Preparing For Xin Shalast

[bralbovsky]

This seems like more than just shopping/crafting is involved, so I thought a comprehensive thread would be a good idea.
We spent 11 days in Runeland, and we left hastily.

I would propose that we spend twice that on our own plane, preparing for the next stage(s).
So 22 days.
That allows plenty of visiting/travel time (actually only if it is magically assisted. Most travel overland would take longer)

That allows us to do more than pop in on our friends in Sandpoint, Magnimar, etc

That allows three sessions with the Peacock Pen to ask questions, draw maps, whatever

It allows some research time in the library or with any of our live resources.

If everybody throws down on this thread what s/he might like to do before we head off, that might give Darcs some planning space as well.
I know it feels like a long time, but we had some close calls up there. A couple factors make calculating success as a group complicated.

1) Unpredictable participation. If we're missing two of any column, fighter, range, magic, we're quite vulnerable.
Thor and Kay are very reliable, and are our center, but they're both relatively squishy in close combat.
We saw how tough it was when our Magic contingent got swept in one blow, recovery was rough
If we're missing Our melee people, everybody else gets hit hard.

2) We're pretty vulnerable to magic.
We have a low resistance rating for our level.
I haven't done the math, but virtually every time we get hit by something en masse, someone suffers badly.
Going into the teeth of magic stuff this time, we should be prepared to go really slowly.
or do something in the meantime to increase our resources to gear up better.
I don't know whether this is a general pathfinder thing, and it's normal, but it worries me.

[bralbovsky]

Hal, as mentioned, has only the party as family.
So if there's waiting around in Magnimar to be done, or anything else like that, he's willing to spend his time.
He's acquired Thassilon as a language, so he can assist with some of the research.
If there are odd jobs for paladins to raise funds, he's also down.

Given that: Each cycle of the pen is seven days...
He'd like to sit down with the pen and see how detailed a map can be made of the Highways and byways of Thassilon.
Paying, of course, special attention to Xin Shalast, but not leaving out the other capitals either.
Other areas of interest:
Black Magga's lair
Lost or buried treasures
damsels in distress (or anyone else in immediate crisis)
The location of the missing Sihedron amulet and Dragon carcass
Any suggestion that we left loose ends in Runeforge (despite our dislike of the place)
if there's a narrative that suggests haste is necessary, I'd love to know that too.

And, more important, brilliant suggestions from the rest of the party.

[Tahlvin]

Thor does want to get up to Fort Rannick and some of the surrounding area to check in. Perhaps get up to the giant cave in the mountains to make sure they're not making a comeback. While he'll need someone to teleport him there and back, not everyone needs to go with him; he can do this while some of the others are doing research and/or crafting magic items. If Dwyn or anyone else who will not be involved in crafting/researching wants to come along, and perhaps bring a significant other they want to spend some alone-time with, they are welcome to come along. And of course, my wife is welcome to come if she wants, or can help Dotty with the crafting and researching if she prefers.

[Bluedevyl]

We have access to one of the most extensive libraries EVER, which, given its age, should at least contain a map or an estimate of the location of Xin-Shalast. Once Anna is finished horse trading and enhancing weaponry, she would be more than happy to head back to Jorgenfist's library and do some research. I know Dothan needs to spend time with Oshar. We really should consider moving the library somewhere else that isn't an ancestral giantish homeland so we're not invading their homes every time we want to look at a book. Perhaps plane shift would do it... Anna will research this further.

[bralbovsky]

I’m sorry about these long posts. Just at that moment, and haven’t heard much.
Drafted some questions for the pen.
Also: Is Anna ever capable of casting permanent spells on people? Haven’t we run into that? How does that work?

So, looking at this list, I have a sense that there’s a sign somewhere that says “What would Karzoug Do?” but if in fact, this is our last equipment upgrade before we meet him, I’m not optimistic. In light of that, and a realization that we don’t really have any magically enhanced travel that doesn’t depend on our few casters. There’s a little greed in here.
As far as the quill goes, it’s an incredible resource, but I’m a little worried about it. I plan to take some knowledge religion next level to maybe investigate its source of knowledge, just in case. That for another time.

I’d like to depend on it to guide Hal’s hand in drafting a new map, just for us, that has all the landmarks we have been to, as well as the capitals (lost or replaced) of Thassilon, and anything else it deigns to reveal. We can use the library info as our starting point/verification. I’m sure some of this is outside the metascope of our campaign, and I have no wish to torture Darcs, but if there’s a big blind spot where we need to go, that would be nice to know. I don’t know how many weekly charges such an effort would use. My first ten proposed questions:
1 Are there any hostile forces or sources of portable treasure remaining in the runeforge?
2 Where exactly have our missing sihedron medallion and white dragon carcass been taken?
3 If we do not take further action to prevent it, how long will it take karzoug to emerge from his crypt?
4 What preventative measures could we take to delay Karzoug’s emergence without going to Xin Shalast?
5 Where would we find individuals offering rewards for quests or problem solving within a fifty league radius?
6 Where are the closest abandoned or forgotten caches of treasure?
7 Where is Black Magga’s present lair?
8 Where are the targets of incursions of giants or other dangerous hostiles in Golarian?
9 Where are the local groups or forces who wish the Company of the Rusty Dragon to fail in our endeavors?
10 Where will we find Karzoug’s minions scouting or gathering resources outside his immediate sphere of influence?

As always, submitted for your comment/approval/revision.

[Tahlvin]

The other resource we have to help with our research is the Thassilonian scholar in Sandpoint, what's-his-name.

[Zen]

How much time will we officially be spending researching/crafting/preparing for our assault (investigation?) on Xin Shalast? Kay has already rolled for one week of crafting for modifying arrows from special material arrows to durable special material arrows (and delivered a quiver of 20 durable adamantine arrows to Eldthor, though perhaps she should have kept 10 herself and given him 10... hmmm... Well, if she's shooting they can always stand next to each other and she can charge the arrows with Thunderstaff and keep some for herself...)

In any event, I'd like to roll my crafting checks and figure out how many arrows I finish...

[Eliahad]

Okay, so we are planning an assault on the worst of the worst. We don't really know what his defenses are like, but they are probably also the worst. On top of that, we only kind of sort of know where he is.

We have alerted him to our presence, but he doesn't know exactly when we will strike, or where.

A couple of thoughts:

We have the luxury of time, I think. We were trying to rush through the creation of all of these magical items and weapons. I don't think we need to worry about that, and we take our time to make sure we're ready.

I think we should tie up some loose ends. For example, going to Fort Rannick to check in. Finding Black Magga. Anything else we left up in the air but didn't complete? I should have checked on Ironbriar, I feel like he escaped for some reason. That was a while ago.

Finally, we see if we can raise some allies. Would the giants who were misguided by Mukmorian (or however that's spelled) fight on our side? Are we going to have to lay siege to a fortress?

[Tahlvin]

Um, for the sake of some of the party members, I don't think we'll want to wait TOO LONG to storm Xin Shalast. I think we have a couple of months, which is actually a long time, in-game, but if we go much longer than that, I have concerns about what sort of condition certain members of the party will be in. And I'll leave it at that.

[Zen]

Oh... I'm pretty sure we could manage four or five months without much trouble... Beyond that there could be... complications.

[Tahlvin]

If we're going to the highest peaks of the Kodar mountains, I'm worried about the effect that operating at high altitude will have on a developing... situation. Not to mention the effect on... things... if one who is in a certain condition were to, say, transform into a lightning elemental.

[Mike]

I'm assuming then that Sam confirmed the pregnancy after healing Kay?

[Tahlvin]

[Zen]

[bralbovsky]

Not to chime in on a question that isn't my business, ok, here, I'm doing it.....

Medicine probably hasn't gathered awareness of anything in terms of gestational impact yet, except perhaps to note extra powers that might be traceable to specific events. It's all superstition, so turning into a lightning elemental might be a good thing.

The biology system doesn't follow our rules. So there's no point worrying about it.

I love that it grants some urgency, otherwise the game plan might be: amass whatever we deem sufficient hardware through our rusty dragon troubleshooting enterprises, and maybe never get to Karzoug at all. (Ok, eventually, maybe when the kid is old enough to join the party)

Darcs: would you like me to repeat the quill questions?

Everyone: blind fighting is a standard feat I took because I'm human, and because I thought it could be hybridized to deal with invisibility and mirror image or illusions. That's apparently not so. Therefore, other than the weird wild-card combat feat that lets me take any combat feat for a few minutes (Which I think Darcs might object to) or Unusual knowledge (Maybe that's wrong, but it expands Hal's spell choices. Unfortunately few of them are combat castable, so I'm not yet keen) Can someone recommend something that would be more useful? Is there an anti undead thing, for example? I really am having the worst time memorizing and calcuating this game's specifics like I used to for DnD
present feats:
Blind fight
Dodge
Combat reflex
Combat Exp
Shield focus
Improved disarm
Disarming strike
Critical focus

[Zen]

[DMDarcs]

Mountain Travel
High altitude travel can be extremely fatiguing - and sometimes deadly - to creatures that aren't used to it. Cold becomes extreme, and the lack of oxygen in the air can wear down even the most hardy of warriors.

Acclimated Characters: Creatures accustomed to high altitude generally fare better than lowlanders. Any creature with an Environment entry that includes mountains is considered to the area and acclimated to the high altitude. Characters can also acclimate themselves by living at high altitude for a month. Characters who spend more than two months away from the mountains must reacclimate themselves when they return. Undead, constructs, and other creatures that do not breathe are immune to altitude effects.

Altitude Zones: In general, mountains present three possible altitude bands: low pass, low peak/high pass, and high peak.

Low Pass (lower than 5,000 feet): Most travel in low mountains takes place in low passes, a zone consisting largely of alipne meadows and forests. Travelers might find the going difficult (which is reflected in the movement modifiers for traveling through mountains), but the altitude itself has no game effect.

Low Peak or High Pass (5,000 to 15,000 feet): Ascending to the highest slopes of low mountains, or most normal travel through high mountains, falls into this category. All non-acclimated creatures labor to breathe in the thin air at this altitude. Characters must succeed on a Fortitude save each hour (DC 15; +1 per previous check) or be fatigued. the fatigue ends when the character descends to an altitude with more air. Acclimated characters do not have to attempt the Fortitude save.

High Peak (more than 15,000 feet): The highest mountains exceed 15,000 feet in height. At these elevations, creatures are subject to both high altitude fatigue and altitude sickness, whether or not they're acclimated to high altitudes. Altitude sickness represents long-term oxygen deprivation, and affects mental and physical ability scores. After each 6-hour period a character spends at an altitude of over 15,000 feet, he must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or take 1 point of damage to all ability scores. Creatures acclimated to high altitude receive a +4 competence bonus on their saving throws to resist high altitude effects and altitude sickness, but eventually even seasoned mountaineers must abandon these dangerous elevations.

[DMDarcs]

Elixir of the Peaks (price 2,450 gp)
When imbibed, an elixir of the peaks gives the user the ability to scale and survive in mountainous terrain with great skill.

The imbiber is treated as if acclimated to all high altitudes lower than a death zone, and gains a +2 competence bonus on all Survival checks made at elevations of above 5,000 feet. She also gains a +10 competence bonus on Climb checks and Survival checks in mountainous terrain (these bonuses stack with the altitude-based bonus above). Finally, the imbiber gains the benefits of an endure elements spell. The effects of this elixir wear off after 8 hours.

[Zen]

That there is classified as a "Wondrous Item" and requires Endure Elements and Spider Climb at a cost of 1,225 gp per elixir to make. Last I knew, there were several unaccounted for days when I was finishing my potions training and making potions... approximately a week. If we all chip in some gold, Dothan could probably make a decent supply of those?

[Tahlvin]

We'll want as many as we can possibly get. It only lasts 8 hours, and who knows how long we'll have to remain above 5,000 feet. At least if we're there more than a month, we'll be acclimated to it.