What's Next?

[quasadu]

Let's talk about what you have on your agenda after dealing with the Drachens, and what your priorities are. I'm not asking you to make a decision that's set in stone, just want to get an idea of the things I should be focusing on.

So far, I know that the following things are on the to-do list. What are your thoughts about how you might prioritize these, how urgent you feel they are, and what else should be on the list? Just looking for near-term stuff, not endgame goals. The more specific the details, the better.

• Downtime to consolidate power in Highport and get magic item commissions finished; what other kinds of things would you be likely to do during downtime? How much time would you take? All at once or a bit between each adventure?
• Find Demetri.
• Take down the Temple of Iuz in Highport.
• Do something about Santiago.

[Douglas]

For downtime, Phaerus wants to:
- Brew more potions
- Create a homunculus
- Assist Haust with item creation shenanigans.
- possibly learn some new tool proficiency
- Make a copy of his spell book
- Work with Dahlia on a loose plan of how she and I can move an undead army into the underdark

[Jordan]

My preference would be a short down time before tying up our current loose ends, hopefully without introducing too many more, then a longer downtime after. I don't know if we can count on that, though.

My downtime priorities are consolidating power in Highport and catching up with various NPCs Eodric has had to leave a little by the wayside due to the pace of events. I have some other stuff on the list, like meeting/buying from Xorenerox and getting items from Dyvers, but they aren't as high up there.

Priorities are roughly:

--Temple of Iuz
--Temple of Iuz
--Temple of Iuz
--Short downtime to stabilize the situation in Highport
--Help Phaerus
--Rescue Demetri
--Longer downtime with broader range of options

[Liz]

So, assuming we get out of this. Because, holy hell.

1) DOWNTIME.
Finish the Book of Quickness of Action, continue making fake magic items/disguising real magic items... there was a skill/proficiency or a language I was interested in Orianne taking up that escapes me at the moment. OH, and NEED to research the materials on Adira's table. (It's in the portable hole.)
Seriously. Hopefully it gives clues in regard to Santiago, because that will also need to be addressed.
Plus, I gots those boots in the works. It would be real great to have those equipped so we can:
2) Take on the Temple of Iuz. Yes, the downtime means they'll be able to restock/consolidate but my priority is in those other things first. PLUS, maybe we can pull Xeldali to our side. (I think Kal'dunn has giving all the info he can on her but we could ask again.)
3) Then consolidate our hold on Highport, so we can
4) Ask Phaerus about his plans for the Underdark. Phaerus has been an incredible asset to the family and deserves attention.
5) Rescue Dimitri and other planesnonsense.

[Jordan]

So, some additional thoughts I had this morning:

1--We need to deal with the Drachens' army as part of dealing with them. Routing them is probably enough, we don't need to destroy them all. But even that will be tricky with the troop count we have if we need to meet them in the field. Ideas welcome.

2--Assuming we manage to take Aidar alive, Eodric needs to fulfill his quest. That probably means taking him to the shrine at Emridy Meadows, although it would also be cool if we used him to rededicate the temple in Highport. That would require Alina to Hallow it to work properly, though. Maybe Eodric can acquire the ingredients while Alina recovers from her Wish. It'd add another couple days to our mandatory post-battle downtime, but would probably be worth it, even to Eodric (who wants to move on the Temple of Iuz as swiftly as possible.

3--If we do need a downtime where we don't want to worry too much about covering our activities/lying to the Temple of Iuz in meetings, we could declare a festival to celebrate the defeat of the Drachens. Maybe give the city a week to celebrate, spend some money on getting icons of Hextor erected, and use it as cover for our next move.

[Blitzkraga]

I forgot to check this site for a while, sorry 'bout that.

In light of recent events and for the record:
1). We need to deal with the siege. Lets sit on the walls use them to our advantage. Lean on our allies to make them take a bigger part of the burden.
2). We need to deal with Alina's situation. We have the advantage on magical tricks and can make a foray into the enemy base and back out faster than an army can react.
3). Aidar needs to be dealt with and he's coming to us anyway. Plus I just want this done so Eiodric can complete this arc of his story. I just don't know how to get the deed done.
4). I think the festival idea has merit as cover for day trips, investigations, intrigue, etc. But we can't forget Iuz will use it too, and if we didn't make them risk enough it becomes a opening for them to stab us.
5). Destroy the temple of Iuz in Highport. They are up to something and stalling for time. Worst case scenario, once we got to it, we'd just find most of them gone and the remains of whatever they were doing. Could be the world's doom, and then what's the point of ruling anything?
6+). Long downtime. What Haust wants to do all depends on Phaerus and who ever else is will to act as security or has other errands in Dyvers, Iggwolf's lair, the planar nexus, etc. I've got a million ideas on doing things with all these extra magic items. We should keep them in the tower and I'd love it if Dave can give me a better idea of how much Haust can / can't do with the Forge and Anvil.

[Joe]

Theoretically, I could extract Alina from behind enemy lines once the battle starts. I have some working thoughts for that, but it's going to be very dependent on knowing where she is - so doing that might require calling an audible. My basic plan would be to slip around their lines into their camp/train - assuming she's there. I have confidence we can return to the city by sea, but if there is another nasty surprise for us to deal with, having me gone might be really bad. It's possible Aidar will bring her out in front and execute her and render the whole thing moot, but I still have quite a few tricks up my sleeve.

As for downtime, I want to see if I can recover the remnants of those werewolves, and potentially spend time meditating outside the city studying my book and, if possible shifting those Rogue levels to Druid like Dave & I had talked about briefly.

I do think a festival would be fun - good to show the city that we've got sticks and carrots both.

[quasadu]

how much Haust can / can't do with the Forge and Anvil.

Well I don't recall how much you guys were able to glean about what that thing could be used for and HOW to use it, and my notes on it were all hand written so I'll have to dig around for them. But essentially, the forge and anvil are used in the crafting of magic weapons and armor, and I am pretty sure you learned that it could even reforge existing weapons or armor into a new form (maybe even to combine items). It requires a certain amount of skill and a little luck to use properly (i.e. using it is a skill challenge).

[Liz]

I would like to know how much time Orianne has before we expect the army to arrive or we plan to head out to "greet" them. There are several things I'd like to do but want to prioritize based on said estimate (which also means just not doing some things). Two hours or so would be great but if all I have is 30mins well, I'll make do.