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Post by reefwood on Jun 2, 2011 18:25:18 GMT -5
Day 75
6:00am - Three and a half months have passed since Coalition forces landed back on the Hydrahead Peninsula. Major cities have been reclaimed and other population centers of note have peaceably accepted the shift in power. However, there is still work to be done before the region is secure. Loose ends that slipped through the cracks but continue to rear their heads in an attempt to disrupt progress. Ragtag rebels, small bands of enemy troops, leadership in hiding. These threats must be quashed even as command begins to prepare for the next push into greater Vallest.
[OOC: This mission will begin right where the last side quest left off, so 6am on Day 75 in the camp outside Verdas.
Brion and Nim woke up on Day 74 at 6am. I assume that Brion is going to bed at 10pm to wake up at 6am again since he has to be ready for duty at that time (and starting duty by praying for spells is fine). Nim has to be ready to go at 6am too. Sahme wasn't part of the side quest, so he could wake up later if he wants.
Anyone could also wake up earlier if they want to for some reason. However, this session will start at 6am, so if Brion or Nim want to do anything before this session, you can use the real world delay to wrap things up in the side quest thread before the session. Of course, like I said before, the online part of the side quest can be finished up after this mission too. Although, Sahme was not part of the side quest, so he can wake up before 6am but cannot actually do anything until 6am.
I know I'm probably over-explaining all this since you will all probably just want to wake up at the same time, but I just wanted to make sure the options and restrictions were clear.
This session will be somewhat different in the sense that you won't have any super special orders to start out the day. You won't begin on an actual mission. This will begin more like how the Time Off days tend to go. There are a number of routine duties you may be asked to perform (i.e. patrol, check out a disturbance, investigate something of interest, do something with your specialty, etc). This is intentionally part of the challenge. Deciding what spells to prep and when to wake up. One option is to only prep some of your spells during initial prep, and prep the rest as the day goes on. Of course, Sahme doesn't have to worry about picking specific spells, and the squad members who don't need sleep don't have to worry about that unless they want to heal.
Awake Time Lengths Brion (Con +4): 20 hr awake, 5 hr tired, 5 hr drowsy = 30 hr unconscious Sahme (Con +3): 19 hr awake, 4 hr tired, 4 hr drowsy = 27 hr unconscious Nim (Con +2): 18 hr awake, 3 hr tired, 3 hr drowsy = 24 hr unconscious
And let me know if your Con bonus has changed more than this.]
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Post by michael on Jun 2, 2011 18:33:15 GMT -5
Brion's CON is +4 now.
I know it would be an option for Nim, but Clerics can't do this, correct?
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Post by reefwood on Jun 2, 2011 21:26:43 GMT -5
Fixed! I know it would be an option for Nim, but Clerics can't do this, correct? Wizards and all the divine core classes can do this. Spell slots left open during the initial hour prep can be filled later. It takes at least 15 minutes even if it is just one spell slot that is left open, and it takes more time if more than 1/4 of your spell slots need to be filled. If you have 30 spell slots, you take 1 hour to do initial prep which clears the old spells and lets you refill as many as you want. Lets say you only fill 10 slots. If you want to fill 10 more slots later on, that will take 20 minutes since it is 1/3 of your spells, and 20 min is 1/3 of an hour. Then, you fill 5 more slots later on. This takes 15 minutes cos that is the minimum. That leaves you with 5 slots, and if you fill those later, that is another 15 minutes. So doing it this way provides flexibility throughout the day, but this example took 1 hr initial +20 min +15 min +15 min = 1 hr, 50 min total.
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Post by reefwood on Jun 7, 2011 15:08:13 GMT -5
Can everyone post their current HP? I actually like *not* knowing how close the PCs are to death, but I just want to make sure the info doesn't get lost during the break.
One thing I did a poor job of was fully describing and noting where exactly the stone ceiling was turned to mud and re-hardened. The stone door that was hidden by an illusion is gone, but also, it turns out that all areas hit by this spell have to be at least 10 ft wide, so the wall next to the stone door is also gone, which means that the tunnel with the nasty fog now has a 10-ft opening into the room with the "wizards" as opposed to just a 5-ft doorway.
Another thing is that this tunnel and room have ceilings which are only 10 ft high. Not that it matters much to the current squad set up. But also, 10 ft of ceiling was turned into mud that then became 5 ft of stone on the ground. Therefore, the area that was affected is now 5 ft higher than the rest of the ground level, and this area now has 15-ft high ceilings.
Oh, and the fog in the room is also nasty fog, but I forgot to have the living squad members and "wizard" make saves for it.
These two maps may help better display the change (X = affected area):
OOOOOO <--nasty fog OOOOOO <--nasty fog OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO ...OO <--nasty fog ...OO <--nasty fog ...OO <--nasty fog ...OO <--nasty fog ...OO <--nasty fog ...OO <--nasty fog ..OOOO ..OOOO ..OOOO /fog\ ..OOOOOOOOOO ..OOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOO <--nasty fog OOOOOO <--nasty fog OOOOOO OOOOOO OOXXXX OOXXXX ...XX <--nasty fog ...XX <--nasty fog ...XX <--nasty fog ...XX <--nasty fog ...XX <--nasty fog ...XX <--nasty fog ..OOOO ..OOOO ..OOOO /fog\ ..OOOOOOOOOO ..OOOOOOOOOO
I kind of lost track of who got stuck in the stone, but I think everyone may be fine except Brion. I remember that Sahme used earth glide to escape, Garm used greater teleport to escape, and I think most of Nim's crew dodged it. However, Brion got stuck and then caught in the wall of fire, so he is still in the wall of fire. I am not going to retroactively add damage, but he will continue to take damage until he escapes or the wall comes down. Also, Sahme and Garm will have to make Fort save for being in the nasty fog that I forgot about, but that will just be for the next round if they decide to stay in the fog, so they will get a free "out" if they can get out on their next turn. And I am going to double check to see if the fog should be burned up by fire.
I think that's everything to remember for next time. I'm pretty sure the only spells currently running on PCs are darkvision on Brion and Nim, which will last longer than this encounter, and Sahme has had elemental body I running for only about 1-2 minutes out of 7 minutes, so unless you take some major downtime from combat, it should also last the whole time.
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Post by michael on Jun 7, 2011 16:49:02 GMT -5
Brion and his Phantom Steed were the only ones trapped by the stone, and the Phantom Steed is now dead. Now that the Phantom Steed is gone, what happens with Brion's positioning?
Brion was only in the wall of fire because he was taking up 4 squares while on the Phantom Steed. A medium creature can't occupy more than one square at a time, though, which would mean he couldn't be positioned in the wall of fire. But he was also trapped in stone up to his knees, so he'd have a hard time moving from that spot. How do you want to handle this?
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Post by reefwood on Jun 8, 2011 13:58:43 GMT -5
Brion and his Phantom Steed were the only ones trapped by the stone, and the Phantom Steed is now dead. Now that the Phantom Steed is gone, what happens with Brion's positioning? Brion was only in the wall of fire because he was taking up 4 squares while on the Phantom Steed. A medium creature can't occupy more than one square at a time, though, which would mean he couldn't be positioned in the wall of fire. But he was also trapped in stone up to his knees, so he'd have a hard time moving from that spot. How do you want to handle this? This seems to be a weird, outside the rules situation, so I'm just going with what makes the most sense to me. Brion was trapped in the intersection while riding a Large mount. The mount is gone, but in this situation, it will not change his position, so he will continue to take damage until he escapes or the wall comes down. Though, at least being on a mount kept him elevated, so he can still take actions instead of being trapped in stone up to his shoulders... which could have brought up an interesting situation... Brion fits in a 5-ft square even though he is over 5 ft tall. The mud fills a 5-ft square. So, if Brion was on ground level, would be be entirely covered and suffocating? But protected from the fire? Or would his head still be sticking out so he can breath but also burning? Anyway, just something to think about even though it doesn't affect the current situation. Also, if Brion was on a Huge mount (3 x 3), he would be in the center square. If Brion was on a Gargantuan mount (4 x 4), he would be in the center intersection.
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Post by icnivad on Jun 23, 2011 10:45:11 GMT -5
That was a really fun battle. Good work everyone, and thanks, Reefwood, for running it.
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Post by reefwood on Jun 23, 2011 17:13:40 GMT -5
RecapYou all did a great job in defeating the Order of Kem! If any of them got away, the order would have lived on. Anyway, I don't think there is a need for a detailed recap, but if you have any questions about the story, go ahead and ask. And here are the post-mission details... Mission ScoreAssigning points is getting a bit trickier at higher levels because fifteen “CR 1” foes don't match up anywhere close to one “CR 15” foe - especially not against Level 14 PCs - even though those encounters would both be worth 15 points under the standard War Stories system. CR will still be used as a baseline for points but actual point value may sometimes be tweaked based on relative difficulty or importance to the mission. I'm not going to breakdown every point, in part because I don't want to give away the exact levels of foes, but here is how I handled some things this time... The lowest level Order of Kem members were worth a bit more than their CR because they had wands of a higher level than them. Magic missile only deals a little damage, but it always hits, and it turned out that having each low-level mage being able to shoot 2 missiles per charge at once did make it a deadlier combat, even though they only had 2 charges each and usually went down after 1 hit. Also, the highest level members were worth a lot more than their CR because they were very value targets, so you got double points for the big dwarf and quadruple points for the leader. On the flipside, if the leader escaped, the mission would have had a significantly lower rating. I like to assign points to spells in place that were cast on a previous day since they don't reduce the caster has replenished those slots. I used to base point value on spell level, but tweaked the points for the magic barriers this time. The wall of stone is Level 5, and I dropped that by -2 since it wasn't too hard to bypass, so it was worth 3 pts to get through. The permanent wall of fire is two Level 5 spells, so it used to be worth 10 pts in previous missions, but it is a lot easier for the squad to bypass at their current level, so I just had it be Level 5 +2 for being permanent, so 7 pts. The stampede encounter was not worth any points, but each citizen killed was a -1 penalty, and each cattle killed was a -0.5 penalty. Also, FYI...not all the people or cattle were killed when they first went down. Some bled out but could have been saved with a Heal check or magic healing. PointsMagic Barriers = 10 pt Order of Kem = 130 pt PenaltiesDead Citizens = -3 pt Dead Cattle = -2.5 pt Total = 140 - 5.5 = 134.5 pt for Superb rating (5 AP) Anyway, everyone can level up with a reward package equal to 75% of the standard wealth increase. The side quest APs don't count toward PC rewards. They can only be used to level up and are lost when you do so, so everyone has the same amount of 5 AP for rewards. However, cohorts work a bit differently. Their AP only matter for leveling up, and any leftover AP does carryover after a level up, but if they don't level up, they cap off at 3 AP. Garm has 3 AP +5 AP (Ch. 18) = 8 AP. If Brion does not level up, Garm cannot level up and his AP remain 1 less than the amount needed to level up, which is 3 AP since that is 1 less than the 4 AP needed to level up. If Brion does level up, Garm can too and will use 4 AP but still have 4 AP that would carryover for next time, except he can never have more than 3 AP at a time unless he is leveling, and since he cannot level again right now, he will be have 3 AP that carryover. Either way, Garm will be at 3 AP to start the next mission and can level up afterward as long as the squad earns at least 1 AP and Brion also levels up to stay 2 levels ahead. SpoilsI decided to list just about everything except for the non-masterwork weapons, a few wands of burning hands with only 1 or 2 charges, and the low-level spellbooks that don't have anything new. I have listed every single item per group, so there is either only 1 item from that group or the total amount indicated (i.e. 2x, 4x, etc), but for multiple items, each item weighs or costs the indicated amount. Anyway, you can sort it out among yourselves as to who takes what, and I'll mark items off the list as things are figured out. Leader Mage- Amulet of Natural Armor +3
- Headband of Vast Intelligence +3 [Diplomacy] (1 lb)
- Belt of Mighty Constitution +2 (1 lb)
- Cloak of Resistance +2 (1 lb)
- Ring of Sustenance
- Rod of Metamagic, Extend, lesser (5 lb)
- Arcane scroll of mage's lubrication [CL11: recall any prepared spell of 5th level or lower] (0.1 lb)
- Arcane scroll of incendiary cloud [CL 15: fog cloud +6d6 fire each rd, Ref DC 22 half; 15 rd, moves 10 ft per rd – range 250 ft] (0.1 lb)
- Arcane scroll of maze [CL 15: 1 creature @ 60 ft banished – Int check DC 20 as full-round action each rd to escape or 10 min; SR] (0.1 lb)
- Arcane scroll of sunburst [CL 15: 80-ft radius burst @ 1000 ft – 6d6 damage+blindess or 15d6 undead – Ref half & no blindness] (0.1 lb)
- 2x Potion of cure serious wounds [CL15: 3d8+15] (0.1 lb)
- Potion of invisibility [CL10: 10 min] (0.1 lb)
- 4x Diamond [500 gp]
- 4x Diamond [1,000 gp]
- Diamond/Granite Dust mix [2,250 gp]
- Small Silver Mirror [100 gp]
- Spellbook #1 (3 lb) [(81 / 100 pg]: 0 - resistance, acid splash, detect magic, detect poison, read magic, dancing lights, flare, light, ray of frost, bleed, disrupt undead, touch of fatigue, mage hand, mending, message, open/close, arcane mark, prestidigitation; 1st - shield, protection from chaos, mage armor, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, enlarge person, true strike ; 2nd - protection from arrows, resist energy, bear's endurance, cat's grace; 3rd - dispel magic, protection from energy, fly, haste; 4th - lesser globe of invulnerability, stoneskin, fire shield, wall of fire; 5th - break enchantment, mage's private sanctum, wall of stone, teleport
- Spellbook #2 (3 lb) [74 / 100 pg]: 6th - greater dispel magic, guards & wards, wall of iron, chain lightning; 7th - banishment, spell turning, delayed fireball blast, prismatic spray; 8th - dimensional lock, mind blank, prismatic wall, protection from spells
- Scrollcase (0.5 lb – holds 5 scrolls)
- Spell Pouch (2 lb)
- Ring [Order of Kem, not magic]
Large Dwarf- +1 Flaming Amulet of Mighty Fists
- Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2
- Cloak of Resistance +3
- Headband of Inspired Wisdom +3
- Ring of protection +2
- Ring [Order of Kem, not magic]
Mage Guards- 2x Amulet of Natural Armor +1
- 2x Headband of Mental Prowess +1 [Int & Wis] (1 lb)
- 2x Belt of Mighty Constitution +2 (1 lb)
- 2x Cloak of Resistance +2 (1 lb)
- 2x Potion of cure serious wounds (CL 5: 3d8+5; 0.1 lb)
- 2x MW Quarterstaff (4 lb)
- 2x MW Light Crossbow (4 lb)
- 20 x bolts
- 2x Spellpouch (2 lb)
- Diamond/Granite Dust mix [500 gp]
- Spellbook A (3 lb) [(71 / 100 pg]: 0 - resistance, acid splash, detect magic, detect poison, read magic, dancing lights, flare, light, ray of frost, bleed, disrupt undead, touch of fatigue, mage hand, mending, message, open/close, arcane mark, prestidigitation; 1st - shield, protection from chaos, mage armor, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, enlarge person, true strike; 2nd - protection from arrows, resist energy, bear's endurance, cat's grace; 3rd - dispel magic, protection from energy, fireball, haste; 4th - lesser globe of invulnerability, stoneskin, black tentacles, wall of fire; 5th - dismissal, transmute rock to mud
- Spellbook B (3 lb) [(71 / 100 pg]: 0 - resistance, acid splash, detect magic, detect poison, read magic, dancing lights, flare, light, ray of frost, bleed, disrupt undead, touch of fatigue, mage hand, mending, message, open/close, arcane mark, prestidigitation; 1st - shield, protection from chaos, mage armor, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, enlarge person, true strike; 2nd - protection from arrows, resist energy, bear's endurance, cat's grace; 3rd - dispel magic, protection from energy, fireball, haste; 4th - lesser globe of invulnerability, stoneskin, black tentacles, wall of fire; 5th - dismissal, transmute mud to rock
- 2x Ring [Order of Kem, not magic]
Minions- 48x Arcane scroll of magic missile [CL 1: 1d4+1 force damage @ 110 ft; SR] (0.1 lb)
- 12x Scrollcase (0.5 lb – holds 5 scrolls)
- 12x Spellpouch (2 lb)
- 11x Wand of shocking grasp [CL 3: 3d6 elec, 2 charges; SR] (0.1 lb)
- 1x Wand of shocking grasp [CL 3: 3d6 elec, 1 charge; SR] (0.1 lb)
- 12x Potion of protection from evil [CL 1: 1 min] (0.1 lb)
- 12x Tanglefoot Bag (4 lb)
- 12x Thunderstone (1 lb)
- 48x Acid (1 lb)
- 24x Ring [Order of Kem, not magic]
IncomeDays 64 to 73 = 10 days Time Off for everyone Day 74 = 1 day Time Off for Sahme (Side Quest II for Brion & Nim = no pay) Day 75 = 1 day of Mission for everyone Brion: {[Level 14 x10] + Profession (military) modifier = daily wage in gp} x11 days Sahme: {[Level 12 x10] + Profession (military) modifier = daily wage in gp} x12 days Nimarius: {[Level 14 x10] + Profession (military) modifier = daily wage in gp} x11 days Time Off5 AP = 5 days (Days 76-80) PromotionsSecond Lieutenant Shaw is promoted to First Lieutenant. Sergeant Major Sweetwater is promoted to Command Sergeant Major. First Sergeant Steerhelm is promoted to Sergeant Major. MiscGhoul and Skeletor were destroyed. It wasn't a problem for their equipment to be collected since another team was coming into the area and could help bring things back, but there could be situations in the future where items have to be left behind if they exceed carrying capacity (which Large items might do for Medium PCs). The current command undead spells on the Bloody Skeleton Nightmares and Erinyes #1 will expire on Day 80, which is during Time Off, so they will automatically be recast at the time they expire. However, the spell on Erinyes #2 will expire on Day 81, so that will happen on a mission day and will need to be recast during the session. This mission contributes to Great Renown for Leadership but not enoughto bump it up for anyone. However, scores might still change: If Brion levels up, it looks like his Follower Leadership Score will be: 15 Level +4 Cha +4 renown +1 fair/gen -2 failure -1 leave behind = 21 (Level 1-6) If Nim gets a new cohort without leveling up, it looks like his Cohort Leadership Score will be: 14 Level +3 Cha +2 renown +1 fair/gen -1 aloof -2 cruel -1 align -2 death = 14 If Nim levels up, it looks like his Cohort & Follower Leadership Scores will be: 15 Level +3 Cha +2 renown +1 fair/gen -1 aloof -2 cruel -1 align -2 death = 15 Cohort (Level 10) 15 Level +3 Cha +2 renown +1 fair/gen -1 aloof -2 cruel -1 leaves behind* = 17 Followers (Level 1-4)
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Post by icnivad on Jun 23, 2011 18:15:36 GMT -5
Just an FYI, that Nim would like to a) Level up, b) (maybe) sacrifice himself at the alter, and c) gather a new cohort. I'm still weighing the pros and cons of sacrificing.
Sacrifice Pros (just thinking out loud here): Would raise his leadership score from 15 to 19, giving him a Level 13 cohort. That's an additional +3 levels, which would really help if his cohort is a cleric, which I'm thinking about. +4 Int gives an additional 8th, 4th, and 5th spells. Combat bonuses (which may not help Nim a whole lot) Roleplay bonuses (fits his character's role quite well)
Sacrifice Cons loses 2 to 5 future levels. Won't get Level 9 spells in two levels. death at 0 hp.(although more HP might counter this) If I lose 3 levels, this loses me 6 spell slots from L6 up. Extra levels don't help for controlled undead or caster level for spells (like summon monster duration) A little hard to calculate since the level loss is unknown.
Can I sacrifice my cohort instead? Might be a better choice for a cohort which would be more combat oriented, anyway.
Question about cohort deaths. Is the -2 penalty forever? What would happen if I resurrected Skeletor by some means? Would that remove the penalty?
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Post by reefwood on Jun 23, 2011 18:39:00 GMT -5
Just an FYI, that Nim would like to a) Level up, b) (maybe) sacrifice himself at the alter, and c) gather a new cohort. I'm still weighing the pros and cons of sacrificing. Okay, just send me the level up when its ready, and then, I'll get the reward package figured out. Can I sacrifice my cohort instead? Might be a better choice for a cohort which would be more combat oriented, anyway. You cannot sacrifice a cohort. Or rather, you can attempt to sacrifice a cohort, but you will lose him as a cohort and receive another -2 penalty for killing a cohort (or it might be a bigger penatly depending on how you do this). I suppose if you pull this off, you could attempt to control the zombie lord that is created, but you probably won't ever get another cohort of a decent level, which could be fine if you wind up with a super awesome zombie lord that you are able to control. But this kind of effort would probably have to wait until after the next 2 missions since there won't be game time for it, and this seems more like a Side Quest effort. Question about cohort deaths. Is the -2 penalty forever? What would happen if I resurrected Skeletor by some means? Would that remove the penalty? Yes, the penalty is forever. Although, if you were able to somehow bring him back to life... so, a spell that could turn a destroyed undead creature back into its living form... it could reduce or remove the penalty. I know bringing things back to life usually brings them back weaker than before (i.e. level loss), so if things brings Skeletor back as an Ogre that was weaker than it was before, the penalty would be reduced to -1. If there is a spell that brings him back to full ability, the penalty would be removed. Also, if the spell requires remains, you will have to go back to get those... which actually could be a problem. I didn't go into story details, but the team that came in after your squad took everything that was left and destroyed the cavern... but the bone shards will still be the rock and rubble. It will just take some effort to get them out. EDIT: It looks like true resurrection is the only way to bring Skeletor back to life as an Ogre, and it would remove the penalty and doesn't require remains, but it is a Level 9 spell and costs 25,000 gp, so it is probably out of range for a while.
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Post by reefwood on Jun 23, 2011 18:43:09 GMT -5
Woudl this work with natural attacks or just unarmed strikes? It works with both. Sahme already does +1d6 fire damage with his bloodline claws & bite, so the fire damage wouldn't stack with that, but this would give the claws & bite a +1 magic to attack and another +1 magic to damage. Although, it would add the fire damage to his wing attacks when using the form of the dragon spell, and it would affect his claws & bite in dragon form without having to activate (and use up) the bloodline power.
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Post by icnivad on Jun 23, 2011 18:44:12 GMT -5
Ok. I didn't realize we had left yet, I figured we would end the play online. This is actually a plan that I had at the table, and Nimarious would have grabbed some remains while he was taking the equipment off of skeletor. Although, if he needs to teleport back during his time off, he can always do that, too.
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Post by icnivad on Jun 23, 2011 18:46:19 GMT -5
Okay, just send me the level up when its ready, and then, I'll get the reward package figured out. FYI: I sent this in an email.
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