Apologies for the lack of posting, but I've been trying to give Eleri time to level up and post. I called AS yesterday and gave him until Monday to post or I drop him from the game.
Eleri has been quiet most of the journey, and seems to have taken a distinct dislike to the weather conditions. She speaks up now, though. "It seems impractical for us to take out either group, but Silverkeep's scouts must know about the main force. They might not know about this group of dwarves. We should try and see if we can't hamper them - after all, I would guess that the S refers to Stronginthearm, their general. If we can kill or capture him we might be able to turn the tide."
Knowledge (Geography):1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
She pauses and thinks for a moment, before saying "Sadly, I'm not sure where they're heading, exactly. That said, I think I may remember a bit about that Sir Leonard fellow. Or rather, fellows. You see, a lot of individuals have been identified as "Sir Leonard" over the years. Humans, elves, or assorted other races all claimed at various points that he was their own. Stories of him used to be told, from over seven hundred years ago until about two hundred years ago. I've only ever seen fragmentary versions of these stories in old manuscripts, but the overwhelming message seems to be that he was a folk hero to some, and a demagogue to others."
"As for the fallen, a human mage going by that name led an undead rebellion about two hundred years ago in this area. He was defeated by a priest of Pharasma called Harrod. That's probably why the vista is called Harrod's Vista. I haven't seen any texts about him that have been published this century, though. Personally, I'd like to learn more about him - he's credited with contributing to wordcasting!" She seems very excited by this last point.
"Of course, we should probably focus on dealing with this war first."
"Great. So nobody has any clue where those dwarves are headed?" Gareth sighs. "So wait, I'm confused. There's been more than one Sir Leonard? So which one isn't supposed to return to lead them? Whatever. If we make it back home in one piece, and the home we make it back to is in one piece, I'll help you look into the matter a bit more."
"Which brings up my next point. If nobody has an idea where the dwarves are heading, how exactly are we going to follow them?"
Survival to find any tracks?:1d20 - 2 ⇒ (8) - 2 = 6
Jamros makes a variety of complicated motions, clearly attempting to convey a message to the party. However, after a few moments it is clear that no one is going to understand him, so he gives up in a huff.
Sense Motive DC 11:
Bluff:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Jamros doesn't have anything to say at all. He is just as confused as anyone else about what they should do but was attempting to convince the others that he had an idea but just couldn't communicate it.
Yeah, Ser Leonard can wait until our city isn't under siege. And as for the dwarves, there's two thousand of them; I can't imagine they'll be hard to find.
You head west from the abandoned town, and soon find the dwarves' tracks. They lead you through hills and small towns - all of which seem to have been abandoned or evacuated. You trek through the mud and light rain all day, but Caladrius's warding protects you from suffering fatigue as easily as you did yesterday. It doesn't help you move faster in the thick mud, however.
By the end of the day, you are thirty miles west of where you started, but you still haven't caught up with the dwarves.
Treat this as a chance for you to roleplay and to check back in. Stuff will happen soon, I promise.
What kind of terrain surrounds us? Are we nearby an abandoned village or out in the open somewhere?
As the sun begins to go down, Gareth yawns and stretches. "It's getting late. We covered some good ground today, probably more than the dwarves did. It's hard for units of that size to stay mobile."
Gareth looks around for suitable spot to make camp, or a nearby village to take cover in.
Gareth cracks his knuckles, "Well, looks like tonight won't be any kind of town hall with a warm hearth." He points to a nearby outcropping. "That's all I've got for ideas. It's pretty exposed though, so if any of you know a good campsite nearby, you should say something."
Sorry I haven't posted much, but I've been sick for the last week and a half. Serves me right for dumping constitution in real life, I guess.
You navigate the terrain for another twenty minutes, and make your way to the top of a nearby hill. It is shielded from view from below by the giant boulders and the bushes surrounding the area.
To speed things along, give me a watch order, okay?
Sorry to try to rush you through things, I was just curious if other people were still around since there were only a few posts recently.
As the party sets up at the campsite, Gareth suggests, "I'm wide awake. I'll take first watch tonight with Martin. Caladrius and Jamros, do you wanna take 2nd watch and Eleri and Pygrado take 3rd watch?"
Assigned an arbitrary watch order, this cool with everyone?
Male Human Rogue [Investigator] 1/Dragonfire Adept 3
I'm still here.
Trusting the others to have found a suitable campsite, Caladrius begins rifling through the Handy Haversack, bringing out some firewood and food taken from the town.
During his watch, Gareth leans on one of the boulders, opposite to where Martin is watching. "Good, I'll get this over with and get a nice uninterrupted sleep tonight," he thinks. His gaze eventually drifts to the sky, where he watches the stars, finding comfort in their presence.
The night passes quietly and uneventfully. You hear the whirring of bats overhead and the hooting of owls, but nothing actually seems to threaten you and your camp during the first two watches. During Pygrado and Eleri's predawn watch, however...
You spot a large bird swooping towards your campsite. On its back is a small rider, but you cannot ascertain further details in the dim light - you won initiative and may act first.
A giant bird dips low over the camp. Mounted atop its back is a halfling. The halfling flings a lasso down at Eleri, snagging her and dragging her off the ground as the bird flies overhead.
"Gotcha!" Shouts the halfling as he and his mount fly north with their captive.
Pygrado draws his dagger from it's sheath (quick-draw) and dashes towards the bird (to B12) before flinging the dagger at the rope just ahead of Eliri.
... Well, I'm not sure what Jamros is going to do about that...
Jamros wakes up, spots the bird and Eliri high above the ground. He shouts "Anaemrrt!" and a translucent shining blue battleaxe appears in the air just below the bird. It attacks the rope holding Eliri.
I figured you had taken meat from the dead horses. If that's not the case, I'm not inclined to make a big deal about it in this game.
Pygrado's dagger flies off into the night. Eleri screams a lot. Jamros's summoned axe strikes the rope lasso but does not destroy it. Eleri screams some more as the fraying lasso sways wildly.
The rider spurs his bird to fly upward at an extremely steep angle, and it complies.
Gareth bolts to his feet from his slumber. He runs to B12, struggling to draw his bow in the process. He prepares to take a shot, then stops himself. "It's no use. She's gone. No way she'd survive the fall."
Seriously? I mean, ropes usually have 2HP/in. of rope. Is this rope 5in. thick? And if so, how do you lasso someone with a rope that thick? The bird flys 20ft over and 90ft up? I mean, I understand that Eliri was gone and you need a way to get rid of her, but seriously, that is at least a fly check, let alone ascending at half speed... Not that it really matters, since Eliri has got to disappear somehow. It's just that if she didn't, we totally could have saved her. :) Also, right, I totally forgot about the horse meat.
The great axe follows the rope for a ways, but comes back and hovers above Jamros. He shouts to Eliri, "Bsaf oub easd! Qas nboap fpxcn ahdsgn!" as he runs down the hill after the bird. Once it is clear that she is gone and not coming back, Jamros hangs his head and slowly walks back to camp.
It's a magical lasso made with one of the tougher ropes. You did over half of its hit points in damage, but you needed to fully destroy it to free Eleri. No fly check is needed against your attack, but it succeeded at its fly check to fly at an angle greater than 45 degrees before double moving. Eleri is not resisting (she is in fact clutching the rope in terror), so no additional CMB roll is necessary.
ok, so we lost Eleri is gone. I say we go to sleep and keep following the dwarfs in the morning. But Jamros can't say anything. Anyone else want to pick up the ball?
I thought it was morning already. This post is assuming that it is morning again. I'm also going to reset my prepared spell momentarily.
Gareth sits on a rock, with a frown, looking deep in thought. He finally speaks up, "I'd hate to leave a woman behind. Especially after she put her life on the line for us yesterday. Took a shot right in the throat. But at this point, we have to stick with our plan. Very least, we can thank the gods she's not dead yet."
As Gareth speaks, he continuously pulls out a few blades of grass from a nearby patch, picking them apart. "Now, the thing that unsettles me is how those halflings caught onto our trail again. They know we're here and looks like they're following us again. So we can't stick around at this campsite much longer. We gotta get a move on. And we have to keep our eyes peeled. They could have easily told the dwarves by now that they have some company."
And I completely failed to realize this encounter was just to put Eliri on a bus.
Pygrado returns from retrieving his thrown dagger. Yeah, if that halfling informs the others, we're in real trouble. At best, we've lost the element of surprise. At worst, we're in for some company in a hurry. We need to make tracks right now. He smiles with sudden, completely inappropriate humor given the recent loss of a companion And then cover those tracks thoroughly so they can't follow us.
Male Human Rogue [Investigator] 1/Dragonfire Adept 3
They can see us because they can scout from the air. We need to stay under cover as much as possible until we can neutralize them and we need to think of a surprising way to approach the dwarves, since I assume that they have been warned of our approach.
It was, but soon you would have seen a halfling flying overhead anyway, so he just took a more active role with this plan. Also, I find it entertaining that the two rogues managed to ninja post each other.
Gareth looks with clear disgust at Caladrius, who hasn't elicited any emotional response over Eleri's capture, and Pygrado, who almost seems to find it slightly amusing. "Right. No time like the present. C'mon, let's get a move on it!"
Everyone except Eleri and Pygrado gains the effects of resting after that encounter.
You continue west, following the trail of the dwarves. Around midday, you arrive at a fort. Its gates are open, and vultures circle high above it. No guards walk the walls or stand watch on the towers. As you approach, you see why: the guards are all dead.
The corpses all wear the armor of the Silver Guards, and the tracks lead into the central tower of the fort. An empty stable stands on the western side of the inner courtyard.
Examining the corpses:
The men were killed by a variety of means. Some were slain by small blades, some by arrows, and some are covered in large burns. Their positioning indicates a surprise attack initiated the assault, and that those not slain by this were cut down before they could regroup. Several men on the towers were cut down by a large, jagged blade that left terrible, gaping wounds.
The guards (all human) have a variety of nonmagical, non-masterwork weapons. Short swords, daggers, longswords, spears, and longbows (none composite) are common. All wore chainmail (again, nonmagical and non-masterwork).
Gareth grunts and his brow furrows upon seeing the carnage. He quickly glances around the area. He motions for everyone to stop and says softly, "Careful. They may still be around."
Perception:1d20 - 2 ⇒ (9) - 2 = 7
Do the tracks stop at the keep? Or does it look like they came in and left? Also, was it a TOTAL massacre, as in, is there any sign of the enemy dieing at all?
Hey everyone, this is a thread for discussions related to the ongoing Unrest in Atlus game. It is also a place where you lot (the players) can discuss character ideas and decide what you want to play. As many of you are new to play by posts, this is also a place where you can discuss questions related to the medium.
Hey everyone, JC here. I was thinking about playing a fighter1/rogue2 skill monkey and secondary tank, but I'd be willing to play something else if that doesn't fit with the other roles people want; I'm not yet super committed to this character.
Anyway, let me know what the rest of you are planning to play so we can balance stuff out.
I was thinking of playing a Dread Necro and eventually Sand Shaper, presuming that we go through 3 levels. This is of course dependent on DM approval and also flavor-wise if there is a place in this world for Ancient Egyptians.
Alternatively I was thinking either an Oracle or a Dragon Shaman (PHB II)
I'm tossing a few ideas around right now. The most prominent one so far is a somewhat unconventional archery centered paladin (not really a main tank), but I have to clarify a few things with Chris first. Other ideas include a bard or sorcerer.
I'll work on getting this ironed out relatively quickly. Mostly just wanted to say that I'm definitely in, and super excited for this.
Hey guys,
JZ here (As most of you probably know by the screen name). I will be playing a sword and board ranger, Martin Stillwaters. He should be relatively tanky, and doing some melee DPS.
As a note Caleth, niether Dread Necro, nor Sandshaper are in the complete series.
I was thinking of playing a Dread Necro and eventually Sand Shaper, presuming that we go through 3 levels. This is of course dependent on DM approval and also flavor-wise if there is a place in this world for Ancient Egyptians.
Alternatively I was thinking either an Oracle or a Dragon Shaman (PHB II)
you should do the oracle, as you've already played a Dragon esque sorcerer in our previous game.
I was thinking that, but I have the opportunity here to use all sorts of wacky 3.5 stuff which doesn't come along often in a PbP.
I'm going to advocate for Dragonfire Adept, played partially as a party face. I was thinking that I could be from the city on my mother's side and a barbarian on my father's side, which is where the dragon comes from. Because of this interesting childhood I would be a diplomat (read spy) and general troubleshoter from the city-state that we are starting in. More backstory to come later.
EDIT: Make that Dragonfire Adept with a dip of Rogue for flavor and the party's skill needs.
Hello Gentleman, (JZ here again)
I made this character alias to show you guys what one generally looks like. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Hey guys (IL here),
So far Im thinking Im going to play a very very crotchety druid (read: INCREDIBLY low charisma). Decided i was going to try something besides the strong silent shooter type for once.
I made this character alias to show you guys what one generally looks like. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Looks fine Rhiom. Caleth and I are discussing options, and I have made him aware of my reservations. That's all I can say.
For the rest of you, once you have created an alias you can choose to use that alias when writing a post. Under the text window is a "Post as" drop-down menu. You choose which alias (if any) you wish to use at this time.
So far Im thinking Im going to play a very very crotchety druid (read: INCREDIBLY low charisma). Decided i was going to try something besides the strong silent shooter type for once.
How Rogue-y is your rogue intended to be? You've got most of the skills covered, though not Disable Device, so would it be worth it for me to bring in a more classic rogue?
Alternately, I was considering a Magus (still secondary tank, but now secondary arcane as well instead of primary sneak).
Or wait, Dragonfire Adept is already a Gish-type, right? So we've got a Tank (JZ), a Healer/tank (IL), an Mage/Sneak/Tank (CvH), and a probable archer (MB). Maybe I should go straight mage. Perhaps a witch?
I would not say Dragonfire Adept is a Gish, because it is clearly not designed to be in meele.
I have a lot of the social skills, and knowledge skills, but the level of Rogue is mostly for backstory and flavor. Another Rogue who specializes in the more classic rogue skills would be really useful.
On the other hand Magus is awesome since it is a straight-out-of-the-box gish. You can even take witch hexes with an archetype if you can't decide between the two.
No, if you don't have the stealth etc. elements of a rogue, I'll play this one, since I just finished building him anyway. Crunch is up in the alias, I'll add flavor after I've had some dinner.
My character sheet/backstory are complete for Gareth Aldridge. I'm emailing it to DM CD right now. I have stuck with the archery focused paladin, for those that are curious.
Martin Stillwater--Sword/Board Ranger (Tank?)
Fluffcake the Druid--(Divine Caster)
Caladrius--Dragonfire Adept (Semicaster/Face)
Pygrado--Assassiny Rogue (Sneak)
Gareth--Paladin (Ranged)
And waiting on one more, right?
Who are we waiting on right now? AS? I haven't heard anything from him yet.
The survey was anonymous, so I don't know who else was interested. That said, my gut says AS. As for getting started, I would like to begin next week. To do this, I still need backstories and character sheets from several of you. Also, please remember that your total wealth is 3000 gold. This means that no one item may cost more than 1500 gold. This means no +1 weapons, rings of protection, or handy haversacks. Please look carefully over your sheets.
I think that it is quite good, especially with respect to the fact that you get Freedom of Movement on your spell list and immunity to compulsion effects.
I think that it is quite good, especially with respect to the fact that you get Freedom of Movement on your spell list and immunity to compulsion effects.
Thanks Caleth! This looks pretty solid and would fit better with Gareth's background. I'm going to go with this.
Cd'A, is it all right if we use another pdf sheet instead of the one you linked? I've got my character made using the Modified Neceros Sheet. Also, expect my 10-minute (though it's taking a lot longer) backstory as a PM within the day.
IL, how's the druid coming? If you have any build questions I'm sure that any of us here would be glad to give pointers (or direct you to guidebooks).
Cd'A, is it all right if we use another pdf sheet instead of the one you linked? I've got my character made using the Modified Neceros Sheet. Also, expect my 10-minute (though it's taking a lot longer) backstory as a PM within the day.
IL, how's the druid coming? If you have any build questions I'm sure that any of us here would be glad to give pointers (or direct you to guidebooks).
Fine by me. Any workable PDF is acceptable - I just linked the one that worked best for me. I do want a PDF sheet from each you, as I can download it and look over it even if my internet gives up on me. Gareth, go ahead with the Paladin of Freedom. It's from UA if you want the full entry. Note that my alignment requirements overwrite those of the variant, but that shouldn't be a problem for you.
Last I heard from IL, it's coming. I also spoke with AS this afternoon, and he's just starting to build his character.
Also, Caladrius, you have a math error on your alias profile. Your melee attack bonus should be +2 by my reckoning. Your dagger is masterwork, which gives +1, and your BAB is +1. Your ranged attack looks correct, though.
Depending on your backstory, some of you can expect emails from me with some exclusive knowledge of the city based on your experiences.
Male Human Rogue [Investigator] 1/Dragonfire Adept 3
Quick setting question: How old is King Heric. Is he of the same generation as the characters or much older than that?
This is significant, since my mother was a member of the court and my father was a barbarian mercenary, possibly employed as a bodyguard to someone important.
Quick setting question: How old is King Heric. Is he of the same generation as the characters or much older than that?
This is significant, since my mother was a member of the court and my father was a barbarian mercenary, possibly employed as a bodyguard to someone important.
If you're expecting the king to come save us whenever we get in trouble... ;-p
Quick setting question: How old is King Heric. Is he of the same generation as the characters or much older than that?
This is significant, since my mother was a member of the court and my father was a barbarian mercenary, possibly employed as a bodyguard to someone important.
Heric is 54, and has ruled for 19 years. He has a daughter in your generation. Heric's father, King Kasillon II, was a deeply unpopular ruler and Heric had to fight hard to hold the throne in the early years until he proved himself a capable ruler to the nobles and mercantile establishment.
Incidentally, I have learned a bit about using civic leaders in games with you guys. All of the nobles in this world have class levels, unlike that one unfortunate duke...
This doesn't mean they'll race to your rescue, though!
Male Human Rogue [Investigator] 1/Dragonfire Adept 3
Backstory Stuff (For DM):
So is it plausible that my father was then an adventurer/mercenary who ended up a bodyguard to King Heric during the difficult beginning of his reign.
What I am looking for is that King Heric would have tapped me, the son of his loyal guard as a secret operative at some point. I would be sent on various unsavory missions that required plausible deniability. The party ideally would not know that I work for the King, and I would presumably have some specific mission from him.
Hello friends, AS here. Sorry it took me so long to get into this; I've spent the summer so far either away from the internet on vacation or dealing with family stuff.
Anyway, I was hoping to try out a spontaneous wordcaster for my character. The slow pace of play-by-post makes it a perfect environment for experimenting with the flexibility offered by the new system. I'll be working on my crunch and fluff throughout the week, as well as familiarizing myself with general play-by-post stuff.
*rolls to understand the bbcode tags for die rolling*
1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 92d8 - 5 + 3d4 ⇒ (7, 5) - 5 + (4, 2, 3) = 16
Anyway, I was hoping to try out a spontaneous wordcaster for my character. The slow pace of play-by-post makes it a perfect environment for experimenting with the flexibility offered by the new system. I'll be working on my crunch and fluff throughout the week, as well as familiarizing myself with general play-by-post stuff.
Sounds good. I was a little sceptical of wordcasting when I read it in UM, but would be really excited to see it in actual practice.
It makes blaser-casting more powerful but I think that it is harder to summon in general unless I have misunderstood how it works, which is completely possible.
It makes blaser-casting more powerful but I think that it is harder to summon in general unless I have misunderstood how it works, which is completely possible.
Well I don't know about summoning in particular, but my general read was that you sacrificed overall flexibility (in that there's just a lot fewer wordspells than there are spells) for greater flexibility in targeting.
So instead of having a mage with spider climb, and gaseous form, and scry, and whatever else, you now have one with fire ray, fire line, fireball, fire touch, and fire a few random people.
I also think that it's interesting that 3 out of 4 of us so far have been separated from at least one parent early in our lifetimes.
The fewer parents you have, the fewer the GM can take hostage ;-p. Or maybe it's that it takes a traumatic childhood to want to go into adventuring, or that happy childhoods make dull reading.
Also we have no pure casters posted yet, which is extremely odd for this group, and yet 3 out of 4 of us have ranks in UMD. We also have three high charisma characters, two with levels in rogue, two with levels of paladin, and only one single-classed character. It's an interesting party build so far.
I also think that it's interesting that 3 out of 4 of us so far have been separated from at least one parent early in our lifetimes.
Well, it's quite obvious that few of you subscribe to the classic rule that when writing a character, it's best to leave all family members dead so that the DM has less blackmail fodder. Not that I'm complaining, mind you!
Also, the wordcaster sounds interesting. I haven't seen one in play thus far either.
Which might work out if we get a wordcaster with blasting and a little utility. Between him, me and the paladin archer thats quite a bit of damage and we can UMD stuff for utility spells.
I also think that it's interesting that 3 out of 4 of us so far have been separated from at least one parent early in our lifetimes.
Well, it's quite obvious that few of you subscribe to the classic rule that when writing a character, it's best to leave all family members dead so that the DM has less blackmail fodder. Not that I'm complaining, mind you!
Also, the wordcaster sounds interesting. I haven't seen one in play thus far either.
NOOOOOO! Don't you lay a hand on Serah Moons Aldridge!!!
This wordcaster idea does sound pretty cool, btw.
Also @Caleth, depending on how things progress with the party, and if Gareth can get his hands on some interesting magical wands/items, I could see him becoming more practiced in the arts of UMD... I already have +8 with only 1 rank.
AS here again. Alright, I've gotten the crunch and fluff of my character figured out; it's in the alias profile. C D, I hope you don't mind but I kind of arbitrarily decided/assumed a couple things about the setting.
1. There's a college of magic in Silverkeep.
2. Spellcasters view wordcasting as an archaic form of magic that's not really worth studying.
If either of these is a problem, let me know and I'll do my best to change my character's background. Though I admit that, at the moment, I haven't the faintest idea how I would.
AS here again. Alright, I've gotten the crunch and fluff of my character figured out; it's in the alias profile. C D, I hope you don't mind but I kind of arbitrarily decided/assumed a couple things about the setting.
1. There's a college of magic in Silverkeep.
2. Spellcasters view wordcasting as an archaic form of magic that's not really worth studying.
If either of these is a problem, let me know and I'll do my best to change my character's background. Though I admit that, at the moment, I haven't the faintest idea how I would.
1: Yes - The Silverite Academy of Magic is a small but highly esteemed private liberal arts... whoops. It's a small institution run by nobles and merchant guilds, but accepts any student who can demonstrate talent.
