Hell Hath No Fury (Inactive)

Game Master The Morphling

Sounds good! Recently I have had much less access to the Internet while at work so it's been difficult to make a post. I'll get the next one up soon.

Anybody gotten hold of Horror Adventures yet?

Got the PDF as part of my subscription and browsed it last night, but haven't had much of a chance to delve too deeply. The corruptions look interesting if ultimately not worth it (fail three saves and become an NPC? Really?).

The corruptions are sounding extremely disappointing from browsing the product thread. I had high hopes for that book but it's sounding like a pass.

Maybe "start a riot" shouldn't be my go to plan for everything but I am Chaotic Evil...

I very much appreciate that we have evil covered on all axes.

Speaking of "go to plan for everything," we haven't seen a summoned dog in a while, have we?

Funny coincidence, my noble outfit was worth 75g, the exact cost of a common slave! While I can't demand how Caggan reimburses me, I won't say no to an alternate payment plan!

So what's our plan B? I have charm person prepared and this guy seems like the low will save type but even if that works when it wears off he can just tear the post down. Should we beat some sense into him?

A solid plan B, though let's not make it senseless.

This is a private establishment, thus, this is a private gathering. We have five agents, force everyone but Caggan to leave as by law there can only be six. Outnumbered that much, he will concede to our threats. We won't need to beat him up (though perhaps should if he does tear it down).

However we do this, we should not give in. Let Longacre know that it has new Sheriffs in town, and we won't hesitate to act.

Sounds like a plan. Anyone else, feel free to take the lead; Amatsu has neither the spells nor the skills to clear this room. Unless you want me to start spoiling all the food that's already been served.

I am deciding on Caggan's next move, as this likely has pretty severe ramifications for him and for the course of events in the next few days depending on what he does here. :)

It is fun responding to your group's way of handling these events. Every group is different and all the Longacre encounters are very open-ended and can be approached in multiple ways.

I have to say, the three of you have put on a masterful display of intimidation here, and I almost wish it would have worked out a little easier. Caggan is a remarkably tough nut to crack and he knows his rights. He is, technically, in the right here. You can't legally force him to hang it inside his business, and you are on his private property.

Of course, Devil's Advocate here - it's not like anyone is going to be able to stop you. I want to be clear that I am not opposed to any course of action here. If you want to make good on your threat - go for it. Just wanted to clarify that Caggan is legally in the clear on this one.

It's up to you four, as the new power in Longacre, how much weight that law really carries anymore.

So do we have a plan c?

Hmm, Plan C... Quickly nail it to the wall and sprint out? I think the longer this display of courage goes on, the worse it will be for us.

We played the intimidation game, but it might not be enough at times. If we break the law, it will also make for a perfect "this doesn't concern you anymore" moment when we hand Auntie Sheriff her letter of resignation. Might be best for setting us up as a powerful, authoritative force, though will certainly cause a stirring, complications down the line.

Flip side, we retreat, post it outside the place or nearby. Safer, legal, though we will likely be seen as bumbling lackeys for the archbaron. It might also be seen as a "victory" for any rebellious types, and following the church speech yesterday, I don't think we want them on a morale high.

Not sure if there is a right choice, but a commoner just ruined my 75gp jacket, an act that has literally lowered my stats. I'm out for revenge >:3

Just so you know, the jacket is gonna be fine after a little washing from Vivendi. ;) But he still disrespected his betters by being so careless with his messy spoon...

I am eager to see you do either course of action. This is your show - this Adventure Path, and especially this first book, is very open-ended and up to the players. You're definitely viewing it properly too - the morale of those in Longacre, whether emboldened by a small victory over the Archbaron's agents, or roused to rebellious anger because of tyrranical enforcement, affects how things proceed from here.

From Arruk's perspective, we can't back down. He'll be putting the notice up, in the shop, with or without the innkeep's blessing. And Caggan will be handing over his shirt to Justimar as well.

I'll be looking over the gameplay thread at lunch to see what excuse - flimsy as it may be - 'Ruk will be using.

Very well done. :) The sticking point here was that Caggan wasn't going to hang it for you - but he's not going to tear the thing down and he wasn't going to escalate this to violence unless you did first.

Good resolution. :)

Alright, now we bar the door, burn the place to the ground and on to the next place, right?

Represent that Chaotic Evil angle, girl!

Great work, guys. That was awesome. What's the next stop?

I think the gate was next?

Roger that. :)

I have Horror Adventures now and I think there is a LOT of possible content for an evil party like you all. In particular the corruptions ARE really cool, as long as you houserule away the "if you fail 3 will saves you become an NPC" angle.

If you all see anything in that book you'd like to retrain into, let me know and we can work it out. There'll be plenty of options in Cheliax to become tainted with dark power...

Well, now I have to see if a friend has a copy of it. If there is a system for corrupting opposing paladins, it could be very useful.

Being bad is good, isn't it guys? I can't wait till we are doing the bid evil acts.

Well, now I have to see if a friend has a copy of it. If there is a system for corrupting opposing paladins, it could be very useful.

Being bad is good, isn't it guys? I can't wait till we are doing the big evil acts.

Yeah, the NPC angle of the corruptions kills the system for me, especially since some of them require pretty regular saves.

That said, if you're thinking about bringing corruptions in as a PC option, I'd love to go down that path with Arruk. Hellbound, Lycanthope, or Vampire all are cool and fit the character (mechanically, I like Vampire the most).

There's some great corruptions for Amatsu (Lich, ghoul, vampire, I think a generic "undead" corruption iirc, and maybe possessed?) and a shadow corruption that could work with Justimar's Kyton connection.

I don't think there's a system for corrupting paladins, but I haven't been through the whole book yet.

Sadly, other than the corruptions, not much there for Arruk.

@Justimar, I'm thinking on how Arruk would respond to your, er, compliment? :) Don't let me hold anything up, GM. We can always spoiler our conversation going forward.

Ah, none of my friends have a copy, and it isn't as cheap as I'd like it to be. I'll need to wait for an amazon sale.

I've been reading the Player Companion "Spymaster's Handbook" that came out recently, and I keep thinking how good it could be in a game like this. It has a collection of useful magical items, spells, traits/drawbacks, and some neat additions to the Vigilante class. I could see Vance finding some use for it when we become agents of the queen, and I'll need to keep the book in mind if something manages to kill Justimar. The number of spare character concepts I have for this game is rather excessive, I think this or Kingmaker might be the first Paizo adventure path that I DM in due time.

@Arruk, Yeah, Justimar is an ass. Sometimes I genuinely feel bad typing what would go through his mind. It only is worse knowing that he was born poor and only in the past few years became noble and took on (or amplified) these traits. Still, big plans for you, my boy ;) GM knows what I'm talking about.

I like to imagine he is still Neutral somewhere deep inside, and that family (both old and new) will bring about some of major moral dilemmas. I think on our next payment, I'll secretly send some gold back to my old family in Westcrown in a cryptic note. Maybe try to have Justimar convince himself that he was doing it all for them, when everyone knows that hasn't been the case.

I really wish we could get more posts from Vance. I know you're checking up on us occasionally, but we've had quite a large number of scenes where Vance was just completely not involved.

We all love your character and we want more of him! Is it an issue of being too busy, or is it something we all can help with?

On a similar note I appreciate you all understanding that sometimes it's difficult for me to get gameplay posts up quickly. That has a lot to do with my perfectionism - if I am unsure of what an NPC will do and I'm mulling it over, I tend to put off posting anything until I can get my mind around the scene a little better. I think our pace is a comfortable one - it's nice to be able to have a lull in posting and have the game pick right back up when I get us to the next milestone.

@Arruk, Yeah, Justimar is an ass. Sometimes I genuinely feel bad typing what would go through his mind. It only is worse knowing that he was born poor and only in the past few years became noble and took on (or amplified) these traits. Still, big plans for you, my boy ;) GM knows what I'm talking about.

Haha, no worries - I quite enjoy Justimar.

I like to imagine he is still Neutral somewhere deep inside, and that family (both old and new) will bring about some of major moral dilemmas. I think on our next payment, I'll secretly send some gold back to my old family in Westcrown in a cryptic note. Maybe try to have Justimar convince himself that he was doing it all for them, when everyone knows that hasn't been the case..

Arruk is doing something similar. He sent off a small fortune right before the game started to his mother and sisters, and is convincing himself that he'll do whatever he can to right his family situation, which was thrown into turmoil upon the death of his father.

There's a reason that Arruk slips up sometimes and uses words like "edification." He's actually grew up solidly middle class, and had a good education until his father's death necessitated taking any work he could find.

He blames his bad behavior on circumstances beyond his control (had dad not died, he'd probably be running the family business by now), and justifies such behavior as a means to rise his family back up into the middle class (and beyond). He'll also be sending money to mom and sis as the game goes on.

We all love your character and we want more of him! Is it an issue of being too busy, or is it something we all can help with?

On a similar note I appreciate you all understanding that sometimes it's difficult for me to get gameplay posts up quickly. That has a lot to do with my perfectionism - if I am unsure of what an NPC will do and I'm mulling it over, I tend to put off posting anything until I can get my mind around the scene a little better. I think our pace is a comfortable one - it's nice to be able to have a lull in posting and have the game pick right back up when I get us to the next milestone.

Agreed, Vance is a great character. My character is pretty generic, kind of the mobster origin story. The rest of you have such interesting concepts, I kind of wish that I'd have gone a bit more out there with my submission :)

And I'm happy to have you perfecting posts rather than spitting something out, GM :)

I'd definitely love a monstrous transformation for Amatsu at some point. Of the corruptions, accursed, lich and vampire all really speak to me (and sidebar: why are spider vampires not more of a thing?)

Welp, bucket list checked off. Never been actively afraid of a player character before. Amatsu, what the heck is on that needle?

Girl, you scary.

Sidenote: I have to think about how to play this one out. She did fail the will save, btw. :) I'll work out the interaction between her and Denton in my head and make a post soon.

There's nothing on the needle. I figured that Charm Person would solve the problem so I decided to take the opportunity to have a little fun. Amatsu's trying to get Bo to do a version of Mazmezz's obedience on Denton. Because have you heard the good news about spider demons?

And here I thought I was helping to administer an exotic Minkai poison like the one that killed Mrs. Mi...

Amatsu's trying to get Bo to do a version of Mazmezz's obedience on Denton. Because have you heard the good news about spider demons?

Haha, that's great!

That is even creepier. Sorry it's been so long without a post - I am moving soon and have been super busy - and this weekend I am at a convention. I'll get this moving along again soon.

Victory! Hail Mazmezz!

On to the church, I believe?

I'll do that one next! Might be too busy to get it up before Monday but we'll see if I am awake enough at the hotel after a convention day. :)

On an unrelated note I think we may need to begin talking about replacing Vance. We love the character but we need him to be able to contribute a lot more often.

^ Agreed. Sorry that he seems to have gone, I liked his contributions to this game.

^^ Agreed, I won't forget that first carriage unveil, but I am all for another player or two to have this game continue. Pretty attached to this elitist ass.

I will begin the search for a candidate (or two) worthy of my excellent crew of players. :)

Question on the decree, as I believe I misread parts of it. I understand the rules for the writ of passage/exception, but I want to clarify on the sanctioned businesses. Do we know what sanctions a business? Is it the Longacre Notary? Is it the Archbaron himself? Are businesses already sanctioned or is that a process to be done?

On this, how feasible would it be for a distinguished nobleman to, hm, let's say "oversee" or "overtake" the operations of the Longacre Notary? Is there information on this person/establishment?

I suspect the specifics of the decree are kept intentionally vague so that a clever and distinguished nobleman (such as the Archbaron, or an enterprising young summoner of some kind) can twist the wording to suit his own ends.

Twisting is very easy when one holds all the power. :) To answer your question, the decree does not specify, and Justimar would recognize the ambiguity for what it is - an excuse to change things up whenever it suits the Archbaron to do so, without technically breaking his word.

As far as overseeing or overtaking the notary, probably not an option. You'll likely meet with him personally at some point, but he's very loyal to the Archbaron, and the Archbaron finds him useful. However, you might not need to do much. When you (shortly) find yourself directly in the Archbaron's favor, his toadies (like the notary) will find themselves working either for or with you.

I am moving so I will probably not be able to post this week, sorry!

I am moving so I will probably not be able to post this week, sorry!

Take care and hope it goes well!

@GM, I am sure I asked this before, but a few searches around I couldn't find any information or records of me asking. What was the date of the first day of the adventure?

I'm here, just don't anything else to add at the moment. Arruk isn't going to do much diplomancing, even though it is fun to try.

Amatsu Mi wrote:

I am moving so I will probably not be able to post this week, sorry!

Take care and hope it goes well!

@GM, I am sure I asked this before, but a few searches around I couldn't find any information or records of me asking. What was the date of the first day of the adventure?

I'll see if I can conjure up a definite date for you. :)

My move's done and I have internet again so I'll be able to post in the next scene

On Horror Adventures:

The Shadowbound Corruption could be applied to Justimar, especially when that Kyton becomes a thing. I already intend to literally swear my life and death to my eidolon during our initial pact, this could add to how Justimar will change (and he will) after that initial summoning.

My Kyton cannot take the Kyton style feats due to a low Wisdom score and a lack of ki pool. That is funny to me.

Spells seem rather lackluster for Justimar, with the exception of a spell that uses chains to attack foes and the ability to magically straitjacket people.

Overall, it seems to be a good GM guide for horror games but doesn't bring too much to the table for players. Maybe I was just spoiled by Ultimate Intrigue, that brought a lot to the table for me both as a player and GM.

Yeah, not much for Arruk at all in HA. I do like the GM material quite a bit though. The locations and disease rules are especially intriguing to me. As a player, I quite like the archetypes. There are many that spurred some PC ideas.

I agree that UI was a fantastic resource, and though I feel HA is quite good, it is a bit of a letdown coming after such a great book.

It's been a hell of a week. I had to quit two of my ongoing PbPs this week (including a Hell's Vengeance where I was a player), but I am sticking with this one for the long haul. Apologies for the long delay, I'll have us moving again soon when things slow down for me.