OOC

[Inferno]

Hey everybody....
Okay....this just keeps going round and round and round.....WHAT IS THE PLAN?

Hi. I share your frustration. We voted in this thread to attack immediately, and now we're second guessing that. Or maybe third guessing. I've lost count.
We can take another quick vote I suppose, but I don't know if the losers will abide by its outcome any more than they did the last vote.

How many total AOE spells/attacks do we have? If not a lot, then there are a LOT of hit points between 24+ hill giants and a few stone/cloud giants (or whatever they were). No way we'll be able to take them all out in short order if we don't have huge AOE spells, like chain lightning and fireball (preferably in wand or staff form).

I've got Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Cone of Cold, Ice Storm, a Wand of Fire, Stinking Cloud, Sleep (for the orcs), and Phantasmal Force. I memorized for combat with giants, so I don't have too many deceptions spells.

It sounds like people want to sneak around now, so I'm happy to go along with the will of the majority, or at least the will of the vocal minority.

[max_vale]

I'm good either way.....if we do an attack (with most of the party at a hallway/doorway entrance) I figure I can attempt to sneak in (Silenced or not) before hand; land a backstab attack....or maybe an attack with a multi-charged Staff of Striking; run out of the way as the missile fire and Area of Effect spells get used; get back in the Hallway/Doorway (oh yeah; with the party having the benefit of my Prayer spell and a Glyph on the floor in front of the hallway); to retreat back when the bad guys come to funnel them down; and then utilize Staff, Missile Fire; Backstabs, whatever......

Those are my thoughts anyway.....as already mentioned; I'm cool with the sneaking around and attempting to 'liberate' orcs to use as allis/patsies while hopefully finding more magic items to utilize and/or take out opponents here and there as well.

[rredmond]

All, my most sincerest apologies!
For the past week I've been battling (first with my daughter, then (as she shared it with me) myself) a crippling stomach bug.
I don't think I've ever been laid up like that - not even in my college days drinking death-defying amounts of alcohol. Finishing up yesterday morning

with vomit that was so black, it glowed green - I've never seen the like

but funny enough after that I knew I was at the tail end. Yesterday I was still a bit of a zombie, but made it in to work. On the plus side I lost 12 pounds, of course it's likely all water weight.

So even though I'm now fighting all the work I haven't completed, and staff who took advantage of the boss being out (and my "business" is treating severely mentally traumatized children and adults - not many staff took advantage, but I'm disappointingly surprised at how many did) I'm going to try and update the game either later today or early tomorrow.

Again I am quite sorry about this, this module is a fantastic module and great fun. I've DMed it before face to face and PbP and it always seems to be a great time. I have every intention of getting and keeping on track in this game - RL is a annoyance lately.

Please if I am screwing with your fun of the module, PM me that you'd like to bow out. No problem. Otherwise I should have a post by tomorrow morning. My plan is to post at least once a week, hopefully twice a week. I know some of you have SOP actions happening, so I won't bother anyone until they haven't really interacted on the forum for a couple weeks. I will continue to, as I got the idea from max_vale, PM when there's a new post up, to give everyone a chance to weigh in for each Action Post.

Be well everyone, stay healthy (by the gods stay healthy) and happy gaming!
--Ron--

[max_vale]

I'm in, no worries and I'm glad you're back amongst the (at least 'somewhat') healthy!

[Stirling]

I am fine with posting rate, larger groups always take more time for people to write and express equal opinion and for encounter situations.

[Inferno]

Hi,
Merry winter solstice everyone.
I’m going to be traveling for the holidays and unable to post frequently. I'll be back by January 5th.

If I'm slowing things down, please NPC my character to keep things moving.
Thanks!

[max_vale]

Happy New Year everybody!


Hey, a thought occurred to me that did NOT occur to me before when talking about whenever/if ever we take on the main group of Giants. We've got a LOT of aides in the form of magic items from the bundles we picked way back when.....I'm not sure why they slipped my brain, but they did. So.....some food for thought.....


-We've got a wand of fire for both fireball attacks AND setting up blazes to block/slow down/damage anyone trying to escape or come at us

-We've got half-a-dozen Javelins of Lightning which can be used by any Fighter types for some 'damage several at once' lightning bolt attacks

-We've got a LOT of invisibility-causing items which can be used for sneaking around/backstabs/escapes/etc.

Anyway....just something that kinda hit me when looking at this game.....so, I think we're a bit more capable as a group than I first thought...so YAY us!

In the meantime; if we're going to try and stir up the Orcs to use as bait/allies/red-herrings......can somebody who can actually communicate with them try and get them riled up? I tried with Hill Giant words....but that didn't seem to do much.

-Max

[Inferno]

Jack don't talk Orc.

[max_vale]

Me neither....

[Alethan]

Oh, sorry, I think the only one who speaks orc is the dwarf! Not sure how well THAT is going to go, but Arnar can give it a try...

[max_vale]

Thanks Alethan! Worth a shot anyway!

[Stirling]

Pheaus speaks orc.

[Alethan]

Pheaus speaks orc.

Oh, maybe Arnar is the only one who speaks ogre, then? Hold on, let me look at my character sheet...

EDIT: He speaks orcish and Hill Giant. So not sure. All I remember is that in the first encounter, we charmed an ogre or hill giant and Arnar was the only one who could speak with it.

[Inferno]

Pheaus speaks orc.

Oh, maybe Arnar is the only one who speaks ogre, then? Hold on, let me look at my character sheet...

EDIT: He speaks orcish and Hill Giant. So not sure. All I remember is that in the first encounter, we charmed an ogre or hill giant and Arnar was the only one who could speak with it.

Yes. No one spoke Ogre, but Sugarlump spoke Orc.

[Alethan]

Pheaus speaks orc.

Oh, maybe Arnar is the only one who speaks ogre, then? Hold on, let me look at my character sheet...

EDIT: He speaks orcish and Hill Giant. So not sure. All I remember is that in the first encounter, we charmed an ogre or hill giant and Arnar was the only one who could speak with it.

Yes. No one spoke Ogre, but Sugarlump spoke Orc.

Apparently several people speak orcish. So the dwarf with the Charisma of 8 shouting at them probably isn't the best idea...

[Inferno]

Hi,
I’m traveling for work and may not be able to post. I'll be back on Wednesday.
If I'm holding things up, please NPC my character. Thanks.

[rredmond]

You never hold things up, only the DM.

Thanks for everyone's patience. Work has been killer (not bad just super busy) and I've had internet issues - besides being blocked at work.

I hope to post an update by Saturday afternoon. If I can't sneak on before Saturday, or get up before work on Saturday, I had a case cancel in the early afternoon, so I can likely do it by then.

Sorry for the delay.

[Alethan]

No worries, Ron.

Work is certainly of greater importance.

[rredmond]

Then three of my daughters, and now my wife, got sick.

Sorry guys, things are crazy. I will definitely try to update as soon as I can.

[Stirling]

No worries, PbP can be notoriously slow with RL issues. We are probably all in other campaigns anyway. Just look at Ravenloft, playing for nearly 2 1/2 years and still have only burned Strahds' piano fingers. Sure the giants can live another day.