Half-Gestalt (8//4) Dream Campaign, Your's and Mine (3.5 D&D)

[BilltheCynic]

Greg points to Tinac. What he said. And don't worry, I believe that the ship is completely trustworthy and just trying to do the right thing to help you people.

Spoiler: OOC

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Bluff: (1d20+18)[19]

[DracoDei]

"You are mad! All of you! The only reason I'm not going to kindly ask you all to leave is that this situation is so desperate and crazy that...

Well, I'll put it to a vote..."

He has obviously had his world rocked and lost a lot of trust in you all... but how could he not? Such dread bargains may be the best choice, but they are not something that most people are really equipped to deal with.

[BilltheCynic]

Greg reels back as if offended. Mad? Mad?! I am not mad; I'm certifiably insane. There's a difference, you know. Anyway, while you guys are voting we have important business to get on with, like punching out evil clown gods. So Ship, where do we go?

[DracoDei]

"I must not have made myself clear. You don't go anywhere in particular. You stay here and help defend the town. I, on the other hand, will be ranging slightly more widely, although not, of course, far enough that the zone influence of the sphere gets spread around too much."

Just the tiniest sliver of peeve slips into The Endless Journey's voice.

[Illven]

Oh awesome! Jillian replied.

I've always wanted to be in a siege.... Granted I usually thought I'd be on the other side... But I suppose Fireball is an anti-catapult weapon.

How long will we be holding the line?

[r2d2go]

Joseph looks very distracted, as if staring at something in the distance that is very, very concerning. He shakes his head and returns to his surroundings. "Errr... Just tell me what to stab." He mimes stabbing something with one of his weapons.

[BilltheCynic]

Greg brightens immediately. Oh, we get to defend the village from the invaders! Say no more, I have a plan. Ok, we'll need a crap ton of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate-

Suddenly, out of nowhere a thick book appears and throws itself at his face.

Ow! Ok, ok, we won't pull that one. Hmm, we've still got to get the village defensible. You have a blacksmith, which means you have an anvil. That will of course come in handy. What are the other resources available to us, what kinda skills do you people have, and how long do we have to prep?

[DracoDei]

Joseph looks very distracted, as if staring at something in the distance that is very, very concerning. He shakes his head and returns to his surroundings. "Errr... Just tell me what to stab." He mimes stabbing something with one of his weapons.

"I'm sure you can work that out with the townsfolk and your long-term comrades."

How long will we be holding the line?

"A month at the very most I should think. Could be as short as a few days. I suppose I could go so far as to figure that out."

The Endless Journey starts asking questions about the course of the attacks so far, veering over into the details of how they have deployed everyone (and it seems to be very interested in making sure that absolutely everyone is accounted for).

((OOC: EXCELLENT question... unfortunately I'm less impressed with my answer. This will have to do for now. I will probably have more to add later, but hopefully y'all can get some ideas from the above.))

[ngilop]

Tinac nods his head as his compatriots ask their questions. "Sounds like we need to start making friends and get t seeing how we can best defend the town."

[DracoDei]

"That sounds wise."

[BilltheCynic]

Greg turns to Mordecci. So, what kind of defenses do you guys have, and what materials do you have to work with? I for one am in favor of taking that blacksmith's anvil and rigging it into a crush trap.

[DracoDei]

Greg gets a look like he is crazy (which he is).

The discussion moves towards how the town should be defended. Y'all find that the locals have done a pretty good job but you have a few improvements to suggest in the coming hours.

Spoiler: OOC

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An anvil is way too useful for repairing damaged weapons to be wasted on a trap...

I'm going to off-screen any explanation of the pre-existing overall defenses of the town. Y'all will be defending a wine vineyard probably surrounded by a 3 foot wall.

What I need to hear from you is how YOU would defend the town. No, I'm not going to tell you anything more than you already know about the lay-out of the town. That would only be a distraction at this point. I MIGHT be convinced to give you a description of the people in the town, but that is probably going to be a matter of "ask the right questions and I will tell you."... and I will probably be erring on the side of being uninformative or even (technically) mis-informative. I'll continue to think on such things as play proceeds. This is a much less straight-forward tactical puzzle to create than I am used to creating, so I'm still refining it as I go.

[BilltheCynic]

Greg pouts and shifts into a caricature of Mordecci. Anvils are too useful for repairs to drop on people's heads," he says in a mocking tone. Feh. There loss.

Greg returns to his normal appearence and turns to the others. Well gang, looks like we got to defend a bunch of grapes from some clown cultists. You know, typical heroes stuff. I say we mess up the grounds, throw caltrops and oil and stuff around, maybe even a couple of bit traps. All of us except Tinac have some way to fly, and Jillian can always magic Tinac some flying power. Sure the townsfolk might be a bit angry at that, but hey, they should have thought of that before inviting us here by shooting at our ship. All we need is some way to lure the evil clowns in so they are stuck in the smack zone. I propose a giant level in the middle of the vineyard with a large sign over that says, "DO NOT PULL LEVER". It's fool proof.

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Illven]

As for the defending the town.

Jillian wanted the highest building, with multiple windows.

She wanted line of sight, she wanted cover, and that was the simplest method she could think of for both.

[r2d2go]

Joseph looks rather forlorn at the idea of taking on a great deal of people at once - Defending many people against many people is not his forte. Thus, he proposes to go on the offensive, giving a beat-down to prime targets that wander near a small group of people who need protecting, then rushing back in case he is needed. To this end, he asks around for particularly good archers, mid-ranged mages, and the like - people who want to be close enough to the battlefield to get in accurate shots but far enough to stay away from retaliation.

[ngilop]

"I'm not too ... experienced in the whole military tactic thing. But, I think maybe we should like have a way to funnel the aggressors into a smaller area where the full size of their force is not against us? like dib some big pits except for a few places or.. I am not sure just throwing ideas out and hoping one sounds decent" Tinac says rather sheepishly the healer you understand is more concerned and focused towards helping others and rendering aid, not so much finding ways to inflict injuries on others.

[BilltheCynic]

Greg senses a sudden feeling of plot foreboding come over him. He floats over to the mayor, now dressed in a suit, a fedora, and a pair of thick glasses, and carrying a notepad and a pen. I know this is a lot to take in for you guys, but I'm still not entirely clear about all that's happening here. In my defense, there was a really pretty butterfly that was flying around nearby. Really distracting, you know? Anyway, can I get you on record for a summary of what's the situation right now and the exact event to lead up to it, along with your personal opinion on why you guys aren't stab happy right now?

Spoiler: OOC

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Sense Motive:
(1d20+7)[22]
(1d20+7)[11]
(1d20+7)[12]
(1d20+7)[8]
(1d20+7)[17]

[DracoDei]

The mayor looks even more worried than usual.

((Hope I am not making too many mistakes here...))

"Honestly? I have no idea why we haven't seen some serious incidents when you put it like that... I mean, the situation is pretty tense, so of course there have been some fist fights and such, not to mention plenty of harsh words. Maybe knowing what the threat is provides some sort of a buffer? Come to that... well, it is probably nothing, but we did have one fellow go insane in a way that might have been directly caused by the artifact. Blind Old Tim started swinging a knife at any sound he heard. One of the deputies got a bit trigger happy on a crossbow... err, not crazy I don't think, just sorta how folks will get when their blood is up y'know? Anyway, its hard, but we didn't want to waste healing on a man who might be crazy but certainly couldn't fight when we might need it at any minute for someone who could, so Blind Old Tim is still recovering in bed. Hasn't woke up yet. That was about three days ago.

As for what has happened to this point, near as we can figure, the Maguvs, McCabes, and Summersets, who are all branches of the same family came to town because they were a cult that had gone intergenerational. Mostly of Erythnul, but a few Hextorites in each generation. They came into town about six weeks ago, all in a group, with a ox-cart in the middle of them with that sphere lashed down in it. They started killing folk, and even the oxen joined in, despite never having shown a sign of being war-trained before that. Might have had something to do with some new brands that Sipo reported seeing, although we don't have anyone to corroborate that.

Luckily we had a paladin visiting, although he and half our militia died in the fight. His name was Ibio*

A few days after that the paladins' body rose up and started killing, but it certainly didn't have much skill. We only left him lay whole since we thought that someone might be wanting to put in the magic and diamonds to bring him back... even took up a list of those who would be willing to donate some coins towards the cost of the diamonds. We put his corpse down without too much trouble... but then dead animals started doing the same... then the live ones. We gathered in the farmers from the surround households and started slaughtering all but the best of the breeding stock... by now we've killed even that, simply because it was too hard to keep them fed while still tending out our defenses. Oddly enough the cats and dogs seem to be immune so far...

We sent out messengers... but one of them... oh, I guess that should qualify... Exis came back, and he was murderous. Would have been a bigger problem except that he wasn't fighting smart. Guy was more the sort to slip up behind a body than to charge head-long, which is why we sent him... figured he could slip through. Came back bold as brass and... well, we had to do for him.

Actually, maybe that is it? Having a big group of people who are not in the thrall of the artifact keeps its danger at bay? Like it gets spread out trying to chase after all of them? Or just having friends with you helps? Except that there was a group of five merchants who always travelled together and they arrived just as dangerous as any of the others...

Anyway, a few days ago Granny Alberts died and came back before we could burn her... up until then we thought it might only those close to the sphere, but she had just come into town a the day before that.

So... we are basically under seige by everything that lives in the area... well, except for the plants, and I swear some of them seem to have grown thorns where there weren't supposed to be any on that sort of plant."
*((Might be incorrect because I'm not checking through the entire backlog to see if I already named him.))

Someone else chimes in "Yeah, you can look at the grape-vines up in the area you picked out... grapes aren't supposed to have thorns, but they are growing little ones, despite the snow covering them."

The mayor nods and continues.

"So, it has been all hands on blades, even those who shouldn't ever be raising a knife in anger... pregnant women, any child old enough to be trusted to swing at what's coming at him rather than innocently at whatever strikes their innocent fancy, old folks, so on and so forth... hopefully with y'all here we can give that a break with you holding a large section of our perimeter, providing better tactics, and/or serving as a reserve force**."

**((GMs note: You aren't going to be serving as a reserve force to start with... GM fiat says that that you are a bigger help holding the vineyard.))

[BilltheCynic]

Greg spins around again, now wearing a deerstalker hat and smoking on a calabash pipe. Hmm. Mysterious. Not sure I buy the group theory. We came in with just four people, and we hardly wanted to kill anyone here much.

Hey! Maybe that's it! Tinac over there has heard of something like this before. The crazy lady who told him about it advised him to "Not fight it, just go with it...then smash the thing." Ok, before the murder ball came to this place how peaceful was this town? Like, were you guys regularly fighting off monsters, bandits, door-to-door salesmen, and other atrocities of the wilderness? And that blind Tom guy, was he a pacifistic sort before he went stab happy?

I'm thinking that the sphere makes people want to fight more. If you're not the fighting type, it makes you the fighting type. If you're already the fighting type, it doesn't affect you much. That's why you guys aren't really affected, but random merchants are! And why dogs and cats, natural born killers, just shrug off the thing, while oxen and rabbits and pigs start wanting to eat each other alive. As usual, violence really is the answer to this problem. Whatever you do, do not give peace a chance.

Oh, one more thing. In your experience, do the people who go stab happy also like to violence each other, or do they team up to take down the non stab happy people?

[DracoDei]

"I'd say we were as peaceful as any other town. The usual problems, not much more or less. Got a wyrmling red poking around trying to find a soft lairing spot about 15 years back. We didn't manage a kill, but we showed her we weren't soft."
((Further investigation into the specifics details of their history with violence will reveal, that, yes, they really are pretty average.))

"Tom... well, I can't say for certain, but I'd say he was mostly just trying to get by same as anyone else. Don't recall him having any particular philosophies of any unusual nature.

As for violence between our attackers... no such luck that we have observed. Although they only seem to have any sort of coordination with eachother SOMETIMES. Well, the smart ones, like live humanoids, usually team up with eachother, but with the animals and undead it seems to be rarer."

[BilltheCynic]

Upon hearing his latest theory go up in smoke, Greg grabs his new hat and hurls it behind him. It disappears after a few meters. Argh! Why can't I have a genius theory that isn't immediately disproven with two minutes? Is that really so much to ask? Ugh, now I wish I'd sunk more points into intelligence.

Ok guys, I'm at a bit of a loss as to how exactly this thing works now. Maybe fighting people who have been driven stab happy will give us a clue as to what's going on. I say we prep for defending the town against whatever's coming our way. Anyone object?

[ngilop]

"As that is what I recommended already, I say yes let see to the defenses" Tinac looks at the mayor then back to the group "what, how and, where do you think setting up any defenses should be?"

[BilltheCynic]

Greg groans. Why are you looking at me? I'm the looney guy who's idea of a sound defense is a bunch of giant mousetraps that explode when they snap! Ugh, fine! Since these guys lack the finer points of explosive hilarity, that exploding mousetraps are sadly out.

Ok, so we've got to defend a vineyard or something, and we know that there's this clown prince dude who's gonna be sending guys even I think are crazy. I don't think we can really predict what's coming our way, so no need to prepare for specifics. One thing we have going for us is our utter disdain for gravity. Both Joe and I can lift off whenever, and Jill can magic you two airborn in no time. I say we litter the place with marbles, caltrops, and maybe pit traps if we have time. They won't affect us, but they might affect whatever is coming. Since Jill can cast through her cat, I say we get Jill somewhere close enough to magic you with flight when we need it, but far enough that she's not gonna be in the line of fire. Maybe dig a special foxhole just for her. Actually, might be better to get you in some hidey place too, or at least somewhere they won't see you when they first come. I can go ethereal, so they'll never see me either until I drop a safe on their heads. That leaves Joe. Looks like you're the bait. Try to look intimidating, but not too intimidating that they don't bother attacking.

Ok, anyone else have anything to add? If not, let's get to it! It feels like we've been preparing for this for, like, three months, and I for one am ready for some action!

[DracoDei]

Over the low wall, somebody sees... something.

((Still not seeing that last character and up to three hovering weapons on the map...))