DM Corerue's Carrion Crown

Game Master DM Corerue

*DING!* Level-up!

Another level of Magus.

HP +7

Base attack +1
Fort. +1
Ref. +1
Will +1

Pool +1
Magus arcana: Arcane accuracy

Skill points: 7

Knowledge (arcana)
Knowledge (dungeoneering)
Knowledge (planes)
Knowledge (religion)
Linguistics (Aklo)
Spellcraft
Use magic device

Magic: another 2nd-level spell slot.
Spells chosen: Mirror image, Scorching ray

Those of you who haven't finished building your characters might want to consider ways to give your Perception a big boost; our party is light in that department. We have no trap disarmer, either.

I'm still interested, life's just been a bit hectic here.

I was wondering if, as a way to intro one of the new folks, something happened to Iesha on her way to the circus and back? After all we were also supposed to try to get those guards to show as well.

Maybe one of the new folks could rescue Iesha from an attack and her recovery explains her absence?

Sounds good to me! Glad you're still with us, Iesha. :)

I am still in for the start of this adventure, just let me know how I can become part of the active party and when we plan on kicking things off.

Iesha is supposed to have gotten in contact with a traveling freak show, the Crooked Kin at the edge of town. Kaven, could your character be connected to one of the freaks who once traveled with your family's caravan, perhaps a friend or family member or lover? Here's a link to their first appearance in our adventure.

In that case, Kaven would have met Iesha there, and having heard stories of the PC's heroism from the Crooked Kin, might seek to make common cause with her. Why don't you and Iesha hash something out in character, and have your character follow her to the courthouse?

Great idea.

Alright, time for a discussion point as we are taking a while between posts on everyone's account. (I am also to blame as I have been lax as well, but I want to change that.)

For a while, I was thinking that a post a day was a necessity, but now I believe that a post every weekday is more doable. This means I would want a post every week day from everyone.

Please read this post with all of its spoilers to understand how to post every day, even when you think that you have nothing to post.

I would like everyone's thoughts on this as we have gotten nearly nowhere recently. The RP to get Gruoch into the party took over a week when it should have been a few days at most.

Ideally, I would like to say that any GM posts during the week will move the story along with a 24 hour period before you are put on a Bot Status. Weekend posts can be reserved for RP purposes. Additionally, if you go absent an extended period of time (say 5 days) without notice, then we need to reevaluate whether you have the time or energy to commit to an online AP.

@Iesha: As Sour Heck said, this is a group game. If you want to explain your absence as meeting Kaven at the Crooked Kin carnival, then you need to set that up and make posts in Gameplay. You've been absent a while and that is a good idea, but I'm not going to spend time crafting a side plan for you, especially after you disappeared from the thread on the last side plan (to get the Crooked Kin to come to court).

@Kevan: I'd love to get you into the party, but I have absolutely zero information from you on how to get into the party. Earlier in the Discussion thread, I posted a spoiler that asked for this type of information. So, before you get added in, I need some sort of background as to why you are in Ustalav and why you would have any interest in joining a party that is hunting down the Whispering Way, especially as a Paladin of Erastil.

The Paladin Code for Erastil is very community oriented. Here is a link. Scroll down to Paladin Code.
The one question I have about your character is 'Why is a Varisian Paladin of Erastil in Ustalav and not serving his own community?'

@Amaia: You're up to introduce yourself to the party so that we can get this rolling! Also, we will hash out a Paladin Code for Pharasma for you. :D

As a more or less rank-and-file paladin trained at Lastwall, could it not be feasible that Kaven is assigned a mission outside of the conclave based upon growing rumors of this specific evil in Ustalav? This could be a remote proving mission of some kind for promotion within their ranks ala the Pathfinder Society or whatnot, the information to find the party might have even been passed from the Society representative at Lastwall to the leadership there.

Just to point out, I would like everyone's thoughts on having people commit to posting once per weekday.

---

@Kaven: I don't particularly want to involve the Society with this as I get enough of that in Society games, hah. Lastwall is against Tar Baphon, so I can see the association, but I leave it to you to figure out a way to introduce yourself to the party.

I'm still not sure, however, why a Paladin of Erastil would leave his community (Lastwall). The code literally says that his community comes first. I would assume that his community is Lastwall or perhaps Varisia. Where does travelling to Ustalav fit into satisfying his god's will?

I can work with a Paladin of Erastil from Ustalav or a Paladin of another god from Lastwall, but Varisia plays very little into the AP and I just don't see an Erastil paladin from Varisia coming to join this party to fight the Whispering Way. I'm up for changing that if you can offer a good reason, but is there any way that you would consider changing some aspect of your background?

One post per day is a good idea I think to keep the story moving. I wish there was an app or something so I could get notifications about when others have responded... But maybe I will just set an alarm for a certain time everyday and try to post before that. Them if I forget the alarm would remind me. Unless anyone knows of a better system?

Maybe the paladin could be from Ustalav, even Lepidstadt and after the trial and such he wants to protect his country and thinks joining the group will be the best way to accomplish this?

I can but try to keep up one post per weekday. ^^; Work has been prodding serious buttock, but I'll try.

I'd like to get back to regular posting.

Just a heads-up,though, on what's going on with me.

I've been falling asleep constantly 9except at night, of course). any time I sit down I fall asleep. sometimes quickly, sometimes longer. It causes quite a few problems problems, as you might guess.

So, I had a sleep-study overnight done...severe sleep apnea. I've a second one coming up to determine the cause and the treatment.

Hopefully, that - and getting real sleep at night instead of waking up every hour or so - will clear up MOST of the issues.

If you're willing to let me come back, I will try to post daily.

GM Bold strider, just let me know what has happened to Iesha.

Yikes... I hope you'll recover from this and soon.

I'll post once per weekday. Wednesdays will be difficult, but I'll try to get it done.

Of course we want you to come back, Iesha! Take care of yourself and your health.

Kaven can still be seen as keeping to his community by now hunting whatever this evil is that's seen threatening it, especially if it's a threat to all of his fellow man as well. If you see it being that problematic though I can easily switch his worshiped deity, not that big of a concern for me.

Perhaps Kaven has more than one community. If he grew up in Ustalav, he could have a duty to his family there as well to his military regiment in Lastwall. He could be visiting relatives in Lepidstadt, possibly among the Crooked Kin. Perhaps he's simply staying at Gorlak's and will be driven to act when he overhears Heck's stories tonight.

On the other hand, there's a Ustalavic branch of the church of Iomedae that was established during the Bright Crusades. A Iomedaean Lastwall crusader with a Ustalavic background might have duties in both nations. Again, possible meeting at Gorlak's or through the Kin.

No one has said no to weekday posting, so let's go with that and see how it will play out from there.

As to Iesha, you are, of course, welcome to continue to PbP with us. If you can get on a regular schedule of posting, then that is awesome.

Over the weekend, please feel free to roleplay Kaven and Iesha joining the party and, on Monday, we will adventure to Schloss Caromarc.

Iesha, Eloise and Sour Heck can each add 1,781.25 gold to their cash reserves.

I propose that each of the three of us kick in 500 gold. That, plus 1260 for the sale of a gentle repose wand with 28 charges, gives us enough to buy a handy haversack and a fully charged wand of cure light wounds, items that should benefit the whole party. That leaves 1,281.25 each, which you may want to spend on magic armor or a cloak of resistance or a pearl of power or something.

Any objections?

None from me! Thanks for keeping track of the money. :)

Thanks, Bold Strider. I'll post later today, I've got table-top players coming over in an hour or so...live Runelords.

I'll also have to level up.

It's been a busy weekend. My retail job had a big sale this weekend...to make up for the one that failed due to the blizzard.

I believe GM BS said all of us should level up to 6--new players as well as old. Does that mean the new folks should have level 6 wealth by level?

Kaven, I wanted to PM you, but couldn't find a link. I'm going to mention you as having in the area and aided Iesha & the Crooked Kin.

Jump right in to introduce yourself to the group.

@Kaven, Gruoch, Maia: Yes, you should start with level 6 WBL.

Eloise, a nonmagical adamantine weapon costs 3000 gold plus the price of the weapon. You could afford one with the cash you have on hand, plus liquidating your Stone of Alarm, your masterwork mace and your masterwork heavy crossbow.

Alternately, you could add the 1st level spell Coin Shot, if available, to your spellbook for 15g or so. It can turn three platinum coins into hard-hitting, adamantine-piercing ranged touch attack weapons.

Another workable anti-golem spell you might add to your spellbook is Acid Arrow, which would cost 60g and is probably more generally available.

Or you could buy some durable adamantine arrows (and a bow) for 61g each. Bow attacks aren't your forte, I know. Might be a better option for Kaven.

Oooh, Coin shot! :D That looks like just what the Magus ordered!

Maybe add Acid arrow as well, for versatility.

GM Bold Strider, would that spell be available in Lepidstadt, what with there being an university and all?

Glad you thought to Aid Another, Eloise, good teamwork!

Always glad to help a teammate. ^_^

Here's our schedule as I see it:
Day 1, Morning, Close of Trial
Day 1, Noon, Meeting with Daramid
Day 1, Afternoon, Shopping and Rumormongering
Day 1, Evening, All Meet at Gorlak's
Day 2, Morning, Departure for the Castle

I'm waiting to hear from GM BS how Day 1 Afternoon went before moving on to Day 1 Evening.

Both of those spells would be available to you, Eloise.

I apologize for this, but my work schedule just changed me to 12 hour shifts for the foreseeable future. With access to a computer here being limited as it is, I do not believe I will be able to post daily for this adventure. If I need to go ahead and bow out now, no hard feelings.

Counting the reward, loot, things Sour Heck sold and dividing the cost of the Haversack between them, Eloise, Iesha and Sour Heck end up with 1,476 gold each after the afternoon at the market, minus whatever else they spent. (Heck spent most of his).

New players: Your characters have now heard the story of our last campaign thread, starting with the night Sour Heck and Eloise arrived in Ravengro. They have also heard the story of this campaign thread up until now.

Try to find some time to click on the link above and read some of what has gone before. It's pretty entertaining, it might give you ideas for our roleplaying dynamic, and there may be clues to the action of the adventure path buried here and there.

@Kaven: Please stick with us for at least a little while to see if you can post with any regularity. If not, we can reevaluate in a week or so, if we need to!

GM BS, perhaps you could PM Gruoch and Amaia telling them to level up--they may not have seen your message in this thread.

Done

Eloise, I don't think you're giving yourself enough plusses when you use your black sword. It's got a +2 enhancement bonus at your level, so unless I'm missing something, your attacks with it should normally be +9 to hit, 1d8+4 damage.

Oh! I've been meaning to do a review of my class progression. Thanks for pointing this out.

As a heads up, I will be taking the Illinois Bar Exam on Tuesday and Wednesday and travelling to Chicago on Monday. I am aiming to still get posts up, but I cannot promise that it will happen.

Thanks for the heads-up. Take care and good luck.

Good luck on the exam!

Iesha seems to be perma-AFK again.

I'm pretty sure that Gruoch, Kaven and Amaia will no longer be playing, so I'm at a loss for what to do.

Out of curiosity, how did you find those three new players? Not through a recruitment thread, correct?

Amaia and Gruoch are players in my local PFS area. Kaven was a friend of Gruoch.

We could try some people from our other games that we know are reliable. I could even try some folks from the Fraternity of Shadows; Ravenloft fans should feel right at home in Ustalav.

I'm still here. I've been sick all week and may have posting issues next week.

My workplace (Big Lots) is remodeling our store - while keeping it open. My daughter & I both work there and will be nearly full-time next week.

With the response since my taking over of the game, I have not been full force into this game. I have not relished posting for this game and wanted to make this AP the greatest it could be.

I think that I should also drop from GMing. What is everyone's thoughts?

It's hard to think of a way to add two or three new characters in the middle of this fight without throwing any pretense of narrative continuity out the window. I guess we could just say the new players' characters were with us all along, instead of the three that let us down. That would kind of cheat the new players out of an introduction, though. Maybe we could flash back to the end of the Trial and have characters join us then, and say the dropouts' characters get crushed by troll boulders in the next few seconds of this fight.

I know Iesha's heart is in the right place, but it's clear she can't post on a regular basis. We can continue with her as a guest star, if we recruit enough others.

If we can't recruit at least two reliable players in the next week or thereabouts, I think this is as far as we can go.

At work.

Dotting for a kind of dot. (^_~)

Not wanting to but or jump in if an extra player is no longer wanted

What might people be considering as useful characters? Dual scythe weilding crazies? Lumbering, armor clad 'Gun tank'? Just a couple of ideas plus there are the 'regular' Suny and Sunset characters I've built. Much cheers to all.