The Burning of Balentyne (contd).

Just following up on last week's session. You've completed your second day in Aldencross having made some contacts and found some interesting items. At this point, I think Tek is considering three rituals to cast on the bottles of wine: one to disguise them, one to disguise the effects of the poison, and one to slow the effects of the poison. What were you planning to do with them anyway? You were also discussing plans to assassinate Dominik Vallison. Are there any other things you intend to try?

I think we also had the idea of being able to get into the castle by using the circlets to appear as servants that live in the village who walk to the fort, or by someone pretending to be the Mayor/Magistrate guy.

Both of those are possible, although of course posing as Vallison might be a bit more difficult, as he's more in the public eye.

We need to cripple Aldencross but not steamroll it before the invasion. Anything that would attract the attention of the authorities from a larger city is a no. I've been doing some thinking, and I think the real power lies in Balentyne fortress. I think we should focus our attention on assassinating Vallison, then use that to get an advantage in Balentyne. The town will be easily massacred by Fireaxe's army, the fortress is the main concern.

Just curious if in this world explosives are a thing. I know there's alchemy and such but could some theoretical concoction be made with enough force to blow a hole in the fortress wall? Thought being that when the attack does happen we can already be inside and give the monster army one or multiple ways in.

Gunpowder, or other alchemical explosives, are not available -- certainly nothing powerful enough to blast through a castle wall.

I knew I should have taken the "Gunpowder Inventor" background.

To follow up on the rituals mentioned previously: 1. Disguising the bottles of wine is no problem. You should be able to gather the components you need with a bit of searching around town, and you won't need anything that will arouse suspicion. The ritual itself will take 1d4 hours to complete. 2. Making the effects of the poison look like a disease will be harder. To make it work, you will need a bit of the poison (there's enough left over) and a piece of the flesh, hair, or bones of someone who died from the disease you want to simulate. This will also take 1d4 hours to cast. 3. Delaying the effects of a massive dose of arsenic so it kills slowly is very hard. After poisoning the wine, you must conceal it in a church, chapel, or other place sacred to Mitra for 1d4 days. You must spend one hour each day applying the spell to the poisoned wine. Let me know if there are any further questions, or any evil plans brewing. See you (less Vorona) tomorrow night.

I'm going to have to miss tomorrow also. :(

Well, that leaves us down to three. Everyone else okay for coming tonight and seeing what happens, or should we postpone for next week?

Maybe we should postpone? Also, the poison was going to be put into the well to make it seem like a plague has fallen over the town.

I'm still fine with playing tonight.

In case you were wondering, you were working on a victory point scale to see how successful you were in weakening Balentyne. Here’s your final score: 30 soldiers killed, another 30 sick from poison: 12 VP 3 captains killed (Mott, Varning, Eddarly): 6 VP Father Donnagin killed: 3 VP Magister Tacitus killed: 4 VP Messenger ravens killed: 3 VP Dwarven engineer foreman killed: 2 VP 10 dwarven engineers killed: 2 VP Portcullis and drawbridge opened: 5 VP 4 siege engines captured or destroyed: 4 VP Murder holes captured: 1 VP Lord Samuel still alive at time of assault: -10 VP So that’s a total of 32 VP, which gives you a “Hard-Fought Victory.” In any case, Balentyne has fallen, Lord Samuel is dead, and most of the population of Aldencross has fled in front of the oncoming horde. Please post a bit here about what your character does while the castle and town are sacked. As a reminder from last night, you can all now advance to level 3.

Riss is going to hunt around to see if he can find his half-brother and his father who joined in the attack with Fire-Axe, and see if they're still alive. Whatever he does if he finds them, I don't know. Probably yell and fight with each other.

Tek explores the keep and town for magical goods(including books), and materials that can be used in his rituals. Other than that, he will be researching using the books that are in Tacitus's lab.

Sandra goes through Balentyne, killing the soldiers too weak to stand and granting those that can the chance to die on their feet. Upon realizing that the citadel is now empty, she starts picking through the remnants left behind while the army moves on towards the town. Finding herself at the forefront of battle lately, a heavier suit of armor is a new necessity, as is a sturdy shield. She keeps the captain's sword, and spends the rest of the time praying over the corpses of the soldiers. These past few weeks have been something of a spiritual awakening for Sandra. Upon discovering the source of the spell which first granted her life, she's been privately cultivating a deeper connection to Asmodeus, and now is the time to make her new allegiance known. (Sandra is a Fighter/Paladin now. I figured that she should be tankier, since she sort of fills that role now.)

Vinha spends a lot of time in the woods, practicing with her sling, and in general being away from people for awhile.