Palace of the Vampire Queen, the 5e version (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Nice.

I'm going back through the gameplay to collect all of the treasure that the group found post Jade/Kayne/Flint joining up. Since everyone BEFORE that recruitment is gone (with even Jade gone now), I guess it's best to consider their gains lost with them.

I plan on keeping track of group-loot in my character sheet to make selling things off easier to track, including links to the post where we gained them.

If someone wants to grab the list of needs for the Kobolds and add it in your character sheet, that'd be cool, otherwise I'll add it to Flints if the list winds up in his possession.

GM: Do these seem like items we would find during our exploration of the palace, or would it make more sense to hire Morgrym and his retainers to accomplish that (I believe he came back with us, rather than mist-vanishing).

Morgrym has hurried back home at the request of his family, leaving Kristyd behind to be his eyes and ears (his other two retainers went with him).

Some of the items have names that correspond directly to merchants in Cipenny (the Kobolds like to trade for these goods when they can, but no travelling merchants from Cipenny have been by the Hollow in a while and they are running low - they would go themselves, but dislike being out in the light of day, oh they can take it, they just don't like it, Benny seems to have been born with a peculiar lack of any aversion to sunlight).

All of the items can be purchased in Cipenny, but some of them may be found in the Palace, maybe...

The amounts listed are what Lorelei will pay if the items are brought to the Hollow, you may find them cheaper, or more expensive in Cipenny, the listing is simply what Lorelei is willing to pay, right now.

Alright sounds good.

Kayne, I Linked to that tome you found on the skeleton if you want to link to when we found it. I'm not going to include it in the group loot as it's pretty clear Kayne called dibs ;).

As far as the supplies, I'm pretty eager to get back in the dungeon, but that dagger might be worth selling off and it's clear the kobolds are running out of supplies. If we want to continue to use the kobold bar, we might need to detour to Cipenny and do a supply run for them. Sell off our dagger while we are there (I don't think there is any other treasure we need to pawn).

I think we should probably push just a little bit further in the dungeon, unless the Kobolds are desperate. The next time we leave, we should head to Cispenny and sell off treasure and supply the kobolds.

Oh, GM: With the dagger we found an amount of silver pieces which were unlisted (link in my character sheet under group loot). How much is there so we can break it up? I imagine since there were four of us at the time, and two of them are gone, Kayne and I would both get a 1/4th cut of the total SP.

Also, the potion we found that Flint tasted. Did we ever discover what it actually is, and has anyone claimed it?

Finally, the cross bows we left at our base, that we looted from the dwarf bandits. Are these heavy, hand, or light crossbows?

GM, my gear needs...

What I have that I can't use anymore:
-Chain shirt (50gp)
-Shield (10gp)
-Scimitar (25gp)
-Warhammer (15gp) x2

What I need:
-An arcane focus/musical instrument of some sort (price varies. I'd like a drum, 6GP. Maybe something I can hang on my hip and drum on with one hand when I need to use it)
-Light armor (varies. 10gp for leather, 45 gp for Studded leather. There is leather back in our hideout, but I imagine its fitted for dwarves)
-A rapier (25gp) -to use as a main weapon. Not necessary, but I'd like one.
-A sickle, maybe (1gp) -for slashing damage weapons.

I can keep my short sword, club and daggers

Hello! I've been in communication with Tarquem via email to join the campaign. I'll be bringing in a downtrodden dwarf who grew up on the streets and taught himself how to do magic by breaking into libraries at night and reading whatever he could. :)

To help reflect his upbringing on the streets, Tarquem gave me permission to trade out some of my starting equipment for random trinkets. He's also instructed me to make some of these trinkets flavored for a port city, so I'll roll half and pick half with permission.

4d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 2, 2) = 10
4d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 5, 5) = 16
4d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 2, 1) = 8
4d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 5, 6) = 23
5d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 3, 1, 5) = 21
5d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 5, 6, 4) = 22
3d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 6) = 12

4d100 ⇒ (41, 10, 75, 19) = 145

Chosen trinkets reflecting growing up in a port city (upon GM permission):
1) A diary written in a language unknown to me, acquired by trading with a sailor
2) a four leaf clover pressed into a book on manners and etiquette
3) a gold coin minted in an unknown land
4) a pirate flag adorned with a dragon skull and crossbones (which he uses as a blanket)

Cael – interesting rolls, let me know if you have a real problem with the two low numbers, maybe we can adjust them a little by bringing down one of the others (The, 18, 17, or 16)

Flint – The Kobolds are keen to get their hands on your Chain mail armor, shield, scimitar and war hammer

As you are being shown around some of the outpost, passageways that lead away from the underground areas of the Black Village, you meet Cooper Coperfoot, a Kobold of the hollow who seems to be in charge of the defense of the hollow. He will offer to trade you a suit of Studded leather armor that once belonged to a tall kobold ranger, who has since moved on to Echo Peak Hollow and begun raising a family, and a good quality Rapier for your gear (it is a loss of 30 gp, but otherwise a fair trade).

Finding a drum is easy, as there are a few musicians in the Hollow, and plenty of instruments to choose from. The problem of course is that the musicians are not interested in trading a drum for a weapon, so you are going to have to pay for it. The cost will be only 30 silver pieces (and the kobolds prefer getting 30 silver pieces instead of 3 gold pieces as they are harder to trade with within the hollow).

Ginger Spellsinger, the kobold wizard of the Hollow, will identify the potion as a Potion of Levitation (I’ll double check this tonight to make sure I have not remembered the wrong thing). And she will do this for free.

The crossbows are light crossbows, and all the dwarves weapons are of good quality (the Hovel will not be interested in buying the hand weapons, but will offer half the value of the crossbows for them, if you want to sell the hand weapons, you’ll have to take them back to Cipenny).

There were 1500 silver pieces in the chest with the dagger. These are standard “coins of the realm” (standard Silver Piece, also called the Silver “ten” Piece as it is worth ten copper pieces) and they are small and light. The total of all these coins weigh only 16.5 pounds

For some of my games in the past, I have done a lot of work to create unique coinage, and there were often different denominations and metals in circulation in various games. I’m itching to do that so let’s start now. I’ll copy this information to the Campaign Info Tab under the Spoiler “Coins of the Realm”

The Dwarven Kingdom of Balor mints eight different coins (players may suggest names and iconography for the coins. The capitol city of Ar Toe is a port city, and the history of the Dwarven people is focused on their development of the country ABOVE ground and they shun the past, and such rumors about the ancestors of the modern dwarven people once being slaves to a race of “Grey Dwarves” living deep below the ground, inside the mountains. Such symbols as sea birds, ocean creatures, ships, farm tools, and harvested grains are good symbol choices

The Coins of the Realm

1) The Copper Piece (worth 1/100th of a gold piece) this coin weighs 3 grams
2) The Copper Three-penny (worth 3 copper pieces) this coin weighs 10 grams
3) The Silver Penny (worth 1/100th of a gold piece) this coin weighs .5 grams, and is a very small silver coin
4) The Silver (Ten) Piece (worth 1/10th of a gold piece) this coin weighs 5 grams
5) The Silver Twenty Piece (worth 1/5th of a gold piece) this coin weighs 10 grams
6) The Silver “Half-Crown” (worth 1/2 of a gold piece) this coin weighs 23 grams
7) The Gold Piece (worth 1 gp) this coin weighs 10 grams
8) The Gold King’s Coin (worth 10 gp) this coin weighs 100 grams

Cael – interesting rolls, let me know if you have a real problem with the two low numbers, maybe we can adjust them a little by bringing down one of the others (The, 18, 17, or 16)

Oh my, yes. I've been struggling all morning trying to decide where to put those low stats and still keep the character concept I had envisioned. I've even been texting my friends trying to determine where to put them.

I'll be happy with a 1:1 exchange; I'd like to have both of them to at least 9 (prefer 10), and will be happy with a decrease amongst any of those high stats as you so choose.

My own proposal: total of 4 point increase and drop the 18 to 17, the 16 to 15, and the 14 to 12. This gives me 17, 17, 15, 12, 10, 9.

Those numbers will be fine. Go with that modification

Ugh. Not to get into a Stormwind or anything, but I feel like I'm min/maxing here. Really, though, I'm getting the short end of the stick, as a drop from 18 to 17 would be more than enough points to bring that 7 and 8 up to ten. Well - if you could actually purchase an 18 it would.

Anyways, thanks. That is much more in line with how I imagined this character.

Cael: Oh cool, a Sorc who can be our lockpicker in lieu of a rogue! Looks like we'll have to have someone rolling you perceptions for finding the traps though. I'm excited to see what our new formation will end up being.

GM: Okay, cool. Sounds good. Flint will do the trades happily, pay for a drum (and also look for a panflute maybe as well). The rest of the gear in our base can stay there for now. I'm more interested in using the crossbows then selling them. I'll add all that gear to my character sheet. Let me know about panflute prices/availability.

GM & Kayne: Does the plan of Kayne and I both getting a 1/4th cut (375 sp) of that silver, considering Morgrym and Myna would get the other quarters and have vanished?

Morgrym most likely would have not bothered with that money, but Myna would have taken his share, so I would say that Kayne and Flint have 1125 silver pieces they can spend in the Hovel (which let me remind you they are running low on things they are willing to sell) or saving until you reach Cipenny

Re-coins: Okay, I'll calculate my carrying capacity based on those weight rules, GM. Can you put those values for the coinage on the campaign info tab so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle of new discussion posts?

Re-treasure: Sounds good. 562 SP for Flint, 563 for Kayne (I'll take the lower coinage).

flint spends 3 of his new silver ten pieces for the drum (is that right?)

a silver "ten" piece is worth 10 copper pieces (or a standard silver piece) right. So 30 of them are equal to 3 gold pieces.

My perception won't be as bad once I rearrange my ability scores. I preferred to have a lower int and higher wis for this character (part of his background was that he studied arcane rituals but wasn't able to grasp the complex concepts; went ahead with them anyways. On second thought, maybe I should have low wis, as well). If we're using feats, then once we hit level four, I'll pick up the skilled feat to grab perception.

Planning on finishing up the character tonight; after I put the kids to bed. Just have to assign ability scores and purchase some equipment with starting cash.

There were 1500 silver pieces in the chest with the dagger. These are standard “coins of the realm” (standard Silver Piece, also called the Silver “ten” Piece as it is worth ten copper pieces)

3) The Silver Penny (worth 1/100th of a gold piece) this coin weighs .5 grams, and is a very small silver coin

4) The Silver (Ten) Piece (worth 1/10th of a gold piece) this coin weighs 5 grams

Okay, so the ten piece is the standard silver piece (worth 10 coppers and 1/10th gold) while the silver penny is worth as much as a copper penny? Got it! Spending 30 instead of 3 silver ten pieces.

I believe my character is complete. I have not calculated weights. Seems a bit tedious.

Anyways, for his gear, I gave him some standard starting equipment, flavored it up a bit, then gave him some unique items of low value. The inspiration for the unique items came from a random mundane treasure generator I found on EN World. I also gave him some random coins of lower value, and the rest of his starting cash was donated to the poor. :)

I imagine almost everyone will be a little preoccupied over the next week or so.

For those who celebrate these things,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I’ll be posting, or at least trying to anyway, and trying out some new Google Picture map techniques.

Cael, please send me a PM with any ideas you have for getting your character into the game as soon as you are ready. He can just show up at the Kobold Hovel, or if you have something else in mind, just let me know, otherwise

I am ready to get the party bunked down for the night and ready to set out for the Palace at first light in the morning

Do any of the characters have an opinion on if they would like to bring along any of the NPCs who happen to be hanging about?

Sandy, maybe.

It might be better to encourage them to, as a group, complete the supply run, if theyd be able to accomplish that.

That might be a good idea. Gives them something to do, and means we don't have to take time out of exploring to run errands.

For the curious, yes, I've been in contact with the GM in PM. I'm currently reworking some of my background to better fit the campaign and make it so my character would have a reason to be at the hovel tonight.

However, any input anyone would like to give is always appreciated. :)

Happy new year, all.

I've been simmering in anticipation to get this crawl going again! When will things resume, do you think, GDM?

Soon, I really hope. I'd been meaning (stupid good intentions and all that) to get a post up in all my games about the delays, but the week was just crazy. I really want to get time to update tonight, or tomorrow.

Cool. Don't rush yourself on my behalf, but I am enthusiastic about resuming! :)

Same :]

Same here as well!

Sorry all, lots of activity for the holidays, I'll try to post tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

My home computer unexpectedly crashed. I hope to replace it this weekend, but it may still be a few days before I can update games, sorry

Sorry all, been under the weather, will be getting on the ball soon.

Update on my return - I don't want to bore anyone with details, but here we go. I bought an HP Pavilion on Friday, returned that machine to Best Buy on Monday and picked up a Dell. I am almost done setting up the Dell, and lucky for me my portable Hard Drive has almost all of my old maps and tokens. I hope to post a brief game update to all my games today, and by this weekend I should be posting maps again.

Thanks for being patient with me.

Alright, sounds good!

My next post will wrap up the morning at Loamstone Hollow, and then move the party to the entrance of the Dungeon.

Are you ready?

Please look at the new link in the header of this game "Dungeon Map."

It is supposed to be a google picture that I am sharing with everyone. You should be able to move your own token, but be careful as I have not figured out how to lock down the background map so that it cannot be accidental moved. When you close the map it should save your changes.

I only ask that if it seems critical, which in this game it should not, but if you really need everyone to know exactly where you are at any time, please give me an ooc comment in your post so that I can move you to where you want to be should you not be able to access the map image correctly.

Thanks

you can test out the map now by placing your character token where you want to be at the entrance doors to the dungeon.

The previous map has been erased

Heck yeah I'm ready. Let's open up this door!

oh cool :D moved kiril where he ought to be

Grinley is ready.

Brunar's axe is at the ready.

Brunar moves up to his current position unless someone complains.

I have to apologize again. I really want the game to move along but instead I find myself spending most of my time trying to fix the map after I have broken it.

Changing the background of the map is harder than I thought, so updating it to show a larger area only throws off the scale of the tokens which I am fixing now, so please be patient.

I might have to use two maps. One for just showing how the party is exploring the dungeon, and another for encounters.

No worries, take your time.

Before we go further, was the plan to have these three bolster our ranks, or to have them try to complete the supply run for the kobolds?

One helps keep us safe, but creates some party bloat.

The other gets a job done we don't have time for, but might result in trusting them with some of our money.

Just jumping in here to say that Flint raises an important question, but at the same time as no one had this conversation earlier, when the issue was raised, I just assumed that they (the NPC dwarves) were going to tag along.

I'm pretty sure we did bring it up, but only in the discussion thread. Flint had been MIA with Marvin the while in the hallow, so I never had a proper opportunity to bring it up IC.

Here we are.

Thanks flint!

Please express your opinion on this matter as soon as possible (I don't want some, or maybe all of the players to feel that they decided not to include the NPCs now that we are just about ready to march through the front doors of the Palace!)

Also, I have just completed a major overhaul of the campaign tab, cleaning up some notes, and organizing things a bit better. There are new bits added about the Black Village, Loamstone Hollow, Silvered Weapons, and even some edits in the Pantheon tab

If you are interested in the campaign setting, and the various house rules (you should be interested in those!) please take a moment to visit the campaign tab and see what is new and improved.

Thanks.

Nah Kiril doesn't care much. If they want to come with, let em. If the other players want to send them on errands, that's cool too.

I am good, Brunar feels he is too new to be ordering anyone around unless it is time to heal or save the party member's arse.

There doesn't seem to be any hard opposition to including the NPCs, so tonight I will drop them on the map.

How should I handle the next bit? Should I be a strict DM and ask the Player Characters, "Do you remember where you where last time? Did you make a map?" or should I just redraw the map we are using so that you can just "say" you remember where you were and go right to that spot?

Lol, your call :)

Man, to be honest about the maps, I'm having a hard time keeping things straight. It has been only about a day for Flint, while it has been months and months for me.

Can we set an NPC on the task of keeping a map so we don't have to worry about it quite so much as far as where we've already been? I'm cool with requiring to follow directions to get to specific places, but if we've already been there I'd hate to worry about getting lost again and again. Our pace is already pretty slow.

I think that is a good idea Flint. There are some things that are fun at the game table, but not so much in PbP and keeping track of maps is one of those things.

So I will have Gwendolyn, Kristyd, and Sandy start making a map (even give them the surveyor's chain that was found earlier so the map is accurate!)

Look for me to post a PDF file that shows the currently explored areas of the first lever