Rannik's Carrion Crown

Game Master Patrick Levasseur

Anna detects no traps on the door at the other end of the hallway, while Kimberly scales the knotted rope like a monkey after some initial trouble. Meanwhile Andjela fails on her first attempt.

Anna opens the door and peers inside.

Climb 2: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Climb 3, as/when needed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Tolvan tries his best to help Andjela up from above, but mostly gets in the way.

Climb Assist?: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Andjela makes it up the knotted magical rope after a couple tries, gaining the hallway with the rest of you.

A rotting stench comes from a trio of headless, apelike creatures inside heavy iron cages. The waters lap against these corpses, while the twisted remnants of an iron walkway lie half-submerged
in the water. A door sits high in the north wall (Anna peers out of a door on the east wall), twenty feet above the floor.

Anna I need a DC14 Fort Save or you're sickened while you're peeking into the room.

Kimberly giggles a bit, trying to not let Andjela see or hear, at her attempts to climb. she soon remembers her own failures at climbing and quickly stops but it is nice to know she is not the only one that has trouble with ropes.

I wonder if she failed on purpose to make me feel batter? she wonders to herself.

Fort: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7 Blecch!
Perception: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 10 - 2 = 25

Anna's stomach heaves, and she claps a hand over her mouth. Then her eyes flick up to the ceiling and she withdraws from the room, closing the door behind her.

Gah! Whew! That room's occupied! she calls out to the others.

What did you see? Tolvan asks as he is trying to get the door on his side closed, but finds the space too small to easily hold the party. I am still not sure that this room here is totally empty. That water looked pretty deep. It could hide all manner of creatures.

Danica, in the rear and watching Andjela struggles with climbing the rope, glances over at Anna as she attempts to keep down her morning rations. "What's going on over there?"

Phew! Dead things! Some sort of gorilla creatures without heads. I think they were making the stink. But there was something else; something that was up in the shadows with wings. I didn't get a good look. I figure we'll try to go around.

Kimberly seems excited after reaching the group.

did you see that? I climbed the rope. I actually climbed the rope, and really fast too, nobody had to carry me! soon she realizes that nobody really cares.

Well I thought it was great anyway she says trailing off her excitement coming back to the reality that is Anna not liking the next room.

Anna pulls away from the door and gives Kimberly a smile. Good for you! she encourages.

*pats Kimberly on the head* Where to now?

I like it here. :P

Danica moves forward. "Let me take a peek. I may be able to figure out what those creatures you are referring to."

The inquisitor moves towards where the creatures are located.
Fort Save, DC 14: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
She can smell the putrid odor but it does not bother her. She has smelled worse.

Perception, DC 16: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (11) + 17 = 28
Danica sees the creature and stares at it. Within a couple of seconds her Darkvision kicks in which allows her to get a little more detail. She quietly stares at it to determine what manner of creature they are.
Know: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

Danica eyes open wide as she realizes what they are facing. She slowly heads back to the others and says, "These guys are nasty."

The inquisitor continues, " They are called girallon-headed vargouilles. They attack inflight and their shriek is paralyzing to all within earshot. They got nasty razor like teeth which will tear hour to shreds and their bite is poisonous. To make things worse, their kiss will transform you into one of them."

Danica smiles at the group. "Well??? Who wants to go fight them?"

Did Danica notice any other enterance/exit from that room?

The room had two visible exits. One door sits high in the north wall (Danica looked out of a door on the east wall on the same level as the north door). A second exit is 10' below the door the group is at, on the south side of the room. Essentially the entire chamber is -structurally- a mirror opposite of the other circular room to the east. The contents of the two chambers is of course different, as this one contains three large cages with headless girallon corpses and several girallon-headed vargouilles hanging out near the ceiling. The eastern room had the large, suspicious pit of water inside.

A known threat might be better than an unknown one. Tolvan notes. And Elves are resistant to some paralysis.

Does he know if elves are resistant to this type of paralysis effect?

Which types are paralysis are you referring to? I know they're immune to magical sleep effects.

Ghoul paralysis. I do not have access to books atm so can't go look.

Aha, Danica, with her excellent knowledge roll, does not believe Elves are immune to this type of paralysis.

Gotcha. Just have to make those saves then. Would be very bad if everyone failed those saves, and there are three of them.

Agreed, but the monsters would eat well for a while! Mwhahaha!

I don't have much meat on me..but are they undead?

Actually they're outsider (evil, extraplanar). So no, not undead.

I believe so.

Getting an idea, Tolvan goes back to the landing at the initial room and casts his Dancing lights spell, creating 4 gloves of light and sending them down to probe the depths of the water. Maybe this will give him a bonus… ?

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

How far is it from this landing to the landing at the other door? I am not sure how far the landings stick out from the wall.

It's 15' between the doors. The cut off landings are jagged edges sticking about twelve inches from the wall. So 14'-ish in a straight line from landing to landing.

The magic lights zip down into the water, shining light into the previously murky depths. First it's just an unusual eddy in the depths of the water, but slowly Tolvan realizes there's too much of a pattern to the moving water for it to be natural eddies in the water. That realization suddenly brings what he's really seeing right to his conscious mind; swimming upwards slowly is some sort of transparent aquatic creature with huge, gleaming eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth.

You can now give me a K:Arcana DC16 for insights as to what you're facing.

Peering into the deep dark water that is now illuminated Tolvan catches sight of something moving. Looking more closely he tries to identify it.

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34 Did I mention that I am pretty good with Arcana. :)

Know: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12 Epic Fail. Danica begins to drool trying to think what the creature is. Duhhhh!!!.. She starts flapping her lips with her index finger. lol

Danica has the following as a character trait.
Celestial Crusader - Some aasimars follow their destiny to war against the powers of ultimate evil. These individuals gain a +1 insight bonus on attack rolls and to AC against evil outsiders and a +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (planes) and Spellcraft checks to identify evil outsiders or items or effects created by evil outsiders; they may use these skills untrained for this purpose. This racial trait replaces celestial resistance and skilled.

Tolvan...cast your flaming sphere on the vargouilles?

Not easily. They are flying and the sphere does not fly. It would fall into the water most likely, and go out.

Sorry, busy day!

Anna shakes her head desperately. No. No, no, no, no. I don't want to fight those things. Paralysis, teeth, poison, and turning into one? Again I say, NO We have a possible way around; I'm checking that out.

Muttering, Anna heads toward the other door, swiping the rope back from Tolvan if that's what it takes to reach it.

What do I need to roll to reach the door, if anything?

Tolvan has to think hard, but he finally decides the creature is a translucent Slime-Infected Basilisk, somehow bestowed with natures natural swimming appendages. Its most dangerous aspect is its gaze attack, and you notice it doesn't seem to want to swim up to get within range, typically about 30' for a Basilisk.

Anna, it'd take a ranged touch attack DC15 to toss the rope to the narrow bit of landing that remains on the northern door.

Danica determine if there are any weakness to this creature.
Monster Lore: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20

Tolvan can teleport the 15' across. I'd think the rope of climbing could snake over.

Danica can't think of any obvious weaknesses, except that it seems like it'd be unsuited for land combat.

I agree Tolvan

By the gods! Tolvan exclaims. There is some form of translucent aquatic Basilisk down in the water. Do not look at it! and he averts his own eyes as he is saying this.

Has the acquatic basilisk attacked us yet? If it has not then I guess we should leave it alone or come back to it later.

Anna looks down in reflex, then shuts her eyes and backs away from the deep pit. Don't say things like that!

She'll command the rope to extend out to the other door, then climb to it. Climb: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Sort of like "Don't think about breathing!"

It has not, and hasn't even really acted interested in you yet. It's remained deep down in the water... so far. I wonder how high a translucent Slime-Infected Basilisk can jump out of the water? Hmmm.

The rope obediently shimmies across the wall and ties itself to the sliver of catwalk extending from the northern door. Anna shimmies across it quickly, and makes it safely to the other side.

"Ok Kimberly. Jump aboard and hold on tight." Danica scoops up Kimberly allowing her to piggyback once again. Then Danica follows next in her trek across the rope.
Climb, Kimberly piggyback: 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (15) + 10 - 5 = 20

Aquautic, huh... Any of those chemicals work?

Trapfinding: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (6) + 17 = 23

Anna checks out the door before opening it. If it's clear, she'll flip up the hood of her cloak and try to slip into the next chamber stealthily.

Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (8) + 18 = 26

Kimberly sits on Danica's stomach like a clinging primate as the Aasimar traverses the 15' distance to the northern door. They make it there just as Anna slips through.

Anna slips through the untrapped door to find... another hallway. It runs parallel to the hallway connecting the two southern circular rooms you just examined. There are five doors, two on the south side of the hallway (one of which you just exited), two on the north side of the hallway, and a single door to the east.

At the far west end of the corridor is a set of shelves with broken bits of glass all over it, and spilled liquids of various colors mixing into a rainbow colored mess -all running down the front of the shelf. There are a few vials and potions intact, conveniently labeled.

*Schloss Caromarc*

Kimberly at first puts up a little fuss but quickly gives in with a sigh.

I wanna be able to do this stuff on my own, I feel like I'm just some extra baggage to you guys. always having to carry me over difficult spaces. I bet I could have done it all by myself. she says then glaces back at the water slimy bakinglicks? she then looks at the rope then back at the water, well maybe not this time, but next time for sure.

Looking to the Paladin and trying not to look down into the water Toilvan says After you Andjela. I cannot teleport you so you have to make this climb on your own. I could carry your shield if that is encumbering though.

Anna makes a disgusted face at the basilisk's blood, but whistles quietly at the other potions. She wondered what they actually did, but had an idea about the gaseous form potion.

She listens to each door, but makes a point to stay clear from the southeastern one.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29 Canny observer for overheard conversations, +4

Please carry on all points of OOC discussion of any significant length in this thread.

Welcome welcome everyone, go ahead and say hello and when you'd like you can post in the gameplay thread, there is a post waiting. Please finish up your characters as well, and state when they're 100% complete so I can double check them. If they're ready now that's great. You should still be able to post an intro in the gameplay thread before my review, but if you'd like to wait that's fine too.

I'll get a post in the Gameplay thread tomorrow, but want to at least get something up here before turning in for the night. I'm looking forward to exploring the darker side of Ustalav with everyone which, considering it is Ustalav, makes me glad I can see in the dark.

Even if I can only see out to 30 feet ...

I believe my character stats are complete and ready for review. They can be found in the character profile; if you looked at them when I first posted in the recruitment thread, my stat block is unchanged.

Very good and welcome. The darkness that is Ustalav welcomes you too... dun dun dunnnn! :)

What was that? Did you say something? I was looking at the waitress carrying the cheese platter.

Good morning, all! What an excellent way to start the day! Thanks for the invite. I should have stats finalized and posted very soon.

Character sheet is complete and posted.

I'm here! I'm pretty sure my stats are ready for review as well. Let me know if you see anything that needs correcting, and I'll get right on that.

Thanks for the vote of confidence! It sure looked like a tough decision.

Hi all. Glad to be aboard. Thanks for the chance to play Mug. I'll do my best. :)

My character is up and pretty much ready. I may change out some of his gear. Not much you can do with 70 gold starting. Good thing he has his bonded weapon. :) I would welcome comments from anyone. His spell selection is somewhat marshal, at least for now. But that's part of his background story.

I am looking over everyone's character briefly. This promises to be a fun group. One question and comment for Kimgald. First I look forward to seeing how Misfortune is handled in a PbP. Will be interesting. My question is about your Spirit Shield ability. since you are already wearing armor I do not think the armor bonus from Spirit Shield will help you. Will it?

What was that? Did you say something? I was looking at the waitress carrying the cheese platter.

Don't you mean the woman in the red dress? ;)

I am looking over everyone's character briefly. This promises to be a fun group. One question and comment for Kimgald. First I look forward to seeing how Misfortune is handled in a PbP. Will be interesting. My question is about your Spirit Shield ability. since you are already wearing armor I do not think the armor bonus from Spirit Shield will help you. Will it?

No, they interact in the same manner as mage armor; the bonuses do not stack, with the greater of the two taking precedence. Spirit shield does scale with level, though, and I eventually intend to switch out my scale for light armor enchanted with abilities. I considered postponing the selection of the ability until that time, but decided I would rather have it available now in case someone needs to wake me at night, when my armor is stowed.

Don't you mean the woman in the red dress? ;)

Well, I admit I did take note of her dress. Of course, technically I cannot tell what color it was, but it looked delicious.

Well, I admit I did take note of her dress. Of course, technically I cannot tell what color it was, but it looked delicious.

....BWAHAHAHA!!! (I hope you or anyone you know didn't designed that... if so... BWAHAHAH!!!)

....BWAHAHAHA!!! (I hope you or anyone you know didn't designed that... if so... BWAHAHAH!!!)

Not my work. It's actually a design by Viktor & Rolf, a design company based out of Amsterdam.

I suppose it's no more rediculous than holey jeans and oddly stitched shirts! But it sure looks funny, and delicious as you said.

EDIT: And can I just say, with that little thing Kimgald did right there, making Kendra repeat herself so he could see her lips, my mind had a mini-explosion thinking how awesome/interesting that's going to be. I hope we (mostly you Kimgald) can keep it up, and not forget, like the Disappearing familiar trick :)

What disappearing familiar? I have a familiar? I didn't know that. That explains the voices I keep hearing; I must have a few of them.

I'm hoping to somehow maintain the concept without being too much of a burden on the rest of the party. The character idea seems like a lot of fun to me; I do have a concept in the wings in case being both deaf and largely blind proves too disrupting, but I really want to make Kimgald work. I might sometimes have the voices in his head "nudge" him in the right direction, should the character seem to be getting too far off-track, though I intend to limit this as much as I can.

I am enjoying it too. And the pace is much better already that some games I have been in. I love to play at any pace, but its much more fun when things are happening at a daily level instead of a weekly or even monthly rate. IMHO anyway. :)

I'm here! I'm pretty sure my stats are ready for review as well. Let me know if you see anything that needs correcting, and I'll get right on that.

Thanks for the vote of confidence! It sure looked like a tough decision.

I'm going to respond to this, mostly because I always feel bad that I can't include everyone, and you comment lets me say it out loud and get it off my chest. Everyone here had some great concepts, writing skills, and responsiveness. I think it'll be a great group and we'll have some good fun.

A couple points:
1) I am not a rules GM. One of the biggest draws of PBP (for me) is that I have time to look things up! I have made, and will continue to make, mistakes. Please call me on those mistakes in as nice a way as you can. I may not correct the error right away, but I will remember and fix it for next time, probably. I also do not micro manage your stats, so please don't take advantage of my lack of vigilance. I'm referring to your stats, equipment, coinage, etc... I'm hoping you'll all help me with rules so we can concentrate on having fun.

2) Combat, I prefer the spoilered method, meaning I post initiative, and you declare your intended actions in spoilers, and then I resolve them all at once. If others are ahead of you in initiative, feel free to read their posts and have your characters respond with that information, keeping it as meta free as possible. Try to avoid "IF Statements" in your combat posts. IE: "I'll do this unless he does this and then I'll do that, unless this happens first then I'll do this instead." No no no. Declare your actions, and if what you declared doesn't make any sense I'll ping you and have you change them, or -more than likely- I'll resolve it for you as advantageously for you as possible. Ummm, what else... Ah, I will bot you if too much time has gone by with no posts. How much time is too much? 24 hours is too much... If the group is on a roll and then you disappear, then 'too much time' may change.

Ok so there's three points... sheesh
3) Have fun here please. No fun for you is no fun for me is no fun for anyone. (put that on a tshirt). If you aren't happy with how things are, please let me know and I'll do my best to adjust and accommodate. I'll pull the GM card occasionally, but not often, just know that it is there and I'm not afraid to use it! ;)

Phew, were you as bored reading that as I was writing it? Any questions, comments on this information?

PS. Stats all look good thus far. Thank you kindly.

hey thanks for the selection.
I was out all day (will be again tonight as I have a party to attend) but will get the alaias up ASAP.

hello all I am Kimberly (character name). and this is Teddy (holds up a small stuffed bear).

as soon as I get the character portrat uploaded (got find which portable drive it is stored on) will post it, until then

Kimberly is a human girl no more than 12 years of age maybe 10 she has golden blonde hair and blue eyes around her neck is a small silver necklace bearing a charm with the holy symbol of Pharasma she has a small dagger which appears to be her only weapon.

more to come in the gameplay thread.

EDIT need to get going...will read the gameplay thread and post later tonight when I get home.

Whew! Glad I got an introduction posted this morning. Work is kicking me in the teeth, today. I'll have more to say in a few hours, when I get home.

I remember one more thing I'd like you to do. I've had to do this in a game I'm in, and the GM raves about it, and I often find myself wishing I had this in games I GM. So, would you please replace the gender section of your character profiles with what you see below. Customized for you character of course. This speeds up many things for a GM who doesn't always remember things like HP or AC or INIT, etc... I'd like to try it out, if you'd all oblige me at your earliest convenience please. Thanks!

(HP 17/17 AC 20 Touch 11 Flat 19 CMD 19 Flail+4 (1d10+3/19-20/x2), Waraxe+4 (1d10+3/20/x2) Sling+2 (1d4+3/20/x2) F+5 R+1 W+2 INIT+1 Perc+0 CMB +4) -Paladin/1-)

added a link for pic of Kimberly in the profile could not find one with blonde hair so decided to change the hair color to match the pic. (well almost) her hair color should be dark red almost black.

Kimberly,

I am not familiar with reincarnated oracles. What is your starting revelation?

Kimberly is an Oracle of Life with the channel energy revelation.

at 3rd level she must take Loacation Memories revelation and at7th she must take Spirit memories.

the reincarnated oracle is in the advanced race guide.

We using Medium Xp track?

Yes we are

Guys, work is going to be really tight this week, but it should only last the week. I'll try to make up for my light posting during the evenings.

So everyone is on the same page, I'll define taking 10 and 20 as I use them. Taking 10 is a single use of the skill. Taking 20 is 20 attempts of said skill requiring the time and effort a single use would take - times 20. We all on the same page here? If questions put them here! Thanks.

I will be out tonight and won't be able to post until tomorrow

Sorry about the lack of posts, today. I had a very bizarre day at work.

I would like to point out that it would be best to go to the church before poking around the cemetary. this is a small and very suspicious town and messing with crypts without some sort of authorization or backing would infuriate the townsfolk.

There at the table she lays out some possible locations you can gather additional information on various mysteries. The Whispering Way, Harrowstone , and the gradual worsening of the towns demeanor the last few years. Arcana and Religion for the Whispering Way, and History and Local for Harrowstone and other local happenings. Kendra, who is an avid reader, says there are several impressive libraries around town; 1) Her fathers personal library here in the home. 2) Ravengro Town Hall records room. 3) the Temple of Pharasma library - home of Father Grimburrow. 4) The Unfurling Scroll, a school/magic shop run by Alendru Ghoroven - a good friend of her fathers.

Without resorting to heavy gamesmanship, we know something about Harrowstone and the Whispering Way. I'd like to know what's happening in the town.

I know that the church of Pharasma used to store them in a false crypt...

Also, Pyotr can't really engage in theft and borderline grave-robbing. If they gave us permission to take the weapons, it would be better.

Kimgald would want to seek the blessing of the church before reclaiming the Professor's cache as well. That said, given the community's apparent paranoia and lack of reason he would have no problem claiming it even should they refuse the request.

I'm fine with us splitting up at this point and handling separate tasks. It sounds as if Kimberly often makes these trips to the church, so there's little reason to expect trouble during the outing. Additionally, all three heading to the church are training in Knowledge (religion), so we've got the noggins needed to do some collaborative research. I also have Knowledge (history), to see what I can find out about the prison.

I do think that we should go as a full party to the prison when that time comes.

but any other place in town we may need a good talker to deal with the townsfolk (especially if we want to gain information)

Oh definitely. When we visit the Prison, given the background information we already know, we should go together.

We've got several faces in this party, too; Kimberly, Pyotr, and I are all trained in Diplomacy. I think we're set up as best as can be expected to deal with the locals.

I disagree on a number of points, but can go along with majority rule as far as splitting the party. But as far as the cash in the crypt, I believe I recall the the church did not even know it was there. The professor certainly did not ask permission. We take nothing for our own gain, only use a stockpile of provisions for their intended purpose.

In truth we should trust no one in town at this point, and telling anyone about these provisions tips our hand. That is Tolvan's position anyway.

Sounds like we have a majority for splitting the party for research locations. But the crypt decision still needs to be resolved, will you go there with or without talking to the church first, who will be going, and the time of day you'll go, regardless of what you do beforehand.

I have no problem keeping the party together. But, aside from just general information on Harrowstone and The Whispering Way, do we actually have any idea what we are researching? It just feels like we are searching for answers, without any actual questions.

I'm guessing (hoping) more specific mysteries are out there to be uncovered by talking to the townsfolk.

In any event, the Professor's notes said:

I am not certain if the current clergy even know of what their predecessors have hidden down below.

The temple just seemed to me to be the best place to go first.

Oh definitely. When we visit the Prison, given the background information we already know, we should go together.

We've got several faces in this party, too; Kimberly, Pyotr, and I are all trained in Diplomacy. I think we're set up as best as can be expected to deal with the locals.

What's wrong with Bluff and Intimidate? Those are GREAT ways to deal with locals!

We need whatever general information we can get at this point, I think, as well as the list of names the professor mentioned in his journal. It makes sense to me to try to mimic his footsteps as best we can; he carried out research, looked into the cache, and explored Harrowstone. Unless we turn up something to lead us in a different direction, I think we should follow the same general chain of events.

The Pharasmans may not know what they have, but Kimgald holds the Lady of Graves in high regard. He would rather speak with the church and deal with any resulting fallout, rather than sack the cache of a possibly-forgotten sect of her followers. I believe Kimberly has close ties to Pharasma and her worshipers as well, which might have some bearing on our course of action.

What's wrong with Bluff and Intimidate? Those are GREAT ways to deal with locals!

But they are so unrefined, my dear. :P

Seriously, though, I only mentioned Diplomacy specifically due to its gather information function. Neither Bluff nor Intimidate serve in this capacity.

Pyotr wasn't really worried about the books. He was trying to detect undead in the building and around town. Obviously, he doesn't have the scent ability, so it would've had to have been one heck of a Perception check, if there even are undead in the temple. Mostly it was just flavor for the situation and to make Pyotr a little more odd to those around him. =)

Aha, understood :)

Did I tell everyone I was on vacation? I thought I did, but if not; I'm on vacation for about a week. I'll post as I can. Quality and quantity will suffer (obviously) but I'll do what I can. :)

Don't think I knew. Have a nice vacation. What are you doing? I am always looking for good ideas for trips. :)

We're at Lake Tahoe in Cali at a resort-y type place. It's pretty awesome, but not cheap.

I skied Mammoth this past March so I have seen that part of the country - I know its south of there but I think its similar.

Nice. I've got some excellent memories of Tahoe. Used to attend a summer camp on the eastern shore.

Good times. Except for the year my younger sister went as well; she got a bit carried away in an improvisational acting class. Slapped me so hard the smack was probably heard on the opposite shore. Everyone was stunned, none more so than my sister. She was so embarrassed.

Okay, so that was a good memory, too. :P

wanted to add that in about one and a half weeks I will be:

HERE