Variel's Reign of Winter

Game Master Neltji

1d8 ⇒ 8

At the time your bug spy was there it saw 8 creatures in the guard tower.

While waiting for the report from the bugs you do see 2 mechanical contraptions similar to but smaller than the tank before pass by on a wide circuit of the camp.

On the silly but fun tactics, how about I throw a creature from my bag of tricks into an occupied tower? Suddenly, a large animal appears in the middle of the tower and attacks! I could do it and fly to another tower and do it again. That would not be quiet, but plenty distracting.

All up to you just let me know and if you spend a day that is fine just need to know as well.

Duardlara has a fly and an invisibility remaining before we rest. In the interest of testing the defenses of the guard towers, she asks the trollcaster which tower his bugs reported on.

Casting her spells and taking a very high approach (above the level of the roof of the guard tower, she arcs invisibly until she is hovering above the tower and pauses, waiting for any signs of alarm.

If she hears none, she will use her flight to slip down past the edge of the roof looking for an opening the side of the tower - it need only be about six inches across so she can reach into the tower.

If she finds such a location, she will draw a furry bundle from her bag of tricks and insert it into the hole before retreating to the roof once more to listen for reactions. She wants to know how they respond more than expects the summoned creature to actually win.

Random critter determinant: 1d100 ⇒ 36

A lion!

As a summoning, I don't believe this should affect her invisibility. If that's not the case (and she would know), she will use her last greater invisibility of the day before tossing the lion into the tower.

"Well, that's interesting," says Cynehelm, watching from a distance. "Maybe they do stealth differently in Avistan."

percentile roll 1-10 1d100 ⇒ 59

Duardlara you find that the guard towers along the sides of the fortification are slightly different in appearance than those on the corners. The side tower you go to has sandbags to create a perimeter defense and a roof but otherwise has open air between the sandbags and the roof. You are easily able to throw in your lion. At the time of your arrival there are only 4 guards there.

The appearance of the lion causing an immediate reaction as you would believe. The lion is able to get a pounce and rake off before the other 2 guards eviscerate it with machine gun fire. OF more concern is that the fact that one of the guards starts cranking on a metal horn that emits a shrill alarm alerting the rest of the camp.

The wounded soldier is tended to by one of the others soldiers while the 4th moves to the spotlight and starts spinning it around in a large arc in the air. The light extends for 720 feet and for the briefest moment as it crossed the interior of the compound you swear you saw a dome over the central ruined building before the spotlight passed it by.

percentile 1-20 1d100 ⇒ 81

You manage to drop down out of the way of the searchlight before it hits you and are able to make it back to your companions in relative ease. However the entire camp is a buzz now.

Pity they didn't shoot each other. Could we see any reactions from the rest of the camp in response to the alarm being sounded? Soldiers moving toward the tower, other lights being trained on the tower, etc?

"Well, we wanted to know how they would react. Whatever that contraption is, it is quite loud. Knowing their reaction might allow us to use it against them."

She turns to Cynehelm and adds, "When the light played over the ruin in the center of the camp, it appeared that there was a dome over it. Perhaps that is our destination."

The guards in the trenches adjacent to the tower looked up for signs of a threat but without seeing anything they did not move from their positions. You can tell these are highly trained soldiers that know their job and what is expected of them. From one of the buildings another troop came out in combat formation looking to reinforce anywhere that needed it.

"Their horns are loud and their troops seem disciplined. This is good to know. They are also fairly strong. I think we might need to hit them and then retreat if we need to. If we need to wait a day we can run someone can make me invisible and I can summon many dinosaurs to keep them on their toes."

"It is good to know that they did not overreact to an occurrence at one tower though it would certainly be easier to distract them if they did." She looks thoughtful. "It would require a lot of resources and unnecessary deaths to try to fight our way in. And only serve to warn probably the most serious threat that we were coming."

We could try sneaking to the dome.

"Indeed. If you are not concerned with leaving a lot of potential enemies behind us, we could use magic to enhance our natural stealth. Dinosaurs roaming the camp could serve as a distraction, I could make everyone invisible for at least a short time, perhaps Cynehelm could silence the lot of us. I could even teleport some of us right up to the building, but the light it generates is far from stealthy."

"Sounds like a good plan. Does everyone have an escape plan if we need it?"

Plan B is, shoot everything in the face.

"I concur with both plans A and B," says Cynehelm. "Though I have not prayed for silence."

Have we prepared spell for the day of the incursion yet? I burned leftover spells from yesterday's preparations for my bit of tomfoolery. I haven't prepared spells for today yet on paper, but I can easily reset them. Anyway, if stealth is the choice, we could let them stew/relax for a day and prepare spells for tomorrow.

You have some time flexibility to prepare spells etc to make your plans. Once you start it may be a bit before you can retreat so plan wisely.

I thought we had done all this before resting, but I could be wrong. If that is right let rest up prep spells and make a commotion.

Yes Duardlara did her stuff prior to resting but I wanted to reiterate that you can change spells if you want to so you are prepared for the coming encounters.

plans finalized and everyone ready?

Yep. Titan will cast Fire Seeds and make eight holly berry bombs and put them in a little bag.

Yes. Cynehelm is artillery and healing, so he follows others.

All aboard the TPK train!

percentile chance spot light 15% 4d100 ⇒ (21, 14, 97, 87) = 219

Using the same tactics and a similar path that Duardlara did the previous day the group is trying to make it to the encampment without being detected. On the way there you can see that the camp is extremely well fortified with fences, trenches, towers, and more guards than you could imagine. Also from this height you can see what appears to be at least 6 of the clockwork mechanisms traversing the perimeter of the camp. Of note it seems that the 4 corner towers are more enclosed than the side towers. The fencing rises up 20ft high so does not pose a problem to you now that you are able to walk on air. As you get nearer though one of the spotlights makes a sudden jerking motion as one of the guards coughs. The change of direction in the light catches (CDJT) Duardlara off guard and reveals her walking in the air. The sudden revelation catches everyone off guard.

Titian, Duardlara, Cynehelm up first

map update...you are all coming in from the east. Legend top right indicating foes.

To confirm, were we invisible or not? Because if the light reveals invisible creatures, that's a game-changer.

Yes the light does reveal invisible creatures!

As a free action

Duardlara suspected this might be a problem and had the edge of a plan in mind, she says, "Go that way! Avoid the searchlights!" and on her action, goes the opposite direction in an attempt to draw attention away from the rest of the party.

Just a reminder that everyone can see Duardlara but no one can see each other. Move yourselves on the map as you need to.

Which one of the Jetros am I? :-P

Go to slide 2 to see the new map.

Jetro moves North

Hustling across the sky, Cynehelm follows Duardlara's command, heading north, but he frets, watching his friend as she distracts some very dangerous people. In his hand he holds the ingredients for a rather dangerous fireball.

Do you want Titan to try to destroy the light?

Sounds like a good idea.

It’s your first go, but we don’t know if the light exposes invisibility or dispels it. Don’t lose your advantage when she’s already exposed. Actually, attacking the light would expose you. I vote that you move on. I should be able to get away or disable them without risking anyone else. It’s early days on this mission.

Titan moves along with the rest fo the group.

Most of the group heads off to avoid the spotlight while the guard manning the siren sounds the alarm. Jetro then moves as well avoiding the direct beam of the light. Seeing Duardlara moving slightly the guard moves more deliberately searching for the flying foe.

Percent chance being spotted 40 1d100 ⇒ 93

However the juking and moving of Duardlara keeps the light from finding her this round.

The guards manning the machine guns take readied actions to fire upon any revealed creatures. The nearest guard towers also begin to train their spotlights in your general area increasing the chances of you being spotted. 40% chance of being picked up in a spotlight at the end of your move

Titian, Duardlara, Cynehelm up

Titian, did you have something you wanted to post before I go?

GM Variel, does my invisibility seem to be dispelled or am I invisible again once I'm out of the light?

Still invisible

Her action will be to move under the tower that spotted her and hug the underside of the floor, if the structure allows that to avoid the lights from the other towers. And she will observe for a moment to decide what’s next.

Duardlara you will be able to reduce the discovery chance from the tower you are at to 0% and only 5% chance from the other 2 towers nearby.

Duardlara moves under the tower that detected her and waits, watching to make sure her allies successfully get past the towers before taking any action.

[ooc]I guess maybe I should go to spoilers while I’m away from the team?[/spoiler]

I did not have a specific plan. I was letting to OG group members lead the way. I take out the lights and retreat or just start killing until we need to leave.

Duardlara wants everyone else to continue in. If we can't get in undetected, she thinks the next best thing is to use a distraction - and her being spotted provides one. She might be irrationally thinking she can eventually sneak away, but she is a pretty good sneak. Let them think they were seeing things...

Titian and Cynehelm?

I'm back. Does Cynehelm think that Duardlara has been discovered?

Previously yes but she is not in the spotlight currently and is still invisible as you can not see her

Titan will add to the distraction by summoning three Huge Aether Elementals (full round action). He will 5dft step down and to the left just to keep the enemy guessing.

Number: 1d3 ⇒ 3

I like it! Are they a visible creature - like, could I coorindate my movement away from them while they attract machine gun fire?