Palace of the Vampire Queen (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

The hand-waving the journey back is fine if that is what you want to do.

Getting rid of some, if not all, of the NPCs are fine with me.

We have three players that are dedicated to the game, we've been here the entire time.

Here's a suggestion why don't the three players each create a second character to run. We can pick them up in the city. I'm online quite a bit and have no problem playing a second dwarf character. Rogues and clerics are my favorite two classes to play. Perhaps Hal and Maxrim can develop a bard and ranger for support that you mentioned.

That's a good idea. So far the re-recruitment hasn't turned up much.

That's a good idea. So far the re-recruitment hasn't turned up much.

Plus, we have three consistent players that been around nearly a year who enjoy the game. By creating our own 2nd character it gives us options and attachment to that character.

Well, I like that idea, but all of you do not have to do it, if you do not want to (Atharessa, Moralane, and Azram where alwasy available, but I suppose they were not to anyone's liking).

So go ahead and create a second character, if you want to, and I will start putting together some posts to get the party back to the capital.

Great...I'll put together a cleric as long as Hal and Mazrim are ok with that.

I really like Moralane, but I'm not sure I'd want to take her over as a PC. I really like the relationship that she and Hal have started developing. It would be a little strange to continue that if I was essentially talking to myself.

I agree, and I think Atharessa and Moralane are staying. I've even created, finally, aliases for them so that I can post as them.

I just had an interesting idea...

We've established that Synthesist Summoners exist. I think it would be interesting to have Hal's brotherhood int he capitol offer her the opportunity to bond with a guardian spirit.

It could be that she was bitten by a zombie and in in the early stages of infection, and they can't cure her but they can slow it down a lot by joining her with something otherworldly.

Then, I could play her in Synthesist mode (which would probably be most of the time), and Terquem could play her when she isn't wearing her outsider pajamas.

Thoughts?

Edit: Just saw your post above. Nevermind on this idea. Maybe I can use it with another character. Not sure.

There is something there. You could pick up one of the survivors from the mining camp, male or female, who is "affected" (not “infected” by now it should be clear that the “curse” is mostly magical in nature), by the curse, and dangerously close to succumbing to it. Meanwhile, Azram leaves the party at the Mining camp, to stay and help the Dwarves there put that place in order. You can take the survivor to the capital, where the bonding occurs as a means to keep this Dwarf alive.

That sounds like a great idea.

Terquem:

I was looking over the recruitment page,

Dwarf Gods

I think one of these deities could be fun to follow:

Praggul Strongfist and Freeda Songwind

He is seen as a god of war and she as a warrior woman who sings soldiers into the highest halls of heaven. These two deities are representative of the “older” pantheon and are symbolic of the more war-like past of the Dwarven race.

Are the domain powers and spells similar to pathfinder - War domain any other domain associated with these deities?

Do we roll for hitpoints at second level?

no, go ahead and take max hit points up to third level, we'll roll at 4, if we get there.

Ok I have him mostly complete except the second domain, I'm not sure what is available with your deities that I mentioned above. Domain 1: War.

I still need to get him some gear.

Meet Windel Warhammer, cleric of Praggul Strongfist at your service.

I still need to cut and past some of his stats over from Hero Lab.

I do need to know about the second domain.

Well Windel Warhaven is pretty complete except a bit of background.

domains: War and Sun (I used Iomedae's as a general guide for domains but can change that up if necessary)

I took scribe scroll feat but may switch that to selective channeling.

The expense of scroll parchment had me a bit concerned, so I only have 5 sheets. If I take the scribe scroll feat can Windel begin with 6 already prepared scroll spells?

-comprehend languages
-detect undead
-obscuring mist
-remove fear
-shield of Faith
-Bless Water

I also wasn't sure if the chain shirt was permitted at this point, if not, I will drop that down to leather.

Sorry for taking too long to get back to you, I have no good excuse. But the domains you would be looking at are War, Repose (not death, that would be a domain of Mafolin)Glory, Nobility, and Strength (but if you want to keep Sun, I'm okay with that).

The original restrictions on equipment were meant to create a "feel" for the setting, and I hope we have done that (I am not a fan of the "Target Super Store concept of RPG settings, where everything a character wants is available right from the start).

Go ahead and start with a Chain Shirt (not chain Mail, you don't want to be mistaken for a Soldier, if you are not one, that tends to make the nobility uncomfortable). And the scrolls will be fine.

I'll stick to Sun if you don't mind, I was planning on working that into my blonde hair and beard description actually.

As far as gear, other than the chain shirt, I basically copied parts of Rownig/Hal's items which were previously priced out and permitted at the start of the game. I linked the parchment/Ink post to the background.

The reason for the scrolls was simply he's second level and that ties into his feat: Scribe Scroll.

Sorry for the absence. Building a second Alias and character sounds good to me too. Now to figure out what...
We could use a primary arcane spell caster so what are your thoughts on a Celestial (Empyrial) sorcerer? or to be more different a cross-blooded Celestial (Empyrial) dragon sorcerer.

The Crossblooded Sorcerer sounds good, go ahead if that's interesting to you.

Tomorrow I am hoping to put up a game post that gets everyone into the capitol, and on the track to finding Hallister's secret order's base.

I'll give everyone a chance to re equip (you should have some monies) and collect a reward for the rods you found. We can blast through some exchanges with the order, check to see if everyone is ready, and then get you set down at the entrance to the Palace. Then it will become a basic dungeon crawl, with a couple of mysteries to solve and a curse to lift.

How does that sound?

Sounds fine to me. I'm looking forward to it.

I know we are 2nd level will be leveling up to third? If so, should the sorcerer and cleric level up to third? 2nd level spells are helpful, along with that second feat in a dungeon crawl.

I am going to try and run the first level of the Palace as it was written (for 1 to 3 rd level characters), but having this part be 3rd level might make it too easy. So let's keep everyone at 2nd, and then probably level up soon on the first level of the dungeon.

No problem.

Typically, Appraise is a "One Shot" skill check. You can always change your mind about how much you think something is worth, on your own, but from the PRD, "Additional attempts to appraise an item reveal the same results".

Rownig, using the black market connections he has made, can sell the Red Garnets for 200 gold pieces, but he will need to roll a Bluff Check, to keep the buyer from asking too many questions.

The rods are government property, and belong to the crown. It’s best to let Atharessa find a buyer for those, and take what she can get for them.

Hallister, could you tell me exactly what you need, what you mean by "Check them all for corruption"?

Mazrim hpw are you getting along with being ready for the next step? Last question, how do you all feel about closing this thread, and opening a new Game Thread, that begins with the party entering the Palace of the Vampire Queen?

How would you like me to handle Windel's introduction? I could do an intro where Rownig and he meet at a tavern or temple, making sure there more holy water on hand.

Certainly with 70 GP, my concern over the parchment cost is alleviated.

We currently have 70 Gold pieces from the sale of the trade bars.

I cut and pasted this from the Campaign information tab for the group:

Coins of the Realm

The Empire vests authority to mint coins in the Heads of the states, and unfortunately does not require all coins to carry the same iconography, with the exception that one side of the coin must carry the national symbol, a Goose. Although the coins of different states within the Empire will look different they are minted according to standards set by the Empire.

A Gold Coin can be minted. Its weight must be one tenth of a “Bar” of Copper.

A Silver coin can be minted. Its weight must be one tenth of a “Bar” of copper

A Copper coin can be minted. Its weight must be one one-hundreth of a “Bar” of copper.

A “Bar” of copper is a standard of measure of weight and is a single round piece of copper approximately 30 mm in diameter, and 20 cm long. The “Bar” is created by the Empire’s treasury and often officials of the Empire will visit a state carrying “Measures” which are official versions of the “Bar” to inspect the coins of a Kingdom. Normally a “Bar” is cut into one hundred pieces, thus creating the standard Copper Piece (CP). It is important to note that the weights of these coins are not to be confused with their value. A Bar weighs approximately 1/2 pound.

A Gold coin (the Gold Piece, or GP) can buy goods worth as much as one thousand copper pieces.I added the emphasis.

A Silver coin (the Silver Piece, or SP) can buy goods worth up to one hundred copper pieces.

Value
1GP = 10 SP
1 SP = 100 CP

Weight
1 GP = 1 SP = 100 CP (in WEIGHT!)

The shape and size of the Silver Piece and the Gold Piece may vary, but a Copper piece is always a round coin approximately 30 mm in diameter and 2 mm thick.

The common Dwarf carries from five to fifty copper coins at any time, and a meal in a tavern, or a few beers, will normally cost only a couple of copper pieces. It is very rare for anyone to carry silver or gold coins (in fact there are rumors among the common folk that wealthy Dwarves on the island are hording gold and silver coins, but the truth is not so simple).

Halister and Azrim what items/gear do you all think we need?

Here are a few items, I thought of:

Rope (1-2 coils per person)
- 1 Hemp Rope – 100’ – (100 copper)
Oil (5 per person, at least) (200CP)
parchment, scroll (15 sheets = 1500 CP)
Ink (15 vials =300CP)
2 quills (60 CP)
Waterproof scroll case (40CP)

That's mostly just story fluff. Since the artifacts we've been transporting already drove one person crazy and draw undead to them like flies, I thought it would be worth checking us all for curses and afflictions.

It also segues into my new character, who's basic story we've already established.

He's one of the former bandits who nearly died in one of the first undead attacks. He was one of Exanames' companions before he went insane, so Exanames insisted that he be kept close. The combination of being near death, infected by the undead bite and around the cursed objects sapped his life force to the point where he didn't recover, but for some reason didn't die.

The miners sent him along with us in hopes that we might be able to help him. He's been unconscious the whole trip.

How's that sound?

(I should have his mechanics ready within a day or two)

Sorry my tablet has been on the fritz lately so i've been having trouble connecting to the internet but my new one just arrived today so after i finish setting it up i should be back on track again. Starting a new gameplay thread sounds good to me.

As for my Sorcerer he's almost done. as a sorcerer though would he need to be part of one of the wizardly orders or something else? what's the general view on sorcerers for commoners.

If he is a sorcerer, he would not likely be a member of a guild, though that's not impossible. Commoners tend to trust Sorcerers more than Wizards. Wizards tend to be involved in politics and trade, while Sorcerers tend to be involved in staying out of politics and trade.

Terquem do you want me to roleplay Rownig and Windel meeting? No problem putting up a few posts. My thought is Rownig can search out a cleric to replace Azram, now that he has a better understanding of what will be encountered.

I don't think we need to role play the introduction of Windel, but a post explaining how you met, and what he is expecting out of joining this group would be nice.

I need to get up an important post about the exchange you had with the merchant, and then handle Hallister's concerns, and then we should be ready to move on.

I have a friend who is interested in this game. Would it be alright for him to join, rather than have me make a second character?

Here's the bones of my alternate, unfortunately transferring the full data from my old tablet to my new one has been difficult and I'm basically forced to rewrite it.

I'm ready when the group is to get this game moving.

I have a friend who is interested in this game. Would it be alright for him to join, rather than have me make a second character?

No problem, just have the person drop by this thread and get started on a character concept.

Hi there. Sorry for my late arrival in the discussion thread. I'm Hallister's friend he mentioned and I am currently in the middle of catching up on what's been going on in the game and already I love this setting.

I'll post my concept either later today or tomorrow.

Welcome to the game.

Feel like making a Goblin, Pat?

I don't mind creating a Goblin NPC for this adventure, that would put me back at 3 (which is where I tend to be inmy other games).

That works too. :)

Again sorry about the late response. School work spiked earlier this week and I didn't have time. Should be able to return to my usual posting rate today. I hadn't actually thought about creating a Goblin PC but that actually sounds like fun.

Once you are all satisfied that you are equipped and ready, I will move the party to the vicinity of the Dungeon, and we'll start a regular Dungeon Crawl.

If you create a Goblin PC, make him or her third level. That should be about on par with the second level Dwarves.

Couple other questions.
1. What is the point buy we're going with?
2. Are there any class restrictions?
3. Starting equipment/wealth?

1) 18 point buy, with the restriction that no score should be below 8 after application of racial modifiers
2) No Monks, Inquisitors, Oracles or Gunslingers
3) The original characters were severely limited in starting equipment. The economy of the Island Kingdom here is going to be strange. You can read about it in the campaign info section of the game. To help move things along, you can spend 50 gold pieces on equipment from the core rulebook, and you must spend it all (when you are done, any leftover coins are lost). You will then be given 250 copper pieces as personal wealth to spend “in game”.

Right, well here is my beta version character.

Okay.

I've been racking my brain and can't figure out a good background for my alternate. Can we fudge it for now.

[edit]I see that our new player has made a sorcerer as well. Do you still want mine?[/edit]

You still do not have a Cleric, and I do not like to force players to make choices they do not want to make, so as long as you are all okay with only having a Bard as a healer, we can proceed.

Terquem...the second character I created and posted with is a cleric.