The Journey of a Thousand Miles (Jade Regent AP)

Game Master Sensen

I was surprised at the beginning, but when you told about being staggered and bleeding, I caught the point!

It reminds me of the first book of Giantslayer. Oh gosh, those unending hordes of orcs with ferocity were a terrible fight for survival!

At higher levels the extra HP is barely meaningful, but at lower level it is as fighting enemies with double HP!

Yeah, most of them are dying at this point, but they fight on.

I may be unable to post for the next couple days. Apologies

Okay. I shall bot you, that being the case.

Well, at least we got one of them :) well done Yuto

I'm not sure if someone without Improved Unarmed Strike threatens for the purpose of flanking when unarmed. I know they can't make AoOs, but maybe they can flank?

Oh, I wasn't trying to flank/threaten I just wanted to provoke the thing to use its AoO on Riftun and not anyone else so they can focus on the roof.

Sure. They're not terribly smart, to be fair, so that's probably going to work.

Well, at least we got one of them :) well done Yuto

Yay! :D

Fortunately, their AC and attack is not high. But even then, if he had not made it into the tower, with 6 full attacks per round without cover and with flanking, things would look very different now.

Very brave movement to call their attention Riftun!

Fortunately, their AC and attack is not high. But even then, if he had not made it into the tower, with 6 full attacks per round without cover and with flanking, things would look very different now.

To say nothing of their rend. You've been pretty lucky with how they've only managed to hit you with one claw at a time, everyone.

Well, that plan went over like a lead balloon 8D

I just realized that I forgot to add +5 to my last attack (BAB + Dex modifier), so the final result would have been 14. I think that should hit the black corby's AC.

Oh, wow, yes. That would've just hit, and... made it go splat.

You all can change your actions in light of that, if you want.

I just realized that I forgot to add +5 to my last attack (BAB + Dex modifier), so the final result would have been 14. I think that should hit the black corby's AC.

We have enough problems without giving them advantage Torra! xD

Combat Advice and Bless for the win :)

I'll give everyone until tomorrow to choose whether or not to change their actions, otherwise, I'll try to figure out how to apply them - take Teruko's shot as aimed at the blue-lined fleeing corby - who is out on the battlements and thus in line of sight, albeit behind cover - for instance.

With no one left on the ground floor, Teruko would have double moved towards the gatehouse stairs to try and catch up to Yuto. Shooting a fleeing enemy isn't a high priority for her.

Sounds good.

Riftun would also double move to try and aid Yuto on the roof >.>'

Also I may not be able to post tomorrow due to it being my wife and I's anniversary!

Sorry about the delay D:

Enjoy your time, Rackal!

I'll give Torra another few hours before botting her.

Yuto is killing the yellow-lined dire corby - if you guys want, you can stop combat and regroup, or you can go after the fleeing one. Keep in mind, though, that he's last in the initiative order, meaning that you might get an AoO if you walk past the corby.

Tactically, I would suggest running to try avoid the corby rising the alarm.

Now, given Yuto's personality, I think he will not go further than a move action to assess the situation. He will soon step back and rejoin the group when then adrenaline of the combat goes down.

So that's on you, if you decide to press on, Yuto will follow you!

Assuming, of course, that the sounds of battle and screaming dire corbies hasn't alarmed as many enemies as can be alarmed.

Wait, was the fortress not abandoned?! xD

Well, I am happy we are again back together. That was perhaps a terrible move to climb up the battlements. I was hopping to have a view of the castle and perhaps find a chatty ghost, not a pack of unfailing beast raging to kill us! But well, the life of adventurers is not easy, is it? :D

On my discharge I will say the GM gave Yuto little reason not too "He's pretty sure that - especially with his enchanted ring - he could climb the walls. Of course, that is partly because there aren't any obvious defenders..." hehe

I wasn't wrong! He did easily climb up the walls. It's just he failed the Perception check, and the dire corbies were wandering around out of his sight!

... but yes, I honestly didn't expect you to rush up without caution. It does seem to have turned out really well, but that's also due to a great deal of luck - these things haven't managed to injure anyone other than Yuto, who's only gotten scratched.

EDIT: I stumbled across a neat spell for Riftun, should the time come - lament of summer's last breath. It might prove handy as things get colder, and he's an Ulfen, so he has access to it!

I see that now. Also I do understand you were trying to be helpful by providing extra information. At the time though, as I had not asked about climbing, I took it as a gentle GM invitation to go in the right direction to move the campaign forward :)

EDIT: Wow! That is a neat spell on the right adventure!

To be fair, if the alarm hadn't been raised, the corbies in the gatehouse wouldn't have opened the gates, so you'd probably have ended up climbing anyways. Or breaking down the doors. They were possible to break down!

I'll give it another few hours for Torra to post, before moving us on.

Ohhhh that spell looks fun .o.

Wish it lasted longer though xD

1 round per level is not very long, indeed. It's neat and flavorful, though.

I'm giving everyone a chance to post before I mention what's happening down in the cloister-courtyard - in part because it'll probably trigger combat again.

A post will be forthcoming within an hour or two - I've reached out to see if Elvina's had some issues, which is why.

Well heck, my knowledge checks are making me next to useless again! XD

I light of that, next time I cast Heightened Awareness I'm actually not gonna dismiss it for the Initiative boost since my success on those knowledge checks is imperative.

Not that it would have helped a natural one >.>'

Alas. Well, at least these ones are armed, and not with natural weapons?

The drift flying up, gathered and propelled lethally against the ugly foe, how cool is that? :D

I think Teruko tactic is going to work great here. If you all move back, Yuto can place himself in front of Teruko blocking their attacks over the group.

Remember that intervening characters offer soft cover. Which is good, because it means that Elvina, Riftun, and Torra probably won't get speared, but it also works in reverse.

Yuto, I keep meaning to remember this, so I'm putting it down in writing here - don't forget the edicts of the order of the warrior - I don't think you've violated them at all yet, so don't worry, but for future reference.

Edicts: The samurai must protect the life and lands of his lord with his life. He must be truthful and courageous, respectful to his elders and his masters, and loyal to his friends and liege. He must conduct himself with honor and dignity.

I'm going to be treating Ameiko and her sisters as your "liege" for the purposes of the tenets. That said, don't forget the "courageous" bit.

Good reminder!

Yes, let's treat the Kaijitsus as his liege and Koya as his elder and master.

Yuto is conscious he is not a courageous man and I am interested to explore a character plagued by doubt that finds himself constantly failing on his tenets, even if when it has come to combat he has behaved himself so far :D

If it becomes a bit tiring let me know. After all it is supposed to be an epic trip and the characters evolve through this trip!

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope everyone has had a good weekend so far! :D

Long weekend here, Tuesday is a major holiday, so basically 4 days of free time :)

Combat will start tomorrow morning my time. There's something unfriendly there, unsurprisingly.

I didn't think Bless was still in effect, so I didn't add it to Torra's last attack (Bless makes it a 18 to hit).

Yep, it hasn't been 3 minutes since Teruko cast it yet - you've been fighting quite quickly.

I'll give Elvina another few hours before botting her - I know weekends are a bit harder to post on, for most folks.

Hey Riftun, I think in this situation it was one of the few occasions when the countersong performance is useful after having recognized the screech danger. Perhaps you already weighted that against the odds the screech would not be used, but just saying in case that rarely used ability was forgotten ;)

Elvina can also use her herbal remedies to get rid of his staggered condition, come her turn. It'd be a DC 15 Profession (herbalist) check to do, if she wanted to.

I think she'll try that on her next round :o

Countersong only works on spells I'm afraid Yuto, not natural abilities so it wouldn't have helped against the mobat.

As for Herbalism. It would definitely be appreciated Elvina! :)

Well, it says "magical effect," which I'd read as spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. I could be wrong. The mobat's screech is a supernatural ability, and it's a sonic mind-affecting effect.

I forgot about countersong, myself, but in the future, I'll try to remember it when putting together the knowledge entries for the enemies.

That would be weird, the bard using his music to counteract a harpy's captivating song is quite iconic!

Actually I had never noticed that part about "magical effects", but I think it would be lame if a bard could not use it to counter a scaring war cry and other similar Extraordinary type sonic/language abilities :P