There's been talk of some plying these waters when the fog is out, pulling their boat on the shore to hide it from passing patrols, some say, others that they hide behind false flags of legitimate trading concerns, and still other rumors hold that those flags were sourced legitimately, piracy just another layer to the feuds of noble houses that control Cassomir's trade.
Words already forming on your lips you hurl yourself out of the way of the flaming projectile, doubly glad the Dancing Slurk is made of stone and you are not alone as the company scatters in the wake of the sudden attack. But you had lived through more than one ambush, each of you knows that life and death is counted in heartbeats and syllables.
In an instant the winds over the river go mad as you pull one way and another, whose power tastes of spice and embers in the back of your mind, tears in the other. Mist tears across opposing stormwalls as the two ships face each other in some parody of knighthood, each bearing a shield of winds. There, on the front deck, you see her: a sorceress with eyes aflame and blood flowers carved upon her cheek. It's her power that holds off Mina's poison wind, but she is not alone.
At her side among the motley crew, in chain and leather, stands a tall one-eyed man with a raven's feather in his hat. In one hand he holds a duelist's foil and from the other a dagger flies just right, or for your luck just wrong, to intersect Sirim's wall of enchantment as he weaves it, slicing delicate magics with cold steel. "Hey-Ho! We haven't even struck keels and worthy adversaries have already shown their faces! A good day do you all, Sirs and Madame. May fortune favor the most skillful player!"
Sorceress: Spellcraft (DC 23): 1d20+19 = 27 (Success)
Captain Throw to Disrupt the Spell (DC 20): 1d20+14 = 23 (Success)
You barely have the time to register the too-wide smile on his face before a shout comes from the back of the ship, clanking with gears and contraptions. "Torag's balls a'twist, don't introduce yourself to the stiffs until they're stiffs!"
Had the speaker not invoked the name of the Father of Dwarves you might not have realized he was within the clouds of heavy purple smoke that envelop him, seemingly too heavy to be pulled into the embrace of the winds, and the scars that cover nearly every part of his face that isn't bearded. So saying he uncorks one of his concoctions with his teeth and gulps it down, putting more color in his cheeks, even if it's not all the sort of color that's supposed to be there.
Given the company she keeps one might have been forgiven for missing the scimitar-armed elf at the front of the line of scoundrels calling out orders and encouragements. Without a word she offers Gorok a warrior's salute of her blade.
Good thing you're not the only one to notice as Urgor and Leontas flank the scaled warrior, a linchpin of resistance around which iruxi, man, and dwarf can rally against the raiders. No common river rats these, you'd guessed as much from Inga's words, but seeing the ship and its crew now, bereft of its mantle of mist, you would judge them to be more dangerous still, after the thrill of the hunt as much as the treasure in your hold.
That leaves you with only one reply: "If you jump in the river now we swear not to drag you back by your ankles!"
In the span of a heartbeat, fear marks the face of the man in the broad hat, though as quick as it had come resolve follows in its wake. This is a man who deals with fear at the point of his duelist's sword.
Akorian Intimidation (DC 22): 1d20+17 = 32 (Success by 10)
Enemy Captain Shaken for 3 Rounds
"Crossbows!" you hear someone shout from the ranks of the sellswords, and from the dwarves only the sound of axes unlimbered, though thankfully they have the good sense to stay clear of the port side, forming a reserve for Leontas' soldiers, for you, and the iruxi.
As the ships smash together how do you fight?
[] Cob jumps aboard the enemy ship to deal with the sorceress
[] Gorok counter-charges the elf, trying to catch her in a duel to blunt the pirates' attack
[] Write in
OOC: Well on the one hand you did not make the enemy nauseous... on the other hand they had to put up a wind-wall instead of some more offensive spell and you cost the guy in the hat a masterwork dagger.
Can Sirim just fly down behind someone to prevent opposing mages from having line of sight/effect, so he can cast Mythic Haste without risk of counterspell/disruption?
I also think that Lenotas and Urgor are higher priority Haste targets than our casters.
Can Sirim just fly down behind someone to prevent opposing mages from having line of sight/effect, so he can cast Mythic Haste without risk of counterspell/disruption?
I also think that Lenotas and Urgor are higher priority Haste targets than our casters.
Can Sirim just fly down behind someone to prevent opposing mages from having line of sight/effect, so he can cast Mythic Haste without risk of counterspell/disruption?
I also think that Lenotas and Urgor are higher priority Haste targets than our casters.
Unless he has some way to hide the aura of his magic he can still be countered. You can assume someone over there has some version of aura sight on seeing as that was likely how those catapults were aimed at the people glowing with spells. That said it is unlikely the enemy will be dispelling your buffs when they could be doing something else with their spells.
I didn't think Windwall spells created a mobile effect, but that's cool, I guess. Something to keep in mind for the future.
@DragonParadox, I'm not sure how the actions worked out before the ship arrived, but shouldn't we have had two rounds before they reached us?
If they were 300 feet away and moving at 150 feet per round, Sirim's first spell should have been cast 45 feet in front of the Dancing Slurk while the enemy ship was, at a minimum, 150 feet away. AFAIK, there is no spell or ability that lets someone see magical auras more than 120 feet away, not without getting metamagic feats involved. They shouldn't have been close enough to see Sirim's spell being cast and definitely not close enough for a thrown dagger with a range increment of 10 feet to cross that distance and disrupt the spell.
If the spell needs to be done away with, the enemy sorceress could try to Dispel it when they got close enough to see if, but I don't see how else it could happen, especially when the spell is mostly transparent and the fog is interfering with vision. She would have time to make the attempt after casting her own Windwall since they would have had another 115 feet to travel before they crossed the Wall's effect.
I'm just not seeing how it all works out, especially if they slowed down enough to be able to speak a few taunts before even making contact with our ship.
I didn't think Windwall spells created a mobile effect, but that's cool, I guess. Something to keep in mind for the future.
@DragonParadox, I'm not sure how the actions worked out before the ship arrived, but shouldn't we have had two rounds before they reached us?
If they were 300 feet away and moving at 150 feet per round, Sirim's first spell should have been cast 45 feet in front of the Dancing Slurk while the enemy ship was, at a minimum, 150 feet away. AFAIK, there is no spell or ability that lets someone see magical auras more than 120 feet away, not without getting metamagic feats involved. They shouldn't have been close enough to see Sirim's spell being cast and definitely not close enough for a thrown dagger with a range increment of 10 feet to cross that distance and disrupt the spell.
If the spell needs to be done away with, the enemy sorceress could try to Dispel it when they got close enough to see if, but I don't see how else it could happen, especially when the spell is mostly transparent and the fog is interfering with vision. She would have time to make the attempt after casting her own Windwall since they would have had another 115 feet to travel before they crossed the Wall's effect.
I'm just not seeing how it all works out, especially if they slowed down enough to be able to speak a few taunts before even making contact with our ship.
They indeed did not reach you, you have one more turn of trading spells
The Sorceress did not need to see the magical aura of the spell to make the spellcraft roll, she just needed to see the mage doing the casting which she did since the windwalls got rid of most of the fog in this area. She then told the captain to throw a dagger to intersect the wall of nausea as it was being cast, if anything intersects the wall it fails
Unfortunately, Mina won't be casting Mythic Heroism on Cob, instead targeting the Dearf with her Slumber Hex. That can't be Dispelled or Counterspelled, and it's guaranteed to put the target to sleep for at least one round unless she's Undead or a Polymorphed Dragon.
Sirim is still casting Mythic Haste, except he's using it on Leontas and Urgor instead of himself and Mina.
Cob and Gorok now have identified targets. And Pepper has a target for the Fire Elemental now, too.
I've got Kori on Counterspelling duty, just in case, until the sorceress and alchemist are occupied or dealt with.
[X] Continue with previous plan, except with the following changes:
-[X] Pepper uses the Gem of Foe's Pyre to Summon the Large Fire Elemental to attack the one-eyed man.
-[X] Mina targets the Alchemist Dwarf with her Slumber Hex.
-[X] Sirim casts Mythic Haste on Gorok, Cob, Warty, Kori, Leontas, and Urgor.
-[X] Kori readies an action to use Inspired Spell to cast Dispel Magic to Counterspell the next enemy spell.
-[X] Cob's target for his Shadow Teleport and Surprise Strike Sneak Attack, and follow-up attacks, is the sorceress.
-[X] Gorok's target for his Fleet Charge and follow-up attacks is the female Elf boarder. Warty protects Mina from any pirates with the fury of a thousand angry Slurks.
Unfortunately, Mina won't be casting Mythic Heroism on Cob, instead targeting the sorceress with her Slumber Hex. That can't be Dispelled or Counterspelled, and it's guaranteed to put the target to sleep for at least one round unless she's Undead or a Polymorphed Dragon.
Very annoying that both attempts to make enemy sick failed, but then again we are clearly dealing with another NPC party, which automatically makes them a step above most.
Any value in trying to have Warty use this on an oncoming attacker?
Slime (Ex): Warty's back is crusted with thick, dry slime and dozens of nodules. As a Standard Action at will, Warty can squirt a jet of this slime from one of these nodules as a ranged touch attack against any target within 30 feet. The slime quickly hardens to the texture of cold tar, Entangling the foe. Anyone Warty successfully Bull Rushes or Overruns is automatically squirted with back slime. The hardened slime can be removed as a Full-Round Action with a DC 15 Strength check. Warty's back slime grants a creature riding it a +8 bonus on Ride checks made to stay in the saddle, but a –8 penalty on Ride checks to dismount.
Very annoying that both attempts to make enemy sick failed, but then again we are clearly dealing with another NPC party, which automatically makes them a step above most.
You guys tried to use their own tactics against them, which to be fair does work on a lot of people, it just so happens that these particular pirates did think about how one would counter their usual tactics. Well that or someone did manage to do it to them and then they got away. Either way they do seem quite skilled.
@Goldfish
Very general question, could you see our more martial PCs going into Path of War classes?
Particularly for Gorok I think the Ranger class doesn't offer too many interesting things in the future, some Evasion, more boni against chosen foes, and that's that.
I could see him as Mystic or Warder.
Or Cob as Stalker or Harbinger, for additional speedy, sneaky stabbyness.
@Goldfish
Very general question, could you see our more martial PCs going into Path of War classes?
Particularly for Gorok I think the Ranger class doesn't offer too many interesting things in the future, some Evasion, more boni against chosen foes, and that's that.
I could see him as Mystic or Warder.
Or Cob as Stalker or Harbinger, for additional speedy, sneaky stabbyness.
I could see it for Gorok, but not really using any of the regular PoW classes. None of them are a good fit for him, IMO, not with his character or his attribute spread.
The only way that makes sense to me would be for him to retrain his Archetype to Ambush Hunter or start investing in the Martial Training feat line. His attributes would make either option work, and Warty would be able to continue progressing with him.
The easiest to implement and least disruptive would be the Martial Training feats. He could just learn Martial Training 1 as his 7th level feat and get the ball rolling. Or better yet, retrain Harvest Parts into Martial Training 1 and learn Martial Training 2 to go with it. If we were going to do it, though, I would prefer for him to retrain in the the Ambush Hunter archetype.
For Cob, I would much rather just stick with the Unchained Rogue. It's a great fit for him, and DP has already approved him retraining to pick up a Psychic version of the Arcane Charlatan archetype when he levels next time.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Oct 14, 2024 at 9:51 AM, finished with 17 posts and 5 votes.
[X] Continue with previous plan, except with the following changes: -[X] Pepper uses the Gem of Foe's Pyre to Summon the Large Fire Elemental to attack the one-eyed man. -[X] Mina targets the Alchemist Dwarf with her Slumber Hex. -[X] Sirim casts Mythic Haste on Gorok, Cob, Warty, Kori, Leontas, and Urgor. -[X] Kori readies an action to use Inspired Spell to cast Dispel Magic to Counterspell the next enemy spell. -[X] Cob's target for his Shadow Teleport and Surprise Strike Sneak Attack, and follow-up attacks, is the sorceress. -[X] Gorok's target for his Fleet Charge and follow-up attacks is the female Elf boarder. Warty protects Mina from any pirates with the fury of a thousand angry Slurks.
As the ships barrel towards each other Mina's song fills the air and the ears of the dwarf, who slides back onto the contraption he'd been minding, hopefully to be left that way. The rest of the pirates have troubles of their own as a pillar of fire that casts the shadow of the one eyed man stark and black before him, fit to devour him and then the timbers of his ship. Alas, that he is not alone. One moment it seemed the wave of flame would crash over him, and the next it was gone like a dream, banished with the wave of the sorceress's right hand, a book with golden covers shining from within open in her left. Weaving one spell into another almost faster than the eye can follow, she grabs the last embers of the dying spell and hurls them back towards the Dancing Slurk.
Dwarf Alchemist Will Save vs Sleep: 1d20+2+2 = 12 (Failure)
Sorceress Dispel Check (DC 20): 1d20+9+4 (???) = 23 (Success)
You grasp the spell and try to smother it in shadows, but all it does is feed the rekindled spark that burns a shape of brass and obsidian into being. Zys, the thought runs through you with the strength of childhood terrors, only this horror is kin of fire, steaming in the humid air as it slashes first at Gorok's head with its glaive and snatches at his ankles with its tail, but it's too slow, or maybe just too predictable. Burning brass sparks off armor and the tail grasps finds no purchase as he jumps over it and the whole foe.
Alas that Gorok isn't quite as nimble as Cob. A jab of the spear finds his left leg, burning flesh and tearing it as he leaves that foe for Urgor and Leontas to deal with, while he charges the mob of pirates who had bee cheering on the burning serpent.
Akorian Dispel (DC 21): 1d20+6+2 (Inspired spell) = 9 (Failure)
Sirim Knowledge (The Planes) (DC 21): 1d20+13 = 28 (Success)
Salamander VS Gorok (AC 23): 21, 8, 18 (Failure x3)
Salamander AoO vs Gorok (AC 23): 24 (Hit) Gorok Takes 8 Damage -> Now at 59/67
"May we dance with Calistria this day!" the elf calls out among the din and then, still twenty feet out from the Dancing Slurk, she jumps light as a feather on the wind, almost seeming to fly, not twenty feet, not thirty, but fifty, nearly the full length of the ship, to land next to Mina and an bewildered Warty, slashing at Mina's chest and her arms with precision all the more chilling for its lack of malice. A look of utter surprise crosses her face when she feels Gorok's sword run along her spine, the iruxi having managed to dash back the length of the ship as swift as her leap.
Elf Jump (Perform Dance DC 50): 1d20+19+30 (Jump) = 59 (Success)
Elf Attacks vs Mina (AC 17): 18, 20 (Hit, Hit) Mina Takes 20 Damage -> Now at 22/42 Gorok Uses Mythic Haste for +1 Move Action to get into position Gorok Attack (AC 24): 20, 17, 27, 14 (Miss, Miss, Hit, Miss)
Elf Takes 18Damage -> Now at 48/66
Having lost track of Cob, for who can keep track of him on a quiet ship, much less in the midst of battle, you are as surprised as anyone else to see him slip out of the sorceress' shadow and stab her through the arm that holds her book and then again in the stomach, sending her sprawling backwards in a pool of blood.
Hasted Cob vs Sorceress (AC 20): 20, 22 (Hit, Hit)
Sorceress takes 43 Damage -> Now at -3/40 (Unconscious)
"Surefoot on Foe's Back!" Urgor shouts as he plants his axe in the fiery serpent's shoulder and then rips it out with vicious strength, giving more than enough time for Leontas to get a jab of his spear in.
In the instant you look away, the one-eyed man had leaned over the fallen sorceress and poured a potion between her lips who, rather than try to rise to her feet in reach of Cob's dagger, vanishes to appear in the midst of the boarders where there's no space for the goblin to slip out of. She motions at the trio of Gorok, the elf, and Mina. Inga's story runs though your mind: walls to separate the defenders. If she can seal Mina away from help, even for a few heartbeats she is as good as dead or a hostage at the end of a sword.
"No!" This time the words of power fray and shatter under your will, and the sorceress, still bleeding from not even half healed wounds, is left for a moment looking on in something like dread before she gathers herself.
"There! Miska, finish the girl then keep that one busy!"
Urgor Attacks: 28, 30 (25!) (Hit, Crit)
Leontas Attacks 18, 31 (Hit, Hit)
Salamander takes 61 Damage -> Now at 15/76
Sorceress is healed 14 Damage -> Now at 9/40
Akorian Dispell (DC 21): 1d20+6+2+1d6 (Mythic Surge) = 28(Success)
What do the others do?
[] Cob is already on the enemy ship, let him run wild
[] Draw back, without Gorok to stiffen their resolve, and Leontas and Urgor still busy with the fire beast, the sellwords might waver before the onslaught of raiders
[] Write in
OOC: Everyone but Akorian has yet to move since the dispel just flowed naturally and you would be in a very different situation if the enemy ship mage got off that Wall of Force.
So far Goldfish's excellent planning has kept the enemies too busy to allow them to dictate the flow of battle, but they aren't exactly harmless despite that.
I saw the description of Wall of Force, and I thought to myself, "It must've been some item, because where would the pirates get a mage casting 5th level spells"? What do I know, that's a second 5th level spell of just this round of fighting, if the Salamander is indeed Summon Monster V.
...mage fights are kinda weird in Pathfinder, enemy mages just playing the game of counter-spell and gesticulating at each other.
OOC: Everyone but Akorian moved since the dispell just flowed naturally and you would be in a very different situation if the enemy ship mage got off that Wall of Force.
Does Wall of Force have a height limit? The description implies it stretches only up to the dimensions of the current room, as incorporeal creatures can circumvent it through the floor/ceiling. However, does it have a limit if cast in the open?
Asking this because we have means of flying, and a flying summon, and I was wondering if this could be used to bypass it as well.
The Sorceress at 9 HP is asking for a grenade of some kind. How many can one Hasted goblin throw in a round?
Does Wall of Force have a height limit? The description implies it stretches only up to the dimensions of the current room, as incorporeal creatures can circumvent it through the floor/ceiling. However, does it have a limit if cast in the open?
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