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Thread: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
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2024-03-11, 02:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
"Same way," Damien confirms. "I can bypass walls more than half a dozen times this way, before my reserves of energy are drained. If we manage to get all the prisoners together before things get out of hand here, Batwoman can roll up the hole and warp us out. Hmm."
Damien let Oracle do most of the examining - he'd come to terms with the utility of her skillfullness, at this point - but he did pay attention to the drains beside the door... and how small they were.
Spoiler: OOC:Search check, as requested: (1d20+13)[20]
Also, how big are these drains beside the door? And how.. full are they? I'm guessing because of the marshy nature of the land they need them just to channel the runoff oozing out of the walls, or something? Probably convenient for tossing effluvia as well?Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-03-12, 12:55 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
After a moment of searching the downed guards, Oracle's glowing eyes flashed, as if in sudden recognition.
Burned into the fingertip of one of the guards was an incredibly small rune. The magic had been masked somehow, as if dormant, so as to avoid her initial detection. With a start she recognized what she was looking at.
Nearing the end of her formal regulated apprenticeship at the College, the Diviner in charge of her student cadre had imparted a section of study dedicated to profane and illegal magic. The entire point of the course was to understand what to look out for, and how those dark magics would and did corrupt their users or even people exposed to them.
Most students wound up producing some bland thesis about necromancy or sorcery. The truly dull would present on Eldritch invocations. Oracle wound up (ironically) writing her thesis on corrupted divine casters like the shadow druids. But in her research, there has been a passage in arcana she had briefly perused before getting a couple pages in and seeing/reading some things that turned her stomach and threatened to void her lunch. She'd skipped reading any further, but the chapter head remained burned into her memory.
Blood Magic.
"UGH! This explains a lot. It's a blood magic seal. We might need to burn this place to the ground. Batwoman can you help me?"
Kate helped haul the guard over to the door, and lifted him up enough so that Oracle could place his hand on the door. Before she could press the rune to the correct location, Damien raised an objection -- what if by opening the door, they inadvertently alerted guards inside to their presence? It was a good point. For a moment, Oracle hesitated.Last edited by Molan; 2024-04-01 at 12:50 AM.
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2024-03-12, 05:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2017
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- UK
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Oracle waits for a moment, then sets the guard back down.
"Okay, if me or Batwoman need to open the door we'll have to subdue a guard. A good option to have definitely. For now though, I think Scion has it right. Let's try his way first, and then consider calling the inquisition in after."
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2024-04-01, 12:50 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Damien became ethereal, the power of his shadowy ki propelling him through the wall and into the next room. He didn't have a ton of time to survey it on his first way through; but what he could mostly see were mannequins and crates that looked like they might contain bedding or clothing. In the next room over, he discovered the source of the magic auras; several bizarre looking, vaguely humanoid homunculi stood, staring at the door, inert. A quick glance revealed at least four of them, each standing on a runic sigil, and each with nasty looking weapons where their hands ought to be. They were draped in magical looking armor, and Damien could clearly see what looked like a blue glowing ley line carved into the wall next to the door, disappearing through the wall near the ceiling into the next room, presumably the main chamber that Oracle's scrying eyes had discovered. The "trap", if one would call it that, wasn't well hidden, because it didn't need to be -- any unsuspecting intruders who set off an alarm entering the killbox outside the door wouldn't see it until a guard in the main hall tripped the arcane mechanism, presumably activating and releasing it's contents. Damien's passing awareness of arcane mechanisms and thorough League-instilled understanding of traps was all he needed to put together the basic building blocks. As soon as he had taken a glance of the strange automata, he phased back into the previous room.
Material again, Damien now had a much better chance to survey his surroundings. The room was basically just a storage closet, but it was curiously organized. To the left, in one corner, were plenty of thick cloaks, hoods and scarves, just like the guards outside had worn over their armor. However a lot more space had been dedicated to clothing of every apparent shape, size, and origin. Here was an elf-spun jerkin with silver filigree, there, a dwarven made tunic. A noble's outfit draped over one mannequin, and what clearly looked like peasants rags piled on top of a box. Digging around a little further, Damien found more -- stage clay, makeup, fake eyelashes, beards...disguise kits.
"Wouldn't have thought the doppelgangers needed any of this. Suppose it doesn't hurt to be prepared?" he wondered.
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2024-04-02, 04:05 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
After a moment to be sure this storage room was not itself some kind of trap, he snaps open the portable hole and adheres it to the wall so that Oracle and Batwoman can step out of it again. He gives them a hushed update on the room ahead, and the trap within it.
"A significant obstacle. If we had proceeded straight into the room, we might well have been spotted and the alarm set off immediately. But if it is a manually triggered trap by a circuit to a guard in the other room, I suppose it is too much to hope a simple Dispel would interrupt it."
He rolls up the hole again once his companions are out, and casts another glance over the disguise kits and clothes.
Spoiler: OOC: ReminderOriginally Posted by The Goons Outside
"A monument to Lord Karlo's much ballyhooed affection for the arts. Some of these clothes may have been useful for spies, too... but would a troupe of dopplegangers have needed these paints, and prostheses? Perhaps the dopplegangers are a late addition to the house. Perhaps... House Karlo was not the originator of this imposter plague, but in fact the first victim of it."Last edited by MrAbdiel; 2024-04-02 at 04:39 AM.
Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-04-02, 10:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
"Are you saying that Lord Karlo is himself an imposter? Or did the dopplegangers do something to him?"
Last edited by Molan; 2024-04-04 at 08:14 AM.
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2024-04-03, 09:38 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2017
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
"Or perhaps the recent arrival of dopplegangers is no arrival at all, but instead a transformation. Perhaps Karlo has long been working to better his skill at taking the forms of others and recently mastered a previously unknown path towards that ability. The mage and alchemsits guilds have produced stranger stories in their time."
While speaking on this, Oracle attempts to analyse the magic of the trap, seeking perhaps a small gap in the wall to let he divination magic seep through.
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2024-04-04, 10:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Oracle's scans quickly pick apart the magic. She quickly makes several determinations:
1. The trap wasn't really designed to defeat wizards at all; it's mostly there to deter mundane opponents. Strange, given a city packed full of Arcana.
2. The spellcaster (once again) was "sloppy", at best. The room is not warded to defeat spellcraft hitting it. It's only advantage is surprise; the alarm or trigger had to be outside the door where the automata stood, so entries into the room itself where they were stationed wouldn't automatically trigger the trap.
3. The artificial leyline predated the trap -- "Lazlo" may have constructed the homunculi trigger, but the power source was already there for him.
5. Powerful conjuration and transmutation magic was involved.
"Honestly, shoddy work. I'm a little bit surprised given how much arcana they slathered onto this door. I'm beginning to think that either our foes aren't as coordinated and Machiavellian as they seemed at the Opera House, or they're trying to lure us into a false sense of security. Either way with this hole we ought to be able to bypass this barrier entirely and get into the main hall this way."
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2024-04-11, 11:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Damien grimaces. "The monstrostities in the next room... I have a grim suspicion of why they haven't killed the bards. They might not be hostages, as much as... resources. But we have no time for a comprehensive raid - we need to get them out, and we can double back and purge this madness once the captives are clear." He slaps the portable hole onto the wall again. "One more time. You'll be coming in a few feet off the ground, so mind the step when you emerge. Let's flatten those sentries and try to get the captives rounded up for extraction before the guards at rest notice the active soldiers are down."
Spoiler: OOC: Presuming the team is keen...Once the allies are in the hole, he'll roll it up and on a new turn spend his second Ki Point of the day. He's going to ethereal dash through the walls into the main corridor. I'm expecting the guards are usually facing the hallway and the prison, periodically turning to peek back through the windows at what would be in the killzone beyond the door. Damien is going to corner-perch in the doorframe above their heads, and then next turn apply the hole to the wall. Basically, if they notice him, they'll probably be surprised for the turn of the arrival, and in initiative for the turn of the hole deployment. If they don't notice him, they'll probably be surprised for the turn of the hole deployment, giving Barb and Kate a turn to leap out and bash 'em first.
Right above those red dots.
I am the master of my blood.
Damien races through the ethereal again, through the room of haemonculi and then through mud and stone and into the far corridor with its two sentries either side of the door, waiting for a sound beyond it to turn, inspect, and perhaps loose the monstrosities. Weightless but not timeless, Damien snakes unseen through the plane beneath the materiel until he is above and between the guards and, stretching his body out to its extreme, he snaps back into the real world. Silent, shivering with the tension in assassin-trained body, Scion suspends himself at the top of the high doorframe with tiptoes douching one side, and fingertips touching the other.
Spoiler: OOC:Using my Skill trick "Corner Perch" to sustain myself up there for one turn.
Move Silently to not trigger the guard's suspicions: (1d20+22)[41]
...And then, with his free hand, unfurls slaps the portable hole against the wall above the guard on the trap-lever side of the door, trusting his allies to burst out and neutralize that threat in short order!
Spoiler: OOC:Damien has to drop to the ground at the end of this turn, and I don't think slapping this big hole on the wall is subtle enough that it won't trigger the surprise round. So here we go! Initiative - (1d20+7)[21]Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-04-16, 10:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
In the main hallway, just before Damien appeared in the stonework above their heads, the two guards Oracle had spotted earlier remained sullenly at their posts, staring away from the metal grated windows at a scene unfolding in the crossway before them. Some of the "upstairs people", as they'd often referred to those dwelling in the keep proper, had descended and were having a serious row. It was tedious, but better entertainment than the guards' usual fare.
"We shouldn't be spending time on this nonsense!" One finely dressed noblewoman argued. "His vanity will be the death of this operation!"
"Calm down," a lanky rake, leaning against the stonework nearby, dragging on a cigar chided. "This is all a part of his process."
She hissed in reply. "Don't forget who you serve! None of this would be happening without us!"
A third man, bulging muscles and a pot belly, rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes, thank you so much for that. We really wouldn't been lost without a vicious psychopath weaving our defenses."
"If he unsettles you, hang out somewhere else. After the Solstice, none of this will matter anymore."
The hole opened. No one had noticed Damien. Batwoman and Oracle dropped out of it, behind the bickering people and directly in between both guards.
Spoiler: OOCSurprise Round.
Roll for initiative. We'll keep your results for the rest of this dungeon for ease of use. (Unless you roll something below a natural 5 -- then you can try rerolling next encounter ;) ).
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2024-04-18, 09:05 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
With the hole set to the wall, Damien drops to the ground with panther grace - between the two guards, just behind the edge of their peripheral vision. As his allies emerge, he gets to work with a thumping blow into the stomach of one!
Spoiler: OOC:Surprise round is just one action, so I guess that's just one attack and BAM with the gauntlet! (1d20+18)[35] for (1d6-2)[2] (Minimum 1) and (6d6)[23] Sudden Strike!Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-04-18, 10:31 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
The Batwoman decides on a simple trick. She attempts to daze the guard not being attended to by Scion
Spoiler: ooc
Psionic Daze, augmented to effect a target of 8 HD or lower. DC 14
PP 70/85
Initiative (1d20+1)[11]
GNU Terry Pratchett
Survived Total War: Mandate of Heaven as The Witch-Doctors
Thrived in Empire! 7 as the Sakura-Jin
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2024-04-21, 02:06 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
One of the guards went down, knocked flat by Damien's subtle assault. The other found himself rapidly stunned by Kate's mind powers.
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2024-04-21, 06:26 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2017
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- UK
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Oracle condensed the gleaming bolts of starlight orbiting her into electric blue points of light and hurled three of them at the guards before them fanning out from an intial foeand guided towards Critical Strikes.
Spoiler: Rolls
Bolt 1: (1d20+12)[32] VS flatfooted touch for (1d8)[2]+(5d6)[20] nonlethal
Bolt 2: (1d20+12)[28] VS flatfooted touch for (1d8)[8]+(5d6)[18] nonlethal
Bolt 3: (1d20+12)[15] VS flatfooted touch for (1d8)[6]+(5d6)[17] nonlethal
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2024-04-22, 12:54 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Three figures in the mail hall collapsed into heaps against the stone, unconscious.
There was one adult male remaining, who pivoted on his heel to turn tail and run away.
Spoiler: OOCSurprise round is over, it's Damien's turn. One target left.
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2024-04-22, 08:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
To an observer, Damien's rapid two-step up the wall only to throw himself into quick double sommersault might have seemed unnecessary. But those observers weren't initiated into the mysteries of the League of Assassins, and the magnification of power that came with putting one's whole body into a weapon toss. A pair of shuriken scythe out from Scion's palm at the final fleeing target...
Spoiler: OOC:VsFlatfoot - (1d20+18)[37] for (1d2)[2] and (6d6)[24].
(And secondary attack with the +2 shuriken of returning)
VsFlatfoot - (1d20+15)[29] for (1d2)[2] and (6d6)[32].Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-04-23, 10:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
The last thug in the hallway collapsed into a heap as Damien's attack slammed into him, and for a moment, the hallway hung in sudden silence, as the trio of Dark Knights surveyed the area, there was a pregnant pause as they all quietly waited to see if their lightning ambush had attracted any attention. But the corridors remained draped in stillness.
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2024-04-24, 12:18 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
The trio have worked and trained together enough by now to know what they are doing. Scion rolls up the hole and keeps watch while Batwoman and Oracle are freed up to drag the incapacitated guards out of the junction and into the mouth of the north passage leading to the cells. It wouldn't fool anyone walking by; but anyone peering down the corridor from the break room or from the stairs at the west and east ends of the junction wouldn't see four crumpled and groaning forms heaped in the way. It was worth a few seconds of investment.
<"The prisoners should all be up ahead. We may yet get these people to safety, and have the freedom to come back and shut the operation down without hostages to worry about.">
He stalks ahead down the corridor to the cells, straining his senses to hear conversation between prisoners, or guards, for any indication of what might be ahead that could yet foul their plans.
Spoiler: OOC:Proceed down the corridor as stealthily as one can proceed down a corridor. I beleive the "VIP cells" are up first. If possible, Damien will try to peek into them without, himself, being peeked.
Rolls as appropriate.
Listen - (1d20+20)[37]
Spot - (1d20+5)[15]
Search - (1d20+13)[21]
Hide - (1d20+20)[29]
MoveSilently - (1d20+22)[24]Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-04-25, 04:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
The Bat Knight waits, her clanking armor not being suited for this part of the job...
GNU Terry Pratchett
Survived Total War: Mandate of Heaven as The Witch-Doctors
Thrived in Empire! 7 as the Sakura-Jin
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2024-04-29, 12:49 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Damien crept forward through the corridor until he reached the area of cells inside the walls with the most important bards locked away. No one saw him approach, but he was able to see some of the high powered Bards that Oracle had scried earlier inside the chambers.
"He's a madman, Isabella," one of them whispered. "He thinks this is all some sort of show."
"It is all some sort of show, my love. Life is a..."
"ENOUGH! This is madness! At any moment we could be slung out and lobotomized. Hells, have you been staying awake in shifts in your cell? Any one of us could be with him! We're very likely going to die in these cells!"
"Leave him to his fun," said a third bard. "They don't actually care about us. Wealth is temporary; your life is all you have. These scheme is not about us. It's about the Harvest Lords and the Solstice. You heard them flapping their gums. Just don't anger him and we'll be fine."
The VIP cells appeared unguarded. Beyond them, the lower grade cells were in the largest chamber. There wasn't a lot of clear conversations happening there, but he overheard a fair bit of whispering, as well as whimpering and shuddering.
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2024-04-29, 03:00 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Damien frowned. It had been his opinion going into this raid that House Karlo wouldn't have any 'plants' inside his prisoners. Why would he? He had no reason to feel they were less than completely secure. And yet the prisoners themselves seemed worried, which was enough reason for him to suspect missing facts. He flagged Oracle forward with one hand, while reporting to her through the gem-bound-link hard won through previous escapades.
<"The 'VIPs' here are bickering and paranoid. They fear some number of the bards in the cells have been compromised, including each other. Can you vet them, like the ones in the Bard's Guild Hall? These ones, at least, are in their own cells, so we won't need to separate them if one or more is false.">Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-05-03, 01:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2017
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- UK
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2024-05-07, 11:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Oracle scanned the high value captives' thoughts, and after a moment, is pleased with the result.
"These are all legit," she alerted her compatriots in a business like tone. "Scared, suspicious, and a bit more self-interested than I care for, but no imposters."
"What is she talking about?" of of the bards nudged the woman standing next to her. "Is she asking about imposters?"
"Who are you people?" another Bard shivered. "You don't look like you're with Karlo. What do you want?"
The first woman looked terrified. "They're going to get us all killed...or worse!"
Fear ruled the day. But no one cried out, and they remained shakily wary in anticipation that the party would announce it's intentions.
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2024-05-08, 12:19 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
"Your guild sent us," Scion informs the frightened VIP's with an appropriately diminished tone. "They're aware of the the shape-shifters and we're here to get you out of here. But we have to act fast. We're going to get you, and everyone else, out of this place before Karlo find out their plan has been discovered. You can believe we're not who we say we are if you want and refuse to come with us; but once we've extracted everyone else, Karlo will know he's been discovered and you'll only be useful then as a hostage or worse. But first we need to clear out the guards in the next room. Stay here. Stay quiet. We'll come back for you."
Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-05-09, 10:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
The captive VIPs chittered and whimpered among themselves as Damien moved up to the next door, more paralyzed with fear than anything else. They'd been duped too many times by imposters, and it had left them unable to determine who to trust.
Oracle continued to scan the area, when eventually, she paused.
"Damien, wait." she said. Her blue glowing eyes narrowed, and she approached one of the cages. "Someone's hiding something." her voice was low and quiet, almost a whisper. Everyone in the cage huddled in the back, away from her.
"Are you sure? Do we have an imposter?"
"No...it's..." Oracle concentrated for a moment longer. "I see. These are all real, but they're afraid of what's in the next room. They...they seem to think there's an imposter hiding amongst the lower tier bards."
"Seem to?"
One of the bards, an older woman with the look of an aristocrat, lurched forward. "Their eyes are EVERYWHERE, don't you see!?!?" she burbled. "They could lobotomize us just for talking to you!"
"Just tell us who the imposter is and we can take care of it!" Oracle snapped, still keeping her voice low.
"It's...it's not that easy," a second, older, more genteel looking man spoke up. "We...we can't be certain. You see, sometimes they...well, they like to imbed themselves among us. Sometimes it's temporary, sometimes they remove someone...p..permanently."
"Speed it up gramps, time is of the essence here." Damien snapped.
"There was a group, of the lower level bards and understudies, they took them barely a night ago. I've lost track of time down here but it couldn't have been long. They, they took them away, and then, well, they all came back."
"....all of them?" Kate murmured.
"Yes!" he went on. "At least, that's how it seemed. But it didn't make any sense...why take the group out in the first place if they were just going to return everyone? They barely looked roughed up. And they all kept...fidgeting, looking at each other. We've been down here a while, see, and we've learned these monsters' ways. They like to keep everyone confused, keep them guessing. I'm betting there's an imposter imbedded, and if there is, they'll surely bring Lord Karlo's anger! It's not something we can risk!"
Oracle examined the next door, looking for traps. What she found was disconcerting.
"Well...perhaps we won't have to worry about that." she said, her voice tense.
"What does that mean?"
"The next room," Oracle gestured. "It's warded with more blood magic. But...this doesn't make any sense."
"Can you elaborate?"
"Yes." Oracle began to run her hands over the dark, messy looking markings scribed across the door and up and down the sides of it's stone frame. "Remarkable, really. There's a single disarm for this trap -- it's a blood seal, but I can't for the life of me guess who's blood would be matched to it. It couldn't just be one of the guards, it's too specific."
"What kind of trap are we talking here? Fill the next chamber with lava, or just standard issue alarm stuff?"
"Neither." Oracle replied. "If we wanted, we could open this door right now. But when we do, the next room will be draped in an anti-magic field for the better part of the next two hours."
"Not...ideal..." Damien admitted.
"Does the field block psionics as well?" Kate asked innocuously.
"No, actually. But the field comes with an anti-teleportation ward that works independently of the anti-magic. The only thing I don't get is...why this trap? They'll let us walk in but once we're there, no arcana? Without magic inside they wouldn't even be able to summon an alarm. This works just as well against any Karlos inside the room as it would against us. If our sneaky adversary is using magic, this would theoretically just shut it off."
"Well..." Damien said, pondering the barrier in front of him. "Were the dopplegangers we fought earlier using magic to change shape? And if they were, are there any other ways to achieve the same effect?"
Spoiler: OOCThanks for a little bout of patience there, your turn!
Shall we enter the dungeon room?
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2024-05-09, 10:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Kate readies her poleaxe. In a non-magic zone, she was still above average as a combatant, but her merciful enchantment might well be suppressed. These creatures, though their actions were vile, weren't fiends or abominations, and deserved the rule of law. This would be difficult.
GNU Terry Pratchett
Survived Total War: Mandate of Heaven as The Witch-Doctors
Thrived in Empire! 7 as the Sakura-Jin
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2024-05-10, 12:41 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2021
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- Brisbane, Australia
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Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Scion grimaces.
"It's hard to imagine them using a non-magical imitation method naturally - the way they turn back, when they are laid out suggests there's something sustained about it. There seems to be tension in this place between the Karlos and the shapechangers - perhaps it was a prison for them once..? Whatever the case, I'm sure it's too much to hope the spell is striggered by the door and we can't just circumvent it into the room. Obviously the use of the portable hole won't work inside an anti-magic field... And it'll take too long to open so many cells by pick. We'll need the keys, I think... We might need to raid that barracks at the end of the western hall. Ah, but that'll take time..." He gives a frustrated hiss.
"As far as how they could replicate the effect without magic... if they're all in separate cells, they might just be using disguises and stagecraft. There was no shortage of disguise supply in the storeroom we passed, but that will be easily enough overcome with direct inspection. At least if magic is suppressed, they won't be able to detect our thoughts in there. But if there is one or more infiltrator in there, then..."
He trailed off, giving a frown to his comrades. He didn't voice it, lest they disturb the VIPs nearby; but the recent experience unmasking the dopplegangers in the court of bards, and the minor bloodbath that followed, would be fresh in everyone's mind. If the doppleganger/s decided it/they were made, their only play was to threaten other prisoners or attack them out of spite.
"...Maybe we get a couple of those uniforms from the store room... Buy ourselves a few seconds to figure out out move once we can see the layout of the room."Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-05-11, 03:42 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2017
- Location
- UK
- Gender
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
"Perhaps, they have greater resources for disguise here than most infiltrators ever have access to. Still it will take time and of that we have precious little, let's go and retrieve what we need, then I'll watch the entrance while you two go to retrieve them. Give us options to take down reinforcements quickly if we should need to. I'll be little use without any arcane access anyway.
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2024-05-11, 09:31 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2021
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
- Gender
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
Damien dashed swiftly back down the corridor to the store room. Now that there were no guards in the way, and no one to throw the kill-switch that would set the monstrous servitors off, there was nothing in the way. But his instincts nagged at him as he went; the pieces of the puzzle unsorted and placed bothering him with their mystery.
Fools Guild reimagined as a cult to disrupt the city's religious institutions.
Morant Fel was trying to undermine House Gordon. Why? Probably to replace with a Zarus-friendly alternative.
Lawtons assassinating Morant Fel. Like Fools, religious instability expands.
Karlos stepping in to cover Fel's payments and expand Herald's animus against Gordons - and Church, and Jameses.
Karlos and Fools both poised to disrupt the solstice, creating panic and unrest.
Karlos and Lawtons in the Banker's pockets - How much chaos in this city is the Cobblepot's doing? Do the Fools work for the Penguin now, too? Everything stacked to cause a massive collapse of faith in institutions, an Imperial lockdown, and a new selection of governance - Cobblepot being the one to deliver stability by calling off the dogs. And how much of it, because the Dark Knights had buckled the Theives' Guild?
He stuffed the uniforms fit for each of them - or fit enough - into his haversack. At least the guard uniform was 'hooded halberdier' - Kate wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb quite so much as she typically did.
But the way the guards had said it - we work for shapeshifters - meant they weren't used to working for them. Had the Karlo's been subverted and their guards were just riding the interegnum out?... Or was the smuggling operation here beneath Karlo Keep not really Karlo's own operation? After all, nothing was warded to be disarmed by Basil Karlo. Within the circles within circles of the city's corruption, there was a symbiotic alliance here between the Karlos in the keep above - presumably the source of the dopplegangers - and these thugs below. This... private army for some blood magician. No wonder the prison had such extreme wards. An alliance with dopplegangers would be tenuous at the best of times, and the blood sorcerer, like his halberdiers, had to be wary of his patrons...
They had half the puzzle - but what they needed was to get one of these guys awake and frightened and shake some connective information out of him.
Back with Batwoman and Oracle, he passed them the heavy cloaks, and a spare halberd for Oracle to hold. But he paused when he looked at the smaller cloak he'd grabbed.
"Dammit. All of the guards are humans or half-orcs. My stature will give it away." He shucked off his haversack, and his belt with his obvious weapons. His compact theives tools, his discreetly hidden shuriken, and his small concealable items he kept in his gi; and the Rod of Ropes tucked inside his collar. The folded up portable hole he kept on him, compact enough; but the haversack had to wait out here. He tucked it into a corner of the corridor outside, and covered it with the cloak so it seemed to be just a rumpled pile.
The rest he said by their mental link:
<"I'll have to be a 'prisoner', atleast for some of it. Batwoman can just drag me in like she's beaten me unconcious - toss me on the floor in there like you mean it. I can take it. But I think Oracle's right - we'll need to come back and shut this place down hard once the bards are safe. This is some kind of unholy alliance between the Karlos, dopplegangers, and this blood sorcerer. People are getting vanished and replaced, and the genuine articles lobotomized and repurposed in dark ritual. It's not clear who holds the real power, but it can't be left to continue. For now though, all we can do is try to find out which, if any of the prisoners, are false.">
His eye twitched as he thought of the False Face society, and Lord "Two Face" Dent. Faces, masks, performances everywhere... But the task was at hand, and that needed focus.Damien Wayne in Molan's Batman {D&D3.5e}
Aiden Sorveaux in DeTess's The Royal Artificery Society {PF1e}
Sir Bertelis Roche in bramblefoot's Tomboys and Troublemakers {WFRP2e}
GMing for World of Warcraft - Interbellum {M&M3e}
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2024-05-11, 03:04 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
Re: 3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)
<<I will need to take off my armor to make that work, even then, I really kind of suspect the guards will recognize that I have quills, even if they don't know all their companions on sight. I think that trickery just might work here>>
Sneaking a plant into the prisoners might work, but it was too risky and would take too long.GNU Terry Pratchett
Survived Total War: Mandate of Heaven as The Witch-Doctors
Thrived in Empire! 7 as the Sakura-Jin