Something Wicked This Way Comes (Inactive)

Game Master Fanguar

Re: Circlets of Disguise: Not all the knots have them, but I'll just say that if you are associated with the Cardinal, you have one.

Re: Knots: The 4th is just a non-starter. The 7th is a maybe, but it sort of leaves the questions as to why you haven't reported in and how come you're not dead.

Another option is that Molasbar and Rose are affiliated with Baron Vandermir. It seems likely that the Cardinal would lean on the Baron to provide aid, or perhaps even an emissary of Asmodeus is providing some pressure. In this situation, you wouldn't have the Circlets to begin with, but the Cardinal would definitely provide them once he met you and was able to get you to sign his little contract.

I'll assume I've got one then. :)

Cool idea - brings in another side of the same fraction, but also allows our gunboat diplomacy with the Baron to be softened somewhat.

Molasbar and Rose would potentially be a tad thorny to our Knot based on how we've acted thus far, but the opportunity to prove worth to Der Kardinal by showing his own elite measure up would make sense.

Presuming Sari and Ol' Xanos have a past where he possibly has called on her services or some such? (Un)Dying to know the connection...

I am open to the Vandermir solution. If I recall correctly, he's the highest ranking Asmodean agent close to our next objective? I'll assume no circlet until he gets one through role play. I'll look and see if I need to tweak things a bit to add Disguise skill ranks and/or a disguise kit; I doubt a half-orc would be able to operate discreetly for the Baron.

It's not that kind of a past. They don't know each other. They probably aren't going to get along at first.

I am open to the Vandermir solution. If I recall correctly, he's the highest ranking Asmodean agent close to our next objective? I'll assume no circlet until he gets one through role play. I'll look and see if I need to tweak things a bit to add Disguise skill ranks and/or a disguise kit; I doubt a half-orc would be able to operate discreetly for the Baron.

*Shrug* if you want to. Not having any wouldn't put you at any real disadvantage for this chapter of the AP. Also, Vandermir is the second highest ranking noble in the city (first at the moment, since the Duke is away fighting the war). He's a Barcan noble, son of a cousin to the last Barcan King. Regardless of rank he is the wealthiest man in the city, so if you are publicly affiliated with him, no one would blink an eye at your heritage.

Also, based on your skill set, you could be associated with his orphanage, which Albrekt has an eye on for a feeding ground, so I won't spoil the details here, but let's just say you would fit in as an instructor there.

Presuming Sari and Ol' Xanos have a past where he possibly has called on her services or some such? (Un)Dying to know the connection...

What happens when a buddhist meets a heretical buddha? :)

Should I put a gameplay post in - get the whole Sari/Albrekt cemetery thing going?

Just caught up on your interaction with the Baron. Seems like you guys didn't hit it off, but he was not expressly hostile to your cause. I could see him sending two folks allegedly to "help" you, but also really to watch and see what's going on.

In the meantime, Rose is someone who would like to take action and extract her revenge. The Baron's strategy of patient waiting does not suit her. She would try to make your missions a success, and then persuade the Baron to provide more aid. If he refuses, she would then shift her loyalties to the Cardinal and his designs.

Molasbar wrote:

Also, based on your skill set, you could be associated with his orphanage, which Albrekt has an eye on for a feeding ground, so I won't spoil the details here, but let's just say you would fit in as an instructor there.

That sounds good.

Rose Silversting wrote:

In the meantime, Rose is someone who would like to take action and extract her revenge. The Baron's strategy of patient waiting does not suit her. She would try to make your missions a success, and then persuade the Baron to provide more aid. If he refuses, she would then shift her loyalties to the Cardinal and his designs.

Molasbar would be in the same boat. Revenge against the Mitrans is his primary motivator, and he would jump at the chance to move more quickly against them.

I added a default set of memorized spells to Rose, let me know if you have thoughts on these:

3rd: Magic Circle Against Good, Prayer, Resist Energy Communal, Magic Vestment
2nd: Cure Moderate Wounds, Defending Bone, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Remove Paralysis, Spiritual Weapon
1st: Divine Favor, Divine Favor, Murderous Command, Remove Fear, Magic Weapon
0th: Create Water, Guidance, Spark, Stabilize

Magic Vestment, Spiritual Weapon and Magic Weapon are domain spells, no choice there since Rose has only one domain.

Cure and Inflict spells are added because Rose spontaneously casts weird spells instead of cure/inflict spells, and it seems like she needs both to emergency heal a party member as needed.

Seems like a sensible base list to me!

Swapping out a Divine Favor for a Liberating Command - never know when that comes in handy.

*Edit* - @GM Fanguar - I know you're off on vacation tomorrow! Should Molasbar and I try to introduce ourselves while you're gone, or do you want to pick up when you come back? (Hope you're still around to read this!)

Swapping out a Divine Favor for a Liberating Command - never know when that comes in handy.

*Edit* - @GM Fanguar - I know you're off on vacation tomorrow! Should Molasbar and I try to introduce ourselves while you're gone, or do you want to pick up when you come back? (Hope you're still around to read this!)

I think it's fine if you all want to RP while I'm away. Just keep any information about what you do for the Baron fairly nebulous (we can hammer out details when I'm back).

Also, everyone can do any last minute purchasing for the expedition. If you are all feeling ambitious, you can start the journey to the Horn and we can dive into your arrival when I'm back.

This is most likely my last post for a bit. Try not burn the place down while I'm away.

Enjoy the road trip GM-R, I'll try to keep Haruk away from the matches...

As an aside (even though we've not officially lost Vank) I pilloried our Dark Overlord to allow me to snag back the +1 Greatsword we gained.

Makes no sense for Albrekt to be packing a MW scythe, when a +1 blade is on available.

Also ties in with his image makeover given his Dastard full plate etc:

Albrέkt Portait

<looks up from where he's started a small blaze in the corner of an inn> Huh? What? It's cold outside. I'm just trying to stay warm....

@Molasbar - do you want to wait to play out our interaction with the Baron, or assume it goes smoothly and we get to drop in on the group? If we do push forward, then per GM Fanguar's instruction we should keep our exact job for the Baron nebulous until he's back to work that out.

Maybe we should set up our interaction with the Baron. If you are able to convince the baron to give us more intelligence that we can share with the others, it may affect how we approach them. If the GM wants to hand wave the baron's reaction when he's back, then we can move along quickly then.

Okay, we can just hang out for a little while, then.

Do you think we could role play connecting with Xanos and crew without the interaction with the baron?

Personally makes more sense for you to have interactions with the Baron - like you both touched on - get the measure of his plans and how that can give you both leverage.

However... Would also make perfect strategic sense for you to meet with the Knot and get our measure, then report back to the Baron with your thoughts (false or truth). Would allow the power mummery you both are setting up brilliantly to have a little more weight?

My 2 bites worth :)

However... Would also make perfect strategic sense for you to meet with the Knot and get our measure, then report back to the Baron with your thoughts (false or truth). Would allow the power mummery you both are setting up brilliantly to have a little more weight?

My 2 bites worth :)

Seconded. The more info you can give the baron then the more detailed your plans and the more likely he is to believe you...

Molasbar, if you want to go with this alternate strategy, just stop me as I'm pulling you toward the Baron and say we should find out some more intelligence first. Then we can play out our meeting. I'm relatively indifferent to the choice of how to proceed.

My request is that you let the current scene play out before introducing yourselves into it. I'd hate to shift the focus from Sariana's intro before it has played out.

We'll give you as much spotlight as your party intro scene needs once it happens. So far we've all been pretty good about being conscientious of sharing the spotlight and promoting other characters' stories. I'm enjoying Rose and Molasbar's scheming.

Oh definitely, I wasn't planning on interrupting the scene.

Sariana, you're cool little descriptor about us having something being tugged towards you, are you referring to our souls? Life energy?

Also, Haruk already searched the room, I doubt you'll find much more than he did. I'll reveal that in game though.

Oh definitely, I wasn't planning on interrupting the scene.

Agreed.

Sariana, your cool little descriptor about us having something being tugged towards you, are you referring to our souls? Life energy?

Combination of ki and blood - so life energy is probably the best way to describe it. She's a ki vampire (Hungry Ghost) rather than a standard 'drink all the blood type'. Hence Albrekt getting so cross! :D

I am loving the exchange between the three of you and the level of suspicion, but working toward the same thing. I can't say why, but it reminds me of this.

I realize that this is the second BBT reference I've made in a week. I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

The mistrust is indeed rife lol.

@Molasbar: I'm loving the double-double agent conspiracy plotting between you and Rose. Just what this paranoid soup of villainy needs!

Oh, Albrekt gets his chances to talk to people. But, it has to be talk in quotes. "Albrekt, go "talk" to them about what we need from them." You know, that sort of thing.

Pretty sure Molsabar and Rose weren't part of the conversation Sariana and I had about Xanos. It's hard to remember what was done in Discussion and what was over Privte Message, so I'll just give the primer on Xanos again.

Xanos is a very famous name. It's kind of like 'Caine' from the bible. Xanos is the name of the original betrayer in Mitran mythology. Anyone with even the most casual knowledge of the Mitran religion has heard the name Xanos.

In the Mitran legends, Xanos was one of the first Necromancers (possibly the very first, depending on who's telling the story). He's supposed to be incredibly powerful, either immortal or able to come back to life with dark magic, and has a huge vendetta against Mitrans.

Over the centuries a lot of people have called themselves Xanos. It's hard to tell with ones were real and which were pretenders capitalizing on the legend. At this point it is pretty much impossible to tell which stories are real, which are just stories made up by Mitrans, and which are misattributed or the actions of people coopting the name.

The schools of thought on the Xanos legend range from "Xanos wasn't real at all and is just a parable." to "all of the stories are true, Xano steals bodies and shapeshifts to take different forms over the centuries." Most Mitrans are somewhere in the middle.

So, when Xanos introduces himself, go ahead and react in whatever way is appropriate for your character.

Helpful background - I'll have to think how someone steeped in Mitran tradition would react.

I've noticed I am short a 2nd level spell. I was considering taking Boneshaker(from Horror Adventures), but I both my 2nd level spells are damage ones(Acid Arrow, and Scorching Ray, which is bloodline spell).

So, thinking I should take some sort of utility, or other non combat spell.

Any suggestions?

GM

Would you mind if I swapped one rank in Arcana for Planes? I really should have ranks in that, but I just got it as a class skill via the PrC, so gotta stick with one for now.

If you're wanting combat stuff, right now, your spell list is short on Will saves. Charm person is good, but not always combat applicable. I'd recommend Unnatural Lust. It's crippling and hilarious.

Firey Shuriken is also pretty good and thematically appropriate.

Glitterdust. I never want to leave home without that spell in the party.

Or Mirror Image to keep yourself alive.

Nah, I'm good on combat, I think. Haruk isn't *really* a combat caster, so I'm looking for other useful spells.

Was thinking invisibility, or maybe a buff/debuff spell(eagle splendor is obv), etc, but was looking for more interesting suggestions.

Defoliate might be useful in the wilds?

See Invisible could also come in handy should be encounter tricksey fey and their ilk.

Can't really go wrong with invisiblity.

Detect thoughts could be a fun one!

Yeah, it feels a little naked to me without See Invisibility, but Xanos or I could probably cover that with a couple of scrolls. Invisibility seems like it would be useful in so many ways. As Xanos said, fiery shurikens meshes well with the whole "I'll burn this place to the ground" vibe, and detect thoughts may justify circumstance bonuses to diplomacy and bluff checks. It is hard to go wrong.

This conversation has been a lot of fun. Thanks for putting up with Xanos' cagey responses.

My intent is to not give out much information until we are deep enough into the woods that reporting back to the Baron would be hard.

Protective Penumbra to help your vampire friends? :)

Protective Penumbra to help your vampire friends allies of convenience? :)

I fixed that for you. And smiling doesn't help your case; it only makes your canines glisten disturbingly. ;)

This conversation has been a lot of fun. Thanks for putting up with Xanos' cagey responses.

I agree! And it bodes well for the longevity of the game that we are able to go through a suspicion laden exchange like that but still move the story forward.

GM

Would you mind if I swapped one rank in Arcana for Planes? I really should have ranks in that, but I just got it as a class skill via the PrC, so gotta stick with one for now.

Yup that's fine.

As a DM, I hate glitterdust. Broken spell.

I took Expanded Arcana for my 5th level feat, and I was gonna take enlarge person, but would that work on our two vampires?

My other spell will be burning disarm, because why not? lol

Vampirism is a template. They're outside the usual rules where creature types are replaced by Undead. Instead, Vampires are Undead and their original creature type.

See this stat block. It's listed as Undead (augmented Humanoid).

So, they are both. Enlarge Person should work on them. So would Favored Enemy (human), so it's kind of a trade off.

So Sari is now Undead/Human/Orc... crickey - talk about cultural melting pot.

And I like my smile just the way it is that you Molasbar - my teeth just add a little bite to the whole thing. :P

What's the chance of sourcing a Bag of Holding in this misbegotten town? Am thinking the type II has 70 cubic feet of space/500lbs capacity - enough for two vamps (and their coffins) to be carried about when its light?

Thoughts?

Smart.

Eventually I'm planning on picking up a portable hole to store corpses in. A Bag of Holding would be a good prototype of that plan.

Weird question-

Would a disembodied hand count as a quadraped (pentaped?) for the purposes of encumbrance?