Way of the Wicked - the Fall of Andoran (Inactive)

Game Master increddibelly

players post, I recap each round; makes sense to me. Let's go with that. thanks!

Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Initiative would work fairly for everyone, but it may get bogged down.

What Aerant said is the usual that I see used: everyone posts their intended actions, DM recaps what happened.

wanna hear something funny?

Lol, fail DM. I'm having fun, this rocks!

The timing is a little unfortunate, but I'm off for tonight. sleep well :)

Hahaha. XD I was wondering why they had such high fort saves. Mayhaps it's because of the prison food they're subjected to....

Sleep well, DM. :D May the belladonna grant you a restful sleep.

Poor human, going to be treated badly for such a long time haha

Hey DM, is that 'window' re-usable?

For mapping increddibelly, I use Maptools. You can use tokens, import maps, it's pretty useful. I can help with that stuff as well.

Poor human, going to be treated badly for such a long time haha

We'll see. :)

Fascinating stuff. You're good at being bad.... Will update after my zzzzz's :)

the window, once used, becomes permanent.
I'll ignore the fact that you guys picked it up off the veil, because like the idea of you holding a hole in your hands somehow :)

When we do get to mapped combat, I think I'd like some help with maptools Cala :) So far, it seems we won't need it just yet.

I've been meaning to pick up Maptools because I have absolutely no bloody idea how to use it. Just seems like a useful thing to know though. :D

Also, as to holding a hole in our hands, I'm thinking something like that Looney Toons portable hole. Haha.

Hmm. Wonder if there's a spell like that.

create pit? move stone? meh. nothing I can think of seems as funny as holding a whole in the world. that's just wrong :)

Found something! Wooooh.

<Portable Hole>

It's a wondrous item. Doesn't actually make a hole that goes through things, but a hole that leads to an extradimensional space. But you can pick up the hole from either side! And fold it up!

I'll wager you a week of Ron's pay if you dare jump through one.

Hmm. I thought about it. For one, if I pick up the hole from inside the hole, how would I get out of the hole? Do I put the hole inside the hole to get out the hole? Where would the hole appear?

I don't think Ron is payed that much anyway so probably not. :P At least, not now. If I get enough levels in Planar Oracle, space-jumping away!

When we do get to mapped combat, I think I'd like some help with maptools Cala :) So far, it seems we won't need it just yet.

It can be a useful tool for battle mapping, especially in PbP. Here is an example of one I created for a Rise of the Runelords PbP that recently went on hiatus. Admittedly, the resolution is low for this one, but that can be fixed.

Example Map

For this, I just imported the map from the module into the program, and added the tokens, and then exported the map. I use this program for my tabletop game as well; I find it really speeds up combat and does a much better job keeping track of thins than I ever could with miniatures.

whooo, that looks insanely useful. If I make sure I put up decent-resolution maps, can you turn them into battlemaps if it comes to that?

Sure can. For player tokens, if you want a specific image for your character, just post it here I can build it for the battle maps.

Here, for example, is a Token using the image I have on Cala's page.

Caladwhen Battle Map Token

Up to you, otherwise I can just put something together for you using your paizo Avatar etc...

I always just right click the avatar image and save those to use as tokens. Can you do that for me, or should I post something for you to use on a separate link? Whatever is easiest for you works for me.

And thanks for offering to help with the maps. :)

It's up to you Aerent. I'm happy to make tokens using whatever image you like (takes about a minute if I have an image), or just the paizo avatar image if you don't have something specific in mind.

awesome Cala. I'll remember this some day when setting up a loot pile.

Arryn, if you can probably see Sindran talking to Grumblejack, then they're pretty much just chatting. He hasn't done anything that would let you assume that he wants you to get Grumblejack out yet.

Also Grumblejack. My minion prayers have been answered. YES.

Sindran gave a general guideline earlier--we try to escape now, hide the bodies and take care of Ron before he can raise the alarm. Preferably not knocking him unconscious so we can get information from him, but not raising an alarm takes priority. Afterwards, we can develop a plan for busting out.

Sindran is just letting you guys take care of it while he talks one-on-one with Jack. Of course, he's being a manipulative bastard as he does it, but that's par for the course.

Also, I'm assuming that he heard Caladwhen take full inventory of the veil before leaving the cell for Jack.

This is happening very quickly, 'round a minute or few, sooooo . . . think fast!

We can get items and whatever after the Ron situation is taken care of as we'll have lots of time assuming nobody else comes up. Arryn, you could use the manacles to restrain Ron or anyone else we come across. Additionally, we can tear off some rags from our . . . rags to gag people with. Might consider doing that when we change clothes, though if your character has no compunctions about modesty, feel free. Maybe the sight of a naked woman out of nowhere can daze Ron for a round.

The other rooms might hold something nifty if one has time to search, but probably not. You never know though! There should be a sack in the veil with clothes and spell components. We can also use that to carry what we come across for now.

Basically, we're using the prison floor as a base of operations.

Cala, please use my Paizo avatar. If I send you something else, I'll forget it then get confused when the maps are posted. ;)

well done, 4 guards subdued, not a single hit point lost! If this goes on, I shall need to give them levels in something ;)

This is going quite well! :D

And poor Ron. Today's just not his day.

This is going quite well! :D

And poor Ron. Today's just not his day.

Aww, I feel bad for Ron now lol

Excuse me, I was wondering if there were any opening in this game? I'm already familiar with the Way of the Wicked AP, having just run a Ninja through the first few sessions under another GM. But some decisions were made by the GM regarding races available to players that I didn't agree with, and the party make-up was pretty awful so I had to withdraw.

So... does your party have need for a Ninja of Asmodeus? XD

Sorry, we're full. And the recruitment thread is chock full of people I promised to ask first.
There seems to be plenty of interest for someone else to take this up, so Why not try it yourself? :)

also, please don't let the chef's special go cold. Eat when you can ;)

Well, we've got some useful information. My initial thought is to have Ron fill us in on what we can expect in most of the rooms that will be along our path.

In any event, here is my thought on a possible plan.

Plan Proposal

[1] Head down the stairs to room 16 with Grumblejack
[2] We use Grumblejack as a diversion, and set loose down hallway 8, maybe try to find a way to get him in a rage of sorts
[3] Hoping that he distracts the guards in the Great Hall, we wait a moment and place the window on the wall between room 16 and 11, and escape out the door into area 5a under cover of night.
[4] While the guards are preoccupied with Jack, move as stealthily as possible to the Gatehouse along the eastern wall the Great Hall
[5] At this point, we may need to fight our way out. With Jack causing a scene, hopefully we won't have to deal with the 96 (or rather 92 remaining guards), but rather a much smaller number. We could use either 3c or 3b as Ron has suggested, see if we can't find an alternate door from the front gates.
[6] As far as Blackerly is concerned, if there is an opportunity to kill him, so be it. Otherwise, he isn't a priority, freedom is.

Let me know what you think, or if you have a better suggestion or some alterations to the above plan.

By the way, having a great time with this game increddibelly, good stuff!

A couple of suggested changes:

Plan Proposal

[1] Head down the stairs to room 16 with Grumblejack
[2] We use Grumblejack as a diversion, and set loose down hallway 8, maybe try to find a way to get him in a rage of sorts
[3] Hoping that he distracts the guards in the Great Hall, we wait a moment and place the window on the wall between room 16 and 11, and escape out the door into area 5a under cover of night.

-----

Also, depending on how many guards are actually on duty in the Great Hall, we may not need to use the window at all. It is night, and I'm guessing there will be fewer guards on duty. And it's Branderscar Prison - nothing ever happens here, until tonight! :)
-----

[4] While the guards are preoccupied with Jack, move as stealthily as possible to the Gatehouse along the eastern wall the Great Hall

[5] At this point, we may need to fight our way out. With Jack causing a scene, hopefully we won't have to deal with the 96 (or rather 92 remaining guards), but rather a much smaller number. We could use either 3c or 3b as Ron has suggested, see if we can't find an alternate door from the front gates.
[6] As far as Blackerly is concerned, if there is an opportunity to kill him, so be it. Otherwise, he isn't a priority, freedom is.

-----

Another priority is to find a map of the surrounding area so we know where we're going after we escape. I'm guessing that would be in an office somewhere. And frankly, killing the Warden would be great - if his tower isn't guarded, and going by Ron's comment, I'm guessing it's not, I say we pay it a visit.

Final thought is to see if we can get more of that belladonna mix. That would be nice to have to take out guards without much noise. Since it came in a mug, I'm guessing the kitchen.

Note to self : put names to numbers on the map. But not now - it's a quarter past beer at work. Feel free to ask / plan away, I'll be back later today.

Also, I believe we have forgotten about the archers that are gonna kill us when we try to walk out. I we could find a caravan to stowaway in, or something of that nature, it would save us a lot of time, just putting it out there...

Just have to kill the archers before we leave. :)

Like the idea of a caravan though, just depends on timing.

I don't think we should give up Jack so easily. A friendly ogre with a big weapon would be a nice asset to have, especially if he's getting along with Sindran so well. I think he should stay with us as long as possible, including on our journey to meet our benefactor.

I guess a lot depends on how long we wish to linger in the Prison. The longer we spend there, exploring this place and that, the greater our chances of getting caught are... Ogre's also don't tend to excel at stealth.

Another priority is to find a map of the surrounding area so we know where we're going after we escape. I'm guessing that would be in an office somewhere. And frankly, killing the Warden would be great - if his tower isn't guarded, and going by Ron's...

Agreed; getting our hands on a map would be extremely useful on the outside.

Aerent strenuously disagrees. The man branded every one of the characters, and he enjoyed it. He deserves to die. Yes, freedom is a priority, but a close second is killing that man....

As far as Cala would be concerned, killing Blackerly would be a bonus if an opportunity arises, but going out of our way to kill him may put our escape in jeopardy. Revenge is an emotion that can cloud judgement in her mind, and Cala would argue that freedom trumps all priorities presently.

I suggest we sacrifice the ogre as a distraction as well. At the very least we'd split up their forces. And as far as I know, most of the guards are in armor and can't move as quickly as we can, so as long as we keep moving after we're seen hopefully we won't get overwhelmed.

I'd like to check out the proposed secret escape areas as well

OMG - the forums are frikkin' slow tonight. I was hoping to get a few posts in, but as it stands I'll be happy if this message reaches you. I'll keep trying though.

I got it. Games going great guys, I'm happy to be in such an active party!

I'll be out for several hours, probably won't have a chance to post again until this evening. The pace of this game is great, although admittedly I have this week off, so I probably won't be as frequent starting next week.

I guess this question is going to come up soon, so here's the answer:
Quote Rules as written
"If you come to the attention of people who are suspicious (such as a guard who is watching commoners walking through a city gate), it can be assumed that such observers are taking 10 on their Perception checks."

So, to fool a guard with a disguise, you'd need to hit DC 13. The girls would have to aim for DC 15 as the guards would've surely remembered if there were any ladies in the barracks.
If you'd have a good story and behave very branderscar-guard-like, I'll be happy to give a bonus to your check.

Cala, thanks for letting us know.
Just in case we're all waiting for you for a couple of hours; is it OK if I assume some sensible actions on your behalf? please let me know if there's any spells or abilities you absolutely don't want to spend just yet.

Also, I'm going in sleep mode for a while; I'll leave you to ponder the plan for the next several in-game-hours.

Cala, thanks for letting us know.

is it OK if I assume some sensible actions on your behalf? please let me know if there's any spells or abilities you absolutely don't want to spend just yet.

Absolutely; if I'm unable to post for an extended period of time, please feel free to post some sensible actions.

As far as spells go, they're all fairly useful for an escape:

Obscuring Mist to help shroud our trek across the courtyard; Sleep for a moment in which we need to quietly sneak past some guards, or straight up crowd control in combat; Cause Fear for a combat situation most likely, Light if we're in darkness and need some.

If situations arise where one of Cala's spells would come in handy and I'm away for a protracted period of time, feel free to use them at your discretion.

Ok cala.

Also, folks, note the difference between old warden 21 and sarge 14, 15.
I got the impression some of you might think these were the same person, but they are not...

About the spellbooks; There's an 80% chance anything you cared about has been taken away before you came here. If you're hoping to be able to find something valuable to you, roll d20; 17 or higher means the item is somewhere in Branderscar; 1-16 means someone took it from you before or during the prisoner transport here.
I'll roll for the spellbooks.

Aerent's heirloom +5 vorpal greatsword

1d20 ⇒ 1

Curses! It's not here! ;)

Empowered Rod--no wait, I already found it. ;)

1d20 ⇒ 15

Well, whatever Sindran may or may not have had, it's not there.

Also, Caladwhen, how's that sleep spell? I'm thinking we crash that poker game and knock them out. Ron could pose as having to bring you to the Sergeant on either his (cue the guards on the way there being pervy) or the warden's orders. That new guard would probably back the story.

Though it all rests on Ron fooling the person who just called him, but if we do that, it should be easy enough.

Aerent is already disguised as a guard so he should go with you. Sindran would be great in disguise, but he suffers from being extremely distinctive as he is a heavily scarred half-orc with blackened arms and major burns. Unlikely that he can get through with just a clothes change.

I'm thinking take out the other guards, blackmail the sergeant (find evidence of wrongdoing in his rooms or somesuch) via Ron, who may get promotion for exposing with evidence. Well, if he gets out alive and looks somehow competent doing so.

After, we can either go straight fighting our way out or chill with the warden in his tower. The tower also seems to be connected to the walls, so we can either climb down from the tower to the ground, or get on the left walls, walk on them some, then get down. Unadvisable because sharp rocks on one end, and guard towers on the wall that could raise an alarm.

If going to tower, holding the warden hostage is ideal. Killing him is also fine, he should have goodies in the tower and it seems cut off from everything else. But he might have alarms and we have no idea what's inside there so that's a risk.

My understanding is that Ron is gone. He has to fool everyone at the poker game, not just the guard who came to get him.

Despite Cala's claims, Aerent thinks there is zero chance of Ron actually keeping his mouth shut about what's going on. He votes for storming the hall (8) with Grumblejack, killing any guards in the barracks, then assessing the situation if the escape is still undiscovered. All done ASAP. If time permits, getting into the armory would be a bonus.

Aerent's heirloom +5 vorpal greatsword

d20

Curses! It's not here! ;)

That would've required a bit more than a natural 20 ;)