This really is a very high quality game we got here. I've been playing PbP games off and on for about a decade. And I can say that this is one of the bests ones I've been in. Makes me glad that I restarted the practice, as I've been out of the loop for a few years. But all of our players are great, and we've got a great GM running things. We keep a decent pace of posting here, but its not so vigorous that its practically a full-time job. Every has characters that either break the norm in a lovely way, or play to the norm in an unexpected and lovely way (This one's for you Mahb!). Everyone's been getting their moment in the spotlight, (Lineera during the storm, Eva during the cave) but it hasn't been forced, just the game's natural progression shifts the camera seamlessly.
In short, you guys are all awesome, and I hope we keep our team together for a long time, regardless as to specific characters.
I'll be unsteady posting the rest of the week. My wife's grandmother died this morning. This is the widow of her grandfather who died on new years eve. Also, I have to travel for work Thursday and Friday. Yay 2014. :(
I'm deeply sorry for you loss mdt, I truly hope you'll feel better soon.
I also wanted to thank you, and everyone else as well, for your kind words and understanding about my disappearance. Furthermore, I want to take this occasion to tell you you're doing an outstanding job of running this adventure; when the original master vanished, you did step up and managed to keep it all together, expanding and reworking the main theme with great ability, giving us here and there a few answers to the mysteries we are trying to unveil, all the while drawing us deeper and deeper in a compelling and bewitching plot, that I'm very eager (and I think the others too) to follow and unfurl!
A few posts above, there was talk about how hard it is to write a great horror story. Well, I dare say you are doing it very well indeed! :)
Ok! Now, off I go to finally write something in the gameplay thread (It may take a little while), and thanks again for you patience guys! ^_^
No problem Elena, glad you have enjoyed not enjoying it. :)
I'll probably not develop plot further until all the fiddly bits are done and your new character on line and ready to join in. Unless I need to for your character to join in. :)
But I'll start working up what everyone finds/learns/etc tomorrow if I can.
No problem Elena, glad you have enjoyed not enjoying it. :)
Ah! ;)
I'm very much enjoying the game, it's just what befell Elena that left me a bit disheartened and reluctant to write about her situation.
On the other hand, now I'm quite thrilled with the idea of making a 'back-up' character to stand in for Elena (thanks for suggesting this mdt :D)! There was a concept/build I wanted to play for quite some time, but never came around to do so, that'd perfect for this group!
Still need to iron out a few details, then I'll post something about it. ^_^
As promised, here's the rolls for what Elena intends to do:
First thing first, there are wounded to tend to. Elena will use her spells and abilities (channel energy) to heal everyone to full health, and if their wounds are so grievous she can't do it in one day, she'll come back the next, or for as long as needed, till everyone is back on his feet. If needed, I'll roll a few Heal checks too.
Then she'll officiate the funerals for the dead. With the death of father Abercrombie, she feels it's her duty as the new 'titular' priestess of the church. She welcomes Lineera's aid in this matter, since her faith in the Lady of the Dead seems quite appropriate in this case. Diplomacy check to give comfort to the people.
The rest depends on how her father feels about remaining in charge during this period. If he feels well enough to keep his role, Elena likely smiles for the first time in days, then devotes her energy to rebuild the damaged houses, and help the villagers with whatever else they may need to get back on their feet (seeding the fields, etc...).
Strength and Constitution checks for the, likely, hard work ahead.
On the other hand, if her father doesn't feel well and decides to either step down temporarily or ask for her help, Elena dutifully assumes the role of 'Mayor ad interim', and devotes herself entirely to the delicate role. Since she'd have to speak with a lot of people, and convince them her decisions are sound, her diplomatic skills would surely come in handy.
That's pretty much it! Busy days ahead, but the village is going to pull through, stronger than ever! ;)
Her 'hook' to come to Perd. Point: after the attack, the Mayor will certainly send out a few letters with requests for help. One of those letters is to ask the City for some kind of expert that know how to deal with undead, and that could help the village track down whoever is behind the massacre, and visit upon him proper judgment. Of course, an individual with such qualifications is not easy to find on short notice, so the City sends the 'next best thing'... Aurora Beldusk, a young paladin of Sarenrae, barely out of her training and with very limited experience, but eager to prove her worth to her superiors and help the poor people of Perdition Point in their hour of need. The word is this assignment might be more of a punishment than anything else, since Aurora is well known for her witty, irreverent personality and unconventional, carefree attitude, but she doesn't care in the least. The folks of Perdition Point need help, so that's where she's going to go!
Crunch-wise, here's the gist of the character: Human ranged-focused Paladin, with strong defensive capabilities and decent offensive and support ones (both in-combat and outside). Thanks to her build, it shouldn't be a problem to fill Elena's role, and she'll also bring to the table a few extra odds and ends that may come in handy against undead.
I hope you like this idea (if not, feel free to tell me your concerns, and I'll do what I can to change her)! And without further ado, the rolls!
YESS!! Even the universe is telling me that Paladin is the way to go! ^_^
All fine with me Elena. Go ahead and roll up the alt. I do wish you'd put ELena's stuff in the gameplay posts. :) I'll transfer it.
Alright everyone, I declare a Free RP zone in the game play thread. It's two weeks later. Please excuse Elena and I tap dancing on each other's exposed nerves over there. Don't let it distract you from playing. :)
It's all good. Seems like everyone's having a rough time this year. To different degrees of course. I've just come down with strep throat, and this is whilst recovering from the flu. We'll probably just have a few slow weeks as we all recover from our various woes. Just make sure to take care of yourselves first. :)
Question about the loot: did anyone ever identify those wands?
Not that I saw.
Well, we should get on that!
Official Retcon - Cathran and Riley did not meet in Hamsberg, they met in Vauntil. That is the only change.
Riley, are you still here? I haven't seen any posts by you in a week or so.
Sorry for all the small posts, but there was a TON of stuff to do within that 3 weeks, and I needed to get the most vital bits done first, and then start going back hitting the smaller things.
Oh, one last thing, the thing everyone missed in the cave...
Eva's zombie had sleeves of many garments on, that's how they duplicated her clothing. People cast detect magic on the boxes, on the altar, on everything but Eva's Zombie.
And I even commented multiple times that it somehow duplicated her equipment, and her equipment didn't rot like the rest of the zombie equipment did.
Oh well...
@Elena - The conversation with her father, Elijah, and Jacob is optional, if you don't want to RP that, don't worry about it. Just let me know and I'll complete that one. I mostly just wanted to give you something to do while you were working up your backup character.
Oh, one last thing, the thing everyone missed in the cave...
Eva's zombie had sleeves of many garments on, that's how they duplicated her clothing. People cast detect magic on the boxes, on the altar, on everything but Eva's Zombie.
And I even commented multiple times that it somehow duplicated her equipment, and her equipment didn't rot like the rest of the zombie equipment did.
Oh well...
I see that you, too, are the kind of GM who likes to tell their players about the things they missed, or otherwise wouldn't know about. :)
I gotta say, even though I don't read the spoiler tags that I'm not supposed to see, I really want to...
I thought someone searched the corpse? Really I did.
Plus, I don't have detect magic.
@Elena - The conversation with her father, Elijah, and Jacob is optional, if you don't want to RP that, don't worry about it. Just let me know and I'll complete that one. I mostly just wanted to give you something to do while you were working up your backup character.
I'd love to roleplay that. ^_^
Sorry, I've been very busy (work, work , WORK! Gha! I need a break, I'm exhausted! -.-'), but I promise I'll post something within a few hours!
And now, I'm off to... Work some more... -.-'
Re-read that last post of mine, and it sounds very complainy. I wasn't trying to be. I was just semi-surprised since I thought that the Eva Zombie body had been searched.
Don't expect much of anything more out of me tonight. I've been fighting a headache since mid-morning that refuses to leave. And I can tell it's starting to affect anything and everything I do or say. I'd rather not be to snippy with all of you.
I'm going to go rest and see if I can finally get this to go away.
If people want a potion from my brew list, I can make them for 50 gp each, and Eva would be willing to make them at cost for the party.
Let me know if you all want potions or alchemical items as well. I'll figure out all the specifics on those after my brain reboots.
Actually, 1st level potions are 25gp apiece to craft (crafting cost). Zero level potions are 12.5gp to craft.
I think Eva's just tired.
Alchemical's cost 1/3rd their market price to make, not 1/2, being mundane.
And no worries Eva, didn't sound snippy at all. :) Besides, we've all been snippy recently.
If I make them as CL2 though... it's 50 gp, if I did the math right. Is it not allowable to do that? Or must they be CL 1. I'll make CL1s if you want them, but I thought the extra hp point might be nice. Otherwise, yes. It'll be 25 gp a pot. I'll make anything on my extract list if you ask for it.
And I know it's 1/3 for mundane... did I say 1/2? I just don't want to go doing all the calculations on cost at the moment. That's what I meant by figuring out specifics... sorry. Not wanting to do math >.<
And if no one else will, expect Eva to have done Identify on the wands. If she can take 10, that gets her a 28 Spellcraft check.
And yes, Eva is very tired. -.-
Ah, sorry, yes you can make them for 2nd level.
However, things like CLW aren't worth doing as 2nd level. For example, a 2nd level CLW cures 1d8+2 and costs 50GP to make. A level 1 heals 1d8+1 and costs 25gp to make. So for CLW, it's more cost effective to use 1st level potions.
Things like shield, that last a duration based on level are more worth it. Or enlarge person, etc.
And no, just a reminder on the 1/3rd cost. For everyone else, you didn't specify either way. :)
The two wands are :
1 Wand of Sculpt Corpse - 11 charges remaining
1 Wand of Inflict Light Wounds - 8 charges remaining
Then I'll do CLW as 25 gp each and the duration based ones as either/or. And with an update to the loot sheet, I'll go crash. Night all.
Oh, and if everyone is okay with it, I can just deduct from party money. Since we haven't divided anything yet, and this is for the party. (I'm perfectly fine with a party pot that we pull from as needed. But this is a group call on how we handle that.)
Damn... I really hate to say this, since just a couple of hours ago I promised to write something down in the gameplay thread, but I really can't make it tonight.
A deadline at work has been moved closer by a week, with no warnings whatsoever (... -.-'), and I'm working madly to wrap up my part of the project.
Right now is 4:20 AM here, and I can't keep my eyes open anymore. I pretty much have to crush right now (the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, and all of that!), and I'll have to work tomorrow morning too.
If all goes well, I should be able to finally write something by late morning or early afternoon.
Sorry again guys, and see you tomorrow! :)
No problem, work first. You can't post if you lose your job and can't pay internet fees. :)
Oh, and for crafting, I let you make 1000gp per day, no matter what. So none of that '1 potion per day'. So you can pretty much craft all the potions you want in one day. The only restriction is you can't mix and match in one day (so as many CLW's as you have cash for, or as many enlarge persons, etc).
And no worries Eva, didn't sound snippy at all. :) Besides, we've all been snippy recently.
Sheesh! 'Snippy' is Mahb's MO on a daily basis... so get in line. :)
I've uploaded a new version of the Village Map, this one an overhead so I can update it with changes that occur. Please look it over and let me know if I messed anything up. I think I did a pretty good job of translating the original map.
Map looks good to me! Seems well translated, and everything looks nice. Kind of fun to see where Lineera's new home is on the map. :)
Brains.... Brains...
No brains before you finish your stew!
*looks at the empty stew bowl* Braaaaaiiiiinsssss....
There you go. *Gives brains* Sprinkles?
Nice to meet you, Zombie Eva! I would like to introduce myself as Cathran, the party member with the lowest intelligence and basically the lowest mental stats also and therefore the one with the least appetizing brain. Ahem.
Waiting for Elena before I advance plot. Still need her backup character info.
Sorry for not posting yesterday, work was busy and I just had some other stuff going on that evening.
Also, I realize we posted up a storm this week, so I'll try to think up a post to give Riley an opening into the action tonight. :)
All good, my strep throat has gone and decided to infect my ears, sinuses, and left eye at this point. Somehow despite this I'm feeling better today, but I probably wouldn't have gotten any other replies to you yesterday anyway.
And I was dealing with the aftereffects of an all day headache yesterday, but today! I feel better. Much better.
Has the Paizo site been freaking out for anyone else today? It's been down for me most of the times I've checked our threads since yesterday.
Yep, it's been down all day today and part of yesterday.
Also, if you posted Friday Night or Saturday, check to see if your post survived. They had to do a restore from backup, so they lost some posts.
Re-posting this in every game I'm in, since server rollback destroyed my last post:
Due to family issues, health concerns (just a touch of the flu, but still), and a terrible crisis at work all of my time is taken, and I won't be able to consistently be present here on the boards and play.
I'll try my best to write something whenever possible, but at the very least till the 28, when a work deadline I can't possible afford to miss is set, my presence here will be sporadic at best.
I'm deeply sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, and I give every GM the permission to bot my characters any way the see fit, if the need arises.
Thank you guys, sorry again, and happy gaming! ^_^
---
Since server died, I'll write again what I wrote before (I just hope I remember everything)...
First of all, I'm very sorry to have to take a leave from this game when the situation of my character(s) is such a mess, and even if there isn't really much I can do about it right now, I apologize for that.
I can however give at least a general idea of what Elena is doing during this few 'special' weeks:
Elena is very favorable to the idea of priests of other faiths coming to town, since she realizes the help they could give the village, and that being close minded in such a moment could very well harm the village severely in the long run. (she's become quite a pragmatist).
Elena will make rebuilding the church (or at least some kind of temporary substitute) a priority.
Elena will go around the village and make sure everyone is doing fine and has everything they need. This of course includes the wounded, the ones who need to rebuild their houses, and so on.
She will also check on each of her companions, and see how they're doing (like Lineera and her new home, Eva and the translation, catching up a bit with Riley, ask Mahb if she found something from her interrogations, see if Cathran needs anything now that she's back home, etc...)
When the time is right to leave, she'll inform the others she feels she has to stay and help the village, at least for a while longer, and will stay behind.
The gist of it: Aurora Beldusk, Paladin of Sarenrae, was supposed to come to the village with one of the new priests, as an escort or bodyguard. Once in the village, she would reveal her 'true' mission is to identify the source of the village problems, and eradicate it. She would then ask the mayor permission to join the party and help them in their quest (since it's also her quest now).
Her profile is partially up, but still lacks equipment and background, and a few other things. Equipment, appearance and so on I can do really quick (since they're basically done), but background would take more time, and I'm not sure I have that right now (I have many incoherent notes about it, so I 'know of her', but I still have to pin details down and put everything together).
I'm sorry to leave you with this headache. I have a couple of ideas on how to handle it though:
1) Since there is no need for anyone to know her background just yet (and she wouldn't just tell her life story either, if not for a few general things, since she'd need to make sure she could trust the party first), Aurora could be introduced as she's right now.
2) The party would meet Aurora only when they'd reach the City (possible to gather information?). There, they would surely attract her attention (she's investigating as well, after all, and keeping an eye out for anything suspicious), and after a first meeting I hope wouldn't degenerate too much, she'd join the party.
I'd like to do something more, believe me, but now I really have to go back to work (Gha! I'm so tired...)
Sorry again for this everyone, hope you understand, and I wish you happy gaming! ^_^
@Elena
Hi Elena, no problem. What we'll do is keep your spot in the game until at least, say, late February (IE: 28th + 3 weeks) since you gave us a date. Don't worry, and you can drop by and post in the discussion as much as you like.
I'm afraid I didn't see your post that got eaten. :(
I'm perfectly fine with the general concept, and we'll bring your character in when you can play again, and work out the exact method as makes sense at that time. Until then, I'll DMPC Elena, given your general 'what she does' posts.
@Everyone else...
Please let me know when you're ready to move forward, there are outstanding RP threads in the game thread that haven't been resolved. Let me know when you are done with them and we'll advance the plot.
Sounds good, will let you know once I've done everything I want Lineera doing at least.
Also, since given our recent woes with it, I figured it may warrant discussing for us to have a backup site in mind? Like a Google-Group or something like that as a fallback point in case we get another long outage just so that we can at least contact each other and keep things moving until Paizo's website gets its act together again.
Ok, I've added an Emergency Document above, it's on Google drive, and anyone can type into it and leave notes.
Please let me know when you're ready to move forward
Mahb is ready to move on, unless any of the folks in Tommas' pad decide to share news of what they have found.
I'll try to get my RP threads tied up ASAP. I could probably take things to PMs or something if we want to get back to the main plot quicker, if that seems needed.