I'd say yes, Fatherdom has stabilized as much as fatherdom can. It was never just fatherdom anyways, it was that along with all the other RL stuff piled on at the time. Thankfully all facets of RL are much more relaxed for me these days, thus my feeling confident to come back to the boards. Now it's all about pbp load management for me, I just need to be careful not to bite off so much it'll make things difficult again.
I'm currently GMing 1 game, and playing in 1 more (which has a fairly relaxed posting pace). Committing to this game with Bugsby I believe will be well within... acceptable parameters. Just lapsed into Star Trek speak for some reason, but the point stands!
Hi Bugsby, glad to have you back. Since your amenable to rejoining the group, did you want to come back in with the same character or something new?
Either way, level 8 with typical 8th level wealth (33,000 gp).
Hello Bugsby. I'm the bloody fool they managed to thaw out of the ice as your replacement. :)
Thanks DM good to be back. Shanya, I've no doubt you helped ease the sting of loss when Bugsby departed. Or maybe they just slept on a rock and woke up with cricks in their backs. :)
As for returning... I really enjoyed playing Bugsby and would prefer to keep him if possible. This is one AP I have never GM'd or even read much about so I have very little idea of what I've missed. I think there's a point where the party travels into another... world or something right? So maybe the group is inaccessible to Bugsby at this point? I'll do what makes the most sense as far as a new character or Bugsby returning, but as I said, I'd like to keep the little rascal if possible.
"Where in the world is Bugsby Featherfoot?"
It's been a few weeks since you parted ways. They're still on Golarion, so a scrying followed by a teleport can get you there.
Now we just need an appropriately ridiculous misadventure for Bugsby to have made 5 levels and gotten 25k in gold in a few weeks time, not to mention parting ways with his friend Nadya.
I have started tossing ideas around in my head for that... ranging from the ridiculous to the saddest. Want me to make some proposals to you in a PM or here? It may be more fun for the others if it's a secret. Although if it's a sad misadventure then it won't be fun for anyone. Maybe he comes back with a scar across his eye, and a new name "Lord Fighterfoot!". lol
If it's possible to have Bugsby return as Bugsby, I think that would be great. And I'm sure all of us would be willing to suspend a bit of disbelief and then move on. With all the bouncing through chicken-hut portals and stuff we've seen, there should be some way for Bugs to appear, having had a few side adventures since we last saw him. Perhaps the moss we encountered just before he disappeared somehow took over his mind and caused him to wander off, and he finally overcame its effects and came to find us again...
Oh, if your looking for a reason why he's with you, look no further then the geas. Those are a bit of nastiness, and not easily ignored. The gnoooome never really dealt with it.
However maybe he's just got those happy feet and a bit of wanderlust. Psychotically happy feet.
Bugsby: sure, feel free to PM me.
...GM? You there?
Ah, sorry. The last few days have been off - trying to go from 9-5 to shift work for a short period of time and it's left me discombobulated. Will update shortly.
Edit: there also might have been a marathon session of Shadowrun Dragonfall that got in the way, but I can't be held responsible for my actions regarding that. The writing was too good.
If any of you use my Paizo Campaign Tools browser extension, you may be interested to know that I've just released a new version with an exciting new feature.
Didn't mean to rush you all into the next room, but you've effectively cleared this level of active threats.
There are a *lot* of exits off of this map - I'll try and go through and highlight them this evening. This dungeon has some weird complexities to it.
Some of the exits have puzzles/locks (like the last room described), some are just passages.
Yeah, I was just studying the description of the last room posted and trying to figure out what we should do. I'll wait for further info, thanks for the update.
Well, for the last room you can make some knowledge checks if you wish assistance with figuring out what gewgaw to put in what spot. Nature or Local would probably be the most relevant.
Bugsby, if you're monitoring this thread, I'm believe I'm fairly close to finding a spot to drop you into the action.
Made some checks. And yay, Bugsby!
Alright, added some text and labels to the map, representing current state. Duplicating text here for readability. The "T"s are passage labels.
T1: The passage seems to lead to well appointed apartments, although it ends in a wall with mechanically locked door. The door looks not too difficult to bypass. The walls are painted white.
T2: Peering through this open passage, your group see a disturbing sight. Like a harrowing cage woven from bone, wood, and sinew, a tangle of massive drying racks exhibit the splayed remains of dozens of woodland creatures, some dead, some still twitching. Narrow wooden planks serve as precarious walkways leading between the racks, with several rope ladders ascending to various levels. Bloodstained leather buckets filled with cruel and filthy vivisection tools hang from the hideous structure in several spots.
T3. The door here is engraved with the image of a naked, pregnant woman sitting in a meditative pose. The woman’s hands lie folded in her lap, and a full moon is painted upon her belly. A trio of waist-high pillars of stout gray stone stands in the corridor just before the door.
In the room are a pool and bowl with corn seeds.
T4: This passages seems to be long , leading into the distance up a flight of stairs
At the base of the stairs, before they start ascending, tiny pieces of quartz form an inlay of a crescent moon in the floor of this passage, surrounded by a ring of runes. A few yards beyond the inlaid symbol, a small round table stands in the middle of the tunnel. A wooden bowl filled with fresh wildflowers sits in the center of the table. The strange table and it’s contents set your group on edge - there are some magical wards here. The symbols remind your group of those in the first room, the one with the ettin witch GurraGurra.
I find it odd that a Mesoamerican staple crop part of a puzzle in a vaguely Russian themed fantasy adventure. They should have used barley, buckwheat, or even rice.
Starting tomorrow, I'll be on vacation with my family for the next two weeks. I'll still be able to post, but with slightly less frequency, I expect.
Options abound! Any particular passage you would like to try, or perhaps take a crack at the puzzle?
We will wait with bated breath.
...also, it would appear that I connected the wrong tunnels to the wrong description. I updated the map.
"T1. Ten mausoleum facades protrude from the walls around
the perimeter of this cavern. Above each door is a keystone
engraved with a name. Throughout the room stand ten lifesized statues of proud, matronly women. The women are all barefoot and similarly dressed, but they each have their own unique appearance. Some are wear feathered cloaks or bone necklaces, others clutch gnarled staves or carry brooms, and a few have a raven or an owl perched upon their shoulders."
This is what you saw through (a different) door at the end of one of the passages - not the Mother door..
I guess that Diplomacy roll was rather apropos for the situation.
Maybe someone else will have better luck calming her down?
Going to GenCon next week. I will be out of contact from Tuesday, July 28 until Wednesday, Aug 5. Please bot me as necessary during this time.
ACG got a major update. Folks might want to check it out if they use anything from there.
Do you guys folks have anything else you wish from Ms. Narrative Explanation, or are ready to move on? Also, her little jail cell seems as good a place to rest as any, by the way, if you trust her.
Hey gang – as some of you know, I do emergency response work for the Environmental Protection Agency. We’re responding to a typhoon that crushed Saipan last week, and this disaster at the moment, so my availability to post will be limited and unpredictable for the foreseeable future.
That said – let’s proceed to the combat!
Heh, sorry to disappoint you. There will definitely be a combat or three coming soon.
In the meantime, feel free to level your characters.
Everyone gets a bonus hero point (in addition to the normal one for leveling.)
Bugsby on set, Bugsby on set. Paging Mr. Featherfoot.
Things aren't too bad on the people level, but there was a huge amount of damage. About half the power transmission grid is down (and, as part of our work, I expect EPA to be collecting somewhere between 250 and 600 transformers from downed power poles), which means most people don't have water either. The port got smacked so it was hard to bring in supplies for a bit. It's a mess. It will be months before they're fully back on their feet.
And yay, level! Hoping to have time to do some leveling...I guess another level of Horizon Walker is the way to go.
Does this mean we can renew our spell selections?
Yep, feel free to reset spells and abilities upon lebeling.
And hi from Boulder, Kalt. There are some highly conspiratorial stories about the EPA involvment with Animas river on the in interwebs right now. It does sound like quite an "oops" moment though - gotta love booby traps from the past.
A serious oops moment indeed, Rango - no conspiracies needed. The really unfortunate thing is that so much energy is going into figuring out the impacts of the Animas River spill (which we can't do anything about, at all, in the short term) and doing PR damage control, that we're not focusing the resources we need on helping the good people of Saipan.
And Sven - I'll be coordinating from here until the end of the month, then in Saipan for most of September. As to Lea's phone - I don't remember where in the story you left, but the short version: it was stolen, the thief actually called her to ask for the password for it, she got it wiped remotely and the cops did a whole stakeout thinking they had the guy who had stolen it, but they ended up confronting Lea on the steps of the YMCA and realizing they were tracking her new phone... Still, the police were amazingly helpful, engaged and responsive given that they were trying to track one stolen phone in a city of over 100,000 people (in a vastly larger urban area), where they could have said they had better things to do.
Hey Rango, speaking of which... I'm still waiting on an invitation to live PFS... ;)
I'm heading out on a trip tomorrow, so Lana's leveling will have to wait until Sunday or Monday after I get back.
Avora levels up as a druid.
+5 HP
+1 Fort and Will
Skills: Survival +2, Handle Animal +1, Knowledge (nature) +1, Perception +1, Spellcraft +1
Feats: Shapeshifting Hunter
As do I. It makes me more powerful as both a druid and a ranger.
Level Up Summary
+6 HP
+1 Fort Saves
New Extract Slots: +1 1st, +1 3rd
New Extract: To Be Determined
New Feat: Extra Investigator Talent
New Investigator Talent 1:
Amazing Inspiration (Ex): When using inspiration, the investigator rolls a d8 instead of a d6. At 20th level, the investigator rolls 2d8 and adds both dice to the result. An investigator must be at least 7th level to select this talent.
New Investigator Talent 2:
Combat Inspiration (Ex): When an investigator uses inspiration on an attack roll or saving throw, he expends one use of inspiration instead of two. An investigator must be at least 9th level to select this talent.
Skills: +10 (9 Base, +1 Favoured)
-+1 Diplomacy
-+1 Bluff
-+1 Linguistics (Draconic)
-+1 Disable Device
-+2 Stealth
-+3 Sense Motive
-+1 Perception
I actually still have 1 other free slot for a language. Anyone have any idea what I should spend it on?
Lets see, you appear to have: Common, Aklo, Dwarven, Elven, Skald (host society pre-game), Giant, Sylvan, Iobarian, Draconic (although Draconic isn't on your sheet, only in your character tab).
Abyssal is adventure appropriate, given the large number of demons. Otherwise, you can buy the slot now and fill it as you encounter new languages or teachers of them. There are quite a few npcs floating around that now exotic languages.
Kalt is leveled up - took Furious Focus as my feat, Terrain Dominance in Underground so I now have Darkvision! Activate full stealth mode!
Back and all leveled. Lana still has two empty language slots lying around from previous levels, so I didn't take any more this level.
Hope the camping trip went well.
There will undoubtedly uses for language slots at your next destination on the giant chicken express.
Shanya, I apologize for narrating your character through locked doors, there are just a lot of them in this dungeon and you have all the skills necessary to beat them (not to mention the lack of penalty for failing rolls). Just trying to keep things moving apace.
Don't worry about it. :)
It's fine.
Hey gang - a heads up that I'm being deployed on Wednesday (Sep 2) to the island of Saipan (a US territory) to help clean up in the aftermath of Typhoon Soudelor. My available time and connectivity are both difficult to predict at this point. I return on September 24 and will post as I'm able.