Rise of the Runelords

Game Master Kevin O'Rourke 440

It was a gamble whether it could see invisibility.

Also, it looks like Marten makes the save. Does he need a +1?

Oh, you're right! I rolled the save, but without adding good hope. I wrote that I failed, remembered that spell, but didn't edit the post fully. Thanks.

Level 15 but there's no obvious exit sign. Magic might get you out of here if you can select the right spell.

Lvl 15!

BaB: +1
HP: +10
Saves: +1 Fort +1 Will
Feat: VMC Craft Magic Arms and Armor
Class: DR/3 * Improved Uncanny Dodge * +1 Dodge AC

Pretty simple level up. Looking forward to using the craft magic arms and armor. It seems to be really suitable for Drazh. Makes me wonder how much gold we will have to make use out of it.

Oracle 15:

HP +5
+1 BAB (triple attacks!)
Fort +1 Ref +1
Skills (4): +3 diplomacy, +1 spellcraft
Background Skills (2): +1 knowledge (history), +1 profession (baker)

Feat: Quicken Spell

Revelation: Living Shadow (Your body dissolves, and you become a living shadow. This ability functions as gaseous form. At 14th level, this ability functions as shadow body instead, except you also gain DR 10/magic and become immune to poison, sneak attacks, and critical hits as if also using gaseous form. You can use this ability a number of minutes per day equal to your oracle level. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be spent in 1-minute increments.)

FCB extra spell known: antilife shell
New spells known: greater command, wind walk, waves of ecstasy (inspired by Delvahine)
Dark Secrets revelation: learning shadow walk in place of shadow step

A bit of downtime will be in order then... and it's a somewhat reasonable spot. The exact location of Mhar Massif is a mystery... ie we can justify the gap as allies and contacts are consulted as well as ancient tomes... there's one short adventure for getting a bit of information before you make your final journey to stop the Rise of Runelord Karzoug.

Runelord Karzoug who can reach across the planes to animate statues to attack his foes, Runelord Karzoug who has elevated unknown giants to the cusp of invading Magnimar and Korvosa... Runelord Karzoug, the Runelord of Greed who's avarice knows no bounds!

If we rest, I'll get access to shadow walk, which might get us out of here. Marten might have more tricks up his sleeve as well.

Shadow walk is interesting. It relies on this demiplane being adjacent to the plane of shadow. Off the top of my head, Marten has greater teleport. The spell says interplanar travel is not possible, but maybe Runeforge is a demiplane inside of the Prime Material Plane and therefore that restriction doesn't apply?

I could also try banishment on one person at a time to force us out.

Maybe Kevin will allow a Spellcraft check to combine any or all of these spells to successfully get us out.

However we get out, we need to exit near to where we came in so that we can collect the white dragon's hide and scales. Did we already go through the dragon's hoard?

I'll level up over the weekend.

I'll level up over the weekend as well, unless I luck out and have time tomorrow. :)

Drazh, since you want to craft magic weapons, why don't you make me a nice magic bow while we're here with the materials rooms? :) All three of my bows are +1. I need an upgrade.

Did we already go through the dragon's hoard?

We did.

Drazh, since you want to craft magic weapons, why don't you make me a nice magic bow while we're here with the materials rooms? :) All three of my bows are +1. I need an upgrade.

Will do. I’ll try to get a post up tomorrow. Just say what you need, more than happy to put the feat to use

Welcome to level 15...

I'm just going to point out that I could memorize the spell clone, make clones of all of us, assign an underclassman at The Acadamae to cast gentle repose on the clones every two weeks, and then if we die, the only thing we'd lose is our gear. Probably only temporarily.

I could also create a demiplane, but that wouldn't really help us in combat.

Bannishment would work and you could get two characters at a time... technically it's not your home plane but if you stay here long enough it will become your home plane. If Marten took Banishment in all of his general seventh level spell slots he could get the whole party out in less than a minute.

Will do. I’ll try to get a post up tomorrow. Just say what you need, more than happy to put the feat to use

Awesome. So what I have now is

+1 Adaptive Undead Bane Longbow
+1 Shocking Composite Longbow
+1 Flaming Composite (+5 strength bonus)

So those all have a +1 base enchantment bonus and one special ability. I am just shy of 47,000 gold, so we can probably put on 3 more enchantments, whether base bonus or special ability. (Feel free to use all the money as needed.)

I was thinking, storywise, Azalia will go to Drazh and ask him if he can make her a better bow from all the bows that she has. With that idea, maybe he could make her a variation of this:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/s tarbow/

But with maybe "holy" added onto that, plus whatever runeforge enchantment we can add to help it fight Karzoug.

She'll leave it up to him, though, so if you have some creative tweak like incorporating the golembane scarab into it or something way cooler that only you can imagine... go for it. As long as the bow is better than what she has now, she'll be thrilled.

Post is up. You now have a bow with whatever enchantments you can afford. I assume all 3 bows had their magic drained.

Also, as party loot I have Composite Longbow Str3 +1 Icy Blast

If you need more gold, feel free to sell that as well to get your enchantments.

Level 15 Bard (Arcane Duelist) VMC Cavalier (Order of the Dragon)

HP: 101 + 7 -> 108
BAB: +11/+6/+1

Saves: Fort +1

Skills: Bluff, Perception

New Skills: Fly, Heal, Ride, Swim

Background: Perform (Oratory), Sense Motive

Feats:
L15: VMC

Spells known:

5th: Whip of Centipedes

Tactician: 4/day

Greater Order Ability: At 15th level, he gains the 8th-level ability of his chosen order, treating his character level as his effective cavalier level.

Strategy (Ex)
At 8th level, the cavalier can spend a standard action to grant one of a number of bonuses to all allies within 30 feet (including himself ). The allies must be able to see or hear the cavalier to receive this bonus. The cavalier can grant a +2 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round, a +2 morale bonus on all attack rolls for 1 round, or the ability to move up to their speed as an immediate action once. The cavalier can grant a different bonus to each ally within range, but allies can only benefit from this ability once per combat.

Bladethirst +4

Inspire Competence +5

Inspire Courage +3

Inspire Greatness - Up to 2 targets

Inspire Heroics - Up to 1 target

Inspire Heroics (Su): A bard of 15th level or higher can inspire tremendous heroism in himself or a single ally within 30 feet. For every three bard levels the character attains beyond 15th, he can inspire heroics in one additional creature. To inspire heroics, all of the targets must be able to see and hear the bard. Inspired creatures gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws and a +4 dodge bonus to AC. The effect lasts for as long as the targets are able to witness the performance. Inspire heroics is a mind-affecting ability that relies on audible and visual components.

Oooh, Inspire Heroics would be handy facing casters, and Order of the Dragon's Strategy buff will be handy in general.

Do we have enough loot to upgrade more weapons?

I...don’t know? Anyone willing to do the breakdown?

Levelled up. No time for a breakdown though, sorry. You'll just have to trust me. Haha.

I picked up a new shifter aspect, the stag, which will increase my base speed by +20 feet, so I'm about to get way speedier in a fight. I could turn into a stag too, but that's unlikely. Unless someone really needs a mount. Haha.

And no, sorry. I don't have time to manage the sheet this time. Honestly, I have so little free time right now, I didn't even have time to put in the effort to pick out a cool feat, so I just took Great Fortitude. Nothing wrong with that, just not what I'd pick if I actually had the time.

Ah, Anneka Azalia traded off her own stuff, right?

I just checked the version history of the loot sheet.

No new loot since changes on April 5th.

I'm not sure how much of the party loot we can trade out for runeforge use.

Edit: I typed out the wrong name beginning with A. ;)

Ah, Anneka traded off her own stuff, right?

I'm not sure what you mean. Which stuff?

Azalia Level Up:

+4 HP (at half plus one. I can never remember which game does which kind of HP increase, so if that is wrong, please tell me.)

Eldritch Scoundrel Rogue 10 / Arcane Trickster 5

All Saves +1

Tricky Spells [Starting at 5th level, an arcane trickster can cast her spells without their somatic or verbal components, as if using the Still Spell and Silent Spell feats. Spells cast using this ability do not increase in spell level or casting time. She can use this ability 3 times per day at 5th level and one additional time per every two levels thereafter, to a maximum of 5 times per day at 9th level. The arcane trickster decides to use this ability at the time of casting.]

+1 5th level spell per day

+13 skill ranks: bluff, diplomacy, disable device, perception, stealth, acrobatics, disguise (7)

Weapon:

+3 Adaptive Holy Planar Starbow

... I did not use your bow, Drazh, so you can still use it if you can't get close. Appreciate the offer though. :)

Creydon, 2 of the three bows used were ones that I had claimed from party loot previously. Is that what you are asking? Effectively, I am still claiming them, but they have become part of the main enchantment on this bow, and then new enchantments were added with my own money. If I die though, the bow still goes to the party, not my family. :)

Ah gotcha. I wasn't sure if there was some stash of magic ingredients that I had forgotten about. :)

Wizard level 15

Bonus feat: Heighten Spell

New feat: Preferred Spell (cold ice strike)

Okay, Heighten is a prereq for Preferred. My plan with Preffered is to be able to release a swift-action cold ice strike every round I'm not already using a swift action. Plus, with Preferred Spell, even though this spell is now spontaneous, I can add metamagic to it without increasing the casting time. I'm looking at Rime Spell for future levels, which causes an entangle effect when the target takes cold damage.

New spells:
Sunburst
Maze

I'm looking at Marten's Linguistics skill, and it appears I've sometimes been putting in a skill point but not adding a new language. I'm seven down, so I'm adding the following to catch up: Abyssal, Auran, Dwarven, Giant, Halfling, Ignan, Terran

Give some time for selling, crafting, probably two months passing by... good length of time. That means a montage

I want to do this justice, but I'll be honest, this is a little intimidating right now, considering all the scrolls I need to replace and all of the spellbooks we've captured that I haven't really had a chance to consider. I'll do my best, but apologies in advance if I delay us.

Honestly, I have so little free time right now

I feel this so hard.

Take your time, Marten!

You have Int30. We believe in you!

And thanks

The life of a wizard is indeed a tough one. :)

Ultimate power comes at a price!

I can't tell if you guys are supportive or mean.

Maybe I'll only clone Marten.

I can't tell if you guys are supportive or mean.

Maybe I'll only clone Marten.

That’s the definition of a friend.

Going to push things on tomorrow. People can still retcon crafting and scribing.

Finished the loot sheet.

Anneka: Do you want the Revelation Quill? I feel like it's right up your alley thematically. If you don't want it, Marten will take it. Whomever takes it can use contact other plane during this downtime, and then divination about a week before we head out to find out about the location of Mhar Massif or the Vekkers.

Assuming I did everything correctly, our current split is 14,185 gp, 3sp, 3cp.

Sounds good. Thanks for organizing the loot!

@Marten: Cheers!

So Creydon now has 1,984.21 + 14,185.33 =

16,169.54gp

@Drazh: Would you be up for improving Creydon's whip to a +3 benevolent?

I believe at cost that would be 12,000gp.

Marten, thank you! That must have taken a lot of time.

@Creydon: Nothing would make Drazh happier than using his talents for a friend. And it’s a good IC way for him slowly transitioning from adventuring, once this is all over.

——

For me...

Gold: 299 + 14185 = 14484.33

Masterwork Bladed Boot 163
+2 Defending 9000

New Total: 14185 - 9163 = 5022

Dragonhide over his Mithril boots with dragon teeth as the ‘blade’

Now that is fashion ;)

Armor up to +3: 5022 - 2500 = 2522

+3 AC will be nice given how that golem hit so hard and accurately

Great stuff! A +3 benevolent whip it is!

Creydon at 4,169.54 with an even shinier whip. :)

The level 15 edition of Creydon's aid another calculation posts. I skipped one for level 14, I think. I've bolded everything that's increased since then. :D

Feel free to ask in or out of character for assistance on skill checks!

Aid Another - Attack Rolls +15

+5 Aid Allies from Order of the Dragon
+3 Benevolent (Whip's bonus)
+4 Gloves of Arcane Striking (if Arcane Strike active that round)
+1 Fools for Friends
+1 Battlefield Disciple
+1 Ring of Tactical Precision

Aid Another - Armour Class +16 (can be attempted instead of an attack on an AOO if he is adjacent to an ally, with bodyguard feat)

+5 Aid Allies from Order of the Dragon
+5 Benevolent (Breastplate's bonus)
+4 Gloves of Arcane Striking (if Arcane Strike active that round)
+1 Fools for Friends
+1 Ring of Tactical Precision

Aid Another - Saves or Skill Checks +7

+5 Aid Allies from Order of the Dragon
+1 Fools for Friends
+1 Ring of Tactical Precision

Marten, thank you! That must have taken a lot of time.

Well, I do have 30 Intelligence, so...

I'd like to upgrade my headband to +6, ring of protection to +3, and cloak of resistance to +4. given that we have teleportation magic, do I still need to roll for item availability?

You can get them upgraded Anneka, you have time to wait around at least.... as long as it's something at 13th level wizard/cleric could craft.

Do ye want to RP a bit more or shall I start up on your expedition?

I'm good to go.

I’m ready to start the expedition :)

Just a note.

We're a month or so past the two-year mark on this AP. :)

I'm ready to go. Still need to update my stats for new items but can do that as we go.

We're a month or so past the two-year mark on this AP. :)

I think we're definitely breaking some kind of record for PbP.

It’s proving that PbP can work. It’s evidence that an entire AP can be completed :)