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”My fear.” Karak said. ”Is that if the Eastern army wins, then there will be no more town. They have no pay, so they’re probably getting looting rights. If we want a town left we will need to fight for it. We may want to join the defense. Mayhaps at the bridge? At least our cannons can blow it if we can’t hold it.”
Best of luck with RL!
For his part, Karak returned to his home. Taking his armor off, the dwarf was almost too tired to put it away. Again and again the thoughts of what had occurred swirled in his head. From the ambushes, to Vi's death, to her resurrection...and their conversation where she had spat at the very idea of honor. He wondered, more than once, about whether he had done the right thing. Of whether he had more in common with the soldiers whom he had killed than the woman he fought alongside. It was a tiring loop, where his train of thought went round and round, leaving him mentally exhausted. Deep down he wanted to do the right thing. He wanted to do right by his God. He wanted to make his father proud, to prove to the old dwarf that his son walked the right path. But at that moment all he was doing was putting one foot in front of another. He prayed that the new day would bring clarity. And come the morn, he realized why it was not always a good idea to pray to a God of war. For clarity of purpose had come. The Eastern Army was moving to attack! His armor was donned and his hammer lifted. It made sense. The army had lost its ability to pay its soldiers, so they had two options. Retreat, or attack. And they had chosen to attack. It was a sound decision, though it was not the one he was hoping they would make. He rushed out to meet with his compatriots, certain in one thing, at least. That all of them were united in their love for Burrowdar and the task of defending it.
Karak nodded, and without saying a further word, followed V, her brother, and Kazaell out. He had the sinking feeling that the murder they had committed was not something that this hag truly needed them to do. She radiated danger, and it worried the dwarf. If anything it seemed like a test. The sooner they got out of her presence, the better.
Level 4 Cavalier: HP: 31 (previous) +6 (class) +3 (Con) = 40
Challenge now gives +2 hit and +6 damage! So during a challenge it is +10 hit and 2d6+18 damage. Not bad for lvl4. ----------------- Mount: HP: 26 (previous) + 0...
It gets nothing but magic attacks. :P
Karak watched with crossed arms as the deed was done. Upon seeing Viatrix's eyes open, he looked to Vargas to see the lad's reaction. In doing so he held his peace, rationalizing that this was a moment best left to the others to enjoy.
Karak almost faltered in his attacks upon seeing the sheer primal savagery that Cra'rak was unleashing. The dwarf's mouth fell agape, and it was only when his ram attacked that he remembered that he was still fighting for his life as well. With a somewhat embarrassed cough he rejoined the fray, swinging his hammer with precision.
Seconded what Cra'rak said!
Malik, as we know that a 20 misses, and Malik has +5 to hit, maybe it would make more sense for using Aid Another as the combat option? Giving Karak or Cra'rak another +2 to hit would probably make more DPS as a group.
Karak felt the claws slice through his armor, even as his hammer sailed past the hag. Gritting his teeth he thought to himself that this was going to be a real fight. Digging his feet in, he swung his hammer once more, trying to time it to be in line with Kra'rak's flurry of attacks.
”Right, in we go!” Karak said. The door opened and his mount charged in first, head down so that it might bowl the hag over. Karak came in after, looking for all the world to be a lesser threat in comparison to the large animal.
”Aye. Got the silver to do that. If we live long enough to spend it.” Karak said. ”But so far we’ve managed to make the best of the situations we’re thrown into. So long as we stick together, we’ll make it.”
”Right. Let’s not make this harder than it has to be. Walk up, kick in the door and get it done. Aye?”
Well hope you don’t. I like Kazell, and would prefer that she makes a stand on her morality.
Mine is good as well. But not everything can be good. We have killed soldiers. People who certainly were not all “evil”
None of this is “good.” But I think that Karak has remained LG in alignment as he has worked through these moral dilemmas. And I hope that Kazell stays, because good people are needed when right and wrong isn’t clear
I think that we're attacking her. As far as Karak is concerned, witches are evil. The one we are dealing with is evil. The one we are killing is evil. The entire situation is sketchy, yes. But that's what happens when you deal with sketchy people At the very least, though, our group will be removing a threat to our town and will be bringing back a (sketchy) companion. Is the situation perfect? No. Are there better alternatives? Again, no.
Karak idly touched his armor, feeling the dents and rents where bullets had pierced it. He hadn't even had enough time to do any repairs, and already they were going back into battle. With a sigh he nodded. "Aye then. Let's get it done."
”A’ight...” Karak said. ”How about potions then? Got any that’s let one of us see if she goes invisible? We could buy it from ye. Even if we beat her down, that would let us know if she runs and if so where.”
Karak nodded at this logic. "Aye. Doesn't do ye any good to send people after her, having them fail, and then ending up without any gold and an incensed enemy. Better to get paid first, and then have yer assassins go in at full strength."
”We able to hunt invisible things?” Karak asked. ”I can fight what bleeds, but I have to see it first.”
Karak kept his face neutral, though inside he really didn’t like this. Payment in coin *and* hunting down a powerful witch? It was a tall order, but he didn’t see any other way out of this. He looked over at his companions to see their reactions.
”Well, let’s do this. What’s the worst that could happen?” Karak said dryly as he walked forward, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
”Too late to turn around now.” Karak muttered. Thinking back to the vine attack, he wondered if there was any connection to the raven following them. He hoped not, because if so it meant that they were truly in danger.
Karak shuddered as Malik spoke, looking around warily at the woods. Suddenly every plant seemed like an enemy and every shadow an ambush. "The forest is alive." He whispered, before thanking Malik for tending to his wounds. "Let's check for more of these...things! And I think that for now on I'll wear all of my armor when standing watch."
”Not today, death, not today!” Karak said as he broke free and fled from the deadly vegetation. His ram continued to stomp and gore it to the best of its abilities.
Karak stopped yelling as he spat up blood. He couldn't believe that this was how he was going to die...killed by a plant. He wondered if Jarett was laughing, or if he had somehow angered his God. As these thoughts flashed through his mind his mount stomped and gored the plant, seeking to help the dwarf break free.
Karak had been sitting peacefully, looking out into the darkness and wondering when he would be able to get back to sleep, when suddenly he found himself grappled by a plant. "Oi! Everyone, wake up! Bloody well help me!" He called out, without even thinking. The vines were crushing him, and already he could taste the copper in his mouth. With the way things were going, he wasn't going to last more than a dozen seconds if something didn't change.
"Guess I'm on a middle watch." Karak said with a sigh. Getting in and out of his plate armor was a burden, to say the least. Getting out of it, then waking up half asleep and putting it all on again, and then taking it all off to go to sleep once more? The mere idea of it made him despondent. He thought to himself that perhaps just the breastplate would be enough when on watch...certainly it would be much faster and more comfortable. The thought brightened him up, making the worst watch post feel a bit less daunting.
”The longer we wait, the greater the chance of being caught. That, and Vi needs to be cared for. We should make haste.”
Best of luck!
Karak nodded, and then said with a slight smile said towards Cra'rak "It's a sad state of affairs when looking after one's kin is considered dwarven. It is the standard that all should hold themselves too." Turning to Vargas he said "Haven't met before, name's Karak. And that's Cra'rak. Confusing, we know. Sure Malik already said it, but yer sister fought like hell and went down hard. If yer half as good with that boomstick as she was, I'm sure we'll be well and truly safe gettin' through these woods."
Karak shrugged, coming to the conclusion that he didn’t understand humans as well as he though he did. But at the very least it wasn’t him shouldering the burden. If there was one thing that made him uncomfortable it was people crying.
Wouldn’t occur to Karak! He doesn’t know V that well, and never met her family. ;)
Makes the most sense to see the witch first. If we Rez her...then no harm no foul. No different than how others went into negative HPs. Vi can then tell him herself. And if we TPK in the process then we’ll all be too dead to care. But if we need to make a long journey? Then let the brother know.
”Aye.” Karak said, reasoning that any pursuers wouldn’t think of following them to her. It was the safest option all around, though he didn’t feel comfortable saying it out loud.
How about 20k each on spending, with focus on things to keep us hidden and safe? +1 weapon, armor, shield, amulet, ring and cloak is 9k. So 11k left for things like glamered, comfort, ring of sustenance, etc. Should be plenty to play with. Trust each player to spend it wisely. That leaves 100k for the town. Lyre of building, buy weapons for militia, hire people to train them, recruit settlers...money to bribe officials. Could spend through it fairly quickly. Especially with resurrection money or paying off our Npc
When I was typing that I originally wrote 200k, but thought "no, that can't be right..." :P We are rich!
So. Thinking about this abit, I have an idea. Would like to hear some thoughts. We have 20,000 gold! That's alot. We can't spend it in town, but we can leave town to spend it. (1) Mercenaries. This...doesn't feel like a long term solution to me. CR 1/8 mercenaries cost 2 gold per day. Assuming we needed 100 to protect the town, that's 200 gold per day. Even if we find mercenaries, we would burn through it quickly. (2) Kingdom Building. This one could be interesting. My idea for it goes like this. We use our 20k gold to encourage settlers to come. Karak, for one, would love to get Hill Dwarves to flock to the town. With the idea being that our sleepy little town lies right dab in the middle of two warring kingdoms. If we can fortify the town and protect it, well...it becomes a natural trading ground between two hostile powers. There could be alot of gold in that. So we spend 13k gold on this, for example. Lets us quickly build things like walls for the town, and then houses for new settlers. Not sure if this is the best use of gold, but it would speed things up. For this idea, we'd use our 20k gold to tell settlers with skills that if they come we can aid them in building homes and businesses. With the provision that they swear loyalty to our town and join a militia, which we will arm and train. Having a walled town, with cannons and a trained militia defending their homes would make it formidable for either kingdom to attack. We could also get away with the initial part of this by hiding behind Karak's title. If our current occupiers say we can't do something like arm our people, then just have them wear his house colors and say that it is his right. Could still be problems, but I think that we'd have a colorable enough excuse on building up our military force. I think that with the kingdom building route, we could claim titles for ourselves to add that air of legitimacy to our move. Karak already has a noble title, so that's easy enough. But everyone in the group could get a title, based on what their interests are in the town. Become the defacto rulers of the place. I'd say that this is my favorite option, because after we've accomplished this it leaves us with responsibilities. Such as dealing with the fey problem we have going on. (3) We continue messing with one kingdom exclusively, to get them to withdraw from out town to the point where the war front moves away. It would give us peace, for the most part. Though it would mean being swallowed by one kingdom. --------- Anyways, that's all I can think of on how to go about this. Would like to hear from other people on how they see us progressing.
Well now I'm just curious. :P And on a different note, suddenly 800 gold doesn't seem like that much of a stretch.
"We'll go to Sylvia then." Karak said. "Dropping a load of coin in town will bring unwanted suspicion. That, and we need time to discuss how to actually use this money. With it we have plenty of options. From hiring a mercenary company, to fortifying it and arming our populace, to moving the war front away from out town, to outright taking ownership of it as a mayor. We have plenty of options, but until we have a plan we can't make any moves in public." He continued, thinking as he talked.
If we get some downtime, can Karak modify his armor into fortress plate? He has craft armor as a trained skill. Fortress Plate: 2100 gold
That's a 1600 gold difference. And I think that by doing it himself, he could get it done for 800? If so, his total AC will drop from 21 down to 20, but his touch AC will go from 11 against firearms up to 16. While overall it's a downgrade in my book (AC16 is still pretty easy to hit. Those musketeers were rocking +9. Still, hitting on a 2+ or a 7+ is a big change), it makes alot of sense IC for Karak to start taking firearms seriously. I figure that if I do this, he can later get +2 Dexterity (from somewhere) to get him back up to his current AC. But that will further improve his touch AC. I'm also trying to figure out a way to get a higher touch AC. Best I can figure out to get some protection is missile shield. However, that's a 2 feat investment which Karak just isn't able to meet.
"First things first. We have to bring news about Viatrix. Honor demands it. I can bring word if need be, but I don't know her kin. Kzaell, Malik, would either of ye take this task?"
"This...doesn't make sense. Why have an entire cart just for this? Maybe there is a false bottom...?" Karak asked, clearly confused by this turn of events. He proceeded to give the cart a thorough search, not wanting to believe that they had killed these soldiers, and had lost a comrade, just for a cask of silver.
"We'll have to come back for that. Aye, lets put them in the woods for now out of sight. Show them as much respect as we can for the moment. Once we have the cart back, we can return with shovels to give them a burial."
"Hitch me ram up. It's a good lad and can handle the pull. While she might not have believed in me definition of honor, she deserves to be treated with it." Karak said. He looked down at the bodies of the musketeers and thought to himself that in their own way, so too did they. It was the sad truth of war that real people died and not all deserved it. But to the winners went the spoils, which in this case included the proper handling of the body. Still, he was resolved to say a prayer for the dead, regardless of whose side their died for.
"Aye. Start stripping the dead of anything of value. Give me ten minutes or so. Gonna have to pray to get me mount back. So long as Jarrett approves, of course. It'll help us haul everything back. Once back we'll see if we can revive her. And if we can't, we give her a proper burial."
What do our characters know about resurrection? Is this something that is common knowledge, and does our town have the resources to do it? I've never actually had this situation before. But I believe it costs 5000 gold for raise dead, and 2000 gold to get rid of the negative levels? How much gold did we get here?
Seeing Viatrix's body being dragged behind her mount, Karak took off his helmet and held it to his chest in respect to the fallen warrior. The two of them hadn't always seen eye to eye, but he had to respect how she had fought and died for a cause she believed in. "Is there anything we can do for the lass?" Karak asked.
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