Reign of Winter AP (Inactive)

Game Master ianbl

Yagello looks with dismay at the result of his actions. He shrugs his shoulders and turns to Cervin, his expression world weary and vacant,

"We truly are natural born killers. We just cannot escape what we are meant to be. Why do you think I use this elven curve blade? In the hopes, the essence of a nobler race might rub off on me..."

He rubs his temples briefly before continuing, "It all doesn't matter now anyways. Yes, let's continue. "

Arkady tries to be sympathetic, but only says, "We are wounded and desperate. We survive so we can rescue Nadya's child."

Nadya looks around anxiously. "Yes. Plant boy screaming is telling others we are here. We keep moving."

There are two rooms left to explore on this floor (marked as "A" or "C" on the map) and the crystal teleporter that presumably goes to the next floor.

Yagello leads the way forward and opens the door to Room C.

A bed, desk, dresser, and storage chest furnish this small bedroom. A large mirror hangs on the wall opposite the room’s only door, and two windows look down on the tower’s courtyard. There is no one in the room.

Map has been updated.

Cervin quickly looks over the room, trying to find a sign of the missing child.

"Check if that mirror is magical."

Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (14) - 1 = 13

Arkady speaks the magic words and peers between his thumb and fingers, slowly turning to find any magical auras.

Arkady searches the room, and although he does not find any auras on the mirror, he does note three weak auras coming from the chest.

Yagello also searches the room, especially keeping an eye out for traps and other hazards.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

"There are magical auras in the chest ... let me check it out."

Use Diviner's Fortune on self, then take 10 for 20 Perception to check for traps on the chest; if any are found use the Disable Device check below. Once open, Spellcraft each of the auras.

Disable Device, if needed: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Yagello doesn't noticing anything else of value in the room, but looks around as Arkady works on the chest.

The wizard checks for traps first, but does not notice anything. Although the chest is locked, Arkady takes out a small thin tool, and easily opens the lock. Inside is a variety of treasures: a pair of silver bracers traced with figures of dragons, a jeweled scepter, an bright red rock with stripes, and three translucent blue crystals. There is also hundreds of gold, silver and copper pieces, and four potions.

Arkady notes the magical auras emanate from the potions, and take a closer look at each of them. Three of them are simple potions that slow a fall to a safe float, but the last potion's purpose eludes Arkady.

I applied Arkady's Disable Device check to the lock instead. There were actually four auras (my mistake), I just rolled the extra Speelcraft check for Arkady. Three are potions of feather fall, one is unidentified.

Yagello looks over the loot and turns to his comrades,

"We should take as much as we can carry. These treasures will go a long way towards funding our incursion into Irrisen."

He also gestures to Nadya,

"More importantly Nadya, these items will allow you to start over somewhere else after we rescue your daughter. I'll be glad to sell them for you, and you take as much as you need to live comfortably with your family. You deserve some happiness out of this whole mess..."

Nadya nods. "Have family in other towns, maybe I move there with them. Must be remote, witches see everywhere."

Yagello walks over and places the bracers, scepter, rock, and crystals in his backpack. He waves his hand over the other items,

"Arkady, I'll leave the potions for you. Something just doesn't feel right about me carrying them. As for the coins, sadly I seem to have left my sacks behind in Taldor and don't have anything to hold them in. Can any of you help?"

While waiting for their response, he slowly begins inching towards the door eager to continue their exploration of the tower.

Cervin scoops the coins.

"We'll count later. Let's keep moving."

Cervin makes his way to room A and pauses to take 20 to listen (19).

Arkady can take 10 for an 18 Perception and not have to take as long ... just sayin' ;-)

Arkady agrees, putting the potions in his pockets for the time being. He creeps up behind Cervin, listening and watching carefully.

From inside, the sounds of oblivious humming is punctuated only by the sounds of bubbling liquid and the scrape and clang of metal against metal. The tantalizing smells of fresh baked bread and meaty stew waft from under the door. It is clear to Arkady and Cervin that there is someone inside.

Cervin frowns, looking to the group.

"That sounds like a kitchen. Whoever is inside may have information, or we could be wasting our time. Thoughts?"

"We have to investigate everything, we aren't leaving without the child."

Nadya nods as well. "Better we making the surprises, no one behind us."

Cervin nocks an arrow and nods over to Yagello.

"After you."

Yagello answers Cervin, "Good, then we continue..." He turns his back to the paladin and begins turning the door's handle.

Sorry for the delay in posting. I'm currently on vacation and just noticed on Tuesday than I can no longer post from my smartphone! Guess I should have paid closer attention to that red warning posted on the site earlier!

Yagello opens the door quietly. Inside, several cabinets line the narrow walls of this oddly angular room. A chopping block, water barrel, and cauldron stand near the room’s only door. Standing over the cauldron is a small humanoid with large pointed ears and a blue-brown complexion. The creature is covered in powders and sauces, and is stirring the thick bubbling liquid in the cauldron.

The man stops at the intrusion, and looks up at Yagello with an impatient look. "Eine weitere Ablenkung? Kann ich diesen Eintopf ohne weitere Störungen zu machen? Lassen Sie mich, Fremde!" as he begins to shout, he sprays spittle from his drooping lower lip everywhere, including into the cauldron.

Arkady looks to the others. "I'm afraid that is a language I don't know ..."

Cervin blinks as the gnome starts babbling in the only other language he knows. He thinks back to the trades he made with the gnomes of the Verduran Forest, an entire world away.

"I speak gnomish, I'll ask if he has seen Thora."

After a moment, he responds, eagerly although with a very thick accent.

"Vergib uns, ich sehe Ihre Arbeit ist wichtig, wir sind für ein junges Mädchen, das menschliche. Haben Sie ein gesehen?"

"Was bin ich, ein Aufpasser der Kinder?" the creature spits. "Selbst wenn ich einen Knöchel beißen schleichen in meiner Küche zu sehen, warum sollte ich dann über Kind sprechen die beiden vier zufällige Fremde zu unterbrechen mich vor meinen Eintopf?" he yells.

He stops for a minute to compose himself, and than continues more calmly. "Ich wurde gebeten, zwei einen zusätzlichen kleineren Schüssel für eine Zeit, nehme ich an, aber das hielt ein paar Tagen, vielleicht sogar in der Woche." The little man stops and puts a slop-crusted finger to his chin. "Welcher Tag ist es, überhaupt? Ist es immer noch Erastus?"

Yagello watches the exchange, uncomfortably shifting from foot to foot and quietly bemoaning the fact that his language skills are so lacking in this land.

Nadya tries to say a few words in Skald, but the creature merely shrugs, and spits into the stew. "Zum Geschmack!" he says over his shoulder, as if in explanation.

Cervin looks grim as he turns back to his companions.

"He's never seen a child but was asked to make smaller bowls. Ah... until a few days ago. What else should I ask? I think it's clear we head a floor up next."

Assume Cervin translates everything.

"He doesn't seem hostile to us, so I say we thank him and move on."

The small man grunts in acknowledgement, then spits once more into the soup. "Zum Spass!" he laughs as the party leaves him with the stew.

There is only the tiles left at this point that presumably go to another floor.

Cervin shudders.

"Disgusting little wretch. The gnomes back home were far more pleasant. Are we ready to continue upwards?"

Cervin makes his way to the tiles, and glances over to the others expectantly.

"As ready as we can be."

Yagello also wrinkles in nose in displeasure.

"Filthy little runt, I've seen enough of him. Let's move forward..."

Nadya nods her head. "Up now, yes."

Hopefully with some others, Cervin steps onto the crystal tile, saying the command words to activate them.

Hey everyone, I'm back! I'll post when the party moves out (either back to Heldren or onwards along the trail).

By the way, I actually quite enjoy the character interaction, so don't feel the need to move back into the action right away. Just make sure to let me know when you need something.

Are we all good then with continuing down the path? If Caelia has at least one more channel left, I think we should be fine for another battle or two.

Plus the GM's dice rolls HAVE to come back down to earth at some point, right? :P

I'm fine for continuing and I posted what I thought about whether or not to follow the original trail in character.

Also, welcome back GM! I'm almost secretly hoping you forgot your dice bag in a hotel somewhere though. Otherwise you'll have like eight 20s saved up. That's how dice work right?

By the way, I'm not having any trouble imagining cold weather at the moment, as it's been snowing here. All the hills and the mountain near which Hobart is situated are dusted with snow. I realize that the cold would be nothing to someone in the northern US or Canada, but to me, having been born in northern Australia, it's bloody freezing! :)

I'm almost secretly hoping you forgot your dice bag in a hotel somewhere though. Otherwise you'll have like eight 20s saved up. That's how dice work right?

Somehow Sarya's comment made me think of this video.

Nice! However, just in case someone here has not seen it, and since my dice rolling in game has generally sucked so far, I raise you with... Roll a D6.

Wow...that was a thing. D&D and rap music...such a natural combination.

Wow...that was a thing. D&D and rap music...such a natural combination.

There is nothing... NOTHING!... natural about rap music.

Elwood: "What kind of music do you usually have here?"
Claire: "Oh, we got both kinds. We got country and western."

If you do not know that quote, you are dead to me. :)

Sarya Melisandra wrote:

Wow...that was a thing. D&D and rap music...such a natural combination.

There is nothing... NOTHING!... natural about rap music.

Elwood: "What kind of music do you usually have here?"
Claire: "Oh, we got both kinds. We got country and western."

If you do not know that quote, you are dead to me. :)

:D

My high school band director used to use that line a lot. (This was in Dallas, where many people didn't get the joke at all, much less the reference.)

Elwood: "What kind of music do you usually have here?"

Claire: "Oh, we got both kinds. We got country and western."

I... love... that movie.

Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.

Jake: Hit it.

I... love... that movie.

Of course you do. After all, aren't you also on mission from (a) god? :)

BTW - Going to be away up north until Sunday evening, so you won't hear from me until then. Feel free to bot me if necessary.

I haven't heard from Sarya or Caelia for a couple of days now. If either of you see this, please post!

If I don't hear anything soon, I'll move forwards regardless.

I'm a little concerned as well that Sarya and Caelia have been a bit scarce recently. Aishe, I know you and Caelia are together on another PBP, has she been active there?

I'm a little concerned as well that Sarya and Caelia have been a bit scarce recently. Aishe, I know you and Caelia are together on another PBP, has she been active there?

She has mentioned in the discussion tab on our other game that she's really busy in RL at the moment; I believe she also has kids in the house from some other things that have been mentioned. Probably she's just distracted by RL problems atm, and will post soon, I'm betting.

In the short-term, I will act for them if we are waiting for them in combat or the like.

If we don't see them for awhile, we can start discussing other options.

I'll be posting later today, in case anyone is standing by.

I'm actually sitting by, so it's all good. :)

I will be giving Caelia and Sarya two weeks (that is, up until the end of this week) before moving on. We should be ending this combat by then as well, so I'd like to start recruiting at that point. In the meantime, I will continue to play these characters (although don't expect much roleplaying from these characters during this time).

Here is how I plan on recruiting their replacements:

1) I'll start a new recruitment thread, with the same rules and restrictions as the original recruitment. Additionally, I will provide a link to our gameplay thread so applicants will be able to get a sense of our rhythm and style. You are all welcome to post in the recruitment thread as well to introduce youselves. Potential players will have the option of taking over Caelia and/or Sarya's characters, if desired, but are expected to make a submission regardless for judging purposes.

2) I will message anyone that had previously applied to the original recruitment thread and that I did not originally accept. They can re-apply with their existing character concept, if they wish.

3) After a recruitment period (which I'll fix at 4 days), I will share the list with the existing players, most likely here in the discussion thread.

4) Any of you currently in the group will have the ability to veto and/or vote for any submissions. I will likely ask you do this via private message in order to keep submissions unbiased. This is optional if you do not want to be involved.

5) I will respect any vetoes and consider votes in selecting the new players. This means I reserve the right to select a player even if they do not get any votes, but I will not select a player that anyone has vetoed.

6) I will announce the new player(s), and I will introduce them at the earliest available opportunity in the plot.

If anyone has any feedback or suggestions to change the process, I'd happily listen at this time!

Sounds good to me.

Sounds fair to me.

It's a shame we probably lost those players, but the replacement procedures sound good to me as well.

Sorry for the delay, I was expecting more role-playing by the fire! I'm posting the new recruitment thread today.

I have created the recruitment thread. Feel free to lurk or post there!

Submissions will be accepted until Monday, and I'll try and pick the players by Tuesday.

Sorry for the delay, I was expecting more role-playing by the fire! I'm posting the new recruitment thread today.

Sorry, I've been meaning to post IG sooner, but go distracted by the recruitment thread for another AP... my bad entirely, very sorry! :p

My brother is visiting from Texas, so I'm a bit distracted by RL. :)

I've looked through the new recruitment thread, and it looks like we've gotten some bites there, so that's good. Igmar hasn't been very active lately, so hopefully we haven't lost him too!

The concepts submitted look interesting, but from a purely mechanical standpoint, my suggestion would be we definitely need divine healing and possibly a second front line fighter as well.

I have no problem serving as the party's main tank. Yagello has done pretty well in combat so far, even though my skill rolls have been terrible!

Still here! Sorry, I just moved into a new house, and we don't have Internet yet, so I either have to post at work or on my phone (neither of which are particularly ideal). But I'm still following along!

Feel free to post any suggestions/commentary in the recruitment thread.

I think that it would make the most sense to delay the next encounter until we have our players, so that the new player(s) can jump right in. It will be harder for any new players to understand what is going on mid-way through a combat or discussion with an NPC.

In the meantime, feel free to role-play the dialogue between the characters as they move along the trail. I'll try and fill in for Sarya and Caelia when possible.

I've had a look at the goings-on on the recruitment thread. How do you feel it's going GM? Made any choices yet? Anyone else still in the group have any opinions? Personally I'm leaning towards the cleric of Milani for one of the additional party members.

I was waiting until the entry window was closed before commenting. I try to find the combination of someone that has an interesting back story, a solid character build that will fits well, as well as the player's posting history. I think there are plenty of good submissions that we'll have to make some difficult choices.

To avoid any hurt feelings, I'd like to ask all of you to privately message me your thoughts. If there are any characters you'd like to absolutely rule out, or if there are any submissions that catch your eye, please let me know!

I'll make my decision either after I've heard from everyone, or after a day if not everyone gets back to me.

I've sent you a PM with my preference for which new characters from amongst the recruitment responses to add to the game. I've listed three, in order of personal preference.

Disclaimer - opinions may and very definitely will vary as to which characters should be recruited, and my own opinions are better than any of those other opinions, because they're MY opinions... just joking.

After receiving your feedback, and careful consideration, I've selected the following two players to join our game:

Cervin Kelinson, Taldan Lawful Good Paladin (Divine Hunter) of Erastil. Played by Barvo Delancy.
Daegan Corsmeir, Half-Orc Chaotic Good Cleric of Gorum. Played Proioxis.

I've invited the two to post here in the discussion forum. I'll be posting a story introduction to get them into the game shortly.

Hello and good morning to you all! Looking forward to playing with you and I'm delighted to have been selected.

GM, Cervin was an applicant to a previous game or two so I'm going to give his charsheet one more good once-over to make sure everything is solid. I'll let you know if I change anything. It'll be tiny details if anything.

Welcome to the game Cervin! Glad to have you aboard!

GM, Cervin was an applicant to a previous game or two so I'm going to give his charsheet one more good once-over to make sure everything is solid. I'll let you know if I change anything. It'll be tiny details if anything.

Seeing your character sheet, I have one quick comment. Per the GM, we are using 2 traits for this campaign, one of our choosing and one campaign specific.

Welcome to both of you! I look forward to meeting you in game.

Hello everyone! I'm quite happy to be here. You seem like a really solid group, so I'm glad for the opportunity to participate.

Thanks!

Thanks for the greetings, and catching the trait. Trait is removed, stat points adjusted (my point buy was too high), fixed some math, and added some gold.

Would Cervin know in advance he's going to the border woods and equip himself appropriately?

That's weird, I could of sworn I only saw two traits on Cervin before, one of which was Restless Wayfarer from the Player's Guide. Oh well, as long as it is fixed now!

In terms of integrating the new characters, I think that Cervin heard about Caelia (who was also working at the temple) had left to investigate the forest, but due to chance did not find the group in time. He could learn all of the same information in town (including knowing to prepare for the cold and fey), before setting out along the road towards the Border Wood to try and catch up. Due to being a bit behind, he camped out at the massacre site before catching up with the party the following day.

Daegan I think will be on his way out of Heldren, when he stumbles upon the massacre site. Perhaps he joins up with Cervin, curious about the evil presence, and eager to find some way to explore the world or just to do some good after hearing a rumour or two in Heldren before he left. He would know about the cold weather and can be dressed appropriately, but I'm not sure if he'd know enough about the Fey to purchase cold iron weapons.

These are just my ideas I am fleshing out. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Good to have you both!

As I said previously (I think), I just moved into a new house and don't have internet yet, so my posting is a bit more sporadic right now that it will be once I have internet at home again. Just an FYI for everyone!

That sounds good. He could also just hear about the massacre and head out to examine it, no stumbling required. Daegan would probably have some professional interest in it. After that... well, if Cervin's going that way, he'd probably want to come along, his interest peaked. Particularly so if Cervin knows that others left the town earlier, as Daegan would be more keen on confrontation with a larger group.

And I wouldn't worry about the cold iron stuff, because... well, he doesn't have the gold for it anyway!

Okay, I've spent some money and outfitted Cervin with cold weather and fey-fightin' gear. He'll have left his longsword and usual clothes at the temple to avoid getting encumbered.

And Cervin would have urgently gone around town asking if anyone else wanted to go investigate the massacre and strange weather. So he'd happily travel there with Daegan.

Hallo new folk! Anyone else get caught out by the Paizo servers being down all day?

I was pretty surprised it was for so long, as I kept checking every couple of hours.

Hopefully it doesn't slow us down too much!

In case anyone is wondering, I will be writing Sarya and Caelia out of our story soon. In the meantime, I will be playing them as part of the temporarily enlarged party.

Sorry to be just catching up now, I wanted to get a post in yesterday, but it seems everyone was afflicted by the same problem.

I am coordinating Pathfinder at a con this weekend, so I'm browsing but not able to fully participate until tomorrow evening when it's over. If a combat starts before then, I will try to post something useful. :)

GM, for rolls you don't intend for us to see, I would be fine with you rolling actual dice and just letting us know what the result is. (Just to save you having to remember to warn us not to peek! :) )

Same here. I assume you have some way to roll on your end and put my trust in you doing what's best for the game. You don't need to use the forum and then obscure results. Sounds like extra work. :D

To be honest, it was a bit of an experiment, as it serves as a quick reference for myself, and I thought it would be fun for people to "peek" after the results no longer mattered to see what was going on behind the scenes.

It's actually not much work for me, but I appreciate the feedback!