GM Mauve's Cradle of Night (1e)

Game Master MauveAvengr

He’d have to kneel on one knee…shortbows can be fired pretty easily sideways, as horse bowman sometimes shot that way…don’t think I’ve seen a long bow done that way though and I’m sure he couldn’t fire one prone…so consider him as kneeling on one knee…

@GM: no new loot since we left Aiyana's mansion right?

No new loot, no.

I'm glad someone is doing the bookwork for this game. I wasn't sure we had enough for the purchases we're talking about in Gameplay.

Thanks!

Hey guys - sorry, I had a death in my family. So been a stressful past few weeks. Funeral is tomorrow, but I'll shoot out a post. Probably wont be able to post again until the first week in January.

My most sincere sympathies Mauve. Please take care and no rush whatsoever in regards to this game.

Sorry for your loss, Mauve.

Thoughts and prayers with you and yours…

So sorry for your loss, I hope things get better for you.

Sorry to hear. Always hard and somehow worse this time of year.

@GM: if you don't mind waiting until Monday before the next post I will be going over the last encounter in the next two days; just busy time of year right now. Thanks!

I am back from holiday travels and about to leave again for the weekend. Will try to post before I head out.

@Galadhan (and everyone), if you wanted to rest before coming over here at Nomianna's place, that is fine with me. Do you want to step away from the green bat? You'll provoke an AOO otherwise. The blue bat is dead on your first hit - which bat do you want to target next?

Sorry, GM, forgot to check the map’…just a note though, he has the Point Blank Master feat so he never provokes an AoO when firing from a threatened square…but he’ll move 5’ any way…

Also, he’ll target green with his second shot…

Sorry for my lack of posting. I totally suck at catching up when I am behind. And it's been super busy for me lately. But I am working on catching up now!

No worries! I know how that is.

Can anyone dispel greater invisibility?

I was hoping we'd found a wand of glitterdust, but I can't seem to locate one in our inventory...

Is the greater invisibility too much? I was thinking it may be a bit too powerful for you guys, but wasn't sure.

@GM: can you put bad guys on the map for me? thanks

Is the greater invisibility too much? I was thinking it may be a bit too powerful for you guys, but wasn't sure.

Its a little tough for both enemies to have improved invisibility. I am not packing an invisibility purge either. Rats. But the spell/elixir is of short duration. We could retreat and wait it out. I doubt they have more.

Farrars got blindfight so willing to take a crack at this

PS Farrar: regular song is better for attack/dmg, especially for Siiska who uses weapon finesse (raging song has no effect on her)

Ah, wanted to try it out, next time I'll know :D

At that price the cloak should just give you the full raging song, not just the 4th level version, which is a serious debuff for a 9th level bard! :P

OH THAT'S whatI was thinking, with Leon getting rocked the Con buff would be good!

+9 hit points, but -1 to AC... not great IMO, but it's really, really good when you have barbarians in the party as they can use their own rage/greater rage bonuses, which are much higher than those granted by a 4th level skald...

The AC penalty is meaningless when they are targeting Leon's touch AC. In terms of damage absorption, I'm relying on Hero's Defiance to give me an emergency Lay on Hands so I need to be able to cast spells still. I'd take the rage song if I didn't have the spell to cast though. Might need to confirm whether Lay on Hands is a valid action while raging as well.

While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.

Like Farrar says: inspired rage is a trap. ;)

Don't do it Leon. :)

It looks like Nyxis & I both healed Leon within about 15 minutes. If Nyxis wants, we can use their spell slot & I'll recover 5 CLW charges.

Loot sheet updated. I assigned the items based on who can use them and based on what my flu-addled mind can conjure as best tactics:

scroll of protection from chaos Leon 25
scroll of vermin shape II PartyFund 1125
scroll of serenity Nyx 1125
scroll of teleport Akku 1125
bookmark of deception PartyFund 1500
wand of charm monster (11 charges) Farrar 4620
wand of mirror image (14 charges) Farrar 1260
potion of cure moderate wounds Galadhan 300

PS: don't forget that both Akku and Nyx can cast from the Staff of Healing (and also Farrar, for cure serious wounds only; and Leon, for cure serious wounds, lesser restoration and remove blindness only; and Galadhan, for cure serious wounds and remove disease only); see spells below, so the characters mentioned above never need to memorize these.

It currently has 10 charges and can be recharged at the count of 1 charge daily (by either Akku, Farrar or Nyx, by sacrificing a 3rd level slot in the morning; I don't think the other PCs have 3rd level spells yet right?)

Cure serious wounds (1 charge)
Lesser restoration (1 charge)
Remove blindness/deafness (2 charges)
Remove disease (3 charges)

And just as a heads up, you'll be levelling up once you finish with the spires!

We've been discussing a disguise plan, but how is the party at stealth? It's one of Leon's specialties (assuming shadowy conditions which shouldn't be hard in this place). At a glance, Galahad looks at least as good. Should the two of us try scouting ahead?

Nyx is not trained in stealth. But he can cast Silence and he can fly with his fly hex.

Galadhan’s good with scouting ahead…

Akku sucks at stealth, but has Elixir of Hiding to help if need be; Siiska is good at stealth with +14 but not as good as Gal's +23.

Therefore, recommend that Gal does the scouting on his own and relay back with Message spell (Akku can help with that)

PS: scouting is good for 2 things, IMO...

1) Observe, return, report.

2) Observe, attack, and fall back to a waiting ambush by the rest of the party.

What do you guys prefer?

I’m good with either…

Once you guys decide what you're doing, I can update. If someone is stealthing, please roll a Stealth check. If you are going with the disguise route, please roll a Disguise check. Either way, whoever is going in, please also roll a Perception check to see what you see!

Per Confusion and Protection from Evil - there was an FAQ on that here. Protection from Evil does NOT protect against Confusion. So everyone still needs to make their saves, despite the Protection from Evil.

Thanks for the clarification GM Mauve - very, very good to know... especially against my current Strange Aeons players... muhahahahahahahaha! >:)

What does end confusion is Calm Emotion. But our bard is also confused, and I am not sure he is packing that. If he is and manages to roll below 26 perhaps he can save the day. :)

Thanks Nyx- good to know as well! :)

Ugh, I've been awfully sick all week with possibly the worst headache in my adult life, making it hard to focus on anything. Thankfully not COVID. Starting to feel better. Will take some time in the morning to post. Sorry for the delay.

yikes - hope you feel better soon!

Sorry to hear GM Mauve. And speaking of Covid...

I am recovering from Covid - managed to avoid it so far until a flight out west week before last. Feels like a mild case of flu - but that is bad enough. Feeling human again... and ready to get back to posting. I really thought I would not catch it but no one is immune.

Get better soon, both of you!

Okay - I am officially feeling *much* better after several days of rest. I'll get a post up sometime after lunch hopefully!

PS: Akku has see invis active in case that would have made a difference in his ability to gauge line of effect.