The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's potatoes

[Sly Boots]

Hmm. I agree that stealth is better as a primary plan, as even if we could kill everyone inside we'll hit the problem of not knowing the right combinations, with possibly (rather, probable) lethal consequences.

One idea, could Sage's dream ability, which he's been using on Neverember, be used to try to trick the combination from Beniago while he sleeps? Maybe he could dream that his wife was alive, triggering whatever it was that drove him to his vault back then. Then observe the combination he enters?

I'm happy to lockpick the chests, I'm pretty skilled at that, though unsure how we'd go about getting the other safe combinations, short of breaking into each owners' house and trying to see if they've written it down somewhere.

[Wrathbone]

Just for the fun of it, make an insight check Slythe.

[Sly Boots]

Just for the fun of it, make an insight check Slythe.

Well, thanks chiefly to my new Talent and a monstrous modifier, that's a 20

[Wrathbone]

Wow, ok! While you're pondering the problem of safe combinations, it occurs to you that there must be a system in place for if somebody forgets their combination, and most likely the overseer would have a way of overriding or resetting a combination.

[Sly Boots]

Cool, I share this information with the other Unmentionables and Brighteyes' crew.

It wasn't that impressive - I rolled a 6 - but my new Talent makes my rolls on skills I'm proficient in a minimum of 10, and my modifier in insight is also 10.

[Mantis]

One idea, could Sage's dream ability, which he's been using on Neverember, be used to try to trick the combination from Beniago while he sleeps? Maybe he could dream that his wife was alive, triggering whatever it was that drove him to his vault back then. Then observe the combination he enters?

That's some Inception level trickery there. It could work, assuming I could find out what his wife looked like so that I could recreate her in his dream.

At least if any elaborate plan we make doesn't work we know that a disguise and charm person/dominate person could at least get us into the top secret vault. Though being able to force the overseer to give up the back-up combinations seems pretty slim.

[Raid]

The Inception plan has merit, is that something you'd be able to cast on Beniago? Would we need to get near him to do it?

Let's break this down into steps. I think being as prepared as possible before we get to the vault complex is the best bet rather than relying on circumstances being in our favour once we go in. The way I see it, there are a few things we'll need before we get there:
-A stamped Letter of Access
-The relevant High Captain's key
-The relevant High Captain's safe combination
-Depending on our approach, Carrington's key or the spare that Verones carries

Once we get in there we're either going to need to impersonate or control Carrington, else I don't think we're likely to get into the High Captain's Vault. I've been working on a way of extending the duration of Dominate Person, but it's something I'm only going to be able to try once (for the DM's purposes, casting it with a level 6 spell slot extends the duration to ten minutes) and while I think I can do it (he'll have disadvantage on the saving throw if I use sorcery points), it's risky. Otherwise if we can get to Carrington while he's outside the complex, we can grab his key and one of us could disguise ourselves as him.

[Mantis]

I can cast Dream on anyone within the same plane of existence as me. It strikes me as the easiest way of learning his safe combination.

Bearing in mind that only Beniago himself accesses his own vault and hasn't done so for some time, unless we went down there disguised as Beniago we would have to go into the High Captain's vault disguised as one of the lackeys under the pretense of opening a vault for one of the other High Captains.

Perhaps we could find out who the second High Captain sends down to open his safe, get all the necessary things in place so that we can infiltrate the main vault for that purpose. Then when we're down there you could Dominate Person on the overseer to neutralize him, allowing us to also open Beniago's vault assuming we have been able to learn the safe combination. That would suitably frame the second High Captain/High Captain's lackey for the entire breach too.

If one of us went in disguised, would you be able to cast invisibility on the rest of the group so that they can follow and would it last long enough for us to get to the final vault?

Incidentally Wrath, during their research, did they find out whether there are any guards or security things in place that would allow enemies within the vault to see through disguise illusions or invisibility?

[Raid]

If one of us went in disguised, would you be able to cast invisibility on the rest of the group so that they can follow and would it last long enough for us to get to the final vault?

Was that a hypothetical or addressed to me? Rather astonishingly I don't have Invisibility, in fact I only discovered that I *could* have picked it up months ago this morning. It would be so in-character for Charr too, but instead I apparently picked Darkness which I don't think I've ever used (although I've been trying to think of a way to use it for this).

[Sly Boots]

If one of us went in disguised, would you be able to cast invisibility on the rest of the group so that they can follow and would it last long enough for us to get to the final vault?

Was that a hypothetical or addressed to me? Rather astonishingly I don't have Invisibility, in fact I only discovered that I *could* have picked it up months ago this morning. It would be so in-character for Charr too, but instead I apparently picked Darkness which I don't think I've ever used (although I've been trying to think of a way to use it for this).

Didn't you use Darkness when those demon things attacked Lord Neverember at that feast a while back (the same one where you weaponised a tray of potato wedges against Lady Tania )?

I remember we could hear lots of fighting from inside the black fog, with no clue as to what was happening in there.

[Wrathbone]

Incidentally Wrath, during their research, did they find out whether there are any guards or security things in place that would allow enemies within the vault to see through disguise illusions or invisibility?

Clara hasn't found out anything specifically on those lines, but she's willing to try and find out (or you can do some scouting/research of your own if you want - there's no urgent timeframe for the heist). She explains that some of her information was obtained by getting a young guard named Fitz drunk, though he's not the brightest and he only works in the Common Vault. If you give her 20gp, that would cover her expenses to deposit an item in a High Security vault chest and potentially befriend some of the guards in there with a round of drinks.

As an aside...

I can cast Dream on anyone within the same plane of existence as me. It strikes me as the easiest way of learning his safe combination.

This made me spurt some tea over my keyboard, because what immediately sprang to mind was that Neverember will have his first terror-free night in weeks.

[Mantis]

Sorry, yeah that was aimed at you Raid.

I don't think you picked Darkness, don't all Tieflings get the ability to cast that at level 2 once per day? I have it from that trait at least. I may have to swap a spell out for it next time I level up, as it's something I think Sage would certainly keep in his repertoire too.

If there are less than 12 guards including the overseer down in the vaults I could potentially burn my 6th level spell on them and get them all to leave the place unguarded. That's assuming we could get them all within 60 feet of me at the same time and they all failed their saving throws. But it would give us total free roam of the entire dungeon because the effects of my influence last 24 hours.

[Mantis]

If one of us went in disguised, would you be able to cast invisibility on the rest of the group so that they can follow and would it last long enough for us to get to the final vault?

Was that a hypothetical or addressed to me? Rather astonishingly I don't have Invisibility, in fact I only discovered that I *could* have picked it up months ago this morning. It would be so in-character for Charr too, but instead I apparently picked Darkness which I don't think I've ever used (although I've been trying to think of a way to use it for this).

Didn't you use Darkness when those demon things attacked Lord Neverember at that feast a while back (the same one where you weaponised a tray of potato wedges against Lady Tania )?

That was me. I think I've only ever cast it twice. The second time was in the inn at Port Llast when the high captain was about to cut me a new one.

I can cast Dream on anyone within the same plane of existence as me. It strikes me as the easiest way of learning his safe combination.

This made me spurt some tea over my keyboard, because what immediately sprang to mind was that Neverember will have his first terror-free night in weeks.

You say that, but I have 3 spell slots and I'm not limited to casting Dream once per day. ¬_¬

[Sly Boots]

Was that a hypothetical or addressed to me? Rather astonishingly I don't have Invisibility, in fact I only discovered that I *could* have picked it up months ago this morning. It would be so in-character for Charr too, but instead I apparently picked Darkness which I don't think I've ever used (although I've been trying to think of a way to use it for this).

Didn't you use Darkness when those demon things attacked Lord Neverember at that feast a while back (the same one where you weaponised a tray of potato wedges against Lady Tania )?

That was me. I think I've only ever cast it twice. The second time was in the inn at Port Llast when the high captain was about to cut me a new one.

I can cast Dream on anyone within the same plane of existence as me. It strikes me as the easiest way of learning his safe combination.

This made me spurt some tea over my keyboard, because what immediately sprang to mind was that Neverember will have his first terror-free night in weeks.

You say that, but I have 3 spell slots and I'm not limited to casting Dream once per day. ¬_¬

Ah, gotcha.

[Mantis]

Incidentally Wrath, during their research, did they find out whether there are any guards or security things in place that would allow enemies within the vault to see through disguise illusions or invisibility?

Clara hasn't found out anything specifically on those lines, but she's willing to try and find out (or you can do some scouting/research of your own if you want - there's no urgent timeframe for the heist). She explains that some of her information was obtained by getting a young guard named Fitz drunk, though he's not the brightest and he only works in the Common Vault. If you give her 20gp, that would cover her expenses to deposit an item in a High Security vault chest and potentially befriend some of the guards in there with a round of drinks.

I'll pay up for this so she can find out as much about potential magical defences as possible.