Action thread: Group 10

[MetroMagic]

Ptolemaeus1,2,3,4,5 Earthglide from the ceiling near location10, down through the wall, and into the floor underneath BB.

The open-bar pens they have been charged to search cover an area about 350 feet across, at the east end near location10, narrowing to about 250 feet across in the middle, and widening back out to almost 500 feet at the at the west end across from location9, turning in an L-shape and ending at the collapsed bridge.

The overall length is about 1200 feet, roughly a quarter-mile of beautifully hewn and carved cavern stonework.

(click to show/hide)

Zoomed Map: BB,CC and locations 5(NW),7(NE),8(barely, NE),9(SW),10(SE)

The five begin to travel outward in a search pattern as directed by PtolemaeusO, skimming just beneath the surface of the floor for maximum sensitivity to their Blindsense and maximum benefit from their excellent Listening. The bars of the open-bar cages are set into the floor, and so even tiny vibrations inside the cages above will likely make any occupants appear to Blindsense as long as they are touching something, or perhaps even nearly touching. In the silence that now has settled on the cavern, their impressions could be reliable to about 30 feet, and still within range at about 60 feet, though near the river, they find that the rushing water against the rock muffles other sounds and narrows the reliable sensory range.

With a solidly reliable radius of 30 feet, after a little experimentation by listening for each other, Ptolemaeus1,2,3,4,5 find that they can sweep an area about 150 feet wide in a single pass, if they coordinate their spacing carefully on the Link. Based on the impressions from group9 when they were near the river, they expect to have move much closer together for reliable coverage, so they can sweep an area about 75 feet wide in a single pass as they turn down the L toward the river.

However, the end of that L’s area is near location9, and so, following their instructions, not much of BB close to the river will be searched, at least for now.

To help them with the combat map, Star projects the dimensional shapes and lays out several sweep patterns in the combat map images on the Link for Ptolemaeus and the rest of group10 to consider.

{Star} Ptolemaeus, I’ve had some experience in developing search sweep patterns for Armada ships; this situation is a small, two-dimensional situation……….… here is one covering almost all of the area directly north of location10 in a single pass of a wiggly pinwheel shape, like a reversed letter C, and then continuing along the north wall of BB, the west wall of BB, and then after scooping partly into the L toward location9, returning to location10 along the south wall of BB.

Sable traced a path through BB as well, but as only one observer, the track of the path was narrow and gave only spotty coverage – though it was a valuable and valid sample suggesting the area is empty – whereas Ptolemaeus, you have the resources to search all of BB definitively and quickly.

The longest path is by Ptolemaeus5, who is on the outside of the sweep’s turns, though as you can see, I was able to shorten this somewhat by compressing the sweep at the corners. Nevertheless, Ptolemaeus5’s walk is bounded by a shape inscribed approximately 30 feet inside the bounds of BB, most of an approximate circle on the east end and an approximate rectangle on the west end, 145x3x(3/4) for the partial circle and 790x2+190 for the three sides of the rectangle, for a total distance of about 2100 feet, about 2/5 of a mile. With Earthglide allowing movement at 120 feet per minute, I project that the search will take about 17 minutes to finish.

Now, here is an alternate sweep plan with more searchers in a radial fan pattern, radiating out from location10 to complete the search on the outward trip in a single pass, before they return. You can see that this requires only 8 searchers due to economies of searcher re-use along the shortest paths at the east end of the cavern, and its duration is equal to the single longest path of any searcher, which is the straight-line distance from location10 to within 30 feet of the far northwest corner of BB, which I estimate at about 1050 feet, or 8 minutes to finish the search.

Finally, the third sweep pattern… all things in threes… that pattern, if it pleases you, is a modified fan design that excludes the far northwest corner of BB, since that is where group5 is due to emerge into the slave pens area soon. They may even reach it walking in the open before Ptolemaeus5 could get there via Earthglide. If it pleases group5 to cover the area where they emerge that is bounded by the west wall, the north wall and an inscribed hyperbola for minimum area and maximum impact – then this truncated version of the fan reduces the longest path by almost 300 feet, reducing the path time to 6 minutes to finish the search.

So, it may please you to release three more searchers, and adopt a radial truncated fan search pattern. I’ve used those before, in higher dimensions of course, when a convoy of Armada ships are searching a volume of wildspace or the Phlogiston for intruders, and some more backup Armada ships are entering the space as well, to participate when they get there. In those cases quickness is the priority, traded off for an increase in resources. The tradeoff produces one third the time, for only half again as much resources, by not worrying about the return trip before the search is complete.

To reduce the time even more will require some additional risk. The Ptolemaeus copies could follow the third pattern, but emerge from the floor at key points for simple visual observation; without True Seeing their sight will not be blocked by the Invisible fog of the Guards And Wards. However, if the captives are in the cages but Invisible, they won’t be seen either. Then the time is reduced by another 300 feet, since only the far end of the search is affected; it will complete in under 4 minutes. Along the same line of thinking, by substantially increasing risk of exposure, if they simply fly the cavern, their flight speed is five times their Earthglide speed, and as you can see in this flying fan image, the search will complete in just under a minute, even when I add back in the far northwest corner… because the flyers will arrive long before group5, in that scenario.

Meanwhile during the search it may please all of you to consider how we can defend the copies against what has been used... a reactive exercise, unfortunately, leaving us one step behind, but it may help.

Star passes the complex geometry of the annotated sweep patterns to PtolemaeusO and group10 on the Link, to use if it pleases him. Or he may have some other priorities to search differently.

[GuyFawkes]

Ptolemaeus takes Star's suggestions for search patterns and considers it for a few moments. Then, he speaks. "Hmm, very well. That is a good plan. I hate to risk it, what with those two monsters roaming about, and who knows what else lies in store for us, but Time is of the essence. We could go with that last pattern you said. Also, bear in mind my copies still possess my unique vision (Time Sense), and no form of Invisibility will keep any living creature veiled from their eyes, as long as the targets are in the same dimension as us, though it is only effective at around 30 feet in radius."

[MetroMagic]

{Star} Then if more resources and more risk are both an option, and we choose to optimize Time… We also have other constraints that make this a very interesting problem.

To traverse the search rapidly, we need flying in the air, rather than Earthglide, five times faster.

To fly in the air in the Forbiddance we need a Lawful Evil form; the groups have used several already. Flying will stay with the form from Pixie Dust, so wings don’t matter.

But flying in the cavern may trigger the Alarms.

These are contradictory conditions! To satisfy all of them with the Magic Effects we have, the search paths and procedures can be modified like this:

As Vir has already noted with his parrots, and Sable well knows, the Fine creatures do not trigger Alarm. So if your eight Ptolemaeus copy searchers use their Polymorph Self to reduce to Fine in size… with their Nondetection and that size they can bypass the Glyphs, Runes, and Alarms. There is still the Forbiddance to deal with, but you have several creature types to choose from, that the various groups have already used successfully: Barghest, Efreet, Imp... or any other that may please you. A Fine Imp Ptolemaeus…

Star chuckles.

{Star} Or perhaps you would prefer to stay away from Fiends and Devilkin, and choose a Marrash. Not all of them are residents of the Nine Hells.

All 8 PtolemaeusX copies would change to some Lawful Evil form, in Fine size, and fly the search pattern across the cavern.

We adjust the third sweep pattern’s fan design to include the far northwest corner of BB, to search it before group5 is due to emerge into the slave pens area… and extend the search all the way to the edge of the thirty foot radius of your Invisibility vision instead of the three hundred foot radius I allowed for direct visual inspection… both of those adjustments lengthen the search paths… but also assuming that your copies are traveling at flying speed to cover those paths fastest…

Then the entire search is completed in just under two minutes, with eight searchers! …and more will not make it faster, since the limitation is the longest single flight path, which is indivisible… good, I think this is the geometry of the search pattern, including the shape of Times within it.

And the last copy will return in two minutes more, after the search is done.

If it pleases you to do so.

[GuyFawkes]

"I think they would make for fine Imps of Fine size, if I dare say so myself," he replies to the elf with a smile. "No, I do not mind whatever form the copies take. Completing the mission with utmost efficiency is best." He pauses for a bit to add anything more to his copies instructions before continuing. "I guess I have nothing more to add."

Turning to his copies, he continues, "Well then, you heard your orders. Decide among yourselves which one takes which route, and which form you want to take. Be careful. That is all."

[MetroMagic]

Ptolemaeus1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 emerge from the magnificently carved stone into the air as Fine sized Imps and fan out in the search pattern. The combat maps shows their progress.

From what they can see right away at the southeast end, a huge gallery of ornate Dwarven stonework, the area is empty, and silent, but the cages are spottily littered with a disorderly ragtag  of clothing and personal items, some fine and well-made, some coarse... a shoe here, a hairclip there. Most or all of it is Elven in style.

As anticipated, the Forbiddance does not bother them; the Alarms do not trigger, and the Glyphs and Runes ignore them.

The search of BB has begun, and will take a couple of minutes to complete.

[MetroMagic]

Star says on the Link to group10 and all other groups: {Star} I’ve been pondering the question of how to defend against all these attacks at once, and don’t as yet have a solution, but I have another very interesting creature type that may please you to experiment with...

It is naturally Lawful Evil, so it will defend against both the Forbiddance and the Dictum. And it is made of mud, so a sword will only do half of its normal damage. This is a natural property of the creature, so it will apply through Polymorph Self, and though it does not negate the Lightsword fully, it does reduce the effectiveness.

Perhaps a mix of creatures… a naturally reflective one to reflect the Maw of Chaos or whatever Spells may come next, and creatures that resist the Lightsword and are still effective in combat.

Well. I will continue to ponder and it may please all of you to do the same.

Meanwhile… the creature I mentioned is the Lutum. I am familiar with them both through Inner Planar studies and expeditions with the University, and from direct experience encountering them sneaking onto SpellJammer merchant ships as passengers or as crew.

They are tan, gelatinous invaders from the Plane of Ooze that have contaminated all of Wildspace and spread to many worlds thereby. The creature naturally generates limbs as it likes, and a humanoid form very close to real, close enough to pass inspection… very, very close inspection I should say, because they like to imitate beautiful women and ensnare their humanoid lovers, use them up, and kill them, sometimes taking their place by imitating their victims instead. But they do not invariably take female forms; the creatures are genderless and simply take the most effective form to further their plans.

The form can easily handle weapons just as you do; if it pleases you to Polymorph Self into a Lutum who looks just like you, you will simply change your natural internal structure to flexible, semi-rigid mud rather than flesh and bone, giving you some help against the Lightsword and any other edged weapons brought against you. And you will also alter your Alignment Aura to Lawful Evil to avoid the Forbiddance and the Dictum since the Lutum’s Alignment Aura is natural as well.

Here is a visual of one, who I saw emerging from a mud pit as it changed form, where it was hiding near a SpellJammer port, waiting its chance. The part of the female form you see... is all there was at the time, as I could plainly see by looking through the rock into the mud pool. The lowered level of the mud pool you see IS the rest of the creature; it had simply not yet formed the rest of itself into the bottom part of the female. When it started, the mud was to the top of the depression; the creature was lying in wait on the surface where it could watch for a ship’s approach; you can see the ship about to land, in the background, so the creature began to make its move. I was Invisible at the time, so it didn’t notice me observing it; I was intrigued by what reason there might be that a pool of mud had a Lawful Evil Alignment Aura about it, so I stopped to find out…

And here are the creature specifications, a sense of what it is like, so that you can transform to it with Polymorph Self… remember, you can change to a Lutum internally while retaining your exact dimensions and appearance, or nearly so, if you picture it so, as your frame of reference in the change. Then your armor and weapons will still be sized well for you.

Admittedly… a partial measure, not a complete solution.


Star puts the visual image and the creature specifications on the Link, for those interested in the experiment.

[MetroMagic]

TanatouO is faced with a Paladin’s dilemma for his instructions to Tanatou234578:
---He does not want to take an Evil creature form, but then the Forbiddance will damage his copies every ten feet, more or less, as the party moves.
---Previously he went into the walls or floor, emerging where the party paused, and took damage only once on re-entry for the whole length traveled. But Earthglide is slow, so he would fall behind the creatures he should be protecting.
---Flying makes the problem worse both ways, since travel is even faster than on foot: Earthglide would be even slower, if he takes to the floor, and damage would be even faster, if he does not.

Keep away from an Evil creature form and fall uselessly behind, or take an Evil creature form and defend his companions? That seems to be the choice. Fortunately, Wee Jas is Lawful, mostly indifferent to Evil and Good. So he can stay faithful to his Deity, and to his companions, in an Evil creature form.

It’s a curious situation:

The safe course for himself is to stay in the floor and abandon his companions if they outdistance him… this can’t be the Good choice!

The course of self-sacrifice is to stay with his companions, either accepting the risk of Evil, which allows him to remain strong to protect them, or accepting the damage of Forbiddance, which will surely lead him to fail them. Evil and sacrifice along either path. Such is an Effect of dealing with so much Evil around him: it makes all choices Evil.

So, he chooses the path that enables him to help his companions the most, even at a cost to himself, and so he remains true to the spirit of a Paladin’s personal sacrifice to do the most Good for his companions by taking an Evil creature form.

After much deliberation TanatouO instructs all Tanatou copies to use Polymorph Self to turn their structure to mud, and take on Evil form as a Lutum… an Undead one, of course, no point in changing EVERYTHING, is there…. after putting his reasoning on the Link, so that he does not shock his companions. And he changes himself as well; he would not ask his copies to do this thing, and refuse it for himself.

They all change.

Star responds {Star} To construct a group with the right combination of creatures to blunt our enemies’ various attacks, I’ve been thinking about natural Spell Reflection… I’ve seen a lot of things SpellJamming, and traveling the Inner Planes… there are a few creatures who might fit. Trilling Crysmals, for one, from the Plane of Mineral… Halfaz, you might have seen them at one time or another; they wander into northern Magma on occasion… and Fractines, from Wildspace, are very dangerously Reflective though not much good in ordinary combat. A group might only need one creature changed to a Fractine, to firmly discourage Spell Casting in its vicinity, freeing all of the rest of the group to take Lutum forms and attack.

But Tanatou, both a Fractine and a Trilling Crysmal have a Neutral Alignment Aura, so they are not suitable for exploration. Only for a battle; they might turn back some or all of Spells Cast against a group of copies. And they are an uncomfortable step closer to Chaotic, for you; I enjoy it for myself, but I understand that it is uncomfortable for you

However, even though someone else might take the form of one of those creatures, I am not sure of the wisdom of showing our Spell Reflection capabilities as yet, though; we may want to hold that surprise in reserve and let them show us more of their Spell Casting capability first, giving them encouragement rather than discouragement.

Do any of you have different ideas to toughen the copies against Spells, and entice ever greater attacks, to force our enemies to show more of their cards? Dictum and Maw of Chaos may not be the worst.

...Ha, Janis would like that metaphor.

Star puts an image on the Link of a Fractine tumbling through Wildspace.

[Scout89]

"Indeed, I've seen lots of these while travelling though Magma, Miss Feather. They are usually just an annoyance to our travels there."

[GuyFawkes]

"Hmm. I would just like to point out we would do well to know not only our enemies' offensive capabilities, but their defensive ones as well. Do they have perception abilities as we do? Do they have anything to block magic or physical attacks? Another school of thought is 'Offense wins the day'. Perhaps if we could exploit some weakness, then we could take them down without suffering the consequences of their attacks.

With that thought in mind, we need not worry about toughening up our clones, but use them in a rather aggressive tactic and just take note of how they react, what they could or could not defend against. With any luck, we could catch them in a rather disadvantageous spot, forcing them to use their aces or two."

He pauses for a few moments, then continues. "But that is just my opinion, one option we could take. If it pleases you all to do so," he adds with a smile.

[Debatra]

Halt0 speaks up, voicing a new idea. "Ror, you couldn't share your highest-level Rituals, correct? Then what is the highest-level of spells you can use with your Spell Rituals? I've seen you charge Rituals while we've been here; how long would charging your highest-level Spell Ritual and a Circle of Good Hope to go with it take?"

[FireInTheSky]

Halt0 speaks up, voicing a new idea. "Ror, you couldn't share your highest-level Rituals, correct? Then what is the highest-level of spells you can use with your Spell Rituals? I've seen you charge Rituals while we've been here; how long would charging your highest-level Spell Ritual and a Circle of Good Hope to go with it take?"

{RorO on the link}  Well, the highest equivalent is something like 8th level spells, but remember that they're from a specific list.  As for time, it's a bit complicated. If we only wanted to do whatever you had in mind once, I could potentially do it in one round.  Multiple times, or having some of the copies do it would take longer, depending on the circumstances.  What did you have in mind?

[Debatra]

Halt0 speaks up, voicing a new idea. "Ror, you couldn't share your highest-level Rituals, correct? Then what is the highest-level of spells you can use with your Spell Rituals? I've seen you charge Rituals while we've been here; how long would charging your highest-level Spell Ritual and a Circle of Good Hope to go with it take?"

{RorO on the link}  Well, the highest equivalent is something like 8th level spells, but remember that they're from a specific list.  As for time, it's a bit complicated. If we only wanted to do whatever you had in mind once, I could potentially do it in one round.  Multiple times, or having some of the copies do it would take longer, depending on the circumstances.  What did you have in mind?

"That's perfect; and I remember the limits you told us about, and this is Persistable. It's an 8th-level spell called Superior Invisibility. It's like Greater Invisibility, but it fools just about everything; Blindsight, Tremorsense, even See Invisibility and True Seeing.
 

(click to show/hide)

Superior Invisibility masks the target from detection from all senses except touch. Halt gave only a partial list of what it beats.
 
Blindsight
Blindsense
Tremorsense
Scent
Sound (we can speak, using verbal componants and the like, but can not be heard)
Taste (presumably; it says "all senses except touch")
See Invisibility
True Seeing
 
In short, the only ways to find them are bumping into them, following footprints (or other visible traces of the sort), or potentially higher-level magic. Even Faerie Fire, Invisibility Purge, Glitterdust and the like are defeated.
 
Once again, I only just learned of this spell's existance. Sorry I couldn't bring it up before.

[FireInTheSky]

I just double checked, and the highest is actually 7th level spells.  That's what I get for responding from memory rather than actually looking before replying.  It's a good idea though.

{RorO on the link} While that's a great idea Halt, unfortunately, I can't cast that particular spell.  Star, can you make a scroll of it?  Or cast it yourself?  If so, we could use the Spell Cannon on Halfaz's ship (or, I guess your own) to at least get everyone in Group 10.  Otherwise, I think we might be out of luck.

[MetroMagic]

To Halfaz:

An image of the Trilling Crysmal for HalfazO to share on the Link, a Crystal creature from the Plane of Mineral.  Occasional wanderers into Northern Magma.

[Debatra]

I just double checked, and the highest is actually 7th level spells.  That's what I get for responding from memory rather than actually looking before replying.  It's a good idea though.

{RorO on the link} While that's a great idea Halt, unfortunately, I can't cast that particular spell.  Star, can you make a scroll of it?  Or cast it yourself?  If so, we could use the Spell Cannon on Halfaz's ship (or, I guess your own) to at least get everyone in Group 10.  Otherwise, I think we might be out of luck.

That won't actually do anything. It's single-target only. A bunch of scrolls would work if we could all use them though.

[MetroMagic]

Star responds on the Link, first with doubt, then with a grin. {Star} Well… making copies of a Spell onto a Scroll is ordinarily not a problem but it takes a bit of time… I’d need about ten minutes, which we may not have.

I would use the Scarf, but it won’t open inside the Forbiddance, and I don’t think it will like being opened inside of rock, despite Earthglide… an interesting experiment but not one I would want to try with combat imminent. It’s the sort of experiment that can result in Planar displacement, and it could be inconvenient to have to find our way back here from somewhere deep in the uncharted Ethereal Plane.

Ha! My Passwall is still in effect for a few more minutes, the one where I made room for the Dweomer Vortex. That small area is neither in rock nor in Forbiddance. I’ll just step in there and step out with the Scrolls……………………. Done. I have thirty, in case we need a few extras... three for each of you and three left over, all things in threes. Mmmm….. I know why I am thinking of leftovers... those leftovers from Inn Champagne smelled delicious. But I didn’t indulge in your absence.

Now, can any of us Cast a Level 8 Spell reliably? Or shall we take our chances with Scroll Failure? Always entertaining when it happens, and not usually fatal.

[FireInTheSky]

{RorO on the link} Actually, if I can pop into the Scarf with you for a second, we'll all be able to!

Assuming it's okay with Star, RorO steps into the scarf and right back out.

All set.  Do we want to activate the scrolls now?  Or wait a little bit?  Either way, whenever we want to, just let me know, and I'll discharge a couple of Rituals that will let us all - the Originals, that is - be able to read the Superior Invisibility Scrolls.  And, the Originals should be able to cast them on their copies.

(click to show/hide)

Circle of Good Hope, Greater
Ritual of Versatility, Greater: Ritual of Competence, Lesser

Circle of Good Hope, Advanced
Ritual of Intuition, Advanced

Ritual List, Complete

EDIT:

(click to show/hide)

Ritual of Competence: Use all skills untrained, and get +10 on all checks
Ritual of Intuition: 1/rd +5 to a single roll, and treat that roll as Nat20

UMD Check to read a scroll = 20+Caster Level
Superior Invisibility = 8th level spell = min. CL of 15

DC = 35

20 (Rit of Int) + 5 (Rit of Int) + 10 (Rit of Comp) = 35 + Cha Mod

Also, from other sources there's +5 morale from CoGH, +2 Luck

(EDIT Continued:)
{RorO on the Link} Star, I just had a thought.  Can you make a scroll of any spell?  Because if so, I can think of a couple other scrolls we might want to have handy: Mass Heal and Greater Dispel Magic.  Given what you said earlier about the tightness of the Forbiddance casting, I don't think we'll have any luck with Dispelling that, but it might not hurt to have for other circumstances.  While we're here, does anyone else have suggestions?

[Sneaky_Sable]

Sable gave his reply through the Weaselnet:

"Anti-Magic zones force people to concentrate on moving rather then attacking, and Prismatic Sprays are always nice to surprise people with."

[Scout89]

HalfazO shares the image of the Trilling Crysmal with the others through the link. He doesn't join the discussion about magic though, thinking he would add nothing to it.

[Debatra]

"Is there such a thing as an Anti-Psionic Field? I imagine that would be incredibly useful in our situation." After a small pause, "If we're doing scrolls now, I'd like some of Shadow Evocation and its Greater variant.
 
Hmm... Perhaps we should all go into the scarf, activate a scroll, then come back out? It might make it look like we've abandoned this side of the attack. If anyone isn't confident in their UMD skill, I can cast their scrolls on them.
 
Sadly, an Anti-Magic Field will negate Superior Invisibility."