I'll be strengthening my relationship with Mama Guiseppe by day and prowling the tavern by night for potential rumors and to see if I can find out anything about the supposed secret tunnel.
"As much as I'd prefer the Wolfsbane, we don't want to alert anybody to our presence. Rat poison, it is. I'll schmooze the merchant, maybe play the 'damsel in distress' card. Thanks, Syldran."
Delilah busies herself with lighting the fire, then has her zombie pet drag the corpses of the soldiers to the fire. Once all have been gather on the makeshift pyre, she instructs the zombie to stand in the fire as well.
"It will be nice to one day have a minion that I don't have to dispose of immediately."
She sighs and stretches before looking over at Wade.
"Have fun with your interrogation, darling. Just don't forget that we don't have the time to draw it out. I need my beauty sleep if I'm going to be helping Mama Guiseppe feed the soldiers, and I've got to do well enough to be invited back for the next four weeks."
She turns and approaches Syldran, leaning against a tree opposite him.
"Were you able to come up with a source for a decent poison, dear?"
"S%~+, you're right! We can't let the godsdamned horses get back to town without their riders!"
Delilah turns and casts Speak with Animals.
"Horses! You are free! Let us remove your saddles and other human trappings and you can return to the freedom of the wild! Go anywhere but back to town, for you shall surely be captured again if you return there!"
Diplomacy:1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 26
Delilah's zombie steps back and stabs at the last remaining soldier (if it's still alive).
Failures all around. lol Feel free to take the Attack of Opportunity that Delilah provoked by moving away before she found out whether her zombie killed the guy.
Delilah steps back and mutters something about her luck under her breath. She looks at the soldier adjacent to Lillith and unleashes an ear-piercing scream. DC 16 Fort save to negate the daze and halve the damage.
Well, it doesn't look like we're gonna pull off our initial plan and they're about as spread out as they're going to get. Wade or Bracnos might as well charge one of them and hope he goes down in one swing. =/
Given the very short amount of time that we had to formulate a plan, Lily and Delia are different enough from Lillith and Delilah to serve as cover names, but similar enough for each of us to actually respond to them so we don't accidentally break cover by not responding to something like Irene and Abigail.
Given a longer period of time to get used to the idea, I'd have chosen names that were more significantly different.
"We heard there were some unsavory types spotted around town, maybe even an orc or two. Not that we really believe such rumors, but we did come across something suspicious while we were gathering firewood. It's actually not too far from here if you'd be willing to come take a look and ease our worries."
Delilah, now in the guise of a leggy blonde with blue eyes, walks out of the brush. She smiles warmly at the soldiers and looks back over her shoulder excitedly.
"They were right, Lily! This IS where they like to camp!"
Delilah continues forward with (hopefully) Lillith coming behind her.
"I'm sorry if we surprised you, but my friend Lily and I had asked around for the bravest soldiers in town, and we were told that the ones that go out on patrol are the ones to find. My name's Delia."
well you could make it your self look slightly beaten and bloody, acting as if your running a way from the evil ORC trying to take your honer ^_^ if i can i will cast shield and enlarge person on my self and act as the target the women can get behind the soldiers and the others can attack from the woods so we can get them from three sides
If we come running out of the woods with you on our heels, that defeats the purpose of thinning their numbers before we actually strike.
Hells, I've got a +14 Diplomacy. I could probably get one of them off alone far enough for one of the beefy guys to end him quickly, and then zombify him.
"Of course, I'd nearly forgotten about the circlets."
Delilah runs her hand along the circlet (which has taken the form of a hairpin) and shakes her hair. As she does, it fades from her customary raven black to a stunning copper. When she brushes the hair out of her face, you can see that her jawbone has sharpened and her cheekbones have raised. Her typically emerald eyes are now a striking amber. Altogether, the circlet has done it's job.
When morning rolls around, Delilah will head off to find mama Guiseppe and befriend her so she can help with the food preparation.
"I'm fetching, but I highly doubt I could pass for a soldier. I'm going to focus on getting in with Mama Guiseppe. Syldran, can you put out some feelers and find us a decent supply of a poison that doesn't have symptoms that scream poison? Maybe something that will just look like a stomach bug or something? We only need the poison to take soldiers out of commission. If they start dying off too early, getting into the keep to cause more havoc will only get more difficult."
"Wade, you're attractive, maybe you can get in with Kaitlyn Mott. Bracnos, use that stamina of yours to try to get in with the dwarves. Drink that fool under the table or something. Razul, Lillith, Annak; maybe you can get us some more information on the patrol that's going out. See if they follow a set patrol or if they just go out free-range. If we can catch them unawares in the wilderness tomorrow night, that will be one of the captains down."
Delilah looks over at Wade and smiles.
"That is, of course, if our esteemed leader here agrees to these chores."
Delilahs ears perk up at the mention of Kaitlyn Mott, but what really piques her interest is the mention of Mama Guisseppe.
"Wait, Mama Guiseppe? What else do you know about her? Is she well liked? Do the men trust her? This could be a perfect opportunity to help 'feed' a significant portion of the garrison. Syldran, how much do you know about poisons?"
"Oh, I did turn up one other bit of information that may be worth checking out. Apparently, the Lord's Dalliance used to be a brothel. A pity it isn't still, but I hear tell that there used to be a secret passage from the basement to the watchtower. I guess the Lord of the Watchtower used to sneak in and out to get his jollies. Could be the passage is still intact."
Let's not forget that Delilah heals from negative energy as well, and can cast Inflict Light Wounds up to 15 times a day right now. If I can save you from burning through your consumables, I will. ^_^
7k, split between 7 characters is 1k each, or 875 each if we want to keep an emergency fund.
Also, skeletal guards would be nice, but the way patrols work around here, I don't think there's anywhere safe to keep them without outing ourselves. That's why I let my zombie burn with the rest of the ship.
7k, split between 7 characters is 1k each, or 875 each if we want to keep an emergency fund.
Also, skeletal guards would be nice, but the way patrols work around here, I don't think there's anywhere safe to keep them without outing ourselves. That's why I let my zombie burn with the rest of the ship.
"A ladies' man, you say? I can work with that. As far as lodging, anything's better than being stuck on that godsforsaken boat. I'd rather not bed down in a barn, though. I like my rolls in the hay to be less literal."
"Not as much as I would have liked. They put too much faith in their wall, for one. That means they're likely not as prepared as they should be. Lucky for us. Also, Lord Havelyn has been described as 'a good soul, but grim and gloomy'. The guard I spoke to seemed to think that indicated he was feeling guilty about something, but he could just have a stick up his ass. It might be something to keep an eye on, at least."
"I fear my ineptitude at stealth will only be hindrance to you, dear. But I have...other strengths. We might even make it a contest."
While Syldran takes the stealthy approach to knowledge of the guards' activities, Delilah tries a different tactic. Simply put, she saunters up to the first male guard she sees and flirts the information out of him. Tactfully. ~_^
"At least someone's familiar with this backwater."
She turns to Razul.
"I'll follow your lead, darling."
I'm gonna go ahead and say that Delilah's zombie pet has been destroyed and burned with the rest of the evidence. As useful as it might be, it'll only be a hindrance to whatever cover story we come up with. Also, we never got a real answer about who Yurik was and what he was doing on Kargeld's ship, so I have no idea how we should proceed regarding him.
Delilah will move to the proper side of the ship and cast another Inflict Light Wounds spell at one of the swimming sailors. Her zombie, being given no order to stand down, continues to swing at the surrendering sailor.
Okay, I'll go ahead and cast Inflict Light Wounds on the sailor furthest to the fore of the ship. He seems to be trying to avoid the fight, and that's just not gonna happen.
Delilah weaves together a spell and her disembodied hand streaks out toward the sailor furthest from her. It impacts and opens up a black wound across his chest that looks as though it is already necrotic. The zombie continues to press its clumsy attack.
Did you forget about my new zombie pet? Don't forget about my new zombie pet. ^_^
Delilah, now safe at the back of the boat begins casting a spell. As she completes the spell, her left hand seems to wrench off of her body and float beside her. She winces in pain. Her zombie continues its mindless pursuit of the death of its former comrade.
Delilah casts Spectral Hand, causing her to lose 1d4 ⇒ 1 HP for the 5 minute duration of the spell. Her zombie continues to attack the sailor directly in front of Wade.
Delilah smirks and begins to chant some words. She lays hands on the newly dead sailor that Bracnos was so kind to provide. The corpse begins to move and shakily stands up. Its eyes glow with a sickening red light. It turns its head toward its former companion and lashes out with its sword.
Delilah will take this opportunity to cast Lesser Animate Dead on the poor dead sailor to make him her zombie slave. The Spirit Vessels revelation gives that zombie maximum HP. She will then retreat to a safer location while the zombie attacks the sailor immediately in front of Wade.
Frosthamar Zombie:
Frosthamar Zombie
NE Medium undead
Init -1; Senses Perception +0
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 16 (+3 armor, +1 dodge, +1 shield, +2 natural, -1 Dex)
hp 19 (2d8+3)
DR 5/slashing
Fort +0, Ref -1, Will +3
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee short sword +3 (1d6+1/19-20), slam +3 (1d6+1)
Ranged short bow -1 (1d6/x3)
SPECIAL QUALITIES
Staggered
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 9, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 10
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Toughness
Gear studded leather, buckler, short sword, shortbow with 20
arrows
We still need him to get us where we are going. I think when we arrive we attack, kill them all, strip the boat of valuables (don't forget the payment he was given), and then shove it off.
Well, yeah. Those were the broad strokes of what Thorne wanted us to do anyway. We're trying to hammer out the finer details, particularly about how to approach combat. That said, we should probably open with Bracnos or Wade smashing into Kargeld as hard as possible to give us as much of a surprise edge as possible.
I might be able to keep Kargeld dazed with Ear-Piercing Scream long enough for him to be less of an issue. If we can manage to drop one of the other sailors pretty quickly, I can raise him as a zombie to bolster our ranks.
Also, since he seems like a decent enough fellow, I'd like to try to keep Yurik alive, unless he joins Kargeld in the defense of the ship.
"If you think kinship means anything to those fools in Matharyn, you're more naive than I expected. My "family" wanted nothing to do with me when my true parentage was discovered. They're hateful beings cloaked in the guise of righteousness. Duplicitous cretins that would gladly sell their own flesh and blood for a few coppers more. They prattle on about loyalty, but the only loyalty they have is to their own bottom line."
"Wade, dear, Kargeld was chomping at the bit to leave you to your fate. The idiots might be the ones who went off chasing an otherwordly dog. You are right about the Adamantite, however. Fashion us some daggers. I've heard them called 'Adventurers' Lockpicks'."
As they near the smoking boat, Delilah hisses through her teeth.
