Dies the Fire

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"Three Fingered Jack, to the east and north a bit, looks like a good launch site, or Mt. Washington to the south and east; but a closer look would be needed."  Aleister smiles gloomily.  The he smiles brightly, "The firebombing of Tokyo!  Yeah, we can get a couple of dozen hang gliders running over that pile, dropping fire bombs and other nasty stuff, at the very least it would serve as a good distraction.  Just imagine what a hundred or so gallons of burning oil all over inside, it'd be a hot time in the old town tonight!"

 Just imagine what ballista bolts will do to flimsy hang gliders. Or maybe catapults firing gravel.

 I was thinking under the cover of darkness as a one time thing.  But.... Gravel catapults sounds horrible 

A sneak under the cover of darkness for infiltration is fine. You just have your normal problem of staying quiet and not tripping over your own feet.

"So, the spell can be maintained for the journey inside but what happens when we get inside?  You would need to remove the spell for the next group.  That might leave those already inside vulnerable.  Is there somewhere on the map where we can hide?  It all looks rather exposed or public.  Perhaps we can eliminate the guards in one of the tower quickly and quietly enough not to be noticed?"

OCC If I read the PHB right, Aleister can take 'Stealth' on as a skill since he "leveled" Rangerishly, correct?

"About how many people are in this thing?"  Aleister asks. "I think we need to find that out, as well as how they are equipped; as least as best as we are able to determine.  I think some recon is very much in order.  I'd not like to jump into this place cold and blind, doesn't sound too thrilling."  He mutters to himself a bit.  "I can have Ofn and Terfysgeath watch the place from above, out of catapult range, if they are high enough they should not be too noticeable.  Anyone else have some other ideas?"

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OCC If I read the PHB right, Aleister can take 'Stealth' on as a skill since he "leveled" Rangerishly, correct?

"About how many people are in this thing?"  Aleister asks. "I think we need to find that out, as well as how they are equipped; as least as best as we are able to determine.  I think some recon is very much in order.  I'd not like to jump into this place cold and blind, doesn't sound too thrilling."  He mutters to himself a bit.  "I can have Ofn and Terfysgeath watch the place from above, out of catapult range, if they are high enough they should not be too noticeable.  Anyone else have some other ideas?"

 I looked at your character sheet and you are already proficient in Stealth. Usually, going up in a class does not give you anymore skills unless there is a class feature involved that specifically gives you extra skills...

In your travels you have met PPA men-at-arms. They where pretty basic. There will be noncoms who are tougher and some officers who will be toughest. General equipment is chain shirts and shield; longsword and heavy crossbow for men at arms. Chain armour for noncoms and officers.

 "So, we have our birdy buddies scout out the castle, taking note of guard rotations, numbers and anyone who might enter and leave regularly.  The scouts can do the same from the ground.  Then we gather our forces, infiltrate, open the gates and maybe assassinate the leaders?" Sarah recapped.  "Hopefully our siege engines can narrow the odds."

ooc do you all need another player?  If so pm me and tell me what role you need filled.  Sorry to intrude but the the forum said recruiting.

Uthvern has left us due to real world issues but coincidentally we have a possible new person wander by. I've sent him the details so we will see. Uthvern has been removed from the campaign page so I can't even NPC him in the interim.

Do we have a plan yet?

Sarah summed it up pretty well. No long term siege, just typically open the doors from the inside. I'd reform Gamliel into a spider and have him infiltrate initially. 

George nods as Sarah sums up the plan.  'I like it.  We'll need a shock force close and ready to hit the gate once we get it open from the inside, but I think I can handle leading that portion.'

A red headed grizzly of a man comes out of the woods to your party.

"I've been watching you all for a while, and it seems our interests are parallel.  Mind if I tag along, I can offer some information about the castle defenses."

He tells you all that there are:

50 men at arms.

resupply ever 30 days, 10 to go

hunting parties of 10 to 15 at irregular intervals.

and he has a cabin just a short walk from the castle.

Stealth to come up on party initially: 18

The coming of the strange man reminds Sarah of how she'd once joined the group.  The gift of information this man brings is impressive.

"I'm Sarah and I thank you for such useful information.  It will make our plans proceed much easier.  May I ask what has set you against the PPA?"

Aleister regards the newcomer with appropriate (pessimistically cynical) optimism.  "What is your name?" he asks.  "And, she has a good question; add to that, 'What do you bring to our endeavors that could be useful, especially in regards this conundrum?"

Okay lets get this moving. The next part of the plan is infiltrate so how are you going to do that?

 Sneaking in under invisibility with a hunting party or during resupply might be possible.  A rope ladder could then be lowered at night for the others once a tower or other area is secured?  We could also whittle down numbers by ambushing hunting parties.  Might heighten alert and we might not get many.  Word could also go out during a resupply.

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 Sneaking in under invisibility with a hunting party or during resupply might be possible.  A rope ladder could then be lowered at night for the others once a tower or other area is secured?  We could also whittle down numbers by ambushing hunting parties.  Might heighten alert and we might not get many.  Word could also go out during a resupply.

 Something I forgot to mention; there's a heliograph in one of the towers

Yea - def not attacking hunting parties then.  I say we send a small number under cover of the Invisibility spell.  Under cover of darkness, George can lead a group of Marines within say 100 yards and a small group of Scouts all the way up to the gate on the outside.  Group on the inside opens the gate, Scouts rush and hold it until the Marines can get there and crack open the castle from the inside out.  

We'll need another full strike force - ideally with ladders and light seige equipment ready as back up.

"Ideally, we should take over the tower with the heliograph.  That would disable their ability to send for help.  I can charm an operator to work out if any 'all clear' codes are used or anything else that might get us found out.  We could also use the monofilament to cause structural damage for our siege engines to capitalize on."

 Invisibility is concentration, which means Thomas can only invis one person at a time. I suggest we send Gamliel in as a rat to explore and find a good place to group up, then send individuals in safely invisible, unless someone else is a ritual caster or can cast as a Wizard. The heliograph could be handled by a Darkness spell if someone has it. Once we have sufficient forces inside, we coordinate to take down the heliograph to prevent reinforcements and open the gates. Until we find a simple way to go through the walls, stealth is going to be the easiest now. 

To the newcomer, after suitable questions are asked, Thomas adds "So, if you feel the way we do on these guys, we're going to be busy doing the best we can to curtail their operations. They're pretty damn efficient at putting these things together, and I've been thinking about ways to hurt their ability to do so. The most obvious is their slaves. If they have as large a quantity as they seem to, they have to maintain and control them. Are they using anything special as far as that goes? If we could free large groups of slaves and get them to take over each of these forts, it could be a big shift in power."

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 Invisibility is concentration, which means Thomas can only invis one person at a time. I suggest we send Gamliel in as a rat to explore and find a good place to group up, then send individuals in safely invisible, unless someone else is a ritual caster or can cast as a Wizard. The heliograph could be handled by a Darkness spell if someone has it. Once we have sufficient forces inside, we coordinate to take down the heliograph to prevent reinforcements and open the gates. Until we find a simple way to go through the walls, stealth is going to be the easiest now. 

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To the newcomer, after suitable questions are asked, Thomas adds "So, if you feel the way we do on these guys, we're going to be busy doing the best we can to curtail their operations. They're pretty damn efficient at putting these things together, and I've been thinking about ways to hurt their ability to do so. The most obvious is their slaves. If they have as large a quantity as they seem to, they have to maintain and control them. Are they using anything special as far as that goes? If we could free large groups of slaves and get them to take over each of these forts, it could be a big shift in power."

 There's a room of the chapel, the priest's quarters that is empty during the day. It seems to be the only place that doesn't have traffic during the day. If you go at night the kitchen is empty from 1 AM till until just before dawn. Who goes in first?

OOC - this is the result of Gamliel's scouting? Thomas has to be last if he's the only caster. What times are the gates open to sneak in?