D&D thread of planning and discussing things so people can see how OCD we all are.
 

As suggested in the Discussion Thread, this is a place for players (and observers) of the current DnD game to discuss tactics and secret plans, away from the prying eyes of Pangalin.

Pang, you're going to need to post once in here so I can thread-ban you. :)

http://biobreak.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/dm.jpg

GLORIOUS SUICIDE

His sacrifice will not be in vain.

Edit: I can either ask CHz to stop this thread showing up on the preview thingy if you want or just give it a longer title, if you're worried about Pang getting hints of your plans from the few words previewed on the main page.

I still think PMs work better since NO CHANCE OF SNEAKY PEEKY, just clean your damn boxes out, dudes.

Fuck that, Skills. Public talk.

Excellent, a sekrit thread Pangy can't look at :)

I hope Guests can't look at this either

Okies. So I'm guessing the current plan is to just whittle Gorg down, eh?

If Skills and Acerbandit still plan to launch an expedition to kill the Scout, I'll see what I can do about finishing him off if dice goes against you. Contingent of course to whether my dice fail me (first twin strike against Gorg has to succeed).

If Pang accepts Gheth's improvised fire spear, perhaps the peasant dress Cal filched will be useful for impromptu flaming swords? For Garrmondo (since Glock is almost as squishy as Cal is). I can take it out of my pack and drop it in my next turn, then one of you can take it from there. I was planning to use it as a way to get past the bridge, but that got shot down, so no loss for me. Could always just filch Helga's stuff and masquerade as her later.

YOU GOTTA STOP THAT SHIT, ZOEY

In any event, I did consider using the environment a few times along the way, especially when I thought about how well knkwzrd's bringing down the house move worked on that dragon ages ago.
Other than using that torch in the wall, though, I'm not sure what else we could do in this situation. Reading through the PHB, I did notice that it's actually possible to aid another player on an attack roll. That means anyone that isn't using their standard action on a turn can (for example) make an aid roll to give a bonus to-hit for our fire arrows. To keep it fair, we'd have to set it up so that you do it for the player's upcoming turn instead of the past turn, but other than that, it'll help with our hail mary plays.

The thing with fire arrows is, I'm not sure Pang's even acknowledging them as such. Actual fire arrows are rather pricey, according to the Adventurer's Vault. Perhaps regeneration was retarded for the troll's first two turns, only because Garrmondo was hitting him with the fuck you bombs.

There's no need to aid my attack rolls. So long as Skills keeps hitting Gorg with vicious mockery, rolls of 6+ (careful attack) and 8+ (all others) and up should do the trick. Last turn was just unlucky.

___


I've been looking at my inventory and thought I'd propose a mutually-beneficial trade for after this encounter, if Garr is agreeable. I would like to trade:

Lifedrinker Bastard Sword (200 GP resale)

for

60 arrows (6 GP resale) and
Bloodclaw Short Sword (104 GP resale)

Net difference in resale value is 90 GP, which we can settle in GP (I'll take any amount up to 90 GP). Both swords should have similar hit and damage bonus, except I think Garrmondo will find more use for the temp 5HP per enemy slain, than damaging himself to damage the enemy. You've got heavy sword proficiency, so there shouldn't be a problem with accuracy.

Additionally, I am planning to discard my Lucky Charm at the closest opportunity. If anyone (other than Gordok, who's already got a neckslot item) covets it, it's yours for resale value (168 GP) :)

Why wouldn't he recognize fire arrows? He appreciates creativity.

He also okayed my idea for blowing alcohol into a torch as an improvised Dragon's Breath weapon (I think that's what it was called). You might want to look back through the thread to see what stats he gave for it.

Zerg, you misunderstand to hit and Vicious Mockery.

It's a -2 penalty to Gorg's hit dice vs. us, not our hit dice vs. Gorg.

Dang, it was too good to be true after all :(

What exactly is in this thread that would have any effect at all on what Pang does?

not too much, just prevents him from deducing these guys' plans based on questions about rules, etc. plus it lets the rest of us find out what they're doing with all that time they spend between turns strategizing.

It primarily makes the game more interesting for Pang, because now there's an element to the game he doesn't control. Even when there's no plotting going on, the fact that the possibility that there is plotting exists makes it more interesting.

There is plotting going on behind the scenes. Always have been, I suspect. I entered the game thinking I am the one most inclined to making outlandish plans. Oh how wrong I was, Colonel Bandit puts my ace plotting skills to shame. :(

So knkwzrd might be right in the sense that we don't really gain any unbalancing advantage relative to Pang's strategy. We do benefit by airing them out in public, to get some feedback. The trade-off, of course, is some member of the public might well feed Pang the plans for lulz...

Still, it does put a respite in having to clean out my private message boxes. I currently have 66 PMs related to D&D in my PM folders: 8 from Pang, 4 from Acer, 1 from Skexis, and the rest from Skills :)

Y'know what. I think I have a better title for this thread.

I've been busy with work and making 16 banners FOR TODAY. I'm freaking bushed. I mean I was thinking of some dumb flavor text and all but if you want to go ahead and attack the scout feel free to just have Gordy do it, Skills. I'm running on 3 hours of sleep since yesterday. Gonna go correct that. Yeah.

Hah, didn't realize.

Sorry bro.

I'll take it in some similarity to how we discussed earlier.

Just read it. <3<3<3<3<3

I am not suggesting that we skin Gorg immediately after the encounter. Buuuut, the resale value of troll hide/skin appears to be rather substantial!

http://upload.jetsam.org/images//trollhide-bracers.png

http://upload.jetsam.org/images//trollskin-armor.png

What say we try to profit from this (the items in question are overpowered for our level; Pang will never allow us to equip them as written here) when the Horned Hold adventure is over? :)

For obvious reasons I don't think Pang's going to let us make stuff we don't know how to make. Skills' weapons are kind of explained by his high intelligence, but getting equipment at least 9 levels above us is probably not going to happen.

That's not to say we wouldn't get a pretty penny for the skin itself, but tanning it and crafting it into armor is not a skill any of us have.

reading comrephension +1

I guess we could, yeah. I'm not sure how long I want to hang around in this place after the troll's dead, though.

I thought the plan was to clear out the castle? With that troll and three non-Doorman orcs dead, there would be 14 enemies left. :)

I guess the biggest obstacle in harvesting trollskin is time and weight. I don't know if Pang will make the whole thing rot and become unusable once we're through with the Horned Hold, and heaven knows how heavy Gorg's hide must weigh.

You know what, first thing I'm buying when we get back to the Seven-Pillared Hall is some kind of draft beast. This will totally allow us to buy a mountain of seemingly-useless items which can put into good use later on. It won't be that expensive, since the basic riding horse only costs 75GP, and the most expensive warhorse is 200GP. (Course, Pang might put a stop to this by saying horses cannot live underground, and the one unknown I have is how much maintenance costs are, since horses must eat and sleep :()

Still, imagine the possibilities !

Golden Axe, here we come!

But yeah, I forgot we have a bunch of other enemies in here. Every damn battle seems like an end boss fight.

Have fun finding a merchant with enough gold to make hauling 50 pounds of flesh around worthwhile, Zerg.

Also, and this is important as you may have overlooked this.

http://www.ddwiki.saxypunch.com/imag...ngdisguise.png

A flaming log isn't humanoid or medium.

There should be some at the Seven-Pillared Hall, which is where we'll presumably be heading towards after cleaning out the Horned Hold, right? :tpg:

Merchants aren't infinite money pits, Zerg.

Again, not Final Fantasy.

I'm honestly not expecting even resale value of those things I posted (5000 GP minimum). Heck, I'd take 10% of that gladly, it'll help me buy more unbalancing stuff :)

I guess I'll just shoehorn it somehow into my next turn as a nature knowledge check, and see what Pang has to say about skinning trolls, and the weight and resale value of raw troll hide.

----

I'm not shape-shifting to a log :o

It's just flavor text, and a convenient location to ignite arrows before shooting them at the troll. I'm just taking cover. The less damage I take, the more you can focus your healing on our front-liners, who need to keep the troll cornered and occupied.

When I get a minor action next turn, I'll shape-shift to Helga. It won't help at all during the battle, but what the heck, I'm not gonna talk to the troll or anything...

So, light arrows, move outside, shoot, and then be stuck in the same hallway you're in right now?

Whatever floats your boat I guess, then.

If the guys keep Mr. Troll busy, I plan to alternately end my turns next to the fireplace and next to the log on the bridge. That way I get access to fire arrows at all times, and am safe for every one out of two turns.

I'm kinda relieved that your biggest concern to my plot to harvest troll hide is merchant economics. I'm sure we can work out some kind of barter trade (dude's gotta have some merchandise on him to sell).

It's a win-win situation - he gets to have an ingredient for super-expensive armor he can create and sell later for profit; we get free lewts in exchange for lugging around some meat... If Pang is cooperative, that is.

_____


I'd like for Garr to have a flaming sword, so that three of us can minimize the chances of Gorg getting another round of regeneration in. Currently, with the way I'm running the calculations, it takes me two full rounds :(

Round 1:
Stow Bow: minor
Retrieve Sword from pack: minor
Wrap bedsheet/dress around sword and ignite: standard

Round 2:
Move to Garr: move

If I walk over to Garr to hand over the Sword, I need to shift away from Troll's threatening reach, using a standard action.
Otherwise, throwing the sword to him will use up a standard action (and might get him burned or something)

Retrieve Bow from pack: minor

In any case I can't attack.

Can you fellas suggest a better course of action to get that sword to Garr?

You'd better off dropping the bow as a free action then picking it up again as a minor later. Alternatively, just because it's a two-handed weapon doesn't mean you can't hold it in one hand, you just cant shoot it. Hold it in your left and the sword in the right, you only need both hands to shoot arrows.

Propped because of how surprised I was when I started playing roguealikes.

"What do you mean you can't afford my loot?!"

Acer, if you let me go first, I'll move up to T-4 and sword hit the guy. Since you have the speed and he's got a crossbow equipped, you can move behind the scout and rend him without any worries regarding OAs.

Plus, it'll give us a flanking so you'll have an addition +2 hit modifier. With luck we'll either drop him this round or close to it.

Zerg, the idea of Garr having a flaming weapon in order to at least prevent grabs is a solid one.

You might be able to refine the turn order a little. First turn's fine. on the second one, move back to AB-3, underhand toss the sword to a spot near garr like I did with the log, and then light up and use your standard attack action using the still present log.

If Skex's dice continue to eat balls we'll need some sort of attack this round to prevent the same old regenerating shit.

Yeah, unfortunately most of my higher level attacks are ranged, so I wouldn't get the bonus from fire. That means I'm stuck using righteous brand for now, which is versus AC instead of will.

It's not a horrible chance to hit, either. We just need to find you a better RNG, it fucking HATES YOU this week.

I'll have to prioritize damaging Gorg, and will use up my standard to do so. The turn order you propose requires:

a. Moving to AB-3
b. Attack Gorg (gotta do this first before retrieving sword since longbow is two-handed to attack)
c. Retrieve Sword from pack (minor)
d. Throw Sword to Garr (dunno whether minor or standard)

Maybe next turn, Acer or Skills can help with project: flaming bastard sword?

It would make sense to me to make it a perception skill check to throw a weapon in the middle of a pitched battle, but :3333:

I think on the whole it's best kicked towards Garr rather than thrown. Less potential for Pang to damage him if he fumbles or something.

Pang's basically confirmed that all actions are minor. Hence, this is my proposed sequence:

This Turn:
Move to AB-3
Attack Gorg
Retrieve and drop Sword (minor)

Next Turn:
Attack Gorg
Exchange Move for Minor: Swaddle sword in dress
Ignite sword (minor)
Drop flaming sword (free)

Turn after That
Kick flaming sword to Garr (minor)

Turn after Turn after That
Retrieve toes that were cut off when you kicked a sword and attempt to extinguish burning trousers.

Sure, I'll roll a 1d6 damage for that, the same way Pang gave us bonus damage for Gorg's head hitting the wall :)

But who said Cal was wearing any pants?

Garr, maybe you wanna keep up the Combat Challenge on Gorg. Forces him to ignore Gheth (though it apints you as a target) :)

Zerg, what's the use in giving Garr your half finished uhhh....master plan there?

He's gotta drop it or the other one to stab something with the weapon he's got right now. And then he's got to waste minors picking it back up and then either waste time shifting towards the log, meaning there is less output from him for a turn, or move and take a hit.

So uhhh.

http://www.unforgivingminute.com/blo...8/07/mario.jpg

But the Lifedrinker Sword also has +1 to attack and damage rolls. My hit is inferior to his because I'm not proficient with melee weapons, and my strength is terrible. So in Garrmondo's hands, both swords should have similar attack roll enhancements, while the Bastard sword gives a much higher damage.

Right?

So is your intent to make him finish your half-done pet project of flaming bastard sword or not?

Up to him. At the least he now gets a damage upgrade.

After all, plans are made to be foiled, and we do need to damage this monster quickly, before he drops the far-squishier Gordok and Glock. 76 HP left by my reckoning.

I wouldn't worry about Gordok getting pasted by Gorg.

Okay, if my tally's correct, then Gorg has 59HP left. Hopefully we'll go through these in two rounds.

So I hope I'm not kind of jumping the gun here.

I want to interrogate Erik for the rest of the Hold's defenses, maybe a rough estimate of what else we might be facing. Perhaps we can get a good sense of how we'll approach the citadel. You've seen how disastrously my frontal assault was, so I'd favor going in through a back door, if one exists.

I am pretty sure Pang's going to make the interrogation a skill challenge. The only active skill I can probably help with is Bluff, perhaps with a +5 racial bonus if I shapeshift into, say, Helga or whatever.

I'd use Rundarr's boiled heart as an intimidation tool, except Cal has low intimidation. (I'll hand it over to Garrmondo perhaps, to aid if Glock decides to intimidate.)

The other skills Cal excels in, Acrobatics and Stealth, bear no significance in interrogations.

Would it be premature to start plotting best we go about this? :)

Pretty sure I sent you a PM saying I already knew what I was doing in character for it.

Yup, but don't these skill challenges come with X successes before Y failures? (Which means you can't use Bluff all the time)?

'Sides, I do so enjoy strategizing with a group (just as in Werewolf). So hop to it, participants whose nicks aren't Colonel FuckFaggot. It's much funner to scheme with more people at a time. :)

Additional Spam:
Buh, Pang found the perfect excuse to bring in yet more reinforcements. :(

Skills, may I suggest that instead of the curtain, you consider using Tune of Ice and Wind instead? Snuff out the fire and hit Gorg with ice, and blow all that smoke towards Gheth to give him cover against Gorg with wind :tpg:

Zerg, just a reminder that my Righteous Brand only gives bonus to melee rolls. I could use Lance of Faith, but then I wouldn't be dealing melee/burn damage myself, so it kinda defeats the purpose.

Oh. Dangit.

We got this far while only burning one daily.

We are not going to get a chance to take an 8 hour snooze again, so no, I'm not burning it to put out a fire, when all it'll do it, knowning Pang, cause a flare up and light the ceiling abalze or some shit.

When Acer closes the door on the curtain, it'll prevent the smoke from seeping north for at least a couple of rounds, and that'll be enough for me to put it out with my waterskin, and for the rest of us to kill the troll, since being a robot means I don't actually have anything to drink.

I'm curious what skill the troll is using for grab and throw. Is it considered a ranged attack? It seems like anything where a creature shoves a hand at an armed adventurer would provoke an AOO.

It's probably melee, since he's got threatening reach. I'd guess throwing stuff is a minor action.

I'm no good at making lines. Can someone help me with the kind of "Hick Talk" that Helga is doing? :)

So, who's up for another duergar bonfire (or at least some fuck you bombs sprinkled over the ice creature so we can set it on fire)?

I'm wondering if the creature might be the evidence we can bring back with us. If it's neutral towards us, we might be able to use it as an escort into the slaver stronghold.

Personally I'm going to see if it goes hostile immediately or not.

Pang mentioned that there was something pounding on the doors from inside. Obviously the ice creature isn't in any position to do this, so I call shenanigans on those suspiciously well-preserved corpses.

Anyhow, it might be preferable for Skills to initiate diplomacy, since his character specializes in it.

Well, he made it a point to mention the whole mumbling thing after the pounding, so I'm sure it was just the creature making the noise. Maybe he was banging his head, who knows? :shrug:

And I'm not sure if a diplomacy check is even needed, so I didn't roll. I'm just trying to get a sense of its alignment.

That's probably a job for insight, not diplomacy

I thought insight could only be used with creatures you were in active communication with. If he can't talk, or I can't understand his language, then I can't roll for insight, right?

Does anyone know how double weapons work? Do you roll 2 to-hit die, and then 2 damage die? I was thinking about taking Staff Fighting as my retraining feat, making it a 1d8/1d8 weapon.

Follow-up, does that mean that when I use Oath of Enmity via my lvl 6 feat, I get 4 to-hit rolls?

Also, I guess posting cause I'm not sure what to do with this elemental or why he wants to leave so quickly.

Is this for Gheth or that other character you were speaking of?

Also, no risk, no reward. I like Frosty and his old silk hat, and it hates dwarves so I say why not.

Yeah, at the very least you guys can press the elemental for some information.

Like how the fuck an elemental that promptly freezes everything that gets into its vicinity got captured, and why.

I find it hard to believe that Pang would just dangle something like this in front of you guys without giving it at least SOME significance.
Or, you know, setting you up for a trap. I hear lying is in vogue these days.

I was going to multiclass feat Gheth to get the Oath of Enmity, since I can't seem to hit as often as I'd like.

If double weapons work that way, then I'd have a chance of doing up to 24 damage per turn well, at least once per battle, and 4 rolls to do it in, meaning a much better chance for a crit.

@Skills:

I still believe this is some sort of a trap. Maybe he's some kind of Ice Giant or something.

_________________

@Skexis: PHB 270 states that "Simply wielding a weapon in each hand doesn’t allow you to make two attacks in a round. If you hold two melee weapons, you can use either one to make a melee attack." It seems only a few feats allow for two attacks in one go, such as the ones available to Rangers.

Oh God, Twin Strike + Oath of Emnity = Rape. Too bad Cal's built as an archer and not a melee fighter.

Also, you seem to be in a better optimizing position than I am, you lucky dragonborn... :3: <-- Only click if you're a munchkin like me

_________________

@Everyone else:

Do you folks have any recommendations on what feats I should consider upon level-up? Since I'm a striker, I am looking towards boosting damage output. Though the druid Wild Shape multiclass feat would give me more racial flexibility... So, it comes down to a conundrum -- do I go for class improvement, or race improvement (since changelings are more suited as bards and rogues, I have to choose between the two)?

Currently I plan to substitute Lethal Hunter (+2 to quarry rolls) with Greatbow Proficiency (increases damage die from longbow's 1d10 to greatbow's 1d12). The overall effect should be the same, actually. i can also boost accuracy by +1 if I take Superior Crossbow Proficiency instead, but that means I have to take the Speed Loader feat as well to make it as versatile as a load-free greatbow (not to mention keeping the damage die to 1d10).

Yeah, I was actually following most of that of my own accord. It looks like the only thing I really messed up on was Cascade of Light, because it seemed like the best lvl 1 daily at the time, but after getting the updated character builder and seeing Divine Power skils, I was considering retraining that to Moment of Glory, too.

Looks like I'm on the right track for the most part. And I won't bother with Quarterstaff if I can't attack twice.

An ice giant would actually be, y'know. giant. That is just as much an operative keyword as ice.

So, more of them than us. Most of us have ranged combat ability so I say we let them come to us, rather than waltz into the room and get flanked real quick.

Oh Garr, why didn't you use a healing surge before bashing the door in?

Fuck that it's slaughterin' time

But this is SPARTAAAAA! :(

Anyhow, here's a provisional battle diagram. Numbers aren't final, of course. HP for Framarth is based on Helga's (64). I assume he's on steroids and has double that amount (128), and has been depowered by 1/3 to end up at 85.33, or 86.

The rest, I don't know. I plugged in a max of 150, which is 2/3 of Gorg's HP.

http://upload.jetsam.org/images//dnd-battle2-a.png

At this point, I think it's suicidal to wade into melee. If any of you guys need a ranged weapon, I got a mundane crossbow (w/ 10 bolts) and a throwable warhammer in my pack. Feel free to take them.

I agree, but we also need to take cover in the back room like you've been doing to avoid bunching up and being wiped by any of the burst attacks from the theurge. If we can get the melee enemies to funnel through the tunnel and come to us, we should be able to drop or injure several of them before they get to us, which will be useful.

Okay, here's what we know about theurge attacks. All of them deal 4d6+4 damage, so minimum of 8 and maximum of 28:

1. Wave of Despair - close blast, inflicts Slow and Daze, save ends both (a roll of 13 hit Gordok [AC 18 Fort 16 Ref 16 Will 16]; 7 misses Gheth [AC 22 Fort 15 Ref 13 Will 18])
2. Vile Fumes - area attack, inflicts Blind until end of theurge's next turn (a roll of 10 hit Gordok [AC 18 Fort 16 Ref 16 Will 16])
3. Brimstone Hail - area attack, fire damage, knocks target Prone (a roll of 15 hit me [AC 21 Fort 16 Ref 20 Will 17])

A properly centered attack (at B17) will hit the people hiding at A16, A18, and C16 without any penalty right?

Also, I can activate "Spitting Cobra Stance" if the gnolls and the minions are lured through the corridor. Perhaps it might be better to use it now when we have several enemies than when we face off against Murkelmor, hm?

Well, I guess it's time to pop the spiritual weapon. If only I had Moment of Glory, it might come in pretty handy right now.

For rules clarification: if Gnasc has a readied action for B13 right now but then takes a standard action during his turn, that means it cancels out the readied action, right?

-edit: nevermind, I just read something specifying it as the standard action you take for your turn.

So here's another question: can I ready a move action to be taken on Garrmondo's turn so we can each shift spots? If so, does it count as a standard action or a move action? That way at least I'm not blocking the striker anymore.

Well, Pang's implying that it's a bad idea to bunch up like ducks in a row, where the devils can shoot us at their leisure.

I would like to propose that for this round, Glock moves 1 square south, Garrmondo moves 1 square northeast, while you shift 1 square back. Your minor can be used for picking up the spear you dropped, so the standard can be used for whatever attack you'd like. Eldritch Blast is quite effective against the minions' 14 Reflex defense, so Gordy should continue to kill them if he can.

The act of readying any action, be it minor, move or standard, is a standard action.

I'm doing my thing and moving two south, actually, to cut off partial LOS from the devils.

We still need someone up front and I'd rather have it Garr than OUR PRIMARY HEALER but there's no way I can think of that will allow him to move without getting OA'd on the way out the door.

It's probably worth it, taking one melee basic and getting out of the way of whatever else is there instead of having to deal with more shit from more sources for the next turns and a half.

Casting spiritual weapon from the distance is a better option anyway, and with luck that thing can help us out.

If you don't mind burning your daily Skills, Tune of Ice and Wind should be able to do the repositioning you like. Actually Flute of the Dancing Satyr can do that too. This round, Garr goes 1 North and Gheth shifts 1 East. Then they use their free shift action: Gheth shifts 1 East and Garr shifts 1 Southwest.

Could you do an HP reading on Gnasc? It'll also provide a clue to the Gnoll HP count if he's an elite...

We're getting hit hard by the devils and the theurge's attacks. Maybe we won't need to get as far as the bridge, but I think a tactical retreat is in order.

Seems like we may not be in any condition to take on Murkelmor after this, considering the number of healing surges we'll have left after this encounter is cleared.

I didn't know they were right around the corner :(

i thought they were going around behind like you mentioned earlier

Additional Spam:
My plan is going to be as follows:
Spiritual Weapon on Gnasc
Healing Word on Glock
If we want to retreat, I'll use my last move action to the doorway and block.

I get the feeling those attacks were encounter-- one of a kind, so I don't expect them to be dealing that much damage for the rest of the fight, but we might need to bug out regardless.

The Spined Devil attacks look like to be an At Will type, just with a secondary ongoing poison attack. Gnasc's wand attack looks to be an at-will too.

Framarth's attacks seem to be an encounter type (Brimstone Hail seems to have a range of 15 squares, and an area effect of 2 squares). Note that there's two more where it came from.

Pang's made these guys much more lethal, with double damage. Manageable, if only he didn't throw so many at us. Making those Claw Fighters minions would go a long way to making the battle hard but not impossible.

We need to regroup, and here's what I think we should do:

Glock
Move: Stand up.
Major: Activate "Flute of the Dancing Satyr" and shift two squares south.
Minor: Warforged Resolved, with immediate saving throw
End of turn: Another saving throw. If it fails, burn Lucky Charm powers.

Garrmondo
Move: Shift one square north
Major: Attack one of the Devils, hit or miss: activate combat challenge
Minor: Drop longbow and re-equip sword

Gheth
Minor: Pick up your spear
Move: Shift 1 square East
Major: Spiritual weapon on Gnoll A (or alternatively Dragon Breath on all 3 Gnolls before you shift)

Gordok
Move: Stand up (or if you want to be adventurous, use Second Chance and hope Pang's dice suck)
Minor: Warlock's Curse on Gnoll A
Major: Eldritch Blast on Gnoll A

Flute of the Dancing Satyr allows a free shift action, so:
Gheth: Shift one square southeast
Gordok: Shift south one square
Glock: Shift south one square

Then:
Action Point Gheth or Garrmondo: Close and barricade the goddamn door.

Then we withdraw from this corridor to before the ice room, or take time to reposition and heal up before the gnolls smash the door in.

We have to take out the gnoll fighters first instead of targeting Gnasc/ From Pang's description, they have crazy speed and will hamper our retreat. So once they are taken out, we can escape more easily.

The only thing I'm not clear with is, does sustaining the conjured weapon require line of sight? We don't want to have it conk out after closing the door, right?

Glock has to make a saving throw or he's unconscious this round from poison, so I suggest delaying action on him (which I believe bypasses the save throw) and that will allow me to toss a heal his way and keep him conscious while he rolls for save on his turn.

If necessary I can action point for a healing strike against the gnoll, too, but we're going to run out of options quickly with all our heals disappearing. We may have to cut our losses entirely and retreat. If we decide to do that, I have the same AC as Garr and can make two attacks in one round with the spiritual weapon, so if nothing else I can hold them off while you guys retreat. I always saw this character going down in a blaze of glory, anyways.
:dover:

I believe it does require line of sight, yes. But closing the door will require someone or something to keep it closed, presumably with a strength check. We wouldn't want to waste Murray now that he's a usable weapon, at least.

Hmm? I thought you get damaged at the start of your turn, and can make a saving throw at the end of your turn (meaning he won't be unconscious till the start of his next turn)? Glock's current HP of 3 is already after this round's ongoing poison damage. If he uses Warforged Resolved, then he can roll twice, and add the lucky charm roll if he's terribly unlucky. He just needs to make a roll of 8 or more, so these are good odds.

We really can't retreat till we mess up the gnolls. If only Pang made them minions, it would go a long way to rebalancing this encounter :(

Glock is at 3 right now, meaning he'll be unconscious at the start of his turn. Death/0 HP supercedes any actions he might take, including save.

Well, we can if one of us blocks the way, or if anyone has any environmental ideas for blocking the door or bringing down the corridor on these guys.

I've been doing a separate count from Pang. 3 HP is AFTER deducting the 5 HP poison drain.

Unless you're saying the poison attack strikes immediately after the Devil hits him, and activates again at the start of his turn. Not very sure about that, in that case.

Ah, I thought Pang was just reminding him for his upcoming turn. I didn't realize he had already taken it off. But no, I don't think it does. It wouldn't be fair to players to have DoTs hit twice per round.

What about the commoners? They aren't much good for fighting, but we might be able to encourage them to make a grab attempt on an enemy or two (probably not the spined devils) Plus, we could toss them our unused weapons, if they get a chance to group up. A commoner plinking someone with a crossbow or frost mace might be just what we need. If nothing else we might encourage the commoners to run. These guys are obviously motivated by money. Having their slaves waltz out the door is a great diversion for us.

The commoners are at the bottom of a pit, and there seems to be no way out of it. I doubt they can be of much use unless we make it into the room.

Okay, I think here's the remaining plan for our repositioning/retreat:

Garrmondo should close the door and hold it shut, long enough to hopefully block the ranged attacks and for us to make our escape into the chapel. To minimize chances of said door being smashed before the devils make their move, I propose that Garr delays his move until after the minions, right before Gordok.

Advantages:
The duergar recruit will not be able to get a chance to damage the door.
I get a free shot at it, and have a 50% chance of dropping it.

Disadvantages:
Garr currently has 20 HP left. If my attack misses, he might get hit. And it may not be pretty (although Pang explicitly said he's not changing the number of damage dice for minions.)

Here's the sequence of events I am aiming for:

1. Duergar recruit moves right next to Garr, gets shot at by my stance, and dies.
2. Garr activates second wind, closes the door, and keeps it closed. He has a move action which could be used to move one square south - to take cover from Devils. He's still adjacent to the door and hopefully Pang would allow the door to remain shut.
3. Pang will either do an opposed strength check, or will have Gnoll A bash the door in. Of course I am hoping that the door remains well and truly shut.
4. Gordok uses his move action to stand up, and exchanges a standard for a move action to run to the chapel. He might want to keep "Roar of Terror" ready, so perhaps the minor can be used to polymorph.
5. Both Devils attack the door but fail to break it.
6. Cal double-runs all the way back into the chapel (14 squares - still within range!)
7. Gnasc shoots at the door but fails to break it.
8. Framarth will try to place either Brimstone Hail (knocks target prone) or Vile Fumes (blinds target) at around B17. But he fails because door is blocking his vision.
9. Everyone retreats to the chapel, Garr bringing up the rear.

There are many points of failure in this sequence (#3, #5, and #7). But I'm hoping it will buy us enough damage-free time to regroup.

Once in the chapel, we should be in a better position to use powers that damage multiple enemies, like Dragon Breath, Tune of Ice and Wind, Roar of Terror. Keep Tundra Wind in reserve in case we are pushed back all the way to the bridge :tpg:

Backup Plans:

1. If Recruit doesn't die, Garr may have to eat his attack, proceed as normal.
2. If Recruit makes it past the door, someone action-points to kill it (most logically Gordok with an Eldritch Blast).
3. If Door is breached before my turn, I will burn Split the Tree and activate Poisoned Weapon on Framarth. He won't be affected by 5 ongoing poison but he will be weakened.
4. If Door is breached by Gnasc, then Framarth gets another area attack. We are positioned out of sight, so here's hoping Pang cuts us a break (worst case scenario, the attack will hit Gheth, Glock, and Garr, and knock the last two unconscious or dead).

And now the door can't be shut because there's a dwarf in the way.

Garr should probably delay one further so Acer can zap the damn thing.

Now, instead of a minion being stuck at the end of the corridor, weaker than a gnoll pounding on it, we will have a open space for the gnoll to move in and bash it.

Why did you make these last second changes?

Well you see, I...

What I wanted to do was...

Dangit, you got me. I didn't anticipate this, actually. Sorry!

LET'S BRING ON THOSE DICE, NIGGA. FUCK YEAH.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...mon/307552.png

LET'S ROCK

Gordok will have to go first and vaporize him with Eldritch Blast.

You're currently on a longbow so your options are limited. Otherwise you could do Tide of Iron or Shield Bash. Or, maybe can you do Shield Bash with your fist? Or specify that you don't want to damage him, and just want to knock him prone or whatever.

Either way, one action point must be spent, since you'll need to activate Second Wind in this round :(

From an obstacle standpoint, corpses and unconscious PCs don't interfere with move actions, so I don't see why the door should pose a problem. I think Skills is right, Garr, we just need one more delay and then hopefully Acer can kill the one in the way.

Of course, we probably need a contingency plan should Acer miss...

+6 to hit vs. reflex of 14, meaning rolls of 8 and over will succeed.

I like them odds (65% in our favor)! :D

I'm thinking of delaying my turn after Gnasc but before Framarth. It will give me the tactical flexibility of reacting to these heavy hitters as necessary. However, this will also give Pang the ability to coordinate attacks with the devils, gnolls, and Gnasc. If we can get in between them as well, it may help us adjust better.

(Yeah, I'm basically suggesting a delay for Gordok and Garrmondo as well. What say you?)

Yeah, that's not happening this turn.

At all.

We have one heal left between both of us, Zerg. Let's see if we can kite them for a bit, at least.

That we have to spend on Acer.

Which I'll do.

I really have no idea how else we want to play it.

Acer should activate Second Chance (immediate interrupt) to force Framarth to reroll. With luck, he won't even get hit for 24 HP damage.

If that still knocks him silly, then well, either Gordy or Garr will be casualties this battle :(

Pang says I can't use Second Chance because my readied action already cancels god damn anything after it this round.

Wow, that sucks. I guess that's why readied actions aren't used that much :(

It's a sound D&D Strategy!

Anyway, to business.

____________________

Whoever's left will be sure to level up after this battle.

I'm currently debating whether I should take the feat "Mark of Making". This basically allows me to make all sorts of magical items at 2 + my level, freeing us from depending on merchant availability for the magic stuff we want to buy.

However, a couple of the people here already have "Ritual Caster" feat. If you plan to buy the "Enchant Magic Items" ritual (175GP), then there is no need for me to take the feat.

So, here's a question. Anybody in the current party (and Zeph as well) plan to buy this ritual?

I will try my best to drop the Devil on my turn, leaving just Framarth.

We could play this out, four (or five - if we revive Gordy) against one, but is there anyone in favor of diplomacy, as in asking Framarth to surrender and we don't kill him? He can always claim to Murkelmor that after a horrible battle resulting in the deaths of his henchmen, Gnasc took us and the slaves, and refused to pay him jack shit.

I mean, I'm all for ending the encounter nao, freeing the slaves, and booking the hell out of the Horned Hold. Since we're in no condition whatsoever to take on Murkelmor, even after a short rest.

Ha ha, I used to have a couple of lucky d6's which came up five or six nine times out of ten. I also had a pair that would roll doubles all the time which were great for levelling Blood Bowl players but useless for fouling. I don't believe it's possible to own more than one of any shaped dice and not ascribe certain characteristics to them.

Additional Spam:
If you check back to the opening post of the quest, the guy who gave it to you said he'd chuck in some rituals as part of the payment so don't go buying any just yet.

Okay, seems like we won't be getting any chance to have an extended rest after all. I'd say it is most prudent to book it - we're in no condition to fight Murkelmor. I say we do our business ASAP and run like hell.

Though, here's a half-baked plan in case we DO want to fight him.

A. Cal shapeshifts into Framarth.
B. Gordok shapeshifts into a harmless armadillo at the southwest bridge.
C. 'Framarth' knocks on Murkelmor's door, shouting, THE PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING! INTO THE KITCHEN!
D. Gordok readies action: Tundra Wind when enemies are spotted.
E. 'Framarth' runs all the way into the kitchen, with Murkelmor close behind.
F. Murkelmor reaches armadillo
G. FAAAAAAART (part 3)

Quite risky though. So what do you say?

I'd say leaving Murkelmor to his dead castle is the better option. We need to either convince Gru to shut up or slit his throat. He seems like a nice enough fellow but he's going to be the thing that starts up another encounter that we do not need.

I'm expecting Murkelmor to come marching up to look for Framarth in five minutes. So that's kind of the time limit, I suppose, for us to go and book it out of here.

It's good that they have a wagon. We can ask them to load up a piece of minotaur statue as proof of quest completion.

Also, since customary resale value of anything in the D&D world is 20%, I'd think it's possible to meet them halfway, at 33%. We should probably buy the Warsoul weapon and the Flask of the Dragon's Breath. I really like the [Your Level] + 5 = 11 bonus to hit.

I'll buy the Flask and the Punching Glove.

We're leaving though, Fuck the rest of this.

Garr just uses his crowbar from a thousand years ago to take the head off the statue we shoved down the stairs, and we cart that motherfucker all the way back to the quest giver.

This is the part where we leave, and we leave GOOD.

THe backdoor previously mentioned is on the other side of the troll room. We're going there.

You better hope the backdoor doesn't lead to a steep staircase if you're carrying half a statue with you, I can't imagine the boss dude is going to pop out of his room, see a pile of dead allies, shrug his shoulders and go back to bed, he'll be chasing after you, you're going to want to block or trap some doorways behind you or the fight's still going to happen. Don't forget that before you found the stronghold you were wandering around for quite a while, it's a long walk back to the surface.

It's like I thought of exactly that or something.

Besides, I have several ideas, I am just waiting for Garr to take the statue head before implementing them.

Well, at any rate, I have to go to work for the next 8 hours, so don't kill me until I get home :(

I guess just run me with the group if it comes to that.

I specifically lined up all the dead in a nice little crypt that nobody does into. I was hoping that would maintain some semblance of normalcy, besides the ghost town. Oh well :shrug:

Jesus Christ. 3 HP after 1 round?

The minions are positioned optimally to be taken out with a single well-placed attack. Unfortunately, I can't see a way to make such a multi-target attack (Tundra Wind, Roar of Terror) without knocking Glock unconscious. Fey switch would prevent the unconscious part, but it's a pity Gordy has no close bursts...

I can try to knock them back with moment of glory, but I was hoping to save the dailies until we'd gotten in a bit more. If anybody can get to Glock, they can use that firebreathing potion, too, which will take out a few more.

You people worry too much.

FOR THE GLORY GORDOK. LET'S DO IT.

(Skex might need to stand by for potential healing because this is going to get real ugly real quick)

TwoA comments :)

1. Push the priest tentacle-first into one of the un-hit villagers for more luls And to release Glock, of course
2. Since it has the primal keyword, won't you need to use that minor to shapeshift into some kind of bear or smth? Was confusing it with "Beast form keyword, my bad.

Another good question would be which minions did I push but then again dead so...

I guess a good question would be where should I push the priest to?

But yeah which 4 minions do you think would be best dead? =o

Pang didn't label them, so let's just say:

04 03 02
05 GL Pr
06 09 11

Garr got AoO against 3 and 4 so they have to be somewhere on the upper-left.

GL = Glock, Pr = Priest

09 strikes at Glock but Skald's chainmail redirects it to 6, killing it.

04 03 02
05 GL Pr
-- 09 11

Gordok kills four. Let's just say 11, 09, 05, and 04. The ones nearest to the stench, if we're going for flavor here :)

-- 03 02
-- GL Pr
-- -- --

He then pushes the priest to 02, whapping both for 1d6 + 4 damage, and killing 02. To end the grab, push the priest further, say...

So we're left with:

-- -- Pr
-- 03 --
-- GL --

BZZZRT

WRONG

PANG DID LABEL THEM.

The bottom right corner is number 6. In your case, where your number 11 is.

Otherwise your plan is fine.

Slamming it against yet another minion sounds great, but we might be constrained on how a "push" is defined.

Quote:

PANG DID LABEL THEM. The bottom right corner is number 6. In your case, where your number 11 is.

If that's the case, maybe Gordy would want to end his move at B2. Stopping at B3 would provoke an AoO from the southwest villager. I'm blind today.

Actually, if we go using the rules from before we can just shove him into the house as the second shift, getting a second whack of damage in there.

May I suggest an added edit to Glock's actions?

Gibbering missed against Gheth, and Bite missed against Gordok, so Virtue of Cunning can activate on either one.

You can either slide Gordok away so he won't attract an AoO from Mouther A

or

To allow dazed Garrmondo to inflict damage on his round, slide Gheth to -D3 and Mouther B to -C4. This will also give flanking advantages against the foe, for Gheth anyway.

So basically a choice between damage avoidance and inflicting more damage.


Edit: Just read Acer's post. Ehh... Never mind then :p

Flanking doesn't work on these things.

Also we want the front liners holding these things in place so the rough terrain doesn't catch any of the more mobile ranged guys off balance.

If we move Gheth back after gibbering misses him I suppose we can save him the bite and the ongoing damage, but he'll need to move right back to his current position to hold gibbering B in relative place there. I guess saving him the condition is relatively important, so might as well.

Fft fft, I didn't read Pang's memo on the flanking. :(

Nah, as it stands there's no tactical advantage to sliding Gheth away. Pang will just rewrite history anyway, and move the monster closer before chomping away at him. (I still remember how this strategy to avoid damage backfired terribly in the Gnasc/Framarth battle.)

Skex, lemme know if you want a melee range attack or to stay at ranged for your turn. I can pull you next to B if you want me to.

It'll work either way. My ranged is vs. reflex, which probably has a better chance of hitting, though, since they only have 14.

Course, you're also out of range of Healing Word right now, so it's up to you. I can still get you with Bastion of Health for any critical heals.

Then let's all focus on A this turn and try to drop it. Apparently it's already bloodied. It might be doable.

I have 25 HP between my temp and real counts, so I've fine for the moment. I'll heal myself if I need to.

You might want to Righteous Brand first and give the bonus to an ally instead of going last! Garr seems to have the shittiest luck, so perhaps that's the best option.

Well, Lance of Faith is a +2 bonus vs. Brand that gives +3, so there's not much difference between them. But I have to roll at least a 10 to hit with Brand, vs. rolling a 6 to hit with Lance.

At any rate, if Garr wants to delay his turn, that's fine by me.

You've given Garr temporary combat advantage against Mouther B till the end of your turn. If you hit with Lance of Faith, do the advantages stack (to +4 to hit)?
If not, then maybe it's better used against Mouther A.

I'm thinking we'll want to slide Garr, with his permission, at A2 where he can do that Sweeping Blow against both.

I plan to delay my turn until just before the Mouthers go. That way, it's easier to determine whether I'd need to take an action point to drop Mouther A. Everyone else's action points are better used on emergency heals or tactical retreats.

Great. So I'm thinking this proposed shuffled sequence:

1. Gheth - Lance of Faith on Mouther A with bonus to Garr
2. Garr - Sweeping Blow on both Mouthers (+2 to hit on both); Combat Challenge on Mouther B
3. Gordok - Diabolic Grasp on Mouther B and slide it into Mouther A (Although targeting A is more damaging, it's got superior cover thanks to B - I won't hold my breath on you rolling 18) ; since you're dazed, I think all your other attack options also run afoul of superior cover, unfortunately.
4. Cal - If Mouther A's still alive, I take an action point if it's necessary to kill it. Currently I'm planning Shadow Wasp Strike, with a follow-up at-will if needed.

Since it's an unspecified bonus on my skills, I'm pretty sure it would stack. But I think Skills is right, we need to make sure we get the bloodied one first.

acer, i don't know if i can just let you do that. Playing DnD with loaded dice makes it really hard for the rest of us to get a chance.

* Shakes fist at loaded dice *

Stupid dice, giving a crit to an attack against Mouther B, and always coming up short to our defender :(

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.

Skex, in case the party decides to go to Lamid, maybe Gheth'd want to equip the (more powerful) stone of Avandra he found. It'll increase accuracy and damage by 1, at least for all implement attacks.

This is in case we're dropped into an encounter with an even bigger mob of mutated villagers from the get-go.

(Don't forget your wine, Skillsy)

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.

So uhhh, regardless of what I wrote in the thread, I'm pretty sure the next time I post we're either heading inside already, or the barricades will be breached by the creatures (if we decide not to go in).

Since Pang has explicitly said there are over 100 crazies, I figure now would be a good time to test those Molotov cocktails and grenades. Who wants to grab a lit torch now? Everburning torch or sunrod won't provide heat, so it must be a lit mundane torch (Longbow is 2-handed weapon, otherwise I'd do it.)

I am not wasting my explosives on things that are not your property.

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
Speaking of personal property, Glock's ritual book will surely burn really well. It should definitely be an ingredient of any wagon bonfire! :)

I guess I kinda took it for granted that I'd want to switch to that one. As soon as I saw it I was like

:http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/6254/gull.jpg:

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
Wellll, we can take ranged potshots at some of the civvies from outside the barricades, although I think the constable will be all :mad: for killing his villagers. Let's see how he reacts to the greedy coward first :)

I do think we ought to conserve the area and blast attacks for minion-killing, once we climb in (or they break out). We've seen how quickly a bunch of flanking mutated villagers can reduce a healthy character into 3 HP...

Oh, Garr, do you want my flask of fire farting?

My bad man, I'll give you GP for it if you want.

I figured he'd be the first one to use it with that belt, and since you're more of a ranged guy anyways.

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
Whoa, you just yoinked it from Skills without asking? I thought you two got it all planned :<

Respect++

I keep checking this thread thinking you guys have decided on something. And i'm wrong every time.

I believe God said it best:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vLXtOuOlIz...n_talking_.gif

GET ON WITH IT!

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
All four of us have already posted. What do you want us to do, Hawkeye :(

oh. oops. :(

and now that Pang's posted i can't even just copy that post to the main thread. Not that i would anyway, it's not like i could do what that guy's doing, and he makes it look easy.

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
Plus he's running a music contest. Gotta cut him a bit of slack...

And I agree he's got quite the writing talent. There is no way I can do what he does, and give each NPC a distinct voice. Hell, I'm having enough problems maintaining an archaic version of King James version type Olde Englishe...

Well, the way I look at it is that any one of us might die at any time since that's Pang's goal. We might as well stay prepared and put stuff where it can best be used. I'm honestly not past giving someone my old holy symbol or the necklace I'm using if they think it will be more useful for them/to sell. I simply don't put a lot of value on my in-game GP or anything I'm not currently using, personally.

So like I said, I'm totally cool with paying for it. I just figured I'd spread the love. <3

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
Garr makes perfect sense actually, since both of you do tend to get up close and personal with the enemy.

Dual Tech: Antipode. Gheth with Ice, Garr with Fire.

For the price of a minor action on you both. Please make it so :33:

I view GP as the means to an end. A munchkiny end (currently thinking of enchanting some bracers to increase ranged damage by 1, gloves that do Mage Hand and Prestidigitation, boots that let you stand from prone as a minor, and a self-loading superior crossbow which increases accuracy by 1. Necessary to prioritize, because there's no way I'm getting enough gold to do all that.

'Course, I like to think I'm doing practically all the player archetypes described in the DMG to extremes. Extreme roleplayer? Check. Power gamer? Check. Provocateur? Check, though not up to Skill's level. :D

How about enchanting that stale bread with something

Also I was totally going to use it to light grenades but whatever you guys want to do with it, I guess!

A proper extreme roleplayer wouldn't even look at the monster compediums or loot lists. Anything their character wouldn't know is verboten knowledge. Putting on a silly voice isn't extreme roleplaying, extreme roleplaying is banging on about how you're using your sword to fight the enemies because the weird glow it gives off suggests some inner power, rather than carefully planning exactly what enchantments you want on your gear at each level, you can't be both mate. :)

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
Ah well, one can still dream, right? :)

Hay, I'm tryin'! That's precisely why I didn't try doing any knowledge checks on these enemies - Cal wouldn't know a whit about them with his pitiful Arcana skill! Or why he thought Avandra was male (low religion). Plus, I thought playing that "must salvage all enemy parts" to a ridiculous extreme counts... ._.

Well yeah, that's roleplaying but I've always thought of extreme roleplaying as being a complete lack of player knowledge. You might not have done a skill check on the monsters but I bet you looked them up in the book.

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
Now why would you think I'd do such a thing?

'Sides, unlike Thunderspire, this adventure appears to be a completely original one dreamt up by Pangsy. Couldn't look at loot lists or monster strategies if I wanted to :tpg:

Pfft. And now that you assholes stole my flame juice, I can't rig the floating bodies with explosives. THANKS A LOT.

This block of text exists to prevent people from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
So, do we wanna plot against the DM in advance, or do we just do our own thing?

My first priority is obviously to try and keep the horse out of play (and thus alive), hence the barrage of movement-related questions I threw at Pang. I think my current plan is to use up one of the dazing arrows on Mangler C (which should be charging at me after Acer moves), and safely moving away from the dazed creature without triggering an AoO.

I also plan to activate Spitting Cobra Stance.

Other than that, I got no plans. I'm game on saving the hulk for last, and may focus my fire on Mangler C.

Skills though, has made a good point on focus-firing on their controller, the seer. We probably want to minimize his combat advantage-granting dazing powers as much and as soon as we can. Seer looks like a ranged type of guy, so Garr or Gheth should probably gang up, mark it, and melee the hell out of it.

So.... thoughts? Plots? Schemes? Machinations?

You should use the horse as a meatshield, the big guy won't be attacking you while he's busy eating Denny.

No. I won't abandon poor Denny like that :mad:

Zerg, several things.

1) Quarry doesn't work like that. Crit only affects the damage roll of the attack itself, not any extra stuff. Quarry still needs a roll in and of itself.

2) N-48 isn't exactly where you think it is. These aren't stairs. There's likely a wall there, or if there is a walkway or a hallway or a passage of some kind, it will still be underwater. It should be noted that the angle of the map is a bit tricky here.

Luckily it reminds me of a stage in Rainbow Six Vegas, called Dante's Theater.

Here is a screenshot to get across the idea of the map layout.

http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_m...jpreviewth.jpg

Just imagine the first floor is flooded to the point of several feet of delicious corpse water.

You see those multi-leveled open areas in the back? Yeah, that's what the back of this map looks like.

3) I'm not healing your horse

This block of text exists to prevent mean horse-killing DMs from searching my posts and reading sekrit plans. I am cautiously optimistic that it will work! Of course, there is no guarantee how well it would work, considering that guests can see this thread and all.
#1 - Quarry is part of the attack. Remember my crit at the last battle? Pang confirmed that the only thing that needed rolling was the crit bonus.

#2 - Word of Pang says stairs are thattaway!

#3 - As if this were ever in doubt. Glock has always acted badly towards Cal, threatening his horse, his wagon, locking him in a room, trying to jam him into a dungeon room, rejecting his advances... :tpg: In all the scenarios I ran through to keep Denny alive (Heal check; Take potion and force-feed it to him; slowly drag him away), none of them ever factored in Glock's assistance.

I hope the stairs in the back provide LOS, in that case.

They should, it's an amphitheater. With a recessed pit to serve as a stage.

And if doesn't, more protection for Cal ^.^

Proposed Strategies:

So for Acer's turn, I'm thinking there's a couple of nice options with encounters, both carrying risk:

1. Fey switch with Garr, then Tundra Wind the square from T-51~R-49, hitting all three and pushing B south, smashing Hulk against the northern guardrail, and smacking A against Hulk. The risk is Gordok is dazed - if he doesn't snap out of it while at the front line, he'll get slashed to bits by the Manglers (with their crazy 2d8 bonuses).
2. Tundra Wind the square from Q-50~S-48, hitting Gheth, Mangler A, and the Hulk. After which pushing both enemies to the southwest, hitting Mangler B twice. (The munchkin in me wants to make Mangler A end up at S-51 after hitting T-51, so he gets an additional hit from the Hulk. Though, Pang might say it's either 3 squares or nothing.) The risk here is of course Gheth's included in this indiscriminate attack.

If dailies are used, I'd say Roar of Terror after switching with Gheth is also viable. With luck, may daze them all even after their turns.

Oh hay, Water Walk just became viable.

Just wanna say that if (a) we survive the battle and (b) Gordok does not, dibs on Hunter's Kit (50 GP), Climbing Claws (840 GP), and his Pyrotechnics ritual (50 GP). :)

Here's an accounting of what he's got:

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS:
Cash .............................. 1,105 GP
3x Rubies ........................... 300 GP
Rare Herbs .......................... 125 GP
Alchemical Reagents .................. 80 GP
TOTAL IN CASH ..................... 1,610 GP

NON-CASH ITEMS:
Master's Wand of Hellish Rebuke ... 3,400 GP
Rod of Reaving .................... 1,000 GP
Darkleaf Leather Armor .............. 840 GP
Brooch of Shielding ................. 680 GP
Hunter's Kit ......................... 50 GP
Thieves' Tools ....................... 20 GP
Lute ................................. 10 GP
Footpads .............................. 5 GP
TOTAL VALUE ....................... 6,005 GP
CASH RESALE VALUE ................. 1,201 GP

TOTAL VALUE ....................... 7,615 GP
TOTAL IN CASH EQUIVALENT .......... 2,811 GP

RITUALS (NON-RESALEABLE):
Beast Growth (Exploration) .......... 175 GP
Traveler's Feast (Exploration) ...... 175 GP
Summon Winds (Exploration) .......... 125 GP
Tree Shape (Exploration) ............ 100 GP
Water Walk (Exploration) ............ 100 GP
Traveler's Chant (Exploration) ....... 75 GP
Pyrotechnics (Creation) .............. 50 GP
TOTAL Ritual Cost ................... 800 GP

Gonna let you know ahead of time but if I die Glock gets all of Gordok's possessions and say on how they are used/sold/etc.

There are no dibs.

ROBOT GUARDIAN WILL SLAUGHTER CAL IF HE DISTURBS MIDGET CORPSE

Also Skex, you got this one so we both have a heal in the bank yet or do you want me to handle it?

As if Pang would let you keep his stuff. We're about 50/50 with leaving characters leaving their gear at the moment.

I have a question for you all. Do any of you plan to have an extended rest after this (possibly Yeti-infested) encounter? If so, I'm going to use up dailies.

Well, our character don't know it, and we don't either for sure, but there SHOULD be a place we can camp outside this castle. A few imps shouldn't be a bother.

Also, depending on how Pang built the Fighter, shifting away might trigger an OA (Combat Challenge).

Not sure if sustaining spiritual weapon counts as an attack that invites a free melee basic attack though.

Shin it might behoove you to not be standing on hollow obvious pit traps when we start fucking with that switch.

For a second there I thought Pang had invoked the "absentee player march to certain doom" rule.

Anyways, once we fish the Deni out of the hole I guess we'll have to decide where to go. If I am reading the poem right the archway and the fresco should lead to the same place. Odd because they are on opposite sides of the hallway.

I'd thought that it may have been referring to the hollow area behind the fresco painting of a demon. When I bash it in we can see how big of a hole it really is.

Also I was under the impression that that rule didn't get invoked on weekends.

It's a three-strike rule anyway and only really applies during combat. You can keep quiet as long as you want between times so long as someone is doing stuff. Pang was always more lenient on weekends too since back when we started I did most of my posting here during the week.

So far as that riddle goes, the only really obvious bit is that after the room we'll eventually find with big, iron statues in, we take a left then another left to find the end. Also we're looking for some kind of magic ring to use as a key perhaps? I dunno, I suck at riddles.

There might be some Indiana Jones leap of faith bullshit in there as well, and possibly one of those this guy tells the truth always and this one lies always puzzles, and we need to watch the walls for some sort of symbols of hands and something toothy and avoid that shit.

That's what I'm getting out of it anyway.

"Go back to the tormentor" suggests walking into the demons mouth backwards to me. When we inevitably get in a fight in this dungeon, try to keep one bad guy alive so we can use them as a canary. I do quite like the irony though of Pang apparently picking an adventure heavy on puzzle solving and traps rather than fights to give to the party made up of a bunch of pure combat characters.

On that note I'm throwing you horns first at the first enemy we see. Figured I'd give you a heads up because if we've got it pre agreed upon then maybe I can go ahead and call that an assisted charge on your behalf.

I'm assuming this would meet the criteria to set off your character's unstoppable rage?

Beefi would never instigate combat if it can be possibly avoided. He's lawful good to the absolute extreme and will never knowingly break any laws or start any fights. It's the sight of his own blood that sets him off though.

Well, if the fresco is hiding a passageway and not just a hole I think the "Go back to the tormentor" is referring to it, as the fresco is of a demon whipping slaves.

Also, while there are 5 hollow spots along the red tiles, the poem says "Two pits along the way will be found to lead to a fortuitous fall, so check the wall." One is probably the hollow Beefi was standing on as he found the hollow fresco on the wall there, and the other is probably the next to last one at my end, as it's the only other place where a hollow touches the wall and intersects with the red streak.

And yeah, I am aware that the absentee player doom rule only applies to combat. It was just the manner of the straightforward charge head first into danger that made me do a double take to see who had actually made the post.

Oh mindless destruction you never let me down!

If we can't talk this thing down I say we knock it out. Looks like someone else has given it a bad day already so maybe we can get some info or help out of it. Or barring that we shove it through anything that looks like a trap.

Ahahaha. Cette, I prop for worst two rolls ever directly following an angry kicking in of a door.

66 damage in two attacks, fuck you Gargoyle.

I backed off a step, the idea being that if we open up a small gap it might start provoking opportunity attacks moving from one to another. Also so we can rotate in and out of melee range if this gets drawn out.

Actually, fuck that, I'll stay next to it so we're flanking it.

Edit: Chanic, I can't believe you actually have a bees attack. If your character doesn't make a quote from a Nic Cage or Edward Woodward film once every three posts or so I'm going to be most dissapointed. :)

The official documentation just says "stinging spirit insects," but The Wicker Man amuses me to no end, so bees it is. I'm not great with movie quotes, but I shall try not to disappoint.

At some point, we will fight a bear.

We will then skin it.

Chanic's character will put it on.

Chariots of fire will play.

And in slow motion, he will run up and punch the nearest woman.

And then D&D will crush in on itself, since nothing so awesome can possibly happen again, thus breaking physics as we know it.

Now the gargoyle's in the corridor we could always push it in that pit. I've got an at-will that pushes enemies one square and lets me shift through them too so I can get the right side of it. I've also got an Encounter left that knocks them two squares and leaves them prone.

Might as well use the terrain to our advantage, no? The thing's not even bloodied yet and after that initial onslaught, my per-round damage rate tails off pretty quick, although I guess only three of us actually hit him that round and we shouldn't expect to kill everything we fight in two rounds.

Yeah, I'm a pretty heavy hitting striker but that was a really bad set of rolls for me.

I vote we put him in that pit. He can fly, so he might not drop, though. Certainly have no problems getting out. If we can, I say we drag him to the open maw to nothingness and push him in there.

I've got a ranged nuke round coming up. Minor to attack with the crossbow and then a standard to belch dragon flame from the shotgun. Sneak attack on top of that. If he's not bloodied after this round, it may be time to panic.

Well, if you want him in the pit, I could use an immediate interrupt to push him closer to it, and then either send him in on my turn or let one of you guys do it. If you want to go for the maw of darkness, I can get around him and try to push him 4 squares on my turn, and then try to push him another 4 on my next turn.

Which would you rather?

I've got the same push two and prone that beefi does so if my rolls are maybea little less godawful this turn I can help move him. Or I can keep trying to tag him with my -2 defenses at will so everyone else can get more hits in. Either way.


Edit: SON OF A BITCH!

I vote for in the pit. He can fly but if the attack knocks him prone then he'll fall in and we can throw things at him.

Set and spike. High five, Shin!

That worked rather well. I've still got my two encounter powers with 4 push each left if we decide to go for the maw of darkness too.

Oh, and pay no mind to my post in the discussion thread, I was just apologizing to Pang for messing up the timeline by posting my immediate interrupt after a couple of other moves had already been made. Like I said I don't think it affected those two moves much since everything in them was misses, but I think he will have to sort out where to put Slim and Beefi, as they may be trying to occupy the same space now.

I think that leaves me at F0 so we should be good there. Though now it's extra tragic that I can't roll for shit since that hit would have put him in the pit from this new position.

If we've got any more ways to knock him prone we should just chuck him in the pit again. The fucker must have at least 100 more hp if he was only bloodied by my Brutal Slam attack.

If we can shove him over the hole I'm willing to have you chunk me at him and try to grapple him out of mid air.

Hahahaha, a flying suplex into a spiked pit would be the most epic thing ever. I was going to elbowdrop him off the edge if he hadn't got up but that's even better.

Alright then lets make it happen. Last time someone did the the fastball special it was both of their athletics combined so with us we can do it from 2 squares away with essentially no chance of failure. Though I will of course roll a two on my grapple check.

I have a through the roof acrobatics check, so if you guys fail, I'll do a flying dropkick on that motherfuckers.

Alright then it's now officially a WCW tag team match with an unconscious ref.

Hang on, I'll get a chair.

I still have two encounter powers with 4 push each so if you guys wanna go for a pit slam I can certainly get him over the hole. Nothing I have knocks enemies prone though, so you guys would have to take care of that and/or come up with some mid air suplex.

Deni and Wvlf will have to whip that up for you if we're going to do it this turn. Though I see no reason we couldn't do it twice in a row.

Unless pangs willing to let us redact our current turns to replace them with something more awesome.

Nah, just push him in the pit I think but delay until after my go so my attack still hits (If you don't mind of course). Someone can still jump in with an elbow drop or we can save that for next round.

There's still time for that elbow drop.

If I delay until after Beefi's turn I'll be directly before the gargoyle, so it would just climb right back out of the pit on its turn. You sure you don't want to elbow drop it?

Edit: Also what the hell, that's three 1 damage rolls in a row now.

I went for the elbow drop rather than throwing Slim since he'd already taken a turn and missed his attack, thought it'd be a bit cheeky to redact that. If he jumps out again, I'm sure GFZ or Uxig can throw Slim far enough or he's as strong as Beefi isn't he so throw one of the others.

Ok fair warning I'm not really up to this degree of math and if I can't figure it out within the next day or so I'm just going to answer with my middle finger and charge the cave.

On a totally unrelated note a new healer may be required shortly.

This is why we keep Shin around. He's a mathamagician.

What do you figure the chances are that the cave is filled with 35 minions?

Also I'm coming up with 1/138 as being the chances but I'm roughly 43% sure I fucked up somewhere along the way.

Even if it's 35 minions, they'll murder you. Minions die quick, but do full damage.

I originally thought it might be some permutation of Bertrand's Box, but the numbers don't line up.

Fair enough I'm basically support/off striker with piss poor ac so I would undoubtedly die quickly. But! and maybe this is just me getting too into it but I think that's what Uxig would do. You know being a tiny maladjusted gnome eating lizard barbarian and all.

Then again maybe I'm just being an enormous dipshit. It's always good to leave these things open to interpretation.

The way I see the math is: 10/35 x 25/34.

250/1190.

.21008

21%.

But Shin will probably come in and tell me I'm stupid.

10 Xivorts, 25 Imps so the chances of the first thing out being a Xivort is 10/35. The chances of the second thing coming out being an Imp, given that the first was a Xivort is 10/35 * 25/34 = so close to 21% it might as well be exact.

So yeah, Deni was spot on.

Chanic, laying them out in a star of David will get you 8 triangles, two big ones and six round the outside. Not sure if that's the best answer mind you but it seems to me to be a good place to start.

Not sure about the other one. I can get eight rows max after a couple of tries:

I hate these kind of spacial awareness things, anyone here autistic?

Ok, I can get nine. File attached...

I think if I burn my daily that grants regeneration that combined with getting 8 temp hp each time I kill something is going to make this go pretty smoothly if a little slow.

Do not worry though the math you guys did on my behalf will be put to a good use.

I figured out the tree puzzle without too much trouble. A 3x3 grid gives you 8 liines - you just need to turn two of those lines into Xs and you're golden.

I don't get it.

... i can't think of any better hints, other than that you only need to move two trees. they're the same trees you moved for your 9 line solution, just put elsewhere.

if you want me to post the solution, i will, but that's no fun at all.

I'm sure Wvlf can fight his way out if need be, don't ruin it for the party until we ask. To be fair, I've given it no more than five minutes thought but I do suck at these kind of puzzles. Give me some maths I can solve with a spreadsheet any day of the week.

Thanks for the Star of David suggestion, Shin, but I'm pretty sure in this particular puzzle you are supposed to treat each rod as a side of a whole triangle. I've seen it before as an exercise to think in 3D.

If Pang says my assumptions are off, your solution is probably the answer.

Wvlf, I have an answer if you want it, although I can't take any credit for it.

Heh, looks like you were right Shin. No reward for me :(

Clearly you should have just murdered all the gnomes to begin with.

Agreed. They were jerks anyway.

Shin, my problem is that I can only get 8 rows. Not the 10. I was originally thinking the 3x3 block, so the fallacy would have come from counting the two middle rows twice (the ones that form the +), so any help past that would be appreciated. Also, I would have totally been on here yesterday but I couldn't connect at school for some reason.

I'll give you the hints i gave Shin - if you start with the 3x3 block, you only need to move two of the trees. In Shin's example where he got nine rows but not ten (on the previous page somewhere), he moved the correct trees, just to the wrong places. I think the only other hint i gave had something to do with turning lines into Xs.

Or to put it another way:

Dammit. I'm such an idiot.

Wait, that still doesn't quite work. Now we have vertical rows of 2, so there's still only 8 lines.

It works. Three horizontal lines, one vertical line. A tall skinny "X" on either side, and one huge "X" made from the four corners and the center.

Anybody got any lightning based powers?


Edit: Ok I looked and Wvlf's Spellbinders gift could turn at least half of our weapons to lightning damage and we could dip them in the water and fry whatever those are. Anyone have any feelings about this plan?

If you're desperate to kill all the fish then that might work, sure.

It just occurs to me that there's enough room here for a bad roll to dump someone in the drink and I don't think these things are probably going give that fellow a cupcake and send him on his way. If they're all dead we can even just swim over at our leisure. Plus I think pang might be implying that there's something of interest underwater and whoever checks that out probably doesn't want to be fish food.


Also why wouldn't we want to kill all the fish?. Everyone loves a good old fashioned fish fry!

I dunno. There's probably some non-attack option that we haven't figured out yet. Possibly something to do with weight on the platforms we're on. Let's hold off on frying. Plus it seems like my lightning-based power (Thunderclap Strike) ain't doing any lightning damage when I use it, so I don't know if lightning-enhanced weapons would necessarily fry the water.

That would be because thunderclap does thunder damage. I'm still not quite sure why they did the whole lightning and thunder damage as different things maneuver really. I guess it's supposed to be equivalent to sonic but that seems like an odd rename.

I don't think there are any official rules on lightning/water combo's but I could swear rigged something for that at least once before.

My only concern here is that once someone's in the water with those things we're going to have to haul them out fast and run for it or engage in an aquatic combat that we're not really built for.

Plus we can't scope out what's going on underwater safely with them around.

Worst case scenario we waste utility power and move on from there.



Edit: Fuck it I'm turning into Zerg lets just go with Shin's rope plan.

I could turn into a tree and feed them acorns.




Just sayin'.

That depends entirely on whether the leaf already in there is an oak leaf. Could you not perhaps jump in the air then turn into a tree, sink to the bottom and see what's down there? I'm pretty sure Pirannah don't eat trees.

Alternatively: We could push him in as a not a tree and they'd be quite full.

If he's not down for that, the tree thing.

If we catch any we could see if they'll eat their own kind. If so, chumming the water near Deni and then having him shoot at them would theoretically kill them according to the Mythbusters "fish in a barrel" experiment. Assuming of course that the fish aren't magical. Or the water. It's a magical tomb so all bets are off.

Is it bad that I'm just now realizing that maybe I WAS supposed to turn into the tree to allow y'all a hook-point for travelling?

Ahahaha, you could always chuck the box to Beefi so he can turn into a tree and you guys can swing over using the branches.

I'm just gonna try to distract the piranha and then jump for it. My athletics is way higher than my acrobatics.

I'd be too afraid it'd drop in the water and then suddenly later we're in a Saw film where we actually need it but OOPS FUCKED UP.

Has anyone else got plans for the room that preclude me smashing down the wall with the black orb? I imagine there's a fight behind it but if the last room has taught me anything it's that traps and puzzles are much more dangerous to us.

I'm pretty bored of all the puzzles, let's smash the shit out of this room and move onto a fight.

Alright I've done all I can I'm running like a bitch next round if I'm still alive. Fucking snakes.

Does anyone else have any AoE attacks they can use to murder those snakes? Beefi's not really in the way since he can back-track out before anyone gets as far down the tunnel as he is and if it wasn't for the snakes we could have easily held the fight in that small room. As it is, I reckon a hasty retreat might be the order of the day. If we surround the tunnel entrance and all ready melee attacks we can kill the snakes as they pop out one at a time then fuck up the skeleton afterwards. He can't possibly be as hard as the gargoyle and we killed that in three rounds.

Edit:

Actually, someone could use our "Mow Down" card to wipe out the snakes. Who's got the best chance of hitting them with a melee basic attack?

Edit 2:

It's Garold with +13 for a basic melee attack. If you didn't mind getting into melee range, Chanic, you could potentially murder your way through the lot of them in one turn (It's unlikely but you only need as many good rolls as Cette just made bad ones). If you don't want to move to melee range then Beefi could try it (+12 to hit on a melee basic attack) although the bad guys will of course have to draw some blood before he gets involved in the actual fighting. :)

Also, I have an area burst 1 encounter power and an area burst 2 daily I could use if we want to hang onto the mow down card. The problem is going to be getting into range since I was so far away when combat started.

Ok I've got two heals left and I can go two ways with it. I can concentrate everything on trying to keep myself and deni alive while you guys get down here leaving nothing for the fight itself.

Or I can try to get down the tunnel and hole up until help gets here and we just hope he's lucky enough to make it and or do decent death saves until we can dog pile the enemies.

I can go either way but if I die or burn all the healing I'm thinking we might lose even more people.

So we're going to beat a retreat and try to fight them in the corridor then?

If so, how are we going to get Sam out of there?

He moves first on initiative and is at about half health so I imagine he can run it and survive the OA's. If anything he's more likely than me to make it out at this point.
Provided of course one can move through the snakes. If he can't do that then I'm not sure it's going to matter much where we fight as we'll be hard pressed to take them out before he's dead.

Nah, we're not going to lose anyone here. Pang wouldn't let such a ridiculously unbalanced party lose members in their second fight.

If he does get knocked out, hopefully it'll be the big skeleton that does it rather than the snakes so we can use our card to get hit bonuses against it. I'm still up for using the mow down card to try and kill as many snakes as possible because it's going to take Garold fucking ages to get there and he's the only one with AoE powers at this point.

Assuming the snakes can't move past each other, there might be an argument for fighting them in the tunnel as at least they can only get at us one at a time in there. If Pang's going to let us move through each other as normal, Beefi can block up the tunnel and act as a decent meat-shield to cover your escapes giving us time to regroup a bit before we bring the pain.

Ok so is it safe to assume everyone's down with luring the skeleton out of the room with the big box o minions?

Whatever really. So long as the whole team is in roughly the same place it doesn't matter too much where that place is. Is probably quicker to get you guys out than getting us in though. I imagine that Pang will have the skeleton open the box regardless but hopefully you two won't get murdered as a result if you've got a head start down the tunnel.

I'm still in favour of attempting to wipe out all the snakes in one attack using mow down though, despite the odds of success being not much better than winning the lottery. It would be epic as fuck if Garold made all the rolls.

Anyway, once Beefi sees you two retreating at pace he can get out of the way and we can sit back and wait for the skeleton to emerge then see if we can break the world speed-skeleton-murdering record.

Sounds like a plan. Barring that I can always implement my throwing flaming oil all over the fucking place technique for dealing with minions.