Lidia*'s page

Maybe we should just end this game. It seems like no one cares anymore.

As she crouches behind some scrub, Lidia closes her eyes briefly and grips her bow as tightly as she can with both her hands, willing warmth and power into it as she wordlessly recites words of righteous fury to herself.

Casting Gravity Bow

Is it possible to get a battle map for this? There are a lot of factors that might make this fight tricky.

Lidia moves quietly to get into position for a fight, hiding once she has good angle for shooting the guards.

Stealth: 1d20 + 20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 20 + 4 = 30

Lidia nods and addresses herself to the mob. ”All right, let’s keep moving.”. She takes a position at the front, leading the prisoners toward freedom.

Lidia shrugs. "I mean-- when they see that all the prisoners have escaped, it's not going to be a big surprise that there are footprints leading away from their pen. Once we get everyone out of this camp, I'll see what I can do about covering our tracks. But we can't spare any more time for that now."

"I'm more worried about getting them past that brewery. One of us should cover the door -- Thyste, you were in there recently -- is there a way we can lock the door from the outside?"

Lidia rushes down to check on Ben.

”Are you all right? I couldn’t believe how hard he was hitting you.” she says, looking over his wounds. ”We need to keep moving. Can you walk?”

Looking back at the giant’s attacks on Ben, it looks like the third attack should have missed? So he’s badly hurt, but not in single digits for hp.

Alarmed at how beat up Ben is getting, Lidia fires arrows as fast as she can at the ferocious giant.

Favored Enemy, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Manyshot, Deadly Aim

Ranged Attack (Manyshot): 1d20 + 19 + 2 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (2) + 19 + 2 - 2 - 3 = 18Damage: 4d6 + 6 + 4 + 12 ⇒ (5, 4, 4, 4) + 6 + 4 + 12 = 39
Ranged Attack: 1d20 + 19 + 2 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (20) + 19 + 2 - 2 - 3 = 36Damage: 2d6 + 3 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (5, 3) + 3 + 2 + 6 = 19
Ranged Attack: 1d20 + 14 + 2 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (3) + 14 + 2 - 2 - 3 = 14Damage: 2d6 + 3 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (6, 4) + 3 + 2 + 6 = 21
Confirm Crit?: 1d20 + 19 + 2 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (20) + 19 + 2 - 2 - 3 = 36Damage (if applicable): 4d6 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 6 + 6 ⇒ (5, 3, 4, 3) + 3 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 6 + 6 = 37

Lidia climbs the tower as quickly as she can, pulling out her bow on the way. She orders Esmé to defend the prisoners.

If she can do this in one move action, she'll use her remaining action to fire a shot.

Ranged Shot (Deadly Aim): 1d20 + 19 - 3 ⇒ (20) + 19 - 3 = 36
Damage: 2d6 + 3 + 6 ⇒ (3, 4) + 3 + 6 = 16
Confirm?: 1d20 + 19 - 3 ⇒ (8) + 19 - 3 = 24
Extra Crit Damage if Applicable: 4d6 + 3 + 3 + 6 + 6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4, 1) + 3 + 3 + 6 + 6 = 32

"In all the chaos, I'm not sure anyone will notice another giant yelling. We just have to make sure he doesn't run off."

"You and Ulretha rush him while you're invisible. I'll get up into the tower and fill him full of arrows."

"He's alone. Let's just take him down." says Lidia.

Does Ben have Warp Wood memorized? I'm just imagining the giant wooden tower falling over onto that giant's head.

I think plan was to move pretty much due south along the east side of the camp under the incapacitated two towers. (past 'A' 'K' and 'A')

”Do you think the giants would even think it was worth the effort to try and trick you? They don’t care about your loyalty. If any of die, they just go and get more people from the lowlands. We’ve seen it even in the short time we’ve been here. I’m sure you have too.”

Lidia will indeed cancel the invisibility

Diplomacy: 1d20 - 1 + 4 ⇒ (4) - 1 + 4 = 7

"She's right. The giants look at you as little more than pack animals. They won't think twice about starving you or working you to death. We've incapacitated the guards, but there isn't much time. Please come now."

Yes she is. If they seem disinclined to trust invisible voices, she'll drop the invisibility. Might not be a bad idea to drop it anyway, to better lead these guys out.

"My name is Lidia, I'm a human from the lowlands. My friends and I have invisibility spells cast on us, which is why you can't see us. We've been fighting the giants for many weeks now and we've been working to sabotage the giant's camp for the last couple of days. We've distracted the giants and have come to get you all out of here. There's a cave not too far from here where you can all rest and get some decent food and healing. Then we'll try to get you back down into the lowlands."

"Please come quickly, there's no time to lose."

Invisible Lidia creeps into the camp and sets up near the gate to the slave pen, watching for patrols. Not having any particular skill in picking locks or bashing through sturdy gates, she leaves that task to her companions, but will assist if called upon.

Stealth (Invisible): 1d20 + 20 + 20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 20 + 20 + 4 + 2 = 48
Strength (assist): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

No worries Grandlounge, I get it. We all sometimes need to take a step back and clear our heads.

If in the future you need a few days away from PbP stuff, I'm sure all of us would support you if you just drop a quick line to say so.

As the bunny grows into a dragon before her, Lidia involuntarily takes a step backward and tries to keep from looking rattled. Even knowing that the creature had likely been telling the truth, it was still unnerving to see it spread out into its true form before her.

She swallows quickly, licks her lips and responds. "It's good to hear that the dragons aren't currently in the camp. That makes our job easier. But it also means we should try to finish up here as quickly as we can, before they return."

"And as far as I'm concerned, if the giants are using the dragons to massacre villages, then we definitely want to get that control Orb away from them."

"So, I think we have a plan ready for tonight to take out the guard towers and get the prisoners free. Then if that works out, we can start to get more aggressive about sabotaging the camp."

Hello?
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anybody home?

"We don't know what's in that mountain, but the giants obviously consider it pretty important. It might literally be a gold mine." answers Lidia in an attempt to pique the gnoll's venal interests.

Lidia suddenly registers to herself that she's speaking with a rabbit that claims to be a dragon. Also, that she might be speaking with a dragon.

"No offense Naximarra, but can you prove to us that you are a dragon? I've encountered fey creatures who might make such a claim as a prank or as a malevolent trick."

"Also, maybe you can clear a few things up. First off, we sent a bird in to scout the giant camp and she told me that there was a dragon nest in the camp. Do you know if this is true? We've seen no evidence of dragon activity here in a few days we've been around."

"Also, the focus of this camp seems to have something to do with that big opening in the mountain. Do you know what's going on inside the mountain that's so important?"

"My initial thought is that it would be nice to have some strafing of tents as a contingency plan in case there's trouble getting the prisoners out of the camp, but it would still be preferable if we could do the whole thing without anyone noticing. The giants seem pretty lax right now -- few patrols or guards, poor discipline. I'd like to keep it that way as long as we can -- a dragon attack might just put the camp on high alert to anything else we wanted to do, and galvanize their resistance."

"But I suppose I could be convinced otherwise, Staying undercover just suits my temperament better."

"Is the Orb here? Held by one of these giants?" asks Lidia. "If it is, you should probably stay clear."

"Wait... have you been watching us?"

"Alternate possibility, do we still have that horn that lets us control dragons? I know it didn't work well at the Cathedral, but we might have better luck this time. We can give it to Ulretha and he can use it to tame the beast and make it his servant -- then it can be our distraction and attack the giants' tents. And if it doesn't work, then-- well, Gorum, I guess,"

"Us flying off and leaving all those prisoners to be fried by a dragon doesn't seem great. If a dragon comes, we'll have to distract it somehow while we continue to lead the people away as quickly as we can."

"Maybe Gorum will favor Ulretha enough that if he's flying around he can keep a dragon busy for a minute or so and give us a chance to get away?"

Ben chuckles and says, "You know, Lidia, if we want to have some fun I could just send some Mephits over to light their little alarms on fire and laugh at them. maybe someone could start another fire somewhere else and do the whole distraction thing again. Nut I like your plan too."

"Lighting them on fire might be what sets off the alarm."

"How about this--Thyste goes in and deals with the alarm devices in the two towers along the slaves escape route on the eastern end of the camp. Then we deal with the guards -- if we have magic to incapacitate them or put them to sleep that would be best. If we run into trouble walking them out, we set off a few of the alarms at the opposite side of the camp with your mephit to create a distraction."

So, if there are no objections, Lidia will immediately begin looking for her spy animal, a bird or a squirrel, preferably something fairly inconspicuous, and then cast Speak with Animals on it. She will then direct it to go to one of the tall nest structures in that camp of giant men and (A) look first at what the giant in that nest is actually doing, if anything and (B) look for a horn or bell or metal triangle or any other noisemaking device for sounding an alarm, then report back as soon as possible, so Lidia doesn't have to cast the spell twice.

Survival (to find an animal): 1d20 + 17 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 17 + 4 = 23
Handle Animal (to effectively communicate her intent and describe what to look for): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24

"That's not why we think you're crazy,"

Lidia looks at Ulretha and narrows her eyes sharply, her lips a little pursed.

"Sneaking into a giant tower and removing an alarm device sounds decidedly like a Thyste thing," says Thyste.

Lidia considers this a moment, then speaks slowly.

"There... may be something else I can do..." she says. "Now that I think more."

She shuffles in place uncomfortably for a moment, like this next bit is being dragged out of her against her will. Finally she shrugs a little and sighs.

"I can talk to animals. Birds too. I mean, you kinda know that, since I've talked to Ben in his animal forms before. Most people think I'm crazy when I say that, but it's true. If I really concentrate and have a minute or so to, like, create a bond with an animal, we can communicate. I talk to Esmé every day, pretty much."

"Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I could talk to a bird or a squirrel or something and have it go look into the guard towers, just to see what the alarm mechanism is. And if the giant seems alert or just sleeps up there. It won't be able to give us a lot of detail, because animals don't always understand things like we do, but it would certainly be a safer thing to try first."

"Then Thyste would have a better idea what she needs to deal with."

"I say we go in under cover of night again. Less wandering giants to deal with. If we manage it right, we might take those towers out and get away without any alarm is raised. The giants having those guard towers seems to make them think they don't need any other guards anywhere."

"I don't really think it's a good idea to have the prisoners scatter after getting out of the camp. Some of them will inevitably get lost. If you're worried about tracks I should be able to help cover those up once they are out of the camp."

"My biggest concern is incapacitating the guard towers before they can raise an alarm. They most likely have something like a bell or a horn that allows them to alert the camp. So we need to either incapacitate the giant before he can react, or remove his ability to use the alarm device, whatever it is."

Old Grandmother says, "I can take them back. It will take several trips over several days, but I can teleport them. They will still need a safe place away from giant patrols."

At this point, Lidia walks back into the campfire light.

"I found some caves not too far from here. If we can get the prisoners to them, they should be safe enough until Azardra can teleport them down the mountain to their homes." she says. Her voice is calm but betrays some remaining latent tension. After speaking she stands very still, as if bracing herself for something.

Ben, I doubt there are any farms up here. I think between the provision carts in the giants' camp and conjured food from you and Blix and whatever else we can scavenge with some hunting and gathering, we should be in good shape for food. Probably better than they're getting now.

After stewing and brooding for about 45 minutes, Lidia climbs down out of the tree and begins to hunt around the area for any decent sized caves.

Like the others, she came independently to the conclusion that if the people need shelter before making the trip back to the lowlands, a large cave might be the answer.

Survival: 1d20 + 17 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 17 + 4 = 34

...or did he say it just loud and soon enough for her to faintly hear?

Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (3) + 18 = 21

I think she probably heard his voice saying something but didn't catch the words. :)

Ben raises his eyebrows in consideration.

"That is a really good point. I can provide a huge amount of food using he goodberry spell, well as long as we have fresh berries to use. And if they have no slaves, they will probably quit. But I would still prefer we get provisions for them first. It's not just food, but shelter they will need to have. Remember how fatigued we all have been since coming here, and they don't have magic to help them. Between the thin air and the cold, I'm telling you most of them will die."

Already mad from Ulretha's comment, Lidia just shakes her head and stalks out of camp to go cool off.

She wanders off for about a quarter of a mile, then climbs up into a tree and begins to sharpen one of her knives.

Lidia's head whips around to look at Ulretha, her jaw clenched and her lips firm. She glares at him, silently seething for a few tense moments.

"Fine. I'll do it myself." she says finally, her voice thick with emotion.

"Look at you, all tactical. You're weighing and considering the factors and picking your battles and everything. I know that sounds patronizing, but I'm legitimately impressed. I'm proud of you, Lids."

Lidia blushes deeply at the praise, though it seems to confuse her a bit, and she's clearly not sure how to respond. She just smiles awkwardly and shrugs while looking at her feet.

"Gathering provisions from the lowlands could take weeks. We shouldn't wait that long. If the camp breaks up in the next few days and they abandon their mining operation, they'd most likely just kill all the prisoners."

"After we get them down the mountain, we can come back up here and deal with whatever is left. And investigate what's happening inside that mountain. It wouldn't be smart to hang around here immediately after the prisoners are freed anyway, the giants would likely swarm out here scouring everything for enemies. Though one of us could potentially remain behind and give them red herrings to chase for a few days."

Lidia returns to camp to relay her findings to the others.

"It looks like there aren't a lot of supplies going in, but there's a lot of some sort of ore coming out of that mountainside. I don't think this is really a military camp -- the patrols are erratic and don't seem to have any sort of organization or discipline to them-- it seems more like this is just a mining operation. Honestly I'm not really sure why so many giants are in there, they aren't doing much of anything. The slaves are doing all the work."

"And they're bringing in new prisoners all the time. They're working those people to death. We need to interrupt that right away; getting people out of that camp may not be easy, but stopping the supply of new victims shouldn't be hard."

"And I think our efforts are working. It seems like the camp is in turmoil. Honestly I think if we planned a raid that released those slaves, we'd have a good chance to succeeding. And I think that given the giants' lack of discipline, this whole operation might just collapse."

"So, let's set up an ambush spot to stop any more slaves from going in and man it during the day. We can also interrupt the supply of ore going out. Then some night very soon, like tonight or tomorrow, I say we raid the camp and help the prisoners escape. We can send in Blix with a heads up to the slaves to let them know we're coming."

As it's the middle of the night, Lidia will finish her meal then go to sleep.

In the morning, she'll move out to do her recon on the roads, first finding all the likely approaches to the camp from the lowlands, then staking them out unseen.

Survival: 1d20 + 17 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 17 + 4 = 39
Stealth: 1d20 + 20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 20 + 4 = 26
Perception: 1d20 + 18 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 18 + 4 = 31

"Sure. While I take up a watch on the roads leading into the camp, maybe you can take on a flying form and do a broader reconnaissance of the area leading up from the lowlands." she says to Ben.

Lidia still seems to be in a relatively good mood, and for once she opens up a little. "I suppose I can't help but be reminded of the years I spent captive in Urgir when I think of those slaves. That's probably part of why I want to get them out. I can almost feel their fear and hopelessness from here, but I know that's just me reliving some bad memories. But I also know that whatever those giants are doing in that mountain, they need those slaves to do it -- if the slaves go, it will cripple whatever the giants are up to in there and may help break up the whole operation."

"Blix got in and checked on the slaves before, he can be our go between maybe. He can talk to the slaves and let them know when we plan to get them out, see if they have a leader, that sort of thing." She glances off toward the persistent orange glow over the giant camp and takes another rough bite on some jerky.

"I still think they deserve a chance." says Lidia, after which she pauses and looks curiously at Thyste.

”If I were one of those slaves, I’d be willing to take my chances with cold and hunger if I could just be freed.”

She settles herself cross-legged near the fire and begins to munch on some rations. ”At any rate, tonight was a success. And it sounds like we’re all in favor of blockading supply wagons from the camp. And if we capture a few wagons and horses it would make things a lot easier for weak or sick people trying to escape these mountains. First thing tomorrow I’ll take up a watch on the trails approaching this area.”

"So, as far as next steps go, I like Ben's idea of intercepting any supply wagons that try to come up here. That shouldn't be too difficult."

"I also think it wouldn't be terribly hard to arrange a slave escape. There's only one guard tower between the slave camp and the outside, and the giants' tents are all on the opposite side of the compound. If we could incapacitate whoever is watching up there in that tower, then all we'd have to do would be to get the gate open and lead the people out. If we do it right, we can make it look like the slaves got the gate open themselves and managed to overwhelm the guard on the way out."

”If food runs low, the first people to starve will be those slaves.” says Lidia.

Nevertheless she seems very pleased to see Thyste and Ben returning safely to the camp, flashing a rare smile. She rather eagerly accepts the pilfered beer and takes a long swig, followed by a very unladylike belch, which makes her giggle and blush almost shyly. For once she truly looks like the 18 year old girl she is under the dirt and bitterness.

Lidia nods vaguely and exhales a gush of breath. ”Well I hope they hurry. If our invisibility spells have worn off then theirs have too.”

As Ulretha approaches the camp, he sees Lidia pacing back and forth around the fire, occasionally kicking at the dirt like she's testing it. The animals are all watching her, their heads swinging back and forth in unison, following the gaunt girl's movements.

Hearing the gnoll's approach she stops and looks about warily, her bow out in a flash, but she relaxes when she sees who it is.

"Do you think its going ok? I think it's going ok. No one saw you, right?" she asks nervously. "Maybe I should go back and make sure Thyste and Ben are ok."

I'm ready to just slip away without being seen unless Thyste has any bright ideas

Perhaps Thyste could sabotage the 'strange brass contraption'? It sounds like a still -- fiddling with its valves might make it overheat and blow a gasket or a pipe.

Stealth (invisible): 1d20 + 20 + 4 + 20 ⇒ (1) + 20 + 4 + 20 = 45

Subtract 20 if the Invisibility spell has expired

After setting the silo on fire, Lidia will attempt to slip out of the camp. Her invisibility will probably not last much longer.

Golly there's a lot to keep track of in this plan whoops

The plan was for you guys to take the poison to the Brewery, which would likely be deserted in the middle of the night, and put it in the beer. Simple in and out job. I'm not sure why your group is at the Longhouse instead. But as the old saying goes, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.