Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
This small, candlelit bedroom is empty save for a plain wooden bed and a night table where a pale candle burns in an iron candleholder. The bed is perfectly made, but the sheets display an ominous, dark crimson stain in the middle of the bed. A shadowy, insubstantial form of a woman rises from the stain!
DC 20 Perception:
The apparition's face is that of a female Jadwiga, with a resemblance to the current queen of Irrisen.
DC 25 Kn (nobility) OR Kn (history):
The image appears to be that of Yelizaveta, the thirteenth daughter of Baba Yaga and former queen of Irrisen.
DC 18 Kn (planes):
This is an animate dream, an outsider (extraplanar, incorporeal) typically created when a powerfully imaginative sleeper wakes from a particularly vivid or unusual dream and a fragment of that dream lingers on the Ethereal Plane.
DC 23 Kn (planes):
Animate dreams are resistant to spells.
To survive, an animate dream needs the power of living will, imagination, and emotion to sustain it. An animate dream seeks out mortal minds, appearing as a shadowy and often frightful dream figure. Its true appearance is vague and nebulous, but it reacts to the fears and emotions of those around it, taking on a nightmarish appearance that sometimes differs for each viewer.
An animate dream can find satisfaction and sustenance by passing one of its ghostly limbs through a mortal's body—the act infusing the mortal with negative energy that sates the animate dream's unnatural hunger. This exacts a terrible price on the mortal, in the form of a nightmare curse.
DC 28 Kn (planes):
By forcing a creature into a state of sleep, terror, or both, the animate dream can gain a much more satisfying meal, feeding on the emotions released in such states. It uses its spell-like abilities to this end, for each creature it harms with its nightmares (nightmare SLA), drives temporarily insane (confusion and fear SLAs), or outright slays (phantasmal killer SLA) provides the monster with more nourishment.
Ali and/or Davosh:
You have carefully parsed through Tryva's words and realize it is not enough to merely defeat this challenge; you must learn its desire as well, if you are to pass the test.
The apparition is hostile, but does not attack on sight, so no initiative roll as of yet.
"A manifest dream! It's not enough to fight it. We must unlock its desires. Like a haunt we must find the secret to unraveling it. We must be careful. It feeds on your mind and can scramble it. Gird yourselves."
male Human Rogue 10 HPs 76/76, AC 26, FF17 Touch19), Init +7, (fort +6, ref +16, wil +6, Trap Spotter +21(percep+16)
The Varisian lad looks with sadness upon the ghostly woman. Murdered in bed, thats terrible. He draws Desna's wings over his heart. Tender of Dreams, please let us bring this poor dream creature comfort. The lad bows his head for a moment and looking away from his friends he makes a quick gesture up near his face. Only those paying close attention can see he is wiping his eyes.
Kappi takes a step forward and raises his voice to address the dream. Were you murdered? Who did this? Let us bring justice to you.
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
This will take a Diplomacy check. Someone will need to take the lead (I expect that'll be Edward), but Ali and Kappi can both attempt to aid since they both spoke with the apparition.
The face of the apparition looks familiar. The Oradin advances slowly coming to stop near the quickly maturing rogue.
I see that you're a direct descendent of Baba Yaga, and the stains on that bed tell me that you met an untimely death. I'm sure that is causing some of your pain, anger at transitioning to the next life. Please tell me, no us, what you desire to satisfy your soul so you can finally get your much deserved rest.
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
Edward rockin' the Diplo rolls!
Edward:
Edward does not see nor hear but rather feels words in his mind. He feels Yelizaveta first, with the number 13 behind it. The words vanish — not that they were visible exactly, but are simply no more — and Edward next feels not words but images. An old woman's hand. The hand snaps its fingers. A vibrant woman with white hair screams noiselessly and collapses on a bed, a crimson pool flowing beneath her now-crumpled form. The old woman's hands reach out and Edward sees the dead woman's spirit sucked into an ice-blue gem.
The apparition's face is twisted in anger as Edward stares at it, as it slowly realizes Edward has tricked it into revealing something about itself...and suddenly the fury bubbles out of its cauldron!
Davosh immediately opens his Eye wide, hexing the creature Evil Eye, targeting Saves. DC 18 to reduce duration to 1 round. He'll immediately cackle right after.
Male Human Oracle 4 Paladin 6 AC= 19; T=13; FF=16; HP 102/102; Init +3; Per +10; +15F +13R +15W
Ed feels/sees the vision she sent out, it takes a moment to process, but he then says loud enough for everyone to hear. I think she's the 13th daughter of Baba Yaga, her name's Yelizaveta. We were correct in assuming that she's trapped here. Her soul was sucked into a blue gem. Lets find it.
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
DC 18 Will:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (10) + 12 = 22
The shade throws off the worst of the hex!
Kappi moves about and stabs! His blade hits...nothing! It seems to have some effect, however!
The insubstantial spirit drifts away from Kappi (five-foot step) and, with a baleful, soundless shriek that turns into incoherent babbling within your head, everyone except Davosh feels their senses assaulted by the pain she carried within her!
male Human Rogue 10 HPs 76/76, AC 26, FF17 Touch19), Init +7, (fort +6, ref +16, wil +6, Trap Spotter +21(percep+16)
posting for Adam, he is still buried under lots of extra hurricane work
Round 1 Vojtek
Confusion 1d100 ⇒ 48
Already on the attack Kappi is hoping he will soon have a flanking buddy to help deal with this strange dream creature. He risks a glance back toward the party, hoping to see his raging barbarian friend charging forward with huge ax. Instead he sees Vojtek staggering about slightly, mumbling something incoherent...
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
Correct, no crit vs. an incorporeal foe without ghost touch or force damage.
Also: you can flank it, but the baddie had five-footed away from Kappi so no flank this time. It obviously didn't matter with Ali's roll to hit, however.
Ali's blade hits, though it only seems to do some of its damage!
Yeah he had a big convention this weekend, and is just getting back into the swing of it. Which reminds me Phil, I think you'd really dig Starfinder. It scratches the Shadowrun itch.
Male Human Druid 7, HP 79/79, AC18 (T12 FF17), CMD 20, Init +1, Percep +13, (Fort +8, Ref +5, Wil +8)
Davosh the Wanderer wrote:
Yeah he had a big convention this weekend, and is just getting back into the swing of it. Which reminds me Phil, I think you'd really dig Starfinder. It scratches the Shadowrun itch.
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
DC 18 Will:1d20 + 12 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 12 - 2 = 11 natural Jeff!
Misfortune settles over the animate dream!
Her face twisted in a mixture of rage and despair, her ghostly hand reaches out to touch Ali...
incorporeal touch (1):1d20 + 16 ⇒ (15) + 16 = 31 incorporeal touch (2):1d20 + 16 ⇒ (14) + 16 = 30
Ali feels the bone-numbing cold penetrate her skin, and horrid visions of burning forests and incinerated elves race through her mind!
negative energy dmg:6d8 ⇒ (8, 7, 5, 5, 4, 3) = 32 plus DC 21 Will save to avoid nightmare curse!
Uh-oh!:
Wisdom drain:1d4 ⇒ 4 and Ali is fatigued until the curse is broken (cure is 3 consecutive saves (1 save attempt/day) or dispel evil, dream, or remove curse).
Davosh looks to his violent friend, and tries to wrap his own magical might around the confusion and with a quick combination of arcane motions, tries to Dispel the confusion. Caster Level:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Ali gasps at the damage the chill touch caused her, but she's able to withstand the mental assault. She continues her own assault, trying to bring the spirit down.
male Human Rogue 10 HPs 76/76, AC 26, FF17 Touch19), Init +7, (fort +6, ref +16, wil +6, Trap Spotter +21(percep+16)
posting for Adam/Vojtek
Round 2 RAGING VOJTEK
Vojtek's whole world was reduced to a hazy blur. Like wandering around in a total white out snowstorm. The barbarian couldn't remember what he was looking for...
Then sharp clarity came with a ringing slap from Davosh. Vojtek could see the witch's Big Eye staring to his soul and bringing him back from the strange white out storm in his mind.
Seeing the strange dream figure attack Ali sends the murder hobo into a fierce blinding rage...
RAGING VOJTEK ATTACKS
Great Axe:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31 for Damage:1d12 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
Ali swings but cannot strike the apparition!
Davosh relieves Vojtek's confusion and keeps his hexes in place!
Vojtek, back to his senses (such as they are), drives his greataxe into the nightmare creature! It only does half-damage to the incorporeal form, but it is certainly noticeable!
Male Human Oracle 4 Paladin 6 AC= 19; T=13; FF=16; HP 102/102; Init +3; Per +10; +15F +13R +15W
Round 3
Seeing Ali's uncontrollable shivering shudder at the things touch, Ed strides over drawing his magic rapier, and invokes Apsu's healing power along with his life link to help her recover from the bad touch.
Yelizaveta calm yourself, this nightmare will be over shortly, we will find what's holding you here.
Selective Channel Energy (Oracle):2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7
Please move Ed to directly behind Vojtek. Everyone except baddie heal 7 hp. Ali heal and additional 5 hp. Ed takes 5 hp, and heals 9.d
The northman feels the icy touch through his skin, and horrid visions of white-winged lizards and devastated tundra race through his mind!
negative energy dmg:6d8 ⇒ (4, 8, 4, 4, 7, 5) = 32 plus DC 21 Will save to avoid nightmare curse!
Uh-oh!:
Wisdom drain:1d4 ⇒ 2 and Vojtek is fatigued until the curse is broken (cure is 3 consecutive saves (1 save attempt/day) or dispel evil, dream, or remove curse)!
Ali concentrates a moment, bringing back one of her spells (use 1 arcane point to recall Magic Missile) She then steps back, and casts, calling upon her magical powers to put more oomph behind it.
use 1/daily use of Empower
Magic Missile!!:4d4 + 4 ⇒ (2, 2, 3, 2) + 4 = 13 <--X 1.5 = 19 force damage yo
Male Human Oracle 4 Paladin 6 AC= 19; T=13; FF=16; HP 102/102; Init +3; Per +10; +15F +13R +15W
Vojtek's Round 3
Will Save:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
The raging Northman see's Baba Yaga's daugter's weak attempt at a strike coming towards him. He started to dodge out of the way, but instead decided to take a bite out of her hand with his wartooth. The results were unexpected as the chilling touch shot through his upper wartooth like a very bad cavity exposed to ice.
With a cry in pain switching quickly to anger fueling his rage Vojtek swings twice at his chilling opponent.
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
Vojtek hacks at the ghostly figure with his axe, both of his attacks hitting the spirit!
Ali finds the animate dream is resistant to spells!
SR check:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23success!
She overcomes that resistance, and leaves nothing to chance with her force bolt, which affects it fully!
Edward channels to heal while Davosh casts bless and cackles madly!
male Human Rogue 10 HPs 76/76, AC 26, FF17 Touch19), Init +7, (fort +6, ref +16, wil +6, Trap Spotter +21(percep+16)
Round 4
The young rogue hops off the bed and into position flanking with Vojtek. Magic short sword in hand he feints low with a flourish and quickly reverses bringing the blade upward into the dream creature's torso.
The Varisian can feel the chill embrace, and nightmare visions of the family he left behind at home withering and dying like so many leaves of a tree race through his mind!
negative energy dmg:6d8 ⇒ (4, 2, 3, 3, 6, 6) = 24 plus DC 21 Will save to avoid nightmare curse!
Uh-oh!:
Wisdom drain:1d4 ⇒ 2 and Kappi is fatigued until the curse is broken (cure is 3 consecutive saves (1 save attempt/day) or dispel evil, dream, or remove curse)!
Davosh cackles madly as he sends Liska forward to hide under the bed. He stares intently at Kappi as the winter fox brushes against him CMW:2d8 + 6 ⇒ (5, 3) + 6 = 14
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
Ali'yanah D'ohr'hein wrote:
this is...a tough fight. What are we missing???
I don't think you're missing anything. It's a CR8 incorporeal with beaucoup hit points, potent SLAs, and a nasty curse effect — and you're a melee-based party, the sort of group that should have trouble with a foe like this.
FWIW, you also went to room 3 before rooms 1 and 2. So.
Male Dwarf Fighter 15 Urban Ranger 2 AC=32 (CMD base 37+ specials); T=16; FF=29; HP 183/183; Init+8; Per +22; +18F+14R+9W
Awesome corrupt as many as you can hahaahah
now I will say that I had a nice long post up on the game play tab. I just checked for it, and it isn't there so (#&^&#*# and *#(^*(## crap.
Basically it said I'm happy we are together, we will join forces to help defend the weak, meak, and innocent earning notoriety, and possibly a lil coin.
So Chris, like me, is getting whacked with new school stuff. He figures once the school year gets underway he'll get back to normal. I've done a few games with him, and he's been on top of it :-) I'm not worried.
As am I. Also something you may not know Chris (and Joe) Phil, Adam, Mike, and I have NEVER been in a party together. In the 25+ years we've been playing, one of us was ALWAYS the DM.
Someday we're going to descend on Gencon, and they won't know what hit them. Waking Rune, Bonekeep, the Special. All will fall before our gestalted might. Constructicons, join to form DEVASTATOR.
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
Someday we'll all table up and make whomever GMs weep tears of delicious defeat. :-D
Glad you guys are psyched. I am too! I'm trying hard to commit to once a day at the very least to post; hoping I can manage twice a day at least, and anything beyond that is just gravy. I'm also a bit of a perfectionist (I can hear my wife now: "a bit?!?"), so I do try to make every post as good as I can make it.
I can promise you, tho, you'll laugh, even if it's just at my ubiquitous non-sequiturs. :-)
Male Dwarf Fighter 15 Urban Ranger 2 AC=32 (CMD base 37+ specials); T=16; FF=29; HP 183/183; Init+8; Per +22; +18F+14R+9W
Moving this to the Discussion thread.
DM wrote:
So the only PC who needs to restore spells (i.e., needs 8 hours of rest) is Edward. He is the one you'll need to be concerned with on your watch schedule. I'll hand-wave the fatigue issues for the rest of you.
I am a Divine caster not an arcane caster so it is my understanding that I don't need 8 hrs rest for my spells. At least this is what I'm getting from the SRD. I very rarely play casters, so I could be wrong. Below are links to where I'm getting my information from.
Arcane Caster Rules:
Rest
To prepare his daily spells, a wizard must first sleep for 8 hours. The wizard does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but he must refrain from movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period. If his rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the total amount of time he has to rest in order to clear his mind, and he must have at least 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately prior to preparing his spells. If the character does not need to sleep for some reason, he still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any spells.
Recent Casting Limit/Rest Interruptions
If a wizard has cast spells recently, the drain on his resources reduces his capacity to prepare new spells. When he prepares spells for the coming day, all the spells he has cast within the last 8 hours count against his daily limit.
Divine Caster Rules:
Time of Day
A divine spellcaster chooses and prepares spells ahead of time, but unlike a wizard, does not require a period of rest to prepare spells. Instead, the character chooses a particular time of day to pray and receive spells. The time is usually associated with some daily event. If some event prevents a character from praying at the proper time, she must do so as soon as possible. If the character does not stop to pray for spells at the first opportunity, she must wait until the next day to prepare spells.
Spell Selection and Preparation
A divine spellcaster selects and prepares spells ahead of time through prayer and meditation at a particular time of day. The time required to prepare spells is the same as it is for a wizard (1 hour), as is the requirement for a relatively peaceful environment. When preparing spells for the day, a divine spellcaster can leave some of her spell slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes. During these extra sessions of preparation, she can fill these unused spell slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because she has cast a spell in the meantime. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if she prepares more than one-quarter of his spells.
Divine spellcasters do not require spellbooks. However, a divine spellcaster's spell selection is limited to the spells on the list for her class. clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers have separate spell lists. A cleric also has access to two domains determined during character creation. Each domain gives her access to a number of special abilities and bonus spells.
Spell Slots
The character class tables show how many spells of each level each can cast per day. These openings for daily spells are called spell slots. A spellcaster always has the option to fill a higher-level spell slot with a lower-level spell. A spellcaster who lacks a high enough ability score to cast spells that would otherwise be her due still gets the slots but must fill them with spells of lower levels.
Recent Casting Limit
As with arcane spells, at the time of preparation any spells cast within the previous 8 hours count against the number of spells that can be prepared.
Male Dwarf Fighter 15 Urban Ranger 2 AC=32 (CMD base 37+ specials); T=16; FF=29; HP 183/183; Init+8; Per +22; +18F+14R+9W
I will declare my characters normal time to pray is in the morning. So I shouldn't loose anything from any lack of sleep. I will just be down the spell I cast until the morning when I do pray.
Male Human Oracle 4 Paladin 6 AC= 19; T=13; FF=16; HP 102/102; Init +3; Per +10; +15F +13R +15W
lets see if my intuition holds true..... our first combat will be vs undead. I had to choose between them or goblins but I'm going undead Zombies... mmm maybe skellies if my experience with Pathfinder holds true.
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
Gonna roll out hero points. The GM reserves the right to change or modify this decision at any time. (Hopefully he's not arbitrary enough to do it just if he's in a bad mood, LOL.)
We'll use the rules as written in the APG with the following modifications:
No ability to Act Out of Turn. JMSO, in a PbP, it's a little too difficult to adjudicate.
No hero point feats , spells, or magic items.
A hero point may be used to add 1d4 to any d20 roll you have made (and only a roll you have made — i.e., not on another player's roll). The point may be spent any time after the roll but before the final results are known. (And this can't change a natural 1 result.)
At this time, everyone has one hero point to use. Deal?
Male Human Oracle 4 Paladin 6 AC= 19; T=13; FF=16; HP 102/102; Init +3; Per +10; +15F +13R +15W
ohhh just wondering when your awarding XP. S does it as soon as combat is over, and when story bonus dictates. Ohh, and we level up when there is downtime.
alrighty. Just created an "and Treasure!" spoiler in Ali's profile. there are 2 sections. first is "undivided treasure" in which I list out all goods we haven't sold/split. Anything that the resale value is known, I put in parenthesis after it. If we end up in a dungeon crawl, I'll be more diligent in noting where each bit of unappraised/unidentified treasure was found.
Second section is "group treasure." This will be for items that anyone can use and no one has claimed, usually expendables. If we decide to have an actual group pot of coin, that will be included there too.
for magic items, I like the "claim if you want it" or even "suggest who should have it" method, and if there are competing claims, either discuss, or roll-off. Money and anything liquidated is split evenly. Pretty much like we do in Crimson Throne.
suggestions/comments/complaints? and, anything in this first treasure trove I missed?
Finally, +3 Awesome Points to the first one to correctly guess the "and Treasure!!" reference
Male Human Oracle 4 Paladin 6 AC= 19; T=13; FF=16; HP 102/102; Init +3; Per +10; +15F +13R +15W
Ohhh ffs this is the 2nd time I've posted something from my phone and it gets lost.
Thanks Mike for doing the treasure. I offered to set up a tab on the google doc xp sheet for treasure if you would like to use it. That way anyone can modify it at any time. The con of it is it's on google docs and not the paizo site.
Five-star Hound of Tindalos. Er, GM. Whatever. | RoW Encounter Map |
Vojtek Wartooth wrote:
DM, can we set this up as an SOP? Default posture when we halt, spread out, face out, take a knee, take cover.
Hmm. I do not like to make decisions about what your characters are doing, by default or otherwise. That's not my place as GM; they're YOUR characters, after all.
I also understand that starting at first level your PCs are learning, and that they're not likely to want to stand nearby a half-buried chest again anytime soon, for instance.
I'm open to ideas as to how to let this suggestion work, knowing the limitations of PbP and stating for the record that I'm not likely to dig through four or five conditions to resolve every action.
Well it comes down to this objection... at a table we would have had plenty of time to say "whoa! Lets stand back a bit!" But when I looked at the game I had missed all the action. In any case, standard marching orders and a standing plan for when we stop shouldn't be too cumbersome.
I also think everyone should post a standard reaction in combat in case more than 24 hours pass and we need to autopilot someone. That may be a bridge too far though.
I think how chris handled it with the dice rolling is totally fine. autotrader re and fair. New paragraph . I also understand adams desire. I suggest the best way to handle it is to allow the person who opens the McKesson 2 what the others are doing, because I trust this group.
Male Human Oracle 4 Paladin 6 AC= 19; T=13; FF=16; HP 102/102; Init +3; Per +10; +15F +13R +15W
Even though I'm fairly new to pbp, it almost requires that you give up some control to the other players in their prose.
I'm totally cool with anyone here taking actions for Edward, it has worked out in our other game so far, and like S said I trust these lugs I play with :D
Well, Davosh can always "Withrdaw" which won't draw (unless this guy has reach). And there's no guarantee this beastie doesn't have combat reflexes, so you may draw without preventing the draw for Davosh (admittedly unlikely, but possible).
Someone will likely have to move--and thus draw--in order to engage in melee. I figured I was due for a good roll, and I was hoping for a nice juicy crit to take this bugger down fast--*sigh*
Establishing the flank would be nice; I'd have done it if I could have moved and attacked. I think eating the AoO is *probably* going to be helpful. *Probably.*
Male Human Oracle 4 Paladin 6 AC= 19; T=13; FF=16; HP 102/102; Init +3; Per +10; +15F +13R +15W
S I have a request for Davosh... could you at least put your HP totals in your tag line like we have? It would help very much. Although you screaming HELP ME HELP ME I'M DYING would probably work too :D
