151017 Onward to Blue for Passage to Council...Will Slavers Be There Too?

TWITCH STREAM Our apologies to the viewers last night, our stream was missing large portions of the audio, so be patient, we'll get through this technical difficulty and have it ironed out by next session. And when that occurs, be sure to participate with the group each week LIVE! at <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire" rel="nofollow">www.twitch.tv/dm4hire</a> every Saturday night at 6 PM until midnight. View this entire session here... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPKv2JOm1lc" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPKv2JOm1lc</a> <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/v/21179307" rel="nofollow">http://www.twitch.tv/dm4hire/v/21179307</a> Twitch.tv keeps each broadcast for one week only, so be sure to stay up-to-date while it is still available, and be sure to click the heart icon under the twitch screen to 'follow' the group and be alerted of each new session. Brief portions of these weekly sessions can also be found on Youtube with the same date code. QUICK READ RECAP The party continues their strategic withdraw, attempting to leave the temple tunnels with proof in hand of slaver activity before becoming the victims of a mysterious, fireball wielding wizard. &nbsp;The party holds the line and confronts the threat head-on inflicting massive damage upon their pursuers, making a way of escape from the site. &nbsp;Erecting their instant fortress, the party finds refuge and safety off the beaten path to rest and regain both spell and much needed hit points for the journey to the coastal city Blue, in hopes of finding transport to the council in Saltmarsh and avoiding potential slavers there or enroute to their destination. DM SESSION LOG 151017 Spells points (used / total) Tralaan: 1st -- Chromatic Orb, Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Color Spray 2nd -- Web, Melf's Acid Arrow 3rd -- Fireball Max. 3rd Level Max: 70 (5th Level Max is still 3rd, 4 per day). Cantrips are 1 (or free if memorized), 1st 4 /8, 2nd 6/12, 3rd 10/20. Argo: Memorized 1st lvl: Chromatic Orb, Magic Missile, Color Spray 2nd lvl: Blur 3rd lvl: Fireball Max. 3rd Level: 97/97 Karmadel: 85/85: 0 lvl spells = Healing x4, Calm x2 | 1st lvl spells = Bless x2, Detect Magic x1, Cure Light Wounds x3 | 2nd lvl spells = Cure Light Wounds x2, Heat Metal x1 | 3rd lvl spells = Dispel Magic x1 (free cast) (My innate spells/abilities) = Expert Heals x4 cure light wounds, Detect Lie x3, Inspire Fear x2 Kyra Spells : 70/70 Shenjo: 42/42 BEGIN... (strategic withdraw continues) Round 7 Insect men attack Kezar for 4 hp of damage. Aaron hits an insect man for 11 hp of damage. Kezar screams "My turn!" in orc Mysterious mage fires wand and Kezar blocks the orb taking no damage! Round 8 Kezar takes 3 hp of damage. Kyra casts cure light wounds on Leaxle for 2 hp of life. Kezar splatters insect man for 16 hp of damage ! Kezar screams in orc "Run while you still can!" Round 9 Aaron hits insect man for 14 hp of damage. Insect man hits Aaron for 1 hp of damage reducing him to 28. Kezar crushes insect man for 16 hp of damage. Karmadel successfully walks across the board spanning the hole in his retreat upstairs. Leaxle joins Karmadel safely on the other side. Kell kills the last insect man for 9 hp of damage! Aaron takes fireball for 5 hp of damage. Round 10 Balfon hollers down the stairs wondering where the party is and gets no response. Balfon goes back down stairs and sees a mage with his back to him, weidling a wand, scoring a hit for 10 hp of damage. Kyra crosses the beam safely. Shenjo makes a critical fail on his dex check and falls for 9 hp of damage reducing him to 18 life. Argo crosses safely crosses. Kell climbs the downstairs ladder . Aaron destroys the mysterious magic user for 9 hp of damage. Shenjo climbs out and returns downstairs to cast shrink on Kezar to get him out through the narrow tunnels at 70% his normal size. Serandon crosses the board safetly. Aaron crosses. Kell fails and falls the 30' into the pit for 14 hp of damage reducing him to 14 hp of life. Kezar crosses safely. Balfon crosses safely. Argo lowers his rope to assist Kell out of the hole. Kell climbs out. Party exits temple via rear secret door. Party sets up camp down road using the instant fortress. Karmadel casts know alignment on Kezar but fails. Party regroups to regain spell and hit points, and determing route back to council. Party considers going to Elredd to gain transport but the city is listed in the slavers paperwork. Party lump sum XP with all aspects considered (including but not limited to) session survival, skill usage, role-playing, alignment checks, etc: 9,460 Shenjo/Dogs Gray Elf: 860 Karmadel/Le'Axle(Christopher S.) Human/Wood Elf: 860/860 Balfon (Skyhawk) Dwarf: 860 Kezar/Serandon/Kyra (Paul W.) Dwarf/High Elf/Dwarf: 860/860/860 Tralann (Shalvenay K) Half Elf: 860 Kell/Aaron (Robert D.) Human/Human: 860/860 Bjorn (Arash) Human: 860 SESSION LENGTH: 4-1/2 Hours

Not a treasure chest style adventure but I think we all learned some 'good lessons' after the ghouls, ghasts, moving trees, summoned god, etc. &nbsp;Ya never know what might happen next... Now, if we can make it to Blue without some wandering monsters killing us -- or some slaver bands roaming along and ending up in chains...

In Game Info Now that the party and Kezar have time for formal pleasantries, he does tell the party that he wasn't the only slave there, that now that his memory is becoming unclouded that he thinks he remembers others there....somewhere. Sadly he is unable to tell exactly where, being led through the tunnels drugged.

Out of Character* Group Vote time:&nbsp; Return to noble/Foolish task - of freeing the slaves after routing several of their troops? Return/Flee to the council to ensure the trader's face collective township's justice? OR Middle ground, choose a number of effectively NPC characters to return with the documents and details, while the other group circles back around into the town .. and .. if possible, do guerilla warfare tactics to pick off their defenses and draw them into a confrontation - as a diversion for the group as a whole or a 3rd group to charge back into the tunnels and find the other slaves and take out boss if opportunity arises.

Argo wise - "save all da peoples" Player - wise - greater good prevails, get the info back to town, gather the forces and wreck this smuggler haven, lead the assault against their other locales - ensuring the greater number know and are prepared, ensures the most lives are saved, going back in risks the information being lost and more people being killed. &nbsp; Such are moral dilemmas, that the safest way to ensure the greatest good, often costs others.&nbsp;

I get the feeling our party is like the designated Ranger squad who goes in -- grabs the info/item/bad guy -- and then comes back to report so the main forces can properly come in and clean the places out afterward. &nbsp;Just as they did with the sunken temple. &nbsp;(Not so much the demon camping out in the church but... kind of... one of these days we need to kidnap a paladin and go back there... that throne is still waiting to be 'cleaned up'.) The council can take this info -- report to the king (or whomever is the tier above them) and gather troops to go clean out the town/patrol the slaver routes/stop ships, etc. &nbsp;That's way outside our mission and party strengths. Argo has it right... more can be saved/protected by reporting back than trying to pick off every person in the city & temple... since this slaver 'ring' extends well beyond the city of Highport. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Guess the next question might be -- do we make it to Blue? &nbsp; If so, we can start doing all those 'leveling up' things many need to do -- and can be ready to rock and roll for the next installment. (I say Blue -- if we can -- because there is always the *chance* of some 'riding the boat along the coast' type water/sea encounters which -- it would be nice to be 'leveled up' -- just in case.)

Well first off. Since i wasn't there i got a &nbsp;question? Why did Karmendel cast know alignment on him? Aside from that. ok here it goes.... OK this is NOT a personal attack or trying to gimp anyone this is observations and experience talking... First off out frontline fighters are VERY undergeared to the point of being gimpy. We have a Support class Cleric(karmendel) that can give up his Shield to help give the an front line fight some bonus and to be more effective. Second off we should probably define our roles here. What role is everyone playing? Are you a Support? a Front line fighter? healer? caster? for several combats we've had the Following...&nbsp; Fights attempting to control the fight but unable to due to gear problems.. a Cleric acting as a front line fighter and many other roles., This can be ok, but Heironious Dogma is to protect the weak why aren't you making sure the casters are safe? Also your a cleric could &nbsp;be more worried about buffing the party, healing, and less about being in the front lines. Also Not a thief(i'm paraphrasing here) 2 spell casters severely under-spelled. I think we're missing some key spells here A thief that barely get to be a thief, People are pushing him aside to run ahead. Why do we keep him around if we're doing this? Let them thief do his job.&nbsp; Time and Time again we've left our most vulnerable people out to dry, this isn't right. As proven already in the pit cages things can come from behind. we should probably consider something here. These are just a few things i'm pointing out of our massive disorganization. We would have probably been in a massively worse shape if Shenjo hadn't stuck at the door holding them back while everyone retreated. we could have avoided some of the clusterfuck pretty easy. The tree's is another example of this. As is the ghouls/Ghasts.. our group dynamics are very disorganized and we should clean them up if we want to succeed in the future. Now i'm HIGHLY suggesting that we go to the NEAREST LARGEST city possible after we report and get paid. We need to gear people up better, Train, get spells, and people need to Tithe.&nbsp;

You do realize Craig that herding adventures is like herding cats. They're gonna do what they're gonna do and devil take the hindmost. lol

1st) I'd love to have more spells. &nbsp;Period. &nbsp;Yes, I'll support that - but I'd support that if you'd said really anything, YOU: Spiders make excellent nannies&nbsp;and therefore the Magic Users need to have more spells." &nbsp; ME: Yes, I totally agree. Now SHOULD we be putting the goodies in a big pile and redistributing them to optimize their distribution / results? That's going to be group decision, I'm a newbie, but I'm totally willing to do so. I am in agreement that the Thief isn't getting his spotlight for scouting at least. That we're not letting him do that is both unfair to the player, to the party, and a waste of a ring of invisibility. &nbsp; We could stop walking into battles and instead could establish field control over them. BUT, that said, the battle over the pits was pretty well controlled considering the 3 points access (Webbed Tunnel; control room door; and where we came from)... in retrospect, we could have used the instant fortress to block one access point, or maybe - we should get a wand of alarm/wizard lock or something to help with such in the future. But at the same time, those people in back were mostly underutilized in the pit as well, if full press was applied the pit battle could have lasted 2-3 rounds and then, when the other attackers showed up it would have been afterthought from an already decided battle, versus a complication to an existing one.&nbsp; But, we certainly need at least 2 mages that can cast Rope Trick, or a Rod of Security to allow for in dungeon retreats.

Why did Karmendel cast know alignment on him? &nbsp; I'm guessing it had/has something to do with the 'new meat' being an 8 foot tall half ogre? &nbsp;Ogres are not normally known for 'just dropping by to lend a hand' but are typically on the receiving end of whacks and spells. I agree with the above -- some folks are being totally underutilized. We also have the 'issue' that half the party are NPCs... which takes away from the 'real' players. &nbsp;But, I know some of these modules have 'party size' restrictions, etc.

belfon thinks we can take them

Mike can i play a Kender?? PLEASE!!!!! lol

CRAIG F. said: Mike can i play a Kender?? PLEASE!!!!! lol what would happen with your current character?

Modnar Wylde said: CRAIG F. said: Mike can i play a Kender?? PLEASE!!!!! lol what would happen with your current character? i think you missed the joke here......

Tho capable, atm, i personally am in desperate need of gear. being one of those that will be a front line fighter, i agree totally with what Craig is saying about party member identity and role. on the note of near future activity (next session or 2) i vote we return with info in hand and let the powers that be worry about the rest. also, we hope that some of the upcoming mods are less recon, more wipe the floor/get wiped, so we can do our thing lol.

Be careful what you wish for Paul you just might get it. How do you armor a half ogre omg that would be just to scary imagine if you will a half ogre in full plate mail carrying a Flail, Shield and wanting your head. I would &nbsp;just fall to my knees and say, "Take it! I'm not worthy" lol i wonder will magical platemail extend to the point where it could feasibly cover the half ogre? Just something to think about...

I spent last night going through Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, the Players' Hand Book, and the Complete Fighters' Handbook... &nbsp;nearly all make comment about 'human sized and smaller'... none really touch on someone HUGE. Some things I checked off made sense -- a large skin can hold 3 gallons of water -- which is like 3 times what a human needs per day so it seemed about right. &nbsp; A really nifty knife set from Aurora's which covers skinning fish or game, etc. &nbsp; The catalog also had a cool 'fire starter' kit with pre-made 'fire starter pellets'. &nbsp; Obvious stuff like flint and steel and a whetstone should be easy enough. &nbsp; A couple of blankets/bedrolls... since a cloak would barely cover Kezar's shoulders and would suck as an emergency 'cover'.&nbsp; Clothes? &nbsp; No way without one of us doing a whole tailor thing with string and knots to get height, width, boot (or sandal) size, etc. &nbsp; Instead I was thinking of getting a few square yards of cloth and canvas plus maybe a whole leather/skin. &nbsp; That and 4-5 long leather belts. &nbsp;Using the leather either as part of the clothing OR cutting it into leather strips -- you could at least kludge up a kilt and a belt and maybe a simple 'slit in the middle', drape down bit of material front and back -- also held in place with belt. &nbsp;&nbsp; The rest of the cloth (common) could be cut up for 'first aid' bandage wrappings. &nbsp; &nbsp; The canvas for a substitute for an uber large backpack -- again using a chopped up belt to secure the 'sling' from top to bottom. I was looking at 50ft of rope (hemp) but the book said it could only hold 200 pounds. &nbsp; I was wondering if we bought 4-50 ft lengths and used three lengths and braided the ropes... giving it additional heft, thickness, and strength? &nbsp; The 4th rope could substitute for 'string' and used as an alternative to leather ties for a canvas 'rucksack' -- tying off your 'toga' drape; &nbsp;tying up 'lesser things' (perhaps people?) I *DID* look into a two handed sword -- not certain if that's something we might find in Blue -- plus I know most folks prefer to test the balance and weight and 'heft' of the things instead of just being given some bloody butter knife. &nbsp; &nbsp; Weighted net? &nbsp;*MIGHT* find a fishing net along the coast BUT not a 'pit fighter' circular, weighted net. &nbsp; &nbsp; Stuff like those will probably be in a place larger / more metropolitan than Blue or Saltmarsh. I've got a hand scratched list of things and pricing and weights (mostly) -- I'll type it up so it's a bit easier to read. THE OTHER BIG QUESTION -- will we be okay in Blue (even 8 days away -- this IS still coastal/slaver country) or is this going to have to go 'on hold' until we get to Saltmarsh or beyond?

Remember, the Pomarj is known as "The Wild Coast" which lends it's name to it's extreme rural location and coastal environment, that's typically comprised of the unsavory sort, being deviant at best. &nbsp;With Highport being overrun with humanoids, the city of Blue might be an eye opening experience to say the least. Anyways, if the time is spent to make it all the way to Saltmarsh, and the slavers use the route on the map you possess, asking for assistance may be too little too late. &nbsp;If there are still prisoners at the temple, they might be long gone by the time the council or others return, resulting in having sent them on a long and time consuming wild goose chase with nothing to show for their efforts. &nbsp;Something to consider, especially if Kezar does in fact have a valid recollection of others being imprisoned there, now that the drugs have worn off, and you still wish to continue to retain your financiers for your adventuring, unless its time for the party to become its own self funded free agent entity. &nbsp;That's a question the group might want to consider. &nbsp;In which case, thinking outside the proverbial box, the party could just follow the trail as far as it will go, and then pay the council a finders fee for the job lead long afterwards (by courier of course!) along with their missing loved ones (by caravaan), and then call it a day. &nbsp;Just a thought.

as far as gearing, its going to be costly for me as a half-ogre. from PHB under armor sizes in Money & Equipment, but im sure it would be "in general" not JUST armor - The equipment list reflects the price of a suit of armor (including an appropriate helmet) made for any normal player character race. Although a halfling is much smaller than a human and needs a smaller suit, there are fewer armorers available to meet such specialized needs. Thus, the armor for a halfling is as expensive as that for a human. Armor for nonstandard sizes and shapes is going to cost significantly more and must be custom-made. This is not the kind of thing one can pick up at the local store! When armor is found during the course of an adventure, the players should note the creature who wore the armor previously. While a human-sized character might be able to wear the armor of a gnoll, it will do little good for a halfling. Likewise, the armor of a giant is of little use to anyone. on thats note, where ever it is we go will have to be big enough to have the skilled laborers to actually outfit me. it may be best to attempt to free the others i remember, then move on to Greyhawk once the "ring" is broken. thats my thoughts on our future for the next few sessions, considering what the DM has so subtly hinted at ;)

Grayhawk is definitely big enough to have a better chance of 'Big & Tall' stores. &nbsp;:p

As 'the mysterious voice of reason' mentioned above -- after our not so stealthy recon into the temple -- they know somebody was there. &nbsp;They will be reinforcing their positions AND probably trying to run their captured slaves as fast as they can. &nbsp; As noted, perhaps our best bet is to peek at Blue but then look into ambushing the slave train to free who we can. &nbsp;By the time we hit Saltmarsh, it will be a month (game time) of travel on foot, by sea, etc. -- the slavers & slaves may be long gone. time for the party to become its own self funded free agent entity &nbsp;-- is it?

Option 3? &nbsp;we've done some damage - KTD ratio wise, - we've done good. Strategy wise, the tunnels are a problem if we return. &nbsp; How are we for ranged attackers?&nbsp;

we don't have much in ranged attacks except for 1 archer and 2 spell casters.. but thats where party roles come in, we can optimize everyone's strength if stead of everyone going alllaahh *BOOM* :p

OR...hirelings

I think that Robert plan on jumping them on the road has the best chance for success simply because you can choose your ambush point. And lock them in and then ka-pow good night Gracie and they won't have any chance to escape if the ambush is set properly. And you'll be dealing them a major blow by taking their merchandise. So any that do escape will have to answer to their bosses as to what happened. And probably lose their lives due to their incompetence. And finally to our dear half ogre as far as your armor needs are concerned I think you'd probably best go with a nice suit of chain mail cuz it's easier to add links or hell even a whole nother suit to cover your frame rather than have some armorer pounding away in his shop for weeks if not months trying to get you kitted out in platemail just my two cents worth. clothing should be a bit easier as any 1/2 competent tailor can make you clothes, and boots again any 1/2 &nbsp;competent cobbler should be able to provide you with boots. Probably @ about 20% up charge but you should be able to afford that.

So, since we're largely focused to mostly mixed melee abilities, our ambush should&nbsp; include a choke point for our forces being able to close quickly - or force them to want to close with them. Ideally, we would harass them from range on one side and drive them to seek shelter behind or within a structure/feature in which our melee teammates await. I would suggest we need to scout for optimal places for such, someplace with an obvious shelter/cover and hopefully choke point behind such - from which our thief can be invisible and make a backstab on one of the guards of the prisoners to allow them direct them to flee into the chaos.&nbsp;

Deep from the archives, I found these maps. &nbsp;Presently you are on the road heading due south toward the Pomarj captial city Stoneheim located in the the mountains of the Drachensgrab hills area.

I would like everyone to weigh in on skype with their thoughts regarding the skype post and the link. &nbsp;Thank you.

Ambush sounds like an AMAZING idea. We have the route, I'm guessing somewhere in there is a schedule. I'm all up for that idea. @Thomas the armor I'm wearing (St Leather +2) is just as good as chain mail, . The gear I'm concerned with is mainly basics, along with a Great Sword since it's his/my preferred weapon over the trident/net or trident alone.

DM4HIRE said: OR...hirelings Hey i already asked if i can hire a Kender Thief :p lol

Presently you are on the road heading due south toward the Pomarj captial city Stoneheim located in the the mountains of the Drachensgrab hills area. &nbsp; Should be places in the hills/mountains to bottleneck them into a good ambush spot. &nbsp; And, in a pinch we go to the capitol city of Stoneheim. &nbsp; Being a capitol, we should be able to kit up, make the tithes required, sleep, etc. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

So has the party decided on where exactly they wish to go? &nbsp;Maybe we can take a vote here.

less than 24hrs, but if ambush is the decision, this road is the only place as its the only "road" i'm sure the other cities are supplied by boat. will they be shipping to the capitol city and if so when? important in knowing for a solid decision. otherwise, its go in and mop up under geared and hope or return with the info and no captives save a half-ogre and pray its enough for the council.

we can use the instant fortress to make retreat unlikely, even if a choke point is difficult (would be awesome if we could put it on its side and activate it.

The map you possess indicates that the slaves are taken to an old fort lost in the midst of the Drachensgrab hills some 120 miles away, 30 miles of which are plains and the remainder hilly. &nbsp;Unfortunately there are no times, schedules or other indicators of that nature on the map, only this location as the final destination.

Can anyone level up?&nbsp; If so, I'm assuming we'd need to rest/train before being able to do so. Is that correct? There is a sort of poetic beauty (ala Red Riding Hood) in going to the old fort and clearing out its denizens prior &nbsp;- then awaiting the slavers to arrive...

There are quite a few people that can level up at the moment. &nbsp;The nearest town with an inn and some teachers might do the trick.

unfortunately the leveling up process takes weeks of training, which may result in the slavers transporting and us missing it. I'm all for leveling up, but it may result in a "mission fail" here. I can't quite remember, are we supposed to just gather info or free captives we find out about as well? By we i mean you guys sorry, it's weird being the new character/old player ha ha ha.

It will take more than a day to get to a good 'ambush' area -- all spells will be back and even some rounds of daily healing done. &nbsp;Yes, we don't have huge stores of potions or magical catapults but... we should be able to take out a slaver caravan and/or some outpost in the hills. By going south into the mountains, we also head toward this region's capitol city -- Stoneheim. &nbsp; We take the slavers/free the slaves and head to Stoneheim and can do all the leveling up we need. &nbsp;Plus being a capitol, better chance for potions, magical items, better weapons & armory. The other routes means months of travel with chances for slaver encounters and/or random monsters and little or nothing other than reporting to the Council. &nbsp;And Blue is a question mark as to being 'good' or another slaver situation. &nbsp;South into the mountains seems the better situation. *** From a capitol, we could hire a courier go to Saltmarsh if absolutely necessary. &nbsp; That keeps us freed up to do what we need to around Stoneheim instead of blowing a month in travel.