GM Peachbottom's Curse of the Crimson Throne (Inactive)

Game Master Peachbottom

Sounds good

I should probably figure out how much gold I've spent on roleplaying in the last couple of posts.

The toys - the sword probably cost about 5 gp (one third the price of a longsword), the rosary might be 50 gp. The new duds - Mwk studded leather armor should be 175 gp. The rest of the outfit might be 75 gp (as noble outfit). The expensive dinner at the Crested Falcon probably ran 25 gp (two and a half times the rate of a banquet meal). And the round of drinks shouldn't be more than 1 gp. So that should come out to 331 golden sails down the drain.

Well shoot, I forgot to shop! If I still can, I'll purchase
MW Sling (306 gp)
10 Sling bullets (1 sp)

Yes, you can still finalize any purchases you want to do.

Sebastian, go ahead and deduct that money listed above but don't worry too much about activities like meals and such. I'm not going to make you keep track of that.

Thanks. As for the decision between feats, I'll stick with Nonlethal Force since you're fine with it either way.

I've also discovered that there was errata for the ACG in which they removed the ability to reduce the panache cost of Opportune Parry and Riposte with the Signature Deed feat, so the Combat Reflexes feat is mostly worthless for Sebastian. Even before that, he probably took that feat way too early. If possible, I'd like to retrain that feat during the two months of downtime; I'm willing to pay the (5 days to train x level 4 x 10 gp) = 200 gp cost. If allowed, I'll retrain Combat Reflexes to Nonlethal Force with Orisini and take a different level 4 feat.

Go ahead and switch the feat. You don't need to pay the retrain cost. I'm not going to be a stickler like that. I want you to enjoy your characters.

Thanks! I'll take Combat Expertise so that I'll be able to take Improved Disarm (or maybe Dirty Trick) later on.

While Chapter One had some dark and creepy elements (child slave labor, cannibal butchers, a drug dealer's ship full of spiders, and a necromancer's lair) it was really just the introduction. Chapters Two and Three are where the city really falls into depravity. I hope I can do them justice. I feel like I could have done Chapter One even better but I'm probably just being overly critical.

You're simply being overly critical of yourself. I know I personally had some spotty areas where posting was not regular, and that limits a lot of what can be done; a lot of tone and mood depends on players responding and sustaining it. Then there were things like the cows and pigs...

Aside from that, having a somewhat lighter first part can be good to ease into things, after PCs have developed some sense of the city they're living in. The little custom things can do a lot to enhance the atmosphere. Having re-read some of the earlier stuff, I really liked the scene with the gang beating the man in the street outside Zellara's house. We've learned that straight-up dungeon-crawling can be difficult with this format, but simple combats seem to work just fine. I also wouldn't have any issue with supposed-to-lose combats; I trust you at the wheel to make a good story out of it instead of just needlessly draining party resources.

If you're okay with it, I'm willing to start throwing in more sensory detail in my posts - sights, sounds, smells, things like that. Player buy-in and complicity makes horror a lot easier to evoke. I did like that you rolled in secret for things like disease (filth fever and the like). Looking back on it, I wish I had played up the sickly feeling of having 3 Con drain throughout the dungeon.

I'm really looking forward to seeing if the Zon-Kuthon angle becomes a more prevalent component of Ayako's character. It's a shame we lost Col; I felt like he and Sebastian were starting to get somewhere. But I'm glad to have Lucien on board as well :)

All in all, this is the first time I've been in a PbP that managed to get through the first book of an AP, so I'm very excited about that!

MOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Peachbutt is doing a great job. Ayako is more about Night and Loss rather than going all Hellraiser.

Would you prefer that I drop the being afraid of your healing shtick? I wouldn't want to impose character elements that you don't feel are reflective of the way you want to play.

If you're interested in taking suggestions, I would enjoy beating down on some plague-zombies out in the Gray when and if things get out of hand. There are definitely other thematic Korvosan elements that I would love to see - more Sable Company, the Acadamae, maybe some imp-pseudodragon turf wars. Oh lord, a one-off combat where we play as pseudodragons could be great! Then again, I know how long PbP takes, and it can be hard enough even without packing in all the extra stuff.

There will definitely be some undead action in the Gray. I'll see if I can squeeze in some Sable Company or Acadamae stuff in if I can. But you won't be turning into a pseudodragon and having a turf war.

Including sensory details is a good idea.

Initially I had thought of just getting caught in a cloud of mobbing imps and pseudodragons, but the other idea seemed too crazy to pass up :P

Oh please still be afraid.. WOOOOOO!!! WOOOO!!!!!!! ;)

Everyone receives 800 XP for successfully curing Brienna.

Your new total should be 9,978 / 15,000.

Sebastian will handle the payment, or split the bill if Ayako or anybody else insists. I've still got about 2000 gp left, while the rest of you have been spending your gold on party resources.

Bill split

I'm fine splitting the bill too. Will try to get a post up tonight. Traveling today and tomorrow.

GM, out of curiosity, have you considered using the Unchained rules for poison/disease?

There's a conversion for a certain important disease as well.

I looked at it but I think I'm going to stick with the regular disease rules for now.

I'll give everyone a little more time before I post next. Nadya, if you have the harrow readings ready, you can start those. I'd like to get those done before we start the next part.

All set here

Guys, as I said before, I'm currently very focused on my PhD exam. It won't take long however: after April, the 12th, I'll be back again :) I'm really sorry for my absence, but I have to put RL first, as you can easily imagine :)

No problem. I know you are studying Lucien. You aren't holding anything up. I was mostly giving Nadya time to post the Harrow reading. If she needs more time, I'll continue and we can do the reading in the discussion board later. It's not that important. I know Nadya was traveling the last few days too.

Sorry. I'm still hung up, but will try to get it up in either Discussion or Gameplay today (depending on which looks more appropriate at the time).

Everyone still with us?

I don't want to get to far ahead.

Still here. Just you and me, alone. FOREVER!

I'm still here.

I'm back guys. Just give me a fee hours to catch on and I'll post! ;)

My baby girl is 1 year old today! Happy birthday Lily!

Happy birthday to your daughter! I'm still here too. I just fell behind with my travel, just got home last night, and hope to catch up today. I did get the visual renditions of the readings done and I've started on the readings themselves.

Great.

Happy birthday to her! May the blessing of Abadar be with her in this happy day!

Hey GM, I read the Gameplay Thread but I haven't seen any reference to Lucien (maybe I just missed something, though). Do you imagine him being with the party or having parted his way from them?

Lucien is with the party. I just haven't mentioned him because I knew you were busy and wasn't going to roleplay his actions for you. If you wish to interject anything into the last few posts, feel free to do so. I'm assuming everyone is together unless someone in the party states otherwise.

Ok, thanks for the heads up!

Happy Birthday, Lily! Congrats.

Thanks.

Congratulations!

Is it just me or does causing a riot seem to be the Korvosan citizens' answer to every problem.

How very French of them.

Everyone receives 600 XP for navigating the crowd without it devolving into violence.

New EXP total = 10,578 / 15,000 to 5th.

Organize a quarantine? Get infected people away from any non infected but that would be a tremendous undertaking. Maybe try to find a cure if we had an actual sample of the disease.

Is Ayako present for this? As far as I was aware, Nadya and I are talking outside while you and Lucien are with the cleric inside.

She is talking on the inside and suggesting some things.

Where do you want to go first? Vencarlo's or Citadel Volshyenek? And are you taking Ishtani with you?

Let us drop Ishi off first.

After the crowd disperses, Sebastian reads over the writ as it's passed around. "Gray Maidens and Queen's Physicians, eh? The Queen's response to this plague has been very prompt." He nods his approval as he passes it along.

You seem to be taking this decree rather well. Here are some things to consider.

By Decree of Her Royal Majesty, the Radiant Queen Illeosa I, all citizens and members of the Korvosan Guard are to aid and admit the newly established Queen's Physicians in this time of urgency. These royal agents will extend healing to the sick and organize defense against the spreading affliction known as "blood veil." They are to be allowed access to any home or building they deem necessary in the course of their duties. All those suffering from disease or disorder are to submit themselves to the Physicians for treatment.

To aid in the duties of the Queen’s Physicians, know that the order of the Gray Maidens has been established to provide military support as needed. The Maidens answer directly to the Crimson Throne, and will be called upon as necessary to augment and strengthen the peace where simple city guards will not suffice.

Impeding or distracting the duties of the Queen's Physicians or the Gray Maidens is punishable by imprisonment. Impersonating one of the Queen's Physicians is punishable by death. Knowingly harboring or hiding the infected is punishable by death. Purposefully spreading blood veil is punishable by torture, then death.

The Queen's Physicians will be making rounds of every city district henceforth until Her Majesty deems this misfortune abated.

The Queen has just created an army that answers directly to her with no checks and balances. The soldiers have the authority to enter any home or building they please. Getting in the soldiers' way is punishable by imprisonment or death.

But don't worry, the Queen would never falsely accuse someone of anything...Trinia Sabor.

It's for the good of the people, and Sebastian's roll of 0 on Sense Motive for Cressida's response tells me that there's no problem here and is totally worth cooperating with. The fact that she was able to muster an army of doctors and also, y'know, an army, is in no way suspicious and clearly demonstrates that the Queen must have gone to great lengths to respond so quickly speaks to how seriously she must be using this plaplate and was clearly caught off guard and clearly didn't engineer this whole thing because why would you even think that?

:P

She is salt of the earth.

How's the Harrowing for Chapter 2 coming along Nadya? Do you need any help?

I have all of the readings laid out (with cheat notes).

I am still working on the interpretations...