Nothing for so long, then boom! Eight new posts.
I don't give up hope on Akiri. Anyway, if you are up for taking care of your foster children, Arkwright; then I am completely happy to continue playing on as well. Free Cheliax!!! Whoohoo!
I'm still around and interested!
Maybe run the recruitment simultaneously? Might remind the others they were playing here? Delay not such a good thing sometimes.
The willow-tree-place was a point of interest for a character that disappeared. I thought I'd organize Mellany's Cat finding shindig at the willow just to see if he was still around. Don't know how running the encounters at the willow while recruiting would work out, but it might provide a way for us to meet "new friends" other than retroactively saying they were in our jail cell.
Indeed. The only plans we had before people disappeared were 1) Go to the willow for Alian; 2) Summon Cat for Mellany; 3) Investigate the Tail Takers. Right now 1 is gone if Alian doesn't come back, and 2 is about to be taken care of unless there are... complications. So we pretty much have an open pathway to go. This seems like a reasonably good time for new recruits to come in, actually.
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Just wanted to get your thoughts on my recruitment post; see if I've missed anything.
"For thirty years I and a group of the greatest men and women it was my privilege to know fought against the empire. But eventually, the minions of Cheliax killed my friends and captured me in this dungeon. In the long years since, the reason for keeping me has been forgotten, but I still remain, unable to fight, unable to die." He looks at each of you in turn. "For our oath, we rec eive powers from the human mages who created the group after a Chelaxian massacre of immense scale and depravity. Time has sadly diluted the powers of the Eight, but some vestiges still remain. The power to teleport, a degree of telepathic empathy with my comrades, and…" he gives a small smile.
"rarely, occasionally, sometimes… the favour of the subtle hand of Fate… From what you have described of your escape, and your disgust with the devilry of Cheliax, I believe that Fate has steered you here and given you this choice. If you are willing, I can use the last of my power to anoint you as the new Eight. You will gain powers, and can use them to escape from this place… but you must swear an oath before the men of old and the children of today, to uproot that which is the Chelaxian empire, to the best of your abilities, to the end of your days." The old man's hands clutch the bars of his cell, his fingers growing white as he stares down at the stone floor.
"The Empire has grown beyond imagining in the many years since the Eight were formed, and even more since I was captured and the Eight defeated. None will blame you should you fail." He looks up at you and there are tears in his solemn eyes. "But if you freely choose to take this duty, then you must swear to try. To attempt to work against the Empire, to strive to protect those who cannot protect themselves, as we once did… as I hope we will again, through you." Wiping his eyes, he crosses his arms and lowers his forehead. "What say you?"
The old man's eyes twinkle as tears rain down his cheek. As the circle is formed, a bright blue mark on his right arm forms and glows brightly beneath Blast's hand, shining through his fingers.
You feel the presence of a mind- dusty and ancient, yet with a long-forgotten power newly coursing through it. As the mind connects with yours, Kamsen speaks, the words springing to your lips in time with his own. As one, you speak the oath.
"From cruelty, we were born.
In fire, we are alive.
The devilry of Cheliax, we will end.
We are the Eight."
"They sow sorrow.
We will sow joy.
Their weapon is cruelty.
Kindness will be ours.
Demons will protect them.
The innocents will stand with us.
We are the Eight."
"Here and now, we are alive.
Here and now, we swear this oath.
Tomorrow, Cheliax will fear us.
Today, we rejoice as brethren.
Now and forever-"
"You are the Eight." The old, old man whispers quietly as the spark in his eyes glows bright as his tattoo, and in unison you respond-
"We are the Eight."
"We are the Eight."
"We are the Eight."
"We are the Eight."
"We are the Eight."
"We are the Eight."
"We are the Eight."
"We are the Eight."
With a bright flash, the same blue mark appears on all your right arms beneath the clasping fingers of your newfound brethren. The wide-eyed children look up at you all in awe as a new power, a new connection is forged between you all. "Here, watch, see, learn..." whispers Kamsen's voice in your mind as you watch him reach into a tiny dot of blue power and gently cradle a portion of it in his hand.
"Goodbye."
He breathes into the small pool, the blue power cascades over you, and as Kamsen steps out of the circle and it closes fully, you feel a tiny thread pulling the top of your head upwards, until with a jerk the room vanishes around you.
As you disappear, the old man collapses to the floor panting, the blue sheen from his eyes fading to grey with his tattoo. As his heartbeat slows he spreads out against the floor, his cold cheek against the even colder stone.
The pounding behind the door rises to a climax and it shatters into splinters, tens of guards now visible stand aside, as robed figures throw globes of fire into the room. The flames lick around Kamsen's old, withered body, and his lips contort into one small, final smile. "We are the Eight"... and light fills his eyes.
Recruitment is now open to fill some open spots in my homebrew campaign. This game was started by Wolfman GM and I took it over after he disappeared.
Your characters will be people captured and thrown in the Egorian jail by the Cheliaxian empire. By a twist of fate, you manage to get free, find an old man and... well... see above.
There are eight spots in the campaign. After a roll-call, four are empty. There is a chance that some people may come back and the number of spots will close, but I believe it to be unlikely.
If you are recruited, it will be ret-conned that your character was one of the people who escaped the jail with the existing characters, as opposed to one of the people who have disappeared.
By this point, the existing characters have reached 2nd level, and that is what you will be starting at.
Any Race from Chapters 1-3 of the advanced race guide is allowed, but no customs.
Any paizo class or archtype is allowed, so basically everything on d20pfsrd.com that is specifically not listed as 'third party'.
instead of the bonus attribute point every 4th level, you recieve a bonus buy point every level. this is already included into your 1st level point buy.
Humans get +2 to a second attribute of their choosing, but cannot choose dual talent.
Starting gold is going to be a little unusual. You will have found an old safehouse for the Eight, and it has stocks of items and gold. Since that discovery, the characters have been on a shopping trip. This, you have:
-3000 gold to spend on mundane items, ones not too unique to your character (no spending 500gp to get your mother's hand-carved desk, for instance)
-1000 gold to spend on whatever you want.
Alignment wise, preferably Good or Neutral. The key point is that your character a. Wants to stick it to Cheliax and b. Will work fairly well with the party.
We currently have
-Rogue 2
-Witch 2
-Alchemist 2
-Bard 1/Fighter 1
I am not sure how long recruitment will be open, but definitely for at least several days.
I should warn you, this is only the second game I have ever run, and the previous one ended in a TPK after the second encounter (ice golems are NASTY).
Please let me know if I have missed anything in my recruitment post.
"Looks fine to me, Gods-Voice. I look forward to fighting alongside whoever you select."
Looks good to me. I had forgotten about the variant method of ability increase. Interesting.
Hello, Arkwright. I was looking at the recruitment thread, and I saw that bit about the point-buy being currently at 27 pts.
According to Hero Lab, the extra point is enough to increase my Con score to 12. I missed doing that when I leveled up, but would like to do so now. The extra 2 hp could make a difference in a pinch, and the improved Fort save certainly won't hurt either.
If it's okay with you...
Just updated Blast, changed his Str 11 to a 13, so he now is a little more capable in melee!
Hmm... just quick looks, here. Sicsivicus and Valerio will both need some reworking, but I like where they seem to be going. Kalim Rafiki seems good, although how exactly he's going to fit into Cheliax I'm not entirely certain. Stiehl's potential Paladin would be a huge boon; after all, our first pally almost single-handedly killed our way out of prison.
Some updates on my thoughts on strong characters in Recruitment:
A paladin could be nice to have in our group--more secondary healing, anyone? I'm interested in seeing where he goes with equipment... Although I'm wondering why he took the Defensive Combat Training feat. It doesn't do anything for him...
The character himself, I'm not certain on. A huge guy, in armor, flying into a rage in the streets of Egorian? Not sure how completely that'd fit with our style... although maybe we're so subtle because we don't have a guy like this.
As for the player, I've been in a couple games with this guy. He's committed (although I have a feeling you already know this, Arkwright), and the only times I've seen him disappear or lag, he let us know beforehand and had a good reason for it.
I have to say, I really like the idea of this character for this campaign. A guy with a vengeance, who can dominate in combat unarmed? That could be SO useful for our group, especially with the gangbusting scenario we're approaching fast... I'm interested to see exactly how he retools to fit the setting and increase level to 2. Maybe Ticaria was picked up by a Chelaxian noble or something... Who knows?
Just my thoughts, though.
Checking in. Honestly I don't have time to read the other bio's, but I'm excited that you're working to push this forward!
Checking in and thanks for the invite Arkwright.
Im planning on being complete by Saturday. My apologies for being tardy but with halloween, costume parties and tonight Im going to see a comedian its been a busy week.
Great story so far. Dig Arkwrights pic links and extras that are lacking from many games. Too cool having a secret base with a map even!
Checking in.
I am glad to join all of you. I will begin monitoring the gamplay thread.
I am still here and eager to continue, this is the first few posts that I have seen here in a while, I reailze that things have been buggy for a while on the forums - the updates haven't been showing in the campaigns view for me. Count me in still, unless there is no room and you need to move on.
"I've just been waiting around. Wondering what's going on... Wait, who are these? The Eight...? Coulda sworn we had other guys here. What happened to the fellow who wanted a willow staff?...Ah, whatever. Good to have you all with us! I'm Blast, by the way. Resident fiend-blood, which gives me a reason to hate this Hells-hole they call Cheliax, and resident alchemist, which gives me a good way to blow it up!"
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Hey, Aromar. Yeah i've had some issues before with posts not being updated, must have been why you missed the roll call.
Would you believe I replaced you? :P
If you're still interested, I'd be happy to introduce a little astigmatism into the NPCs so that they don't notice the ninth member of the Eight.
Well, honestly, I am very committed right now so if you have a replacement, I don't mind bowing out. I'm good, have fun guys, Arkwright has a great vision for this adventure.
Never was sold on "The Eight". How about The Seven Samurai Plus Two?
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Alrighty fellows.
After visiting Wilheminia and watching the blackmail gangs in action. you've returned back to the hideout.
As our staff-wielder is gone, the patch of willows on the map is gone.
New people, one thing I possibly didn't make clear is that this game is a SANDBOX game. You fellows have your overriding goal- undoing Cheliax- but you can do whatever you want. Say you want to go or do something, and I'll come up with the locations, NPCs and miniquests.
So, this means its time to plan. I strongly suggest you do so in the discussion thread, in my experience planning in PBP takes long enough OOC, let alone in character.
As for the group's previous plans, search through the previous pages for Akari's 'Pillars of Cheliax'. They're very comprehensive.
If I've missed anything or anyone has suggestions, please tell me so.
Looking forward to getting back into step with this!
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I like the idea of taking out the Tail Takers and their leader. To do that, we obviously use Hellspawn as bait, and then kill them off in small groups as they come after him :P
Only half-joking though. Finding out more about where they hang out and then using Hellspawn to draw them would probably work to divide and conquer the gang. Against a larger more organized force guerrilla tactics are a necessity.
I'm guessing he's referring to me. I'll have you know my gra-- ancestor was a demon, not a devil, sir. But other than that, I agree... Though being bait isn't something I relish.
Well, honestly, I am very committed right now so if you have a replacement, I don't mind bowing out. I'm good, have fun guys, Arkwright has a great vision for this adventure.
Id hate to take someone's spot that is already invested in a game and I really havent had the time to commit to this character.
If Aromar wants his spot Id be happy to withdraw.
It's fine, Jelani. I play in enough games with you to forgive! As long as your character isn't actually insulting Blast like that in-game.... Hm...
Blast as bait is good. With disquise kits, or potions, several of us could become "hellspawn". A good three part plan would be:
1. Find an ambush friendly spot, and prepare a welcoming party there.
2. Use potions or disquise kits, and attract unwanted attention.
3. Lead racist gang members to ambush site, and pulverise them.
Of course we leave one alive to tell the tail! The tiefling disguises could be our heroic alter egos.
I do not see how fighting with this gang topples a nation It was provided by Arkwright, so I suppose we are meant to play it. From personal experience, racial tension is one of the leading causes of national destabilization (Iraq). If anything, increasing that tension would be an advantage. The gang is doing our job nicely, so I suggest we fan the flames. I know that might seem uncomfortable to good aligned beings (myself included) but in truth, toppling a nation isn't good guy work (ask the CIA)!
Akari was on the right track. We need macro ideas that will really change Egorian. My suggestion is to sow discord between the rivaling Houses. Maybe we could spark a real conflict.
The only problem with that, Valerio, is that Cheliax is founded on hatred of tieflings, in a way. It's something of a theocracy at this point: Asmodeus-worship and diabolism have penetrated the real power in Cheliax. You can make all the remarks you want about how Chelaxians aren't "Ra, ra, hiss boom ba" for Asmodeus, but the fact is that his church is very powerful in the nation.
And that church promotes the hunting and killing of fiends and fiend-bloods.
Which is what the Tail Takers are doing.
Taking out the gang is the first step to taking out the infrastructure of Chelaxian worship, belief, and, ultimately, culture. And that's what we're really doing: not just destroying the country's government, but destroying its ideals, the propaganda and hatred it spreads.
Also, to be frankly metagame, we're 2nd level, and Arkwright explicitly told us that everything isn't going to be scaled for us. We really can't strike at the heart of the country right now, not without one helluva plan that I doubt would even succeed once you factor in die rolls and whatnot. Include the fact that high-level clerics of Asmodeus work for the government (ahem, see above), who probably have divination spells and whatnot, and we stand virtually no chance unless we start small.
Just some of my own thoughts on this issue of where to begin, though.
IC, Blast severely dislikes racism and other forms of hatred, and wants to topple that. That he's a tiefling just drives the point home.
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I greatly agree with Jelani and Blast. What's keeping Cheliax together is the racial hatred of the Tieflings; increasing that hatred is just going to bind them together, particularly as the Tieflings are far too small in number to be any actual threat to the empire.
Valerio, its a sandbox game and I'm happy to let you do whatever you want, but I will be holding you to your alignment and I won't go easy on you if you try to assault/affect something far beyond your level; hint hint, it'll probably end up with you being captured and tortured by a crowd of demons screaming "DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR" at the top of their lungs.
Also- just to metagame- you're the good guys! Do good and you get rewarded, as long as you're not idiots while doing it; do something slightly bad and if you do it well enough it may be okay, but going full out ends-justify-the-means will probably bring the full weight of dramatic karma down on you.
We had a brush with the tail-taker's earlier. They know about us and seem likely to be a cause of future problems. That's the reason to take them out, more than anything.
>) I do like the idea of dabbling in the politic of the noble houses though.
Oooh! Plot work!
This is Loup... my character, rather.
I had no intention of acting in an evil manner, or going above my level cap. I was simply stating the reality of nation toppling. I realize now (I just read Cheliax Empire of Devils) that I was mistaken on several points. There are not enough Tieflings, nor is there any sympathy for them. Thwarting this gang not only makes sense, it seems like fun!
The period of time after Aroden died, but before the rise of house Thrune was the most tumultuous. Cheliax was weakened to the point that it lost much of it's territory. If we can get that started again, likely other territories would secede (particularly Isger). Isger is extremely important to Cheliax, and may likely be the lynchpin.
If the religion is what binds them together, weakening that religion is a great idea. I must admit I have no ideas on how to do this. Religions do best when they are openly challenged.
I think my 3 part plan (above) would make an entertaining set of encounters. I love the idea of luring in a predator, who then becomes the prey.
One more thing ....
It seemed like from the story we were told by Kamsen, The Eight were once a cabal of powerful wizards. There might be records of their deeds somewhere. We may even have allies/resources we do not know of yet. Where does this symbol come from?
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Yeah, the three part plan is basically what I had in mind. Just more thought out. I think the house of Thrune is a long-term goal, but for now removing the gangs will remove the government's enforcement mechanism. If they can't collect taxes and oppress people they're gonna have a hard time paying all their bureaucrats.