Iron Gods: Forged into Legends

Game Master polyfrequencies

Fort Save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Numb nuts.

"Gahhh!! The light!! OUCH!! Something bit US! KILL IT!!"

Gauntlet swings blindly, a massive fist sweeping the air!

Slam Attack!: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
50% Miss Chance(High is good): 1d100 ⇒ 67

"Well, this isn't good."

Ember throws a small bolt of fire at the creature.

range touch attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
fire damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Make a save? Low means no: 1d100 ⇒ 90
Fort: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

"What in the-" Silvester barely has time to cover his eyes with his sleeve before the light hits him like a solar flare, imprinting the creature's image on the back of his skull and leaving the world dark. With a sharply-yelled curse, he staggers forward, stabbing clumsily at where he thought he saw the creature last.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
Concealment; low misses: 1d100 ⇒ 91
Crit?: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
damage: 2d6 + 8 ⇒ (6, 5) + 8 = 19

I assume Silvester moved up to the creature, above Gauntlet...that leaves only one place to melee from I can reach. I did my Fortitude Save earlier this round.
Acrobatics to move through threatened Square without provoking: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Untrained attempt to trip the creature: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 Them dice...

Seeing both Silvester and Keldor fall prey to the glaring light, seemingly blinded by the creatures radiance, Basil moves forward, intent on joining melee with the beast to take some pressure of from her comrades...that, and no good angle to fire from, and future possibilities for flanking made it seem a good idea.
When she tried to pass Keldor, he stumbled about blindly, unbalancing her and leaving her open to an attack from the beast. But at least the thing seemed slow enough to not be able to counter what she planned next...rolling with the blow, Basil attempted to perform a leg sweep on the floor, hoping to cause the creature to fall prone. But her leg came nowhere near the creature.

I figure if I eat a AoO for the failed Acrobatics, I may as well gamble on the thing not having Combat Reflexes...if it does, I provoke twice. Pity on the rolls, prone would have been a nice status to inflict, IF it survived Silvesters hit.

As the creature's eyes flash and Rasellia sees Silvester recoil in pain, she quickly resolves herself to kill this foul frog-like being. She reaches out to the plane of shadow, letting it's crushing power gather in her hands. With a thrust forward fist - reminiscent of a jab in the basic boxing forms she learned for fitness, a blast of high pressure shoots forward, bending the air like a lens.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

She cringes as the blast goes wildly off target, whipping some of the water into the air.

Ember lives up to her namesake, channeling the heat of her passion and soul into a physical form and hurling it at the creature. Galador attempts to follow up with an attack, but the blindness causes him to instinctively hold back and his attack lands short. Silvester is also blinded, but the fading after image imprinted in his head is enough for him to take a decent guess. He sinks his blade forward, straight through the creature's skull. Killing it.

Rasellia and Basil's action fade to the ether as combat suddenly ends, though not without consequence.

You have two blinded folks (both your front-liners) for an hour. You could always call it day and return. Wait in the cave, retreat and wait, press on, etc. I'll let you guys rp it.

"Silvester, Keldor, are you okay?" Rasellia asks as she runs forward to look the two men over. They both do not look harmed, but by the way that they are blinking she would guess that the creature's flash of light did not affect them positively.

Thinking of that creature... Rasellia wonders if she has ever read about a creature like that before.

Knowledge Dunegoneering: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Ember pats Keldor on the leg. "How ya doing big guy? Too bad your armor can't shield your eyes too."

"Well, other than the fact that I panicked completely because of being blinded, I'm fine. Gauntlet took the nip from the thing well enough, I'm just feeling foolish. Hopefully htis blindness will wear off soon enough. I think we should wait until we are all back to fighting form before we press on however."

"Hostile neutralized. Inmediate Area seems clear.", Basil explains in response to Silvesters stab.
While more of a quirk, it was useful at times, such as now, when neither Silvester nor Keldor had an easy means of discerning the combat had been won without input from someone still able to see.
"A most interesting form of attack. Do you think the blindness could be permanent? Should we seek outside aid, from the council? Or do you think it will wear off? How many fingers am I holding up?"
Heal: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Ember's cheerful little voice pipes up at Keldor. "Don't worry, I'll be your helpful little seeing-eye gnome until your sight returns. Assuming it does of course. I mean, I guess we don't know for sure how long that sort of thing lasts."

"Hmmm, on the topic of eyesight, are we staying put here until it returns or pushing on? If we stay here, how long do we give their eyesight to return before we head back to town?"

"I'd hate to toss in the towel so soon. Let's just give it some time, take a rest, eat some food maybe. If in a couple of hours it doesn't return we will head back and get healed before heading back in."

Rasellia, you recognize the creature as a blindheim, a small magical beast that usually lives in wet areas such as this. It specializes in blinding then preying on the victims.

Basil, you can tell the blindness shouldn't be permanent, and even now the iris's are healing themselves from the temporary shock. It's more extremely fuzzy and sensitive than actual blindness.

An hour passes, and the party is relieved to find no lasting damage to the eyesight of it's members.

All right gang, you know the drill. Narrate where you're going and how you're doing it.

Rasellia remembers the cover of the book, it was green, marked with an illustration of a tentacled horror and the title

Harrowsmith's Big Book of Beasties.

She remembers seeing a poorly inked image of one of these things.

"Blindheims" she announces "That is what those things were. Fascinating creatures, they have a just marvellous way of disabling their prey as you saw. The light stuns their prey and then it feeds on the disabled creatures, often whilst they are still alive. She smiles having remembered this esoteric fact, but quickly looks down at her feet realising that she has misspoken.

Well I'm glad that you two have regained your eyesight in either case. Let us proceed, we have people to rescue.

Once again, I will be at the back so I will wait for the front-liners to move up before I move.

If we are waiting an hour anyway, I am bringing Parda outside...if only because that saves us the time later.

When Rasellia mentiones having people to rescue, Basil raises an eyebrow, but does not speak.
Maybe rescue is a more general term where she is from.
Instead, she verifies that Keldors and Silvesters eyesight indeed is operational again, before taking position behind them:"Ready to proceed when you are."
Clearly, she assumes that the group will stick to the plan of moving along the wall. Considering there's water to the north and stone to the right, it seems the party would be headed south next.

As an aside, looking at the water, even just casually, during the hour we wait, I think it's reasonable to make out that there seems to be another "beach" a little beyond where we made landfall. We should also go check there...but maybe before we head out, considering things may get wet on the way there.

As his eyesight slowly returns to normal, Silvester stares unblinking at Rasellia for several long, silent seconds. Finally, he sighs, shaking his head. "Well, if we see another of those, perhaps we will be better prepared." He rummages in his backpack, searching for his change of clothes; pulling out an old brown shirt, he tears a long strip from the hem and tucks it into his belt. I'll keep that as a makeshift blindfold in case we find anything else with gaze attacks.

"We have some choices, then," he points out, gesturing with his rapier. "I'm inclined to check the tunnels, see if they loop back the way we came, but I don't want to go swimming while I'm still seeing stars." Blinking several times, he starts heading towards the right.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Without comment Keldor follows Silvester, now seemingly reluctant to lead directly.

If life could stop brutally kicking my ass, that'd be great. Sorry 'bout the hold off.

Throughout the endeavour, Hali busies herself with her curiosity, eyes fixed at the cavern walls and mind busy with thoughts on the nuances of the environment. How hold the corridors were, their purpose, or why none of them had long-since collapsed proving chief among her concerns. By the time she arrives at the back of the party, inevitably called by the clatter of combat and curses of the blind, the beast has been well and truly slain and the matter of their martial's eyesight determined. With nothing to add on that, and an hour to burn, Hali at least offers to help Basil deal with the matter of Parda's body—if only to ensure the android doesn't accidentally manage to offend the brawler's spirit and memory.

On their return, the engineer also scours the small beach-head that the lizard-thing, this 'Blindhelm', was living in, looking for evidence of further struggles—perhaps a cloth scrap or a bone or some other identifier—before following through at party's rearguard.

"Beginnin' t' think this place gave 'em all more trouble than Bane liked to admit..."

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13+1 vs Traps, however unlikely I guess

Hali, you search the beachside to find anything that give you and your new comrades an edge in the coming exploration when you make an unfortunate discovery. A man's body, half-eaten, wretchedly contorted from being wrenched by the blindheim.

You recognize this man.

It's your older brother, Dask, the oldest of the Gearalt siblings. You find a belt pouch on the body’s hip is still intact and contains 42 gp, two tightly stoppered potions of healing, and a small mechanical writing utensil, one you've seen him use dozen's of times over. It had special functions, though it seems damaged in this state.

The group moves up careful, though not taking any special precaution to hide their approach then careful movement.

A collection of crates, boxes, rubble, and scavenged metal lies heaped in the northwest section of this damp cave. Several strange chalk drawings of twisted, spiny plants, a strange three-legged creature, and emaciated four-armed humanoids mark the walls.

Keldor glances around the cluttered area and shakes his head. He then moves to keep an eye on the surrounding area while the others search for clues.

"This is a sad tale."

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

Hali doesn't breathe a word on finding her brother's broken body, but it's rather evident that she's having a hard time finding him in such a brutal state. The prospect of his death was a very real and, bronze forgive her for saying it, expected fate—but not this early in, and certainly not like this. She thinks about swearing at him, maybe calling him out on the stupidity of his own death, but the body won't bark back and, more comfortingly, the bastard was probably getting an earful already in the Great Beyond. Guess Father'll be ranting his damn ears off over this...

The surviving Gearalt gives the remains a once-over, chuckling darkly as she pulls off the belt pouch and finds the objects within. "Always were the most mindful of us, weren't ye, Dask?" Pity it didn't do you any good.

Slinging the belt pouch onto her own hip, Hali rises away from the corpse, mechanical knee groaning, audibly sniffing back tears as she returns to the group proper. "We'll...get him on the return. Gonna have t' chat 'bout gettin' Dad's plot extended. Cripes, we only just put the old bastard in it..."

Just feeding my curiosity; is that tool anything specific? Here's an engineering check, if it's appropriate.
Knw. Engineering: 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (11) + 8 + (1) = 20

Looking about the hoard of tools, and clearly glad of the distraction, Hali looks about the engravings on the walls with notable confusion before glancing over the rubble. "Y'wat? Four arms?"

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22+1 vs Traps, if relevant. Are these bits and pieces likely ones that the previous expeditions have brought in, or something else?

Rasellia gasps as she sees the body. I always knew that the situation was dire, but two dead... She gasps softly as she hears Hali admonish the figure that she now realizes was Hali's brother. Rasellia holds a black lace handkerchief to her face as she blinks rapidly to avoid weeping. Finallly she composes herself and simply says

"I am deeply sorry Hali."

She considers offering to have the body brought to her parents to be revived, but she remembers how necromancy is viewed away from home, and thinks better of it. Eventually she composes herself and turns to the chalk drawings. Even through the pallor of sadness they are fascinating.

"I wonder..." she muses to herself.

Knowledge History on those drawings: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19

Don't know if this knowledge will tell me anything, but Rasellia would love more info if she knows it

Unable to do anything for the dead, Ember pokes about the boxes and crates heaped in the room. Hoping to find something of either use or some clue as to what was going on here.

Not sure what pile of tools you're referencing, Hali?
Hali looks around, but doesn't find any traps or perilous predicaments that would inflict a setback on the group. What she does see, is the slightest humanoid shadow that is trying to remain unseen among the junk. It doesn't seem to notice you noticing it.

Rasellia takes a closer look at the drawings. Judging from the lines, these aren't ancient. Most likely the work of an underdeveloped species who has come across something like these. Perhaps....

You mind wonders as you consider the possibilities.

Feel free to keep moving.

I think the word I was looking for was plain 'goods' or something. Brain was being uncooperative. Feel free to ignore me.

Trying not to be insensitive, Keldor gently nudges the group.

"Let us continue. We have plenty of space left to search yet."

"That's true enough. There may yet be people still needing out help down here and we have no real idea of the size of these caves that we need to search. We should like start marking our path soon so that we won't get turned around and lost.

"Well, that's two of them," Silvester mutters darkly, before resting a long hand briefly on Hali's shoulder and squeezing. "I'm sorry."

Sighing as Rasellia begins inspecting the drawings in her usual intensely-focused manner, he holds his torch near them, illuminating them better for his ward, and keeping his rapier drawn.

The party stops for a moment to give Hali some time. Ember begins thinking of ways to mark a path: piles of rocks, markings on the walls, always turning right, something like that.

Which way do you guys head?

Keldor starts heading down the south passage. Its narrower, but Keldor is feeling confident again.

Ember will follow Keldor and arrange a group of rocks into the shape of an arrow in the direction that they are heading in.

Basil remains silent when Hali's brother is discovered.
She knew precious little about certain feelings, or emotions, but she did understand that with some topics, it was best to stand back and observe.

Only weeks ago, a young woman had gotten to inherit, after her old childless uncle died in a hunting accident. Basil had also overheared the woman talk about said vast inheritance a month prior to the mans death, with little emotion for her uncle shown.
Yet somehow, it seems that cheerful congratulations during the funeral were somehow wrong, or at least the womans hysterical reaction and attempts to scratch out Basils Eyes seemed to imply as much.

Hali was...close. Basil had no intention to do anything of any sort that could even remotely trigger that kind of reaction from Hali. As such, the safest course of action seemed to stand back and look contemplating.
Best also let HER carry him. Just to be safe.

When it was time to move on, Basil fell back in line...she pondered trying to cheer Hali up with the theoretical prospect of her other brother still being alive, but that would only devastate her all the more once they inevitably run into his body...so she remained silent then, too. Growing more emphatetic by the minute...good girl!

Rasellia walks along with a distracted look on her face, thinking of both the horrid deaths that have occurred down here and the fascinating art. She wonders about it's origins as she taps a pen against her chin in thought, not realizing she is leaving a black smudge.

Rasellia will follow the rest of the party, once again staying near the back.

@GM: Keldor will keep moving deeper until we find something new or something else happens. Do you want me to just keep moving my icon until you chime in?

Atta girl, Bas. Now if we could do something about that painfully logistical pessimism, I'd say we'd be on to a winner ;D

Hali remains somewhat obviously muted after the revelation, and it's obvious that while a hand remains keen on the crossbow against her shoulder, the other fiddles a little too much with the belt pouch jutting at her waist. She tries not to let too much of it show—for Dask's memory and their own hides—and greets back the various sympathies (and lack thereof in Basil's case, for which she is eternally grateful) with a dull shrug. "S'not like I wasn't 'bout to outlive his cranky ass, anywho..."

Hali follows a few paces back from the front, careful not to knock over Ember's markers as she traces the walls, looking for something, anything that would aid in their increasingly depressing quest.

Thanks for the patience guys. Now that summer's rolled around, we should have much more consistent updates.

The temperature drops noticeably in this passageway, and a rime of white frost lines the walls and floor leading into the cavern beyond. What seems to be a light layer of brown dust carpets the cave floor beyond—a body of some sort sits slumped against the eastern wall.

Its a DC 10 climbing check to make it down the 10 ft high lede you're on to the lower cavern area below.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

"Looks like another body. Should we climb down? Wow its cold in here."

perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Ember gasps is surprise and pokes Keldor in the thigh. "Psst! Hey guys, don't be too obvious about it, but I swear I just saw something personlike moving from that last junk pile to that pathway over there." Ember nods her head in the direction of it rather that being too obvious and pointing. "Anything that sneaky can't be up to any good."

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Perception(separate): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

"Aye. But it decided to avoid, rather than attack us. We do not know the layout of this location, as such, an attempt to chase it would probably not be useful. If the pattern repeats and we can assume we are followed, we can always try and trick our pursuer.", Basil responds to Ember, getting ready to climb down, and addressing Keldor, or rather, Gauntlet: "Not only the ambient temperature is different. That rust-colored dust on the floor also seems to form ribbons on that body. I don't think this is a coincidence. If someone climbs down - and I can volunteer for the task if Silvester does not want to do it - we should secure that person with a rope for fast retrieval if needed."

I figure Keldors weight with Gauntlet is prohibitive. Androids are also somewhat heavier than humans, so Silvester would probably be the best choice. Assuming we want a potential frontliner to go take a first look up close.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

"Well...that ain't encouragin'," Hali mutters, glancing a narrow eye over her shoulder before peering around the bulk of their frontward companions, casting her sunrod's light out onto the floor below. "...That markin' like...something gotten into 'im? Last I heard, dust in the lungs don't make s+@~ grow outta ya."

Any chance I could take a wild stab at whatever that deal is? Hali's got no problems with someone that definitely isn't her checking it out, but if there's nothing she can add she would keep an eye on their rear guard in the meantime, or maybe peek back around the corner while the others clamber about with rope and so on.

Heal (if it's relevant): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

If I am not mistaken in my assumption, Knowledge Dungeoneering would be the applicable one for this for your wild stab at what the deal is. If so, only Rasellia has a chance to figure it out. Or, you know, feel free to throw down a torch or something. I don't really need the light so I have no reason for doing so...

Rasellia shivers as she walks into the frosty passage. She pauses walking for a moment to remove a black linen scarf from her pack and wrap it around her neck. She then contents her self to tuck her hands under her armpits and try to stop her teeth from chattering.

"What is that over there,another robot?" Rasellia asks as she sees another slumped figure. After a second more observation she says "Oh wait is it a corpse?" Then realizing both the graveness of what she just said, and the callousness of saying it just after Hali found her poor brother. "Um, sorry" she finishes lamely. Well that was terrible of me she scolds herself I had best make myself useful after that blunder. Nodding to herself she studies the figure and withdraws her notebook ready to write down her findings.

Perception on the body: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

"Hmmm, interesting" she muses, her interest allowing her to ignore the horror of the situation "I think I've heard of something like this before.

Knowledge Dungeoneering on the rust: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Rasellia is certain that she has read about something that would cause rusted stands like this before. She opens her mouth to tell the rest of the party but stops as she thinks she hears a sound behind her.

Perception on junk heap: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

She shrieks in surprise but gets herself under control quickly. She listens as Ember and Basil talk and then, with teeth chattering and breath fogging says "Um, yes I suppose if they have not chosen to attack us then we do not need to worry about them yet. We should still be careful though after all as you said they may have some nefarious reason for sneaking about, I do hope they do not though, how nice would it be to find something we could talk to down here. I bet there is all sorts of interesting things we could find out. Not that that is our goal of course.

It is indeed a knowledge dungeoneering check. Decided to not post that info in case one of you wanted to be reckless.

Rasellia, you immmediately recognize this growth as brown mold. It feeds off warmth, drawing heat from anything around it. Though seemingly harmless, just getting near the stuff is known to induce pain and it can render someone unconscious from non-lethal cold damage.

Rasellia gasps, remembering the rusty substance.

"That is brown mold!" she says rapidly "It can knock people unconscious, we should hurry over there, that person might still be alive!"

"I'd love to help whoever that is, but how do we do it without being affected too? Does it have any weaknesses? If we had a grapnel and a rope, we could try to reel him in like a fish."

"Any chance we could kill the mold with fire without harming the person?

Intelligence Check(2+2=?): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

"I'm just speculating here, but if this unnatural cold is the way the...mold is it?...attacks its prey, then fire may not be a great idea. Cold is merely the absence of heat as I understand. Applying fire may just energize the mold instead of destroying it. Acid maybe? If we had some acid, and it didn't freeze too quickly..."

"The body is covered with growth of what you identified as Brown Mold. Unless the species has a intense reproduction rate, that would mean the person has been there for a while. Meaning we don't have to rush things. The fact the person does not seem to breath supports that theory, I believe.", Basil responds to Rasellia, then listens to Ember and Gauntlet:"But what Ember suggests has merit. If the fungus attempts to keep it's environment chilled, and attacks it's targets drawing forth their body heat, then it could react violently to intense heat such as that provided by a fire. Either it would energize it, as you suggest, or disrupt it's very nature, possibly killing it. Worth a try if we don't come up with something better. I have no Acid on me."

"My magical abilities are fairly limited, but I CAN produce small amounts of acid magically, launching it a short distance as an attack of sorts. The acid doesn't last very long however. From this perch I could see what it does? Is that OK with everyone?"

Please dot in when you arrive. A few pre-game things to discuss.

*enters and salutes*

Party scavenger, reportin' in!

Thanks for the selection, Default! Severely hyped.

Keldor Whisthawk here.

Greetings!

Keldor is mostly a semi-skilled damage sponge at this stage.

Thanks for another chance DM!

Dotting...complete.

Greetings and salutations all, lovely day is it not?

Rasellia Seraphaelis here, but you can all call me Rasellia if you would like.

I will be damage dealing from range with my powers of Chaokinesis. I will likely pick up technologist at third for a tad more utility as well.

Checking in. Guess I'm the frontliner, then? :P

Yes, Silvester Roland. You will ensure our collective safety by interposing yourself between us and piercing, slashing and bludgeoning implements brought to bear in close combat by our adversaries.
Keldor is likely to assist in this course of action.

Gameplay is also open, btw. Dotting+inmediately deleting your dot post still registers you as active character so the game shows up on campaign overview, while keeping gameplay uncluttered. Just thought I mention that as personally I like to keep track of my games via campaign overview, but at the time of this post, am the only registered player.

Checking in.

Cleric of Brigh and dabbler in tech and alchemy, though she does tend to have her experiments blow up in her face. Good thing she can heal herself...

Alright folks, I think I've chosen some of the more interesting personalities offered in recruitment. That said, the party composition is missing a few generally key roles, but hey, that'll make things interesting.

So....

The AP assumes that you all already met (even if briefly) and have established a group of sorts to help with Khonnir Khonnir retrieval party, whether he be dead or alive.

I'll put up the first gameplay post relatively soon, so have fun!

Aye like, Roland. Am sure that point-ear and his iron-man geddup'll be about there with ye. It'll be grand. Pleasure t' make yer acquaintances, all the same. Just don't be expecting me to be too up close an' personal, right? Combat just ain't much my vocation, lads and ladies; but if it's built, y' can bet I know a good few ways t' tear it down.

...Though I'd be doin' a bit better about it if I could find m' damn picks...

Ah, I wouldn't worry about it, Default. Am sure we'll be fiiiine.

Probably.

On that note, for those of us interested, I know our Android colleague and I are considering association by a mutual machinesmith by the name of Drovan [Basil's discoverer and Hali's would-be mentor on mechanics]. Familiar by name and job, I'd imagine; makes a decent starting point.

I'm all for knowing your allies before being thrown into things, GM and campaign permitting. For example, Ember could know Hali from her time lugging up scrap or asking for healing advice for her forever-busted knee. Locals being local and all that, y'know?

Hali - Sure, either of those work as reasons as to why we have met before. You could have also brought scrap to sell at Ember mom's shop before too. :)

First Gameplay post is up.

Hali already mentioned it: We'll be connected via Basil's dicoverer/foster father/master, being her mentor on mechanics, Drovan Blackhand, a Dwarven Machinesmith(It's an NPC anyway so I figured 3pp is fine)

And he may well have been a customer of Ember's mom, with Basil running errands/fetch quests - and before Basil, Hali would have done that while apprenticed to him.
Since he is a machinesmith, he would likely be interested in quite a number of salvaged baubles, do retroengineer and include the technology in his own gizmos...or, where not possible, to get working samples of stuff to use in his designs.

That gives us a core element of Hali/Ember/Basil - Silvester and Rasellia are not residents...Rasellia seems to lack a background, but going by Silvesters, they recently came to Numeria and don't really have contacts in town. Depending on their reason to come here, there's a good number of possible connection points - i did not find silvesters campaign trait, but Rasellia seems to be interested in the ruins, as well. With the increased danger, in the form of several parties gone missing, it may have been prudent to try and team up with locals, rather than suicidally push forward alone.

Keldor has ties with the missing Khonnir, and could have looked into potential allies much for the same reason as Silvester and Rasellia...not wanting to push alone, but with the town short on "adventurers" who have gone missing, finding himself with the odd pair from a neighbouring country and a few locals willing to risk their lives.
Basil also has a (Unchained Summoner) hostile NPC, a guy all about purity despising machines. With Gauntlets manifestation, he may also extend some hatred to Keldor, to provide another connection point.

My thoughts, sorry if they are too long :)

Ember's father runs an alchemy shop and is a scholarly type/longtime friend of Khonnir, maybe Ember met them if they've visited his shop?

There could also have been a severe lack of seats at the busy inn, which could also be why they are at out table. :)

Keldor is coming fresh from Kyonin, but he was training with the gnomes of Omesta when he started his correspondence with Khonnir. So Ember and I may have some basic connections there...if nothing else.

=)

Her name could have been given as a local contact to you by the gnomes just so that you wouldn't get yourself totally lost when you got here. :)

Oh, terribly sorry, I did have a background up but only just realized that I must have deleted it whilst changing a few things in my crunch. I'm a little new to the forums and unfortunately just made a small error. Background will be back up later today (I just have to re-write it), but here are the key points.

- Born with a mysterious illness that magic could not seem to cure.
- Raised indoors, reading about Numeria in books and tomes.
- Illness caused by parent's close connections to the plane of negative energy(both necromancers)
- Eventually cured due to a rigorous exercise regime and diet, also gaining the powers of Chaokenesis
- Sent to Numeria by parents to get me out of the house.

As for how I know you all, I spent plenty of time indoors as a child, so I could easily have communicated with any Torch natives by letter, what with my interests in the area. Perhaps Ember?

Something worth mentioning (I should have done so sooner), Rasellia's player and I both live in South Australia, so there's a good chance we'll be asleep during the more traditionally active hours.

Silvester is pretty narrow-minded in his goal - he's here as Rasellia's personal guard, but would be looking forward to meeting the friends she's talked about. I also only realized after Basil pointed it out that I forgot to pick his traits - I've gone for Stargazer for the campaign trait and Fencer for the other; I'll update his profile shortly, then get to gameplay.

No worries about the background Rasellia. This site is tricky and things get deleted/lost with annoying frequency. I couldn't even tell you how many times I've lost sections of my own character sheets when trying to update them.

Ember would be up for correspondence. She is eternally curious about everything and everyone.

Tell me about it. I lost the entirety of Hali's background during the application process. Heck of an evening I had putting it back together, believe me.

And on that note, greetings from distant England! Except I work incredibly silly shifts in a job that gives me full internet access and reign so long as nothing is immediately on proverbial fire. Needless to say I try and stay prompt with my posting schedules.

Introductions huh. Well I'm in the US, and am attending college while working to pay for next semester. It's gotten a bit busy this last month but I hope to keep the going running at a smooth pace.

A job with internet access use? Wish my workplace allowed that sort of thing.

Such is the wonderful world of Technical Consultancy! Which is a glorified name for IT support with a few caveats thrown in. Of course when you have access to (and are managing the servers for) half a country's medical records, things tend to find themselves on fire quite a bit. Having two screens and multitasking is a neccesity for one's sanity.

No kidding? I'm actually studying network and cyber security. I'm currently interning at my college's IT team, though it's mostly dealing with people complaining why they can't have admin rights to school laptops.

Y' don't say? I'm a BSc in Computer Forensics. Local high tech crime unit (yes, this is actually what paralegal forensic labs were called here until about a year ago) decided to economically kill itself though so...here I am, telling doctors and reception staff how to do password resets and how to undo accidentally marking patients as "deceased". Loved the academic material at the time. Less so the case examples for obvious reasons.

I'm also in university currently. I actually studied IT for two years myself, although I've changed degrees now. As Silvester's player mentioned I'm also in Australia, but shouldn't have any issues posting regularly, if at slightly different times.

Also, background, appearance and personality are back up on the Alias. Included a small mention of you Ember since you're my link to Torch. Sorry again for them being gone momentarily.

I'm in the US myself...I work odd hours by choice and I tend to post at least once a day (if not more) from either home or work if I can help it.

However, I am married and have a fresh faced 3 year old...so life intervenes sometimes.

OPEN DISCLAIMER NOTE: GM Default and I were PCs in a previous version of Iron Gods that died early due various difficulties, and GM Default is obviously willing to give Keldor another chance here in this game. I do not intend to let him, or you guys, down if I can help it. This is one AP I really want to see through to the end if I can.

No worries on those parts...but perhaps we could spread the love out a bit...maybe Hali was Rasellias pen friend, if Ember was Keldors? Just so we're working with multiple connection points, rather than focusing on a single character.

@Introductions: I'm working in IT as well. Well, in Logistic IT, and am from central Europe(Hi from Austria). I am married, too, and have a soon-to-be 1-year old at home, and part of that IT job is Project Management including travelling to other countries(and regular travels to corporate HQ for reporting in person, or trainings), so I tend to have phases where things are more or less stressful.
Luckily, Internet at work is a thing. Time is the constraint, but I dare say I managed to keep up with all my games without problems, so far.

Looking forward to game with you all.

That sounds like a good idea Basil, I'll have to edit my post slightly but I don't mind doing that if you don't GM. I wouldn't usually like to but game-play went up pretty fast and I didn't want to leave the party hanging too long.

@Introductions: Well if nothing else, I suppose we all round off as a decent table of Technologists one way or another. *tosses into bad pun bin*

As for fixing some introductions, consider it fine by me. If it helps, it's actually fairly probable that Hali would come across a hell of a lot more eloquently and concisely in written correspondence, and she'd avoid mention of her leg purely because it wouldn't be immediately relevant. All-in-all Rasellia's initial response wouldn't be too odd in those circumstances.

Cool, thanks Hali. I'll wait for Default to confirm that he's okay with me doing a small edit (always better to ask I think), but I think it is better for me to be your pen-pal rather than Ember's from a plot point of view.

Probably true. Plus, any excuse Hali has to ramble about her vocation and the potential of Numeria's technologies, generally speaking, is a good one.

Completely Unrelated: You'll have to forgive me in advance, but there is going to at least be one joke pertaining to calling Ms. Seraphaelis 'The ol' Rasel-Dazzle'.

I know, I'm terrible.

Kids are off to school now, which is one of the best times for me to post during the day.

I'm east coast US, currently stay at home mom to two little boys and at some point today I need to scrub some life size drawings in marker off the bedroom wall.

All you people with your jobs, kids, and studies. :P I'm Veronica, goes by Ronnie, 26 years old, unemployed and trying to find work with nothing more than a bachelor of visual arts in a god-awful job market. At least it means I should have plenty of time to post!

Funny you should say that, Ronnie. Today I've been told ~10% of my department is getting made redundant. Charming. (Oh, yes, my name's Abbie for the record. Feel free to use whichever handle you see fit.)

On the more pleasant topic of destinations, Hali would be interested in following up on whatever notes/'thing' Khonnir brought back initially, if the opportunity's there, or else would be planning to get what she can from the Council proper. Knowledge is power and all that. She's long resigned to volunteering, naturally, but it's always best to know what you're getting in for before you, uh, take the plunge. (Don't usually mean that so literally, but there you have it.)

EDIT: Also more than happy to toss out a Knowledge (local) if it would help towards an informed decision. ;D

Well, Basil has her own missing Mentor to look for.
Plus Hali's brothers. She has no lack of motivation, but that whole "lets go ask around some more stuff", not really her thing, so she will simply tag along. If we go someplace dangerous, she'd retrieve her equipment before doing so.(I think that one is obvious, but pointing that out regardless.)

Would you guys rather I wait for a general agreement or assume that when someone says they're doing something, you all go.

[For example: Keldor just said he wanted to check out the actual Torch first. Should I move the scene along now, wait for at least 1-2 others agree, or wait for a more unanimous agreement.]

I usually wait for at least half the party to agree to an action.

Ayep, half is usually a good measure to go by. Exceptions, as with anything, might be pertinent for character specific input I guess...but typically? Yeah.

I concur. Half the team to trigger an action unless someone disagrees(in which case let everybody chime in and discuss).

Over half the team agrees...sounds like the motion carried!
=)

Aye, and I just previewed my post, it seems -_- I learned to ALWAYS copy before previewing/submitting, board goblins and profile edit timeouts imprinted that.
But I still, regularily, end up only previewing a post, then going and doing something else :P

Hey Basil, what question is it that you asked me? I must have missed it and can seem to locate it on re-reading. Let me know cause Rasellia would be happy to answer questions and I'll hold off on posting till then.

Here, you straight up ask her if she's an Android.
She was sitting awkwardly and talking a bit weird, but it still seemed a very spontaneous question that most people would not want to ask wrongly.(Much like "Are you pregnant?" IRL...no one wants to risk "No, I just gained some weight" as an answer, so it's usually only asked if there's some serious hints towards it)

So in her next post, Basil asked "What gave it away?", inbetween confirming and expressing dissatisfaction at being found out so early by people she did not know - she is aware spending more time will have that effect but right then, she tried to "fit in".

If you don't really have a good answer, Hali could have mentioned Basil in a letter of yours, as well. Maybe in relation to Master Drovan, or her quirk of always using full names when adressing someone(she does not know your middle names yet).

Cool, sorry, didn't seem to spot that. I had an answer lined up and I'll put it in my next post. Sorry for the confusion.

Ha, no worries, she is being obnoxious about it ^_^
Personally, I would have been willing to let it go and not bring it up, but Basil insisted on asking.

Hi guys, something's happened with life, and I may be spotty for a few days/a week while I get my head sorted. I'm safe and well, but I need some time to adjust, so I'm taking a step back for a bit. I'll still be around, and may post in discussion if something needs my input, but I can't make promises for gameplay.

I'm happy to be botted if combat breaks out, and I'm keeping regular contact with Rasellia's player, so if you don't want to bot me, GM, you have someone to delegate to. (Silvester is her bodyguard, after all.)

Thanks for the notice, I think I'll just let your character drift in and out of the "aether" for now.

Huh. That thing ignored my Shield, Default?

.....S#~*e. My bad. Editing powers, Away!

Woop! No worries mate. Just making sure these extracts batteries don't go to waste ;D

Edit: Alsooo...I'm pretty sure Knowledge (Engineering) is Knowledge (Technology), going by IG Player's Guide and Technology Guide. The difference is the presence of the Technologist feat, plus what I'm sure is a less-than arbitrary DC increase for it being rare and unknown. If not...that really makes the Technologist feat rather odd.