Chapter 15 [Return to New Briar]

[reefwood]

Return to New Briar

Day 55

Soon after waking, you are handed a letter by a message runner. New orders. From a name familiar to most: Captain Nola Whimsir. You are to come to New Briar as soon as possible. A battalion is departing this day from Verdas and expected to land at Dragon Dock in three days. You are welcome to join it or travel by your own means.


[OOC: Don't have time for a fancy intro but wanted to give you an idea of what is coming up tonight. You can get a list of the significant NPCs met in and around New Briar in the Friends & Foes thread.

The battalion is leaving on Day 55 at 7am. It will march for 2 long days by land and finish the journey on the 3rd day by sea. It is expected to arrive at Dragon Dock at 5am on Day 58. Dragon Dock is 30 miles from New Briar by road.]

[reefwood]

Grunts

The grunts under command of Brion and Nimarius are now at Level 6. The spoils claimed from Chapter 14 have been added to the character sheet of every grunt. I have tried to keep up with the extra armor and weapons given to grunts, and move old items into their equipment lockers, but some of this might be a bit off, especially if you are borrowing equipment from someone else, so if it is different on your sheet, yours is probably correct. And finally, I don't keep track of any old expendable resources you give to grunts (i.e. potions, wands, etc), so those are not listed on these character sheets.

p.s. - It looks like none of the Side Quest I spoils have been claimed yet, except for the staff by Sahme.

p.p.s. - You can have as many arrows as you want after from Verdas, but be sure to add them to load.

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Brion

Duncan: The main changes are the bonus feat and additional attack from BAB +6/+1. Also, he can now automatically succeed on Ride checks to Guide with Knees and Stay in Saddle. And he claimed a Cloak of resistance +1 (Tiny to Medium) from the Chapter 14 spoils, so now he has two of these as well as a +1 Mithral Shirt to sleep in.

He is at a Medium Load by a decent amount but nowhere near Heavy. I know that he sometimes (always?) has a tower shield, but I don't know what kind, so I have not included that. Be sure to add that to the total weight, but I'm pretty sure he will still be at Medium unless you've given him a bunch of other equipment that I missed.

Hunter: The main change is the feat. However, he is extremely close to a Medium load...and might be already if you've given him other stuff that I'm missing...and he will definitely be if you give him half the firebomber's flasks & vials...but you can have him leave his rope or torch behind to free up some weight. Not only would a Medium load lower his speed, but it will also lower his AC by 1 since he has a Dex mod +4 but can only use Max Dex +3 with a Medium load. Also, I gave him a total of 40 arrows (including the six +1 shock arrows) since he can now shoot 4 per round. You can give him more or less, but be sure to add them to load.

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Nimarius

Bodyguard: The main changes are the bonus feat and additional attack from BAB +6/+1. One thing I didn't realize is that by being at a Heavy Load, his AC should have been lowered by 1 because a Heavy Load has a Max Dex +1, so he couldn't use all his Dex mod +2 to AC. But now Bodyguard is stronger thanks to the magic belt, so I removed some minor items (caltrops and sunrods) to get him back to Medium Load, but of course, you can add them back if you want. Also, if he has more equipment than what is listed here, please add them weight to load too.

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Sahme

Paulson: Not much change here. I added the Chapter 14 spoils and refilled his arrows to 40. He is very close to Medium Load, which would lower his AC by 1 and lower speed to 20 ft, but unless the extra potions (or other items) you've given him add up to much more than 1 lb, he should be okay.

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The character sheets have been attached to this post as a spreadsheet file. If you need me to print anything, just let me know.

Attachments:

[michael]

Would you mind printing Hunter & Paulson's sheets for me? Nothing on my computer can open .ods, and for some reason, Google Docs is giving me problems and I'm not able to upload the attachment.

Since he's close to a medium load, I'm going to give Hunter the +1 Mithral Chain Shirt.

[reefwood]

Feb 28, 2011 19:33:08 GMT -5 michael said:

Would you mind printing Hunter & Paulson's sheets for me? Nothing on my computer can open .ods, and for some reason, Google Docs is giving me problems and I'm not able to upload the attachment.

Since he's close to a medium load, I'm going to give Hunter the +1 Mithral Chain Shirt.

You got it!

I gave the +1 mithral shirt to Hunter, and this puts him well below a Medium Load.

Also, I gave Hunter's +1 Chain shirt to Duncan for sleeping, and as long as Duncan's tower shield is made of darkwood, he is still at Medium Load.

[michael]

I gave Hunter's +1 Chain shirt to Duncan for sleeping, and as long as Duncan's tower shield is made of darkwood, he is still at Medium Load.

I have it down that Vargas was using a +1 Darkwood Tower shield and Duncan a regular one, but Duncan inherited Vargas's better equipment. So yeah, he's still at a medium load.

[reefwood]

Day 55

12:00am – Nim preps spells (1 hr).
(Nim woke @ 11pm: tire @ 5pm, drowsy @ 8pm, unconscious @ 11pm)


4:00am – Sahme wakes and refreshes spell slots (15 min).
(Sahme: tire @ 10pm, drowsy @ 1am, unconscious @ 4am)

6:00am – Brion wakes and prays for spells (1 hr). The giant ghoul tries to break free but fails.
(Brion: tire @ 1am, drowsy @ 5am, unconscious @ 9am)

7:00am – Destroy zombie crab. Use wind walk and nightmare skeletons to transport squad around the Blackfens to Dragon Dock.

2:45pm – Arrive at Dragon Dock and continue to New Briar.

4:25pm – Arrive at New Briar. Brion is escorted to Captain Nola Whimsir at the Nemedoran embassy while the rest of the squad waits 1 mile outside the city. He learns that Archcleric Kilvir Stoneroot has passed away, and the undead can be kept at Nemedoran compound that is 5 miles east of New Briar at the northern edge of the Blackfens.

5:00pm – Brion returns to the squad. Nim becomes tired.

5:20pm – Arrive at the Nemedoran compound outside the city. Nim prepares to call an erinyes.

5:40pm - The erinyes is called, and the squad kills her. Nim casts animate dead and command undead on her skeleton.

5:45pm – The commanding officers each head out to New Briar separately with their soldiers, except for Bodyguard who is left behind with the undead.


5:50pm – Brion and Duncan arrive in New Briar via wind walk and seek out adamantine. This time, they are allowed to wander freely without escort. Brion learns about 3 shops in town that sell adamantine items. (1 hr)

- 7:00pm – Brion arrives at the first shop. The owner has not received an adamantine shipment in weeks. Not since the siege of Ione began. However, he knows of another shop that may have some. Brion already learned of this shop and goes there next.

- 7:15pm – Brion arrives at the second shop. The owner does have some raw adamantine (1,500 gp) and sells it to Brion at a 10% discount.

- 7:25pm – Brion arrives at the third shop, but the results are the same as the first shop. Then, he sends a sending to Lady Karryx and heads back to the Nemedoran embassy in New Briar (7:45 min).


6:00pm – Nim arrives in New Briar via phantom steed. He is questioned at the gate and is allowed to enter with an escort that follows at a distance. He searches for a fabric shop.

- 8:00pm – Nim becomes drowsy but arrives at a fabric shop and puchases enough cloth to cover 5 large creatures (5 gp each) and 3 medium creatures (3 gp each).

- 9:00pm – Nim arrives at a stable and purchases 4 military saddles (30 lb each) for the nightmares. Then, he returns to the Nemedoran embassy in New Briar (9:20pm).


7:25pm – Sahme arrives in New Briar with Paulson and Hunter via walking and head to the Nemedoran embassy (7:45pm).


9:20pm – A drowsy Nim goes to sleep for two and one-quarter hours (11:35pm).

10:00pm – Brion and Sahme go to sleep with the rest of the squad.

11:35pm – Nim wakes.
(Nim: tire @ 5:35pm, drowsy @ 8:35pm, unconscious @ 11:35pm)


Day 56

12:00am – Nim preps spells (1 hr).

1:00am – Nim studies darkvision (1 hr, DC 17).

2:00am – Nim writes darkvision into his spellbook (2 hr).

4:00am – Nim studies summon swarm [bats] (1 hr, DC 17).

5:00am – Nim writes summon swarm [bats] his spellbook (2 hr).

6:00am – Brion wakes and prays for spells (1hr). Sahme wakes and refreshes spell slots (15 min). The giant ghoul tries to break free but fails.
(Brion: tire @ 1am, drowsy @ 5am, unconscious @ 9am)
(Sahme: tire @ 12am, drowsy @ 3am, unconscious @ 6am)

7:00am – Nim takes a 1-hr nap (tire @ 6:35pm, drowsy @ 9:35pm, unconscious @ 12:35am).

8:00am – The squad and expedition members head southwest into the swamp at a pace of 1 mile per hour (forgot to have the squad go 5 miles east to get the undead; will just have to remember next time if it comes up).

4:00pm – Forced march check #1 (Con DC 10).

5:00pm – Forced march check #2 (Con DC 12). Paulson takes 3 pts nonlethal and becomes fatigued.

6:00pm – The expedition sets up camp after 10 miles. Nim studies acid arrow (1 hr, DC 17) and becomes tired at 6:35pm.

7:00pm – Nim writes acid arrow into his spellbook (2 hr).

9:00pm – Nim studies touch of idiocy (1 hr, DC 17) and becomes drowsy at 6:35pm. Brion goes to sleep.

10:00pm – Nim writes touch of idiocy into his spellbook (2 hr). Expedition members go to sleep.


Day 57

12:00am – A drowsy Nim goes to sleep for two and one-quarter hours (2:15am).

2:00am – The camp is attacked by winged felines with humanoids faces, but the foul beasts are driven off. Although, no one resting at the time recovers hit points.
(FE #1 [2d2 hp, 1d3 spells]: Brion 2/5, Sahme 4/4, Nim 3/3 – I failed to note that Nim was actually still asleep when this happened, so he would have not recovered hp and needed an additional hour of rest for spells, which is only 15 minutes with the ring of sustenance.)

2:15am – Nim wakes and preps spells (1 hr).
(Nim: tire @ 8:15pm, drowsy @ 11:15pm, unconscious @ 2:15am)

3:00am – Sahme goes to sleep.

5:00am – Brion wakes and prays for spells (1hr). Sahme wakes and refreshes slots (15 min).
(Brion: tire @ 12am, drowsy @ 4am, unconscious @ 8am)
(Sahme: tire @ 11pm, drowsy @ 2am, unconscious @ 5am)

6:00am – Expedition members wake and prepare breakfast. The giant ghoul tries to break free but fails.

7:00am – The expedition sets out.

12:00pm – The camp is attacked by enormous crocodiles, but no serious harm comes to the squad.
(FE #2 [1d2 hp, 1d3 spells])

3:00pm – Forced march check #1 (Con DC 10). Sahme takes 4 pts nonlethal, Paulson takes 5 pts nonlethal, and Duncan takes 2 pts nonlethal. All become fatigued.

4:00pm – Forced march check #2 (Con DC 12). Sahme takes 4 pts nonlethal and becomes exhausted. Brion uses a healing burst to remove all nonlethal damage.

5:00pm – The expedition reaches its destination. Expedition members set up camp while the squad keeps watch and patrols. They uncover tracks and a smattering of crushed stone that leads them to believe a basilisk may be in the area.

6:00pm – Nim studies dancing lights (1 hr, DC 15). Sahme, Paulson, Duncan, and Bodyguard go to sleep. The expedition members prepare dinner.

7:00pm – Nim writes dancing lights into his spellbook (30 min).

7:30pm – Nim studies ghost sounds (1 hr, DC 15) and becomes tired at 8:15pm.

8:00pm – Sahme wakes.
(Sahme: tire @ 2pm, drowsy @ 5pm, unconscious @ 8pm)

8:30pm – Nim writes ghost sounds into his spellbook (30 min).

9:00pm – Nim studies light (1 hr, DC 15).

10:00pm – Nim writes light into his spellbook (30 min). Brion and Hunter go to sleep. The expedition members go to sleep.

10:30pm – Nim studies ray of frost (1 hr, DC 15) and becomes drowsy at 11:15pm.

11:30pm – Nim writes ray of frost into his spellbook (30 min).


Day 58

12:00am – Sahme refreshes spell slots (15 min). Nim casts fabricate to create a cloth covering for Nightmare #2 (forgot to note that Nim needed to make a Concentration check for casting while drowsy, and he should have taken a -3 penalty to Craft for being drowsy, and he would not regain this spell slot unless he waited until 8 hrs from this point to prep spells). Nim goes to sleep for two and one-quarter hours.

2:00am - Paulson, Duncan, and Bodyguard wake. Paulson meditates for spells.
(Paulson: tire @ 7pm, drowsy @ 9pm, unconscious @ 11pm)
(Duncan: tire @ 8pm, drowsy @ 11pm, unconscious @ 2am)
(Bodyguard: tire @ 10pm, drowsy @ 3am, unconscious @ 8am)

2:15am – Nim wakes.
(Nim: tire @ 8:15pm, drowsy @ 11:15pm, unconscious @ 2:15am)

4:00am – Half-dragon basilisks attack the camp. Nim studies alarm (1 hr, DC 16).

5:00am – Nim writes alarm into his spellbook. (1 hr).

6:00am – Brion and Hunter wake and pray and meditate for spells (1 hr). The giant ghoul attempts to break free but fails. Nim preps spells (1 hr). The expedition members wake and prepare breakfast.
(Brion: tire @ 1am, drowsy @ 5am, unconscious @ 9am)
(Hunter: tire @ 11pm, drowsy @ 1am, unconscious @ 3am)

7:00am – The expedition members begin their dig. Brion casts word of recall at the digging site and flies to the Nemedoran camp outside Verdas via wind walk. Nim casts fabricate to create a cloth covering for Nightmare #3 and studies black tentacles (1 hr, DC 20).

7:50am – Brion casts speak with dead to interrogate the firebomber:
A1. It holds the secrets to my power.
A2. I can infuse the arcane with alchemy.
A3. I could burn my foes in more than one way.
A4. My essence.
A5. No.
A6. They are useless without me.
Then, he uses word of recall to rejoin the squad.

8:00am – Nim writes black tentacles into his spellbook (5 hr).

1:00pm – Nim studies disintegrate (1 hr, DC 21).

2:00pm – Nim writes disintegrate into his spellbook (6 hr).

8:00pm – Nim studies true seeing (1 hr, DC 21) and becomes tired at 8:15pm (-1 Spellcraft).

9:00pm – A tired Nim goes to sleep for two hours.

11:00pm – Nim wakes.


[OOC: These are notes are pretty detailed because I wanted to double check how I did with keeping track of what everyone tried to accomplish as well as the new rest rules. There were some mistakes and a few things left out of my notes, but I don't think anything major either way.

I am not sure how many times Nim cast fabricate to create coverings for the nightmares or how many he actually made, but I do know that he failed at least once and it was by 5 or more, so that ruined half that batch of raw materials. Each large batch costs 5 gp, so he lost 2.5 gp and didn't get anything out of that casting. The medium batches for the erinyes cost 3 gp each.

This was the first real test of the new rest rules, and I think they went fairly smoothly. The biggest things to note are: 1) tired/drowsy casters have to make Concentration checks to cast spells, but this wasn't an issue during the basilisk attack anyway, and 2) there are tired/drowsy penalties to Craft and Spellcraft checks from the Int penalty, so doing these things at the end of the day could be more difficult, and the same goes for Perception checks. Also, I forgot about the grunts' rest, but they are pretty on par with the PCs in terms of staying awake and much less powerful, so it isn't as big a deal if their mental penalties are overlooked.

A couple other things to note are related to the rings of sustenance. Spells slots used in the previous 8 hrs are not regained when you prep for the day, so if you rest for 2 hours and prep as soon as you wake up, any spell slots used in the 6 hrs before rest won't come back this day. Of course, you can wait to prep spells later on, but this could leave you short on spells if combat comes up. Also, you can only prep spells 1/day, so no matter what time you rest and wake up, you can't prep new spells until midnight at the earliest. This isn't much of an issue with divine casters since there is only one time of day they can prep spells anyway.

And finally, the giant ghoul does not need to sleep. He doesn't even need to rest, but he does need to rest if he wants to recover hit points during the night (or whenever 1/day). He can keep his eyes open while resting, but a resting time will need to be stated in case an interruption occurs that may ruin it.]

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Mission Score

Zombie Crab (CR 4 x1) = 4 pts
Erinyes Devil (CR 8 x1) = 8 pts
Expedition Miners = 20 pts
Expedition Leader = 5 pts
FE #1 (winged felines) = 10 pts
FE #2 (huge crocodiles) = 5 pts
Half-Dragon Dracolisks = 29 pts
Starting early (5/day) = 10 pts

TOTAL = 81 91 pts for a Good rating (3 APs)

Everyone had 0 mission APs before this chapter, and 3 APs is not enough to level up. However, Sahme and Nim earned 1 bonus AP from the side quest that can be used toward leveling up, so this gives them a total of 4 APs. This is enough to level up, but only the 3 mission APs count toward rewards, so the reward packages would only be at 50% of the standard wealth increase (+13k for 12th-level, +16k for 13th-level).

If someone wants to level up, Nim can teleport to Verdas on the first morning of Time Off to put in the order and drop off items for upgrade, and then, he can teleport back to the swamp right away. He can repeat the process later in the week at the end of a day to pick up items that are being upgraded.

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Spoils

No spoils were found during this mission.

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Income

This includes the Time Off leading up to this chapter and the mission days:
Time Off (Days 50-53) = 4 days
Chapter 15 (Days 55-58) = 4 days

TOTAL = 8 days

Sahme:
{[Level 11 x10] + Profession (military) modifier = daily wage in gp} x8 days

Brion & Nimarius:
{[Level 12 x10] + Profession (military) modifier = daily wage in gp} x8 days

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Time Off

3 APs = 3 days (Days 59-61)

This income will be paid at the end of the next chapter.

Living squad members and the Giant Ghoul heal for 3 nights over this time (HD x3).

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Promotions

Staff Sergeant Nimarius is promoted to Master Sergeant.

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Next Chapter

Chapter 16 will begin at the start of Day 62 at midnight. During the Time Off, squad members can adjust their rest schedule enough that they can wake up at anytime on Day 62.

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Misc - Undead Control

B.S. Erinyes #2 (command undead spell on Day 55 @ 5:40pm for 12 days)

[michael]

You know what we all forgot last night? Sahme has Blind-sense, and Brion can use Blind-Fight with his Weapon Master ability. I think we did about as well as we could have as it was, but I still kinda slapped my forehead when I remembered that.

[reefwood]

Mar 1, 2011 20:27:37 GMT -5 michael said:

You know what we all forgot last night? Sahme has Blind-sense, and Brion can use Blind-Fight with his Weapon Master ability. I think we did about as well as we could have as it was, but I still kinda slapped my forehead when I remembered that.

Ha, oh yeah... well, maybe you'll get to use these abilities next time

Also, I added a recap to the above post. A lot of it is just bookkeeping to track rest and Nim's work. There are some things to note mixed in with the recap, but all of them are summarized in the OOC at the end of the recap too.

Although, one thing I forgot to mention... I let Brion wind walk to Verdas at the end without giving it much thought, but normally, he cannot freely fly over the Blackfens without some chance of peril. Of course, Nim could have teleported you two there, so there was a safe way to do it, but another long distance flight over the swamp will come with a chance for doom.

[icnivad]

Michael, How much more Adamantium material do you need for your armor?

[michael]

Mar 3, 2011 2:28:46 GMT -5 icnivad said:

Michael, How much more Adamantium material do you need for your armor?

1010 gold worth.

[reefwood]

A correction...that in the end has no effect on the mission score... but since the squad could have gone with the battalion to arrive at Dragon Dock on Day 58 (and presumably in New Briar a couple hours later), each day before Day 58 that the expedition began provided the squad with 5 pts, so the final score receives +10 pts for a new total of 91 pts, but this doesn't change the actual rating. Though, it could have made a difference to still get the Good rating if some miners or grunts were lost.

[reefwood]

Post-Game

Just listing a few things to make sure they are correct:

• Brion cannot level up and nothing changes with his crew except for 3 nights of natural healing.
  
• Nim is leveling up with 50% rewards. He may upgrade his headband of vast intelligence and would have it back for the next mission but would not regain the permanent bonuses until he wears it again for 24 hrs (i.e. after the next mission). Also, he may begin the next mission with a cohort. Finally, Nim and Bodyguard and Ghoul will receive 3 nights of natural healing.
  
• Sahme could level up with 50% rewards but is not doing so. He and Paulson receive 3 nights of natural healing.

[reefwood]

Post-Game - update

Just listing a few things to make sure they are correct:

• Brion cannot level up and nothing changes with his crew except for 3 nights of natural healing.
  
• Nim is leveling up with 50% rewards. He will upgrade his headband of vast intelligence and will have it back for the next mission but will not regain the permanent bonuses until he wears it again for 24 hrs (i.e. after the next mission). Also, he will begin to research a new spell. Finally, Nim and Bodyguard and Ghoul will receive 3 nights of natural healing.
  
• Sahme could level up with 50% rewards but is not doing so. He and Paulson receive 3 nights of natural healing.
  
• The dwarven miners receive 3 nights of natural healing.