The Rod of Seven Parts: Kauai Team OOC

[Voadam]

Hissing speech. Voadam knows abyssal and orc. Is it either of those?

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Yeah, Brakkus'll have time to get on his armor. I'll supply text later tonight to that effect.

The shadow's speaking a language Voadam knows. I forgot (though I don't know how I could've) that Voadam can speak with Chaos. Later tonight when I sit down to do Maelicent's scene, I'll edit in the text for you to see. Sorry 'bout that, but good catch. Way to know your character.

 

[Voadam]

In character Voadam knows and has killed standard undead shadows but has never heard them make any noise. Ooc I'm thinking of different interpretations of undead shadows that can speak or hiss, shadowdancers, shades, unique shadowy undead, spells that can animate shadows or turn a person temporarily into one, Shade/shadow creatures (
I forget the exact name of the template) from Tome of Magic 3e, shadow demons from the 1e FF/ToH, or the whole class of shadow demons from Slayer's Guide to Demons.

Of course, different strengths and vulnerabilities apply to each different kind of adversary.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Whatchyoo got for Knowledge skills?

Just kidding. I'll go look at your character sheet here in a second. The thing keeping Voadam from knowing more at the moment is that he hasn't moved up to see what's down there. Or, if you posted for him that he moved up, I missed seeing that. As far as I could tell, Chev was the only one to actually move forward to take a gander, which is why he benefitted the most from knowing what might be going on.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I put up Maelicent's post. Considering I just about copied and pasted half of his last post into mine for a recap, I'm embarrassed to say that, yes, my one small paragraph took me 60 minutes to construct. I did a map too but EN World isn't letting me upload it at the moment. Got timed out. I'll try again here in a sec.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Blink, blink.


Sigh.

Meant to say something but plumb forgot. While I'm still waiting for EN World's server to accept my map attachment, I figured I'd backtrack a moment to say,

"Yup. I live on the beach." And it's everything you'd expect, too. A turquoise-and- mottled-blue pacific ocean with world-class surfing, a fine-grained white sand beach, tropical foliage, and the warm sun all day long. Truly, God is good.

Now, just how long I get to hang on to this little corner of paradise, I dunno. Might be moving back to the mainland this summer. We'll see. 'Course, green midwestern cornfields in summer are a pleasure all unto themselves.

 

[Ambrus]

I wonder if I'm the only ranger in the history of D&D to try starting a forest fire...

Mael's hope is that the flaming streamers of his missile will snag in the upper branches of the closely clustered trees as it arcs downwards. As fiery missiles, precision isn't really all that crucial for this plan. Ideally the streamers will fall across many thin branches and will ignite the forest canopy as they burn. Packed as close together as they are, it's my hope that the trees around it will likewise catch fire quickly.

Is the curtain wall the inner or outer wall, how high is it normally and what's it climb DC? Also, am I to assume that Mael is completely blocked off from the wall at the moment? Line 10 on your map would seem to provide him with a clear approach to it...

BTW, is 'Mallorn' a type of tree or is it a proper name of sorts?

 

[Voadam]

Whatchyoo got for Knowledge skills?

1 rank in knowledge religion and 1 rank in knowledge planar, +3 for int on both so trained knowledges at +4. Wizard level skill points are all going to concentration, spellcraft, and various knowledge ranks to reflect Voadam's broad knowledge and experiences. I do it to reflect the character's history and actual knowledge though, not really to create skill rolls.

Just kidding. I'll go look at your character sheet here in a second. The thing keeping Voadam from knowing more at the moment is that he hasn't moved up to see what's down there. Or, if you posted for him that he moved up, I missed seeing that. As far as I could tell, Chev was the only one to actually move forward to take a gander, which is why he benefitted the most from knowing what might be going on.

I was holding back from the beast thinking to use my ranged necromantic ray of enfeeblement, but with an undead or demon I think I need to step forward with wand drawn to be the wizard face in talking with the demon.

 

[Voadam]

BTW, is 'Mallorn' a type of tree or is it a proper name of sorts?

http://www.tuckborough.net/plants.html

Mallorn Mallorn-trees by Ted Nasmith
Golden tree of Lothlorien. The mallorn was a great and beautiful tree. Its bark was smooth and silver-grey. The leaves of the mallorn turned golden in autumn. The golden leaves remained on the tree through the winter and fell to cover the ground in the spring. Then new leaves sprouted - green on top and silver underneath - and golden flowers bloomed on the branches.
Mallorn-trees originally grew on Tol Eressea, the island off the coast of Aman in the Undying Lands. Mallorn-trees may also have grown in the realm of Gondolin in Beleriand. The Elves brought mallorn-trees to the Men of Numenor and they grew on the shores around the Bay of Eldanna.

Tar-Aldarion, the sixth King of Numenor, gave silver nuts of the mallorn as a gift to Gil-galad in Lindon in Middle-earth. The mallorn-trees did not take root in Lindon, but Galadriel brought some of the nuts to Lothlorien and planted them. Under her care, the mallorn-trees grew and flourished and Lothlorien became known as the Golden Wood.

The city of Caras Galadhon in Lothlorien was built in the branches of huge mallorn-trees. When the Fellowship came to Lothlorien in January of 3019, they spent the night in a flet in a mallorn-tree. The next day on Cerin Amroth, Frodo touched a mallorn and felt the vitality of the living tree.

The Fellowship was given lembas wrapped in mallorn-leaves, and Galadriel gave Sam Gamgee a box of soil that contain a silver mallorn nut. When he returned to the Shire after the War of the Ring, Sam planted the nut in the Party Field where the Party Tree had once stood. In the spring of 3020 a sapling grew with silver bark and long leaves. The mallorn blossomed with golden flowers on April 6. It was one of the finest mallorn-trees in the world and people came from miles around to see it.

Names & Etymology:
The word mallorn means "golden tree" from mal meaning "gold" and orn meaning "tree." The plural of mallorn is mellyrn, but mallorn-trees is also an acceptable plural. The Quenya word is malinornë, plural malinorni.

Sources:
The Fellowship of the Ring: "Lothlorien," p. 349, 356-57, 363-66; "The Mirror of Galadriel," p. 368-69; "Farewell to Lorien," p. 387
The Two Towers: "The White Rider," p. 92
The Return of the King: "The Grey Havens," p. 302-303
Unfinished Tales: "Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin," p. 56 (note 31); "A Description of the Island of Numenor," p. 167-68; "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn," p. 253
The Silmarillion: "Appendix - Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names," entries for mal and orn

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Is the curtain wall the inner or outer wall, how high is it normally and what's it climb DC? Also, am I to assume that Mael is completely blocked off from the wall at the moment? Line 10 on your map would seem to provide him with a clear approach to it...

BTW, is 'Mallorn' a type of tree or is it a proper name of sorts?

The curtain wall is the outer wall separating the citadel grounds from the city, much the way a curtain separates the inside of your house from the neighborhood at large. The keep has other inner fortifications that include a stone palisade wall that separates the castle from the woods. I'm not the sort of DM who normally just outright discloses DCs. The curtain wall is 70 feet high. Ten or twelve feet wide at its base, narrower on top by the catwalk. As such, it's not truly verticle, but it's damn close. The stone is worked stone and well-constructed with a relatively smooth surface. From what Maelicent's seen of it, it would be a difficult but not impossible climb. At the moment, Maelicent is completely blocked off from the wall by trees.

Mallorn is straight from Tolkien, a blatant rip-off of a semi-fictional tree. We have something somewhat close to it here in Hawaii with smooth silver bark and a mass brilliant yellow flowers in place of leaves that is in bloom right now. That's my inspiration for its inclusion. Mallorns are traditionally associated with elves in Tolkien fiction. I personally have always imagined them to be good in nature, stewards of the forest. The one of the map isn't. I gave it a special, darker green-black color to reflect its black heart.