The Vega South Campaign

[GimliFett]

Kenner

Chuckling, Kenner looks at Aetheas. "Not ten moons. Ten suns!" He turns back to the half-elf. "Are there any travois' we could use fur carrying the carapaces?"

[neoseph7]

"10 carapaces in 10 moons? When is the exact deadline to return, like say... When the sun's last rays no longer shine upon our lands of the tenth moon, or the morning after that moon?"

We pack up and leave in 10 days from today. If you arent back by then, we leave you behind.

"Are there any travois' we could use fur carrying the carapaces?"

Drag 'em to one spot and secure them. We can send in a group of Bug Bears for delivery. If you guys finish fast enough, you may just be the leaders of that party too.

[GimliFett]

Kenner

The druid nods as a wide grin spreads across his face. "That would be good. We," Kenner pats Smoke atop the head, "are ready. I think east is a good starting point," he continues as he seems to be in thought about their direction.

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Ideas on where best to start looking for the bugs? Survival - (1d20+8)[21]

[lukfugl]

Kurth nods silently when Kenner has finished his conversation with the half-elf.

"I am also ready. I know of no better place to start then entering the forest due east. Shall we go?"

[Seffbasilisk]

Venderholfen

Venderholfen merely lifts his axe, and shrugs his pack into a more solid position. Turning, he waits for the others before setting off.

[Gorgondantess]

"Ahh, well. I suppose I'll head off with the others then." Palin says, nodding towards the half elf and following the others.

[neoseph7]

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Kinda defeats the purpose if you get to see you survival check. If there are any modifiers you gain that change the +8 Gimlifett, please tell me.

Further, what is the lowest speed of the party? Yes, I can check the sheets. I want to know who's still in the game, so if everyone would give their speeds please, I'd be appreaciative.

[GimliFett]

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Sorry. Actually, Know (nature) gives a +2 synergy bonus for aboveground Survival checks, so it pro'lly should be a +10. I forgot to factor in all the Synergy bonuses, actually.

[neoseph7]

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There is no synergy at first level. It takes 5 ranks for a synergy bonus to form.

[GimliFett]

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Well, that 'splains why I didn't do it before, then, huh? Gargh. Ignore me, I'm exhausted. I've not been sleeping well, and I could fall over asleep right this second. I'll just shut up now! There're no other mods of which I am aware.

[lukfugl]

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Kurth has 40' movement.

[neoseph7]

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Well, that 'splains why I didn't do it before, then, huh? Gargh. Ignore me, I'm exhausted. I've not been sleeping well, and I could fall over asleep right this second. I'll just shut up now! There're no other mods of which I am aware.

Don't worry about it. I make mistakes like that all the time (not for this campaign though. All the stuff has been set up in excel, and I have triple checked my seeds to make sure everything is kosher. But that only simplifies the DMs job).

Ok. I have everything set. Once everyone has posted, I will keep it going as fast as I can.

[ZaneLaCoix]

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30 foot speed.
I don't think anyone is slower than that at the moment... But I could be wrong

[GimliFett]

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Thanks, neoseph7! 'Preciate it.
Also, actually, Kenner's speed is 20 (frackin' medium armor), but he's got longstrider as one of his daily spells.

[neoseph7]

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The speed is used for overland movement. For one hour, you can move a little further with that spell. At the moment, it takes the party 30minutes to cover a mile. 1 hour once in the thick of the forest. At this speed, it will take two hours to cover the 2 miles to the forest and the one mile once in the forest.

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Edit.
Speed 20 should be the lowest. After 2 hours, you are a mile into the forest. Go ahead and decide on a direction (preferably not west, as that would lead you back where you were. I will describe the basic scenery of the trip tomorrow. When you get there, there is nothing of interest in your path.

[neoseph7]

As the party heads away from the main camp, they jouney along a few miles of rocky plains and rolling hills. The scenery around them is quite lively, with clouds above, birds about, and the thick green grass of a thriving prairie. While the tell tale signs of beasts and animals litter the fields, they do well to avoid the adventurer's focus. The forest comes within view after about an hour, and it does not take long for the density of the woods to become too thick to allow expeditious passage. While the journey is riddled with vibrant trees covered in a rainbow of vines and flowers, shrubbery bearing thorny fruit that smells of Summer's morning, no creatures worth combat are anywhere to found. Mayhaps the next mile will yeild progress.

Forest to the North, South, and East await the intrepidation of hearty explorers.

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I highly recommend further details of this area, even effects the party leaves behind, such as symbols on the trees. This is just in case you get lost. A tree bearing blue fruit with red flowers that is only found in this area could be just as useful. Something to consider.

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I get the feeling that the weekends are bad times for the game to progress; either that or overland movement sucks. I can have something a little more structured in terms of exploration if you guys prefer. I don't get that much joy out of forcing obscure and annoying rules on the players

[GimliFett]

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Sorry. Family came into town and I got busy! I'll try and make a substantive post soon.

[Seffbasilisk]

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My apologies, recently split with my fiancée after being with her over four years. Trying to deal with that and all sorts of chaos.

Venderholfen

As Venderholfen easily strides along, his long-legged gait matched only by the other Demi-orc, he pulls a nice chunk of meat out of a sack form his backpack. Biting off a chunk, he starts vigorously eating it, as he occasionally stops to turn back and wait for the others to catch up.

[lukfugl]

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OOC: I'll admit that I'm not that fond of either the explicit overland exploration phase, nor the need for us characters to come up with descriptions of everything we see. For the former, we're already dealing with a fairly slow format, and to add a discussion about "do we go north, or south?" at each "tile" will eat up a *lot* of real-world time.

That said, I'm willing to go along with either if that's the way you want to game to go; you're the DM.

Kurth plods along with the rest of the party, eventually arriving at the fringes of the forest. He takes stock of his surroundings, noting in particular a pair of toppled trees lying neatly in parallel, as if someone had arranged them that way. After the parties had a brief rest, he suggests, "I believe we'll find what we seek quickest if we move deeper into the woods to the east."

[neoseph7]

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OOC: I'll admit that I'm not that fond of either the explicit overland exploration phase, nor the need for us characters to come up with descriptions of everything we see. For the former, we're already dealing with a fairly slow format, and to add a discussion about "do we go north, or south?" at each "tile" will eat up a *lot* of real-world time.

That said, I'm willing to go along with either if that's the way you want to game to go; you're the DM.

I'm not bent on forcing the overland movement exploration. Being DM is not being a God. The game should be fun first and should be fun for everyone. As for the descriptions, you don't have to come up with them, they are just greatly appreciated. I could babble on for pages and pages about the rare mushrooms you find and the paw prints and scuffle marks from random critters, and the color of the trees and... But how much of that will the Player remember? When I describe the elevation in the area, or the signs of a sinkhole, the players aren't going to remember these details when it comes to problem/puzzle solving. What you guys see is what exists in the world, and you will remember it if you write it.
Again, the descriptions you give don't have to be grand or amazing. No one will be penalized for not posting seven pages worth of a natural 20 on a knowledge: Everything roll.

The next post will assume the party continued east.

[GimliFett]

Kenner

The elf nods as he munches on the thorny fruit. "Agreed. The paired trees and the old man in that trunk," he says as he points to a knotted lump about the height of two men that could double as an older man's face with long trailing moss for a wild mane and beard,"ought to be enough to recognize this as our entry. Smoke and I'll take the lead, follow at about ten paces?" he inquires of the others.

[lukfugl]

Kurth nods and prepares to follow.

[neoseph7]

The forest around you is wild and unkempt. After some time, vines cover the distance between trees, and the possible paths become fewer in magnitude and harder to navigate. The time presses on, with little evidence of feral fauna. A small clearing shows itself to the party. The scene is wrought with the signs of a struggle, centered around an abused watering hole, now tainted with blood, bits of fur, and fecal matter. Several tracks enter and leave the area, amongst them are the paw prints similar to Kenner's companion, massive holes belonging to either a massive animated tree or a pack of elephants, and the scurrying tracks of something else not immediatly obvious, though the tracks are in sets of 8. The latter set lead to a tree before vanishing...

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btw. This data is coming off of a successful roll on Kenner's part. In theory, he is the one explaining the above stuff, but I wanted to speed things up, for the sake of the game.

[GimliFett]

Kenner

Kenner studies the tracks intently, trying to discern their heading and what exactly made them while looking at the fur and fecal matter. "An interesting assortment of creatures, hm?" he asks no one in particular as he moves to and stops at the base of the tree where the eight-legged set seemed to disappear. He inspects the trunk of the tree for any additional signs of passage.

[neoseph7]

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Unless Smoke has ranks in climb, he's going to have a hard time following the set of tracks that went up the tree. A child could follow the elephant tracks (or did I roll a Treant? Dun dun dah!) The wolf tracks would be followable with Smoke's assistance. At this point, the party can choose what to do: Follow one of the sets of tracks, go off in some other random direction, dance around waiting for rain to fall, or really whatever (Warning: the further you stray from what I've drawn up, the longer it takes me to come up with something new). The choice belongs to the party. I give a day for everyone to post their decision or ask questions (presumably to someone else on the party with the appropriate skill).

[GimliFett]

Kenner

"Well, clearly, our easiest options are following the trampling herd of whatever or the wolves. Whatever climbed this tree isn't easily followed."

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Well, silly, I gave Smoke slippers of spider climbing!
Seriously, are there marks on the treetrunk? How tall are the trees?

[neoseph7]

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Well, silly, I gave Smoke slippers of spider climbing!
Seriously, are there marks on the treetrunk? How tall are the trees?

lmao. You may describe the trees and forest as you like. Please use the following two datum first: The tree the tracks end at is a tall elm, at least 20-30 ft tall. The forest is composed of dozens of different types of trees, but there are very few instances where the same tree type is next to itself (so elms are not next to elms, banyans are not next to banyans, etc.).

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Looking it up, climbing the tree is a rather low climb check, one that a PC could make taking 10. Assuming someone does so, they see as follows:

The trees stretch out as far as the eye can see, and the canopy composed of the taller trees creates a ceiling deflecting the harsh Sun. Branches and extensions link the trees together for several yards. Nothing of interest can be found except... is that a strand of web off in the distance?

[ZaneLaCoix]

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My apologies for not posting, but Mr. Aetheas has no ranks in Climb, nor even in Nature's Knowledge (which in all respects does not make sense for his back story. ^.^;;).

[Aetheas]

"The stampede may be hazardous to follow, despite the ease which'll be found. But wolves are more dangerous... I'll follow whomever."

[GimliFett]

Kenner

The sturdy elf climbs up for a look around from above the treeline, noticing the thousands of multi-colored butterflies, Kenner grins happily. "What have we here?" he asks no one as he spies the webs in the distance.

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Kenner'll take the bait. How far off and in what direction are the webs?
Spider carapaces will work as well as beetle ones, right?
I'm having a Bilbo in Mirkwood moment!

[neoseph7]

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Kenner'll take the bait. How far off and in what direction are the webs?
Spider carapaces will work as well as beetle ones, right?
I'm having a Bilbo in Mirkwood moment!

The direction is due Spidorth. It would take about ten minutes to reach the tree that the webs are hanging from.

The carapaces only need to be chitenous, so scorpions, spiders, beetles, it's all good. I hadn't noticed how vague and misleading my task was (I really am working on it. Honest).