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It's too bad we don't have a map of any kind; our PCs have seen the area, after all, so even a rough map would be highly useful to figure out battle tactics.

Kev, maybe you could post a verbal description of the area again? Be sure to include:

* How many buildings
* What kind of cover (trees, ridgeline, etc.)
* Distances between structures, cover, etc.
* Ground cover (for entangle spells, of course!)
* Weather conditions in next 48 hours (for call lightning, but also to determine visibility and penalties on Spot and Listen checks; e.g., a foggy morning would allow us to get much closer)
* Numbers of pirates the last time we were there, including what kind of armor they were wearing, weapons carried, and brief descriptions of leader types

Basically, the more information we have on the area, the better. And the more we get now, the less we need to ask about tonight.

BTW I'll be hopefully starting my Red Hand of Doom game on Monday. I'd love to have you there, Kev, both as an observer and to help me if I have any questions about using OpenRPG as a DM. (Everyone else is also welcome as an observer too, of course!)

Thanks!

Okay, a couple more notes:

1. Approaches

The forest might be the best way to approach. It comes close to the buildings, and there's no river to cross or bridge to act as a bottleneck.

An alternative is to approach from around the hill to the south. This would require fording the river at its mouth, which might be a little tricky. The advantage here is that it is a slightly less expected direction. I don't know if the tower is high enough to grant visibility of the river mouth over the next rise to the south.

We might wish to approach in the early morning, before daybreak, so that we can be in position without being seen from the tower.

ALTERNATIVE: I could have Korothane go out one day before the others, and move into those woods to the north of the pirates. He could spend the day there in hiding, using Survival to build a little shelter, and converse with any and all animals in the area. They might be able to indicate, for example, if there are any deadfalls or traps in the woods or area north of the buildings. He could leave prearranged subtle trail signs for you guys to be able to find him when you come out the next day.


2. Korothane's battle tactics:

I have two major options I'm considering. Either should be viable. Let me know what you think!

(A) Area assault - with this method, I take spells like entangle to immobilize groups, then summon lots of critters with spontaneous summonings. Remember I have Augment Summons, so my summonings are at +4 Con and +4 Str. I can also take call lightning for a bit of ranged offense, and maybe a buff or two, though most of my spells would probably go toward summonings. This method would put lots of combatants out there of moderate toughness, taking some of the pressure off the rest of you, but the summonings only last 5 rounds each, so in a protracted battle I may run out of steam. It also won't be as effective vs. a leader (though I could repeatedly target a leader with call lightning, I suppose).

(B) Hellhounds - Korothane buffs the hell out of himself and Soot, then wild shapes into dog form. You strap his armor on, and together Soot and Korothane work with the rest of you to become a pair of hounds from hell. Possible buffs include: longstrider, barkskin, faerie fire (to scare the crap out of them), bull's strength, cat's grace, bear's endurance, magic fang, and listening lorecall. This approach lasts a bit longer (minutes instead of rounds), but once I'm wild shaped you won't get anymore spells out of me.