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

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

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..)

It's unclear whether there's anything further at the Cathedral. There is a secure area, but it looks pretty... secure. And it's full of priests who regularly throw Detect Evils.

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).

The Angel of the Bright Spear is something people talk about, but in a three-quarters-not-serious way. Joke? Urban legend? It's really hard to say. Supposedly s/he wanders Farholde (sometimes) disguised as a poor or hungry stranger, and brings luck to those who offer a coin or a bit of food. Possibly this is derived from the occasional down-on-the-luck pilgrim who washes up here? There's also a legend that s/he will stand forth with the Bright Spear on the day of Farholde's greatest need, though when or what that might be, nobody can begin to say.

You have a map and a bunch of information. Keep in mind that unless you get TPKed, you should have a chance to come back to Farholde. So unless there's something really pressingly urgent, how about we wrap up here in town and proceed on to the next thing?

We can hand wave it, but I would like to remain 10 days to get my stuff. I doubt that we are going to level in the first outing, but it is sort of important if we do.

I am fine with that. Ulp would just go play his flute the next 5 nights to make as much money as he can...and maybe warn his chilly heart a bit.

5d20 ⇒ (16, 17, 17, 11, 20) = 81 all at +1...wow Ulp actually is a koblold flute playing prodigy!!!
that would earn him

copper 1d10 ⇒ 6
silver 6d10 ⇒ (8, 8, 10, 8, 6, 1) = 41

Of course if you want to not allow him to keep on playing that is fine...though that Nat 20 is pretty exciting.

HERE is where I am getting my numbers from

One thing I'm discovering about PBP is that sandboxes are really tricky, and towns in D&D / PF are naturally sandboxes. There may be more advantages to be gained by staying in town, more information to be learned, etc., but it could also slow the game down for days or weeks of RT. So let's move on for now -- as noted, you should get another bite at this particular apple later, if you don't all die first.

Dm, what is your opinion on being able to craft Cracked & flawed Ioun stones? There's nothing saying it can't be done, likewise nothing saying they can't be purchased but since they are fluff-wise "damaged" in some way, I figured I'd ask.

Jax would love the one that gives +1 initiative (500 gp, 250 to craft) and another that boosts Bluff/Diplomacy by 1 (400 gp, 200 to craft).

Also, this is for Ulp, I hadn't really considered or looked at alchemical items before but after glancing over them today, there's a lot of useful things..

I can make it all I would have to roll for it to see how long it takes. Prob not time for the poison if you want the rest.

I will roll it up and see want to prioritize what you want for me?

Unfortunately due to the crafting rules I will obly be able to make a max of 10 things if I roll well

Aw, wasn't sure if you could make multiple items in a day. Oh well!
How about:

When we have some more time, mixing blackfinger paste and injury poison will be Jax's new favorite thing to harass Ulp for..

If everyone donates 62.5GP, Zoren can make a wand of infernal healing that will be finished before we head out to explore Caer Byr. I don't think Ulp has any spare GP, so Jax will pay that part as well.

Jax that was enough time for Cуровую's items to be enchanted?

Cуровую will also have made the following scrolls for her and the party on the barge trip and while in town

Jax

Cуровую scrolls from before the assault on Balentyne, many have been used, I will remove those from the character sheet I just place the here for completeness

DM, you give good advice on this matters.

Not using DM knowledge but just on your game opinion, since we have limited funds and resources, what is the most useful of the arcane lesser metamagic rods for 3,000 gp?

Lingering, Bouncing, or Rime. If the group were smaller I'd add Still, but with 8 in the group you don't normally have to worry about being grappled.

you don't normally have to worry about being grappled.

Said the (insert template) spider to the fly.

Tactically, it's a bit difficult for me to get at you as long as you stay with (and within) the party. You guys now have three heavy-hitter melee brutes (Edmin, Morsum, and Grumblejack) including one who can fly, one glass cannon, and three other casters. So, your odds are pretty good.

This is not to say you can't be grappled. Ha ha! Ha, ha ha. No. Just that, playing fairly within the four corners of the rules, it's a lot less likely than if you were one of a Standard Four party. (Standard Four with the wizard bringing up the back: the reason the Choker was for a long time one of my very favorite monsters.)

I really like the idea of Rime spell, and fits greatly with my background, but Cуровую has very little cold spells until level 8. Unless you allow her to develop more unique spells.

If you were to pick a Rod of Elemental Spell what would you pick from acid, lighting or cold. Aren't celestials rather resistant to acid and cold too?

the reason the Choker was for a long time one of my very favorite monsters.

I am guessing you had a few favorites.

What was you favorite adventure that you DMed?

I thought this was funny. Priorities

I really like the idea of Rime spell, and fits greatly with my background, but Cуровую has very little cold spells until level 8. Unless you allow her to develop more unique spells.

Well, you have your Call Forth the North spell.

If you were to pick a Rod of Elemental Spell what would you pick from acid, lighting or cold.

The problem with Elemental Spell is that it only converts half the damage. So if you're converting in order to avoid elemental resistance, that's not very efficient -- yes, you can hurt the red dragon with a fireball now, but it only takes half damage at most. In theory you could also leverage this feat to get extra damage against creatures that are vulnerable to particular energy types, but... eh, it seems like a lot of flipping through the Monster Manual (or, okay, Knowledge checks) for a rather occasional and circumstantial benefit.

I am guessing you had a few favorites.

What was you favorite adventure that you DMed?

I miss the Mind Flayers... Hm, favorite? That's a toughie. I ran a lot of homebrew stuff, back in the day.

Back in the early 2000s, I did a heavily modded version of Forge of Fury in which the PCs were looking for a dwarven artifact called the Heart of Stone. They were helped by a couple of dwarves they rescued from captivity with the orcs... one younger dwarf who had been rendered bitter and angry by his experiences, and his kindly older uncle who was a constant font of good advice and common sense.

When eventually the PCs found the Heart of Stone, one player said, "Holy crap! I can't believe we actually found it!" and another replied, "Yeah, my heart is beating fast right now." A bit later, in a climactic combat / trap combination, Arlo the kindly older dwarf was killed irretrievably. One player burst out, "No! Not Arlo! Jesus Christ, man," while another said, "I think I'm gonna cry, here."

That one had to be pretty high up the list.

So sharing this wonderful moment at the table from yesterday with two of my online groups, cause it made me so happy. Don't get too excited its not really a good story, just was a great moment.

Usually I do not play evil characters...selfish sometimes, but usually I am the heroic type. I also usually do not play characters with dumped stats, since I just don't like min-maxing much. But in this case my newest PFS character is a Halfling Bloodrager (basically a monk so it becomes very hard to play if you don't dump something, cause to be effective you need CON, CHA, STR, and at least a little WIS) with dumped intelligence and a special boon that let me add another +2 to any stat I wanted to.

So in the end I have this dumb as bricks former escaped slave. scythe wielding, undead bloodline bloodrager that is teetering on that edge of Evil. He just enjoys killing things. His brother keeps him in line so he stays at CN, but that is why he is in the society, e gets to kill things and not get in trouble...and usually the things fight back so all the better.

Up until this weekend he had kind of just been a wacky damage dealer in the party and I would say dumb things. For example he was told he needed to use Diplomacy more and sometimes Negotiate by another party member, so he named his Scythe diplomacy and his Great club negotiation. What really made him come alive is that I am learning/working on a cockney accent for a play I am in right now, and so to practice I gave this little guy the accent and suddenly he came alive...and is hysterical.

But I told you all of that to get to this great moment at the table. We were playing PFS mod that had us descending down a well to get things. Well by level 3 in PFS you know that every time you go down a well or seomthing there will be a monster. So I was sitting at the table and mimed leaning over the edge of the well and called down it 'Ello Luvs! I'm com in' ta kill you!! Everyone laughed then my buddy stopped and said I just realized how scary your character really is. He's crazy"

Such a happy moment when a character really comes to life!!

I dig it Bref. The scythe even backs up your little harbinger of death motif.

You should call your PC 'Mort' and have your other members call you little Mort.

Because as you know, Le Petite Mort, is the French euphemism for an orgasm.

And you should make your day job be an undertaker.

:)

What boon did you get for the +2? Did you play Eyes of the Ten?

With taking 10 and swift alchemy I can craft you these in the 10 days Jax

1 Alch Glue
1 Alch Acceleratn
1 Breweed Reak
1 Thunderstone
1 Smokestick
2 Alchemical Grease

All of them cost 1/3 price

Apropos of nothing, here's another from Postmodern Jukebox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kJ3BAF_15yQ

*cheers* Thank you, ulp. I have no idea if the glue will be useful..but maybe we can come up with a creative use at some point.

I have some as well. If I take 10 I can make 13.2 gp worth of stuff per day

Dmdm my mutagen will always be dex unless I otherwise note at the beginning of the day

in a climactic combat / trap combination, Arlo the kindly older dwarf was killed irretrievably. One player burst out, "No! Not Arlo! Jesus Christ, man," while another said, "I think I'm gonna cry, here."

DM

Serving over the top cinematic combat and trap combinations, and genuine player heartbreak for decades.

Does Infernal Healing work on the Judge by the way?

At the least thematically it should.

After a day of use the headband of Intelligence +2 adds a point to all intelligence skills.

Does that mean Cуровую get's a new language because her linguistics goes up by 1?

you get a new language that is keyed to the headband. you also would get another language per level of linguistics if that is the skill you keyed to it

The way things are looking Abyssal then.

Unless anyone has another suggestion.

Of course, if you lose the headband, you will lose all the bonus languages. So, make sure that you keep track of which languages are tied to the headband.
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I think that the Infernal Healing will work on my now as it is not Positive Energy. I do not know whether it will work next level when I . . . change, that is something that DMDM will have to decide.

I have inflict for that so we still have a source of healing either way.

If Jax's follower has Craft Wand, then he and Dren can make an inflict wand.

Zoren can, although it will have to wait until we return to Farholde.

And after Dren gets a Haversack :].

I have a Haversack and a bag of holding. Unfortunately I am so weak, that Morsum usually carries the bag. Dren, we can put a fair amount of extra stuff - waterskins and the like - in the bag of holding. It is type 2, which holds up to 500 pounds. My "bed" is probably 200 at most, 350 with me napping in another level. This leaves a lot of carrying capacity to help lighten your load of uncommonly used stuff.

Zoren's avatar looks like an amalgamation of Bref and Xen forced to live together and then finally out of frustration using the goblin bomb on themselves.

BREN!

Do we still have the goblin bomb?

Yes.

Do we still have the goblin bomb?

There is no "we" in who has the goblin bomb.

Couldn't remember who had it or if it got destroyed w the the magister

Na, I actually have a Magister Bomb at present, but it still has Bref written all over it.

Have to crash soon, then have a meeting out of town in the morning -- attending the opening of a new courthouse. So, may not be around much until tomorrow PM my time / midday in the US.

It looks like you're trying to talk your way past the Guardian. That's fine. Take this time to put your story together, and maybe to consider tactics if it doesn't work.

Nature checks dm?

1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18

Well that won't tell us anything buuuut I bet it doesn't like fire...if obly one of us had the ability to throw fire...

For me I can use a minute of fly and do done death from above

Moving the discussion

Ulp would like to just burn it.

Ulp a player kind of has a hankering to attack but that is because I was dead for so long. I would say see what happens with the lie then if there is a hint of trouble we chop it down

Ulp will take to the air right away and start bombing, I will use some unstable accelerants I do 4d6+6 per bomb

The treant could be of use for information, knowledge or perhaps something else.

If this treant is a guardian, then it may have concern in keeping the evil within the tower just as it is keeping the evil from getting to it. It is a plausible story.

As Jax has said, I am all for 'make friends' approach. We do not know what is in this forest, why not we use it for information. AND it may have allies (Druid, Dryad, Black Squirrels) watching.

If it is friends of the local trees and animals, then we will have its entire 'spy network' as our disposal. Elise and her cronies will never be able to sneak past all of them to get to us.

Any other party would have already gone into combat mode, WE are NOT any other party, we are DM's Ninth Knot, let's play as intelligent to DM as we can.