Sounds good! Will do what I can :)
Was going to make a "all you need to do is make a single child smile and everything'll be alright" post, but I'm now working on something else that'll motivate Franti to leave Defender's Heart with the party when the time comes.
I was going to say "oh boy, I can include my own OC in the story, finally," and then I remembered that Franti is already exactly that.
Pinocchio is one of my personal favorites children's stories. The thirty six chapter tale was supposed to end at chapter 15 (with Pinocchio hung, robbed of coin, all because he hadn't listened to Geppetto or sagely advise from those trying to help him), though its serialization continued despite the plan to initially end with the puppet-boy's death.
It causes a very strange disconnect in the story - the deus-ex-machina that Collodi uses doesn't fit too well with previously establish rules of the world, the theme changes a bit, it kinda goes no where for a short while as well. But it has a happy ending, and the whole "real boy" thing happens in the end.
In this case, I like to imagine the first 15 chapters of Pinocchio to be the true Ustalavic tale - An oftentimes harsh story of whimsy that presents a bleak outcome and forced moral of respect for authority. Franti's addition, the following 21 chapters of the tale - in which Pinocchio finds himself amidst the orders and desires of his parents, finds happiness and realizes himself - is Franti's interpretation of how a story should be, and in a way part of his denial that Ustalav is a TERRIBLE and EVIL place.
In a way, him "changing" the story is his defiance of the world's often bleak reality, and demonstrates his preference to redeem evil rather than vanquish it.
I am sort of remembering that we found information about one safehouse we need to clear out a few weeks ago. Am I correctly remembering that?
I was going to reply to Ellena's post here, but am transferring my reply to the gameplay thread, since it is more relevant as gameplay information.
Alright, should we sell some of the things we have gathered since our last sale? From my count, we've obtained the following since coming to the surface. I believe our first score of loot was from Chaleb at the Librarium.
Scroll of Dimensional Lock
Dried Worms (6)
Potion of Resist Energy, CL3
Potion of Aid, CL3
Potion of Barkskin, CL3
Scroll of Detect Snares and Pits, CL1
Scroll of Bless, CL1
Scroll of Feather Step, CL1
Scroll of Warding Weapon, CL3
Ransuer of the Gargoyle
Wand of Magic Missile, CL 3, 11/50 Charges
Potion of Invisibility (3)
Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (2)
I say we sell the Ranseur and perhaps keep the rest? Except the wand, has any of this been claimed by anyone?
We also have those Deskari and Baphomet Pendants from underground if we want to give those to Irabeth.
Ellena doesn't really need any of the gear. Probably a good idea for her to take a healing potion as she's not able to perform LoH yet.
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Never explicit, but Franti's Ustalavic tale is Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio. Franti as a character himself was inspired by children's literature from late 19th, early 20th centuries. He even takes his name after a character in de Amici's "Cuore" ("Heart").
Pinocchio is one of my personal favorites children's stories. The thirty six chapter tale was supposed to end at chapter 15 (with Pinocchio hung, robbed of coin, all because he hadn't listened to Geppetto or sagely advise from those trying to help him), though its serialization continued despite the plan to initially end with the puppet-boy's death.It causes a very strange disconnect in the story - the deus-ex-machina that Collodi uses doesn't fit too well with previously establish rules of the world, the theme changes a bit, it kinda goes no where for a short while as well. But it has a happy ending, and the whole "real boy" thing happens in the end.
In this case, I like to imagine the first 15 chapters of Pinocchio to be the true Ustalavic tale - An oftentimes harsh story of whimsy that presents a bleak outcome and forced moral of respect for authority. Franti's addition, the following 21 chapters of the tale - in which Pinocchio finds himself amidst the orders and desires of his parents, finds happiness and realizes himself - is Franti's interpretation of how a story should be, and in a way part of his denial that Ustalav is a TERRIBLE and EVIL place.
In a way, him "changing" the story is his defiance of the world's often bleak reality, and demonstrates his preference to redeem evil rather than vanquish it.
I have an interesting synchronicity to report. While Franti was composing his post regarding the Pinocchio story, I was on my camping trip with my wife. We sometimes read stories to each other and on the drive the campsite Thursday afternoon I read part of a Sherlock Holmes adventure which included a character named Jabez Wilson. That reminded me of a poem by Ogden Nash I've read many times, The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus.
You can read the poem, but the gist of it is that a little boy named Jabez Dawes does not believe in Santa Claus. This causes him to be naughty without fear of reprisals from Santa Claus and he also torments other children who do believe in Santa Claus. Come Christmas Eve, Santa Claus shows up and confronts Jabez, who immediately begins to dissemble and lie about doubting the existence of Santa Claus. To which the saint said:
'Jabez' replied the angry saint,
'It isn't I, it's you that ain't.
Although there is a Santa Claus,
There isn't any Jabez Dawes!'
Said Jabez then with impudent vim,
'Oh, yes there is, and I am him!
Your magic don't scare me, it doesn't'
And suddenly he found he wasn't!
From grimy feet to grimy locks,
Jabez became a Jack-in-the-box,
An ugly toy with springs unsprung,
Forever sticking out his tongue.
The neighbors heard his mournful squeal;
They searched for him, but not with zeal.
No trace was found of Jabez Dawes,
Which led to thunderous applause,
And people drank a loving cup
And went and hung their stockings up.
All you who sneer at Santa Claus,
Beware the fate of Jabez Dawes,
The saucy boy who told the saint off.
The boy who got him licked his paint off.
[That last line has been sanitized in the versions I found online to have Donner and Blitzen lick his paint off, presumably because kids eating paint is dangerous, but we don't need that softening to understand the point.]
So even in the 20th century, we have stories in which naughty boys get executed, by Santa Claus no less. So then I read Franti's post about how he modified the story to have a happy ending.
Not sure what it means that I was reminded of that poem just as Franti was pointing out the original ending of the Pinocchio story, but there it is.
I say we sell the Ranseur and perhaps keep the rest? Except the wand, has any of this been claimed by anyone?
We also have those Deskari and Baphomet Pendants from underground if we want to give those to Irabeth.
I'm going to assume a similar limit is on finding people to buy gear from you. If selling anything mundane for 100 gp or less (200 gp new or less), you can easily find buyers. Anything above that, I'll roll to see if you find someone with the wealth to buy and an interest in the item. The Ranseur is worth 2310 gp. Here is the 75% chance roll:
So you can find someone who will buy it. I should point out, it is a martial weapon and does provide 2 points of stone skin armor for five rounds and it has reach. Might not be a bad weapon for Ellena or Karas to keep in reserve, but that is your choice. There is nothing in its construction to link its use to Vagorg's worship of Xoveron nor anything overtly connected to gargoyles or evil or demons.
I would be fine with one of our warriors keeping the ranseur. I'm sure in a level or two we will find more things that we can sell, and therefore balance our our relative wealth levels.
Does Karas have a magical weapon? If not, it'd be good for him to keep that stowed, for the times his claws might be less effective.
Ugh. Just looked and saw so many typos in my last post. And it is too late to go back and edit. I've been doing so much typing for work and school this last week or so, I would like I would be a little better at it. :P
I'd actually prefer to find an amulet of mighty fists to augment the claws. I'll be looking over the posts and replying tonight though
I say you keep the weapon until we find you an amulet, then we can sell it.
I suppose I can take the ranseur for now. Id also like the barkskin potion if no one minds.
Please indicate when you are ready to move on to the next event and which location you'd like to investigate first.
Ellena is ready to move on. I say we go the same way as the last time, we hit the closest spot first and then move out from there.
I'm ready and Ellenas idea works for me.
I'll assume you want to wait until a new day to allow rest and replenishing spells. If anyone needs to purchase equipment, that should be stated before moving on. I'll move things on this time tomorrow unless issues come up that need discussing.
I'll be making a post this evening regarding my purchases, selling of equipment.
Potion of Resist Energy, CL3
Potion of Aid, CL3
Scroll of Detect Snares and Pits, CL1
Scroll of Bless, CL1
Scroll of Feather Step, CL1
Scroll of Warding Weapon, CL3
Assigning Karas the Ranseur screws up some of the loot allocation (expensive item kept for a small sale), so lets just mark it as a party item and when it comes time to sell we'll do a party split. Karas, if you want the longsword rather than the ranseur (offers reach, bonus to disarm, +2 Natural AC)
I'm learning I am not too fond of the current loot breakdown system we have for taking expensive items and consumables. Currently when someone takes an item, we treat it as if them taking out its full value from the party pool and paying out portions based off of that. It penalizes taking an item you might want or could see use of by making you pay full price.
How would you all feel about adjusting this, making it 1/2 of value? That way, when you sell the now-personal item, you are essentially reimbursed for taking it. Let's say I take a Potion of Invisibility. Usually that'd remove 300 from my share, and give everyone else 60gp. Say I don't use it and wish to sell it however, I am now down 210gp compared to everyone else.
If we used sell value instead of full value, everyone would get 30gp, and I'd take a 150gp hit to the share. When I sell the item however, I get back my 150, and am only down 30gp (what everyone else made extra from me taking the item).
That's fine with me, Franti.
Franti, I agree it should be half value. Basically, the PC becomes the 'buyer' of the item by taking it in lieu of coins.
Tauni would be ready to move on after getting rest and replenishing spells. And I agree with Ellena's approach: start with the closest and work our way out.
Sounds fine with me, honestly I prefer claws for volume of attacks but if something needs magic to be damaged I can swap to it. I get spells soon so I might be able to make something work. Am I currently being allocated any gold from our split?
The only other thing is like is masterwork scale if there's a set around and I can afford it.
If you want to purchase something before going out the next day, remember that if it costs more than 100 gp, you will need to roll 26-100 on a 1d100 for it to be available. So getting a mundane weapon or armor will likely be automatic, but a MWK item might not be available. Likewise for things like potions etc.
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I am going to try to get a post up tonight for Anarya before we all move out. Not being able to keep up with the thread has made me feel really guilty, and I've been struggling to decide who Anarya should encounter at the safehouse. The nuns are an obvious choice, but I've fleshed them out so little in my mind. On the other hand, she doesn't really know a whole lot of people.
I'll come up with something.
26+ Is good, order by date acquired:
, no sale! Keep as party item until later sold.
no sale! Keep as party item until later sold!
Potion of Resist Energy, CL3
Potion of Aid, CL3
Scroll of Detect Snares and Pits, CL1
Scroll of Bless, CL1
Scroll of Feather Step, CL1
Scroll of Warding Weapon, CL3
Potion of Invisibility
Total Sale Income: 2062.5gp
Gold from Irabeth: 1500gp
Adjusted Shares are as follows. If you have already took Irabeth’s gold, subtract 250gp from this:
Franti: 523.25 (lower due to Potion of Invisibility)
Karas 523.25 (lower due to Potion of Barkskin)
Ellena 703.25
Avelina 406.25 (lower due to Wand of Magic Missile)
Anevia 703.25
Tauni 703.25
Unfortunately, my personal post is going to be coming in late, likely sometime tomorrow afternoon, my apologies.
So I now have enough gold to buy the armor I want - Darkleaf Parade/Studded Armor. It'd be an improvement to my AC, allow for future high Dex scores, is lighter than my leather armor, AND I can trim some weight by having the Parade armor double as my entertainer's costume. The problem is, there is no way they have the outfit I have in mind ready to go.
So can I commission the creation of armor by a craftsman for when we return? Is that a feasible request?
roll for masterwork scale:
....also im an idiot and forgot i already had +1 lol
Franti can commission the armor. He should check again in a week to find out if the armorer has had time to make it yet. He explains it depends on whether he can find sufficient materials and if there are any more urgent needs for the crusaders.
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Please don't feel guilty about posting rates. We all know we are all going to have to make other things higher priority than posting from time to time. We are approaching the one year anniversary of the start of the campaign and we are about 70% through the first volume, which is pretty good pace. I can speed things up a little by condensing the exploration of the two safehouses and focusing on Terendelev's house (which is something I'm adding to the adventure and something I hope will be challenging, rewarding, and interesting).
Once this is done, everyone should be ready to level up to 4th level in preparation for the finale of the first book.
@Anarya: don't sweat it if you don't have time to do an interaction vignette. That was mostly to give people something to do while I was on my camping trip.
[dice=availability]1d100
Franti can commission the armor. He should check again in a week to find out if the armorer has had time to make it yet. He explains it depends on whether he can find sufficient materials and if there are any more urgent needs for the crusaders.
This outfit is close to my planned end-game outfit, outside of magical enhancements. High maximum dex mod allows for me to not worry when Small+Mythic, no ACP, lightweight.
I'm looking forward to Fourth level! I get Debilitating Injuries, a rogue talent, AND
At 4th level, whenever a scout makes a charge, her attack deals sneak attack damage as if the target were flat-footed. Foes with uncanny dodge are immune to this ability.
Which will be great with this -
Whenever you use a bludgeoning weapon to deal nonlethal sneak attack damage to a flat-footed opponent, roll your sneak attack dice twice, totaling the results as your nonlethal sneak attack damage for that attack.
Get ready for 7d6+Dex on Fifth Level!
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Please don't feel guilty about posting rates. We all know we are all going to have to make other things higher priority than posting from time to time. We are approaching the one year anniversary of the start of the campaign and we are about 70% through the first volume, which is pretty good pace. I can speed things up a little by condensing the exploration of the two safehouses and focusing on Terendelev's house (which is something I'm adding to the adventure and something I hope will be challenging, rewarding, and interesting).
Once this is done, everyone should be ready to level up to 4th level in preparation for the finale of the first book.
@Anarya: don't sweat it if you don't have time to do an interaction vignette. That was mostly to give people something to do while I was on my camping trip.
Thanks... That makes me feel better. I've been sick now too - spent today barely able to leave my room. Thanks for being understanding, everyone. :)
I am also looking forward to fourth level. I get second-level spells, FINALLY. So frustrating that oracles and sorcerers have to wait an extra level...
I'm not sure if they are friend or foe, and that is all that is halting me from sprinkling caltrops in front of the door. That, and then it'd be tough to get inside after that.
Some character creation is going along nicely in the Strange Aeons discussion! If you haven't check in already and you still want in, take a look!
Thanks for the heads up. I did not realize you had started the thread. I thought interest had flagged because no one else posted a response to your query earlier.
Question: if I wanted to try and move through Karas's square, would I have to make a save or any other sort of check to deal with the tanglefoot bag? Or is it directed more at the person than the square?
The tanglefoot bag only affects the target.
I misread the seven as a one, as I couldn't see the 1-man at the time and made a wrongful assumption! So sorry! The player becomes the fool!
In that case, lets just carry on with attack 7 without a sneak attack. Attack roll still at 16 (though no longer vs denied dex), no sneak attack dice means 7 total damage total.
I misread the seven as a one, as I couldn't see the 1-man at the time and made a wrongful assumption! So sorry! The player becomes the fool!
In that case, lets just carry on with attack 7 without a sneak attack. Attack roll still at 16 (though no longer vs denied dex), no sneak attack dice means 7 total damage total.
No worries. These are the kind of thing that playing face to face would be resolved in a second. But in PBP it takes hours.
I'm kind of busy until near the end of the week so my turn-around time may be a little delayed from usual. Also my laptop broke which is the computer I have to use when I'm at home during the day M-W until I get to work. Once I'm at work, I can post but then I'm sometimes busy.
To top it off, the Giants are playing the Mets tonight in the NL wild card game, so I'll be checking on that at breaks rather than PBP. (I'm a very long time Giants fan, since about 1962.)
I have a very free weekend for the first time in months, so I should be able to post normally this weekend at the very least!
Interesting you should say that, because I am getting swamped. Next Saturday, my step-daughter is getting married and I am officiating the ceremony. So with preparations and family coming from out of town, the next week and a half to two weeks is going to be dicey for my posting. I'll try to keep posting normal, but feel free to bot me if it looks like I'd be holding anything up.
Hi guys, I'm going to be likely without reception later today through sunday evening. feel free to bot me for the weekend, its pretty safe to say the actions for the fight are 'Be a Blender'
I have returned triumphant from the wastes again :)
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I'm back too! The wedding was excellent, and I got a lot of compliments on my officiating. We ended up losing power to the yacht club where we were having it, but not until after dinner was already served. Fortunately, the decor had included lots of candles, and the DJ had battery powered speakers, so we had a several hour candle lit dance party to wrap it up! Good times!
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Shame on the yacht club for hogging all the power! :)
Glad everyone is back safe and sound.
By the way, happy anniversary to us all. We have been playing WOTR for one year. We are abou 3/4 of the way through the first book, so let me know if you are happy with the pace.
Once the Topaz Solutions encounter is over I have an encounter of my own design involving some things at Terendelev's manor. We could skip that and make faster progress toward the thrilling conclusion to book 1.
Whether we skip that or not, I think you should level up to 4th, even though the XP is not quite there. So start working on the level up which will kick in at the end of this encounter.
Also, please give me an approximate treasure amount for each PC. If your levels are low, I'll place some goodies in your path before you get to the last mission, which Irabeth will give you once your explorations of the cult safehouses and Terendelev's manor have been completed.
I think it will be fun to play out all the encounters planned through the end of book 1. There will be some time saving cuts I can make in book 2 that will be better than trying to cut out book 1 material. Book 1 really sets the challenges that the demons and the world wound present as well as revealing some of the enemies weaknesses.