Priestess Magda's page

Yes, it's a Barghest. And I'm pretty sure no one noticed when I translated 'potion' as 'magic drink', so I think you're fine :p

"Cov ruam qub pov thawj pe hawm cov tsiaj qus nyob rau hnub ua ntej Albarath sawv. Peb yuav coj nws tus me vaj tswv thiab ua nws pab peb."

By now, Magda is talking to herself more than she is talking to Unk. She does seem to get some pleasure out of misusing the old religion so blatantly.

After dismissing the wizard, Magda gets to work scrying. Since she is only prepared to watch once today, she chooses at random which hair to use first. Tomorrow, she will dedicate the entire day to scouting them out and gathering information.

I have one casting of Scrying prepared now, but after meditating I can use all of my 4th level spell slots, and a couple of my 5th level ones. Magda will scry each child once, and then if any show significant promise, she will focus the rest of her castings on them.

Magda eagerly snatches up her prize, gesturing for Unk to follow her into her home. She begins sorting each lock of hair meticulously in front of a wide bowl of clear water. "Pom ib yam dab tsi interesting rau hauv lub hav iav. Tab sis ua ntej ntawd, lwm yam ua lag ua luam. Magda tsis tau tawm hauv lub zos dawb do li ntev raws li cov neeg ruam yuav ua kom puas nws. Peb yuav tsum tau kev pab sab nrauv."

Magda crosses the room to the walls of the hut, covered by many generations of paintings. One of the older sections depicts a massive, goblin-like creature with the head of a wolf and a human corpse between its teeth. She places her hand over it almost reverently. "Peb yuav tsum tau qhov no."

After Magda doesn't see anything trailing her, she returns back to the village and takes her own shape again. Although abductions were her specialty, taking a sorcerer - with friends no less - would take more intensive preparations than usual. She would have to come up with a suitable plan. Lure them out into the desert somehow and pick them off one by one? Perhaps. She would wait for Unk to return and find out what he learned before going any further.

Hey, no worries! As long as you are around. I'm enjoying this game a lot and I want it to last a long time.

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Magda cannot stop herself from grinning. She has barely enough restraint not to cackle. "Just one girl? That will hardly be a challenge. I will contact you again when I have her. Until then..."

The priestess shifts once again, this time into the shape of a large vulture, and takes to the skies. She flies in a wide arc around the swamp, glancing back just to see if she's being followed by anything. She knows it wouldn't be hard to find the Grubstomp village if anyone came looking - the Spire would be visible from some distance away - but she was curious to see just how paranoid the witch and her "sisters" were.

There have been a lot more issues with the site lately, but they seem to be improving from what I can tell.

I have been wondering, since I haven't seen the others post in quite a while, what is the plan going forward with just three players and no archvillain?

"Koj yog tsis to taub," Magda says, waving her off dismissively. She does not have the patience to educate an ignorant, blasphemous human. She takes a few measures steps to the side, gesturing the Biggest Stick towards the bloody tables. "Koj tuaj ntawm no mus ua ntshav ua hauj lwm, nyob deb ntawm prying ob lub qhov muag, tsis muaj? Tsis li ntawd, tsis zoo li kuv. Kuv tej kuv yuav nrhiav tau ib co kev them nyiaj uas yuav tsum tau tsim. Nyob rau hauv xa rov qab, kuv tsuas hais rau ib tug ob peb ntawm koj khawv koob dej qab zib."

Still accurate

Magda bristles at the mockery, but keeps her composure. She wasn't expecting a human. Some sort of illusion, perhaps? Either way, it didn't matter.

"Albarath yog peb tus Vajtswv, tus poj nag bringer. Yog tsis muaj nws yuav tsis muaj tus hav iav. Qhov no yog tag nrho nws sau. Kuv tuaj nrhiav phoojywg uas tej zaum yuav pab peb nyob hauv peb chaw ua hauj lwm.

Thiab leej twg xyov yog koj?"

While we speak, I'd like to make a Sense Motive check. Does she seem nervous? Threatening? Is she posturing defensively?

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

Magda takes in everything with a critical eye. The two figures don't seem threatening at a glance, but their clothes could be hiding concealed weapons and they could have potent magic. The safest option would be to attack with the element of surprise and wipe them out.

However, there was a chance they could become useful allies. Non-human magic users with the ability to brew potions could come in handy, and might help convince Albarath to give up on that silly elf magic.

Magda flew back to the yard in front of the house and returned to her true form. Facing the front door of the hut, she began to shout, first in goblin and then in common. "I am High Priestess Magda of the Grubstomp Tribe, servant of the Great Albarath, Lord and Master of this swamp. Make yourselves known!"

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Magda grows more curious the more she sees. Before investigating further, she begins to shrink and twist in on herself, her clothes and equipment melding with her shape, until she settles into the shape of a thrush.

Wildshape AC: 19, STR:4

Now in animal form, Magda will fly closer, looking for an open window she can see into the hut through. If she finds one, and sees no obvious danger, she will attempt to land on the windowsill.

Magda eyes the hut curiously, hiding herself more out of reflex than anything. Is that some sort of altar on the table? The thought of anyone in the Great Spire's own swamp making offerings to someone other than him was infuriating. She approaches cautiously (the only way she knows how to approach a strange house) until she is within range to sense any magic within the house.

Moving stealthily towards the hut until she is within 60', then using Detect Magic. If she detects anything, she will concentrate for the full duration and attempt a spellcraft check.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

With nearly one third of the village gone with Bogdirt, and little left for the rest to fight over, Magda decides she can afford to leave for just a while. The goblins shouldn't be able to destroy too much in just a few hours, and Emmett would step in if things got out of hand.

She heads out into the swamp around mid day, planning to bask in the glory of Albarath's great creations.

Magda will walk two miles into the swamp, or halfway between the village and the desert, whichever is less. If she doesn't encounter anything, she will begin to walk a circle around the village.

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I'll go alone. My internet has been out all day, but I'll make a post tomorrow

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Since it'll be at least a day before Unk gets back, can I spend some of that time exploring the swamp nearby?

Unk is authorized to resupply the legal way while in Pashow

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I'm pretty sure we could convince some Barghest to take payment in the form of "leftover" sacrifices.

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I have been thinking about that. If Unk is able to use planar binding, can the summoned outsider act as the leader?

And on a semi-unrelated note, did Alarath ever finalize the dates for his (un)holidays?

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Magda growls at the suggestion. The last time he brought up the idea, she'd countered with a suggestion that he summon a pack of dogs and feed himself to it. But, things were growing desperate and she was running low on ideas. "Yog hais tias Albarath yuav nws, kuv yuav txais. Rau tam sim no, cia li npaj lub ib pab tub rog"

With that business done, she hops down out of the chair and makes her way back outside.

Magda joins Unk, hopping up to stand in a chair to get a better view of the table. She nods her approval of the little figures, though her expression is no less sour. She points to a spot on the map just to the east of the Spire, where many roads met at a trading post. "Cov tib neeg tuaj nyob ntawm no nrog laub tag nrho ntawm cov khoom noj thiab nyiaj txiag thiab tej yam uas. Tej zaum lawv coj ci iab. Txij li thaum peb muaj dhau ob peb mus tua nroog loj, peb pib muaj. Bogdirt yuav coj raws li muaj ntau yam raws li nws xav tau kev pab. Koj kom paub tseeb tias lawv muaj potions.

Then, she pointed south to Pashow. Raiding that city was well beyond their capabilities at the time, and she knew it. But she still had her sights set on it just the same. Kuv yuav tsum nyob twj ywm thaum Bogdirt mus, li ntawd, koj mus ntawm no. Yuav nka mus. Sim mus nyiag cov khaub ncaws. Cov plaub hau yog txawm zoo. Ib yam dab tsi yog li ntawd kuv muaj peev xwm saib neeg muaj.

I've been waiting to see what other characters are doing. Is everyone else waiting for something too, or just all busy?

That would be much more likely. Especially if you appeal to her ego.

Magda knelt in front of the entrance in supplication, offering up a small prayer to Albarath before treading inside. She treated the interior of the tower as the most sacred of hallowed ground, only venturing inside as necessary.

She stops briefly by the students' quarters to drop off a bag of goodberries for the day and collect the empty sack from the day before. If they wanted to eat any more, they would have to be competent enough to feed themselves, or whine to someone who cared. "UNK. YUAV PAB TAU. UA KOM MUAJ DAIM NTAWV QHIA," she shouted down the hall.

"Worked with" implies a level of collaboration that Magda is not truly capable of, at least when it comes to humans. She's kind of a bitter old shrew. If Unk did learn anything from her, it was more likely through her trying to show him up. (i.e. "My Summon Monster is cooler than your Summon Monster")

When Emmet makes it to outside, Magda is standing at the base of the tower, grumbling angrily to herself. "Ruam. Dhau ruam yuav tsum tau ntshai. Magda yuav tig lawv ua aav. Yuav muaj lawv rhuav tshem los ntawm cua daj cua dub. Yuav tau lawv noj los ntawm hma."

Fortunately though (or unfortunately, depending on who you asked) Magda knew that wiping out the stupider goblins was not an option if they wanted to achieve Albarath's goals. At least, not without his permission. So for now, she showed restraint.

Unk the Conjurer wrote:

Oh, and one thing I keep forgetting to ask (but will be easy enough to fix at any point before adventurers show up):

How does Albarath feel about having undead wandering in his (un)hallowed halls and/or basement?

As long as Unk can keep them under control, and they touch nothing, Albarath will tolerate mindless undead within his walls. The goblins, on the other hand, are not to enter without explicit permission.

Should I assume that permission extends to Magda and Bogdirt, or is Emmet going to have to be our gopher when we have business inside?

For now, I'm google translating Magda's dialogue into Hmong for Goblin. (It was another player's suggestion and I've yet to have a reason to change it.) But as nearly everything Magda says will be Goblin, let me know if it gets bothersome and I can do something else.

Magda stood atop the Widest Rock, looking down over the gathered members of the Grubstomp Tribe. She held the Biggest Stick in her right hand, a crude imitation of the wizard's staffs the humans carried, more than twice her height and decorated with several swamp plants. Both were symbols of her position of great authority over the tribe. Still, she couldn't help but sneer at the meager congregation of goblins before her. When she was still a child, she watched her mother whip hundreds into a frenzy of blood and malice. Magda never would have imagined that she would be left with so few faithful to lead in service of Albarath. But it would have to do.

"Mloog zoo, cov tub qhe ntawm tus poj pej thuam." Her voice seemed to echo like thunder as she spoke. Albarath muab peb ib tug lub tsev. Nws tsim cov hav iav nyob rau hauv cov suab puam. Albarath muab txhua yam uas peb xav tau. Tab sis koj tua thiab nyiag zoo li siab hlob cov dev! Txaj muag! Yog hais tias koj ua zoo li dev, kuv rau txim rau koj zoo li cov dev!

Magda lifted the Biggest Stick and brought it down on the surface of the stone. A bolt of lightning came down behind her, followed by another and another. None of them close enough to hurt anyone, but more than effective at getting her point across.

"Yog hais tias koj tsis xav rau txim, koj yuav ua raws li! Hauj lwm rau tus yuav Albarath! Nrhiav nws muaj nqi heev thiab zoo sacrifices! Yog hais tias koj teev tiam nws zoo, koj yuav tau txais kev txhawb siab!

This time, Magda turned to point her Stick at the second and third widest rocks. Much less good than the First Widest Rock, but useful for what she needed. She began chanting a prayer to Albarath, and after just a few minutes, a full feast appeared on the first rock. A few minutes after that, a second. Enough for the goblins of the tribe to eat and eat until they were full, for today at least. Hopefully that would keep them on their best behavior for a little while.

Magda did not expect the lesson to stick much longer than a couple of days. The tribe was too stupid for that. But she only needed them to behave for a short time, long enough to go out on their next raid. With Bogdirt helping to keep them in line, they should be able to bring back some nice things.

She hopped down off of the Rock and let the other goblins gorge themselves. The humans would be needing their berries for the day.

I was actually going to suggest the opposite. Magda would be the figurehead (leader by title, barking orders sometimes) with Bogdirt (if he wants to) or some other 'promoted' goblin doing the actual leading. Magda is too impatient and superior to actually lead a bunch of rowdy goblins.

And I can handle making an announcement, if no one minds.

Unless that lunch just happens to be conveniently arrow-shaped.

Are we still waiting for something to post in gameplay, or can we go ahead and start?

I think we're mainly just waiting on Andra's gear. Once we have that settled, we can figure out which money the goblin gear needs to come from.

Hm, that is a good point. I've mainly been doing every thing in groups of 35 for simplicity sake. Less book keeping if we don't have to worry about 20 having x and 15 having y etc. At least at first. I'm sure there will be more to keep track of as we increase the size of our forces.

The biggest problem with a wand is that it would take 35 rounds to invis a whole raiding party. Even with you and I both casting to halve that, it's a lot of rounds (and unlikely that we'd both be there in the first place). Potions are a bit pricier, but much more practical imo.

Sounds like quite the weekend. I hope you have a good time.

Oh, my mistake. I thought you had everything but the metamagic rods.

I'm sure there's somewhere we can make adjustments to increase your share. How much do you think you'll need?

Edit: The easiest solution would be to buy the raiders' breastplates out of the treasury fund, I think. With that, you'd have just under 40k to spend. Would that be enough?

The little river towns and single houses would probably be Magda's main targets. The major cities might be hard for a little goblin to sneak into, and there are unlikely to be any children travelling with trade caravans. In the shape of a bird, it's probably rather easy to steal a bit of someone's hair or a child's toy, and use that to scry on them later. I'd guess she has about a half dozen or so victims in her sights at any given time.

She would likely have eyes on certain major sites like the Citadel of the Alchemist or Tomb of the Emperor's, but is not quite bold enough to make a move on those yet. When she becomes more powerful, she will raid those for their treasures as a tribute to the great Albarath.

.

Priestess Magda wrote:

Tbh, it shouldn't be too much longer. If my math is correct (and assuming you can craft them) 35 +1 dogslicers, 35 +1 breastplates, and 35 +1 heavy wooden shields all total up to 70,350 gp. That should leave about 20k leftover for the last of Andra and Bogdirt's items, and if that isn't enough, we can ditch the shields for now. Then we can leave the remaining 100k gp as a treasury for future needs and purchases.

Does that sound okay?

I vote magic breastplates and magic dogslicers! (for now)

Maybe some CLW potions too :3

Sounds good to me. Maybe a few potions of invisibility too? Nothing like the element of surprise to make a raid go off without a hitch.

Edit: And we can always buy potions with the treasury money. They don't have to come from the loot. But I figure potions are an easy way to keep it exact.

Scarletrose wrote:

yeah, my concern is that since Albarath has nothing to equip might be getting really bored.

Good point, maybe we should just start RPing our first non-background meeting or something. Maybe a debrief of the latest raid?

Or deciding to start a semi-fake gem trading business to make undead even easier to create?
Or evil plans for mass murdering celestial unicorns? xD

Yeah, it should be alright for us to start. Unless we're gonna get dropped straight into the middle of an encounter, I don't think it'd be a problem.

Also, would someone with a monster manual mind posting the goblin stats? The srd has a half dozen different ones, and I'm not sure which ones the Grubstomp have.

Tbh, it shouldn't be too much longer. If my math is correct (and assuming you can craft them) 35 +1 dogslicers, 35 +1 breastplates, and 35 +1 heavy wooden shields all total up to 70,350 gp. That should leave about 20k leftover for the last of Andra and Bogdirt's items, and if that isn't enough, we can ditch the shields for now. Then we can leave the remaining 100k gp as a treasury for future needs and purchases.

Does that sound okay?

I considered it, but I'd rather have a +6 to wis than a +4 to wis+something else. I will add this ring to my list of items though. Depending on how much is left over after we get all the essentials and equip the tribe, I may add another goodie or two.

Since your crafting cuts the price by so much, Bogdirt and I should be able to get +6 on our belt and headband respectively.

Edit: If that's what he wants, that is. I don't mean to assume.

As for the things that you can't craft, I think Brew Potion is the only item creation feat you don't have? So we'll need to set aside a few of those (if we decide we even need potions). And because of the way scaling items work, it would actually cost much, much more for you to craft my thirsting blade, so we should just pay for that one outright.

It is a very nice deal. And if you can craft about 30-ish masterwork weapons out of all that (not to mention learning goblin), Magda will certainly start to think of you as the least stupid hooman. :p

(But no, seriously, that's awesome)

From the gameplay thread:

Other halls of the tower remained untouched to the goblins. A magical laboratory remains intact containing 250,000 gold pieces worth of scrolls, magic items and ingredients to forge some more while hidden safes held 100,000 worth in bars of gold and silver and precious gems.

So I think the 250k is all stuff the goblins haven't touched yet, but there should be plenty of crafting materials available. (Exactly how much, I don't know).

I went ahead and made a spreadsheet. Keep in mind, this is simply for reference. It is not a shopping list. I just find it helpful to have everything available at a glance. I also haven't factored in Unk's crafting abilities, so some of these prices may be reduced.

I can add in breastplates, along with anything else we think would be useful.

I suppose I should start on the math of what it would actually cost to equip 35 goblins.

Hey, you never know. Maybe he was a hoarder. "I never use this belt of hurling, but I don't want to throw it out. What if I need it one day?"

As for Magda's items, the main thing I want is a headband of WIS +4 (16,000 gp). And if scaling items are allowed, I wouldn't mind a thirsting blade (24,600 gp, scaled to CL 11th), but I certainly don't need one.

I'll probably need about 1000 gp for spell components (not sure exactly, as I'm still tweaking my list), but I think that comes out of the 100k, correct?

Don't forget maximized fireball