Thrane strike force. RAIDERS OF AUNDAIR STAY OUT

[Eidalac]

*nods*

We have the same Cha bonus, so I'm more than happy to play guard while you take on the elemental, if things progress towards that.

Plus, I'd pretty sure your auras will keep going while you are fighting for mental control, you'd still be contributing ot any fighting in that way.

I could be wrong about that though, as I'm not all that familiar with the class.

 

[Scurry]

Bear in mind that, I believe, we're using invisibility sphere for the bulk of our concealment. We can have at most one guy split off (with separately cast invis) from the little group huddle we have going on before the jig is up. Also, how is a scout going to report back when we're all silent and invisible? Two pokes for attack, three for run away? We only have one fly scroll per guy, not counting the Emergency Extra, which is for emergencies, so waiting for the duration of spells to expire is a poor idea.

I don't like the idea of being separated, it has a much worse failure mode (split guy dies) than most strategies. I think sticking together, raiding the ship, and moving as fast as we can to the objective is the best we can do.

The marshall wrestling with the wheel is a good idea - a marshal's auras will still keep on kickin', so we can pull the ship away even if there's a fight. Even if the crates aren't on the ship, we should do our utmost to ensure the ship isn't an escape route - flying it away from the dock and letting it drift in space isn't a bad choice, though very unsubtle.

EDIT: Now is probably also the time to finalize our group expenditures. By my count, we have 1.7 k to play with, and we need to buy a metamagic rod, as many disks as we can get our hot little hands on, and I think some other stuff...?

 

[Dekana]

Ok then, no scout. We all fly, invis, silence and then float up to the top of the tower. Even if we're not holding hands, the rendezvous point will be the ramp leading to the ship. If detected, we fight the sentries immediately, remove the plank to the ship, and storm the tower.

I see two strategies from there:
1) We go in the ship and search it for the coffins. If they're not in the ship, I don't think we have to worry about hijacking it. If the guards are forced to retreat, that's just fine - but they can't take several 400 pound coffins with them on the run. If we don't find the coffins in the ship, we storm the tower immediately. If they ARE in the ship, we try to take control of it.

2) The second option is this; as soon as we fly up the tower, we immediately begin our assault and tackle the guards. This gives us a better chance of taking the enemy by surprise, but we also risk the coffins being flown away by a fleeing PC. Locate Object just before the attack might help in this regard.

 

[Scurry]

Ok then, no scout. We all fly, invis, silence and then float up to the top of the tower. Even if we're not holding hands, the rendezvous point will be the ramp leading to the ship. If detected, we fight the sentries immediately, remove the plank to the ship, and storm the tower.

I see two strategies from there:
1) We go in the ship and search it for the coffins. If they're not in the ship, I don't think we have to worry about hijacking it. If the guards are forced to retreat, that's just fine - but they can't take several 400 pound coffins with them on the run. If we don't find the coffins in the ship, we storm the tower immediately. If they ARE in the ship, we try to take control of it.

2) The second option is this; as soon as we fly up the tower, we immediately begin our assault and tackle the guards. This gives us a better chance of taking the enemy by surprise, but we also risk the coffins being flown away by a fleeing PC. Locate Object just before the attack might help in this regard.

Our first target should be the ship - taking control of the ship means that they can't fly the crates away if they're in the ship. The crates getting away means we've failed, which is bad. Also, the ship moving away from the dock will prompt everyone to run the hell out and try to stop it, which is better than them holing up with a siege mentality and preparing.

 

[Eidalac]

Don't forget locate object.

If we are going to forgo scouting, I'd say hold off on silence - we meet under the ship, cast locate then, once we know the location (or lack there of), we cast silence and get started.

I'm not 100%, of course, but I'll bet we can find a spot under the ship that's out of hte way enough to ensure we aren't heard, provided we keep to the very minimum of comunication; ie, say we are here and the caster says where (or if) the coffins are located).

 

[Scurry]

Locate Object isn't to be hugely trusted - the caster hasn't seen the object, which makes it susceptible to failure. I think it might be best used after we've found the crates to run a last sweep to make sure we don't miss any.

However, I think having a coherent plan so Dr.Z doesn't wanna kill us is more important now.

As long as we're all agreed that we move as a group to the airship, invisible, and hit it first, I think that's enough for him to go on - I'll leave when locate object should be cast to the discretion of the primary spellcasters.

 

[Zurai]

I'm back, but I'm not sure who is and is not actually in the game, so I won't comment on planning for now.

 

[Eidalac]

The spell can't be used to locate the coffins specifically, but IIRC, it can be used to locate coffins, in general, and I don't expect their to be too many of those in the area.

But, we have to assume the spell won't work and plan based on that. Bonus if it does, but we can't count on it for certain.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

So let me toss up a proposed revised plan:

T+0: Activity in the tower stops.

T+2hrs: We cast fly, invisibility sphere, silence, middling-long duration buffs. We take to the skies. We hit the airship first. Take out any sentries on deck silently, pull up ramp and replace it with an illusion, move through the rest of the ship and take out any other PCs, locate the coffins if they're on board. For this step we leave one person with a separate invisibility spells up on deck checking for incoming PCs.

Scenario A: The coffins are on the ship. In this case, we just have to bug out like there's no tomorrow. The Marshal takes the helm and starts us straight up as quick as possible, the rest of the team holds off any attempts to board. We make for the nearest military outpost, job done.

Scenario B: The coffins are not on the ship. In this case, we move onto the tower, going top down and neutralizing resistance as we go. We won't be able to make a quick getaway with the coffins, so we need to take out the entire party to accomplish our objective. If we think we've been made and the PCs are waiting for us on the top floor, we can use Stone Shape to hit them from below.

 

[Eidalac]

I can jive with that.