It is presently late afternoon, fading into dusk. The Embeth Travelers will visit town to meet with you tomorrow afternoon. There are no scheduled engagements between now and then, so you are left to your own devices for the night and morning.
To lay it out a bit more for you:
We went through Goshstone's oven portal.
We showed up in the middle of a giant tree. As Ahto stated, the GM revealed that it was a giant treant. That treant was near death and this is because his heart was taken (or some other reason).
It has been used for dark purposes by Mather to open a portal connection to the first world and torment the gnomes.
This dark use of this poor treant's heart blessed us with the knowledge of a very rudimentary framework for a potential treatment for the Bleaching. Now that we are done with it, and no longer want a portal open here (most likely), we can return the heart to the treant and perhaps restore it? Even though it may seem dead, the treant probably is more likely in a stasis and possibly even saw our actions. If we return it, who knows what will happen?
Pelipe's summary is correct.
Also, I apologize, because I think the problem stems from how I flubbed my attempts at describing the shape of the "wooden object" that turned out to be the treant's heart. I probably should have just taken the simple, direct route and described it as resembling a wooden sculpture of a heart.
I think I got too wrapped up in trying to build up to a reveal, resulting in the confusion.
I browsed through my prior posts, and while it was only a quick review, I couldn't find the post with the information. Now I'm left second guessing myself, wondering whether I thought I included the information in a post but didn't, or if the post got eaten and I never noticed.
If I've made a goof that's led to the confusion, I sincerely apologize.
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Anyhow, here's the synopsis: The giant, dead, hollow tree is actually the remains of an ancient treant named Spry who originally hailed from the First World. Left stranded in the Material Plane, he lost some of his power due to a variant of the Bleaching. Nithra's master removed the weakened treant's heart, killing him, and established it as the power source for the portal used by Nithra and his gang.
Thank you, Pelipe.
When looking back at the posts, I stopped literally one page short of the spoiler to Wonky, hence why I missed it. I feel quite the fool.
Poor Katrine, she genuinely doesn't understand why nobody wants the fey-bane dagger.
And yes, she would totally accept a human-bane weapon if it was one she knew how to wield. It might be useful! Humans can be evil too, why are you looking at me like that?
Do bane weapons bypass DR on their designated enemy type? If not, I'm not sure why anyone would make a fey-bane weapon out of anything other than cold iron.
Looks like Tamlyn may get its own Baby Groot.
You know, right after I made the post, my mind jumped to Baby Groot and I realized the situation I'd inadvertently set up. I'm certainly not adverse to the idea, but I can't claim credit for making an accidental reference.
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Incidentally, after doing some research about particularly tall or stout species of trees in the world, I decided to use the real-world Sitka spruce as inspiration here. While I had considered making the treant something especially large, like a sequoia or redwood, or something exotic like a eucalyptus tree, I decided it would be better to settle upon something that could more easily thrive in Tamlyn's climate and geography.
I love the fact that you took the time to look up a type of tree that would grow in the local climate! Makes my environmental science heart go pitter-pat. :)
Loot tailor made for Katrine! Thank you so much, DM! :D
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Does anyone want Katrine's old bow? If not, we could probably negotiate a trade for another item of comparable value - magical or mundane.
Is there anything anyone feels they need for their character in the 1000-2500 gp range (depending on how well we negotiate)?
Personally, I would like to possibly upgrade my armor, since I am doing a lot of 'tanking', but I also don't need to do this immediately if someone else has a more pressing concern about their character and equipment.
I've been playing for a while now and I still have 0 gold, so it'd just be nice to get that money instead of relying on Ahto to buy things for her (though it has been an interesting dynamic). Perhaps if/when her Granduncle either comes to visit Tamlyn or if we split the reward she will have a tiny bit. She doesn't require a lot.
I don't need her old bow. I'm pretty sure I can't use it. :)
Loot tailor made for Katrine! Thank you so much, DM! :D
You're welcome! I wanted the bow to make up for the fey-bane dagger. I chose it's characteristics so it would be a plausible reward coming from forest-dwelling nomads.
Incidentally, the fey-bane dagger could also be sold for some spending money, in addition to the cash the Travelers provided as part of the reward.
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No problem selling the bow and splitting the funds.
Are there any opinions about doing so with the dagger?
If the majority wants to sell the dagger, too, I'm good with that.
If it comes to an in-character discussion, Ahto would see the dagger as a valuable tool for law enforcement with regard to the First Citizens, especially in cases where the fey in question is violently resisting arrest or capital punishment is warranted. He would be inclined to keep it as an item tied to the office of either Warder or Enforcer. He will, of course, comply with the group if he is out-voted on the issue.
Pelipe in character would have no issue to Ahto's reasonings. Plus, in the middle of the wild, it's less likely to be invaded by an army of men than an army of fey.
I'm in favor of keeping the dagger in case of hostile fey, and so is Katrine. She's a very practical sort of person. After all, we now know that the mastermind behind Horace's murder is a nymph.
As far as gear for Katrine goes, nothing comes to mind. It might be a good idea to invest in a communal wand of cure light wounds though, the one Wonky gave to Katrine is almost out of charges and we don't have a dedicated healer.
@DM: Katrine has access to the animal messenger spell. Would a fast bird, such as a falcon, be able to reach her parents in Cordelon within the time limit? She's level 6 and rangers get spells starting at level 4, so that would be three days.
So keep the dagger, sell the unused bow. Split the gold, and haggle for more! :)
@DM: Katrine has access to the animal messenger spell. Would a fast bird, such as a falcon, be able to reach her parents in Cordelon within the time limit? She's level 6 and rangers get spells starting at level 4, so that would be three days.
After consulting my River Kingdoms map, it seems that Cordelon is approximately 180 miles southwest from Uringen.
Some quick research shows that eagles and hawks can travel about 200-300 miles in a day, at least during migration.
Therefore, yes, a fast bird serving as an animal messenger would definitely be able to reach Katrine's parents within the time limit.
I enjoyed this learning experience, and we got through it without any jokes about swallows or coconuts.
The problem with that is that Katrine has never been to Tamlyn, which is why she didn't offer to use the spell for Pelipe's letter. She needs to be very familiar with the destination in order to put the image of said destination into the animal's mind. Also, the recipient needs to be on the lookout for an animal with a message, since it's going to a place rather than a person. Both of Katrine's parents are rangers and her brother is a druid, so they routinely use animal messenger to keep in touch.
It finally happened to the Vixen. RP’d, rolled the die, natural 1 made a fool of me.
On one hand, I'm incredibly tempted to have the stuck stiletto cause the Vixen to be just a second or two too late to escape the pending plane shift. Granted, I did plant a secret escape route in case one or more of you (or the whole party) became trapped in Uringen.
However, I think I'll just have this lead to a dramatic, last-second escape.
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The inn is in stable Uringen, but the dressmaker was in unstuck Uringen.
However, Seripan (or perhaps one of the rescued gnomes) may find a way to deliver your orders to you despite the plane shift.
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Ah, Paizo can tell VV and Ahto apart again. Sorry, Ahto! I think you should get a free level-up for every 100 inopportune natural 1s. You’d probably be 2 or 3 levels ahead of the party.
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Ah, Paizo can tell VV and Ahto apart again. Sorry, Ahto! I think you should get a free level-up for every 100 inopportune natural 1s. You’d probably be 2 or 3 levels ahead of the party.
At least I can't critically fumble a skill check! Hopefully, that's one less Nat 1 to bite me in a critical combat.
If Althea pulls one over on me, good on her. One doesn't grow up in House Thrune without learning how to manipulate.
Even more so if we had a whole trail of gnomes behind us.
Well, at least I didn't get that roll in combat! Good thing I gave Storm ranks in Survival.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by Althea Thrune do not represent those of this gamemaster.
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When the idea occurred to me for Althea to present this argument, I tried doing some research on canon Abadaran doctrine regarding marriage. I didn't find anything touching upon monogamous vs polygamous marriage, so I just made something up for Althea to present as seemingly reasonable justification.
I leave it up to Ahto to present a rebuttal. Maybe Althea is using a non-orthodox interpretation of Abadaran doctrine. Maybe this is an issue that has been a subject of debate within the church for quite some time. Maybe she's correct in her interpretation, but Ahto doesn't want to decree such law in Tamlyn.
I thought this would be a good opportunity for Althea to be Althea while offering RP potential.
I am sincerely hoping this doesn't blow up in my face and cause discomfort for the party.
Thrunes gonna Thrune. No worries on my account, GM!
I made a mistake and neglected to properly reply to Pelipe's last post.
I deleted my last post so I can post Althea's reply, then I'll repost the other one. That way I can maintain sequential order.
No doubt messengers are wise to the tricks of the Strouds. That doesn't mean they don't still try. Perhaps inquiring if they've seen any attempts to lure any messengers in since we made a deal with them?
Perhaps if they've noticed any other regions devastated by local chaotic elements? It seems everywhere we've been since I've joined, even the first keep we explored together, was ravaged by some chaotic power or another. The Strouds, Mather Nithra, the murder of Horace. It just seems like a pattern. I wonder if they list each city they've been to, we might also see a pattern? I'm just wondering if this fae lady is pulling strings behind the scenes to more than one place outside of where we've explored.
GM? Anything for Pelipe or Wonky? We both asked about messages.
Why yes, I did spend some time researching raptor species that live in northern deciduous forests. Is the local forest deciduous? If not, Cooper's hawks also live in mixed and coniferous forests. They're pretty adaptable. As long as they've got trees, they're happy.
GM? Anything for Pelipe or Wonky? We both asked about messages.
I've been working on those messages. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to let you guys ask questions first: gives me more time to develop ideas.
I've been laid up in bed for the past day and a half with a nasty bug.
I'll try to make a post tonight after getting a bit more rest.
Oh no! Take your time, we're not going anywhere.