And Then a Skeleton Popped Out: subSPUF Carrion Crown

Game Master Rynjin

You are hereby sentenced to live the remainder of your short life in
Harrowstone, which, I hasten to add, is a blessing compared to the extent of your crimes and the suffering of your victims. There you will reside in the misery of your thoughts until such time as you are drawn, hanged, and quartered. May the gods have no mercy on your blighted soul.

-—The final sentencing of Vance Saetressle ("The Lopper") in 4661 AR by Jurisdeclaris Axenris the Third.

Welcome to Ravengro. A small town in Ustalav, with a very unique claim to fame.

Some small towns grow up around a university, their shops and other offerings catering to a scholastic clientele. Others boast famous festivals or specialized industries that draw skilled artisans and craftsmen.

But not Ravengro. No, Ravengro's claim to fame was the infamous Harrowstone prison, the sort of dumping ground for Ustalav's worst criminals. The worst of the worst were gathered from all over Ustalav's prisons, every 6 months, and transported to Harrowstone, to await their execution or, rarely, serve the remainder of a life sentence. Their crimes were many and varied, but they all had one thing in common, they would live the rest of their lives in Harrowstone. No hope of escape, no hope of a pardon, prisoners who stepped foot beyond Harrowstone's doors never left with a still beating heart.

But, of course, they could always try.

In the year 4661 AR, the usual mid-year influx of prisoners arrived at Harrowstone. Five of them were considered horrendous even by Harrowstone's standards. The worst of the worst even among the criminal community, not even Harrowstone was equipped to handle all of them at once.

Two of them, one known as the Lopper, and the other, the mastermind, as the Splatter Man picked their moment and staged a desperate attempt to take control of the prison.

Which succeeded, to an extent. For a few minutes' time, they took control from Harrowstone's guards and attempted to escape.

None of them, however, foresaw the dedication of the prison's warden, Lyvar Hawkran. As they came up the stairs he triggered an emergency deadfall, crushing some of the prisoners underneath the rocks, and leaving himself trapped on the lower levels with the remaining prisoners.

The only way out was an emergency lift, which was impossible to trigger from the dungeon level.

It was at this point the prisoners grew desperate. They called up the shaft, having taken Hawkran and other guards hostage, that they would kill them if the lift was not lowered. But Harrowstone's guards were well trained and dedicated, and they did not budge, even going so far as to post guards on the shaft, shooting down the few who tried to climb up.

The guards managed to keep the truth of the riot a secret from the general public at the time, not wanting to start a panic, and believing the situation was somewhat under control.

And so, Hawkran's wife was oblivious to the danger when she walked within the gates of Harrowstone that day, come to retrieve her husband for their customary dinner.

In their panic, the guards had forgotten to lock and bar the outer door, and so Vesorianna was able to walk inside with ease, confused by the seeming emptiness of the prison. Following the sounds of shouting she made her way to the training room, where they were guarding the lift shaft.

And, of course, when she learned from the guards that her husband was trapped in the lower prison with Ustalav's worst and most brutal torturers, psychopaths, and serial killers, she was frantic.

She begged with them to remove the deadfall and save her husband, but they refused. It was simply too much of a risk to allow the kind of prisoners they had there to roam free.

Mad with hysteria, she broke free of their grasp and dodged around them the few short feet she needed, grabbing hold of the emergency release lever for the lift and sending it crashing down into the shaft, crushing a number of prisoners and guards standing beneath it.

Thinking she may have just killed her husband, Vesorianna collapsed into tears, and the guards were finally able to subdue her, taking her to a workshop at the other end of the prison, and locking her in there for her own safety.

The guards worked frantically to keep the prisoners from escaping, but with so many eagerly waiting below they couldn't simply pull the lift back up. And with the chains being unblocked and easy to climb, they soon found themselves with a horde of prisoners climbing the chains to freedom.

So, desperate, they made their fateful decision. They gathered up a number of barrels of lamp oil, tossing them down at the prisoners, knocking them free and slicking the chains in the process.

But when the Splatter Man stepped into view, and began using his magic on the guards, they flew into a blind panic, and decided that if the lift were burned, order could be restored.

One guard tossed a torch down onto the oil.

The resulting conflagration was orders of magnitude beyond what anyone could have foreseen, the pool of oil carrying the flames at lightning speed through the lower levels of the prison, incinerating guards and prisoners alike as they were trapped on the dungeon floor.

The remaining guards fled, almost suffocated by the smoke and anticipating that the entire prison would burn down. It was only later, to their horror, that they realized they had never released Vesorianna from where she had been locked in the workshop.

The town of Ravengro mobilized a fire fighting force, but it was too little, too late. The fire had spread, the damage been done. Ustalav's most infamous prison was no more.

In the 50 years that followed the Harrowstone Fire, the town of Ravengro moved on to become a pleasant (and perhaps even boring) farming community.

Yet the town’s old-timers remember well the eerie prison caravans that carried monsters through the town. And none in Ravengro can ignore the brooding, dark ruin of the old prison that looms on the hill overlooking the town.

Tales of the prison being haunted are traded by Ravengro’s youths, and on certain dark nights they taunt each other to touch the rusting bars on the prison windows. Dares to spend the night in the edifice are routinely posed and never accepted. For no one knows what horrors may yet haunt the ruins of Harrowstone.

But you are here for another reason. The Professor, Petros Lorrimor, and a friend or acquaintance of each of you, has died. The funeral is today, and you are gathered near Ravengro's Restlands for the service.

The Professor's daughter, Kendra Lorrimor, is in attendance as well, and struggles to hold back tears.

Another man, whom none of you recognize, and claims to be one of Lorrimor's old friends, stands a distance away.

Other than they, only Lorrimor's closest friends are in attendance. Councilman Vashian Hearthmount, Councilman Gharen Muricar, tavernkeeper Zokar Elkarid and his 13-year- old son Pevrin, and Jominda Fallenbridge (Ravengro’s apothecary and one of the professor’s good friends) are standing back as well.

Feel free to converse amongst yourselves. You have all of your gear and such, as you've just arrived from a long trip. We'll wait for Comeau and you to be done talking for the game to actually start in full.

Ezekiel gloomily eyes the others in the room from a corner, trying to hunch inwards in an ineffectual attempt to appear less monstrous.

Look at that, the only person who counts you as a friend is dead. Probably somehow your fault, you monster.

Under his breath, Ezekiel hisses "Shut up."

"Room". Dammit man how many burials do you know that take place inside?

I thought it was like the service at the church or something...

Steef looks at the coffin sadly. He was a good guy, that professor. Never told me to shut up, never was actually mean to me. Not enough people like him out there.

A muttering behind him snaps him out of his inner monologue. Turning slightly, he loudly hisses at the figure who spoke. "Oi, goat boy-don't ye be tellin the preacher to shut up, he hasn't even started yet. Ye can't just go 'round tellin people stuff like that...ye don't see me goin around tellin Gramps here (Gesturing to Cassiel) how he smells like cats and potato chips. 'Snot polite."

Shoukichi peered into the coffin, mourning over the loss Professor Lorrimor, the one who furthered his knowledge of the world. [i]Without him, I wouldn't be here, would I?[i]

Then, across the coffin, an accented voice spoke of the dreaded word, one that haunts Shoukichi even to this day, "cat". Nervously, Shoukichi looked down to the floor and started backing away. "I uh... think I left something outside. Excuse me for a moment."

Whirling on Steef, Ezekiel hisses "One. Don't call me goat boy. Two, I don't need'ja tellin' me what to do - I got enough voices jabberin' and tryin' to boss me around as it is.

Cassiel, who was lost in fond memories of training and studying with the professor, snaps back to the present when he hears the dwarf next to him making comments about his hygeine.

"Indeed. There will be plenty of time for petty insults after we've paid our respects."

Not that I should expect a dwarf to know anything about keeping one's thoughts to oneself.

Jules, standing not too far from the front, quietly letting the tears flow off his cheek like arrows from a bowstring.

Quel kaima, Master Lorrimor. You taught me almost every thing I know about combat and magic.

Blissfully unaware that he was the one throwing petty insults, Steef nods eagerly to Cassiel. "Aye-That's what I was trying to do before goa-I mean, this horny fella here started hurling vulgarities at the preacher." Pulling out his flask, he took a swig of it before proffering it to those gathered around him. "Anyone want some pig milk? S'pose by this point it's more or less cheese, but that's kind of the fun of it. Never know if it's gonna be smooth or chunky. It's like peanut butter!"

Smiling a bit, he then goes back to thinking about the Professor.

Feeling a twinge of hunger at Steef's offer, but too stubborn to accept, Ezekiel scoops a handful of dirt from the ground and begins to munch on it sullenly.

BTW, Ezekiel can eat and drink dirt, ash, sand, etc in place of normal food. It's a tiefling thing.

"Peanut butter? Potato chips?! What kind of bizarre foods are dwarves eating these days?"

Still chewing on his dirt (and spitting some on Cassiel due to talking with his mouth full), Ezekiel says "Normal foods. Ya might be too pretentious ta' eat them, though."

Steef breaks into a large grin, not noticing the piece of cheese stuck to his teeth. Patting Ezekiel on the back, he exclaims "Ah, see? This guy! This guy here knows what he's talkin about! He's got good taste, doesn't go for leaves or foxes or whatever it is elves go for these days!"

"One time, an elf done offered me a fox sammich, but lemme tell you, wasn't no sammich. It had leaves instead of bread, so I reckon they eat leaves and foxes."

Even from the back of the room, Jules could here the drivel the people were spouting; something about food. Then, an offhanded comment about elves and fox meat.

You don't like Jules when he's angry.

Swiveling around to face Ezekiel, he quipped at him: "Antolle ulua sulrim, you putrid racist!"

Interjecting himself between Jules and Ezekiel, Steef straightens himself up to his fullest height (a full 4 feet) and looks up at Jules. "Whoa whoa whoa, Anthill yodel skyrim yourself, buddy. He doesn't smell THAT bad. Want some cheese-juice?"

please tell me cheese-juice isn't hallucinogenic

The half-elf sighed; fighting at a funeral wouldn't get him anywhere. "This is most likely going to be a miscalculated choice, but . . . sure."

Steef smiles a little. "There's a good lad. Here." He uncaps the flask and tosses it to Jules, splashing a little bit of the liquid inside over Jules, Cassiel and Ezekiel as he does so. "Whoops...sorry, heh. This whole thing about the prof's got me a bit on edge...we were kinda close. Good man, Lorrimor." He blinks rapidly a few times.

Kendra's head snaps to the side and she gives you all a menacing look.

"You will be respectful or you will remove yourself from my father's presence, do you hear me?"

She waits to see if anyone replies. Assuming nobody does (and glaring down any who attempt to), she continues.

"Now, you were all friends of my father, I believe? If you think you can act like adults instead of squabbling children, I think it would be appropriate for you five to be the pallbearers, along with Mr. Adrissant, of course. Assuming that is acceptable to you."

Once Kendra has silenced you, you notice that a number of other people have trickled in, seeming to have made a similar long journey to the one you had.

Upon seeing them, Kendra immediately forgets her annoyance, and rushes over to greet them.

She waves you over and introduces you to them, and then them to you.

"Everyone, I want you to meet some of father's friends. This is Sergeant Dun-"

---"ACTING Sergeant Dun" a muscular, disciplined looking man corrects her.

"Yes, of course. Anywho..."

"Duristan Ariesir, his family comes from up in Ardeal, I'm quite surprised to see you here."

---"Well, I was headed this way in any case, on my way to Ascanor Lodge, and thought I'd pay my respects to the Professor on the way there. Terribly sorry about your loss Kendra."

"Thank you Duristan."

"And Zbraslav Hora, he supplied my father with many an alchemical supply. You should seek him out if you're ever in Lepidstadt, he's quite knowledgeable about such things."

---"You're too kind, Kendra."

"Horace Croon, the inventor. He's come up with a number of marvelous if...impractical machines."

---"I tell you if I can just shrink down my 'lighter' to a manageable size it could revolutionize the way we start fires! Preferably ones in the fireplace, not on the floor. I'm sorry about that again, my dear, I know you liked that rug."

"Yes, well. And last but not least, Abraun Chalest, the historian. I remember my father would spend hours talking to him late into the night about some historical factoid or another."

---"A past-time I'll greatly regret no longer being able to partake in." he says sadly.

"But, now that we've all met, we really should get going. Father Grimburrow must be getting impatient by now."

Sorry, this first bit's a bit of an info dump. It slows up a bit later, there's just a lotta s#$& you need to know.

Shoukichi, in horror of the recent developments, starts treading away from both the elf and Duristan Ariesir, for fear of being seen as a fox.

G!!$@#nit west coast best coast. Stop posting while east coast sleeps.

Father Grimburrow? Necromancer/10 amirite. Like frsrs.

Straightening, Ezekiel shakes the hands of those who were just introduced - at least, he shakes the hands of all that are willing to touch him.

"Nice ta meetcha. And I'd be honored ta carry the casket, lass."

Bowing in shame, the slightly shaken Jules spoke to Kendra: "My sincerest apologies be directed toward ye. If it would be enough to honour the great man that was your father, I would be glad to be one of the pallbearers."

Brain I AM East Coast.

"Kendra, I'd be honored to be a pallbearer." Steef then nods to the guests as they're introduced to him, not trusting himself to actually speak.

Not you Rynjin, everyone else. Missed a great conversation because time zone. OP. Nerf

dat rape face on abraun

Just to get things moving, let's assume you all agree since at least half of you have. Anyone who doesn't tell me when you post next, you're all going to the same place.

Kendra nods as you take your places by the coffin, and then gestures for you to pick it up.

She leads the way into the Restlands towards Lorrimor's final resting place.

As you come to about the halfway point, you're stopped by about a dozen men.

One steps forward and addresses all of you.

“That’s far enough. We been talking, and we don’t want Lorrimor buried in the Restlands. You can take him upriver and bury him there if you want, but he ain’t goin’ in the ground here!”

I'm putting the rest of the dialogue in separate spoilers. You can jump in at any time, or hear it play out, your choice.

If you want to try and calm them down, you may use Diplomacy along with your speech. Anybody else who speaks up may assist.

"Now just a minute, young man!" Cassiel cries out, banging his staff against the ground for emphasis. "Lorrimor studied the undead, he was no necromancer!"

Shoukichi speaks up after the the insults start flying.

"Please, this is a time to be mournful, not to retort each other. Can we not reach a compromise?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

"Stay outta this nancy boy." Gibs sneers.

"And you too." To Shoukichi.

He replies to Kendra:

“You don’t get it, woman. We won’t have a necromancer buried in the same place as our kin. I suggest you move out while you still can. Folks are pretty upset about this right now.”

You've got one more shot if anyone else can do Diplomacy. Shoukichi is Aiding on this one, so +2.

Rumbling deep in his throat, Ezekiel steps towards Gibs.

"He will be buried there. You will respect that. Are we clear?"

"Oh yeah? And who's gonna make me let you, freak?"

He waves his hand and the other 11 men form a circle around Ezekiel and crew.

So much for Diplomacy. =) Roll Initiative.

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

"I'd rather only have to bury one person today, but if you insist..."

With a grunt, he sets down the casket and swings out his massive earthbreaker.

"Fair warning though - daemon fury burns in my blood. Ya give it fuel, it burns up everything in its path."

As the men circle around, Steef sighs a little. "Seriously? Every damn funeral I go to there's some sort of brawl...is it me?"

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

"I'll teach you to show some respect for your intellectual superiors!"

Initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

"You sure you can't reconsider? I mean, is this issue really so important that it must result in a fight?

It's a Full round action to set down the coffin, by the by.

12d20 ⇒ (1, 8, 16, 5, 18, 14, 17, 15, 14, 3, 16, 13) = 140

"Get 'em boys!" Gibs yells, ignoring Shoukichi.

Shoukichi's up first.

"Boys, if there's gonna be a fight, I say we should set this here coffin down first. Aye?"

Just in case it gets around to me during the night, but I'm just readying an action to set it down in tandem with everyone else. Don't forget that I can still attack people with unarmed strikes even if my hands're full, so if they get too close I can still provoke.

"Whatever field of magic such a wonderful man got into, he shall not be discriminated against," Jules shouted, standing on the sidelines in case anything got too rowdy.

So can I join a battle as it's going on?

Just roll Initiative, forgot you hadn't yet. It hasn't really started yet.

okay then!

Jules decided to jump into battle; he wouldn't dishonor his professor like this. "Gurth gothrim Tel'Lorrimor!"

EDIT: why the frack isn't this working i'm scared; anyways my initiative score is 6

The f*!% is that?

I don't know, all I know is my initiative score is 6. g#*$!+ned formatting

It says +5 on your sheet, so should be an 8 (you rolled a 3). I added you last night based on that but I thought you were f%&*ing with me for a minute.

Anywho...shoukichi...where are you?

Everyone else can post their actions though, I'll re-order them properly. I'll post teh commoner's actions in a sec.

Well our first order of business should be putting the coffin down, so I think everyone should just ready an action to set it down on my turn.

6 of the farmers close the circle on you guys, with the other half heading off to harass the rest of the procession (but with no weapons drawn in their case).

Gibs stands a distance away, observing, but not participating.

Two each go after the "unsavory" (i.e. not human) members of your crew: Ezekiel, Cassiel, and Steef. They swing their hoes and pitchforks clumsily, attempting to whack you with the blunt shaft rather than the bits that could be potentially life threatening.

2d20 ⇒ (7, 8) = 15

2d20 ⇒ (5, 15) = 20

2d20 ⇒ (3, 20) = 23

Confirm Steef: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (8) - 3 = 5

All of them fail to land a solid blow, besides Steef's farmer who manages to whack him good upside the head, and Cassiel's farmer.

1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

6 nonlethal to Steef, 4 nonlethal to Cassiel.

This is all after Shoukichi's turn, BTW.

Once the coffin is set down...

Ezekiel steps forward with a savage roar (ignoring the piddling attacks he may provoke) and delivers an earthshaking blow to Gibs

Raging Attack: 1d20 + 7 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 7 - 4 = 17
Nonlethal Damage: 3d6 + 10 ⇒ (3, 2, 4) + 10 = 19

I'll just ready to lower that coffin. And once the coffin is set...

Shoukichi Inspires Courage with a righteous speech about righting wrongs and fighting the good fight.

So, consensus is you all ready to lower the coffin. You do so.

The Farmers again attack their chosen targets.

6d20 ⇒ (18, 18, 12, 13, 5, 20) = 86
1d20 - 3 ⇒ (18) - 3 = 15

Once again, all miss except for one of Steef's farmers.

1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Total 11 nonlethal to Steef.

Shoukichi Inspires Courage, +1 Attack/Damage to everyone. Steef, then Jericho.

As long as they don't mind being a ranged character, I don't have a preference. We have too many meleebros.

A full arcane caster might be nice.

Eh Then you all lose healing so you better not be expecting that too much, not that she did that much.

Once we're done here, we should buy another CLW wand. Then I can resume my duties as the primary healbot.

I'm honestly not sure how to fix half the party disappearing right here.

I think it's time to open up recruitment.

Im sorry my internet had gone out among other terrible things and my phone had lost its charger, as such I had not been able to do much of anything until it got fixed. It has recently done so, and as such Im catching up to all the games that I have been in . I'm sorry for the sudden disappearance as you can see I had no control over it. Everything should be fine now. The catch up is real.

Well, unfortunately I've held off long enough. Do any of you guys have good ideas for replacing our lovable firecracker, or should I open this up to gen pop?

None off the top of my head unfortunately. Its easy to say Darius tells her to wait at the inn for some reason or another. She effectively becomes a background character.

So go wild with whatever choice you want.

She was getting cranky and needed a nap.

Yeah, open it up to gen pop. I don't see any other option.

New Recruitment thread up.

Heckle the newbies if you like, if you happen to see them before I do, answer any questions you know the answer to.

Rodger Dodger

What do you guys think of the current crop of candidates? I'm actually currently leaning towards Variel, I think he'd mesh well in a conflicting way, if that makes sense. I steered him out of raising dead, so he has a personal grudge against the Way and a "fights fire with fire" (turning raised dead against their masters, and then against themselves) aesthetic I like.

sounds clown to me tbh

A white-hat necromancer, eh? Sounds pretty cool.

Variel Postar Manwell de Alarin, At your service ladies and gentleman. And no, just because I was forced to wear that outfit with the large red nose and rainbow wig does NOT mean I am a clown by trade! :P I am honored, lets see how far I get before a horrible and painful death.

glhf

I return! It seems the prodigal necromancer has joined us... Let's see how long he lasts.

Sorry all, work and school, will post later tonight

Psst. Hey. Dude. What do I know about your noble house?

I messaged Pete on Facebook to see what's up. I really don't want to have to keep botting Darius, and replacing half the party mid-book depresses me at the thought.

Hokay. Sorry about the extended absence folks. I reeeaaally didn't want to replace Pete or move on without him (particularly after I knew what was up with him) but I've invested too much time into this to let it die now!

The show must (and will) go on without him (for now). I re-opened Recruitment, and I'm going to get a Gameplay post up shortly.

Aight folks, so Sundakan/Rynjin/the GM guy has been banned for something. If ya'll want, he's happy to continue over Giant in the Playground or Discord (tentatively - Discord would be an experiment).

However, if that doesn't work, he also totally understands.

Huh, I've never done anything with the GitP forums before. I'm willing to give it a shot.

Less sure about Discord. Does it even have a dice system?

I am okay with Gitp. I got an account there with the same name. I haven't really try Discord. How does it work?

Btw, I am playing Zone, a xeph mobile knife.

I don't know how discord works either, but it does have a dice roller.

I have an alias over at gitp (Aldizog, same as my main alias here). Is there any chance Sundankan can apologize for whatever it was and get reinstated here? It's more convenient to have all my PBP's in one place.

I am the winged statue... Totally not a Weeping Angel, I promise.

I don't think he'll be able to appeal. There's only one mod here, so I doubt they have the time/energy to argue it.

Yeah, seems like he won't be able to come back.

He's going for gitp right now, everyone cool with that?

Yeah. It's a shame that this game cannot continue here. Anyway, I made an OOC thread there so that you know that it is me.

Aldizog, can you post in Yas's thread? We're ready to start once everyone is accounted for.

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