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Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 1:44 pm
by Davecom3
Complicated command, Badge. I could order her to kill herself or order her to turn into a dragon, not both. It's possible that the humans might have a way to trace a spell back to its source, and then it doesn't matter whether she was a dragon or not if we had no proof we knew she was such before we used the spell against her.

I'd much rather have that proof in hand before I command Maraxia to kill herself.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 1:51 pm
by BadgeAddict
either way, we need to keep you safe, because if you die, she wins

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 1:57 pm
by Davecom3
She could still lose given other advantages we have, but the simplest method would definitely be through Narasimha's Dominate Monster.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:22 pm
by Aegis J Hyena
I should check this thread more often. Haven't looked at it since long before Spider's Reach fell down. I didn't think it'd be used and already 20+ pages. *adds to bookmarks*

Nikohl had it right; even with a bribe she's not likely to leave you alone. My intent was for her to be a long term enemy, a replacement evil in place of the original paladin, but then I remembered Narasimha's Dominate after she'd been introduced and went "Well, shit." It's not doing anything going unused though; if there was any time to use it now would be the time.

If I were a player, I'd use the Dominate to find out where her hoard is, which would force her to flee and either move or defend it. Then, unite the castle and the Survivors (difficult but not impossible given the situation) and then hunt her down. Killing her just the same with the Dominate works though, and if Trader Knowledge kicks in at the beginning of the next year, its location would be revealed anyway and there's always scrying and such.

I thought Wyrm was younger than Ancient, but I guess I was wrong. She's meant to be a REAL threat; if she attacks the castle (which she may do first if the Dominate fails in order to cut off reinforcements), she could pretty much wipe it out. This is a Duke's castle, and then only in theory; the guy in charge is just a retired adventurer who carved out his own little walled manor and private village.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:12 pm
by Davecom3
Your method might have us facing her on her home turf, rather than getting a +15 Village Defense bonus from every attack she made on our village(if she doesn't outright die from my Dominate). That and the fact Narasimha is a tracker, and she might be able to track down Maraxia's lair, though her trail might be a couple months cold or more, and there's always the chance one of Maraxia's belongings might lead to it (from the players' point of view).

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:20 pm
by Aegis J Hyena
Point. Though unless she beats you hard and then assaults Merix proper, most of her attacks won't be using Village Defense, they'll be all Warfare/Militia rolls (which you have some bonuses on anyway).

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 2:37 pm
by LAYF
welp... juat a little idea... not this, but next month, we should try and capture the wearrats, they are a danger to have around, but we could force cure them AND gain more of that juicy re-gen liquid!

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 3:04 pm
by Davecom3
If we're not in a seige state due to Maraxia staying alive.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 11:11 pm
by Aegis J Hyena
Writing the post within 24 hours; I swear on my furry hide I didn't rig it. Bitch natural 20'd the save. I was sure she'd flub the 90+ roll but she almost crit THAT, too.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:44 am
by Davecom3
Told you she had a fairly probable chance of resisting that technically impossible to resist Dominate. She really wants to put us through the ringer.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:16 am
by BadgeAddict
that's okay, we always have cloud eyes cloud turrets. I'm sure that we can beat her. And when we do, we will find her hoard and then fill all of the gold into the lake and then swim in it.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:06 am
by Alaen
Cue my character dying again, because my chars always die in situations like this. :roll:

While I do think we can take her, it won't be without medium to major losses IMO

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:25 am
by Aegis J Hyena
Goin' to do errands and then write the post --- I expected her to flub the 90+ roll, not 89 it.

I expect a real fight; either she eats you or you drive her away to her lair to set up a showdown. I'll type it as it happens as it plays out in my head.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:30 pm
by madmartin26
Here's hoping my mansion survives the encounter. At least it seems like taking it out wasn't high on her list of priorities.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:03 pm
by Davecom3
If we only had a way to reduce the potency of the acid, Narasimha could take the battle into the dragon. That said, probably our best strategy for dealing with Maraxia, given that we couldn't damage her at all this month, would be to rally dragons against her. In order to damage her right now she has to roll ridiculously low, so charging after her is tantamount suicide. She automatically makes her saves unless she Crit Fails them.

And odds were against her rolling below 36, so she was unlikely to flub the roll you were sure she would.

Of the dragons we could ask for help, the only ones I wouldn't bother trying to request help from are Bob and Lisa, whose acid breath weapons will simply be shrugged off by Maraxia. The fastest one to try to request help from is the same one that Maraxia so seeks to destroy, the bronze being the only one who can communicate mind to mind. I'd guess the bronze is also the biggest threat to her and the only dragon who'd stand a chance of uniting the other dragons.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:25 pm
by Aegis J Hyena
Bob and Lisa are a brief homage to named Sins in the webcomic Jack --- Bob and Lisa together are the Sin of Gluttony (and I'd probably play them like that, too... though B+L aren't really the dragons' names, you know me by now).

I'm honestly surprised not a single PC was killed. The rolls were great. What worries me is that Maraxia might come back with some of the magic items in her hoard and use THOSE on the castle and you... while I haven't rolled her hoard, if I were a wyrm with stubborn brats in my face that's certainly an option I'd look at. I should probably update the map a little bit, as the gnolls' territory falls within range of Maraxia's lair; she might wield them against the Dartemba if she decides to control them.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:46 am
by Alaen
IMO Aegis you made Maraxia way too strong. With her bonuses she cannot lose on most of her rolls.

Allied dragon wise: the green dragons are unlikely to help due to alignment, the emerald one will probably don't bother leaving his lair, and the brass is blind, so the bronze and silver are the only really useful ones.

Also hurray for my character not yet dying horribly.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 1:05 am
by Davecom3
We can't rule out the dragon simply because it's blind, especially if people can come up with a way to make up for that fact.

Only thing I can say about Maraxia is that she fits the bill as a near-godlike foe, which was sort of Aegis's intent in her succeeding in practically all her rolls, I'd guess. I have a feeling this Civilization will almost inevitability end in failure, especially with Kelten's Crit Successes still pending on a practically unbeatable battle sometime in the future.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 1:35 am
by nikohl
Ah, what's wrong with a bit of optimism? Bronzey McLabyrinth might be our friend if we contact him.

Besides, Wyrms -are- way too strong. They're usually rocking 600+HP and AC into the 40s in D&D, before any class levels they could totally have taken. We knew that going into the battle. I know we couldn't really avoid her regardless of what we thought of her relative strength, but still.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:09 am
by Davecom3
Even so, we failed to injure her at all so we pretty much have to rely on younger, perhaps weaker dragons to take Maraxia out. Odds are it'll be a strong stalemate for a while, but we're more likely to take losses than Maraxia.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:47 pm
by Aegis J Hyena
nikohl wrote:Ah, what's wrong with a bit of optimism? Bronzey McLabyrinth might be our friend if we contact him.

Besides, Wyrms -are- way too strong. They're usually rocking 600+HP and AC into the 40s in D&D, before any class levels they could totally have taken. We knew that going into the battle. I know we couldn't really avoid her regardless of what we thought of her relative strength, but still.
This. She's Wyrm-age. While I hadn't intended "godlike", I did intend for her to be a serious asshat. To say she's meant to wipe the Civ is a bit strong (pending Xom and Nuffle teaming up, because you guys have your shit together) otherwise I would have had her breathing into the lake to make you waste resources to de-acid it and then she swoops in for the kill. Now that Kermit sacrificed a lot of monetary funds to Ehlonna to speed her recovery a little bit, the "value" of the hoard has gone down. She might not even bother you and may switch targets back to the castle... for a while, anyway.

By "uninjured" I meant "failed to injure significantly". She took approximately 1/3 of her HP in the battle at Ehlonna's refuge. The damage wasn't enough for "noticeable" injuries, which is why I wrote uninjured. When I do those injury rolls they're often very broad. Taking into account the druids' healing spells and Ilphnilee's staff, you've got some good healing on you, so even Badly Hurt or potentially Mortally Injured won't potentially mean negative HP on the spot.

Besides, a showdown at her lair would make an awesome endgame for the Rough Black Scales storyline...

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:33 pm
by Jibjib
Just to check, I'm right in thinking that now Grikkul has reached Trance, he'll have SAs and FHs by next turn right?

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:09 pm
by Aegis J Hyena
Yeah, they reset next turn and then you can burn one for Trance.

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 6:12 pm
by Aegis J Hyena
Well, that Doom Cube really backfired on me...

Re: Civ V OOC: The desolation of Black Dragons

Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 4:53 pm
by LAYF
Hay all.. a little pic of our favorite villain in this game:
► Show Spoiler