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I would rather walk also if we got to drop our gear

There's another option you may be overlooking—or haven't mentioned yet, anyway.

Hmm was there some sort of stagecoach that was around this castle? Maybe we can use that?

GW and Dram, we don't have to lose any gear. This method works:

• • Agax casts spell on himself. Carries any excess gear.
    Gragog drinks 1/2 the potion, carries Bragar and Shinyah's mindless shell.
    Petyr drinks 1/2 the potion, carries Bogdana and Castran's mindless shell.
    
    Gragog and Petyr stay polymorphed for 25-40 minutes. The full trip takes 20 minutes.
    
    We abandon the bears.

Right, Zhym?

Also, Zhym:
Can Bragar wear Castran's magical armor?
If Gragog drinks his Frost Giant Strength potion, can he carry the tethered bears and Agax carries Bragar and Shinyah?
Can mindless shells drink? (An Invisibility potion dose, if we wanted to escape unseen?)
Thanks.

Zhym wrote:There's another option you may be overlooking—or haven't mentioned yet, anyway.

I have another polymorph potion but, cockeyed optimist that I am, I'm saving it as the escape hatch for our next expedition.
Besides, the two mindless PCs must each be paired with another rider who can help them. So using the potion would only increase the duration, not enable us to lighten the load.

Or were you referring to another option? Thanks.

Inferno wrote:GW and Dram, we don't have to lose any gear. This method works:

• • Agax casts spell on himself. Carries any excess gear.
    Gragog drinks 1/2 the potion, carries Bragar and Shinyah's mindless shell.
    Petyr drinks 1/2 the potion, carries Bogdana and Castran's mindless shell.
    
    Gragog and Petyr stay polymorphed for 25-40 minutes. The full trip takes 20 minutes.
    
    We abandon the bears.

Right, Zhym?

Not quite. As I mentioned before, the duration from half a polymorph potion will be 1d4 turns. I'm interpreting "half duration" from drinking half a potion as losing the fixed potion of the duration and getting only the variable duration, sort of like how drinking a potion of extra healing in three separate doses loses the bonus you'd get from drinking it all at once.

Inferno wrote:Also, Zhym:
Can Bragar wear Castran's magical armor?
If Gragog drinks his Frost Giant Strength potion, can he carry the tethered bears and Agax carries Bragar and Shinyah?
Can mindless shells drink? (An Invisibility potion dose, if we wanted to escape unseen?)
Thanks.

Sorry, that's no and no on the armor and giant strength. Dwarf-sized armor is different than gnome-sized armor (it's one of the big drawbacks of going with either—90% of the armor in the world is the wrong size). And carrying capacity for a flying mount isn't a question of strength.

You could, however, pour a potion down Shinyah's or Castran's throat if you want.

Inferno wrote:

Zhym wrote:There's another option you may be overlooking—or haven't mentioned yet, anyway.

I have another polymorph potion but, cockeyed optimist that I am, I'm saving it as the escape hatch for our next expedition.
Besides, the two mindless PCs must each be paired with another rider who can help them. So using the potion would only increase the duration, not enable us to lighten the load.

Or were you referring to another option? Thanks.

That's not what I'm thinking of. What I'm thinking of has its own risks, but it's simpler in some ways.

I think even though most of us shouldn't know about it but the initial group came to the caste via Strahd's carriage or similar perhaps in the stables there is the same that we can steal to leave the place?

GW and Dram:
25% chance the potion duration only gets us outside the castle walls.
75% chance it gets us to the village.

Thoughts?

GreyWolfVT wrote:I think even though most of us shouldn't know about it but the initial group came to the caste via Strahd's carriage or similar perhaps in the stables there is the same that we can steal to leave the place?

You're not asking me, I assume?

If we can walk down to the carriage house, we can walk out the front gate.

Flying out from this tower saves us the trouble of all the monsters between us and the ground.

Inferno wrote:GW and Dram:
25% chance the potion duration only gets us outside the castle walls.
75% chance it gets us to the village.

Thoughts?

Risky.. but then again us trying to figure this out can lead to random encounter rolls risks.

Zhym wrote:

GreyWolfVT wrote:I think even though most of us shouldn't know about it but the initial group came to the caste via Strahd's carriage or similar perhaps in the stables there is the same that we can steal to leave the place?

You're not asking me, I assume?

Actually I was asking/stating it to all Zhym.

Inferno wrote:If we can walk down to the carriage house, we can walk out the front gate.

Flying out from this tower saves us the trouble of all the monsters between us and the ground.

Monsters on the ground weren't entirely our issue in the first group it was more the hidden monsters in the air & bridge/gate to leave the place plus the inability to avoid being charmed by a vampire pretending to be a "prisoner" of Strahd.

I can't remember without looking it up whether the current group saw the carriage, but Bragar would know about it, so we can assume everyone knows it exists.

Bragar- We do not want to use the carriage. One the last expedition a few of my colleagues fell in the charms of one of Strahd's minions. They led into into the carriage house and eaten alive by rats. Out seven of of us myself and Castran were the only ones to make it out alive. Five of us made it out of the gates. 2 went back in to save the others they perished. 3 of us fled to the bridge. The last perished by being engulfed by giant slime that fell from ceiling of the covered bridge.


I hope that I remmebered everything correctly.

That's pretty much how I remember it.

yup well who knows what lies in wait now but i don't know lets just to the poly-morph thing ...

Inferno wrote:"Hmm. It seems that promise was a lie," murmurs the dreaming gamesmith. He peers in all directions for a landmark, starting with the castle. Agax is trying, perhaps in vain, to locate the front gate.

The keep is behind you. You're soaking in the castle (literally. It's stormy).

Terminology moment: the castle consists of the walls, fortifications, and everything in them. The keep is the thing inside the walls where the lord of the castle lives.

You are currently standing on top of the outer wall of the castle.

Also: a previous player set up a thread for maps. Hint, hint.

Thanks.

Will alter my post.

If the keep is behind us, and I want to reach the front gate, does either of these parapet walkways lead toward the front of the keep?

Thanks.

You'll have to find that out for yourself. If you'd like to move at mapping speed, I can provide you with a map. Or you could make an inference based on the maps provided so far and the information I've given you. Or you could move in one direction and find out where it goes.

Can Agax see the keep?

• • If yes, can he recognize where its front is?
    
    • • If yes, does either walkway lead in the direction of the keep's front?
        If he can't recognize where its front is, does either walkway lead in the direction of the keep?

Thanks.

You just left the keep. The walkway that leads in the direction of the keep is the one you just used to leave the keep.

Thanks.

From his vantage point, can Agax determine where the front of the keep is?

Do both these walkways lead directly away from the keep, or is one circling back around it?