WotL OOC Thread II

[JadedDM]

Hmm, okay. So Grubnick goes to the Steel Tankard, picks up Haahqae, Ismene and the two women he recruited, then returns with them to the High Hand to pick up Felran and Ne-Chanz and grab Grubnick's gear.

So the party consists of:

Haahqae - Male Gnome Illusionist 2/Thief 3 (Although nobody knows he's an illusionist.)
Grubnick - Male Goblin Cleric of Sirrion 3 (Although nobody knows he's a cleric except Haahqae.)
Ismene - Female Gnome Red Robed Illusionist 5
Felran Del'ravdir - Male Phaethon Fighter 3 (Although nobody knows he's a Phaethon, except for Ne-Chanz.)
Ne-Chanz - Male Minotaur Fighter 3
????? - Female Human Bard 3
????? - Female Human Fighter 2

It's a big sized party (7 people) and everyone is pretty close to the same level. One healer, three front-line warriors (no tanks, though), no blasters, and the rest support. Not the most balanced party and most of them are hiding something from the others, so you might want to discuss some strategy beforehand.

Are we thinking of trying to avoid combat as much as possible, just looking for loot and Tulbas? Or are we planning on fighting our way in, leaving no enemy alive all the way to the boss fight? Some creativity might be needed and, you should remember, the enemy is expecting you and will be ready.

Any questions, let me know. If we can bang out a decent strategy now, we won't have to spend time discussing it in-character later.

[TristenC]

Isn't Gregeddin coming to save his friend?

[JadedDM]

*shrugs* Not even sure if Gregeddin considers Tulbas a friend, but he's at 1 HP and doesn't know anything about the second rescue attempt. But if you guys want to go grab him fill him in, and bring the party up to 8, that's up to you.

Unless mgbevan returns and decides for himself, anyway. He never answered my email, so I am having doubts he is returning any time soon, if at all.

[BishGada]

Hi, just wanted to say that Tulbas did consider the transformation a useful thing. Not a bad, not good. He is very interesting in learning the process and would want to see if there is possibility to make it temporal to gain the magic resistance and maybe some other benefits. After being in the laboratory he knows it's beyond his abilities but believe Magnus can make few steps forward in this research, and even if he hates the mage he is fascinates by the Art and see this as opportunity to enhance his own knowledge.
What was considered bad was the transformation to Histachii. I don't think any of the other people that maintained their wits consider turning to Histachii a good thing.

Anyway, plans for today:
Being tortured to the brink of death.

Plans for tomorrow:
Being rescued.

I guess Tulbas can't learn spells as his book is locked and he is missing sleep. I think he used all his spells including the Cantrips. In any case being tied he can't cast cantrips.

[JadedDM]

Okay, that's the end of that chapter and the 29th of Autumn Harvest.

We have a couple of level-ups. djhyland and TristenC, I need from both of you a roll of 1d8+1 for your new HP totals. Also, Grubnick gets a new WP and Arulia gets a new NWP. Neither needs to be filled now, but if you have an idea of what you want to do with them, let me know.

Now for my notes on the chapter:

Title and Theme
The title of this chapter, "The Viper's Nest" was not only a reference to the Belzorite hideout and the attempts of Tulbas to escape it and Haahqae/Gregeddin/Grubnick to break in...it was also a reference to Kendra and Arulia trying to infiltrate the army. So we had both a literal and a figurative 'viper's nest.'

Neo-Belzorites
I really wanted the Neo-Belzorites to be very different from the Cultists of the Master. For one thing, I didn't want a big repeat of a quest we already did. But more than that, it wouldn't have made sense. Why would people still worship Belzor after he was revealed to be a fraud and they had seen the power of a real goddess? The whole 'leader is fooling his followers' thing just wouldn't have worked. So I decided the Neo-Belzorites all knew the truth, but were fanatics who went along with it anyway. They weren't being fooled at all.

The concept of them turning into Yuan-ti was an idea I got years ago from someone at the official Dragonlance forums. I really liked it, and decided I'd use it someday. It certainly makes them more threatening. Plus, I didn't want to focus on illusions, which is what the old Belzorites did. So transmutation seemed a better fit.

The last quest that Haahqae/Gregeddin/Tulbas did was the giant slaying one, and they recruited a mess of NPCs (some way higher in level than them) to help them and completely mowed over the entire thing. Thus, I assumed they would do the same for the Neo-Belzorites and went all out, creating a large compound with numerous traps, enemies and so forth. Instead, not only did Tulbas get himself captured, but Gregeddin and Haahqae went in alone (well, actually Haahqae went in alone, leaving Gregeddin upstairs)! So quite a twist on my expectations.

Joining the Army
I decided that the little combat test Mouna gave Kendra would determine how impressed Mouna would be. If Kendra asked to fight a goblin, Mouna would have been disappointed and actually lost respect for Kendra. Fighting a Baaz, which she did, just kept her neutral. Had she fought a Kapak or even Mouna herself, she would have been far more impressed and would have started Kendra at a higher rank. If she did something really impressive, like fight an ogre or multiple opponents at once (say, three Baaz or something), Mouna would have made Kendra her right hand.

Factions
A fourth faction has now been introduced, and Kendra has joined them--the Fire Snakes, one of the companies of the Red Dragonarmy. They patrol the merchant district and are led by Mouna. Kendra's relationship with them is 12 (Cautious) because she killed one of their well-liked soldiers. Whoops!

Divine Allegiance
I gave Tulbas a point in Habbakuk for staying loyal to his friends and not turning their names and locations to his torturers. I gave Kendra a point in Kiri-Jolith for joining the army to save the elves. I gave Arulia a point in Paladine for trying to take charge and protect her family. I gave a point in Sirrion to Grubnick for causing upheaval to the Belzorites. And I gave Ne-Chanz a point in Sargonaas for attacking those kender. I couldn't really think of anything else applicable this time around.

Anyway, new chapter goes up tomorrow. As always, feedback is appreciate. I hope everyone is having a good time so far.

[TristenC]

aww, no super-mega-bonus xp for saving half the party? I guess I forfeited that by putting Tulbas in hot water

Hehe, a lvl's a lvl!

I'll go with Maul for my new WP... with the bump to hp and thaco I might be able to just pose as a fighter for a bit...
1d8+1=9
Sweet baby cheeses, max hps!

[JadedDM]

Okay, HP is updated and Maul is added to his weapon proficiencies.

Grubnick now has the 2nd most max HP among the PCs, Ne-Chanz beats him by only 1 point.

[Haahque]

Well we went and hired the huge group of mercenaries for the giant because well... it's a giant that can flatten us in one swing probably. The belzorites sounded more like a washed up cult of more appropriate CR for a low level party.

I have no idea why Tulbas went alone.

Haahqae went alone since he was considering them imbeciles easily fooled by illusions, and he had lots of lies and a potion of invisibility to get himself out of a sticky situation if things went poorly.

Then it became apparent that we weren't going to be able to do it alone, so we're gathering our huge party of NPC's again.

[JadedDM]

Yeah, there was a lot of underestimating going on all around. Well, chalk it up as a valuable lesson learned, I suppose.

As far as "CR" goes, the quests are really all over the map. Some are quite easy, some are ridiculously hard. There's one quest the party hasn't discovered yet, which is just as well because it involves high level undead and they wouldn't stand a chance at their current level, even if they all united together (which hasn't happened since the kobold mines, come to think of it).

[djhyland]

It looks like Arulia gains 7 hit points with her new level in cleric. Halving that for being multiclassed, she gains 3 hit points. Not bad!

The non-weapon proficiency is tougher. Since she's been talking up her talent in helping out at the blacksmith shop, I think I'll put her point into a rank of Blacksmithing. It probably won't come up in game, but it'll be nice to be able to back up what she's been talking about.

I've enjoyed this chapter, and I'm looking forward to the next one! Thanks, JadedDM!

[JadedDM]

Okay, HP updated and Blacksmithing added to her proficiencies.

It's always good to know a trade. Now if anything happens to her step-father, she can take over his forge.

[chese780]

you should remember, the enemy is expecting you and will be ready.

Except, he doesn't know our powars

[JadedDM]

True, or your numbers. I just meant you can't catch them off guard. They'll have extra security and have set up traps and stuff like that.

[TristenC]

Over 10,000?!?!1

EDIT: Dangit. Ninja'd by Jaded...

[JadedDM]

Should I interpret "Ghost Sound" to mean "Audible Glamer?"