Galatea - Out of Character Discussions

7/9 Carissa

If I read it right, the dragons likely have bugbears, hobgoblins, or goblins bringing in food? Or serving them somehow? If teleporting right in and negotiating (or bargaining) doesn't work or seems a little too risky, is there something for maybe another polymorph possibility to sneak in? Just a thought that may or may not be well-thought out.

6/24 Carissa

As hilarious as the image of dangling Kel like bait on a fishing hook is, or how potentially interesting it could be to flood a giant cave system, I think I'm still leaning towards the (hopefully) simplier plan of teleporting Branwyn. And will add another vote to using stuff to try to buy Kenna's freedom if Silver will be mediator.

Ilero as potential lookout could be good, but after finishing the summaries, I do wonder if the dragons will now have a bias against thieves. If he is found, it might go straight to fight or flight. Although, it is Ilero, and I doubt such a small detail bothers him.

And just a reminder that there are three very young dragons and one parent is always gone. I wonder how you can tell them apart? I also wonder if one is easier to deal with than the others. Aren't the females more crass?

6/23 TMO

One possible option is for Ilero to try to scout out the lair. I'm torn on that one though, for a couple of reasons: 1) he is good but 2) he is not epic and 3) often has terrible luck and 4) one slip up and he's very possibly not coming back. Also, that would turn into another 'everybody sits around and watches while Ilero explores alone' and possibly another 'Oh my god, what stupid stunt is Ilero doing NOW?' situation.

One possible use of this though would be if Branwyn could use Ilero as a locator beacon to help her focus her crystal ball on the lair enough to maybe teleport in and back out again, if Ilero can get in close enough.

At the moment though, if he's willing, I'm leaning toward using Silver as a messenger and mediator and just try to buy Kenna's freedom. We have some stuff we can't use, or gems. While we *could* go all the way up to Charon's cup, I think that has a lot more story potential in the long run if kept with the group.

6/22 Carissa

Fight evil with evil? Yes. Nothing could ever go wrong, TMO. Why so pessimistic? :)

One additional thought: we now have two control humanoid potions and hill giants (according to the site) are humanoids so might work on them? If we end up going that simple but likely deadly plan.

Maybe see what Mr. Silver (who is Mr. Silver?) says...

And unless she is dead, a plant, or an animal, Shi has nothing of use.

6-22 Lisa

That was hilarious, TMO!

I am thinking there has to be a quicker, easier, less deadly way of dealing with this. Was hesitant to discuss this around BOB since he has a way of trying to foil my plans before they even get started (let's go on a unicorn hunt with the bugbear king??? Grrr!). But teleport is a verbal touch spell only. All Branwyn has to do is get close enough to touch Kenna and we can be out of there in a flash. Perhaps Marisu or someone with diplomatic and persuasion skills and Branwyn who can zap in and out can get this done without any bloodshed.

I did want Mr. Silver to come to dinner, but Branwyn will need to talk to him in private first. I was going to have Branwyn request that at the morning meeting since no one is posting IC there. People have to remember that only Branwyn knows that Silver is a dragon. Other than maybe Indigo who saw him when he was travelling to Gold Hills and Jennevive who is always spying on everyone, no one else would really have any reason to think this rich and reclusive nobleman is actually a dragon. This guy is a very powerful dragon with I am assuming a lot of magic so to break that promise Branwyn made to him to find out his true identity could/would likely cause a LOT of pain to our household. We can and should use him as a resource - it was my first thought for locating the lair, but we have to be very careful is all.

Does anyone have any locator/divining spells? We have all of Kenna's stuff at home she didn't take on the trip so we have personal articles to use to try and get her location.

6-22b TMO

This is how I summarized our experiences with this forest to date to some friends this morning:
[09:06] <MasterTMO> a simpler solution might just be to nuke the whole damn forest from orbit
[09:07] <MasterTMO> we already hate it and have said multiple times we don't want to go back ever again
[09:09] <MasterTMO> we've lost more party members here than I think we have anywhere else since I've been with the group.
[09:14] <MasterTMO> #1: group hired by local lord to stop a green dragon from extorting gems from his gem mine every month. One henchman killed by our own ballista when it turns out to be an illusion cast by a bunch of gnomes. A green dragon was spotted flying in the distance while chasing the gnomes.
[09:15] <MasterTMO> #2: Halfling kidnapped by a real green dragon. Assumed dead until some premonitions or other source indicated she was still alive. ooc, we know she was grabbed to teach the young green dragon the human languages.
[09:17] <MasterTMO> #3: subgroup on quest to find a unicorn hair for the mages guild. Entire group almost slaughtered by giant ant colony. Immediately captured by bugbear slavers while too weak to even think about a token resistance. Group barely rescued days later by leader mage using Teleport and Fireball.
[09:17] <MasterTMO> #4: one character dies while on mission to recover our magical items from the bugbear slavers.
[09:18] <MasterTMO> #5: my thief 'dies' but is saved from poisonous wyvern sting to the neck during this same mission.
[09:19] <MasterTMO> and now we're talking about enlisting hill giants to fight green dragons defending their lair and their young in an attempt to rescue our kidnapped halfling. Who does need rescue, don't get me wrong...
We've had enough bad experiences with this forest to last us for a lifetime. I'm leery of involving more deadly evil to try and counter the deadly evil we have to face in the first place. Simple plans have been deadly for us so far, what will a complicated plan be like? How many will die to rescue one?

Unfortunately, I also don't have any better ideas. ;)

The only thing that comes to mind is using Mr Silver to broker a deal where we buy Kenna away from the greens, using the silver's power and connections to make sure the greens don't welsh. But that is, 1) *IF* he will agree to do it, and 2) ignores the fact that Branwyn is sworn to keep his real nature a secret.

6-22 TMO

Let me see if I'm understanding the plan so far...

Trick or bargain with dumb evil murdering monsters who want to kill and eat us, to help us fight other smart evil murdering monsters who want to kill and eat us *AND* protect their children?

I wonder if there's a summoning spell out there we could try to design or employ, "Summon (Demi-)Human" that could be used to just yoink Kenna out of durance vile?

Just a note to the PCs who do know this fact (I don't remember offhand who that is besides Branwyn): We do know a dragon who has used us for a favor: Mr Silver.

6-21 Mario

Carissa, you beat me to it. I thought the exact same thing. We know the location of some Hill Giants, so why not charm or otherwise team up for a mission. Many difficulties, of course, like not speaking their language, and hill giants aren't usually smart enough to understand pacts, and I cannot imagine hill giants will pause long enough from trying to kill us to hear us out.

I found the Hill Giant entry in the Monstrous Manual, and i pasted their Ecology here:

Now, if we could disguise ourselves like Ogres,...

PS: They also have a chance to have Dire Wolves as guards, so if we wanted to start a Puppy Petting Zoo for the kids of Dryad's Lair, we can build a solid base. (The other chances are Giant Lizards or Ogres. Hey, wait a minute...!)

PSS: Sorry, forgot to mention: They also ceremonially kill mages. That is all.

6/21 Carissa

So green dragons love to eat elves and consider hill giants their greatest enemy. I'd think if you went the negotiation route directly with the dragon, it'd not go very easily:

Green dragons are masters of intrigue, politics, and back-biting, both within their own species and outside it. They will do anything to further their own ambitions: manipulate other dragons or similarly powerful creatures, intimidate humans and demihumans, maim and kill anyone opposed to them, lie shamelessly, promise anything (since they have no intention of ever fulfilling those promises), and generally use every nasty trick in the book.

BUT with the new information BOB posted, we now know hill giants are the greatest enemy of green dragons (or at least in the eyes of the dragons themselves). So that could be another route to look into of maybe trying to use that knowledge to our advantage. Maybe find some hill giants first to befriend? Or work with? Anyone able to cast such an illusion or polymorph into one maybe...?

The other problem might be trying to locate Kenna. She'd likely be with the kids, who the parents will protect with their life, in their large, underground home...

6/20 Carissa

Okay moved a few things over here before adding my own thoughts.

I did notice the dragon attacked Seremella first. I thought it was because of her movement or because she tried to talk to it, but you do bring up an interesting thought. I'll go see if I find any potential elf link to it.

But, that said, if it was because of talking that could be a problem with negotiation. Still, I like the idea. And if she can't find her via the crystal ball, maybe we can somehow try to bait a dragon out and follow it?

So now, what are those 4 other apparently obvious options going forward...?

Edit: There is a story about a green dragon tricking elves for profit (and involving orcs) on the dragon page. Possibly related, maybe? Or at least one sign of strain between green dragons and elves?

6/19 Lisa

The Kenna rescue mission I was hoping we can discuss IC and/or OOC as well. I was leaving the morning meeting open for a bit before Branwyn launches (typically) into what she wants to have happen immediately on that score. I think what we do about Kenna and when depends on if we can identify her location quickly. Branwyn knows a dragon expert she would like to invite for dinner and she needs to work a bit harder with the crystal ball. If we can locate her quickly I think it might be a possible solution to have a couple people teleport there, negotiate and bring her home. I know, I know! Branwyn never wants to slay a dragon. But this isn't one dragon, this is a whole dragon family. Something worth discussing maybe? A teleport in and out would take a day or two game time instead of weeks long hikes in the woods. And then Kenna would be back, training would commence/continue and we would all be ready for the next adventure. I was wondering whether Kenna would gain enough experience out there that she might level and need training too. :) If we can't find her, we're probably looking at wandering around the woods, unless there is a third option.

Here's a mission for Mario and Carissa, our elf historians. Carissa might notice in the chat logs that Baby Green Dragon stared at Jilly and Kenna, but jumped on Seremella (an elf) and tried to squash her like a bug. Might be something to think about or look up.

6-18 BOB

Decisions need to be made about how to rescue Kenna that need roleplay to get answers to find out all your options and make your choices. Training needs to happen and that time line is in progress as well. You will have lots of back and forth and from my point of view you have about 6 different options moving forward.

For searching information: Crystal Ball: This is the most common form of scrying device: a crystal sphere about 6 inches in diameter. A wizard can use the device to see over virtually any distance or into other planes of existence. The user of a crystal ball must know the subject to be viewed. Knowledge can be from personal acquaintance, possession of personal belongings, a likeness of the object, or accumulated information. Knowledge, rather than distance, is the key to how successful location will be:

1 - Unless masked by magic.

The chance of locating also dictates how long and how frequently a wizard will be able to view the subject.

2 - Unless masked by magic.

Viewing beyond the periods or frequencies noted will force the wizard to roll a saving throw vs. spell each round. A failed saving throw permanently lowers the character's Intelligence by one point and drives him insane until healed.

Certain spells cast upon the user of the crystal ball can improve his chances of using the device successfully. These are comprehend languages, read magic, infravision, and tongues. Two spells—detect magic and detect evil/good—can be cast through a crystal ball. The chance of success is 5% per level of experience of the wizard. Only creatures with Intelligence of 12 or better have a chance of noticing that they are the subjects of scrying. The base chance is determined by class.

• Fighter 2%
• Paladin 6%
• Ranger 4%
• Bard 3%
• Thief 6%
• Spell-User 8%

For each point of Intelligence above 12, the creature has an additional arithmetically ascending cumulative chance beginning at 1% (i.e., 1% at Intelligence 13, 3% at 14, 6% at 15, 10% at 16, 15% at 17, 21% at 18 Intelligence, and so on). These creatures also have a cumulative chance of 1% per level of experience or Hit Dice of detecting scrying. Treat monsters as the group as which they make saving throws. Check each round of scrying, and if the percentage or less is rolled, the subject becomes aware of being watched.

A dispel magic will cause a crystal ball to cease functioning for one day. The various protections against crystal ball viewing will simply leave the device hazy and nonfunctioning.

• View
• Edit
• History
• Print