Should be done now and I've got like 265gp to spare, in case anyone needs it or has an idea of how to spend that!

Since we will be fighting against humans? Some anti-poison, I think. Or grenades, grenades are good.

So...

Are we still waiting for someone?

No idea. Hopefully everyone is okay.

Nope, looks like we're good to go.  I'll start the encounter either tonight or tomorrow.

Okay, back at it! How close do we want to be? Sticking together and getting some difficult terrain between them and us seems wise, I don't want to be isolated by myself with a bunch of cavaliers.

As long as we are within 450 feet or so, I should be fine. If we are closer, I can do more tricks though. I will probably start close behind our more tanky characters, then take to the air.

I propose distance enough so they can't charge us in the first round. 120' to 200'at eye-gauge.

Sesa, may Puck indulge in your Poisons while we prepare? I would also ask you to shorten my grenade-fuses (because Sesa have Alchemy skill). I have 3 "sharpnels" and 3 tindertwigs.

Could be useful to shock and blast them in the first round after Puck provokes the situation with Pheromone Arrow or poison arrow.


I propose such formation, three tiered one. First row, Patagogi and Veana as our tankiest people. Second row, Puck and Sesa (who as Kinecist is a very tanky blaster) and third our squishiest wizards. :)


Gorum, how far away we saw those fine folks? Minute or two? Because if yes, Puck cast Ashen Path on everyone in the party.

In reply to Puck (msg # 556):

Grenades are easily adjusted, so Sesa will shorten the fuses for you. They will explode at the end of your turn. Note, if you roll a 1 while tossing them they will go off while still in your hand.

Cant do anything with Tindertwigs though, they'll make lighting the grenade a standard action, which is I think longer than it is normally? <checks> Yeah, normally its a move, so just do that. Have it in hand, move to light it, standard to throw, it'll explode once your done taking all your actions.

Presumably we need at least someone close enough to engage in diplomacy; I'm fine with the formation but we may need to be closer based on the description of the encounter.

In theory, if you want to hit them with a grenade we need to be at least within 50' of whatever you want to hit, since that is going to be the max distance on a thrown with a range increment of 10' w/o extra things going on.

I'd also like to be close enough to Grease on the first round, which is close range (40' at this level)

In that case, I propose the front-line be around Q16 or a bit closer if needed for their gameplan; any thoughts?

Yeah, I should have been more clear:  Though some of the party can hang back, at least one or two people are going to have to approach the knights in order to talk.

Keep in mind that while you all know this is going to be a fight (due to that being the whole conceit of the game), your characters don't know for sure.  As far as they know, these shady armored men might legitimately be here to escort you to your destination, which means no blasting them with fireballs from a mile away before they even say anything.

I'm going to say it also means no openly casting buff spells on yourself as you approach: In character, that's a pretty aggressive action to take in front of potential friendlies, and would also risk wasting spells on a false alarm.  Out of character, letting you guys buff beforehand would mess up the encounter balance, since you have way more spellcasting power than the enemies.  Either way, that means no buff spells with a duration less than 1 hour.

^{It took me way too long to realize that they take up 10-by-10 because of their mounts.}
It looks like managing the charge lines is going to matter a lot in this one. Lances are "ouch" with mounted charge.

Not exactly a fan of splitting unless we do it smartly. A squishy guy staying in the back might easily be prey for some charge attacks.

I suggest either a diamond-like formation (2 north, 1 each in east/west, 2 south) or a triangle pointing south (3 front, 2 middle, 1 back) in order to minimize the people exposed to a galloping horse. A column would just expose everyone to those 2 riders attacking from sides.

Ach, hidden RP based difficulty, Gorum.

 Noice.


Anyway, Puck have that 24h buff "Visualization of the Body" that he'll use to bump his HP by 6 upwards. It's like a Rage bonus but lasts a day.

Why would Puck waste precious Material Component? Because he's mistrustful of humans in general and their cleric contact being absent? He's smart enough to consult our brainier party members if it's suspicious as his hunch tells him or not.

Take note that casting that buff takes whole hour, so if at all Puck used it in the morning while gushing to other spellcasters in the party about how awesome this spell is. :)

That means probably whole party, right? Veana is magic paladin so counts as well and Patagogi is a Bloodrager.

It is the only reasonable thing, outside of Wild Foci wich can go forever and ever, that Puck can reasonably have on him. And ask Sesa to tinker with the bombs in the morning.


Sesa, You are right. But igniting Tindertwig takes a Standard Action. It stays on fire for a minute. Grenade fuses are flammable, as well.

And my plan for grenades was as follow. Give the remaining two to other party members confident in their BAB. So when enemies charge? They charge trough exploding surprises(that we prepared actions for). Who knows? It may spook a horse or two and thus give our party some precious breathing room.

For Fireballs, for example. :P

And you are right about closeness. I was thinking ... 60' with our squisies surrounded by everyone else? That would expose both Puck and Sesa to those flanking chargers, with Patagogi and Veana in the front. Gives our wizards a round of relative safety when hostilities explode.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:53, Wed 06 July 2022.

I will do my best to get a post up this evening. If I am the first to post, I will place Koyrai somewhere in the 50-80 foot range. Otherwise I will place Koyrai where it makes sense in relation to whoever posts before me.

Kinda the opposite, really.  I started by wanting an encounter where you guys fought cavalry in an open field, then did my best to come up with an RP justification for you guys not just hammering them apart at long range.  I'll admit, this set up feels a bit more artificial than the others, and I apologize for that.

With those numbers? Sesa and Puck would drop 3-4 of the minor guys, tops. If our wizards blow everything on artillery strikes? The few guys, including Boss, hanging back can charge in.

That wouldn't be a cake-walk no matter what. Cavalry charge on open plains like here is always deadly.

And your Scenario circumstances reasoning is also spot on.

Sorry about the delay.  Veana says she won't be able to join the fight for at least a week, and said we should continue without her.  I'll be NPCing her character until she gets back.

No worries. Hope all is well, Veana.

Now it's fireball time! I will try and get a post up later today and cast my incendiary inferno.

Damn! That was awesome Kyorai. Am thinking of running forwards and gifting them with a grenade. If I don't miss, it'll improve the life-expetancy of our party even more!

A side note, I kinda like this Olinescu bull knight (even if I hate his face).
 He's a NPC of culture. :)

Extra spicy if he isn't evil.

Hopefully everything IRL resolves positively for Veana. Guh, I can't move and use the grenade ... in the same round. A pity.

That was a sweet opening volley. Though, they also have an opening volley that might be nearly as painful as yours.

@Gorum: Is there a chance you could put the numbers for the templars on the battle map for the following turns? I feel like after they take their turn, it will be a bit tricky to track which one is which.

Um? I dunno, just checked the dudes from the positioning and their numbers ... that is why I didn't shot the guy in front of Lord Olinescu.

I have a feeling that charge form the bull would be very bad to our life expectancy.

As for the Templars here, damn.

I wish I had such elite minions when I played this one Evil Campaign. :(

I can't believe every single one of my triple-damage lance charges missed!

I mean, I can believe it, Veana and Fandor have really good defenses.  But still, the only guy that actually landed a hit was the guy who dropped his weapon when Puck knocked him out.

Oh well, c'est le vie.

Oh, and I turned on the labels for this map, because otherwise even I would be confused about which templar is where.

Well, with that healing we probably gotta deal with Lord Jr. Jr. first. Then maybe we could do a shuffle to turn the challenges into our advantage.

@Gorum: So how would a sickening entanglement work for mounted targets? Are the mounts and the riders affected separately?

And targeting the 40-ft radius spell at AC-AD / 16-17 looks to me like it would cover Lord, Templar 2, and Templar 7 to me while leaving the V15 and V18 open for us to attack Lord Jr. Jr. from. Could you check that from your end? I'm trying some precise placement so I could impede a couple of charges and a trample while still leaving an opening for us.

EDIT: Also another question: Calm Animals, if cast on the horses, would it stop the Templars from using them as mounts?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:56, Fri 15 July 2022.

I hadn't thought about how entangle would interact with mounted riders.  I'm going to say both the mount and the rider have to save.  However, the grey column at 16-17 is a cobblestone road.  Both it, and the east-west road at H-I lack vegetation and would be excluded from the effect of entangle spells.

Calm animals is probably a no-go.  These are animal companions, and the obvious life-or-death battle their masters are engaged in would count as enough of a threat to break the spell.  It could work to remove a creature from the fight after it's master is dead, though.

On the other hand I am very glad that Patagogi didn't join his sister in death! :)

I share your disbelief, Gorum. Out of all the attacks only Lord Olinescu and one dude I luckily almost elimiated from combat? A true WTF moment.

EDIT: We wait now for Veana's and Uluchi's turns no? And Taliesin have good idea with Entangle. That would let our party to focus on Lord Olinescu, geek him, and then fight back against the remaining Templars.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:58, Fri 15 July 2022.

@Puck:

Nope.  Since everyone is going to take their turn before the enemies get their next turn, everyone can act in whichever order they want.  I'll probably take Veana's turn right before I do the enemies, assuming she isn't back by then.