Into the Stockade

[Dead Greyhawk]

Sorry about running over. No more combats starting in the last half hour!

The rest of the hobgoblins have been defeated. Raven rejoins the Company. The Stockade is entered and one of its captains, Icar, defeated. The oil fires still smoulder as Icar's unconscious body is searched. Winthrop, in the corridor, whispers that he hears booted feet coming quickly down the corridor.

Collecting the valuable items from the gatehouse and the curtain wall leads to the following items. Added to this is a small mountain of composite longbows, longswords, and chain-quality armor.

Ring of silver and coral - From Gorbin - (300 GP)
Gold Earring - From Kairn - (75 GP)
Necklace of silver and coral - From Gorbin - (1100 GP)
Gold Belt Buckle - From Kairn - (500 GP)
Silver Horn Amulet - From Hobgoblin Sergeant - (20 GP)
3 Leather Belts Inlayed with Gold - From Wereboars - (150 GP each)
2 sets of Keys - 1 From Icar, 1 From Gorbin
Platemail Armor - From Icar
Blind Helm - From Icar
Ring w/Red Stone - From Icar
Two Handed Sword - From Icar
Glowing Broadsword - From Gorbin
Two Handed Sword - From Kairn
Banded Mail - From Kairn
Banded Mail - From Gorbin
52 Pomarj GP
681 Pomarj SP
142 Pomarj CP

Cheers!

[Wolfgar]

Is Icar dead or just unconscious? If we are going to interrogate him I would like to know where the underground exits are. Also he might know if any caravans are expected and of course where Melba is. I am not thrilled about going up against a magic user at full strength with ours tapped out. It would be nice we could figure out where Markessa is so we can avoid or surprise her. I guess we need to take care of whoever is coming down the corridor first.

By the way, was anyone injured by the wereboars? Is there a saving throw against getting infected with lycanthropsy?

[Dell]

Icar is still alive, but he is in negatives - to interrogate him we'd have to waste one of Cedrus' cure light wounds on him. I hope that the Executioner is coming - all we have to do is tell Cash who he is, and stand back.

As far as Markessa - Winthrop still has his Globes, so he's safe against at least some of the bad things she'll be throwing at us. She'll probably be protected from normal missiles, so the best thing to do is have someone charge her and grapple her, then have someone else stab her into unconsciousness. That is, if she hasn't already run.

[Mr. Trommer]

Do I have any spells besides the Globes left? It might be better to cast one or both on the fighters so that they don't get held or such.

[cedrus]

If Diego decides to abscond with our horses (or anything else), I have a Stalk prayer that might help us. It's kind of like invisibility but also cloaks scent and sound. It lasts 5 rounds/level and works in natural settings. I think I could cast it onto Otto, and he'd be able to both track and stalk.

Also, at level 5, I gain the druidic spell Animal Friendship, which I'll be able to cast once per day in addition to my other spells. It's probably a good idea, therefore, if the company as a whole refrains from unnecessary slaughter of animals *glares at Raven* in the future, or else Ehlonna may decide I'm not worthy.

Winthrop, I still can't believe how brave you were yesterday. It's a miracle you didn't get yourself killed!


(ha, just kidding)

[Mr. Trommer]

That sounds like every encounter I'm in except I have died a few times. Don't forget the day is not done so I still have time.

[Ginger]

cedrus said:

If Diego decides to abscond with our horses (or anything else), I have a Stalk prayer that might help us. It's kind of like invisibility but also cloaks scent and sound. It lasts 5 rounds/level and works in natural settings. I think I could cast it onto Otto, and he'd be able to both track and stalk.

Also, at level 5, I gain the druidic spell Animal Friendship, which I'll be able to cast once per day in addition to my other spells. It's probably a good idea, therefore, if the company as a whole refrains from unnecessary slaughter of animals *glares at Raven* in the future, or else Ehlonna may decide I'm not worthy.

Winthrop, I still can't believe how brave you were yesterday. It's a miracle you didn't get yourself killed!


(ha, just kidding)

The key word is "unnessary." Those wild apes were coming right for us. And, besides, Dell told me to do it. What am I supposed to do, disobey the leader?

[Dead Greyhawk]

Otto said:

By the way, was anyone injured by the wereboars? Is there a saving throw against getting infected with lycanthropsy?

Cedrus took damage from the horrible wereboar tusks during the combat. Bwah-hahahahahah!

[cedrus]

Can't we pretend they were were-trees instead of wereboars? I might not mind transforming into a tree every so often...

I took four hit points of damage, out of thirty. (It's probably amazing I didn't take more; the wereboar and I missed each other two or three times in a row.) That's not enough to cause lycanthropy, is it? I guess we'll find out at the next full moon.

[Wolfgar]

Does anyone have a problem if I wear Icar's ring for the duration of the assault on the stockade? I figure it has some sort of fire protection which maybe useful later. What is the rule on unidentified magic items? I know weapons and armor work regardless of whether they have been identified, what about rings with only one function like protection? I suppose we could always test if it protects against fire buy holding a hand over the fire until it starts to hurt.

I am not claiming it as mine just making use of it since it is available. Let me know if anyone has a problem with this.

[Dell]

otto said:

Does anyone have a problem if I wear Icar's ring for the duration of the assault on the stockade? I figure it has some sort of fire protection which maybe useful later. What is the rule on unidentified magic items?

The rule is, don't use an unidentified item without letting someone know about it - preferably Raven or myself. Our strictest rule is this: if you find something on an altar, don't touch it - unless it's a prisoner waiting to be sacrificed. Since it seems likely that the ring provides some type of fire resistance, I have no problem with you using it for now.

[Wolfgar]

dell said:

The rule is, don't use an unidentified item without letting someone know about it - preferably Raven or myself.

Yeah, I wasn't going to take anything without letting everyone know. But I was more asking about whether magic items function if they haven't been identified. Clearly somethings need to be identified to be used, for example if you need a command word like the lion or the stone of Pelor. And somethings work even if you don't know the exact effect - weapons, armor, potions. But do things like rings work just because you are wearing them but aren't sure of their exact power or if they are even magical. Another example is if you are wearing boots of striding is it obvious that you are walking faster. Is there a house rules discussion on this?

[Dell]

If a magical item provides a continuous effect, then you don't need to be aware of this effect for it to work. If it's an activated ability, you need to be aware of that ability. So if the ring protects against fire all the time, then you just need to wear it. If the ring protects against fire for 24 turns, usable once a day, then you would have to have it identified to be able to activate that power.

If it has multiple effects, then you can only use the effects that you've identified.

[Ginger]

I just hope it's not an evil ring of fire resistance.

[Ginger]

I have out of town guests this weekend, so I'm not sure if I'll be present for all, some, or none of Sunday's session. Raven will want to keep a close eye on Otto if he's trying to put on unidentified magical items gotten of the body of an evil warlord. He has bad experiences with experimenting with evil items.

[Dell]

Mission Rebriefing:

Remember, our primary objective is to find Melba and rescue her, and any other slaves we might find. Killing the slavers is just a happy side benefit. That said, I would be very very very happy if we found Markessa's spellbook. Happy as in "cash reward" happy.

Take Markessa as prisoner if possible, but the Executioner dies. Ignore the haunted wing of the building until after we get the mission accomplished - we can hunt for extra goodies after that. It doesn't look like we'll need to run away here - the monsters may be much stronger underneath, but they're also more tightly packed and in smaller numbers. Hopefully we can manage our encounters so as to not expose ourselves to too many enemies at once. That means no rushing into big open rooms as a tightly packed cluster of targets. If you must rush into a room, go in multiple directions, keep some distance between each other.

I know can count on the core members, but the new kids may need a little assistance out there. If we see the mage, here's what I want to see happen - Cedrus will cast silence on Jerry, and Jerry will grapple the mage.

Raven kills everything else.

[cedrus]

Let's make sure both Jerry and I are near the front, then. The only problem is if Markessa gets a spell off before we see her (or if she wins initiative).

My silence spell lasts 8 rounds, and it's a fifteen foot radius.

Fireball has a range of 10 feet plus 1 foot/level. It seems possible that if I cast silence on Jerry just before we enter a place where Markessa is, Jerry would be able to silence her before she could reach us with a fireball (assuming that's the spell she'd try on us). Maybe we'll get lucky and capture someone on the way down into the dungeon and get info on exactly where Markessa is holed up.

[Ginger]

dell said:

Raven kills everything else.

My kind of plan.