OAAAA Recap

9/5/08

Aeton took the loss of his bridge pretty well. After being locked up in jail for two days, he and Fantus got a map of the world from the sea elves. That flamboyant flapjack blood elf pirate offered us a ride to the mainland where we hoped to find the dragon's lair, with a solid lead from the sea elves. Our intrepid heros made a spectacular exit from town on the flying flapjack and were off to sea towards their destination. Then Grandfather Flame came out of the sky and all those pansy pirates abandoned ship, tasty blood elf treats bobbing in the sea for a dragon hankerin for a hunk of blood elf.

---

BEN: Well, for only three characters to go head to head with Sky was quite something. But the characters played smart and kept their actions tight and well coordinated, and victory was theirs. I'd just like to commend a few highlights, and leave it to the players to provide the summary to their fellow party members:
1.) Aefra taking down Sky with a thrown daenerys dagger...right after the MT Tithe got taken down with a 68 stun hit to the head.
2.) Aetan heaving several goblins into the abyss...or just bashing them into goblin pulp with his hammer and sending the others running in terror.
3.) Aetan diving off a bridge (!), into the abyss, after an unconscious and falling Tithe, catching him in midair with a critical success dex roll, to completely save the situation.
4.) Aefra making a cool illusory wedding band as for Grendel, to seal her marriage to him.
5.) Aetan declaring himself a vassal of Grendel.
6.) Matt prebuying luck to allow him to reroll the second of two 17 failures for a 15- roll, as an instant effect.
7.) Tithe getting dog piled by goblins and fighting his way out.

On account of numbers 1, 3, 4, and 5, but especially #3, the entire group (including Dieter, Gabe, and Nate) are awarded 1 bonus XP.
Additionally: Matt and Ed: I think that your purchased disadvantages came into play last session, so you each get the bonus from that as well.

--Gdaze -- Jeez, seems the group got a hard-on for Grendel. So is the group ever going to run into people we don't bow down and kiss their ass sometimes?

Edmiao I'm going out on a limb here.... no?

BEN: have you met anyone you particularly didn't like where it would have been beneficial to be bellicose towards them? Other than the establishment back on Caminus? Or the knight of flowers? Or the ninja orc?

--Brandon 11:18, 20 October 2008 (MST) I was going to say, though Ben has partially stolen my thunder, that I think we have established a pretty good balance between ass-kissing and ass-kicking:

Some members of Caminus establishment: kissed
Other members of said establishment: tricked/kicked
Bandits: kicked
Gwyndolin: kissed
Dragon: neither (we just ran and ran)
Ape: kicked
Knight of Flowers: kicked
Folks in Carthay: intermittent kissing
Wood Elves: stayed respectfully aloof
Ninja Orc: got kicked, then kicked
Grendel: kissed (literally)
Dragon (second time): I predict a prodigious amount of ass-kissing here

12/12/08

--Brandon 15:05, 15 December 2008 (MST) Can I get a recap of last session? Thanks.

Gabe: We all almost died... no really, WE ALL ALMOST DIED.

So I'm gonna give you a quick re-cap with this guy and that guy, some other person can re-write it.

We spent a day in the city of pompus jerk-offs doing some research. Met with the high wizard, he said he can't do Grundell's "task" just yet because of his important research. The next day we flew off on the carpet again.

We got to the tower pretty quick, it is massive. We decided that the best plan would be to fly into a window at the top, expect perhaps some arrows or such from defenders.

Instead the entire carpet was hit with the force of a dragon's strike and we all went flying into the air, we were really high up (enough to take around 30D6 of damage). We had nine turns.

Ah... for the rest I think I should post with names of characters as it is epic.

Edmiao after we began the incident, i was looking at the falling rules, and i think we actually had 9 segments (not 9 phases) to act. i kept it to myself in the interest of not being the sole survivor of the session (as the only character with wings). although that would have been interesting, Aefra could have probably saved one person, who to pick?

Gabe: Fantus would have insisted you save Galen. And offer many apologies to the two people who helped us get there...

Fantus has potions and a nasty claw, Aetan has a nice big club, but Galen can bring down the power of a God. When it comes time for punishment of those who did this, I think he would be of great use... plus a healer around when we save her is good too! And if any of us have a chance at making the people in the Kingdom beleive us it is Galen. (not saying Galen is the best in the group, in fact as a team we are pretty awesome, just saying that the most help back in our hometown will be Galen, but also Fantus has seen Galen's powers, healing, protecting us from heat and cold... Fantus figures that if he can keep most of us fighting he is very important)

Left Tithe out cuz he was lagging.

BEN: hah, 9 phases...you guys would have been pancakes. Well, board's a-play, and I'm quite pleased with how things turned out from a "storytelling" perspective...not to mention that killing ALL the players at one stroke is pretty drastic...although I guess it would have only been two. Damn, talk about a brutal session if that's how it'd gone...

1/9/09

Aefra: Well, yesterday went pretty well, except for you all almost becoming ugly splats on the rocks. Anyone up for planning our approach this time? Any ideas? Should we go find that thiefly guy who has allegedly been in the tower before?

Aetan: If we were to build a bridge from that island to the mainland...

Aefra: Oh... my.... gods. that is such a good idea! why didn't we think of that before? I have another idea, how about Fantus makes flying potions this time and gives them to everyone, just in case. i think you'd all look fabulous with wings.

Fantus: How about we hold off on that one... I don't want to be smacked by the same foce that hit the carpet! Can't you like turn us invisable? Isn't that part of the light, illusion magic you practice?

Tithe: How reasonable/unreasonable were the citizens of the isle? Ideally, I think that we could straightforwardly approach them and tell them of our intentions. They seem to be pious enough folk. I imagine that they would be happy that we were attempting to free their object of worship. Then, we could simply walk in the front door and deal with the rest from there. Assuming, of course, that we haven't ruined our welcome by killing them by the handful. After we enter, things, I imagine, will become interesting. But, we do have resources at our disposal.

Fantus: They shot us with arrows because they claimed we violated some holy rule about flying into the tower, and they think his current "sleeping" is all part of some plan. So although that makes sense to wake him up... they don't seem very interested.

Tithe: Hmmm. If there is some holy rule about flying into the tower, maybe we should walk in.

Aefra: Oh, when did you talk to them Fantus? I just remember us flying around then then they started to shoot arrows at us, then there were fisticuffs and then fleeing.

Fantus: Its on the page with info on them... (IE in my book I guess...)

--Brandon 21:11, 7 January 2009 (MST) Ummm, I don't see that information anywhere, either in the Ixymion entry or the Clocktower entry. Indeed, in the Clocktower entry it says that the ceremonial guard IS NOT charged with stopping people from entering the tower. Could you please direct me to the right place?

Fantus: I dunno... I just remember someone saying it... not that they WOULD stop us, just that they think he should be sleeping or something... could be wrong, I'm all for just walking in!

Aefra: Thanks for letting me look in your book, Fantus. let's see... Clocktower. hmm. hmm. oh. hmm. interesting. Hey, it does say that right here, "The western gate ...blah blah blah... is guarded by a single ceremonial guard at all times. The guard is there for show: he/she represents the devotion... blah blah blah..., but they are not charged with preventing the entry of anyone who dares to try and enter." But also, the eastern gate is over a cliff, we could approach it by magic carpet. Perhaps, though, we should just approach the city and appologize for the misunderstanding and announce our intentions. I believe that honesty is always best.

Fantus: I dunno, these people seem like extremists, but perhaps having Galen talk to them would be the best choice as the people here clearly respect his God as well. But again, fine by me. When we went in it was dark, so we had that to our advantage... wait was it dark? I forget... Hey don't read too much in that book you'll get funny ideas...

Speaking of which, have you master invisability yet?

Aefra: I like your book, it's nice. I have been thinking about that, i think i can make light bend around myself and then out the other side, kind of like a bridge through myself that only light can travel, you know what i mean? but i have to think more and practice it before i can use it on someone else. cus making a bridge through yourself is easier than making a bridge through someone else.

Tithe I agree with Aefra; honesty is required and we can fly in the eastern gate if they are inclined to bar our entry after that. Aefra has almost always been right in the past. I don't approve, however, of her sudden talk about bridges. We already have enough bridge-based nonsense to contend with as it is. Lastly, and most importantly, I think that we might want to plan more carefully about what how we are going to deal with the fiendishly complicated and dangerous castle exploration, which likely will require more effort than just getting inside.

Aetan - The solutions to these problems are as clear as a forest stream, but apparently only Aefra and myself see them.

I am not certain honesty will help; I believe the residents of that island believe us guilty of trespass and sacrilege. Nonetheless, if I must bash a few of them to illustrate the point, I will do so.

Fantus: Have you though of investing in a cod piece by the way Aetan? That looked nasty painful. I say we do it there way, if it fails and we have to cleave our way through 100's of guards, so be it.

That said I think we should let our good friend... whats his face, get out of here. I do not like endangering him anymore then we have. I also 2nd the too much bridge talk.

Random plotting about Dragon Liberation vs Orc Theft

Aetan - We have decided that to match wits with a dragon is suicide. However, in so doing, we have also decided that wresting the ruby shield from the mighty orc Grunbad is not, a decision which may not have been the wisest, but is one we chose after much careful deliberation.

How might we accomplish our goals, my brethren?

I can think of a few approaches:

Might Makes Right: The orcs respect strength; this much we learned from the fellow who told us of Oryxis. It is possible, thought not likely, that with all our abilities combined, we might best him in a contest of strength. I do not, however, consider this bridge sound.

The Tip of His Spear: Grunbad's prized javelin kills whoever it strikes. Perhaps if we were to gain it, we could best him in combat.

His Ultimate Goal: Grunbad hired Iyi to steal the Ruby Shield for him; the price was astronomical. We can assume that the plunder he seeks goes to repay the legendary thief. A question then arises as to Grunbad's motivation: Does he seek nothing but glory? Is there a grudge he wishes to settle? Perhaps we might hasten him to his goal, or bring about his defeat, with knowledge of his desires. However, if we approach from this angle, real, decisive action must be taken.

The Thief Again: We could also hire Iyi to steal the shield back. Does anyone have a great deal of money?

In any case, I desire that our strategy be sound. Not only is Galen currently within the enemy camps, he may likely have been pressed into service. Additionally; every day brings our lady closer to ruin and the fiend who put her there closer to victory. We must resolve to defeat all that stand in our way.

--Matts 16:57, 10 January 2009 (MST)Ok, I came up with a plan! We go into the camp all pissed off that they press ganged our priest/healer; this is a crime they have to pay for! If we're lucky, we'll run into them taking him to Grunbad, and we demand penance from him, to the price of his most prized possession. Then we *mumble* fight him and win *mumble*, and take the shield!

All I'm saying is that if we're going to fight him, we should come up with some "standing", some kind of grievance, so that when we do defeat Grunbad, the orcs there respect the result as some kind of justice, right?

Edmiao brilliant. any plan is better than all the mucking about we have been doing. so, probably it will have to be single combat, for honor's sake. any plans on how you are going to beat him besides making a bridge of air through his chest? oooo, that would be a fantastic power for you. make bridge, only through people. i say if we have not made serious progress by half way through the next session, we abort and go to the clocktower. likely there will be some fatalities, but such is the cost of progress and Fantus will lead the way.

Question for ben: the shield gives Gundbad magic immunity, correct? is the shield protected from magic as well? if grundle is immune to magic, does that mean that he can automatically see through my illusions, or is it just that he cannot be targeted by magic?

Wait, why the fuck are we doing this anyway? to get the dragon to come and extinguish the flames to get Danny girl out of the flames, right? Well, Tithe's girlfriend is on the way with the super ice stuff to do just that, we enlist her or steal it from her, so what the fuck are we doing? shouldn't we work on a cure for the poison instead?

-Matts 19:59, 10 January 2009 (MST)Oryxis' flame is one of the only cures we found for bloodstone poison. That's why we're doing this.

Edmiao ok then. i was a bit confused there.

--Brandon 14:03, 11 January 2009 (MST) Yes! I like the plans so far. I had a couple of my own, some along the lines of what Aetan has raised, some slightly different. I'll fit these plans under two scenarios: the Sneaky Stealing Scenario, and Aetan's Might Makes Right scenario. I don't think that these scenarios are mutually exclusive.

Useful Background Information: We will most likely have the best success if we infiltrate the camp as mercenaries (note: this will probably mean that Tithe will have to not talk for long stretches of time). Regardless of plan, Galen will play a valuable information-gathering role, since he has already inadvertently infiltrated Grundad's camp. So:

Sneaky Stealing Scenario: The basics of this plan involve Aefra sneakily stealing the shield. As I see it, this involves a confluence of factors. Aefra can make herself invisible. Tithe can make her silent. Fantus can give her a strength potion (so that she can lift the shield) and , I imagine, might be able to whip up something that causes a stinkbomb, so that no one can smell Aefra (maybe Fantus can recreate the Cherry Lane (?) Effect?). Then, all that we need to do is either (i) make sure that Grunbad isn't wielding the shield or (ii) dampen the "anti-sneakin" magic on the shield (maybe my dispel magic will work for that purpose temporarily)j. Aetan, I hope, can open the old ways to get all of us out of there before our lives are sought by Grunbad's spear.

Might Makes Right: As Matt's plan, except only one of us challenges Grunbad (I imagine this would be Tithe, because he fits the bill of self-sacrificing martyr most closely). Ideally this will cause enough of a distraction that we can do something nefarious (for example, Aefra steals the spear - which I imagine Grunbad wouldn't use on a measly nobody stone elf - and Fantus heaves it at Grunbad's back just as Tithe disenchants the shield momentarily). This plan also involves a hasty retreat along the old ways, or possibly a mid-air extraction via magic carpet. Aetan could also conceivably be the challenger, while the rest work behind the scenes.

The best plan - by my lights - combines aspects of the Sneaky Stealing Scenario, the Tip of His Spear, and Might Makes Right. Thoughts?

--Dieter the Bold 14:52, 11 January 2009 (MST) You forgot option 3: Galen Charms Grundbad Into Giving Us the Shield. It's just so crazy it might work. Otherwise I'd go for the Sneaky option, followed inevitably by the Might option when Sneaky doesn't work.

Edmiao it is worth considering a hybrid of might and stealth. might fight for distraction, go for the "fair fight" mano a mano, no weapons or armor. then sneaky sneak steals the shield. i could spend all my points on invisiblity improvements for the sneaky option (invisible to sight, sound, smell and magesight, with GM approval)

--Brandon 10:42, 12 January 2009 (MST) I was also thinking we might be able to go the traditional route, and have Aefra (or Galen, I won't pretend to know how this orc swings) seduce Grunbad so as to get into his bedchamber unsuspected, then sneaky sneak the shield away. It worked on Arthur Pendragon, it can work on this punk ass warlord!

GABE: Lets just kill him in his sleep. Or lets bring him to the dragon, bam, shield delivered, I never said anywhere in the contract that an orc wouldn't come with the shield. Not like it protects the user from his talons anyway.

--Brandon 10:55, 12 January 2009 (MST) This is actually a fascinating idea. If Grunbad is obsessed with glory, we might be able to convince him that defeating Grandfather Flame would be in his best interest. However, we probably have to make sure Grunbad doesn't have his Life-Seeking Javelin with him, 'cause otherwise I imagine Oryxys would be pissed at us!

BEN: you can't kill him in his sleep. The shield protects him from sneak attacks of any kind (it doesn't allow him to detect anyone sneaking around or anything, it just means he can't be backstabbed, etc)

--Brandon 11:35, 12 January 2009 (MST) Ben, am I crazy to think that my spear's dispel magic ability could "turn off" some of the shield's abilities, or the life-seeking spear's abilities, momentarily?

BEN: yes...and no. Yes, in the sense that the ruby shield is one of the most powerful magic items ever created in Amora. A 20D6 dispel, while powerful, will never shut off any power with an active points cost above 120 points (assuming you roll all 6s), and is very unlikely to shut off anything above 75 points, and though I haven't built Ignus, I imagine it's powers are significantly more than that each. No, in the sense that massive, cinematic, heroic effects are always possible, at a price...something you and I could negotiate depending on what you want to do.

GABE: Well shoooot. Oh I didn't know he had that... that'd be bad if he got rid of our cure... Well I'm leaving this one up to you, I don't have much interaction with orcs.

Edmiao why can't we kill him in his sleep? the shield protects him, but only while he holds it, right? it is possible that he sleeps with the thing, of course. but if he put it down, then we could sneak up on him, yes?

BEN: as long as it's in use by him, it protects him: he doesn't have to be holding it. So, if it's slung on his back it would protect him from sneak attack, and likely also if it were mounted over his throne or his bed.

GABE: Does it protect from accidents?

BEN: nope...but you would be mistaken if you think you can "trick" the shield on the basis of a technicality...it's very sharp. (yuk yuk)

--Matts 18:29, 13 January 2009 (MST)Does the shield offer full coverage against natural disasters or (DIETER) acts of God?

Edmiao would he be protected if, say, he engaged in an honor duel where the two combatants agreed to take off their armor and put down their weapons and duke it out? in this case he is willingly putting the shield aside, and possibly relinquishing it's protection for a time.

Edmiao I have an interesting idea for a power for Shao. He has been in existence longer, the longer he exists, the more real he becomes. I could give him some power that would simulate interdimensional movement, allow him to pull an object into the shadow world. Maybe Desolidify, usable as attack. were he stealthy enough, he could grab the shield and run with it through the shadow realm. We would of course still need to get Solomon Grundy to put it down for a bit. Perhaps Priestly Deiter could tell Grundy that he needs to make offereing to the gods and that in order to recieve their favor Grundy must go without weapons or armor and offer up sincere piety to Zeus or Amora or whatever god Solomon Grundy might worship. What gods do zombies like him worship anyway?

maybe this poem will help:
Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
That was the end of
Solomon Grundy.

Edmiao if someone were to take the shield, they might need to flee in a hurry. can fantus make a potion of movement?

BEN: as for what I put on your "talk" page, Ed, If Shao managed to steal the shield, and THEN go "into the shadow realm" he could probably do that: he just couldn't send the shield there while it was in the possession of Grunbad.
If Grunbad put down the shield for an "honor duel", the shield wouldn't protect him, no.

GABE: Sure can, but what about the people we leave behind?

Hey wait... Matt is all Earth like right? And one of Grundel's servents... How about some sort of Earth Shaping Spell?

Or even better what if we convince the Orc his shield is a fake! OH wait gotta jump into Fantus for this.

Fantus: I GOT IT! Okay okay... so Aefra... we will need your illusion magic. Basically lets convince the orc that his shield is a fake, and that he had all this amazing ability to begain with... We can do some "tests" in which we use your illusion magic to prove he is indeed that amazing... And we offer to take the shield from him as we are collectors and a fake still at least looks nice... or something like that!

Either that or lets challange him an honor duel, steal it, then all make off. Although I THINK that may cause some trouble down the line, even more so with war coming.

--Brandon 15:09, 19 January 2009 (MST) Another thought for a possible plan, though one that might be too sneaky for Tithe to dream up:

Great Empires Die From Indigestion: I imagine that there is some up and coming Orc badass within Grunbad's camp who's just itching to become the new warlord. Given the hugeness of the army, I'm sure there's at least a badass orc or two with ambition. But, I also imagine that said orc badass is hesitant to challenge Grunbad mano-a-mano because of Grunbad's possession of Ignus (not to mention the life-seeking spear). If we can make a deal with the badass so that we promise to take the shield out of the equation (even if momentarily) in exchange for being able to keep Ignus, maybe orc badass will do our fighting of Grunbad for us. Whaddya think?

Edmiao well, we know who the brains in this outfit is. that's brilliant. the big problem with the Aeten challenges Grundy to a duel was that Aeten ended up dead (although Galen could buy resurrection to counter that, gm approval). This will work. we get him to put down the shield during a duel with mr uppity up and while grundy slaughters the uppity, we steal the shield and javelin. we must steal both, i think. Possibly a new interdimensional movement for Shao would solve a lot of the stealing problems. but the javelin of death will still kill shao as he runs away intangibly with the shield through an army of orcs (hopefully the orcs lack magic weapons and spells), so we would need to acquire the javelin as well. we should split our forces, one group takes the javelin, one takes the shield. maximum chaos to minimize their ability to focus on one target

BEN: the orcs definitely have some spellcasters, and some of their champions definitely have magic weapons. Also: Resurrection magic does NOT exist. As to EDM...this will be subject to very stringent GM control, but you can take it if the effect is story appropriate and not unbalancing.

--Matts 14:18, 21 January 2009 (MST)I'm fairly certain that whatever plan we dream up, it'll at best prevent us from being roundly demolished. As for the unarmed combat: Aetan has STR 30, PD 3/9 without any buffs. He has a 2d6 Aid to STR, PD, and STUN. He can get +10 STR from a potion. The way I see it, if we're lucky, he tops out at 47 STR, if we're really lucky he's over 50. That's a lot, and with judicious use of XP, might be enough, but that assumes we can even convince him to drop his gear, which I'm not sure we can.

--Brandon 14:24, 21 January 2009 (MST) What's Aetan's OCV? Regardless, I'm with Ed that we don't want to risk you being dead. As for the dropping of the gear, I'm thinking about trying to cook up a one-time whizbang Dispel Magic to at least shut off the shield momentarily.

--Matts 14:43, 21 January 2009 (MST)OCV is 4, +4 with Mauls, +2 when enraged. I will probably need a one-time whiz-bang +OCV also.

Edmiao you know, for Shao's entering the real world, i was thinking extradimensional movement, but it isn't really another dimension. in another dimension, you are not touchable from this world. you are not in this world. the power i was thinking of for shao was just to become solid for a while. i think perhaps i should just buy off the "always on" limitation on his desolidification and buy a limitation at the same time "costs end to deactivate" at whatever "costs end" would be for an constant power.

If he did buy EDM it would be to move to the shadow world. in that case, he could grab the shield, move to the shadow world and walk away scott free, untouchable by any magic unless they also had EDM. that might be game breaking.

BEN: I think you are making assumptions about the "shadow world" if you think magic couldn't reach him there: I don't see "the shadow world" as so vastly divested from the real world (being a shadow of it, after all) that all connection is severed. As I've said, EDM would have to be tightly controlled for game balance, and keeping it consistent with the world is a good starting point. I will definitely not allow Shao to cross over into some realm where he will be immune/removed from all influence of the world. In general, many forms of magic are likely to be able to cross into whatever other "dimension" he enters, as will certain inherently magical creatures. As for grabbing the shield: it's a big shield, and it's made out of stone (ruby, to be exact). Just something to consider if you want a cat to carry it.

ED: that's what strength potions are for.

BEN: I'm not sure what Gabe's take on this is, or what the book says but I'm not sure even REAL creatures get the benefits of magical potions the way sentient beings do. Even if they do, a shadow creature composed of nothing but shadow might not derive the same benefits. And even if it did, mixing magic potions, as fantus will tell you, is a risky business for anyone but a master of hag magic: what mixing hag magic with Fae magic (in fact, a being composed almost exclusively of Fae magic) will do is anyone's guess. Again, not saying it won't work, but ANY plan, no matter how many l33t rul3z hax it uses, will require careful planning. I know y'all hate that, but you guys are, you know, sort of DONE once you solve this one. So if you think I'm just gonna hand it to you...
besides, thinking semi-logically, Grunbad is the biggest, baddest orc warlord of all time. He's fighting the imadigo, who are the masters of assassination, thievery, and intrigue (along with the Csarans). There MUST be reasons Grunbad is still alive. not only alive, but stomping the ever loving shit out of the imadigo. On their home turf. In the middle of a giant camp of the most easily upset, fierce, well armed, veteran creatures of Amora.
As metagame knowledge: I do think the shield will be easier than the castle. Either is doable, both will be on the very hard to nearly impossible difficulty level, and PCs may die in the pursuit of either. You definitely have the tools, contacts, resources, etc, etc, to accomplish them, but if you guys think you can just wing it in a single session, you guys will spend a lot of time in the liberty city hospital, working off your xp debt. Or scraping your allies off the pavement with a wet dry vac.

ED: hey, shao's a person too! He may have to grow then, he can do that up to 45 STR. might make him a bit conspicuous. he can also has teleport from shadow to shadow, which he could buy up for more distance. might be handy for getting out of dodge with a big red target on your back.

seems i'm going to miss the next OAAAA session, y'all have fun plotin' and planin' and tell me where to cast my spells and what useful xp expenditures will help the group.

ben, does that mean the end of the game is imminent? or just the end of the current arc?

--Brandon 01:08, 30 January 2009 (MST) There is an OBVIOUS reason as to why Grunbad has done so well. He has the ruby shield. If we take it from him (which will be, of course, no problem at all), he's gonna go down like Gabe. And why didn't you tell us we had access to a wet dry vac? Your very hard to impossible scenario, which is easier than the other very hard to impossible scenario (and less likely to cause significant moral collateral damage than the third very hard to impossible scenario), is going to be a piece of cake as long as we have a wet dry vac. Oh, and a tactical nuke. Is there one of those lying around that you forgot to mention as well?

BEN: shao has sufficient levels of growth to get 45 str? jebus. I'll have to go back and look at his powers...I haven't been that restrictive with his powers compared to players, and in general I don't want to be restrictive, so that should all be fine...but it does give me pause, at least briefly Re: what other abilities he might be allowed to pick up in the short term. But in all likelihood you can do whatever.
Grunbad was a badass even before he had the shield. Iyi is said to be many things, but nobody says he/she is an idiot (cue Gabe and/or Ed), and you don't sell something that turns the entire Dwarven race against you unless you are reasonably sure you are going to get paid (or you are getting paid upfront). Not to mention that maintaining an orc army is like trying to get your Gemini Crew to agree on something.
I originally saw the story terminating with the rescue of Daenerys as the first of 3 "books", in which each session was a "chapter": that way players could nix the game at the end of each of these if the game had run out of steam while still getting the satisfaction of a major accomplishment within 12 weeks or so. It hasn't worked out that way...the first book has spread out considerably, which is fine, but it does mean I have to be mindful of how well I can maintain GM responsibilities if I were to start Book 2. This is something we can discuss when this book comes to an end.
That being said: If you guys get really motivated, I think you could easily solve whichever dragon bait you guys are going for in the next 3 week block. You guys could also end up getting one or two PCs killed, which might sour the game somewhat, so I will try to avoid this. Thereafter, we can be on a "week to week" lease as far as continuing the story goes, I suppose.

Edmiao wait, it's not 45 str. he has growth levels for +45 str but he has to spend some of those getting back to human size. lets see if I remember right, I think he has 9 levels of growth, and six of those are used to get to human size (as he is two size classes smaller than human and 3 growth levels per size class). Humans are STR 10, then three more levels should get him to STR 25, which should be about 16 feet tall, or maybe 12 feet tall.

GABE: Potion is totally up to you, I don't think it is worth a minus to affect him (the cat that is).

How about we just get a lance, and fucking fly and ram the orc on the flying carpet? Mwuhahaha!

Or just convince him that he is a poor warrior because he has to relie on objects more powerful then he is.

Ed, is your illusion magic more powerful yet? Like gives big -'s?

Edmiao minus 7 to PER for a simple nonmoving object. I think the modifiers are: +2 for a simple moving object, like a ball rolling; and +4 for a complex moving object, like a man walking; +6 for a very complex thing, like a football team playing basketball.

--Brandon 10:59, 30 January 2009 (MST) If Iyi isn't an idiot, why is she hanging around wearing skimpy clothing, serving Sasha's every need?  ; )

BEN: a very good question indeed...as for the potions, I think I would say that you can brew EITHER a sentient being version of a given potion, or an animal version: the potions have no magical effect when drunk across this divide. you don't need to spend any points to be allowed to make animal versions of your potions, but you do need to specify which type of creature you are making the potion for. Does that sound fair?
I've repeatedly mentioned the divides between magics and that magic potions can interact with each other, so you can expect that trying to mix different kinds of magic will have dramatic and poorly controlled/understood effects.
The shield protects the bearer from treachery. It can be assumed this extends to illusions.

--Brandon 11:26, 30 January 2009 (MST) Does the shield protect Grunbad from buggery? Aetan's abilities in this area are, purportedly, magical.

Edmiao sounds fair to me. just means we need to test it out if we go that route.

i thought previously you said that the shield protects the bearer from being snuck up upon. but that it would not allow him to see through an illusion. if we were invisible, and tried to back stab him the shield would alert him; but if we made an illusionary wall, he wouldn't be able to auto detect it. fine if you want to change the way it works, we just need to be clear by game time.

--Matts 13:53, 2 February 2009 (MST)I want to bring up the possibility that this will take several sessions, and that if it does, we should establish some mini-goals to work towards for each of those sessions. I have a sneaking suspicion that orc society doesn't let wanderers freely challenge warlords, so we're going to have to "gain standing", I imagine, to get a fight/audience with Grunbad. Ben, can we get some background on orc culture, so that we have an idea what the ladder to the top looks like?

Also, I'm not sure that single combat will end well. I think that even without the shield, if Orc culture values horsebowmen, it's likely they consider hit-and-run tactics honorable, and it's further likely that Grunbad would employ them against us. See the fight with Sky for how many knots that kind of enemy put us in. So if we can find a way to face him en masse within the corners of orc culture, I think we'd be in the best shape.

So in summary: Let's identify some short-term goals once we have a good idea of orc culture. Let's not leave it to single combat with Grunbad unless we have some chicanery that lets the whole group's resources come to bear.

Edmiao good ideas. ben essentially said that this will take a few sessions to get through.

--Brandon 15:10, 2 February 2009 (MST) Good call Matt!! I have some suggestions for mini-goals for the next session:

(1) Gain access to the camp in such a way that allows us some freedom of movement within it.

(2) Learn aspects of orc culture that might allow us to challenge Grunbad effectively.

(3) Identify conceivably mutinous sub-group within orc camp that we might be able to incite to revolt.

(4) Kill some stuff (this is a meta-game goal 'cause I think we need a good fight).

Edmiao consider the following from Ben's recent orc post: "Today, it is considered a grave insult for an inferior to challenge anyone of superior rank, or to even address such a person." This rules indicate to me the following: we cannot talk to grundy. we cannot challenge grundy. we cannot talk to anyone who could challenge grundy. We could get around these problems by passing ourselves off as kings. oh!!!! wait! Aefra is a queen.

--Matts 13:01, 12 February 2009 (MST)I imagine that we can talk to him, we can't challenge him. I also imagine that if Aefra challenges him, that'd be a declaration of war, not a challenge-from-within.

I propose: we join his army. We work our way up the ranks, butchering his horsemen (god, grant me an entangle) in challenges, and proving our worth in other ways. In the meantime, Galen works on the orc, giving him "bad medicine" or something that works through the shield, so that when we're finally of the stature to challenge him, we don't get stomped.

--Brandon 13:30, 12 February 2009 (MST) I like the overall tenor of this plan, and still think that we can do this while conceivably sowing discord from within. We might be able to parley Aefra's royal stature as the sort of thing that would allow her to be something like one of the band of "brothers" that has some sort of status in the camp. Maybe we can promise a bunch of goblin cannon fodder (we totally should have brought a bag of goblins to demonstrate our wares, like Fantus said).

Edmiao from the above, it seemed to me that a band of mercenaries would not even be able to speak to grundy. my interpretation may be wrong. However, if this is true , then the plan of showing up as mercenaries could go astray and make it so that we can never speak to grundy, let alone challenge him. If we later say "by the way, I'm a queen" it is likely to be scoffed at as a lie. What if we show up as "Queen Aefra and her royal guard" who are searching the world for adventure and battles to cut their teeth on and hone their skills. Orc waaaaaaaaaaghh seems like a good place for the royal guard to train, so here we is. Thus we could be a sort of royal band of mercenaries. This will give us an "in" to the royal table while still just acting as mercs, we would probably be invited to dinner with grundy and his captains out of respect. Course I won't be there, feel free to NPC Aefra and her royalty if you want to take this tack.

GABE: I'm actually digging Aefra's ideas, not Aeten's, that takes too long, and we have a time limit. I guess when it comes to making deals it is up to the warlock.

Maybe we could offer him an alliance with our island? Gain much honor by defeating the big baddies?

--Brandon 16:42, 12 February 2009 (MST) I don't think that Aefra's ideas and Aetan's are incompatible. In a way, I see Aefra's plan as a certain, inspired instantiation of Aetan's plan. I'm totally on board with the royal guard idea. As a reminder, we might want to keep in mind the fact that Tithe isn't able to lie, so I will have to be careful about what role he plays in any deception. Of course, it is true that Aefra is a queen, and that Tithe is dedicated to protecting her (along with all of the other auspice bound).

GABE: Didn't say incompatible, just don't like Aeten's takes too long (meta-game, ZERO interest in being bossed around by orcs for who knows how many games). If the is the route the characters go Fantus will try to make a cure for the posion, or heck even a potion to help deal with the fire.

--Matts 17:52, 12 February 2009 (MST)I also think the royal guard route is a good one. Aetan is after all a Knight.

Edmiao if it will help tithe, aefra can officially anoint him with some title.

BEN: Aetan is, if you recall, more than a knight, he is an official retainer/ambassador for Grendel, and has a magical "seal" to prove it (assuming Grunbad would understand the meaning of a black stone disk...). Just to clarify.
As a queen, you could probably address Grunbad, but that doesn't guarantee you would be addressed as an equal. Orc society is still based on strength and martial prowess, so Aefra's effeminate charms wouldn't count for much. But they would respect her title, at least temporarily.
You are right, you CAN'T just challenge Grunbad, even as a foreign Queen. Formal address is usually "3rd Person" though, to get around this: ie, messengers, etc, speak in soliloquy to no one in particular, and ranking orcs "muse aloud" what information it might be useful for them to have. Very irritating and silly, but they are orcs, after all.

GABE So we now risk pissing off 20k worth of orcs instead of a small cult and a tower full of traps. I still say tower! You know the biggest problem with all of this is how do we get the sheild, my alliance idea wouldn't really get us the shield.

--Matts 12:30, 13 February 2009 (MST)So, i agree that the "work our way up" strategy isn't really gonna cut it. Maybe as a gesture of statesmanship, we'll have to do some feats of strength or something, and then we can challenge him? Note that this leaves unresolved the actual challenge, which is likely as not to be a total slaughter. So in the course of our proving our worth, if we could turn a significant portion of his waaaagh against him, that'd be ideal.

GABE I'm telling you, wave after wave of goblins into the tower, bam. I bet we have more goblins then that towers has traps. I mean if you gonna make orcs kill each other, who could actually be useful as allies, why not just use the goblins as trap disarmerment? I dunno about starting an entire war is really nessary to get this shield. I mean can't you just throw a pebble near it and we just teleport in?

BEN: I will tell you right now that you do NOT have enough goblins to overwhelm the traps in Ixymion's tower, even if you could find a way to a.) get thousands of goblins from the undermountain to Ixymions isle, b.) somehow land them on a fortified island staffed by several hundred fanatic knights templar and c.) get them organized enough to charge into the tower. If there's one thing dragon's hate, its when "lesser" creatures get away with shit by overwhelming quality with quantity. Some dragons have been known to come to the aid of their nemeses merely out of frustration at what they see as an overturning of the natural order on this basis (Jormundgandr, for instance, had a long running rivalry with the hero Aiolos, but nevertheless reduced an army to corpses when Aiolos was the last man standing defending a pass against said army.) As such, you can bet (as in, I'm telling you) that at least *some* of the traps in the tower aren't going to use ammunition: however they work, they will work that way regardless of whether 1, 10, or 1000 people step in it.

GABE: Dude Ben, if you don't want us to do something just say it won't work haha. Most of these things are fairly easy to get past such as buying a gate teleport, thousands of goblins should beable to beat hundreds of knights (numbers).

I'm a little confused as to the dragons coming to "help", um isn't that what we are doing, is helping the dragon wake up? So I'm not sure why a dragon would come?

Edmiao i think that was just an example of how dragons hate armies of beanies and they are ready for them. btw folks, as i won't be there, feel free to switch to the tower if you want to. those absent have no input, i say.

BEN: Lol. No, I'm actually not trying to tell you you CAN"T do something or even that I don't WANT you to do it. I just want to make it clear that neither problem has a nice, easy solution in which you can just use some "back door" hax0r trix to just steamroll all my carefully laid plans. Your point about a gate teleport is perfectly valid, and Matt may even have one of those: as for knights vs. goblins, the knights have a fortified city and extensive military training, while the goblins have neither: in a straight fight, the knights would probably beat 10:1 goblins or more even without city walls, assuming they were organized and equipped. By way of example, Alexander of macedon used an army of 40,000 to rout several armies numbering somewhere between 200,000 and a million men. And ditto on Ed regarding my point about dragons and their hatred of small fry, sorry if that was confusing.

GABE: What if we just sink the entire island? Ya gotta think outside the box! Well if goblins won't work, which would be fun, then I'm out, but I think the tower is a better idea because A. We piss of a smaller # of people, who might not be pissed once they see freed dragon. B. They only saw us at night, they have little clue as to what we look like. C. The orc thing risks us having a war on our island.

Heroes change track a third time

--Dieter the Bold 11:02, 16 February 2009 (MST) Incorrect. Bonus XP for being awesome. It's now 75 + 169xp. Recap is as follows:

Galen gets taken through orc camp.
Galen spots the Kestrel and yucks it up with him some.
Galen gets audience with Grundbad, things go well enough.
Galen spots out of place hut near Grundbad's pavilion (I swear I saw chicken feet hiding under it)
Galen meets up w/ Tithe and Aeten, minor melee ensues.
The group announces itself (in Aefra's name) to the camp.
The camp moves, but Grundbad meets us on neutral ground and we chat it up.
Group gets jumped by an Imadigo ninja (aka, Sky wannabe) who tries to make off with Tithe's bag which contains Gwyndonlin's letter.
Group beats on ninja (who wickedly stabs Galen in the vitals) and retrieves the bag and letter.
Sasha ferries the group over to Grundbad's new camp.
Group finds mysterious hut again and is invited in by..... DUNdunDUNNNNNNN!!!... Jagha
Tithe is suspicious and gets stuck outside where he slowly freezes and is then turned to stone.
On the inside, Aeten and Galen chat Jagha up, reveal most of our mission.
Tithe is turned back to normal so we can have a discussion and a new accord is reached.

• All of the Auspice Bound (Daenerys and Nate's character included) owe Jagha one task of her choosing (we can all help, and she assured us they would be reasonable).
  
• Oryxys most desires what Ixymion had, mastery of magic. There exist the Novice Tomes in Csara which can teach anyone magic. We need to go there and get the tomes. We're given 20 days to do it. We can also call on Iyi for help, and Jagha will plain do it herself if we fail to do it by 20 days (we'd prefer to avoid both of the latter two options).
  

And that's game.

Edmiao wow, the wiki is running wicked slow today. re the above.... damn you all to hell!!!

BEN: LOL. One important addition: no tasks for Jagha until Daenerys is safe from her current predicament.
As for metagame info, if y'all beeline it for the tomes (you only need one of them, there are probably 3-5 copies, distributed by the Achraea school), you should be able to get one by the end of next session. That will leave one session for the return to the island and whatever resolution lies in store for all of you in Book 1. I'm being deliberately vague on that because a.) you guys have quite a bit of freedom about how you approach the situation on the island and b.) because not everything will get wrapped up in that session. This story was, as written on the OAAAA page, conceived as a story in 3 "books", which means that you won't succeed in whack-a-mole-ing everybody. Also, player actions throughout the story have significantly changed what will happen in the last session from my original conception of it. If there are particular things you'd like to see make an appearance in the last session (people or events or things) let me know either here or via email, I'm sure I don't remember every interesting encounter y'all had during the course of the last 12 sessions.
as for what happens afterwards: that's basically up to you guys. We can move on to book 2 or I can step down as GM and someone else can take over: I'm fine with either one.

GABE: Why are we doing something for the witch?

--Brandon 14:26, 16 February 2009 (MST) A little more information might help clear up the above. First of all, Tithe wasn't necessarily suspicious, he just can't eat animal stuff, so he wanted to be sure that the potion she gave us to allow access into the hut wasn't made from animals. Since Jagha wouldn't respond, he got stuck outside. And he was turned to stone because he tried to dispel the chilling effect outside, which turned out to be from Jagha's hut, which in turn made Jagha mad enough to turn him into a statue.

Secondly, dealing with the witch meant that we have a guaranteed solution to freeing Daenerys (within 23 days) that takes place BEFORE we have to do any tasks for Jagha. So, even if we all die grisly deaths in pursuit of Jagha's tasks - which she specifically stated would not be the main goal of them - Daenerys would be free of the flame and the poison. This meant we had, basically three options:

(1) The tower - I'm only putting this one here for Gabe's sake.

(2) The shield - through meeting Grunbad and seeing the whole operation, we decided that getting the shield would be possible, but would involve a lot of time and substantial risk. While dwelling on this, we were able to meet with Jagha, who offered option 3:

(3) Have Jagha supply us with a needed piece in our quest to free Daenerys, in exchange for doing 7 tasks for her (one for each auspice-bound, with certain caveats) AFTER Daenerys was freed. This seemed attractive, especially since, as Dieter stated, Jagha guaranteed a result within a fortnight and offered us aid in the form of Iyi if needed. Jagha gave us a choice of helping us to get the shield and getting a novice book (which is what Oryxys most desires). We chose the latter for various reasons, the most prominent of which is that we might be able to begin reconciliation between Graendel and the elemental world in the process of obtaining the book, which we took to be an admirable task.

So, yes, we made a deal with a hag queen, but it seemed the best option on the table. And, Jagha seemed to regard us (the auspice bound) as an interesting curiosity rather than primarily as a tool for sinister ends, so that's something. Though, of course, we may very well end up being used for sinister ends. Does that help?

GABE: Wait... So let me get this insane deal stright.

Even if we do nothing, she would have freed Daenery's anyway? Then why do we even try to find the book again? I mean I'm a little lost WHY we have to do any deal.

Also I want the exact terms of the deal, if we die during the process, she will free her anyway? I want the exact wording, as my character would not agree to certain terms without having them laid out, even more so with a witch.

--Brandon 20:15, 18 February 2009 (MST) Let's see if I can break this down for you further. Jagha is NOT going to free Daenerys. Jagha has guaranteed us a way to get the book, which we can then give to Oryxys, which will prompt him (as per our agreement) to free Daenerys. However, Jagha will not get the book herself for a fortnight (20 days). So, assuming that we want Daenerys freed ASAP, we will try to find the book sooner than that.

The deal with Jagha will then become manifest once Daenerys is free; at that point, we will owe Jagha the 7 tasks.

We laid the terms of the deal out pretty carefully - I'm sure that Matt, Dieter, and I can collectively recount the terms fairly closely - and I'm pretty sure that Jagha was clear to say she would get the book if we failed. I assume that will be true even if we die in the process of getting the book. But, this won't necessarily free Daenerys - I again assume - because the book would still have to get to Oryxys, which I imagine Jagha won't do if we're all dead. So, I suggest we not all die.

GABE: I don't get this... we owe her the favor because she told us of the book? And we are going to do 7 tasks for her...? Thats kinda an un-epic ending, I mean it comes down to a witch telling us what to do, I dunno feels like we didn't really do much. If we DON'T go for the book, do we still owe her crap?

--Matts 11:41, 19 February 2009 (MST)7 tasks for a mysterious witch is pretty dope from a story standpoint; 12 tasks of hercules, for example. We owe her a favor because she told us what it is that Oryxis most desires and offered to help us obtain it. She also alternately offered to get us the shield, but we decided to go with the thing he most desires.

Personally, I think this sets the stage for a pretty interesting second series of sessions in OAAA after we free Danerys.

--Dieter the Bold 13:37, 19 February 2009 (MST) +1 to what Brandon and Matt said. Gabe, we were basically looking at a really long time scheming and backstabbing to get the shield from Grundbad, or similar plus trappy death for the Tower. We chatted Jagha up and she basically offered to put us on a direct course to fulfill our side of the deal with Oryxys. No tricky run-arounds, no long plotting. We just go to place X and get item Y. We know where everything is. And we can even call on Iyi for some ueber-pro help if we want (although the group is hoping to avoid becoming "known" to Iyi for obvious reasons). Once we get the book, we just have to put it in Oryxys' hot little hands, hie ourselves back to Caminus and Book 1 is done. Book 2 will most likely be us dealing with fallout on Caminus (if not done this time around) and doing bizarre and dangerous tasks for a Witch Queen. So, yeah, it sucks that we owe yet another person something (7 somethings), but in return we clear all quests from the board (Oryxys, Graendel, Daenerys). Plus you now have an in with a Witch Queen, if you want to chat shop or whatever. And she was far more relatable than Gwyndolin. Tasty soup, not slug soup.

Gabe: Can we just freaking blow the doors and grab the book? That said I am interested in fallout after Caminus but will most likely drop game when it becomes missions for the witch. It just doesn't interest me as a fantasy game to be running missions for a witch, feels too forced and really not into forced missions. This is all just me, not Fantus, although he most likely would not have agreed to the deal. I related just fine to the first witch thank you very much!

Edmiao Gabe, based on past experience, i presume that Ben is not interested in running a game where the players are just bitches for a witch doing random quests with no overarching plot. If he were, i would still be good to go with it. I think that, as games go, OAAAA has had the most cohesive character group yet. Just been a bit slow in the last few sessions.

As to requests for the finale, i think we should see Grendel play a role. Don't care much if Sappho shows up or no, haven't really developed that plotline well.

Gabe: It can take us an entire sitting to get out of a city, I highly doubt doing 7 quests for a witch would be anything quick. Yeah its a good group, but again, just not fun for me, tis cool, we have enough players that one can drop out.

I agree, I would like a goblin army to show up.

Gabe: If we aren't going to be the witch's whipping boys, then I'm down for still playing.

Edmiao Hooray!!!!

ED: never mind

Gabe: I hate you, from the bottem of my heart.

Edmiao oh, look at the history for this page, you will see that i posted "i think we have more xp than 169" and then my next post was to delete that and post "nevermind". but still I hate you too, from the very depths of your mom.

Gabe: Dang, thats pretty deep then. Well I guess I could check that... but hating is easier!

Edmiao and more fun!