Kingmaker in the Forgotten Realms [IC thread]

[almondsAndRain]

These creatures needed to be killed, Three was certain. The Company had all but decided to side with the Sootscale in this conflict, so any alliance with the gremlins was doomed to fail. And these creatures were dangerous. Their ambush was masterfully done, and they nearly had twice the Company’s number - if the Company was weaker, or these little monsters had access to resources better than ineffective fear spells and poorly made knives, they would be a legitimate threat.

As it stood, though? Three did not believe the gremlins had a chance in this fight. She drew the last of her Entangle scrolls, spotted a location she believed would target over half of their members, and let the magic of the item overwhelm her mind. She spoke aloud to the creatures, on the off-chance any of them could speak Common: “Now would be a good time to surrender, gremlins!”

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Free action: Three judges the gremlins' ambush: 6/10.

Move action: Three draws her last scroll of Entangle.

Standard action: Three attempts to cast Entangle on the corner of J10, J11, K10, and K11. If the attempt is successful, all of the gremlins on the western side of the map should have to make saves for it. Due to lucky positioning, none of the Company has to! The Save DC is 14 and the Caster Level is 2.

It has a DC of 22 to activate the scroll. On a natural 1 (a roll of 16), Three automatically fails the attempt and may not try again for 24 hours.
(1d20+15)[32] +6 from her ranks in Use Magic Device, +2 from her Charisma modifier, +3 from Skill Focus (Use Magic Device), +2 synergy bonus from having 6 ranks in Spellcraft, +2 from her Artisan Bonus class feature.

I made a map of the spell’s effect:

[Saintheart]

Spoiler: OOC

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As a quick update - Gremlin 4, 7, and 11 are entangled. The others save, but they're still moving at half speed while in the zone of the spell, and the Entangle effects gets another try and entangling on Three's next initiative count.

[bcool999]

Kuros froze as the ambush began, he had just noticed something wrong with the tracks when the waves of fear washed over him. I was careless! Kuros admonished himself as battle was joined between the company and their ambushers. Disappointed in himself at having underestimated their foe, He draws his weapons, his magic blade, his hammer, his Gladius, and a javelin and proceeds to throw his javelin at the nearby entangled Gremlin.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move action: Draw weapons
Standard Action: Throw Javelin at Gremlin 7.

Attack: (1d20+5)[16] (crit threat on 25)
Damage: (1d6+5)[9] Piercing Damage

[Mercurion 2]

Spoiler: OOC

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I know Ruk and Korlann still have actions to take, but I’ll go ahead and post for Dergosh now.

Ignoring the cut from the gremlin, Dergosh slid to his left while painting the air in front of him in the shape of a large oval with his mace. Materializing within the outline he had made was a single, glaring bloodshot eye.

Spoiler: Action

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Take 5’ step to F23, then cast shield of Gruumsh, increasing AC to 20, Touch 15, FF 19.

[Zombulian]

While the party had faced intimidating circumstances before, Ruk did not find himself regaining his focus following a surge of adrenaline. His eyes were peeled wide, his reptilian slit-like pupils expanded so large as to almost become circles as he looked around at the shapes surrounding them.

He ran.

Spoiler: OOC

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Ruk flees at full speed towards the top of the map. If he can take a Run action he does.

[BluesEclipse]

Korlann watches as the foliage bursts into overgrowth around the gremlins near him, nodding before turning his attention towards the other side of the ambush. He frowns to himself, seeing that Ruk has succumbed to the sudden terror these creatures brought with them, before darting towards the nearest one outside of the entangling vines, a swift kick announcing his intent for the ambushers.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Charging at Gremlin 3 (will end movement at O20)

To Hit: (1d20+9)[18], Crit on 29
Damage: (1d6+4)[9], x2 on Crit

[jdizzlean]

With a snarl at the fickleness of magic, Akara lets loose another volley at the champion before her!

Spoiler: actions

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cast lesser acid orb again
(1d20+6)[11]
for (3d8+3)[18]

and let's try an intimidate check on the champion, hoping our attack is effective this time to assist
(1d20+8)[17]

"Crawl back into the diseased womb that spew you forth you green bastard!"

[Saintheart]

Hills, Southeast of the Greenbelt
Midafternoon, 20th of Kythorn
Year of Lightning Storms (1374 DR)

Taken by surprise, the Company fought back. Several of the gremlins were caught by Three’s casting of her last scroll of entanglement. Kuros, even shaken by the unnerving sight of the gremlins, still had enough wherewithal to flip out one of his javelins and hurl it at the closest enemy; the javelin smashed through the pathetic little creature’s form, skewering it and nailing it to the tree it stood in.

Korlann launched himself across the distance to another of the gremlins; even he was surprised by how easily the creature’s skull gave way, killing the beast with barely any effort at all.

Akara’s second orb of acid spell, though, still went sizzlingly awry, and her attempt at intimidation seemed to have been ignored by the gremlins below.

Dergosh cast his next spell, and in the nick of time: the gremlin champion took another swipe with his short sword, and the blow was only turned by the shimmering shield of faith. But the other two kept coming, and their rusty little knives nicked at the half-orc’s leg and arm.

More pathetic daggers came whistling from the field of entanglement, from those gremlins who hadn’t yet been ensnared. One caught Three and chipped another bit of wood off her form, the other whistled even past Kuros’s shield and drew a nasty cut across his neck.

And Ruk ran. Northward, fast as he could, scrabbling up the defile with his claws, obeying the imperative to just escape.

Spoiler: Tactical Map

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Spoiler: Tactical Notes

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Gremlin 4 and 11 are entangled.
Dergosh takes 2 damage.
Kuros takes 1 damage.
Three takes 1 damage.

Initiative Count:
Dergosh: +10 – 29
Akara: +8 - 25
Gremlins: +1 – 21
Three: +9 – 20
Kuros: +4 – 14
Ruk: +0 - 9
Korlann: +3 – 4

That brings us back to Three – the entangle spell gets another chance at grabbing the remaining goblins in the field right after her turn. And yeah … that’s 0/2 for Akara this fight I’m afraid :)

[Mercurion 2]

Dergosh roared happily as the gremlins swarmed around him, a battle mania upon him. “HAAAAAA! LITTLE GOBLINS WITH LITTLE KNIVES! Come dance with Gruumsh!” He stepped between two of the gremlins, kicking them aside as he moved, and leveled a swing at the leader.

Spoiler: Actions

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Assuming that no one in the party acting before Dergosh will significantly change this action.
Take 5’ step to G23, attack leader with mace.
attack - (1d20+6)[9]
crit confirm if needed - (1d20+6)[13]
damage - (1d8+3)[10]

[almondsAndRain]

Three ignored the second knife in much the same way as the gremlins ignored the Company’s demands - a few chips of wood were nothing. She could repair the damage in moments with an infusion. Instead, she took a quick glance about the skirmish. Most of the Wolftooths (... Wolfteeth?) were fighting, and Korlann and Kuros had already killed some of the small creatures. Akara was casting from the sky. Dergosh was... surrounded, but seemed to be enjoying himself. Ruk, on the other hand, seemed to have succumbed to the fey’s magic and was fleeing for his life.

Well… there is nothing she could do about that now. She turned her attention towards one of the gremlins her spell did not grasp, and drew out her crossbow. The warforged aimed her sight at the creature’s chest and launched a bolt, hoping for a quick kill.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Move Action: Three draws her +1 Light Crossbow.

Standard Action: Three attacks Gremlin 5 with her +1 Light Crossbow.

Attack Roll: (1d20+7)[26].

This threatens a critical on a 19 or 20, so a rolled 26 or 27.

+1 from +1 Crossbow, +3 from her Dexterity modifier, +2 from her base attack bonus, +1 from Bless.

Critical Confirmation: (1d20+7)[19].
Damage Roll: (1d8+1)[4].
Critical Damage Roll: (1d8+1)[6].

Three has 40 bolts remaining.

[bcool999]

Kuros was currently in an emotional dilemma. Rationally he knows that these creatures are weak. His previous throw skewering one of them was proof enough for him to know that he can likely wade into them and come out with their bodies broken and bloodied behind him.

Yet he still felt fear.

Unable to reconcile this incongruity, Kuros pulled out his bow and sent an arrow whizzing towards the gremlin on this side of Dergosh from his position.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move action: Draw bow.
Free action: Drop Gladius, because doing the hand juggling thing with two handed weapons while RAW legal is weird.
Standard action: Fire arrow at Gremlin 8
Attack: (1d20+6)[19] Crit on 26
Damage: (1d8+3)[6] Piercing damage. Fear and Point blank shot already applied to rolls.

[BluesEclipse]

Korlann looks towards Dergosh for a moment, gauging his ally's situation. Nodding to himself, he swiftly moves back around the cart and into the entangling vines, making a beeline for the largest of the goblins within in order to bring down one of the warband's leaders.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Going to try and move to L16 - I have just enough movement to make it there if I make the save vs Entangle. So...

Reflex Save: (1d20+4)[11]

If I reach the destination, I'll attack Champion #2.

To Hit: (1d20+7)[15], Crit on 27
Damage: (1d6+4)[9], x2 on Crit

[Zombulian]

Ruk had scrabbled up the hill in a violent desperation. Heart beating out of his chest, he looked over his shoulder to the battle. The battle he and his compatriots had sought out... Was he going to let these vermin scare him from aiding his friends and kin?

Spoiler: OOC

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Ruk spends his inspiration to reroll his save against the fear effect.
(1d20+4)[11] including the penalty from Shaken.

[jdizzlean]

two useless attacks so far, but the only thing to do is keep the assault up.

Spoiler

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again!
(1d20+6)[15]
for
(3d8+3)[18]

[Zombulian]

Ruk shook his head as the fog of terror that had filled his
mind dissipated. He already had the high ground, but getting higher would be better.
With an utterance, his form shifted into the familiar dragonlike form, and he took to the wing.

Spoiler: OOC

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Ruk casts Alter Self into a Pseudodragon and flies 30ft straight up.

[Saintheart]

Hills, Southeast of the Greenbelt
Midafternoon, 20th of Kythorn
Year of Lightning Storms (1374 DR)

Dergosh was not a little surprised if not disappointed when a sizzling ball of acid dropped out of the sky and essentially disintegrated the biggest gremlin in a spray of yellow, red, and other oozy liquids. It seemed the magic had decided to stop being fickle. At the same moment, Three's crossbow bolt smashed right though another gremlin's large eye, and then through its skull, leaving the creature dead and impaled grotesquely five feet up a tree and still standing.

It was more or less over from there. Three's entanglement spell caught Korlann for a moment, and by the time he'd freed himself Dergosh and Ruk had made short work of the remaining free gremlins and Three and Kuros had shot down the rest. The defile was a tangle of eleven tiny, pathetic bodies whose only booty appeared to be a couple of rusty, worthless short swords and a small pile of knives that near-broke to the touch. The war band had been destroyed by the time Ser Pig emerged shamefacedly from this defensive position beneath the wagon.

Spoiler: OOC

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And that's 150 XP each. No appreciable treasure from the 11 bodies of the gremlins, they are really a pathetic little group.

I know I've intervened before the last shot was fired, but needless to say you overcame that challenge. And no, Kuros and Three don't have to mark off any ammo above and beyond what they've officially fired.

I make it 8 hitpoints of damage on Dergosh, 2 hitpoints on Korlann, 1 hitpoint damage on Kuros, and 2 hitpoints on Three. Everyone else is unharmed.

I'd guess you're heading back for the Old Sycamore and the gremlin infestation in it, to recover the Sootscales' idol if not Svetlana Leveton's wedding ring. As before, you have a choice on travel speed: normal pace will get you there around sunset but risks being detected by the gremlins; slow pace greatly mitigates that risk but will get you there sometime after nightfall. Unless you had something else you wanted to do.

[Mercurion 2]

“That one counts as mine!” Dergoshed roared as Akara’s acid obliterated the leader. Though he went n to smash of hapless gremlin or two, it was an unsatisfying conclusion as the battle lust was still hard upon him. He sneered at the slash wounds covering his legs and waved a calloused hand distractedly at them, healing the worst of them; the rest would have to wait until later.

He saw that the rest of the Wolftooth Clan had suffered only a minor scratch or two and also likely didn’t need any of Gruumsh’s healing powers just now. Slinging his drum shield on his back he was ready to move out. “Let us go kill rest of mangy little goblins.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCs53YHVs4s

[jdizzlean]

landing next to dergosh with a chuckle, akara gently pats him on the head, "i told you I'd teach you how to fight, and now i have.

laughing mercilessly, she walks off to check on the rest of the company.

[Mercurion 2]

Dergosh didn't yell. His voice, in fact, took on a tone none in the company had ever heard--flat, unaffacted, almost a whisper by his standards. He stared, unblinking, and stated, "Good way to lose hand."

[bcool999]

Looking more alarmed than when they were just ambushed. Kuros walks over to Three and whispers, "I... I think I just heard Dergosh's thoughts... do you think I might be one of those mind mages? Or is it just because it's Dergosh?"

After cleaning the battlefield, which mostly consisted of piling up the corpses to either be burned or left for wildlife at the parties decision, Kuros makes preparations to march on the Old Sycamore.

[almondsAndRain]

Three had just started her search of the corpses when she overheard the altercation between Dergosh and Akara. She was not planning on intervening unless and until a fight broke out, but she turned her attention to them regardless. At the very least, paying attention to this argument was a better way to spend her time than digging through the old and broken belongings of the defeated gremlins.

When Kuros whispered to her about it, she stared at him blankly for a moment. She knew little of Psionics. Can it manifest itself without warn - wait, no, why is she even entertaining this line of thought? She whispered back to the warrior, "If you are a Psion, it is news to me. But no, you heard Dergosh's thoughts because he spoke them aloud. He seems... livid."

[Zombulian]

Ruk chuckled to himself at Dergosh’s remark. Friendly rivalry was certainly welcome, especially when it came to killing gremlins - so long as Akara didn’t find herself brained or Dergosh burnt up.
He looked to rest of the party, “Back on the trail then? We lost a good bit of light following this party. How are we on resources?”

[Saintheart]

A hilltop, east of the Greenbelt
Dawn, Twenty-first of Kythorn, Year of Lightning Storms (1374 DR)

The answer to Ruk’s question, after a few minutes conning the area, was that the Company decided to seek shelter for the night. There followed a search for a safe campsite. It was not immediately fruitful. Not only were they in the middle of a war zone, but Kuros’s initial casting about indicated there were any number of lairs nearby, some with tracks the big silverbrow recognised, and some he did not.

As it became clear the search for safe camping spots wouldn’t be simple, the other members of the Company joined in. Even then, it was still not an easy process: promising-looking gullies turned out to be hopelessly unsuitable, and what seemed shallow caves in fact were much deeper, reeking with foul smells or fouler feelings.

Akara eventually spotted their campsite, hovering above the Company with lights drifting around her face from time to time. A cliff of white rock concealed a low peak on its far side which the Company might otherwise have missed. It took the better part of half an hour to work their way around the promontory to the hill. The hill itself was (to Dergosh’s annoyance) depressingly bereft of catapults, but had a sort of ring of scrub around its head, and with a good view of the surrounding ground.

And it also had what had first attracted Akara’s interest, and which further intrigued the Company as they arrived: a ruin of a tower on the crest of the hill, one that had once stood two storeys high but which now had tumbled down to the remains of three walls. The square space within the walls, however, collapsed in a manner that a campfire could be lit without it being visible from the slopes of the hills below.

It wasn’t the defensibility of the place that intrigued the Company, though. It was the familiarity. Most towers were built out of fieldstone or clay brick. This one was built from grey-black bricks carved from volcanic rock; expensive stone to bring out here, and when Three looked, the holes in the wall matched where she expected the old stair had once been. The place was a ruin, but the stability of what was left appeared untouched.

The tower was made very similarly, if not identical to size, shape, and scale, to the grey-brick tower the Company had sheltered in about three weeks ago, in the remains of a giant roc’s old nest. This building was not the same one, of course, but it was of an identical design.

Night was falling by the time they found the tower, though, and there wasn’t much time to contemplate why a matching tower for one in the Greenbelt should be found here. The Company scrambled for what food it could and settled in for the night. There wasn’t much; a small pool of clean water allowed them to refill their waterskins, but most of the Company wound up drawing from their rations. Two notable exceptions were Kuros, who hurled a javelin through a rabbit’s body … and, favoured by Gruumsh, Dergosh, who sat on a Paridian Python (an orcish delicacy) and broke its neck on collision with his gods-favoured posterior and weighty contemplation of life.

The night passed quietly enough.

Dawn, however, brought a new strangeness.

Three, making her first circuit of the tower’s ruins with the sun’s first gleaming, saw it first.

The brush that ringed the hill, forty or fifty feet out, had been covered overnight … with great shawls of silvery web, stretching from one bush to another. None of the web even approached the ruin of the tower, but most of the bushes and even low trees had been covered in it.

Spoiler: OOC

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Over to you.

For reference: Akara and Korlann lose 1 trail ration each. Ruk doesn’t have to eat until 23 Kythorn, but failed his forage roll anyway. Kuros passes his foraging roll, and as said Dergosh to my amazement passes as well. Three didn’t find anything although she doesn’t have to eat anyway.

[Mercurion 2]

With the knife appropriated from the bandit back at Fort Oleg, Dergosh skinned his prize catch, stripping the scaly hide from the fresh meat underneath. Dergosh’s rather sizable mouth began to water. He looked over at Ruk, without a meal, and plodded over to the kobold.

“Ruk…you want some food?” he asked. He held up the skinned snake and jiggled the glistening, slack length of meat. “Dragons not eat, scales fall off, you don’t want that happen. Sorry, it best if rubbed with hemlock leaves but don’t know where to find them ‘round here.” He waggled the sagging corpse in the air for Ruk’s consideration.

[bcool999]

Kuros also offers to share his catch or his rations with the others should they require sustenance.

Seeing the webs surrounding the base of the hill, Kuros looks to the others and asks, “Did we not see those last night or did another kind of eight-limbed being take up residence here last night?”

[jdizzlean]

Akara stares at the webs, trying to make something of them

Spoiler

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know nature: (1d20+6)[22]

or possibly know arc (1d20+9)[11]

you see, what i think it is, is a......

[almondsAndRain]

Three’s plan was to inspect the strangely familiar tower with the help of the morning sun. Perhaps that would have given some clue as to why this tower was so similar to the one a golden roc had chosen to nest in (though she was not expecting to learn anything world-shattering - most likely, both regions were controlled by the same or related realms). Instead, she found that parts of the surrounding area had been claimed overnight by some creature, most likely giant spiders, but perhaps something even more threatening. It was not a welcome sight.

She responded to Kuros’ question: “The webbing suggests that our Company has company, yes. Without knowing what the specific threat is… I would suggest we just move on. Perhaps explore the upper floor of the tower first for any forgotten artifacts we can find, but I think we should conserve our resources for our war with the gremlins. There isn’t a point in risking losing anyone to spiders.”

[Zombulian]

Ruk shook his head at the generous Cleric. “No, Dergosh, to give your bounty to me when it was so clearly a Gruumsh-given boon would be bad manners.” He patted his stomach, “Besides, much like that snake you have there I don’t have to ear nearly as often as you hot-bloods.”

——

With the coming of dawn and revelation of the now-webbed shrubbery surround their camp, Ruk agreed with Three’s position. “It would be best to move along quickly. I’d rather not find out what made all this.”

[Saintheart]

A hilltop, east of the Greenbelt
Dawn, Twenty-first of Kythorn, Year of Lightning Storms (1374 DR)

Akara peered at the webs.

Spoiler: Akara

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The warmage considered herself a suitably well-educated individual, and the studies she'd made and stories she'd heard of the natural world actually had something to say about this situation.

Rarely, a certain change in local climate or temperature conditions or even a slight cough of the Weave could cause spider populations to go into a sort of frenzy of mating and food production. Thus the production of thousands upon thousands of spiderwebs, in order to gather the sustenance necessary for such a frenzy. The webs did not ordinarily signify any sort of presence of a monstrous spider or other eight-legged freaks, it was simply one of those little quirks that the natural world coughed up from time to time. If the studies she'd made were consistent with this situation, she'd likely not find a single spider in any of the webs; these massive web veils often showed up with not a single arachnid around to tend them or shelter in them at all.

[jdizzlean]

i think the just be normal webs friends, a freak of nature and not sinister. let's move on. perhaps it's best to make a hasty search of the tower's ruin first.