[OOC] Realm of the floating islands: A Strife in the Sky

[purplerook]

@LeDragon and Players,

I'm willing to continue NPCsing Sulurruk, but I want to suggest an alternative. Let's leave Sulurruk on board the ship. The rest of the PC have good to excellent stealth. We could try sneaking into the stronghold, particularly with some climbing shenanigans due to our Druid Shapeshifting into a Giant Spider.

This would make for a weaker party in straight-up combat but with the possibility of avoiding some combat, or a surprise round.

Optionally, we might get a bit of spell support (e.g., Aid spell) from the NPC Suluruk.

[LeDragon]

I'll post the captain's proposal tomorrow, then you can choose whether Suluruk shall join you or not.

[secretID]

Originally Posted by purplerook

Let's leave Sulurruk on board the ship. The rest of the PC have good to excellent stealth. We could try sneaking into the stronghold, particularly with some climbing shenanigans due to our Druid Shapeshifting into a Giant Spider.

This would make for a weaker party in straight-up combat but with the possibility of avoiding some combat, or a surprise round.

Optionally, we might get a bit of spell support (e.g., Aid spell) from the NPC Suluruk.

I like it. Commandos. PT is still good in melee, as is Valerius (and maybe Kazza too?).

We could also just have Suluruk lag far behind in reserve and in support, as you say. Aid, then Cure Wounds later if needed.

[purplerook]

Originally Posted by secretID

I like it. Commandos. PT is still good in melee, as is Valerius (and maybe Kazza too?).

We could also just have Suluruk lag far behind in reserve and in support, as you say. Aid, then Cure Wounds later if needed.

If we only had someone who could cast Featherfall, we could be Airborne Commandos,

[LeDragon]

Originally Posted by purplerook

If we only had someone who could cast Featherfall, we could be Airborne Commandos,

Ask the captain. Featherfall is the fantasy parachute.

[purplerook]

Alright, I love tactical situations, and to make it suck not quite so bad, Khat made her second Con Save.

Some Questions:

• Would something let us drop slowly to the ground, like a Feather Fall spell?
• Will we need to take out the ballista for the airship to come back around the second time?
• Any idea how many guards are on the mountain with the tower? Inside the Tower?
• Should we destroy the bridge to hold off reinforcements?
• Any idea where the prisoners would be in the tower? dungeon/basement, top?

Working Draft Plan:

• Oil on the bridge so that we can set it on fire to block reinforcements
• Stealth assassination of the ballista guard and crew, then sabotage the ballista
• Assault the tower - we may want to attack the town top - down. Spider climb and or ropes at the top and then clear the building from the top down.
• Call the Ship in for a pick-up. If we've done it right, they can pick us off the top of the tower.

[LeDragon]

I try to answer your questions as well as possible:

- feather fall would be perfect. Your characters noticed that every crew member has a small silver feather token at a leather string around the neck. But you don't know if there are spare spells left. Probably not. You need to persuade the crew to hand their tokens to you. (Good arguments + 2 separate rolls diplomacy check).
- it would be helpful if the two ballistas don't shoot when the airship returns. The method of choice is up to you. You need two persons and about a minute to ready a ballista.
- there are no information about the amount of guards or their positions.
- same is valid for the prisoners. They are probably somewhere in the tower. Maybe not.

Other tactical considerations are up to you. Don't underestimate the range of the other ballistas. Any loud noise or visibility fire or so may alert the orcs.

[LeDragon]

Ok. I saw the rolls of Khat and her arguments. Count the feather fall tokens in.

[Pinotage]

Does everybody need to make the CON save, even if Kazza passed the first one?

[purplerook]

"Speed and Violence of Action" - a principle from the Home Invasion Seminar that I attended

More questions

• What is the scale - e.g., distance/range from the tower to the rest of the mountain?
• Is each triangle a ballista?
• Assuming that the two black buildings could be either barracks (for guards), and or possible locations for the prisoners.
• How many Floors in Tower? Approximate Height?
• Any PCs with Silence?
• How long before the ship can circle back around?

Updated Working Draft

• PCs feather-fall onto the tower, taking out any guards at the top. Preferably shot on the way down (Readied Action Attack while falling).
• Work our way down the tower
• If prisoners are not in the tower - assault/clear the other two buildings
• If necessary suppressive fire against reinforcements and or ballistae
• Pick-up by ship

[secretID]

Originally Posted by purplerook

"Speed and Violence of Action" - a principle from the Home Invasion Seminar that I attended

That really makes it sound like you're on the wrong side.

[purplerook]

Originally Posted by secretID

That really makes it sound like you're on the wrong side.

As the instructor explained, ‘The Wrong Side is the one that gets hauled off to the hospital or the morgue’.

The way it worked was we split the class for each exercise - one time you were the home invader, and the other time you were the home owner. Additionally, sometimes the ‘Home Invaders’ were Police Officers executing a No Knock Warrant, and sometimes the Home Owners were Drug Dealers.

The training area was inside a Warehouse and the instructor could adjust the lighting from Daylight to Pitch Black. It was the second most intense training I’ve ever had.

[secretID]

I'm also interested in what those black parallelograms are - I thought they were the ballistas.

If I understand correctly, the mountain on the right is the more difficult one to access; shouldn't we drop onto that one? That is, it's much easier to cross the bridge right to left than the reverse way, correct?

Do I understand correctly that the feather fall possibility will just make things go more smoothly? That is, either way we're going to drop down on them?

BTW, if we're dropping down, Suluruk may as well come along. If we want to sneak once we've landed, he can stay behind. (Of course, at least some of us have disad on skill rolls, so Stealth may be unrealistic.)

[purplerook]

I think that the triangles are the ballistae.

My take (let’s see if LeDragon confirms) is that the right mountain is like the Gateway (Fortress) to the second mountain. By dropping in, we can avoid the heavily defended Fortress and land in the rear area.

I’m expecting at least a couple of advantage from Feather Fall. The tangible advantage is being able to shoot as we fall. No need to hold onto rope or sling. Before Jumping readied action to shoot the first enemy we see (although we’ll need work out a). Additionally, we land on our feet and can move without having to stand-up.

The other effect is less tangible. The group can jump out of the ship at a higher altitude, and the ship won’t need to use their engine to slow. I’m hoping the combo will increase the odds of us to being unheard, until the Ship comes around the second time.

@LeDragon,

Is there any possibility that the Airship has something equivalent to the Skyhook or Fulton surface to air recovery system?


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fult...ecovery_system

[secretID]

Good thinking re the Feather Fall benefits.