Dragonlance: Heroes of a New Age

Game Master Shalafi2412

He thanks her and he enters the room.

As he enters into the room, he sees many minor magical items around. Scrolls. Spellbooks and the various spell components. There is a painting of Raistlin Majere on the wall, with the Staff of Magius, in his hand battling the Dragon Queen in the Abyss.

He finds a sitting chair and begins to think.

The Master of the Past and the Present. You began your journey of destiny here, in this small town. Yet from here you rose to be the greatest of our Order. The strength I need to do what I feel I must for the good of the Magic, for the good of the Order, for the good of the elves, perhaps my journey begins here as well. Though I have already done much, perhaps this will help to stop Chemosh from ascending. If not, perhaps that is not my role in this life.

He stays in the room looking around and thinking for close to two hours.

As the Black Robe leaves the room he hears as voice
Stop! I was told that there was a Black Robe here.

As the elf looks he sees a man approach
May I see the Staff? he asks.

The Black Robe smiles
I knew that I might find you here, Palin Majere. In a way, I did not look for this meeting. As you see, the Staff has chosen a new owner. One in magic, one who will use it, like your Uncle did, to bring glory to the Art. I cannot tarry as I have pressing business to do as Nuitari rises. But you may look at it, you may not touch it. Remember, you gave this away when you rejected the Art. You have chosen your lot in life, be content with it, son and nephew of Heroes. It is time for others to arise.

Palin Majere looks down and then looks up again
I know what I gave up when I both used the Magic and when I denied it. For me, what I sacrificed all those years was not worth it.

Well, Majere, actions and choices have consequences. Can I be of any more assistance to you.

Yes there is. I have a teen here who seems to have magical talent. There are no wizard schools here in Solace. Can you provide for his training?

I have business that will take me far from here, yet not so far. When I am concluded with that Palin Majere, I will return.

And with that he teleports away.

The Black Robe arrives in the Plains of Dergoth as the Nuitari rises in the sky, at high sanction.

Before him looms the destroyed fortress of Fistandantilus, once known as Zhaman but more popularly known as Skullcap, due to the feature of the skull that occurred when the Archamge, Raistlin Majere or Fistandilius'S spell went wayward.

As you gaze up the massive fanged maw of the skull looms above you. The smell of rot and decay seems to drift from the entrance like a fetid breath. The smooth black fused stone climbs almost vertically to the fangs of the skulls grinning mouth.

The Black Robe will cast mage armor on himself as he looks up at the visage

Who would have thought that I would stand before this place, so important to the history of the Orders of High Sorcery and the world of Krynn. You have been here before, have you not? he says to the Staff.

Casting a fly spell he ascends to the entrance of Skullcap and enters. Seeing that there is no light he utters the command
Shirak and the light of the Staff of Magius erupts for the crystal in the grasp of the dragon claw.

From within the entrance a great tunnel gradually descends for about a hundred feet. It is made of the same smooth fused black stone.

You gradually make your way along a corridor of fused black stone. The tunnel ends in a hallway of cut from grey stone. The hallway beyond is in ruins. Faded and torn tapestries adorn the walls. Scorch marks cover the walls and floor. There are a set of double doors to the north and south.

There have been many people hwere in the 80 or so years since the War of the Lance, some more recent than others. These more recent tracks seem to be made by dwarves he discerns and casts false life
1d10 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13

The wizard heads towards the great hall,

This central chamber runs for approximately 100 feet in length. Doors run down the length of the northern face of the hallway. The center is dominated by a 30 foot wide spiral staircase that descends into darkness. The sound of running water can be heard in the darkness far to the east.

Perception 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (13) + 15 = 28

He sees an eyewing in the corner above the floor, floating

Iniative 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17 eyewing
1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4 Black Robe

Know planes 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

The creature begins to float away very quickly.

The Black Robe begins to chant and 5 eldritch missiles in the shape of green dragons emerge from his hand and strike at the creature

[b] Ast draw fkwar odwr [/dice]
5d4 + 5 ⇒ (4, 4, 3, 2, 3) + 5 = 21

striking and killing it.

The Black Robe explores a bit before going down the middle stairway. He comes to another room. At one time this room was richly decorated, but has since been striped of anything of value. A low stone altar made of black stone stands near the south wall. A human skeleton lies at the base of the altar

Know Religion 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (7) + 15 = 22

This room, desecrated as it is is dedicated to Nuitari! says the Black RObe, This affront will be rectified my Lord he says feeling his connection to the Black Moon intensify as if Nuitari himself is happy.

Contuining to explore.
As you head east from the Great Hall the sound of running water becomes louder. Falling water rushes down in a curtain blocking the view of what lays beyond in the darkness. Up close the water is murky and smelly. A small ledge leads to the right and left of the curtain of water.

As he enters the room he hears a voice

“Welcome to Skullcap. You may search the ruins to your hearts content, but know this, you must pay to leave this place. Attempt to exit these ruins without proper tribute and you will die.”

1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27 Will

I totally understand that but who do I speak to? he inquires.

It is I little mageling. the voice says as from behind the water fall emerges a black dragon.

What a magnificent being you are, Majesty he says. You are the first Black Dragon I have seen this closely before/

[b] Flattery will get you no where, little Black Mageling. I am sure that you are here for the secrets of Zhaman, also known as Skullcap. You are free to go down and find what you can, but leaving. Well that is another thing entirely. [b] she says with laugh, dripping acid.

With a bow, his robes rustling
Then with your leave Mistress, I shall make my departure. I hope to see you soon. he says with gusto.

Spiral stairs spin down into the darkness of a great shaft. It seems that the further down they go the more twisted and fused the metal becomes. The twisted iron framework of the blasted lower levels dangles down into the cold darkness below.

The Black Robe will continue to fly down.

As you reach the end of the twisted metal it embeds itself into the western wall. Below you it appears that there are jagged sections of floor that jut out from the walls. The amount of floors remaining is a mystery but from your vantage you can still not see the bottom.

You finally make it down from the last broken level to land on a large pile of rubble. Jagged stones and numerous skeletons of all sizes and types litter the floor. A large crack near the center of the pile leads to an opening in what appears to be the top of a great dome. The floor of the chamber below appears 30 feet below.

Please make a Perception check

Perception check 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34

You find in the rubble will uncover the broken body of a Theiwar dwarf. It evidently fell from a great height and was unceremoniously shoved into one corner of the room. It appears to only be a couple days old. It apparently has been stripped of any useful equipment or treasure.

[I] Interesting. Why would a dark dwarf be here? I should and need to be on look out for trouble. [/b]

Ast sreaw terew he says as he manifests a spectral hand, in the shape of a green dragon

1d6 ⇒ 6

Continuing on...
The chamber around you appears to be totally destroyed. The walls are cracked and fallen in many places and debris lies in every corner. The only exit from the room appears to be to the North.

At the center of this room is a small round table. Ruined tapestries hang on the walls. A skeleton lies beneath the table in a tattered robe.

Taking a look at the skeleton
1d20 + 15 ⇒ (11) + 15 = 26

You recognize that this is another dwarven skeleton. The robes look those of a wizard but are not any of the Orders, Red, White or Black.

This is more and more interesting. What reason would dwarven wizards have to be down here in Zhaman? And they are not bound to the Orders of High Sorcery! Am I dealing here with renegade wizards, sorcerers or both. Oh Nuitari may this help to add to the Order of the Black Robes or take away from the power of sorcery he thinks with a smile.

He will want to advance caustiosuly making sure that he is able to fly into areas easily,.

ok

The dark elf advances and sees a group of dark dwarves rummaging through some paper and items. They seem to be dressed in wizard's robes but they are not in either Black or Red, much less white.

The Black Robe watches to see what they are doing and will try to fly above them if possible

There seems to be one that is meaner looker and has a bit fancier robes than the others.

You are able to fly above them and it does not look like they detect you.

Seeing the dwarves before him and recognizing that these are renegades he begins to chant
Sdwe ferar glesr drswt as he attempts to enthrall the leader of the dwarves, trying to bend him to his will, using the Staff of Magius to extend his dominate person spell.

DC 23 Will save due to the position of Nuitari

Will save 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

The head dwarf attempts to fight off the domination spell but the magic of the moons is too powerful for him.

He stands at attention, ready for orders as the other two dwarves look around confused.

The Renegade hunter smiles confident in the power of his magic and that Nuitari is with him,

The Black Robe will force the dwarf, in dwarven to communicate
We should not be here. We need to submit to the Orders of High Sorcery and take the Test of High Sorcery. Only then will true power be ours. We have desecrated this place, dedicated to High Sorcery. We must depart from her as quickly as possible,

The Black Robe will force the head dwarf to recount what they are going here, as a reminder to the other dwarves and so that he can find out what they are doing here

The 2 other dwarves look at their mentor in surprise.

The dwarf recounts their mission and purpose here.

The Master of the Renegade Hunters listens to what the dark dwarf, a Theiwar is able to communicate.

A plan begins to form in his mind.

You may post OOC discussions and questions here.

Mithas, elves in Krynn get bot low light and darkvision, it is called elven sight.

Alathea, I think that Zivilyn is male. He is "married" to Chiselv, goddess of nature and animals.

dotting.

What does dotting do?

ah, nothing else than just finding it easier from Play by post section. When you post something in the thread, the thread will be marked with dot after its name-> indicates that you have been there, written.

It is made just for easier navigation

Uggh, I hate Coryn.

I am having a lot of fun so far in this game!!

High God, so I feel favored by the White Moon for the feat right now? It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the Test or even after.

One more question before I have to teach:
Does Magius give a benefit to magic like it did in 3.5?

I kinda see Terevalis like Thandruril.

Guys, I am not sure how this will develop but Jor for sure is going to help Nerakas. From his personal point-of-view and to his best interestes (Interest of Brass Tiger Company) Jor does not want to ruin the ANY chances to get connections and possible jobs for the mercenary company.

Also what just happened is just pure suicide no matter how he wanted to justify it.

Well, off to sleep so for the next 8h. ciao

Well then folks, I might as list some of my gaming house rules that I will be using in this game.

Hero Points

I use a scaled down version of Hero Points in my game. Every PC gets 1 hero point per level but you may not hold more than 3 hero points at once. This is there to make sure you spend them and don't horde them for later. Other than leveling I reward hero points for a major achievement (Either player or quest achievement). Hero points can be used for the following:

A. A hero point may be spent to re-roll a d20 roll. You must use the 2nd result even if it is worse.

B. You can spend a hero point after a roll to add a +4 bonus to the result of the roll. This is done after the roll but before the GM reveals the result.

C. You can spend a hero point as a standard action to remove a temporary negative level or 2 points of stat damage. (I use this as there is not an abundance of high-level divine casters in Dragonlance that can remove crippling conditions and PC's can often not afford such spells at lower levels easily.)

2 Hero points can be used for a "Miracle". This can do one of the following.

A. If your character is killed (by a death effect or negative HP), you can spend 2 hero points to survive but just barely. Your PC's hit points is put at the threshold of death but the character is stabilized.

B. Treat a die roll as though you rolled a 20. This can be used after the result of the roll is revealed. This does not generate a critical hit if used on an attack roll.

C. Rechange 1 slot of any level of a spell and/or class ability of any level. This does not take an action.

D. Remove a permanent negative level from your character or 2 temporary negative levels or recover 4 damaged attributes. This takes a standard action.

Natural 20 Rules

I tend to give more to PC's when they roll a natural 20 on the dice. These rules are as follows.

1. Rolling a Natural 20 on a skill check adds a +5 untyped bonus to the check. So if you had a +5 in a skill and rolled a natural 20 on a skill check, this counts as a 30.

2. Rolling a Natural 20 on an initiative check means a character reacts quickly to the situation. They get a surprise round action. If they already are surprising an enemy they get a full round action in their surprise round.

3. Rolling a natural 20 on a saving throw versus spells functions like you have Evasion (or similar ability). This does not function however if you need to roll a natural 20 to succeed.

I am thinking of incorporating a house rule for Bards in Dragonlance. As Arcane Bards use Sorcery for their spells, this limits certain races to taking the Bard Class. In the Silvanesti and Qualenesti society only certain members of certain houses are allowed to practice wizardry and sorcery is almost unheard of and highly disapproved of. Still the Silvanesti and Qualenesti have their own share of skilled minstrels, poets and entertainers. So to get around this problem I am proposing that bards can also get their powers from a divine patron as well. I found rules for a variant bard type for 3.5 which would probably more accurately represent bards of the races where Arcane Magic is more restrictive.

Divine Bard

Not all bards are arcanists; some derive their special powers from a divine tradition.

Class Features
The divine bard has all the standard bard class features, except as noted below.

Spellcasting

A divine bard learns and casts spells as a normal bard, with some minor exceptions. A divine bard's spells are divine spells, not arcane spells.

To learn or cast a spell, a divine bard must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. Spellcasting factors determined using the divine bard's Charisma score.

Divine bards must chose a deity that grants them power (Typically Branchala, Gilean, Hiddukel or Sirrion) and cannot cast spells that are opposed to their alignment. Thus, divine bards cannot cast lawful spells (since bards can't be lawful). Neutral divine bards can't cast any spells associated with an alignment.

Add the following spells to the divine bard's class spell list: 0—create water, cure minor wounds; 1st—detect evil/good/law, protection from evil/good/law; 2nd—consecrate, desecrate, gentle repose; 3rd—magic circle against evil/good/law, prayer; 4th—remove disease, speak with dead, sending; 5th—divination, restoration; 6th—commune, hallow, unhallow, raise dead.

As divine bards draw power from a God rather than arcane power they can use healing spells without the normal restrictions.

Almost forgot headsup information

I will be unavailable starting tomorrow (Thursday evening) till Sunday evening. Have to get on trip with my girlfriend, ... huoh, so the games need to be put aside for a while.

What an unfortunate event :)

Ok well it seems we'll be missing Jor Majere until Sunday Evening. As you can see I am leading all of you toward the inn. Most groups are able to talk down the elf and/or the bandits before resorting to combat but as conflict ensued the elf mcguffin had to be altered somewhat. Due to the fight the elf was forced to flee and certain side tasks have been resolved out of order. We'll need Jor to come back before we can proceed with the main plot. Still to keep PC's occupied I will throw a random encounter at every PC (Except Jor) to hopefully give characters some things to do in the meantime. Jor already established he was going to the Five Dragon Inn so I can place him there at the correct time to meet the rest of you.

Sounds like a plan.

SCA weekend, no posting till sunday.

I am back! Thank you for being patient. The game can resume now :)

It is Pa]shin and not Passion in pronunciation correct?

Pa-sheen is the proper pronunciation if you're looking for a better way of saying it.

Sorry double post.

Arabian correct?

Indeed Khur is pretty much Medieval Saudi Arabia. Its a desert country and the people are brown skinned arabs.

Question: Say the Test indicates Robes other than White would the Favored of the Moons feat change to match that moon? I am assuming right now that it is Solinari.

Indeed your moon would change to the robe that you change to I'ed say. After all, Raistlin changed robes and with it the power he drew from the moons also changed. Although if for some reason you end up going Red or Black in the test, you'll be in DEEP trouble with the elves as in Silvanesti society only White Robes are accepted. Red and Black robed elves are marked as "Dark Elves" and exiled.

An exile from a land that is no longer theirs.

When do you want me to start working on his background?

Whenever you wish Terevalis, there is no big rush to get a background done for your character. Heck you could keep it secret and interject details when it is relevant if you wish.

Ok folks, I won't be able to make a lot of posts until Monday the 18th of May. I have a flurry of work to get done and during the weekend I will be attending a Gaming Convention. The entire weekend I will be running and/or playing games. I have too much to do this weekend to post things for this game. However on Monday I should be able to get the game back on track. Hopefully that is ok.

No worries enjoy the Con!

No problemo amigo! Take all the time you need.

It is good to know that the game will not die since that is the biggest issue with PbP games

Gabriel, what Order of Knight are you looking to advance into?

I need to read up on them again. I'm a knight of the crown now and will advance as a knight of the sword and if voted in a knight of the rose down the road. As far as the game goes will just be a Hospitaller Paladin.

That is cool. Most of the other games I have played in have never had Rose knights. Most preferred the Sword and then the Crown.

The chronicle does give leyway for Knights to move up the orders. There is listed points of promotion during the game to accomodate all classes with special requirements. by the way I am back!

Hooray!

This is a dumb question but how would Terevalis become a member of the Conclave after he takes the Test and earns his robes?

Well as I have said before, there are wizard testing grounds being set up all over the continent. Once you pass the test it is assumed that word will be sent to the Tower of Wayreth of your passing of the test thus making you a full member of the Towers of High Sorcery. As for moving up to a leadership type position, that is beyond the scope of the campaign. But you're free to narrate it if you survive the final book and have an Epilogue.

Hooray! Maybe he will vye for a Tower! Or a secret bastion :)

Guys I'm away at SCA event this weekend. I will try and keep up tonight be we need to pack and take care of getting the dogs ready for our friends to come check on. I will be gone till sunday night. So no posting till then. Figures when we start combat.

This battle scene is crazy! :-)

It appears this combat is a cluster with posts getting out of hand. It appears we'll have to change combat tactics in future fights to avoid this kind of confusion. Perhaps you can come up with suggestions of how to run a fight without people pre-posting their actions and then those actions get disrupted by people who act before them in the initiative.

Maybe putting Round at the top.

I would also say Round at the top.

I guess we should also post in initiative order... but I know how long it will take /slow it will go forward. Not sure what to do with that then.

In initative order is not good cuz not everyone posts. I think maybe we put our iniative order after the round like this:

ROUND 5 INIATIVE 5

This is what I do this round and this is what I say this round.

Ok. I did not mean crazy bad I meant just chaotic, good feel to it ;-)

OK here is what I'll do next time with this. I will post the round of combat we are on and then everyone is free to post what they do on their initiative. I will respond and adjust accordingly depending on what your opposition does. We will not proceed to next round until everyone has posted. However in the interest of speed I reserve the right to NPC your character if your actions are not posted in a timely manor just so we don't have days of inactivity when one person can't post their activities.

Leveled up but waiting for treasure to finish posting.

He learned Mount and Snowball. Learned Solamnic, +1 skills to his spellcreaft knowledges and learned about nobility.

I just got my copy of Cohorts and Companions and saw that there is a wizard archetype that gives you an apprentice at 1st level, which I think is just crazy.

Yea you won't get an Apprentice at level 1. Still remember that you don't need the Leadership Feat to actually have someone travel with you. It just means that they're not under your control and will have to be kept in line through Roleplaying.