Demonmoose's Iron Gods AP Green (Inactive)

Game Master GM Demonmoose

Kharamell admires the ratling's gear.
Take 10 on
Perception +3 for 13 total
Knowledge: Engineering +9 for 19 total

Čemifobbar steps up to make the formal introductions:
"Greeting, Red Tooth. My name is Čemifobbar. These are my companions: "as he motions to each in turn, "… Alexis, Kharamell, Kraig, Nyssa, Tessara, Valt, and Iophiel. We have come from the town of Torch. We have come to stop the Lords of rust and their mischief. We recently defeated many of those disgusting smilers, including Marrow and Birdfood. And in the process we freed your brother, Whiskifiss, here."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22

Kharamell sees several grenades, a dart gun, a flare gun, detonator and nanite canisters, as Redtooth's complement of tech gear.

Redtooth snorts. "If you call starting a cult, killing scrappers, and taking over the town, mischief, I don't know what you'd call trouble. Thanks for saving my foolish brother. What do you want as a reward? Maybe some grenades? If you're planning on taking out the Lords of Rust, you can probably take out that receiver array. Set up a bunch of bombs, use this detonator and you'll get a whole bunch of scrapworth."

You're at about 5 Scrapworth.

"We will look into that. Do you know what they are receiving with this array? Or who is sending to them?"

"What we seek from you is simply to coexist on friendly terms. Perhaps some trading and sharing of information."

"Ah, rumor is that the receiver array steals energy from somewhere, or at least it did. A massive amount of energy. About a month ago, it was glowing and there was a near deafening hum. It was around the time the Priestess of Hellion left Scrapwall. The other rumor is that its connected to some kind of superweapon."

Did the priestess had purple hair?
Because we fought one that was manipulating a energy generator back on Torch. She barely blown-up the entire town in the process. Says the summoner, while trying to imagine what kind of device are the Lords of Rust feeding with the large amounts of energy they steal.

"Yes, the android priestess had purple hair. You took her out? She was the right hand of Hellion, or whoever the Lords of Rust follow." Whiskifiss says. "You guys must be pretty tough. Or lucky."

"That's probably why there was that incident that happened. There was a loud sound over there, and we don't see any of the Thralls of Hellion anymore." Redtooth adds.

"Maybe some grenades in the long run..." Nyssa shrugs. "Right now I really need some arrows for my longbow. Need a pawnshop too. We've got some junk we picked up, it'd be nice to unload it somewhere."

Nyssa studies Redtooth, then tries to read the ratfolk female for intentions.

sense motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

"It was a pleasure to destroy the Smilers, Redtooth. And to free your brother in the process. The smilers were truly disgusting. I am from the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, where nobody would eat people, not even to survive."

"I do have one modest request. Since I cannot heal like most people, I need potions of Inflict Wounds or Infernal Healing to survive the wounds I often get in battle. I do not have any real need for these 'Technology' things. I do not understand them at all."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
To try and butter up Redtooth and Whiskifiss as much as possible

"Hmm, don't the Steelhawks use longbows? If you're allies with them, you could probably buy some from them, or heck, they might just give arrows to you. We don't got much. If you want, we'll buy some cheap metal from you-Chirpus needs some food." Redtooth says.

Redtooth seems to be telling the truth, and has no other intentions other than defeating the Lords of Rust. She also seems to trust you all.

Redtooth gets the attention of a ratfolk and whispers in his ear. "Okay, I'll add some of those potions to your reward for helping my lil' bro, and some grenades. How's that for a reward, and a gift for cementing our alliance?" Redtooth grins.

"I already have a long bow I'm fond of. The potions and grenades sound acceptable. I'm sure my friends here can make good use of those grenades against the Lords of Rust."

Redtooth offers you two arc grenades and three potions of inflict light wounds.

What do you do now?

Is there a ghost ship we can acquire in the haunted wreck? We could sail the ethereal skies. Or just start at the top of the list and work our way down?

"Thank you for your generosity, Redtooth."

Čemifobbar pockets the potions of Inflict Light Wounds and gives the grenades to Kharamell: "You are much better able to use these than I. I'll keep these potions since they're only useful to me."

"What should we do next? Destroy that array thing? Or something else?

Yeah, the Steelhawks use longbows. They wanted to buy arrows and bows from us. Made me feel like they were in short supply." Nyssa tells Redtooth. Then she continues: "I keep hearing about an arena. Scrapmaster's or some such. I heard it was run by a Lords of Rust lacky. What can you tell me about that?"

diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

"Every once in a while, one of the Lords of Rust holds some arenas there, in order for Scrappers to get scrapworth. Usually, its just them getting killed. Boss of that is Helskarg, a mean troll, and her two ogre pets. The arena itself is right over the Lords of Rust's underground base. You know, I think we might have some arrows also. Let me check our stocks."

Redtooth talks with another ratfolk, and after a few minutes, comes back with several arrows. She hands Nyssa fifty five smelly, dirty arrows. "You can find all sorts of things in the heaps of junk."

Arrows: 1d100 ⇒ 55

I suggest we take a few days to get our new base in order and investigate our immediate surroundings. Though I doubt it, there could be a decent neutral to friendly provisioner close by.
There's also a lot of stuff in our loot chest that we need to figure out what we're going to do with. It may be that that is our only source of gear for a time.
Finally, as far as I can tell, our timeline is pretty loose. We might be able to send some back to Torch to report in and sell loot.

I would like to take first on "secondary" options (being the receiver array the main mission, at least on my mind).

After the meeting with the rat-people, Valt talks with Cemifobbar about the healing issue.

Cem, I want to sugest you to try the soothe thing. It looks it has some anestesic and regenerative properties. Not being related to any divine magic, I don't think it will harm you, so its worth a try.

I'm with Caramel. We should take a bit to breath, set up a base, and take care of loot.

Okay. How many days do you take to prepare? What does everyone do? Your scrapworth is about 5.

Kraig invests his Scrapworth in the scrap market, hoping to see big short-term gains. Or we could spend the time cleaning our base and exploring the town. I don't think Kraig has anything he needs to do. He's not really interested in socializing.

That depends. Can we liquidate some of our loot? It costs to put spells into spellbooks and make scrolls. Also see if Redtooth can tell us what soothe is.

I figure at least few days to clean out/search thoroughly/renovate the Seven Torches' base. Once we have it in some order, I believe a celebration for us and our allies is in order. Then more cleaning after one scrapper of a party.

Čemifobbar will agree with Valt to try some of the Soothe material that was found in Scrapwall. "If it's not magical, I guess the worst it could do is nothing at all."

I'm also for cleaning up the old Smiler's HQ for our use. It'll probably take a lot of elbow grease, considering what the Smilers' culinary habits were like!

Nyssa smiles. "Ah, you're a lifesaver Redtooth. Thank you."

I don't think we should dither too long. If we can sell the loot, great. Spending enough time in the base, to take 20 on perception to search the place seems like a good idea. Scrapwall is not such a paradise though, I think we should get on with our real business ASAP.

the base idea seems good

You spend a few days cleaning up the Smiler HQ and relabeling it as the Seven Torches base. While it isn't completely clean, and there remains the stench of blood and death, it looks clean. Looking through the base as you fix it up, you don't find anything new or particularly interesting.

A few orcs, ratfolk and scrappers approach on different days, almost looking like they want to join your new gang, but leave as soon as they seen any of you.

What do you do now? Party?

What about trading/liquidating loot?

Maybe I mentioned it before but... Scrapwall is fairly poor. You may sell a few things to the gangs, but there's no merchant that'll buy it, probably. You can make a knowledge local check to find one, I suppose. If you really want to sell stuff, you can also head back to Torch which has a much better economy than people living in a garbage dump.

We should try to get some black market contacts or something.

We should probably take care of those Lords of Rust and their power array thingy.

Nyssa stands outside in the morning sun, in front of the Smiler complex. She eyes the heaped rubble and smoky, dusty air with distaste. Turning, the suli strides through the doors, and into the complex, to the room where the grenades are stored. Collecting the explosives, she heads to the common area. "I don't want to settle here. I want to do smith-work in Torch. It's time to destroy that power transmission assembly. That's what we're here to do. Protect Torch. Not make a cozy home from home here."
Nyssa grins a feral grin. "I'd appreciate some company, it's bound to be dangerous."

"I doubt that any of us wish to settle here. Our mission, however, may take longer than we had expected. If you want rush into danger, I will not stop you and, if allowed the time I require to prepare, will be able to give you my assistance. So I ask your patience. Not only for myself. Tessara might also be able to make good use of the time as well. May I suggest that you return to Torch to report our current status and plans? You could even trade some of our gains for more provisions. By the time you return, I will be better able to help complete our mission."

"Tessara, with your permission, I would like to peruse your spellbook to determine if there are any spells you have that I would suit me."

"I don't like stalling either. But I would rather be late than dead. Planning is important."

Tess gives a look of surprise at Kharamell, then looks down. "Uhh, sure...if it helps." She takes out her old tome and slowly hands it over. "Just...be careful with it, ok?" Unlike tr elf's normal condescending snappy attitude, she now sounds sad and pleading.

You should review Tess's background Kharamell. There's something special about that book.

"I shall be." He says without reaching for it until he is sure she will depart with it. "Would you care to do the same with mine. It would actually be better for us to do so together. That way if either of us has any questions we can ask."

"Yes." Tess says quickly. "That would be best."

We are losing time, both in game and in real time. GM said repeatly that there are no shops here, first subtly now clearly. That means the AP should take that in account.

We are stalling.

Well, I'm ready to go and try not to end dead because we where late to stop whatever those Lords of Rust are planning.

Back in Torch, the whole town was a few minutes to explode. And that was just an enregy source they used to empower Gods-now-what they have under this scrap-town. -Says the summoner in a middle tone-

Perhaps we must do something, like investigating the haunted canyon or the monster lair, while they do their bookkepping.

What do you say, Cem, Kraig, Nyssa, Alexis? We must go and at least try to gather some resources, or wait here? -Finally asks Valt, and waits patiently some answers while looking at his partners.

"Gathering other resources does sound like a good option."

There's never enough time. The wizard's lament. If the options are not going and not gaining xp or going underprepared and gaining the xp, my choice is obvious.

well, we have things to do, let's do them.

I opt for slaying the Manticore.

Let's go after the manticore. It a simple objective, clearly defined, although it may be a fight.

I just wish there was an IC motivation do do the side missions. Lords of Rust HQ is under the arena. The danger of the array should be clear to all. The other missions are just kind of there...

"If you want to slay a manticore, I'll go with you Alexis. It shouldn't take long. I'm ready when you are."

yeah it is a sort of "there monster, kill it and take its stuff" mentality. But experience beckons

The motivation for the manticore and the haunted canyon are: finding weapons or technological gear that could help defeat the Lords of Rust, and or find more information about them. The mutated manticore leaks green liquid and snatches up scrappers as it slowly hunts in Scrapwall. You might want to stop it if you're good aligned.

The haunted canyon is a strange fixture of Scrapwall. Why is it haunted? What could be over there? Is it connected with Hellion? As a good aligned character, you might want to exorcise it.

Also, if the gangs and scrappers find out what you do, you earn Scrapworth which earns you respect, and makes opposing the Lords of Rust easier.

Both are sidequests, really, so if you feel prepared to assault the Lords of Rust, you can do that.

When the party is ready, you head to the southern part of Scrapwall and find a find a strange cavern attached to the junk of the large town. The cavern rises to an opening, revealing a nest filled with razor wire, scraps, junk and twinkling light, along with the stench of a feral beast.

thanks demonmoose. Sometimes it is hard to see the motivation for the missions in pbm. There usually is a reason for what we do.

Alexis draws her rapier and keeps a careful watch.

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Manticore makes sense, Kraig still can't punch ghosts.

"What is a manticore, anyways?" Kraig ponders. Ridding their temporary home of magical beasts is as good an idea as any till they learned more about what they were up against here.

"I don't know exactly, Kraig. Some kind of lion I think." Nyssa had heard her share of tales from the soldiers of castle Urion. Of course, such tales were always outrageously exaggerated. Nyssa wouldn't want to pass such tales off as fact.
"I guess we'll have to see for ourselves."
And smell. Nyssa wrinkles her nose at the stench, even as her eyes scan for sign of the beast.
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

The manticore doesn't seem to be home.

Moving into the nest requires a reflex save DC 15, else you take damage (based on your armor). It is also difficult terrain. You can search once each round, making a Perception DC 20, to find something.

Ref: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Tess nimbly flits into the nest and peers around.

Perc: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24 +3 in dim light