Mahorfeus' Legacy of Fire (Inactive)

Game Master Mahorfeus

Keeping close to Julius, the small fox did seem interested in a jumping competition with the simian lady. However when the figure in the distance starts to flee, instinctively Lyssa chases after it causing a small curse to utter from Ruika's lips. "Дафт девојка" As the larger cloaked figure moves after her companion, despite heeding Anapa's warning.

Anapa gets into a run after them. Growling in frustration. Silently praying
"Ra, do not set on us. Anubis, guide and protect our mortal souls..."
His weapon ready in case his caution is warrented

-Posted with Wayfinder

Like a hound chasing a fox chasing a rabbit, Narkû joins the race after the figure, keeping an eye out for the impending ambush.

movement 20', double movement and running as appropriate

perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (7) + 0 = 7

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Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion, scimitar and cold iron longsword, +1 damage on next successful hit;

"Some kind of beard man," says Sarala, "He seems to be chasing something, maybe we can help whoever is not bad!" With that, she sprints off.

Movement 40', double movement and running as appropriate as well.

Thurrios will follow, although not as fast as the others apparently!

Julius cocks his head as everyone starts pursuing the figure in the distance. He glances at the halberd over his shoulder and sighs.

"Guess I get a crash course in how to carry you into battle, eh Demoniaxe?"

Swinging the weapon in front of his body and charging forward with it in both hands feels more natural, so Julius does this and begins to pursue the others. He glances back once in a quick sweep to make sure nothing behind them seems suspicious.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15 +1 if opposed

The party charges forward in pursuit of the enigmatic figure, descending the hill and ascending the next. The chase does not last long, however. When you reach the area where the man was wandering just moments before, you catch sight of him at the bottom of the hill. He stoops over the body of a dead beetle, its carapace split open. The man promptly snaps off one of its legs and takes a bite out of it. Only as you draw close does the man finally notice your group. He says nothing at first, watching you quietly as he chews on his meal. After swallowing he wipes his mouth off with his sleeve and stands.

The man is dressed in filthy, tattered robes that might have been lavish once. His similarly colored turban sits loosely on his head, partially unraveled. Locks of long, dark hair hang down over his face, complementing his unkempt dark beard. Numerous pieces of gear hang off his belt, most prominent being an ornate blade.

"These lands must be popular this time of the year," he says with amusement, his Taldane refined, with a thick Osirian accent.

Julius allows the halberd's end to stab into the dirt while he pants and catches his breath. He looks at the man calmly eating beetle leg and raises an eyebrow.

"Ho there. You seem to be taking our pursuit of you rather well considering what usually must happen to those pursued in these parts."

Standing straight, Julius holds the halberd's shaft in one hand and brushes himself off with other. Slinging the weapon back up onto his shoulder with his left hand, he extends his right to the man.

"My name is Julius. Might you be Oxvard?"

"It is fortunate then that my pursuers are so well-mannered," the Osirian man says with a chuckle, "If you meant me any harm, I do believe I would already be dead."

Letting the beetle leg drop to the ground, he wipes off his hand before extending it to the arcanist, giving his hand a single firm shake.

"Not Oxvard, I am afraid. Though that is a rather strange-sounding name. You may call me Haidar."

Skidding to a stop causing twin tails in the dusty ground, the tall cowled figure leans down to Lyssa. The fox having seen the beetle carapace and turned up her nose at the 'victors trophy' for the race decides to jump on a nearby rock.

Ruika's heart still racing from both sudden exertion in the pounding heat and concern for her furry friend, berates her softly in her deep accent - though there's a tinge of relief to her voice. Once she's finished, she turns to see the newcomer for the first time properly. Quickly judging him to be no direct threat, especially given Julius' acceptance of the human, she moves over to Sarala with Lyssa abashedly in tow.

"He from B-team?" she queries.

After the greeting he looks the man over
"Excuse me for asking, but looking at your apparel, your weapon seems a bit out of place. May I ask where you aquired such a weapon? "

He shakes his head
"Appologies. My name is Anapa. I am a scion of Anubis. Pleased to meet you"

-Posted with Wayfinder

Julius retrieves his hand after the vigorous shake. He tries not to look too disappointed.

"Ah, well, yes. Well met despite not being Oxvard, Haidar. I agree, Oxvard is a rather strange name. A group of Pathfinders came to Kelmarane had a run of bad luck some time back. We stumbled across one of them much as we have you. He advised his comrade Oxvard might still be alive."

Julius cocks his head and hooks his right thumb in his belt.

"I don't suppose you have run into B Team by chance? You did mention things being busy. Oh? What's a B Team?" Julius asks. "The mighty Thurrios the Forgiving will have to fill you in on their appearance. I've never met them."

More likely Julius just never bothered to remember if he had.

A look of disappointment is obvious on Narkû face, but you are not sure if it because someone or something killed the beetle before him or that there is not to be a fight after the chase.

He is about to say something to the stranger put pauses a moment as he stares at Julius.

With a shake of his head in disbelief, he turns his back to the group, pulling his falchion in the same movement.

"The hand wiggler has named his halberd. Wake up and prove yourself sword," he says to his falchion with a growl.

---------------------------------------------
Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion, scimitar and cold iron longsword, +1 damage on next successful hit;

Haidar looks to Anapa with a puzzled expression, but a smile then breaks out on his face. In contrast with his rather raggedy appearance, his teeth are impeccably white.

"Ah, so you revere the ancient gods? How quaint. It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Anapa," he says, bowing his head respectfully. At the paladin's mention of his weapon he flinches visibly, his smile vanishing for a moment before returning in all its splendor. "Oh, this? Its name is En-Nebi - I received it as a gift oh so long ago. It is one of the few precious things I have left in this world. Have you any news from Osirion? It has been years since I last stepped foot in my homeland."

The Osirian then turns to Julius, pondering his words. "Kelmarane, you say? I have taken great pains to avoid the place myself. I do hope you find your friend alive and well." He pauses again, frowning in confusion. "But ah, I did cross paths with another group just a day or two ago. Roughly the size of your own, if memory serves. They were not nearly as polite as the two of you."

Sarala shakes her head in reply to Ruika's question, and steps forward to stand with Julius as he talks to Haidar. "You ran across another group like us? What kind of trouble did those rabble-rousers get up to? Why, that's just like them, classic B-team. Actually... can you tell us what they looked like so that we can confirm if it was actually classic B-team?"

"They were all quite strange," Haidar recalls, thinking back, "Ah, I remember now. There were four of them. One woman carried a sword nearly as tall as herself, another had pale blue skin. One of the men was a half-elf, and the other was a mangy-looking human who smelled rather foul.

"They were rather curious about the gnoll activity around here. I told them what I could, and sent them on their way."

Forgive my forgetfulness, but is that them?

Yep. The three former PCs, as well as the NPC "gnoll expert" Dashki.

"Indeed, those are the ones we seek. How long ago did you say, and just where?"

Haidar strokes his beard, deep in thought. "Hm. Just yesterday, I believe. My apologies, the days fly by fast out here.

"Only rarely do the gnolls tread these grounds. Perhaps they fear the predators, or perhaps they see no strategic value in them, though that might be giving them too much credit. Your friends and I parted ways soon after. Perhaps they are still around here somewhere."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Haidar, what is it that concerns you? Are we expecting something from the east?

Sense Motive: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 5

Taking a step back towards the shadows, Ruika looks towards the eastern horizon and back towards the town.

Whilst Lyssa moves forward to nudge the back of Sarala's legs. Cast Guidance on Sarala

"East?" Haidar flinches more visibly this time, and his smile does not return. He looks in that direction pensively.

"The closest thing I have to a home is in that direction. I do not like straying from it for very long. And I am always wary of... squatters taking up residence."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

"Squatters taking up residence?" repeats Sarala, "What kinds of squatters hang around these parts? You mentioned there aren't really many gnolls around here, and those are the worst of the squatters we've come across."

"There are far worse predators than gnolls out here, strange one," Haidar answers, looking at Sarala as though he just now noticed her, "Ones that are not so cowardly... or foolish, for that matter. Not the kind of house pests a hermit like me would want." He chuckles at his own joke, but stops abruptly.

"Alas, I am afraid that we must part ways. As you might imagine, it is worse out here at night."

Being as I am incredibly terrible at describing the passage of time, it can be assumed to be getting close to dusk.

"You got room for Narkû in 'home' for Narkû tonight? Narkû can drive out squatters if they there, if you have meal for Narkû."

"No!" the Osirian abruptly shouts, his expression turning manic. He eyes Narku frantically, suspiciously even, before turning that same gaze to the rest of your party. The moment passes however, and Haidar is soon cordial again, smiling apologetically.

"My apologies. There is a certain toll that a life of solitude exacts... I am afraid I am not one for company. But fear not! Just as I have safety in shelter, you have safety in numbers. I wish you the best of luck in your search for your friends."

Haidar gives your group a polite bow before turning away to start his journey eastward.

Julius frowns. There was something...odd about this fellow.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 +2 if opposed

But Julius just couldn't put his finger on what was wrong other than the obvious.

Completely unaffected by the sight of fellow humanoids after living in "solitude", very disturbed at the mention of someone visiting his home, and the man was eating bugs!

"Sarala...मैं इस आदमी पर भरोसा नहीं है। उन्होंने कहा कि अभी किसी भी परेशानी के बिना gnoll नियंत्रित क्षेत्र के बाहरी इलाके में यहाँ रह रही है? और आप वह Narkû यात्रा करने के लिए आने के बारे में कैसे मिल गया परेशान देखा था? मैं और अधिक लग रहा है, हम देख रहे हैं की तुलना में यहाँ पर जा रहा है।," the arcanist whispers softly to his friend.

"Calm down friend. We will not impose on your privacy. But stay safe. Even if nothing has yet happened, this new incursion may cause trouble for you in the near future" he gives him a comforting smile

-Posted with Wayfinder

After Haidar walks away and out of hearing, Narkû says in a hushed tone, "Narkû does not trust him. Narkû thinks he knows about 'B-Team', and Narkû should 'Infiltrationing' his home."

"If you decide on that, I will not participate unless we have evidence. I did say I will not intrude. And I will stick to that. Unless you can prove to me he is in the wrong, I can not intrude on his homestead" he says firmly

-Posted with Wayfinder

Narkû shrugs his shoulders in an obvious 'what-ever' attitude.

"You should learn not to say words that limit your options, Anapa."

"Narkû ready to keep searching. Which way Narkû go?" Narkû says as he scans the horizon.

"Oh shucks, you've bound us to something while I was thinking about how Julius's language skills are coming along?" says Sarala to Anapa, putting her hands on her hips. "I want to spy on the guy because as both Narkû and Julius have mentioned, there's something pretty off about him. He seemed to be hiding something from us, so I'd be inclined to trust Narkû's razor-sharp intuition."

"You are not bound. I do not intend to force you to do as I said. Just know I am bound by my word. If you do find something that proves that he is being dishonost, I will be more than happy to help"

-Posted with Wayfinder

"Let us off and go see about them ourselves," suggests Thurrios.

When Haidar reaches the peak of the next hill over, he turns around to wave at you before continuing onward, disappearing from view.

So unless I'm wrong, everybody but Anapa wants to follow him?

yup.he wont intrude. But he will be lose by

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Ruika and her furry friend will follow the others, a trifle uncertain of stalking the man back to his dwelling and slightly unsettled by the fact it's getting dark and she's miles from her home.

"Well, alright then, Anapa. Good on you for being literal in your word, 'cause I can work with literal," says Sarala. "The spirit of the rules is a bit trickier. I guess you can be our lookout? Or... show of hands, who can see well in the starlight?" She raises her hand.

Narkû raises his hands.

Ruika inclines her head in sardonic assent, however Lyssa bounces up and down - nearly doing a back-flip to agree with Sarala's query.

"The dark has never been a problem for my sight" he acknowledges

-Posted with Wayfinder

After a few moments of deliberating, the party decides to follow after Haidar. The Osirian man has a considerable lead, but this proves advantageous, as the direction he is heading in is already abundantly clear. True to the hermit's word, the sky soon goes dark as the sun sets, but the group's best trackers are thankfully equipped to see under such conditions. Nearly an hour passes in relative silence, only the eerie sounds of winds blowing across the badlands filling your ears.

As you reach the peak of a particularly tall hill, Haidar's apparent destination becomes clear. Down the hill, not even a hundred yards ahead is a sprawling ruin. Its walls loom twenty feet high, though even from this distance you can tell that they are barely holding together. Much like the monastery the rest of your caravan resides in, this structure is a victim the ages. Haidar himself is nowhere to be seen.

"I wonder what that old structure is. Anyone familiar with such things?"

Narkû scratches his head for a few seconds while he thinks about Thurrios' question.

Kn Local: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21
Kn Everything else, max DC 10: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (17) + 0 = 17

"Hmmm, well ruins can have monsters, and monsters can have treasure, and monsters kill 'B-Teams', 'cuz they are not as good as 'A-Teams'."

Knowing something, max DC 10: 1d20 ⇒ 9

"Yeah, I think I'm on the same page as you, Narkû. Julius, I bet you know all kinds of stuff about these dusty old ruins. Except wait, you have useless human eyeballs. I'll describe it to you, and maybe you can say something insightful?" says Sarala, putting her fingers around her eyes again in a goggles imitation.

Sorry for being absent for so long! Looks like I would need to know if it's possible for Sarala's description to be of any benefit before having Julius roll on any knowledge checks. Let me know!

Julius sighs as he looks around at the shadows of the night. Sarala's offer just reminded him off the physiological advantages all the other races always seemed to possess over humans. He often pondered how humans had become so dominant despite such evolutionary disadvantages. Without magic, where would humans have ended up? Such a fascinating philosophical topic, but not one Julius was able to indulge at the moment.

He listens to his friend whisper her description and tries hard to find anything he might know that resembles it. Her rather unique method of speaking was definitely not as useful as say another scholar's would be, but he was fairly used to it by now. Maybe she would say just the right thing this time.

Ruika looks concerned towards the sprawling ruin; "So you say we sneak down there, investigate - with Anapa look after heavier louder items here."

"Could work." she concludes.

"This may be another religious ruin, they are known to be hidden in the area. We should be weary of undead like the ruined temple in Kalmarane."

Welcome everyone!

The opening post is more or less finished, but before we kick things off, I just wanted to ask a few preliminary questions. I was rather upfront with “no combat maps” aspect of this campaign, but there are other things that I am more flexible with that I wanted my chosen players’ opinions on. The answers to these questions might address how fast combat - or even the game in general - moves along.

1. Do you want me to keep information such as the AC and hit points of enemies hidden?

2. Do you want me to perform all of my dice rolls in plain view, within the post?

3. Do you want me to roll your saves and initiative for you during combat?

4. During combat, would you rather that everyone post in initiative order, or that everyone post in any order?

5. Keeping in mind that this AP is sandboxy at times, would you rather level up based on experience, or at loosely established points in the main story?

There might be a few other things that have slipped my mind, so feel free to ask any other questions about how I plan to run the game.

1. No, because nothing is more maddening than not knowing if you confirmed that crit or not.

2. I say spoiler them if there's a lot (And trust me, there will be times you're making two dozen rolls for saves, attacks, and damage.) If it's only two or three, I'd think it's pretty much up to how open you want to be.

3. Initiative yes. Others, I'm okay with either or.

4. I'd prefer block initiative.

5. I'd say follow the advancement track (Hooray for less bookkeepinG!)

Do you mind if I offer some unsolicited advice? It's spoilered below in case you don't want it.

1.) I think keeping it secret is probably the best way to go, but it's up to you.

2.)It's completely up to you. There's benefits to keeping things secret and negatives as well. I think it's probably up to your preference as a DM.

3.) I think this would be good to speed things up. :)

4.) I think any order is fine to speed things up though this might require a bit of back tracking if people end up colliding with one and other. I would be happy with it either way to be honest.

5.) I've come to prefer leveling up at loose times chosen by the DM, but if everyone else prefers experience points I wouldn't have any qualms with it.

Thanks for running you're awesome! :D

First of all, thank you for selecting me. There were a lot of great candidates, and I'm honoroed to have been chosen.

My thoughts on these:

1) I'm split. Knowing them might cause people to change actions. But not knowing them might slow the game down. Eg. If I know a bad guy has 5 hitpoints left, and I do 6 with my first hit, then I know to apply my later attacks, or to move, or whatever. That's info I'd have at a tabletop game. And I can write that right into my post. However, knowing the guy's AC is low, could allow for me to choose to Power Attack freely, etc. Anyways, like I said, I'm split. If forced to vote, I vote for you opening the stats up, but the other route I'm fine with too.

2) Yes, please! Be sure they have names in the code, so we know what they are for. Individual PCs might have specific abilities that would nerf specific damage, etc. Eg. Fire damage and Ifrit (muahaha), or flanking damage against an unflankable opponent, etc. We'lll know what to include in our damage totals and what not to.

3) I have found that you rolling up Initiative is the way to go. It allows you to immediately set up the fight, take your attacks if you go first etc. I would prefer to roll my own saves, but would not be offended if you did it in the heat of combat. However, again, we may have situational save modifiers (vs enchantment, vs fear, etc) that you may miss.

4) Posting in order will take forever. You should resolve the actions definitely as PCs vs NPCs, but I will not personally be upset if my Init beats another PC, who announces their actions before I do, because they see the combat first, and then you resolve their action to kill the lead monster. I'm not in this for the body count (although my PC could be, well not this PC, but I have characters who would be). So, to keep it moving, I don't care if when the PCs are up which order we go. Just don't let the bad guys go before us, etc. Did I explain that well, or poorly?

5) Level up when you say so! I know the APs have lines like "they should be 2nd level before approaching the..." so I say go like that.

On the subject of the battle maps. I know some had angst about it. Some characters require diverse positional things to execute, etc. As long as a statement like "I move to flank" works with you, then it works with me. Likewise "I drop a fireball on the bad guys, and do it in a way to miss the good guys." If everyone is reasonable, it will work fine.

It looks like the players agree on quite a few of these!

1. Do you want me to keep information such as the AC and hit points of enemies hidden?

2. Do you want me to perform all of my dice rolls in plain view, within the post?

3. Do you want me to roll your saves and initiative for you during combat?

4. During combat, would you rather that everyone post in initiative order, or that everyone post in any order?

5. Keeping in mind that this AP is sandboxy at times, would you rather level up based on experience, or at loosely established points in the main story?

• I prefer to have that info hidden with one caveat. You describe the state of the creature so we can make a decision based on this description. Since the PCs don't see things in a mechanical sense, the player can make adjustments with this info.

• I like the GM rolls in a spoiler. This becomes important when you have a lot of rolls to make, and it keeps the game play thread clean for everyone.

• I don't mind the GM rolling a save in the heat of combat to keep things moving. Out of combat, I prefer to roll saves myself. As for initiative, I prefer to have everyone keep their own number and have the GM roll for us to keep the game moving.

  As many people play a PC with varying abilities which add to initiative in one way or another, rolling PC initiative and taking the highest number for which side goes first can diminish said ability.

  Case in point, a battle oracle has access to the War Sight revelation. It allows two dice to be rolled for initiative and to take the highest. Rolling block initiative takes that away.

• As long as the actions resolve in order I am fine with posting out of order.

• For experience, I like the thematic feel of leveling up at rough points in the AP based on how you feel we are doing and how far we have gone.
  

Looking forward to playing!

Of note, does anyone have any build feedback on Khasra before I finalize him? I think I have everything but sometimes even I do miss things in my zeal to have fun.

@ Grand Moff Vixen: About Block Initiative, it doesn't necessarily make it less valuable. If the GM is aware of the ability and rolls accordingly, you don't lose the advantage. It does lessen the importance for the individual, yes, but it can still help the group.

using your example, say we have a party of four, and one is your oracle going against a group of four goblins.

Fighter: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
oracle 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
oracle 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
wizard: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
ranger: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Gob 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Gob 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Gob 3: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Gob 4: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Okay, so the goblins go first, but what if the ranger had rolled abysmally, and those 20s were 15s? Then the ability comes into play and it helps the group cinch the initiative.. Yes it doesn't matter as much on an individual basis, but that doesn't automatically make it worthless.

Sorry if I came off preachy. Not trying to be antagonistic, just trying to illustrate a point. I am very much looking forward to playing, and I'm wondering how Khatijah will turn out.

Maybe I misinterpreted "block" initiative.

I'd prefer each PC to have an initiative number.

I'd prefer each group of NPCs have a number (4 goblins all get a 12 and the hobgoblin BBEG has a 9, not 5 separate initiatives).

Intitiative would resolve as

PC A and B
Goblins
PC C and D
Hobgoblin
PC E

Or if noone is is between the groubs of bad guys, in round 1 it is:

PCs A, B, C, and D
Bad guys
PC E

And from then on, it's more or less:

US
THEM
US
THEM

With no true healer, I notice the Bard has CLW at 1st level. Should I take it as well?

Wouldn't hurt. At the very least it'll keep us on our feet until we can get a Happy Stick or two. :D

I just suddenly realized that Khatijah and Khasra sound and look somewhat similar. :-)

Sorry if I came off preachy. Not trying to be antagonistic, just trying to illustrate a point. I am very much looking forward to playing, and I'm wondering how Khatijah will turn out.

I understood what you were getting at. And no, you didn't sound preachy at all. Thanks for illustrating that for me, I appreciate it. :-)

Huh, I didn't notice that until you pointed it out.

Well, she's true neutral, and pretty much a lump of clay at this point. IF Khasra plays it right, he might have a buddy in the NE corner. :D

(Also glad to know that I didn't come off preachy. I worry about that when I get close to soapboxes.)

With no true healer, I notice the Bard has CLW at 1st level. Should I take it as well?

I have ranks in heal. Also my blood has healing properties if I'm not too beat up myself.

edit: I realized my name wasn't spelled the way I intended it to be pronounced. I hope no one minds if I add an H.

Thurrios the Forgiving wrote:

With no true healer, I notice the Bard has CLW at 1st level. Should I take it as well?

I have ranks in heal. Also my blood has healing properties if I'm not too beat up myself.

edit: I realized my name wasn't spelled the way I intended it to be pronounced. I hope no one minds if I add an H.

Well, choosing a name is a very fun thing when I make my characters. When you get the spelling in such a way that you realize you want to change it. Go ahead, I don't mind.

I don't mind, it's just a good thing that you caught it before you hit the post count that locks you out of editing it. Happened to me before.

And I suspect that there will be enough healing available to the party, even before you all get a, ahem, Happy Stick.

At any rate, thank you all for answering my questions. There seems to be a pretty good consensus on certain issues, with slight dissent at others. We won't be hitting the first combat just yet, so we still have time to get our last member's opinion on things.

Speaking of whom, I've PMed Marossa letting her know that she is in the game. I didn't necessarily expect you all to show up today, so it isn't particularly troublesome.

All of that being said, I've went ahead and put up the first post of the campaign. Mostly exposition and elaboration on what got your characters into this mess - any information in it can be regarded as being common knowledge. This is mostly just your chance to establish your characters' personality, appearance, and whatever else you want through roleplay. God knows your characters had to pass the time somehow. :P

Turns out I already had CLW!

Hey everyone! Thanks for accepting me into your campaign DM Mahorfeus! Marossa is pretty much ready to go since she was previously built for another campaign. As for your questions...

1. Do you want me to keep information such as the AC and hit points of enemies hidden? I prefer hidden, but with descriptions.

2. Do you want me to perform all of my dice rolls in plain view, within the post? Hidden behind spoilers is how most DMs I've met here have done dice rolls. I like the look of a clean role play thread.

3. Do you want me to roll your saves and initiative for you during combat? This one is a pretty sticky situation for a lot of groups I find. Personally I prefer the same style as Thurrios, but Marossa isn't an initiative machine either so she's unlikely to influence a block initiative style either.

4. During combat, would you rather that everyone post in initiative order, or that everyone post in any order? Posting out of initiative order works great for me as long as you're willing to handle adjudicating group actions that contradict each other DM. Otherwise I've found that arguments can arise among the party about which actions happen and which don't, etc.

5. Keeping in mind that this AP is sandboxy at times, would you rather level up based on experience, or at loosely established points in the main story? Level us up whenever you want to DM, I don't mind. :)

I'll have a post up in the gameplay thread in a little bit, but I wanted to ask you something as well DM Mahorfeus. I was wondering how you wanted to deal with my characters addiction to Pesh? If you don't want to deal with the darker aspects of drug addiction I am perfectly willing to gloss over it but it is a pretty integrated part of my character's back story. The Chronicles guide to Katapesh has some stuff to say on addiction to Pesh and it's effects on characters and if you don't have that book I can give a short write up of the basic effects.

Anyway, just wanted to get your opinion.

I do not actually have access to that book, so I would definitely appreciate a brief write-up since the fluff isn't covered by the OGL. Glancing at the PRD however, it does reference how drug addiction is more or less a disease. I'm fine with you addressing it mechanically like that (despite how punishing it can be), or purely through roleplay. It is largely up to you regarding how deeply you want to explore it - I am not opposed to doing so. Pesh is (obviously) quite common in Katapesh, so it is a thing bound to come up rather soon.

I'll put your name on Thurrios' "To be redeemed" list.

Gonna spoiler this because its pretty long.

Hm. I am in agreement with the blurb's sentiment that the negative effects of pesh already outweigh its benefits, even discounting addiction.

That being said, I am going to be a little unhelpful and just say that it's up to you whether you want to play out the addiction mechanically or just through roleplay. In either case, pesh should not be too difficult to get your hands on, so withdrawal is unlikely to come into play.

I will say that it is an interesting aspect of your character that I do want to see work out one way or the other.

Alrighty then. Since I've gotten everyone's feedback, I'll address my own questions at this point.

1. Without combat maps, managing the hit points of individual enemies will be a tad more difficult, but I'll be differentiating enemies through description as much as possible. That being said, we seem to be a little divided on this one. I will go ahead and keep hit points hidden, but as already suggested, describe the overall state of the enemies. (The deathwatch spell might be a good thing for me to go off of.) I will keep things like Armor Class hidden as well; I think it is easy enough to guess what it is after a few successful hits and/or misses. Stuff like Spell Resistance and concealment however, I will roll for the first time it comes up, and then reveal so that you can make the rolls yourselves.

2. I will definitely be putting my dice rolls into spoilers. That will definitely help since as Marossa stated, they don't play nice with roleplay, especially since we're using descriptive combat. These spoilers will most likely be at the end of my posts. Individual dice rolls will be labeled accordingly (and should also make individual enemies easier to identify).

3. I will roll your initiatives for you (using your individual scores) and, at least during combat, your saves as well. For effects taking place outside of direct combat, you can roll for yourselves.

4. In regards to block initiative, while it does have its merits, I think those moments where the enemies get the drop on you would hurt way too much. Even rolling for groups of enemies (one set of skeletons, one set of goblins) can be painful if their numbers are large. That being said, we will be using individual initiative rolls. For the sake of not letting combat stagnate, you can post in any order, and I will arbitrate any possible contradictions - if necessary, those can be sorted out in here.

5. We seem dead-set on the advancement track, which to be honest, I am okay with. I am not a huge fan of random encounters. Since the game is nonlinear at points, the times at which you level up can vary from close at hand to far away.

5. We seem dead-set on the advancement track, which to be honest, I am okay with. I am not a huge fan of random encounters. Since the game is nonlinear at points, the times at which you level up can vary from close at hand to far away.

Having overcome 5 rules obstacles and done some roleplaying we're on to level 2?

Not that close at hand. :P

I just wanted to say, that I was trying to write from Khat's point of view in that last post. Getting across that she's not all that savvy is going to be hard with that cynical streak she's been developing.

Everyone has now posted in the campaign thread, but I figure that I will give it just a little while longer before moving us on. That is unless, the lot of you feel ready to move on. I'm not pushy. :P

Sorry I hadn't posted yesterday. By the time I got home from work my energy dropped a lot. I hadn't slept well the night before and I went to bed very early.

I don't mind any interaction at this juncture, so when you feel the right time to move on needs to happen go ahead and move things on.

In other words, at your discretion.

However you feel. I probably won't be able to post again till later tonight. I will be able to check, but can't much type on a phone. D: At least not up to acceptable standards.

However you feel. I probably won't be able to post again till later tonight. I will be able to check, but can't much type on a phone. D: At least not up to acceptable standards.

If you have an Android phone, you might consider Wayfinder. I use it and it helps a lot.

Maybe some day someone will write such an app for the iPhone!

I've been considering Wayfinder myself. Well, not for GMing anyway.

At any rate, I will probably update tomorrow at the soonest. That's excluding anything Garavel might react to, or other informative stuffs. It will also give Khasra time to make friends with the rest of the party. ;P

Next post will be up sometime tomorrow. I apologize in advance if it seems a little railroady, though I suppose there isn't exactly anywhere else you can go in the middle of nowhere. At any rate, things should take off for reals.

Next post will be up sometime tomorrow. I apologize in advance if it seems a little railroady, though I suppose there isn't exactly anywhere else you can go in the middle of nowhere. At any rate, things should take off for reals.

The surprise is on you. We were just about to go to Brevoy! Rumor is the Swordlords of Restov are looking for a few good adventurers to clear out the Greenbelt "by sword or by rope."

Then it's off to Ustalav to investigate some weird happenings at some abandoned prison.

Then it's off to Ustalav to investigate some weird happenings at some abandoned prison.

Hehe, I use the same avatar as you have there in a Carrion Crown for a paladin.

I take it back, I'm not apologizing. This train ain't going off the rails. Choo choooo.

Anyway, minus things like initiative and monsters that are trying to kill you, this encounter is a decent example of doing stuff narratively. You have your standard and move actions and so on and so forth. I think it is safe to assume that you can get to anywhere within the camp (i.e. not Geb) with a single move action.

On a semi-related note, would anyone be opposed to private messaging an email address to me? It's not relevant just yet, but Google Drive is where I'll be hosting any reference maps and visual aids.

I'm not opposed, but you don't need them. Make a folder on your drive for this. Open it up and give us links to items in the campaign info.

'Twas only joking. :P

That said, it's okay if things are a little railroady. I have to do that, otherwise I'd spend all of my time having fun interacting with the PCs and seeing what they're like in the games I run.

As for email, My google username is salsa.the.geek
But why not just PM us the link and set the permissions to anyone with the link can view the files?

'Twas only joking. :P

I know. :)

And thanks for the feedback. My ideal situation was to give you all specific permissions to the folder so that I could post the link to it out in the open. Since there are official materials involved, I don't think I can do this with a folder that is open to anyone. By word of mouth I know that this is an approved way of going about it. I own the map folio, but I don't think Paizo would appreciate me giving public access to it.

But I can just PM you all the link as Khatijah says - you'd just have to hold onto it.

All right, I've sent everybody the link. Let me know if you can't get into the folder or see the images in it. :)

I'm still around. Just not much of anything for me to add until some of the others post. :)

How much smoke is being put off from the smoldering tree? Is it a small amount or is it billowing out over the desert?

The tree itself never actually caught on fire. The wagon is smoking, but it won't likely be visible at night.

The pacing working out for everyone so far? Still trying to get a grasp of our little group's quirks.

So far so good. I am liking it. The group dynamic is quite interesting. :-)

I'm good!

Pacing's good, and don't worry about getting a feel for the quirks, I'm still getting a feel for Khatijah.

Apologies for not having posted recently. I have not been feeling well. Having a very harsh headache, feels just about like a migraine, but I am not sure. I can't get myself in the mindset to play my characters when I am like that. It's a push just to be able to be at work. I'll get something in the morning when I settle in at work. I plan on quality sleep tonight so I'll be back in my groove soon. :-)

No problem here, family and health > gaming!