Ironfang Invasion

Game Master GM Red

Looks like my post got eaten. Hang on, updating now

Hey all, I know my posting rate has been on the slower side. It's typically every other day right now. I'm planning on getting back to daily this week. I promise this is all going somewhere, but the openness of wilderness exploration is a bit more taxing on a GM than say a dungeon or more linear area.

I have been in a trip but now I can resume my daily posting too :)

I'll also take Knowledge (Local or Geography) for 'Children of the Stone'

Thanks to whoever updated the loot tracker again, I'd forgotten to do so and wouldn't want your spoils to go missed. :)

My pleasure

Regarding the spy,

Could we deliberately knock amnesia into him?
Like, a heal check for knowing a weak spot, then applying the appropriate force?
We'd 'kill' this spy personality, without actually killing the person.

Lizzie's in favor of protecting the villagers, but killing a defenseless man, she hasn't had to do that before.

Don't know what others think, but Gronilda is not the type inclined to kill someone begging for mercy.

I am sure there is magic there to help, a Quest/Geas spell could be flavorful, or a conditional curse, but I know nothing for 2-level spells that could come to help.

Yeah, it's ethically questionable. We could just tie him up I guess, feed him scraps, make him our mascot.

Regarding the spy,

Could we deliberately knock amnesia into him?
Like, a heal check for knowing a weak spot, then applying the appropriate force?
We'd 'kill' this spy personality, without actually killing the person.

Lizzie's in favor of protecting the villagers, but killing a defenseless man, she hasn't had to do that before.

It's a flavorful idea and I like it. I'm not sure how practical it is though to be able to hit someone in just the right spot to cause such an effect unless your character happened to have a history as a doctor.

Maybe Saélihn's mother, a herbalist who happens to be with you, is able to concoct something that will cause such an effect?

Zarena's idea of keeping him as a prisoner for now looks feasible too.

I'll wait to hear what Saélihn and Grymwold also think.

I want Grymwold to uphold Torag's Paladin Code

See the highlighted portion of the code. Grym is and strives to be a Good Dwarf. He has fought on the front lines and lost friends and brothers to the Molthuni. And he's obviously lost to the Hobs. He is practical, not bloodthirsty.

I do not think executing a spy from the Hobs or Molthune would violate his alignment or code in a time of war. He will argue this point and is willing to do the execution himself rather than put the burden on someone who might be conflicted about it.

He sees no benefit to releasing the spy, only risk.

Yeah I've been reading through Erastil's code to see if Saélihn can rationalize putting the lives of the community above the life of a proven traitor, and act on it.

This is one of the rare "what I would do" vs "What my character would do" differs.

Also just got started with having bathrooms renovated in the last couple days so been a bit busy. Posting soon.

Hi all, I'm going to be traveling to Hanoi, Vietnam next week. Between the jet lag (I live in Toronto) and that I'm there on business I can't imagine really having much time to post. From this coming Saturday through to the following Sunday, I'll likely not update much.

Hoping to try out a lot of local foods when I'm there.

Sounds AWESOME! Love vietnamese food. ENJOY!

Enjoy your holiday!

Wow! I hope you have a nice trip! :)

Enjoy!

lthough Lizzie's father seemed to be the most perceptive of them.

Dad is a shopkeep, so expert would be for him.

Emily is an acolyte of Desna, adept would fit thematically, i think. But granted, as commoner, she hadn't been taught magic, so an expert suits our quest. We'll see how things go in the future.

And thanks for training them. I'll be sure to set Bradey with a skillpoint in brewing.

Hey all, I'm back and will get caught up on posts and update later today.

Happy return! Hope the trip was nice and productive :D

Skills added

@Lizzie

"Neat idea. But like Zarena, i am limited to 30 range"

Slings have a range of 50ft. And they are in the Thrown weapon group so they get 5 additional range increments. Max range 300ft

But I understand that your ranged sneak attacks which account for a lot of your damage are limited to 30ft.

I stated earlier that I was hiding no more than 10 feet from the road, waiting for them to come. My character wasn't just standing there... she was in on the ambush idea from the beginning.

Playing it as mapped... maybe she didn't have time to move or whatever, but I think the placement may have ignored my character's actions earlier and just assumed she wasn't doing anything because of my response to the "long-range" plan.

I was hoping we would be in a better position to prevent them from fleeing, should things go bad for them.

It doesn't seem like they have any intention of fleeing. If you were going to be 10ft from the road, unless your stealth is pretty spectacular, we would likely never even get a chance for an ambush if one of them makes the perception check.

With their numbers and how hard they hit, starting the fight off from a distance definitely favors us.

I stated earlier that I was hiding no more than 10 feet from the road, waiting for them to come. My character wasn't just standing there... she was in on the ambush idea from the beginning.

My apologies. I think I misinterpreted your intentions when you'd mentioned not having the range for the long range plan, and assumed if you wanted to be closer, you would have rolled an attack. Sorry!

I'm fine if you want to start closer to the road, though that will change the orc's actions and they'd probably quickly surround you...but want to keep agency in the players hands so let me know.

I thought I would be by the road ahead of them, opposite the direction the others walked to get closer and shoot at them, so we would be in front of them, not off to the side, or immediately surrounded.

However, as I stated before, I'm fine with moving forward as is... this surprised me, but no one needs to worry that I am trying to get us all killed. Let's just go. I shouldn't have said a word.

Ah ok, I understand now, and again apologize for the mix up.

Next time, I’ll drop the map before initiating combat, and ask you all to place your tokens.

"Remember the +1 morale bonus to attack rolls from the Hemlock banner, which I'm assuming one of you is holding. Who wants to hold it? As long as you are within 30 feet of that PC, the bonus applies."

Zarena seems like the best candidate to hold the banner

Sure, I can carry it as long as it doesn't interfere with spellcasting. I guess I shouldn't try to be stealthy with that sticking up though. :)

wizards/sorcerers carry and cast with staves all the time. this should b the same thing

Hey all, I'm taking another trip tomorrow though much shorter and closer (to NYC), I will be back Monday so will continue updates from Tuesday.

Sorry for missing last turn, updates didn't show.

Have fun on your trip, GM.

My son's a 16th birthday party yesterday so I'll be all busy but I'll try to get a post up later

Ok back! Updating shortly.

Welcome back! I will be away myself from Friday to Monday.

I'll be gone next week for work. Might be on Monday, but the rest of the week will be a wash.

Enjoy the time away. Or if it's for work, I hope it is productive and not overly stressful :)

Thanks. It is for work, but will also be fun. I help run a site for IT Professionals, and it is our annual conference. Should be a good time.

A level 2 party vs 6 hobgoblins, 2 of which are hobgoblins on steroids, is pretty risky.

I think that's why this encounter was optional, but it seems to be going decently well.

Oh, also wanted to give you a heads up that a level up to Level 3 is coming very soon.

Pretty sure you just jinxed us.

Zarena added some thoughts about the wagon and horses, any thoughts from the rest of the group re: taking it or leaving it?

I don’t think a wagon would move very well through a forest though. You’d likely be constrained to the road it’s currently on or take a hefty penalty to how quickly you can move through the woods

Hmmm... One vote from Saélihn to leave the wagon behind and stash the goods somewhere, another from Gronilda to take it along and head back to the camp. What do you think, Zarena, Grym, Lizzie?

What about taking whatever we could reasonably carry? Lizzie would prefer to keep ourselves as mobile as possible.

A loaded wagon's going to leave clear tracks.