[LPF] Rescue at Boar's Ridge

[soulnova]

Reianne leans forward intently, practically shaking with nervous energy watching as Ru attempts to disarm whatever trap lays in wait.

Galandra looks at Reianne and nudges her a little to keep her calm. "Easy" she whispers at her with a serious face.



[sblock=Mini Stats]

Galandra
AC: 15 (Touch 12, Flatfooted 13)
HP: 12/12

Initiative: +2
Perception: +6/+8 vs Humans, Sense Motive: +2/+4 vs Humans,
CMB: +4 CMD: 16 Fort: +3 Reflex: +4 Will: +2

Falchion +4 [2d4+4] 18-20
Dagger +4 [1d4+3] 19-20
Shortbow +3 [1d6] x3
Greatclub +4 [1d10+4] x2

Effects: Killer
Combat Feats: Power Attack, Quick Draw

Conditions: None

In Hand: Shortbow

Consumables: 18 Normal Arrows, 10 Masterwork Arrows, 39 Blunt Arrows, 4 days rations

[/sblock]

 

[Satin Knights]

Ru opens the door. It opens to a 15' wide dirty room containing a few broken weapons and a spiral stairwell going up. No one appears to be in the room. At the top of the stairs is a standard wooden, overhead hatch door.

 

[Qik]

Mesem enters the tower with the others, sword drawn. When he sees that there is no immediate threat, he lowers his weapon slightly and scans the room, speaking a palindromic incantation to help him in his surveying.

Eyeing the hatch door at the top of the stairs, he says, "That is unfortunate: going that way means that we will have to remain outside, potentially visible. Perhaps we could crawl below the archer crenelations so as not to be seen?"

[sblock=OOC]WHEW - a busy weekend means missing a lot around these parts! Think I'm up to speed though.

Would crawling along the top of the wall provide us with significant cover?

Casting Guidance and adding it to my Perception check; if all looks clear up to the door, Mesem'll move to the door and check for traps. He'll also scan the room with detect magic, which reminds me: I assume my earlier request to run it didn't result in anything? I'd have hated to tripped some sort of alarm. Also, I want to roll a Know (Arcana) check in case I'm able to glean whether in fact Mesem knows if the necromancer can sense the death of a minion.

Edit: UGH. Wouldn't have minded reversing those rolls.[/sblock]

[sblock=Stats]Mesem Adrarda
Status: Bound
[sblock=Bound Stats]Initiative: +1, Perception: +7
HP: 9/9 real + 11/11 temporary
AC: 13 (Touch: 11 Flat-footed: 12) CMB: +5 CMD: 16
Fort: +1 Ref: +1 Will: +6 (+8 vs enchantments)

Natural Weapons:Bite (+5, 1d6+4), 2 Claws (on feet) (+6, 1d4+4)
[/sblock][sblock=Unbound Stats]Initiative: +0, Perception: +7
HP: 10/10 real
AC: 10 (Touch: 10 Flat-footed: 10) CMB: +0 CMD: 10
Fort: +2 Ref: +0 Will: +6 (+8 vs enchantments)[/sblock]Current Weapon in Hand: None

Summon Monster I: 4/4
Spells: 0 - Infinite, 1 - 2/2

Active Magic: None
[/sblock]​

 

[Satin Knights]

[sblock=ooc]1/2 movement to duck and use the crenelations as cover along the southern wall, until you turn the corner. Then you are looking up a straight shot for the east wall, so they would not provide cover. So, you have about 150' with no cover. The door opening is just out of view.

No, the detect magic did not reveal anything.

If he used Create Undead or Animate Undead, he would likely know the skeletons were destroyed. If he used Command Undead, he would likely not know.
[/sblock]

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Lem moves across the room, up the stairs, and to the hatch. If he does not see a trap, he lifts it open a crack to see where it leads.

 

[jkason]

Ru Brike, human ninja

Ru gives a satisfied smile as the door swings open, then rolls his tools back up and carefully returns them to his pack as he moves in with the others to assess the room beyond. When everyone is inside, he makes sure to close the door again against wandering patrols noticing.

"The rampart's nice cover from those below," he whispers, "though as soon as we turn the corner, that other skelly probably sees us."

Ru chews his lip as he thinks, then turns to Mesem.

"That skin of yours, it's more than just armor, yes? You summon it. Can you summon other things? Maybe something we could send flying over to the skelly to distract it without calling attention to the source of it?"

[sblock=ooc]Perception (1d20+4=17)

I'm thinking the upper level here is our best bet for getting further in, though I'm admittedly bad as a strategist. But if I have the position of the other skelly right, he sees us way outside of our range to do anything about him.

Unless, that is, Mesem sent, say, an eagle or string of eagles after him. He can't summon them far enough to attack right away, but certainly slightly-crazed wildlife wouldn't cause the same alarm as a group of people (and since summoners summon as an SLA, there's no chance of someone hearing the casting, I believe)?

If we can either distract the skeleton long enough to close, or knock him out with multiple eagles ... *shrugs*. It's a thought.

Then Mesem can re-suit and we move toward the interior.

As always, up for others' ideas on the subject, too.[/sblock]


[sblock=mini stats]Ru Brike
AC: 16 (Touch 14, Flatfooted 12)
HP: 11/11

Initiative: +4
Perception: +4 Sense Motive: +4
CMB: +0 CMD: 14 Fort: +2 Reflex: +6 Will: +1

Wakizashi: +4, 1d6
Wakizashi (TWF): +2/+2, 1d6/1d6
Nunchaku: +4, 1d6
Shuriken: +4, 1d2
Conditional Attack mods: +1d6 Sneak Attack (when denied Dex), +1 Dirty Fighter (flank)

Conditions: None

In Hand: Wakizashi x1

Consumables:
Alchemist's Fire: 3/3
Liquid Ice: 1
Shuriken: 10/10
[/sblock]

 

[Qik]

Mesem frowns ever-so-slightly in thought, gazing at his skin. "I do not wish to be pedantic with you, Ru, but I do not call upon the suit to appear: it is always a part of me, either seen or unseen." The half-elf waves his hand in a gesture of dismissal. "However, that is not an applicable point. I am in fact able to summon certain forms of life. However, my skin must recede when doing so, and I do not believe that the creatures would remain in the time it takes me to reskin. Plus, who's to say that the creatures would even attack the skeleton when called upon..."

[sblock=OOC]Not a bad idea, jk, but there are a few potential hangups.

First, the summons will only last a minute, and it will take a minute to resummon Mesem's eidolon. So having them operate as a distraction won't work if Mesem is to be at all battle-ready (I admit to being quite squeamish about having him run around without his "skin"). Secondly, I'm not sure if it'd be plausible to have them bee-line for the skeleton - that would really be SK's call: they are considered enemies, but it might be a stretch nonetheless. Mesem would be hard-pressed to make the necessary Handle Animals DC, methinks, though I'd have to recheck the numbers to be sure of that.

Also, [MENTION=34958]Deuce Traveler[/MENTION] - I think we've established the door just leads to the ramparts above (although it's of course good to confirm this).[/sblock]

[sblock=Stats]Mesem Adrarda
Status: Bound
[sblock=Bound Stats]Initiative: +1, Perception: +7
HP: 9/9 real + 11/11 temporary
AC: 13 (Touch: 11 Flat-footed: 12) CMB: +5 CMD: 16
Fort: +1 Ref: +1 Will: +6 (+8 vs enchantments)

Natural Weapons:Bite (+5, 1d6+4), 2 Claws (on feet) (+6, 1d4+4)
[/sblock][sblock=Unbound Stats]Initiative: +0, Perception: +7
HP: 10/10 real
AC: 10 (Touch: 10 Flat-footed: 10) CMB: +0 CMD: 10
Fort: +2 Ref: +0 Will: +6 (+8 vs enchantments)[/sblock]Current Weapon in Hand: None

Summon Monster I: 4/4
Spells: 0 - Infinite, 1 - 2/2

Active Magic: None
[/sblock]​

 

[Qik]

[sblock=PS]I'm also in favor of going via the ramparts. Certainly seems wiser than gate-crashing via the front door.[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

[sblock=ooc]

First, the summons will only last a minute, and it will take a minute to resummon Mesem's eidolon. So having them operate as a distraction won't work if Mesem is to be at all battle-ready (I admit to being quite squeamish about having him run around without his "skin"). Secondly, I'm not sure if it'd be plausible to have them bee-line for the skeleton - that would really be SK's call: they are considered enemies, but it might be a stretch nonetheless. Mesem would be hard-pressed to make the necessary Handle Animals DC, methinks, though I'd have to recheck the numbers to be sure of that.

Well, my thought if we went the distraction route was to concentrate on the rest of us either sneaking up on it (Mesem's not sneaky, anyway) or getting to a door, after which Mesem would 'suit up.' He wouldn't be in melee in that plan, since he'd be providing the critter support, instead.

In general, I thought a stream of eagles might be enough to kill the skelly (and as a Synthesist, Mesem doesn't have the same need to conserve those), and if someone saw it, they'd be inclined to think 'crazy wildlife.' But, yes, that depends on how SK would rule having the creature attack. There is a Ranger in the party who might conceivably help with Handle Animal, though if we have to do that much direct interaction, we essentially lose the 'make it look like crazy birds' part of the plan, in which case we might do better to just try to attack the thing directly like we did with its watch partner.[/sblock]

 

[Qik]

[sblock=OOC]I guess my primary concern is that we get where we're going with Mesem having burned most of his SLAs and we're instantly thrown into melee. Obviously, I could cope - it was just a concern. Let's wait to see what SK says.[/sblock]