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Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
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- Tags
- pathfinder open voting
Thankfully ratlings are drawn to all magic, no cheese needed, of course if they manage to run off with said magic you get more magic rats to deal with.
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yes, we should
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
If those fuckers were willing to aim a curse at us like this, one which must have taken a great deal of power and preparation since we never even got close to them this time and overall magic is limited, I doubt dropping by to chat and apologize would have made any difference. They basically Awakened a rat they couldn't even see, from tens or hundreds of miles away, and gave it incredible magical powers. That wasn't done on a whim.Yes, we should
Remember how they were when we encountered them on our way out of the non-Mediterranean? Why would they be any more congenial or understanding this time? They probably would have demanded that we all move over to the Fortuna and the Marcella be scuttled.
Fuck them. Next time we run across them, if the situation isn't heavily in their favor I'm going to push to kill any that confront us.
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Well it is more than you don't know they came into contact with you, but from what Esha knows of sympathetic magic they would have had to toss something on board and Inge suspects it must have been a bird or other flying creature. It was likely missed by the lookouts.
- Location
- Germany
Regardless how they did it, that was a hostile act and I for one am perfectly willing to engage in some retaliatory piracy on the way back to the Canaries.
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
But it was our guilt at the first place. It's we who broke the oath.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
An oath made under duress is not a good faith oath, in my opinion.
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
But it was not a situation "give an oath or fight". We had a choice, we could go to Orinilu and study Marcella.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Doesn't matter. A bunch of assholes on canoes cannot lay claim to the Straits of Gibraltar, deciding who can and who cannot pass through them into the Atlantic/Mediterranean.
At the time, the Marcella was damaged, our supply situation wasn't great, and we had no clue where we were at all. Turning back then trying to find a place we weren't familiar with, without guidance from Inge who also didn't know where it was, could have been lead to a grueling death.
So it was give an oath we didn't intend to keep, fight and lose a lot of men and possibly die, or flee and probably die.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Good thing Inge successfully identified this little bastard. That lets us know it can be invisible, walk on walls and ceilings as easily as it does the deck of the ship, and magically understand all languages. That lets us know that verbally planning anything risks it overhearing our preparations and circumventing them or even turning them to its advantage. Instead, we'll use the power of literacy.
It's kinda fitting that a trap for a magical murder rat would be overly complicated, I guess. We don't really have a lot of good options for bait, and the healing potions seem like the best to use and the most easily justifiable. The Ratling isn't stupid, after all. While the potions are fairly obvious, they're not so obvious as hanging a pair of magical boots out to dry or dangling a magical amulet over an open barrel.
[X] Building a Better Rat Trap
-[X] Roland, Zaia, and Antonio will confer over piece of parchment to plan the cursed rat's destruction, writing down what cannot be spoken aloud for fear of being overheard and understood by the unseen creature. If Zaia understands enough of the Anwari written language to use it to communicate with Inge, she too will be brought into the planning. Once the planning is done, they'll go back to speaking as normal, with Antonio giving most of the instructions, making full use of his higher Bluff skill.
-[X] Zaia will pour slightly more than half of the healing potions (6 doses of 10) from the skin in which he keeps them into a separate container (preferably something sturdy that can be sealed tightly) and keep the remainder on his person at all times. Roland, Antonio, or Inge will keep Zaia company to make sure the Ratling doesn't instead go for him unopposed. Anyone with magical gear won't leave it unattended (Antonio's boots, Inge's amulet, Roland's shield and amulet, whatever Esha might possess).
--[X] The separate container of healing potions will be then be placed inside of an iron cauldron, large cooking pot, or other appropriately-sized vessel which we either have a lid for or can fashion one from available materials, something large enough to hold the potion container and for a large rat to climb into. It needs a lid, but one that can be lifted or pushed aside with relative easy by a creature with the strength of a large rat. This larger container will be placed on the Marcella's deck and fastened to the main mast with rope. Verbal justification should be something to the effect that we cannot trust such a valuable and vital resource in the ship's dark hold or chambers, where the Ratling or its minions might be able to reach it under the cover of magic, nor can we rely on Zaia to protect all of it. It also needs to be available to quickly heal anyone who is injured in its next attack.
---[X] And then we wait, with those in on the actual plan taking turns on deck to surreptitiously watch the bait cauldron for the Ratling to show up and steal the potions. If/when the Ratling falls for the bait, we'll trap it in the cauldron and cross our fingers and hope it isn't able to open the seal container of healing potions in what time it has left. Once trapped, we'll carefully shift the lid so that the Ratling cannot get out or see anyone, then fill the cauldron full of water, reseal it, then let the little bastard drown.
It's kinda fitting that a trap for a magical murder rat would be overly complicated, I guess. We don't really have a lot of good options for bait, and the healing potions seem like the best to use and the most easily justifiable. The Ratling isn't stupid, after all. While the potions are fairly obvious, they're not so obvious as hanging a pair of magical boots out to dry or dangling a magical amulet over an open barrel.
[X] Building a Better Rat Trap
-[X] Roland, Zaia, and Antonio will confer over piece of parchment to plan the cursed rat's destruction, writing down what cannot be spoken aloud for fear of being overheard and understood by the unseen creature. If Zaia understands enough of the Anwari written language to use it to communicate with Inge, she too will be brought into the planning. Once the planning is done, they'll go back to speaking as normal, with Antonio giving most of the instructions, making full use of his higher Bluff skill.
-[X] Zaia will pour slightly more than half of the healing potions (6 doses of 10) from the skin in which he keeps them into a separate container (preferably something sturdy that can be sealed tightly) and keep the remainder on his person at all times. Roland, Antonio, or Inge will keep Zaia company to make sure the Ratling doesn't instead go for him unopposed. Anyone with magical gear won't leave it unattended (Antonio's boots, Inge's amulet, Roland's shield and amulet, whatever Esha might possess).
--[X] The separate container of healing potions will be then be placed inside of an iron cauldron, large cooking pot, or other appropriately-sized vessel which we either have a lid for or can fashion one from available materials, something large enough to hold the potion container and for a large rat to climb into. It needs a lid, but one that can be lifted or pushed aside with relative easy by a creature with the strength of a large rat. This larger container will be placed on the Marcella's deck and fastened to the main mast with rope. Verbal justification should be something to the effect that we cannot trust such a valuable and vital resource in the ship's dark hold or chambers, where the Ratling or its minions might be able to reach it under the cover of magic, nor can we rely on Zaia to protect all of it. It also needs to be available to quickly heal anyone who is injured in its next attack.
---[X] And then we wait, with those in on the actual plan taking turns on deck to surreptitiously watch the bait cauldron for the Ratling to show up and steal the potions. If/when the Ratling falls for the bait, we'll trap it in the cauldron and cross our fingers and hope it isn't able to open the seal container of healing potions in what time it has left. Once trapped, we'll carefully shift the lid so that the Ratling cannot get out or see anyone, then fill the cauldron full of water, reseal it, then let the little bastard drown.
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- Location
- Argentina
I like the plan, drowning the bastard
[X] Goldfish
I'm 100% in favor of killing all the fuckers next time we see them, as was said before they have no right to claim those straits and they literally threatened us for the oath, we already showed them mercy once by avoiding them, and now they pull this shit. next time they die.
I'm 100% in favor of killing all the fuckers next time we see them, as was said before they have no right to claim those straits and they literally threatened us for the oath, we already showed them mercy once by avoiding them, and now they pull this shit. next time they die.
They told us how they would react if we tried to cross without convincing them, then we promised we wouldn't, then we crossed anyways and then we crossed back in front of them like nothing happened. Obviously they going to be upset and try to get back at us.
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- Location
- Germany
Yes, that is understandable.
They are still making us their enemy and we should react appropriatly.
They wounded one of ours, could have easily killed one or more, so we retaliate to show that trying to fuck with us has consequences.
They do not control the straights of Gibraltar in any meaningful manner and I'll be damned if we let them push us into paying tribute here.
[X] Goldfish
- Location
- North Carolina
So they were pretty being every nation in history that managed to wrest control of a strategic location.
England has had control of the Straits of Gibraltar since the Napoleonic Wars, deciding what traffic comes in and out of the Mediterranean (and still does). Turkey has controlled the Dardanelles since the 1300s when they took it from the Byzantine Empire, restricting trade into the Black Sea.
Point being, if you can plant sufficient forces on both sides of an important water way, you control it whether anyone likes it or not.
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you are 100% correct, what I was trying to say was that with the forces we were able to observe they don't have the firepower to hold them without getting curbe stomped by any small navy.
Edit: of course that's only with what we saw passing by, they might have more but it should still be possible to kill our way through.
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- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Goldfish
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
If you lay claim, you have to be able to back it up. They had a bunch of dudes in canoes out on the ocean. That's not being able to back it up.
If we weren't lost, scared, and the ship critically undermanned, we would have just fought. They wouldn't have pulled that shit with any other regional powers, because they know they would have gotten stomped flat. Maybe not immediately, but their days would have been numbered.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I hope not, but it's a definite possibility. The plan keeps some of it aside just in case, plus Inge can now cast CLW in addition to her Healing Hex, so we won't be too badly provisioned in that regard. And once we're able to get Inge a new cauldron for her to bless to Ikomi, she'll be able to brew healing potions for us.
