OK, sorry again for the confusion. I'm fine with being at 11 - just didn't catch the 3hp weren't going to Ceres. Assuming there's enough time to take off the armor, cast the spell, and put back on the armor, she'll get another 10 from infernal healing putting her at 21. Which is great, more than I thought I would have a day ago. Thanks, Araton & GM!
Infernal Healing is difficult. There's no way the LG Warden would have devil's blood or unholy water.
It's a great choice for an evil character and will come in handy later but I'll let you swap it to CLW for this instance. (and keep the 10hp)
Hey folks! My head is trying to explode so I will likely be asleep all of today. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I hope you feel better soon!
Thank you! I feel a thousand times better!
Ugh. I tweaked my back at work and took the last two days off to plop on the couch, but that's much more conducive to play-by-post than an exploding head. Glad you're feeling better!
I forgot my speed was reduced to 20ft with the armor on. I can still get within a 5'-step of the dog on my Surprise Round, it's just against the wall instead in the open.
I think we need a new plan, or new part of a plan here. . . we can't wait it out or they will get more reinforcements here, and we're effectively still pinned down in the main building until we come up with a way to rush/take the wall and get out.
I think your plan now is to bargain with the Warden's life?
Ceres is trying something, but so far they aren't taking her words seriously.
Ok, gameplan time.
We're basically surrounded, but at a distance. So now we have to choose which exit is the one we're going to leave through.
• The window is pointless now, as we've gotten what we need from that area. Also, the Warden's tower is one-way-in and one-way-out, so nothing to do there.
• The kitchen door exits to the garden, which they're not going to let us harvest from now. But, there's possibly a door to a tower 40' to the south (6a). Link to the prison map
• The north door exits closest to the prison exit, but that's a 60' sprint to the gatehouse, which has 4 guards up top and 4 on the floor.
We have the Warden, but at least those guards Ceres tried to talk to aren't interested in bartering. I say we try to prisoner-exchange once more at the north doors.
Araton has the highest Charisma, but Gildevar has Disguise Self. One could pretend to be a guard and act like our captive and request an exchange. Or, if we're daring, be the Warden and request they let us go, walking right out.
Other than that, if nothing else works, we use the Warden as a human shield and make a run for it.
How tall are the walls? Do we know?
Walls are 30 ft. high. About the height of the prison roof. There are doors at ground level to the wall at every wall tower (6), a spiral staircase leads up the center of each tower to access the top of the wall. 6a is special because that is the privy.
I mean. . . now that I can cast my enlarge person again, I can almost touch the top of that wall, right? How tall do I get at size huge?
Assuming I don't just die a pin cushion to arrows. . . I need to get some size large armor when we get out of jail ASAP.
That's probably a bad plan.
Yes i guess, if you're huge that's 15ft. tall and 15ft. reach. You could climb up without much effort. I would still make you do a climb check with the below DC.
Climb DC 15: Any surface with adequate handholds and footholds (natural or artificial), such as a very rough natural rock surface or a tree, or an unknotted rope, or pulling yourself up when dangling by your hands.
Huge size will create problems if you want to go through a medium sized door though.
Thanks for giving the diplomacy a try, Araton. Ceres has no charisma, and probably shouldn't be doing any negotiation outside of trying to scare people.
Ceres has a signal horn and a sack filled with food and Blackerly's things - the treasure at least. I can't recall if she grabbed the paperwork or not.
We have a lot of lamp oil. I'd like to use the oil to light a diversionary fire if possible. We have a lot of arrows too, so it could be quite a bonfire.
Grengar has a tablecloth sack full of food and a Barrell of ale beside his axe and a few other weapons tucked in his belt or slung on his back.
I’m down to a single spell- and it’s memorized as true stroke, but I can sub it to either summon nature’s ally (two rounds) or enlarge person on myself (size huge for 2 minutes)- not sure if it’s useful in any of those three variations.
Oh, good call on the spells. I have mage armor and enlarge person, as well as some cantrips.
If we're trying for a jailbreak by force, Ceres can 1) give someone else mage armor for one hour, or 2) take her armor off and use it herself, which would help for when I have to beat the ASF role if she casts Enlarge Person.
I currently have the Warden's ring, a longbow and arrows and I'm wearing a chain shirt. When Tawg hears about gathering up the "goods", Tawg would rush back to the barracks and grab all the various foods (cookies, dog treats, etc).
The distraction fire is a great idea. If someone climbs up the chimney and is able to get a flaming shot off at a tower roof, it might catch fire, and hopefully they wouldn't expect that from the chimney so it would be an uncontested shot.
If that fails, piling everything in the kitchen and lighting that would ruin their supplies and may draw guards from the front to around the back of our building.
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@Gildevar. You were worrying about not having weapon. Did you get your weapon (that was confiscated when you were captured) from the armory?
If everyone's got their loot, cool. If you want to make any special preparations before I move forward from Araton's post I'll give you guys a day to post in gameplay what happens during the hour.
What is the tower roof made of, GM? Are there any wooden structures or parts of structures that Ceres was able to see when she scouted from the chimney earlier?
All the buildings are made primarily from stone. Prison roof and wall tower roofs are slate tiles. Support structure would incorporate wood which could cause a roof to collapse in a fire though the stone walls would be undamaged.
Ceres tried getting the ball rolling, but really negotiations should be undertaken by other folks. She's hardly charming :)
I did my bit to try to scare him, it’s about all Grengar is good for in social scenes- I think past this it’ll be time to fight, right?
I think if they don't bite on our offer we should go ahead and fight our way out.
I’m starting to think my last spell might be best as a true strike to get one good arrow shot in on an archer before we burst out.
Everyone has a bow, right? Might be useful to open with an arrow volley, maybe we could even snag extra bows so we can carry one away each and drop the one we use as the opener to save action economy towards putting them away.
I’ll have to go back and check how many total bows we have.
Ceres can't use bows, so she'll be useless for any ranged attacking.
I kind of have visions of running off your idea with the table earlier, Grengar, and building a sort of covered battering ram to charge through the courtyard. We're probably going to have to go up the walls and into the gatehouse, however.
But a makeshift siege tower/tunnel could protect us from the archers a bit.
Everyone has a bow, right? Might be useful to open with an arrow volley, maybe we could even snag extra bows so we can carry one away each and drop the one we use as the opener to save action economy towards putting them away.
Extra bows/saving action economy is a good idea. Ceres can be a bow-carrier since she won't be shooting.
Araton does have a bow, though he is not the best shot in the world. I am cool with whatever combat plan people want to go with; a bad migraine today is making my thoughts all buzzy.
There were 12 long bows so that’s 2 each if Grumblejak doesn’t take any- so we can ditch one and still carry one each.
Tawg has a bow currently and has a +4, which is decent. Run-and-gun may be our best bet if/when things go south.
Instead of scaling the wall, would Grengar be able to hit the break DC of the door?
Strength 26 when raging, up to 28 if I have time and use the last spell for enlarge- so probably. Could also just batter it down with a size large or huge butchering axe?
So I am about to cut open the warden's throat since Blackerly didn't oblige me at all. I wanted to give everyone tomorrow into Monday before I did it so folks can do stuff and things they want to try since it'll be the end of negotiation. I hope that's okay <3
Stall for time- let’s run back and get the rest of the e bows first.
I'm working away from a computer today and will be back tonight/tomorrow.
@GM, have we been able to see, perhaps from the chimney, how the gatehouse operates? Are there doors into the gatehouse from the top of the walls? Or is the only way through them from the ground-level entrance?
So my contribution to the battle plan is pretty simple; Before we go in, I am going to cast Bless and give everyone that sweet +1 and maybe get rid of the anti-magic effect on the remaining members of the group.
I am assuming we're stilling using tables as shields/cover for Grumblejack and Grengar while the rest of us take pot shots at the archers? We can then either break down the front door or use the rope that we had to climb up the walls and attack from there?
Ceres doesn't have bow proficiency so she'll not be any use there. With her high str she could carry a table to give folks cover.
Tawg will fire his bow(s) until we get to the door. Then probably Rage Flurry against the door to hopefully help break it down quickly.
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So with our table shield strategy being what we're going for, I have made this super tactical map for where people can be when we're heading out so we all have an idea where we'll be.
Let me know if people want to change things or if anyone has any issues viewing the link.
^ I love it!
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Roman generals would be jealous of your tactical acumen!
Breaking down the door will be difficult. It is the same as the entry doors you are at so you can know its 'stats'.
Reinforced heavy wooden door, break DC 28, HP 60, hardness 10. It has a heavy wooden bar that locks the door on the inside that takes usually 2 to lift.
Using tables as cover will work. Each table is large enough to cover 6 squares (medium sized characters take 1 square). You will need 2 tables for everyone. This will give you improved cover(+8 AC) but reduce your move speed to 5ft. and prevent the run action (so max 10ft. per round).
As for the gatehouse roof and the walls. They are not at the same height. You would have to climb 10ft. from the wall to the gatehouse roof.
If we need 2 tables, why not offer a (partial) distraction while the door breaking group heads out first?
We should be able to "safely" shoot at those on the western walls. All it requires is Darkvision and Bow proficiency. If we manage to drop 1 or 2 that's bonus.
I do agree on the Bless though, I want to get rid of my magic block :)
We should be able to "safely" shoot at those on the western walls. All it requires is Darkvision and Bow proficiency. If we manage to drop 1 or 2 that's bonus.
Absolutely! I figured that Tawg, you, myself, and Gildevar will be taking pot shots wherever we can as we traverse across the way.
So one group moves forward under a table while others are shooting? From where?
Break DC 28 leaves even me needing a 20, but I do more than 10 damage with my ax consistently so maybe battering down through damage is the route to go- or climbing.
With power attack I’d be doing 4d6+12 so minimum 16- probably need several solid hits, maybe as many as 8?
I only have lowlight vision so I guess I can’t hit with the bow at that range.
My idea, originally, was to have the table-carrying characters carrying them horizontally. It'd be less cover but I think it'd give the characters opposite of whoever is carrying to shoot over them. That would mean that Tawg and Hilda could shoot at enemies on Grengar's side, Gildevar and I would shoot over Grumblejack towards the enemies that way. Those in the front could maybe shoot around or above whatever Ceres is carrying since I imagine she will likely be carrying something heavy but not as cumbersome as what Grengar and Grumblejack can carry.
When we reach the door, Ceres moves to the back to provide cover and open up access to the door. Grengar, Grumblejack, and Tawg could start smashing into it while Hilda, Gildevar, and I provide covering fire. That is if we want to just break the door down. If we force the archers back inside, I think Grengar and Grumblejack could easily hoist one of us up onto the rampart where we can tie off a knotted rope for the others to ascend on. We break down a less secure door and perform a massacre (hopefully).
Does that sound feasible? Is that cool with everyone?
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That sounds fine to me. I'd add - and this is probably something everyone has already thought of - that we concentrate fire on as few individuals as possible to bring the number of attacks coming onto us down as quickly as possible.
Can you Aid with a Strength check? I should be able to hit a 10 really easily when Raging (+6). If there's no limit, we may be able to get Grengar a +4 or +6 to his Strength check to hit the break DC. Or just keep cover with the tables while he bashes the door and hope he hits a crit in one or two rounds. When Raging, I can do 1d6+6 on each Flurry, so I could chip at it each time. Also, more chances at a crit.
Agree with focusing fire on one archer at a time.
You could aid on a strength check to break the door by slamming into it at the same time. Only one person could do this though.
Horizontal tables, ok so regular cover (+4 AC) and you can shoot up at the walls. You probably lose cover from the guards on the gatehouse roof (they'd shoot straight down) who also have cover behind the crenelations that surround the roof so your easiest shots are going to target the guards on the walls without cover.