Sure we should do that. I wouldn't be surprised if he's lurking.
Sent him a PM just now.
Well guys, we are honestly done. All that would be left is for everyone to write an epilogue to the campaign. I think it would be pretty cool if you would write a "this is how it ends" for your character. You can combine ideas and stories if you'd like but otherwise end your character's story however you see fit.
Ex: I can see Hecktor calling it quits from the adventuring life and settling down in Almas with a nice lady.
I'll do a wrap up epilogue with how I see things going down in Darkmoon Vale now that Thuldrin Kreed has been deposed AND Drazmorg has been slain, at least temporarily. As for the Seal, its still here and still open....maybe someone wants to include it in their epilogue? (Closing it, and preventing the opening of the other two seals, would have been a mythic level campaign idea I also toyed with)
I'll work on an epiloque...
I think once Lucanor lets the Church realize that a #@#$#ing Lich was in the area, and there's an open seal, they will finally get off their duffs and send more clerics and other support.
After this I think Silas's nerves would be totally shot. He'll need quite some time to recover. Something on the lines of six months to a year as a near hermit on Michael's land. After that I think wanderlust will kick in, he'll put his affairs in order and say goodbye never to be seen again.
No?
Then who's going to tell Hecktor's kids about the stuff their father and he did during time off, that he never told them? :)
I'll probably post Hecktor's epilogue in the later hours tonight.
Something quick:
What classes are accepted?
I'm still lurking. I've been keeping an eye on the discussion thread though, and not the gameplay. I've got like 750 gameplay posts to go through to get to the end.
But it's good to know that everyone survived.
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Oh, and 5e is probably one of the quickest transitions between editions I've ever done. I even think it was easier to switch from 3.5/Pathfinder to 5e than it was to go from 3e to 3.5. Maybe because I knew the basics and there was no expectation of backwards compatibility, but I really did find it easy to switch.
Character conversions aren't the easiest, because feats and everything kind of fall to the wayside, but you can still do everything if you want to. There just aren't nearly as many baked in rules and it's much more freeform. Like it used to be, and like I think it really should be. Much less system mastery required to play and be powerful, but also much lower power overall.
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@Michael Hey dude! If you've reconsidered your decision to abandon digital tabletops I've got a game you are welcome to join.
re:Michael's statements on 5E, I agree 100%. Very easy to transition, so easy in fact I can use any 1E, 2E, 3.Xe, PF or 5E module and convert it pretty easily. It's a big part of why I decided to switch, I can use old Modules.
@Hecktor All of them, why would I limit you guys in classes???
Well, since i didn't know if you'd go for occult classes.
Plus some classes like gunslingers and summoners, those are often avoided.
It would be a mythic adventure to do all that, though defeating a mythic foe can spark mythic power.
However, if you don't like pathfinder rules in general you would hate having a mythic party.
Jaxom's plans in the short term is gathering whatever treasure he can from the lich and seal.
In the long term he is going to finish his year of service. His ultimate goal is to be transformed into fey.
I ran Wrath of the Righteous...it honestly wasn't the party (they were a bunch of unoptimizers) it was the statblocks of the monsters and rebuilding them when they were either A)Too tough for the unoptimized party or B) waaaaaay to easy even for an unoptimized set of mythic characters.
I eventually canceled the game because the posting dropped off ALOT, down from 2-3 times per day on average to less than once per day on average. That, combined with all the extra work I had to do to get statblocks ready just made the game very unfun for me.
It's not that I swore off virtual tabletops, it's that I did most of my posting during downtime at work, and then our IT guy decided to block Paizo's website because it was "online gaming and poker." But I've picked up quite a few other hobbies over the last two years, and my workload at work has increased, so free time is at a premium anymore. I appreciate the offer though, because I really haven't gotten a chance to play nearly as much of 5e as I'd like to. I just don't want to jump into a game and then not be able to keep up, which is what happened to me before.
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Gilmork will head into the woods again, together with Jaxom he'll visit the fey and relay the defeat of Drazmorg at this point. Though Gilmork has not been truly accepted by the fey yet, he hopes this might come to pass later in time. For now he'll stay vigilant for intrusion of dark fey and undead into the forest and keep Elene company at the Cold Marrow. If anything blooms between the two, he'll be the luckiest elf alive.
From time to time, wounded lumberjacks, lost travelers and wayward children from Falcon's Hollow find themselves guided home by the masked stranger from the woods. It's a place he can finally call home, with friends and allies nearby that accept him for who he is.
Hecktor resigns from his mercenary unit and properly get together with the pretty redhead in Almas.
All of the team are invited, provided messages can reach them.
In preparation, he'd sent a letter to a certain inquisitor, to do the words, as it turns out, she's a follower of Iomedae, and a certain Father Brimshaw had been revoked from his clergy duties and kicked out of the church, who claims to have been set up through 'false' rumors.
While not returning to a fulltime life in the fields and acres, he uses some of the money he had made to buy a house with a garden, doing his old profession as a hobby on part of it, while now working part time as a combat instructor for those taking up the path of adventurer.
After all the sh!te he'd been through with his friends, he imparts the value of manners and respect for the environment into those who do.
It was, after all, the start of it all, and fey who had helped him and his friends while they themselves helped the fey in return.
He stays in touch as good as possible with the others, as they are his friends for life.
------------------
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That would be about it.
This was a great game Niles, thanks.
I'm looking forward to Niles' epilogue to this adventure.
I think when the time comes Silas to start his grand tour he will try to persuade Hector to come with him (first stop Varisia), at least for a while.
I'll do my best to post an epilogue tonight. It's end of year testing time at work so I'll be pretty crazy at work for the next 2 weeks. I'm at drill this weekend but the hotel has wifi so it shouldn't be a problem.
Oh Hecktor will take his wife to that tour.
Almas can do without the two for a little while anyway.
Btw, good job on getting Father Brimshaw sacked.
;)
Don't worry Niles, i'm just saying the sentiment.
Hmm turns out Herolab has 5e support. Maybe I will drop by the recruitment thread. Honestly I'm too lazy to construct a character sheet by hand, especially given how little free time I currently have.
I love that you can play non LG paladins in 5e.
Michael made his way to the stage slowly, supporting himself on the haft of his hammer as he went. The years hadn't been kind to him. His once sturdy frame had withered away, causing him to look like a caricature of himself in the old armor he continued to stubbornly wear on these outings. What few wisps of hair remained on his head had turned the color of fresh snow, and his face had been scarred by years of battling against both the beasts that lurked in the wilds of the Darkmoon Vale and the ravages of time itself. Even his once stunning blue eyes had turned milky as blindness closed its grip ever tighter. But he knew this path by heart, having walked it at least once a month for the last 40-odd years. It was the path to Roots and Remedies, the place where his life had truly begun. Sure, some things may have changed, but he would never be lost here.
As he stepped onto the small stage he stumbled, but the two kobolds that escorted him were quick to steady him again. After brushing them away he made his way to center stage and took his waiting seat. It used to be that he would stand through his entire tale, providing animation and acting out the events as best he could, but anymore the journey alone was enough to make him weary. He couldn't see the crowd to know how many had actually assembled this time, but it didn't matter. He cleared his throat and began.
"Many of you know me. In fact, I'd hope that all of you do. Either from meeting me yourself, having heard me tell this story in the past, or from hearing others speak of me. But if you don't, allow me to introduce myself. I am Michael Stamford, Eagle Knight, and commander of the Hammers of Darkmoon. And if you'd care to listen, I'd like to tell you a story. It's the story of my friends and I. The story of this town and these woods. And, most of all, the story of the people we lost, whom you'll find immortalized on the walls of the burned out building beside me..."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Excellent post Michael! Thanks for coming back to do it!
I promise I'm working on an epilogue, but it's taking me longer than anticipated. Keep an eye on gameplay.
Do you need anything more from us to help Niles?
Well, if someone wants to tie up various plot lines
IE: What happens to the kids? Does the Iomedaen Church come to Falcons Hollow? What are the long term effects of the deal with the Andoran government?
There's about 30 of them that I'm working on in bullet point, and trying to construct some sort of narrative. It's also state test time for me at work, so that is dominating most of my time.
Well, if someone wants to tie up various plot lines
IE: What happens to the kids? Does the Iomedaen Church come to Falcons Hollow? What are the long term effects of the deal with the Andoran government?
There's about 30 of them that I'm working on in bullet point, and trying to construct some sort of narrative. It's also state test time for me at work, so that is dominating most of my time.
Well, I'm very late, but working on something for Luc. I can tell you that yes, I think the church should come in force to the hollow, particularly with an open seal left by Drazmog.
I'll put up more of the take regarding Luc in a bit
Maybe Silas, with Jaxom's help, has the chance to work something out with the queen.
Seeds for fast growing lumber near the city, so they won't need to cut down the Vale.
I can see some of the kids growing up to become say...sheriff or deputy, like mister Baleson and mister Gared were.
Maybe Vade's son becomes a mediator between the mortals and the fey, an ambassador of sorts?
Well, I Hope all the kids become better thanks to the aid. I'd really like Hollin and Ralla to prosper and have a happy ending. Lucanor worked like the devil for that.
Savram becoming a mediator between mortals and fae sounds pretty cool.
I'm going to put this in spoilers to keep it from being a wall o Text
Lucanor seemed boneweary and soul tired when he returned to Falcon's Hollow, and some say he never did completely lose the habit of expecting the worse to arise, even as things got better. His spirits picked up when Hecktor asked him to come down to Almas for a wedding. He did so gladly, performing a blessing and ceremony over bride and groom.
When he returned to the Hollow, he ran into a surprise. No less than three members of the Church of Iomedae had come to town looking for him, and all for different reasons!
Belmont had come here in official capacity to see if the rumors of a local high priest owning a brothel were true! He was flummoxed and mortified to find the "Bishops' Blindspot" thriving in its trade.
It did not surprise Lucanor that the officials of the Church had a faster reaction time to potential scandal than helping the beleaguered hollow. Belmont was less thrilled, and might have brought Lucanor up on a full reprimand.
However, it was the other two members of the Church that came to his defense. Druvan was a paladin member of the Knights of Ozem, come here to investigate the seal that had been broken, and pay his respects to a fallen sister. He had heard from her letters and reports of the heroism of the adventuring group, and came to find the temple restored, Drazmog fled, and the word of Iomedae in surprisingly good standing compared to what it had been.
With the threat having moved on, Druvan did not hide his association, and thus, in a sense, pulled 'rank' on Belmont turning what could have been a repudiation into a commendation (With the understanding that the Bordello would have to be released into other hands).
But it was a woman called Candle that Lucanor was most grateful to meet. For she had the best news. She had been passing through the south cities where she encountered Hollin, a young boy whose damaged mind and soul had been saved and healed in no small part because of Lucanor's aid. Talking to Ralla, she heard of the heroes of the hollow, and how Lucanor had arranged for a better life for them because the Church in Falcon's Hollow was in no shape to aid.
Candle wanted to meet these heroes and see the area for herself, and agreed to pass on Ralla's and Hollin's thanks. Only to come into the middle of the odd drama that was unfolding because of a Church in need of a 'real cleric', a heroic but weary Inquisitor, and a ...oh dear, was that a Brothel?
Regardless, Candle informed Lucanor of Hollin's complete recovery and how the boy was even considering a life in the Clergy. Lucanor whooped and hugged her on the spot, causing the younger woman to blush a bit. Lucanor pointed out to the others that they now had three members of the church besides himself ready to take over or better yet help grow the temple. He spoke of a possible Cathedral, plans of expanding the temple even further to help with healing, education, and more but it would need a real cleric such as Candle to run it.
And just like that, Candle found herself drafted as the new high priestess of the hollow by a vote of three to her. Rather than whine about it, she took to the task. And she had help. Belmont stuck around long enough to 'make sure' that that Bordello was no longer a Church problem. Druvan's focus was on making sure Drazmog did not return, but as he used the expanding temple as a home base, he was of great aid.
The Bishop's Blindspot was turned over to its current manager by Lucanor, with certain provisions ensuring its policies of fair play and fair treatment of any working there were ironclad. While no longer owned by or even associated with the Temple of Iomedae, it did pay for the next two years ten percent of all proceeds to construction of a proper orphanage and school.
And much to Belmont's fury, while folks dropped the 'Bishops' part, they kept calling it the Blindspot. That part of the name had stuck.
As for Lucanor, he 'retired' which is to say he ended up with a large house to rest in not so far from the temple. However, Candle, while a kindly woman, wasn't about to let him rest on his laurels, and he found out that she was not above sending him on local tasks for the Church.
He was even drafted to take on an apprentice years later... one of the very children they had saved had grown, and felt a calling to be an Inquisitor of the Goddess.
Lucanor would later claim fighting undead was less stressful than educating wet behind the ears trainees, but the truth was he was proud.
True to his work to Jaxom, Lucanor pushed to respect the rights of the fae, not because he loved the fae, but because it was just. He tried to coordinate with the Freejacks, so that they'd adopt a policy of planting two seeds for every tree they had to fell. He also promoted forms of trade not so reliant on lumber.
One idea that worked was a pilgrimage of sorts... the resting place of a Knight of Ozem, the location of the once great seal now under careful watch, the very places of so many horrors became sites of curiosity and even reverence to some of the faithful, and when they came to the Hollow to see, they brought their good coin from the big cities which helped the economy.
Lucanor tried to stay out of politics beyond that, but more than once he was asked his opinion on this or that candidate. After all, Lucanor could see into souls. Some lickspittles running for office even tried to curry his favor, which was usually the fast way to get told off.
Eventually, the women of the increasingly civilized town, irritated by one of the most famous members of the town getting away with being a bachelor, conspired to arrange a match for him. Known in tavern talk as "The Great Lucanor Hunt" Lucanor found himself besieged and introduced to nearly every single woman close to his age in a hundred miles over a period of three months. He complained to his friends, but some of them were less than sympathetic.
Yet, with the Consortium's power waning thanks to deals made, Lucanor found a woman seeking him out, not for matrimony, but for aid. The woman, a thief and a rogue, had been framed by the consortium for a murder she did not commit. Who better than an Inquisitor to help find the evidence? Stunned at the woman's audacity, Lucanor helped her all the while telling her she would still have to pay for her other crimes. She informed him that for a former Bordello owner he was awful high and mighty. A love hate relationship was formed... but in the end, her innocence of the murder was proven, and love won out.
Against his better judgement, Lucanor even arranged a pardon for her on account of the good deeds she had done, and decided he better marry the girl just to keep her out of trouble. How well that worked was the subject of much debate but two boys and one girl were born of the arrangement, another girl and boy each not of their blood were adopted, and Lucanor smiled more.
The year Lucanor turned sixy, a great fire would engulf the new orphanage, Lucanor, no longer at the height of his prowess, went into the deepest parts of the flames to rescue children that didn't even know him. Invoking the judgment of healing one last time, the Inquisitor burned and regenerated and burned again as he got the children out one by one. He had survived the flames and saved many, but the smoke? The smoke had been too much, and his old lungs gave out. He died ten feet from the smoldering orphanage he had emptied.
No attempt to resurect him was made, as per his will. However, the church did put up a statue of him and many visited it as part of the pilgrimages. Local whores would come and pat it for good luck and protection. Children referred to the statue as 'Good Uncle Luc' and spun stories of how he was now a ghost hunting other ghosts so they could sleep soundly.
Obviously, it might not all go down that way
What are the long term effects of the deal with the Andoran government?
Here's my suggestion.
I'd say in the short term the deal is tremendously unpopular with special interests (i.e. the remnants of Kreed's business empire) who try repeatedly to get it killed off. These attempts are rebuffed because various members of the senate (Beltin Gejni's cronies) smell the chance for a power grab via the new forestry commission.
They go along with the conservation ideas initially with nashed teeth, but ultimately it suits them. It take decades to setup properly but the forest becomes managed with the heart wood (more or less the current forest) being untouched and with permits sold each year to let companies log segments in the outer ring. The idea being these areas are rotated so there's always bits being planted and then logged 30-40 years later.
Wild exaggerated stories of the fae are disseminated (by the commission) to frighten the curious away, and illegal hunting and logging is punishable by death. While harsh, all this makes the logging licences sold by the government extremely valuable (think NYC taxi medallions). The logging companies grumble about the extortionate cost but they never do anything because the profit is so vast and supply is guaranteed.
In summary: The various forestry commissioners get rich, the forest persists and the ironwood proves instrumental in maintaining the navy letting Andoran see off several major Chelaxian fleets. The fae are mostly forgotten in all this, but ultimately they probably get what they want, the forest is enlarged and the inner bits are more or less off limits to humans. I.e. a net win but I have a feeling Jaxom would have wanted more.
Hey guys!
I have a rough draft of our epilogue I'd like you guys to take a look at. Let me know what you think. I left the doc open for comments or you can comment here before I post the epilogue into the Gameplay thread for all to see! Please know I took some artistic licenses, especially with Jaxom. But from all our correspondence and in game stuff I kinda always felt that Jaxom could turn out that way.
Nice. One thing I'd add is Silas will end up completely tea total, after falling off the wagon a few times. Oh and the last thing he'd do is step through a glowing oval of light he found in some old ruins that leads elsewhere... Naturally his last letter to Hecktor contains the location and the ritual pass-phrase..
Well, seeing as it seems you kept almost all of what I suggested for Luc, I'm actually flattered.
Good job on creating such an epilogue. I'm a little saddened by the fact that it really doesn't work out for Jaxom. His fate is an inversion of what I always took his goal to be. Moreover, it's tragic that once again the happy endings are for the colonizer and on their terms and not the colonized. But, not all stories have happy endings and tragedy has its own value.
Well, from a certain point of view it does work out for Jaxom. He does become Fey after all and he reunites with his sister.
My reasoning for writing it out that way was from our correspondence about the Rod and its influence on Jaxom. The way I saw it, Jaxom grows increasingly uncaring about his methods to achieve his goals.
If you'd like to edit it or change it up that's ok with me. It's why I posted a rough draft here instead of in gameplay.
Although it's a classy reasoning, it's a pity we slew one cold rider, only for Jaxom to take its place.
I'd thought he'd be an unorthodox method guy, maybe 'kidnapping back' his sister, have her thaw to the good side again.
I'm happy with the ending between Silas and Hecktor, his last post a few above would be a great one.
Perhaps, perversion is a better descriptor than inversion here.
Jaxom, from my perspective, was always about the heroic: he acted and valued being larger than mundane life. He want to be more and be more glorious, even if that pursuit of greatness led to his own destruction.
That is not to say that he wasn't tempted by power. He made use of the staff of necromancy, but he turned away from the power of death, and put his hope into transformation. By the end of the story if he worshiped any of the Eldest it would be the Lantern King. He affirmed life and change even at the cost of power.
The scepter did have an effect on him. It pushed him to be more imperious and more xenophobic. He was CG but ended up CN.
If the Summer Queen refused him the boon, then don't think Jaxom would have turned turned to the Winter Court. I think he would have refused to bend his knee to another again. In fact, that would probably be the last straw for him concerning the Queen's quietism, which at that point on he would see her as having abdicated her duties to protect the Vale since she doesn't stop the loggers and colonists.
There are two ways one can become fey either through the blessings of one of the more potent fey or through arcane magic. So, whether by Occult ritual (which is pretty neat) or through a spell, I think Jaxom would have continued to attempt transformation even if he died in the attempt but through his own power.
If he is successful, I think he would have striven to drive both the Winter and Summer Courts away from the Vale and its template in the First World and set up a competing fey court in their place, spurred on by the scepter's urges to rule.
As for his relations with mud men, as long as they did not log in the traditional bounds of the forest, but continued to conserve and log the borders, I don't think he would oppose them. He would also likely aid those who tried to close the seal or impede the undying from rising again.
But, regardless of success, I think he would try to do great deeds and pursue glory.
I've got to say that one of the things Michael, and by extension his Kobold and Dwarven allies, would do is to enforce sustainable logging. Having a large number of allies that can pass off as roaming monsters with ease means that his army can have do a lot of black ops. A group of loggers working outside their proscribed area might be waylaid and robbed blind by a "random" band of kobolds, with the money stolen eventually going towards things like replanting. A sort of Robin Hood situation.
He may be an Eagle Knight, but that doesn't mean he won't bend the rules to ensure that the tenuous peace continues.
By extension, loggers working inside the allowed areas will have his forces as security from anything that may try to stop them. Because you have to keep both sides happy. And you can bet that he'd make sure those boundaries didn't slowly, "accidentally" expand over the years.
His successor, whom he'd hand pick, would be someone who shared these ideals. Most likely it would be one of his kobolds, because they stand to lose everything if things went back to the way they were before and so would work hardest to maintain it. Because before Michael, they were considered a nuisance by fey and mortal alike, while now they're likely to be respected by both sides.
-Posted with Wayfinder
I like Gilmork's part Niles, granted though I've not given you much to work with in the first place :)
If Jaxom would not have been given his greatest wish, Gilmork would support and help him as he feels connected with the sorcerer.
Together with Jaxom, Gilmork would work towards working to close the seal if possible and keep good relations with Michael and Lucanor to ward off any more incursions by undead, dark fey or rampaging werewolves.
Well, you guys are much more in favor of happy endings than I am. I'll get to work on the epilogue asap
I full admit to being a bit of a sap when it comes to happy endings.
It doesn't need to be happy. Jaxom can fail. Not all dreams succeed. I just was sad he failed in that particular way. But getting a reaction is part of good story telling. If you like your version, you should keep it.
I think a bitter sweet ending would be fine too: the forest was saved but at a heavy price. Benji was corrupt and the heroes ended up wondering what they had worked so hard for?
Happier endings are always better than melancholy ones.
But like Sills says, things don't have to work out perfectly. It could be that Michael becomes more brigand than protector in trying to keep the peace and maintain the logging agreements while the folks in Almas turn a primarily blind eye to the malpractice by the loggers. They can't strip Michael of his station because he's well connected enough, and is technically enforcing the law, but they can do it with his replacement who isn't a known hero in the region.
I just don't see Michael sitting idle while the things he worked towards for years fell apart. As long as he's alive he'll use every bit of influence he has to try and maintain things. And maybe, in 50 years or so when he's dead or so old and broken as to not matter, things won't fall apart as badly because they've been the status quo for two generations at that point.
-Posted with Wayfinder
And our replacements are the kids we saved, and their friends. :)
The next crew of heroes to thwart Drazmorg.
Niles can we please mark this as inactive?
Yeah sorry. I'm still working on my epilogue...I keep putting it off.