Aardvark's "What a Royal Pain" CotCT Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Troy Malovich

I apologize for any delays on my part. I am off this week, so will be limited in how often I can spend time on the computer.

The next three weeks I am on a work schedule non-conducive to steady posting, so I will try to post when I can (could be as bad as once a week), but my player posts will be likely more frequent than my GM posts based on the amount of time each one takes.

Next few days I might be without internet access. Neva will attack with Spiritual Weapon and crossbow, attacking whoever is being attacked by her teammates. Back home on Wed.

I'm on the road all weekend (heading out this afternoon) and I won't really have any opportunities to post while I'm gone. Hopefully we've got this fight in the bag at this point though =)

As a head's up -- I'll be out of town in a place where I'm not expecting to have any internet access from Friday, Sept 2 until Saturday the 10 (and will likely be unpacking and the like, such that Monday the 12th is probably the safest estimate of when I'll be able to catch up and post).

I'll still be here to play this week, but given the chaos of packing, I wanted to make sure I posted a warning of my absence while I can (though I will try to post a reminder before I go..)

While I'm gone, please feel free to bot Vyshael as needed.

I have embarked on my annual autumn excursion to Someplace Else(TM) and so my availability and access may not be what they generally are. It looks like I should be able to post in the evenings, but can make no guarantees, so please feel free to bot Feldivarxon as necessary.

I should be able to resume normal activity after the 17th.

I have been in so many CotCT games, and leapt into the middle for all but one of them over these past few years, that I'm finding myself a little turned around right now.

I just nearly dropped a big long post in the gameplay thread, but realized just as I was about to click submit that everything I had been about ready to reference had happened to a different character in a different game.

Would it trouble anyone terribly much to give us a quick little summary here for where we're at? I remember some wererats and an otyugh and going swimming near a sunken boat, but the rest is kind of a messy haze. =P

Lol, I was doing the same thing last night. "Necromancer? What Necromancer?" I recalled this morning the whole Cabbage head/ Jester thing. But I also recall Dr. Davalos(sp?) being in charge of the Queens Physicians. Isn't he supposed to be here or something?

And, profuse apologies to Aard. It's not you, it's us. And the format!

Holy crap, I'd completely blanked on that whole horrible mansion event! Gadzooks! I had to search the gameplay thread for the word 'jester' to recall what blazing jester you were talking about!

I was going to say, I think we were finally led here by the jester woman who was left behind at the massacre at the mansion, by the necromancer. We were (and are) looking for the musician brother of the actress who'd approached Rutter. The necromancer supposedly brought him here, because he's a healthy Varisian. Why? We don't know.

We had, some time back, assaulted the necromancer's underground lair to recover the body of a Shoanti, at the behest of a Shoanti ally of Commander Kroft. He wasn't there, so we left the place trashed. This was before we heard he had any connection to these physicians.

Sorry to double-post, but I wanted to post this separately. The story so far, to the best of my recollection. Feel free to correct, add to it, update the sequence, or refresh my memory on names.

Rutter and some other strangers were summoned by the ghost of a fortune teller, Zellara, to take vengeance on a mutual enemy, Gaedren (?) Lamm, and his allies.

Neva, a long-time friend of Zellara's, joined the group when they returned to Zellara's small home.

All heck broke loose throughout Korvosa after the king was assassinated. The Queen, a Cheliax native, took the throne.

I think we found some jewelry that belonged to the Queen and we met her and her bodyguard, the Commander of the Grey Maidens, when we returned it (not sure the sequence).

Somehow we were deputized to work for Cressida Kroft, Commander of the Town Guard. We trust her.

We were sent by Cressida and Vencarlo (?) to fight some crooked guards at some meat processing plant. Don't remember exactly why.

A plague broke out in town, and the Queen brought over her own doctor from Cheliax and a bunch of his physicians to help. They set up this suspicious Hospice.

We were sent to arrest a female artist who was framed for killing the King. The sorcerer with us at the time was all aflutter. At her execution, some dashing, Zorro-style swashbuckler, whose name I forget, rescued her. Neva was all aflutter.

Vencarlo (?) (who nobody said out loud, but is probably the masked swashbuckler) asked us to help the rescued artist sneak out of town. Rutter sat that one out, home with the plague.

We went undercover to some bandit group on some docked boats for some reason I don't remember. Neva played the part of our leader. Saw a caged psydragon (?) but were too outnumbered to try to help it.

We were sent to this same necromancer's lair to retrieve the Shoanti body that he had stolen. Didn't meet the necromancer, but I think we killed one of his guardians who was there (Cabbagehead?), or did we con him out of fighting us?

We were sent to check out some plague-infected bodies that weren't making it to the graveyard (the Grey?) part of town. Instead, we found vampire spawn that we were woefully unprepared for.

At some point, did we go to the Bank or some Church and meet someone there, for some reason? Whoever it was, they called on us to investigate a perfume shop that claimed to have a cure. It was a false cure. The shop owner escaped. Rutter tried to take over the business to avoid a riot and make some money to research a real cure, but when the counter clerk didn't show up to work the next morning, we let the crowd destroy the place.

There were some hostilities between townspeople and the wererat population. We were approached by a wererat to calm a wererat instigator, Ripperclaws. We had to kill him. We fed his body and his allies to a trapped Otuygh in the sewer near their lair.

We went underwater to investigate a boat wreck, that happened around the same time that the plague hit town. We found a dead physician among the wreck and some wooden boxes that told us... something. I forget exactly what, but I think we've concluded that the physicians brought the plague here on that boat.

Some impoverished actress approached us, to ask us to find her missing brother, a musician last seen going to perform at some rich party. When we got there, there had been a slaughter of the party-goers. They were left as zombies, and there was some crazy invisible rogue acrobat jester there. We finally subdued her. The group wouldn't let Rutter kill her. There was no sign of the musician. I think she told us that the necromancer took him to this Hospice. We left her with the guard. Since she's not dead, we'll probably find out she escaped after we finish here at the Hospice.

We came to the Hospice to find the brother and maybe some evidence that the physicians are behind the plague, or at least that they're not really trying to heal people here, since no one ever seems to check out.

Rutter - that is an awesome summary, dude. Thank you so much!

I think the vigilante's name is 'Blackjack'.

I've played through this all out of order =P
My first game was right at the start, with the whole "Get Gaedren" bit from Zellara. That game folded the second we walked in his front door.

The next game I played I joined up as we went into the catacombs for the shoanti boy's body. That game folded as soon as we left.

The third game I played I joined at the assassination attempt and the resulting escort quest. The GM tried to add in a side quest with some orc bandits, TPK'd us, and that was the end of that.

And I joined this game with the wererats. Sheesh.

I can't tell you how nice it is to see it all laid out in the proper sequence, dude. Seriously, thank you for this summary!

My backstory, for what it's worth, is that several of my friends were among the entertainers scheduled to work that party where everyone - guests, entertainers, staff - that didn't disappear was zombified. I heard Raliscar was working with someone to try to get to the bottom of it and I inquired around until I found him and here I am.

I have tried a single CoCT. We got Lamm and returned to the fortune teller's, no, I don't think we made it back to the fortune teller. Anyway, it was a short-lived game, too.

Okay, I think Rutter hit all the major points, and did pretty good fleshing them out. I will make a few adjustments to the timeline/order of events.

Also, for the future, I can put summaries in the campaign tab as we go along if you would like?

1st book - Order of events:
Zellara helped the group find Lamm
Returned to find the King had died
Zellara revealed herself as a ghost, and gave the group her Harrow deck
Returned the amulet, were sent to Kroft
Kroft's first job was for them to bring a group of rogue guards in line.
[This is where I took over and Felgar and Pravlox joined]
You were sent to check out Devargo's vice barges, to get info on a Chelaxian noble
You save a young noble from ruffians, on your way.
You bargain with Devargo, but he refuses to include the Pseudo-dragon
While returning, you meet a drunken SGT Grau Soldado, and reprimand him
Your next task is to catch Trinia Sabor, the king's "killer"
After the chase and catch, she pleads innocent, and you turn her over to Kroft.
When you return, you are sent to find the grandson of Thousand Bones, a Shoanti ambassador.
This led you to Rolth's catacombs, where you faced Derro and Cabbagehead.
You found the Shoanti's grandson in pieces to be fed to the otyugh.
On return you heard about the execution of Trinia, went, and helped Blackjack save her from the axe.

2nd book - Order of events:
Reports of a ship crashing in the Jeggare river
SGT Soldado asks you to help his sick niece, where you meet the Abadarian, Ishani Dhatri
Then they escort Trinia secretly out of the city, at Vencarlo's request.
They meet Ishani at the temple, and fend off a large crowd of sick people
Kroft introduces the group to Dr. Davalaus, and tell them he has Queen's authority
Investigate bodies in an alley, face vampires, Felgar dominated [Pravlox and Copper leave, Vyshael and Jethro join]
Return to, and defeat vampires [Jethro leaves]
Try to get into the hospice nicely, desk nurse won't let you.
Ishani tells you about the Perfume shop
[Raliscar joins]
Meet Yelloweyes and go in to face the wererats
Next, go into the river and find the sea hag
Next, get asked to find the missing brother, Ruan Mirukova, at the Carowyn manor
[Felgar leaves]
You break into the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden [Feldivar joins]

Aard,

When this fight is done, can I swap out Rapid Reload for a different feat since it doesn't work with Crossbow Mastery like I thought it did?

It's doing less for me than Endurance - and that's a preeeeeeetty low bar =P

Any thoughts on this, Aard?

Oh, Raliscar,

I would say, that as long as the feat is not currently a requirement for any other feats you have/use, I'm okay with it.

Please forgive me, I was on vacation last week and thought I would have more time to post than I did. This week and the following two, I am working a shift that makes it hard for me to post regularly. The games I run may suffer more for this, as it's easier to make quick posts as a player than the work I need for posts as a GM.

It will take at least 1 more round before Rutter is able to unlock the door. Feel free to put yourself where you want, as there is time. It will still be in rounds, but we will just skip to right after Rutter's turn where he unlocks the door.

As a bit of advanced warning, it's that time of the semester when my posting may become very sporadic. I need to bury myself deep in my studies to wrap things up and survive the final. I will try to check in on a daily basis, but I make no promises. Well, I make one promise: I will be back.

(I'm sure Raliscar is sick of seeing this message, since it's been in every one of my games so far).

Okay, I've been revamping how I track the loot list.

Now each one of you has your own sheet in the loot list, and there is one for Feldivar's mount.

This allows for multiple uses for both me and you.

First, it tracks actually who is carrying what, and all price values are set at half for the sake of resale. This allows for ease of options in regards to how the party wants to split loot (buyout, even shares, need vs. greed, etc...)

It also shows me (and you) who is carrying what and what load that puts you under (a lot of people forget to take into account coin weight).

Lastly, it gives me your total weight, if for instance someone needed to drag/carry you to safety or you wanted to ride a mount.

I haven't added anyone's gear, and am missing body weight for every character. If you could all add your gear, I would greatly appreciate it. Any item that goes on the list should be at half its value (except gems/jewelry/coins) as that's what the resale is. Feldivar, anything in your Haversack mark as "-" in the weight column, but put its actual weight in column E

Also, you guys still have some treasure to decide what you're doing with it. Moving forward, all treasure collected must have a bearer when the decision to take it is made, else it gets left behind.

-----------------------------------------

Also, in case it doesn't show, I put importance in the use of identification skills/abilities.

I put a LOT of stock in Appraise.

Anything of nonmagical value, outside general store items (standard weapons, armor, or adventuring gear) will require an Appraise.

For example, Alchemical items, need an Appraise (or Craft Alchemy) to ID. Special Materials (Mithril, Adamantine, Cold Iron), will need to be Appraised (or an appropriate craft skill) to recognize the value.

Magic Items need to be ID'd: Detect Magic and Spellcraft for most, Perception alone can be used for Potions, and Spellcraft alone can be used for Scrolls as per the rules.

Works for me.

As a 'wiry' 6' half-elf, let's say Vyshael is 155.

I'm going to be away on business from the 14th through the 21st. It is likely that I will not be able to post during this week.

Sorry this took so long. I hope your trip went well.

Feldivarxon weighs 39# and is carrying 12# (including handy haversack) if HL can be trusted. I do have excessive coin weight because I think I had some question regarding how much he should have had to start with and rather than resolve it, I just rolled with a default value and the rest is floating - what would you prefer I started with? I can reverse-engineer my original purchases accordingly.

Team: Should I reconsider my skill allocation to put a point in Appraise? That would give me a +5 for the bonus. Not great, but better than nothing.

I'm not sure what Esmerelda's physical stats should be. The system says a light load for her is 300#, well over anything Feldy could possibly weigh, but I appear to have failed to purchase tack and saddle and saddlebags - not cool.

My familiar is similarly lacking physical stats, but he's a scorpion, so he doesn't weigh much.

I obviously have some work to do.

A +5 to appraise is certainly better than nothing, Feldivar; I wouldn't be sad if you sunk a point now (or now and every level hereafter =P) into it.

As far as capacity goes for lengthy travel, it's worth reminding folk Raliscar owns a horse and a light wagon. If this adventure ever takes us out of Korvosa, we'll have that resource at least.

I dropped a point in earlier, so I've got +8 - though I would welcome an aid another assistant or second opinion.

I could certainly afford to move a point from Bluff to Appraise, if the DM allows. I would still have a +10 bonus to Bluff checks. I need to use that - I'll have to limber up my originality muscles, I'm not too terribly practiced at pulling the wool over folks' eyes, but I think that's right up Feldy's alley.

Okay, I ended up being out a week longer than expected, and I'm back to my first full day at work. I need to catch up on all my games, and will do my best to post something within the next 24 hrs.

Sounds good.

Feldivar, you should have started with the WBL for what level you came in (I think 6th right?)

Esmerelda's carry capacity is already figured (in the loot list spreadsheet), as 100 light, 300 heavy (15 str with 1.5 multiplier for being quadruped)

I'd rather you not change your skill points, and instead choose to take it when you level. But... I will allow it, as a lot of GM's hand-wave appraise and just hand out values, so players tend to not take it thinking it isn't important.

Just two domain spells left memorized. I'm about as spent as a cleric can be.

Aardvark: Just re-read the yours and Rutter's summaries of the campaign. I have a question on the sunken ship issue:
1. The ship seemed to be carrying the initial plague, right? It was on boxes of coins, and the coins were picked up by people on the beach, etc.
2. There was a dead "Queens Physician" on the boat, so they are seemingly responsible for planting the plague

Question: do we have any evidence to this effect? If so, have we told anyone about it?

I don't have any helpful answers to Neva's questions, but I do want to let y'all know that I'll be unavailable for a bit after tomorrow.
I've got my annual CabinCon trip this weekend (Thursday - Monday), so I'll be entirely offline until I return to the world of cellular signals.

I didn't get the bit about the coins, but I might've misunderstood - I thought we'd just found a bunch of valuable (high quality) wooden boxes that we couldn't take with us, and didn't want to retrieve because of the sea hag. I thought we'd told Kroft what we found, but it wasn't enough evidence for her.

I had a similar understanding to Neva's as to what we'd found - and Rutter's as to having talked to Kroft and being told we didn't have enough evidence to make anything happen.

Point of confusion: We found notes that Varisians or some Varisians are immune. These people in this chamber, do we know why they were kept apart from the ones on the first floor? Do we know what became of the Varisians that did not succumb to the disease?

This is for the player. My character is quite overwhelmed and not terribly interested in details, anyway. If he's associated with someone that is helping, as far as he can tell, that's good enough to salve his conscience.

Sorry, I've been remiss, had to take a few days off I wasn't expecting.

So, he still has his stuff on him. I don't know if it's my games, or the medium of PbP, but I feel like looting/looking for treasure doesn't happen as much as the way talking about gaming seems to suggest.

EDIT: @Feldivar, all the people in the chamber upstairs are Varisian. A decent examination into the sick bay downstairs will show that none of them are.

Aardvark: Just re-read the yours and Rutter's summaries of the campaign. I have a question on the sunken ship issue:

1. The ship seemed to be carrying the initial plague, right? It was on boxes of coins, and the coins were picked up by people on the beach, etc.
2. There was a dead "Queens Physician" on the boat, so they are seemingly responsible for planting the plague

Question: do we have any evidence to this effect? If so, have we told anyone about it?

You are correct on both counts, but I think you told Kroft of your suspicions based on the presence of the physician, but she needed more than your eyewitness testimony in a hard to verify situation to act on anything.

So, he still has his stuff on him. I don't know if it's my games, or the medium of PbP, but I feel like looting/looking for treasure doesn't happen as much as the way talking about gaming seems to suggest.

Yeah, it's probably the medium. I think it's easier to stay engaged in a table-top game, because the combat only lasted 10 minutes, but in pbp, after a month of combat, I'm just trying to remember what we were there for, or I'm eager to get back to trying to figure out the mystery. I'll have Rutter search him.

Sorry for the no posting. I've been very busy. I'm going to need someone to point me in a direction at this point, but I should be able to post every day moving forward.

I just want to apologize for my inactivity these last two days, as it appears that the site itself is completely unreachable only during the entire 8-12 hour chunk of time that I was available to post, while they deal with whatever issues they are having.

Same connectivity issues for me. Frustrating, but maybe they're fixed now.

Yeah, no need to apologize. Everyone's affected. Wonder if they introduced something new to the site because of PaizoCon. Anyway, ready when you are.

I'm just glad it wasn't only me. The connection issues, that is.

In the USA, it is Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to any of you that have achieved that distinction and to the men in your life that have earned it, as well.

Peace.

I have company coming in today, and then I'm leaving Friday for the World Boardgaming Championships for 9 glorious days. I'll try to post, but I might be intermittent, especially on travel days.
I'm back the last day of July.

I've never heard of the World Boardgaming Championships, are you a competitor or a spectator? Either way, have fun.

Seriously, those Championships sound awesome!

It's pretty cool! Here's a link to all the games that'll be played.

Wow. Nine days to do anything sounds awesome, but that sounds especially cool. Have fun!

I agree- that sounds like a lot of fun.

Sounds like fun! Enjoy the vacation!

Going to be out of contact for a week and then spotty for another week. Apologies for the late notice, but C-section is tomorrow.