[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and take some shortcuts. An Ethereal Shift abuse or two and they won't even notice.
There is a limit to how much if their premise I can accept when this is for paying tribute and we're trying to recover a kidnappee.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and take some shortcuts. An Ethereal Shift abuse or two and they won't even notice.
Coming to think of it, we are doing the maze to get the right to give tribute, I think to use the travel cake mix if we get the choice.
I'm not familiar with D&D lore, but I kinda like the idea of opening with something to call on some kind of rules of hospitality. But I'm not sure wether that is a thing in D&D lore.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Face the maze fair and square. You'll probably have to fight several times, but it'd be respectful to face them on their terms, and winning would impress them.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and take some shortcuts. An Ethereal Shift abuse or two and they won't even notice.
There are good arguments for each of these approaches, and not really any I can see for the others.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Face the maze fair and square. You'll probably have to fight several times, but it'd be respectful to face them on their terms, and winning would impress them.
We choose to do this diplomatically so let's hold to that.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and take some shortcuts. An Ethereal Shift abuse or two and they won't even notice.
Let's cheat, but cheat in a subtle and deniable manner. Even if they do call us out on it, they never said that we couldn't fly to check the layout, only that we had to enter by solving the maze.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and take some shortcuts. An Ethereal Shift abuse or two and they won't even notice.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and take some shortcuts. An Ethereal Shift abuse or two and they won't even notice.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and take some shortcuts. An Ethereal Shift abuse or two and they won't even notice
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Face the maze fair and square. You'll probably have to fight several times, but it'd be respectful to face them on their terms, and winning would impress them.
We choose to do this diplomatically so let's hold to that.
The trouble is that holding to it in this instance means spending time and wearing ourselves down ahead of things possibly going hot.
After already committing to being in the center of their power in a place of their choosing when it would do so.
Without them ever actually saying they'd negotiate for squat.
Without knowing the timetable of the sacrifice.
That's a setup for failure, and whatever benefit we get from respect (keeping in mind that this is respect in the context of what someone is expected to do to offer tribute) we lose in actual leverage because we used up our big stick.
Gives me an idea, though. @NekoIncardine, can we hide the door inside of the reeds of the maze itself so we can rest/recuperate between fights?
We're trying diplo first instead. This does not imply that we should sacrifice our ability to execute a plan B using force.
That said, I believe I have something that's better than either main option:
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that IN DETAIL - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and chart a path to beat the crap out of all the Bullywugs in the maze. In between fights, summon the door to Senaz's apartment inside of the reeds so it won't be seen, and use the apartment to rest/recuperate so we can hit every group as hard as the first. Once we reach the meeting ground they'll have fewer forces to threaten us with, we'll look like badasses, and not be the slightest bit worn out for the effort.
Namely, we use apartment cheats to do the opposite of the shortcut option, and use the maze to make ourselves look unstoppable and leave them with as few forces to try stopping us as we can. Maximizes our leverage/rep and sets us up for combat as best as we can be for if they still say no.
It'd be a shame not to use our logistics cheat, when you think about it.
Scheduled vote count started by NekoIncardine on Jul 27, 2024 at 1:01 PM, finished with 17 posts and 11 votes.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and take some shortcuts. An Ethereal Shift abuse or two and they won't even notice.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Face the maze fair and square. You'll probably have to fight several times, but it'd be respectful to face them on their terms, and winning would impress them.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that IN DETAIL - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and chart a path to beat the crap out of all the Bullywugs in the maze. In between fights, summon the door to Senaz's apartment inside of the reeds so it won't be seen, and use the apartment to rest/recuperate so we can hit every group as hard as the first. Once we reach the meeting ground they'll have fewer forces to threaten us with, we'll look like badasses, and not be the slightest bit worn out for the effort.
[X] (The Reed Maze Of The Bullywugs) Screw that - fly up over the maze to memorize the layout and take some shortcuts. An Ethereal Shift abuse or two and they won't even notice.
+["X"] Hide the door amidst the reeds a few times so you blast through the maze as if you were better rested than you should be.
As you move around the maze, you look toward Helen. "... You two keep moving. I'm going to pull a bit of a shenanigan."
Helen nods. "They've possibly threatened a sacrifice, cheating a little seems fitting."
And then you disappear - not just with invisibility magic, either, shifting into the Ethereal Plane. Your sense of people is limited like this, but space, objects, and walls are still visible - and able to be gone through.
More importantly, though, very few things indeed can sense you when you're shifted like this. This lets you fly right up, entirely unseen, and…
Thank you donjon.bin.sh.
The reeds form walls several feet thick, too much to cut through. Spots where Bullywugs can jump at you are everywhere, you can spot them more easily without the water.
You shift back to reality, to try and get a count on their numbers.
… Hoooo boy. If you didn't do this maze perfectly, you could be up against hundreds of them over several days. However, from what you've heard… You suspect they're not going to patrol much. Instead, other than wall-watchers, they're mostly going to be at stations.
You pull your smartphone out, take a couple photos, then open an editor…
"That is an awfully direct route," you can't help but mutter. So much so that solving it perfectly would be suspicious. Question is, would the Bullywugs notice???
Back into the Ethereal, back down, and you reappear near Helen and Eira - the latter of whom jumps a bit in surprise at the mild 'splash' of your landing. She avoids saying anything, though. You probably look mighty proud of yourself for this trick…
You motion them closer, pointing to the door.
"Question is, how many mistakes on the route do we need to make to not be suspicious?", you say. "A few of these, one mistake means half the maze if we want them convinced we haven't solved."
Helen pauses. "That's if they're coordinated enough that they'd even notice, which I'm not sure is the case."
Eira nods, then looks over… "I think these are the mistakes we can make without losing too much time. Not that there's… A lot of such mistakes. They really didn't optimize this."
You pause. "I gotta suspect they weren't planning this that heavily. Or whoever organized the maze wanted to have a convenient way in and out."
"Probably the second one," Eira responds. "The optimal path in is three lefts and a right at major choice points, and out is a left and three rights. Trivial to memorize."
Helen nods. "So… The plan is to get one major pick wrong, and otherwise get right through?"
You nod. "I rather doubt there'll be much by way of loot except at their 'throne room', so a mostly direct route is best. Of course, there's one other trick we can pull…"
Eira nods. "Use the door at some point they can't see us, shut it, get a full rest, come back fully fresh."
"Yuuuuup."
Helen nods. "But not yet. Let's get to fighting, first."
---
As soon as you enter the maze, relatively fresh other than the annoyance of slogging through the swamp, there's four Bullywugs - three with shields, one looking like he's got at least some cause behind not needing it.
"We seek your leader," you declare.
"Then you fight now, or surrender now," the tougher-looking one responds.
Helen draws her sword. "Do you prefer to fight to the death, or?"
"Oh, how unseemly! We capture our foes first."
"Then we'll give you something like the same respect."
(Turn Order: Basically heroes enemies.)
You consider dashing in and using Thunderclap to demand attention… Think better of it after how it went last time… And go right for the side, swinging with your rapier - easily cutting into him (17+5 = 22 hits for 6+3 = 9 damage). Helen is quick to follow with a sideswipe to knock him out (11+5 = 16 hits for 6+3 = 9 damage), then shuffling next to another… Opening Eira to slip in, first with her shortsword (11+5 = 16 hits for 6 damage + 3 sneak attack damage), then dagger (14 + 5 = 19 hits for 2 damage), staggering him down. He'll be fine.
This leaves the elite drawing a spear and trying to swing at you (5+5 = 10 misses). You nimbly step to one side… Leaving yourself open for him biting you (16 + 5 = 21 for 4 halves to 2 damage).
"Really? That's what you call civilized?!", you shout, as you step back, shoulder flashed in pain.
"It's what I call effective!", the Bullywug responds, as the other tries to strike Helen - using only his spear (9 + 5 = 14 misses), which she blocks with her shield.
You glare towards the tougher Bullywug, going for a basic swing (11 + 5 = 16 hits for 7 damage); Helen swings at the remaining shieldbearer (12 + 5 = 17 hits for 7 damage); Eira follows up with a whiff of her dagger (9 + 5 = 14 misses), then a dropping hit with her shortsword (15 + 5 hits for 20 for 8 + 5 Sneak Attack damage).
"I see you fight with due honor!", the remaining Bullywug declares, even as he jumps in for another uncouth bite - this one you predict and sidestep (6 + 5 = 11 misses), followed by a spear swing (8 + 5 = 13 misses) that you quickly bounce aside with your blade…
… Leaving him surrounded and basically stuck. (All Out Attack! Or an equivalent.) Several hits later, and he's on his knees… Then drops unconscious.
(83 XP brings the party to 1134 XP.)
"They'll be fine," Helen confirms. "Which path do we take?"
You think in terms of the full path.
[ ] (Split 1) Wrong path likely means two encounters.
[ ] (Split 1) Right path.
[ ] (Split 2) Wrong path gets you tantalizingly close to the end of the maze, but is a dead end; you'd guess at least three encounters.
[ ] (Split 2) Right path.
[ ] (Split 3) Wrong path winds up on the same route as Split 2, likely three encounters unless you already made the mistake.
[ ] (Split 3) Right path.
[ ] (Split 4) Wrong path sends you into the entire back half of the maze, at least ten encounters for sure.
[ ] (Split 4) Screw that, you cheated for a reason!!!
[ ] (When do you Rest?) Every four encounters or so. This could take quite a while.
[ ] (When do you Rest?) Every eight encounters or so.
[ ] (When do you Rest?) Only after the final rest.
[ ] (When do you Rest?) Write-in a specific frequency.
QM mea culpa: Quite a lot of these encounters are going to be super similar or close to it, and I'll be skipping those and only writing those that do something interesting - of which there's, predictably, a few.
[x] (Split 1) Wrong path likely means two encounters.
[x] (Split 2) Right path.
[x] (Split 3) Right path.
[x] (Split 4) Screw that, you cheated for a reason!!!
[x] (When do you Rest?) Only after the final rest.
[X] (Split 1) Right path.
[X] (Split 2) Wrong path gets you tantalizingly close to the end of the maze, but is a dead end; you'd guess at least three encounters.
[x] (Split 3) Right path.
[x] (Split 4) Screw that, you cheated for a reason!!!
[x] (When do you Rest?) Only after the final rest.
[X] (Split 1) Right path.
[X] (Split 2) Wrong path gets you tantalizingly close to the end of the maze, but is a dead end; you'd guess at least three encounters.
[x] (Split 3) Right path.
[x] (Split 4) Screw that, you cheated for a reason!!!
[x] (When do you Rest?) Only after the final rest.
[X] (Split 1) Wrong path likely means two encounters.
[X] (Split 2) Wrong path gets you tantalizingly close to the end of the maze, but is a dead end; you'd guess at least three encounters.
[X] (Split 3) Wrong path winds up on the same route as Split 2, likely three encounters unless you already made the mistake.
[X] (Split 4) Wrong path sends you into the entire back half of the maze, at least ten encounters for sure.
[X] (When do you Rest?) Every four encounters or so. This could take quite a while.
My spirit animal (aka inner loot goblin) thinks we should hit ALL the encounters for maximum GAINS.
[X] (Split 1) Right path.
[X] (Split 2) Wrong path gets you tantalizingly close to the end of the maze, but is a dead end; you'd guess at least three encounters.
[x] (Split 3) Right path.
[x] (Split 4) Screw that, you cheated for a reason!!!
[x] (When do you Rest?) Only after the final rest.
[X] (Split 1) Wrong path likely means two encounters.
[X] (Split 2) Wrong path gets you tantalizingly close to the end of the maze, but is a dead end; you'd guess at least three encounters.
[X] (Split 3) Wrong path winds up on the same route as Split 2, likely three encounters unless you already made the mistake.
[X] (Split 4) Wrong path sends you into the entire back half of the maze, at least ten encounters for sure.
[X] (When do you Rest?) Every four encounters or so. This could take quite a while.
My spirit animal (aka inner loot goblin) thinks we should hit ALL the encounters for maximum GAINS.
