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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 18, 2009 12:24:48 GMT -5
I guess we have two options: -continue looking the War Horns, or -start a new quest to find the ritual to command the terracotta army. Both options have a chance of helping the Northmen defeat Her Dark Majesty. Do we think one is more likely to work?
To me, the second option has more logistical problem. Finding the ritual may involve traveling outside of the Land of Song. Once we have the ritual, how easy is it going to be to get the army to Kerava. Crossing swamps and fjords will be difficult not to mention 4'+ of snow.
We may want to go back to fountain and try giving it a bigger donation. It appears that what we had given wasn't enough to appease the spirits. We now have lots of surplus valuables. If it gives wishes then we try to heal Alfbrande, remove Basil's curse or obtain the ritual to command the army. If it gives information we ask it how to accomplish those things. If it does something else then we have wasted a couple thousand in gems.
If we don't want to do that then I say we go visit the elves. They probably remember, in living memory, the sea people. And of course they may know about the War Horns.
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Post by venger on Mar 18, 2009 14:55:18 GMT -5
To me, the second option has more logistical problem. Finding the ritual may involve traveling outside of the Land of Song. Once we have the ritual, how easy is it going to be to get the army to Kerava. Crossing swamps and fjords will be difficult not to mention 4'+ of snow. I'm sure the clay army will march tirelessly, without need of food/water/rest. They can probably travel under the water. Once we activate them I wouldn't worry about logistics. It's finding the ritual that sounds borderline impossible. We may want to go back to fountain and try giving it a bigger donation. It appears that what we had given wasn't enough to appease the spirits. We now have lots of surplus valuables. If it gives wishes then we try to heal Alfbrande, remove Basil's curse or obtain the ritual to command the army. If it gives information we ask it how to accomplish those things. If it does something else then we have wasted a couple thousand in gems. It was a full day slog out of the city and it'll be just as long back in. The moth is unkillable, it slithered off after we fought it again, so that's another potential level-draining encounter. Besides, we have already offended these gods enough. Tossing the gems we looted from their sacred palace into their sacred fountain is asking for trouble. If we don't want to do that then I say we go visit the elves. They probably remember, in living memory, the sea people. And of course they may know about the War Horns. This has my vote. We rescued one of their princesses from the clutches of evil. We should have relatively friendly relations with these elves.
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Post by Ginger on Mar 18, 2009 15:02:06 GMT -5
Do we know where the elves are? All we know about them is what the witch told us, and we've established she's was deliberately misleading us. I still vote for heading back to confront her.
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Post by venger on Mar 18, 2009 15:20:54 GMT -5
Do we know where the elves are? All we know about them is what the witch told us, and we've established she's was deliberately misleading us. I still vote for heading back to confront her. They're somewhere in the Volkwood. Kimball is confident he can find them. Didn't Sirri send us to the witch in the first place? Should we go confront Sirri?
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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 18, 2009 22:44:15 GMT -5
Zinc's Remove Curse only has a 1% chance of dispelling Basil's -7 vs. Spells curse. I expect the odds of finding a Priest high enough to remove it unlikely. I suppose it will require some sort of atonement. Do you think that would require a trip back to the fountain and offering the proper level of sacrifice? Otherwise Basil will be extremely likely to get charmed a lot to say the least. It was a full day slog out of the city and it'll be just as long back in. The moth is unkillable, it slithered off after we fought it again, so that's another potential level-draining encounter. Besides, we have already offended these gods enough. Tossing the gems we looted from their sacred palace into their sacred fountain is asking for trouble. It doesn't seem like there is another option for getting Basil's curse lifted. And I agree that it would be a detriment to the party to have someone that powerful who is vulnerable to be charmed. And we have plenty of gems that weren't from the tomb to use. Also it seems like it takes a couple of days for the moth to heal itself. So now is as good a time as any to go back.
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Post by venger on Mar 19, 2009 8:15:23 GMT -5
I agree that getting the curse removed is a priority. I don't think these gods are the agency by which to do it though. The elves might know how to remove a curse. Or Sirri.
Basil has royally offended this pantheon. The entities associated with the fountain were described as "malevolent." Basil removed an offering from their sacred fountain and was powerfully cursed. Then we looted their palace and he took those gems out of the ceiling and the magic gongs rang and I'm sure they didn't like that. Then he desecrated their holy war relic and was literally struck by an orange bolt of lightning from the gods.
How much are you planning to put in the fountain? What if it's not enough and offends them? Magic fountains are trouble, ask Zinc and Morvan.
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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 19, 2009 21:38:34 GMT -5
How much are you planning to put in the fountain? What if it's not enough and offends them? Magic fountains are trouble, ask Zinc and Morvan. When Kazan put 100 gp in they were offended but only to the extent that he had to kowtow for 10 hours. It is only if you remove the offering that you get the big curse. I would try 1,000 gp next. Even 5,000 or 10,000 gp would be reasonable if it restored Alfbrande, removed the curse or told us how to command the army. Don't forget we are also carrying around 4,000 gp in party funds. I doubt the elves will be much help with a curse. If they actually had a high level magic user or cleric who could remove a curse from some gods then I doubt Her Dark Majesty would concern them as much. Maybe they have some mystical pool that washes away curses.
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Post by venger on Mar 20, 2009 7:21:29 GMT -5
I doubt the elves will be much help with a curse. If they actually had a high level magic user or cleric who could remove a curse from some gods then I doubt Her Dark Majesty would concern them as much. Maybe they have some mystical pool that washes away curses. I pictured them using some kind of Ceremony spell to combine all their clerics into one super-cleric who could remove the curse. Or having some obscure Elven knowledge (plot hook) that sends us off in search of a powerful, benevolent spirit to remove the curse/puts us on track to something that will help. Don't forget we are also carrying around 4,000 gp in party funds. I have no problem with throwing all 4,000 gp of party funds into the fountain IF we think it will help. Could we brew some tea and crush one of the 100gp pearls into it?
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Post by Ginger on Mar 20, 2009 10:17:54 GMT -5
Zinc and Morvan have a 1% chance to lift the curse. We get 3 third level spells per day. Given that it takes a long time to go anywhere, we'll have the curse lifted in a month. What's the big deal?
Also, when it comes to charm person, Basil's still in fine shape. His elven resistance gives him about the same likelihood of getting charmed as Zinc.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Mar 20, 2009 21:45:13 GMT -5
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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 23, 2009 9:44:24 GMT -5
Any luck finding the elves in the Volkwood?
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Post by venger on Mar 23, 2009 9:52:16 GMT -5
Any luck finding the elves in the Volkwood? No problem finding them. Kimball is a skilled ranger. They didn't particularly like Northmen though, so Greggers and the others were made to feel pretty unwelcome. Our first encounter was a little tense...
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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 23, 2009 11:13:21 GMT -5
Care to expand on that?
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Post by venger on Mar 23, 2009 14:02:15 GMT -5
Well, it was just Lee and I this week... we did pretty well all things considered...
I will say, I was astonished at how badly even someone with an 18 charisma could flub a series of reaction rolls.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Mar 24, 2009 8:35:45 GMT -5
Week 29 is posted. There was a lot of back and forth towards the end so I missed a lot of dialog. deadgreyhawk.pbwiki.com/
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Post by Ginger on Mar 24, 2009 8:54:08 GMT -5
It's more important to get the body count right than the dialogue.
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Post by venger on Mar 24, 2009 9:25:08 GMT -5
Losses:
Greggers, Ole, Snurre, Bjorn turtle-bird carcass expensive pelts 5k in precious metals 30k in semi-precious gems elixir of life magical artifact scaffold that commands the terracotta army furs sleds
Gains:
Quest - Bezmara's Hide Quest - Summer Eater's Teeth Quest - Treacherous Clansmen
They returned to us the bag of valuable gemstones that Basil pried from the ceiling of that room.
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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 24, 2009 10:29:03 GMT -5
So if we succeed on the quests will we get the rest of our stuff back? Is there something else they will reward us with? Did they tell us who the treacherous Northmen are? I am not thrilled at the idea of killing humans even if they are evil. They should be captured and turned over to Yngvar.
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Post by Ginger on Mar 24, 2009 10:35:12 GMT -5
Did we get back our torcs which mark us as champions of the clans?
Keep in mind that Yngvar could be on the wrong side. Siri did send us to the witch, who I think is bad.
BTW, I like how promises we made are listed as gains. I'd consider those losses instead of quests.
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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 24, 2009 10:53:34 GMT -5
I don't understand how Yngvar could be on the wrong side. He is after all the lord of these lands. The Jarl of Jarls. If anyone is on the wrong side it is the other Jarls who have failed to support him fully. (Also he has given us lots of rewards for our services.) Why have we suddenly thrown our support to these elves? Maybe they refused to give up a War Horn that belongs to the Clans and the Northmen took it by force.
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Post by venger on Mar 24, 2009 11:39:20 GMT -5
So if we succeed on the quests will we get the rest of our stuff back? Is there something else they will reward us with? Did they tell us who the treacherous Northmen are? I am not thrilled at the idea of killing humans even if they are evil. They should be captured and turned over to Yngvar. If we succeed on these quests we will probably get some more of our stuff back. No additional reward. They gave us 4 names and told us they were from the Marten clan. <DING DING> They came under banner of peace and friendship to the elven court, then attacked with fireballs and crap. We aren't sure exactly why, probably should have asked. Don't worry, as a 0-level magic-user you won't be in danger of killing anything. Did we get back our torcs which mark us as champions of the clans? Keep in mind that Yngvar could be on the wrong side. Siri did send us to the witch, who I think is bad. BTW, I like how promises we made are listed as gains. I'd consider those losses instead of quests. I don't think Zinc, Cullen and Kazan have their torcs anymore. Dana would have to say for sure. I don't remember us getting them back. We gained some responsibilities. And a little life experience. I don't understand how Yngvar could be on the wrong side. He is after all the lord of these lands. The Jarl of Jarls. If anyone is on the wrong side it is the other Jarls who have failed to support him fully. (Also he has given us lots of rewards for our services.) Why have we suddenly thrown our support to these elves? Maybe they refused to give up a War Horn that belongs to the Clans and the Northmen took it by force. We didn't throw our support to the elves. They butchered our party and took our stuff seemingly without provocation, so we of course went to find out why/recover our stuff. Rather then attack them, we tried diplomacy. Turns out some Northmen lied about being champions and then trashed the elven great hall, really pissing the elves off right before we entered the Volkwood. After some tense negotiations we finally convinced them we were good guys and they told us we could get some more of our stuff back and try to fix this bad blood by doing quests A, B and C. I got the impression they don't really care either way if we succeed. Right now the Northmen don't need any more enemies. It best serves Yngvar if we root out the traitorous clansmen and stop the elves from warring on him.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Mar 24, 2009 11:40:31 GMT -5
Those that committed the attack were from the Marten Clan. Anyone remember Hemming?
We were given their names. Our discussions did not go well with hinrike so I didn't think to ask more about why the Martens chose to visit the elves.
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Post by Ginger on Mar 24, 2009 13:08:28 GMT -5
When I said that Yngvar is on the wrong side, I mean that it's conceivable that he did send people to ambush the elves under a banner of truce. If he did, then he's bad and we should stop helping him, rightful lord or not. That said, duplicity from the Marten clan is much more plausible.
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Post by Ginger on Mar 29, 2009 21:50:14 GMT -5
1 quest down, two to go. We stayed really late, but we killed the witch and all of her followers. She had a bunch of gems and stuff, and we got her spellbook, which has Invisibility, among other spells.
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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 30, 2009 7:52:19 GMT -5
Great. What sort of hide does Besmara have?
Is the plan to stay there and train? Or are we heading somewhere else to train? Is there some place warm and safe we can use for training? If we stay we should have plenty of time to tan the wolf pelts and make them into furs.
BTW, Kazan is 12% from having 17 DEX. Does someone want to roll his percentile since he will make 2nd level next week?
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Post by Ginger on Mar 30, 2009 8:13:21 GMT -5
I asked about the temperature in her lair. It's about 40 degrees, so no one could sleep restfully enough to regain spells without pelts or endure cold spells. Zinc could probably handle the endure cold spells while everyone trains, assuming that some people are just chilly for extended periods of the day.
She doesn't have a pelt, just a weird leafy skin like her followers.
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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 30, 2009 8:37:20 GMT -5
We could always build a fire (which we will need for tanning the furs). And if it is drafty we could spend a day plugging up the holes with branches from the evergreens.
I would rather not back track to the elves. There isn't really anything they have that we need currently. They will keep our stuff which means less encumbrance for the group.
If there is anyway Kazan can also train for 2nd level spells (since he should be very close to 3rd level as well) I would recommend doing that as well.
Can I get a list of all of the magic user spells we have now?
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Post by venger on Mar 30, 2009 11:51:30 GMT -5
Why are we discussing bunking down in the wilderness for a month in this dismal cave when we can just walk to "civilization", as it were, and buy whatever we need?
Kazan needs a spellbook and spell ink. Zinc, Kazan and Cullen need furs. We could use rations, fire wood, arrows, etc.
Either we go drop off the hide with the elves first or we hold onto for a while. I'm just worried it could get destroyed when we burn Skalkegaard to the ground and slaughter the Marten Clan.
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Post by Wolfgar on Mar 30, 2009 12:20:13 GMT -5
The advantage is that no one knows where we are. If we go back to civilization then people are going to start asking questions: what happened to Gregers, Varg, Olle, Snurre and Bjorn? what happened to Alfbrande? what happened to your furs and the torcs given by Yngvar? Word is going to get around and then we will need to deal with whatever repercussion there are. I would rather have some time to train unimpeded by other distractions. What is the advantage of training in a city?
I don't think we need extra spellbooks at the moment. We have one from the pirate, 3 from the valley and however many from Besmara. It isn't like Morvan can memorize from more than one at a time.
We can bring the elves what we have when we get around to it. They will want to independently ascertain that Besmara is no longer a threat. Beside her spell books should also suffice.
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Post by venger on Mar 30, 2009 12:36:56 GMT -5
The advantage is that no one knows where we are. If we go back to civilization then people are going to start asking questions: what happened to Gregers, Varg, Olle, Snurre and Bjorn? what happened to Alfbrande? what happened to your furs and the torcs given by Yngvar? Word is going to get around and then we will need to deal with whatever repercussion there are. I would rather have some time to train unimpeded by other distractions. What is the advantage of training in a city? We're the Champions of the Clans, who would dare ask us impertinent questions!? I really don't think any of those are actual issues for us to face. Northmen die. Especially 1st level Northmen fighters. I don't see the Jarl of Jarl Yngvar crying over it. As for the stuff? The spear broke. Not your fault. It was ancient. Shoddy barbarian craftsmanship. I don't think we need extra spellbooks at the moment. We have one from the pirate, 3 from the valley and however many from Besmara. It isn't like Morvan can memorize from more than one at a time. We can bring the elves what we have when we get around to it. They will want to independently ascertain that Besmara is no longer a threat. Beside her spell books should also suffice. Bezmara's spellbooks weren't so much spellbooks as pieces of human/elf/beastman/whatever skin tied together, thus there is not room to write more spells. Considering Kazan and Morvan will have new spells to transcribe, we will need spell inks and spell books in the near future. But hey, it's your character. It will be amusing watching you try to reason with James every time you want to memorize a spell.
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