Shilsen's Eberron SH (Finished - The Last Word : 9/20/15)

[Vorput]

“Do you allow magic use?” asks Nameless, turning his now permanently glowing blue eyes on Hoas. “I am a wizard, so that is the only option I have.”

Wait- I'm confused on the rules here- Rejuvenation cocoons, wildshaping, and arcs of lightning were ok?

 

[shilsen]

Wait- I'm confused on the rules here- Rejuvenation cocoons, wildshaping, and arcs of lightning were ok?

They decided after some discussion (mainly because Halak made the mistake of being a little too bloodthirsty and not thinking the repercussions through) that spells would be fine once they were in the fight. Gareth was especially adamant that he wouldn't be fighting otherwise.

Good thing too, because the PCs would have been toast without the spells.

 

[Seekerofskill]

They decided after some discussion (mainly because Halak made the mistake of being a little too bloodthirsty and not thinking the repercussions through) that spells would be fine once they were in the fight. Gareth was especially adamant that he wouldn't be fighting otherwise.

Good thing too, because the PCs would have been toast without the spells.

Actually the PC's should have been toast anyway, shilsen goes easy with the battle tactics.

 

[Rackhir]

Wait- I'm confused on the rules here- Rejuvenation cocoons, wildshaping, and arcs of lightning were ok?

They were afraid of big "BOOM" spells, not so much spell casting. Luna wasn't able to use her favorite spell "Flame Strike" because of that.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Good thing too, because the PCs would have been toast without the spells.

Well of course. Ranged/flanking specialists and a heavy-duty warrior type vs. a paladin and his primary caster friends? It'd be like sending three fighters in there and telling them they couldn't use half their feats.

 

[shilsen]

Actually the PC's should have been toast anyway, shilsen goes easy with the battle tactics.

What did you have in mind? I'd say there have been a fair number of fights where theoretically weaker enemies have been punching above their weight almost purely due to tactics.

I do try to make the tactics appropriate to the given NPCs, and with Halak not being much of a tactical genius and his two allies being new to Sharn and not knowing the Angels, their tactics were pretty straightforward. Have the boomerang-throwers keep them off balance and let Halak get in close and start swinging, at which point the other two would try to join him for much flanking & sneak attacking goodness. Korm killed the latter part of the plan with his Whirling Blade critical, with Luna administering the coup de grace with her Arc of Lightning. Once his allies were down, Halak alone had no way of taking down three enemies with significant healing capability.

Well of course. Ranged/flanking specialists and a heavy-duty warrior type vs. a paladin and his primary caster friends? It'd be like sending three fighters in there and telling them they couldn't use half their feats.

That was precisely Gareth's point. Admittedly, the two druids are much more optimized for melee than standard druids, for various reasons, but even so, not being able to cast spells would significantly cut down their effectiveness.

 

[Seekerofskill]

What did you have in mind? I'd say there have been a fair number of fights where theoretically weaker enemies have been punching above their weight almost purely due to tactics.

I do try to make the tactics appropriate to the given NPCs, and with Halak not being much of a tactical genius and his two allies being new to Sharn and not knowing the Angels, their tactics were pretty straightforward. Have the boomerang-throwers keep them off balance and let Halak get in close and start swinging, at which point the other two would try to join him for much flanking & sneak attacking goodness. Korm killed the latter part of the plan with his Whirling Blade critical, with Luna administering the coup de grace with her Arc of Lightning. Once his allies were down, Halak alone had no way of taking down three enemies with significant healing capability.

Concentration. Fishook. More boomerangs. After the initial round if the twins full boomeranged the weakest one that wasn't Gareth that would have taken the target out, either of the battle or for another round. Since Gareth was at one end of the battle line, Halak could start at one end and roll up the line. An unsuspecting Gareth vs that little with full maneuvers availible would have overwhelmed him. It wouldn't have mattered if the druids were active. Whoever was left would need cocooning. The way RC works, it would have allow Halak to recover all his maneuvers and repeat the whoop ass.

Fear the incorporeal gninja

 

[shilsen]

Concentration. Fishook. More boomerangs. After the initial round if the twins full boomeranged the weakest one that wasn't Gareth that would have taken the target out, either of the battle or for another round. Since Gareth was at one end of the battle line, Halak could start at one end and roll up the line. An unsuspecting Gareth vs that little with full maneuvers availible would have overwhelmed him. It wouldn't have mattered if the druids were active. Whoever was left would need cocooning. The way RC works, it would have allow Halak to recover all his maneuvers and repeat the whoop ass.

Good in theory, but not in practice, esp. when one looks at the stats involved. The PCs had too high a Fort save to blow the save vs. Boomerang Daze without sneak attack damage, which, after the first round, the boomerang guys weren't getting any more. Without rolling a 1, the PCs were automatically making the save (I think Gareth blew it in the 1st rd on a 1, actually). A crit or two would have made the save harder, but none happened. Even hitting the PCs got a lot harder after the 1st rd, as they weren't flatfooted, since they had ACs around 27 or so. And since Korm had 110+ hp and Luna had 145, they couldn't drop either of them fast enough.

The only way they could have done it was if they'd concentrated on Korm or Luna and Halak had as well, but he was fixated on Gareth. And for the boomerang twins, it didn't make sense IC to have them concentrate, since they had no idea (nor did Halak) about the cocoon option or how buff the PCs were.

Fear the incorporeal gninja

They do. Oh yes, they do!

 

[shilsen]

Handled between sessions:

With the battle over, the three Angels join their allies, while the remaining Boromars collect the corpses of Halak and the other dead halfling. Unsurprisingly, the survivor of the duel has to be restrained by them when he discovers that his brother is dead, and is dragged off by three of them, while the last halfling arranges with Hoas for taking away the corpses.

While that is going on, the next fight begins, between Korrla (an ogre he spoke to when asking the three Angels to follow him) and a shifter. The fight ends quickly, with Korrla grappling the shifter into submission. Afterwards, there is a little bit of a break, while the arena is set up for “a brand new monstrosity” that Hoas announces he has, much to the excitement of the audience. While the break occurs, he comes over and asks the Angels to join him in another room.

They follow him through one of the many doors, which leads to a room with a table and a few chairs. A couple of the warforged guards who were standing outside follow them inside. Hoas drops into a chair and says, “Please – sit. Honestly, you folks had me wondering for the first few seconds, but you pulled it off big time. You just might be the toughest bunch we’ve had in there, though that’s mostly because of the magic. We don’t get many fighters here who cast spells, leave alone throw that kind of power around. I’m kinda curious how you’d do without all of that to back you up. Anyway, reason I wanted to talk is ’cos I’d like you to come back and fight here. I know today you showed because that guy Halak challenged you, but maybe you’d consider a return. We don’t pay gladiators here, but you get the opportunity to bet on yourself, and you could make a tidy sum that way. I can maybe even find a match or two where you could use that magic of yours, Nameless. Whaddaya say?”

“Well,” says Gareth, “To deny us the use of our spellcasting is like denying a pure fighter use of some of his abilities. If we have to give up some of our training, what will a non-spellcaster have to give up? See my point? I understand the ‘no spellcasting because it may damage the arena,’ and we can restrict ourselves to that, but we cannot give up our abilities.”

Hoas chuckles. “Little paranoid, aren’t ya?”

The Endless Blade replies, “Considering the way they got beat on and had to go hide in that cocoon thingy, are you surprised?” Hoas just looks slightly surprised but doesn’t respond.

Gareth ignores it too and then says, “Plus spellcasting of our level is a rare sight to see. How many people in your audience have seen that cocoon that was around me? They were awed by it, for sure. If anything it should draw a bigger spectacle.”

This time, Hoas guffaws. “No offense, but you sure weren’t paying attention. There was a lot more catcalling than being awed out there.” He shrugs. “You gotta understand, most of these people don’t understand much about magic, so one spell’s just like another to them. And doing what you guys did, though it makes perfect sense and got you the win, just looks a little dodgy to them, since they’re more about appreciating the straight up, in your face, hacking and slashing. But they always like a good kill, which you gave them, so it's okay.”

Gareth shrugs. “Given that, we would like to show up again. That was exhilarating – to have all those people cheer and boo. In fact, we were the underdogs and we came out on top.”

“Actually,” Hoas says, “By the time we got done with the bets, you guys were up 2-1. That’s why you made a profit of half what you bet. But, more to the point, I’m glad to know you’re interested in being back. I'll see what I can find to challenge you guys.”

“The next time we do this'll be in four days. You can get in touch with....” Hoas pauses and scratches his chin for a moment, before saying carefully, “If you don't mind, I got a question first.” He looks at Gareth and says, “You’re clearly a worshipper of the Silver Flame. We don’t get many people of your ... faith here, so I’ve got to ask – you don’t have any problems with this, right? I mean, the whole blood sport thing?”

Trying to forestall problems with Gareth having to make up a story, Nameless quickly replies with a snort and a dry laugh. “Show him the money and he gets flexible enough. Especially, if you keep things ‘uncomplicated’ in your choice of his adversaries. Besides we have bills to pay with our new house.”

Hoas nods slowly, looking slightly uncertain, as Nameless continues, “If it interests you, I can summon a number of creatures the likes of which few have seen. What’s more, I can polymorph willing subjects into the form of some of the more exotic creatures we’ve encountered in our travels. Variety and the new are always draws for events such as these, are they not?”

This idea clearly catches Hoas’ attention. “That’s interesting. The critters you summon would be able to fight, right? That could make for a couple of entertaining duels, with you summoning things for a couple of the other fighters to battle. Like I said, we don't normally do magic, and the folks coming here want to see some physical fighting, and it sounds like you could handle that in an interesting way.” He looks thoughtful, but then, after a few seconds, looks back at Gareth. “You didn’t answer my question,” he says.

“No, that should not be a problem,” says Gareth. “There are members of the Silver Flame who visit brothels and drink too much for their own good – but they serve the Silver Flame. What we are doing is not evil – everyone goes in knowing the risks.”

“Yeah,” nods Hoas. “That’s what I say. We’re not doing slavery here or anything. If people wanna fight each other and other people wanna watch, what’s the problem?” A couple of the Angels get the sense that he’s not completely reassured, but he seems more interested in the possibilities Nameless raised. He asks a few questions about what kind of creatures Nameless can summon, how long they’d stay around, and how dangerous they'd be in a fight.

Finally, he says, “Thanks. I’m looking forward to seeing you folks here again. Like I was saying, next time’ll be the 9th.” Hoas gives the group directions to a particular spot in Firelight, where he says a guide will find them and lead them to the next location. The Angels say they’ll be there and leave.

Once back at the Gray House, Six tells about Fett about the duel, but leaves out the fact that they were doing a sting operation for the Watch. Expecting Fett to be agitated by what happened, Six tells him to stay away from the house until this matter is stabilized and to arrange to drop messages off in the park with the Gatekeepers. If he needs to contact the group faster, he can drop by at his discretion.

Fett, however, isn’t that excitable about it, though he does opine that Saidan will be really pissed, and that killing the halflings instead of just beating them down was a dumb idea. After a little thought, he says that he’ll stay on at the house. Upper Tavick’s is better guarded than any area of Sharn short of Skyway, what with the Deneith Blademark bolstering the Watch and the rich houses all having guards posted outside. So the odds on him being attacked there are very low, and by the time he descends from Upper Tavick’s, he’s always in one of his disguises. So he should be reasonably safe.

With that decided, Six also warns the four warforged guards that there might be problems with the Boromars, so they shouldn’t leave the house alone if they can avoid it.

* * * * * *
The next day, Six travels to the Cannith enclave in Dragon Towers, which takes up the entirety of the giant tower known simply as Cannith Tower. Besides being certainly the largest of the various dragonmarked enclaves, it is also probably the busiest, with Cannith functionaries as well as customers to the various artisans' shops in the tower constantly entering and leaving. Even though Six visits it early in the morning, when the crowds are relatively lower, it takes some time before he can find his way to one of the booths set up to provide information and directions.

“Yes?” asks the young man there. “How can I help you?”

“Hello, I’m Six. I wanted to find out more about the offer and components for warforged. Who might I talk to about this?”

“Oh, the job thing? Well...,” says the man, before going into a quick spiel which replicates whatever Six has heard before, except that he makes it sound like a significantly more positive move than others have.

The man runs down and looks Six up and down, noting that he is much better equipped than the average warforged. “If you’re interested in components, especially buying them, you can just visit one of the artificer shops attached to the enclave. But you look like someone who might want a custom job and some special expertise. Right? In that case, you need to talk to Jerim, two floors down. Here, I’ll write you a note. Ask anyone there and they’ll show you. He can help you if you’re looking for a job too.”

With the note in hand, Six makes his way down a couple of levels and eventually ends up in front of Jerim d’Cannith, a neatly-dressed man whose office has a number of schematics of warforged components on the walls, as well as a few in display cases. He asks Six to take a seat and inquires what kind of components he is interested in.

“Hello, Jerim. I am Mithral Six of Six. I had an adventure in Xen’drik where I recovered this harness from ancient warforged. It grants increased armor strength and cannot be enhanced with magic. I also can’t remove it. Have you seen anything like this or know anything about it? And in the deal offer, has there been any problem in the administration of it? Also do you know anything about the rumored creation forge ….” Six pauses, momentarily wondering if he should have begun with small talk, but it is too late for that, and he ends, “… that the Lord of Blades was supposed to have?”

A look of interest and recognition crosses Jerim's face as Six mentions his name and then the adventure in Xen’drik, making Six fairly sure that Jerim has managed to place him as a member of the Guardian Angels. The expression quickly changes to partial confusion under the number of questions Six unleashes.

After a moment, Jerim laughs and says, “Wait, let me answer that one at a time. And I’ll start at the end. I’ve probably heard just the same rumors you have, and frankly, I think that’s all they are. Even if the Lord of Blades had found a functional creation forge, he’d need somebody with a powerful Mark of Making to run it. I’m sure you know that House Cannith was involved in the expedition that killed him and dispersed his followers, and no creation forge was found there.”

He continues, “Regarding the offer to the warforged, it’s actually going quite well. A large number of warforged have started working for the House and many are in the process of negotiations. Especially those who’ve been unfairly indentured in the Cogs, whom the House is trying to help buy off their contracts.”

“And lastly, I don’t think I've heard of the kind of harness you’re talking about. From Xen’drik, you say? Interesting. Would you mind letting some of our artificers look at it and see what they can come up with?”

“Actually, let me ask you a few questions in turn. Are you interested in working for House Cannith? And is there any particular reason you’re wondering about the Lord of Blades' supposed forge? Do you have any information to that end? Lastly, are you the same Six who's a member of the Guardian Angels?”

Six nods. “Yes, I’m the same Six. I have seen warforged that seemed new or malformed in the Cogs. One nearly dropped on me. He was dead. His head bashed in. I had read about the Lord of Blades and the Blades of Arakhain. I wanted to find out that resolution. On both issues this is the first time I’ve had to pursue these questions. A simple link that the warforged came from the Lord of Blades is unsupported. When would the artificers want to look at the harness? Working for the House would depend on the job. However, if it involves destroying evil, aberrations or fights to the death, I am sure the Guardian Angels will be interested.”

“New warforged?” asks Jerim, with evident curiosity. “When did this happen? As for the Lord of Blades and the Blades of Arakhain, yes – unfortunately they were killed during the attack on his forces. I believe they were actually the ones who slew him, losing some of their members in the battle, and the rest were killed by his followers. I’ve only heard about it, since I wasn’t part of the expedition.” He smiles. “I have no interest in visiting the Mournland.”

“The Blades actually helped a great deal with the setting up of the offer to the warforged from the House, and were quite helpful to Baron Merrix in other ways too. They too were concerned about new warforged, and I’m actually the person they met when first coming here to the House. I put them in contact with the Baron. They were good people and their death is a pity. Regarding working for the House, I meant taking up the offer for employment you were asking about, but I presume as part of the Guardian Angels, that’s not something you'd be interested in.”

“And about the harness, I could probably arrange something right now, if you’ve got a couple of hours to spare. There should be no difficulty in finding an empty laboratory and we always have skilled artificers on hand.”

Six replies, “I saw the warforged when I first came to Sharn five months ago. Since my comrades and I were pulled in other directions, and being Sharn there were others to investigate, I didn’t pursue the event. Too bad I can’t speak to the Blades about what happened. And now would be a fine time to check the harness. If this will take some time, please send a message to my comrades at our new home. It is the Gray House in Ocean View, in Upper Tavick’s.”

Jerim pulls out a sheet of parchment, while saying, “Five months ago? I don’t have much of the details, since I only spoke to the Blades about it in passing, but I think that was around the time they saw what they thought were strange warforged too. I think only the Baron and a couple of his especially trusted advisors discussed those details with them.”

He passes Six the parchment to write a note to the other Angels. Once he is done, Jerim rises and asks Six to follow him. Heading outside, he gives the note to an attendant to have delivered, and leads Six down a couple of levels, till they are four floors below the main entry level to the enclave.

Here, there are much fewer outsiders moving around, and far more people who look like they are workers for the House. Jerim leads Six to a large laboratory and asks him to wait for a bit. He walks out, and returns about five minutes later with two men and a dwarf. “These gentlemen are experts in warforged physiology and components,” he says. “They’ll examine you and see what they come up with. I’ll probably be upstairs in my office when you’re done. Send me a message if you need anything. Don’t worry – you’re in as good hands as you could be in Khorvaire.”

Jerim leaves and one of the men asks Six to lie down on a large table, which has been hollowed out to accommodate a figure of Six’s dimensions and perhaps a little larger. While he does so, the other two men bring out some tools. While they are doing so, another three people enter, one half-elf and two warforged. They are wheeling a large covered cart, which they uncover to display even more tools, none of which Six has seen before.

“Lie back and relax,” says the first man. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

Suspicious about what their intentions are, Six studies them carefully and asks, “Who are you and what are you about to do? Have you seen anything like this harness before? What kind of components have you usually encountered. What happen to them?”

The men exchange glances, seeming surprised at the multiple questions, giving Six no indication that they are about to try something underhanded. Finally, the man who spoke first replies, “I am Rowal. Jerim told us that the harness you’re curious about is from Xen’drik and non-removable, so we’re going to examine it first, and then, if you’re fine with it, test it. We’ll probably start with checking on magical auras and properties and go on to seeing how it’s attached to you, if we have any ideas for removal, what effect it’s having on you, if we can find something approximating to it that help us understand it, and so on.”

He smiles and adds, “Lots of possibilities, you see. As for what components I’ve encountered, there are all kinds. Weapons, physical augmentations, information gathering devices – you name it. If we ever find a really unusual one, we try to see if we can understand how it works and replicate it. That’s all.”

Rowal smiles again. “Don’t worry – even if we haven’t seen this one, we’ve seen lots of strange items. You’ll be just fine. Any other questions?”

Six considers bringing in the rest of the group. Which, he reminds himself, will include the usual wrestling with their limited perceptions, the possibility of creating more enemies, and the general agony of the Angels’ interaction with society of any kind. Nah, I’ll get more answers faster alone. And if this goes wrong, I won’t have to deal with those little Talenta guys.

“No,” he says, “Let’s get started.”

 

[Solarious]

....and the general agony of the Angels’ interaction with society of any kind.

What? I demand a rewrite! The Angels don't interact with society, they grab it by the throat and try to pour Achemist's Spark down the pipe!