Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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"I'll go back and help search for stuff, send some of the bully boys up to disable the heliograph." Thomas offers as he goes back to open the footlocker with help from other eyes.
Pick Lock 25
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?"
"Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied
― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
The footlocker has some clothes, some Protectorate coinage and three hardcover Tom Clancy novels. Without Remorse, Patriot Games and Rainbow Six.
"Thomas, don't destroy the heliograph just yet, it might be useful. This castle sit at a fairly strategic junction, a single route over the Cascades as well as controlling three eastern approach routes, two to Junction city and one to Salem. Check the map and you'll see what I mean. Portland forces can use them for staging enfilade assaults on either place. I think we need to have the good guys take the place over. Any ideas?"
Panic is a mechanism that strengthens the gene pool.
George starts looking for anyone who knows the Heliograph codes - 'I assume they have an 'all is well' code and regularly scheduled communications. We'll want to keep them up as long as possible.'
He also gathers up the Mayors Own 'They've got prisoners on the road. Check with Sarah for details, and then see if you can pick up the trail. We'll want to try to rescue them if possible. Move quickly but don't get spotted.'
Sarah relates what she knows to the Mayor's Own. She really doesn't want the prisoners to fall deeper into PPA control. She also adds the pile of stuff she found earlier to their haul.
"You have a point about the castle being quite the asset. I don't like the idea of leaving it for the PPA; they don't deserve nice things. Can we hold it, though?"
OOC - So there are no defenders left? We've completely taken the castle? Are there any slaves here?
Thomas says "Create our own codes for the Helio and we'd be fine. As far as defending this thing, we've got access to better motivated people to do so, not unwilling conscripts and bully-boys that happen to have bigger muscles than average. Not even mentioning the access and development of magic abilities we've encouraged over these many months. The Magic Mouth spell alone would warn the people on guard if anyone tried the same thing we did.I just hope we can keep doing this same tactic, over and over. As long as the knowledge of how we took this place doesn't get out, we could take over quite a few."
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?"
"Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied
― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
There's probably a book here somewhere with a Heliograph code (I doubt there's only one). In the commanders quarters you find some messages that seem to be only numbers.
No slaves but there are some serfs (same thing?) who do the scut work (cooking, cleaning, maintenance)
This castle is closest to McKenzie territory, they could supply troops to man it.
Investigate to find the code book(s) - probably the Clancy novels, with Help from Gamliel 11
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?"
"Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied
― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
"If we can retrieve those prisoners we'd have quite a bit of good will built up with the McKenzies. We could leverage that for help manning this place and maybe scouting the area. I agree that our magic gives us an edge. Still, if it's known to us, then we have to expect that 'Protector' to want to weaponize it too," Sarah considers. "Maybe another reason to find those prisoners- I've heard interesting things about the McKenzies. Should we hand command to one of the Marines and go with the Mayor's Own? Might get better results if we handle it ourselves."
George - 'Mass-produced hardcover books and numbers! Sweet Jesus, they're getting their tradecraft from dime-store novels.'
Sarah looks at the strange numbers and other papers, seeing if there is anything she can tell about them.
Investigation: 13
osso rage investigates: 7
The Rainbow Six book is the key to the code. The undeciphered messages are about reinforcements due next week.
"I agree that we should rescue those McKenzie folk from these scumbags; beside, I want to try and 'write' some poetry. I heard practice helps improve one's craft. If we can get these code books to the boffins at the University they might be able to crack the ciphers. Think we could have a few hardy souls take all this paper the them?" He rubs his hands together. "Probably ought to move fast before they get away, yes?"
On the way out Aleister will take a wee bit of time and see about the occupants of the stable. If there are horses, mules, etc. he'll see if they can tell him anything; do they undergo any kind of training, cavalry formation stuff for the most part, realizing that horses would not have very exact knowledge, but they would remember something like, that one would think anyway.
Panic is a mechanism that strengthens the gene pool.
The two knights have trained warhorses. There are also riding horses and pack horses. If you are doing the Speak with Animals thing what do you want to ask?
"Now that we've cracked the codes, we can intercept their messages, at least until they realize it. Enigma machine, it's not. If they switch to a different novel, It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which one. All the documents go home, but I agree - let's have the MacKenzies reinforce this place for us, and be ready for the keep's reinforcements. We should intercept that prisoner train before it gets too far away, or to another keep."
“Can you tell me the difference between a witch and a wizard?"
"Sure, a wizard is what they call you when they want to hire you, and a witch is what they call you when they're getting ready to run you out of town.” SunWolf replied
― Barbara Hambly, The Witches of Wenshar
George and the Mayors Own cast [/spell(longstrider)/spell] to move ahead of the main group and try to locate the prisoner train.
Sarah's interrogation of the local priest has given you an idea for their route. They have a two day head start so you'll have to force march hard to catch up enough to pick up their trail.
Tracking
Adventurers sometimes choose their path by following the tracks of other creatures — or other creatures might track the adventurers! To track, one or more creatures must succeed on a Wisdom (Survival) check. You might require trackers to make a new check in any of the following circumstances:
The DC for the check depends on how well the ground shows signs of a creature’s passage. No roll is necessary in situations where the tracks are obvious. For example, no check is needed to track an army advancing along a muddy road. Spotting tracks on a bare stone floor is more challenging, unless the creature being tracked leaves a distinct trail. Additionally, the passage of time often makes tracks harder to follow. In a situation where there is no trail to follow, you can rule that tracking is impossible.
The Tracking DCs table offers guidelines for setting the DC or, if you prefer, you can choose a DC based on your assessment of the difficulty. You can also grant advantage on the check if there’s more than one set of tracks to follow, or disadvantage if the trail being followed passes through a well-trafficked area.
On a failed check, the character loses the trail but can attempt to find it again by making a careful search of the area. It takes 10 minutes to find a trail in a confined area such as a dungeon, or 1 hour outdoors.
Tracking DCs
−5
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