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Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

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Snowfire said:
@Goldfish designate Antonio or one of the spellcasters as our Ward! Honour Guard has its uses.
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I'm wary of doing that because we need Roland to stay up and functional throughout this fight. That's our best chance of winning it without any fatalities. Designating a Ward increases that person's AC by +1, but it decreases Roland's by -1. One point of AC might not seem like much, but it could be the difference between Roland taking a paralyzing claw strike or barely avoiding it.

What's more promising, since we will hopefully have the Vetala surrounded, is Roland's Intercept and Aid Allies abilities.
  • Intercept: An Honor Guard learns to better disrupt the attacks of his enemies. When an adjacent ally is attacked, he may use an Attack of Opportunity to attempt the Aid Another action to improve his ally's AC.
  • Aid Allies: Whenever an Order of the Dragon cavalier uses the Aid Another action to assist one of his allies, the ally receives a +3 bonus to his Attack Roll, Saving Throw, or skill check, and +4 bonus to his Armor Class.
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If it attacks someone other than Roland, he'll be able to use an AoO to provide that ally with a +4 bonus to AC. The Vetala has two claw attacks each round, and Roland can make up to two AoO each round, so he could theoretically provide that +4 bonus throughout the fight if necessary, without penalizing his own attacks at all, if it is dumb enough to keep attacking the lesser threats rather than the one actually capable of hurting it.
 
I wonder how useful a net would have been in this fight. I don't understand too much about mechanics.
 
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Tomcost said:
I woner how useful a net would have been in this fight. I don't understand too much about mechanics.
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A well tossed net could have been very helpful in this fight.

We haven't had any of our people training in their use up to this point for various reasons, but the next time we have an opportunity to do so, I definitely won't argue against it. In fact, this fight will serve as a really fitting reason to have a couple of our people work to develop those skills.
 
Goldfish said:
A well tossed net could have been very helpful in this fight.

We haven't had any of our people training in their use up to this point for various reasons, but the next time we have an opportunity to do so, I definitely won't argue against it. In fact, this fight will serve as a really fitting reason to have a couple of our people work to develop those skills.
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They called me a madman, but I was right all along!
 
I just realized that this is the 3rd quest i follow with the protagonist is named Roland, the other two is Stone of honour (ASoIAF) and Blood of a Warrior (battletech). All 3 are active quests as well. What is it with that name? Also i havent met anyone named Roland in real life yet, Ronald though yes.
 
butchock said:
I just realized that this is the 3rd quest i follow with the protagonist is named Roland, the other two is Stone of honour (ASoIAF) and Blood of a Warrior (battletech). All 3 are active quests as well. What is it with that name? Also i havent met anyone named Roland in real life yet, Ronald though yes.
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I sadly do not have any insights. I just pulled up a list of Norman names and went with the one that sounded best in my head.

Anyway Vote Closed, Combat ahoy
Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Oct 19, 2021 at 9:19 PM, finished with 25 posts and 9 votes.
  • [X] Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
    -[X] Roland uses his Challenge on the Vetala then rushes to engage it in melee before it can injure Antonio further. He will fight defensively (-4 attack, +2 Dodge to AC) for the first round or two to minimize the chance of being paralyzed before the Vetala can be ganged up on. Once our allies begin to harass it (especially after we get some Aid Another bonuses to attack), he'll try to work in some Power Attacks where possible. If it attacks an adjacent ally, Roland will use his Intercept ability to make an Attack of Opportunity in conjunction with his Aid Allies ability to provide that ally with a +4 bonus to their AC.
    --[X] Antonio will hurry to get out from under the Vetala's claws while taking a shot at it with his crossbow, if possible. If he is able to join us in the melee after recovering somewhat, he'll treat his weapon with Holy Weapon Balm and also use Aid Another when possible.
    --[X] Any of our archers in position to take a shot at it before we reach it do so now. Otherwise, they hold their fire unless it tries to escape and they are aiming to cut off its retreat.
    --[X] Inge holds off on targeting it unless she has a clear shot. As with the archers, she acts to hem it in if it tries to escape, Snowballing it if possible.
    ---[X] If necessary to defend herself or distract the Vetala, Inge will use a Standard Action to pray to Ikomi.
    --[X] Zaia does the same, holding back on using his Acid flasks unless it disengages from melee and tries to flee.
    --[X] Our spearmen will rush to our aid, moving to surround the Vetala as quickly they can. Each will use Aid Another to either boost our attack bonus or AC, or their fellows', as the situation demands. They'll benefit from our OotD ability to provide them with a +2 Circumstance bonus to their attack rolls. Those not able to close to melee with it yet will be readying their weapons with Holy Weapon Balm, and will switch out with their fellows as they are able, bodily pulling them from the melee if they end up paralyzed so they can take their place.
    --[X] Esha will begin targeting her father with her Disrupt Undead cantrip as soon as she is able and will continue casting it as often as she can. It only harms Undead, so it doesn't matter if she misses and strikes an ally.
    [X] Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
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Arc 4 Post 36: Dance of Death
  • Threadmarks
    • Dance of Death ​

    Thirty Fourth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascending) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)

    Arrows fly though the night air shrieking, one to pierce the deck at the feet of the monster, another to go flying over his head and into the sea, but the last two to strike true as lightning from on high piercing the fiend in the shoulder and the back. At first he seems to pay them no mind, but then they start to smoke and with the power of Zaia's elixir, driven into dead flesh and with a shriek of defiance she tears them both out and casts them down at his feet.

    So it can be wounded, so it can die. It is with that thought firmly in mind that you advance upon the thing shield held high, sword glimmering in the pale light above as thought seen though clear water. At first you stab for its chest probing, but it proves too swift, too skilled to catch out. The moment was enough at least that Antonio can sip away, still clutching at his chest, quick to put the main mast between him and the beast, not that it seems minded at the loss of its prey.

    Eyes black as a starless night fix upon you and for the first time you see clearly the face of your foe, beneath the still streaming water and seaweed tangled in the dark hair there is nothing to mark the evil within, another day and in another place you might have passed it by without a second look in a crowded market or perhaps even sought it out for the wisdom you see etched upon its ageless contours.

    "Ah, and so the wolf hides among the goats and the shepherd guards her..." he laughs coldly as a ray of stray moonlight seems to pierce his flesh where one of the arrows had sending another scrap of foul smoke into the air. "Tell me did did take you to her bed or did she play the scared hunted little girl this time." Ayushman must have read something on your face at the words though what even you cannot say for your mind is a whirl even as your body is fixed upon the familiar rhythm of battle.

    Your men are circling now, locking shields as best they can and trying to jab with their spears though they are having little luck as yet, and neither for that matter are you, sword flying inches from his left ear as he twists under the blow like a serpent and like a serpent are his words: "How do you think she came to be on that ship? What did you think that they could read the blood upon her face? Can you read mine?" Claws slash at your suddenly, one easily dodged, the other barely caught on the edge of your shield, marking the bronze.

    "It is not your face I am most concerned with, nor the lying words that spill from your tongue," you spit even as another flash of spelled moonlight catches this time on your shield and reflects into the eyes of Ayushman, blinding him for one fateful moment as not one but four spears stab forth in unison driven with desperate force.

    Any man so pierced would be dead ere the body hit the ground, you know with the cold certainty of many battles fought and yet the one before you still stands still fights, almost ripping the spears from the hands of the armsmen as he wrenches free of the points. This is no living man and steel has no power over him, only the strange oil now burning in his wounds.

    "Who do you think raised her, who do you think draped her in silk? Who do you think taught her the Art?" the dead man shouts, black spittle flying from his mouth. "She was the lure upon my hook, bringing scholars sages and poets for the feasting. I... " His next words are lost as bright bronze slashes across his throat, the sword christened in bubbling dark blood, yet you see the edges of the flesh already start to pull together moved by some unholy power. The same one Esha wields, you wonder thinking back at Inge's initial coldness to the vetala's daughter.

    Thankfully the attack does not distract to much that you do not see the claws flying at your face, again the shield sees you safe from one while the other rakes harmlessly across the rings that cover your arm.

    If your men were moved by the monster's words, or even hear it, they do not show it, spears stabbing wildly to drive him back into his grave, but without the balm that had been laid upon them they had no virtue by which to harm him and Ayushman laughed as he pulled the spear from John's hands.

    In the midst of the battle you barely catch the sound of soft running feet upon the deck... though you barely have a chance to turn and see Esha, her face fixed in a mask of near inhuman rage raise a hand filled not with light, but cold clinging darkness and strike her father on the face. "I m not your creature!"

    Ayushman hardly seems to notice the blow and the sorcery fades against a will that has defied death itself. "You are mine, by my wish and my desire begotten on your wretch of a mother and raised to serve me. You will learn anew." The words are spoken without any trace of wrath, more like the recitation of some undeniable truth. No matter what guild the sorceress might bear it dies first, you vow.

    A shard of living ice conjured of Inge's hand crashes onto the deck, mixing brine with the black blood and remnants of alchemical oils pooling underfoot, all the distraction you needed to cut into its wrist.

    "Common blades cannot harm me fool!" the monster laughs as he lunges you as though to catch you in the very embrace of death, though the grandiosity of the gesture works against him there, neither of his claws so much as scratching your armor.

    Your armsmen had stopped trying to truly stab the thing, for their weapons indeed can do it no harm, but they can heard it into your sword... or indeed into Esha's grasp. Again the chill darkness grips the air and this time a look of blind terror like a maddened beast descends upon Ayushman's black gaze, leaving his back open for your sword as he blindly pushes your men aside caring nothing for the blows of their weapons. Ice str=ikes him now as Inge continues to chant the name of her Goddess, cold blue light pooling about her like a veil as two more arrows dipped in arcane oils find their mark.

    As you run after the thing, lungs burning with the attempt to outrun arcane speed, hear a vial of glass shatter at his feet, the vitriol in it eating into dead flesh as readily as living, yet somehow the wounded monster endures and upon blackened legs dripping with foul blood it rushes to the protection of the water.

    Then you hear the twang of a crossbow... he is not fast enough to outrun a bolt. Ayushman falls to the ground, clawed hands still grasping towards the sea. In his back like a banner of triumph is a single crossbow bolt.

    "Get that fucking thing off my ship," Antonio says in the tone one might take speaking of particularly noisome offal.

    What do you do as the Vampire is consigned to the sea and the embrace of Ikomi?

    [] Speak with Esha, the words of her father as well as her reaction to them trouble you
    -[] Write in

    [] Give a prayer of thanks to the Lord that you have survived a battle with such a horror

    [] Write in


    Arc Four Complete ​

    Triumphs
    ++Saved the enslaved Boar Folk
    ++Defeated the hostile fey
    +Found and conversed with the Walking Wood peacefully
    +Released and made common cause with the Dhampir Esha
    +Found the grimoire
    ++Defeated the vampire Ayushman

    What did your experiences offer you?

    [] More skill in peace and war alike (+2250 XP for Roland)

    [] Inge is blessed by her Goddess for helping to defeat one of the Greater Dead (+1000 XP for Roalnd; Inge Levels up)
    -[] Write in plan

    [] The chance for your armsmen to learn new ways of fighting (1500 XP + Five of your armsmen learn to fight with a net or other low tactics)
    -[] Write in two feats to change

    [] Inge is blessed by her goddess for helping to defeat one of the Greater Dead and your men learn new ways of fighting (Inge levels up + Five of your armsmen learn to fight with a net or other low tactics)
    -[] Write in plans

    OOC: I know this looks like it was an easy fight, what with the lack of red text, but up there where I said the vampire almost hit you but for the edge of your shield, that would have been a hit save for those +2 dodge AC from defensive fighting, if he had gotten that you would have faced a rather hard save not to be paralyzed and on the next turn he would have gone for a coup the grace. Also yes Esha did not act according to plan, the vampire's taunts cu rather deep, lending credence to the notion that he was not entirely lying. Not yet edited.
     
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    • This battle costed us a fortune, but I am so very glad that we've chosen that balm.
     
    Whew, that was tense. Yay, teamwork!

    @DragonParadox, what were the net-based feats that dude was using back in the tournament in Korman?
     
    Goldfish said:
    How close are our men to leveling up? Did that fight help Tom progress towards retraining as a Fighter?
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    Yes it did and given that all your men were involved in some very hairy fights I am going to say one more good fight will get you the option to level some of them

    rx915 said:
    @DragonParadox how many companions do you have planned to add to the party?
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    That is up to you guys, what is and is not the party is an organic IC and OOC decision. That said just because they go into the party post does not mean someone is glued at the hip to Roland and will be part of every fight. I mean look at Antonio.
     
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    DragonParadox said:
    I'm going to say no on that one, you already have a way to stack water CL sky high, adding another will get some really silly spells.
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    I don't suppose we could get an option where Inge levels up, some of our men can retrain, and Roland gets even less XP? Also, did the Vetala have any loot?

    Not sure if now is a good time to be talking to Esha about her father. We should maybe let her calm down and get a handle on her new reality of not being hunted by the monster or used as his pawn before we give her a recruitment pitch. As for thanking god, meh, I'd rather thank everyone involved in the fighting.

    I know we can have up to five men retrain, but that seems excessive to me. We don't have but some many men available, and specializing too many of them seems kinda dangerous. Yes, a couple net wielders could be very useful, but having too few spearmen can come back to bite us in the ass.

    [X] Give a hearty thinks to all of your men and companions whose combined efforts were enough to slay a monster that alone none of you could have defeated.

    [X] Inge is blessed by her goddess for helping to defeat one of the Greater Dead and your men learn new ways of fighting (Inge levels up + Five of your armsmen learn to fight with a net or other low tactics)
    -[X] Two of our melee-focused men-at-arms, selected from among those who were directly fighting the Vetala and who grew frustrated that their spears were ineffective, will retrain to wield a net in order to hamper foes who are not so easily slain by blade or arrow. They will learn Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Net) and Net Adept

    [X] Inge Level Up
    -[X] Class: +1 Witch
    -[X] Feat:     Extra Hex (Cauldron
    -[X] Skills (6 points): +1 Knowledge (Arcana), +1 Knowledge (Nature), +1 Spellcraft, +3 Craft (Alchemy)
    -[X] Hex
    --[X] Cauldron
    -[X] Spells:
    --[X] Cantrip: Drench, Detect Poison
    --[X] 1st Level: Cure Light Wounds
     
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