Eloden's Throne of Night

Game Master Eloden

This is a place to discuss character concepts, ask what you might know before we start and discuss everything that doesn't belong in the gameplay thread.

Hello! I am the friend that Mazzoli referenced in his original reddit post. I've already had it cleared with Eloden to be a human-heritage Aasimar Dual-cursed Lore Oracle.

I have a little bit more work to do with the character, but wanted to go ahead and post on here so we can keep from overlapping roles. I will get something more posted later today or tonight. And a good avatar.

Heyp, I'm Daemir from Elo's game he runs for our group of dimwits through Skype.

My character is on the first idea steps currently, but I was thinking of making a dwarven wizzie (transmuter) or perhaps a dwarven sorcerer with deep earth bloodline. It's totally my first ride in a play by post, as Elo's other game is my first tabletop overall, apologies in advance if the play is not tip top polished :)

Hey all. The idea I'm floating around right now is a kind of hippie dwarf inquisitor of Cayden Cailean. He likes beer and the right to wave his freak flag high, and is mildly claustrophobic. He's putting aside his fears and getting on with this ridiculous underground quest because he knows that if anybody is going to be crazy enough to attempt something like this they're going to need the best booze around. He became an inquisitor because it really gets his hackles up when you try to harsh his mellow, dude.

Let me know if that sounds good Elo!

Yeah that sounds fine, but you should find a reason why you were entrusted to join with the others. Is this a sanctioned and supported "holy quest" where you are representatives of the dwarven kingdoms or are you just four guys that heard of the rumors and wanted to get some fame and glory?
While it is not necessary all of you can think who might be the leader of the group. Is he the heir to the dwarven throne reclaiming his homeland or maybe the human/aasimir financial backer that hired dwarves to find new trade routes etc...

Feel free to discuss this here with the others. Makes more sense to find out if you have known each other for years or just put together.

Good gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to K. Azure VII.

First-born son of the main house of the Azure Family, it was clear from an early age that “K.” was different. You would err if you believed that the difference was his crystalline amber eyes, immaculate skin, or platinum hair brought on by celestial blood (though the manifestation of an Aasimar went a long way in explaining why K. Azure III did not look like his father, Rior Azure (having taken the name of his wife). His mother of course being the famed K. Azure II). Nay would it even be that as a yearling he could be seen playing with that which only he could see. Nor even that toys (and the many snubbed porridges) had a tendency to always fall quite far from a boy that shouldn’t be able to throw a block a foot away. Alas, I must say that what made him different was his persnickety, pompous attitude.

You see, he was speaking complete sentences when he was a year old. By age two he was reciting poetry (not well). Age three was when he learned to sing (morbidly out of tune) the great epics. And by age 6 he knew more than many adults, making him wholly intolerable.

This all led him to be a conceited know-it-all (a dick) in his teenage years. With a simple, likeable nature to him, he would always wrangle his lessers (as he saw it, everyone was his lesser) into doing all sorts of ill for promises of glory, fortune telling, or whatever could come to mind. Of course he was above doing anything for these lowly peasants, so he always broke his word (though protected by somehow fooling the poor fellows).

It was well known that the young heir of the Azure Trade Conglomerate was an oracle, favored (or cursed) by the gods. So it became a salacious event when he became extremely sick for eighty-six days. And when he was finally seen in public again, he struck a new pose.

No more overt manipulation, no more cheating, no more, well, any spoiled brat attitude. Instead, K. Azure VII went out and with his bare hands began helping people. When his hands failed, he tapped into his family’s vast fortune to augment his good deeds.

With natural born charisma, the fame of the main branch family, and his actions, he quickly sky-rocketed to from notoriety to fame (However, it is in the opinion of this lowly servent that it is all a lie. A grand bluff or scheme on the part of K. Azure VII. His ability to machinate gambits is not in doubt in my mind). But it wasn’t enough. To take up his time, he used his impeccable memory to study the great epics, the poems, the songs, all of the arts, including that of the near nonexistent former Dwarven Empire (His lack of ability to perform any of these never once changed).

It could be another twist of fate, or curse of the gods, but with the great knowledge that came so easily to him, K. Azure VII became bored. This developed into a chronic, nearly debilitating condition. Through the following years, he would do nigh on anything to entertain himself. It should be noted, however, that he never once reverted to his spoiled attitude.

And then it was in his 25th year of life that he heard rumors of another Dwarven expedition to reclaim their lost glory. With a twinkle in his eyes and a half concealed grin my master, K. Azure VII, began making preparations.

Now that that is out of the way, how should we start this? I am a bit unclear with the prompt in the PbP thread. Should we already have all of our gear prepped, or are we getting it at this last checkpoint?

That depends on how you decide you know each other but I was assuming that you have your gear and are just reminiscing that this might be the last time you see daylight. So I thought you are at the cave. But just wait a sec till the others chime in and when you have your char sheet ready I will let you do a couple rolls to see what else you might know that might help you on your quest.

Well, since no one else is chiming in, I say we already have everything prepped.

I have 900 starting gold, so if anyone needs something special, go ahead and post it here.

From an early age it was clear that Magar was very, very nearly a paragon of dwarfkind. Dwarfhood? Dwarfdom? Whatever. A discerning boozehound from an age when most were just learning that a teat isn't the only thing to drink from, and possessed of a magnificent beard, an ugly face, a gruff no-nonsense attitude and an exquisitely low center of gravity, the only thing ruining the effect is a little case of claustrophobia.

This affliction was discovered during Magar's introduction to the earth, a tradition among his dwarven community of taking a young dwarf on a camping trip to a nearby cave. Bobbling along toward the cave holding a mug of stout, he made it only a few steps inside before dropping the stein and running out with tears streaming down his face. Everyone involved could see that something was amiss, for they all knew young Magar would never waste beer for anything less than life threatening.

Upon reaching his majority, Magar decided to devote himself to his favored god, Cayden Cailean, because he "just seemed like someone who it would be great to have a brewski with". The priests of the order soon determined that his demeanor was not cut out for a cleric's vestments and so they channeled his youthful energy into rooting out those who would go against the wishes of Cayden Cailean's order. In other words, buzzkills.

And so it came to pass that Magar spent his time learning both the fine art of bashing people with a blunt object and to grow more in harmony with the ethanol-based message of Cayden Cailean. It was no surprise to those watching that he was granted the blessing of magic by his chosen deity, just as it was no surprise that he then left on a quest to find the secrets of the ancient dwarven brewmasters.

This quest was mostly unsuccessful until a chance meeting with one K. Azure VII. An unlikely pair, K.'s resources helped Magar track down enough information to recreate the old dwarven brewing techniques, leading to a bit of celebrity among the various dwarf communities.

Though he was happy with the results, he was still dissatisfied with not getting everything perfectly as it used to be. With this at the forefront of his mind, he jumped at the chance to join an expedition to the old dwarven homelands despite his particular misgivings about caves and being underground and everything, especially when he heard his friend K. was among the party. Besides, obviously anybody crazy enough to do something like that is going to need a steady supply of alcohol.

Sounds great!

Daemir should post his idea soon, have been in contact with him and I wrote the other player again to see if was still interested. So lets hope we can get this rolling soon

Hello! Sorry I'm late to the party, I will get the character done and post it as soon as possible. Can't wait to get this started!

The dwarven line of Earth-Speaker clan (honorary name bestowed to them by the 4th king of Dammerhall) had held the prestigeous position of Head Foreman of the Mines for centuries before city's destruction. Known for their magical affinity to earth, no king could hope for more suitable dwarves to find more riches from the depths of the earth.

Owyn's father's father was the Head Foreman that day, when black flame laid the city to ruin. Fortunately for the Earth-Speaker clan, his son Odhran was away from the city with a trade caravan. His grief was great when the news hit him, hundreds of miles from home.

Grief-stricken and at a loss, Odhran lived the rest of his days in a human settlement, mining ore under the hire of a human foreman, Eventually finding a family of his own with a dwarf woman who also lived among humans. Their only child, son named Owyn, was born to them over a century later.

Owyn was a rare talent, even in the Earth-Speaker clan, for his bonds with earth and stone and rock went beyond but what a few other dwarves known in tales to Odhran. Passing along all the stories and dwarf-lore as well as their family heritage of earth knowledge, Odhran sought to grow his son to perhaps do what he never had the strength to; reclaim, or at least find out what happened to Dammerhall and restore their family's position of Head Foreman of the Mines.

Now, nearly 200 years later of the tragic events of Dammerhall, Owyn who is nearing his 50th birthday, prepares to leave home and hearth. A young dwarf of extreme inner strength, calm and deliberate demeanor and a family name that still commands respect from any dwarf who has heard of Dammerhall, he has found information of an expedition heading down underground to find a way into Dammerhall. Deciding it must be destiny that is edging him forward, Owyn leaves home to join the expedition.

I will post some information (Kn. rolls) that your character might know when I have your sheets.(Just the stats, skills and such is fine. We can do the inventory after you have done the skill rolls).

This is how I plan to do Combat
I will usually roll initiative and then make a list to hopefully help you understand who is next.
I will do the block system so first whoever beats the enemies, then the enemies and then all the others. It will look something like this

Round 1
Initiative Order - Wizard, rogue, zombies, fighter, cleric, ranger
Zombie AC 12 T 12 FF 10

So in round one the wizard and rogue post their actions first in whatever order. (90% of the time it doesn't matter and I'll make it work if it does). I include the Stats of the monster(s) you are fighting to allow you to write out your attack and include whatever flavor you like. There may be times I hide the stats for various reasons. Please try your best to not meta-game.

Enemy attacks will look something like this.

The zombies shamble forwards swiping at the rogue
Attack Zombie #4 : 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Claw damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

I'll indicate if I think it hits. As always feel free to correct me if I have overlooked something, like you had cast shield spell so your AC is higher, or you had sickened that rat so it had a -2 or whatever. I make mistakes so don't feel afraid to point out something I missed.

Example after the zombies go and the cleric has used his turn
Round 1
Initiative Order - Wizard, rogue, zombies, fighter, cleric, ranger
Zombie AC 12 T 12 FF 10

After the zombies all go, then it is the party's turn again and everyone remaining including the round two people can post again. If there is reason to wait but you want to post your action as you might be gone, feel free to post and include it in a spoiler. If your action depends on someone before you, post both action in separate spoilers contingent on what other have done. (Like I attack zombie #4 unless the fighter kills it then I acrobatics to avoid an AoO and flank zombie #3)

There will be a Map that I will try to keep updated in my dropbox folder. I will put the link in my post or in a spoiler in my description.

Spoiler Tags

I will usually have spoiler tags with my name similar to these

These usually have rolls in the background for things the npcs might do, initiative rolls, saving throws, etc and I will use them to keep my posts clean. You can look into them afterwards or if you are sure you won't metagame whenever you like :)

Knowledge Checks
Knowledge checks and conversations/script in different languages will also be in spoiler tags.

For example:

Tzzarghgh yzzfrr rekksp!

This are checks in combat so you can always take time later to find out more. So someone who rolled a 12 on their Nature check can open the first spoiler. If you roll 15 or higher you can open both.
People who have arcana can open that spoiler but of course not the others, no matter how high the roll was.

Perhaps we should use some of the 900 gold to get some generally useful potions with us, like say antidotes.

Sorry for the late post, here is my character: Beulen, the barbarian Dwarf

Beulen kept falling on some rough times. He was friendly and reliable enough, but he had a temper. A few pints of ale in him, and a conversation about goblins, and he would go from expressing distaste to accusing anyone who disagreed with him of being a goblin lover. And he would drive the point home. Usually with his fists. Finding a steady job tended to be a problem. Finding a place to call home doubly so. As a dwarf livening in full human integration, he never really felt like he belonged. Constantly getting in trouble and having to move did not help either.

A friendly disposition does not count as much if you keep finding yourself in fights. So one tries to find a job that encourages that sort of behaviour. If the job involves moving around, well, to someone who has not found a place to call home, that’s a bonus. That’s how Beulen ended up as a caravan guard.

One learns a few things working as a caravan guard. One is that you get paid to punch first and ask questions later. Patrons usually prefer that kind of disposition to strangers who show the slightest interest in their cargo. You do that enough times, and you start getting better at it. Another thing one learns is to keep an ear on the ground. Beulen liked to hear and share stories, and you would hear the best ones on the road, from the mouths of travellers, caravan guards, and merchants. But the best stories always came from the adventurers.

It was this way that Beulen heard of the expedition to reclaim Dammerhall. Every self-respecting Dwarf had heard the stories, but it had been a long time since talk of reclaiming it had been spoken. It was as if a fog had lifted from his eyes. This was it. This was his purpose. To prove he was a worthy Dwarf, to fight with a purpose, to make his people proud once more.

Here is some information that your character might know. This might help you decide what else you might want to take with you.
If you have other questions go ahead an ask or roll and I will tell you what you might know.

I would appreciate it if you put you stats underneath your name similar to what Owyn did. To do that you need to go to the profile of your alias and insert the text in the field Classes/Levels. You can click on his profile to see how it works. This way I don't have to look up the most used stats each time I need them. If you think they distract you, it is also possible to put them into a spoiler tag.

Once everybody has said Hello in the Gameplay thread and I get K.'s Char sheet I'll move us along.

Wait so, am I doing this right now, if I wanna read that dungeoneering spoiler, I'll first have to do a roll here and see if I'm qualified, right?

Kn:Dungeoneering: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

and in my true roll fashion, it's below a 5 roll :D

That is correct and that is a sad first roll of the game :D

All right, stats in the name. Still need to roll for HP, so let's hope I have better luck than Owyn!

HP: 1d12 ⇒ 11

Great roll!
But I forgot to say that first level is max HP roll. You are all flimsy enough. So you get an extra HP! :D

Thanks for the stats and go ahead and head over to the gameplay tab!

Will do! What about equipment? Do we already start with some, or will we purchase before the expedition?

You start with your avg. starting wealth (in your case 105gp) and we are assuming that you have already purchased equipment. So go ahead and do that. I just thought that maybe some of the information in the knowledge checks might influence what you will want to take with you. So lets see if one of the other two can find out something that might help and if not then we will just start because you are already about a days ride (2 days by foot from the nearest settlement standing in front of the cave.

Craft (brewing): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Knowledge (Dungeoneering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Knowledge (Nature): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

What is Knowledge (Survival)? Is that just the skill "Survival?"

Yes it is, my mistake! And you try to do it untrained!

Surivival: 1d20 ⇒ 18

Woo!

Survival: 1d20 ⇒ 13

i'll get better at rolling, I hope.

Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Sorry, been a bit under the weather lately, I will post as soon as possible!

As have I. Also, been waiting on others to post before I do, in case others were waiting on me.

I'm starting a new job tomorrow while I phase out my old one. It shouldn't really affect my posting over the next week or two, but if I'm a bit slow it's because I'll be working a lot over that period. Just to let you guys know what's going on.

Late as usual, I am working up my inventory sheet. Assuming everyone's character is willing to help carry stuff, what is everyone's available weight ? And any supply requests?

I'm already past my light load, but I'm a dwarf so all it does it give me armor check penalties.