Well that was a disappointing end to some initially promising rolls...

Well, that didn't go so well...

Heh. Handle animal on the monstrous sea crabs made me smile.

Yeah, I don't know if it would have worked even if I hadn't rolled a nat 1

It's up to Angati to save the day.

I believe Nat 1s are not a botch unless you are talking combat... and this was not combat but skill contest right ?.

Correct, and we have even stopped using nat ones as a fumble.

I think Kassius was suggesting that the idea of using handle animal on very hungry giant crabs was a pretty funny concept and pushing the boundaries of what handle animal should be allowed to do.

OK, onto the next room. I'll set that up later today.

Yup! Also, some decent die rolls would be nice. Sigh...

That would be acrobatics my good sir. And yes, it looks like we are facing a horde in the last battle.

This was exactly what I wanted to propose. I was also starting to think about how we can survive - and win - the last battle.

But we can do it here, OOC/metagame, if that's ok with you/what you propose by asking explicitly?

Definitely best here in OOC.

Ok guys, what is your oppinion on retreating and recuperating after this room?

And should we start talking tactical ideas?

A little hard to talk tactics until you see the BBEG's room and how he has laid out his forces. At that point I will give you as much RL time as you need to work out a plan. Goodness knows that if you don't have a top notch plan this is going to be a TPK.

Well... If that means we have a guarantee from surprises, i'll refrain from the tactical idea to make logan invisible to undead, create a diversion at the barred door and have him slip in to scout the area...:-) that just made things easier:-)

But there are certainly things we'll still want to do before we enter!

I saw we rest and face the horde with all that we got. If we had done well in these rooms then maybe we could chance forcing the issue despite our weekend state. But we are at 10 zombies! We need to be at full capacity to survive this.

Wont that become 13 zombies if we rest ?.

Anyway, its probably better 13 rested than 10 unrested... given that we are so outnumbered. 30 percent plus... might not be that bad ??

I agree about resting and regrouping.

Tactically, since we're badly outnumbered, we want a bottlekneck to avoid being swarmed. Here's my proposal: you cast invisibility from undead on Logan. We position ourselves in the room with two pillars. Logan goes down the hallway, opens the door, and then quickly runs away back to the main room. The zombies have to shamble down the long hallway to get at us, all the time being hit by arrows and flame lances and the like. In the room, our melees (Alohan and Logan primarily, since Kibeti will probably still refuse to attack) are stationed off center to the doors, behind cover from enemy channels and spells (and not providing soft cover to the casters), but able to slice down anyone who comes through.

Sound good?

In terms of abilities, Logan hasn't actually used anything expendable, but the spell-casters are probably the weakest link in that regard.

I think Lassius's plan sounds workable, though I would add that arrows won't do much against the DR of the zombies.  Hopefully we can weaken a few of the zombies, especially if we have any motion-impeding effects (such as Kassius's Entangle) to give us a few more rounds to work on them.

Sorry, this is going to be LONG - please excuse me! :-( I'm just so excited about this battle I CAN'T HELP MYSELF (soooorry!! :-))

I agree, Angati, I don't think 7, 10 or 12 zombies would make a difference either - what makes the difference is the undead cleric. If we don't get him down, we are dead.

He can just stand back and heal his zombies faster than we can kill them, while they steadily chop us down. We had a hard time hitting them.  It's a matter of time before they get a few hits in and take out our shield. Or he can kill us with his channeling, it just takes one or two lucky rolls.

I am not reassured by our first battle with them at all, and then they were only five. And the cleric got scared away. I don't think we'll be that lucky next time. 

I very much agree with you both on the need for a bottle neck with our 'shield' up front (Alohan) and Logan invisible. But in my oppinion we need to focus everything on the cleric from the start. He need to go down within a round or two!

If we manage that, then we can use channeling on the zombies, while the shield holds them back at the bottle neck, while being supported by healers and oil archers. Channeling doesn't care if it is 1,5 or 20 zombies - and it doesn't care if there's a wall, cover or concealment.

But in my mind drawing them out and down the corridor would lock us down with the zombies. I would rather get the layout of the room they are in, and use that in a surprise attack, where we can set the pieces. As mentioned, Logan can get that layout, perhaps?

So my idea: one of us make a audible diversion (noise) at the barred double doors near the start, since they are directly in contact with the room they're in. At that moment, Logan slips in. Hence they don't see the door opening, as their attention is on the double doors. The diversion hurries back to the group.

What's essential in this plan, by the way, is that even though the undead cleric has an intelligence score, it's still dumb as a door knob. Intelligence 4 according to the stats John showed us - it's just above an animal, and can barely speak its' own language. I'm hoping (praying really) that the back story about his clever regrouping is just that - a story. We should be able to fool them with almost any diversion or trick. If it's really intelligent, we're toast.

Anyway, the cleric has a Will Save chance to be able to see him, but zombies automatically fail! So he may be able to scout it out without a care and slip back out when they don't look. They can't even hear him, so he can just call out to us beyond the door! Even if the cleric makes his save and manages to see him, he won't realise the zombies can't. He may try and point them to attack him, but they will just as soon attack the wall behind him. In that case, Logan can try and goad them around (but DO NOT attack or touch them, that ruins the spell), and line up the cleric without cover of the zombies and far from the door - then call us in for a surprise attack on him. Then we hit him hard - oil, silver, fire. We then fall back to the door (bottleneck) for cover.

Well, what do you guys think? Other options and oppinions?

There's a rule in the challenge that the max number of zombies is 12.

In reply to Celene (msg # 29):

All good points. I have increased the huecuva's intelligence very slightly so he can at least speak properly, but he will not be a great strategist I promise.

My morningstar is BP does that work on the zombies at least ?.

Also, my strongest thing that might be ill omen on the guy is a bit of bummer because they are undead and resist enchantment, and thats about my only attacking spell... unless I use up the healings on the huecuva...

Just don't use those channelings... keep them in reserve, they'll be better used when we all start getting hurt... that way they serve double purpose.... how many do you get ?.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:13, Tue 22 Sept 2015.

They won't; but the silvered ones should hurt the heucava pretty good. I could definitely chuck an entangle onto the hallway as well to buy us more time.



Your plan has promise as well. My worry is that Logan could get trapped in the room. The zombies might block the exit even if they can't find him. Also possible is the cleric could channel to harm, without needing line of sight. But if he's up for the risk, it could work.

well, Angati has a sling... and Kassius has made three silver bullets for her, if you didn't see that :-) And Celene has a little surprise for that too. Magic stone spell (on a scroll), giving you +1 to hit with them, and 2d6+2 damage a piece ON UNDEAD. Angati can blast him to pieces!

afraid the morning star won't work though... ?

Celene gets 7 channelings. but she can only use either harm undead OR heal living in the same round.