[D&D 4th Ed.] Official GT Campaign 3: No Business Like Gnome Business

[Arkon]

Yeah, I agree on the warehouse. It's large, enclosed enough to keep us hidden, and it might contain loads of things to explode with our newfound cannons of fireballness. What could possibly go wrong?

Also, good idea on suggesting to rig one of the cannons to explode. Jett does have a ring that he can use as a free action that will set any unattended object on fire. That just might do the trick to the cannon he's lugging around. What check could that be for us to figure something like that out, Kadnod? Anyone have any paper we could use as say, a fuse or something?

Well let's see...I have candles, extra wax, rope.  Does anyone have a flask of oil, I believe at least one of us should have one as part of our adventuring kit.

[kadnod]

You duck into the side entrance of the warehouse and hide behind some of the larger machinery near the back.  The shadowy building smells faintly of something similar to baking bread.  The purposed of the machinery is difficult to determine.  There are dozens of gears, blades, belts and switches and many small, metal cylinders about the size of your fist lie scattered about the floor. 

What check could that be for us to figure something like that out, Kadnod?

Arcana or Engineering.    

[Autistic Angel]

Well let's see...I have candles, extra wax, rope.  Does anyone have a flask of oil, I believe at least one of us should have one as part of our adventuring kit.

My character bought a Standard Adventurer's Kit way back at the beginning, and the contents are still intact as far as I'm aware.  I don't remember if it comes with a flask of oil, though.

-Autistic Angel

[Autistic Angel]

Is tonight still our rescheduled game?  I've kept my schedule clear for 8:00pm!

-Autistic Angel

[kadnod]

Yep, server should be up @ 8 est.

[Doopri]

so im sorry but ill be at most 30 minutes late tonight (probably a bit less).  feel free to start up without me and ill jump in asap!

[Autistic Angel]

I'll be a couple minutes late myself: EndPoint has decided to load a 120-meg(!) update just now and it's only about half done.  I'll jump in as soon as I can!

-Autistic Angel

[Arnir]

Am I wrong or do we now own a Fort?  Our own fort!

[Arkon]

Am I wrong or do we now own a Fort?  Our own fort!

Tough to say if we own the fort or not, given we are still in a somewhat hostile city.

What an awesome fun night last night.  I was pretty convinced we were heading to a full party wipe, BEFORE the assassin showed up.  Then once he showed up I was even more convinced we were all dead and as such I just had to risk my own death to try and send the damn assassin to his death 60 feet below.  Sad that the fall did so little damage.

Once this battle is over, we absolutely must take a bit of a "breather" to try and search the city and get ourselves better equipped.  One small example, there are gloves that give a climb speed, we should get those for Winnish, Bilon and Jett so that everyone will be able to climb naturally, they are 5k gold I do believe.

Code:

Gauntlets of Swimming and Climbing
Level 10 Uncommon

Primal strength flows through your limbs when you don these gauntlets.

Hands Slot        5,000 gp
Property: You gain a climb speed and a swim speed both equal to half your speed.

[kadnod]

And after defeating some dastardly dark dwarves and disabling their deadly demolitions, our heroes are once again victorious!

XP and Loot

Spoiler for Hiden:

2500xp each

The dead mage has a half destroyed ritual book with the following inside:

Reverse Portal (full version)
Component Cost: 500 gp, Key Skill: Arcana, Level: 12, Category: Travel, Time: 10 minutes
Duration: Special
You create a shortcut across the fabric of the world, linking your location with a permanent teleportation circle elsewhere on the same plane (see the Linked Portal ritual, Player’s Handbook, page 307). As part of performing this ritual, you sketch out a 10-foot-diameter circle in rare chalks and inks. Alternatively, you can use a permanent teleportation circle, which reduces the component cost to 150 gp and grants you a +5 bonus to your Arcana check.
At the ritual’s completion, make an Arcana check. The result determines the duration that the portal remains open.

Drawmij’s Instant Summons (full version)
Component Cost: 500 gp, Key Skill: Arcana (no check), Level: 12, Category: Travel, Time: 1 hour
Duration: Until discharged
Use this ritual to attune one weapon, implement, or shield to yourself. At any time in the future, you can summon that object to your hands as a minor action, at which time the ritual is discharged. Through this ritual, you can have only one weapon, implement, or shield attuned to you at a time.

Create Teleportation Circle (one-shot scroll)
Component Cost: 1,000 gp per square filled by the teleportation circle, plus 5 healing surges, Key Skill: Arcana (no check), Level: 15, Category: Travel, Time: 2 hours (half of full ritual)
Duration: 24 hours (special)
You create a teleportation circle with a unique sequence of magic sigils, which you and other ritual casters can useas a location marker for rituals such as Linked Portal and Planar Portal. The teleportation circle does not transport creatures anywhere on its own—it merely enables other travel rituals. The ritual caster chooses the size of the teleportation circle, which in turn affects the ritual’s component cost: 1 square, 4 squares (a 2-square-by-2-square area), 9 squares (a 3-square-by-3-square area), or 16 squares (a 4-square-by-4-square area).
The teleportation circle lasts for 24 hours, but the ritual caster can extend the duration by spending a healing surge every 24 hours to sustain it. The caster does not need to see or even be on the same plane to sustain the effect. If the ritual’s effect is sustained without interruption for a year and a day, the teleportation circle becomes permanent.

Seal Portal (one-shot scroll)
Component Cost: 100 gp, Key Skill: Arcana, Level: 8, Category: Binding, Time: 5 minutes (half of full ritual), Duration: Permanent
You sever the magical connections that bind one place to another by way of a portal. The completion of this ritual successfully shuts a currently active portal and seals it. No creature, object, or energy can pass through a sealed portal. The portal is not destroyed, though it becomes both invisible and intangible, meaning that it cannot be perceived or interacted with while sealed. If the portal would normally disappear after a certain amount of time, it does so.
At the completion of this ritual, make an Arcana check. A sealed portal can be reopened with the linked portal, planar portal, or true portal rituals, but the creature performing the ritual to reopen the portal must make an Arcana check that equals or exceeds the results of the Arcana check you made when performing this ritual. You can remove the seal on a portal you have sealed by performing this ritual on it again.
The magic of a sealed portal can be detected with the Arcana skill. The level of the magical phenomenon (the seal, not the portal itself) is equal to your level at the time you performed this ritual.

The Engineer's maul is strongly enchanted:
Frost Brand Maul Level 13 (Rare)
Enhancement Bonus: +3 Attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +3d8 cold damage
Properties
•   While holding this weapon, you have fire resistance equal to 3 + twice the weapon’s enhancement bonus.
•   All untyped damage dealt by weapon attacks using this weapon changes to cold damage.
Attack Power (Cold)  Encounter (Standard Action)
Attack: Close blast 3 (creatures in the blast); +6 vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d10 cold damage, and the target is immobilized (save ends).

There's also the shattered remnants of your enemies' non-magical gear and the following currency 10 PP, 200 GP and 45 SP.

As you stand on the somewhat battered battlements, you can see down into the lower fort below.  It looks like at least a third of your allies have fallen, but the Prepotency troops are fairing much worse.  Only about 20 legionnaires remain standing and they're falling back into a sturdy looking barracks, quickly joined by the few remaining archers on the lower walls. 

In your current location at the fort's keep, a large glyph glows with a faint blue light on a hill between the towers.   Two of the mortars also remain standing, while one other was destroyed by Winnish and a fourth seems to have been shattered prior to your arrival.  There are also several small buildings and the towers themselves which you could explore.

What do you do?

[Destructor]

And after defeating some dastardly dark dwarves and disabling their deadly demolitions

Boo. Or that's absolutely awesome. I'm not sure yet.

As you stand on the somewhat battered battlements, you can see down into the lower fort below.  It looks like at least a third of your allies have fallen, but the Prepotency troops are fairing much worse.  Only about 20 legionnaires remain standing and they're falling back into a sturdy looking barracks, quickly joined by the few remaining archers on the lower walls.  

In your current location at the fort's keep, a large glyph glows with a faint blue light on a hill between the towers.   Two of the mortars also remain standing, while one other was destroyed by Winnish and a fourth seems to have been shattered prior to your arrival.  There are also several small buildings and the towers themselves which you could explore.

What do you do?

Jett will take a short rest (using Healing Surges to get his health back) and focus his attention on the large glyph nearby, trying to figure out what it is. Also, he's going to poke through his memory to see if he's seen/detected any Portals ever that could be traveled through via our newly gained Reverse Portal (among other scrolls/ritual books, which he'll immediately claim as his own unless there's any objections).

--

I have a good feeling that the glyph is a Teleportation Circle, owing to the fact that we just got multiple rituals that have to do with them. The question is if we've ever seen any others in the past. Thankfully we can get around decently quickly via Jett's summoned mounts, but the joys of instant transportation via a portal is nothing to sneeze at.

[Arnir]

Do we know if the glyph can be used by the bad guys to get into our fort?  (Yes, our fort).

Can we aim one of our bombards at the barracks?
Should I consider contacting the Myst using the 50gp gadget?

We should probably scout out the fort to see if there are any foes in it and try to get our Allies inside to regroup.

[Doopri]

Before blowing up the barracks I'd like to have our characters diasable (read: blow up with bombards) the other two; then we can use the last to burn out the Prep troops.  I'd RP Winnish gleefully raining fire down on the other cannon, but I'll hold off for other opinions first.  Also Jett I hope you dig up some good info on the glyph, because it's just as likely that the glowing sigil is about to bring more guys IN as it is our exit OUT

Also - that maul is A-W-E-some!  I almost wants it, but alas I'm a (sworn?) swordsman

[kadnod]

Jett will take a short rest (using Healing Surges to get his health back) and focus his attention on the large glyph nearby, trying to figure out what it is. Also, he's going to poke through his memory to see if he's seen/detected any Portals ever that could be traveled through via our newly gained Reverse Portal (among other scrolls/ritual books, which he'll immediately claim as his own unless there's any objections).

--

I have a good feeling that the glyph is a Teleportation Circle, owing to the fact that we just got multiple rituals that have to do with them. The question is if we've ever seen any others in the past. Thankfully we can get around decently quickly via Jett's summoned mounts, but the joys of instant transportation via a portal is nothing to sneeze at.

Yes, it is a teleportation circle.  There were similar circles in the vampire Lairdala's lair (not too far from Cratertown and the Crows) and in the Golem Factory beneath the city.  Jett does not believe either of those circles were designed to transport people, though, so there is a chance things could go spectacularly wrong if you tried to use this circle to get to either of the other two.  (Translation, you'd have to make an Arcana check.  Bad things could happen if you failed.)

Do we know if the glyph can be used by the bad guys to get into our fort?  (Yes, our fort).

Yes, it's possible someone else could teleport to the fort using the circle

Can we aim one of our bombards at the barracks?

Yes, the remaining bombards are affixed to the fort on what are essentially turrets.  They could be aimed to fire that close to your current location.

We should probably scout out the fort to see if there are any foes in it and try to get our Allies inside to regroup.

Let me know if the group decides to do this and how you go about it.

Before blowing up the barracks I'd like to have our characters diasable (read: blow up with bombards) the other two; then we can use the last to burn out the Prep troops. 

As Winnish inspects the other artillery for possible MichaelBaysplosion, he finds a severely burnt body.  It's collapsed against a wall, close to the bombard that was already destroyed before your group entered the Keep.  At first, Winnish thinks it's another Legionnaire, but at second glance he notices the somewhat pointy ears.  The horrific burns make it difficult to tell, but Winnish soon realizes he's found Kiln the Elf, one of the Mist who assisted you in some of your earlier exploits.   As Winnish gets closer, Kiln's right hand slowly moves towards an elegant looking longword lying few inches away, but he doesn't quite make before he stops with a shudder. 

What do you do?

[Doopri]

*his joyful jaunt o'er the ramparts, bombs no longer bursting is quickly interrupted.  He quickly aborts his hasty attempt to aid Kiln, memories of Jett and Bilon's stern warnings concerning his... ah... haphazard healing hands, then frantically waves Bilon over before uttering a few words laced with bardic magic*  "By the gods man, just a bit longer now, wot!  Just a bit longer!"

(that's not a full on Majestic Word as I already used it - just me using what latent bardic powers I might have to keep him here and whole just a biiiiiiiit longer... Bilon may your stubby legs carry you fast and far!)

[Arnir]

Bilon will try to assess the medical condition of Kiln and if there is a trap.  If he can't see a trap he will try to heal.

[kadnod]

*his joyful jaunt o'er the ramparts, bombs no longer bursting is quickly interrupted.  He quickly aborts his hasty attempt to aid Kiln, memories of Jett and Bilon's stern warnings concerning his... ah... haphazard healing hands, then frantically waves Bilon over before uttering a few words laced with bardic magic*  "By the gods man, just a bit longer now, wot!  Just a bit longer!"

The elf's eyelids twitch, but do not open, at Winnish's words.  "Gate," Kiln moans, "have to..." A shuddering, bloody cough, then he falls silent.

(Wiinish = diplomacy 24)

Bilon will try to assess the medical condition of Kiln and if there is a trap.  If he can't see a trap he will try to heal.

Bilon hurries to the scene and tries to assess Kiln's condition.  Keeping an eye out for traps, the cleric slowly backs away as he spots a suspicious looking clockwork device strapped to the elf's side.  Winnish confirms that it is indeed an explosive of eladrin design, but he's heard of similar contraptions before and is (relatively) sure that this one is not armed.  The crafty rouge carefully removes the bomb, allowing Bilon to begin his prayers and treatment. 

(Bilon = perception 29)
(Winnish = thievery 23)

As Bilon examines the elf, the dwarf is surprised such a willowy creature can cling so tenaciously to life.  Not only is Kiln horrifically burnt, Bilon finds a poisoned duergar crossbow bolt buried deep into his belly and small, metal fragments of exploded bombard buried almost everywhere else.   Bilon believes he'll be able to keep the elf from passing for a few moments, but unless powerful magical aid is soon tendered, Kiln will surely die.

(Bilon = Heal 28)

[Arnir]

Bilon will do all he can including using healing spells to keep him alive.

[kadnod]

Bilon will do all he can including using healing spells to keep him alive.

What spells exactly does Bilon use?  (The party has had a short rest since the last fight.)

[Arkon]

Sa'Relka will scout the area, how is the battle going in the courtyard?

"Winnish, teach me how to fire and reload these bombards.  Might I suggest we aim them all at the giant glyph that is likely a teleportation circle...you know just in case?"

I will pick up the maul for now, looks like another candidate for transfer enchantment.  Perhaps we should consider having Jett use that seal portal ritual, if it is in fact a means of teleporting into the fort?

[Doopri]

*seeing that there is little more he can do for Kiln, Winnish leaves him in Bilon's capable hands and turns to Sa'Relka*  "Well, it's ahhhh... easy, wot!  First you errrrr... turn this like so *creaaaaak* then... hmm... this lever here *booooom!*  Oh, ah ummmm  no perhaps this first..."  *slowly manages to relate to his companion how he "worked" the bombard*

((OOC and yes it did cross my mind that the portal might be inbound and that maybe it should be sealed - maybe Jett can get a better idea, maybe not.  And I'd still, both in AND out of character like to destroy the bombards with the other bombard and then maybe even disable that one - but I don't want to start lobbing more shells  until others chime in))

[Arnir]

Bilon will do all he can including using healing spells to keep him alive.

What spells exactly does Bilon use?  (The party has had a short rest since the last fight.)

Bastion of Health should do it, if Kiln can use a healing surge.  I'm open to suggestions, of course.

[Doopri]

Bastion of Health should do it, if Kiln can use a healing surge.  I'm open to suggestions, of course.

Go big or go home!  But seriously, I like your idea of using something beyond your Healing Word - I'll keep my fingers crossed...

[kadnod]

*seeing that there is little more he can do for Kiln, Winnish leaves him in Bilon's capable hands and turns to Sa'Relka*  "Well, it's ahhhh... easy, wot!  First you errrrr... turn this like so *creaaaaak* then... hmm... this lever here *booooom!*  Oh, ah ummmm  no perhaps this first..."  *slowly manages to relate to his companion how he "worked" the bombard*

After fiddling with the bombards for a bit, Sa'Relka thinks he could fire one.  (Arcana = 24 +2 for Winnish's help =26 total)

Bastion of Health should do it, if Kiln can use a healing surge.  I'm open to suggestions, of course.

Sensing that Kiln's personal reserves are spent, Bilon heals the elf through the power of his will and the strength of his faith!  Fresh skin begins to grow over the worst of his burns and dozens of his shrapnel wounds start to knit closed.  While still unconscious and badly injured, Bilon no longer thinks Kiln is in any immediate danger of dying.

[Arnir]

Are we playing tonight?

[Doopri]

i was assuming we were but i could be wrong!

[Arnir]

Just checking as the holidays get my calendar all messed up.

[kadnod]

Yeah, server up @8EST.

[Autistic Angel]

Argh, I'll be there in just a second.  Laptop's being slow again

-Autistic Angel

[Arkon]

And so it has come to pass that the giant mantis has met his demise.

Extremely fun session all.

[Arnir]

Good luck with the whole demon thing, Sa'Relka.  Rangrim would have liked you.  And by good luck, I  mean I hope you aren't really a demon.

[Autistic Angel]

I feel bad for Sa'Relka and I'd definitely support spending our resources to bring her back.  Arkon is right, though: if a character's going to die, the battle where bad guys are repeatedly hurled off of ramparts and flying monsters dive-bomb into one another is a pretty noble way to go.

My character would really want to go after the paladin that killed Sa'Relka, but with one-quarter HP and zero healing surges left in the tank, his wisdom score says he needs an extended rest first.

-Autistic Angel

[Arkon]

So I have three character concepts I am playing around with, looking for thoughts:

Erik the Strong

Erik is a human fighter, employing the brawling fighting technique.  His specializes in picking out a target, grabbing onto them and pinning them to a wall, or to the ground or just plain putting them in a half nelson.  Has excellent defenses (31 AC) and decent hitpoints.  He fights with just some leather wrappings on his hands called Talids, so isn't dependent upon an overt looking weapon.  has an excellent bonus to hit (+20), so would be highly accurate.  Once he gets a hold of something, it is very difficult for them to escape as they have to escape against my fortitude (32).

Keothis Firepeak

Keothis is a Goliath Warden, who uses his deep connection to the very earth to combat his enemies.  Keothis wields a nasty looking gouge in order to gain reach against his enemies.  (paired with his paragon path, and then a daily stance he can acheive a reach of 4)  Keothis has a mountain of hitpoints, but his defenses are a bit lacking (only 28 AC).  His specialty, beyond having insane reach, is that he is good at imposing zones of difficult terrain, or slowing and proning enemies.  Gives him an interesting side dish of control.  Warden stances entail some fun polymorphing.  His bonus to hit is also the weakest of the three concepts at a +18 to hit, but that still is as good as Sa'Relka was.

Kriv Silverclaw

Heaven help me, I am strongly considering a Paladin.  Kriv is a dragonborn paladin of bahamut. He has a rather intimidating visage, however he is very good natured and "good aligned".  He would play as a defender with an incredibly strong side of leader.  His defenses aren't bad (30 AC), and his hitpoints are pretty good (115).  He would have tremendous utility, in allowing allies to use his healing surge value, heal allies when he hits an enemy, let allies heal when they get hit by an enemy he has marked etc...I have never really tried playing a divine class in the past, as I always saw them as goody goodies, which would make them boring, but that is really a remnant of trying them last in 2E, where a paladin could loose his powers for not strictly adhering to Lawful Good.

Anyways, these are my thoughts so far.  Erik would likely have the weakest story of the three, at least with tying in to the game world, that I have come up with so far.  While a backstory for Kriv is feeling very strong.

[Arkon]

I feel bad for Sa'Relka and I'd definitely support spending our resources to bring her back.  Arkon is right, though: if a character's going to die, the battle where bad guys are repeatedly hurled off of ramparts and flying monsters dive-bomb into one another is a pretty noble way to go.

My character would really want to go after the paladin that killed Sa'Relka, but with one-quarter HP and zero healing surges left in the tank, his wisdom score says he needs an extended rest first.

-Autistic Angel

Paladin is dead, it was the assassin that got away...again...

[Autistic Angel]

Yeah, I think I like Kriv Silverclaw the best so far.  A Defender / Leader combo is a great addition to the group dynamic, and having a Dragonborn in the group has lots of implications in the current setting.  He'd also obviously get along great with Bilon, assuming he didn't act in service of some crazy heathen got like Tymora or Kynareth.  And really, what are the odds of that?

By the way, what did you dislike about managing power points with Rangrim?  Was it deciding when to use them, setting up the macros to manage them, or something else?

-Autistic Angel

[Arkon]

By the way, what did you dislike about managing power points with Rangrim?  Was it deciding when to use them, setting up the macros to manage them, or something else?

-Autistic Angel

Was a combination of things.  Setting up macros, with the knowledge I had at the time was a royal pain in the ass.  Also trying to manage when to use them, and remembering three versions of each power just took a ton of micromanaging.  It may not be as bad for other power point using classes, not sure.  And while each power point version of a power added a variation, it felt very limiting in options at times.

[kadnod]

Loot and XP

Spoiler for Hiden:

3,000 XP each
most of the paladin's gear is destroyed, but you can salvage his +3 glaive and his +3 platemail (if you don't mind scraping the remnants of his charred body out of it.)

As our heroes pick themselves up and mourn their fearless mantis ally, cheering can be heard from the fort below. 

What do you do?

[Arkon]

I need to double check but I believe that 3,000 xp may have dinged the party to level 14.

[Arnir]

All three look good to me.  Having a Paladin might just annoy Bilon as he won't be the sole arbiter of right and wrong anymore.

[Arkon]

All three look good to me.  Having a Paladin might just annoy Bilon as he won't be the sole arbiter of right and wrong anymore.

And here I thought you would love having another "good"/Divine character in the party.