GM Infinity: Iron Gods [Chapter 1 Completed!] (Inactive)

Game Master mishima

Well, my stay at WVUT was great. Very nice. I was going for electrical engineering, but Civil and Mechanical are more up my alley. Definitely going to the school, but going to community for two before going. They seemed very enthusiastic for me going that route surprisingly. Very good school.

Actually that doesn't surprise me. Allows you to knock out some of the prereqs and general studies requirements before coming to them to finish the meat of the degree. And congrats!

If I had to do it again, I'd go EE. Incredibly fascinating subject, including the practical use of imaginary numbers as tools for design. It would be hard for me to find a job that I was very interested in going mechanical or civil. The former mostly work in industrial technology, the latter local government institutions.

I'm not a fan of the community college route. Advisors and high school counselors are pushing it these days because it means more to report on their state tracked statistics, which leads to greater funding for themselves. The whole "you'll save so much money coming to us first" is a sales pitch period. I think it would be better to go to a real college from the start, get a solid foundation from professors instead of people no more qualified than your average high school teacher. Plus the resources and experiences they offer...well, just my opinion.

I made lot of mistakes with college. I moved around a lot due to a family emergency, attended three schools, and then graduated from the one I started with. GI Bill paid for it all and then some though.

I really wish the British Military had something similar then I would not have all these loans :p

Reminder I have one last 1 week grad class starting Monday. Unsure if it will be like last time with someone breathing down my neck all day or not.

Incidently given that Shock is likely to be one of our preferred weapon enhancements we might all want to check out this feat Energy Mastery

All of the item mastery feats are pretty interesting and let martial characters have some more variety in play, and while they are IMO not broken they are a strong choice.

Hmm, wonder what the cl would be.

All Item Mastery feats use your base attack bonus as the caster level for the effects they produce.

Ah I see, yeah, I guess since they have to come from constant effect or daily items its not a big deal. Burning hands maxes out at 5d4...hmm...*compiles list of applicable items*

Heh, so a little campfire bead for 360gp or 720 would give a 4th fighter a 4d4 burning hands with DC 12+con mod...as a SLA that cant be counterspelled or AoO'ed. Nifty *looks for cheaper*

But you can expend 2 uses for Lightening Bolt, so it ought to be viable for pretty much all AP levels, and it does not need to be one item so you could spend some of your uses on another energy type suited to the situation which is pretty nifty.

Thoughts on the Scroll of Ressurection, it has a very high resale value, none of us can really use it; But it would seem rude to sell it, and if we had to get it done without the scroll we would need to pay the full 10000gp diamond cost. I am probably leaning towards keeping it, perhaps reconsidering if we arrive at another location where we might sell it depending upon how cash strapped we are feeling. On the other hand its possible the gp we got from selling it could purchase items that potentially prevent death/s. Thoughts?

Resale value 6137.5gp

Interesting ability, though Zael doesn't qualify (and won't for some time, given the Use Magic Device and Fort requirements). And I am for keeping the scroll, especially given I have a real knack for nearly dying from time to time.

I am leaning that way, but the fact that we could in theory each buy ourselves an Aegis of Recovery if we sold it - probably saving at least one life providing a useful ongoing effect and almost certainly helping hugely in tight situations makes a tempting counter.

The Aegis would likely save your life and let you remain in the fight possibly saving other lives, etc. But of course we might not be able to pick one up, and almost certainly not 4.

Torch's purchase limit for its settlement size is 5k, fyi. Half of what it would be otherwise because of Technic League taxation.

I definitely think it would be rude to sell it in Torch, but after thinking about it its obvious what Tarkov would want to do with it. Having to tell that girl her fiance was dead would have had a big effect on him, and the ensuing gift which he was both very enthused about, and would have felt guilty about, would have left him very well disposed towards the family... I think ressurection would work on Gellam, Vege Pygmys are not undead, and no death effect took place, etc. Do I have that name right, and if so, did I accidentally steal it for a certain porridge eating Guard in Giantslayer?

Hehe, Gerrol Sonder. Baine just mentioned him to Zael. Yeah, vegepygmies are like parasites that burst out of a corpse, not a reanimation, etc. Let me check but I think res can handle it...

edit: oh hell yeah, totally possible

Gah, I am so bad with names, keep forgetting Jorams kept referring to him as Priest, etc., - and just found out IRL I have been calling a bloke Brian for two years whose name is Terry... Mortifying!

I called a student Elizabeth for 1 year whose actual name was Kate...

LOL, not really related, but one of my favourite anecdotes...

I once spent three nights in military jail for pulling a face after Princess Ann kissed me. I was in the Royal Signals and leading the drill display team, and the kiss, on the cheek, took my entirely by surprise and when she moved on and my Sgt Major moved up to see my less than enthusiastic reaction.

I also accidentally called Charlie Sheen Emilio, accidently, in Vegas and he spat on my ex-brother in law who later sold the shirt on ebay. That being 2006?

Lost your bearing, eh? Anyone who makes Sgt. Maj. is bound to be a zealot without personality.

Lost your bearing, eh? Anyone who makes Sgt. Maj. is bound to be a zealot without personality.

Its practically a job requirement ;)

Heh. Not being completely up to snuff with my British royalty, who is Princess Anne and why did she kiss you specifically? Were you getting a citation or award?

She is the Queens only daughter, and also the titular head of The Royal Corps of Signals. It was a drill display in her honor during an inspection of the Royal Signals training school and as a Lance Corporal I was leading the central drill block of a large scale drill display, about 1500 soldiers, had to do an extra hour of drill training after work each night for 6 months and literally paint the grass green before her arrival.

She is a very keen equestrian and, well, a trifle horse faced. After the drill they typically do a sort of walk along the front rank and give a cursory inspection of your uniform and exchange a few pleasantries. I got sort of singled out because I was leading the central square.

I do have a lot of medals, but mostly largely undeserved - I was a Systems Engineering Technician basically fixing and installing comma, so my tour in Iraq lasted only 2 months and was spent entirely inside a telephone exchange for example. Mostly I dealt with Video Conferencing and Cryptography.

Lance Criminals :)

Is that an instruction? Because they are boils on the buttock of society? ;)

Heh, VTC equipment, the former bane of my existence. Very cool though, thank you for sharing. Current AD myself, though I don't really want to get into that further though given the nature of forums. Besides, for me it is my job not my identity.

On a more gameplay related note, felt I should explain Zael's decision a bit more given his alignment.

While Zael is, internally, loathe to let such a large boon go, he also realizes that none of them (certainly not him) can cast it. And he also sees that Tarkov is pretty adamant about using it this way... Tarkov has saved Zael twice now (three times if you count the fact that he was the one that cut his bonds when y'all first found him) and has proven to be a somewhat reliable ally. So why deny him something that really doesn't cost him much to give when the potential to gain more in the future is on the line?

LOL, well its been well over a decade since I was in the military or doing that kind of work, and I agree very much that a job should not define you. AD?

Krahs internal struggles mirror the dice. I'm thinking of having him taken a dip in fighter, as if he's taken to some formal training. Probably pick up power attack with another feat I've been excited to have him get.

Okay, so there were 5 previous expeditions, we have found the 2nd Thugs, the 1st Halfling, and 2 of the 5th. Did we find any more I have forgotten? Do we know who who else went down with Baine, and anything about the 3rd and 4th?

1: Halflings
2: Thugs/Zael
3: Baine & Co, made it just inside wall, found robot, brought it back
4: Group of Brigh worshippers from outside of town, status unknown. Mentioned to party at some point I don't remember.
5: Baine & Co, made it to medical lab. Miscellaneous parts of others transplanted onto Baine by mad-doctor robots. Baine lobotomized, infected with nanites. Found. Records showed others deceased. But, Gerrol somehow escaped during Baine's final fight and made it back to the mold infestation in the cave.
6: PCs

The council's call for help went out to a wide area of Numeria, and even beyond via the Pathfinders.

Also during expedition 3 Baine and Co killed the king of the skulks and as many others as they could find. The 4 still around and 'pet' somehow evaded them.

Here's kind of a timeline you could certainly piece together IC at this point, as measured from beginning of gameplay.

-12 days: Purple-haired lady makes appearance in Torch.
-8: Torch extinguishes, tracks found near Weeping Pond by Baine.
-7: Halflings enter and are killed instantly by vermin.
-6: Thugs/Zael enter and are killed/presumed dead by skulks. Bodies given to pet.
-5: Baine enters, slaughters all skulks
-4: Brigh worshippers go for it. Unknown fate.
-2: Baine goes back again.
0: PCs go for it.

Parda was also on Zael's expedition, and was very popular in town. I think Tarkov identified her IC. Some might question why she didn't get the resurrection.

What would Zael know about Parda from being on the team with her? Anything dark that he could basically use as a trump card?

Well, you remember during the initial skulk attack she ran away, leaving you and the other thugs alone. From where she was found, the skulks apparently tracked her down and killed her. Many called her friend, and everyone said that failing in with those thugs would be her downfall. That's basically everything the AP provides. Something else you had in mind? Open to anything.

Not sure on specifics, but something that would make it so that the townsfolk would cease to love her quite as much... something that would make them not mind the other guy coming back to life from our incredibly rare resurrection magic instead. I don't know, something like she had been a liquid dealer for some time in secret, or was in reality a worshiper of Zon-Kuthon... some reason why her being a member of the 2nd expedition was less tragic and more reasonable. Basically, some truth that would settle any debate as to who was more worthy of the scroll's usage.

There was an item I threw into the loot list that was part of your pile, a feather token, tree. I was vaguely thinking it could be used to burst a hole in the ceiling to change the path down from a swim check into a climb check. Perhaps the thugs had her commit murder, as a right of passage kind of thing, and that token was the spoils.

Didn't know Prada, but saw Gerrol's fiance cry, feel free to use your 10000gp+ scroll of resurrection on her though ;)

Go ahead and use it Gerrol. I think that is nice.

Krah will definitely be looking to help Doric get out of that contract. It's starting to seem to Krah that maybe it's time for Torch to get out from under the thumb of a thug. I'm glad Zael is seeing thing the same way, in his own way.

Zael, once he decides that something is a necessary goal, doesn't typically relent easily. He views the Garmen as a threat after his targeting of Tessara, and isn't happy that he was trying to get them to secretly get narcotics for him without explaining the risks to Tarkov. What better way to dispose of this blight than to blow it up with the very thing he asked for?

I'd just like to state that we have not played with the immovable rod yet.

True and we really should. I was thinking about using it to try to get up to that window in the big desert room, but could not quite come up with a workable method.

Hehe, I was going to mention it the other day. They should make something like 'lodge sunrod' equipment trick for it. ;)

I was thinking Zael could use it to reach the roof of the Silverdisk Hall... plant extra explosives there to ensure that he brings the house down.

If only we could have gotten jet packs!

You may already have. You never opened the lock box.