Way of the Wicked Reversed, Be the Heroes of Talingarde (Gestalt)

Game Master parizzio

I can get into melee when need be but buffing is sort of my primary role, so the middle or back is fine with me.

Vincent will be ranged eventually, and can do some now, but he'd probably be better in melee right now. However since I do have ranged ability I can defer to those who are melee focused.

The long, dark tunnel slowly inclines as it leads in a straight path northwest. A door at the very end is left open, revealing a room on the other end that is dark, dusty, and unoccupied. The light coming in from the tunnel assuming the Paladins use one reveals a well-stocked supply room, equipped with barrels of potable water, crates full of durable rations, suits of armor ranging from full plate to chain shirts, all marked with the Darian heraldry of Talingarde, longswords, shortswords, longbows, shortbows, arrows, and a very recognizable fancy crate of wine.

The dust of the floor is thick enough to reveal obvious tracks, from the tunnel to underneath a trapdoor in the center of the room.

Is there a ladder to the trapdoor?

Is there a ladder to the trapdoor?

There is not, at least on this end. The trapdoor itself is closed, but only ten feet high.

"I can boost someone if they want to go up."
he should have enough strength to lift someone up to the door.

"Uh, I can go... I'll have to have you pass my stuff up to me though, and I won't really be prepared to defend myself if there's someone waiting."

its been over a week since Allyo's last post... Has anyone heard from him?

Allyo limits himself to follow in silence with the group. He sometimes crosses eyes with Shallelah, but neither of them says anything. When they finally get to the trapdoor, he finally speaks.

Shallelah can go as well, and she isn't something evil would be expecting. - he nods to the eidolon - Assuming, obviously, we try to march right after she throws us a rope.

I'm here. I have been busy, but lurking - and the least active pbps weren't getting much of my attention. Im glad we're moving again.

"Here, take this so you have something. " and hands him a starknife. "They are nasty little blades. "

Vincent will then boost Auric up to the trap door.

Pushing through the trapdoor, Auric finds himself in a smoky room. A now inoperable forge adorns the center, dented, cracked and surrounded by a sea of wooden splinters; dozens of halberds and arrow quivers have been irreparably smashed and litter the floor. There are two visible exits: A set of stone stairs start on the southern wall and wrap upwards towards the west, and a door against the western wall on this level. A rope ladder is rolled up next to the trapdoor.

"I can bring my longsword up in it's scabbard, mostly I just need you to hold my banner," Auric replies to Vincent's offer as he straps his shield to his back.

***

Once he's quickly surveyed the room, he kicks the ladder down and reaches down to grab his flag. Getting out his shield and reattaching it to his arm while the others climb up, he informs them, "They've ransacked the castle smithy... the castle guards might be a little short on weapons once the alarm is raised..."

Vincent will head up the ladder once it is in place.

"I expect there is an armory where more of the weapons are kept. We need to find someone to raise an alarm. "

Fiora follows Vincent up the ladder. "Hopefully we can get to the armory before our enemies do. We should hurry." Fiora opens the door on the western wall, peering through to see if anyone is in there.

If it matters at all Fiora's weapons are worn over her hands, so her palms are covered with a thick layer of leather.

Opening the western door, Fiora sees a short hallway that takes a right turn at the end only thirty feet down. After the turn, the hall extends another sixty feet down and is well lit by torches burning on sconces. There are five doors in the second leg of the hall way, two on each side and one on the end. All of the side doors have placards beside them, each with the name and title of the four Captains of Balentyne.

"Let us hope we are not too late..." Auric says when he sees whose names are scribed on the placards. He begins banging his shield and sword against one another and loudly calling out the captains' names...

Shallelah - stay alert now. - Allyo whispers to his eidolon.

Vincent will follow along after Auric, hoping there are still captains present.

As Auric settles from calling the captains, silence once again engulfs the hall.

"That's a bad sign. " and he moves to the closest door and opens it, after politely knocking.

Fiora utters a few choice swears under her breath at the responding silence. Feeling time pressing down on her she opens up another door at random, forgetting her manners and not knocking.

Auric opens a third door, trying to be careful to avoid any poison that might be there, and hurries into the room to look for the captain (and check for any signs of life if he finds one).

Poking through the Captains rooms, the Paladins find yet another corpse: that of Ryan Varning. This would conclude that all four Captains of Balentyne have been disabled. Their bodies have yet to be pillaged, it would seem their attackers left in a hurry.

"We must find the Lord of this place and make him safe. He must be the ultimate goal of this raid. "

not sure if I know enough about this place to find either his rooms, or the main audience hall

"We need to find the garrison and alert them!"

"Yeah, we gotta get moving." Fiora begins running up the stairs and stops suddenly, before looking back sheepishly and saying "any of y'all know where the Lord's quarters are?"

these items were meant to be used in the service of lord and keep, and they still might be...

Auric grabs the potion, the wand, and the ioun stone then chases after the others. "I have no idea," he calls out, "but keep moving, the captains can't be too far from the men."

Vincent will charge after them.

Allyo and Shallelah run with the others. They're extra-concerned now; each room they look at, he feels the sense of urgency raising.

Remember Auric, all of the captains are now gone. Varning and Barholde lie dead in their chambers. In the introduction, you learned that Captain Mott killed Captain Eddarly for having an affair with his wife and has been taken to Branderscar prison. The only major authority figure left is Lord Commander Havelyn, but none of you have been to his chambers.

Heading back to the tower and running upstairs, the Paladins find dead guard after dead guard, until finally reaching the fourth and top floor. There, two double doors at the top of the stairwell have been opened with such force that one lay on the floor in pieces. This room was the rookery for Balentyne, but is now simply an orgy of death. Dead messenger ravens line the room, all surrounding the corpse of Martin, the once somewhat eccentric bird keeper.

The entire northwest to southeast portion of the wall is open here, presumably to allow the birds to come and go as they please. From this vantage, the Paladins can see a great deal. Two stories down lies a courtyard with a keep centered within. A watch wall surrounds the courtyard, with a narrow access bridge leaving east. The access bridge sits above the drawbridge, with a level near the end to raise and lower it. There, an epic battle ensues between Lord Havelyn and four mysterious figures. Two look similar, dancing around Havelyn with daggers in each hand, waiting for an opening. The third has his features covered by plate armor black as the night itself. The fourth stands away from the others, preparing divine power for his allies. The fight is roughly a hundred feet away, two stories down.

Map and init will be posted soon

It's not completely necessary, but will be incredibly helpful. I've created a roll20 campaign for map and combat use. Click here to join. If you do not have a roll20 account you will need to register. Once inside, please state your characters name in the chatbox so that I can give you permission to move your character. You can zoom in and out of the map with the scroll bar in the top right corner of the map section. The map will be ready in the next few minutes

Initiative:

22 - Vincent
21 - (Enemy)
20 - Lord Havelyn
19-11 (Enemy)
10 - Auric
8 - (Enemy)
7 - Fiora
5 - Allyo

I don't see an initiative modified for Auric. If you could please roll one here and I'll modify the initiative on my next post, or edit this one if you have it within the next hour

I just meant that the captain's rooms would likely be somewhat near to the soldiers' barracks (to muster quickly in emergencies); I wasn't expecting to find living captains.

initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

my initiative is inside the "stats" spoiler that shows up right above my avatar pic.

Vincent, trusting in the magic of his boots, will jump out of the gap to the courtyard below.

Boots of the cat, so he takes 1 hp of damage per 10' fallen, and lands on his feet

Then he will move as fast as he can towards the combat.

Understood! And I also want to clarify that roll20 is not mandatory or expected. I use it on my end to help with positioning and keeping track of combats. You are free to post descriptions of your actions and I can manage just fine!

Vincent jumps from the tower, landing on the wall and makes his way towards the fray. You are still about a double move away from being within melee range.

Though the hostile figures take notice of Vincent, they continue their assault on Havelyn. One of the two twins attempts to sink his daggers into the commander, the first wild swing misses, the second, Havelyn deflects with his shield.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Aaaaaaand Paizo crapped out right as this started up. Lovely. Better luck moving this combat along today, I hope

"Fiends! You'll pay for your treachery! the Commander shouted, bringing his massive sword down on one of the twins.

Attack(Smite Evil): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19
Damage: 2d6 + 5 + 6 + 6 ⇒ (4, 1) + 5 + 6 + 6 = 22

The figure in the back that remained away from the scuffle moves in, laying his hands upon the injured twin and chanting.

Initiative moves to Auric

Auric takes a few long strides forward and leaps off edge of the tower. His flag bearing the crest of the Knights of Alerion flutters in the wind as he soars out over the wall and down towards it...
acrobatics (to reduce fall damage): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11 :(
acrobatics (for distance): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21

fall damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5 I'm guessing based on description?

Twenty feet from the tower he lands hard on the wall and can't keep his feet beneath him, but he tumbles forward and pops back to his feet. There is a brief flash of white light and then he cries out, "Into the fray, servants of Mitra!"
lay hands: 1d6 ⇒ 1

move=jump; standard->move=stand from prone; swift=LoH.
All knights of Alerion within 30' of me gain +1 hit and damage from flagbearer.

The plate wielder eyes his allies, motioning his head to ensure they've taken note of the Paladins before turning his blade to the Commander.

Attack(Smite Good): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30
Confirm Crit: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23
Damage: 4d6 + 10 + 12 ⇒ (5, 5, 2, 5) + 10 + 12 = 39

The mighty blow penetrates the Commanders armor, leaving a trail of blood leading down the front of his chest piece as he falls to the ground. The other twin laughs maniacally, kneeling down to finish him off.

Coup de Grace: 2d4 + 3d8 + 12 ⇒ (4, 1) + (8, 8, 6) + 12 = 39

Lord Havelyn put up a desperate and valiant fight, his opponents look battered, tired and weary, but begin moving towards the Paladins.

Init moves to Fiora, Allyo and Vincent.

"Nooo!"

Is there a distance DC to jump down where Auric is or can I just jump down and eat the falling damage? If there is a gap I'd have to get over I won't do that and will have to take the long way down. If not:

"Ya bastards are gonna pay for this!" In the heat of the moment Fiora jumps down behind Auric, forgetting for a moment that she's in full plate and not as agile as she was in the ring. She crashes down on the floor, removing some of the pain with a divine touch and getting back on her feet.

fall damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

LoH: 1d6 ⇒ 4

I was under the impression that the wall didn't require a certain distance- I chose to leap forward so that I wouldn't be in the way of other people dropping down.

Allyo tries to gracefully jump down to follow the others, followed by his Eidolon.

Acrobatics (Allyo): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Acrobatics (Shallelah): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Once down, they both hurry as much as possible.

Didn't see our avatars on the map, so I "assumed" our positions.

You may need to zoom out on the map more, all the figures are definitely on the board Edit: With the exception of your eidolon. For now I'll assume it's a space behind you

Without a jump check I just moved him about five feet from the edge of the wall. Fiora could go straight down and not have to worry about hitting anyone

Does Vincent care to take an action before we proceed or will "Nooo!" suffice?

Sorry, didn't read carefully enough.

He will move up one move, and then throw a starknife at the healer (assuming a double move would get me to the baddies, a single move puts me in 20')

Swift action to smite the target.
deadly aim, point blank shot, smite
to hit: 1d20 + 6 - 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 6 - 1 + 1 + 2 = 20 damage: 1d4 + 2 + 1 + 3 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 12

Indeed Vincent, but you won't be in range of the healer. I directed your attack towards one of the twins, as he is your only valid target

Vincent's aim was true: the blade embedded itself in the mans shoulder, prompting him to painfully scream. Bloodthirsty, he charged at Vincent, eager to reciprocate the violence as his kin yelled out to him.

"Brother, no!! Wait for Edicius!

Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

The unknown caster backs up further, chanting once again...

Initiative moves to Auric

I can't use roll20 on my phone... So I'm not sure about distance/positioning...

Auric moves up behind Vincent to watch his back and begins to sing a song of Mitra's praise.

currently granting all allies +1 hit/dmg and saves vs fear (inspire courage); plus another +1 hit/dmg to all allies with 30' (flagbearer)

The second twin and plate user move in and surround Vincent.

The antipaladin provokes an AoO from Vincent, the second rogue could not get an attack this round.

Attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

Init: Fiora-->Allyo-->Vincent

I thiiiink I can take a full round to Run at triple speed and end up right behind Auric if I'm understanding the rules on that properly. Otherwise I'll just double move as close as I can. I'm Shelly M. on roll20, by the way, if you'd like to give me control of my token.

There's a few bends in the wall leading to the causeway, and running requires a straight line. I moved you as close as I could, just a few spaces behind Auric

Vincent will strike back at the one which attacked him after quick drawing his scimitar.

to hit: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18 damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

This seems to have fallen into a slump. I'm going to send out a few PMs and hopefully we can start pushing forward again.

Yeah, been wondering.