The OotS Thread III

[Crazedwraith]

892 Is Up/

Good stuff on Nale's vision.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Spoiler

I did laugh at how Nale broke free - he knew it wasn't real when the hero didn't break free while he was monologuing.

I also thought it was touching in an evil-romance kind of way that dream-Sabine got a crown too.

[Irbis]

Spoiler

I don't know, Roy just gave up a chokepoint to do... what exactly? All it takes is one True Seeing from Clerics or +8 bonus on Listen/Search/Spot (Wisdom skills...) and OotS is pretty much screwed.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Spoiler

I don't know, Roy just gave up a chokepoint to do... what exactly? All it takes is one True Seeing from Clerics or +8 bonus on Listen/Search/Spot (Wisdom skills...) and OotS is pretty much screwed.

Spoiler

Well for one thing, if they are opposite of the building in the middle there's no line of sight. And standing and waiting lets the Linear Guild deal with whatever happens to whomever crosses the line.

[Kuja]

Trying to fight in the doorway would be a death sentence, and Roy knows it. Malack and Durkon are both full-blown vampires, and add on to that a drow wizard, Nale, and since the Order doesn't realize they've split up, they think Tarquin and Kilkil would be there too.

Meanwhile, the Order's lost their primary healer, their wizard is missing, and Belkar's been trashed to hell and back. Trying to go shot-for-shot with the Linear Guild is a far, far worse option than hiding out and waiting to see if they trip over something nasty.

[Irbis]

Spoiler

Who said shot for shot? The way D&D rules work, OotS can simply ready an action, hide on both sides of the door, and whoever walks in eats full attack action from Belkar and Roy while Haley gets to sneak attack without problems. That way drained CON matters less. The only way to dislodge this would be throwing a few area attacks in, but Clerics are rather bad at this (specialising in single enemy spells) and Drow had IIRC mostly prepared spells to fight V, which might not necessarily be area based.

The only way it makes sense is Roy giving up fight completely and hoping LG will waste resources on opening gate. Though, Silent Image works as long as caster concentrates, Roy should beg fate for no loud sounds or plot surprises

[Kuja]

And then one round later, Belkar takes a necrotic slap to the face and goes down like a chump, leaving Roy the only melee fighter in the mix. This is going to be followed up by vitriolic spheres and flame strikes from Malack and Zz'drzi, while Malack tells Durkon to square off with Roy and keep him busy. Haley's pretty good at dodging spells, but Elan's not, and that still leaves Nale and (as far as the Order knows) Tarquin, who's a better fighter than Roy, and Kilkil in the mix as well.

Let's not forget that we have the meta-knowledge that the two summoned fiends are out front. So congratulations, the Order went through all that setup and blew their surprise round on a pair of mooks to leave the vampires in front-line melee. Touch attacks, hooooo! More, don't forget something important - undead are immune to sneak attack damage.

The Order has zero staying power right now, and the Linear Guild has a ton. Roy's not stupid enough to think the Order can wipe the Linear Guild in a one-round ambush - Durkon and Malack alone are too tough for that.

[Serafina]

Interesting, Dr'zziti (or however hes spelt) could apparently resist the runes.

[Vaporous]

Interesting, Dr'zziti (or however hes spelt) could apparently resist the runes.

His saves are high because he's meant to fight V. I guess it makes sense.

[Irbis]

Interesting, Dr'zziti (or however hes spelt) could apparently resist the runes.

High Will save + Drow spell resistance + trivial anti-SoD buffs?

And then one round later, Belkar takes a necrotic slap to the face and goes down like a chump, leaving Roy the only melee fighter in the mix. This is going to be followed up by vitriolic spheres and flame strikes from Malack and Zz'drzi, while Malack tells Durkon to square off with Roy and keep him busy. Haley's pretty good at dodging spells, but Elan's not, and that still leaves Nale and (as far as the Order knows) Tarquin, who's a better fighter than Roy, and Kilkil in the mix as well.

Except, Durkon/Malak exhausted their spell stores in combat, Drizzti most likely is out of high levels, too. The only way all of LG could attack would be mad charge through door, otherwise, Roy flanked by Haley and Belkar can deny anyone passage. Trying to hide just kicks problem down the road, except you don't have advantage of chokepoint and have to fight all of LG at once, unhindered.

LG most likely course of action is sending a scout in, who Roy and co could kill in one round, leaving LG unsure what to do and who that was, making any blind charges in unlikely. Worst case, LG just lost someone and OotS position didn't noticeably worsen, IMHO, best case, OotS bleed LG dry when they try to force passage.

Let's not forget that we have the meta-knowledge that the two summoned fiends are out front. So congratulations, the Order went through all that setup and blew their surprise round on a pair of mooks to leave the vampires in front-line melee. Touch attacks, hooooo! More, don't forget something important - undead are immune to sneak attack damage.

Touch attacks give attack of opportunity when you cast spell. If Roy's dream of his new Sue ability to disrupt spellcasters is any good, his +5 undeadbane sword would hack vampire apart in round or two, forcing it to escape. Vampires don't have Lich's paralysing touch, Vampire cleric is far easier opponent for Roy than Xykon.

Also, undead are immune to core sneak attack, there are feats and magic items to negate that. Haley might well have grabbed one in preparation for Xykon, and besides, she can still disable the Drow instead

[Starglider]

No, OoTS vs Linear Guild would be a curbstomp right now. Their best hope would be Xykon and the Linear Guild going at it and doing serious damage to both sides.

[Ralin]

I was linking someone to the comic the other night when I had a horrible realization.

Durkon is a vampire now. And how do you kill vampires? With a stake to the heart.

A wooden stake to the heart.

The trees are going to get Durkon after all.

[Imperial Overlord]

Except, Durkon/Malak exhausted their spell stores in combat, Drizzti most likely is out of high levels, too.

This is wildly optimistic. They're both going to have low and mid level spells even if they totally exhausted their high level spells, which is in no way established. There are a ton of ways, from scrolls to rings of spell storing, that they still possess large arsenals of high level spells.

The only way all of LG could attack would be mad charge through door, otherwise, Roy flanked by Haley and Belkar can deny anyone passage. Trying to hide just kicks problem down the road, except you don't have advantage of chokepoint and have to fight all of LG at once, unhindered.

That equation can be changed with a single mid level spell, let alone a high level one. The LG has three high level casters, the OotS has none. Even with seriously depleted arsenals, say 25% of their high level spells and 50% of their mid and low level spells left, that's more than enough when you consider that Trajan was able to solo the OotS fighters. The LG has two CoDzillas on their team and a high level wizard and the OotS has none.

[Kuja]

Moreover, Ditzi (yeah, I'm calling him that now) has only used something like a grand total of four spells today - a couple acid spheres, a teleport, and a summoning. I actually just went back and checked on this, cause I was wondering if I'd misremembered, but the fighting in the pyramid has been a couple days after the throwdown at the arena. Durkon mentions V spent a couple days on the elemental plane and forgot to prepare control winds that morning because he misunderstood what 'Windy Canyon' meant.

So, Ditzi and Nale are damn near fresh, Malack's used a bunch of low- and mid-level spells, really the only one that's chewed through his spell list is Durkon, but he has the advantage of being undead now (damage reduction) on top of being a fully-armored dwarf. Malack can just tell him to get in the Order's way and fight defensively and he can still put up one hell of an obstacle.

[Raesene]

893 is up

[Lord of the Abyss]

Spoiler

Ha! Nale goes to the trouble of having fiends summoned explicitly as "meat shields" - and fails to have them walk in front of him in a trap filled dungeon.

[Kuja]

Wow, that was quick.
Spoiler

Ha ha ha, oh wow, even for Nale that's dumb.

And it looks like Haley just got the news about the Resistance. Xykon inbound.

[Crazedwraith]

Oh Roy you really should know better than to say things like that.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Spoiler

Ha! Nale goes to the trouble of having fiends summoned explicitly as "meat shields" - and fails to have them walk in front of him in a trap filled dungeon.

Spoiler

And I just noticed; after picking himself up off the ground what does he do? He takes point again! Walking right through a door that could be trapped with who knows what. With the "meat shields" in the rear.

[The Yosemite Bear]

hey meat shields against Haley

[PainRack]

Wait a minute, doesn't that incantation make a noise?

So the Paladins sending a message about Xykon right now will blow the illusion spell protecting them against the LG?

[Lord Relvenous]

Wait a minute, doesn't that incantation make a noise?

So the Paladins sending a message about Xykon right now will blow the illusion spell protecting them against the LG?

That's what I'm thinking.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Wait a minute, doesn't that incantation make a noise?

So the Paladins sending a message about Xykon right now will blow the illusion spell protecting them against the LG?

No, it's invisible to everyone but the recipient. We see Durkon using it here to contact Roy, and Belkar who is standing right there can neither hear nor see the Sending.

[Lord of the Abyss]

894 is up! Spoiler

And we have a Massive Troll Moment from Girard, and probably a major trap - Nale's probably right to run.

My bet is that the Gate is in the pyramid, just in someplace no one would think to look; instead of right in the middle of an enclosure in a huge room that just screams "Check in here! Important!"

[Serafina]

Spoiler

Even simpler - the gate IS right there - enclosed in solid stone (hollow if necessary) which is modified to shield all relevant magic (might just be lead )