News of Military Campaigns from Strongmoor

Here is the military situation as it stands in the Kingdom of the Urchin Isles (as of January 9th, 2015 in real-world time): Since last November, a strange fleet of ships, originally thought to be pirates, has pillaged and attacked settlements, villages, and a few towns along the Sea of the West. This activity has affected The Barbarian Kingdoms, the Urchin Isles, and Stygia from the rumors you've heard. Since the Urchin Isles has primacy of the Sea of the West, it has fallen to the Urchin Isles (Kingdom from now on as short-hand) navy to deal with the threat. The Kingdom Navy has been unsuccessful in pinning down the unknown enemy's primary fleet, but reports say the size of the fleet is approximately 76 ships strong. Several engagements have taken place between the navy and enemy forces at sea, but they tend to withdraw to limit losses. What is so strange about the enemy is that they fly a flag of unidentified national origin: a purple flag emblazoned with two crescent moons; one the small blue crescent of Damini, the other representing the larger red crescent of Samer. Red robed priests reportedly accompany the crews of these ships. In December ships from the Borea Sea were pulled in to help deal with the growing problem. Early reports in January are that the Barbarian Kingdom of Herot has begun attacking patrol ships in the Borea Sea. They have even been so bold as to raid some of the fishing villages along the eastern coast of the Urchin Isle's peninsula. Our remaining ships in the Borea are seeking out the Herot ships; for each of our villages the barbarians raze, we will seek to decimate a score of their pathetic villages in return. Herot can not possibly stand against the full might of our mighty warships and steel-eyed marines. To summarize the Urchin Isles' military activity: The Kingdom Army At peace, remaining vigilant against the barbarian kingdoms to the north of our held territory on the peninsula. The Kingdom Navy Campaign against the unidentified piratical forces in the Sea of the West. Ongoing since November 2014. Campaign against the incursion of Herot barbarians in the Borea Sea. Ongoing since the beginning of January 2015.

Sounds like we may need to arm our ship more. Is there room for anymore ballista's or other weapons?

I believe your ship could probably house 20 mercenaries (or marines if the King was inclined to provide them).

Could we fit it with cannons?

So... will our next adventure be a sea adventure? It sounds like these problems are getting worse and what happens if Stilt Town is next to be raised? Also I'm pretty sure the guys in red are from the palice. We may also end up encountering them on a trip between Strongmoor and Stilt Town. So how should we deal with this?

Ka'Gron says kill all and only take prisoners to torture.

If there's treasure or great reward in dealing with this menace I'm in.

I mean it's a big threat, they sent the navy after them, we could probably get a reward. Probly a good idea to ensure a reward first. We might become renown for it.

Maybe we should find their headquarters and raid it?

Sounds like a great Idea

I didn't think cannons (or gunpowder) was a thing, thats why I mentioned ballistas. Or heavy crossbows with swivel mounts. Both preferably. Are mercenaries super easy to kill? How much does a squad of mercenaries normally cost?

20 level 0 mercenaries would be 28 additional gold per week, and would limit any cargo you might want to carry onboard your ship, as well as limit its range to approximately a week's worth of travel without restocking on food and water. You could also put up advertisements seeking more experienced henchmen, in which case those would cost you about 140 to 420 gold. Problems of this scale aren't solvable by groups of adventurers (until you have your own land, holdings, and armies that is). For now this is just a "World News Update". Although these world events can certainly spill over into your adventures.

Way to be a downer, DM :P I think the big takeaway is that we should be even more prepared before going out onto the seas, including spending some money outfitting our ship for potential naval combat. It might also be a good idea to limit how much we travel by sea.

My next thought was could we take approximately 76 ships with red robed figures on board who might well be more wights or something.

Blaze(Aurum) said: My next thought was could we take approximately 76 ships with red robed figures on board who might well be more wights or something.

Idea: we subdue the red dragon and invade the Demon Wastes, enslaving the demonic hordes. Load them up on some ships and go to town on these Raiders.

Don't we have a party member who worships the Big Sea Tentacle God? He should do some prayers to that guy about some tasty ships with red-robed figures on it! :D

--- Join the Army / Navy --- If you sign up in next 30 days recieve free burial services* !!! * burial to include; dumped into ocean, partially or fully burnt, and being buried under collapsed curtain wall. No warranty, expressed or implied, is offered against rising as an undead.

Well... looks like we won't be needing those 20 mercs for our ship now :( RIP Black Eel!

The Vile Eel Actually.

I wonder how much buying a boat costs? Also, can insurance be taken out?

Anyone offering adventurers insurance is an idiot! I was surprised to not find ships in equipment lists of PE or ODD. S&W lists 50,000gp for large merchant or large warship. Prices vary by locality (DM) but it's a lot.

We sold a ship already once for like 40k I think

We got ripped off by that Auctioneer in Strongmoor. That ship was worth 60k. We just didn't have an extra dock for Ship #2.

I'll put up 5k toward a new ship.

Maybe there are new pirates in the cove we can totally defeat and take their ship :)

Worth a check. If we did it once at like level 3 or 4 we can do it at level 6 and 7. I'm up for killing 100 more pirates

I don't think it would be 50,000 gold for a ship. The ship you originally stole was worth 20,000gp and it came equipped with a ballista. Also note the "red robed" people. Yeah, whats in that place might have changed...

Ooooh....Kill Red-robed pirates and take *their* ship!

I will be spending the week performing my monthly responsibility at the Temple of Krotus (I will remove the 10% tithe from my earnings when it is posted and I know how much). Ramkus will probably go as well, but I don't want to speak for him. Lucien, if you want to send Borbo with me, I can ask the priests to see what it would take to remove the lycan curse. For my commune (to be completed in game), but so you can prepare Steven: 1 - Can I have complete knowledge of all of the Palace (every floor including the 2 towers) and the location of any treasure there-in? 2 - What are the 2 javelins we obtained? 3 - Where can we find a new ship? If anyone can think of better questions let me know and we will consider it before the game on Friday (since I can only do this once per month, we should make it count!).

I'd bet #1 is too much to ask in one question. Also it's phrased as yes/no question. Maybe you're god is not enough of a dick to just reply "yes". I'd ask about the lammasu? we saw, friend or danger. About the dragon, Does it live alone, any back entrance to lair. About the barlog does it lair in Palace, what level, any weakness. Is there better way to reach palace than the wilderness "full of shit that can kill us" Any safe place on Balor Island to create a basecamp. Place to leave equipment, henchmen, hirelings to guard while we are off pillaging the country side? I wouldn't waste commune on #3 A:the shipyard in Strongmor. Unless you mean were can we find some pirates/bad guys with a ship we can take. Which is an excellent idea. Malikoi suggests asking Krotus "Why he's such a wuss and how long does he think he can resist Eldrath? 2nd law mthr fckr!" while jamming an eldritch gang sign in your face. Sorry, Malikoi is kind of jerk.

I don't know that they can(or will) just bestow knowledge upon you, hmm... but if they will, that is the most efficient way to ask. Have a quill and parchement ready to map it all out and such, AKA so Steve can give us details on the map handouts.

I think a mini-expedition to the Old Pirate Coves is a good idea - see if anything new is there (including something that may have our new ship).

Amanda the Amazon said: Maybe there are new pirates in the cove we can totally defeat and take their ship :) CountingWizard said: I don't think it would be 50,000 gold for a ship. The ship you originally stole was worth 20,000gp and it came equipped with a ballista. Also note the "red robed" people. Yeah, whats in that place might have changed... I think Steve was giving us a not so subtle warning those 76 ships with red robed figures that might be Wights may be there waiting for us. Oh yeah, Freddy, keep in mind you'll need to book passage with some other ship now, since ours sunk. I think last time that happened tho it was like 2 GP to ride with a merchant vessel, so probly no biggie.

Gorg isn't excited about another ship. The seas make him a little nervous, especially now that anything could be lurking beneath it, even a cyclopean ruin full of MAGIC MANTA RAYS. He'll pitch in if need be, but doesn't have much need of travel right now. Unless we're talking something crazy like invading the northern marauders or storming Hel. He does want to help further the name of Krotus, however, so would do what it takes to show the world the might of his god.

Ramkus is all about going with Freddy on our Krotus duties.

According to the spell book, any question I ask will be answered; "Veracity and knowledge should be near total". But I see your point about rephrasing it to a non-yes/no type question. But the answer to that could be as easy as them telling me where we can find maps for the remainder of the palace. The dragon/balrog... yeah I don't think I'm ready to go after a these creatures yet, unless you want to know so we can AVOID those areas. Maybe you can try asking YOUR god for that info! But a worthless god such as Eldrath would probably send you to your doom because you are so weak in his eyes and he would be entertained. Safe place... if we still had our ship, we could have used the Pirate Cove where we first found it. Or we could keep it parked and use dingy's to head ashore as needed. And yes I mean to take another ship, not going to Strongmoor to buy something like that when there is perfectly good pirate scum out there waiting to ascend to their gods via my hammer! Couldn't our magic users teleport us to the palace? Seems like that's a relatively safe way to get there without wilderness encounters. But then there's no XP to be gained in that! Ramkus and I only need a 3 or better (d20) to turn wights (level 7 clerics here). So meeting them may not be that big an issue. In less than 23000 XP I will be able to Turn them without even tossing the dice. Also... I am giving the +3 shield to Gorg. While I would like to remain -3 AC, I think it would be better to spread the defense around and I'm good at AC 0 for now, so he will also be AC 0 and hopefully not need as many cure light wounds!

When Steve posts the XP rewards for the Water(SPACE!) Temple, I'm 75% sure I can start teleporting once per day (me and one other person). I don't yet have safe teleport to Strongmoor, so sorry on that one guys. Oh, and Steve also said that the teleport/bag of holding trick was a one-time thing because it wasn't fair that those who left early could avoid death and being lost on foot off the coast of Stygia. We should also see about trying to make more progress into the dungeon, as we get strong so does the inhabitants as seen by the lycanghouls we were ambushed by. So the longer we spend not killing vamps means the more/stronger we start to face I'd imagine. Add to that, we still have to rescue the princess... FREDDY THE PRINCESS! Where is she so we can rescue Ms. Toots McBoots of the Urchin Isles.

Blaze - said Pirate Cove is not big enough to hold 76 ships. I also didn't say attack - I said to " see " (operative word) if anything is new. Think Hackers, not Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

I guess we can look, I'm just afraid it might be A. waste of time and B. dangerous, like getting attacked while trying to mearly see what's there. Also, Freddy may have our boat situation covered with his commune.

You could ask for all of the palace maps, but instead of treasure maybe you could ask where the vampires are exactly so we can find/avoid them. Or maybe ask where an anti vamp weapon that does a lot of damage is or maybe a weakness that we don't know about or some such. And yes ask about the princess, we need to know where she is. If we can get her and get out with minimal fighting and return her we can get the reward.

I've been hit by a load of work this week guys. The down-time one-on-one sessions will be a little slow this week, and I'll try to get the xp up tonight or tomorrow night. Give me some decisive indication on what I need to prepare for Friday. The pirate caves will need some prep work due to the changes that have taken place to the piratical forces; and I'll probably need to modify the layout of the place to be more interesting than just randomized cave tunnels. Those of you who have been there before would know that it is not big enough to anchor 76 ships; even in the bay. I like the idea of Thieves as scouts; I would like to see how it plays out although I'm not sure how fun it would be for the rest of the group. Basically thieves are really great at scouting ahead and escaping. NOTE: Since they can't stay hidden while holding a visible light source, they are usually stuck in pitch black darkness in actual dungeons, and won't even realize when they've run into monsters (all who can see in the dark); although thieves will be able to see light sources from other humans wandering around. Since the cove is partly outside, and supposedly "human" inhabited, they should make much better scouts in this case.

Ka'Gron will scout, I'm sure it will go perfectly.

Scouting missions should be run before main session. Either via msg board or short session. Which is easy for me to say cause I don't have to find time to run them. Fun being DM ain't it? Also scouts should give clear instructions to rest of party. I'm going here, then there, then there (I will leave marks in each place, this one means "danger", this one means "ok", this one means I went that way), I'm leaving when, I expect to return when, if unable to return I will attempt to get to safe rendezvous spot here, please come find me. The best out of doors scout might be invisible flying mage who can also teleport, but they tend to get excited and fireball.

Norm, How you worded that makes me think that the Mage poops fireballs when they get scared. LOL :D

Relying on the Gods for information that is easily found using the skills of members of your party is not a good way to go about life. And is possibly a good way to get smited by your God for interrupting their dinner with dumb questions :)

Well I was going to rely on gods because the members of our party have not done any scouting through now. If you are going to do that then I will hold off on that until we have 3 questions that need to be answered. Curtis is a magic-user that can use fly and invisibility, plus he has a pet gryphon now. He could do some scout work as well right? If someone were going to physically go out, the one of the clerics could cast silence on the scout. It would only last 12 turns, but it would hopefully give an already talented thief a little extra edge to get in and out of some places.

Cleric casts Silence and Mage casts Invisibility, BEST. SCOUT. EVER. Add in it being a great thief, or a flying mage, either way, fly can't be cast on others it seems, but still, such an awesome scout that would be.

Doesn't silence work both ways?

Silence has shortish duration, not long enough for scouting overland. Could use for tactical scouting (in dungeon) but has problem James pointed out, rest of party can't here you screaming for help. Still I would save silence for shutting down enemy casters.

Blaze said: Cleric casts Silence and Mage casts Invisibility, BEST. SCOUT. EVER. Add in it being a great thief, or a flying mage, either way, fly can't be cast on others it seems, but still, such an awesome scout that would be. Congratulations! You just invented the Mage-Killer Assassin. You only have yourself to blame if you ever encounter these guys in future adventures.