WotW: A Knot of Thorns The First Parchment (Inactive)

Game Master Xzaral

Ok, I realize that Bostarg is running in his element here and to be honest this is exactly the situation that I built the character for... but this is a team game and I want to ensure that we are all engaged and involved.

My rough plan is thus: find a pillar of the community with an axe (however slight) to grind, pose as a sympathetic person and pry open that grievance into full blown anger and violent recourse. While the guards are called to help put down the fracas, then we can strike against them and get them to fall. However we'll need to do some investigating first to see the main protagonists in play and how they might be either neutralized or removed from relevance.

Tatya's poisoning will be very useful, as will the stealthiness of Aedorn and Alazandaru. Morthos and Alazandaru will be very good for wetwork, and Morthos has impressive socials to leverage as well. And we can all be whoever we want with the iron circlets.

Some of the things that I have thought of are:
1) Removing some civilians / soldiers from circulation so that we can twin their faces for our purpose.
2) Use of disguise to stage public beatings, thefts, etc to stir malcontent.
3) Getting poison into the food system for a group at some point.
4) Unaldultered loathing to drive wedges of discontent between specific people that we could then exploit. Same with sow thought.
5) Creation of a serial killer, which we then manipulate to be one of the guardsmen.
6) Use of forgeries to sow false rumour (mental note - Bostarg needs handwriting samples for all persons of power)

Anyone else got some things to add to the brainstorm?

I think a key will also be to start slow for a couple of days as we gather information as much as possible.

You've obviously put some thought into this. ;P

1) Removing some civilians / soldiers from circulation so that we can twin their faces for our purpose.

The iron circlets only give us +10 on our disguise checks, and impersonating a specific known person gives bonuses on Perception checks to see through the disguise, plus everyone who sees it is automatically suspicious and gets to roll Perception. A risky proposition for those without a high Charisma or Diguise as a class skill. I haven't leveled Tatya yet so could put a point in Disguise; that would make her bonus with the circlet +17.

3) Getting poison into the food system for a group at some point.

To get that many doses of ingested poison ready, she'll need an out-of-the-way place to brew. Should be able to get the ingredients locally, I hope. I think she can only brew 4 doses in a day, and that'll keep her from being involved in anything else that might be going on. (Weirdness of the crafting rules; I don't see why it should take more time to make 10 doses of the same poison than one, but they make you brew each dose separately rather than all together in a big pot.)

After "Jonas" has dismissed the girl, she suggests, "A traveling performer with an invitation within the fortress? If he were to be waylaid and replaced...."

Queue entrance of Danny Kaye?

That's a rough plan? Well THAT'S a relief. I'd hate to see one of your more detailed plans. ;)

I do think the serial killer in such a small town seems like a stretch. Especially where we'd assume everybody knows everybody. They would likely point in the direction of the "new" folks in town.

I think you've covered it all pretty well, though. That's good stuff, or, well... evil stuff, I should say. :P

I do think the serial killer in such a small town seems like a stretch. Especially where we'd assume everybody knows everybody. They would likely point in the direction of the "new" folks in town.

We've got the 'shy around girls' military man to pin it all on once women start to turn up dead; the profile practically writes itself. ;)

Question for Mark: Does our tearing apart the social fabric of this wholesome little town have any actual bearing on our mission of getting into Balentyne and opening the gate, or is it just extracurricular amusement?

Well, there you go. I guess it's not such a stretch after all. :)

You know, KM, you paint a good picture of this little town. All I can think of is:

In the Lord of the Rings, when Frodo looks within the bowl of water and he sees the Shire burning, orcs taking hobbit's as captives. This is what I see of this town.

Poor little town. It makes me a little sad.

More detail later - wrangling kids on a public holiday - but the town and tower are inter-linked. I'm operating on an assumption that the tower provides most of the law and order for the town. So if we get the villagers to raise a ruckus and paint the garrison poorly enough perhaps we can get them to fight each other?

The tower Ballentyne is going to be poorly defended if the soldiers are putting down a riot in Aldencross ;)

To provide some detail, Balentyne is a few miles away from Aldencross, sitting on a rise (getting to Balentyne requires taking some back and forth paths).

The town exists to service the watchtower. Each day servants come from town to Balentyne to take care of daily tasks, and while the soldiers are garrisoned inside Balentyne, they do get leave to come to town, particularly on days off.

Aldencross does possess it's own town guards that are sufficient to handle day to day tasks but it can call upon Balentyne in times of need. Something along the lines of a serial killer may well require more patrols in the town.

Any duress in Aldencross would be felt in Balentyne, either it being a hit to morale or a disruption of daily tasks provided by the non-soldier body. As far as getting into the gate itself, that depends on how you do so.

And Javell, thank you for the compliment, though I have to say much of it is taken from the adventure itself describing Aldencross.

@Buggula: Is Aedorn going by Aedorn? Or are you gonna use a different name?

You know, I gotta say, I like Aedorn's character. When you look at the lot of us, he's like a bright spot in a dark hole. While the rest of us are plotting for world domination, he's like: "Hey, babe, how you doin'?" It's just dang funny. I laughed at the menu bit. So cheesy, yet, pretty much greatness. :)

Maybe you could call him Dane?

What about you, AK? Zuko, maybe? With the whole scarred face bit. ;) You know, in an odd sense, your character kinda reminds me of him. It'd actually be perfect.

If not then maybe Zander? That might be too close to Alazandaru though. Which I now can finally spell without having to go back and read. :P

No, he's going by something else...that I'm still working on. Until it becomes an issue we'll assume he's had the alias all along.

Do we need to level up? Minus any spells?

I know some DM's level up after rest, some have us go ahead and level up on the spot. Just curious.

Just a heads up I'm in a hotel with bad internets. I'll be trying to keep updating daily, but if I disappear for a day that's why.

No worries, thanks for the update. I finally managed to level up Aedorn, I just need to update his profile.

Also, I'm glad I'm able to be here for comic relief. My apologies for never flirting with Tatya - I think she intimidates him.

My apologies for never flirting with Tatya - I think she intimidates him.

She reminds me a bit of Azula, in The Beach when Ty Lee tried to teach her how to flirt with boys. :)

Also, this is totally how she'd approach a game of volleyball.

Do we need to level up? Minus any spells?

I know some DM's level up after rest, some have us go ahead and level up on the spot. Just curious.

One last thing, after you find time to rest, you will all be able to level up to level 4. So go ahead and begin thinking about that. Figured I'd let you know now so you can begin thinking on it.

Cool. That's what I was thinking but couldn't remember.

Haha, oh, Avatar. Yep, that's kind of the vibe I get from Tatya. I think if Aedorn were...approached...he wouldn't complain about it, but he knows better than to mess with her.

Yeah, that's a great show. I love it. Uncle Iroh is the best. :)

Hmm, maybe I should watch more Avatar.

And thanks for linking that Joana. Meant to respond but slipped my mind.

Dude, I HIGHLY recommend the ENTIRE series. It is fantastic. A diamond in the rough of animation. Really good writing.

I've seen a few episodes of it, it looks good from what I've seen. It's just finding the time to watch it, plus the availability. If it's not on Netflix, I need to motivate myself to go buy it, lol.

I'll see about making time when I get back. Hmm, or maybe check some place local.

As far as western animation goes, it's pretty darned good. They did some neat stuff with differentiating the different elements with real-world kung-fu styles. Also, the ending is pretty rocking, and does a good job of wrapping up the whole thing.

And yes, it's on Netflix.

Also, Joanna - I think part of the reason he hasn't flirted with Tatya is overflow from an avoidance of being that guy who flirts with every girl he meets online just because OMG there's a girl online! So...that might have spilled over to my character a bit.

By the way, Toph is my favorite.

I gotta say, Toph does rock. HA! GET IT! ROCK! Get it. Anyone. Yeah, never mind.

Anyway, that's truly some great stuff.

They cut off the last line: "It's upside down, isn't it? I'll go with Sokka." :D

@AK: Hey, bud, as soon as we're able to level up, don't forget about the Outflank feat we held off on until 4th level.

Just a reminder in case you might've forgot. Because I did. Well, until I remembered. :P

@KM: Just wanted to know if it would be cool to leave my armor in the room? I meant to put that in post but didn't. I don't really see a reason to walk around in full plate at this time.

I'm afraid I haven't forgotten but We're still waiting on Alazandaru to make bab+4

Ah crud! I totally forgot about the rogue's BAB. Okay, I gotcha.

Just to have a more clear picture on Terrick's disguise, he's gonna be in typical adventurer's clothes. No need to disguise those, I would guess, barring any sign of Asmodeus that might exist or something to that nature that would need to be hidden. I don't think there is but I tend to miss things.

Mostly it will be his facial features, hair, eyes and skin color. So basically, if you compare the two pics, that's exactly what would be the difference between the two.

Just wanted to be clear in case there way any questions.

To get that many doses of ingested poison ready, she'll need an out-of-the-way place to brew. Should be able to get the ingredients locally, I hope. I think she can only brew 4 doses in a day, and that'll keep her from being involved in anything else that might be going on. (Weirdness of the crafting rules; I don't see why it should take more time to make 10 doses of the same poison than one, but they make you brew each dose separately rather than all together in a big pot.)

So I've been wracking the old noggin around this one for awhile now. As far as crafting goes, there are certain items which make sense (swords and such), and some which seems you could do more at once if you had the equipment (like cooking a big pot of chili versus a small one, though the big one might need to cook longer). Plus not all poisons are brewed, some are made in different ways. Okay, I'm starting to ramble.

Anyway, here's my proposition on poison making that seems like it might make a tad more sense.

On things like poisons, you can simul-craft* multiple doses at once for each alchemical lab you have. The additional cost not only represents multiple sets of equipment but utilizing more specialized equipment for the larger dose.

Now the biggest problem I'm looking at right now with this setup is how to cap it. I'm torn on doing some arbitrary (like max 10 doses at once), or ability related (2 per point of Int modifier), or level based (1 per level). I am open to suggestions on this one. Opinions on this idea?

I don't feel qualified to advance an opinion on the subject, as I have never played a Crafting character before; I find the whole process fairly confusing. Honestly, I keep getting the Craft (alchemy) and Brew Potion rules mixed up; you'd think the process would be similar, but it doesn't seem to be.

It seems odd that to recreate a classic trope of poisoning the water supply or lacing a wedding cake with poison, as in Tatya's backstory, requires months of pre-crafting to painstakingly create a dose for each individual; then again, there are certain fantasy tropes that Pathfinder just doesn't handle well.

Whatever you decide will be fine with me. She'll still be largely limited by wealth and finding an appropriately secretive place to work for uninterrupted periods of time. She doesn't even have her own alchemy lab, just a cauldron; what she already made was done using the equipment in Thorn's HQ.

Most of the crafting rules as far as I can tell are in place to prevent abuse - as long as we're not trying to abuse or game the system, I see no reason why we couldn't implement some changes such as Markadian recommended.

Yeah the cap business is tricky. And I'm with Buggula. Which means I'm with KM. :)

Yeah, I just went through a discussion over potions. It says you can only craft 1 potion a day. Period. But if it costs less than 250g, you can create it in 2 hours. But still only 1 a day. I don't get that.

Why can't you create, then, like 4 potions in 8 hours, let's say? Potions that cost 250g are 1st level. That's it! Well, that and 0 level. I don't see that as overpowered. Heck, potions can't get any higher than 3rd level spells. It's not like there are a bunch of destructo spells between 1st and 3rd level.

I know crafting potions and poisons is different, seeing how one is magical and one is not, but maybe you could roll with the potion rules. If it costs less than 250g, you can make like 1 in 2 hours and just go with 4 in an 8 hour day. Anything more takes a full 8 hours. The more powerful, the more demanding. I would see it as a bit much if we could make like 4 of the biggest and the baddest poison's out there a day. And of course, we don't have the money for such an endeavor at this time, but eventually, we would.

Because the crafting rules as is, it'll take like days just to make 1 poison. And like Buggula said, they do have them in place to prevent abuse, but in my opinion, they make it a bit too ridiculous.

But hey, I'm not really too good with ideas for this type of thing either. Or anything like this when it comes to rules. I'm just throwing something out.

Actually, going with the potion rules does sound like a good idea. I'd be fine with creating as many potions as you want up to the 1000gp limit in one day as well. Sure, you could make 20 CLW potions in 1 day, but you could also do 1 CLW wand. So I think it's fair.

I have to get going to work right now, but I'll move along the game this evening when I get back (probably around 6-7pm EST).

Just to make sure these are the plans, Alazandaru to sit in the common room, listening, and Bostarg to wander the town late at night. If anything else, let me know. I can't respond at work effectively, but I can usually read some posts.

Six posters are hung to the wall, the six prisoners escaped from Branderscar prison. The portraits are crude barely recognizable unless compared directly. A bounty on each of the six has been placed, 100 golden coins in exchange for the head, no matter if it still lives.

Dang! We should have kept Beatrix around, or at least part of her. ;)

Are the replacements, Tatya and Aedorn, among the wanted posters, or are Haruk and Avandres up there? I'm sure we're fugitives from justice, but we're not technically Branderscar escapees.

That's true. It's possible that Aedorn might be a suspect for a certain um...crime...but there were no witnesses. None left living at least.

It's only the 6 from Branderscar. Aedorn and Tatya are not up there...yet :)

*pssst* Aedorn! We could totally turn them in for 300 gp! ;)

Rofl. That would certainly turn this campaign in a...different direction.

Tatya and Aedorn alert the local authorities to the presence of wanted criminals, take the bounty and run off together. Yeah, I could just see it.

By the way, Aedorn has assumed the image of a slightly younger halfling male named Jed.

That's just dirty, rotten, wretched, evi... oh wait. Crap. We're screwed.

It's actually not the worst plan for getting into Balentyne: claim to have caught one of the miscreants, take him into the tower to hand over to the authorities and claim our reward, then pounce when they're least expecting it.

I must say, that does sound interesting.

Is leveling up applicable now?

Leveling up should be fine.

At present I'm awaiting Alazandaru if there's anything else he would like to do in the inn room this evening or retire for the evening.

And Aedorn, is there anything specific you'd like to do this evening while wandering about?

Alazandaru will simply return to his eavesdropping, sorry for the hold up.

Will wait and see what else transpires first. You never know, in his fury Aedorn may decide to attempt to burn down half the town and bring us back out to action before the morn. ;)

I was pretty much just leaving it up to anything you wanted to throw at me. I thought it would have been hilarious if I had just happened to run into the servant girl, for example.

If you don't have anything interesting you want to throw at me though, it'll be a relatively uneventful stroll before retiring back at the inn.