Way of the Wicked - The fall of Andoran, Chapter II (Inactive)

Game Master increddibelly

Well, flying is out for Aerent. Unless he finds some winged boots or something lying around.

Well, hope is a good thing.

Alternatively, you could let Cala spend some money on the laboratory and smithy, attract a few skilled laborers, and have them churn out new gear for you.
Let me put it this way; there are no loot piles with bane weapons. That would be Evil! Couldn't have any of that near good ole Farholde!

My strength score is respectable enough to probably carry people up there, I'll have to look at the rules for flying and encumbrance but I should be able to manage it.

Yeah, shouldn't be a problem with that 18 Str. Won't be able to fly very fast, but that's okay by Aerent. He's still isn't 100% sure Talon wouldn't take a hard right then drop the stinking human in the middle of the forest. ;)

This sounds fair & reasonable to me. Did I miss anything?

Works for me.

Just as a side note, Aerent isn't sleeping in the goblin caves again. :)

Well, hope is a good thing.

All good, winged boots don't really fit Aerent. They aren't impressive enough.

Receiving a blessing of Furcas in which he ascends into a higher form, gaining a pair of massive demonic wings, however, is right up his alley.

Don't you trust me? You do think I like you now, don't you? Muahahahaha...

Heh, Aerent thinks Talon has come around enough not to slash his throat while he sleeps. Beyond that, odds are about even. :)

His sword might have his own ideas though...
:)

Everyone OK with spending two days searching every nook and cranny of L1 and L2 of the horn - in other taking 20's? If someone has another suggestion how to deal with investigating the horn, which what IMHO is essentially a rather quiet (=dull) period of the game; I'm all ears.

I think this will allow us to cut to the good bits. And I don't want to spoil it you can think of a more fun way to do a large scale investigation of, what you've already seen by scrying, mostly empty rooms.

I think your suggestion sounds excellent. It's probably very important to know all the nooks and crannies of our own dungeon. Perhaps if there are some rooms which you think are particularly interesting or dangerous you could have us go through?

I think this will allow us to cut to the good bits.

Yes, bring on the good bits!

I think that is a solid plan IB for the search party. While I do like a good dungeon crawl, I think in the interest of keeping things interesting, we do skip from one interesting encounter to the next with this method, as opposed to describing each room.

On separate business, I'd like to setup a lab sooner than later... probably after the search is done and we've started the ceremony. Start thinking of gear you might want, within her ability to create mind you. While it's totally up to IB to determine how much and what we can get, 7th level characters generally have 23,000 gp worth of gear if you follow the wealth by level charts.

let's start with that lab. You'll see why this would be the first thing you'd be drawn to, soon.

I like to make this game a little more difficult than normal - so I aim for 85% of wealth by level - this may seem steep, but it symbolizes the fact that you're pretty much on your own in this world, not likely to find the things you REALLY need in any magic shoppe.
creating stuff yourself will quickly reduce this deficit, and you're likely going to pass 115% before the end of this adventure. The limit is pretty much set by how quickly you can gain source materials(cash) to create stuff, and they will run out eventually.

that said, long term planning: this is a great time to update your gear. Finally, a fun way to include item creation in a game!
I love this AP.

Sounds good to me IB, that'll work just fine. Start thinking about what trinkets you folks might like to have to augment you characters then, with a roughly 20,000 gp cap at then (which would include the value of any gear you presently have).

Good medium armor plox

there are workshops on the 1st level for most skills you can think of (leatherwork, smithing, alchemy) but all of these were wrecked by the invaders 80 years ago.
new workshop inventory is real easy to bring in from farholde, but not free (say 200gp per workshop for masterwork inventory).
Finding a skilled worked who's warm to your cause would be the final challenge - but once everything is set, you could create pretty much any item inside the horn.

Sorry I haven't been around! Been under some stress lately. I'll catch up when I can. =]

Hey everyone,

I'm going to post in detail this evening when I have more time, gotta prep dinner.

Maaaan, lots to catch up on. I'll, umm, be sneakily in the background for now. And I nod to everything except when hazardous to my health.

Man, really seems like it might be worth it to pick up abyysal

wel...only if you don't trust your colleagues to read everything for you. And you'll need it (ovciously) if you want to chat with Vetra Kali once you've completed the ritual - assuming you live that far.

note to self: We're on the afternoon of day 2 of 14

You are doing well on the XP front. The next puzzle may push you all over the Level 7 line.
Talon may not have much fun with his lead before the rest catches up!

I fully realize there's a lot of information being thrown around. I'm trying my best not to flood you, by cutting up our scouting session into smaller mini-encounters, showing only the interesting areas. In other words, if I mention it, it's a 'quest item' of sorts.
Still, there are already lots of quests to go after and of course there are even more in the rooms you haven't looked at yet, so this part of the game is a little much.

How are you all doing? What can I do to keep things going smooth for everyone?

I'll be honest, Aerent isn't much good at reading languages or identifying magic auras. And I'm just not sure what he should be doing other than "exploring".

It's not a problem for me, I just don't see much that Aerent could do at the moment.

Well... you could think about a way to deal with a 100ft walking Tree with a G alignment?
Would Aerent not consider adding defenses to the fortress? It's quite big to deal with on your own.

You_the_Player could download the maps, and draw any additions that you_Aerent might like to add; a couple of pit traps here, perhaps a bunch of archer skeletons there? We can discuss cost and effort later, but in order to get things done, first you'll need to make plans :)

Oh, Aerent has already been thinking about those things! I didn't want to get into the details until we finished searching the Horn.

I mean, there is a huge pool of acid in the goblin caves! Who wouldn't love to have that resource in their evil-aligned plague temple? Acid arrow trap. Acid spray trap. Acid-filled pit trap. So many options! :)

I'll get some notes compiled and posted today or tomorrow.

Oh no, you have unleashed my dungeon building side

A room with a large gap to jump, a decent jump but certainly do-able. However over the hole is an reserve gravity spell, and at the top is a circle of teleportation...that leads to the bottom of the hole. You continue falling up and teleporting back to the bottom until you hit mach speed and then you get teleported into a wall.

A room with dozens of doors and the entire floor pivots on a single point so everybody has to balance the weight of the party out evenly across the floor. If you fall off the side there's a grease filled funnel waiting for you that teleports you back to the top, so you take fall damage and you are now covered in grease, making it even harder to stay still.

Awesome, Aerent :)

See? Everyone can be a cog in the great machine of hell. All we need is a little organisation ^_^

Great ideas, Talon - but this sounds like someone should've started investing in Engineering or Trapmaking 7 levels ago...(!)

Maybe it's now (finally?) a good time to hire a skilled rogue? I seem to remember we discussed that this summer.

I was thinking about a rogue cohort for Aerent with Leadership, but if we could get a PC rogue, that would be great.

I'm good with the pace, but then again there seems to be a lot for Caladwhen to do and I fully appreciate what Aerent had said earlier.

As far as a adding a PC rogue, I'm still all for it... this game a lot of fun, why not bring one more lucky soul in on all this devilishness!

We need some gelatinous cubes.

I truly am evil.

We need some gelatinous cubes.

Hold on to that thought.

I have been approached by a bunch of people wanting in, but one of them is my new favorite candidate. Best pitch I've read in years. Just the right tone for our game. much flavor in the character. In fact, I thought this pitch was so good I may be in love.

Question is, would you like to vote between all candidates, or are you OK with signing up this guy based simply on my raving review?

I would like to look at them, but I trust your review.

I trust you to pick one.

Working on what Aerent's suggested reinforcements to the Horn but have a few questions while I'm thinking about them.

How many minions should we expect to have? Will we also be able to recruit specialized servants, like a couple of blacksmiths, and are these are also considered "minions" or something else? Trying to get an idea about how much detail I need to worry about.

Could the goblins subjugate other tribes in the area and make them come live in the caves too? I'm thinking we may want more goblins down there to properly guard that area. Could they also capture some wildlife like alligators or pirahnas?

I trust you, DMIB. Of course, you're ultimately trying to kill us, so not sure if I'm using my best judgement.

Hey, sorry for the prolonged absence... been a crazy busy several days. In any event, I just got back from a wedding and I'm wiped, but I'm going to post tomorrow evening if that is alright.

Also IB, I trust your judgement; if you think the new applicant is a good fit, then go for it.

Do we get any kind of preview on this new character? ;)

I trust you to kill us! I mean, to pick another character! But that too.

We aim to maim. er. please. thing.

I've been rather quiet myself this week - I'm having too much fun at work.

good questions Aerent. Let's dive into them.
I've added a 'Masters of the Wicked' document to the main page, that details the organisation rules. Yay, more information flooding! Note the 'council' and the 'actions' list.

How many minions should we expect to have?

The exact number should not matter - mechanically, the leadership rules apply. why do you want to know? do you have anything specific in mind?

Trying to get an idea about how much detail I need to worry about.

Pick a cohort and you're 99% done. I think you should make a messageboard Alias for your own cohort as well.

Think how you would own a Supermarket; lots of kids coming and going all the time, but only the guy making the roster actually knows who should be where at what time - you're the owner, the cohort makes the roster for you.

Will we also be able to recruit specialized servants, like a couple of blacksmiths?

I fully hope you'll do so. That would make getting new gear a lot easier! If you need a 'specialist minion', tell the cohort to find one.

However, if you decide to make a skilled cohort - such as a Ftr6 with lots of ranks in profession blacksmith, that will really help getting things made, but while the cohort is working on new gear, the rest of your minions will be on their own, without the cohort to deal with them; I will use that as an excuse to insert events into the game, where you will need to deal with their mess. However, the skilled cohort's take 10 craft roll will be around 25. That's 50% up.
Your choice - your mess.

and are these are also considered "minions" or something else?

Yes, they go into the pool of nameless, faceless minions that the cohort deals with.

Could the goblins subjugate other tribes in the area and make them come live in the caves too?

Are you still really sure you don't own these books yourself?

Could they also capture some wildlife like alligators or pirahnas?

You should ask Zikomo. See what they come up with on their own.

regarding the new player; I've had too many to count asking for a spot, but only a few stuck. A friend of Cala's, a friend of Talon's.
I think people knowing eachother outside the game are always a bit of a risk.

The third guy now... I get the most polite PM I've seen in months, asking if we've picked someone, and since he's asked so nicely, I ask him to throw me a pitch.
Well, he got the game's history right, got the places right, NPC names and roles, the overhead details (such as the contract), and all of that in character.
Very good.

Sounds good IB. Further to that, anyone who put that kind of effort into making a character I think would be an excellent addition.

As for leadership, I intend to take it since Cala could really benefit from having a Cleric cohort than can channel negative energy, and thereby heal her undead horde.

Do we get to generate details like race, gender, age and all that jazz too? I think Caladwhen would prefer a cohort that wasn't of Thorn or the Baron's choice... she doesn't trust any of those folks worth a lick.

You can stat your own cohort, and I only offered the Baron and the cardinal as an easy, plausible source. Feel free to think of your own reason why a cohort might come all the way here just to find you, if you prefer :)

Rereading my posts trom thuis afternoon I noticed I sounded a bit snide, so to be clear: Aerent, none of the above was intended to annoy you.

I finally got around to looking at the Masters of the Wicked file! Looks like fun.

Sindran would prefer to start his own organization, but perhaps the rest of you would like to pitch in to create a separate council? I don't imagine the rest of you have much interest in minions and management like Sindran.

Also, I had to snort at "You Have Failed Me For The Last Time". That was an entertaining section.

Who has the Manacles of Cooperation? Sindran might find it useful, but it may better serve with someone who has low charisma.

Can someone come with me to deal with the lightning elemental? I'd like to talk to it first, but may need someone to bail me out if it decides to blast me to all heck. Sindran will be sleeping at Level 0 the first day with the goblins. He needs to spend some time familiarizing himself with them anyway. The second day, he'll spend the night in the newly discovered Meditation Hall of the High Priest, reading what he can before sleeping it off. The Blasted Chamber was tempting but unhygienic.

Finally, we will eventually need to deal with that Treant outside when we have to go out for supplies. May I suggest doing so sometime to liven up things? Possibly after exploration phase, so we can get to level 7, acquire leadership in time, and have minions to carry stuff back and forth.

Sindran, normally I would volunteer to come with you for muscle, but unless I can get a good spell that's not electric damage I'll be less threatening than you think.

Oh, I don't need someone to deal damage. I need someone to drag me away or take the damage while I run away.

Of course, Sindran won't tell Talon that. But he reassures him that he will be useful!

dearies, you are going to want to see this. someone made their check...
www.viralnova.com/apartment-secret-dungeon/

Aerent Sephim wrote:

How many minions should we expect to have?

The exact number should not matter - mechanically, the leadership rules apply. why do you want to know? do you have anything specific in mind?

I just want to make sure we have "enough" to defend the Horn. It seems there is quite a bit of space to fill with our minions. Based on the document you provided, I think we should be good though, we don't need an army, just a group of loyal thugs.

Quote:

Trying to get an idea about how much detail I need to worry about.

Pick a cohort and you're 99% done. I think you should make a messageboard Alias for your own cohort as well.

Think how you would own a Supermarket; lots of kids coming and going all the time, but only the guy making the roster actually knows who should be where at what time - you're the owner, the cohort makes the roster for you.

I'll make an alias when I finalize him/her.

Are there any races/classes you want us to avoid?

Stuff on specific cohorts

Got it, thanks.

Quote:

Could the goblins subjugate other tribes in the area and make them come live in the caves too?

Are you still really sure you don't own these books yourself?

That was actually just math. :) From the descriptions you've given us of the tribe, I didn't get the impression that there were enough goblins to cover all of the places we want them to guard in the caves (as described in the linked documents). Getting more goblins seemed to be the simplest solution since I wouldn't expect even minions to share their living arrangements. You can never have enough cannon fodder. /shrug

Quote:

Could they also capture some wildlife like alligators or pirahnas?

You should ask Zikomo. See what they come up with on their own.

Sure, will do.

And no worries, I didn't detect any snide remarks.

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Regarding the organizations, Aerent is willing to join up with anybody else who's interested in forming a Council. Any takers?

No problem with Sindran having his own group, but would like to make sure we coordinate so we avoid duplicating efforts/assignments.

That was actually just math. :) From the descriptions you've given us of the tribe, I didn't get the impression that there were enough goblins to cover all of the places we want them to guard in the caves (as described in the linked documents). Getting more goblins seemed to be the simplest solution since I wouldn't expect even minions to share their living arrangements. You can never have enough cannon fodder. /shrug

Well, we could always supplement the Goblin tribe with hordes of undead when they set out to subjugate the other tribes.

By the way, just had a chance to read the Masters of the Wicked, and I have to say it's a pretty slick rule set for running minions. I could actually use that in my own tabletop games.

Caladwhen would be agreeable to a Council. I think we should pool our resources, and set ourselves up as strongly as we can. The whole espionage aspect appeals to me, as Caladwhen would certainly setup an cult of her own as being secretive and mysterious in nature.

You can stat your own cohort, and I only offered the Baron and the cardinal as an easy, plausible source. Feel free to think of your own reason why a cohort might come all the way here just to find you, if you prefer :)

Is there any particular way you want us to build our cohorts? Point-buy for stats, gear etc...?

Hail Vetra-Kali: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Hail, indeed.

That was my guess for the password by the way. :P

well, not much of a test, then...!
Sindran earns the bonus XP, and reaches level 7!

I'll post what happens after Sindran speaks the correct password later today...! But it involves this delightful lady...drum roll

Nice one Sindran! I'll go get the holy water for what you found...

When I'm not helping Cala with the alchemical golem I want to invest my time and money in some nice armor, or at least protective magic