[5e] Courts of the Shadow Fey (Inactive)

Game Master mishima

Deimus will study the staff.

Dunno if I could tell...but if I can, are we talking Lesser or Greater Restoration?

Try a medicine roll, if fail you can try again tomorrow.

Thanks.

Edited one into my last post...but presumably not high enough.

Lexi is Lexi > No one panics > Lexi gets infested by worms > Lexi starts acting nicely > The rest of the party: OH SHNIKIES! IT'S THE END TIMES!

This is amusing me greatly.

What can we say? We like our lovable, snarky assassin. :P

So, we take the items and as much coin as we can carry without being slowed, right?

A gold trade bar weighs 25 lbs and is worth 1250 gp.

A platinum trade bar weighs 3 lbs (is much smaller) and is worth 1500 gp.

A 1 lb sack of gold coin is 50 gp.

A 1 lb sack of platinum coin is 500 gp.

The art objects are probably the most awkward, like the giant painting.

If anyone else goes in to help collect stuff, they will face the same wisdom save against the corruption. So Lexi will probably be making multiple trips a while.

Well it's not like Ras knows that. :P

Of course, just saying. I'm about to hit the hay for the day.

Okay, sleep well. Hope you enjoy the post when you wake up.

So, loot to weight ratios:

Dragon Hoard:

14,000 gp worth of gold coins (various nations) and trade bars => 280 lbs @ 50 gp per pound
1200 pp worth of solid platinum bars => 8 bars total for 24 lbs @ 500 gp per pound
5 artistic objects worth around 250 gp each
(a painting of a wizard with a goofy grin in an alabaster frame, a silk hat embroidered with a gold thread fist, a giant belt buckle carved from coral, a dragonbone medallion, and a fine vase set with malachite)
A magical staff that looks almost like a real snake standing upright awkwardly probably weighs 4 lbs
A magical morningstar that looks like it could beat the s%*& out of anyone...you've seriously never seen a gnarlier weapon in your life Probably weighs 4lbs

So that's 288 lbs for the cash, 296 for cash and likely magic items. The art objects are all different weights and sizes, but in this case, I think we can average things out to about 10 lbs per so that 346 lbs of loot. that's less than 60 lbs apiece if we go evenly. I bet Carnadine's mount isn't near to being overloaded, so we can load her up with the art objects and half the gold. That drops our loads down to less than 30lbs extra. We can carry up to 15 times our Strength score. which is 240 lbs for Raseri.

So yeah, I think we can manage to take it all with us, and if we spin it right, Carndine's mount won't even mind being the one doing the hauling.

Ras, I forgot about your Gleam of Glamour feature. I will brainstorm on that a bit.

It's okay, so did I. :P

Did Deimus manage to id the staff?

Deimus, you have not short rested since getting it. You have to spend a short rest IDing it instead of doing other short rest stuff. Identify spell would do it instantly.

Ok, thanks for the precision. I didn’t know how it works.

Sorry I wasn't able to get that in sooner. Was considering lots of spell options and then realized Turning is a great choice.

NOTE TO ALLIES:
* If we turn just one, I suggest we all focus fire on the second.
* If we turn them both, we could either RUN for it (my first choice) or if we think that won't work, we can focus fire on one while (braking the Turn on that one, but letting us fight them one at a time).

Thoughts?

We should probably kill both if possible.

Here's my thoughts:
Since you all can't stealth, we might have to switch to a different plan: intimidation. Killing both a shadow dragon and shadow giants should help convince the non-mindless enemies to leave us alone.

Not that Lexi would ever support this plan, but personally I think it might have merit.

Lexi, can you say more?

Re killing them both: is it because you think they'd catch back up to us?

Re intimidation: I like the idea. How do you think it would play out? Do you think many of those who we'll potentially face are watching us know?

Sure.

As far as killing them both goes, they're undead, so they'll never stop chasing us, cause they want to eat our brains or something.

As far as intimidation goes, I'm guessing that there are few things that would want to fight a group that took down both a shadow dragon and a pair of shadow giants. Even if we don't eliminate all combats, it should get rid of the small groups that are thinking of attacking us.

Agreed on intimidating the populace. It might be our only chance against being overwhelmed

I second the intimidation. That's Carnadine's go-to tactic, if he ever get mounted on his zombie warhorse with a swig of Kjeta's beer for advantage.

You'd need the dragon's head hanging from your saddle.

I'm just not sure how many folks will know that we killed the giants one way or the other...unless maybe Carnadine wants to wear their scalps?

I like the idea of the dragon's head hanging from his saddle, at any rate!

While I like the idea, I think there's a countervailing point that needs to be brought up. Raseri was specifically told that rest on the Shadow Road is hard to come by. Whatever spells and abilities we have at this moment are all of what we should plan on having until we get to the Shadow Queen's court. With that, fighting the giants doesn't sound like a good idea. It eats up our resources and we need to make sure we have enough to see us through to the fey queen's court, which is probably in the Margreave forest.

Good point.

Are the two towers on either side of the road? If yes, did we see anything in between them, like a gate or fence? How tall are they? What's their diameter or width?

Where are we in the real Zobeck? What would be here?

Cheers

There are two on either side, yes...but there is nothing between them like a gate or fence, just open road. They look like they were once maybe 4 or 5 stories, but now have crumbled to 2 and some rubble on top. They are about 20 ft wide and the road gap between them is still about 25 ft as you are currently (it doesn't taper).

Passing west from the docks through the Collegium district in the real Zobeck would take you to the main merchant square and upper Zobeck (where your apartment was) with the Kobold Ghetto far south. Further west and north would eventually be the temple district (where the theatre was) and merchant district (where Kjeta's brewery was).

thank you sir

Ill make a quick and dirty sheets battlemap maybe, this scenario might be confusing.

Alrighty, check the 5e Fey tracker in my sig to see the curent round 1 map if needed. Party is blue circles. Squares are 10 ft squares.

Might take a sec to load...

Seems like the map'll be helpful for this one.

Thanks!

I’m confused. Who can I see? And who can be reached via hammer/fire bolt?

You can see the two hounds and the giant on top of the far tower.

You can't see the unknown creature(s) inside the closer tower, nor the giant beyond the crest of the hill.

You could melee the hound, but it would likely break Kjeta's hypno pattern. You could firebolt the giant on the far tower, but it has some cover. You could get off the 5 ft wide bit of path here and advance forward until the other giant is visible...or find a way into either tower.

Voyra is large. Where is she and Carnadine in the conga line? Presumably squeezing but cannot move through a hound. Looking for options.

thanks

Squeezing indeed, but like Ras Voyra has a high enough strength to jump the corner of the pit. The acro check is really just for those who cant possibly make the jump (deimus, kjeta, and lexi).

Ah cool. Thanks

Hi GM

I'm taking this game mechanics discussion here. I think you're misinterpreting the Dash rules. Dash is just one Move distance = 30 feet for Carn. So, in a normal round, a PC gets a Move and an Action. One Action is a Dash, which effectively lets a PC double move in a round = Move + Dash.

The Frightened condition triggered a Dash, which is one action of Move. Then, on Carn's turn, he cannot move closer to the Banshee with the Frightened condition and has disadvantage when the Banshee is in line of sight, so he would be better over the hillcrest with the other giant, maybe.

I'm 98% certain about these rules. Am I missing something?

cheers

I think you're both saying the same thing Carnadine, but I would point out that gaining the frightened condition doesn't automatically make you move; What you said above could be interpreted both ways, which is why I mentioned it.

Specifically, frightened just gives you disadvantage to ability checks and attack rolls while you can see the source of your fear and you can't move closer to it.

I think you're both effectively saying that you dismount for 15' of your double move away and then spend the rest of the movement of your move action and dashing as your standard action to move further.

At least, that's what it seems to me.

Yeah, Carn your Move + Dash would be 60 ft. 15 is spent on dismount leaving 45 remaining.

Frightened condition does not force creatures to run away like in previous editions, the Fear spell does however, to those who become Frightened by it, which you guys were. Compare Cause Fear, the 1st level version, that basically just stops frightened creatures from advancing on the caster. Fear actually causes that running away stuff again.

It does not trigger a reaction or anything, it just means you have to take Dash and Move on your turn if you can, and its safe. The safest path here is up the hill away from all enemies to west tower.

I mean if what you are debating is the direction you run, thats fine. Run where you want, but you definitely have 45 to do so...but around the tower would get you out of line of sight and therefore allow another save.

Carn, it didnt trigger anything. This is your turn. You must Dash from the requirements of the Fear spell. You also are compelled to move away using the safest route. With a dash and move, you have 60 ft to spend.

This isn't a Banshee using its ability if thats whats confusing you. This is a Shadow Fey Beast custom monster created by Kobold Press casting the Fear Spell on you.

Ah. I get it now. I missed the Fear spell. I thought it was a special ability.

So, the effect instantly made Carn drop his weapon.

Then, the spell caused Carn to burn his next turn to Move + Dash.

So, Voyra could be moving right next to him, because she would have a round of movement, too.

Sorry, completely misunderstood

cheers

Yep that's true, nothing stopping you from commanding Voyra here. :) No worries man, it'll be me next time Im sure

And honestly looking back on the gameplay post, it was my fault for being horribly unclear during the attack.

Wait, so I take damage even if I do nothing?

Yes the condition that triggers damage is 'restrained at the beginning of your turn'. If you DC 15 athletics as an action, you are free and can start climbing out. You can only get 1d10 a round but yeah...if you lay there doing nothing and no one saves you, the spikes will eventually KO you.

I realize this is pretty nasty, but this is a pretty crucial battle. My theory is that this was written before XGtE came out. The DMG pit traps are exactly like this, no save and only something like feather fall or detecting the trap before hand can help. The pit traps in XGtE are more lenient and allow a dex save along with everything else. On the flip side that means enemies get a save too.

The module as written has five 10x10 of these suckers scattered about here...I went with 2 20x20. They also were supposed to give you prone, but I removed that so you have a chance to get higher up once you roll free.

Ah, I see.

Also, I think Raseri's self-consciousness is going to be making a return after this. I imagine getting stuck in a pit trap and failing to get free multiple times in a row is bound to wreak havoc on a self-esteem that's already badly battered and still rather fragile even after the boost making her weapons gave it.

Infinity, as an aside, always feel free to roll on my behalf when you know a roll is needed (Saves, Initiative, an automatic skill check). I know different parties have different styles, but I figure the RNG will treat you and me roughly the same over time...and you rolling on my behalf may keep the game moving faster (as now, when you're pausing mid-action for a player to roll a save).

I'll leave it to you & others whether this makes sense here as a global policy, but I think it works really well in PbP. (Obvious exceptions are places where we'd have agency, e.g. if Deimus fails the first save, and has to choose if he'll use Inspiration to reroll.)