[Conan/Call of Cthulhu d20]Shadow over Stygia Recruiting

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 12:35 am

I'm back! *cue slim shady*

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 10:03 am

Reactions?

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:40 am

Going by my Conan metafeelings, generally people are decent until they straight up betray you or you observe direct evidence of their demonic shenanigans.

The guy we're after with the beast women colludes with dark powers though he did spare us that one time.

The gold guy is a direct descendant of the original dudes who tried to steal away that evil book from the temple of Frog+Snake, so when he says the Priest of Ibis screwed him over there's a fair chance he tried to screw over the Ibis priest too. Ibis in Conan lore also traditionally stands against Set, Thoth Amon, and other big badguys.

Since our strongest reason to punch the priest of ibis in the face is from a guy whose background isn't completely known either, I'd withhold from priest punching.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Jun 26, 2014 3:14 pm

Speaking of which, did Isandro, Velasco, and Taotieh want to get in on planning the end of the game/world?

Kurama314 · Post by **Kurama314** » Thu Jun 26, 2014 4:10 pm

I figure siding with Ibis is our best bet right now. Personally I'm more of a fan of breaking into his tower and killing him there but that's mainly because I'm more suited to that than a straight fight. Also if Katsetshuset does manage to get some bad mojo from the book preparation may not help us that much.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Jun 27, 2014 10:22 pm

So, is everyone planning on a surprise assassination of the wizard in Kheshatta? Please post so we can move the game into its final leg.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:43 pm

Okay, so the vote is that y'all will ambush Katsetshutset when he comes to the temple where you're currently at. This is what the temple looks like from the outside (warning: large image):

The main entrance faces south. There is no back entrance. The interior is a flight of 77 steps leading into the pillared great hall, with entrances to the underground highways of Acheron on the east and west. The northern end of the hall has not been explored. You have perhaps two weeks to prepare; Karanthes will answer questions and call for what aid he can, but generally leaves the plan up to you.

Also, after all your trials and with access to Karanthes' wisdom, everybody goes up a level.

So: ask questions, make your plans, and hopefully you'll have everything ready when Katsetshuset comes.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:13 am

I'd like to take this moment to just say that Concentration duration necromancy only encourages necromancers to create as many undead as they can in a single casting, order them to follow the orders of another character, and then fuck off to the inn while the party goes and does stuff. Which is a point against Conan.

Nebuchadnezzar · Post by **Nebuchadnezzar** » Sun Jun 29, 2014 1:08 am

Awesome. As far as aid, I'll write up something of my dude ingratiating with Karanthes for lamp oil to explore part of the highway, and maybe setting up something with the mirrors. Character wise it's retraining Religiously Driven, getting the feats Opportunistic Sacrifice and another Sorcerer's Boon, and taking Visions and Incantation of Amalric's Witchman as spells.

I'll poke around later tonight, Prak, but Legions of the Dead from Secrets of Skelos is at least a little closer to the animation spell you want, albeit considered Runaway Magic. (Edit: there's also Make Greater Undead from Betrayer of Asgard, which can make permanent undead with an exp cost.)

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sun Jun 29, 2014 11:56 pm

Make whatever plans you want, I just want it to be clear that this is going to be the final scene of the game - so win or lose, this is for all the marbles.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 12:18 am

Neither of those books came in the torrent I found. I'm also looking at CoC magic, but then there are questions of how to bring those over.

AH, I want to make it clear that I wasn't really complaining in any way, just commenting that, at the moment, before I find another spell to learn, my character's best course of action is to raise an army of 27 skeletons, tell them to obey Neb's or Karlus' commands, and then make preparations to leave town in such a way as to not lose concentration. Alternatively, put the skeletons in someone else's command and go do my own investigations in the temple.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 7:09 pm

It's not set up for necromancer PCs, really.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 8:47 pm

Yeah, I was thinking about it a bit last night, and it kind of feels like the the option to play a sorcerer was... I don't know, exactly, but it really seems like they never really intended for pcs to play sorcerers. Like they either included the option to fulfill player expectations, or to build sorcerer villains, but they either half-assed the design, or specifically designed it to be subpar and not a lot of fun to play. Or possibly they intended for "sorcerer" to be a secondary thing you can do, not something to hang a whole character around.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:29 pm

It's a low-magic setting, in general; most sorcerers are designed to have limited combat abilities (the defensive blast as default is to keep them from being completely defenseless) - and that's not terribly out of keeping with the source material, and probably helps level out the wizard/warrior curve somewhat. Now, of course, when you add Cthulhu Mythos magic as an alternative path to power, things can get scary...

Do any of the warriors want to weigh in on planning the ambush? Things they need/want?

Nebuchadnezzar · Post by **Nebuchadnezzar** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 1:25 pm

Hey, to be clear, any interim encounters aren't going to be roleplayed? I reckon Prak would like to find some corpses, and my dude wouldn't mind getting high and trying to spy on Kat., while others put up barricades and damn Crom to hell for not acknowledging that few faced many on this day. I guess I need a tad of clarification on 'make plans'. Thanks.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 5:54 pm

I would imagine that a stygian priest wouldn't need to work hard to turn up bodies. If nothing else, there should be a good number of sacrificed commoners I could animate.

Those spells you pointed out are actually pretty good, Neb. I'm considering on them.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 7:27 pm

Nebuchadnezzar wrote:Hey, to be clear, any interim encounters aren't going to be roleplayed? I reckon Prak would like to find some corpses, and my dude wouldn't mind getting high and trying to spy on Kat., while others put up barricades and damn Crom to hell for not acknowledging that few faced many on this day. I guess I need a tad of clarification on 'make plans'. Thanks.

You guys basically have a couple weeks to level up, get whatever resources you can together and in place, and in other ways prepare for when Katsetshuset arrives. Karanthes will stick around, teach you magic, receive news from Kheshatta, try to get you supplies, and otherwise help out. But given the general slow-down in the game, I think it would probably be best if the main "thing" at this point is just the final scene. You can totally have your characters explore the rest of the site, scout out positions, et al., but I think the game's been dragging, interesting is flagging, and I'd like to end it on a high note.

Of course, if KorganO, Whipstitch, Kurama, Prak etc. want to RP the set-up more, we could do that. But posting has been very sporadic for weeks now - my own fault, I probably should have kept the pace of the game up - and I think we need to wrap up with a nice climactic confrontation.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:20 pm

I'll probably take another level of scholar. Busy with work lately tho'

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 7:04 pm

That's fine. I know people are busy.

Kurama314 · Post by **Kurama314** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 8:52 pm

In terms of prep for the battle there's not much Velasco needs since he's just going to stabbing whatever he can. Really my only concern is being able to close enough to Katsetshuset. But I figure with the skeletons to mob him and act as fodder we'll be able to get in close.
I should have a leveled up version of Velasco posted later tonight.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 9:51 pm

Well, you can always choose where you want to stand to try and stab him. Or set traps. Whatever.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 7:36 pm

Fourth of July weekend, I know everybody is busy, but I'd like the game to finish proper instead of just stalling out. So if everybody can try to have their characters updated by Monday, that would be great!

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Jul 05, 2014 6:59 am

The internet is out at home because my mother's company decided to upgrade her and AT&T is incompetent, but I will do what I can.

Kurama314 · Post by **Kurama314** » Sat Jul 05, 2014 6:13 pm

Sorry the incredible delay but Velasco is all updated.
In terms of planning the ambush I'm assuming we're going to set up at the base of the steps? That way he would only have on way out. Also Velasco could hide at the entrance to the temple and follow him down, giving quicker flanking bonuses when the trap is sprung and at least slowing down any escape attempts. If someone has a better plan that would be great though, I'm still not that familiar with the capabilities of sorcerers.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Jul 07, 2014 12:59 am

That's okay, I know this game has dragged on a bit and everybody has their difficulties.

As far as the ambush goes, it might be helpful to re-watch the end of Conan the Barbarian a couple times for inspiration.