KC's Age of Worms

Game Master Kobold Catgirl

Filge had a bird skull necklace, right?

I should compile the NPC images in the Campaign Info tab sometime...

"Sounds like one of the guys we're looking for. Though I don't know about the others."

"You guys won't try to kill me if I let you out, right? Stabbing unarmed people is bad for your street cred."

Carina shoots a glare over at the men. "I wasn't asking you."

She turns back to the woman. "Listen--I honestly have no idea what's happened to you, and right now, I don't really care. All I know is that you're in need of help." She continues, her worry visible on her face.

She reaches out a hand to her, then pauses and rests it on the floor. Lady Starmane doesn't appear to want to be touched. "We're here to save you, I promise. What can we do to prove that to you?" She asks, kneeling before the lady.

"Farrukh, can you get the locks open?"

"Sure."

Take 10 on locks, starting with "princess".

Carina scoots to the side to let Farrukh work on Lady Starmane's cell lock.

The lock clicks open. Ilya hesitates, looking at Carina with a mixture of hope and exhaustion. Her eyes well with tears. "I...I don't know. Just get me home."

Will Farrukh also unlock the unconscious man's cell?

"Sounds like one of the guys we're looking for. Though I don't know about the others."

"You guys won't try to kill me if I let you out, right? Stabbing unarmed people is bad for your street cred."

Martal's eyes widen. "Oh, thank Cuthbert. I mean, no, of course not!" He fumbles for a moment before turning and rushing to his bed. "W-we can help you! I heard them talking about their 'special prisoners' being kept down below in the Hall of Deception. If you're looking for someones..."

He and Regim pull out some meager supplies from under the blankets—a battered-looking longsword and a very dented steel shield. Regim approaches the bucket, grimacing, and draws out a bunched-up suit of studded leather armor.

"We don't sleep too well," Regim remarks, "an' Gattel doesn't much care for us having to use his bucket, but we managed to nab these during a couple of the..." He shudders. "...sessions."

Let the unconscious man sleep for now.

"So, what's that guy's deal?" he asks Martal as he unlocks his cell.

"Not sure," Martal says as he starts putting on the armor. "The shifters call him Gattel Wattel or somethin'. Reckon he's been here longer then any of us. He's a right nutter."

"Nutty how?"

"As in they done something to his brain." The pair exit their cell. "He ain't violent, I don't think, but...well, you'll see if you wake 'im."

Carina helps Lady Starmane to her feet, if she allows her to. "We'll get you home. Don't worry."

She turns to the others upon hearing that Regim & Martel offer their help. "I don't know. you guys don't look so good--you look like you've been suffering from malnourishment on top of all the other injuries you've taken."

"I think it'd be a better idea to get you all to safety first before we check the place out any further." She looks at the other party members. "What do you think?"

"Look," Martal snaps, "we may be a bit tired, but we're still guards, damn it! We can't just leave this place, not without making those bastards pay!"

"I dunno, Martal," Regim says. He reaches over and squeezes Martal's hand. "We ain't exactly been very good at our jobs so far. Maybe...maybe we should just go. Nothin' we can do here."

They seem willing to take the party's lead either way.

Tanith offers a shoulder to lean on if any of the prisoners show signs of trouble standing under their own power.

"I don't know - it seems like you might be better off with us for a bit. There's no telling what kind of trouble those things might have stirred up while wearing your skins."

"If you guys were in better health, I'd be glad to have you along, but as-is...honesty you look like you'd be dead weight, emphasis on the dead if we run into anything REALLY nasty." he says bluntly.

That said, he goes to unlock the final cage with "Gattel Wattel" in it.

Sorry, killer long day at work. About to sleep and catch a bus in the morning, so I'll be unavailable til tomorrow night. KC can NPC me in event of anything crazy breaking out.

Eben shakes his head in disgust looking at the unfortunate guardsmen. "I promise you guys we're on the up and up. That's horrible. Being taken prisoner is one thing, but then playing games with prisoners just for kicks... there's a reason people want to just kill doppelgangers on sight. Well, sight once the jig is up, not sight when they're shapeshifted and nobody knows, but... anyhow, yeah." He turns to the group. "I kinda agree with Tanith. Besides, we can always use a couple extra swords. And if we heal them up first, we can keep them safe from anything too dangerous..."

"I say let 'em fight, if Carina thinks they're fit enough. They look pretty exhausted, though, and I can't heal that," Astraden says, turning to Carina as she speaks. "Are they good to go?"

The cleric puts a hand to her throat and pulses out a wave of healing, eliminating the party's injuries and starting to repair those of the prisoners as well. "Maybe if they're bad off we can take them back to the Crooked House to let 'em recuperate. And . . . I've got a friend here in town - my godfather really - who could help us out if we go ask him. Wouldn't be naught but an hour's walk, I bet."

Channel positive energy (healing): 3d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 1) = 9 3/6

"Please," Martal says, "if you gotta send us off, fine, but don't let us slow you lot down, too. We'll get the girl home. We can at least manage that."

"That sounds like a good idea. What we end up facing is usually too dangerous for people who don't do this sort of thing professionally."

"Okay then," Astraden says, gesturing out of the cell. "If you do have time, go to the Blueberry Theater in the Foreign Quarter and leave a message for the priest of Olidammara who is staying upstairs. Say Astraden Limhaare has entered the Hold."

"Maybe he can take our bodies to a druid if we fail," she thinks.

Martal nods sullenly. Though clearly not happy either, Regim gives a little salute. "You got it, miss. Hey, c'mon, Ears. Let's get the hell outta here."

Ilya looks at Carina. The elf's eyes are wide. "I...I'm not sure about this. Maybe I should stay with you?"

Carina gives the men a quick look over to see how healthy they are.

Heal: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

The men actually seem in fine health, if a bit stressed and tired. The elf woman is very tired and underfed.

Farrukh unlocks the sleeping man's cell, but he doesn't react. Carina is fairly certain he's been knocked unconscious.

Farrukh sheathes his sword, and pours a Cure Light Wounds potion down Gattel's throat.

"Hmm..." Carina frowns. "Both of you seem to be well enough." She looks over the men. "Lady Starmane, however, needs food and rest. Gattam, on the other hand, is entirely unconscious, likely from blunt-force trauma." She nods at Farrukh as he administers a potion to the man.

She digs around in her haversack, producing some strips of beef jerky that she hands to Lady Starmane. "I know it's not your usual fare, Milady, but hopefully it'll help until you make it home. And, honestly, a quick detour to your family estate shouldn't take too long."

So what are we doing? Letting them go on their own, right?

I'm going to await a two-person confirmation before the NPCs react.

I already said they should go.

I was originally going to offer Lady Starmane an escort, but letting the two guards get her home works too.

Ilya takes the beef jerky in both hands, biting her lip. "Th-thank you. Thank you so much. I won't forget this debt when I'm back home, I promise you."

"C'mon, girl." Martal starts to take her by the arm, then stops short and just gestures. He and Regim flank Ilya protectively as they make their way out.

1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Then Gattel Watam wakes up.

Still badly bruised, the haggard-looking man looks up at Farrukh with wide eyes. He stares at Farrukh a moment.

He grabs Farrukh and plants a kiss on each cheek. "Abdul, mon merveilleux éplucheur! I had thought you would never come to rescue me. You truly are the, how you say, credit to your race." He scrambles to his feet. "Now, quickly. I must be having my spare petticoat! These callous barbarians know not the meaning of proper façon!"

"A credit to my race?"

"I don't know why but I'm very offended right now."

Carina cringes as Gattam awakens. Maybe we should've let him stay unconscious for a little bit longer...

*ahem* "Excuse me, sir, but... are you alright?" She tentatively asks, approaching the man. "Do you know how long you've been here?"

If he's really crazy, it might be beyond my ability to heal...

Wattel blinks, looking at Farrukh oddly. "Wait, you're not Abdul! Tricky Kettite devil! Why are you impersonating my gardener?"

He glances at Carina. "Hm? Two years, I should think. Goodness, time flies when you're having probes."

Eben blinks. "Maybe we should have waited before letting the guards leave. They could have dropped this guy off at a local asylum too..."

Carina cringes. Oh... oh dear. I was afraid of that.

While she's tempted to give Eben a dirty look for his remark, the man did raise a good point. It wouldn't be a good idea for Gattam to wander the streets in his condition. "Mr. Wattel, you've clearly been here for a long time. Between the nasty lump you took to the head and Fharlanghn knows what else, I think you might need more help than I can provide."

"Two years? Damn, man. Well . . . a few more hours in the cage ain't gonna hurt you, right?" Astraden moves to the door. "Unless you wanna come along and help us? We've gotta root out this nest."

"Hmph." Gattel sits down, scowling. "As if I would consent to be rescued by the likes of you. I'd never hear the end of it from my peers."

He starts giggling to himself.

"Alright, if Carina says it's alright. You want your cage locked?" Astraden asks the man.

Carina is silent while Astraden speaks with Gattam. "Alright. If you're insistent on staying here for now, we'll let you. We'll clear the rest of this place out and come back to get you the help you need, sir." She nods.

Better for him to be in one place and secure instead of wandering about unsupervised.

"Locked?"

Gattel considers it, then scowls. "No. I will not settle for such nonsense."

"Suit yourself. Let's get a move on." Astraden heads to the door, re-drawing her magic dagger.

I am adding back a channel because KC missed that I used it and Gattel got healed by Farrukh's potion anyways. I don't think anyone who was wounded previously actually noticed it either, so no need to change anything.

Astraden opens the door.

Much of the floor of this ruined chamber has given way, revealing a large stagnant pool of water below. Rusted spears and broken swords break the surface of this pool throughout the room. A framework of soggy timbers that might have once supported the floor still stands, stretching out across the void.

You can assume Farrukh Took 20 on this door if he would have—there are no traps on it.

". . . Huh. That's a rather unusual geometry," the tall priestess says. Looking back at the group, she picks out Farrukh. "Hey, you got a rope? We might be able to just walk leisurely along the bottom. I don't wanna fall off a timber and land on a sword or something."

Is water breathing still up? I think it is but KC's call.

Eben takes his time leaving the room, taking a long, appraising glance at the crazy man in the now-unlocked cage. "Think he'll stay put without a lock in the way? Could be a bad thing if he wandered off while we're exploring..." he asks the group in a low voice.

When the door is inspected and opened, he pokes his head through the frame to the room beyond. "Yeah, I just knew the 'sodden' part of this place's name was catching up to us sooner or later. At least we don't have to go swimming quite yet..."

"Yeah, I've got plenty of rope. 50 feet enough?"

Eben looks disdainfully down at the pool of water below. "Would this be a good time to mention that I really am not a good swimmer?"

Carina shrugs. "I can swim just fine if it comes down to it. One of the perks of being an undine."

"And... I hope Gattam doesn't wander off either. Letting him out into the streets in his condition would be tantamount to murder." She sighs.

Cuetzpalli moves up and looks past his friends into the room. "That looks pretty treacherous. Spiny is an excellent swimmer, should it come to that. I don't think we're in much danger of drowning. But then again, who knows what else is in that water."

Tanith eyes the water suspiciously.

"I love a good swim but last time we dove into water like this Robin was almost eaten by undead."

I think it was Robin.

"Let's go in ready for trouble."

It was.

Carina gives the water a cautious look, her eyes moving to her pistol.

"...and I forgot that this won't be of much help in the water. Neither will my bombs, come to think of it." She sticks next to Tanith. "Nobody fall in, okay?"

Astraden takes Farrukh's rope and ties it to one of the jail cell bars. She points across the water to the alcove hidden from view. "I think we can walk out over there one at a time and won't hurt the structure. Keep ahold of the rope and we'll be able to pull you up if you fall. Farrukh, you wanna take the lead?" she asks, giving him the free end of the rope.

Before anyone steps out, Astraden also recites a quick Oeridian charm and claps them on the back for good luck.

Guidance on whoever goes first.

Going to bed. Please continue with the game and don't worry about getting me back in, for now.

Okay guys, first I want to say I am really enjoying this game so far. Second, I know I said you could roll for me DM. But, combat is the most fun part of the game for me, and two days in a row now I've gone to bed and woken up to 50+ posts and a whole combat having happened without me. I would certainly have made different choices and it possibly would have changed how things went.

So let me revise my request. Please don't DMPC me in combat unless I am gone for more than 24 hours. Living in a radically different time zone than you guys I'd have to stay up all night to post when most of you are. It will slow down the combat portions a bit, but I'd really like to control myself in combat.

Outside combat I'm totally cool with being DMPCed and rolled for.

Also, a swarm and an enemy with whirlwind attack at the same time against level 1 characters?!?! Whoever wrote this is eeeeevvviilllll. I don't feel bad about Spiny being OP at all now.

I don't feel bad about Spiny being OP at all now.

As long as you admit it. =P

***

As for not being NPCed, waiting up for you would be reasonable if we didn't have to wait for Erep too (or Erep's replacement). You guys are on literally opposite schedules. If we have to wait for both of you, we'll never get through more than one round of combat per day. That's going slow things to a crawl.

And yet that is inevitably how a PbP works, to some extent--things slow down. We can't just NPC Cuetzpalli every combat we get in to "make things run quicker". Otherwise, he's not even really playing. :P

And Jelani, Rynjin had a good point earlier. About what time each day do you believe you'll generally be able to post?

Yeah, we're in a bit of a lose-lose. Having folks on the extreme ends of the possible time zones is going to make maintaining good momentum and including everyone nearly impossible.

I was fortunate when my group ran our Skull and Shackles PBP that we were all roughly on the same schedule and our busier folks didn't mind being NPCed when it came up. We managed to finish the whole thing in ~4 months.

I can post every day of the week from about 10 AM my time (10 PM EST) until whenever four days a week, the other three I work in the evening/afternoon (middle of the night for you guys). A lot of times I'll have something going on in the evening for me (morning for you lot), but then I'm on at night often until 1 or 2 am (from ~8 AM to 1 or 2 PM your time). You'll almost never have to wait more than 12 hours for me to post. I think 1 round of combat a day is perfectly reasonable, and actually much much faster than your typical PBP. I'm lucky to get through one round a week in most of the games I run. My fastest game is about 1 round per two days or so.

Yowch. I've never had a PbP take more than a day (or two, if it starts late in the day) to get through a single COMBAT, much less a round.

1 round per 2 days is excruciating, much less a round a WEEK. I'd find it hard to stay invested in a game that slow.

1 round per 2 days is definitely a glacial pace. It could be rough maintaining everyone's interest moving that slow. I know I would likely get bored.

On a related note, a friend is working on a bot that parses PBP threads here on a paizo forums to generate data about pacing, DM turnaround time, and the health/expected success rate for a campaign. The general stat trend is exactly what you'd expect. =P

Yowch. I've never had a PbP take more than a day (or two, if it starts late in the day) to get through a single COMBAT, much less a round.

1 round per 2 days is excruciating, much less a round a WEEK. I'd find it hard to stay invested in a game that slow.

I guess my PbPs have been pretty slow, then. Then again, I haven't been involved in PbPs as much the last year or so.

I'm very reluctant to pass judgement right now, because I'm pretty tired, but this is definitely worrying. We might have to rethink how this is going to work.

I'm definitely not giving up on this game--I've been having a blast so far (albeit with somewhat mixed GM feelings about Erip's untimely execution). I want that to be clear. But we might have to take a moment aside to determine how to handle this, because a PbP is slow enough without issues like this.

Seriously? Well then you guys are extremely lucky. I have many games where updates from DMs are like once a week at best. This is definitely the fastest moving game I'm in right now. Second fastest the DM posts from his phone a lot and usually they are single word or single sentence posts riddled with spelling and grammar errors. However, the combats do go pretty quickly there.

That's why I'm in sooo many games right now, because most of them are very slow.

The fact that you finished an AP in 4 months is insane. I've not heard of anyone else doing one in less than like 2 years in PBP. I thought my game where we did a PFS scenario in about a month was doing really good.

It doesn't really matter. I think asking to wait for me to act in combat is totally fair. I have to wait for you guys every afternoon and evening while you sleep and aren't posting. I would never expect one of you to agree to be permanently botted in combat.

I dunno, MAYBE that's the norm because I always hear PbPs are slow, but that just seems unworkable. If you're running an AP and taking a literal month to get through most encounters (4 round combat, a week a round) it would take you a freakin' decade to get through a whole thing.

Whenever I run a PbP I institute a "One post per 24 hours" rule just to keep things moving at a decent clip, so maybe my experience is a mite skewed.

As for Erip's death...that's nothing on your GMing. You pulled your punches on that and it wasn't enough, c'est la vie.

No offense to Gark, but that was all on him for deciding not to Cast Defensively when he's dumped literally all his physical stats, especially with Con 9 and Dex 7 (AKA easy to hit and easy to kill).

Incidentally, finishing an AP in almost exactly four months is pretty darn impressive. I will say we probably won't be quite that expedient no matter what. ;D

Yeah, I've been in one Legacy of Fire game now that started September 20th, 2012 and we're not even through the first book yet.

I'm running a Carrion Crown that started November 6th, 2012 and we're in the middle of book 2.

Also, if it's okay to DMPC me in a fight, why isn't it okay to DMPC Carina and Robin right now? They are outvoted 3:2 even assuming neither of them changed their minds after my little speech.

The difference I personally see is that this is a roleplaying scene, not a combat scene, and I don't like DMPCing characters when roleplaying. I also waited for Cuetzpalli to give his thoughts on what direction to take now.

Heh. I don't expect most folks to finish an AP in four months. I just like to use it as an example of what's possible. =P

I started a Second Darkness game with most of the same people but this one's going a bit slower. We're at ~8 months and almost done with book 3.

For one, DMPCing someone in combat is a hell of a lot different than making RP decisions for them, please don't try to conflate the two.

Secondly, KC has said he's going to stop doing so now. Personally I don't have a problem with your posting schedule since you've been posting every day. It's a new PbP, kinks are being worked out, that's why we're having this discussion.

For the record, my general guide of an optimal PbP has always been Aubrey's. His ROTR game is on its third chapter after seven years.

Then again, like I said, I haven't been that active in PbP matters until recently.

I like Aubrey, but seven years to finish three books is too long.

14 years to finish a mid-level campaign is depressing, heh.

Alright, cool. I don't want to be difficult, but I want to have fun too. I'm sure it'll be fine. As you said, new games always have to find their pace. I think this one will definitely be fun, even if it's a little slower than theoretically possible.

Edit:Without trying to make it a further discussion I would say in my opinion combat is more important because you can die there. RP usually comes down to group majority decisions anyway. Yeah, sometimes characters refuse to go along with the party, but that's usually ends up being less fun for everyone if my past experience is anything to go off of. I would say a minimum of DMPCing the best bet in any case. Only to be used when someone is holding up the game for more than a day or so.

I like Aubrey, but seven years to finish three books is too long.

14 years to finish a mid-level campaign is depressing, heh.

And yet it's managed to keep going seven of those years. That's pretty darn impressive. :P

Impressive maybe but 14 years is way too long.

I posted Erip's obituary.

No offense to Gark, but that was all on him for deciding not to Cast Defensively when he's dumped literally all his physical stats, especially with Con 9 and Dex 7 (AKA easy to hit and easy to kill).

If we were trying to withdraw, there was no way I could avoid an AOO/an attack next round. It was a mistake to move so far out, though.

Thanks, Dragoncat.

e: Also, what kind of class would you guys like to see? I haven't played a rogue ninja in like seven years, and we only have one relatively arcane "caster."

Yeah, looking at the way combat went, Erip going down was fairly inevitable. If the AoO hadn't brought him down, the Whirling Frenzy would have done the trick. His only way of getting out of that was a full Withdraw action.

Even then I'd only be 20 feet away, and Tanith would probably have wanted to retreat as well if he didn't have to worry about protecting me so much.

Also maybe you guys could retreat just to the dais? The wolf den would be safer, probably, but it's gross.

You'd be forty feet. Withdraw allows you to double-move.

Erip curses her stupidity from beyond the grave.

About spells per day: Are you sure?

Like other spellcasters, a cleric can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day.

Also, the warpriest class, like the cleric class, explicitly states they must choose one time of day to prepare spells.

Tanith’s prayer time is during the sunrise. That special hellish hour that only truly dedicated fitness devotees regularly see.

Long-term care could also be an attractive option, if you take the time for Carina to rest later in the night and let Tanith prepare new spells.

Also, I think I'll play a cleric of Olidammara? CN human with the Chaos and Luck domains. She could encounter the party as they travel to or from town and, seeing their valuable artifacts, attempt to blackmail them into letting her join the expedition. Might just be an ex-member of a hill bandit gang who's looking for new employment, and who just asks to join the first group she meets, or the party could actively recruit in Diamond Lake (where she could be a friend of someone in the group, or just a particularly convincing candidate).

I'm leaving some time during the "resting period" for characters to roleplay (and players to decide how long the resting will last). After today, if things seem to have died down, I'll move things on.

Going to have to pick this up in the morning.

Age of Worms: Well, three hundred posts and the wizard got eaten by bugs.

The fact that we've busted out 300 posts in four days is extremely impressive to me. Loving the game so far, great job DMing and keeping the pace up KC :)

I'm crashing for the night. If KC is staying up, keep exploring!

I'm down for the count too. Might be on a little earlier tomorrow, or a lot later, depending.

I'm laughing on the inside at this.

Carina's freaking out over an elevator. I'd hate to see how she'd react to seeing a computer... XD

Leaving for my real life game in a little bit to be gone for the rest of the day basically. If Spiny doesn't come down, Cuet will go back up and get him. (assuming Tanith doesn't break the elevator)

Then he'd want to press on down this new tunnel. Cuet first, then tanith, then Carina, then Robin, then Spiny. If the horse comes he can go wherever. We just need the squish in the middle.

As much I love playing Tanith up as a dumb animal (dat 7 int), we can't spend all day stumped by fancy engineering. =P

"I think next time I'll take the stairs..."

EDIT: On a more serious note, go ahead and bot Carina if combat breaks out for the time being.

In combat, Carina would make use of her bombs as long as none of her party members would be caught in the blast radius. If she has to take out a dangerous threat while one of the party is still in range of the blast, she'd make an effort to catch as few PCs as possible in the explosion.

In hindsight, I should have quietly swapped the rolls on Tanith and Cuetzpalli so that the barbarian with the offline player would be asleep and the warpriest with the player currently waiting would be able to act.

Then again, there would still be the matter of Spiny. Oh well.

Heh, it's okay.

Six hours ago I was actually playing Way of the Wicked and murdering innocent followers of Mitra... -evil laugh-

Sorry if I held things up for a few hours, but I posted now :)

I'm planning WotW right now too, fun AP.

What book are you on?

KC's getting hungry. He's already killed a Dwarf, now he's going to kill an Animal Companion off screen. =)

We're going to round that corner after combat and find Spiny's mangled corpse, "Killed by descending scythe blades WHICH ARE COMING RIGHT AT YOU NOW MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

We are still in book one, nearing the climax I'm told.

Ah. We're in Book 3 ourselves, about halfway through.

This AP doesn't hold back when it comes to the horrific monster-types.

Hopefully there's something wrasslin' appropriate in the future. =)

You could easily grapple these things. They are tiny, their CMD is probably like 4.

Exaggerating, but yeah..