DM Carbide's Through a Cracked Mirror: The Dark Road (Inactive)

Game Master John Woodford

HERE's a better map of where you are, with some indication of where the lake is (the shore is actually a little north of there, but I screwed up making the shape and couldn't correct it). You're at the yellow dot near Elistia.

After orienting yourselves, you head towards what was in your Golarion the site of Elistia. Elesandira can tell that the ground you're crossing was recently trod upon by large creatures leaving odd tracks, likely those of moonflowers and other peculiar ambulatory plants. Some of them are even larger than the moonflowers you saw around Versey's sky ship.

You've been walking for a half-hour or so when everyone hears a sound like the howl of a wolf, though it has strange harmonics and overtones that set Selveshanea's teeth on edge. Eretria, you recognize the sound--several days ago you fought things like worgs, only not quite.

"Raowrrr."

I place a calming hand on Selveshanea's flank, "Easy boy, easy..."

As I do so, I peer about for any threats.

perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29

Across the hills to the north, Elesandira can see a number of lean quadrupeds heading towards the party. As she watches, she sees a much larger, shaggy form crest a low hill behind them. When it rears up on its hind legs, she can tell it looks rather like a bear. Behind it comes a humanoid figure wearing a cloak; as the wind catches it the half-elf can see a glint as of armor.

"Hmm, weapons out but down, I think."

Then I realise the others might not have seen, "A man in metal armour, some kind of bear and more wolf-like creatures behind. Heading straight for us."

That said, I cast aspect of the falcon, draw my bow and hold an arrow ready.

When they draw near I will call out: "Hail and well met!"

Berbas gets his whip out and mumbles a few magical words to strengthen his resolve for what looks to be an upcoming conflict.

Cast Heroism on self

GM, I assume that we hold the higher ground. will they have cover as they aproach us? Could we move a bit so that we have cover and they have none?

Hope for the best; plan for the worst.

GM, I assume that we hold the higher ground. will they have cover as they aproach us? Could we move a bit so that we have cover and they have none?

Hope for the best; plan for the worst.

The world's a stage, we're unrehearsed.

You're able to get to high ground, but there really isn't any cover. Even if the foothills had been forested before Starfall, none of the trees would have survived the blast wave, and the plants that were clustered there most recently have all been called back to the sky ship.

I don't want to start the fight until everyone has had a chance to sound off, though I know Imizael just moved and may still be having connectivity issues. I'd prefer to have to DMPC only one person, though.

We can take it easy till he shows up. No worries

Duncan stands protectively to the front.
{{Time ta shine lil buddy. Use me fer cover and keep yer senses keen. Need ye ta mind tap alla us in case they got invisible allies.}}

The dwarf stands with his axe ready in hand, while the tiny dragon hangs onto the back of the leather jerkin covering his Breastplate.

Silf mentally projects to the party.
{{Silf be invisible seer. Everybody mind listen for Silf. Silf say if they got sneaky not seeing sneaks. Silf tell venturer friends where they are.}}

The PseudoDragon readies himself.

Sorry for the recent inactivity. Life has been kicking my ass recently.

"Wait until I cast my spell." Krol says to the group as he awaits the beasts to get closer.
Krol, seeing the approch of these beasts he prepares to cast haste once they arrive within 50ft and Ava snarls, moving to pose with back bend, hands forward with unusually sharp nails, nasty fangs as she snarles being revealed, a tail appearing beneith her robe and as the hood comes down her ears appear elvan, but she has dark red scales around her neck.

She will prepare to charge as soon as Krol's spell goes off.

In the absence of any word from Eretria, I'm going to assume that she returned to Golarion Prime with Darc and Sami. She may reappear suddenly when needed, however, if she happens to reappear.

When the oncoming band is still some distance away and on a hill slightly above the party (there's at least one depression between you and them, so you'll still have high ground), the armored figure looks over its shoulder to the north. Whatever it sees there causes it to reassess tactics; up until then the wolves and the bear have been moving at about the pace of an armored human, but in response to a gesture they surge towards the party, leaving the figure behind.

Besmarial rises into the air and turns north as well. "I can see a much larger group of creatures at least two miles away, pursuing a small wagon that seems to be heading for Elistia."

Map is forthcoming. They're moving at a running pace of 150 feet per round, so Krolmnite may want to reconsider when he casts haste.

"What now? Any ideas? Fight, run, die screaming, pretend to be friends?" Imizael looks around at each of his new companions in turn, more than a little panic evident on his face.

"They're a hunting pack; that's an attack response. A very confident one."

I pull my bowstring to my cheek, "Only two choices, Imizael: fight or die screaming."
Then I fire at the lead animal.

Using Rapid Shot a little speculatively, interested to see how these animals respond.

attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

What range are you firing at, Elesandira?

I'm fer fighting, but that's always the case.

The Dwarf casts DIVINE FAVOR +2 to hit and damage and activates his DESTRUCTION judgment.+3 to damage When they close to within 20 feet he will roar and meet the charge with on of his own.

My tactics power lets me have an ally roll for initiative 2x and take the better result. At the moment, said ally is Mister Under hill so he can get his Haste off first.

What range are you firing at, Elesandira?

How far away are they?

At the point where they started moving more quickly, they were about 800 feet away. First round: close to 650 feet. Second round: close to 500 feet. Third round: close to 350 feet. Fourth round: close to 200 feet. Fifth round: close to 50 feet. (So I suppose Krolmnite has the option to try to get his spell off at that point.)

Okay, I'll make a correction and cast gravity bow, then I'll fire on the beast when they're 220ft away, that's a second range increment for me. In other games the principle is to keep the same rolls, so I'll just re-roll the damage but I can re-roll both if you would like.

damage 1 with gravity bow: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (4, 5) + 4 = 13

damage 2 with gravity bow: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (5, 2) + 4 = 11

Elesandira, the first arrow is in the air when you see the creature slow slightly as it hits a depression you hadn't noticed before; knowing that the first arrow will likely undershoot because of that, you correct and launch the second arrow. Sure enough, the first arrow falls just short of the wolf, but the second hits. The creature gives voice to a howl of pain that trails off into muttered Aklo curses.

Round 5:

They continue to close. Does anyone else have missile attacks or other preparation they'd like to use?

I'll cast blistering invective once they are in range. So that would mean I ready it.

The creature gives voice to a howl of pain that trails off into muttered Aklo curses.

"It speaks! What language is that?"

Thinking tactically, presumably Berbas, Duncan and Imizael's companion are our front line. Imizael is our primary caster but Berbas and Duncan can drop spells when needed as well.
I am more effective at range but can step up for some violence as well.
My companion, Selveshanea, will use his pace to set up flanking and get around the field. Also has the trip special quality.
I don't think we have any battlefield control stuff beyond Imizael's obscuring mist.
As is common, we'll probably be best concentrating on one foe at a time: overwhelm that foe and move on to the next one.
Anything I'm missing?

"I'm not much for screaming. Or dying."

The little gnome begins to chant, throwing his arms to the skys, then pulling them down dramatically. He does so again, and a thick fog descends around the companions.

Obscuring Mist

Then, at the opportune moment:
Imizael chants a few words, tracing an odd symbol in the air. He then slaps Hops on the flank.

"Go get'em, Hops."

Bull's Strength on yon piggy.

Unfortunately, none of you speak the language.

More to come later, as I have to get some actual work done at work.

Map as of the top of Round 1 is HERE.

Round 1:

Initiative order:
Wolves
Bear/Selveshanea
Duncan
Imizael+Hops
Berbas
Krolmnite
Ava
Elesandira
Besmarial

Before getting rolling, I have one question: is Krolmnite going to elect to cast hasteat the bottom of the round that the enemy reaches 50 feet, or wait until the round that they close?

DM Carbide - I shot deliberately at 220ft so that I would get another shot before they closed (c.50ft) according to your countdown.

attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
damage: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (5, 6) + 4 = 15

attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
damage: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (1, 6) + 4 = 11

Sorry about skipping your closing shot...that was actually why I'd left Elesandira just outside the obscuring mist.

Round 0:

The ranger coolly puts another arrow into the charging wolf creature, but it manages to dodge the followup shot.

Krolmnite, one more question: haste affects one target per caster level. Who are you going to include?

Damn, didn't realise about the per level. Hmm...I'll focus it on those who will benefit most from it in combat. Ava, Berbas, Elesandira, Duncan and Hops. Those affected gain a +1 to attack, Dodge bonus to AC and Reflex. You also gain another attack at your highest bab, but since we're 5th level I doupt anyone has a second attack.

Hastened, and strengthened, Hops bolts forward, squealing with all his porcine fury, lunging at the approaching bear with his jagged tusks.

Attack Roll #1: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 9 + 1 = 11

Damage roll: 1d8 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Attack Roll #2: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 9 + 1 = 14

Damage roll: 1d8 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Seeing the cluster before him Duncan moves forward to AA16 and casts BANE.
The 50ft radius catching all foes in the area.
DC14 Will or suffer -1 to attack and fear affect

Just let me know where I go in at this point.

"We've fought these before, they are somewhat resistant to magic though I will see what I can do."
Eretria will explain as the creatures close in.

Duncan, give me a caster level check. IIRC, haste gives you a second attack when you take the full attack action; oddly enough, it doesn't give a bonus on initiative checks. Eretria, did you want to do anything while the creatures are closing?

Round 1:

Initiative order:
Eretria
Wolves
Bear/Selveshanea
Duncan
Imizael+Hops
Berbas
Krolmnite
Ava
Elesandira
Besmarial

Caster level check 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Crap!

Eretria will use this time to cast blur on herself in preparation.

Round 1:

Everyone but Elesandira and Eretria has a readied action at the top of the round. Eretria, I'm going to run out the wolves' charge and some of the readied actions, but you'll have the option of taking action before them.

Howling eerily, the quartet of unnatural canines rapidly close the distance, clearly preparing to charge and attack. The bear lumbers up behind the two on Elesandira and Berbas. Berbas unleashes a torrent of abuse on the creatures as they approach; the magic bites on all of the foes, but the swift wolf creatures manage to avoid catching fire. The bear is not so fortunate. All of the creatures are shaken by Berbas' spell for the next three rounds.

What does everyone else want to do with their readied actions?

Initiative order:
Eretria
Wolves
Bear/Selveshanea
Duncan
Imizael+Hops
Berbas
Krolmnite
Ava
Elesandira
Besmarial

DID EVERYONE have spell resistance?

Going for mage armor this round, none of them are in appropriate range for me to make use of the spell arsenal I have.

DID EVERYONE have spell resistance?

'Fraid so. It's not very high--9 for the worgs, and 11 for the bear. You just rolled really badly.

I'd say Ava would join combat, but she doesn't appear to be on the map.

I'll be looking to step out of melee (hopefully I can 5ft step and leave them having to provoke AOOs if they want to pursue).

I am more effective with my bow.

Selveshanea will look to flank and trip.

Not sure how I missed Ava; I had her listed with the party. How's that for a starting location?

All right, as I understand the held actions, Ava, Duncan, Hops, and Selveshanea are going to charge the wolfoids and the bear as they close, while Berbas casts blistering invective. (For readied actions, you get a standard or a move; IIRC, that also includes a charge at normal movement.) I have an attack roll from Hops.

Round 1:

Initiative order:
Eretria-acted, cast mage armor
Wolves-closed to attack, triggering readied actions
Bear/Selveshanea
Duncan
Imizael+Hops
Berbas
Krolmnite
Ava
Elesandira
Besmarial

As the eidolon, dwarf, pig, and tiger countercharge the four wolfoids, two of the creatures manage to bite Ava and Duncan. Ava, take 7 HP; Duncan, take 12 HP. Hops misses the wounded wolfoid. Current map is HERE.

Duncan, Ava, and Selveshanea can take their readied attacks.

Selveshanea dodges aroud behind Duncan and circles to flank and trip the wolf-beast at W4.

acrobatics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

bite: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

CMB to trip, if attack hits: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

The main discussion thread for this PbP is HERE. Please use that thread for OOC discussion.

Now that James Martin has closed the original thread, any discussion can go here. Yeronimous' player is still quiet on the boards, and I haven't really been pushing things while waiting for him. Now I'd like to press on, though, so if you'd like to continue, please check in here. We can recruit a couple more players, or I can dial the opposition down a bit. Personally I'd prefer to get more players, since (paradoxically) that seems to make for a faster-moving game. I haven't GMed much on the boards, though, so I'm always open to suggestions and comments.

Its looking like this game has died unfortunately, a victim of the Christmas recess.

I'm afraid so. Pixel Cube hasn't been back on the boards at all, and I have no idea what happened with the other two. I'm not sure it'd be possible to get new people brought in and up to speed with only you left, although I just thought of a way to do it that might work if you're interested. Let me know.

I've enjoyed the ride, but don't feel great about Darc getting to know another bunch of characters....

.....but then I'm liking Darc and his gruff ways ...

.....OK, if you can get a few adventurers to join in, let's say we reconvene in 3 weeks, say the 15th Feb with the new characters up and ready to go. I'll come back then and see if you've had any success. Is that OK with you DM Carbide?

Huh--I thought I'd replied already. Yes, that's fine. I posted the recruitment thread and have a few nibbles (not hard, with how fast PbP games fill up).

Sami gazes at the towering spires and sprawl of the city with wide wonder. Once again, he has to catch himself and draw back within the concealment of his hood. Though his race was widely known in his homeland, this place was much different, and he knew that persecution for his race would only be a hindrance to his quest. From withinhis shadowed cowl, he responds to the stranger, though his mastery of the common tongue is basic at best.

Indeed, I seem to have lost my way. Perhaps you could show me the direction to your healers...the most powerful in the city, if you know of them.

Having never seen a talking bird before, but at the same time thinking it no coincidence that the dream and the bird are related he picks up his pace, wondering what sort of evils he will have to face to set things right.

Clearly this is a task I was meant to undertake, with much curiosity I am off to go meet this guy.

Finally having arrived in the city, Xavier glances over the metropolis before him.
Ho, Father, if you could see your fool son now

He'd have to finish the trip to the City markets and settle with the traders he'd signed on to guard. The whole scenario seemed beyond him. He leaves home to make his own way, defends a village and now he was following a damn bird.
Dad said the big adventures started like this..

He'd hoped the Wizard (it must be a wizard) was famous because beyond asking around the magic shops, he had no idea how he was going to find the pointy hat.

It occurs to me that since this is beginning to turn into gameplay, it's time to move it over to that thread. I still have to review your characters in detail, but I didn't see anything in the first pass that would give me pause.

One piece of bookkeeping: Max HP at first level, roll after that and if you roll less than the average take the average value instead.

I still have not rolled yet. I had forgotten about that.
HP rolls
1d8 ⇒ 1
1d8 ⇒ 2
1d8 ⇒ 5

The average is going to be x.5. As an example for a d8 it's 4.5.

Do I round up to 5 or down to 4?

Round up to 5.

I will fix my hp in my profile, and await your final looking over of my character sheet.

HP:
3d8 ⇒ (4, 1, 8) = 13

My apologies - I've still alot to flesh out with Sami. The BG is really the only thing complete. I'll have him done by tomorrow at the latest.

It occurs to me that since this is beginning to turn into gameplay, it's time to move it over to that thread. I still have to review your characters in detail, but I didn't see anything in the first pass that would give me pause.

One piece of bookkeeping: Max HP at first level, roll after that and if you roll less than the average take the average value instead.

Cool. I showed my rolls in the recruitment thread.

So adding 1

yea hey ... new people ...

Let me know when we meet up and stuff ... not that Darc says very much ... but no healer type boo hoo!! Oh well, might have to be a bit more ...

Character updated; should be about done.

@all.

Hey just on Xaviers INT. I never roleplayed a char with a score that low before but I don't think he has to talk in the 3rd person. I started a thread on the advice board about roleplaying a 7 int.

Opinions widely very but I read some pretty good arguememts saying a 7 int is roughly an IQ of 83. Think Rocky Balboa. Or a solid D student. So I was intending to play him as a lovable jock! His planning usually consists of 'Up the front' and retreat is a 4 letter word. He'll listen to party members so don't worry about him kicking in the door while you plan, just know he'll not offer any convuluted shemes and don't ask him to remember anything complicated.

Daddy was a Pally so he has manners and a simple charm. But there is somthing basr inside as well.

I think its adorable, also funny his first thought is about bedding my char when he saw her, lol. :)

-How much longer do we need to wait for Rashun?

I am here. The GM said he had to do a final look over of characters before we started. If the game started I did not know about it, sorry.

edit:If the game started can someone post a link?

http://paizo.com/campaigns/DMCarbidesThroughACrackedMirrorTheDarkRoad/gamep lay&page=last

Today was my wife's birthday, and work was also kind of frenetic. Real post coming tomorrow.

I apologize if I made that confusing; I'll put my direct conversation in a spoiler to DM Carbide next time...hindsight...

are we getting another post for us cause thats what I was waiting on?

Tare the game has started. It is here.
It is strange that both of us got confused and we had to give each other links. :)

I know the game has started I am eretria I am asking if he is posting more for US as in you, me and xavier

ok. I misunderstood.

You will, though it may have to be later today--posting's been thin, because I'm in hospital. The joys of getting older; I had a blood pressure spike a couple of nights ago, and though it wasn't anything obviously damaging the docs still want to give me a stress test this morning. I've got time for a few posts before the sadists, er, techs arrive, but after that I'm not sure what they'll want to do.

Hope you feel better, Carbide! Don't let us stress you out!

Keep well Carbide don't worry about us ... we'll still be here when you're better.

Take your time. The game can wait.

Get well first

and now I feel bad for asking >_>

and now I feel bad for asking >_>

Don't feel bad, I'm sure DM Carbide would prefer we all know he's still with us, just delayed. Unless someone had asked, we might have thought of things differently.

No problem, Eretria. I should've mentioned something sooner. In other news, I'm back among the living. The stress test was negative (so I have no stress? I don't think so...), I'm just supposed to cut way back on sodium and maybe get high blood pressure meds. On the whole, it could have been a lot worse. I'll get a post out later today.

Incidentally, I was up for posting earlier today...until I had someone run a red light while I was on the way to work and total my car. This has been a bad week.

Holy crap; you're not kidding. I hope that you and yours are unhurt from the accident!

Surviving; it's been kind of tough to focus on things with the insurance paperwork and the search for a replacement vehicle hanging over my head. I think I have most of it taken care of, though.

Xavier, I just wanted to say I adore how you note that your character's mind isn't completely on the task at hand :)

Agree with Eretria; I think you're doing a really good job of roleplaying someone less intelligent in a functional way.

It's easy. I just pick the lack of focus displayed by my ADD 6 year old.
;)

I imagine a 7 int adult reasons and speaks fine but would be a bit unfocused.

SO rashun's post prompted me to show a visual example of what exactly eretria is wearing

Picture this robe/dress, only colored in white... she is a sorceress after all so they dont wear armor :)

Thanks Eretia. I will edit the post, but now he will just find another complaint. :)

Xavier's character is funny though.

he really is... sadly he might actually endear himself to eretria >_>

Even untalkative half-orcs might flutter an eyelid at Eretria...

When they meet up, obviously.

Oh geez, that would be three of ya finding her cute XD
Sami hasn't commented one way or another but I figure since he is rping a lizard guy its probably not a thought his char has

Sorry; not enough tail for me.

Lol