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Post by venger on May 27, 2008 15:10:52 GMT -5
I forgot the map so I couldn't do the interior.
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Post by Ginger on May 27, 2008 16:29:05 GMT -5
Awesome! I love the goofy dinosaurs the cavalry is riding.
Here's the plan. Winthrop gets Invisibility cast on him. He flies up to the roof. He casts Time Stop and drops fireballs and walls of ice on the roof to clear out all of the low level guys. Then the cavalry comes up to finish off the Theocrat.
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Post by Wolfgar on May 27, 2008 16:36:23 GMT -5
Can someone remind me what the space in front of the temple is like? Paved stones or bare earth? Pfiffwin is thinking about using the Move Earth option on the wand to cover the entrance of the temple with a mound of earth. That should slow the reinforcements. He is just not sure he can get away if he does that.
But what is the plan for escaping? The temple is going to be surrounded any minute, the Theocrat is getting cured by the other priests and at least one statue of Twilus is coming to life. Even if we could dig out of the back of the temple we wouldn't be able to travel fast enough to effect the escape of the prisoners.
Flying and teleporting seem the only ways out. But I doubt we could get everyone even if we had the spells memorized. Alternatively we could hunker down in the temple and wait for Choatl to fire the docks. With Otto and Raven at full strength we may be able to hold the lower level until then. We could have one of the mages create a wall of fire that would effectively block at least one of the entrances to the lower level. They could just keep concentrating on it and a dispel magic would only eat away part of it. Otto and Raven could hold the other entrances. Otto would use the oil of slipperiness to keep from getting grappled and stand in a doorway. We would just need a mage with minor globe standing right behind him to protect against holds.
Of course there may be another exit through the secret door...
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Post by venger on May 28, 2008 8:37:09 GMT -5
Awesome! I love the goofy dinosaurs the cavalry is riding. Here's the plan. Winthrop gets Invisibility cast on him. He flies up to the roof. He casts Time Stop and drops fireballs and walls of ice on the roof to clear out all of the low level guys. Then the cavalry comes up to finish off the Theocrat. Who is going to finish off the 30ft tall obsidian lizardman god? I don't think going up there is a very good idea... Our best bet is still to Passwall an exterior wall on the first or second floor and escape out the back. The temple is pretty big and it's unlikely they'll surround the whole thing.
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Post by Dell on May 28, 2008 8:58:07 GMT -5
I think we should revisit Antonus' idea - Polymorphing into a Ankheg or Umber Hulk should give us the ability to burrow out of here. If we Passwall a couple times, then start burrowing, when Passwall expires they won't have any (non-magical) way to follow us.
Polymorph Self gives us the movement abilities of the creature we copy, and burrowing is a movement method, so we should be able to dig through this stuff.
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Post by Ginger on May 28, 2008 10:13:07 GMT -5
Hmm, that's an interesting idea. We might run out of air, though, if the passages close behind us.
Don't forget that there's a secret door Solaria just found, which hopefully has the stuff we're actually looking for.
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Post by venger on May 28, 2008 11:33:15 GMT -5
Hmm, that's an interesting idea. We might run out of air, though, if the passages close behind us. Don't forget that there's a secret door Solaria just found, which hopefully has the stuff we're actually looking for. Unless "the stuff we're actually looking for" is a magical teleporting device or a secret escape tunnel that leads to Longspear, regardless of what we find in the secret door we are still trapped.
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Post by Wolfgar on May 28, 2008 12:01:25 GMT -5
Who is going to finish off the 30ft tall obsidian lizardman god? I don't think going up there is a very good idea... Our best bet is still to Passwall an exterior wall on the first or second floor and escape out the back. The temple is pretty big and it's unlikely they'll surround the whole thing. They don't need to surround the temple. They just need to have someone spot us and their cavalry will be able run us down. Once they attack us the soldiers on foot will be able to catch up. Pfiffwin's other thought would be to Passwall under one or both legs of the statue before it becomes animated. With any luck it will fall off the top of the temple. We could try casting Haste on Otto and Raven. Maybe together they could take down the Theocrat in one round and then handle the statue if it comes to life.
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Post by venger on May 28, 2008 12:19:14 GMT -5
If we aren't 100% focused on trying to get away we're all going to die. Engaging the Theocrat directly in front of his god is probably a bad idea.
Escaping should be easy. Throw up some obscuring fog, magical darkness, illusion, polymorphed dinosaurs, etc. Split into teams based on our strengths. Those who can hide or fly or turn invisible will lure away pursuit while those who can't attempt to flee into the jungle.
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Post by Wolfgar on May 28, 2008 12:32:34 GMT -5
Given that we have lost Jasper and Clift that leaves Otto, Pfiffwin, Winthrop, Hugh, Grizela, Raven, Adler, Dell, Adrienne, Antonus, Florin, Al, Cedrus, Perrin, Solaria, Hisspek, Will + 2 prisoners (did I miss anyone?).
Otto has been given a Fly spell and could escape carrying two people. Pfiffwin can escape in wraith form. Dell and Antonus could polymorph into griffons and carry 2 apiece. That leave Winthrop and 8 more people. If we could shrink some people Winthrop could use the Teleport without Error to get them away. Does anyone else have Fly memorized? Grizela could also carry a couple of people.
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Post by Ginger on May 28, 2008 12:44:16 GMT -5
There's another prisoner. He was the leader who is still in fighting shape.
I think we might have to rely on our flying mages. A cleric can cast a 3" cube dispel magic at a range of 6". Fireballs and ice storms have a greater range than 9", so he shouldn't be able to get you. A few rounds of Winthrop dropping spells might give us enough cover to get away from the temple and behind a building.
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Post by Wolfgar on May 28, 2008 13:32:47 GMT -5
There are 100+ lizardmen in the square. Getting behind a building doesn't mean we have escaped. That will just put them a couple of rounds behind us at most. The only way to escape is to outdistance them using magical means and keep going until we lose them.
Also we know the Theocrat can fly so he may be able to catch some of the slower flyers.
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Post by venger on May 28, 2008 14:25:11 GMT -5
Also we know the Theocrat can fly That makes avoiding his Dispel Magic somewhat more difficult. He can make a half move of 6" upwards and then hit anything within 6" + 3" cube.
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Post by Ginger on May 28, 2008 16:07:55 GMT -5
I forgot about that. Well, technically speaking we know that he can glide, not necessarily fly.
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Post by venger on May 28, 2008 16:50:58 GMT -5
I forgot about that. Well, technically speaking we know that he can glide, not necessarily fly. That doesn't inspire confidence. Polymorphing into umber hulks, ankhegs, xorns, etc and tunneling some distance away from the temple is sounding better and better.
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Post by Wolfgar on May 28, 2008 17:50:27 GMT -5
If we hurry he may still be slowed.
Also traveling in tunnels created by burrowing animals is different from traveling in the wake of a burrowing animal. Tunnels take time to shore up, burrowing only requires displacing the earth around you temporarily. And you need to remove the stones to get the bare earth.
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Post by venger on May 28, 2008 20:26:53 GMT -5
Cedrus has a Scroll of Protection from Magic:
Otto can read that after he's been hasted and coated in oil of slipperiness. Assuming it works like a super-powered Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Otto would be invincible. Until they threw a magic javelin at him and it failed its savings throw.
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Post by Wolfgar on May 28, 2008 21:50:58 GMT -5
Nice idea but I think it would be hard for Otto to attack with his sword while inside the globe. It seems likely that the reach of his sword would extend passed the 5' radius. Otto gets very grumpy when he can't use his sword.
One option would be to use it when Winthrop uses Time Stop. Otto and Winthrop fly to roof. Winthrop sets off enough fireballs to kill the low level guys. Otto steps up and grapples the Theocrat. One of Theocrat's items is bound fail when Otto gets close enough. Then Otto starts wailing on him. Actually I don't even think Winthrop needs Time Stop. He just needs to stay far enough above to avoid getting polymorph dispelled.
Actually I think we should stop debating and just rush the Theocrat before he can regroup. Otto's pretty impervious to fireballs and the Theocrat won't be able channel if Otto and Raven can keep hitting him. At the least the fireballs will interrupt the animation of the statue if Pfiffwin's trick doesn't work to topple it.
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Post by Ginger on May 29, 2008 8:16:15 GMT -5
We also hope that that gallons of holy water poured on the altar to wash away the blood sacrifice will disrupt the magics animating the statue.
Raven has one of those protection from magic scrolls as well, so maybe I'll use it, since my bow is non-magical.
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Post by venger on May 29, 2008 9:11:26 GMT -5
Since you're all going to die, might as well let Dell Haste you first.
There's a ton of priests up there and they're all going to try to Hold Person or Dispel Magic or do something horrible. If you fly up there and lose initiative you're finished.
The statue/god is probably animated enough to do something really horrible. Especially to people pouring holy water on its altar! That's crazy!
We can fly almost everyone out of here with a little polymorphing. Otto can carry two on his own. Winthrop, Dell and Antonus can carry two if polymorphed. And Polymorph Other isn't so dangerous.. Raven or Cedrus have a very low chance of permanently becoming hippogriffs. Pffifwin can get away on his own in wraithform.
See below:
Otto flying, carrying two 1 prisoner 2 prisoner
Winthrop hippogriff, carrying two Hugh Grizela
Dell hippogriff, carrying two Adrienne Solaria
Antonus hippogriff, carrying two Florin Al
Cedrus hippogriff, carrying two Perrin Kalamazoo
Raven hippogriff, carrying two Hisspek Will
Pfiffwin, wraithform
Adler, sacrifice to Twilus, seems to be the odd man out...
If we use a Teleport Without Error nobody has to be left behind and Cedrus might not have to be a hippogriff.
We should back track to the Blade Barrier, then find the outer wall of the temple on level one or two and umber-hulk our way through it. Then everyone takes off flying, polymorphed. The end.
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Post by Ginger on May 29, 2008 9:36:27 GMT -5
Raven has an 80% chance of dying from system shock with each polymorph. That's highly unfavorable. Cedrus has a better CON. Also, people get a save vs. polymorph. The odds that Raven and Cedrus fail their saves, and each make a system shock roll to polymorph into a hippogryph and back is low.
The priests on the roof were low level, and probably don't even have 2nd level spells. That said, Pfiffwin is the only one who knows that anyway.
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Post by venger on May 29, 2008 11:24:26 GMT -5
Raven has an 80% chance of dying from system shock with each polymorph. That's highly unfavorable. Cedrus has a better CON. Also, people get a save vs. polymorph. The odds that Raven and Cedrus fail their saves, and each make a system shock roll to polymorph into a hippogryph and back is low. You mean 20%. And is that counting the Luck Stone??
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Post by Ginger on May 29, 2008 14:16:57 GMT -5
Raven now has a CON of 11, which makes his SS roll an unmodified 75%.
What spells do the magic users have left?
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Post by Dell on May 29, 2008 14:30:55 GMT -5
At times like these, I find it useful to go back to our original goals. We came here to rescue the sage (and his teleport control amulet) and get away without being killed. What actions can we take that further those goals? Killing the Theocrat or stopping Twilus from awakening will certainly help with the not getting killed portion of the goal, but, assuming we do kill him, are we any closer to getting out of here? My inclination is to set up a defensible position down here, or perhaps just hide under the pile of corpses until they get tired of looking for us. Raven now has a CON of 11, which makes his SS roll an unmodified 75%. What spells do the magic users have left? If I recall correctly, Dell has an Ice Storm, Wall of Ice, Haste, Levitate, and a couple Sleeps and Magic Missiles. On scrolls, he's got Teleport, Polymorph Other, Sepia Snake Sigil, Dimension Door and Magic Missile. He also has a Druid Scroll with 4 obscurements and a trip. And a scroll of protection from acid, in case anyone has any acid.
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Post by Ginger on May 29, 2008 16:33:09 GMT -5
Hunkering down in a defensible position for a bit does sound appealing, but I have some concerns. Unless the last door we haven't gone into is spacious enough for us all to hide in, we're in trouble. Maybe Dell's Teleport and Winthrop's Teleport without Error can get us out of here? We can spend 15 minutes and have Dell, Winthrop and Antonus memorize Reduce. That might help things.
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Post by Wolfgar on May 30, 2008 8:50:38 GMT -5
If I recall correctly, Dell has an Ice Storm, Wall of Ice, Haste, Levitate, and a couple Sleeps and Magic Missiles. On scrolls, he's got Teleport, Polymorph Other, Sepia Snake Sigil, Dimension Door and Magic Missile. He also has a Druid Scroll with 4 obscurements and a trip. And a scroll of protection from acid, in case anyone has any acid. The Ice Storm and Wall of Ice would certainly help against the Theocrat. There is no save and I don't think it can be absorbed by the rod. They would also help clear off the top of the temple. Once we take him out we can start ferrying people out of the temple.
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Post by Ginger on May 30, 2008 9:04:26 GMT -5
Maybe we could use the slippery version of Ice Storm that worked so well on the tower of Castle Crag?
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Post by venger on May 30, 2008 9:58:23 GMT -5
The Ice Storm and Wall of Ice would certainly help against the Theocrat. There is no save and I don't think it can be absorbed by the rod. They would also help clear off the top of the temple. Once we take him out we can start ferrying people out of the temple. Bear in mind that the Theocrat and some of his flunkies may have Endure Cold spells in effect. They were buffed with Endure Heat, to Antonus' dismay, and the Theocrat hasn't Dispelled the Slow which means he probably has additional protections and spells in place he doesn't want to lose. He might also still have a full arsenal of spells, considering how the Rod of Absorption works. And for all we know the statue is going to be breathing fire and shooting death rays out of its eyes. Going up there is nuts.
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Post by Wolfgar on May 30, 2008 10:51:27 GMT -5
I understand that getting Antonus to take part in the charge won't work. Will anyone else join Otto?
Besides Endure Cold doesn't help against Wall of Ice. There is no savings throw and the damage isn't cold related. It is from getting pelted by large chunk of ice.
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Post by venger on May 30, 2008 12:00:28 GMT -5
I understand that getting Antonus to take part in the charge won't work. Will anyone else join Otto? Otto is of course fully healed because of his ring of regeneration. Raven is fully healed because Cedrus resurrected him. Almost everyone else: Al, Florin, Cedrus, Grizela, Antonus, Adler, Winthrop, Dell, etc, are all in the single digits HP-wise. Besides Endure Cold doesn't help against Wall of Ice. There is no savings throw and the damage isn't cold related. It is from getting pelted by large chunk of ice. That could be debated.
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