The whole point of charming X or Y is to make them go against their nature. Long live internal contradictions :).

Or perhaps Varghoulis simply has no need to rush.

Malivoire: Can you take on torch duty? I think everyone else has two hands occupied with a weapon or weapon and shield.

A suggested update to the marching order to account for the loss of Andryr; might be important for this sprint to the exit! Please feel free to change as you see fit.

Single File        Double File
Dax             Dax      Dryvyk
Dryvyk          Safherd  Nineve
Nineve              Malivoire
Safherd         Ynes     Barnabus
Malivoire
Barnabus
Ynes

---

My major pet peeve with the new site is that he built in a way to change every possible colour on the site, but there is no way to change the font size!
This message was last edited by the player at 08:49, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

V. is an intelligent military commander with troops at his command. I'm going to hazard that he has the exit to the BM covered. He does not know that we have the means to teleport from #47 to his northern club house.

That is what I suggest we do to escape the BM. From the ruined temple, we might be ablet to take advantage of our surprise arrival to flee south.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:16, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

Just to put it out there, though I am absolutely not advocating for one approach over the other, there is another area in the southern region of the map where the adventurers would be safe from Varghoulis and his soldiers.

Yes, that would be the Briar Queen's sanctum.

B. would prefer his patron's means.

As a player, either is fine with me.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:07, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

I see challenges either way.  If we use the shrine and teleport to the temple in the north, we will land among enemies and presumably still have fights to win before escaping back to Helix.  A reminder that Malivoire has one spell left (Shower of Sparks) and a couple of magic missiles from the wand.  Otherwise he will be only good as a lantern bearer.  Not sure about Nineve's remaining spell resources.  If she is also low we're basically at the whim of the fighters' dice rolls.

If we go to the shrine of the Briar Queen we're safe but trapped, unless V gets bored of waiting for us to emerge.  We could rest and recharge, but still would be in for a fight when we leave, possibly against an entrenched enemy by that point.  Perhaps the Briar Queen could lend additional aid, but that's not a given.

Maybe we go with Barnabus' suggestion and bolt as fast as we can for the road back to Helix?

For reference:
So it's not like we're going to arrive on the outskirts of the ruined temple. But we will have the advantage of surprise and an absent V.

Like M., I also think that the BQ could offer more than refuge.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:36, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

There is a third option, which no one seems to have discussed:

March out there, lay waste to Varghoulis and his cronies, and send them back to the underworld abyss they came from.

Types the GM while gleefully eyeing V's list of special attacks, deadly artifacts, 93% magic resistance and AC -8.     ;)

But seriously, maybe it is the best way to go?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:43, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

This is the one Sir Dryvyk would prefer!

I've got next to no magic, so all I want to do is run away.  But I'm a team player - I'll leave the lantern with the rest of you before running off into the dark screaming  ;)

In reply to Nineve (msg # 23):

We've encountered him and the likes of him before. Remember the Balor? It's not a serious option. For the vainglorious, it might be :).

Bar      -- Club House North
Mal      -- Club House North
Sir      -- V. and his cohort
Nin      -- Undecided
Dax      -- Undecided
This message was last edited by the player at 21:42, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

The Balor was before my time, sir.   I've read just enough to get the drift, but it honestly sounded as though the GM was prompting us to consider fighting as a viable option.

And I've acted on your (Barnabus) certainty twice now, only to find you were wrong.  -_^

But I didn't know Mal was out of spells.  That nerfs us a bit.

Normally, Nineve would (of course) be in favor of retreating to the BQ's protection, over the other option.  But the likelihood of us getting trapped would change her choice, and she too would vote for the Club House over that.

As long as we're reasonably sure fighting is a bad choice, I'll cast my vote that way.

I will get the marching order set up in its formal thread in the day or so, but I did want to tweak it slightly:

Single File        Double File
Barnabus           Dax      Barnabus
Dax                Dryvyk   Nineve
Dryvyk                 Malivoire
Nineve             Ynes     Safherd
Safherd
Malivoire
Ynes


Nineve, this analysis was pretty much on target. My suggestion about standing and fighting was entirely motivated by malevolent facetiousness.

That said, I have confidence that there will come a time when the adventurers have reached the level needed to take the warlord down once and for all.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:38, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

In reply to Labyrinth Lord (msg # 28):

B. cannot be in both the first and seventh position in the single file order (yet).

Looks like we have a consensus for the ruined temple. I'm certain, N., that our preparation of 3xhold person will prove to be most providential there.
This message was last updated by the player at 22:27, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

Awesome!  As long as we can put funny hats on all of'em once they're paralyzed.

Fixed!

I will post an update regarding the (doomed) run to the shrine of Nergal this evening.

In reply to Barnabus (msg # 26):

As a player I want to join Dryvyk and go down in a blaze of glory...running away from V is getting old.

As a character, I think Dax would agree with Nineve, BQ's place for tea and biscuits is the first choice, but since it is virtually inaccessible, let's use the evil portal!

A few questions, if you would:

Is it apparent by which means, if any, V. could achieve long-distance ingress into this chamber? That is, would we think he's a round or two behind us?

Is that a summoning circle? Is it apparent by which means we might ruin it?

Let's pretend Ishmael's still with us. How deep into Moria does he reckon we are?

B. is considering casting Silence 15' Radius.

We should try to gather as many of the goodies as we can -- books, papers, probably that chest.

No, the party wouldn’t anticipate being followed. The means of shifting between this location and the Barrowmaze clearly stems from some magical/clerical working. As noted elsewhere, Varghoulis is a warrior (with some spell like powers). He doesn’t possess the means to activate it. Mild spoiler: the portal(s) he utilizes are “keyed” to him and his soldiers.


Potentially. It is definitely a magical circle of some kind. Uprooting some of the stones which comprise it and disrupting the pattern would effectively destroy it.


Ishmael would note that all of the available descriptions of the ancient temple north of Helix described it as a stone edifice. This is a wood walled room with a dirt floor. The party’s former burglar would estimate that the company was one level below ground. As in, the stairs seen in the room likely lead to the surface.

Oh, so he doesn’t have the right level of permission to portal from the shrine to the ruined temple. That must be galling for him.

The access key is in another part of the dungeon he hasn't been to yet, I think it's the magic mushroom level or the mermaid level, not sure. If we can get it first...

Mermaids then?

The Barrowmaze isn’t in the vicinity of any large bodies of water, so it’s actually the dryad level. Although, Varghoulis is known to hang out in the Magic Mushroom level from time to time when he needs to chill out and take a break from plotting the conquest of the living world.


It is. The priesthood of Nergal view him as the executive branch. They make the decisions, he enforces them. Naturally, being thought of as an armored errand boy isn’t something he agrees with.

So we need some new kind of measuring unit for like evil potentiality so we don't ever load a chest which is only approved for storing 500 cosmic units of doom with, say, 512 with the addition of a particularly sinister iron candelabra.