RC's Carrion Hill OOC

[RCgothic]

RC's Carrion Hill
A Lovecraftian Pathfinder 1E Adventure for Level 5 Characters

The strange city of Carrion Hill has long loomed over the surrounding swamps, yet its rulers have shifted many times through the centuries. Often enough that only a few sinister scholars and curious minds know the true nature of the hill’s original inhabitants—vile and depraved cultists of the Old Gods. Yet this morning, a dreadful recrudescence rises from the depths of buried nightmare in the vaults below Carrion Hill. A monster stalks the twisted alleys of the city, spreading panic before it and leaving destruction in its wake. Can the Carrion Hill Horror be stopped?

Welcome to the Carrion Hill OOC.

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Game Info:

Spoiler: Big 16

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1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?
We'll be playing Pathfinder 1E. Published 3.5 material considered on a case by case basis.

2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
We'll be playing the Carrion Hill published adventure for PF1E.

3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
5-6

4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
We'll be playing on OOTS in the IC/OOC threads forums. There'll also be a Discord channel for game discussion.

5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
5th level - no XP tracking, it's a single level adventure.

6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
Standard WBL [10500gp]

Pre-game crafting is permitted, for your own character only, but you must roll any crafting checks and risk wasting any materials.

You may also attempt to copy spells into spellbooks from purchased scrolls and passing the materials fee. You get only one attempt to copy a spell.

You can take 10 on copying and crafting rolls if that would be a success. Rolling is for difficult, dangerous or distracted rolls. It is presumed that pre-game activities occur in ideal conditions.

Full, 1/2, or 1/4 charged wands may be purchased. No other fractional wand charges permitted.

7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
As an inexperienced DM I'd like to keep things relatively simple. Please choose from the core, base, hybrid classes listed here.
Unchained Rogue and unchained Monk permitted. Other unchained classes not permitted.

8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
As above, stick to Core and Standard races listed here

9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
20 point buy. Hit points are at max for level 1, then average rounded up thereafter.

10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
Alignment is unrestricted, but your character has to be able to work with others. Remember the golden rule that the enjoyment of other players is paramount.

11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
Multiclassing permitted, with fractional BaB and saves.
Variant Multiclassing not permitted.

12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honour system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
Players should make rolls for relevant actions in the same IC post, or in the OOC thread for saves/reactions and if additional rolls are needed that won't break the flow IC.

I'll be rolling passives like initiative/perception/knowledge and anything that keeps the game flowing without overmuch back and forth. Attacks of Opportunity will generally be resolved by players.

13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.
Two traits permitted. No drawbacks. Guns are Emerging. Bonus feat at 1st level. Background Skills. Retroactive INT skill points.

We'll be going by group initiative, that is players go, enemies go, players go. I'll attempt to resolve actions within each group primarily by initiative regardless of posting order, but there may be some variation based on narrative sense.

I'll put a deadline for replies on my DM updates, expect to be about a week per update unless we find a different schedule works better. I reserve the right to apply small dread/sanity/madness effects to characters who miss their turn deadlines without prior explanation. Players with long or repeated unexplained absences will be replaced to keep the game going.

14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
I'm not necessarily looking for a complete party of grimdark lovecraftian characters, I'll probably select a bit of a mix to balance the overall temperament and roles.

Characters must have:

• A myth-weavers sheet
• A character portrait image
• A brief physical description
• A brief personality overview

A short background is optional. Try and keep total text under ~500 words, I want to keep entries to a length I'll have time to review.

In this scenario it might seem sensible to flee the city. Whether it's heroic instinct, local ties, or just the promise of reward, characters should have a reason to stick around.

15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
There'll be a mix as required by the published adventure.

16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?
Generally published Paizo material is permitted, but see points 7 and 8. Published 3.5 material considered on a case by case basis.

Spoiler: Carrion Hill City Info

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Known by frequent visitors such as tradesmen as the Boil, or, more basely, the Wart, Carrion Hill rises over the otherwise swampy southern banks of Kingfisher River, the only solid ground of any reasonable scope in the swampland known as the Wrythe for a distance of nearly 20 miles to east or west. When the river fog rolls in every morning and evening, those who dwell on the hill’s Crown district can look out on a world of white vastness, while those below take solace in the simple fact that the ground beneath their feet is solid and unlikely to wash away after one of the area’s frequent rainstorms or seasonal floods.

Carrion Hill is split into three districts. Atop the hill, the Crown serves as the home for the city’s nobility, government, and most of its public works. The hill’s slopes are a thick tangle of buildings and maze-like alleyways; this is the Tangle, where the bulk of the shops and residences can be found. The lowest part of the city, both physically and spiritually, is the Filth, a series of islands both natural and artificial, connected by old boardwalks and stone bridges. The city’s poor and desperate dwell here, as do those industries so vital to the city’s prosperity but so unwanted by its citizens—tanners, gong farmers, street cleaners, the fisheries, and the looming middenstone vats. Yet the Filth is also the city gateway, as the vast majority of Carrion Hill’s visitors arrive by riverboat or barge via the district's refuse-choked canals.

Carrion Hill is also called the isle of 10,000 temples, and although the nickname is a significant exaggeration (there are actually a mere 180 temples in Carrion Hill, most of them but tiny one-room shrines), it seems that places of worship for gods both vast and slight grow from the very land. Shrines the size of cupboards, painted representations of gods with an offering of flowers beneath, rub shoulders with churches that somehow squeeze balcony upon balcony in tiny frames over almost decadently elaborate pulpits, and above all is the grandest place on the hill—the Ossuary Church of Pharasma.

A major feature of the character of Carrion Hill, especially in the poorer districts, is the building material Middenstone, the production of which also forms a major part of the city's industry. This somewhat nauseating mauve material is similar to a mix between adobe and concrete. Kept in a semi-liquid and foul-smelling state in the large midden-vats of the Filth, raw middenstone can be molded into sheets, bricks, or many other shapes. Allowed to cool, middenstone has the same strength and hardness as wood but is much easier to mold and is relatively resistant to fire and rot. Middenstone is used for piping, bricks, siding, and as a relatively cheap building material. Middenstone has a peculiar, somewhat sickening, violet hue which comes from the cockroach carapaces used in its creation, as well as an unpleasantly organic smell of tar, oil, and graveyards. The substance’s main disadvantage is that it weathers badly and thus buildings incorporating it need more upkeep than those of stone. Of course, to the creators of middenstone and the owners of the vats, this is in many ways a welcome bit of job security, as there will always be a need for more middenstone.

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The Cast:

Player	Character	Gender/Alignment/Race	Class
Metastachydium	Witt After-Born	F LE Oread	Brawler (Strangler)
(Un)Inspired	Leif Kjærgaard & Tryggr	M LG Half-Elf	Cleric
Alhallor	Jochen	M CG Human	Sorcerer (Unicorn)
Palanan	Erugazel	M CN Ratfolk	Druid/Elder Mythos wizard (Unicorn)
DrK	Elthis Ellastor	M TN Elf	Alchemist
DigoDragon	Zuri Reis	F CG Catfolk	Unchained Rogue
In4Dimensions	Kov	M TN Half-drow	Slayer (Pure blade)
razorfloss	Nicholas Lorchester	M TN Human	Fighter (Gloomblade)

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Thread Index:

IC Thread

Recruitment Thread

[Palanan]

Appreciate being selected, RC. Erugazel checking in.

[DrK]

Thanks @RCGothic, Carrion Hill's foremost firework seller shall speak in bold

[razorfloss]

Appreciate being selected. Nicholas Reporting in. He will be speaking in this shade of red

Edit: Did Everyone add the extra bonus feat?

[RCgothic]

I haven't thoroughly checked everyone's sheets for mechanical errors, so now's the time to double check before we get started. Apart from the bonus feat, we also have background skills in play so everyone gets an additional 2 skill points to be spent in non-combat skills.

There should be some interesting character combinations, I'm looking forward to seeing how they all interact with each other.

[DrK]

[/COLOR]

Edit: Did Everyone add the extra bonus feat?

AH, no I did not! That's exciting, I'll have to see what I fancy taking

[Metastachydium]

Not-Budd is IN! Thanks for having me, RC! (And I totally forgot about the extra feat. (Also, I see that it must have been quite late when I finalized purchases, so Witt has two potions of Mage Armour now.) But background skills should be factored in already.)

If we do colours, I think I'll go brown.

[Alhallor]

Thanks for having me! I'll go with a soothing green with Jochen.

[(Un)Inspired]

Hey everyone! Leif and his trusty horse Tryggr reporting for duty. I think I’ll use this color for Leif’s speech (Tryggr can’t talk).

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by razorfloss
Edit: Did Everyone add the extra bonus feat?

I completely overlooked it, thanks for the reminder. Will edit that in.

[In4Dimensions]

I appreciate the selection! I'll go add that bonus feat.

edit: Kov is complete. He'll speak in bolded gray.

[RCgothic]

Today I got released from jury service!

I think we're just waiting on DigoDragon to make an appearance, then we'll get started.

[DigoDragon]

I'm here! I'm here! Lost track of time with important RL things. x_x

I can use blue for Zuri. I think that's available? Anyway, I should be good and ready now.

[RCgothic]

That's everyone assembled! Glad to have you all and I'm looking forward to getting started! I'll start getting the IC thread together.

Are you still having mythweavers issues, Palanan? I know there are problems with new mythweavers and OG-mythweavers passwords syncing following their security breach. No worries for now, but for the moment perhaps it would be useful to put your character information under a spoiler in your first post OOC?

For those who are having difficulties with the discord channel, I think in order to take part in the main chat channels you first have to go to the "Gateway" channel and click 💯 on carl-bot's post to acknowledge the server rule. If that doesn't resolve it, I'll take it up with the server admin.

I've not quite worked out how to set the access permissions for the Carrion Hill channel yet, but if all else fails I'll ask the server admin to set us up.

[DigoDragon]

What worked for me on MW after updating my password was to log out, clear my browser cache for the site, then log back in.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by RCgothic
Are you still having mythweavers issues, Palanan?

Thanks for checking on me, and glad to see that Digo is with us.

My home heating system was out for several days, right when my area had a prolonged hard freeze, and my kitchen is still slightly flooded, so I’ve been preoccupied with that. Other RL issues are also piling onto me this week. I’ll be able to post for Erugazel, but I won’t have time or emotional energy to spend fighting Myth-Weavers for a while yet.

I still need to select my bonus feat, so hopefully I'll at least be able to manage that sometime today.

[RCgothic]

IC Thread is up!

Time to introduce your characters and how they respond to the summons. I'm assuming you're not together at this point.

Responses by 8am UTC 1st Feb please.

[Palanan]

Will try to post for Erugazel over the weekend. Steamrolled by the week and feeling like swamp muck straight from Dagobah.

[RCgothic]

No worries, get to it when you can.

[DigoDragon]

BTW, the link you put in the first IC post to link to the OOC doesn't work.

Gives an error and I suspect it is because the link appears to be trying to open the editor for the ooc's first post.

[RCgothic]

Thanks for pointing that out! Should now be fixed.

[Palanan]

DM, could you give us a description of Crown Manor, in particular the approach (road, gates, guardhouse, etc.) and the location inside where everyone will be gathering? That will help me greatly with my first post.

[RCgothic]

Middenstone features less prominently in the Crown District, where the wealthier inhabitants of Carrion Hill prefer to build their mansions from limestone. This has the unfortunate side effect of giving the summit of Carrion Hill the appearance of the crown of a sun-bleached skull, hence the nickname.

At the crest of The Crown District is Crown Plaza, which is dominated by two buildings:

The larger is the Ossuary Church, Carrion Hill's largest temple run by the priesthood of Pharasma. It's a white limestone building decorated with bleached bones from its extensive crypts. It occupies the whole of the south side of the square so that the sun rarely illuminates it's facade.

Opposite the Ossuary Church is Crown Manor taking up the entire North side. The combination town hall/fortress that serves as an administrative centre and the headquarters for The Crows, Carrion Hill's roughly 1000 strong city watch. It too is a slick smooth-sided white limestone building with a slippery dark slate roof. Although in its current incarnation it's more of a sturdy manor than a fortress, it has thick walls and what windows there are at ground level are too small to readily admit most humanoids. A pair of stout double doors large enough to admit large carts into an inner courtyard are currently thrown wide, with dozens of drenched crows bustling urgently in and out. The two crows apparently on guard duty appear to be ushering anyone who looks like an adventurer or hero inside with little in the way of checks.

Edit: The reception room where adventurers are being ushered is across the inner courtyard, through another set of sturdy double doors, up a grand staircase and off a corridor on the upper level. The windows on the second level are larger and face into the inner courtyard. There's little in the reception room except some chairs and a large fireplace with a roaring fire, with a 2nd door leading further into the manor. The room is wallpapered in green with a gold filigree.

[RCgothic]

Added a little more to my post above.

[Palanan]

Excellent, thank you. Will try to post in the next day or so.

[RCgothic]

A gentle reminder that it's been nearly a week and the soft deadline for responses is approaching.

I know the forums aren't being cooperative, but it's possible to make do. The discord server is useful for backup comms.

My amount of lenience will generally be proportional to how much notice ahead of the deadline I'm given. I can give extra time or just move things along, but if a (short) extension isn't requested in advance characters may suffer minor in-game consequences.

Ultimately it's important to keep the game going especially at this early stage and a post doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be posted.

[RCgothic]

New post is up. Palanan if you can get your post up I can still work Erugazel in.

[DigoDragon]

I have two small questions about this room:

1. What kind of seating do we have available (chairs, couch, both)?
2. Is there a fireplace in the room?

[razorfloss]

Is great endurance just regular endurance?

Edit: shouldn't being drunk give me a bonus against fear?

[RCgothic]

Is great endurance just regular endurance?

Edit: shouldn't being drunk give me a bonus against fear?

Yes, that sounds reasonable. Nick can also have a +4 bonus against fear whilst he's drunk, reducing as he sobers up. The -4 penalty applies to all other dex, int and wis rolls. There was a mix up with the feat, it's supposed to be Great Fortitude (+2 to FORT saves).

I have two small questions about this room:

1. What kind of seating do we have available (chairs, couch, both)?
2. Is there a fireplace in the room?

Seems I've been remiss in describing the hall. It's about 100ft by 40ft with a dark-wood-vaulted ceiling that's about 20ft at its peak, aligned north-south. At the north end of the hall there's a grand fireplace about 15ft wide with a blazing fire. The fireplace is flanked by four large windows, about 4ft wide by 8ft tall, beginning about 2ft above the dark wood floor. For the northern three quarters of their length the long walls each contain fourteen identical windows, then two minor fireplaces also ablaze. The southern quarter of the hall is panelled in the same dark wood as the floor, with a 15ft double entranceway in the middle of the south wall. This isn't the entrance the group had been shown through, with various minor doorways at irregular intervals along the southern walls, the antechamber having been off one of them. A long table 8ft wide and flanked by high-backed chairs to seat 50 runs the length of the hall, but it has been moved off-centre to the west to create some open floor space on the eastern side. Despite the three blazing fires and the yellow-green glow of the gas lamps, the atmosphere is not cozy, the purple-clouded storm is just too apparent through the many unshrouded windows. Still, some effort has been made, with a number of the high-backed chairs moved into a semi-circle around the eastern fireplace, and it is there where mayor Heggry is seated in the centre of the semi-circle facing the fire.