The Ironfang Invasion: Fangs of War

Game Master vayelan

Sorry to hear you've been sick, Vayelan! Lots of that going around unfortunately. Don't sweat the slowness, we're deep into the holiday season so take your time and get better :)

A quick note, I'm around as normal through Wednesday this week, but we're off to see family on Thursday and won't be back until Tuesday 12/26. My posting rate will be reduced during that time.

Ah, thank you for the reminder Daria! Sorry about that.

Happy New Year, friends! We're about to reach Book 4 :)

Happy New Year!

I've updated the encounter map.

There is a phalanx troop guarding the entrance into the tower on the west. Meanwhile, there are stairs on the north side of the tower that wind up to the top, where Lieutenant Kosseruk, the leader of the siege, has her command post.

Hey Vayelan, just a heads up: I learned from one of my other games that losonti/Esperanza is having some irl health issues and may need botting for a little while.

Hey Vayelan, just a heads up: I learned from one of my other games that losonti/Esperanza is having some irl health issues and may need botting for a little while.

Thank you for the heads up. I'll bot Esperanza for now.

Hopefully they get better soon.

Also, do you guys intend to first engage the phalanx troop guarding the entrance to the tower gate, or do you want to attempt to go around the back to climb the stairs and engage Lieutenant Kosseruk first?

Kosseruk first!

Sure!

Hey everyone,

Still alive! I've been struggling with a major depressive phase coupled with some actually bad stuff going on IRL. I struggle with whether to come back or just drop out (semi-)gracefully, and I would like to continue if it's all right with y'all. I know it's been frustrating with how much trouble I've had lately.

I don't mind. I've gone through the same stuff too so I know how it is.

Also, yes lets go after the single target. Im practically useless against troops. :D

Hey everyone,

Still alive! I've been struggling with a major depressive phase coupled with some actually bad stuff going on IRL. I struggle with whether to come back or just drop out (semi-)gracefully, and I would like to continue if it's all right with y'all. I know it's been frustrating with how much trouble I've had lately.

Welcome back! Please, we'd all love to have you stay with us. We all know how rough real life can be, and sometimes you need to take some personal time.

.....

As for attacking Kosseruk...

You can make Stealth checks to try and creep up the stairs as far as you can before being heard or spotted, or you can simply go loud and storm up the stairs right now, getting a surprise round to start this battle.

Given that he doesn't have any means for directly accessing Kosseruk's position Thorek will vote to go "loud" in that he'll just make a sprint for the stairs. Missing our wizard right about now.

Is the top of the tower open to the outside? From the comment about the group, I am inclined to think so…

Is the top of the tower open to the outside? From the comment about the group, I am inclined to think so…

The command center is described as having rune-etched black walls, so I'm going to say that the roof is open, but there is a canvas covering suspended across the top of the walls.

Message for all my games:

The flu has fallen upon my family, hitting me and my daughter especially hard.

I'm going to take the weekend off to recover and look after my little girl, so I'll check back in with you on Monday to let you know how we're doing.

Thank you for your understanding.

No problem, hope you're both well soon!

Hope you get better too.

Heads up but recent computer problems have left me a bit erratic in regards to posting will write up one tomorrow

As a heads up for everyone, my spouse and I will be headed to Japan for vacation from the 18th to May 5th. I might be able to post during that time but it seems unlikely.

Waiting for a few more days, it seems. Let's finish this battle when everyone is able to post!

Yeah Im here but my build very much relies on Thorek so I couldn't do much without him.

With all the protective spells on the enemy leader, Daria is choosing the “keep the damage dealers alive” strategy.

Yeah Im here but my build very much relies on Thorek so I couldn't do much without him.

We still moving on this game?

Lily Moore wrote:

Yeah Im here but my build very much relies on Thorek so I couldn't do much without him.

We still moving on this game?

Oh, crud! I missed the notification that Thorek posted his action.

I'll make a bot post for Esperanza, since that could very well finish off Kosseruk. If not, we'll see if Lily wants to attempt the killing blow.

After the battle is finished, we'll discuss how to proceed with the AP.

I missed it too. Sorry about that.

GM, how would you like to handle the destruction of the archway? With buffs still active Thorek is dealing 1d10+18, an average of 23dmg per attack (15dmg after hardness), with two attacks so 30dmg to the archway per round.

If he attacks for 1 minute that's more than enough to deal with the archway, or even less is Esperanza chips in. If we have 5min between waves of Ironfang reinforcements it should be a straightforward resolution. For the sake of time I'm leaning more towards a descriptive post and then we can move on, unless there's something else we the players don't know yet?

Also--sorry for slowness to respond, I came down with an unexpectedly nasty summer cold of some sort and it kind of wiped me out all weekend.

GM, how would you like to handle the destruction of the archway? With buffs still active Thorek is dealing 1d10+18, an average of 23dmg per attack (15dmg after hardness), with two attacks so 30dmg to the archway per round.

If he attacks for 1 minute that's more than enough to deal with the archway, or even less is Esperanza chips in. If we have 5min between waves of Ironfang reinforcements it should be a straightforward resolution. For the sake of time I'm leaning more towards a descriptive post and then we can move on, unless there's something else we the players don't know yet?

Also--sorry for slowness to respond, I came down with an unexpectedly nasty summer cold of some sort and it kind of wiped me out all weekend.

I'm sorry to hear that you were sick. I hope you are feeling better. Some sort of stomach bug hit me and my wife this past week, so I can empathize.

As for destroying the gate - first, let me say 'thank you' for crunching the numbers on this. Yes, we can handle this through a descriptive post before moving on. That's actually what I had in mind, assuming the party had enough damage output.

We're not waiting on me for anything, right?

We're not waiting on me for anything, right?

I guess there was a misunderstanding. It seems like I thought Thorek would make the post, and Thorek thought that I would make the post. Oops.

I'll make a post and get things rolling again.

Sorry for my part in the misunderstanding!

A question for the GM, and my fellow players: are we interested in potentially recruiting one or more replacement players? We've been pushing on with a group of three, but with us (I think?) about to start Book 4 I wanted to ask what y'all think.

I think groups with 4-5 enthusiastic and involved players are the best, so I would be game for adding 1-2. We also need to figure out loot and decide if we want to buy or quickly craft anything before we head out.

Oh for sure, some logistics are definitely needed

Yeah I agree with Daria on that front.

Yes, I was going to consult you guys on the matter of recruiting anyone new to bring the party back up to strength. Since we're moving onto a new book, this is a good transition point to introduce new characters, and it becomes important since the challenges will be increased.

Between parenting responsibilities and the fact that my work schedule has recently changed drastically, it could be challenging for me to spearhead a formal recruitment. Thus, if any of you have friends you might want to reach out to and extend them an invitation, please feel free to do so.

As a backup plan, we could even take an NPC you've previously recruited and turn them into either a cohort that one of you could control or a GMPC that I could control.

Anyone have bandwidth to do a loot and coin update? I am not sure what Daria wants to buy, but I’ll bet we could all use a kit update.

I'll try and check over the weekend

This week of work has been a mess, I'm a bit swamped at the moment.

I'll put some feelers out to some folks I know who are solid posters to see if they're interested. If so I'll direct them to Vayelan so our GM can vet :)

Hey Vayelan, I had two mutuals who are both excellent posters express an interest in joining the campaign. Has either of them reached out to you yet?

Lily were you able to tally the loot? I'll be traveling all next week so I won't have the bandwidth myself.

I've been recovering a bit from a cold I'll get that done tonight.

Hey Vayelan, I had two mutuals who are both excellent posters express an interest in joining the campaign. Has either of them reached out to you yet?

Yes, they have both reached out to me via private message.

I am discussing potential character builds with one player, while the other player has proposed adapting a melee-focused gnome hunter/chernasardo warden that they had played previously.

Let me know if you guys have any input on party synergy, character fluff/crunch, etc.

They both asked me some preliminary questions, so I told them I think what the party needs most are:

-some backup healing--partly to take some pressure off of Daria in that department, partly to make sure we're covered if things like curses or ability/level drain hit us.

-a secondary melee build. Having Esperanza to boost our DPS and form an actual frontline was very handy

-buffing! Thorek's spell selection is limit compared to a full cleric's, and I often miss our long-gone wizard's selection of buffs. Doesn't have to be a wizard, but getting that back would be nice.

-Scouting/trapfinding. There haven't been a lot of traps in this AP so this is probably my lowest priority but it would be nice to have.

No strong feelings about exact classes or abilities but that's where I landed on party needs.

+ + + + + + +

On the topic of logistics, since that's where where stuck: I'm on vacation but I can try to put together a list so we can keep some forward momentum there. I can't make any promises how how quickly that'll happen but I'll do my best.

Yeah Lily works best when there are multiple melee characters so having a replacement for Esperanza would be nice.

Wow, we took three years to finish Book 3! hopefully Book 4 and onward is smoother sailing.

Last time we actually fully geared up was October 2020, when Gaius did a bunch of crafting for us (Discussion page 20). Then there was a mention of updating the Loot tracker in June '21 but I don't think anyone actually did so. Now that I have a starting point I can move forward page by page and get all our ducks in a row but it'll take a few days.

Hey everyone! I was asked to join the game thread and introduce myself, so here goes :) Nice to meet you all! I've been in a war for the crown AP with Thorek for a number of years now (how time flies) and I'm here mostly on his recommendation/invitation.

For the character I was thinking of, I received a bit of information from the GM read up a bit on the area of Aloi and Kraggodan, where we're supposed to go next. I think the most natural inclusion for a new character might be a Pathfinder agent sent to explore the caves of Aloi for rumored connections to the Sky Citadel and unusual Legion activity there. As the current ruler of the Sky Citadel, according to the Wiki, is a Pathfinder and should easily be able to arrange for high-level agents for help. I've thought about making another high level local resistance leader instead but that seems to run into narrative problems as to why your PC's have never heard of him/her and/or why they left their own front to join the group. I guess being overrun there by the legion there is one option but I'd like to shy away from how scarred such a survivor would likely be.

I'm very strongly leaning towards Bard as a class. As any bard, at baseline they offer lots of buffs, decent arcane spellcasting and out of combat utility with knowledge and potential thief skills. I haven't fully fleshed out the rest of the fighting style yet outside of buffing and performances; this can be flexible on party needs and whether or not Litejedi with his/her hunter also joins to share in any requests.

I was initially considering trying a combat style based around throwing knives with the Startoss style feats, using a returning starknife and scaling both his physical attacks and spellcasting off of charisma. I'll admit right away though that this probably isn't the most powerful a bard could be, but at a target power level of 7 or 8 out of 10 (according to Thorek) that seems in line with those wishes. They could probably fight in melee if needed; a tanky build is also possible if dipping into oracle for an AC revelation. There are a lot of good masterpieces and performances he could use in between buffs and spellcasts like a performance that mimics the effects of Slow on all enemies.

Alternatively he could just stick to backlining and being a pure bard throwing knives and spells from there. The healer's hands/skill unlock: heal feat combo could be taken if we want some extra healing abilities.

Anyway, let me know what you would prefer and think of the concept and proposed class and build. I don't want to step on anyone's toes or niche :)

Edit: One other build for the Pathfinder character could be this alias I'm using for another campaign. Her build plan is to multiclass into bard using a Shelynite feat that adds bard and cleric levels together for the effects of inspire courage. What you end up with is a full divine caster with the bard buffs and the luck domain to grant people extra rolls too. who in dangerous situations can resort to summoning as combat style. What it trades away is arcane casting, some knowledge and thief skills.

Hello all, I am the other person who was interested based on Thorek’s recommendation.

Coincidentally, I was also interested in playing a Shelynite (though I’m flexible on that). Specifically someone who could fill your scout/melee/trapfinder role.

I played two different versions of the character in this very AP - one was an inquisitor and the second was a hunter, which I found I preferred a great deal more. He’s a survivor of the Blight and has ties to the Chernasardo Wardens (being one himself) with an animal companion, but they operate in small quarters, with high mobility, and as one entity from a tactics perspective, so I generally do not need to worry about ladders and the like.

For a little guy he’s pretty tough and strong, and he’s got a lot of different types of utility that he can take advantage of. This is the placeholder version from just before the end of your book, and I can and will tweak a lot of it prior to bringing him in.

I think he would fit in narratively, as he’s pretty self-sufficient, and he’s the type of character who would be acting like a commando and a loner within the Fangwood. It might make sense that someone in the Chernasardo would recommend him for additional help.