Yes. I, too, would like to congratulate you on a wonderful (and long) campaign, GM. Running a campaign of this scope through PbP is real achievement that you should be proud of. And I'm grateful to have been part of it all this time -- since it started in December of 2017. Thank you very much!
I've been frantically trying to come up with something poetic and uplifting to end Hal's story, but I just don't seem to be able to find it. I hope I am not bringing things down :(
This campaign has been amazing - both for roleplaying and story. I haunted it for a long time before joining. I almost applied back when it first started, actually started drafting a character but had too many games at the time - I regret not trying for back then.
This is definitely going to be one of the campaigns I remember forever. Thank you.
I think you're doing fine!
Also, I'm really glad to have finally found an opportunity to talk about the Balance of Seasons. I came up with that years ago, and it's been informing my RP all this time, but there's never been a good moment to formally introduce the idea.
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Thanks, guys! I have really appreciated playing with you all and crafting a story together. That's what it's really about. And you players have made it worthwhile.
This is my last campaign on Paizo as I really just play on Discord now. I know Kaz has tried discord and doesn't like it so I hope to see you around somewhere, sometime.
So, we're back in Helm. We should wrap up Fyrtor and Túrion's stories. GM, I think this is best left in your hands.
Edit: Also, looks like a couple of my posts went in as Melia Elman because of default settings on different web browsers. Blah.
Hal and Kaz, care to share and we'll proceed?
Kaz please do share your spoiler info too when you get a chance. I understand that right now you're trying not to interrupt Hal.
Will do! I’ll get a post up as soon as I can
Hal doesn't know Perrin, so I think this is up to the others...
Sorry, last week was crazy.
Monday: basically normal.
Tuesday: took the day off to attend my friend's swearing-in as a US citizen, with a picnic to follow. Also my AC went out.
Wednesday: took the morning off so as to be home for an HVAC tech, who announced that the unit was frozen and he couldn't really diagnose it till it thawed. Went to work in the afternoon, leaving the door unlocked for the tech. AC needed freon, because it's so old it still uses freon. A thousand dollars later it was operational again, and I have an appointment to get a quote on a new AC unit. Stayed up till 3 AM working on prep for a one-shot scheduled for this past Saturday.
Thursday: got to work at 9 AM sharp and kept at it till 7:30 PM. Rushed home. Cleaned my house top to bottom in three hours flat, then drove to the airport to pick up a house guest whose plane landed at 11:05 PM. Brought guest home, punted them into the guest bedroom and collapsed.
Friday: at work at 9 AM, leaving house guest unattended. I had two meetings that just couldn't be rescheduled. Took the afternoon off and played a series of games: some Magic the Gathering, two rounds of Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, and I think one other thing I can't remember.
Saturday: wildly finished one-shot prep in the morning while house guest managed to incinerate some garbanzo beans in an attempt to make hummus. Finished prep 30 minutes before go time and printed out all the things. Guests arrived, including the house guest's partner who traveled separately for reasons that are not entirely clear to me.
One shot was supposed to go four hours, but ran seven instead. The final fight took 3 hours all by itself. Killed the PC of house guest perma-dead. Two other PCs dropped into negatives twice each. They won, but I definitely overdid it with that boss monster. Rounded out the day with dinner at Olive Garden.
Sunday: Brunch at a local restaurant. Then two hours of axe-throwing. Then back to my place for a round of Betrayal at House on the Hill, then some chit-chat, and finally a game of Stone Age. House guest and partner had rented a hotel room for the night and departed at 8 PM on the grounds that they had to get up at 2:30 AM to begin their trek back home. I smiled, waved goodbye, tumbled into bed and passed out.
And then I've been back at work for extra hours yesterday and today trying to catch up from last week plus prep for a regular session on Saturday and returning to double-workouts at the gym because past me apparently thought it would be smart to sign up for an endurance camp.
So yeah. I've been busy.
Sounds busy. But in a good sort of way.
Sounds awesome. I love me some good axe throwing.
How did the house guest feel about PC death? Some people like how real it can make the game feel, others hate it.
I mean, she wasn't happy -- who would be? -- but she took it in stride.
I think it helped that the death occurred not long before the end of the fight, so she didn't have to spend long as a spectator.
Coming off a random discussion on Reddit, I'm curious how you all would treat the following scenario.
Alice is currently the subject of two spells: Invisibility and Mind Blank. She is standing in a room with Bob, who does not know she is there. Bob currently has a Comprehend Languages spell running.
Alice says "Hola!" Bob does not speak Spanish. What does Bob hear?
A) The word "Hola!" untranslated.
B) The word "Hi!" translated because Comprehend Languages works on the speech, not the creature speaking.
C) Nothing at all, because the fact that Alice spoke would reveal her presence, which is "information about the subject [of Mind Blank]". Mind Blank suppresses the speech entirely so that Bob gains no information.
Ah, when Pathfinder reads like the Talmud.
Invisibility shouldn’t affect this. It is purely blocking visual.
Mind Blank:
“The subject is protected from all devices and spells that gather information about the target through divination magic (such as detect evil, locate creature, scry, and see invisible). This spell also grants a +8 resistance bonus on saving throws against all mind-affecting spells and effects. Mind blank even foils limited wish, miracle, and wish spells when they are used in such a way as to gain information about the target. In the case of scrying that scans an area the creature is in, such as arcane eye, the spell works but the creature simply isn’t detected. Scrying attempts that are targeted specifically at the subject do not work at all.”
Comprehend Language is divination, but it doesn’t gather information about the person. It just translates. Therefore, B is the correct answer
I agree completely with Grumbaki. In general, Mind Blank is an annoyingly written spell but this case is sufficiently clear, imo.
Wow, a final appearance for Rally! I didn't expect that. But it feels good, even if this is her end.
I spent some time reading back the earliest portions of the campaign, just the bits before Mel joined. Cyrus was a good character. It's a pity about that greataxe. But at the same time, I would never have gotten to make Mel if Cyrus had lived; and he just would not have had the same kind of motivations she did to pursue more campaign. Mel, having messed up the Council's plan and put her people at risk, felt a need to go fix the mess and prevent a war between Iustia and the Concordat. Cyrus would have thought that the prospect was a terrible thing, but also he was a citizen of Helm, and if Iustia and the Concordat are busy fighting each other that means they're not invading Helm.
I guess the one thing about Cyrus I want to wrap up was the last item in his final inventory: that creased and folded piece of paper. I kept hoping that maybe someday someone would ask about that -- even hinted at it a couple of times in later discussions -- but nobody ever did. So now I'm just going to out with it.
Those were Cyrus' discharge papers, documenting his dishonorable discharge from the Astin guards for conduct unbecoming a guardsman. In the time after he left Astin, he would re-read those every night, marinating himself in misery. It was only after he found his faith that he began to make peace with his past. And only when he found Rally that he was able to finally stop poring over those papers. Even then, he carried them on his person at all times: a constant reminder of his shame ... right up to his very last moment.
I think his father probably found those on him when they prepared him for burial.
And burned them.
Tough decisions you're giving me! If dice were involved here, I would blame the decision on them either way. But when it's just narrative, I had to think hard about what I prefer here.
Cyrus was a great character, indeed, and an important part of the story going where it ended up. Yes that sounds good about his funeral.
For what it’s worth I think you chose well.
Likewise! This takes me back to my earliest days of role play, on the bulletin boards of Prodigy. Nobody had any dice, and I don't know if any of us had ever actually played a TTRPG. We were just writing collaborative stories. It was a lot of fun, even if the narrative did get a little tangled at times. I wish I had an archive of those old stories, but I didn't think to do such a thing at the time, and now those bulletin boards are long, long gone.
So, GM. Would you say that the events of the last few posts would qualify for completing the feat Blessed, Mel's third background feat?