Four survivors of death, walking a new world, with unknown dangers and unknown future, attempt to make their way in on this strange new world. And build a new life.
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
You can hunt as you move out of the hectate. They're not unreasonable, they just don't want to encourage people to take 3 months to get out of their territory. :)
Oh heh, that makes sense. Well maybe we should just take a slightly paralell course on the way out to how we came in just to see if anything catches our eye and call it a day otherwise?
Lilandra gathers the others together after more than 6 weeks in the hectate. "With Abbas now mostly recovered, I think we've worn out our stay with the Ranafolk. I'd like to see if this hectate has anything of note besides that egg and this settlement, but if any of you would rather not press our luck with our hosts and would prefer we make straight for the boat, that's fine too. Anyone have any strong feels one way or the other?"
The group begins heading south west, back toward the boat they took here. Nothing unusual is found in the hex near the fort, as expected, as they'd been exploring the nearby hexes while helping Abbas with his retraining.
On the way back, they find a small forest on the plains, trees thrusting up out of the savanna that offers blessed shade as they walk. Everyone comes out of the woods and into a clearing near the center of the small forest. A single tree sways in the breeze.
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
Botted Palakka:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Nothing from Paloma/Relas in two weeks, we'll say they decided to stay with the Ranafolk, unless we hear from them again, in which case they changed their minds and caught up later.
As the group enters the clearing, Abbas, Beru, and Palakka all stop and stare at the tree. Then they begin to walk forward slowly. All 3 walk forward their movement, putting Beru and Abbas 30 ft from the tree, and Palakka 20 ft from it (with his higher base movement).
Lilandra, you can take one standard or move action. Basically surprise round
So apart from everyone walking forward in basically the same manner we had been, there's nothing really for me to react to? It's a tree in a clearing that we were cutting through anyway?
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
You can make a sense motive check to see if you notice the glassy stare (DC 18) or a perception check to notice Palakka has stopped blinking all the time (DC 20)
Man that leaves brainwashed Abbas as the sole original member of the party, rough! Meanwhile here I am shuffling to my doom courtesy of the hypno-tree....or some denizen therein.
Lilandra continues walking along as before, her gaze bouncing from one side of the clearing to the other, missing a tell-tale hint that something might be amiss.
That's okay, when the tree (or inhabitant) tells me to eat Lilandra for her delicious spinal fluid or some such thing she will get the hint VERY fast ;p
As the group continues forward, Palakka suddenly yelps in pain and blood explodes from him before he's pulled off the ground by his throat! Abbas too suddenly erupts in blood, and feels something invisible ripping at him! But he fortunately manages to just avoid being grappled by whatever invisible attacker is attacking him!
Everyone is surprised, so nobody acts this round.
Lilandra:
As the group continues forward, a heavily thorned vine hanging from the tree whips out and slams into Palakka, making him yelp in sudden pain and blood explodes from him before he's pulled off the ground by his throat by the wrapping vine! Abbas too is hit by a second vine, the cruel thorns slicing his chest open and sending blood spraying! But he fortunately manages to just avoid being grappled by the vine!
The vine whips at Baru, who ducks under it. Abbas on the other hand, apparently still unable to see it, is slammed hard and the vine wraps around his body.
Abbas:
Everyone is reacting to something, apparently they can all see the invisible attacker! Whatever it is, it hit's Abbas for another 8 hp and grapples him! Total damage taken so far : 16hp
Lilandra gasps as the tree suddenly surges to life and latches onto Abbas. Focusing as best she can, she taps into a wellspring of magic and tries to free Abbas from the tree's clutches.
Spell Failure (1-25=fail):1d100 ⇒ 89
Standard action: cast liberating command (+2 bonus to Abbas' escape artist check) Move action: draw glaive
I understood the comment about the DC, sorry I didn't comment on it. I posted the ? more to nudge the thread to see if I had missed something else but we are on our way so no worries! Abbas is wrestling with a phantom tree! With...vine appendages. I'm waiting for some sort of ghastly plant mouth frankly...
Just ran into a rough patch with the divorce, so it'll probably be later today/early tomorrow before I can post. Dmpc me if need be. If anyone wants to know more , just pm me.
Abbas struggles to free himself from his unseen foe and cannot seem to find a good way to escape. And is about to drop unconscious if something doesn't change... The Suli gasps at the assault on him.
Can I try to attack this thing if I can't see it? Does the immediate EA check cost me actions?
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
You can activate your suli ability, and try to punch it with your hand. Because of the energy on the hand, it wouldn't be considered an unarmed attack, but the punch would do subdual + energy. You can also attempt another will save at +4. You get one each round. And yeah, the elf's crossbow bolt didn't even bounce off the tree trunk, instead it went wide by a foot. Didn't even hit the non-mobile tree's touch AC. :)
Abbas continues to struggle against the creature this time trying to rely on his strength and skill to wedge himself out of the grasp of whatever has him.
CMB!:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
I guess I need to know if I succeed because then I can act normally? or rather move a bit?
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
Abbas suddenly realizes that the tree is the attacker, unsure how he missed the giant tentacles wrapping themselves around him and slicing into his body. The shock is so great, he goes boneless, and the tree is confused and drops him thinking he's dead. Abbas lands on his feet.
You may attempt to move away with your move action. You'll likely want to make a (good) acrobatics check to avoid the attack of opportunity.
Abbas Init:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10Assuming he manages to get away Baru Init:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 Lilandra Init:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23 Palakka Init:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Sliding out of the tree's grasp the suli drops to the ground and attempts to roll away from the tree conscious of his injuries and looking to get a breath in before figuring out a next move.
The vine slams into Abbas as he tries to dive over it and out of the area, and slams him into the ground, the sounds of broken bones accompanying the hit. He goes completely still, and the creature wraps a vine around him and shakes him to make sure it's not a fake.
Lilandra watches horrified as Abbas collapses and his subsequently shaken by the tree. Maintaining her distance, thinking she'd have no hope of helping the man if she were caught by the tree herself, she fires off another arrow.
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
Palakka finally manages to dig his teeth into the tree's bark, ripping bark from the tree, and is likely shocked to find a black ichor inside that oozes out of the plant much like rotting blood. It tastes like rotting blood as well.
I don't know that you need to bot him, mdt. I would certainly like to keep continuing, but I don't think you need the extra work of botting an absent PC.
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
And now the blank map for F7 is up on the site.
You have stepped from F6 to F7 when you walked through the black tapestry. You are currently Standing on the line between A8 and A9. So, if you went to A8, your coordinate map location would be WF7-A8.
Each of the hexes on the blown up hex are 10 miles across (about 85ish square miles).
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
We'll be using the exploration rules from Ultimate Campaign. So crossing a hex at 20 ft takes 8 hours. Fully exploring a single hex takes 2 days. For every hex you fully explore, you get 100 xp. You also get 200 xp for every Mega-Hex you enter and explore at least 10 hexes of.
It is up to you how much exploration you do. Each hex has a potential to have something good, something bad, or nothing at all. :) Trampling through a hex in a day chances a random encounter. Exploring it causes a roll on the Terrain Element Table.
The maximum XP you can get from exploring a Mega-Hex is 1200 xp.
So we could load up super heavy and try to keep most of the basic gear with just enough tents and what not, or we could see if we can fashion and pull a sled of some kind? My concern being that we basically could hide everything/attempt to store it somehow but we have no honest notion if we will ever be back?
I say we just take some basic camping/wilderness gear and explore the hex for 2 days. See if the animals are friendly, see if there's any sign of civilization, etc.
Edit: mdt, would you mind linking the pallet contents at the top of this campaign as well? :)
Yeah, maybe just take the basics + anything that seems terrain/weather appropriate to whatever hex we land in; I like to be prepared but I'd hate for us to have a bunch of our extra supplies and potentially lose them if we have to bail out of an area for some reason.
Tolla has her bedroll and cooking supplies, and we can take some water in waterskins.
Other than that I say we bring:
-The large tent: it will fit all four of us. I know the base summoner rules say that eidolons go back to their home plane when the summoner goes to sleep, but I don't know if that's true for whatever variant Palomia is using.
-The small tent, in case of having five sleeping bodies, or if someone just wants to sleep alone.
-Enough rations for a couple of days, but the survival skill can be used to find food, so maybe we'll try that first.
-A strong sense of adventure
As of right now, Relas will indeed return to his home plane whenever Palo sleeps, falls unconscious, or dies (duh); this summoner variant gives some options for changing that rule so at next level up I'll probably see if I can switch it to where he doesn't have to go home quite so often :)
A heavy repeater crossbow. I tried to get one in the pallet, but because of the problems with my original list (too much stuff) and the subsequent lateness of my response to mdt, I couldn't get one. So now Gniel will make one. It will take a while though. Average of 15 game weeks plus masterwork. 30 since we are traveling
I have a feeling that crafting & survival skills are going to come in very handy unless we somehow find a friendly town/civilization or the mysterious Voice opts to replenish supplies at the ocean platform. Unfortunately, neither Palo or Relas are going to be very useful in those areas :\
Also, here's hoping I'm doing Relas' attacks right since this is my first summoner character!
Not relevant to this particular PbP, but since I'm pretty new to the whole concept as well as the board, is there some form of etiquette on how many PbPs to apply to/play in? Obviously you should only take on what you think you'd have the time for; I'm in three now with a character submitted for a 4th (should know yay or nay sometime tomorrow evening) and I still keep seeing new ones that I'd like to play in - but I don't want to be greedy, either, since I'm seeing several of the same people apply to these PbPs as well.
I'm new to PbP too, so I don't know if there's an etiquette regarding application number. Probably just don't accept more than you'll be able to meet the post requirements for. Also, I always find that running games for people helps me feel like my balance is a little more "fair." :)
I think a lot of it is that I'm in the stage of "PLAY ALL THE CLASSES" but our RL games don't move *that* fast and so there's a lot of character concepts/ideas that I probably would never really get to play - but PbPs give me chances to try new things. Sort of struggling with the kid in the candy store effect, I think :)
After I came up with the idea, I went around asking my friends what race/class their moms would be if they were D&D characters. Nearly half of the people I asked said "cleric," and I'm curious why.
I was originally going to make Tolla my mom's height (5'2"), but my Bred for War trait requires her to have a huge build. The personality is essentially the same, but adjusted for a fantasy adventure setting.
Is it possible to inactivate the central World Apart thread? Or do we risk not being able to turn it back on? I guess you could inactivate the players in that case...regardless I'm just curious.
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
Yeah, unfortunately, animals all tend to attack the closest if they are startled. These guys weren't hunting, they were sunning. But 3 ft grass makes it hard to see them until in tooth and claw range.
Nothing personal! You seem like you're paying close attention to how these animals would actually fight and hunt; I liked the lion trying to run as soon as he started taking some damage since it doesn't benefit a predator to get the snot kicked out of him or possibly die.
Though the current situation *does* make me curious how you handle PC death in your games; is that it for the player if a means of resurrection isn't available or do they just make a new PC?
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
Player always has the option of creating a new PC. Might be a tiny space before they can bring it in. This game is a bit harder than most. :) Although the entity has a few in reserve to send through if someone brings a dead crystal back.
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
On the bright side, you'll be well on your way to second level if you survive the fight. You're all at 612 now, 1300 is the next level (I use Fast for levels 2-5, then Medium for 6 to 15, then slow for 16 to 20).
I keep forgetting that I have barbarian levels (and therefore can rage), even though I have twice as many as monk levels, and plan to take more barbarian than monk in the long run anyway. I guess once a monk, always a monk, even a nonlawful one. Dragon style probably isn't helping. :P
There there RElas, we will figure it out! Maybe the...
OMG!
Maybe the animals have stones like us and that is what Relas ate? We should look through the bodies...maybe if we can cultivate whatever it was we can have them in reserve to feed the eidolon rather than having to swoop in for a kill every day.
I'm moving this weekend, so I may be without internet and time to post for a couple of days. I'll do my best to get on and post once a day, but we'll see what time permits.
@Abbas - That's an interesting idea! After the incident with the lion, Palo had already decided to gut the next creature of size that the party happened to kill and see if the same thing happened again. I'm sure there's some manner of getting around the low magic compatibility, whether it's a matter of adapting to the environment over time or finding/developing alternate power sources.
Still here, just chilling out at work (bleh night shift) and waiting for the next turn of combat. I'm just curious, what do you guys think of character backstories and such? Do you like to create real intricate ones or do you prefer to keep it short and sweet and just play it by ear on how your character develops? For the DM and those that DM/have DMed, do you like seeing in-depth character backstories or does it not make a lot of difference to you either way? :)
Just to let you all know, I was travelling heavily 10/27 to 10/29, I'll be catching up on 10/30
Human GM
In a normal game, I prefer my players have at least a half-page of back story for me. For this type of game, it's not as important, but I have it anyway since everyone had to come up with a death story. :P
For my PCs when I'm playing, I always have at least a page of backstory (12pt, single space, letter). :)
