DM Rah's Strange Aeons

Game Master Kobash

acrobatics: 1d20 ⇒ 10+?

A grim look comes over Pinkies face as he adjusts his footing as he says in a eerily low voice. "Take a load off boy time to let someone else in on this fight"as he tries to tumble past the rat creature to get into position.

rapier+flank: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 4 + 2 = 24
damage: 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + (1) = 2
confirm crit: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3

really

"This isn't good." Fearless holds a hand to his side. "Damn Shapeshifter led us in here." he mumbles to himself as he is trapped. Seeing no other option he leaps from the book shelf.

Acrobatics to safe fall: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

He effortlessly rolls to the ground as his wound reopens and fires another bolt at the ratling being held by Twin's snake companion.

Covering Fire Aid Another DC 10; Melee penalty; PBS: 1d20 + 5 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 5 - 4 + 1 = 14

All of this leaves him little time to reload his crossbow as the Ratlings keep him on the move.

Final round of Tactician. Everyone but Pinkie gets +4 to AC.

Is the map correct? I only see a dead ratling and another one.

The snake turns and lashes out at the nearest target after the rest of the Watchmen have attacked, choosing to aid them instead of address the fleeing master.

Bite @ Ratling of Choice: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Grapple: 1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 5 + 4 = 14

Bite Confirmation @ Ratling of Choice: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

---

As the Twin disappears from view from the Watchmen, he reappears after a few moments in the rest area/hospital of the survivors. The shirtless/pantless man runs through the area. "THE MAN PUNTED FEARLESS!" he yells as he [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfnX-hTJ0dc] shoves the Royal Accuser into a pile of rotting bedstuffs.

Without waiting for the inevitable punishment, the man flees deeper into the asylum.

Brother Butterfly and the Twin run scared.

Fearless fires his crossbow, but the ratlings are too distracted by other things, like supernatural serpents chewing on them, to notice.

Spinning about the Twin's Serpent strikes out at the ratling behind it and snatches it up with its teeth. Getting to his feet the Mariner rushes the held ratling, but trips and misses. Cats snipes at something no one can see, because surely he didn't miss that bad on purpose. Pinkie jumps back into the combat with an excellent stab of his sword, but somehow he misses every vital organ the ratling has.

The ratling on the bookshelf to the north hisses at Cats!

Cats Will Save vs DC 12 or frightened for 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 rounds.

The ratling held by the snake flails about helplessly.

Cast Defensively Concentration vs DC 21: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

The orange eyed ratling vanishes!

INITIATIVE
Brother Butterfly (17/19) Fear 2/3
Fearless (12/16) mage armor *1 bleed!
The Twin (17/17) Fear 3/3
Eidolon (11/11) mage armor
The Mariner (27/27 -6 nonlethal)
Cats (17/17) shield of faith
Pinkie (17/17)
Ratlings (orange -11, purple -5, red -7)

Round 11, Init 7

1d20 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 = 6 Will

Cats gets a panicked look in his eyes...the kind of look that everyone has seen before in Fearless' eyes: the fearful, pants-pissing fear that causes a man to forsake the fight and run.

And Cats runs away from the north, double moving south.

"We're all going to catting die in here!"

This has not been my best fight ever.

Fearless' chest heaves up and down as it seems his body is not used to this much running. He rounds the corner of the bookshelf and fumbles around with reloading his crossbow.

He continues to leave a small trail of blood as he rushes about the room.

With his head on a swivel - he looks this way and that. Fully expecting a rat-thing to pop into existence and and bite him on his bald head as he's climbing down the stairs and is at his most vulnerable.

He doesn't say anything... maybe a sign that he's REALLY scared, because he talks incessently under normal circumstances. He just wants to get out of this damnable library. Cat's is right.... They ARE ALL going to die! Just look at Fearless. Bleeding out like he is. He's a goner for sure.

BB does a double move.

Pinkie seeing the Ratling held in the snakes jaws tries to put the creature out of its misery

rapier,flank: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 + 2 = 23
damage: 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + (1) = 3
dagger+flank: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 + 2 = 21
damage: 1d4 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + (4) = 7
confirm crit: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 2 = 10

"You taking notes boy"

While descending the stairs....
BB hears Pinkie amidst the combat.
He thinks to himself and mutters aloud, Did Pinkie's voice just get deeper? That didn't sound very much like Pinkie. If it was the snake, it'd have said, ..Taking notesssss boy.

Then BB remembers to be frightened again. and puts the "Pinkie with Testosterone" voice thoughts to the back of his mind.

bill, rage: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 2 = 11
dam: 1d6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 2 = 11

"Pinkie - duck!" the Mariner jabs the blade overhead, "fFFaaahhhhk!"

The Twin rounds the corner into the room filled with decaying linens and laundry as he screams incoherently. "WHY MEEEEEEE!" he yells.

---

The Snake clamps down on the ratling in his jaws as he seeks to consume another delicious verminoid. "Sssssssshhhhh..." he hisses in an attempt to ease the creature's path to the Boneyard.

Grapple Maintain: 1d20 + 9 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 9 + 5 = 21
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Brother Butterfly and Cats hurry to escape the horrible creatures of the library. Fearless moves for position, leaving a trail of blood as he goes. The Twin's Serpent bites into the ratling it holds. The Mariner tries to finish off the creature, but just can't get a clear shot. Pinkie stabs, then stabs again, finishing the little monster off.

Elsewhere in the asylum, half-naked in the laundry, the Twin finds the fear that drove him to flee the combat suddenly vanishes.

One ratling scrambles out of sight behind a bookshelf. Another appears in mid-leap as it jumps from a bookself onto the back of Brother Butterfly.

Bite vs BB (flat-footed) AC 14: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Damage + Sneak Attack: 1d3 - 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) - 2 + (5) = 4 *1 bleed!

INITIATIVE
Brother Butterfly (13/19) Fear 3/3 *1 bleed!
Fearless (11/16) mage armor *1 bleed!
The Twin (17/17)
Eidolon (11/11) mage armor
The Mariner (27/27 -6 nonlethal)
Cats (17/17) shield of faith
Pinkie (17/17)
Ratlings (orange -11, purple -5)

Get it off! Get it Off! It's riding me like a Hippogriff!

BB shakes his back trying to get the thing to slip off his scale armor. He even jerks his head back in a lame attempt to head butt it.

All the while moving further and further into the entryhall. Moving behind the big table and turning around to see the hideous rat-thing.

withdrawl

"How many are there!? They just keep coming!"

His mind snaps at the horror of endless amounts of rats as they pour forth from the books and crawl all over his skin. His fractured mind causes his wide bloodshot eyes to twitch as a single orb of power leaves his mind and thrusts into the orange ratling.

Magic Missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Having a hard time accessing the map on my ipad. Please move Cats as appropriate.

Cats continues to flee in terror. He would follow The Twin, but where The Twin goes it's sure to be certain death.

Don't follow the dead cat.

Cats double moves (60') away.

The Twin realizes that he is in the laundry room and remembers that he was afraid, but cannot figure out what was so scary now that he thinks about it a second time.

Shrug, hindsight... he says as he saunters back to the room, watching Cats run past him in terror.

---

As Pinkie shoves his rapier through the throat of the ratling, the Snake swallows it, shoving it on top of the others trapped in the inter-dimensional snake's belly.

As another one appears, the Snake hisses in pleasure. "Hsssss..." It slithers over and lashes out with a quick strike, hoping to bite another prey.

Bite @ Orange: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Grapple: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

Bite Confirmation @ Orange: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Fearless blasts the orange eyed ratling with psychic energy, injuring it badly, and the Twin's serpent slithers in and strikes, snatching up the little creature and crunching on it.

Though there appeared to be one more ratling, it has either run off or hidden itself away somewhere.

All Fear spells expire. Combat Over.

Cats stops short. He looks around, looks behind him. Nothing is chasing (other than his own screams).

I guess I'm not going to die. At least not here.

Cats scratches his head, trying to remember how we got so scared in the first place, and then trying to recall what he saw.

He walks back to the group with a confused look on his face.

"Did I catting run out of here like a cat on the 'nip? Yeah, sorry...I kind of lost my head there. Sorry."

Cats sheepishly goes to recover his many, many errant arrows.

high is good: 1d2 ⇒ 2
high is good: 1d2 ⇒ 1
high is good: 1d2 ⇒ 1
high is good: 1d2 ⇒ 2
high is good: 1d2 ⇒ 2
high is good: 1d2 ⇒ 2
high is good: 1d2 ⇒ 1
high is good: 1d2 ⇒ 1

Standing at the table. With the wooden top pressing against his thighs, the bleeding cleric breathes heavily as his arms swing around to get his backpack off. The panic caused by the Wrangling Ratlings seemed so overwhelming as he barely escaped being rode hard and put away wet.
With his two disbelieving eyes, he sees the half rat- half toddler sized beast on the floor looking at him with beady red vision. The doorway frames his view. In that instant, a spearhead of magical energy comes from stage right and slams into the Ratling with Minotaur like force. Then the twisting crawl of SuperSnake as it bites with fast reflexes, unhinging it’s lower jaw to put at least half of the HumanRat in it’s mouth. The other half of it is moved to allow the coils of the snakebody to wrap it up. Only a 6 inch section of the Ratling’s superlong tail is not claimed by SuperSnake.
Seeing the source of his panic so mercilessly defeated, BB’s pulse goes back to a regular beat.

His body starts working to prepare some bandages that he has in his backpack (now open and positioned on the table) . Pulling them out so he can stop the crimson flow that carries a humanoids life force.
His mind marvels at the amazing sight of that magical volley. Trying to deduce who could have prepared and performed such a feat. Mariner, Fearless, and Pinkie. Those are the unusual suspects. This motley crew of insane misfits really does have uncanny powers and abilities. He has been blessed by Desna to have such companions in his mission against Her enemies.

Fearless, get over here quickly! I am ready to bandage that brutal wound. We can’t have you bleeding out – for {Strange} Watchmen protect their own!
First Aid DC 15: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Second Try.
First Aid DC 15: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

Reads a Cure Light Wounds Scroll for himself
clw: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Fearless hobbles over to Brother Butterfly as the fog in his mind seems to clear his psyche. Brother Butterfly's voice calling him clears his head as he finally realizes his shoulder won't stop bleeding.

He is silent for a good long time as BB mends his bleeding injury as he looks about the room that was absolute chaos just moments ago.

Looking up at the shapeshifter he quips a bit to break the silence. "This place really should call an exterminator."

As the bandage is tightened he leaps from the small table as his eyes hang low. "Not sure I can make it much further today. That took a lot out of me."

Correction, I realized the scroll would be written at minimum caster level. That's first level. The HP's from the scroll should only be 2, not 4.

Pinkie gives a visible shiver and slumps down in a corner shivering.

"mumbling""You can't do that....thats right advise not take over....it makes me sick to my stomach.

Cats is too busy to help Brother with the bleeding, but trusts the hairless ape man to take care of the wounds. He has proven his worth in the past and Cats sees no reason to doubt his skill now.

When others are healed and he has recovered his (many) misses, he'll address the group.

"Maybe we pull back and regroup? Some rest might do us some good. I, for one, had a hard time shooting straight," Cats opines.

Fearless nods his head and begins to head back to Lady Winter and his bed.

"Sounds like a plan" he hefts his crossbow onto his shoulder. Reaching his small cot in the corner he hefts the crossbow into the corner, grimacing slightly as the wound is still a bit fresh.

Leaving his crossbow well within sight he grabs a small bowl of the nightly 'stew' and scurries back to his bunk where he eats silently and by himself. His eyes wander the room as he closely watches all within, not quite trusting any of them yet, but he knows he needs each of them if he is to make it out of here.

As the hours wane on his eyes close and he finally falls asleep.

The Snake slithers up into the corner of the bookcases, slowly digesting the corpses and soon-to-be corpses of the ratlings in his belly. The bulging frame of the harrow-marked reptile coils up, leaving a small pyramid of scales with the occasional forked tongue flicking out of the top, like a volcano.

The Twin moves into the library and picks up his magical dagger from the ground as he sees the group tending to their wounds. "My pet and I are able to continue, but if you need to rest, then it appears that we can find the time." he says as Fearless starts to relax on his cot.

Since we brute forced the door haunt thing, can we close it in case the last ratling wants to kamikaze?

When the announcement if given that everyone else in the crew is done and tired. BB feels the weight of his armor and the tiredness in his limbs. It was only a couple minutes, but the panic, the climbing up a ladder, running around and climbing back down took it’s toll. This is just a lot of physical labor that he's not used to.

So, he lies down a little bit on the Oaken table he was just using as a first aid station. Allowing its dirty tabletop to pick up some of the weight of the Scale Mail from the shoulders and back. He has an arm dangled off the side of the table. Dangling freely like it didn’t have a care in the world. It is his Mace wielding arm and it definitely did not have any practice swinging something THAT heavy around. He rests there -- semi sprawled on the table until his breathing gets back to normal and his back unclentches from the tension of the life-and-death struggle.
When he sees the others make their way towards the Sanctuary - Brother Butterfly follows. In his designated sleeping spot, he pulls out some of his new cleaning solution and starts working on cleaning his gear from rat guts, slime, and blood. Starting with his mace as that seems the easiest to clean. While cleaning, he is ironically happy with the gore on his Mace. Taking a bit too much credit for his powerful swings during the combat that left such morbid marks. His Ego growing just a bit too much as he overlooks that it was Desna’s True Strike that was the real impact in his moment of need.

Y'all notice that these yahoos had all of the guards watching the north passage, but none guarding the talking, nigh-unkillable, eye of ultimate evil and weirdness. How come? Best guesses?

Cats goes back to find a place to crash (probably the records room). Being a Catchman, he sets watch before setting up his bedroll. He'll eat a bit more of his rations before nodding off.

Cause everyone is a shapeshifter! Including all of you. I am doomed.....

Fearless continues to sit in his cot. "How are you good to go? We were nearly killed by every rat on Absalom. If your snake is hungry I am sure that there are a few more. No..No I am not playing at your games." He says tapping his head with his stubby finger. "I know what you are trying to do. I am resting. Resting I say."

After completely cleaning his gear and armor, the big bald man gets some evening stew and checks in on the injured and sick. He reports into Captain York and Lady Winter with a comprehensive report. Warts and all.

He takes his appropriate “Watchmen” shift. Whichever shift is appropriate – First, Second or Third.
He also tries to wake up early to get a good jump on the day.
With Fearless’s permission – he removes the medical files on the 4 people still alive. When he sees them individually and hands them their own personal folder. Saying something akin to,
We found these during our foray into the asylum. Since these are your personal files and extremely private - I felt it appropriate to give them to you. Rest assured, I did not read the files.
After that task completed, he performs his prayers and checks back in with Captain York and Lady Winter. Comfortable in promising that they will explore more than just 2 rooms on this day’s adventure.

The Mariner backs out of the den, covering the retreat of the Wastedmen. A few bite marks richer and half pint less blood, he suddenly of the strange scared words on his arms are rat graffiti, Klyn was here. Certainly sounded like a name a rat would take.

Reaching the sanctuary, he dumps his exterminator gear into a corner with fuming frustration then realized that everyone else had taken a seat. He consider for a moment taking the first watch, but then says to the idle orderlies, "We've bled enough, you nurses keep an eye out while we rest."

-Posted with Wayfinder

Withdrawing to the safety of the Chapel and it's environs the party eats some of the now-dwindling stew and beds down for some rest. Hours pass in peaceful sleep... for most of you.

Cats screams like a Fearless, starting high pitched before trying to effect a more manly scare scream.

"I've been catted!" Cats says, pointing to the wound on his neck as he rises. "Get it!"

Cats points to the door and the hand covered in tattered yellow cloth. He makes a note of which of the Watchmen was supposed to be watching.

Fearless leaps out of his bed as Cats screams. His eyes wide he throws his back to the wall and grabs at his hand crossbow while his other hand holds his chest before his heart leaps from it.

Seeing no immediate threat he slowly begins to calm down.

"CAN I WAKE UP ONE TIME....JUST ONE TIME IN THIS PLACE PEACEFULLY....NOT LIKE SOME ALARM OF SOMEONE DYING!!!!????"

Fearless gets out of bed to look at the door. "There ain't nothing there you crazed bastard." Though he is curt he seems to be trying to help in his own sort of way.

To clarify positions. Everyone but Cats bedded down in the Chapel. Cats chose to sleep in the records room instead.

WAKE UP! WAKE UP!
BB is at Cat's side administering and checking his vitals. Trying to find a good and appropriate way to make certain that Cats can be safely awakened. Brother does not want the chance for his newfound friend to turn into a ghoul.
Heal check
heal: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

CRITICAL! I sure hope that means I can reverse his Ghoul-canthropy AND Wake him safely

To the rest of the group that might be congregating, This is not acceptable! We are watching for a reason, and that is to protect each other's dream. None of us should have missed their watch.
I know we're all lunatics, but we all have to be in agreement that we are going to protect each other from these nightmares. We can disagree on almost everything else but THIS has to be our foundation.

The Watchmen are not the only ones to notice something amiss. As Fearless and Brother Butterfly move to aid Cats, a couple curious patients, plus York and some of his guards, have gathered at the door.

"The Tatterman's got him!" Whispers the young orderly Denman.

"Shut your mouth." York rounds on the young orderly. "People here are mad enough without ghost stories."

Turning back to Cats, still struggling in his sleep, York puts a hand to a studded club at his side. "Best we can do is be ready in case he turns."

Meanwhile, Brother Butterfly examines Cats, noticing razorlike cuts upon his hands and neck. As he watches, another appears at the half-elf's temple.

BB unstoppers some of his ammonia cleaning solution and places it near his nose. The jar he opens is the Powerful stuff with Fire Rain added to it to jar Cats awake.
if that doesn't work, I slap him around a bit until he wakes

A bit unsure of what all Brother Butterfly is doing. He notices the bottle of ammonia. "That some test to see if he is gonna be a ghoul?"

"Best we can do is be ready in case he turns."

He draws his crossbow. "Those ratlings must have bit off more than they could chew and gave him some sort of disease." He points his crossbow at Cat's head from a few steps behind him. "He turns I got him. I owe the Shapeshifter at least that much for dragging me into this."

Pinkie runs over to the commotion and sees Fearless pointing his crossbow at Cats head and yells "HOLD ON NOW. Don't be pointing that cating thing at one of us until we've done something to deserve it" then a little shocked at his own reactions it seems. Pinkie mumbles under his breath "I don't know when I became a part of an us though."

Cats starts awake his face away from the pungent ammonia. His eyes are somewhat wild...darting around the room looking for something that isn't there.

"Where did he go?! Where is the man in rags?!" Cats continues to look from side to side, while one hand goes to his neck to see what is hurting him there.

"Something cat me! Something cat me, where is it?"

There is more to come out, but let's RP it. Let's see what you got, you magnificent yahoos.

The Twin watches as the group panics due to Cats screams. "So dreams can harm you in this forsaken world?" he says, unbelieving off what is happening in front of him.

As Brother Butterfly rushes to wake the man, the Twin feels like this cannot be true, so he keeps his eyes peeled for some sort of invisible creature. "Maybe that last ratling came back for punishment on the Cat. Seems fitting." he says as he waits for the results of Brother's attempt to awaken the sleeping man.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Relax friend. You are safe right now. But, you weren't safe just seconds ago. Somehow, the Nightmares got you and you were tough to awaken. You also had wounds appear on your flesh. As if your nightmares were ACTUALLY hurting your mortal coil.

in more a whisper Denman thinks it's The Tatterman. I agree, as I had a nightmare two days ago that left similar cutmarks on my neck.

"HOLD ON NOW. Don't be pointing that cating thing at one of us until we've done something to deserve it"

Fearless lowers his crossbow in frustration. "Maybe he does deserve it. We don't know him all that well."

"Where did he go?! Where is the man in rags?!" Cats continues to look from side to side, while one hand goes to his neck to see what is hurting him there.

"Something cat me! Something cat me, where is it?"

"See and he sees invisible dead things that want to kill him. We don't need any of that haunting s~*~ rubbing off on us."

Giving a nod of approval toward Pinkie to support his ideas of unity and communal defense - while blatantly not giving creedence to Fearless and his conspiracy theories .
Brother Butterfly stands up. Giving Cats a helping hand and looking for a bandage cloth to help stop any bloodletting that might be going on.
To Cats
Cats - We really need you to rethink your sleeping spots. We have lots of questions to find answes to, but on e answer that's written in stone is the fact that you need to be with the rest of us in the Sanctuary. Just on the basis of Logistics. Easier to watch everyone if we are all in the same spot.
turning to The Twins
Twins, you slept "outside" the night before, did you have uneasy sleep?

Back to Cats

If
the Twins did have a nightmarish sleep the night before last, that just strengthens my theory that The Godly Sanctuary is truly our Eye within the Hurricane. The calm amongst the hellfire rain and the madness storm.
BB starts to sing a deep baritone throated song that is obviously the chorus part of something longer.

"In the eye of the storm, Desna is in control.
And in the middle of the war, you guard my soul.
You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn."
That's one of our spiritual hymnals.

Denman -- you whispered the name Tatterman. Tell us more. Our of earshot of the sensative patients, but our survival might hang on the "ghost stories" you provide.

"Maybe he does deserve it. We don't know him all that well."

Cats turns his attention to Fearless, his eyes wide with realization and fear.

"Yes. Yes...that's it. That's what the man in rags said," Cats' voice cracks. "He looked at me. He looked *into* me. He said...he said..."

Cats voice goes very dry.

"He said...'there is... something. A glimmer like a dark moon reflected in a pool of blood. I will dig it out...'"

Cats looks down and begins to weep.

"He's right. I did something. I did something evil and bad. I did something very cat."

Cats weeps, falling back into his bed, crying for the thing he did and that he cannot remember.

There. There.
Soft Kitty

Seeing the emotional distress from Cats takes him by surprise. But, this is his professional calling as a Cleric. To help people when they are emotionally and spiritually vulnerable.
There. There
As he bends back down to kneel and be on Cats level.
Unless you regained your memories and are sad about something specific. Cats you don't have any action that you should lament this past week. Even if you did get your memories back, and you're sad because you’ve remembered your past, please know that you would be just like the rest of us.
Broken.
Broken and seeking to be reformed as something stronger. Just like any Masterwork item once when it first was being made -- had impurities in it. Imagine a master work short sword (pointing towards Cat’s own weapon) had once been at a forge. It had been beaten repeatedly between an unforgiving hammer and an immovable anvil. Placed over and over into hot fires to exorcise the impurities. But IT was made stronger through that process.
While you lie in your bed, crying and lamenting, just picture yourself right now being at the forge.

Welcome to the Strange Aeons Campaign! All out of character discussions go here.

The Campaign introduction is up, so head over and jump in!

Note: we are using expanded Fear rules, which I have posted under a spoiler on the Campaign Info Tab. I might introduce Sanity rules, but I'd like to see how things go first.

Yay!!!! Let the insanity begin!

My other vessel is a migo brain cylinder.

DM- what is the language: Luiric, "አንተም ሊመጣ የሚችለው"?
I don't understand .

I think it is supposed to be the language of halflings, but I'm not sure...

I borrowed it from Forgotten Realms, Luiric was the name of the halfling language.

Great! I got that from the context, but I REALLY wanted to not mis-understand. Especially since I am newer to play by post/messageboard.

Good work The Mariner!

I keep seeing Brother Love's Salvation Show superimposed over your nickname.

Great start everyone! You're moving almost too fast for me to keep up, but don't stop!

Since we have technically started at a point before the official beginning to Part 1, I'm going to make the Unofficial Official title for this Prologue to Strange Aeons: "One Flew Over the Cthulhu's Nest."

I feel very honored to have such a mix of great players here from both my home and online games. I'm planning to run this whole Adventure Path, which will likely take a couple years, so I would suggest introducing yourselves at some point and getting to know each other. Who knows, we may all bump into each other some year at Paizocon or Gencon.

Though we are all experienced role players, I highly suggest you all read through Painlord's Guide to Play-by-Post. I know some of you have already read it (and of course one actually wrote it!) but I think it's worth rereading on occasion, and Strange Aeons will have plenty of role playing opportunities that could benefit from its tenants.

I just read PainLord's Guide. That thing was a great and inspiring read.
So, here's my PUSH post!
I learned what I need to do. I just don't know how to post as a "Action"
For example: I see the word Withdraw in soft gray. That is obviously the "technical" action the PC is taking. How do I write that out?

I just read PainLord's Guide. That thing was a great and inspiring read.
So, here's my PUSH post!
I learned what I need to do. I just don't know how to post as a "Action"
For example: I see the word Withdraw in soft gray. That is obviously the "technical" action the PC is taking. How do I write that out?

At the bottom of where your type box is a small spoiler tag labeled how to format your text. Here are a few examples of the main ones.

• Bold is mainly used for when your character is speaking out loud.

  [b]Type what you are saying here[/b ]

• Italics are inner thoughts that your character is thinking.

  [i]Type what you are thinking here[/i ]

• The blue text I did earlier is the ooc or out of character commentary to better explain what you are trying to come across doing.

  [ooc]Type what you are saying here[/ooc ]

Each of these are done in brackets as you can see above though without the extra space. I just put that there to help show the command. There are many more commands in the spoiler below such as linking URL's and quoting though the above ones are a good start :)

I feel very honored to have such a mix of great players here from both my home and online games. I'm planning to run this whole Adventure Path, which will likely take a couple years, so I would suggest introducing yourselves at some point and getting to know each other. Who knows, we may all bump into each other some year at Paizocon or Gencon.

I wish I could make it to Gen Con one of these years. It is always mere days before my wife's birthday and I get the "Medusa's glare" that literally turns my insides to stone when I bring it up. One of these years though. I think she is softening up to it.

My name is Derek (Tyranius on the boards here) from Iowa (Corn state, though the rest of the world thinks it's potatoes and that Iowa doesn't exist and we are just making it up to be a part of Idaho or Ohio.)

Name is Corbin and I am local to the GM - In Los Angeles.
I have a deep and crazy love for roleplaying, and so I am trying the PbP system for the first time since the great GM RAH is working this.
As you can see, I am not afraid to post and I try to check frequently.... but I regret that work goes bonkers crazy . So if I delay a bit in posting - it's either work or MY wife gave me the Medusa stare too!!!

Yea, this is my first ever dice roleplaying game but have been doing this as a PbP since 2013 as there is not much of a real-life scene in my area. Took me a bit to get the hang of the plethora of rules but these guys have helped a lot :)

Name is Corbin and I am local to the GM - In Los Angeles.

Woah woah woah...you *and* the GM are in L.A.?! Really? Where in L.A.?

I'm in SF (west coast, yo) and have been playing with Rah & Fearless for about 18 months after I butted my way into their Giantslayer game. I'm surprised as heck that Rah is PST because it always seems that he posts at such odd hours. ;)

If any of all y'all are on computer most of the day (like me, or just evenings) and google chat (or trillian), please hit me up at painlordpfs(at)gmail(dot)com.

As I play more and more PbP, I've come to appreciate the side chats and discussion more and more. I hit up The Twin or Fearless to discuss tactics, snark, or RP opportunities on the side and it just makes the game better.

Great start everyone! You're moving almost too fast for me to keep up, but don't stop!

Like Brother Butterfly, I'm not afraid (and often like) to post frequently, but try to match the speed of the group. I don't want to overwhelm anyone and always feel free to pull me back if I'm going to fast.

I'm going to make the Unofficial Official title for this Prologue to Strange Aeons: "One Flew Over the Cthulhu's Nest."

+1 to this title. I freakin' love it.

* * *

p.s. I'm working on a good PbP post titled something along the lines of "Top X Mistakes Players & GMs Do" (or something) as I have a passion for creating better players so I can enjoy better PbP games. I have some ideas for the list (how can I not have lots of ideas of things not to do when I'm playing in two games with 'The Twin' ;) ) and if any of all y'all have any thoughts or ideas you want to share, please let me know.

+2 to the title of the Prologue.

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I need to check aliases more often. Didn't even realize we got Tyr and Pain in here.

Also, if I'm not a frequent reference in that post, then I will feel slighted!

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EDIT: Also, hey to the others that I am not familiar with!

Yes fantastic thread by Painlord!

Badged nerd here - been playing D&D since 1E basic set, my first PBP game was around 2005 dndonlinegames.com ran a steady 2E Planescape campaign, then followed the dev owner to mythweaver.com to finish that campaign, where Rah then ran Cyberpunk2020, then moved to PFS in 2011.

I've played in a few scenarios with Tyranius, and many others scenarios with Bold or Rah running. Most recent being in a worst-rolls-ever crew of heroes to ever play Bold's gestalt Runelords, then followed by EndlessForm's disco space pirate game. I'm currently running a Planescape game for Rah along with a couple of IRL bros. One of them is running me through solo homebrew. I'm in Rah's Kingmaker extension of a tabletop game that Brother plays in.

But as we all know well, adult working life kicks in and PBP replaces tabletop time and then eventually PBP starts to run out of time too. Which is why I think Painlord's Manifest (official now) is so spot on - PBP is the deepest character development you can get playing in an active game. For me all my characters are partial reflections of myself, I think this group of veterans surely feel the same.

My daily posting times are never the same across all active games, but usually in bursts or intermittent jabs. I have a desk job as well but limited opportunity; so I sneak away, snort my RPG dust for a quick high and jump back into work. Consequently, I do zero social media or messaging.

We also hit up the game cons here in LA too! I'll let Rah chime in on other details.

The Mariner said, " . I'm in Rah's Kingmaker extension of a tabletop game that Brother plays in."
to which I reply -- Woot- Woot! +1.

Also, I need to Plus ! the One Flew over the Chathulu's Nest Episode title.

"Brother Butterfly" wrote:

Name is Corbin and I am local to the GM - In Los Angeles.

Woah woah woah...you *and* the GM are in L.A.?! Really? Where in L.A.?

*cough* *cough*

What city/area do you all y'all hail from? Also, just so I understand better, Rah, Butterfly, & Mariner are all from some part of LA?

Oh yes sorry that was rude to not answer your question. We all have been personal friends since high school (20+ years) . We all lived in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County. Each of us lived in same areas but going to different schools between the City of Burbank and Glendale. We all met through a mutual gaming interest at a local hobby shop called the Last Grenadier. Oh yes Mr. Pink is also a local too.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Hey all, my name is Rob.

I started role playing around age 10. My best friend played in a 1st Edition D&D game with his older brother, but he wouldn't lean games for other "kids," and wouldn't let us borrow his books either, so we did free form role playing and storytelling without dice. As we grew older, and he grew cooler, we stopped gaming. When I was 16 I learned that one of my friends from high school played with a group that met in the back room of a hobby store in Burbank. It was there that I first met the players behind Pinkie and The Mariner, and a couple years later I met Corbin, the guy responsible for Brother Butterfly. The group was beginning a new campaign "Scourge of the Slave Lords." I was very excited to get into a real game, had read the book like a lawyer studying for the Bar. As I was making my character the group went off script during the introduction, broke their slave chains, and in the process of completely ruining the plot, sank the ship. A few washed up on shore not far from where the adventure began and promptly made their way to the local tavern to replace party members, which is where I officially joined them. However, the GM soon determined the whole thing a wash, and so my first campaign lasted about one day.

Pinkie, The Mariner, Brother Butterfly, and myself all live in SoCal, spread out in the San Fernando Valley from Pasadena to Reseda. We've been friends for over 25 years now and still manage sitdown games every so often.

I work freelance as a location sound mixer, which partially explains my posting habits. I'm also married, which explains that further. And I have one daughter, so sometimes I'm posting from the throne. No, I'm not posting from it now. Or am I...?

hey all sorry posting for me has been kinda slow the last couple days but works been kinda crazy .I think Rah did a fantastic sumup of how we all know each other so only thing i'm going to add is my name is Louie and undoubtedly there will be inside jokes flung around but we will gladly fill you in if you want.

Which is why I think Painlord's Manifest (official now) is so spot on - PBP is the deepest character development you can get playing in an active game. For me all my characters are partial reflections of myself, I think this group of veterans surely feel the same.

Lots of stuff/questions to unpack here. (I hope you don't mind me prying a bit but this kind of stuff is interesting to me.)

1) I know I feel that PbP is the best. It's pretty much ruined me for all face-to-face (F2F) gaming. I just can't do F2F anymore when I know I could be doing so much more, albeit more slowly, in PbP. You're the first yahoo to echo that sentiment and I appreciate it.

2) +1 to having characters as a reflection of a facet of oneself. That's mostly how I approach things as well. I find one detail or factor that I see within myself and amplify and expand upon it as an main element of character. In fact, it's a key element of the characters I play.

Sometimes I push the one facet that I dislike in myself, other times I enhance a facet that I want to be more like in real life. I use this silly game to explore how I different parts of me might interact with the world.

Is this the same with you? Do any of you yahoos have a different process?

Pinkie, The Mariner, Brother Butterfly, and myself all live in SoCal, spread out in the San Fernando Valley from Pasadena to Reseda. We've been friends for over 25 years now and still manage sitdown games every so often.

Word. I grew up in San Marino/Pasadena and attended Loyola High (just west of downtown LA).

Next time I come down, I'll see if we can rendezvous for some duck burritos(link) or some such. My dad still lives near the Rock of Eagles.

For me, the character needs to feel real - believable, heroic, flawed, imperfect by personal vices, fears and dreams. The last addition shows up in forms of my own (like you) morals, silliness, fantasies, dark sides, bright sides. Ultimately, lifetime characters for me is really alomst a diary. I save all my games and reread them later on like looking at a photoalbum. A great memory I have of my character named Nilu, in a homebrew tabletop that Rah ran for years. During an apex point in the story, Nilu said "Do you not think I would not sacrifice my life for this cause?" while that goes against all gaming paradigm of "But you'll die, your character will not be resurrectable, effectively out of the game." Consequently, I abhor metagaming. I prefer a small 12 points character with a HUGE heart. If you ever get the chance to play with Mu and Shu (me and Rah's alias), they are quite hilarious. In the end though, I still prefer face time with my friends.

Ha! I've live in Pasadena for the last 9 years with the San Marino neighborhood line across the street. AND my dad lives in Eagle Rock as well. I drive past CaCao twice a day.

Since we are doing intros, I will chime in.

My name is Ron a.k.a. Bold Strider. I used to GM and play a lot of PFS here on the boards but Painlord (and a few others) have ruined that for me. The short mission type character just seems blah, especially since I have now somehow picked up several APs to GM as well as play in a few with great GMs like Rah, Tyranius and Lithrac.

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Dammit Barley! I can never remember you are Pathmaker. Haha.

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Also, I live in Indiana, so no duck burritos for me. :(

YES! Barley 川から流木

A little info on the Pathmaker handle. When Pathfinder system was launched, Rah began running Kingmaker. He created an online journal which I had to make a login name. Without much thought, I combine the name of this new system and the module name and used Path/maker. In hindsight, probably should have thought it out more, Bulldog or something not so wink-wink. And my real name is Sam.

And I keep forgetting that it's not Bold, it's rpblue. You took a hiatus for the BAR exam last I remembered.

Lots of stuff/questions to unpack here. (I hope you don't mind me prying a bit but this kind of stuff is interesting to me.)

This stuff is highly interesting to me. As a GM and a Player it really helps to have insight into other player's thought processes.

1) I know I feel that PbP is the best. It's pretty much ruined me for all face-to-face (F2F) gaming. I just can't do F2F anymore when I know I could be doing so much more, albeit more slowly, in PbP. You're the first yahoo to echo that sentiment and I appreciate it.

+1 to this! Except I still enjoy F2F games because I'm playing them with guys I've known forever, most of whom are interested in really digging into their characters. And I've managed to drag most of them into PBP where another level of the game can be found.

2) +1 to having characters as a reflection of a facet of oneself. That's mostly how I approach things as well. I find one detail or factor that I see within myself and amplify and expand upon it as an main element of character. In fact, it's a key element of the characters I play.

I sometimes work this way, though I think it might be a subliminal effect. I usually start with some sort of concept, then reverse engineer it to fit within the world.

For example: my android Richard in the Iron Gods campaign was intended to be a sort of Indiana Jones type character, but instead of being a history professor moonlighting as an adventurer, he is an adventurer moonlighting as a robot rock star.

Another example: my PFS character Maximo is a mix between Baron Munchausen meets the Most Interesting Man in the World. His backstory is that he was once a great Taldan Noble so obsessed with recapturing his youth that he experimented with his own alchemical version of the Sun Orchid Elixir. It works temporarily (as seen with his mutagen), but repeated use has left him in a fugue state with delusions of grandeur.

Last example: Kraygan from Giantslayer might be the closest version of myself, except I rarely drink, fight, or fart in public. The thing I see in him is unrealized potential. And a beard.

I used to GM and play a lot of PFS here on the boards but Painlord (and a few others) have ruined that for me. The short mission type character just seems blah...

I used to love the short mission aspect of PFS, but after playing in Tektite's (now Tyranius') Iron Gods, and Tyranius' (still Tyranius') Giantslayer, I've pretty much given them up for now.

Also, I live in Indiana, so no duck burritos for me. :(

Don't worry, we'll mail one to you (link).

I like all of the aspects. I love Campaign settings as you can really flesh out a character. It is a bit harder in the shorter PFS scenarios but can still be done here and there. Overall I simply like the stories and want to get through them all which may be impossible :)

As for the Adventure Paths with Paizo I wish they didn't have to make them all 6 books. It would be nice if they just made a good story and stopped it were it needed to be stopped. It seems most of the Adventure Paths always has a good chunk that just seems like filler.

I still love the short mission aspect, especially now that there is a meta story, but overall I will play/run any story as overall I enjoy the game and building / seeing new character concepts.

Regarding Adventure Paths and their tendency to stretch out stories like Peter Jackson stretches out Tolkien. As might be apparent with the opening to Strange Aeons, I tend to modify existing material, tailoring it to both my personal tastes and the interests of the players. I believe that "Filler is Killer" and I don't mind skipping irrelevant encounters to get to the meat of the story, or adding material for players to sink their teeth into for a better role playing experience. So far for this Adventre Path I haven't seen much wasted material, but I only have two books in hand at this time.

@Painlord: I'm looking into google chat for off-board communications. I'd like to have a group chat for anyone interested in one, but I have about no experience with it. I'd like to access it through my iPhone, but I'm only finding an app for Google Hangouts. Any idea if that accesses the same chat system as Google Chat?

@Painlord: I'm looking into google chat for off-board communications. I'd like to have a group chat for anyone interested in one, but I have about no experience with it. I'd like to access it through my iPhone, but I'm only finding an app for Google Hangouts. Any idea if that accesses the same chat system as Google Chat?

I use Trillian to parse AIM and Googlechat together. I started using it when I was working at Wikipedia because it worked on Mac/PCs and was a separate window than my browser (so I could chat and surf at the same time).

Trillian is available on the iPhone. And Mac/PC as a free download. You will also, by virtue of downloading and installing Trillian, create a Trillian name that you can also use as a chat ID to other Trillian clients. If you need my Trillian name, PM me. Or you can use my gmail address (in previous post).

If you believe that PF is a social game, then you'll understand why it's nice to be able to chat with others outside of the game. I ping Fearless (aka GM Tyranius, aka Allarnon) to discuss our other games and ask questions. I ping The Twin (aka Torgan, aka rpgblue) to talk trash and shoot the poop. It's good. It makes the PbP experience better.

I downloaded Trillian and I can't figure it out. I'm sending you a PM.

That duck burrito bag looks like it came from 5 guys burgers and fries.

Ugh.... now I need to get out to L.A. to try a Duck Burrito. *Adds to his bucket list* :)

I believe that "Filler is Killer" and I don't mind skipping irrelevant encounters to get to the meat of the story, or adding material for players to sink their teeth into for a better role playing experience. So far for this Adventre Path I haven't seen much wasted material, but I only have two books in hand at this time.

"Filler is Killer"? Piddlespot, that's gold. That's going into the new guide, because obviously.

A note for everyone: you are dimly aware of all abilities, skills, fears, spells, etc that are on your character sheet. That includes knowledge skills.

"AAAARRRGHHHHH!"

If anyone here use as an Android phone, a gamer on this site name DKal created this app, it does an awesome job at doing quick post from the road.

-Posted with Wayfinder

I don't normally like to restrict posting, but since the group is in many different places right now, and I'm still setting the stage for the adventure, I'll need a day or two to catch everyone up. Those PCs at dinner can roleplay, but let's not get ahead of that just yet.

Due to the number of NPCs in this campaign I've created a "Guide to Strange Aeons" to list notes on who you have encountered. I will update it as we continue, but it can be edited by players if you so desire.

Awesome!

I've noticed eekends are typically slow-posting times for most everyone. I would like to press on, but I'm going to hold off until around midnight PST.

sorry the wife surprised me with a few days out of town im back on now

Regarding spoilers, I don't mind if you want to read the spoilers that aren't for your characters. I trust everyone to seperate player vs character knowledge. However, I think the story will unfold better for you if you don't read them just yet.

I encourage you all to look back through them at a later point to see the full story.

Cats, that was a super -duper amazing post. I nearly lost my lunch reading it. Great zinger against BB. Your delivery was perfect.

"Hairless monstrosity"

Heh.

(I missed it upon first read through.)

I'm still refraining from reading any spoilers since separated.

Hey guys, Work is crazy right now. I will be silent, but reading for the next two days. I should be able to post WEdnesday evening.
Keep chugging along.

Might not be able to update until tomorrow night. Until then...

Happy Thanksgiving!

'Merica!

-Posted with Wayfinder

Same to you DM Rah!

Turkey cheers, boys!

Hey guys, I was going to post this in Flaxseed tomorrow, but thought I'd open it up here first if any of you wanted an automatic spot.

"I thought it would fun to run a game with all gripplis characters in Reaping What We Sow. Keeping it to 4 seats for challenge and the likelihood that not many players have the gripplis character boon to use. If slow sign-ups then first come and recruiting stays open until 4 seats reached; if larger response, then lottery after a couple of days. Find it here."