Gauntlet interrupts only once Erix pauses.
”We are also interested in anything you might have heard about the party tomorrow at the Aundairion Embassy? We hear it is supposed to be quite the party to be at this season…”
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Nodding, Gauntlet agrees to everyone’s goals. ”I will go with Erix and try to help with the Aundarian embassy. Everyone else stay alert, and… try and get some potions or scrolls of Detect Undead too. I fear we may need such. They were quite handy in the Last War from what I understand. And maybe avoid the canals for now if you can. The last thing we need is to be caught up in a sahuagin raid.”
I only have a minor version of invisibility that lasts 5 rounds max, and it only works on me I think. Anyone else have the ability to cast and maintain normal invisibility.
Nodding Gauntlet replies. "I can blast a person's brains, but my mental capabilities are not refined enough to read minds yet. We could hunt down a real psychic to read her? Maybe the Aundairians have one handy we could borrow?"
Remember the original statue is magical. How would we move it? I'm big and tough (DR 4-), but I don't possess the strength of a giant (15). Could we make it invisible?
NOTE: The idea was to bring/build the statue somewhere in the party area, AWAY from civilians in order to draw the enemy away from them and hopefully deal with our target quickly. The trapping it was Ratchet's idea...He can shrink it and re-size it later. Right? Gauntlet will go with Erix if he wants company, or if anyone specifically wants a big obvious warforged walking with them...
I like it! Good use for Proto too!!
Knocking on his metal head for attention, Gauntlet looks warily at the others. "I hate to suggest splitting up again, but that may be our best way to save time. I don't have to sleep, so if there is something that can wait to be done late tonight, I can work on that on my own, assuming I have the skill for it. One group should go and talk to whomever we need to talk to etc..., and the other group should hunt for supplies and maybe keep an eye out for a vampire carrying a dirt-filled coffin around..."
Also, if there is a temple to the Blue Flame, then they would know where we can buy anti-vampire items, if they don't sell all of it themselves.
If we can still build a fake statue, maybe we can get him to come to us. NOTE: Vampires usually convert to mist once they get below a certain level of hit points if I remember correctly. I don't think they have a choice...but they need somewhere to retreat to nearby too.
Looking at the sun Gauntlet ‘sighs’. This ‘sound’ sounds hollow and fake, as it is only an approximation of a sigh, since he doesn’t really breathe at all. ”Less than two days left. We have until tomorrow evening.”
The basics are helpful too and are cheaper/easier to come by. We only have one day and can’t get caught up making a bunch of stuff at the last minute I fear.
Gaseous Form can only reduce damage to energy based attacks I think, but can still be affected magic/psionics that way, assuming it doesn’t have spell resistance. I don’t think ghost-touch works on gaseous form. Its a toss-up to see if my mind-attack spell works that way too. Containing a creature in gaseous form would require an airtight trap or spell effect of some sort I would think. Can you build a vampire trap Ratchet? If we catch up to him, his gaseous form (or bat form) makes it too easy for him to escape. Gaseous form is also a transmutation, right? Anything that can prevent a creature from transforming would lock him in his humanoid form as well.
”Let’s go.”
Gauntlet looks awkward and…embarrassed? ”Actually, I do not use a spellbook. I was created…oddly? Some call me an error or mistake. My powers are based on my mental perceptions and willpower, not knowledge of the arcane. I do not need to speak words or move my hands in particular motions to create my mind-sword or my ‘magics’.”
I'm fourth!
Nodding, Gauntlet points at the statue on the lawn in front of the main gate. "The statue is just one possibility Brennus. Until we have more information, or capture our target, we can only guess at his real intent. Excellent work Ratchet, but isn't that going to be a bit obvious and hard to carry right now? We need to move this somewhere more private and get a bead on WHERE the ball is going to be held. Before we start showing the statue off..."
”His priority, by my guess, will be reuniting the piece he has with the statue. He won’t want to delay that if he can help it. Although he’s smart enough to game it out like us and be patient, assuming the magical hold over him is not driving him forward like a whip to a dog… making him push forward, heedless of his course and speed.” He suddenly pauses for a moment and then continues. ”Could we make a duplicate of the statue in a day? It doesn’t have to be perfect, just fool someone who might not be looking for perfect details? We could plant it at the party and see if it draws the target to us and away from innocent bystanders.”
Leaving the Armory and Mickey P watching the prisoner inside it, the rest of us enter the city on foot. Gauntlet looks around, his neck craning for every visual angle. "Finding him will be nearly impossible here...so we need to get to the Ball ahead of him. Should we talk to the organizers and warn them of what is going on? Maybe they will let us volunteer to help patrol the event as additional protection? Unless they are part of the whole cult thing...or something. I really can't be disguised easily and can only hold an invisibility invocation for a few moments, so arriving as muscle is my first natural thought. If any of you have a better idea, feel free to speak up now."
Unless someone has a better suggestion, we will head to Trolenport at best speed possible, once our prisoner is settled and everyone is back on board Ratchet’s autonomous siege weapon.
Overhearing Erix’s conversation, Gauntlet thinks a bit out loud. ”If restrained properly, Mickey should be able to watch the woman so we can enter Trolenport. We can make Ratchet’s wagon our fall-back point outside the city. The question will be whether our target will have reached the town before us or not. We may need to separate into groups again, once we reach the town. One group searches and the other group watches the entrances to the city. It may behoove us to contact any Dark Lanterns in the city that we can. They may know subtle ways of entering the city that our quarry may know about that we cannot. Staking out members of the society that may be involved with the statue may be the smartest play here. If we can find the artifact-statue, and take control of it, the remaining piece cannot be returned to it without getting past us first. What do you all think?”
”Lets cover our bases here. He’s not invisible or the woman in disguise is he? We need to scan around…heck he could have been shape-shifted into one of the horses for all we know. Also…brother? Maybe a cultist then? She could be a member of the ‘statue’ family too. We should scan her mind ASAP for details and clues.”
Dismissing his mind-blade, Gauntlet sighs and shakes his head . He should have foreseen the possibility of deception from their target. He then turns to Brennus while the others talk. ”I know you’re tired, but do you think you could quickly recon our back-trail? If our target abandoned the carriage nearby when they noticed us following, they still may be close by enough to pick up some sort of trail.”
Just a note: I'm going out of town (taking my son to Boston to visit his mom for the summer) and I will be traveling for the next week. I will try and stay connected with my phone, but if I don't respond soon enough, feel free to bot my guy as needed for expediency's sake. I should be back by Next Sunday and to a regular posting schedule hopefully by then.
Gauntlet will dismount, nodding at Ratchet’s prisoner’s safety precautions, and yanks open the carriage door with his green glowing mind-blade high.
Understood. The stone wolf was just my way of bypassing the whole…my basic body weight will break a horse’s back kinda thing. As a slow moving walking tank, it got a little annoying sitting in the wagons all the time and not being able to reach a target very quickly on the battlefield. That’s why I changed a spell to ‘expeditious retreat’ and built the wolf from scratch.
Hearing the woman’s voice, Gauntlet fears the worst and does not hesitate to… A halo of purple energy surrounds his head for a brief moment, then it lashes out into a jagged blade like form as it slams into the driver’s head! Mind Thrust II (Will DC 16 for 1/2):
Mind Thrust II;School divination [mind-affecting]; Level psychic 2 Casting Time 1 standard action, Components S; Range close(25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels); Target: one creature; Duration: instantaneous; Saving Throw: Will half; Spell Resistance yes; DESCRIPTION: You divine the most vulnerable portions of your opponent’s mind and overload it with a glut of psychic information. This attack deals 1d8 points of damage per caster level (maximum 5d8). The target receives a Will save for half damage. This attack has no effect on creatures without an Intelligence score. This spell can be 'undercast.' Whether the driver falls or stays standing, Gauntlet yells again! ”I said surrender! NOW.”
Unfortunately, I like Gauntlet the way he is. I’ve waited years to play him again. Aldo, I’ve done gestalt before and it got really hard to play a balanced game. The GM at the time gave up on that one. Loads of abilities, still the basic level of hit points. It’s like a swiss army knife that breaks easily. Let’s just move forward for now, and deal with Ratchet’s re-do afterwards. Fair enough?
I’m at work. I will post my combat actions a little later when I get home.
I know the feeling!
I’m a frigg’n fighter/mage (magus)…and we’ve had very little combat so far! But the point of role-playing sometimes is you have to make do. I actually have a + 5 in diplomacy too, so it’s not too bad for me in the end.
The driver isn't our actual target, so she doesn't need to remain alive.... Normally no, but the driver may have information we need. If the missing agent abandoned the carriage before we caught up, the driver will be the only one who might know where. If the driver is not the person we are looking for, they are most likely a paid driver, or under the 'influence' of the artifact or the agent himself...and therefore an innocent person not deserving of death normally.
Gauntlet summons his sword, but remains mounted. He then shouts…Erix! Do not kill the driver! They may be a simple hireling! Remember that we are currently representatives of the law in Sharn. We must abide by the rules if we can.” He then addresses the scene, pointing and waving his glowing green sword around at the disabled vehicle. ”Surrender and you will not be harmed further! Come out, give up your weapons, spell implements, and turn out your pockets! Someone on this carriage is accused of Treason and Theft of a dangerous artifact! Give up NOW. You won’t be given a second chance to do so.”
With all these rides and vehicles I’m starting to feel a bit like we are in an episode of Voltron or something…
Gauntlet launches Howler out of the back of the wagon, and easily turns him to follow Ratchet.
Leading 'Howler' to his four massive stone feet, Gauntlet mounts his 'ride' in the back of the vehicle getting ready to move quickly once they can leave. "Enough debate. Let's get this over with NOW. We will ride ahead and slow or stop the carriage, the rest of you approach as soon after as you can in the wagon or however you would prefer. Brennus? I understand you are tired: If you would prefer, stay out of any combat if you can help it...and if our target gets away somehow, maybe you can then simply continue to follow him and alert us to his direction? Let's go Ratchet."
Gauntlet will do whatever speeds us to the target the fastest. He doesn’t have a problem moving ahead while the others rest, maybe with Brennus riding along as company, then once he catches up with the escapee… follow him or disable the carriage from a distance until the others arrive. On the other hand, riding together and catching up with him in the Thunder Tank sounds cool too.
1. How fast can we estimate the black coach travels? Standard speed on a road? (I’m assuming it cannot cross rough terrain.) 2. Roads aren’t straight. I’m pretty sure Brennus can get anywhere he wants faster than we can travel 9 times out of ten. As the crow flies… 3. Pushing mage bred horses to their max is still chancy, and can cause permanent damage if we’re not careful. 4. Gauntlet can leave his ride behind if it will slow us down, but he would have to ride on the Sand Crawler. He just weighs too much to ride any horse.
We need to figure out our base movement speed as a group as a whole (best average speed the group could maintain for 8-10 hours); then determine best speed for the two groups if we split up. If we do split up, I was thinking the slower group sticks to the road and the second group goes across country hoping to catch up to the man fleeing faster, and possibly even cutting him off from his route if we can get in front of him. Is Ratchet bringing his wagon? How fast does it go, and how does it move? (I’m assuming it is automated or similar movement concept)
My ride doesn’t tire, and I don’t sleep. I can push him at full run all day and I can ride ahead at night, and the others can catch up to me later. I should be fine.
I'm basically riding a magical Stone Horse in the shape of a Dire Wolf, and I can cast Expeditious retreat a few times each day myself. Stats:
This is essentially a 'Stone Horse' magic item, but in a large Dire-Wolf sized form made of black basalt. It cannot be made into a half-golem except with House Cannith assistance. You have the Courser version. Perfect mount for Gauntlet. Stone Horse: This item is a roughly-hewn statue of a horse, carved from some type of hard stone. A command word brings the steed to life, enabling it to carry a burden and even to attack as if it were a real horse of the appropriate kind. A stone horse is combat-trained. A stone horse can carry 1,000 pounds tirelessly and never needs to rest or eat. Damage dealt to it can be repaired either by feeding it gems (1 hp for every 50 gp value of the gem) or by casting stone to flesh, then using healing spells until it reaches its maximum hit points, at which time it automatically returns to its stone form. Courser: This item has the statistics of a horse with hardness 10. Stone Wolf
DEFENSE
OFFENSE
STATISTICS
For now, things are good moving forward. We can worry about the consequences later…once we save Breland!
Nodding, Gauntlet waves toward the exit. "It appears the gods or fate has put us together then. I agree, it is time to leave. I have my own ride, as my bulk requires it so that should save you some money. If we move quickly on our own we should be able to catch up to a carriage as he will mostly have to stay to roads and we might do better by moving cross-country."
Pointing out the obvious, Gauntlet finally speaks. A hint of annoyance is present in his voice. "Every minute is important in such an issue. Why have you not sent your own agents or governmental minions to handle this...or have you already done so? Have they already been dispatched by this Lucan and his magic sword? You need...something he might not see coming for him. Correct? I can agree to your terms, but I would like to request 1 additional payment for this work. I beg your patience on this request: We have a unique civilian/non-governmental issue we could use some basic intelligence on. Something you might consider noise to your organization, but could be key to our needs after this 'mission'. If you have nothing to help us, that's fine. But if you have something that could aid us in finding our target...? No skin off your nose, as they say. You can decide if you can give us any information at all...assuming we succeed."
Still suspicious, Gauntlet hesitantly gives a silent nod in agreement.
Lost in the architecture of the place, Gauntlet hadn’t noticed the beggar. His thoughts had turned to his past, in a similar building, with an origin of uncertainty and luck. He already doesn’t trust the place, and he can’t help his paranoia getting to him in situations like this… He calmly reminds the others… ”All this cloak and dagger stuff is to set us back on our heels. Remember, they are asking for our aid for whatever reason. They need us. Don’t let them gain any advantage over our thinking.”
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