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Post by Wolfgar on Feb 9, 2007 12:35:05 GMT -5
As I understand it's a vertical shaft that requires a ladder to climb. It would be somewhat impractical to move any significant amount of dirt by that route. We didn't see any wheel marks to indicate a cart was being used to move the dirt. So the dirt must have been carried. And since they have slaves to do the carrying the practicality of going down a ladder is probably less of an issue. I assume Otto's ranger tracking would have noticed another path that showed the considerable amount of traffic necessary to move the dirt we saw at the river.
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Post by venger on Feb 10, 2007 3:14:56 GMT -5
The point of adventuring is killing things. And then taking their stuff. As you grow in skill and power, you can kill bigger things that have nicer stuff. jaded much? wheres your sense of adventure
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Post by Dell on Feb 10, 2007 23:00:36 GMT -5
wheres your sense of adventure I'm an adventurer. That means that everything I do is an adventure.
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Post by Wolfgar on Feb 11, 2007 21:31:20 GMT -5
For Lee's benefit... we continued to explore the passage off of the octagon finding a room with three doors in it. Otto attempted to open the one on the far right and disappeared. Jasper and Raven then tried to probe the door with a broom also disappearing. Al, Perrin and Tony followed leaving Winthrop, Hugh, Grisela and Diego behind.
At this point we picked up in the cave. There was an elven female there who claimed to be a prisoner of Hanuman. After everyone else had arrived and while Perrin and Tony were trying to memorize spells she cast slow on everyone and turned into a tiger-like creature (rakshasa). This was actually Hanuman who proceeded to cast 2 fireballs and lightning bolt while we attempted to kill it (-4 AC). Perrin and Jasper were knocked unconscious and lost magic items. Tony ran away. Luckily Otto does a lot of damage.
We are now sitting around the room about the explore it and look for a way out. And yes Tony collected parts for Winthrop.
Was there anything on the body? Can we try believing the walls are an illusion?
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Perrin
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Post by Perrin on Feb 11, 2007 21:57:26 GMT -5
Well, sadly, we can't trust the information we got from the "prisoner" about something in the center of the room. I think the pool has something to do with it, just because it's strange to have a pool in a living quarters. But that's just idle speculation.
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Post by Ginger on Feb 11, 2007 23:05:14 GMT -5
Here are some things to think about. The creature might have been trying to get us to leave so it could warn the rest of the castle. Alternatively, there's some trick about the middle such that standing in the middle could trigger some type of trap, or teleport you into a solid block.
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Post by venger on Feb 12, 2007 0:33:00 GMT -5
This was actually Hanuman who proceeded to cast 2 fireballs and lightning bolt while we attempted to kill it (-4 AC). Perrin and Jasper were knocked unconscious and lost magic items. Tony ran away. We are now sitting around the room about the explore it and look for a way out. And yes Tony collected parts for Winthrop. Was there anything on the body? Can we try believing the walls are an illusion? A) There is absolutely no evidence that the (female?) rakshasha was Hanuman... B) I was guarding the door... in case more showed up... C) I collected parts for me... but I'll share. D) I rememorized a first level spell so that I have Detect Magic , which will presumably let me see if the walls are magic/illusion, or if there's a magic teleporter trap in the middle of the room, or if the pool is magic, etc.
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Post by Ginger on Feb 12, 2007 9:04:36 GMT -5
Even if the Rakshasha said "Hi, i'm Hanuman" that still wouldn't be sufficient evidence, since we'd already established that she's a liar. I think that it is very like Hanuman because it never made sense that an ogre magi (is the singular ogre magus?) would command such a force. It would not nearly be powerful enough to have priests under its control. Also, the ogre magi we've seen ususally didn't polymorph themselves as the bugbears described Hanuman.
I think it's certain that Hanuman is a rakshasha. I'll admit that there's a small probability that this was Hanuman's mate and he's still out there, but that's unlikely.
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Post by venger on Feb 12, 2007 9:32:50 GMT -5
I think it's certain that Hanuman is a rakshasha. I'll admit that there's a small probability that this was Hanuman's mate and he's still out there, but that's unlikely. You're kidding right? You guys could teach a course in specious reasoning. While it is not beyond the realm of possiblity that Hanuman is a rakshasha, I cannot believe we just coincidentally chose all the right doors to go through and surprised him, alone, in his bedroom. That would be like the most anti-climactic thing ever. I guess all the bugbears, now leaderless, will flee into the woods in panic and be finished off by the elves and then we go loot all their bodies and get all their +3 vorpal swords...
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Post by Ginger on Feb 12, 2007 10:11:00 GMT -5
Um, it's not especially difficult to imagine a scenario in which he killed all of us. Trade Otto for Winthrop and we would have been in a lot of trouble.
Given that we've already had one experience of a teleportation door leading to a dragon, I don't think it's too much to imagine that this module borrowed that part.
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Perrin
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Post by Perrin on Feb 12, 2007 10:33:15 GMT -5
I admit that the battle could have gone much worse if, say, the party doesn't have all that fire resistance. After all, Jasper went down even with his (now lost) ring. But it is hard to believe that we could have run into Hanuman without meeting a single guard! (The temple doesn't count, since we could have bypassed it.) I'll remain skeptical until we get some hard evidence.
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Post by venger on Feb 12, 2007 10:38:09 GMT -5
Um, it's not especially difficult to imagine a scenario in which he killed all of us. Trade Otto for Winthrop and we would have been in a lot of trouble. Given that we've already had one experience of a teleportation door leading to a dragon, I don't think it's too much to imagine that this module borrowed that part. Because one time you went through a teleportation door and there was a dragon, this teleportation door (randomly chosen out of three in the same wall) must lead to the "boss" of the level. And anything that could potentially kill us in this dungeon must be Hanuman... Hanuman could be a rakshasha, he could be an ogre magi, he could be a polymorphed dragon. We don't know. It's much safer not to assume we defeated the big bad guy, that he is now probably alerted to our presence, and to proceed cautiously.
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Post by Dell on Feb 12, 2007 12:03:16 GMT -5
The rakshasha may not have been the leader, but is at least a leader. We'll find out his name when we open the desk.
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Post by venger on Feb 12, 2007 12:34:58 GMT -5
The rakshasha may not have been the leader, but is at least a leader. We'll find out his name when we open the desk. That I can agree with. I'm sure it'll be on the rakshasha's personalized, monogrammed stationary.
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Post by Ginger on Feb 12, 2007 14:00:49 GMT -5
No one is going to assume that all danger is passed. There are still 60 bugbears upstairs, and there is probably a more powerful priest around somewhere. I don't think the priests we killed were powerful enough to create mummies.
The only tactical change we'll make is that we'll stop searching for the leader and start methodically sweeping the place clean of bad guys.
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Post by Wolfgar on Feb 12, 2007 14:38:50 GMT -5
With all of those acolytes using Combine maybe they could create a mummy. They were nearly able to summon a demon which cannot be much easier. And using the mithril slab is probably also a boost.
I agree that there are plenty of powerful guys left. When we went to slavers' stockade there was Markessa, Blackthorn, Icar and a shaman. This place doesn't seem quite so large but probably plenty of room to hold other powerful guys.
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Post by Dell on Feb 19, 2007 11:30:57 GMT -5
Okay, what do we have for opposition remaining in the castle? By my assessment, we've got 1 rakshasa leader, 1 bugbear shaman, a couple of bugbear leaders and a couple squads of bugbear troops - maybe two dozen? Also the two trolls guarding the castle entrance - did they head for the tower also? I didn't get a good look, as I was very busy not falling to my death.
The tower looks pretty straightforward - we do a frontal assault from the big hitters, knock down whatever defenses they've rigged in the time we give them, and kill them all. If you want to get fancy, we can send some people up to the roof to fight their way down, and meet in the middle.
Also, Adrienne is happy to use a bless spell on a crossbow bolt, if anyone thinks they can get a good shot at the bad guy. (And if anyone knows that they're vulnerable to that, which I doubt. So forget I mentioned it.)
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Post by Ginger on Feb 20, 2007 11:54:49 GMT -5
Was it a bugbear shaman or an ogre shaman? I remember ogre shaman. Anyway, the plan is to charge the tower ASAP, as we still have a prayer up for a few more rounds. Winthrop will use his wand of steam to create a fog over the courtyard. We'll assault the door and use the tuning fork to bust open the door. Al and Otto are at full strength and Raven and Diego are in fine shape. We'll just use brute force to kill everything in sight.
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Post by Dell on Feb 20, 2007 12:16:35 GMT -5
Dell has a Druid scroll with Obscurement on it, which will make a 70 foot cube that lasts 28 rounds. Save the wand for putting the hurt on people.
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Post by Wolfgar on Feb 20, 2007 12:53:23 GMT -5
Pfiffwin was going to try dropping darkness stones into the arrow slits. That way we can move about the courtyard freely and they can't see what is going on. First he wanted to do some reconnaissance to see what the inside of the tower looks like at the different levels. There could be another exit to lower levels that they are getting out through.
Once the darkness is in place he can have fun with audible glammers of us breaking into room and fighting. We can let them soften themselves up for a couple of rounds as they attack anything they bump into. Winthrop could poke the wand of steam through an arrow slit and roast any survivor.
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Perrin
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Post by Perrin on Feb 20, 2007 13:18:10 GMT -5
I think it was a bugbear shaman that just looked like an ogre shaman because of the miniature that was used. But a shaman is a shaman, right?
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Post by venger on Feb 20, 2007 13:19:53 GMT -5
Seems likely that there is access to the lower, underground levels through the tower.
The rakshasha is the spellcaster shooting lightning bolts from the arrow slits, I guess. How immune are they to our concealing/obscuring spells? Do you think we could take it alive and interrogate it?
I daresay now is not the time to start overthinking things. We tore through the keep and slaughtered all the humanoids with ease- the tower shouldn't be a problem.
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Post by Ginger on Feb 20, 2007 13:25:49 GMT -5
I'm not worried about them escaping, since bugbears and ogres move at a 9. I'm more worried about the rakshasa turning into something else and eluding us. I mean, it could turn into anything and escape. Hopefully it will be so enraged by the death of his mate (I presume) that it will fight to the end.
I think the plan of waiting for Pfiffwin is problematic. From a game perspective, we have no idea what he's doing, since he hasn't checked in with us. I think his activities will have to be supplemental, since it doesn't make sense for us to wait for him. Darkness stones will be very helpful, since we'll put them out with our lights, and they'll be very confused. It might also be beneficial for him to have illusory party members charging the tower before we actually go, but we'd have a coordination problem there.
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Post by Ginger on Feb 20, 2007 13:29:07 GMT -5
We had a lengthy discussion about spell immunities and illusions a few weeks ago. If the Rakshasha's abilities work like a glob of invulnerability, then it would still be affected by illusions unless they directly affect him. For example, he'd see an illusory shadow dragon, but when it attacked him he wouldn't feel its breath or touch. I think that he'd be able to see fine once in the fog, but not outside the fog.
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Post by Dell on Feb 20, 2007 13:49:52 GMT -5
I think the rakshakalaka may be low on or out of firepower. So an obscurement in the courtyard will provide adequate cover, even if the creature can see clearly through it. Just as a precaution, we can send out Diego first - his shield should protect him from any spells fired at him.
I think it may be useful to send a team downstairs to the octagon room - it's doubtful that the bugbears are all charging UP into the tower, to dead-end themselves. So there's going to be a rear guard, and the main force will head downstairs, to either flank us, or run away. If the octagon room is central to the lower floors, they may have to pass through there on their way to the exit. The roshakakhan, at least, will be heading that way to either hide in its room, retrieve its treasure, or get its mate for reinforcement. So the A team takes the tower, the B team cuts off a possible route of escape.
I like this plan because it lets us split the party again.
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Post by Ginger on Feb 20, 2007 15:49:46 GMT -5
Splitting the party might make sense if someone is absent on Sunday, but probably isn't a good idea otherwise.
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Post by Dell on Feb 20, 2007 16:10:12 GMT -5
I think my argument makes it clear that splitting the party is both cool and awesome.
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Post by Dead Greyhawk on Feb 20, 2007 20:31:12 GMT -5
Just as a precaution, we can send out Diego first ... "Hah!" says Diego, scornfully.
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Post by Ginger on Feb 21, 2007 11:24:45 GMT -5
If they were trying to run away, they'd have taken the front door. I'd guess they were running into the tower to hide behind their powerful, spellcasting leader.
If we charge the tower and kill everything and don't find a rakshasha, we'll whip out Fido and have him track it.
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Post by venger on Feb 21, 2007 11:42:33 GMT -5
After we capture the castle we should remember there's also still those slaves yet to be freed.
Toiling for evil, far beneath the surface! Woe is them!
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