The Crucible of Freya (Inactive)

Game Master Grimmy

Right, Jerrid did point to the imp for you when he spotted it, but the imp has had a turn since then.

There is a perception spoiler in the last gameplay post for spotting the imp. It's a high DC but not impossible for Damien.

You can roll the perception check passive to see if you spot the imp.

Jerrid will have to roll again too, to spot where the imp has moved to.

Edit: I adjusted the DC a little to spot the imp due to a circumstantial modifier.

Jerrid spotted, now Kev and Damien know the square.

I had something come up, I am back in the game.

Sorry for delay.

Ok welcome back buddy glad to have you. Make sure you've caught up on reading what you missed though. There's no lock to jimmy on the door, it's a special door. It's opened on this side by inserting the pommel of Eralion's staff, which is a cross. (the holy symbol of Thyr). The door is sliding open right now because Sam has already turned the "key" to open it (while I was botting him).

It's a lot of posts but take your time to catch up. We're out of combat now and about to role-play the party meeting back up after being separated.

Glad to have you back Sam!

DMG, how far has the fire in Eralion's study spread so far? Does it look like we'd be able to put it out?

Jerrid put it out. Just one bookshelf destroyed.

DM Grimmy:
I think you paint the story well and have a flair for keeping the narrative moving that is quite suited to this format.

Your maps are quite good, and your ability to improvise has been quite amazing. You reward creativity and out of the box thinking, which is old school, but are quite good at tracking the tight, technical rules which Pathfinder has given us.

I would say the ride so far has been amazing and a good mix of the old and the new. I would like to join you in any narrative you wish to tell.

Sadly, most of my PbP games have died that I have played in. I can hardly bring myself to answer any more recruitments. Thankfully, your game has started up again! Good to be back with this group.

Well you have a home here buddy. You've brought Samduc to life, we all know his personality now, and he's a fixture of the dysfunctional party dynamic that lead to so much good roll play in this group.

You've contributed in pivotal, narrative impacting ways like when you pawned off a fake amulet on vortigern, or when you set up a parlay with the headmistress of the bandits.

Those actions created sweeping changes in the narrative and that's what it's all about. The fun I get out of DM'ing comes from being surprised to see what players come up with. That's why I don't like AP's so much, because the story's already written in advance.

9 days and 6 whole rounds of combat is a long time to be gone unannounced, but that doesn't bother me so much, as you know I've gone missing much much longer myself. Whatever might be goin on we can work through it, I won;t give up on you I just want to see you make posts that show you're up to speed on what's happening, and engaged enough to write solid posts like we know you can.

I totally get it. PbP is a funny medium. There's gonna be days where it feels like a chore you have to do, sometimes I just get so sick of writing those little formatting tags. We all have to feed off each other, put energy in to get energy out.

Sam's an iconoclastic character who goes his own way. I wouldn't change that for the world but you can make good use of italic internal monologue text and blue ooc text to keep us in the loop, give us a window into what he's up to even if he's going left when the party goes right.

Anyway, thank you all for still being here after I left for so long to get myself in order, you too Sam, we're a family I wouldn't want to loose any of you. We've been at this for years now. I've been amazed that folks have been able to keep up with the breakneck speed here lately, it's a thrill for me, I love fast paced PbP. But if any one has been a little stressed or overwhelmed by the pace I'd like to know, and I'll point out there will always be surges and lulls. Even I myself won't be able to keep up that pace for ever, but I have more nice set piece encounters lined up before this story arc is finished in style and I'd like to hit them hard like we've been doing, if you guys are up for that.

After that I have a few paths you could strike out on, we can let some game time pass, and do overland travel a lot more abstract and speedy than we used to, so we can get to see more of the lost lands, maybe check out a city or two. Maybe a megadungeon. But that's conversation for another day. Right now let's have some juicy RP, right now I want to watch you lot decide what needs to happen next in this damn Keep.

I'll be mobile only tomorrow but please keep the inter party dialogue goin, and I can chime in with short answers to questions on my work breaks.

Take ten on knowledge is a strange case. Why does the bard have it as an ability if everyone can do it?

Oh by the way that means Janna is now shin deep in water in the pit.

It seems like Kev and Leo are the only remaining people with rope. I'm not certain but Kev might be carrying Leo's for him as well? For shame the rest of you! Adventuring without rope, tsk tsk :P

How deep is that pit DMG? Would it be possible for Damien to lower his hammer down so Janna can grab the end and I pull her up?

Also, earthquakes and cursed water? I just want to reiterate that this whole encounter since we got rolling again has been great. Crazy...and great!

Pit is 20' deep.

Janna would need a lucky acrobatics check to get fished out with Damien's hammer in combat but she could just take 20 now I guess. How bad is her modifier? It's a DC 12 high jump to grab the hammer.

Damien would roll acrobatics and athletics to pull her up. No check needed here unless you want to go to Kev without delay.

Take 20 will take 2-4 minutes.

Vhillish could lower down his ring of climbing?

gee I hope I can get out. also hope that I can actually explore that vault. it is the reason I gathered everyone together.

Don't fret Janna, we'd never abandon one of our own down a hole, especially not our employer! You should be free to climb out on a take 10 anytime now :)

DMG, if I'm reading this correctly, those of us in the hall heard the zombies milling around upstairs? I could have Damien pop up and deal with them?

Hey Kev, you might want to consider hauling Vortigern's body back down the stairs. If the cultists find him first we'll lose our opportunity to search him.

Though readying a charge against the first one down the stairs has a certain appeal to it as well :P
Just remember to have Vhillish call for backup in that case :)

Don't fret Janna, we'd never abandon one of our own down a hole, especially not our employer! You should be free to climb out on a take 10 anytime now :)

DMG, if I'm reading this correctly, those of us in the hall heard the zombies milling around upstairs? I could have Damien pop up and deal with them?

they weren't really making enough noise to travel down to the crypt hall but vhillish could mention them in status report. They are just gnawing on dead soggy orcs still.

If the cultists find him first we'll lose our opportunity to search him.

And at some point we could find us figthing the undead version of old Vorty

I do believe that Janna hired the group to help her retrieve a particular staff since she has no real idea about the vault (having not been in there) she is keen on exploring it herself.

Not trying to push anyone here. just that I would like the chance to get in there.

Everyone wants to find the vault Janna, there's 3,000 GP of player selected gear in there per PC.

By Jingo! Quite the cache whot-whot!

Alas think there are rotters, cultists and orkers to deal with... Not mentioning what else may await with the bowels of the donjon...

@DMG: Know I not up in the initiative order, but I've a busy day ahead so don't want to hold things up if I can't post!

Ah I was typing my post when you posted lol. Well you can have that shot for an action point if you like. Otherwise, the hold person takes effect before you have the chance.

Very Important: Vhillish's message contains an error. The conversation he overheard was between cultists, it was not Vortigerns last words. That would not make sense for Vortigern to say that if you think about it. Kevezyat heard the cultists too.

For those who will be moving between levels ask for help navigating if you need it.

In the future there is something called google slides I will look into to get multiple levels better organized in one document.

To make things easier I have put copies of Vhillish and Kevs tokens on the stairwells of both levels basement and ground.

Apologies all - misread the message.

No worries on the action point - will remain frozen pending orcish maltreatment lol.

lol no problem!

Wizards Study XP
Skeleton Cultist CR3 800
Imp CR2 600
Traps CR2 600

Total - 2000/7= 285XP

Only 18 posts to catch up on! You guys are slacking..sheesh.

FW, if you wish, you may begin combat in room U2 (where you helped Leo solve the riddle of the demons name).

Jerrid is in geek mode at the moment - I figure as a rogue and wizard this is pretty close to nirvana for him.

message - not sure we can use message like we have without line of sight to point. Its a bit woolly though but it is a cantrip. DMG?

"It can circumvent a barrier if there is an open path between you and the subject, and the path's entire length lies within the spell's range."

FW, that makes sense yup! Library it is then.

As for message... believe it or not you can trace an open path up the stairways. And it is just barely in range.

Edit: But I think after one message and one reply you would have to cast it again. And when you cast it you need to be able to point to the recipients.

Eh...rule of cool !!!

Yeah I read that bit. Its the pointing that concerns me. My take is that Vhillish points at who he wants the message to go to. The message goes to that subject ignoring barriers.

Woolly isn't it?

My gut feeling is that what we are doing may be better than a zero level cantrip. More like a radio.

I think Kev's power attack is -2/+6

@Jerrid: Yes you are right, I agree 100%. No more messages from this casting, it's not a 10 min/level radio.

Wooly but we are on the same page.

@Leo: good catch

Wow, we're really not slowing down here. Unfortunately I will probably only be able to post this morning. It's my birthday today so the rest of my day is pretty packed. Give 'em hell guys!

On the message, I'd always thought the pointing was how you set the initial targets? Otherwise it wouldn't make sense to specify that things like stone, lead and wood block the spell. If any of those are between you and the target you wouldn't have line of sight to begin with. Though It's obviously your call DMG.

I'll have a gameplay post up shortly.

Yay! Happy Birthday!
Have lots of fun and cheer!

Ah crap I was going to wish you a happy bday. A couple weeks ago I accidentally came across a post that mentioned the date and I thought it would be a nice touch but then I forgot.

About the pace, I'm noticing people are remarking it is fast. I am only working one day a week this month and next, so I have a lot of time. And being BiPolar it's my nature to overdo things when I'm excited sometimes. Right now I am replying pretty much instantly when the posts come in.

About message yes, the pointing is initial targets but I think the spell has to be recast after a message is sent and replied. So it won't work as a 2-way walkie talkie at that range for the whole duration of the spell.

I think Kev's power attack is -2/+6

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Happy 21st again Otm-Shank.

Huzzah! Huzzah! Happy Birthday Sah!

Pip-Pip... and all that :)

On the subject of the message spell - I always took it that initial recipients were identified, then from there they could share info (comms style) for as long as the spell lasted?

Am good with whatever ruling we run with.

Ok let's go with that.

Hey guys sorry have not been around today.

had a date with my wife today, went to movies then had a dinner at her AA group.

BTW saw the movie "Sing" great movie.

No problem I moved you up with Damien but if you would rather run x4 you can reach the room with zombies.

Vhillish gets a save attempt every round as a full round action. DC 14 Will

How are you guys doing with the map on three levels? Can you see where the stairs connect?

Grimmy, could you describe 'bloodied' for me.
In old 4e Dnd this meant the monster was at half hit points. Your comment that it was a 'mortal' blow leads me to think otherwise.

If it's a 'mortal' blow, does Kevezyat need to hit him again? or is he dead on his feet?

thanks

I got a handle on the maps

Sorry I am dumb, I forgot what mortal blow means. I was using bloodied like in 4e terms, past half HP. No mechanical effect to it, I just like to mention it so players know how big of a HP pool they are chipping away at. I think it's realistic. In a fight you can tell how bad someone is hurt you know?

Sorry for confusion.

Hey Damien, the tokens were shifted a bit, there is actually a spot between the paralyzed vhillish and lev. The reason being, the priest took a 5'step to cast a spell on Kev.

I fixed the tokens now.

I don't know if that makes a difference to your last turn. If you had enough movement to get in that spot, then I owe you a swing at priest.

(but then Vhillish would probably get zombie chomped)