Way of the Wicked - the Ninth Knot Reborn

Game Master Dennis Harry

Shadow-

I sent you a new email with the fancy map. Let me know if you have any issue with the Gdrive link.

Also, for contacting Tiadora, I'm pretty sure we had a way to get ahold of her that didn't involve Raaven.

I remember there being a coin, or a ceramic tile, or something like that, which would summon her if we broke it.

I think it was used once and then she brought us a new one when she showed up.

Am I remembering that right?

Elliaria-

I went through the old game thread and found a party item that didn't make the transition to this new thread.

At the beginning of the game, Tiadora gave the party a Veil of Useful Items. It looks like this. Here's Tiadora wearing it.

It's a variation of a Robe of Useful Items, and functions the same way. The original group used a couple of the items on it, but most of them are still intact. Soren had it, but she never wore it because it wasn't her style. It seemed like it might match Elli's style more.

The items still on it:

A lantern
A 100 foot silk rope
A window
A potion of cure light wounds
A silver holy symbol of Asmodeus

The window is particularly interesting. You pull it off, put it on a wall, and it makes a hole. It's one use only, but could be very useful.

I have no idea what it's worth, but it's yours if you want it.

Elliaria-

At the beginning of the game, Tiadora gave the party a Veil of Useful Items. It looks like this. Here's Tiadora wearing it.

It's a variation of a Robe of Useful Items, and functions the same way. The original group used a couple of the items on it, but most of them are still intact. Soren had it, but she never wore it because it wasn't her style. It seemed like it might match Elli's style more.

The items still on it:

A lantern
A 100 foot silk rope
A window
A potion of cure light wounds
A silver holy symbol of Asmodeus

The window is particularly interesting. You pull it off, put it on a wall, and it makes a hole. It's one use only, but could be very useful.

I have no idea what it's worth, but it's yours if you want it.

I'll take it, but I have to admit this is the kind of item that I normally forget about completely.

That's pretty much what happened when the party got it too.

It used to have thieves tools, a couple of daggers, and a bag of clothes on it too. Those got immediately pulled off and used, and then the veil was never mentioned again.

Suggestion: seperate the items and add it to your inventory. Like the silk rope. I'll take that. For reasons

That's how I did it. Here's your rope.

I'm not sure you can do that with the window. I think it has to be used when it's pulled off.

Shadow? Can you clarify how it works?

Possible escape route?

Yeah, it's just like the one from the Robe of Useful Items, which says it makes a permanent 2 foot by 4 foot window, in a wall up to two feet thick.

It was intended for a prison break, but never used.

Finally getting around to sorting out the mechanics of our new

Proposed Undead Roster

Notes: It's unclear if the Bloody and Burning templates stack. I defaulted to no, but if Shadow rules they do, it would probably be worth the cost to add both templates to all our skeletons.

This is going to require casting Desecrate, so we might as well wait until we have our new Asmodean alter built. +2 HP per HD is a significant increase.

Fast Host Corpse Zombie Treant (16 HD) An undead hollow tree full of some kind of nasty swarm is cool. We'll figure out how to lure an actual swarm into it later. Costs 700 gp worth of Onyx. Command Undead (the spell) will be cast on it every few days, which frees up more HD of control for the Animate Dead spell. Morana can cast Command Undead, but I would rather have her teach the spell to Meph and have him cast it. Or both. More than one casting makes it harder for an enemy to steal control.

Bloody Skeleton Minotaur (6 HD) We're going to need some Large sized gear for it. Costs 300 gp worth of Onyx. Counts as 12 HD during casting. Morana will control this one with her class ability.

Bloody Skeleton Archer Boggards x7 (3 HD) Would be great for manning our new ballistas. Costs 150 gp worth of Onyx each. Counts as 6 HD during casting.

Flaming Skeleton Archer Elves x3 (1 HD) These ones are mostly for utility. I want to make them into tireless assistants for our forge. They can live in the kiln. Considering that touching a hot forge deals 1d6 damage, overlapping fire auras that deal 3d6 damage should be plenty of heat for any kind of smithing we could come up with. We won't need to worry about fuel, but we might need some kind of special forge that can withstand extra heat. Costs 50 GP worth of Onyx each. Counts as 2 HD during casting

If Brian has Command Undead, we have another 6 HD to play with.

Anyone have suggestions or critiques?

Sounds good to me

Miscalculated the Treant. It's 400 gp of onyx. Zombies get bonus HD, so they're more expensive than their base creature would normally be, but their variant templates don't count as double HD.

Here's another idea-

I'd like to obscure the third floor landing. Right now, it's an open hole. It's hard to see because of all the foliage, and it's only really accessible by flight or climbing, but it's still a big liability, especially with the possibility of the Lillend we defeated coming back.

I'm thinking a scroll of Permanent Image could work as a good security measure that we could implement pretty quickly. It would cost 1650 GP, and Meph would have to make a DC 12 caster level check to use it, so there's some risk of wasting it.

A more elaborate defense would be installing a portcullis. We'll need a smith for that, so it'll have to be a later project.

Alternatively, we could seal it up with masonry, and cast stoneshape to smooth it over to match the natural face of the Horn.

Thoughts?

I told myself I was going to hold off on the home improvement plans until after Shadow updated the game. That lasted almost a day.

Stoneshape sounds good

With the Lyre, stone shaping seems a better option at this point. Once Meph does get that spell...hehe!

From the top......

Does Brian have the Command Undead channeling feat?

Calling Morana back to help with undead crafting seems like a good idea. It is her specialty. Brian can do it , but he doesn't seem like he has quite as much subject knowledge. Seems like a waste not to include her.

So we have 24HD from Brian, 6 HD from Morana, Plus they can both cast Command Undead.

What are the hit dice of the Treant and the Minotaur. I remember the Treant being special somehow.

Yes he does.

Our fallen Treant friend was 12HD!

The Minotaur was 6HD!

That eats up a LOT of HD but also makes for some nasty undead defenders. You could then raise one of the Fey as a more stout undead OR raise 4 of them as lesser zombies...

Rough plan for our new undead horde-

We're going to want to cast Desecrate with a shrine to Asmodeus. We want to be careful with this. The entire Horn is a holy site to the Four Horsemen. Dedicating a shrine to Asmodeus inside it might not be a good idea. The Boggards have a shrine to Dagon in their caves, so that's obviously far enough away from the Sanctum. We could do the same thing with a hidden Asmodean shrine in the catacombs somewhere.

We need a lot of Onyx. About 1500 gp worth . If I remember right, Onyx is contraband in Talengaard. Getting ahold of it will require some shenanigans.

Once we have it, we're going to make a Bloody Skeleton Minotaur, Bloody Skeleton Archer Elves, and whatever we can scrounge up from the Boggards bone pit. (GM, what's in that pile other than humans? Any decent jungle animals? Boggards? What do they do with their own dead?)

We're also going to animate the Treant, but it doesn't have bones so I'm not sure it can be a skeleton.

The Treant will be controlled by casting Command Undead once every few days. The rest are in the Animate Dead allotment.

OK!

Do you want to ask the Baron to assist with finding Onyx? While Tiadora might know, she's a caustic one so you might not want to bug her with that.

What about putting that shrine right in your Mill? Adding it there gives the mill another element of creepiness. Also, how great would it be to use the Treant to defend the Mill? It can just look like a dead tree (cause it sort of is) till it's not!

Meph would be amendable to shananagins.

This does not surprise me.

Hopefully we won't get pistol-whipped for said shenanigans.

Only if I catch you!

I'm not sure you can do that with the window. I think it has to be used when it's pulled off.

Shadow? Can you clarify how it works?

Correct, though the rope is a rope so it doesn't disappear much like the REST of the items, but the window has to be used immediately or the effect is essentially negated.

I forgot all about that as well!

This week's Commune questions:

1) Can Tiadora make an appearance at the Horn for a detailed progress update?

2) Is there a skilled smith in Farholde that would be amiable to our cause.

3) Are any adversarial forces aware of the Ninth Knot's current location.

4) Are any Mitran forces attempting to discover the Ninth Knot's current location.

5) Is our captured priestess a viable sacrifice candidate for the ritual? This is mostly just to be sure. We don't want any surprises

6) Is Sir Valin Darian a viable sacrifice candidate for the ritual? again, just to be sure.

7) Open to suggestions here. Anyone have anything they want to ask?

(1) Yes.

(2) No (though it's not clear which part of that two part question is no...)

(3) No.

(4) No.

(5) Yes.

(6) Yes.

This I'll leave open, if no one comes up with a 7th question by Saturday, I 'll say the spell expired and no further questions were posed.

Shadow-

I sent you a new email with the fancy map. Let me know if you have any issue with the Gdrive link.

Also, for contacting Tiadora, I'm pretty sure we had a way to get ahold of her that didn't involve Raaven.

I remember there being a coin, or a ceramic tile, or something like that, which would summon her if we broke it.

I think it was used once and then she brought us a new one when she showed up.

Am I remembering that right?

Received, looks amazing I have just been too buried to load it. I'll try to get to that when I can!

There is a seal that you can break but it's a one time use...it's main purpose was to inform him when you acquire the Tears, but if you believe that you have something significant enough to report, it may be worth it!

So yes, you're remembering that correctly.

Here's another idea-

I'd like to obscure the third floor landing. Right now, it's an open hole. It's hard to see because of all the foliage, and it's only really accessible by flight or climbing, but it's still a big liability, especially with the possibility of the Lillend we defeated coming back.

I'm thinking a scroll of Permanent Image could work as a good security measure that we could implement pretty quickly. It would cost 1650 GP, and Meph would have to make a DC 12 caster level check to use it, so there's some risk of wasting it.

A more elaborate defense would be installing a portcullis. We'll need a smith for that, so it'll have to be a later project.

Alternatively, we could seal it up with masonry, and cast stoneshape to smooth it over to match the natural face of the Horn.

Thoughts?

I told myself I was going to hold off on the home improvement plans until after Shadow updated the game. That lasted almost a day.

3 of 5 of you approve of that so I think it's safe to say we can go with that idea.

OK, I did not get to the IN Game stuff but I'm super beat. I'll try to get to that all tomorrow night or Friday night.

Hopefully, this is the last week for a while that will be a gauntlet...

Do you want to ask the Baron to assist with finding Onyx? While Tiadora might know, she's a caustic one so you might not want to bug her with that.

What about putting that shrine right in your Mill? Adding it there gives the mill another element of creepiness. Also, how great would it be to use the Treant to defend the Mill? It can just look like a dead tree (cause it sort of is) till it's not!

Baron, yes. He's usually pretty amiable as long as we don't want anything from him but information or to act as a broker for reasonably normal trade stuff. He might not be able to sell us Onyx, but he could likely point us in the right direction.

As for the shine in the mill, NO.

Once we have the new map, I'll show you where I'm thinking for the mill. It'll be immediately obvious why putting our shrine there is a bad idea. I'd much rather put the shrine in the caverns. I think near the base of the secret staircase, next to Aurex's proposed lair.

REVISED Proposed Undead Roster

Once we have Onyx and a new Asmodean Temple...

Fast Host Corpse Zombie Treant (16 HD) This is 12HD +4 bonus HD from the Zombie template
400 gp/onyx. Controlled by Brian via Command Undead spell.

Bloody Skeleton Minotaur (6 HD)
300 gp/onyx + gear costs. Controlled by Morana vis Bonethrall.

Bloody Skeleton Archer Boggards (3 HD) x9
Costs 150 gp/onyx + gear cost. 7 controlled by Brian via Animate Dead spell pool, 2 controlled by Command Undead feat.

Flaming Skeleton Archer Elves (1 HD) x3
50 gp/onyx. Controlled by Brian via Animate Dead spell pool

Total Animate Dead castings: 2
Total Onyx cost: 1200 gp

As for the shine in the mill, NO.

Once we have the new map, I'll show you where I'm thinking for the mill. It'll be immediately obvious why putting our shrine there is a bad idea.

Oh I see, this game is only supposed to be fun for YOU guys! :-)

This is all amendable.

I also like the idea of the treant hanging out with the mill.

The shrine inside the caverns is better... although it would be nice to set it up instead inside the upper layer cavern that can only be reached by flying or climbing.

it would be nice to set it up instead inside the upper layer cavern that can only be reached by flying or climbing.

I'd prefer that too, but that's where the Temple Of The Four and the Sanctum of Vetra-Kali are, as well as the Mitran Seal. This whole place is basically an artifact-level holy site to the Four Horsemen.

Dropping a dedicated shrine to Asmodeus (who explicitly places himself above the Horsemen), seems like a good way to piss off Vetra-Kali. Since we plan to release him and ask him for his fancy plague, I thought it would be better to play it safe.

I believe that you have seen right through Mephistopheles' plan...lol.

Passive Intimidation

Passive Intimidation

That's funny. I kinda wish passive intimidation was a thing.

I figured that would be Malleck eventually

Paizo is working then not working, etc. etc. etc....I'll get an update in tomorrow morning/evening when hopefully whatever Paizo is doing is done!

Second night in a row I could post and I am prevented by the site itself from doing so :-(

By the way, I'm here. I just expect that she is continually busy playing. If it wasn't for fast healing, I wouldn't have any fingertips left!

I live as well, last two nights Paizo was a mess so... yeah. Tonight I will be updating, if Paizo doesn't mess me up again.

By the way, I'm here. I just expect that she is continually busy playing. If it wasn't for fast healing, I wouldn't have any fingertips left!

Breaking strings is a good narrative way to rein in the problem caused by Undead and Constructs being able to completely circumvent the use-limiter the Lyre is supposed to have.

Or something Elli could do if she wants a break.

SPROING "Oh, sorry guys! I pulled a little too hard an now I have to take a week off! Oh no..."

My sincerest apologies, I was planning on getting to this tonight but I'm just too exhausted to think straight any longer. I will prioritize this thread tomorrow (not sure whether it will be during the day or the evening) depends on whether this g$~ d#&ned client who is supposed to come tomorrow but I attempted to reschedule, shows up or doesn't...

I'm awake, no pressing work, no sick children, the site is working... time to update this damned game!

Thanks for your patience here folks.

F5, F5, F5. F5...