A Hero, lost in the dark, shall be found (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

The original four characters from Palace of the Vampire Queen will need to journey to the nearest village, Three Willows, (where they left a large sum of money in the safe keeping of a dwarf named,

Dwarbon Desdorelli

Search out a tavern, and try to hire adventurers willing to join them in returning to the dungeon to rescue their captured friend.

They have time to shop for goods they think they may need, or to research spells, or create simple magic items.

There is a being within this village that may be of help to them

They will find, after they have rested, and feel a bit calm that they are a bit wiser for the wear, and maybe have learned a few new things

Miagnik, Chuffer, and Mixz will advance to level 6

Moralane will advance to level 5

Alright! Level 6!
I've been debating back and forth on what to do with this level for a long while now. My initial idea was to go with Dragon Disciple as fast as I could which would be now, thus beginning Miagnik on a more martial path. But after some debate, I decided that Miagnik has not really been doing a lot of Prestigious activity.
I then thought about multi-classing and going with fighter but honestly the training necessary doesn't make a lot of sense either. I was briefly considering Barbarian or Ranger, as we have both those in the party it makes a little more sense but not much.

But finally I landed on just sticking with what I'm currently doing, Sorcerer.
Hit points +: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Bab: +1,
Base Saving Throws: Fort+2 Refl+2 Will +5
Skill Points: +3
Caster Level +1
Spells per day: 2nd +1, 3rd: +3
Spells Known: 0th: +1- Message, 3rd: 1- Fireball (We all saw this coming.)
Spell Change: - Snapdragon fireworks, + Liberating command
Favored Class bonus: Fire Breath

Okay, so we have some goodwill here thanks to a few things we did before.

Dwarbon is neutral with a capitol T. But he's a decent guy.

The rest of the newer party doesn't know it, unless you've been reading from before, but there is a ... I hesitate to call it a God... although it certainly is on that level that is below the town. Talking to it is terrifying in its own right, but so far it seems very removed from caring about lesser mortal concerns. It may be helpful as long as we don't annoy it too much. Hallister would certainly be against us going to see it again but Miagnik's a very different story.

I don't think I've ever actually tried to hire any adventurers before. But it will sure be interesting to try.

Ohgoddammit. >.<

I think Moralane is ready to go.

Terquem, did she have any special gear I should be aware of?

Also, would you be alright with Hal having tossed Moralane his axe and a book through the bars of the cage before the retreat?

Hit Points: 1d6 ⇒ 5
New Hex = Evil Eye
Will get everything else sorted out by Monday

Hall - I thought we would keep Moralane's ability scores the same and make her a 4th level ranger, 1st level spiritualist? I know this makes it harder for her to be an effective spiritualist, but I think it will work out all right in the end.

Let's keep this array
Strength 13
Dexterity 16
Constitution 12
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 16
Charisma 15

And did you mean Hallister's axe or the magic adamantium axe that was recently found?

And yes she can have his pack, which he would have tossed on the floor as the others escaped the room, someone would have picked it up,

And one last thing, Atharessa was of House Inarossa, not house Vessocho

I meant Hal's personal axe. I don't think he was carrying the new one. I don't remember it being given to him.

I copied the name from your NPC Alias in the Characters tab. Is that incorrect?

Can you open the Gameplay tab for us to dot-and-delete?

So Terquem, what sort of characters should we be looking to build for our new chapter?

I assume 20 point buy with similar race limitations? Dwarf, Gnome, or Goblin. Or would you prefer we stick with one particular race.

well I am hoping Miagnik, Chuffer, Mixz, and Moralane (now played by Doomed Hero) will stay in the game as they are (leveled up of course).

If you want to add a second character of your own to the game I wouldn't stop you. The recruitment thread has all the guidelines

Don't tell him that. We'll end up with Miagnik's twin brother Niagmik joining the eternal goblin quest to light Hal on fire...

Hilarious, but now that I realize there are new people joining, I will not be creating Niagmik seriously... at least not for this game. Also it's limited to Dwarves.

"I don't mean to butt in but I think you could probably use my help!

You guys think it's believable for a Dwarf to decide to learn and use unaccented speech?

I can do the accent. I just think it's funny if she's annoying enough to decide to go completely against dwarven dialect conventions because she read it in a book somewhere or heard a foreigner speak.

I am not, never have been, a fan of dwarves having accents all the time. My dwarves (all the dwarves in the previous game as well) do not have accents.

Dotting in :)

I am not, never have been, a fan of dwarves having accents all the time. My dwarves (all the dwarves in the previous game as well) do not have accents.

I blame R.A. Salvatore.

Beldain, Checking in. It seems that I will be the low man on the totem pole in this party. Still though, I look forward to doing my part.

I am not, never have been, a fan of dwarves having accents all the time. My dwarves (all the dwarves in the previous game as well) do not have accents.

BLASPHEMY

I am not, never have been, a fan of dwarves having accents all the time. My dwarves (all the dwarves in the previous game as well) do not have accents.

Oh, there are some dwarven accents in the previous game. I read like 15 pages of it. XD

But that's just from the dwarf players, probably.

There's a way for me to distinguish Dinura's speech somewhat from the other dwarves even if they're all unaccented, so that works for me anyway.

Edit: I guess you did say "My dwarves". That's true.

I’ve decided to try to give the existing characters a bit more of a hard time hiring new heroes to help them rescue Hallister

All new player characters should choose one of these two taverns to begin the game (your location when your character first posts

The Miner’s Lantern (a reputable tavern)

The Porker’s Pants (a seedy Dive)

And I will make posts in the game thread describing both places, so all of you can post soon.

Hal's a very dwarfy old dwarf, so he has an accent.

Moralane is younger with more education and refinement, so she doesn't have one.

With a party this size, I really hope we have a Bard or Skald. Or both.

A bard with a "skald"-ing wit?

And we're off!

Check Gameplay, Chuffer. I'm going to track down Mixz.

Do you want us newbies to wait to post our introductions until they get closer to town?

Do you want us newbies to wait to post our introductions until they get closer to town?

Interesting point. I may have jumped the gun a bit. I've removed my gameplay post and copied it to the end of my character profile; I'll wait to post up until after Terquem confirms we're good to start. This old sailor's just eager to get back out to sea.

I think what he wants is to give the original party a bit of travel montage, then set the scene in the two taverns where we'll be holding "auditions"

What Moralane is thinking right now is that she'll post a flier that says when and where to meet for those who are interested (tomorrow, sunrise, behind Dwarbon's shop), she'll talk a bit to get gossip going, then do the meet and greet stuff the next morning where we'll have a couple basic tests set up for you new folks to show off a bit.

Sitting at a table in a tavern was Kurgan Kegstalker. He downed the last of contents of his mug and then looked into it critically. Call this mead, did they? He’d drunk piss better than that. Literally. His brother thought it was really funny at the time. Well...he reflected...it wasn’t *that* bad. But it was still disgraceful. He focused on the mug, causing it to refill with water. He then grumbled a prayer, turning the water into mead. The nectar of the gods.

It was...passable. What he really needed, he reflected, was vampire dust. And not the weak goblin dung that could be gotten from a thrall. He needed the *real* deal. With that he could make a drink of legend. He was certain of it. The only thing was...how to get it? He figured that he’d have to go tomb raiding again chasing rumors. It was lonely and disappointing work. With a sign he returned to his drink. Fate. He thought to himself. It will come knocking, I am sure of it. I just hope it is this century.

I’ve decided to try to give the existing characters a bit more of a hard time hiring new heroes to help them rescue Hallister

All new player characters should choose one of these two taverns to begin the game (your location when your character first posts

The Miner’s Lantern (a reputable tavern)

The Porker’s Pants (a seedy Dive)

And I will make posts in the game thread describing both places, so all of you can post soon.

If you are one of the new Dwarves entering this game, please select a Tavern to be located in from the two above

Either Moralane will enter the tavern and post a notice looking to hire "Brave Men or Women"

Or The whole gang of Moralane, Miagnik, Chuffer, and Mixz, will appear

MIxz was having some real life issues to deal with and will be along soon, let's give her some time

The campaign info tab now has a message on the Coins of the Realm

Now, I don't mean to deliberately confuse anyone, just adding a bit of economic woe to the setting

"I'm in The Miner's Lantern of course! That other place is too loud!" (Nobody can hear anything she says and they really should listen to what she has to say)

Kurgan is in the miner’s tavern. It has better quality alcohol. Kurgan can make his own, so if he is paying he might as well make it worthwhile

Baradesh is in the Miner's Lantern, as it's less likely he'll have to ask people to behave via hammer.

Playing around with character and personality, and decided to add in a level of Barbarian. Reflects him being fueled by his alcohol. So...

Lvl 1: Mutation Warrior Weapon Master Fighter (10 HP)
Lvl 2-3: Fighter 2d10 ⇒ (10, 6) = 16
Lvl 4: Urban Barbarian 1d12 ⇒ 12
Lvl 5: Cleric 1d8 ⇒ 7

sorry for being so late checking in... I have been in bed almost 2 weeks with an injury and unable to sit at a computer... I am finally up and about - I will level tonight. Hi all, btw.. again, sorry for my absence... what happened to Hal???

sorry for being so late checking in... I have been in bed almost 2 weeks with an injury and unable to sit at a computer... I am finally up and about - I will level tonight. Hi all, btw.. again, sorry for my absence... what happened to Hal???

Bahahahaha! Look what happens when you can't check in. Everything falls apart, and all these weird new people show up!

Hal was captured by the bone golem, and it caused the previous game to end. Now, we're on to Season 2 (or maybe 3, depending on how you count the story arcs).

Hope you're feeling better now.

1) It isn't at all a necessary thing, but if any of you want to have some sort of backstory tie to Sir Henri and the Vessocho family (the nobles who rule this region, Moralane's dad), or to Hallister himself, we could work that out... Thoughts?

Agos is past his prime, but I see Hallister has been operating for roughly two decades. Could be that he and Hallister worked together long ago, Agos at the end of his career and Hallister at the beginning of his own. Possibly something nautical-related? Ghoul smugglers, ghost pirates, and drowned men dragging coastal villagers into the sea are the sort of thing that spring to mind.

Agos is in town because he believes his god has some purpose for him here (ie the adventure); he'd certainly take hearing of an old colleague (even a temporary one) in trouble as a sign.

Several edits because I kept thinking of bits to add. More jumping of guns.

1) It isn't at all a necessary thing, but if any of you want to have some sort of backstory tie to Sir Henri and the Vessocho family (the nobles who rule this region, Moralane's dad), or to Hallister himself, we could work that out.

As background, Sir Henri is a decent fellow who cares about his people. He has an awful lot of problems on his plate, so his attention is stretched thin. His usual solution is to send one of his Bondsmen off to investigate and deal with whatever is going on, or to bring back more information.

That's who Hallister is. Basically, he's a troubleshooter for the guy who runs the show in this area. He was a lot more prominent about 5 years ago, but then fell off the map for some reason. His older adventures involved things like hunting down ghoul nests, routing out cults, and investigating tombs. He's kind of a Dwarven Van Helsing. Every time Sir Henri sends him out his usual protocol is to gather a small group of competent people, promise them Sir Henri's money, and then go kill monsters. So, he has a decent sized list of people who have worked with him before.

2) Another option since there are quite a few new characters is that some of you are an existing adventuring party who know each other already. If any one of you is honor-sworn to Sir Henri, or has worked with Hal before, that might be a good way to hook the rest of your group into the fun.

Thoughts?

I could see the Kegstalker Clan being bondsmen for the Vessocho family. By the fluff I wrote, the Kegstalkers are honor bound each generation to create a unique brew which can make the dwarf’s name famous. Supplying quality liquor to a noble family could well be what keeps them housed, fed, and explain how they can afford to go on their adventuring expedition. Because, when the ‘secret’ of your brew means making your alcohol in the brain pan of a troll, or using werewolf blood, you need to be a great warrior, crazy, and have a patron to finance you. It would also means that the kegstalkers would be bondsmen who could be called on.

I'm only moderately weird...

Dinura spent some time in the biggish coastal town of Bright Water recently as an apprentice to whatever the closest equivalent to an engineer would be. Not sure if Hal has any ties there.

Not that Dinura needs connections to join up. She's going even if you don't want her. :D

At least one "free" party member? We'll take it.

As for getting to town, Miagnik is trying to get the party to hustle for at least an hour. He is not actually sure if this is a good idea or not but he's in a hurry and isn't thinking about it. When we get there after going to Dwarbon's, Miagnik will head to the Porker's Pants.

The wandering GM is the ranger, Beldain in case anyone is confused.

Also, we should still be waiting until the GM describes the taverns before we introduce our characters.

Rather than clutter the campaign information tab, or this thread, with literally pages of information that has been created as the original game ran for five years here, about the setting and the situation of the Palace of the Vampire Queen. I am going to create a Journal Thread (in that section) and there will be a link to that thread posted at the top of the page, along with pertinent maps.

I will populate the journal thread with posts, I'll try to keep them sort, with notes about the Empire, People, and Places of this campaign setting, as well as a few posts about what the original characters know about the Palace of the Vampire Queen 9as it applies to this adventure setting)

I am running another campaign (a 5e game) here on these boards and also using the original Palace of the Vampire Queen module for that game. However it is set on a completely different campaign world, and has a completely different "situation".

The wandering GM is the ranger, Beldain in case anyone is confused.

Also, we should still be waiting until the GM describes the taverns before we introduce our characters.

Awww man! I hate when I do that! Sorry! Another reminder that alcohol + 3 hours of sleep leads to mistakes!

It's true. But alcohol and two hours sleep will make you super creative.

Whoa, did you literally just steal the bar's business while in the bar? lol

Bad form! Kick this dwarf out!

Edit: of the bar, that is.

Kurgan Kegstalker spits upon the pisswater that they call mead.

That and his schtick is blessed drinks. Literally. Makes five a day for the party. Move action to drink, gives guidance for one minute whenever you want. He’s just showing off what he can bring to the group: never having to go without alcohol while adventuring. And his cloak of the hedge mage is just for prestidigitation...as it can be used to make a drink cold.

He can spit upon mead all he wants lol. If I owned this tavern, I wouldn't let someone stay in the building who was stealing my business by giving out "blessed drinks". XD

But I run a business for my personal profession so I look at things from a different perspective.

You did literally interrupt a paying customer who was going to the bar to buy a drink and prevented her from buying a drink. That's what a business owner should consider a problem.

You make a very good point. To assuage the guilt obviously forming in his head...see gameplay.

Hey, can you guys make sure to put what tavern you're in at the top in ooc? It's getting confusing already and we haven't heard from half the characters yet!

lol

Yes - it is a large group, and I already want to respond to some of the characters who have posted, but at the same time I don't want new players to feel that they might get buried in posts

My bad... ssssooorrryyy

Yes, clarity on where we all are, super good idea :p