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I was not aware of that. Thank-you for bringing it to my attention.
Alright, now that I have calmed down, I will keep her - she is now as much a debuff as a buff to the party, but you work with what you have...
Well, actually, I think I said if we got the cohorts, we could make a solid go of it; the point of the cohorts will be to act as a force multiplier to make *us* more effective in combat. I don't think that there are any better markets that we could have gone to, even if things had gone better - one would hope that the AP is written to allow for that fact. If you want the upgrade dust, you can have it - consider it a donation. Also, if it will help, we can Send to Veld to get her to cancel my project, and start working on yours?
Well, my cohort has a small earth elemental (Sage) familiar named Rocky, who will be used primarily for scouting locations for us, so we literally know about enemy 'boots on the ground' ahead of time, so I would assume that it would be okay for your cohort to take a familiar, too? ------ Thanks for the offer, but I'll keep Nature's Paths - it makes sense for the character, who is essentially a traveling minstrel :-)
*grins* Great Minds think alike ;-) That spell is on the Bard list, and my Skald has already taken it as one of her spells known :-D ----- Re: Crafting, if you want to do it, go right ahead - I mean, having a portable magic item forge with us to (slowly, but surely) produce items, is certainly not a bad idea. Just remember that you need to purchase 'magic item crafting supplies' in order to do so... (Again, the market will refresh in a week, and we can restock.)
He then turns to Father Noelan. "Fazer, it vould seem zat ve vill need to move quickly if ve are to deal viz all of ze Legion staging points, and zen make it back here to help viz ze preparations for battle. To zat end, I have purchased mounts for zose of us zat do not already have zem." He then takes him to see the bison, motioning to the one on the far left. "Zat one is yours."
Well, to be fair, we *did* apply crafting feats to the NPCs, when we retrained / levelled-up (as best we could); I mean, all the newly-minted Druids (effectively) have Brew Potion, at the very least... Aubrin was never levelled-up. Rhyna has Scribe Scroll and Brew Potion (but was restricted to the Adept list until she finished retraining to Druid 4 on Day 42, which reduced her usefulness in terms of crafting, whilst we were around). Edran doesn't have Spellcraft, and was needed for other things. Veld has Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Craft Wondrous Item, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, and Craft Wand. ------------------------- To answer Gren's question, sure, you can get Veld to do some crafting for you, as her next project. ------------------------- I will reiterate that my Cohort will be acting as a force multiplier - she will (when activating her Rage Song) be granting everyone +4 Strength, +4 Con, +4 Morale to Will saves, -1 AC, +4 Natural Armor, and the option to take an additional -4 penalty to AC for a +4 bonus on attack rolls (if they so wish), as well as two claw attacks. She will also be incredibly useful in this next section, as she will make it easy for us to cover a *lot* of ground, extremely quickly (basically, 8 miles per hour, so 64 miles per day, reduced to 48 miles per day due to terrain modifiers, assuming we all have mounts). ------------------------- @Robert and Gren: Speaking of which, I strongly recommend that your cohorts buy mounts as part of their starting equipment, so that they can keep up; I have already bought combat-trained Bison for myself, Father Noelan, and Robert. ------------------------- @Gren: If it helps, from level 10, I will be able to take more of the load off you, in terms of filling Ratel's shoes - since that is when I first become a pouncing, target-tripping nightmare :-)
Getting our cohorts to craft stuff for us is possible, but it will take a long time to get anything done - as Mort noted, if we are adventuring, they can get 200gp of a magic item done per day, which means that something like, say, a Headband of Inspired Wisdom +2 would take 20 days to make, whilst a +4 Headband would take 80 days to make... Realistically, we are probably better off aiming for access to Teleport, Greater Teleport, Plane Shift and/or Shadow Walk, so we can go shopping in big metropolises...
To answer: When the GM refers to custom rules, always go with what they say. Previously, 'Upgrade Dust' had only been used to upgrade existing magical items, not create new ones, so I was not aware that Mort was okay with that. Lesson learned! Re: crafting, usually, you don't need a lab, but if he asks, he can use mine. Re: Veld crafting, sure, but she is in the middle of crafting something for me that will take another 10 days to complete, so it will be a while before she can start anything else.
Nigel bows politely to the Hound Archon. "Greetings. Zank-you for being villing to answer ze call. My name is Nigel, and I have need of your skills viz Teleportation magic. Nibbitz here," he says, gesturing towards the Gnome, "vishes to go to Kazeer. Zey vill hop into zis Bag of Holding, to expedite ze process. Once zey are safely zere, I vish you to take ze Bag to ze settlement of Misthome in ze forest east of here; it is a palisaded encampment, around ze mouth of a small cave complex. Ze second hut from ze left belongs to an elderly voman named Veld; to anyone zat sees you, say zat I sent you to deliver some supplies to her. Once you have done so, please bring ze Bag back here. Zat is all zat I ask of you. It should be a brief, non-hazardous task, and you vill be compensated accordingly."
@Gren: Enchanting a non-magical item takes 'standard' crafting times - so to make your weapon +1, you would need to give it to them for two days. However, once it is *is* magical, Mort allows the use of 'upgrade dust' to instantaneously 'add' to the existing enchantment. Re: Retroactive crafting, generally, if you have the feat, you can have used it to make your existing equipment.
"If zey are villing, I need zem to do a little bit of Teleportation - firstly to take Nibbitz here to Katheer (he vill be riding in a Bag of Holding), and zen to deliver some crafting supplies to a Vizard I know in ze forest east of here. As I said, it should be non-hazardous, and only take a couple of minutes, at most."
Nigel nods to Robert. "Zey did, at zat... Still, let's not go rocking ze boat too much, until ve have definitely sorted out an accord viz ze Mayor." Once he has made his purchases, he then hires a local cleric to cast Lesser Planar Ally for a Hound Archon. "I vould like you to take zis Bag of Holding to Katheer, and give ze Gnome zat is inside a chance to get out. After zat, please go to Misthome," (Nigel provides a precise description), "and deliver ze crafting supplies vizin to Veld." (Nigel gives a description of where Veld normally resides, and what she looks like.) "After zat, your service vill be done."
He then turns to Nibbitz. "I said zat I vould get you to Katheer; I am sorry zat ze only vay I could do so is somevhat undignified. Here is 100gp to get yourself settled in Katheer. I sincerely vish you ze best of luck." Following this, he holds the bag open for Nibbitz to squeeze inside, before handing it over to the Hound Archon.
He then goes to the city armorer, and acquires some barding for Cavall. Wolf: "I tried to get something generic, but I am afraid that all they had was this... Still, protection is protection... and at least it shouldn't pinch your fur, like chain would."
Nigel frowns. "Ze only reason ve are homeless, is because our home vas overrun by ze Legion; many good, innocent people died. Ve did our best to save zose zat ve could, but in ze chaos of ze surprise attack, it vas impossible to fight off ze invaders; ve could only flee viz vhat ve could carry, and only managed to save a few dozen. Vhat ve seek to do is to flip ze playbook upon ze Legion; zey vill be ze ones in for ze surprise, here!"
Nigel frowns. "I am not denying zat you are locals, and have local contacts... but ve have been hip-deep in Hobgoblin corpses for veeks! Zey are vell organised; certainly vell enough to keep out of ze vay of any unprepared targets zat zey can't co-opt, or obliterate." He then turns to the Mayor. "Surely someone as vise and respected as yourself understands zat an organised, disciplined enemy viz ze element of surprise can overtake peace-time defences. Ve are here to ensure zat zey vill not get zat chance. Zis town is great, its people are strong, and viz preparation, vill be able to see off ze Legion."
Nigel nods to the apron-clad man. "It is true zat you do not know any of us, but zat is not necessarily a bad zing - it allows you to assess ze truth of my vords, vizout any preconceived biases. History is littered viz examples of unknown strangers bringing vord of impending doom to unprepared societies; and vhen zeir vords are heeded, such vas ze case of Gandalf ze Grey in Rohan, zat potential slaughter vas avoided, vhereas in cases such as zat of Cassandra in Troy, zeir entire society vas devastated. I am avare zat vhat I have to say is alarming, but please don't ignore it simply because it is inconvenient... lives are at stake."
After rechecking the section on multiple participants in Verbal Duels (right at the end), paradoxically, I think it would be a bad idea for you to help, Gren... since if there is more than one participant, each time a participant speaks (beyond the first time), they suffer a cumulative -2 penalty on their checks, regardless of whether or not they use the same skill. So basically, you either have one person do all the talking, or have a large group, where everyone contributes. Just having two or three speakers is actually quite bad...
Nigel nods graciously. "I am sure zat your niece is a lovely artist, Seneka, but zese plans are a little more complicated zan zat, requiring significant planning, not just ze innocent exuberance of youth. Also, I don't see zese being drawn in crayons..." He then turns back to the mayor. "You may not have seen any evidence of ze Hobgoblins, because zey have been trying to keep you ignorant of zem, to make zeir victory here more easily assured. I speak from personal experience, vhen I describe ze brutal efficiency ze Legion is capable of... and it most certainly is more zan a gaggle of broken escapees from Belkzen; ve have killed literally scores of Hobgoblins, and zat hasn't made a dent in zeir numbers." Nigel then sighs, and turns back to Seneka. "Frankly, if I vanted to disrupt ze trade fair, I could zink of a number of vays zat I could do it zat vould be far less inconvenient zan zis, running from ze mild, to ze outrageous - my purpose here is to save lives, not line my pockets. For example, if people randomly started having zis happen to zem," he says, flicking a gloved hand, and turning himself bright blue, "zat vould be disruptive, but I am not just feeling 'a bit blue'; zis is serious." When the quip about Nibbitz being chased by an ape is made, Nigel raises an eyebrow. "Really? Apes are native to zis area, are zey? I didn't realise ze Mwangi Expanse extended zis far north. Does zat make you a Bonuwat, zen?"
Well, reading through the rules, it appears that we would be *significantly* penalized if we just used Diplomacy, so I guess that we will have to do out best to diversify. Fortunately, looking at the various options, it appears that we can cover Diplomacy, Knowledge(various), Linguistics, and Sense Motive (the last by Gren), so although the situation isn't great, at least we are not utterly screwed before we even start.
Ah, sub-systems :-/ Unfortunately, my new Cohort was supposed to take some of the load for things like this (since I had noticed that basically the only 'face' skill the party had was my Diplomacy, and I figured we needed some diversity)... It sounds like we will be at a significant disadvantage for this, further so if anyone other than me does anything (which is unfortunate). That said, I don't know what arguments we will be able to present beyond what I have already said - I kind of led with everything that we had...
Nigel walks up to the mayor, and bows politely. "Good day, Lord Mayor. Vould it be possible to have a moment of your time? My name is Nigel. My companions and I have some alarming information zat you need to be avare of, for ze good of ze town." He then sighs. "Too many good people have already suffered at ze hands of ze Ironfang Legion, and I don't vant to see zis town experience ze same fate. Phaendar has fallen to ze Hobgoblin horde, as Fazer Noelan, ze local Priest, can attest," he says, motioning to the good Father. "Ecru and Red Burrow have also both fallen. Ze Rangers have been decimated, and Troops of Hobgoblins are patrolling throughout the lands west of the Forest. Vhen ve took-out one of zeir outposts in ze Forest, ve found zis map," he says, pulling it out, "vhich showed zat zey vere interested in Longshadow. Ve zen headed zis vay, taking out targets of opportunity in ze process. Vhen ve took out a ridgeline fortlet east of here, vhere zere vere Hobgoblins, and Harpies, ve found a cache of documents," he says, showing the relevant papers, "outlining a plan for an all-out-assault on Longshadow, to commence 11 days from now. Zey are also massing forces at a number of key locations around here, including a varbeast training camp, nests for vyvern scouts, siege engines, and a munitions depot at vhat remains of Ecru." He then motions for Nibbitz to come forward. "Zis Gnome was being kept as a slave by one of zeir leaders, a Hobgoblin named Dargg, and can back-up what I am telling you, as can zese other refugees," he says, motioning the other former-gibbet-dwellers forward. "Ve also discovered zat ze overall leader of ze Legion forces in ze area is a beast named Kosseruk. Additionally, ve took one of ze Hobgoblins captive, for additional interrogation, if you so vish," he says, gesturing to the manacled Hobgoblin. "Please note zat I am not asking for a revard - ve have no financial stake in all of zis. All ve ask of you, is zat you take zis zreat seriously, and start to prepare zis town for vhat is to come. Ve vill deal viz zeir rallying points outside ze city, but in ze meantime, you need to vork on fortifying ze walls, making sure vater stockpiles are available (to combat flame), and training ze populace in ranged combat. Longshadow is a great town, and a beacon of hope for zis entire region - I vant to see it stay zat vay."
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