Approach house Basri. Tell them all about what we learned, but explicitly tell them that one of us (probably Sirim), is going to tell the Governor everything we know by dawn if they fight or antagonize us.
Even without Sir Pisca in our midst, who is rather unsubtle and would not go for covering it up, it would still be a poor idea to present ourselves before the hostile party with the only assurance being the hope we have enough dirt on them. And we need to stay in the city for three more days.
Even if it succeeded by some miracle, House Basri has shown itself wealthy enough to hire parties of higher level, and they can't have blackmail hanging over their head for an indefinite time. The only way of dealing with a potato that hot I can think of would be to pass the buck to the governor and make killing us a pointless expenditure.
We've got two very different votes tied at the moment.
Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Nov 16, 2024 at 7:36 PM, finished with 21 posts and 4 votes.
[X] Meet with Skali at the Locker as agreed upon. We'll determine exactly how to deal with him after we see how many slaves he brings, and their condition. Purchasing them outright might be the most expedient solution for now. We want to get to the Locker well before dawn, if possible. -[X] Afterwards in the light of day, we'll seek out the governor to share what we've learned with him. He needs to know exactly what is happening in his city and how the Elves of House Basri have been acting to cover up the misdeeds of their cousins.
[X] Yes, you could use the help -[X] Leontas and company, they are used to fighting demons and their servants -[X] Gorok takes (and keeps) the wand of CLW that Kori has.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Nov 17, 2024 at 6:59 AM, finished with 24 posts and 5 votes.
[X] Meet with Skali at the Locker as agreed upon. We'll determine exactly how to deal with him after we see how many slaves he brings, and their condition. Purchasing them outright might be the most expedient solution for now. We want to get to the Locker well before dawn, if possible. -[X] Afterwards in the light of day, we'll seek out the governor to share what we've learned with him. He needs to know exactly what is happening in his city and how the Elves of House Basri have been acting to cover up the misdeeds of their cousins.
[X] Yes, you could use the help -[X] Leontas and company, they are used to fighting demons and their servants -[X] Gorok takes (and keeps) the wand of CLW that Kori has.
"So let me see if I understand this," Leontas stretches his legs from seat to a comfortably padded cushion the tavern keeper had provided. Usually dwarves do not bother with such fripperies, but when someone's spending gold like it's silver, allowances can be made. The whole company is now rich far beyond common soldiery, enough so that each of them could retire to the life of a country squire and Lenotas himself could likely buy a baronet's title in lands at least less stringent than Taldor. "Slums are crawling with demon elves from the festering depths of the world, you lot decided to help for a favor from the big man at the palace, and immediately you thought of us to help. I'm touched, truly I am, but I won't say where since there's a lady present."
A laugh rumbles through the attending riders, though you can see one or two shift uncomfortably, some lingering spark of crusading fervor rebelling against allowing demon-worshipers to run loose through the city's underbelly.
"Count your gold in the thousands, worry about a dozen swords. Count it in the hundreds of thousands, worry about armies instead." Sirim counters. "If there's strife and swords drawn, what do you think the would-be rulers of Cassomir will think of strangers sitting on a mound of metal that can forge three thousand swords? 'Oh what luck we get to bid'? Or will they instead contend you are few and they are many, heads now smiling and sitting pretty atop spikes to warn the mob and to make them feel all warm and guarded all at once. 'Look at how the highborn guard us', they'll all cheer, 'from the strangers who brought strife!' You and we share this day an interest, not just hatred of the Pit."
All through the speech one of Leontas' eyebrows rises until it's lost in his hairline. "You know men quite well, master snake. More than your mistress it would seen..."
"Sirim isn't my familiar," Mina confesses in a one quick breath. "That was a ruse to fool Gavhaul. Once he was dead it felt awkward to admit otherwise."
"So what are you then?" The frown that accompanies the words is more considering that angry.
"A magician, corporeally inconvenienced, of a land which knows enough of scheming to recognize a pot coming to a boil at once." This time he speaks aloud, though the rasping whisper is barely less ominous than a voice in one's thoughts.
"Name it," two words spoken with deceptive gentlenes,s though it's clear his agreement hangs upon them.
"Nidal."
At that Leontas breathes an obvious sigh of relief. "Shade botherers are fine as long as you aren't offering to sew steel into your skin. Met one of those apostles once, creepy son of a bitch, made the Chelish seem normal."
"That was likely the reaction they were looking for. Your band does not strike you as ripe for conversion to the ways of the Midnight Lord, but the servants of Asmodeus have been known to collaborate with Kuthites in search of souls to harvest."
"Our thanks for the insight," Leontas looks visibly perturbed, but if anything that seems to have hardened his resolve to stab something that needs stabbing, both for its own sake and to keep his latest profits safe.
One has to give the drow credit for knowing how to hide in plain sight. Had some unwelcome visitor woken you up this evening and put a knife to your throat to ask where their ilk would sulk, you would have guessed a ruin over-top of an entrance that leads into the deep realms, not a tavern boat still alight with lanterns and candles into the late-night hours. The Floating Bloat is an old river barge turned tavern floating between two of the largest of the Dog's Teeth's islands, as many others which had been put to water in the wake of a legal dispute about taxation on the water between the city and the Imperial Navy which the latter won.
At the very least, Pisca explains, city officials no longer have to worry as much about public disturbances come Firstbloom. Rowdy drunks drowning themselves is much neater than rowdy drunks getting into fights in the streets and causing property damage because that lamppost said something about their mother. A rule perhaps in need of changing given the Bloat was distilling much more than spirits. The way he smiles as he tells that story makes you think he might have been the one who had a bone to pick with a lamppost once upon a time.
"They're definitely still making and selling booze, otherwise the word would have gone out as only scores of drunks going dry can," Leontas says, lowering his looking glass. "How'd you want to handle this?"
"Use magic to push the boat against the shore so that they cannot lift the boards, charge across and meet the enemy so they will be trapped on the boat with us," Gorok replies, already looking across the edge of his blade at the boat.
"I could go scout first, maybe get drink," Cob says a little too eagerly. It's not, you know, that he wants any old drink. Cob is just the sort to be curious how spirits distilled by drow taste like.
What does Kori think would be the wisest course of action?
I would have liked to keep knowledge that Sirim isn't a Familiar from spreading any further, but I guess it couldn't be helped this time.
@DragonParadox, how many of Leontas' men are accompanying us? What sorts, ranged, melee, etc? Have they purchased any relevant gear since they've been in the city?
How large is the Floating Bloat? Are there other ships or barges moored nearby? Is it tied up at a dock or just near enough the shore than gangplanks or boarding ramps are being used for access?
I would have liked to keep knowledge that Sirim isn't a Familiar from spreading any further, but I guess it couldn't be helped this time.
@DragonParadox, how many of Leontas' men are accompanying us? What sorts, ranged, melee, etc? Have they purchased any relevant gear since they've been in the city?
How large is the Floating Bloat? Are there other ships or barges moored nearby? Is it tied up at a dock or just near enough the shore than gangplanks or boarding ramps are being used for access?
All twenty of them, they are equally skilled with shortspear and crosshow. They have indeed geared up. Leontas has a new spear and he looks both more agile and stronger than when last you saw him
It's a typical river barge, 40 ft long by 10 ft, the tavern proper is on deck under a makeshift cabin, the distillery is in the hold. It is near the shore, using gangplanks.
There are no other boats nearby, this is a rather dangerous place to anchor if you do not have a deal with the local gangs
Last vote I was wondering if Sirim wasn't right and if we couldn't go in by ourselves counting on stealth and superior gear to see us through. Now that we have Leontas with us, I am wondering if his people could be given a duty to kill off any survivors and stragglers splintering from the fight. I would assume if there are drow inside, they'd be tempted to cut their losses and flee if they can't kill the assailants outright. They have little to die for with their cover blown.
At the same time I am hesitant to set mercenaries against the drow at their full power.
Okay, time to scout. It's great that we have Leontas' and all 20 of his men, but we can't just rely on brute force here. We need to check for traps and escape routes first.
So far, Kori, Mina, and Sirim have each used one Mythic power tonight. That leaves them each with 4 to use. My plan has Mina spending two more, and Sirim and Kori spending one each. We need to protect the party from poison and make sure all of our people and as many of Leontas' as we reasonably can have Darkvision. Drow are very likely to use poison and darkness to their advantage, if it comes to a fight.
[X] What Lurks in the Dark...Us!
-[X] Using the Encouraging Metamagic Rod, Mina casts Encouraging Mythic Heroism on Cob, along with Hermean Potential, uses her 3rd level Pearl of Power to regain one of her Heroism spells, then casts Encouraging Mythic Heroism on Gorok. She casts Mage Armor and See Invisibility on herself.
-[X] Kori will cast Guidance (just before he goes swimming) and Extended Invisibility on Cob using the Extend Spell Metamagic Rod who will switch out his Cloak of Resistance for the Cloak of the Hedge Wizard. He will swim out to inspect the waters around the barge and beneath it, using his cloak to cast Detect Magic to look for magic auras, then Detect Secret Doors to search for hidden escape hatches or entrances to the barge. Just in case his presence is revealed, Cob will first disguise himself as a feral Grindylow.
-[X] While Cob scouts underwater, Sirim will cast Mage Armor and Invisibility on himself and scout the barge from above. He will alternate between Detect Magic and Detect Fiendish Presence spells to look for magic auras, traces of Demonic activity, etc.
-[X] Kori will activate his Cloak of Darkness and cast Dark Whispers on the party, plus Sir Pisca and Leontas before Cob and Sirim leave to scout, he will also use Inspired Spell to cast Delay Poison: Communal on the party, plus Sir Pisca and Leontas. Sirim will use Wild Arcana to cast Darkvision: Communal on Gorok, Sir Pisca, Leontas, and five of his men chosen by Leontas for being especially perceptive.
Any idea why Skali sent a message to the alchemist? Are slaves being kept here, in the distillery itself? Is it reasonable to expect 'our' batch to be gone by now, given the timing of the deal?
Any idea why Skali sent a message to the alchemist? Are slaves being kept here, in the distillery itself? Is it reasonable to expect 'our' batch to be gone by now, given the timing of the deal?
That is a weird and dangerous location. I wouldn't put a distillery on a wooden ship if I had the choice, nevermind a full alchemy druglab.
We could probably blow up the whole thing, if we wanted to accept the dead patrons.
I'm thinking of having Pepper stay hidden somewhere on the shore near the barge with the Fire Elemental gem. We don't need to be using that on the barge while we're raiding it. Too much chance for something to explode if it catches fire.
But if someone tries to flee, he'll be in a good position to aid Leontas' men with a surprise Fire Elemental.
Ah darn. I forgot to argue that we should try and buy a Regenerate scroll here for Sylestrix, the next time we meet with her - and if she gets her eye sorted or we need it ourselves before we meet with her again, then we have a Regenerate on hand scroll if a party member looses a limb or we want to restore someone else's.
If we're still looking to pick up another CLW wand (though I forget we already had one with 17(?) charges, so that means that we do have three wands available right now), then I'd very much like to throw in an attempt to get that scroll at the same time. Obviously there's no rush on getting it, but opportunities are scare (need to be in big cities) and we (I) might forget (again) if we leave it to later.
[Edit: I'd also like to pay for someone in the city to cast Heighten Spell (level 4) Continual Flame on two small (one inch long by one third inch on the sides) rocks or hard pieces of metal that have a small hole in them that we can thread a piece of string through.]
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Edit: @Goldfish Oh, and Kori should have his Cloak of Shadow up (he casts it at lvl 10 due to his Mythic ability), so that's a +6 to AC, and Sirim should have cast Mage Armour on himself. And I suppose Mina on herself too since she has it prepped (It's still an increase, even if it's a small one).
Mina should probably use See Invisibility too? Also, Mina has two Heroisms prepped, if she's using the Pearl of Power to get one back then why not cast a third regular on on Leontas or Pisca?
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Also, maybe have Mina cast Hermean Potential on Cob? He's got great skills but crap happens; and more to the point, Mina will have better things to use her actions on when shit kicks off. Then she uses a Pearl of Power to get the spell back, and before we launch the attack she can cast it again on... someone, at the same time that we're casting the other min/cl spells.
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Finally, these are Drow hiding in a city, on a boat which means they have reduced vectors of escape - they I think they might have been extra careful to have set up tremorsense-like magic effects. Do you think it's worth spendind an additional Mythic Surge point on Cob's Invisibility to boost it further?
(Although the page does say "Augmented (3rd)" does that mean that we can't do this until Mythic Rank 3?)
Ah darn. I forgot to argue that we should try and buy a Regenerate scroll here for Sylestrix, the next time we meet with her - and if she gets her eye sorted or we need it ourselves before we meet with her again, then we have a Regenerate on hand scroll if a party member looses a limb or we want to restore someone else's.
If we're still looking to pick up another CLW wand (though I forget we already had one with 17(?) charges, so that means that we do have three wands available right now), then I'd very much like to throw in an attempt to get that scroll at the same time. Obviously there's no rush on getting it, but opportunities are scare (need to be in big cities) and we (I) might forget (again) if we leave it to later.
Edit: @Goldfish Oh, and Kori should have his Cloak of Shadow up (he casts it at lvl 10 due to his Mythic ability), so that's a +6 to AC, and Sirim should have cast Mage Armour on himself. And I suppose Mina on herself too since she has it prepped (It's still an increase, even if it's a small one).
Mina should probably use See Invisibility too? Also, Mina has two Heroisms prepped, if she's using the Pearl of Power to get one back then why not cast a third regular on on Leontas or Pisca?
I added those to my plan. Was assuming they would be used as normal, but it doesn't hurt to specify.
Mina already used one of her Heroism spells earlier on Sirim, so she only had one left. That's why I have her using the Pearl of Power to get one of them back to cast on Gorok.
Also, maybe have Mina cast Hermean Potential on Cob? He's got great skills but crap happens; and more to the point, Mina will have better things to use her actions on when shit kicks off. Then she uses a Pearl of Power to get the spell back, and before we launch the attack she can cast it again on... someone, at the same time that we're casting the other min/cl spells.
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Finally, these are Drow hiding in a city, on a boat which means they have reduced vectors of escape - they I think they might have been extra careful to have set up tremorsense-like magic effects. Do you think it's worth spendind an additional Mythic Surge point on Cob's Invisibility to boost it further?
(Although the page does say "Augmented (3rd)" does that mean that we can't do this until Mythic Rank 3?)
Added her casting Hermean Potential on Cob to my plan.
The Augmented (3rd) notation means that particular aspect of the Mythic spell can't be used until 3rd Mythic tier. Cob has the Dampen Presence ability, which allows him to make Stealth checks to hide from Blindsense and Blindsight. Without his Scoundrel's Cloak, but with Encouraging Mythic Heroism, his Stealth bonus is +33. And he'll have Hermean Potential, if necessary. He should be fine in that regard. Tremoresense doesn't work in water, though, so that one isn't a concern.
Mythic Invisibility would be nice, but we only have so much Mythic power to spend and all our casters are 2 or 3 points down before the fighting even starts. Cob's Stealth is ridiculously good. Even if the Invisibility fails he will still be very difficult to notice, and if he is somehow spotted, he'll be disguised as a wild Grindylow.
Updating my list of scrolls to buy before we leave Cassomir, if possible. If we're trying to get one Regenerate scroll, we might as well try to get two instead, just in case.
With the addition of Sending, Scrying, and Regenerate scrolls, that brings the total up to 11,125 gold.
EDIT: And another 1,320 gold for four Heightened Continual Flame spells to be cast, per @BeepSmile's idea.
I forgot to consider Cob's enhanced stealth abilities, thanks. And yeah, we do need to save some Surge Points.
Also, would you mind adding the following in a spoiler to your shopping list?
I want it for Deeper Darkness shenanigans:
Purchase: I'd also like to pay for someone in the city to cast two [one as a backup/replacement] instances of Heighten Spell (level 4) Continual Flame on two small (one inch long by one third inch on the sides) rocks or hard pieces of metal that have a small hole in them that we can thread a piece of string through.
Explanation: The idea is that on the string is another rock of the same size that Kori can cast Deeper Darkness on (10 min/lvl, 60ft radius), and then the two rocks on a string are put into a pouch.
That means that if we have a bunch of foes at different ranges, someone can whip out the two rocks on a string, and have 60ft radius of deeper darkness, with a 20ft radius regular lighting space carved out of the middle.
That way our party memebers can focus on the closer foes, while more distant archers will have to deal with a massive miss chance or have to move closer, and Kori and anyone else who can see through Deeper Darkness are completly unhindered.
(Bonus points if the two rocks are much smaller, and can be inserted in a collar around Peppers neck, with some sort of easy-press clasp/button that he can hit with a paw to reveal the stones).
Weaknesses: This tactic requires a casting of Deeper Darkness, which means it isn't useful if we aren't expecting combat in the next hour or so, i.e. are ambushed
Edit: Just for fluff:
-[ ] Before casting Extended Mythic Invis on Cob (which is the moment Cob leaves to begin scouting), Kori casts Guidance on him. "Be safe".
Also @ Thread: Do we want to buy a Sending Scroll to try and contact the Alzanti person? Ask her to meet us?
So as to prove we're legit, we could direct them to Urgor or the Governor's office (we can lean on the Governor here, if this drow action goes well) to ask for us and set up a meeting in a place of their choosing.
...Kori has cursed diplo though. @DragonParadox If Kori were to use the Hat of Disguise to alter his shape into looking like the Alzanti, would that image of her be enough for Mina or Sirim to use the Scroll of Sending, or do they actually need to have seen the actual her?
What if Sirim or Mina used Share Memory on Kori to see his memory of the evacuation first?
...Kori has cursed diplo though. @DragonParadox If Kori were to use the Hat of Disguise to alter his shape into looking like the Alzanti, would that image of her be enough for Mina or Sirim to use the Scroll of Sending, or do they actually need to have seen the actual her?
They actually need to see someone, they point is knowing them not their likeness. The medium of that likeness does not matter. Otherwise you could cast sending at a god just from being inside one of their temples.
