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Thanks for your hard work and dedication DM. Sadly as one of the slowest players I think I will have to leave with the DM. Right now my time is at a premium and the site takes perverse pleasure in messing with my updates. I do not want to hold back the group or give less then the best performance ether. It's been fun and I hope everyone the best. :)
"We have to return the full set to the alter and then smash them. I already told you this a few hours ago tops." He throws his arms up. Lorn mimics his movements on his shoulder, the pair walk over to the body of Pappy to search for any magic or scrolls the brute didn't use up during the fight as well as anything else interesting.
Taking a moment to register his mistake, he felt a little embarrassed. He had been among orcs and thick skull giants to long, he was forgetting some rather simple things about magic. He cast another spell to slow their enemies down.
I just thought it was strange that you basically have one feat invalidate half of the other by stacking them. Power attack decreases attack but vital strike gets rid of the decreases so your just getting benefits without any of the penalty. So basically it's acting like a scaling weapon specialization in that case at the cost of a single feat instead of multiples. By using vital strike and following it's tree it will only increase because of the scaling. To get the same benefits without the penalty otherwise would cost more then a few feats. By why of weapon specialization which adds the same benefits without penalty and stacks with everything. In fact it is better then weapon specialization used that way because power attack benefits from the two handed bonus while weapon specialization does not. Monsters have both because vital strike is a single action while power attack can be used in a full round action which vital can not. Monsters CR are based off fighting parties not individuals so their attack tend to be higher in such builds. Taking a -1 to -5 in exchange for double that amount in damage is worth it when you have multiple attacks. It's better to use vital when you only have one attack sense it preserves your accuracy while adding to your damage potential. Basically it turns your single attack into a full round without the bonuses of a full if you follow the tree. That's probably why the requirement of vital strike is the BAB when you earn your first multiple attack. The vital tree tends to follow that same trend.
I'm no expert but pretty sure power attack and vital strike can not be stacked. As a rule only one attack option can be used at a time from what I understand.
Opps sorry left over rule from another game. A frontliner with a wand of mirror image does that. x)
Nerak was not going to let that old trick work for the giant. He felt a little annoyed that the brute had wasted a scroll he could have taken from his corpse as well. He cast another spell, once more striking the whole enemy group and it's short lived images.
"Bye bye illusions." He says a little smugly.
"I could tell you what all this is about. But I think we should deal with the monsters before the lecture." Nerak cast a spell before retreating to put some more room and bodies between him and the giant's.
A wave of illusion comes over him and he fights it as best he can. Their was something to be said for the well ordered mind of a wizard, he throws off the curse while only being momentarily gripped by it. Still recovering he corrects the dwarf. "Wrong side of the street Wulfrum, this is more related to godly magic." Wizards didn't punish the living in general for the acts of one. Gods were the sort that did that unproportional form of punishment or allowed it.
"I'd sooner waste every drop of magic I had on the orcs and shallow a fireball to take a dozen with me when they came to finish me off then resort to that." He said in disgust. "Pain is for the living, peace for the dead. If he refused peace he would not have let something like death stop him. You didn't." He nod's to the ghost. "Don't suppose you have any clues or idea's where the rest of him may be? Did you have a place where you disposed of the dishonored or orcs with in the fort?"
"One of the cursed one's want to do the honor? I'm not the smashing skull's type anyways." Nerak looks around and wonders.
"Yes I need the altar of this place to break the curse. Unless any of you are an archmage or high priest and forgot to mention it. This fortress is likely human considering it is not sized for giants and orcs don't do work this well. When they even attempt to build anything that is."
"Does anyone remember seeing an alter to Iomedae around?"
"Unbelievable" He mutters as he shakes his head at the whole spectacle. "I would never be able to look the gods in the eye if I was murdered after every giant in this forsaken keep came calling after hearing that."
"My guess would be that the skull must be reunited with the rest of it's bones and properly laid to rest. What that entails I am not sure. Could just need a simple grave or depending on this curse something more." He says from a few dwarves behind.
"Our resources are limited. We won't be able to destroy every last enemy in a day. So long as no one loses their hopeknife, we are no different then any other adventurer. Let's prioritize leaders and not get overly concerned with minions. Anyways I doubt our orc allies will remain so after the deed is done. We should save something for them."
"I think their is less sorcery and more curse at work here. Considering the hidden skull and all. After you all" He really needed to add some counter curse spells to his spellbook after this. He may not be a priest but wizards have their own magic to deal with that sort of thing.
Nerak simply stands by for now. Ready to send out a spell should anything threaten him.
Semi back, move is still going on but now I have stable internet. Once I catch up on all post I'll see where Nerak is at.
The move is back on and now I am sick. So my posting may be slow.
"Yes, it's a school of magic. Not one I am overly fond of personally but any wizard worth the name knows about necromancy." He replies to Lys before they come upon the carnage. "That's four less giants for us to deal with. The surviving manticore has ether fled or running amok I'd guess. Both options aren't bad for us."
"After you." He would not be walking into a fight between manticores and giants.
"Well once we smash that skull on the fort's alter of Iomedae. Everyone effected by the curse should be fine, it will also cleanse the fort. Which personally I think is needed badly all things considered. Do we know where the shrine is?" The alternative being magic far beyond his ability. They certainly didn't have access to high priest or archmages for hundreds of miles.
"The source of that curse is the object. If we don't get the object we can't break the curse. It didn't effect me, if everyone else is fine we can leave it. If not, unless you want to spend your life cursed best break down the wall." Leave it to dwarves to be scared of a little magic they don't understand.
If your going to be a lone wizard with limited resources in the wilderness, you stack your mods. Edit-Well I guess in this case it wasn't needed. Still better safe then unknown. x)
You don't need to cast the identify spell to ID magic items. The spell just acts as a detect magic with a +10 bonus to your spellcraft. So I just need the DC for the spellcraft check to ID the magic item.
Nerak is ready to ID any loot or what not.
Nerak cast a simple spell while looking around as well.
"Well last I checked we had the cage and a pair of vengeful and hungry manticores near by. Here we have some bodies that they can toss at us and we have to work around more then them. The cage acts like a trap and obstacle they can't take advantage of but we can. Regardless I'll be in the back." There was a time and place to explain things, this was not one of them. Their size would last as long as their magic, the same with their enhanced strength. It was not the same for the enemy, their strength was not on a time limit.
"You know if we are going to be attacked. We should pick the battle ground or attack them first. If we are going to lure them, I would suggest the cage room. It will force them into a confined space and we can trap a few by dropping a cage on them. If we are going to attack then we should move out so they don't pin us down and remain confused." They really didn't need to wait for a small army of giants to find them and swarm them without any tricks on their side.
Happy New Year!
Nerak strolls forward as the giantess starts seeking reinforcements. "Oh your not running sweety." He cast a spell making sure to keep his allies out of the way and slow down any would be reinforcements, while giving the big girl a little smack. Rocks fall from above, settling underfoot afterwards.
"I need to have a talk with some of you about not ruining ambushes, when your invading an enemy stronghold." He cast a spell to speed everyone up.
Nerak read things over himself, well versed in giant among the many other languages he knew. "Well I guess we found the other half of the rock map now. But we can get into everything once we have cleared the place out." He none the less looks through everything in case something else jumped at him in terms of importance.
Merry Christmas everyone.
"Well there you go. Someone keep an eye on them while I check the room for any goodies if you would be so kind." Nerak cast a simple spell and scans the area for anything of interest. Magical or otherwise, searching for anything useful for their assault or in general.
"Those are manticores." He lets the others know before addressing the manticores. "We just killed some of your jailers. Best leave carefully and quietly." He moves closer to the others and whispers. "Manticores are not know for their kindness or gratitude. They are known to eat alot of meat, mostly the kind that walks on two legs and talks. Keep on guard, they are not known to be smart ether. They may try something once free." Hopefully they would leave in peace and come across some giants to tear apart.
If anyone is willing to give me a summary that would be great. It seems the game play thread exploded while I was gone. :)
I have access to the web again but the move is still being problematic, so expect a slow down in my posting from normal. But the silence has hopefully ended.
I am packing up the computer today to move. So I won't be posting for a while. DM PC me as needed. I'll let you know when I am up and running again. Everything on my sheet should be good and up to date except for spells prepared, feel free to adjust that as needed.
Sadly between the holidays and moving I haven't been able to look them over. So swinging that to the other players. ;) As for how to get new PCs in the game. We storm the fortress and stumble on some prisoners. Enter new PCs, only their gear is near by sense they were recently captured.
I posted five days ago. But I am moving so I may lag a little sometimes. I am good with whatever way you guys want to go through the grate. Physical stuff is not Nerak's forte.
I say we bring everyone. But I don't want to run anyone but Nerak, Lorn, and Ranon as usual. Someone please take control of the others. x)
Nerak's ready to go.
Nerak's good with going through the grate. He doesn't care about the box, if the orcs turn we find out later, if not then we have plenty of loot coming from dead giants. Something should be useful for our dwarven buddies.
Do the orcs have our dwarf friends gear or did the giants take it? Sense we can trade the remaining live orcs we have for what is basically our rescued dwarf's stuff if the orc's still have it. I have to admit the snarky side of me wanted to say something about the orc's choice of words regarding the chest. But Nerak is smarter then that, even if I'm tempted not to be. xD
He ask a simple question. "Then why did you bring it?" No one made it a habit of bring a chest of anything around with them, much less to meet an enemy.
The mystery box does not really matter to Nerak, sense you know he won't be opening it. ;P I vote for the iron grate. Not a fan of walking into a orc camp much less into the chiefs tent. But I am with Arlan concerning a few orcs come along, besides the ones we currently have sense we know they can't fight. :) Lys I hope you get better and pretty sure the DM was not referring to you.
Nerak shot the dwarf an annoyed look. He was going to provoke the orc for no reason and throw away the agreement. He was not going to count on an orc's sense of self control after all. "What my short and stumpy companion means is we leave the honor of displaying your trade goods up to you or one of your own."
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