[OOC] Quickleaf's Rime of the Frostmaiden [closed but waitlist is available]

[Aethmud]

@happylace it was fun playing and Alma is a great character. Wish you all the best and hope our paths can cross again.

Everyone -- my apologies for being offline for so long without notice. A storm of factors conspired to make my life way way too busy. I am back and will be catching up. Jack is still here!

 

[Neurotic]

OK, boys and girls, voting time
Are we fighting or trying to buy time for rest.
Options:

• Lumrolur (and you) have a chance to poison the gods - assuming we can get the meat and poison somewhere
• we could try and blame the caravan guards for some misfortune, but that risks that Torrga just leaves her guards in town and goes with the cultists
• Lumrolur could try and sabotage the sleds themselves - hard because they are now wary and I have no way to bypass dogs scent
• Lie about some storm danger -either weather or bring news about yetis based on the children's story - if it is "only" the storm, we risk they will depart counting on the cultists to keep them safe
• nuclear option is too burn the inn under them, but that doesn't guarantee they will not leave. we could try burning sleds, but it is also hard to do to look accidental

For social things - with my deception of -3 this is far from safe option :

• someone brings news about sabotage at our inn - half-orc is needed for questioning
• I can Alter self and do something in the guise of one of the guards or half-orc (such as punching the local constable )
• above lie about the yetis

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

- Burning the inn won’t work because they’re leaving anyways. They don’t seem like the type who will stick around.

- Getting guards might help, if you can convince them to stop the orc. The rest of the group might not stick around

- While Oskar would be vehemently against the idea, poisoning the dogs is a good one. If it makes them sick, it might stall them somewhere or, depending how fast it acts, prevent them from leaving.

Use Altar self to look like one of the thugs to get close enough to the dogs to give them poisoned meat.

- Sabotaging the sled might buy us more time but probably won’t stop them from leaving.


- Edit: under the guise of the half orc you can smash in a window near a guard and then run away with the guards following you and lead them back to the sled.


I wonder if we should get our own dog sled. I’m good to leave but I think you guys need a long rest.

Is anyone actually wounded? I could have fixed that at the last short rest.

On a different note: can somebody please look in the treasure chest you found? A solution might be inside. Or, worse case, money to buy a sled to follow them.

 

[Quickleaf]

EDIT: Oops! Just wanted to say love that you're planning. No rush, have fun with it. Btw, I think Alter Self is limited to same size (gnome couldn't look like a human or half-orc sized).

 

[VLAD the Destroyer]

I think we need to figure out how to delay them and get a long rest. My character is down about 33% without my Steel Defender. Plus I have no spells left. I don't think any of us are hurt. If everyone else wants to confront them I am ok with that. Just don't expect much out of me during the fight.

 

[Aethmud]

I vote for a long rest too. Jack has only two 1st-level spell slots left, and only 1 sorcery point. Good for a small skirmish but not a major battle. We haven't had a long rest since way back before we climbed Kelvin's Cairn. That was a long time ago.

That said, I'd hope that we can either delay their departure or cause them to stall out along the way.

Jack would be against the idea of harming or poisoning the dogs, unless there's truly no other option. He'd rather try some trickery to cut the dogs loose or somehow separate them from the caravan. If we could somehow get the dogs free of their harnesses, or cause their harnesses to break, maybe for example Jack could cast illusory rabbits for them to chase off in multiple directions.

Disguise self and posing as the half-orc is a good diversion. In combination with that plan, is there some way we could plant some stolen goods on the caravan's sled, so that the town guards would think the entire caravan is involved and not just the half-orc? If they could be detained for questioning even just for one day, we could get a long rest while they sit in jail. Framing them for theivery would be timely too, as it'd be an easy explanation for why they want to make a quick getaway.

We have multiple shape-shifters, right? Maybe it might be possible for, say, Alma to take the form of the half-orc, while Lumrolr takes the form of Torrga? The half-orc could smash a window as a ruse to "distract" a town guard (actually to get their attention) while Jack's mage hand takes some item (a weapon? keys? both?) from the guard, throws it to Lumrolr/Torrga, who runs in the direction of the caravan. The half-orc waylays the guard, who presumably calls for reinforcements. Alma/Half-orc and Lumrolr/Torrga engage in some sort of dialogue with each other where the half-orc shouts something like "meet up at The Blue Clam!" and Lumrolr/Torrga angrily insults him for being an idiot in front of the town guard while she runs off. In the aftermath, if the town guards are able to separate the caravan from their sleds and dogs for a moment, then we try to free the dogs and burn the sleds?

If we could find a rock bar and plant it on the caravan, that could also implicate them in the sabotage. Or, maybe there just so happens to be a rock bar somewhere around the caravan or around The Blue Clam already???

 

[Neurotic]

Good ideas, but seems too many moving parts (and a bit too obvious as a setup) - there are probably not many half-orcs and female dwarf traders in the town. The guards will find them.

And Jack would be better (small and flying) trying to disable the sleds while Lumrolur steals something and/or sets up diversion. Alma is an NPC now, isn't she? Can we still "use" her?

 

[Quickleaf]

Alma is an NPC now, isn't she? Can we still "use" her?

Yes, I'll handle Alma if you want her to do something. Same for Russet and Zeth. At least until we have a narrative moment where I can explain their departure.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I’d simplify it the guard thing, Have someone lead a guard somewhere. Meanwhile, someone else who is disguised breaks a window and makes like they are leaving a building or maybe simply doing a smash and grab in front of the guards. They see the guards and run, leading the guards to the Blue Clam.

Re Poisoning: Lumolor would have to do it without the group knowing. If there was a way to do it, I think this is the easiest and most inconspicuous way of doing it.

no matter what, we have to do it in a way that they don’t know it’s us otherwise they’ll come after us while we are trying to long rest.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Double post: one other thing I can think is Oskar can conjure 10 gallons of water. I'm not sure if that's enough to soak the dogs but a wet dog is prone to hypothermia and they would have to stick around and bring the dogs in to get them dry. But it's also not very subtle.