Of Ghosts and Men (Inactive)

Game Master Twilightrose

Sorry for the lack of creativity and the complete cut and paste job tonight, folks. I've had a really, really, really long day. It's been a very productive day, though and I just bought my first car (yes ever)!

My summer class started today, but I don't think it will really affect my posting with the exception of when it's time for the big tests. Tomorrow, however, there is a good chance you won't see much of me. My kid is now at her dad's house for the summer, so aside from running what errands I have to run, I plan to sleep to my hearts content.

Great! I hope your semester goes well. Congrats on the car, have you named it yet?

I have not! I'll have to take time to think of something really great :D I'm off to bed, thanks for the well-wishes.

Get some rest!

Congrats on the Car, and good luck with the semester. :)

Excellent news, take your time on naming your new ride!

Many sorries for the low posting, but, the beatings continue...

sorry about tonight I won't be able to post, my evening activity took more time than anticipated.

soooo.... do we wait for everyone to post before leaving Harrowstone? Or can we assume the characters are already on their way out?

Sorry about the low posting, work is truly brutal right now.

Profitable, but brutal...

That is going to change soon, I hope...

The books Ioann shoved into your arms are two of the books that were left in the chest that the Professor wants delivered to his friends. Otherwise, pretty much every room in this house has at least one shelf filled with books. There are books about the history of Ustalav, geography of Ustalav, etc. but nothing in particular about Ravengro itself. You recall the others mentioning the other places in town to research Ravengro and Harrowstone if that's what you are after in particular.

I just noticed the Research Topics under the Campaign tab. So Im looking for anything along those lines if possible. How do I go about those?

I believe prior to you joining, they had already reached the highest levels of info on all of the research topics. You're welcome to do the research yourself if you want, but they can easily share the info with you. If you want to talk with the others about it, you can look at the research spoilers to fill in any gaps presuming they don't intentionally hold anything back. Otherwise, you'd make rolls to see what you learn. I'll copy over what the AP says to make my life easier :D

The following sections cover the topics of research that
the PCs are most likely to pursue over the course of this
adventure, either after learning about a topic from a local
or from the professor’s journal, after experiencing some
of the haunting events in town, or simply as a result of
curiosity. Each topic is followed by a series of skill check
DCs—these checks can either be Diplomacy checks to
gather information from the locals or Knowledge checks
made while researching the topic.

Gathering Information: The citizens of Ravengro enjoy
spreading their rumors, but they don’t actually have
much useful information about either Harrowstone or
the Whispering Way. A Diplomacy check made to gather
information about Harrowstone or the Five Prisoners
can only reveal results of DC 20 or lower, while checks
made to gather information about the Whispering Way
are limited to results of DC 15 or lower.

Research: Using a Knowledge check to research a topic
allows the PCs two options—simply making the check to
see what a character knows about the topic (this is a free
action, but can only be attempted once per character), or
spending a day looking through references, books, and
other materials (this check can be attempted multiple
times, but no more than once per day). There are four
locations in Ravengro that can be used to research—
Kendra suggests all four, but warns the PCs that the locals
might need some convincing before they allow strangers
to use their libraries. Using any of these sites to research information about Harrowstone or the Whispering Way
allows a character to make Knowledge checks untrained
(although doing so negates any bonus on skill checks the
research site might provide).

The Lorrimor Place: Kendra offers to let the PCs use
her father’s personal library to research, free of charge
and regardless of the PCs’ current Trust point total.
Lorrimor’s library provides a +2 bonus on all Knowledge
checks made to research the Whispering Way.

Ravengro Town Hall: The records kept at the town
hall provide a +2 bonus on all Knowledge checks made
to research Harrowstone or the Five Prisoners, but the
town council normally does not allow visitors to use
the building at all. A DC 25 Diplomacy check is enough
to convince the council to let one PC use the site. Once the PCs accumulate at least 31 Trust points, though, the
council lets the entire party use the site for research.

Temple of Pharasma: The temple of Pharasma has
extensive notes on the town’s history, and is perhaps the
best site for research. Using the temple’s records grants
a +4 bonus on all Knowledge checks made to research
Harrowstone, the Five Prisoners, or the Whispering Way,
but securing permission to use this site for research
requires a DC 25 Diplomacy check or a Trust score of 30.

The Unfurling Scroll: This building is a combination
schoolhouse and magic item shop run by one Alendru
Ghoroven; using its small library provides a +2 bonus
on all Knowledge checks made to research Harrowstone.
It cannot be used to research the Whispering Way at all.
Alendru asks for a 10 gp payment for each day that he
allows anyone to use his school’s resources, unless the PCs
reach a Trust point total of 27, at which point he waives
the fee and allows PCs to use the library free of charge.

^ Thanks! Guess he'd be spinning wheels at that then.

gonna edit gameplay post.

Game night at little brother's. Updates tomorrow probably.

Have fun!

Thanks! I did have a lot of fun. Nothing to update for this game at the moment. I'm caught up on reading your posts, though. I'll check back again later.

Hectic last couple of days. About to be more hectic. Should mellow out by Monday. Posts will be erratic.

Finally have time to get caught up on...86 new posts.

Work has been brutal, wife can't do much so I've been doing her stuff, so time has not been in abundance for me.

It's not bad or evil, just rough and busy right now.

1) A reminder of the loot that you have (hopefully I didn't miss anything) so that you can settle out who has what. It never got all the way settled and we've had two people leave and one new person join us so let's hash that out.

2) It's been brought to my attention that some of you are lacking things such as languages that you should have on your sheets, so please if you can double check your stuff to make sure everything that should be there is in fact there.

From the crypt,
I had claimed 1 holy water, 1 potion of cure light, and the three divine scrolls.

Harrowstone, I would like to claim the wand of restoration.

If no one minds, Ioann would like to take the Bronze war medallion from the Shining Crusade.

Ravel has the spirit board and haunt siphons, one of them used on a haunt so it's full of spiritual energy. The Five Prisoner items and the haunted Harrow cards are currently buried beneath House Lorrimor, but I am not sure what else has been divvied up or claimed. Ravel will hold onto anything else the party wants her to or thinks we should have on ourselves.

Also I think the books left from the Professor keep bouncing between Ake, Ravel, and Ioann, whoever happens to be reading them that evening.

The books were in Uklods care... (give by Ioann).

Here we go...

Enjoying what is happening, even though i am not there.

Lol, yeah even though you're done with your scene you're stuck there for a bit, sorry! I won't make you wait long before rejoining the others.

No worries, just sitting here imagineing i am ambling back.

I believe we have majority for Grimburrow. Will anyone take the lead on directing the others there?

has everyone called dibs on that loot? I'll take last pick on the available items.

Very good question, Uklod. I still am unsure as to who has what and no one has bothered to identify and appraise items either. Some values were provided in the text so I was kind and gave those to you, however it is up to you guys to appraise and identify everything else. You also need to decide who is claiming what, and deduct the value of that item from the individual share of the loot.

I created a spreadsheet for this purpose and will be adding to it as we go along. It can be found at the top of the pages under the map link. In the meantime, if all of you can please write your names and the amount of a particular thing you are claiming in the appropriate box it would help immensely. I'm putting in some names that I already know but do double check.

Things that you are holding temporarily - such as the books that were left to other people in Lorrimor's will - place your name in the temporary box and no value should be deducted from your loot. Things that can/should be sold to benefit the whole group, that are instead kept by an individual are the things that should be deducted from loot totals. Things that should be kept for the benefit of the whole group, such as the items from the false crypt, should not be deducted but do need to be recorded as to has possession of them.

Those of you in my other campaign, I will try to get a sheet up for Angels as well.

Updated equipment and the sheet. Does anyone use a bow? I don't carry one but I could buy one, those arrows will be useful at some point I'm sure.

All I can use is a crossbow. :(

Back at lady Kendra's I will try to ID the Unknown vials

Edit, didn't we use a Holy Water already ??

Yes, maybe even two. I'll check again but I know Ingrid used one to destroy the flaming head haunt, I think someone used one to damage Old Ember Maw before it was taken down as well. However, even if an item is used, don't remove it from the loot sheet. We still want record of it.

EDIT: Yes, two were used.

Yeah I should only have one now.

Can we split the gold? Think I'll buy a bow and take advantage of those arrows. We seem to have enough of a front line anyway.

I can't recall if Ake ever claimed anything?

I figured we would split the gold.

Sorry guys, don't have much time to write, so I will stick with the RP trhead for tonight (well, apart from these few words).

OK, so obviously we have seen a serious lack of the little green goblin lady for awhile now (and big green orc lady over in Angels). I talked to GM Scotty (Ake/Tava) back at the end of June to see what was going on and if his posting was going to pick up soon, letting him know that we missed him in game, but that I understood if he needed to back out. He said then that he really didn't want to quit the games. I am sympathetic to everything that he has going on right now, though so I'm willing to wait a bit longer myself. That being said, I don't think it's fair to you guys for me to not replace the character(s) if that is what you want done. So, I'm asking each of you to cast a vote on how you want to progress at this point in regards to Ake/Tava. Please fill free to either say your peace here, or in a private message to me (which will be kept private).

Honestly, I would love to see if he can make it. But if he cannot, I will defer to a majority vote.

1 for keeping Ake/Tava at least for a bit longer. :)

I had mentioned my thoughts on it to you last time we chatted, but I will reiterate for the group- I love the characters of Ake and Tava, and although I know it is the nature of the Play-by-Post Beast to consume players, but I would like to give them a little while longer to catch up. If not, my vote is to replace the player but not the character(s) if someone old or new is willing to take up the mantle.

I support Terrance and Ravel (wait a bit more and see). As for someone taking up the character, that could be interesting if someone is willing to do it. Otherwise, I would not mind another character joining.

I agree. If anything an interesting diversion can leave them back at the mansion/inn while the party is active so you don't have to feel like you're dragging them along. That way should things ease up they can easily be reintroduced.

It sounds like the plan is to hold on to the characters at least for a while longer. This is good, it works for me so long as everyone else is happy! Thanks guys.

FYI, in case anyone has been curious about them, I have pretty much forgone dealing with the "trust points" that Haunting of Harrowstone AP has devised for Ravengro. I'm really not comfortable with them, they're difficult to keep track of, and I think honestly that it's a little too easy for the group to loose trust and have everyone in the whole town be against them. That being said, I haven't abandoned the spirit of the trust point system.

amen to that!

Next couple of days are going to be hectic, I'll try to post when I can. Bear with me folks. Thank you for your patience.

Always.

Catching up on posts, I will resume my duties as snark mistress, pickle slayer and explosion expert this evening.

Thank you for not running me out of town!

Applies to our other game as well, where I will resume beatstick duty.

glad to have you back. :)

Indeed, glad to have you back!

Birthday yesterday, was up until nearly 5 am. Sleep deprived as the wee one got up at 8:30. Will post after more sleep.