Closest thing to a Fey Court up there is unfortunately the Court of Winter itself, and they understandably scared off all the other Fey until they went south of the Neck.
We might want to wait until Rina's stronger before putting her anywhere permanent. All these revelations of how Fey are tied to their lands make me a bit nervous about putting her near where Others might get at her.
I would love to, you know me, I'm always up for killing a dragon and taking its hoard and corpse, but narrative bloat.
I'll throw in these in the next month's forge-order, then.
@Goldfish, I would highly appreciate you using the infotab "assignment of available forces" for the purposes of compiling who's free and who's not.
For my sake if nothing else. :C
All people even theoretically free for these patrols you threw together are either in "Free Forces" tabs or in "Inquisition Forces".
We already have several groups hunting illithids in local water and a large batch prepared specifically to fight the illithid-war but not assigned anywhere (assumed to be stationed in SD until further notice as such). That latter one is in "illihid war preparations "-tab.
Sorry about that. I know it's there, I was just looking at the outdated tab in the Forge Mechanics page when I started thinking, so copy/pasted from there. I need to remove that section of the mechanics page and just link directly to your assignment page. A job for when I'm feeling less lazy.
I don't think there is any real advantage to applying the Lead-clad template to these Undead. It would render them Immune to Divination, but the rest of the patrol wouldn't benefit from it so the protection is mostly moot. Without that, they're just heavier, slower, and more clumsy Undead.
Unless they're kept far enough from the aquatic servitor patrol that anyone detecting them wouldn't suspect they have a school of murderous Undead nearby to lend support as needed. The Kelpies could maintain communication between the servitors and the Molds piloting the Undead contingent. Hmm, that would be a nasty surprise, though it wouldn't work too many times.
I've checked and you have multiple things in that patrol with 60 ft. swim speed and even some with 40 ft. swim speed. Of the undead, the slowest would be the lead-clad seals with a swim speed of "only" 50 ft., so the speed is not an issue. Also, the DEX malus is weighed up entirely by the NA bonus of the template, while their initiative is already pretty high. So they are not loosing anything of great value there.
Also, the important bit is that the mere presence of them makes any tactical divination against the patrol highly unreliable. Questions like "will the enemy spot me" or "will they attack from this direction" become unanswerable, since the patrol has mind-blanked scouts and combat assets. Especially the leader is very dangerous in that regards since an Ulitharid might divine "will I be killed in that battle" and only show up if he thinks he is save, but that fails if Bloodclot decides to go after it.
I've checked and you have multiple things in that patrol with 60 ft. swim speed and even some with 40 ft. swim speed. Of the undead, the slowest would be the lead-clad seals with a swim speed of "only" 50 ft., so the speed is not an issue. Also, the DEX malus is weighed up entirely by the NA bonus of the template, while their initiative is already pretty high. So they are not loosing anything of great value there.
Also, the important bit is that the mere presence of them makes any tactical divination against the patrol highly unreliable. Questions like "will the enemy spot me" or "will they attack from this direction" become unanswerable, since the patrol has mind-blanked scouts and combat assets. Especially the leader is very dangerous in that regards since an Ulitharid might divine "will I be killed in that battle" and only show up if he thinks he is save, but that fails if Bloodclot decides to go after it.
Time for another piece of Goldfish recommended reading.
If any of y'all are interested in the LitRPG genre, you might want to check out Dungeon Crawler Carl. Once you get past the existential horror of civilization being wiped from the face of the Earth in an instant and the tiny fraction of surviving Humans being forced to compete in a murderous reality show that is broadcast to untold trillions of eager viewers throughout the universe, this story becomes quite entertaining. The background horror never quite goes away, of course, as the remaining population of Earth plummets in the days and weeks that follow.
If you thought reality TV on Earth was bad, you haven't seen anything yet.
Thanks for the recommendation. This has been great, in the sense that it's engaging and well-written. But...man. That first boss fight is really fucked up. I wasn't ready, you know?
So, uh, is there interest in assigning low-level PCs we cant reasonably throw at CoS or Devils to go to these swamps instead, eith some healthy Herald support?
I'd rather know before re-arranging proposed turnvote again tbh.
(Yes, I'm am still a proponent of "let's discuss turnvote beforehand"-stuff, unless anyone really feels like pushing. I'll concede if so)
So, uh, is there interest in assigning low-level PCs we cant reasonably throw at CoS or Devils to go to these swamps instead, eith some healthy Herald support?
I'd rather know before re-arranging proposed turnvote again tbh.
(Yes, I'm am still a proponent of "let's discuss turnvote beforehand"-stuff, unless anyone really feels like pushing. I'll concede if so)
No, Heralds are better used elsewhere. Just stick the leftover PCs here. There aren't any high CR foes here since this is the heart of Orphne Court territory and the Bright One has been dead for years.
With names like these, they need spikes on their ominous black armor. "Greater Bloodshark" is especially striking, IMO.
And I wonder what kind of edgelord phase creatures like this will have. Will they go to Mantarys, take a Vow of Nonviolence, and make a whole fuss out of "overcoming their urges"?
No, Heralds are better used elsewhere. Just stick the leftover PCs here. There aren't any high CR foes here since this is the heart of Orphne Court territory and the Bright One has been dead for years.
We'll have 38 Heralds by the end of the 2nd month. We should be able to send one or two of them to help out in the swamps.
It might be of relatively minor importance, but it's still dealing with Fey who currently lack a central authority figure among themselves and they're basically in the backyard of our oldest allies, so we shouldn't skimp too much on dealing with the issue.
I think there is a good comic-strip in this decisions, I just cant draw it.
"Autocrat-Man, there is a group of people without central leadership!"
"Oh no, I have to go and hand someone a crown!"
*Moves into centralisation-action.
In the end the decision is an easy one to make. Creatures of shadow the swamp fey might be, but they were not of the cold or sky. Where the wilds of the land met the wide sea in brackish channels, there you would find them. Rina can do better and in time you have no doubt she will. "The spirits of the swamp may find whatever lord or lady they please to swear their oaths to the Crown," you tell Thoros, leaving the priest looking a touch relieved. Why would he...?
Oh, you realize he had been concerned you might ask him to get involved in the politics of the shadow fey and find someone in particular. You can see how that sort of tangle would make navigating the passages of the Feywild seem like child's play by comparison. Instead you send him off to his well deserved rest with your congratulations for the job he and his companions of the hour had done so far.
Alas that Lorath and its sphere were not as easily dealt with. While Morosh and the hinterlands seems to be developing well, every report from Lorath proper seems plagued with misfortune and strife.
Establish Messenger Service in Lorath (5/8) -> Critical Failure
Investigate Cults in Lorath -> Incomplete, Progress Estimated at 35
Establish Inquisition Base in Lorath Bay (4/24)-> Critical Failure
Establish Messenger Service in Lorath Bay (8/31)
Establish Messenger Service in Morosh (7/10)
Investigate Enemy Spies in Morosh -> Nothing found
Two full inquisitors including, the proposed commissar for the province of Lorath Bay, perished during the investigation of a demonic cult, though thankfully not beyond the power of magic to summon back. Far worse is what had happened to one of the more promising battle mages attached to the city, a certain Symon of Valysar. Some manner of fiend who could slip ino the bodies of men had wormed his way into the wizard's confidence, dripping promises into his ear like poison. The Lord of the Final Incantation has much to offer those who wield the arcane arts after all. If it had not been for the valor and loyalty of the other mages involved the seeds of ruin may well have been sown within the Scholarum.
What worth is a soul when Wisdom Lya twists and shapes them to her will as she pleases? What care have I of dealing with demons when their like already walk the streets of Sorcerer's Deep? Such notes could be deciphered within the bloodied pages of the mage's journal, and like answers gleamed from his cold dead lips once his treachery was unveiled. By then his soul had long since fled to whatever 'reward' his master had in store for him.
Though you might have preferred a prisoner who could be more thoughtfully interrogated you cannot fault the inquisitors prioritizing keeping the secret of Symon's treachery over capturing him alive. It would have been a rather poor introduction to the Imperium for the people of Lorath to have one of the mages sent in to deal with the cult publicly embrace it instead. Especially given that Abraxas had not paid him in false coin for his soul...
Lost 1 Level Five Wizard
Still, it had been dealt with in the end and though the fiend that started it all was beyond the power of the House of Mirrors, or indeed any divination, to find it, it had balked at facing a myrkdreki power against power even as its newest convert perished and more and more of its older ones were rooted out. According to Garin's report on the matter Lorath did not require your attention nor that of your Companions, though you should perhaps assign a few more experienced agents there just to be certain.
The last question in the report, which had fallen to you simply because it would require a Companion to cast the necessary spells, was if you should attempt to raise the other five sorcerers who had fallen in battle against Symon's madness by the most perfect means available or allow death to claim some of their memories and skills instead.
3 Scholarum Sorcerers (Battle Mage) Level Six
1 Scholarum Wizard Level Five
1 Bard Level Four (Proposed Commissar for Lorath's Bay)
How do you raise the mages?
[] Raise Dead (Cost 1,000 IM Each)
[] True Resurrection (5,000 IM Each)
[] Write in
OOC: The rolls here were bad enough that I simulated some of the action in more detail. Thankfully Abraxas' luck broke when it came to the crucial recruitment rolls.
Still it had been dealt with in the end and though the fiend that started it all was beyond the power of the House of Mirrors, or indeed any divination, to find it had balked at facing a Myrkdreki power against power even as its newest convert perished and more and more of its older ones were rooted out. According to Garin's report on the matter Lorath did not require your attention nor that of your Companions thought you should perhaps assign a few more experienced agents there just to be certain.
