DMDM's Way of the Wicked, Part II: The Dark Tower

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

The Town Farholde has a modest but lively criminal underworld, with many of the local thieves and thugs being graduates of the Baron's own orphanage. Baron Vandermir is not a crimelord himself, but is a silent partner in some of the more profitable enterprises and uses his contacts to collect information.

I feel Jax would be ideal for this, and something we can look into later.

For anyone who takes the Leadership feat, the pieces of a criminal organization are just lying around here like so many unassembled Lego blocks. Jax took the feat, but his Cha isn't very high, so he'll have to wait another couple of levels before he can start recruiting minions beyond his current cohort.

If no one tells him to research anything he will see if he can find some information about poison, perhaps a local herb that he can gather to make something fun.

1d20 + 18 ⇒ (6) + 18 = 24 alchemy
1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28 nature
1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18 int

I have considered taking it for Dren...a large following of those dedicated to the darkness, I see him being a little bit of a Joe Carrol from the following...without the compulsion to kill of course...lol

Per my original post:

Cloak of resistance +1 1d100 75 or less 2 days to craft
Rod of Extend Lesser 1d100 50 or less 6 days to craft

Dren will place orders as soon as he is in town. You just might want to let us know when we are able to get the items since we will be placing several orders from all of us.

Here is Dren's post where he ordered stuff to be crafted when we arrived in town.

Bref wrote:

HERE is the Farhold info, DMDM maybe you want to put the link into the Campain tab?

link

Would DM please consider putting this link in the campaign tab?

tada

Jax you should get some of these made

arrow magnet

I need Edmin's permission and the Judge's skills to try something before we leave Farholde.

Call it an insurance policy.

Having trouble finding the link to the town Gazeteer, can someone re-post it or put the post in the campaign tab?

Maybe DM can put it on the campaign tab.

So I assume I did not learn anything interesting about local herbs or find any info about any of those creatures in the library

tonyz wrote:

loving the cutscenes. Gaian and Tekunel references, oh my.

Anyone caught what this means?

Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

Does anyone have a cutscene they'd particularly like to see? As in, what's going on somewhere else, or with someone else? No promises, but if you have an idea and it fits, I'll see if I can work it in.

Cуровую would actually like very much to speak with Irin in the few minutes before she leaves with the cardinal.

I brought this up before but DM seemed liked he wanted to wrap up and get some rest.

2. While all of this was happening, a cut scene of what was happening with the 'lady' captain Odenkirk was corresponding to.

3. A very brief cut scene of any surviving leaders of Balentyne as the end comes to their fort. Possibly the adulterous captain's wife as well.

More later.

DM did one with the survivors, but my question was more of a cutscene as the fall took place, of how they realized their fate was sealed, even as they released the surviving captain.

One cutscene I would really like to still see is something from the capital when news reaches the woman Captain Ondenkirk was corresponding to.

Done with cutscenes for now.

Tekumel was the setting for "Empire of the Petal Throne", which was arguably the second RPG ever. Basically, this guy named M.A.R. Barker saw Gygax and Arneson's three-booklet set and was like "oh hey this is what I've been missing, gonna build a huge new game based on this". And EPT was actually a pretty good game! By 1970s standards, it was awesome -- it jumped far ahead of five-booklet D&D. Nothing comparable was available until AD&D was complete in 1979.

The problem was, it was set in Barker's world of Tekumel, and Tekumel was complicated and weird. It was SF / fantasy, with far-future humanity living on an alien world with like eleven different alien races and a human culture distantly descended from Central American and Southeast Asian roots. Civilization had collapsed and was recovering, with mostly low tech but bits of super-science here and there. Magic worked but was maybe psionics? Thing is, it was kind of opaque and unapproachable for most gamers -- "I'm playing a dwarf whose parents were killed by orcs, and I have a magic axe" is just easier than "I'm playing an Ahoggya whose creche-tenders were infested by Hlyss, and I wield the Excellent Ruby Eye". So although it was the world's second RPG, and quite good in its way, it never really caught on. It's been through several editions and is still around. Barker passed away a couple of years ago in his eighties.

I liked it a lot, but I was like fourteen.

Anyway, there's a throne carved from the petals of an enormous flower! Which belonged to a lost, ancient empire! An Empire of the Petal Throne, of course! And the little yappy dog carved on it is, of course, a Barker.

mind, that whole sequence was a Borges reference. nobody noticed /that/.

So I assume I did not learn anything interesting about local herbs or find any info about any of those creatures in the library

Sorry -- did you roll Knowledge (Nature) for the herbs?

The library, alas, not much. The Baron has little interest in the Bryr.

I got the following

1d20 + 18 ⇒ (6) + 18 = 24 alchemy
1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28 nature

Nature to know if there was anything local, and alchemy to figure out if I could make anything useful out of it

Lions and Tigers and Bears!

I took the reference to all the forking paths in the garden as a reference to Destiny of the Endless, from Neil Gaiman's Sandman. But if DMDM says it was a Borges reference, Borges it was.

It is clear that I need to start reading more.

you can read?

Reading is over-rated. Pancakes...that is where the action is.

Actually, I am a strong believer in the accelerated-information method of reading. This is the theory that if you hit your head with a book hard enough, some of the information will be accelerated out of the book and into your skull.

I took the reference to all the forking paths in the garden as a reference to Destiny of the Endless, from Neil Gaiman's Sandman. But if DMDM says it was a Borges reference, Borges it was.

http://www.themodernword.com/borges/borges_infl_gaiman.html

One of the things to like about Sandman is that it's such a kitchen sink. Anything that interested Gaiman, got worked in. Occasionally this didn't work -- A Game Of You is half-digested Jonathan Carroll, specifically _Bones of the Moon_ -- but most of the time, the sheer brio keeps things bubbling along.

Well if you follow the particle theory of matter then I don't believe that is too far off from the truth...as the particles come close to each other you would think some part of Object A would interact with Object B, even if it was on a atomic level.

Could some atoms from Object A (the book), actually join Object B (your head)? Depends on if you believe the gravitational forces keeping the particals together to form each said object are strong enough to stop any particals from moving from one object to the other...how hard do you normally strike your head???? :]

See the gem on my forehead? It used to be on the cover of a book.

I believe it was My Little Pony and the Cupcake of Doom

yes...ahem...there is a group running a my little pony PBP on the boards...it may involve said cupcake...I did read part of their adventures...they may not have gotten to BBE Cupcake yet though when I last checked in.

You all got upset when I sent My Little Pony to meet My Little Boulder during testing.

Bref loved it...Xen wouldn't have like it much...Ulp would probably be interested.

also on the note of the 1st knot...there is a certain alchemist in the 9th that worked closely with Zargo for a while

Well if you follow the particle theory of matter then I don't believe that is too far off from the truth...as the particles come close to each other you would think some part of Object A would interact with Object B, even if it was on a atomic level.

Could some atoms from Object A (the book), actually join Object B (your head)? Depends on if you believe the gravitational forces keeping the particals together to form each said object are strong enough to stop any particals from moving from one object to the other...how hard do you normally strike your head???? :]

...Have you read the Third Policeman? There's a character in that odd book who rides a bicycle so frequently that he's become part bicycle due to all the atoms interchanging. He can no longer stand without leaning against a wall.

1d10 ⇒ 6 silver is what ulp makes according to the skill

I forgot Ulp has wings..flying over the forest invisible for a few minutes might learn something.

I forgot Ulp has wings..flying over the forest invisible for a few minutes might learn something.

Yup - how many flying monsters can see invisible.

I can see this happening to at least one Bref/Xen/Ulp character before we are done.

I dunno but ulp is not going out there! I just made him! He will be going to check the town. See what there is to see

What could possibly go wrong?

I wanted to manage expectations and have Bref and Xen prepare some room in their little love nest so we can all play Jade Regent, DM has been dropping a few hints about her.

There's a lot to see, but -- alas -- not anything that seems immediately relevant to your quest. Now, if you were to fly over the Bryr... heck, you even have a map showing where to go.

Is DM collecting rent per head from that apartment Bref and Xen took over?

7th level...yes I will be flying around as well...either in animal or Dren form...

Jax is just going to be over here..plotting with the Eighth.

At least that bluff skill should come in handy!

I don't need to fly, I just have Morsum carry me.

We have 38 charges in our last wand of CLW. Anyone want to help chip in for another?

Is one available the first week? 1d100 ⇒ 85

Well better have one crafted then. Dren will inquire at the temples and around town about getting one made. Should take two days.

If we each chipped in it would be 750/6=125gp each.

I don't have any money. I have 6 silver.

I have a couple potions. Maybe I can craft some healing potions and someone can sell them?

You can only sell them for the same cost it'd take the make them, Ulp.

Alternatively, if we are in town for at least 8 days, we can spend 1/2 cost and get a wand of infernal healing.

You can only sell them for the same cost it'd take the make them, Ulp.

Alternatively, if we are in town for at least 8 days, we can spend 1/2 cost and get a wand of infernal healing.

Love the new disguise Jax, you really look like a mad wizard now.

That's Jax's mad-wizard companion haha!

Random, but. Cimu may be able to charm the retired soldier for some use.
Alternatively, we can task Cimu with using fly/invisibility over the forest and locating various spots to use Clairaudience-clairvoyance for scouting purposes.

As another alternative, we can send someone out to catch a bird from the forest and Speak with animals it?

Edit eidt: Oh! Oh! Doesn't Dren have UMD? Or judge? We should buy a scroll of speak with plants and see if we can gather some information about those dangers from trees in the woods!!!

Edit again: At this point, how many days have we been in town?

Ulp can go flying, but I just don't think it is much good since we are so far from where we need to be.

That's true, that's why I was trying to find ways of combining it with scrying. If only we had level 4 wizard spells! Perhaps we can make a short "expedition" to investigate the edges of the tower and make a better map, then retreat backto town to do more investigation.

Things I think we should accomplish:
Get access to the Abbey's best records (Dren attempted this, not sure if we can really do better in any way than he did..)
Finish our buying/making of magic items (7 days for Jax fully, 8 if we make a wand of infernal healing).
See what kind of information can be dug up in Drownington about Caer Byr, if anything.

Edit: Speaking of, DM, Jax posted he would ask around Drownington about Angelic protectors and dangers/ruins in the woods. He got a 19, 17 and 2 for diplomacy rolls (or something like that, in that order).

Does your wizard friend have infernal healing as a spell? If so can he craft wands?

Zoren actually has both.

Edit again: At this point, how many days have we been in town?

Bobbing around a little, but you're roughly at Day Five.

Wands? Of course I can craft wands! And of course potions
Hey, hey, sad kobold, quick make me a potion to sell. *cough* Of course the potions may take awhile. And scrolls and boots and cloaks and hats! At least when I'm not busy at the bar or strung out in a back room somewhere..