ROR:Session/20

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Starring: Calum, Haneet, Hilma, Tokki
Guest Starring: Sandpoint usuals, Hellknights, Gogmurt, Combat guests: Hemlock, Mvashti, Combat allies: 5 Hellknights, 3 Gnome Giant-Killer Rangers
Challenge: Below
Location: Sandpoint
Date Played: 16 July 2016

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Attack on Sandpoint

Chapter 4: Fortress of the Stone Giants - Part 1: Stones Over Sandpoint

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Downtime

Chopper's Isle

Karaz

Day 30: Well once again my companions are taking time to show their amazing skills. They even made me this great pair of flying shoes. Well It took me some time to get used to them but now I can take on those frustrating flying creatures. I decided to take them on a test run out to Chopper's Isle. Between that and the thundering enchantment on my sword I am pretty happy. I didn't run into anything too dangerous out here. Moved some rocks, fought some local beasts, hopefully my companions will like the job I did this past month. I cleared almost enough foliage and debris to build a little house. I wonder if they'll want to live in it with me after I get it built? I doubt it, but I will ask after I find someone to build it.

Day 31: After about a month of work here on the island I have to say it's lonely without my companions. And now I come to find out that Hilma and Tokki were working on the other side of the island this whole time! I knew I should have worked on the part where that buried basement was. I doubt they will want to live on the space I cleared. Tokki is clever and kind, I am sure he has a palace planned or some sort of manor house. Maybe I'll have a room there? If not I can build a little hut here in the woods. I am frustrated with my own stupidity, maybe I should find some other work? My companions are still toiling away on their separate tasks, unfortunately my skills are not well suited to helping. I wish I could do more for them. I hear there's a dangerous beast at large in the countryside that needs to be removed. Maybe I could do that? Now what was that guide's name again? I'm not much of a tracker, I'll need to pay someone for that. Maybe Shillalieh would like to make a few coins?

Day 32: Ok so is Shelalu not Shillalieh. Oh well, I'll remember now. My companions are all buying mounts and it could be a long walk to find the beast. So I'll get one too! I bought something called a wooly rhinoceros. It's not pretty but it sure is sturdy. I still think the guy who sold it to me was ridiculous. Who names a steed Mangy Fleabag anyway? But that's what it answers to, so that's what I call it.

Day 60: Ok Mangy Fleabag eats a lot but is a steady mount. He's only bitten me twice and trampled me once. I barely fell off of him a dozen times this month. Not too bad for rough terrain. We have been tracking the beast which I found out is called the Sandpoint Devil for a while now and Shelalu is a big help. Who knew all those plants and mushrooms I was eating were poisonous to most folks! Thank goodness for my days living on garbage when I was first alone or I could have been in real trouble!

Day 85: Today we fought the Sandpoint Devil. It was horrible. Like a horse with fangs. It walked on two legs, had wings and a lizard-like tail. I cant believe something like that is even real! But we finally got it. I hope I make it back before the town gets attacked. I don't want anything to happen to my companions. Maybe they'll have missed me? But I don't want to get my hopes up. I can't wait to tell my companions about the devil. But will they care? Maybe Haneet will find the description interesting anyway. And Shelalu really is a nice companion, as long as I stay downwind, keep my distance, and talk as little as possible she even lets me share her fire at night. I wonder why she keeps muttering something about "not enough gold in the world" when I try to make conversation? Is she concerned about the economy like Tokki?

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 1.1: I think it is time I loosen up a bit. Though the haiku kept me well structured, I will take Yap's drink and advice to heart and attempt to open up more. These personal logs may be a step in the right direction.

Chopper's Isle was in need of some attention. Hilma has decided to work on the underground area while I will be focusing on building a base of operations for us. We can place some of our noteworthy gains on display inside. Perhaps it will also help bring in some tourist to this town, creating an upswing in revenue.

Hilma

After setting up a small forge and workshop in the underground caverns of Chopper's Isle (boy, we really need to come up with another name,) Calum and I have spent several weeks bolstering weapons, fortifying armor, and creating new magical tools to aid us in the battle to come. I was also able to secure a mount. It is a combat-trained gecko, so it will take some time for my own skills to match its. I have named him Baruk.

Troops

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 21.3 - 21.5: I have pleaded with the military for aid to be sent to Sandpoint. I have built figures on the cost of repairs and how it will be most cost effective to send reinforcements. Hopefully negotiations go well.

I have spoken with the company that is supplying the Hellknights. Though their name leaves something to be desired, I welcome some well structured help. 8 Have agreed to join us.

The local military of Magnamar seems stretched thin. I was able to procure 4 ranges that specialize in hunting and tracking giants. They should make fine scouts.

Personal Log. Entry 82.13: We've had two Hellknights and a ranger leave today. Their morale on waiting must have run thin. They are less disciplined than I thought.

Personal Log. Entry 114.1: We lost another Hellknight this morning. I'd almost hate to say it, but I hope the giants come soon if they are going to come at all. I wonder if they are just waiting out the rest of our extra forces to leave...

Personal Log. Entry 141.7: I hope that those that abandoned post can live with the guilt that their absence led to the falling of some of their brothers in arms. A report will be written, I can assure you.

Hilma

Tokki was able to secure forces from Magnimar, and while they seem skilled, I hear that morale is flagging as the waiting continues. Several have returned to their old posts, leaving Sandpoint all the more vulnerable for it.

Isra'a? Karaz?

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 1.3: Everyone seems to have a lot to take care of. Hilma and Calum are doing much forging. Isra'a decided to take a trip on a ship. He said he needed to find his roots again. Karaz just slinked away without really saying goodbye. And Haneet... well... is being Haneet.

Personal Log. Entry 52.4: Karaz and Isra'a have both been gone for a while. Hopeuflly they are due back soon.

Personal Log. Entry 132.18: Danger is looming. I can feel it. I really hope they get back soon.

Haneet

I've got a glaive, and it's sharp and pokey and magical and I've been spying on the giant army, but like, I haven't found the giant army, but as a squirrel, I can totally spy on them and they'd never suspect a squirrel because NOBODY EVER EXPECTS THE SQUIRRELS! And also I buried a lot of nuts. Like, a LOT.

Preparation

Scarnettis

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 17.9: War profiteering. Who would have thunk it? They are probably still cooking the books to boot. I'm going to have to recommend that they get investigated after all of this is done. At least we are able to get the wood we need for our defenses.

Hilma

Unsurprisingly, the Scarnettis have been less than forthcoming with their services. Of course, they seemed less concerned with the state of their workers' souls than we did and see us mostly as the group that "inconvenienced" them by ridding their ranks of vile cultists. Of course, they cannot deny Sandpoint the fortifications the city needs. They will simply gouge them on the price.

Gogmurt

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 140.5 - 140.6: Something seemed very off about Gogmurt. Haneet informed us that he was being manipulated through a charm and geas. His demands were quite unreasonable, and he brought two greatly tortured ogres with him. We will see what negotiation yield.

It is indeed a trap. They are waiting to kill us if we come to help them with the incoming giants. We need to send out a scouting party.

Hilma

Haneet's bird friend warned us that Gogmurt was under the influence of a spell and would not be able to warn us when we next saw him. Indeed, he came to Sandpoint to request aid, making several unreasonable demands. We vaguely agreed to help him in some way, and scouting revealed that any support making its way to him would have been caught in an ambush.

Scouting

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 140.8: As expected, there was an ambush ready for us. Stone giants are in wait and are very close to the village. We decide it best to try and parlay by sending an animal messenger.

Personal Log. Entry 141.3: We go to meet the giants, but they did not come with intentions to negotiate. They were scaling the nearby mountains to try and flank us. We rode back hard to camp, with barely an hour to finish preparations.

Hilma

The scouting party, while preventing an ambush, was spotted by several stone giants. Rushing back to the city, we were able to make it back before the giants arrived, giving us time to raise the alarm.

Haneet

People were like building things and making the city safe, but like the Hellknights are all, "Oh, there's no giant army. There's not even a regular sized army of giants. And why are you climbing on me? Stop. No, stop. Those are spikes, not handholds LET GO." And some of them left, but the giants did come with a regular sized army of giants and we went out to talk to them, but they wanted to make a trap and the rangers were "Noooo, let go, stop climbing on me, even if you ARE a squirrel right now," so I flew with a bird.

Agofon Warbullion

There is a lot going on, with this talk of war nearing the gates. The proof is in plain sight but some have eyes incapabale of seeing it. Running and shouting of war is all well and good, but ridiculous, so I seek to motivate the wise. I visit the influential and offer to make safe copies of their most important documents, in the case of fire and war. As the days go on my pen hand is weary but there is more chatter amoungst the right people about preparing for an assault.

Attack on Sandpoint

Gate

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 141.4: A handful of giants charge the gate. Our adventuring party takes on three of them, and quite ably to boot. Now, according to my calculations, we would have had to have hit an efficiency rating of 306 within 10 seconds, which we fell short of. It wasn't much later until the sound of the bridge alarm went off, and I had to break off on Dividends. The other three can hold their own.

Hilma

We attempted to hold the North Gate from the onslaught of three giants. We defeated them quite handily, even after a secondary alarm was sounded and Tokki had to rush to the bridge to help the Hell Knights defending it.

Bridge

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 141.5-6: The bridge was under siege by 3 dire bears and 2 stone giants. The Hellknights were doing well with their ranger, though the bears quickly bogged them down. I begun to strafe them at the top of the wall until Dividends took some initiative of her own.

Something clicked in Dividends. She became enveloped in a black fog and seems much more spry than a pony should be. In the moment she jumped down from the hill, I could feel some of Eristil's divinity I put into my bow now channel into her. It appears that we now share a bond. Hopefully it is enough to pull us through this fight.

Dragon!?!

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 141.9: I really wish to engage the dragon as I am the most fit to take it on in the air. Also, it appears that Dividends is quite keen on taking the opportunity to try to run across rooftops. I need to take to healing the Hellknights first and protecting the town in the most efficient way possible.

Hilma

After destroying the giants at the gate, my mount and I rushed through the streets of Sandpoint to gain a strategic foothold near the bridge. We never got there. Midway through the city, I noticed a shadow passing over the streets much too quickly to be that of a cloud. As I looked up, I saw a red dragon barreling down on us! Startled, my mount bucked, throwing me to the ground and knocking me unconscious. My companions later told me how the rest of the battle transpired.

Haneet

So I wasn't allowed to go fight the giants right away because there were lots of giants so we went back to Sandpoint and we fought the giants there, but the giants are dumb and stupid and stand far away, making it really hard to hit them! But I did, anyway.

Dragon, continued

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 141.10: The dragon appears to be targeting key areas of our settlement. It isn't really engaging directly with the forces of Sandpoint. Maybe it's a diversion. None the less, I'd best try to take it out of the sky.

Beer

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 142.2: I have a feeling that Israa's "advanced interrogation techniques" may be needed to get something out of Teraktinus, so I head to see the drunken giant that was mentioned earlier.

It appears that libation opens many doors. We are able to find the location of the giant encampment, the fact that they feel that their old master is the Runelord of Greed, that the said Runelord created the land we stand on, and of their general plan of attack. The giant agreed to give us all of this information and more if we let him go with some beer. A fair trade and, as I understand it, the giant's heart was never in the fight. Having not killed or injured a townsfolk, I find the compromise agreeable.

Teraktinus

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 141.12: The head giant was making his way toward the old lighthouse. I can only guess because it has something to do with the Runelord of Wrath. It's very doubtful that he is going to Chopper's Isle to see our house of oddities.

Personal Log. Entry 141.13: He hit like a house. Karaz and Israa helped take him down, but I made sure to use an Arrow of Mercy to make sure he stayed unconscious to be questioned later.

Personal Log. Entry 142.1: The fighting is over, and I go to question Teraktinus. He has very little to say. He claims to have been just picked up along the way and took lead due to his tactical skills. I can get nowhere with him, so I leave him to the whims of an irritated Karaz and riled Israa. May they have better luck.

Mansions

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 141.15: Dividends has some nightmare blood in her, but it appears she doesn't quite have the ability to hover or fly. I take the long way around town and am able to shoot a healing arrow that Haneet describes as "healy, pointy coffee" and she is back into the fight. Hemlock and his men are spared from the giants wrath and the mansions down south are in one piece.

Agofon Warbullion

The attack on the town is brutal. Stone giants rain down rocks, dire bears seek more than honey, and a red dragon spits fire everywhere. The nearest building to me with a bucket bridgade is the garrison and put myself to work watering the building. One young man is so stricken by witnessing the death of loved ones that the bucket brigade falters. I touch his shoulder, working my magic (Bestow Curse), and I tell him, "You will feel no grief until the dawn young man. Do her proud today."

Fortune then smiles on me, as I recognize many local business folk here. I make a kind offer of allowing them to save important items in my bag of holding. Some are hurt, and I tend to them as best as I'm able. Bruises heal and I refuse my magic, making an enemy here and there, but I have to hold my powerful curatives for when things get bad.

Haneet

Damage

• North Wall (stones)
• Garrison (fire)
• Cathedral (fire)
• Theater (earthquake)
• Carpenter's Guild (earthquake)
• A few homes (dragon falling from sky)
• Two Knights Brewery (stones and clubs)
• Palisades in places giants broke through (break checks)
  • Yes, these did help. I spread out the encounter trigger times a little bit due to your spending time to do this. Timelines would have been tighter without!

Tokki

Personal Log. Entry 142.5: There appears to be a fair bit of damage to the town. It could have been a lot worse, though. The earthquake didn't help matters either. I will take inventory of the damages and access rebuilding cost. Since the Hellknights are going back to Magnamar, I can attach the message to them and at least save the carriers fee.

• 🎲 DM Again, it was very clear to everyone present that Niska used this as an opportunity to "help" with the earthquake spell while also expressing her personal vendettas against her noisy neighbors. The Earthquake was placed to damage the theater and carpenter's guild while minimizing other damage... and it did present stumbling blocks (literally) against the giant advance. Certainly not the best tactic within her powers as a "can cast a quickened 4th level spell in the same round as an eighth level spell" druid. She DID help (especially in future rounds).

Talking to the Giants

Tokki

See entry logs 142.1-142.2

Dividends

This is what's special about Dividends née Shadowmist.

• The party already decided she was a pony. (Otherwise she was "resizable" as needed.)
• She is 'simple advanced' via rebuild rules: AC increase natural armor by +2; Ability Scores +4 to all ability scores (except Int scores of 2 or less).
• She has Favored Enemy (Goblin) +2.
• She gets a bonus skill point per level. One skill rank must always go into Acrobatics, and the bonus into Stealth. She has Skill Focus in both as a bonus feat.
• She can use Obscuring Smoke as a free action on her turn covering only her own space. It lasts for 1 minute. She can do it a number of times per day equal to her hit dice. This gives attack into her space a 20% miss chance no matter the distance. It blows away/dispels/etc as Obscuring Mist. 🎲 DM This is how I had it back then. It may be too powerful for these levels if she's combined with anything else that would give her more than her base hit dice.
• She's trained for war. And is strong-willed/stubborn/perceptive (but is still just a horse with some ancient Nightmare bloodline deep down in her ancestry).
• She came with fancy barding. I have to dig into my notes which.

🎲 DM Section

Encounters

The Northgate Siege (CR 11)

3x Stone Giants (CR 8)

Chaos at Tanner's Bridge (CR 12)

2 Stone Giants (CR 8)

3 Dire Bears (CR 7)

Dragonfire Inferno (CR ?)

Longtooth the Red Dragon (CR ?)

Mill Pond (CR 12)

Teraktinus (Stone Giant Ranger 2) (CR 10), 2 Stone Giants (CR 8)

Beer or Death (CR 10)

2 Stone Giants (CR 8)

Looting the Manors(CR 12)

4 Stone Giants (CR 8)

Recap Reward

On Time (before next gathering)

Sandpoint will help with your party's preparation. Pick a level 2 or lower wand (or level 4 or lower potion/oil *technically wondrous if it's 4th). THIS CAN BE ANY SPELL ON THE PRD/d20pfsrd, BUT NOT IN CORE IF YOU WANT! This does not make the spell open and available. Must be a Paizo-written Pathfinder spell...

• Tokki, Hilma, Karaz (downtime writeup), Isra'a (downtime writeup), Haneet

Late

As above, but level 1 wand or 3 or lower potion/oil.

Not done

• Calum

Expires

Used. Must be claimed during chapter 4's play.

Tokki

Hmmm, this want looks interesting. I'm pretty sure it could come in handy for trade deals and negotiations.

• Heightened Wand of Fairness - http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/f/fairness