With a Single Step (Inactive)

Game Master Bill Dunn

t’s been five years since the ‘Troubles’ ended in Sandpoint and during those years life has returned to normal for the town and it’s residents. That is until recently. A local tribe of goblins known as the Licktoads has been attacking caravans along the Lost Coast road. Traditionally little more than nuisance, these attacks have become more frequent as the goblins have a new weapon in their arsenal, fireworks. Somehow, somewhere the little buggers have found a cache of them and are using them in their raids against merchants traveling between Sandpoint and Magnimar. The chaos caused by the noise, panic, and fire have been nearly as devastating as the attacks themselves and several people have been seriously injured, though none fatally. The Sheriff has appealed to Magnimar for help in dealing with these attacks although none has been forthcoming. Unfortunately the tiny militia in Sandpoint has its hands full dealing with the area immediately around the town and is unable to spare anyone to escort the caravans safely to their destination.

It’s a quiet afternoon at the Rusty Dragon inn. A few local day-laborers are scattered among the tables in the common room while a small crowd of the village's more adventurous have gathered around a table to watch Shard, a young sorcerer, create figments using his magics.

The quiet is suddenly shattered when the doors to the inn swing open and Sheriff Hemlock enters followed by Sandru Vhiski, a local merchant and reputed smuggler, although that has never been proven.

”Enough’s enough.” the Sheriff bellows as he enters the room. All eyes turn to him as he continues ”The Gobbo’s have struck for the last time. They've attacked another caravan coming from Magnimar and several people were hurt, some badly burned by these damnable fireworks of theirs. It’s time we, I, put a stop to this. Those layabouts in Magniamr won’t do anything about this and I cannot let these attacks continue until someone is killed and they finally take notice.” His eyes scan the room taking in everyone present. ”So to that end I’m reinstating the bounty on goblins. The town council agrees and are offering 10 gold pieces for each goblin ear brought in, and, furthermore I’m offering 300 gold pieces to whomever brings me the head of the damn goblin chieftain, Gutwad. “ During the Sheriff’s speech Ameiko and Shalelu emerge from the back room to see what the commotion is all about.

As the room erupts in cheers the sheriff holds up his hand until everyone calms down ”Relax everyone. Given the circumstances that caused the ban in the first place I suggest that you all form hunting groups of no less than four people. Anyone interested can meet me at my office tomorrow morning for further instructions.” With that the Sheriff turns abruptly about and stalks out of the inn, leaving Sandru standing in the doorway. As the big man walks up to the bar he chuckles loudly "Say what you want about the Sheriff but the man knows how to get the job done."

Alara listens attentively to the Sheriff as he puts the bounty out. As Shalelu emerges from the back, Alara glances over to her with a smile and turns slightly pink.

"Well wanna group up? I've received much training since we last met Piper. What do ya say?"

@GM

Before Belor leaves, Piper gets up and runs up to his adopted dad to greet him and let him know he's home. Writing a message, it says: 'Hello, dad. I'm home. I graduated from the White Grotto with high marks. Hope you're proud.'

I'm going to do the Ameiko conversation again, so everything in my first discussion post is true.

After catching up with his father, he turns to Ameiko and walks up to her, getting her attention. He writes down in Tien: 'こんにちは、Ameiko。私は最終的に家にいる。今回は滞在する。

I used Japanese for Tien.

@William

Piper turns to William and gives a small smirk. He writes: 'Of course. It gives me an opportunity to show you what I've learned at the White Grotto.'

@Alara

Piper notices the pink tint on Alara's face and looks in the direction she looks at. Seeing Shalelu, he turns his head between both Alara and Shalelu. As the gears finally click, his eyes widen and he slowly gains a huge grin as he stares at Alara. 'Well, what do you know? It seems Shelyn's influence has struck. As one of her servants, maybe there's something I can do.'

Alara notices Piper's grin. Her blush fades, replaced by a questioning look.

"What?"

@William

"Count me in! I'm in the mood to get some payback!" Alara says with fire in her eyes. You get the impression that this matter means a lot to her.

@Alara

At Alara's question, Piper silently chuckles and shakes his head. He writes in elven and shows it to only her. 'Ní dhéanfaidh aon ní, mo daor. Just a fhios go más gá leat cabhrú le Shalelu, ach a iarraidh orm. Mar worshiper de na Rose Eternal, is féidir liom cabhrú i gcúrsaí an croí.'

"Oh ionas go bhfuil cad atá ar siúl. Tá a fhios agam Elven"

@Alara

Keeping his grin, Piper writes: 'Ní dhéanfaidh aon ní a bheith ashamed. Just a fhios go bhfuil mé ar do thaobh. Cé nach féidir liom a bheith ina cleireach, beidh mé ag cabhrú ar bhealach ar bith is féidir liom. Tá a fhios agam cad atá sé mhaith a bheith i ngrá.' After William says his piece, he shares a grin with him.

@Alara

Piper's grin turns into a more comforting small smile. He lays his hand on yours in a way that shows that he's a friend and a comrade that you can trust. He writes: 'Tá fáilte romhat. Know go más gá tú rud ar bith, tá mé anseo. Mar sin, tá William. Ceart?' As he says the last part, he looks in Will's direction.

"Ceart."

It's about now that Alara realizes that Piper mentioned being in love. Her blush promptly returns.

"Níl mé i ngrá!...Tá sé ach a chnagadh beag...

"Cinnte go bhfuil sé."

@Alara

At your statement, Piper bursts out laughing, a light raspy sound coming out. As he calms down, he writes: 'Sin de ghnáth conas a thosaíonn sé. Ach Faighim an mothú go cosúil é a bheith níos mó a bhfuil tú. Más rud é nach bhfuil, ansin tá sé an cumas a bheith níos mó.'

Darn it Sharrd thinks. I really have to learn elven He looks towards Ameiko and gives a little wave. You know if I killed alot of goblins, I bet she'd change her mind. You bet I want to team up, William. We'll be the goblin slayers supreme."

Alara sighs in defeat. She closes her eyes for a few seconds, collecting her thoughts. After a bit, she opens her eyes, glances over at Shalelu to see if she's listening or not, and looks back to William & Piper.

"Maith ... Is dócha go bhfuil cúis as sin."

"Lig dúinn a dhéanamh le déileáil, bheith linn i goblins marú agus wont linn a iarraidh ar bith níos mó de é. Déileáil?"

"Sharrd, maybe we can think of a better name on our way there."

Alara nods. "Deal. I'm itching to pay them back."

Before Sharrd can suggest 'Sandpoint Goblin Smashers' Alara speaks, this time in common. "Pay who back?" he asks Alara

@Sharrd

As Sharrd says his statement, Piper looks at him, giving a small chuckle. 'Kid's full of spirit, have to admit to that. I better keep an eye on him before he gets into serious trouble.' As Sharrd waves to Ameiko, however, Piper becomes silent, which unnerves members of the group due to how silent he can be.

@Alara & William

Piper looks like he was going to write more, but decided against it. At William's suggestion, Piper gives a firm and confident nod to Alara.

@GM

I did start a conversation with Ameiko and Sheriff Hemlock (Dad).

Alara turns to Sharrd, just realizing now that he wasn't privy to the conversation they had.

"Pay the goblins back, of course! They have a lot to answer for, don't they?" She says. "Attacking caravans, hurting innocent people..." She momentarily trails off. "...playing with fireworks that they shouldn't be playing with..."

Piper, sorry about that I've been busy getting another PbP up and running and with other errands. I will get back to you, probably via PM so as not to interrupt the flow of the game, but it won't be until tomorrow morning as tonight is my RL game

Masamune looks at all of the others gathered around.

"We have to go out in groups of at least four. So, who wants to go out and hunt down some goblin scum?"

Alara raises her hand with a grin.

"I could use some gold."

Alara turns to Sharrd, just realizing now that he wasn't privy to the conversation they had.

"Pay the goblins back, of course! They have a lot to answer for, don't they?" She says. "Attacking caravans, hurting innocent people..." She momentarily trails off. "...playing with fireworks that they shouldn't be playing with..."

Sharrd laughs at this. Playing with fireworks....That's hilarious, Alara.

Masamune looks at all of the others gathered around.

"We have to go out in groups of at least four. So, who wants to go out and hunt down some goblin scum?"

"i've got your back, brother."

Looking at his brother, he nods, "I will accompany you, if you wish. You know I am not very good in a fight, but I can certainly patch you up during and after." He normally would never go, but seeing how eager Sharrd is and knowing full well that his 'mother' would not be happy if the boy got hurt, no matter how strained things were.

Looking at Ameiko, Sharrd asks Alara "In Elven how does one say 'Your beauty is beyond compare."

Looking at Ameiko, Sharrd asks Alara "In Elven how does one say 'Your beauty is beyond compare."

Alara smiles, looking between Sharrd & Ameiko.

"Like this: 'Tá do áilleacht i gcomparáid níos faide anonn.'" She speaks slowly so Sharrd can follow along.

She looks back towards Ameiko. "And I'd agree. She's really beautiful."

'Tá do áilleacht i gcomparáid níos faide anonn.'" Shard says it over and over to himself for the next few minutes trying to commit it to memory.

Wow, the number of people trying to romance one of the two ladies is a bit shocking.

Glad I'm just a drinking buddy!

'Tá do áilleacht i gcomparáid níos faide anonn.'" Shard says it over and over to himself for the next few minutes trying to commit it to memory.

Alara giggles, then pats Sharrd on the shoulder. "Take it easy. You'll do fine."

Then, remembering how easily she got flustered at the mention of Shalelu, blushes slightly and adds: "Well, better than me, anyway." She offers a sheepish grin.

"Okay after Sharrd gets shot down lets move out! Just kidding buddy you'll do fine."

Unfortunately for Sharrd's aake, he's probably a bit too young for Ameiko.

"Incidentally, does anyone have anything to carry all the goblin ears we'll be collecting? We'll also need something to lug Gutwad's head back with." Alara asks, digging around in her satchel. She appears to be making sure all her gear is properly stowed away for the trip.

Masamune looks at Sharrd.

"Well if you ever need some dating advice I can help you out. Just go up to her, and offer to help her out. Then when you are helping her tell her about how well she has been running the Rusty Dragon."

While doing this Masamune is trying to give Sharrd a little push in the right direction.

Masamune is trying to aid another with Sharrd's next Diplomacy check. If Masamune succeeds Sharrd gets a +3 to his next diplomacy check.

Aid another Check Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Sharrd tosses back what's left of his beer, stands up and heads towards Ameiko. Smiling he steps up to her and says "Hey Ameiko, I've just met the most fascinating young lady over there. She's an elf and she's ummm... taught me some elvish phrases. Like
Intelligence check for how well he remembers: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Tado alright I comparid nos fade a nun
He suddenly begins to blush as he realizes that he probably didn't get all the words exactly right. "Um, just thought you'd be interested." He turns and heads back to the table, his face striken.
"OK, that didn't work. I'll try it your way Masamune.

As Sharrd returns to the table, Alara appears to be trying to stifle a fit of giggles.
Will Save to avoid collapsing into a giggle fit: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19
...by some miracle, she manages to do so.

"Well, we'll have plenty of time to get you up to speed with learning Elven. Don't worry so much!" She says with a sunny look.

Shard looks pleadingly at Alara. "What did I say?

"Well, you started out fine. The problem is, it sounded like you rushed through the rest of the phrase, and ended up stumbling over your words." Alara gives Sharrd a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "If we keep practicing, you'll be able to speak Elven words of looooove into her ear in no time!"

Masamune glares at Sharrd.

"You have five seconds to go up, and talk to Ameiko before I lay into you with my sword. Five, Four, Three...."

"Alright, jeez." Sharrd stands back up, trying to make it look like he had planned to do it all along and heads back towards Ameiko. "Hey, Ameiko, I'm sorry about what I said earlier, I totally got it wrong. I'm just trying to say that I think you're wonderful for helping me out with the job and everything and if you ever need any help. Well, I hope I'm the one you think of. My friends over there are forming the Goblin Sma.., um..a group to go after goblins, so I probably won't be able to help with the performance tonight. Again, if you need help I'll be there." He's so embarrased by this point he really doesn't give her a chance to answer, but just goes back and sits down.
"I'm ready to kill some goblins" he remarks.

Alara claps her hands together with a grin.

"I think that went much better than last time!"

She pauses, then glances around at the rest of the party.

"By the way, nobody said if they had anything to carry goblin ears with."

"We could get a few belt pouches before heading out."

Sorry. I had to run some errands. Here we go.

@GM

It's alright. I understand. Sorry if I came across as impatient.

@Group

Piper seems to be eager to help the group rid of the goblins, making sure his rapier is secure on his waist and his flute is in reaching distance. However, something peculiar occurs when Sharrd makes his attempt at wooing Ameiko. Piper is dead silent, his hands curled into fists, and his face seems to be getting redder. He keeps shooting small glares at Alara and Masamune. After Sharrd sits back down, Piper takes his board and furiously writes: 'I'll meet you guys outside.' He quickly packs his bag and, giving Ameiko a small bow, leaves the Rusty Dragon.

Time for drama. And some action.

"We could get a few belt pouches before heading out."

"Think we could get a sack for Gutwad's head?"

"Sure. What do you think Piper got so mad about?"

I'm back from Gen Con now and the internet access I had there was pretty bad. The hotel had free wifi but it was slow and a bit dodgy.

Anyway, what does everyone think of the applications from the recruitment thread?

"I like Yui-chan!" :)

Bill, you were there too!?!? Dang it, I was at the Marriott with all the Paizo GMs. 10 kids tables, 1 bonekeep, and 1 stonelords later...I'm whooped, but back!

The four applicants seem interesting.

Yui - Unique race and interesting connection to the characters. I like her upbeat personality. Seems to be the role of a support witch (at least from what I saw).

Rawnie - Connection to someone who hasn't gotten much focus on before. Also, is a sorcerer (which works well with filling in Sharrd's position). She also has a bloodline I've never seen before. Could help us prepare for encounters when we know what's coming. Also, it's Harrowing. Every time I've seen Harrowing being used in the games I'm in, it's always interesting. Also, has butterfly familiar from Wayfinder.

Valia - Unique concept. Not really a full spell caster, but provides the role of ranger. Like his profile says, he does have a good deal of offensive spells and can help provide support.

Zelruza - Race I haven't come across before in my games. Role seems to be providing support. Also, has a profession skill (haven't seen that used often). Is also going for a romance with Sandru.

Hard to decide which one sticks out in my mind.

The Marriott, eh? Maybe I should volunteer to GM PFS scenarios. We stayed out at a Quality Inn 10 miles away. The savings were quite good (I paid under $100/night for a family of 4) and the drive was short, the parking cheaper ($10/day instead of $20), but the scheduling was tougher since we had to come and go once/day as a group. And that meant I had to back out of the Friday night GenCon Special and my daughter had to leave the Ultimate Werewolf game group she was hanging out with earlier than she wanted and had to skip the rave.

The four applicants seem interesting.

Yui - Unique race and interesting connection to the characters. I like her upbeat personality. Seems to be the role of a support witch (at least from what I saw).

Rawnie - Connection to someone who hasn't gotten much focus on before. Also, is a sorcerer (which works well with filling in Sharrd's position). She also has a bloodline I've never seen before. Could help us prepare for encounters when we know what's coming. Also, it's Harrowing. Every time I've seen Harrowing being used in the games I'm in, it's always interesting. Also, has butterfly familiar from Wayfinder.

Valia - Unique concept. Not really a full spell caster, but provides the role of ranger. Like his profile says, he does have a good deal of offensive spells and can help provide support.

Zelruza - Race I haven't come across before in my games. Role seems to be providing support. Also, has a profession skill (haven't seen that used often). Is also going for a romance with Sandru.

Hard to decide which one sticks out in my mind.

I've also gotten PMs including pitches for:

Viluki - Invoker (3rd party class)
Tearis - Elven wizard - specializing in evocations and crushing on Shalelu
Geliglee Geerwander - Gnome illusionist with a focus on shadow magic

I don't believe any of these 3 have participated in the RP in the recruitment thread.

I can't speak much to the fact on private messages because we can't all see them so I can only judged based off of the ones posted and what I saw in the recruitment thread.

Rawnie: I like the harrowing and the fact that she has some focus on Sandra who I think has been mainly ignored so far since we started losino people. Also, I like the butterfly familiar just because it is something different. She is a sorcerer wit a bloodline that I have seen used twice before but both times it was very nice.

Valia: I enjoy that he not only has some support ability but he is also someone who posts with his familiar/animal companion. Good at providing support but still has a lot of offensive spells just in case.

Yui: A different race that I don't see too often. Seems to be very upbeat and lively with a childish air. Haven't had a chance to look at her character sheet but I think she is a witch with somethino to do with shadows.

Zelruza: A person who actually focuses on a craft skill that isn't just armor or weapons which is always nice for role playing reasons. I like the fact that she is also a bit focused on someone who has been ignored in the game.

I don't know who I would pick as I like all of them.

I'm leaning towards either Yui or Zelruza.

Yui because she's an upbeat, energetic character, and Zelruza because she'll open up roleplaying opportunities with one of the NPCs who hasn't gotten as much focus as the rest.

So... when it comes down to it, I think I'll go with Zelruza.

There's not a ton to go on with the proposals to my inbox other than the mechanics. The gnome illusionist intrigues me because I see them so infrequently now but it's harder to feel how they'd fit with the group compared to the players participating in the role-play. We're going more on mechanics and guesses.

Thanks for setting up the role-playing, Piper. It's given us more information to base decisions on.

Let's wait for Ash to chime in and once we give his input some thought, we can put the recruitment to a vote. I think maybe the best way to do that would be for people to private message me putting as many applicants as you want to vote for in your preference order and I'll use a transferable vote counting method. Kind of like what they're doing with the Ennies awards these days.

No problem, Bill. Recruitment role-play is helpful and I've seen it being done with a lot of the games I applied for.

Bill I'll send you a message with my order of preference!

Messaged ya with my picks, Bill!

Messaged you my picks!

Hello all, GM should I level up to two or do I need to earn the XP to reach second, the recruitment wasn't clear on that which is why I had it as level 1. I suppose I also need to get my stats in my class/levels like everyone else.

Go ahead and level-up to 2nd, Rawnie. That's where everyone else is. We aren't using XPs, I'm just having the PCs level up when it fits the ongoing action. It's easier on the accounting that way.

Just so you guys know, my family will be taking my brother to his college on Sunday. So, posting may be sporadic.

Would Alara be around to see what's going on between Piper and his dad?

I'll leave it up to Piper to determine whether he let other PCs know about his father being moved to the sanitarium. But, the current events are going on in a public space outside the garrison, so it would be possible for you to be there even if not specifically invited by Piper. I'm content to leave it up to you whether you want to be there or not.

I would assume that Piper would let the team know what's going on.

Also, wow. I think Vincent got even crazier.

We all still here?

I am!

Sure am.

Just so everyone knows, I picked up some hours at work for tomorrow. I will be gone for most of the day.

Hey, guys. Change of plans for tomorrow. My employer said that they didn't need me tomorrow. So I can post.

Bill? You there?

Just a quick heads up--now that the school year has started up again for me, my posting rate may end up dropping. I'll try to keep up as best I can.

Quick heads up: the school year for me is coming up tomorrow, so my posting rate may change due to classes, homework, and projects. I'll try to keep up as best I can.

I would like to buy masterwork studded leather armor and sell my regular leather armor, please.

The loot sheet needs to be updated because we need to remove Sharrd and add Rawnie. To answer Bill in the gameplay thread. The arrows are counting as sold because Alara wanted to give them to Shaleu as a gift. It wasn't a party item nor an item that the group agreed to buy, so Alara 'bought' the arrows. She is now in the negatives for loot so as we find more most of her share will go towards paying off the arrows. Piper can afford a masterwork studded leather armor, and sell his old armor. Just reduce your initial equipment cost by the amount your leather armor would be sold for. Then just add a masterwork studded leather armor to your column of the loot sheet.

Okay. Piper sells his leather for 5 gold (armor sells for half). So, I removed 5 gold from the initial equipment price. MW studded leather armor is 175 gold, so I added that to the list. So, everything should be good.

EDIT: And now Piper's at the medium carrying capacity.

OK, but then I think the arrows should go into the Acquired or Given area, right? Otherwise, they contribute to the gained gold at the top of the spreadsheet in D1 but aren't removed from the total in B1. That is, if I understand the intention of the spreadsheet's structure...

If the arrows and their price would be put into the acquired or Given area then it would be subtracted from the total in B1 before being split. This would make it so that the cost of the arrows would be considered a party expense, but this ins't a party expense this is instead one person "buying" an item from the group to then give away. The arrows count as "sold" because they are "sold" to Alara. I added a actual amount of gold left that can be spent to show how much gold the party still has at it's disposal.

Allow me to try and explain with examples.

Party A of five people finds enough treasure and magical items for the entire party to get 4,000 gold if everything is sold (Total to the right of gained gold).

The party in this treasure finds a wand of CLW with 50 charges and decides to keep it as party loot, and buy a vial of alchemist fire (Total to the right of Party Spent let's call it 500 gold).

This total is subtracted from the Gained Gold amount and is a new total (Total to the right of Gold after Party Spent now gold is at 3,500 for total).

Then the amount of loot is divided for each person (Total to the right of Individual Gold five people so each gets 700).

Party member 1 decides that they want a magical item from the loot pile that could be sold for 800 gold. They get it, but their individual gold goes into the negatives, so the rest of the party can't actually spend the remaining gold (Total under Party member 1 spent is higher than their gain so the remaining column for party member 1 is negative; The party actually has less than the Total to the right of Gold after Party Spent, so the Total to the right of Actual Amount of Gold that can be Spent is the correct total for how much remaining gold can be spent in this example 2,700 gold could still be spent and Party member 1 would have -100 gold in their remaining column)

I hope this helped explain as it is kind of hard to explain across the interwebs.

Sorry. Been busy with work and my birthday.

By the way, since the advanced class guide came out, will you allow us to use spells, feats, or build ideas from that for our PCs?

I'm OK with the Advanced Class Guide. If anything gets out of hand with any of the books or combinations, I would ask the player to tone things down (or pick up the pace, if lagging).

Happy one year anniversary since Marik's first post, guys. We've been through a lot: changes in DMs and several new players. Here's to more progress in the future!

"Yay!" *clap clap clap clap clap*

Speaking of progress - posts up in game play thread. Time for a little action.

Just so everyone knows, posting on Sunday may be sporadic since I'm taking my brother back to his college.

Hey, guys. Quick heads up. I'll be on a trip with a school club all day tomorrow. So again posting will be sporadic.

I kinda need Masamune to get in and provide flanking for me.

Are we all still here?

I am!

Just waiting for Masamune to go. I need the flanking against the ogre in front of me, unless the charmed one is inclined to go after his buddy.

Oops yea I'll post in about 3-4 hours.

...owie...

That was my worry when I saw ogres ;)

They do pack a wallop.

Posted in game play thread. Posting more tonight - getting called away from computer now... stay tuned.

Substantial overland travel in this format is a bit challenging. I want to give players the impression that they're actually getting somewhere, describing the vistas and so on, while including some episodes of action on the way to the main adventure site. Enough to get a taste of the local atmosphere.