GM Mason's Queen of the Dead (Inactive)

Game Master Eminem80

I really liked the blade scene, T.

Thank you.

I enjoyed writing it. Also, I felt the need to up make for my very abbreviated post of this morning.

I think I may have misinterpreted things.

Metal tube: map?
Alien Star plate: schema?

Keeping up the dark... what materials are used in Razor's chassis?

OMG, Adir is trying to be a good guy, people. Haha!

Uriah is also CG...and trying to stay that way.

Embrace the Dark Side, we have cookies.

Character Creation Guidelines:
-20pt buy
-1 extra feat
-2 traits, no drawbacks.
-150 starting gold
-Classes: All except Gunslinger, Ninja, Samurai and Summoner.
-Races: Core and Eberron (see the wiki). Ask me about other races. Warforged can either go with the listed abilities (option one) or chose: +2 dex +2 con -2 wis (option two), +2 str +2 con -2 wis (option three)
-Alignment: Preference goes to good and neutrals. LE can be considered, but needs a good reason.
-Level 1, lvl gain will go at my pace.
-Hp max on lvl 1. On gain, half +1.

I do not like playing bad guys with the sole exception of my one Way of the Wicked Campaign, which being the bad guy in kinda the point.

Tierney is neutral and is only "dark" in his odd behavior. Personally, I don't pay much attention to alignment and think the game would be better off without it. Most of my characters are CN or N and tend to shy away from active evilness.

I'm waffling hard on what Servitor's alignment should be, though I'm thinking I'm still going to go with a rather grim interpretation of a Lawful Good. Playing the "I'm a robot and violence doesn't really bother me since I'm built to commit it" thing is kind of hard to justify LG sometimes, but his heart's in the right place, even if he's currently considering "skinning" Razor and selling him for scrap... Adamantine is worth good money... :P

Holy crap.

If it makes anyone feel better, Servitor has learned that vengeance makes him feel empty inside! O_o I feel wrong having written that too...

If it makes anyone feel better, Servitor has learned that vengeance makes him feel empty inside! O_o I feel wrong having written that too...

You are literally not empty inside! Not with all that adamantine.

;)

Trying to make certain that everyone has a chance to respond, btw.

Ouch! lol... Yeah, guess I'm not that empty...

But Servitor has definitely been an interesting challenge for me RP-wise. Reading lines in the book describing warforged such as "They fight fiercely and usually without remorse..." and "In general, the humanoid races of Khorvaire regard the warforged as an unpleasant reminder of the brutality of the Last War and avoid dealing with them when possible." It made sense to me that warforged, lacking the instinct to protect their fellow pack animals and only kill as a matter of last resort, and instead being created for no other purpose but to fight and kill would be prone to acts of extreme brutality and barbarism when angry.

Once I was walking around my neighborhood and caught sight of a hawk which had caught a flicker. Unfortunately, despite hawks typically killing their prey on their first strike, the flicker had survived the initial strike only to be eaten alive slowly by the hawk. The hawk probably only found this inconvenient, or perhaps dangerous to itself, rather than finding itself morally horrified by its actions. Given that the warforged are definitely more predators than prey, more machine than pack animal, I've tried to encapsulate this mentality in Servitor.

Oh, and if anyone wants to stop Servitor part way through this butchery, by all means feel free to make a post saying you do such, as Servitor will listen to his "masters." I just said I did it from start to finish in one post because I really didn't want to draw it out. But if anyone says they interject into this brutality, that's totally okay by me.

What is a flicker? Is it another kind of bird?

Yeah, it's a large woodpecker. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_flicker

Except that both hawks and flickers are animals and not sentient beings....torturing and killing a sentient creature that has been captured is an evil act and as such Uriah isn't comfortable with doing it.

And well horrified Uriah should be, he'd be either extremely jaded, or rockin' some anti-social personality disorder if he wasn't horrified. But reading about the warforged the world seemed to really try and emphasize how alien the thought-processes normal to the warforged is on average. As part of that I tried to look to non-human thought processes, not for morality justification, but for a frame of reference for the brutal yet naive nature of Servitor.

I think it is an interesting concept to explore. But yeah, reactions will be extreme.

"Brutal yet naive" is an interesting description. If I were single, I would put that in a profile on a dating site, just for laughs.

On a completely unrelated subject:

@Uriah

I don't understand what Jarot is talking about there in the above post. Uriah hasn't said anything, only stared dumbstruck at the awful even t that just transpired.

I think that was about the schema. Jarot strikes me as not being very squeamish, so he just rolls right into Servitor's subject change.

Two observations:
1)Servitor just went straight ISIS on Razor
2)Jarot's RPing, especially on the side with Servitor, is PBP gold!

I agree with the brutal, but naive angle. Servitor is like a child flying an apache helicopter! He is not pure evil because he sees his act as a logical function. He does not believe Razor is truly alive. He sees him as animated parts. Is this shocking? Hell Yes!! But it is true to character and makes for interesting growth of the group! Not to say you guys can not "educate" him on social norms of the flesh walkers.

By the way, Uriah is on deck for a signature item. I'm thinking through this now!

Scary thing is, Servitor DID believe that Razor was truly alive, and if a human skin happened to have good resale value it'd do it just as willingly to him as it did it to Razor. It's the understanding of the sanctity of sentient life that Servitor is missing. As far as its concerned, yes Servitor understand you shouldn't just go killing people pel mel, but its on the same level of breaking someone's prized vase to him: Generally not a good thing to do, but if they tried to break your vase first, and are kind of jerks in general, they probably just have it coming at this rate. Being a constructed item in addition to a living being makes the line a bit blurry to him. This was really just the same as looting the highwaymen to Servitor. Yeah you normally aren't supposed to take people's stuff but the dead don't need it. And Razor was immobile and going to die so it really was effectively already dead, so no reason not to start the looting ahead of time.

But yes, Servitor could definitely use some schooling on traditional philosophy and such for people to help him understand why everyone freaks out when he does these things.

Aye, Servitor didn't have a childhood during which he learned these things. I find it fascinating that we are going to serve as role models for him. And what a diverse crew for that role.

Ok guys, I'm going to be honest. I'm not really comfortable playing in a game where torture and killing prisoners then dismantling them for their "value" and attempting to strip doors off walls for loot is the modus operandi. It's just not my thing. So, unless you guys can say for certain that this was a one time thing for character advancement I think Uriah is gonna move on.

Uriah Lewis wrote:

I don't understand what Jarot is talking about there in the above post. Uriah hasn't said anything, only stared dumbstruck at the awful even t that just transpired.

I think that was about the schema. Jarot strikes me as not being very squeamish, so he just rolls right into Servitor's subject change.

Correct, sorry for the confusion.

I can only speak for myself, but yes, Servitor is quite done with that. He was only so extreme with Razor due to his lust for vengeance against him in particular. And as mentioned, Servitor has come to realize that the whole vengeance thing didn't really do anything to either solve problems or make him feel better. So he's pretty well done. He'll still need to be told by somebody that there's a difference between dismantling a warforged for parts and looting a body traditionally, otherwise that will continue. But I did make Servitor to be malleable to other character's whims because I wanted the other players to be role models and guides for Servitor as Adir suggested.

If Uriah isn't comfortable with this, I can understand. I the player was not really comfortable with it either, Servitor was just a character in which the circumstance demanded it. My mother and sister are writers, and I participate in this heritage recreationally, and have served as the editor of a literary magazine. Sometimes I'm driven to tell a story not because I even really think its fun or enjoyable, but because I find satisfaction in exploring tales that help me solidify my own understandings of what it is to be moral or to be human.

So no, it's not likely Servitor will ever revel in such brutality again. And while I know dictating the actions of other people's characters is generally a cardinal sin in RPGs, Servitor was literally made with this in mind. So please, as Uriah raise your voice and tell Servitor that he's basically committed horrific war crimes against Razor, and he'll fall in line with that. And turning Razor into scrap metal was not about the money so much as the story, I thoroughly expect Mason to tell me they don't really sell for anything since crude metal bracelets sold by a 7 charisma warforged aren't exactly going to sell like hotcakes. And if we start jumping too far ahead in WBL, I'm sure Mason will rein us in as needed, he's got the GM toolbag at his disposal and the power of fiat at his disposal if we ever start taking too many doors. ;)

The door part was intended as a joke. I had no expectation of it working, or that we could reasonably do anything with it even if we could somehow get it off the mount. Similar to the couch running joke in the Family Guy Star Wars parody.

The torture part is a stickier issue.
For my part in playing Jarot, behind the curtains, he has talked big but hasn't actually done any of the horrible things he has threatened. Unless is comes down to the "24" style "where is the bomb? only this guy knows",situation, that isn't going to change. He is a horribly screwed up individual but he doesn't enjoy hurting people, he is more scared of all the things that different races\creatures can do that humans can't. I realize that hasn't really shown much. The aside to Servitor is the first part of it.

My take on Servitors part, as I have played similar types of characters, is this: He has been given this skill set. It doesn't include the vast majority of the things that he will need to be a "person" so he needs other people to step in and show him how life works. Someone has done so in this case, so the ripping of skin off isn't going to happen again.

Will there be other situations where we are likely to go over the top and need to be pulled back? Probably. Are we trying to play horribly evil characters that do terrible things just to do terrible things? No.

One of my favorite parts of the ebberron setting is that it is set to address the messes, political, societal and psychological that remain after a "world" war.

I hope you stick it out and interact with our characters to help our messed up characters become better.

I would hate to lose Uriah.

For my part, I would like this situation to be something that is not repeated. I am really not certain how Tierney would react; I still need to develop him as a character. So far, I think he fears warforged a bit in general. He knows that summarily killing Razor was wrong but he is not a resolute enough person to demonstrate his convictions with the group yet.

I feel pretty strongly about playing a hero. I don't mind moral quandaries but just outright torture and threats of torture just don't feel very heroic to me.

I've tried to play Uriah as a "roguish hero" a guy who might not always have his stuff together, but will always act in the "moral" way when push comes to shove. Its the biggest reason why he doesn't want anyone having the scehema, to him it is a weapon created by Cannith to start the big war. Giving it back to them will only repeat the awful process. It is why he stuck around, even when the entire party sided against him with regards to the Cannith noble. He is trying to prove himself right by finding out what the schema does.

I don't want Uriah to be the only character interested in "doing good".

I don't want Uriah to be the only character interested in "doing good".

/looks around

Umm, I'm still here, right? ;)

It's funny to me that you say that. I feel like I've been rather heavy-handed with the morality stuff.

In general, I'd offer up that it's very early in the game and players are still discovering their characters. Much of that process plays out in-game. I don't think these events are part of an overall theme.

To be fair, you have really just been trying to make us think before we kill the more bestial races on sight...which aligns to your own self interest as you are a shifter.

That's just not true on Adir's part. He attempted to solve the conflict with the highwaymen before the party fully formed by intimidation and coercion and not brute force. He's admonished Servitor for the scene just now with Razor. Anytime we've encountered a group of enemies for the first time who aren't just mindless bugs or automatons, Adir has sought the peaceful resolution if it's at all reasonable to do so. There's a reason I had Servitor more or less ask Adir for permission to execute Razor because it has become obvious that if anyone was going to raise a complaint and stop him it would be Adir (and in the end, despite getting the go ahead, the methodology still invoked Adir to step in and raise a complaint).

Personally I also have to emphasize that Servitor itself is also on the do-gooder desire list. There's a reason that despite the atrocities he's committed I still have Servitor down as a Lawful Good character. He's not born of human instinct, nor have hardly any training in human society or culture. Servitor has no idea that there's such a thing as a "war-crime" as he's not been taught nor is the idea as simple as instinct to it. But that does not preclude a desire to be a moral being, it just means that he's got no frame of reference beyond his own introspection which is limited to where his role in the world is. Take that for what you will, but if given sufficient time to observe, learn and study, Servitor will eventually become almost obnoxiously paladin levels of goody-two-shoes, it's just going to take coaching for him to learn the nuances of these things.

The campaign is set up for y'all to be heroes. This will all work itself out. I'm dove hunting today. I'll update tonight.

That's just not true on Adir's part. He attempted to solve the conflict with the highwaymen before the party fully formed by intimidation and coercion and not brute force. He's admonished Servitor for the scene just now with Razor. Anytime we've encountered a group of enemies for the first time who aren't just mindless bugs or automatons, Adir has sought the peaceful resolution if it's at all reasonable to do so. There's a reason I had Servitor more or less ask Adir for permission to execute Razor because it has become obvious that if anyone was going to raise a complaint and stop him it would be Adir (and in the end, despite getting the go ahead, the methodology still invoked Adir to step in and raise a complaint).

Wow, thanks for having my back! You seriously just made my day. It is awesome to feel like people "get" your guy. And by the way, I also loved the nod with calling people friend.

Jarrot has the lowest AC of the party and he engages in melee more often than Adir does. He seems like the best candidate for the ring of protection. Does anyone disagree?

Jarrot has the lowest AC of the party and he engages in melee more often than Adir does. He seems like the best candidate for the ring of protection. Does anyone disagree?

I have no issue with it. I'm going to try very hard not to be in melee.

=)

Edit: Also... Uriah, still with us?

I know I railroaded you a bit to the encounter with Elaydren. It is up to you what to do now though.

I was waiting to see if you definitely said "Let's not return to her." If you guys are adamant that you do not want to at least encounter her, I will retcon where you went after the forge. Let me know.

I know I railroaded you a bit to the encounter with Elaydren. It is up to you what to do now though.

I was waiting to see if you definitely said "Let's not return to her." If you guys are adamant that you do not want to at least encounter her, I will retcon where you went after the forge. Let me know.

Adir's clear intention was to return to her with the schema.

How did Adir get the schema? Did he take it from Uriah? Because last we posted Uriah had it and was pushing for it to be destroyed.

I actually had Jarot with the schema checking it with the ring.

Congrats! You have finished Module One!!

Unfortunately, Uriah has decided to withdraw from the game. I think Eberron is a little too grey with alignment for him. The campaign world is created that way. "Alignment is slightly more muddied (in Eberron) than in other official settings." It is the end of the first module anyway. I hope everyone else would like to continue. Those that do can advance to LEVEL 3 and ad 300 gold each!

On a side note, I have a guy that wants to join. He is in another Eberron game with me and is an excellent RPer. He wants to play a psionic (Seer w/ Bardic Knowledge). I think he would make an excellent addition to take the "arcane caster" role. He has read the game thread all along and has PMed me multiple times about possibly joining the game.

Wealth by Level:
*Tierney (Ring of Protection +1 and Magic Sword +1) 3,714
*Jarot (Masterwork Dagger) 984 -I plan to have him sent 2k gold before starting the next module. He can upgrade his dagger for an extra 1,800 to +1 or use the gold for other stuff.
*Servitor (Armbow) 984 -I plan to have him sent 2k gold to use however he would like.
*Adir (Staff-Two powers) 3,784 You can now cast Magic Fang 1x a day with your staff and use you oracle caster level.

All this is after you add the 300g extra for completing the task. There are still three potions of CMWs to disperse.

Please post what you added for L3:
What class added
Class abilities added
Spells added
Feat(s) chosen
Gear Purchased

I'm not worried about you listing skills added or BAB/Saves.

Adding Alchemist 3
Feat is extra discovery for Infusion, so i can share my "spells" with the rest of the group when needed.
added a second cure light wounds spell

sneak attack goes to 2d6
fast poison(move action)
swift alchemy-craft alchemy in half the time
Cruel anatomist: Use KO Nature in place of Heal.

Purchases: Would like to craft a bunch of various alchemist fire, acid and such. Will figure out how many tomorrow.

I actually had Jarot with the schema checking it with the ring.

Sorry, I saw Jarot using the ring, but it wasn't super-clear to me who had the schema at this point. If I assumed too much, my apologies. There was a part of me that wanted to build up our momentum again. Also, we had semi-talked about Adir being the party face, so I thought it reasonable to think he had the schema.

I am quite keen to continue. If you have someone ready to jump in, I'm all for it. It will be fun to see a psion at work.

I'll put up Adir's leveling info shortly, probably in an edit.

Tierney's advancement:

Level 3 skills: Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Spellcraft, Perception, Stealth;
arcana: Spell-scars
feat: Slashing Grace
spells: Ray of Enfeeblement, Unseen Servant

I will update his gold and equipment later.

It is too bad that Uriah left the game. However, I am interested to see this new psionic character.

Regarding the ring of protection, if Jarrot or Adir want it then Tierney will gladly offer it. Tierney's AC improved by 1 already for advancing to level 3 because of his archetype.

Spellcraft roll to learn Burning Hands from Bonal's spellbook.
1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Edit:
The gold that you listed per character is WBL, not actual coin, correct?

The gold that you listed per character is WBL, not actual coin, correct?

This is correct. If you give up the Ring of Protection, it will change things. I'm going to try to keep everyone close in wealth.

Sorry, I totally missed that perception check. Thanks, Jarot.

You guys are free to shop and RP thoughts about Lady Elaydren, the schema, or The Lord of Blades as well as do some research or craft. Let me know what you are doing. I'm working with the Psion now in PM and hope to add him soon!