Bear with me, as I apparently managed to not port over my correct files.


---

Upon the morning after their arrival, the heroes meet the senior staff. The Knights of the Copper are not the most principled knightly order- their presence in western Arcata is mostly dedicated to the prevention of the dominance of arcanists, a goal in which they have been moderately successful, and also has allowed them to ally themselves with (and benefit greatly from) the country of Dulal. The contingent of knights at Fort Delior is a mixed one, as was the one that they saw at the World Fair- Dark Knights and Paladins both, though each has independent officership.

Caleb, the most powerful and most harshly battle-tried, has given up his post as acting lead of the Dark Knights to command the fortress. The breakfast consists of the acting head of the paladins, the dark knights, and two clerics representing Jaenca and Erinth, as well as quite a few pancake-like entries, as well as some wonderfully prepared meats- mostly local birds. The seasoning is heavy, but the food is fresh. The breakfast has some disagreements, but all are optimistic, as the powers of the PCs are clearly on par with both their enemy's, and also Caleb- the bad news about there being no reinforcements from the north, and the original plan of some Balthran Deniers and Wizards helping to attack the orcish leadership is back on, with some changes in personnel!

The group gathers what is known: Vos'shgn leads, with an axe that makes him almost unkillable, and his backup consist of a shaman of Urran, a sorcerous orc of ill repute, refined yet cruel, another divine caster (a half orc), and quite a few chieftans of various sub clans- some ogre magi, and other physical backup. He does not trust his contigent of casters, however, and only unites with them when they are in battle- the rest of the time, he keeps away from their malevolent trickery. Since the casters could teleport to near his location, but he lacks the ability to reinforce them, the decision is to go for the casters, who are deep in the south, in the center of the expanse. The players debate for a bit, but eventually come up with a pretty great plan to attack, after scrying on the group. They teleport into the nearby jungle, which borders the desert, separated by an extremely deep but not terribly wide chasm. They follow tracks that the orcs had made after slaying some game (uh, a male dire lion being their "game"), and find their way to the perimeter of orcs. Fully preparing themselves, they teleport in to the edge of camp, where they form a kill zone where something like 80 elite orcs are slain, fireball by improved chain lighting. The barbarian ogres prove a powerful challenge to the PCs, especially to the priest, who is chopped in half once and nearly slain twice more, while the enemy casters prepare for the fight, buffing and attempting to harass the PCs. Once the barbarian ogres are slain, along with the vast majority of the orcish host, the ogre mages, useless once their COC is in its refractory period, fly away, leaving the five battle hardened veterans simply crushing the defenses of the casters, though Caleb falls to a Destruction spell. In the end, two are divine casters, and there's plenty of healing potion to drink. Eventually, though it grieves him, the shaman signals for an escape, and the sorcerer flies low, touches him, and they leave. The last, the half orc cleric of Miryanna, surrenders, and is taken prisoner and back to Fort Dellior.

Once there, she tells Keichi of the axe, of how it is an artifact of Urran, and contains his will. How Vos'shgn has vowed to march to the northern coast of Arcata and see it run red with blood. And how she was guided by Miryanna lend aid to a group very lacking in the magics that normally would allow such a force to escape the expanse and break into human lands, and how she believes that even her telling him this is also the will of Miryanna. She tells all she knows, but does she know all the allies of the chieftan, all the powers that may come to bear? Such an urban goddess, the goddess of passion, and her power granted to a half orcess in the wastelands to the south...

The results are a bit glum, but the party is heartened. The enemy is scared, and has to shore up, while the party members train in one of the best possible spots for such training. Everyone in the party gains 6 skill points that can only be spent on any of: Survival, Riding, Knowledge: Religion, Knowledge: Nobility, Knowledge: Local, Know Language: Orcish, Know Language: Giant. The grim news comes that many of the most powerful of Dulal's magical defenders have had their magical abilities temporarily scrambled, a curse by the retreating and dying Voriphans- there will be no magical reinforcements, likely for a month.


Caleb is being resurrected if Morgrim is willing to ferry around materials- the Knights of the Copper can pay but part, but there is a bit of funds remaining from Lord Sen Ravalis in Emerald.



----

I may add more to this summary depending on when I get back in town. Currently that's Saturday before gaming, so we shall see if I can finish early this week...

Yay we're gaming!

I did want to mention some ideas so the 2 people who check this forum can comment or not. Basically, last time we spent forfuckingever debating how to approach. I wanted to suggest some ideas. Since we training, we have a few days to scry and prepare.

So...
Option 1 - We teleport above their camp while invisible and featherfall down. Becoming invisible may involve a high level spell. There are a couple benefits of this. First, those with range spells can hit while falling. Second, we can land roughly in their camp. Now... this is where H may have to decide something. Featherfall implies straight down falling. It seems to me that if someone falls 60ft, he could change his X/Y position by 5 or 10ft as well. Maybe that's not right. I was just thinking we could spread out while falling. Well, I mean, I personally will spread out either way. I just think we could enter undetected until we blast with evocation. By going in high, it also prevents getting screwed by a teleport delay.

Option 2 - Teleport nearby and sneak in, same as before. The layout of the guards will likely make it messy.

Option 3 - Just go in on foot, no teleport. Might be tricky to get past their initial lines.

Option 4 - Similar to Option 1, but we use Fly instead of Featherfall. We'd probably need some potions or scrolls because each Fly the wizard casts is one less Fireball. This could make the rest of the battle more entertaining. It's a high cost buff, but potentially could be fantastic.

Option 5 - None of the above.

I think fly and invis? Either way, I need potions of different types right now. Alenka burned a couple in the last battle.

Oh, and I might have the opportunity to try out the fire elemental thingy... right?

Since training will take more than a week, yes, I think you can play with fire.

I like Options 1 and 5. Although if we do 1, why not buy some potions of invis and use those instead of featherfall?

I'm not sure what you mean by "instead of featherfall."

The concern is getting caught in a teleport delay trap. If we're high enough, that's not a problem. Being invisible but not featherfalling just means there will be 5 strange thuds in the orc camp and one lonely pixie fluttering away.

I'm down with using all the potions we can to save spell slots.

Vos'shgn has moved from the northernmost birthing creche and is currently located at his "War Hall", a moderately sized structure built mostly of jungle wood (not flammable). Your dropping plan should work to get you into the area, but probably not directly on his head. The red dragon is normally outside the structure. The inside of the structure is warded against scrying, as is Vos'shgn (currently), though a scrying sensor placed outside of the warded area has no difficulty observing him when he goes outside to make his rounds or exercise. Even in these cases, he doesn't stray too far. His troops are gathering in the valley of sand that his War Hall looks down upon, building up for a final assault to take the fort.




You'll easily have time to grab potions, but not necessarily get the best possible deals for them.

Prices are per potion. Other potions available, just ask- your shopping is assumed to be done in Emerald, in the wealthy mercantile district famed for its magical items.

Invisibility Potion- Availablex10 for 820 gp per, available x25 at 1100 gp per. CL=5
Haste Potion- Available x5 for 780 gp CL=5
Fly Potion- Available x35 for 750 gp, CL=5. Available x4 for 1000 gp, CL=10
Overland Flight Potion- Available x2 for 4600 gp. CL=12
Blur Potion- Available x12 for 330 gp. CL=3=3 mins.

From the High Temple:
Heal Potion- Available x4 for 4000 gp. CL=11=110 hp. Available x2 for 6000 gp, CL=15=150 HP
Cure Wounds Potions- Available xINF, prices stock per book time .85.






Alenka, you can, uh, recruit, several fire elementals and dismiss them- they are available for your call at any time unless slain, in which case you will have to spend an hour before bed binding a new one of identical (or nearly identical) stats. You can currently bring in up to 14 hit dice at once (this will increase by 1 every month, and by 1 every time you level, up to a maximum of twice your level), but it's still based on what you spend your time being in contact with (aka, if you want a new thing, tell me that before you level next time).

Gate In Fire Elemental (Sp): This creates a temporary gate, open long enough for the fire elementals you summon to appear. This is a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity- the gate appears at the beginning of your next turn. The gate is open from the beginning of the round in which you summon them (the elementals appear immediately with half of their move action expended to blaze through the gate- they can move the remainder and attack on their turn, which happens immediately, and on subsequent turns, directly before yours unless you order them to delay). The gate remains open for one round (until the end of your next turn), and is to the Fire Source. Note that there are plenty of places where you can't open the Gate. Any elemental summoned this way is a called creature, bound to your will.
Gate Out Fire Elemental (Sp): This also takes a full round action (activating at the beginning of your next turn) that provokes attacks of opportunity. The most powerful elemental you are returning (50% in case of a tie) chooses where this gate take it. The gate remains open for one round.
Fire Source Gate (Sp): This also takes a full round action (activating at the beginning of your next turn) that provokes attacks of opportunity. This creates a freestanding gate for a duration of concentration plus one round, to anywhere in the Fire Source that you choose.
Proditial Region Gate (Sp): Cast only in the Fire Source, this opens a gate back to Caligo, exactly where you want to go- assuming that is the Proditial Region of Fire.
Ignan (Ex): Add Ignan to your list of languages. This is the language of fire elementals.
Limited Aquaan (Ex): You only know curse words in Aquaan. You can also ask where the bathroom is.
Fire Combat Dominance(Su): You can force your will on your minions as a free action at any time you have line of sight and line of effect to them. This forces them to obey your physical commands, though you cannot sense through their senses in any way. You can pass kinesthetic data as an emotion, but your minions cannot share similar thoughts with you. Note that your elementals will normally obey you as best they can, rendering this power redundant, but their intellect can be very limited.
Other Shit (Oth): You'll learn other cool shit as you level with this thing, but this is most of the powers.

Frxshh ("Frix")
Large Fire Elemental (Advanced)
Frix is the mightiest fire elemental you have bound to you in your fire-dreams. It is the most powerful and toughest thing you have drawn out of a gate yet. Frix enjoys burning light woods, dislikes stone, but enjoys sand. It likes the "smell" (you aren't real sure whether it means it the same as you do) of burning dark woods, but thinks that it's a shame to burn them all. It would like everything to be on fire, but understands that this precludes it being on fire later, so it thinks timing the burning of everything is probably a good plan, so as to maximize the amount of time stuff spends burning. Frix burns dimmer than the average elemental, and with a few small blue crackles at its edges.
Hit Dice: 14
Hit Points: 134
Init: +7 (Normally this won't matter)
Speed: 55
AC: 20 (-1 size, 6 Dex, 4 Natural, 1 Dodge) Touch: 14. Flat Footed: 13
Base Attack / Grapple: +10/+15
Attack: Slam +17 (2d8+1, +2d6 Blue Fire*)
Full Attack: Slam x2
Space / Reach: 10 / 10
Special Attacks: Burn
Special Other Shit: DR 5/-, Darkvision 60 feet, elemental traits, immunity to fire, vulnerability to cold
Saves: F/R/W: 8/16/6
Stats: Str:12, Dex:24,Con:18,Int: 8,Wis:14,Cha:9
Skills: Spot +8, Listen +8, Knowledge: Fire and Burning +4
Feats: Dodge/Mobility, Dash(b), Weapon Finesse(b), Weapon Focus (Slam), Blue Fire Destabilization (-2), Improved Natural Attack, Spring Attack

Blue Fire Destabilization (Su)
Any creature taking fire damage from Frix is affected by Blue Fire Destabilization, and has a -2 penalty to its SR and Saving Throws for one round. This penalty is of type Blue Fire and does not stack with itself or other Blue Fire effects. This works with damage from Frix's slam attack or his burn attack, but not with the many incidental fires started by Frix on his path to burning all things that exist or could exist.

Burn (Ex)
Frix's slam attack deals bludgeoning damage plus fire damage from the elemental’s flaming body. Those hit by Frix's slam attack also must succeed on a DC 23 Reflex save or catch on fire (1d6 points of damage per round). The flame burns for 1d4 rounds. A burning creature can take a move action to put out the flame. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Creatures hitting Frix with natural weapons or unarmed attacks take fire damage as though hit by Frix's attack (normally 2d6), and also catch on fire unless they succeed the above Reflex save (DC 23).


You can also summon others that I hope to have by Saturday, but Frix is your starter elemental in any event.

Sorry, I'm just unfamiliar with the teleport delay thing. Like, I understand that it happened to some or all of us at one point, but it just didn't make sense to me at the time. I think I have a better understanding of it now. So, feather falls AND flys?

Oh, and there is no problem with imparting a bit of XZ velocity during feather fall by pushing off of each other, if you choose to land in front of the building or whatever.

No, not featherfalls and flys. Maybe you made a typo before because you wrote using invis instead of featherfall. Those don't generally accomplish nearly the same goal. Either flys or featherfalls would work.

The basic idea is this... Imagine you are a caster and want to defend your home against incoming teleportation spells. This includes dim door because you're a pussy. Perhaps you could figure out a way to block teleport altogether, but at the same time maybe this home is temporary and you aren't into wasting all that basilisk blood to block it. So instead you cast this Teleport Delay. It is a sphere AoE, which grows with caster level. Presumably there is also a greater version of it. So when someone tries to teleport into this sphere, you immediately know about it. Further, they are trapped for 1 minutes or so in the ethereal plane or something (if you are the one teleporting, you lose a minute). So you shout out warnings, buff yourself for 5 rounds, and aim everything you have at the spot where they will appear. Then you destroy them.

If we were to teleport directly into their camp and this effect is act (likely since it's a major military camp with casters who are now scared of other casters right now), what would happen is I would appear immediately because of the torc. This would end badly for me. I would get surprise, and when I see none of you I would likely use my action to GTFO. One minute later, the rest of you would appear, and you would be in the middle of orcs who have known you were coming for one minute. This would be very bad for those of you who don't have the ability to GTFO (and you don't have a surprise round). In short, if we teleport into battle, we want to be sure we aren't in the AoE of effect of that spell. Overhead is probably safe.

My thought of featherfall is simply that it's a lower level spell than a bunch of flys. We can essentially approach undetected except for see invis, which... well, sometimes shit happens, you know? If we do Fly on everyone, we can teleport into any nearby space and fly overhead.


Damn. I had a question for H and forgot it somewhere in there.


Anyway, Option 6 - We move the fort. I haven't figured out how this would work. But we move it, and cast an illusion of the existing fort. And then we let them attack and... umm... ok, I'm not sure how that helps us. Maybe it's covering a gigantic pit of acid?

Option 7 - Don't we know a guy who was working on a box to control red dragons? I'm not saying it's moral, but... it's perhaps slightly less immoral than some other options.

Everyone drinking a fly potion will be superior to the single feather fall, if that is your plan. The difference is, it is a bunch of 3rd level spells (potions, scrolls, whatever) versus one immediate action cast of a 1st level spell slot that affects the whole group. One consumes resources, the other does not (or does, but barely).

While it is obvious the enemy has access to the ghost weed's blue fire which dispels invisibility, this is at no great range, and falling or flying in from the top should be safe. None of the enemy had permanent see invis, though the sorcerer does have the ability to cast it.

So does this also mean Alenka can summon and communicate with Lava Conchs?

They sound like the ocean.

And Alenka, speaking Ignan and limited Aquaan, will sound like Tourrett's!

I want to watch Alenka verify that by putting a lava conch to her ear.

I'm sure it's hard to hear the ocean over all that screaming.

Oh, dibs on lava conch fritters!


Edit: Does anyone remember how lava conchs were coined? I remember writing down "Need to make monster called Lava Conch," but not the conversation that led up to it.

How many hit dice do Lava Conch have? I sort of thought it was a shit lot.

NevermindACTHESIZEOFTEXAS.

Sadly, the lava conch is not in my red folder. There's no telling where it could be, but yes, they were pretty tough. I recall a very high AC, range attack for acid/fire damage, and a melee kick attack. Hopefully that sheet will turn up.

I remember the lava conch now. There was a concurrent shell to signal a request of a drawbridge over a river of lava in a drow fortress. I believe Mike was the one who inquired whether it was a lava conch.

Sounds like more reasons to ban Mass Resist Energy! Yay banning!

Yeah, we wouldn't want high level characters to get past Lava Conchs. That's just madness.


So, holy shit. It turns out I dream in gaming. Let's just say it started out where I'm walking around some D&D world. I have split from the party for some role playing in the city. I heard a rumor that Rigby was involved in a whole lot of illegal activity. He was extorting money from others, which is odd because that's one thing I hadn't done. So I (as in, my very human self wearing white boy clothes) walked on through in the first person to find out where this "Rigby" lived. Well, it was some nerdy guy. He was using my name to swindle people. He looked pretty surprised to see me at his door.

Me: You've been stealing from people and using my name? You don't think that's a bit messed up?
Guy: Well, sure... you weren't here. Fair is fair. What are you going to do?
Me: I'm going to take all the money you got off my name.... no, you know what? I'll just take half. That seems more than fair and I won't have to kill you.

The guy went to a safe and pulled out a large stack of hundred dollar bills. Hm. Then suddenly he laughed and it became a poker game. I had to win back the money. We were playing with chips, and the money was sitting in a stack. I got up to make a drink and suddenly remembered I'm a goddamned pixie. I swiped the cash and put it in my backpack.

Guy 2: Hey! This guy is stealing the money!
Me: You can't see me, I'm a pixie!
Guy 2: What? You can't steal the money!
Me: Shut up dude, you can't see me?
Guy 2: Yes I can!
Me: No, I'm an invisible pixie! So shut up! You can't tell them because you can't see me!
Guy 2: You don't look like a pixie!
Me: Shut up. I am a pixie, and you can't see me!
Guy 2: Damn!

I put on my backpack and flew out the window. Flying was exhausting, and I wasn't moving very quickly. There was some shouting from behind me. Then a few arrows started flying out. I thought about reminding them they couldn't see me, but I was afraid my voice would give away my location. Finally I made a little progress in the air. There were extremely large trees forming a sort of cavern, and I didn't seem to have the capability to fly above them, so I looked for cover. Eventually I made my way into what looked like an old temple build into the giant trees. Parts of the floors and walls were moving lights as if to indicate flowing magical power in video game graphics. Then I heard some steps coming from down a passageway, and I realized how much I missed I friends. I tried to think of a way of either getting help from the party or getting the hell out of there. I hid. Then Rachel's alarm woke me up, thus ending my first ever dream where I was my character... sort of.

I had a dream where future me visited with a purple dragon as a companion. Either that one or the fisherman dream was my favorite ever. I've never dreamt in character. That's pretty great though! I find that in dreams, even if you are taking control, invisibility seems hard to pull off, probably because your brain keeps forgetting what that is- whereas, say, burning everything and flying, those work just fine.

Mass Resist Energy is a lame spell, and I'm pretty done with it. It should be about sixth level, based on the other templates, and was a pretty late addition to the game. After just a couple levels with it in my game, I'm pretty ok with not seeing it again, I think.

I so rarely remember them that it's fun when I do. I love that being a pixie is something I just kept forgetting, and when I finally remembered I had to convince someone that he couldn't see me. It reminds me of that movie where the DM has to remind the player that he's scared of water. I wasn't really "in character".... it was some hybrid of knowing it was gaming, standing there as myself, but still trying to play a pixie.

Oh, there was one other thing I forgot. When I found the odd temple, I said "Damn... I wonder if John even knows this is up here in his own world?"


Visit from future self with a purple dragon? Yeah... that sounds right. Sigh.


I remembered the thing I meant to ask. How much are teleport scrolls? I mention this because I should have 2 of them, but instead I have none because two different dice rolled lifesized representations of the DM's penis. In fact, that's what I think I shall call "1"s from now on. "You can pass this check so long as you don't roll a DM's dick!"

Heh, that's pretty great.

Market price is 1125 GP, but you can swing 800 gp without issue if you are reading this.
If you have to ask, you can't afford them!

I'm going to scribe eleventy billion scrolls of Mass Resist Energy before the DM bans the spell. I'm going to be rich!

I will just redefine MRE to be More Raped Elephants. It will summon a horde of them for you to comfort, counsel, amd attempt to chase down a crazy hunter who has moved beyond mundane poaching to fulfill his unholy desires...

~golf clap~

I just snarfed my morning coffee.

In flight wireless! So if the plane crashes, you can tweet some useless hipster bullshit on the way down!

So I'm watching a Psych from a few years ago...

Random guy: You two have a lot of balls!
Shawn: Four, actually. And a phantom one I call Rigby.