Just how long do we have before the trebuchet fires? And how far is it from here? If it really is close to firing, Llyrann could cast Web to gum up the works, or Glitterdust to blind the workers, but that's really more obvious than I think we'd like.
Alternately, she could Charm the loaders, making it look like she's just talking to them and an 'accident' could happen.
I don't suppose anyone here knows how to operate the thing? It would be nice to aim it at the keep, but that's probably too obvious...
Mags could also use slumber or daze, which would only delay them for a short time, but might be less obvious if we need to buy ourselves a minute.
For that matter, I wonder if we could charm the workers into firing at the keep. Might be the shortest adventure ever.
Just how long do we have before the trebuchet fires?
0 minutes.
I know, not helpful. ;)
Wow, sorry. I had been refreshing the previous page and didn't notice a new one had come up. Let's go back a bit.
Llyrann, at the time of your post "Just how long do we..." you have 1 hour before it fires by Ilorian's estimate. The trebuchet is about 50 feet from the door of the tavern, down the street in that four open squares area on the map, the upper right corner of the square marked 7. Operation is pretty simple, and again Ilorian (and maybe others) know. It involves cranking a lever and pulling a firing rod just below the payload in the net.
So what do you do?
Remember, theres still a small crowd and in addition to the 4 workers a guard perimeter of 4 militia men. Its a "+" intersection and it gets a lot of light from the street braziers. Any other questions let me know.
All,
Does any of you magic user type have a telekinetic type spell that could pull the pin as they load the net or a spell that could break a component of the Bucket?
Not I.
Ilorian- Unseen servant could do it, mage hand is probably too weak to pull it...unless you set up some block and tackles or something. A mundane barrel is about an inch thick (10hp) and has hardness 5 on the wood part. Incidentally I also just found out pathfinder changed the acid ignores hardness thing from 3.5.
Yeah, from what I can tell, Shatter could be used, but thats about it, unless we do a full frontal assualt. If we detonate the barrels we will kill the civilians (not an option for my character, but will lay waste to the guards as needed) so unless we can destroy the Bucket itself, I think we are out of luck....unless you guys can think of something.
Ilorian, I also have a campfire bead which could burn through ropes or whatnot.
"This tiny glass bead transforms itself into a small (2-foot-tall) pile of burning logs whenever its command word is spoken. The fire burns
for 8 hours or until extinguished, at which point it turns back into a bead. The owner of the item must wait twice as long as the fire burned before he can order the bead to become a campfire again."
Also to clarify, its a net attached to a chain that throws it, not a bucket. The net releases the barrel as the main arm fires forward. The net looks like mundane rope.
Some other ideas that might occur to you:
-Get a message to Dakovya, tell him to back up.
-Go for a mid-air detonation somehow
I need to run some RL errands (bank, post office, etc), boring.
I am calling the trebuchet itself "bucket".
Well, I have no means of warning the General unlsess one of the Mage types can, and no means of deonationg it effectivly mid air, (once again unlsess one of the Mage types can)if we could crack the beam that is used as the pivot, then we should have a good chance of it breaking and sending the shot wild when fired.
"This tiny glass bead transforms itself into a small (2-foot-tall) pile of burning logs whenever its command word is spoken. The fire burns for 8 hours or until extinguished, at which point it turns back into a bead. The owner of the item must wait twice as long as the fire burned before he can order the bead to become a campfire again."[/q]
That can definitly be of use for arson purposes.
Llyrann mainly has enchantment and illusion spells. She does have the acid splash, cantrip, but that's probably too weak to do what we want. She has mage hand, which we already know is too weak by itself, though it could possibly deliver the beat right where we wanted it.
With a round or two of prep, I might be able to pull off the illusion of a small (50' diameter) aerial assault of some kind, complete with sound effects, but wouldn't be able to do anything else. And when the soldiers started to try to fight it, they'd start getting (DC 16) will saves. That chaos might last long enough for someone else to do something.
So, Mage Hand to place the bead where the net is (or will be when fully cocked?). Then a distraction to get the guards and workers attention away from the contraption. I can also through in daze and/or slumber spells if some of them don't move away. Light the fire.
Ideally it might be nice to have someone go in and launch the thing at a point where the net is failing but not completely failed yet. Hopefully that would make the throw go completely astray, saving some Andorans and reducing the risk of blowing anything up in the center of town...
Sort of Rube Goldberg-ish, I admit...
That is actualy something to work with, a diversion or even what looks to be a incoming missile attack to cover a Fireball or such attack. Or to bring in more guards, which would give me cover,to utilize my hat of disquise to use alcamist fire or such on the "Bucket" to catch it on fire....
Open for additional ideas.
EDIT:
I type too slow.
I would think a fire on the bucket would get the ammo loaders moving to get the rest of the barrels out of there as quickly as possible.
what about a scorching ray to the barrels?
I'm not a player obviously, but I was also thinking a silent image to make an illusory force (wind) of some insects/leaves/flag high up might throw off the trajectory calculations. You could cast it out of sight, then maintain it just by moving half speed indefinitely.
Regardless, any spell cast will likely be noticed if you just go for it right there, but that's not a guarantee. Some are more obvious than others. Just keep that in mind, it could turn into a big fight if you guys get noticed.
Lets put a deadline on deciding what to do as sometime tomorrow morning (15-17 hours from this post) real-life time just to encourage a decision. After all, in game you only have an hour. Is that fair? I'm not saying you guys are taking a long time, problem solving is super fun and a creative experience for all.
Sounds fair to me, kikkoman.
Just wanted to organize some thoughts:
-A distraction, perhaps an illusory aerial assault is set upon the crew.
-A campfire bead is delivered to the trebuchet before the barrel is loaded via mage hand.
-The ensuing fire causes the guard to move the barrels to a new location. It would be a 25% chance north, west, south, east movement.
-Then?
That all sounds like a good plan so far. I'm not sure how much damage the fire bead will do, fire energy does half damage to objects. But if the movement could be controlled and the barrels recovered...you might be on to something. Go on.
Paellat- Everyone else seems to be wanting to sabotage it now. If you have a plan now is the time, unless you have some reason to delay such actions.
I still think that anything too flashy is liable to clue them in to the fact that there are enemy operatives inside the town.
Certainly, anything that leaves evidence of our activities (like the campfire bead) is a little too obvious.
I for one like the idea of trying to screw with the trajectories.
In addition, if Paellat uses his Hat of Disguise to provide a distraction, Jervaise can sneak in under invisibility, and try to disable the trebuchet.
e.g.
0) Just before the device is ready to fire...
1) Jervaise drinks potion (or has it cast on him).
2) Paellat provides a distraction.
3) Jervaise sneaks over to the trebuchet, and with the aid of some Alchemist's Fire, rigs it to explode when it is fired.
Hopefully, by only exploding one barrel, it will limit civilian casualties.
Thoughts?
I do agree that we need to be careful not to expose ourselves too soon. It's possible that any sort of fire on the machine is going to be viewed as very suspicious. It wouldn't just catch fire and even the munitions they are using aren't fire based.
So, their first thought will likely be sabotage, and we're a bunch of newcomers who just got done making an indelible impression on Blacklock.
So, where does that leave us? Very near the top of his list, I would guess.
Man, this is a tough situation...
Mags- Is it too tough? Or right amount of tough? You're having good considerations there.
The Paellat/Jervaise solution sounds pretty solid as well. The advantage it has is that the rolls are skill checks rather than spell DCs and timing.
Well, our main mission is to capture or kill the baron, any thing else is secondary. I for one, would like to destroy the Trebuchet but like Mags said we would be at the top of the list of possible insurgents. It may be in our best intrest to recon the town tonight and maybe taking out the alchemist. Then tomorrow when we escourt our goods into the keep get a feel for the layout then start reconing and possibly taking out the baron.
I am game for any contingency, but will follow the group.
I have a hat of disquise also if that helps.
I think its good tough. But that's my taste to some degree. I even like the occasional "there are no good choices" kind of situation. I'm quite excited to see what the consensus ends up being (and whether we can pull it off).
What about this....
1.Llyrann uses her ilusion to make doubles of the people going to distract/sabatoge the Trebuchet so that everyone seems to be inside the tavern or watching in the crowd when the "attack" takes place.
2.Outside a distraction is started by Paellat allowing Jervaise to get close to the trebuchet to sabatoge it, or to set something up so Mags can use her mage hand to start it.
(Question: what would a Thunderstone do if exploded near, or in, the barrel?)
3. I could be set up as sniper to assist in a getaway if things went bad.
"Some energy types might be particularly effective against certain objects, subject to GM discretion." -SRD
Technically the contents of the barrel have cover against the spread effect, and aren't a "creature". But it makes sense that a reaction would occur so yeah, it would do what you want.
I like Ilorian's latest because it involves everyone. Even if Lore continues eating he could handle stuff like people trying to talk to the illusions while Llyrann is concentrating.
I like that plan too. Note that I don't have mage hand. That was llyrann I believe.
In any event, I'm off to bed.
Yes, this is the best plan I've seen yet. However, there's one problem. Per the spell description, it can only be one image. The image can move and have some sound (but not speech).
This means Llyrann could possibly provide an alibi for 1 (one) PC. It would require her to stay in the tavern, visible, though having Lore there would probably help. The others might need to retire for the night and sneak out the window or something.
Ok, I could drop sniper cover and use my hat of disquise to look like Jerv. Leave the room then walk back in as myself as the distraction/attack happens. (sorta corney I know) Maybe as Mags also but that would have me trying to pull off being a woman. The 3 of us are half elves and within 1 ft in height of me.
Llyrann still does the illusion covering one of the people I can't.
Mags uses Misfortune on the crew, followed by the distraction started by Paellat allowing Jervaise to get close to the trebuchet to set up a thunderstone so that it will detonate when fired. They then high tail it back to the tavern to be seen when the "bucket" has its misfourtune.
We all look shocked when the trebuchet's ammo is mishandled leading to a catastrophic explosion, and even assist in clean up efforts if there is collateral damage.
How about now?
What can I say? I like it :-)
I can use my own Hat of Disguise to appear like a human (for extra insurance), sneak out, down a Potion of Invisibility, and then stealth in to plant the thunderstone appropriately under cover of Paellat's distraction.
Providing assistance to 'clean-up' and aid with civilian casualties would definitely be a nice touch, as well :-)
The hat's caster level 1 disguise will only last 10 minutes though so you'll need to reactivate or be fast.
You're right. I wonder what chart I was looking at when I copied that down. Changed. I wondered why I was underwhelmed with her arcane ability. That's eight potential vipers and 4 webs to trap prey for them per day!
The hat's caster level 1 disguise will only last 10 minutes though so you'll need to reactivate or be fast.
?? It is not a spell-trigger item - the exact text is:
"This apparently normal hat allows its wearer to alter her appearance as with a disguise self spell. As part of the disguise, the hat can be changed to appear as a comb, ribbon, headband, cap, coif, hood, helmet, and so on."
So you are not actually casting the spell - the hat's ability is that it duplicates the effect of a Disguise Self spell (i.e. gives you a +10 bonus on disguise checks) at will, rather than allowing you to cast the spell, and as such, does not have a duration.
It would be like saying that a Belt of Giant's Strength allowed you to cast Bull's Strength ;-)
I only mention this for future reference, as I am fairly certain we intend to be 'in and out' in under ten minutes :-)
Sounds like a good plan. I'm not sure what purpose Misfortune would serve though? Did you have something in mind there? It only last 1 round and effects a single target (unless I also use Cackle to extend it's duration, which, in this case, would probably draw attention).
I'm cool with just being available should things go awry.
Mags, I was trying to find away to lesen perception of the guard nearest the trebuchet. Maybe evil eye would work better?
If you thing you would be better suited as support we can work that also.
All, fell free to throw any mods to the plan you guys see fit. i was just throwing out an idea.
Evil Eye has a less dramatic effect, but as it lasts for 7 rounds I would be able to effect all four of the guards, one by one (assuming they don't make their saving throws).
Jervaise- Belt of Giant strength is an effect (ability bonus) type wondrous item. Hat of disguise is a spell effect (command word) type. You can tell the difference by price. BoGS+4 is 16000 (Bonus squaredx1000), HoD is 1800 (spell levelxcasterlevelx1800). You're right, its not you casting the spell, the item creates the CL1 effect after you trigger it mentally.
Theres a rule under Using Items that says to assume a command word is required if not spelled out in the description. Then, it goes on to mention that some seemingly use-activated items made for wearing must still be activated...and that if a command word is needed in that case the description will say so (which HoD does not). Otherwise its a mental activation. It takes a standard action. Its not you removing the hat and putting it back on that takes up the standard action. It doesn't provoke an AOO.
If it was truly use-activated the price would be 2000. (but even then wouldn't suddenly have infinite duration)
Moving on, its not really a big deal to reactivate, but who knows, that little standard action might affect something down the road.
On the flip side, im new to Pathfinder so its likely I'm wrong. Perhaps we can move the discussion to the Advice forums if you'd like.
Incidentally, I also have one going there regarding Mags' use of a supernatural ability and how its detected.
Lets start getting back to the game. Please mention where/how you are discussing the plan briefly, you don't need to go through the whole thing. And again, sorry for missing those posts earlier.
Will Invisibility blink off if I cast charm person?
It will, Lore. "..an attack includes any spell targeting a foe.." You could do something like a silent image, unseen servant though, or buffs.
You guys are so sneaky, hehe.
Bond. James Bond.
Bond. James Bond.
Heh. Well, if we were wanting to stay true to form, someone would need to seduce the barmaid, or possibly the Baron's daughter... Oh, wait... ;-)
Hmm, what's up? Is everyone waiting on Paellat or something?