Motteditor's Ironfang Invasion PBP (Inactive)

Game Master motteditor

Clover can give you guidance again.

Clover gives Barhador Guidance.

Arryn fires a chunk of wood toward the back of the room, his aim off as he looks back and calls for help from the archers, who start abandoning their work with the wolf and move to the doorway.

Aramis blasts the nearest hobgoblin with magic, staggering it, but Barhador's arrow again bounces off its armor, just missing the bare spot he was aiming for, even with Clover's help.

The hobgoblins advance on the elven lass, stepping over Elrik's prone form. She manages to duck under the bigger of the pair's swing with a battleaxe, but the canny hobgoblin was just setting Aramis up: A second later, the smaller axe in her off hand slams into the elf's collarbone. For a moment, there's no pain, and then agony races through her body as she fears the bone may have shattered! 5 hp

Aramis cries out in agony. Shaking her head, she tries to keep her footing.

I should run...

I'd never run...

As her vision clears she spits a gob of blood on the floor and scowls. "That all you got?"

Despite her bravado, Aramis is clearly not doing well. She steps back carefully, five-foot step and mutters a few words of arcane power, trying to ignore the pain in her chest. A glob of acid appears in her hand and she tosses it, right at the face of the hobgoblin woman. Casting acid splash.

Ranged Touch Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Acid Damage: 1d3 ⇒ 3

I know Clover's AFK, but waiting on everyone else (Barhador was gone over the weekend, I know, and I feel like someone else said they might be away...).

Seeing that the hobgoblin’s gave cut them off from Elrik, there’s now nothing left but to take out their foes as quickly as possible. Again, he motions for the archer siblings to come and help.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 3 + 1 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 4 + 1 = 10

Again, the ruined chapel appears to retaliate as a broken piece of furniture flies through the air and slams into the male hobgoblin.

I completely missed that we had rolled over into the next round. My apologies. And I was out of touch.

The striped elf continues trying to take out the one on the right, loosing another arrow at him.

Bow Attack into melee: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 3 - 4 = 11

Speaking of missing . . ..

The chunk of pew flies through the air at Arryn's command, embedding itself in the chest of the already-injured hobgoblin, and he slumps over -- unmoving -- into the nearby pews.

The other hisses as Aramis' spell hits her and advances past Elrik's prone form despite his breathing seeming to stabilize to press the attack Elrik is stabilized. Clover closes in just as quickly to try to protect Aramis. Her spear jabs don't seem very effective, but they seem to deter the hobgoblin enough that the elven lass escapes the first exchange with no further wounds.

She grits her teeth and rasps out, "It's not too late to surrender. I promise you slavery instead of death."

Arryn mentally picks up the fallen foe’s weapon and flings it at the remaining enemy.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 1 = 9

”We’ll pass, thanks,” Arryn replies.

Aramis growls as she lashes out at the hobgoblin with her sharp sickle, swinging it towards the hobgoblin's neck.

Attack: 1d20 ⇒ 16
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

"Bow's not cutting it, anyway . . .." The elf mumbles as he drops the bow, pulls his kukri, and skirts around to Aramis' left side, trying to engage the hobgoblin.

+0 BAB, so double move to do as described.

Aramis slashes the hobgoblin as she ducks the flying weapon, but her growl is cut short by the trained soldier's. As Barhador scrambles over the pews, he sees the hobgoblin's axe slam into the elven lass' chest, and she collapses after a possibly mortal wound 10 hp. In the same motion, her other axe cuts into the halfling, batting aside her spear as if it weren't even there. 3 hp to Clover

She lets out a cry of pain, then calls out: "Aubrin, we need help!" Clover attacked and missed, then used her move action to call for help from Aubrin (and I didn't bother with a Bodyguard check because the hobgoblin had a natural 20).

Are the elven archers not coming to help, because Arryn has used two love actions to call them so far.

Arryn flings the weapon again at the hobgoblin.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 3 + 1 = 18
Famage: 1d6 + 1 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 4 + 1 = 9

As the blade slams home, Arryn calls out, ”That’s right. I’m your threat. Come fight me you worthless piece of $&@$!”

Sorry, I missed them. That said, you get an aid another from them (I know that's not usually a ranged weapon, but that's the mechanics prescribed and I think it works better than me having to try to roll each NPC as combatants considering their numbers), but that +2 wouldn't have helped. :

As the hobgoblins axe drives into her chest, Aramis gasps in pain. She wavers for a moment, shocked and still, brain feverishly working to understand what her body already knows...

She's dying.

She falls to the ground, no longer able to see. Her head cracks loudly on the floor. Blood pools around her, further staining the floors of this once holy place...

Stabilize Check: 1d20 + 2 - 7 ⇒ (12) + 2 - 7 = 7 Failing. Losing one hp.

Seeing the elf fall reminds Barhador that not everything is about killing the foe, and the current goal is surviving, not dominating. He adjusts away from the hobgoblin (and towards the door), before casting stabilize on Aramis, feeling guilty that he didn't remember the goal earlier, so that he might not need to choose between downed allies to save.

Huh. Just noted I did Round 2 twice... Whoops.

As Arryn and Clover try to keep the hobgoblin from killing them all, Bahador realizes that stuck in the pews he has no easy way to move or cast a spell. He swings his kukri, but the hobgoblin easily knocks it aside despite having to regain her composure after Arryn's attack. She looks badly hurt, blood streaming from her head, and Clover's able to duck under her axe swings, escaping any more harm. I changed Barhador's actions obviously, as being in difficult terrain made his stated actions likely to provoke an AoO.

Aubrin staggers to the door, where, leaning against the frame, she calls on Cayden for help. A wave of healing washes over you all, omitting the hobgoblins. +8 hp to everyone

Aramis gasps as healing energy floods through her. She looks around frantically, dizzy and confused.

Focus! Focus!

I'm NOT done yet!

Aramis growls, ignoring her wounds out of sheer resolve. Finally able to focus on the battle raging around her, Aramis looks up only to see the hobgoblin woman standing above her...

Well, crap!

Know that any attempt to stand or crawl away was likely to end in an axe to the face, Aramis swings her sickle at the hobgoblin's ankles.

Attack: 1d20 + 0 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 0 - 4 = 1 Includes penalty for attacking from prone.
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4

But the effort proves too great, her swing of the sickle causes her own wounds to tear back open, and more blood surrounds her on the floor. She gasps, and falls back unconscious.

Aramis is brought to 0 hp from the healing and is disabled. She attacks the hobgoblin from prone, which causes her to take 1 damage at the end of her action, and knocks her unconscious. Current hp -1/8.

Arryn gasps as the wounds which he (and I) had forgotten he had close over.

He reaches out towards the ruined Holy symbol of Erastus up at the front of the chapel and wills it to slam into the hobgoblin warrior.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 3 + 1 = 11

Alas, the fragments of wood bounced harmlessly off her armour.

Thank the gods for the healing! The elf's stripes flow into the dark fur and horns of the bull as he tries to hit the hobgoblin with his blade.

Attack w/ Bull Focus: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 2 + 1 = 23
Damage w/ Bull Focus: 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 = 7

Confirm? w/ Bull Focus: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 2 + 1 = 16
Crit Damage w/ Bull Focus: 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4 For 11 total

Barhador's blow lays the hobgoblin down, leaving you alone in the ruined shrine.

They’ll get the townspeople hidden away while they search the shrine for supplies. Arryn will take the sword he’s been flinging about...he has a thought on some situations where having one of the enemies’ blades could be handy.

Your band of survivors crowds in, several letting out tears and quiet cries of sadness and horror at the horrible damage done to the place. The two hunters drag in the wolf's body and finish carving it +1 PP

Searching the bodies, the male hobgoblin appeared to have the standard legion kit: studded leather armor, a light steel shield, a longsword, and a longbow with 20 arrows. The other was more laden with supplies including two bottles marked as curatives potions of cure light wounds, two marked fire alchemist’s fire, padded armor, composite longbow (+2 Str) with 20 arrows, handaxe, a nice battleaxe masterwork, backpack, bedroll, blanket, mess kit, small tent, and provisions 3 PP as well as 3 gold coins.

A sack of loot sits in the middle of the badly defiled temple and contains a slim elm wand, a silver cup, a hand-sized darkwood carving of a butterfly, three bottles of Oldlaw whiskey, 100 gp worth of gold dust, 27 small semiprecious stones, and 76 gp, as well as a round ivory amulet engraved with Erastil’s bow-and-arrow holy symbol strung on a leather thong.

Lirosa claims the latter with a sigh of relief.

"I leave the medallion in the shrine when I'm in town," she explains, "so it can 'recharge.' Thank Erastil it's still here!"

As you may have noticed, I created a treasure tracker link; I think that's a better option than Elrik keeping track in his ongoing posts. I believe you can all edit it, so it's less work on one person's shoulders.

Cleaning his weapon on the hobgoblins, and retrieving the others, the elf's features flow from the horned brown fur to the smaller-eyed, hook-nose brown feathered set, as he helps search the area for anything of worth.

Perception w/ Falcon Foci: 1d20 + 8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 8 + 4 = 17 Really? Really?

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Arryn looks up from retrieving the discarded weapon and noticed something. Reaching out, he floats a small urn, and amulet, and a wand over to his hands. ”More magic stuff?” he asks.

Aramis continues to bleed all over the floor.

Hint, hint. Haha.

I'm a little behind the curve, so amend the potion uses below if they are not needed. I'm not 100% on where people are at with their healing needs.

Clover snatches the curative potions and feeds one to Aramis. She also leaves the wand she found earlier with the half-elf woman.

She takes the second and pours it into Elrik.

She does these things quickly then immediately moves on to checking the bodies in the shrine, looking for her friend Rhyn.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

I'm back now. Thanks for your patience.

Aramis regains consciousness again with a groan. This time, she's pleased to see Clover over her, instead of a hobgoblin.

"Done in again, was I?" She groans again, as she drags herself to her feet. "Thanks."

Aramis examines her own wounds. Damn... Haven't hurt this bad since... then... Can't let it stop me. Gotta keep moving. With a growl, Aramis ignores her bodies needs, continuing on with sheer stubbornness.

Healed 5 by Clover, and using her Unbreakable Survivor ability to heal herself an additional 3 hp, putting her back up at seven hp.

Aramis takes a look at the wand and keeps it in her hand. "I can make good use of this." she assures Clover.

Aramis looks around the room with the others. Seeing Arryn discover some magical objects she examines them, curious if they'll be of any help.

Spellcraft on the wand 1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24 Pass.
Spellcraft on the wand 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 Fail.
Spellcraft on the... third thing?: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15 Fail.

"I can make use of this one," Aramis tells Arryn, taking the stubby silver wand. She examines the other, but can't quite figure it out... "Hmm... Not sure what this one does. I can try to figure it out again later."

There's no sign of Rhyna that Clover can see, though it's possible she's hiding in Noelan's shack.

Also, let me know if you'd like Aubrin to use another channel or if you'd like her to do anything else; she's still in shock so is right now more following directions than able to do much on her own initiative.

Encouraged that she hasn't found Rhyn in the chapel, Clover runs out and over to Noelan's place to look there.

As Clover opens the door, she hears a high-pitched cry and a bolt comes flying out the door, ricocheting off her armor despite her surprise.

Before she can bring her own weapon to bear, she realizes that there are three villagers -- a young couple and their son -- hiding inside.

A quick discussion reveals that Rhyna told them to hide here, in Noelan's home, and they've remained there through the chaos.

1d20 ⇒ 13
1d2 ⇒ 2

As the group finds a few moments of relative peace, the hunter helps the other elves butcher the wolf.

As the work, he addresses the immediate future with them, in Elven. "When we get into the forest, these others are going to need help finding shelter and food. I don't know where we might try to get this group to, yet, but I think we may need to plan on being the providers. Lirosa? Taidel? Are you ready for that role?"

The crossbow bolt makes Clover yelp, but things get worked out. After that she tells the family "the town has fallen and you cant stay here anymore. A group of us are making for the forest. You need to come with us right now."

She also asks "where did Rhyna go after she left here?"

After searching the chapel, Aramis help the survivors pack up all the goods they can, and gets them organized to leave.

I've reached out to Elrik; hopefully he hasn't disappeared for good. In the meantime, however...

The woman, herding her husband and child with her, shakes her head at Clover's question. "She said she was going back to the chapel, to try to help more people, but we don't really know."

In the chapel, Lirosa and Taidel nod affirmatively.

"Of course," Lirosa replies, hanging her symbol around her neck. "We'll do --"

" -- Whatever we need to to help people," Taidel finishes.

Meanwhile, Elrik, back on his feet, nods as Clover returns with the three additional people.

"We can't take any more time. We have to get out of the village. And we'll need to find some way to take down the bridge when we get there. A group of us could go ahead and see if the way is clear and the best way to collapse the bridge when we all go over, or we could all go together. Thoughts?"

"We should stay together," Aramis remarks.

”I agree with Aramis. There are too many hobgoblins to risk splitting up, though we should continue to keep the others a short distance behind us. We should pick a rendezvous point though, if we do get separated. As for the bridge, we have some plans and that crane. I’m sure if we puzzle over them we could figure out how to weaken it, maybe enough that a troop of hobgoblins would cause it to fall.”

Colorful gobs of lichen and moss dapple the ancient, basalt bridge here at the Marideth’s narrowest crossing. The ravine below drops twenty feet into raging whitewater and jagged, exposed boulders. To the northwest stands a ramshackle shed and a weathered but sturdy-looking wooden crane. Twentysome bloody and motionless bodies litter the ground, and above them flap banners painted with an ominous, fanged red shield. To the north, 300 feet past the bridge, a wall of trees and ferns marks the edge of the Fangwood.

You can see a solitary hobgoblin with a wolf sitting on its haunches at her side positioned on the near side of the bridge.

Combat map is updated, but you're not yet in initiative. Everyone is limned on the map to make you easier to see.

In the Shrine:

Aramis nods along with Arryn.

"Is anyone here good at engineering or demolitions?" she asks the group (companions and survivors).

She'd like to give the bridge plans to whoever that is and see if they can find a weakness or anything.

---

Approaching the Bridge:

Waiting to see if anyone can figure out anything from those bridge plans, which could affect our plan.

When we get close, Aramis intends to use her wand to blast the enemies with magic missiles. Does anyone have a plan requiring more finesse than that? Haha.

Once they see the guard, Arryn points to the bushes nearby and heads to hide behind them.

"No, and a stone bridge like this will take some effort to bring down otherwise." As Arryn points at the cover, the large-eyed, feathered elf smiles. He skitters over to the far side of the cover, taking up an observational position while trying to remain hidden.

Stealth w/ AC Penalty and Owl Focus: 1d20 + 7 - 1 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 7 - 1 + 4 = 27

Would Disable Device count as an applicable skill?

Anyone studying the slate with the plans for 1 minute gains a +2 insight bonus on any Craft (alchemy), Disable Device, or Knowledge (engineering) checks attempted to destroy Phaendar Bridge, including the check for the spoiler below.

"This could take some time," Elrik notes, looking over at the other four of you leading the group. "If you think you can handle this here, maybe I should keep an eye on the others just in case. It's a large enough group now that it could attract more hobgoblins." I haven't heard back from Elrik's player, so I'm converting him to an NPC for the moment. If he hasn't responded by Monday, unfortunately I'll have to replace him. As there will still be four of you, I think you should be OK even down one person for this encounter (assuming the dice don't keep hating you too much).

Disable Device: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 2 = 18

While still back at the shrine, Arryn looks over the plans himself and after a few moments, says, ”We’re going to need Oreld’s stump remover. We can use it to destroy the supports here (he points) which should weaken the bridge enough to take it down when a large group tries to use it. I’d say it will take fifteen to twenty seconds for someone to set it up, so we’ll need a plan to distract any hobgoblin guards for that long plus getting the person into position.”

Is that position somewhere on the bridge itself?

Yes, you can put the explosive somewhere where it'll be effective from the surface of the bridge.

Behind the bushes...

”So here’s the plan...we need to lure that hobgoblin off the bridge so that Oreld can plant his device. Aramis, Lirosa, Taidel, you cover Oreld. Clover and I will run out like we were going to escape over the bridge, then turn and run towards those other bushes. Two shrimps like us, that hobgob will want to slaughter us himself. Elrik and Barhador come out behind him and flank him. Everybody else, when the way is clear, don’t wait for us but get across the bridge. Once we put up a fight, that guard is going to sound the alarm. We’ll meet up at the base of that really tall oak tree directly across from the bridge. Any questions?”

Aramis nods. "Got it." Turning to Oreld she asks, "You ready?"

Barhador tries to keep his position behind the cover, his feathers shifting in the breeze as he waits for the guard to take the bait.

Arryn nods grimly, gives Phaistea’s hand a squeeze before taking Clover’s. The two of them quietly back up to the road, then start running towards the bridge. When they come into view of the hobgoblin there, Arryn gives a squeal and starts running towards the bushes near the shed.

Aramis waits with Lirosa, Taidel and Oreld, for the opportune moment to hurry onto the bridge...

Elrik nods -- impressed that the bar boy seems to be taking more command; good; someone needs to watch out for these people and lead them if something happens to me, he thinks -- and wishes everyone good luck as they get into position.

"Be careful," Phaistea whispers to Arryn, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before retreating back to the other civilians as he and Clover approach the bridge.

Before too long, they're noticed, the hobgoblin's eyes following them and then almost imperceptibly widening as they come close enough for her to make out who they are.

A toothy grin crosses her face, and she hollers, "UP! UP! Villagers coming!" The wolf bunches its muscles to charge. But everyone but Aramis is up first. Map is updated (I did a slightly smaller version so I could make everyone's icons bigger, as you'll see).

P.S. Anyone rooting for the Patriots on Sunday can level up after this encounter!

Welcome aboard all. As noted, I'll be out of town, and with uncertain internet access, Oct. 20-30. (At that point, I'll be back, though there's a chance I'll be jetlagged.)

I plan to create a game thread so people can at least dot it -- and if you want to do some pre-adventure starting gaming, please do!

In the meantime, feel free to get to know each other and your characters and make any final decisions you need to for your stat blocks.

Dotting, I'll be finishing up Crunch today at some point. Happy to be on board!

Woo! Thank you Motteditor! I didn't expect this.

I'll get gear finalized and take a look at the rest of Clover's sheet for any changes before start or, more likely, mistakes.

Glad to be playing with you all!

Hey hey! Thanks for the selection. I'll get my alias all updated. Looking forward to playing with all of you. :)

Hey guys, great to be playing with you!

Jinx here.

To save going back through the recruitment thread, what time zone is everyone in?

I'm in the UK so it's getting up to bedtime for me now :) hence I will work on crunch and get my alias up tomorrow.

First, Thank you, motteditor!

Howdy!

I'm Central USA (Like Kansas City, Chicago, and Dallas).

Guess I need to actually finish a character sheet in the first place! Already working it, but, you know.

Now, Barhador is from the Fangwood Forest, a nature-focused community of elves that call themselves the Nestornor. It is reasonable that Persephone will know of the community if she hasn't visited.

He's been hanging around Phaendar for long enough for people to think he may be settling in, joining the Foxclaw Scouts while he chats up the (very) few marriageable elven maids in town.

His income while in the area has been from hunting. Anyone paying attention would note that he does not leave usable parts of his kill behind.

So, what's the plan? <evil grin>

Oh, Barhador, while I liked your NPCs, I have to admit I hated their names. I'm going to change them. :) (Will try to post new names for you before I leave in case you want to incorporate them more.)

So a halfling and an elf who are to a greater or lesser degree looking for spouses, and a halfling and an elf who seem like they could use a friend. Are trying to run a campaign with a dating service on the side Motteditor? :p

Alrighty, I've got *almost* everything ready to go crunch-wise and it should be viewable in this profile. I made the assumption that Elrik, being a local, has some sort of cottage in town where he lives and included a bunch of purchased stuff that he has packed away there and wouldn't be carrying around with him all the time (various kits, his old soldier uniform and armor). Hope this assumption is alright.

Only thing left is to write out his Appearance/Personality which is always the weirdest part.

Match.com worked wonders for me, Clover. Well, assuming my wife spending most of the first three years of our marriage in a different country than me counts as "working wonders." :D

Elrik -- that seems like a fair assumption.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I swapped Archetypes from Shielded to Two-Weapon Fighter. Elrik is still Sword and Board, but the Shield Bash feats end up having weird overlaps with the Shielded archetype abilities while TWF only adds instead of overlaps.

Yeah, I thought the PC selection seemed suspect on that point too. But why should I complain about it?

Okay, I think I've got the mechanics crunched out. I am open to suggestions about changing mechanics for the good of the group. Spell selections are the obvious, but potentially the feat selection and MAYBE the Shadowhunter racial trait. Maybe. I don't think it will actually matter for this AP, but it fit the backstory concept so well . . ..

Based on recruitment thread discussions, I went with Craft (Bowyer) and saved a ton of cash (self-crafting things I could craft by taking 10) which I then burnt on a tiny Survival advantage.

I have a lot of room to expand on his backstory, including correcting the names of the two local elven maids. This would be the area where we establish pre-game connections, right?

Yeah. I'm going to open the game thread with a couple pre-adventure posts you can all play off of too, if you want. But probably will do that tomorrow, when I'm more awake.

Ah yes, if your separation was due to visa stuff, I lived abroad for a while and saw friends go through it (minus the Match.com part). It is a real pain.

I also met my other half of 8 years on Match.com

The ad said it was £20 for a month's trial but I've since ended up spending thousands!! ;)

------

How are we doing for skills, guys? Particularly social skills. Clover I guess that's your area?

Healing as well, depending on how much we have in the group or not I was wondering about dropping the Hex Channel archetype and concentrate solely on debuffing enemies.

Alias update tonight

In terms of pre-game connections, Jinx will be well known in town and almost universally hated.

If you haven't read my backstory (which is fine by the way) he escaped from a bandit raid in 'questionable' circumstances and his arrival in town coincided with some unfortunate events. Leading the vast majority to believe he was either cursed or responsible for it directly. Subsequently he was run out of town.

So I think you would have all at least heard of Jinx, even if just in infamy or his nickname as a kind of swear-word.

I'm quite interested in how that would play out where a PC is distrusted possibly even by his fellow group and how the group dynamic changes based on public perception of one member.

I'm in Boston so EST. I mostly post in the mornings but am around pretty much throughout the day since I work from home.

How are we doing for skills, guys? Particularly social skills. Clover I guess that's your area?

I don't think you or Elric have crunch yet, but for the others of us:

Acrobatics +4 (Barhador)
Climb +7 (Barhador)
Diplomacy +7 (Clover) / +5 (Persephone)
Heal +5 (Clover) / +4 (Persephone)
Intimidate +6 (Persephone)

Kn Geography +5 (Barhador)
Kn History +7 (Persephone)
Kn Local +5 (Clover)
Kn Nature +8 (Persephone) / +6 (Clover) / +5 (Barhador)

Spellcraft +5 (Clover)
Stealth +7 (Barhador)
Survival +6 (Barhador) / +4 (Persephone)
Swim +7 (Barhador)
Use Magic Device +8 (Clover)

Arguably the only things we're coming up short on (aside from other Knowledge skills) are Sense Motive and Bluff.

Healing as well, depending on how much we have in the group or not I was wondering about dropping the Hex Channel archetype and concentrate solely on debuffing enemies.

Clover has Cure Spells and I think(?) plans on being support.

Probably we should get a wand, but I think there's a good spread for now, so I think it's probably fine to drop the archetype.

Also, since we're both Witches - Aside from Cauldron, I won't get any Hexes until 4th or (more likely) 5th character level, so don't worry about stepping on my toes with any debuffing stuff, either. I'm presently going to just hit things.

. . .

Okay now I'm going to riff about some potential relationships.

Never underestimate the value of 'just hitting things.' :)

Especially when you have to protect a tiny, scruffy witch at the back!

Jinx is going to overlap skill-wise with knowledge nature, arcana and so on and doesn't have much in the way of other useful skills like perception either unfortunately.

Good idea on the pre-game relationships. I'll think about that too.

Not a visa issue -- she got into med school (as we knew she was trying to) and has been in the Caribbean and now the UK for most of that time. And, I hear that, Jinx. :)

--

Like I said, I'll be posting first posts in the game thread shortly. Feel free to play there in my absence, but I figured it would also give you a chance to dot the thread so it shows up in your campaign tabs.

---

Barhador, let's go with your elven lasses being Mithrielye (the farmer's daughter) and Aisiridel (the entertainer).

I'm on the U.S. west coast, Portland Oregon, so Pacific Time Zone, GS -8.

As for skills, it look like we have pretty good coverage for the beginning. Clover doesn't have a huge number of skill points, but not bad either. She does have all the knowledge skills in-class, so I can fill in where needed as time goes by. It looks like she will be mostly the party face so I can invest in social as well. Sense Motive would be the one where she doesn't do so well so if anyone else can take that on it would be better.

Clover will be focusing on healing and support/buffing. She'll be able to do a little debuffing eventually as well. Oracles (aside from Life) aren't quite clerics for healing, but the Succor mystery gives some healing benefits from Life with a couple of its revelations, and Clover has the healing campaign trait. She won't necessarily have more healing spells, but they will be more effective than usual. She'll also later have more spell flexibility than usual for an oracle due to her Bonded Spirit ability.

I have some ideas about connections, but have to run now. I'll post then as soon as I can.

Ok, stats all but done. Just need equipment and that is likely to be very minimal on this character.

My crunch is done, though I'm not much for social skills as my Charisma is nerfed due to Elrik's slightly-crippling PTSD. With Sense Motive not being a Fighter class skill (nor Perception, gah!) I have a minor +2 in both without the ability to spike them up.

Relationship-wise, here's what I'm thinking in general...

Recent Arrivals to Phaendar (0-1 year): Unless they have had a particular run in, most people who are new arrivals to the village would only know Elrik as the young man with the ghostly, dour expression. He has been keeping to himself and it would be unlikely that anything more than visual recognition would be between them.

Newer Arrivals to Phaendar (1-2 years): Newer arrivals may have been around for Elrik's return to the village, or at least have heard the rumour mill about him when he came back from the war. Despite the celebration that was held in his honor he hasn't cracked more than a glimmer of a smile since returning and seems a standoffish, haunted man.

Settled in Phaendar (2-4 years): People who have been settled in Phaendar for a decent amount of time might remember when a gaggle of the young village lads signed up and went off to join the army, or at least heard about that tragic day. Mothers wept in the streets, whether or not the lads were their own children, and Fathers shook the hands of the lads solemnly even though the boys had grins of excitement. Seeing Elrik return, those who remember see a different man than the boy who left.

Permanent Residents (5+ years): Those who have lived in Phaendar for a significant time would have known the Barrow family and their farm in the nearby countryside. Elrik was one of three children, all boisterous and fair haired like their mother and easy going like their father. His elder sister was the talk of the village for a while when she ran off with a wandering bard, and his younger brother still lives with their parents working the family farm. Growing up Elrik was a pleasant child and a bit of a follower among the local youths so when the other boys joined up with the army recruiter it was no surprise that Elrik had as well. The changes in him are prominent now and occasionally people about the village will wonder what happened that could have changed him so.

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Jinx -> They probably haven't interacted much, if at all, considering they are both on the Loner end of the spectrum starting out. Elrik wouldn't have participated in any rumors or gave Jinx dirty looks though, and is probably unaware of the stigma attached to him and so when they do interact it might actually be half-positive.

Clover -> Again, most likely no immediate backstory between them though her proximity to the town might mean she's heard 'the stories' about him, or at least the rumors. Moving forward her Optimism is going to play counter to his Fatalism.

Persephone -> She probably falls into that 'Permanent Residents' section up above, but until now-ish would have been Adult to his Child/Teen and so she would have some perspective on who he was and seen the change in him. Not sure where to go with it, but there is something there.

Barhador -> They probably have little in common backstory wise and I think they might make a good (rp-wise) friction point depending on how singularly minded Barhador is about his mission to find a wife.

Wow, what a dour and gloomy crowd to hang around with! We're going to have to change that!

I've looked over things and here's what I think about possible relationships.

Clover lives outside of town and has all her life. In the last year or so she's been coming to town more often, say once a month, which means an overnight stay due to the length of the walk back and forth. That means she's a sort of combination of long-term and stranger. More likely to have heard of people than to have actually met them all.

Jinx: Since Jinx is a halfling Clover would certainly be aware of him and know something about him. But if he's living outside of the town proper they may not have met. If they have it would most likely be on a market or festival day? Clover wouldn't be coming around and knocking on his door. She wouldn't be all in on believing the stories about him, but she wouldn't completely discount them either.

Elrik: Probably about the same as with Jinx. Clover may know who he is, and something about his past, but unless he's out and about to be met and looks approachable, they likely wouldn't have a personal connection.

Persephone: It's more likely that Clover might know her. Clover might be an occasional customer of hers. They would have the interest in medicinal herbs in common. Whether they are friendly would depend mostly on Persephone. Clover is more than happy to befriend anyone who will reciprocate.

Barhador: Clover is least likely to know anything about him or to have met him. It would depend on how long he's been around. Just a couple of months wouldn't provide much of an opportunity to have interacted. Unles he's made a very strong impression around town, there's not much reason to think he would have come up in her conversations with others. The longer he's been in Phaendar, the more the chances she will have met him will go up.

So I guess the upshot from all the above is that the ball is in the other characters' court as to the nature of their relationships to Clover. Like I mentioned with Jinx, Clover isn't walking around knocking on doors to say hello, she has a routine that exposes her to the people she sees along the way, and she's happy to chat with them. So I'll outline a typical trip to town and you guys can decide whether or not Clover has crossed paths with your character.

Jinx will have been in town for about 3 years total, the last 12 months of which living in the outskirts. On that basis he would have a passing knowledge of Elrik, having seen the procession when he left and probably even taken part in it.

His attitude would have been a combined mixture of support for the young men and women going to fight the monstrous hordes but nervousness as by that point he would have been helping Vane treat veterans. Combined with his own experiences and the wounds he has seen, he would have feared the worst for them.

Persephone occasionally buys herbs from Jinx on the rare days where he is tolerated in town. He is knowledgeable enough to know she doesn't need them, but he is grateful nonetheless for the wordless support.

I don't think Jinx would have had much if any contact with Barhador up to now.

Similarly, I don't think Jinx and Clover would have met face to face. She's unlikely to want to buy anything from him and he certianly wouldn't initiate contact with a stranger. So it may be that they are aware of eachother - there probably aren't many halflings in town - but we are yet to actually meet.

Back from camp, partially recovered. Scanning the above and trying to follow suit.

I need to expand out the background sketch to work with the above.

Let's say Barhador has been in the area for 8 months.

Clover: Yeah, with you doing only an occasional overnight in town, and otherwise being "just another farmer outside town", the best chance for the two to have encountered each other would actually be if I was hunting something near your home and we accidentally met. Not very likely. I think we have the two characters with the most positive outlooks on life and themselves.

Elrik: I would imagine that your backstory is near legendary in the local units. Barhador's association with the Foxclaw Scouts would ensure that he is aware of your background, and the obvious cost you are continuing to pay. Might make him far more forgiving of your behavior early, but nobody can deal with that kind of behavior forever. As a REMF veteran, I'm a might uncomfortable with your heavy PTSD issue, which I LOVE. Not that often somebody brings something to a game that both matters and I am uncomfortable with.

Jinx: Assisting with healing is a big deal, and means that many will know who you are and have reason to view you more positively than you would otherwise expect. Again, it is unlikely that we would have met except in quick passing, but you will not be a completely unknown quantity. Your heavily biased negative view of your place in the world is going to be an interesting challenge.

Persephone: Obviously, I've gone out of my way to meet you as one of three marriageable elven women in the community. Given your Scorned Heart, I expect that your response to my presence has been simply tolerance. Honestly, I expect the same with Aisiridel, but for different reasons. She probably has people trying to get closer to her all the time. I'm going to go with the hunter's path, here, and assume that the key to "catching" either of you will be patience. Patience is something an elf can normally afford. For that reason, I don't know that aggressive courting will happen in the short term. More just trying to "crack the shell" and become someone worth trusting.

NPCs:
Aisiridel: Quickly sketched in my above thoughts.
Mithrielye: Probably where he's had the best success to date. She has every reason to hesitate to trust me but I can help her meet some pretty basic needs. Gotta consider and make it part of the expanded writing.

@Barhador: Well if Clover ever saw Barhador spooking around near her place she would hide. This is Nirmathis after all!

@Barhador, hopefully I can stand up with some realism without making it too real since this is a game. I also hope I can do it justice as I am fortunate enough to not be dealing with PTSD and am not a veteran myself.

Jinx: Assisting with healing is a big deal, and means that many will know who you are and have reason to view you more positively than you would otherwise expect. Again, it is unlikely that we would have met except in quick passing, but you will not be a completely unknown quantity. Your heavily biased negative view of your place in the world is going to be an interesting challenge.

My intention for this is that any good will he would have built up by helping to treat veterans has been quickly eroded or forgotten because of the general belief that he is responsible for a series of woes that befell the town after his arrival.

I imagine this to be something of a frontier town where rumour starts quickly and becomes like Chinese Whispers, the tale getting taller all the time. By the end every illness, failed crop, death and accident might have been laid at Jinx' door by enough people to make the rest believe enough to want to stay away.

So I think it would be more interesting to play a character who actually is vilified by a community rather than just generally a bit miserable because he has a low sense of self worth.

Just throwing it out there, Mott left an intro post up for us to start RPing a bit before he left on Vacation (or whatever he's doing). I've put up an intro into the opening scene if anyone wants to approach Broody McJumpy here :P

Yes, I've read the posts there so far. I haven't completely figured out my post yet, but Clover is eying Elrik, not approaching him.

I've been away with work for two days and drove for 5 hours this afternoon so going to crash. But I will be getting up a gameplay post tomorrow!

Hi guys. I'm going to do something I hate doing and that's drop out. At least it is before the game starts.

Around 10 weeks ago my Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The decline over the past 3 weeks in particular has been pretty startling and I need to be around as much as I can. Posting on these games doesn't take long, but getting in the mindset to give this game the attention and quality it deserves is probably beyond me right now.

I didn't want to just disappear so at least now mott has a chance to bring in someone new before the game starts.

Good gaming guys and I hope I get to play with you again in the future.

Jam

So sorry to hear about your dad, Jam. That sucks (which is an utterly inadequate response, I know). I certainly understand you putting your priority there rather than on the game.

I'm back now, and will look into grabbing a replacement. Hope to start soon (was going to probably do that later today, but now might need a touch more time).

Try to take full advantage of the time. My wife had to work through a great number of issues trying to take care of her father as she watched him slowly die in front of her. But the time with him, even as he got weaker and more argumentative, has been a marvelous tool for her as she continues without him.

His problem wasn't Alzheimer's. As I understand things, that can put pressure on you for far longer then the few months she was given. Try to find joy in time with him.

Condolences. Family issues are always rough. I've been blessed with not needing to deal with Alzheimer's in the family (yet, knock on wood) but clinical depression in family members has been very disruptive for mine and my family over the years.

Sorry, guys, between jet lag and the site problems, I'm getting a slower start back into this than I'd expected. I think I'm just about over the former issue, though, and have been chatting with someone to replace Jam. Just need to be awake enough to look at his character.

Hi all. Happy to be on board.

Welcome. I gave your background a read through and it looks like Arryn was a military man like Elrik here, but they certainly had different paths. I hadn't considered what Elrik would think of a deserter, it'll be interesting to see what happens if that ever comes out.

Hence why Arryn has never opened up to the man.

Arryn has ranks in Profession: soldier, and I would imagine some aspects of his training will come out. I’m not a soldier myself, so I don’t know the lingo, but feel free to assume that over enough time, certain slang comes out, or something about the way he tends his gear might tip Elrik off about his military training.

Elrik might also have heard of Mitchum Woodhaver, Arryn’s father.

Sorry to hear, Jam. :(

Echoing the problems with the site here. Will try to have a post up tomorrow.

Just to make sure I have a handle on our group, we have:

Arryn -- human telekineticist (skills and support)
Persephone -- elven herb witch (healing and face stuff)
Elrik - human fighter (melee and heavy lifting)
Barhador - elven hunter (ranged combat and nature-y skills)
Clover - halfling oracle (healing, buffing, support)

We seem well-suited to living it rough in the wild and taking it to the hobgobs.

Sorry, guys, these outages seem to keep coming at times I expect to be able to post. I'm out of pocket through Monday -- I have to run up to New Hampshire for a memorial service -- but I hope to start normal posting for the adventure on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Thanks for your patience, all.

Thank you all for your kind words, we're making the best of it as we can.

Mott - would you mind setting me as inactive on this game please?

Hey guys, we're still early so I want to discuss expectations: I'm looking for people to post every day basically, especially when we're in combat (yes, weekends and holidays and whatnot can sometimes cause a delay, but we're in the middle of the week). I know things have been disjointed with the site problems and my slow part, but it's important to get a good flow going. As I said in recruitment, I believe strongly that momentum is key, and if every round of combat takes several days, we lose momentum.

If we're on different pages, let's figure it out now, please, so we can figure out the best way to have a successful game.

Once a day is fine by me.

Maybe we need to do a check in to make sure everybody has seen that we’ve started?

Also, some folks haven’t dotted the gameplay thread yet, meaning this game isn’t showing up on their campaign tab. Perhaps some PMs are in order.

Heh, I keep tabs open on my computer with both Gameplay and this discussion thread open. I probably refresh checking for posts an unhealthy number of times per day :P I agree that momentum is key for this sort of thing, would love to see us really get into the thick of this.

Yes, I'll PM Persephone and Barhador.

Works for me. I delayed posting a little since my initiative was lowest and others might have changed my actions, but normally I'll post more quickly.

I was waiting on Persephone, honestly.

Please don't wait for each other in combat, just because it means one person can hold up everything. As I said, I'll adjust actions/order slightly to try to make everything work (and will become better at that as I get to know you all and your characters), but I'd rather keep everything moving.

We'll give Persephone a little bit longer; I'm hoping she hasn't disappeared for good.