Arlan Ward's page

Arlan shrugs. I don't give a damn, I'll open the chest. And pick whatever entrance y'all want.

Arlan makes a move to open the chest and will, unless the orc stops him.

Arlan nods. Then we have more in common than I thought. We want to protect our people, just like you. To close the deal, I'll give you my word that I'll kill every last giant in that fort. And afterwards, I'll bring you the head, or ears, or whatever you want from their leader to prove that the job is done.

So all we have to do is kill your enemies for you and in return you...let us kill them? Afraid to get your hands dirty yourself? What would Gorum say? Your sword looks sharp. Why don't you come with us, let's see who can cut down the most ogres? And what's in the chest?

This might not go well. But at worst, we've got their leader isolated, and the caster chick wants to join us anyway. So we flip her, kill the mooks, and focus fire the leader. :-)

I will definitely drink my mutagen as they approach.

Arlan looks at the leader and nods. I want to make a necklace out of your teeth, but we can't always get what we want, can we? So we'll have to settle for somethin' we all want instead. Killing the giants. We've killed a few of 'em already, and we know you want 'em dead. Your boy told us that one of the big bastards can cast spells too. Probably best if we work together to take 'em out, don't you think?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Arlan spits a blood red gob on the talkative orcs foot, and growls gutturally. He puts his mutated brow inches from the captives face and narrows his eyes.

I hate giants, more than I hate you. We'll help you kill the big ones. You saw what we did to him, he says, gesturing to the dead giant.

But if you turn on us, I'm going to kill YOU last. So I can take my time.

He then turns his back on the orcs and nods to the others. Let's go cut down some ugly trees.

I've had a lot of fun with you guys in this game, and I appreciate all of the work DM Jubal has done. I'll keep rolling with y'all and I'm on board with the plan! IC post in a bit

Hey guys! First let me apologize for my absence. I've been super busy with work/family and this got put on the back burner. I don't like to leave people in the lurch, so I'm sorry about that.

If I can be honest, my interest/motivation has been waning lately. I feel like I don't have any agency in the story. Wulfrum and I wanted to fight the orcs at the keep. This would be cinematic, fun, an interesting battle. But Nerak disagreed, and just made a unilateral decision.

My thing is, I get that Nerak has a high intelligence score. I get that. But he comes off as super condescending and dismissive. I don't know if this is how you're intending to RP him, or if it is how you feel as a player. I often can't tell. If this is you coming across as a player, well, I don't want to play with someone like that. If this is how you are choosing to RP him--could you change his character a bit?

I don't like party strife and I'm not trying to start a personal beef here. I'm just putting forth my honest read of the situation. I feel like I've been kind of relegated to being an NPC and it ruins the fun for me.

As Varin looks for the best way to drag the giant away, Lys grabs two of the fallen falchions and looks at Wulfrum with a somewhat darkened face. "Wulfy.", she mutters, putting the two blades on her shoulders. "Nur ... Gehen Sie nicht auf die Ebene, die sie würden. Bitte.", she lets out quietly, before trying to pick up another falchion, before surrendering under the weight with a sigh. I know they're orcs, and they'll probably be dead by sundown. But, you know. Still., she thinks, as she shoulders the blades and trots towards the massive red-headed man dragging a giant by the scruff. "I need a lot more liquor and a lot more fluffy pillows before I should go into morality disputes...", she mumbles to herself, reminiscing of the last time they had a break at the inn. "Though stabbing Arlan might still be on the menu. Fifty-fifty on that one."

Arlan approaches Lys and stares, slack-jawed, mutated brow furrowed as he strains to remember her reference. Realization dawning, he smiles, and whispers Shh, not now. I have to be 'scary'. Wulf's not scary.

He then approaches the conscious orc and steps on his hand, leaning his face inches from the prisoner's.

We know you don't like the giants. Help us kill them. Or we kill you first. Haven't killed any orcs today, and I'm bored.

The hatred is palpable, and the soldier seems to be earnest in his threat.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (17) + 17 = 34

Arlan watches the giant fall with satisfaction for a moment before advancing upon the nearest orc.

Arlan kicks him in the temple, then steps on his throat when he falls, scowling malevolently.

31 nonlethal and demoralized for 18 rounds if still conscious

If I have Shield Other, I'll have to wait until Beltzer moves up a bit before I move up. I also had said I have my greatsword out, so I'll have no shield. So that puts me at 25 AC

Arlan ushers Belter forward, then moves up with the others, bounding quickly towards the giant. He tries to kick the giant in the nether regions, but it's too tall and he misses badly.

Move up 50 ft.

Unarmed strike, PA, haste, nonlethal: 1d20 + 10 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 10 - 2 + 1 = 10

He could take the +1 flaming scimitar and the +1 ironwood breastplate, IIRC

Here was the post:
You slowly prune the brambleblight and finally uproot it. Behind the dead weeds, you find a large wooden chest atop the eastern mound is locked, and any attempts to move it fail, as it is actually built into the hillside. Opening (or destroying) it reveals an empty interior, but you finally notice a false bottom in the chest. Beneath the false bottom, a warped wooden ladder descends inside the hill to a 10-foot-square chamber containing the Council of Thorns’ hidden armory. Although several of the items once stored here have decayed or rotted away, the cache still contains a +1 ironwood breastplate, Gorum’s Thorn, a +1 flaming scimitar, (10) +1 orc bane arrows, a single orc slaying arrow, a scroll of barkskin, a scroll of call lightning, a scroll of summon nature’s ally IV, a wand of flaming sphere (9 charges), a wand of greater magic fang (12 charges), an ironwood crown with a stylized thorn motif (worth 250 gp), a ceremonial gem-encrusted cudgel (worth 150 gp), 3 pp, 178 gp, 605 sp, and 2,125 cp.

After filling your boots with loot, you return to the large hall with the dead brambleblight. Then, the kind old elven woman Ewigga “guardian of the Vault of Thorns” reveals herself to be green hag druid. She ambushes Varin with a heat metal. You finally put her down with three companions unconscious and Nerak blindly throwing magic around to distract her. After recovering from your life-threatening wounds, you find the following on the hag’s carcass: goodberries (5), lesser extend metamagic rod, scroll of call lightning; +1 leather armor, ring of protection +1, holly and mistletoe, pair of faded leather baby shoes, wooden toy rattle, and 1 gp.

Lys and the archer, I would think. Me, Wulf, Bel, and the skillet dwarf (we should give him some of our excess weapons and armor) should be up with us. You glitterdust past us. Then we move up. Good?

Maybe we have Nerak go first in the surprise round and open with glitterdust, then we all move up? I have 40 ft speed

Bel, if you're throwing out buffs I'll take Barkskin, Shield Other, and the temporary HP hex if you don't mind!

I've been really busy at work lately, but I'm here and ready to go!

Alright, let's test this thing's edge, shall we? Arlan draws steel, hoping to put Gorum's Thorn to good use.

I just need a quick drink first, he says, again drawing forth his smoking concoction.

When the patrol is a minute or two away I'll drink my mutagen.

I don't think we'll have to do anything like that to rile 'em up. They already wanna find us. Best we can do is find a spot that's hidden and has good lines of sight, try to see 'em before they get too close.

Beltzer cocks his head at Arlan, then turns around showing the two arrows in his back. "Are you saying I am bigger or a more juicy target than a barn I wonder?" Beltzer asks before taking out the arrows slowly.

"Erm, I guess to start do you know much of this area. I'm guessing you didn't originally set up next to a fortress of orcs." Beltzer asks.

Ah, hell, did you catch one, Bel? I got caught up in the run and didn't see ya. You ok? he asks sheepishly.

Then, after the dwarf's introduction Arlan laughs heartily at Wulfrum's indignation.

I don't know about you, but I wanna cook some eggs or somethin' on that thing and see if it tastes better! But in the meantime, what now? The orcs are all stirred up like a hornet's nest, now.

Those idiots can't hit the broad side of a barn! We should've stayed and killed more. Hey, dwarf! You alive? He yells to the surrounding area.

Arlan continues to retreat with the others.

Withdraw 80 ft

Heads up that I leave for gencon tomorrow. I will try to keep up here, but I may be gone absent for a few days.

We got 'em bottlenecked here. You want us to let all these fish outta the barrel? Aw'right!

Arlan kicks one of the orcs away from him, then retreats alongside Wulfrum.

So I hit pink for 17 nonlethal, then demoralize him, then miss with Hurtful which ends the demoralize effect. Note that if your nonlethal exceeds your current HP, you can't use Orc Ferocity or Diehard and you immediately fall unconscious. Not sure if that applies here, but I thought I'd bring it up.

Standard to attack, swift to attack, move 40 ft away, provoking from anyone still conscious next to me. I threaten from 10 ft away with my spear after I move.

AC is 27, shield other, 11 temp HP, mutagen, shoanti chew

The orcs know we're here anyway. Why not just yell "dwarf, you can fly" at the top of your lungs?

Well, the dude is fighting a dire bear. Probably hard to stop and read a note. ;-)

DM, do I have the temp HP from Beltzer's hex? It's not listed in the recap.

Arlan steps next to Wulfrum and throws an elbow at the nearest orc, who's ready for it. The mutated soldier follows up with a headbutt, screaming in the orcs face before driving a knee into the orc's groin.

For Trunau!

First attack misses. Second attack hits for 14 nonlethal. Then orc is demoralized for 14 rounds. Then he's hit again for 15 lethal damage.

AC: 24

Lys, Ingrahild has the Orc Bane arrows. They are +3 instead of +1 And deal an additional +2d6 bonus damage. She should use those, maybe starting next round. She also gets +4 attack and damage vs orcs (which you might have included, I'd have to check)

I was wrong earlier, 23 AC is with my shield, so...

Arlan growls approval at the orcs' discovery of them. He affixes his shield and waits, ready to deflect any oncoming attacks. Beltzer calls upon spiritual aid, binding him and Arlan in mutual defense.

Shield other from Beltzer to Arlan. Arlan draw shield and total defense.

Effects: AC 30, shield other (+1 AC, +1 to saves), mutagen (+4 str, +2 nat armor, +10 movement speed), shoanti chew (rages last one round longer), Bless (+1 attack, +1 saves vs fear)

How about shield other and that temp HP hex?

Arlan smiles, and draws his spear, following as quietly as he can. He takes up a position on the opposite side of the drawbridge from Wulfrum.

Stealth: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Ongoing effects: Mutagen (23 AC, no shield), Shoanti Chew, Bless

Arlan nods, downing the noxious concoction. He drinks messily, spilling the potion down his face and chest like a drunkard and his form mutates to a frightening size.

Mutagen: 40 min, Shoanti Chew: 1 hr

He speaks briefly, his voice now lower pitched and guttural. Right then, it's settled. Let's move.

Good plan, Nerak! Even if Arlan won't admit it ;-)

My bad, I looked it up. They're both touch spells. Objection withdrawn! Carry on!

I have 2 questions with your plan, not that Arian knows this.

1) How can he read the note if he's holding it while invisible, as it will also be invisible?

2) I don't think Lorn can cast fly and invisibility for you. Familiars can only cast touch spells, which are literally spells with a range of touch. So Nerak would have to invisible, fly over, and invisible and fly the dwarf as far as I can tell.

Arian turns and stands tall, blood rising to his ears.

We damn sure ARE here to kill orcs! If you don't have the stomach for it, go slink back to the riverboat. Maybe you can make it there in time. I didn't say to charge in, and I DO have a plan, so listen up. Archers scale the wall, pincushion the soldiers. You and Bel blast the orcs while they're grouped together. Either they panic and scatter and get picked off by the archers, or they group up at the gate. Me, Bel, and Wulf hold the chokepoint at the bridge and take away their numbers advantage. We'll fill the moat with their blood. You have anything to add to the plan? Then speak up. But we're burning daylight.

If you believe there is a way to convince the orcs to fight the giants, I would love to hear it. But you haven't provided one yet. An illusion of a giant dropping a rock on an orc will do nothing but alert them that there is a magic user. They will then find us, buff up, and attack.

The point of this mission is to assault the fortress. We're tough, 6th level characters. We have a lot of weapons at our disposal, and the one advantage we have is the element of surprise. Lys and the ranger with orcbane arrows will mow them down from range. We throw lighting and flaming spheres to block their path to us. We can do a lot of damage before they reach us. If you're worried that we won't be able to flee, save haste to help us run away.

We've waited a long time to get to this moment. I want to kill the enemies. We can take some risks. I think you underestimate our survivability. Beltzer gives me and Wulf lots of temporary HP. He lifelinks me and Wulf. Wulf buffs himself, I use my mutagen. Belzer can summon a rhino, hex the big bad, and channel to keep us a live a long time.

If you have a specific idea to make it so we don't have to fight the orcs, please spell it out. But I don't see how we can do it. And all that happens if we try to reason with them (and likely fail) is that it ruins our current advantage.

So, let's hear some specifics. We are bard-less and we're in the Giantslayer campaign. I know what I want to do.

Wulf, Lys, and Bel, can y'all weigh in too?

Arian puts a leaf of chew into his mouth and starts spitting red, fishing a fizzing bottle out of his pack.

Ingrahild, go with Lys and kill as many of the soldiers as you can. These are orc-hunting arrows. Leave the leader to us. Unless you have a clean shot with this, Arlan says, pointing to the orc-slaying arrow.

Bel, come with me and Wulf. We'll hold the drawbridge if it comes to that. Got any spirit magic to keep us alive? Maybe use some of these fancy scrolls? Nerak, save the dwarf and keep the group off us while we whittle away at them. Time for talk is done. Let's kill these bastards, for Trunau.

Arian is chewing the Shoanti chew. When the others agree to move on the fort, he'll drink his mutagen. Otherwise he'll wait until the debate is over. Bel, when we get to the gate, can you use that protective hex on me and Wulf?

I definitely want to be involved in the fight (IC wise) and OOC I don't want to squander the tactical advantage. So I'm going to get the IC banter started.

Keep in mind, the ranger is likely killing two or three (can't remember if she has rapid shot) lesser orcs per round with orc bane arrows.

I'm not saying we should stand outside the gates and challenge them to a pitched battle. But we know this is going to come down to a fight. We're not going to be able to trick or sweet talk them into fighting each other. It's just not going to happen.

These orcs aren't going to sit down and negotiate with us. Perhaps if we kill half of them, the other half will surrender or something, but that's about the best we can hope for on the diplomatic front.

These people killed our friends and attacked our village, and it's our job to destroy them. Arlan is not going to sit on the sidelines while we hope that the levitating dwarf will escape. It has a low percentage chance of success and puts ALL of the orcs on alert. Even if Lorn is invisible, this is a world of magic. If the dwarf starts floating, the orcs will all man their posts and find us easily, and we lose all of the advantage that we have.

Tactically, our best chance is an alpha strike. Try to kill as many of the soldiers as we can. We have lots of buffs and control magic and the element of surprise. Buff up and attack swiftly. If they rush out to meet us, great! They won't have time to buff, even if they have casters. Me and Wulf with time to prepare can massacre many orcs. But a lot of them won't make it to us because Lys and the ranger will be lighting them up as they run towards the gates. If they try to raise the draw bridge and not come up, we keep firing and drop some flaming spheres and call lightning.

Hell, one obscuring mist and me, Wulf (and maybe a rhino) can break down the gate if we need to. Or we kill half of them, possibly save the dwarf, retreat, and regroup. Then ambush the scouting parties that they send out. If they don't try to find us, we rest and do the same thing tomorrow.

Do you think this is more risky than trying to somehow negotiate or trick the orcs?

I'd prefer to start barraging them while they're lumped together. Call lightning, fireball, flaming sphere, etc. Scatter them and draw them to the gate. Then invisi-Lorn rescues the dwarf. If the dwarf just spontaneously starts floating, they'll just focus fire him and kill him.

And if Lys is going to start shooting, why not also have the ranger shoot while our casters launch spells? Me and Wulf can guard the gate.

Yep, I think we need to hit them hard initially and leave an avenue of escape open if it comes to that. Another thing that could be funny is if you cast silence on a rock and give it to lorn, then cast invisibility on him. He can drop the rock right in the center of the orcs and then we can start blasting away with spells and they won't be able to yell for help

Holy hell, give her the orc bane arrows and get her in a tower with Lys. She can mow down the lackeys with the orc bane and then shoot the leader with the orc slaying arrow.

It would be cool if we could somehow incite the orcs to help us fight the giants, though

So, reading through things, Beltzer can help us out a lot in assaulting the fortress, too. He can take the scroll of call lightning and summon nature's ally 4.

He also has a hex that can uber buff folks.

So, Beltzer buffs me and Wulf. We move towards the front entrance. Beltzer swings around the side and starts calling lightning bolts down on one of the far guard towers. The orcs run over to investigate as beltzer moves back towards us. Lys scales the wall and opens the drawbridge (I can actually go with her if need be, I have good climb and take essentially no damage if I fall).

We hold the guard tower, lower the drawbridge for Wulf. Beltzer summons a mutha-effing rhino to charge in with Wulf. Lys is raining death, the captive comes up to the guard tower where we arm and armor him/her (we have lots of good loot that we aren't really using. Heal him up, give him some badass armor and a magic sword and he can help more).

Me, Wulf, the Rhino attack in melee while Lys shoots.

Nerak can make his way to Lys, or a different guard tower, whichever he thinks best. He has lots of control too. Use different AoE stuff to keep them in disarray. He can use the wand of flaming sphere and just drop a couple in their midst. Fog cloud and the like can protect us a lot.

We want to get to a situation where we force them to abandon the guard towers that could threaten us by using spells on the towers. Then we claim the high ground, rescue the dwarf, and have our casters throw stuff from range while our melee guys engage.

Beltzer can lifelink me and Wulf and use his hex as well as things like heroism to give us a big boost before we go in.

Thoughts?

Arlan grunts his acknowledgement of Wulf's better site, and throws a few edible herbs into the stew pot.

As long as these orcs and giants don't go all invisible on us, I'm ready for anything. Say, you remember that time I tied Varin's bootlaces to Keltza's stool-leg when we were learnin' our letters? She stood up before him and he was kinda day-dreamin' like he would do, hearin' the sounds of the forge I suppose. He got pulled right on his ass, blinkin' like a damned toad. No clue what happened. I can still see it, ha ha ha ha!

Arlan's eyes are wistful in remembrance as he laughs a soulful, rich laugh.

So, that Greater Magic Fang wand can make all of my natural attacks +1 for 5 hours each casting. That's pretty amazing. Also, it can be made permanent with Permanency. If we're ever in a big town, maybe I'll try to scrounge up for a scroll to get permanent magic unarmed strikes. Pretty cool. Whoa, nevermind, that's super expensive. Maybe I'll just get an amulet of mighty fists instead.

Aw'right then, let's get movin'! Find a place with some tree cover, sniff out the nearest outpost, and make our move. Stay close, and be ready! Arlan draws his spear and starts looking for a suitable campsite.

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

I agree with Lys re: the spells, but take whatever you want! As we get higher in level, me taking mutagenic mauler very much lowers my utility (because it loses Martial Flexibility), so we'll probably be relying on you and the other casters to give us mobility, buffs, status remedies, etc. Fly, Haste, and Glitterdust (and invisibility) definitely fit all of those roles.

Arlan sets Wulf down, shrugging at his categorization of the upcoming conflict. I'll help finish the war, sure, but I'd be lyin' if I said I won't take no satisfaction from it.

When Lys returns, Arian exhales loudly, his relief plain on his face. He listens to her intel, and the proposals by her and Beltzer.

Y'all know more about warfare and sneakthievin' than me, so I'll back whatever play you want. But if we set the orcs against the giants to get into the fort, I want to circle back and kill the survivors of the winning side, once the chief giantess is dead by my hand. That's all I ask.

Arlan's words are heavy with the weight of his ill-intent, despite the juxtaposition of his serious tone and his newly-acquired ironwood crown.

Arlan steals some of the strange shrubbery from the brambleblight debris, mixing it into his concoctions with desirable effects. Ha! I knew this would work!

He puts the ironwood crown on his head and claims the sword called 'Gorum's Thorn', slinging it across his back. He nods, clenching his fists. I'll need more than these to kill the Giantess--this should do the trick.

When he meets back with Wulfrum, he holds the dwarf tight, lifting him off the ground in a crushing bear hug.

Good to see ya back on your feet! Ready for some payback for Trunau?

Arlan's eyes narrow, brow creased in concern, when Lys goes off to scout ahead, but he says nothing. He knows better than to try to change her mind.