Esperanza is pretty banged up and, while she doesn't have spells to worry about, she only has one panache point left.

It is just after noon as the Second Battle of Ecru comes to a close.

Also, I will abstain from discussing the giant eagles from LotR.

What rolls are needed from Daria to help the town today? Not sure if healing will still help.

—she could also use a Restoration spell to knock off one of those negative levels if possible…

Might be worth posting the rules for the town defenses again. I think they were posted sometime in May of 2021, but I can only find us talking about them.

I think I can do some more drills with the militia. And yes, we should definitely get one of Daria's negative levels removed.

Here are the mechanics for readying Longshadow for the coming attack:

Longshadow's defenses are measured in Defense Points, which function similar to Hit Points, and represent how well the town endures the siege. If Longshadow is reduced to 0 Defense Points, it falls to the Ironfang Legion.

Longshadow begins with 50 Defense Points, but this can be increased by addressing some of the areas that Eurydicia mentions.

Each day, you can perform up to three actions to ready the town. Each one represents about 5 hours of work and requires a DC 15 skill check, based upon the task. Attempting these checks without the support of the mayor imposes a -5 penalty.

City Walls - Craft (Stonemasonry), Knowledge (Engineering), Profession (Stonemason). Each successful check adds 10 Defense Points; this benefit can be gained up to 3 times (30 Defense Points max).

Internal Defenses - Craft (Alchemy, Carpentry, Stonemasonry, or Traps), Diplomacy, or Knowledge (Local). Each successful check adds 5 Defense Points; this benefit can be gained up to 3 times (15 Defense Points max).

Militia Drills - Intimidate or Profession (Soldier). Each successful check adds 10 Defense Points; this can gained once with the main militia and up to twice with the reserve volunteers (30 Defense Points max).

Siege Supplies - Profession (Baker, Cook, Farmer, or Trapper) or Survival. Each successful check adds 5 Defense Points; this benefit can be gained twice (10 Defense Points max).

Townsfolk Readiness - Diplomacy, Heal, or Profession (Soldier). Each successful check adds 5 Defense Points; this benefit can be gained twice (10 Defense Points max).

Additionally, you can call upon Reinforcements in the form of freed slaves, allied Chernasardo Rangers, or followers from the Leadership feat. Training freed slaves requires a Peform (Oratory) or Profession (Soldier) check. Rangers and followers do not require a check; however, the Rangers will require 2d4 days to arrive.

Each unit of reinforcements adds 5 Defense Points. You can only gain the benefit from the Rangers or Leadership followers once each, but you can gain the benefit from freed slaves once for each group you liberate. The prisoners at the Ridgeline Camp were one possible group, but there are others that can be freed at other nearby Ironfang camps.

Also, as documented on the Longshadow map link, here is the current readiness of the town after your efforts so far:

Defense Points:
Base: 50
Gaius and Flopsy: +5
Eurydicia: +5
Siege Supplies (1 of 2): +5
Militia Drills (1 of 3): +10
Townsfolk Readiness (1 of 2): +5
Internal Defenses (2 of 3): +10
Liberated Munitions +5

Current Readiness: 95 pts

Thank you! Lily, it looks like we've already done 1 of the 2 instances of townfolk readiness that we can benefit from, would you want to use one of your defense actions on something else? Calling on the Chernasado Rangers might be good.

There may have been a misunderstanding. Rather than each of you making two checks to increase the town's readiness, the party as a whole gets to make two checks.

Each action you take to increase Longshadow's readiness requires about five hours and it's spearheaded by at least one PC, with additional PCs providing potential assist bonuses.

Now, if you want to pick two of the checks you guys made to be for the current day, we could use up to three of the other checks for the following day, assuming you wanted to commit the whole day to preparing Longshadow.

Also, sending for help from the Rangers (since it does not require a check) can be done as a sort of "bonus action" apart from the normal restrictions on readiness checks.

...

As a reminder, you acquired documents, communiques, and troop movement plans from the bugbear assassins and doppelgangers. You can use these to attempt to forge false orders and send them to other Legion forces, sowing disarray and buying yourselves a couple more days to prepare Longshadow and sabotage the Ironfangs.

Im sorry about that. I'll leave everyone else to help decide. I feel like Lily would try and help make sure that the civilian population is safe but if anyone else has better ideas that is fine.

Let's stick with Lily & Daria's rolls since they went first, and we'll just go with one from each?

Sounds fair. Daria was going with a thematic roll since we just got the alchemical items settled, but she is happy with assisting others with aid another rolls...