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Post by venger on Jul 25, 2007 8:53:44 GMT -5
Due to some confusion as to the exact spell level of the "Flame Arrow" spell and the loss of 2/3's of Team Otto, I suggest we reassign the teams.
Team 1
Raven Antonus Cedrus
Team 2
Winthrop Hugh Grizella
Team 3 Dell Adrienne Clift
Samantha can remain invisible, attached to whichever team is farthest from combat.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 25, 2007 9:06:10 GMT -5
Sounds good. I have a minor change to Team 3, though.
Team 3 Dell Adrienne Clift GIANT, EVIL, BONE DEMON
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Post by Ginger on Jul 25, 2007 9:21:05 GMT -5
Actually, I think we need to change this around a lot, given our current circumstances.
Team 1 Dell Giant, Evil, Bone Demon (GEBD)
Dell tells GEBD to kill the toughest demon we can see, and maybe gets a backstab if he can.
Team 2 Raven Adrienne Grizella
Adrienne has a circle of protection. The three of us will surround the Type II and Type III demons and take them down one at a time, starting with the Type II that was beaten nearly to death by GEBD. This is assuming that the demon can run around the room and engage the type V.
Team 3 Antonus Cedrus Winthrop Hugh Clift Samantha
Perhaps splitting into two teams, these guys can engage the Type I demons one by one and surround and kill them.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jul 25, 2007 11:36:15 GMT -5
So did we actually use the team concept last week? How did it play? How closely did the teams stay together in combat? Was there any perceivable advantage?
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Post by Ginger on Jul 25, 2007 11:53:49 GMT -5
We did some. We were fighting in small rooms, so there wasn't a lot of spacing to be done. Also, since the ceilings were 15', nobody needed a fly spell. The biggest benefit was that we made sure each trio had a Prot. from Evil 10', which was crucial. When we opened the door to the demon filled room they teleported to the gaps between each group, but they couldn't attack anyone.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 30, 2007 13:18:19 GMT -5
Way to go, team! Everything went well. We fought a few dozen demons and nobody even dropped into unconsciousness. Fighting demons is probably one of our core strengths since a big problem for us is having the guys in back go unprotected. Since circles of protection make maintaining a front line irrelevant, that problem goes away.
For next time, we should spend a turn having Otto and Perrin smash the remaining evil glass cases while Adrienne uses her free daily Detect Magic to see if the demonic swords or polearms are magical. If time permits, she can also sprint through some adjacent rooms to see if something we missed is magical.
Once we're done with that, we'll head back to the camp.
Are their any votes for camping in the mountain? I can see a good case for staying here, but I'm pretty sure most will disagree.
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Post by Dell on Jul 30, 2007 14:25:56 GMT -5
Why are we stopping? We're low on hp, but I think we have enough capability left to move in a little deeper. We know they have a cleric and a magic user, but who else do you think is left down there? PS: www.flickr.com/photos/jartness/
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Post by Ginger on Jul 30, 2007 15:09:50 GMT -5
The case for pressing on: Raven and Otto are in pretty good shape, and what else really matters? The drow presumably chose "stand and fight" as their option. If they see the slew of demon corpses, Plan B will probably not be them just waiting for us to come get them. When gating in the entire Abyss is their first idea, do we really want to see them take drastic measures? Alternatively, they might just decide to flee with the druid.
The case for resting: Not many spells left. Winthrop is almost out of spells and near death. Various people have taken dings to their AC because of critical hits. We know theirs a 9th level cleric and a 7/7 F/MU. Also down their is a drow fighter and a troglodyte. We heard gongs, which were probably cloud demons, though it might have been them summoning regular demons. Given that there's a separate summoning room for regular demons, I presume the gong is for cloud demons.
PS: Baby is cute.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jul 30, 2007 16:28:45 GMT -5
I say we push on. Otto is at full hit points and spells. Cedrus has a bunch of hit points but is down to 4 spells - slow poison, 2 dispel magics and one PfE 10'. We can put Otto, Raven and Cedrus in the front group with PfE on Otto or Raven and PfNM on everyone. The other teams can hang back until we can close to melee. Any idea how much longer the Fly spell will last?
The last type II demon took a minute to show up so he may have teleported to the drow to give them a heads up. Maybe since Bob is invisible he could scout ahead to make sure there is nothing waiting.
Make sure we bind wounds on everyone that hasn't been healed.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 30, 2007 16:37:09 GMT -5
Raven has PfNM and Spell Immunity:Charm which should last for another 3 or 4 turns. I think it makes sense for Cedrus, Raven and Otto to charge ahead. Several of our guys are polymorphed. Maybe they could fly alongside us?
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Post by Dell on Jul 30, 2007 20:39:37 GMT -5
We can put Otto, Raven and Cedrus in the front group with PfE on Otto or Raven and PfNM on everyone. Cedrus can raise people from the dead. He shouldn't ever go in front. Hugh and Otto have the best ACs, so they should be the front line. For spells, Dell has 5/2/2/2/1, Adrienne has 0/2/1/0.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 30, 2007 21:09:17 GMT -5
Cedrus has a great AC and 50+ HP. He goes in front. As for Dell, how useful are his spells? We'd all appreciate a Monster Summoning III.
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Post by Dell on Jul 30, 2007 21:36:56 GMT -5
Cedrus has a great AC and 50+ HP. He goes in front. As for Dell, how useful are his spells? We'd all appreciate a Monster Summoning III. Then it's your lucky day! 1st: MM, FF, Sleep (2), Taunt 2nd: SC, Lev 3rd: Wind Wall, Slow 4th: Fire Shield, Wall of Fire 5th: Monster Summoning III
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Post by Ginger on Jul 30, 2007 21:43:32 GMT -5
Cedrus has a great AC and 50+ HP. He goes in front. As for Dell, how useful are his spells? We'd all appreciate a Monster Summoning III. Then it's your lucky day! 1st: MM, FF, Sleep (2), Taunt 2nd: SC, Lev 3rd: Wind Wall, Slow 4th: Fire Shield, Wall of Fire 5th: Monster Summoning III FIND FAMILIAR??? How many times do we have to tell you to stop memorizing stupid spells? Hmm, maybe he's learned his lesson, but I can't think of what else FF could possibly be... Ah ha! Feather fall! Do we want to do monster summoning right before we hit the temple or do we want to wait until we see them?
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Post by venger on Jul 31, 2007 8:36:24 GMT -5
I say we push on. Otto is at full hit points and spells. Cedrus has a bunch of hit points but is down to 4 spells - slow poison, 2 dispel magics and one PfE 10'. We can put Otto, Raven and Cedrus in the front group with PfE on Otto or Raven and PfNM on everyone. The other teams can hang back until we can close to melee. Any idea how much longer the Fly spell will last? The last type II demon took a minute to show up so he may have teleported to the drow to give them a heads up. Maybe since Bob is invisible he could scout ahead to make sure there is nothing waiting. Make sure we bind wounds on everyone that hasn't been healed. That Fly spell should last minimum 20 rounds longer. The Protection from Evils we currently have will drop soon. Binding wounds and healing is going to eat into that. I suggest against taking a turn smashing the Summoning Room. Are we casting healing spells on people? Antonus isn't going to "push on" with only 7 hp. (Cedrus having left him to die outside the Protection from Evil 10' radius?) Remember they have lightning bolts, ice storms and dispel magics. And that staff that does 14 hp, no save and disables you for x number of rounds. Not to mention poison. We should take a full accounting of hit points and clerical spells before we rush into anything. After healing people how many Protection From Evil 10' are there? If there's demons then some people are going to be lunch.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jul 31, 2007 8:42:01 GMT -5
If Winthrop has a similar number of spells to Dell then I think we are in good shape. Monster Summoning is a good idea. I wish we had Al's horn or the Bone Statue of Woe hadn't gone down at the end. Then we could use the extra forces to blunt the initial assault. Maybe the summoned monsters can serve that purpose.
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Perrin
Junior Member
Posts: 61
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Post by Perrin on Jul 31, 2007 9:58:23 GMT -5
Perrin currently has Remove Fear and one 2nd level spell (hold person?), which we might as well consider as slow poison. He also has 31/35 hp, and obviously good AC against melee weapons (but not crossbow bolts).
I think we should press forward. Against the magic-resistant drow, we'll mostly be relying on Otto and Raven. Otto is at full health and Raven recently received a Cure Critical Wounds from Cedrus, so he's decent. In contrast, retreat probably means fighting along the narrow bridge yet again, which is a dangerous venture in and of itself.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 31, 2007 10:14:22 GMT -5
Maybe we can send Fido off to his doom to scout for us? He'd run up 80' ahead of the party and would hopefully get to shout as soon as he sees something. Then Otto runs up and Winthrop, Raven and Perrin Dimension Door behind them with Foebiter? Hugh still has a Spell Immunity left, right? Maybe you can use it on Otto to protect him from Insect Swarm?
Raven is at 31/53.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 31, 2007 10:17:45 GMT -5
If we really want to hit them, Raven has a scroll of protection from Magic. He'll be immune to anything they cast at him, immune to normal missiles, and anyone who charges him will have their magic items explode.
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Post by Dell on Jul 31, 2007 10:41:07 GMT -5
Antonus makes some good points. We can't survive attacks by multiple enemies using missile weapons and spells. So Clift will open the smoke bottle. Sauce for the goose, as Captain Spock would say - . Our fighters are more than a match for the drow in melee. It may make Raven sad, but it's our best chance.
The battle of the Mutara nebula taught one other lesson - that three-dimensional thinking is a critical flaw. Since all Drow can levitate, it's almost certain that after getting cut up by our fighters on he ground they will choose to move out of harms way. So no one fly until the Drow start rising.
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Post by Dell on Jul 31, 2007 11:07:33 GMT -5
If we really want to hit them, Raven has a scroll of protection from Magic. He'll be immune to anything they cast at him, immune to normal missiles, and anyone who charges him will have their magic items explode. There's a scroll of protection from Magic on Cedrus's sheet as well - is that the same scroll, or do we have two of them?
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Post by venger on Jul 31, 2007 11:20:14 GMT -5
Raven: 31 Perrin: 31 Winthrop: 5? Dell: ? Otto: full Cedrus: ? Adrienne ? Antonus: 7 Grizella: ? Clift: full Samantha: full
How many of our remaining useful cleric spells are going to be converted to healing? Without those Prayers, Protection from Evils, etc. we are diminished. You can bet they will have Protection from Good, Prayer, Curse, PfNM, etc.
We just expended extreme effort, as you say, emptying the Abyss of demons (30+). The Drow themselves are well-rested and ready to go. Who knows how many more of them are down there? And with what additional demonic, humanoid, drider, etc. allies? Our last fight with them was iffy, and now they've had ample time to prepare. A little more time will only benefit us- they're already at their full spell complement and fully healed.
The chasm area with the bridge was apparently unguarded when Perrin and Otto flew through a couple rounds ago, so our escape isn't blocked. Yet.
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Perrin
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Posts: 61
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Post by Perrin on Jul 31, 2007 13:20:51 GMT -5
The chasm area with the bridge was apparently unguarded when Perrin and Otto flew through a couple rounds ago, so our escape isn't blocked. Yet. True. I meant that if we retreat now, the Drow will gather more allies and inevitably set up yet another ambush at the chasm upon our return. Then we'd be back where we started, or perhaps worse off. I suppose destroying the Summoning Room counts as an accomplishment, though. We can hope that the Drow won't be able to summon more demons.
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Post by venger on Jul 31, 2007 13:52:50 GMT -5
I suppose destroying the Summoning Room counts as an accomplishment, though. We can hope that the Drow won't be able to summon more demons. We most likely destroyed all their named demon vassals. (Types IV-V being the named demons) A demon thus destroyed is banished to its own plane for a period of time and cannot be re-summoned.*** They won't just be back tomorrow. Sure, there might be MORE demons they can call up... but smashing the Summoning Room was definitely an accomplishment. *** or so I believe (hope)...
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Post by Ginger on Jul 31, 2007 14:09:33 GMT -5
That's kind of what I'm worried about if we leave, actually. The drow will look around and see that we slaughtered their high ranking demon servants of Lolth. That was their "ace in the hole" last time we left. What'll they have when we come back? They obviously have nothing capable of stopping us and know that. I think we may force them to flee or take even more drastic measures than summoning greater demons. Maybe they'll collapse the caverns on top of us? Their Plan B failed, and I don't particularly want to see Plan C.
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Post by Dell on Jul 31, 2007 14:33:45 GMT -5
If we aren't going in right away, we should at the very least find a good strategic position inside the complex to fortify. Send someone back to get Adler, Jasper and Pfiffwin. They march here while we're resting, then we go and FIGHT!
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Post by Ginger on Jul 31, 2007 15:06:48 GMT -5
Those three are 7 or 8 hours away. Presumably, that's much less as the crow flies. Can one of you guys who's still polymorphed fly down there as a crow (or a falcon with a movement rate of 32)? Counting the benefits of almost triple movement speed and a direct flight over trees and other obstacles, you can hopefully make it in an hour.
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Post by venger on Jul 31, 2007 15:37:08 GMT -5
That's kind of what I'm worried about if we leave, actually. The drow will look around and see that we slaughtered their high ranking demon servants of Lolth. That was their "ace in the hole" last time we left. What'll they have when we come back? They obviously have nothing capable of stopping us and know that. I think we may force them to flee or take even more drastic measures than summoning greater demons. Maybe they'll collapse the caverns on top of us? Their Plan B failed, and I don't particularly want to see Plan C. Uh.. they pretty much stopped us during our first engagement *without* their demon allies. Dark elves are extremely arrogant, even more so than regular elves. They showed such disdain for our fighting abilities that their 9th level cleric leader walked out of the temple mid-battle. Granted she came back, but then she man-handled us with that Staff of Swarming Insects. We all but limped out of there, searching for a cave to hole up in and rest. Yeah, we came back with a strong showing and massacred their demons but still. They have no idea what condition we are in. Watching us retreat to lick our wounds for a second time probably isn't going to actually demoralize them.
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Post by Ginger on Jul 31, 2007 15:57:04 GMT -5
That's kind of what I'm worried about if we leave, actually. The drow will look around and see that we slaughtered their high ranking demon servants of Lolth. That was their "ace in the hole" last time we left. What'll they have when we come back? They obviously have nothing capable of stopping us and know that. I think we may force them to flee or take even more drastic measures than summoning greater demons. Maybe they'll collapse the caverns on top of us? Their Plan B failed, and I don't particularly want to see Plan C. Uh.. they pretty much stopped us during our first engagement *without* their demon allies. Dark elves are extremely arrogant, even more so than regular elves. They showed such disdain for our fighting abilities that their 9th level cleric leader walked out of the temple mid-battle. Granted she came back, but then she man-handled us with that Staff of Swarming Insects. We all but limped out of there, searching for a cave to hole up in and rest. Yeah, we came back with a strong showing and massacred their demons but still. They have no idea what condition we are in. Watching us retreat to lick our wounds for a second time probably isn't going to actually demoralize them. Excellent points. And since they confirm my predisposition to go back and get my two henchmen, I'll agree with them.
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Perrin
Junior Member
Posts: 61
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Post by Perrin on Jul 31, 2007 23:12:12 GMT -5
Uh.. they pretty much stopped us during our first engagement *without* their demon allies. Dark elves are extremely arrogant, even more so than regular elves. They showed such disdain for our fighting abilities that their 9th level cleric leader walked out of the temple mid-battle. Granted she came back, but then she man-handled us with that Staff of Swarming Insects. We all but limped out of there, searching for a cave to hole up in and rest. Yeah, we came back with a strong showing and massacred their demons but still. They have no idea what condition we are in. Watching us retreat to lick our wounds for a second time probably isn't going to actually demoralize them. Alternatively, the arrogant Drow, who did get their behinds kicked enough to fall back and summon stuff with gongs (or so I think if I heard the recap right) might become very upset at the "upstart surfacers" who would dare challenge them and slay their demons. They were willing to summon said demons in the first time. It's unlikely they'll sit back the next time without making preparations to punish us for our "impudence," if we do a full-on retreat. But I like Dell's idea to camp in the complex and have someone retrieve the henchmen, so I agree resting isn't a bad idea.
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