The Nations Game IC

[drack]

Hello All. You know the drill. New blokes have been around long enough to roughly know their way around the world map, so I guess I'll let you guys go at it.
Crafty Cultist

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Yes you may

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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As best as I can tell, I entered on Day 4 (you announced its end a page after I arrived). It is now Day 13. So here we go...

Day 4:
The ordeal in the maze over, Kalypto teleports his nation to the northern-most part of the plains on the eastern continent, about fourty miles back from where the outpost had been set up, and near the foothills of the mountain.

The Favored Anathema (creature Ha-Kneighlly made me) guards the outpost along with a Troll (level 10 follower) and 5 Wizards (level 8). They are to intercept any envoys from other nations coming toward us and ask them their business. If necessary, they will use Sending to send notification to a higher up.

Spellcasters: 20 castings of Lay of the Land, 100 of Divination, focusing on the terrain and any settlements in the nearby area.

Lay of the Land:
Looking particularly for rivers and any native settlements, but any natural formations that could be of tactical advantage as well.

Divination:
-Is it safe to settle here?
-Is the mountain safe?
-Is the mountain inhabited by intelligent life?
-Are there natives or more travelers within the area of a major nation (71.000 sq miles)
-Should we expect any visits from them (natives/travelers, if yes) soon?
-Are there any strategic natural formations nearby?
-Are there any rivers nearby?
-Are there any valuable resources nearby?


Scouting parties will be sent out to check... say... 50 mile radius around us. Once they finish that, extending to the 100 mile radius around us. Each party consists of:
1 Troll Evolutionist (level 10), 2 Zhentarim Skymages (level 11) and mounts, 1 Bard (level 5), 1 Ur Priest (level 15).
There are four parties, once to be sent in each direction on the compass. (North, South, East, West). They have been ordered to negotiate with anyone they find, given telepathic bonds by the head mages to keep in contact, and told to teleport back to report if they get in over their heads. Scouts will make manual maps as well, noting climate, soil, any dangerous monsters or natives, and the best place(s) to settle.

The remaining populace will be fed by the use of the Everful Larder in the Obsidian Fortress. The feeding of the people will be watched over by Marianne Croatia. Treants with the shrunken pieces of the fortress cities will remain in place for the moment, while the initial scouting is done.

More to come, I'd just like a bit of information on what's around me via the scouting first.

[Jack_Simth]

DM:

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Collecting taxes, making sure everyone is fed, celebrating the victory over the surprisingly disorganized barbarian tribes by starting in on the construction of a new high temple (meets the criteria - planned victory - even though the actual fight was glossed over with good reason).

And following up on a few citizens that don't remember being Kidnapped. Seeing if the clause about Wish restoring memories in most forms of mindwiping applies in this case, just for grins. It'll be interesting if they know who kidnapped them.

Not that I wouldn't put in at least three layers of deception if I were doing that myself...

[Crafty Cultist]

DM

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Okay. Just to reiterate my strategy:

1. Soldiers will be positioned along the walls, with additional platoons hanging back to act based on the situation.
2. Dreadnaughts will open fire on the attackers as soon as they are in range.
3. My flagship is positioned above the wall nearest the attacking force, with it's teleportation blocker stopping any dimensional travel beyond 100ft with a radius of one mile.
4. Any settlements inside the walls have walls constructed and barricades prepared, and local soldiers and police are ready to defend them

Jack Smith

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A message is sent to the meeting hall by Lucian

"A large force of tribal riders are attacking out northern border. Any assistance would be appreciated, just be warned that a barrier will prevent any teleportation into the area. If you have means of locating them, this could be a good opportunity to attack their homes and weaken them so that they cannot attack like this again."

[drack]

Moonlit

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Lay of the land: dry, unsettled rolling planes in all directions

Divination
Unknown
Unknown
yes
yes
Unknown
yes
no
no

Scouts: where exactly did you touch down again? (I remember vaguely, but I want to make sure first)

Jack

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Nothing happens with your wish.

Crafty

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OK, shal I give jack a day to send aid? Also what is your attack range from the wall? (gotta know where to start this)

[Jack_Simth]

Crafty Cultist:

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The image of Lady Aoughiao Dejecola chuckles back "Hmm... yes, we do imagine they'd be rather painfully disorganized and have some pretty severe lacks in their defenses. Barbarians... feh. Yes, we can do a few raids, and send a small contingent to help you clean up. Where's the edge of the teleportation blockade?"

DM:

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Yeah, I figured.

Lady Aoughiao Dejecola is sending two 10th level Adventuring Parties - Cleric, Wizard, Rogue, Fighter - and their mounts - to do some damage to the barbarian's infrastructure. Burn villages, torch farms, collapse graineries, that kind of thing, first using a Miracle to set up a Telepathic Bond with them all for the day (as well as the four 9th level adventuring parties we'll be sending to help Crafty out a bit). Keeping a Supernatural Wish in reserve in case they need to suddenly retreat because they're facing forces the warcats will have problems with.

Oh, and updated spells for the new day, and things spent so far.

[drack]

Jack

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They are a people of few needs and hard living. the only real infrastructure they have is the occasional cave used for ritual purposes by the elders, and the hall of the chiefs...

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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Scouts: where exactly did you touch down again? (I remember vaguely, but I want to make sure first)

Where in the plains? Basically here:
(the black circle on the east continent)

Obviously I still have plenty of days to post, but I'm just waiting to see if you have anything to jump out and surprise me before I make a giant post.

[drack]

Moonlit

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In that case still no life/civilization beyond the ever-present grasses.

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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Hm, okay.

Day 4: Consists of the aforementioned scouting. Also, my fission, when he gets back from the near-fight with Lexin, will cast Superior Invisibility and activate Ethereal Watcher (from a vestige) and then do a few sweep-overs of the mountain. Methods of sight: Darkvision, Blindsense 150, Telepathy 300, permanent True Seeing, Blindsight 120, Tremorsense 60, See In Darkness.
He is looking for the alleged "intelligent life" that inhabits the mountain. Find anything?

It's been a crazy day, so the nation is being fed and settling down for the night, with construction to begin the next day. Patrols and watches as indicated in my document, of course.

[drack]

Moonlit

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check duration on fission, it doesn't last long enough for there to be a "when it gets back"

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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Normally, yes. But Proto Fission: At 16th level the Hecantoncheires can use Fission as the power 1/day, except the duration is 1 hour/level...
So do I find anything?

[rweird]

Drack:

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Okay you either missed my post or are ignoring it. I'll structure this post under the assumption Discern Location told me where the vampire is (presuming it is on the islands). If not, please tell me otherwise, though I would rather have had that response earlier instead of having to waiting for DM response for two IG days so if I had to wait that long the information I have most likely wouldn't be valid, though I'll presume it is for this post.

I'll use my Greater Teleport SLA to teleport to the location that the vampire is and request to speak with the leader.

[Jack_Simth]

DM:

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OK, but they'll still have encampments - however temporary - to house the noncombatants (I'm Lawful-Evil, remember?) that'll probably be relatively unguarded thanks to everyone being off at war. It doesn't matter, they just need to be seen raiding by the fleeing survivors. They're not to hit hardened targets.

The two structures, I think, I'm going to take care of personally. Starting with the sacred caverns. Greater Teleport to a point underground (to avoid Line-of-Sight and Line-of-Effect... which also stops most forms of teleport anticipation and blocking cold - and do note: Incorporeal and Mind-blanked) nearby, navigate to the caves via X-Ray vision, cast Earthquake to collapse it (or at least the entrance), then take my time scanning the area through the walls & floor via X-Ray vision and Arcane Sight (and note: True Seeing + See Invisibility) without ever letting anyone get Line-of-sight or line-of-effect to me.

I'll think about the other structure once I've checked this one out. Especially if it contains loot.

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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Day 5:
Building begins. The three fortress cities will be constructed on the hilly part of the plains, to overlook the pasturing land and smaller towns on the lower plains. The first two on foothills, the capital on the mountain (subject to change depending on what you say about the intelligent life there).
City Map:


Building Process:
Transport the shrunken pieces to the appropriate spots, clear the ground and dispel the Shrink Item effects. The Treants move the pieces into place and liberal use is made of crafters for bolting/nailing and spellcasters for welding them together. Estimated time taken for cities to be reconstructed: 3 days

Day 6:
Continue building (see above).
Making sure everybody is fed, sending out the master spy and his network, and divining extensively on the other inhabitants of this particular continent, particularly trying to find out where exactly the other nations are, about how they are led, and about their respective leaders. If you prefer, I can write up exact questions, but that's basically it.

Day 7:
Finishing the building projects (see above). The fortress cities are now in full working order, with their respective Weirdstones activated to prevent enemy scrying or teleportation within the city walls, and Unhallow and Forbiddance effects overlapping all within the inner city.

Making sure everybody is fed, a contingent (say… 100) of extra soldiers is sent to the north “border” with orders to make a more obvious border for us. They will do this with Wall of Iron, Stone Shape, Move Earth and the like. To be clear, the land I am marking as mine (assuming I find no other nation in that land before now) is basically this, the land behind the black border line:



More to come. Please speak up if an assumption I'm making here is profoundly wrong, so I don't write more useless stuff.

[drack]

Moonlit

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Fission sees a massive fortress embedded the rock... sorry if this hampers potential plans...

rweird

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Yup, I think I missed it. The vampire is at the halls of Izeldus, as you teleport in roll initiative for an encounter with a single vampire (no leader to talk to in sight an vampire is hostile) Mist also stops you from seeing beyond 5' if you don't have something like blindsight.

Jack

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you misunderstand me... of the 57 tribes two are attacking crafty, one would have been attacking you had I the stats, but apparently isn't. The remaining tribes have packed up and left to somewhere unknown to you (another plane), and your spies have lost contact as a result of this.

Underground: you find some permanent telleportation circles, and some basic wards an furnishings.

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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Better that I know it now than after I wrote up the rest of the days. Hm, I'm going to say that everything else that I wrote other than the occupation of the mountain is still a go at this point. So the capital's placement is on hold.

The Fission will approach the fortress, looking for an entrance.

[rweird]

Drack:

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Initiative: (1d20+57)[70], due to foresight, I won't be flat-footed either way.
I have 60 ft. Blindsight.

Presuming I go first, I'll cast Widened Forcecage (full cage, no bars) from Uncanny Forethought, in a 20 ft. around both of us. I won't attack it to see what It'll do, telepathy tap means that If he telepathically (presuming he has it) signals other vampires, I'll hear. "Where is your leader?" I ask. I'm pretty confident that the vampire won't be able to hurt me for now.

[drack]

Moonlit

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You find a massive stone double door gate.

So you're building around the other fortress?

rweird

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It ignores you charging with a claw attack. (should I even bother rolling? )

[rweird]

Drack:

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Unless it can do over 82 damage on a hit, unless the weapon is good aligned and epic, or silver, in which case it'd need to do 52+ (unless the weapon is also evil and Cold Iron) I'll ignore it presuming it overcomes my miss chances and gets a natural 20. That is presuming it is magic and starmantle doesn't just negate it, and I don't roll a natural 1 on my reflex save.

Thallagon Algorthen raises a hand and the claw stops inches from it, as if an invisible force was keeping it back.

Anyways, I'm 5 ft. stepping back and casting Song of the Dead Programmed Amnesia (DC 51 will save negates) to rebuild his memories, the changes (if will save fails), i'll need some information (the spell lets me "read" his memorizes). I want to know the basics about him (a simple backstory, so I can make the changes believable, if some change i'll make goes blatantly against something you didn't mention, please tell me), and as much information as I can get on the group of vampires he is in, if any, or any he knows about.

I'm telepathically informing my cohort of all that is going on, and as much information as i can pass on to him (more about the vampire group than his backstory). Both me and him will also try to memorize as much as we can.

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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No, I'm not building around the fortress. I mean the building that goes on in the plains (the other two cities are in the plains foothills, again) continues. Building on the mountain is on hold for now.

Casting Permanent Image of myself right before the door (I'm still superior invisible and ethereal). I fade down into the ground and over, stopping once I am inside the fortress, but still just underground. Using Tremorsense to feel any lifeforms inside, and I am automatically aware of any response to the Permanent Image and feed it replies. The Permanent Image knocks on the stone double doors.

[drack]

rweird

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He was a farmer once... he doesn't really remember those times, he was trained in the basics of combat to prepare for a war, and than instinct overtook him, and most pronounced among them, the instinct to protect the master and serve in any way they ask. The master has told him to guard, and so he has not left his post in several thousand years.

Moonlit

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What's the range on the tremor-sense?
"What" a voice calls out.

[rweird]

Drack:

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In that case, I'm using the Trigger Function to make him forget my existence if anyone asks about me, dismiss the forcecage, and ask him if he knows where his "master" is (not me, the master in his memories). I'm also casting Greater Scrying on the most intellegent being on the islands my nation is above that isn't protected from Scrying and isn't a member of my nation. (DC 49, +10 on will save).

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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Ack, only 60 feet, actually...

"I represent a new nation on the plains, and have been sent to give greetings and extend the offer of diplomatic relations to our new neighbors. To whom am I speaking?"

[drack]

Rweird

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Wait... before we go further vampire is undead. Undead is immune to mind affecting. Can you bypass?

Moonlit

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You see nobody then

Name's Harold, and how would we benefit from this?

[rweird]

Drack:

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Yes, you approved the "Song of the Dead" metamagic feat. It lets you effect intelligent undead with mind effecting effects.

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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Okay, then the invisible fission merges back into place above the group, in the same spot as the permanent image. He dismisses the invisibility, and the illusion as close to simultaneously as possible.


"That depends on what sort of group you are, Harold. Could I come in, so we can discuss and negotiate?"

[drack]

rweird

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OK, just making sure
*save fails*

Moonlit

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"A peaceful group that will not allow access to potentially violent strangers. "

[rweird]

Drack:

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I'm dismissing the forcecage, and I'll ask him if he knows where his "master" is (not me, the master in his memories).

I'm also casting Greater Scrying on the most intelligent being on the islands my nation is above that isn't protected from Scrying and isn't a member of my nation. (DC 49, +10 on will save presuming I have no knowledge of him).

[Moonlitdreams]

DM

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"Neither I nor the nation I belong to intend to harm you, but very well. The ones who sent me wish to know what of this land you claim as your own, so that we know where to set our own border."

Knowledge Geography and Dungeoneering, 52 and 77 respectively with Taking 10, looking for the composition of the fortress and any critical points in its design.