Of Kings and Commoners - Kingmaker AP

Game Master RPGGGM

Oh I wish it was just lack of sunlight, but we have had nothing BUT unseasonably warm weather and bright clear sunlight day after day after day. I prefer clouds and overcast like our marine layer (which has been notably absent of late), and I would kill for a little rain. Getting tired of wearing short sleeves in the dead of winter, lol. Sometimes it sucks living in southern california. I'd much prefer to live up north (like Washington/Seattle area)... sadly, my husband doesn't like the cold so here we stay.

Now I'm depressed. The wind chill was -19 here, and the sun went down at 4:30 pm local time.

Personally, I'm only happy when it rains. ;)

Currently -20 C here with the wind chill, and going to get colder on the weekend. I think GGGM is further north than me too. Sunset here today was 4:49 PM.

Yeah, I think I'd be fine with Southern California right now.

Or Mexico, actually. Yeah, that's it...

Ah, sorry I assumed. But I'll trade you some nice cold rain for that sweet sweet sunshine! It goes down at 14:55 today, so I really could use some more :P

Hmm hmm hmm. There's some really nice hiking mountains in SoCal right? That might work to get the right temperature, even if only for a while!

But yeah I can sympathize with that odd feeling that something off when there's winter and the weather isn't behaving. Hard to really do something about it sadly though.

It's really cold in Boston right now, but I know I gotta take a walk today. I've been inside for most of the week (except for walking out to the Uber/Lyft) and I gotta breathe that freezing air, even for a few minutes.

(Also, maybe buy cheap candy canes)

Well it was 27c (72F) todays and the rest of the week shall vary with the lowest being today and the max being 32c(90F).. terrible time to be in Perth and on holidays... Aaaahh.....

Gee that sounds horrible Zokon! Since I'm such a nice person we can trade if you want ... :-P

Oh and candy canes sounds delicious. Hmm there's probably clearance sales over here too now that you mention it!

@All games: My apologies for the unannounced absence.
As many others, I had been visiting family during the christmas holidays.
I figured I would have some time to post in the evenings - alas, I only had my work laptop with me, and due to neglicence on my part(I don't really actually restart it all that often...hibernate FTW) my certification for the VPN-Tunnel that is enforced on all internet access was not up-to-date. Result being that I had no access to the WWW despite W-Lan availability.
I could, and should, probably have written such an update from my phone, and posted it to all my games, but honestly, I've been too lazy for that - not really a big fan of writing much without a keyboard. So, apologies for that. I came back home today, and will try and catch up with all games as soon as possible/over the next 48 hours.

Also, been enjoying about 2-6° Celsius of temperature, with moderate sunshine, very little rain and only a light breeze. Actually, I can't complain about the weather considering the season, at all.
Albeit some snow would have been nice for christmas.

I'll be away for the next 3 to 5 days with limited net access. Bot me if needed.

@Celyne:
I think you didn't update Luna back then...I'll re-post the analysis here for convenience.

that said, you only needed one roll there.

Animal companions start with 2 HD, probably due to the fact they don't get the full die value for their first HD, only average.

So in "roll or average", that would be 5 for the die, and +1 for the 13 Con, or 6 per HD Luna has.
Which fits perfectly with the 12 HP she had before. With the roll of 1, you'd add another 6, pushing her to 18 HP(+3 from Thoughness, so 21 is correct)
(note that level 3 does not add another HD, so that's actually the "upgrade" from back at level 2).
But, her STR/DEX increased by one, giving her 14 STR and 18 Dex, which results in +1 damage for her attacks, +1 AC and, with the BAB increase at level 2, actually +6 for her primary natural attacks.

Also, her AC should be 3 natural, 4 dex, 1 dodge - I THINK you meant to get her barding sometime but I can't find anything listed in her or your profile....but with listed AC of 19/16/14 you would have to have armor. (14 makes sense without the dex upgrade, dodge+3 dex...but with previously 1 natural armor, you would need 5 AC for 16 Flatfooted...which is beyond light armor and seems unlikely. Masterwork studded leather or something seems most likely so she doesn't suffer from lack of armor proficiency.
That would be 3...and with 3 natural add up to 16.
Then AC would be 21/16/15 (3 armor, 3 natural, 4 dex, 1 dodge) - but no idea if that is even remotely correct, I'm just guessing, here :)[

TL-DR: I think Luna should have better values for the primary attacks and her AC.

Alia - I'll check into it and update shortly, thanks.

Gallant Inspiration is a fancy Intermediate Action spell. : )

When we realized it was undead, my next response would have been to use produce flame. I can see that it probably wouldn't have worked out well even if I got the chance to use it. :)

I feel like the GM's telling us to hurry up and kill the Stag Lord already :)

But he gave him like a thousand minions so...

We'll grab my mercenary crew and we'll stomp em flat.

So, around thousand minions...I see why you bring that up.
I'll make sure to fletch some more arrows for you so you don't run out of ammunition before we're done!

Hmhm. Out of no particular reason, what's the lowest-levelled summon that can read?

Might want to invest in a wand and hand it over to the guards, so they can search people remotely and outside the trading post to avoid this kind of things in the future...

On the bright side we now have a bit more knowledge about the Stag lord and his minions : )

Hm...how about we get them guards to pick up a Swarm of Figment Monkey Familiars?
They could be pretty handy for that kind of stuff - especially if their masters train in UMD...and if they blow up? They'll be back for more the very next day.
Slogan can be something like "We're not monkeying around..."

That's not a bad idea!

They could grab the Eldritch Guardian (I think?) fighter archetype and they'll get to share some feats. That way the monkeys would be useful even in combat :P

I spent too much time talking about dice and now I have to sleep. I'll make a post tomorrow sorry!

But the general plan will be for Illthir to pull herself together and take a shot at that broken wall. Anyone interested in that as well?

Thought: The main difference between the average farmer and bandit is just motivation. So the difference between an angry farmer and a bandit isn't much at all.

Idea: Maybe we can get an army/mob for cheap and right now instead of paying for it and getting it in a few weeks?

Drawbacks: They aren't nearly as well trained or equipped as the mercenaries.

But most of the stag-lords grunts aren't fantastic either (probably). And we PCs can try and be on the frontline, diverting and dealing with the major threats.

Drawback2: Several of them are likely going to die/be severely injured.

No real way of getting around this one. We have Jhod that can help a bit. And the fact that we ourselves can try and stop the major threats.

But! How many will die if we delay? What if the Stag Lord decide to visit Oleg's while we are gone? Or simply continue to murder travellers and take pot-shots at people ...

Thoughts? Anyone else feeling like riling up a mob for some good old torch and pitchforking?

Scarlet's mad. She wants to get this done professionally, and she definitely doesn't want to get anymore innocents killed. Oleg's death and Svetlana's grief already wears down on her.

Mercenaries are trained, less likely to die and they don't mind putting their lives on the line. Also it's Scarlet's family, so she's biased. She's totally willing to risk another attack to make sure this is done right.

While an interesting thought, I concur that we should get the professionals for this job.

Stag Lord has some fortified camp, and it's winter. We can't afford to do a prolonged siege or run out of supply. So our untrained guys would have to assail the enemy untrained guys who have the advantage of a defensive position.
Have enough die during the assault and the others will flee head-over-heels and abandon ship(whereas the enemy guys will probably have slightly higher morale, having nowhere proper to go when we assail them in their winter camp)
And our reputation will be damaged permanently from organizing a failed assault with plenty of deaths.

That said, only a few of us actually DO have a charter.
Zokon, Celyne and Numalar.
That charter DOES include a standing order to strive against banditry.
In order to successfully do so against a group as large as the Stag Lords, they would need support if they want any chance of success.

I say we hire the mercenaries and send the invoice to Restov.
If we succeed and can show how large the operation we stopped was(possibly with a few carts filled with bandit corpses) and declaring the area safe, they'll have a hard time denying that it was a justified expense.
(Plus the Stag Lord was actively assailing critical infrastructure...the bridge, the trading post...etc)

But that's Restov politics and not Alia's field of expertise...I just think Numalar could easily spin doctor that.

Oh yeah, Zokon, Celyne and Numalar can make it all official and get the nobles to pay for it! Scarlet doesn't think about that stuff, she just gets mad.

Actually it is springtime in the valley.

It is? I thought we had winter stuff earlier? Like, supercold weather and all that? Damn. Must have mixed that up with another game.
Reign of Winter a likely suspect? -_-

Even so, we could only levy farmers so long before they need to tend to their fields etc...prolonged siege still not a good idea, nor having peasants storm the ramparts...I stand by having Restov pay for our wall, er...mercenaries! :)

It's springtime for Stag Lord then ... :P

I was mostly thinking of utilizing the torches part of torches n pitchforks and make a nice little fire out of the fort. What are the odds he got a moat or his minions have made a fire break?

But! That's still quite a risky and someone is bound to catch an arrow or something. (And the fairies might get annoyed with us too ...)

---

Hmm there's something else I've been thinking about. I wonder if our fey friend has a concept of mortality or not, since she might be a first worlder...

Actually it is springtime in the valley.

♪ Spring time... ♫ ♪ for the Stag Lord... ♪ ♪ in the Greenbelt... ♫

It is? I thought we had winter stuff earlier?...

The campaign began with us arriving at Oleg's on about the first day of spring. But considering that we are only about 400 miles from the edge of the arctic ice cap, spring is a relative term.

Speaking of which, I've lost track of the date. Haven't been keeping up my journal. What day is it?

@Date - Hmhhmhm I feel like I should know since I asked the very same thing when I joined (and I do recall getting an answer!).

If no-one else realizes it I could go dig trough my pms and so : )

@Mercenary trip - So! Who's actually going?

I thought we all were going but doesn't seem so. And maybe that's for the best ... Or not?

Scarlet, Illthir and Celyne feels like quite a versatile group (as far as three people do). Not sure how Alia, Zokon and Numalar feel without Divine magic but that should probably be workable as long as you don't do anything too drastic and stay friendly with Jhod (or our fairy friend).

Thoughts?

Speaking of which, I've lost track of the date. Haven't been keeping up my journal. What day is it?

Was going to work on that over the long weekend but never got to it.

Scarlet's going to get some mercenaries. Uh, do we want to split the party?

I think the decision to go get the mercenaries was made before the terrorist attack resulting in the murder of Oleg(and some others).

Right now, we have a bearing on them, and could possibly surprise them during their night camp by dismounting a bit after nightfall(plus maybe 2 or 3 hours of forced march for the horses - 1 or 2 guards with us to take care of the horses while we are gone) and then continuing on foot.

After we take revenge arrest them and return them for justice, we can head towards the mercenaries.
If we head towards the merc camp first, there will be no tracks to follow later - and no closure for any who lost someone today at the trading post. Even if the Stag Lord goes down, neither us nor Svetlana will ever know if the ones responsible for this died, escaped, or otherwise evaded punishment for their crimes.

Also, if I remember right, the mercenary camp is quite a bit away.

If we track, we have to move slower than them. Our only chance is to catch up during night, when they camp. If we don't make it during that first night, we'll never manage to catch up.
So regardless of outcome, we can head back, and set out for the mercenary camp with 2 days delay. Even if we don't manage to catch up with Makdoon, I would suppose that's the time it takes for them to get ready to march, anyway :)

Sounds like we might have a decent reason to split the party anyhow considering the magisters smooth question. (Gee wait until the corpse is cold at least!)

That is of course if we want to try and get a foot into the river kingdoms real estate management field :-P

Well, Scarlet blurted something out. She's pretty much torn on revenge and meeting her "family", so someone direct her before she marches off with Angus.

Just as an heads-up(for all my games): In less than 24 hours from now, my second child will be born.
I took a one-month leave from work to stay at home, so chances are I will have opportunities to post.
But between bonding with the little one and keeping the bigger one entertained, my posting patterns MAY be erratic at times, which is why I feel it's fair to inform fellow players(and GM's).
Only the faster-moving games will find a need to bot me, I hope, but if I am responsible for delay, do move on.

Congratulations!

So five years later..... ;)

Congratulations Alia!

First another congratulation!

Then I just have to share that Illthir has a cunning plan to get that fompy type away from the trading post - as soon as I get home to my computer :-)

There! Worth a shot at least.

And ... Should Illthir be rolling a CMB check to forcibly drag Langrave to his well grave?

Good job Illthir. Scarlet was going to start a scene.

Lord Tybolt Langrave His family is aligned most tightly with House Lebeda. Langrave is an expert duelist and holds the title of Aldori Swordlord.

That was the information found out about him the first time we met. But perhaps he merely likes to spread some inflated rumors :P?

Now that's a good way to get dueled to death at noon ... ^^

Totally correct. I had forgotten I had made him a sword as I had forgotten that Varn was a Swordlord. As I don't want them growing off trees, let's say that Langrave is Salvadori Slashmeister, an Aldori knock off Swordlord. Sort of the difference between graduating from Yale Law School and getting an online degree from Trump University.

A slashmeister? Really?
-_-

I know it's a english word, too...but

Origin and Etymology of meister:

Yiddish mayster & German Meister master, from Middle High German meister, from Old High German meistar, from Latin magister — more at master

Finding random german mixed in feels like watching an anime/playing a J-RPG that wants to be extra cool about how they name things...by using random german words. ^_^

And no, I don't really mind, but I had a "for real?" moment there when reading it.

That said, I actually came to say baby is safely back home, meaning I'll have more time again in the future. I already managed to update most of my games(despite being pretty damn tired) but as usual, this one has the highest 'new post' count so I'll save if for tomorrow.
But wanted to say everythings good and I'm back(as warned before, posting may still be erratic for the next weeks) :)

Yay! Congratulations!

A slashmeister? Really?

-_-

I know it's a english word, too...but

Merriam-Webster wrote:

Origin and Etymology of meister:

Yiddish mayster & German Meister master, from Middle High German meister, from Old High German meistar, from Latin magister — more at master

Finding random german mixed in feels like watching an anime/playing a J-RPG that wants to be extra cool about how they name things...by using random german words. ^_^

Hey! I have a character for whom that is a thing! "Crashing Paramour Chop!"

That said, I actually came to say baby is safely back home, meaning I'll have more time again in the future.

Tchyeah, right. ;) Congrats!!

Just a small bump to see if I can't get Paizo to display this thread on my campaign tab again :P

@non-lethal - oh and I think out mounts take lethal damage from forced marches and stuff. Not 100% on where the rules are but they are somewhere :-P

Found 'em!