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Fayd
2009-09-15, 02:31 AM
After reading several fun campaign journals, and actually beginning my first real campaign of D&D (kinda, in 2 senses. 1: Neverwinter Nights 2 doesn’t count in my, or my DM’s, book…reason number 2, I’ll get to in a second) I decided to write up journals of my own campaign…that and I REALLY REALLY need some help.

Some background information: We are all brand new players, with the exception of the DM, who is something of an expert. We’re not really trying for completely optimized characters, though we will be able to perform our given roles and perform them well. And as we're new to RPG's (pen and paper ones anyway), so too am I new to writing these, so suggestions for writing are also appreciated.

And for reason #2: We’re using a heavily modified 3.5 variant of my DM’s creation, and he will pop in now and again to explain some major differences. I’ll explain things as they are important…but...the rules aren’t completely set yet. We’re flexible enough to adapt when they do change. If things change majorly, and it impacts telling the story, I’ll explain, or the DM will explain, or something.

Also, I realize that Chapters 1 and 2 are a little dry and tedious to get through. Please don't let them scare you, I've improved my style immensely by Chapter 3.

Meet the Party: or “The freaks have come to town!”


Cade ______ : LG male human Holy Warrior (paladin equivalent). Typical paladin, not like Miko…think Hinjo, or similar…and suffers from Chronic Hero Syndrome. Looks for peace, kicks rear when that fails. Last name has yet to be revealed to the party…for very good reasons. He is human, but his distinct human subrace (flavor difference) is not at all common to the area we’re in. And he’s the NORMAL one of us. Favors saber, but he knows (and has) a lot of different weapons. Sometimes will be referred to as “The Paladin”

Morchana (pronounced Mor-KAH-nah): LE female Elf Rogue, of the Assassin bent. 20 CHA, and she knows it…a rather shapely elf. Uses concealed daggers…5 of them, to be precise (not all at once), as well as a little stiletto, used to keep her long hair pinned up. Enjoys walks in the woods, candlelit dinners, and slitting the throats of nobles after seducing them. (Her player and Cade’s are good friends, but there is understandably some… ‘friction’ between their characters.) Sometimes called “The Assassin”

Lossëlen: CG female Elf Gish (arcane version of Holy Warrior), with the Cold Genasi background feat…from ice caves of the frozen north. Enjoys the pretty colored snowflakes (grass/flowers), but is a bit unnerved by the warmth down south. Vaguely and nonspecifically fey in appearance (no gameplay impact, nonfunctional wings, etc). Befriended Morchana pre-story. Prefers bows and ice magic. As “Snowstar” is the literal translation of her name, it will occasionally be used.

Fluffy: CN male Orc Barbarian. 22 STR, abysmal INT and WIS. Fluffy likes puppies. They’re tasty. Probably the biggest liability in terms of picking fights, biggest asset actually in them. “FLUFFY HUNGRY!” is most of his motivation. Somehow has a halberd. Fluffy speaks in third person. Oh, and Fluffy is a BIG boy. He took the Goliath background feat…meaning, at his discretion, he can take giant HD.

Keito: CG female Priestess of an air goddess, and our primary healer. Very mysterious, few details are known. Will often be referred to as the Priestess.

Fayd: Guess who? I’m a NG human male Mage, with the Air Genasi background feat, and I’m making liberal use of it. I also have a 20 INT, which is nice. I have a familiar, a falcon named Swift. I’m basically “Kill it with lightning!” focused. (Which is NOT a poor character choice, with the modifications to the system)

Oh, and I’m blue skinned (Because of the Air genes). It weirds the commoners out a bit.



The World:

I honestly don’t know much about the world at large, aside from vague geography, some details about our region, and a complete map of the mage academy I attended, which is completely irrelevant to the current situation. We’re in the Grand Duchery, very thoroughly politically divided, (the Grand Duke is a bit of a wimp, lesser nobles power- and land-grabbing, etc.) and we’re currently in the division controlled by the Baron Aralt, specifically the small region governed by his son and only heir, the Baronet Aralt.

Divine Canon
A convenient listing of all of the Deities and Demiurges was posted by our DM, and can be found here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7488261&postcount=265

On Black Magic
Tam wrote this short little piece describing what the 3 "Black Magic" spheres are and why they are called as such. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7788205&postcount=429

World Geography
Tam has graciously scanned in his hand-drawn world map and commented on the major geographical features. This post can be found here:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7550273&postcount=278

A Closer Look: The Grand Duchery and the Surrounding Environs
Tam's hand-drawn map of the Grand Duchery, the surrounding areas, and points of interest. The link to the post: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7610070&postcount=297

Tiborem Varos: The Capitol City
Tam's hand-drawn map of the Capitol of the Gand Duchery, and a detailed list of the buildings within. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7643471&postcount=311

The Cast of Thousands (as of session #11), in order of appearance
This section was written by our DM, Tam OConner. If there are comments from me, they are italicized. Anything spoilered IS a spoiler for the story. You were warned.

I've tried to minimize spoilers for first time readers.

A note on location names: 'Varos' denotes a city, while 'Var' denotes a fort or keep. Thus, the Grand Duke resides in Tiborem Var, within Tiborem Varos. Savvy?

Baronet James Riversbend Aralt (Aralt Junior): Appearances: mentioned only
Connish nobleman, died 555 IA. Son of Baron Jerrod Aralt. Local noble of River's Bend prior to the Doomrider raid. Died under mysterious circumstances immediately prior to the attack.

Baron Jerrod Aralt: (Aralt) Appearances: mentioned only
Middle-aged Connish nobleman, father of Baronet James Aralt. Childhood friendship and current violent rivalry with Baron Gwydion Connaught. Harsh to his peasants. Controls the northwest third of the Grand Duchery.

Lloyd Longpipe: Appearances: Sessions #1-4
The varlet responsible for bringing the party together to slay a dragon. Youngest son of Owain Longpipe. Seventeen, and full of energy.

Owain Longpipe: Appearances: Session #2-4
Patriarch of the Longpipe clan, and constantly chewing on his titular pipe. Seventy years if a day, with skin the texture of boiled leather.

The Longpipe Clan: Appearances: Session #2-4
Composed of mixed Conn/Lovas bloodlines, the Longpipes are generally short of stature, with dark brown hair and eyes.

Males: Owain (74), Piers (46; hacking cough), Marley (42; cowardly), Nathaniel (36; overbearing), Unnamed Elf-taken Child (33?), Jarvis (26; wall-eyed), Levin (22; eye for beauty), Randolph (21; jumpy), Lloyd (17; energetic), Eamon (17; allergies), Devon (14; feathered cap), Kemp (11; hacking cough), Thorne (9; whistles), Marcel (5; quiet)

Females: Beatrice (39; prominent birthmark), Margery (34; immaculately clean), Lilac (21; allergies), Audrey (20; irreligious), Elayne (19; pregnant), Joie (15; no sense of humor), Wren (11; knees always scabbed), Fleur (6; very pale), Lily (3), Hyacinth (3), Raina (1)

General Temshan of the Doomriders: Appearances: mentioned only
Highly experienced centaur commander of the Doomriders, a mercenary brigade operating primarily in the Independent Counties and the western half of the Grand Duchery.

Zoltan Herdmaster: Appearances: Session #4
Lovas druid, wandering with his herd of 40+ horses around the plains. Very impressive scars, stretching from chin to crown. Has one of the coins of Alzulath's Horde, supposedly bestowed on him by King Tanos Fiendbane, circa 291 IA.

Karl of Laeros: Appearances: Session #4
Young (early twenties) human of mongrel stock. Priest of Laeros, god of civilization and divine right. Supposedly held near-heretical beliefs. Hates the nobility.

Agatha: Appearances: Sessions #5, 8
Local witch of Tiborem Varos. Uses cats as tools and ingredients. Is apparently a potionmaker and a local druggist.

Baron Gwydion Connaught: (Connaught) Appearances: Sessions #5-9
Middle-aged Connish nobleman, father of Baronet Galen Connaught. Childhood friendship and current violent rivalry with Baron Jerrod Aralt. Brutally honest and generally abrasive, but not without charisma. Controls the southwest third of the Grand Duchery.

Lady Erin of the Thousand Kingdoms, Marchioness of Saint Dain's Crest: (Erin) Appearances: Sessions #5-9
Willowy jungle elf with coppery skin and long black hair. Objectively, she matches Morchana for looks, but she doesn't have Morchana's 'come hither' vibe. That said, she is apparently serving as Gabraal the Elder's Paramour. Court Painter, working out of the Sunset Conservatory in Tiborem Varos.

Grand Duke Vellan IV: Appearances: Sessions #5-9
The Grand Dukes of Jharok were originally half-Lovas and half-High Elf, descended from two of the champions of the Great Orcish Invasion (291 IA), Tibor and Yavanna. Connish invasions from the south led to a mixing of blood, until the elven blood was all but exhausted. Vellan IV is a whey-faced and weak ruler, leaving all the effort of governance to his first councilor, Gabraal the Elder. His Duchal Guard are commanded by Captain Andris. Husband to Grand Duchess Mara. Nominally controls the entire Grand Duchery, but direct control is limited to the eastern third. Has not produced an heir.

First Counciler Gabraal Andromact the Elder, Majordomo of Tiborem Var: (Gabraal) Appearances: Sessions #5-9
A middle-aged Connish nobleman, marked with dueling scars from the Kieran Martial Academy. His hair and beard are apparently dyed black. The real power behind Grand Duke Vellan IV. Father of Gabraal Andromact the Younger.

Gabraal Andromact the Younger: (Gabraal Junior) Appearances: mentioned only.
By all reports, serving in a mercenary company in the Thousand Kingdoms.
That's Lieutenant Gabraal Andromact of the Doomriders to you!

Captain Andris of the Duchal Guard, Marquis of Grayrock: (Andris) Appearances: Sessions #5-9
Brave captain of the Duchal Guard and former champion of the annual Tiborem tourney. Dreamy and unmarried, without so much as a paramour. Brave, bold, and very hard to kill. Has a mace charged with the power of the storm, called Stormwrack.
This particular storm, to be precise

Marley, Proprieter of the Wyrm's Head Tavern: Appearances: Sessions #5-9
Tavernkeep who gave Fayd a job. Brews a mighty fine ale (Marley's Choice Dragon's Blood Ale) and stronger (Marley's Dragon's Breath Scotch).
Gone missing as of the morning after the banquet.

Peter of Laeros: Appearances: Sessions #5-6
Weasely priest of Laeros, god of civilization and divine right. Hired Fayd to prick Archprelate Gaspar VIII.

Archprelate Gaspar VIII, the Corpulent: Appearances: Sessions #6-7
High priest of Laeros (god of civ...oh, you should know this by now) in the Grand Duchery. Immensely fat, and lazy by extension.

Taliesin, Master Sculptor: Appearances: Sessions #6, 8
Half-elven sculptor who attempted to capture Lossëlen's image in stone.
Either got destroyed for his troubles by the White Gnoll, or is a Dragon, depending on who you listen to.

The White Gnoll/The Icy Gnoll: Appearances: mentioned only
White-furred gnoll (male elf). Produces an aura of cold in the manner of Lossëlen.
Found in Taliesin's studio, briefly (Session #8). By Swift's report, warring with a dragon. Was in the possession of a frostbrand spear. Has since disappeared.

Grand Duchess Mara: Appearances: Sessions #7-8
Wife to Grand Duke Vellan IV. Apparently, frequently ill. Has not produced an heir.

Rhys: Appearances: Sessions #8-9
Small time gang leader who inexplicably gained access to the Tourney Banquet. Tried to enlist Fluffy in criminal activities and got spread over a depressingly large area for his troubles.

Captain Fearson of the Green Arrow: Appearances: Sessions #10-11
Amniable Connish sailor, in command of the coastal darter The Green Arrow. Speaks with a thick brogue, and tells wild tales.

Baronet Galen Cattlepoint Connaught: (Connaught Junior) Appearances: Session #10
Connish nobleman, and hot-headed son of Baron Gwydion Connaught. Currently in Cattlepoint, pulling administrative duties for hired mercenary forces opposed to corsairs on the Connish Sea.

Thezzick Rentyr: Appearances: Session #16
A bold adventurer, legendary in Illian for his great deeds, from dragonslaying on down. He's in town looking for his nephew, one Cade Rentyr. He's well into his middle years, but has lost none of the fire of his youth.

Hiram: Appearances: Session #16
Proprietor of the Ivory Club, a high class gambling establishment and loaning service to noblemen. Hiram is short for a man, with short, curly brown hair and expressive hands.


Umzamo's Magic (Alpha version)
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8313447&postcount=775

Chapter 1: Introductions, Invitations, and Bisections

We meet in a sad tavern by the name of the Hungry Carp, in a small town known as River’s Bend…I know, taverns are cliché, but the DM outright told us, “You did this to yourselves.” The tavern is dingy, dark, and is home to the worst ale in the Duchery, which doesn’t affect the first party member introduced much…Cade has taken an oath against alcohol. (Gives him bonuses to will saves and such) I walk in, draw stares and remarks (“What are you?” “I’m human“ “You’re a freaky looking human!”), and get some stew, which promptly gets spilled all over the table by one of the faces of a city guardsman who entered the tavern via window. Fluffy enters the tavern…probably causing all sorts of minor structural damage to the doorway, and terrorizes the barkeep into giving him a free meal… “FLUFFY HUNGRY!” Keito, who has been sitting in the corner the whole time under her hood, begins healing the guards. Lossëlen enters, and goes to sit at a table and wait. And then, conveniently, our last party member, Morchana, enters…drawing stares from every male in the room…and causing the Paladin to slip in his chair a bit. (His domain grants him a permanent detect evil, and she pings like crazy!)

A farmer (named Lloyd Longpipe) enters through the remains of the door, asking the bartender if there’s “Anyone with more balls than sense” around who could fight a dragon for him…immediately, he focuses in on Fluffy. But before Fluffy will hear any sort of negotiations, “FLUFFY HUNGRY!” So, some food is in order...I ask for more information, roll a sense motive (It’s early, sure, but you can never be too careful). Longpipe seems to check out, so I agree to help with the problem, as it would be ‘a good test of my studies’.
“Are you a….Jester, then?”
“I, sir, am a Battlemage of the Ruby Tower!”
“Definitely not a jester then. Good.”
To make a long, and somewhat awkward (we’re all painfully new to this) story short, we all agree to help, for various reasons: Food (Original recipe or extra crispy dragon…), money (Morchana), GOOD (Cade), a chance to use our studies (me),…yes…(Keito),and companionship(Lossëlen). Fluffy rushes outside to Longpipe’s waiting cart.

And then things get messy.

6 guards enter, approach Morchana…they are inquiring about the recent death of the Baronet Aralt, the aforementioned sole blood heir of this part of the Duchery. He was last seen in her “companionship.” She acts all shaken up (REALLY high bluff role, along with her charisma…) She succeeds, but they still want to bring her back for “Protection.” (Some of us doubt the honor of their intentions.)

Keito sidles outside and mutters something about ‘tasty-looking people’ to the orc. Fluffy bursts through the door, and hacks the nearest guard across the chest…deep wounds. Lossëlen, sensing a threat to her friend Morchana, draws an arrow and shoots the other nearby guard. Cade rushes over to get an explanation from the Assassin. Her response: “Do you want help with that dragon or not?” The Paladin swears, and punches the nearest guard. Morchana took a swing at it, but missed (natural 1). As the guard was reeling, Fluffy ran over and swung. And critted…dealing 51 points of damage. The guard was bisected, and half flew into one corner of the room, and the other half into the other. The Priestess and I knock the bleeding guard unconscious…after the bisection, the guards flee…Keito heals the injured guard, leaving him unconscious, hurt, but not dead or dying. I Prestidigitation-ed the blood off of the Paladin and the Assassin…both miffed about being drenched: Cade because he was trying NOT to kill the guard, and Morchana because, well, being drenched in blood is unpleasant.
We leave town. Fast. The Paladin is still very grouchy.


Chapter 2: Dragonslayers…After a Fashion. Or, Macross Magic Missile Massacre.


We arrive at the Longpipe farmstead unmolested…we’re greeted by over 17 adults and innumerable children, but we’re unmolested. We enjoy a nice, if cramped, dinner (things were cramped before the giant orc got there). After dinner, we sit down with the Longpipe patriarch. He’s about 70 years old, if not more, (described as ‘more leather than skin’) and gives us the full lowdown on the situation. The Longpipes have been digging a canal to shorten the river…it’ll cut River’s Bend out of the economy, but the Baronet doesn’t really mind, as he gets to collect more taxes. (Or, more accurately, didn’t really mind…) As they were digging closer and closer to the river, they were attacked by a horse-sized blue dragon breathing fire at them, and yelling at them to go away. They took the dragon’s advice…and then promptly hired adventurers to kill it.

Fluffy sleeps in the barn…which the innumerable children had cleaned especially for him. He is allowed to sleep here under the condition of not eating the mule, the sheep, the goats, the horses, the cows, the woodwork, or really anything remotely edible. And we promise a big breakfast.

Meanwhile, Cade confronts Morchana with “Why did you kill the Baronet?” Morchana spins a sop-story bluff check against the Paladin’s dismal Sense Motive roll about how the clearly evil and oppressive Baronet sneered at her attempts to speak out for the downtrodden and pulled a knife on her, forcing to act in self-defense… The Paladin grunts and leaves it at that.

The next morning, breakfast was porridge. I Prestidigitation cinnamon into it (I took Prestidigitation as one of my 2 at will spells, the other being Mage Hand). “Fluffy like blue guy.” After breakfast, Lloyd takes us to the point in the river where the dragon attacked the Longpipe men. There is a line of ancient stone monuments (the 1000 Sentinels) all along the river, and when Fluffy spots them, he makes a mad dash for one of them and climbs all the way up the top, doing a happy dance on it. Most of the party runs after Fluffy, and our assassin scouts while Cade and I investigate the pillars…I try everything, knowledge (Arcana) --got nothing-- Detect Magic (there is some nearby) but the dragon bursts out of the water before I get any further.

“LEAVE NOW, FOOLISH MORTALS!”

Well, we can’t have that, now can we? Initiative begins. Our order is Lossëlen , Keito, Morchana, Cade, Fluffy, me, and the dragon. Lossëlen shoots the dragon for minor damage. She’s told to roll a will save…we aren’t given the result, other than it was a solid hit on the dragon. Keito readies Cure Minor Wounds (one of her 2 at wills.). Morchana hides behind one of the Sentinels, lacking a proper ranged weapon that isn’t easily replaceable…the rest of the party is around another of the pillars. Cade begins trying to negotiate, but doesn’t roll well. Fluffy leaps off the pillar and charges, bringing his halberd smashing down… on the river surface next to the dragon. Well, at least it was a magnificent splash. I begin trying to negotiate too and roll a 1. Beautiful. The dragon can’t even hear me over that magnificent splash. The dragon uses its breath attack, catching Keito and Cade, forcing reflex and will saves. Cade beats his will save, and doesn’t take any damage, but unfortunately, Keito fails, and takes damage from the breath weapon. The 3d6 breath weapon. (Our beefiest --Fluffy-- has 26 hp) Thankfully, luck favors us, and the dragon deals 3 damage to our Priestess. Her readied action goes off, curing her back to full.

Next round, Lossëlen casts Animate Elemental (Ice). Keito readies CMW (in fact, assume unless told otherwise, that’s all Keito is doing), and Morchana was getting bored hiding behind a pillar (she still has no replaceable ranged weapons), so she decides to investigate the river using 2 move actions… ends by the next distant pillar, again, to stay safe from the dragon. Meanwhile Cade realizes something’s wrong with FIRE not HURTING, runs over to me and seeks an explanation. I roll a Knowledge (Arcana) check, and identify that something funky is going down, probably black magic, probably an illusion. Fluffy doesn’t like whiffing it, so he enrages and takes a massive swing at the dragon, and connects solidly, dealing a nice hit. At this time Lossëlen’s spell completes, and a Medium-sized land-bound narwhal shaped ice elemental (I kid you not) burst from the earth, performing Aid Another checks to help Fluffy. I try another Detect Magic…there is still magic around me. The dragon is greatly displeased with Fluffy, and throws all three attacks at him. Fluffy is a lucky orc, and only gets hit once, forcing a will save again…he fails. This is a very unlucky dragon, and doesn’t deal much damage. Keito’s readied CMW patches him right up.

Lossëlen shoots again, barely missing, and failing her will save. Our assassin performs an Observation check (Spot and Listen rolled together) and notices… something… in the water, shouts to the paladin, and chucks a rock. Miss and a sploosh. Cade begins to move towards her, but keeps himself in an able position to attack the dragon if need be. He tries to spot the Something, but no dice. Fluffy whiffs another huge splash. My Detect Magic tells me the locations of magic around me… still nothing in the Sentinels, but I do sense magic in the dragon and around the area (Fluffy from the healing spells, Keito from preparing them) but nothing else special. The dragon makes a savage attack on Fluffy, and it would have been bad if the noble narwhal hadn’t selflessly leapt in the way and got “ice-cubed” instead. Incidentally, Fluffy’s other dragon attacks… well, the dragon bites his head off, but somehow politely leaves it fully attached and unharmed so Fluffy can wonder why it’s still on his shoulders (will-saved). He then promptly becomes quite convinced he took a ripping claw to the gut. (Keito insta-heals)

Lossëlen catches on that we’ve found something and hurries toward us from quite a distance. Keito moves toward the assassin and paladin and prepares even more CMW. Another observation check from our assassin reveals what is in the water; a watery-fishy-woman-thingy that blends in. We refer to her as the “watery tart.” Morchana chucks another rock and deals minor damage --glancing blow. Cade spots her but decides to Detect Evil before he commits to smiting. The first turn of it only pings the yes/no presence of evil. LE assassin right next to him? Yeah, evil’s around. Fluffy notices us and begins to amble around the dragon as he commences more halberd violence upon it. I send my familiar (Swift, the falcon) over, it makes an observation check, and succeeds, excitedly indicating “FISH!” Not specific, but at least I know where “FISH!” is. I move toward firing range, but I won’t get there until next turn. Another savage attack on Fluffy, who succeeds on his will save. The dragon bites him in half… and the fully intact orc puzzles why his legs and torso are still connected. He’s not a rocket scientist, but getting eaten-but-not twice in a row finally clues him in to the weirdness of it all.

Lossëlen gets close enough to fire, and the arrow barely grazes. Keito gets closer and begins casting Magic Missile. Morchana tries to throw a “bigger rock.” She rolls a natural 1. She is quite unable to throw the nearest 10-foot-diameter solid stone Sentinel. Cade’s second turn of Detect Evil confirms that yes, Morchana is still evil and right next to him, and so is the soggy tart ahead. Now quite sure our foe deserves it, he starts casting Magic Missile. Fluffy forgets about the dragon, spots the watery tart (“Fish should not be shaped like woman!”) and rushes out into the deep current to stab at her. Darn that tricky depth perception (and the “STUPID FISHY THING!”) --he very wildly misses. I get in range, send my familiar away (I have NO desire to get him killed --go 90 ft movement!) and try to hit the watery tart with my energy expulsion. I miss, and the electricity dissipates in the water. The watery tart dismisses the illusion, and begins casting. Both Keito’s and Cade’s Missiles connect first and do decent damage, but fail to break her concentration. She’s got enough CL to be using 2 dice, and it really hurts Morchana, bringing her down to 7 health.

Lossëlen begins casting Magic Missile. Our Priestess begins casting Cure Minor Wounds on Morchana (she’s got a feat that lets her use a d10 instead of a d8 for healing and inflict wounds spells…YAY!). Morchana throws a ‘medium’ rock this time which to our great surprise critically hits. (Apparently the Missile put her in a vindictive swing.) After a successful confirmation, the rock deals a heavy blow to the watery tart, and a very satisfied Assassin hides behind the nearest pillar. Cade rushes over to cover her escape and begins casting another Magic Missile. Fluffy has slightly better aim the second time. I begin casting yet another Magic Missile. It’s about this time when both Lossëlen and Keito’s spells go off. The priestess gets a great roll and our assassin is healed to full health… The watery tart is not so lucky. Lossëlen rolls REALLY well. The watery tart takes an icicle-like magic missile to the temple and goes down, dissipating into the water… and her remains get blasted with the remaining Magic Missiles from Cade and me. Fluffy, who has begun to be swept away by the current since he stupidly charged into it, suddenly notices sparklies on the river bottom and dives. He pulls up a saber and a chest, and brings them to show us. Our first loot! YAY!

I identify the watery tart as a river nymph or Nereid or something similar…a river spirit. And spirits of the land tend to take on the alignment of the one who is ruling the area (Fisher King Effect). Cade points out this would be the tragically late Baronet, so we’re a little less suspicious of Morchana… not of her guilt, but of her reasons. (As if she knew any of this beforehand.)

Back to the point, the loot ‘twas awesome. The lock on the old rusty chest could not hold up to our assassin’s mighty lockpicking skills, and delivered its bounty to us. Inside the chest were 24 silver drachmae (the standard coinage in our region). First some more Detect Magic from me, revealing that, as expected, the sword was magic...and surprising us all that the coins were too. Successful knowledge (history) and (arcane) checks later, and I announced that these were no ordinary drachmae. First off, the insignia on heads and tails were unusual to be on the same coin. It would be “akin to finding a credit with Emperor Palpatine’s face on one side and Yoda’s on the other.”—DM. They had a luck enchantment, for lack of a better term. Depending on the quantity in one’s possession, they allowed an effect similar to Guidance a certain number of times per day, and every 5 coins granted one reroll. The sword was awesome. It was a Weeping Blade, permanently dripping holy water…our Holy Warrior is happy. (As he points out, he now has both a shortcut for his Detect Evil process and a no-damage punishment for any shenanigans from the Assassin. She was miffed at this revelation, as splashing her with the drops and watching her reaction is what told us it was holy water.)

Lloyd joins us, thanking us for killing the dragon (we correct him on what was actually there) and we head back to the farm…on the way, we roll Observation checks. Cade rolls poorly, and is the first to point out that the sky shouldn’t be so dark --it’s midday. Some of the other party members notice smoke and fire in the wee distance… right where the town of River’s Bend ought to be. Those of us who did really well (Keito, Lossëlen, and myself) make out distinct figures…fleeing refugees and cavalrymen bearing down on them. We rush back to the farm... We have this feeling that they’re coming for the farm next… …And with that pleasant thought, the session ended.

Quoth the Paladin, “Wow. That sucks.”


So now we have a week (real time, a day or less in game) to plan to defend the farmhouse (on a hill, thankfully). We don’t have any trapmaking skills really, but we have lots of knowledge...especially engineering and tactics. And this is where we need help.

We have manpower, and no time to train them…We’ll also be getting a detailed list of the supplies the farm in the not too distant future. Oh, and we’re level 1. I’m hoping we have enough time to replenish our spell allocation… I, at least, have learned my lesson this trip. Noble OotS-ers, what guidance do you have?

Fayd
2009-09-15, 02:32 AM
Chapter 3: The Captain and the Terrible, Horrible, Rotten, No Good, VERY Bad Day.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6974255&postcount=30

Chapter 4: Soiled Armor, Sacked Towns, and Tourneys. Or: Infopalooza!
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7044051&postcount=77

Chapter 5: Maneuvers; Political, Tactical, and Otherwise
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7073559&postcount=93

Chapter 6: Unsettling Upsets. Or: It's Karmatastic!
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7164138&postcount=119

Chapter 6-and-a-Half: The Captain's Commission
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7186096&postcount=127

Chapter 7: LET’S GET READY TO RRRRRRUUUUUUUMMMMMMBLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEE!!!
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7212146&postcount=128

Chapter 7 From the Perspective of Fluffy.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7256380&postcount=142

Chapter 8: Feast and Beasts. Or: A Chilling Conclusion
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7293043&postcount=149

Chapter 9: That Poor Tavern.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7359423&postcount=170

Chapter 10: The Plots Thicken. Or: Nautical Naughtiness
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7371954&postcount=184

Chapter 11: S. O. S.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7415768&postcount=229
For a map of the island as we have explored it:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7602434&postcount=289

Chapter 12: A Morale Question. Or: Potato Chipper They Are Not.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7566958&postcount=281

Chapter 13: Snipin's a Good Job, Mate!
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7676123&postcount=319

Chapter 14: It Was a Dark and Stormy World. Or: A Wrinkle in Space
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7748269&postcount=375

Chapter 15: Overhaul
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7781933&postcount=401

Chapter 16: Say Uncle! Or: So This Fat Guy Jumps Off This Barn
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7836251&postcount=447

Chapter 17: The Tangled Webs We Weave
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7957904&postcount=485

Chapter 18: You Just Never Gnoll, Do You? Or: Potluck! Iron Chef Fluffy!
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7999900&postcount=509

Chapter 19: Hey Big Spender!
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8009825&postcount=515

Chapter 20: Lifting the Siege. Or: Hail to the Chief, Baby!
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8020064&postcount=535

Chapter 21: It's Best Not to Think About It.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8157829&postcount=618

Chapter 22: Into the Fire. Or: CLEAR!
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8186395&postcount=641

Chapter 23: A Premonition
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8231605&postcount=668

Ch. 24: The Black Winds Begin to Howl. . . Or: Vive la Damage Résistance!
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8509772&postcount=863

Ch. 25: Mail Service
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8584184&postcount=894


Chapter 26: Breaking the Wyrdbreaker. Or: Arrow Storm FOR. THE. WIN.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8797980&postcount=935

Chapter 27: Familiar Faces
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8997920&postcount=1033

Chapter 28: Into the Storm. Or: Pros and Con Damage
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9064826&postcount=1046

Epilogue: Temporal Significance
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9098145&postcount=1104

More chapter links will go here as the chapters are written.

Kol Korran
2009-09-15, 05:18 AM
hi. first of all welcome to the game. i liked your tale, and how your DM describe some things. a few things though:

from what i can tell, your system vary quite a bit from the normal rules, on small matters. thought that may be dsue to my lack of experience. some background feats i never heard of, your healer casting MM, (and being an ettercap?!?) you having at will spells. but again, these might be variant rules i don't know. some explenations might be nice.
you really, really don't need to detail each characters action at each round! that get tiresome for the reader fast. focus on highlights-splendid hits, splendid misses, smart or lame moves and so on. the battle with the dragon/ fishy woman was painfull to read. make it more like an exciting story, less like a detailed performance report. (and this comes from the guy who wrote the long entries of the compedium, but that is a different matter alltogether, different purpose of writing)
liked your DM's choice of magical items. though holy water needn't cause damage to just an evil person. or are those rules i don't get again? loved the idea of the coins.
your group seems... a bit "freakish" indeed. which wouldn't be a problem if you had a real common reason to work together. how are the paladin and the assasin going to work together? this sort of thing has been a real problem in many groups, some could work around it, but it's tricky. be aware and talk with your playing partners.
which brings me to my last point, since you guys are new to the gaming TABLE. as players, work on finding reasons to work with each other, and interact with each other. what makes this more enjoyable than a single player computer game is the interactions and the contributions of all members of the team. keep that in mind, and the experience will be more satisfying than just finding a cool concept for a character and playing it. find a cool concept for a party and play it.


got no advice on the farm situation, need more info.

all in all, i think you guys made a very good start, since it seems you've enjoyed yourselves, which is the main thing. i'll look forward to reading more.

Kol.

starwoof
2009-09-15, 05:35 AM
Campaign journal, yay! After reading SilverClawShift's I've been hunting these down.:smalltongue: Agree with Kol Korran on the pacing of combat, otherwise it was enjoyable. I'll be watching this with interest.

As for defending the farmhouse... I would start with surrounding the hill with sharpened wooden stakes at about a 45 degree angle. They are a great deterrent for cavalry and annoying for infantry. The party should be able to pepper the infantry with ranged attacks and hopefully prevent them from ripping up the stakes. They should essentially make you immune to horses if you can make enough, especially with a slope to work with.:smallbiggrin:

Ready buckets full of water to deal with fires caused by flaming arrows or thrown brands. If you're dealing with raiders fire will be a problem - they don't need to assault you if they can smoke you out.

Beyond that basic advice I can't help much without more information.

Mr White
2009-09-15, 07:14 AM
Realistically speaking arming your untrained extra manpower with shield and spears would be your best bet ('easy' to make and 'easy' to use in formation).
I don't know how well spear and shield hold up in DnD variants and how formations would work (better ask your DM)

Prepare the battle ground (make ditches and other obsticles!!! Try to funnel the enemy and make kill zones for your AoE spells/siege equipement.

Fayd
2009-09-15, 08:44 AM
Right. First: I realized I forgot to introduce our DM! He's been a long time Order of the Stick reader, long time DM and good friend...Tam O'Conner!

Yeah, casting is a little bit different. Magic (at the moment, this is changing) works like this: You pick spheres, and you can cast anything from your chosen sphere. You have a maximum of casts per day, similar to a sorcerer. The priestess has healing, illusion, and enchantment, for example. Every caster, on the other hand, gets the All sphere (utility stuff mostly) and Magic Missile is there. (Oh, and if people are curious: The Attercops are to the underdark what the orcs are to the surface. :D). The dedicated casters have 2 level 0's at will, and the gish/holy warrior get some later.

Some basic changes: There is no LA, unless you chose to give yourself it. If you are part of a race/background that would have had LA, you can choose to take a level in one of the monster classes or the like. I for example, can take a level of Outsider at level 3 and get all sorts of goodies (I plan to). Fluffy on the other hand, can take levels of Giant whenever he pleases. This is particularly helpful, as the typical max level is 10. Feats also grow with your character, granting (typically) 3 effects at max level.

Yes, combat was a little bogged down. Wasn't sure what else to do at the moment. I'll be simplifying it in the future.

The Holy Water doesn't "Damage" the evil person...it just makes them profoundly uncomfortable.

I think the real reason we're working together will be coming next session. Just a dramatic hunch is all.

With each passing session, we are getting better and better about more party interaction. It's still a little awkward yet. But it was better 2nd session than first.

Also, for the moment, we want as few farmers dead as we can.

Kol Korran
2009-09-15, 10:04 AM
thanks for the explanation, it resembles the domains in 2nd addition.

oh, and i thought attercops was a missspelling of ettercaps. i thought you had a spider person with you, which would have been realy weird!

again, good luck!
Kol

Morchana
2009-09-15, 10:15 AM
We DO have a spider person with us. . . She is an attercop.

"The freaks have come to town!"


[Edited to Add] (Just to introduce myself, I play Morchana in this campaign. It's my first time gaming, but I have been interested for years. Also, I am NOT my character-- she is nearly the polar opposite of myself, although I do wear a 1d3 hairspike of death on a near-daily basis. Just so it's clear, I am helping the group to avoid being found and killed-- in the backstory, I gained several bounties on my head, and I would like to keep it-- losing a head is terrible for one's looks! However, the group doesn't know this yet, except in the case of the Baronet.)

kestrel404
2009-09-15, 10:18 AM
Nice story so far. I like the characters, especially the interaction between the Paladin and Assassin.

As far as the system changes - sounds fair. I have no problem with modified systems as long as the GM is up front about the changes.

Regarding the defenses of the farm, you've got a few things to worry about:
1. Being overrun by the raiders. They're on horses (cavalry) and they most likely outnumber you (It's far worse if they don't because that means they're probably individually powerful to take out a town 'in passing'. If that's the case, run.). To combat this you need to:
A) Limit mobility
Rather than putting put a stake barrier (it takes time to gather the stakes, sharpen them and then plant them firmly), you should have the kids take all of the firewood that would be used for the next few days meal fires and whatever they've been storing/aging for the winter, and scatter that around the hill. Lots of big logs and branches all over the place will make the entire area difficult terrain, preventing cavalry mounted charges and slowing down movement rates for everyone. (This makes sense IRL as well, since those kinds of debris are likely to cause broken legs in both horses and fast moving people). This is fast - it should take no more than an hour with a dozen people helping.
B) Force a bottleneck
Leave one section of the hill open and free of obstruction. Keep the corridor narrow - ten feet at most. If possible, put up some kind of wall or trench or other obstruction around the rest of the perimeter to make it obvious that there's a 'Gap in your defenses'. What this will do is make one area for you to concentrate fire on - creating a 'killing field' out of an otherwise unremarkable bit of terrain.
C) Take them out quickly
Once your enemy is in range, start by using massed missile attacks against them - arm your non-ranged allies with bows if you can get them and slings if you can't. This includes arming as many of the farmers as are willing to hold ranged weapons. Keep them behind a makeshift wall for cover (furniture walls are great for this, or barring that hiding behind their cart works - bonus if the horses are hooked up to the cart for a last minute escape plan). Once they're close enough, have the meleeists use planted long-spears (have them brace for charge with a reach weapon - long spears are just long sharpened poles and can be improvised since they don't need to last beyond the initial charge). After accepting that inital charge using a bunch of spears, the meleeists can drop their spears, pick up their regular weapons, and wade into the no-longer-charging horse riders. By this point, you can probably safely assume that half of them are already dead, and the rest are bottled up in your 'safe' corridor waiting to die. Any that have attempted to traverse the difficult terrain should be pelted with sling stones, arrows, and magic missiles until they change their minds. The assassin may want to remain with the ranged attackers so that she can 'deal with' any threat that manages to cross the field of difficult terrain.

2. Protecting the farmers. They set the town on fire. That means they're here to pillage and destroy. They'll do the same to the farm, and likely be out to kill the farmers. While the farmers might not be incredibly capable combatants they can still assist to a limited degree in their own defense (As stated above). Those who aren't helping using weapons should be prepared with buckets of water, shields, and first-aid kits. The buckets of water should be there to put out thrown torches and flaming arrows (don't tell your GM this, it will give him ideas). The shields are to protect them while they run out and drag back anyone who falls in the defense (two women/children, one on each arm with one arm free to use the shields, while they drag the unconscious person back to safety). The first aid kits (even if they're just bandages and clean water) are to help in stabilization/healing checks.

Hope that helps.

Fayd
2009-09-15, 03:58 PM
thanks for the explanation, it resembles the domains in 2nd addition.

oh, and i thought attercops was a missspelling of ettercaps. i thought you had a spider person with you, which would have been realy weird!

again, good luck!
Kol

There's a lot from 2E...and some from 4E...some from 3.5, and WAY more sources.

Actually, Attercops is properly spelled. Yes, she's a spider person. We don't know this yet, but she's good at healing.

And kestrel, good suggestions all around...I'm still digesting them right now.

ScreamingDoom
2009-09-15, 08:47 PM
Definitely ring the hill with wooden spikes. These barricades are simple to make (any farmer who is able to chop wood and lash rope together can make one) and very effective at stopping calvery.

If you want to minimize farmer casualties, you should think about evacuating at least some of them. The children, at the very least. You're not surrounded, so a group of kids led by some of the adults (perhaps the Farmer Patriarch? he's older than sin in your story and simply is unlikely to be much help in battle beyond knowing the area -- and that knowledge could be better used to help the kids avoid enemy patrols) should be able to slip out a few hours before the battle begins. In addition, they should go to the nearest large town. While help is unlikely to arrive before the battle, it never hurts to have the calvery come along just in the nick of time -- and, at the very least, the rest of the population centers in the Barony should be warned of these marauders.

If any of your casters have Scry or something similar, this would be ideal to tell you when it is best to have the youngin's flee. You want a time where the enemy forces are concentrated on heading to the farmhouse (so there will be less scouting patrols around -- they're marshaling their forces for battle), but far enough away that there's plenty of time to get the kids out of danger. In addition, being able to Scry will give you a good idea of the numbers of the enemy and where the bulk of the enemy forces are likely to appear on the hill, so you can get the majority of your own forces there.

I also agree with the pike suggestions. Again, they don't need to be metal; just some long sticks with sharpened ends would work wonders, especially if used form behind the barricades.

Your biggest problem is going to be making sure the farmers who remain to fight don't break ranks and flee. Traditionally, this was when the largest losses in medieval warfare occurred. Since you're dealing with farmers and not even level 1 adventures, they're not likely to be very brave and will break easily. You might try to have your Paladin (or other PC with high charisma and Diplomacy score) make a stirring speech right before the battle to inspire them. If you had a Bard, this would make things easier, but...

You might want to see if you can convince your assassin to make a hit-and-run attack on the enemy raiders. If successful, this will shake them up (they are likely not a regular army, and being hit with guerrilla tactics is a pain even for experienced soldiers) and, if you're very lucky, you might capture one in order to interrogate.

If all else fails, you can try to negotiate with them. You have loot now, so if the raiders see your preparations and are willing to talk, you might be able to give that up in exchange for being left alone. At the very least, negotiations can be used as a delaying tactic to try buy time for the local knights who the refugee group has (hopefully) alerted to arrive.

The absolute worst thing that could happen is that the raiders see your preparations and decide to just not bother with the farmhouse. Then you're in the really disadvantageous position of having to go on the offensive or risk them tracking down and killing the refugee group. On the plus side, unless they leave a rearguard at the farm, you can basically attack from behind and engage in more guerrilla tactics should they go this route.

Hope this helps!

Morchana
2009-09-15, 09:43 PM
You might want to see if you can convince your assassin to make a hit-and-run attack on the enemy raiders.


What do you think the chances of doing something else, rather than a hit-and-run, would be? Say, stalling them? I have a plan that involves sweet-talk and a poisoned bottle of wine. . . :wink:

starwoof
2009-09-15, 10:01 PM
What do you think the chances of doing something else, rather than a hit-and-run, would be? Say, stalling them? I have a plan that involves sweet-talk and a poisoned bottle of wine. . . :wink:

I would say about 50-50. They might be swayed by your feminine wiles, or they might stab you in the neck. Its hard to say, but make sure you have an escape planned if you try it.:smallbiggrin:

ScreamingDoom
2009-09-15, 10:08 PM
What do you think the chances of doing something else, rather than a hit-and-run, would be? Say, stalling them? I have a plan that involves sweet-talk and a poisoned bottle of wine. . . :wink:

Well, a number of factors come into play. First, how paranoid the opposing force is. They are likely to be a little suspicious of someone just happening to find them out where they are raiding. On the other hand, assuming they are not a real military force and really are just raiders, their discipline is likely very lax, so if you do manage to convince them it was just a coincidence you happened to show up looking for a good time, they are unlikely to do anything standard procedure based like locking you up until the operation is over.

Really, it's a risk, but if you can pull it off (and since your character is, as I understand it, very much suited to such an operation) it would be well worth the risk. Delaying, reducing their numbers, or even destroying them (with enough poison wine) would be invaluable. Ideally, if you don't have enough poison or wine on hand to decimate their numbers, you could probably try to target their command structure, taking off the head. That would definitely give your group a nice advantage; even 1st level adventurers are pretty good leaders (especially with a Paladin in the party).

In the end, though, it really is up to the DM. I can say if I was DM, I would allow you to try: first a sneak roll to see if you can get to their camp without giving away where you come from, then some RP to see how well you fast talk the guards at the camp (which would be a situational modifier to your Diplomacy roll) in order to let you in. And then another RP-modified roll to get them to drink the wine/make sure you get access to the commander. Then another sneak roll to try to get back out before they realize the wine was poisoned.

Fayd
2009-09-15, 10:27 PM
All this hinges on them not being some demonic/diabolic apocalyptic force. Or interested in elves with huge...Charisma scores. :smallwink:

Mr White
2009-09-16, 06:07 AM
Or interested in elves with huge...Charisma scores. :smallwink:

Well, theres your problem.

Marauders/looters/... won't just show you to their captains tent. They've just raped whoever was closest the moment they sacked that city. Why would they be civil now when some looker wanders into there camp?

Morchana
2009-09-17, 01:02 AM
Good point. The poisoned wine is looking like more and more of a back-up plan for if the marauders actually get in, which we're really hoping they don't. But still. . .

Kol Korran
2009-09-17, 11:47 AM
hey there Morchana! nice to meet you. it's always better having several perspcetives on the same game.

sorry to get hinged on this, but can you two perhaps list where you got the Attercop info from? i thought it meant the ettercaps on the MM, but i think i'm mistaken. would just be interesting to see the crunch, and fluff, of spider people's race.

i'm just curious about such things.

i liked the idea about the sweet talking and the poisoned bottle of wine. like a true assasin, and a much more interesting way to solve the fight other than just a straight out battle. good luck with that, just make sure Cade and Fluffy are otherwise occupied (and fed), so they won't interrupt.

a question Morchana- how are you planning to deal with Cade? a few things could be misconstrued as missunderstandings and such, but eventually you two are most likely to come into conflict. what have you players decided to prevent (or play out without too much harm) that? (if he's as dumb as elan that could help)

Kol.

Tam_OConnor
2009-09-17, 12:58 PM
DM provides data splurge!

Beastfolk
Beastfolk are almost universally reviled by civilized folk, and not without cause. Regardless of specific subrace, they are extremely prone to violence and primarily organized into barbaric tribes. Tribes will often band together under powerful warlords or shamans in order to ravage nearby civilized areas.

Their name is derived from their appearance: an unnatural and inconsistent blending of humanoid and animal (Shark in the case of Deep, Boar in the case of Hill and Spider in the case of Reef). Regardless of subrace, however, males usually stand about six to six and half feet tall, with females six inches to a foot shorter. They are all fully bipedal, though certain specimens may have regressed into simian knuckle-walking.

Deep Beastfolk: Attercops, Spiderfolk:
The most cunning and patient of the beastfolk, attercops exude a sort of chitinous plating, but rarely have a fully developed exoskeleton. Likewise, only the odd specimen displays fully functional secondary arms, as opposed to the typical two sets of vestigial arms. They frequently have multiple sets of eyes, but only regressed specimens display compound eyes. External ears are rare.

Attercops display two common breeds: hunters and web-spinners. Hunting attercops are both solitary and rare, with specimens appearing only in isolated pockets of the underdark or deep forests. They bear functional and venomous fangs and ripping foreclaws, as well as impressive jumping abilities. Web-spinners, by contrast, are social creatures, and frequent the ceilings of the Underdark. Their spinnerets are non-vesitigal and able to produce a wide variety of different webs.

Crunch:
+2 Dex, Con; -4 Cha; -2 Int, Wis
land speed 30ft, climb 30ft
darkvision
webbing (web-spinners only; as ettercap)
natural weapon and poisonous (Str) feats (hunters only)
short lived x0.5


I'll try to stay out of the thread for the most part, but let me know and I'll provide any fluff or crunch that I can. /lurk

Kol Korran
2009-09-17, 01:26 PM
thanks Tam_OConner! that was interesting. did you come up with it yourself, or did you draw from some source? i now wonder as to Keito's past and fitting in with the party...

coincidently, i've also written something spider related, that might be of use, if you wish, with your spider beast folk. check my sig and scroll to the aranea. might not fit exactly, but maybe inspire somethign that might.

thanks again, and good luck with your games! it seems yougot the essential elements ready- enthusiastic and fun players and an enthusiastic and creative DM. would love to hear more..

Kol

Fayd
2009-09-17, 10:44 PM
We sort of have an unsaid "Don't kill each other" rule. And Morchana was allowed to BE evil on the condition of "Play nice."

Being neither player, but knowing them both well, I'd say it'll get interesting before the end...but much fun will be had by all.

In melee combat, the two of them, by the numbers should be a deadly pair. Cade has a feat that increases bonuses given and recieved from flanking, and another feat that increases his movement speed. Morchana is a rogue. Sneak attack sneak attack sneak attack. Maybe poison. Maybe not. Regardless, the target won't live very long if they both concentrate on it.

Morchana
2009-09-18, 08:01 AM
How are Cade and I going to get along? Well, he keeps threatening to flick holy water from that sword onto me-- eek! That stuff stings!

Really, though, we do have a 'live and let live' policy as far as that's concerned-- I mean, Cade doesn't approve of me, and I don't necessarily like him, but if I tried to kill him, the rest would kill me. Bad choice. I will probably flirt with him and go against his plans from time to time, but I want to stay on his good side, as he is more or less the unofficial party leader.

I think this should just really be interesting. . . Not sure how things are going to pan out yet! If he and I manage to get along, we'll be a great team.

Kol Korran
2009-09-18, 01:32 PM
something just makes me think of Roy and Belkar... you allready got a Thog in the party as well...

Kol

Fayd
2009-09-18, 02:39 PM
Thankfully, Morchana is not the psychotic little freak Belkar is. She's tall and beautiful and has standards. Seduce=/=sleep with. It merely means make comfortable and safe feeling, so she can shank them.

That said, Cade has told me on multiple occasions how much he feels like Roy. Or how "I completely understand how Roy was feeling."

All the members of our group are friends though, to varying degrees of closeness...this really helps in the "Don't kill each other" regard.

Morchana
2009-09-21, 01:33 AM
Huzzah for poison!!! Fayd will tell all later. . . Suffice it to say that I came up with a plan on the spur of the moment, and it worked-- incredibly well!

starwoof
2009-09-21, 07:26 AM
I am looking forward to hearing this story.

Fayd
2009-09-21, 11:01 AM
You won't have to wait much longer Starwoof! I'm putting the finishing touches on it (I decided against editing it at 3:00 AM) and I'm going to have both Cade and Morchana read over it, making sure that I didn't miss anything critical. I went with a different style describing combat this time, so we'll see how it goes.

Corbin Jenkins
2009-09-21, 11:20 AM
This interesting and all, but what I really want to know is how the pally got his domain.

Fayd
2009-09-21, 02:52 PM
Well Corbin, it's because Cade is not technically a Paladin. The "Paladin" class doesn't exist as such. Cade is technically a "Holy Warrior." I call him Paladin, he calls himself Paladin, but he's not a paladin by class. In the current iteration of the magic system, it is the Divine equivalent of the Gish class...Divine casters get access to domains, which grant equivalent bonuses as some feats along with one extra spell per spell tier, while Arcane casters get access to the metamagic feats. (That's for right now, and may change...)

For right now, Cade has the Good Domain, which grants a permanent Detect Evil, resist unholy 5, along with the spell Smite Evil. He's got a feat which increases base land speed, bonuses given and received by flanking, and one that will eventually give him cleaving attacks. In this system, feats and grant additional bonuses with one of your attributes (Level, BAB, Caster Level, etc.)

Fayd
2009-09-21, 08:17 PM
All right, time for Chapter 3. Enjoy! And thanks for your help guys, it really helped. Though had we remembered to make slings, it would have been a little bit nicer.

Chapter 3: The Captain and the Terrible, Horrible, Rotten, No Good, VERY Bad Day.


So, we spend 1 day preparing for the raiders to come. We build a series of zigzagging rows of small 1 foot deep holes…the idea being that if a horse steps in them, it will break their ankle, forcing the rider to dismount. Using the dirt, we pile up a 5-foot tall earth wall, reinforced by wood in front of the farmhouse. (There’s a gap in the wall to funnel them through, hopefully in small groups, and one of the flanks is closed off by fishnet.)

At least, that’s what most of us do. Morchana and Lossëlen gather black nightshade, which was made into a DEX damaging poison, along with performing some general scouting, aided by Swift (my familiar). Morchana makes LOTS of poison. The Longpipe clan bring the cattle inside the house, barricade windows, brought lots of water in case of flaming arrows, and helped us dig. Another meal of porridge (with spices provided by yours truly…Prestidigitation at will is FUN.) And we sleep on the roof. (So we don’t have to barricade in the morning.)

The scouting reveals that this is a BIG group. They’re driving the refugees of River’s Bend towards the regional capitol, for whatever end --periodically cutting down the stragglers, much to the Paladin’s ire. 5 groups of 20ish, with armor varying from chainmail to leather. One of the groups in leather armor breaks off to assault our farm. 20 armed (and likely trained) men on horses against our motley crew? No problem!

That night Morchana, being an elf and not having spells to recharge, slinks out toward the marauder’s campsite. After some hesitation on what to actually DO, she sneaks into the midst of the camp undetected, and dumps 7 doses of black nightshade poison into each of the two cooking pots in the camp. They didn’t look like they’d been cleaned in a while, and probably weren’t going to be. She then attempts to sneak out. With a roll of a natural 20…they never knew she was there.

We are woken the next morning by screaming (we can’t make out exactly what, but somebody is NOT pleased) from the general direction of the bandit camp. Observation rolls note that five soldiers are riding away --barely-- towards what we suppose is the rest of the group. About 10 minutes later, more furious swearing accompanies five more limping off. Cade makes a point to sidle up to Morchana with a grim smirk and a “Well done.” He wants me to make a point of saying he doesn’t see her act as dishonorable or underhanded so much as ‘Smite Evil in an indirect way.’ We take up the positions that we’d agreed on: Lossëlen and I on the roof, ready to pick things off at range…everyone else behind the earth wall.

The soldiers approach; there’s a captain, two lieutenants, two priests, and five standard mooks, all on horseback. We notice that they are flying a standard: a reinforced horseshoe resembling the letter D on a red flame against a black background. Successful knowledge (tactics) and (history) later, we determine that this is a mercenary band known as the Doomriders (would you look at that, the title of the campaign makes sense now!) The five groups of 20 mentioned earlier? That’s maybe a fifth of their total forces.
Initiative begins. 2 cavalrymen walk into our trapped areas, one managing not to be affected, while the other is now an infantryman. They all shoot a first volley of arrows... Lossëlen takes a small graze against her armor, no actual damage. I on the other hand, get a new title. Fayd One-Eyed. One of the @#%$^@#^ cavalrymen critically hits. :smallfurious: I am reduced to 1 HP and as many eyes. I get off the roof. Fast. Our alarmed paladin and priestess are right on hand and bring me back to full hp, but not full depth perception. I am NOT a happy mage. Our Archer is the only one able to affect the turn of battle for a while, but by the time the enemies make it within range, one of the enemy priests is down, and another person is poisoned. She also crits against the other priest… rolling a one for damage. A critical shot to the foot.

Fluffy is getting bored. He’s picked his nose, eaten the result, and chewed on his axe. He decides to moon the enemy forces from the gap in our wall. A beautiful mooning, to be sure, (he rolled a 12…we’re not sure what that applies to, but he rolled a 12) and he received 2 shots in his bum for his trouble. He got healed back up to full again, sullenly munching on a piece of chalk to make himself feel better. As Keito put it “I saved your ass. Literally.”

Fluffy is a paradox. He made the fight in melee so much easier...and gave us all a tactical headache. Bored, again, of waiting, he rages, climbs the wall…The paladin, perhaps sensing Fluffy’s motives, throws his shortspear and pins the leading soldier to his saddle. For the second time, Fluffy splatters Cade’s target. Quoth the DM: “It was juicy.” :smallbiggrin: Meanwhile, Morchana is throwing rocks and failing, I’m trying energy expulsion and failing, Lossëlen is shooting nicely and doing some nice poisoning. The leading cavalrymen, themselves likely irked by now, strafe Fluffy with sabers. He’s hurting a little, but gets some healing. Oh, nearly forgot: Both of the lieutenants have gone down by now, one from mostly magic missiles and arrows, the other on the wrong end of that splatter. Fluffy strikes and kills one of the unfortunate now-infantrymen, before scrambling away, trying to get over the wall. Climb check fail. Nearly the entire company rides by and takes a swing at him. The captain, thankfully, doesn’t do that well with his 2 swings, and all those slashes bring Fluffy to only half of his raging health. He finally does get back over to us and brains one of the soldiers with a rock in vengeance.

At about this time, Lossëlen hits the captain with a nasty DEX damaging poisoned arrow. More fighting, and the enemies run through our caltrop field right in front of the gap in our wall. The Paladin’s caltrops were a GOOD investment; they maim nearly every horse that attempts to get through them…only the captain’s manages to get through without injury. He grazes our assassin, who happens to be there.

At this point, we have 4 soldiers on our side of the wall, including the captain. 3 of us have been injured, 2 of us are notoriously squishy…and one of those squishies is getting used to a new outlook on things. We promptly decide to focus-fire the captain. And WOW do we ever. Lossëlen shoots the captain, dealing even more DEX damage. Morchana dashes around behind the captain (NOTE: Cade is within melee range) and sneak attacks-- Criticalling. With poison. (It should be noted that one of our Paladin’s feats, Expert Tactician, grants a bonus to flanking affecting both people involved. This bonus is the reason she was able to confirm the critical.) The paladin immediately takes advantage of this opportunity to likewise flank him with his shiny new Weeping Blade. What’s this? He is still somehow alive? Fluffy disagrees…rushing up to him, bringing his halberd down with a critical hit (51 points of damage, for those curious)…it was a hit so hard that (to quote the DM again) “his parents felt it.” :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin: Seriously…his horse immediately dies of a heart attack (rolled a natural 1 on the check). The remaining 2 mooks (one has died to arrows, spells, and the ancient farmer’s crossbow) flee. They force their horses through the caltrops again, abandon them, and then run for all they’re worth. Keito, who had run up to throw a FABULOUS Color Spray into the mix, finally gets it off… on the only target left, the captain’s dead horse. Had it been alive, it would have been in awe. And then my spell goes off. I decided to cast Animate Elemental (Air) this round. “You’ve all seen tornadoes before, right? Have you ever seen a tornado EAT someone? Very messy.” –DM. One mook down, one to go. Most of the party has cleared the wall and sprinted at him, and they manage to talk him into a surrender and talk Fluffy, who had already blocked the fleeing soldiers retreat, out of making a nice new smear on the dirt. While Cade’s persuade skill ROCKS, he didn’t need much help convincing the soldier to stand down and surrender; Fluffy had slammed his halberd into the ground next to the soldier, picked him up by the throat and yelled

“FLUFFY HUNGRY!”

Meanwhile, Keito goes to reassure and calm down the two maimed horses. Being an Attercop, she uses her natural climb speed to skitter up and over the wall…only I’m paying attention (remember, nobody really knows much about Keito right now…even her race) and a very good knowledge (Life Science) confirms my suspicions. Out of character, Keito’s player says “Well now I’m buggered.” Keito has some reason to be hiding her race (probably due to the “universally reviled by civilized folk” bit, and likely even more factors than that.)

Session ends. We have a captive enemy soldier, and probably whatever loot we can scavenge from bodies and horse bags. Not bad, considering our collective gut instincts tell us that that PROBABLY wasn’t supposed to be that easy. Only 2 near-deaths? Not bad, all said. Most of us are desperately hoping we’ve at least hit level two by now, though. Quoth the Paladin: “Wow. That rocked.” And it did, aside from me losing my eye! :smallmad:


So, to recap WHY I chose this chapter name: the poor Doomrider captain (in retrospect, I would feel sorry for him if his soldiers hadn’t critically shot my eye out). Let’s go over his day, shall we? First thing in the morning, half of his soldiers have been poisoned beyond the capability of fighting, in two separate batches of irritation. Then he leads the rest against a simple farm which turns out to look more like a fortress than a home. He loses several horses to traps, a priest to arrows, and several more injuries before they can strike. His 2 lieutenants are down for the count before they can do much either. He fails to kill the devastating orc --twice-- and eats DEX poison for his trouble. LOTS of DEX poison. He scratches the assassin, and promptly eats a critical sneak attack with more poison, and a flanking slash from a holy saber, and then his internal organs each flee in a different direction courtesy of the SAME orc. His horse dies instantly of shock, and his men scatter, one being captured, the other being EATEN BY A TORNADO. The chapter title fits, don’t you think?

But he SO deserves it after what happened to my eye.

DireFrostWolf
2009-09-21, 10:39 PM
Man!! I really loved reading that chapter, it was so good. Sorry for your character's eye!!!!!!!

Keito
2009-09-22, 01:48 AM
I keep telling Fayd it's okay about the one eye situation.
He'll just be a mind pirate.

I mean look:
1 eye
falcon on sholder
uses "storm" magic
and is about to loot a saber off one of the enemies corpses

All he's missing is the peg leg, hook, and sea worthy accent...argh (hehe)

Fayd
2009-09-22, 09:15 AM
Oh, I'm sure he'll (Fayd the character, and not me) get over it. The awesome bonuses do equal out the lack of depth perception. Here's my shopping list the next time we're at a town though:

An eyepatch or band of cool looking cloth to cover the bad eye/empty socket (still need clarification on which situation I'm in from the DM)

An awesome wide brimmed hat, so that I can wear it at a slight angle and conceal the eye more. Or just to have an awesome hat. That would work too.

Though those Doomrider fellas done gone and made it personal. There'll be a reckoning...

Kol Korran
2009-09-22, 10:10 AM
loved the read! much better battle description. well done!...

however, how exactly did you ascertin they came with bad intent?!
i can see it now:

High Captain: "so, we're getting this ugys back to the festivities at the capital, the king wants people of every region to participate. hey, what's that, a farm in the distance? commander-guy, go get someone from there too. don't foget to give them the bountifull rewards our monarch wishes to share! go on now!"

commander: "do i have to? they are of the outback, they don't really have any connection with the king. it's nearing my retirement, i shouldn't be doing this!"

high captain: "nonsense! all of the king's people love and cherish him! they will greet you with open arms and friendliness! take a small platoon just to know we honor them. the king would like that!"

commander: "oh crap, ok, lets go platoon 5!"

that night:
soldier: "should we put on guards sir?"
commander: "this isn't hostile terrortory, no need for guards. what's the worst you can meet here? peasenets? no, just make sure Mikey makes us a good stew tonight. and tell him to clean those pots!"

the morning after:
gneral goaning and moaning...
commander: "damn it! must have been a bad stew! probably herbs or those pots! the 10 of you, go back, we don't want to spread the disease to these poor peasents. we'll go on. Arthur, makes sure to splay the flag. i'm sure most people have heard we joined the kin'gs royal forces by now!"

a bit later:
Lieutenent: "they are baricated sir! we must see what's the matter... what was that noise? i swear it was as orc moan!"

a bit later:
"shamans on the hut!"
"can you see them?"
"no the sun is blinding me. must be orc shamans!"
"aim to kill them, we mustn't let them harm the farmers! with any luck we could take one out!"

a bit later: "that's an orc butt! an orc in the hut! charge, spare no expense, we must save them!"

a bit later, in the baricade: "what's this? humans as well, but why? AArrggh! why ar you... Aaarrggh! the orc's must be charming you! oh hell, The Orc Aaaarg......"

of course it wasn't nearly like that, but still i thought it might be amusing.

by the way, my players once did something very, very similar. they didn't realy udnerstand the "justice squads" sent after them later on...

Kol.

Keito
2009-09-22, 12:22 PM
however, how exactly did you ascertin they came with bad intent?!


Kol.

Kol read the end of chapter 2. That should explain the bad intent.
BTW 19 on an observation check does wonders (Lossëlen, Fayd, and yours truely)

Fayd
2009-09-22, 02:33 PM
To elaborate on what Keito said, our instinct that they were less than noble had something to do with the town of River's Bend being on fire and the cavalry cutting down stragglers from the refugee groups.

Nice people don't kill fleeing refugees. Or burn down towns. Or shoot mages in the eye, but that's an entirely different matter.

Keito
2009-09-22, 02:58 PM
To elaborate on what Keito said, our instinct that they were less than noble had something to do with the town of River's Bend being on fire and the cavalry cutting down stragglers from the refugee groups.

Nice people don't kill fleeing refugees. Or burn down towns. Or shoot mages in the eye, but that's an entirely different matter.

Fayd, Speaking of the crit arrow to the face:smalleek:, oh wind mage is that what their talking about being inside the eye of the storm?:smallbiggrin:

Fayd
2009-09-22, 03:17 PM
Fayd, Speaking of the crit arrow to the face:smalleek:, oh wind mage is that what their talking about being inside the eye of the storm?:smallbiggrin:

I'll admit, the "Eye of the Storm" pun did occur to me. Who knows how things will pan out though? (A rhetorical question as I know that Tam knows)

Kol Korran
2009-09-22, 03:54 PM
oops, forgot about that. my bad, sorry...

Fayd
2009-09-22, 03:58 PM
No problem. Come to think of it, I'd forgotten if I mentioned the cutting down the refugees bit, and got reminded of it by Cade before I posted (Cade and Morchana both give the posts a read over before I post them to make sure that they make sense and are for the most part accurate)

PsyBlade
2009-09-22, 04:32 PM
Perhaps you should consider a replacement eye? I'm certain that someone out there is working on making artificial eyes. If not, then the loss of your eye would be reason enough for the decision to research such stuff yourself.

Morchana
2009-09-22, 04:48 PM
. . . And no one has any comments on my poison plan actually working. Figures.

Fayd
2009-09-22, 05:02 PM
Ok, announcement:

ahem

MORCHANA WAS THE MVP OF THE FIGHT WITH HER POISON!

In all seriousness, I think the reason we won that was because Morchana spent so much time making poison. Incapacitating half of the enemy troops? Debilitating others during the fight? MVP material, if you ask me. I, by comparison, was sucking that entire fight. After I lost the eye, I didn't hit with anything other than magic missile.

(also, I do plan on trying for SOME replacement eye...Might pick up the Graft Flesh feat and see what monsters we come along with fun eyes! A little creepy, yes, but...After Fluffy's through with them, they won't be needing their eyes anyway.)

Myshlaevsky
2009-09-22, 05:08 PM
. . . And no one has any comments on my poison plan actually working. Figures.

It's probably just that the journal is sort of told from Fayd's perspective. The poison plan seems like the single major reason for victory, though. Congratulations.

Cade Rentyr
2009-09-23, 02:00 AM
however, how exactly did you ascertain they came with bad intent?!

The thought had actually occurred to me too. I asked the DM what the range of my Detect Evil Radar was at the start of the assault, while they were still approaching.

Much death and mutilation later, when the last raiders were fleeing it finally occurred to me to wonder if they'd ever set off my Evil Ping. The DM confirmed it.

I should note that the DM has also allowed me to acclimate to our assassin's presence. She still registers on my Radar, but I've gotten used to it enough that I can Detect new blips. (Otherwise my own party makes that benefit worthless.)
I've joked that it's like she's gone from 'migraine headache' to 'annoying buzzing sensation of the molars'. ; )


By the way, it should be obvious by now but I'm playing Cade the paladin (Holy Warrior) in this campaign. Fayd wanted me to point out that, being the third behind Morchana and Keito, I make it exactly half of our party that has joined this forum specifically for this thread. So do him a big favor and leave a comment and bump the thread, eh?

Keito
2009-09-23, 10:44 AM
. . . And no one has any comments on my poison plan actually working. Figures.

In addition to Fayd.
Morchana achieved: Look Before You NOM

http://tf-2.fr/ach.php?a=Look Before You NOM&b=Take Out 1/2 the Enemy Force by Poisoning Their Cooking Pots&c=u&e=515&f=1&short (http://teamfortress2.fr/achievements.php)

So technically we have two-thirds of the party on here cade, we're just missing fluffy (orc barbarian) and lossëlen (female elf [snow fairy] gish).

Cade Rentyr
2009-09-23, 10:58 AM
Yes, but Fayd has been here for quite a bit longer than our campaign. I said half of us joined BECAUSE of this thread.

Keito
2009-09-23, 11:07 AM
Yes, but Fayd has been here for quite a bit longer than our campaign. I said half of us joined BECAUSE of this thread.

okay...your right

Morchana
2009-09-23, 12:16 PM
Keito, that achievement thingy is amazing. :smallbiggrin: I feel like I'm actually valuable, which is good because I suck at distance fighting. I really need to get a sling if I'm going to keep throwing rocks. . .

Fayd
2009-09-23, 03:42 PM
And at least you've got the BAB and dex mod to actually hit them. Energy Expulsion seemed like such a good idea at the time...but I can't hit squat!

Morchana
2009-09-24, 02:21 AM
Yes, but I have a really short range with simply throwing a rock. . . :smallannoyed:

kestrel404
2009-09-24, 07:24 AM
I suggest a light crossbow in addition to the sling. You can treat it as a single-shot pistol - pull it out and fire it when needed, then toss it until after the fight. Keep it cocked when going into battle, but you don't necessarily have to leave a bolt on the rest (this way a misfire won't do any harm).

I suggest this mainly because poisoned rocks are silly.

Morchana
2009-09-24, 08:36 AM
Yes, poisoned rocks are really silly. But I'm not sure about the crossbow-- maybe I'll try it and see if I like it. :smallsmile:

Fayd
2009-09-24, 08:56 AM
I think a light crossbow would actually be helpful for a lot of us...I at least, will be shopping for some ranged weapon at the next town we find. I already have a few shuriken, but I don't have enough that I feel comfortable tossing them with my pitiful chance to hit.

Kol Korran
2009-09-24, 10:12 AM
can you use a short bow Morchana? might be better than a light crossbow for maneuvering (most rogues do, but i'm unsure if by you're rules you are a rogue) LCB requires a move action to load, SB doesn't.

as to Fayd. wizards, when wanting to hit, usually rely on touch attacks. i'd suggest you focus on attacks of that nature. i know nothing of energy expulsion, but lightning damage sounds like a touch attack to me! if not, look for simple wands. i'd advise, but i really don't know about what spells are allowed and how they're applied in your campaign.

not sure how much loot you guys are getting. can you buy a wand? partial wand? or perhaps an eternal wand (eberron campaign setting, basically you can cast a spell twice a day, but it has no charges)

MM basically sucks (because of damage) unless:
- you're facing a caster that has poor concentration skill, and just want to make it blunder.
- you have nothing else that works. MM is the fall back in these cases.

not sure if i have, but i'm just trying to help.
Kol.

Fayd
2009-09-24, 10:58 AM
Oh, don't I WISH I had touch attacks...at the moment, I don't really have many open to me...if any at all.

Energy Expulsion is basically an at-will Ray of ______ SLA (when you take the feat, you pick an energy damage or an aligned damage to work with). 1d6 damage (right now) at 30 ft. Mostly, I picked it up so that my -1 penalty to STR doesn't hurt as much when I run low on spells. I'm not sure...I THINK it is a ranged touch attack. Regardless though, my attack rolls have just sucked with it (moslty 2s, 3s and an occasional 7). I've yet to connect with it (with the exception of the nearly unconscious guard). Note to self: Ask DM if Energy Expulsion works off of Touch AC or not...If so...

I'm not sure of wands yet...both if they exist and what they do...but thanks for the suggestion, I'll keep an eye out for them at shops. We have yet to actually run into a town where we can shop, but I have a feeling we will soon. I sure hope I find something.

And I at least, keep using magic missile because it hits...I've been having trouble with that lately. I'll move away once I get some more shiny spells or the magic system changes around, whichever happens first, and I think it'll be the latter...

And loot-wise, we'll probably all get shortbows here. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM :smallfurious: was carrying one, and we killed enough of them that we probably found at least a bow or two. My gut tells me we might not get armor out of this encounter. (Loot hasn't been located or distributed yet)

Cade Rentyr
2009-09-24, 11:39 AM
as to Fayd. wizards, when wanting to hit, usually rely on touch attacks. i'd suggest you focus on attacks of that nature. i know nothing of energy expulsion, but lightning damage sounds like a touch attack to me!

That's sound advice, but the trouble is that Fayd hasn't even had a chance to possibly act on it yet; our only two battles so far have been against a dragon (and technically a nymph out of touch range) and against a squad of horsemen, both of whom would have easily killed our TANK if not for that orc's insane luck. Understandably, our squishy wizard (with the lowest hp of our entire group) really shouldn't be anywhere near those kinds of melees.

With luck though, we'll actually start getting encounters that DON'T horribly outclass us, and Fayd will start feeling safer about his proximity.

Kol Korran
2009-09-24, 02:13 PM
Cade, i meant ranged touch attacks, as most enefgy rays arcane spells are. i am fairly certain now that his expulsion is just that. bad can't do anything against bad luck (well you can, but only to an extent, and you don't have the needed stuff anyway).

Fayd, you'll just have to be patient and roll till you hit. against these doomriders a roll of 12 would have sufficed in most cases... that's not too bad!

i wonder whether the lack of your eye means a negative modifier to your attack rolls... that could be a bugger.

may i ask- did you and the DM just decided you lost your eye, or was there any sort of house rule that caused that? "loss of fingers/ limbs/ sensory organs" rules tend to be really tough on players!

Kol.

Cade Rentyr
2009-09-24, 02:46 PM
Cade, i meant ranged touch attacks, as most enefgy rays arcane spells are.
Ah, I see. My mistake, I'd forgotten that ranged touch attacks exist at all --this is my first D&D campaign, so it's been difficult keeping track of all the details.


i wonder whether the lack of your eye means a negative modifier to your attack rolls... that could be a bugger.
Nope, our DM has official ruled that 'Rule of Cool' cancels any disadvantages to being one-eyed, fortunately.


may i ask- did you and the DM just decided you lost your eye, or was there any sort of house rule that caused that? "loss of fingers/ limbs/ sensory organs" rules tend to be really tough on players!
No, no set rules on it. Before our DM told us the horsemen's rolls he asked Fayd how upset he would be if (the DM) made him lose an eye. I get the feeling he wouldn't have inflicted a permanent wound if Fayd protested strongly enough, but the DM says he 'likes to try to scare us on criticals.'
It worked. I'm _really_ not looking forward to receiving my first nat-20...

Fayd
2009-09-24, 04:22 PM
Fayd, you'll just have to be patient and roll till you hit. against these doomriders a roll of 12 would have sufficed in most cases... that's not too bad!

i wonder whether the lack of your eye means a negative modifier to your attack rolls... that could be a bugger.

may i ask- did you and the DM just decided you lost your eye, or was there any sort of house rule that caused that? "loss of fingers/ limbs/ sensory organs" rules tend to be really tough on players!


Yeah, I wouldn't have had to roll high to hit them...but sadly I couldn't break double digits that session. My d20 decided that not having depth perception was messing with my aim, not me or the DM. That says, Tam basically said that the awesome bonus from the one eye thing directly counters the effect of lacking depth perception.

He (DM) likes making critical hits matter. Thus far, they've disintigrated the target (any crit by Fluffy), or caused permanent damage (The !@#* Doomrider archer). The exception to this was Morchana's critical...it wasn't particularly flashy, but then again...the captain didn't last much longer anyway.

After he rolled the critical and confirmed it, he asked me "How does the title 'One-Eyed' sound?" I dreaded where that was going...but it was about the only way to make the shot make sense anyway. They were probably a hundred feet out, if not more, firing uphill...and they knocked me down to 1 health. Actually, I'd have been in negative health had I not had mage armor up, so I'm glad I thought ahead.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-09-24, 10:51 PM
I get the feeling he wouldn't have inflicted a permanent wound if Fayd protested strongly enough, but the DM says he 'likes to try to scare us on criticals.'


I thought Tam said that he likes to SCAR us on criticals (to add flavor to our characters and show they are battle-hardened). As in:


If someone gets slashed on the chest, the blade rips through their armor, but their AC isn't lowered.

Or if an enemy crits us on the leg, we walk around with a limp, but it doesn't ever affect our speed.

Kol Korran
2009-09-25, 04:14 AM
hheeeeelllooo fluffy! now only one more is missing...

i like the way your DM is handling the crits, though in the long run you'll be as scarred (and burnt, and afflicted, and what-not) as hell. still, could be fun at an inn storytelling- "oh this? this i got when we faced the 4 armed bugbear priest of the basilisk clans... and this? the lack of eyebrows? well lassy, when a red dragon breaths on you, them eyebrows don't want to grow back!"

Kol.

Fayd
2009-09-25, 10:48 AM
I'm still trying to remember if he said "Scare" or "Scar"

Either way, it works.

starwoof
2009-09-25, 07:08 PM
I may have to borrow that critical hit system. It sounds like an awesome addition to the game.:smallbiggrin:

Fayd
2009-09-26, 12:34 AM
I may have to borrow that critical hit system. It sounds like an awesome addition to the game.:smallbiggrin:

It's all fun and games until someone looses an eye.

Wait...it still is fun and games. Carry on!

The_Werebear
2009-09-26, 03:16 AM
Y'know, that's not the first eye Tam's cost someone either. In a previous campaign, the Duskblade lost his left eye to a feral halfling thingy dropping a spear into his face.

The really tragic thing was how much his spot checks Improved after he lost the eye. We justified it as him actually paying attention after that sneak attack.

@ Morchana- I definitely recommend a crossbow over a shortbow for several reasons. 1) Crossbow's can be fired from much more awkward positions, like prone, or hanging upside down in the rafters. Awkward positions are frequently needed for ambushes or concealed fire. 2) Crossbows can be pre-loaded and then carried one handed until you need to fight. Shortbows take up both hands if you want to be readied. Light crossbows can even be fired one handed in a pinch. 3) Crossbows can be used for improvised traps more easily. 4) Crossbows are badass. They complete the "Stone Cold Killer" gear along with very thin, sharp knives and leather armor.

Dragon Elite
2009-09-26, 09:09 AM
Wow. I'm hoping you level up and get some cooler weapons. I want toknow what happens next!

Fayd
2009-09-27, 01:00 AM
Well, we're all sure that we leveled up...the DM has told us as much. Although I doubt we'll get any special gear from these guys, Tam looks like the kind of DM who when he gives loot...it is amazing.

Snowstar
2009-09-28, 01:32 AM
Hi Guys! :smallsmile:

Morchana
2009-09-28, 10:12 AM
Hey Snowstar!!! Now we are all here!:smallbiggrin:

Fayd
2009-09-28, 10:56 AM
And I'm going to warn everyone that the next update'll likely be late. I've got a really busy week...I should get it done soon...but you never now.

PsyBlade
2009-09-28, 11:54 AM
Your posting this for free. We don't have any say in how quickly this gets updated. Do it at your pace.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-09-29, 10:31 AM
Hey Snowstar, welcome to the forum!

Fayd
2009-09-30, 01:46 AM
Hey, I want to let you guys know that I'm planning on posting the next chapter sometime tomorrow. I have to check some spellings and such with Tam...and I'd prefer to edit it when my brain hasn't been put through a blender. Helps for clarity and such.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-10-01, 10:29 PM
Hahaha! Morchana, your avatar is hilarious! :smallsmile:

PsyBlade
2009-10-02, 08:22 AM
I agree with the above poster.

Fayd
2009-10-02, 10:29 AM
Well, my week from Hell has finished, and I've finally completed the chapter! w00t!

Chapter 4: Soiled Armor, Sacked Towns, and Tourneys. Or: Infopalooza!


We all leveled from the last fight and ended up with oodles of gear and a prisoner. Mundane gear, but gear nonetheless. Everyone has a shortbow, for example. Our prisoner is absolutely terrified…we try to get what information we can from him, but he’s WAY too terrified to be thinking clearly. Gigantic orc who was flailing you around like a ragdoll? A one eyed mage who is still slightly bleeding from an empty eye socket who’s crackling with electricity? A knight with a dripping sword pointed at his neck? The rest of our motley crew around him? Yeah, he was pretty freaked out. We tie him up and leave him in a bedroom to calm down. Morchana offers to take him inside to help calm him down…we reject her offer, not because she can’t handle the situation…but because we’re trying to make him LESS excited. Not MORE. We all head inside but I stop Keito before we actually get there. I ask for a little more healing for my eye…and then ask “So Keito, when were you planning on telling us?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

To which I respond by reaching out and quickly grabbing one of her extra arms underneath her cloak. She’s a little startled, but I just say “Let them find out on your terms.”

When we come in, Cade tells me he made an Observation check. He was near enough to the door that heard the entire conversation, but he didn’t see what I did. So he doesn’t what this secret is, just that something is up. He told me he wasn’t going to pry. This is probably for the best at the moment.

Meanwhile we discuss what to do from here out with the Longpipe clan. They’re not much inclined to move. While we decide exactly what to do, Fluffy announces that he’s hungry. I lead him outside to one of the fresh horse corpses. “Do you taste like blueberry?” “No Fluffy, I don’t taste like blueberry. Actually, none of those people taste like anything in particular. And they’re all tough and stringy, you wouldn’t like them.” As we’re walking back inside the DM informs us that he “needs an Observation roll from the two of you.” :smalleek: We apparently succeed enough to notice a dust cloud heading our way from the northwest. Looks like another very large group of horses. Wonderful. I send Swift out to get more information, but it’ll be an hour before I get a report. So while we wait, we decide to interrogate the prisoner. Three of us roll well enough to have an impact; Cade, Morchana, and yours truly. We decide to do the “Good Cop (Cade), Bad Cop (Me), …YES…(Morchaha)” routine. The DM inquired further into what exactly it was Morchana was planning on doing with the interrogation…to which she replied “I will sit here as the embodiment of all of his dreams, come true.”

We learn a great deal about who the Doomriders are, if nothing else. We captured a grunt, nothing more…we don’t who’s paying the Doomriders for this contract or what the exact orders were. We did find out how the Doomriders operate though. Each of the main divisions of their force has a heavy cavalry unit, 2 medium cavalry units, an engineer troop (mages and such), and a scouting party. The Doomriders are under the command of one General Temshan. He’s spent 30 years as a merc, 20 of which has been spent in charge of the Doomriders. He specializes in cavalry, probably owing to the fact that he’s a centaur.

In the meantime, Swift returns and delivers the news. There’s an absolutely massive herd of horses headed our way. Amongst the horses there’s exactly 1 rider, an old man with long white hair and a saber at his hip. I roll a knowledge check and relate to the group that there are some Lovas druids that tend to ride around with horse herds…while I’m doing this, Morchana asks the Elder of the Longpipes if they know this guy…they do. He’s an “odd” man, but he comes by to help with the animals now and again. He goes by the name Zoltan. He gave them the bull that sired their current milk cows, for example. Oh, and Zoltan’s been visiting the Longpipe farm since the ancient Longpipe’s grandfather was running the farm. We put 2 and 2 together, and decide that he’d be valuable to talk to. We decide to leave some equipment behind with the Longpipes and head out to greet him, in part so that he doesn’t ride into our still-standing traps and lame up a bunch of his horses. Just being courteous, y’know. We bring along some of our lamed horses, hoping that he’ll be able to heal them.

Along the way, Fluffy notices how frosty and icy Lossëlen is…and proceeds to try to lick her, thinking she’s a popsicle. She creates a block of ice with her ice magic…and I Prestidigitation blueberry flavoring into the ice. Instant popsicle…Fluffy is happy.

Zoltan’s a friendly enough sort…he’s an old man, with graying hair. He has a vertical scar that runs from the top of his nose clear around the back of his head…we think it’s an axe wound, but we feel it isn’t polite to ask about it. Regardless, the hair along the scar is clearly whiter than the rest. First and foremost, we ask him to heal our horses…but he provides a counteroffer that floors us. Trade our 3 lame horses (and the 2 with broken ankles) for 6 of his healthy horses. They’re not warhorses by any means, but they’re leagues better than walking. Fluffy’s horse is admittedly large, but the rest of us have the ‘runts’. We try to get as much information from Zoltan as we can. He takes to Fluffy immediately, for whatever reason, and to his credit, Fluffy remains docile throughout the entire visit…probably due to the large amount of sugar cubes that Zoltan is feeding him. We ask if he’s heard anything of the Doomriders, but he doesn’t tell us anything more than what we already know. I also make a massive fool of myself, but that’s to be expected with and INT of 20 and a WIS of 9. Cade inquires if he happened to know anything of the Baronet…Zoltan does not appear to know and is a little curious as to why we’re asking.

Morchana: “The baronet was a very dear fr-”

Cade: “She killed the baronet.” Morchana is miffed.

We get general information, nothing immediately helpful, but all of it terribly interesting. We find out that there is another possible cause of the nymph being evil…the coins we now possess. Apparently, he has one/some too, possibly given to him by King Tanos Fiendbane from a “lucky horde.” Apparently, they used to belong to a dragon…in the early 200’s…for some perspective; our story is in the mid 500s. Last thing, Cade, picking up on the coins’ history, draws the Weeping Blade and asks if the druid knows anything about it. The druid says it looks familiar, though “The water’s new.” Cade explicitly mentions that he flicks the sword onto his shoulder, ‘carelessly’ showering Morchana behind him with drops.

Morchana is miffed some more.

We decide to head for the keep of the Baron Aralt via the ruin of River’s Bend. Cade, Keito, and I want to see if there are any survivors, and if we can help them. The town is a mess…it’s depressing really. We arrived at nightfall, and we could see massive areas of the town still on fire. The block where the Hungry Carp once was (that’s the bar we met at) still burning, along with sections of the wall around the city and the local temple. The only primary structure still standing (and not on fire) was the keep of the (late) Baronet. If anyone in this town is alive, they’re there. The gates are closed, which is a good sign. We’re deciding on how to announce our presence when Fluffy decides for us. A knock from a 22 STR orc is VERY loud.

A young man in a poorly fitting chainmail shirt wearing a holy symbol of the deity worshiped local (and on fire) temple yelled from the top of the wall. “Who the hell are you people? Come to pick over the scraps, have you?” I’m insulted! Honestly. We’re adventurers, not thieves. :smalltongue:

Cade: “We’ve been at the Longpipe farm…we fought some of these Doomriders off for them.”

Guard: “Good for you. We didn’t.”

Cade: “Noticed that. Anything we can do?”

He gruffly demands to know if we’ve got any food, we offer to share what we’ve got, and in we go. Keito is showing off her holy symbol, and I’m thankful she serves a Good deity…in a rather odd twist, mine. I know she’s an Attercop, a being of the Underdark, for one…and that she’s serving a Chaotic Good deity of the Air (and Love, for that matter) is an interesting twist. We walk inside and are quite startled by what we see. Our DM uses counters fairly frequently to represent minor enemies, minor NPCs, what have you…he’s got a fairly large tub of them…as the gates open and we walk inside, the DM takes his entire counter tub and dumps it inside the keep. There are a LOT of people here. Many of them are injured, and Keito immediately begins healing some of them.

The young guard-priest is waiting for us in the main courtyard. He looks to be about 19, and he’s wearing a chain shirt that probably didn’t belong to him a couple of days ago; it’s much too big for him. We ask him what happened to the town, who’s in charge, etc. He says he is. We ask for how long, he asks, “What time is it?” Oh. Not very long then.

He mentions that the town lacked direction in the attack by the Doomriders, as the baronet was dead, but that that was probably just as well—the baronet likely wouldn’t have let anyone inside the keep with him anyway. I ask if he was really that bad, and the young priest curses and gestures violently, choking thin air as he seethes, “I wish I could have strangled him myself!”

Cade nods toward Morchana. “She beat you to it.”

Morchana is miffed some more. And then promptly baffled, as before anyone can react the young priest reaches across the table, hugs her, and turns to the gathered survivors proclaiming, “She struck a blow against the nobility!” Cue crowd cheer; Morchana is suddenly, unexpectedly, the heroine of hundreds.

The people are swarming the party, and the priest suggests we go inside the gatehouse where it will be less crowded. Fluffy won’t fit, and wants to sleep anyway, so he stays behind. Lossëlen stays outside to watch the horses, and Keito remains outside, continuing to heal people.

Once inside, introductions are made all around. The young priest, Karl, pointedly introduces himself to Morchana first. We try to gather as much information as we possibly can. The priest tells us that there are no nobles left in the town, and that most of the bureaucrats are hiding in fear for their lives. It appears the Doomriders had been infiltrating the town even before we went to the Longpipe farm, so it does not seem this attack was in retaliation for the murder of the Baronet. In fact, logic would say this was intended as a strike against him--making this whole attack rather pointless. Nothing quite seems to add up. Various theories all fall flat, and the best plan we can seem to come up with involves getting the ear of a noble—either Connaught down in the south; Aralt, whom the Doomriders were headed towards last they were seen, or the Grand Duke himself. Note, that as the Duke is a rather well-known spineless wimp, Karl suggests we talk to his key advisor Gabraal Andromact who is much more adept at getting things done.

Then again… Karl then calls for a wizened little old bureaucrat, who tells us about a tournament that is to be held in Tiborem, the capital city at the mouth of the River Adamant. We decide we should go to the tournament and compete, as whoever wins will gain the ear of the Grand Duke in a private audience. (If Morchana doesn’t manage that on her own and gain his “ear” first, that is.) Maybe we --collectively-- can work some nerve into the Grand Pansy?

The others and I decide we need to help the villagers, so we go out into the city and put out the largest fire, using both of my remaining first-tier spells. Meanwhile, Morchana goes information crawling in the keep. She tracks down one of the bureaucrats, who is trying to sort out files and books, and learns more of the same as the priest told us, but also one other interesting thing; this was an extremely irregular time for an attack, as it was mere weeks before the taxes were to be collected—the treasuries were nearly empty, and there would be very little loot. We know the centaur general works for pay, so if there is no loot, who is paying him, and how?

So… if they raided for loot, they were practiced professionals who struck too early despite careful intelligence and familiarity with all the timetables. It can’t have been to avenge the baronet --he’s been dead maybe two nights and they’ve been planning this for weeks. If they were sent to attack the baronet, they were too late, and sacked the town anyway --blatantly against their seemingly professional standards. On top of it all, it looks like the Baron Aralt himself is directing them, but why smash his own town --his own son’s charge? And why are the Doomriders herding living captives toward his keep? Too many questions, and none of it adds up.

Later once we’ve returned, Morchana runs into the maid who originally let her into the baronet’s room a few nights ago, who tells her nothing, and only insinuates that Morchana must be working for someone. We draw our own conclusions as Morchana walks away quite miffed… again.

The next morning, after being unable to find a serviceable boat, we set off on horseback to the tournament—a journey that takes nearly five full uneventful days. At the town just before Tiborem, we stop at the inn for the night in order to get a good night’s sleep (in the case of those of us who do sleep) and ask a few questions to ensure our information about the tournament is correct, and find that, indeed, no one downstream has heard anything about the burning of River’s Bend.
On the horizon our first major city (and a tournament) awaits!


Again, sorry for all of the delays. This week was Hell on Earth. On the plus side, by and large, it's over. Enjoy!

Morchana
2009-10-02, 11:34 AM
I agree with the above poster.

Thanks! I'm still not convinced this is what Morchana looks like, but it is epic nonetheless!

kestrel404
2009-10-02, 12:22 PM
Nice. But my plot sense is tingling. It is telling me that the timing between the Noble's death and the attack is far too convenient to have been an accident.

I suggest a minor interrogation of Morchana (yes, I know you're reading this) as to why she did it (really), who paid her (at least as much as she knows) and what she was paid (especially if it was in items rather than cash, as cash is far less easily traced). If she wasn't hired, it can be safely assume that she was manipulated into this course of action (in which case I'd catch up with that Maid NPC and interrogate HER).

There are really only two possibilities (outside of freak coincidence, which I'm discounting):
Morchana was used by someone working for the Doomriders, in which case they wanted a significant portion of the town to be evacuated into the fortress (for whatever reason, they didn't want to have to drive the ENTIRE town before them as slave/conscript/whatevers). This also implies that there is probably a Doomrider faction working at cross purpose to their stated goal, or their leader's intentions, or the purpose of whoever hired them. Basically dissension in the ranks - which can be very useful to know.
OR She was used by someone working against the Doomriders, who wanted to save (or at least deprive the Doomriders of) as many of the townspeople as possible. This could be just about anyone at this point, but might make for a useful line of inquiry later. It's also the more likely scenario.

Kol Korran
2009-10-02, 12:34 PM
so this was an "inbetween" meeting (i'm not sure that's the right term... tried to translate from my mother tongue). i liked the small interactions with the druid of the horses most.

note: my group has a small wiki site for their campaign. on it there is also a glossary, for importent people, places, things and concepts we find. might be worth doing this a bit later on, so as not to be get confused. not now, but later.

Morchana
2009-10-02, 01:42 PM
I suggest a minor interrogation of Morchana (yes, I know you're reading this)

That's really funny to see that. . . ". . .I know you're reading this. . ."


as to why she did it (really), who paid her (at least as much as she knows) and what she was paid (especially if it was in items rather than cash, as cash is far less easily traced). If she wasn't hired, it can be safely assume that she was manipulated into this course of action.

Well, I do have answers for all of these, but I have a really good bluff check, so. . . We'll see how much of the story actually comes to light. :smallwink: However, as much as I'm sure the Paladin would like to corner me and barrage me with questions, I am sure they will have to wait until an opportune time in the plot to actually ask me-- as of right now, the rest of the party has no reason to suspect anything, and I have been proclaimed a heroin! On top of that, I poisoned and incapacitated half of the enemy troops coming to the Longpipe Farm. Sure, I give Cade a toothache, but is that really so bad? He does keep splattering me with Holy Water, after all. . .

(Walks away miffed, as apparently I am always miffed at those who question me.)

Fayd
2009-10-02, 02:28 PM
My thought is that the assassination could be completely unconnected to anything relating to the Doomriders at the moment...but my plot sense is tingling as well. There is much that will come to light...and it will. Oh...it will...

This was an entirely combat free-session, by the way...full length and all.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-10-03, 04:23 PM
So, I'm trying to decide what the best course of action would be for us in the Tournament. When we were talking with the innkeeper the night before we arrived at Tiborem, he told us a little bit about the events.

Royal Events:

Jousting
Battle


To even compete in a royal event you have to have 'Writs of Nobility' and although we do have a resident snow princess (Snowstar), I don't know how she is able to prove it. Maybe we could just intimidate our way in...

Jousting - We would get owned. Let's NOT try this one.

Battle - A mini-war; this is probably our best shot at getting to talk to the Duke's Advisor. The problem is, we don't know all the details yet. Is this a 5v5 battle? 10v10? We only have 6 people. I guess we'll find out more before we enter (if we are even allowed to).

Normal Events:
(There were a LOT of them, so I'm just going to list the ones that we may have a chance at)

Wrestling
Pancration (Hand-to-hand fighting)
Archery


Wrestling - Fluffy will do well in this event. He is a BIG boy, and he can lift a ton. Even so, I expect to meet other people of freakish strength, so we'll see how well Fluffy does.

Archery - Snowstar is our archer, but how good is her DEX score? Enough to take on all competitors? I suppose her good friend Morchana could do some sabotage just to be on the safe side.

Pancration - Yes I know that's kind of a weird word - It's basically unarmed combat. Cade would be our best bet (if Fluffy is already entered in wresting). He's got some good combat skills, but I still think that if we encounter a monk in this event then we're hosed.

Well, I guess even if we miserably fail in all of the events then we could just get Morchana to bat her eyes at the Duke's Advisor.

Anyone have any advice?

Fayd
2009-10-04, 01:19 AM
To be fair, the non-royal events will probably be against mostly commoners. Snowstar has an incredible attack bonus from her dex right now...I don't think she'll be outshot unless Robin Hood himself is competing or she rolls a nat 1.

Fluffy will be great at wrestling as long as he doesn't get lynched by the townsfolk.

I actually think we might have a decent chance at the Jousting competition. Cade and I heard the rules from Tam...Either Cade or Snowstar would be our best jouster (Snowstar is the one amongst us with the best Ride skill)

On the whole, I feel useless in the tournament...what can I compete in...a quiz bowl?

Keito
2009-10-04, 01:55 AM
We all head inside but I stop Keito before we actually get there. I ask for a little more healing for my eye…and then ask “So Keito, when were you planning on telling us?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

To which I respond by reaching out and quickly grabbing one of her extra arms underneath her cloak. She’s a little startled, but I just say “Let them find out on your terms.”

When we come in, Cade tells me he made an Observation check. He was near enough to the door that heard the entire conversation, but he didn’t see what I did. So he doesn’t what this secret is, just that something is up. He told me he wasn’t going to pry. This is probably for the best at the moment.





Yeah, great you feel sorry for the horses and it comes to that. If my climb is great why can i only disguise it with rolling a climb check to climb the wall like a human....:smallmad:

side note: playing a female character is hard for the first time... I quite literally answered to fayd "why are you questioning me, after all I just healed you, man" :smallconfused: great...roleplay FAIL, but lets put it this way I'm a creature from the underdark I figure being female and a healer would increase my chances of NOT getting killed :smallsigh:

also fayd...you keep refering to my character as a he....I will make his mind explodetonate by gender confusion by the end of it.:smallbiggrin:

Fayd
2009-10-04, 11:16 AM
I thought I was consistent with the female pronouns...hmm...I'll have to go through and check. Keep in mind though...I did say that I wasn't going to reveal you, AND that I didn't seem particularly weirded out.

I'll admit, it probably was a little rude and an invasion of your personal space. But keep in mind, at the moment, I don't think there were many more ways to say what I needed to say without actually using words (in case anyone was listening in!) because I thought you'd want to reveal yourself and not have me do it.

Eldariel
2009-10-05, 12:00 PM
Finally finished reading the sessions thus far. Sounds like a very enjoyable campaign; thanks for sharing! Some of the names in the party caught my eyes, more precisely:

Lossëlen: That's Quenya, right? Props for that! The only problem with the name is how hard it is to abbreviate :smallbiggrin:

Morchana: Isn't that some romanized spelling for an Arabic word? Beautiful name at any rate.

The rest didn't give me any instantaneous associations. Pardon me, I'm something of a wannabe linguist so things like these interest me. :smallwink:


Few suggestions that would make this journal easier to read:
- I suggest you link all the posts with game sessions in the OP; that allows for new people just starting to read the journal to quickly locate the game sessions and catch up. You can get link to a single post by clicking the number in the upper right corner of said post; this opens the post in a new window with address that directly jumps you to that specific post. Use those addresses for links in the OP.
- It would be really interesting to hear a bit more about the rules. There seem to be some pretty sweeping changes compared to any of the official editions and while the fights are easy enough to follow, I'm still having some trouble getting a picture of just what is possible and exactly what each of your characters is capable of. Some extrapolation regarding the rules, especially the character rules, would be helpful.
- Reading a bit more about the world would be interesting. Of course, if you know no more...

Of course, the problem with finding the sessions won't be relevant for a while yet; I'm just anticipating this thread swelling to 10+ pages and having to dig for the posts. And at least how spells are treated sounds really interesting. Do you truly have unlimited uses of Prestidigitation? 'cause that's just awesome!


As for your current position, I would've personally tried to approach the Doomriders at this point; more precisely, trying to get close to some higher-ups, maybe even General Temchan himself. Under a guise of wanting to hire the organization for a task, it shouldn't be too hard to get an audience and the rest would be obvious.

Someone must have a bit more clue as to how they are getting paid, why the Baron (or whoever occupies the castle at the present) needs flocks of people/bodies (I sense rituals), and as pretty unknown and neutral party, you are at little risk trying to figure it out.


But yeah, the tournament; sounds like Battle would be easiest, though I'd wager it's not a 6v6 battle so you could split up with Los trying her hands at archery (with some slight magical help if necessary; True Strike would rock the competition) and the rest in Battle.

Sounds like it could be a Battle Royale. This way you've got two shots at it, and this if Morchana doesn't find an...auxillary means of bypassing the entire competition. Of course, what you plan on doing in the audience is another matter; I cannot see it shedding any light on what's going on with Baron Aralt. Though maybe the Grand Duke isn't quite as spineless as he lets on.


Overall, props to y'all; great show thus far!

Fayd
2009-10-05, 01:04 PM
Morchana's player speaks Quenya, so she translated the 2 elven names...I can't remember now if Morchana itself is Quenya or Sindarin...she can give a better explanations of the meanings than I can.

Fluffy picked his name to be silly, near as I can figure. Keito is a reference to something her player reads, if I recall correctly. Cade uses that name fairly frequently, but I'm not sure where he got it.

My name is also a VERY obscure reference to a videogame I enjoy...Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2...Fayd was probably my most rocking randomly generated character...and I like the sound of it, so I use it a bunch of places now.

As for the rule and combat changes, I'll have to leave most of that to Tam...I'm not experienced enough with the base combat to tell what's new and what's old and what's actually from 3.5 (the base of the system). I know initiative is significantly different, for example.

As for your suggestions:

I was just thinking about putting up links in the second post that I reserved...thanks for letting me know how to do it!

And I really need to find out more about the world myself...I have general geographic knowledge, but not much else.

That said, we did have our most recent session last night, and I'm in the process of journaling now...it should be up today or tomorrow. Suffice to say, Morchana proves that CHA is indeed a good stat to have a 20 in. YEAH... I'll have to leave you with that, I don't want to spoil too much!

Eldariel
2009-10-05, 02:26 PM
Morchana's player speaks Quenya, so she translated the 2 elven names...I can't remember now if Morchana itself is Quenya or Sindarin...she can give a better explanations of the meanings than I can.

Ooh, Morchana is a Quenyan name too? Interesting; I can only tell "Mor" apart - I had no idea "chana" had a meaning in the language.


Fluffy picked his name to be silly, near as I can figure. Keito is a reference to something her player reads, if I recall correctly. Cade uses that name fairly frequently, but I'm not sure where he got it.

Fluffy I figured out; it's also an awesome name for the Gentle...uh, Giant? Keito, well, I'll just wait for her to extrapolate :smallsmile: And Cade sounds Human enough to just be "pulled outta the hat", though his player will certainly correct me if I'm wrong.


My name is also a VERY obscure reference to a videogame I enjoy...Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2...Fayd was probably my most rocking randomly generated character...and I like the sound of it, so I use it a bunch of places now.

It's a beautiful name, to be honest. It...feels right for the character, even if one-syllable names sound weird to my ear (they hardly exist in Finnish).


As for the rule and combat changes, I'll have to leave most of that to Tam...I'm not experienced enough with the base combat to tell what's new and what's old and what's actually from 3.5 (the base of the system). I know initiative is significantly different, for example.

Well, I'll just wait for the Master to explain all this then!


As for your suggestions:

I was just thinking about putting up links in the second post that I reserved...thanks for letting me know how to do it!

And I really need to find out more about the world myself...I have general geographic knowledge, but not much else.

Yeah, I figured as much - will be reading more when more is found out :smallsmile:


That said, we did have our most recent session last night, and I'm in the process of journaling now...it should be up today or tomorrow. Suffice to say, Morchana proves that CHA is indeed a good stat to have a 20 in. YEAH... I'll have to leave you with that, I don't want to spoil too much!

Looking forward to it! And yeah, high Charisma definitely has its upsides.

Tam_OConnor
2009-10-05, 02:57 PM
Eldariel: Thanks for reading! As for mechanics: I'm planning on posting the rules when they're completed, but here's the short of it:

E10 (Epic 10) with regard to levels. Fifth level is exceptional, the peak of normal human attainment. Sixth level and above are mythic, the stuff of legends (Right, Boo?). Eleventh level and higher are divine (and thus outside the scope of a normal game).

There are eight PC classes: Barbarian, Gish (magic and sword; based on Duskblade), Knight, Mage, Martial Artist, Ranger, Rogue and Swashbuckler. The Knight, Martial Artist, Ranger and Swashbuckler all have maneuvers, in the method of the Tome of Battle. Spell-casting is currently undergoing revision, so the best analogue I can provide is that of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files or Mutants and Masterminds. Very limited number of spells, but very versatile within those effects. That's the idea, at least.

I've done the standard overhaul of skills and feats. The only main difference is that feats increase in power as you level (stolen from Frank and K's Tome of Awesome, over at the Gaming Den). Stole backgrounds from d20 Modern, some of the combat streamlining from 4E, and a unified disarm/grapple/trip/etc mechanic from Pathfinder.

Again, this is only the early testing phase, so it isn't nearly in a final form.

As for the world itself: I'll have to scan in my maps when I get the chance. I've run three campaigns in and around the Great Orcish Invasion of 291. That time period is fairly well fleshed out, though all three campaign ends were rather... catastrophic (I'll point out what precisely burned/sank/fell over into the swamp once I get the maps up). Doomriders is set in 555, so I suppose I'll see how that'll shape the history.

Morchana
2009-10-05, 06:56 PM
Lossëlen: That's Quenya, right? Props for that! The only problem with the name is how hard it is to abbreviate :smallbiggrin:

Morchana: Isn't that some romanized spelling for an Arabic word? Beautiful name at any rate.

The rest didn't give me any instantaneous associations. Pardon me, I'm something of a wannabe linguist so things like these interest me. :smallwink:

Yes, Lossëlen is Quenya-- It means "Snow-Star". It makes soooooo much sense for her character.

And yes, Morchana is kind of Quenyan as well-- Fayd's player suggested I be Elena or Helena or something like that, but that conjured stars and light in my head. Now, Morchana is an assassin, so she needed a shadowy name-- Like Morchana! :smallbiggrin: Officially, Morchana translates to "Shadowy One" but really, I just built off of the root "morch", which means "shadow" and added some random letters at the end to make it a pretty name-- names don't really have to be exactly correct anyway!

I do use Elena for an alias sometimes though, just to make Fayd happy!



Sounds like it could be a Battle Royale. This way you've got two shots at it, and this if Morchana doesn't find an...auxillary means of bypassing the entire competition. Of course, what you plan on doing in the audience is another matter; I cannot see it shedding any light on what's going on with Baron Aralt.

Well, I did, but I don't want to spoil anything before Fayd gets the next update posted. Stay tuned!

Cade Rentyr
2009-10-06, 02:19 AM
(Walks away miffed, as apparently I am always miffed at those who question me.)
In Fayd's defense, a lot of the 'Morchana=miffed' jokes might possibly have something vaguely to do with the fact that he has me proofread last before posting.
Not that I have anything against Morchana, of course. :smallamused:


Lossëlen: That's Quenya, right? Props for that! The only problem with the name is how hard it is to abbreviate :smallbiggrin:
Can't we just call her Lossie? :smalltongue:


As for your current position, I would've personally tried to approach the Doomriders at this point; more precisely, trying to get close to some higher-ups, maybe even General Temchan himself. Under a guise of wanting to hire the organization for a task, it shouldn't be too hard to get an audience and the rest would be obvious.
We considered this idea, but there were two main problems that made us wary of it. 1) At that point, we had almost no money. If that came to light... well, at best we would've been thrown out. Of course, Morchana could've bluffed our way through, but there was always the problem of 2) the Doomriders who survived the farmstead. We don't know much about these mercs, but they strike me as the vengeful type. Marching into the middle of their camp right when they might be steaming to kill (specifically us) was a risk that didn't seem wise. If we were a little more nondescript we could pull it off, but a fairy, a blue man and an orc like Fluffy are rather hard to forget.
(Shrug) That, and our DM strongly steered us toward going to the capital. We found out what happened to his last party that went where they weren't supposed to; they gave up their campaign because they got tired of rolling new characters.


And Cade sounds Human enough to just be "pulled outta the hat", though his player will certainly correct me if I'm wrong.
Eh, pretty much. Mighta heard it in a video game or book somewhere, but I mostly just like the sound of the name. It's the last name that has a little bit more story to it (and not much at that) but I think I'm going to wait until it comes up in the campaign to explain.

There's a lot more I could talk about, but most of it will be covered in the next chapter post. In fact, all Fayd's waiting on is actually my proofread. Tomorrow will be... blarg, so probably look for it on Wednesday.

And don't worry, Morchana, there's not much I can rib you for this time. :smallwink:

Fayd
2009-10-07, 11:24 AM
Chapter 5: Maneuvers; Political, Tactical, and Otherwise


We have arrived in Tiborem, and I realize something. I forgot a general description of all of the events. There are 2 noble events, Jousting for 4 days and the Grand Melee on the following day. For commoners, there are 3 main competitions: Archery, Wrestling, and Pankration (basically, unarmed combat with few little wrestling components). Cade, being a follower of the god of Knights, Turmlar, is allowed a free pass in, and is able to get a pass for the other 2 we’ll be entering in the noble events, Lossëlen and Morchana, as no magic of any sort is allowed in the Grand Melee (or any competition, meaning I’m worthless) and Fluffy is…Yeah…We’re not even going to try that one. Before we can get in line, Fluffy announces that he is hungry. The rest of us can wait…but this IS Fluffy. I Mage Hand some of Fluffy’s own rations out of his sack and give them to him…I’m not entirely sure Fluffy noticed where the food came from, but he was happy…and that’s what’s important.
I stand with Fluffy in the commoner line so that we can register him for the wrestling and pankration competitions, mostly so that he doesn’t kill commoners…he still gets hungry in line and munches on some of his spare chalk. Keito follows us and surprises everyone by registering for archery. Her DEX is pretty good. So, aside from frightening an official, (Fluffy tends to do that with his mere presence) everything went well. (Fluffy ‘patted’ the official on the head, causing him to dive under the table for his helmet.)

To pass the time, and make some money, I basically set up in the commoner’s area and begin performing tricks for a while… Prestidigitation at will is amazingly fun… Mage Hand is as well. I make a small amount of money. Fluffy buys a new greataxe, Cade gets jousting lances, Morchana pickpockets relatively unsuccessfully for a while, and we do general shopping, and we turn in for the night…well most of us anyway. Morchana goes with Lossëlen to the nobles’ district (after I Prestidigitation them clean and use Mending to fix Morchana’s dress) to see what mischief they can get into. Meanwhile, Keito realized that she doesn’t have any training with a shortbow, and we need someone to teach her. With Lossëlen gone, Cade still off selling our excess stuff, and the only person nearby who knows how to shoot asleep…and cuddling his greataxe like a teddy bear…I do the only logical thing. I wake up the orc barbarian. First, I Mage Hand a piece of chalk out from his pack, and then Prestidigitation it to taste and smell like freshly cooked bacon. He is awake and lunges for the chalk, but I explain that I’ll give the bacon-chalk to him if he teaches Keito how to use a bow… Fluffy acquiesces, and Keito can now actually compete in the archery competition! It’s frustrating, but it works.

And to me, I hereby award:
http://tf-2.fr/ach.php?a=Bacon-Chalk&b=Wake up the orc barbarian without getting axed in half.&c=u&e=330&f=1&short (http://teamfortress2.fr/achievements.php)

Morchana bluffs her way into a party being held by none other than the Duke Connaught’s manor. (Connaught is the arch-rival of Baron Aralt, our favorite Doomrider-hiring-suspect.) Lossëlen and Morchana, being as they are, garner much of the attention of the gathered knights. They gather general information, finding out that the Aralt is not present, and his only knights are very low rank and from the edges of his province --meaning, peons who came not realizing their lord didn’t. Morchana sneaks off eventually to talk to…somebody… (She and the DM were exchanging note cards…fairly frequently)… Lossëlen eventually grows bored of the conversation and punch (surprisingly, non-alcoholic and made with REAL oranges…they’d have to be imported, so this is a really expensive treat) and she comes back to find us all camped out away from the world, and she takes up the remains (and fixing Fluffy’s attempt at instruction) of Keito’s archery instruction. Morchana comes back the next morning. We are all mystified (except the paladin, visibly at least) by her late arrival, but no one asks any questions.

The next day is eventful. In the archery completion, the best 2 of each bracket advance, and Lossëlen and Keito are in the same bracket….and 3 shots each later, we have 2 competitors for next round. Lossëlen, in fact, shoots a near bullseye, so lots of people are impressed. Nobody is competing in the jousting competition today from our party because we signed up so late. We do watch the jousting, which goes amazingly well… there’s no deaths or permanent injuries, considering that the first day consists mostly of low ranking knights. Commoners are disappointed, but whatever. Morchana watches from the stands, sitting with some of the knights she met at the party the evening before. She is introduced to Lady Erin, the court painter and a jungle elf, and has several other nobles and courtiers pointed out to her. The ones of us who didn’t try to get into the noble area got a good long look at Gabraal and the Grand Duke. The duke looks ill, but I can’t tell what it is, poison, illness, or faking from this distance. Gabraal was an interesting figure. He was old, probably dyeing his beard, with an interesting pattern of scars along his cheeks. I positively identified them as coming from a particular school of dueling. Their helms cover the tops of their heads and their eyes but leave their cheekbones and such exposed. Oh, and because of my familiar’s great eyesight, I identified them as saber wounds.

The next event of the day? Wrestling. Fluffy competes in one round of wrestling. And wins—easily. There really wasn’t much hope for his competitor. Fluffy grabbed him, flipped him over, sat on his head, and that was that… grappled and pinned like it was nothing. Fluffy wasn’t even raging!

I spent the day trying to make more money with my magic side show…fail. Nobody’s actually… watching. Sad.

Fluffy’s pankration event isn’t until tomorrow, so he goes to the massive banquet that the tournament is putting on for the commoners. It’s mostly roasted pork. He eats…a lot. Going down the line, and up the line, and down the line, eating the whole way.

And then…genius strikes! Prestidigitation! AT WILL! I charge the peasents roughly one obol (small coin) to flavor their food to their choosing. I make a couple concentration checks to keep going for several hours…and pull in a hefty (for me) profit.

That evening, Morchana does what she does best. She has by now pick pocketed enough money to buy (or has otherwise gained) a very nice midnight blue dress. She approaches the manor of the Grand Duke himself and bluffs her way inside on the premise of visiting a friend…the guard responds with “The Grand Duchess is in her chambers.” :smallconfused:

(By the way, it should be noted around here that no one has seen the Grand Duchess at the tournament, with or without the Duke. Curious. He’s very quiet and looking sick, and she’s MIA…)

Morchana walks through the gates and heads to the servants’ areas to pull together information. Oh, and did she get information. She rolled a 20 on her gather information check…yeah, she found out a lot. She decides to try to sneak into the office of Gabraal Andromacht…rolls a GOOD sneak check, but is stopped by someone. (My first thought, “Oh no! He has a figurine!”) He’s an older guard, in good (if dented) armor. Morchana bluffs her way out of the blatant trespass but is rather firmly led out and away by this gentleman, who nevertheless seems very talkative and genial for a guard. He introduces himself as Andres. Captain Andres that is…of the Dukal Guard. Oh, and the reigning champion of the jousting competition. :smalleek: And surprise surprise, Morchana uses her persuasive skills to convince Andres to go for a drink after his shift is over. He agrees. At one of the high end noble establishments, she brings up jousting, of which he boasts for hours, and invites her to sit next to him during the next day’s jousting competition.

The next day, Morchana joins Andres in the stands, sitting just a few seats away from Gabraal himself! She talks incessantly with Andres about the knights and their strategies, gathering information for Cade and Lossëlen to use the next day in the jousts. (There will be an actual bonus of some sort.) Morchana also befriends the Lady Erin, learning several interesting things. . . Gabraal likes to come visit her at the conservatory, he likes to visit her manor to look at her “paintings of sunsets”. . . Apparently there is something going on between the two of them.

In the archery competition the next day, Lossëlen and Keito are in two separate brackets. Keito is apparently a prodigy with the shortbow and manages to advance. Unfortunately, Lossëlen was barely edged out of the competition on three unlucky rolls.

Jousting time! Cade’s initiative ROCKS, and in his first joust, he manages to dismount the other rider easily. Cade goes on to issue a challenge to another rider and wins again. Lossëlen, our other jouster, also wins her first joust but does not make another challenge. What is the prize for winning a joust? The other rider’s horse and armor, of course! Typically, they send squires after the tournament and ransom their stuff back. Lossëlen simply takes the normal rate, but Cade takes 10% off the price for them as a gesture of good faith. In the end though, they’re each still richer than the rest of the party put together…probably. :smallwink:

Fluffy’s first round of pankration was next. He decided to rage. The fight was…short. 2 blows from Fluffy and it was over…a single good punch followed by a massive uppercut. Considering how tall Fluffy is…it was basically a Shoryuken. The nobles are all greatly amused by Fluffy, even if they are trying to hide it. The Grand Duke and Duchess are in attendance, but both are still quiet and uninvolved.

That evening, the Tournament held another pig roast banquet…and Fluffy hatches a plan. He crawls underneath a table, and picks up the table, three full roast pigs and all, and carries it off and away so he can eat it. The peasants are startled.

What was I doing all day? I’m glad you asked! I feel like I’ve struck upon a brilliant moneymaking scheme. I present myself to the nearest and nicest looking tavern around, the Wyrm’s Head (which, incidentally, has a gigantic…slightly disproportioned…fake wyrm head above the door) and tell the owner that I’m looking for work…I can flavor food to anyone’s desires in 6 seconds or less. “DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH I WOULD PAY YOU?” the owner, Marley, shouts. “You’rehiredgetoverhere!” To put how I feel in achievement form:

http://tf-2.fr/ach.php?a=Yeah!&b=I'm doin' the Gainful Employment Dance!&c=u&e=316&f=1&short (http://teamfortress2.fr/achievements.php)

I spent the entire day using Prestidigitation and other minor magics to make the tavern the most hopping place in town that day. The DM made me make concentration checks to keep going, DC 10 +1/hour after the first. I ended up having to beat an 18 DC concentration check…which I did, even with a penalty to WIS. I made money! YAY! I’m so excited by this primarily because I started the game with 0. No money of any kind, all of my supplies and such ate up all of my starting cash…and I haven’t been exactly raking in the funds. As we’re closing up for the day, a rather oily and snaky priest comes walking in desiring to speak to me. “You are the mage who has been providing the…theatrics…correct? I have a proposition for you.” I am intrigued. To make a long story short, he feels that the Archprelate has grown slothful and he’d like someone to “reinvigorate” him, as he’s grown complacent and incredibly corpulent. Not giving it a second thought, I accept the proposal…though I make the stipulation to Peter (the priest) that I will reinvigorate the Archprelate, but what he does afterward is his own business… I will make no suggestions. He’d like the task done before the end of the week, and I announce my intention to take care of the matter tomorrow…again with the not-thinking. My sense motive reveals that this priest would rather that I kill or otherwise incapacitate the Archprelate so that he can take over and then make a seize for power. I’m going to learn a simple magical ritual to make my spells non-lethal if I can…and challenge the Archprelate to a magical duel. It was about this time when I looked at the player’s brief Tam gave us again. The Archprelate of Laeros? Yeah, he’s the second most powerful person in the country behind Gabraal himself. Seize power indeed!

:smalleek: What did I just get myself into?

starwoof
2009-10-07, 06:05 PM
http://tf-2.fr/ach.php?a=Self Imposed Death Sentence&b=You challenged WHO to a duel?&c=u&e=718&f=1 (http://teamfortress2.fr/achievements.php)

Sounds like you're in a pickle! I'm looking forward to seeing how you get out of this.

The rest of the party continues to amuse as well.:smallbiggrin: Morchana is more useful than I thought, and Fluffy is still funny as all get out.

Fayd
2009-10-07, 06:35 PM
Yeah...technically, I don't have to duel him...the agreement was to "reinvigorate" him. There's a small piece of ritual magic that I'll be able to perform next session (the magic change will end up refunding one of my feats and I'll just refund it now as it's convenient...that and Tam says that it's ok) that essentially makes the duel non-lethal. So I won't die...probably.

I need to find a way to goad him to a duel, but only to a non-lethal duel, and one that will inspire the man to greatness if he looses.

Also, one thing I did notice while in session that I forgot to mention...For sustained and battlefield use, I'm probably the most magically powerful person in the entire town...this Archprelate is blessed by his god, but I might be able to pull ahead...plus, I have a LOT of combat magics.

Morchana
2009-10-07, 10:33 PM
I'm glad we can amuse you, Starwoof. :smallsmile:

starwoof
2009-10-07, 10:50 PM
I'm glad you can too. I check this thread first when I wake up now.It's taken priority over facebook and breakfast.:smallwink:

Fayd
2009-10-07, 11:16 PM
Thanks Starwoof! That's really good to hear (especially after a somewhat nasty day)...I'm glad you enjoy my writing!

One thing I've been meaning to ask the forumites: how can I actually goad this guy into a duel in the right manner? I figure to insult him, but not too much. What would be good things to say?

Morchana
2009-10-07, 11:17 PM
Same here-- Either to see if Fayd has the new journal entry up, or to see what people are saying about our escapades. :smallwink:

Fluffy the Orc
2009-10-08, 01:32 AM
One thing I've been meaning to ask the forumites: how can I actually goad this guy into a duel in the right manner? I figure to insult him, but not too much. What would be good things to say?

Tell him that his mother was a hamster and his father smelt of elderberries.

By the way, who says you have to fight him at all? You could rat out the guy who hired you to attack him - thus gaining the gratitude of one of the most powerful men in the countryside.

... just saying.

RdMarquis
2009-10-08, 02:40 AM
I'm really liking the campaign journal so far. It's cool how unique your characters are, and how their personalities bounce off of, or compliment each other. Your campaign is making me look forward to next week when I can finally meet up with my group and get back to our game.

Now, as for your duel with the Archprelate. You should start by gathering information on the guy. Specifically, find out if he'll spare an opponent who is at his mercy, so when things go south, you can drop your weapon and say, "Please, I have a son. He's adopted, gluttonous, and rather destructive, but he is still my boy(Just as an example. Feel free to substitute any other character you wish, or make up a blue faced family.:smallwink:)."

That, or take a hit and act like you're out cold. Again, this is under the assumption that he is a rather honorable person, and there are witnesses. It takes a really low person to execute a helpless opponent, and being a powerful member of the government means you have to keep up appearances to some degree.

Failing that, you'll need to plan your getaway. Maybe check out where the guy lives.

As for starting the fight, try and accuse him of something. Nothing major, like a murder, but something insulting enough to justify you pulling a wand on him.

I think I thought this out too far. Oh, well. Good luck with your fight!:smallsmile:

kestrel404
2009-10-08, 08:12 AM
Ooh, this duel sounds like fun. First things first: Always vet your employers. He sounds like a greasy weasel, so you want to be sure that A: He'll pay you and B:He's not just trying to get you killed.

Make sure his name is what he told you it is. Ask some of his guild members about him. Make sure he's not known for stiffing people. If he's got a bad reputation for leaving employees in the lurch or dead, walk away.

Second, he's wanting you to 're-invigorate' his boss. Well, nothing does that like knowing that your underlings are yapping at your heals. When you go to talk with the Archprelate, be up front with your reasons: You're being paid to act simultaneously as a form of entertainment (for the archprelate), a counselor (of the emotional sort), and a reminder that he's mortal so he shouldn't rest on his laurals.

My openning line to him would be something along the lines of "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but one of your underlings apparently thinks that you're past your prime and could be handily defeated by a barely-trained mageling. Me."

Also, I'm not sure what sort of curveballs your GM might throw at you, but I'd strongly recommend asking a busybody-type-priest about any laws involving the Archprelate fighting in or losing a duel. It might automatically cost him his job, or something.

Morchana
2009-10-09, 01:00 AM
Nice avatar Fluffy-- it suits you!

Fayd
2009-10-09, 10:50 AM
For the convenience of readers, I have included links to all the chapters 3 and beyond in the second post.

Also, thanks for your suggestions about what to do with the archprelate.

I'm not too concerned about loosing. He's the second most powerful person, yes, but that's politically. I think he's probably not that magically powerful. That and I'll be able to make all of the magic non-lethal anyway, I'll be bringing both Cade and Keito if they have no objections, and I think I'll be able to make him WANT a non-lethal fight.

Though checking out the relevant laws would be a very good idea. Oh, that and picking venue. I think I'll let him pick, but if he makes me choose, I'm trying to decide...if he has no qualms about his own temple, that would be epic, but at the same time, a little disrespectful to the deity in question. The street would be a little more dangerous (to the commoners and us), but also interesting.

kestrel404
2009-10-09, 11:04 AM
Venue ideas: If you suggest an 'exhibition duel', it would not only be automatically 'not to the death', but you might also get it included as a last minute addition to the tournament schedule - and be able to use the arena, get a crowd watching.

Now THAT would be invigorating. ;)

Fayd
2009-10-09, 01:30 PM
My only concern is disgracing the fellow in front of the entire town. I don't want him exiled or executed or kicked from his position. He needs essentially the ruler slapped across his knuckles, not a noose.

That and I do NOT want Peter (the priest who gave me the job) to get the job of Archprelate.

Morchana
2009-10-09, 03:21 PM
Fayd, aren't you over-estimating your abilities just a little? :smallamused: What if he beats you?

Fayd
2009-10-09, 03:52 PM
Then he'll be happy and reinvigorated. I win.

If I win, I win.

If I lose, I win.

I AM A MAGE!

flabort
2009-10-09, 05:43 PM
That's always a good outlook on things... wait... I forget, aren't mages the ones that die at a feather landing on them, let alone being hit with magic? [/sarcasm] ok, but atleast the outlooks good.

If Peter get's the job though, you could try beating HIM to a pulp, after claiming your reward...

Fayd
2009-10-09, 06:16 PM
That's always a good outlook on things... wait... I forget, aren't mages the ones that die at a feather landing on them, let alone being hit with magic? [/sarcasm] ok, but atleast the outlooks good.

If Peter get's the job though, you could try beating HIM to a pulp, after claiming your reward...

To be fair, it's why I hypothesize that every great wizard seems to have a beard...with a 1d4 HD, shaving can be a risky affair...nick yourself and you're through!

On the plus side, this priest probably has the same type of HD I do, AND a worse DEX. Unsure about CON. He's incredibly fat, so what sort of things might I expect?

Morchana
2009-10-12, 11:58 AM
Last night was epic-- for Cade. I, on the other hand, spent part of the night curled up in a fetal position on my chair and nearly crying/ having a panic attack, wondering what on earth I could do next that might possibly save me. :smalleek: My D20 decided it didn't like me. :smallfrown:

Kol Korran
2009-10-12, 12:47 PM
didn't have time to catch up until now. nice going at the trounament, kudos to your DM for being able to focus on all characters and make them feel usefull.

as to the archprelate. a battle may or may not be a good idea (both in the "Fayd getting killed" and the "how to invigorate the old man" aspects). it all depends on who this guy is, mechnically speaking, and flavour speaking. what do i mean?

mechanically speaking: this guy could easely be a cleric of old age. he might be level 5, 9, 15 or more for all you know! he could easely kill you with simple spells. (you're level 2 if i'm not mistaken, right?) a few summon monsters or other spells could take you out. more over, if he is powerfull enough, the battle with you won't be a challange, but a nuisiance, which will definetly not "reinvigorate" him. who knows? maybe he is bored with fighting, or hates fighting, or whatever...

which leads me to my second point- you don't really know what invigoration means to this guy! you need to do some research. where is his passion? his faith? his children? his wife? the kingdom? some delicacy he loves? what?

then finds out why he can't partake in his passion no more. maybe the guy is a sex addict that... well... had problems? maybe his wife diead a long time ago and he became bitter? maybe he is doubtfull of his faith, finding contradictions in it? maybe the cook who made his favourite dish died some years ago and no one can mimic the flavour?

use your friends to help you in this, some might have appropriate background or knowledge, and some are good at getting knowledge.

with that knowledge in hand, i hope you can formulate a better plan of action.

think of the following scenerios before you launch into a dual:
1) "i won prelate! wasn't that exhilirating?", "yeah, yeah, woohoo! guards- take the insolent to the dungeon!"
2) "you won prelate! your magic is great indeead! wasn't that exhilirating... (the same as before)

after all- magic is exhilirating for you, but not necesserily for everybody, especially old men who had years and years of it..

hope this helped,
Kol.

Eldariel
2009-10-12, 12:49 PM
Can't we just call her Lossie? :smalltongue:

That'll work, I suppose, but it just doesn't feel very practical to cut 2 letters out of the name :smalltongue: (of course, it's also one syllable so Profit!)


(Shrug) That, and our DM strongly steered us toward going to the capital. We found out what happened to his last party that went where they weren't supposed to; they gave up their campaign because they got tired of rolling new characters.

That's a reason I can understand. *shivers*


By the way, that session (session 5) sounded quite reasonably epic. Lots of success in a variety of sports and some...inside information. All I can say is Morchana sure can go places :smallsmile: That part was quite possibly the most interesting to read.

Though Fayd's (mis)adventures are quite intriguing as well. I'll definitely wait to hear what happens in that particular duel. "Strongest magician in the town"; I assume magicians are quite rare then? As I understood, you were still in the early parts of your career.

By the way, how are the individual events handled? Just a bunch of attack rolls/action rolls? E.g. Archery, I've often worked how to make it somehow interesting. I've yet to come up with anything better than "a bunch of attack rolls" though :smallfrown: Anyways, best of luck to the team in the remaining contests!


Will be looking forward to the next session. I trust it will be epic! Things are just getting good.

Fayd
2009-10-12, 03:28 PM
Well, the next session's write up will be made tomorrow. Suffice to say that, in short:

Cade was awesome.
Morchana's luck ran out.
Fluffy continued to be himself.
Keito was very helpful to me.
My plan worked, mostly. In that it was only just mostly my plan. Or more accurately, just my spirit of the plan, but not my plan itself. Regardless, he's very invigorated now. :smallbiggrin:

And the duel isn't a fight to the death, it's a massive show off of power. So more of a fiddle duel than a saber duel.

As for the events (from what I gathered):

Archery simply went to the best attack roll.
Pankration was just unarmed combat.
Wrestling worked off of grapple checks (which work, if I recall correctly, similar to the Pathfinder system)
Jousting was opposed bull rush checks, with the order based on who's initiative is better. (Read: Cade goes first. ALWAYS.)

Cade Rentyr
2009-10-12, 06:05 PM
(Read: Cade goes first. ALWAYS.)

Y'know, some of you have been curious about our builds, so this is a good chance to clarify one aspect of my paladin. I am quick.
High dex, max acrobatics for my class, feats to assist with mobility in combat... I also took a religious oath that adds +2 to my initiative now and another +2 at level 6.
In short, since activation of that oath we haven't met anything that moves before me, and Fayd's pretty sure he calculated once that, at a dead sprint, I could cross a football field and then some in 6 seconds.

This is why he wants me around wherever he fears assassins.:smallwink:

More comments/explanations/bragging when I have more time. ~Cade

Fayd
2009-10-12, 10:55 PM
This is why he wants me around wherever he fears assassins.:smallwink:

Which is pretty much everywhere, but I'm just paranoid. And not just for myself!

Morchana
2009-10-19, 12:14 AM
So, I know I typed my part, so when are you posting the next journal, Fayd?

Fayd
2009-10-20, 04:43 PM
In a bit...still have a bit to finish, and then right to work on the next session. Sorry for the delay folks! It'll be up soon.

Fayd
2009-10-21, 02:16 AM
Chapter 6: Unsettling Upsets. Or: It’s Karmatasatic!


Well, this was an interesting session. We start early the next morning. Archery first, and Keito sadly is eliminated --barely, but she was inched out. We have no party members left in that competition. Sad. That morning, I approach the temple with Keito and Cade to try to get a meeting with the Archprelate and get information about my employer. Well, I find out that priests of Laeros, god of civilization, are nothing if not lawful, so Peter will not stiff me. ‘But of course, if there’s no one left TO pay, well, that would be… unfortunate.’ Er… Right. That might be a minor hiccup in the plan.
Speaking of hiccups, the archprelate’s secretary was completely and totally unhelpful; no, he can’t let us in; no, the archprelate doesn’t make appointments; no, even if another priest of the order has sent us, the archprelate isn’t typically involved in the general affairs of the church anymore. Lovely. I go to Peter’s office to try to have him force the meeting:

“As you will recall…I said that I wanted you to ‘reinvigorate’ him. How you choose to do this is up to you. I leave this in your capable hands.”

The snake. Well. We leave and find Morchana, and ask her to sneak into the temple and/or get us in. Cade and Lossëlen bluff their way up to the noble’s area --he’s a knight of Turmlar, presiding deity of the whole tourney, and she’s ‘clearly nobility’. Me, not so much on either count. At first Morchana snobbishly refuses to give the paladin the time of day, but he’s able to convince her to help by bribing her with the notion he’ll talk to the other knights about making her queen of the tourney.

She pretends to be a worshipper who’s traveled from very far away to see the Archprelate. She bluffs well enough that the boorish secretary allows her to get in and see him.

And what a sight he is. The DM’s words: “It’s not so much a throne, because thrones don’t have cushions.” Whatever it is, his fat is sagging over the sides of it. At the moment he is very soundly sleeping, food trays arrayed in front of him. Morchana tries to convince the secretary to let her wake him up, but his helpfulness has ended. Go figure. So she walks away with a detailed description of him and the room.

I begin formulating a plan. And failing. I don’t want to go in guns blazing (I have no money to repair the temple!) I want to be subtle. I have (IRL) a hard time thinking of something. The DM even has Swift try to tell me something…I couldn’t get it. In the end, I figure out that he’s advertising brute force.

In the end though, a plan is hatched. Keito tells me “Give me 10 drachmae for expenses, and I’ll deliver the letter.” How, I don’t know. But I trust Keito. For the curious, here’s the letter I wrote:


Your Grace,
I have heard tales of the great powers Laeros has blessed you with. I wish to see this power in a friendly duel. Are you man enough to face some barely trained mageling? I will be waiting in the temple atrium tomorrow.
-Fayd One-Eyed, Mage of the Ruby Tower

(I had a single note-card, to explain the brevity.)

Fluffy had a successful day. He fought his pankration match and was fighting someone who actually hit BACK, and decently hard too. Surprising! Didn’t really matter in the end though, and with a critically hitting punch that knocked the poor fighter out of the ring, the folks in charge decided to cut their losses and named Fluffy champion.

Cade unfortunately lost his jousting match today…he went prowling around the town, but we’ll get to that later.

Morchana had an interesting first day and she has informed me that she wishes to write her segment herself.


“First item of the first day was to go sit with the nobles and try to gather information. I roll decently, but fail to pick up anything new. I do get to snicker with them when Fluffy won pankration, but that was about it. So, that afternoon, after sitting with them for quite a while again, I am quite relieved when Cade and Lossëlen come to fetch me to try to get in to the Archprelate. I get my shawl and go with them, going into the temple as a devout worshipper and asking the secretary, who earlier denied them entrance, if I might go in to see the Archprelate. I am allowed to go in and ‘see’ him, but that is about it. He is flowing out of his chair, and the secretary apologizes that I have to see him in this diminished state. (I giggle respectfully.) He is sleeping, and although I ask if we might wake him that I might speak to him, I am denied and shooed out of his room.

“While in the room, I notice there is a large window high on the wall, made of a single pane of glass. The others try to figure out a way to get through the window, but we can’t come up with anything. Meanwhile, I decide I want to snoop around in the keep, and head over that way, only to be met at the gates with “The Duchess is at the tournament.” Blast. I go back to the tournament, and sit with the nobles for a while, bored out of my mind. Andris is unaccountably not sitting in the stands, so there is no one for me to talk to.

“I decided to go back to the keep, this time telling the guards that I am after a brooch that the Duchess wishes to bestow on a certain skilled knight. I roll decent on my deception, and the guards buy it, but admonish me to bring a note from the Duchess next time.

“Safely inside, I decide to go up to the Duchesses chambers and look for poison residues, charms, etc. I am stopped by a lock. I roll poorly, and can’t actually pick the lock. Fearful of someone seeing me, I scurry off to Gabraal’s office. I wish to get in so I can look and see what, exactly, he has been up to. I roll poorly on the lock (4), and see that Gabraal invests in locks, in the DM’s words. So, not willing to give up quite yet, I roll again, decently this time, but am spotted by a guard because I roll poorly on my stealth. Luckily, I roll enough on observation to barely notice him in time to not be actually picking the lock when he walks up. I still look pretty suspicious, though, so he accosts me and asks what I am doing. I roll a three on my persuade and mumble something about getting lost on the way to the Duchess’s chambers. He takes me forcibly by the arm and takes me to the Duchess’s door, which is, of course, locked. I try the knob, and try to glibly say something about “Oh, she forgot to give me the key!” (I roll another three on persuade, and this fails.)

“The guard is not convinced, takes me by the arm again, and says, ‘ We’ll see what Andris has to say about that! We’ll just take you to a nice little holding cell and keep you under guard until he comes back.’

“At this point I break down crying, and the guard is rather perplexed by what to do with me, a crying female. He lets go of my arm to pat me on the back, and I decide to try to run. I roll a 1.

(“Up to this point I had been on the verge of a panic attack, and at this point I literally curled up in my chair in the fetal position, rocking back and forth and crying “Oh-crap-oh-crap-oh-crap-oh-crap. . .” I tallied up my modifiers and came to 13, which I still didn’t think would help at all—I was sunk. The DM came up to me and plunked the dice for the guard on the table . “Let’s put this in perspective, shall we?” he said. The guard had rolled a one as well. Quoth the DM: “Snake eyes! SNAKE EYES!”)

“And so began the worst chase in history. We were knocking tapestries off of the wall, crashing through doors, and causing people of all sorts to stick their heads through the doors (or what was left of them) to see what was going on. Chandeliers inexplicably fell from the ceiling, and rugs seemed to jump at our feet.

“Finally, I lost the guard in the servants’ quarters, prettied myself up, and waltzed back out through the gates, with the guard there asking ‘Did you find the brooch?’

“’Yes.’
“’Very well—just bring a note next time, and have a good day!’

“That night, I went with Lossëlen to Gabraal’s party (wearing my new pretty blue dress), had punch, and learned absolutely nothing about the man.
“Next day, I accompanied Fayd and company to see the Archprelate, and spent the afternoon absolutely not creating a ruckus by watching the jousting.”

At this point Cade would like to interject something as well.


I couldn’t help but notice that Morchana’s account skipped over her roasting. See, as the rest of us are watching her fail miserably and panic, I’m frantically trying to figure out if there’s any way I could conceivably be on the scene to bail her out. The temple where Fayd delivered his letter is conveniently right next to the manor, after all. Problem is, rather than wait there to confirm the letter was delivered --which would have been the smart plan-- we went back to the tourney grounds and I somehow got dragged along. (I stepped out for a phone call right about then)

Well, of course Morchana doesn’t feel the need to tell any of the rest of us she’s going to go breaking and entering, so when things start to go sour for her I retroactively roll a spot check to see if I noticed her leave. Success, but only enough to know she headed back into town. I’ll take what I can get though and follow, declaring I’ll be ‘wandering around.’ So when the Chase of Utter Absurdity breaks loose, I’m close enough to hear the destruction and rush to the scene, arriving just in time to catch her coming out. I fall into stride with her and say nothing. She still feebly pretends to not know me, but she can’t ignore my paladin’s semi-questioning-seething; he’s practically radiating the words ‘What. Was. That?’

Finally she cracks, and Cade promptly flays her bones verbally. It’s not the boring Paladin Speech about Immoral Acts, either; he tears into her about teamwork, logically explaining that if she’d told him what she was up to, he could’ve been on hand to rescue her from exactly what happened by walking into the guard tower and explaining he’d been sent by the knights of Turmlar to take her into custody for questioning. It wouldn’t even rely on my dismal Deception check either, because Cade would be completely honest; he is a knight of Turmlar, and he does want her for questioning. (Spoken with grinding teeth.) At this point, Fayd throws in his own logical reasoning for why she was being foolish, and it basically becomes a team-effort reprimand for her.

I feel bad for her player, especially after learning she wasn’t comedy-faking that panic attack, but at the same time it was a scare none of us needed that could have easily been avoided, and I wanted to make it clear that my paladin feels responsible for everyone’s safety --even Morchana’s. Along those lines, the whole lecture winds down with Cade strongly suggesting that Morchana at least wear an outfit and hairstyle different enough that that guard isn’t likely to recognize her on the off-chance he sees her again.
She wore her hair down and a very different dress to that party she mentioned.

(Shrugs) And now back to your regular programming.

Aside from that, there isn’t much more to the day. Morchana’s party is pretty uneventful, though there’s a lot of buzz about the absent Baron Aralt and ‘Is he really foolish enough to rebel?’ sorts of questions. Lossëlen makes an ice sculpture for the punch bowl and the painter Lady Erin directs her to a meeting with a famous sculptor the next morning. Cade wanders back to the area around the manor and the temple to see how much commotion we’ve caused. The manor is quiet, but the temple… Cade can’t make out the words, but someone is very definitely irate. :smallbiggrin:

Armed with this satisfaction, the next day I wait in the temple atrium for a bit until the Archprelate comes ‘rolling down the stairs’ out of his office to glower at me. Angry doesn’t quite say it --let’s just say it’s quite clear whose bellowing Cade heard. After some curt and surprisingly polite introductions (he still was repeatedly prodding me on the chest with his fat fist) we settle on more of a magical show-off contest, and he agrees to my proposal to have my contact in the knights of Turmlar add the event to the end tournament. It’s the magical equivalent of a fiddle duel, but I make special mention of the ritual magic to make our spells non-lethal.

“I know the spell.”

As he begins to waddle away, I call back “Oh, you may be wondering why I’m doing this…”

“I would enjoy knowing.”

“One of your priests asked me to…oh what were his exact words… ‘reinvigorate’ you.”

“REINVIGORATE ME?!” He’s rippling with indignation. Like, literally, rippling. “I’ll tell you-- if I win, you tell me his name!”

I flash my smoothest smirk. “And if I win, I tell you his name.”

Another bounce of his… wait, where is his chin? “Good man.”

So as he totters off, I’m feeling rather pleased with myself and the way that came off. …Until Cade pulls me aside (he and Keito were along just in case) on his way out and says, “I hope you realize you’ve just loudly declared in the middle of the priests’ temple that regardless of the duel’s outcome you’re going to single out the one of them that their boss is most displeased with. And we were already reasonably suspicious that Peter was going to have you knifed.”

…Oh. Oh dear. Er, no, I can safely say that that hadn’t actually occurred to me. Cade advises me to stick close to at least one other group member until the duel’s conclusion, and leaves me feeling downright apprehensive to go prepare for his afternoon of jousting.

Lossëlen, instead of joining us at the temple, goes off to meet with this sculptor. He’s very nice, is working on a large piece as she walks in, and they get to talking…eventually he begins working on making a sculpture of her (small soapstone thing that won’t take very long) and the conversation drifts towards an interesting rumor the man has heard about. There is a large furred, scaled…THING…spotted north of town. Resembles a gnoll, actually. It’s all icy and sparkly…like Lossëlen. Now might be a good thing to mention one small bit of lore of the world. There are no male elves. Well, there ARE, but they aren’t…elves. They’re gnolls or other similar creatures (Yuan-Ti type snake men, etc.) so…let’s connect the dots. Icy and sparkly like Lossëlen. Gnoll-like. This MIGHT be a small problem. After a bit, she leaves to go get ready for the jousting.

And it all comes down to jousting. Because it was, indeed, an AWESOME day of jousting. Let me put things in perspective first though; our paladin has been feeling rather redundant thus far, as he is versatile but not outstanding in anything, and he’s been rolling rather poorly to boot. (He also got unseated in his only match yesterday). Cade wins once…Cade wins twice! Cade decides to challenge Andris, Captain of the Guard (The DM hadn’t actually written it down before, and I didn’t realize I misspelled it!) to a jousting match on a whim. And rolls a natural 20, plus his bonus from his melee attack bonus, plus the bonus Morchana obtained from her information crawling, plus a +2 bonus from his lucky coins. And unseats the several-years-reigning champion of the jousting tournament. :smalleek: Well. Quoth the priestess: “We have officially CRASHED the party!”

Lossëlen, mostly on a whim, decided to try to unseat Cade, but fails (she had succeeded against another knight earlier today). Cade is the champ! W00t. And now, he has to declare the Queen of the Tournament. Oh the dilemma. On one hand, Cade DID at one point nearly promise to try to give the crown to Morchana. On the other hand, that MIGHT compromise her disguise. In the end, Cade gives the crown to the Grand Duchess herself, being very flattering to the entire Duchy as a whole. Gabraal seems to be connecting the dots between all us interloping newcomers... :smalleek:

This afternoon, I decide that I STILL might need protection, but at the same time, have an obligation to go provide flavoring to the restaurant. Well…I bring Fluffy along. It was stupid…absolutely HORRIBLE actually…but I did anyway. He begins eating a lot and then greataxes a table. Marley, trying not to cry and in a very strained voice, asks me to leave. I agree (I’m going to pay him back…really. I feel awful about that…I just need money. That does present a small problem.)

Well, NOW what do I do with my massive amounts of free time? Stick by the big meat shield, that’s what. Who has, by this point, heard from Lossëlen about the icy gnoll (as we call it) and decides he wants to go beat it up. Not for any bigger reason than that. It’s just a big thing and he wants to fight it. And I have to come along. We try to track it, but our survival, collectively, is not that great. He’s looking for something white and spots the clouds. And tries to grab them… Facepalm worthy. But I can’t really seem to spot anything better, unfortunately. Thankfully, Keito is along and DOESN’T have a penalty to Wisdom. She can’t track the gnoll itself, but she did spot a bit of frost burned grass where the creature was bedding down for a bit.

We head back to our campsite, and notice someone approaching. Fluffy notices that she smells of cinnamon, and rushes out to her. And licks her. Oddly…she is not all that creeped out. In fact, it’s almost a “Oh great…again?” reaction…Um? Interesting…Anyway, she’s looking for me, of all people. “I know your friend Elena.” “El…ah…Elena, right.” I fumbled but bluffed well enough that she didn’t catch it. She wants to paint my portrait, and me, in full paranoia-of-assassin-mode agree to do this under some conditions. Not until after the tournament. And I’m going to be bringing my friends. She agrees, leaving me the instruction to let her know ahead of time when I plan on arriving.

Now time for me to put the puzzle pieces together: We know Gabraal is suspicious of us. We know Lady Erin and Gabraal “know” each other. Quite well, in fact! Lady Erin is trying to get me alone or alone-ish with her for what might be quite a lengthy period of time. (Painting portraits takes a WHILE) Are you drawing the conclusions I am? Gabraal wants something, and he figures he can get the best info out of me. Well. He might have another thing coming! Or not, depends on my mood. And what he wants to know. And the fashion he wants to find it out in. Actually, it depends on a lot of things.

Dragon Elite
2009-10-21, 08:50 AM
That is very long and awesome. Thanks for keepin' 'em coming!

Fayd
2009-10-21, 02:55 PM
Well, on that note, we DID just have our last session last night. We're taking a 1 week break for various reasons, but you won't have to wait that long for the next chapter. I plan on finishing it this weekend.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-10-21, 11:53 PM
Okay, so that was pretty epic when Cade beat Andris in jousting. It was crazy how fast it was over. It was kind of like: Cade challenges Andris, Cade has initiative, Andris is knocked off his horse... WHAT!!!?!?!?!

The funny thing is, Cade is obligated to come back next year because he is tournament champion. :smallamused:

And poor Morchana... she had a rough game that time, but I really wasn't worried. I knew that even if she DID get caught she would find some way to weasel her way out of it.

Eldariel
2009-10-22, 02:40 AM
Morchie's rough ride may have been distressing in game, but I have to say, it was quite amusing to read. The "team reprimandment" must have sucked though. Well, at least she leads an interesting life.

Seems Fayd's great showoff is still approaching...but he's doing a great job getting enemies. Better make sure someone doesn't mess with your ritual components for the spell duel, eh?


As for Gabraal, he seems like a perceptive fellow, but not a bad guy, so I'm not sure anything bad would happen even if he did figure it all out. Besides, getting the Lady to paint a portrait is quite the honor. Too bad Fayd got fired, though.

And heh...the whole Elf-thing explains a lot. The whole "the beauty and the beast"-deal - do these..."male elves" co-inhabit with elven females normally?


This Multiwriter Journal-thing is pretty interesting overall; with such a large group, it's good to get some perspective from the whole team.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-10-22, 02:56 PM
And heh...the whole Elf-thing explains a lot. The whole "the beauty and the beast"-deal - do these..."male elves" co-inhabit with elven females normally?


I think it does happen occasionally. Although I think we can ALL understand why this might not happen on a regular basis. As our DM put it: "Why do you think there are so many half-elves walking around?"

Morchana
2009-10-22, 09:17 PM
Well, I AM a full elf. . . and that is why I originally ran away from home, so yeah. . .

Fayd
2009-10-23, 08:38 PM
Losselen is ALSO a full-blooded elf.

Cade Rentyr
2009-10-25, 12:08 AM
Hey everyone. Fayd and I realized that we left out a rather crucial piece of last session's write-up. Since I was the only character involved, Fayd wanted me to post it.

Note: This conversation defines the next leg of our quest.


Chapter 6-and-a-Half: The Captain's Commission

So right around the time Lady Erin pays Fayd a visit I'm off in town trying to find Captain Andris. I've been doing everything I can think of to befriend the knights in this place, but earlier in the day I unceremoniously dumped the head knight off his horse in front of pretty much the whole town. Notoriety majorly accomplished and I'm jazzed I won, don't get me wrong, but I want to make sure to smooth over any hard feelings.

I find Andris on his rounds and he invites me to tag along. He knows I'm from out of town, so after exchanging the niceties I came for he casually asks if I've heard anything about what's going on in Baron Aralt's region.

... >_> ...

He's not Gabraal or the Grand Duke, but I'm pretty certain by now that Andris is good and trustworthy, so I proceed to fill him in on everything. I leave out any information about my teammates individually --particularly Morchana, for obvious reasons-- but I tell him everything our group has seen, heard and done. It takes a moment for all of it to sink in, but when Andris recovers he asks me if I think Duke Connaught (Aralt's rival) is in danger. Well... the Doomriders are either being employed by Connaught, Aralt, or some unknown third party --or else they're acting on their own for whatever goal. Of the possibilities, only Connaught as mastermind leaves him safe, and from what we've seen of him Andris and I agree that it doesn't look likely that Connaught is even aware of the situation.

The Captain then seizes on a question that I hadn't considered yet: Is Connaught's son at risk? With the Baronet Aralt dead, and the Grand Duke still without children, the realm is running short on potential heirs to the throne...
Well, I know the how and who of young Aralt's death (though of course I can't tell Andris those) but even I don't know the why --Morchana's not forthcoming. We know the Doomriders attacked even after the Baronet's murder, but that doesn't mean killing him wasn't a second objective.

As far as anyone knows the younger Connaught is alive, well, and leading a campaign a good distance to the south, but of course communication with him isn't exactly regular. Andris expresses frustration because any available knights he has he must send to investigate Aralt's realm and aid the crater that was River's Bend, leaving no one free to check on Connaught Jr. This sounds like the hint of a request already, but before he expands on it the Captain draws back to the Grand Duke's problem producing an heir. He (Captain Andris) knows of a certain fertility potion that could correct the problem, but he's short one rare but crucial ingredient. He's heard from a friend who's versed in such business where to find the ingredient, but even his best information puts it on an uncharted island somewhere off the southern coast --right near young Connaught's campaign.

Again, Andris can't spare any of his own men to search for the ingredient or check on Connaught's heir, but if I happen to be heading that way... (he casually draws the mace on his belt and drags it lightly across a nearby bit of metal. In the DM's words, 'It sparks more than it should') ...he'd make it worth my trouble.

I was already planning to take him up on the quest because it's the sort of good deed my paladin would volunteer for. Offering me another magic weapon to Do the Right Thing? Icing on the cake.

So. Net result, Andris is going to inform Duke Connaught (Senior) of the events in his region and see if he can get us an audience with Gabraal --"He's not necessarily a good man but he gets things done." I presume the audience is to allow him to send knights and supplies to Aralt's smashed town to help the survivors and figure out what the heck is going on. We're heading south, to warn a noble and pick up a fertility drug. With the agreement reached, I bid goodnight to Captain Andris and wish him good fortune in the Grand Melee tomorrow --the only thing currently set about the two teams are that former and current jousting champions oppose each other.

And that's about it, capping off what was a very awesome day for my paladin. The last thing I feel I really ought to mention here is that I (the player) recently received the information on our fertility potion's missing ingredient:

It's a derivative of a hallucinogen. :smallconfused:

Fayd
2009-10-28, 11:50 PM
New update time! Enjoy!

Chapter 7: LET’S GET READY TO RRRRRRUUUUUUUMMMMMMBLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEE!!!

It might come as a surprise to you, but Fluffy excels at any physical task presented to him. Take, for example, wrestling. The finals were this morning, and Fluffy’s opponent was actually able to fight! Or rather, he was able to hold Fluffy off for precisely six seconds before promptly being flattened. Fluffy proceeds to earn a nice bit of cash and his second champion’s belt, which he then decides to wear alongside his first. Let’s give Fluffy, the orc with two belts, a round of applause.

Cade, Morchana, and Lossëlen spent the morning shopping, as they realized that their gear was going to be a little inadequate for the swiftly approaching Grand Melee.

Cade picks out a set of scale mail, whilst Morchana settles with the most elegant and effective armor she can afford, chain mail. (Actually, she couldn’t afford it on her own; Cade didn’t want her to be the only one on the field in mere leather.) As the time for the Grand Melee neared, Morchana donned her disguise kit, recognizing that waltzing around stabbing random knights of the realm might cause her social vampirism to be for naught; thus, she walked back with dark hair and clad in more traditional elven clothing (green and brown). Thankfully, due to her very high deception roll…it was unlikely that she’d be recognized, which suited her just fine.

The Grand Melee is an event where knights on horseback are divided into two groups, which then proceed to noisily clatter into one another and attempt to ensure that only their side remains distinguishable from the mud. As it is a grand MELEE, both personal magic and archery are forbidden; however, magical effects from items are allowed. The opposing teams consist of a bunch of novice knights, some full knights, and a captain. On our side, Morchana is lumped with the novices and Lossëlen with the full knights. Cade is the captain. The other side? Andris is the captain. For a good majority of the fight, our team members stayed FAR away from Andris. This turns out to have been incredibly astute, as his mace, upon striking the first knight of the realm, proved itself to be a shocking mace. Yay for electrical damage! Morchana took on a novice, Cade a knight of the realm, and Lossëlen chose to fight another knight. As the sides become unbalanced from people falling unconscious and getting ushered off of the field, Morchana ends up with a young novice from our side following her around. This is greatly appreciated as it gives her the ability to sneak attack her targets –if she could hit them, of course; she whiffed the first couple of swings, while the novice landed a blow or two. He was the little novice that could! (–Don’t get too attached to him.) In keeping with the strange assassin/paladin karma, Cade was critically hitting left and right, which was very helpful as the knight was tough! Lossëlen was thoroughly unlucky and was the first member of our party to be knocked into negative hit points. It was about this point that Cade finally took down the knight he was fighting and he and Morchana teamed up and became a rather destructive force. Morchana had finally started landing her attacks, you see, so she was using Cade’s feat-based flanking bonus to sneak attack knights for high damage, while Cade was doing the same for decent damage on his own right. On her second sneak attack, she hit their target knight HARD. In fact, he might be dead. :smalleek: Meanwhile, our knights of the realm were getting taken to the cleaners, but our novices were rocking! Throughout this entire fight, Andris has been staying away from our important members and whittling down the number of full knights on our side. If our DM’s reactions are to be believed, Andris was critically hitting a lot. Immediately after Morchana nearly kills the knight, Andris critically hits a poor novice (incidentally the same one who was Morchana’s buddy for a bit) and kills him outright.

Cade decides, with the dwindling number of knights on each side, that the time had arrived to take on Andris. Andris’s armor is very good…he is hard to hit and even when he is, his armor absorbs a lot of the hit. Cade did about as well as can be expected, even using his sword’s once-per-day-Cure-Light-Wounds as a swift action (from his class), and critically hitting.

Unfortunately, it was not enough, and Andris managed to beat him. If our DM’s reactions are to be believed (again) Cade is incredibly lucky. I think Andris failed to confirm a critical against Cade 3 times. Considering one of Andris’s crits killed somebody, we’re all happy with that!

Morchana, surprisingly, was the last member of our side standing, largely owing to the fact that she is REALLY hard to hit. Andris respectfully distanced himself from the fray when he defeated Cade, so she ended up fighting the last two enemy novices. She actually managed to down one of them, but then the other knocked her to exactly 0 HP. She used her last action before falling unconscious from the blood loss to attack… taking the offending novice down. Morchana can be a rather vengeful banshee.
As Andris is the only person left standing, by default, his side wins! Oh, well…you can’t win them all. We gave it our best effort and didn’t die, so that’s what counts.

After the horses and men (and Morchana) are ushered off of the field, I walk and the Archprelate waddle onto the field for our duel. The duel format is as follows: We will take turns casting spells, trying to outdo the other and impress the crowd.

“Young whippersnappers first!”

Very well! My first spell was to animate a large elemental bird comprised entirely of electrical energy, which flew in circles over the crowd. As the spell was about to expire, it flew to the center of the arena, spread its wings, screeched, and exploded into millions of sparks. I think I startled the DM a bit with my dramatic opening.

The Archprelate’s first spell was to create a giant leg of mutton that sliced and served itself to the commoners. :smallbiggrin: You can see where my next spell is headed, right? I used Prestidigitation to flavor the meat to some of the most complex and exotic flavors that the commoners request. (“Salt!” “Garlic!” “Orange with a hint of basil!”)

The Archprelate then cast a general health and wellness spell on the commoners. There weren’t even any real special effects. Rather boring, if I may say so myself! I used my control of elemental ice to create a large ice dragon sculpture (not an elemental, just a pretty sparkling statue). The Archprelate used his magic to cut the statue into ice cubes which magically placed themselves in every drink nearby. How rude of him –I wasn’t even done with the dragon! Oh well, time to improvise. For my next act, I removed all of the clouds from the sky, making the day nice and sunny.

To prepare his next spell, the Archprelate bent down to try to grab some dirt from the (torn up) tournament field. He would have succeeded too, had he actually been able to, you know, bend over. He finally gave up and cast Mage Hand to get some dirt and animated the dirt into large sculptures which reenacted the last few hits of the Grand Melee (Morchana getting taken down but taking out the knight who did it.) Two can play at this game! I did much of the same (except I don’t need Mage Hand to get a scoop of dirt) and animated Cade’s winning joust against Andris. Cade quirked an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything.

The Archprelate cast…something. None of us really remember what it was (including the DM) so we agree that it wasn’t really important. I created dozens of small air elementals shaped like goblets and filled them with water and have them fly out to commoners. The Archprelate’s next move was to fix the turf of the field. Interestingly, as it was fixed, it fell into a perfect checkerboard pattern of dirt and grass.

One thing that ought to be mentioned: Fayd has an INT of 20. I don’t. As such, our DM allows other players (out of character) suggestions to help fill the mental deficit when I need the help. For example, Cade’s player gave me the basis of the next spell, and Keito’s suggested the form of my finale (if not all of the exact details).

The time has come to finish this. I recalled a cloud (high atmosphere, mind you) and molded it into the symbol of the Grand Duchery, angling it so it caught the natural sunlight. The Archprelate countered by molding the wooden divider from the jousting competition into a crown shape and superimposed it on my high atmosphere cloud art, modifying it so that it was partially the symbol of his church. Poor counter if you ask me.

Now for the grand finale! I (and by I, I mean Keito’s player) noticed that the grass and dirt form a checkerboard pattern…so I summoned an elemental chess set and had them play a game of speed chess. The two sides were represented with earth elementals and fire elementals. The earth elemental pieces represented the Grand Duchery, and the various pieces were sculptures modeled after people in the government. The Grand Duke was the king, his wife was the queen, and the Archprelate and Gabraal were the bishops. Andris and another powerful knight of the realm were the knights. The rooks were represented by keeps or towers in the architectural style of the Grand Duchery and the pawns were represented by novice knights. On the fire elemental side, (at Cade’s player’s suggestion) General Temshan of the Doomriders (complete with a burning version of the company’s flag) was the king, a dragon was the queen, illithid took the place of bishops, beholders took the place of knights, creepy Barad-dûr style towers were rooks, and the pawns were represented by flaming orcs. I was a little worried that Fluffy might be offended (an offended Fluffy might be scary) but when I took a quick glance at him, he was giggling like a little girl and clapping gleefully at the fireworks. One worry off of my mind. The Grand Duchery’s side quickly checkmated the enemy side, with Gabraal’s bishop performing the checkmate.

The Archprelate (and most of the crowd) were slack jawed in amazement, but the Archprelate recovered in time to try to wrest some control of the spell away from me. He tried to mold his piece into a younger (and more importantly, slimmer) version of himself. Tam had me roll a caster level check (I got a 21). My spell was too powerful …it couldn’t be completely overwhelmed. The Archprelate’s piece began to look younger and slimmer, but then re-inflated to his current bloated form and collapsed as my spell expired.

I won. And everyone knew it. “Good show lad!”

“Same to you. Now, I suppose you’ll want to know who put me up to this.”

“It would be nice, yes.”

“Do you know a young priest named Peter?”

“No, I don’t know a young priest named Peter. I know a young HERETIC named Peter!” :smallfurious:

“:smalleek:”

Throughout the entire magical duel, Cade was making observation checks to try and spot Peter. Cade found Peter lurking nearby watching the duel, and Peter bolted when he saw that I won. Cade, Fluffy, and I gave chase. I tried to send Swift ahead as a scout, but he rolled low on observation and “told” me (empathetic link still)

“SQUIRREL! CanIgetthesquirrel?! Please? Please?”

:smallsigh: “Yes, you can get the squirrel.”

“YAY! SQUIRREL!”

…Thank goodness Cade’s the fastest of all of us…he caught up to Peter before Fluffy and fluidly threw a piece of chalk down an alley, calling out that it was bacon flavored. Fluffy’s player decided that if he rolled less than a 10 on a d20, Fluffy would take the bait. Fluffy rolls a 7, RAGES and takes off after the chalk. Thank goodness our paladin’s wit is as fast as his feet. I am able to catch up and Cade and I gave Peter a thorough talking to. Because he only implied that he wanted me to kill the Archprelate, not state it outright, and there’s no way we can prove his motive, Cade doesn’t arrest him, even though, through odd deific circumstances, Cade DOES have jurisdiction. (Cade’s trying to operate under a ‘see-no-evil-smite-no-evil’ policy, he told me later.) He gave me 50 drachmae (his entire purse) and we allow him flee town. Not before Fluffy caught up and yells at him, but that’s neither here nor there. I have Swift tail him (successfully this time) for a while, so that I know which direction he went.

So! Evening is swiftly approaching, and it will be time for the grand banquet for tournament champions soon. In the meantime, Morchana tries to get more information from tavern-crawling about the icy gnoll from a while back, but the only people who are talking aren’t what one would call “reputable sources.”

We leveled up again…and boy are things going to get interesting with levels. I’ll let other people fill you in if they so choose, but for me, I’m going to keep my class plan secret until next chapter.

starwoof
2009-10-29, 12:00 AM
That was definitely worth the wait! I'd been wondering how the duel with the archfatguy was going to happen since it was first mentioned.

Fayd
2009-10-29, 10:53 AM
To be honest, I was a little dissapointed with how much money I made. Cade and Losselen make 600 drachmae in about 5 minutes through jousting, but I work all day for 10, or do a potentially fatal duel for 50.

Such is the life of a non-noble.

kestrel404
2009-10-29, 11:06 AM
OK, that is officially the most awesome wizard's duel I've ever heard of.

Good job!

Count Dravda
2009-10-29, 12:53 PM
Elite. I just discovered this thread a few days ago, I've read the entire thing, and now I'm eagerly awaiting your every post. You write well, the campaign itself is fascinating, and I love your characters. All in all, very enjoyable.

Keep writing!

-Count Dravda

Keito
2009-10-30, 01:30 AM
I remember what you forgot in this part of chapter seven:


The Archprelate cast…something. None of us really remember what it was (including the DM) so we agree that it wasn’t really important. I created dozens of small air elementals shaped like goblets and filled them with water and have them fly out to commoners. The Archprelate’s next move was to fix the turf of the field. Interestingly, as it was fixed, it fell into a perfect checkerboard pattern of dirt and grass.

One thing that ought to be mentioned: Fayd has an INT of 20. I don’t. As such, our DM allows other players (out of character) suggestions to help fill the mental deficit when I need the help. For example, Cade’s player gave me the basis of the next spell, and Keito’s suggested the form of my finale (if not all of the exact details).

The time has come to finish this. I recalled a cloud (high atmosphere, mind you) and molded it into the symbol of the Grand Duchery, angling it so it caught the natural sunlight. The Archprelate countered by molding the wooden divider from the jousting competition into a crown shape and superimposed it on my high atmosphere cloud art, modifying it so that it was partially the symbol of his church. Poor counter if you ask me.

Now for the grand finale! I (and by I, I mean Keito’s player) noticed that the grass and dirt form a checkerboard pattern…so I summoned an elemental chess set and had them play a game of speed chess. The two sides were represented with earth elementals and fire elementals. The earth elemental pieces represented the Grand Duchery, and the various pieces were sculptures modeled after people in the government. The Grand Duke was the king, his wife was the queen, and the Archprelate and Gabraal were the bishops. Andris and another powerful knight of the realm were the knights. The rooks were represented by keeps or towers in the architectural style of the Grand Duchery and the pawns were represented by novice knights. On the fire elemental side, (at Cade’s player’s suggestion) General Temshan of the Doomriders (complete with a burning version of the company’s flag) was the king, a dragon was the queen, illithid took the place of bishops, beholders took the place of knights, creepy Barad-dûr style towers were rooks, and the pawns were represented by flaming orcs. I was a little worried that Fluffy might be offended (an offended Fluffy might be scary) but when I took a quick glance at him, he was giggling like a little girl and clapping gleefully at the fireworks. One worry off of my mind. The Grand Duchery’s side quickly checkmated the enemy side, with Gabraal’s bishop performing the checkmate.


It was this:


The Archprelate cast to repair the field of honor to repair it to a checkerboard pattern of grass and dirt. This is important for the last spell and where my inspiration came from. The actual idea came from me being formerly being a rated chess player (stopped playing 3-4 years back), and I saw some interesting sets including one my mom brought me back on a trip to ecuador. It represented the fight between the locals and the spanards. So playing off that for this grand magical fiddle contest, one should use :smalleek:*gasp*:smalleek: symbolism that was SUBTLE?


just clarifying, and thought that it was important

Fayd
2009-10-30, 10:41 AM
I thought I remembered putting that he fixed the field. Hrm...

Morchana
2009-10-30, 02:39 PM
You did-- see?





The Archprelate’s next move was to fix the turf of the field. Interestingly, as it was fixed, it fell into a perfect checkerboard pattern of dirt and grass.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-10-30, 04:14 PM
Whatever the case was, I think we can all agree that the chessboard was a good idea, and that it led to one AWESOME grand-finale.

jiriku
2009-10-30, 04:44 PM
Another excellent read. Good game, all of you!

flabort
2009-10-30, 08:21 PM
*blink*....

*blink*....

I asume your not albertan, but I WANT TO JOIN YOU GUYS!!!

I can't, for several reasons, but you deserve more praise than your getting.

Yah, you re-invigorated him, alright. Trying to slim himself down, was a bit... hmm, ego much? When he could have tried, I don't know, summoning a giant flaming (or golden or what-have you) throne on a pillar? Of course, since he was running out of time, I understand, but a simple diet isn't much... Epic Chess game, though! And a nice opener...

Fayd
2009-11-02, 12:02 PM
Felt I should let you guys know, due to circumstances beyond our control, we did not have a session this week or last night. So I AM caught up with the writing.

Eldariel
2009-11-03, 09:31 AM
Now, that was special.

This brought up another rules question: How exactly do the armors work? That is, do they still have Max Dex, and what kinds of stats exactly? I'll probably wait for Tam to clarify this: It's just that Chain Mails & Scale Mails are insufferable piles of trash in vanilla 3.5, and seeing them actually being bought suggests that this is not the case here.


Worthy effort in the grand melee. How common are criticals, by the way? Is it still "roll into Weapon Threat Range and roll confirmation", or are the chances notably larger (and what's the average threat range)? 'cause it seemed like they were flying left and right there.

Ah well, either way, I'm impressed by your Rogue's performance in the melee; you'd think a direct fight would favor trained Knights, but sounds like she was more than pulling her weight. You even snuck the "banshee" moniker there :smalltongue:

It's also nice to hear that she isn't the only one who goes places; seems like Cade single-handedly managed to hook you up with your next quest.


I'll still have to say, the highlight of that story was the mage duel. How exactly did you perform it? Just cast spells and modify them on the fly, describing what exactly you're trying to accomplish? What limiting factors were there, exactly? Either way, that was a nice show. Particularly, the Chess game sounded great; I was thinking that ever since the whole "checkerboard"-description.

Tam_OConnor
2009-11-03, 01:59 PM
Armor is, at the moment, half AC bonus and half DR (penetrated by armor piercing weapons like maces, hammers, etc). I lumped in the shield proficiencies with armor. Max Dex, armor check and speed reductions are still in effect, but spell failure chance has been removed. But armor check now applies to Concentration, and since all the Concentration checks are harder now...

Non-armor (no armor-check, so there's no real reason not to wear it): padded, leather, buckler.
Light armor: hide, chainmail, light shield.
Medium armor: scale mail, breastplate, heavy shield. -5ft speed.
Heavy armor: plate mail, full plate, tower shield. -10ft speed.

Also, the prices for armor ramp up at an utterly ridiculous rate, with full plate costing 9000 drachmae.

Criticals are the same; the only reason I was noting the number of (near) criticals that Andris got was because his mace deafens on a critical hit.

Magic is going into a more vague direction. The mage duel in particular was less 'I want to cast this spell' and more 'I want this effect.'

Unfortunately, as Fayd mentioned, my computer gave up the ghost over the weekend, so I have to recreate DM notes and all the rules updates I'd made in the past month. We should be gaming this weekend.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-11-04, 11:19 PM
Since Fluffy can't read or write he found a scribe wandering around and threatened to chop his head off unless he wrote down what Fluffy dictated to him. So... without further adu, here is Chapter 7 according to the giant raging orc's point of view.



Hi, my name Fluffy. Fluffy like to eat, then Fluffy like to SMAAAAAASH! Then Fluffy like to eat some more.

Fluffy want to tell you about his family. Shiny Guy is the daddy, Sexy Elf is the mommy (Fluffy knows this because they fight like they're married), Blue Guy is the retarded uncle, Cold Elf is the Popsicle, and Squishy is the gothic sister.

Fluffy like to wrestle. Fluffy got to wrestle in a tournament. For the champion-match Fluffy had to wrestle a Big Stinky Guy. Big Stinky Guy grabbed onto Fluffy and pulled with all his muscles, but Fluffy was too heavy for him. When that didn't work for Big Stinky Guy he looked up at Fluffy and Fluffy could smell fear on him. Fluffy could also smell that he poo-pooed in his pants.

Fluffy slammed him on the ground and sat on his head. Big Stinky Guy wiggled around, shouting something about "Can't Breathe," but Fluffy was not going to let go. After a few seconds Big Stinky Guy stopped wiggling around and Fluffy got another shiny belt. Fluffy got 2 shiny belts now! Fluffy like to wear both of them. If Fluffy wear 2 belts, there is no way Fluffy's pants fall down.

After wrestling, Fluffy walk around with Blue Guy - BOOOORRRRIIINNNGGGGG!!!!! Blue Guy was holding onto Fluffy's leash, so Fluffy couldn't break stuff or go get food. Blue Guy not very smart. Why Blue Guy not like to break stuff??? Why Blue Guy always hold his breath? Blue Guy would be much smarter if he didn't hold his breath. Then he not be blue any more. Maybe Blue Guy like being blue. Fluffy like being green.

Fluffy go with Blue Guy to watch the rest of the family smash people. Fluffy sit next to Blue Guy, but Blue Guy got mad at Fluffy for no reason - It's not Fluffy's fault that he squish peasant. Fluffy wanted to go onto the field and smash people too, but Blue Guy said that if people go onto field when they are not supposed to, they don't get to eat supper. Fluffy got bored. Fluffy start chewing on his axe.

Fluffy see a Little Girl holding a kitty. People too tall, so Little Girl couldn't see. She set down kitty so she can jump on rail to see better. Kitty come over and start rubbing on Fluffy's legs. This make Fluffy happy. Fluffy like kitties - they tasty.

Fluffy eat the kitty.

Little Girl see Fluffy swallow the kitty whole and she start crying. This make Fluffy sad, so Fluffy puke and the kitty come back out in one piece. The kitty had really big eyes and was shaking a lot. Silly kitty. Fluffy let Little Girl sit on his shoulders so she could see better. This make both Fluffy and Little Girl happy. Fluffy like Little Girl, but not the same way he like kitties.

Fluffy watch his family smash people and Sexy Elf smashes a bad guy right before she fall down. Good job Sexy Elf! Then Blue Guy go down to the field, and Fat Guy goes down there too. Stupid Fat Guy. Fluffy bets Fluffy could eat more than him. Blue Guy made big lightening birdy that blow up! SQQQQUUUUEEEEEEE!!!! Fluffy bounce up and down with happiness. Other people bounce too, but they bounce a lot higher than Fluffy. Silly other people.

Then Fat Guy make giant leg of meat. A single tear fall from Fluffy's eye. . . Fluffy never see anything so beautiful before. Fluffy gives Little Girl piggy back ride over to the meat. Giant leg of meat was slicing itself and giving slices to peasants. Fluffy rip out a piece of meat and give it to Little Girl, then Fluffy eat the rest of the meat. When Fluffy was done only the bone was left, and it was making groans of pain, so Fluffy decided to go back to his seat.

A lot of other stuff happened, but Fluffy wasn't paying attention. Fluffy was too busy walking back to his seat. When Fluffy got back to his seat he plop down, but the bench broke. Silly bench.

Then Blue Guy started making pretty game pieces and Fluffy squeal with delight again! After that, the magic-trick show was over and Shiny Guy and Blue Guy chased after a Weasel Monk. That look like fun so Fluffy chase after him too. Fluffy say goodbye to Little Girl and then run after Weasel Monk swinging his axe above his head and chanting "Fluffy gonna eat you! Fluffy gonna eat you!"

Fluffy almost caught Weasel Monk but a bacon-chalk appeared from nowhere and ran into an alley! STUPID BACON-CHALK! WHY YOU ALWAYS TEMPT FLUFFY!!!???!?!?!?!?! :furious: Fluffy attack bacon-chalk then run up to Weasel Monk and roar. Weasel monk was freaked out, but he not poo-poo in his pants. Stupid bacon-chalk steal Fluffy's thunder. :frown:

Then Shiny Guy and Blue Guy start walking back to camp. Maybe they look for food. Fluffy go with them.

Morchana
2009-11-05, 01:15 AM
Shiny Guy is the daddy, Sexy Elf is the mommy (Fluffy knows this because they fight like they're married)

I have to say I like this description. . .






Fluffy see a Little Girl holding a kitty. People too tall, so Little Girl couldn't see. She set down kitty so she can jump on rail to see better. Kitty come over and start rubbing on Fluffy's legs. This make Fluffy happy. Fluffy like kitties - they tasty.

Fluffy eat the kitty.





YOU ATE THE KITTY!?!





Fluffy watch his family smash people and Sexy Elf smashes a bad guy right before she fall down. Good job Sexy Elf!


Yay! I have Fluffy's approval!

This may quite possibly be the most amusing thing I have read all week. . . Absolutely hilarious! I actually kinda hope you post similar things in the future. . . Fun times for all!

Eldariel
2009-11-05, 03:59 AM
Since Fluffy can't read or write he found a scribe wandering around and threatened to chop his head off unless he wrote down what Fluffy dictated to him. So... without further adu, here is Chapter 7 according to the giant raging orc's point of view.



Hi, my name Fluffy. Fluffy like to eat, then Fluffy like to SMAAAAAASH! Then Fluffy like to eat some more.

Fluffy want to tell you about his family. Shiny Guy is the daddy, Sexy Elf is the mommy (Fluffy knows this because they fight like they're married), Blue Guy is the retarded uncle, Cold Elf is the Popsicle, and Squishy is the gothic sister.

Fluffy like to wrestle. Fluffy got to wrestle in a tournament. For the champion-match Fluffy had to wrestle a Big Stinky Guy. Big Stinky Guy grabbed onto Fluffy and pulled with all his muscles, but Fluffy was too heavy for him. When that didn't work for Big Stinky Guy he looked up at Fluffy and Fluffy could smell fear on him. Fluffy could also smell that he poo-pooed in his pants.

Fluffy slammed him on the ground and sat on his head. Big Stinky Guy wiggled around, shouting something about "Can't Breathe," but Fluffy was not going to let go. After a few seconds Big Stinky Guy stopped wiggling around and Fluffy got another shiny belt. Fluffy got 2 shiny belts now! Fluffy like to wear both of them. If Fluffy wear 2 belts, there is no way Fluffy's pants fall down.

After wrestling, Fluffy walk around with Blue Guy - BOOOORRRRIIINNNGGGGG!!!!! Blue Guy was holding onto Fluffy's leash, so Fluffy couldn't break stuff or go get food. Blue Guy not very smart. Why Blue Guy not like to break stuff??? Why Blue Guy always hold his breath? Blue Guy would be much smarter if he didn't hold his breath. Then he not be blue any more. Maybe Blue Guy like being blue. Fluffy like being green.

Fluffy go with Blue Guy to watch the rest of the family smash people. Fluffy sit next to Blue Guy, but Blue Guy got mad at Fluffy for no reason - It's not Fluffy's fault that he squish peasant. Fluffy wanted to go onto the field and smash people too, but Blue Guy said that if people go onto field when they are not supposed to, they don't get to eat supper. Fluffy got bored. Fluffy start chewing on his axe.

Fluffy see a Little Girl holding a kitty. People too tall, so Little Girl couldn't see. She set down kitty so she can jump on rail to see better. Kitty come over and start rubbing on Fluffy's legs. This make Fluffy happy. Fluffy like kitties - they tasty.

Fluffy eat the kitty.

Little Girl see Fluffy swallow the kitty whole and she start crying. This make Fluffy sad, so Fluffy puke and the kitty come back out in one piece. The kitty had really big eyes and was shaking a lot. Silly kitty. Fluffy let Little Girl sit on his shoulders so she could see better. This make both Fluffy and Little Girl happy. Fluffy like Little Girl, but not the same way he like kitties.

Fluffy watch his family smash people and Sexy Elf smashes a bad guy right before she fall down. Good job Sexy Elf! Then Blue Guy go down to the field, and Fat Guy goes down there too. Stupid Fat Guy. Fluffy bets Fluffy could eat more than him. Blue Guy made big lightening birdy that blow up! SQQQQUUUUEEEEEEE!!!! Fluffy bounce up and down with happiness. Other people bounce too, but they bounce a lot higher than Fluffy. Silly other people.

Then Fat Guy make giant leg of meat. A single tear fall from Fluffy's eye. . . Fluffy never see anything so beautiful before. Fluffy gives Little Girl piggy back ride over to the meat. Giant leg of meat was slicing itself and giving slices to peasants. Fluffy rip out a piece of meat and give it to Little Girl, then Fluffy eat the rest of the meat. When Fluffy was done only the bone was left, and it was making groans of pain, so Fluffy decided to go back to his seat.

A lot of other stuff happened, but Fluffy wasn't paying attention. Fluffy was too busy walking back to his seat. When Fluffy got back to his seat he plop down, but the bench broke. Silly bench.

Then Blue Guy started making pretty game pieces and Fluffy squeal with delight again! After that, the magic-trick show was over and Shiny Guy and Blue Guy chased after a Weasel Monk. That look like fun so Fluffy chase after him too. Fluffy say goodbye to Little Girl and then run after Weasel Monk swinging his axe above his head and chanting "Fluffy gonna eat you! Fluffy gonna eat you!"

Fluffy almost caught Weasel Monk but a bacon-chalk appeared from nowhere and ran into an alley! STUPID BACON-CHALK! WHY YOU ALWAYS TEMPT FLUFFY!!!???!?!?!?!?! :furious: Fluffy attack bacon-chalk then run up to Weasel Monk and roar. Weasel monk was freaked out, but he not poo-poo in his pants. Stupid bacon-chalk steal Fluffy's thunder. :frown:

Then Shiny Guy and Blue Guy start walking back to camp. Maybe they look for food. Fluffy go with them.


Hm. How do you say this? Ahem: YAY, FLUFFY, THE SPICE (AND EATER) OF THY LIVES!

Fayd
2009-11-05, 03:30 PM
:smalleek:

That...that was amazing Fluffy. Thank you for your perspective...

Cade Rentyr
2009-11-06, 11:50 AM
Kind of stole Fayd's thunder there, Fluffy. Nice work though. :smalltongue:

And I have to say, now I feel even more brilliant for the bacon-chalk distraction. :smallwink:

Fayd
2009-11-06, 03:40 PM
It was too funny for me to care! If this is what happens when my thunder is stolen let it be stolen FREQUENTLY! Also, I've put Fluffy's chapter on the main post so that readers can read it a little easier.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-11-06, 11:38 PM
I'm glad you all liked it.

As for the funny/craziness: Yeah... Fluffy's mind is a rather interesting place. And it probably didn't help any that I was rocking out to Michael Jackson music as I was writing this. :smallwink:

Fayd
2009-11-11, 02:42 AM
...Yeah...

Chapter 8: Feast and Beasts. Or: A Chilling Conclusion

I told you we’d all leveled last time. Morchana and Cade stayed pure class. They’re the only ones who did, near as I know. Keito has become much more mysterious with her plans since the last session and while I the PLAYER know what she did, Fayd the character has no idea. In fact, to be perfectly frank, Keito splits off from us this whole time and has no interaction with the rest of the party. Basically, there was lots of notecard passing and conversations in hallways. So neither you nor I will know anything until Keito deigns to reveal. (Hint: Probably not happening) Fluffy took a level of Giant. And with his feat from Level 3, took Large Size. Lossëlen and myself actually took a level of the same class; that class being Outsider. We each gained a subtype (cold and air respectively) and interestingly the ability to fly; she with her wings, I because I just…can. I also now have Resistance 5 to both Shock and Piercing. Which I only mention because of the great irony that now arrows won’t hurt as much.

We have 3 hours until the banquet. Lossëlen goes to a spa and dumps 20 drachmae to get prettied up. This is how she spends almost all of her 3 hours. (She gets her nails painted ice-blue, ironically.) Cade goes and seeks out Andris, who’s just doing paperwork, so Cade doesn’t bother him, and spends the rest of the first hour trying to find out anything else about the icy gnoll. He hears that there were icebergs in the lagoon in front of the city. I send Swift out to look north. I’ll get back to him later.

Morchana and I head to the only other person of magical note that I’ve heard of in this town. She’s an elderly woman by the name of Agatha. SHE’S A WITCH! —And a cat lady. She uses cats for EVERYTHING. She uses a stuffed cat to retrieve a box from a low shelf. In the middle of talking with Morchana and I about the herb that we are supposed to go retrieve for Andris, she takes one of her many cats and jams it in her cauldron and smacks it around with her spoon/ladle/thing—eventually kills the poor thing, while Morchana looks green and hides her face in her shawl. We get lots of information about the ingredient in question. The flower that the substance is derived from, when processed correctly, produces a powerful hallucinogen; the specific effects of which vary depending on the actual color of the plant. Red tends to produce feelings of passion. An INT check reveals that, yes indeed; the problem is the Grand Duke’s. Morchana stays behind to handle some…other…business. I walk back in to ask another question (which actually goes nowhere) but I notice that Morchana is pinning her hair back up and a lock of it is missing. VOODOO!

Cut back to Swift, who’s given me his report. He discovered where the creature was bedding down, but he did not actually see tracks. Meaning that this creature is a predator. A very GOOD predator, as it were. Remember, icy gnoll. Gnolls are male elves. Lossëlen is an icy elf. This thing is a good hunter. PROBLEM!

I decide to drop in on the Archprelate, and to see if he will be joining the festivities of the tournament champion’s feast. I meet the unhelpful secretary, who informs me “No, the Archprelate is not in. Some business about a young heretical priest out east. He left by carriage immediately after the duel.”

“Well, he’s headed in the right direction. That’s the last direction I saw him go.”

No surprises there, I knew Peter headed that way. “A letter arrived two weeks ago from the high priest in Aralt’s region saying that this young priest needed to be corrected. Some disgusting Connish name… John, no, no. . . Philip. . . no. . . Ken?”

:smalleek: NOT the heretic I was expecting. “Karl?”

“Ah, that’s the one!”

:smalleek: PROBLEM! “Not the heretical priest I was expecting.”

“Oh, who were you expecting?”

“Peter.”

“Ah, the Archprelate has decided that heresy is too good for him. He’s been defrocked… assuming we ever find him.”

The conversation drifts a little towards the Archprelate himself, and I am greeted to a very pleasant surprise. “Young mage, I wish to thank you…your efforts have made my work considerably easier. Please, take this amulet. I hope you’ll be able to put it to better use than I have.”

“Easier?”

“Well, the Archprelate is actually doing something for a change, so I have things to do other than just paperwork!”

In short, this amulet grants +1 to all of my saves, in addition to granting me 5 free casts of Magic Circle Against Evil a day (or ever, but I bet it’s a day). It’s also a product of the Sapphire Tower, which is of interest to me, as I studied at another one of the Towers of that University. Specifically, I studied in the Ruby Tower, which is focused on battle magic. The Sapphire Tower primarily studies healing and protective magics. Tam can explain a little more about the Towers if necessary. (It’ll be more important later than now, I’ll bet).

I set out to find Cade as fast as I can. (Cities are so much easier to navigate when you don’t have to worry about silly things like buildings in the way.) I found him on the way to the lagoon, where we found Fluffy. He had a bunch of scratches on his legs and was holding a large conch shell to his forehead like a unicorn’s horn. Judging from the lack of bits of the crab involved, I think he swallowed it whole. He might have even used sand as butter!

My next errand is at a haberdashery. As the net result of a very hilarious conversation, I walk out with a brand new eye-patch (red and bronze to match my robes), and the haberdasher entreats me to “tell my friends.” Thinking on my party, I’m not sure ANY of them would be terribly interested in hats, although I did think that Morchana might possibly have interest in wigs. I have no interest in wigs. (after all, even a wig can’t hide the wind constantly moving my hair around). “Oh, I have something for that.”
“You can change someone’s nature?”

“No— I have hair gel.”

Meanwhile, Morchana heads back to camp to get ready for the banquet. She dons the last dress that she hasn’t shown yet, a really stunning red one, of course with wide enough sleeves to hide her daggers. :smallwink: She then heads into town to find Lossëlen, and finds her at the spa, nails painted, toes painted, hair done, etc. They talk for a while about the icy gnoll, but are interrupted by Cade, who apparently found them by asking for an elf with wings. Figures. We definitely do not blend in.

I begin my final hour unwisely telling Fluffy the banquet is about to begin. I’m holding on to his leash at this time, and he rages and BOLTS down the street. I pull a Deception roll to give him wrong directions for an hour so that we don’t arrive rudely early. (“Give me a Sense Motive Fluffy, and add 5 to that because they always seem to be doing this to you.”) He fails the Sense Motive. I’m still being dragged around town, but luckily for me, I’m not getting dirty or scuffed up because I can fly…probably the most helpful use of it yet. And Fluffy is happy because he has a blue balloon! Eventually, I judge that enough time has passed that I can guide Fluffy to the banquet and still be sure that the nobles will have food. I make no promises for the commoners who attend. And seeing as no sane guard will stop Fluffy (now Large Size) and I’m…tied…to him, I get a free ticket in. That solves my small dilemma of not actually being invited to this banquet. I leave Fluffy behind and make my way to the Noble table, trying to see if I can worm my way up there, for the conversation and so I’m sure there’ll be food for me. A minor nobleman offers me his seat. I notice Morchana, Cade, and Lossëlen already seated at the table (at a higher position than I am, but that’s to be expected). Cade and Lossëlen are seated directly opposite of Connaught and Morchana. Unfortunately for me, my company is mostly knights, and we share little in common. My newly expanded 120 foot Windsense tells me 2 important things: 1. Minor enchantments are clearing the smoke out of the room. 2. Connaught and Morchana are playing footsie. The whole meal.

Before the meal is served Fluffy walks up to the high table, blows his Conch shell horn, and yells “FLUFFY WANT TO MAKE SPEECH!” He goes on for ten minutes about his favorite things to eat. He ends his speech with “Oh, and horsey people coming to kill you all. Bye-bye.” He then proceeds to walk back to the commoners’ area and devour everything within his reach. Tam actually drew the Sphere of Culinary Annihilation on the map. The radius was about 3 table widths wide, including the space for chairs and the aisle. Gabraal opens the meal with an announcement about the destruction of River’s Bend, and that they don’t know who is responsible. “It wasn’t me!” Connaught yells.

“As you’ve told me, repeatedly.”

At one point, someone’s hand got a little too close and Fluffy bit it. Thankfully for all involved, he didn’t bite it off. Later during the dinner, Fluffy is approached (carefully) by a man named Reese, who wanted Fluffy to do something for him. “When you finish in three hours—ok, five hours, I have something I’d like you to help me with.”

I notice Lady Erin eyeing me, and ask for permission to approach the high table. I find that I cannot think of the right way to start the conversation. Lossëlen notices the surprising absence of the sculptor who made the statue of her. As she recalled, he did say that he was going to be at the banquet, and she approaches the high table at precisely this time to ask Lady Erin about his whereabouts. Thanks for the save.

“Oh, he must have gotten caught up in his work again.”

…Yeah… I send Swift out one of the open windows to check on our sculptor friend at the Conservatory. More on that as it arrives.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m merely wondering when you will come for your sitting.”

“Today has been rather…full. I plan on dropping by tomorrow.” I roll really high on an Observation check, and notice that instead of a dress dagger, Lady Erin apparently has a paintbrush in her belt.
“You must really love your work.”

Gabraal seems to think that I’m making some move on Lady Erin and tries to cut me off, but I manage to engage him in conversation. Nothing terribly important or revealing, but Swift’s Empathetic Linked report begins to arrive and I am very distracted and accidentally insult him once (“I studied at the Gemstone Towers, which you may or may not have heard about…” his son was a student for a short time), and nearly insult him again (“I hope he [Gabraal’s son] doesn’t dishonor the family name.” “After all you’ve done, I don’t see how he possibly could! After all you’ve done to honor it, that is.”).

Swift’s report is…disturbing on multiple levels. This city is a port town, with long island that forms a natural lagoon that borders the Nobles’ district. This island (St. Dain’s Crest) is the hot spot for the nobility’s night life, and home to a very prestigious art conservatory. For one, it’s night and therefore slow going for a falcon. He has to roof hop and be on guard for owls. Once he makes it to the crest, his message gets…strange. “Snow? It’s too early for winter. Is it too early for winter? Yes, it’s too early for winter.” The images I’m getting are a little garbled… I see the island superimposed with snow from the Gemstone Towers. Swift approaches the island cautiously and swoops down to catch on a tree (dusts snow off the branches to keep his feet warm) and sends me a very confusing image back. A wolf is apparently fighting with this swirling mass of every color that ever has or ever will exist. He gets knocked out of the tree, and when he picks himself up to fly back…he can’t find the tree again. And the two fighting figures are gone.
A successful Knowledge Religion check later, I stumble back to my seat, trying to be polite, but obviously shaken. The DM rolls Observation for the assembled people (Connaught rolls a nat. 1 and doesn’t notice…SOMEHOW) Cade comes over and puts his hand on my shoulder, whispering “Pretend to be drunk…what did you see?”

“The sculptor is a dragon and is fighting the gnoll.”

I don’t think that’s what he was expecting but he hid surprise well, grimacing for a short moment before loudly declaring that I should keep a closer watch on my tolerance. He heads back to his seat, almost sits down, but turns and approaches Andris. “Remember that friend I mentioned earlier and the bird that left in the middle of the meal? He’s just seen a dragon fighting a gnoll.”
The DM: “Andris is—no he’s not being subtle at all.” His eyebrows shoot up, he rocks back in his seat before jumping up, and reaching for his weapon and realizing that he’s not armed, hurries out of the banquet with Cade in tow, apologizing to the Grand Duke and Gabraal. He gives a pointed look to every party member (save Fluffy, who is too busy filling his face, and Keito who isn’t here.) Lossëlen appears concerned and leaves with him. I stagger out of the hall trying to catch up. Morchana is still trying to keep her distance from us, and leaves in the other direction under the pretense of “freshening up.”

Andris rushes to his office, dons his chainmail and grabs his mace. (I compliment him on it, as I’m a big fan of electrical damage!) He offers us armor, but we turn him down, each for our own reasons. I am inhibited from using my talents in chainmail, while Cade is currently WEARING his scale mail. Lossëlen is already in chain, and we depart.

“Can somebody get me a damned boat?” Andris yells to the dockworkers as soon as we are within earshot. We hurry out to the crest. It is dark, and while both Lossëlen and myself can see (we also both got Darkvision and pretty good low light vision as Outsiders) Cade and Andris are only human and cannot see well. I light Cade’s scale mail up with a light spell that provides 15 feet of bright illumination. He now definitively deserves the title “Shiny guy.” We travel cautiously, guided by Swift (which is a little disconcerting to Andris) towards where Swift saw the two figures fighting. The ground is cold and saturated with water, but there isn’t any snow lying around. Swift lead us directly to the art conservatory. We head inside cautiously and enter the sculptor’s studio. Lossëlen, who’s been here before, notices a new statue. It’s a figure seated on a horse holding a spear. At Cade’s suggestion, I cast Detect Magic. The spear pings, a surprise to all. I examine it a little more closely, and with my outstanding knowledge arcane skill, I positively identify it as an Icebrand, a spear which can freeze or nullify just about any fire it comes in contact with.

Tam’s next words send chills down my spine. “And now we’re on initiative.” :smalleek: We’re caught in a surprise round as the statue explodes and the gnoll steps out, pulls a shard of ice off of its stomach, throws it to the ground, where it explodes. All of us, Andris included, make our saves and take 5 damage. Cade and Lossëlen take none; Cade because he has Evasion and Lossëlen because of her Cold subtype. As our eyes clear from the explosion, we see that the gnoll is gone.

Tam asks me “Is your Detect Magic still up?” Yes it was. I notice a quickly decaying magical chain, sort of like…a countdown…

“EVERYBODY! OUT! NOW!” I take off flying through the window (and take no damage thanks to piercing resistance, with Swift and Lossëlen behind me. Cade and Andris take the stairs…they make it out in time for the trap to detonate. The conservatory experiences hundreds of years of glaciation in a few seconds. It is reduced to a rock quarry. I identify that the trap was not meant for us, that the gnoll just happened to break out then, and that this is REALLY good magic-weaving.
'
We all take a couple of seconds to catch our breath before we realize “Wait. The gnoll is tracking Lossëlen. Her last known location was…the banquet!” And without further ado, we head off, rushing towards the banquet and the session ends.

Dragon Elite
2009-11-11, 09:18 AM
Wow. That was unexpected. Again, great re-telling Fayd.

Eldariel
2009-11-11, 09:33 AM
Wow, things are getting hot. Though I wonder, what became of the sculptor... Ah well, I'm sure we'll find out. That session had surprisingly little going on compared to the previous ones that had many interwoven chains of events, but the one you're all following is all the more critical.

Fayd
2009-11-11, 11:55 AM
Yeah, I'll agree that there were less threads going on than normal, but all of the party was together for a large portion of the time. And Keito's thread is missing.

Oh, and I did forget one small little detail:

As we were leaving the conservatory, heading back to the mainland, I apologized to Captain Andris for the awful day. "I've had worse." he replied. He mimes being stabbed. "Twelve feet of steel...six inches at a time."

Eldariel
2009-11-11, 12:26 PM
Yeah, I'll agree that there were less threads going on than normal, but all of the party was together for a large portion of the time. And Keito's thread is missing.

Oh, and I did forget one small little detail:

As we were leaving the conservatory, heading back to the mainland, I apologized to Captain Andris for the awful day. "I've had worse." he replied. He mimes being stabbed. "Twelve feet of steel...six inches at a time."

I'm growing quite fond of the Capt'n. Seems like a really interesting fellow, and supremely competent while at it.

Fayd
2009-11-11, 03:46 PM
All of us like the Captain as well. He's responsible, he's capable, he's tough, he seems to be a good person...all around a good guy. It's part of the reason that we went to him first with my disturbing news...and he'll be the first I propose my trap to.

Dragon Elite
2009-11-12, 09:33 AM
DUN DUN DUNNNNN! :elan:

Fayd
2009-11-12, 09:40 AM
Ironically, I've since thought better of my trap (Actually, I've thought of something simpler) and it may not be necessary in the first place.

That said, I don't think we can safely leave the city until this gnoll problem is resolved.

Morchana
2009-11-13, 04:50 PM
This is true. . . Also, there are certain members of our party that may not want to leave until the gnoll problem is resolved, or who might have some other things to take care of in the meantime. :smallwink:

Theodoric
2009-11-13, 05:38 PM
Just read it through. Very exciting, though the importance of the gnoll seems to elude me.

Eldariel
2009-11-13, 05:43 PM
Just read it through. Very exciting, though the importance of the gnoll seems to elude me.

Icy gnoll. Gnoll = male elf. Losselen is an icy female elf. Icy elves are rather rare, or at least that's what I gather. Also, both Morchana and Losselen have escaped their elven homes. Seems it might have quite a bit to do with Lossie.

Fayd
2009-11-13, 08:46 PM
Basically, as Eldariel said, in our DM's Campaign Setting, due to a catastrophic event some time ago, elves experience great sexual dimorphism. Male elves are now Gnolls, or other monstrous humanoids in the case of some of the other varieties of elf. This makes elves fairly rare (though half-elves are fairly common, as you can probably understand)

Now, Lossëlen comes from the icy unexplored regions of the north. Where there are elves, there is an accompanying tribe/pack of gnolls. As this is a fairly long trip from the icy north...we think he's here for a reason, and we think that reason is Lossëlen.

Morchana
2009-11-13, 09:28 PM
It does have something to do with with Lossie, dear, poor, Lossie, and all will be explained in due time. . .

starwoof
2009-11-13, 10:45 PM
It sounds like you know more than you're letting on, Morchana.:smallbiggrin:

Morchana
2009-11-13, 11:04 PM
Oh I do. . . :smallwink:

Good luck getting me to tell you any of it, though! :smallbiggrin:

Eldariel
2009-11-13, 11:19 PM
Oh I do. . . :smallwink:

Good luck getting me to tell you any of it, though! :smallbiggrin:

Speaking of getting you to tell anything, Fluffy's account was quite...enlightening. Special, at the very least. Any hope of the Elven ladies providing their points of view on events at some point?* Particularly looking at Snow here, given she's the only one who hasn't yet personally written of her own adventures.

* Yes, I remember Morchana's account of her escapades at the keep. I guess that's in part what got me asking; that was quite a read. Though of course, the most interesting part were the events.

Morchana
2009-11-14, 12:11 AM
Well, I am taking notes, and at some point you will all have the complete under-the-table-outside-the-room-accomplished-by-notecards-or-whispering account of Morchana's adventure. However, I have been quite secretive lately, so I can't tell too much, since the other players will read it. Later, I assure you.

I might throw in a little blurb next week, though. You never know. It all depends on whether Fayd leaves his computer unattended when I am around, to sneak something into the official journal. . .

Fayd
2009-11-14, 05:54 PM
Or you could, you know...ask me. I'd probably let you type it. And I read anything that gets posted so...good luck with the "sneaking" it past me.

Ecalsneerg
2009-11-15, 03:31 PM
Just read this whole thread...

... your campaign rocks. Fluffy is my new god. Of food and fightin'

Fluffy the Orc
2009-11-15, 04:28 PM
Just read this whole thread...

... your campaign rocks. Fluffy is my new god. Of food and fightin'

Oh Ecalsneerg, you're too kind. :smallsmile:

I'm glad you have enjoyed the tales of our adventures so far. Stay tuned, I'm sure things will continue to get more and more interesting.

Fayd
2009-11-16, 02:06 PM
Aw, thanks for the support.

We had the last session yesterday, but as I have an exam tomorrow and a paper due Thursday, don't expect the journal much before then. If I have spare time I'll jot down a thing or two (and already have one the most hilarious sections finished...)

Fayd
2009-11-21, 10:36 PM
Chapter 9: That Poor Tavern

We rush back to the banquet to find…that nothing at all is wrong. That’s reassuring, at the very least. I follow Andris up to his office and write what amounts to a small dissertation about what I observed and identified, leaving out as little detail as possible. Cade and Lossëlen head back to the banquet, where a (mostly intoxicated) Connaught asks where they and Andris went. Cade calls it a “bit of a disturbance.” Connaught presses, and Cade (realizing that there’s no real way that we can hide it) points out that the city no longer has a conservatory. It also occurs to Cade that Lady Erin no longer has a studio, and it might be polite to let her know this fact. I eventually finish and arrive back at the banquet, apologize to Lady Erin that due to those same circumstances I will be unable to make her portrait sitting. Not long afterward, the banquet dissolves, and Cade and I spot Morchana slinking off into a side passage. Cade has decided that we need to speak with the entire party, get our facts straight, and make decisions, and so he pursues. I tag along, as 5 eyes are better than 2.

Morchana tries to evade us, but she cannot seem to roll well on her sneak checks (as Tam put it: “It’s like déjà vu!”) and she cannot avoid the amazing observational prowess of Cade and Swift. Once again, the karma-coin strikes again…this time it rules in Cade’s favor. I’m more or less extraneous in this chase. We catch up with her, promise it will be short (she has a ‘friend waiting on her to visit’) and ask if she’s seen where Fluffy went. She blatantly tries to brush us off by saying that “No, I haven’t seen him. Goodness me! He could even now be wreaking havoc all over town!”

Cade’s not buying it. “Not likely,” he replies, “only the kitchens.”

We more or less inform her of our desire to hold a meeting, and that she gets to pick the time and place (she decided that we will meet an hour after dawn, at camp).

Speaking of camp, I am exhausted, both physically and magically, and so I head back. Just to be safe, as I am the only person at our campsite, I draw a warding circle that will wake me up should anyone but a party member attempt to cross it. Cade does actually wander about looking for Fluffy a bit, with Lossëlen in tow. (He’s mandated that she does not move alone anymore, with the gnoll on the loose.) When they don’t find any sign of him, Cade reckons that he can’t be likely to get into too much trouble, and they too turn in. (Cade tells me he later regretted this assumption.)

That night, I am awoken by my warding circle. I come out of my tent to see a dark-cloaked and hooded figure kneeling over my circle. Needless to say, I am not pleased. I hurl out my most powerful Wind spell I can. I don’t think I can do the magic system justice, so I’ll let Tam explain that. This spell bull launches the figure back ten feet, and I call for the party to wake up…to find Keito…standing…there…WHY DID YOU BREAK MY CIRCLE? Cade charges out of his tent, sword drawn, and is rather cranky. To me: “Less. Trigger. Happy.” To Keito: “Do you REALLY need to be provoking our trigger-happy mage?”

Cheeky grin (that we can barely see beneath the hood.) “Yes. Yes I do.”

Cade stares at her (performing Detect Evil, which, like all simple divinations in our campaign setting also functions as a deep, soul searching stare), grunts, and heads back into his tent. I am not happy either, but I choose to say nothing and go back to sleep.

The next morning, we actually hold our meeting, and except for Fluffy, our entire party is present. The notable lack of our gigantic orcish barbarian is distressing, but we press on, as we highly doubt Fluffy knows something that we do not. Morchana reveals that she had successfully (this time) snuck into Gabraal’s office, where she found some interesting information. He has apparently been keeping tabs on his son’s whereabouts. Gabraal the Younger is Lieutenant Gabraal of the Doomriders. Oh. That presents a small issue. (And I sincerely hope that we didn’t kill him.) Keito is tight-lipped about her activities. Cade and I present everything we know about what happened with the gnoll, the likelihood of dragon(s) in the city and basically everything we all know. During the middle of our meeting, Cade notices that the Wyrm’s Head Tavern does not appear to be open…or inhabited. No smoke, no nothing. We head over to check it out, being VERY cautious. I send Swift to look through the top windows, where I see the entire layout of the place where…absolutely nothing visibly is wrong. Cade is none too keen on breaking and entering, but he lets me fly through the window (there’s no glass on the lower windows anymore) and investigate. I don’t touch the ground or disturb anything, on the off chance of something going wrong, but there’s nothing here. It’s just like Marley never got here. I check the cellar, but there’s nothing unusual, and it’s barred and locked. It is entirely too eerie. But nothing we can do, so I leave.

We split up and spend the morning looking for Fluffy, Marley, the sculptor (Taliesin), or the gnoll, but we’re getting nothing…This is actually distressing, as we thought Fluffy would leave a trail of destruction a mile wide. Quite contrary, everyone we ask (especially those with food on their person or pies on their windowsills) is rather relieved he’s not anywhere to be seen. Nobody knows where Marley even lives, and Taliesin is nowhere to be found. We decide to separate to search a wider area, and go our ways for the day. Cade, Lossëlen, and I go to Andris, and Cade offers his services to help with anything. Andris asks if he has retrieved the map from the harbormaster, which we’d completely forgotten about, so Cade and Lossëlen rush out there. (Swift has spotted some general orc-shaped damage near the docks to boot.) I stay behind to examine Andris’s mace, specifically the enchantments on it. What I find is not…exactly…what I was expecting (but exactly what I, the player, was hoping to find.) I was able to identify both the maker and primary reagent of the enchantment. The primary reagent was…me. As in, this mace was enchanted using a piece of my own soul. By the mage who kidnapped me. WELL. That’s not something you find everyday…especially as I didn’t even know I’ve been this far south! I let Andris know of this fact, and attempt to get more information from him about the mace, but he doesn’t know much because he wasn’t the original owner. He got it from the previous captain of the guard. I thank Andris for his time and ask him to take good care of the mace. He reminds me that if we return with what we’ve promised, it is ours.

I make a beeline to the harbormaster and apparently had JUST missed Cade and Lossëlen, who have gone to investigate Swift’s sightings at the south docks. I decide to see if their records mention the ship I would have arrived on 18 years prior. After a very boring SIX HOURS, I get the information I’m looking for. The Emerald Tower mage who kidnapped me was the captain of a magical longboat, and they came from the “south.” Great…that’s not intentionally vague or anything. Around the middle of this time, I realize that I never checked the Wyrm’s Head Tavern for magic of any kind. I scribble a quick note and send it with Swift to Cade and Lossëlen telling them that they should PROBABLY check it out with Detect Magic.

Speaking of those two, they found where Fluffy had been! Oceans of blood tend to be a small giveaway. That and collapsed warehouses on the south docks. To say that Cade is not pleased would be a gross understatement. They found an old man who had said that “It was the wrath of GOD, smiting down upon those young punks! It was GLORIOUS!” They pump the crazy old guy for information and determine that, yes, the destruction WAS caused by our orc. That and the people involved were each part of rival street gangs. They head back, run a quick magic detection on the Wyrm’s head (comes up nothing) and head back to camp where they find…Fluffy…sleeping…with a severed human arm as a pillow…on ALL of our bedrolls…

Cade stands there, rooted, unnaturally still and staring… for about half an hour. Eventually he just kind of has a spasm of a twitch, stiffly marches over, grabs a piece of jerky, and waves it in front of Fluffy’s nose. When Fluffy snatches at it, Cade swipes 2 bedrolls out from under Fluffy. He prestidigitations his clean-ish, and throws it over a branch to vent, the other he just tosses at Lossëlen’s tent. He stomps off to Andris to inform him of the… ‘events’ at the docks.

Guess what? Andris has the same sort of reaction: Blink. Blink. “I think, the sooner you get him out of here, the better for everyone.”

Cade: “I’ve just spent the better part of the last hour thinking the same thing.”

Given how much crime has been wiped out of the area, Andris does joke that we might drop him off on the opposite bank before we leave. We’re pretty sure he was joking. We hope he was joking. Rather than return to the grim scene at camp immediately, Cade takes a walk through town to, well, simmer.

Morchana has spent the last few hours chatting up the nobles, where she decided to visit Taliesin’s home. He owns a small hut, not too far from the conservatory (but far enough that it is still standing) that is built above a natural cave. Because nobody is home (or really watching) she tries to pick the lock…Twice…and fails. To her credit, lock-picking DCs are REALLY high. She decides to investigate the cave beneath his house. Most of the cave is a small pool of water, but she manages to sneak around the walls where the water is shallower, and on the other edge of the pool is a small “island” of sorts. On this island is a partially completed sculpture and lots of rock fragments. The statue was made of marble…which is rather heavy and hard to carry across a pool without a visible boat. On gut instinct, she rolls a Use Magical Device check, and a portion of the rock wall slides out to reveal a staircase…which leads up into Taliesin’s hut. Nice. There’s little that she can gather from the room, save that it’s mostly a façade. He spends next to no time here…the tools are pristine…which means that they’re brand new. Underneath the bed are dust tyrannosaurs, and there is little to no food in the entire building. The bed is not made, and if my hypothesis about Taliesin is correct…there could be a lot of half-draconic street kids running around in a short while.

Fluffy arises from his slumber and realizes that while the 5 hours of eating did satiate his appetite, he’s hungry again. He goes to find food, and the closest place is the Wyrm’s Head Tavern. We’ve been here a lot today. (This is, incidentally, about the point that Cade realizes he’s effectively left Fluffy unsupervised --I’m STILL at the docks, Lossëlen is taking a nap, and Keito isn’t about to try to stop him-- and begins to sprint, as fast as he can move, back this direction. For the record, that’s fast.)

Fluffy decides to go through the…wall…next to the door… instead of the smashed out and easily accessible windows… and rolls so well he actually crashes entirely through the entire tavern, coming out of the opposite wall. Fluffy reenters and looks for food, and while there isn’t any food on the main level, he does spot a barrel that smells interesting. There’s strange markings on the side of the barrel (he’s illiterate, and the barrel actually reads “Marley’s Choice Dragonsbreath Brew”) and he downs the whole thing. He is completely unaffected. He heads down the stairs and bends the metal bars out of the way. At about this time, Cade catches up and just sort of staggers at the damage for a second. He gets to the top of the stairs, where Fluffy gleefully shouts, “SHINY GUY!” and runs up the stairs and powerfully hugs Cade. Cade cannot escape the grapple, but Fluffy drops him and heads down the stairs.

In the basement, there are several tuns of the Wyrm’s Head Ale and several salted boars. Fluffy immediately heads to one of the boars, cuts it in half with his now one-handed greataxe, and begins to eat it. Cade cautiously descends, lights a torch (unlike Fluffy, Cade does not have darkvision), and makes an observation check for the room; Nothing unusual at all. Cade tries to convince Fluffy stop, but everyone (including himself) agrees that no matter what he says, it’s going in one ear and out the other. Getting frustrated, Cade says that they HAVE to get back to camp to get ready for the boat trip tomorrow, and that Fluffy can take the boar back with him. Cade receives half a hurtling boar and 8 points of non-lethal damage for his trouble. Cade says “There’ll be a lot of seafood on the boat trip, but none if we don’t leave right now.” No effect…Fluffy then decides that he’s thirsty and gnaws his way through the spigot on one of the tuns of ale. “Fluffy, I don’t want to give you a time-out, but I will!” Fluffy pauses, considers, but the flowing ale is just right there…and he just has to go back to it. Cade grimaces. “Fine.” Time to try out the new magic system! Cade uses a function of his healing magic (technically “Life” Magic) to paralyze Fluffy. While Fluffy fails 3 consecutive Will Saves, Cade delivers this speech:
“You remember how the Blue Guy can make everything taste better? Well there’s a mean horsey-man out there who’s trying to take all the food away. All the food in the world, Fluffy! What if…what if he’s back at camp now making all the food go away? I can’t make the mean horsey-man go away by myself, Fluffy. Will you come back and help me make the mean horsey-man go away?”

About the middle of that speech, Fluffy’s eyes turn red and be begins to visibly shake. Doesn’t help him escape the spell, but…He rushes off towards the camp at about the fastest speed he can when Cade releases him. Cade is faster…he manages to save his own tent and bags. Lossëlen and I see Fluffy coming and wisely hover at the safe altitude of at least 30 feet in the air. The entire camp is thoroughly destroyed. He rummages through everyone’s bags looking for horsey-man, throwing things around (Cade manages to snag Morchana’s dresses out of the air so that they don’t get dirty. He had to convince himself to do so.)

Fluffy is very sad…though I do tell him the encouraging “You did it Fluffy! You chased away the horsey-man!” He still got the vibe that people were…less than pleased with his actions, and behaves himself for the rest of the session. We turn in and prepare to set sail tomorrow.

Morchana
2009-11-22, 01:50 AM
What I want to know is: Did Fluffy break my bottle of perfume? It was expensive perfume. I'd hate to lose it. :smallfrown:

Also, things might go badly if he broke my vials of poison. Just sayin'.



Last thought-- the rest of you fail at observations. You may be able to follow me down a hall, but you really don't notice anything about me ever. Except for Losselen. :smallsmile:

Fluffy the Orc
2009-11-22, 02:59 PM
What I want to know is: Did Fluffy break my bottle of perfume? It was expensive perfume. I'd hate to lose it. :smallfrown:

Also, things might go badly if he broke my vials of poison. Just sayin'.



No, amazingly Fluffy didn't break any of your bottles. They were dumped out on the grass, so thankfully they survived. I just hope that there wasn't anything too secret you were trying to hide in your pack... because it would have been lying on the ground out in the open.

Basically all that happened was that everyone was forced to repack all their stuff and our tents were turned into toothpicks.

Morchana
2009-11-23, 01:28 AM
Good thing! I would hate to have to replace the bottles.

On another note: Latest session was tonight, and WE FINALLY GOT ON THE SHIP!!! Let's just says Fluffy is a major pain in the you-know-what. . . Everyone wanted to kill him for a while, except for dear Lossie. :smallsmile:

Explanation later. It was a good session. :smallbiggrin:

Snowstar
2009-11-23, 02:17 AM
Hi Guys,

I have mixed feelings about how the events transpired, with the ship ride and such. I definitely feel like I was more active, but that might not necessarily have been a good thing. Primarily, I know I am very diverse, with spheres in plant, music, elemental, among others; the entire point of being so well rounded was that I just wanted to be as useful as possible on an adventure. Although I am fully enjoying my level of outsider, which now allows my wings to be functional, I took it mainly because I thought that flying would be advantageous. Usually whenever we encounter a problem, I try to make many suggestions of what I can do using my diverse assortment of talents, but either they would not work, or someone can do it much better, like Fayd, who is far more talented in everything. Recently, I used my singing to help keep Fluffy under control during the ship ride, but I'm afraid it caused more problems than it solved. If I had not have attracted the pod of dolphins, we never would have upset the sea god and Fluffy would not have lost his best weapon. I fear that even when I try to actively participate, it affects the situation for the worse; therefore, it would be better for me to remain passive.

Moreover, I have been fairly passive for most of the campaign and I must admit that my fellow adventurers know less about me than they think. I would like to correct my dear friend Morchana who at times may have questioned my alignment. It would seem that sometimes my actions may appear to be evil, but this is not so. My intentions are never to cause harm to any friend or ally, but to zealously help them to the point where I am content to cause harm to their enemies. Where evil wishes to cause harm to anyone for the sake of harm, good would have no interest in such things. I am Chaotic Good in that I am concerned for the well being of my immediate friends, but I am not above hurting another that wishes to do harm to those I love. However, I will add that I regard love and relationships with a special value that goes beyond any predetermined standard.

With that said, I am afraid that either my overly helpful and caring attitude may have gone too far, or my lack of observation has betrayed me yet again. Deals were made that may have negative ramifications for the one to whom I would hope would change for the better. Details of such will become apparent as my plan unfolds. Also, I am well aware that my fellow party members read my journal.

If anyone is curious, my theme song is a techno remix of Carol of the bells:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6KI1AYKfpM

Sincerely,
Lossëlen (Snowstar)

Cisturn
2009-11-23, 02:44 AM
hey i really like this thread, and i love the deepening plot, i actually cant wait for the next installment. One thing though on Snowstars comment though


I am Chaotic Good in that I am concerned for the well being of my immediate friends, but I am not above hurting another that wishes to do harm to those I love.

Isn't that chaotic neutral?

Morchana
2009-11-23, 03:02 AM
Losselen, you were fine tonight. It was Fluffy's choice to attack the dolphins, and he suffered the consequences-- by losing his axe. It was not your fault. Fluffy is Fluffy, and if playing chaotic stupid is his cup of tea, then so be it! Remember the tavern and Cade's warning about the horsey people? You weren't involved, and Fluffy still made a royal mess of things. When he does things like that, I will simply facepalm for 1d4 damage, and then help you to the best of my abilities to remedy the situation.

You took absentminded for a reason, and you play it really well! And your music and plants are really good skills to have-- I will definitely need your assistance growing plants for poisons for me in the future. And music does calm things, and it would have worked on Fluffy had the dolphins not come.

Also, your upcoming plan is quite amazing. I love it, and am all too willing to help! (Shh, it's a secret!)

And when have I ever seriously questioned your alignment? I have joked about it a couple of times, because you hang out with me, but you are chaotic good all the way-- very chaotic at times, but good nonetheless.

You rock!!!



By the way-- Fayd, let the lady do a few things for herself once in a while-- you don't have to literally steal all the thunder in this game!

The_Werebear
2009-11-23, 03:42 AM
Specialization versus Focus: The Great Debate of DnD. Personally, I would love to try a character who's all over the place and can do a bit of everything, but that usually means you end up standing behind someone else rolling Aid Another more than anything in your own. Still, I wouldn't doubt that being able to cover for other party members in a pinch is going to be key one day.

As for Fluffy.... At this point, I think I am gonna recommend a collar:smalleek: Possibly also a Calm Emotions Spell.

Oh, and pray he never takes anything related to Improved Sunder.

Also, I can not wait to know why Fluffy was attempting to hunt dolphins with an axe. On the bright side, it does sound like he didn't attempt to go through the Boat's waterline to get to them.

Morchana
2009-11-23, 04:30 AM
Oh, Fluffy has a collar. . . It's just with his strength we haven't even been able to find a chain that can hold him-- or something to attach said chain to. Maybe a shock collar. . . Fayd?

starwoof
2009-11-23, 04:34 AM
Get a spray bottle. That seems to work on cats.:smallwink:

Cade Rentyr
2009-11-23, 04:56 AM
/
To anyone not-Snowstar, skip past this if you don't want spoilers for the next chapter.


You're being too hard on yourself, Snowstar. Like Morchana says, it was Fluffy's own choice, and game-karma slapped him for it. Don't feel bad about the dolphins --the DM included them as pretty fluff for your pretty song. It wouldn't have been a big deal at all if Fluffy hadn't insisted on making it so.

And look at it another way; if you hadn't sung for Fluffy, he would have caused even worse problems, including possibly capsizing us. In fact, you actually even saved Fluffy's life, and it was nearly all you on that count. Think back over the chain of events; I bound him, yes, but to the flotation device you created. You secured him to the ship, and you pacified the dolphins with another stellar perform score --which Keito and I could only attempt to aid. I complained about Fayd being a skill monkey (which he is, though as he pointed out only at knowledge) but if you remember, he managed to do absolutely nothing during the whole fiasco, while you effectively put the whole thing right by yourself with very little help from Keito and me.

Let there be no doubt in your mind, you were MVP this chapter, and you deserved it. :smallsmile:


Also,

One thing though on Snowstars comment though:


I am Chaotic Good in that I am concerned for the well being of my immediate friends, but I am not above hurting another that wishes to do harm to those I love.

Isn't that chaotic neutral?
Am I Lawful Neutral for smiting evil-doers who wish to do harm to innocents? :smallwink:
Rest assured, Losselen is Chaotic Good; if you're getting any other impression it's because I didn't do a good enough job explaining the language of the alignment dichotomy to her.


The next chapter should be up by the end of Monday night. Until then, everyone!

Snowstar
2009-11-23, 02:10 PM
I may have streaks of Neutral. I'm sure there is a spectrum of alignment instead of just black and white options. I would like to be more Chaotic Good in the future, though.

Count Dravda
2009-11-23, 05:53 PM
As for Fluffy.... At this point, I think I am gonna recommend a collar:smalleek: Possibly also a Calm Emotions Spell.

Oh, and pray he never takes anything related to Improved Sunder.

Oh, dear lord. Pray there is nothing like Destructive Rage from the Complete Warrior. +8 to strength checks to break things while raging? SCARY.

-Count Dravda

Fayd
2009-11-23, 06:24 PM
Naw, he just has Juggernaut, which makes him seem a size category or two larger for combat maneuvers (Bull Rush and stuff) and a +4 to attack and damage vs. objects. Eventually, it will allow him to shatter Force effects by inflicting 30 points of damage (oh, and that +4 becomes +8)

Whirling Strike (which is even better now)...Large size...

Yeah, he's scary.

In other news, the chapter is only awaiting revising before it is published!

Fayd
2009-11-23, 11:43 PM
Chapter 10: The Plots Thicken. Or: Nautical Naughtiness.

We head for the docks early and board our ship, the Green Arrow. The ship has had a recent addition made to it…an outrigger attached to the side. Our captain, a nice Scottish-sounding guy called Captain Fearson, has added this to his ship specifically for Fluffy…and shifted the entire ship’s ballast to the other side to accommodate for his weight. To be fair, our Captain is a little put off by this whole venture, but he’s taking it well, or at least as well as can be expected. As we shove off, we notice another ship out waiting for the tide to come in, and some party members notice the banner it is flying: a diving hawk, gold on burgundy. I got nothing, as surprisingly even my knowledge check wasn’t high enough to reveal any information about this symbol. As we get closer, we notice a man who “seems larger than he is,” standing heroically on the bow.

Please note that Cade hadn’t noticed the standard on that ship at first, but when we passed close enough to see this man he very quickly hid beneath deck. Curious…

Oh, and then we get out deeper and encounter seasickness….glorious seasickness. Cade, Lossëlen, and Keito get their sea legs immediately, but Morchana, Fluffy and I have to roll Fort saves to avoid its effects. Morchana succeeds, and just goes to lie down to help preserve her dignity. Fluffy aids the ship’s propulsion. I roll a nat 1. Yeah…I don’t feel so great.

Fluffy gets bored out of his mind, so naturally, he tries to climb on board the ship. A climb check later, and he’s aboard. Everyone’s panicking, but I have a plan. “Fluffy, how about a contest? If I can hold my breath longer than you, you have to do what I say.” Fluffy rises to the bait…and inevitably fails, as I DON’T HAVE TO BREATHE.

“Stupid Blue Guy…” Fluffy mutters dejectedly before getting back on the raft.
Lossëlen decides to sing to try to calm Fluffy and keep him entertained. She rolls VERY well on Perform (in fact, she rolled a 27 to be specific). She sings beautifully… Not only are Cade and most of the sailors watching from the rail, a pod of dolphins come by to listen and hang around the ship.
Fluffy immediately decides that he must jump into the water and take a greataxe to one of them.

Great. Just great. The sailors are cursing and…praying. Praying very devoutly as a matter of fact-- Knowledge (Religion) time! One of the totemic symbols of the god of the sea…is the dolphin. Fluffy nearly killed a dolphin…uh oh. Lossëlen creates a decently sized iceberg, flat faced, so that Fluffy can get onto something solid. Morchana just watches, rolling a 3 on her 1d4 facepalm damage, and to be honest, there’s not a lot she can do in this situation anyway. Fluffy gets pummeled by dolphins who are protecting their friend, taking a significant beating --18 of his 49 hp in one round, to be exact.

Lossëlen and I try to get the dolphin that was injured to safety and fail. (Stupid strength penalties, in my case at least). Keito starts healing the dolphin (and finishes next round.) Fluffy decides to get on to the newly made iceberg, and still tries to take a swing at a dolphin, but only makes a glorious splash. Cade uses his Life magic to bind Fluffy to the iceberg. He fails his will save for the entire duration of the spell. Again. The binding is specifically designed to also bind him to the iceberg, so that he doesn’t fall off and drown. Or get beaten to death by dolphins. (What an embarrassing way for a barbarian to die, eh?) They still TRY to beat the iceberg, but fail to dislodge Fluffy. Two of the pod stay behind to try to attack Lossëlen and me (understandable, they don’t know we’re trying to help) and fail to connect a blow. Lossëlen also manages to connect the iceberg to the ship with rope and more ice.

Lossëlen decides to use her music (both mundane and magical together) to calm the dolphins, and Keito helps with a magical sedative from her Life magic. Their efforts are successful and the dolphins calm and drift off to the other side of the ship. Meanwhile, we manage to get Captain Fearson to get his crew --however reluctantly and with many dark grumbles-- to haul the iceberg back. On our last night at sea for this leg of the journey, Captain Fearson tells us a “true” story over dinner that apparently happened off the coast a while back. Admittedly, it’s off the coast of a place called the “Tentacled Jungle.” Guess what type of aberration tends to live there—freaky things happen. He was apparently chased by giants in metal boats that were paddled by massive sword-oar things. This is within the realm of possibility. Probability? Who knows?

Incidentally, at some point during the trip Lossëlen meets with Morchana in secret to discuss… something. Curiouser and curiouser…

We arrive at the town of Cattlepoint and notice that the cattle are being driven in early. This town is apparently the place where Baronet Connaught is working… behind a desk, as he tends to get overzealous while fighting. We split up and go about our business. Fluffy goes and uses his Whirlwind Strike feat and his greataxe to help with the butchering of the cattle. And they’re happy to have the help…as it is free! In fact, he’s having so much fun, he’s actually only eating one or two cows! I decide it might just be prudent to go make a sacrificial offering to Lo-Tenger, god of the earth and sea (basically, think Poseidon, and you’ve got a general idea. From what I understand, he’s not QUITE as wrathful, but…) and I spend the next hour finding the appropriate stone. The next few hours are spent making the sacrifice, during which I am approached by a strange old crone. “It is not only ONE god you have offended! I am an acolyte of the sea witch. That giant who is with you…He will DIE!”

“Yes, we all know that.” Logically, it has to happen sooner or later. Heck, knowing Fluffy it almost has to be sooner.

“Death by water! You must bring a sacrifice…something you care about more than anything else!”

I kind of stagger. “But as it is Fluffy who has offended her…shouldn’t he be giving something?”

“As long as it is something that he cares about more than anything else…it would suffice.”

So, I go approach Fluffy at work, and convince him to join me outside for a quick conversation. He drops the cleaver the butchers have lent him, for which I am grateful. I basically tell him about the powers he has offended, and that they’re more powerful than I am and that I need something he really likes…and he’s picking his nose. New tactic…These powers would take away his food...again with the blank staring… Okay. “Fluffy, would you be sad if your axe went away?” He RAGES, and tries to throw me through the air! I catch myself and float back down. He is throwing a tantrum, just yelling and flailing.

That would be a yes. I tell Fluffy that I need his axe to appease the gods, and he gets angry and grabs me and smashes me into a wall, headfirst. Reeling from the blow, I offer that I can get him a new, bigger axe later!! Thankfully, it gets through to him, and he’s happy enough to concede. I head back to the shrine, and give the axe to the crone.

“This will do, this will do…” She walks off into the water…and keeps going deeper and deeper…and then she vanishes into the depths.

I think I just stopped something REALLY BAD.

Meanwhile, Cade, Lossëlen, and Morchana gather information around the town for a bit on their way to the keep, and don’t find anything terribly exciting from local rumors. There’s…’something’, up north that’s hurting cattle populations (Doomriders maybe?) which is why ranchers are driving the herds in early, to save as much as they can. Nothing about any chilly gnolls, but Lossëlen and Morchana ask about the folks with the diving-hawk emblem, and get a response along the lines of “Oh yeah, buncha crazies blew through here, looking fer… what was it… I dunno, some kind of runaway or somethin’. Stopped by the fort and left before the day was out. Did restock on supplies though. A lot of supplies, actually.” Hrm…

In any case, the trio does eventually reach Baronet Connaught’s command, where they find him behind a desk doing paperwork and mad as heck about it. They warn him about the Doomriders and that there could be attempts made against his life. Weird as it is, he actually sounds like he’s welcoming the prospective danger. Wow. He must be REALLY bored. At one point in this conversation, he stands up and says, “You know what? Screw this. I’m coming with you guys!”

:smalleek: There are SO many problems with this.

All three party members jump at a Persuade roll. Morchana’s roll is highest, obviously, so Cade and Lossëlen assist. We expound on the nobility of his duties, charge him with his responsibilities… and remind him that it would be VERY bad for him should his father discover that he’s not here. He wasn’t buying it until that last part, where he hitches, considers, and plops back into his seat, muttering resentfully. Abruptly and quite directly (like father, like son, I suppose) he points at Morchana and shouts, “Can I at least have HER for the night?!?” Lossëlen giggles. “You can come too if you like!” The Baronet tells her. Cade bristles a little.

“Well, I could come to dinner with you.” Morchana offers.

“Do you like beef?” He snarks. Morchana smiles and nods.

Crisis averted.

They wander around town and eventually find me, where I let them in on what happened with Fluffy, we agree to leave first thing in the morning to continue on our journey...The captain is very adamant that we leave as soon as possible because the late seasonal storms are coming and they've decided to make up for lost time. We agree to take shifts to keep Fluffy entertained. No, actually, ‘diverted’ is probably a better word. (Speaking of, Fluffy had spend the afternoon curled up next to the keep, mourning his greataxe and dejectedly cuddling the meat cleaver from the butchers, which no one wants to debate is his now. He arrived at the ship in the middle of the night carrying a live cow --it’s gone the next day.) Morchana breaks off for her dinner. When she walks back the next morning just before the ship leaves, she’s had time do her hair, but otherwise…well, we can assume, like father, like son.

starwoof
2009-11-24, 01:08 AM
“Do you like beef?” He snarks. Morchana smiles and nods.

Can't. Stop. Chuckling.

Eldariel
2009-11-24, 02:04 AM
Mmm, I don't see how the Gnoll could really follow you considering it'll probably have serious issues getting a ship. Unless it can fly. Which would mean some serious issues.

Also, after the pre-campaign note, I'm seeing a distinct lack of bodies around Morchana. Has she gotten soft, or is it just that candy works better than steel much of the time?

And yeah, seems like Lossie saved the day. Bored Fluffy would've likely been capable of more damage than just two enraged Gods. I'll have to say, the dolphins have a good taste; I would pay to hear a that performance.


The last session had lots and lots of plots in a tangled mess; it was nice to read something nice and simple for a change (though with a few...curious events).

By the way, I'm voting "curiouser" for the best "new word" I've heard in a while. It has a really nice ring to it.

Morchana
2009-11-24, 02:14 AM
Also, after the pre-campaign note, I'm seeing a distinct lack of bodies around Morchana. Has she gotten soft, or is it just that candy works better than steel much of the time?

Oh, candy does work better than steel for getting what I want. :smallamused:

But really-- I'm lawful. I can't just go around offing people, now can I? I have to be actually hired to do so or have some similar motivation.

Also, they don't call me the vengeful banshee for nothing! :smallwink:

Eldariel
2009-11-24, 02:46 AM
Oh, candy does work better than steel for getting what I want. :smallamused:

Mmm, well, as I said before, you do go places so I guess it's working pretty darn well right now.


But really-- I'm lawful. I can't just go around offing people, now can I? I have to be actually hired to do so or have some similar motivation.

The way I look at it, you don't just go around killing people regardless of alignment, but I don't really see Lawful Evil consciously not killing when doing so is in LE's advantage...most LEs anyways. Then again, a character is more than her alignment; I'll be interestingly waiting to see what kinds of principles Morchana has in place. :smallwink:


Also, they don't call me the vengeful banshee for nothing! :smallwink:

Oh, I can believe that nickname is well-earned. :smallamused:

Cade Rentyr
2009-11-24, 10:15 AM
Mmm, I don't see how the Gnoll could really follow you considering it'll probably have serious issues getting a ship. Unless it can fly. Which would mean some serious issues.
We didn't figure it could, but we're just being cautious. Teleport magic? More than one of them? Flight? I'd just really rather avoid getting caught off guard.


By the way, I'm voting "curiouser" for the best "new word" I've heard in a while. It has a really nice ring to it.
Why thank you. That one was mine. :smallwink:

Morchana
2009-11-24, 10:47 AM
. . .I don't really see Lawful Evil consciously not killing when doing so is in LE's advantage...most LEs anyways. Then again, a character is more than her alignment; I'll be interestingly waiting to see what kinds of principles Morchana has in place. :smallwink:

Actually, not many opportunities to kill people where it would work to my advantage have come up. Either I haven't been able to get close enough to the person I would kill, or I have been threatened by the party not to, or the people I interact with are people like my boss. (If I kill him, I lose my source of income.)

Simply put, I can kill, and I am fairly good at it, but I've just found that I don't always need to, which is fine, because I hate messes. Also, bodies can be incriminating evidence-- look what happened the first night of the campaign, and what almost happened to me!

Candy is better than steel. :smallwink:

AtwasAwamps
2009-11-24, 10:49 AM
We didn't figure it could, but we're just being cautious. Teleport magic? More than one of them? Flight? I'd just really rather avoid getting caught off guard.


Why thank you. That one was mine. :smallwink:

Lewis Carrol beat you to it ;)

Your system is intriguing and I am thoroughly enjoying this story, as well as the commentary from everyone else.

In fan-speak, I am totally shipping Cade/Morchana. Or Fluffy/Keito so that everyone has a brain hernia.

Snowstar
2009-11-24, 12:18 PM
All royal elves in my society have wings, but whether or not they can actually fly is up to them.

Cade Rentyr
2009-11-24, 02:38 PM
Lewis Carrol beat you to it ;)
Well, yes, and he's actually where I got it. I meant it was one of my edits to include it. :smallsmile:


In fan-speak, I am totally shipping Cade/Morchana. Or Fluffy/Keito so that everyone has a brain hernia.
Ship away. For the record, though? Ew. Have you ever tried kissing someone who makes your molars rattle from her very presence? Seems to me that it wouldn't be all that gratifying...
Oh yeah, and the Fluffy/Keito thing is definitely hernia material.

AtwasAwamps
2009-11-24, 03:13 PM
Well, yes, and he's actually where I got it. I meant it was one of my edits to include it. :smallsmile:

Ooops, totally misread that. Sorry man!



Ship away. For the record, though? Ew. Have you ever tried kissing someone who makes your molars rattle from her very presence? Seems to me that it wouldn't be all that gratifying...


I want to comment, but the mods haven't attacked my general trolling yet, so being obviously NSFW is gonna get me in trouble.

Keito/Fluffy/Ice Gnoll is now the official crack triplet of this story.

Morchana
2009-11-24, 03:59 PM
Well, you can always private message us. . .

But yeah. . . There have been a few attempts on Morchana's side to flirt with Cade. . . Shut down, every time. It would be soooooo hilarious did it happen, but it's not likely to, at all.

AtwasAwamps
2009-11-24, 04:08 PM
Well, you can always private message us. . .

But yeah. . . There have been a few attempts on Morchana's side to flirt with Cade. . . Shut down, every time. It would be soooooo hilarious did it happen, but it's not likely to, at all.

Clearly you are not trying hard enough. (DON'T STAB ME IN THE NADGERS I AM KIDDING OH GOD NOT THE MEAT AND VEG).

What would the DC on a bluff check to convince him it's the best way to save your soul?

Look, it worked for James Bond.

Eldariel
2009-11-24, 04:11 PM
All royal elves in my society have wings, but whether or not they can actually fly is up to them.

Oh? Interesting. Are elves actual Fey in this world? Also, with regards to flight, what exactly does it require?


Well, you can always private message us. . .

But yeah. . . There have been a few attempts on Morchana's side to flirt with Cade. . . Shut down, every time. It would be soooooo hilarious did it happen, but it's not likely to, at all.

There's that oath against alcohol too, making it even less likely. But who knows what the future brings?

Morchana
2009-11-24, 05:11 PM
Yeah, the oath against alcohol also makes things really difficult. . . Let's just say that any flirting on Morchana's side is definitely just to annoy Cade more than anything else. He doesn't like her, but respects her as long as she behaves. She doesn't like him because he is always judging her and flicking her with holy water from the weeping blade, but leaves him alone because things would go badly for her otherwise.

Also, this may be metagaming, but things would go very badly for the party if any of Cade's oaths were broken, so I leave them alone. We need him!

Fayd
2009-11-24, 05:16 PM
Oh? Interesting. Are elves actual Fey in this world? Also, with regards to flight, what exactly does it require?

No...in Losselen's case, her group of elves are Cold Genasi...Unusual things happen when outsiders mix with mortals.

As for flight, one has to take a monstrous class (in Losselen's and my case, Outsider, but Dragon would work) and spend a feat on it. So, you have to be ABLE to take the monstrous class in the first place, which requires a background feat/trait/thing. That's it.

Eldariel
2009-11-24, 05:25 PM
No...in Losselen's case, her group of elves are Cold Genasi...Unusual things happen when outsiders mix with mortals.

As for flight, one has to take a monstrous class (in Losselen's and my case, Outsider, but Dragon would work) and spend a feat on it. So, you have to be ABLE to take the monstrous class in the first place, which requires a background feat/trait/thing. That's it.

This is what I gathered, but by Star's account, all royal elves regardless of the heritage have wings; I figured if they have wings, they'd have the ability to acquire flight too. Or are only Outsider-blooded Elves considered "royal"? Or are the wings vestigial for the rest?


Yeah, the oath against alcohol also makes things really difficult. . . Let's just say that any flirting on Morchana's side is definitely just to annoy Cade more than anything else. He doesn't like her, but respects her as long as she behaves. She doesn't like him because he is always judging her and flicking her with holy water from the weeping blade, but leaves him alone because things would go badly for her otherwise.

Also, this may be metagaming, but things would go very badly for the party if any of Cade's oaths were broken, so I leave them alone. We need him!

I still prefer the interpretation that you leave Cade alone because of some unconscious fondness for him, and the same goes the other way. Opposites attract, after all. :smalltongue:

Fayd
2009-11-24, 06:06 PM
This is what I gathered, but by Star's account, all royal elves regardless of the heritage have wings; I figured if they have wings, they'd have the ability to acquire flight too. Or are only Outsider-blooded Elves considered "royal"? Or are the wings vestigial for the rest?

That's true...for her exclusive group of elves, not elves at large. Mrochana's elven royalty doesn't have wings, near as I know. Losselen's subgroup is uncommon amongst the elves, and rather secluded at that.

Snowstar
2009-11-24, 09:04 PM
I am from a secluded group that pretty much branched away from the rest of the elves. We live in deep caves in the northern mountains where temperature is usually below freezing. My specific family line is royal and has wings, as well as other royal clans within the mountains. They always start as nonfunctional appendages, unless one takes the outsider class.

Eldariel
2009-11-24, 09:30 PM
I am from a secluded group that pretty much branched away from the rest of the elves. We live in deep caves in the northern mountains where temperature is usually below freezing. My specific family line is royal and has wings, as well as other royal clans within the mountains. They always start as nonfunctional appendages, unless one takes the outsider class.

Ah, so the Cold Genasi Elf royalty has wings. Alright, that clarifies it up. :smallcool: Sorry, I'm a bit dense on occasions.

Cade Rentyr
2009-11-25, 01:13 AM
Ooops, totally misread that. Sorry man!
Nah, don't worry about it --I can see how it looked like I was claiming it. :smallsmile:


Keito/Fluffy/Ice Gnoll is now the official crack triplet of this story.
That... wow... erm... yeeeaaaah, that's even more awkward for us players, who know just a little more than our characters. I think you've successfully squicked out everyone involved. Congratulations. :smallwink:


But yeah. . . There have been a few attempts on Morchana's side to flirt with Cade. . . Shut down, every time. It would be soooooo hilarious did it happen, but it's not likely to, at all.
Eh? When exactly did these attempts happen? I remember you trying to flash googily eyes to get yourself out of trouble a few times, but by and large I recall you mostly trying to pretend you don't know me. ~_^


Yeah, the oath against alcohol also makes things really difficult. . . Let's just say that any flirting on Morchana's side is definitely just to annoy Cade more than anything else. He doesn't like her, but respects her as long as she behaves. She doesn't like him because he is always judging her and flicking her with holy water from the weeping blade, but leaves him alone because things would go badly for her otherwise.

Also, this may be metagaming, but things would go very badly for the party if any of Cade's oaths were broken, so I leave them alone. We need him!
Oh come on now. The last time I flicked you with holy water was back when we met the druid, and that was weeks ago. :smalltongue:
Thanks for leaving my oaths alone, by the way though. I really appreciate it.


Ah, so the Cold Genasi Elf royalty has wings. Alright, that clarifies it up. :smallcool: Sorry, I'm a bit dense on occasions.
Don't worry about it --we're breaking conventions all over the place, it's bound to get a bit confusing.

starwoof
2009-11-25, 01:15 AM
I am trying insanely hard to pretend I don't know what shipping is.:smalleek:

Eldariel
2009-11-25, 01:37 AM
Don't worry about it --we're breaking conventions all over the place, it's bound to get a bit confusing.

Heh, the real issue in this case is that I failed to pick up that Lossie was only speaking of her...is tribe the correct word? Well, her group of elves, rather than Elves in general. And since what I thought she said conflicted somewhat with what I had gathered of the Elves of the world thus far...well, you can no doubt imagine that it can be a tad confusing.

Given that we, the readers, know precious little of the world and its rules - practically nothing beyond what is spelled out in big letters and direct statements in this here journal - this leads to all kinds of wild guesses and assumptions as my brain is working hard to fill in the blanks itself...and coming up with the exact wrong conclusion :smalltongue:

AtwasAwamps
2009-11-25, 10:58 AM
I am trying insanely hard to pretend I don't know what shipping is.:smalleek:

you roll a nat 1 to disbelieve.

You are now thinking about it uncontrollably.

Side Note: I squicked people I never met. I deserve a prize.

starwoof
2009-11-25, 11:17 AM
Aaargh! I want to take a ten!

Guancyto
2009-11-25, 01:07 PM
If having that particular matchup shoved at you doesn't count as "threatened," I don't know what does.

Here, ship Lossëlen/Morchana instead, you'll feel much better. :smalltongue:

Morchana
2009-11-25, 03:20 PM
Here, ship Lossëlen/Morchana instead, you'll feel much better. :smalltongue:


Egggghhhhhhh. . . *shudder*

Funny thing is, in real life we used to be roommates, and our parents used to joke that we were married-- she was the wife, I was the husband, on account of many other loooooooong stories.

Still squicky beyond belief. :smallyuk:

Guancyto
2009-11-25, 04:58 PM
Egggghhhhhhh. . . *shudder*

Funny thing is, in real life we used to be roommates, and our parents used to joke that we were married-- she was the wife, I was the husband, on account of many other loooooooong stories.

Still squicky beyond belief. :smallyuk:

The characters, the characters! *flails*

And it's only to give starwoof a happy place to go to when someone talks about shipping.

RdMarquis
2009-11-26, 01:06 AM
Wow, this is getting good. I don't know why I went so long without checking back on this thread.

Your campaign would make a really good book. The characters are really complex and interesting, and I'm waiting to see how the story turns out. You have a little bit of everything: political intrigue, action, and comedy (Fluffy).

starwoof
2009-11-26, 01:44 AM
The characters, the characters! *flails*

And it's only to give starwoof a happy place to go to when someone talks about shipping.

It's really hard to respond to this without sounding ridiculously creepy.:smallredface:

Fayd
2009-11-26, 01:46 PM
Say, while I've got time to think...next time we level, we'll hit 4th. Which means, for all of us, we get to get 1 more ability score point. I'm at a bit of a dillemma as to what to do with it, and I'm wondering if I can get some advice from the playground with it.

My viable options:
1. CHA -- This will boost the power of my spells a little, increase save DCs and whatnot.
2. DEX -- Initiative works off of a set number (we all 'take ten' on it and add our DEX mod and relavent bonuses) this time around and currently, I move last. In addition, my spells take initiative counts to cast, so...1 more point here will bump my DEX mod up one point, boosing initiative (I'll get a feat later to boost it further, but...)
3. WIS -- To get rid of the penalty and boost my will saves.
4. STR -- I guess...I've got a penalty here too...but I'm really not as keen on this one.

Snowstar
2009-11-26, 02:14 PM
Fayd,

You should really increase your strength. It woudl help me out a lot! :smallsmile:

On a different note, how do you create a spoiler? I have an awesome signature, but I'm afraid it is a little big. This is how I originally invisioned my character, by the way. The hair and dress are more princess-like, but I do appreciate my avitar.

starwoof
2009-11-26, 03:25 PM
Just type (spoiler)Image(/spoiler), but replace () with [].

:smallwink: Cheers.

Eldariel
2009-11-26, 04:05 PM
In other words:
yourimagehere

The spoiler-tags generate the spoiler box. Do note that there's an automatic empty line after the Spoiler so even if you continue text right after it, there'll be a break.


Also, that's a mighty beautiful picture you've got there. Well, picture of a mighty beautiful elf, rather. It's actually got a very (Tolkienish) Elven feel to me in spite of the Sprite-like wings; tall, graceful and a sort of ethereal beauty.

Fayd
2009-11-26, 08:05 PM
I'm really not too keen on putting more into Strength. It'd be nice for aerial extractions, but that's really about it. If I need to hit something...something is wrong.

starwoof
2009-11-26, 08:29 PM
How bad is your will penalty, Fayd? I'd say to boost your init more, so that you'll be more effective in combat on the whole.

Eldariel
2009-11-26, 08:33 PM
I'm really not too keen on putting more into Strength. It'd be nice for aerial extractions, but that's really about it. If I need to hit something...something is wrong.

I suggest boost your Charisma. You're a spellcaster; maximizing your spellcasting is a good idea.

Cade Rentyr
2009-11-26, 11:35 PM
Do you have odd numbers in each of those scores, Fayd? I thought Charisma was already at a flat modifier step, for example. Ehh, I can't remember. Assuming a point in any of them will bump the tally to the next even number, I'd go for initiative. That's what's been hurting you the most so far, the fact that everything's dead and done by the time you move. And aside from blaming it every time you say something foolish, I'll bet you haven't even noticed that wisdom penalty yet. :smalltongue:

'Course, on the flip side of the coin, you being last in initiative means the whole party knows what spell you're preparing, so we're perfectly prepared to either maximize the effect or get the heck out of the way.
(Shrugs) Your call. Want to flip a coin?

Also, that is an awesome picture, Star.

Snowstar
2009-11-27, 12:11 AM
Thanks Guys.

Fayd
2009-11-27, 10:49 AM
I've got odd numbers just about everywhere. CHA and DEX are both 13, I believe...

Also, after more thought, I'm going to go for CHA. Like DEX, it'll give me more AC...but this AC will apply in every situation, unlike the DEX AC (yay for deflection bonuses!)

Eldariel
2009-11-27, 02:32 PM
I've got odd numbers just about everywhere. CHA and DEX are both 13, I believe...

Also, after more thought, I'm going to go for CHA. Like DEX, it'll give me more AC...but this AC will apply in every situation, unlike the DEX AC (yay for deflection bonuses!)

If that's the case, I'd frankly put all my points in Cha. Not only does it grant you versatile defenses, it also boosts your offense. It sounds like Cha is everyting to you.

Initiative you could just pick something like Improved Initiative or similar for later (assuming it's in the rule set). And honestly, getting a 1-2 punch of being able to upgrade both, offense and defense with the same stat is just incredible.


Though of course, versatility is nice too. But it sounds to me like you'd benefit the most from huge Cha.

Fayd
2009-11-27, 02:38 PM
I only get 2 points (one at 4 and one at 8) so unfortunately it looks like I'll have to diversify at some point, simply because that extra point won't really help. I agree though, CHA seems to be the best bet right now. Going into an odd number isn't terribly helpful. Then again, the system is still in flux.

Oh, and it's only because of Outsider that I get that AC bonus. :smallbiggrin:

And I plan to pick up the feat Quickdraw at some point, which gives me a +4 to initiative at 3 BAB, which I get at 5...my next chance for a combat feat is at 6...I've got a ways to wait, but I'll make due.

Snowstar
2009-11-30, 01:35 AM
Captain, the ship hit an iceberg... Captain, the ship is an iceberg!

Morchana
2009-11-30, 02:59 AM
. . .And here we present Losselen, once again MVP!

(And a Morchana that can't find anything evil to do while bored out of her skull on a ship, during a storm. (At least nothing that wouldn't either be incredibly squicky or cause terrible things.) Looks like the assassin and the paladin are going to learn to get along, be it only that both are stuck in a cabin forever. However, Morchana was far too sea-sick to be able to do anything so. . . Yeah.)

Tam_OConnor
2009-11-30, 03:17 AM
The list of all the currently encountered NPCs and the next segment should be up fairly soon.

Also in the line for the week: scanning in all the various maps (currently: World, Grand Duchery, Tiborem Varos, and Cattlepoint/the Isle) and putting up a brief (and I do mean brief) world overview. As I said earlier, I'm trying to keep my jumping in here to a minimum, but I'll expand the overview if folks have questions.

EDIT: NPC listing up in the first post.

Fayd
2009-12-01, 02:27 AM
Chapter 11: S. O. S.


We return to our dashing heroes (and Fluffy) setting out from the town of Cattlepoint towards our uncharted island, with the storm hot on our heels. The unlucky three of us roll fort-saves for sea-sickness again—and fail. Fluffy once again becomes a source of propulsion, and Morchana becomes violently ill, and despite a stealth roll can’t seem to hide it. When Cade notices Morchana heaving over the rail, he gives her a sympathetic pat on the back, and moves on. (She gives him a look somewhere between ‘Thanks’ and ‘I hate you.’) I only become ill enough to have to roll concentration on controlling the winds. For 5 days, we manage to keep pace with it. I’m throwing out each entire day’s worth of mana to keep pushing the ship faster. Meanwhile Cade and Lossëlen take turns keeping Fluffy diverted to prevent further shenanigans. Lossëlen’s singing once again attracts a pod of dolphins (who are smart enough to stay on the OTHER side of the ship this time), and Cade uses Mage Hand to flit a bit of jerky around on the raft ‘like a cat with a laser pointer’. Fluffy is very thoroughly occupied.

Finally though, the dolphins peel away; the weather front has caught up to us. Tam has us all roll Survival to predict the severity of the storm; one of us rolls high enough that…well…quoth the paladin, “Wow. That sucks.” It’ll be a rough night. We tie ourselves in, and I make compressed air earplugs for Morchana and myself, as she’s the only one who asked for them. Ah, the comforts of mage-hood. Captain Fearson, in a surprising move, reluctantly offers to let Fluffy come aboard…we tie him to the main mast, (hugging it) and the off-duty sailors shift the ballast to account for the change in weight.

True to expectations, it is a rough night…we do manage to get our requisite rest, thankfully, although we have to roll fort saves against seasickness AGAIN. Fluffy and I succeed, but Morchana becomes violently ill—again. However, this time her stealth is such that although she is in a cabin full of people –the rest of the party, no less— no one seems to notice. The next couple of days, we’re getting pushed by the leading edge of the storm…not much rain, and it doesn’t seem THAT bad from inside the cabin. Cade is beginning to go a little stir crazy—he’s checked over and polished all his gear three times, and he’s only able to keep the jitters at bay by chatting with Morchana, Lossëlen, and myself (Keito is ruthlessly anti-social in the corner). Lossëlen sympathetically sings for him, and he hums along a little.

Eventually I decide to help the captain get his bearings through the cloud cover, and Cade, Keito, and Lossëlen come along to assist, Cade eagerly so. He blesses my efforts, Keito helps by drawing an aquamarine ritual circle around me, and Lossëlen performs a magic song to aid me…all in all, I am able to hold the clouds apart for long enough to Captain Fearson to get some general concept of where we are. We should be getting close, which is good, because the Captain tells us he’s basically expecting to just go forward until the masts snap off. :smalleek:

Put frankly, things go straight to Hell. Not the small, lowercase hell, full on capital-letters HELL. The storm hits in full…gigantic waves, shearing winds, the whole nine yards. Lossëlen, Cade, and I come out on deck to try to help as best we can. Lossëlen uses her specialized cold magic and some of my raw power (thankfully, I have cold as well) to freeze the main mast solid and to help keep it together. We specifically avoid freezing Fluffy, and make the surface rough enough that he can grab it easily. This was a smart move, as Fluffy’s colossal strength was able to keep the main mast…attached…for quite a while. Cade blesses his efforts, granting him a +3 to his strength checks. We also freeze the aft mast as a precaution –we lost the fore mast before anyone noticed it was gone. Keito, meanwhile goes below decks and uses her enchanting magic to hold the entire hull together…manifesting as Nereid creatures helping to repair the ship (and the sailor’s morale, while we’re at it). “I am the ship…I am the ship…I am the ship…”

And that’s just the first hour. The waves feel like they’d have snapped the ship in half, had it not been for Keito’s magic, and the main mast is only in place because of Fluffy and our ice.

The next hour, Lossëlen and I continue to shore up the ship as best we can, Cade blesses Fluffy some more, Keito is holding the ship together. At about the 2 and a half hour mark, Morchana decides to pack our bags, in the event that a hasty evacuation is necessary. (She’s absolutely stir-crazy to voluntarily to something like that for nothing.) Our efforts to repair the ship continue for another hour (for a grand total of 3 hours) before we notice something rather disturbing: we don’t have a keel anymore. Oh, and Cade has managed to spot land. Keito rushes above decks, as her enchantment is no longer functioning (the thing she was anchoring the hull to is gone) and we prepare to abandon ship. (You’d think Tam’s TRYING to shipwreck us!)
But hold on bucko, Lossëlen has a brilliant idea. Using the last of her power, she creates a large ship-shaped shell around the remains of our vessel, and we coast into land on that. We disembark, and the main mast finally falls over…Fluffy (with some small aid from the ice) was the only thing keeping the main mast upright. (By the way, apparently the aft mast is made of IRONwood or something, as it survived the entire storm with only the ice-reinforcement.) Fluffy tries to haul the ship further ashore, but he pops his shoulders out of place…owww… To reward him for doing SO well holding the mast together, I go make him feel better by basically providing massage therapy with all 6 of my remaining mana going into small pulses of electricity to help. (My thought: reward Fluffy for doing good, and MAYBE he’ll do good more frequently.)

Our party and all the sailors pass out just inside the tree line. Cade asks Morchana if she’s all right taking night watch, and when she agrees, thanks her and promptly falls over. The next morning (still storming, by the way) the sailors manage to start a simple fire, and we help haul the ship further ashore. We notice that this island has a large mountain, and based on the rocks around us, it was volcanic at one point. Or it still is. Lossëlen, who has the Plant Sphere of magic, and Keito, who interestingly has a fair bit of Knowledge (Engineering) stay with the sailors to help repair the keel and the hull. (Or more accurately regrow, in Lossëlen’s case.) Cade and Morchana head off to scout the island, try to find civilization, etc. while Fluffy and I go off to hunt (I tag along to make sure he doesn’t kill someONE). Fluffy and I track some rather large primate’s tracks for a bit before losing it. We climb the volcano a ways, and he spots a brightly colored flightless bird that is about the size of an average human adult. The coloration is truly random and bizarre, but from what I know of the region (academically) that’s pretty much par for the course. It’s also staggering about in an abnormal fashion… Regardless, Fluffy jumps on the creature’s back, rides it around for a bit, and then slices its neck with his cleaver. The creature bleeds…purple…weird. Fluffy begins to eat the creature, and I try to dissuade him from eating the whole thing (with both magical and mundane methods) but cannot stop him. At about 75% of the way through the beast, Tam says “Fluffy, give me a Fort Save.” Uh oh. Fluffy gets a 17, his massive CON mod and orcish bonus against poisons included…and fails.

Fluffy is high as a kite. Cade and Morchana come over a ridge and spot us. (They have been battling underbrush for most of the day in an attempt to find civilization of some sort—and not succeeding, although Cade has been constantly Prestidigitationing the tears in Morchana’s dress closed.) Swift spots them as well and we assume Fluffy does too by the way he sways and waves in that direction, but I’m facepalming too hard to notice immediately. We agree that it’s best for me to take Fluffy back to the camp. Dusk is quickly approaching, but Morchana and Cade decide to scale the mountain for a last view. Cade is worried by the lack of settlements they’ve found –we’ve only got enough supplies to last a few days, and this squall is the kind that might go on for weeks. He turns his sword into a flashlight with a minor spell and off they go, but before they do I advise them to be careful, as a high point (and a near-perfect circle) tend to be religiously significant to natives. Even though the Peri (subrace of human native to this region) are generally just ancestor-worshippers and atheistic, it’s still a thing to be conscious of. They climb the mountain, and as they near the peak Morchana nearly slips into a steam vent. (Fortunately it’s inactive, but it would have been quite the fall…) They proceed (a little more cautiously) up to the top, and from there, they can see the last bit of unexplored island…including, exactly opposite our landing site, this nice natural lagoon lined with huts formed from the natural rock. Not carved or constructed, but formed. They did carve out the interiors, but…yeah. Oh, and the most pleasant bit? The line of humanoid heads on spears leading up a path to the caldera of the volcano!

I lead Fluffy back partly with the aid of Swift…until he eats a small rodent and fails a Fort save himself. Dizzy, swirly, HAP-py birdie… He does ask about getting seeds though, so I think we can find the root of this problem soon enough.

Session break.

S. O. S.

Saved Our Ship. Boo-yah!


In other Doomrider news, the first page has been updated with a Cast List of the NPCs, written by Tam himself.

Eldariel
2009-12-01, 05:09 AM
Heh, Morchie and Cade are like a dynamic duo. That wouldn't seem so weird if not for the discussion on the last page. It's just funny how the tasks [in the party] always seem to fall thusly that they end up working together.

Nice job getting over there alive; creative use of magic all-over. You're in luck you've got so many magicians along; I trust you didn't deep freeze the wood? 'cause that might have a negative effect on the durability (given it's not least bit elastic and as such, any force in excess of its hardness breaks it). Just a shell of ice?

Good luck getting out of the island, btw. I'm betting the volcano will erupt. Real soon. Hope someone turns out to be a firemage :smallamused:


Also, the NPC list is incredibly handy 'cause it's hard to keep all the names straight as an observer. Thanks for that.

Ecalsneerg
2009-12-01, 07:25 AM
Fluffy evidently was unimpressed with his massage so decided to go get high.

Fayd
2009-12-01, 09:51 AM
To be honest, we had no idea that the bird would DO that. Heck we're more surprised that a 17 on his Fort save FAILED. Fluffy NEVER tends to fail fort saves...unless...it's against seasickness. Which is odd.

RdMarquis
2009-12-01, 12:51 PM
It probably won't work, but if you're looking for a laugh, try convincing those violent natives that you guys are gods.

By the way, I think I'll rewrite the lyrics of the Gilligan's Island theme song to suit your situation. :smallsmile: Be back with the lyrics after my next class.

Fayd
2009-12-01, 01:11 PM
The thought HAD crossed my mind, actually and I would probably have the easiest time doing it, what with the unsupported levitation in the middle of a massive storm, the crackling lightning, and all that jazz.

RdMarquis
2009-12-01, 09:41 PM
Okay, here is the Doomriders version of the Gilligan's Island theme.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip
that started from Cattlepoint port
aboard this tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
the captain brave and sure,
but this story's about six PC's
that's what we're reading for,
what we're reading for.

(Thunder and lightning)

The weather started getting rough,
the tiny ship was tossed,
if not for the courage of the crew and cast
the Arrow would be lost,
the Arrow would be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
with Lossëlen
and Fluffy too.
The Paladin,
and Blue guy.
The assassin,
Keito, and the Arrow's crew,
on (have you decided on a name yet, preferably with three syllables?) the unnamed isle!

I hope I haven't cursed you guys with this song.

Fluffy the Orc
2009-12-01, 10:16 PM
RdMarquis... you are my new hero. :smallbiggrin:

Snowstar
2009-12-01, 10:55 PM
That's AWESOME!! :smallsmile:

RdMarquis
2009-12-01, 10:59 PM
Thanks. Glad to hear you like the song.

Fayd
2009-12-02, 12:15 AM
RdMarquis, excellent work!

Oh, and I feel incredibly silly. I forgot to put the newest chapter on the front page!

Cade Rentyr
2009-12-02, 02:22 PM
Heh, Morchie and Cade are like a dynamic duo. That wouldn't seem so weird if not for the discussion on the last page.
Yeah, no kidding. Believe me, to our chagrin both Morchana and I thought of that specifically during the session.


It's just funny how the tasks [in the party] always seem to fall thusly that they end up working together.
Eh? Hrm... The only other time I remember being pared with Morchana thus far has been the grand melee. Granted, we have discovered that we make a rather deadly duo, but we've had a relative sparsity of fights to excercise that teamwork.


Good luck getting out of the island, btw. I'm betting the volcano will erupt. Real soon. Hope someone turns out to be a firemage :smallamused:
Ah. I see we forgot to mention that Morchana and Cade found the volcano to be dormant. Doesn't preclude this possibility, of course, not by a dramatic longshot. I guess we'll just have to hope we level on the island, eh? I was already planning to take up fire magic anyway. :smallamused:


Also, the NPC list is incredibly handy 'cause it's hard to keep all the names straight as an observer. Thanks for that.
It's hard to keep all the name straight as a player sometimes. :smalltongue:

Morchana
2009-12-03, 02:58 AM
Heh, Morchie and Cade are like a dynamic duo.

Ummm. . . It's Morchana-- Morchie sounds kinda like an illiterate pronunciation of morgue, or something like that. Or a demented puppy, which would fit Fluffy better. :smallredface:

Eldariel
2009-12-03, 03:10 AM
Ummm. . . It's Morchana-- Morchie sounds kinda like an illiterate pronunciation of morgue, or something like that. Or a demented puppy, which would fit Fluffy better. :smallredface:

Mmm, actually that's true, I didn't consider the sound of it at all. I just tried to figure out an abbreviation; and apparently failed horribly :smallredface: Pardons all-around.

flabort
2009-12-03, 10:17 PM
Morchana is similar to the femalized version of Mortimer, so i guess we could call her "Mort"... =D

Epic how you guys, despite being polar opposite though, manage to work together so well. I mean, sure, the first obvious teamwork between the two of you was in the Grand Melee, but you helped Cade out by taking first watch, you searched for civilization together, and you've been bickering less, as told here. Sure, your still not bff's, but your not on 100% unfreindly terms anymore, either.

Tam_OConnor
2009-12-04, 12:03 AM
Le Petite Mort, maybe.

...she's gonna kill me.

Morchana
2009-12-04, 12:23 AM
You bet I am. . . Pistols at dawn.

Guancyto
2009-12-04, 12:26 AM
Psst! Tam!

Make sure every part of your last meal stays in your sight at all times.

Possibly hire a taste tester.

Eldariel
2009-12-04, 02:58 AM
You bet I am. . . Pistols at dawn.

How long is your "List of folks who shall disappear shortly" already? On another note, "Nuru" could make for a passable shorthand given how things are progressing here. At least if my memory serves me correctly.

But you'll have to admit, typing 8 letters every time you mention a name is a horrible chore. She needs a nickname. Calling her "Morrie" sounds just wrong and a nickname just can't end in a consonant when used with English context. I mean, "Mor" would be passable, I suppose, but still, it leaves me wanting to add a vowel sound in the end.

The_Werebear
2009-12-04, 03:12 AM
How long is your "List of folks who shall disappear shortly" already? On another note, "Nuru" could make for a passable shorthand given how things are progressing here. At least if my memory serves me correctly.

But you'll have to admit, typing 8 letters every time you mention a name is a horrible chore. She needs a nickname. Calling her "Morrie" sounds just wrong and a nickname just can't end in a consonant when used with English context. I mean, "Mor" would be passable, I suppose, but still, it leaves me wanting to add a vowel sound in the end.

If you want a vowel at the end, may I suggest "a?" It matches the ending sound of her name, and is less cutting it short than folding it up. "Mora"

Snowstar
2009-12-04, 12:32 PM
I don't get what the big deal is about trying to find nicknames for the characters. When people started calling me Lossie, I thought it was just a term of endearment; but if we are really getting to the point where typing eight letters is a chore, this is very sad.

Morchana
2009-12-04, 12:41 PM
Agreed. I don't mind typing Losselen, it just bugs me because I can't do the little accent thing on a laptop keyboard without copying it from something else. Also, Lossie is cute. Morchie is not, Le Petit Mort is just wrong, and other things people have come up with are just barely passable-- Mora is the only exception, but I think we have an NPC actually named that.

Meh, call me what you like, but I'll respond best to Morchana. Or Elena (That's shorter!)